WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Haruto

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◈ The Martial Alliance Rulebook Archives ◈

Chapter 14: The Records Officer's First Mission (1)

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The Anomaly Records Office's workdays were rather leisurely.

"Ah, should we try a place that does Sichuan cuisine well this time?"

"Brother Peng, is it really all right for us to be doing this?"

"It's fine. The Director doesn't complain when we relax during quiet periods."

Let me correct that. They were extremely leisurely.

After coming to work, I would read through the senior Records Officers' work logs. Once lunchtime came, I would tour good restaurants near the Martial Alliance with Peng Juhyeok, my senior.

It felt as though we had visited every restaurant in Wuhan, Hubei, where the Martial Alliance was located.

Oddly enough, things like French fries, which should not have existed in China during this era, would sometimes appear and surprise me.

'Is this also the effect of Historical Dilution?'

I could not equate the game's setting one-to-one with the reality I had drifted into, but I knew that some of the game's knowledge and settings also applied in this world.

Naturally, not every concept from Chronicles of Black and White Heroes applied directly here. Still, it was useful enough as a reference for understanding the world.

For instance, my decision to join the Martial Alliance rather than the Black Lotus Society had been based on my knowledge of Chronicles of Black and White Heroes.

The Martial Alliance treated wandering martial artists far better than the Black Lotus Society did.

The Black Lotus Society openly used wandering martial artists as meat shields, then stripped their corpses once they died. The Martial Alliance still used them as expendable tools, but at least it cared about appearances. If they died, it would even write a few words on a memorial tablet for them.

I found similar changes in many areas, changes that seemed to have originated from the Historical Dilution option.

Books that appeared regardless of the era were one example, but there was even clearer evidence.

It began with the name of this country.

The Kingdom of Dun. No country by that name had existed in real China. It was the distinctive national name that appeared in Chronicles of Black and White Heroes when Historical Dilution was enabled.

Large factions like the Five Great Clans and the Nine Sects and One Gang held positions beyond those of local noble clans, almost like warlords. The government was strange as well, filled with officials who adhered to the peculiar principle of noninterference between officials and martial artists.

But there was a problem with that...

'Things like French fries never appeared in the Chronicles of Black and White Heroes I knew.'

The changes in the martial world were far more extreme than those caused by the Historical Dilution option I remembered.

'Perhaps it's the difference between an Age of Turmoil and the Chaotic World.'

Unlike an Age of Turmoil, when rival heroes contended for supremacy and people had thrown the world into chaos with their own hands, the Chaotic World was a time when even heaven and earth had become mixed together. Perhaps that was why things that should not exist, such as potatoes and chili powder, had appeared.

It was good news for me. I had not known it while I was a starving wandering martial artist, but now that I could spend freely, I found that the martial world's cuisine was incredible.

* * *

"What have you two been doing until it is nearly the hour of the Monkey, from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.?"

When we returned to the Records Office, Byeolui was waiting for us, unusually enough. The words sounded like a reprimand, but Byeolui's relaxed expression suggested it was only a passing remark.

"The place we went to eat today was a little far away."

Peng Juhyeok seemed to understand and answered calmly. Byeolui chuckled and threw something at us.

The object shot toward us as quickly as a concealed weapon was, naturally, a book.

"Records Officers Peng Juhyeok and Yeok Cheonmyeong. This is a field investigation assignment."

"Ah."

A sigh escaped me. Nobody liked having their carefree days of eating and lounging come to an end.

'So my pleasant days of idleness are over!'

The nature of an Anomaly Records Office assignment was a problem too.

I had little experience dealing with Anomalies, but I had learned firsthand that confronting one was far more dangerous than brawling with ordinary thugs.

"You don't have to look as though the world has ended. In most cases, it turns out not to be an Anomaly."

"Really?"

Byeolui did not explain further, only jerking his chin at Peng Juhyeok. The silent pressure was clear. You are the senior, so explain the rest yourself.

"Tsk, a perfectly healthy elder trying to make young people do the work. First, let's head out!"

After we came up from the Records Office, Peng Juhyeok tapped the book he had been holding.

"Now, can you see it?"

"Ah."

Even though I knew for certain that Peng Juhyeok was holding it, I could not properly see the book.

"It would be tiring in many ways if we had to strain our eyes even inside the Records Office, so measures have been taken to make rulebooks clearly visible below without using an eye technique. Once you leave the office, though, things change."

"...Then would it not be better to read the contents of the book downstairs before leaving?"

"In principle, yes. But this is your first investigation assignment, isn't it?"

Peng Juhyeok shrugged as he explained. The Anomaly Records Office was not some Black Lotus Society punishment unit. It would not shove a new Records Officer straight into an Anomaly's jaws.

"Do Black Lotus Society punishment units do that?"

"Uh, probably? They treat Records Officers over there like cards to be used once and discarded. It seems the proper investigation units, rather than the punishment units, are treated fairly well, but I cannot be sure. Those bastards from the unorthodox sects lie as easily as they breathe."

More than the fact that Black Lotus Society punishment units actually existed, I was surprised by Peng Juhyeok's casual attitude about possibly meeting them.

"Wouldn't we fight if we met?"

"We try not to, if we can help it. What good would fighting each other do? It would only make the Anomalies happier. Still, um..."

Peng Juhyeok looked me over from head to toe.

"You should avoid letting them find out you're a Records Officer."

"Would they take the rulebooks we wrote?"

"It would be fortunate if it ended at robbery. If they threaten to spare your life in exchange for a rulebook, just hand it over. Usually, though, they stab you first and try to steal it from your corpse."

"Those bastards from the unorthodox sects are insane."

The curse slipped out on its own. Peng Juhyeok nodded in agreement.

"You'll have plenty of chances to curse the unorthodox sects later, so let's move on. I told you there is no need to worry about this assignment."

"Yes."

"The Director can be a little eccentric, but they know what is appropriate. They will not send a newcomer to certain death by ordering them to meet a Heavenly-grade Anomaly right away."

I nodded with an "Ah, I see." Of course, a few words from Peng Juhyeok did not erase all my worries.

Were not even the lowest-grade Anomalies Human-grade, capable of easily carving a person to pieces?

"And really, most Anomaly investigations end with, 'It wasn't an Anomaly after all.'"

"...What?"

"There may be many Anomalies on the hidden side of the martial world, but there are even more people. Listen closely."

Peng Juhyeok told me about one case he had investigated.

"Deep in the mountains, there was a stone Buddha that nobody knew when or by whom it had been carved."

"That already sounds eerie."

"But one day, corpses began appearing beneath the Buddha's feet."

The bodies were not ordinary.

The eyes.

Every single one had been pierced near the right eye, with a quarter of the head blown away. They piled up one after another.

I swallowed. A Buddha that ate people. It sounded like something a mad, fallen monk with an epithet like Blood Buddha or Demon Buddha might have done.

Since the beginning of the story was, 'It seemed like an Anomaly did it, but it was actually a person,' the culprit had to be human as well.

'Was it a Shaolin monk suffering from qi deviation?'

I tried to piece together the truth myself. Anyone who deliberately stained a Buddha with blood would likely bear some sort of grudge, and anyone who could accurately strike and burst a person's eye would likely excel at close-quarters combat.

"Who was the culprit?"

"Ah. It was a Mount Cang Sect master who had come out for some training."

"......"

"There was a Green Forest bandit stronghold there. Whenever the bandits passed beneath the Buddha's right big toe, the master would pierce their right eyes precisely, practicing to refine the precision of their swordsmanship."

'What a crazy martial artist!'

I revised my judgment that only the bastards from the unorthodox sects were insane. The master had not even been suffering from qi deviation. They had been in their right mind, killing people by bursting their eyes for practice.

"If they were that skilled, why did they not simply subjugate the stronghold?"

"Ah, that's what made them wise! The Green Forest bandits gathered there were not truly vicious criminals from the Seventy-Two Strongholds. So they gave them a chance to reform."

The mad Mount Cang Sect master's thinking, as Peng Juhyeok explained it, went like this.

'If people keep dying before the Buddha, won't they grow afraid, thinking they have gravely defied heaven's will, and give up being bandits?'

In fact, the master chose the targets carefully. The first target was a stronghold chief who treated subordinates harshly, whose eye was taken out. Then the deputy chief who inherited the position had an eye taken out as well...

The bandits became too afraid to leave their stronghold, so the harm caused by the bandits was naturally held in check.

"Still, there was something even that master's exceptional insight did not anticipate. Once the bandits disappeared, the residents of nearby villages widened the range of their activities. A passing herb gatherer saw the corpses, panicked, and reported it to us."

'That wasn't exceptional insight. Wasn't that just calm madness?'

Unaware of my bewilderment, Peng Juhyeok continued, subtly showing his admiration for that chivalrous deed.

"Like this, most first assignments end with, 'After looking into it, it was not an Anomaly after all.' Relax and read the directive."

"...Most?"

"Ah. Sometimes an Anomaly does appear. That's why a senior accompanies you."

All at once, I missed the White Sword Squad.

Footnotes:

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