WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle

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◈ Raised by a Ruthless Swordsman ◈

Chapter 17: Green Forest

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I sprang to my feet.

In an instant, a jumble of sounds filled my ears.

People scrambling up. Shouts. Swords and sabres being drawn. Then Ma Jeongsan's command cut through it all.

"Get up! We have to protect the consignment!"

I immediately drew the sword I had laid beside me and took my position.

Chaos had broken out around the campfire. Those who had been sleeping hurried to their feet, each gripping a weapon.

Holding a large broad sabre in one hand, Ma Jeongsan moved to the center of the group. The other escort captain drew a sword and headed toward the wagons.

I spotted the agency head as well. Standing beside the black horse with one hand on their sword hilt, they were watching the main cargo wagon.

My heart pounded violently.

I sharply turned my head and watched the darkness beyond the wagons.

It was so dark that I could hardly see a step ahead. Yet even in that impenetrable darkness, rustling continued without pause.

Footsteps. Rough breathing. The occasional snap of dry branches. They came from every direction at once.

There were clearly more than just one or two of them.

The area beside me suddenly brightened, and I felt heat. When I turned, Jin Song was standing there with a torch, though I had no idea when he had fetched it.

Holding it in one hand, Jin Song stepped toward the wagons. Yang Hyeon drew his broad sabre and moved after him, as though guarding his back.

Just as Jin Song shone the torchlight beyond the wagons, I saw them.

Eyes glinted in the darkness.

Three, four, five. One group stood nearby, another farther away.

They had dingy yellow cloth tied around their unkempt hair, each gripping a broad sabre or an axe.

The wavering torchlight played across their faces. The closest had a bushy beard and a crooked nose.

The corner of their mouth curled upward.

Yellow teeth showed through the grin.

Yang Hyeon's body jerked, then stiffened.

Was it because this was his first real fight?

No matter how hard he had trained at a martial arts school until he bled, he could not have faced someone smiling at him from beyond the darkness.

I stepped forward, lightly caught Yang Hyeon's shoulder, and pushed him back. As though coming to his senses, he adjusted his grip on the broad sabre and took a step back.

I filled the gap and stood beside Jin Song, pointing my sword toward the darkness beyond the wagons.

Jin Song glanced at me from the corner of his eye, then turned back to face forward.

The people in yellow cloth stood still as well. They neither approached nor withdrew. With weapons in hand, they only slowly looked us over.

Beyond the darkness, I could hear nothing but their breathing and the occasional rustle.

My grip tightened around my sword.

Then, somewhere behind me, Clang! Clang! Metal struck twice in quick succession, followed by someone's scream tearing through the air.

Had it begun?

I braced myself for them to rush in, but strangely, the figures before us did not take a single step forward. They only made little feints, pretending to advance while continuing to stare at us from where they stood.

Then a booming voice rang out from beyond the darkness.

"Retreat!"

At that command, they began backing away one by one.

"Keep your neck clean."

Even the crooked-nosed bandit tossed out the threat with a chuckle before slowly melting into the darkness. Their footsteps receded for a while, then faded away entirely.

Silence returned.

The tension left my hand around the sword.

After letting out a long breath, I turned around.

It was the same by the other wagons. The escorts stood with swords and sabres drawn, facing the darkness.

Other than the first clash, no further weapons had struck together anywhere.

Then Gwak Seok approached from wherever he had been, a broad sabre in hand.

Gwak Seok had said he had been on several protection convoys.

"Brother Gwak, what was that about?"

"I don't know either. What are they trying to pull?"

Gwak Seok shrugged and lowered his broad sabre.

Instead of the unhelpful Gwak Seok, Jin Song, who stood behind us, gave the answer.

"Looks like they're trying to wear us down."

Yang Hyeon turned toward him.

"Wear us down?"

Holding the torch, Jin Song looked beyond the darkness once more before answering.

"Today was only a probe. They wanted to see how we were positioned and how strong our formation was. If that's right, they'll do the same tomorrow and the day after."

Wear us down.

Seeing how quickly they had withdrawn, Jin Song did not seem wrong.

I nodded briefly, then headed toward where I had heard the clanging.

Why had there only been a clash over there?

The agency head, Ma Jeongsan, and the other escort captain had already gathered there.

Between two wagons, two people with yellow cloth around their heads lay face down. A regular escort warrior was reporting to Ma Jeongsan, and I gradually began to make out the words.

"...so I went ahead and cut them down. After that, it was the same as elsewhere."

Ma Jeongsan nodded shortly.

"Any injuries?"

"None on our side."

Ma Jeongsan lowered his eyes toward the bodies in yellow cloth, then looked away. The other escort captain said something quietly beside him, but I was too far away to hear it.

It seemed that the trouble had begun only because the escort warrior had struck first, rather than because they had tried to break through.

It appeared Jin Song had been right.

They would probably return in the same manner tomorrow, and the day after that as well.

An uneasy feeling passed through me. We might not have another chance to sleep properly until we cleared Seonharyeong.

I turned back toward our group.

On the way, my eyes fell on the carriages. Both remained within the formation, their doors firmly closed. It seemed no one inside had stepped out even once.

Ma Jeongsan's command soon rang out in the distance.

"We leave early today! Hurry and pack up!"

The escorts scattered back to their places. Everyone began gathering bags, rolling up cloth, and stamping out the campfires.

As Gwak Seok picked up his broad sabre, he grumbled.

"What a fine road Seonharyeong is."

I could not have agreed more.

* * *

At dawn the next day, then at midnight the day after, they appeared in the same manner every day.

They lurked like beasts just within sight, then slipped away whenever someone drew a sword and tried to step forward.

The only difference was the color of the cloth tied around their heads, which changed each time.

The first day, it had definitely been yellow. At dawn the next day, the figures wore black cloth.

Then, just when I thought the yellow cloth had returned the following day, green appeared the day after.

Whether that was related or not, the faces of the agency head and escort captains grew increasingly grim with each passing day.

It bothered me, so while we marched, I cautiously asked Jin Song about it. He said they were different mountain strongholds.

Green Forest was not just one group in one place. There were several bandit strongholds on each rugged mountainside, and together they were called the Green Forest.

Jin Song said that, according to rumor, the largest nearby was Bailin Stronghold at Daeyu Ridge. It had several hundred men, including a group who had properly learned martial arts, making even the authorities unable to suppress it easily.

They were not bandits to be taken lightly.

When I asked whether mountain strongholds ever joined forces, Jin Song tilted his head for a moment. Then he said he had never heard of it, but since they were all Green Forest, he supposed it was possible.

As I resumed walking, the agency head's grim expression came to mind.

What had brought them all together in one place?

I could not shake the feeling that something was going wrong.

* * *

Today marked the seventh day.

Each step had grown heavy. After keeping my hand resting on my sword hilt for days, my fingertips tingled.

Perhaps I was not the only one whose shoulders trembled. Gwak Seok, with a sabre at his side, loosened his hand and shook it out.

Despite his large frame, dark circles had settled beneath Yang Hyeon's eyes. Jin Song's expression had not changed, but it was obvious that his steps had slowed.

Only Du Gi seemed no different from before. Despite his lean build, he appeared to have considerable stamina.

But not everyone could be like Du Gi, so it was clear that the entire procession was being drained bit by bit.

Then the procession suddenly stopped.

I looked ahead. A couple of thick logs lay across the middle of the narrowed mountain path.

Was it them again?

The agency head and escort captains seemed to exchange a few brief words near the front. Then the lead escorts approached the logs.

Before they could reach them, however, a shadow slowly appeared farther up the mountainside.

A man stood atop a rock near the peak.

He was extremely tall. He stood at least a handspan taller than Ma Jeongsan, with shoulders and chest broader still.

His arms hung as though thick logs had been cut and attached to him. In one hand, he loosely held an iron mace as large as a human head.

Slanting sunlight fell on his shoulder from the peak, making the yellow cloth gleam darkly.

He stepped to the edge of the rock and slowly looked over the procession.

At last, his gaze stopped on the cargo wagons. After seeming to inspect them one by one, he raised a thick finger and pointed toward one.

His booming voice crossed the mountainside.

"Leave that one wagon behind!"

The shout echoed off the slopes. The entire procession froze.

So he had been the one shouting from beyond the darkness on that first dawn.

More importantly, he had said one wagon.

He had to mean the wagon that, unlike the others, always had two regular escort warriors beside it.

There was something important inside. But how had those bandits learned of it?

The fact that multiple mountain strongholds had gathered in one place, and that the agency head and escort captains had grown grimmer every day, finally began to fit together.

What could possibly be inside?

"I'll let the rest of you leave unharmed! Let that settle it!"

The agency head came into view. Mounted on the black horse, they rested one hand on the main cargo wagon and faced the man on the mountain. Their mouth had hardened beneath their closely trimmed beard.

A short silence passed.

At last, the agency head spoke.

"That is impossible."

The voice was brief and firm. The words echoed off the mountainside again.

The man above slowly nodded. Even from a distance, I could see the corner of his mouth curl upward.

At that moment, something rolled down the slope beside the mountain path.

I instinctively drew my sword.

"Uwaaaaaah!"

Bandits appeared in a mass at the end of the slope. They wore yellow headscarves, and among them I spotted the crooked-nosed bandit.

The one who had bared yellow teeth and smiled at us from beyond the darkness on the first dawn now slid down the slope beneath the bright sunlight, sabre in hand.

They charged our group all at once.

The bandit at the front rode the momentum of their descent, raised a sabre overhead, and brought it down.

The blade was aimed at the crown of my head.

I shifted my feet and slipped toward their flank. The sabre carried the added weight of their descent.

If I took it head-on, my wrist would snap.

I raised my sword at an angle and deflected the sabre from its path. Its weight ran down the slanted blade and slid aside.

As the redirected sabre embedded itself in the ground beside them, the bandit's shoulder pitched forward.

"Urgh...!"

They lost their balance and staggered.

The weight of their descent had poured forward all at once, leaving them unable to turn aside. Their shoulder and neck were completely exposed.

I twisted the hilt once in my palm and sent the sword tip beside their neck.

The blade swept across their throat.

Their head shot into the air, while their body collapsed, its knees buckling first.

Something hot splattered against my left cheekbone. The metallic scent of blood stung my nose.

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