WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Potter
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◈ The Protagonist of a Romance Fantasy Only Likes Me ◈
Chapter 9: Warrior Marigold. (4)
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7.
Countless emotions pass between two blades the instant they clash. Sweat mingles, rough breaths are exchanged, and bloodshot eyes watch one another. From all of it comes a sense of unity.
When Lancel first possessed someone in this world as a child, before he was trapped in the prison of Infinite Regression, his old master taught him that this was the Way of the Warrior.
A bond gained through fighting.
His master had been a believer in that way. No, a fanatic.
How fanatical? They claimed that true love was born from fighting the person before you as though you meant to kill them. They were the sort of person who, without a hint of a joke, said dueling was better than sex.
Of course, public opinion held that they only said such things because they were a war-crazed lunatic.
Today, Lancel felt as though he understood its meaning a little.
"Hyah!"
The emotions carried in the sword hilt Marigold swung at him were a tangled mass of countless unresolved uncertainties.
The sword tip flying at him in disarray was still full of hesitation. From her hand to her shoulder, her waist to her knees, the tips of her feet to the crown of her head, every tiny tremor remained unrestrained.
It was almost inevitable that Lancel would clearly sense her uncertainty through the exchange.
"If you take up a sword, don't hesitate, Mary. Look straight at the person in front of you."
Lancel changed his stance, wooden sword in hand.
"Right now, there are only two people in this world. You and me."
"...!"
His sword stood upright as he turned sideways. It was as though the blade concealed his entire body.
Marigold felt as though she stood before not a person, but a single sword.
"That is..."
The Third Prince's mouth fell slightly open.
"Old Imperial swordsmanship."
Lancel's body blurred for an instant. Almost at the same time, an overwhelming shock swept through the Third Prince.
"Urk!"
The Third Prince hurriedly covered his mouth. He had felt the impact when Lancel's wooden sword struck Marigold twice.
"Eek... Huh?"
Marigold, expecting pain, looked dazed.
"I went easy on you. Easy."
That was a lie. He had struck her in earnest.
Of course, Marigold had no way of knowing. At this moment, every bit of damage she suffered belonged to the Third Prince.
Lancel had no reason to hesitate any longer.
The wooden sword relentlessly drove into Marigold's openings. Whether she counterattacked or retreated, Lancel followed her like a shadow and continued pressing forward.
"What in the world..."
"What's... what's happening?"
The mercenaries' faces were full of confusion.
"Your skill has improved, young master."
"Improved enough to call it that? This is simply... He's a completely different person."
Even the guards' faces twitched.
Objectively speaking, Lancel's swordsmanship was not especially flashy. It was simply efficient to the extreme. It was simply more cunning than anyone could anticipate.
"Mary."
============
Warning! The Third Prince's remaining mana has fallen below 50%. If his mana is depleted, Overflow will be forcibly terminated.
Marigold's Mental Strength and Stamina have greatly decreased. Her condition has fallen below the standard threshold.
============
"I'll end this quickly."
Each time the wooden sword struck Mary, the red ring in her eyes gradually faded.
Remaining mana: 35%.
Clatter!
"Are you all right?"
The Third Prince swayed behind them, and Hestie hurriedly caught him.
Cold sweat now covered the Third Prince's face.
"How can a human without a trace of mana... defeat my magic...?"
His eyes trembled without focus.
Even if she had worked at an inn, she was still better trained than most novice mercenaries.
And from the moment Overflow, a high-rank spell, had been used, she was no longer merely human. She was practically a monster, comparable to a demonic beast.
Yet someone could subdue such a person through swordsmanship alone? The Third Prince had never seen anyone like that. Not once.
"Lancel, Dan... te...!"
Feeling his mana drain away in an instant, the Third Prince slowly collapsed to the ground.
It was the first time since early childhood, when he had been called a natural genius of magic, that he had experienced mana exhaustion.
Remaining mana: 10%.
Remaining mana: 9%.
Remaining mana: 8%... 5%.
As Lancel's sword swung for the last time, their wooden swords crossed and shattered at once.
Amid the scattering wood chips, the color vanished from Marigold's eyes for an instant.
Lancel caught her falling body with both hands and held her close. He could feel the heat radiating from her, as if she were burning.
He met Marigold's damp, shining eyes.
"Mary, why did you come at me?"
We'd never met before.
That was what Lancel wanted to ask.
"...Because I wanted to know."
Marigold's exhausted lips slowly parted. Her voice, after expending her stamina and mental energy to the limit, was so faint that he might miss it if he did not listen closely.
"You wanted to know? Know what?"
"What kind of... person... the person in my dreams... is."
Dreams?
Lancel could not ask anything more. At that point, Marigold's eyes fully closed.
But he understood what it meant.
Does she have memories of a previous cycle?
Even if they were incomplete, it sounded as though fragments of memory remained inside her. Otherwise, there was no reason for her to attack someone she had only just met, or to say something like that.
Lancel silently studied Marigold's face. Compared to when he had first seen her, her body had grown so much that she was almost unrecognizable.
Yet in his arms, she was somehow far too light.
She felt as though she might scatter at any moment.
* * *
Ghack!
The Third Prince shook off Hestie's support and staggered into an alley. A black clot of blood spilled from his mouth onto the ground.
It seemed he had suffered internal injuries from losing mana too quickly.
"Ha ha ha."
The Third Prince wiped his mouth and gave a hollow laugh.
"A knight who wields the sword of the Old Empire... Father would have liked him, if he were still alive."
A smile mixed with countless complicated emotions lingered on his lips.
8.
Lancel gently laid Marigold on the bed.
Or rather, he tried to.
It was difficult to pry off the girl clinging to him like a leech. Her grip was unbelievable for someone who had collapsed from exhaustion.
Lancel had been about to force her down, but changed his mind.
She'll let go on her own if I leave her alone.
In the end, Lancel climbed onto the bed with her. Her body was damp with sweat and full of heat, carrying the scent of wild grass.
A scent he had missed.
Lancel closed his eyes.
He remembered himself when he had first opened his eyes in this world. A time when he knew nothing, when everything in this world was unfamiliar.
...
When someone has lived for around two hundred years, old memories can fade. But there are also memories that can never be forgotten.
The Imperial Princess.
If anything, they returned more vividly when he closed his eyes.
"Be happy, Lancel."
The Lancel in his memories was held in someone's arms. That person had carried this exact scent too. The scent of wild grass.
"Just as you were my happiness."
The tighter Marigold's arms held him, the clearer it became.
The scent from that moment.
The cool breeze.
Even the orange hills beneath the setting sun.
"Someday, you too..."
Lancel could not bring himself to push Marigold away, and remained like that for a long time.
By now, Pina, her familiar, was probably making a fuss. Some unrelated man was holding their master in his arms, after all.
This isn't my fault. Your master is the one holding on.
When he tried to pull away slightly, her arms somehow tightened around him.
In the end, Lancel could not escape her hold until sundown.
9.
The next day.
"Take this, Marigold. A copper badge."
When Marigold came to the guild again after regaining consciousness, Lancel handed her an badge made of copper.
Marigold stared at it blankly, as though she had not expected it.
"C-Can I really accept this, um, Captain?"
"...Call me Master."
"Master."
"I wasn't planning to give you one either."
Lancel shook his head as he looked around at the other mercenaries who had received iron badges.
"The average level is that awful."
They all looked away at once.
Even Lancel had not expected this.
No matter how hastily they had been gathered, he had not thought the average level of the capital's mercenaries would be this low. Only one had received a silver badge or higher, and even those who received copper badges could barely be counted on two hands.
"A copper badge..."
Marigold's face flushed as she looked at the badge in her hand.
"Wh-When can I start taking commissions?"
"You can start today if you want. Why?"
"...Things are a little tight for me right now..."
At Marigold's shrinking voice, Lancel barely held back the words, Should I lend her some money?
No, no. What if she marries me again? She's someone who'll become an imperial consort one day.
Anyone hearing him would think he was deeply narcissistic, but what could he do? It had really happened before.
After thinking for a moment, Lancel beckoned Hestie.
"Hestie, find Mary a commission first."
"There aren't many suitable jobs for someone with only a copper badge. Guard duty, catching thieves, sewer cleaning, dealing with debtors, handling vicious brothel customers, things like that."
"I'll do them! I'll do anything!"
As she said that, Marigold glanced at Lancel.
What?
Lancel could not understand why she was watching his reaction.
"Give me all of them! I'll do everything!"
"One at a time. One at a time."
Lancel found the way Marigold kept looking at him strangely unsettling, but he could only dismiss it as his imagination.
...I haven't done anything wrong again, have I?
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