Succession Round 2, Lord Ransel. (7)

13.

Mercenaries and bandits.

Over a hundred people were entangled in a chaotic mess of exchanging blades.

Lancel looked at the man called the Demon King once more.

“Kuhahaha! Sweep them all away! Kill them all! They dare to step into this Demon King’s territory!”

From him, there was nothing particularly interesting to note, other than the fact that he was a hideously ugly bandit leader deeply infatuated with his own moniker.

‘Huh?’

Right now, Lancel felt as though his senses were reviving, having come across unexpected information.

==========

-Name: Mid-Level Bandit ‘Avalon.’

-Reward: 30 Gold coins and all spoils.

-Notoriety: Karma Point 5.

==========

“He has Karma?”

What a stroke of luck.

Lancel gestured towards Marigold, who was at the top of a tree.

Pointing at the bandit leader and running his hand across his neck in a very simple and direct message, she nodded.

“Kill them all! Kill them all and cut off their heads to send to Baron Porrland…!”

The bandit leader’s hearty voice abruptly stopped at that point.

Marigold’s two feet, having fallen from the sky, landed lightly on his shoulders.

“What…!”

A dagger was drawn from Marigold’s bosom, who was squatting on his shoulders.

“Be quiet!”

She held the blade to the bandit leader’s nape. It was a series of fluid motions.

“…When did you…!”

“Make your men stop!”

“Eek!”

He wasn’t going to listen nicely. It was a natural reaction, considering he would be sentenced to death if captured alive.

“You bitch…!”

As he resisted and reached for his weapon, Marigold’s blade slashed across his neck.

“Kuh-euk!”

He collapsed, spewing blood.

==========

-You have defeated Mid-Level Bandit Avalon.

-Karma Point has decreased by ‘5 points.’

-Marigold’s current Karma Point: 10 points.

==========

So that’s how it is. It’s deducted by the amount of Karma Points the opponent has accumulated.

‘You should have accumulated at least 15 points, what’s with calling yourself a Demon King with only 5 points.’

Lancel drew his sword from his waist. Karma was meaningless anyway until it hit 0 in one playthrough.

‘I need to resolve that 15 points somehow and end this playthrough.’

It was just a penalty of ‘Initial funds stolen,’ but it wouldn’t be easy for young Marigold.

“Let’s clean up quickly and go get our reward, Mary.”

“I heard Baron Porrland’s son is being held captive.”

“Ah.”

.

.

.

“Thank you! Thank you so much! You are the heroes of our region! Tell me if you need anything!”

Lancel and Marigold, having thoroughly looted the bandit base down to the last speck of dust, were suddenly parading through the streets of Porrland.

Riding in an open palanquin.

“The entire city will accept you as heroes! You’ve returned over twenty captured people to their families!”

Baron Porrland’s enthusiastic fuss, who was almost cut off from his lineage, had created the current situation.

‘This isn’t some kind of triumphal return.’

Sturdy men carrying the palanquin.

Lancel and Marigold riding on it.

Thousands of spectators gathering around.

“Behold! These are the heroes of Porrland who have defeated the notorious bandits! Everyone, remember their faces! Take care of them during the festival!”

Baron Porrland’s repeated shouts.

“Heroes of Porrland!”

“Mercenary couple!”

Even the voices of the Porrland Wise ones, chanting absurd things.

Lancel shuddered in an atmosphere that didn’t suit his temperament, but he didn’t voice any complaints.

“Hello!”

Because of Marigold’s appearance, waving her hand at the surroundings.

She was enjoying this situation.

Shaking hands with the children reaching out, and choking, “Kehek!” as the scattered flower petals entered her mouth.

“Is it that fun?”

“Of course. We’re being praised. Lancel, please don’t be like that and wave your hand a little. Like this!”

Marigold forcibly lifted and waved Lancel’s hand. Cheers erupted from the crowd.

“The hero of Porrland has waved his hand!”

“They say he skinned the bandits alive with that hand!”

“They say he used their intestines for jump rope!”

‘How gruesome.’

When the parade ended.

“Um…”

Baron Porrland approached cautiously with an awkward expression.

“The reward… our financial situation is difficult right now, so we’ll have to pay in installments. Is that alright?”

‘I knew he was being overly enthusiastic.’

So it was hero-making with a purpose. Anyway, the nobles of the Empire were all fox-like schemers.

In the end, only 15 Gold coins out of the 30 Gold coins reward came into Lancel’s possession. He couldn’t force them to cough up what they didn’t have.

Since 15 coins would be enough for the money he would use in the remaining 6 years, it was alright.

“Instead, I’ll cover all the expenses you incur during this festival. Enjoy yourselves to the fullest. Come back in two years to receive the remaining 15 coins!”

“Yes, well. Tch.”

“Please trust the credit of the Porrland family! I will definitely give it to you in two years! Definitely!”

Please don’t come back to receive it. That was written in Baron Porrland’s eyes.

14.

The Porrland Ale Festival.

It was a grand festival as rumored.

Countless people roamed the streets with beer mugs in hand, and meat was constantly being grilled at the stalls set up everywhere.

The bandit group that had troubled the city’s people had also been taken care of. More people than usual were enjoying the festival on the streets.

“Mercenary couple! The heroes of Porrland should get this for free!”

It was only a moment before Marigold’s hands were full of meat skewers and a large beer mug.

Unlike Lancel, who declined most offers and turned away, she didn’t know how to refuse. She readily accepted whatever was given to her.

“Puhah!”

Marigold’s face, flushed with intoxication, was already red.

“Don’t drink too much. You have a bad drinking habit.”

“Surely not!”

But that was all.

Just a festival where he spent the daytime hours with Marigold, going back and forth between the port and the city.

As evening approached, Lancel and Marigold sat down on one side of the plaza.

“I can’t eat anymore, Lancel.”

“It’s natural since you ate that much.”

He patted Marigold’s belly, which was more swollen than usual.

Her beer-filled belly made a hollow sound like a ripe watermelon.

“Hic.”

“…….”

“……I’m sorry.”

Marigold, blushing as if embarrassed, clung to Lancel.

“Let’s pretend I didn’t hear that.”

“But I heard it.”

“Please forget it.”

“I’ll try.”

Marigold’s cheek, clinging to his shoulder, was full of heat. Her body temperature seemed to have risen with the alcohol.

A campfire was being prepared in the Porrland plaza at dusk. The voices of the workers, piling up a huge bonfire one by one, continued to be heard.

‘To find the Demon King within 6 years with this kind of feeling.’

Lancel doubted whether that was even possible, but he didn’t bother to say it out loud.

His current playthrough was solely for Marigold’s sake.

Whatever plan or purpose she had in mind, he was willing to follow along without complaint.

==========

—Imperial Calendar 821, March 25th. Weather mostly clear.

—The excitement of the festival. The voices of children. The cool breeze blowing along the port. The sunset painting the sky red. Everything is engraved in Marigold’s memories.

※To cherish this moment forever, Marigold desperately imprints the scenery of the festival and the presence of her fiancé in her memory. Charm, Sensitivity, Sexiness UP!

==========

“I wish… time could just stop like this forever.”

Marigold suddenly muttered.

The memories of the previous playthrough, where she had lived in a dream with him, came to mind. She had said something similar back then too.

But now it was clearly reality, not a dream.

“We can just come again. They told us to come back to receive the money.”

“I don’t think I’ll have time.”

“Then… in the next life, you bring me here again.”

Lancel said that to the Regressor Marigold. It was a casual remark, slipped out without much thought.

“…….”

Marigold’s eyes wavered, and she couldn’t speak for a long time.

Seeing her expression, where countless emotions were swirling, Lancel tilted his head for a moment.

“That’s right.”

Marigold’s lips parted with difficulty.

“I hadn’t thought of that.”

Time.

Opportunity.

Coincidentally, those were two words that both of them had in abundance.

Finding the Demon King, Marigold’s journey, their lives, there would be many more opportunities in the future. Perhaps infinitely so.

It was okay to make mistakes or waste opportunities by going around in circles. They could just look forward to the next time.

Whether there was a Demon King or a hero or something similar at the end of this road, it didn’t really matter. It was their first time doing this, so it was natural to fail sometimes.

“Ah.”

Lancel suddenly rummaged through his pockets.

There was something he had bought during the festival and forgotten about.

“This.”

“……!”

What Lancel took out was a pair of rings.

“It’s just a cheap one sold at a stall.”

It was a ring made by melting cheap iron. The thing that was embedded as if it were a jewel was probably just a common stone.

As soon as he took it out, Lancel was filled with regret. He scratched the back of his neck for no reason.

‘Did I choose too carelessly?’

It was something he had bought impulsively when he saw it, so it was too lacking in appearance. He was a noble, but this was a wedding ring.

“……No. Let’s just pretend this didn’t happen, and I’ll replace it with something else next time…….”

“I like this.”

Marigold’s hand reached out and grabbed Lancel’s arm, which he was trying to pull back.

“This is fine. No, it has to be this one. Please give me this one, Lancel.”

He could feel a sense of determination from her firmly grasped arms. Lancel scratched his chin and took out the ring again.

“Then… let’s just think of it as something temporary…….”

Lancel slowly slid the ring onto Marigold’s ring finger. The ring fit perfectly on her slender finger.

“Even if it’s a cheap ring, or a necklace. Anything that reminds me of Lancel is fine. After all, you thought of me when you bought this, right?”

“Is that so?”

“That’s how it is.”

Marigold’s eyes trembled. The quiet smile that settled on her lips didn’t fade away. As if she was reminiscing about something.

“I’ll cherish it forever.”

When the cheap ring settled on their hands, flames soared from the bonfire.

“Ah!”

An exclamation burst from Marigold’s lips. Lancel blinked at the sudden reaction.

“What’s wrong?”

“Dancing! It’s dancing, dancing!”

“Dancing?”

Marigold quickly got up.

“Yes! Bonfire! Dancing!”

Lancel was dragged by Marigold, who was holding onto him, to the bonfire.

“Phew, I almost missed it. That would have been a disaster.”

“……?”

“I’ll lead. Hehe.”

The festival dance wasn’t as elegant as the one enjoyed by nobles in the palace.

A space filled with drunken townswomen and men, a dance that was nothing more than holding hands and spinning around.

The music was terrible, the bonfire was too hot, causing people to occasionally singe their hair, and drunken people would flirt with married women, leading to fistfights, a clumsy dance.

“Ehehe!”

Nevertheless, all that remained in Lancel’s memory was Marigold’s silly laughter.

.

.

.

“What are you writing so much about?”

When he returned to the lodging, he saw Marigold scribbling something in a notebook.

“Hot!”

As expected, when Lancel approached, Marigold quickly hid it behind her back.

“It’s a secret.”

“…….”

Lancel barely suppressed the thought of secretly peeking.

“So, where’s the next destination?”

Marigold quickly unfolded the map.

“F-First, we’re going to cross the Ritten Desert. It’ll take about three days to get through, so we need to prepare thoroughly… and then there’s a famous place called Firefly Village…….”

Marigold, who was explaining the long journey, pointing at each place with her finger, soon stopped at one location.

“Here.”

An area not marked on the map.

“I’ll enter the Imperial Capital after visiting my hometown for the last time.”

The place where Marigold’s Count family’s territory was located.

That seemed to be the last destination of this journey.

Lancel quietly imprinted that area on the map in his mind.

.

.

.

“This area.”

He pointed to an empty space on the map.

“Search for the woman His Highness the Prince is looking for in this area. And capture them all, no matter what!”

Kyle Dante listened to the commander of the Knights, picking his ear.

The Knights he was in, the ‘Orleans Knights,’ were all about physical strength anyway. That’s why he liked them.

“Capture all the women with blonde hair and green eyes. By force or voluntarily, all of them! And gather them all and take them to His Highness the Prince! Got it, you bastards!”

“Yes, sir!”

“The Birdnia Knights are also participating in this. We can’t let those bookworms steal the credit, can we? Especially Kyle! You wouldn’t be able to live with yourself if you lost to your brother, would you?”

Suddenly, in Kyle Dante’s memory.

The voice of his fiancée, Miss Dovh, came to mind.

-Get the baronetcy. The baronetcy that your brother is supposed to receive. If you get that and come back, wouldn’t I, and Dad, acknowledge you a little more?

“I have to win.”

Kyle Dante.

He had enough reason to win against his brother.

“All I have to do is win.”