A Medieval Knight in a Martial Arts Novel

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Shrine
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“Have you regained consciousness?!”

I was so thirsty, I felt like I would die…

Water, water…

Perhaps because I had swallowed a lot of seawater, my voice wouldn’t come out properly.

Still, it seemed my intention was sufficiently conveyed, as a nice cup of water was swiftly held out in front of me.

I mindlessly chugged the water brought to my mouth. Nearly a third of it seemed to spill thanks to my enthusiasm, but it couldn’t be helped.

By the time my lips and chin were sufficiently drenched with lukewarm water, my vision gradually began to focus.

My mind also became clearer.

“Ugh…”

My head felt as if it would split.

As I blinked a few times, trying to reorient myself, a youthful voice spoke from the side.

I slightly turned-a surprisingly arduous task-to the side and looked at the woman who had presumably nursed me.

Wow, her breasts are big… no, wait, wrong thing. An unfamiliar attire filled my vision.

It appeared to be a Chinese-style outfit, but even before my transmigration, I knew little when it came to traditional Chinese clothing, so it was difficult to glean any significant information.

Additionally, what the girl had said earlier. It sounded like Chinese.

My mind was in shambles, no doubt because I had nearly died and came back to life.

Grimacing at my throbbing head, I came to a simple conclusion.

For now, I should just stay still.

In situations like this, observing the situation calmly is usually the best course of action.

“I’ll bring some porridge, so please rest. Sir patient.”

The woman smiled and wiped the corners of my mouth with a towel, then changed my sweat-drenched pillow.

Thanks to her, I became significantly less sticky, and I could comfortably observe the room I was now alone in.

The building had a structure you’d only see in a martial arts novel, and the sound of vigorous shouts rang out from somewhere nearby.

Perhaps they were doing some sort of training, as the shouts seemed rather orderly. Also there was… the strong scent of the sea.

I stared blankly at the ceiling and sighed.

It seemed I had drifted ashore somewhere in China.

Make no mistake, I had wanted to go far away, but I didn’t want to come all the way to China.

To begin with, I didn’t even know China existed in this world.

Until about 30 seconds ago, I thought I had become an extra in a medieval fantasy novel.

In a world where knights spew out sword energy while shouting about “Aura!” or something, how could I have thought China existed?

I had roughly assumed my new reality was a fantasy continent.

“…I don’t know. It’ll work out somehow.”

As long as it’s not a battlefield, anywhere is fine.

Just not a battlefield. Please.

I recalled the days when I showered in the blood of Middle Eastern men every single day and decided to be more optimistic.

In a way, drifting to China might be a stroke of luck.

Although I don’t know exactly which novel I’ve transmigrated into, a place with which I have no ties whatsoever was better for me.

The West was currently engaged in a bloody battle with the Middle East.

If I went back, I would only be dragged to the battlefield again.

It was far better to find a way to live in China instead.

After all, the order of knights I had ties with had been annihilated in my childhood, leaving me with nowhere to return to.

I tried hard to shake off those pessimistic thoughts and closed my eyes.

Now that I had grasped the situation to some extent, it was time to observe my internal state.

First, the mana pathways, or rather, the meridians, were intact.

My muscles had shrunk a bit, but it wasn’t too bad.

The mana core, or dantian, was completely empty. It seemed I had unconsciously used my aura to protect myself when I fell into the sea. Good job me.

For now, I needed to focus on recovering my body.

I should also lay some groundwork for the future.

“Sir patient, it’s time for your meal~”

A lively voice entered the room with perfect timing.

I turned my head towards the clattering sounds and looked at the woman whom I had met when I first opened my eyes.

“Even if you were sleeping, you should eat first… Ah, a foreigner probably won’t understand the language of the Central Plains…”

The woman opened her mouth as if she had belatedly realized something, making a dazed expression.

She placed a dining table in front of me and pointed to the porridge with her slender finger.

Then she mimicked eating with a spoon. Is she telling me to eat?

I observed her body language and spoke.

“I… can understand… the language of the Central Plains…”

Ah, my throat hurts. But I had to say what needed to be said.

Judging by the fact that I could understand the language of the Central Plains without any issues, it seemed that my transmigration perk wasn’t limited to just English being the universal language.
I didn’t want to hide the fact that I could speak the language of the Central Plains and make things inconvenient for myself later.

Giving them reasons to be suspicious of me in a new place where I had to live was downright foolish.

“What?! How can you understand the language of the Central Plains?”

“I had… an acquaintance from the Central Plains… so I learned it from them…”

Thank goodness for my quick wit.

I tossed out a suitable excuse and observed her reaction. Fortunately, the woman readily accepted my excuse without any suspicion.

Indeed, if I said I learned the language of the Central Plains from a Chinese person, how could they doubt that? It was ironclad.

It’s not like there are other ways to learn the language of the Central Plains anyway.

“This is the first time I’ve seen a foreigner who’s good at the language of the Central Plains!”

The woman looked at me with astonishment and clapped her hands.

Judging by the sparkle in her eyes, she seemed to have a rather curious personality.

Perfect. I needed to gather information.

“Where… is this place?”

“This is the Jewel of Haenam Island, the Haenam Sword Sect!”

Her voice seemed to overflow with pride for the Haenam Sword Sect. She seemed nearly as full of pride in her sect as she placed her hand on her chest.

But if it’s the Haenam Sword Sect, isn’t that…?

Martial arts world? Murim?

What’s going on? What’s the setting like? The West also used arts (martial arts), but there’s a martial arts world here too?

Did I fall into a fusion fantasy?

“Ah, you can speak comfortably to me! You look older than me… so, you can just call me Hye-ryeong!”

Hye-ryeong…

That name feels oddly familiar.

It seemed like a name that lingered somewhere in my memory, but I couldn’t quite recall.

If I gather more information, won’t it come back to me? It’s worth a shot at least.

As such, I began to ask the things I was curious about one by one.

How I ended up here, if anyone else was found, what kind of sect the Haenam Sword Sect was.

The last question was more of an attempt to figure out which work I had been transmigrated into.

“I found you collapsed on the beach and brought you here! I didn’t see anyone else, and the Haenam Sword Sect is a prestigious sect on Haenam Island that mainly specializes in sword techniques! It even belongs to the Nine Great Sects!”

Hye-ryeong’s bundle of pride swayed, personally attesting to the prestige of the Haenam Sword Sect.

“Ah! Have you heard about the Nine Great Sects? The Nine Great Sects are…”

Hmmm, she’s quite talkative.

Well, if she’s going to chatter away happily, it’s better for me.

I carefully stored the information Hye-ryeong was blabbering about inside my head and organized the information I knew about the martial arts world.

First, as per the cliché, the Nine Great Sects were Haenam, Shaolin, Mount Hua, Wudang, Kongtong, Mount Zhongnan, Emei, Mount Qingcheng, Kunlun, and the Beggars’ Sect.

I see.

“Ah! You should have your meal first! I’m sorry!”

“It’s alright, don’t bow your head.”

It makes me uncomfortable.

“I’ll tell you the rest of the story after you finish your meal!”

There’s more?

At this rate, I might even find out the number of spoons in the Haenam Sword Sect.

“Ah, try it. Ah~”

I began to eat the porridge Hye-ryeong was feeding me.

Although it was tasteless, probably because it was a patient’s meal, at least something was going into my mouth.

With that thought, I emptied the bowl of porridge.

“Is it to your liking?”

“It was delicious.”

“Eh, you don’t have to lie. I just brought plain porridge, so there’s no way it could be tasty.”

She’s quite honest.

Of course, being honest is fine, but for the sake of managing my image, I couldn’t utter rude words, so I spoke again.

“It’s the first meal I’m having after nearly dying, how could it not be delicious?”

“Now that you mention it, I guess you’re right?”

Hye-ryeong responded by lightly hitting her palm with her fist, as if she hadn’t thought of that.

“So next time, tell them to increase the portion a bit. That amount is woefully insufficient for this body of mine.”

As befitting someone chosen as a knight, my body was quite large, so the amount of food I required was also high.

Hye-ryeong nodded her head at my words, indicating she understood.

“I’ll tell the cook! But there’s something I’m curious about…”

“No… You’re curious about something?”

“How did you end up drifting in the sea?”

Hye-ryeong’s eyes sparkled as if spotlights had been shoved into her eyeballs.

She’s even more talkative than I imagined. At this rate, the conversation might go on endlessly-

“Hye-ryeong! Where are you?”

“Ah… My master is looking for me! Then, see you at dinner!”

Saying that, Hye-ryeong disappeared with quick steps, carrying the dining table with a regretful expression.

I felt relieved that I could finally rest and once again stared blankly at the ceiling.

Do I have to keep living like this until my body heals?

While constantly entertaining Hye-ryeong’s chatter?

As someone who could count on one hand the number of times I had conversed with a woman since being transmigrated, I held my forehead with a slightly despairing premonition.

No, still, at least I survived…

“Master! It’s me, Lin Hye-ryeong! Lin Hye-ryeong! The youngest disciple of the proud leader of the Haenam Sword Sect, Lin Ha-bong! Such threats are…”

Lin Hye-ryeong?

Lin Ha-bong?

Sect Leader?

‘Hye-ryeong… you must survive.’

The hazy memories gradually became clearer.

“…Fuck.”

I’m screwed.

No wonder the memory was hazy.

It was because her present personality was the complete opposite, so I was confused.

This is before the heroine turns evil.