A Medieval Knight in a Martial Arts Novel – Chapter 51

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Shrine
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“You’re not putting much thought in the words you are spreaking,” Master Zhang said.

“Since you’re not denying it, it seems you are indeed related to the shadowless divine thief,” William replied.

He had thought that might be the case.

If Master Zhang was connected to the Shadowless Divine Thief, He might be able to pive them with a lead.

At the very least, they now found out how Master Zhang had obtained the Shadowless Divine Thief’s secret manual. And if they could uncover his secrets, they might also find clues to locate the treasure.

“Hey, Brother Wei…”

“Constable Meng. I know what you’re trying to say, but now that we’ve come this far, it’s impossible for us to just forget what we discussed. Isn’t that right, Master Zhang?”

“Huh, where did such an impudent fellow come from…”

He looked at William as if he couldn’t believe it.

William folded his arms and waited for him to answer.

Master Zhang could call his subordinates to chase them out, but doing so would only amount to admitting that he had done something shady.

So he could either honestly reveal the facts he had been hiding, or make an attempt to silence them.

Of course, William had no intention of going down easily, so Master Zhang would have to risk his life if he decided to subdue William and kill him.

William hadn’t brought his sword to avoid appearing threatening, but he could easily subdue mediocre opponents with just his bare hands.

“…Master Zhang. Please speak.”

Constable Meng added weight to William’s demand.

He must have realized that once William had started this, it would be difficult to resolve peacefully without offending Master Zhang.

After all, if he couldn’t read the situation, he wouldn’t be qualified to be a constable.

As the two of them began to apply pressure in earnest, Master Zhang frowned as if irritated.

“…Do you think I would be intimidated by such threats?”

“We are not threatening you, we just want you to answer our questions.”

For a merchant, he doesn’t seem to know how to keep composed. Come to think of it, William had never heard exactly how Master Zhang had become a self-made merchant.

He knew that he had suddenly appeared and created a merchant group to make money, but creating a merchant group meant he had some initial capital.

Where did that capital come from?

Could it have been from the treasures stolen by the Shadowless Divine Thief?

“Master. Please speak plainly. What would change greatly by just telling us what we want to know?”

“…You should just do your job as instructed.”

“So, are you going to tell us or not?”

Can he stop being so annoying? Let’s just finish this quickly.

At William’s urging, Master Zhang, who had been glaring at him, sighed and leaned back against his chair. Judging by the look in his eyes, he seemed to be contemplating whether or not to kill them to silence them, but William was prepared to strike immediately if he noticed any signs of him attempting to harm them.

“…I am a disciple of the Shadowless Divine Thief.”

“A disciple of the Shadowless Divine Thief…”

Constable Meng muttered in a surprised voice. He seemed quite shocked by the unexpected confession. William nodded calmly at the information Master Zhang had revealed.

Somehow, he had suspected it might be something like this.

He didn’t think Master Zhang was likely to be the Shadowless Divine Thief himself.

Someone who had committed countless thefts wouldn’t have such lax security. No one would know better than a thief how important security was.

It was right to assume that the stage’s security being so poorly set up that the secret manual could be easily stolen was a part of his plan for something.

For instance…

“But I was only a half disciple,” Master Zhang said.

Undisguisable regret was evident in his voice.

It seemed there was a long story behind this.

“I lacked talent and couldn’t properly learn martial arts, so in reality, only my senior apprentice brother actually used to learn martial arts from our master.”

The outline of the situation was becoming clearer.

“While I was cleaning the house as usual, doing odd jobs, my senior apprentice brother killed our master and tried to kill me too. Fortunately, I noticed early and escaped with the secret manual and some valuables. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be alive now.”

“What does that have to do with displaying the secret manual so carelessly?”

William couldn’t see any connection between the past events and the reason for displaying the secret manual.

“What I took was only half of the secret manual,” Master Zhang said.

Half?

“Half… you say?”

“The secret manual our master left behind was in two volumes. I have one. The other… my senior apprentice brother probably has it.”

“…You deliberately displayed the manual to find the other half?”

“It wasn’t the real secret manual. It was just a copy I had made to look as similar as possible.”

Ah, so that’s how it was.

He had deliberately spread the rumours about him displaying the manual to try to find his senior apprentice brother. The reason for finding him was probably for his half of the secret manual.

“Why were you trying to find the other half of the secret manual now?”

“…I just have a lingering regret that i couldn’t learn it.”

It seemed like there might be more reasons other than that, but William didn’t try to dig deeper.

From his current position, it was enough to just solve the case adequately and receive compensation.

And…

If they found this senior apprentice brother, it wouldn’t be too difficult then to hear the rest of the story.

But how should they find this senior apprentice brother?

“Well, I understand. In the end, Master Zhang, you want to complete the Shadowless Divine Thief’s secret manual, right?”

“…That’s right.”

He agreed with a displeased expression.

Perhaps he didn’t like having to answer William’s continuous questions.

If so, He shouldn’t have lied in the first place then. Anyway, now that they knew his intention, it was time to negotiate.

“How about we make a deal? We’ll help you find this senior apprentice brother of yours.”

“A deal… How bold. Don’t you know I could just kill you both here and be done with it?”

Was he threatening them now? As William sharpened his senses, he could feel several presences around the room.

Those must be his bodyguards. It seemed they were ready to behead them and commit murder if necessary. He must be confident he could suppress them with his power.

As it happened, William hadn’t brought any weapons, so in the old man’s mind, he was probably planning to kill them and quietly bury them in some remote place, or frame them as criminals.

It might just be paranoia, but William had seen such things happen more than once on the battlefield.

Like those who came claiming to be on a holy war, but were needlessly obsessed with politics and forgot their original intensions…

“That wouldn’t be a very good choice,” William said.

“…”

Was there any reason for William to be intimidated by the killing intent emitted by these youngsters who had never even experienced war?

For William, who had been showered in blood and entrails to the point of throwing up, he felt rather calm.

“Well, if you do that, that secret manual will remain incomplete….Forever.”

Master Zhang furrowed his brow.

He must be perplexed, not understanding why William was so confident.

From the looks of it, he didn’t seem to have properly learned martial arts, so he probably couldn’t accurately gauge William’s level.

To begin with… there was very little information about William circulating in the Central Plains.

The old man before him couldn’t predict what William might do.

In such a situation, if William acted confidently, he would naturally assume that William was hiding some trick up his sleeve.

That’s why William acted even more boldly.

“What are you so worried about? Do you think I’m going to spread rumours all over town? It’s an incident from decades ago, isn’t it? There’s no need to hide it so much now.”

“…Hmm.”

“You probably didn’t give him a copy with the information anyway, so if you’re senior apprentice brother’s goal is your half of the secret manual, won’t he come to this mansion looking for it?”

“Huh.”

“Seeing as you couldn’t catch him even with the tracking fragrance, you probably won’t be able to catch him by using ordinary means. Rather, if you entrust the task to me and Constable Meng, we’ll cleanly catch that senior apprentice brother and deliver him to you.”

“What do you want?”

Master Zhang’s question pierced William’s ears. It was then that the killing intent surrounding them dissipated.

He must have come around halfway through his speech.

William immediately voiced his demands.

“If you give me the time and money I need to catch him, I’ll catch your senior apprentice brother. And… I heard that Master Zhang has collected qinggong secret manuals. I want a decent qinggong secret manual.”

“…If you can really catch my senior apprentice brother, I’ll consider it.”

“Of course, I understand.”

“…You may leave now.” Master Zhang dismissed them, rubbing his forehead as if he had a headache.

William and Constable Meng made a cupped-hand salute to him and turned to leave the room.

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“What were you thinking, pulling a stunt like that?” Constable Meng asked.

“What, should I have cowered and begged him instead?” William replied.

If William had done that, His head would have flown off right there.

Constable Meng sighed at William’s words as if he couldn’t believe it.

“Hah… you really have nerves of steel. If Master Zhang had killed us and buried us in some remote place, no one would have ever found us. He certainly has the wealth and power to do so.”

“He doesn’t know how strong I am, so it wouldn’t have been easy. Generally, those who have a lot to lose tend to be wary of even the slightest scratch.”

Killing them recklessly wasn’t a good option to begin with.

In a desperate situation, William could have killed Master Zhang first, and even if the bodyguards tried to stop him, if all the bodyguards couldn’t protect their master, Mater Zhang life would still be in danger.

…He shouldn’t have let them in in the first place if he was planning to commit murder.

Well, the guards probably thought William was just Constable Meng’s subordinate and didn’t take him seriously.

“Anyway, we’ll soon receive word from Master Zhang. Then, from that point… we’ll need to set a trap.”

“A trap, you say.”

“If that senior apprentice brother’s goal is completing the secret manual, he’ll react when we throw out some bait. Then when we reel in the bait..”

“The case will be solved then, you mean.”

“That’s right.”

…Of course, this is all assuming that what Master Zhang told us about his past is entirely true. The fragmentary information he provided didn’t fully resolve all their questions.

It’s still difficult to understand how the tracking fragrance got on his body.

” let’s go eat, Constable Meng, let’s go to an inn with an excellent cook. Of course, Constable Meng will be paying.”

“Well… alright. I know a good inn, let’s go there.”

Free meals are always the best.

William followed Constable Meng towards the restaurant.

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I don’t think William should trust Master Zhang’s words about his senior brother killing thier master to steal his manual. I think his senior brother might have a different story to tell.