I Became A Married Man in Another World
Chapter 50
Female Adventurers
Lij clutched the coin pouch in her arms tightly.
They climbed the narrow wooden stairs and walked down a long hallway. The landlady was leading the way.
She said that of all the rooms with two beds, this one received the most sunlight. She added that it was a good room for those with a child.
When they opened the door and stepped inside, they saw two beds pushed against opposite walls. Despite it being daytime, the room was a bit dim.
A small wooden shelf was installed on the corner wall. It seemed that was where personal belongings were kept.
Straight ahead was a small window with wooden shutters. Though the window was small, it was positioned to catch the sun directly. Through the half-open wooden shutters, a distant bell tower was visible.
“Don’t leave anything important in the room. There aren’t any keys. When you sleep, just slide the latch on the inside.”
The landlady spoke while standing at the entrance.
The door was designed to be locked by sliding a wooden bar across. The bar used as a latch was hanging from the door by a string.
“Meals are on the first floor. You can head down in a little while. The main menu is bread and a meat stew. There’s usually one other dish that changes often. Today it’s grilled herring. We have beer, too. Wine costs extra.”
The landlady said this and gave Lij a light pat on the shoulder.
“Hang in there. My husband is an adventurer, too, so he used to be away from home a lot. It’s less dangerous for a woman alone here because I’m around. But it’s always good to be careful. There are bad sorts everywhere. If anything happens, just tell me.”
The landlady seemed to think Lij and Dorothy would be staying at the inn alone.
Lij shook her head.
“We’ll all be traveling together as a family…”
Suddenly, she wondered if that was truly the case. She hadn’t heard anything about that yet.
When she looked up at Juhwan, her husband smiled broadly at the landlady.
“We’re in the same party, so we’ll always be together. But if she does end up alone, please look after her.”
As her husband spoke in his now-fluent manner, the landlady’s face filled with surprise.
“You plan to travel with a woman and a child? That’s very rare. Well, what will you do? Will you pay for a month in advance?”
“I’ll do that.”
Juhwan replied to the landlady. Lij held out the coin pouch she had been clutching to Juhwan. But he didn’t take it. As Lij looked on in confusion, Juhwan gave her a thin smile.
“Lij.”
Juhwan glanced between the coin pouch and the landlady, indicating she should pay the money herself.
‘I’m really doing this. From now on, as we travel here and there, I’m the one who pays.’
The thought gave her a strange feeling. To others, it might be nothing. But paying such a large sum of money herself was something she had never done before.
Lij loosened the drawstring of the pouch and pulled out a single silver coin. Her heart thundered at the thought of spending such a large amount at once. The finger holding the silver coin felt incredibly heavy.
She reached out hesitantly.
Lij couldn’t take her eyes off the silver coin until it disappeared into the landlady’s apron pocket.
“My goodness, do you really find it that precious?”
The landlady laughed loudly and left the room. Beside the landlady’s retreating figure, she saw Juhwan’s face, silent as he smiled. Did she look that ridiculous?
Once the door closed, the room became quiet. Even the usually boisterous Dorothy was silent, perhaps because the room was unfamiliar.
Lij fumbled with the drawstring, winding it back around the pouch, before looking around the room once more.
It was a small room, so cramped that the two beds filled nearly the entire space. The gap between the beds was only wide enough for one person to squeeze through.
‘A room like this costs one linara for two days.’
Once again, she felt the sting of the expense. But… Lij looked carefully at the beds, the floor, and the rest of the room. Though old, it was well-cleaned. There was no strange smell or filth.
The last time she had stopped in this village, Lij had been a bride being sold off.
Back then, she hadn’t stayed in an inn. She had spent the night in a shabby lodging where many people slept huddled together. It was a filthy, stinking place.
She had eaten only one meal a day—a single bowl of cold stew. Her meal had been the leftover stew from a merchant, watered down and handed to her.
She had never been one to eat fine food, but the merchant’s behavior had filled Lij with deep shame. She had left this village feeling so miserable she never wanted to remember it again.
Compared to then, her circumstances had changed miraculously. It felt truly surreal.
Juhwan pulled her into his arms.
He seemed to think she found the room meager.
Lij shook her head and spoke softly of what had happened the last time she was in this village.
When she told him she was just a bit startled and overwhelmed because things were so different now, and that she liked this room, Juhwan’s expression hardened slightly.
“If I ever meet that merchant, I’ll kill him.”
He seemed genuinely angry. Juhwan’s arm around her tightened firmly.
Dorothy, who had been wandering around the room, ran to the window with the sound of pitter-pattering footsteps.
To keep out the cold, most buildings were built with small windows. This place was no different.
Climbing onto the bed to look through the small window, Dorothy spoke in wonder.
“There’s something pointy over there. It looks weird.”
There had been no bell tower in the village where Dorothy lived. The child was likely seeing one for the first time.
“It’s a bell tower. When it’s time, a bell ringer will ring the bell from up there.”
When Lij spoke, Dorothy tilted her head.
“What’s a bell?”
That was right. Since Dorothy had never seen a bell, she didn’t know what it was. There was no way for Dorothy, who had lived a sheltered life in a mountain shack, to know about bells.
As Lij was explaining that it was a bell used to tell the time, a dong, dong sound began to ring out from the tower.
Dorothy pointed at the tower and shouted.
“Is that a bell? It’s moving! It’s shaking its whole body!”
The sound of the bell seemed to fascinate her. Dorothy cupped her hands to her ears and listened intently to the tolling.
Watching the child, Lij’s heart began to race. Her own feelings mirrored those of the child who was marvelling at something new. It was as if she had become Dorothy herself.
Only now did it finally feel real.
It had changed. Her life had completely changed.
Lij placed a hand over her thumping chest. Her heart was beating incredibly fast.
“Lij, what’s wrong?”
Juhwan asked.
Lij opened her mouth to answer, but her voice wouldn’t come. Her throat felt tight.
Until now, she had been just one of many farm women. From dawn until night, she had fetched water, worked the fields, tended livestock, and sewn, just as her mother had done. That cycle continued from morning to night, into tomorrow, and into the next month.
That life would have continued even if she married. The only change would have been going from a daughter to a wife. As she gave birth and raised children, it would only have become a more grueling existence.
But from now on, it was different. She was walking a new path. Something she had never experienced before was unfolding before her eyes. She would live a life entirely different from her mother, her sisters, or her younger siblings.
Staying in an inn and eating food prepared by someone else were both firsts for her. Having this much money was a first, too. To begin with, she had hardly ever even seen a silver coin.
But from now on, she would experience something new like this every day. There would be more and more “firsts.” Instead of sleeping and waking in the same house every day, she would go to new places and see new things. She would do everything together with her husband.
She wanted to tell Juhwan how incredible and amazing that was.
But even if she explained it, he probably wouldn’t understand.
Lij wrapped her arms tightly around her husband’s thick frame.
“Hm?”
Juhwan patted her back awkwardly, looking a little surprised.
“Juhwan, I like you so much. I love you. Thank you for taking me in and marrying me. Thank you.”
Words weren’t enough to express it all. When she spoke with a heart full of gratitude, Juhwan remained silent for a moment before opening his mouth.
“Lij, am I handsome?”
“…?”
Not understanding what he meant, she lifted her head to look at her husband. Juhwan asked again with a serious expression.
“Do I look better than before?”
“….”
She was sorry, but that wasn’t it. He had the same face as always. He still looked a bit scary.
He seemed to become embarrassed by his own words. Juhwan covered his face with his hand and muttered.
“Sorry. Forget it.”
His ears were bright red. For some reason, her husband was adorable. Lij giggled and hugged him again.
“You’re handsome, Juhwan. Always. You were the most handsome in the village. And you’re the most handsome in this village, too.”
“….”
The red flush spread from his ears down to his neck.
She really loved this man.
Lij couldn’t help but snicker, then she whispered.
“I should make a coin pouch to attach to my waist before we go down to eat. It would be a disaster if someone stole the silver coins.”
Yes, that was the most important thing right now. Lij pulled away from her husband, clapped her palms together, and rubbed them lightly.
Now, for her first task as a member of her husband’s party. Time to make a coin pouch.
The inn’s food was delicious.
Lij and Dorothy’s eyes went wide after the first spoonful. After that, they didn’t say a word. They just ate in silence.
As soon as their mouths opened, a spoon went in, and as soon as they opened again, more food was pushed in with haste.
Juhwan had never seen them eat so fervently. It must have been incredibly delicious. He thought to himself that he really needed to earn a lot of money.
They had planned to look around the village, but Lij and Dorothy both developed a slight fever. It seemed the fatigue from being startled by goblins and being practically chased out of their village was finally catching up to them. Being jostled in the wagon likely played a big part, too.
He cast healing magic to bring the fever down, but they spent the rest of the day lounging around the inn.
Even without a fever, their faces were flushed like peaches.
Until Lij and Dorothy’s complexions returned to normal, Juhwan had been anxious the whole time, though he didn’t show it.
He also poured mana into Oz, the horned rabbit, as he had been doing every day.
Strangely, even though its wounds were healed, Oz still begged Juhwan for mana.
If he didn’t give it mana, the rabbit would cling to him as if it were about to gnaw on his fingers or chew off all his hair. He had no choice but to give it mana just to avoid the hassle.
When he gave it mana like that, the skin on its forehead would occasionally glow with a faint, soft light.
Since Oz only begged for mana after Lij and Dorothy had fallen asleep, the two had yet to see the light. Wouldn’t they be surprised when they eventually saw it? Feeling like a mischievous child, he found himself looking forward to that day.
*
On the day of their guild visit, Juhwan left the inn a bit early. Their appointment was around noon, but he planned to go early and look around.
On the first day, it felt like he had only heard the guild members’ chatter before the place turned into a bloodbath, so he hadn’t had time to properly examine the inside of the guild office.
Besides, Lij and Dorothy had been too excited since morning. Since they hadn’t had a proper look at the town yet, he figured it would be good to take a quick stroll before heading to the guild.
As they walked from the alley where the inn was located to the central plaza, Lij looked around in all directions like a child.
Even so, she kept her coin pouch turned toward her front, clutching it tightly with one hand.
He couldn’t bring himself to say it, but he thought she looked exactly like a young woman who had just arrived in the big city from the countryside.
Dorothy ran around like a neighborhood leader with Oz. When peddlers had come to their village, she had moved timidly only in front of Juhwan and Lij, but with Oz, she seemed to feel invincible.
His heart fluttered every time the child vanished from sight for a moment.
Still, he could remain calm because he trusted Oz. He didn’t know why, but he felt strongly that as long as Oz was with her, she would be fine.
The village plaza began to come into view at the end of the alley. There were many people coming and going in the plaza. Merchants and people in various attire made it quite bustling. Perhaps because the scale of the village was much smaller than a city, it seemed even more crowded.
Dorothy ran ahead in excitement when they reached the wide plaza. Lij called out anxiously for her to slow down, but it was no use.
Dorothy, who had run quite a distance ahead into the plaza, came running back. Her face was pale.
And for some reason, Oz was perched on top of Dorothy’s head. It looked as if the child had grown rabbit ears.
“Daddy! Daddy! Three women are beating up a man!”
Huh? He thought he had heard something strange. Lij also wore a puzzled expression.
Dorothy tugged on Juhwan and Lij’s hands.
“Hurry! Hurry!”
He wasn’t sure if she was worried about the man or if she wanted them to see something fascinating.
“They’re so cool! They’re just pounding on him! And they’re women!”
Ah, it seemed the women beating the man looked cool to her.
“….”
Juhwan had heard a bit from Lij about how Dorothy had been raised. Her biological father had often beaten her mother.
To Dorothy, who had grown up watching a woman being beaten, women might have seemed like only weak beings. Seeing the roles reversed and a man being hit was probably a wonder to her. A slightly bitter taste remained in his mouth.
Led by the child to the plaza, they saw three women literally beating a man in a corner.
The women all carried swords, but one was punching the man and another was kicking him. The remaining one was…
“He’s going to die at this rate.”
Juhwan muttered to himself without thinking. The remaining woman was beating the man with her sword. Even though it was still in its scabbard, if he was hit in the head like that, he could die.
People nearby tried to pull the women away, but they seemed incredibly angry. Even when people dragged the man away, the women followed him tenaciously.
Lij, who was being pulled along by Dorothy, grabbed the child’s hand.
She pulled Dorothy into a tight embrace to keep her from seeing the women hitting the man.
“You shouldn’t watch them fighting like that, Dorothy.”
“But, Mama! Those women are adventurers! They’re stronger than men. They’re so cool! I want to be an adventurer, too.”
Dorothy stopped mid-sentence and opened her eyes even wider.
“Wait, I am an adventurer! I’m already an adventurer!”
Dorothy pulled her hand from Lij’s grasp, looked at it, and whispered.
“Mama, am I really strong? Because I’m an adventurer? Are you strong, too, Mama? Because you’re an adventurer?”
While listening to Lij explain that it wasn’t like that, Juhwan quietly watched the women and the man. He didn’t know what the man had done, but he was covered in blood.
The gatekeeper he had seen at the village entrance a few days ago was standing in front of the man, trying to stop the women. He seemed to be trying to talk them down.
No one tried to arrest the women. A few people were criticizing them, saying this and that about women, but they were just talking. No one attempted to restrain them.
Even if there was a fight or someone died, did the law not intervene in personal disputes? Furthermore, he had heard the status of women was low, but were these women different? Because they were adventurers?
Juhwan looked at Dorothy, who was passionately telling Lij she wanted to be an adventurer.
If becoming an adventurer was the way to live the most freely as a woman…
Juhwan placed a hand on Dorothy’s head.
“Right. I hope you become a great adventurer.”
At Juhwan’s words, Dorothy smiled brightly.
“Right, Daddy?”
But don’t go around beating men like that. Hitting people is a bad thing.
