Memoir of a Regressor - Chapter 50

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Alyo

◈ Memoir of a Regressor ◈

Chapter 50: Laying the Groundwork - That's All for Free

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It could only be called inevitable now.

Wherever Yi Do went, things were always turned upside down.

Jangnyeong County had been thrown into chaos. Busin County had been thrown into chaos. Jusin County had been thrown into chaos. The Asura Sword Sect had been thrown into chaos. And this time, Three Phoenix County had been thrown into chaos.

But what had happened in Three Phoenix County was on an entirely different level from everything before it.

He had killed fellow branch members.

It was not even a mere beheading followed by the public display of their heads.

After cutting off all four of their limbs, he left their dantians intact and strung them up by the neck from the tree.

Without limbs, they could not break the tree and escape. Their dantians were intact, but their qi channels had been completely destroyed, so they could not draw up any proper internal energy.

They wanted to do anything they could to survive, but there was nothing they could do.

The two struggled for a long time before dying.

They emptied every bit of filth from their bodies and died weeping tears of blood. All they could see was despair.

They had been given the worst death one person could inflict on another.

Their corpses became a spectacle. The people of Three Phoenix County who had suffered at their hands threw stones at them and spat on them.

No one took the corpses down.

Not even the magistrate of Three Phoenix County dared to do so.

This was Yi Do, the man who had killed the magistrate of Jangnyeong County, wiped out the government soldiers, and slaughtered even the two hundred Imperial Guards sent after him.

The magistrate was right to protect himself.

Yi Do and Un Do-hyeon arrived at the scene.

Yi Do asked, “Do you like it?”

“...Yes. Thank you.”

“You don’t need to thank me. And don’t be satisfied with this.”

Yi Do silently looked up at the two corpses as he continued.

“This is only the beginning. Understood?”

“...Yes. Thank you. Thank you very much.”

Yi Do almost stressed again that there was no need to thank him, but stopped.

No matter what he said, he would likely get the same answer.

Yi Do held out his hand. As if he had been waiting for it, Un Do-hyeon handed him a thick stack of papers. Yi Do accepted it and slowly read through them.

His brow furrowed.

“...They sure blew through a lot.”

It was an itemized account.

It included the cost of alcohol, items damaged in pleasure houses, and even the cost of having martial weapons worked on at blacksmiths. What had those useless bastards even been doing to have so many weapons worked on? Altogether, it came to more than four thousand taels of silver.

Just how much could two bastards have gorged themselves and squandered to run up a bill like this?

Honestly, Yi Do had not expected it to be this much.

Including the hundred taels of silver owed to Un Clan Manor, the total was 4,100 taels.

“...You may leave out the price of the staff and the amount owed to Un Clan Manor.”

Yi Do looked at Un Do-hyeon.

“How could we accept that money? We have some shame.”

“Forget it. A promise can only retain its meaning if it remains unchanged under any circumstances.”

“Branch Leader...”

“I said forget it.”

Yi Do clearly had no obligation to repay the money. Strictly speaking, it was not money he had spent.

But it was money spent by branch members of the Three Phoenix Branch. Letting it pass as though nothing had happened made no sense.

This was a matter of responsibility.

Yi Do had no intention of avoiding it.

“How much did those two have on them?”

“There were quite a few gold taels mixed in, but it comes to a little over three thousand taels of silver.”

Had those two not been skimming money off the top, Yi Do might truly have had to rob somewhere.

Yi Do took a pouch from his robes.

“This should be about right.”

It was money left over after his earlier expenditures. There were plenty of gold taels inside.

“Go settle the accounts.”

Un Do-hyeon’s eyes shone brightly.

“Yes. I will.”

Un Do-hyeon took the stack of documents and headed into Three Phoenix County. Yi Do remained there for a while.

As he silently stared up at the corpses, Yi Do sank into thought.

His plans had encountered a setback, but nothing had changed greatly.

Jangam County was enormous.

It was about twice the size of Three Phoenix County.

There were more than twice as many sects, and above all, many martial artists who had reached a higher realm.

Everything had its time.

Yi Do was preparing.

Myeong-hyeon, whom he had sent to Yan Kingdom, had to bring back the Thousand-Mile Divine Thief. The plan could only succeed with the Thousand-Mile Divine Thief there.

Yi Do had no intention of burying this matter like the people of the Sword Sect would.

More than anything, Yi Do did not know much about the man named Dokgo Dan-ya, but he could roughly guess what he had been thinking.

For the Asura Sword Sect to hold its place among the Eight Great Sects, one thing was absolutely necessary.

Strength.

Before preserving its internal structure and such, it needed strength. Without it, the Sword Sect would collapse before it could even begin fighting over internal rankings and factions.

Dokgo Dan-ya was a master among masters.

He clearly knew the “secret” of the Emperor Sword Sect and the Martial Alliance.

If so, he needed to secure martial strength by any means possible. Only with that strength could he protect anything at all.

The problem was that everyone around Dokgo Dan-ya was an idiot.

The sect had grown larger and seemed to be running well on its own, so Dokgo Dan-ya had likely focused only on holding back enemies outside the Sword Sect as much as possible. Still, he had made a mistake.

He had given them too much leeway.

Yi Do actually felt sorry for Dokgo Dan-ya.

As the Sect Leader, he was striving to become an absolute master so he could fend off forces outside the Sword Sect, while the men beneath him ignored his efforts and fought among themselves over profits.

The friction with the Heaven-Breaking Fist Sect, the pressure from the Orthodox Path martial world, and the strain that came with it.

The Great Elder shared his intentions but acted far too freely. The Asura Pavilion Master, whom he trusted at least somewhat, did not have the temperament to overturn the hierarchy. The elders all had their heads in the clouds.

It was enough to make Yi Do pity him.

“Um... Yi Do, sir?”

I slowly turned my head.

A man wearing a golden hat and golden robe looked at me with a terrified expression. A length of binding rope hung at the man’s waist.

The man was a constable.

“...Our magistrate would like to share a meal with you. Would you have the time?”

* * *

There was no reason to refuse someone who simply wanted to have a meal first.

Led by the constable, I headed to the government office of Three Phoenix County.

I was naturally shown to an annex, where I found a table so laden with food that its legs looked ready to buckle.

The man sitting across from me quickly rose and gave me a cupped-fist salute. His posture looked quite awkward, but it was not bad.

“Pleased to meet you. I am No Dae-won, magistrate of Three Phoenix County.”

I returned the salute.

“I am Yi Do, Branch Leader of the Asura Sword Sect’s Three Phoenix Branch.”

“Please, have a seat. I did not know your preferences, so I prepared as much food as I could.”

He was an exceptionally polite man. I treated people like him accordingly.

“I won’t hold back.”

I sat down. The first thing that caught my eye was the Dongpo pork.

I wondered whether Hwang No-baek, who had promised to give me this in Jangnyeong County, was doing well.

The magistrate and I began eating without a word.

An odd silence settled between us.

The magistrate put down his spoon.

I did the same. He spoke first.

“Have you heard the news?”

“What news are you referring to?”

“Not long ago, an imperial delegation visited the main headquarters of the Asura Sword Sect.”

It was the first I had heard of it.

“It seems this is new to you.”

I nodded, and the magistrate continued.

“To give you the conclusion first, the Sect Leader of the Asura Sword Sect and the delegation spoke at length and reached a compromise.”

“What sort of compromise?”

“At first, the delegation demanded that you be handed over. But Dokgo Dan-ya of the Asura Sword Sect rebuked them, asking how they dared demand that one of the Sword Sect’s people be handed over so lightly. Overwhelmed by his presence, the delegation eventually agreed to stop pursuing you.”

“That is good news.”

“Yes. The delegation did attach one condition. They said that if something like this happened again, they would not let it pass so easily, even if it was the Asura Sword Sect. Dokgo Dan-ya replied that people should not do anything that would get them killed. He also said firmly that if anyone devised a scheme to kill you, as the magistrate of Jangnyeong County had, they would have to deal with the entire Asura Sword Sect. In the end, the delegation yielded.”

It was interesting.

I had viewed Dokgo Dan-ya favorably, but I had not expected him to go this far. Turning the imperial palace into his enemy had to be a considerable burden even for him. It almost felt like he thought too highly of me.

“But the delegation must have its own position too, no?”

“Of course.”

“And you do not intend to end your debts and grudges here either.”

“You are a good judge of character.”

“Ha ha... It is a small talent of mine. The delegation stated one final condition. Dokgo Dan-ya accepted it as well.”

That made me curious.

“May I ask what it was?”

“Of course. Do you remember the Hundred-Household Commander Shin Gong-baek, whom you faced at Busin Mountain?”

There was no way I could forget.

“The authorities have concluded that they will end their pursuit of you and their debts and grudges with you here. But the matter of Shin Gong-baek is an exception. The Shin family is a prominent family in the provincial capital, one that has produced Thousand-Household Commanders of senior fifth rank for generations. Shin Gong-baek’s elder brother currently serves as a Thousand-Household Commander. The imperial palace must save face, so they said they would not interfere in your debts and grudges with the Shin family, but that you must not interpret this too broadly. This was the part Dokgo Dan-ya accepted.”

My brow twitched.

No Dae-won had not finished speaking.

“Do you know who ordered the pursuit of you?”

I shook my head.

“It was Hundred-Household Commander Du Jin-bung. Du Jin-bung stepped down from the post to take responsibility.”

“Stepped down?”

“Yes. That is not the end of it. I only heard this news this morning, but... Du Jin-bung was found dead near the provincial capital.”

There was a reason for everything.

The person who had ordered my death had been found dead. The imperial palace had declared that it would halt the pursuit, and it had left the debts and grudges over Shin Gong-baek, whom I had killed, to me.

It was all too neat.

No matter how I looked at it, this had someone’s influence all over it.

I tossed out the question as if it were nothing.

“Was it the War King?”

No Dae-won was greatly startled.

“...Your insight truly is extraordinary. How did you know?”

“I have ears, so I hear things.”

No Dae-won looked impressed, but I had heard nothing.

I had regressed, and I knew what would happen in the future.

The War King was the man who would later become Emperor of Jeok Nation.

The current emperor of Jeok Nation was Emperor Jang An.

Emperor Jang An had three sons, and the third was the War King.

At this time, Emperor Jang An’s grandson, In Dan, was the heir to the imperial throne. In the not-too-distant future, In Dan would become the fourth emperor of Jeok Nation and be known as the Divine Dragon Emperor.

Exactly two years after he became emperor, the War King would raise a rebellion and become emperor himself.

He remained Emperor of Jeok Nation until the day I died.

Scenery Dragon Emperor In Cheon, the fifth emperor of Jeok Nation. That was the War King.

His background was similar to mine. Of course, the backwoods of Jangnyeong County could not be compared to the imperial palace, but we were both sons of concubines.

I was the third son, and so was the War King.

He was extremely friendly toward martial artists and had shown me quite a bit of favor as well.

He was generous, knew how to settle debts and grudges decisively, and whenever he set his mind to something, he always saw it through to the end.

He was an interesting man.

It seemed my connection with him would begin in this life as well, just as it had in my previous one.

“Was the Hundred-Household Commander Du Jin-bung who died one of His Highness the Crown Prince’s people?”

No Dae-won was greatly startled again.

“...Goodness. You only recently entered the martial world, yet you already know the imperial palace’s situation so thoroughly?”

“It is a small talent of mine.”

Otherwise, it made no sense.

No Dae-won continued staring at me in surprise, then hesitated. He seemed to have something he wanted to say, but was unsure whether he should.

“Do not worry. Just say it.”

“...Yes. Then I will. I invited you here because I have one request to make.”

“What is it?”

“How long do you plan to leave those two corpses hanging at the entrance?”

From the magistrate’s perspective, such gruesome sights at the entrance to his county would certainly put him in an awkward position. I understood.

I answered quietly.

“I intended to take them down once they had rotted enough to be on the verge of falling. It would take about a month.”

“...A month?”

“But you have treated me to such delicious food and given me information, so I will make a concession this time. Exactly seven days. I will leave them up for only seven days, then take them down.”

A broad smile began to spread across No Dae-won’s face.

“Ha ha ha ha! I had no idea you were such a magnanimous man. Thank you. The atmosphere in the county has not been good lately, so I had been worried. How fortunate that you are so broad-minded.”

I watched No Dae-won for a moment.

I did not know how capable he was, but he did not look very old. At most, he was in his early thirties.

For someone his age to hold the position of magistrate, he clearly had some ability.

I picked up the wine bottle and filled No Dae-won’s empty cup.

“Ha ha ha. Thank you kindly.”

Thud.

As I set the bottle down, I asked him a question.

“Are you satisfied with being a magistrate?”

He had been about to take a piece of meat, but he must have been startled because he coughed.

“Y-yes?”

“I am planning something interesting... Would you like to hear it?”

His expression grew serious as well.