Departure (1)
I stood on the deck, staring out at the horizon. The faint silhouette of a tower was just barely visible in the distance.
Holy Land.
The reason we fought.
I crouched down beside the captain and bit into a piece of jerky.
“Give me one too.”
“Didn’t you already get your share, Captain? Stop being so greedy.”
“Stingy bastard. Is this how I raised you?”
“Weren’t you the one who always said to make sure you take care of your own share? And when exactly did you raise me?”
“Ugh… Our youngest really has no respect at all.”
Respect? As if.
I just kept staring straight ahead, chewing on the flavorless jerky.
At this rate, I’m going to break a tooth.
“This damn jerky is harder than a rock.”
“Just put some aura into your teeth and chew, sir.”
“Having to use aura just to eat one piece of jerky… honestly.”
We chewed our jerky in silence, gazing at the Holy Land. It was something we did quite often. The captain would sit there staring blankly at it, and I would sit quietly beside him, chatting away.
In a battlefield where I had swallowed more blood than water, a moment of peace like this was…
Peace was…
It was hard to talk about peace when hell itself stretched out before us.
I lowered my gaze.
Countless broken weapons and corpses littered the ground. The dead from both sides were tangled together in a chaotic mess.
How many died this time?
A hundred? A thousand?
Looking at the sea of bodies filling my vision… it might have been over ten thousand in this battle alone.
It had been an incredibly fierce fight. The reinforcements that came to help were annihilated, and we…
We?
“Hey, kid. You doing alright over there?”
“Anywhere’s better than a battlefield, isn’t it?”
“True enough. Anywhere would be better than this… I’m glad.”
A familiar, nostalgic chuckle came from beside me.
My armor suddenly felt very heavy.
“Looks like I’m about to get dragged into another war though.”
“Make good use of what I taught you. At least this time you won’t have to stand on the front lines, right?”
“Well… about that.”
All I really learned was how to charge headfirst.
I stood up and turned around.
Then I began walking. Away from the battlefield.
“Kid, remember just one thing. No matter where we are, we must uphold the duty of a knight. Protect the weak, honor our code, and against the enemy…”
“Yeah, yeah, I know…”
It’s definitely more than one thing.
I kept walking forward, letting the captain’s nagging go in one ear and out the other.
Toward the endless horizon that stretched on forever.
“…It was a dream.”
I couldn’t remember the details clearly, but it felt like a nostalgic one.
I rubbed my eyes, sat up from the bed, and stretched. The sound of birds chirping told me it was morning. Might as well loosen up my body first.
I got out of bed, took a few steps forward, and began a simple stretching routine.
To be honest, one session of meditation would’ve been enough to refresh my body, but stretching helped with my mood too, so I usually did it right after waking up.
The people here seemed to start their day with a round of qi circulation the moment they opened their eyes, though.
Well, this world revolved entirely around internal energy, so I guess it made sense.
Their approach felt closer to pouring internal energy on top of external training…
After finishing my stretches, I sat cross-legged on the bed. A martial artist couldn’t skip meditation, after all.
I closed my eyes and turned my awareness inward.
The mana core, swollen thanks to the spiritual herbs I’d consumed, greeted me warmly.
This is why everyone goes crazy looking for spiritual medicine.
Even a hundred-year-old He Shou Wu could do this much. If I ate something like ten-thousand-year-old He Shou Wu or Azure Stone Oil—the usual suspects in wuxia novels—wouldn’t my mana core grow as big as a watermelon?
At that point, I could probably pull out aura like crazy without ever running dry.
…I should focus now.
I don’t know how much time had passed, but when I opened my eyes again, my body was brimming with vitality. Time to wash up and pack my things.
It was finally time to leave Hainan Island.
I left the room and headed for the well. Along the way, I occasionally saw members of the Hainan Sword Gate moving about busily. Some of them had bandages wrapped around them, so it looked like not everyone’s injuries had fully healed yet.
People in that condition should really be resting…
…Never mind.
Why was I even worrying about them? I needed to wash up quickly. I picked up my pace and hurried toward the well. There weren’t many people there.
Was it because this well was on the outskirts?
Or maybe I had woken up later than usual.
Tilting my head, I drew some water and poured it over myself. Then I added a bit of the vinegar I’d saved earlier and poured it over my head.
Since there was no soap or shampoo, this was the best I could do.
After splashing myself a few more times and drying off with a cloth I’d brought, I felt someone’s gaze on me and spoke up.
“Hyeryeong.”
“Ah, um, t-that’s… I didn’t mean to look on purpose! It was just an accident! A coincidence! That’s all…”
Why was she so flustered?
I looked at Hyeryeong, who was waving her hands around frantically while babbling nonsense. She was already dressed neatly for the journey, looking much more put-together than usual.
Even if she dressed like that, a few uses of light footwork would mess it all up again.
Now that I thought about it, being a female martial artist must be pretty inconvenient.
Getting dressed up and putting on makeup, only to have to fix it all again after running around for a while…
“Why are you so flustered?”
“Men and women should not sit together after the age of seven!”
What is she even saying?
And is that even the right situation to use that phrase?
I stared at Hyeryeong in bewilderment as she suddenly thrust her hands forward and shouted. I had no idea what she was doing. I asked her,
“Since you came looking for me, I assume everything’s ready?”
“Y-yes! Ah, we’re just waiting for you, sir…”
So they were just waiting for me. We needed to get going quickly.
“Then go ahead and wait for me. I’ll be right there.”
“Ah, sir! Your top! You’re not wearing your top!”
So that’s why she was panicking. I put on my upper garment and headed back to my room.
It was finally time to leave Hainan Island.
“You’re all here.”
The moment I arrived in front of the main training grounds, those were the words that came out of the sect leader’s mouth.
Looked like I really was the last one. I stood at the far left and looked at him.
The sect leader cleared his throat once, then immediately began speaking.
“From now on, you will head to the Wuxia Alliance Headquarters in Hubei. This is partly to deliver a letter directly, but it is also so that the Hainan Sword Gate may participate in the annual event hosted by the Alliance.
Do you understand?”
An annual event, huh.
Now that I thought about it, in the original story the author probably dragged things out because he couldn’t think of the next plot point, so the Wuxia Alliance ended up doing all sorts of things. The Dragon Phoenix Assembly, martial tournaments, joint training, meetings to discuss the affairs of the murim… and even a festival.
My head had hurt a little when the scene of the Wuxia Alliance personally hosting a festival appeared.
But would they really proceed with it after the Demonic Cult showed up?
The news had arrived much earlier than in the original story.
…Then again, thinking about the original, it might still happen.
“Yes!”
“And… Ha Jin.”
“Yes, Sect Leader!”
“This time, you will be the one leading the younger disciples as their person in charge. Elder Baek will accompany you, but remember that you are the one responsible for guiding the children.”
“Yes! I will keep that firmly in mind!”
“And Ha Kyung, Hyeryeong.”
“Yes, Sect Leader!”
“Yes, Sect Leader!”
Hyeryeong’s voice and the voice of a young man I was hearing for the first time echoed across the training ground. I listened to them absentmindedly before remembering that they were all the sect leader’s direct disciples.
“You have the important duty of interacting with the rising stars of the Nine Great Schools and the Five Great Families. I trust you will carry it out well.”
“Just leave it to us!”
“I’ll make sure to become good friends with them!”
“And Sir William…”
The sect leader trailed off and met my eyes. His gaze was full of goodwill and concern.
He stroked his wind-tousled beard and continued.
“The Central Plains are different from Hainan Island. This place interacts with outsiders relatively often, so we were able to accept a foreigner like you without issue… but in the Central Plains, there will be many who act territorial.”
…I suppose so.
Even though this was the world of a martial arts novel I had read in Korea, it was still China. There was bound to be a strong undercurrent of Sinocentrism.
Hainan Island was practically a remote border region close to the outer murim, so no one had said much. But the heartland of the Central Plains would likely be different.
I might end up running into quite a few annoying people.
Still… if I just beat them all up, they’d probably behave themselves. By the standards here, I was already at the Peak realm. I wasn’t at a level where I’d get pushed around anywhere I went.
Anyone at the Peak level was a master respected by all in the murim.
“I understand.”
“Still, I believe you will overcome whatever comes your way. You’re the valiant warrior who charged alone toward those Demonic Cult bastards, after all. I wondered if it was truly necessary for you to go, but…”
“Dealing with some territorial behavior is nothing compared to the Demonic Cult charging at me. Besides, every martial artist should broaden their horizons.”
I have to go to the Wuxia Alliance if I want to leech off their resources.
“Haha. I see.”
The sect leader let out a pleased laugh at my answer.
“However, do not let your guard down. The heartland of the Central Plains is teeming with monsters.”
Monsters, huh.
I mulled over the sect leader’s words and nodded.
“I will keep it in mind.”
“Then you may all depart.”
“Yes!”
The voices of the warriors selected for the delegation rang out across the training ground.