I Became A Married Man in Another World
Chapter 42
042 When she grows up a little more, Dorothy will be able to make fire too
Fluttering its mane, the horse shook its head. The goblins were still some distance away, but the horse seemed to sense the danger they posed. Agitated, it stamped its hooves and shifted its body restlessly.
‘Dammit!’
Juhwan shook the reins, trying to change the horse’s direction. But since it was his first time, it didn’t go well. The horse wouldn’t follow his commands properly. It seemed terrified by the screams of the people and the goblins.
From inside the carriage, Riji spoke to him.
“Juhwan, should I do it?”
“No.”
Juhwan replied curtly.
In the distance, he saw a woman being caught by the goblins. Two, three, four goblins swarmed around her. Their piercing shrieks reached all the way here. No one tried to help her. Everyone was too busy fleeing for their lives.
“Stay inside. Please.”
He knew Riji wanted to help, but she couldn’t step out of the carriage. The goblins out there right now were frenzied. They would undoubtedly target Riji.
“….”
Riji seemed about to say something but closed her mouth. A brief silence fell inside the carriage behind him.
Juhwan knew his mana wasn’t fully replenished. The mana he had used during the fight earlier that day hadn’t returned yet.
He wasn’t at full strength.
No matter what it took, he would protect his wife and child. But he couldn’t ignore the possibility that he might fail. What if he made a momentary mistake? What if he suddenly couldn’t produce fire?
His heart grew cold. He didn’t want to leave even the slimmest, most minute margin for error. Staying inside the sturdy carriage was definitely safer.
The horse let out a panicked whinny and moved uneasily. The number of goblins was steadily increasing. It was likely because this was where the most people were gathered. That was why they were swarming here.
Juhwan pulled the reins several times, making soothing noises to calm the horse. Finally, the horse turned and began to run properly.
There were too many goblins near the village’s front gate. The horse was too frightened to go that way.
‘The back gate is the only way.’
There was no guarantee it would be safe. He remembered the gate being open when they entered earlier. Gus must have done that to lure the goblins in. Juhwan had closed it, but surely it had been opened again.
However, the only paths a carriage could pass through were either the front gate or the back gate Juhwan had used. Even if the fence was broken elsewhere, the carriage wouldn’t fit. Since he couldn’t abandon the carriage, the back gate was his only option.
The carriage sped past people fleeing and screaming.
But what greeted them as they raced toward the back gate was the village’s outer wall, engulfed in roaring flames. From one end to the other, the entire wall within his sight was burning.
‘This isn’t a natural fire.’
Some kind of accelerant had been used. He didn’t know how, but someone had made the entire fence ignite in an instant.
Juhwan turned the carriage around again. Goblins that had been loitering near the back gate were now swarming toward them.
What should he do? His mind wavered. He didn’t know where to go or what to do to keep his wife and child safe.
A goblin lunged at the carriage from the front.
Juhwan leaned out and reached his hand. He couldn’t reach it physically. From a short distance, he exerted his mana with all his might. Across the small gap of space, flames erupted from the goblin’s body.
Good, it worked. Juhwan straightened his posture and shook the reins hard.
There were definitely more goblins than there had been at the cabin. Since Gus had lured them here on purpose, there were likely a great many throughout the village. That much was certain.
“….”
He couldn’t trust the villagers. They were the ones who had left Juhwan and his family to die in the mountains. Given the chance, they would use Riji and Dorothy as bait just to save themselves.
But then, how? How could he protect his family alone? What should he do?
His insides burned. He hadn’t known that having something to protect would make his heart ache like this. It felt as if his heart were burning to ash.
Just then, Riji spoke to him through the gap in the driver’s seat.
“Juhwan, it’s okay. Don’t worry. I won’t come out. I’ll stay here. It’s safe inside. Fight without worrying about us. I’m not afraid. It’s okay. You’re strong. I believe in you.”
Dorothy seemed to be beside Riji. The child’s voice came from right behind his back.
“Daddy! Oz is strong! Oz and Dorothy will protect you!”
“….”
Juhwan let out a breath. Though they spoke bravely, their voices were trembling slightly. The screams of the people were growing more frequent. There was no way they weren’t afraid.
‘I can’t be like this.’
He had to be the anchor. If not, Riji and Dorothy would be consumed by anxiety.
Juhwan took a deep breath and forced a smile. He turned his head slightly and smiled toward the two of them.
“It’s okay. I will protect you. Riji, Dorothy, I will definitely protect you.”
After saying that, Juhwan surveyed his surroundings. He looked into the distance. It was clear that even the parts of the fence he couldn’t see were burning.
Though he couldn’t see the flames, he could see the smoke rising high into the sky from here.
Someone was screaming that the fence was on fire. They wailed that the entire perimeter was burning. They were trapped; there was no escape.
The carriage moved further away from that person. The wailing voice soon faded from his surroundings, replaced once again by screams.
“….”
Calm down. He had to think. A beast gets caught in a snare and becomes helpless because it only thinks of escaping without a plan. The more it struggles, the tighter the noose becomes. Juhwan was in the same position now. If he wanted to escape the danger, he had to remain calm.
A short distance away, he saw adventurers working together to kill goblins. It seemed they had encountered the goblins while fleeing from the center of the village. They didn’t seem to know yet that the fence was burning.
The adventurers were fighting well. While they didn’t have the skill to handle dozens alone like Juhwan, they would be a significant force in the fight against the goblins.
Juhwan pulled the reins to slow the horse.
‘This was probably part of Gus’s plan too.’
He didn’t know exactly what Gus was thinking. But the fact that the goblins attacked while the adventurers were here was likely one of his calculations.
Regardless, in this situation, they had to kill the goblins.
To survive in this trap, they had to kill them.
He stopped the carriage right in front of a nearby house. He struck the wooden part of the building several times with his axe to create a place to tie the reins. Juhwan hurried to wrap and secure the reins so the horse couldn’t run away.
A goblin suddenly emerged from the corner of the building.
It seemed to have been loitering near the house.
Juhwan swung his axe before the goblin even saw him. The goblin collapsed to the ground without even a shriek. The fishy smell of blood wafted up instantly.
He checked around the house, but there were no more goblins nearby.
Juhwan shouted loudly toward the adventurers.
“Over here! Come this way! There’s a fire. The fence is no good. You can’t get out!”
The adventurers looked at Juhwan. Although the smell of something burning was drifting in, the fence wasn’t visible from their position.
The adventurers surveyed their surroundings and hesitated for a moment. Their expressions showed they weren’t sure if they could trust Juhwan. They wondered if he was telling the truth, if they really couldn’t get past the fence. They debated if they would be safer sticking together on their own.
In the distance, Juhwan saw a village man being caught by a goblin.
Just as he thought they were only attacking women, the goblin bit into the man. Good god. It seemed the goblins were eating humans.
The adventurers saw the scene and exchanged glances, then immediately headed toward Juhwan. They seemed to have decided that cooperation was in their best interest.
Swinging their weapons at the lunging goblins, the adventurers ran toward the house and the carriage.
A goblin was trailing behind the last adventurer. Juhwan’s axe flew through the air. The axe struck the goblin diagonally across the neck and shoulder.
“Thanks!”
The adventurer panted, catching Juhwan’s eye and giving a slight nod.
With the house and carriage at their backs, Juhwan and the adventurers leveled their weapons in all directions.
Before they knew it, darkness had fallen. In the distance, flames that hadn’t been visible in the daylight were now seen rising high. Haze shimmered from the heat, distorting the space. It looked as if the very air were being devoured.
5, 6, 7….
Gus had been firing arrows from a window inside a building before coming back out. His legs were throbbing with pain. He had pushed himself too hard, moving around more than usual. He should have been more careful with his old wounds when the weather was cold.
Heh. Gus gave a bitter laugh. He didn’t need to worry about such things anymore. His life wasn’t going to last more than a few days anyway.
Gus quietly passed by a goblin that had fallen to one of his arrows.
After limping a certain distance, he saw a group of goblins gathered together.
Someone seemed to be in the center of them, but no screams were heard.
‘Did they faint?’
Or perhaps they were already dead.
Gus hid himself behind a building and fired arrows at them.
Everything was going according to plan. Once he confirmed the goblins were near the village, he had scattered all the remaining musk powder throughout the village.
Attracted by the scent of the musk powder, the goblins had swarmed through the front gate, the back gate, and the collapsed sections of the fence.
Setting fire to the outer wall after that was the final step of the plan. The fire spread sideways in an instant, surrounding the entire village.
For a long, long time, he had been making rounds along the village fence, surreptitiously scattering resin powder and oil. The outer walls and the ground, soaked in resin powder for decades, would likely burn for a long time. It wouldn’t be easily extinguished. No one could get out.
Some lucky villagers might survive. But the Village Chief, even if he managed to survive this, would surely meet a miserable end. He would be killed by the Lord.
A smile suddenly crossed Gus’s face. His own end would be similar. Would he be killed by a goblin first, or beaten to death by a villager? Or would he be able to stop breathing only after seeing all the goblins dead?
Regardless, until either the humans or the goblins remained alone, no one would leave this place.
After a smirk, he fired another arrow. A few goblins came running toward him.
‘Hmph, slow.’
Gus plucked the string of the bow that had been like a part of his body for years, and suddenly remembered Juhwan’s eyes from the last moment he saw him.
They were like ice. The anger Juhwan harbored was likely of the same magnitude as the rage Gus had felt toward the villagers for so long.
‘Don’t trust anyone.’
Gus muttered to himself. In this world, the only person you can trust is yourself. Never trust others. That was the final lesson he was giving to Juhwan.
‘I’m scared.’ Dorothy muttered to herself as she tightly hugged Oz. Oz wriggled and lightly kicked Dorothy’s body with his feet.
“Stay still, Oz. That hurts.”
It didn’t actually hurt, but hitting others was a bad thing. She had to teach him.
Mama Riji was looking outside through the gap toward the driver’s seat. She was watching Daddy fight.
The outside of the carriage was very scary with all sorts of noises. Thumping sounds and strange screams. That was why she didn’t want to look. But somehow, it felt scarier if she didn’t.
Dorothy tightened her grip on Oz. Oz kicked Dorothy again.
“Stay still.”
Dorothy crawled on her knees to Riji’s side. Her eyes widened as she peeked through the gap in the driver’s seat.
‘Wow!’
Daddy swung his axe in a big circle and then reached out his hand. Then the monster—no, that’s a goblin. Mama said so. She said it was a monster called a goblin. Anyway, the goblin burst into flames.
“Amazing.”
She muttered without realizing it.
Daddy used to only make tiny sparks, so how did it get so big? It was really strange. But it was amazing. It was incredible.
Excited, Dorothy looked at Oz’s face.
“Oz! That’s my Daddy! It’s Daddy! He’s so amazing, right? He’s a Magician! A fire Magician!”
Dorothy wanted to be a Magician too.
“Since Dorothy is Daddy’s daughter, I’ll be able to become a Magician too!”
Just like Daddy did, Dorothy stretched her hand straight forward.
“Fire!”
Once more.
“Fire!”
It was strange. No fire came out. And Oz was watching. She felt so embarrassed. Dorothy looked down at Oz’s face and said,
“When I grow up a little more, fire will come out. Dorothy is still a child.”
She was a little—no, a lot—disappointed. Fire, when would it come?
