WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Satori

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◈ Wanderer of the Martial World ◈

Chapter 39

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Among the six corpses.

Soaked in blood from head to toe, I looked up at the sky.

The moon and countless stars looked down at me.

For some reason, I felt strangely refreshed.

It had been a while since I had slaughtered anyone.

A smile tried to creep across my face without my realizing it.

I forcibly suppressed it.

No. This was wrong.

Do not enjoy it.

Do not feel satisfaction from killing.

I repeated the warning to myself.

I did not want to become a monster drunk on the pleasure of slaughter.

The moment I accepted that emotion, the line that allowed me to remain human would gradually blur.

And one day, it would disappear.

If that day came, I did not know whether I would still be able to see people as people.

That was why I crushed the feeling down.

I tried to turn satisfaction into disgust.

Hoo...

After steadying myself and maintaining my calm, I looked down at the bodies.

I was fine now.

I felt nothing in particular.

I quickly searched their corpses.

I stuffed the pouches containing money, medicine for internal injuries, and wound medicine into my clothes.

Judging by the condition of Na Hye-rin and her subordinate, something serious must have happened.

So I did not take their weapons.

'Hm?'

Then I spotted small, arrow-shaped concealed weapons.

And the mechanical device used to fire them.

Once I examined them, I felt a slight sense of unease.

The frame of the device and the tips of the concealed weapons.

They were not made from ordinary materials.

Right... They had been made from yokai byproducts.

"Brother!"

The door opened, and So-ok ran out.

"Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. Do you know what happened?"

Na Hye-rin had arrived without warning with one subordinate.

None of her other subordinates were in sight. Na Hye-rin was unconscious and limp, while the subordinate accompanying her was injured.

Anyone who was not an idiot could tell that something had gone wrong.

"Well..."

"I'll explain."

Just as So-ok was about to speak, the woman supporting Na Hye-rin stepped forward and cut her off.

"First... inside."

Were the corpses making her uncomfortable?

No. A fierce blaze of rage and sorrow burned in her eyes.

She looked as though she wanted to dismember these corpses herself.

"Let's go inside."

Hearing the explanation came first, so I entered So-ok's room.

The first thing I saw was Na Hye-rin lying on the bed.

Her complexion was better than I had expected, and her breathing was even. She seemed to be all right.

"I gave her an antidote pill."

Noticing where I was looking, the woman spoke as if making an excuse.

So it had been poison after all.

To defeat a Peak Realm martial artist and numerous first-rate martial artists through force alone, one would need to bring an entire decent-sized martial sect.

Even then, there was no guarantee they could kill them.

That was why poison was one of the better ways to deal with such masters.

Of course, it would not have been ordinary poison.

People with internal energy possessed a certain resistance to poison by default.

And once someone reached the Peak Realm, that resistance could only be exceptionally strong.

Which meant it was poison made from yokai cores.

The Sichuan Tang Clan and the Nine Families of Myriad Poisons, both famed throughout the land for poison, made most of their poisons from yokai cores as well.

That did not mean the poison that had struck Na Hye-rin necessarily came from them.

Many other forces were surely experimenting with turning yokai cores into poison.

Likewise, the antidote pill she had been given was probably made from a yokai core.

Considering her status, it was likely a high-grade pill as well.

"What happened?"

I calmly asked about the situation.

There were currently six corpses in my yard.

I needed an explanation quickly so I could decide what to do next.

Whether to clean this up and feign ignorance, or flee as I was.

"We were going to meet a constable from Huangzhou for an investigation..."

That was how the story began.

Late at night, Na Hye-rin and her subordinates had been drinking tea while waiting for the constable at a tea house.

The woman before me said she had simply remained seated because she had not wanted to drink tea in such a cheap tea house.

Then the symptoms of poisoning began.

It did not seem to be poison strong enough to kill them outright. The symptoms started with mere staggering, then soon led to unconsciousness.

Poison accounted for a considerable share of the futile deaths suffered by promising young martial artists, including members of the Dragon-Phoenix Unit.

"Then men entered the tea house and threw nets at us from every direction. They began firing concealed weapons too."

Nets...

Their methods were anything but ordinary.

"I... I tried to resist, but... the nets wouldn't cut. All I could do was take the squad leader and flee..."

The woman wiped at her eyes as her voice broke.

"Were the concealed weapons shaped like small arrows?"

"Yes."

It was a trap.

And a reasonably well-designed one at that.

They had lured them to a cheap tea house that people rarely visited, especially late at night.

They had poisoned the tea with ease, then thrown nets to prevent any possible resistance.

Since the concealed weapons had been made from yokai byproducts, the nets were probably made from them too.

The technique first-rate martial artists used to imbue a sword with qi, making it sharp and hard, apparently had not worked on them. That made it almost certain.

And in this world, aside from illegal trafficking, only the authorities could use yokai byproducts.

The unease I had felt when I examined the concealed weapons was steadily growing.

"...Are the authorities involved?"

"What? No! They aren't!"

The woman hurriedly waved her hands.

"I know what you're thinking, but it won't be the authorities. The people we're pursuing probably... recruited an official."

She spoke vaguely, but her eyes were certain.

Even so, I could not simply trust her words.

"...Is there an official among the corpses outside?"

"The man whose nose was cut off... He was the constable we were supposed to meet."

I felt increasingly at a loss.

"Who are you investigating?"

"I... can't tell you. To say that... I need the squad leader's permission."

What a fucking bitch.

A curse slipped out inside me.

My mind raced.

There was no time.

I did not know about the rest of them, but I had killed a constable.

I had to get rid of the bodies and flee quickly.

"So-ok, pack your things. We are leaving Huangzhou immediately."

"Please help us."

The woman's desperate plea.

I ignored her and turned to leave.

"Brother."

Then I heard So-ok's voice.

"I... want to help them."

Her pleading voice reached my heart.

I turned to look at So-ok.

She was looking at me like a frightened child.

This was the first time So-ok had disagreed with me in a situation like this.

When it came down to it, So-ok was my companion.

Not my subordinate.

"I will take you as far as another martial sect in Huangzhou. Decide where you will go by the time I return."

I looked away from So-ok and spoke coldly to the woman.

The reason I agreed to take them was not simply because So-ok was my lover.

Nor was it only because they had saved my life in the Dabie Mountains.

It was because of the bond that had formed between So-ok and me through all those things.

I quickly carried the bodies and weapons to the latrine and shoved them inside.

I scuffed up the bloodstains with my feet, erasing as much evidence as possible.

There would certainly still be traces, but even so, it would buy us time.

I went into my room and quickly packed my belongings.

My secret manual, my broken short boot, comfortable clothes, and the tools needed for camping.

Then I saw the elegant robe.

The blue robe I had worn when I went on a date with So-ok.

I deliberately looked away from it and returned to So-ok's room.

When I entered, Na Hye-rin was sitting on the bed. She must have regained consciousness.

Ignoring her, I asked the woman standing at her side,

"Where will you go?"

There were quite a few martial sects in Huangzhou.

Of those, there were four sects with a certain degree of influence whose sect heads had reached the Peak Realm.

Though they belonged to the same Martial Alliance, I would be reluctant to approach the unorthodox factions, so excluding them left two.

Black Tortoise Gate, the Zhuge Clan's lay martial sect, and Dabie Sword Gate.

Or Yang Family Manor would be acceptable as well.

They had shared a table with its family head before.

Though I did not know if they possessed the strength to protect them.

"I want to hire you."

Na Hye-rin answered.

"I refuse."

"Help us continue investigating what we are investigating."

Why was this pretty gangster bitch so impossible to reason with?

"No."

"This is about saving the martial world."

"Let me ask you one thing."

"Ask."

"Why are you clinging to me instead of seeking help from the other martial sects?"

"Because we cannot trust them."

"Cannot trust them?"

"Black Tortoise Gate is a Zhuge lay martial sect, but the Zhuge Clan's influence over it has already become extremely weak. They are filled with the ambition to grow further in Huangzhou and establish a great martial sect. Dabie Sword Gate claims to be orthodox, but in truth, it is close to the unorthodox factions. If we ask them for help, we cannot predict what they will demand in return."

"What about Yang Family Manor?"

"They are too weak."

"The family head is first-rate. The same as me."

"I know the Yang Family Head's martial ability well. She was not part of the Dragon-Phoenix Unit, but I have seen her a few times. Her realm is first-rate, but she is weak. And we have already received a certain degree of help from them. That is why they shared a table with us at the tavern last time."

"What about the other martial sects?"

"It is the same elsewhere. More fundamentally, we cannot trust them. Even the authorities' constable has already been recruited by them. There is no guarantee the other martial sects have not been as well."

"Are you certain this is not just ambition for glory?"

Ambition for glory.

The desire for fame and achievement that blinded those who sought advancement.

The desire that kept people from asking others for help because they did not want to share the credit.

"Who do you take me for?"

Na Hye-rin bristled slightly at my question.

I knew.

She was the daughter of the Mount Hua Sect's head and a Peak Realm master.

So long as she stayed alive, she would one day become a person of power in the Martial Alliance.

But that did not mean she could not covet achievement.

Everyone wanted to make a greater name for themselves than others.

Especially martial artists.

"Even so, I cannot help with the investigation. I refuse the commission."

"Then please escort us to the Martial Alliance. You have to leave Huangzhou anyway, do you not? If you accept the commission, I can at least prevent the authorities from issuing a wanted notice for you."

Na Hye-rin looked at me calmly as she spoke.

That was probably what she had truly wanted.

And Na Hye-rin was clever.

By changing a major danger, the investigation, into a smaller danger, an escort, she made the commission feel lighter.

She also added the thought that since I had to flee anyway, perhaps it would be fine.

Only someone clever could make it sound as though she were doing me a favor over the trouble that had arisen while I protected them.

No.

Maybe she was foolish.

Her beautiful face came into view.

I wanted to kill her.

The urge to tear that beautiful face from her body slowly rose within me.

Because she was a Peak Realm master, if I were to kill her, now was the only time. Her body had not yet recovered.

"The escort will be safe. If we abandon the investigation and return to the Martial Alliance, our enemies will not pursue us. I will recover soon as well, so even if enemies come, we can stop them easily."

Perhaps sensing the strange atmosphere, Na Hye-rin added that quickly.

"Brother, since we're leaving Huangzhou anyway, I think it would be nice to see the Martial Alliance too."

So-ok spoke very carefully.

Hoo...

A sigh escaped me.

"The commission fee is five hundred silver taels. So-ok's fee is separate."

"All right."

Watching Na Hye-rin smile brightly, I regretted not asking for more.

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