WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Satori
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Wanderer of the Martial World ◈
Chapter 51
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The place he led me to was the reception room.
So many dishes had been set on the large table that it was hard to find an empty space.
“Hahaha! I told them to make a special effort today.”
Sin Gye-gwang spoke proudly, apparently noticing me looking at the food.
I sat across from him and looked at him.
“Help yourself!”
Honestly, I didn't know.
I had lived as a wandering martial artist, so I thought I was used to noticing malice in people. But there was not the slightest trace of an ulterior motive in Sin Gye-gwang's expression or eyes.
I picked up my chopsticks, dipped them lightly into the sauce of the stir-fried fish before me, and touched it to my tongue.
“Hm? Don't you like the food?”
“I don't normally eat bad food. That's why I taste the sauce first.”
It was a ridiculous excuse.
“Oh! There's such a method? Impressive!”
But Sin Gye-gwang's reaction differed from what I expected.
He looked as though he had attained enlightenment.
I couldn't tell whether he was simply letting it pass or truly admired it.
Judging by his expression, he seemed genuinely impressed, which only made me more flustered.
There was a simple reason why I only tasted the sauce.
It was to guard against the possibility of poison.
Of course, truly lethal poison could probably poison someone with only a tiny amount.
But poisons of that level were quite rare. Even if it were such a deadly poison, I thought I could resist it to some extent in this amount, so I used this method.
Once I sensed nothing wrong, I tasted the other dishes one by one.
Munch, munch.
Sin Gye-gwang paid no attention to me as he devoured the food before him as though he were drinking it.
Slurp.
“Hm? Is there nothing to your taste?”
As I stared blankly at him, Sin Gye-gwang looked at me with a puzzled expression instead.
“No. It tastes good.”
“Then eat up. Food tastes best before it gets cold! Hahaha.”
Was his appetite the reason a first-rate martial artist had grown so fat?
I also picked up my chopsticks and began eating small portions of the dishes I had checked.
After the meal had gone on for a while, the dishes were replaced with food to accompany the drinks.
“This is liquor I acquired with great difficulty. Bamboo Leaf Green!”
I had heard of it too.
It was an expensive liquor made with bamboo leaves.
“Here! Have a drink!”
A blue-green liquid filled the cup I held out.
A deep yet refreshing fragrance filled the room.
Ahh!
Before I knew it, Sin Gye-gwang had filled his own cup and drained it in one gulp.
I only brought mine lightly to my lips.
I knew nothing about poison, but I had heard roughly how people poisoned others.
The most common method was to smear poison inside a cup.
Therefore, even though Sin Gye-gwang drank the liquor, it was right to remain cautious.
“There was no other meaning behind inviting you here.”
Sin Gye-gwang suddenly looked at me with a serious expression.
“I merely wished to build a friendship. Hahaha!”
Then he laughed by himself.
“Come in!”
At his shout, the door opened, and three rather well-dressed women walked in.
They were not beauties, but they had modest and fairly pretty appearances.
“The women of Imgye Village are quite lovely! Some even go all the way to Gosi County to sell flowers. Hahaha.”
I looked at the women's expressions.
“They are all my concubines. So don't worry and choose whichever one you like! I'll yield to you today!”
What kind of bullshit was this?
Even if they were concubines, they must have been people he had slept with and formed attachments to.
“Are you embarrassed? Hahaha. You look young, so you must lack experience. Let me see... Hm! Cheonghwa, attend to this Young Hero today! Make his legs tremble by tomorrow! That girl is quite something at night! Hahaha!”
“Yes.”
The most seductive-looking of the three women sat beside me.
So Sin Gye-gwang was trying to offer one of his concubines to entertain me.
Even for the night.
I didn't understand it, but I didn't step in.
It wasn't because I lacked a sense of justice.
It was because the women's expressions seemed far more content than those of the villagers outside.
The villagers at the foot of the hill, worn down by poverty.
And these women, who even had the leisure to tend to their appearance.
Who was unhappy, and who was happy?
There was no way to know.
Material abundance, even if it was false happiness, seemed to give people satisfaction.
I could read that in the women's expressions.
No. Who could dare judge another person's happiness?
If those women were happy and satisfied with their present lives, that alone was enough for them.
That was why I didn't step in.
Except for madmen, I didn't wish to tell people that this kind of outlook on life was wrong.
“Hahaha! You're quite shy!”
“Hehe. Do you dislike me?”
“No.”
Cheonghwa pressed herself against my arm and acted coy.
I didn't dislike it.
The soft sensation of her flesh against my arm, or the heavy scent of powder.
But that didn't mean I intended to spend the night with her.
Not because I was morally virtuous, but simply because I didn't want to share a hole with Sin Gye-gwang.
Still, it wasn't bad.
It had been a long time since I had felt the atmosphere of revelry.
The women's laughter made the air livelier.
“So I kicked that bastard, and he fell into the water!”
“Hehe.”
Sin Gye-gwang told stories of his experiences.
The women laughed as they fed him snacks.
It looked as though they had heard it many times and wanted him to stop.
“Ah, right! You said you came from a wandering martial artist background. Where did you live?”
“...I merely wandered here and there.”
“Still, since you became first-rate, you must have made quite a name for yourself. Ha! I'm envious. Envious. Traveling the world with the earth as your pillow and the wind as your blanket, performing righteous deeds, and living freely without restraint!”
What was with this bastard? Was he putting on an act?
He seemed to have no idea how someone without any foundation actually lived.
It was the sort of thing that only appeared in novels.
“Where are you from, Sect Leader Sin?”
“Me? Hmm... I trained at the Severing Sword Gate.”
The dreamy expression on his face as he spun such a deceitful fantasy turned gloomy in an instant.
“I was a late-born child... There was nearly a twenty-year difference between my older brothers and me... After Father died, my brothers turned on one another in a bloody struggle to become the Sect Leader of the Severing Sword Gate. It was terrifying.”
He stared blankly at the Bamboo Leaf Green in his cup.
“I must have survived because I was young. I had not yet turned twenty then, so my eldest brother became the Sect Leader and ordered me to go here. Hahaha... Exile. It was exile. I haven't been able to leave Imgye Village since. Ah! Except when I sneaked out, of course. Hahaha.”
What was I supposed to do with that?
Still, I hadn't expected him to lay out so much of his own story.
He certainly felt like a flower raised in a greenhouse.
Having lived among wandering martial artists who avoided talking about themselves, I found someone like him strangely unfamiliar.
But at the same time, I thought it was possible.
If Sin Gye-gwang's words were true, he had come here before turning twenty and had barely been able to leave Imgye Village.
He had only lived among villagers who obeyed and feared his commands.
His wariness toward others could not help but be extremely weak.
“Do you know what I enjoy most? When merchants come, I listen to their stories about the world. That's why I'm glad to see you. A martial artist in the same realm as me! And one who traveled the world as a wandering martial artist!”
Sin Gye-gwang's eyes sparkled.
That was quite burdensome.
“I heard a merchant came yesterday. Was there any other news?”
“News? It was the same as last time... They say there is still a great uproar because the Martial Alliance has yet to decide whether to visit the Demonic Cult.”
“What about Haomun?”
“They're the same. Honestly. Those bastards fooled everyone perfectly! How dare they do something like that!”
Sin Gye-gwang flared up and shouted that he would never have let it slide if he had been in Na-jeon County.
I mostly ignored him as the drinking party went on.
And time passed in the same way.
Winter.
I had already stayed in Imgye Village for about half a year, training.
My daily routine was simple.
I trained, ate, then trained again.
Other than occasionally drinking with Sin Gye-gwang, it was a very monotonous life.
No yokai appeared here, so it had also been quite a long time since my saber had tasted blood.
Perhaps there were not many yokai because this place was near the border between Henan and Anhui Province.
It was a route traveled by countless martial artists and escort journeys.
I stared blankly at the now-empty Goe-grade Yodan.
A few months ago, about a month after I first began training with a Goe-grade Yodan.
At that time, I had been deeply impressed.
I had been able to train for an entire month with a single Goe-grade Yodan.
It cost ten times as much as a Yo-grade Yodan, but it contained even more qi than that.
As I went through my day thinking I should focus on buying higher-grade Yodans from then on, I realized I felt something familiar.
It was a dark night without a single light, when even the moon was hidden behind clouds and darkness ruled the world.
I got goosebumps at how clearly I could see.
Afterward, when I trained with another Goe-grade Yodan, I finally understood.
My reaction speed had improved, if only slightly.
Of course, I only noticed because I had suspected something. If I hadn't known, I would never have felt it.
That was right. Each Goe-grade Yodan contained a small ability.
Joy brushed through my body, and fear rushed in at the same time.
What if I was becoming a demon practitioner?
I checked my internal energy, but I could feel nothing wrong with it.
If anything, it was internal energy so pure that I wondered if it could possibly be this clean.
In the end, I picked up another Goe-grade Yodan.
Because of greed.
My vision had become brighter, and my reactions faster.
They were minor changes, but they would not be insignificant if they accumulated.
Besides, battles were not often decided by very small differences, so they would surely help.
I had already absorbed five Goe-grade Yodans, and six remained.
And nothing strange had happened to either my body or mind yet.
“Whew...”
I let out a long breath and finished my energy circulation.
Though I had lit a brazier in the storage shed, it was not enough to ward off the bitter cold. White vapor rose with my breath.
I rose, loosened my stiff body, and went outside.
The moment I opened the storage shed door, a freezing chill washed over me.
Even so, I showed no sign of it as I walked into the front yard.
“Ahaha! Snoo! Snoo!”
The baby, who had grown a little by now, laughed brightly while playing in the snow.
“Come here! I told you it's cold!”
The baby's older sister lifted the baby to keep them from touching the snow.
“Uuuh... Waaah!”
Perhaps upset by that, the baby burst into tears.
“Oh, dear. Oh? Hello!”
I nodded at the girl as she greeted me.
I was still not close with her, but she no longer felt unfamiliar.
“Moo-moo! Moo-moo!”
The baby reached out to me and said something I could not understand.
I found the sight adorable and smiled to myself as I was about to go inside.
“Martial Artist! Martial Artist!”
Jang Hwan came running over in a panic.
“A yokai has appeared!”
Footnotes:
“Selling flowers” is a Korean euphemism for sex work.
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