Please Repay Me with Marriage! - Chapter 26

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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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Pay me back with marriage, please!
Chapter 26
“Me! Even 290,000 Rarc is practically giving it away!”
“Hey there, mister, I can do 280,000!”
“I’ll do 270,000!”
“Well, I’ll be. Now there’s a thought.”
The one-eyed man marveled as though he’d never seen such a thing, while Hawk turned his gaze to the man with silver hair and silver eyes.
But he couldn’t open his mouth. A burly man had clamped a hand over it, holding him fast.
‘What is this? Does he have no intention of taking the job? But the Marquis clearly said…’
What would they do if these people gave up the job? Hawk was flustered, for Irene had never warned him of anything like this.
“Free!”
“W-what did you say?”
At the thunderous cry of the woman who had stepped up onto the table, a stunned silence, laced with shock, settled over the room.
Amid the mercenaries who stared at her as if to ask whether she had lost her mind, the middle-aged woman with dull white hair flung her arm toward Hawk and shouted with all her might.
“We’ll go for free! To the Elpias County!”
“Oh, for crying out loud… Michel, have you lost your mind? What sort of mercenary works for nothing?”
“Looks like Bin’s going to just have to sit back and watch that mess…”
“Mmph! Mmm-mmph!”
The big man simply hoisted the silver-haired, silver-eyed man over his shoulder, kicking and thrashing with all his strength, and carried him outside.
“At the very least, we should get one copper coin!”
…That was all that remained of his dying wail.
“If we’re going to do a favor, we’d better do it properly. We don’t need even one copper coin, so hand over the contract already. We’re in a hurry too.”
“In a hurry? What could you two possibly be in a hurry about?”
“Huh? Well, you see, yes. We forgot to put out the fire in the stove at that inn over there.”
“…Haven’t you been down in the capital for nearly a whole month?”
A month was long enough for a house to burn down until nothing was left but ashes, which the wind had carried off.
Whether or not she cared, Michel pressed the one-eyed man and had the contract drawn up.
“There, you sign too. You said you were in a hurry, didn’t you?”
“Mm, yes, in a hurry. Very much so.”
For now, the first step Irene had described was complete. Hawk examined the contract Michel had handed him and, feigning ignorance, asked.
“But the Iron Blood Mercenary Corps… Aren’t you the only one who’ll guide the way? I only need a single guide.”
“Don’t you worry about useless things, boy. You won’t have to cling to your ankles because we won’t run out of stamina.”
“I hope that’s true. If we turn out to be a burden, I’ll leave you behind one by one until only the last man is standing.”
In truth, Irene had told them to hand over a generous fee when she entrusted the job to the Iron Blood Mercenary Corps.
But… since they had said they would work for free themselves, it doesn’t matter, does it?
‘It’s good to save money whenever you can.’
Hawk thought Irene would surely praise him for it, and he wrote “Free” in the fee column and signed his name with a flourish.
He had no idea that this would come back to trip him up again and again.

* * *
‘Those people will probably ask you all sorts of things. It’s fine to tell them everything, but if you answer too smoothly it’ll seem odd, so cut your replies short and keep them measured.’
‘Is there a particular reason I must travel with them?’
‘Not really. But it’s good to get your faces known to each other in advance, don’t you think? Those people are my fiancé’s comrades. To be precise, they’re people he took in and raised.’
To Hawk, Irene’s words were law and truth. Even if she had brought home some beggar from the slums instead of an indebted count who had once been a mercenary, Hawk would have served him as the master’s husband.
‘No, maybe “beggar” is a bit much.’
In any case, Hawk had neither the intention nor the right to object to Irene’s marriage.
Still, as a retainer who served his lord with utmost loyalty, shouldn’t he at least know in advance what sort of man her future husband was?
It was hardly likely that the man Irene had chosen was a wretch, but love, after all, was a blindfold that scattered reason.
‘She said she raised them since they were young… If I learn what kind of people they are, I can roughly tell what sort of person the Marquis’s fiancé is, too.’
Fortunately, he had plenty of time.
Because of Irene’s instructions, they had ridden hard the moment they left the capital, but it wasn’t so urgent a schedule that they had to skip meals or sleep, so they didn’t cut the three meals and rest short without reason.
If there happened to be a village along the route the guides pointed out, there would be no harm in lodging at an inn.
However, the route they confidently claimed would bring them to Elpias County within two days ran straight through the mountain range.
And so, late at night, Hawk had to roughly clear the stones from the dirt ground along with three men and women and lay out his bedding.
“You’ve worked hard running all day.”
“Purr-”
They had agreed to sleep early and rise early, so they settled their meal roughly with dried rations and jerky.
After feeding the horses, who had toiled all day, apples and sugar cubes, Hawk stretched out on the blanket he had spread on the ground, long before the others.
The night watch, drawn by lot, had fallen to the third shift. If only he had drawn the fourth, he thought, as he closed his eyes, but then a small cough reached his ears.
“Ahem, ahem!”
Hawk had already sensed the presence circling nearby, so he didn’t startle when he opened his eyes. Standing before him was Michel.
“Did you want something?”
“Just… I couldn’t sleep, that’s all.”
Michel sat down beside Hawk without so much as asking permission. Hawk hesitated, then pushed himself upright.
‘Couldn’t sleep is clearly an excuse…’
Sure enough, Michel thrust the bottle in her hand right under Hawk’s nose.
“If that’s not fate, I don’t know what is. How about one small drink?”
“I appreciate the thought, but I’ll pass. I’d rather not spend tomorrow morning retching in the saddle.”
“Oh, come on, don’t be like that. This is a truly rare drink. The Wandering Tribe brews it out in the desert…”
“Made from cactus blossoms, isn’t it?”
“You know? Then you must understand how precious this is!”
“Precious? This?”
Hawk tilted his head, and Michel’s jaw dropped.
“What’s with that reaction? That look of someone who’s had more than a sip or two?”
“Right. Maybe three or four times, I’d guess.”
“How? Were you actually from the Wandering Tribe?”
Hawk waved a hand dismissively.
“Have you forgotten where I work? It isn’t just desert brews. In Ilum, snowmelt wines are as common as dirt.”
Whether over mountain roads or across the sea, carving out trade routes where none existed and opening ties with many nations—that was what Irene had accomplished in a mere three years.
Strangely, she understood exactly what each country needed. She brewed remedies from the common weeds of the Empire to cure the desert fevers and sold them abroad; to nations where firewood was scarce and many froze to death, she sold coal.
In the process, she could have pocketed far more than a fair profit. But instead of pursuing that, Irene earned the trust of that nation’s king and its people.
And on the strength of that trust, she began brokering trade between nations that had never dealt with one another.
That was not the end of it. Setting up hotels at the harbors where her ships could dock, she launched a cruise business separate from her brokering trade.
Departing Ilum, passing through the Con-Isle-Tem Union, Parodia, and Milos, the cruise ship docks at the Empire’s southern Debora Coast before retracing its route back again—a journey of roughly two months.
Worried that tourists far from home might be stricken with homesickness, Irene had dressed the seven islands of Debora Coast to resemble a desert, a jungle, and a snowy land.
Of course, without magic, it was impossible to replicate the climate in full.
Still, Irene did her utmost to make everything as close to each country as possible, from the architectural style, flowers, and trees, down to the uniforms, speech, and food of the staff working there.
So it was only natural that rare drinks obtainable solely in those lands should turn up in the Blair Marquis Residence.
Even now, Blair’s merchant ships were busily hauling goods from one nation after another.
“Snowmelt wine—you don’t mean Snowl Wine? You’re saying that’s common?”
“Is that so surprising?”
“Of course it is! You’ve actually tasted it? What was it like? Hm?”
“Honestly… it was just bland.”
“Bland? You’re lying! My dream of a drink couldn’t possibly be bland!”
Michel was practically wailing. Hawk scratched the back of his neck, clearly at a loss for what to say.
“If I’d known it was such a legendary drink, I should have brought a bottle.”
“Bring a bottle? You know a single bottle costs at least 200,000 rarc, right? How would you even carry something like that?”
“My master is generous. The stock is limited, but if you ask for something you want to eat, they’ll share it readily.”
“Oh… is that right? So they’re not stingy when it comes to food?”
Hawk instinctively realized she had just awarded Irene good marks.
‘Ah, I see.’
Just as he had been trying to learn what sort of man Irene’s fiancé was through these people, they were now trying to learn what sort of woman Irene was through him.
Being made into a mirror of Irene’s character, Hawk straightened his slouched spine.
As if she had read the reason behind it, Michel asked, “Anyway…”
“How old are you?”
“Why the sudden question… I’m twenty-two.”
“Hah, so I was right, you’re just a kid! Since I look so young, you probably didn’t realize, but I turned forty-five this year, forty-five!”
“Young-looking…? Hmm, I don’t think you need to worry. You look exactly your age.”
“What did you say, you brat?”
Though he hadn’t said she looked old in the slightest, Michel flared up in anger.
“My age? Knowing I’m old enough to be your mother, you still went on and on about how I looked? Just because you work under a noble, you think you’re a noble? Hm?”
“Technically speaking, I am a noble.”
“What?”
Hawk tugged at the thin chain around his neck and drew out a pendant he’d kept tucked inside his clothes. It was the pendant that proved he was a baronet.
“My master knighted me and granted me the title.”
That was precisely why Hawk had been able to serve as Irene’s escort.

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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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