Never Let Your Guard Down (4)
I asked my bodyguards,
"Does anyone here think we shouldn't kill these pirates?"
They answered without hesitation.
"Not a chance. I'm not merciful enough to spare villains like them."
"These are the bastards who slice open pregnant women's bellies to divine the baby's gender. We can't let scum like that live."
"They cut off children's wrists to make talismans. What more needs to be said?"
I nodded.
"You're all thinking the same as me."
With that, I charged back at the pirates, slashing and cutting them down.
My bodyguards, not to be outdone, swung their swords furiously, felling pirates left and right.
There were quite a few of them, but it was a fight we could never lose.
We had three peak experts and one super first-rate warrior, after all.
Plus, many of them were drunk.
Some had realized they couldn't beat us and hidden away.
But we ignored them.
The captain was the priority.
He tried to use his men as shields, but it didn't work out.
As I closed in, the wind dispersed the effects of the Soul-enslaving Incense, and his subordinates ignored his orders, fleeing instead.
I stood before him and asked,
"How does it feel to be abandoned by your own men?"
"D-Damn it! What sorcery is this?!"
I scoffed and shot back,
"Sorcery? You're the ones using sorcery. But that's over now!"
Slash!
My sword severed one of his hands.
The reason this pirate crew was called the Blood Claw Pirates was because their captain wielded iron claws.
And those claws were always stained with blood.
But my strike had just rendered one claw useless.
"Arghhh!"
He screamed in agony and tried to flee. But there was nowhere to run on a ship.
I pursued him leisurely, inflicting wounds bit by bit.
I could have taken his head in one strike if I wanted, but I held back on purpose.
He needed to feel even a fraction of the pain he'd inflicted on others through the Soul-enslaving Incense.
Someone might call me cruel for this, but true cruelty was something else.
Making innocent people shed bloody tears—that was real cruelty.
It didn't just destroy them; it ruined the lives of everyone around them too.
And I'm not some saintly paragon of justice.
That's why I could do this without hesitation.
About an incense stick's worth of time into this deadly game of tag,
both his arms were gone.
Which meant he no longer had his iron claws.
I'd learned from fighting a guy who used them before.
Destroy the claws first, and they were defenseless.
Exhausted, he soon collapsed.
"Huff... huff... P-Please, stop!"
"Did you stop when others begged like that?"
"......"
"Karma's the word for times like this, right?"
That was when it happened.
"Damn you! Die!"
The captain lashed out with a kick.
A sharp blade protruded from the tip of his shoe.
"Knew you'd try that."
I dodged casually and swung my sword, slicing off his leg as well.
"Gaaahhh!"
I gazed at him coldly as he wailed in pain.
"D-Damn it! Why go this far?! What did we do wrong?!"
"Plenty. Too much to list without wearing out my mouth."
I continued,
"But the biggest mistake? Messing with the Lesser Peace Wine we prepared so carefully for the King of Dai Viet."
"......"
"Time to wrap this up."
Whoosh!
I raised my sword and swung the Silver Mist Sword toward his neck.
Slice!
But it wasn't his neck I targeted—it was the Soul-enslaving Incense necklace around it.
The incense split in two,
thud, thud.
The red glow faded as it hit the deck.
Crush!
It crumbled to powder and scattered on the sea breeze.
Watching this, the captain screamed in despair.
"Nooo! My Soul-enslaving Incense! My treasure! Aaaargh!"
Apparently, losing the incense hurt more than losing his limbs.
With this, the evil artifact that would later fall into a black path practitioner's hands—making countless people weep blood and driving them to death—was gone forever.
First objective complete.
Encountering the Soul-enslaving Incense sooner than expected might have been heaven's will, urging me to destroy it.
"Time to pull back."
At my words, my bodyguards swiftly gathered around me.
"We leaving now, young master?"
"Yeah."
Plenty of pirates were still alive, but it didn't matter.
And the golden spirit had slipped back into my sleeve.
Job done.
I looked down at the collapsed captain.
"Well, we're off."
And with that, we leaped from the ship.
Four unidentified warriors had torn through the ship and vanished.
No one knew why they'd left so suddenly, but it was a blessing for the survivors.
"Arghhh!"
Jeon Jung, still clinging to life, shouted at his men.
"Booze! Get me booze! Urgh!"
To numb the pain, he demanded alcohol from his subordinates.
"Captain. That Soul-enslaving Incense is gone?"
"Yeah! That bastard destroyed it!"
"So you can't force us to serve you anymore?"
"......"
The voice sounded chillingly cold.
Jeon Jung realized he'd messed up.
He wasn't that strong, but the Soul-enslaving Incense had let him dominate the Blood Claw Pirates and rule as captain.
Without it, his fate was sealed.
Especially now, with both arms and legs severed!
Thwack!
A fist smashed into his face.
A foot slammed into his side.
"Guh! You fucking bastards! What the hell?!"
"We've put up with a lot from you."
"So shut up and take it."
"Heh heh heh."
The pirates didn't bother collecting their dead comrades' bodies.
They were too busy mocking their former captain, who wasn't even that skilled.
Pent-up resentment exploded.
And their natures weren't exactly virtuous either.
Amid the jeers and violence, Jeon Jung wanted to bite his tongue, but he couldn't even do that.
The pirates had punched out his teeth.
In the mockery, he suddenly realized: this was exactly what they'd done to the crews of captured ships.
Eun Seo-ho's words echoed in his mind.
"Did you stop when others begged like that? Karma's the word for times like this, right?"
In the end, he squeezed his eyes shut.
Thwip thwip thwip!
Arrows suddenly riddled the pirate ship.
"What? What's that?!"
The subordinates, venting their rage by tormenting him, were startled by the incoming arrows.
But the surprise didn't end there.
Following them were fire arrows.
Thwip thwip thwip thwip!
The fire arrows embedded everywhere, igniting the ship.
"D-Damn it!"
"Fire! Fire!"
"Put it out!"
They scrambled to extinguish the flames, but it was futile.
Thwip thwip thwip!
"Argh!"
"D-Dodge!"
More arrows flew, disrupting their efforts.
Soon, the fire blazed uncontrollably, devouring the ship.
And the spilled liquor everywhere—high-proof firewine—fueled the inferno.
Realizing the ship was doomed, the pirates remembered one thing before fleeing.
"W-Wait, there's gold goblets in the captain's cabin!"
"Gasp!"
"Gotta grab those at least!"
They rushed toward the cabin.
But the narrow door caused a jam, packing the room tight.
Those inside found nothing left, but the crush prevented escape.
Jumping into the sea quickly might have given them a chance, but greed sealed their doom.
Whoosh!
Flames reached the cabin.
"Aaaargh!"
"Hot! Too hot!"
"Save us! Please, save us!"
Jeon Jung could only laugh bitterly at his men's desperate cries.
Now he understood why those attackers had vanished—and why they hadn't killed him outright.
'To make me suffer more.'
He wore a bitter expression.
Why had they touched the Eunhae Merchant Group's goods?
He could have lived lavishly otherwise.
Roar!
The flames closed in, and the liquor they'd doused him with caught fire instantly.
"Gaaaaah!"
Unable to end it himself, he burned alive, regretting his past.
But it was too late.
I watched the Blood Claw Pirates' ship blaze.
We'd jumped down to a boat prepared by waiting bodyguards below.
As soon as we reached shore, the archer unit commander approached.
"We've been waiting."
"Waiting here means you can hit that ship from this range?"
"Of course."
"First real combat. Nervous?"
"Not at all."
"Then, if you please."
He immediately ordered his archers, dividing into three teams to loose arrows.
Oil-filled arrows.
Incendiary arrows.
Arrows to harass firefighters.
And that was the result.
The Blood Claw Pirates were annihilated.
So why touch our Eunhae Merchant Group's goods?
......
Only after confirming the ship sank completely with no survivors did we return to the inn.
"Seo-ho!"
Jeong Ho hyung rushed out.
"What happened? The gold goblets vanished from the warehouse, and you took the Silver Wind Archers?!"
"Ah... about that?"
I grinned.
"Turns out the Blood Claw Pirates stole the Lesser Peace Wine. So I wiped them out."
"What?"
Strictly speaking, most died by my hand or burned, but close enough.
I hadn't told Jeong Ho hyung to spare him worry—not to dismiss him.
"Since we recovered what they stole, we can head to the Nanking Provincial Military Command together."
A moment later.
After freshening up, Jeong Ho hyung and I went to the Provincial Military Command.
"I'd like to see the Gaksa Oerang Lord."
At my request, his attendant went in, then returned.
"He says to enter."
We headed to the lord's quarters.
"Eun Jeong-ho, branch leader, and Eun Seo-ho, vice leader, have arrived."
"Come in."
The door opened, and we entered.
"Greetings, my lord."
"This'll take a while. Sit comfortably."
"Thank you."
We paid respects and sat. The Gaksa Oerang Lord sat too and spoke.
"I heard the gifts for the Dai Viet King were stolen."
"Yes, that's right."
"So you're planning to replace them with gold goblets you bought separately? Don't you know that dilutes the meaning? Even for the empire..."
He poured out concerns with a worried face.
"Pardon the interruption, but that's already resolved."
"What?"
"The idea of using gold goblets instead was a smokescreen."
"A smokescreen?"
He tilted his head.
"We learned the Blood Claw Pirates operating nearby stole it. So we went and recovered everything."
"W-Wait!"
He held up a hand to stop me.
"Blood Claw Pirates? Aren't they infamous around here?"
"So I'm told."
"How did you recover it?"
I explained the whole story.
"......And that's how we wiped them all out."
He gaped as I finished.
"I-Is that true?"
"Yes."
I continued,
"They nearly ruined our Eunhae Merchant Group's hard work. They're pests gnawing at the empire, threats to trade. We judged them too dangerous to leave alone and acted decisively."
"......"
Speechless, he cleared his throat awkwardly.
"Ahem, well, good thing it's sorted. You did well."
"No, just doing what needed doing."
I bowed and added,
"One request, though."
"What is it?"
"Please spread word of this success—exaggerate if you must."
It'd warn other pirates.
......
Jeong Ho hyung and I returned to the inn.
And I endured a long scolding from him.
"That was insanely reckless!"
"Had no choice."
"I get that, but... sigh."
Hyung sighed deeply, then smiled.
"You did good."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I'd be hurt if you thought otherwise."
"Totally would have been."
He ruffled my hair.
"I won't complain about the heroics, but don't get hurt, okay?"
"No worries."
"And thanks. We avoided responsibility because of you."
Responsibility.
Yeah, that's why I'd stepped in personally.
Now, time to my room.
Need to give the gold goblet promised to the golden spirit.
She collected not just the wine and goblets, but all the gold, silver, treasures, and valuables on the ship—no loss at all.
She'll love it.