WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Haruto
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Alliance Rulebook Archives ◈
Chapter 85: New Recruits and New Recruit Orientation (2)
──────
The day after I expressed my intention to accompany Zhuge Byeok on his Anomaly investigation, I found him lingering around the Preservation Archive, the entrance to the Anomaly Records Office.
“...What are you doing?”
“Ah, Young Hero Yeok! Or should I call you Senior Yeok now?”
I waved a hand to stop him. I was younger, for one thing, and what could I gain by throwing my weight around as a workplace senior before a child of a great clan?
“Just call me whatever feels comfortable. It is more efficient.”
“Efficient...?”
The Anomaly Records Office was fundamentally an equal workplace with no particular hierarchy apart from the Director. There was a distinction between seniors and juniors, but judging by the way Peng Juhyeok called Jade Scale old, it was little more than a distinction. No one received special treatment for it.
I guessed efficiency was the origin of that culture.
“Do you think Anomalies will arrange their attacks according to rank? If you waste time choosing titles and speech levels in an urgent situation, you will get stabbed and die. So we simply settled on using whatever titles are comfortable.”
“Ah. So saying, ‘Move!’ is faster and simpler than, ‘Please move aside!’ It is an understanding that, when needed, practical concerns take priority over formality...”
“Exactly. So please call me as you did before.”
“Then I shall call you Young Hero Yeok.”
“Yes, Brother Zhuge.”
Even after we had settled on suitable forms of address, Zhuge Byeok continued inspecting the shelves of the Preservation Archive for quite some time. Eventually, I spoke again.
“So what are you doing?”
“Is this structure not fascinating? What sort of construction changes the formation array password every day, then whispers it to people?”
“Ah.”
It certainly was.
To enter the underground Anomaly Records Office, one had to lift books from the Preservation Archive shelves in a particular order.
When the correct books were touched in the correct sequence, the shelves slid open and revealed a hidden staircase. The books that had to be lifted, as well as their order, changed every day.
That was where the most mysterious aspect of this mechanism formation lay. If one stood near the entrance shelves, it distinguished Records Officers from outsiders and relayed the altered password only to Records Officers in a manner similar to voice transmission.
As the direct heir of the Zhuge Clan, Zhuge Byeok could hardly help finding such an unusual arrangement fascinating.
As I watched his eyes gleam, I realized they were not merely shining figuratively. They were actually glowing.
“Are you using an eye technique?”
“Ah, I am. It is a method developed by the Zhuge Clan for analyzing formation arrays. It differs somewhat from the Martial Alliance standard Eye Art, but it influenced its creation. Perhaps you could call it its ancestor?”
I see. Great clans had their own eye techniques.
After all, seeing well was important enough in a fight that the Martial Alliance had established a standard Eye Art and attempted to distribute it. It would not be strange for a great clan to have passed down its own secret methods.
“Do other sects and clans also have their own eye techniques?”
“Hmm. As far as I know, most physical-training methods include training for the eyes as part of the whole. It is rare to distinguish it separately as an eye technique. The Zhuge Clan pays particular attention to the eyes because we must analyze formation arrays. Apart from us, perhaps the Tang Clan?”
They trained their eyes to detect minute poison scattered through the air, or to better discern the locations of hidden weapons dulled with ash to kill their shine.
The means was the same, an eye technique, but the purposes were completely different.
Perhaps that was the difference between the clan closest to the Martial Alliance and the clan farthest from it.
“Tsk. This does not seem like a structure I can understand after looking at it for a day or two.”
“Yes. It is almost time for work, so let us go down first.”
Jade Scale was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, holding a booklet.
I thought I knew what it was. During the Azurewater Village investigation, we had also been given a summary of testimony and information to read before departure. This was probably a similar reference.
“Zhuge Byeok.”
Calling Zhuge Byeok in her usual voice, she handed him the booklet in an ordinary hand-to-hand exchange after he approached her.
I recalled the first time I had received an Anomaly investigation assignment.
‘That special physician tossed the book at me like a concealed weapon.’
That was why the Eccentric Physician was called eccentric. Their strange conduct showed through in everyday behavior.
“The primary objective of an Anomaly investigation is eliminating the Anomaly in question. However, withdraw whenever necessary according to your judgment at the scene. Records Officer Yeok will accompany you, but unless there is a particular crisis, they will not intervene.”
“Senior Ok, if Brother Zhuge is a renowned rising talent, would I not also be in danger if something is dangerous enough to threaten him?”
“Martial skill and experience fighting Anomalies are not the same thing.”
Even as she said that, Jade Scale added that she understood my concern.
“If it truly is a new Anomaly for which no rulebook has even been written, retreat immediately. But I do not think you need worry too much. Every testimony points to Kunming Lake. It is an extremely peaceful place.”
Kunming Lake?
The final character in its name meant pond. Was it some kind of reservoir?
* * *
Jade Scale advised us not to go outside and strain our eyes reading the investigation briefing, but to read it inside the Records Office first.
This differed from my time as well. Peng Juhyeok had dragged me along while I squinted at the pages.
I grumbled internally about Peng Juhyeok's rough newcomer training while waiting for Zhuge Byeok to finish the investigation briefing.
The booklet was not particularly thick, and Zhuge Byeok soon stood up.
“What sort of case is it?”
“From the stories alone, it seems similar to the legend of Peach Blossom Spring. Though it is not the sort of immortal revelry that leaves your axe handle rotted away. You return home after, at most, around ten days, so it sounds wholesome enough.”
Stamped on the cover of Zhuge Byeok's booklet were the words 『A Travelogue of the Lingbo Mountains』.
I kept comparing it to my old Anomaly investigation, but had my first investigation briefing not borne some grim title like 『The Strange Occurrence at Azurewater Village』?
‘Why did I get a strange occurrence while he gets a travelogue?’
I suppressed the rising feeling of relative deprivation. It was a good thing if the place we were going together was safe.
“It contains testimony from elderly villagers who lived near the Lingbo Mountains. Though they are called mountains, the terrain is neither especially deep nor steep, so local scholars often visited to escape the summer heat...”
“Ah. You do not need to report to me.”
Remembering Peng Juhyeok's attitude, I told him that the method of conducting an Anomaly investigation was entirely the responsibility of the investigator. As long as they could handle it themselves, they were free to use any method they wished.
“Oh? Is that so?”
* * *
Zhuge Byeok's method was certainly different from mine or Peng Juhyeok's.
More precisely, it was a method neither Peng Juhyeok nor I could use.
I was merely an unaffiliated wandering martial artist without a patron, while Peng Juhyeok was nominally part of a great clan but belonged to a collateral branch. Because of his temperament, the clan practically treated him as a child it had cast off.
But Zhuge Byeok was from the direct line!
He summoned one of the clan's retainers and gave an instruction.
“I am thinking of taking a trip to the Lingbo Mountains. Make the arrangements.”
At a single command backed by a great clan young master's authority, all transportation to the Lingbo Mountains was arranged and lodgings prepared.
‘What have all my Anomaly investigations until now even been?’
What about the days when I rode horses through sheer grit to meet the schedule for a Purification Rite, barely borrowing shelter from Martial Alliance branches?
I continued toward the Lingbo Mountains amid a prosperity I had never experienced before.
A smooth carriage, comfortable lodgings, and a feast of delicacies from land and sea whenever we entered a city.
‘How can an Anomaly investigation be like this?’
Was this really an Anomaly investigation?
Just as I was beginning to feel a sense of dissonance, we arrived at a village at the foot of the Lingbo Mountains.
“What do we normally do next?”
“Hmm. Usually, we mingle with people at a tavern or Traveller's Inn and listen for news. If it involves a murder, we sometimes use the dangerous method of stealing official investigation reports, but this is not that kind of case. It should be enough to listen to what people have to say.”
“Making inquiries. Good. I shall prepare.”
Then Zhuge Byeok rented out an entire tavern and summoned people. Forget discretion, he made a grand spectacle of it.
“Greetings! This Zhuge fellow has long enjoyed traveling the land in search of mysterious and strange tales!”
He played the part of an addlebrained young master from a prestigious family perfectly. He was exactly the rich fool who had heard a rumor that something mysterious lay in the Lingbo Mountains and arrived with a grand procession.
“I hear this mountain range conceals a wondrous hidden realm splendid enough for immortals to visit! If anyone can tell me of it, I shall reward them handsomely!”
He announced that those who shared their experiences would receive small pieces of silver, those who gave directions would receive larger pieces, and those who accompanied him as guides would receive a silver ingot.
“And if it truly is a divine place as beautiful as Peach Blossom Spring, where time passes so swiftly that a day there equals ten days in the mortal world, then I shall reward the person who gifted me this delightful experience with gold!”
What was investigative legwork to Zhuge Byeok?
He had gold.
Footnotes:
“Peach Blossom Spring” is a legendary hidden utopia. The rotted axe handle refers to an old tale in which time passes unnoticed while a woodcutter watches immortals play.
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
