A Medieval Knight in a Martial Arts Novel – Chapter 56

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Shrine
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Although William had thought he would inevitably encounter her in Wuhan, he hadn’t expected to meet her here.

This place was near Wuhan, but it wasn’t somewhere one would casually stroll to.

Moreover, this was a location where one could encounter wild beasts or martial artists looking to exploit them if one wanders in it alone.

For the esteemed daughter of the Wulin Alliance Leader to be without escorts-

Ah, there was an escort after all.

William quietly turned his attention to the martial artist who had landed silently in front of her. Was this the bodyguard who suffered greatly due to that directionally-challenged heroine in the original work?

In the original work, he was the character who endured all sorts of hardships trying to protect his charge.

Because of his directionally-challenged master, he always carried a sachet containing tracking incense on his wrist, he learned techniques to track the incense, and mastered the skill of sleeping with his eyes open while following her day and night. He was truly a dedicated bodyguard.

What was his name again?

“Young Miss, it’s late. We should return.”

There’s no need to be so cautious. How dangerous could a man be, moping alone in a place like this?

…Well, I suppose I looked dangerous to her bodyguard? My large build probably makes me look threatening.

Still, as a knight, William had no intention of harming a lady, so he conveyed his intentions to the unexpected guests on the other side of the stream.

“There’s no need to mind me. Please go about your business. Feel free to enjoy the scenery or continue your walk as you wish.”

“…You speak Chinese?”

“How could someone who ventures deep into the Central Plains survive without knowing Chinese?”

“Is that so…?”

The youngest daughter of the Wulin Alliance Leader, Seo Ryeon, tilted her head.

Was she finding it strange that a foreigner could speak Chinese fluently?

William could feel her characteristic blank stare fixed on his face. What kind of situation was this?

“Foreigners really do have yellow hair…”

A curious gaze examined him. More precisely, his hair.

Her eyes were so intense that she looked ready to reach out and touch it if he gave permission. However, as if to put an end to her curiosity, the bodyguard whose name William couldn’t remember spoke up.

“Young Miss, please exercise some caution.”

…The bodyguard must have a tough time dealing with her behavior.

Having to search for his charge who frequently disappears and wanders off somewhere must be taxing on him.

He must be the only bodyguard in the world who makes his charge carry a sachet containing tracking incense.

“He doesn’t look like a bad person though…?”

“The world is full of people who commit evil deeds while pretending to be innocent.”

That wasn’t wrong.

In this merciless medieval world, being backstabbed was a daily occurrence.

This is a world where the strong are crushed by the ones even stronger, and the weak can only be exploited.

Unless someone’s identity was verified, one had to be suspicious of the identity of the person in front of them first. Otherwise, one could easily end up as a cold corpse with a knife in their back.

“I’ll be going now. I hope you enjoy yourselves.”

It’s bothersome, so I should leave quickly.

William stood up from the rock and turned his back. As he did so, a dreamy voice called out from behind him.

“You don’t have to leave because of me.”

“I was planning to return anyway.”

Although it wouldn’t be bad to build a connection now that they’ve encountered each other, it wasn’t the right time yet.

William turned around and returned straight to the campsite, lying down in his spot.

Seo Ryeon, Seo Ryeon…

Come to think of it, she was also a sub-heroine.

As the daughter of the Wulin Alliance Leader, she was popular and quite skilled in martial arts befitting her status, but what stood out was her quirky personality and poor sense of direction.

In the original work, she had a decent role to play, but it wasn’t particularly significant.

To be precise, aside from the main heroine Namgung Soso, none of the heroines had much significance. Even Namgung Soso didn’t have a very large role to play.

If the original work had been successful enough to reach 300 or 400 chapters, things might have been different, but the original work focused heavily on the protagonist that even a sub-heroine like Seo Ryeon, whom he had just met, didn’t have much of a significant role.

She only appeared a few times in chapters related to the Wulin Alliance.

…He really hadn’t expected to meet her in a place like this.

He had thought he would meet her only after entering the Wulin Alliance.

Considering how vast the Central Plains were, it should have been difficult to encounter her like this.

This place is like the back mountain of a village, with many huge mountains similar in size to Jirisan. The scale was completely different. Meeting like this was such an unusual occurrence.

“…. What are you thinking about?”

“…When did you wake up?”

“Around the time you went to wash your hands?”

Hye-ryeong smiled broadly as she wrapped the blanket around herself.

But a mere blanket couldn’t hide that figure of hers. William quickly averted his gaze from the curves under Hye-ryeong’s blanket and looked at her face.

“You took quite a long time just to wash your hands~”

“When I put my hands in the cold water, I woke up completely, so I was reading the secret manual.”

“Really? Isn’t it difficult?”

“I still don’t understand about half of it.”

“Hehe, you’ll understand as you keep reading. Secret manuals are meant to be memorized entirely and chewed on until they can be understood, right?”

So, she was saying to memorize it first and understand it later?

“Well then, I’m going to wash up.”

“…There are people over there right now, so why don’t you go later?”

“People?”

Hye-ryeong looked at William questioningly.

“A woman with gray hair came for a walk.”

“In these deep mountains?”

Hye-ryeong turned her head towards the direction of the stream, looking as if she had heard something incomprehensible. Then she looked at William with a startled face and spoke in a trembling voice.

“Is she a G-ghost?”

“She’s human.”

“But isn’t it strange for a woman to take a walk in a place like this at this hour? It’s weird, isn’t it…?”

“Surprisingly, it seems she really did that.”

“…Um, well… Mister, can’t you come with me?”

She didn’t need to be that desperate.

William nodded as he got up from his reclining position.

“Thank you.”

“It’s no big deal.”

“…”

William and Hye-ryeong headed straight for the stream. By now, Seo Ryeon had probably gone home, unable to resist her bodyguard’s reminders.

As expected, there was no one in front of the stream.

“Ah, Mister, are you sure you didn’t see a ghost?”

“I told you, what I saw wasn’t a ghost.”

“C-can’t we go somewhere else?”

Why is she afraid of ghosts when she can cut people’s necks without hesitation? William nodded with a slight smile at the rare sight of Hye-ryeong looking scared.

She was being quite cute.

“Alright, hurry up and wash up.”

William turned his body and absentmindedly looked up at the sky.

The pitch-black night sky was gradually being pushed back by a yellow light. If they waited like this, they might be able to see the sunrise.

While thinking these idle thoughts, William deliberately ignored the splashing sounds behind him.

At most, she was probably just washing her face , hands and feet, but even from this position of only hearing such sounds, it was impossible not to be conscious of it.

“I’m done washing!”

It was quite some time later when Hye-ryeong called out to William. It seemed that being a woman, it took her longer to wash up. William looked at Hye-ryeong’s face, now completely free of drowsiness, and said:

“Let’s head back now.”

“Okay!”

They walked side by side back to the campsite.

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“Ho ho, it’s fortunate that nothing happened.”

“Yes, Elder Baek. I was worried that something might occur…”

As Wuhan began to appear beyond the horizon, Elder Baek and Hajin let out sighs of relief as they spoke.

Is there really a need to worry that much?

Incidents don’t happen that frequently, even if they’ve occurred previously a couple of times.

Or do they?

Meeting Seo Ryeon was quite a big deal from William’s perspective.

But since such incident as accidently meeting her only happened to him, it was essentially the same as if no incident had occurred to their group.

“Mister, look over there, I heard people say that’s the Wulin Alliance!”

“…It’s huge.”

“Isn’t it more like a palace?”

If the Wulin Alliance was visible even from this far away, how big must it actually be? It looked like they had taken an entire village as their grounds.

As expected, in China, when they have money, the scale of buildings is beyond imagination.

“Once we enter there, thing will be different!”

“Yeah, I suppose so…”

In other words, the real hardships were about to start.

After all, the Wulin Alliance plays a significant role in this world.

Since half of the original story revolved around the Wulin Alliance and its surroundings, William would become even more deeply involved in the plot than he was now.

“I hope things go well…”

“Pardon?”

“It’s Just that … being at the center of the Martial Arts world is fascinating.”

William deflected casually and looked ahead.

He began to form a plan in his mind.

Well, as far as plans go, the first step of this plan was already decided.

First, finding the protagonist.

The only way to confirm the ambiguous timeline of the original work was to check the protagonist’s status.

Only after confirming the protagonist’s status could he truly start planning.

If the protagonist wasn’t there…

…No.

There was no need to think about that now.

William erased those ominous thoughts from his mind and took a step towards the stage of the original work.

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I don’t think it will be easy to find the protagonist. At least, William will have to look for him for while before finding him.