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11.

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—2021th year of the Imperial Calendar, March 8. Weather is very clear.

—On the plain of early spring after winter has receded, Marigold finally embarked on a long journey. What awaits at the end of this road?

※Marigold feels her heart pounding with excitement for the journey with her fiancé. Charm, Grace, Stamina, Sexiness UP! Morality, Faith Down.

============

‘Why is that going down?’

Ransel broke out in a cold sweat for a moment as he looked at the text floating before his eyes, but Marigold’s expression was brighter than ever.

She seemed to have no worries or concerns whatsoever.

“Hehehe.”

The endless prairie, Marigold’s hair, with her hood blown off by the wind, was embroidered in the air.

Holding her notebook, she was giggling to herself.

“What are you writing?”

“Ah, nothing. It’s nothing.”

She quickly hid her notebook behind her back. Her attempt to play innocent was clumsy.

“Suspicious.”

As Ransel narrowed his eyes, Marigold frantically pulled out a map from her pocket.

“Th-this, w-we’re going to Porland after passing through this plain.”

She mumbled evasively.

“They say this is the origin of the famous Porland Ale. I heard there’s a beer festival afoot, so it’s the season for travelers to gather. At this time, if you order food at an inn, they give you free beer.”

“Hmm.”

I looked at the map next to her.

“Your destination is the capital, but why are there so many transit towns?”

Looking again, it was a long travel route.

It was a route planned solely by Marigold herself. Ransel hadn’t contributed a single word.

He couldn’t help it.

It was already completed when she showed it to Ransel, and he had no idea what ‘the path to find the Demon King’ meant, so there was no reason to point it out.

Ransel was following Marigold’s bizarre travel route for now.

‘Since she said she researched the route herself for the past few years, there must be some basis for it… right?’

Thinking so, he glanced up at Marigold.

“Ugh-huh-huh. Ugh, ha!”

Hmm.

Watching her chuckling with a lewd expression made me feel like my trust was plummeting to the bottom, but what could I do now?

Ransel had already promised to entrust this life to her. If I decide to believe, I believe thoroughly. That was all.

“Just trust me, Ransel-nim. When we arrive in Porland, we’ll first go to the Mercenary Guild to gather information.”

“Oh, and then?”

“That’s where we’ll find clues about the Demon King.”

“That’s a brilliant plan.”

If there happened to be a clue about the Demon King at the Mercenary Guild.

.

.

.

“Are you here to hunt the Demon King too?”

“……?”

The Porland Mercenary Guild was also crowded with those gathered to hunt the Demon King.

11.

“A familiar feeling, haa.”

Marigold closed her eyes tightly, feeling the boisterous atmosphere of the Mercenary Guild. She seemed to be recalling a memory.

“The place where I shared sweet and passionate love with Master……”

It seemed her memories were somewhat fabricated.

“Here it is. A request about the Demon King.”

The Mercenary Guild receptionist soon appeared with a single sheet of paper.

Ransel and Marigold simultaneously pressed their faces against the paper and looked at the request.

============

—Leader of the bandits in the Fork Mountains, also known as the Demon King.

—A large mole on the center of his forehead, from central continent, dark skin, hooked nose, leader of a large bandit group of about 20 people.

—Reward: 15 Gold Coins and all loot. => Reward increased to 30 Gold Coins starting in March. Additional reward if Baron Porland’s son is safely rescued.

============

“He’s just a bandit?”

“I think so. He’s ordinary.”

“Then what did you think he was?”

The receptionist’s cold reaction followed.

Ransel and Marigold were speechless.

“Something dark, villainous…… that kind of thing……”

“Merry. Be quiet.”

Explaining too much would only make me seem like a strange person.

“A dark villain. That’s right. He kills people in dark mountains, kidnaps them, rapes them, sells them as slaves.”

The receptionist replied with a blank face.

‘Certainly.’

Now that I think about it, he was indeed a dark villain.

It was just a bit surprising that he was so overtly villainous.

“The Porland Baron recently doubled the reward for the request. It’s because all the mercenaries who came for the festival are salivating at the substantial reward.”

“Is his son being held hostage?”

“Yes. He and his servant, foolishly, went to defeat the Demon King, and just last week, a finger was cut off and delivered. They said next time it’ll be his head, so pay 200 Gold Coins quietly?”

“Such a thing……”

“If you wish to participate, come to the guild by tomorrow morning.”

Ransel glanced at Marigold.

“Shall we catch him first?”

“Should we?”

She nodded and continued,

“It might be the real Demon King, and even if we divide thirty gold coins with the mercenaries who accompany us, it would be a substantial amount for travel expenses.”

“The real Demon King… Probably not.”

“But you never know.”

“Well.”

A hooked-nosed Demon King with a large mole on the center of his forehead.

No matter how much his sister’s aesthetic sense was shattered, she wouldn’t have made a bounty like that for a main capture character.

Probably.

“Please get us lodging.”

“Ah! Make it for one room.”

The receptionist frowned as Marigold stuck to Ransel the entire time.

“Tch.”

As she clicked her tongue, Marigold clung to him even more. A sly smile seemed to form on her lips.

“Heh.”

What are you doing?

* * *

“You mean your wife?”

“Yes.”

That evening.

The mercenaries gathered around Marigold, casting bewildered glances at Ransel.

“Not only are you traveling with your wife, but you’re also going on a bandit hunt together. What is this……”

“I’ve never heard of such a thing……”

It was treated as strange. They seemed to be living a life of putting their lives on the line as a couple.

“It wouldn’t be strange if only one of you remained within a year.”

Ransel let the mercenaries’ reactions flow in one ear as he downed his beer.

“Think carefully, Madam. If you follow such a frail husband, you’ll become a widow before long.”

“If it’s a man, his body must be strong. Strong enough to survive even in war. Like me.”

“It’s not too late yet, why don’t you come with us, Madam. We won’t disappoint you.”

He didn’t pay much attention even when a few virile mercenaries approached, showing off their muscles.

“Come outside.”

Before he could react, Marigold stood up abruptly.

Not long after she dragged the mercenaries outside the guild, a dull noise was heard. A series of shrill screams erupted.

Soon, Marigold returned looking relieved and sat next to Ransel again.

“What did you do?”

Ransel asked, handing her his beer glass.

“I just persuaded them well and sent them away.”

In a moment, the mercenaries’ gazes towards the two had changed.

12.

“Blonde, green-ish eyes… If we have to bring all of them, it will be endless.”

Rio Dante nodded at the reaction of the knights gathered in the salon.

Even in a limited area, bringing all women with blonde hair and green-ish eyes… anyone would react that way.

“This is a battle of numbers, sir. It’s not something we can handle.”

“I agree. We can’t just go around grabbing women indiscriminately like some vulgar mercenary group.”

The knights in the salon all stretched out listlessly.

Even the famous Budenia Knights numbered only about thirty. With this personnel, there was no chance of victory.

But Rio Dante thought differently.

“That’s why we need to properly use the authority of knights and nobles.”

“……?”

Rio Dante spread a map over the table.

“Spread rumors in this region.”

“Rumors, what kind of rumors…?”

“Just spread it as it is. That His Highness the Prince is looking for a woman with blonde hair and green-ish eyes.”

“……Yes?”

Their reaction was flustered.

“Of course, that alone won’t be enough. Add just one more sentence. For example.”

His eyes formed a crescent.

“Say that he decided to give one of the women with blonde hair and green eyes… a night’s chance.”

The knights’ eyes widened in shock.

“Of course, our rumor wasn’t like that, but rumors tend to grow and get distorted, don’t they?”

“Will such a tactic work?”

“Our job is to make it work, gentlemen. We will create countless people who will push women to visit His Highness the Prince, even if they don’t want to.”

Rio Dante shrugged.

“Think about it, suppose there’s a father with a blonde, green-eyed daughter right in front of him. What would a commoner who is starving due to poverty choose?”

“……You mean you’ll send her just in case, perhaps?”

“If it succeeds, they might receive His Highness the Prince’s favor. We just need to let them harbor such vain dreams.”

“But Commander?”

“What is it?”

A knight who suddenly had a question raised his hand.

“If one of the women who are lured by the rumors and come on their own is actually the person His Highness the Prince was looking for… what do we do? How do we prove that we found the woman? It’s a secret that we spread the rumors, isn’t it?”

“Hahaha!”

Rio Dante burst into loud laughter.

“You still haven’t understood the Prince’s intentions.”

“……?”

The knights exchanged confused glances.

“Do you think His Highness the Prince personally came all the way to this remote border because he couldn’t find a woman naive enough to be fooled by rumors?”

“Yes?”

“The woman His Highness the Prince is looking for is the opposite.”

Rio Dante’s eyes flickered in the chandelier light.

“A woman who, upon hearing the rumors, would hide even deeper and not come out. We’ll be looking for such a woman.”

“……!”

“Because the answer will be among the few such women.

So saying, Rio Dante crossed his legs and sat down.

“We are not the ones who will struggle with the women who come willingly. That’s our foolish competitors.”

He raised his wine glass.

“A hero of the Empire… Kyle, Ransel. I, your older brother, will come down to my hometown with the Imperial flag. So wait for me.”

What kind of person would the woman the Prince was looking for be?

Rio Dante briefly pictured the unknown entity in his mind.

A commoner? A knight? A noble? A fallen family? Or then again…

.

.

.

“Is that a person or a monkey?”

The mercenaries were all aghast as they looked up at the tree.

They were the expeditionary force gathered to hunt the bandit known as the ‘Demon King’.

Entering the mountainous region, they were now mesmerized by a woman who moved through the trees as if it were her own home.

Marigold.

She moved freely through the trees, like something that had lived on this land for a long time.

“Oop!”

With her cloak and blonde hair fluttering, she climbed to the top of the tree once more.

Her body was so light it felt like she could fly.

“Can you see?”

Ransel shouted from below, and soon a reply came.

“I can see! They’re coming this way.”

“What?”

“The bandits.”

“What?”

The mercenaries, unable to comprehend, blinked their eyes.

“You said twenty, but it looks like sixty… seventy people? Shouldn’t you mercenaries be running away? There are at least three times as many as us.”

“……Huh?”

By the time they panicked and drew their swords, it was too late.

Dozens of arrows rained down on the mercenaries.

*Fwip-fwip-*

“Aargh!”

“Am-ambush! It’s an ambush!”

Bandits descended upon the scene of pandemonium.

“Kuhahaha! Porland Baron still hasn’t learned his lesson! Everyone, wipe them all out! I, the Demon King, will bring divine punishment upon you!”

The roaring voice of the bandit leader echoed from the mountainside.

“Kill them!”

Bandits wielding swords, spears, and axes leaped up and struck down the mercenaries.

“Hieek!”

“Aaaaargh!”

Blood and flesh flew incessantly. Screams and roars mixed, turning the area into a chaotic mess.

“Kuhahaha! Kill! Kill them all!”

In the middle of the chaotic mountain, Ransel’s gaze was fixed on the bandit leader, the ‘Demon King’.

“No matter how I look at it, it’s not the Demon King I was looking for.”

He was just a hairy, middle-aged bandit leader. The mark on the center of his forehead was closer to a protrusion than a mole.

“Kuhahahaha!”

It was a truly heinous countenance.

“……Let’s just make money, Merry.”

“Leave it to me, Ransel-nim.”

For some reason, Marigold’s expression looked delighted.

 

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