WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Potter
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Protagonist of a Romance Fantasy Only Likes Me ◈
Chapter 36: Inheritance Run 1, Lancel Behind the Scenes. (4)
──────
7.
Come to think of it, Lancel had not held particularly high expectations or worries for Marigold, the regressor.
Watching her live a carefree life at Baron Evil Shen’s estate made it difficult to feel otherwise.
He had not thought much of Marigold’s alias, Lemon Verbena, which clearly could not have any real substance behind it.
‘When someone regresses for the first time, they’re bound to do strange things like that.’
Whenever he received another letter carried by a raven, that was all Lancel thought.
Like an old regressor watching a newbie regressor...
Wasn’t that about it?
A life without much danger, but without opportunity as well.
This iteration of Marigold’s life seemed likely to end somewhere around there. If he did not intervene, it probably would.
...At least, that was what he had thought until yesterday.
============
Fame Event Complete! Fifty gold coins have been donated to the Imperial Household Church of Martyrdom in the name of “Marigold”!
============
“...Am I still asleep?”
Lancel doubted his own eyes.
‘Fifty gold coins? Not silver coins. Fifty gold coins?’
The notification that Marigold had donated the enormous sum of fifty gold coins lingered before his eyes like an illusion.
He had not misread it.
It was fifty gold coins.
Exactly one week had passed since the letter he had sent to Lemon Verbena without the slightest expectation, instructing them to have the maid Marigold granted a baronet title.
One week. Just one week.
For reference, during that time, Marigold had diligently spent every day as the usual freeloading maid, eating and loafing around.
So when had she done this?
What on earth had she done?
‘What the hell have you been doing, Marigold!’
Around then, strange phenomena began appearing around Lancel.
8.
“Look at this, Sir Lancel. Don’t you notice anything special?”
“...?”
Lancel squinted at Baron Evil Shen, who had suddenly appeared before him with a smug expression.
He had not expected the potbellied nouveau riche to suddenly demand an appraisal of his clothes, so his displeasure showed on his face.
“Why are you reacting like that? You’re embarrassing me.”
“...What would you like me to say?”
“Ah, look at this. This.”
A necklace hung where he pointed. Something familiar to Lancel’s eye had been strung all over it.
“Coral?”
“Just as I thought, you know your stuff! If you knew, why pretend you didn’t? It’s coral. Coral brought all the way from the distant coast.”
It was a necklace made by stringing together colorful pieces of coral.
When dried and kept in a pouch, it gave off a cool fragrance, so for archipelago residents, it served as something like an air freshener. Lancel had worn something similar while writing his seafood travelogue.
‘How did this get all the way here?’
Lancel looked at the necklace with equal parts delight and curiosity that it had made its way to the imperial capital.
“If you need some, just say so. These days, the imperial capital’s nobles treat anyone without one as hopelessly behind the times.”
“Yes... But how did something from such a distant region suddenly become fashionable?”
“Not long ago, when one or two nobles started carrying it around, I wondered what sort of strange object it was. But apparently, even His Highness the Prince wears one. After that, it spread in no time.”
A prince wore something like that? Lancel wondered whether he was seeing such odd developments only because he had regressed so many times.
‘What a strange trend.’
...His thoughts changed soon after.
Baron Evil Shen came rushing back to the estate.
“Damn it, I should have bought some in advance! If I’d known this would happen, I would have stocked up!”
“Why are you running around and kicking up dust?”
“The coral, coral!”
Though he seemed busy preparing to rush out again, Baron Evil Shen still answered him.
“All the coral headed for the imperial capital was robbed by bandits! They say there’ll be no supply for months. The price has already risen tenfold! Does that make any sense?”
“...How much was it originally?”
“Until recently, it was twenty silver coins per pouch.”
Twenty silver coins per pouch. If it had risen tenfold, that made two gold coins. It certainly was expensive.
“It’ll rise several times higher still. I have to buy some now. Otherwise, I’ll be left watching other people make money! And I can’t stand that!”
Baron Evil Shen stormed away with an armful of money.
It must have made him sick with envy to watch merchants who had stocked up in advance mint gold coins while sitting still.
‘Wait.’
At that moment, Lancel sensed something strange. He glanced down the estate corridor and saw Marigold hiding in a corner after abandoning her cleaning.
“Lulu. Lululu.”
She wriggled her toes and hummed an unidentifiable tune.
‘No way.’
It couldn’t be.
Just look at her.
‘...’
Yet for some reason, suspicion rose in one corner of his heart.
‘Perhaps I’m overthinking it.’
* * *
“...That happened.”
“Yes, Sir Lancel.”
The next day, Lancel immediately summoned a man to the estate. He was the master of the Thieves’ Guild, a man more knowledgeable than anyone about news from the imperial capital.
“I called you because I’m curious why that item suddenly became fashionable and why its price soared. Do you know anything?”
“That would be because of the nobles’ greed and faith, Sir Lancel.”
“Greed and faith?”
“Yes.”
Greed, he understood. But faith?
As Lancel tilted his head, the Thieves’ Guild master continued.
“You mean this, do you not?”
He rummaged through a pouch and took out a pouch of coral.
“It may be nothing more than a luxury good now, but when it first became known, it was called a holy relic that defeated demons.”
“A holy relic? Coral?”
Lancel furrowed his brow.
“Isn’t it just something that smells nice?”
“It is, actually. But according to the nobles, they threw this at a demon, and the thing was knocked out in one blow. It’s only a rumor, though.”
“...How did such a superstition spread?”
“That’s what I’d like to know. There were simply so many nobles insisting they had seen it themselves that what else could anyone do? Everyone just accepted it.”
The Thieves’ Guild master poured the coral from the pouch into his palm.
“They say they scattered this over a moving corpse, and it collapsed and turned to dust. Believe it or not, after that, it became known as a holy relic that defeated demons.”
A moving corpse.
‘Black Magic.’
The shock that struck his mind nearly made Lancel lose his senses for a moment.
Baron Evil Shen had not heard this part. He was someone who never believed in superstition unless he had seen it himself.
But Lancel knew.
There was a black mage who had recently made a suspiciously large amount of money. A black mage who had accumulated such immense wealth that she could casually donate fifty gold coins to the Imperial Household Church of Martyrdom.
‘Marigold, this was your doing.’
She had spread superstition using Black Magic, then even made money from it.
“Not long after that, a trading company began supplying the imperial capital with coral in large quantities...”
The Thieves’ Guild master spoke again.
“They gave free shares in the company to several important people, and from then on, it became wildly fashionable.”
“So the owner of that trading company understood well that sharing profits with nobles would make more money.”
“That’s right.”
“Is that why you called it greed and faith?”
“Yes. You understand quickly, as expected.”
“Don’t flatter me.”
“Ah, yes.”
Lancel suddenly became curious.
“What trading company is it?”
“Well...”
The Thieves’ Guild master scratched his head.
“No one knows that.”
.
.
.
“Benefactor.”
Marigold’s eyes glimmered in the darkness.
“Lancel.”
There was not just one of her. Countless Marigolds suddenly emerged around Lancel, all beginning to cling to him.
“Master.”
“Fellow believer.”
“Young Master Lancel.”
Heavy.
Countless Marigolds’ arms wound around his body like snakes. For some reason, he could not move at all.
“Heh heh heh, come here!”
After twisting his body for a long time beneath the assault of Marigolds surging in from every direction, Lancel suddenly opened his eyes.
“...”
The next thing he noticed was himself lying on a sofa. It seemed that he had fallen deeply asleep while taking a short rest.
“A dream?”
A nightmare, perhaps.
His throat felt parched.
As Lancel reached for the nearby water bottle, he suddenly noticed something.
“Mmm.”
Marigold was pressed tightly against his side. Still dressed in her maid uniform, she lay beside him, drooling as she slept.
Could it be?
Was this the source of the nightmare?
“Hey.”
She did not react even when he pinched her cheek.
How dared a maid cling to a noble?
Lancel flicked her forehead.
Flick!
“Eek!”
After that, Marigold was assigned punishment cleaning for a month.
It was Lancel’s order.
10.
Dark Hood.
That dawn, Lancel quickly snatched up and read the letter delivered by a raven.
As instructed, a person named Mary has joined our secret organization as an executive. Since she was recommended by Lancel Dante, she seems outstanding in many ways.
‘She’s praising herself.’
I heard she is receiving punishment cleaning for a small mistake. Since she is a good person, perhaps you could forgive her generously.
‘...?’
Having personally checked, I can confirm that she is deeply remorseful. She is so upset that she has refused even walks and snacks for two days. I would be most grateful if broad-minded Lancel could overlook this just once.
How pathetic, Marigold.
The shamelessness of appealing for leniency while relying on the false identity of Lemon Verbena.
Lancel curled one corner of his mouth and muttered, “Not a chance.”
A month of punishment cleaning was already merciful considering she had given him nightmares.
P.S. Our first meeting is scheduled for one week from now. If possible, please be sure to attend. Please approach in disguise so that your identity will not be exposed.
From Lemon Verbena of Dark Hood.
“A meeting?”
Without hesitation, he picked up a quill. He wanted to know what sort of place Marigold’s secret organization truly was.
Once he expressed his intention to attend, a reply with the meeting place and date soon came back.
Location: Baron Evil Shen’s estate.
Time: Midnight, one week from now.
“It’s here.”
Surely she had not chosen this place because going farther away was troublesome? He could not help but suspect it reasonably. Midnight was also the time when Marigold, whose days and nights frequently reversed, would be lounging around most actively.
‘...How did someone like this make so much money...?’
In any case, a week passed in an instant.
When the date of the meeting arrived...
============
Encounter Event Occurred! You have met “Third Prince Yuri Langris Freesia.”
Encounter Event Occurred! You have met “Second Prince Arwen Louis Freesia.”
============
Lancel met two princes there.
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
