The Story of Becoming a Married Man in Another World

042: When Dorothy Grows a Little More, She’ll Breathe Fire Too

The horse snorted and shook its head. Although the goblins were still far away, the horse seemed to sense their danger. It stomped its feet and moved restlessly, as if excited.

“Damn it!”

Juhwan shook the reins to change the horse’s direction. But being his first time, it didn’t go well. The horse didn’t follow his commands properly. It seemed frightened by the goblins and the people’s screams.

From inside the carriage, Lizzy spoke.

“Juhwan, should I do it?”

“No.”

Juhwan replied curtly.

In the distance, a woman was seen being caught by the goblins. Two, three, four goblins kept gathering around one woman. Her piercing screams reached them. No one tried to help her. Everyone was busy running away.

“Stay inside. Please.”

I understand Lizzy’s intention to help me, but she must not come out of the carriage. The goblin outside is insane. It is clearly targeting Lizzy.

“….”

It seems Lizzy was about to say something but then closed her mouth. A moment of silence passed inside the rear of the carriage.

Juhwan knew that his body was not fully charged with magic. The magic he used during the daytime fight had not yet returned. It was incomplete.

No matter what, he would protect his wife and child. But he couldn’t ignore the possibility that he might fail. What if he made a mistake? What if he couldn’t create fire temporarily?

His heart grew cold. He didn’t want to create even the faintest, slightest possibility. It was definitely safer inside the hard carriage.

From noble mtl dot come

The horse neighed and moved restlessly. The number of goblins was increasing. It was probably because there were the most people here. That’s why they were flocking this way.

Juhwan made a sound and pulled the reins several times to calm the horse. The horse barely turned and started running properly.

There were too many goblins at the front gate of the village. The horse was too scared to go there.

‘There’s only the back gate.’

There was no guarantee that it was safe. He remembered that the gate had been open when they came in. It was probably Gus who did it. To lure the goblins. Juhwan had closed the gate, but surely it had been opened again.

But the only way the carriage could pass was either the front gate or the back gate where Juhwan had entered. The other places, even if the fence was broken, the carriage couldn’t pass. He couldn’t abandon the carriage, so the only place left was the back gate.

The carriage ran past the people screaming and fleeing.

But what he saw at the end of the run towards the back gate was the village’s outer wall blazing. From this side to the other, the entire outer wall within sight was burning.

‘This is not a natural fire.’

Some kind of incendiary had been used. He didn’t know how, but it had made the entire fence blaze in an instant.

Juhwan turned the carriage around again. The goblins that had been lingering at the back gate were swarming.

What should he do? His mind was in disarray. Where should he go, what should he do to protect his wife and child?

A goblin charged at the carriage from the front.

Juhwan leaned to the side and reached out his hand. His fingertips didn’t touch. He sent magic with all his might from a slightly farther distance than before. Flames rose from the goblin’s body with a slight gap in between.

Good, it worked. Juhwan straightened his body and shook the reins hard.

There were definitely more goblins than when they were in the cabin. Considering that Gus had deliberately lured them here, there would be even more in the entire village. That was certain.

“….”

The villagers couldn’t be trusted. They were the ones who had left Juhwan and his family to die in the mountains. If given the chance, they would use Lizzy and Dorothy as bait to save themselves.

But then, how, how could he protect his family alone? What should he do?

His insides burned. He hadn’t realized that the fact he had something to protect would squeeze his heart so tightly. It felt like his heart was burning to ashes.

At that moment, Lizzy spoke through the gap in the coachman’s seat.

“Juhwan, it’s okay. Don’t worry. I won’t go out. I’ll stay here. It’s safe inside. Don’t worry and fight. I’m not scared. It’s okay. You’re strong. I believe in you.”

It seemed Dorothy was next to Lizzy. The child’s voice came from right behind him.

—

“Dad! Oz is strong! Oz and Dorothy will protect you!”

“….”

Hoo, Juhwan took a breath. Although they spoke firmly, their voices were slightly trembling. The screams of people were increasing. It was impossible not to be scared.

‘If I am like this.’

He had to stay composed. Otherwise, Lizzy and Dorothy would become anxious.

Juhwan took a deep breath and smiled. He slightly turned his head and smiled at the two.

“It’s okay. I will definitely protect you. Lizzy, Dorothy, I will definitely protect you.”

After saying that, Juhwan looked around. He gazed into the distance. It was clear that there was a fire even beyond the invisible fence. Although the fire was not visible, the smoke rising high into the sky could be seen from here.

Someone was screaming that the fence was on fire. They were wailing that the entire fence was burning. They were trapped, unable to escape.

The carriage gradually moved away from that person. The voice of the wailing person soon disappeared, and the screams filled the space again.

“….”

Stay calm. Think. The reason a beast gets caught in a trap and can’t move is because it tries to escape without thinking. The more it struggles, the tighter the trap becomes. Juhwan was in the same situation now. If he wanted to escape the danger, he had to stay calm.

A little distance away, he saw adventurers killing goblins in coordination. It seemed they had encountered goblins while fleeing from the center of the village. They didn’t seem to know that the fence was burning yet.

The adventurers were fighting properly. Although they didn’t have the skill to face dozens alone like Juhwan, they would be a valuable force when fighting goblins.

Juhwan pulled the reins to slow down the horse.

‘This must have been part of Gus’s plan too.’

He didn’t know what Gus was thinking. But the fact that goblins attacked when the adventurers arrived was probably part of his plan.

Anyway, in the current situation, they had to kill the goblins. To survive in this trapped place, they had to kill them.

Juhwan stopped the carriage right in front of a nearby house. He struck the wooden part of the building several times with an axe to create a place to tie the reins. He hurriedly wrapped the reins several times around the spot to prevent the horse from escaping.

A goblin suddenly appeared from the corner of the building.

It seemed to be one that had been lurking near the house.

Before the goblin could even see him, Juhwan swung his axe. The goblin fell to the ground without even a scream. The smell of its blood filled the air.

He looked around the house but didn’t see any more goblins nearby.

Juhwan shouted loudly towards the adventurers.

“This way! Come this way! There’s a fire. The fence is not safe. You can’t get out.”

The adventurers looked at Juhwan. Although the smell of something burning was drifting in, the fence was not visible from their side.

They looked around again and hesitated for a moment. They seemed unsure whether to trust Juhwan. Whether he was telling the truth, whether they really couldn’t get out through the fence. They wondered if it would be safer to stick together.

From a distance, Juhwan saw a village man being caught by a goblin.

Just as he thought they only attacked women, the goblin bit into the man. Oh my god. It seemed goblins ate humans.

The adventurers saw that scene and exchanged glances, then headed towards Juhwan. They seemed to think it was beneficial to cooperate.

—

—

Swinging their weapons at the approaching goblins, the adventurers ran towards the house and the wagon.

There was a goblin following the last adventurer. Juhwan’s axe flew through the air. The axe struck the goblin’s neck and shoulder diagonally.

“Thank you!”

The adventurer, panting, looked into Juhwan’s eyes and slightly nodded.

With the house and the wagon behind them, Juhwan and the adventurer pointed their weapons in all directions.

Before they knew it, darkness had fallen all around. In the distance, they could see flames rising that hadn’t been visible in the daylight. The heat caused a mirage, distorting the space. It looked as if the void was being devoured.

*

5, 6, 7….

Gus, who had been shooting arrows from a window inside a building, came outside. His legs ached slightly. Unlike usual, he had been moving around too much. Old wounds needed to be taken care of, especially when the weather was cold.

Hoo hoo. Gus laughed bitterly. He didn’t need to worry about such things anymore. He only had a few days left to live anyway.

Gus quietly passed by the goblin that had fallen from his arrow.

As he limped a certain distance, he saw a group of goblins gathered.

It seemed like someone was at the center, but there were no screams.

‘Maybe they fainted.’

Or perhaps they were already dead.

Gus hid behind a building and shot arrows at them.

Everything was going as planned. After confirming that the goblins had come near the village, he had scattered all the remaining musk powder throughout the village.

Smelling the musk powder, the goblins had rushed in through the front door, the back door, and the broken fence.

Setting fire to the village walls was the final part of the plan. The fire quickly spread, engulfing the entire village.

For a long time, really a long time, he had been sprinkling pine resin and oil around the village walls. The village walls and ground, soaked in pine resin for decades, would burn for a long time. It wouldn’t go out easily. No one could leave this place.

Some of the villagers might survive if they were lucky. But the village chief, even if he barely escaped, would surely meet a miserable end. He would be killed by the lord.

A smile suddenly appeared on Gus’s face. His end would be similar. Whether he would be killed by the goblins first, or beaten to death by the villagers, or if he would stop breathing after seeing all the goblins dead.

In any case, until either the humans or the goblins were left, no one would leave this place.

Gus chuckled and shot another arrow. A few goblins ran towards him.

‘Hmph, slow.’

Gus, who had been using his bow like it was part of his body for a long time, suddenly recalled Juhwan’s eyes in his final moments.

They were like ice. Perhaps what Juhwan harbored was the same level of anger that he had been sending towards the villagers for a long time.

‘Trust no one.’

Gus muttered to himself. In this world, the only person you can trust is yourself. Never trust others. That was his final lesson to Juhwan.

*

—

A little scared. Dorothy muttered to herself as she hugged Oz tightly. Oz squirmed and lightly kicked Dorothy’s body with his feet.

“Stay still, Oz. It hurts.”

It didn’t really hurt, but hitting others is a bad thing. She had to teach him that.

Lizzy’s mom was looking outside through a gap near the coachman’s seat. She was watching Dad fight.

Outside the carriage, the various sounds were very scary. The thudding sounds and strange screams. So she didn’t want to look. But somehow, it seemed scarier not to look.

Dorothy tightened her arms around Oz. Oz kicked Dorothy again with his feet.

“Stay still.”

Dorothy crawled on her knees to Lizzy’s mom’s side. Dorothy’s eyes widened as she peeked through the gap near the coachman’s seat.

‘Wow!’

Dad was swinging his axe wildly and then reached out his hand. Then the monster, no, that’s a goblin. Mom said so. She said it was a monster called a goblin. Anyway, the goblin burst into flames.

“Amazing.”

She muttered without realizing it.

Dad usually made very small flames, but how did it become so big? It’s really strange. But amazing. Incredible.

Dorothy looked at Oz’s face excitedly.

“Oz! That person is our dad! Dorothy’s dad! Isn’t he amazing? He’s a wizard! A fire wizard!”

Dorothy wanted to be a wizard too.

“Since Dorothy is Dad’s daughter, she can become a wizard too!”

Just like Dad, Dorothy stretched out her hand forward.

“Fire!”

Once more.

“Fire!”

Strange. No fire came out. Oz was watching. She felt very 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 felt a little, no, very disappointed. Fire, when will it come out?

—