Heaven-Defying Martial Talent [3]

Forty-three bandits filled my sight, and every last twitch of them carved itself into my mind.

All of them slower than even a mid-to-high-grade demonic beast.

The boss was a First-Rate martial artist, faster than the rest, but not so fast that my eyes couldn't follow him as I was now. He didn't even look as if he were coming at me in earnest.

I ran internal energy through my acupoints and moved the sword.

Chwaaak! The fourteen bandits at the head of the pack lost their heads along it. The blood came spraying only afterward—pshaaat!

"What...!"

Bewilderment rose across the bandit boss's face as he took in the strike. I tracked him with nothing more than a sidelong glance, then turned my body to the right. With a sharp hwaak, his saber sheared through the place I had just been standing. I brought the sword I'd extended to the right around and smashed the hilt into his jaw.

Crack—! Bone broke. He would not be getting up again.

My eyes raked over what remained of them.

Twenty-eight left.

Of those, the only one worth calling a threat was the boss.

"Fuck...! You hid that you were a master...!"

The bandit boss wrapped saber qi around his blade and drove in from my left.

"I already told you. What are you yelling about."

A hollow little laugh caught in my mouth as I dropped at the waist.

Shweeeek—!!

The saber split the empty air over my head, dragging a vicious whistle of wind behind it. Before my hair could even scatter in the gust, I swung.

Chwaat—! It sheared shallowly through the bandit boss's ankle.

"Kh—!"

His face twisted, and he kicked at me.

Thud!

I drew my body back to bleed off the impact, then used the force packed into that blow to retreat. I settled into a ready stance, and the standoff with the boss held while the other bandits fidgeted behind him, unable to keep still. Hesitating, no doubt, because of the martial power I'd just shown. Not that it mattered.

I had the feel of it now.

"...You definitely weren't First-Rate...!?"

The bandit stared at me, shaking with fear. The boss's face hardened as well, his eyes fixed on the sword qi gathered along my blade.

Was this really something to be so shocked over? All you had to do was make the sword one with your body and pour internal energy into it. And here I'd already given them the demonstration.

I snorted, raised the sword high, and charged the bandit boss.

"You insect...!"

He roared it in a boiling voice and swung his saber from lower right to upper left—an angle that could neither be dodged nor blocked. Even so, it didn't matter. My strike would land first.

Chwaak—!! It sheared through the bandit boss's right arm as cleanly as slicing tofu. The arm still gripping the saber spun through the air, and the tip of the blade grazed my cheek. Then, with the form of Mount Tai Bearing Down that held the mystery of the Six Harmonies, I cut upward from lower left to upper right.

Chwaat—!

In an instant the front of his robe was sliced open. Only because he had stumbled backward.

"Gkhhaaaak...!! Aagh, aaaah...!!"

The bandit boss clutched his cleanly severed right arm and rolled on the ground, drool stringing from his mouth.

What's he doing? Losing an arm is hardly worth all that.

The moment an arm was cut, you ought to be swinging the other one and still coming up short—and here he was thrashing in pain. So-called First-Rates were all the same. It hadn't been like this in my time. Well. Plenty of them had died for it.

I clicked my tongue and took the bandit boss's head off clean.

Fwoosh—! Blood dark as old crimson shot up like a fountain and soaked the earth. Fyut. Fyushuk. Even while the corpse convulsed and spat blood a few times more, the bandits stayed frozen where they stood, unable to move.

"P-please spare me!"

A bandit who looked to be Second-Rate dropped into a bow and smashed his forehead into the dirt. When he shot a look at the others, twenty-six bandits followed, pressing their heads to the ground.

"W-we're sorry! We'll never do bandit work again...!!"

The booming plea for their lives hammered at my ears. They kept time well.

I held my silence, then opened my mouth again.

"Raise your heads."

The moment the order fell, the bandits lifted their faces, color flooding back into them.

"We'll live the rest of our lives as your sla—"

Chwaak! Twenty-six heads, wrapped in blood, took to the sky.

I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠never said I'd let them live.

Standing in the middle of the fountains of blood, I slid the sword back into its sheath.

"Uh, uuh..."

The last bandit left trembled from head to toe, staring at what the slaughter had left behind. Each time my foot came down in a pool of blood it squelched, and blood leapt in every direction.

...This is always such shit.

Because it reminded me of then. Badly. Still, what had to be done had to be done. At last I stood before the one who remained and spoke in a voice dried out to nothing.

"Lead the way."

"Uh, uh.... Y-yes.... Huh?"

He'd clearly lost his mind.

"What, you've got extorted money, kidnapped people, that sort of thing, don't you? Take me there."

As I said it I let a measure of my presence leak out, and the bandit scrambled to his feet in a panic.

"L-l-leave it to me...!!"

He looked like a man shaking with terror, and yet a faint hope colored his face.

I'm not letting you live either.

About a quarter of an hour later, I came back to the village with forty-three bandit heads stuffed in a sack. The four women the bandits had been holding—in a wretched state—and the money they had wrung out of people came with me.

"Hah— y-you! What have you gone and done...!?"

The blacksmith who had given me a sword last time sucked in an empty breath, startled. Fair enough. A man who had left ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in one piece had come back drenched in blood, and with women in a terrible state besides. Most of it wasn't my blood, of course, but there was no way he could tell the difference. I accepted that with an inward nod and set the sack of money and heads down on the ground.

"I erased some bandits. These women... well, please tell the village chief to look after them. The money too. Ah, and there are bandit heads in this one, so I don't particularly recommend opening it."

I said it flatly, pinning down with internal energy the vomit that wanted to climb my throat, and then I left.

"Oh, and... you're welcome to keep some of the money, sir."

That was my goodbye.

"...Ha, haha..."

I ignored the hollow laughter rising at my back. Listening to the villagers murmur, swallowing down my dry heaves, I sank into thought.

Bandits. Turns out they're actually worth doing.

The silver I'd set aside in a separate pocket clinked. It was money that would have taken years of my old work to save, and even then the money pouch was nearly full. Banditry, unexpectedly, was a high-income trade. Not that I meant to take it up myself. Why become a bandit when I could just take the bandits' money?

I was walking along, drinking my fill of the sickening reek of blood, when a voice came from beside me.

"Um... are you all right...?"

Lee Seol-ah had spoken.

"...Are you a stalker, by any chance?"

I asked it with my eyes narrowed to slits.

"A stoh-ker...?"

"I'm asking why you're following me."

"I just saw you, so I thought I'd say something.... Oh, more importantly. What's wrong with you?"

"This isn't my blood."

I answered short and quickened my pace. I could force the nausea down with internal energy, but the situation itself was uncomfortable. Even so, Lee Seol-ah matched me step for step—even when I fled toward an alley where almost no one passed.

"Then whose blood is it?"

"Forty-three bandits'."

I said it without so much as glancing at her.

"Hah."

She sucked in a breath. Right. Now she'd fall away.

"That's amazing!"

She broke into a bright smile and raised a thumb.

...Crazy bitch.

I finished the judgment at once, poured internal energy into my legs, and fled for the inn.

"?"

Lee Seol-ah scratched the back of her head and watched Yu Hajin's back as it receded.

I meant it when I said it was amazing.

A knight-errant who couldn't stomach injustice—how wonderful was that? Not only the people of the martial world, but even ordinary folk loved a knight-errant. And yet he had run off wearing a look of pure revulsion. It left her feeling a little foolish.

"Um... Seol-ah. Are you all right?"

A middle-aged woman asked, looking at her with worry.

"Hm? About what?"

"I'm just glad you're safe. That man just now... At first I thought he'd come back hurt, but when I looked through the gap in the sheath, there was blood on the sword too...! He definitely came back after dunking that blade in several people!"

"Yes, that's right. Isn't it wonderful? A swordsman who can cut down a whole crowd without hesitating."

When Lee Seol-ah said it with a bright little smile, the woman cried out in horror.

"Aigoo, Seol-ah! A sword isn't something wonderful! Every human life is precious...!"

"Even bandits'?"

"No, that's... no, you're right. Those bastards, you could chew them to death and it still wouldn't be enough."

When the answer came back, Lee Seol-ah giggled and went on.

"Right? It's wonderful. One swing of the sword and a bandit's head flies into the sky, brains fountain up, the ground turns into a sea of blood..."

Hers might have been a body that could never hold a sword, but she loved swords, and she loved violence. The woman stared at her with a thoroughly sour face, then spoke.

"...By any chance, the people that young man killed..."

Asked so carefully, Lee Seol-ah answered, still smiling.

"Yes. He said the blood he's covered in is bandit blood too. I don't think you need to worry."

At that the woman's eyes went round.

"Truly? How could a young man that young..."

A quiet gladness drifted over her surprise.

"Ah, right, this is no time for standing around. I should tell the villagers and get a banquet ready."

She clapped her hands as she said it. There wasn't the slightest hint that she doubted Lee Seol-ah's words.

"Oh, I want to come too!"

Lee Seol-ah smiled brightly and followed after her.

"Ah, now that I think of it, that young man must have been hurt quite a bit, clearing out those bandits..."

"When I saw him up close, he only had one little scratch on his cheek. He was completely fine!"

"Haa... Young as he is, his martial skill is truly remarkable."

"I know. I've seen him swing a sword before, and his stance and his cuts were both incredibly clean. A real sword usually weighs about two geun, you know? That's around two and a half pounds. And he handled one of those like it was his own body. I've watched a lot of people swing swords, but..."

Lee Seol-ah kept the conversation going with the woman for a long while, grinning the whole time. It had been ages since she could talk about swords, and she was thoroughly delighted.

That evening, the village chief came to the lodgings where I was staying.

"My thanks, young man. Yu Hajin, was it? Ho ho—a youngster going ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so far as to deal with the bandits for us... I'll see that the bounty is paid separately later. Ah, and tonight there's to be a celebration in your honor! The guest of honor can't be missing, so you must come!"

I kept my mouth shut and sank into thought.

A celebration....

...Should I run.

I genuinely wanted to.