Civil Servant Marygold (1)
Was this some kind of arrogance on his part?
Lancel felt like he'd grown far too accustomed to being the one turning down advances. He'd even kicked away a princess's marriage proposal—what more was there to say? It'd just hurt his mouth. The same went for how he'd always treated Marygold. He'd gone to great lengths to keep her affection from skyrocketing toward him. And that hadn't changed even now. Marrying Marygold was basically a bad ending, after all. Dragging it out would just add one more bitter memory to the pile.
But.
"Lancel, please step back a bit. You're too close."
"……."
Had he heard that right?
Lancel was floored. Her attitude since boarding the train was worlds apart from any previous life. He clearly saw her whip her head away and put some distance between them.
No way!
This was a first since meeting Marygold. He'd always been the one to back off first, never her. But now it was the complete opposite.
"We're just traveling together for the mission, so please don't come too close. I hope you understand."
"Ah, yeah."
Lancel wiped away cold sweat. Even across centuries of life, he couldn't remember the last time he'd been this rattled.
"Ahem……."
Marygold fanned herself with her sleeve, as if it were hot, busily avoiding his gaze.
"……."
Lancel, still reeling mentally, had no choice but to widen the gap between them. What else could he do when she told him to back off? It was true—they'd gotten too close right from the start. Not out of any ulterior motive, just sheer joy at seeing her.
The joy of facing the 'normal' Marygold.
That was why.
And understandably so.
Before coming here, Lancel had just encountered the most outrageously abnormal Marygold of all his loops.
…….
"Human!"
"……Mer……?"
After the regressor Marygold died, Lancel spent a full four years in the next loop without finding her. He'd assumed she was dead, naturally. She was always dancing too close to death anyway.
But she was alive.
Perfectly fine, even.
"Hand over food, human!"
"……Is this for real?"
Too healthy, even excessively so.
"Now! Right now!"
Finding Marygold in the southern imperial woodlands had been pure luck. A bizarre rumor he'd never heard in centuries—about a 'blonde female monster' sporadically raiding food from the forest—had prompted him to check it out on a whim, and it hit the mark perfectly.
"Hand over the fruit in your bag! Then I'll let you go nice and easy!"
"Whoa, put down the spear. That's dangerous."
"You have two! Just give me one!"
"How'd you even know I have two?"
"I smell 'em!"
"Your nose is something else."
Clad in scraps of animal hide barely covering her chest and lower body. A woman gripping a spear shaft, commanding no less than nine wolves.
Feral Marygold.
What the hell kind of life did you live, Marygold!
Lancel shut his eyes in despair for a moment before snapping back to reality. Duty called.
"Should I leave it here?"
"Yeah!"
"I'll leave both."
"Human……are you a good human?!"
"……."
The mental blow hit hard, but he'd found Marygold this time too.
10 years 0 days
Hut of the Barbarian Marygold
— Ending added to 'Memory Album.'
— Opening album.
'I'll hunt, farm, and gather it all. You just stay by my side, human. You don't have to do a thing.'
The Marygold who once fled to the forest hating humans—her wariness had melted away like snow.
'Now my dream is to build a kingdom. Starting today, we'll expand the houses bit by bit, build a village, fill the entire forest with our loving family. This treehouse is the starting point. What do you think, human? Huh? Where will all those people come from? What are you talking about, human?'
The great barbarian Marygold's eyes gradually fill with feral light.
'You don't get what I mean by "make" them?'
Hut of the Barbarian Marygold - fin
Would you like to restart the game?
…….
Lancel shuddered. The feral Marygold's piercing gaze was still vivid in his mind.
How could he not be thrilled? Seeing her not just human-like, but with a proper job to boot.
In the Empire's Central Administrative Bureau, no less—a top spot even among jobs open to commoners.
1. Meeting this loop's Marygold hadn't been easy either. First hurdle: she wasn't wandering the capital streets. Second: she turned out far more incorruptible than he'd expected.
The Academy?
No wonder he hadn't spotted her. Not swordsmanship or magic, but the Administrative Records Department.
A mishmash of imperial administration, laws, records, geography, management, history—the starting point for the so-called 'imperial official route.'
And there, Marygold had become the top graduate on her own merits. Exactly three years into the loop, the year she turned eighteen.
Well, whatever. It worked out.
He didn't know the happy ending conditions, but one thing was certain.
Nothing's as straightforward as material abundance.
Lancel headed straight for the Academy where Marygold was.
"Uh, Sir Lancel? The thing is, Miss Mary……she's refusing all personal sponsorships……."
"Huh?"
Lancel, arms loaded with gold coins, tilted his head at that.
Hates money? Who? Marygold?
He vividly remembered her overwhelming merchant greed from the trader route. The Academy staff's words were utterly unexpected.
"We tell her to accept decent offers, but she doesn't want to owe any nobles personal favors. Hard to convince her."
"Refusing sponsorships at an Academy? That's rare."
"Maybe her ambitions aren't that grand?"
"Wants to be an official, huh."
"Else why skip noble connections?"
The imperial official route had two paths.
1. Attach to a noble and transfer to local administration.
2. Climb as an imperial official all the way up.
Most took 1. Easier, comfier, better pay. Mandatory capital service was twenty years, then cozy up under local nobles—that was the typical mindset. The Empire exploited it to grind workers legally for two decades.
But Marygold wanted none of that.
Why?
"If Miss Mary's mind changes, let me know."
"Yes, Sir Lancel."
He tried contacting her several more times, but her resolve didn't budge. Lancel couldn't guess her goals this life.
* * *
In the end, Lancel got his chance to meet Marygold three months after she'd graduated the capital Academy and become an official.
Your first day as an Imperial Official begins!
Recruiting escorts to accompany administrative duties starting today.
I hope it's someone good. 😊
"Now?"
"……Huh? Lancel?"
Lancel bolted upright. He ignored the puzzled look from Baron Ivil Shen, with whom he'd been sharing tea.
Escorts for officials were usually Empire-recommended mercenaries. Far below a knight's station.
"Pardon? An escort? For you, Sir Lancel?"
Not an issue for Lancel.
"This is usually mercenary work. Why would someone of your stature……."
"Do I have to satisfy your curiosity too?"
"N-no, but……."
"Just do as I say."
Ignore and move on.
Lancel easily joined as Marygold's escort. Rumors briefly swirled among officials about the weird knight volunteering to shadow a rookie on tough assignments.
"Pleased to meet you! I heard you're here to assist with my work. I'm Mary, records officer at the Imperial Central Administrative Bureau."
After this convoluted process, Lancel reunited with today's Marygold.
With eager expectations, no less.
But now…….
"We'll split up after work until morning. Rooms separate, of course."
"……I'm fine with it, but are you? What if you're attacked in your sleep?"
"It's fine. We won't visit dangerous areas. Appreciate the concern."
"……."
Why on earth?