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TL:SummerPeanut
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Always thankful for the peanuts, Marcus.
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It has been three months since Barnes died.
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A lot has happened since then.
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First of all, Zeke became a count.
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Specifically, Zeke received Margrave Carmel’s count position.
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It seems that in this Balkus Kingdom, an upper-class noble can have several titles, just like in the UK.*1
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By the way, I don't know if it's really the same as in the UK, ok? I didn't learn about these kinds of title in Japan after all.
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Margrave Carmel did not confer the title of count to his own son but to Zeke instead.
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Naturally, the royal family has given their approval.
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And Count Zeke Bryant was born.
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Normally it would be XX Count Zeke Bryant, but apparently, you can add XX yourself if you wish. Well, I hear that this requires a lot of contribution even for upper-class nobles.
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I also received the right to govern Almeria from Margrave Carmel.
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Apparently, the Margrave had had enough of the labyrinth and gave it to Zeke.
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Later I also heard that Margrave Carmel's only son was apparently a very bad person, and previously he wanted to give the title to his only son so he sent him to Almeria Labyrinth as a captain of the knight squad to take credit for the mission but he was too scared to come out of the mansion.
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Seeing this, he gave up on his foolish son and gave the count title to Zeke.
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However, he has high expectations for his granddaughter so he sees little hope in her. By the way, she is 9 years old currently.
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With this, the Household of Count Bryant is the only noble family in the Kingdom of Balkus with two labyrinths in its territory.
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The quality of adventurers will soon improve with Zeke's management of the Almeria and Irgusia labyrinths.
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The top adventurers in Irgusia, led by the Azure Fang and Red Wings parties, who found the Irgusia Labyrinth unsatisfactory, take turns going to Almeria.
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The second was the Almeria Labyrinth.
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The Almeria Labyrinth seems to have returned to its old ecology.
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We four had only dived to the middle of the third floor after that but there were no more ant demons in the labyrinth.
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There were ant eggs all over the second floor which we took care of as matter of course.
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Also, after Arline, the Queen Ant. disappeared, two magic stones dropped.
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One was a large black magic stone the same size as the other queen ant.
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The other was a small, shiny black magic stone.
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I appraised the black and shiny magic stone and found that…
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Name: Artificial Demon Stone
Special: -
Value: -
Description: A magical stone created by a special method.
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It was described as so.
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When I told Zeke about the results of this appraisal, he told me not to tell anyone about it.
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Zeke was also not sure what exactly it is but he said it would be foolish if something happened to me by telling everyone about it.
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Third, there was the matter of Barnes and Erie.
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The third is the matter of Barnes and Ellie. Barnes and Margrave Carmel had promised to release Barnes from slavery if he performed well in the defense of the Almeria Labyrinth.
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Margrave Carmel duly kept that promise and freed the dead Barnes and his daughter Ellie from slavery.
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I conveyed Barnes's last will and testament to Margrave Carmel and Zeke, and they decided to take care of Ellie.
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Ike had also heard of Barnes's last will and testament so he accepted the credibility of my story and Ellie was placed in my care after her emancipation.
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At first, Ellie only showed attachment to me.
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However, she gradually became attached to Clarice and Ike as well.
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When Ellie became affectionate to Clarice, Clarice and I decided to devote ourselves to lifting Ellie's curse.
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When I say devote, I just mean that we were High Heal-ing and heal-ing her all the time but here's where the miracle happened.
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When Clarice's Holy magic reached level 5, Clarice's title became ‘Saint’.
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‘Saint’ cures abnormalities when recovery magic is used. Also, slightly reduces the MP consumption of Holy magic.
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This effect changed Ellie from her lion form back to her human form.
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Ellie, now a human, had short blonde hair and grayish blue eyes.
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Her eyes had healed well and there were no scars left.
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She looked like a very active and beautiful girl but she was so quiet that it was hard to believe that she was a beastman.
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She had human ears, unlike a beastman, and no tail too.
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Perhaps the tail is tucked away in her clothes but......
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It would be almost impossible to see her as a beastman just from her appearance.
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Ellie, who has become a person, became even more attached to me.
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She seems to feel uncomfortable unless she is touching me all the time and wants to be with me when I dive into the labyrinth, go to the bathroom, take a bath, or even to bed.
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As expected, it would be a bad idea if this goes on and it also might put Clarice in a bad mood, and more than anything else, I myself don't trust Ellie from the bottom of my heart……I was worried about Ellie's Unique Ability.
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So, I made up my mind to ask Ellie together with Clarice.
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I asked Ellie if she was a reincarnated person.
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Ellie readily admitted that she was a reincarnated person.
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However, Ellie herself seemed to think that she was just reborn and she did not have much memory of her previous life.
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When I asked her about her memories of her previous life, she told me that she had been in this world in her previous life.
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Perhaps this is the circle of transmigration?
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Anyway, I can trust Ellie now.
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Just because I trust her doesn't mean I can bathe or go to bed with her though...
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One day Ellie tried to sleep in bed with me again and when I said no...
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"But, papa said... take care of Ellie...... and Mars said to leave it to him..."
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So she said. She's usually quiet but at times like this she’s come off headstrong.
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No, I did say that but I think that's different from what you're asking me to do...
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Besides, I have Clarice and...
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If I'm being vague here and it’ll hurt her more later, I have to take this opportunity to say it now. Now that Clarice is with me, it's a good chance too.
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“Ellie, I have Clarice. I like Ellie but I like Clarice the best. In the future, I and Clarice will get married."
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I look at Ellie firmly and said my piece, Clarice is blushing with happiness.
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It was a very me-like odd proposal. Then Ellie replied
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"Un... I know…that Ike-san told me about it...so as a concubine."
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What? A concubine? What's a con-cu-bine? Oh, I think I heard about this a while ago…
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"Concubine...what is it exactly?"
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Clarice told me that when one becomes a nobleman, he can have a concubine in addition to the legal wife.
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There are also concubines, it seems. They are not officially wives but only physically related to each other.
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But they are allowed to recognize the child of a concubine apparently... But how does Clarice know so much about this stuff?
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"A concubine... Uhm, I’ll consider it…”
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And finally, today is the day Ike leaves Almeria to take his test at the Lister Imperial School.
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The Lister Imperial School is a five-year program, unlike Balkus Kingdom’s school.
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If accepted, he will live in a dormitory in the Lister Confederacy for five years.
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Ike will go with Red Wings to the Lister Confederacy.
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"Ike. Good luck. Since it’s you, I'm sure you’ll definitely get accepted. I'm not worried.”
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Zeke said to Ike. I too
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“Brother Ike. Please take care of yourself. We'll be there in three years.”
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"Brother-in-law, please avoid to acting without restraint too much.”*2
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"…farewell.”
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Clarice and Ellie also said a few words of farewell each. Ellie was still the same as usual.
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Finally, Maria went to Ike with Leena and cuddled Ike.
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“If anything happens, you can come home right away.”
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She said tearfully. Leena jumped around Ike, too, and said something to him.
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"Well then, everyone, I will be taking my leave first. I will definitely pass the exam and achieve excellent results, so please look forward to it.”
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Ike came to me at the end and said
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"Take care of everyone. And don't make Clarice cry too much.”
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Ike and I did a fistbump before he headed for the Lister Confederacy with the Red Wings in tow.
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On the way, Ike turned around and raised his hand.
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Ike's face was sopping.
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Author’s note:
If you feel the series is even a bit interesting and are curious about the story’s continuation, please consider giving ★★★★★ and bookmark</u> as it will really help with my motivation. m(__)m
I am also on Twitter.
I would be delighted if you follow me on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/qdUYSDZf8XzNaUq</u>
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TL’s note:
<ol> So…Margrave Carmel has at least two titles. A margrave and a count, I guess? Yes, without bracket this time. She directly calls Ike ‘brother-in-law’ politely. Lord/Sir brother-in-law doesn’t gel so I use brother-in-law.</ol>