WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Haruto

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◈ The Martial Alliance Rulebook Archives ◈

Chapter 42: Among Us (2)

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After secretly rigging the drawing of lots with Jaksu, I was assigned the second watch from the outset.

‘Of all times, the second watch.’

It was an awkward hour to either sleep or stay awake. Still, for me, it was better to get even one quarter-hour of sleep.

Even a brief rest with every bit of tension released did wonders for efficiency.

‘The problem is, I don't think I'll be able to sleep while I'm this tense...’

I might die tonight if things went wrong. I had volunteered to serve as bait, but that did not make it any less frightening.

I closed my eyes and relaxed my body, repeating a line I had grown sick of seeing in rulebooks.

‘Exercise your martial artist's right.’

If someone was after our lives, shouldn't we stake our lives and fight...?

* * *

"Yeok, wake up."

"...Ugh?"

"Yeok, wake up. It's time to switch shifts. You really sleep well."

"Ah, already?"

I got up and gathered my blanket. Sleep must have come more quickly than I expected.

‘Is it because I only pretended to sleep and stayed up all night yesterday...?’

"It's a shame I can't sleep longer. Hand me the lantern."

"Here."

The lantern I received was still warm. Well, the other watchstander had probably kept it burning throughout the shift.

After bidding each other good night and farewell, I headed to the center of the camp to collect oil for my lantern.

Jaksu stood there with a grim expression.

[Once I finish my shift and go to sleep, keep a close watch.]

I sent a voice transmission while receiving the oil. Jaksu replied through voice transmission while speaking aloud.

"You got up at an awkward time. Don't get drowsy."

[But are you sure? You want me to attack without question?]

"After two incidents like this, do you think I'd let my guard down?"

[I'll handle the aftermath. Give them a taste of Captain Jaksu's Blazing Sun Palm.]

We looked at each other and nodded.

Nothing unusual happened during my night watch. The only incident worth mentioning was when the person on duty with me spotted something moving in the bushes and immediately threw a knife.

It turned out to be a deer. Sadly, we would not be eating venison.

To prepare a wild animal for food, we first had to drain its blood. If those on night watch started butchering it, that would leave fewer people to guard the camp.

The person who had killed the deer with a single throwing knife clicked their tongue regretfully.

"Ha, normally we'd wake the cooking attendant and have the meat carved up right away."

"Normally? We don't have one now?"

"Oh, they came with us. But we'd have to take the deer somewhere secluded to drain the blood without waking everyone. Two people have already died during the night, so the Captain won't allow anyone to go off alone."

That made sense. Jaksu could be flexible when needed, but he was not the type to create unnecessary risks in a situation like this.

We made several rounds of the camp and finished our patrol.

My lantern went out once along the way, but I immediately returned to the center and relit it.

I handed the extinguished lantern to the next person on duty, then returned to my spot and lay down.

Maybe it was because I had gotten a little sleep before standing night watch and taken in the night air, but sleep did not come easily this time.

That was better. From now on, I had to pretend to sleep. I held my breath and spread out my qi sense.

I estimated the time.

There were no wristwatches in the martial world, and even if there had been, I could not open my eyes to look at one.

So I used myself as a tool. I focused and counted my heartbeats.

One, two, three, four...

At roughly one beat every 0.6 seconds, one minute came to a hundred beats.

I counted to a hundred ten times.

Vooooom-!

Something blazing hot and powerful burst outward in a qi wave. My eyes flew open.

"Damn it, Captain! Have you lost your mind?!"

The White Sword Squad members standing night watch cried out in shock. Ignoring the commotion behind me, I grabbed my sword and stared into the heart of the flames.

A human silhouette flickered within.

They had come.

* * *

"What's the meaning of this, Captain Jaksu?!"

Supervisor Deung had barely managed to evade the Blazing Sun Palm. They hurriedly beat out the flames that had caught on their sleeve as they shouted. Jaksu only stared at Supervisor Deung with deep-set eyes.

"Did you mistake me for the killer? I understand how that could happen. Fortunately, my bones and sinews weren't injured..."

"No."

I cut Supervisor Deung off. My blade was already drawn. Against an expert, even the instant spent drawing a sheathed blade was precious.

"Captain Jaksu didn't make any mistake. You're the culprit."

"Researcher Yeok, what are you talking about now? Didn't I examine the bodies with you?"

Supervisor Deung protested passionately, as if wronged. They said we had checked everything together, from estimating the time of death through livor mortis to the marks of a palm strike through the air left on the chest.

"Right. But here's the thing."

That was exactly what had made me suspicious of Supervisor Deung.

"A palm strike through the air normally consumes more internal energy the farther away the target is, and it becomes easier to sense its presence. If the killer had truly killed Daebok with a palm strike through the air from so far away that we could not see them, someone among us should have sensed the qi wave."

It was similar to the Blazing Sun Palm Jaksu had just unleashed. The palm wind he fired with all that internal energy had startled every White Sword Squad member awake.

"But what if the force was released directly against the victim's skin, enough to damage their organs? Since no power would disperse outward, it would be much easier to hide the qi wave."

"You think I used a palm strike through the air while examining that White Sword Squad member's body? Why would I do that?"

I tightened my grip on the blade. I had no intention of swinging it. I was preparing to throw it.

"The timing was too convenient. Jaksu suspected poison, and you pressed on the chest before telling us to feel it."

"I only said that the traces left on the corpse made it more likely that the victim had been killed by another method."

I could not help but sneer.

"That could be true. But you didn't investigate poison at all during the examination."

"Unless I carry silver needles around, how exactly was I supposed to test for poison?"

"You said that because martial artists often get caught up in incidents and accused of being the culprit, you had learned all sorts of skills. Isn't it stranger for someone that cautious not to carry even one silver needle, something any Martial Alliance member could easily obtain?"

If someone died suddenly and someone else was accused of murder, proving that the death had been caused by poison rather than some bizarre martial technique would let the accused clear themselves of suspicion.

"And you ordered the body buried right away so it couldn't be examined any further. It made it seem as if you had completed a professional examination while keeping anyone from getting close to the truth."

Supervisor Deung's face twisted as though they had been grievously wronged, and they shouted with all their strength.

"Then tell me, everyone! Why would I harm fellow Alliance members?!"

Now the question was motive. Everything I had presented so far was circumstantial evidence. There was no decisive physical proof that Supervisor Deung was the true culprit.

The truth was, I did not know their motive either.

But I had an idea about their identity.

"I've met several so-called experts from the unorthodox sects."

"...What? Are you saying I look like some unorthodox scum? How dare you slander me like that!"

"I don't know whether it's a trait of experts or of the unorthodox sects, but they're desperate to prove themselves. They want to subtly show off, as if saying, 'I'm here.'"

If the Human-Skin Chef had not worked in the kitchen while wearing a human-skin mask, there would have been no clue by which to identify them.

If the Life-and-Death Gambler had not urged people to gamble, how could I have known her identity?

I guessed that becoming an expert gave one a certain obsession. A quirk born from the martial arts one had built up, from one's entire life.

Just as a Daoist shuns fire qi and a monk shuns meat other than the Three Pure Meats. Perhaps an obsession or conviction strong enough to devote one's life to was the first step toward reaching a higher realm.

Since those obsessions were forged from their own lives, the orthodox sects displayed them in relatively restrained forms, while the unorthodox sects displayed them in stranger and crueler ways.

And I knew this person's quirk.

"Your name foretold when and why you would kill."

Deung, lamp.

So, extinguish.

Jol, die.

When the lantern is extinguished, someone dies.

Lamp-Extinguishing Executioner.

"That was fucking obvious. You lunatic."

"Huh...!"

A sound rang out, impossible to tell whether it was a sigh or an exclamation of admiration. I slowly and clearly asked again.

"You choose people who let their lantern flames go out midway through their night watch because of an outside force, such as the wind, rather than naturally after all the oil is used up, then kill them. That's your rule, isn't it?"

"A little disappointing."

The Lamp-Extinguishing Executioner grinned and shook their head.

"I intended to kill everyone who stood night watch in the end. After all, they all put out their lanterns when their watch is over. Anyone lucky enough never to be assigned night watch would have survived."

The Lamp-Extinguishing Executioner explained with a smile that, strictly speaking, the rule was that those who put out their lanterns midway through their night watch died first.

"What did you come here for?"

"What assassin would reveal that?"

Still smiling, the assassin sprang at us.

Footnotes:

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