I Became A Married Man in Another World
Chapter 133
133. The Hero of Hope
This world is a terribly desolate place.
Fathers sell their daughters, husbands beat their wives to death, and families marry off their children like objects for the sake of the household.
While it is a harder place for women to survive, it is by no means easy for men. To support their families, they work without rest from dawn until dusk, a cycle that continues from birth until the day they die.
In this world, everyone is struggling and suffering.
Yet, even in such a world, there are those who sacrifice themselves for others. There were people like that—those who acted as bait to lure away magic beasts for a young hunter, covering the boy with their own blood in the process.
A boy, caked in blood and dirt, cried and cried, shouting incessantly until his throat seized and his voice failed him.
The mister died to save me.
The mister who scolded me, saying I shouldn’t be like that if I wanted to be a hunter, he went off alone to lure the magic beast away.
The Captain, to save me…
I’m sorry.
I’m sorry for acting so high and mighty.
I should have listened better, I’m so sorry I didn’t.
I’m so sorry they died because of me.
“….”
Juhwan closed his eyes.
Perhaps they were able to sacrifice themselves because they already knew they couldn’t survive. They might have realized there was no chance of escape, given the magic beast’s relentless pursuit and fury.
Experienced hunters and adventurers who had witnessed the deaths of comrades many times might be capable of that. It was possible they knew by instinct.
So, they might have decided, as if pushed into a corner, that if they were going to die anyway, they should at least try to save one child.
But even so, the fact remained that they had offered their lives for another. It was not something just anyone could do.
It made him feel that the world was still worth living in. At the very least, people were selfless enough to choose a child as the one to survive among them.
As the boy continued to wail and scream apologies in a cracked, hoarse voice, the hunters watched in silence, their mouths set in grim lines.
“….”
Juhwan let out a soft sigh and approached the boy.
The boy’s body was not intact either. He was bleeding from cuts and scrapes all over. His leg was completely broken, with white bone protruding through the skin.
Yet he didn’t seem to feel the pain. It seemed that when the heart is in enough agony, the brain forgets the body’s pain.
Juhwan took hold of the boy’s leg, which was bent at an unnatural angle.
If he healed it like this, it would set crookedly. He had to align it properly.
The boy was still sobbing uncontrollably. He was wailing toward the sky, his neck bent back so far it looked like it might snap.
Realizing what Juhwan was about to do, the older brother pulled the boy into a tight embrace.
“It’s going to hurt. Please bear with it for a moment.”
“I understand. Thank you.”
It was the older brother who answered Juhwan. Still pressing his hand against the forehead of the sobbing boy, the brother spoke to his sibling in a low voice.
“I know. I know you’re sorry. But let’s stop crying now. You can repay the kindness you received to another child later. Let’s both do that.”
Letting the brother’s words drift past his ears, Juhwan straightened the boy’s leg. With a sickening crunch, the boy let out a scream.
It seemed his exhausted body couldn’t take any more shock. His eyes rolled back, and his body went limp.
Perhaps this was for the better. The pain would be gone by the time he woke up.
Juhwan aligned the bones as precisely as possible to ensure the leg would mend correctly, then placed his hand on the boy and channeled his mana.
The boy’s wounds slowly began to return to their original state. Beneath the torn skin, he could see the bones knitting back together.
What used to require multiple rounds of healing was now accomplished in a single stroke.
It seemed his healing ability had improved as much as his proficiency with other magic. It felt less like his mana capacity had increased and more like he had become more adept at utilizing it.
The watching hunters murmured in amazement.
After pouring mana into the boy’s body in several intervals, Juhwan pulled his hand away.
“I’ve treated all the critical injuries. The rest depends on his stamina. Let him rest well and feed him nutritious food. He must absolutely not move around recklessly.”
“Thank you, thank you… Mage-nim.”
Hearing the brother’s voice, Juhwan stood up.
The Guild attendants had prepared several carts. While most were loaded with a line of corpses, this time, a living person was placed on one.
As if escorting the cart, the hunters surrounded it and began to walk slowly along the forest path. The heavy atmosphere among them lightened just a fraction.
In any situation, humans look for hope. The fact that the boy was returning alive was a source of immense joy, not just for his family but for everyone else as well. Occasional laughter broke out among the crowd.
Walking a bit apart from the hunters, a Guild staff member let out a long sigh. Juhwan caught the man’s low mutter.
“What am I supposed to tell the families?”
‘Ah, I see. The Guild staff have to contact the families of the deceased.’
If there were hunters or adventurers close to the deceased, they might be the ones to break the news first.
However, it was the Guild staff who delivered the deceased’s savings or compensation. In the end, the Guild had to handle all the processing—delivering the tragic news and bearing the brunt of the resentment.
The faces of the dead men’s families overlapped with Riji’s. The thought that Riji would be the one receiving a call from the Guild if he died made his heart feel as heavy as a boulder.
*
Riji and Dorothy were waiting in the village being used as the subjugation base.
After walking for a long time to the rattling sound of cartwheels, the village appeared in the distance. Juhwan composed his expression.
He didn’t want to meet his wife and child with a heart so miserably darkened. He wanted to show only his bright side when he was with them.
As they neared the village, the first thing he saw was Dorothy running around with Oz.
“Daddy!”
Upon seeing Juhwan, Dorothy ran toward him, waving both arms vigorously. With her skirt fluttering as she ran with all her might, she looked like a little angel doll hanging from a Christmas tree. A slightly mischievous angel.
Juhwan opened his arms wide and scooped Dorothy up. To keep the child’s eyes from falling on the corpses, he turned her to the side and held her in one arm.
The carts were covered with thick cloth, but it was obvious they contained bodies. Even a child wouldn’t fail to realize it.
A beat later, Oz came running and hopped up. After settling lightly in Dorothy’s arms, Oz flattened his ears and sniffed Juhwan. He seemed happy to see him after a few days.
“Have you been a good girl and listened to your mother?”
“Yes! Daddy! Dorothy was super good. I did sewing with Mommy! Dorothy is really good at it. I’ll make clothes for you too, Daddy.”
“I’m looking forward to that.”
When Juhwan smiled, Dorothy’s eyes went wide as she nodded emphatically.
“Mommy said Dorothy is much better at sewing than her. Mommy gave me so, so many praises.”
He would certainly like to see that. As he walked, stroking the child’s head with one hand, he saw Riji standing a short distance away, quietly watching him.
Riji’s gaze flickered toward the carts carrying the bodies before quickly turning away. Her face clouded over for a moment. However, as she approached, she gave him a bright smile.
“Good job out there.”
“It must have been hard watching the child alone.”
Before Riji could answer, Dorothy jerked her head up.
“No, Daddy! Dorothy isn’t a child anymore. I’m a lady now. If you sew, you’re a lady.”
“It’s a bit early to be a lady. Daddy will be sad if Dorothy grows up too fast.”
When Juhwan laughed, Dorothy shook her cotton-candy-like hair and grinned.
“When Dorothy becomes a lady, Daddy will be a lady’s daddy! That’s a great thing. It’s super, super amazing.”
“….”
She seemed to truly believe that. After a few more words, Dorothy hopped down from Juhwan’s arms. She began to run again with Oz.
Watching the child run away, Riji asked in a low voice.
“Any survivors…?”
“We found one.”
“…You worked hard.”
Riji wrapped her arms around Juhwan’s waist and hugged him tight. Juhwan stood there for a moment, quietly holding Riji’s back.
A short distance away, Dorothy let out a peal of laughter. Somewhere along the way, she had picked up a long branch. Every time Dorothy gave a command, Oz would snap a piece of the branch off.
A few hunters spoke with Dorothy and shared a small laugh.
Talking to a child who knew nothing of the world made reality feel like it was receding slightly. The tragedy right next to them seemed to grow faint.
Juhwan felt it, and likely others felt the same. In any world, a child is salvation.
*
After packing up everything that remained at the subjugation base, everyone left the base together that day.
The bodies were placed in large bags made of clean cloth and distributed among several carts.
The destination was the adventurer village where the Guild was located. This long and gloomy request would finally end once they received their rewards and finished the paperwork there. The journey with the rattling corpse carts was dark and depressing.
Refugees were still crowded outside the Bern Adventurer Village. The magic beasts had been subjugated, but the homes of the people who lived there had already been destroyed, leaving them with nowhere to go. Perhaps because of that, the number of refugees seemed to have increased slightly.
Juhwan parted ways with the others and headed to the inn. Since someone was already in the room they usually stayed in, Juhwan rented a different one. It seemed several adventurers who had participated in the subjugation force were staying together in one room.
It was only after unpacking in the room and heading down to the restaurant below to order the day’s special that the tension finally left his shoulders. It felt somewhat like coming home.
Riji seemed to feel the same. Her expression became more relaxed.
However, the price of food had risen by the value of one small coin in the meantime.
“I’m sorry. Prices have gone up quite a bit. They just don’t seem to want to come down.”
The landlady apologized with a sigh.
“I gave you extra meat instead.”
Today’s menu was a stew with meat, vegetables, and herbs, served with bread baked with dried figs.
Both were foods Dorothy loved dearly. Bread with figs was especially rare. Dorothy was particularly delighted since it was something that only appeared once in a long while.
Dorothy puffed out her cheeks like a squirrel as she hurried through the stew and fig bread, while Juhwan and Riji enjoyed a more leisurely mealtime.
The restaurant was quite crowded. It seemed to be the most people he had seen since staying there. Most appeared to be people who had come just for a meal rather than guests staying at the inn.
As they sat quietly, the voices of people talking drifted in from here and there.
“I’m glad our country has a Hero now.”
“But I heard they were originally the Hero of the Tairon Kingdom.”
“They say Tairon was so wicked that the Hero turned their back on them and came here.”
“I heard His Majesty sent knights and soldiers to rescue them.”
“Yeah, I heard that too.”
“They say they were originally our country’s Hero, but those bastards kidnapped them by force.”
“It’s a relief. What would have happened if they stayed captured over there? Since it’s a female Hero… she would have gone through something truly terrible.”
“Those bastards!”
He wondered what had happened while they were away with the subjugation force. He couldn’t understand why the enemy country’s Hero had suddenly come to this nation. Since there was no internet or TV, one would be completely in the dark in this world without hearing rumors.
Just then, the landlady approached carrying two large wooden cups.
“Oh, you worked hard. I heard the stories from the adventurers who returned first. They said it was incredible. This is on the house. I’m just glad the magic beasts were caught.”
The wooden cups were filled with wine.
“Thank you. But is something going on? I heard the Hero has come to our country.”
When Juhwan asked, the landlady exclaimed and slapped her thigh.
“You didn’t know! You know there’s a temple in our village, right? That white building a bit further in from the central plaza. They say the priests there spoke of it recently. There was an oracle that the Hero would come to our country.”
The landlady shook her head.
“Well, those bastards—those Tairon people, I mean—it turns out they kidnapped the Hero who was supposed to come to our country. I don’t know what they did, but they dragged them away. That’s why there were two Heroes in Tairon. That’s not supposed to happen. I’ve never heard of a country having two Heroes. I knew something was fishy.”
The landlady huffed and shook her fist in the air. It seemed such stories had spread throughout the country through the temples.
“Heh, I see. That is quite an event.”
Juhwan had heard about the Hero a few times. Black hair and black eyes—from the descriptions, it was definitely someone from Earth. Most likely an Asian person.
‘It would be nice to meet them at least once.’
He had no lingering attachments to Earth, but they were from the same place. He felt a bit of curiosity.
‘Who knows? I thought there would be no chance to meet when they were in an enemy country, but if they’re in the same nation…’
Besides, there was something he wanted to ask if they met.
He wanted to ask if the Hero who came here was truly a Necromancer, and if so, whether they knew the state of the undead they created.
He didn’t think someone who had lived on Earth would knowingly commit such cruel acts.
If the caster was unaware, he felt he should inform them.
“Since the Hero has come to our country, good things will happen from now on. The Hero is a gift from God. It’s been that way since ancient times. When a Hero comes, there are bountiful harvests, and rain falls during droughts. Magic beasts decrease. Their presence will bring blessings to our country.”
The landlady smiled brightly.
Outside the village, there were still refugees, and the drought meant rain was scarce.
Prices were rising, and it was becoming harder for people to make a living.
Yet the atmosphere among the people was strangely bright, and it seemed it was thanks to the Hero.
‘If anything can become a source of hope for people, that’s a good thing.’
Juhwan gave a faint smile.
“I’m glad the Hero is here.”
“Right? It’s been nothing but bad news lately, so it’s a real relief.”
The landlady walked vigorously across the restaurant with loud footsteps. Her stride as she delivered food to the customers seemed exceptionally light.
