Chapter 1052: That Creature Is a Harmful Creature (7)

“Would it be possible for me to see the General? The last time I met him, he struck me as an exceptionally dutiful Water Forces man. If we explain the situation, I’m sure he won’t turn a blind eye.”

But the County Magistrate’s face only darkened.

“You may not know this, Benefactor, but that is not how official and military business is conducted. Beating back Japanese pirates who come to invade and going out to sea to burn down the pirates’ den are two entirely different matters.”

The Central Plains had Water Forces, not a navy.

The Maritime Prohibition Decree applied not just to the common people, but to the military as well. That meant the Water Forces’ duty was to repel foreign enemies, not to exterminate them.

One might ask what difference there was between the two.

But if you defeated an enemy who came at you, that was repelling them. If you went to the enemy and defeated them there, that was extermination.

The Water Forces’ duty was to station themselves at the mouths where the sea flowed into the rivers and block foreign incursions.

And on top of that, this was a bad time for it. Troops had been drafted out in huge numbers for the Northern Campaign.

With most of the soldiers who guarded the provinces already pulled away, could the Water Forces, who guarded the rivers that formed the very core of the Central Plains’ water transport system, really dare abandon their posts so easily?

“And Assistant Commander Kim is so rigid and inflexible, so devoted to preserving his own... ahem, so devoted to carrying out his assigned duty, that he refuses to step outside it in the slightest. If a Japanese ship appeared, he would fire on it at once and sink it, yes—but he would never mobilize the fleet against a pirate den.”

The County Magistrate hurriedly changed his wording halfway through, as though he had realized that what he was saying had naturally become slander behind the General’s back.

In truth, though, it was hard to call it slander.

If a man did not neglect the duty assigned to him, then well. If a general refused to overstep his authority, even if the reason was to protect himself, how could that be counted as a fault?

So the County Magistrate, though visibly frustrated, spoke in the tone of a man saying there was nothing to be done.

“Still, we must communicate with one another and discuss what is to happen next. As it happens, since that whole Portugal business, Assistant Commander Kim has his General’s flagship anchored just ahead. If it is not too much trouble, would you come with me and testify in person, Benefactor? That blocked-up man will probably do nothing more than start talking about preparing for Japanese pirates, but still.”

“No! Good heavens! How could such a thing— I have had my eye on those Japanese bastards for a long time now. For them to dare proclaim a king? Those traitorous dogs, those rebel sons of bitches! Tell them not to move an inch! I’ll take the warships out this instant and blow every last Japanese bastard’s head off!”

Having heard the story, General Kim Jigang, Assistant Commander of the Shaoxing Guard, all but leaped into the air with fury.

The County Magistrate’s expression was a sight to behold.

What in the world? What had this man eaten wrong? He was absolutely not the sort of person who acted this enthusiastically, so what the hell was this?

Well—whose safety did he need to protect, exactly?

For the record, this was a kind of “safety” written not with the characters for peace and security, but with the characters for desk and before: the space before the desk where someone exalted sat, in other words, standing before a superior. Some people mistakenly thought it used the character for face, but there was already a separate expression for being face-to-face.

And a Censorial Inspector was precisely one of those lofty figures.

So of course, in front of her, he had to hate the Japanese pirates like enemies who had murdered his parents.

“Isn’t this our chance to smash the Japanese pirates all to pieces—well, perhaps not all the way to the root, but enough to leave them utterly wrecked? If we leave them alone, they’ll just keep breeding like vermin and multiplying. We ought to turn the place upside down and set a great fire at least once. So that is why, though I am only a wandering nobody, I wish to lend my strength gladly to the extermination of the Japanese pirates, and I have come to ask for your decisive judgment, General.”

What the General heard was this:

Hey. Let’s go kill Japanese pirates.

And if you don’t want to?

Then I’ll just report to His Majesty that we could not do it because the General opposed suppressing the Japanese pirates. What a terrible shame.

Besides, what possible reason did the General have to oppose it in the first place?

If troops were mobilized on the judgment of a Censorial Inspector, then if all went well the merit would belong to the Shaoxing Guard Water Forces, and if it went badly the blame would belong to the Inspector.

If things went well, good. If they went badly, there was no loss to him.

In a situation like that, should he not be grabbing her trouser leg and begging to be allowed in?

“How could you call yourself a wandering nobody! We may say that Well Water Does Not Invade River Water, but now I see that the loyal heart that thinks of the realm is one and the same. Milady is a true patriot, loyal to the country! In that case, I, Kim Jigang, Assistant Commander of the Shaoxing Guard, must of course stand with you!!”

The County Magistrate’s expression grew stranger and stranger.

What kind of reaction even was this?

Could it be that Murim people had some technique for bewitching others and controlling them? Was Benefactor controlling the General with such a method?

It was absurd, but what other explanation could there possibly be for the scene before him?

This was a General as stiff and unbending as a stone pillar.

Was he not the very man who would cut you off flat and say, If it is not an imperial command, then it is outside our jurisdiction—even a single simple patrol was absolutely out of the question?

Then why?

Why now?

Why was he suddenly rolling up his sleeves as though he had a blood feud with the Japanese pirates?

“And moreover, milady has already achieved the great feat of capturing the son of the pirate leader. It is a stratagem divine and miraculous! Might you be the reincarnation of Zhang Liang and Kongming? Ah, how astonishing, how truly fearsome! Your ability is fearsome, milady, and yet because you use that ability for the sake of the realm, it is also deeply reassuring!”

And on top of that, he had forgotten even his dignity and was openly spewing flattery.

“With a person such as yourself, an ordinary mediocrity like me can do nothing but trust and follow! Just say the word! If you would only grant me your wise opinion, this General will gladly obey whatever you say! Loyalty!”

Good grief, I can’t watch this anymore.

The County Magistrate scrubbed a hand down his face.

Of course, he too treated Qing with respect and generous hospitality, but that was the courtesy due a benefactor. That did not mean one could simply tell her to state any demand she pleased....

If the County Magistrate had been like an ordinary high official of the Central Plains, he might have smelled it here—that thick scent, the scent of power.

But Shanghai was not originally a county-level city at all. It was a special place put under the administration of a County Magistrate anyway, and the County Magistrate himself had basically just been someone loosely entrusted with the local great clans of Shanghai.

In other words, Shanghai’s County Magistrate was a man quite far removed from the ghostlike political instincts of real high officials.

People like that, incidentally, were referred to in official circles as hopelessly naive bastards.

So what was running through the naive County Magistrate’s head?

Well, considering the matter of his son, for one.

Benefactor had seemed strangely well-versed in bizarre occult matters, so perhaps she was some sort of sorceress capable of ruling men’s minds. Ridiculous as it was, he could only feel more certain of that impossible suspicion.

Even so, the direction of that control was not wicked. On the contrary, it was leading toward the salvation of Shanghai.

So once again, he could only think: Benefactor is showing us grace.

*****

CRUNCH.

King Saruta Shinryong of Ippen ground his teeth.

Because what could the heart of a father who had lost his son possibly be like?

At heart, he wanted to hang the warrior bastards who had failed to protect his son properly before anything else, but because he could not, his grinding rage only deepened.

The King could still see the prince’s face before him, the shy smile that had hovered there.

Krrrrrk.

Yes. Revenge. He needed revenge.

And if he wanted revenge, did he not desperately need even the strength of those half-wits who had failed to protect their own lord?

The situation in Ippen was somewhat complicated.

Ippen did not possess the ability to mobilize ten thousand troops.

And yet, in another sense, it did.

When people spoke of Japanese pirates, they meant Japanese sea raiders—but if one looked closely, fewer than half of them were actually Japanese.

Then what were the rest?

Central Plains men, Joseon men, Jurchens, Ryukyuans, and every other sort of barbarian, dressed in Japanese clothing and disguising themselves as Japanese pirates while they plundered.

These were called false Japanese pirates.

And if Ippen wanted to mobilize ten thousand troops, then it had to send word out to such false Japanese pirates and gather men from them.

And needless to say, gathering those men took a fair amount of time.

After all, false Japanese pirates were the sort of human trash who had committed crimes in their homelands and were being hunted, or drifters, or men no better than that to begin with. In other words, most of them did not even have any fixed place of residence.

So while the false Japanese pirates were being called in, the urgent matter for the moment was first to conduct the funeral.

The funeral.

The funeral.

Chungjeong, Chungjeong, how could you leave before me...!

Hot tears streamed from the King’s eyes.

If Qing had seen the sight, she would probably have started devising the most horrific methods she could think of while swearing that this bastard would absolutely not die cleanly.

That pirate-chief piece of filth had butchered and eaten countless sons, and now that his own son was dead, he was collapsed on the floor bawling.

It was then.

“Your Majesty, Dutch envoys are requesting an audience. What is your will?”

The King of Ippen’s eyes snapped wide open.

Dutch envoys?

The King remembered the Dutch fleet he had seen a few months ago.

Those magnificent ships!

The sight of those giant vessels, lined up one after another—ships that could not be compared in the slightest to the fleet of his own country—had been so imposing it could only burn itself into memory.

And at once the King’s eyes filled with rapture.

Perhaps Heaven itself was helping him avenge his son.

Not that Heaven would help some pirate chief.

But even a dog bastard who deserved killing always believed, in his own mind, that he was the most wronged man in the world.

“Quickly—quickly, let them in! At once!”

The King hastily wiped down his face and barked the order, because if he could borrow the strength of the Dutch fleet, his revenge would come much sooner.

...Except?

“They lost the entire fleet? No—how? The Dutch fleet was supposed to be that powerful.”

“That is correct. Our sailors now captured. If you help rescue them, Dutch will be very grateful, give enormous assistance.”

The Dutch, it seemed, had themselves been thoroughly stripped bare and had come asking for help.

The King could do nothing but let out a hollow, disbelieving sigh.

The Dutch envoy who had concluded the audience with the King burst into the room assigned to them inside the palace.

At once, the woman inside rose from where she had been resting.

“Well? Will they help us—blblp, damn it, the spit. This is why burning at the stake is dangerous. It damages the soul too. Anyway, did they say they’d help?”

The woman asked with awkward, unnatural body movements, drool stringing from her mouth like some diseased beast.

At that, the Dutch man—the first mate—pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the corner of her mouth for her.

“Fortunately, it does not look as though Captain will need to use charm. Apparently some people from the Central Plains killed the king’s son, and he’s burning for revenge from the look in his eyes alone—”

In an instant, the woman’s body went rigid, and the man hastily corrected himself.

“—burning, positively boiling with it. Captain should focus on recovering. They are planning to invade Shanghai anyway, so when that happens we can accompany them and rescue the crew. Captain will need to use her strength then, so for now you should rest well and recover your condition.”

“Really? That’s a relief. So what do they want? They’re not doing it for free.”

“If the rescue operation succeeds, they want two of the newest warships, fifty cannon, and five hundred flintlock muskets.”

“Tell them they can have whatever they want. I’m finished anyway. There’ll be bastards everywhere waiting to tear into me because that witch bitch finally failed, but if I at least pull off the rescue, I can avoid being exiled. As for cleaning up the mess, the new admiral can figure that out.”

“Ah, about that. I heard something rather interesting from the king here. It may be that we still have another chance.”

At that, life began to sparkle in the woman’s eyes.

And in equal proportion, drool began pouring from her mouth.

“What? What is it? Is there some way to get the fleet back?”

“Not that. It’s about that Central Plains witch.”

“Don’t even mention that bitch. Just thinking about her is horrifying. What in God’s name did she contract with— no, ugh, let’s not think about it, let’s not think about it....”

The woman shuddered and muttered to herself, but the first mate went on regardless.

“Apparently she is not a witch. According to them, she is what they call... a Murim person.”

“What is that? That sounds ridiculous.”

“It should be interesting, though. They say it is not the result of some sorcerous effect, but a master who has trained martial arts to the absolute limit.”

“So?”

“They call it a form of martial training. Quite fascinating, really. Apparently even an ordinary person, if they learn it and train in it, can stay youthful, live long, remain healthy, and leap three yards without difficulty.”

“What’s that supposed to be? Some Eastern mystery?”

“A mystery ceases to be a mystery the moment it is understood. What do you think? If we could get our hands on this martial training, wouldn’t the home country judge that the gains outweigh the losses?”

At that, the woman rubbed her chin.

More precisely, she started to rub it, then recoiled in disgust at the drool coating her hand and wiped it down the side of her trousers instead.

“Well, trying something is still better than retiring like this. But if that’s true, doesn’t that mean there are a lot of monsters like that bitch?”

“If there were, do you really think pirates could have run wild in these waters for so long? They say there are only a handful in the Central Plains at that level, and most of them live deep in inland mountains. Especially, they say, it is rare for them to come out to the coast. Just think of it as bad luck. It just so happened that a Murim person of that level was there at that exact moment.”

“Even so... I never want to meet her again.”

“Do not say things that do not suit you. Hold your head high. Even if you meet her again, you will not die anyway, will you? If it is not death, then it seems a challenge well worth attempting.”

“Have you ever tried dying? Do you have any idea how horrific it is? Ah. This is why mortals....”

And at that, the first mate spoke as though soothing her.

“If you feel that strongly, then at least relax while we are staying here. What, is that Central Plains witch really going to chase you all the way here?”