The Three Heroes Under Heaven

I made it into the assembly hall in one piece. My mood, however, was foul.

Bibi must have found my scowl strange, because she tilted her head and asked,

"Do Yeop? Is something troubling you?"

"No. Don't worry about the likes of me, Bibi — just attend to your own business."

"Ah—! Why have you suddenly gone so cold toward me? Have I committed some offense?"

"…"

She hadn't done anything wrong. I was just seething over the blatant favoritism between Yuan Shao and myself.

The real problem was that the moment I let that sulk show, I'd become the pettiest man under heaven. Because in that situation just now, anyone would have fallen hard for Yuan Shao.

He'd swooped in like a superhero right as Yuan Shu was about to humiliate her. And as if that weren't enough, he'd overridden every objection around him to bring a woman he barely knew into an assembly this grand.

Even a romance fantasy novel would lose every last reader for dumping that many clichés on the page. But she'd lived it in real life — so Bibi going full heart-eyes wasn't exactly surprising, was it?

A low murmur filled the hall.

The place was packed. Chen Lin, apparently well aware of the friction between Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, had seated the two of them at opposite extremes.

Bibi and I, having come as little more than Yuan Shao's plus-ones, took the lowest seats of all. After a short wait, a woman appeared upon the raised platform.

"It seems everyone who was meant to come has arrived. Let us begin."

Given that she was hosting the assembly, she had to be the master of this house — Chen Lin. Right on cue, a soft beep sounded and a status window bloomed before my eyes.

"His Excellency the Minister has not yet arrived," a man at her side replied.

The Minister — that would be Lu Zhi, wouldn't it? In an instant the lineup of people gathered here started to take shape in my mind.

Chen Lin, Lu Zhi, and Yuan Shao. The so-called Qingliu — the Pure Stream faction of the court parties.

They had once been driven from the central government under the Proscription of Partisans, hammered by the eunuchs' attacks. But the great merits they earned during the Yellow Turban Rebellion had won them a path back into the court.

Not everyone present was Qingliu — some, like Yuan Shu, belonged to the Zhuoliu, the Turbid Stream. Still, they all shared a common ideal, drawn together around the gravitational center that was He Jin.

Chen Lin answered,

"His Excellency is delayed speaking with the Governor of Henan on an urgent matter. In the meantime, it would not hurt for us to coordinate our views among ourselves."

So Wang Yun was in on this too. This wasn't really a scholarly assembly at all — it was shaping up to be a political convention for the slaughter of the eunuchs.

Yuan Shao was the first to rise from his seat.

"This Yuan Shao has something to say. Everyone here knows why we have gathered today — to denounce those base and frivolous creatures who still cling to the Son of Heaven's side, desperate ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to preserve their power."

A statement worthy of the Qingliu's rising star, the political idol who commanded the reverence of the masses. But if anyone was going to pick a fight here, it was Yuan Shu.

"Before that, I believe there's a matter we ought to clear up first?"

"What puzzles you, Gonglu?"

"Would it kill you to address me by my office for once? People will think we're close. Anyway — everyone here knows about the disaster at Mengjin not long ago. But according to my sources, the ones who burned Mengjin weren't actually the Black Mountain Bandits."

A wave of murmuring swept the room.

Yuan Shu's words threw the assembly into sudden confusion. So he wasn't just any ordinary bastard after all. Something Yuan Shao had gone to great lengths to bury — and he already had the scent of it.

"Who told you such a thing?"

Yuan Shao asked, playing the part of a man who knew nothing. Yuan Shu rose with a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠thin smile.

"No matter how swollen the Black Mountain Bandits' guts might be, would they dare pull a stunt like that right under Luoyang's nose? And according to the survivors, the raiders were far too disciplined and well-drilled to be common bandits. Above all, their horsemanship was extraordinary — skill the likes of which no one has ever seen in the Central Plains."

"The Black Mountain Bandits traffic with the barbarians and disgrace the Han people by trampling the laws of the Central Plains. Is it so strange that they can ride a horse?"

"Do you truly believe that? Or could it be that the men of Bingzhou disguised themselves as Black Mountain Bandits and slaughtered innocent commoners?"

"Are you casting suspicion on Ding Yuan of Bingzhou?"

"Doesn't it strike you all as odd? The Grand General personally summoned Ding Yuan of Bingzhou and appointed him Commandant of Courageous Might — yet the man did not even receive an invitation to this gathering. Could it be that someone wished to avoid certain… inconvenient suspicions?"

The murmuring deepened.

Yuan Shu's argument was so plausible that people leaned in to whisper among themselves. And since it was, in fact, the truth — I was very curious how Yuan Shao would answer.

"Enough of this nonsense, little brother."

"Who are you calling little brother? I've never had a brother like you! We may need to crush the eunuchs, but isn't this going too far? Then again, for a cunning snake who performed three years of mourning for a woman who wasn't even his own mother just to put on a show — I suppose nothing is beyond you."

"What did you just say!?"

Yuan Shao's voice rose sharply. Yuan Shu was right — Yuan Shao had observed three years of mourning for the principal wife of his adoptive father, Yuan Feng, treating her as a stepmother. He had then performed a second consecutive three-year mourning for his birth father, Yuan Cheng, and in doing so raised his reputation to dazzling heights.

The problem was that Yuan Feng's principal wife had been ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Yuan Shu's own birth mother. Having someone else — of all people — complete the mourning rites for his own mother and harvest the fame from it, Yuan Shu could hardly be blamed for feeling robbed.

"Am I wrong? Who are you to mourn someone else's mother? And then you strut around with your chin in the air, posing as the model of a lofty scholar-gentleman — aren't you ashamed?"

"Shut that mouth. Even from you, I will not let that pass."

"Then don't let it pass — settle it right here. After all, I'm the only one who can rip that mask off your face, aren't I?"

Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu looked ready to come to blows on the spot. Just as everyone was wondering how to break them apart, Yuan Shao strode out to the very center of the seating and rolled up his sleeves.

"Forgive my younger brother's rudeness. He has spent so long consorting with the vulgar rabble of the marketplace that he can no longer tell right from wrong."

"Personal attacks when you can't even prove your own innocence? Then again, is there anything else you're actually good at?"

"You are insolent, Gonglu. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Hear me, all of you. If this Yuan Shao has, as my brother claims, colluded with Ding Yuan of Bingzhou to murder innocent commoners — then I shall not live out my natural span, but die an untimely death!"

A fresh wave of whispers.

Yuan Shao had staked his own life to prove his innocence. Except — you really do die young, don't you?

"What a load of crap…"

"…?"

The reply hadn't come from Yuan Shu. Because no matter how much Yuan Shu despised his elder brother, he wasn't so uncultured as to pick apart a man who had just sworn on his life.

It was a man sitting askew in the lowest seat among Yuan Shu's party. Sparse beard, rough skin — and yet the bearing of a bold hero. The one oddity was his dress: utterly unlike anything from the Central Plains. Everyone else had dressed with proper courtesy — Bibi had even bought new clothes for the occasion — but this man wore nothing more than a rough cloak of animal hide, the garb of a common warrior.

"Who are you?"

"None of your business."

"Gonglu, answer for him. Why have you brought someone so ignorant of even the basic rites of the Central Plains into a gathering such as this?"

Yuan Shao refused to be drawn in by the man himself and put the question directly to Yuan Shu, his proxy. Yuan Shu snorted.

"He's not nearly as worthless as you seem to think. Hey! Answer him yourself."

Yuan Shu yielded the floor, giving the man a chance to name himself. The man shot to his feet and strode straight up to Yuan Shao.

"Sun Jian of Jiangdong."

Only then did he reveal his name. At once a murderous staring contest ignited between Yuan Shao and Sun Jian.

In pure combat ability, he was the finest officer I had met yet. His Politics were abysmal — but even that was still more functional than a White-Haired Failure like me.

"So you're that wet-behind-the-ears brat from the south. I hear Bian Zhang and Han Sui made a proper fool of you when they raised their rebellion."

"I don't take that kind of talk from a soft scholar who's never set foot on a battlefield in his life. If Dong Zhuo had sent reinforcements when he was supposed to, I'd be standing where you are right now."

"It's already galling enough that a lowly warrior has forced his way into this hall — and yet you rate yourself so highly? There is not a single person here who will be cowed by your bluster."

"Then I'll just beat them flat."

"You are welcome to try."

Yuan Shao and Sun Jian launched into a war of words without giving an inch. The sheer storm of killing intent rolling off them was enough to make people dizzy — a few even fainted outright.

"…"

Yuan Shu's expression, by contrast, had gone faintly sour. He was supposed to be the one clashing with Yuan Shao — but the guest he'd brought along had stolen the entire spotlight, and he clearly didn't know what to make of it.

Sh-shouldn't someone stop them?

Bibi whispered urgently in my ear. And how exactly was I supposed to stop them?

At my current Force, Sun Jian would one-shot me. I couldn't even handle Yuan Shao.

Heeheeheeheehee!!!

That was when it came. A laugh from somewhere, wrapping itself around the entire hall.

Just hearing it was enough to make your skin crawl with slyness — and yet the voice itself was so fine and carrying that it managed to pull every eye away from Yuan Shao and Sun Jian.

"Who goes there!?"

Chen Lin cried out. Yuan Shao and Sun Jian still hadn't taken their eyes off each other, but both cocked their ears, trying to place the voice.

A whistle of air — then a solid landing.

Amazingly, some madman had leapt down from above and stuck a superhero landing. Right into the dead center of the killing-intent storm where Yuan Shao and Sun Jian stood locked.

A soft rustle of cloth.

The face that lifted was that of a young man in splendid dress. He was on the short side, but the lean build and economical grace of his movements were anything but ordinary.

His face, though, was bizarre. He was clearly a handsome man on par with Yuan Shao or Yuan Shu — yet he wore the kind of extreme theatrical makeup you'd expect from a Beijing opera troupe, the corners of his mouth stretched into a long, curling grin.

"Mengde. How long have you been hiding there?"

Yuan Shao spoke the name as if confirmation were unnecessary. Mengde? So that meant this man was—

The seed of a hegemon, standing at the absolute opposite pole from a White-Haired Failure like me — the highest total stats under heaven.

And the one and only lord I would serve for the rest of my life.

Beep!

The status window rose. Just looking at it was so radiant I could barely keep my eyes open…