It's really becoming hard to bear...
It's really becoming hard to bear...
A woman wearing glasses bowed solemnly toward me.
Setting aside the question of whether glasses even existed in this era... (For the record, they didn't. The first eyeglasses were invented in 13th-century Italy.) I couldn't tear my gaze away from her.
I'd rushed here in a frenzy after learning of the Lü Boshe incident, but once I'd cooled down a little on the way, a figure had come to mind.
Chen Gong.
One of the strategists in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, he originally served Cao Cao, but after witnessing Cao Cao's cruelty firsthand—beginning with the Lü Boshe affair—he became disillusioned and ultimately joined forces with Lü Bu to turn against him.
After that, as the brains single-handedly propping up the otherwise purely martial Lü Bu faction, she'd shown considerable activity on both large and small scales,
and had even accomplished the feat of nearly killing Cao Cao himself.
However, Lü Bu's sheer simple-mindedness, emotional volatility, and overbearing pride had caused her no end of heartache, and when Lü Bu ultimately failed to follow her stratagems, her faction met its end in ruin.
In many ways, the words "ill-fated strategist" suited her, and she was a classic case of someone ruined by choosing the wrong master.
Put another way, if she'd only met the right lord, she could have achieved far greater things.
And in this moment right now,
receiving Chen Gong's greeting, I naturally couldn't help but salivate inwardly.
I still couldn't call it a bumper harvest, but after recruiting Xu Rong and Sun Jian, I'd reached the point of being able to make a living, at least as far as my roster of generals was concerned.
Huang Gai served as Sun Jian's deputy, and though they weren't making huge names for themselves just yet, semi-notable commanders like Han Dang and Cheng Pu had also followed Sun Jian in, so they were currently soldiers under my command.
But apart from having my general lineup more or less filled out, I still had no usable strategist.
I could rely on help from Dong Zhuo and her direct advisor Li Ru, but there were clear limits to that approach.
Even if my knowledge of the Original Timeline let me grasp the broad strokes, I'd been racking my brains over the details.
What's more, even that Original Timeline now diverged substantially from the present situation as a result of all sorts of distortions, so for the current me, a strategist who could analyze developments in real time and propose countermeasures had become an absolute necessity.
I'd pulled out every stop imaginable to recruit a strategist so far, but every single time I'd failed spectacularly without even managing to see their face.
Jia Xu? Every time I went looking, she'd been away in her hometown of Wuwei.
Xun You? Every time I heard she was here and went to find her, she was absent. When I finally managed to set a meeting, my side was the one that blew up.
Xun Yu hadn't even come up from Yan Province yet.
Zhuge Liang? Pang Tong? Sima Yi?
Those three were born in 181, 179, and 179, so by the calendar they hadn't even been born yet.
Well, now and then I'd seen people born earlier than their original dates, so it was possible they might have been born a few years early too... but I couldn't be certain.
At any rate, the first strategist I'd managed to meet properly face-to-face after all that hardship...
and a Tier-1 strategist like Chen Gong, no less, was an existence so precious to me that, in a word, not even ten thousand gold pieces would be too much to pay.
Someone I absolutely had to secure for the future.
With my expectations for the person before me undisguised, I carefully began to speak.
"You... are Chen Gong?"
"Yes, that is correct. Might you know of me, sir?"
"I've heard of you in brief. You're a person of outstanding resourcefulness and intellect, so they say."
"You flatter me. I am merely a scholar entrusted with a small county post—I lack the ability to warrant such words from General Yuan Shu."
Chen Gong spoke humbly.
Watching her, I stole a glance at Cao Cao seated beside me.
In the Original Timeline, Chen Gong had initially tried in earnest to serve Cao Cao, but in the end, enraged by his cruelty, he abandoned Cao Cao and chose Lü Bu.
In that respect, I thought that now, when circumstances had grown strange in multiple ways, was a golden opportunity to extend a hand to Chen Gong.
At present, Cao Cao still hadn't fully emerged from her turmoil, and on top of that, weighed down by guilt over stabbing me, she'd be forced to back down considerably for a while.
Once, when she'd accidentally scalded me a little while pouring tea, she'd gone into full doting mode for nearly a month after, so this was a verified truth.
Moreover, Chen Gong had probably glimpsed even a little of Cao Cao's cruel side—perhaps not to the level of the Original Timeline, but enough to have plenty on her mind.
In that subtle yet decisive moment that could slip by so easily, I feigned ignorance and made my proposal to Chen Gong.
"What do you say, Chen Gong? Meeting like this must be fate—won't you enter my service?"
"M-me, sir?"
"That's right. You've also helped my Sister Mengde, and above all, I'm currently gathering talents from across the realm for the great undertaking ahead. As it happens, I'm in need of a strategist to keep at my side, and having someone of your caliber assume the role would be most excellent."
"Ah!..."
My proposal, laced with a fitting pretext and a practical reason.
Whatever the situation might be later on,
at this point Cao Cao hadn't yet assembled what you could call a faction, so the story that I—her close younger brother and a general commanding an army—was repaying her debt of gratitude was a perfectly logical one.
Above all, as I observed, Cao Cao herself, the person directly involved, was showing no particular reaction, just as I'd anticipated.
At that moment, while I was inwardly feeling on edge and waiting for an answer,
Chen Gong, who'd maintained silence through a span of time that felt long yet short,
finally opened her mouth.
"... Though I am but of meager ability, if you, General, would take me in, I shall do my utmost. I will serve you, General, dedicating my very life."
'Hell yeah!!!!!'
Fortunately, Chen Gong came over smoothly without any major hardship like the Xu Rong situation.
Silently cheering in triumph, I clenched my fist where no one could see.
If I had my way, I'd leap up and dance on the spot.
But with so many eyes watching and my body in this state, I had to restrain myself for now if I didn't want to turn a minor injury into a major one.
Barely managing to suppress the cheer that was rising right up to my throat,
I looked at Chen Gong, who was bowing her head respectfully, and smiled deeply.
"Thank you! I look forward to working with you from now on, Chen Gong."
*
General Who Conquers the North, Yuan Shu.
Stories about him had reached Chen Gong's ears constantly from days past.
The dragon of the prestigious Yuan Clan.
The nation-saving hero who suppressed the Yellow Turbans.
And... a virtuous figure endowed with the benevolence to look after the common people.
Though one couldn't take rumors at face value, in a chaotic age such as the present, those who had earned such a name across the realm were rare, and Chen Gong had personally entertained the thought that she'd like to meet him at least once.
However, the long-awaited meeting with Yuan Shu was completely different from what she'd imagined.
And it had also come about in dramatic fashion.
Cao Cao, losing her reason while gripped by mortal terror.
The first deed Chen Gong witnessed of the man called Yuan Shu was...
throwing his own body forward to shield innocent people from that very Cao Cao's blade.
In a realm filled with corruption and chaos, she'd seen and heard of plenty of bastards who paid lip service to caring for the common people.
But the sight of a ruler who,
when a blade truly flew toward those same common people, blocked it with his own flesh and shed blood...
was something Chen Gong had never once seen in all her life.
'To throw himself forward without hesitation for common folk he'd never even met. This, truly... is this not the very image of a true sovereign that the sages spoke of?'
Chen Gong had originally considered Cao Cao a hero and meant to follow her.
But,
unlike Cao Cao, who had turned her blade on the people in an extreme situation,
the figure of the man who had, conversely, taken that blade with his body...
the figure of Yuan Shu,
had let Chen Gong decide with certainty who her real master ought to be.
And then, as if answering her expectations, Yuan Shu directly extended his hand toward Chen Gong.
Though she had been traveling with her, she hadn't yet formally declared that she would become Cao Cao's subordinate, and so
Chen Gong was able to bow her head and grasp his offered hand without a moment's hesitation.
In order to achieve the dream of a great undertaking
that she'd kept in her heart...
'To bring peace to the realm requires a righteous lord. If it's this man...'
*
Since such a major uproar had occurred, the group decided to stay the night.
The mood had soured a little, but Lü Boshe slaughtered a pig as planned and laid out a feast for them.
Yet while most of the people were laughing and enjoying the drink and meat, one person alone sat wearing a mournful expression and chewing on pigskin.
"Ugh... a prohibition on alcohol with this right in front of me..."
"Be thankful it ended with only this much. To allow your lord to be wounded, even if he was slightly intoxicated—you're lucky our lord is lenient. Under military law, this was a situation where you couldn't have complained even if you lost your head."
"I-I know, but still... I figured, since it was Sister Aman, surely nothing would happen..."
"Even an acquaintance can still betray you, can't they? Consider it bitter medicine and accept it quietly."
"Hnng..."
Xu Rong had rushed over from the encampment.
At her words, Ji Ling could only let her eyes well up with tears, unable to manage even a proper rebuttal.
To be honest, her positioning had been too awkward to block Cao Cao's surprise attack (?),
and since Cao Cao's martial skill was far from ordinary, it hadn't been an easy situation to defend against in the first place.
On top of that, with the opponent being Cao Cao, she couldn't exactly handle it by beheading her in one stroke either.
Even so, the biggest problem was still that Ji Ling had let her guard down.
If it hadn't been for that, she might have barely managed to deflect Cao Cao's attack, so Ji Ling could only regret her mistake and keep chewing that tough pigskin, trying somehow to endure the temptation the alcohol was offering.
Meanwhile,
while Yuan Shu's subordinates were having their modest feast outside like that,
Cao Cao and Yuan Shu had seated themselves side by side in a quiet spot behind the house.
"... I'm sorry... for causing something like this."
"Didn't I say so? Given the circumstances, it was a perfectly understandable incident. I'm truly all right, so please don't trouble yourself over it any longer."
"... Really, you're... such a soft-hearted fool. With that nature, how are you ever going to survive this harsh world?"
"I may look like this, but I'm a general commanding a hundred thousand troops, you know? I'm doing far better than you, Sister."
"Haha... you're right... I can't help but concede that one."
Cao Cao laughed lightly at Yuan Shu's words.
At the same time, she looked once more at the sight of Yuan Shu quietly drinking his modest cup.
A younger brother she'd watched continuously since childhood.
But despite that, Cao Cao felt a slight sense of unfamiliarity every time she saw him.
She'd always thought she knew him well, and in truth she did,
yet all the same, he was a younger brother who granted her a new realization each time.
And the same held true through this unexpected encounter.
Yuan Shu had blocked her swinging sword with his body.
The words he'd spoken into her ear right after.
From his plea for her not to abandon her humanity,
Cao Cao understood why Yuan Shu had thrown himself forward like this.
To protect.
To keep the older sister he called Cao Aman from veering down the wrong path.
And this fact, in turn,
caused a still stronger desire to stir within Cao Cao, who had already kept Yuan Shu tucked away in a corner of her heart.
'I already thought you were growing more and more desirable... but when you go this far... it really does become hard to endure, you know...'
Until not long ago, she'd still regarded Yuan Shu as merely a likable younger brother and a capable talent she wanted to acquire.
But as she'd watched him build closeness with another woman,
watched him become another woman's man,
an emotion she'd never known before had begun to sprout inside Cao Cao's heart.
It was her own peculiar taste, one she couldn't speak of to others.
Because of her disposition, which preferred a fully ripened apple over a green one...
favored a mature man in another's embrace over an unattached bachelor.
The one who harbored such tastes was still technically a maiden herself,
but the sight of Yuan Shu growing closer to 'that woman' back in Ji Province had been gradually making Cao Cao recognize him as a man.
And for Cao Cao,
today's incident.
The sight of Yuan Shu throwing himself forward to protect her,
had planted a single goal inside the woman called Cao Cao.
'Just wait a little... I swear, I will find my way into your embrace. In the very finest manner that I desire...'