08. Three Men and Women (1)
08. Three Men and Women (1)
Thanks to the efforts of the Flying General Lu Bu, we were able to arrive in Luoyang relatively quickly.
Was this a reflection of the intentions of the Inspector of Bing Province, Ding Yuan? It didn't seem so. I had seen how Ding Yuan was jumping up and down in a rage over Lu Bu's absence.
She had simply covered our party of her own volition,
purely out of her own stubbornness.
"Is this much enough for the payment?"
I tossed a pouch filled with coins.
Lu Bu caught the pouch with one hand and nodded.
"I'm not the type to turn down money."
I knew that well.
Among the characters in the Three Kingdoms, isn't Lu Bu the very person who is second to none when it comes to greed?
Wealth, desire for fame, and even a lust for power.
Because Lu Bu was the very embodiment of greed.
"So, are you going back now? I'm already looking forward to the reaction of the Inspector of Bing Province, Ding Yuan."
At my words, Lu Bu's expression soured.
Perhaps it was because she anticipated her foster father's rage. She openly displayed her expression of not wanting to return to Bing Province.
Seeing her reaction,
I made a suggestion, just in case, like poking at a persimmon I couldn't eat.
"Then how about joining us here?"
"In what?"
"A festival is about to break out, here in Luoyang."
"A festival...? I don't see any signs of a festival happening."
Lu Bu tilted her head.
Looking at the streets of Luoyang, which had become devastated due to the long-standing exploitation by the General-in-Chief's faction and the Ten Eunuchs, Lu Bu said it didn't seem like the atmosphere for a festival.
Was my metaphor that hard to understand?
Let's keep this in mind. Don't explain things with half-baked metaphors to someone who isn't bright.
"Anyway, if you stay here, you won't be bored. You don't want to go back to Bing Province, and above all, you have no reason to go back. Even if you do, you'll just get a good scolding."
"So?"
Go on, say it again.
Lu Bu gestured with her head, signaling me to continue explaining.
"Anyway, the Inspector of Bing Province, Ding Yuan, is someone who follows the General-in-Chief, He Jin. If you move here while following the orders of the General-in-Chief, Ding Yuan won't be able to say a word."
Follow the orders of your superior's superior.
At those words, Lu Bu looked suspicious, but she also seemed to be showing anticipation at the prospect of seeing the General-in-Chief, the number one person in the Han Dynasty military.
Would someone from the borderlands have had a chance to see the General-in-Chief?
They say it's Lu Bu's first time coming to Luoyang.
While wandering through the streets of Luoyang, she even showed signs of excitement like a child.
"You sure know how to wag your tongue."
Lu Bu grinned, showing her teeth.
I shrugged and replied to her words.
Even though I look like this, I have 100 Intelligence and 100 Politics.
Moreover, since I possessed the Eloquence skill, persuading a blockhead with only 26 Intelligence and 13 Politics was simple.
A blockhead who fights ignorantly well.
I wanted her stupidity and her bravery.
"If things go well, I'll be able to get money and an official position, right? If you try to work me to the bone and end it without a penny, you'd better be ready to say goodbye to that neck of yours at any time."
"Even though I look like this, I'm a person with a higher rank than you."
Gate Guard Colonel, guarding the 12 gates of Luoyang.
I informed Lu Bu of my status, but Lu Bu reacted as if to say, "So what?"
Although I am merely a Colonel, my authority exceeds that of an Inspector.
Am I not a Gate Guard Colonel, comparable to the Colonel of the Capital and the Colonel of Cavalry? If it were anyone else, they would have bowed their heads deeply, but Lu Bu was instead holding her head high.
"I will report directly to the Minister of Education. Good work, you may return now."
"Understood."
After the Colonels bowed,
they headed to their homes to relieve the fatigue accumulated from the long-distance mission.
Watching them, Lu Bu opened her mouth.
"You do look quite high-ranking."
"Do you really have to see that with your own two eyes?"
"I never believe anything I haven't seen with my own eyes. There have been more than one or two people who tried to deceive me. Of course, none of those guys are of this world anymore."
"That's scary."
I raised both hands and declared my surrender.
What should I call this?
Should I call this 'intuition'?
Lu Bu's intuition was superior to anyone else's.
It was close to the sixth sense of a beast living in the wild. She was not bright and was ignorant, but she possessed a sharp intuition that more than made up for it.
If I told a half-baked lie, my head would fly off.
Because she's a woman who would swing her Painted Halberd regardless of whether I'm a Gate Guard Colonel or whatever.
"Guide me to where I'll be staying. If it's a shabby place, I'll chop your head off."
I understand that I'm the one in the subordinate position in this relationship.
It's my loss if I fight with an ignorant person.
Having seen Lu Bu fight while coming here, I didn't want to choose the option of daring to fight her.
Whether the opponent was a hundred or a thousand,
I was so intimidated by the sight of her seemingly crushing and destroying everything.
I guided her to the mansion of the Minister of Education, Wang Yun.
Lu Bu, who was now staying at the mansion of one of the Three Excellencies of the Han Dynasty, could not hide her surprise at the magnificent size of the mansion.
"Is this your house?"
"No, not that. I'm just a guest staying here."
They say Wang Yun is out for a moment.
It seemed like a move to gather with imperial officials to prepare for the death of the current Emperor.
The Emperor's death cannot be stopped.
Having heard the report from the Imperial Physician that the Emperor's condition was not good, Wang Yun began to prepare for what would come after, together with the imperial officials.
"You've returned, My Lord?"
Diaochan came running over, dododo.
Seeing Diaochan, who had a small and delicate impression, Lu Bu, for whatever misunderstanding she had, began to poke my side with her elbow.
"You've got talent, huh? You've chosen quite a beauty to be your wife. I guess you really shouldn't judge people just by their faces."
"That's not it."
I replied to Lu Bu's words.
I decided to take some time to correct the misunderstanding she was having.
"I'll prepare the meal. I'll call you when it's ready."
It seems she was receiving guests who had come to the mansion.
After greeting me and Lu Bu in turn, Diaochan left the spot with hurried steps.
"Are you sure she's not your woman?"
"I told you, no. He's a man, a man. He's prettier than you, but he's strictly a man."
"Sorry for looking ignorant!"
At my words, Lu Bu turned her head.
Perhaps knowing that she wasn't a delicate, dewy-eyed young beauty like Diaochan, she made a listless expression.
Of course, she wasn't as much of a beauty as Diaochan,
but that didn't mean I said she was ugly.
Lu Bu was also a beauty who could be counted among the best.
Although she was a woman who combined violence and ferocity, I thought that point was enough to make her look attractive.
"Let's go in first."
"Wait a second before that."
To me, who was about to head to the room,
Lu Bu tapped her shoulder with her Painted Halberd and stopped me.
Does she have some business with me?
She directly interfered with my desire to just sprawl out and sleep.
"You, you said you're a Colonel, right? Then that means you're a military officer of this Luoyang, the capital of the Han Dynasty."
Is she such a blockhead that she needs to confirm that?
I let out a deep sigh at Lu Bu's words, which seemed to be trying to confirm my status once again.
"But why are you so weak?"
"I was the one cutting down bandits next to you. If I were truly weak, I wouldn't have been able to defeat even one bandit and would have become a ghost."
Even with 100 Martial Arts, it is true that I am one step behind Lu Bu.
Because she had the treasure called the Painted Halberd.
As far as I know, the Painted Halberd is a treasure that increases Martial Arts by 8, a weapon that makes Lu Bu, who has 100 Martial Arts, even more of a munchkin.
108 Martial Arts.
It is truly a dizzying level.
In this country... no, in this worldview, there wouldn't be a single general who could win against Lu Bu in a duel.
"How should I put it. Your potential is excellent, but your actual swinging is not very good. It was to the point where I, watching from the side, felt like vomiting."
"To say vomiting, though..."
I wish the woman would speak a bit more nicely.
I know it sounds like an old fogey to nitpick about that, but since she has such a pretty face, I wish she would be a little more careful with her speech and behavior.
"What about your experience in actual combat?"
Lu Bu asked.
I answered her.
"About two years?"
"So your talent is excellent, but you lack actual combat experience. There's no worse situation than this."
Lu Bu clicked her tongue.
She swung the Painted Halberd bung-bung while making an expression of genuine pity.
A rough wind blew.
To think that just swinging a weapon could stir up the wind; how much heavy, monstrous strength is contained in those hands that look so delicate?
Let's call her inhuman.
Yes, Lu Bu is not a human. There is no way a woman with such terrifying, monstrous strength could be human.
"Where is the training ground? Even if it's a nerd's mansion, there must be a space where you can train your body separately."
There is no separate training ground.
Instead, there was a garden that boasted a large scale.
Lu Bu said to go there first.
She mentioned that she would personally train me, saying she couldn't bear to see me wasting my excellent potential.
"Is there really a need for that?"
It feels like I'm the one who's going to die.
My long experience was sending me a serious warning.
"Don't worry, I'll calculate the payment properly later. Since I, who am called the Flying General, am training you personally, I'll be taking a hefty payment."
I didn't even say I would do it.
The person herself started by threatening to take the payment.
"We only have to do this today, right?"
"I don't intend to hold onto you for a long time either. If I just roll you around until you're half-dead, you'll figure it out. More than anything, it seems your talent alone is excellent."
Can she see that?
Even though I boasted 100 Martial Arts, I knew well that my actual skill was mediocre.
Lu Bu had noticed that.
She was being 'meddlesome' in a way that didn't suit her, saying she couldn't bear to see someone using a sharp precious sword to hoe a field.
'As far as I know, Lu Bu isn't the type of personality to waste her time for others like this? If she were rolling me around to train herself, that would be one thing, but to waste her time for my sake...'
I couldn't hide my puzzlement at Lu Bu's strange behavior.
She is absolutely not a considerate person.
Rather, she was a person with a terribly self-centered and selfish personality.
What on earth moved her heart?
I pondered for a long time, but I couldn't figure out the reason by the time I was dragged to the garden by Lu Bu.
"Come at me, nerd."
Lu Bu pointed the tip of her Painted Halberd at me.
With the situation like this, there was nothing I could do.
I had no choice but to swing my sword according to her intentions.
If I had other thoughts for no reason, I might get cut by that Painted Halberd and become a headless ghost.
I thought, surely she wouldn't go that far, but...
Judging by that ignorant personality of hers, I thought she was more than capable of doing it.