What Do You Mean There Are Other Transmigrators In My Harem Fantasy?

Unerolia's entourage rolled in to set up their camp near ours.

While that was happening, I saw quite a number of Mercenaries rushing towards their own camps and disappearing inside their tents before coming back out of there while acting like nothing happened.

I was wondering why they were acting like that until I realised the swords on their hips were missing.

They really went to hide their swords in their tent so that Unerolia wouldn't know that they were swordsmen and ask them for a spar, huh?

Seriously… What the hell have you done to make them that scared of you, Unerolia?

It can't just be that incident where she injured a number of them right? And these people aren't even living in that city that she's managing either… Which means people had been talking about her and that news spread to other places as well…

Speaking of news… The news about her arrival in the clearing had spread throughout the different camps and everyone was trying to guess why the Marchioness herself had chosen to come all the way out here.

Some had speculated that she might just be looking for more people to spar with but a few had dismissed that idea stating that she could have just done that back in the city instead of coming out here.

Despite that, no one was willing to equip their swords again and continued to hide them from potentially being seen by Unerolia.

There were others who were speaking in more hushed tones stating there might be a war brewing between the Oligarchy and our Kingdom.

Apparently there were some reports of border skirmishes where bandits had attacked not only merchants but even border patrols as well.

For bandits to attack those patrols that wouldn't give them much monetary benefits was especially weird for bandits, but some had theorised that they might just be idiots wanting to fight.

The reasoning sounded ridiculous until someone pointed out quite discreetly that someone that fit that description had just arrived at the clearing.

There were other rumours as well, such as the Marchioness was accompanying the Royal Family on their tour because she has a crush on the King, something that pretty much everyone dismissed.

Then someone suggested that Unerolia might be trying to court 'the child of the Nilm Family' which I really had to do my best to pretend I didn't hear… Especially since someone followed up with that suggestion that Unerolia might be doing that to gain access to the Nilm Family's resources so that she could attempt a coup on the King.

Sure… Let's be glad that they don't know what happened between us last night…

"Two of those meat and cheese toast bread please~" I ordered from the stall owner.

"Two meat and cheese toast bread coming right up!" He called out chirpily.@@novelbin@@

"But hey, isn't it weird though?" A male who was clearly a Mercenary swordsman that didn't have his sword muttered at the side.

Another girl who was also clearly a swordswoman turned to him with a raised eyebrow, "What is weird?"

"I feel like there's more and more illegal slavers nowadays… Heck, there's even more bandits as well. And for some reason, they're all stronger than usual too."

I paused a little, my attention turned to the conversation those two were having.

The swordswoman grumbled, "No kidding… I've been doing escort jobs between the Oligarchy and the Kingdom for a few years now and at most, we might fend off one or two bandit groups and maybe encounter twice or three times that number of monster groups. But now the numbers have been flipped for some reason."

Someone else chimed in, "Oh, I heard there was a reason for that."

I turned my head slightly so that I could see the newcomer that was holding a staff and wearing a mage's robes.

She fiddled with her staff, "I heard some rumours that there's some kind of leader that took over a lot of the smaller groups to form a big one. That's why they became so daring in their raids now."

The male swordsman shook his head, "I don't think so though… There were times that I've seen bandits fighting each other so there's more than one group."

"Then… Could it be that there's more than one big group of bandits?"

The swordswoman shuddered, "That can't be it right? Just how many bandits could there be in this region to form those groups?"

The mage glanced towards the direction of Unerolia's camp, "Maybe… That's why the city lord herself is here? To clean out those bandits?"

"Heh, I'll be really glad if that's the case," The stall owner chuckled, flipping over my toasted bread on his grill, the smell of melted cheese already wafting through the air. "Wouldn't need to worry about getting attacked every night and day we are on our route. Heck, for the past few weeks, the only time I feel safe is when we're behind nice, solid city walls."

The swordsman turned to him, "That bad?"

He gestured around with his spatula, "Don't just take my word for it. If you ask any of the other merchants here, they will tell you the same thing. Heck, I know a few associates who stopped going this route altogether and only traded within the kingdom itself."

Another Mercenary came along, this one being a Rejmar archer.

"Heya! I'd like one o' those bread things. And aye' heard what ye' talkin' 'bout if yer' don't mind me joinin'? Aye've heard say that dere's a war brewin' at da' border."

The swordswoman nodded, "I heard about that but I doubt that's true."

"Nah, why else would dey' be targetin' border patrols aye'? They're tryna' weaken' the Kingdom I tell ya'! If yer know what's good for yer' better start packin' and moving elsewhere!"

The Mercenaries all shared a worried look with one another but none of them said anything more.

"My Lady, your order," The stall owner called out, handing me two bags of the toast.

His words got the attention of the Mercenaries that had been talking at the side and they turned to look at me, only just realising that I was there the entire time.

I took the bag from him, "Thank you. How much do I owe you?"

"Just five Decreas, my Lady."

Katsuki handed the coins to me instantly, like she had already prepared the exact amount ahead of time.

The stall owner took the coins from me before starting on the Rejmar's order, the shorter Mercenary looking up at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Ho there, you a noble?"

I tilted my head at him while passing one of the bread to Katsuki, "Hmm? Is there a problem?"

"Yeah, I wanna know if there's really gonna be a war. Since aye' know ya--"

All of a sudden, another Rejmar rushed forward and covered that Rejmar's mouth with his hands.

"Sorry! Sorry! He's new here! He doesn't know! We'll leave right now!"

I raised a hand, "No need to worry, I'm not offended. But I will admit that I do not know since I am not the head of my house and I am out of the loop for such things. But if you would accept an answer from someone like myself despite my limited knowledge on the matter, then I can tell you that I did not witness anything that might suggest such a thing might happen."

The swordsman turned to me, "Then… Err… May I ask if my Lady knows why the city lord is here?"

I wasn't sure how much I could share so I tried to be as vague as possible about it.

"Umm… I believe she is heading towards the border though for what reason I do not know."

"Oh, so she's… Not accompanying the King because she wants to court you?"

Damn dude… How direct can you be?

Still, I managed to maintain my calm, "This is the first that I've heard about that."

The Mercenaries all shared a look but I can't tell if they actually bought that.

The Rejmar pried his comrade's hand away from his mouth to ask, "So what're ya doin' out 'ere then? 'Ere fer' a stroll?"

His Rejmar friend immediately covered his mouth again and started pulling him back, "Sorry! Sorry! We'll leave right now! Please just ignore him! He's got a little thing loose in his head!"

The guy wasn't giving up though as he resisted against his friend, "Hey!! Stop that!! I still haven't gotten me toastie thing yet!!"

"You can get it later! We'll come back later ok?!"

"I already ordered it! Get yer' 'ands off me yer' little--"

His words were suddenly cut short when something flew through the air and struck him in the chest, the Rejmar being so surprised that he stopped talking.

When all of us looked down, we realised that it was an arrow sticking out of his chest.

There was a shout and a horn blew in the distance before armed Mahuns rushed out from the trees towards the clearing.

What the hell is going on?!