Please Repay Me with Marriage! - Chapter 11

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Please make it up to me by marrying me!
Chapter 11
‘The Golden Lion of Weinberg, the one who made a name for himself as the return of the Mercenary King, turns out to be Count Elpias… How fascinating. I wonder how many people will be surprised once they learn that?’
‘I don’t mind if it gets out. I have no attachment to the title, so threatening me with that fact won’t do you any good.’
‘Threaten you? Would a prince like me stoop to such a base thing? What I intend to propose is a long-term contract. Say… ten years or so.’
A long-term contract.
It was a form of agreement rarely seen in the Mercenary World, where contracts were usually made per job.
The reason was simple. There was seldom any need to entrust a mercenary with work over such a long span, and on top of that, half the fee for the desired period had to be paid up front as a deposit.
To hire Leonard, who had become famous as the ‘Golden Lion of Weinberg,’ for ten years, one would have to pay 30 million rarc right away.
‘But there’s one problem. Given my position, I can’t spend a large sum of money on something as murky and suspicious as hiring a mercenary.’
‘No, hear me out to the end. There’s a loophole. Let me see… your family has a Family Heirloom Sword, doesn’t it? Put it up for sale at the Auction House. Then I’ll bid on it for that amount.’
The Family Heirloom Sword the Second Prince had named.
It was a sword called the Reize Messer.
Right before the Empire was founded, when the First Emperor was trapped and in danger, surrounded by enemies, Count Elpias had rescued him single-handedly, wielding that sword.
The First Emperor, who had taken the sword with its cracked blade and had it repaired personally before returning it, named it after one of his own given-name characters.
Few of the First Emperor’s relics survive in physical form today. That the blade bore a character from his own name made the sword enormously valuable.
‘I’ll return the sword to you by granting it back to you as a gift. Surely even Her Majesty the Empress Mother wouldn’t suspect that buying a sword to bestow upon a knight who has pledged loyalty to me is anything out of the ordinary.’
30 million rarc.
That was exactly the sum of the principal and interest on the debt the creditors had demanded be repaid all at once.
Under normal circumstances, Leonard would have been suspicious of an amount that fit so neatly, but the hope that rose like a morning star in the dark night sky only clouded his eyes.
‘Then please draw up the contract exactly as you’ve described.’
‘What? Are you saying you can’t believe my word? They say mercenaries value trust above their own lives, yet you treat another’s trust as worth less than dog dung?’
A contract was precisely what one drew up for the sake of trust.
If he refused to draw one up, the deal would be as good as dead, but to soothe the Second Prince, who was raging and babbling about treason against the Imperial Family, Leonard had no choice but to nod.
‘No matter what happens, you must win the sword at auction and pay me the promised sum.’
‘How many times must I say not to worry?’
And so Leonard entrusted the future of House Elpias to a verbal agreement, the kind he had never once made since becoming a full-fledged mercenary.
A verbal agreement that left no proof whatsoever. This was practically a gamble. But how could he possibly refuse to put up the stakes?
‘If you can’t repay the debt, you’ll have to file for bankruptcy. Then the count title will be lost.’
Leonard had taken on a job as a mercenary from the late Countess Elpias. It was to keep the count title safe until next year, when Zenis would come of age and be able to inherit it.
From the start, he had taken on the count title as if merely holding someone else’s belongings for safekeeping. Once he returned the title to Zenis, he had planned to go back to being a mercenary.
‘Once Marquis Blair learns of this, she’ll surely withdraw her request for me to marry her.’
She had told him she didn’t care whether he was an illegitimate child or a former mercenary, but she would certainly mind if he stopped being Count Elpias.
‘I should have told her yesterday… No, is there even any need to tell her such a thing?’
If he refused, Marquis Blair would likely look for someone else.
Having already announced him as her fiancé before so many people, and even seeing his name printed in the newspapers, cleaning up that mess would be difficult for her…
Still, Marquis Blair was far too precious to tie herself to a man like him, no matter how difficult the aftermath might be.
With the feeling of not looking back at a tree he could never climb, Leonard quietly left the Marquis Residence together with Edward.

* * *
For the first time in nearly a month, the Roelle Auction House on Velvet Street, where a public auction was being held, was bustling with crowds from early evening.
“Madam, have you checked today’s auction catalogue? The listings are absolutely dazzling!”
“I came prepared to spend at least three million rarc already. I really want to win that Pink Ruby…”
In the Great Hall where the auction would take place, round tables were arranged at even intervals, and at the center lay an assortment of expensive wine, juice, and finger foods that could be easily picked up and eaten.
Were it not for the fact that one wall had been broadly fitted out as the stage where the auction items would be displayed, one might have mistaken the scene for a banquet rather than an auction.
Leonard, who deeply disliked this kind of atmosphere, swallowed a sigh and made his way to his seat.
‘Quite a back seat… Well, I suppose that’s to be expected.’
Only those who had purchased a catalogue in advance could attend, so every table was a reserved seat.
The more successful one’s past dealings, the closer to the stage one was seated, and since this was his first time participating and he had entered as a seller, Leonard’s seat could only be pushed toward the back.
Still, he had no complaints about that. He had come here in the first place to make sure the Second Prince would actually win the Reize Messer at auction as promised.
‘The Second Prince is… over there.’
The Second Prince’s seat was near the front, fairly close to the stage.
“Ha, Your Highness the Second Prince, to see you here of all places. How have you been keeping?”
“I hear you went to recuperate at Debora Coast, and you look radiant.”
“Is that really so? I heard the hotel reservations at that resort were already booked three years in advance…”
The nobles surrounding the Second Prince were famous enough that even Leonard, who had only one year of experience in the Social Circle, knew their names.
Giving up on squeezing in among them, Leonard merely fiddled with the mask covering his face.
‘Am I standing out too much?’
Fortunately, he wasn’t the only one wearing a mask. As Leonard turned his head at the sight of a woman in a dazzling gown and mask taking a seat up front, he doubted his own eyes.
‘Lloyd Mathias?’
Red curls and green eyes.
No doubt about it. The man exchanging cheerful greetings with the Second Prince was indeed Junior Count Mathias.
‘Since when did that bastard know the Second Prince?’
He wasn’t fawning over a man of rank, currying favor with a knowing smile. He was carrying on a long, easy conversation, face bright with laughter.
Leonard had never imagined the two of them were on such familiar terms, and an uneasy feeling crept over him for no reason he could name.
‘I don’t like this.’
And the instinct that had saved him more times than he could count proved right once again.
“This item is one that I’m certain every distinguished noble here will recognize. It carries exceptional historical value.”
About two hours after the auction began, the final lot finally arrived: Reize Messer.
“This is the famed sword of House Elpias, bestowed by the Great Emperor, who achieved the founding of the Empire and shared his own name with it. It is no exaggeration to say this blade saved his life and thus built this Empire itself. Reize Messer!”
It was a full four hundred years old. Because of that, the crystal case protecting the blade gleamed far more brightly than the aging sword within.
Its historical worth was undeniable, but was it truly a treasure worthy of closing out the auction? Well, that was another matter.
Despite the auctioneer’s dazzling description, the crowd murmured with disappointment at the sword’s rather ordinary appearance.
“That’s the legendary Reize Messer? It’s rather more…”
“It’s just a worthless old blade.”
Some in the room said exactly what Leonard had expected them to say, and not quietly, either.
“Even so, to put up for auction something that once touched the hand of the First Emperor…”
“Some mercenary born, I suppose. Only cares about money. Advertising to the whole world how far House Elpias’s prestige has fallen, all for a few coins.”
“Why on earth would he make such a choice? He could have borrowed from his fiancée instead.”
“Perhaps she already turned him down? Marquis Blair never invests in anything that doesn’t pay.”
Leonard let every one of those cutting remarks pass through one ear and out the other.
Prestige? Honor? Those were luxuries for people who were still alive and well. When you’re on the brink of starving to death, what good did honor and prestige ever do to fill your stomach?
‘And it’s not a few coins, either.’
Thirty million larc. Leonard waited for the Second Prince to name that figure.
But.
“Very well, then. We shall begin at a minimum bid of 100,000 larc! Those wishing to purchase, please raise your paddles. …Is there no one?”
Unlike the chatter from moments before, not a single voice rose now.
Leonard glared at the Second Prince’s face in the distance. His grip on the armrest of his chair tightened until his knuckles strained.
“If no one wishes to place a winning bid, Reize Messer will go unsold. Is there truly no one who wishes to purchase it?”
When the auctioneer asked again and again, Lloyd, who had been smirking to himself, raised his paddle as though bestowing an act of charity.
“110,000.”
“Yes, 110,000! We have 110,000. Does anyone else wish to purchase? You’ll need to call 120,000. 120,000, anyone?”
No one showed the slightest interest in the old sword. Not even the Second Prince, who had promised Leonard thirty million larc.
Watching the man flip idly through the catalog with a bored expression, Leonard finally understood. From the very beginning, there had never been any intention of hiring him.
‘He was in on it from the start…’
Glaring at Lloyd, who was snickering with his friends, Leonard ground his teeth together.
The heart that had believed no insult or mockery from the nobles could ever shame him crumbled like grains of sand.
Yet who was there to blame?
The one who had been foolish enough not to sign a contract was none other than himself.
“If there are no other bids, Reize Messer will be awarded to Customer Number 32 at 110,000 larc. Three, two, one…”
Just as the gavel rose high, amid faint giggling, a small paddle shot up.
“Ah, Customer Number One! Customer Number One has raised their paddle. Please state your desired bid!”
“200,000.”
“Yes, 200,000! We have 200,000 bid…”
Before the auctioneer, whose face had brightened considerably, could finish speaking.
“300,000.”
“Eh?”
“500,000. One million.”
“U-um, excuse me. Customer Number One?”
Bid after bid kept climbing without pause, every single one from Customer Number One. The clear voice of the woman did not stop there but carried on relentlessly.
“Two million, three million, five million.”
“W-wait a moment, please. Customer Number One, do calm down. It is prohibited for one person to keep raising the bid consecutively.”
“Oh? I didn’t know that.”
The woman sighed loudly, as if meant for everyone to hear, and continued.
“I was expecting a fierce competition, you see. But with no one else bidding, I figured I might as well go it alone.”
From where Leonard sat, Customer Number One was nowhere in sight.
Still, the voice was so painfully familiar that identifying her was no great difficulty at all.
“That is the rule of our Auction House. Please state the final bid you wish to place.”
“Between one hundred million and five hundred million, then.”
“…Excuse me?”
An icy silence fell over the Auction House, as if someone had dumped cold water over the room.
Everyone doubted their own ears as they stared at Customer Number One. Only then did the host seem to snap out of it, and he asked again, as if to confirm.
“T-the, the bid you’re hoping for is how much, exactly…?”
“I said at least one hundred million and at most five hundred million. Oh, is it not allowed to be this vague?”
In a silence so complete that the drop of a needle might have been heard, Leonard finally felt certain.
That voice, tinged with a faint sneer that could have been aimed at anyone, belonged to the woman who had confidently said she would erase his stain.
“Let’s compromise and call it three hundred million.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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