Chapter 1053: That Creature Is a Harmful Creature (8)

With the General’s blazing enthusiasm behind it, the mood was such that they might have set sail that very instant.

The only problem was that it was the height of monsoon season.

“This kind of weather is nothing to the warriors of our Shaoxing Guard! Compared to the Yangtze right now, the sea is gentler by far!”

Compared to the horrific torrents of the Yangtze, swollen with monsoon waters, the sea was calmer, he said.

Unless it was the season from late summer into autumn, when typhoons came in, there was no need to worry about the ships.

Qing asked again just to make sure this was not overreaching, but the General only radiated confidence and insisted there was nothing to worry about.

“The invincible Water Forces of the Shaoxing Guard! We can do iiiit!!”

Something about the way he shouted himself hoarse with discipline suddenly reminded her of a company commander standing before a division commander back home.

Hey, your company’s heading into something dangerous. You sure you’re good?

We’re good, sir!!

We can do it, sir!!!!

It was not exactly reassuring.

Still, from the County Magistrate’s assessment of the man, and from the way he had behaved during the last operation, he did not seem like the sort who would shove his subordinates into a dangerous mission for the sake of merit alone.

When they returned to the County Magistrate’s residence, he looked as though he was not quite sure what he had just experienced, or whether he might have dreamed the whole thing.

But what was even more certain than that?

The County Magistrate dropped to his knees.

He paid no heed at all to the muddy monsoon ground. He bent into a deep, formal bow, and when he spoke, his voice trembled thinly.

“Good heavens. Benefactor, you are not merely my personal benefactor, but the benefactor of all Shanghai. How could I ever possibly repay such grace?”

“Oh, come on, you’re doing this again. Please, don’t—”

“No, no. Even beasts know gratitude. How could a human fail to? In the end, are you not the one stepping into the most dangerous of deadly grounds?”

“It probably isn’t going to be that dangerous.”

So long as some Mystical Realm monster did not abruptly pop out of nowhere again, surely it would be fine.

Besides, if someone that strong really existed there, would they have spent all this time holed up on an island? They would have invaded already.

But the County Magistrate, who knew none of that, made a solemn vow in his heart.

Benefactor would surely prefer to keep such a deed from being widely known—but I will spread word of this grace to the whole world, build her a shrine, raise a stone statue, and commemorate her forever!

Qing, who naturally knew nothing of what he was thinking, all but fled toward the side quarters.

Twice a day, she needed to pour True Qi into the Japanese pirate warrior.

That Japanese pirate warrior, Nakamura—though in Japanese pronunciation it was Nakamura, which somehow felt absurdly familiar.

A shame, really, that the contents of that man turned out to be utterly subhuman.

“[Ah, Lord Seomun. You’ve come?]”

At some point Qing had apparently become Lord Seomun. This was, for the Japanese, as formal as they knew how to be.

Not that she was grateful for it.

Qing sent in that day’s share of True Qi.

From her lower dantian, the cold and gloomy energy of the Ice-Heaven Asura Demonic Art surged up through her arm and sank through the crown point at the top of Nakamura’s head, where her palm was pressed flat against him.

At first Qing had used the grand, mighty energy of the Muscle-Transformation and Marrow-Cleansing Scripture.

But the effect had worked a little too well.

This was not treatment meant to heal him. It was treatment meant to keep him lingering in illness for a nice long time. The whole point was to make him suffer more, not less. If the medicine worked too well, that would defeat the purpose.

“[Hhhuurk! Gghhh...!]”

The moment that icy True Qi swept across his meridians, Nakamura jolted fully awake.

And with that came the vivid, living sensation of his abdominal cavity rotting away inside him while he was still alive, wrenching from him a moan of raw agony.

There was nothing sweeter than the suffering of an evil man.

Under her face veil, Qing did not even bother hiding the pleased look on her face.

Ah. So rewarding.

Maybe next time she ran into some irredeemable son of a bitch, she ought to half-kill one and keep him around somewhere, just so she could pour True Qi into him whenever she got bored.

“[Your Highness, I... I no longer wish to trouble your august person any further. Please allow me to withdraw at last....]”

“[Trouble? How could caring for one of my own people ever be a trouble! For Lord Nakamura, I would gladly bear far greater hardship than this!]”

“[Khhk...]”

“[Endure it! Endure! Is the spirit of an Ippen man only this much? The Lord Nakamura I know can surely overcome this!]”

“[Yes, my lord. I shall do so. I will live, and repay this grace for the rest of my life...!]”

The prince was personally tending a subordinate on his sickbed.

At this point, it was the sort of scene that a history book might generously set aside a whole section for, preserving it as an exemplary tale.

Except—

Yeah, right. As if.

This was not exactly the picture Qing had expected.

People always said there was no such thing as a filial child before a long illness. This sort of nursing was difficult even to do for one’s parents.

Granted, it had only been a few days.

Still, the prince did not seem repulsed at all.

Hmm.

This was a little different from what Qing had expected. She had thought he would recoil soon enough and start making it obvious he wanted no more of it.

That touching display of tight-knit villainous affection lasted only a moment, however, because Qing led the prince into the next room, his guest chamber, and delivered the news.

“[Your Highness, I’ve secured passage. They say it will take about two days to prepare for departure, so you should soon be able to return to your homeland.]”

“[Ohhh, at last!]”

“[It was no easy thing finding a ship willing to head out to sea. I ended up burning through a whole string of gold....]”

“[A whole string of gold! I shall never forget your devotion, my lord! I will speak to my royal father and have him repay you tenfold, a hundredfold!]”

“[I wasn’t trying to boast, but if you insist on giving it, I’ll gratefully accept.]”

“[What are you saying? Lord Seomun is soon to become the physician entrusted with the royal court. What could have more frightening consequences than slighting a physician?]”

Well, well.

He had enough ease left in him to joke?

Qing felt something twist unpleasantly in her gut.

“[That said, Lord Seomun—when we return to my homeland, is it not the case that your close friend Miss Seol will be coming as well?]”

Qing’s eyes narrowed at once.

Oh?

Look at this little bastard.

One was a lord, the other was a young lady? Never mind the forms of address. Why was he asking whether Seol Iri would be going too?

This bastard—how dare he cast his eyes that way?

Qing immediately snapped.

“[Absolutely not! I told you that if Lord Nakamura is to be saved, then you must devote yourself to him with your whole heart. And now you tell me wicked lust for a woman has been mixed into it?!]”

“[Wh-what? That isn’t what I—]”

“[I must inspect Lord Nakamura’s condition at once! Your Highness, go and bathe in cold water immediately to purge yourself of this delusion! How can you lust after a woman while your dying subordinate lies before you?!]”

Her setting, after all, was that she became utterly serious whenever she practiced medicine.

Qing barked like a shamanic exorcist and promptly drove the prince out.

Then she stormed into the next room in a hurry, because the part of her mind that only ever sprang fully to life when she was tormenting bad people lit right up yet again.

“[Gghhh...]”

“[Lord Nakamura?]”

“[Physician Seomun... this pain, this terrible pain will not stop. Is there no method, no way at all...?]”

Qing bent down and whispered softly by Nakamura’s ear.

“[There are plenty of ways. But why should I?]”

“[Physician Seomun...?]”

“[Your insides are already rotting away. Your condition is beyond saving even if a heavenly deity descended in person. And of course Heaven would never lift a finger for a vile raider worse than a beast. Even so, the reason I keep your breath in your body is this: death itself is too much of a luxury for you. I mean for you to keep suffering. So why, exactly, would I ease your pain?]”

“[Wh-what...?]”

“[Listen carefully. I am going to wipe out the seed of you Japanese pirate bastards down to the last scrap. I will take warships there, burn that island from end to end, and slaughter every last one of them. At the very least, until I show you your pirate den burning and everyone in it butchered before your own eyes, I will keep you alive.]”

“[Y-you bitch...]”

“[And do you know why I am telling you this? Because I am going to tell your prince that you are drunk on pain and seeing things, hearing things. Tell me, which do you think your half-witted prince will believe—my words, or yours? Isn’t that delightful?]”

“[You— ahhk, khrrk—]”

Nakamura tried to shout something, but to shout properly a person had to tighten the abdomen.

And what sort of pain did that produce when one’s entire belly was full of rotting guts?

His eyes rolled back, and his whole body quivered.

At any rate, Qing had told him nothing but the plain truth.

There really was no chance he would live.

She really was planning to take warships there and strip the place bare.

And yes, it really did sound like it would be amusing.

Trust his subordinate, or trust his benefactor.

Now then—which would the prince choose?

“[Um... Lord Seomun. Please do not misunderstand me. But Lord Nakamura said that...]”

The prince, having finished his ritual bathing and purification and gone to check on his subordinate, came looking for Qing almost immediately. His voice was painfully cautious.

From the sound of it, Nakamura had gone straight to tattling everything.

Qing let out a long sigh.

“[This is why I told you again and again that your devotion had to be sincere. If your care for Lord Nakamura has been mixed with wicked thoughts, then naturally Lord Nakamura too would fall under the influence and sink into wicked delusions. It is no different from seeing things that are not there and hearing things that are not there....]”

“[Th-the thing is, Lord Nakamura said you would say exactly that as well....]”

At that, Qing sighed even more deeply.

“[Your Highness. No, think about it sensibly. Suppose I really were plotting something like that. Then what—would I have lost my mind so badly that I’d confess it all with my own mouth? Why? For fun? Would someone bent on revenge really babble out their whole plan from start to finish just for a laugh? Does that make any sense?]”

“[Well, that is....]”

“[If you truly cannot put your suspicions aside, then I will not cancel the passage, so return alone. Palace physician, my foot. How could you ever trust a person like me with a post of such noble standing at this rate? Send the ransom—no, the reward—to the Fairy Clinic in Shanghai. Surely Your Highness is not going to pretend you know nothing of grace received?]”

“[No, it’s not that—]”

“[A palace physician? In my fate? That bastard has some personal grudge against me or something—after all the trouble I went through to keep him breathing, he turns around and bites me. Anyway, you can go back alone. Understood?]”

At that, the prince looked like confusion itself.

When he had heard Nakamura’s words, he had indeed thought that this mysterious woman calling herself a physician suddenly seemed deeply suspicious.

But then again, that rude and mercenary attitude of hers—now that he thought about it, she really had been consistent from the beginning to now. Ransom, reward, money, money, money—she had chased after nothing but gold.

And above all—

“[Tch. There it goes. Ruined. I’d better tell the others to unpack. Ugh, everyone’s going to be disappointed. They were all looking forward to becoming nobles.]”

At that, the prince’s eyes flashed wide open.

“[By ‘everyone’—do you mean Miss Se—no, Lord Seomun’s companions are coming as well?]”

“[Of course. If I just up and leave alone, what happens to the people at my clinic? And we’ve spent a long time working hand in hand. If I have to train a whole new set of people from scratch, that would be a nuisance too.]”

“[Ahem. Come to think of it, I believe I may have let the words of a sick man lead me into an unnecessary suspicion. I apologize. Put it aside.]”

At that, Qing drove the wedge in deeper.

“[...Then if I do follow Your Highness to Ippen, will you grant me the fief you promised?]”

The prince gave a bitter smile.

From start to finish, what a consistently vulgar, mercenary physician she was.

Still, compared to gaining a miraculous healer with such divine skill, a mere fief was cheap indeed.

Watching that expression, Qing let a wicked grin spread across her face.

Really, anyone who sat in a high position without the ability to match it was committing a crime just by sitting there.

Of course, the prince might have had some grounds to feel wronged.

The outcome, after all, had practically been predetermined from the beginning. How much trust could anyone place in the words of a man hovering between life and death?

Still, one very entertaining thing had now appeared for Qing to observe on the voyage to Ippen.

How long could the prince keep being sincere while tending a subordinate who would go on doing nothing but spout “delirious nonsense”?

And how badly would the heart of a loyal retainer burst, when even the honest counsel born of true loyalty was treated as the raving of a dying man?

With her face hidden behind the veil, there was no need for Qing to manage her expression at all.

Her whole face bloomed with a bright, delighted smile.

And so, now that she had acquired a small but charming source of amusement along the way, all that remained was to set sail for Ippen.