Time Limit

Chapter 4 (Bucket List Man)

The man who opened the door and came in was a man with clunky muscles that made it burdensome. A long cut crossed his eyes, and a short, black beard wrapped around his square chin.

Behind him, another man with a harsh impression followed. Likewise, he had a body full of muscles.

‘It looks very scary. Are you a mercenary?’

It was an unfamiliar behavior to Lariette, who grew up in the Duke mansion. However, it was not polite to stare for a long time, so she quickly looked away.

“Give me two soft drinks and a cold one.”

“Yes, please sit down and wait!”

It was even more surprising because it is not common for men who look rough to come to a cafe alone. They ordered drinks and sat down behind her.

Lariette quickly turned her mind off of them and focused on her thoughts again.

First of all, finding a handsome man wasn’t something she could do right away just because she wanted to. It was even more difficult because the additional conditions were strict.

‘A good-looking man with no lover, enough experience with women, suitable for casual dating for only three months, and who is not a womanizer.’

It got even worse when I got it sorted out. Lariette let out a groaning in a frustrated mood.

Thinking about it now, there was nothing I could do. So, she stopped thinking about it and thought about the immediate problem.

‘Living expenses… I have to make money.’

Actually, I have enough money to spend now. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to live for a few days.

Lariette took out the pocket she had brought and checked. It was made of luxurious navy blue fabric, it was small enough to fit only a few coins. But she wasn’t that stupid.

Lariette untied the golden string tied tightly and opened the mouth of the pocket. Contrary to its very narrow appearance, the inside was quite wide and deep.

And inside were some shiny coins and some gorgeous jewels.

‘I have worked so long, but I can only bring this much with me.’

She waved the pockets, a jingling sound was heard and put a happy smile on her lips. I was very satisfied with the fact that I had hit the Duke in the back of the head.

A large capacity magic was affixed to this tiny pocket. It was a magical item secretly crafted by her former teacher, Joel, as a birthday present.

However, the problem was that the value of the jewelry was not enough to stay more than three months.

Lariette wanted to enjoy everything she could enjoy as much as possible if she was going to die. She had no interest in things like fancy dresses and jewels because she had already experienced enough to get tired of them.

But I wanted to stay at a better inn and enjoy a more delicious meal. To do that, I would need so much money.

‘Hmm, how do I make money?’

Lariette thought while waving the pocket in her hand. Someone stared behind her at the jingle, but unfortunately she didn’t notice.

After idly scribbling on the notebook for a while, she suddenly lifted her head. 

Because a flashing thought came to mind.

‘Let’s use what we are best at!’

What she did best was, of course, magic. 

However, in the case of elemental magic, learning was short and talent was insufficient to make money using it.

However, there was one area in which she was exceptionally gifted: purification wizard.

Purification magic was not a very popular field in the magic world. Healing magic has the same compatibility, but its effectiveness was considered to be far inferior to that of healing magic.

Like the judgment of the magical world, purification magic required too much mana. However, if you have enough mana, you could use enough healing magic.

And for Lariette, all that was left was mana.

‘I wish I could heal myself…’

Lariette made a small vortex of mana in her hand and looked at it with a bitter expression. She was born with outstanding purifying and healing powers, but there was no contradiction like this that she died from an incurable disease.

Healing magic cannot heal itself. This was an immutable truth, and so was the case of divine power. Rather, the field was added.

Priests would often summon Healing Wizards to heal their wounds or ailments.

It was because they could not heal them with divine power, and even could not receive treatment from an opponent with a lower divine power.

It was not easy for them to demand divine power from a higher-ranking priest than themselves, so they paid the wizard they normally ignore and received healing.

And this was the means of making money that Lariette envisioned.

‘Shall we go to the mercenary recruitment center?’

It was a thought that I could not even imagine when I was a princess. A princess of the Great Kharshan Empire makes money selling Purification magic! If my mother had known, she would have been screaming, saying, “Did you intend to damage the family reputation?”

But she was no longer a princess. Neither an elegant noble lady nor a noble woman sacrificing for her family, she was just a Lariette facing death.

Lariette drank the rest of the strawberry smoothie face down and got up. The way she roughly wiped her mouth with a tissue was particularly bubbly.

And after paying, someone followed her behind as she left the cafe.

* * *

“No, am I really a purification wizard? I have the confidence to heal any wounds or curses!”

“Because I’m not interested! Don’t make a fuss in the business area for nothing, just go!”

The man with a grim look made a deep wrinkle between his forehead and waved his hand. His crude face was full of annoyance towards her.

“I don’t know where or what you read and it is not romance fantasy here, but this is definitely a business room!”

“It’s not a romance, I use purification magic…”

“Besides, I’m not even looking for a purification wizard! Why do I need a purification wizard when we already have a healing wizard?”

The man who was an employee of the mercenary recruitment center shouted at Lariette. As she trembled in surprise, she lowered her momentum as if in bewilderment and scratched the back of her head.

“You look like a noble lady, but if you come to a place like this without an escort, you will be in big trouble. In the first place, we didn’t even look for any purification wizards. It will be the same in other places.”

The man persuaded me with a rather soft voice. It was because he was afraid that he would be bothered by the noble lady for nothing.

It was unfair that Lariette did not even have a chance to test her skills, but it was not that she did not understand, so she kept her mouth shut. When he talked more to the person who already considered me only as a young, aristocratic lady, nothing seemed to change.

“… All right.”

“Yes, yes. Well thought. If you need a mercenary later, call me.”

The man smiled pretensely and opened the door for Lariette. As soon as she steps out, bang! The door closing with a sound seemed to represent his feelings.

“Whew….”

Lariette let out a long, deep sigh and stood still for a moment. Suddenly, darkness fell outside.

I have to go home with that in mind, Lariette slowly made her way towards the inn. I wondered if I would be satisfied with the first drink, but my heart was heavy as the days ahead didn’t seem so smooth.

‘No! It’s okay! You worked hard today, so tomorrow will be fine!’

Lariette clenched her fists and strengthened her will. But what she didn’t know was that today’s hardship was not over yet.

Swoosh!

“Ugh!!”

In an instant, someone appeared from behind Lariette and pulled her with a strong hand.

She hurriedly tried to memorize the spell, but a thick hand covered her mouth and grabbed her wrist with the other to subdue it. In other words, it was a situation in which magic could not be used at all.

‘What…!’

Lariette writhes as much as possible at the unexpected event. But, unable to use magic, she was nothing more than a weak  woman.

“Shh. If you make a lot of noise, I will kill you.”

Hot breath reached her ear, and a voice she had heard from somewhere echoed. 

Lariette desperately looked back at his memories, and soon realized that it was the man with the bad impression she had seen in the cafe earlier.

The man forcibly dragged her and moved. 

The place we arrived at was dark and secluded.

“Where is your magic pocket?”

“What are you asking? shut your mouth, we can just have to find it.”

The group of men who had come into the cafe with me earlier laughed and replied back. He walked over to Lariette and fumbled her body here and there. Tears welled up involuntarily at the shame.

‘I shouldn’t have pulled out my pocket…!’

It was foolish to take out a pocket without thinking in a public place. It was because she had overconfidence in her own magical abilities.

Lariette shed tears of regret, but the incident had already happened. The man who was rummaging through her arms immediately cheered and found a pocket.

“Also! Your clothes were sloppy, so I was worried about it.”

“It’s not bad if the harvest is like that.”

The men, who checked the jewels in their pockets, smiled slyly and nodded their heads. The man who was holding Lariette threw her at the wall without any regrets, saying that he had nothing to see anymore.

“Ouch!”

“Thank you, Lady! I’m glad it’s over.”

Lariette, who bumped into the hard stone wall, groaned at the bitter pain that climbed up her back. The men giggled, waved their hands at her, and left.

As they said, it was fortunate that it ended like this. If it were a normal girl, she would have accepted it with humility, saying that it was unavoidable. However, Lariette’s situation was quite urgent for that.

‘If I don’t have that money, I can’t survive even three months and I’ll starve to death!’

Even if it was an incurable disease, dying of hunger was by no means the norm.

Lariette raised her head and looked in the direction they had left. Her eyes blazed with intense fighting spirit.

“Aaaaa!!”

“What, what?!”

The men who were walking playfully throwing their pockets into the air looked back at the sudden cry.

And I found Lariette running towards them like an angry bull. With a burning ball floating next to it.

“Hey, run!”

As soon as the men saw the fireball, they started jumping. The blazing fireballs fell rapidly, charring the place where they were located.

“Elemental magic…!”

“Isn’t her a Purification Wizard!”

They secretly stole the conversations at the mercenary recruitment center and checked the magic field, but unexpectedly, it was a firestorm to meet them. In an embarrassing situation, the men ran to each other, blaming each other.

However, contrary to their embarrassment, they were quite skillfully dodging her magic. It was because he had experience dealing with elemental wizards. It was distasteful to see them avoiding the vines that suddenly rose from the ground and the falling water thunderbolts.

“Give me my pocket!!”

In addition, the men’s running speed was so fast that Lariette began to lag behind. I was out of breath and my feet hurt from uncomfortable shoes.

And then, Lariette found a man standing in the middle of the road in front of the men’s direction.

“Help, help!”

She screamed as she grabbed the last rope. The man walking towards him slowly turned around and looked at her.

The moment he looked at his face, Lariette seemed to stop breathing.

He was a tall man who was all black. The hem of his long black coat fluttered in the wind, and a white bandage wrapped around his muscular body up to his neck under his black shirt.

His short hair was pitch-black, and beneath his neat eyebrows, the only blue eyes that had color gleamed.

‘I saw him in the carriage…!’

Duke of Kandel’s coachman! Lariette quickly recalled her memories. But unlike the time when she could only see his eyes, this time she was able to see his face completely.

The man’s eyes were sharper than anyone she had ever seen, but he had sunk as if exhausted.

The man looked at the men running towards him with indifferent eyes for a moment. At the same time, the men were overwhelmed and stopped moving without realizing it.

It was such a terrifying force. An endless darkness seemed to wrap around him.

Instinct fear engulfed the men. Even though the man didn’t do anything.

“The smell….”

The man with the cut on his face looked at him and muttered blankly. A body wrapped in a bandage down to his chin, and an unpleasant odor wafting out. It’s like a rotting body… It smelled like death.

And these clues led to inferring the identity of the man.

“Duke… Kandel…?”

“Hey! That, that monster Duke?!”

The man’s eyebrows twitched slightly as he bit his body in surprise and muttered. Lariette opened her mouth wide and stared at the man.

‘He’s not the coach-?!’

And that man, the Duke of Kande, slowly moved his hand.

Asrazan-

It was a movement that could not be seen with the naked eye. I didn’t even see them firing, but all of a sudden, the men of thieves were cut by sharp swords.

Dump. The men fell to the ground with a dull sound. Asrazan trudged towards their bodies with indifferent faces.

He leaned over and grabbed something, then got up again and took one step closer to Lariette.

Lariette looked at his face as he approached her with a blank expression. Blue eyes that seemed to have no emotion and clear purple eyes met again.

“…….”

Asrazan reached out to her without saying a word. In his hand was a blood-stained pocket.

“Hiccup!”

Lariette was devastated by the sudden hiccup and covered her mouth with her hand.

Asrazan, who had lowered his eyelashes for a moment and stared at Lariette, placed a pocket on her hand and turned around without hesitation. Then he stretched out his long legs and left quickly.

Lariette was really surprised.

Asrazan Kandel. It was a name I had never heard of. The most prestigious family in the Kharshan Empire, the current Duke of the Duke of Kandel and the Empire’s number one sword.

He was a general who achieved victory even in a war that seemed impossible, and he was called a war lord because of his cruel disposition. Rumor has it that the face is also very beautiful.

Lariette thought these rumors were completely wrong.

‘It’s not just about the appearance of being beautiful!’

It was a perfect appearance that seemed to leave no regrets no matter what rhetoric was attached to it. If God had made an average person one minute, he would have stayed up all night to build his face.

But it seemed a little, a little, a little too scary. The grassy scent of death stimulated the human instinct to fear.

However, Lariette moved her body boldly.

‘This body will die anyway! It’s so scary and unbearable!’

He’s such a handsome guy, so there’s no doubt he doesn’t have experience with women, and he’s famous for being cool, he doesn’t look womanizer .

In other words, he was the perfect man on Lariette’s bucket list.