“Please, Sir Lancel, let’s have a match.”
As Marigold raised her wooden sword, a different kind of intensity emanated from her, unlike before.
“…I’ll put all my heart into it.”
“How intimidating, Mary.”
============
—August 4, 820 of the Imperial Calendar; Evening. Weather: Clear.
—Marigold has achieved a 32% mastery of the highest level of swordsmanship.
※The list of part-time positions has been updated to include: S-Rank Adventurer, General, Commander of the Imperial Knight Order, Rebel Leader, Dragon Hunter, Pilgrim, Demon Hunter, Ancient Ruins Explorer, and Dragon Rider.
============
‘No wonder Kyle lost without much of a fight.’
Even at a conservative estimate, Marigold’s skill level was at least two tiers above Kyle’s.
Being on the list for part-time job positions didn’t mean that one was immediately capable, but it was proof that they were at least on a similar level.
For Kyle Dante, who still needed considerable training to become a Commander of the Imperial Knight Order, Marigold must have seemed like an insurmountable wall.
“The first to drop their sword or take a hit loses,” Viscount Dante announced.
Lancel and Marigold exchanged glances.
“Forgive me if I can’t control my strength, Mary,” Lancel said.
“That’s exactly what I intended to say, Sir Lancel,” Marigold replied.
Sparks flew between the two smiling figures as Viscount Dante raised his hand.
“Begin.”
Both fighters lunged forward simultaneously, wooden swords extending in long arcs as they hurtled toward each other.
9.
“You’re telling me you’re going on a journey alone, without any guards?”
“Yes, mother.”
Lancel’s mother, Madam Nirvia Dante, arched her eyebrows sharply.
“Are you out of your mind?”
“…It’s not really a ‘journey,’ Mother. We’re just taking a slightly longer route to the capital.”
“Haa… I’ll never understand why this child loves wandering outside so much. I thought he’d change once he had a spouse, but now he’s dragging his fiancée along too? What on earth is this? Can’t you just settle down quietly like your brothers and stay put in one place?”
Madam Dante’s nagging continued until Viscount Dante intervened.
“My dear, just let him be. A young knight needs to experience hardship in the wilderness. He won’t be able to do this once he joins the Knight Order, so let him enjoy it while he can.”
“Haah, really…”
Viscount Dante soothed his sighing wife and turned to Lancel.
“Yes, Lancel. When are you planning to depart?”
“Not immediately. I intend to leave next spring.”
“Then you have some time. Prepare well and make sure you’re ready when the time comes.”
“Of course.”
Lancel and Marigold left.
The rumor that Lancel and Marigold were leaving had been spreading like wildfire throughout the Dante family estate since yesterday.
Lancel Dante, being someone who ran away from home as often as he ate, elicited only lukewarm reactions from the family.
However, Marigold was different.
“Do you really have to go…?”
“It would be so nice if you could stay with us in the Dante territory…”
“Could you perhaps call for us if you go to the capital, Lady Mary…?”
“The capital! Me too! I want to go too!”
The maids clamored.
Lancel’s heart grew conflicted.
‘They’ve never said anything like that to me before, have they?’
Not that he was jealous or anything.
“Isn’t that a bit much?”
Not that he was upset or anything.
“Just tell Sir Lancel to go alone…”
‘Hey, that’s going too far.’
They were being excessive.
It was starting to feel like he was the son-in-law of this household, and Marigold was the actual daughter.
“Ahem.” Lancel cleared his throat and approached.
The maids, who had been arranging Marigold’s hair, shot him sharp, pointed glares.
“Sir Lancel, you should knock before entering.”
“……”
Hesti’s eyes flashed with a sharp edge.
“Ah, sorry.”
There was no arguing with her. Even if he were the Emperor, she’d insist on proper etiquette.
Lancel turned around, knocked again, and re-entered.
This time too, however, the reaction was no warmer.
“To bruise a lady’s face… That was too much, Sir Lancel.”
“Exactly! What if it had left a scar?”
“And right there, where it’s so noticeable…”
The maids pointed to the swollen bruise on Marigold’s eyelid, where the wooden sword had struck, leaving a slight tear and a dark mark.
“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Marigold said with a smile. “It’ll heal quickly.”
But the maids’ worried expressions didn’t fade. The swelling was indeed quite pronounced.
Lancel decided to go out brazenly.
“A scratch like this is nothing in a knight’s duel. What would you maids know about such things? Stop your fussing and bring me my tea.”
“We’re busy right now. We’ll bring it later.”
‘If that’s how you want to play it…’
Lancel stroked his chin and spoke in a deliberately casual tone.
“…To settle in the capital, we’ll need some servants… I wonder which of you I should take…”
“I’ll bring it right away!”
The maids scrambled to fetch the tea, each vying to be the first to return.
For those who had spent their entire lives in the remote border regions, the opportunity to enter the capital was exceedingly rare.
In an era where it was considered natural to live and die in the place of one’s birth, venturing to the Capital of Rodnis, without being summoned was nearly impossible.
“I’ll go first!”
“Don’t push!”
Lancel could only chuckle wryly as he watched the immature maids bickering.
“How are you feeling?”
“I feel much better after resting. I think I just got a little dizzy earlier,” Marigold replied with a bright smile. Her swollen eye still seemed to restrict the movement of her facial muscles.
“I really wanted to beat you this time, Sir Lancel…”
“You’re still a decade away from that.”
After all, he had centuries of experience under his belt.
It would be more surprising if I had lost.
Even though he had lived like a jobless bum in this iteration, he was still far above Marigold’s level.
* * *
“Begin.”
That day, the match was decided just one minute after Viscount Dante’s signal.
Marigold sought an opening, while Lancel retreated, deflecting her attacks.
“Uh, what’s happening?”
“Young Master Lancel is holding his own better than expected…?”
In the next moment, Lancel, who had been retreating, suddenly changed the direction of his wooden sword.
“Ah…!”
An exclamation of awe burst from Marigold’s lips. The wooden sword pierced through her defenses at an unexpected angle.
“Your momentum was good, Mary.”
The two wooden swords crossed.
The tip of Lancel’s sword struck Marigold with a sharp thwack!
“Ugh!”
Marigold’s head snapped violently backward, blood spraying from the gash on her forehead. Her knees buckled, and she collapsed heavily to the ground.
“Lady Mary!”
“Blood!”
“Aaaah! Lady Mary!”
The Dante family members rushed to Marigold, who had fainted with her eyes closed.
Suffering a mild concussion, Marigold remained unconscious for a full half-day afterward.
This incident explained why Lancel was being relentlessly grilled by the women of the household: “Were you trying to kill the fiancée we just rescued?”
* * *
‘It’s just that this one wasn’t an easy opponent.’
Marigold had honed her skills to the point where a moment’s carelessness could result in a devastating blow. Against such a formidable foe, there was no room for restraint.
While she still fell short of Lancel’s level, she now stood on equal footing with or even surpassed the Empire’s most renowned genius knights.
Even if Leo Dante, heir to the Dante family and Commander of the Knights of the Duchy’s Order, were pitted against her, he wouldn’t defeat her so easily.
“I’ve been holding back from having fun, training so hard… Ugh, it’s so frustrating!”
“Really? I’ve been having all the fun I want.”
Marigold’s expression turned sulky.
“Is this the victor’s arrogance?”
“Maybe.”
Of course, there were still those who clung to the belief that “Mary Mary held back to boost Lancel Dante’s morale!”
Kyle Dante was the most prominent among them.
“Lancel couldn’t have beaten Mary purely on skill! I haven’t seen that bastard swing a sword even once since he came of age! This is some kind of conspiracy!”
It was clear he was experiencing cognitive dissonance. The Lancel he remembered had never been a particularly skilled swordsman.
The idea that “a fiancée sacrificed herself for her wastrel husband’s position!” seemed far more plausible.
If he had been here right now, he would have been jumping up and down, demanding an immediate duel with Lancel.
“Just wait till I get back, Lancel! You’ll pay for this!”
But as fate would have it, both Kyle Dante and Leo Dante had left the mansion after receiving urgent telegrams from the Knights Order.
News had come of remnants of the rebel forces being sighted, so it was unlikely they would meet again in this iteration.
‘If you had challenged me, I would have finished you in one strike.
You got lucky this time, Kyle Dante.’
.
.
.
One morning in March, as the first signs of spring began to emerge, 19-year-old Marigold prepared to leave Dante viscounty.
The members of the Dante family, who had grown deeply attached to her over the past months, wept as they bid her farewell.
“It’s not like we’ll never see each other again. Why are you all crying so much?” Marigold said, barely managing to calm the sobbing maids before mounting her horse.
The sole purpose of her journey was to find the Demon King.
“What if we find nothing?” Lancel worried.
Having lived for centuries, he had never encountered any evidence of the Demon King’s existence. The idea of searching for a creature that only existed in legends seemed dubious at best.
Moreover, they had only six years—a period that was neither short nor particularly long.
“It’s alright. We’ll find it,” Marigold replied in a determined voice.
“And even if we don’t…”
Suddenly, she stopped speaking.
A brief silence hung in the air before she smiled.
“No, it’s nothing.”
“How dull.”
10.
Knock, knock.
“It’s me, Leo Dante.”
“Enter.”
As Leo Dante pushed open the massive door, a room carpeted in crimson unfolded before him.
He approached the figure standing at the far end and knelt on one knee.
“Leo Dante greets Your Highness the Crown Prince.”
“Raise your head.”
First Prince Delphi Aaron Freesia, the second most powerful man in the Empire, fixed his gaze upon Leo Dante.
“Commander of Knights of the Duchy’s Order, successor to the Dante family… You’ve endured much hardship in the distant frontier at such a young age.”
“It is merely my duty as a knight of the Great Empire.”
“You already know why I’m here, don’t you?”
“Yes, Your Highness. I heard you came to personally hunt down and eliminate the Empire’s remaining enemies.”
The First Prince picked up the glass beside him and drained the remaining liquor in one gulp.
He exhaled deeply, the potent alcohol burning his throat, before speaking again.
“No. It’s simpler than that. I just need you to find someone and bring them to me.”
“Understood. If you tell me who you’re looking for, I’ll bring them to you without fail.”
“I’ll only say this once, so listen carefully.” The First Prince’s eyes curved into a crescent moon. “A girl who’s just come of age… with blue or green eyes and golden hair.”
The answer came with a playful smile.
Leo Dante barely managed to suppress his expression of utter bewilderment.
“Got that?”
Leo Dante remained silent. ‘Is that all?’ he wondered. Weren’t those characteristics far too common to warrant a targeted capture?
But the First Prince’s gaze had already darkened, his tone now serious. This was no joke; he meant every word.
“From now on, in the regions I specify, if you find any woman resembling that description, capture them all and bring them to me.”
“All of them, Your Highness?”
“Yes. Noble, wealthy, commoner, bandit, prostitute, virtuous maiden—it doesn’t matter. Just bring them before me.”
“…Understood.”
“If among the women you bring, there is one I desire, I shall bestow upon you a tremendous reward in the name of the Imperial Family.”
The First Prince smirked, his eyes twinkling with mischief.
“I will allow your family to settle within the Imperial Family’s domain. You understand the significance of this, don’t you?”
Leo Dante felt a chill run down his spine.
His entire family entering the Imperial Family’s domain?
This was the treatment reserved for “Imperial Heroes”—a glory that would elevate the Dante family far beyond even most ducal houses.
Overwhelmed by this extraordinary honor, Rio Dante felt all the doubts that had been swirling in his mind vanish completely.
“You are not the only mercenary and knight order tasked with this mission. Do not let this opportunity slip through your fingers.”
Leo Dante’s eyes flashed as he lifted his gaze.
“Seizing the glory offered is also a knight’s virtue. Even if I must mobilize every knight under my command and every member of my family… I will find the one Your Highness desires.”
Annoying bro just stop with the imperial family
This is so uncalled for xd