WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle

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◈ Raised by a Ruthless Swordsman ◈

Chapter 31: A Living Hell

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Instead of answering, I gauged the distance to the water behind me. Four or five steps, perhaps. If I set my mind to it, I could probably get away without much trouble.

Then it was worth trying.

The tea bundle lay right between us, no closer to either side.

The instant I took a step toward it with my sword held out, Nangong Hwi reacted at once, thrusting at my chest.

I angled my sword and let his blade slide along its flat. Its tip passed beside my shoulder. Using that force, I pushed myself another half step forward, closing in until my toes could reach the tea bundle.

There was no time to bend down and pick it up, so I scraped it backward with my foot. The bundle slid over the deck boards and rolled toward the rail by the water.

At that same instant, Nangong Hwi's arm bent before my eyes. Instead of drawing back his missed sword, he swung the pommel straight at my temple.

I threw my head back and retreated. The pommel swept past the tip of my nose.

That was not the end of it. Riding the missed swing, his sword came straight around again, cutting toward the back of my neck.

I hurriedly added another step to my retreat, twisting my upper body and catching the blade on the flat of my sword to deflect it.

Clang.

Even though I had deflected it, pain rang through my wrist.

From then on, his sword gave me no chance to rest. My shoulder, my side, the back of my neck. His heavy blade came down one after another, and each time I twisted and deflected it. Six or seven exchanges passed in an instant.

The more I received his attacks, the clearer Nangong Hwi's intent became. Half a step with every exchange. Every strike had been chosen to force me farther from the water, to make me twist in only that direction if I wanted to deflect it.

At this rate, I would not only fail to retrieve the tea, I would have trouble escaping at all.

I changed my approach. When the next strike fell toward my shoulder, instead of retreating and deflecting it, I followed along the blade and circled to the side. I curved around Nangong Hwi along the arc, half a step, then another half step. Bit by bit, I reclaimed the ground I had been forced from.

Nangong Hwi's sword pointed into my path to cut off that circle. But I narrowly avoided its tip and took another half step. Before long, I could see the rail where the tea bundle had rolled, slanting into view.

That was when it happened.

"You bastard!"

A sword came in from the side along with a shout. One of the escort warriors on watch had finally lost patience and charged at my side.

It was a slow, broad strike, nothing compared to Nangong Hwi's sword. But it came from the worst possible angle. It would break my circling path, and if I received it, I would have to turn my entire body that way.

I knocked the escort warrior back with the flat of my sword. One exchange was enough.

But while my body turned in that exchange, Nangong Hwi had shifted position as smoothly as if he had slid there.

The water was at his back, with the tea bundle near his feet. I stood across from him, forced back into the middle of the deck.

It was worse than where I had started.

Keeping my sword pointed at Nangong Hwi, I moved only my eyes.

The escort warrior I had just knocked away was at the edge of my vision. Two or three steps back, the escort warrior had readjusted their grip on the sword and aimed it at me while glancing at Nangong Hwi.

The other escort warrior stood farther away, holding a sword and guarding their position.

Rustling sounds were beginning to leak out from farther inside as well. I could hear indistinct muttering. It seemed people were waking up.

My back tightened. I had no idea how many more would come out from there. If that chief steward emerged too, getting away would not be easy.

Nangong Hwi seemed to have heard it too. Without looking away, he spoke briefly.

"Pick it up."

The escort warrior standing farther away flinched, then ran toward the tea bundle by the rail.

I had to settle this now.

I drew a handful of energy from my dantian and planted it in my feet. Just as I was about to kick off the deck toward the running escort warrior,

"Stop!"

A shout from the pier cut between us.

My feet twitched, losing their direction. I forced down the foot I had been about to move and froze, keeping only my sword aimed at Nangong Hwi.

The running escort warrior also stopped awkwardly. Nangong Hwi's sword tip did not move, but his eyes turned slightly toward the sound.

Someone was walking slowly along the pier. Both hands were raised to shoulder height, openly showing that they were empty.

Looking closer, it was Du Gi.

He removed the bamboo hat he had been wearing with his other hand, exposing his face beneath the lantern light. He walked as though he had no intention of hiding.

Why was someone who should have been on the ship over there? That damned man had not even blown the whistle. Before I could make sense of it, Du Gi stopped at the end of the gangplank and spoke.

"Bright Mirror Society."

Du Gi pulled a token from his chest and held it up. Then he continued clearly.

"Third Squad leader, Yun Baek."

Yun Baek. Not Du Gi.

Then again, he had slipped into a protection convoy disguised as a wanderer. There was no reason to think the name Du Gi was not something he had picked up somewhere. I had expected it might not be his real name.

Once again, I realized that all I knew of this man was two characters of a name. And even those two had just vanished.

"...Yun Baek."

Nangong Hwi rolled the name around in his mouth once. Then his eyes narrowed.

"So you are a Taoist master of Mount Qingcheng Sect."

How could he read all that from two characters of a name? Were all Mount Qingcheng Sect members called Yun Baek? That could not be right.

"Young Master."

The escort warrior who had retreated hurriedly interrupted. Pointing a sword at Du Gi, the escort warrior approached Nangong Hwi and whispered something to him.

Nangong Hwi's eyes closed and opened briefly.

His face showed neither anger nor surprise. It was an expression difficult to describe, one steeped in weary disgust.

"Are the Alliance's eyes sharp, or is our household lax?"

"Both, I imagine."

Du Gi answered calmly. Then the cabin door flew open.

The agency head rushed out with sword drawn, followed by an escort captain and two escort warriors. The agency head saw the state of the deck and started to speak, then hesitated.

His gaze swept over me in my mask, Du Gi on the pier, and Nangong Hwi between us. Then he froze in place, unable to do anything with the drawn sword.

"Agency Head, keep your people in line."

Nangong Hwi spoke without looking back. The agency head closed his mouth and gestured for the escort captain and escort warriors to stand back. There were more people on the deck now, but only two continued speaking.

Nangong Hwi faced Du Gi again.

"So, Bright Mirror Society, who have been watching from inside since the beginning, what do you have to say now that you have shown your face in the middle of the night?"

"About the goods."

Du Gi put away his token as he answered.

"We know what was loaded onto that carriage, and so do you, Young Master. Is there even one party that would benefit from that becoming known outside?"

Something that no one would benefit from revealing. I remembered the silk bundle beneath my fingertips and its dry, bitter scent.

"Those above want this to end quietly. We will take the goods and bury the matter. As for your side..."

Du Gi paused to choose his words. His eyes swept over the ears gathered on the deck, and he shortened his conclusion.

"It will be enough for you to close your doors for a while. That is all."

Close their doors for a while.

I could roughly guess what that meant. A great clan was not a merchant, so it could not mean closing a shop. No one would come or go, and they would not involve themselves in outside affairs. Something like confinement, where the guilty shut themselves away.

That did not seem so bad, all things considered. But seeing the escort agency people's faces harden at those words, it seemed far more serious than I had imagined.

Nangong Hwi said nothing for a long while. For the first time, his sword tip had lowered by half an inch.

"...A quiet end."

At last, he spoke.

"Whose mouth above spoke those words? The corps leader's, or someone above them?"

"Is it not natural for corps matters to pass through the corps leader, and the corps leader's matters through the Alliance Leader?"

"But."

Nangong Hwi cut him off.

"At this moment, the only thing guaranteeing those words on this deck is one squad leader's token, is that not so?"

Du Gi did not answer.

"I have seen well enough today that your eyes are sharp, but are those above united? There are nine mouths, with even beggars crowding around the table. And how do you intend to explain the Plum Blossom Sword Chief personally coming last night to slaughter the escort warriors?"

Nine mouths, and even beggars.

It seemed the Alliance was not one household, but several groups seated around the same table. From what I had heard, Mount Hua Sect seemed to be among them. Could such a group truly fail to unite as one?

Du Gi could not immediately respond either, and hesitated. Nangong Hwi saw that and shook his head.

"If the Alliance cannot even keep one martial sect in hand, how can I trust it?"

"Young Master, that is..."

"Let us end it here."

Nangong Hwi cut him off. His lowered sword tip rose and pointed straight at Du Gi again.

"You came showing your face, so I will return the courtesy and let you leave. Go empty-handed. You, and him."

His sword tip briefly pointed at me before returning to Du Gi.

"Leave the goods."

At those words, every eye on the deck turned to one place. The silk-wrapped tea bundle by the rail, not even half a bundle.

I calculated.

The tea bundle was six or seven steps away. Nangong Hwi was half that distance away. The handful of energy planted in my feet remained intact, and I had four or five tenths left in my dantian. The cabin had gone quiet again.

If I retreated empty-handed, this would end here. I would be unharmed, with no trouble to follow. This had not been my business from the start. It was Du Gi's business, the Alliance's business, Nangong's business.

But if I returned empty-handed, what would Du Gi use to settle accounts with those above him? And if that calculation went wrong, would he properly look into my family's matter?

I glanced toward the pier. Du Gi remained where he stood. He showed no sign of retreating or attacking. He was simply watching me.

He said nothing. Yet his eyes somehow seemed to be asking me something.

"Why are you not picking it up already?"

Keeping his eyes on Du Gi, Nangong Hwi spoke behind him again. The escort warrior who had stepped back hesitantly started moving toward the rail once more.

That was when it happened.

Du Gi's bamboo hat suddenly flew from his hand.

The bamboo hat spun low through the air toward Nangong Hwi's face. There was no time to calculate. My body moved first.

I released the handful of energy I had planted in my feet. Lowering my body, I kicked off the deck, and the back of the escort warrior approaching the tea bundle was before my eyes in an instant. I slammed my shoulder into the escort warrior's side. With a short cry, they tumbled across the deck.

Sliding forward, I snatched the tea bundle by the rail with my left hand.

Crack.

A dry splitting sound came from behind me. Almost at the same time, metal rang out.

Clang.

Why would cutting apart a bamboo hat make a metallic sound?

"You think that pathetic trick will work?!"

Before I could pursue the question, a presence rushed at my back with that shout.

I pressed the tea bundle to my chest and raised the flat of my sword diagonally over my head with my right hand.

Boom.

A weight falling from above pressed down through my sword and onto my entire body. My knees bent half a handspan, and the boards beneath my feet groaned.

I gritted my teeth and endured. I had deflected it as much as I could, yet it was still this heavy.

Our locked swords trembled. It was not a weight I could withstand for long with one hand. My elbow sank inch by inch.

Then, beyond our crossed swords, the flow of that weight shifted at an angle. The force pressing down slid in another direction, beginning to pour toward my left hand holding the tea bundle.

My wrist or the tea bundle. I could not give up either.

I stopped resisting. Pulling the sword that had been supporting the weight inward, I threw my entire body along the direction the force was flowing. Nangong Hwi's pressing sword struck empty air and buried itself in the deck boards.

Thunk.

Wood bit into the blade. With a sword that heavy, it would be slower to pull free. In that single breath, I rolled over and grabbed the rail.

Meanwhile, Du Gi kicked off the gangplank and leapt onto the deck. His sheathed sword swept toward Nangong Hwi's side.

"Where do you think you're going...!"

The agency head shouted. The escort captain's sword rang as it was drawn. The escort warrior who had been knocked down staggered to their feet. The deck boiled over in an instant.

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