The Story of Becoming a Married Man in Another World

033 No One to Trust

Gus hid in the hilly area, glaring at the goblin village. He wanted to rush out and kill them right away. But he couldn’t. He had to endure. If he went out now, it would only be a pointless death.

Gus gritted his teeth.

The goblin village hidden deep in the mountains had expanded greatly and was already at full capacity. There was no time.

When these creatures ran out of food and women, they started fighting and killing each other. And when someone couldn’t hold back and attacked the village, they lost control of the group in an instant. Fearing that their comrades would take all the food and women, they would rush in without thinking.

It was widely known that goblins were not smart. They focused only on eating and women, without thinking about the future. In some ways, they were worse than beasts.

When separated, they weren’t particularly dangerous monsters. They were strong, but a few adults could easily defeat them. They were also easily caught in traps. Compared to other beasts or monsters, they were pathetically weak.

Yet, goblins were terrifying because they formed groups like bees and reproduced as quickly as rabbits.

Goblins lived hidden in caves or deep places, stealing women from here and there to bear children.

The women who were taken became wrecks, continuously giving birth to goblins until they eventually died. The fate of women taken to goblin nests was always the same.

Their misery was indescribable, so much so that when found alive, it was considered merciful to kill them.

The leader of these goblins seemed to be a smart one. He had settled in a rugged mountain area where people rarely came and seemed to manage his subordinates well. There appeared to be some order.

But there were too many of them. They were probably maintaining a precarious balance even now. Any small trigger would cause an explosion.

And by the time spring came, most goblins would no longer be able to suppress their breeding urges.

‘That’s why they’re goblins.’

Gus clenched his jaw so hard it felt like his teeth would shatter and quietly retreated.

Walking through the rough terrain with his limping leg, he faced many dangerous moments. Each time, his hatred for the goblins resurfaced.

‘If it weren’t for them.’

Everything he had dreamed of for a bright future was gone because of them. He would never forgive them, no matter what he had to sacrifice.

As Gus descended the slippery, icy mountain, he thought of Juhwan’s face.

A rough but kind man, who probably had never held a grudge against anyone, smiled happily in his memory. Juhwan was always very grateful and happy whenever Gus taught him something.

He was probably a pure person. He must have lived a life satisfied and grateful for small things. Although it was a short time, Gus could tell that Juhwan thought of him as a teacher and trusted him.

A corner of Gus’s heart felt slightly cold. His conscience ached as if it were in pain.

Gus shook his head to shake off his hesitation.

It was an opportunity he had waited for a long time. If he missed this chance, it would never come again. He was already old enough that it wouldn’t be strange if he were in his grave.

‘Sorry, but I have no choice.’

No matter how foolish goblins were, they wouldn’t recklessly attack a village. They knew that humans in villages had weapons.

At least the goblin leader would keep that in mind and restrain them until the very last moment.

There was time to call adventurers to deal with them.

—

Gus stared at the ground with a gloomy gaze.

Recalling Joo-hwan’s face, smiling with a grim expression, Gus muttered softly.

“I’m sorry.”

The small cabin in the mountains would be a good bait to hold the goblins until they attacked the village. Even a single woman would be enough to attract the attention of the stupid goblins.

Gus headed straight for the village chief’s house. The chief, who had gone to the informant, would probably be back by now.

Let’s secretly call an adventurer to Joo-hwan.

For Joo-hwan, who is unusually kind to his wife and child, there would be no other way but to join forces with Gus and the adventurer. If his family were to die, of course, and even more so if they were alive.

Even if he knew the truth and intended to kill Gus, there was no other way for Joo-hwan but to kill the goblins.

*

Late at night, when the rabbit had escaped, I saw one come to the pile of bamboo. It seemed to have come back looking for food in the cold winter.

The rabbit quickly ran away as Joo-hwan approached. Not knowing when it would come, he couldn’t catch it with an arrow. Joo-hwan set up a few snares near the spot where the rabbit had been.

The next morning, when he went outside, two rabbits were caught in the snares.

Joo-hwan sighed slightly. Unfortunately, it seemed he couldn’t keep them. Even if he drove the stakes deep into the fence, they would probably escape. There was no choice. As pitiful as it was, they would just have to become meat and fur.

Joo-hwan hung both rabbits upside down and made a cut to drain their blood.

After enough blood had drained, he cut around the ankles of the hind legs. Like a taut rubber band snapping, the skin split, revealing the flesh.

The rest was easy. He just had to grab the skin and peel it off.

The skinned rabbit’s body was somewhat whitish, and at a glance, it looked like a chicken with four legs.

Joo-hwan took the rabbit meat and fur, with the entrails removed, back to the house.

—

Lizzie’s eyes widened and began to sparkle when she saw the rabbit. She smiled brightly, clearly happy.

Hastily putting the meat into a container, Lizzie began to ponder, groaning.

“Why? What is it?”

When Joo-hwan asked, Lizzie cupped her cheeks with both hands and lowered her eyebrows.

“What should we do? Should we roast it, or salt it? I don’t know.”

Lizzie glanced at Dorothy, looking troubled, and frowned again.

Dorothy was still deep in dreamland. She must have been tired after visiting the village yesterday, as she was slightly drooling with her mouth slightly open. Even in her sleep, she seemed to be upset about the rabbit escaping. There were tear stains on her cheeks.

—

Well, seeing that, it’s no wonder she’s worried.

When we ate wolf meat last time, Lizzie cooked it in a way that maximized the quantity.

—

—

Even if it was just boiled in water or salted and eaten with something else, there was never a time when they could just grill the meat and eat until they were full, like on Earth.

They had only done that once or twice for Dorothy.

But seeing Dorothy cry for rabbit meat yesterday, he wanted to feed her until she was full.

Thinking about the future, it was best to salt it, but when a child cries for meat, you want to feed them. That’s human nature.

Sacrifice the future, or ignore the child’s tears. It was a battle between reason and emotion.

Moreover, among the pickled vegetables bought from the villagers, there were some that tasted good when grilled together. Maybe Lizzie herself wanted to eat it too.

Juhwan pointed to the rabbit meat he had given.

“Salt it. I’ll grill it.”

Lizzie tilted her head. When Juhwan pointed outside and mimicked skewering the rabbit meat, she made an “ah” expression. She smiled shyly and lowered her head slightly.

“Thank you. Please do.”

Lizzie hurriedly rubbed salt on the surface of the meat and stuffed pickled vegetables inside the rabbit. It looked like a turkey roast with vegetables inside.

Lizzie’s face sparkled as she handed him the prepared meat. Maybe it was just his imagination, but she seemed very excited about eating the meat too. Her eyes, catching the faint dawn light, shone like a child’s.

‘Then I must do my best.’

Juhwan went outside and gathered bamboo in a place where the wind didn’t blow. The subtle bamboo scent would make the meat taste even better.

He placed large stones on both sides and skewered the meat on a long bamboo stick. It was a bit of a struggle to keep the pickled vegetables from spilling out.

After the meat was ready, Juhwan straightened his palm. These days, he didn’t use flint. With a convenient lighter-like fire, there was no need to struggle with flint.

He created a small flame and transferred it to the fire, adjusting the height so the rabbit meat wouldn’t burn.

For some reason, the naked rabbit meat looked like a rotisserie chicken spinning behind a shop window. It felt like buying a chicken for his wife and child on his way home from work.

‘What a shabby gift.’

Juhwan chuckled. It would be better if he had some pepper, but it was a shame. But he didn’t know much about it, but spices were probably very expensive in this era. He had read somewhere that pepper was more expensive than gold in the Middle Ages.

The fire seemed a bit weak. Juhwan reignited it with his fingertip, thinking it would be nice if it were a bit more magical.

Not just creating a lighter-like fire, but like a wizard who turned Cinderella into a princess, creating chicken tastier than pepper.

A fire that didn’t need any spices, enveloping the whole chicken and instantly producing a delicious roast that popped like popcorn.

A roast rabbit that Lizzie and Dorothy would boast about, saying it was so delicious they wouldn’t know if one of them died while eating it.

At least that would be much more useful than a lighter.

As he was thinking such useless thoughts and reigniting the fire, suddenly the flames flared up and engulfed the rabbit.

“!”

No, no, no, stop!

Panicked, Juhwan flapped his hands. It wouldn’t put out the fire, but his body reacted first.

The fire was already out the moment Juhwan thought to stop.

—

—

Juhwan stared blankly at his hand. Despite all his efforts, he could only produce a lighter flame with his fire magic. Why did it suddenly grow now?

He extended his hand again and tried to produce fire, but it was still just a lighter flame. Even when he tried to recreate the thoughts he had earlier, it was the same.

Lost in thought, Juhwan reached out towards the rabbit.

The first magic he saw in this world was manifested by dropping blood on paper. What did he think back then? Didn’t he think that the magic was imbued in the paper?

Perhaps the magic in this world is not something that manifests through one’s own power like swinging a club, but rather something that is executed by imbuing it into another object.

Come to think of it, the fire he used on the wolf the first time wasn’t just growing from his hand, but might have been imbued towards the wolf.

With that thought, he understood why there were no burn marks on his body as the caster.

Magic is something that is imbued into the other party, not something that resides in one’s own hand.

Juhwan imagined the rabbit meat being gently cooked by the fire as he produced it. The image in his mind was of a rotisserie chicken surrounded by a gentle flame.

A weak flame rose from Juhwan’s fingertips and clung to the rabbit’s body as if seeping into it. The weak flame enveloped the entire body of the rabbit like a mirage.

From noble mtl dot come

He heard the sound of the meat surface gently cooking. In an instant, the rabbit was roasted to a golden brown. A delicious smell wafted into his nose.

My goodness. Juhwan quietly looked down at the rabbit meat.

‘I made a rotisserie chicken.’

He didn’t know how it would taste, but the appearance and smell were unmistakably that of a rotisserie chicken. Amazing. If he started a rabbit roast business with this, it would surely be a hit. Chicken is the truth everywhere in the world. This isn’t chicken, but rabbit.

Juhwan picked up the finished meat and stood up. When he brought it home, Lizzy was surprised. She didn’t expect it to be done so quickly. She was even more surprised when she saw the meat.

“Juhwan, what is this?”

“Chicken, no, rotisserie.”

“Huh?”

Speaking in Korean, Lizzy didn’t understand. Juhwan smiled and handed her the meat.

“It’s okay, it’s delicious.”

“The smell, ###, it’s very good.”

Lizzy sniffed the meat and swallowed. Indeed, chicken is the truth.

As they got closer to the bed inside the house, Dorothy woke up, rubbing her eyes, as if drawn by the smell of the meat.

It seemed like they didn’t eat breakfast in this world, but that day, everyone sat together and had an early breakfast.

Eating meat from the morning, he felt a little sorry for his stomach. But there probably wasn’t a human in this world who could resist the smell of rotisserie.

Both Lizzy and Dorothy praised the rabbit roast. It was really good to be able to use fire magic.

Once he got the hang of it, using fire became very easy. Even if his hand didn’t completely touch it, he could use fire magic on a target about 50cm away.

‘If I could use it on living people or animals, wouldn’t this be a very terrifying power?’

As he calmed down a bit, Juhwan stopped using magic recklessly and testing it everywhere.

—

—

Not knowing the level of magic in the outside world, it might be troublesome if someone sees it.

At least until I confirm the level of other magicians, I should be careful of the surrounding eyes.

With healing magic and fire magic, I can protect Lizzy and Dorothy no matter what happens.

Suddenly, the face of Santa, who told me to be happy, came to mind. Maybe this power was given by him.

‘Should I hold a ritual like a memorial service when Christmas comes?’

Juhwan stretched his back once and started chopping firewood. Fire magic or whatever, every day is the same in the mountains. Fetching water, chopping firewood, going hunting… If I skip even one day, our livelihood is at risk.

While chopping firewood for a while, Dorothy was shouting something from inside. It seems that the baby rabbit can finally move. It looks like we won’t be able to eat that rabbit even when it grows up.

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