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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Vine
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“How long are you guys going to be here?”
When powder was scattered on the end of a long, wooden smoking pipe, and a fire was lit, a subtle, spicy fragrance wafted into the air. Tobacco was also circulating in the martial world. Even if it wasn’t in a simple cigarette form like in my time, I was used to seeing smoke being puffed out from long smoking pipes like factory chimneys.
“The leader’s a drunk and just drinks all day. That Vice Leader is grinding his teeth, trying to win against the leader. From my perspective, it seems like the camp is doomed.”
In a secluded place where neither the leader nor the vice leader could hear, this kind of conversation always took place. They were wary of me, the newcomer, but they fearlessly continued to have their critical discussions, as if their lives were on the line.
“What choice do we have but to just follow and live?”
I cut in between them and asked,
“If the Vice Leader wins against the Leader, what will happen?”
One of the remaining people who had been smoking said,
“Then the Vice Leader will become the Leader. What was it… sixty-eighth stronghold?”
“Sixty-eighth stronghold? Our leader was higher ranked than I thought.”
“Anyway, yeah. He’ll take the leader position. The strongest guy becomes the leader.”
“Then is everyone aiming for the leader position?”
The gazes of the Green Forest bandits changed at my question. Rather than being wary of me, it was as if they were confirming each other’s reactions the moment the question was asked. As if someone was about to stab them, they were wary of each other, and said with a sullen look while taking a puff from their pipes or averting their eyes,
“Well, there are many who think like that.”
It was as if they were saying that they weren’t. But it was obvious that even the man who said that was aiming for the leader position.
“There’s only one rule in the Green Forest. The strongest man in the camp is the leader.”
Another man said that while making fishlike lip movements. Smoke rose like the bubbles of a fish in a pond. It seemed like they were talking about something irrelevant, but what the story was saying was clear. One of them asked,
“Are you aiming for the leader’s position too?”
“No. I’m not interested.”
I really wasn’t interested, but they didn’t seem to believe me. Someone snorted, and someone else smirked openly while biting the end of their pipe. The wooden pipe easily cracked with the slightest movements.
The long pipe puffed out smoke from both ends. The man who had risen from his seat while exaggerating his breath looked down at us and said,
“Even if we talk about this, it’s all meaningless, right? Neither you, who learned martial arts, nor us can beat the leader or the vice leader, right?”
It seemed like saying that they wanted to become the leader of the camp was an act of expressing their admiration. Even if they worked hard from now on, they knew they had no chance of winning against the Vice Leader, who was naturally strong, or the leader, who had almost reached the second-rate level from the third-rate one.
Of course, I was also not confident that I could defeat the leader or the vice leader in a head-on fight right now.
“Right. That’s…”
But the desire to become the leader and sweep away all the riches was definitely boiling within their hearts.
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“So, what are you going to do?”
It was meal time. I ate the meat stew in my bowl while facing Sanyeo. It didn’t seem like there was a cook, but the meat stew, made from squeezing the blood out of the nearby people, was quite tasty. Sanyeo was wearing shackles, so she was eating the meat little by little with a spoon in an uncomfortable manner.
She seemed to be more curious about my escape plan than her own discomfort.
I roughly ripped the meat off the bone with my hands and said,
“I think I can see how it’s going to play out. It seems like everyone in the camp is full of greed.”
“Specifically, how are you going to do it?”
Sanyeo said that while moving her spoon. The spoon that was about to enter her mouth tilted, and the meat fell. Sanyeo quickly moved the spoon again to grab the meat, but the stew on the spoon splashed everywhere.
“Agh, seriously.”
The smell of greasy meat stew briefly filled the warehouse, and I clicked my tongue.
Sanyeo put the meat in her mouth and said,
“It can’t be helped. The shackles are so big that it’s uncomfortable to eat.”
I looked at Sanyeo’s wrists. There was a set of square shackles tightly wrapped around her wrists without any gaps. It was as if a prisoner was wearing a torture device in a historical drama. I looked at her hands for a moment, then put down my bowl and leaned forward.
Sanyeo lowered her hand holding the spoon as I approached and said,
“What?”
“Why are you eating so frustratingly? Give it here.”
And then, I took the spoon from her hand. Sanyeo was a master, but she didn’t react at all to my movements of stealing the spoon. She was watching what I was doing. While she was looking down at me, blinking, tilting her head like a bird, I scooped up the meat and stew from her bowl.
“Here.”
And then, I held out the spoon to her. She pushed her head back and grimaced, but it seemed like she had understood what I was doing belatedly.
“…What?”
But Sanyeo asked a question that was far from her understanding. She wasn’t asking a question about the situation.
“Aren’t you going to eat?”
I asked her. Sanyeo looked at me with a somewhat uncomfortable expression and then looked at her shackles again. Then, she rolled her eyes and remained silent, before cautiously opening her mouth to the spoon I was holding, like a baby bird receiving food.
I watched her lips touch the broth and become wet. She was looking up at me with a strange, wary gaze and then took a large bite of the spoon, before her lips were pressed against the smooth surface, and she slid down with a “plop”.
After munching and savoring the taste, she still kept giving me strange looks, before she gulped, blinked, and said,
“…It’s good.”
I ladled up some meat stew again and said,
“You’re a master, yet you can’t even take off the shackles?”
Sanyeo nodded at my question and said,
“They’re shackles made from a very strong material. I can’t take them off.”
“Who put them on you?”
“I don’t know.”
I had no choice but to tilt my head at Sanyeo’s words. While I was frowning and looking at her, she was nonchalantly accepting the food from the spoon I was holding.
While munching, she shook her head as if she was enjoying the taste and then smiled and said,
“I lost consciousness while escaping from the village, and when I woke up, I had these on. I can’t take them off, and they won’t break. After that, I’ve just been living like this.”
“It wasn’t the leader here who put them on.”
“How could a small-time leader have an item like this?”
I nodded and silently spooned more stew. Sanyeo continued eating the food and speaking.
“I could say that I’ve gained a big obstacle due to a moment’s carelessness, but Confucius also said, ‘Do not speak of the past, do not blame the past’. What’s done is done.”
I scoffed because it was so ridiculous.
“I didn’t say anything.”
Sanyeo didn’t respond to my words and just continued eating the food. But there was a strange smile on her face.
I quietly spooned the food for her while looking at her, and that’s how our days went.
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The plan for the camp was slowly taking shape. I was learning the moves of the Mount Tai Ax one by one, and I was also researching how to utilize them in real fights against the Green Forest bandits.
On days when I didn’t go raiding, I didn’t have anything to do in the camp, and a few Green Forest bandits had also learned the Mount Tai Ax, so they were a bigger help than I expected.
“The footwork is important. I decided that I’ll use the brief opening I get when I recover from the attack by moving my feet faster.”
“I think it’s more important to land a single heavy blow and stop the opponent from moving.”
Even though it was a basic, third-rate martial art, the directions people interpreted it in were varied. But none of their interpretations accurately penetrated the true meaning of the Mount Tai Ax, which was what I was curious about.
I still didn’t understand why the Mount Tai Ax was called the Mount Tai Ax. Why was a martial art that relied on rushing forward, stepping back, and attacking like a small bird called the Mount Tai Ax?
“Isn’t it just a cool sounding name?”
“It would be weird if it was called the Grandpa Ax, so they probably just gave it a cool name.”
Their opinions also made sense.
Maybe I was wasting time on useless thoughts. But even as I thought that, the thought of the name of the Mount Tai Ax lingered in the back of my mind like an echo.
When training was over, I would be drenched in sweat as I sat down on the floor. On the other side, the Green Forest bandits who had helped me train were collapsing with refreshed expressions.
“Good job.”
And then, the vice leader’s wife would wink at me and bring me water.
At some point, the situations after my training had become formulaic.
After seeing her winking, the other members of the Green Forest would look at each other or give me mischievous smiles.
It seemed like she was always like this when a handsome or good looking man came into the camp.
I would give them a smile, and then reach out to the wife.
And then, I would gently caress her fingers as I pretended to grab the glass of water.
The wife would not make a displeased face.
And the plan for the camp was just waiting for the moment to strike.
“Tomorrow. That man is going out on a raid.”
