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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Shrine
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“With this much, the compensation will be quite substantial.”
“Hehe, if we receive the compensation, can we return home with honor?”
“If we can survive and return, that is. And it’s ‘return with gold and honor’.”
“Ah, that’s right!”
‘ignorant fools.’
He looked down from the ship at his subordinates hastening the preparations for departure.
‘We inflicted quite a lot of damage to the Haenam Sword Sect as requested, so we should be able to receive additional compensation.’
He slowly turned his gaze to watch the Japanese pirates loading the looted goods. The Japanese pirates had bright faces as if they were looking forward to a festival.
A sight that was hard to believe, considering they were murderers who had been slaughtering people just a few hours ago.
“…”
He silently watched the Japanese pirates for a while, then placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.
‘These guys have outlived their usefulness.’
Having become the leader of the Japanese pirates after cutting down their previous leader with a single stroke, he had no intention of sharing the compensation. It was only natural.
If he kept it all to himself, he could take the entire hefty compensation, so why bother sharing it? Even a skilled swordsman was still a plunderer.
It didn’t make sense for a plunderer to share his portion.
‘Once I receive the compensation, I’ll cut them all down and disguise myself as a Central Plains person to secure a suitable position.’
As much as he wanted to return to his homeland, he couldn’t. He was a fugitive.
a murderous ghost who enjoyed killing was rejected even in his homeland, where wars broke out as often as eating meals.
‘Or… going to the Western Regions wouldn’t be bad either. As long as I can cut people, anywhere is fine.’
What would it feel like to cut the flesh of Westerners? A cruel smile appeared on the lips of the murderous swordsman.
He was in the midst of carefully planning his future.
His body tilted.
No, to be precise, the ship he was standing on tilted.
Barely maintaining his balance after the sudden change, he turned his head.
“What’s going on-”
“Boss!”
“The ship is sinking!”
“What?”
“The looted goods are in the lower hold, what should we do?!”
The Japanese pirates asked their leader with urgent faces. The leader shouted with irritation as if asking why they were even asking such a thing.
“Do you even need to ask?! Take out as much as possible! As much as you can before it sinks!”
“Yes! Guys! Move quickly! Take out the goods!”
‘We can just change ships!’
How many ships were anchored at the port?
It was enough to select a few of those ships and board them.
‘For a ship that was fine even in rough waves to have a hole, how did this happen?’
It was incomprehensible.
The ship, which had even undergone maintenance before starting this job, was damaged to the point of sinking. It was unacceptable. He jumped off the ship, which was already half-tilted and beyond salvaging, and observed it.
Since a third of the hull was submerged in water, there wasn’t much he could find out, but it wasn’t like he couldn’t figure out anything at all.
After his observation, he realized one thing.
“It’s unnatural.”
“Pardon?”
“It’s sinking unnaturally. It’s not sinking due to a small damage. For it to sink this quickly, there must be a large hole at the bottom.”
“Th-Then…”
“Be on guard! The Haenam Sword Sect is known to be skilled in water techniques, so they must have tampered with the ship!”
“Th-The goods…”
“Do you want to become fish food?”
The plan had completely gone awry.
According to the plan, they should have been leaving Haenam Island with the looted goods by now. However, the sinking of the ship they came on shattered all their plans.
Considering their numbers, they would have to split up and board multiple ships and that would require dividing the remaining loot among the ships. And after seeing the divided loot… would the greedy subordinates even consider regrouping?
Yasuo, the armored warrior, gritted his teeth and scanned the surroundings with blazing eyes.
‘If they used water techniques, some of them should still be underwater…’
He looked over his subordinates, who were gradually arming themselves and guarding the surroundings, then drew his sword.
A sharp sword cry resonated through the chaotic port.
“Using such petty tricks…”
‘Even if we try to escape by boarding a ship right away, they will interfere with their water techniques. We need to deal with them as quickly as possible and leave this place.’
Having finished his calculations, he raised his sword and shouted.
“The rat bastards of the Haenam Sword Sect are hiding nearby, so be on high alert!”
Tension gripped the faces of the Japanese pirates at his shout. Regardless of their leader, most of them were merely third-rate Japanese pirates. Facing the martial artists of the Haenam Sword Sect meant certain death.
The previous victory was only possible because they had secured a terrain suitable for an ambush through a demon cult agent disguised as a merchant and attacked from a distance with arrows. Without such a surprise tactic, the chances of winning were…
“Aargh!”
A heart-wrenching scream echoed through the port. Naturally, the Japanese pirates’ nerves were on edge.
Where?
Where the hell is it coming from?
“Mi-Minoru is dead!”
A Japanese pirate near the killed one shouted, trembling. His face was completely gripped by fear, ready to throw down his weapon and jump into the sea at any moment.
“Where is the enemy? Didn’t you spot the enemy?!”
“N-No! We didn’t-”
“Aah!”
A second victim appeared. This time on the opposite side. A Japanese pirate with a pierced throat collapsed on the ground, bleeding.
The dirty ground greedily absorbed the blood from the corpse.
Fear began to spread like an epidemic among the Japanese pirates.
“Kraaah!”
“Aaaaaaaaah!”
Screams of terror began to multiply.
Strangely, the screams of the Japanese pirates only grew louder instead of diminishing.
It was only natural.
What remained in their bodies was not sword wounds, but a pain as if their entire bodies were slowly being twisted.
Fengjin Cuogu (Separating Tendons and Misplacing Bones).
A torture technique used on prisoners had appeared on the battlefield.
“It’s a ghost! A ghost!”
“Kill me! Just kill me!”
“Shut up! All of you shut up!”
‘Damn it! I can’t locate them because of the screams!’
How could one endure the pain of their bones and tendons slowly twisting?
Despite Yasuo’s shouts, the voices of the Japanese pirates writhing on the ground, under the surprise attack of the Haenam Sword Sect’s martial artists, resounded through the port.
“I-I can’t take it anymore!”
“Masao!”
One of the frightened Japanese pirates threw down his weapon and ran towards the sea.
It was a naive thought that he would be safe in the water.
However, Yasuo wouldn’t let that slide. With a flash of sword light, and with a scream, Masao’s body fell to the ground.
Hot blood dripped from Yasuo’s sword.
Yasuo shouted at his subordinates.
“If you run away, you die by my hand! Fight back!”
He even used his internal energy to shout, trying to control the situation, but there was no response. The voices of his terrified subordinates covered his voice.
‘For things to get this twisted…’
If he took a small boat, he could easily escape.
He had to run away now.
As he turned around with that thought,
He discovered the presence of a man leaning on his sword like a cane. A man standing with his back to the sea. His blond hair shimmered in the moonlight.
“Wow, I didn’t expect to see a samurai in the Central Plains.”
“…A foreigner?”
“I guess a Westerner stands out too much here.”
William smiled and cracked his neck, loosening his body. Preparing to make his body flexible before it was time to use it. Yasuo pointed his sword forward with a tense face.
“Who are you?”
“Does it matter who I am?”
“…How do you know the language of Dongyeong? Who the hell are you?!”
“Even if I tell you, I don’t think you’ll understand. If I say I’m a knight who came from the Western Regions, will you get it?”
‘Knight?’
Naturally, Yasuo didn’t understand. Having wandered between Dongyeong and the Central Plains all his life, there was no way he would know about the existence of a continent on the opposite side of the globe.
“You bastard. What the hell did you do?”
“Shouldn’t you have figured it out by now? More stupid than I thought? When I heard the story from the advance party, I thought you were quite a cunning fellow.”
William deliberately provoked Yasuo, checking the state of the battlefield with his eyes.
‘The Japanese pirates are almost dealt with.’
The simple tactic of waiting until late at night, making holes in the bottom of the ship with sword energy, returning to land, and gradually reducing the number of Japanese pirates by utilizing the complex terrain of the intertwined port.
On top of that simple tactic, William added one more trick.
Fear.
The easiest way for a few to defeat many.
William instructed the martial artists of the Haenam Sword Sect to kill the Japanese pirates as painfully as possible. Using Fengjin Cuogu if possible.
Normally, they might have felt uncomfortable with the order to kill painfully, but the disciples of the Haenam Sword Sect, blinded by the desire for revenge, readily accepted the proposal.
The martial artists of the Haenam Sword Sect faithfully carried out his instructions.
Minor mistakes occurred quite often due to their unfamiliarity with Fengjin Cuogu, but it was enough to keep trying until it succeeded.
And so, the port turned into a hell filled with screams.
“Ruining a well-planned meal…”
“If you didn’t want it ruined, you shouldn’t have participated in this. You demon cult’s lapdog.”
“You, how do you-”
‘Damn it!’
Realizing that he had fallen for a simple leading question the moment he lost his composure, his face twisted. But he had already blurted out that he had been commissioned by the demon cult.
Yasuo glared at William with a defeated expression.
William slowly drew his sword from its sheath.
“Come, if you defeat me, I’ll let you go.”
“…Is that true?”
“Do you think you have a choice?”
He hadn’t learned movement techniques, so if Yasuo seriously tried to run away, he wouldn’t be able to catch up, but there was no way Yasuo would know that.
Yasuo gripped his sword tightly, trying to ignore the hate-filled eyes he felt from all directions.
That was his only path to survival.
Suppressing his pounding heart, he looked at his opponent with cold eyes.
“Nakamura Yasuo. I challenge you to a duel!”
His sword, soaked in the blood of countless opponents, was pointed at the foreigner in front of him.
“William Marshal. I accept your duel.”
William’s sword hilt rose to the side of his head. At the same time, he stepped forward with his right foot and aimed the tip of his sword at Yasuo.
A stance like a bull aiming its horns at the enemy.
The Ox guard.
A stance for both offense and defense revealed itself under the moonlit night.
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Finally MC full name
William marshal ! His family name marshal?