Chapter 34
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Chapter 34
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Liu Bei, Cao Cao, and Lü Bu (7)
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By the time Esthea had been repeatedly rejected by spatial transfer, flung to the ground, rolling around, flopping helplessly, and finally venting her frustration with a furious roar of breath into the empty air...
"Finally!"
"A character like Lü Bu is too good to use once and discard!"
"Was his last appearance when he killed Dong Zhuo?"
"This time we'll get another epic battle scene!"
Aside from the greedily gluttonous top-grade mutt, most readers reacted with satisfaction to Lü Bu's counterattack.
A retired villain powering up and coming back for revenge? That's a time-tested cliché.
Even the three-times-faster Quattro had pulled off a flashy counterattack.
The same went for the battle between the chest-swelling bloodline-buff furry ninja and the bloodline-buff eye ninja—a fight so epic its basis in real events was questionable.
And this was Lü Bu smacking Cao Cao in the back of the head after he'd been stacking up unlikeability through his great filial duty rampage, delivering an impact that nearly toppled his entire faction.
Cao Cao fans hoped he'd overcome this dire crisis without the angst dragging on too long.
Those who hated Cao Cao cheered the arrival of righteous judgment and the extermination of the Cao Cao tribe.
Lü Bu had firmly established himself as the novel's rising star.
Of course, this owed much to the blatant creative liberties in Liu Bei's arc starting from the 'Imperial Bloodline Concealment' part, which transcended both history and the Romance.
Kim Yul had subtly woven in the image of the civil-martial Lü Bu from the manga The Phoenix's Flames Sweep the Plains, which he'd deeply admired before his trip.
Even the Lü Bu-Chaoxian side story, something that never would have appeared in Cao Cao's arc, had been slyly inserted as an extra.
For a villain, he'd received an awful lot of push.
And even more so...
"My lord!"
A shadow leaped out from the smoke.
It was the younger sister of a Sima clan official who had accompanied him to the battlefield.
Her face was blackened by soot, and her armor was half-melted in a hideous state.
"Rise, my lord! If you fall here, the realm will crumble!"
With pure loyalty, she seized Cao Cao's arm.
Cao Cao groaned in pain from his wounds but leaned on her shoulder.
Ignoring her own injuries, she dragged him to the warhorse she'd ridden in on and shoved him atop it.
"Go!"
As if responding to her cry, the horse neighed and bolted forward.
Barely steadying himself in the saddle,
Cao Cao glanced back.
The full view of the burning Xiapi.
The soldiers' roars indiscriminate between friend and foe.
Leaving it all behind,
Cao Cao bit his lip until it bled and turned his head forward.
There was no time or reason to look back.
He had to survive.
Only by surviving could he offer rites to the wandering souls of the soldiers who'd died in vain.
"Today's debt... I will surely..."
And so, riding the only open path through the city gates,
he vanished into the darkness.
Even as he wrote it, Kim Yul tilted his head with a 'Tsk, is this right?'
And then tilted it again realizing it wasn't the vanguard who saved him.
Once the controversial chapter was serialized in the newspaper,
Cao Cao coin plummeted to its floor—both in-story and out—nearly facing delisting.
"Kya! I believed in you, Lü Bu!"
"This is it!"
"The real protagonist was Liu Bei after all!"
"Exterminate the Cao Cao tribe!"
"...Pathetic, Cao Cao..."
"This guy's the protagonist? F***."
"Does this dude run away whenever he's bored?"
"What? Lost again? Now it's a total wipeout?!"
Even the Cao Cao fans possessed by horse mane spirits went berserk.
In various senses, Cao Cao was a superstar too.
But makjang dramas that defy prediction always draw high ratings despite the hate.
"Daily readers hit a new high..."
"Readers love despair... Memo..."
Kim Yul, bound by historical accuracy anyway,
and Historie, who had recently started diligently inputting data beside him, began logging incorrect info into her database.
.
.
.
The Lü Bu boom fizzled out as quickly as it ignited.
Whether from the wails of Cao Cao fans reaching the heavens or Kim Yul's cursed fate tied to history,
after Xiapi, he lost another soul-crushing one-on-one, barely survived a real wipeout thanks to elemental luck for one turn,
and even in the next soul-clash, with the weight class gap clear, a locust plague opportunely forced an implicit truce.
Come the new year, Cao Cao beat Lü Bu like a dog.
Sealing it was the Dongming Battle.
Whether the author self-plagiarized his Caesar episode,
he dug trenches, hid troops, ambushed, and utterly shredded Lü Bu's army—a protagonist-convenient development.
Plus, Lü Bu fled to next-door protagonist Liu Bei for refuge, landing Liu Bei the classic 'enemy-turned-ally' cliché.
"It's basically trench warfare supremacy theory."
"Does Ulysses need trenches to write war scenes?"
The critics' sharp jabs landed, but dealt no damage to Kim Yul.
Many histories fell apart if you excluded the trench meta anyway.
The German mustache and Russian bear mustache were born from trenches,
and the righteous youth Adolf shooting the infamous butcher Hitler happened in a bunker modeled after them.
Prophets always suffer.
"Hmm, Mr. Ulysses? There's a bit of a historical issue here, isn't there?"
Lately,
Chloe had been desperately nitpicking Kim Yul's work.
The reason was simple.
"A writer daring to treat me like this? First time ever!"
As the noble lady first in line for Wisperaud family inheritance—and still an 'onya' brat not yet evolved to full bastard,
even if it meant 100 losses, she burned to claim one final win and engrave 'Hey, you're dog food.'
An idea even pettier than Esthea's.
Of course, this wasn't the first time.
"What's the problem now?"
Kim Yul dug his pinky in his ear and shot back casually.
Infuriating enough to make Zhuge Liang smash his head before Wei Yan's—shameless!
But even if the newspaper's capital came from Chloe's pocket,
Kim Yul had lately been driving its profits.
So she turned a blind eye, slightly clouded.
"Th-the 'Original Drama' episode! Lü Bu mediating between Ji Ling and Liu Bei!"
"What's wrong with that?"
"150 paces is a distance anyone could hit blindfolded! Betting on that lacks realism!"
At that,
Kim Yul just blinked.
"And Liu Bei is a noble high elf! He could hit 200 paces easy, so Ji Ling accepts too readily!"
The moment Chloe smirked triumphantly, feeling he'd finally yielded,
Ping-grrr—
"?"
Ignoring Chloe's hooked reaction, Kim Yul indifferently picked up the fallen die from the floor.
"Shall we bet then? Same terms—if you hit even one out of five shots, I'll revise the plot."
He curled a smile at his lips that made you want to slap him just looking at it.
The very embodiment of 'Scared?' in flesh and face.
"Hmph! Doubting the great archery of a noble elf? I'll show you proper on my family's honor!"
Chloe was properly triggered.
The next day.
Wisperaud Ducal Ranch, outskirts of the imperial capital.
"Hehe... Even after so long, this familiar feel from yesterday..."
Chloe loosened her shoulders, plucking at the empty bowstring.
"Ahem... Mr. Author, why'd you do this?"
"Aigoo, that picky bitch needs humbling."
Summoned as judge, Gilford and Kim Yul whispered.
"Waaah!"
"Why me though..."
Esthea, who flew in for daily whipping practice but got hooked by the fun story, and Historie dragged along as 1+1.
With players, judges, and spectators assembled,
Chloe nocked an arrow to prove her high elf nobility.
What? Hitting an arrow at 150 paces?
I could do that after three years off!
A fair breeze puffed her meager lungs, igniting confidence.
And.
The arrow sliced the wind.
"......"
"......"
"Whoa! Total miss!"
"Kuh."
Aware silence, innocent laughter, and unhidden snickers filled the air.
No arrow fears leaving the string lest it break,
but one feared hitting so much it ducked early to the dirt.
50 paces plus 100 more to 150.
Chloe's little arrow fell pitifully short of 150, barely scraping 50.
Of course.
"Wha? Wh-what? This can't be, desu-wayo?"
Even she was dumbfounded, her Wisperaud dialect sticking to her words as she grimly nocked another.
Tok.
"Can't hit the tip of a spear, but nailed the arrow's tip perfectly."
As Kim Yul quipped.
Her second arrow grazed the tail of the first embedded in the ground.
A mystical feat worthy of '50-pace Lü Bu'.
"The distance must be off-wayo?"
Chloe's next move: deny reality.
She paced it out herself to check if it was really 150, or if she was being rigged.
"Bathroom emergency? Your steps are—"
"Shut it-wayo!"
Starting normal, but around 150 paces, she pitifully shortened her stride as Kim Yul described.
"Hoo, walking it myself confirms it...!"
Filling with baseless confidence again, one shot, two, three.
All three arrows thudding near 50 meters—Chloe perfected the dragon's finishing touch.
Drained of even 'ohohot' energy, she plopped down in despair, staring blankly at the ground.
A shadow fell over her head.
As she looked up—
"You lost the bet."
Kim Yul smirked wickedly.
The instant she met that smile,
Chloe inexplicably felt a chill flush her whole body.
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