The setting sun cast a crimson glow across the sky.
Number 48’s first battle had come to an end.
The Golden Dragon Corps and Silver Dragon Corps members leading the way back to the Ascending Dragon Sect walked with light steps.
They had suffered no real losses.
It had been another minor clash, no different from usual.
Ironblood Hall and the Tiger Fang Gang on the two wings had taken a few casualties, but nothing serious.
Those people always did.
They entered the narrow gorge leading up to the Ascending Dragon Sect.
Number 48 glanced up at the signboard hanging from the old gate halfway through the gorge.
The signboard read Ascending Dragon Sect.
The characters had faded so badly that, at a glance, it looked like nothing more than an old wooden plank.
The color had faded, and cracks split it here and there, making it almost grotesque.
There was not even a sentry guarding it, so anyone else might have mistaken the place for a ruin.
‘Those… are letters? I can’t make heads or tails of them.’
Number 48 could not read.
They had never taught such things in the Non-Dragon Hall, saying they were useless.
No, even the Instructors themselves could not read, so they probably could not have taught him even if they had wanted to.
“Interested in letters?”
Number 92 quietly came alongside Number 48 as he stared at the signboard.
“A little?”
“Heh. Fine. I’ll take responsibility for you. I’ll teach you how to read.”
Number 92 gave him a meaningful smile before slipping back into the crowd of Iron Dragon Corps members.
‘What’s gotten into him?’
The atmosphere was relaxed enough that members of the Iron Dragon Corps could freely chatter among themselves.
After all, they had finished the battle without anyone getting hurt.
Around one hundred thirty disciples of the Ascending Dragon Sect passed beneath the decrepit gate along the dirt road.
“Ah… We’re finally home.”
“Damn this place, but it’s still the best.”
The Golden Dragon Corps members exchanged idle chatter.
They looked little different from diligent farmers returning home after a hard day’s work.
The Golden Dragon Corps consisted of the strongest martial artists in the Ascending Dragon Sect.
They truly could enter with their minds at ease.
Only a handful of people in the sect had enough authority to shout at them.
But the farther down one went from the Silver Dragon Corps to the Iron Dragon Corps, the less carefree those footsteps became.
The lower their standing, the harsher the training and the more brutal the beatings.
Still… home was home.
This place was the best.
They did not even possess a standard by which they could judge whether the Ascending Dragon Sect was good or bad.
They had grown up nowhere else and knew absolutely nothing about other places.
The same was true of most members of the Golden Dragon Corps.
Hearing the Golden Dragon Corps members ahead talking about home made Number 48’s heart begin pounding.
Had he not been sent straight to the battlefield the moment he climbed up from the Non-Dragon Corps?
He had not even had the chance to properly look at his surroundings.
For him, these steps were the first time he was truly seeing the Ascending Dragon Sect.
“Wow….”
An exclamation escaped Number 48’s lips.
‘The world above the cliff. They really did call it a Peach Blossom Paradise….’
At the edge of the broad training ground.
At the entrance to the Ascending Dragon Sect.
Number 48 stood there for a long while, staring blankly over the sect grounds.
He had been too overwhelmed to notice when he first climbed the cliff from the Non-Dragon Hall.
They had thrown him into battle as soon as he arrived, too.
But now.
The Ascending Dragon Sect before him was on an entirely different level from the dreary Non-Dragon Corps beneath the cliff.
Compared with the Non-Dragon Hall, which had been little better than a mud hut, this truly was another world.
“You bastard, your eyes are about to pop out. Look over there. That’s the Great Dragon Hall.”
Number 32 smoothly inserted himself into Number 48’s admiration.
“The Great Dragon Hall?”
“That’s where the Sect Leader and the elders live, and where their offices are. Those mountains surround it like a folding screen, so they say something about auspicious fortune flowing through it or whatever.”
Beyond the training ground stood an enormous, ancient-looking hall.
And just as Number 32 had said, a lush forest spread behind the Great Dragon Hall like a folding screen.
The Ascending Dragon Sect had originally been established on one branch of the Greater Khingan Range.
The terrain formed a basin.
Only the western side of the training ground ended in a sheer cliff, while mountains surrounded all the other sides.
Number 32 proudly rattled on, having arrived before them.
He had reacted the same way when he first came here.
Then again, he had always been talkative.
“Beside it are the Golden Dragon Hall, Silver Dragon Hall, and Iron Dragon Hall.”
“They look… worse and worse.”
Number 48’s expression crumpled slightly.
They were certainly magnificent compared with the Non-Dragon Hall.
But the farther along he looked, the more visibly their condition deteriorated.
The Great Dragon Hall was impressive not only in size, but gleamed beneath the sunset.
Clean roof tiles and gold-painted ridge ornaments gave it an elegant appearance.
The elaborate bracketwork beneath the rafters added even greater dignity.
But the Golden Dragon Hall was merely a tiled house with black roof tiles.
The Silver Dragon Hall had a similar shape, but was in worse condition, little more than an ordinary tiled building.
And finally, the Iron Dragon Hall was hardly different from a shabby plank house.
Broken tiles dotted the roof, while cracks and several holes riddled the walls.
“Wait. If that’s the Iron Dragon Hall….”
“That’s our home.”
Number 32 grinned.
Number 48 was slightly disappointed.
Of course, it was undoubtedly a far better building than the Non-Dragon Hall.
But after seeing the Great Dragon Hall first, disappointment in the Iron Dragon Hall was only natural.
“Hey, hey. Look over there.”
Number 48 followed Number 32’s finger.
He could not see clearly in the fading light, but scattered black dots were visible in the distance.
“Those are houses too. They say when a Golden Dragon Corps member rises high enough in the order, they pair him with a woman. Then they give him a house like that too.”
“A woman?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s that?”
“I don’t really know either.”
Number 32 shrugged.
Judging from their bodies, the boys looked to be somewhere in their teens.
But most of them did not even know what a woman was.
They had effectively spent their entire lives imprisoned beneath the cliff in the Non-Dragon Corps.
Since an age too young for them even to remember.
“W-Women… d-don’t have p-penises.”
Number 87 suddenly cut in.
No penis?
How did that make any sense?
Could a person really not have a penis?
Numbers 48 and 32 scowled fiercely at Number 87.
What nonsense was he spouting?
“You idiot. If they don’t have a penis, how do they piss?”
“Yeah, that one was too much even for you.”
“N-No. Th-They really d-d-don’t have one.”
They had thought he might remember something useful about the outside world since he had come from there.
Apparently not.
All he did was say strange things.
“It’s true. They don’t have penises.”
This time, Number 92 backed Number 87 up.
Everyone could only stare at him in shock.
Number 87 was slow to begin with, but Number 92 was the smartest child in the Iron Dragon Hall.
The others in their corps treated him almost like an older brother.
And now he had effectively confirmed Number 87’s absurd claim.
“The rice you eat. The clothes you wear. Who do you think makes them? The wives of the Golden Dragon Corps members over there make them and send them to us. If you’re curious, look carefully at those orthodox bastards in the next battle. There are women mixed in with them too.”
The food he had eaten all this time had been made by people without penises?
There had even been women among the people they fought today?
From his days in the Non-Dragon Corps until now.
This was probably the most shocking moment of Number 48’s life.
***
There was enough room for forty people to lie down comfortably.
The building had looked small compared with the others from outside, but once they entered, it was surprisingly spacious.
After a short stretch of packed earth floor, there was a broad wooden floor like an enormous platform.
They slept and rested there.
Storage cabinets lined the edges of the wooden floor.
“W-What’s all this?”
“W-Wow. Th-This is n-nice.”
Numbers 48 and 87 stared openmouthed after entering the Iron Dragon Hall.
It was a sight they had never imagined even in their dreams.
Because they had never seen anything like it.
Thin-cut wooden planks had been laid across the floor.
They were supposed to step on those?
And even sleep on them?
The walls were cracked, and the wooden floor was uneven.
Even so, compared with the Non-Dragon Hall, the difference was enough to overturn heaven and earth.
In the Non-Dragon Hall, they had spread straw over the dirt.
Then they covered it with straw mats and slept on top.
They had to shiver through the cold rising from the ground.
And they had to offer their flesh and blood to the countless fleas and bedbugs that came and went through the mats as though they owned them.
But here was a wooden floor.
“What are you doing? Stop standing there like idiots and go unpack your things.”
Number 92 showed Numbers 48 and 87 their places.
The empty spots were in the center.
Numbers 32 and 92 had their places beside them.
The higher-ranking members of the Iron Dragon Corps preferred the spots along the edges.
Newcomers without any choice were inevitably pushed into the middle.
The very center was directly in front of the door.
It was the noisiest place because people constantly passed through.
It was always bustling.
Most importantly, in winter, cold wind blew through the poorly fitted door, making it the coldest place in the hall.
But what did that matter?
Number 48 was already dazzled by a place that seemed like another world.
That was how enormous the difference from the Non-Dragon Hall was.
“You two should hurry up and rise through the ranks too. They say even the Silver Dragon Hall is much better than the Iron Dragon Hall.”
“Yeah. I heard you can’t even see dirt anywhere on the floor there.”
They were merely repeating things they had heard, but the eyes of Numbers 48 and 87 sparkled.
Better than this…?
Just how much better could it possibly be?
“Then if I become Golden Dragon Corps, I move into the Golden Dragon Hall…. And if I get even stronger after that, could I live outside?”
Number 48 asked with shining eyes.
The other children narrowed their eyes as though wondering what nonsense he was talking about.
Had any Iron Dragon Corps member ever said such a thing before?
“No, I mean, you’d be allowed to come and go freely, wouldn’t you?”
“What kind of pointless nonsense are you talking about?”
“Why is it nonsense? Didn’t you see today? There are tons of people outside. If we go even farther, there’ll be even more.”
“Wh-What’s f-freedom?”
Someone reacted to that word.
Number 92.
“Look at writing. Read books. Then you’ll understand.”
Writing?
Books?
Why was he talking about books when they were discussing leaving the sect?
Number 48 had no idea what he meant, but Number 92’s face was slightly flushed as he spoke.
Then Number 32 cut in again.
“How the hell are we supposed to leave? You want the Instructors to beat you to death? Stop talking nonsense.”
“Why is it nonsense?”
“Haa, look at this bastard. One day of fresh air and you’ve already lost your mind. You think the Ascending Dragon Sect will just sit there if you leave?”
“They say there are wanderers who live freely outside.”
Number 32 let out a deep sigh at Number 48’s words.
“That’s exactly the point. Where are you going to go? If you leave, other disciples of the Ascending Dragon Sect will come after you. Hegemon Fortress is to the east. The Orthodox Allied Forces are to the west. The sea is to the south, and barbarians live to the north. Where are you going to go? Huh?”
“…….”
He had heard the same thing endlessly since his days in the Non-Dragon Corps.
They could never leave this place.
If they tried, they would meet King Yama before they ever saw the world.
“You think blades will avoid you just because you’re a wanderer? They’ll probably stab you even easier. Those orthodox bastards will cheer and come after you with their swords.”
As Number 32 began deliberately needling him, Number 92 stepped forward.
“You’ll understand once you read books. You’ll understand the world. So stop thinking about such things for now and open your cabinet.”
Books could teach him about the outside world?
Did he really need to learn how to read?
More importantly… his cabinet?
The word freedom flew straight out of his mind at that single word.
They were still children.
They were at an age when curiosity about possessions was stronger.
Numbers 48 and 87 hurriedly opened their cabinets.
If even the building was this wonderful, what could possibly be inside?
“Wow….”
The cabinets contained neatly folded clothes that had been issued to them.
The instant Number 87 saw them, he snatched one out and rubbed it against his cheek.
“F-Four-Eight. Th-Th-This….”
“It feels amazing.”
The cloth was so soft that Number 87 stuttered even worse.
It was nothing like the stiff clothing of the Non-Dragon Corps, soaked through with sweat and caked in dried mud.
Though there were holes here and there and several frayed places, the softness of the fabric was on an entirely different level.
Sword cuts remained in several places, so they had undoubtedly belonged to someone else.
They had probably taken the clothes from someone who died, patched them roughly, and issued them again.
But what did that matter?
They had seen people die countless times since their days in the Non-Dragon Corps, so that was hardly shocking.
“I-I know wh-what this is. I-It’s c-cotton sheeting.”
Number 87 rubbed his face into the cloth until he was practically buried in it.
“Right. Before you came here, you said your father was a merchant who sold cotton cloth.”
“Yeah.”
The children of the Non-Dragon Corps possessed so little common knowledge that they did not even know what ordinary cotton sheeting was.
-You think memorizing letters will make blades avoid you?
It was something the Instructors always said.
Letters….
“You saw those black lines on the signboard when we came back today, right? Those are letters. Now that you’re here, you need to learn how to read.”
Number 92 spoke from behind the delighted Numbers 48 and 87.
“But what are letters? Why do you keep telling us to learn them?”
“Because a human being ought to know how to read.”
Then he should learn.
He did not know what it was, but apparently it could teach him about the outside world too.
“There you go again. You think memorizing letters will make blades avoid you?”
Number 32, sitting beside them, scoffed in disbelief.
It was exactly what the Instructors always said.
“I’ve given up on that bastard, so at least you two learn.”
Number 92 pointed with a finger.
There was a bookshelf beside the door.
Yellowed books packed its shelves.
No one knew who had brought them there or when.
Number 48 nodded without understanding much of anything.
That was the beginning of his suffering.
Though in the distant future, he would be deeply grateful to Number 92….
***
It was a completely different world from the Non-Dragon Hall.
A true Peach Blossom Paradise.
Only now did Number 48 understand why the Instructors had made such a fuss about ordering them up the cliff.
The daily routine was not very different from life in the Non-Dragon Corps.
Martial arts training.
Inner arts training.
The beatings remained, but they were worked less brutally and beaten less often than before.
A kick or punch at the slightest provocation.
No, that would have been merciful.
Usually, they were beaten with sticks.
The Silver Dragon Corps had been responsible for discipline in the Non-Dragon Corps.
To the children there, the Silver Dragon Corps had been nothing but an object of terror.
Even after becoming members of the Iron Dragon Corps, they froze whenever they saw someone from the Silver Dragon Corps.
Because of the memories.
The Golden Dragon Corps, by contrast, were almost like carefree idlers.
Outside training and battle, the children rarely encountered them.
During their days in the Non-Dragon Corps, the Golden Dragon Corps members had mainly overseen their inner arts, but they barely paid any attention to the Iron Dragon Corps.
The Sect Leader and elders above them were even further removed.
“Once I become Silver Dragon Corps, every bastard in the Iron Dragon Corps and Non-Dragon Corps is dead.”
Some children said things like that and threw themselves into training with even greater fervor.
They said once you became a member of the Silver Dragon Corps, you were almost never beaten anymore.
That alone was appealing.
It was the greatest reason the Iron Dragon Corps members gritted their teeth and aimed for promotion to the Silver Dragon Corps.
SMACK.
A crisp sound rang out, like a gourd cracking.
“You bastard. You still can’t even hold chopsticks properly?”
“Ugh….”
Number 87 clutched his head.
It was mealtime.
Number 92’s chopsticks had struck Number 87 squarely on the head.
One might wonder how much a pair of thin wooden chopsticks could hurt, but Number 92 was still a martial artist trained in inner arts.
Chopsticks infused with inner arts were terrifying.
Number 48 had just been struck on the head too.
Number 92 had already beaten him enough to leave a lump there, and getting hit in the same spot again hurt even more.
All because of those damned reading lessons.
“Hold the bowl properly too. Don’t you know we’ll all get beaten if you break one?”
“No, this thing’s too fragile. How am I supposed to keep it from breaking?”
Above all else, there were ceramic bowls.
They actually served rice in smooth, white bowls.
In the Non-Dragon Hall, they had eaten large rice balls with their hands every day.
The salt soaked into their hands provided the seasoning.
If they happened to bite into a piece of meat, it was a lucky day.
The habit remained.
The first time Number 48 received rice in a ceramic bowl, he had grabbed it with his hand and eaten it, only to receive a barrage of chopstick strikes from Number 92.
“Why do we have to eat in such an inconvenient way here? Why do the side dishes come separately? It’s hard to eat. Food was better in the Non-Dragon Hall.”
SMACK.
“We should at least live like human beings.”
Number 48 protested, but all he received was another chopstick strike.
‘Those damned chopsticks….’
Back in the Non-Dragon Hall, the only utensil they had ever used was a hollowed gourd for scooping water.
Here, every kind of food came in a dish.
They even had to use tools to put it in their mouths.
Number 32 said it had taken him a full month to become comfortable using chopsticks.
Did that mean Number 48 had to get beaten for an entire month?
SMACK!
“Hold your chopsticks properly.”
Number 92’s scolding grew harsher by the day.
***
CRUNCH, CRUNCH.
“Stop eating those already! Where do you keep finding all those damn acorns?”
Number 92 shouted.
Number 87 flinched.
“I told you to read properly.”
It was rest time.
If there was one thing that distinguished the Iron Dragon Corps most from the Non-Dragon Corps, it was this.
Rest.
Sleeping and eating were merely matters of closing one’s eyes and filling one’s stomach.
But rest was something entirely different.
The freedom Number 48 had longed for so desperately.
The meaning was somewhat different.
Still.
A small measure of it was guaranteed here.
Once the Iron Dragon Corps finished the day’s training and miscellaneous chores, something called rest time existed.
It was only a short while.
They would have had more if not for all the errands they had to run for the Silver Dragon Corps.
Time that belonged entirely to themselves, when no one interfered with them.
Nothing like that had existed in the Non-Dragon Corps.
Even on the rare occasions when they had spare time, it had been used solely to make up for their lack of sleep.
Once in a while, most of the Instructors would leave to participate in a battle.
Outside those occasions, the children had never known what proper rest was.
They simply crouched somewhere and closed their eyes, trying to steal even a little more sleep.
That was all.
During his free time, Number 92 devoted himself to reading.
Numbers 48 and 87 sat before him with books open.
Number 32 lay sprawled beside them, rolling around.
“This is the Thousand Character Classic. Once you finish learning this, you shouldn’t have much trouble reading.”
Number 92 personally taught them their letters.
No one knew where he had learned, but Number 92 could read quite well.
He had been in the Iron Dragon Corps for only three months.
During that time, he had read every single book on the Iron Dragon Hall’s shelves.
Now he was reviewing them.
That was why shelves once covered in thick dust had become spotless.
SMACK.
“Don’t fall asleep. Letters aren’t a lullaby. They’re food. Food for the mind.”
The instant Number 48’s eyelids began to droop, Number 92’s punishment came without fail.
Several long lumps had already risen on Number 48’s head.
“F-Food. N-No. A-Acorns t-taste b-better.”
“You stop eating those damned acorns.”
Trying to teach a pair of world-class ignoramuses to read was driving Number 92 mad.
“How long are you two going to do nothing but swing blades? It’d be better to enter the internal administration. If you want to do that, you need to know how to read.”
“You really think staring at those books will get you into administration? Just become an Instructor with me.”
Number 32 answered while rolling around on the floor.
“Shut up. You’re nothing but a delinquent who gave up on reading.”
Number 32 was Number 92’s greatest enemy.
They had entered the Iron Dragon Corps at the same time, and that mocking mouth of his constantly grated on Number 92’s nerves.
“Ah, right. I heard if you become one of those court officers, they cut off your penis.”
“What?”
Numbers 48 and 87 froze at the same time.
Learning to read meant cutting off your penis?
Number 92 had told them the brush was mightier than the sword, but it was that powerful?
How were they supposed to piss?
“You shut that mouth of yours first.”
“Yeees, yeees. As our esteemed court officer commands.”
“A court officer doesn’t mean a eunuch. It’s different. I’m talking about an internal affairs officer of the Ascending Dragon Sect’s main hall.”
“Ah… Yeees, yeees… Lord Court Officer….”
“You two, don’t listen to that bastard. Nobody cuts off his penis just because he learns to read. …Absolutely nobody.”
“Th-Then do you… become a w-woman?”
“No!”
Number 92’s goal was to become an internal affairs officer.
It was one of the few administrative positions in the Ascending Dragon Sect.
The internal officers responsible for domestic affairs were always desperate for successors.
Among the ignorant swordsmen of an unorthodox faction, there were only a handful who could read.
How could there possibly be enough successors?
That was why they had even stocked books in the Iron Dragon Hall.
It had done no good.
Then Number 92 caught their attention.
-Become a member of the Silver Dragon Corps quickly. Once you do, we’ll take you to the Great Dragon Hall.
He read well and was clever.
He had even learned a respectable amount of etiquette from somewhere.
The internal officers could hardly contain their eagerness.
“Still, you show some aptitude for administration.”
Number 92 smiled as he watched Number 48 bury himself in his book.
Did Number 48 possess an aptitude for administration?
Of course not.
He was simply afraid of the chopsticks.
Why did Number 92 have to bring those things even when they were studying…?
“Then do I have to cut off my penis too…?”
“I said no!”