The Story of Becoming a Married Man in Another World

043 Beep!

As the sun set and it became dark, the screams from all around became more distinct. The goblins seemed to be more active at night, either because they were nocturnal or because they were intoxicated.

“Whew.”

A rough breath escaped without realizing it.

Juhwan stood tall in front of the carriage, glaring around. After defeating the last two, it seemed there were no more goblins nearby. It looked like they had gone off in search of easier prey.

—

Juhwan slightly loosened his grip. His hands were numb from swinging the axe without rest for a while.

An adventurer, who had been keeping a distance and watching the surroundings, bent forward. He seemed tired too.

An adventurer who had been resting against a building at the back approached Juhwan. He tapped Juhwan’s shoulder.

“It’s your turn.”

“….”

Juhwan nodded and stepped back.

Although it was a short time, Juhwan and the five adventurers were taking turns resting. Since they didn’t know when goblins might appear, only one person rested briefly at a time. Even that was much less tiring than fighting alone continuously.

The wagon was standing next to the house.

When the wagon door opened, Lizzy quickly approached Juhwan. She handed him salted meat and a canteen of water.

Juhwan sat on the edge of the wagon and only took the water. He wasn’t hungry at all.

“Just one. You need to eat at least a bite.”

Lizzy, looking worried, offered the meat again. Reluctantly, Juhwan took a piece and ate it while glancing inside the wagon.

Dorothy was sleeping close to the driver’s seat. She seemed to have been rolling around with the horned rabbit on several layers of wolf and rabbit fur. Wrapped in Juhwan’s spare clothes like a blanket, her arms and legs were stretched out in odd directions.

Chewing the meat, Juhwan held Lizzy’s hand. Her fingertips were cold.

“Are you cold?”

Lizzy shook her head at Juhwan’s question.

“No. I’m not cold. I’m fine. Are you okay?”

“Yeah.”

Lizzy knelt and hugged Juhwan tightly. Although she said she wasn’t cold, her body was very cold.

Juhwan took out the fabric from inside the wagon and draped it over her shoulders like a cloak. It was obvious. She must have folded it neatly, thinking it was too precious to use. But if not now, when would they use it? The inside of the wagon was quite cold since they couldn’t light a fire.

After hugging Lizzy tightly once, Juhwan closed the wagon door again. He didn’t lock it. In case something happened, they needed to be able to get out on their own.

It bothered him that the wagon door couldn’t be locked from the inside. It could only be locked and opened from the outside.

‘I’ll have to do something about this later.’

Once they were out of danger, he would immediately install a lock on the inside.

Juhwan quietly placed his hand on the wagon door. His family was inside. He had to protect them. He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them wide the next moment. Alright, fully recharged.

Juhwan moved his shoulders to loosen his stiff muscles and went forward. When Juhwan nodded, the adventurer who was next in line stepped back and squatted down by the house.

The house behind the wagon seemed to have been uninhabited for a long time. The doors and windows were boarded up to prevent anyone from entering.

Now, the doors and windows were open. Whenever they had a chance, Juhwan and the adventurers had torn off pieces to light bonfires around. Thanks to that, they could fight goblins even in the dark.

Juhwan had wondered if goblins might be afraid of fire, but unfortunately, they weren’t.

Instead, the light seemed to unintentionally attract other people. From afar, about a dozen men and women were running towards them.

—

—

The person on the far left was suddenly grabbed by a goblin that appeared out of the darkness. The goblin’s skin was dark, making it look as if an invisible man had suddenly revealed himself.

Seeing this, the others started running even faster. The people who had been cautiously running together just moments ago scattered in all directions. Each one ran towards this direction with all their might. No one tried to help the person caught by the goblin.

One adventurer flinched and took a few steps forward. It seemed he intended to help.

“Hey, stop! Because of ######.”

The other adventurers stopped him. One of them was cursing.

Juhwan did not move. He quietly watched the movements of the villagers. These were the ones who had put Lizzy and Dorothy in danger. Even if he didn’t intend to take revenge, he had no intention of helping any of them.

Although they were working together now, the adventurers could turn into enemies at any moment. He couldn’t fully trust them.

Juhwan took a step back and moved closer to the wagon. Today, his only task was to protect his family in the wagon. From the goblins, and from humans.

When the adventurers realized that Juhwan was a fire mage, their attitudes visibly changed. From their behavior and words, it was clear that his abilities were quite high.

The adventurers were whispering among themselves, wondering why such a skilled mage was in a place like this without any nobles or royalty. They were using words Juhwan didn’t fully understand, but the atmosphere suggested that was the gist of it.

At that moment, he thought that these people might sell his information to higher-ups.

Lizzy had said that the slave brand was just a mark that could never be erased, but who knows. Maybe the higher-ups could use magic to control consciousness, just like in the novels.

The adventurers might take his family hostage to sell them to such people.

His mind was a whirlwind of thoughts. It seemed that the suspicion and paranoia had clung to him because of Gus and the villagers. He felt he couldn’t trust anyone in this world. That’s what he thought.

The villagers ran up to the bonfire and pleaded with the adventurers in the front row.

“Please, save us.”

“Let us stay here.”

“Let us into that house.”

A few glanced at Juhwan, but no one approached him, perhaps because of what they had done.

“######.”

“No way!”

“If you stay, the goblins will come.”

The adventurers cursed and pushed the people away. It seemed to be because there was a woman among them. The village chief’s wife and son, whom he had seen earlier, were among them.

“You took our money!”

Someone from the villagers shouted at the adventurers. The villagers raised their hoes, sickles, and axes, approaching the adventurers as if they were about to attack.

From noble mtl dot come

In the meantime, a few men approached the house. They were getting closer to the wagon.

Juhwan silently blocked their path.

“What, what are you doing!”

As the man in the front spoke, Juhwan punched him hard in the face.

The man’s face snapped to the side, followed by his body.

—

—

Seeing the men standing awkwardly behind the man who had collapsed on the ground, Juhwan spoke.

“Fight. We don’t need people who won’t fight.”

After the adventurers and villagers stopped arguing, everyone was looking at Juhwan.

One of the adventurers smirked.

“The wizard is right. If you’re not going to fight, get out of here. Run away alone.”

“….”

The villagers fell silent. They glanced at each other.

At that moment, two goblins appeared in the distance. They saw a woman among the villagers and ran towards her, making strange noises. The goblins’ eyes seemed to glint, perhaps because of the bonfire.

After pushing the villagers near the house outside and away from the wagon, Juhwan ran towards the goblins approaching and swung his axe.

Thud, thud, the goblins’ heads shattered one after another. One didn’t even need to be checked. Its brain was fully exposed.

But the other one had its eyes open as it fell.

Juhwan swung his axe once more, cutting off the goblin’s head that had fallen to the ground.

Without even glancing at the goblin’s body, which was cleanly split like a log, Juhwan hurried back to the side of the wagon.

Under the dim light, the villagers, who somehow looked like zombies, slowly moved away from Juhwan and gathered on the opposite side.

There was no one next to the wagon anymore. Only the spot where Juhwan stood was empty. Thinking it was fortunate, Juhwan cast his gaze back into the darkness.

After that, somehow knowing, villagers came here one by one, or in twos and threes. By the time dawn was approaching, a significant number of survivors seemed to have gathered here.

It seemed that Juhwan’s initial threat had been effective. The villagers also began to fight the goblins with their farming tools. Some of the women held iron skewers or hoes. Perhaps the increase in numbers gave them a bit of courage.

Along with that, the number of goblins chasing the women also increased. The fights became more frequent, but thanks to the villagers joining in, Juhwan and the adventurers had a bit more time to rest. It felt a bit fortunate.

By the time morning came and noon passed again, the number of goblins had noticeably decreased. At least, there were almost none coming anymore. Most of the women seemed to have come here, so there were probably very few goblins left in the entire village.

‘Is it time to leave now?’

Even at dawn, the distant sky still showed a red hue. The fence was probably still burning. But there might be places where the flames had subsided.

Juhwan looked at his palm. If he used his magic power, he might be able to completely burn part of the flames. If he made the fire strong enough to turn it to ashes, he might be able to create a path to pass through.

‘The problem is that my magic power will be exhausted afterwards….’

With the goblins significantly reduced now, it should be okay to use all the remaining magic power.

People were sitting around here and there. After glancing at them, Juhwan approached the adventurers and spoke in a low voice.

“I’m leaving. Thanks for fighting together.”

“Oh!”

“Are you leaving?”

“Stay a bit longer.”

The adventurers looked at each other and hurriedly spoke.

—

—

“No. I’m leaving now.”

When Juhwan shook his head, the adventurers looked disappointed. However, they didn’t stop him, perhaps because there were almost no goblins left. They would have to stay in the village and receive their payment. Maybe a little more, or perhaps a lot more than initially promised.

As Juhwan turned and stood next to the coachman’s seat, the adventurer who had first saved his life approached him. The adventurer lowered his voice and spoke softly.

“When you leave here, go to ##. It’s better to ## before you ## to the noble. If you ## as an adventurer in ##, you’ll be protected.”

There were words mixed in that he didn’t understand. From the gap between the coachman’s seat and the carriage, there was a tapping sound, like someone knocking on wood.

When he turned his gaze in that direction, Lizzy was nodding her head vigorously through the gap. It seemed she understood.

Juhwan extended his hand for a handshake. It seemed that the habit of shaking hands existed in this world too, as the adventurer took his hand.

“Thank you.”

When Juhwan spoke, the adventurer grinned.

“I’m the one who should thank you. You saved my life.”

As Juhwan untied the reins and climbed onto the coachman’s seat, the village chief’s wife, who had noticed it late, came running while shouting.

“You thief! That’s ours!”

Oh no, oh no, the village chief’s wife clung to the back of the carriage, crying, and opened the door.

Juhwan immediately jumped down from the coachman’s seat, but he didn’t need to intervene. Something popped out from inside the carriage.

*

Bored. Mom keeps looking outside. Dad said several times that I should never come out of the carriage. Dorothy is a good girl, so she’ll listen to Dad. Really hard! But still, it’s boring.

Rolling around, rolling around, lying down and rolling around inside the carriage, marrying Oz and the doll Toto, and playing mommy Dorothy with baby Oz.

When I need to pee, I sit on a wooden bucket. But my bottom slips in. It goes inside. Mom holds me every time I pee.

Dorothy lay flat on the floor of the carriage and carefully climbed down to the ground. Of course, Dorothy could jump down because she was brave. But she was being careful because her mother always told her to be cautious. It wasn’t because she was scared.

When she got down and ran towards where the village lady and Oz were, her father put his hand on Dorothy’s head. Dad, this is not the time for that!

Ignoring her father, Dorothy reached out and grabbed Oz from behind. Oz suddenly became calm.

Holding Oz, she spoke in a serious voice.

“Oz! Are you going to be a bad rabbit like that?”

Hitting people is a bad thing. Her deceased father used to hit every day, but that was bad. Lizzie’s mom told her so. A few days ago, her dad said the same thing. Dorothy wasn’t hit because she did something bad. Her mom and dad clearly said that the person who hits is the bad one.

Oz was still a baby and didn’t understand well, but you shouldn’t hit people. Sigh, Dorothy was really too busy. She had to teach her mom and dad later too. You shouldn’t hit people.

After giving Oz a lecture, it seemed Oz still didn’t understand. Maybe because he didn’t know the words.

“Say ‘I’m sorry’. When you do something bad, you say ‘I’m sorry’.”

Dorothy handed Oz to the village lady. But it seemed Oz didn’t know how to say ‘I’m sorry’. Oz just stared blankly into the air. Maybe because he was a rabbit.

“Dorothy is really busy.”

Without realizing it, she said that and decided to apologize on behalf of Oz. She had no choice. Dorothy was the older sister.

Dorothy stood close to the village lady’s face. Then she bowed her head and said,

“Beep!”

“Pfft!”

Someone laughed. When she looked up, a few people around were laughing. Why are they laughing? As she tilted her head, her dad was also laughing.

“Oz is a rabbit, so he only understands rabbit language. So Dorothy has to speak in rabbit language too.”

When Dorothy explained, this time Lizzie’s mom also started laughing from inside the carriage.

Really, adults! Feeling like she was being treated like a fool, Dorothy stomped her feet on the ground.

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