The Story of Becoming a Married Man in Another World

020 The Meat Barrel is Important

While holding the child, Lizzie approached.

Juhwan, holding Dorothy with one hand, hugged Lizzie with the other arm. Lizzie, who was small enough not to reach his chest, clung to his side.

Suddenly, coming to his senses, he noticed that for some reason, the child’s clothes were wet. From the side where the child’s legs were, a strange smell was slowly rising. It seemed like the child had peed.

“….”

Yes, it seemed like pee. The smell was definitive. But Dorothy’s face was so bright that he couldn’t show that he noticed the child had peed. If the clothes are not changed quickly, the child might catch a cold.

“####.”

When Lizzie said something to Dorothy, the child suddenly got out of his arms and stood on the floor.

Aren’t the bloodied men scary? The small feet moved with a patter, running among the men who were groaning and lying down.

Small footprints were left on the ground. Wet footprints from the pee, crooked, appearing one after another like stamps made with water.

The child ran past the men and clung to the barrel containing wolf meat. Dorothy grabbed the wooden barrel with both hands and struggled. After a moment of struggling, Dorothy eventually lay on top of the barrel. It seemed like the child was trying to carry it.

But the barrel was too heavy for the child’s strength. It was too heavy for the child. Dorothy’s face turned red as the child grunted and dragged the barrel.

Unlike the child, Lizzie couldn’t look at the men lying down. She slightly turned her head away and only looked at Dorothy.

“###.”

Lizzie said something similar to Dorothy as before.

At those words, Dorothy urgently grabbed the barrel with all her might, turning red in the face.

Surely, Lizzie didn’t tell the child to bring the wolf meat, but probably told the child to change the wet clothes. And Dorothy might have thought that someone might steal the meat if they went inside.

“….”

Dorothy’s obsession with the meat is scary. The determination to never leave it outside was evident.

Perhaps because of pulling the barrel too hard, Dorothy farted with a “poof” sound. Lizzie, who was next to her, laughed as if she couldn’t believe it. She finally laughed as usual. Something surged up in Juhwan’s heart. Thank goodness.

Juhwan approached the child and lifted the wooden barrel. The barrel, which wasn’t that big, looked very small when Juhwan lifted it.

“#####.”

Dorothy looked up at Juhwan with sparkling eyes, as if looking at a hero. It seemed amazing to the child that he could lift what she couldn’t because it was too heavy.

—

—

Just for carrying a single meat barrel, to receive such a gaze from the child, becoming a hero is truly easy. Feeling a bit embarrassed, Juhwan scratched the back of his neck for no reason.

Clap, clap, the sound of clapping hands was heard from the side. Turning his head, he saw Lizzy looking at Dorothy with a slightly stern expression.

“####Meat####inside##.”

Lizzy pointed to the house with her finger as she spoke. It must have meant to leave the meat and quickly go inside before catching a cold. As he gradually learned more words, he could understand more and more of the context.

Dorothy looked at the wooden barrel and Juhwan with a troubled expression. Back and forth, the child’s face was busy.

After looking back and forth between Juhwan and the wooden barrel a few times, the child suddenly smiled brightly. It seemed she thought the meat would be safe if left with Juhwan. It might be a trivial matter to an adult, but to Dorothy, it was a serious issue. He felt a bit honored.

Dorothy answered Lizzy loudly and ran inside. Drops of urine fell from the running child’s body.

Lizzy, flustered, chased after her. If she didn’t take off her clothes as soon as they got inside, the floor would be a mess with urine. Such things wouldn’t matter to a child, though.

After Lizzy and Dorothy went inside, Juhwan put down the wooden barrel and turned around.

One of the village men had fainted, but the remaining two were still conscious. The men were writhing in pain and groaning.

As he took a step towards them, Gus blocked Juhwan’s path. Shaking his head, he said something. It was probably to say not to kill them.

“….”

It might be okay now since it was self-defense, but if he killed someone, there might be consequences. He could be executed or fall into slavery. Thinking about the person who was locked up in the carriage, whether they were a criminal or a slave, it was probably the case.

Gus pointed to the house and shook his head again.

Alright, I understand. Juhwan inhaled and exhaled. Being imprisoned, executed, or becoming a slave would be troublesome. Lizzy and Dorothy would be left alone. If he disappeared, the two would probably end up with another man.

Juhwan calmed his mind a bit and glared at the faces of the fallen men one by one. I remember you, bastards. If I see you again, no matter what happens, I’ll kill you next time.

He muttered to himself, but it would probably be difficult to see them again. These men were more likely to die even if left alone.

In a medieval, completely remote rural village with no decent medical facilities, they might have some herbs, but there would be no doctors. There would be no wizards either.

A person with a collapsed nose and cheekbones, whose entire face was sunken in, wouldn’t survive in such a village. Even if they miraculously survived, they wouldn’t be able to return to a proper face. The nose and facial bones were already collapsed. Without plastic surgery, they couldn’t be restored. He wondered if they could even breathe properly.

The other men were the same. One had an arm completely broken in the opposite direction, and another, though not visible, probably had his internal organs messed up. He hadn’t held back his strength at all.

The broken arm might heal, but it was certain it wouldn’t be usable. When the bone broke, Juhwan twisted it once more while bending it backward to make sure it shattered. If the arm moved like it did before breaking after it healed, that would be a miracle from God.

“….”

Juhwan looked at the fallen men once more. Yes, that would be the case. If they were lucky enough to survive, an even harder life awaited them. Hell. Good.

Juhwan turned his gaze away from the men and exhaled. He felt his mind calm down a bit. It was all because Lizzy and Dorothy smiled at him.

Before he came home, if the two had suffered more than what he saw, Lizzy and Dorothy wouldn’t have been able to smile like that.

Today’s events would have left an indelible scar, casting a shadow over the two. Lizzy and Dorothy wouldn’t have been able to smile at Juhwan. He was genuinely relieved, albeit belatedly.

As if gauging Juhwan’s emotions, Gus patted Juhwan’s arm. Then he pushed him towards the house. It seemed he would take care of the fallen men himself.

“….”

When Juhwan nodded, Gus smiled slightly, relieved.

Juhwan approached the wooden box that seemed to have been brought by the men.

—

—

Two wooden boxes contained tools such as hammers, nails, chisels, cylindrical wooden mallets, and saws. While Juhwan knew common items like hammers, there were some things he had no idea what they were used for.

Anyway, these tools would be essential in a self-sufficient mountain cabin. He thought they must have originally belonged to this house and were brought back.

Juhwan placed the wooden boxes inside the house and picked up the meat barrel and wolf skin. Through the slightly open window, he could hear Dorothy’s voice. She was laughing heartily at something amusing.

Seeing Juhwan enter, Gus turned around. It seemed he was going to leave the men and head down the mountain. Maybe he was going to the village. Was he going to call someone? Hmm, they might end up fighting again.

Juhwan went inside and closed the thick door of the cabin. Inside the door was a wooden box containing tools. Juhwan took out the largest hammer from it. He quietly leaned the hammer against the wall so it could be easily grabbed at any time.

*

The warm air from the hearth gradually spread in all directions. But the whole house was still quite cold. It seemed better than the house they had stayed in briefly when they first arrived in this village, but it couldn’t compare to the insulation of modern Earth.

‘I need to do something about this as soon as possible.’

Maybe it was because of the ceiling that was wide open to the sky. Even if he didn’t know for sure, he thought the cold air coming in from there must account for half of the chill in the house. He wanted to do something about the ceiling. There were so many things to do that his mind became complicated.

From noble mtl dot come

Dorothy was standing by the hearth, taking off her lower garments. The long shirt-like garment barely covered the child’s buttocks.

The clothes she had been wearing earlier were a long skirt that reached her ankles, but the current garment looked like a short dress that had been cut down from that. The sleeves were short, and it seemed to fit her body tightly, so he thought it might have been something she wore when she was younger.

Lizzy was wiping Dorothy’s body with a cloth dampened with water. It seemed difficult because the child kept wriggling.

—

Juhwan stood tall in front of the door, holding a hammer, waiting for them to come closer.

The air had become even cooler. Winter days were very short, and the sky would turn dark as soon as it started to redden. The village men, aware of this, held unlit torches in their hands.

Juhwan glanced to see if the men had any weapons besides the torches.

The man in the back seemed to be hiding a weapon behind his waist, but the other men had nothing in their hands. Only two men had clubs tied to their waists.

That could be considered as a precaution against wild animals.

The village chief only had a bundle of fabric tucked under his arm.

It seemed they didn’t come to fight Juhwan.

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