Chapter 15
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Hooking a Big Fish
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The harsh winter had passed, and spring had arrived in Bing Province. But the peace of winter didn't last long.
No sooner had they extinguished the great fire of the Wuhuan Tribe than bandit hordes rose up across the entire province, as if they'd been waiting for the moment.
The grand hall of the Bing Province Governor's office was thick with a grim atmosphere.
"You useless bastards!"
"......."
Ding Yuan bellowed with veins bulging in his neck. Before him, the province's renowned officers hung their heads like frightened mice.
"Those thieving scum dared to raid the supply wagons heading to Jinyang, and what have you lot done about it?! It's a waste feeding you your stipends!"
Ding Yuan kicked the low table in front of him.
—Crash!
The teacup shattered on the floor with an piercing crash that echoed loudly. But no one dared even breathe properly. They could only sweat profusely.
"If you have mouths, then speak up! Is your so-called valor only for bragging at drinking parties?!"
It was right then, as Ding Yuan's furious tirade continued, that the tightly shut doors of the hall swung open and I stepped inside.
The moment I entered, all noise in the room ceased.
Ding Yuan, who had been flushed red with rage upon spotting me, saw his anger vanish as if by magic. He beckoned me with a kind, welcoming smile, as though he hadn't been shouting at all.
"Oh, my son! You've finally arrived!"
I walked silently to the center of the hall, bowed deeply in salute. The sight of the other officers trembling with heads bowed came clearly into view.
"Father, what has you so enraged?"
"Sigh, it's nothing. Just a headache from these petty thieves. Come closer."
Ding Yuan ignored the other officers as if they weren't there and led me to the table spread with a map.
"Look here. No sooner had spring arrived than these starving wretches rose up everywhere to pillage. The ones holed up in the Taihang Mountains are the fiercest. They've even laid hands on supplies headed for Jinyang."
I silently gazed at the dozens of red dots marked on the map. The entire province was swarming with bandit scum.
"Father, give me some troops. This is my chance to sweep all the bandits from Bing Province and ease your worries."
Ding Yuan shook his head. Frustration clouded his face.
"Your resolve is admirable, but bandits are different from the barbarians."
Ding Yuan pointed with his finger to the rugged mountain terrain on the map.
"The barbarians gather in one place to crush the garrison or any resisting forces before they raid. But these bandits scatter like rats from the start. They hide in the hills and valleys, striking only at supply lines before vanishing. By the time our army mobilizes, they're already gone without a trace. Send a large force to comb the mountains, and it's all for naught. Pull back the troops, and they pop up again. Truly rats, every one of them."
Ding Yuan's explanation was spot on. That was why the garrison always failed to suppress the bandits. As his lament ended, I shook my head.
"Then we just force them to show themselves."
A valley in the Taihang Mountains, thick with the air of spring.
The bandits' shouts filled the ravine as they crowded the mountain path.
"There they are! Just a few dozen! Don't chicken out—charge!"
Before their leader's shout could fade, a flash shot from my hand as I led the front.
With a sharp whoosh, a short javelin embedded itself in the throat of the foremost bandit charging toward us.
"Gack!"
The bandit leader left only a brief death rattle before tumbling to the ground. At the same moment, I kicked off and raced along the narrow path.
'The old man said these rat pups are a headache because they flee into hiding.'
My spear swept in a wide arc, sending three or four blocking bandits rolling away in bloody heaps.
'So if I make sure the rats can't flee, that solves it. If they run from a large army, then hunt them with a small enough force that they won't even think to run.'
Following behind me were just a few dozen men.
But these were wolf cubs I had personally selected from the blood-soaked winds of Saibang.
Hundreds of bandits were no match for us. The rabble's clumsy blades couldn't even scratch our armor, while our spears and swords pierced their throats and hearts.
"Th-these monster bastards!"
"Ha, what nonsense from bandit scum."
The fight turned into a one-sided slaughter.
By now, Wei Sok, who'd circled around to the opposite slope, was probably rampaging with glee. For that simple brute, this kind of hunt was the ultimate reward.
We'd been tearing through them for a while when it happened.
As I raced toward their main camp where the bulk of their forces were gathered, I suddenly spotted something odd.
On the opposite side from where I was headed, the bandits there were collapsing far faster than expected.
"........?"
My gaze locked onto the scene.
In the midst of the chaotic battlefield, a lightly armored man in simple garb was wielding a sword. His movements were utterly unlike mine.
With lightning speed, his blade flashed in the sunlight, and heads fell futilely to the earth with each gleam.
As an axe-wielding bandit swung down at him from overhead, the man didn't block but twisted his body slightly to let the strike glance off.
His sword sliced the bandit's throat like a bolt of lightning as the axe blade passed harmlessly by.
There was no wasted motion in the man's every action. It was brutally practical swordsmanship, severing life with the minimal movement for maximum certainty.
One of my men fighting nearby swallowed hard and muttered.
"Boss... what the hell is that guy? Looks like no joke."
"Hm, true enough."
He had a point.
In this battlefield filled with blood and screams, he alone danced an elegant sword dance.
I admired his skill, but I also scrutinized his attire. It was worn but retained the form of a uniform—not that of an officer or soldier, but the lowly clerk from a frontier garrison. A county clerk.
'A county clerk? Someone with that level of skill stuck shuffling papers in some backwater?'
It was absurd waste of talent.
The battle ended in an instant.
Hundreds of bandits were annihilated without trace before the small forces led by me and this mystery man.
A hush fell over the blood-soaked path. My men and I faced the man and his subordinates across a pile of corpses.
I shook the blood from my spear tip and walked forward slowly.
"Hm, with skills like that, and you're a county clerk..."
The man simply stared at me, unmoved by my words.
"State your affiliation and name."
The man wiped the blood from his sword on the clothes of a nearby corpse, sheathed it, then bowed with cupped hands and answered clearly.
"Zhang Liao, County Clerk of Yanmen Commandery."
"Wha...?"
Zhang Liao, Wen Yuan.
The moment that name lodged in my ear, my mind grew complicated. Names were common as dirt, but one matching both given and courtesy name? Not likely.
'If... if he's the real one...?'
But I couldn't jump to conclusions. Could just be a talented bumpkin with the same name.
I needed to verify. I approached Zhang Liao slowly, deliberately picking a fight.
"Zhang Liao, eh... Do you think this is Yanmen Commandery? This is the Taihang Mountains, my assigned suppression zone. Not only did you lead troops here without permission, invading my turf, but you stole kills that were ours. Can't just let that slide."
"I merely pursued bandits ravaging near my jurisdiction. Is it a clerk's duty to quibble over boundaries when scum threaten the people right before our eyes?"
"You talk a good game."
I regripped my spear.
"Let's see if that eloquence saves your neck. I'll charge you with overstepping authority and poaching merits. Draw your sword."
"Tch..."
Zhang Liao's face twisted in disbelief at the blatant pretext, but he sensed the killing intent in my eyes and knew combat was inevitable. He sighed shortly and drew his sword.
"Hah, if that's what you want."
In the next instant, I kicked off the ground and thrust my spear at him. It wasn't a simple jab. The strike, loaded with my full body weight, hit like a battering ram shattering gates.
"!"
Zhang Liao instantly judged he couldn't meet it head-on.
He angled his blade obliquely, letting my spear tip glance off with a clang! The spear blade passed razor-close to his side.
Though he dodged the attack, the immense force sent him sliding back four or five steps.
"Hm, quick on your feet."
Without pause, I withdrew the spear and swung it horizontally in a massive arc.
Even against my storm of blows, Zhang Liao moved nimbly. He read my spear's trajectory with near-divine senses, evading with minimal motion.
Sometimes parrying the shaft with his sword to absorb the shock, other times leaping back out of range.
"Ngh!"
After a few exchanges, sweat beaded on Zhang Liao's brow.
Dodging alone seemed to demand his all. Yet his eyes burned with life. He targeted gaps in my armor joints or the split-second openings after my swings.
'Hm, no matter how I look at it, this guy's the real deal.'
For my final move, I feigned a wide sweep to pressure him, then pulled back power and reversed the shaft like a whip. Caught off-guard, Zhang Liao desperately raised his sword to block—too late.
—Bam!
With a thunderous impact, Zhang Liao's body flew backward.
He barely planted his feet, but his sword arm trembled violently. And my spear tip hovered precisely under his chin.
"........."
I withdrew the spear at once.
"Heh, a county clerk with this level of skill."
"Hah... hah..."
Zhang Liao panted roughly, eyes wary. Seeing him like that, a laugh escaped me unbidden.
"Forget charging you. You deserve a reward instead."
Now I revealed my identity.
"I'm Lu Bu, Fengxian, adopted son of Bing Province Governor Ding Yuan. Whatever the court's fools scribble on paper, my name is Lu Bu."
Zhang Liao's eyes widened.
—The Martial God of Saibang, son of the Bing Province Governor.
He knew full well the weight of that name.
"Your talent's wasted rotting as a mere clerk. I'll formally recommend you to my father. But a recommendation alone isn't enough. Prove your worth at my side."
I extended my hand to Zhang Liao.
"What do you say? Join me in cleaning out the last rats in Bing Province?"
Zhang Liao stared at me silently for a moment. Then he dropped to one knee before me and bowed his head.
"Zhang Liao, Wen Yuan. I gladly follow you, Unit Commander."
I'd hooked a big fish.