11.
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—March 8, 821 of the Imperial Calendar. Weather: exceptionally clear.
—On the plains of early spring, as winter receded, Marigold finally embarked on her long journey. What awaits her at the end of this path?
※Marigold feels her heart swell with excitement for her journey with her fiancée. Charm, Dignity, Stamina, and Allure have gone up! Morality and Faith have gone down!
============
‘Why is her morality and faith decreasing?’
Lancel broke out in a cold sweat as he read the floating text before him, but Marigold’s expression was brighter than ever.
She seemed utterly free of worry or concern.
“Hehe.”
Across the endless prairie, the wind lifted Marigold’s hood off, her hair painting the air. Clutching her notebook, she giggled to herself.
“What are you writing?”
“Oh, nothing! It’s nothing at all.”
She hastily hid the notebook behind her back, her feigned nonchalance utterly unconvincing.
“How suspicious.”
Lancel’s eyes narrowed, prompting Marigold to frantically pull a map from her cloak.
“W-we’ll cross this plain first and then head to Porland,” she stammered.
She was evading his question.
“I heard this is where they make the famous Porland ale. There’s a beer festival happening right now, so it’s a popular time for travelers. Apparently, inns give out free beer with meals during the festival.”
“Hmm.”
Lancel leaned in closer to study the map beside her.
“Our destination is the capital, but why are we passing through so many villages?”
Even after a second look, it was a long and winding route.
This was entirely Marigold’s plan. Lancel hadn’t offered a single suggestion.
He couldn’t.
When Marigold showed him the map, it was already finalized. Besides, he had no idea what “the path to find the Demon King” even meant, so there was no point in questioning it.
Lancel had decided to follow Marigold’s peculiar travel route for now.
‘She said she’s been researching this route for years, so there must be some basis for it… right?’
Thinking this, he glanced up at Marigold.
“Heh heh heh… Heh, hah!”
‘Hmm.’
Watching her snicker with a sinister grin, Lancel suddenly felt his trust plummet to rock bottom. But what could he do now? Lancel had already promised to entrust this life to her. Once he decided to trust someone, he would trust them completely. That was all there was to it.
“Just trust me, Sir Lancel. Once we reach Porland, we’ll head straight to the mercenary guild to gather information.”
“Oh ho, and then?”
“We’ll find clues about the Demon King there.”
“What a brilliant plan.”
If only the mercenary guild happened to have clues about the Demon King in the first place.
.
.
.
“You’ve come to capture the Demon King too?”
“……?”
The mercenary guild in Porland was bustling with mercenaries gathered to defeat the Demon King.
.
.
.
“Such a nostalgic feeling… ahh.”
Marigold closed her eyes with a sigh, savoring the lively atmosphere of the mercenary guild. She seemed to be reminiscing about something.
“This is the very place where I shared a sweet and passionate love with my Master…”
It seemed that her memories were somewhat embellished.
“Here’s the Demon King commission request.”
A receptionist from the mercenary guild soon appeared with a single sheet of paper.
Lancel and Marigold leaned in simultaneously to examine the request.
============
—Bandit Leader of the Fork Mountains, also known as the Demon King.
—Characteristics: a large mole on his forehead, hailing from the central continent, dark-skinned, beak-like nose, leader of a large bandit group of approximately 20 members.
—Reward: 15 gold coins and all the loot. => Rewards increased to 30 gold coins starting in March. Additional reward if Baron Porland’s son is rescued safely.
============
“So it’s just a bandit, huh?”
“Yeah, nothing special.”
“What did you expect?”
The receptionist’s cold response left Lancel and Marigold speechless.
“Something… darker, more villainous… you know, like…”
“Mary, be quiet.”
Trying to explain further would only make them sound like weirdos.
“A dark villain! That’s exactly what he is! Killing, kidnapping, raping, enslaving people, and selling them in those dark mountains!”
The receptionist replied with a sullen expression.
‘Definitely.’
Now that he thought about it, she was right—he was indeed a villain of the dark.
It was just a bit disconcerting how blatantly villainous he was.
“Baron Porland recently doubled the reward for this commission. All the mercenaries who came for the festival are drooling over it because the pay is so generous.”
“His son was captured?”
“Yes. He and his squire foolishly tried to take on the Demon King. Last week, a severed finger was delivered as a warning. They said the next time, it’ll be his head, so he’d better quietly hand over two hundred gold coins.”
“That’s terrible…”
“If you want to participate, come to the guild by tomorrow morning.”
Lancel glanced sideways at Marigold.
“Should we capture him first?”
“Maybe we should?”
She nodded and continued, “He might actually be the Demon King, and thirty gold coins would be a decent sum for travel expenses, even after splitting it with the mercenaries.”
“I doubt he’s the real Demon King…”
“Still, you never know.”
“I guess.”
‘A Demon King with a huge mole on his forehead and a hooked nose? Even with my sister’s terrible sense of aesthetics, I couldn’t imagine her creating such a ridiculous caricature as the main villain…
Probably.’
“We’d like to book a room.”
“Ah! Just one room, please.”
The receptionist frowned, watching Marigold cling to Lancel like a leech.
“Tsk.”
As if to spite her, Marigold clung even tighter to Lancel, a sly smile playing at the corners of her lips.
“Hmph.”
‘What are you doing?’
* * *
“Are you talking about your wife?”
“Yes.”
That evening, the mercenaries gathered around Marigold, casting bewildered glances at Lancel.
“Traveling with your wife is one thing, but bringing her along to raid bandit camps? What on earth is this…?”
“I’ve never seen anything like it…”
They treated it as something bizarre, as if the couple were risking their lives together.
“It wouldn’t be surprising if only one of them survives the year.”
Lancel downed his beer, letting the mercenaries’ reactions wash over him.
“Think carefully, Lady. If you keep following that scrawny husband of yours, you’ll be a widow before long.”
“A real man must have a sturdy body—one strong enough to survive even war. Like mine.”
“It’s not too late to join us, ma’am. We’ll make sure you’re well taken care of.”
Even as several hot-blooded mercenaries approached, flexing their muscles, she barely paid them any attention.
“Come outside.”
Before Lancel could react, Marigold had already sprung to her feet.
She led the mercenaries out of the guild, and soon after, a series of dull thuds and shrill screams erupted.
Moments later, Marigold returned, looking refreshed, and sat back down beside Lancel.
“What did you do?” Lancel asked, handing her his mug of ale.
“I just persuaded them to leave,” she replied.
In that brief exchange, the mercenaries’ gazes toward the pair had shifted dramatically.
12.
“Blonde hair, green eyes… If we have to bring every woman who fits that description, it’ll never end.”
Leo Dante nodded in agreement at the reactions of the knights gathered in the salon.
Even in a limited region, the idea of capturing every blonde woman with green eyes… anyone would react the same way.
“This is just a numbers game. It’s not something we can handle.”
“I agree. We can’t just grab women indiscriminately like some vulgar mercenary band.”
The knights in the salon all slumped back in their seats, looking utterly unenthusiastic.
Even the renowned Knights of Verdunia consisted of just about thirty men. With such a small force, they stood no chance of success.
Leo Dante, however, had a different idea.
“So, we need to handle the authority of the knights and nobles carefully.”
“…?”
Leo Dante spread a map wide across the table.
“We’ll spread rumors throughout this region.”
“Rumors? What kind of rumors…?”
“Just spread it openly and without embellishment. ‘His Highness the First Prince is searching for a woman with blonde hair and green eyes’.”
“…Huh?”
The reaction of the knights was one of confusion.
“Of course, that alone wouldn’t be enough. We need to add just one more line. For example…”
A mischievous smile curved his lips.
“…’He has decided to grant one night’s opportunity to one of the women with blonde hair and green eyes’.”
The knights’ eyes widened in shock.
“Of course, the rumors we spread wouldn’t have been like that, but rumors always get embellished and distorted, don’t they?”
“D-do you think such a tactic will work?”
“Making it work is our job, gentlemen. We need to ensure that women seek out His Highness the First Prince of their own accord, and that countless others will push them forward, even if they don’t want to go.”
Leo Dante shrugged.
“Imagine a father with a blonde, green-eyed daughter standing before him. If he were a commoner starving in poverty, what choice would he make?”
“…You mean he’d send her, just in case?”
“Exactly. We just need to plant the false hope that success could earn them His Highness the Prince’s favor.”
“Captain?”
“What is it?”
A knight suddenly raised his hand, a question forming on his lips.
“If the woman His Highness the First Prince is looking for actually shows up among those who come willingly, lured by the rumors… what do we do? How do we prove she’s the one we found? After all, the fact that we spread the rumors is supposed to be a secret.”
“Hahaha!”
Leo Dante burst into loud laughter.
“You still haven’t grasped His Highness the First Prince’s true intentions.”
“……?”
The knights exchanged puzzled glances.
“Do you really think His Highness the First Prince would personally travel to this remote frontier just because we haven’t found a woman naive enough to fall for rumors? After all this time?”
“Huh?”
“The woman His Highness the First Prince seeks is likely quite the opposite.”
Leo Dante’s eyes flickered in the chandelier’s light.
“A woman who would be so startled by the rumors that she would hide even deeper, refusing to emerge. That’s exactly the kind of woman we’re looking for.”
“……!”
“The answer must lie among those few women.”
With that, Leo Dante crossed his legs and settled back in his chair.
“We’re not the ones who will waste our time chasing after women who come to us willingly. That’s for our dim-witted competitors.”
He raised his wine glass.
“Heroes of the Empire… Kyle, Lancel. This older brother will return to our homeland bearing the imperial flag. Wait for me.”
‘What kind of woman was His Highness the First Prince seeking?’
Leo Dante briefly conjured an image of this mysterious figure in his mind.
A commoner? A knight? A noble? Someone of a fallen family? Or something else entirely…?
.
.
.
“Is that a person or a monkey?”
The mercenaries stared up into the trees, their faces contorted with fear.
They were an extermination squad gathered to subdue a bandit leader known as the “Demon King.”
Having entered the mountainous terrain, their attention was now completely captivated by a woman moving through the trees with the ease of someone in their own home.
Marigold.
She moved through the branches as if she were something ancient and native to this land.
“Ugh!”
With a flourish of her cloak and golden hair, she scaled another treetop.
Her movements were so light, she seemed to be flying rather than climbing.
“Can you see them?” Lancel called from below.
A moment later, her reply echoed back.
“I see them! They’re heading this way.”
“What?”
“The bandits.”
“What?”
The mercenaries blinked in confusion, unable to comprehend.
“They said there were about twenty, but it looks more like sixty… maybe even seventy? Shouldn’t you mercenaries be running? They outnumber us by at least three to one.”
“…Huh?”
By the time they frantically drew their swords, it was already too late.
Dozens of arrows rained down on the mercenaries.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
“Aaaagh!”
“A-Ambush! It’s an ambush!”
The gang of bandits swarmed into the chaotic scene.
“Hahahaha! Baron Porland still hasn’t learned his lesson! Boys, wipe them all out! I, the Demon King, will deliver divine punishment upon you!”
The bandit leader’s booming voice echoed across the mountainside.
“Kill them all!”
Bandits wielding swords, spears, and axes leaped down, hacking at the mercenaries below.
“Hiiiiek!”
“Aaaaaaah!”
Blood and flesh splattered ceaselessly. Screams and roars mingled, turning the area into utter chaos.
“Hahahaha! Kill them all! Slaughter them all!”
Amidst the carnage on the mountainside, Lancel stared at the bandit leader, the self-proclaimed “Demon King.”
“He’s definitely not the Demon King I’ve been searching for.”
Just a middle-aged bandit chief with patchy hair. The lump on his forehead looked more like a growth than a mole.
“Hahahahahaha!”
His face was utterly sinister.
“…Let’s just make some money, Mary.”
“Leave it to me, Sir Lancel.”
For some reason, Marigold’s expression seemed gleeful.
