I Became A Married Man in Another World
Chapter 70
#070 A Small Sense of Unease
The aide hurried into the guild.
'I hope he hasn't left already.'
Tracking down the man named Joo-hwan had been quite a struggle. The guild refused to provide any information, and in the village where the report originated, they knew almost nothing about him. All they knew was that a soldier had left behind a man who had been in a slave carriage.
Many people die in the sinner carriages during winter. The same goes for midsummer, but winter is particularly harsh.
To compensate for this, death row inmates or felons are added as extras, but even then, they often ran short of people. Many die along the way, but it's also because soldiers hand over prisoners to villages in exchange for money.
In such cases, soldiers sometimes kidnap people who seem unlikely to cause trouble. Since getting caught leads to severe punishment, it rarely happens, but there are still those who gamble their lives and futures for money.
He had interrogated the soldiers, thinking Joo-hwan might have been someone caught in that manner, but he wasn't.
Knowing his place of origin or status would have made things a bit easier, but information could be found nowhere. It was as if he had dropped straight from the sky.
Ultimately, to find Joo-hwan, he had no choice but to trace connections and trails through the guild. The guild people were tight-lipped. They wouldn't leak information to the point where he wondered if their mouths were made of plaster.
However, he wasn't serving as the aide to the March Lord for nothing. Scraping together every connection he had and practically selling his soul, he finally discovered that Joo-hwan had been hired by the Miller Merchant Group and was heading to Moderni.
It sounds simple when put into words, but no one knows the hardship unless they've experienced it. Running here and there, contacting one person and then intimidating another. On top of that, having to deal with the March Lord's fiery temperament made it truly miserable.
But when he entered the guild office, the healing mage was nowhere to be seen.
'Has he already left?'
His heart grew anxious. The aide pushed through the crowd and scanned the guild, then suddenly looked toward the inner side of the reception desk.
"!"
He recognized him at a glance. The man he had imagined was right there inside.
Most human descriptions are inaccurate.
If someone is called a peerless beauty, you go there only to find it looks like makeup applied to a stone; if you hear someone is ugly but has a good personality, more often than not, even their personality is the worst.
If you're told someone has a bad personality but works well and you trust them with a task, it's a common occurrence for them to bring back results that would have been better if assigned to a street vagrant.
However, the healing mage named Joo-hwan was exactly as he had heard. No, perhaps he was a bit more menacing. His impression was almost that of a bandit leader.
But looking closely, he wasn't an ugly face. It was just that his overall impression was fierce because his eyes were scary and sharp. Very much so.
The aide unknowingly trembled slightly. The gaze Joo-hwan directed at him was chilling.
'That man looks truly terrifying.'
It wasn't just his face; his entire aura was like that. One could say his atmosphere had an edge to it. Even though he was just sitting there silently, it felt as if all the surrounding air had turned stiff.
'A healing mage with that face and that aura.'
If he were called a fire mage, it might suit him a bit. Occasionally, there could be a scary, well-built fire mage. But healing magic with that face and that aura—isn't that a scam? Of course, not all healing mages need to look like angels.
While thinking such things to himself, the aide maintained a smile on the outside.
Regardless, he had to speak well here to make him work under the March Lord. Right now, this country and this fief were like a ship standing before a storm. If there was someone who could use both healing and fire magic, they had to be brought to their side even if it meant selling their souls.
The aide steadied his breathing and moved his feet. He walked straight inside and stood before Joo-hwan.
"Greetings, Mage Joo-hwan. I am Kyle, the aide serving March Lord Bern. I have come today because I wish to make you a good proposal."
Kyle looked directly at Joo-hwan with a smile that was well-reputed among both men and women.
***
It was a much more gentlemanly contact than expected. Based on the people he had met so far, he had thought nobles would use more aggressive methods. But a proposal—it felt like ordinary headhunting.
Joo-hwan slowly observed the man before him.
Kyle, who said he served the March Lord, had what one might call a smooth impression.
He looked to be in his late thirties. He wasn't the type to be conventionally handsome or look lighthearted. His face looked a bit fastidious.
However, from his hair down, there wasn't a single flaw to point out.
Not even a single strand of hair seemed out of place. It looked as if he had set it that way intentionally. He was a man who looked like he had just stepped out of a medieval painting.
Leonard, the owner of the Miller Merchant Group, also gave off a fairly cool vibe, but he felt like an outlaw of the wilderness. They were completely different types.
Aide Kyle glanced at the guild employee and then returned his gaze to Joo-hwan. He gave a smirk.
"Was your first job with the guild satisfactory? I have a rough idea of how much you earn from the guild. Right now, that might seem like a very large amount. But in truth, that isn't a fair amount. You deserve to receive much more. If it's alright, I'd like to talk a bit somewhere other than here. What do you say?"
Before Joo-hwan could answer, the guild employee spoke up first.
"That would be difficult, Mr. Aide. Our guild has an obligation to protect the members belonging to it. If you have something to say, please do so here."
Kyle smiled gently.
"That's a strange thing to say. It's as if you're saying I'm a swindler who puts people in danger."
"Well, I wouldn't go that far, but haven't there already been people who died after being taken by you, Mr. Aide?"
"...Isn't that the case for adventurers as well? People die even when going out for a simple goblin subjugation."
Leaving Joo-hwan aside, the two began to argue. It seemed Kyle had taken high-ranking adventurers away only for them to die on the battlefield.
Both were good with words. While smiling brightly like close friends, they were indirectly calling each other swindlers or demons who worked people to death for a pittance.
Occasionally, unfamiliar words were mixed in, so he guessed the general meaning by looking at the context and memorized them. Since Lizi said she wanted to learn to read, he had to learn even harder. If possible, he wanted her to think, 'My husband is amazing.'
Anyway, listening to the two of them talk, he got a general sense of the atmosphere. Certainly, it seemed that even nobles couldn't treat someone registered with the Adventurer's Guild recklessly. It seemed he would be fine as long as he didn't follow them of his own accord.
"...."
Both the aide and the guild employee were so eloquent that their argument went in circles. It felt like it would continue until nightfall if left alone.
Suddenly looking to the side, he saw Lizi watching his expression with an anxious face.
Ah, I see. Joo-hwan felt nothing, but to Lizi, the March Lord's aide was a very high-ranking person. He was of a status that could not be defied.
'Is that why the guild employee stepped forward to deal with him before I did?'
Since an ordinary person here would be unable to say anything and would be dragged away trembling before an aide, perhaps he had stepped in on Joo-hwan's behalf from the start for that reason.
Joo-hwan stood up from his seat. As he moved, the argument between the two suddenly ceased. Joo-hwan looked at Kyle and spoke in a low voice.
"You said you were Aide Kyle? Thank you for the words. However, I have no intention of leaving my family to go to a battlefield. I'm sorry."
Joo-hwan's words seemed to be a bit surprising. Both Kyle and the guild employee looked at him with slightly strange expressions. As expected, ordinary people couldn't refuse as clearly as Joo-hwan did.
Kyle spoke with a slightly flustered face.
"Wait a moment. You're thinking about this the wrong way. If it's for your family, you shouldn't let that ability go to waste even more. If this country, this land is trampled, who will be the first to fall into suffering? It's your wife and your daughter. It's not someone else's business. Protecting this land and this country is the best way to keep your family alive."
Ah, he had his suspicions, and sure enough, this was a threat. If Lizi and Pipi hadn't been registered as a party with the Adventurer's Guild, his words would be correct. Lizi and Pipi, who couldn't leave this land, would surely fall into a miserable situation.
Furthermore, Kyle's words seemed to subtly imply, 'If you don't listen, your family won't be safe.' That was the feeling.
'As expected, registering the two of them as a party was the right thing to do.'
Joo-hwan felt deeply relieved. And he was slightly disappointed. He had thought it was surprisingly non-coercive for a noble's side, but it was only because he had joined the Adventurer's Guild. If he and his family hadn't belonged anywhere, they certainly wouldn't have taken such a moderate approach.
Joo-hwan stood tall with his massive frame and looked at Kyle. Lizi and Pipi stood beside him. They still had anxious expressions.
"You might be right. If this land is invaded by others, the people living here will certainly fall into a difficult and painful situation."
As if agreeing, Kyle looked up at Joo-hwan. There was a slight light of relief on Kyle's face, which was several heads shorter.
"However, I heard that those belonging to this country's guild can go to several other countries. Not all countries are like that, but you can go to places where the same Adventurer's Guild exists. My family and I can leave this country at any time."
"What!"
Kyle glared at the guild employee with a flustered face. He seemed to think the guild had made the family join. When he looked back at Joo-hwan, his face was slightly distorted.
"But what about your family's hearts? Surely your wife and child have other precious people. Parents, siblings, hometown—are you telling them to abandon them all?"
He smirked. Back when they were still living in the mountain cabin, he had asked Lizi once. If she wanted to meet her family. At that time, Lizi....
"My wife has no other family. They are the people who sold her for a single piece of worn-out rabbit fur. While she doesn't wish for their misfortune, they aren't close enough for her to pray for their happiness. My child doesn't even have such people."
To Lizi and Pipi, he was everything. Just as the two of them were everything to Joo-hwan.
'Ah, is that why Santa led these two to me?'
They were everything to each other. How perfect.
After a short farewell, he picked up Pipi. He left the guild just like that with Lizi.
"W-Wait!"
Kyle tried to follow Joo-hwan while saying something, but it seemed several guild employees intentionally blocked his path. He heard the sound of a loud argument about using obvious tricks. It seemed the people working at the guild had it hard too.
The Red Sword party followed behind him with flustered faces.
"Are you really okay? Of course, since there's the Adventurer's Guild, nothing will happen on the surface, but that man is the March Lord's subordinate. If he's an aide, isn't he someone who serves the March Lord right by his side? Is it okay to just flatly refuse a person like that?"
Having come outside, Marie of the Red Sword asked with wide eyes.
Even to the Red Sword, who had been adventurers for many years, the power players of this land seemed to be people who should not be defied.
"If you give a half-hearted answer, they'll catch you by your words. You saw how well that man speaks."
When Joo-hwan spoke, Marie hesitated for a moment before asking.
"With your skills, Joo-hwan, the treatment would be good. Wouldn't it be better to work under a noble instead?"
"If I go to war, I can't be with my family. We'd have to be separated for months at the shortest, years at the longest. How do I know what will happen while I'm gone?"
That was what he feared most. He didn't know what would happen even when he was right beside them, so being far away was unimaginable.
Besides, he realized it after hearing the guild employee and the aide talk earlier.
Mages were said to be precious, but on the battlefield, they were just consumables. They weren't beings to be saved at the risk of one's life, but beings whose lives were risked to win the war. In short, they were substitutes for expensive weapons.
Since the March Lord himself was a mage, it would be even more so. In reality, it seemed they squeezed out mana until the very last drop for themselves, then discarded them once they became weak and useless.
If he went under such a person, he would leave Lizi and Pipi far away and eventually die on the battlefield. He didn't come to this world to live that kind of life. It was unfortunate that people became miserable because of war, but the people of this world should handle the affairs of this world themselves. He hoped they wouldn't drag him, someone from another world, into it.
For some reason, Pipi hugged Joo-hwan's neck tightly. Since the atmosphere was strange, the child seemed to have felt something too. He patted the child's back to mean it was okay, and Joo-hwan placed his hand on Lizi's shoulder.
"Lizi, let's go buy the things you said you needed."
They had decided to leave with the Red Sword around noon. If there were necessary items, they had to hurry.
Lizi nodded, repeatedly looking back at the guild entrance as if worried.
After that, they walked around to buy the items Lizi said she needed. There were far more shops lined up in the alleys than in the adventurer village.
There were many kinds of goods too. Lizi walked around various shops, compared prices, and then chose several sets of tunics, shirts, and shoes for the family at the cheapest place.
When he saw some women's underwear with strings attached in a corner and asked if she wasn't going to buy it, Lizi shook her head, saying it was expensive.
He was wondering why a piece of cloth the size of a palm would be so expensive when the shop owner came over with a face full of smiles.
"You have high standards, customer. That's a very high-quality item. It's 10 Linas for one."
When Joo-hwan was surprised, the owner showed another item in the corner and said it was 7 Linas.
"Women love it. It's pretty and soft. It's high-quality linen."
"...."
"It's a very good item. If you buy two, I'll take 1 Lina off and give them to you for 13 Linas."
"...."
"Your wife will love it. Of course, you will certainly be pleased too, customer."
"...."
While such an exchange was happening, Joo-hwan felt like he had been abandoned by Lizi.
Lizi was standing a bit away with a bright red face, trembling slightly.
Without him noticing when they had gathered, there were also a few onlookers at the shop entrance. It seemed the sight of a man looking at women's underwear was very unfamiliar.
It was unfamiliar to Joo-hwan himself as well. It was by no means something he had wanted to ask about. He had just been worried that Lizi wasn't buying her own underwear to save money. In the end, Joo-hwan fled the shop.
After that, they walked around to purchase a few items needed for daily life.
Being a city of commerce, many exotic items caught his eye in the alleys. Occasionally, there were things that looked like Oriental items. There weren't many shops that sold only Oriental goods, but there were places where a few were mixed in on one side like knick-knacks in general shops.
In one shop, he found an Oriental scroll and a hair stick. A tiger was drawn on the scroll. It seemed it hadn't been popular. Sticky dust was attached to it and wouldn't even wipe off.
Perhaps finding his interest strange, Lizi asked for the price. He was a bit surprised because it was unexpectedly cheap when he thought it would be expensive.
But what Joo-hwan was truly interested in wasn't the scroll, but the hair stick. It was made of blackish wood, and several of similar shapes were lying haphazardly on the floor.
"What is this?"
When Joo-hwan asked, the shop owner shrugged and said,
"To be honest, I'm not sure. If you like it, take them all for one coin."
While buying items needed for living, he purchased those as well. He couldn't use them now, but he thought they would look good on Lizi once her hair grew long again. Furthermore, a hair stick could be used as a weapon in an emergency. It was killing two birds with one stone.
When he said so while explaining about the hair stick after leaving the shop, Lizi felt a little shy. She looked happy.
Come to think of it, he had never given her a proper gift until now. He had hardly ever kept track of anniversaries, but if Lizi was happy, he thought about having several anniversaries in the future.
"Daddy, Pipi wants a hair stick too."
Pipi said abruptly. Was she a girl even though she was young? Perhaps she was reaching the age where she would slowly start to imitate Lizi.
When he said they would do so once her hair was long, the child smiled brightly as if happy.
However, for some reason, Pipi's behavior had been strange since leaving the guild.
Unlike other times, she didn't wander around and kept clinging to Joo-hwan's neck while being carried.
She didn't look gloomy or depressed. She smiled well as usual and looked around with sparkling eyes. It was just that she stayed in his arms.
Since morning, something had been bothering him, but he didn't know what it was.
