Inside a cave.
Dozens of people were gathered within.
Even calling them a sorry sight would have been generous.
“What are we supposed to do now?”
“They’re guarding the way ahead, so we can’t even get outside…”
“At this rate, we’re going to starve to death in this cave.”
At the Emei Sect disciples’ words, the other warriors also wore grim expressions.
Then, as one, they all turned to look at someone.
He was the commander who had led them here, as well as the man in charge of the nearby Hundred-Man Commander Office.
Normally, he would have stood around with his hands clasped behind his back while ordering his subordinates to do all the work. This time, however, not only had Prince Seongbo – who would soon establish his princely residence in Sichuan – come in person, but even the Crown Prince was here.
That meant he couldn’t simply dump everything on his subordinates as usual, forcing him to take the field himself.
But as the saying went, when the commander was incompetent, it was the men beneath him who suffered. The Hundred-Man Commander Commander’s greed had led them straight into the Forest Bandits’ trap, leaving them in their current predicament.
“What? What are you looking at me for? You think I knew it was a trap?”
Rather than showing the slightest remorse, the Hundred-Man Commander Commander flew into a rage and shouted at them.
His Deputy quietly sighed before speaking.
“They warned you several times that it was a trap.”
“Who did?”
“The Emei Sect disciples did.”
“…”
“The Qingcheng Sect disciples and the members of the Sichuan Tang Clan advised you several times as well. You insisted on pressing forward regardless, and that is precisely how we ended up here.”
“Are you actually trying to lecture me right now?”
He was just about to lash out at his Deputy when a clear, melodious voice cut him off.
“What good will assigning blame do us in a situation like this?”
The one who spoke as she approached was none other than Hyang-ok.
“What matters more is deciding what we’re going to do from here.”
The Hundred-Man Commander Commander immediately said,
“Exactly! Well said! Just as you said, what matters is what we do from now on.”
“But people are human, so of course we have regrets. If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve just broken both your legs and made sure you couldn’t participate in the battle at all.”
“…What?”
“You looked stupid and incompetent from the moment I first saw you, so I had a bad feeling about this.”
Her voice remained beautifully clear, yet every icy word spilling from her lips stabbed into his chest like a dagger.
“After driving your subordinates straight into a death trap, are you seriously planning to keep pretending you’re qualified to command them?”
“Hmph! Commanding them is my duty!”
“Oh, please. ‘Duty,’ he says. You’ve spent all this time dumping your work on your subordinates and then pretending you did everything yourself.”
“…”
He had no answer.
Because every word was true.
Hyang-ok’s words immediately grew even sharper.
“If you had even a little sense in that head of yours, you’d understand why I’m saying this. Or do you not even have that much? If that head of yours worked half as well as what’s between your legs, I wouldn’t have to waste my breath explaining it.”
“…”
“If you inherited the position of Hundred-Man Commander Commander thanks to your bloodline, then the least you could’ve done was listen when wiser people gave you advice! But no, you had to be stubborn despite not having the ability to back it up, and now look at the disaster you’ve caused! Wow. Shameless. Truly shameless! You’re the kind of man who’d drink a bowl of lye just because everyone around you told you not to!”
“W–What are you…”
Hyang-ok fixed him with a frigid stare and asked,
“And after all that, you still intend to remain in command?”
“Th–That is…”
“Go ahead. Tell me what you think.”
Then, with a soft rustle, she untied the sheath from her waist and took it in her hand.
“Why are you taking off your sheath?”
“If you say you’re going to keep commanding everyone, I’m going to break one of your legs.”
“Eek!”
The Hundred-Man Commander Commander’s face turned deathly pale.
“Ah, don’t worry. I’m not so heartless that I’d deny you a choice. I’ll at least let you decide whether you want me to break the left leg or the right one.”
“Y–You dare! You’re nothing but a martial artist, yet you speak this way to a Hundred-Man Commander Commander entrusted by His Majesty with command over imperial troops! Such insolence!”
Whether because of wounded pride or sheer desperation, he continued shouting despite trembling from head to toe.
Hyang-ok answered in an utterly calm voice.
“Insolent or not, you’re the one who drove all these people into a death trap. What exactly are you so proud of that you’re still shouting? Do you really think His Highness the Crown Prince will see this mess and praise you for a job well done?”
“…”
“You should consider yourself fortunate if you aren’t dismissed from your post once responsibility for this is assigned.”
Hyang-ok continued.
“My cousin once told me that the kind of official His Majesty hates most is an incompetent one.”
“…”
“You don’t like hearing any of this, do you? Then stop yapping like a frightened dog and come at me. Just know that I won’t go easy on you either. I’ll pound every part of you into mush and leave you with nothing but enough life to keep breathing.”
“Urgh…”
For some reason, everyone present felt as though they were seeing an illusion.
An illusion of an invisible hand repeatedly smashing down on the Hundred-Man Commander Commander’s head.
There was simply no other explanation for why the man looked as though every last scrap of fighting spirit had been beaten out of him.
And only then did everyone remember that while Hyang-ok was currently known as the Gale Fairy, her former epithet had been the Snow Sword Heroine.
‘T–Terrifying. That tongue of hers…’
‘So this is why they used to call her the Snow Sword Heroine.’
Hyang-ok asked again in an easygoing voice,
“So, what will you do?”
At that moment, the Deputy quietly approached the Hundred-Man Commander Commander and whispered something in his ear. Whatever he said caused the man’s already pale face to lose even more color.
“…I will hand all command authority over to you.”
“A wise decision. And if you try claiming later that you never said that, then I really will just…!”
“Eeeek! N–No! I won’t! I would never do such a thing!”
Having seized command from the Hundred-Man Commander Commander through sheer verbal brutality, Hyang-ok calmly began issuing orders to everyone.
She had no idea what the Forest Bandits who had driven them here were waiting for, or why they still hadn’t made any significant move, but one thing was certain: everyone’s lives were hanging by a thread.
Even so, Hyang-ok refused to give up because her younger cousin, Eun Seo-ho, was somewhere nearby.
‘That brat could find a way out even if the sky itself collapsed on top of him.’
So she simply had to do everything she could on her end.
“First, move the wounded farther inside and let them rest. Please treat their injuries as thoroughly as possible.”
“Yes.”
“How much food do we have left?”
“Enough for roughly two days.”
“Then we’ll ration it as strictly as possible.”
“Yes.”
“And let’s search the cave for anything else that might be edible.”
“Yes!”
Before long, one of the Sichuan Tang Clan members called out.
“Fairy Hyang-ok! The moss growing here is edible.” (TL Note: It's not unusual for female martial artists to be refered to as "Fairy" by male martial artists)
Relief immediately crossed her face.
“That’s fortunate!”
One of the soldiers stared at him in confusion.
“Wait! You can actually eat moss?”
A Qingcheng Sect disciple answered him.
Most of the Qingcheng Sect disciples capable of fighting had joined the campaign against the Forest Bandits.
“Yes. Moss is one of the ingredients used to make the Fasting Pills we eat during training.”
“Of course, it tastes absolutely awful.”
“Then I’ll ask the Great Heroes of the Sichuan Tang Clan to tend to the wounded.”
“Understood.”
“The rest of the soldiers, please gather the moss. Those from the Qingcheng Sect, watch the cave entrance and keep an eye on the Forest Bandits’ movements.”
“We shall.”
At that moment, the Hundred-Man Commander Commander interrupted.
“Why are you giving that task to the Qingcheng Sect instead of the soldiers? Are you deliberately making our men do menial labor?”
“The Qingcheng Sect’s Slender Willow Drift allows them to scout the enemy and return quickly. More importantly, didn’t you say you were handing command over to me?”
“Y–Yes, I did.”
“Good. I was about to remind you in case you’d forgotten. If you interfere with me one more time, I’ll tie up your tongue and use it to lash you to that pillar over there.”
“Eek!”
The Hundred-Man Commander Commander recoiled in horror.
Once the clever Hyang-ok replaced that idiot as commander, everyone began moving with remarkable efficiency.
The Qingcheng Sect martial artists took turns watching the entrance. The Forest Bandits merely kept guard outside the cave and made no attempt to send anyone in.
When they were first trapped here, three Forest Bandits had entered the cave, only to have their heads cut off and thrown back outside. No one had dared enter since.
They were probably waiting for everyone inside to become exhausted and collapse.
And so, roughly two days passed.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
A noise like someone striking one of the walls with a hammer suddenly came from one side of the cave.
The soldier stationed there immediately reported it to Hyang-ok, and she hurried over.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
The sound continued.
Gripping her sword, Hyang-ok cautiously approached and knocked against the wall herself.
Bang, bang, bang!
“…”
The knocking on the other side immediately stopped.
Then a voice came through the wall.
“How old is the oldest fish in Silver Stone Pond?”
It was a familiar voice.
Eun Seo-ho’s voice.
And Hyang-ok immediately understood the purpose behind the question.
Silver Stone Pond was a small pond located inside the inner compound of the Eunhae Merchant Group’s headquarters.
It had been named Silver Stone Pond because the stones surrounding the water gleamed silver beneath the sunlight. It was the sort of detail that even members of the Eunhae Merchant Group wouldn’t know unless they had permission to enter the inner compound.
“How would I know that? Great-Grandfather was the one who made that pond.”
The voice on the other side answered,
“It really is you, Cousin. Please step back for a moment. And no matter what happens, don’t be startled.”
Hyang-ok quickly backed away.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
The sound of someone pounding on the wall began again.
Crack.
The wall separating the two sides crumbled apart, sending a thick cloud of dust billowing through the cave.
As the dust slowly settled, the figure of an extraordinarily handsome young man appeared beyond the opening.
“Cousin Hyang-ok. I’m here.”
* * *
I waved at Cousin Hyang-ok through the newly opened passage.
“Seo-ho!”
As I looked at her, I thought back on everything that had happened on the way here.
We had followed the route shown by the Path-Revealing Map, only to unexpectedly find a wall blocking our path midway through.
But there was no chance the Path-Revealing Map had shown us the wrong way.
Which meant that wall itself had to be part of the route.
While we were trying to figure it out, Escort Guard Yeo Eung-am tapped on the wall and spoke.
“My lord, there’s something strange about this wall.”
“Really?”
“Let me see…”
Escort Guard Yeo Eung-am drew his dagger, scraped it across the wall, and then said,
“This isn’t granite. It’s limestone.”
Come to think of it, lime was one of Sichuan’s local specialties.
Which meant limestone was abundant throughout the region.
And limestone had the characteristic of dissolving easily in water.
This wall had probably been worn down by water over time until only a thin layer remained.
Tap, tap!
When Escort Guard Yeo Eung-am struck the wall with the pommel of his dagger, pieces immediately began crumbling away.
Only then did I understand why the Path-Revealing Map had shown us this route. Who would ever think to enter through what looked like a solid wall?
After breaking through it, I had finally come face-to-face with Cousin Hyang-ok.
“Are you all right, Cousin?”
“Yes. Everyone’s still alive, at least.”
“Then let’s escape through this passage.”
I had already confirmed through the Path-Revealing Map that using this passage would allow us to escape safely.
But then something strange caught my eye.
Someone had been tied to a stone pillar where it met the cave floor.
There was even a gag in his mouth, and when I looked more closely, I realized his tongue had literally been tied before the gag was shoved in.
“Judging by his clothes, he seems to be the officer in charge of these soldiers. Why is he like that?”
“He’s the Hundred-Man Commander Commander.”
“What?”
“And he’s the reason all of us ended up trapped in here.”
“I heard that part already, but why does he look like this?”
“I warned him again and again. He still forgot his place and kept interfering with me, so I did exactly what I said I would.”
“Ah… I see.”
When I approached him, he began struggling violently and stared at me with desperate eyes, silently begging me to untie him.
“Cousin, you’re far too softhearted.”
“Hm?”
“This man nearly got everyone here killed. And do you know what the Forest Bandits demanded in exchange for all your lives? Thirty thousand sacks of rice, one hundred slaves, and autonomous rule over their territory.”
“What?”
“Even if this man returns alive, he’s unlikely to escape severe punishment.”
The Hundred-Man Commander Commander’s eyes bulged in horror.
I drove my fist into his stomach.
Thud!
“Gugh!”
He immediately passed out.
I gave him a brief glance before looking toward the cave entrance.
“There are quite a few rocks piled up near the entrance.”
“That’s right. We prepared them so we could slow them down or block the entrance if they tried overwhelming us with sheer numbers.”
“You did well. I was going to need those anyway.”
“Then can we leave now?”
“Not yet. Please wait a little longer.”
About fifteen minutes later, a tremendous commotion erupted outside.
“Waaaaaah!”
Bwooo! Bwooo!
Boom, boom, boom, boom!
Thunderous battle cries, blaring horns, and pounding drums echoed through the mountains.
I had asked the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner to create all that noise in order to draw the Forest Bandits’ attention in that direction.
I’d told him to make it look as though the imperial troops were about to launch a full assault and keep their eyes fixed on him.
“Now we can go.”
I struck the Hundred-Man Commander Commander’s paralysis acupoint to keep him from moving, then slung him over my shoulder.
As infuriating as this man was, I still needed to bring him back alive.
Someone had to be held responsible for this disaster, and there had to be a proper target for everyone’s anger.
It wasn’t as though I was choosing some innocent scapegoat. This whole mess had happened because of his mistakes, so bearing that anger was simply part of the price he had to pay.
Everyone began escaping through the passage I had opened.
That was when it happened.
“Wh–What the hell! You bastards! What do you think you’re doing?!”
I turned around and saw the Forest Bandits charging into the cave.
Since we had made it look as though the imperial troops were launching an attack, they must have decided to rush inside and kill the hostages before the assault began.
Fortunately, the rocks piled near the entrance slowed their advance considerably.
Tap! Taat!
I sent a Voice Transmission to the Escort Guards and immediately moved.
None of those men could be allowed to leave here alive.
Slash!
Swoosh!
Our weapons blurred through the air as my companions and I tore into the Forest Bandits.
The one who stood out the most among us was Escort Guard Min.
He wasted not a single movement as he cut through the enemy’s throats with astonishing precision.
As expected, he truly was a warrior whose skill had been honed for real combat.
We annihilated every Forest Bandit who had entered the cave, buying the others enough time to escape.
“Hurry.”
“Yes.”
Everyone filed through the passage and left the cave in orderly fashion.
Once we cleared away the rubble from the passage entrance, we covered the opening with the gray cloth we had prepared beforehand and nailed it firmly into place.
That should fool them at a glance, at least for a little while.
Following the route shown by the Path-Revealing Map, I guided everyone away and safely made it down the mountain.
“Deputy Merchant Lord Eun!”
The Crown Prince hurried toward me the moment he saw us.
“Are you safe?”
“Yes, Your Highness. Everyone is safe. Please give the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner the signal now.”
“Very well.”
At the Crown Prince’s command, the signalman fired a whistling arrow into the sky.
Shrieeeek!
It was the signal to retreat.
But that didn’t mean we had any intention of forgiving the Blood-Eyed Sword Demon or the Forest Bandits.
We simply needed to rescue the hostages safely first.
Only now could we begin the real extermination.
–TL Notes–
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