Civil Servant Marigold.

2.

“Shall we have a meal together? It seems like it’s time for a snack.”

“I’m okay. I ate a little while ago.”

Hmm.

“What are you writing so diligently?”

“D-Don’t look. It’s a diary.”

“……”

Hmph.

“If you’re tired, why don’t you sleep in my sleeping compartment? I’m not saying we’ll share it, I’ll just lend you the room.”

“Sleeping compartment…! No, I’m fine!”

Hmph.

“Here, apple juice. I bought it from the dining car.”

“Thank you! I’ll give you the money.”

“No, it’s okay…”

“I can’t just take it. Here you go.”

Strange.

“Is that also a diary?”

“This is a report.”

“Can I see it?”

“Ah! No! It’s still for practice.”

“……”

A strange feeling.

Lancel felt his mind gradually shutting down as both the casual kindness he offered and the deliberate kindness he prepared were politely rejected.

It wasn’t cold or callous, but there was definitely a distance. It didn’t seem this way when they first met.

‘Am I…disappointed?’

For the first time in his hundreds of years of life, Lancel was experiencing something called disappointment in a human relationship.

He knew it too. That his thinking was narrow. Logically, it would be stranger if a grown woman suddenly opened her heart to a man who suddenly appeared.

Lancel could do nothing but swallow his bitter taste.

“What exactly does the Record Keeper do?”

“Just as it sounds. Records.”

Marigold answered, placing a finger on her chin.

“What’s happening outside the Imperial Capital, what problems there are, and what the causes are. If there’s a noble managing a region, what kind of person they are. What situation the Wise ones living under them are in, what kind of culture they have, and what they live on. What the region’s unique products are.”

Complicated.

“Also, orally transmitted history, folk remedies, the most talked-about topics right now, the state of the Temples and churches, ah! By the way, the previous Record Keeper was knowledgeable in geography. So, paths in the forest, agricultural environment, carriage routes, regional climate, river changes according to summer rainfall, and…”

He dozed off.

Lancel blinked and nodded.

When the long speech ended, Marigold puffed out her chest and had a smug look on her face.

“How is it? The work of a Record Keeper.”

“Yeah, it’s cool. It’s good.”

“Hehe.”

‘But it’s still above a commoner, below a noble.’

What could he do? There was a limit to what an administrator could do in this continent where feudalism was rampant. After all, it was a job done by commoners.

“Lancel, stop dozing off and wake up. We have to get off here.”

The train, which had been stopping and starting, finally reached a small Barony in the western part of the Empire. It was Marigold’s first destination.

3.

‘It’s been a while since I’ve been here.’

Lancel was lost in memories as he looked at the granary area in front of him.

It was truly an amazingly fertile plain, even after all this time. Land that would one day become a battlefield and burn fiercely.

“It’s incredibly large for a Barony.”

“That’s because it’s not a Barony.”

“Yes?”

Doubt arose in Marigold’s eyes.

“It used to be called the Duchy of Lunter. Even though it’s under the Empire now, it was once land ruled by a king.”

“Lancel, you’re surprisingly knowledgeable. I see you in a new light.”

“……”

It wasn’t that surprising.

“So, what are you going to do now?”

“Well, of course, observation and recording.”

Marigold wore a smug expression again.

“As an administrator and Record Keeper, I have a duty to include everything that happens in this remote part of the Empire in my report. Lancel, you can just rest quietly by my side. I’ll take care of everything.”

At this point, he was curious.

What on earth had happened to her during the eight years Lancel was gone that made her such a loyal administrator?

Perhaps she might live a proper life this time. Lancel thought so.

.

.

.

“Who is it! Catch them!”

“Y-Yes? I, I’m an administrator…!”

“Where did this damn outsider dare to steal the harvest! Look here! Townspeople! There’s a rat here!”

“Wait, just wait a minute! Let’s talk…!”

“Catch them!”

“Tie them up!”

What are you doing, Marigold?

I was uneasy from the moment you were snooping around the grain storage. Lancel chuckled as he watched Marigold being bound by the gathered Militia.

“Thief! Catch the thief!”

“I’m not a thief! I’m not a thief! Kyaa!”

Eventually, Marigold was dragged away.

Lancel watched her from a step behind.

“Don’t just watch, save me! Lancel!”

“You told me to rest quietly by your side.”

“No, I did, but! I said that, but! You’re my escort! My escort!”

“I’ll help you if it’s really dangerous, so don’t worry.”

“I think it’s really dangerous right now!”

“It’s still okay.”

“How far do I have to go for it to not be okay!”

Lancel wore a satisfied smile as he watched Marigold being taken away.

Eventually, Marigold’s head and arms were firmly fixed in the pillory installed in the center of the village.

“The grain thief will be detained for a day and then deported!”

“I’m not a thief…!”

Still, they’re only detaining you, Mary the Record Keeper. This is quite merciful.

“Ugh…”

Only after seeing her face turn into a crying one did Lancel step forward.

After a brief conversation, the misunderstanding was quickly resolved.

“Oh, if you had said so earlier, we would have misunderstood.”

“…You didn’t give me a chance to speak.”

“Ahem, we’re having a hard time making a living these days. Please understand.”

Lancel interjected.

“How can it be hard to make a living when there’s so much grain?”

“Just because there’s grain doesn’t mean it’s all ours, Sir Knight. There’s a reason why we’re guarding it with the Militia.”

“Is that so? Still, it seems like you’re better off than other Wise ones.”

“That’s…hard to say…”

“Um…you two, can you please…release me first?”

Marigold’s suppressed voice flowed out. Her legs were already trembling after being in a bent posture for a while.

“Oh, right, I forgot! Huh? Why can’t I unlock this?”

“N-No way, right?”

“Just a moment, uh oh, what’s wrong with this?”

Thanks to the pillory malfunctioning at that moment, Marigold, who had been stuck in an awkward position for a whole hour, collapsed to the ground as soon as she was released.

Marigold’s eyes were dead.

It was a sight of her pride as an elite administrator being shattered in an instant.

“Lancel, traitor.”

“……”

I didn’t know it would break down.

.

.

.

“No matter how I think about it, it’s strange.”

“What is?”

That evening, Marigold, who was munching on bread at the inn, suddenly raised her head.

“This area is a fertile plain where farming is good, there’s plenty of grain, it’s also where the train stops, and there are quite a few people.”

“So what?”

“It shouldn’t be a place where people are starving to death.”

“They say the share they get is small. It’s something that most Wise ones who farm on noble’s land experience. There’s nothing special about it.”

Of course, Lancel also had some doubts.

Vast cultivated land and abundant grain, but the village scenery within the territory was dying.

Every time emaciated Wise ones passed by, the contrast with the granary area that reached to the horizon felt strange.

“I think I should look into it. It’s also a good topic to include in the report.”

As soon as the next morning came, Marigold launched her operation.

“Why is that woman keep looking over here?”

“I don’t know. She’s an administrator from the Imperial Capital.”

“An administrator? Her?”

The village, the cultivated land, the grain storage, and even the carriages passing around it.

Marigold observed and filled out her records with each and every one of them.

“Alcohol…!”

Before long, she found the answer.

“It’s alcohol, Lancel! Alcohol!”

Marigold’s expression suddenly hardened.

She was unknowingly holding Lancel’s hand tightly. Her face was so close that it filled her vision.

“Ahem. Excuse me.”

“……”

She was startled and stepped back.

“Anyway, look at this. More alcohol than the permitted amount was being brewed in this area. This part! Take a look at the calculations I made.”

Lancel looked at Marigold’s Clay Tablet, which was densely filled with calculations, with blurry eyes.

‘What is written here.’

He had lived for hundreds of years, but he was still weak in mathematics.

“According to the Imperial Law, a minimum of 17.5 percent of the grain harvested last year can be used for sowing the following year, and a maximum of 10 percent can be brewed into alcohol, but here it’s almost half. Almost half is being turned into alcohol. That’s why there’s no grain left. It’s a clear violation of the Imperial Law, yes!”

“Um, okay.”

Lancel thought, ‘Who actually follows all that?’ but he didn’t bother to say it out loud.

Even in Viscount Dante’s Barony, they sometimes placed more emphasis on alcohol. There were times when that was more efficient.

But half was a bit too much.

“Hehe, I think I’m going to catch a big fish.”

Marigold, who was caught up in dopamine, didn’t stop there.

She worked hard here and there, and eventually found the secret brewery and alcohol storage managed by Count Lunter.

Lancel shook his head at her terrifying drive and followed her around.

‘It’s about time they came.’

After a week had passed, what Lancel had expected finally unfolded.

“I work as a butler for the Lunter family. Can I get straight to the point without talking too long?”

A well-dressed man appeared in front of them.

“Our head of the family tells you not to stir things up too much and to pass by discreetly. There’s a limit to our patience.”

Is this a threat?

“We were going to do that anyway, so don’t worry. We’ll be leaving tomorrow. I’ve finished writing the report to the Imperial Family, too. Please tell him that.”

Marigold said that and got up from her seat.

The next day, she was tied to the pillory again.

“You should have listened when we told you, you rude administrator girl.”

“I’m going to report this too! I’m going to report this too!”

“Go ahead! If it’s something a noble does, people just assume that’s how it is, a violation of the Imperial Law? That’s a joke. Who will listen to the nobles, who will listen to the commoners? This is why you can’t have rookie administrators. Count Lunter is a merciful man, so he’s letting you off with just taking the report. Do you understand?”

“No! My report! Give it back!”

“What if I can’t give it back?”

Lancel chewed on a grain of wheat and quietly watched the scene.

This time it wasn’t spite. He wanted Marigold to feel it once. What the status of an administrator in the countryside was.

In this land where the atmosphere of feudal society remained, the status of a commoner administrator was just this much.

‘I think I’ve shown her enough of reality.’

In the afternoon as the sun was setting.

Lancel approached the slumped Marigold.

He chased away a meadow bunting that was flitting back and forth over the head of the guy who was helplessly bound to the pillory.

“…Lancel?”

“Mary the Record Keeper.”

The ‘High-Ranking Official Marigold’ route, which is considered a named ending in the Fallen Noble Lady Simulation.

“Do you want power?”

“Yes?”

Shall we try to make one?