Pirates on the Horizon
"I've heard enough."
Joo Hyejin cut him off short after listening to his tale.
It had been entertaining, but there was no more time for stories.
Yes, her impression was that it was a pretty solid yarn overall. With a few tweaks to the details, he could probably make a decent living as a storyteller across various sects—or even compile it into a book and sell it at shops.
"You're under arrest."
But impressions aside, duty called. She would judge him strictly by the letter of the Great Ming Code, the foundation of setting the nation aright.
"Whaaat? You heard my whole story, right?"
"That's one thing—this is another. The tales you just spun have nothing to do with rampaging through the city streets, do they?"
"I was just getting to that!"
"...No time left to hear more."
"Did you even check what those scoundrel martial artists did wrong? Please, just verify the truth once!"
...Then why not start with that from the beginning? Why dive into some ancient history first?
Hyejin eyed him lazily through half-lidded eyes, clearly annoyed.
"If even you, my lord, ignore the plight of poor souls like me after hearing our tale, how are ordinary folk supposed to survive this harsh world?"
...Ordinary?
Was this guy's grasp of "ordinary" completely off-base? Hyejin wondered.
He looked every bit the aggrieved commoner in a heated dispute.
If only the noisy percussion instrument in his hand had been a drum instead of a cannon that boomed in a whole different way.
Hyejin rubbed her temple as if nursing a headache and addressed him.
"You're from a decent martial family, aren't you? Surely you've learned the basics. ...You don't even know about the Sea Ban Decree?"
Setting aside extenuating circumstances, by the facts alone, he was a serious criminal.
But the man just blinked at her words, feigning utter ignorance—pure, innocent cluelessness.
With a small sigh, Hyejin continued.
"That's not all. Manufacturing or using gunpowder privately without imperial sanction is punishable by decapitation. You can't claim ignorance of that too, can you?"
"Ah."
Finally, a spark of recognition? The man broke into a sweat, his face a mask of panic.
Good lord, it showed all over his face.
His freakish strength was matched only by his startling lack of common sense—and his reactions, brutally honest to a fault. At this point, anger was giving way to finding the whole mess almost comical.
She'd clashed with countless people in the palace, weathered every kind of ordeal, but this encounter with Yujin ranked among the most memorable.
"He confesses his crimes so plainly—what am I to do with such a guileless fool?"
Strictly by the "facts," he'd violated the Great Ming Code plenty, but there was no malice in his intent.
Punishing him blindly left a sour taste, even for her.
What to do? As she pondered his punishment, the coastal guard captain burst into the command post without permission.
"General! Big trouble!"
Protocol demanded clearance to enter, but emergencies excused such rudeness.
"What is it?"
Shelving her banter with Yujin, Hyejin demanded answers—what the hell was happening?
"A massive Wae pirate fleet has appeared!"
*
The room turned ice-cold at the captain's report.
"...The verdict will have to wait."
A huge Wae pirate armada, clearly geared for a full-scale raid, was slamming into Hangzhou's coast.
Thankfully, a deputy general on patrol near the outposts had reacted swiftly, but the sheer unexpected scale left them getting steamrolled.
"Mobilize every available soldier."
Hyejin seized control with charismatic commands, barking orders like clockwork to steady her rattled men.
...Not that it would go smoothly, of course.
Having led responses firsthand, she could only sigh inwardly.
'Damn it all!'
'Chase them at full speed!'
'They're too fast—we can't catch up! No clear shot for cannon fire!'
The Ming navy got shredded by these pirate lords because of speed.
They struck without warning, too quick to counter even when spotted. Their lightweight cedar ships—from keel to hull—flew across the waves on sekibune designs that outran Ming warships easily.
Send in rowboat squads with infantry? They'd get shredded by arquebus volleys from the high decks.
Sure, in a straight boarding fight, victory was guaranteed—but the pirates hit-and-ran, dodging melee, and casualties mounted by the day.
As Zhejiang's top general, she needed to shine militarily now, yet she'd shown nothing but impotence.
It wasn't just her—every coastal commander faced this—but she'd strutted in cocky about gaining experience, making it a sore point.
Her bid to build credentials in civil and military spheres for the imperial family might backfire spectacularly with the worst record imaginable.
How to counter? As the princess mulled it over, her gaze fell on the detained martial artists awaiting judgment.
Martial artists could leap through the skies with insane lightness skills, or so she'd heard.
Maybe one here had that talent? It could counter the speed advantage.
Fujian’s general had tried and failed, but desperate times called for any help.
"Bring in the victims of this incident."
"Uh, General—while you were talking to that guy, they said compensation was fine and just left."
Those bastards? They bolted the second they heard!
Classic sly martial artists—Hyejin seethed to her scalp but masked it for appearances.
Fine, deal with them later. Naturally, her eyes turned to the man before her.
You get what I'm driving at, right? She shot him a loaded look, but his oddball thinking—evident from his tale—didn't click.
"I don't wanna get tangled with the sea anymore."
"Hah?"
The gall from a suspect—Hyejin's face soured like she'd bitten a lemon.
As Zhejiang military head, she had legal power to conscript martial artists in emergencies.
"Do you even grasp your position?"
"From what I hear, it's rebel and die now, or obey and die later—same difference, right?"
His brazen attitude made Hyejin gasp.
Well, technically, by the situation so far, he wasn't wrong.
"Ever heard of leniency for good behavior?"
"You offering?"
"...Depends on how you perform."
"Gotta guarantee it firm, or my feet won't budge light as a feather! C'mon, boss—if you're bargaining, there’s gotta be give-and-take!"
Grind. Treating her like some peddler? No—seeing the mighty Great Ming Code as haggling fodder? The impudence...
Hyejin swallowed her boiling rage.
"General, we need reinforcements—now!"
Time ticked mercilessly.
Force him, and he'd balk anyway—toss him in jail later and head out.
"Zhoushan villages are already half-burned, per reports!"
"Gotta hustle."
She rose to rush the scene.
"Take me with youuuu!!!"
"Mommy!"
The weirdo who'd ignored conscription till now was suddenly in her face, bellowing.
...Mommy? Wi Eokgi, ever watchful at her side, squeezed his eyes shut, feigning deafness. No way he'd touch that—insulting royalty could cost his head.
"What the hell is this?!"
Mommy—from her, of all people? Blushing with mortification, Hyejin grabbed Yujin's throat without mercy.
...Though her petite hands on his thick traps felt more like a massage.
"Take me along."
But his earnest demeanor halted even that.
Sigh, martial artists were an enigma. ...And damn, his build was solid—way more than expected. No, focus!
She shook her head sharply and probed his sudden change.
"You were just playing hard-to-get—why the flip?"
"The moment I escaped that deserted island and set foot on this land again, I swore it."
Some grand oath incoming? Despite the urgency, she waited, foot tapping.
"Unlike those phonies, a true martial artist never forgets righteousness—or the deeper root: humanity!"
"Quit clowning—hurry up and follow!"
His words cut short, she dragged him toward the Zhoushan chaos.
"General, grab my weapon first."
"Got it—just move your ass!"