WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Raised by a Ruthless Swordsman ◈

Chapter 15: First Journey

──────

As we emerged from the tunnel, the view opened wide.

Beyond the city walls, empty rice fields and the foothills stretched endlessly along both sides of the road. The sun had already risen well above the mountains, nearly clearing away the mist hanging over the road.

The procession moved straight ahead.

Unlike inside the city, only footsteps and wagon wheels sounded along the road. Dozens of people moved at once, yet not a single voice could be heard. Everyone seemed focused solely on putting one foot in front of the other.

I glanced toward Gwak Seok beside me. He, too, silently kept walking forward, with no sign of opening his mouth.

I considered saying something, but then wondered whether this was simply how everyone traveled once a protection convoy began. I closed my mouth again.

As I focused on taking one step after another, the sun had nearly risen directly overhead.

After a while, a shout rang out from the front.

"Rest! We'll stop for an hour! Eat, and check the cargo while you're at it!"

The procession naturally began to halt. The wagons moved over to the roadside one by one and lined up, while the horse handlers untied the horses and led them to graze in the grass.

Even the scouts, who had looked like dots in the distance, turned their horses and came riding back along the road.

The escorts also spread out and sat by the roadside. Some took off their shoes and massaged their feet. The thick black grime on them made me look away.

Only then did Gwak Seok let out a long breath and stretch his shoulders.

"Finally, time to eat."

Ma Jeongsan had already dismounted. He glanced our way and tossed out a few words.

"I'm going to stop by the agency head. You fellows eat without me."

Then he headed toward the middle of the procession. The other escort captain had already gathered where the agency head was.

Only Gwak Seok, me, and the other three temporary escorts remained at the rear. We sat together on the grass by the road.

Two laborers carrying a large basket were making their way among the escorts. Starting from the front, they handed something to each person.

Wondering where it came from, I looked around. A laborer beside one of the wagons near the front was placing bundles of the same thing into their basket.

That wagon appeared to be carrying supplies. One of the laborers approached us.

"Come on, take a bundle each."

I accepted the bundle strung together with cord.

Five pieces had been tied in a row, each with a small hole in the middle for the cord to pass through.

It was fairly heavy in my hand. Hard and yellowish, it looked different from the flatbread I had eaten a few days ago.

It seemed to have been baked deliberately hard so it could keep for several days on the road.

Gwak Seok accepted his bundle, untied one piece, then wrapped the rest in cloth and tucked them into his clothes.

Watching him from the corner of my eye, I did the same and bit into one.

A hard, salty taste spread through my mouth. When I asked Gwak Seok what it was, he told me it was travel sesame flatbread. He then asked how it tasted, and I said it was edible.

Gwak Seok took a bite and spoke flatly.

"It's edible at first. Give it three days. If I weren't hungry, I'd want to use it as horse feed."

Gwak Seok was a man with plenty of complaints. Every bite came with a grumble.

We sat there for a while, taking bite after bite with his complaints as seasoning. Though all five of us were gathered together, no one exchanged a word.

Perhaps the silence was bothering him. Gwak Seok took one last bite, stuffed the flatbread into his mouth, and spoke.

"Let's introduce ourselves while we're at it. We'll be traveling together for a month, after all."

He pointed at his chest.

"I'm Gwak Seok. I gave up life as a wandering martial artist and became an escort a little over a year ago. Tell us where each of you has been knocking around."

After a brief pause, the man facing Gwak Seok spoke first.

"I'm Jin Song. I've spent some time as a wandering martial artist around Fuzhou."

He looked to be in his mid-thirties. He was of average height, but broad-shouldered, with a long scar running across the back of one hand.

He quietly rested a sword across his knees, then took another bite of flatbread as if he had nothing more to say.

The man beside him raised a hand.

"I'm Yang Hyeon. It's a pleasure, Brother Gwak, Brother Jin. You two as well."

He had a sturdy build and stood about a handspan taller. His face was long, his eyes slightly drooped, and he looked the youngest of the group.

He did not stop there, adding something no one had asked.

"My family runs a small martial arts school. Since I've got two older brothers, I thought this third son could earn a little through protection convoys. I can handle a broad sabre, too."

The way he stressed martial arts school made his pride plain. Gwak Seok picked up on it.

"So you're from a martial arts school. But that broad sabre looks new."

"I've never cut anyone with it. Still, I've trained until I bled, so bandits should be no trouble."

Yang Hyeon puffed out his chest and spoke boldly.

For a moment, I wondered if that would really be true. Then again, when I first faced bandits, I had not hesitated much myself. There was no telling what Yang Hyeon might do when the time came.

I glanced over, but Gwak Seok seemed unconcerned. He merely nodded and said, "I see."

My gaze naturally shifted to the man beside Yang Hyeon. His thin face made him look under thirty, and his body was lean. He was neatly dressed, but his martial garb hung loosely from his shoulders, as though he was still unused to the clothes he had just received.

"I'm Du Gi. I've never been tied to any one place."

"Where are you from?" Yang Hyeon asked.

"Nowhere worth naming."

"Really? Then what school do you belong to?"

"I don't belong to one."

Du Gi took another bite of flatbread. Yang Hyeon shrugged and fell silent.

Everyone turned to me as though it were my turn, so I gave a brief answer.

"I'm Jin A-pyeong. I mainly use a sword."

There was nothing else to add. I had no proper place to mention a school or somewhere I had spent my life.

If I said I had lived in the mountains for ten years, they would only find it strange.

The three merely nodded once each and asked nothing more. Gwak Seok brushed his hands together as if wrapping things up.

"A month is a long way off. We'll have more chances to talk as we go."

Just then, Ma Jeongsan returned.

"Have you introduced yourselves?"

"Yes. We each introduced ourselves."

Gwak Seok answered. Ma Jeongsan nodded with satisfaction and sat down. He untied one piece of flatbread from his bundle and took a bite, looking as though he was still hungry.

Hadn't he gone to eat? I was sure I had seen a separate meal being prepared.

Then again, with that build, one meal might not have been enough.

The silence seemed to bother Yang Hyeon, and he spoke up.

"With two escort captains attached to a convoy this large, surely even bandits wouldn't dare attack us?"

There was more ease in Yang Hyeon's voice. Gwak Seok lightly nodded in agreement.

"Most likely. We've got a whole group of regular escorts, plus two scouts."

"Who knows."

Ma Jeongsan, who had been listening while taking a large bite of flatbread, spoke shortly. He stuffed the rest into his mouth, then lightly drew a line in the dirt at the roadside with his fingertip.

"From here to Poseong is about six days. It's a major official road, so nothing much should happen along that stretch. From Guju, we'll board a boat and go downriver to Yeongpa. But..."

Ma Jeongsan paused, then tapped the middle of the line in the dirt.

"Seonharyeong lies between them."

Before he had even finished speaking, Jin Song let out a quiet groan beside us.

When I turned to look, his already expressionless face seemed to have hardened further.

What was Seonharyeong?

Yang Hyeon must have noticed Jin Song's expression too, because the lightness left his voice.

"What's wrong with Seonharyeong?"

"It's the most treacherous mountain road among the official roads. You have to allow eight days for it, and those damned bandits called the Green Forest have settled there. Even convoys like ours commonly run into them once or twice."

Ma Jeongsan spoke lightly, but Yang Hyeon and Gwak Seok's faces had already stiffened.

I also glanced over the others. Jin Song had returned to his usual blank expression.

I could not tell what Du Gi was thinking. His gaze remained fixed on the line drawn in the dirt.

Ma Jeongsan wiped away the line with one hand. His gaze passed over each of us before he spoke.

"Seonharyeong is the only place we need to take special care around. Ordinary bandits won't have the nerve to touch a convoy like this."

As we spoke, another shout rang out from the front.

"Form up! We're moving out!"

Those sprawled along the roadside rose one by one, put their shoes back on, and gathered their bags. The horse handlers brought the horses back from the grass and began tying them beside the wagons again.

Gwak Seok stretched his shoulders.

"Surely nothing serious will happen. There are so many of us."

We all stood.

* * *

One meal period became two. One double-hour became two.

The sun moved far past overhead, and by the time it slanted long behind our backs, Gwak Seok wiped sweat from his brow with the back of his hand.

"Looks like we're lucky today. That looks like a village ahead."

I turned my gaze that way.

At the far end of the road sat a small village, its earth-colored roofs lined up in a row. Even from a distance, I could see several chimneys trailing thin streams of smoke.

"Sometimes we have to sleep out in the open, and sometimes we reach a village like this. If we had to sleep outside on the first day, it would kill everyone's spirits."

Gwak Seok was talking again. He seemed quite pleased that we would not be sleeping outdoors from the very first night.

The procession reached the edge of the village.

But up close, the place barely deserved to be called a village. There were only around twenty mud-walled houses lined along both sides of the road.

A broad road ran straight through the middle, and a building that appeared to be an inn stood on one side.

It was a sorry excuse for an inn. It was not even two stories tall, only a single-story building with a strip of cloth hanging from its eaves and fluttering in the wind.

"Damn it."

Gwak Seok frowned. This time, he began grumbling with every step.

He really was an entertaining man to watch.

The procession slowly came to a stop before the inn.

An escort captain shouted something brief from the front. The escorts scattered to take up their places.

The cargo wagons were moved one by one into the empty yard beside the inn, while the horse handlers untied the horses and led them elsewhere.

The rear group also moved in a line to stand in front of the inn. Ma Jeongsan headed toward the agency head again.

We stood there blankly, staring at the inn.

The agency head dismounted from a black horse and handed the reins to a laborer. Behind him, the carriage door opened and the chief steward soon stepped down.

The chief steward still had an account book tucked under one arm, as though they had not let it leave their hand even on the road.

I stared intently at the carriage in front, just in case. Before long, its door slowly opened as well.

At last.

A man stepped down from inside. The moment he placed one foot on the ground and straightened up, my gaze froze.

He was tall, with broad shoulders and a broad chest. Large, clear eyes beneath thick brows. A face that looked only just past twenty.

The instant I saw that face, my entire body went rigid.

Why was he here?

Munhwi.

The man who had stepped down from the carriage was the one who had urged me to join the protection convoy at the inn three days earlier, saying he was going home.

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried