Subduing Them
Here they were. The rapist bastards.
The moment they actually showed up, a thrill shot through me.
It felt worth it, not being able to eat a proper dinner or get a proper night’s sleep.
Yeah. Better that they came than not. Anything was better than sitting around uneasy, wondering if they’d show up at all.
The problem was that the lecher I’d thought was one man was actually two.
Clearly, it had been both of them who’d walked through the door.
I hadn’t seen that coming. That was a headache.
Still, it couldn’t be helped. I’d have to take them both down.
Fortunately, my internal energy was nothing to brag about, but as the lustful scum drew closer, I could still roughly gauge their level.
About the same as the master of Taegajae. So, first-class.
I could do this, right? Yeah, it’d be fine. I should worry more about them running than about myself.
So I kept pretending to be asleep and waited for the right moment.
“Is she really asleep?”
“Out like a light. What, this your first time doing this?”
“Heh. No. Anyway, damn. Look at those tits. And that face.”
“Been a while since we found one this good. What should we do? Take this bitch with us and enjoy her for a long time?”
“Forget it. If we get caught doing that, both you and me are gonna get our heads chopped off right away.”
“Fair enough. So, should we have a little taste first? Heh heh.”
The instant one of them reached for my clothes, I grabbed his arm.
“Aaaagh!”
He screamed, the pain of my grip crushing down on his arm like it was about to snap.
Then I sat up at once, seized the other man by the collar, and slammed him face-first into the wooden floor.
“You bitch!”
The one I’d caught by the arm shouted that as he pulled a short dagger from his belt and swung it at me.
But I kept hold of his arm and simply raised it to block the blade.
The dagger struck my body, but with a sharp clang, it bounced away instead.
The man gaped in shock, and I used the one by the collar to haul him up and smash the two of their heads together.
CRACK!
Oh no. That sounded dangerous. Their skulls hadn’t split open, had they?
Both men went limp, the one I’d grabbed by the arm and the one I’d caught by the collar alike, and it looked like neither of them was in any condition to brag about.
For the moment, I laid them both on the floor and checked to see if they were still breathing.
Ah. Good. They weren’t dead. They shouldn’t die. They had to pay for what they’d done.
After staring down at the two men sprawled helplessly on the floor, I tore up the bedding, twisted it into ropes, and tied their arms and legs together.
No matter how much martial arts they’d learned, they weren’t getting out of that.
If I’m being honest, I wanted to break their limbs, but now that I’d already subdued them, that would be too much.
Or I could crush their dantians, but I had no idea how to do that.
For a moment I even thought, Should I learn how this works while I have the chance? But no. I’d better hold back.
Either way, these bastards were going to be dragged off and never escape punishment.
Even if they survived, there was no way they’d be walking around fine anytime soon.
Originally, I’d thought that after catching a lecher, if he had valuables on him, I might just arrange a proper transfer of ownership.
But once I actually caught them, even that sounded like a pain. All I wanted now was to get rid of them as fast as possible.
So I grabbed one of their feet each and dragged them out of the room.
The two men scraped along behind me.
Then, as I descended the stairs, their heads went thunk, thunk, thunk against the steps.
Maybe because of all that noise, the people resting in other rooms came out, and those drinking downstairs in the tavern turned to stare at me.
And those people got startled twice.
Once when they saw me. And again when they saw the two lustful scum I was dragging behind me.
By the time I reached the first floor, I had the eyes of the whole room on me.
People were whispering. People were pointing in my direction and murmuring to each other.
“Does anyone know where the Ma Pyeong Escort Agency is staying?” I asked.
At that, the room buzzed louder, and then one man called out, “Who are those guys?”
“Lechers who’ve been running around committing shameless acts in this area,” I said.
The murmur swelled again, and the same man shouted once more, “Wait—why are you looking for the Ma Pyeong Escort Agency!? What do they have to do with this?”
“I want to hand these men over to the proper authorities, but I don’t know the right place to take them.”
Normally, I’d want to hand them over to the local magistrate’s office, but these were men who had learned martial arts.
So they had to be entrusted to the hands of martial artists, not the civil authorities. Only then would they receive proper punishment.
“In that case, take them to Chaeryong Gate! This area falls under Chaeryong Gate’s jurisdiction, so it’s better to bring them to us! No, wait—better yet, I’ll send someone to Chaeryong Gate! Hey! You, hurry to Chaeryong Gate and tell them the lechers have been caught!”
“Huh? Me? I mean… why….”
“You little punk! If I tell you to go, then go already!”
Since I wasn’t wearing a veil, the people were truly very kind.
Not only were they going to call someone for me, but they were doing it on their own. How thoughtful.
Meanwhile, the two scum gradually woke up one after another, and the moment they realized their situation, their faces went pale.
They darted their eyes around desperately, but with their hands and feet bound and their bodies in the middle of the tavern surrounded by people, they couldn’t even think about escaping.
And so they sat there looking utterly miserable.
Watching them made me feel a little sick. They’d probably loved it while they were causing trouble for everyone else all this time.
But now that they’d been caught, they were finally afraid? Ugh.
“I heard the lechers were caught, so I came!”
Not long after, three men in white martial uniforms entered the tavern.
One of them clearly had a far more impressive bearing than the others, with the remaining two only slightly below him.
I wasn’t exactly gifted in judging people, but however I looked at them, they seemed to be at least at the Peak level.
Was that because they were orthodox sect members? They were on a completely different level from the people I’d seen so far. Even from that whatever-his-name-was guy.
“Ahem. So this is the young lady who caught the lechers? It’s an honor to meet you like this! I am Chaeryong Gate’s second-rank disciple, Chae Jeongmyeong.”
I had no idea what was so honorable about it, but the man, who looked to be in his mid-twenties, struck a rather dashing pose and greeted me as if trying to leave a good impression.
“Nice to meet you, Young Hero. However, I can’t reveal my name for personal reasons. Still, these men are definitely lechers, so please take care of them properly.”
“Of course! If you say there are personal reasons, then it would be rude to ask further! Understood! We’ll take custody of them here at Chaeryong Gate.”
With that, he gestured, and the two men behind him stepped forward to seize the lechers one by one.
Well, if it had come to this, they’d handle the rest themselves.
I’d handed them over, so their fate was now Chaeryong Gate’s problem.
It had nothing to do with me.
“Then I’ll leave them in your care.”
I gave a small nod and was about to head back upstairs when Chae Jeongmyeong hurriedly spoke again.
“Ah! Young lady! There’s a bounty on these lechers!”
“A bounty?”
“Yes. They were so difficult to catch that they’ve caused a great deal of damage. So the reward on their heads is quite substantial.”
“Where should I collect it?”
“We’re paying it out here at Chaeryong Gate. Please come with us. We’ll give it to you right away.”
“It would be rude to show up at this hour of the night. I’ll come by after dawn.”
“That would be fine, but… are you sure? If you stay here tonight….”
He trailed off, but I could tell exactly what he meant.
Now that I’d shown my face, he was worried that after he left, a second group of lechers might show up.
Hmm. Should I call that considerate, or just excessive worry?
But I had no intention of trotting off to Chaeryong Gate with him just because he asked.
They were an orthodox sect near Kaifeng, so they probably wouldn’t do anything sordid, but that didn’t mean I wanted to follow them so readily either.
“Everyone already knows I’m staying here, and everyone knows this place falls under Chaeryong Gate’s jurisdiction. Surely nothing else will happen, will it? Wouldn’t you agree, Young Hero Chae?”
So I turned him down as politely as I could.
That way, Chaeryong Gate would at least be unable to stand by and watch if anything like this happened in the tavern again.
After all, it had already been their responsibility that lechers had been allowed to run wild here in the first place. And now that the lechers had been caught, if something like this happened again?
Then, well, their reputation would hit the floor.
“Hmm. If you put it that way, I can’t argue with you. Very well. Then please visit us once morning comes.”
“All right.”
Chae Jeongmyeong bowed again and then walked over to the tavern master, saying a few words to him.
He was probably telling him to be especially careful and make absolutely sure nothing untoward happened.
The tavern master’s cowering made that plain enough. I didn’t even need to see the words to know.
Maybe that was why, after Chae Jeongmyeong left, the tavern master hurried over to me, bowing and scraping all the way, and in the end moved me into the best room in the tavern.
He even said he would make absolutely sure nothing happened and that I should sleep soundly tonight.
So Chaeryong Gate really did have some serious influence. Seeing them go this far made that obvious.
“Ah. In that case, could you take care of this for me?”
As I shifted the things in the room and held out the pouch I’d used to store the food, the tavern master kept bowing and said he’d even prepare fresh food for me at this hour of night.
I considered refusing, but my stomach was empty from skipping dinner, so I told him to go ahead, and in the end I stuffed myself late into the night before finally sleeping peacefully.
The next morning.
After waking at my leisure, I left the tavern and headed to Chaeryong Gate.
Seeing it in person, Chaeryong Gate was larger than I’d expected.
Was that because it was near Kaifeng, a place with daily traffic? Or because this was a powerful orthodox sect?
Once I went inside, I found the treatment here was quite decent.
The outer hall master who received me in a neat reception room looked to be fairly well-trained in martial arts himself.
And then there was the pouch of silver he held out to me. More than I’d expected.
Just how much trouble had those lecherous bastards caused? If the bounty was this high, they must have really been a nasty lot.
Anyway, now that I’d collected the bounty, I was done here.
Time to head to Kaifeng. I should be able to arrive without trouble by tonight.
“Ah, young lady.”
“Yes?”
“You said it would be difficult to tell us your name, so I won’t ask further. Still… if there’s anything you’re looking for, our Chaeryong Gate will roll up its sleeves and help.”
As soon as I heard that, I immediately understood what he was trying to say.
North Sea Ice Palace. It had to be that again.
At this point, I was genuinely curious. Just who the hell was wandering around out there that everyone kept mistaking me for a member of North Sea Ice Palace?
“No, thank you. I’m not refusing because I don’t want help—I’m saying I really can’t accept. I appreciate the sentiment, though.”
To make sure there was no misunderstanding, I firmly declined, and after the outer hall master said that if that was the case, there was nothing he could do, I finally left Chaeryong Gate.
Ugh. From now on, no matter how inconvenient it was, I’d never take off my bamboo hat and veil again.
If I kept this up, I was going to get tangled up in something ridiculous for no reason.