Chapter 92 – Between Kindness and Pretense (2)
From the next day, rumors about the Naless Hero spread through the martial world again. Just as the flas of the initial rumors were dying down, it was as if oil had been poured on them, causing them to blaze even higher.
If the Slaughterer had been a symbol of power, the Lustful Buddha was a villain who had hard ordinary people. Moreover, he was a lecher who had raped weak won.
While everyone praised the Naless Hero, there was a doubt in the back of their minds that his heroic deeds might have had so political motive.
But after eliminating the Lustful Buddha, people completely discarded such doubts.
They rejoiced and were thrilled at the birth of a new hero.
Even in the inn where I was having dinner now, everyone was talking about . About the other , the Naless Hero.
“If I could just see the hero’s face once, I would have no regrets.”
“Since Alliance Leader Cheon passed away, there hasn’t been anyone worthy of being called a hero in the martial world, but finally one has appeared.”
“Indeed, heroes are born in turbulent tis, but it’s been too peaceful lately.”
“Since the hero’s deeds were perford here in Henan Province, he might still be sowhere around here.”
As he said this, one man looked around.
His gaze turned towards . The man who accidentally made eye contact with imdiately turned his head back to his companions.
He probably thought it couldn’t be this easy to et the Naless Hero, but the person he so wanted to see was .
I was surprised anew at how quickly the rumors spread. Usually, creating a single rumor is not as easy as one might think. It requires a lot of manpower and ti.
But the flas of this self-propagating rumor were burning through the martial world in an instant.
When I was the Alliance Leader, I only saw the martial world through Gal Sa-ryang’s reports. Now, seeing and feeling the martial world directly was different from what I had imagined. It’s much more vibrant.
One more thing I felt was that the martial world people were desperately thirsty for the birth of a hero. I was grateful that they rembered as the last hero, and it was bitter to hear that no hero had been born due to the peace I had brought.
Soone sat down in front of without asking permission.
“How does it feel? To beco a hero?”
Surprisingly, it was the Ma Ryeong-in. He had entered the inn alone, leaving his guards outside.
“It feels surreal. What’s the big deal about killing one asly guy? Do they know I even carefully collected the bounty from the Martial Righteous Alliance?”
“Even if they knew, it wouldn’t change anything. They’ll think you’ll use it for a good cause.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Heroes must et the right timing. Even if you killed the sa guy, if you had done it at a different ti, no one would have recognized it.”
“I suppose so.”
“Anyway, we should have a celebratory drink. Since you don’t drink alone, I’ll be your company.”
He called the waiter and ordered alcohol.
“Thanks to you, I’ve beco a hero and made money, but why have you shown such kindness?”
“It’s a gift.”
“A gift?”
“A gift to commorate making a new friend. But why do you look like that?”
“Can I speak honestly?”
“Go ahead.”
“All of this feels like a trap for . It’s strange that soone as great as you would show such kindness to .”
“You lack faith in people.”
“In all my life, no one who told to trust them was truly trustworthy.”
“Trust one last ti.”
He held out his cup, but I didn’t toast with him and drank alone.
The Ma Ryeong-in, who had left the inn, got into the carriage that was waiting.
The person waiting inside was Joo Do-chi. As soon as he got in the carriage, the Ma Ryeong-in said,
“Make one more big move for that guy. Do you have any suitable cases?”
“There are so, but…”
“Use the biggest one. If possible, give him plenty of money too.”
“Yes.”
Although he answered readily, Joo Do-chi couldn’t suppress his rising suspicion.
“I’m sorry, but I must ask this. What exactly is your reason for doing all this for that guy?”
“Are you that curious?”
“Yes, I’m so curious I can’t sleep.”
“You’ll find out soon enough, so just get so good sleep. Now, let’s depart.”
I was standing at the window of my second-floor room in the inn, looking down at the carriage.
As the carriage started moving, the Ma Ryeong-in stuck his head out of the window. He waved at in the window with a friendly smile.
I lightly bowed my head and then ostentatiously closed the curtain. If Joo Do-chi had seen it, he would have been angry, thinking, ‘That insolent bastard!’
Yet there was a reason for acting this way.
The more distance I kept, the less suspicion there would be about .
***
Early the next day, Joo Do-chi ca to see .
I was in the middle of eating breakfast on the first floor of the inn.
“If you haven’t eaten, join .”
“I’ll pass.”
“They say eating a hearty breakfast helps you live longer.”
“Do you want to live long?”
“Of course. Otherwise, why would I be tied to you people?”
“Another mission has co down.”
“What?”
My chopsticks, which had been busy moving between dishes, stopped for the first ti.
“I haven’t even spent the bounty from catching that lecher yet.”
“You can spend it all later. The reward this ti is hefty too.”
I glared at him. Joo Do-chi’s attitude was as if to say, ‘So what are you going to do about it?’
“Fine, I understand making the hated guy work, but why are you making earn money? It’s not like you’ve taken in an orphan to beg. Are you planning to kill suddenly and take it all?”
“Do you think we’d do this for that petty money?”
“Then why are you doing this!”
Of course, it was clear that Joo Do-chi didn’t know about it either. He must be frustrated that he can’t tell .
“Here, take this.”
On the paper he handed over, the na and location of a villain, and the evil deeds he had committed were written.
With this, I could clearly understand the nature of their organization.
Selfish bastards!
They have information about these villains’ activities but don’t catch them. It ans they only move when it benefits their organization.
You guys are the real villains, even more than those written here.
***
The one I caught this ti was a forr assassin nad Jong Baek[1], who had settled in Henan and was doing assassination work.
While assassins are said to be abundant in the martial world, this guy’s problem was that he was cruel enough to kill not only untrained people but even children if paid enough.
Only when the fight was over and he was about to die did he realize sothing about .
“…Who exactly are you?”
Jong Baek asked with difficulty, exhaling his last bit of vitality.
“They commonly call the Naless Hero in the martial world.”
“…How did you find my hiding place?”
When I arrived at his dwelling, he had sensed my approach and was hiding behind a secret wall prepared inside the house.
How did I know he was behind the wall?
During my ti as the Alliance Leader, assassins were the enemies I encountered most frequently. Especially when we were at war with the Sima Heretical Path, there was a ti when assassins ca every other day.
Sotis assassins ca morning and evening on the sa day. I’m truly soone who could write a report on assassins if asked.
“…You, were you an assassin?”
Those were the last words he left before dying.
He probably sensed it throughout our fight with an assassin’s unique intuition. That I thoroughly understood him and assassins.
***
This ti, the Xiping branch of the Martial Righteous Alliance in Henan Province was thrown into an uproar.
The Naless Hero, whom they had only heard about in rumors, had now brought in the corpse of the terrifying assassin Jong Baek. The bounty on him was a whopping nine thousand taels.
With this incident, rumors about the Naless Hero spread through the martial world once again.
The end for villains!
The Naless Hero beca the hope of ordinary people and the dream of children learning martial arts.
Even without the Ma Ryeong-in, I had been planning to make the Naless One a hero of the martial world. Thanks to him, I was easily achieving my goal.
However, I still didn’t know the Ma Ryeong-in’s purpose. In terms of Go, I was giving him the first move now; I needed to find that first move.
Several more days passed like that.
During that ti, two watchers died by my hand. There were days when watchers were attached, and days when there were none at all. Neither the Ma Ryeong-in nor Joo Do-chi showed any reaction to my killing of the watchers.
They and I were getting used to each other.
The journey that started by following the secret code was getting longer, but I wasn’t worried about those waiting for .
Gwang-du might be worried that I haven’t returned, but basically, they were all wise people. They would be carrying out their own tasks.
Over the past few days, the place I targeted to gather information was the Zhengzhou Martial Arts Academy.
The Zhengzhou Martial Arts Academy was their base in Henan Province. There might be several branches or safe houses throughout Henan Province, but I was certain this was the central base.
First of all, the scale of the academy was quite large. There were at least two hundred staff mbers, and while there might be so regular staff, a considerable number would be their subordinates.
Moreover, since the estate with the underground secret room was here in Zhengzhou, they would have needed to establish their main base here to support it.
Anyway, the Zhengzhou Martial Arts Academy was much less guarded compared to the estate.
Joo Do-chi usually stayed there. On days when there were no watchers, I infiltrated the Zhengzhou Martial Arts Academy to monitor Joo Do-chi. I had found a secret space where I could hear conversations in his office.
On the day the Ma Ryeong-in visited the Western Spear Manor and Eastern Sword Clan, he also stopped here for about a quarter of an hour.
In other words, it ant he might co here again. If I could hear a conversation between just the two of them, I might find so clues.
After monitoring Joo Do-chi like this for several days, finally, the Ma Ryeong-in visited the Zhengzhou Martial Arts Academy.
After so conversation, they ntioned .
“What’s Naless doing?”
“Just living as usual. Going to brothels, drinking. Wandering around too.”
“Find a way to make him even more famous.”
“Young Master, please tell now. Why are you showing such kindness to that guy?”
“Are you that curious?”
“Yes, I really want to know.”
“Then your question is wrong. Because I’m not showing kindness to him.”
Finally, the Ma Ryeong-in revealed the fact he hadn’t told until now.
“Do you know what’s happening here in Zhengzhou next month?”
“Next month? Isn’t the Golden Grand Banquet[2] being held?”
“That’s right.”
The Golden Grand Banquet was a big event for rchants held once a year by the Central Plains rchants’ Union. From wealthy rchants owning several large trading companies to small-scale rchants. It was truly a festival for all rchants of the Central Plains.
The Golden Grand Banquet lasts for ten days, and not only rchants but also the Martial Righteous Alliance Leader and key figures of the Martial Righteous Alliance, as well as famous martial arts masters of the gangho, all participate.
“Big brother will co then too.”
Joo Do-chi could understand that the ‘big brother’ the Ma Ryeong-in was referring to ant Ma Cheol-gun.
Blinking for a mont, Joo Do-chi was startled.
“D-Don’t tell ?”
He was so surprised he almost covered his own mouth.
In contrast to his shock, the Ma Ryeong-in calmly said,
“We’ll send Naless to assassinate big brother.”
Joo Do-chi swallowed hard in astonishnt, and the Ma Ryeong-in’s explanation continued.
“Naless is now called a hero in the martial world. What do you think will happen if such a person kills our big brother?”
Now it seed clear what the Ma Ryeong-in’s true intention was.
In the succession struggle, the Ma Ryeong-in’s biggest enemy was undoubtedly Ma Cheol-gun. He was popular within the Heavenly Blade Sect, and most people in the martial world predicted he would beco the successor.
But what if he dies?
The Ma Ryeong-in would beco the strongest successor candidate.
Based on what’s known externally, the rest are evaluated similarly, but the Ma Ryeong-in was a completely different person from what was known externally.
Of course, it can’t be said that there aren’t cases where the outside and inside are different among other successors, but in Joo Do-chi’s view, no one could match the Ma Ryeong-in.
“Naless is not only extrely skilled, but his internal energy has also increased dramatically. What do you think? Isn’t it worth a try?”
“But can he kill Ma Cheol-gun?”
Ma Cheol-gun’s martial arts skills were outstanding among the successors. Moreover, there were many great masters around him.
“Even if the assassination fails, it doesn’t matter.”
“What?”
“The fact that the Naless Hero tried to kill him, that fact is important. People will think, why did that righteous hero try to kill big brother? Hasn’t he done sothing bad behind the scenes?”
“Ah!”
Now he could understand the Ma Ryeong-in’s deep intention.
“But what if he’s caught and confesses everything?”
“He will die on the day he attempts the assassination.”
“What?”
“Don’t we have that?”
At the word ‘that,’ Joo Do-chi got goosebumps.
Probably, the Ma Ryeong-in had planned all this when he received Joo Do-chi’s report that day they first t, saying he was bringing soone called the Naless Hero. Joo Do-chi greatly admired his plan.
The Ma Ryeong-in said with a smile of satisfaction,
“So let’s make our hero bigger and stronger.”
I had been listening to all of their conversation.
So this was truly the reason?
I had been inwardly speculating like this. That they would use as a sacrifice for so kind of test. Like that man who died bleeding from his seven apertures that day.
But for this reason? I really couldn’t have imagined it.
What exactly does ‘that’ an, which the Ma Ryeong-in ntioned? Could it be related to the underground secret rooms in the estate?
A smile of satisfaction appeared on my lips as I regained the initiative I had lost. Once you know, you can prepare.
Alright, I’ll gladly accept your kindness.
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