Life didn't get easier, even in another world

357 What

There was a brief moment of silence after Kairen asked that question, before the woman’s brows frowned a little bit, and she tilted her head to the left.

“Aaron Steyton? What do you mean by that?”

Straightening his posture, Kairen gave the woman, whose body was even more buff than deputy team leader Bray, a slight smile.

“Yes. I knew him since before the cataclysm but I couldn’t contact him until now. I’ve heard he is a powerful man so I thought you might know him!”

What he said was not wrong, nor it was a lie. He had known Aaron since before the cataclysm. He was his brother and they lived together, so of course, he knew him. Also, according to Aaron, he was called The Controler of Earth due to his power of controlling a large portion of anything that is related to earth, such as soil and stones.

He had also talked with Aaron about some matters on Earth, things like how people managed to survive, and how they rebuilt their land. Although Aaron never talked about himself and his life on Earth, Kairen could guess that he probably had a rank in between the fighters or maybe he was famous among them.

That was why he asked about his brother. If Aaron had any friends or anyone he knew here, Kairen could try his luck and ask them about Aaron’s home or the place he stayed at. That way, he didn’t need to sleep on the streets until Reynold appeared! He could even try asking for those people’s help by using his brother’s name!

“You’ve known the commander since before the cataclysm? Are you telling the truth?”

Kairen opened his mouth to swear on anything that came to his mind that he really had known Aaron since before the disaster, when he suddenly paused and, after a few seconds, changed what he intended to say.

.....

“Commander?”

As he said that, he glanced at the buff woman across from him. The woman’s serious face now had some hints of excitement and curiosity, though she was trying hard to hide them. She was staring at Kairen with a piercing gaze, seemingly waiting for him to answer, and if he didn’t answer, she would make him answer!

“Yeah, you could say that we were... kinda relatives...”

Again, Kairen was not lying. He and Aaron were brothers, which meant that they were also considered relatives.

The woman paused and raised a brow.

“Now that you mentioned it... You do really resemble him! Your eyes and hair color are the same... though your eyes are a little bit lighter...”

She nodded as she observed Kairen’s face with a somewhat excited expression.

‘Why does this lady know how dark Ron’s eyes are? Is this natural?’

Kairen pushed the rather uncomfortable thoughts to the back of his mind and went back to his previous question.

“What do you mean by ‘commander’, ?”

“You mean you don’t know?”

“Don’t know what?”

As Kairen tilted his head, the woman gave him a look as if she was seeing some kind of alien. After seizing him up once again, she clicked her tongue and stood up. She walked to a drawer and spoke in an elevated tone.

“Commander Steyton! The commander of all of the controllers in this region! How can someone not know of him? He was literally everywhere until a few years ago! It was impossible to read the news or hear of an accident without hearing of him!”

As she said that with excitement, she threw a bunch of papers at Kairen. They were a group of stacked black and white newspapers. Kairen leaned closer to glance at the front page, but he froze as soon as he saw the title.

[Once again, the clearing of the destroyed lands was a huge success! No deaths and only minor injuries, the commander has fulfilled his promise.]

Under the words that were typed in bold and large letters, a huge picture could be seen. On it, a group of people of various ages and both genders, wearing battle suits and military uniforms could be seen. They were all wielding different kinds of weapons as they waved at people who were cheering on them. In front of the group was a man who looked to be in his late thirties or maybe early forties. He was holding a pure black spear and wearing a uniform that looked slightly different from the others. His long light-brown hair was tied back neatly as if he was not coming back from a monster-clearing mission but a party, and under the slightly longer hair on the right side of his face a black eyepatch could be seen, hiding one of his eyes. His face, with a slight bear and some minor scars on it, looked both mature and young. The man was smiling slightly at people while maintaining his cold expression at the same time.

Kairen’s mouth gaped as he stared at the familiar, yet unfamiliar face on the front page of the newspaper. While in a daze, the boy moved his gaze and glanced at the other papers that were placed in front of him. In each one of them, the man from before could be seen in various locations doing different things. All of the titles were written in a way that praised the man in diverse ways.

“Huh...”

He blinked several times, looked at the papers, and after a few minutes of repeating the same actions, he glanced back at the woman. Noticing his gaze, the woman, who was also busy flipping the papers with a somewhat excited face, opened her mouth to chuckle.

“You really didn’t know? Pfft! Poor thing! He was famous all over the world!”

“...”

“Of course, there were people who were even stronger than him, such as the controller of fire... He is insanely strong, however, he is...”

The woman paused, leaned a little bit closer to Kairen, and said in a whisper.

“He looks like a donkey’s ass!”

“...”

Kairen was left speechless, not able to think of a proper answer. While he was still blinking his eyes with a confused face, the woman continued.

“Of course, there are also some pretty women among the powerhouses but I’m not into women so no, my mind won’t change!”

In that instant, in Kairen’s view, the woman’s face overlapped with Serria’s when she was simping for his brother. A thought surfaced in his mind as Kairen couldn’t help but ask.

“You are into Aaron?”

“What?”

The woman jolted up, her whole face suddenly red.

“H-how can I? He is much older t-than me! B-besides, how can I like a married man? I’m just his fan!”

The woman jumped up and ran to the door without waiting for Kairen to say anything.

“I’ll call the boss and tell him you are one of the previous commander’s relatives! He can help you out!”

SLAM

The door slammed close as the buff woman’s figure vanished from Kairen’s sight.

‘Oh... A fan...’

Kairen lowered his head and glanced at the papers again.

‘To think my brother was this place’s commander...’

Kairen was surprised at first, but after thinking a little bit, he found it only normal. He couldn’t help but remember the time when Aaron was quarreling with SMF’s commander over the fact that the SMF’s commander was not suitable for his position.

‘So he was giving advice as a former commander? Yeah... I mean, why wouldn’t such a strong person be their commander? Ron has great power and is also smart. He is also good at controlling people and teaching them!’

Kairen smiled as he looked at the pictures one by one.

‘Of course, he is good-looking as well so it’s obvious that he’d have a lot of fans and women would have a crush on him even if he is old and married.’

When his thoughts reached there, Kairen’s body instantly froze.

‘Even if he is married?’

The woman’s voice echoed in his mind.

-B-besides, how can I like a married man?

“....”

Plop

The papers Kairen was holding fell to the ground.

“He got married...” Kairen mumbled under his lips, “...And he didn’t tell me about it...”

Kairen had never felt so betrayed in the entirety of his two lives.