NOVEL NEXT Chapter 32 - Recruitment (1)
Chapter 32: Recruitment (1)
Early the next morning.
Safe travels, Young Master.”
“Hahaha. Thank you for your hard work, Branch Leader. A new official document regarding the school will probably arrive in a few days, so please hang in there until then.”
“Y-yes, of course! Hahaha!”
After exchanging pleasantries with Il-mok, with whom he had grown closer during the reception, the Branch Leader of Kuqa County bid farewell.
“Hya!”
Kwan Mu-yeol spurred his horse, and the carriage departed from Kuqa County, heading toward Hejing County.
Watching the departing carriage from the village entrance, the Kuqa County Branch Leader thought.
‘…I feel like I forgot to mention something.’
He’d been so flustered by Il-mok’s veiled threats that his mind had been a mess.
And soon, the Branch Leader realized what he had forgotten and lightly shrugged his shoulders.
‘Hmm. They’re the disciple of the Supreme One and his appointed escorts, so there shouldn’t be any major problems.’
* * *
Unlike our tense prior journey, I lounged lazily in the carriage after enjoying Kuqa County’s generous accommodations.
“Young Master. It’s time for your lightness technique training.”
The warriors, who couldn’t stand seeing me relax, spoke up, but…
“Oh dear, my muscles are still sore from yesterday’s injury. I feel stiff all over.”
“It didn’t seem that serious.”
“Actually, I once severely injured my muscles while stopping Eldest Brother’s rampage. It seems to be acting up again, haha. I thought I’d have someone to protect me, but it looks like that didn’t quite work out.”
“……”
When I brought up how I nearly died from the Branch Leader’s rampage yesterday, the warriors became as silent as clams.
Thanks to that, I was able to travel comfortably in the carriage, half-dozing off, until…
“Young Master.”
I sighed and woke up to Warrior Jang Hwi’s call, but before I could respond to him, Kwan Mu-yeol’s voice cut in.
“Don’t leave the carriage.”
“???”
“Bandits are approaching.”
“!?”
I pulled back the carriage curtain with an incredulous expression and looked outside.
Indeed, as Kwan Mu-yeol had said, a group was approaching, kicking up sand and dust.
It was an absurd situation.
‘Bandits in Xinjiang daring to target the disciple of the Heavenly Demon?’
It was like watching crazy people picking a fight with even crazier people.
And soon, I realized why this situation had unfolded.
‘Right. We’re currently hiding our identities.’
The carriage we were riding in didn’t display any flags or emblems related to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
Though unintended, we had somehow set up a trap for ourselves.
Having reached this conclusion, I watched the approaching bandits with a complex expression.
“They’re walking right into their own graves.”
* * *
Strangely, the two escort warriors didn’t speed up the carriage to escape, nor did they attack the bandits until they were right next to the carriage.
“Are you waiting for the bandits on purpose?”
When I questioned their behavior, Kwan Mu-yeol answered in his blunt tone.
“We’re waiting for them to get closer.”
“Is there really a need for that?”
It was hard to say it was for my protection. Even if they went out, Jin Hayeon would still be with me, and if my safety was the top priority, running away would have been the right thing to do.
And my doubts were resolved thanks to the answers from Kwan Mu-yeol and Jang Hwi.
“These vermin dared commit crimes in the Divine Cult’s territory, we won’t let a single one escape.”
“When they get close, we’ll cripple their horses in a surprise attack. Then, we’ll slaughter them all before they can escape.”
“……”
From the moment they spotted the bandit group, they weren’t thinking about how to deal with them, but rather how to ensure not a single one escaped alive.
‘Crazy.’
Was it due to the influence of Demonic Arts and the cult’s doctrines that they had no qualms about killing?
‘No, even the martial artists in the Central Plains were similar.’
When I was working as a waiter, Uncle Tae-hyun often warned me to be careful of martial artists, as they were terrifying people who would draw their weapons at the slightest provocation.
Neigh!
As those thoughts crossed my mind, the bandits were closing in.
There appeared to be around twenty of them, riding on about fifteen horses.
Perhaps because horses were expensive, only two were riding horses alone, and the rest were riding horses in pairs.
Neigh!
The bandits finally stopped, forming a circle around us at a distance of about two meters (20 ft) from us.
The leader, a stern-looking middle-aged man, simply glared at us with his arms crossed. A man beside him drew his saber and shouted.
“Hand over everything you have! If you do, we’ll spare your lives!”
Immediately after his shout, a momentary silence fell.
Just as the two escort warriors were about to make their move to slaughter them.
“Wait!”
I quickly shouted and poked my head out of the carriage.
The two guard warriors who had gripped their weapons to strike looked at me with bewildered expressions.
The bandits’ attention also shifted to me.
I knew that if I had just stayed put in the carriage, the escort warriors would have taken care of these bandits in no time.
From the start, they were warriors assigned by Master, there was no way they would be defeated by mere bandits.
Yet there were several reasons why I stepped forward.
The most naive and foolish reason was because I didn’t want to see twenty humans get massacred.
And the calculated reason was that it would be a waste to kill the horses. Horses were expensive even in modern times, but in this era, horses were an even more important resource as they were used for far more diverse purposes.
Of course, risking danger just to save some money was stupid, but there was a reason for this too.
‘There’s no killing intent.’
They didn’t act like bandits who were threatening people for money.
Perhaps due to my experience facing Master and Eldest Brother, I was more sensitive to killing intent than my level would suggest.
But I couldn’t sense any killing intent from these guys. Alternatively, they could have been such novices that they couldn’t even emit killing intent.
‘Which means they’re not even a morning workout for the escort warriors.’
With that thought, I looked at the leader, who seemed to be in charge, standing in the middle of the group.
‘As expected.’
That leader was wearing an expression I was quite familiar with.
An expression that anyone would often make. That unique expression when forced to do something they don’t want to do.
After confirming this, I gave orders to the escort warriors who were ready to swing their weapons.
“Can you subdue them without killing if possible?”
“Is there a need for that?”
“I have something I want to check, and besides, wouldn’t it be a waste to kill the horses?”
Did my words provoke the bandits?
“These bastards must have a death wish!”
Several of them dismounted and charged at us with weapons and charged at us with weapons in hand.
“Sigh.”
“I’ll try my best, but if they resist too much, it can’t be helped.”
The two escort warriors sighed and flew towards the bandits, utilizing lightness technique.
Clang!!
“!?”
Perhaps they hadn’t anticipated the escort warriors’ skills to be that high.
The bandits’ eyes widened in shock as their weapons were sliced in half in a single clash with the escort warriors’ saber and spear.
Thud!
Then the escort warriors struck the stunned bandits’ bodies.
Watching the bandits fly away like a scene from a cartoon, I wondered if this was really their way of trying to spare lives.
‘Is this their definition of mercy?’
As I watched the flying bandits with a dumbfounded expression.
“How dare you!!”
“We won’t let this slide!!”
More bandits charged at the two escort warriors.
Bang!!
And they were sent flying even faster than they had charged in.
This absurd scene continued for a while, and then—
“Stand back!!”
The leader, who had been standing back with his arms crossed, shouted and then drew a glaive, leaped from his horse and charging straight at Jang Hwi.
Clang!!
“Hooh.”
Jang Hwi, who had clashed his spear with the bandit leader’s weapon, muttered with interest. It seemed to be because, unlike the other bandits, the leader hadn’t been sent flying after the first exchange.
Clang!
Clang!
The bandit leader and Jang Hwi continued to exchange blows with their glaive and spear.
Kwan Mu-yeol stood nearby like a guardian, blocking other bandits from interfering.
Then, Jang Hwi, who had been trading blows with the leader, spoke as if he had realized something.
“I had a hunch, but you guys… You’re from the military, aren’t you?”
“!!!”
The bandits’ expressions showed surprise at Jang Hwi’s words, and the bandit leader shouted with a twisted face.
“And you lot are filthy Demonic Cult scum!”
The bandits’ expressions hardened, as if they finally understood why the warriors’ skills were so exceptional.
But the one whose expression hardened the most was someone else.
“What did you just say?”
It was the bandit leader, who had dared to blaspheme in front of a devout cult fanatic.
“Enough playing around. Die.”
As the enraged Jang Hwi began to swing his spear in earnest, the bandit leader was instantly pushed into a defensive position.
Clang!
Though he desperately blocked the spear a few times, the bandit leader’s crescent moon glaive finally flew upward and…
Swish!
In that moment, Jang Hwi’s spear thrust toward the bandit leader’s heart.
“Don’t kill him!”
I shouted at Jang Hwi. He clicked his tongue before changing the spear’s trajectory.
Thwack!
Jang Hwi struck the bandit leader in the torso with the shaft of his spear, then closed in and sealed his pressure points, subduing him.
And right after the boss was subdued, the bandits showed an unexpected reaction.
“Big Brother!!”
Without hesitation, the remaining bandits all charged at Jang Hwi.
For bandits to show such loyalty. It was an incredibly bizarre sight and…
Bang!
“Ugh…”
As payment for their loyalty, the bandits were once again sent flying in all directions.
* * *
Kneeling in a battered line, the bandits glared as I approached their leader.
“So, why is a military man like yourself engaging in banditry here?”
“……”
As if possessed by Guan Yu’s unwavering loyalty, he remained silent with a determined look.
Fortunately, Jang Hwi answered my question in his stead.
“They’re probably deserters, Young Master. I’ve heard that in the past, there were many bandits from Xinjiang, but after our Divine Cult settled in Xinjiang, their numbers drastically decreased. Recently, most bandits are either people who fled from the Central Plains after committing serious crimes, or deserters like these men.”
As if struck a nerve, the bandit leader’s face contorted, and he shouted.
“How dare you insult me, you filthy Demonic Cult scum!”
Once again, the bandit leader insulted the cult, and killing intent flickered in Jang Hwi and Kwan Mu-yeol’s eyes.
“We should cut out that tongue of yours to teach you manners.”
As the two warriors began to draw their weapons, I intervened.
“Stop.”
However, simply telling them to spare him wouldn’t work.
“Simply killing him would be too light a punishment. Shouldn’t he properly pay for his sins?”
My words seemed to work, as the two warriors who were about to draw their weapons stopped and crossed their arms, looking at me. As if they would wait and see what I would do.
Then I turned to the bandit group and asked.
“I’ll ask again. Why are military deserters engaging in banditry here? If you don’t answer properly, I’ll cut off your heads one by one.”
Since these guys showed unusual loyalty for a bandit leader, I tried this threat thinking it might work.
And my prediction was correct.
Gritting his teeth, the bandit leader began to tell his story, in hope to save his subordinates.
It was a common tale.
The bandit leader was a man of common birth who had served in the military for over twenty years, rising to the rank of commander of a hundred men, a Captain, a sixth-grade official.
Then a year ago, someone at least ten years younger than the bandit leader became his superior as a Commander.
Naturally, that person was from a prestigious family, and the two constantly clashed.
That young man, disliking the bandit leader who constantly criticized him, finally trapped him.
He framed him for embezzling military supplies.
The bandit leader was about to be executed when his loyal subordinates, who had served with him for over a decade, rescued him at night and deserted with him, along with their horses.
After hearing his rather cliché story, I asked again.
“Having gone through so much trouble to escape, why are you doing banditry? Frankly, just selling the horses here would be more than enough to make a fresh start.”
At my question, the bandit leader roared in frustration.
“It’s because of you bastards!! You filthy Demonic Cult members!!”
“What nonsense is that? Because of us?”
“We escaped here because we knew we’d be hunted down as deserters if we returned to the Central Plains, but no one would take us in! Every village we went to, they looked at us like monsters and chased us away! If it weren’t for you brainwashing them, would this have happened?!”
Answering his rage-filled shout was Jang Hwi, wearing a cold smile.
“You speak as you please with that loose tongue of yours. We only helped the people of Xinjiang. If you hadn’t harassed them in the first place, would this have happened?”
Jang Hwi’s following explanation was simple.
The Imperial Court had often dispatched troops to annex the Xinjiang region into the Central Plains, and each time, the people of Xinjiang had resisted, being massacred in the process. In that process, the Demonic Cult members fought alongside the Xinjiang residents.
Though it had stopped since Master took the position as the Heavenly Demon, apparently this was common until several decades ago.
Somehow, listening to this reminded me of the Xinjiang Uyghur oppression I often heard about in modern times.
‘Nothing’s changed, past or present.’
Having grasped the situation, I asked my final question.
“Then, how many innocent civilians have you killed while committing banditry?”
The bandit leader answered with a look of offended pride.
“I only did it to keep my brothers, who risked their lives for me, from starving. We only subdued those who resisted, we didn’t kill them! So end this humiliation and kill me! Spare my brothers and kill me!”
“Big Brother!!”
“No, Boss! Let me die instead! You must survive, Boss!!”
Suddenly, they started acting out a scene straight out of a historical drama.
‘What a show they’re putting on.’
I scoffed in disbelief and opened my mouth.
“Kill you? Why would I kill you?”
These men are from the military. Moreover, they practice genuine martial arts rather than Demonic Arts, meaning, they should be somewhat literate.
“If you’ve committed crimes, shouldn’t you atone for them? Since you seem to have no money, you’ll have to pay with your bodies.”
This meant that perfectly suitable personnel for what I had planned in Kuqa County had just walked right in.