chapter 91 - Second succession, husband Lancel. (16)
Epilogue.
This is a sort of epilogue.
What happened to the lives of Ransell and Marigold after barely escaping the Capital with their bodies intact?
If someone asked, well, Ransell thought things went pretty well.
No, really, they were quite alright.
Even though the fractured empire was rising toward the brink of war, with countless people dying,
and the Dante family, who had suddenly become the closest to the First Princess, entered the heart of the Capital.
And although letters occasionally arrived as survival reports, with warm replies from the lord of the Dante family—now a duke and Ransell’s father—saying, “Take Mary and run immediately. It’s the princess’s order, you damn fool.”
Ransell’s conscience still pricked him thinking about the hell his two older brothers were surely enduring on the battlefield.
Ransell, who had fled to the borderlands and disappeared, had a limp from the injury he suffered at the ball and was usually stuck relying on a cane.
Marigold herself had completely lost sight in one eye and was destined to wear an eye patch for life.
Because they fled in such a hurry with scant money, they occasionally had to rob passing bandits’ pockets.
“Hey! Hand over the money!”
“Uh… we were about to say something?”
“Give the money!”
“Hand it over!”
“Huh?”
Nevertheless, the two of them did not have a ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) bad life afterward.
The Dalia Baron’s territory where they settled was still a peaceful land—endless fields and a large lake made up the rural domain.
“Looking for disciples!”
Marigold began teaching swordsmanship to children there.
“In this age, you must have the strength to protect yourself! Looking for disciples!”
“Disciples? Teaching swordsmanship?”
“Yes! Five silver coins per month!”
“Ridiculously expensive.”
“Exactly why the more disciples there are, the cheaper it gets. Five students means one silver coin each; fifty means ten copper coins each!”
The Dalia Baron’s territory had three villages in total.
Marigold diligently traveled to all of them to recruit disciples.
Of course, nobody wanted to take lessons. For a whole month, no luck.
“Whyyyy…!”
“Because no one wants to.”
Ransell, who occasionally lived by extorting bandits as expected, chuckled bitterly at the result.
“Sniff…”
He comforted Marigold for a long time, gently patting her back as she buried her face in a pillow.
“Why do you want to be a swordsmanship instructor so badly?”
“…Because I want to play with kids.”
“Oh.”
Indeed.
Marigold seemed to have some kind of obsession with children these days.
Partly because they hadn’t had a child between them yet.
‘Isn’t that a good thing?’
From Ransell’s perspective, it was.
It would only feel bad if they had a child by mistake, since upon returning (regressing) they’d never meet them again.
Even someone like him, who had never had a child before, would suffer mental damage if he lost a child he raised.
‘Though it seems I’m the infertile one.’
In the many lives Ransell had lived, he’d been with women other than Marigold several times.
But a child was never conceived. So if you asked who was infertile, it was definitely Ransell.
‘Still, better to be infertile.’
But what if the regression stopped and he was still infertile?
‘Hmm.’
No idea.
Ransell decided not to think about it. He could deal with it when the time came.
“Actually…”
Marigold looked back at Ransell with a gloomy expression.
“There’s already another swordsmanship instructor teaching the baron’s son. All the kids are going to him, and he pays no attention to me.”
“So it’s a market already taken.”
“They say a woman teaching swordsmanship? They spread rumors asking who would want to learn from a woman.”
“Really?”
“Isn’t that too much?!”
“Hmm.”
Ransell patted the sulking Marigold’s head. When he glanced at her, her face was fierce.
“Oh.”
Suddenly Ransell spoke.
“Dojo breaking?”
“...?”
“As a student, you’d want to learn from a stronger person, right?”
“You mean…”
“That swordsmanship instructor probably isn’t better with the sword than you, Mary.”
“Ransell… you’re a genius!”
Was it really that simple?
But for Marigold, it seemed like an answer. Her eyes lit up.
The very next day, she stormed the swordsmanship classroom.
“Instructor, come out!”
“...?”
“I’m Mary Merry, the new swordsmanship instructor in this village. Let’s duel and see who’s the real instructor!”
“That noisy girl’s finally lost her mind.”
The swordsmanship instructor sneered. Despite appearances, he was a man who had been a knight.
Now he traveled around with his apprentices, tutoring nobles in swordsmanship and living off their money.
Though essentially a mercenary-turned-swordsmanship teacher who took payments and perks, he was still a knight who had even experienced war.
“Get lost now! Do you think I’ll clash swords with a woman without noble blood? Especially one who’s lost an eye? That’s a disgrace to a knight.”
“If you win, I’ll give you one gold coin.”
“Then fight now!”
The duel began.
“Argh!”
The duel ended.
Before even crossing swords properly, the mercenary instructor was struck and passed out, blood streaming down his forehead.
“Hoho.”
One corner of Marigold’s mouth curved upward.
“I lost.”
“I’ll give you twenty silver coins. Hand over the whole classroom to me. Satisfied?”
“...If you say so, I guess I have to.”
‘A bit pathetic, honestly.’
Still, it was a match. Ransell silently mourned the disgraced mercenary instructor who fled to another region.
In the end, the dojo breaking was a success.
“Master!”
“Instructor!”
“Hehe!”
One month.
Two months.
Three months passed.
“Tomorrow we’ll train outside. Bring your lunch boxes!”
“Yes, master!”
“Lunch boxes!”
Most of the children in the borderland Dalia Baron’s territory began learning swordsmanship under Marigold.
Maybe because the instructor was a woman, there were quite a few girls among the disciples as well as boys.
“To live safely in this age, you absolutely need a certain level of swordsmanship skill, absolutely!”
Marigold’s words seemed to attract many villagers.
In the end.
Yes.
It was good.
Marigold’s life, and Ransell’s life by her side.
Though the house they bought was frequently overrun by Marigold’s disciples, never a quiet day.
Though Marigold gave all the money she earned to poor, orphaned children and never lived in luxury.
Though it felt a little too humble for Ransell, a noble, and Marigold, a royal by blood.
Still, it was good.
The aftermath of war and tragedy was rarely seen while Ransell lived here.
Occasionally mercenaries passed by causing trouble, or conscription officers came to take young men.
Even those incidents were lightly handled by Ransell and Marigold, so peace endured.
Seasons passed.
Years changed.
And now tomorrow marked the end of this game cycle.
‘Almost ten years, huh.’
Ransell had pondered deeply over this time.
About telling Marigold his secret. He had held back for so long, unable to find the words.
He hadn’t had the chance to speak face-to-face but now it was time.
“Let’s leave a letter.”
Ransell left a brief note on the table.
So Marigold would see it when she returned from swordsmanship class.
And so ten years passed.
...
“...Huh?”
Ransell did not regress.
“How is this possible?”
He was bewildered, staring blankly at the letter on the table.
‘Is it over?’
Ransell pinched his cheek.
‘Is this a dream again? Again?’
No.
It wasn’t.
This was reality.
“It’s over...”
Ransell sat blankly in his room for a long time.
When he came to, he had already jumped up.
Bang!
Ignoring the knee he injured years ago, he ran. Maybe the adrenaline kept him from feeling pain.
“It’s over... It really is over?”
A smile escaped his lips. He ran crazily across the hot sunlit fields.
Though limping and sure to be nagged by Marigold later for overdoing it, Ransell couldn’t help himself.
He ran through the grassy fields. Didn’t stop until he saw the swordsmanship classroom where Marigold was.
“Mary...!”
“Ransell?”
Marigold, laughing among the children wielding wooden swords, reacted to Ransell’s shout.
Her brow furrowed when she spotted him limping toward her.
“Really, what are you doing, Ransell? You’re going to say your knee hurts again tonight.”
“Come here!”
“Eek!”
Ransell lifted Mary up as she was.
The ring on their hands glittered.
“The kids are watching, Ransell.”
“Don’t care.”
“Why did you come in such a hurry?”
“Just!”
“Huh?!”
When was the last time his heart felt this light?
Without worry, emptiness, or frustration.
‘It’s over. Finally!’
There was no longer any need to tell Marigold his secret.
He was no longer a regressor.
Marigold was no longer one either.
They would live an ordinary life now.
Ransell threw the note from his pocket into the sky.
The small paper fluttered away on the wind to an unseen place.
He hugged Marigold tightly enough to crush her.
“Hahaha.”
“Keke! Y-you’re suffocating, breathe!”
Suddenly,
Ransell remembered the most important thing he had never done properly in dozens of lives.
“Mary.”
“Ah, Ransell!”
He lifted her up again.
“We’re married now, right?”
“Y-yes...?”
“I don’t think we ever had a wedding.”
Marigold’s expression went blank.
Soon tears welled in her eyes.
That was enough.
He hadn’t expected the regression to end with a lifelong promise to Marigold, but it was enough.
“God, under this blessed sky, these two have finally become husband and wife.”
That was enough.
It was not a bad life.
“Now let neither good nor evil, death nor time, nor eternity be able to separate these two!”
Ransell looked at Bride Marigold in the small village chapel.
“The husband shall kiss the bride.”
Their lips slowly met.
...
—Would you like to restart the game?
No.
—Penalty: The game will restart.
...
“Don’t cry, Mary. We will meet again.”
Definitely.
...
[Playtime 10 years 0 days]
—Marigold has turned 25.
—Has a spouse.
—Has achievements.
▶Why only the same person? +100 points.
▷Master of swordsmanship. +100 points.
▶Third wedding. +50 points.
▷Wife of a knight family. +100 points.
—Total score: 350 points. (Remaining score for memory inheritance cycle 3: 650/1500 points)
[Save.02 — Oath]
—Cycle saved to ‘Save.02’.
—Reviewing memories.
...
‘Somehow... I wish time would just stop like this.’
‘You can come again. I told you to come to collect the money.’
‘I don’t think I’ll have time.’
‘Then... bring me again next life. That’ll do.’
‘...Right... I never thought of that. That would do.’
[Oath — Save.02]
—Would you like to restart the game?
...
“Hmm.”
Ransell sighed as he saw something appear before his eyes.
‘Did she find the note?’
It was just left on the desk.
He worried a little whether the clumsy Marigold had found it.
Or maybe his future self after ten years had handed it over properly.
Since Ransell had no memory of what happened after ten years, he couldn’t be sure.
‘If it wasn’t delivered... well, I’ll think about that later.’
Honestly, it wouldn’t be bad if it wasn’t delivered.
He could just tell her next cycle.
The regressor Marigold would definitely come looking for him.
So Ransell’s role was basically decided.
‘Achievement points are key, right?’
His next goals, organized from info Marigold gave him:
Find Marigold.
Help her accumulate achievement points.
Summon regressor Marigold.
‘Perfect.’
Ransell nodded to himself, now back at eighteen.
The real life with Marigold was about to truly begin. Finally, he felt direction.
In that sense, the most important thing was number one.
Finding Marigold...
“Hmm?”
Wait.
“Ah!”
Ransell suddenly remembered something completely forgotten.
“Karma!”
===============
※ Karma 15 points: Initial travel funds stolen.
...
Months later.
Ransell met Marigold again.
In a city near the Capital.
“Gotcha, you little thief! Follow me right now! You’re going to be hanged without trial!”
“Hey, that’s unfair! I only relocated the scattered silver coins into my pocket!”
“Nonsense! That’s stealing, you dumb kid!”
“Ouch! Stop that!”
There stood Marigold, bound by the guards.
‘...?’
Ransell was dumbfounded.
[Inheritance cycle 2. Husband Ransell — END]
[NEXT — Thief Marigold]