WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Potter
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◈ The Protagonist of a Romance Fantasy Only Likes Me ◈
Chapter 32: Wealthy Marigold. (6)
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13.
Thud, thud!
Hooves tore roughly at the dirt.
Dozens of mounted soldiers holding torches aloft raced across the field.
At the end of the road they pursued, a lone knight in a black cloak came into view.
Despite being vastly outnumbered, he did not hesitate for even a moment. Instead, he picked up speed and charged straight at them.
“St-stop him! Hurry!”
A man in a red cloak shouted frantically.
Bang!
Dozens of cavalrymen crashed into a single rider. Crack! The sounds of things breaking and shattering erupted in succession.
“Aaaagh!”
“M-my arm...!”
The screams came from the more numerous side.
Flesh scattered and fresh blood swirled in the wake of the knight in black.
“Aagh!”
“St-stop him! No!”
“He's coming this way!”
Each flash of his blade sent another cavalryman tumbling from their horse. It cut through armor, severing bone and muscle alike.
Without so much as a scratch, the knight in black broke through the dozens of riders. He spurred his horse toward the red-cloaked commander who had retreated far back.
“Y-you crazy bastard...!”
The red-cloaked man's face was soaked in terror.
“D-do you know who I am? This is treason! Treason!”
14.
If he had been looking for Marigold alone, it would have been difficult no matter how much time he had.
But following the traces left by the massive caravan of the Mary Company was not particularly hard.
“The salt company? It was incredible.”
In the first village, people talked about the Mary Company's imposing scale.
“They only stopped by for a while, but they must not have had anywhere else to stay because they set up camp across that whole field. It was quite a sight, I tell you. They had money to burn. They paid four times the usual price for a bottle of liquor...!”
“Which way did they go?”
“Hm? They say they continued along this road, crossed the plains, and went that way.”
In the second village, people spoke of the Mary Company's overwhelming mercenary force.
“That forest over there. Defeated soldiers from the Bellog Kingdom gathered there and robbed people blind, but those fools dared to target the salt company.”
“What happened?”
“They're lined up in front of the village with nothing but bones left. Want to have a look? Not much remains now, though. Wild dogs carried most of them away.”
By the third village, stories about Marigold finally began to emerge.
“She was unusual. A young woman running such a huge merchant company. I thought she was a noble.”
“Is there anything else you remember?”
“The most famous thing was when she took on the burgrave at that fortress over there.”
“The burgrave? You mean the lord of the castle?”
“Who else would I mean?”
“A noble fought a merchant company owner?”
“That's what I'm telling you. A high-ranking noble, too. That person has an absolutely foul temper, so they demanded twenty gold coins for passage.”
“A bandit by any other name.”
“She cleaned them out in a single gambling match, then got ten gold coins from them on top of that. I thought it served them right.”
“...”
Was she fearless, or simply thoughtless? Marigold truly had nerves of steel.
Hearing that, Lancel felt some of the fatigue from his long journey fade away. It felt like something she would do, for better or worse.
He passed through the fourth and fifth regions.
Then, when he finally reached a village near the battlefield...
“Don't even mention the salt company.”
Lancel sensed the mood changing.
“Those people were called traitors until recently.”
“Traitors?”
“Yes. Traitors.”
A merchant he encountered on the road recoiled at the name Mary Company and lowered their voice.
“They were raking in money while they were here. I nearly died of envy thinking about how many silver coins I could've earned if I'd been there.”
“How well were they doing?”
“Almost every supply that flowed into the battlefield passed through that salt company. The woman who ran it was something else. She knew how to sell goods.”
“Then why were they called traitors?”
“They sold goods to the rebels too, apparently.”
Ah.
Lancel pressed a hand to his forehead.
“It can't be as though they sold to them willingly.”
“Probably not. She knew her life was precious.”
No matter how strong-willed Marigold was, she would have known that selling goods to rebels would get her beheaded.
“But if His Highness the Prince says she sold to them, then she sold to them, didn't she?”
“...His Highness?”
“You know. The one with the nasty temper. The one famous for being difficult.”
He knew without needing to be told.
There was only one member of the Imperial Household so notorious that even an ordinary merchant would dare to criticize him.
The Sixth Prince.
Karin Craig Freesia.
“In the end, they stripped them of everything and left them empty-handed. What else could they do when they were told they'd be traitors if they didn't hand it all over?”
The Mary Company had backing of its own. Viscount Dante held half its shares, after all.
Yet everything had been confiscated.
Only the Sixth Prince could have done that.
He was the sort of person who would do whatever he wanted, no matter how much noble society criticized him behind his back.
“If you're looking for the salt company people, don't waste your time. They've probably all gone back to their hometowns by now. What can merchants who lost their money do? At least they kept their lives.”
“...Then what about the company owner?”
“The company owner? Ah, that woman?”
The merchant, who had been gathering up the goods spread across the ground, answered in an indifferent tone.
“I heard she... died?”
.
.
.
“D-do you know who I am? This is treason! Treason!”
Lancel raised his sword at the Sixth Prince, whose voice was cracking.
“What will you do if it is treason?”
“...!”
The blade pierced straight through the Sixth Prince's heart.
It was an oddly familiar sensation. For all his looks, this bastard was satisfying to kill. I could get used to this.
“Gurk...!”
============
- Event Lost! Sixth Prince Karin Craig Freesia's route has been lost.
============
“How many more times do I have to kill you before you learn, Karin?”
When he pulled out the sword, blood burst forth. Leaving Karin behind as he rolled from his horse with his eyes turned back, Lancel quickly departed.
A single ambush had wiped out dozens of Imperial guards and taken the Sixth Prince's life.
Yet the rumor spread in a more convenient form.
“The Sixth Prince was killed by rebels!”
15.
Several months after sending an unpleasant man to his grave, Lancel arrived at a quiet rural estate.
It would be a lie to say he had no regrets. He had failed to achieve the purpose that had brought him all the way here.
But letting even that regret pass without much feeling was the only choice Lancel had.
‘It does leave a bad taste.’
Watching the setting sun, Lancel thought over what had happened during the past ten years.
Saving Marigold when she was being beaten, taking Marigold down from the gallows, finding Marigold after she had been accused of involvement with a bandit gang, following Marigold to the battlefield after news of her suddenly stopped...
Looking back, it became clear.
‘My vacation was completely ruined.’
What could he do?
Sometimes things went wrong.
‘If it comes to it, I can take another vacation.’
Lancel decided to take it easy.
When night fell, people gathered in front of the inn. Travelers, deserters, vagrants, and all sorts of unsavory people made up most of the crowd.
“Come on! Place your bets!”
A gambling scam?
Come to think of it, the first time he met Marigold in this Iteration had felt exactly like this. The air, the smell, the atmosphere, it all resembled that time.
It gave him an oddly nostalgic feeling. He turned toward the lively noise.
“Too bad! Better luck next time!”
“No, what is this...?!”
Men crowded around the swindler.
“You fraudulent bitch! Who do you think you're fooling?”
“A fraud? Where would you find anyone fairer than me?”
“I saw everything. Are you really going to play innocent?”
Yes, yes.
How peaceful.
“Nothing is more unsightly than making trouble because you lost money. Ptui!”
“You bitch!”
Hm?
Yelp!
Lancel looked again at the woman who had been sent flying with a bleeding nose.
Short-cut hair, a hat pulled low over her face, shabby clothes and a robe. She was wrapped up tightly to hide her identity.
It gave him a sense of déjà vu.
Instincts like this usually proved correct.
‘Marigold?’
He had not recognized her at first.
But he was certain.
“Give me back my money, you fraud...!”
“Eek!”
The woman curled up as another fist came flying at her.
“...?”
When the blow did not come even after some time, she cautiously opened her tightly shut eyes.
“What are you doing?”
Their eyes met.
Just as they had on the day they first met.
That was right.
This was the only quiet village in a region where war was raging, so meeting this way was not particularly strange.
If he had known beforehand that she was alive and wandering nearby, he would have searched every village long ago.
He had assumed she was dead. He thought it would not have been strange if Marigold were dead by now, so he had nearly missed her right in front of him.
“...Benefactor?”
Marigold's eyes trembled.
There was no response for a while.
How much time passed?
“Y-you've got the wrong person!”
“...!”
She abruptly turned and ran.
Lancel stared blankly at her retreating figure, caught off guard by her unexpected reaction.
He caught up with her at once and grabbed her wrist.
“You're running away?”
“B-Benefactor...”
Marigold turned to look at Lancel beneath the moonlight, her face already crumpled as though she were about to cry.
“...I heard you were dead. What are you doing here?”
“W-What? I sent a letter... asking them to tell you that I was... alive and well...”
He had never received it. Perhaps he had left home before the letter arrived.
“Then why?”
“...”
Lancel waited for her to speak on her own.
She did not have any trouble understanding the meaning behind, ‘Why are you still here instead of going back?’
If she had survived, returning was the natural thing to do.
She held back tears, hiccuping now and then. Only after a long time did she finally speak.
“I was too ashamed...”
What a ridiculous answer.
“Is that new? When have you not had reason to be ashamed before me?”
“But I said I would return as a wealthy magnate...”
“Sorry, but I never expected that. I thought it would be fortunate if you avoided ending up looking like a beggar, whatever you did.”
“Th-that's so cruel!”
“You really did become a beggar.”
“...The principal...”
“...?”
“I wanted to recover just the principal, then go back...”
“Do you think that will work? With a gambling scam? Do you think you can get that much money back?”
The money Marigold had lost to the prince was an enormous sum.
More than half the money earned over the years had been invested in that grand caravan. Recovering it alone was impossible from the start.
“Do you think it'll work?”
“Uwaaa...”
Lancel seized her head with both hands and squished her cheeks.
“Ugh, ow, ughhh!”
Only after kneading and pulling her face around for a while did he feel a little better.
“Come with me for now.”
Lancel took Marigold by the arm and brought her to his lodging.
* * *
That night, Lancel and Marigold exchanged full accounts of everything that had happened.
“Benefactor, did you... come looking for me?”
“Why else would I come all the way to a place where I know no one?”
Marigold's expression was a sight to behold. It kept wavering between laughter and tears.
“If you want to make money, return to the family first. Get proper investments again and rebuild little by little. You know it's impossible to do it by yourself, no matter how long you run gambling scams.”
“Y-you aren't going to throw me out?”
“Would you like me to?”
If he had merely waited around for one year, none of this would have happened. There was only one reason he had traveled such an enormous distance.
‘I had a feeling something like this would happen.’
This was what déjà vu meant. Marigold always immediately strayed down some strange path whenever he left her alone.
“We're leaving as soon as the sun rises tomorrow, so remember that.”
“...Yes.”
Marigold lowered her head and answered, then fumbled around and took something out.
“This.”
“...?”
“Tea leaves famous in the Dovern region...”
“...”
She had lost all her money, yet she still had those. Lancel let out a hollow laugh.
In the end, Lancel drank the tea Marigold had wanted him to drink so badly. It had a pleasant fragrance that made him gradually sleepy.
As the night deepened, Marigold moved close against him. Her warmth slowly seeped through Lancel's cold arm.
“Benefactor.”
Marigold's swollen, bruised face moved closer to his.
She looked miserable, but light had returned to her eyes.
“I will start again. This time, I will succeed and definitely become a wealthy magnate. No.”
Yes, yes.
Make sure you do.
Though he would regress in a few months.
“I will become the richest person in the Empire. And I will have you too, Benefactor!”
“...? Why would you have me?”
“Because that's what a wealthy magnate does.”
What a miserly thing to say.
“When that time comes... you'll stay with me, right, Benefactor?”
Marigold's voice was desperate. Lancel gave the same answer again.
“I will think about it positively.”
* * *
The next morning, Lancel and Marigold set off on a journey that would take several months. It was a long trip around the continent, returning to House Dante.
They felt the approach of summer, sometimes wandered off course and relaxed, and did not particularly want to do anything. Yet whenever they came to their senses, time had passed in a flash.
It was that sort of leisurely journey.
“We're almost there, Benefactor.”
On a flower-covered hill, Marigold smiled brightly with a flower crown resting on her head.
It was already June.
The day Marigold turned twenty-five.
“Aaagh! Bees! Benefactor, bees! Bumblebees! Eeeek!”
“Take off what you have on your head.”
“But it's such a waste...!”
And so ten years passed.
.
.
.
[Play Time: 10 years, 0 days]
- Marigold has turned twenty-five.
- There is no marriage partner.
- Achievements acquired.
▶ First Experience (Partner: Lancel Dante) +1,000 points.
▷ Achieved Wealth +100 points.
▶ New Sex Appeal Record +50 points.
▷ Merchant Company Owner Title +50 points.
- Achievements total 1,700 points.
- One use of Inheritance of Memories has been accumulated.
- Points remaining until the next Inheritance of Memories. (200/1,500 points)
[Normal Ending 82. Pleasure Chancellor Marigold]
- The ending has been added to the Album of Memories.
- Opening album.
.
.
.
Welcome to the City of Pleasure.
Amid the war that swept across the Empire, Marigold ultimately earned countless gold coins and claimed the honor of becoming the greatest wealthy magnate of all.
Luxury.
Joy.
Pleasure.
Gambling.
Moneylending.
A land where all things related to money gathered.
There was nowhere beyond her reach in this vast City of Pleasure, built beyond the Empire on the edge of the continent.
Even royalty from minor kingdoms came running to borrow money here. Welcome to the City of Pleasure of the Mary Company.
‘Hehe, House Dante has already borrowed so much money from me. What will you do, Benefactor? You've become someone who can't do anything without me.’
Marigold's eyes still burned with desire today.
‘That's right. Just forget about the crumbling Empire. Benefactor only has to live with me. On this land, forever...!’
The eyes of a burning beast.
The desire to have whatever she wants.
It descends upon her longtime benefactor.
‘Hehehe, come here.’
She did not seem to be in her right mind.
[Pleasure Chancellor Marigold - fin]
- Restarting the game.
- Use one Inheritance of Memories?
.
.
.
“What is this?”
Lancel could not hide his bewilderment.
The absurd ending was nothing new, so that was fine. Her Sex Appeal had shot through the roof. He had known this would happen.
The problem was the strange achievement called First Experience. Lancel definitely had no memory of anything like that.
Seriously.
If it had happened, it must have been Marigold's doing. He did not know how, but she had definitely done something.
That was not all that bothered him.
‘Inheritance of Memories?’
The term gave Lancel an ominous feeling.
And then...
“Young master, that girl over there is the new maid. Her name is Mary.”
“...?”
Marigold came to find him.
[Wealthy Marigold - END]
[NEXT - Inheritance Run 1, Lancel Behind the Scenes]
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