Alchemist Karen No Longer Compromises, Chapter 1

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The new translation is here. This is a brand new title that I chose completely at random. The description seemed interesting and I just decided to start translating it. So I don't know if "Alchemist Karen No Longer Compromises" will be fun or not. Nowadays it's very hard to find something interesting that hasn't been translated by someone else or licensed yet. The release schedule will be the same: Monday, Wednesday, Saturday.

For those new here, there are “fancy levels”, which you can easily turn off by setting the slider in the top left corner of the page to “zero”. These “levels” enhance your understanding of characters and terms. There is also a character table and glossary at the bottom of each chapter.

Chapter One: A One-Sided Broken Engagement

“Karen. I’m breaking off our engagement. I’m going to marry Marian.”

“W-Why?”

Karen’s mind filled with question marks in every sense of the word.

Karen had been Lyos’s only childhood friend and fiancée for eight years, since back when he was sickly. Marian was the woman who had abandoned him in the past.

Today was the celebration party for Lyos achieving his childhood dream of becoming a knight. The venue was Lyos’s house, and he was hosting. Usually, Karen would handle the preparations since Lyos rarely did housework, or his mother Frieda.

But when Frieda had insisted, "We don’t need your help today," Karen had sensed something was off. She had mistakenly thought they were preparing for Lyos’s proposal to her.

“A knight like me wouldn’t be well-matched with a perpetual F-rank alchemist like you.”

Lyos sighed as if stating the obvious. The F-rank part was true, but there were circumstances behind it. Karen wanted to object, but something else bothered her more.

“But Marian abandoned you, didn’t she?”

“She didn’t abandon me. She simply didn’t care about me. And why would the daughter of the best trading company in town bother with a sickly boy who couldn’t leave his bed?”

“W-What…?”

Karen was confused by these unexpected words.

Lyos had been sickly in the past. When they met at age eight, he had a fever every day and couldn’t even get out of bed. For his sake, his mother Frieda invited neighborhood children to their house. But no child wanted to spend time with a sickly boy who couldn’t play.

Marian too had visited Lyos’s house once, but after cruelly declaring "What’s the point of keeping someone so useless alive?" she never visited again.

However, Karen had memories of her past life. She felt sorry for the eight-year-old child and visited Lyos frequently. His mother Frieda, desperate not to lose the only girl who stayed by Lyos’s side, forcefully arranged their engagement.

In other words, Karen was the only person who had stayed by Lyos’s side since his sickly days and had continued to help him all this time.

Naturally, she thought he was grateful. She even thought his brusque attitude was just shyness, and that he was actually in love with her.

But what was this? Breaking the engagement? Not well-matched?

“Only a useless woman like you would hang around someone who was too weak to fight for the country. That was unavoidable. But now I’m a knight! I’m no longer useless… I won’t end up as the husband of a worthless woman like you!”

Since childhood, Lyos had always said it. That he wouldn’t let his life end in a sickbed. That he would definitely get out of bed. That he would become a knight, his dream. That he would climb even higher. He always, always said he wouldn’t let things end there.

Never in her dreams did Karen think this meant he wouldn’t let things end with being her husband.

“If… if I improve from F-rank? If I become E-rank—”

“If you could, you would have done it long ago. It’s been what, seven years since you registered? I’ve given up on you.”

“If you just give me time…!”

Lyos glared at Karen, deeply furrowing his brow.

“Don’t tell me you didn’t have time because you were doing our household chores? I never asked you to do that.”

“T-True, you never asked, but you got better because I nursed you! And you could focus on your knight training because I did the housework, right?!”

“I would have recovered on my own without your nursing. And for housework, I have my mother. There are plenty of people who want to help someone who will become a knight protecting this country! Don’t act like I owe you for such trivial things!”

“T-Trivial…?”

Karen staggered, feeling dizzy.

Past events flash through her mind like a kaleidoscope.

In her previous life, she had been born into an ordinary Japanese family. After putting her older brother and sister through university, the family’s savings were depleted, so she couldn’t attend university. She graduated high school, found a job, and lived modestly. Then she met someone at a group date and started dating—only to be dumped at age twenty-eight. "I feel like it’s a waste to settle with you," he had said.

To be fair, he wasn’t her type either, especially his looks. Still, given her age, she had compromised in choosing him as a partner. He was good at his job and had a charming side, as he would willingly accept her advice on clothing and grooming. After living together for four years, she thought a proposal was coming. She had dressed up specially for what turned out to be their final date.

She couldn’t even remember their conversation after that. On her way home after drinking heavily, she saw a car about to hit a child crossing at a green light. Her body moved instinctively to shield the child.

The next thing she knew, she had been reborn as Karen.

Brown hair, light blue eyes, and ordinary features. Her father was an adventurer, and she had a younger brother. When Karen was twelve and her brother ten, their father never returned from a dungeon. Though she worried about quitting public school, she was fortunate enough to become an alchemist and managed to raise her younger brother while attending school.

In this life, she wanted to be happy. That’s why Karen had decided since infancy not to aim too high. Her ex-boyfriend from her previous life had been high-spec in everything except looks and height. While she thought she had compromised, maybe she hadn’t compromised enough. That’s precisely why she accepted the engagement to Lyos, who was sickly and ignored by everyone at the time.

An engagement that was eagerly sought after wasn’t bad. Even if Lyos remained bedridden forever, Karen could work. At the very least, Lyos was an admirable hard worker. Plus, with his red hair and determined brown eyes, Lyos had been a handsome child. To be honest, this was the biggest factor for the appearance-conscious Karen, but that was her secret.

Then Lyos got healthier and healthier and achieved his dream of becoming a knight. It was an achievement unimaginable from his childhood self. Though she had compromised in accepting the engagement, she found herself with a fiancé she could be proud of.

They met at eight, got engaged at ten, and eight years had passed. Thinking about all the time she had devoted to him made her head spin.

“I’ve been supporting you since your lowest point, always by your side…!”

“That’s just because you couldn’t do anything else, isn’t it, Karen?”

“Marian…!”

Karen glared at Marian.

She had personal grudges against her too.

“My, how scary.”

Marian pretended to be frightened, her red lips curving into a smile.

“Since childhood, I’ve helped with my family’s trading company. Though it may not compare to knights and adventurers who fight monsters, I believe it contributed to the peace of the Kingdom of Earthfill. That’s why I had no use for Lyos back then when he couldn’t even stand. But now that you’ve become a knight, you’re worth my support, Lyos.”

“I’m proud to have become a man worthy of support from a woman like you, Marian.”

As they exchanged these words, they kissed.

Immediately, applause and cheers erupted from all around.

“You got better because of me…!”

“If you continue spouting nonsense, I’ll charge you with insulting a knight, Karen.”

Threatened by Lyos, Karen turned pale, fell silent, and fled the scene.

The Translator's Corner

What's the moral? Don't drink!

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