Chapter 19: Leather Shoes
The Martial Alliance was plunged into grief.
It was the first time that more than forty unit members had died at once.
However, they did not remain immersed in sorrow indefinitely.
Many unit members had died, but it was a victory nonetheless.
The Chief Administrator stood before the coffins where the unit members lay, lighting incense for each one and praying for the repose of their souls.
The martial artists of the Martial Alliance also gathered to pray for the repose of the fallen unit members’ souls.
The coffins containing the fallen unit members were loaded onto carts and returned to their families, escorted by the martial artists of the Martial Alliance.
The Chief Administrator, having busily handled the matters, entered his room and took a breath.
Phew……
Even though he had witnessed and sent off countless deaths so far, whenever he faced death, his heart felt heavy as if it were the first time.
He spread out the documents and underlined the names on the list of Four Divine Units members.
The underlined names were all of those who had died in this battle.
Then, the name Sa Hu-myeong, Anhui Sa Family, suddenly caught his eye.
‘He had the look of someone who would d*e in a foreign land, and he died like this.’
He drew a line under Sa Hu-myeong’s name.
“It’s Black Tortoise Unit Leader Yang Su-chan.”
As Unit Leader Yang’s voice was heard from outside, he quickly put away the documents.
“Come in.”
Unit Leader Yang, who entered the room, bowed with his hands together and revealed the reason for his visit.
“I will take responsibility for this incident and resign from the position of Unit Leader. Please appoint someone else as the Black Tortoise Unit Leader in my place.”
“This incident was not your fault, so don’t blame yourself too much. And the position of Unit Leader is not something you can easily resign from. Don’t ever say such a thing again.”
The Chief Administrator firmly rejected Unit Leader Yang’s request.
Since the Chief Administrator was adamant, Unit Leader Yang could no longer speak of resigning from his position.
Soon, the door opened, and all the Unit Leaders of the Four Divine Units entered the room.
“It’s a good thing you all came. I received a brief report, but I need to hear about the detailed situation from you.”
“We were inside the cave, so it would be more accurate to hear from Unit Leader Yang here, who was outside.”
Yeon Ja-ryong deferred the report to Unit Leader Yang.
Upon this, Unit Leader Yang explained the events that had transpired in Suzhou in detail from the beginning.
“When the Four Divine Units arrived in Suzhou, countless martial artists had already gathered after hearing the rumors. We didn’t know where the Martial Emperor’s tomb was located……”
“After the Four Divine Units and the martial artists entered the cave, there were individuals who appeared suddenly. There were five in total, and one of them was the Green Forest General Headquarters Head, the Green Blade King. And another one was holding a Fangtian Ji in his hand……”
“If we had been even a little late, the Black Tortoise Unit would not have escaped annihilation.”
The Chief Administrator, having received a detailed report from Unit Leader Yang, asked the other Unit Leaders.
“Is there anything missing?”
“No.”
At Yeon Ja-ryong’s answer, the Chief Administrator nodded.
“I heard that Kang Dong-jae made quite a contribution this time, so I did a little research on him.”
The Chief Administrator saying he did a little research meant that he had thoroughly investigated.
“Did you find anything special?”
“Nothing came up. An orphan, raised by an old man, and apparently the child was bright and quickly learned the old man’s skills. And he was interested in martial arts from a young age and trained alone. But he didn’t have a master who taught him martial arts.”
The Chief Administrator felt uneasy even as he spoke.
It was hard to find someone with such a clean past.
Even when the backgrounds of the young talents who entered the Four Divine Units were investigated, many strange things came out.
But Kang Dong-jae had almost no past to speak of.
“Hahaha……”
“He saved all of the Four Divine Units, so what’s there to be suspicious about?”
As Baek Mu-ho burst into hearty laughter, the heavy atmosphere eased a bit.
“He made a great contribution, so shouldn’t there be some kind of reward? He also saved nearly two thousand martial artists.”
Yeon Ja-ryong tried to secure a reward for Kang Dong-jae no matter what.
A contribution was a contribution.
No, it was an enormous contribution for his first outing.
If anyone else had made such a contribution, not only their family but the entire Martial Alliance would have been in an uproar.
But despite such a contribution, the Martial Alliance was quiet.
Perhaps it was because he was a crow.
“That’s right. I’ll call him separately and give him a reward, so you all can leave.”
“Yes. Please rest.”
As the Unit Leaders left, the Chief Administrator was once again lost in thought.
‘The physiognomy can’t be wrong. That guy is not someone who would make such a contribution.’
“Let’s have a drink together sometime.”
A member of the Black Tortoise Unit, who had never spoken a word to me before, suggests having a drink together.
I gladly accepted the offer.
“Sure.”
I can’t tell you how happy I am to be recognized by the members of the Four Divine Units because of this incident.
But that joy didn’t last long.
“I wonder if so many unit members died because that crow guy was with them?”
“Maybe.”
My happy mood vanished in an instant because of the unit members who glanced at me and whispered.
“You fools. Don’t mind them. They’re just jealous that you made a contribution.”
Uncle suddenly appeared and comforted me.
“It’s okay, so don’t worry.”
Uncle and I entered the building where the statues were erected.
But Uncle, who was walking beside me, suddenly stopped and looked at his statue with a pleased expression.
At that moment, the members of the Four Divine Units passed by and lit incense and bowed before the Martial Emperor’s statue.
“See? See?”
I stared blankly at my proud uncle and then left the place.
“Where are you going now?”
Uncle quickly caught up to me.
“The Chief Administrator called for me.”
“Is that so? Then go ahead. I’ll wait here and receive greetings from the kids.”
“Do that.”
“It’s Kang Dong-jae.”
The Chief Administrator, who was organizing documents, adjusted his clothes and spoke in a stern voice.
“Come in.”
As Dong-jae entered, he gave a faint smile and pointed to a chair.
“Sit there.”
“Yes.”
The Chief Administrator waited for Dong-jae to sit down and then gave a bright smile.
“I received a report that you saved all of the Four Divine Units. Thank you very much.”
“I just did what I had to do.”
“You’re even humble. Still, thank you is thank you.”
The Chief Administrator was outwardly smiling brightly, but he was observing Dong-jae with hawk-like eyes.
“You said you were an orphan, right?”
“I didn’t say anything like that.”
As Dong-jae’s eyes sharpened, the Chief Administrator realized his mistake.
‘Oh no.’
Ahem!
He cleared his throat and quickly changed the subject.
“You’ve made a contribution, so I want to reward you. Is there anything you want?”
Dong-jae pondered for a moment and then replied.
“I want to have a sword. A good one.”
“A sword? You mean all you want is a single sword?”
“Yes.”
The Chief Administrator quickly hid his surprised expression.
“Do you know swordsmanship?”
“I only know a little. But my sword is too old, so I want to replace it with a new one.”
“Show me your sword.”
He could tell how diligently he had practiced swordsmanship by looking at the sword.
Dong-jae got up from his seat and respectfully handed over the sword he had placed on the chair.
The Chief Administrator, receiving the sword, examined the scabbard and the hilt.
The scabbard was worn out, and the leather strap wrapped around the hilt was tattered from how much he had gripped and exerted force on it.
‘He seems to have diligently practiced swordsmanship.’
Shing……
The Chief Administrator’s eyes wavered like a candle flame in the wind as he drew the sword.
The first thing that caught his eye was the dark red rust that had accumulated on the blade.
The next thing he noticed was the blade with several chips missing.
Even third-rate martial artists in Jianghu wouldn’t maintain their swords like this.
Even farmers who work the land wouldn’t maintain their farming tools like this.
Zhuge Don, who was practicing swordsmanship, felt a surge of anger.
“Is this a sword?”
Unable to contain his anger, he shouted.
Then, Dong-jae calmly responded to his words.
“That’s why I’m trying to replace it. The original sword wasn’t great, and because I haven’t practiced swordsmanship for about a year, it got quite rusty.”
Ah……
The Chief Administrator felt a throbbing pain in the back of his head.
What kind of guy is this?
This guy was definitely not a sword master who had practiced swordsmanship.
He glared at Dong-jae with his piercing eyes but soon relaxed his expression.
Wasn’t this a place to give a reward, not to get angry?
“There’s a blacksmith’s workshop in the Martial Alliance, so go there. Tell them I sent you and choose a sword you like from inside.”
“Yes. I’ll put it to good use.”
Dong-jae, rising from his seat, bowed deeply and went outside.
Ugh……
The Chief Administrator let out a suppressed breath.
That guy was definitely worse than Yeon Ja-ryong.
After meeting with the Chief Administrator and coming outside, I moved to find the blacksmith’s workshop.
Although several days had passed since I entered the Martial Alliance, I hadn’t explored the area except for the Four Divine Units’ quarters, so I didn’t know where the blacksmith’s workshop was located.
I wandered around and ended up crossing a b*idge over a stream.
But then, I saw a single leather shoe floating down from upstream.
‘Whose is it?’
I looked upstream and saw an old man with white hair sitting there.
I went down to the stream and retrieved the leather shoe that was floating along with the water.
And I walked upstream along the stream.
“Here it is, old man.”
Arriving in front of the old man, I placed the leather shoe before him.
Then, the old man stuck out his shoeless foot and got angry.
“Shouldn’t you put the shoe on for me too, you punk!”
I didn’t know why the old man was angry, but I squatted down and put the shoe on for him.
“Is that alright?”
As I put the shoe on and turned to leave, this old man suddenly took off the shoe and threw it back into the stream.
“Hurry up and get it, you punk!”
I felt a surge of anger at the old man’s outburst.
I didn’t know why I had to keep retrieving this old man’s shoe.
“What are you doing? Why aren’t you getting it!”
At the old man’s urging, I went downstream along the stream.
And I picked up the leather shoe that was floating in the stream.
Whoosh!
I threw the leather shoe far away and immediately turned around to leave the spot.
Elder Shangguan was so dumbfounded that he couldn’t even get angry.
Of course, he wasn’t entirely without fault.
He was about to get a cramp in his buttocks from waiting for the guy who had caused a commotion in the Martial Alliance.
Finally, when he saw the guy, he quickly sent the shoe floating down.
As planned, the guy passed by the b*idge and picked up the floating shoe.
Originally, he had intended to give the guy a martial arts secret manual with a pleased expression after he put the shoe on for him.
But the guy frowned slightly as he put the shoe on.
So he sent the shoe floating down once more.
‘A scoundrel-like guy.’
To think he would throw the shoe far away instead of retrieving it.
There had never been such a case since he entered the Martial Alliance.
Elder Shangguan, barely suppressing his anger, moved to find the shoe.
‘The worst guy in the world.’
“Hahahahahahaha……!”
“Hehehehehe……!”
When I returned to the b*idge, Yeon Ja-ryong and Baek Mu-ho were clutching their stomachs and laughing.
I didn’t know why they were laughing, so I tried to pass by them.
But they blocked my way.
“You’re really something. To think you threw Elder Shangguan’s shoe away.”
Yeon Ja-ryong spoke, wiping away the tears at the corners of his eyes.
I was surprised by his words.
“Was that old man from earlier Elder Shangguan?”
