A Medieval Knight in a Martial Arts Novel – Chapter 25

—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Shrine
—————————————————————–

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

 
“Ugh, it’s boring…”

“Sea travel is always like this.”

Rowing like crazy, then eating meals, and if things go wrong, staging a mutiny to feed the higher-ups to the fish, and even trying out being a captain.

Without such special fun, it was inevitable to get bored.

“Senior Brother Hajin, how much longer until we reach the port?”

“It will take about half a day and a bit more to pass through the Qiongzhou Strait between Haenam Island and Guangdong Province. And you can speak comfortably to me.”

“Alright then.”

Qiongzhou Strait.

To be honest, I knew almost nothing about Chinese geography, so no matter what I heard, I could only pretend to understand. The only city I knew of was the really famous Wuhan.

Let’s not talk about why it became famous.

“I’m going in to rest.”

“Okay.”

“Uncle, you’re not going in?”

“I’ll stay and enjoy the sea a bit more.”

I didn’t want to hole up in the cabin away from the sunny afternoon.

Since there was nothing to do inside anyway, it was better to feel the sea breeze and blankly gaze at the horizon.

I adjusted the bamboo hat I was wearing on my head.

It was an item Hajin had given me for being a Westerner. Apparently, if I was discovered to be a Westerner in the Central Plains, unlike Haenam Island, it could get troublesome.

Indeed, even in the 21st century a similar situation could occur, it wouldn’t be strange for racial discrimination to pop up among natives in the medieval martial arts world.

“…Then I won’t go in either.”

“Do as you wish.”

You’re a kid for sure.

I leaned against the railing with my chin propped up. All I could see was the sea. Occasionally, something resembling an island could be seen, but most were small and not really worth seeing.

…So in the end, the only thing we could do was chat.

“I’m bored… Uncle, do you have any interesting stories?”

“My stories probably won’t be fun.”

I couldn’t bring up stories from before my transmigration, and if I did bring up any stories, it would only be the stories I experienced over the past two years, but honestly, they didn’t seem like they would be interesting. Naturally, I couldn’t bring up stories of killing.

“What about stories of where you lived?”

“I’m from the countryside.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“To think a great hero like you came from the boonies, it must have been a dragon’s pool and tiger’s den.”

“Well…”

Actually, I don’t know where the hometown of this body is.

The moment I opened my eyes, I was already conscripted and thrown into a training camp. From there, it was the start of a survival story that couldn’t be heard without tears.

Learning meditation techniques, rolling around to build my body, learning how to handle weapons.

And after a month and a half, I was thrown into the war.

After about half a year, all my peers were dead.

It was fortunate, if you could call it that, that I was able to join the knightly order because I had more talent than I thought and grew quickly.

Even though I couldn’t last a year and a half there…

“Uncle?”

“What?”

“Look over there!”

Hye-ryeong pointed towards the sea with her finger. I immediately shifted my gaze to follow Hye-ryeong’s finger. As Hye-ryeong said, at the tip of her finger, there was something that wasn’t there before.

“It’s an old ship.”

“It seems so.”

“Isn’t it approaching us?”

Now that you mention it, it does seem like that.

We blankly stared at the ship that was slowly increasing in size, fiddling with the weapons we had on us.

Encountering a ship on a sea like this was common, but that ship was approaching us in a straight line? There was almost no possibility other than pirates.

If it were a merchant ship, there would be no reason to approach in the first place, and if it were a naval ship, it wouldn’t be so worn out. It was also too big to be considered a fishing boat.

“I will go inform the captain about the approach of the Japanese pirates and return.”

“We need to prepare for battle.”

Oh my.

Of all ships, they had to target this one.

I turned my head to check the expressions of the passengers, and despite slowly noticing the existence of that ship, there were no signs of panic or fear.

Indeed, who would be afraid when the martial artists of the Haenam Sword Sect were on board?

The Haenam Sword Sect specialized in slaughtering Japanese pirates to the point of getting sick of it, if nothing else.

“Can we receive a bounty if we catch the Japanese pirates too?”

“I heard we get a bounty if we bring their heads!”

To say such things with that cute face so casually. Is this what the martial arts world is like? I stared ahead with one hand on the hilt of my longsword.

“They’ll probably be within a distance of about 1 li soon.”

The deck vibrated. It seemed the martial artists of the Haenam Sword Sect had all come out. Including me, there were about seven of us, but each one was a skilled martial artist.

They wouldn’t even get injured by mediocre Japanese pirates.

Even the captain, whose face I had never seen, seemed to know that well, as the speed of the ship noticeably slowed down. There was no need to even run away.

“It’s been a while since I fought on a ship.”

“Have you done it before?”

“Before I drifted in the sea.”

The pirates were troublesome because they knew how to use swords. Of course, a big part of it was because the weapons were unfamiliar types… Longswords were really awkward to use on a ship.

It wasn’t like a polearm was any more useful either. I had left it in the Haenam Sword Sect in the first place. It was cumbersome to carry a polearm around, and it was a weapon that was really difficult to use in the Central Plains with its many forests and mountains.

“Everyone, go inside the ship! This place will soon become a battlefield!”

Hajin’s voice was heard from behind. If this is what the sect disciples are like, should I say they are really disciples of an orthodox sect? They prioritize protecting the civilians first. The sound of busy footsteps could be heard from behind.

It seemed they didn’t want to expose the civilians to stray arrows or swords, even if it was an easy victory for them.

Who would want to get hit?

“To think they came all the way from the far east to become pirates. I don’t understand why they do that.”

“With that tenacity, they could have earned money if they did trade instead.”

Even considering only the straight-line distance, it was to a level where you had to string together several Korean peninsulas, so how did they cross that distance with the crude ships of the Middle Ages? In fact, if we only consider navigation skills, are they at the level of Vikings?

With such ridiculous thoughts, I glared at the pirate ship that had almost arrived.

The condition of the pirate ship couldn’t be called good even as a lie. The hull was full of traces of being broken and repaired, and moss and seaweed were sticking to it all over.

It seemed they hadn’t done any maintenance at all.

How do they even sail a ship like that?

Did they steal a suitable ship and use it? The thought occurred to me that the pirates’ target might not be wealth but the ship.

Ah, but the ship is also wealth, right?

“Sir William. It’s about time to make our move.”

“It would be better to board quickly before they come up.”

“That would be good. If blood splatters on the ship, it will get dirty.”

“Mu-guang. Don’t get distracted while swinging your sword. If you do that in real combat, not in training, you won’t be able to avoid death.”

“Yes! Master!”

The voices of Mu-guang and Elder Baek-hyun could be heard from behind. It seemed the two who were inside the ship also came up on deck.

Hagyeong, whom I had never properly talked to, and the taciturn martial artist whom I had never talked to even once, also came up behind them and stood next to me.

“There are roughly fifty people on deck.”

“Their skills will be poor, but… always be wary of stray swords.”

“Yes! Master!”

Everyone kicked off the deck and flew towards the pirates’ ship.

———————–

“It seems they were suffering from hunger and rushed at us.”

Those were Hajin’s words after the pirate ship was dealt with.

Indeed, as he said, the condition of the Japanese pirates was not good. Their complexions were so pale that it was surprising they could even hold swords and fight. Either they couldn’t find a ship to loot, or conversely, they were the ones who got looted, as there was really nothing on the ship.

Just a few swords made of cheap iron, that was all.

By the way, these guys have no luck.

If we weren’t on board, they would have just looted.

Why did they have to mess with the ship we were on?

There were already three supreme experts in our group.

With a mixture of ridicule and sympathy for the Japanese pirates, I wiped the blood off my sword with a cloth. After cutting through human flesh, the sword always had to be maintained.

Although I could shake the sword to get rid of the blood, doing that sometimes wouldn’t remove the blood properly, so it couldn’t be helped. I carefully wiped the blade and put it back in the sheath.

Now it’s about time to go back.

“Ugh, I’m tired.”

“You can rest when we return. But before that, we need to change our clothes first.”

“Right. My clothes are soaked with blood, so I want to change quickly.”

What are you doing?

As Hye-ryeong shook her collar as if irritated, I immediately turned my gaze away. It would be fine if it were just Hye-ryeong and me, but there were other martial artists present.

It would be troublesome to be misunderstood for no reason.

“Tsk…”

“…It seems we’ll be returning soon, so let’s get ready.”

“Everyone, back to the ship!”

Elder Baek’s voice echoed across the ship.

We once again used qinggong on the deck.

Except for me.

I should learn at least simple qinggong when I go to the Central Plains.

——————————

“Uncle! Look over there! It’s Seomun-hyeon!”

At Hye-ryeong’s exclamation, I looked towards the bow of the ship. As she said, a bustling port that could be seen at a glance was getting closer and closer.

“Is this finally the Central Plains?”

“It’s the edge of it!”

Hye-ryeong had a face full of anticipation.

Since Haenam Island was practically a frontier, it wasn’t strange for her to have a longing for the Central Plains. I was also looking forward to it in my own way.

The Central Plains.

It feels like I’ve finally stepped onto the stage of the story.

I put on the bamboo hat I had taken off and gathered my belongings.

“Hye-ryeong, let’s depart soon.”

“Yes! Uncle!”

We had arrived at Seomun-hyeon, the port town on the southwest edge of the Central Plains.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇