WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Order
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◈ The Heaven-Slaying Sword ◈
Chapter 24: Chapter Four - Anhui (5)
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Mok Ri-won stared blankly at the estate before him.
Its immense main gate was wide enough for ten people to pass through at once with room to spare.
Above it hung a neatly inscribed signboard that read: Zhang Family Estate.
“This is...?”
“As you can see, this is the Zhang Family Estate. The largest estate in this city.”
“Why have we come here? Didn’t you say we were going to perform a chivalrous deed...?”
“This is where we shall perform one.”
Jegal San ran his tongue over his lips, looking pleased.
Mok Ri-won furrowed his brow.
“It doesn’t seem like a place that needs Chivalry...”
The Chivalry Mok Ri-won knew meant helping those too weak to overcome the hardship before them by their own strength.
It also meant standing against violence that threatened innocent people.
Yet there was nothing of the sort in sight.
“Look over there. The estate workers are all going about their business with peaceful expressions. The smell of food is enough to make one’s mouth water, so it’s not as though anyone here is starving. And since I can’t sense any Killing Intent, there should be no one harboring sinister intentions either. It’s such a peaceful place, so why do you say Chivalry is needed here, Brother Jegal?”
“Hehe. It seems you still have much to learn, Brother Mok.”
With an arm around Mok Ri-won’s shoulders, Jegal San continued with a grin.
“Tell me, Brother Mok. Does Chivalry only mean preventing physical hardship?”
“Well, no, but...”
“Exactly. Everyone may look peaceful as they go about their business, but each of them could have worries of their own. And that’s not all. We’re still standing before the estate gate. We can’t know the hearts of those within. For example...”
Jegal San drew out the last word as he watched Mok Ri-won’s reaction.
Clear interest showed on his face.
‘What a simple, innocent fellow.’
Thinking this would make for a rather enjoyable chivalrous deed, Jegal San continued.
“...the heart of a widow grieving the loss of her husband.”
“...!”
Mok Ri-won jolted.
Only then did he realize that Jegal San had brought him here because of the widow he had mentioned before.
“W-Wait, Brother Jegal!”
“Shh! Keep your voice down! Can’t you see the passersby looking at us suspiciously?”
Mok Ri-won flinched, then whispered in a voice far quieter than before.
His face was full of betrayal, and his voice brimmed with grievance.
“I-I’m disappointed, Brother Jegal! I thought you had truly come here to perform a chivalrous deed...!”
“But I did come to perform one.”
“Don’t lie! You came here because you’re obsessed with women!”
“Hmph!”
Jegal San glared at Mok Ri-won with a deliberately stern expression.
“Do you think I came here because I’m bewitched by women? Do you take Jegal San for a man who loses all sense whenever he sees a married woman? I’m disappointed!”
Jegal San abruptly removed his arm from Mok Ri-won’s shoulders and turned his back on him.
Mok Ri-won panicked at Jegal San’s seemingly furious reaction and scrambled for an excuse.
Naturally, no suitable words came to mind.
‘T-Then what is it supposed to be?!’
There was such a thing as judging by the circumstances.
Considering everything he had heard of Jegal San’s past exploits, along with the delighted expression he wore while licking his lips, how could Mok Ri-won conclude anything except that he had come here to seduce a widow?
Mok Ri-won grew increasingly flustered.
Behind him, Jegal San’s lips curled ever higher.
His trembling body showed just how hard he was working to hold back his laughter.
“I mistook you for someone better! I invited you because I admired the Chivalric righteousness you displayed in Suyang County! Enough is enough!”
Jegal San slowly, very slowly, turned to leave.
At a loss for what to do, Mok Ri-won finally grabbed him.
“I-I’m sorry! Please calm down first...”
“That’s enough! I have nothing more to say!”
“N-No! I was wrong! I’m not the sort of scoundrel who judges people by rumors!”
He was so wronged he felt he might go mad.
Mok Ri-won had no desire to be branded a scoundrel like this.
...In truth, a moment’s thought would have revealed that something was strange about this situation. Yet Mok Ri-won, who had always been loved by those around him, was facing another person’s resentment for the first time and could not think straight.
Jegal San finally glanced back at Mok Ri-won with a doubtful expression.
“...Can I trust you?”
“O-Of course!”
“Ahem! Very well. I shall trust you one more time.”
Mok Ri-won’s face brightened.
His radiant smile was like spring coming into bloom.
‘So this is the smile that melted Poison Phoenix!’
Thinking such things, Jegal San spoke to Mok Ri-won, who now let out a relieved breath.
“Then cause a commotion here.”
“...Pardon?”
“Cause a commotion. I shall infiltrate the estate while you draw their attention.”
Mok Ri-won’s face went blank.
* * *
“Ah, aaaaah...! Chivalrous hero, save meee...!”
Before the gates of the Zhang Family Estate, Mok Ri-won clutched his stomach with a deeply flushed face and put on an awkward performance.
“Ah, I’m dying...! I-I’m so hungry I feel like I’ll dieee...!”
His strange, awkward act made it impossible to tell what he was trying to do, but it drew the gazes of passersby.
The workers beyond the estate gate also turned to look.
Mok Ri-won was humiliated, but he endured.
This was part of proving that he was not a scoundrel. He had to bear it to prove his innocence.
The performance he continued with all his determination was so terrible that no one actually believed it, but it was remarkably effective at drawing attention.
“Ahhh...!”
Mok Ri-won squeezed his eyes shut, creasing his fine brow.
His fair skin reflected the sunlight with a beautiful glow, while his trembling fingertips looked so pitiful that they even stirred sympathy.
As Jegal San had said, the looks that had ensnared even Dang Hwa-seo were now showing their power.
“It looks as though he’s putting on a play.”
“I suppose so. Good heavens, I’ve never seen such a handsome man in all my life.”
“Haaah... You there, find out who that man is. I want to share a drink with him alone tonight.”
Some admired Mok Ri-won’s looks, while others agreed with their praise.
A woman who happened to see him as she passed by even began harboring indecent thoughts.
Just as Mok Ri-won’s chastity was in danger, someone pushed through the crowd.
Thump.
Thump.
Those footsteps carried unconcealed fury.
They belonged to Dang Hwa-seo.
“Young Hero Mok!”
Mok Ri-won, who had been drawing so much attention, flinched.
With fear in his eyes, he turned toward the voice.
“M-Miss...”
“What are you doing?”
Her wide eyes seemed to pierce through Mok Ri-won.
Even her restrained voice carried a hint of fury.
With a miserable expression, Mok Ri-won hurriedly cobbled together an excuse.
“B-Brother Jegal...”
“Brother?”
“Y-Young Master told me to stand here for a moment...”
“That’s enough. We’ll discuss this when we return.”
Dang Hwa-seo seized Mok Ri-won by the ear and dragged him away.
Mok Ri-won flailed pitifully and sought help from those around him, but no one dared approach Dang Hwa-seo’s murderous expression.
The woman who had just given her servants that indecent order met Dang Hwa-seo’s eyes, let out a shriek, and fled with them.
Mok Ri-won’s chastity had been safely protected once again.
...Whether his life would be safe was another matter.
* * *
Jegal San watched Mok Ri-won being dragged away by Dang Hwa-seo in the distance and chuckled.
‘What a funny fellow.’
He hoped Mok Ri-won would survive the night safely.
‘Now then...’
After leaping over the wall and entering the Zhang Family Estate, Jegal San steadied his breathing and extended his Qi Sense.
‘There are no guards this far out.’
It was only natural.
The Zhang Family Estate belonged to an ordinary wealthy family. They were not thorough enough to station guards even behind the latrine.
Holding his nose against the stench of fertilizer, Jegal San headed toward the inner residence.
‘It should be around here...’
Hidden behind a pillar, Jegal San studied the inner residence.
Martial artists guarded every entrance and window of the building with strict vigilance.
They might have appeared to be guards protecting the building, but from another perspective...
‘It’s practically a prison.’
It looked as though they were keeping whoever was inside from leaving.
Their attention was focused inward so intensely that no other conclusion was possible.
Jegal San examined the martial artists with narrowed eyes.
‘Second-rate, second-rate, second-rate, one at the very edge of second-rate. The one in the center has just entered first-rate.’
That one was likely their leader.
Jegal San reached into his robes and rolled several jade stones in his hand.
‘What should I do...?’
In truth, infiltrating this far could already be called half a success, but Jegal San was not satisfied with so little.
Caution and persistence.
Those were the traits at the very core of Strange Dragon Jegal San.
-Please just confirm that my elder sister is doing well. That is all I ask. Please...
As his thoughts continued, he recalled a gaunt man in ragged clothes emptying out every last coin he possessed.
‘Brother, it seems your elder sister isn’t doing well after all.’
He addressed the man in his thoughts.
The words would not reach him, of course, but Jegal San grinned and continued.
‘Well, one can never be too sure. I’ll find out for certain.’
Jegal San withdrew his hand from his robes.
He held three small jade stones that glowed with an elegant light.
‘Shall I go in quietly?’
Thwip.
Jegal San infused the jade stones with Inner power and fired them.
They shot out so stealthily that they were nearly impossible to see with the naked eye. Though fired at the same time, each flew in a different direction.
One went to the roof, one behind a pillar, and the last landed beneath a martial artist’s feet.
Then something strange happened.
Hummm.
Qi Waves rippled.
Naturally, no one except Jegal San noticed them.
It was the art that had elevated the Jegal Noble Clan into one of the Five Great Noble Clans.
The art that had earned Jegal Byeok, head of the Jegal family, the title Formation King.
A simple formation array.
‘It works well.’
The martial artists’ eyes turned dull for an instant before returning to normal.
Yet they would no longer be able to see Jegal San.
For the next four hours, all they would see before their eyes would be drifting clouds and the setting sun.
Whoosh!
Jegal San used his lightness art to dart forward and slip through a window left open for ventilation.
After landing silently inside, he looked around.
‘This is...’
A small library.
Jegal San dusted off his knees and searched through every corner of it.
‘Ledgers are usually hidden in places like this.’
He even hummed to himself as he searched.
Still, it was a wasted effort.
There were no ledgers, nor anything related to the family.
It seemed the main library was elsewhere.
‘Tch...’
Jegal San slumped his shoulders in disappointment, then quickly perked up and leaped to the ceiling.
After prying open a gap, he began crawling through the dust-covered space above.
‘Judging by all this dust, there don’t seem to be any hidden guards either.’
Things seemed likely to go more easily than he had expected.
He crawled around for a while before voices reached his ears.
-Where is it?
-I don’t know.
Jegal San’s eyes gleamed as he grinned.
He moved toward the voices, carefully opened a gap, and peered below.
There sat an old man who looked like a toad, facing a delicate-looking woman dressed in neat clothes.
‘Oh?’
Jegal San looked at the woman with delight.
‘She’s beautiful.’
It seemed he had found his target.
Footnotes:
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