Chapter 32: Recruitment (1)

Early the next morning.

“Safe travels, Young Master.”

"Hahaha. Thank you for your hard work, Branch Leader. An official directive regarding the school will likely come down in a few days, so please hold on until then.”

“Y-yes, of course! Hahaha!”

After exchanging pleasantries with Il-mok, with whom he had grown closer after exchanging hospitality, the Branch Leader of Kuqa County bid his farewell.

"Hya!"

Kwan Mu-yeol spurred his horse, and the carriage departed from Kuqa County, heading toward Hejing County.

Watching the departing carriage from the village entrance, the Kuqa County Branch Leader thought to himself.

‘…I feel like I forgot to tell him something important.’

He'd been so flustered by Il-mok's veiled threats that his mind had been a mess.

And soon, the Branch Leader realized what he had forgotten and lightly shrugged his shoulders.

‘Hmm. They're the disciple of the Supreme One and his appointed escorts, so there shouldn't be any major problems.’

* * *

Unlike our tense prior journey, I lounged lazily in the carriage after enjoying Kuqa County’s generous accommodations.

"Young Master. It's time for your lightness skill training."

The warriors, who couldn't stand seeing me relax, spoke up, but...

“Oh dear, my muscles are still sore from yesterday's injury. I feel stiff all over.”

“It didn't seem that serious.”

“Well, you see, a while back I tore a muscle stopping my Eldest Brother from going berserk, and I think it’s acting up again. Hahaha. I thought I'd have someone to protect me, but it looks like that didn't quite work out.”

"......"

As soon as I mentioned how I’d almost been killed by the Branch Leader's rampage yesterday, the warriors became as silent as clams.

Thanks to that, I was able to travel comfortably in the carriage, half-dozing off, until...

"Young Master."

I sighed and woke up to Warrior Jang Hwi’s call, but before I could respond to him, Kwan Mu-yeol's voice cut in.

"Don't leave the carriage."

"???"

"Bandits are approaching."

"!?"

I pulled back the carriage curtain with an incredulous expression and looked outside.

As Kwan Mu-yeol had said, a group was approaching, kicking up sand and dust.

It was an absurd situation.

‘Bandits in Xinjiang are actually trying to rob a disciple of the Heavenly Demon??’

This was like a bunch of lunatics trying to mug an asylum full of bigger lunatics.

It didn't take long for me to figure out why.

'Right. We're currently hiding our identities.'

The carriage we were riding in didn't display any flags or emblems related to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.

Though unintended, we had somehow set up a trap for ourselves.

Having reached this conclusion, I watched the approaching bandits with a complex expression on my face.

“They're walking right into their own graves.”

* * *

For some reason, my two bodyguards didn't try to outrun them, nor did they attack the bandits until they were right next to the carriage.

“Are you waiting for the bandits on purpose?”

When I questioned their behavior, Kwan Mu-yeol answered in his blunt tone.

"We're waiting for them to get closer."

"Is there really a need for that?"

It was hard to say it was for my protection. Even if they went out, Jin Hayeon would still be with me, and if my safety was the top priority, running away would have been the right thing to do.

And my doubts were resolved thanks to the answers from Kwan Mu-yeol and Jang Hwi.

"These vermin dared commit crimes in the Divine Cult’s territory; we won't let a single one escape.”

“When they get close, we’ll cripple their horses in a surprise attack. Then, we'll slaughter them all before they can escape.”

"......"

From the moment they spotted the bandit group, they weren't thinking about how to deal with them, but rather how to ensure not a single one escaped alive.

'Crazy.'

Was it the Demonic Arts and the cult brainwashing that made them so casual about murder?

‘No, even the martial artists in the Central Plains were pretty much the same.’

When I was working as a waiter, Uncle Taehyun often warned me to be careful of martial artists, as they were psychos who would pull a sword if you looked at them wrong.

Neigh!

While I was thinking all this, the bandits were getting closer and closer.

There were about twenty guys on maybe a dozen horses.

Horses must be pricey in this era, as only two of them had their own ride, and the rest were riding horses in pairs.

Neigh!

The bandits finally stopped, forming a circle around us at a distance of about six meters from us.

A tough-looking middle-aged guy who seemed to be the boss just glared at us with his arms crossed. The guy next to him, however, pulled out a big sword and yelled, “Drop all your valuables and you can go! Do that, and we’ll let you live!”

After he yelled, everything went quiet for a second.

Just as the two escort warriors were about to make their move to slaughter them.

"Wait!"

I quickly shouted and poked my head out of the carriage.

The two warriors who had gripped their weapons to strike looked at me with bewildered expressions.

The bandits' attention also shifted to me.

I knew perfectly well that if I’d just stayed quiet in the carriage, my bodyguards would have mopped the floor with these guys in no time.

In the first place, they were escorts assigned by my Master; there was no way the likes of mere bandits would defeat them.

Still, I stepped in for a few reasons.

The most naive and foolish reason was that I didn't want to see twenty humans get massacred.

And the calculated reason was that it would be a waste to kill the horses. Horses were expensive even in modern times, but in this era, horses were an even more important resource as they were used for far more diverse purposes.

Of course, risking your neck to save a few taels is stupid. But I had another reason.

‘They have no killing intent.’

That’s weird for a bunch of guys trying to rob someone at sword-point.

Maybe because I’ve been on the receiving end of the real deal from my Master and Eldest Brother, I was more sensitive to killing intent than my level would suggest.

And I couldn't sense any killing intent from these guys. Either they had no intention of killing us, or they were such total rookies they couldn’t even look menacing if they tried.

‘Which means they’re not even a morning workout for the escort warriors.’

Thinking that, I focused on the guy in the middle who looked like the boss.

'As expected.'

That leader was wearing an expression I was quite familiar with.

It was an expression that any person would make often—that specific look one gets when being forced to do something one does not want to do.

Once I saw that, I gave orders to the escort warriors who were ready to swing their weapons.

"Can you subdue them without killing if possible?"

“Is there a need for that?”

"I have something I want to check. Besides, it’s a waste of good horses, isn’t it?”

Did my words provoke the bandits?

"These bastards must have a death wish!"

Several of them dismounted and charged at us with weapons in hand.

"Sigh."

"I'll try my best, but if they resist too much, it can't be helped."

The two escort warriors sighed and flew towards the bandits using their lightness skills.

Clang!!

"!?"

I guess they really weren't expecting my bodyguards’ skills to be that high.

The bandits' eyes widened in shock as their weapons were sliced in half in a single clash.

Thud!

Then the escort warriors struck the stunned bandits' bodies.

Watching the bandits fly away like a scene from a cartoon, I wondered if this was really their way of trying to spare lives.

‘So this is really what it means to just spare their lives.’

I watched the flying bandits with a dumbfounded expression.

"How dare you!!"

"We won't let this slide!!"

More bandits charged at the two escort warriors.

Bang!!

And they were sent flying even faster than they had charged in.

This absurd scene continued for a while, and then—

"Stand back!!"

The boss, who’d been hanging back with his arms crossed, finally made his move. He roared, yanked out a massive glaive, and launched himself off his horse straight at Jang Hwi.

Clang!!

"Hooh."

Jang Hwi let out a little hum of interest as their weapons met. It was only one hit, but this guy hadn't gone flying like the rest.

Clang!

Clang!

The bandit leader and Jang Hwi continued to exchange blows with their glaive and spear.

Kwan Mu-yeol stood nearby like a guardian, blocking other bandits from interfering.

It was then that Jang Hwi, who had been trading blows with the leader, spoke as if he had realized something.

“I had a hunch, but you guys… You’re from the military, aren’t you?”

"!!!"

The bandits' expressions showed surprise at Jang Hwi’s words, and the bandit leader shouted with a twisted face.

"And you lot are filthy Demonic Cult scums!"

The bandits' expressions hardened, as if they finally understood why the warriors' skills were so exceptional.

But the one whose expression hardened the most was someone else.

"What did you just say?"

It was the bandit leader who had dared to blaspheme in front of a devout cult fanatic.

"Enough playing around. Die."

As the enraged Jang Hwi began to swing his spear in earnest, the bandit leader was instantly pushed into a defensive position.

Clang!

Though he desperately blocked the spear a few times, the bandit leader's crescent moon glaive finally flew upward and...

Swish!

In that moment, Jang Hwi’s spear thrust toward the bandit leader's heart.

"Don't kill him!"

I shouted at Jang Hwi. He clicked his tongue before changing the spear’s trajectory.

Thwack!

Jang Hwi struck the bandit leader in the torso with the shaft of his spear, then closed in and sealed his pressure points.

And right after the boss was subdued, the bandits showed an unexpected reaction.

"Big Brother!!"

Without hesitation, the remaining bandits all charged at Jang Hwi.

For bandits to show such loyalty. It was an incredibly bizarre sight and...

Bang!

"Ugh..."

As payment for their loyalty, the bandits were once again sent flying in all directions.

* * *

Kneeling in a battered line, the bandits glared as I approached their leader.

"So, why is a military man like yourself engaging in banditry here?"

"......"

As if possessed by Guan Yu's unwavering loyalty, he remained silent with a determined look.

Fortunately, Jang Hwi answered my question in his stead.

"They're probably deserters, Young Master. I've heard that in the past, there were many bandits from Xinjiang, but after our Divine Cult settled in Xinjiang, their numbers drastically decreased. Recently, most bandits are either people who fled from the Central Plains after committing serious crimes, or deserters like these men."

As if struck a nerve, the bandit leader's face contorted, and he shouted.

"How dare you insult me, you filthy Demonic Cult scums!"

Once again, the bandit leader insulted the cult, and killing intent flickered in Jang Hwi and Kwan Mu-yeol's eyes.

"We should cut out that tongue of yours to teach you manners."

As the two warriors began to draw their weapons, I intervened.

"Stop."

I knew just saying ‘don’t kill him’ wouldn’t work with these guys.

“Killing him now would be letting him off too easy. Shouldn’t he pay a proper price for his crimes?”

My words seemed to work as the two warriors who were about to draw their weapons stopped and looked at me.

Then I turned to the bandit group and asked.

"I'll ask again. Why are military deserters engaging in banditry here? If you don't answer properly, I'll cut off your heads one by one."

Since these men showed unusual loyalty for a bandit leader, I figured threatening the group would be effective.

And my prediction was correct.

Gritting his teeth, the bandit leader began to tell his story in the hope of saving his subordinates.

It was a common tale.

The bandit leader was a man of common birth who had served in the military for over twenty years and had worked his way to the rank of a captain of a hundred men.

Then, a year ago, a young brat at least ten years his junior was appointed as his superior.

Obviously, that person was from a prestigious family, and the two constantly clashed.

Eventually, the kid got tired of the old veteran breathing down his neck and decided to frame him.

He framed him for embezzling military supplies.

The bandit leader was about to be executed when his loyal subordinates, who had served with him for over a decade, rescued him at night and deserted with him, along with their horses.

After hearing his rather cliché story, I asked again.

“So you go through all that to escape, and then you just become bandits? Let’s be real here, if you sold these horses, you’d have more than enough money to start over somewhere.”

At my words, the bandit leader roared in frustration.

"It's because of you bastards!! You filthy Demonic Cult scums!!"

“What kind of bullshit is that? How is it our fault?”

"We escaped here because we knew we'd be hunted down as deserters if we returned to the Central Plains, but no one would take us in! Every village we went to, they looked at us like monsters and chased us away! If it weren't for you brainwashing them, would this have happened?!"

Answering his rage-filled shout was Jang Hwi, wearing a cold smile.

“You just say whatever you want with that mouth of yours, don’t you? We only helped the people of Xinjiang. None of this would be happening if your army hadn’t been oppressing them for years.”

Jang Hwi’s following explanation was simple.

The Imperial Court had often dispatched troops to annex the Xinjiang region into the Central Plains, and each time, the people of Xinjiang had resisted, being massacred in the process. In that process, the Demonic Cult fought alongside the Xinjiang residents.

Apparently, it happened all the time until Master became the Heavenly Demon, which put a stop to it a few decades back.

Somehow, listening to this reminded me of the Xinjiang Uyghur oppression I often heard about in modern times.

'Nothing's changed, past or present.'

Having grasped the situation, I asked my final question.

“So, how many innocent people have you killed during your little bandit career?”

The bandit leader looked deeply insulted by my question.

"I only did it to keep my brothers who risked their lives for me from starving. We only subdued those who resisted; we didn't kill them! So stop insulting me and just kill me already! Let my brothers go and take my head!”

"Big Brother!!"

"No, Boss! Let me die instead! You must survive, Boss!!"

All of a sudden, these guys started acting out a scene from a bad soap opera.

'What a show they're putting on.'

I scoffed in disbelief and opened my mouth.

"Kill you? Why would I kill you?"

These men are from the military. Moreover, they practice genuine martial arts rather than Demonic Arts, meaning they should be somewhat literate.

“If you commit a crime, you have to pay the price. And since you’re broke, you'll have to pay with your bodies."

In other words, the perfect workforce for that little project I came up with back in Kuqa County had just fallen right into my lap.