I Became A Married Man in Another World
Chapter 65
065 Moderni, the City of Commerce
Though everyone Juhwan treated survived, the number of dead was far greater.
In the Miller Merchant Company, one person other than the Fire Magician had perished. It seemed to have been an instant death. They said he was struck by an arrow launched by the enemy leader’s wind magic.
However, the other merchant companies were not so lucky. A significant number had died. It appeared several guards and servants had also fled during the chaos.
There were even a few places where carriages had been stolen—mostly those belonging to companies positioned at the end of the procession. Even as they retreated, the bandits had refused to let go of the carriages filled with valuables, dragging them away. Because of that, some companies seemed to be facing ruin from their immense losses.
To gather information, they checked if any of the bandits struck by arrows could be saved, but they found none.
There was exactly one bandit who wasn’t dead yet, but his injuries were so severe that even with Juhwan’s skills, he couldn’t be saved. With only a faint, flickering breath remaining, he was as good as a corpse.
A gloomy atmosphere hung over the entire procession.
Still, they said it was incredibly lucky that most of them were safe despite encountering such a large band of bandits.
Various merchant companies sent words of gratitude and gifts to Juhwan. Some offered black pepper—a high-quality spice—or silks, while others handed over gold coins.
While the owners of the companies rarely participated in the transport themselves, the heads of the procession were mostly high-ranking individuals within their respective firms. They told him to call upon them whenever he needed help, promising they would surely be of use in the future.
While their gratitude was likely genuine, their actions were largely driven by the intention to establish a connection with someone capable of using multiple types of magic.
Juhwan remained silent, saying nothing. Perhaps because their jobs involved dealing with people, they didn’t show it outwardly, but everyone seemed to fear him.
He was used to it.
It had often been that way back on Earth. Whether walking down the street, in a shop, or on the subway—it was the same everywhere.
If they had ever seen him fight, even people who knew him grew afraid. Even if they didn’t express it through actions, he could feel it in their eyes.
Lij and Dorothy, who had grown comfortable with Juhwan so easily, were the exceptions.
“….”
Lij offered the words of thanks to the merchants on Juhwan’s behalf. For some reason, he felt as though she had suddenly become a full-grown adult. Of course, she had been an adult from the start, but that was how it felt. She had become dignified.
And it was Dorothy’s role to brag to the people who came to give thanks. Every time someone approached, Dorothy would puff out her chest and boast about how incredible her dad was.
“My daddy is a dragon! He breathes fire! Like this, pow! And if he goes bam, the fire comes out!”
Everyone who heard her laughed.
Occasionally, people from other merchant companies would stop by specifically to press a treat into Dorothy’s hand. They would listen to the child’s repeated boasting and share a small laugh.
A child seemed capable of brightening people’s hearts regardless of the situation.
Dorothy was the only energetic soul in the somber merchant group.
Juhwan sat on the driver’s seat and quietly watched the two of them. Though not even a day had passed since they woke up, they seemed fine. A little while ago, they had even managed a proper meal. Seeing them move made the reality of them being alive sink in, so he couldn’t stop watching.
“Daddy, you’re a dragon, so why aren’t you smiling?”
Dorothy suddenly tilted her head and looked up at him.
He wondered what the connection was between being a dragon and smiling, but logic didn’t work on children. Juhwan gave a soft smile.
“No, Daddy. You have to go ‘ah-ha-ha’ like Dorothy to be smiling.”
Dorothy puffed her chest out proudly.
“Ah-ha-ha.”
When Juhwan made the laughing sound, a bright smile bloomed on Dorothy’s face.
“Ah-ha-ha-ha!”
The child laughed loudly. It seemed she wanted to have a competition of who could laugh the loudest.
He felt a little happy.
Lij, who had been watching him quietly, reached out and hugged both him and Dorothy together. Even though Juhwan’s body was large and it was only a light touch, a warm smile seemed to spread from where Lij’s hand rested. He felt a little more happy.
“Pii.”
Oz, who had been on top of Dorothy’s head before getting squeezed between Juhwan and Lij, let out a cry.
If I give this Horned Rabbit a lot of mana, will it get stronger? Then maybe Lij and Dorothy will always be safe.
Once the thought occurred to him, he couldn’t wait. Juhwan placed his hand on Oz’s head. Just as he was about to infuse mana, Leonard, the owner of the Miller Merchant Company, rode up beside them on his horse.
“Once we reach the city, that traitor will be handed over to the Border Count who rules this area. The Border Count is a man hardened by war. He is extremely harsh toward enemies. That man will likely find himself in a situation so painful he’ll wish for death.”
Leonard’s gaze flickered toward the Miller Merchant wagons. At the end of the line of Miller wagons, the wind magician who had been in league with the bandits was loaded up.
According to Leonard’s explanation, magicians did not usually engage in direct physical combat. The fire magician had used a tool to swing fire around. He said it was his first time seeing someone set their own body on fire to strike an opponent like Juhwan did.
Most of what magicians did was support their allies.
Magicians were said to each have their own ways of helping others using their abilities. The positioning of the magician party, standing safely in the rear, hadn’t been particularly strange.
However, they usually performed night watch and guard duties just like any other escort. Therefore, when the bandits attacked, they should have been in their proper positions. That was the point that had caught Leonard’s attention. It was just as Juhwan had suspected.
Leonard smirked.
“The city is only a few hours away. My company owns several buildings there. From the building in the central plaza, you can see the whole street at a glance. The child will love it. Stay there.”
“Thank you.”
He was grateful for such an arrangement. Juhwan did not refuse Leonard’s kindness.
With their destination not far off, the merchant group moved along the frozen winter road in a line, looking like an army of defeated soldiers.
A breeze stirred. Anri idly swirled a small, meaningless wind to move the dust on the floor.
Even if he could use wind magic, this was the extent of his ability.
It was at a level that was almost impossible to utilize in actual combat. It was utterly useless. In fact, he had never been called a “Magician” by anyone.
Anri sighed and looked out the window. Looking down from his third-floor lodging, he could see the wide street at a glance.
‘It should be about time for them to arrive.’
A message was supposed to come before the merchant procession arrived.
He thought he would hear something last night or this morning. But there was still no news.
‘I need to know what the items are so I can prepare for customs.’
Anri clicked his tongue.
The person he was waiting for was acting as a bandit in this country. That man received information from adventurers in this kingdom, raided merchant carriages, and then delivered the goods to Anri.
Anri’s job was to disguise those goods as his company’s property, take them to his own country, and then send them to the Tairon Kingdom, which was an enemy of this nation.
However, before delivering the goods directly, the bandits always sent a rough list. Anri would use that to manipulate the ledgers in advance or prepare to disguise the appearance of the items.
If the message was delayed by a day, the work would be dragged out by two or three days.
The bandits knew this as well, so they always sent a messenger as quickly as possible.
Furthermore, there were two people included with the cargo this time. A fire magician and a wind magician. Anri had to take the two people who had been providing information to the bandits out of the country under the guise of hiring them as escorts. He heard those two were going to Tairon.
‘They’ll be surprised to see me again.’
The fire magician the bandits were bringing was his younger brother. They had different mothers, but unfortunately shared the same father. No one was happy under that father. Both he and his brother were pitiful wretches.
‘And he was incredibly stupid, too.’
His brother, who foolishly loved women, had provoked the King’s wrath by messing with royalty. Because of that, he was disowned by their father, kicked out of the house, and left the home country. It seemed he had wandered around with nowhere to go before settling in this country.
‘Foolish, pitiful brat.’
His brother, who had nothing going for him but his decent looks, probably still didn’t know that he ended up in that state because of their father.
Anri sighed and looked down at the street.
He had envied his rotten rat of a brother. At least that kid had left their father’s side. At least he could become free.
But he was wrong. It seemed their father had been constantly tracking the brother’s location.
As soon as their father realized the brother was in a position where he could be useful, he immediately thought to exploit him. He inserted the brother into the secret dealings with the Tairon Kingdom. He had offered up his own son’s identity to be used as an informant.
‘He really is a dreadful man.’
But the brother probably didn’t know that either. If he had even enough intelligence to realize such a thing, he would have taken the opportunity of escaping their father’s shadow to fly far away.
Anri stared blankly at the sky. The schedule for raiding a merchant procession could change at any time. Things didn’t always go according to plan.
Thinking that he might not receive word today made him feel pathetic. It wasn’t Anri’s fault, but he was the one who would be rebuked by his father when the schedule was delayed.
‘When will Father finally die?’
When his father died, Anri, the heir, would become Baron Dieter. Then he would finally be able to escape that man.
‘Will he die when he’s around sixty?’
Probably not. His grandfather had passed away at seventy-nine. For some reason, the men in this family had long lifespans. Moreover, his father was much healthier than his grandfather and took great care of his body. He would probably have to pass eighty before he even considered dying.
‘If Father dies at eighty, I’ll be sixty; if he dies at ninety, I’ll be seventy. I’ll have to be a grandfather myself before I can finally be free. Maybe I’ll die first…’
There were people who retired early and handed over their positions to their children, but that was out of the question. His father wouldn’t let go of his title until the very moment he drew his last breath.
“Moron.”
Thinking of his brother, who possessed the talent for fire magic yet was being dragged back to be used by their father, Anri muttered quietly.
Truly, he was a stupid, moronic brother.
Finally, the city appeared in the distance. Unlike the villages they had seen so far, the walls were incredibly high and large. It was truly a proper medieval city.
Dorothy, who had been sitting on the driver’s seat, jumped up. Her eyes went wide at the sight of the fortress-like walls.
“Whoa!”
“Sit down, Dorothy. It’s dangerous.”
Lij, sitting on the opposite side of Dorothy, put on a stern face.
“Dorothy, I told you not to use that word.”
“Yes! Mommy!”
Her answer was energetic. Dorothy was still using the rough and bad words her biological father used. Lij told her every time that she shouldn’t use them, but it wasn’t easy to fix.
“Oz, look at that. It’s your first time seeing it, right? That’s the city! Isn’t it cool? It’s amazing!”
At first, she was clearly speaking to Oz, but the latter part was her own impression. And for some reason, even though it was her first time seeing a city too, she was bragging to Oz.
After patting the child’s head, Juhwan looked back at the walls. There were facilities like round towers at every corner of the wall. Several soldiers stood on the ramparts, which were designed like railings.
The city gate was made of thick wood. Above the gate hung a single iron portcullis. The pitch-black iron gate looked somewhat terrifying.
As the merchant procession approached the gate, a gatekeeper walked around the line, checking the people and the cargo. There were several soldiers in front of the gate.
When they mentioned that the merchant group had been attacked by bandits, one of the soldiers at the gate seemed to go off to report it somewhere.
The wind magician was handed over to the soldiers at the gate. Seeing his hideously distorted face and the burns on his body, a soldier asked how he ended up like this.
As Gordon from the Miller Merchant Company briefly explained the process, he mentioned that even though he looked like that, he wouldn’t die because healing magic had been used, causing the soldier’s face to turn somewhat pale for some reason.
Passing through the city gate, the thickness of the walls was immense. It felt like passing through a short tunnel.
Dorothy stared up until her head was tilted all the way back, then suddenly said as they passed through the iron portcullis.
“It looks like monster teeth.”
Now that she mentioned it, it did kind of look like that. Lij was also staring with her mouth agape, as it was her first time in such a large city.
In addition to the payment for this job, there were also the gold coins received as tokens of gratitude. It seemed this time, he could finally buy things the two of them liked.
Every time the two of them smiled happily, happiness and relief seeped bit by bit into his heart, which had been filled with anxiety.
Once they passed through the gate, Leonard of the Miller Merchant Company approached Juhwan and spoke to him.
“I forgot to mention it earlier, but you—would you like to try hunting Magical Beasts?”
“Hunting Magical Beasts?”
“Yes. Healing magic earns money, but there isn’t a constant stream of work for it. But hunting Magical Beasts is a different story. They’re difficult to hunt, but there are people everywhere waiting to buy them. Especially now, because of the war, Magical Beast pelts are selling for a high price. It’ll be profitable.”
He said that the pelts and hides of Magical Beasts were much tougher and harder than regular leather, so they were often used as a substitute for light armor even without special treatment.
Come to think of it, the Miller Merchant Company Leonard ran dealt in furs and hides.
Leonard spoke with sparkling eyes.
“Since you’re a magician and were a hunter, you’ll get used to hunting Magical Beasts in no time. Magical Beast hunters are very rare. It’ll be a good way to earn money.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“If you decide to hunt Magical Beasts, contact me. I’ll buy your entire stock.”
“Is it okay not to go through the Guild?”
“The Guild might not like it if you work as an escort privately. But for things like pelts, it’s fine.”
“I see.”
However, hunting Magical Beasts would be dangerous. He had no intention of doing such dangerous work when he had a family. Safety was the absolute priority.
As if he already knew Juhwan’s thoughts, Leonard brought his horse closer and spoke in a low voice.
“Hunting Magical Beasts is dangerous for ordinary people. But for you, it’s like a rabbit hunt. It’s not dangerous even if you take your family along. You’ll understand what I mean once you try it. And it’s better to deal with beasts than with merchant processions or human affairs.”
Leonard grinned.
“Human society is complicated, and many things happen that you can’t control. But if your opponent is a beast, you don’t need to worry about that. It’s entirely up to your whim.”
“….”
“Only humans use tools to make traps. Think carefully about what I said.”
After saying that, Leonard turned his gaze to Dorothy, who was looking around with wide eyes. He made a playful, humorous expression.
“Little lady, welcome to Moderni, the city of commerce.”
Seeing Leonard tip his hat and bow elegantly, Dorothy said:
“It’s a prince!”
“Haha. Don’t say that elsewhere. You or the other person might die for insulting royalty. Your daddy is a special person, so you have to be careful. Because he’s a dragon.”
After Leonard laughed and moved to the front, Juhwan and Lij, their faces turning pale, cautioned Dorothy. Never, to anyone, say that someone looks like a king, prince, or princess! Dorothy tilted her head and muttered.
“But he looked exactly like the prince Daddy told me about.”
Lij looked at Juhwan’s face with a slightly reproachful gaze.
