Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 17: Garcia’s Past
“Uncle Garcia, why did you choose to come to Bianshu Town?”
Fanny asked this question because she’d heard from Owen that the mage who arrived before her was planning to sign a long-term contract with the lord after the two-month assignment ended.
In other words, Garcia didn’t just come for the high-paying commission—he chose to stay and live in Bianshu Town.
Garcia was no amateur mage like Fanny, who had come to Bianshu as a last resort after failing to survive in Dongsheng Fortress. Garcia could’ve easily completed the job, taken the reward, and left.
That’s what puzzled Fanny—why would someone like him choose to remain in this remote border town over the bustling conveniences of a big city like Dongsheng Fortress?
“Well, that question…”
Garcia looked up at the ceiling, as if searching through old memories. After a while, he turned back to Fanny and said.
“Maybe I just got tired of it all.”
“Tired?”
Fanny tilted her head, confused.
“Tired of being an adventurer.”
Garcia added.
As an experienced mage, Garcia had joined many parties, taken part in all sorts of adventures, and completed countless commissions. But life as an adventurer was never smooth. He had faced numerous dangers, and when things went wrong, teammates often ended up injured—or worse.
The first time he lost a teammate, Garcia was devastated. But after seeing it happen enough, he became numb to it. That was the reality of adventurers—so long as you survived, that was all that mattered.
Then one day, Garcia was invited to join a party by a righteous female swordswoman. She was pretty, and that was enough to sway Garcia into saying yes without much thought.
Damn! Why was this woman so troublesome? Just follow the commission and get the job done—why go out of the way to save strangers? All they got in return was a few words of thanks—totally not worth it.
That was Garcia’s first impression of the team after their initial mission. He found the captain’s behavior frustrating and decided to quit the group once the job was done.
But during the mission’s final stages, their party was attacked by a pack of wild boars. Garcia was separated from the others and chased by a massive red-eyed boar. His mana was nearly depleted—it was a desperate situation, a typical fate for many adventurers: dying alone, unknown.
This proved, he thought, that relying on teammates was foolish. If you couldn’t survive on your own, you were better off dead.
Resigned to his fate, Garcia closed his eyes and awaited death.
And that’s when the female swordswoman appeared. She had found him and didn’t hesitate to leap to his rescue.
Damn! What was wrong with this woman? As captain, she should’ve considered the group first and left behind the dead weight. That was the logical move.
That’s what he thought—but in his heart, Garcia’s will to live reignited.
After a few rounds of fighting the boar, the swordswoman was wounded—its tusks pierced her left leg. In desperation, Garcia used the last of his mana to launch a fireball, blocking one of the boar’s attacks.
That one moment bought them a chance—just enough time for the rest of the team to arrive and drive the beast away. Both Garcia and the swordswoman survived.
Later, Garcia learned that the other teammates had coordinated to fend off the boars, then split up to find him and their captain.
That act of teamwork shattered the long-held beliefs Garcia had about adventuring.
On the way back, the team faced another problem—most of their food had been lost during the boar attack.
Garcia thought they should leave behind the wounded captain to increase the others’ chances of survival. But no one agreed. Not a single teammate was willing to abandon her.
And then, miraculously, the man their captain had once saved appeared—he brought enough food for the whole group, sparing them all from hunger.
An unrelated stranger ended up saving the entire team—Garcia’s long-held beliefs were completely shattered.
What made Garcia feel deeply guilty afterward was that the female swordswoman had injured her left leg while rescuing him. The injury was severe—so much so that not even healing magic could fully restore it.
Her adventuring career was essentially over.
Garcia felt he had to take responsibility—it was because of him that their captain was injured. What he didn’t realize was that, by then, he had already fallen deeply in love with her.
A few years later, Garcia and the swordswoman got married.
It was for this reason that Garcia started to worry: what if one day he died unexpectedly while out on a job? Who would take care of the woman he loved?
Right around that time, he saw the commission posted for Bianshu Town. It was a stable position with no danger, and both he and his wife preferred the peace and quiet of the countryside.
After discussing it, the two decided to accept the commission and settle down in Bianshu Town.
Garcia ended up talking at length about his past, but both Fanny and Mapel listened with great interest.
When they heard the part about Garcia being saved by the swordswoman and falling for her, Mapel unexpectedly fell into deep thought, as if something was stirring in her mind.
Fanny, on the other hand, was simply touched by the emotional ups and downs of the story. She thought it was wonderful that Garcia and the swordswoman were able to end up together in the end.
“So enviable, Mr. Garcia—after all those thrilling adventures, you still got to marry the woman you love. Someone like me, a country girl, is probably stuck in Bianshu Town for life. I don’t even know if I’ll ever get the chance to rise above my station.”
Surprisingly, there was another listener. The three of them turned toward the voice—it came from a short-statured laborer responsible for spreading the raw slurry over the furnace floor.
“Have you finished your work over there?”
Mapel asked.
Realizing he had spoken out of turn in front of the lord’s chief knight, the laborer instantly panicked.
“Ah! I—I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have been eavesdropping.”
“I’m not blaming you. There’s no need to be nervous.”
Mapel said calmly.
“No one can change where they came from. It’s perfectly normal to envy others’ lives. But consider yourself lucky—our lord cares deeply about the development of this land. You will have the chance to turn your life around someday.”
Mapel’s final words were meant more as a casual reassurance than a promise. But unexpectedly, that very laborer would one day truly seize the opportunity to rise above his circumstances.
“You’re right, Lady Knight.”
Relieved that he wasn’t in trouble, the laborer relaxed and reported.
“The slurry has been spread. Mr. Garcia, the kiln is ready.”
“Got it.”
Garcia stood and turned to Fanny.
“Fanny, would you like to observe the cement firing process one more time?”
“Of course I do!”
Fanny eagerly nodded.
Once she had a good grasp of the process, Owen personally guided her through memorizing the amount of magic energy needed at each stage and how long to maintain it.
Two days later, the second Frost Cloak arrived. That very afternoon, under Owen’s supervision, Fanny successfully completed her first full cement firing job in the kiln.
For reference, Vannie’s current limit was five batches of cement per day.
From then on, Owen was completely freed from duties at the cement workshop. Production stabilized, and the town wall restoration project moved forward smoothly—everything was progressing steadily and according to plan.