WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: BerageeBomb
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Obtained the Martial God’s Book ◈
Chapter 5: River of Fire
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The next morning, an order came down from the Hundred Commander.
“Cut reeds for the wounded soldiers’ bedding and for horse feed. Clear everything within fifty paces of the camp. Each squad is to turn in one hundred bundles.”
Throughout the camp, soldiers armed with sickles and swords began cutting down the reeds.
Complaints mingled with the rustle of sickles.
“Did we join the Divine Cult just to cut fodder?”
“You’ve seen the wounded, and you can still say that?”
A squad leader from the next unit spat openly and sneered.
“They say the Third Squad started this to curry favor with the higher-ups. Thanks to them, the whole camp has become a bunch of laborers.”
Jang Pal did not even answer.
Instead, Jang Pal set down the sickle and slowly drew the sword at the waist.
Taking one step forward, Jang Pal swung once.
A thick stand of reeds taller than a man fell in a straight line without a sound.
The cut ends were as smooth as if measured with a ruler.
“We’ll be busy if we’re to fill one hundred bundles.”
Jang Pal sheathed the sword and spoke indifferently.
The provoking squad leader flinched, fell silent, and returned to his own squad. For a long time, I stared at the cut ends.
In a game, it would have been a scene I skimmed past as background.
Here, it was martial arts.
At noon, the Hundred Commander personally inspected the clearing work.
The centurion stopped before the Third Squad.
“Whose idea was the bedding?”
A chill ran down my spine.
“It was mine.”
Jang Pal stepped forward and answered.
The centurion studied Jang Pal in silence.
“You’re a fairly useful squad leader.”
Leaving only those words behind, the Hundred Commander moved on.
With my head lowered, I quietly continued cutting reeds.
Everywhere the reeds had been cleared, bare earth was exposed.
It was the minimum firebreak the flames could not cross on the new-moon night.
Samdol strutted around like a fish in water.
When it came to cutting reeds, nobody in the entire camp could match Samdol.
“Brother, I’ll handle this side.”
“You’re skilled with a sickle.”
“That’s the first praise I’ve heard since coming here.”
As I cut, I glanced toward the ridge.
During the day, the ridge was utterly still.
Not a single bird flew down onto it.
Near the end of the clearing work, cheers erupted from the camp entrance.
The palisade had finally been completed.
When the work was done, I walked over to inspect the terrain around the entrance.
A wall woven from massive logs blocked the narrow mouth of the valley.
There was only one gate, barely wide enough for a cart to pass through.
The gatekeeper chattered proudly.
“At night, we bar it tight from inside. Then not even a rat can get through.”
Twenty thousand people were cheering as they nailed down their own coffin lids.
* * *
For half a day, I helped at the supply depot.
Between counting supplies, I took in the camp’s condition: where the salt jars were stacked, how many coarse mats remained, even the number of empty water jars.
Then my hands stopped at one particular cart.
It was piled with arrows.
“Elder, there are only thirty thousand arrows.”
“So?”
“For an army of twenty thousand, that’s barely one and a half arrows per person. It may not be enough to last even half a day of fighting.”
The old man Yeom Gu tapped my shoulder with the ledger in hand.
“Don’t say things like that carelessly. The higher-ups know already. They keep it quiet because they know morale would collapse if word got out.”
Even without the fire, we had been driven into a place where we would die anyway.
“Still, you’re solid with numbers. More than that, you seem trustworthy.”
Yeom Gu tossed me a string of coins.
“Come again tomorrow. It’s the new moon, so there won’t be any moonlight, and we’re short of hands to guard the storehouse.”
“...I’m sorry, but my squad has something else to do tomorrow.”
“Then come the day after. Anyone good with numbers is valuable anywhere.”
Instead of answering, I bowed deeply.
Behind me, I heard Yeom Gu’s quiet mutter.
“I hear the Elder will finish closed-door training and emerge the day after tomorrow. Then we march out. At last, this tiresome life in the valley will end.”
But the day after tomorrow would not come for them.
The timeline I remembered did not say so.
I swallowed the words rising to my throat along with the coins.
I managed to obtain twenty coarse mats for my squad.
I barely got two empty water jars as well.
After filling them with spring water, I buried them beside the tent.
“Brother, what are these jars for?”
Samdol asked while helping me dig and bury them.
“They have a use.”
“Even if I don’t understand it right away, there’s always a reason for what you do.”
Samdol smiled cheerfully.
I tied a waterskin firmly around Samdol’s waist.
“Keep it on you. Whether you’re eating or sleeping, never take it off.”
That night, I watched the standard again.
At the same first watch as yesterday, the flag bent toward the inside of the valley.
For the third day in a row, the wind was blowing into the valley.
The same wind would blow on the new-moon night.
The enemy would send the flames with that wind at their backs.
As I drifted to sleep, darkness flooded in again.
In the darkness, golden letters appeared.
[Martial]
They were much closer than before.
Or perhaps I had drawn closer to them.
The character glowed faintly in time with my heartbeat.
Warmth stretching from it like a skein of thread reached my fingertips.
It was hot enough to burn, yet strangely, I felt no pain.
Just as I reached out, my eyes opened.
The heat in my chest was stirring even more fiercely.
* * *
Morning came on the day of the new moon.
The Third Squad carried the woven reed bedding to the wounded soldiers’ tents.
The wounded, who had been lying on bare ground, were moved onto the bedding one by one.
A white-haired veteran grabbed my sleeve.
“Thank you, young one... Now it finally feels like we’re living like people.”
The hand was nothing but skin over bone.
One leg ended below the knee.
What would become of this old veteran tonight?
Unable to bring myself to take that hand, I only bowed deeply.
The wounded soldiers’ tents stood right beside the reed field.
After carrying all the bedding, I stayed behind alone and cut down several more armfuls of reeds around the tents.
Nobody had told me to do it.
Du Chil came over at some point and silently helped with an uninjured arm.
It was a strangely subdued day.
Still, no birds landed on the ridge.
Only flocks of crows circled overhead.
The horses had been restless since noon, leaving the drivers struggling to control them.
A rumor spread that there had been no word from the scouts or couriers past noon.
The centurion walked one silent circuit around the camp.
The murmurs faded only before those footsteps, then rose again behind them.
At sundown, the western end of the camp briefly became busy.
Red-banded demonic warriors were striking tents and loading baggage onto horses.
They seemed to be the guard detail that had watched over the Elder’s closed-door training quarters.
“They say the Elder’s quarters are being moved onto the rocks at the western end of the valley. Important people always get the good spots.”
Du Chil spoke as though it were nothing.
The standard above the central command tent continued to flutter.
Nobody asked who remained beneath it.
My mind was so full of tonight’s flames that I could not dwell on that procession for long.
Evening roll call ended.
That was when Du Chil took a small flask of liquor from inside his clothes.
“On the new moon, you’re supposed to wet your lips with a sip.”
The flask passed through the squad members’ hands and made a round.
Before anyone knew it, talk turned to home.
“When I get back, the first thing I’ll do is buy three paddy plots. Land with clean water and rich soil.”
Samdol was the most excited.
“I’ll arrange my sister’s wedding first. I’ve built up a fair amount of military merit.”
One squad member added shyly.
“I just want to chew meat until I can’t eat another bite.”
Du Chil showed his missing teeth and laughed loudly.
“With two teeth missing, what are you talking about meat for?”
“That’s why I mean the kind cooked until tender.”
Quiet laughter bloomed.
I took in each face one by one.
How many of them would survive once tonight had passed?
My own life was a lamp before the wind.
When the laughter died down, Jang Pal gathered the squad members together.
“Sleep with your straw sandals on tonight. Keep your weapons by your heads, and don’t take off your clothes.”
“Squad Leader, is something going to happen?”
“No more questions. Do as you’re told.”
Jang Pal pointed at three people.
“Jin-hyeok, Samdol, and Du Chil, you three have the midnight watch.”
“A midnight watch on a new-moon night? Isn’t that when things are most vicious?”
Du Chil complained, but did not protest further.
The squad members dispersed with quiet grumbling.
Only Du Chil remained, looking between Jang Pal and me.
“You two look like you know something...”
“Du Chil. Make sure you keep your waterskin secure too.”
With only those words, Jang Pal turned away.
When Du Chil looked at me, I handed over a waterskin.
Du Chil took it without complaint and tied it around the waist.
* * *
At the first watch, the flag suddenly bent.
Beyond the fifty paces of cleared ground, the remaining reeds thrashed in the wind blowing into the valley.
I sat before the tent and let my eyes adjust to the dark.
Inside my clothes were flint and an oil flask. Two waterskins hung from my waist.
At my feet lay a coarse mat soaked in water.
Along the sixty paces from the tent to the spring pool, I had laid cut bundles of reeds in a straight line.
Even if my eyes were blinded, I would be able to find the way with my feet.
I had made every preparation I could.
All that remained was to see whether my guess was right.
The night deepened.
The new-moon darkness erased even the boundary between the ridge and the sky.
Only a few bonfires floated like islands.
Beside me, Samdol repeatedly nodded off, then woke with a start.
“Brother, aren’t you sleeping?”
“Get some sleep first.”
“The dogs are strange. Since daytime, they’ve been whimpering and doing nothing but crawling under the carts.”
Now that Samdol mentioned it, the sound of barking had stopped.
“Brother, if...”
Samdol lowered his voice carefully.
“If a fire really breaks out, what should we do?”
“Don’t run with the wind at your back. The flames are faster than the wind.”
“Then... what should we do?”
“If there’s nowhere else to flee, jump into the water instead. Into the spring pool. The bundles of reeds laid out during the day will guide you.”
“Brother, how do you know even things like that?”
I held back my answer.
“You must have your reasons.”
Samdol nodded to himself.
It was close to midnight when Jang Pal approached without a sound and sat beside me.
“One question.”
Without taking his eyes from the ridge, Jang Pal asked quietly.
“Where were the people who survived in your dream?”
“I... don’t know. Other than the fact that flames swept through the valley.”
It had never been a dream to begin with, so I could not know.
There was no guarantee that the pool would be safe, either.
“Is that so.”
Jang Pal nodded once.
That was all.
Silently, we watched the southern ridge.
Then the ridge woke.
In the darkness, one point kindled a flame.
It became two.
Then four.
Then eight.
Soon, there were hundreds.
The procession of torches spread until it seemed that the entire ridge had risen.
Both ridges.
Somewhere in the camp, a horn blared as though tearing apart the night.
Bwoooooong!
“Enemy raid!”
Screams erupted, and the tents were thrown into chaos in an instant.
Warriors barely awake from sleep rushed out, hurriedly grabbing their weapons.
“Form up! Shield units to the front! Assemble at the entrance!”
The centurion’s sharp command split the darkness.
Thousands of footsteps streamed toward the entrance.
If people had been coming, that would have been the right response.
What approached was not people.
“Wait! Third Squad, don’t move!”
Jang Pal sprang up and shouted.
Amid the chaotic current rushing toward the entrance, only the twenty members of the Third Squad remained where they were.
In the heart of that enormous uproar, only Jang Pal and I were looking up at the night sky.
From the middle of the southern ridge, a single flaming arrow shot high into the sky.
Against the pitch-black new-moon night, it shone like a meteor.
The flame paused for an instant at its peak, then slowly tilted.
Jang Pal muttered.
“Damn... your dream was right after all.”
The flaming arrow fell.
Then the entire ridge spewed fire at once.
Thousands of flaming arrows filled the night sky, their bowstrings singing.
They poured down toward the sea of reeds like a rain of stars.
The new-moon night brightened as though it were day.
If hell had a morning, it would look like that.
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