WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Potter
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Protagonist of a Romance Fantasy Only Likes Me ◈
Chapter 6: Warrior Marigold. (1)
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0.
“Miss, how long are you going to sleep?”
Marigold woke with a flutter of her eyelids.
She could feel Pina, the winged fairy, tugging hard at her cheeks.
The smell of hay filled her nose. She was in an old stable.
“We’re supposed to leave for the Imperial Capital, and you’re sleeping peacefully in here? At this rate, we’ll miss the train!”
“Mmm, it’s tomorrow anyway. We still have a whole day left... Aghhh.”
Pina tugged at her cheek again.
“Only one day, Miss. One day! If we’re late, we’ll have to take a ship instead of the train.”
“Ugh, I know. Stop yelling.”
“You haven’t forgotten that we only rented this stable until this morning, have you?”
“Ah!”
Marigold sprang up from the pile of hay. The horse beside her snorted.
There was water she had collected the night before by her head.
She pushed aside the horse that was taking a drink and quickly washed her face. Once the sleepiness faded, she remembered the night before.
“I had that strange dream again.”
“A dream?”
“Yeah.”
A dream.
No.
“Was it really a dream?”
“They say you dream a lot while you’re growing.”
Marigold looked at her reflection in the water bowl and remembered that familiar dream.
It was a place that looked like an art gallery where time had stopped, with countless paintings hanging on the walls. Marigold had already seen that sight several times.
[Album of Memories]
-1. What Kind of Life Is This, Marigold?
-2. Marigold, Victim of War.
-3. There Are All Kinds of Ways to Die.
-4. Are You the Owner of a Restaurant, Marigold?
.
.
.
-15. The Plucky Maid, Marigold.
-16. Marigold, Framed.
-17. Poor Fallen Noble Lady Marigold.
-18. Overwork Is Bad for You, Marigold.
-19. Marriage to Young Noble “Lancel Dante.”
Every painting showed the same woman, whether as a child or a young woman. Marigold instinctively knew they were all images of herself.
Beneath the paintings ran descriptions she could not understand.
============
Ending 18. Overwork Is Bad for You, Marigold.
You increased your part-time jobs from three to four to overcome poverty. But you failed to realize that nothing was more precious than your health. In the end, your wish to sleep to your heart’s content came true.
============
A nightmare.
Marigold considered it a nightmare.
What else could a dream showing “Marigold’s final moments,” ending in death, loneliness, or nothing at all, be?
There was only one thing that troubled her.
The final painting.
Marriage to Young Noble “Lancel Dante.”
“Lancel Dante.”
Marigold quietly repeated the name she had seen in her dream.
For some reason, a suffocating feeling tightened around her heart.
It was an emotion she had never felt before.
“Miss, why are you crying? Miss? Did I say something too harsh? I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”
“No, Pina didn’t do anything wrong...”
Marigold wiped away her tears.
She carved the name Lancel Dante deep into her heart.
1.
“The Imperial Capital is a miniature of the continent. In the end, all power gathers there, clashes, competes, and divides up its territory.”
One reason Lancel had avoided Rodnis, the Imperial Capital, was the countless opinions people had of the place.
It would have been easy to dismiss those sayings about losing your nose if you went to the capital as the usual provincial resentment toward city people. But even Lancel’s own family shuddered whenever Rodnis was mentioned.
“Rodnis is where nobles wrapped up in desire and pettiness thrive. Even now, I grind my teeth whenever I think about what happened there. They’re like filthy rags that fell into a barn latrine.”
Whenever Lancel’s mother, Lady Nirvia Dante, had a drink, she would remember the place and curse in the foulest language.
It would not be an exaggeration to say he learned most of the vulgar language used in this world by listening to his mother tear apart the capital’s nobles.
“Mother, you were born and raised in the Imperial Capital, so why do you grind your teeth whenever you think of it? It’s still your hometown.”
When he asked out of curiosity, his mother’s eyes grew wistful.
“My son. As you know, your mother was once an innocent person who pursued nothing but pure love.”
That meant she had dated several men.
At the same time.
“But most of the capital’s scoundrels were different. They pursued love only for bloodlines. They did not care who the man before them was or what sort of soul he possessed. Do you truly think that is love?”
“I don’t know. Couldn’t pursuing a better bloodline also be a form of love?”
“You should have seen those damn bitches flocking around just to meet His Highness the Prince.”
He had seen it.
During several of his lives in the Imperial Capital.
It had felt almost like a fan club.
“Soul to soul, eye to eye. Finding the true love within is the path to happiness. Remember that, my son.”
“Then what would you do if I married a common woman?”
“I would erase you cleanly from the family line. Don’t even dream of it.”
Even his mother, who preached the purity of love, could not accept a commoner.
‘And I’m supposed to pair Marigold with a prince? Is this really a game I can win?’
The difference in status. Countless rivals. The princes’ impossibly lofty personalities. On top of that, the daunting barriers of high society.
‘Can she really overcome all that?’
Of course she could.
In the game.
As he remembered, it had not even been particularly difficult.
If she got lucky with random events, their affection would rise steadily until she reached marriage. That was all.
But that was a game.
This was reality.
‘I need to establish myself in the Imperial Capital first. And I’ll probably need money, too.’
Right. Before trying to pair a fallen noble lady with a prince, the problem was that he himself had nothing to offer.
Lancel decided to solve that problem first. He did not care how long it took.
Killing time was one of his specialties.
2.
He suddenly remembered a conversation with the older sister who had made this game.
‘Why are mercenaries guarding the city?’
‘Is that strange?’
‘What?’
He had immediately found himself at a loss for words.
Apparently, his sister had thought mercenaries could do guard work too. Perhaps she had imagined them as something like a security company.
As a result, the Empire still bore the lasting effects of that setting. Most notably, mercenary guilds routinely handled outsourced portions of city security.
The result was that countless sword-wielders wandered the streets, half-legal violence and murder ran rampant, and illegal organizations actually flourished.
Well, that was not his sister’s concern.
* * *
“I never thought you’d be interested in the mercenary business. Isn’t that sort of work rather beneath a knight’s dignity?”
Baron Evil Shen seemed delighted when Lancel said he intended to establish a mercenary organization.
“I often need mercenaries for my business as well. But none of them are trustworthy. If you’re doing it, investing a little money is nothing.”
“Then would thirty gold coins be possible?”
“Would that be difficult between us? But does Viscount Dante know?”
“Of course Viscount Dante doesn’t know.”
“Excellent. Let’s keep it that way.”
Having secured the money with ease, Lancel first purchased a large building on the outskirts of Rodnis.
He set up a reception desk on the first floor and lodgings on the second and third floors, making it clear at a glance that this was a large mercenary guild.
Hiring staff and mercenaries was not difficult.
Lancel had brought many servants with him when he left the family estate. There were twelve of his most trustworthy people.
“Do I only need to sit here, young master?”
Once he placed a maid at the reception desk and had his burliest servants sit inside, it looked like a mercenary guild to anyone who saw it.
[Lancel Mercenary Guild]
The servants looked quite puzzled as Lancel admired the sign, but none complained. They were the most reliable servants from all his previous lives.
Among them was an elderly guard. Lancel had brought the guard along for a somewhat unusual task.
“If you go to 31st Street in the Imperial Capital, you will find a child named Mary. Find her and teach her swordsmanship.”
“As you command.”
“Aren’t you going to ask why?”
“If it is something you are doing, young master, I’m sure you have your reasons. I have been feeling lonely lately, so I think this will be good.”
The result appeared the very next day.
============
Imperial Calendar, March 3, 818. Cloudy.
Event triggered! “The Goal Is Swordmaster!”
※Starting today, you will receive basic swordsmanship training.
============
It was common for Marigold to learn swordsmanship or magic.
At least, in the game.
But it was not easy for a young noble lady to suddenly decide she wanted to learn the sword in reality, so Lancel had forced the situation into being.
One month later.
============
Imperial Calendar, April 9, 818. Clear.
Marigold has mastered basic swordsmanship training.
※Starting today, you may receive beginner swordsmanship training.
============
“Already?”
Another two months passed.
============
Imperial Calendar, June 1, 818. Rain.
Marigold has mastered beginner swordsmanship training.
※Starting today, you may receive intermediate swordsmanship training.
※The available part-time job interviews have been updated. Guard, soldier, mercenary, training instructor, bandit, and traveler have been added.
============
‘...Could she be a genius?’
Lancel was almost surprised by Marigold’s accomplishments, which had come far faster than he expected.
When he called in Marigold’s swordsmanship instructor and asked, the guard replied with swimming eyes.
“I have already passed on nearly everything I possess to that child, young master. I have nothing left to teach. It is heartbreaking. My accomplishments and skills are so lacking. It is heartbreaking.”
“...”
The lament of someone who could no longer teach their student.
Thinking that the protagonist truly was different, Lancel quietly patted the guard’s shoulder.
“Young master.”
That was when he heard the maid’s voice from behind him. It was Hestie, the woman who had been with Lancel since his previous life.
“A request arrived at the mercenary guild today. But the sender is... Their Excellency the Court Count.”
It had come.
Lancel knew that his investment had finally paid off.
One of the game’s most likely events, the “Escort Event,” had safely reached him.
‘This is not a request sent by the Court Count. This is...’
The request itself was simple.
Find a missing man and woman, then bring them to the Imperial Capital. The deadline was within one year.
“Hestie, start recruiting mercenaries today.”
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