Chapter 271
Chapter 271
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 271
>Chapter Title: Plague (6)
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A visit from the plague and the Martial Alliance Leader. Then, Dam Bin's pregnancy—three utterly mismatched typhoons battered them one after another, and a few days later.
Peace had finally come to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's branch as well.
The plague had been largely contained, and things were slowly progressing between Dam Bin and Gu Yang-mun.
"Team Leader Dam Bin, is there anything else you need by chance?"
Just as he had said himself, Gu Yang-mun was the type to fixate on one thing once decided, tending to Dam Bin with utter self-sacrifice.
"...Nothing comes to mind right now, so why don't you rest for a bit."
Dam Bin, who had initially found Gu Yang-mun's attitude uncomfortable, was gradually opening her heart to him.
"Then, please rest well. I'll wait outside."
"...You don't have to go. Just rest here beside me."
"Understood!"
What was it like?
Less like a husband and more like handling an obedient puppy.
In any case, as Il-mok was thinking that the urgent matters were finally settling one by one and he could breathe easy.
"Young Master! Officials from the Provincial Governor's Office have come looking for the Maitreya Illuminated Cult!"
"Officials? What's the sudden reason?"
"They say they can't tell us. But Elder Left Provincial Governor is asking for you, so they're waiting for you to head to the Provincial Governor's Office together."
A new typhoon had struck without warning.
The Provincial Governor's Office, the highest administrative body overseeing each of the thirteen provinces of the Central Plains.
Its head, the Left Provincial Governor, was a high-ranking official of the third junior rank and the supreme authority in a province.
The problem was why such a figure had suddenly summoned him.
"Hoo."
Il-mok let out a light sigh and issued orders to the branch warrior who had come to report.
"Convey through the Maitreya Illuminated Cult members that, since we've been tending to plague patients, we'll bathe thoroughly to avoid any risks and then come to pay our respects."
"Understood."
Having bought a little time using the plague as an excuse, Il-mok calmly sorted through his thoughts.
* * *
The heart of the Lanzhou Provincial Governor's Office.
Several officials had gathered there.
Half a shichen had passed since ordering the leader of this Maitreya Illuminated Cult or whatever to be brought, and a middle-aged official, unable to bear it, scowled and shouted.
"Hah. To think these rivers-and-lakes ruffians dare keep the Left Provincial Governor waiting. We must deal with them by law!"
The officials' gazes turned to the Left Provincial Governor seated in the center.
The Left Provincial Governor was also stroking his white beard with a furrowed brow, but his displeasure had nothing to do with the Maitreya Illuminated Cult.
"Weren't they tending to plague patients? The way you put it sounds like you're hoping I'll catch the plague."
The middle-aged official, who had risen to his position through flattery and bribes, paled and hurriedly prostrated himself.
"I-it's a misunderstanding, Left Provincial Governor!"
"Tch."
As the Left Provincial Governor clicked his tongue lightly and seemed about to say more, a shout came from outside the door.
"Someone from the Maitreya Illuminated Cult has arrived!"
The Left Provincial Governor glared steadily at the prostrating official, then turned toward the door and called out.
"Let him in."
No sooner had his order fallen than the door opened, and a masked man entered.
The moment the man stepped in, the officials erupted in unison with furious shouts.
"Such insolence!"
"How dare you wear a mask in a place like this!"
It was because of the mask the man wore.
Rubbing his temple as if their yelling gave him a headache, the Left Provincial Governor spoke.
"All of you, leave."
He figured their presence would only hinder the conversation.
It was also inevitable, as officials tended to look down on martial artists by nature.
At the Left Provincial Governor's command, the officials knelt en masse and cried out.
"To be alone with that self-proclaimed martial artist ruffian!"
"Left Provincial Governor! It's too dangerous!"
"We can't predict what evil intentions he might harbor!"
At their successive protests, the Left Provincial Governor waved them off dismissively.
Only then did they fall silent, and the Left Provincial Governor spoke again.
"Even if that man harbors evil intentions, could any of you stop him?"
"......"
The officials were struck dumb like bees that had eaten honey.
As they belatedly tried to open their mouths, the Left Provincial Governor continued.
"And besides... even if he harbors evil, would he attack me unless he's mad? For killing one like me, the Maitreya Illuminated Cult would be erased from the Central Plains. Isn't that right?"
Surveying the room as he spoke, the Left Provincial Governor's gaze finally settled on the masked man.
It was to persuade the officials, but his final words were also a warning to the man.
As if yielding to the warning, the masked man bowed in respect.
"How could I possibly harbor ill will toward you, Left Provincial Governor?"
No sooner had the man finished than the Left Provincial Governor gestured to the officials—an overt dismissal.
In the end, they exchanged glances and filed out one by one, leaving only the Left Provincial Governor and the masked man.
"Will you keep that mask on the whole time?"
At the Left Provincial Governor's question, the man raised his hand and removed the mask.
Revealed was the face of a middle-aged man bearing several scars.
It was Il-mok.
Thanks to using the plague as an excuse, he had bought time to prepare a human-skin mask in case he had to remove it.
"Forgive my rudeness."
As Il-mok bowed and spoke, the Left Provincial Governor examined his face for a moment before replying.
"Hmm. For someone claiming to be from the rivers and lakes, you at least know manners."
"How could I be rude to those who govern the nation and care for its pitiful people?"
"Hoo."
Intrigued, the Left Provincial Governor asked Il-mok.
"So, do you know why I summoned you here?"
"This fool is too ignorant to presume your intent, sir. Please enlighten me."
At Il-mok's words, the Left Provincial Governor smiled faintly.
"It's because of a rumor I heard recently. They say you quelled the plague that started spreading in Lanzhou?"
That was why the Left Provincial Governor felt goodwill toward the Maitreya Illuminated Cult, whom he had never met.
The office ignored a few commoners dying or martial artists brawling with swords, but a plague was different.
A plague meant at least hundreds, or in bad cases, thousands or tens of thousands dropping dead.
And when thousands or tens of thousands of people died, the national treasury dried up, and there was no labor to carry out the Emperor's directives.
In short, officials in a plague-stricken province faced at least dismissal, or in severe cases, exile or enslavement.
Since they had stepped up first to avert that crisis, it was natural for him to feel goodwill.
The officials gathered here earlier had simply treated it as "the natural duty of underlings," hence their rudeness.
Added to that, since the Maitreya Illuminated Cult belonged to the martial world, they had dismissed Il-mok even more.
At the Left Provincial Governor's words, Il-mok swallowed a sigh inwardly.
'Phew. Fortunately, it's with good intentions.'
On the way here, Il-mok had considered various possibilities.
Among them was the chance that the Maitreya Illuminated Cult's influence in Lanzhou had grown too great, prompting a summons to check it.
He planned to resolve it through talk if possible, but had even contemplated assassination if not.
Conversely, since he had prepared for a case like this, Il-mok's tongue danced eloquently.
"What have we done? It is all thanks to you, Left Provincial Governor, who cares for the people."
"Hah? Thanks to me?"
The Left Provincial Governor echoed in disbelief, though a faint smile played on his lips.
Not missing it, Il-mok added.
"Indeed. It was all because you, who cherishes the people, instructed us in advance, was it not?"
Having lived as what amounted to a civil servant here, Il-mok knew full well.
What superiors loved most.
There was no technique as effective as handing over merits to them. Conversely, nothing was as infuriating as having merits forcibly taken.
'It's not like I'm getting anything from the state by claiming merits.'
Il-mok wasn't part of the bureaucracy to begin with, so merits meant nothing to him.
And his gambit worked perfectly.
"Uhahaha! So it was on my orders. What delightful words. But even if you say so, will others know my intent?"
"We planned to spread it to the people as well. We're ashamed we haven't yet, being so busy tending the plague."
"Uhahaha."
With his mouth stretched to his ears, the Left Provincial Governor asked.
"Even if it was my order, perfectly carrying it out is another matter. So, since you've accomplished my directive so splendidly, it seems I should reward you. What is it you want?"
At the Left Provincial Governor's question, Il-mok calmly replied.
* * *
That evening.
A large estate built in one part of Lanzhou.
A middle-aged man paced anxiously inside the hall, biting his nails.
'Damn. Damn. Damn.'
He was the official who had been rebuked by the Left Provincial Governor for his needless flattery.
'What does it matter if a few underlings drop dead?'
Far worse was a martial artist daring to make them wait.
He had merely reported it to the Left Provincial Governor, yet to fall from favor over something so trivial was unjust.
As he pondered how to resolve it.
"Sir."
His servant brought a single letter.
It was from a friend he had caroused with in his youth, now living elsewhere.
Upon checking the contents, the man's eyes widened.
"Hahaha. Heaven hasn't abandoned me yet!"
The content was simple: the terrifying claim that the Maitreya Illuminated Cult in Gansu Province taught seditious doctrines suggestive of treason.
In other words, they needed to be purged immediately.
The man pocketed the letter without delay and headed to the Left Provincial Governor's estate.
"I greet the Left Provincial Governor."
After reaching him through various means, he bowed and handed over the letter.
"We must deal with those vile Maitreya Illuminated Cult fiends by law at once!"
His thinking was straightforward. If the Maitreya Illuminated Cult were treasonous, his own offense of insulting them would vanish.
Moreover, by being the first to inform the Left Provincial Governor, he could curry favor.
Full of such expectations, but the Left Provincial Governor's reaction after reading the letter dashed them.
"Hah. Birds of a feather, indeed."
Muttering with a hollow laugh, the Left Provincial Governor prompted the man to ask in disbelief.
"W-what do you mean, sir?"
"To come here based on some rumor from someone not even in Gansu. Are you in your right mind? Are you saying that baseless gossip is more reliable than what I've seen with my own eyes? Do you distrust my eyes that much?"
"Th-that's not it."
"Get out. I don't even want to see your face right now."
The man, trying to add something, turned away under the Left Provincial Governor's glare.
One more word, and it wouldn't just be ejection from the hall—he'd be ousted from office.
After chasing the man out, the Left Provincial Governor reread the letter and let out another hollow laugh.
"Treason, huh. Ridiculous."
He recalled the conversation he'd had earlier that day with the Maitreya Illuminated Cult man.
Having served in office for decades and risen to Left Provincial Governor, the letter's contents struck him as utterly baseless slander.
Not just because the man had handed over all the credit.
"You live long enough, you see it all. Who demands a reward like that?"
More than that, the reward the man had requested at the end was so peculiar that they couldn't possibly seem like a treasonous bunch.
* * *
A few days later.
As Il-mok returned to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult branch after handling some matter related to the Left Provincial Governor, a letter arrived.
[Found the rat's head.]
It was from his third senior brother, Seo Wan-pyeong.