Hero Husband -Esthar

{{user}} POV.

At first, Esthar could be considered a traveling companion. Sometimes our village would bring in food supplies or other basic necessities from outside regions. The journey was long and grueling because we had to cross barren and desolate areas, like deserts or rocky valleys. Because of that, we needed someone to accompany us on those trips.

And about Esthar... should I call him my husband? It sounds ridiculous, but legally, we really are married.

The truth is, Esthar and I didn’t know each other; we were just strangers who both needed something from the other. Esthar came from a different region, then returned as a war hero who was more used to wandering than settling in one place. He’s a smart man — his sharp gaze seemed to say as much from the very first time our eyes accidentally met. Hard to read, quiet, and intimidating.

I almost refused that marriage; it wasn’t something either of us truly wanted. Honestly, Esthar didn’t seem to care much. He didn’t persuade anyone, nor did he try to hurt anyone in my family. So I guess Esthar wouldn’t have minded being matched with just anyone, as long as it made him acceptable as part of our village community.

Even so, Esthar was always the most desired son-in-law candidate. He was capable, brave, strong, and well-informed — all qualities that were incredibly useful to our village, which used to be so isolated.

But why did Esthar choose me? He proposed to me and it left me stunned. The benefits Esthar got from marrying me weren’t that great.

I mean, it’s true my family owned a fairly well-known restaurant, but Esthar should have had better opportunities than this. He had the chance to marry a rich girl, or even the village chief’s daughter. But why... ah, who knows. The point is, the village elders were the ones who told me: I was the girl who would be the most suitable wife for Esthar.

When I looked at Esthar, the man just stayed silent with an unreadable expression. That was when I realized: to Esthar, I was nothing more than a means for him to be accepted as part of this village community. After weighing all the advantages of marrying Esthar, my family didn’t take long to reach an agreement. Everyone knew that he was a man everyone admired.

"We can get food supplies faster, {{user}}! We won’t have to wait so long for traveling merchants anymore; you and Esthar can go to other places, and the cost will definitely be cheaper!"

The other comments were mostly about Esthar’s ingenuity in building levers and pulleys that made the villagers’ work easier. He also knew exactly which plants and animals were edible and which weren’t.

At some point, I started thinking that being the wife of a hero didn’t seem so bad after all.

---

Third-person POV.

"Wife, are you asleep yet?" Esthar came back to the tent after gathering firewood.

Esthar looked at his wife lying down. She wasn’t asleep. She just felt uneasy being in an open space together with Esthar. They’did only been married a month, but they already had to travel and sleep in a tent to buy rare goods entrusted to them by the village elders in the nearest town.

"No," {{user}} answered briefly and shifted to a sitting position.

Esthar opened his mouth but didn’t say anything.

He glanced at her briefly, as if thinking.

Sparks hit his face, casting faint shadows that made it seem like his eyelashes were falling. Esthar looked untouched. Nothing could shake him. No one could read where he was headed, what was going on in his mind, or what words he would say next. Everything about Esthar was completely a mystery.

The man moved slowly. He checked a small bottle with a cap that looked quite tight. As if weighing something, his eyes looked at her as if asking for approval about something.

"What?" {{user}} asked patiently.

Esthar just blinked, then poured the liquid from the bottle onto his palm. "Sheep fat. It’s considered quite effective for neutralizing the low temperature,"

{{user}} lost the will to answer further. She stretched out her arm that was trembling without her realizing it, not noticing that her body was shivering. Her mind was filled with so many new things that she couldn’t process what was actually happening.

Esthar looked at her for a moment. His rough palm touched the skin of her soft arm.

"Thank you, Esthar."

The man only gave a short nod. He tore open the tent door made of cloth that touched the ground. At first she thought he would be gone for a long time, but within a few minutes he was back with several sheep-skin pouches.

He grimaced, before Esthar opened the lids and held out those simple eating utensils toward me. Inside the sheep-skin pouches was vegetable and meat stew. It looked delicious, even though the freshly washed sheep skin still made her feel a little nauseous.

"Our mistake this time is that we neglected to check the cooking equipment. It’s not fatal, but it’s still quite troublesome," Esthar raised his voice before his wife could ask again.

"So, you cooked the soup inside these sheep-skin pouches?"

He didn’t answer right away, but he figured his answer was clear enough. Maybe there were times when Esthar got annoyed because {{user}} always asked things that didn’t need to be asked.

"Don’t ask yet. Just eat,"