Chapter 86: Why are you there? (1)

"Anhui Province?"

Raon tilted his head in confusion.

"Where is that place?! Give us a map!"

Cale motioned to Chief Eunuch Wi with his eyes and Chief Eunuch Wi received a map from the eunuch next to him before he cautiously opened it up on the table.

"The Imperial Palace is here in Beijing."

Chief Eunuch Wi pointed to Beijing on the map before pointing toward Anhui Province.

"Since the olden days, Anhui Province has had a vast plain along with fertile lands. Farming is very advanced in that area. There are a lot of people with large properties there and the people are affluent compared to other regions."

"Hoooo!"

Raon's eyes sparkled as he asked.

"Then is the Namgung Clan rich too?"

Chief Eunuch Wi thought that this mysterious creature was cute after hearing that question in an extremely bright voice. He couldn't help it because the tightly clenched front paw, chubby cheeks, and protruding belly continued to catch his attention.

"Yes, sir. They are the wealthiest of the Orthodox faction's Five Great Clans."

"Oh! Human, apparently the Namgung Clan has a lot of money!"

Cale looked unsettled as he nodded his head at Raon, whose eyes were exaggeratedly sparkling.

'…He's not saying we should loot the Namgung Clan, right?'

He slowly started avoiding Raon's gaze.

A person's life could be completely ruined for trying to loot one of the Martial Arts world's clans. They needed to be careful.

"Anyway, the clothes suit you all very well."

Chief Eunuch Wi cautiously commented. Cale could tell that Chief Eunuch Wi was trying to build a good relationship with them.

"All of you look wonderful."

It was at that moment.

"Kahahahahaha!"

They heard someone's loud laughter through the open window.

"Choi Han, your fainting skills are truly admirable! Kahahaha! Come at me!"

Cale's gaze headed out the window.

In the small training ground attached to the guest house…

Toonka had his fists up while charging toward Choi Han. Although Toonka had been the one to say come at me, he was the one charging toward Choi Han as usual.

Boom!

Toonka was also the one who took one hit and got slammed into the training ground floor.

"…That sir looks quite reliable as well."

Cale grumbled back at Chief Eunuch Wi.

"Like hell he's reliable. He looks like someone the leader of the Green Forest would bow to."

"Mm."

Chief Eunuch Wi could not retort back.

"Human, what is a Green Forest?"

"Bandits."

He explained in detail after hearing Raon's question.

"There are your typical bandits, but the Green Forest is an organization that bandits gathered together to create. They are usually a part of the Unorthodox faction. Isn't that right, Chief Eunuch Wi?"

"Yes, sir. That's right. There are 72 Green Forest branches."

Chhh.

They heard tea cups being filled with a slightly red tea at that moment.

Cale looked at Ron, who was holding the tea kettle.

"You seem to know quite a lot about it, young master-nim."

Cale flinched.

"No, well, I just-"

"It is amazing. I wonder how you know so much about it."

He slowly avoided Ron's gaze. He then touched his long sleeves as if this was weird for him.

"It feels awkward because I've never worn clothes like this before."

This was the truth.

Such baggy clothes were even weirder right now because the twenty years old Kim Rok Soo's body was extremely skinny.

"It still suits you well, sir."

Chief Eunuch Wi looked at Ron.

"I heard that this sir picked the clothes out. You have quite the discerning eye."

Cale started talking the moment a slightly fishy smile appeared on Ron's face.

"Of course! Ron is the one who always prepares my clothes. He has a great discerning eye!"

"Yes, sir. Blue suits you very well."

Cale was currently wearing clothes made of blue yet indigo-like silk. Although there was no special embroidery on it, the material itself made it obvious that it was the highest quality silk available.

"It is the same color as my eyes!"

Raon liked it.

"I see."

Chief Eunuch Wi looked at Raon with satisfaction before continuing to speak.

"Then should I prepare a carriage to the Anhui Province?"

"No."

Cale reached his hand out. He touched a smooth head.

"Hey, Central Plains, you know the coordinates of the Anhui Province, right?"

"Yes, sir!"

Cale nodded his head with satisfaction at the disciplined response and commented to Chief Eunuch Wi.

"Please let me borrow the Fist King."

"…Excuse me?"

"I know the truth, Chief Eunuch Wi. I know the identity of Gramps."

Cale motioned with his chin toward Central Plains who smiled. Chief Eunuch Wi bowed deeply.

"…The Fist King is not someone I can give orders to, sir."

"Please ask him. See if he will go."

"Yes, sir. Is there anything else you need other than that?"

"Please deliver this to the Empress Dowager."

Chief Eunuch Wi respectfully received the message Cale handed him.

"And you come with us too, Chief Eunuch Wi."

"…Me?"

"Yes, sir. I heard you were one of the experts of the Eastern Depot."

Chief Eunuch Wi gulped.

"I am to stay by her Majesty, the Empress Dowager's side-"

"Let's go."

Chief Eunuch Wi bowed his head at Cale's calm comment.

"Yes, sir. I will inform Her Majesty."

"Good."

Cale had noticed that Chief Eunuch Wi was sharp and efficient at taking care of things. Furthermore, he was very wise about many things.

'We need at least one person like this.'

Truthfully speaking, Cale had wondered about how he could secretly contact an information organization once he arrived at the Central Plains.

'Either the Beggars' Gang or the Ignoble School.'

The Beggars' Gang was one of the Orthodox faction's Nine Sects One Gang. The members were all beggars.

And they existed no matter where you went in the Central Plains.

The Ignoble School was an information organization rivaling them.

Cale had planned on connecting with one of the two organizations by commissioning them, but…

'I have the Imperial family. So is there a need?'

Whether it was the Beggars' Gang or the Ignoble School, they would give more information than normal if he used the Imperial family name.

'And they'll give even more information if I peck at them from there. What else could they do? They can tell the Imperial family if they have any complaints.'

Cale planned on using this power properly.

"…No need to complicate things. Let's have smooth sailing."

Chief Eunuch Wi got the chills after seeing Cale's gaze as he mumbled to himself.

"Then, I will be on my way now, sir."

That was why he tried to get out of there.

"Ah, okay. Goodbye."

"Yes, sir."

"By the way, we are leaving tonight so be ready."

"...!"

'Tonight?'

Chief Eunuch Wi was shocked but he bowed his head.

"Yes, sir. I understand."

He then escaped the room with the eunuch he had brought with him.

Sui Khan, who had been quiet, started talking at that moment.

"What a good worker."

"He is."

Ron agreed.

"Hey, Cale. Will Jung Soo really be in Anhui Province?"

Sui Khan leaned against the window as he asked.

Sui Khan, Choi Han, Beacrox, Ron, and Toonka were all wearing black shaman attires. Their attires did not look the same because they all had blue clothes of different gradients around their waist or sleeves.

"…Who knows?"

Cale looked toward Central Plains.

Central Plains, who had a snack in his hand, chewed before responding.

"The information from the Imperial family should be quite accurate! They probably got the Martial Arts Alliance's information. However, I am a bit worried."

"Worried about what?"

Raon, who also had snacks in his front paws, chewed as he asked.

"I heard that the Sword Saint has been holding quite the desire for revenge since he lost badly to Choi Jung Soo-nim."

The Namgung Clan's former patriarch.

The Sword Saint, the current patriarch's father, had a lot of ill feelings toward Choi Jung Soo.

Furthermore, Choi Jung Soo was the Sword Demon and a Public Enemy of the Martial Arts world.

"By the way, why is he a Public Enemy of the Martial Arts world?"

Central Plains shook his head at Cale's question.

"The official reason they have given is that the Sword Demon attacked members of the Martial Arts Alliance and ran off with some treasure. However, nobody believes that. Everybody is sure that there must be a different reason."

"I see."

Choi Jung Soo had no reason to attack people for a treasure and run off with it.

"It does not make any sense."

Cale nodded his head at Sui Khan's confident response. Ron was attentively looking at him but Cale had no idea. He simply asked Central Plains a question.

"By the way, where is the Blood Cult? And why is the Great War of the Triumvirate about to break out?"

He needed to hear about this.

The Orthodox faction, the Unorthodox faction, and the Demon Cult. It was rare for all of these three factions to engage in a major battle like this.

"Ah, about that!"

Central Plains shoved the snack in his mouth and quickly ate it before responding as if he had been waiting for this question.

"The Blood Cult created living jiangshis. Those living jiangshis are totally like real people! Some of those living jiangshis-"

"Huh?! Hey Central Plains!"

Raon looked at the Central Plains in shock. He then shouted.

"Y, you are turning into stone!"

The Central Plains was slowly turning to stone from the foot up.

'What the hell?'

Central Plains urgently continued to speak as even Cale looked at him in shock.

"The God of Balance must have noticed! Anyways, please listen!"

He was turning into stone even faster now.

"The Triumvirate each has a living jiangshi!"

The Blood Cult had planted a living jiangshi in each of the Orthodox faction, the Unorthodox faction, and the Demon Cult.

They looked like humans, but the truth was that they were the Blood Cult's puppets.

"The living jiangshis of the Blood Cult believe that they are still alive! That is why they have not realized that they are being controlled by the Blood Cult!"

Central Plains was stone up to his waist now.

His upper body quickly turned into stone as well.

The situation was urgent.

There was not much time.

Cale asked Central Plains, who was about to explain more.

"Who is it?"

"Excuse me?"

"Tell me who it is first!"

He could hear the rest later. No, it didn't matter if he didn't hear the rest.

"That- ugh!"

Central Plains' body instantly turned to stone all the way up to his neck.

Cale urgently grabbed Central Plains' shoulder.

"Ugh, ugh. M, Martial Arts Alliance-"

Central Plains could not talk anymore after saying those three words.

He mouthed without any sounds coming out.

Cale followed the motion of his mouth.

"…Zhu, ge-"

Martial Arts Alliance, Zhuge.

"H, human! He's completely turned into stone!"

Central Plains had completely turned to stone. Cale looked around.

Everybody had gotten up and was looking at Central Plains.

"He's returned to stone!"

Cale moved his hand from Central Plains' shoulder after hearing Raon shout.

The young monk looked to be in quite a lot of pain sitting on the chair.

The moment Cale frowned…

Bang!

Smoke started rising from Central Plains.

Cale looked toward the area once the smoke disappeared.

"Human, he turned small!"

There was a small stone statue of a smiling young monk on the chair.

This seemed to be the original appearance of the stone statue without Central Plains inside it.

"Let's make sure to pack this!"

Beacrox pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket as soon as Raon said that, picked up the stone statue, and started wiping it.

He would probably take good care of it.

Cale then made eye contact with Ron and Sui Khan.

Sui Khan spoke first.

"There is a Zhuge Clan among the Five Great Clans."

Ron added on.

"Then I guess we can think that one of the Zhuge Clan's people in the Martial Arts Alliance is a living jiangshi."

"We can probably narrow it down even more. Isn't that right, Cale?"

Cale nodded his head at Sui Khan's question.

"It needs to be someone who can supply the first step to start the Great War of the Triumvirate. Then it has to be someone at least at the Executive level of the Martial Arts Alliance."

He organized the thoughts in his mind.

"The Zhuge Clan is famous for their smart brains. I'm sure that their position will be related to that in the Martial Arts Alliance as well. They are probably in the military strategy, planning, or advisor position. We just need to look at the executives of those areas."

Cale sat down.

Knock knock knock.

"Cale-nim."

Choi Han and Toonka walked in at that time.

Durst was currently keeping an eye on Number 7. Although, he was apparently busy organizing something next to the unconscious Number 7.

Cale looked at the tidy Choi Han and then at Toonka, who looked as dirty as a beggar from the Beggars' Gang despite wearing expensive clothes, before speaking.

"I think there are now more things we need to do once we get to Anhui Province."

The Martial Arts Alliance had declared Choi Jung Soo to be a Public Enemy of the Martial Arts world.

Furthermore, the information that the Sword Demon might be in the Anhui Province had come from the Martial Arts Alliance.

As a result, they should be able to make contact with the Martial Arts Alliance once they get to the Anhui Province.

Cale looked at the golden plaque.

"…If things go well, this will be smooth sailing."

His gaze headed toward Raon.

"Did you hear the coordinates for our teleportation?"

"I heard while eating the yakgwa earlier! (TL: Yakgwa is Korean pastry) The now-stone Central Plains told me how to calculate coordinates while looking at a map as well!"

Although teleportation did not exist in this world, Raon was capable of doing it.

"The mana here is a bit low, but I can still teleport!"

Raon pulled a box out of his spatial dimension.

Boom.

The large box seemed quite heavy. Raon shouted with joy.

"I packed a lot of highest-grade magic stones! So I can use all the magic I want!"

The corners of Cale's lip twitched as they curled up.

Cale had packed quite a lot of things for this trip. Magic stones were included. Just looking at them made him feel full.

"By the way…"

Sui Khan sat down across from Cale with a serious look on his face at that moment.

Everybody focused on him as it was rare for him to look so serious.

"There is one important preparation that is not done yet."

"…Which preparation is that, team leader-nim?"

Cale was thinking that the preparations were complete and that they just had to wait for Chief Eunuch Wi to contact them.

Sui Khan shrugged his shoulders and added on.

"The people of this world seemed to struggle with the names of our world because of their way of pronunciation."

Sui Khan smirked.

Cale saw Choi Han turn away from him.

'Shit.'

Cale's gaze was getting vicious but Sui Khan remained firm. He looked at Ron and Beacrox as he spoke.

"There may be times we need to introduce ourselves. I think it would be best if we came up with an alias for this world."

Raon slowly approached Cale at that moment.

"Human."

"What is it?"

"I don't like Gae-il."

"...."

Cale was at a loss for words.

—

Translator's Comments

Oh Raon.