That's Not How You Use Martial Arts

Chapter 39
Infiltration (3)

『 Translator – Divinity 』

“…Huh? It’s too light.”

Indeed.

The golden Buddha statue, which looked quite heavy, was much lighter than I expected.

As if it were hollow inside…

“…Don’t tell me?”

I turned the statue over and examined it closely.

And then I found it. A tiny, circular gap on the bottom.

I inserted my fingernail into the gap and pulled, and the bottom opened like a lid, revealing a hollow interior.

Inside, there was a small book, rolled up.

“Found it.”

I grinned and carefully took out the book.

There was no title on the cover, so I opened it, and as expected, it was a secret ledger.

This must be the real ledger of the gambling house.

Just in case, I looked for Head Steward Dam’s name.

“Dam Jin-bo… Dam Jin-bo…”

I scanned the entire book, but the name Dam Jin-bo was nowhere to be found.

“Hmm…”

So, the suspicion about Head Steward Dam gambling was indeed false.

Finally, I had something to tell his wife.

But there was still an unanswered question.

“What’s the motive?”

As I had discussed with Go-heung earlier, I couldn’t figure out why they would kill the head steward and burn down the armory.

Assuming that bastard Jo Un-chil cooperated simply for the money, what was Paecheon Fortress’s motive?

I had hoped to find something that would reveal their motive…

I checked inside the golden Buddha statue again, just in case there was anything else, but it was empty.

“If this is the case… do I have no choice but to interrogate Jo Un-chil himself?”

Go-heung was waiting outside… It seemed like it would be difficult to leave quickly.

Just as I was feeling apologetic towards Go-heung, I suddenly sensed a commotion downstairs.

—Kyaaagh!

—Kugh-!

“…? What’s that?”

A high-pitched scream unique to women and a heavy groan like a death rattle.

And a faint scent of blood.

My face hardened, and I immediately went downstairs.

As soon as I reached the bottom of the stairs, a gruesome scene stained with blood greeted me.

In that short time, dozens of people had already collapsed on the floor, their bodies losing warmth.

I frowned as I observed the scene, when a terrified voice reached my ears.

“Uh, uh… Wh-why are you doing this…?”

I followed the direction of the voice and saw dozens of people trembling as they were surrounded by six men wielding weapons.

I looked at the uniforms worn by those surrounding them.

Specifically, at the two characters “Paecheon” embroidered on their shoulders.

“I-I did everything you asked! I framed that head steward for gambling debts, and I went to the armory to demand payment! I did everything you asked, so why…!”

Meanwhile, in front of the surrounded people, a middle-aged man with a goatee was protesting to those surrounding them.

Judging from his words, this must be Jo Un-chil.

“Yes, you did well. You did exactly as we wished.”

“Th-Then why…?”

“Why? It’s natural to boil the hunting dog once the hunt is over. It’s only natural to eliminate those who are no longer useful.”

“B-b-b…!”

Jo Un-chil’s face was hideously contorted, unable to speak properly.

After stammering for a while, he finally managed to spit out,

“How can you, who claim to protect the people from the tyranny of martial artists, do such a thing?!”

A brief silence.

Then, a low chuckle followed.

“…Pfft.”

“Keke. Khehe.”

The men surrounding them, the Paecheon Fortress warriors, laughed as if they had heard the funniest joke in the world.

“What, what! What’s so funny!”

“Pffft… How can it not be funny? The one causing the most trouble for the people in Hefei is saying such things.”

I couldn’t help but agree with that part.

That bastard Jo Un-chil was scum who would sell even his own children if they couldn’t pay their gambling debts.

It was absurd for such scum to talk about the people, even in this serious situation.

“You entertained us on your way out, so we’ll send you off painlessly. Farewell.”

The man in the center approached Jo Un-chil and raised his sword.

The moment that sword fell, Jo Un-chil’s head would be severed.

Although I wanted to just leave him to die, I still had business with that trash.

I revealed my presence and spoke.

“That’s a bit inconvenient.”

“…!? Who’s there!?”

The six warriors immediately reacted to my voice and turned around.

I looked at the man who had just tried to kill Jo Un-chil.

Now that I could see his face properly, he was a middle-aged man with a scholarly appearance, more gentle-looking than I expected.

He frowned at me, dressed in nightclothes and a mask.

“To think I wouldn’t notice you until you got this close. Are you an assassin?”

“If you had to categorize me, I’d be closer to a ‘gentleman on the beam’ than an assassin. Although it’s a temporary position.”

The middle-aged man looked dumbfounded at my answer.

“If you’re a thief, then just steal something and leave. Why are you interfering?”

“Because what I need to steal is right there.”

I gestured with my chin towards Jo Un-chil.

“I have some questions for that guy. So unfortunately, I can’t let you kill him.”

“…Ha.”

The middle-aged man let out a hollow laugh.

The hollow laugh turned into a sneer, and the sneer soon spread to the other Paecheon Fortress warriors.

“Pffft.”

“Hahaha…”

The middle-aged man shook his head, stopped laughing, and looked at me.

“Listen, gentleman on the beam. You’re not in a position to worry about that guy’s life. You should be worried about your own.”

“Why?”

“Because we’re going to kill you now.”

“Kill me… Is it for the same reason you killed these people?”

I lowered my head and looked at the face of the woman lying dead next to me.

The beautiful face of the woman, who had been killed with a long slash across her torso, still held a youthful air.

Perhaps… She was around my age, or maybe a year or two older.

Judging from her attire, she was probably an employee of this gambling house.

She must have been tasked with entertaining the wealthy patrons who came to this floor because she was quite beautiful.

“Speaking of which, why did you kill these people? They’re clearly not part of that Jo Un-chil guy’s gang.”

The answer I received to my question was truly absurd.

“Why? They were just unlucky. They saw Paecheon Fortress’s secret operation, so we had to silence them.”

“It seems like too many people died just from being unlucky.”

I hadn’t counted them one by one, but there were easily dozens.

The middle-aged man, who claimed that all these people died just from being unlucky, didn’t seem to feel any guilt.

“That’s what commoners are. Insignificant things that get trampled on with a single misstep.”

The middle-aged man, spouting nonsense, looked at me and clicked his tongue in pity.

“I don’t know what you were thinking, but because of your reckless actions, there will be one more meaningless death.”

Huh, was he going to kill me too?

I had already been thinking it since he started spouting nonsense, but he was truly rotten to the core, despite his gentle appearance.

I glanced down at the woman’s corpse, at her face.

Was it just a coincidence?

As I looked at her face, a single teardrop that had been clinging to her lifeless, empty eyes rolled down her cheek.

Was it my imagination that the teardrop seemed to be asking me for something?

“……”

Well, whether it was my imagination or not, what did it matter?

I had already made up my mind.

“Did I say I was a ‘gentleman on the beam’ earlier?”

“You did. But why are you asking?”

“It’s nothing special. I just switched professions. To an assassin.”

“…What?”

The middle-aged man looked dumbfounded.

Did he understand what I meant? I wasn’t sure, so I needed to be clear.

“This young lady just hired me. She asked me to kill all the ruthless bastards who murdered her. It’s my first job, so I have to succeed, right?”

“…He’s just a crazy guy. Kill him.”

“Yes, sir!”

The middle-aged man dismissed my declaration as the ravings of a madman and gave his subordinates an order.

The five warriors, after responding in unison with a semblance of discipline, approached me.

A playful smile appeared on the man’s lips.

He didn’t seem to think for a moment that they could be killed while trying to kill me.

Well, from their perspective, I must have looked like a crazy guy who suddenly appeared before them without a weapon.

I had left my sword with Go-heung, not expecting a fight to break out.

Of course, it wasn’t a problem.

How could I call myself a martial artist if I couldn’t fight without a sword?

Besides, if I didn’t have a sword, I could just take one.

There were five right in front of me.

I charged towards the warrior at the far right.

Releasing internal energy from the Yongquan acupoint on the soles of my feet, I reached him in an instant.

Right in front of him, I stomped my foot and pulled my left fist back.

Internal energy surged through my meridians and gathered at the tip of my fist, then struck the warrior’s left chest, right above his heart.

The internal energy contained in my fist penetrated his body and shook his heart violently.

“Kugh, gurgling…”

With a single punch, the warrior foamed at the mouth and rolled his eyes back.

Before he could collapse, I snatched the sword from his hand.

“…Huh?”

The other warrior next to him made a dumbfounded noise. It seemed he couldn’t comprehend the scene unfolding before his eyes.

I swiftly cut his throat so he wouldn’t need to understand.

“Th-This crazy…!?”

With two of them dead in the blink of an eye, the remaining three panicked and swung their swords at me.

Hmm, their reaction was faster than the Dark Heaven Squad’s.

Though I wasn’t sure if I should be praising them for that.

“Haaaaap!”

With a scream-like yell, a sword descended towards my head.

I dodged to the left, simultaneously slashing at the third warrior’s right side.

Swish!

“Uwaaagh!”

His intestines spilled out from the deep wound.

I stepped over the third warrior, who was screaming and clutching his wound, having even dropped his sword.

Shweeek!

A sword came flying, cutting through the air.

The fourth warrior had calmly assessed the situation and launched a surprise attack, aiming for an opening.

However, his movement technique, without the enhancement of internal energy, was too slow for me.

I slightly tilted my head and easily dodged the surprise attack, then thrust my sword forward, piercing the fourth warrior’s heart.

“Cough–!”

Thus, the fourth warrior died with his heart pierced.

Instead of pulling my sword out of his body, I used it as a shield and charged towards the fifth warrior.

“Kugh…!”

The fifth warrior, grimacing as he saw me charging with his comrade’s corpse as a shield, swung his sword horizontally.

He seemed intent on cutting me down along with the corpse, judging from the force behind his swing.

But I sensed a moment of hesitation in his sword.

I took advantage of that hesitation.

I threw the corpse, with the sword still embedded in it, at the fifth warrior.

Thud!

“Cough…!?”

As a result, the fifth warrior ended up skewered together with the fourth.

I snatched the fourth warrior’s sword and swiftly pierced the neck of the fifth warrior, who was struggling under the weight of his comrade’s corpse.

The fifth warrior died, pinned beneath his comrade’s body.

Now, only the third warrior remained, clutching his side in terror.

“P-Please…! Spare me…!”

I looked at the third warrior, who was begging for his life, and asked him a question.

“I imagine these people probably said the same thing. What did you answer them?”

“……”

The third warrior remained speechless, unable to utter a single word.

I swiftly beheaded him.

Thus, the five warriors of Paecheon Fortress met their demise. In less than half an hour.

“……”

Silence fell over the room.

I looked at the middle-aged man, his face filled with shock, and said,

“Now you’re the only one left.”