“No, what is this…”
“Do you happen to know this person?”
I placed the man slung over my shoulder in front of the village chief and asked. The village chief’s face was one of shock as he looked down at the corpse’s face and asked me.
“Mu-sam, where did you find Mu-sam?”
“I ran into him while he was crossing the mountain, already afflicted by madness.”
“Sure enough, he caused trouble and eventually…”
A sigh spread quietly throughout the room.
As expected, he was known to them. After all, how could someone unrelated end up in a secluded mountain village like this? He was so deeply hidden that I had to pretend to be lost before pretending to find him.
“It seems he was a young man who lived in this village.”
“He fled after committing grievous sins.”
The village chief looked down at Gwak Mu-sam’s corpse with a bitter expression.
“By grievous sins…”
“He killed his own father and ran away. What a despicable fellow.”
“He spoke of returning to his hometown during a fight…”
“It seems he had some sense of guilt. Come to think of it, it didn’t appear to be intentional. They say his mother also passed away when she was pushed during a scuffle and her head hit the edge of a cabinet…tsk, tsk…Could you help us bury this fellow?”
“If his mother is still alive…”
“It might be better if you don’t know.”
“I understand.”
I followed the village chief, who turned and left the house with Gwak Mu-sam’s body slung over his shoulder.
—
“The expenditure of energy is quite extreme when you mix it with the Energy Armor.”
“Is it really necessary to mix it?”
“It’s not stable enough to just use Flowing Silk Movement alone.”
“Hmm…”
Hye-ryeong watched my training, looking bored as she rested her chin on her hand and swung her legs while staring at me.
I had permitted her to watch, but my training evidently wasn’t too thrilling. Really, what can you expect from watching someone train? There’s nothing much to see, especially when it’s as basic as mine.
I looked at the messy footprints on the dirt floor, then recomposed myself.
This stance has become so familiar that it’s almost monotonous now. It no longer takes more than a second to transition from preparation to a full sprint, though getting to the precise spot I aim for isn’t quite as easy.
My margin of error is still too wide, so using this incorrectly in battle might result in a premature retreat.
Thus, I have to focus all the more on improving this stepping technique. I need to minimize the margin of error and perfect a stepping method that can pressure opponents without relying on Energy Armor. That’s the kind of stepping technique that will aid me in future battles against formidable opponents.
“I have to go prepare dinner now, Mister!”
“Alright.”
I watched Hye-ryeong disappear into the shrubs before once again centering myself. My stance, though simple, placed one leg behind me.
When silence returned, I closed my eyes and conjured up an imaginary opponent.
[Youngest, you’re at it again, making strange moves.]
…Huff.
At times like this, I always think of the Leader.
Opening my eyes, I saw my imagined Leader standing ready, his sword drawn in the Jade Jade Stance, waiting for me to initiate.
The faint memory of the cross emblem on his armor, his bearded face, worn from years of combat, was still vividly imprinted in my memory.
[Come on, try one move.]
I’ve never once been able to penetrate his defenses.
Will I ever be able to break through his defense, which fended off hundreds of enemies alone?
…Focus. Focus.
There’s no time to dwell on sentimentality.
My enemies are watching me from above, higher than the tallest mountains. I must climb towards the summit as quickly as possible.
“…Leader. Here I come.”
I leapt forward, rapidly closing the gap between myself and the imaginary Leader. I aimed to stop four steps ahead of him.
Twenty steps.
Fifteen steps.
Ten steps.
Nine.
Eight.
Seven…
Six.
Five.
Four!
The moment I reached the targeted distance, I slammed my foot into the ground with such force it felt like seismic waves rippled outward. Having halted, I immediately swung my sword.
[Your posture is unstable, Youngest.]
As always, my sword was stopped by the Leader’s blade, unable to progress any further.
[Didn’t I tell you? An unstable lower body makes any sword technique meaningless, so focus on that stability. And didn’t I also say not to overexert too much on footwork?]
The Leader would have surely said that.
Remembering his vividly annoying reminders made me chuckle faintly. If he were still alive, my training would have continued with him barking orders.
Even that was nearly a year ago now.
…Let’s set aside those melancholic memories and focus on training.
I continued to practice the stepping technique.
Until Hye-ryeong called me.
—
“Finally, a city! The city!”
“Don’t get too excited.”
“But we’ve been wilderness camping for four days! I need to wash up!”
“Didn’t you bathe by the river?”
She clicked her tongue in a dismissive manner after my comment, as if I were ignorant.
“Cold water and hot water are different, you know.”
“That’s true.”
Bathing with warm water is better than cold. Especially in this chilly weather. I should bathe too once we secure a room.
“At least, let’s find an inn first… and then I’ll see if there’s a Martial Alliance branch here.”
“What? You want to check on one of the Martial Alliance branches?”
“I’m thinking of finding out if there’s an attainable demon in the nearby area.”
“Isn’t it dangerous?”
Hye-ryeong looked up at me with worry. Dealing with demons is inherently dangerous. They use underhanded tactics, and they’re not ordinary martial artists. They might use poison, even take hostages to threaten others.
I recalled the grotesque demons from the original storyline with a smirk.
“Don’t worry too much. In the end, they’ll still be within the palm of my hand.”
No matter how deviously they plot, could it really be worse than a battlefield? There, to survive, we had to use enemy corpses as makeshift shields.
The demons I’ll face won’t be particularly high-level. I intend to handle only those demons within my limits, as portrayed in the original story.
It may be a bit cowardly, but I don’t need to risk my life unnecessarily.
After all, how have I survived this long without wasting my precious life?
Even if I were to face someone of the Master level or someone of a grand sect’s leader level, where was I supposed to interfere? There’s a limit to what one person can do… though when I think of the Leader, such statements seem a bit presumptuous.
Recalling how he had once cleaved away a city gate with a single strike, I scratched my head.
“Mister?”
“Ah, sorry. Let’s hurry.”
We began looking around for an inn. Luckily, the city wasn’t too large, so it took us about half an hour to find one.
“Waiter! Bring us some simple food!”
“Yes sir!”
“And a bottle of liquor as well!”
“Thank you.”
Mok-kyeong’s face turned slightly red. His gender-neutral features made the expression amusing.
“Mok-kyeong, don’t you drink too much? I don’t even enjoy the taste…”
“Food tastes better with a complement of liquor. You are just picky.”
“That’s not true!”
“Didn’t I just see you drooling at the candy shop a moment ago?”
Oh, how much she loves the sweets. After my comment, she averted her gaze awkwardly with a sheepish smile.
“Hehe…but sweets are delicious, you know…”
“Your teeth will rot.”
“I brush them thoroughly everyday with salt, so it’s fine!”
“Right, right.”
“…Is the sweet shop really that good?”
What?
I glanced at Mok-kyeong, surprised by his question. He looked at me with genuine curiosity on his face.
“Never had them?”
“Yes. I’ve had some sweets from my childhood, but since growing up, I rarely eat them… I’ve never even tasted the sweet shop’s delicacies.”
“…I’ll buy you some later. Try it.”
It seems his life has been so unfortunate that he couldn’t even enjoy delicacies like candy.
Thinking about how unfortunate Mok-kyeong’s life was, I struggled to hold back tears.
“The food you ordered is here!”
As we continued our casual conversation, the waiter started placing our dishes on the table: noodles, dumplings, and five-spice braised pork. I picked up my chopsticks and said:
“Let’s eat.”
“Yes!”
“…Let’s enjoy this meal. Thank you, Mister Eun-gong.”
I quietly picked a forkful of noodles, tasted the noodles, and then sipped the broth with a spoon. The chicken-flavored broth filled my mouth, bringing a sense of refreshing comfort.
Truly, there’s nothing like warm soup when feeling tired.
As I savored the soup, an irritating noise started emanating from the corner of the inn.
“…Is there another fight about to break out?”
“I just wanted to eat in peace…”
Hye-ryeong grumbled and set down her chopsticks.
“Pick them up and continue eating. If something happens, we’ll deal with it then.”
After finishing my sentence, I popped a dumpling into my mouth.
Hmm, these dumplings have a somewhat chewy texture, with plenty of meat. As I carefully tasted them, I heard a scream.
“AAAAHH!”
Then the stench of blood started to permeate the inn.
“There’s trouble in the inn again.”
Whenever I enter an inn, incidents seem to happen.
I set my chopsticks down and stood up.
