Chapter 97
At my acknowledgment, the expressions on both their faces stiffened slightly.
Paeng Ga in particular, who had disliked me from the very beginning, looked absolutely livid. He ground his teeth and said,
“Yeah, you were suspicious from the start. An ordinary passerby would have run for his life the moment he saw a sword fight, but you were standing behind a tree watching as if it were entertaining.”
“It wasn’t particularly entertaining.”
“You insisted on coming with us; you weren’t particularly afraid even after we ran into the bandits several times, and then you charged in at the end… Wait, was that deliberate too?”
I cheerfully nodded.
“Thanks to that, we were able to safely enter the stronghold, right? You don’t have to thank me that much.”
Paeng Ga finally exploded.
“What do you mean, thank you?! You crazy demonic-path bastard! If you hadn’t interfered, there’d have been no reason for us to be caught in that net and dragged here in such humiliation!”
“Oh, come on. If we hadn’t been captured by the bandits, how were you planning to enter Yongcheok Stronghold? And I was the one who freed you, wasn’t I? The brat couldn’t do anything, right? You ended up needing help from a crazy demonic-path bastard, didn’t you?”
“You really…!”
“Ah! Then, by any chance…”
Zhuge Ye, who had remained silent until then, finally spoke.
“Were you also the one who occasionally helped us, Brother Jin… no, Brother Dan? Even when we were surrounded by bandits at the beginning…?”
“That’s right. It was me.”
Zhuge Ye exclaimed.
“I knew it! I thought something was strange from the beginning. We were clearly at a disadvantage at first. But at some point, the bandits started making mistakes or bumping into one another, didn’t they?”
“Oh-ho, you’ve got good eyes.”
“I initially thought it was simply luck, but similar things kept happening afterward, so I was puzzled… So it was because Brother Dan was helping us!”
“Good instincts, too. Haha, Young Master Zhuge, if you get a little older, you’ll make quite a name for yourself in the martial world.”
“Hehe, you’re too kind. I’m nowhere near that skilled…”
“Zhuge Ye!”
A harsh voice poured cold water over the warm atmosphere of the two exchanging compliments. Paeng Ga twisted his face and pointed a finger at me.
“What the hell are you doing? Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of Flower-Glutton. That bastard is a lust demon who violates the chastity of innocent women!”
“What? Brother Paeng, Flower-Glutton may be fond of women, but he isn’t exactly a lust demon…”
“Look at what happened this time! The moment he heard that the stronghold chief’s wife was beautiful, his eyes went crazy, and he followed us all the way here. If a shameless bastard who covets another man’s wife isn’t a lust demon, then what is he?!”
“Hey.”
Looking at Paeng Ga, whose words were getting increasingly excessive, I lowered my voice.
“She isn’t his wife yet! They haven’t even had the wedding.”
“…What?”
“No, and you seem to think I came here to commit some grand evil deed. That’s not why I came. I merely came to see the beauty’s face. They say she’s the most beautiful woman in all history, so naturally I’m curious, aren’t I?”
“……”
“Anyway, I have no ulterior motives. Got it? Haa, not only do I have to listen to some black-faced man instead of a cute beauty, but he’s even whining at me…”
“How can I believe you?”
I stopped grumbling playfully and turned my head toward Paeng Ga. He was glaring at me with piercing eyes.
“How can I believe you, Flower-Glutton? Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten what you’ve done until now?”
“……”
“A man who goes crazy whenever he sees a woman says what? That he only wants to look at her face? That he has no ulterior motives? How do you expect me to sit still after believing your words when I don’t know what you’ll do to the stronghold chief’s wife…!”
“What if I don’t sit still?”
My expression turned cold.
“What are you going to do?”
“……”
As I quietly glared at him and released killing intent, Paeng Ga’s body stiffened with a start.
Paeng Ga hurriedly reached for his waist. But it was empty. His weapon had already been taken away when the bandits captured us. His face filled with dismay.
A dangerous silence lingered for a while.
Their eyes gauged the distance between us, and the situation was so tense that the slightest movement seemed liable to trigger a fight.
“Well, I have no intention of fighting.”
In the end, I was the one who defused the situation.
“Don’t glare at me like that. Honestly, our objectives are the same, aren’t they? You want to see the stronghold chief, and I want to see the beauty. Since our goals are the same, wouldn’t it be good to cooperate for a while?”
“……”
“Well… if you don’t like it, there’s nothing I can do. I’ll just have to break both your legs and lock you up over there with the bandits.”
“Excuse me? Why me…?”
“Choose.”
I held up two fingers.
“One: you interfere with my path, get your legs broken, and spend your time in prison.”
“……”
“Two: you cooperate with me obediently.”
Then I bared my teeth in a fierce grin.
“What’ll it be?”
The answer was obvious. The two eventually decided to cooperate with me.
Zhuge Ye was entirely responsible for this. Without even hesitating, he said he would cooperate, then persuaded Paeng Ga.
“Brother Paeng, if you’re so worried about what Brother Jeong Dan might do… wouldn’t it be better to stay by his side and keep an eye on him? Haven’t you heard how Flower-Glutton is said to appear and disappear like a ghost? Rather than letting him suddenly disappear and cause trouble, it would be better to keep watch over him.”
“……”
‘I told you I’m not going to cause trouble.’
I clicked my tongue inwardly, but I knew Paeng Ga would only listen if he put it that way.
Still, perhaps hearing persuasion from his own companion had made him more willing to listen. After remaining silent for a while longer, Paeng Ga finally nodded. Then he glared at me unhappily and threatened,
“…If you try anything funny, I won’t let you off.”
“Do as you please.”
I nodded, thinking that he had a big chest but was rather petty inside.
After that, we got to work. The first thing we did was deal with the guards outside.
It had already been quite a while since that bandit entered. Although everything was still quiet, the guards outside would probably be wondering why he hadn’t come out yet.
So we had to go attack them now.
Tap-tap.
I quickly ran toward the outer door. Then I grabbed the door handle and pulled it open.
Creeeak.
The bandit standing in front of the door spoke to me.
“What? Why did you take so long to come ou–Urk!”
Bam!
He bit his tongue hard and passed out. I’d punched him square in the jaw.
“Mus…!”
At the same time, I grabbed the collar of the bandit beside him and threw him into the stone cell. A thud rang out, followed by a commotion from inside.
But I had no time to worry about that. There had been one more bandit standing beside the one I’d thrown in.
‘Tch, there were two when I looked earlier.’
That bandit saw his companions get taken down in an instant and tried to run away rather than fight. But I wasn’t about to let him escape so obediently.
I immediately extended my leg and tripped him. As the bandit stumbled, I took a step forward, pivoted my other foot, and forcefully kicked him in the head.
“……!”
The bandit collapsed without even managing to scream, blood flowing from his head.
I grabbed the limp bandit, threw him back into the stone cell, and quickly looked around. Fortunately, there was no one else besides this bandit.
Thud.
I closed the iron door again.
The other two were waiting for me, apparently having already dealt with the bandits I’d thrown inside. I grinned and asked,
“Am I late?”
“Are you all right, Brother Dan?”
They seemed quite surprised that there had been another bandit. I nodded and grabbed one of the bandits’ collars.
“Let’s change clothes first. Remember what I said about disguising ourselves as bandits?”
The two nodded. Then, in the darkness, they each stripped the bandits of their clothes and changed into them.
The change was completed in an instant.
If there was one problem, it was that even after changing clothes, the two of them didn’t look much like bandits. The problem was that ‘polished face’ the bandit had mentioned earlier. No matter how filthy the bandit clothes were, their faces still radiated an air of nobility.
“Did you two catch some disease where you die if you don’t look like young masters?”
“What?”
I said nothing more and ordered the two to let their hair down and cover their faces as much as possible.
Then I looked around for something they could smear on their faces. I remembered that there had been traces of a fire right outside the stone cell, so I quickly went outside, scooped up a handful of ash, and gave it to them.
Zhuge Ye smiled as though he found it amusing to smear soot across his face, while Paeng Ga busily smeared it all over his face with an irritated expression.
Once we were more or less ready…
“If another bandit talks to you, don’t say anything if you can help it. Paeng Ga, I’m talking to you. Huh? Why are you glaring like that? If you want to get caught, go ahead and flap your mouth. Young Master Zhuge, use your judgment like you’re doing now. Got it?”
“Haa…”
“Of course.”
I opened the stone door and stepped outside.
“Good, let’s go!”
To see the beauty!
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