I Became A Married Man in Another World
Chapter 113
113 Toward the Region of Tropical Trees
“How could this be…?”
The pattern on the vines wasn’t limited to the plants. The same design was etched into the paws of the bear that had turned into a Magic Beast. It was possible that the transformation itself was caused by that very pattern.
Why was such a pattern connected to his parents’ grave? If there was a connection, what was it? Did it affect the house they were living in now? There were too many unknowns.
However, Yeonhwa knew nothing more. Every time Juhwan repeated his questions, Yeonhwa’s head drooped lower and lower. She seemed depressed by the fact that she couldn’t give him the answers he wanted.
Juhwan gently stroked her neck.
“It’s okay. If it weren’t for you, I would have thought these vines were dangerous. I might have even thought about leaving this place. But since you’re the one who did it… they aren’t dangerous, are they?”
Yeonhwa rubbed her head against his cheek as if to say, Of course not. Whatever else might be true, it seemed certain that these vines posed no threat to Juhwan or his family.
“Then that’s enough. We’ll figure out what this pattern is in due time.”
As Juhwan lightly pressed his forehead against Yeonhwa’s long face, her white horn began to twinkle. Perhaps she was happy. It didn’t seem to be emitting light intentionally, but the surface sparked with glimmers, like sunlight catching on water droplets.
Juhwan looked up at the tall trees surrounding the grave. The snail-patterned vines hanging in clusters swayed slightly in the breeze like ripening fruit.
The sight felt like they were beckoning him to come quickly. The coiled vines seemed to be pleading for him to take them and discover their meaning.
On the way back home, Juhwan suddenly thought of the overgrown region.
He asked Yeonhwa if she had ever been there, but her only response was that she didn’t know.
That place was quite far. It seemed Yeonhwa had never strayed far from this house and the grave.
‘Has she been here all alone this whole time, guarding Father and Mother?’
Perhaps the only time she had ventured far was when she followed the Guild Master to the village.
Juhwan chuckled. He remembered how Yeonhwa, in her girl form, had kept sniffing him.
At the time, he had thought she was just a strange, suspicious girl, but looking back, she must have been trying to confirm if Juhwan was the person she was looking for.
Maybe she could sense his parents’ presence in Juhwan’s mana or scent. If she had followed the tiny trace of Juhwan’s scent on the Guild Master’s body all the way to the village…
“Thank you for finding me.”
As he gave her back a few appreciative pats, Yeonhwa’s tail wagged vigorously. She seemed incredibly happy.
When they returned home, Dorothy was awake from her nap. Her hair, which had grown quite a bit since he first saw her, was sticking up in every direction.
While Riji used a bit of water on her hands to smooth the child’s hair, Dorothy’s body bounced up and down. She seemed restless, itching to move.
Juhwan sat down near her and peered into her face. Dorothy’s eyes were sparkling.
When her gaze met Juhwan’s, her eyes curved into crescents, and she broke into a wide grin.
Lately, Dorothy smiled like this every time they made eye contact. Since coming here, she seemed to enjoy every single day. Her face was so full of happiness that it made anyone watching feel a lightness in their chest. She was radiant.
Juhwan smiled warmly and glanced around her.
“It’s unusual to see you without Oz by your side.”
Oz, who was usually perched on her head or right next to her, was nowhere to be seen.
When he asked, thinking it odd, Dorothy tilted her head forward and spoke.
“Oz is guarding the bunnies. Raising bunnies is Dorothy and Oz’s job. It would be a big problem if the bunnies ran away, Daddy.”
After finding traces of them digging holes to escape yesterday, it seemed Oz and Dorothy were taking turns standing guard.
Every time Dorothy spoke, her head, shoulders, and hands moved this way and that.
He wondered if the pairing of words and gestures was a common trait in children or if it was just Dorothy, but the constant wiggling and squirming was enough to make one dizzy just watching.
“Dorothy, if you keep moving, your hair will get messy again.”
Riji gave a warning as she gathered Dorothy’s hair—which had puffed up like a ball of cotton candy—and tied it with a long ribbon. Dorothy sat still immediately, but a second later, she was fidgeting again.
“Honestly.”
Riji laughed as if she couldn’t help it, her hands moving skillfully to tidy and tie the hair once more.
Though a few strands still poked out here and there, she truly looked like a little lady. When Dorothy saw Juhwan’s eyes widen, she burst into giggles.
“Daddy’s face looks funny.”
“It’s because Dorothy has become so pretty. You look like a real lady.”
“Really?”
She must have been curious about her appearance. As soon as Riji took her hands off her head, Dorothy sprang up. She ran to the kitchen and looked at her reflection in the water bucket.
“Wow, Dorothy is super pretty!”
She was admiring her own reflection. Riji let out a snicker.
Mirrors existed in this world, but most were made of tin or bronze. Even bronze ones were surprisingly expensive if they were nice, while simple, crude ones were slightly cheaper. However, considering the cost of living, they were all quite expensive compared to Earth.
Before coming here, while they were buying various necessities, Riji had picked up a mirror and looked at it several times, but ultimately didn’t buy it. She seemed to think it was too expensive for something that wasn’t an immediate necessity.
In the end, the only way to see one’s reflection in this house was in a water bucket or a spring.
Dorothy stared at her face in the bucket for a moment, then stood up abruptly as if she’d just remembered something.
“Mommy, Daddy, I’m going to go check if all the bunnies are there. I have to switch with Oz. It’s Oz’s turn for a nap now.”
Dorothy went scurrying outside.
Riji sighed, looking a bit worried.
“We’ll have to cull the rabbits once their numbers increase… I wonder if she’ll be okay then. I’m afraid she’ll cry her eyes out.”
“…”
Well, Juhwan himself might be more of a problem than Dorothy.
Having never raised a pet, Juhwan hadn’t expected to grow attached to animals.
But surprisingly, he was already starting to feel a bond with the rabbits. Dorothy was the primary caretaker, but Juhwan saw them almost every day. It didn’t take long to grow fond of them.
He had become accustomed to killing animals he had no connection to, but those he’d grown attached to were a different story. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to do it with his own hands when the time came.
When Juhwan didn’t answer, Riji glanced at him. Juhwan gave a wry smile and changed the subject.
“Once the rabbits get used to this place, I think we can leave the gate open. Even if they run away, they’ll come back.”
Rabbits have a habit of returning to familiar places. Setting rabbit traps actually takes advantage of that nature.
If they continued to be fed and live at the house, they would become accustomed to the area. They would likely return even if they wandered off. This was also something he had overheard at the Guild.
“Is that so? I think I’ve heard something like that before.”
Even so, Riji smiled brightly, adding that she was still worried they might not return.
As night fell, he added more mana to the Mana Water. Upon checking, the mana levels had decreased significantly.
Mana Water doesn’t retain its effects for long unless other substances are mixed in. Since mana itself manifest and then disappears when used for magic, it was natural for it to vanish in a short time even when dissolved in water.
If someone couldn’t pour in a massive amount of mana like Juhwan, it probably wouldn’t even last an hour.
After replenishing the mana, Riji spent some time rummaging through and checking the Magic Beast hides. Since it was her first time, she seemed quite preoccupied.
*
Since the hunt for the bear Magic Beast, no particularly noteworthy tracks had been found.
A peaceful daily life continued.
Upon returning from hunting trips, he cleared the trees around the house, and once enough timber had been gathered, he began building a new storehouse.
He set up the pillars and stacked the wooden walls. Despite a few minor errors, building the storehouse didn’t take long. Compared to his father’s skills, his hands were practically golden. A fairly impressive storehouse was completed.
After building the storehouse, the pace of logging increased even more. Every time he neatly cut wood and stacked firewood, he felt a sense of growing wealth. Truly, he thought, happiness was a simple thing.
He also began looking for good timber slightly further from the house.
The wood he gathered from now on would be used for the house’s expansion. He began to examine the trees with even more care.
By the time the ice had completely melted, he had turned over the soil in the cleared land. Even without a hoe, turning the earth was a quick task using wind mana.
He planned to plant something in that softened earth once spring arrived.
He would have to buy seeds the next time he went to the village.
By the time he felt the weather growing warm, the trees and grass had embraced spring before the people did. Fresh green sprouts emerged, and small, nameless flowers began to bloom.
In the morning, birdsong echoed from all directions, and insects began to invade the house. Thanks to that, he felt the arrival of full spring with his whole body.
He also realized that the bugs he had seen in the military were cute by comparison. Mountain insects were monsters.
Even Riji and Dorothy, who usually scoffed at most bugs, would occasionally scream and dash out of the house.
Without exaggeration, there were spiders the size of two fists and cockroaches the size of a footprint. If those weren’t monsters, then nothing in this world was.
When he encountered such things, even Juhwan found the sensation of killing them with his hands gruesome. To be honest, bugs were scarier than beasts.
Fortunately, Oz was good at catching bugs. Except for the horn, he looked like a cute baby rabbit, but strangely, whenever he saw a bug, he would snap it up and sometimes even devour it.
It was also a bit amusing how Dorothy, who was always with Oz, would stay several feet away and refuse to go near him for a few hours on those days.
If his mouth so much as touched her body, Dorothy’s face would crumple as if she were about to cry.
And in the yard, the rabbits began to give birth. It seemed more than ten of the rabbits he had caught were female.
The gate to the rabbit hutch had been left open even before they gave birth.
As one female began to give birth in a spot she liked, the others followed suit, settling down wherever they pleased.
In the end, the area around the house was soon filled with tiny, huddled baby bunnies.
It seemed it had truly become the Rabbit Kingdom Dorothy had always talked about.
Dorothy was overjoyed, but Riji and Juhwan began to worry a little.
The number of births was higher and faster than expected. The gestation period was only about a month. Once the babies grew, they would have more babies, and then those babies would have babies…
At this rate, the number of births might exceed the number of rabbits they could cull. Somehow, it made his head feel complicated.
They culled a significant number of rabbits and skinned them. On the day they killed the first rabbit, it was heartbreaking to see Dorothy wailing, but it couldn’t be helped.
If left alone, the rabbits would likely devour every bit of grass near the small Cabin. They wouldn’t even be able to dream of cultivating a field because of the rabbits.
Other than that, everything was going smoothly.
He had also become somewhat familiar with the terrain around the house, and thanks to Oz and Yeonhwa, there were no more approaches from beasts or Magic Beasts like there had been in the beginning.
Once his anxiety faded, he finally felt ready to investigate the overgrown region.
One day after the end of March—it must have been around the transition from early to mid-April.
Living in a city allowed one to know the exact date, but in local villages, no one paid much attention to that. Most people lived by roughly dividing the seasons into planting season, harvest season, and so on. This was even more true for those living in such a remote mountain area.
Juhwan, who had grown accustomed to such seasonal divisions, left the house with Yeonhwa during the season when the greenery was deepening.
A saddle made only of leather and straps was fitted onto Yeonhwa’s back.
Riji had made it in her spare time after they settled in the Cabin.
Since Yeonhwa could understand human speech and make her own judgments, there was no need to make it complicated or difficult. It just needed to keep the person from falling off.
‘Even so, riding on this back is terrifying…’
Juhwan looked at Yeonhwa’s back, which seemed exceptionally high today.
Yeonhwa, who was twice as large as other horses, also had a high back. No matter how smart she was, climbing to that height was quite scary.
“Sigh.”
Juhwan let out a sigh and hopped up. His body, lifted lightly by wind mana, easily landed on Yeonhwa’s back.
Looking down from Yeonhwa’s back, the ground felt far away. Climbing a tree was one thing, but being on a horse’s back felt very different. A tree didn’t move, but a horse would be galloping. Naturally, it was scarier.
However, if he walked to the region, he would never arrive within a day. He didn’t know for sure, but it would likely take several days.
Mountains may look close, but they are quite far when you actually walk them, and if you think it will take a few days just by looking, it might take even longer. He had no choice but to rely on Yeonhwa.
“Yeonhwa, please go carefully and try not to shake too much. I’m counting on you.”
Though his face looked rugged as if he’d been through a lot, Juhwan, having lived on Earth, had grown up quite sheltered compared to the people of this world.
Taking that into account, please, safely…
As he murmured that in his heart, Yeonhwa gave a loud neigh as if telling him to leave it to her. No, please, don’t shake your head.
While Juhwan sat stiff with tension, Yeonhwa began to run with powerful hoofbeats.
She was incredibly fast.
The wind whipped past his cheeks with the sound of a jet engine.
Juhwan pressed his body flat against Yeonhwa’s back, completely frozen like a stone statue.
Please, don’t let me fall.
