Chapter 84
Chapter 84
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 84
Chapter Title: Tournament End
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“What? What's going on? Why is the Nangong family head suddenly heading to the arena?”
“Well, he's probably here to apologize for everything that's happened.”
Concentrated gazes from the crowd.
A murmur that could hardly be called a good atmosphere.
But the Nangong family head climbed onto the arena without the slightest hint of intimidation and shouted in a loud voice.
“People of Hebi! And warriors of the martial world! I am Nangong Seon-u, head of the Nangong Clan!”
The exposé began with the Nangong family head's self-introduction.
“For some time now, countless people of Hebi have fallen into poverty due to the repeated failures of our escort missions. And I am well aware that this is undoubtedly the fault of our Nangong Clan.”
The crowd's faces twisted into expressions of "I knew it."
Geez, he's so hot-headed.
You have to hear people out to the end.
“But! The reason I stand here now is not merely to apologize for past wrongs! It is to reveal that the escort failures over the past year were the result of someone's malice!”
“Someone's malice? What do you mean?”
Just then, an apt question erupted from the audience.
Hearing this, the Nangong family head publicly revealed everything he had investigated.
The Nangong Escort Agency's caravans being ambushed.
The fire that broke out in the Nangong armory.
The assassination of the clan's chief steward.
The Nangong family head explained that all of it had been done to weaken the Nangong Clan's power, then yanked off the hood of Jo Woon-chil standing beside him.
Someone recognized the sly goat-bearded face and shouted loudly.
“T-That guy's Jo Woon-chil, isn't he? I heard he died in that bloody gambling den incident...!”
Jo Woon-chil, his face exposed before everyone, had gone deathly pale, likely from fear of what was to come.
I sidled up to the bastard and gave him a subtle glance, and he swallowed hard before opening his mouth.
“I-I am Jo Woon-chil. I r-run a gambling den in northern Hebi...”
He stammered out his situation in a trembling voice.
Jo Woon-chil confessed everything: stealing escort information from the Nangong Escort Agency, and trying to plunder the armory's goods under the cover of the fire.
Finally, he uttered the name of the organization behind it all.
“T-This was all on the orders of Heavenly Light Corps Leader Sagong Chan of Tyrant Heaven Fortress!”
The crowd's murmurs grew louder at Jo Woon-chil's revelation.
“Tyrant Heaven Fortress...!”
“I-I had no idea, and I even thanked them for patrolling the streets...!”
Some vented their rage at having been duped by Tyrant Heaven Fortress's schemes, but others did not.
“Lies! Jo Woon-chil is infamous even in Hebi as a villain! How can you believe a scum like him!?”
The atmosphere flipped again at the voice revealing animosity toward Jo Woon-chil.
In response, the Nangong family head pulled a letter and ledger from his bosom.
They were the letter from Tyrant Heaven Fortress's great steward Jinmu-gun that I had fetched from Ji-hyun's room, and the falsified land registry.
“Here is the proof! A letter from Tyrant Heaven Fortress's great steward Jinmu-gun to Hebi's Magistrate Ji-hyun, asking him to help bring down the Nangong Clan, and the falsified land registry created by Ji-hyun in agreement!”
“It's fake—!”
A sharp voice rang out from behind.
Turning my head, I saw Ji-hyun, pale as a ghost, pointing wildly at us.
“It's all lies! All of it is nonsense made up by those bastards! How dare you slander a servant of His Imperial Majesty! What are you waiting for? Kill them right now!”
Not just arrest them, but kill them?
It was clear he intended to shut mouths first and think later.
At Ji-hyun's command, soldiers shuffled toward us uncertainly.
They were following orders, but their demeanor screamed doubt.
Ji-hyun berated the soldiers even louder at their hesitation.
“What are you doing? Kill them now!”
I smirked at the pathetic display.
Under normal circumstances, he might have muddled through with such bluster.
But things were different now.
Ji-hyun seemed to have forgotten it himself since earlier, but the highest authority here was not him.
“Stop!”
A heavy shout.
It was a voice carrying not the pressure of inner energy, but the dignity of a ruler.
No one could mistake the owner of that voice, and Ji-hyun's face instantly turned ashen.
“R-Regional Intendant...!”
Hebi's Magistrate Ji-hyun spun around, trembling, and upon facing the Regional Intendant's terrifying glare, collapsed to the ground.
The Regional Intendant approached the cowering Ji-hyun like Yama judging a guilty beast and demanded.
“Is what I just heard true?”
“N-No, no, it's not. Absolutely not. These ruffians, no better than street thugs, are trying to s-slander me...!”
Ji-hyun stammered excuses, shaking like a leaf.
The Regional Intendant ignored him, stepped forward to the platform, and looked down at us.
“If what was just said is false as the magistrate claims, then this is the grave crime of slandering a servant of His Imperial Majesty, warranting the extermination of your clans. Will you still insist on the magistrate's corruption?”
I was slightly startled by the subtle pressure emanating from the Regional Intendant as I gazed at him.
By my senses, he clearly had no martial arts cultivation.
Yet to feel intimidated by such a man?
Was it just instinctive deference to the ruler of the prefecture?
For a moment, I wondered if I was always this weak in the face of power, then shook my head to snap out of it.
What am I thinking? Get it together.
Ignoring the odd tickle in my mind, I refocused on reality, and the resolute voice of the Nangong family head rang out.
“Of course. What I hold here is irrefutable proof of the magistrate's corruption.”
“...Bring it to me.”
The Regional Intendant, silent for a moment at the Nangong family head's words, ordered the letter and falsified land registry brought to him.
Hebi's Magistrate Ji-hyun grew frantic.
“W-Why bother with crude forgeries made by martial riffraff? It's beneath the Regional Intendant's notice—!”
“Silence, Magistrate.”
“R-Regional Intendant?”
“Did you think I was blind and deaf just because I said nothing? Word of your villainy in Hebi has already reached my ears.”
“...!”
Ji-hyun's eyes widened as if they might tear.
The Regional Intendant glared at him fiercely for a moment, then took the letter and land registry from the soldiers and examined them.
His face grew even more terrifying as he looked up and jabbed a finger at Ji-hyun.
“Drag this criminal away and imprison him immediately!”
“R-Regional Intendant!”
At the command of the prefecture's supreme authority, the soldiers hauled Ji-hyun away without hesitation.
“I-I'm innocent! I'm innocent! Regional Intendant, Regional Intendaaant—!”
Even as he was mercilessly dragged off, Ji-hyun kept screaming his innocence.
He looked exactly like a pig being led to slaughter.
The Regional Intendant watched his retreating figure with a gaze laced with fury, then descended the platform and approached us.
“Regional Intendant.”
The Nangong family head bowed respectfully to him.
I, standing beside, bowed awkwardly as well.
The Regional Intendant silently regarded us, then passed by to stand before the audience.
As the prefecture's king appeared before them, not a soul dared speak.
The tournament grounds fell into utter silence.
The Regional Intendant's heavy voice shattered it.
“...Upon my personal confirmation, the Nangong family head's claim that Tyrant Heaven Fortress sent a letter urging cooperation in the Nangong Clan's downfall is true.”
“G-Good heavens...!”
One spectator gasped in shock and hurriedly covered their mouth.
Ignoring it, the Regional Intendant continued.
“I will lodge a direct protest with Tyrant Heaven Fortress over this. Furthermore, I hereby suspend Hebi Magistrate Gu Man-deok from duty for his outrages, including extorting bribes from merchants, and appoint the Assistant Magistrate to temporarily assume his role.”
It was a declaration as refreshing as a decade of pent-up resentment dissolving.
Honestly, I'd been uneasy, but as the Nangong family head said, the Regional Intendant seemed a different breed from that pig Ji-hyun.
“With this, the tournament is concluded!”
Everything had gone according to plan, and with the Regional Intendant's declaration, the tournament came to an end.
It was the Nangong Clan's victory.
*
Though the tournament ended in our victory, we couldn't immerse ourselves in cheers of joy just yet.
The Regional Intendant had summoned us immediately to his office.
In the council chamber I was entering again after half a month, the Regional Intendant sat in the seat previously occupied by Ji-hyun.
“Sit.”
A curt word carrying no discernible emotion.
We offered slight bows and took seats on either side, and the discussion began.
“Now, then. Tell me in detail what happened.”
“Yes.”
At the Regional Intendant's request, the Nangong family head explained everything as the representative.
His face twisted in displeasure upon hearing the full story.
“Tyrant Heaven Fortress has gone mad. They've forgotten their very reason for being. They're supposed to keep the martial world in check so it doesn't impoverish the common folk, yet here they are aiding in making the people suffer...!”
His fist trembled on the armrest, but realizing he wasn't alone, he cleared his throat lightly.
“Ahem... But why handle it this way? You could have informed me earlier for a swifter resolution.”
“Well...”
The Nangong family head made an awkward face, unable to say he'd suspected even him.
Fortunately, the Regional Intendant had no intention of rebuking him and moved straight to the next topic.