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◈ The Martial Alliance Rulebook Archives ◈

Chapter 39: The Gap Between the Records Office and the Anomaly Destruction Hall (3)

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The illustrations and annotations in Iron-Headed Fire Axe's Countermeasure Volume were quite detailed. He cultivated an external martial arts technique called the Great Strength Iron Bear Art, which had hardened his entire body. His head in particular had reached a level where blades could not pierce it.

'I'd better not aim above the neck without coating my blade in sword qi.'

As I read through the rulebook, Jade Scale spoke.

"Gather at the Martial Alliance's western gate before the bell announcing the Hour of the Snake tomorrow (from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.)."

"Will I be going on assignment with a senior Records Officer again, like last time?"

I nodded. Even Peng Juhyeok, my immediate senior, was an accomplished Peak realm expert. I could also pass for a Peak realm expert for half a quarter-hour, around seven and a half minutes.

If the two of us attacked together, we could surely...

"Are you thinking two against one would make for an easy victory?"

"Huh? How did you know?"

They said she was proficient in unorthodox techniques. Could she read minds too?

Jade Scale shook her head.

"If you need mind reading, you'd be better off asking the Director. It's all over your face."

"I've been practicing, though."

The day I learned about the Anomaly Records Office, the White-Robed Miracle Physician scolded me and said I should learn to control my expression. Since then, I had consciously kept my facial muscles tense.

"When you're with people you find comfortable, like the White-Robed Miracle Physician or that naked thunderbolt from the Peng Clan, or when your tension suddenly eases, your expression relaxes. You could say you unconsciously distinguish between situations where you need to stay tense and those where you don't."

"It's not a bad habit," Jade Scale added. Recording Anomalies filled every moment with tension and placed a great strain on both body and mind, so it was best to relax completely whenever one had the chance.

True enough, the Anomaly Records Office smelled strongly of paper, but it stayed cool year-round and maintained a suitable level of humidity. It was a good place to rest.

'Though sometimes it feels like being stored in a buried earthenware jar.'

"By the way, Senior Jade Scale. Iron-Headed Fire Axe is also at the Peak realm. Wouldn't two Peak realm experts be able to take him down without taking much damage if they worked together?"

"You're wrong for two reasons."

Jade Scale gave the first reason.

"This rulebook was written three years ago."

"Ah."

Damn it.

As the Three Kingdoms says, after three days apart, scholars should rub their eyes and look upon one another anew.

He must have continued training over the past three years. It would not be strange if he proved stronger than the martial ability recorded in the rulebook.

"His martial talent was not especially remarkable, but who knows? He may have broken through the wall."

That addition was chilling.

The fact that Iron-Headed Fire Axe's rulebook had not been updated in three years meant that, although he plundered merchant caravans and squeezed people dry, he had stayed just within the line where the Martial Alliance would not dispatch a punitive force.

If his peaceful life of exploitation had allowed him to keep body and mind healthy while continuing to train, there was no reason for him to have grown weaker.

"Isn't it possible that he became so absorbed in pleasure that he neglected his training?"

"If he had indulged in debauchery enough for his martial ability to decline, an ordinary mountain stronghold's deputy chief would likely have killed him in secret and inherited the position of stronghold chief. Yet we've never received intelligence suggesting internal strife."

Damn.

I let out a small sigh and asked what the second reason was.

"Ah, this isn't an assignment with a Records Officer."

"Pardon?"

"Until now, Iron-Headed Fire Axe had kept himself within reasonable limits, but he was unlucky this time. He targeted a merchant company connected to the Murong Clan's third young master."

Murong Sung, the third son of the Murong Clan, was enraged that Iron-Headed Fire Axe had damaged his reputation. He made full use of both his family and his own abilities to prepare retaliation.

He gathered the clan's martial force to prepare an expedition against Iron-Steel Stronghold, then notified the Martial Alliance and received various supplies under the pretext of eliminating a villain, minimizing the expense.

It was the sort of political skill that explained why, despite the somewhat disadvantageous position of being the third son, Murong Sung was considered an equal competitor to the other two young masters.

And the group I would join at the Martial Alliance's western gate tomorrow was...

"The White Sword Squad, assigned to transport supplies for the Murong Clan's expedition against Iron-Steel Stronghold. Now you understand why the Director specifically chose you."

The deployment of Records Officers was fundamentally a covert operation. Even my observation training for the Purification Rite had an outward pretext: I was an inspector dispatched by the Alliance to ensure the rite's procedures were followed.

'Even after drawing the Black Lotus Society's attention away with an excuse like that, I still got tangled up with the Life-and-Death Gambler by pure chance. What miserable luck...'

Like the Anomaly Records Office, the Anomaly Destruction Hall had means of detecting signs of an Anomaly's appearance. Yet the convicts dispatched by the Anomaly Destruction Hall preferred killing Records Officers and securing their rulebooks over investigating Anomalies themselves.

That was why Records Officers were generally dispatched under the cover of another official matter that would not seem out of place.

I nodded. For that reason, it made sense to appoint me.

No one in the Anomaly Records Office was more familiar with the White Sword Squad than I was. The White-Robed Miracle Physician had always been a physician, while Peng Juhyeok, though from a branch family, still belonged to one of the Five Great Clans.

I was about the only one with experience scraping along at the bottom with wandering martial artists.

"Is it also because there's a chance I might get involved with Iron-Headed Fire Axe?"

"Yes. The expedition has already surrounded Iron-Steel Stronghold, but a Peak realm expert could slip out in secret and target the supply unit."

I recalled the White Sword Squad's average level. It was a dumping ground for rootless wandering martial artists, so there were few who could truly be called experts.

Once someone earned recognition as First-rate, they would usually be promoted from the White Sword Squad to a proper martial force. On average, they were Second-rate.

'I hope Jaksu comes along.'

The White Sword Squad might be considered the weakest of the Martial Alliance's martial forces, but it was still an officially recognized unit. Everyone learned at least the basics of formation arrays.

If Captain Jaksu, with his formidable martial ability, handled Iron-Headed Fire Axe while the other warriors formed an encirclement, they should be able to repel him.

If Jaksu was absent, that meant I would have to face Iron-Headed Fire Axe myself...

'Tsk.'

I would only know exactly which members of the White Sword Squad were coming after I got there. Though disappointed, I nodded.

"What Anomaly are we supposed to retrieve?"

"It isn't clear. The Heavenly Order near Hwagang Stronghold has been disturbed and the terrain warped, creating an environment suitable for an Anomaly to appear. But that doesn't guarantee one will appear."

Anomalies could reveal or conceal themselves at will. But when they sought to reveal their existence, they disturbed the laws of the present world. The amplitude of that disturbance could indicate what scale of Anomaly might emerge.

"Judging from how minor the distortion is, if one appears, it'll be a Human-grade Anomaly. The possibility of it mutating into an Earth-grade one is also low... It will likely be no higher than the martial type among Human-grade Anomalies."

As she spoke, Jade Scale pointed at a shelf. It held organized rulebooks for Anomalies whose most recent appearance records were at least three years old, Anomalies that had been inactive for quite some time.

"It would help if you read the ones organized there, starting with Human-grade Anomalies no higher than the martial type."

A long period of rest.

"It sounds like they've been hibernating."

Jade Scale nodded in agreement.

"Everyone thinks similarly. Since long ago, people have described Anomalies that stop their activities as having entered hibernation or a dormant period."

She went on to explain that if an Anomaly that opened a domain and ran rampant in the present world failed to steal enough human essence, it entered such a resting period. Over a long time, it contaminated natural qi to replenish its essence, then appeared once more.

Glancing toward the register of hibernating Anomalies, I asked, "What if it's an entirely new Anomaly that isn't on that list? How should we respond?"

"Make returning alive your highest priority."

Jade Scale's answer was swift, and all the more unexpected for it.

"Shouldn't we investigate it?"

"Our Anomaly Records Office's immediate purpose isn't to uncover the secrets of Anomalies."

The Anomaly Records Office's ultimate goal was to eliminate Anomalies and create a safe martial world, though that was impossible as long as martial artists existed.

But the immediate goal to be achieved through investigating Anomalies was not their eradication. It was to find a way for people caught in anomalous phenomena to return alive.

"If you, as the first person to encounter it, return alive, then even if recreating the circumstances proves difficult, we will have secured at least one method of surviving the Anomaly. Every Anomaly investigation begins by finding that first way to return alive."

Her advice was that exercising a martial artist's right could wait until there was truly no other option, and that I should focus on finding a way to come back alive.

The words carried a heavy weight.

"Well, the best outcome would be that I misread the Heavenly Order and no Anomaly appears at all. If you find no notable irregularities after searching for one xun, ten days, return to the Records Office."

* * *

After memorizing as many rulebooks on Human-grade Anomalies no higher than the martial type as I could, I headed to the Martial Alliance's western White Tiger Gate at the appointed time.

Before the enormous gate, I saw a group that had timidly backed away to the roadside and lined up, rather than standing in the middle of the road.

They were trying to gather with some semblance of order, yet still looked somewhat sloppy.

A smile naturally came to my face at the familiar sight of the White Sword Squad. Compared to their usual daily state, even that sloppiness was a disciplined appearance.

There were not many reasons for a group of Second-rate wandering martial artists to be nervous.

Familiar red hair moved among the lined-up members of the White Sword Squad.

Footnotes:

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