IWHERSFL 39

~Chapter 39~

The market was full of life.

Both sides of the street were packed with stalls, and merchants energetically called out to customers, laying their goods on tables or directly on the ground.

“Fresh live fish caught at dawn today—come take a look!”

“Duck eggs for sale! Fifty dellin each!”

“Mushrooms here! Medicinal mushrooms too! I’ll give you a good price!”

This was a dungeon hub city.

It had originally been a small coastal town, but after a dungeon appeared nearby, the commercial population rapidly increased.

I looked around blankly and muttered,

“It’s way more than I expected…”

“Crowded, right?”

“Yeah.”

At my easy reply, Lishian chuckled. He had been holding my hand tightly the whole time, as if he had no intention of letting go.

“You can’t get lost, Muriel. Cities like this are dangerous.”

“Who are you treating like a kid…”

I complained in a grumbling tone, but I didn’t really mean it. Being taken care of by someone didn’t feel so bad.

“It’ll be evening soon. Should we look around the market first and find a place to stay? We can start selling tomorrow morning.”

“Yeah. You must be tired too after coming all this way…”

It took about two days to get from my farm to this city. We walked and ran along the way, so we arrived a bit earlier than expected.

Of course, the one who ran was Lishian, and I was just riding on his back…

For reference, Ninabel was staying behind to watch the house.

We had no choice. With adventurers gathering because of the dungeon, we didn’t know when someone might discover the farm.

One of us had to guard the house. I had to sell goods, and Lishian had to escort me—so Ninabel was the only suitable choice.

—Maaaster… I miss you… waaah…

‘Hang in there a bit more, Nini. And take this chance to grow up.’

—Master is so T~!

I casually soothed Ninabel, who was whining through telepathy as usual, and continued touring the market.

As expected of a hub city where all kinds of people gathered, the items sold in the market were strange and varied.

Some of them made you think, Isn’t that a scam?

For example—

“Put it under your pillow when you sleep, and it’ll completely restore your fatigue! A miraculous stone! Only 27 rubel!”

‘Seriously? How does that make any sense…’

And it cost 27 rubel. That was about thirty thousand won in Korean currency. Ridiculous—

“Is that really true? Does it really restore fatigue?”

“Of course! It’s better than most recovery potions!”

“I’ll take one.”

He’s buying it?

A brown-haired young man handed over the money, and the middle-aged man—who looked like a textbook scammer—grinned as he took it.

The so-called “miraculous stone” looked like nothing more than a round glass marble. It was pale blue and transparent, so it was pretty, but…

‘That’s just an interior decoration…’

The poor guy left happily, smiling, without even realizing he’d been scammed.

I narrowed my eyes like a Tibetan fox and shook my head.

“We really need to be careful not to get scammed here. Their sales tactics are no joke.”

“Yeah. Even the food they’re selling looks kind of suspicious…”

“…Food?”

It seemed Lishian had been watching the food stalls as well. I followed his gaze to one stand.

Swish, swish—

A middle-aged man was stirring some unidentified liquid in a huge pot with a ladle.

“Come try monster meat stew! The meat’s been aged for a week, so the umami is amazing!”

Hearing that, I instinctively took a step back.

“People eat monster meat…? Is that even edible?”

“Well… it’s not poisonous. Though some monsters are.”

“No, that’s not the point! It’s not food to begin with!”

“Honestly, when humans are hungry, they’ll eat anything except chair legs.”

Even as he frowned in disgust, Lishian spoke calmly.

Seeing my shaken worldview, he added an explanation.

“I’ve heard that some adventurers develop unusual tastes. Those are probably the people who buy it.”

“So being an adventurer really is a dangerous job…”

As I muttered seriously, Lishian burst out laughing.

“Boss! Three bowls of stew!”

That was when it happened. A crazy person ordered three bowls of monster meat stew.

And that person turned out to be an incredibly beautiful woman.

She looked to be in her early thirties. She had healthy-looking skin and a long scar on one cheek.

‘Unni… please don’t eat that stew…!’

I could only scream internally in shock. Someone that cool eating monster meat?

My prejudice was completely shattered.

That cool woman actually devoured three bowls of the weirdly colored stew. She even added two more.

Staring blankly, I finally came to my senses. I swallowed dryly and hesitantly asked Lishian,

“Sh-should we try it too…?”

“…Are you serious?”

Naturally, we did not eat the monster meat stew.

Instead, we bought some ordinary food that looked like pancakes and a sweet juice made from grated pears.

After that, we walked along the market street to help digestion, when we noticed people crowding around a certain shop.

‘What is it?’

Curious, I pulled Lishian over.

When we got closer, we saw it was a booth where you shot a toy bow to win prizes.

‘Oh, I know this. I’ve seen it at amusement parks.’

It seemed this kind of entertainment existed everywhere, regardless of world or country.

“Honey, I want that deer plushie! I really want it!”

“Aww, my baby wants a deer plushie? Your oppa will win it for you for sure~”

“Eek~! You’re so cool, honey!”

The couple whose turn it was exchanged a conversation that made my skin crawl just from listening.

‘Ugh…’

Without realizing it, I grabbed Lishian’s sleeve with a look of disgust. It felt like my limbs were curling up like octopus tentacles.

Soon, the man picked up the toy bow. The arrowhead was blunt, with no lethality at all.

He struck a pretty cool pose and pulled the string. People around them murmured in admiration.

‘Oh… he looks like he knows how to shoot.’

I watched with interest too.

But—

Pshk!

Pshk!

Every arrow missed as soon as it left his hand.

“He’s terrible!”

“Just give up!”

“Booo!”

Criticism and jeers poured in from all sides. The crowd showed no mercy.

“Ugh…!”

The man clenched his fist and lowered his head, his pride clearly shattered.

Then, someone snatched the bow from his hand.

It was the woman from the couple.

“Hey, you can’t even hit that? Move, I’ll do it.”

Just moments ago she’d been saying “honey~,” but now her tone turned rough.

People widened their eyes at the sudden turn of events.

“Hoo…”

She brushed her bangs aside with one hand and pulled the string in a textbook-perfect posture.

Thunk!

The blunt arrow hit the deer plushie.

“Wow!”

Cheers erupted around them.

“She’s good!”

“Shoot more! More!”

She shot about five more times and hit three. It was a solid performance.

“H-honey… you’re amazing…”

The man muttered with a red face as he received the deer plushie.

She grabbed him and dragged him away, scolding him nonstop.

“You need to practice archery! Are you really an adventurer?!”

“I’m a swordsman, honey…!!”

I stared blankly at their retreating figures.

‘What a strange couple…’

They both looked like adventurers. As expected, there were many unusual people among adventurers.

“Muriel, is there anything you want there?”

At Lishian’s voice, I turned to him. Our eyes met, and he smiled softly. I blinked and asked,

“Do you want to try shooting?”

“Not really. I was just wondering if there’s something you’d like. The prizes look pretty well made.”

“Hm…”

I rested my chin on my hand and examined the display.

As Lishian said, the prizes weren’t cheap-looking at all. They were quite detailed, and there were many kinds.

‘Looks like about thirty of them…’

Then, one item caught my eye.

A very cute fox plushie with platinum-colored fur.