WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Satori

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◈ Wanderer of the Martial World ◈

Chapter 49

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I chose an escort journey at random, but somehow ended up crossing into Anhui Province.

After two days, I saw three peddlers leave the escort route and take a side road. I followed them.

“Hmm?”

The three peddlers saw me following them and gripped their weapons.

These were harsh times.

An age when one had to be wary not only of yokai, but people as well.

Even villagers with nothing carried at least a kitchen knife for protection, so it was not strange for peddlers to carry weapons.

They carried axes and broadsabers.

Weapons that were easy to use effectively even without much training.

“What do you want?!”

I stopped without approaching the wary peddlers any further and spoke.

“Where are you headed?”

“What business is it of yours?!”

Had I caused an unnecessary misunderstanding?

They drew their weapons and pointed them at me.

“I was merely asking because I thought I might stay for a while wherever you are going.”

“That makes no sense!”

“...Ptooey. That bastard looks exactly like a bandit, doesn't he? He isn't even that big. He was probably following us to stab us when we weren't looking.”

One misunderstanding led to another.

But I sensed that was not all there was to it.

They looked murderous.

Yet greed filled their eyes as they stared at my straight saber.

It was only a straight saber, but even the lowest-quality one was worth over ten silver taels.

They could still earn seven taels if they sold it secondhand, which was no small sum given their circumstances.

I had handled plenty of money because I sold my life for a living, but seven silver taels was not a small amount from an ordinary person's perspective.

A family in the slums lived for a month on less than seven taels.

Still, there was no way to raise my presence and reveal my realm.

They were ordinary people without internal energy, so they could not sense it.

“Hehehe. Hand over everything you have, and we'll spare your life. Especially that straight saber.”

Spouting such a cliché line, they slowly approached me.

Did I still look like an easy target?

I had no intention of showing them my skill just to make them submit.

If one failed to recognize one's opponent, one had to die.

That was this world, and this age.

And when had I ever spared someone who wanted my life?

“Yaaah!”

The man on the far left rushed at me.

The others quickly closed in as well.

Slash. Slash. Stab.

There was no need to deflect their attacks, nor circulate internal energy to use martial arts.

Not against ordinary people who did not even know how to fight properly.

“Hmm...”

I had made an unexpected haul.

And it did not seem as though there would be any repercussions.

I searched their corpses for money and inspected the goods in their packs.

Cloth, sewing kits, mirrors, bowls.

There was also heavily dried jerky, rice, mixed grains, and taffy.

Simple things, but there was quite a lot of them.

Seeing that they did not have much money, they had likely spent it on these goods.

I gathered and tied their packs together, slung them over my back, and continued on.

I arrived at a quiet village.

The Dabie Mountains loomed behind it, and a village sat amid a few fields.

As I drew closer, a skinny child saw me, startled, and ran away.

Soon, a man as thin as the child approached me.

“Are you a peddler?”

“No.”

“...No?”

“That is right.”

“Then who are you?”

“I am merely a passing traveler. I would like to stay here for a while. Is there an empty house?”

“...Please wait a moment.”

The hollow-eyed man approached the people working in the fields, pointed at me, and whispered something to them.

Soon, someone ran toward the village and returned with a fat old man.

Judging by his large body and poor complexion, he did not seem to have much time left.

“Ahem. So, you want to live here?”

“That is right.”

The old man, whose body was covered in fat like a pig's, looked me over and spoke.

“What do you do?”

“I am simply a wanderer.”

The old man's expression changed slightly at my answer.

“Hmph! So you're just a vagrant. You may stay here, but you'll have to work for the village!”

Even his manner of speaking changed.

Arrogance filled his eyes.

What should I do?

Beat him? Kill him?

No. Killing someone over something this trivial would be unreasonable.

This was not the only village around, so should I just beat him and go elsewhere?

I did not know who the Sect Leader of the local martial sect was, or what realm he had reached, but he would not be at the Peak Realm.

If he were, there would be no reason for him to live in such a backwater.

Someone in the Peak Realm could establish a martial sect alone even in a large city.

He could also become a resident retainer for a merchant group and live in comfort.

Unless he was insane, there were hardly any Peak Realm experts who would hole up in such a backwater.

That meant the Sect Leader here was, at most, First Rate.

In other words, there was no need to fear repercussions.

“No.”

“What did you say?!”

The old man pointed at me and roared at my refusal.

“I said no.”

“Y-You...! You...!”

Then he clutched the back of his neck, rolled his eyes back, and collapsed.

“Village Chief!”

The man who had brought him panicked and caught the old man.

I was somewhat taken aback as well.

He had looked unhealthy, but I had not expected him to collapse like this.

“Everyone, come here! The Village Chief has collapsed!”

The people working in the fields quickly ran over.

They seemed less concerned for the old man than afraid of the consequences.

Then several men carried the old man and quickly disappeared into the village.

“Is there an empty house?”

The man stared at me blankly.

He was the man who had brought the Village Chief earlier.

“...Just run away. If you run now, you will at least keep your life.”

He muttered in as low a voice as possible.

“The Village Chief's son is the Blue Martial Gate Sect Leader's only disciple. So hurry and run.”

He was telling me to flee even though he could face retaliation from the Blue Martial Gate. He was kind.

I had hardly seen such kindness since coming here.

Jin Pal, who had given me work at the inn, came to mind.

“Hit me once before you leave. It'll make things look better. If I have even a black eye, they won't say much.”

He spoke as though he had given up.

I was glad I wore a bamboo hat, since a bruise on my face would not be visible.

“Do you know the Blue Martial Gate Sect Leader's realm?”

“Haah... He is a First Rate master.”

The man trembled slightly as he spoke.

“Is there an empty house?”

“...”

At my repeated question, the man stared at me.

His face reddened as though he were about to burst into anger, then suddenly drained of color.

He seemed to have understood the hidden meaning behind my question.

“...Th-there... There is an empty house over there. But it is very... old...”

“I understand.”

Leaving him behind, I headed in the direction he had indicated.

I had not wanted to cause trouble, but it could not be helped.

I disliked tolerating disrespect even more.

The empty house looked ready to collapse.

In truth, it was nearly an abandoned house.

I gave the inside a cursory look, then set my luggage down in the yard.

I could not be certain, but I had a feeling that my stay here would be very short.

I sat atop the luggage and looked at the sky for a while.

Why had it come to this?

In truth, I knew.

It was because I had strength.

Because I had strength, I could not bear the disrespect of someone weaker than me.

Weak before the strong, strong before the weak.

I had run because I feared retaliation from the Azure Balance Gate, and leapt into the Yangtze River to escape the Demonic Cult's demon practitioners.

I had taken Na Hye-rin all the way to the Martial Alliance because I feared Haomun.

Yet when someone weaker than me provoked me, I subdued them with force.

I knew.

I knew I hid from the strong and powerful because I feared them, while acting decisively against the weak.

But was that not human nature?

This was a world where lives were cheap.

A world where one's head could fly off in an instant for stubbornly standing tall and clinging to one's pride.

I had never seen anyone who did not bow to fear and properly faced it.

Such people would have died long before.

My belief was that those who sought death would die, but those who sought life at least had a chance to live.

I had no intention of changing that.

Their response came quickly.

As I sat looking at the sky and chewing on some jerky after growing hungry, I saw a figure rushing fiercely toward me from afar.

“You bastard!!”

He was about as tall as me, but nearly twice my size.

“How dare you! You dare harm my father!!”

His realm was second-rate.

“Dieee!!”

He charged at me with a sword that looked like a skewer compared to his body.

Shing. Slash.

I drew my saber, brushed aside his sword, and immediately cut off his head.

I had not intended to kill that old man because he had not tried to kill or beat me.

But there was no reason to show the same mercy to someone who intended to kill me.

If one wanted to kill another, one had to be prepared to die as well.

Blood soaked into the yard.

The withered weeds seemed to regain their vitality after receiving that blood.

“Gasp!”

A man following behind him saw the sight and froze in shock.

Then he staggered back before quickly running off somewhere.

I waited again.

As time gradually passed, I felt a little impatient.

It was because of the Yodan in my possession.

The internal energy that I had to quickly make my own through Qi Accumulation and energy circulation.

“Phew...”

I settled those feelings with a single sigh.

Do not rush.

I must not rush.

Qi Accumulation was one thing, but energy circulation had to be carried out with extreme delicacy.

A small mistake born of impatience could become a regret lasting a lifetime.

Yes. There was plenty of time.

The reason I felt so impatient was none other than the people who had controlled the upright yokai.

They still weighed on my mind even when I tried to ignore them.

Still, it was fine.

I did not know when those people would rise up, but even then, they would not attack such a backwater village first.

Their forces were too powerful to start with a place like this.

So if I heard rumors that they had attacked a city, I could pack my things and go in the opposite direction.

It was fine. There was plenty of time, so I should train calmly.

As I composed myself, someone approached from afar.

A sizable crowd, seemingly most of the villagers, followed behind him.

About one sijin, or two hours, had passed since I killed that second-rate martial artist. They were slow to act.

I slowly rose and looked at the middle-aged man at the front.

He was short and fat.

His features were buried beneath flesh, making it hard to discern what his original face looked like.

“Did you kill my disciple?”

The man asked me arrogantly.

I glanced at his arms and estimated the reach of the sword he would swing.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“He attacked first.”

His realm was indeed First Rate.

I did not know whether he was above my level or not.

But I was not particularly worried, because of the man's unmaintained body and hands with barely any calluses.

What had he looked like when he first came to this village?

At the very least, he could not have been such a mess as he was now.

As I circulated my internal energy, my presence naturally rose.

I gripped my scabbard with my left hand and prepared for the coming fight.

I prepared to take the life of an expert who had lived a relatively peaceful life.

In response, the fat man glared at me as though he wanted to kill me.

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