I Became A Married Man in Another World
Chapter 68
068 A Being Human, Yet Not Human
Juhwan’s gaze followed Dorothy as she darted around various parts of the plaza. Running here and there, Dorothy looked truly happy.
“Ahaha!” She laughed, clearly having the time of her life.
The child was small. Once she mixed into the crowd of adults, she easily vanished from sight. Moreover, Dorothy was quite fast.
His nerves were on edge, worried he might lose her, but seeing her so joyful made it hard to tell her to stay still. After all, nothing was better for a child than playing brightly and cheerfully.
Besides, he figured things would be fine as long as Oz was with her.
“Dorothy, don’t go too far!”
Lij called out a warning, though it was unclear if the child heard her. However, Oz certainly did. The baby horned rabbit perked up its ears as if in acknowledgment. Since the creature was nestled inside the child’s hood, it looked as though Dorothy had grown ears on her head.
When Dorothy started chasing after a mobile latrine, Juhwan worried she might be interfering with business, but the child actually seemed to be drawing attention to the vendor.
When the latrine operator shook his wooden barrel and Dorothy scurried away, a customer called out to him as if he’d been waiting for that exact moment.
Whatever was so fun, Dorothy immediately found a new target and began to run again.
Right then, a fight seemed to break out nearby. A vagrant, a type rarely seen in the plaza, had come out and started causing a scene. As a crowd gathered to watch the commotion, Dorothy was swallowed by the mass of people.
I’m going to lose her at this rate.
Anxious, Juhwan scooped Lij up. As he stepped forward, people quickly moved aside at the sight of the giant man.
Moving a bit further in, he saw Oz’s ears poking up above the crowd in the distance. They were moving rapidly toward the edge of the plaza.
At only five years old, once a child’s interest was piqued, they could think of nothing else. This wouldn’t do. He felt certain he would lose her in this unfamiliar place. Holding Lij, Juhwan began to run.
Seeing a massive man running with a terrifying expression, people scrambled out of his way.
The child’s figure disappeared out of the plaza. At that moment, a man who looked like a vagrant slunk into the shadows behind her.
Kidnapping, ransom demands, human trafficking… all sorts of dark thoughts flashed through his mind.
In that instant, Juhwan’s speed multiplied. It felt as if a wind wrapping around his feet and back was propelling him forward. He realized this must be wind magic.
Hurry, faster, before she’s completely out of sight.
As if his body were responding to his will, Juhwan burst out of the plaza in a flash.
The place Dorothy had headed was a small alleyway off the main road. At the entrance of that alley, Dorothy was blocked by two men.
“No! Daddy! Daddy!”
The child was calling for him. Her voice was thick with tears.
Those bastards! His eyes felt like they were burning.
Juhwan’s body shot toward them like an arrow. The men and Dorothy were right in front of him.
He set Lij down and spun around. Because he hadn’t slowed his pace, he couldn’t come to a dead stop.
Rotating his body, Juhwan lunged toward one of the men blocking Dorothy.
Between the two men, he saw the small child. His shadow stretched out over Lij’s head.
Oz looked like he had been on the verge of pouncing on the man, his round eyes fixed on the target.
Juhwan reached out. With his large hand, he snatched the man’s shoulder along with his clothes. He hoisted him straight up.
“Argh!”
The man let out a scream of agony as the weight of his own body strained against his captured shoulder. Juhwan simply tossed the man away.
The man flew through the air and crashed down a significant distance away. It seemed wind magic had been used again; the man’s body felt much lighter than expected.
Juhwan grabbed the remaining man by the collar and punched him.
Once, twice—with just two blows, the man’s face was crushed, and he lost consciousness.
By the time Juhwan threw the limp man to the ground like a piece of trash, Lij was already clutching Dorothy in her arms.
Lij was a mess of tears, and so was Dorothy.
With her face smeared with tears and snot, the child wailed with her mouth wide open.
“Dorothy! You can’t wander away from Mommy and Daddy! Why did you come all the way here? What if we lost you!”
It was a rare moment of anger from Lij. Dorothy sobbed, “Uwaaah, uwaaah,” as she spoke.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. But the pomegranate… uwaaaaah… the pomegranate looked so tasty…”
“What pomegranate! Why do you make me worry like this!”
“I’m sorry, Mommy, but the pomegranate… he said he’d give me a pomegranate… uwaaaaah…”
“I thought I’d lost you.”
“Mommy… don’t throw Dorothy away…”
Watching the two of them, Juhwan’s heart actually began to calm down.
Dorothy said she followed them because a girl told her she’d give her a pomegranate, but Juhwan hadn’t seen anyone. It might have been because his eyes were fixed solely on Dorothy. Regardless, when he reached the alley, there were no other children there.
“You must never follow anyone just because they offer you food!”
At Lij’s scolding, Dorothy nodded.
“…Yes… Mommy, I’m sorry…”
“…I’ll buy you a pomegranate… So from now on, whether it’s pomegranates or meat, don’t follow anyone no matter what they offer. Understood?”
“…Yes…”
Dorothy wiped her tears with her fists and asked, “…Mommy, can I have two?”
“…”
While Juhwan watched Lij and Dorothy, several gaunt figures emerged from the depths of the alley and dragged the fallen men away.
Juhwan did not stop them.
The people dragging the men away looked like ghosts. They had so little muscle that their bones were visible.
Deep inside the alley where the people had vanished, there were many more like them.
Their gazes were fixed on Lij and Dorothy. Hatred, envy, greed—all of it was etched into their eyes.
If Dorothy had been dragged in there…
A chill ran down his spine. It wasn’t good to stay here long.
Juhwan wrapped his arms around Lij and Dorothy, who was still sobbing, and began to move.
Lij leaned against Juhwan’s chest, glancing back repeatedly.
It seemed Dorothy had finally noticed the people in the alley as well. Her crying stopped abruptly, and she shrunk back.
Just a few steps from the alley back to the main road, the atmosphere changed completely. The sticky gazes from the alley vanished, replaced by the bright and refreshing air of the street. Despite being only a few steps apart, the main road and the alley were entirely different worlds.
After returning to the plaza, Juhwan looked into the child’s eyes and spoke.
“Dorothy, I was really worried. From now on, never follow a stranger. No—don’t even follow someone you know unless Mommy or Daddy says it’s okay. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I was worried. I was really, really worried.”
As Juhwan patted the child’s back, Dorothy asked softly, “Daddy, you won’t throw Dorothy away?”
“Of course not. I will never throw you away.”
“…I’m glad.”
Dorothy wrapped her arms tightly around Juhwan’s neck.
After that, they visited the food carts one by one.
The first stop was a pomegranate cart. They were being sold for 6 lina, which was 1 lina cheaper than at the restaurant. Lij hesitated for a long time but eventually bought three. Two were for Dorothy, and one was for Lij and Juhwan to share.
Dorothy’s mood brightened again as she shared bites of pomegranate with Oz.
Next was a cart selling meat and vegetables on bamboo skewers, and so their pilgrimage through the plaza began. Occasionally, Lij would sigh, but Juhwan just smiled.
Among the carts was one selling sugar. It wasn’t the white, fine sugar he had seen on Earth. The grains were somewhat coarse. It was sold in small, round bowls.
The owner of the sugar cart seemed to have been watching Juhwan and Lij visit the carts one after another. As Dorothy passed by, he held out a stick dipped in a bit of sugar.
“Here, little one, this is delicious. Give it a try.”
Dorothy looked up at Lij. When Lij nodded, the child smiled brightly and took the sugar stick.
“Oh! This, this! Mommy, this is sweet!”
It was quite expensive, but the incident where Dorothy followed someone for a pomegranate had clearly been a significant shock. Seeing Dorothy continue to suck on the stick even after the sugar was gone, Lij made the bold decision to buy a bowl of sugar.
“When we get back to the adventurer village, I’ll have to learn some cooking from the innkeeper’s wife. Dorothy says she won’t do it again, but I’m afraid she’ll follow someone else if they offer her something delicious.”
Lij spoke in a low voice with a sigh. Juhwan agreed with her. She was a five-year-old child; it was entirely possible.
“…”
Ever since leaving the alley, Juhwan had been constantly scanning their surroundings.
There was no one in the plaza specifically following his family or watching them intently.
At first, he thought they were just thugs trying to kidnap a child to sell, but thinking about it now, he wondered if there was more to it.
Even the vagrant causing a scene in the plaza might have been their doing.
Perhaps it was a scheme by a noble who had realized Juhwan could use multiple types of magic.
Should I have caught those two in the alley and forced a confession?
At the time, he judged it better to retreat quickly because of the people deeper in the alley. The looks they gave Lij and Dorothy were unsettling.
Even if someone had planned the encounter, the people in that alley probably had nothing to do with it. Theirs weren’t gazes of people with a specific purpose.
It was simple hatred. The kind of resentment felt toward those happier than oneself.
Still, thinking back, he felt a bit of regret. He had been too hasty in his desire to get Lij and Dorothy to safety.
However, completely oblivious to Juhwan and Lij’s inner turmoil, Dorothy—with a face that suggested she had entirely forgotten the incident—let go of their hands and began running around again.
The only saving grace was that she didn’t go far. She circled around Juhwan and Lij, staying within a distance of about two arm-lengths. She would appear on one side, then spin around and appear on the other. It was enough to make one’s head spin.
He had heard the man was a fire magician. But what Anri had witnessed was wind magic. He wasn’t sure of the exact extent of the power. Judging by the man’s speed and strength, he must be quite powerful, but Anri didn’t have enough information to make a final judgment.
The vagrant the magician had thrown would likely never walk properly again.
The force of the toss had been so great that the man flew into a building wall with a violent impact.
To Anri, it looked as if the man’s bones had been completely shattered. His limbs flailed in the air like a boneless straw doll.
The second vagrant fared no better. He wouldn’t live long. He might still be breathing, but even from a distance, his face was completely caved in. And that was after only two punches.
Anri left the scene after seeing that much. If the magician spotted him, he might realize instantly that Anri was the one who instigated it.
When they met at the restaurant, the man had been looking at his face quite intently. Anri was certain his face was etched into the magician’s memory.
Tightening his cloak up to his neck as he walked, he suddenly shivered.
What was that?
The memory of the magician punching the vagrant sent a chill through him.
Incinerating a human from a distance with fire magic, and shrouding his fists and entire body in wind magic—both were methods not typically used by ordinary magicians.
Especially the wind magic. Anri knew this well because he used a bit of wind himself.
More than anything, wind was not meant to be wrapped around the body like that.
It was used to increase the speed of a flying arrow or as a collective effort to move large objects. He had never seen it used to strike an opponent directly by shrouding the body.
“…”
To handle wind with such familiarity, one had to spend a long time training the body to master it. Even after such arduous training, it couldn’t be used if one’s focus wavered even slightly. Magic was not something naturally attached to a human; it required immense effort to even make it possible. That was the natural order.
To handle two types of magic so easily in that manner… He had the face of a human, but he didn’t look human at all. That magician’s power had clearly surpassed human limits.
A monster.
Magical beasts were called such because, while they were living beings, they were vastly different from ordinary animals. Wasn’t it the same for humans? If someone was too different from an ordinary person, could they truly be called human?
Suddenly, his thoughts turned to the Hero who had appeared in the Tairon Kingdom. Although rare, the Hero in Tairon was said to be a pair—a man and a woman. Both appeared with overwhelming power and were currently learning and practicing how to control it.
Among those who met the Heroes, some welcomed them as messengers sent by God, while others called them apostles of evil, narrow-minded and steeped in pleasure.
Both sides had different positions, but they were ultimately saying the same thing: the Hero is human, but not human.
Just like that magician I just saw.
It felt as though he had stepped into a strange place. Anri pulled his cloak even tighter around himself.
