WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Satori
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Wanderer of the Martial World ◈
Chapter 2
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“Name.”
Before the main gate of the Azure Balance Gate, the same clerk from earlier spoke in a stiff voice.
“Hwang Jeong-un.”
“Hwang Jeong-un... Second Grade.”
The old clerk confirmed that I was Second Grade, then raised his eyes slightly to look me over.
Then he checked the badge I had placed on the table.
“Hmph.”
Looking displeased, the clerk took out a pouch.
It was not even his money, yet he acted as though it pained him to part with it.
When he opened the pouch right there, I saw five silver coins inside.
I tucked the coins into my clothes, collected my badge, and turned away.
“Hey! Jeong-un!”
I heard someone call my name as I was leaving and turned around.
“Brother Yi.”
A smile came to my face without my realizing it.
He was Yi Pyeong, and he was also my benefactor.
Back when I was an unranked wandering martial artist, Yi Pyeong had looked after me. Just as he was now, he had been Third Grade then as well.
I heard later that he had felt sorry for a young brat desperately struggling to survive.
As time passed, I developed internal energy and left his group, but my gratitude toward him had never faded.
“The job’s over. We should have a drink, right?”
“I’m just going home today.”
“Aw, come on. On days with a bloody fight like this, you’ve got to have a drink and take care of this too.”
As he said “this,” Yi Pyeong made an elaborate gesture with his hands.
“Haha. Jeong-un never does that stuff in the first place. When I first met him, I thought the bastard might be a eunuch!”
“Pahahaha!”
When Jang Wi, who had been in the same group as us, cracked the joke, everyone burst out laughing.
After a job, they drank and sought out women at brothels.
Not just them, but most wandering martial artists did it.
It was their own secret method, so to speak, for keeping their sanity amid the exhilaration of battle.
They said that even killing someone with a gun could give you PTSD. Cutting down people or monsters with a blade would be no less damaging, if not worse.
So they dissolved the aftereffects through a different kind of excitement.
I drank with them, but I never went to brothels or pleasure houses.
There was no special reason. Having lived in the modern world, I was afraid of venereal disease.
That was why I paid the widow next door to relieve my tension instead.
Of course, it helped that she was far more beautiful than most women at pleasure houses.
Smiling at Jang Wi’s joke, I said, “Let’s have a drink next time.”
“Tsk... Fine. But you’re paying next time, got it?”
I nodded at the disappointed Yi Pyeong.
“Understood.”
After watching Yi Pyeong’s group walk away, I headed home as well.
Yi Pyeong’s group was mostly made up of third-grade wandering martial artists.
Of course, being Third Grade, or third class, did not make them easy opponents. Every one of them was a killer who had survived countless battles.
A person could die from a knife wielded by a child.
Likewise, a second-rate or first-rate martial artist would not necessarily survive a blade swung by a third-rate one.
I had seen more than a few first-rate martial artists die absurdly at the hands of a novice who swung a blade at them from behind.
Thanks to the full moon hanging in the sky, visibility was not too bad.
On my way home, I stopped at a tavern.
“Welcome! Huh? Brother Jeong-un?”
Amid the lively noise, a waiter who looked about middle-school age greeted me.
“Yeah, Gu Deok.”
“Huh? There aren’t any open seats right now. You don’t mind sharing a table, right?”
Gu Deok smiled brightly, but I shook my head.
“No. I’m taking it to go today. Stir-fried pork and one bottle of baijiu. No, make that two.”
For some reason, one bottle did not seem like it would be enough, so I ordered two.
Well, if any was left over, I could drink it later.
This was not the modern world, with convenience stores everywhere. If I ran out, there would be no easy solution.
“Yes! Just a moment!”
Gu Deok took my order and passed it along to the kitchen.
Leaning against the doorway, I looked over the noisy tavern.
It was an ordinary inn that provided lodging, sold meals during the day, and served alcohol at night.
After arriving in this world, this was where I had barely managed to learn the language and find work.
Before Yi Pyeong, the innkeeper who had hired me despite my ragged appearance and awkward speech had been my benefactor.
And Gu Deok, who had just taken my order, was the son of Jin Pal, the innkeeper and cook.
He had been a good child who followed me around even when I was a waiter, and since I never stopped coming here after becoming a wandering martial artist, we remained very close.
“Hey! Waiter! I said bring the booze already!!”
A rough-looking man shouted at Gu Deok. Beside his chair lay a broadsaber.
Unlike the straight saber I used, its blade was thick and broad.
Because of its destructive power, it was a weapon many wandering martial artists favored.
“Yes! It’ll be right out!”
Gu Deok answered while serving food to another table.
“You little bastard! Hey! Get over here!”
The man abruptly rose from his seat. The men who seemed to be his companions only snickered instead of stopping him.
“Uh... yes?”
When Gu Deok answered in a fluster, the man shoved people aside and approached him as though he had caught his chance.
The people nearby quickly made room, apparently unwilling to get caught up in needless trouble.
Then they began watching with expressions of interest.
“This little brat is disrespecting me!”
The man raised his hand.
Thud.
I caught it.
“Ugh!”
The man stared at me in surprise.
“Hah!”
Soon, he made a sound of disbelief.
“Who the hell do you think you are, grabbing my hand?”
“Hey, hey. Stop it.”
One of his companions hurried over, grabbed his shoulder, and began to restrain him.
“Huh? Why? Let go! This bastard dared to grab my hand!”
“He’s Second Grade. Second Grade.”
His companion glanced my way and quietly whispered in his ear.
“Second Grade, my... Second Grade? A kid this young?”
The rough-looking man pointed at me as he spoke.
“Hahaha. Great Hero, it seems my friend is drunk today. Please forgive him.”
His companion quickly pushed down that pointing hand and apologized in his place.
“Hah. Really?”
Still looking dissatisfied, the rough-looking man snorted as he glared at me.
My grip on my saber hilt tightened without my realizing it.
The saber that had tasted blood only a few hours ago seemed to crave more.
Would it be all right to kill these men?
This was a world where monsters had created a custom of noninterference between the authorities and the martial world.
Judging by the weapons they carried, they were martial artists too.
Even if the authorities came, it would be easy enough to smooth things over.
The dark knot still unresolved in my heart stirred up my killing intent and began justifying what was about to happen.
“Oh, Great Heroes!”
Someone grabbed my wrist then.
At that familiar voice, I immediately stopped myself before I could act.
“It seems my son has offended you, Great Heroes. Hahaha. I won’t charge you for your drinks today. Hahaha.”
The man standing beside me spoke smoothly.
The innkeeper, and the benefactor who had allowed a former beggar like me to make a living working here. Jin Pal.
“Ah! You’re the innkeeper’s son? Thank you! Let’s go, friend!”
Seemingly misunderstanding something, the wandering martial artist dragged his companion away.
“Hmph! Ptooey.”
Even so, he spat on the floor as though he were the one letting me off.
Should I follow them?
I should.
The moon was bright, but it was still night. It would be better, since no one would notice.
I had just taken one step.
Thud.
Jin Pal grabbed my wrist again.
“Jeong-un.”
His gentle voice stopped me in my tracks.
“Whew... Yes, Uncle.”
“It’s all right.”
“...Yes.”
“Right. Ah, it’s hard on you, isn’t it?”
At the hand patting my shoulder, the strength finally left the hand gripping my saber hilt.
“Understood.”
“You ordered stir-fried pork, right? There seems to be plenty left today, so I packed you some extra.”
“...Thank you. I’ll sit for a while before I go.”
“Go ahead.”
I watched Jin Pal pat my shoulder again before heading into the kitchen, then pulled over a chair beside the door and sat down.
“Brother... Thank you.”
Gu Deok stood beside me, looking dispirited.
“It’s nothing.”
“Still...”
After hesitating for a while, Gu Deok finally spoke with difficulty.
“Could I... learn martial arts too?”
I turned to look at him.
His tightly pressed lips and slightly bloodshot eyes were full of resentment.
“Are you thinking of becoming a wandering martial artist?”
“No. I’m going to inherit this inn. I just... don’t want to be helpless.”
I knew exactly what Gu Deok meant.
Even in modern society, built on democracy and the rule of law, situations like today’s happened often.
In a world like this, where savagery and civilization coexisted, they would only happen more often.
“Hmm...”
In this world, martial arts were fundamentally governed by the principle of not teaching the unworthy.
In other words, they were not to be passed down to those unfit to be called human.
But that was merely a principle established in name. It was nothing more than a fence keeping villagers from learning.
I understood. Martial arts were a kind of skill, after all.
A skill that could raise a person’s fundamental physical abilities far beyond their limits.
In a world where science had not advanced, those in power would not want just anyone learning such skills.
Thinking of that, I had been fortunate.
Even if I could not learn a qi circulation method, I had been able to learn the Qi Accumulation Method.
“All right.”
“Huh? Really?”
Gu Deok’s eyes widened at my agreement.
Gu Deok was my benefactor’s son.
It was no sacrifice at all.
“Yeah. But I don’t know very much. Don’t get your hopes up.”
“Even so! Thank you, Brother!”
Gu Deok had been so excited, but when Jin Pal called to say the noodles were ready, he hurried into the kitchen.
Seeing that, I smiled without realizing it.
About thirty minutes later, I headed home from the inn.
The stir-fried pork had already gone cold, but I felt somewhat relieved after confirming that those men had not returned.
The spring night was chilly, so I put charcoal into the brazier in my room and lit it with a firestarter.
Then I set the pork beside it to warm it at least a little before taking a water bucket and heading to the well.
The well was only a short walk from my house toward the market.
It was shared by market merchants and the people living near the entrance to the slums.
I casually untied my straight saber and laid it on a stone, then set my two daggers beside it.
Splash.
After undressing and pouring water over myself, the dried blood covering me from head to toe dissolved and ran away with the water.
I had wiped my face with the cloth I carried, but there was nothing I could do about the rest of my body.
I rubbed dried honey locust pods between my hands to make a lather, then scrubbed my hair and body with it.
I desperately wanted facial cleanser, shampoo, and body wash, but I did not know how to make them.
It would have been nice if I could at least make soap, but I did not know how to make that either.
I was sure you boiled fat and mixed something into it, but I could not remember what.
Was it sulfur? No, I didn’t think so... Was it that stuff that came from manure? Or ash?
People who could not afford honey locust pods washed with ash, so that seemed the most likely possibility.
Thinking I would try making some once I had the leisure, I poured water over myself and washed away all the blood.
Then I looked up at the sky.
A full moon.
The moon I saw was the same shape as the moon in my previous life.
I had come here as a child barely in my teens, after being nearly forty years old.
Ten years had passed like that.
I had become a wandering martial artist, living in the martial world.
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