WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Potter
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◈ The Protagonist of a Romance Fantasy Only Likes Me ◈
Chapter 7: Warrior Marigold. (2)
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3.
Pant, pant!
As soon as Marigold saw the sun setting, she raced through the streets. The moment she arrived at the inn, someone barked at her.
“Mary! Why are you only getting here now? Hurry up and start cleaning the bathhouse.”
“Yes!”
At seventeen, her palms were wrapped thickly in clean white bandages.
She wore them to prevent injuries from swinging a wooden sword every day, and they had become one of her defining features.
“They always dump the hardest job, cleaning the bathhouse, on you, miss. They really are awful people.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. If I think of it as part of my training, it doesn’t bother me.”
Mary rolled up her sleeves.
Firm muscles showed beneath her smooth, lean skin. Her body had been honed through several months of grueling practice and training.
“Heh heh, Miss Mary?”
She sensed someone behind her.
“You’re lovely every time I see you, Miss Mary. How about giving me a bath sometime?”
He reached a hand toward Mary, who was busily cleaning.
The instant his hand was about to touch her skin, Marigold vanished from his sight. All he could see was the floor and ceiling flipping upside down.
Gah!
A pained groan burst from the man.
Nngh...
“What are you doing? Didn’t you hear a noise?”
A middle-aged waitress rushed in after hearing the crash. Mary hurriedly waved her hands.
“Oh, no. This gentleman suddenly fell over... all by himself.”
“Really?”
“M-Miss Mary is right.”
Perhaps his pride would not allow him to admit that he had tried to grope her and been thrown to the floor, so the man agreed with Mary.
“Honestly, that’s what you get for wandering into a bathhouse while it’s being cleaned. Get out already!”
“My legs have no strength right now...”
“Then crawl out!”
“Fine, fine.”
Watching the man actually crawl away, Marigold let out a breath of relief.
This was not the first time something like this had happened at the inn. Young waitresses were always targets for men’s advances, and some men were truly persistent.
This was why Marigold had decided to learn swordsmanship from her master. She needed enough skill to protect herself, at least. In the capital, that came in quite handy.
Ptoo! Ptoo! “What low-class men. I wish you’d just quit this job, miss.”
“Then I’d have no choice but to work at a tavern or in the red-light district. It would be much worse there.”
“Ugh! Are places like that the only jobs in the capital? I’m worried about you, miss.”
Pina fumed, but there was nothing they could do.
Marigold had only settled in the capital two years ago. She was lucky to have found even this kind of work.
“Are you done cleaning? Then get something to eat and rest.”
“Yes.”
Just as she took a moment to catch her breath, loud voices erupted in the inn.
“They’re giving mercenaries a base wage? What bullshit! They’re obviously scammers, you idiot.”
“I’m telling you, I heard it for real. They looked like some clueless country bumpkin fresh from the countryside.”
“A noble? Or a rich man?”
“Both.”
“...Where did you say it was?”
Marigold stopped with a spoonful of porridge halfway to her mouth and pricked up her ears.
“The Lancel Mercenary Guild, or something.”
Thump.
Something stirred strongly inside Marigold. It was a familiar name. A name she had seen in her dreams. The source of that strange feeling that sometimes made her toss and turn at night.
Lancel.
“You should hurry before all the spots are filled. I hear they aren’t recruiting many. Isn’t it about time you quit your courier job too?”
“Yeah. I’ve always been the sort of person meant to make a living by the sword. Even if I look like this now, back in the day...”
Marigold put down her spoon.
Pina tilted her head after noticing the strange look on her face.
“Miss?”
“Pina. Should I quit the inn?”
“What?”
4.
As soon as morning came, a large crowd gathered in front of the mercenary guild.
Most were already mercenaries, had handled swords before, or were men who claimed to be strong.
“How many do you think came, Hestie?”
“It looks like just under a hundred.”
“That’s quite a lot.”
“Of course it is. You said you would guarantee one silver coin every week to people who starve to death or turn to banditry when they have no work.”
“Even I think that’s an exceptional offer.”
Lancel gave a faint smile.
There was only one requirement to participate in the Escort Event: how well one had completed the five most recently resolved commissions.
In the game, commission results were graded from S to F, and the requirement was an average rating of at least B.
Still, it would look a little ridiculous for him, the guild master, to resolve commissions himself. He needed to recruit several mercenaries who could actually do the work.
Yes.
Marigold included.
She’s nowhere to be seen. Had she not come today?
Well, if she had not, he could always pull some strings to bring her in.
Lancel decided to focus on recruiting mercenaries for now.
“Are you ready?”
“Yes, leave it to us.”
The examiners were the three guards Lancel had carefully selected. They would choose recruits by crossing blades with them directly.
“Let’s start.”
“Yes, Young Master. Bring them in three at a time!”
“Come in one at a time! No cutting in line. Enter in the order you arrived!”
One swaggering man after another appeared before the examiners.
After that, everything proceeded quickly.
“You’re terrible! Rejected!”
“Next!”
Aaargh!
“Quit exaggerating!”
No matter how much experience the mercenaries had, they could not compete with guards who had held swords their whole lives.
Even in the game, guards were at least Advanced Soldiers. The guards Lancel had brought were roughly Elite Soldiers. There was simply too great a difference in skill between them and amateur mercenaries who had done some brawling here and there.
“Go easy on them. Easy.”
The guards seemed to be enjoying the chance to relieve their stress on people.
“At this rate, there will be more people carried away than recruited.”
Lancel gave no answer to Hestie and took a sip of tea.
============
- Imperial Year 818, June 3. The weather is perfectly clear.
- A random event, “The Prince’s Outing,” has occurred. (Location: outskirts of the Empire, Lancel Mercenary Guild.)
============
Pfft!
“...Young Master.”
“Sorry. Wipe it with this.”
“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”
“You misunderstand.”
Hestie wiped away the tea that had sprayed from Lancel’s mouth with a handkerchief, wearing a displeased expression.
The Prince’s Outing. At a time like this? More importantly, why here?
Lancel was about to hurry away, but just before he could slip off, a voice came from beside him.
“A mercenary guild founded by a noble is not much different after all.”
It felt as though his heart had frozen.
The voice had come from right beside him.
“Justia. I am a wastrel who merely stopped by while passing through. I heard there was an interesting spectacle, so I came to take a look. Honestly, it falls short of my expectations.”
Justia.
An alias.
Lancel knew the man’s name.
Yuri Langris Freesia.
In the game, he had only been labeled the Third Prince. Now, he stood close enough to touch Lancel, his hat pulled low over his face.
Lancel sharpened his senses. He could feel a faintly inscribed mana barrier around the Third Prince’s body. No wonder he had not sensed him.
“It must be a little boring for such an excellent mage to watch.”
“...”
“There is no need to be so surprised. I simply have good instincts.”
He saw a strange glint in the man’s eyes beneath his hat.
“Instincts? This is the first I’ve heard of someone realizing another is a mage through nothing more than that.”
Lancel felt an invisible force closing around his throat. It was a blade of mana, a force that could cut even steel if its owner wished it.
Anyone who could sense that murderous intent would have had their legs give out.
Lancel did not blink once.
After testing him for a moment, Yuri, the Third Prince, withdrew his mana.
“I was disappointed because this seemed like an ordinary mercenary guild, but you seem rather interesting yourself, Sir Lancel.”
Did he come here for a contest of wills?
Lancel did his best to avoid Yuri’s prickling gaze.
“Next!”
Then a familiar face appeared before him.
“A woman?”
“Isn’t that the girl who worked at the inn nearby?”
Murmurs rose around them.
She came. Marigold.
Lancel took in how much she had changed.
Leather trousers suited for movement, a blouse fitted closely to her body, thick leather boots, and leather gauntlets.
Her muscular body formed graceful curves, toned and free of any unnecessary softness.
She looks completely different from when I saw her at fifteen.
Eat well, and you grow well.
Train, and your body improves.
It was exactly the kind of body one would expect from Marigold, who had been born with limitless potential.
“Hmm.”
============
- An encounter event has occurred. “Third Prince Yuri Langris Freesia” takes an interest in Marigold.
============
Yuri stroked his chin.
“A woman like that is a mercenary.”
Women working as mercenaries were not uncommon.
The issue was that Marigold did not look like the sort of woman who would work as a mercenary.
One of the examiners approached her.
“Your name?”
“Mary. Please treat me well.”
“Fine. Choose the examiner you want to face and stand before them.”
“Yes!”
Marigold strode toward the three examiners lined up before her. Everyone watched intently to see whom she would choose.
“What?”
“Where is she going...?”
She walked past the examiners. Without stopping, she went straight to the man leaning against the reception counter.
“...?”
“Please spar with me, Sir Lancel Dante.”
Her gaze burned with heat.
For a moment, Lancel was at a loss for words as Marigold came to stand before him.
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