WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Satori

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Wanderer of the Martial World ◈

Chapter 6

──────

Skill is relative.

“Urgh.”

Yu Sam, rolling on the ground after I kicked his ankle out from under him, proved it.

No matter how skilled someone claimed to be with a blade, when they met an opponent stronger than themselves, they had no choice but to roll in the dirt like that.

I was no different.

Yu Sam rose again, his face twisted with frustration.

“Look at that. You’re using your blade all wrong. If you swing that wide, even little kids would dodge it.”

Yi Pyeong, watching from one side, teased Yu Sam.

Yu Sam’s face reddened even more.

“Gah!”

He charged at me again.

His broad saber was still raised high.

The reason Yu Sam fought that way was simple.

To cut harder.

Of course, swinging like that would make for a stronger cut, but the motion was so large that anyone who knew even a little about fighting would never stand there and take it.

A compact swing, shifting the wrist, shoulder, and center of the whole body together, was far more troublesome.

I closed the distance in two quick steps and drove a front kick forward.

“Ghk!”

Struck in the stomach, Yu Sam flew back and rolled across the ground.

“Cough... khk! Khk!”

Spit fell from Yu Sam’s mouth as he lay face down, coughing.

“Jeong-un! Want to keep going? The difference in skill is just too great...”

At Yi Pyeong’s words, I scratched my head.

He had said Yu Sam was an unranked man under his command, so I had come out expecting him to have at least one trick up his sleeve. Instead, he was a complete beginner with nothing to show.

“Khk!... Hup!”

Yu Sam rose again, staring at me with bloodshot eyes.

He had a fair amount of spirit, at least.

“Hyah!”

This time, he tried to keep his swing compact instead of making a huge one as he approached.

The path of his blade was still a mess, as though he was not used to it, but it was compact.

Clang!

I raised my straight saber, struck the side of his broad saber, redirected it, and immediately thrust for his throat.

Yu Sam could not react in time. In the instant he panicked, the sharp point of my straight saber was aimed at his neck.

A drop of blood rolled down Yu Sam’s throat where it had lightly pierced him.

It was only because I had forced myself to stop that it had not gone farther. If I had stepped forward even a little more, his throat would have been pierced through.

“...I lost.”

Perhaps he understood that as well. Yu Sam conceded.

I withdrew my straight saber, gave it one swing to shake the blood from its tip, sheathed it, and took a step back.

Distance was always important, so it was a habit.

There were madmen who would surrender, then rush at you like they were having a fit the moment you put your weapon away.

Thwack!

Yi Pyeong quickly strode over and punched Yu Sam in the head.

“You idiot! If it hadn’t been Jeong-un, you’d already be on the road to the underworld, you bastard!”

Yu Sam lowered his head without saying a word.

“How dare an unranked nobody challenge a Second Grade wandering martial artist!”

Yi Pyeong continued to berate him from beside him.

That much was practically kindness.

Yi Pyeong’s group was a decent place, which was why it was like this. unranked wandering martial artists in other groups often lived lives hardly different from slaves.

“Good work.”

Yi So-gang approached me as he spoke.

Though he was a wandering martial artist, Yi So-gang had the air of someone who had received a proper education.

It showed in both his use of the sword and his serious nature.

“It was nothing. I did not even break a sweat.”

“Ha ha. I suppose not.”

Yi So-gang had also been my writing teacher.

Back when I had been an ignorant unranked man, I had gone to him several times and asked him to teach me because I could not read.

The language of this world was ideographic rather than phonetic, so teaching myself had never been an option.

Yi So-gang had refused at first, but in the end, he could not turn down my persistent requests.

He taught me to read for a modest fee.

I knew nothing of his past.

Among wandering martial artists, it was an unspoken rule not to ask unless the person brought it up first.

“Come on! Let’s go have another drink!”

At Jang Wi’s suggestion, we moved to another tavern to continue drinking.

Apart from Yu Sam, who said he would head home first, the rest of us found seats at a new tavern.

The drinking party was more cheerful than expected.

It was not simply because many of them already knew one another. Baek So-ok was the reason.

Just having one pretty woman among the rough men changed the atmosphere.

“I really thought I was going to die!”

“I’ll protect you, so don’t worry! Ha ha ha!”

Jang Wi shouted in an excited voice.

It was quite entertaining to watch a rough-looking man over forty awkwardly flirt with a pretty twenty-one-year-old woman.

Even while talking with Jang Wi, Baek So-ok kept glancing at me.

Our eyes met several times, but I showed no particular reaction.

This had happened before, but I had never once gotten involved with such women.

Choosing the life of a wandering martial artist despite being a woman told me enough about how deeply ruthless they could be.

And that ruthlessness sometimes brought unpleasant endings to the people who became involved with them.

Having seen such endings a few times, I had no choice but to treat them as nothing more than fellow wandering martial artists.

In this world of martial arts, where letting down one’s guard could cost one’s head, distinguishing between men and women was not particularly wise.

Of course, Seoryeong was another reason.

There was no need to spend the night with unattractive women when I had a beautiful widow.

As the drinking continued, the subject naturally turned to the Azure Balance Gate’s young master, the focus of tomorrow’s job.

“I heard he’s first-rate?”

“first-rate?”

Baek So-ok’s words filled everyone’s eyes with disbelief.

We had heard so many rumors calling him a wastrel and a good-for-nothing that none of us had expected him to be first-rate.

“But didn’t he get beaten up by the Black Sword Gang’s lower-ranking warriors?”

“Hmph! What meaning is there in a level gained without training? He probably only reached first-rate because he gobbles elixirs like meals!”

When Yi Pyeong voiced his disbelief, Jo Man-sik, who had barely spoken until then, responded sharply.

I had only just met Jo Man-sik this time, so I did not know much about him. The others seemed familiar with him, though, and agreed with his words.

Still, they did not forget to look around warily.

His words had been rather harsh.

If the Azure Balance Gate’s martial artists happened to hear, it could invite trouble.

“The problem is that the sects and noble clans monopolize all the yodan in the first place!”

“Hey!”

Yi Pyeong raised his voice in a low warning at Jo Man-sik, who had brought up a sensitive issue.

“Am I wrong?”

Even so, Jo Man-sik’s spirit did not falter.

Spirit pills were made from yodan.

The lowest, beast-tier yodan were made into wound medicine or remedies for internal injuries. Yodan from monster-tier creatures and above, however, were made into spiritual medicines that increased one’s inner qi.

That was one reason disciples of sects grew faster than ordinary wandering martial artists.

Of course, I had only heard this from other wandering martial artists, so I could not be certain. Still, most people considered it established fact.

“Even if we got our hands on them, we wouldn’t know how to ritually refine them. Or are you planning to become a demon practitioner?”

Perhaps offended by Jo Man-sik’s dangerous words, Jang Wi mocked him.

“Hmph!”

Jo Man-sik shot Jang Wi a brief glare before turning his head away.

Every sect and government office went to great lengths to keep the methods of ritual refinement secret.

Their security was nearly as strict as that surrounding a sect’s secret teachings.

They said that if anyone fled with a method of ritual refinement, they would be hunted down and killed to the end.

And if someone attempted to experiment with such a method, the government offices would step in to punish them.

It was a way of ensuring that no one would even think of building a ladder to climb higher.

“I’m leaving.”

Jo Man-sik rose roughly from his seat and left the tavern.

“Honestly. He always gets like that when he drinks.”

Amid Yi Pyeong’s sigh, I stared at the door through which he had left, a slight question on my mind.

After leaving behind the drinking party that had ended without much resolution, I headed home.

One concern occupied my thoughts.

It was about my relationship with Seoryeong.

From the first time we had slept together until now, I had always shared her bed whenever I had a job coming up.

There had been days when circumstances kept us from doing so, but for the most part, that was how it had been.

It had become a kind of ritual before taking on a job, and the clear mind I had afterward had been an important reason I was still alive.

But now that our relationship had developed...

I felt a kind of guilt about treating her the way I had before.

The flower fee, a euphemism for payment for sex.

The fee, which had begun at one nyang of silver, had never changed.

Seoryeong needed money.

It took quite a lot to keep her son enrolled at the martial academy.

Before I knew it, I had arrived home.

A faint glow from a brazier leaked out of Seoryeong’s house directly in front of mine.

Was she still awake?

I had to leave by nine in the morning tomorrow, so now was my only chance to speak with her.

“Are you in?”

In the end, I called to her quietly.

There was a brief rustling sound from inside, then Seoryeong opened the creaking door and appeared.

She must have been sleeping. Her expression was a little tired.

“...Yes. Did you just get back?”

Even so, she did not directly ask why I had called.

“...Yes. It is nothing else. I have a job tomorrow.”

Her eyes stiffened slightly.

It felt as though the guilt in my heart grew a little more.

“When is it?”

“...At nine in the morning.”

“I understand. Would seven in the morning be all right? Because of Gyeong...”

“That is fine.”

“Yes.”

“Then sleep well.”

She dipped her head slightly and went back inside.

“Phew...”

Under the faint glow of the brazier in the dark night, I let out a breath.

The next day.

I woke somewhat earlier than the time I had arranged with Seoryeong, drew water from the well, and washed myself.

Then I passed the time practicing my inner cultivation method until Seoryeong called for me from outside.

I opened the door and welcomed her.

After looking around and confirming there was no one nearby, I led her into the room.

“Did you just come back from dropping Gyeong off?”

I said so as I took her hand.

Seoryeong nodded slightly.

Since light was precious in this age, people here began their days early and ended them before sunset.

If this were modern times, the same would be true for Gyeong, who would attend a full-day class at the martial academy.

He woke early, went to the academy, came home briefly for lunch, then trained again until before sunset.

And Gyeong was not what mattered now.

I placed a hand on Seoryeong’s cheek as she kept her head slightly bowed and gently turned her face toward mine.

Her clear eyes and clean skin, as though she had just washed her face, came into view.

Smack.

When I lightly pressed my lips to hers, her cheeks gradually turned red.

I kissed her again, this time moving my tongue slightly.

“Mm?”

The little sound from her nose, as though startled, was cute.

I knew kissing existed here.

Lewd jokes were commonplace among wandering martial artists.

Really, was it not the same wherever people lived?

But Seoryeong froze as though this were her first kiss.

I laid her, wide-eyed like a startled rabbit, on the bed and pounced on her.

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried