The Story of Becoming a Married Man in Another World

030 Peddler’s Wagon

In the mountains, it felt like the sounds of birds and the wind were right next to you. It felt like a person was immersed in nature.

But as they moved away from the mountain and approached the village, the feeling changed drastically.

The small villages in this world are different from those on Earth. They were closer to nature. Yet, because artificial structures were gathered, the atmosphere felt very different from the mountains.

In the short period, his senses seemed to have changed a lot compared to when he lived on Earth. If he had seen such buildings on Earth, he would have thought they were truly natural. They say humans are adaptable animals, and it seems to be true.

Juhwan glanced slightly at Lizzy, who seemed to have slowed down a bit. Was she tired, or was she not very happy about going to the village? Lizzy’s face seemed a bit dark.

Was she afraid of meeting the men who attacked him last time? Or was she scared of meeting their families? Whatever it was, he would make sure she never faced such things again.

Juhwan lightly stroked Lizzy’s back. Lizzy’s body, which seemed slightly hunched, straightened a bit. Lizzy looked up at him and smiled brightly, her face seemed a bit brighter.

Juhwan gently touched the hair fluttering at the nape of her neck. Lizzy’s long, softly shining hair was beautiful. Making her cut it for money made him feel like an immature and incompetent husband, and he felt sorry every time he saw it.

But the short bob suited Lizzy well. When she had long hair, she felt pure and calm, but with her neck exposed, she looked like a girl wearing a castella on her head. She looked cute and lively.

‘If it wasn’t for cutting it because of money, I would have told her she was cute as much as I wanted.’

He still felt inadequate, thinking that his wife cut her hair because of their living situation, he couldn’t openly express how pretty she was. The feeling of guilt came first.

He had started hunting a bit and even caught rabbits, thinking he was somewhat fulfilling his role as the head of the family, but he still felt he was far from enough.

Feeling that deeply, he quietly held Lizzy’s hand. He hoped his feelings of thinking she was pretty would be conveyed.

Not used to holding hands, Lizzy seemed surprised. Her round eyes, combined with her bobbed hair, made her look even cuter.

“You’re cute.”

The words came out involuntarily. He didn’t think and say it, it just came out.

“….”

Lizzy’s eyes looked down shyly. Her white ears were slightly red. He didn’t know if it was because he held her hand or because he said she was cute. Anyway, she seemed happy, and he felt a bit lighter. The bobbed hair was really lovely and pretty.

Dorothy, who was standing tall on the carrier, kicked it with her feet and stretched out her small hand towards Juhwan and Lizzy.

“Dorothy is cute too.”

—

—

“Pfft.”

Lizzy laughs as if she can’t believe it. The awkward atmosphere that had lingered for a moment changed in an instant. Sometimes, children are truly amazing. They have no sense of reading the room.

“Dorothy is cute.”

As Joo-hwan spoke, Dorothy leaned forward, putting her weight on the carrier. When he turned his head slightly, he could see her curly hair sticking out like weeds, attached to the backrest of the carrier.

“Mom, is Dorothy?”

It seems Joo-hwan’s words weren’t enough. Lizzy laughed and said.

“Dorothy is so cute.”

“Yes!”

Is she satisfied? Dorothy answered loudly and laughed.

The back door they used to enter the mountain before was locked, so this time they entered through the large front gate of the village.

The entrance gate was wide open.

According to Lizzy, the gate is open during the day when people frequently come and go, but it closes in the afternoon. After studying verbs for a few days, I can understand a lot more. It makes me a little happy.

When I first came to the village, the fence was broken in several places. It seemed the village didn’t have the means to repair it, as the fence wall was not fixed at all. Does it even make sense to close the front gate when the wall is broken?

“….”

Joo-hwan shifted his gaze from the fence and walked inside. Small fields were visible here and there, and houses were scattered sparsely. Somewhere, a rooster crowed. Being on the outskirts of the village, there were hardly any people in sight.

As they walked further into the village, the number of people gradually increased. It was still just one or two people here and there, but it had been a while since he had seen people coming and going. It made him feel a little excited.

Dorothy seemed excited. She moved around in the carrier and eventually got down, starting to run ahead of Joo-hwan and Lizzy.

But she didn’t go far. She ran a little ahead, then quickly turned back when she got close to a villager. Then she went back and forth, busily circling around Joo-hwan and Lizzy.

As they followed the path towards the center, a fairly large open space began to appear in the distance. People were gathered in clusters. In the center was a large wagon with a roof. It looked quite big.

Around the wagon, it looked like an old country market. People were placing items on the ground and selling something. Some items were in baskets, some were laid out on a piece of cloth, and some people just placed their items directly on the ground.

As Joo-hwan’s gaze turned to the people, Lizzy spoke.

“These are the villagers. When a peddler comes, they bring their items to sell.”

“###?”

“Oh, one by one.”

When I asked about an unfamiliar word, Lizzy explained it in a way Joo-hwan could understand. Each? Individually? It probably means something like that.

Every time she teaches me like this, Lizzy has a strangely happy expression. She looks a little proud. But she seems to deliberately put on a nonchalant face, as if she doesn’t want to show it.

For some reason, finding her expression cute, Joo-hwan lightly pressed her nose with his finger. Her small nose squished slightly.

Seeing this, Dorothy, who had been leading the way, started laughing, holding her belly.

Maybe because Dorothy laughed, Lizzy seemed a bit upset. She let go of Joo-hwan’s hand and walked a little ahead. When Dorothy ran up and took her hand, the two of them walked side by side in front of Joo-hwan.

“….”

—

Let’s reflect. Pressing a woman’s nose was bad manners. It was very cute, but let’s not do it again.

When I first arrived in this village, I had no time to feel or look around.

I was moved straight from the carriage to a shabby house, and had to worry about the future all night long, so my mind was filled with thoughts of life or death, escape or not, rather than any leisure.

Even now, when I think back, my fists clench at the thought of my feelings back then.

But entering the village with my wife and daughter felt completely different. I could see smiles on people’s faces and their laughing expressions properly. This is a place where ordinary people live. Only now did I finally think that.

As we approached the peddler’s cart, people’s gazes were blatantly directed at Juhwan’s family. It didn’t feel hostile, but it felt like we were being rejected.

It reminded me of the time long ago when I wandered around a relative’s house on Earth. It felt exactly like this. Even if not for Juhwan, is Lizzy and Dorothy being treated like this too? It made me feel bad.

Juhwan walked closely behind Lizzy and Dorothy as if to protect them from the villagers’ gazes. With his large build and carrying a load, it felt like a robot escorting its owner.

Perhaps because of Juhwan, the villagers’ gazes slightly lessened. When our eyes met, people avoided my gaze.

Dorothy seemed a bit intimidated, but her expression revived when she got close to the peddler’s cart and saw the goods. She must have found it fascinating. Her eyes widened and her head moved busily here and there.

Dorothy’s small head turned sharply, looking back and forth between Juhwan and Lizzy.

“Dorothy, can I look at that?”

Lizzy smiled brightly at Dorothy and nodded. It seemed like she was warning her not to touch the goods. After whispering softly as if she was wary of the surroundings, Dorothy ran towards the peddler’s cart.

The peddler’s cart seemed to be operated by several men. An older man and a few younger men were dealing with people and selling goods. They might be related by blood. Their faces looked somewhat similar, only differing in age.

As Dorothy circled around the cart, a boy who looked about ten years old suddenly appeared from the back.

This boy also seemed to be part of the peddler’s group. His face looked similar.

They looked like Russian nesting dolls, Matryoshka. Identical dolls inside identical dolls. This peddler family is a bit funny.

Dorothy seemed to think so too, as she looked at the boy’s face and then ran around busily checking the faces of the peddler men one by one.

Seeing this, the boy seemed a bit angry. He muttered something to himself.

While occasionally checking on the playing child, Lizzy took out rabbit fur and her own hair to show the peddler.

“….”

It seemed like Lizzy wasn’t good at bargaining. Juhwan himself couldn’t say he was good at bargaining, but this was a bit much.

But Juhwan stood still and watched the peddler and Lizzy without intervening.

Seeing the rabbit fur, a middle-aged man who had been standing a bit away approached. The young man stepped back and the middle-aged man took over dealing with Lizzy.

*

The middle-aged peddler and his sons entered the familiar village and began to take out and display the goods from the cart one by one. Even as the goods that had filled the cart were being placed outside, the villagers came to exchange or buy goods, and the peddler and his sons dealt with them.

The biggest income for peddlers traveling through such small villages is not the money they get from selling goods, but the goods or local specialties they receive through bartering.

Sometimes, they would exchange goods received from one region for more valuable goods in another region.

Therefore, checking the goods people bring is more important than displaying the goods.

The middle-aged peddler kept an eye on his sons dealing with people and occasionally intervened himself.

—

The most important skill for a peddler is the ability to accurately assess the value of goods. This was also the main focus of the education he gave to his sons. Although his sons disliked his interference, they needed to learn this well if they were to continue making a living as peddlers for a long time.

However, there is one thing more important than that for a wagon peddler, and that is to protect the goods at all costs. Without goods, there is no peddling.

The greatest danger for a wagon peddler is the ruffians and thieves encountered along the way. They usually traveled on well-known, safe roads, but sometimes they would run into bad characters.

In such cases, a lifetime’s worth of savings could be lost in one unlucky encounter. This was often the case.

For this reason, small peddlers would sometimes band together with others selling different types of goods, or hire cheap guards.

The middle-aged peddler traveled with his sons instead of hiring guards. The peddler himself could handle weapons a little, and so could his sons. Some of his sons would eventually become independent, but until then, they were free guards.

The middle-aged peddler was dealing with customers when he saw a giant walking from afar. The man had an axe hanging from his waist.

“….”

He hadn’t seen this person before. The atmosphere among the villagers was also a bit awkward, so the middle-aged peddler quietly stood next to the wagon.

Before the middle-aged peddler could signal to his sons, his eldest and youngest sons had already noticed the giant and quietly stood next to the wagon.

The other sons were still dealing with customers. However, they were also on alert, ready to join the fight at any moment.

When the giant approached and the woman, who seemed to be his family, took out some goods, everyone was relieved. Even if they won a fight with such a person, a few goods might become unusable. Avoiding a fight was the best outcome.

As the third son dealt with the woman, the middle-aged peddler’s eyes widened.

The quality of the fur the woman took out looked very good. It seemed to be freshly caught. Fur caught in winter is the densest and best quality.

Moreover, the hair the woman took out from her pocket was long and shiny.

The most highly valued hair color was golden. It was the color most preferred by noble ladies. The longer the hair, the better.

The middle-aged peddler rubbed his hands together and stepped forward to the woman. Contrary to his rough appearance, the giant seemed to be a gentle person. He stood quietly behind the woman without showing any intention of speaking.

‘Good, good. Today is a lucky day.’

In such a remote village, there were hardly any skilled negotiators. Even the village chief was naive compared to city people.

The middle-aged peddler listened quietly as the woman hesitated to say what she wanted after showing her goods.

The woman mainly wanted basic necessities and food items. Shoes and second-hand clothes for the man and child, salt, and pots.

As she spoke, she glanced at him occasionally, as if worried that she was asking for too many items.

The giant standing behind her showed no sign of interfering. He still stood silently.

Hehehe. The middle-aged peddler hid his urge to laugh and frowned deeply as he lightly pinched the rabbit fur. The elasticity felt very good. It seemed to be well-tanned.

‘Good. Very good.’

The middle-aged peddler opened his mouth to the woman.

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