The Magpie That Repays Kindness with Kindness
It usually took more than a month just to reach the farthest eastern edge of the continent where the Iregos Principality lay. Yet a full week had already passed since I received the invitation, and I was still lingering in the imperial capital. The reason was simple. I planned to settle the Iregos matter first, even if it meant delaying the northern territory construction a little.
The principality had made an outrageous offer to open their teleport gate for me. Why? Because I had casually promised to select only the finest fruits, delivering them in the freshest possible state with zero mana loss. It was basically shallow, half-joking flattery, but the Iregos leadership had swallowed the bait whole. Never mind the risk of letting an outsider—practically from a hostile nation like the Serbenrote Empire—march an army straight into the heart of their capital. That ironclad gate they had never once opened for anyone.
Thanks to their offer, I didn’t have to spend a month rotting inside a rattling carriage. I could afford to take things easy.
Though if I’m being honest, the Margrave’s sudden antics are also part of why I still haven’t left.
Beyond successfully concluding our deal, Marbas Margrave had taken it upon himself—without a single word of input from me—to declare that he would personally guard the most dangerous position. Then the old man got teary-eyed with emotion. The result? A catastrophic twenty-percent discount on the territory purchase price.
So before heading to the principality I had frantically tried to spend even more money, but his stubbornness as an old raccoon eventually forced me to raise the white flag. Instead, for the past week I had been scooping up every famous mage on the continent by throwing truly ridiculous sums of gold at them.
The official reason was to rehabilitate the barren northern wasteland crawling with monsters, undead, and curses. Of course I had zero intention of actually improving the soil. I simply sealed the ground surface tight with mana, like pouring cement, to block the poisonous energy and curses rising straight from below. On top of that I had Lillian bury top-grade magic stones infused with the Luemien family’s unique harmless mana all over the territory. An utterly insane act of financial self-harm.
After all, I need to run the magic stone fruit cultivation business until the main story begins anyway.
In the end, the day I received the letter everything suddenly became hectic and I couldn’t leave the guild. Only two days ago had that absurdly expensive groundwork finally finished. I even gained the leisure to watch with satisfaction as the Red Castle Guild began pouring in ridiculously pricey materials for the villa construction. I could wait until the situation fully stabilized. On top of that, Eleanor had mobilized every connection she possessed, and the request to hire one of the Seven Star Swords as my personal bodyguard was proceeding surprisingly smoothly.
“Aah… Finally!”
Today the gloomy clouds outside the window had parted, revealing a dazzling expanse of clear blue sky. I idly stroked the windowsill, thinking how nice it would be if the remaining week passed quickly.
That was when it happened.
Bang!
The door to the guild master’s office flew open so hard it nearly shattered as someone burst inside in a panic. It was the very same secretary who had first brought news of the magic stone fruit jackpot, the one who had made me clutch the back of my neck in disbelief.
At his rude intrusion, Eleanor—who had been wrestling with documents in the corner, dark circles hanging all the way to her chin—flinched and froze mid-stroke. But the secretary paid no attention whatsoever to the vice guild master’s icy aura and ran straight to my desk.
“Guild Master! Just where does that foresight and brilliant mind of yours end?!”
“…What?”
He was panting, yet his eyes sparkled like a man possessed.
“So recruiting that insignificant Baron Luemien and his daughter was all for this!”
“What’s with the commotion? Give a proper report.”
Even at my annoyed rebuke the secretary couldn’t erase the ecstatic smile from his lips. Instead of speaking, he simply yanked a crumpled report from his pocket and thrust it at me as if showing would be faster.
“An urgent communication that just flew in from the northern Marbas territory! Please confirm it yourself immediately!”
“……”
No way. It couldn’t be.
Suppressing my unease, I snatched the report. Eleanor dragged her exhausted body over as well, curious what the fuss was about. As the two of us scanned the parchment, we simultaneously stopped breathing and froze on the spot.
The highest-grade magic stones poured into the wasteland and the harmless mana of Lillian Luemien have produced a miracle. The pure mana of Mien flowing from the cultivation stones has slowly seeped into the earth. Unknown plagues and curses, along with the hordes of undead that swarmed every night, have begun vanishing without a trace.
The land of death—purchased merely to discard money, thought to be utterly useless—has been forcibly purified into a sanctuary where life can breathe once more.
At the bottom, a heartfelt message of gratitude written personally by Marbas Margrave continued. He first recorded that he had bestowed vast territories and generous compensation upon Baron Luemien, who had saved the edge of the Forest of Disaster.
To me—Ideon Calydia, true master of the West, bearer of noble Calydia blood, and the one leading the merchant guild to its golden age—he expressed infinite gratitude as one of the empire’s pillars. He filled page after page with embarrassingly flowery praise, swearing eternal friendship. The message was so long the end was barely in sight.
“……Hah.”
A short gasp of admiration slipped from Eleanor’s lips beside me. The exhaustion in her eyes gave way to a fresh surge of reverence.
“So pouring eight thousand gold coins into the wasteland… wasn’t merely an excuse to support Baron Luemien. You purified the cursed land in a single stroke, forcing the northern Margrave into an absolute debt of gratitude, while imprinting upon the entire empire that the Luemien family—and by extension House Calydia—stands above Marbas…”
She covered her trembling mouth with a shaking hand and stared down at me with pure astonishment.
“Young master. Just how far ahead have you seen?”
“……”
I couldn’t answer. My throat had closed up so tightly that no words would come.
No… I just wanted to throw my money away under the pretext of territory maintenance costs…
The unusually bright, clear blue sky outside the window had not unfolded to congratulate me after all.
“Lillian Luemien, my one and only precious daughter.”
Having earned recognition for resolving the biggest headache in the Margrave’s domain, Baron Luemien had been invited to Count Marbas’s castle—a place even foreign royalty rarely visited. After tasting every delicacy the continent had to offer for the first time in his fifty-one years, he was in an exceptionally good mood. He turned to his daughter, who sat quietly beside him studying the Red Castle Guild’s preliminary structural blueprints.
“Did you call for me, Father?”
“Yes. Before this unworthy father of yours is too late, there is something I truly must say.”
The baron carefully reached out with both hands and clasped his daughter’s fingers, still holding the blueprint paper. His wrinkled face, flushed with excitement, drew close.
“You must secure a place at the young master’s side. Do not even dream of the position of legal wife! But the seat of his most cherished and steadfast concubine—you must claim it without fail!”
“…Pardon?”
Lillian’s eyes widened at the sudden bombshell. The baron, ignoring her reaction entirely and without even wiping the grease from around his mouth, launched into a passionate speech.
“You are the single flower that has finally bloomed after four generations of our family’s miserable poverty. My proud Lillian Luemien—if it is you, that great young master will surely gladly make room for you by his side!”
“……”
At those words Lillian’s brow twitched involuntarily. A strange discomfort crept up from the corner of her heart. The thought that even her own father would treat his daughter as a tool for the family’s revival, just like any other rotten noble on the continent, left a bitter taste. At that shallow motive of arbitrarily twisting her relationship with Ideon into a romantic entanglement, she nearly pulled her hand away—then stopped. Her gaze lingered on her father’s rough, calloused knuckles.
Yes… Father couldn’t have meant it that way.
Even in their poverty, where only the empty title of nobility remained, Baron Luemien had never once raised his voice at her or burdened her with responsibility. On the contrary, he had sold the family’s last heirloom at a pittance to cover her academy tuition and living expenses—a heartbreaking sacrifice. Her mother had sold every last piece of jewelry and every gift she owned as well. It was the blind parental love of elderly parents who wished to give their daughter the wealth and security they themselves had never known.
Understanding his true heart, Lillian gently set aside her sharp emotions and began weighing her father’s proposal with a cool, pragmatic eye.
His handsome appearance goes without saying… and his abilities are so overwhelming I cannot even begin to measure them.
Above all, Ideon never flaunted or boasted of his tremendous achievements. Rather, he had casually handed over even the glorious merit of purifying the wasteland entirely to her and the baron family.
That means he possesses almost none of the outdated male-supremacist thinking or arrogance that runs so deep across the continent.
If she stood at the side of a man who judged people solely by ability and results regardless of status or gender, even wearing the label of concubine would not mean a lifetime of scorn. No—with his level of capability, he would soon receive at least the title of count or higher from the imperial family. After that, he would likely become one of Calydia’s vassal houses. In that case, she would surely be treated with proper respect even as a concubine.
Yet Lillian quietly placed a hand over her heart. It was not racing wildly, nor did her cheeks burn. Her first contact with Ideon had been born purely of desperate survival instinct to repay the family debt and stay alive. The immense reverence and blind loyalty she felt toward him fell somewhat short of what the world called romantic love or affection.
Therefore the answer she could give was already decided.
“…I will do my best, Father.”
After a long silence, Lillian spoke softly.
“Conveniently, the guild master said he would take me along on this business trip to the Iregos Principality. I cannot promise what kind of relationship we will have right away… but I will try to grow a little closer.”
“……”
Her exceedingly calm reply left the baron frozen in place, still clutching her hands. Only then, faced with his daughter’s composed reaction, did he seem to realize just how shameless and selfish a parent he had been. The baroness was already glaring at him with clear anger, and the baron could not lift his head in embarrassment. Deep guilt settled into the wrinkles around his eyes.
“Your father is unworthy… I’m sorry for spouting such nonsense.”
At his shrinking voice, Lillian gave a faint smile and squeezed the hand that held hers.
“There is no need to apologize. I know you spoke out of concern for me, wishing me the safest possible life in this harsh world.”
“Thank you… And you have suffered so much.”
“Thank you.”
She gently released her father’s calloused hand and turned her gaze to the bread on the silver tray. It was a madeleine specially offered by Marbas Margrave for his honored guests, its sweet buttery aroma filling the air. Lillian carefully picked one up and took a bite. The crisp outer layer gave way to a moist, tender interior that melted across her tongue, spreading a delightful sweetness through her mouth. She lightly brushed the crumbs from her lips with a fingertip and continued chewing.
Still… if I became his wife, I suppose I could eat things like this to my heart’s content…
Bathed in the clear northern sunlight streaming through the window, Lillian gently closed her eyes.
…It’s incredibly delicious.