WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Haruto

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◈ The Martial Alliance Rulebook Archives ◈

Chapter 20: Chain of Vengeance (3)

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A worthless defective product.

I could see how his grudge had grown to this point.

His daughter had died at the hands of the Soul-Piercing Demon Hand despite reading a rulebook. His hostility toward the Anomaly Records Office must have begun with that as well.

‘The reason he detained us must be because, no matter how he looked at it, the Azurewater Village massacre appeared to be the Soul-Piercing Demon Hand’s work.’

“I heard you caught and killed the bastard yourselves, so I decided to bury my grudge. I chose to devote this passion to public duty instead. But then.”

Commissioner Baek glared at the rulebook.

“The moment I saw the report at the government office, I knew. The wounds left on the corpses. They were undoubtedly his handiwork. Are you saying that demonic art, the one that pierces human heads and consumes their brains, does not belong to the Soul-Piercing Demon Hand?”

“Please read this.”

I handed him the unfinished booklet. It had not yet fully taken the form of a rulebook, but it clearly described what we had seen and heard in Azurewater Village.

It even stated that the culprit was presumed to be a revived corpse.

Commissioner Baek strode over and snatched the booklet away. His eyes moved swiftly over the lines I had written.

“You...”

Gulp.

I swallowed without meaning to. Being glared at by a Commissioner of the Embroidered Uniform Guard made my legs feel weak.

“Your handwriting is terrible.”

“...”

Was he really criticizing my handwriting now?

Perhaps, as a high-ranking official, the report’s format was the first thing that caught his eye.

“You must at least have heard of Appearance, Speech, Writing, and Judgment. Though you are a crude martial man with a sword at your waist, you must keep all four in proper order when standing before others.”

His words carried a hint of Historical Dilution. As I remembered it, Appearance, Speech, Writing, and Judgment had been standards established by Emperor Taizong of Tang, while the Embroidered Uniform Guard had existed during the Ming dynasty...

‘Then again, this martial world belongs to neither Tang nor Ming. It is the Kingdom of Dun. Nothing would be strange, no matter what someone said.’

Even if the Emperor suddenly declared a certain bird harmful and ordered the extermination of all sparrows, I would just have to accept it.

“Your appearance is quite fine, and you carry yourself neatly. Your speech is far better than that unruly young brat from the Peng Clan. As for judgment, the fact that you have not rampaged about trying to escape tells me it is respectable enough.”

“Thank you for thinking so highly of me, but...”

He had been giving off a vicious air moments ago, only to suddenly praise me. I could not understand his intentions.

The answer came from the person who had raised the matter.

“I intend to make you an Enforcer of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and bring you with me. It may be a lowly post, but it is work that demands loyalty to His Majesty’s will. If you have an obvious disqualification, how could I recruit you?”

He called it making me an Enforcer, but what he meant was kidnapping.

Was this old man insane?

“...Surely you jest, Commissioner Baek! Well water does not intrude upon river water! Just as well water does not encroach on river water, the government and the martial world do not interfere with one another!”

Before I could respond, Peng Juhyeok cried out in alarm. Commissioner Baek snorted.

He tossed the booklet onto the table and shouted.

“Did you think reading these scraps of paper would make me give up my chance to kill my enemy?”

“If you don’t believe us, pursue the culprit alone! Why are you trying to torment Brother Yeok?”

“I know well how you insolent bastards at the Anomaly Records Office operate. You swagger about, claiming only you can deal with demonic practitioners, while preventing others from acting and monopolizing information.”

Commissioner Baek openly displayed his deep distrust of the Anomaly Records Office. He explained that he intended to take me along as a tool to prevent our unnecessary interference and expose the rulebooks the Anomaly Records Office had hidden away.

It was a warning that if we obstructed his path, one of our newcomers would be killed. He meant to use me as both a hostage and a cipher-breaker, then release me once he was done.

“Are you truly mad?! A Commissioner of the Embroidered Uniform Guard oppressing common citizens like this!”

“A martial artist calling himself a common citizen? I think you are the mad one.”

As their argument grew heated, I raised my hand.

“Commissioner Baek.”

The old man’s eyes turned toward me again. Obsession gleamed in his gaze, as though it would pierce through my flesh.

Yet I was not afraid.

“Your suspicion, in the end, is whether the culprit behind the Azurewater Village bloodshed was the Soul-Piercing Demon Hand. I will prove that it was not.”

He belonged to the Human Path. I could tell from the fact that he had detained us under the pretense of an invitation and sealed our acupoints, but had not truly tried to kill us.

He was not an Anomaly like the shadow I had encountered in Soul-Severing Mountain Villa, one that wished to kill others for no reason at all.

Trusting that instinct, I spoke.

“You will prove it?”

“It is very simple. You have already read the report on the Azurewater Village incident, correct?”

“I have.”

“The wounds left on the victims’ corpses must have been included in that report as well.”

“It was precisely that which moved me to act. It left wounds identical to the Soul-Piercing Demon Hand’s claw technique, yet you dare try to deceive me?”

I became more confident instead. Since he was so obsessed with the Soul-Piercing Demon Hand, it would be easier to prove my point.

“What was the diameter of the five holes in their heads?”

“Diameter?”

Commissioner Baek fell silent for a moment, then answered within seconds. It was the sort of response only someone who had memorized every detail of the report could give.

“Eight pun, measured from the skull’s surface. One pun is approximately 0.3 centimeters. They were not wealthy ladies raised on lavish feasts in some high official’s home. How could the hands of women who lived busy lives day after day be this thick? These were marks left by the fingers of a martial artist who had tempered bone and flesh evenly.”

A diameter of around 2.4 centimeters. The wounds were too large to have been left by fingers belonging to a woman like Muun.

“The Soul-Piercing Demon Hand’s claw technique coats the practitioner’s own fingers in yin qi, shaping it into a deadly concealed weapon, does it not?”

“That is right. That is how it produces such sharp penetrating wounds.”

But a wound’s diameter did not directly correspond to the attacker’s finger diameter. From examining the corpses, I had learned that the claw technique, provisionally named Nine Yin White Bone Claw, coated the practitioner’s fingers in yin qi like icicles before attacking.

“Then even if the attack had come from a woman’s hand, the wounds would have been larger. The wounds left by the Soul-Piercing Demon Hand’s own claw technique would have been larger still.”

By its very nature, the wound had to be wider than the actual finger.

Commissioner Baek mulled over my words.

His blank gaze rested on empty space, as if he were recalling a past I did not know.

“...Perhaps the bastard’s realm had advanced further, allowing him to form even thinner, sharper nails.”

“If that were true, would there be corpses with their heads missing? The headless corpses were the result of the culprit failing to control her own internal energy, injecting excessive yin qi and causing the skulls to explode. The culprit in Azurewater Village clearly had only just learned the claw technique.”

I felt a piercing gaze from somewhere nearby. It was Peng Juhyeok.

There was admiration in his expression. If he had been able to move properly, he might have risen to his feet and applauded.

‘Please restrain yourself.’

Commissioner Baek currently believed that the investigative authorities had let his daughter’s killer go and spread false reports. He was only pretending to listen because he had barely managed to hold onto his reason.

There was no telling how he would react if we provoked him for no reason.

Commissioner Baek’s eyes, which had drifted through some point in his past, returned to the present.

“...You are right.”

The eyes that had held a powerful spirit unsuited to his age just moments before now contained only an old man’s weariness.

“If it had been the Soul-Piercing Demon Hand’s work, the wounds would have been larger.”

Commissioner Baek waved his hand. An invisible wave of qi reached Peng Juhyeok. The moment the sealed acupoints binding his limbs were released, Peng Juhyeok stretched and asked.

“Now that you understand, are you going to let us go?”

The moment the crisis passed, that man opened the door to verbal disaster again. There was little emotion on his face. He was neither provoking nor mocking Commissioner Baek. He was asking out of pure curiosity.

How could someone make such a perfect provocation without a shred of personal feeling?

Fortunately, Commissioner Baek only nodded once. He seemed too drained to even find the strength to respond.

“Come, Brother Yeok. We have already delayed quite a while, so we must return quickly. We also need to report to our superiors on what to do about Muun.”

I hesitated.

My greatest concern was that I had no idea what Muun, who had massacred Azurewater Village and vanished, might do next.

By the time the two of us arrived, Muun had already left the mountain where Azurewater Village had stood. We had no one who had properly learned tracking, so we had given up the pursuit...

I looked around. Commissioner Baek clearly possessed martial prowess at least at the Beyond Peak realm. On top of that, he held a position that allowed him to command countless Embroidered Uniform Guard personnel with a flick of his finger.

Were those not the ideal conditions for tracking down the vanished culprit?

I cleared my throat. Peng Juhyeok and Commissioner Baek both turned to look at me.

I recalled the details about that man I had read in the Soul-Piercing Demon Hand’s rulebook.

“Commissioner Baek. There is something I would like to tell you about your enemy.”

I opened my mouth.

* * *

“...Now that I think about it, you are a far more frightening person than I thought.”

Peng Juhyeok suddenly said this on the road back to the Martial Alliance headquarters after our release from the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s detention.

I asked in disbelief.

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

“Getting Commissioner Baek to pursue Muun after provoking him. Wasn’t that using a borrowed knife to kill someone?”

“It wasn’t.”

Footnotes:

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