My translation stuff

For the first forty years of her life, Marie was as happy as she could ever be. Born to a middle-class family in her hometown somewhere in the Dollbucks Confederation, she had a relatively easy early life. Even as a war for liberation broke out in the north, the Confederation thrived, every man, woman, and child taking up a trade and working hard for a better life. Once the war was over, new kingdom and empire were in tatters, while the Confederation had grown to become a powerful economic force. Everything was going well for Marie. She dated and then married a childhood friend who ran a restaurant, and a few years later they had a son. The restaurant grew to become popular even among the upper class, and she dreamed of one day expanding the business. Marie sighed, stopping her work. The faces of her husband and son, now both deceased, appeared in her mind. Where had it all gone wrong? Happiness was a fleeting thing. Marie had learned that lesson the hard way. Despite its immense terri...

Today, the Stock Company officers in charge of each street of the West District were assembled at headquarters for a meeting. A few ex-members of the now defunct Palpud Union were also present. They were clearly not happy, but had long since lost the willpower to resist. The Union’s chairman and all his lieutenants were dead, and those who remained loyal to them were paying for it dearly. At its core, the Union had been a ragtag band of thugs; without a centralizing force, everything fell apart. Incidentally, the stores and establishments formerly controlled by the Union were already being taken over by the Company. Mace, the so-called useless bookkeeper, used his experience and connections to swiftly annex the former Union territory. Meanwhile, Gard, who used to be the strongest candidate for next president, was now little more than a despondent, submissive shell. “. . . Further details shall be communicated by written report at a later date,” Mace said. “Furthermore, should any issue...