Chapter 28
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Debate
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28.
Debate.
Though many stories were being told, in the end, I was the victor.
And yet, though I was the winner
Standing before me were people more excited than I was.
Looks like a lot of people are eager for a taste of the battlefield.
I wore a look of disbelief.
Not as much as you, Great Young Lord.
Those kids who go looking for trouble
As I spoke, I realized I was talking about myself and shut my mouth.
Does it sting, now that you think about it, Great Young Lord?
At the Black Tigers words, I instinctively closed my mouth.
Unlike a certain drunkard, the Black Tiger was a man who never touched alcohol from the start.
Perhaps that was why.
He was simply well-spoken.
At this rate, a war of words with him was a guaranteed loss.
Anyway.
Three people came into my view at once.
First was Donghwi. It seemed my nagging at my uncle had paid off. Donghwi wore a displeased expression, but it appeared he had agreed to participate under my uncle's duress.
That only happened because I couldnt use my internal energy. Next time, I will definitely!
Yes, yes. Im sure you will.
Tuning him out, I shook my head and turned to the next person. An unexpected face.
Are you fully recovered?
The young man who spoke cautiously was Kang Umun of the Kangwoo Martial Hall.
Weren't you the one who resented me?
The ties between people are truly strange. I have judged that the path the Great Young Lord walks is the true path, one that will be paved with flowers.
Right, a path of flowers. He would walk it.
A blazing flower path, hotter than any other.
Well, now. Im not the one who told you to come, am I?
Of course. I am going because I wish to.
This is the first time Ive seen someone willingly join a path of hardship.
He went on about how he had learned a great deal from me and asked for my continued guidance.
I replied curtly that it would never happen. Of course, though my words were harsh, I wasn't displeased.
If he hadn't come to me himself before we left for the battlefield, I had planned to bring him along anyway. Judging by his character and his effort, I believed he had plenty of potential for growth.
The coming storm would be too much for me to handle alone. The road ahead might truly be one paved with hardship.
It was my duty to cherish the connections I made, establish relationships, and gain the strength to overcome that difficult path.
If Kang Umun was one of those people, I felt I could be inwardly reassured.
Meanwhile.
I, too, shall join you. On that journey.
I thought he would be the last of such foolish people, but there was another.
Why are you going, Uncle?
The drunkard declared his intention to participate.
Am I not your guardian?
That is not a convincing reason at all.
Think of me what you will, but those Green Forest beggars will get weak in the knees at the mere mention of my name.
I covered my face as he puffed out his chest.
Who was it that said it?
Men don't mature. They just get older.
Were they perhaps talking about my uncle?
In any case, judging by his determination, it seemed words wouldn't persuade him. As Paeng Gak had said, like uncle, like nephew. Our stubbornness would be the same.
Setting that aside. There is something I need you to do, Uncle.
What is it?
I wiped the smile from my face and looked my uncle in the eye. As my smile faded and my gaze grew calm, my uncle also met my eyes with a serious expression.
If we go as we are, we will all be slaughtered.
At those words, my uncles expression hardened, his silence a wordless affirmation. He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again, repeating this several times before finally speaking.
A stray blade can wound anyone.
No.
It won't end with just a wound.
The Namgung Byeok of my past life had spent most of his life in the military, and as such, he had experience dealing with the Red Turban rebels, Japanese pirates, foreign tribes, and the Green Forest.
The Red Turban rebels were experts among experts, knowing how to persistently harass the Great Ming with human wave tactics while also knowing how to attack key locations.
The Japanese pirates and foreign tribes were also constantly looking for opportunities, masters at spreading various poisons, burning food supplies, and slowly starving people out.
It was true that they were all difficult to deal with, but I considered others to be even more troublesome.
Unlike the aforementioned groups, the Green Forest, the River Fortresses, and the Great Desert clans did not directly clash with the military. That was why, even in my past life, the martial world was sent to deal with them, and the military rarely intervened directly.
Each one of them was highly skilled in martial arts, cruel, and would not hesitate to jump into a pit of fire for profit. They were, in a word, a bunch of madmen.
Not all of them were that strong, but the mountain bandits knew the mountains like the back of their hands and were experts in the terrain and geography. Thanks to that, when I was dispatched from the military in my past life, I had a great deal of trouble and had to endure much hardship.
You know theyre not just some common thugs.
The commonly known members of the Green Forest plunder wealth, threaten commoners with kidnapping, and live day by day on what they take.
The Seventy-Two Fortresses of the Green Forest, the Yangtze River Water Fortresses, and the masters of the Great Desert are dangerous men.
But the Vile of the Mountains of the Seventy-Two Fortresses were from a different world entirely.
Therefore, to stay alive, we have no choice but to improve our own skills.
A mere month is nowhere near enough. What good will that do?
I shook my head. Of course, dramatically increasing ones martial arts proficiency in just a month was impossible.
But.
Tension. A sense of reality that allows one to survive in those critical, split-second moments. We must make them feel that. On the battlefield, it is not one's level of martial arts, but one's ability to quickly accept that reality that determines survival.
Honing one's combat senses.
That was what mattered most.
Do you plan to visit the First Elder during that time?
Yes. I must.
Very well. Then let us meet in a month.
Promising to see him in a month, I turned and left.
Second Elder, surely there was no need to praise him as the winner. Young Lord Gal is already suffering the bitter sting of defeat.
That's right. Why did you have to step in and disrupt the stage the Fourth Elder had set?
The Third Elder, Namgung Hwamin, and the Fifth Elder, Namgung Deok, looked utterly bewildered. They were inwardly anxious about the reputation the Great Young Lord would gain from the title and potential he showed as the winner of the Sword Branch Assembly.
A notice proclaiming Namgung Ban as the winner of the Sword Branch Assembly, that he had been given fitting treatment, and that he had received a worthy reward, would be posted all over Anhui Province.
A good-for-nothing who shouldn't have even dared to dream of competing for the family headship was now emerging as a formidable candidate. It was a headache one way or another.
When they should have been tearing him down like the Fourth Elder, Namgung Gun, he had instead been praised. The two elders, finding the Second Elder's actions hard to understand, wanted an explanation.
Second Elder, don't just sit there in silence. Say something.
We need to understand whats going on, dont we?
At the two elders' pestering, the Second Elder, Namgung Bon, gave a faint smile.
It was quite a meaningful time.
The two elders staring at the smiling Second Elder grew increasingly frustrated.
Are you trying to suffocate us like this?
Its stifling to see you act so out of character.
Just as rice needs time to steam, when the two elders' patience reached its limit, the Second Elder, having organized his thoughts, held up three fingers.
First, there were three perspectives to consider in this assembly.
Three perspectives?
You mean there were three?
Indeed.
Holding up only his index finger, the Second Elder smiled faintly.
First is the matter of the lords whom the elders support.
Hmph.
For a moment, the Third Elder Namgung Hwamin and the Fifth Elder Namgung Deok clamped their mouths shut. As the Second Elder had said, the unwavering, unchanging support they had given their favored lords for so long had been shattered.
It seems not only the Tenth Elder, Namgung Ho, but also the Ninth Elder, Namgung Su, are wavering. A faction to support the Great Young Lord will likely form soon.
Do you think it will proceed so easily?
If that were all, it would not. But.
The Second Elder, Namgung Bon, let out a light sigh.
The First Elder, Namgung Yeoul.
At the four-syllable name, the expressions of the Third and Fifth Elders hardened. The name of someone they had not kept in their minds, someone they had not wanted to keep in their minds, had just flowed from the Second Elder Namgung Bons lips.
He has taken up his sword again.
I thought he would support no one.
What on earth is the reason? To support the Great Young Lord now, of all times!
The Fifth Elder, Namgung Deok, burst out in frustration.
But the First Elder has no power base, and the Ninth and Tenth Elders are only just beginning to establish themselves. The familys support is already divided between us and the Third Young Lords faction. Can they really form a faction now?
In contrast to the Fifth Elder's outburst, the Third Elder, Namgung Hwamin, raised a question based on a cool-headed analysis. The Second Elder, Namgung Bon, nodded at his words and twisted his lips into a smile.
They will. Because they have a focal point.
A focal point? Are you talking about the Great Young Lord?
At the Fifth Elder Namgung Deok's words, the Second Elder Namgung Bon shook his head.
The existence of An Baek, the Iron-Blood Sword Saint. That is the second perspective. Depending on how he centers them, the Great Young Lords supporters will also find stability.
Thinking on it, the minds of the Third and Fifth Elders grew complicated.
With the support of the Iron-Blood Sword Saint, as well as the First, Ninth, and Tenth Elders, thats already a decent faction forming, isnt it?
Indeed. Why would such a faction form so quickly around a good-for-nothing.
At the two elders' words, the Second Elder shook his head.
The most important thing is the third perspective.
Is there something more important than those? A third, you say?
That's right. It is the Family Head's thoughts on the Great Young Lord.
The Family Head, you say?
Are you worried the Family Head might be opening his heart to the Great Young Lord?
The Family Head has never once opened his heart to any of the young lords. But for the first time, he has responded to the Great Young Lord's thoughts and taken action.
Thats surely also due to the pressure from the Imperial family
What does the Imperial familys talk matter? The Embroidered Guard? That is just talk from an Imperial family that has yet to secure its position. If they had the power, would they not have acted long ago?
At those words, the Third and Fifth Elders nodded in agreement.
So, we are now certain. About the path we must take. Think carefully. That is, if you don't want to be left out in the cold.
As he spoke, the Second Elder Namgung Bon's expression turned chilling.
Send word to the Fourth Elder's side. And also to the Eighth Elder.
The Fourth Elder's faction supported the Third Young Lord, Namgung Gal.
The Eighth Elder's faction was the only one that had supported the Fourth Young Lord, Namgung Gyeon.
Ah, I understand.
As the Fifth Elder, Namgung Deok, scrambled to his feet, the Third Elder, Namgung Hwamin, looked at the Second Elder.
But is the fact that the Family Head has opened his heart to the Great Young Lord because of the elixir offered as a reward? The other young lords have already offered plenty of elixirs
The Second Elder, Namgung Bon, lifted his head and looked at the two elders. A chilling, almost ghostly energy seemed to emanate from him.
He took the Heavenly Thunder Pill.
The Hea-Heavenly Thunder Pill!?
D-Didn't you say it was a suitable elixir?
The Fifth Elder, Namgung Deok, who had been about to leave, and the Third Elder, Namgung Hwamin, who had asked the question, froze as if turned to ice.
The Heavenly Thunder Pill.
Why the Namgung Family's greatest elixir?