I Became A Married Man in Another World
Chapter 103
What Rudolph’s Painting Means
The rhythmic sound of dripping water echoed through the room. King Simoni gazed out into the dark night through the window of the thick stone wall.
A mixture of snow and rain was falling over the palace buildings as darkness settled in. While many of the border regions were still covered in snow, spring had arrived in the royal capital, its presence palpable in the air.
“A welcome rain, after all this time.”
As he muttered, the head chamberlain’s voice rose from right beside him.
“Indeed, Your Majesty. It is a relief.”
The chamberlain’s low voice resonated in the room along with the flickering shadows, and soon, silence returned to the bedroom.
For several years, there had been little rain or snow. It wasn’t so severe that lakes or rivers had dried up, but there were reports from several regions that the drought was making it difficult to irrigate the fields.
This year’s winter drought had been particularly harsh. With almost no snow, some areas saw their already depleted reservoirs drop to less than half their capacity.
The effects of the drought were appearing everywhere. Crop yields were down, and the forests lacked sufficient water. Occasionally, animals unable to find water would wander down into human settlements.
Among the anxious commoners, some were apparently calling for the summoning of a Hero.
The King let out a small, bitter sigh.
‘Summoning a Hero will not make the rain fall.’
Ignorant commoners tended to believe that a Hero could solve anything. It was foolish.
Though Heroes were beings brought into the world through divine power, they were not all-powerful. All they possessed was a greater amount of mana than average and various magical potential. Beyond that…
“Your Majesty, a report has arrived from the spy in Tairon.”
Lost in thought, the King turned his head at the chamberlain’s words.
A short man stood hunched beside the chamberlain. Though the King had never seen him before, the fact that he had been brought into the royal bedroom suggested he was a trusted subordinate of the chamberlain.
“This man has personally seen the Heroes of the Tairon Kingdom. I brought him here in case Your Majesty had any questions.”
No one was allowed to speak without the King’s permission. Only after the King spoke first or gave his consent could they find their voice.
“I heard rumors that there are two Heroes in Tairon. Is this true?”
When the King asked, the man kept his gaze lowered and spoke.
“It is true, Your Majesty. A pair, a man and a woman. Both have black hair and black eyes.”
“Two of them…”
The King closed his eyes. Every Hero in history had been a monster with immense mana. And now there were two. A weight settled on his chest.
“Do you know anything of their abilities?”
“My apologies, I was unable to confirm that. The King of Tairon displayed the Heroes in a parade, but he is keeping their actual use of magic hidden.”
“…How strange. Significant time has passed; he should have showcased them with a grand display.”
As the King muttered, the man bowed his head even deeper and continued.
“This is merely a guess, but perhaps their abilities are significantly lacking compared to previous Heroes.”
“…”
“And there is something else unusual.”
The man stole a glance at the chamberlain while keeping his head bowed. When the chamberlain nodded, he continued.
“Several live Magic Beasts are being brought into the Tairon palace.”
“Magic Beasts?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“How can that be? Bringing such dangerous things into the palace… Are you sure you aren’t mistaken?”
“At first, we also thought there must be some mistake, but Magic Beasts were definitely being brought into the palace. And not just one or two, but dozens.”
“…”
According to the man, the first Magic Beasts to enter the Tairon palace belonged to beast tamers. However, later on, untamed Magic Beasts were brought in.
The palace tried its best to hide the fact that Magic Beasts were being brought in, but wild beasts are dangerous. Every time a Magic Beast moved in or out, several first-rate mages had to be mobilized to maintain strict security.
To deceive the public, the Tairon palace mobilized mages under various pretexts. But while that might work at first, when the same thing happens repeatedly, someone is bound to find it suspicious.
After piecing together various situations, the spies concluded that the mages were mobilized whenever Magic Beasts were being moved.
The man gave a few more reports and then withdrew.
After the man left the room, the King fell into deep thought for a while.
It was strange no matter how he looked at it. Having a Hero fight Magic Beasts to improve their skills—yes, that was possible.
But even so, one wouldn’t bring Magic Beasts into the palace. Normally, the Hero would be sent outside to train.
Heroes and Magic Beasts.
Something didn’t quite fit.
As far as the King knew, there was only one thing that came to mind when combining the concepts of a monster with immense power and Magic Beasts.
“What do you think?”
“I believe Your Majesty’s suspicion is correct.”
“…Do you also think it is a Santa’s contractor?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. If an individual from another world is being linked with Magic Beasts, I can think of no other reason.”
“…”
“However, something must not be going well. One or two would be one thing, but dozens… that is too many.”
“If it truly is a Santa’s contractor.”
The King closed his eyes. A sense of gloom filled his heart. Both Heroes and Santa’s contractors were monsters. But of the two, the Santa’s contractor was more dangerous.
A Hero can only use their own power. If they became a threat, there were many ways to eliminate them. One could use poison or kill them while they slept. No one can stay awake twenty-four hours a day, twelve months a year. Opportunities could always be made.
But a Santa’s contractor possesses an entity called a Rudolph in addition to their own power. Even if the contractor falls asleep, nothing can be done as long as the Rudolph is there.
Though he didn’t know how it was possible, the Rudolph moved by perfectly perceiving its master’s will, so it was useless even if one silenced the contractor.
Furthermore, there was time to prepare before a Hero was summoned. One could prepare a woman or a man to bind the Hero and choose what to show or hide from their eyes.
If one could show them only the good things of the kingdom and give them gold, silver, and whatever they desired so they would act according to one’s intentions, then their owner was effectively the King.
The fact that the first people a Hero met were royalty and priests served as the best insurance for the future.
But a Santa’s contractor is not a summoned being. They simply appear in the world one day, without warning. They couldn’t be prepared for or bound.
And by the time their existence was noticed and an attempt was made to act, the Santa Guild was usually the first to reach them.
They would put Santa’s face on their signboards, beckoning to the contractors arriving in the world. Telling them to come here, that the Santa who sent them to this world was here, that there was something familiar to them.
When a person is surrounded by nothing but the strange and the unknown, their heart naturally leans toward the familiar. Dropping into a strange world and seeing Santa’s face on numerous guild branches, the contractors would seek those places out first.
Then, the Santa Guild would cram them full of useless knowledge and abilities. All to ensure they didn’t become the King’s property, so they could survive in the world on their own.
“Sigh…”
The King let out an involuntary groan.
The Santa Guild was established for that very purpose from the beginning. Though no one remembered its origins now, the Santa Guild had swallowed up all other adventurer guilds and grown, consistently fulfilling its role. It gave Santa’s contractors the power to earn their own money and find a place to live.
The King turned away from the cold air and approached the long curtains hanging on one wall.
The chamberlain quickly caught on and pulled the cord to open the curtains, revealing a single painting mounted on the wall. It was something a nobleman had discovered and presented twenty years ago.
In the painting, a man with black hair and black eyes stood with a Magic Beast that had long horns. This man was the one who had created the Santa Guild in this land.
“It is like a curse.”
The King muttered while staring intently at the man. The person was already dead, but his ghost was still very much alive and active, opposing the King. It was as if the man and the Magic Beast had created a new Rudolph called the Santa Guild.
“The Santa Guild itself is the true monster.”
No one even remembers him anymore, yet for generations, they have interfered with the royal family’s affairs according to the founder’s will.
“Our country does not even have a Hero, yet if the King of Tairon possesses two Rudolphs… This cannot be allowed. We must take action.”
As the King muttered, the chamberlain spoke quietly.
“I have already sent people to Tairon. I cannot guarantee success, but if there is an opening, they will surely be swayed.”
“It doesn’t matter if it’s only one of the two. You must obtain them.”
“I understand, Your Majesty.”
“…Right.”
The King pressed his lips thin and stared at the painting.
The man and the Rudolph in the painting were staring fixedly at a single point.
Their gaze landed on a small figure in a corner of the painting.
It was so small that, at a glance, it looked like nothing more than a messy shape. But upon closer inspection, the figure was covered in intricate patterns. It was those patterns that made it look messy.
“I am tired. You may leave.”
As the King waved his hand dismissively while looking at the painting, the chamberlain quietly exited the room.
In the empty room, the King stood for a moment, gazing at the painting.
The words his father had spoken on the day he first became King rang in his ears.
[A Rudolph can bring the dead back to life. No one knows how. But there was evidence that the founder of the Santa Guild did exactly that. They say he brought his dead daughter back to life. If you can ever obtain it, you must seize that power.]
The power of a Rudolph to revive the dead.
That was the long-held secret wish of the royal family.
‘Is the King of Tairon about to grasp that power?’
Before me…
Muttering those words, the King glared at the painting for a long time.
The candlelight flickered in the breeze that had entered the room, making the shadows dance.
The man’s mouth in the painting was submerged in darkness and then revealed by the light again.
Each time, it looked as though the man was smiling.
It was as if he were saying: Do you think I would hand over this power to the King of Simoni, who killed my daughter? It felt like he was mocking him, as if saying that even if every other country gained the power, he would never give it to him.
The King quietly turned away.
The small figure in the painting was the man’s daughter, who was said to have been brought back to life.
It was said he drew patterns on the girl’s body to revive the child who had been dead for a long time. This painting depicted that very moment.
“…”
How much longer could his old body last? One year? Five years? Among the uncertainties of the future, one thing was certain: in fifty years, at the latest, he would surely be dead and in a grave.
‘Before then, I must get my hands on a Rudolph.’
He had to hurry. He didn’t have the time to wait much longer.
The night had grown deep. Riji was blinking her eyes occasionally, as if they were sore. Reading and writing under the dim lamp had clearly strained her eyes.
“Why don’t you stop for now and go to sleep?”
When Juhwan spoke out of concern, Riji gave a bright smile.
“I’m okay. I only have a few days left to learn from Anet, so I should learn as much as I can.”
“I can teach you later.”
“…I want to be able to write well before then.”
She seemed embarrassed by her crooked handwriting. Perhaps she was still bothered by Dorothy saying her mother’s handwriting looked just like hers. When Juhwan chuckled, Riji gave him a playful glare.
“Come here, Riji.”
Juhwan patted his lap. Riji, who had been practicing her letters with a wooden board and paper at the edge of the bed, blinked in hesitation.
“Let me take a look. There’s a knack to writing letters.”
Just changing the order or adjusting the angle slightly could make writing prettier and faster.
But Riji hesitated and whispered softly.
“Anet writes so beautifully and elegantly. But my writing isn’t pretty. I’m embarrassed to show you.”
“Your writing is prettier to me, so it’s fine. It looks cuter.”
“Isn’t it a bit strange for handwriting to be cute?”
Even as she said that, she seemed a little happy. Riji’s eyes curved slightly like crescent moons.
He called the bashful Riji over, showed her how to write the letters one by one, and then watched her write.
Riji followed Juhwan’s instructions obediently, even as she tried to hide her writing with her hand.
‘Sitting like this reminds me of the old days.’
When he was a child, his mother used to sit him on her lap and they would take turns writing letters together.
Juhwan gave a wry smile.
’Of course, in my case, it wasn’t because I was cute, but to keep me still because I ran around so much.’
Still, those memories remained as fond ones. It was strange, but he remembered the warmth of her body behind him more clearly than her face.
His mother’s breath tickling his ear, her soft voice, and her warm body.
‘I miss it.’
Juhwan was lost in old memories for a moment before snapping back to reality. Riji had moved her hand slightly so the paper was visible and was letting out a little fake cough.
Juhwan grinned.
“This handwriting is really pretty. You did a great job.”
“…R-really? I’m not so sure. It looks the same as the others.”
Riji said that, but her eyes were sparkling. It was obvious she was proud. It was just like how he used to act toward his mother when he was little.
Finding her adorable, Juhwan laughed inwardly but spoke with a serious expression.
“I think it’s even prettier than what Anet wrote.”
“…Really? To me, Anet’s writing looks much prettier.”
Riji stared at her own writing for a moment and then picked up the pen again. Watching her put strength into her hand and carefully write each letter with all her heart, Juhwan closed his eyes.
He missed his mother and father. He missed them both so much today.
