A Medieval Knight in a Martial Arts Novel – Chapter 45

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Shrine
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“Great hero! Thank you for ending the Blood-Thirsty Asura’s life on our behalf. Thanks to you, our fallen comrades can rest in peace.”

“I only did what had to be done.”

“Great hero…”

Yoo Il-Han, The sole survivor of the patrol unit that was wiped out while tracking the Blood-Thirsty Asura, looked at me with eyes brimming with emotion.

We had come with Elder Baek to check on his condition after hearing he had regained consciousness, but seeing how he was making such a fuss as soon as he saw us, it seemed he was recovering quickly. As expected of a martial artist.

“Now, now, don’t get too excited. You might reopen your wounds if you’re not careful!”

“Ah…”

Only then did Yoo Il-han sit back down and look up at us.

Did he have something more to say? As I listened carefully, he started expressing his gratitude again.

“Thank you. I don’t know how I can ever repay this debt…”

“You might as well do the same and help someone else who collapsed someday in the future too. Don’t worry about it.”

Elder Baek waved his hand as he spoke to Yoo Il-han who was looking up at Elder Baek with even more moved eyes, Yoo II-han exclaimed:

“As expected of one of the members of the Haenam Sword Sect, one of the Nine Great Sects! You’re overflowing with chivalry!”

“Ho ho…”

Though he pretended otherwise, Elder Baek seemed pleased with the compliment as he stroked his beard. While watching this, I asked Yoo Il-han:

“So… were you ambushed by that Blood-Thirsty Asura fellow?”

“No. We received information about the Blood-Thirsty Asura’s location and attacked first… but we found out that we underestimated him. According to the information reported to the Wulin Alliance, he was known to be a first-rate expert, but we had no idea he was a peak level demon leader… By the time we realized it, it was already…”

For someone who had joined the Wulin Alliance as a martial artist, he should have been able to gauge that much instinctively. Perhaps he had been blinded by the prospect of a promotion and ignored all other signs of danger. There were people obsessed with advancement everywhere, after all.

Having seen more than a few heads roll due to such behaviour, a sigh escaped my lips involuntarily.

“Don’t do that again in the future.”

“Yes. I will absolutely never do it again. I’ve learned my lesson from this incident…”

“Well then, we’ll be on our way.”

“Yes, take care.”

We turned and left the doctor’s place.

It was time for us to leave Tongcheng and head to the Wulin Alliance in Wuhan.

“Let’s pack our things and depart right away. Our next destination is… Chibi.”

Chibi?

The Chibi city of the Battle of Red Cliffs?

“Chibi… you say?”

“It’s a city you’ll come across if you follow the main road towards Wuhan. It’s a place every person from the Central Plains knows, but… you’re from the Western Regions, so I guess you wouldn’t know it.”

…Actually, I did know it, but I couldn’t let on that I knew it. It would be strange for me to know about the Three Kingdoms, so I couldn’t bring it up first. At most, I could only casually mention it.

“Chibi… that’s a nice name.”

“It’s a place where a famous battle once took place. I’ll tell you the story sometime if we get the chance.”

I didn’t think that was necessary, but I had to pretend that I didn’t know the story, so I wondered how I should wave it off.

“I look forward to it.”

Chibi, huh. I was looking forward to it.

It was a place that appeared in the “Romance of Three Kingdoms” long ago, so there was a high chance it wouldn’t be much in reality, I couldn’t help but feel a bit excited about directly visiting the site of the famous Battle of Red Cliffs.

I wasn’t particularly obsessed with the “Romance of Three Kingdoms”, but even I, who wasn’t well-read, knew about this place.

“…I hope we can pass through Chibi quietly.”

“…I agree.”

Elder Baek and I sighed in unison.

“Wow…”

“It’s incredible.”

Wow, it’s vast.

I slowly took in the sight of the enormous lake next to Chibi. It was a lake so vast that its edges were not visible.

At first glance, it was hard to tell if I was looking at the sea or a lake.

“Uncle! Look over there! the characters for ‘Chibi’ are inscribed on the cliff!”

…the characters were really there.

I marveled at the red characters inscribed on the cliff.

At a glance, the characters were written in an impressive calligraphy style, this was clearly an excellent inscription.

“I wonder who wrote it?”

“Who knows…”

“According to a legend passed down since ancient times, it’s said that Zhou Yu inscribed those characters to commemorate his victory at Chibi.”

How did he know that?

I wasn’t sure if it was true, but if so, it was quite remarkable.

This world had some subtle changes compared to the original history, so it was difficult to gauge, but those massive characters had withstood the elements for at least hundreds of years.

Perhaps Zhou Yu was an incredibly powerful expert.

No, he must have been an expert.

How could someone who could inscribe such large characters on a cliff not be an expert?

He must have been at least at the Master level.

“Zhou Yu… huh.”

“Ah, Zhou Yu was one of the most famous generals in the Central Plains. He’s renowned for achieving a great victory in the battle that took place here.”

Hajin kindly added an explanation for my benefit. It was a somewhat incomplete explanation, but he probably simplified it for me, assuming I had no background knowledge.

It would be too long to explain everything from the beginning.

Still, hearing about the Three Kingdoms from a local perspective seemed quite interesting.

“He must have been an extraordinary person.”

“Heaven had already given birth to Zhou Yu, why did it also birth Zhuge Liang!”

Hye-ryeong’s voice echoed beneath the quiet Chibi cliffs. Having blurted out this unexpected line, Hye-ryeong opened her mouth with a playful smile.

“They say that’s what he said on his deathbed!”

“Those are quite dramatic last words.”

Was it in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms or in the historical records that he said those words?

Anyway, I finally managed to turn my gaze away from Hye-ryeong, who was flapping her arms dramatically after she explained the quote’s origin, and looked back at the lake.

“Uncle? What’s wrong?”

What do you mean, what’s wrong? It’s just…

“We can’t know if he really lamented Zhuge Liang’s birth like that, but that’s what people commonly say.”

Just as I was about to open my mouth, an unfamiliar voice joined the conversation. It was a male voice that sounded somewhat intellectual. I turned my head to look at the owner of the voice.

…Zhuge Liang?

As if wanting to imitate Zhuge Liang, this person was looking at us with a fan covering half his face.

As our eyes met, he tucked the white feather fan into his waist and made a cupped-hand salute.

“I am Zhuge Hyunsang.”

“I didn’t expect to meet a scion of the Zhuge family here.”

The man, who looked to be in his mid to late twenties, smiled and quickly scanned us before fixing his gaze on me and saying:

“I also didn’t dream I’d meet martial artists from the Haenam Sword Sect in a place like this, Including the Blue-Eyed Lion who’s been making a name for himself in Hubei lately.”

Has news about me spread that far?

I looked at the scion of the Zhuge family as he mentioned my alias.

He definitely said his name was Zhuge Hyunsang, right?

Hmm…

It’s a name I’ve never heard before.

No matter how much I racked my brain, I couldn’t remember a character named Zhuge Hyunsang appearing in the original work.

Of course, it’s natural since the Zhuge family had almost zero presence in the original work. How many wuxia novels feature the Zhuge family prominently anyway?

I slightly lifted my bamboo hat and made a cupped-hand salute as I introduced myself.

“William Marshall. You can call me Wei Mo if that’s easier.”

“Ah, Brother Wei. It’s truly a pleasure to meet you. You’re as courteous as I’ve heard.”

“It’s just basic manners, isn’t it?”

“Haha, there are many in this world who don’t even bother with such basic courtesies.”

There was a slight condemnation in his words.

It didn’t seem to be directed at us though.

He took out the white feather fan from his waist again, and with half his face hidden, smiled at us with his eyes.

It was a subtly irritating gaze.

“I’d like to chat more, but I have duties to attend to, so I’m afraid we must part ways here. I hope you have a pleasant journey.”

“Take care, young master.”

“Then, until we meet again.”

The eccentric man named Zhuge Hyunsang turned his back and walked in the opposite direction from where we had come. His pace was very leisurely, but strangely quick – perhaps it was some kind of qinggong.

After watching him for a while, Hye-ryeong was the first among us to speak up.

“Uncle, what was that all about?”

“I’m not sure.”

“…I’m not even certain if he really was a member of the Zhuge family.”

Hajin also voiced his suspicion, seemingly finding the man’s behaviour strange.

While wuxia novels were full of eccentric characters, in the martial arts world, it was hard to know what to make of someone who chatted briefly as if meeting an acquaintance before leaving.

Of course, it wasn’t strange to exchange greetings since we belonged to the same righteous faction, but something felt off.

He might just be putting on an air of mystery, but it didn’t seem to be just an act either.

…Whatever.

Nothing had happened to us while talking to him, so we could just think of it as an encounter with an unusual person and ignore it.

“Let’s keep walking.”

At Elder Baek’s words, we deliberately buried our uneasiness and started walking towards Chibi City.

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I think this won’t be the last time they encounter that person. Do you think he gave them his real name?