I Became the Guardian of Big Shots in the Game

“Aah!”
“…Young miss?”
Levi cheering and Malos not understanding.
When their eyes met,
“Don’t you understand Ethan-nim’s grand intentions?”
Levi explained joyfully.
“Ethan-nim intends not to reveal his identity. That’s why he only used extinct magic when absolutely necessary, and took minimal action to pass the credit to those guys.”
“It seems troublesome and dangerous, though.”
As black magic focuses on killing and curses,
It would be terrible if he were hit even once.
But,
“Ha! Dangerous? To a mage who’s at best 4th tier?”
That’s only if he gets hit.
Could a bear lose to a mouse in a head-on fight?
Levi thought it impossible.
“Even if it’s troublesome, Ethan-nim’s judgment is correct. He punishes evil, but by granting the kingdom’s dogs who rolled in suitable prey and a chance to shine, naturally attention won’t be focused on Ethan-nim.”
Hwaryon, who had been riding on Malos’s back, wiggled around,
And raised her head to the top of Malos’s head.
“Sister, is Brother Ethan doing well?”
“Yes, he is.”
“Then I can meet Sister Rin, right?”
“That’s right. So shall we wait a little longer?”
“Yawn~ Okay.”
‘When we return, I must confess my sin to Ethan-nim.’
During the battle,
Levi had dared to use her power on the black mage who was arrogantly trying to harm him.
She deserved punishment for recklessly interfering in her master’s fight.
And,
‘I will become an even more faithful servant than I am now.’
She vowed to make up for it that much more.

“I’m Inspector Tom.”
“I’m Ethan.”
Tom lit his tobacco and offered a handshake.
“Thank you for your help. Without you, we couldn’t have caught that pig.”
He said, pointing at Councilor Enfield sprawled on the floor.
“Damn bastard. To think we’d lose five team members just to catch that one.”
The remaining inspector agents were busy putting mana-suppressing shackles on his arms and legs.
“Separately, as an inspector, let me ask one thing.”
“Yes.”
“Why did you come to the black mage’s house at such a late hour? Ah, there. You too, merchant, come over here.”
“I-I don’t know anything!”
“The more suspiciously you act, the more I want to know. Heh heh heh.”
Ethan couldn’t tell if the inspector was joking,
Or half-jokingly threatening him.
“I’ll ask straightforwardly. Are you in cahoots?”
“If I were in cahoots, wouldn’t I have hidden behind him? Didn’t you see him trying to kill me earlier?”
“That’s true. Then why did you come here?”
“I came to rescue a girl sold as an illegal slave.”
Inspector Tom’s eyebrows twitched, as if it was a sensitive word.
“Illegal slave?”
“Let’s go inside and check.”
Ethan went into the house with Tom and Dobber.
When they pressed the servants, they guided them to the basement.
“Ugh!”
At the entrance to the basement stairs, Tom frowned.
Although Dobber and Ethan didn’t feel anything special,
Tom, angered by the sticky black mana, immediately went down the stairs and blasted the door with magic.
In the basement were six iron cages, a desk, a bookshelf, and a stone experiment table.
And on the experiment table, a blackened corpse greeted them.
“Urp!”
Dobber, who had come down with them, retched and left, but
Ethan was fine.
Due to the influence of his composure stat, he remained calm even when seeing horrible things.
Ethan did what he had to do.
“Hwarin? Are you here?”
“…Who are you?”
A girl with red hair like Hwaryon’s raised her head.
Looking quite mature, suggesting a significant age difference, Hwarin,
Though looking exactly like her sister, had a calm and composed impression.
“Inspector. This is Hwarin, who was kidnapped and sold from the western continent. Isn’t someone kidnapped and sold an illegal slave, even if they’re a foreigner?”
“That’s indeed true. So what do you intend to do?”
“What else? Her younger sister is waiting, so I’ll take her back.”
“…You know our Ryeon?”
Hwarin immediately reacted to the mention of her sister.
When Ethan opened the iron cage,
Hwarin, who didn’t even have the strength to stand, crawled towards him.
“I don’t know her well, but we are acquainted.”
“Is she safe? The child is quite ill-mannered, isn’t she? I’m sorry. It’s because I, her older sister, couldn’t take care of her properly.”
“Huh? No, she’s fine.”
‘Worry about yourself first.’
She was so emaciated from lack of food, yet
She worried about her sister first.
‘They were so desperate for each other. No wonder they would turn to darkness after being separated.’
Ethan took off his coat and wrapped it around Hwarin,
Then picked her up in his arms.
“Eek!”
“Let’s go meet your sister.”

“Inspector.”
“…Rudy, you look tired.”
Rudy, who was already exhausted from constantly exchanging reports and directives with headquarters,
It was natural for him to look even more tired after having fought a battle too.
“Would you like to smoke some mana tobacco? It’s quite effective.”
“I’ll pass. Doesn’t that make you phlegmy? More importantly, why did you hand over the evidence?”
“Evidence? Ah, you mean the slaves?”
Tom had been in the basement with Ethan,
And had agreed to some kind of deal he proposed.
“What will you do if the higher-ups press you? Last time we were fine thanks to His Majesty’s direct intervention, but if we cause trouble again, our team will be…”
“One was an illegal slave, wasn’t it? We confirmed she was from the western continent too.”
“But the other two were legitimate slaves, weren’t they?”
“Well then. We don’t even have enough operation funds. Whose money should we use to feed these pieces of evidence?”
“……”
Tom threw his finished tobacco on the ground,
And crushed it more roughly than usual.
“He wasn’t a novice, but a black mage who had reached a considerable level. Do you think the investigation will take just a day or two? It’ll take at least two weeks. Are you going to use your salary to feed those slaves during that time?”
“That’s…”
As a low-ranking agent, Rudy’s salary was quite meager.
So he had to swallow his words even after speaking out passionately.
“Listen well. That friend came before we arrived, freed the illegal slave, and bought the other two slaves for 1,000 gold. We arrived after that.”
“This isn’t like you, Inspector. You’ve always put principles first, so why…”
“And that’s why we’ve suffered a lot. Look at this time too.”
Tom pointed to the ‘traces’ of his colleagues whose bodies couldn’t even be recovered.
“We rushed in thinking it was a common criminal, but he was a bigger fish than we thought.”
“Inspector…”
“To us, who no one takes care of. He was a righteous young man who generously donated 1,000 gold to help with the funerals. Isn’t this much flexibility okay?”
Ethan left 1,000 gold at Councilor Enfield’s house as evidence of the slave trade,
And additionally handed 1,000 gold to Tom.
-What is this?
-Please use it for a good cause.
-Haha, I don’t take bribes. Young man, you’ve learned something bad.
-It’s because my heart feels bad. There are those who died, aren’t there? For funeral expenses at least…
“In my 15 years in the Inspection Bureau, I’ve never met such a kind person.”
They were secretly retaliated against for raiding nobles following royal orders,
And their families were constantly threatened because they were at odds with underworld organizations.
Despite the hard work, they worked solely with the thought of implementing justice,
But hardly anyone appreciated it.
But he was different.
‘Ethan.’
Tom vowed to repay this favor to him someday.
“We’ll finish the investigation briefly and withdraw. The night is deep.”
“Understood.”
The investigation was just beginning.

“Sister!!!”
“Ryeon! You’re safe!”
It was a touching moment of reunion for the sisters.
“I’ll leave them to you, Levi.”
“Yes, Ethan-nim. I’m grateful that you’ve given me a chance to make amends.”
Not sure what she meant by making amends,
Ethan didn’t bother to ask.
Exhausted, Ethan skipped dinner, washed briefly, and returned to his room.
‘I want to sleep.’
That was his only thought.
His eyes were slowly closing.
At that moment,
-Ding!
[The fate of ‘Pitiful Woman Hwarin’ has been altered.]
[‘Hwarin’s’ fate is currently being reconfigured.]
“!”
Opening his eyes wide,
Ethan immediately checked the notification window.
[Character Information: Hwarin]
“The older sister of ‘Hwaryon’, who was destined to become a great evil.
The two were born in a small kingdom on the western continent of Selarne,
And are women of the prestigious Hwa family.
The family fell due to a civil war that broke out over the issue of royal succession,
The two girls who barely escaped were captured by pirates and sold as slaves in the Etrion Kingdom.”
‘Hwarin wasn’t even a character that appeared in the main story. But there’s information?’
Ethan scrolled down the notification window out of curiosity.
Soon, he could find a character story like Hwaryon’s.
“Hwarin was sold to the black mage Mago Enfield.
On the fourth day of her confinement in the basement of Councilor Enfield’s mansion,
When she saw a slave locked in the cage next to her die from a black magic experiment,
Hwarin felt an ominous thought that she would never return to her younger sister, rather than fear.
So she attempted to escape but was caught by Enfield, who came down after hearing the alarm.
“Insolent girl. If you had waited quietly, you could have lived a few more days.”
No miracle occurred, such as a successful escape or some kind person rescuing her.
Black mana was injected into Hwarin, and her entire mind was torn apart.
But Hwarin didn’t die.
Perhaps she endured with the sole thought of returning to her sister.
Eyes unfocused, language ability lost, body barely able to move.
As she was no longer usable for mental black magic experiments, Enfield sold her off cheaply.
Hwarin was sold and resold, wandering from place to place.
A guild’s porter, a noble’s toy, a brothel’s prostitute.
Finally, Hwarin was sold cheaply to a small general store,
And died breaking her neck after falling down the stairs while carrying goods.
It was a miserable end.
Perhaps it was due to her exotic appearance and rare red hair,
When a merchant who saw her visited ‘Passionate Rose’,
He told Hwaryon that he had seen a slave who looked exactly like her.
That day,
Something broke inside Hwaryon when she heard the bad news.”
“The sister’s side was even more terrible.”
Whoever it was,
Ethan felt like punching the story writer once if he ever met them.
-Tsk!
[The target’s character story cannot be found.]
“Now Hwaryon won’t have a reason to turn evil, right?”
[‘Hwaryon’s’ fate is in competition.]
[Currently, ‘2. Happy Girl Hwaryon’ is dominant.]
A satisfactory notification window.
Ethan was able to sleep deeply for the first time in a long while.

Three days had passed since rescuing Hwarin.
The younger sister was lively, but
The older sister Hwarin’s condition was not as good as expected.
While calling a doctor for treatment and monitoring her progress,
Ethan devoted himself to physical training.
The reason was simple.
‘I’ve been lucky so far.’
On the day of the battle between Enfield and the Inspection Bureau,
If his luck had been even slightly worse, Ethan would have been guaranteed a trip to the afterlife.
It’s true that he couldn’t do anything properly in that tight spot.
‘So I need to have at least minimal physical ability and stats.’
In Isilium Legend Maker, stats can be permanently increased through repeated training.
Although the amount is minimal, combined with the effect of the ‘Auxiliary Stats’ skill book,
He should be able to guarantee at least the minimum basic abilities.
So he decided to train consistently, and put it into practice.
But then,
-Knock knock knock.
“Ethan-nim.”
“What is it, Levi?”
“A guest has arrived.”
“Nice to meet you. I am Carodin, the mayor of Serdin.”
‘The mayor of Serdin? Why would such a person…’
The elderly gentleman,
Bowed his head to Ethan while sweating profusely.
“I’m really sorry for coming so suddenly. If you’re busy, I’ll get straight to the point.”
Just as Ethan was wondering what had gone wrong this time,
“Would you be willing to become the next mayor of Serdin?”
“…Pardon?”
It was a bigger deal than expected.