WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 221: An Unwelcome Delegation
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I had agreed, but no one told me what I was supposed to do.
Ak Byeongbi, the delegation leader, should have spoken first. Instead, he kept his mouth tightly shut and merely glared at me as though he wanted to kill me.
As I thought how fortunate it was that he had not yet reached the realm of Heart Sword...
“Oh my, do you intend to make a lady walk?”
The Flame Ghost Consort finally broke the silence.
At her shameless, playful words, the two escort warriors glanced at Ak Byeongbi before dismounting and offering her their horses.
Her eyes curved like crescent moons.
“Oh my, how kind. I only meant I wouldn't mind riding with someone.”
Her gaze and smile were seductive enough, but the escort warriors only grew more tense and kept their distance from her.
No matter how breathtakingly beautiful she was, she was still a woman who had stained her hands with blood without the slightest hesitation.
To them, with their considerable experience in the martial world, she was more than enough to warrant caution.
“...”
I approached the amateur bandits, who were still trembling off to one side.
“Are you all right?”
“...Y-yes? Ah, y-yes!”
Having had their names and life stories called out before King Yama, they were still too stunned to come to their senses.
“I know the famine has made life difficult, but banditry isn't something just anyone can do.”
How many heads of household could stand by and watch their wives and children waste away day after day? Even so, they had to stay alive if they wanted to do anything.
“Besides, now that the Black Path Alliance has formed in Shanxi Province, there's a greater chance that travelers will be martial artists. I think it would be best for you to come down from the mountains.”
“O-of course. If you spare us, we'll never become bandits again.”
I looked over the amateur bandits.
Every one of them had hollow cheeks. They truly seemed to have endured until they had no choice but to take to the mountains.
I took a pouch of silver coins from my robes and handed it to them.
Yet the amateur bandits only waved their hands, with no intention of accepting it.
“No, no. We'll never target another person's luggage again.”
I forcibly took their hands and pressed the pouch into them.
“Use this to feed your families first.”
It was a fairly heavy pouch of silver. It should fill not only their families' bellies, but also those of starving people in their village.
Looking at the amateur bandits who could not bring themselves to close their fingers around the pouch, I added, “Besides, some people died, didn't they? You should at least give them a modest funeral.”
“...”
At last, one of the amateur bandits gripped the pouch tightly.
Just as the mood was beginning to warm, the bandit hesitantly spoke up.
“B-but... those people actually aren't with us.”
“What?”
“They're with those two over there.”
“...”
Their faces had been smashed in and their heads split open, so I had not recognized them. They were actually companions of the Flame Ghost Consort and Blood Brawl.
“We thought something was strange too, so we weren't blocking the road. Then they suddenly started fighting among themselves, and it ended up like that...”
What was this?
Even if they were vicious Black Path magnates, why would they suddenly beat their own companions to death?
And why had they dragged these amateur bandits into a hostage situation?
“...I-if that's the case, you don't have to give us this...”
The amateur bandit cautiously held out the money pouch again.
I looked at the bandit. “...It's fine. Take it and buy some rice for the starving people in your village.”
Then I turned my gaze to the Flame Ghost Consort and Blood Brawl.
The price they had demanded for sparing those amateur bandits was simply that we travel together.
‘What are they plotting...?’
I could not understand what they were thinking at all.
‘Are they perverts who get pleasure from killing people after making them their companions?’
It seemed possible.
Why else would they be Black Path martial artists?
Common sense and all that meant nothing to them. They were Black Path because they lived however their instincts pleased.
And those two were the worst lunatics among lunatics.
They could easily have such perverse tendencies.
As the unsettling thought made me shudder, a clear voice called out.
“Young Master! It looks like we're leaving now!”
The Flame Ghost Consort called to me as though she had always been part of our group.
I brushed aside the pounding in my head and mounted my horse.
#
This was only the third time Ak Byeongbi had seen Grand Strategist Jegal Somyeong from this close since joining the Martial Alliance.
The previous two times, they had been seated a table's length apart, and he had not even dared think of approaching.
Even seated before such a frightening person, he could not stop the question that burst out.
[Is this... a punishment?]
He had been ordered to join the Martial Alliance delegation traveling to the Black Alliance. Forgetting that the person before him was Jegal Somyeong of the Mantong Office, Ak Byeongbi asked a question he knew was rude.
Rustle.
Jegal Somyeong, who had been drinking tea, lifted their wrinkled eyelids and looked at Ak Byeongbi.
In that instant, Ak Byeongbi shuddered, feeling as though his insides had been laid bare.
[Why do you think that?]
The words of someone who sat at an unimaginable height and moved the world carried a different weight, even when they were only a simple question.
Overcome by a fear he had never felt before, Ak Byeongbi swallowed hard.
He had already asked, so he could not take it back.
At last, he forced out a reply.
[Because the mission to form an alliance with the Black Alliance is certain to fail... No, because it seems highly likely to fail.]
[Hmm...]
Jegal Somyeong closed their eyes for a moment and savored the aroma of the tea.
Then they slowly raised their head.
[I know. I know it will fail.]
Though Jegal Somyeong had not raised any energy at all, an indescribably immense pressure flowed from them.
The safety of the world depended on every word they spoke.
[And the Alliance will not judge you for failing at something it expects to fail.]
There was no scheme hidden in Jegal Somyeong's words.
They were a ruthless person who did not lean toward any faction within the Alliance. They had been cold enough even toward their own family.
Even so, Ak Byeongbi could not understand why someone from the Inspectorate had to go to the Black Alliance.
When Ak Byeongbi's eyes remained troubled, Jegal Somyeong added, [Hmm... Think of it as a punishment. Regardless of the result, it remains true that you provoked Jin Sowoon and used the Inspectorate's authority for personal gain.]
Gulp.
Jegal Somyeong's eyes felt like daggers stabbing through Ak Byeongbi's entire body.
As expected, Jegal Somyeong knew everything.
[You have been appointed delegation leader, but there is little for you to do. Attempt negotiations appropriately, and if they fail, simply return.]
Still, was this not too serious a matter to let pass like this?
As that thought crossed his mind, Jegal Somyeong continued.
[Once you leave the Martial Alliance, though, follow whatever Jin Sowoon wants to do. That is precisely why I chose you.]
[...]
Recalling his private audience with Jegal Somyeong, Ak Byeongbi squeezed his eyes shut.
‘What could the Grand Strategist possibly be thinking?’
The result of following Jin Sowoon's wishes, as the Grand Strategist had ordered, was the addition of Blood Brawl and an unidentified woman.
He could not understand Jegal Somyeong's intentions.
If the Grand Strategist wanted a figurehead leader, there were plenty of other candidates.
There had to be people favorable toward Jin Sowoon. Why choose someone like him, who held a grudge against Jin Sowoon...?
‘Could it be... that they concealed an intention behind this as well?’
The order to follow Jin Sowoon's wishes without question surely meant he was to judge what sort of intentions Jin Sowoon harbored.
And by observing those intentions, he could learn whether Jin Sowoon was a Black Path spy who had infiltrated the Alliance while concealing his true purpose.
Come to think of it, it was simple.
Why had a member of the Inspectorate, which was hostile to the Black Path, been included in the delegation?
In the end, was this not a secret order to find the spy?
‘That's it!’
Ak Byeongbi turned to look at Jin Sowoon.
He seemed completely at ease despite having Black Path magnates beside him. Could such natural behavior be possible without growing up alongside Black Path martial artists from childhood?
What was more, when Jin Sowoon had fought Blood Brawl, Blood Brawl had seemed to recognize the swordsmanship Jin Sowoon used.
Even these clues were suspicious beyond measure.
As if sensing his suspicious gaze, Jin Sowoon pointed at the woman and said, “Delegation Leader, do you perhaps like this lady?”
“Oh my?”
Ak Byeongbi could not hide his dumbfounded expression.
“...What nonsense are you talking about?”
Jin Sowoon shrugged.
“You keep looking this way. Let me offer you some advice. Give up on her. She's a very frightening person.”
“Y-you! I'll kill you!”
Ak Byeongbi ground his teeth, but Jin Sowoon and the woman paid him no attention.
The woman instead wrapped both arms around herself and struck a coquettish pose.
“Young Master! What are you saying? I'm so weak and delicate...”
Jin Sowoon did not let her get away with it.
“What a ridiculous joke.”
“Oh my! Was I found out?”
Look at that. How could an elite disciple from a renowned White Path sect casually trade jokes with Black Path martial artists?
‘I will expose your true face during this journey!’
As Ak Byeongbi ground his teeth, one of the escort warriors approached and offered him a waterskin.
“...What is this?”
“Your face looked red, so I thought you might be hot.”
“I am not!”
“...Ah, yes...”
#
- What the hell are you thinking?
At first, I answered Ak Byeongbi's questions honestly.
- We can't just let people die, can we?
- This is a Martial Alliance delegation! Black Path martial artists cannot be part of it!
Before long, I realized that he was not asking because he wanted answers. He just wanted to berate me.
- Come to think of it, you seem to know Blood Brawl's identity. How did you learn of it?
- You really were a Black Path spy, weren't you?
- Why aren't you answering?
- You really were a Black Path spy, right? Right?
Ah, this was driving me crazy.
If someone didn't answer, there had to be a reason. Why did he keep pressing me for an answer that was never going to come?
I sharply turned to face Ak Byeongbi.
“If you're so dissatisfied with them following us, tell them yourself!”
I had spoken loudly enough that the Flame Ghost Consort and Blood Brawl both turned their attention toward us.
“...!”
Ak Byeongbi glared at me murderously, then urged his horse forward.
At that moment, Dang Seohui trotted over beside me.
“...Are those two the axis of evil? If I kill them, will justice be restored to the martial world?”
Haa... What was wrong with her now?
I warned Dang Seohui, “Never! Never! Never strike at those two first. Never! Never! Never!”
Blood Brawl aside, the Flame Ghost Consort was far too bad a match for Dang Seohui.
The Flame Ghost Consort's fire energy, which she accumulated and used through the Yin-Yang Grand Art, differed fundamentally from ordinary yang-energy martial arts.
She absorbed only the hottest energy men possessed, making her firepower stronger than that of ordinary yang-energy martial arts. The energy she wielded internally was so powerful that it could burn away almost any poison.
She was the very nemesis of the Tang Clan.
And there was no need to say anything about Blood Brawl.
He had likely already attained immunity to all poisons.
“...Why can't I perform chivalrous deeds?”
Dang Seohui puffed out her cheeks expressionlessly.
“...Let's find some suitable amateur thugs once we reach an inn.”
I just had to find someone who would make a decent target for her chopsticks, right?
The Flame Ghost Consort was pretty enough to draw fools in.
After throwing her chopsticks a few times and saying a few lines, Dang Seohui would probably lose interest in this too.
Children were always like that, weren't they?
Of course, it was a little strange to think that when she was two years older than me.
At this point, I could not tell whether I had joined a delegation or taken a picnic with disobedient children of every age.
At least Ilmyeong was a relatively normal person, which was a relief.
I was grateful enough that he did not openly show hostility toward Blood Brawl and the Flame Ghost Consort.
‘Where did that man go, anyway?’
The bald man who usually trailed after Ak Byeongbi was nowhere to be seen. I looked around and spotted a flash of sunlight reflected from behind us.
He was riding beside the Flame Ghost Consort and Blood Brawl.
‘What is he doing?’
I sharpened my hearing and focused on their conversation.
“...And so, the Buddha abandoned all the wealth and splendor of the secular world, then sat beneath the Bodhi tree and entered meditation. After that...”
What were you doing? Proselytizing at a time like this? To Black Path magnates, no less?
When I looked at him, Ilmyeong met my gaze and smiled as brightly as his shining head.
“Ah! Benefactor Jin. We were having a fine conversation. Would you like to listen as well? Junior Brother Ilgak told me that your faith is lacking.”
Even the Flame Ghost Consort and Blood Brawl were looking at Ilmyeong as if he were insane.
To receive that look from those crazy people... Was Shaolin Sect's greatest prodigy simply built differently?
Haa...
They said sighing too often drove away good fortune.
At this rate, I would lose even the little luck I had left.
Footnotes:
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