What is this?
Why is the mood like this?
As I lifted my head and looked around at the coldly settled atmosphere, that bastard Yu-bong’s voice came to me.
“Ahem, hm. Um, my lord, did you change direction that way while I was unaware......? No matter what, the cut sleeve is a bit......”
At some point, he had come close. As if afraid someone might hear, he leaned in as far as he could and whispered quickly in my ear, his eyes clearly saying, I knew it.
“Ah, what the hell are you talking about?”
At my words, that bastard Yu-bong looked at me with a face that said, Why ask when you already know? Then he turned his head, glanced at the children sitting on the ground while clinging to each other and unable even to think of standing, and deliberately spoke loudly enough for them to hear.
“Ah, that is what I mean. No matter what, they are still children whose foreheads have not even dried of blood yet.”
“?!?!?!!”
Crackle—
If I had to explain that sound, it was the sound of my Mindscape Flower not merely withering, but burning to ash.
Startled, I looked toward Chun-hyang. The moment our eyes met, the girl snapped her head away as if she had seen something filthy.
Ah...... wait.
So right now, he was saying I had switched from women to men? Not just men, but tiny little milk-fed children like those blood-clots......?
“You crazy bastard, what kind of nonsense is that!! That is not it!!”
When I shouted, I heard that bastard Yu-bong answer half-heartedly, “Yes, yes.”
......It was clear my words had not entered even one of his earholes.
No, look at that damned bastard.
Because of that three-inch tongue of yours, I am about to fall not just from Eighth Bloom, but down to Seventh Bloom!
In my urgency, I unconsciously tightened my stomach and let out a lion’s roar.
“I said that is not it!!!!”
“Oh my, you startled me. Ah, yes, yes. If it is not, then it is not. Why are you getting so angry? Goodness, I nearly lost the child.”
Letting Yu-bong’s startled grumbling pass by my ears, I turned my gaze to the children.
At my gaze, the older boy startled and flattened himself against the dirt. The younger one followed and prostrated himself as if he would smash his forehead into the ground.
“My lord, we have committed a crime worthy of death.”
“Please spare our lives, my loooord.”
One apologized for their crime, and the other begged for mercy.
These brothers had excellent coordination.
“Was the barrier your work?”
“I swear by the gods and spirits of heaven and earth, we absolutely had no thought of harming anyone. We merely, merely—”
“I know.”
As the older boy desperately searched for what to say, I nodded and cut him off. The younger boy, who had been about to wail at length, peeked up and asked,
“Oh myyy, it is the truth. Please believe u—pardon?”
“You only wanted to keep unwanted people from entering the village. Is that not what you mean?”
At my words, the brothers looked at each other with dazed faces, then nodded.
“Th-that is right.”
“Were the illusions of the Dire Species created by the two of you joining forces?”
“Yes, that is—”
Before the boys, who were exchanging glances and hesitating, could answer, I opened my mouth again.
“I have never seen illusions with such excellent reproduction.”
At times like this, praise first was the best strategy.
Sure enough, perhaps because my praise was unexpected, the children looked at me with bewildered faces. After looking over the two pairs of eyes blinking at me, I quickly added,
“It was at a level I would have believed came from a Royal Guard Special Military Officer of Hanyang. Unless it was a Special Military Officer with considerable real combat experience, most would not even notice before getting hit and running off with their tails between their legs.”
When I even brought up the Royal Guard Special Military Officers, said to be impossible to defeat even if a swarm of highest-grade Dire Species attacked them, the younger boy could no longer hold back. His eyes shone as he said,
“Right! Even those high-nosed former Special Military Officers from the Wansang Merchants ran away with their tails tucked when they saw the clay soldiers we made—mmph, mmph.”
“My younger brother is immature and said something absurd, so please forgive him generously.”
The older boy hurriedly covered his brother’s mouth and bowed his head. I shook my head and said,
“It seems like he is right, so why do that? The former Special Military Officers under the Wansang Merchants would at best have one or two Fifth Bloomers, if even that. If they saw a swarm of mid-grade Dire Species appear, there is no way they could withstand it without running.”
“Th-that is......”
The older boy lost his words as if surprised by what I said. In his place, the younger boy shook off the hand covering his mouth and shouted,
“That is exactly what I mean! No, but who are you, my lord, to know all this? Are you perhaps a Royal Guard Special Military Officer from Hanyang?”
“Dam!!”
The older boy was horrified and tugged at his brother’s worn sleeve, but the younger boy called Dam paid him no heed and simply stared at me with eyes full of curiosity.
I smiled and asked Dam,
“Haha, in your eyes, do I look like a Royal Guard Special Military Officer?”
“You are the first one to break our barrier, defeat the clay soldiers, and see through my illusion art, my lord. How did you know I was a white tiger? This is the first time my illusion art has not worked on someone! Are you really human?”
“D-Dam, please......”
At his younger brother’s rampage, the older boy muttered with a face that looked about to cry.
“It is fine, so leave him be. There is no need to be so wary. First, I should introduce myself.”
‘Ah, wait. Now that I have actually said it, this feels a little awkward. A sudden self-introduction time here? Should I say, I am none other than Byeon Hak-do......?’
As I hesitated for a moment at the sudden thought, someone’s voice came from beside me.
“This is Lord Byeon Hak-do, Magistrate of Namwon.”
It was Yu-bong.
When I glanced at him, I saw his face grinning as if to say, I did well, did I not?
Hmph, raccoon-like bastard.
At any rate, his sense for these things is ghostly.
When I turned my gaze back, I saw the older boy, whose face had gone beyond white to blue, muttering as if he would stop breathing at any moment.
“M-M-M-Magistrate......”
No, I am not some grim reaper. Is it really something to be that startled over?
I felt wronged and briefly wondered how to soothe him, but then Dam’s lively voice came from beside him.
“Wooow, you were the Magistrate!!! But is a magistrate not a civil official? How are you so strong, my lord? Do you have an ability too?”
Unlike the older boy, who was completely drained and on the verge of fainting, the younger one seemed simply amazed by the existence of a civil official with an ability that only military officials were said to possess.
Contrary to their stamped-out identical appearance, their personalities seemed as opposite as light and shadow.
“Do you want me to show you, if you are curious?”
When I asked while stroking Dam’s round head, the boy nodded vigorously up and down with a face flushed from excitement and shouted,
“Show me that thing from earlier, the one that came out of your hand.”
“You mean this?”
When I summoned Sword Amid the Battlefield in my hand, the child’s already large eyes grew as wide as lanterns.
“Wooow! Can I touch it? Wow, brother, brother! Look at this, it is a real sword! A sword came out of the Magistrate’s hand!”
“M-my lord, what exactly do you want from us......?”
Meanwhile, even as his face went pale-blue from panic, the older boy did not lose his judgment and asked carefully.
Watching him, I stored Sword Amid the Battlefield away, worried the child trying to touch the blade might hurt himself. When I did, I heard Dam let out a light sigh of disappointment.
“Ah, right. I heard that the people of your village can process Dire Species.”
“Do you mean processing Dire Species?”
The two children looked at each other again.
That was when it happened.
“Yaaaah!!!! Let the children go, you bastards!!! If you are going to take someone, take us instead!!!! Leave the children alone!!!!”
From the quiet bushes, shabby-looking people carrying worn-out hoes and rusty axes rushed out in a crowd.
‘That must be Jang.’
I looked the man at the front up and down and said,
“I would have been disappointed if you had stayed hidden until the end. This is a relief.”
Since no one but the two children had shown themselves and they had all been holding their breath, I had been starting to feel displeased, wondering if they were cowardly bastards planning to offer the children as sacrifices. Fortunately, it seemed they were not quite that rotten.
“Th-the children have done nothing wrong!! Do not touch the children, you rotten bastards!!”
The middle-aged man at the front adjusted his grip on the axe in his hand and shouted.
Hm, it seemed they misunderstood and thought this side was rotten, so I would have to clear up that misunderstanding first.
I spoke to Clerk Jeong, who was standing beside me.
“Clerk Jeong, it seems my introduction is needed again.”
At my words, Clerk Jeong nodded, cleared his throat, and opened his mouth.
“Ahem, now, everyone listen carefully.”
“Uncle Jang, this man is not from the Wansang Merchants. He is the Magistrate! He says he is Lord Byeon Hak-do, Magistrate of Namwon!”
But before that bastard Yu-bong could earn his keep, the younger boy beat him to it, and Yu-bong stared blankly at the child as if someone had stolen his rice cake.
The sight was amusing, and the corner of my mouth rose crookedly before I knew it.
At that instant, the people who had each been holding weapons and glaring this way as if they would charge at any moment all drew in their breath at once.
“Hieeeek!!!”
“M-Magistrate?!”
At the reaction of the people, whose faces turned beyond white to blue as they dropped the weapons they had been holding, I hurriedly opened my mouth.
“Aaaah—let me say this first. I did not come to kill you or punish you, so there is no need to be afraid. I said there is no need to be afraid!! Hey, shit, Revenue Clerk!”
“Yes, yes, yes! My lord! The Revenue Clerk is here.”
“Take out what we prepared. Hurry!”
“Yes, yes, yes. I obey your command.”
At my urging, the Revenue Clerk hurriedly pulled something from inside his clothes, and everyone’s eyes turned that way.
***
“Th-that is to say, if we follow you down, you will give us identity tablets, a place to eat and sleep, and work as well. Is that what you mean?”
“Something like that.”
When I nodded, Jang, who introduced himself as the village representative, drew in a short breath. His gaze remained full of suspicion as he looked at the proclamation the Revenue Clerk had taken out, as if he could not believe it.
“Wh-why would you go so far for people like us......?”
“Hm? Was this not originally your duty?”
“Th-that is......”
“Do not tell me you think the Wansang Merchants will give up this easily? I acknowledge that the barrier and clay soldiers those boys made are excellent, but deception cannot work forever. The very idea that mid-grade Dire Species have settled in groups in a place like this makes no sense. Anyone who knows the distribution map of Dire Gates would soon see through it.”
If that happened, those bastards would try to get their hands not only on the butcher caste workers who processed by-products, but also on the capable illusionist and image-creator.
When I looked in turn at the faces of the twins listening to me, the older boy, who had told me to call him Jeong, opened his mouth in a calm voice.
“You are right, my lord.”
“J-Jeong!”
“Uncle Jang. As the Magistrate says, what Dam and I handle is ultimately only deception. If the other side brings a skilled former Special Military Officer and pushes through, we will be helpless.”
Like today.
At Jeong’s added words, Jang’s face darkened.
In truth, he knew it too. The fact that they had been able to protect the villagers this much from the Wansang Merchants’ persistent pursuit had been entirely thanks to the ability of the brothers Jeong and Dam.
But if this new Magistrate had managed to do it, there was no guarantee the Wansang Merchants would not be able to find them either.
I saw unease spread across the faces of the other villagers as Jang’s thoughts grew long.
Then Jeong opened his mouth.
“I will follow the Magistrate.”
“J-Jeong......”
“If the Magistrate had intended to do so, he could have sent soldiers and simply dragged us all away instead of coming personally with identity tablets made. The fact that he asked for our wishes instead is enough for me to think it is worth betting on him.”
Jeong’s upright gaze turned toward me.
Ah, soldiers.
Well, about that......
In truth, I had chased them all out, so there was no one right now. Haha.
I pressed down the guilty feeling and nodded as if Jeong’s words were correct, then looked around.
Dam was excited by his brother’s words and was hopping around the surroundings.
Meanwhile, the faces of the villagers, including Jang, stirred at the fact that the twin brothers, who were practically the village’s guardian spirits, had decided to follow the new Magistrate down the mountain.
A little more pressure, and this would be finished.
When I glanced around, the quick-witted Personnel Clerk tugged on the Revenue Clerk’s sleeve and stepped forward, shouting,
“Now, now. If you wish to receive an identity tablet, come here and give your name. If your name is recorded today, you will be able to pick up your identity tablet later at the government office.”
At those words, Jeong and Dam quickly ran to the Revenue Clerk. Seeing that, the villagers who had been watching Jang’s reaction began gathering one by one where the Revenue Clerk stood.
After looking over those villagers, Jang hesitated for a long while before opening his mouth.
“My lord, this may be presumptuous of me, but...... are there by-products inside the protectorate that we can process? If there are no by-products to process, even if we go down to town, would we not lose our means of livelihood......?”
“Hiiik!”
“S-see here, Jang. H-how dare you say such a thing to the Magistrate......!”
At his question, the villagers standing behind Jang turned pale. Their faces seemed to ask whether he was not afraid for his life, daring to ask the Magistrate such a thing.
The corner of my mouth curled up before I realized it.
Jang, you are more useful than expected, are you not?
What those words meant was, Do you have the ability to hunt Dire Species? Surprisingly, Jang before me was reading the situation accurately.
Because every ability user capable of hunting Dire Species had been swept up by the Wansang Merchants, the last Special Military Officer left in Namwon Protectorate had been only Woo Hoe-jung, who had barely remained at First Bloom.
‘I thought he was just lucky enough to cling to the twins, but this is unexpected.’
This was an unexpected gain.
No matter when or where, awakened talent capable of thinking for itself was always welcome with both arms open.
I tried hard to pull down the corners of my mouth that kept rising and asked Jang,
“How does one Chief and about twenty-five lower-grade species sound?”
“Pardon??”
“A few days ago was the Dark Moon. They are what I hunted then.”
“Is th-that true?”
“Would I come all the way here to joke? They are laid out in the barracks as they are. If they are not processed in time, the precious materials will go to waste.”
“Th-that kind of thing!!!”
At my words, it was not only Jang whose eyes flashed with light. On the faces of the villagers who had been listening to our conversation from behind him, surprise, suspicion, and excitement flickered.
‘Even when driven into a corner, it seems the instincts of artisans do not go anywhere.’
I muttered inwardly and spoke to them.
“All by-products that come out of Namwon Protectorate from now on will pass through your hands. If you fulfill your duty, this magistrate will guarantee the treatment appropriate to it. Everything will be carried out exactly as written in this proclamation, without the slightest deviation, on the office of Magistrate bestowed by His Majesty.”
Jang drew in a breath and looked at me. Meeting his gaze as he stared hard this way, as if trying to measure whether there was a hidden lie, I smiled brightly.
“I told you there is nothing to worry about. You will not run out of work.”
Perhaps understanding the meaning contained in my words, Jang trembled for an instant.
It was the moment I secured workers I could use for life.
***
That night, Manbojae.
The residence of the Chief Merchant of the Wansang Merchants.
“So.”
The Chief Merchant drew deeply on the tobacco in his long pipe, exhaled a long breath along with the smoke, and asked,
“You lost every last one of the butcher caste bastards. Is that what you are saying?”
“My apologies. When we arrived, they had already......”
The man standing in attendance beyond the writing desk could not bring himself to raise his gaze and trailed off.
“Did you not say it was difficult to find traces of those things?”
“Th-the barrier was extremely wondrous......”
“And you are saying the one who broke the barrier you people could not even trace was the newly arrived Magistrate of Namwon?”
Not the slightest emotion could be read in the level voice that flowed without rise or fall.
But the man knew from experience that this was, on the contrary, a dangerous signal. Cold sweat streamed down the man’s forehead.
“Th-that seems to be the case.”
“Was it not also that gentleman who beat the former Special Military Officers Scholar Kim took with him into pulp?”
“Th-that is correct.”
“He demanded fifty Mana Crystals from us, did he not?”
“Yes, yes.”
At the continuing questions, the man squeezed his eyes shut and nodded as if resigned to whatever would happen.
Because of that damned newly arrived Magistrate or whatever he was, his head was about to fly. He had somehow managed to shove the matter with Scholar Kim onto that Kim bastard and let it pass, but because of the butcher caste bastards, he could no longer do even that.
What ability did that Magistrate bastard possess?
The man ground his teeth.
They had combed this area’s mountains as if searching for lice to find the butcher caste bastards who had fled, yet had not found so much as a single hair. What sort of trick had that Magistrate bastard used to find them and drag them all down from the mountain?
While the man sank briefly into thought, the Chief Merchant, who had remained silent, opened his mouth.
“So that means this new Magistrate has humiliated us twice in a row?”
“Th-that is—”
Tap.
With a casual movement of the hand, half-burned tobacco ash fell from the pipe.
At the same time, the head severed from the body of the man standing before him rolled across the floor.
The Chief Merchant watched indifferently as subordinates entered without a sound and swiftly disposed of the head and body rolling on the floor. Then he spoke.
“Call him.”
Since the Magistrate of Namwon says he wants tribute from this merchant group, we should give it to him.
Between the Chief Merchant’s murmured words, the freshly lit pipe burned crimson.