Book 9: Chapter 7: White Rice

Dragon and Phoenix Gathering arena construction site.

The Third Young Master's camp.

A loud clap of thunder echoed outside.

“…A decision of the Supreme Executive Council?”

The former Sect Leader of Diancang wore a displeased expression.

'That a decision of the Supreme Executive Council temporarily banning hostile acts will come down…'

He cast a sidelong glance at Elder Yu.

'Yet of all things, an elder from the Fourth Young Master's side was chosen as the messenger?'

He was a figure who had gone so far as to offer up even his own sect and become an elder of the Sword Family to survive the upheavals of the times after the fall of the Demonic Cult.

Having roughly caught on to how the situation was turning, he looked at Elder Yu.

“Could it be…”

His gaze began to tremble.

“Did the Eldest Young Master back the Supreme Executive Council and begin intervening here?”

Elder Yu, smoking yet another cigarette, readily answered his question.

“That is correct.” "……."

The cigarette held in the old man's mouth fell to the floor.

His breath felt choked.

He, who used to call the Eldest Young Master a demon, had volunteered to come here to avoid the rampaging Yeon So-hyeon.

'This is insane…'

But to think that the Eldest Young Master was reaching his hands all the way to this place where he was.

Was this not news like a bolt from the blue?

“Then what on earth is the Eldest Young Master aiming for here—” just as the former Sect Leader of Diancang was about to speak, the presence of someone was felt near the entrance where they stood.

“Halt! General warriors cannot approach the command headquarters—” a warrior pushed aside the warriors guarding the entrance and rushed inside.

“Move!”

“We need additional medical support!”

Every time he moved his steps, rainwater splattered down from his soaking wet armor.

“Just how long has it been since the report was submitted, and yet there is still no support?!”

The gaze of the crowd turned toward the warrior's shout.

The gazes of the former Sect Leader of Diancang and Elder Yu, who had stopped their conversation, also turned toward him. "……."

For the first time since she had entered this tent, the interior of the tent fell silent.

“Whether it is the Medical Arts Academy of the Main Family or the Medicine Fairy Sect, if a request went out, shouldn't additional support have arrived from somewhere by now?!”

The fact that the rainwater falling to the floor had a reddish tint was not solely due to the light of the oil lamps brightly illuminating the interior of the command tent.

It was clear that the warrior himself was also injured.

“My comrades are dying even at this very moment!”

At his appeal, the highest-ranking figures inside the command tent looked at one another.

That was not an expression of embarrassment.

“…That guy. Which subordinate faction does he belong to?”

Their gazes, with strangely furrowed expressions, were searching for the person responsible for the subordinate faction to which the warrior belonged.

“Just what on earth is the command thinking…!”

At that moment, someone who approached the warrior with quick steps grabbed his arm roughly and pulled him.

“B-But, Martial Uncle…”

The one called martial uncle dragged him and headed out of the command tent.

“What on earth do you think you are doing…?! Spouting such words so carelessly in such an important place…!”

“No, that is not it, Martial Uncle. Right now outside, people are dying—” they passed by Elder Yu, who was near the entrance.

“Shut up, you rascal…! In a situation where it is pouring rain like this, how can support come straight away as you wish…?!”

“B-But…”

“Buts or no buts…! And is this not a situation where all operations are currently suspended…?! In the first place, why are you, who belongs to the reserve unit, injured…?! Just what on earth did you do…?!”

“Because they said they were recruiting people to go find the comrades left behind in the epicenter, I could not just stand by…”

“What?!”

“But we were ambushed instead…”

Because they had gone outside the command tent, no further conversation could be heard.

“Tsk, tsk.”

The former Sect Leader of Diancang clicked his tongue.

Of course, he was not clicking his tongue out of regret for the comradeship of the young warriors and the injured.

“Those Hengshan Sect bastards. Now that they have split in two, look at the state they are in, unable to even teach proper manners to their disciples…”

Disgusting bastard. "……."

Simply saying nothing was the limit of the patience Elder Yu possessed.

Seeing her silently putting on the bamboo hat she held, the former Sect Leader of Diancang asked.

“Wait, where are you going right now—?”

Ignoring him, she shouted toward the crowd.

“An order from the Supreme Executive Council banning hostile acts for the time being will arrive!”

At the mention of the Supreme Executive Council, everyone's gaze was focused.

Calmly raising her hand, she pointed at the former Sect Leader of Diancang.

“Everyone, hear the details from the Sect Leader!”

She stirred up the crowd like that, turned around in one swift motion, and headed outside.

“H-Hey?! Look here, Elder Yu! Where are you going? I still have many things left to ask you…?!”

The former Sect Leader of Diancang shouted from amid those who were flooding toward him.

“Since I have finished the messenger mission.”

Facing him, Elder Yu spoke with a blunt face.

“Since I too have learned a bit of medical arts, it seems I will be more helpful outside than here.”

Behind her as she left the command tent like the wind, only a long trail of cigarette smoke remained.

“Elder Yu! Elder Yu!”

What welcomed her as she stepped outside were the groans of the wounded and the screams of those who had lost their comrades. "……."

A miserable sight.

Yet she did not feel a mind to blame those who made them wail.

Her gaze turned toward the innermost part of the siege network, which revealed its appearance whenever lightning flashed in the distance.

'…The truly horrible place must be over there.'

Spitting out the cigarette that had instantly gotten soaked and extinguished, rendering the bamboo hat useless, she turned around and moved her steps toward the wounded.

* * *

The fortified poor workers' district.

The inner street.

Even if the opponent was not the Sword Family, which was comprised solely of the most elite warriors, what was it like to face a group that professionally executed force?

And that, at the level of poor workers who had risen up because they could not eat properly.

Yeon So-hyeon was currently witnessing that result in person. "……."

A middle-aged woman of shabby appearance opened the cauldron.

Steam rose abundantly from the freshly cooked white rice.

Yet her expression by no means looked joyful.

The way she merely kept gulping down her saliva, it seemed as if she would quickly scoop up even a spoonful and eat it.

For some reason, she merely scooped that rice with a paddle and filled the gourd bowl to the brim.

Giving a nod of greeting to Yeon So-hyeon, who stood aside at the entrance, she passed by and entered the pavilion right next door.

Yeon So-hyeon silently followed behind her.

“Aigo, aigo!”

“Old man! Open your eyes, old man!”

That wide space, which had been scheduled to be used as a waiting room before entering the arena, was filled with the wailing of countless people.

While that empty air was filled with the gut-wrenching pain spewed by those who had lost family and friends, the floor was tightly packed with corpses.

Every time lightning flashed outside, the straw mats covering the corpses were dyed white.

Yeon So-hyeon's face, soaking wet from the rain, shone exceptionally pale. "……."

The number of straw mats revealed momentarily looked to be over several hundred.

“Ah, darling—!”

Seeing the straw mats covering the corpses and the floor turning red, it was obvious without looking what the state of the corpses beneath the straw mats would be.

“…Here it is.”

Receiving the gourd bowl that the middle-aged woman had brought filled with rice, a scrawny old man repeatedly expressed his gratitude.

“Thank you! Thank you so much!”

And the old man placed the bowl at the head of the straw mat he was guarding.

“Come, eat!”

Tears flowed endlessly from the eyes of the old man bowing toward the corpse.

“Eat to your heart's content even in the afterlife, you rascal!”

The wailing voice of the old man was cracked and split.

“It is the white rice that you wanted to eat so much! Eat until your belly bursts!”

The middle-aged woman who had delivered the rice pressed her palms together beside him.

“…May you attain Buddhahood.”

Indeed.

Because it was rice for an offering, neither the middle-aged woman nor the old man had dared to touch it with their mouths. "……."

Yeon So-hyeon looked around.

He could see that a rice bowl piled high with white rice was offered for every corpse.

Finishing pressing her palms together, the middle-aged woman approached Yeon So-hyeon's side.

“…With the Eldest Young Master accompanying them on their way of departure like this, everyone must have gained comfort.”

Although she suddenly called Yeon So-hyeon the Eldest Young Master, he was not surprised.

“…I am sorry.”

At Yeon So-hyeon's words, she shook her head.

“No.”

She looked at Yeon So-hyeon and smiled.

The smile was so sorrowful.

“I am simply grateful that even a single living person attended like this.”

At that moment, lightning flashed outside again.

And Yeon So-hyeon woke up from the vision shown by the Scripture of Controlling Darkness and Shaking the Heavens. "……."

On the floor, instead of the hundreds of corpses that had been neatly lined up and attended to, there was a giant pit.

By the successive lightning, the appearance of the corpses filling the inside of that large pit dug into the floor was revealed.

Though at least the depth of the bottom could not be guessed, just what was visible on the surface already exceeded a hundred.

'…A mass burial?'

Rain leaking from the unfinished ceiling flowed down into the pit.

In the warm temperature, the smell of the corpses starting to decompose felt as if his nose would fall off.

'…They probably do not even have the leeway to properly retrieve the corpses.'

Yeon So-hyeon knelt on one knee and closed the wide-open eyes of the middle-aged woman lying nearby.

It was the corpse of the woman who had carried the white rice in the vision. "……."

There is no afterlife.

Knowing it was meaningless, Yeon So-hyeon pressed his palms together toward the pit and stepped out of the pavilion once again.

Receiving the rain pouring down like crazy actually made his mind feel slightly more at ease.

“…Hehe.”

At the sound, which could not be identified as crying or laughing, Yeon So-hyeon's head turned in that direction. "……."

Wolfing it down.

A poor worker sat leaning against a wall, hugging a gourd bowl and stuffing his mouth with the white rice contained inside.

Because the wind was so strong that the eaves were meaningless, his gourd bowl was already half rainwater.

Furthermore, as if he had lost several fingers, the hand holding the gourd was bandaged, and that dirty cloth was submerged in the water-logged rice.

Yet he did not care in the slightest, scooping the white rice with his bare hands and cramming it into his mouth.

“ Hehe….”

Separated from his moving hand, there was no focus in his gaze as he stared into empty space.

Beside him, a crudely made spear was rolling.

“…Show me that hand.”

Yeon So-hyeon pulled the hand that was holding the gourd.

Whether he thought he was a physician or something, he unexpectedly entrusted his hand to Yeon So-hyeon obediently.

“…If it is done like this, there will be no need to cut off the entire hand because it rots.”

The gaze of the poor worker, which had been wandering in empty space, turned toward Yeon So-hyeon, who had given him proper first aid.

“Physician, sir.”

He raised his hand and pointed to the side.

Around that hand, a cloth was newly wrapped, which Yeon So-hyeon had torn from his own cotton clothes to tie after completing the treatment of the wound.

“Can you check this friend as well?”

The one leaning beside him while holding a spear was already dead.

“…Since I have many more urgent patients right now and am in a hurry, I will return shortly to take a look.”

He bowed his head flatly.

“Thank you, Physician, sir.”

Then, he held out the rice bowl toward Yeon So-hyeon.

“Because I have nothing else, if you are hungry, perhaps even this…”

“It is fine. I am full, so you, who are hungry, should eat a lot first.”

Yeon So-hyeon patted him on the shoulder and stood up.

Behind Yeon So-hyeon as he left the spot, the voice of the poor worker carried over.

“Why, of course. Being full is the best. When was the last time I ate white rice this much…”

Giving him a slight nod of the head, Yeon So-hyeon looked around. "……." "……."

Under the eaves of the surrounding streets, those sitting with spears tucked beside them were all, without exception, hugging gourds and eating rice.

'Did they distribute rations after the battle that took place around that explosion earlier…?'

It was likely a decision made by the leadership of the poor workers who had risen in rebellion.

Although it was probably a decision made to boost morale, its effect did not seem very large. "……."

The eyes of the soldiers, who sat packed tightly even inside the buildings on the verge of completion and scooped rice with their bare hands, were already dead.

'Their physical strength has already reached its limit.'

“Sir.”

Someone who was sitting nearby approached with an empty gourd.

“Are you with the martial artists who were helping us?”

Did he see him helping the poor worker who had lost his mind?

His attitude was quite polite.

“They are all gathered at the command post of that street over there, holding a meeting.”

Those martial artists probably referred to the members of the Spring of Luoyang.

“…Thank you.”

“Don't mention it; we are simply grateful. Without the master martial artists, we would not have lasted even a single day.”

After expressing gratitude by bowing his head to Yeon So-hyeon, the poor worker pointed behind himself.

“The food distribution is being done behind here. You should have a meal…”

Neither the one who had lost his mind nor the one barely holding onto his senses omitted the talk of food.

“…It is fine.”

Suppressing the emotion that surged for a moment, Yeon So-hyeon continued speaking.

“You should eat heartily.”

The poor worker smiled bitterly with his sun-blackened, emaciated face.

“If I can die after eating white rice enough to be full and fighting like this, that is not bad either.”

Yeon So-hyeon's steps, which had been about to turn around after nodding, suddenly came to a halt.

“…Sir?”

When Yeon So-hyeon turned back, he looked with a puzzled face.

Toward him, Yeon So-hyeon said.

“You guys will —-.”

Because the wind and rain grew fierce in an instant and even lightning struck, Yeon So-hyeon's words were not heard properly.

“Yes? What did you say?”

Yeon So-hyeon opened his mouth and spoke once more. "……!"

The eyes of the poor worker, who heard Yeon So-hyeon's words, grew wide.

“So, take care of yourself.”

Leaving the greeting, Yeon So-hyeon moved his steps toward the command post.

The poor worker holding the empty bowl, until the boy's figure disappeared into the rain.

For some reason, could not take his eyes off him.

Opening his mouth, he repeated the words the boy had spoken.

“…That he will no longer let anyone among us die in vain?”