Fire Carp 1
The moment my explanation ended, the Princess shot up from her seat and exclaimed,
"Ah! You're talking about the anecdote of Emperor Taizong of Tang, aren't you, Young Hero? The one where he swallowed the locusts alive when the people were suffering from a sudden plague of them? I've read it before. Or rather, should I say someone read it to me?"
Ah, so it was Emperor Taizong of Tang? I thought it was Solomon.
The Princess declared that the hero of the story I had just told was Emperor Taizong of Tang. But at this point, what did it matter whether the man was Solomon or Taizong? As long as our interests aligned, that was all that counted.
"What does it matter who it was? Whether you read it yourself or someone read it to you, what does that change? What matters right now, this very moment, is that we can be of use to each other."
"Well, I suppose you're right? I thought we would understand each other and help each other out. Ahaha."
I had taken the Princess for a serious, solemn type, but that was only her public face. From the way she was acting now, she seemed to have a frank, open personality.
She beamed and praised me.
"Yes! That method exists! If you swallow the bugs alive and then the bugs vanish, the people's hearts will certainly be moved… and it's a fine way to report the matter to the court. Yes. I'll just have Bin-ak swallow a few of them! Young Hero, you truly possess outstanding wisdom."
"I hear that sort of thing quite often. Haha."
Oh, wait. Didn't she say the Governor has a terminal illness?
We had been getting excited together when the thought struck me—had she not said the Governor was terminally ill? The idea of telling a man with an incurable disease to eat bugs left a bad taste in my mouth, so I asked carefully,
"But the Governor… didn't you say he is suffering from an incurable illness? Is it really all right to have a sick man eat bugs?"
The Princess waved the concern aside as if it were nothing.
"Hmm… It should be fine. Uiseon said there were no particular foods he needed to avoid."
"Uiseon?"
Love Bugs were hardly food, but what truly startled me was the name that had come from the Princess's mouth. Uiseon was the greatest physician in the Central Plains, or so I had heard.
I had assumed that because the Governor was dying, she was simply performing ancestral rites while waiting for him to drop so she could hurry off to Putuo Temple. Instead her words suggested she had actually had him examined by Uiseon, which was unexpected.
When I looked at her with that surprise plain on my face, the Princess's expression turned stern.
"What is that look supposed to mean? You didn't actually think I hunted down a terminally ill man to make him a fake son-in-law and have been offering nothing but funeral rites while waiting for Bin-ak to die, did you? That I was some cold-blooded woman?"
Wasn't that exactly what I thought?
I had naturally assumed as much, yet her face said otherwise with absolute certainty. Looking thoroughly appalled, she continued,
"I am obsessed with the sword, not actually insane, thank you very much."
She insisted she was perfectly sane, though from where I stood she still seemed a few screws short of normal. The difference between us was clear enough. I was simply madly fond of venomous creatures; I was not truly crazy. She, on the other hand, was so sword-obsessed that something in her head had clearly come loose.
Still, there was no need to spoil a good working relationship, so I hurriedly waved my hands and answered,
"O-of course not. We haven't spoken much, but I never thought Your Highness was that cold-hearted. Not at all."
The Princess nodded, then explained their situation in detail.
"Exactly. Bin-ak was originally a man who could have died at any moment without it being strange. After Uiseon and Yakseon examined him, they used medicine to stretch his life by the barest thread. With luck, they said he might last another five years or so.
So a man fated to live in poverty and die alone simply entered a lord-and-retainer relationship with me when I offered him a chance to enjoy wealth and honor while he still lived."
"Then I suppose it's fine."
If the two greatest physicians of the Central Plains had already looked him over, a bug or two would hardly matter. And now that I knew the full story, it felt more like he was getting to settle one last score before he died. Honestly, if I had been terminally ill and a princess had offered to capture the Ten Great Venomous Creatures for me, I would not have refused a son-in-law post either. So I nodded. Better to die after having every wish fulfilled.
"Then please summon the Governor and explain it to him. Judging by the state of the Love Bugs, we will need to gather people and have him eat them first thing tomorrow morning."
"Ah, understood!"
The Princess herself ran out and shouted for the Governor to enter again. He came scrambling in. When he looked at her, she gave a small nod.
"The talk went well. Fortunately the Young Hero understood me. We are now in the same boat. He has agreed to cooperate with us."
"Oh, splendid! Then Your Highness has gained another retainer? Young Hero, let us both serve Her Highness with our lives. I may hold the post of Governor, but it is entirely thanks to Her Highness, and I myself come from humble origins, so feel free to treat me like an older brother."
Huh? What is this? Oh no!
Between the Princess's talk of being in the same boat and the Governor's invitation to serve her with our lives, it finally hit me. I had been so focused on turning Yeondu back into the Flying Divine Snake that I had completely forgotten: helping the Princess meant lending a hand to her sham marriage. The reason she had warned me at the start that discovery meant death came flooding back. If this got out, the Emperor might very well have my head.
Damn it… the moment venomous creatures are involved I completely lose my mind… I'm in no position to call the Princess crazy…
But what could I do? The deal was already done. While I was resignedly accepting my fate, their conversation continued.
"The Young Hero said he has a good method to help Your Highness?"
"Yes, he offered excellent wisdom."
"Is that so? How fortunate. Then what must we do?"
The Governor's face brightened as he asked. The Princess answered him in a most solemn voice.
"Bin-ak, swallow the chung with chung."
"Pardon?"
The Governor looked utterly bewildered. Instead of explaining more clearly, the Princess simply piled on the same words with different meanings; it seemed to be a verbal habit of hers. She had already confused people with "leaving home" for the monastery versus "leaving home" for marriage, and now she was telling him to swallow bugs out of loyalty in that same cryptic style.
Definitely not normal.
The next day a huge crowd packed the space in front of the government office, as many people as there were Love Bugs carpeting the ground, and a grand performance unfolded. It was not simply a matter of showing the Governor eating bugs; they had staged a full sacrificial rite to Heaven. In this era, whenever drought or natural disaster struck, people always offered sacrifices to Heaven.
Calling the people because the Governor "had something to say" would never draw as large a crowd as a proper rite. Once the ceremony ended, the food from the offering tables would be distributed, after all.
Before the splendidly prepared sacrificial table, amid the swarming insects, the murmur of the crowd rose and fell.
"So the Governor is finally holding a rite, is he?"
"Well, they say this whole mess started because of the newly appointed Governor, so he could hardly just sit still."
"It's not that it started because of the Governor. Whenever someone new comes or goes and a great disaster like this hits, isn't that person always the one to blame?"
"Hey now, there are soldiers all around. Watch your mouth or you'll get a thrashing."
Just as expected, the talk circulating among the people all pointed the finger at the newly arrived Governor.
Soon the Governor strode out before the magnificent offering table, lit incense, and raised his voice.
"I declare to Heaven: why do You torment the people of Akyang so cruelly? Why do You make the people of Akyang weep so bitterly?"
He performed a full prostration, then lifted his head again and cried out to the sky.
"I offer this sacrifice that Heaven's wrath may be soothed. I beg You, calm Your anger!"
"Is it over?"
"Think we'll get a little oil for our throats today?"
"Better get in line quick."
The people assumed the rite would end that simply and were already looking forward to the leftover offerings—bugs and all. But the Governor spoke again.
"But if that wrath cannot be soothed… then I, Seo Bin-ak, Governor of Akyang, will bear every last scrap of that wrath myself!"
At the same moment his hand swept out and snatched up a dozen or so of the insects buzzing near the table. Then his hand rose toward his mouth.
I told him to eat a couple at most, but now that the real show's on he's really getting into the spirit…
Love Bugs have acidic guts strong enough to corrode metal. If one of them bursts in your mouth, you get a faintly sour taste. During last night's practice the man had struggled with even a single one, yet here he was on the main stage stuffing a dozen into his mouth at once.
I glanced toward the Princess; she was wearing a thoroughly satisfied smile.
Everything was going according to plan so far, yet at first the crowd did not realize what the Governor was doing. They stood too far away, and the Love Bugs were not large enough to make it obvious whether he was actually eating them.
What was needed at this moment? Shills, of course. I, Hwa-eun, my father-in-law, Sister Seol, and the sailors from our ship were already planted in the crowd, and we began to shout.
"Th-the Governor has eaten the black bugs!"
"The Governor is eating the black bugs for the sake of the people!"
A ripple of agitation spread through the throng.
"H-he ate the black bugs?"
"N-no… how could he swallow the black bugs…"
"I thought he was just some lucky fellow who married well and changed his fate… but he actually cares about the people like that?!"
Two days later, when every last black bug had died and fallen to the ground, the mood in Akyang shifted completely—far beyond the mere stir of the sacrificial day. The same townsfolk who had been whispering behind the Governor's back that the disaster was his fault now fell silent about any "pointless stunts." Instead they began flocking to the government office gates to ask the soldiers after the Governor's health.
"Th-the black bugs have all fallen dead like that… is the Governor all right?"
"Th-this is some fleeceflower root I dug up in the mountains. I would like to offer it to the Governor."
"This is angelica. I thought it might help…"
Because the bugs had all died, the people believed the Governor had truly taken Heaven's wrath upon himself, and they began to worry for him. From early morning, well-wishers arrived and modest medicinal herbs the common folk had gathered were presented at the office.
"To think it would work this well. I shall never forget this debt."
One person in particular watched the scene with open delight. The Princess came out of the reception hall for a private talk and, unable to contain herself, smiled as she said,
"You must keep your promise to aid the Murim Alliance."
"Of course. Not only will I grant permission for the military expedition, I will make certain those bastards never set foot in the Central Plains again. If I report that someone sneaked into my residence in Akyang and that the intruders were from the Blood Cult, His Majesty will be furious."
The Princess was the sort who would tell that much of a lie to get what she wanted. Satisfied that everything had gone smoothly, I asked after the whereabouts of the spirit beast we had agreed upon as payment.
"Then, about that Fire Carp you mentioned last time…"
"Ah! Yes. Did you think I would forget? I have everything prepared."
She drew a letter from her robes and slid it toward me.
"Go to Putuo Temple and deliver this letter to my master. Then my master will give you what you desire."
"The Fire Carp is at Putuo Temple?"
"Yes. In the letters we exchanged, my master mentioned that a large Fire Carp lives in a mountain lake on Mount Putuo, where the temple stands."
Putuo Temple… if I just ride the Yangtze down to the sea and then head a little south into Zhejiang, I can get there easily enough.
It was a bit of a distance, but traveling by boat would make the journey simple. I nodded with a bright expression.
"Thank you!"
"No, I am the one who should thank you. And since we now share a secret, let us keep in touch from time to time."
"Of course."
Just when it seemed our transaction had ended in mutual benefit, a sudden cry rang out while I was still beaming and tucking the letter away.
"Ah! I almost forgot this!"
"Forgot what?"
I tilted my head at her words. The Princess smiled and said,
"The spirit peak of Mount Putuo where that creature lives is a place no man may enter. Be sure to go in women's clothing. I have already written as much to my master in the letter, so just make certain no one else catches sight of you."
"What? Cross-dress?"
Now, for the sake of a venomous creature, I even had to cross-dress. The path of hobbies in the Murim world was far too treacherous.
Maybe I should just change hobbies…