Please Repay Me with Marriage! - Chapter 14

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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 the reward marriage!
Chapter 14
“Ugh, how many times do I have to say it? We’re not thieves or anything like that!”
“That’s right! We didn’t steal a thing in here!”
“Please, just shut your mouth for once…”
Three voices reached her: a man, a woman, then another man. All three sounded middle-aged.
Kiri counted them out of habit, and once she realized they weren’t here for this carriage, she let her shoulders loosen.
“Looks like there’s been a break-in at the Auction House. That must be what’s causing all the commotion.”
“…What are they doing here?”
Irene leaned out the window and muttered as she looked toward the front gate. Kiri blinked, her eyes going wide.
“Do you know them, by any chance?”
“Not yet. Hmm, I didn’t expect them to have come all the way to the Capital. Did they come because they were worried about Rey?”
Irene’s words trailed off like a murmur, and a strange feeling washed over Kiri.
‘Not yet.’
Every now and then, Irene would say something like that. It was as if she already knew what was going to happen.
It wasn’t the same as having sharp business instincts. Each time, Kiri had brushed it off as her own overthinking, but whenever something like this happened again, that thought came back to her.
‘I heard that in the age when magic faded, there were Grand Mages who could foresee the future.’
Could our Marquis be a descendant of some mage? Is that why she dreams about the future every time she goes to sleep at night?
‘Oh, come on. No way.’
“Kiri, I need to go over there for a moment.”
“What? You’re going yourself, my lady? But Hawk already went…”
“If I leave them alone, I have a feeling they’ll end up dragged off to the guard station.”
Seeing Irene rise from her seat, Kiri quickly knocked on the carriage wall. At once, the knight who had dismounted to guard Irene’s carriage pulled the door open.
Kiri stepped down first and went with Irene toward the front gate, where the bickering was in full swing.
“No, but these people, honestly! Call the Capital Guard and have them haul every last one of these people away…”
“What’s going on here?”
“Oh, goodness. Lady Blair.”
The guard captain, who had been bellowing at three men and women in long robes with their hoods pulled low, recognized Irene and quickly bowed his head.
“I apologize for the inconvenience. These ruffians will be taken into custody shortly, so if you could just wait a moment…”
“Ugh, that’s a Reize Mess—! Hup!”
The woman who had been jabbing a finger toward Irene, having spotted the sword cradled in her arms, had her mouth clamped shut by a hand the size of a cooking pot lid.
Across the back of that hand was a large, deep scar. It belonged to the largest of the three.
“You idiot, what do you think you’re doing, pointing at a noble like that?”
“But…”
Their faces were hidden in the shadows of their hoods, so they were hard to make out. But their faces weren’t what mattered.
To Kiri, who had spent half her life in the Arena, every one of those robe-covered bodies was honed by long years of real combat.
‘If these people had truly stepped forward…’
Including the guard captain, the eight guards standing here would have collapsed in less than ten minutes.
Why would such skilled fighters be lingering near the entrance of the Auction House, their faces hidden under hoods?
Honestly, even to Kiri, they looked incredibly suspicious. She leaned toward Hawk, who was blocking the way in front of her, or more precisely, in front of Irene, and asked in a half-whisper.
“Who are these people?”
“I have no idea.”
Judging by the sidelong glances they kept sending over, they seemed interested in Reize Messer, but there didn’t seem to be any hostility toward Irene, who held it.
Still, Hawk didn’t lower his guard. He kept glancing at one of the three and spoke in a faintly puzzled tone.
“That man just handed the guard captain a Samdonghwa.”
“A Samdonghwa?”
A large Copper Coin stamped with three stalks of wheat is worth a thousand Rarc.
‘If he’d slipped them even a silver coin, I’d at least understand it as a bribe. But a Samdonghwa? Why on earth?’
With that kind of money, you could buy a few loaves of bread at most. Accepting it as a bribe would just be a way of mocking someone, it seemed.
Then a gasp escaped Irene, who stood behind them.
“A Samdonghwa? He gave that much money as a bribe?”
“Huh?”
It wasn’t just Kiri and Hawk. Even the guard captain looked over at her with a startled expression.
The guard captain’s face showed a hint of grievance, and when a voice called out ‘See? Told you!’ from somewhere far off, his sense of injustice only deepened.
“Well, a famous businesswoman is different. A Samdonghwa is a lot of money. It’s not like we’re bandits, so just how much do you expect to get?”
A slender man, shouting loudly enough to be heard, came walking toward them. At his approach, Kiri and Hawk tensed at the same moment.
As if he knew exactly why they were on guard, the man didn’t approach Irene. He stopped in front of the two of them instead, pulled something from his pocket, and pressed it into Hawk’s palm.
“We are absolutely not suspicious people. We simply came to watch the auction because we heard it was taking place, but we didn’t realize you needed a catalog to get in. We only want to quietly return home, so please, let us go.”
“No…!”
What ordinary people would go around hiding their faces like this on a dark night!
But before the captain could even pound his frustrated chest with a fist, Irene stepped up to Hawk and checked the object clutched in his hand.
Not one Copper Coin but two. Two thousand rarc. At the sight of the two coins, a bright peal of laughter burst from Irene’s lips.
“Fine! Since you’ve offered such an expensive request, I suppose there’s no helping it.”
“Eh? My lord Marquis, are you saying that seriously?”
“I’m in a very good mood today, you see. I’ve finally closed the deal I’d been hoping for.”
Irene hoisted the sword she’d been carrying with a flourish and smiled at the captain.
“For my sake, just let these people go. If anything happens, I’ll take responsibility. You know me, don’t you?”
“Well, I… Is there anyone in this capital who doesn’t know the Marquis of Blair…?”
Stealing glances at the two Copper Coins in Hawk’s hand, the captain shook his head, unable to make heads or tails of the situation.
It felt like he’d been bewitched by a ghost. Even so, he gave his men a half-hearted wave.
“Let them go.”
“But… are we really going to be fine with this?”
“The Marquis of Blair said he’d take responsibility, didn’t he?”
Even setting aside the House of Blair’s reputation in the world, the amount of money the Marquis spent right here at this Auction House was staggering.
Hadn’t he entered as Customer Number One at today’s auction? That meant that, among everyone who attended today, the Marquis of Blair had spent the most money by far.
Do not displease the clientele. Above all, requests from VIPs are to be acted upon first and reported afterward.
Frankly speaking, whatever trouble those suspicious fellows caused in the capital was none of the Auction House guards’ concern.
On the other hand, if they offended the VIP and he vowed never to set foot in this Auction House again, that would be a real disaster.
‘Still, I’ll probably get an earful…’
They’d let go people who might very well have been real thieves, so there was no way he’d get off without a scolding.
Steeling himself for that, the captain submitted his report to his superiors, but what he got in return was praise.
“Well done! The Marquis of Blair left in a good mood, didn’t he?”
“Eh? Ah, yes. He said today’s deal was extremely satisfying.”
“Ha ha! The Marquis said that? Then it must have been a very satisfying deal indeed! Why, it was a five hundred million deal!”
“Eh? H-how much, sir?”
“Five hundred million, I tell you! Fifty million rarc made right there on the spot. Hahaha! The next time you run into the Marquis of Blair, treat him like royalty. Understand?”
Watching his employer prance about with his shoulders bouncing, too overjoyed to keep still, the captain could only blink dumbly.
“Five hundred million… Good heavens.”
Before long, bewilderment spread across his entire face.
‘Wait, why would a wealthy man who’d hand over five hundred million for a single sword let himself be won over by two Copper Coins?’

* * *
The Auction House guards released them and told them they could go, but the three men and women couldn’t relax until they were back at the inn.
Only once they had climbed the stairs to their room and shut the door behind them did they finally feel at ease.
Bin was the first to pull down his hood, roughly raking his sweat-soaked blue hair as he spat out a curse.
“Damn it, what on earth was that mess? We nearly ended up in prison!”
“Don’t you dare mention prison in front of me!”
Michel, who had also taken off her hood, let out a jittery cry like a cat with its fur bristling.
She was forty-five this year. Not young, but not so old either, yet the hair that fell to her shoulders had gone white like that of an old crone.
Even now, the right hand that fumbled furiously with the buttons of her robe was missing its thumb and index finger.
That meant she was a convicted thief. Had the guards seen her hand hidden beneath her long sleeve, she would have been dragged away long ago for having a criminal record.
“I knew it was a mistake for all of us to hide under hoods.”
“Don’t say that now. You agreed to it too. The priority was not getting caught by Rei.”
“Let me correct myself. I’d rather get caught by Rei. At least that kid wouldn’t throw us in jail.”
“I agree too.”
Hiss nodded curtly, and Bin spoke up beside him.
“Anyway, the fact that we made it back safely is all thanks to me. So, in that spirit, I’m deducting fifteen hundred rarc from each of your shares.”
It was the stern declaration of a man who had already held the position of treasurer in this mercenary company for twenty-six years.
Hiss, long hardened by Bin’s past conduct, which made even the word “miser” sound sweet by comparison, simply nodded as if to say, well, that’s that. After all, arguing with him changed nothing, and he knew it.
But Michel, as always, couldn’t accept this unreasonable deduction and flew into a rage.
“Fifteen hundred each for the two of us makes three thousand rarc already! Why aren’t you losing a single cent?”
“I’ve already paid up with my remarkable wit. I was going to take a thousand rarc from each of you, but I held back. You should be grateful.”
“Yes, we’re very grateful. Though I did see you scrambling to pick up the Copper Coins the captain tossed away.”
“What? Then all you’d have to pay is a thousand rarc each!”
“Oh, when did you see that? Fine, fine. A thousand rarc deducted from each of you.”
Michel felt a surge of triumph at Bin’s unexpectedly easy nod, but only belatedly did she realize the truth.
In the end, Bin hadn’t lost a single thing!

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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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