Did you hate it?
Did you hate it that much!
I glanced at Chun-hyang. The inside of my lip was nearly ragged from barely swallowing the urge to rush over and demand an answer at once.
One petal had fallen just because I smiled once. If I smiled a few more times, I would collapse straight down to seven flowers within days.
This was absurd.
At this rate, I would see the face of King Yama before I ever had to wait for that bastard Yi Mong-ryong’s face. No matter if, on the first day I took office, I had called out gisaeng first and toyed with them, then dragged out even a commoner like her, forced her to kneel on the dirt, and demanded that she attend my bedchamber out of nowhere, that was still......
‘......Fair enough. Fair enough.’
Whew—
A sigh burst out from deep in my lower abdomen.
For Chun-hyang, asking the most unlikable man under heaven to teach her hand-to-hand combat must have taken courage borrowed from a previous life too. And in response, I had smiled broadly with a face that said, Exactly what I wanted.
‘Ugh, seriously, Byeon Hak-do, you X-bastard.’
I pressed down the sigh that threatened to burst out, arranged my facial muscles, and opened my mouth.
What else could I do?
I had to handle the situation first.
“Ahem. Well, a meal swallowed in haste is bound to cause indigestion. Before hand-to-hand combat, there are many things you must learn first, so do not try to rush. Movement and such will naturally follow once you gain experience.”
At my answer, I saw the tension ease slightly from Chun-hyang’s shoulders, which had been stiff. It seemed she had spoken in a moment of passion, but inwardly, she had been quite afraid of how this human-garbage lecher before her might respond.
That reaction left a bitter taste in my mouth......
But what could I do? Now that I had become Byeon Hak-do, I had to adapt. Sob.
“There should be a few manuals on basic training in the barracks. Refer to those first. As for the rest, I will soon submit an official report and ask the Provincial Governor for them, so wait until then.”
At my following words, Chun-hyang looked at me as if surprised.
‘Do you understand now? I’m not that old lecher anymore.’
Swallowing the words I could not say out loud, I turned my gaze and looked around.
Then, when my eyes fell on the Chief’s corpse lying to one side, another sigh burst out of me.
Thankfully, Dire Species corpses tended to decay slowly, but we could not leave it like that forever.
“This is troublesome.”
“M-my, my, my apologies.”
I withdrew my gaze from the Military Clerk, who was spitting out empty words, and turned to ask the Personnel Clerk.
“Do you know any artisans who can process that?”
“Th-that is, whenever something like this happened, the Wansang Merchants always took charge of the processing......”
At the familiar name that appeared yet again, the crease between my brows deepened before I knew it.
‘Those damned Wansang Merchants. It seems they really sank their straws deep into an ownerless mountain all this time.’
Yi Mong-ryong’s father had transferred to the office of Hanyang Magistrate, and there had been nearly three years of vacancy before I—no, before Byeon Hak-do—newly took over the post of Magistrate of Namwon Protectorate, which the Provincial Governor had been holding concurrently.
Even if the Provincial Governor had been serving concurrently, that was only true on paper. In reality, the local clerks had probably just been putting out urgent fires as best they could.
At this point, it would have been more surprising if anything had been running properly.
I let out a sigh and asked the Personnel Clerk again.
“What about public slaves?”
“A few years ago, the W-Wansang Merchants already made substitute payments for them—”
“Then you mean there is not a single person currently doing labor in the Works Office?”
“That is...... because circumstances were unfavorable, we ended up accepting substitute payments...... As you know, my lord, ever since the Imsil incident, the crop yields in this area have been poor. Yet the number of seok we must send up to the Capital Granary has not decreased; on the contrary, it has increased every year. For us, there was truly no way to handle it......”
The Personnel Clerk rolled his eyes and trailed off.
This was driving me insane.
This meant that before Byeon Hak-do could even skim anything off, the place was already completely empty.
‘There is a long way to go.’
Since I had stirred up that bastard Kim nuisance or Scholar Kim or whatever he was, there would soon be a bite from the Wansang Merchants, but this did not seem like something to take lightly. No matter how ownerless the mountain had been, the fact that one group had been eating everything up on this scale meant there was almost certainly someone behind them.
“So, there really are no people?”
When I muttered with a scowl, the Military Clerk, who had been watching me the whole time, carefully opened his mouth.
“Um, Magistrate.”
“Hm?”
“Th-that is, in truth, near Nine Dragon Falls there is a place called Wailing Pool......”
“Man, no matter what, that place is—”
The Personnel Clerk hurriedly covered the Military Clerk’s mouth.
Judging by the way the soldiers standing nearby, and even Chun-hyang, all twisted their faces, it seemed everyone in this region knew the place.
I had a feeling.
There was something there.
I took one step closer to the Military Clerk, put an arm around his shoulders, and asked,
“Now, Military Clerk. Tell me everything you know.”
I smiled with the kindest, most benevolent face I could manage and spoke gently.
For some reason, the Military Clerk’s face turned deathly pale.
***
“Hey, are we still far?”
On an autumn day when the blazing midday sun still felt hot, an exhausted voice rang out from the very back of the procession walking along the mountain path, sweating profusely.
“We are almost there.”
“Oh dear, I am dying. This will not do. You there, carry me.”
“You mad bastard, what are you saying when you have two perfectly good legs? I knew this would happen. That is why I told you to just stay at the government office.”
From the beginning of the mountain path, Clerk Jeong had kept whining that it was hard, asking whether we were still far, and saying he was dying. In the end, when he spouted nonsense at the servant walking beside him and told the man to carry him, I could not hold back any longer and poured out my nagging. At that, this bastard Clerk Jeong, who had been acting like he was at death’s door just a moment ago, straightened his face and shot back.
“Stay at the government office? Absolutely! Never! Not even if I die!! That cannot happen!! Whom are you planning to turn into a bloody pulp while I am gone!!! No more, my lord. No matter if you live only for today as if tomorrow does not exist, what are you going to do if you keep charging ahead like this and the Confucian literati submit an impeachment memorial?”
When Clerk Jeong shouted with veins standing out in his neck, the party walking before and behind us glanced at me and Clerk Jeong.
After belatedly hearing that I had not only beaten and driven out a Special Military Officer, but this time had also slapped a local notable across the face and knocked out all his teeth, then turned two former Special Military Officer ruffians, privately hired and active, into battered meat, Clerk Jeong had quite literally clutched the back of his neck and collapsed.
Well, two consecutive days of heavy flogging might have been a little much.
But the situation was what it was, so was it not understandable?
“That much is nothing. If this little matter were enough to get me impeached, I would already be white bones turned to dust, with or without a soul left, would I not?”
There had been no particular complaints when he went around doing worse things before.
I snorted.
My record as a corrupt official spoke for itself.
The Confucian literati would never rise up over something like this, and even if they submitted a memorial, there was no way the central government would move.
To begin with, if they had the presence of mind to regulate each and every thing like that, would the country have ended up like this?
I swallowed the words I truly wanted to say and gave him a sidelong glare. Clerk Jeong spoke with a deliberately solemn expression.
“In all things, rushing leads to trouble. I understand your intentions, my lord, but you cannot correct everything at once, so please take things slowly.”
“What is this? Why are you suddenly pretending to be normal? It feels ominous.”
When I muttered with a frown, Clerk Jeong smiled slyly and answered.
“You have only just come to your senses. Would it not be unfair if you made a clumsy fuss and got impeached?”
“It is a little burdensome that you think of me that much.”
“What are you talking about? I meant I would feel wronged over all the years I stubbornly endured at your side.”
“......What am I, if not a living Buddha, for still keeping you around?”
I grumbled loudly enough for Clerk Jeong to hear as he continued talking back without losing a single word. Then, suddenly, I heard a sound.
Huuuuuu—
“Hm?”
When I tilted my head, the Personnel Clerk standing in front shrank his neck and said,
“That is the sound from Wailing Pool.”
“It sounds like someone crying.”
At my words, the Revenue Clerk and the Rites Clerk following behind added a word each.
“It does. The name was given because the sound made as the valley curves and flows resembles a person crying.”
“There is a rumor that lowborn people who died wronged are unable to ascend and wander there, wailing.”
“Died wronged?”
When the Rites Clerk saw my eyebrow rise crookedly, he hurriedly added with a look of, Oh no.
“Th-that is, well...... because the ones who gathered at Wailing Pool are butchers of the lowest caste.”
Instead of the Rites Clerk, who was stammering while sweating profusely, the Revenue Clerk stepped in and spoke.
“That is...... originally, they were people who had lived for generations in the butcher-caste village down there, but after Dire Gates began to erupt, they started taking charge of processing Dire Species rather than making goods. As you know, my lord, those things have tough flesh and hard bones, so unless one has properly learned the skill, they are difficult even to touch. At first, they paid their military service obligation with that work, but after the Wansang Merchants began calling higher prices and taking them away, substitute payment became customary.”
‘The Wansang Merchants again?’
When I frowned slightly, the Revenue Clerk, frightened in advance, continued in a trembling voice.
“We, we local clerks did try to stop it at first. But paying the military service obligation by substitute payment had no procedural problem, and a-as you know, the finances of this protectorate were not in particularly good condition, so there was no reason to refuse...... N-no, is that not right, Personnel Clerk?”
The Personnel Clerk, who had unexpectedly received the spark, glared at the Revenue Clerk with a startled face and hurriedly added,
“Th-the Revenue Clerk is correct. That is, well, as you know, my lord, even if a Dire Gate erupted, the barracks would not move, so from our position, since we had no opportunity to handle Dire Species anyway, keeping people around was of no use—”
“Enough. Then how did those people end up hiding in the mountains?”
I cut off the Personnel Clerk and asked.
If what they said was true, then even if the pillars of the country were rotting away, there should have been no problem with the individuals making a living.
In other words, even if the state finances were collapsing, the butcher-caste people should have been able to live under the protection of the Wansang Merchants.
The fact that those people were now hiding this deep in the mountains, forming a settlement and living there, instead of receiving the Wansang Merchants’ protection, meant something had not worked properly.
At my question, Chun-hyang, who had been walking quietly beside us until then, opened her mouth.
“There is no reason to treat those the state does not protect as human.”
While the group fell silent for a moment at Chun-hyang’s cold words, the Personnel Clerk continued.
“From what I heard, at first, the Wansang Merchants coaxed them with all sorts of fine words, giving them rice and cotton cloth, but gradually changed their attitude. Every time a Dire Gate erupted, they held the families left behind as hostages and dragged even those who refused into it by force. If they died there, the Wansang Merchants did not even recover the bodies and instead dragged the remaining families around in their place. No matter what, they were clearly commoners, yet they say it was no different from being treated as slaves.”
‘So they were thoroughly stabbed in the back by the Wansang Merchants.’
They would not have been able to appeal to the government office now, and even if they had, there was no way the office would have sided with them against the Wansang Merchants.
So they had become displaced people.
‘This is a complete mess.’
Hm?
Walking with a frown, I suddenly stopped at the strange sense of wrongness that came over me.
As if reacting to the endlessly ringing screams—no, the water sounds of wailing, the leaves of the oak tree swayed bleakly.
“Have we not already passed this road?”
At my question, the personal attendant who had been guiding us jumped, flattened himself on the ground, and shouted.
“Th-th-that is, it is definitely right...... This road is right, sir. It is true. This really is the road, sir......”
The shoulders of the personal attendant, who was full of fear, were trembling. His face said he was terrified that this tyrannical new magistrate before him might immediately swing the heavy flogging rod at him.
No, I am not the sort of bastard who beats just anyone.
I felt wronged, but that was not what mattered now.
“So you are saying this road is truly correct.”
“Of course, of course!! It is true. I swear by the gods and spirits of heaven and earth, this humble servant has only guided you according to what he knows. It is not a lie!!”
After glancing at the personal attendant, who was even shedding tears as he pleaded his sincerity, I nodded.
In that case, there was only one possibility.
I immediately summoned Sword Amid the Battlefield.
WHOOOSH—
“Hiiik!!!”
Seeing a sword rise from my palm along with white light, the personal attendant’s eyes rolled back and he fell backward as he was. The moment tension and fear spread through the eyes of the people watching me with bated breath—
WHOOOSH—
KRA-KRA-KRAK!
I kicked off from where I stood and leaped straight up, driving my sword into the thick trunk of the oak tree behind the personal attendant. At the solid sensation I felt through the fingertips gripping the sword, the corner of my mouth curled up slightly before I realized it.
‘As expected, this was it.’
Keeping my grip on the sword, I put the weight of my entire body into it and drew it downward.
CRAAAAACK—
When I began cutting down the oak tree, taller than a person by far, from top to bottom, the tree began thrashing and screaming as if it were alive.
AAAAAAAAH—!
“Aaaagh!!! A ghost, it is a ghost!! A ghost!!!”
“Oh my, Mother!!!!”
“Run!! Run!!!!”
The people scattered in all directions, completely terrified.
I dodged this way and that as thick branches rushed at me, then drew up my mana. After that, I poured mana into Sword Amid the Battlefield, which was lodged in the oak tree.
WHOOSH—
Flames released from the sword began burning the tree up from its core.
AAAAAAAAAGH──!!!!!
The oak tree, now caught in flames, began thrashing and screaming as if alive. While everyone crouched and trembled under the ear-splitting scream, there was only one person who approached me.
Chun-hyang.
“My lord, what exactly is that?”
Instead of answering Chun-hyang’s question, I looked her over from head to toe.
Excellent.
As expected of the protagonist.
No matter how outstanding an ability one possessed, if the vessel that contained it was not sturdy, it was all for nothing.
In other words, what mattered as much as the ability itself was the mental strength to maintain composure even in unexpected situations.
In that sense, this girl’s courage really was not ordinary.
‘Well, I suppose that is why she said everything she had to say even before Byeon Hak-do.’
“Ahem.”
At Chun-hyang’s uncomfortable dry cough, I escaped my thoughts and quickly opened my mouth.
......Because if I needlessly irritated her and the Mindscape Flower withered further, it would be a disaster.
“It is an illusion art.”
“Illusion art?”
“Yes. It seems someone here is skilled in spellcraft. If we had stood here absentmindedly, we would have been completely deceived.”
The fact that the personal attendant, who had found his way to the village alone, had now been wandering the same place this whole time meant only one possibility.
“We are uninvited guests.”
I muttered to myself while looking at the oak tree, now completely engulfed in flames. Chun-hyang, who had followed my gaze to the oak tree, suddenly tilted her head.
“Huh?”
Beyond the burning oak tree, the outline of something briefly moved in a blur.
So at last, it was time for the owner to appear.
Since I had properly ruined the spellcraft they had taken such care to set up, it was only natural they would be angry.
Then, shall we see their skill?
The moment I muttered inwardly, my eyes shining—
“D-Dire Species! Dire Species have appeared!!!!”
“Run!!! Run!!!!”
At the grotesque shapes that appeared beyond the smoke, people began scattering in all directions, completely terrified.