WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Haruto
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Alliance Rulebook Archives ◈
Chapter 50: The Pursuers (3)
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Iron-Headed Fire Axe cursed under his breath.
“Fuck...!”
It was understandable. The First-rate Green Forest bandits, the elite of Iron-Steel Stronghold he had brought along with such confidence, had been torn apart and killed by an unknown creature.
Still, this was no time to overlook a few choice words.
Our party, tracking the Lamp-Extinguishing Executioner, had also lost someone to the creature.
“Shut your mouth, you damned bandit.”
One of Murong Sung's guest retainers had been killed by an Anomaly. Though that retainer had been the least skilled among Murong Sung's men, they had still been one of his subordinates. Anger was clear in Murong Sung's voice.
“Are you done talking, brat?”
“If you hadn't done something so foolish!”
I held out a hand between them. Both Iron-Headed Fire Axe and Murong Sung fell silent at my gesture.
“Quiet for a moment. We might miss its sound.”
They both nodded obediently. I reflected on how things had come to this.
* * *
The pursuit of the Lamp-Extinguishing Executioner had gone smoothly.
Just as Murong Sung had promised, his guest retainers were experts.
The Lamp-Extinguishing Executioner was also an expert, but the tracking party held an overwhelming advantage because the target did not even know about the tracking incense.
I hadn't told the others, but my own sense of smell pointed in the same direction as the tracking party. It was a useful cross-check.
After the first night, though, I sensed that something had gone wrong.
Both the trail of tracking incense the guest retainers were following and the Anomaly's scent I had been following had grown faint.
“It seems the target entered a river or something similar.”
The Peak-realm expert with the greatest martial skill among the retainers reported respectfully to Murong Sung.
“Then?”
“We can track the Lamp-Extinguishing Executioner as far as where the target likely stayed last night, but finding anything beyond that will be difficult.”
After hearing the report, Murong Sung signaled to me with his eyes. It probably meant he would defer to my decision. He'd seemed to respect me a little too much since last time...
‘What could he possibly be thinking?’
“From what Young Master Murong explained, the target wasn't even covered in properly prepared tracking incense. You should be praised for tracking this far.”
I raised the party's spirits with some suitable flattery, then continued.
“Let's first go to the area and see what traces remain.”
There were several reasons. If the assassin had used the place as a hideout, the terrain would likely have been suited for a counterattack or escape. It would also be an appropriate place to fight Iron-Headed Fire Axe, whom Murong Sung had drawn out here.
Even an assassin would likely drop Face-Changing Art, Form-Hiding Art, and Covert Movement Art at a hideout, focusing instead on recovering internal energy. That made it an ideal place to read the traces left behind.
“Traces?”
“Your guest retainers likely know this better than I do, but even if someone uses Form-Altering Art, they rarely pay attention to details like the size of their feet or the length of their stride. Gathering even small clues like these will help later.”
Murong Sung exchanged voice transmissions with his retainers. Soon afterward, he nodded and ordered the pursuit to continue.
On the second day of tracking the Lamp-Extinguishing Executioner, we reached the place where the target had likely stayed before half the day had passed.
“This is the place. The scent is faint, though, so we likely won't be able to determine exactly where the target hid.”
It was a quiet mountain village. A small stream ran nearby, enough to water the rice paddies and fields. I immediately guessed where the Lamp-Extinguishing Executioner had washed before fleeing.
The village chief was frightened when armed martial artists suddenly arrived, but Murong Sung's silver soon put the chief at ease.
“Something unusual? No one was injured or missing... Ah, now that you mention it, a few chickens did disappear. We thought perhaps a fox had appeared.”
Murong Sung had erased the villagers' wariness with silver. After receiving the village chief's permission, though it was more of a notification than a request, Murong Sung began searching the village.
As I moved among them, I called everyone over, saying that I might have found something.
A lingering scent remained. It was the Anomaly's lingering scent, that familiar smell of fried chicken.
We were far closer to the source than yesterday, yet the scent had weakened. Something must have happened to the Anomaly itself.
The scent led to an earthen cave dug into the corner of a terraced rice paddy. Its entrance had been carefully concealed with rocks and piled soil, making it difficult to notice.
Even I would have struggled to spot it if I hadn't used the scent as a guide and enhanced my vision with an eye technique.
‘So I can distinguish soil that has remained untouched for a long time from soil that was recently dug up.’
My eye technique seemed to have become more effective as my martial skill improved.
“We will enter first.”
The guest retainers volunteered to take the lead. I gave a light nod. The scent had already told me there was no particular danger inside.
The earthen cave was quite well designed.
There was a hidden exit that couldn't be seen from the angle we entered, making it easy to escape. It was also spacious enough for one person to stand upright and even stretch.
“Huh, they even made a smoke vent. They may have intended to lie low here for several days.”
I followed the scent.
“Chicken?”
Uh...
The Fuxi I had seen before was the kind of Anomaly with a human head attached to a chicken's body, but the chicken corpses abandoned in this earthen cave were ordinary chickens.
As I stared into one corner of the cave, the others' gazes naturally followed mine.
“It seems the fox the village chief mentioned was actually a person.”
One of the guest retainers joked. Something felt off to me. If someone stole chickens, it would usually be for food.
Yet none of the chicken carcasses scattered here showed any sign of having been eaten.
I picked up one that was especially large among the remains. A murmur spread through the watching guest retainers.
The chicken I held was clearly abnormal. It had three heads, with parts torn from the other chickens nearby and attached to it.
It was the source of the faint fried chicken smell.
‘What is this? Did someone make handicrafts out of living creatures?’
I inspected the chicken closely. Aside from the two heads the Lamp-Extinguishing Executioner had grafted onto it, the neckbone of the middle head, the one that seemed to be the chicken's original head, was broken.
‘It must have been dying already, which is why the scent had weakened.’
As I studied the Three-Headed Chicken, all three of its heads entered my view at once.
Three heads.
Six eyes.
The name Many-Eyed Court naturally came to mind.
‘Is that why?’
A group that used Anomalies which strayed from the forms they were supposed to resemble and possessed even more eyes. If that was why they were called the Many-Eyed Court...
‘The Three-Headed Chicken is an Anomaly used by the Lamp-Extinguishing Executioner. That means the Anomaly Senior Jade detected is a separate one.’
“What is that?”
Murong Sung approached and asked. The Anomaly Records Office taught several stock phrases for situations like this.
“It appears to be an ingredient the target needs to perform sorcery.”
The time-honored strategy of saying that whatever it was, it was sorcery. Murong Sung nodded.
“I have heard that some sorcerers of the Left Path use animal blood and such to perform strange arts. I see...”
Murong Sung gestured to the guest retainers, then told me, “Take it to the Martial Alliance and report it.” The retainers handed me a small wooden case.
It appeared to be a case used to hold catalysts needed for tracking arts, but it was large enough to hold the chicken remains as well.
I thanked them, then searched the earthen cave further, but found no additional clues.
We made rubbings of the footprints left in the cave, but to make use of such information, we would ultimately need to return to the Martial Alliance's main headquarters.
We decided to return to the main camp.
Iron-Headed Fire Axe attacked that night.
* * *
“Damned brat! Hand over your neck!”
“Hah, you finally crawled out. They say your head is that hard. Let's see whether it's harder than a blade.”
It was a chaotic fight, but the advantage was clearly ours. While Murong Sung held Iron-Headed Fire Axe off and bought time, his guest retainers eliminated the bandits one by one with coordinated attacks.
“You dare set a trap for me!”
“I knew a blockhead like you would fall for it!”
Iron-Headed Fire Axe's true skill was more than half a step above Murong Sung's, but conditions were against Iron-Headed Fire Axe this time. Murong Sung's guest retainers were attacking together, and I was moving to strike from behind.
“So the Martial Alliance used underhanded means to capture this old man!”
Iron-Headed Fire Axe sighed and swung the axe wide. The attack had not been aimed at anyone from the beginning, but at the ground.
A deep rumble shook the surroundings. The spreading shockwave broke the precise cohesion of the guest retainers' Coordinated Attack Formation.
The trapped bandits found a way out.
But that alone was not enough. To overturn the disadvantageous battle, Iron-Headed Fire Axe needed something more decisive to turn the tide. Something like a hostage.
Every member of the tracking party gathered here was a martial artist. None of us were weak enough to be easily taken hostage.
Murong Sung and I exchanged glances. Without a word, we agreed to finish Iron-Headed Fire Axe here.
Then Iron-Headed Fire Axe saw something. Eyes widening, the bandit shouted.
“Boys! The treasure those bastards cherish is over there! Bring it here at once!”
‘Treasure?’
There was no way we had anything like that. We had come prepared for a life-and-death duel with the Lamp-Extinguishing Executioner. It would have been strange to carry anything valuable.
Was this a ploy to distract us?
Admiring the experienced Peak-realm expert's stratagem, I didn't take my eyes off Iron-Headed Fire Axe. Then I heard a bandit shout.
“I, I got it, Stronghold Chief!”
“Ha ha ha! Well done! Look, you little brats! If you don't want this destroyed, withdraw at once!”
There really was something? I glanced over.
The bandit held the wooden case containing the Three-Headed Chicken. Murong Sung had wrapped it in a silk cloth for easier carrying, so the bandit must have mistaken it for something valuable.
I stepped forward and shouted.
“Then break it. Do you think it will be destroyed faster, or that we will take your life faster?”
“Hmph, all talk. Show them a little of our strength!”
With a “Hyaah!” the bandit crushed the wooden case in both hands. At the same time, a confused “Huh?” escaped.
The box had not contained something impressive like jade or a secret martial manual. It had only held a dried-out chicken.
“What is this...?”
The moment the bandit touched one of the Three-Headed Chicken's heads, a drop of blood running down the bandit's arm touched the creature.
The smell of fried chicken grew stronger.
“Wait! Stop!”
I shouted on reflex the moment I sensed danger.
“Ha ha ha! We are Green Forest heroes who do what we say! Drop your weapons at once and take three steps back!”
Thinking the threat had worked, the bandit clutched the chicken by the neck and proudly held it up. White chicken feathers were stained red with blood.
Suddenly, life returned to the Three-Headed Chicken's eyes.
Crack. Its broken neckbone returned to its proper place.
“Huh?”
Ignoring the bandit's confused cry, the three heads released an ominous chorus.
Cock-a-doodle-doo!
Cock-a-doodle-doo─!
Cock-a-doodle-doo──!
The chicken crowed. The shadows cast over the forest deepened.
With a cockcrow cutting through the dark night rather than the dawn, a new scent rose.
It was getting closer!
“Damn it! Everyone, get back!”
The beast that burst from the shade beneath the trees devoured the Three-Headed Chicken along with the bandit's arm.
Footnotes:
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