## Chapter 596 – 596. The Ascent Of Light
596. The Ascent of Light
A trial transport team was formed.
The leader of the transport team was Seok Ji-don, the head of the Jikga Bureau. He was a large, middle-aged man with a broadsword on his back and one ear missing.
He was a man of very few words. Perhaps because of this, he had a strange charisma. The guards under his command all looked at him with respectful eyes.
The martial artists from the Yuseong Sword Sect, including myself and Seong Ji-gon, stared at Seok Ji-don with tense eyes.
Seok Ji-don’s level was Stage 3 of the Will Manifestation realm. He was at a higher level than me or Seong Ji-gon.
“I have no intention of giving special treatment just because you are martial artists from the Yuseong Sword Sect. Although this is a trial transport, we will move as if it were a real operation. I will not allow anyone to disobey my orders during transport. If you don’t want to listen to my orders or do the transport work, leave now. There will be no penalties.”
“…”
No one said they would leave.
No penalties? That was nonsense. If they left here, it would be disobeying the Yuseong Sword Sect’s orders, so there would inevitably be penalties.
“You are porters. Follow the guards’ instructions and load the goods onto the wagons.”
Porters.
The lowest rank in the bureau. They were responsible for all the menial tasks, such as loading goods onto the wagons.
The proud martial artists of the Yuseong Sword Sect did not resist Seok Ji-don and followed his orders. Seok Ji-don was the strongest here, so they had to do as he said.
The guards checked the goods piled on the wagons. The goods were nothing more than easily obtainable animal hides. And the porters each carried a bundle on their backs. These were emergency rations and items for camping.
“Head Seok, we’re ready.”
“Let’s depart.”
The trial transport team set off. The destination was Payang City, three days away. However, the trial transport team would be moving for almost two weeks. The purpose was not to transport goods, but to familiarize themselves with the surrounding terrain.
The transport team moved without rest. No one groaned. In this world, even the porters who did the menial work at the bureau were not hired unless they had mastered some martial arts. They could walk all day without any problems. And if you became a porter, you could learn a few moves from the guards or the bureau.
We kept walking. It wasn’t fun. If there was even one woman, it might have been different, but it was all men.
Seok Ji-don stopped the transport team every two hours for a short break. This was not out of consideration for the hard-working guards, but to create a map.
“Yujin, are you sick? You don’t look well?”
Seong Ji-gon asked, handing me a water bottle.
“Huh? No. I’m fine. It’s just boring.”
I gulped down the water in the bottle.
I was really fine. I had just been using auto-progress.
“It is quite boring. We can’t even talk comfortably with other people around.”
“We can’t talk as comfortably as we usually do.”
My usual conversations with Seong Ji-gon were about sex. There were more than a few things that would be problematic.
Seong Ji-gon looked around. We were resting a little away from the other groups. No one was paying attention to us.
“Yujin, I’m actually already tired.”
“Where did the stamina you built up from training go?”
“It’s not that, it’s mentally tiring. There isn’t a single woman here. And I won’t be able to hold a woman for the next few days… Sigh.”
“You didn’t even know what a vagina was a few months ago, stop whining.”
“That’s because I didn’t know anything about women back then. But now, I can’t even sleep properly without a woman. Sigh.”
“Just bear with it. We can get some women when we get to Payang City. You know Payang City is as big as Hudan City, right?”
“Yeah. That’s why I’m looking forward to it. I wonder what kind of women there will be… Will there be women like my fourth mother?”
“It’s a city with a large population. Of course, there will be.”
We chuckled about women.
***
“Move faster. I learned while getting beaten when I was a porter.”
Menial work was the porters’ responsibility. Of course, preparing dinner and setting up camp was also the porters’ job. But a guard had been talking smack in front of me since earlier.
His name was Go Du-mak. He was the youngest of the guards.
‘Is this bastard crazy?’
If he was just being annoying once or twice, I could just ignore it. But every time we worked, he would come up to me and nag.
And it was like he had a grudge against me, always hovering around me.
“Aren’t we moving fast enough?”
“What’s so fast about that? And don’t talk back. Move instead of talking back!”
“You’re in the way, so please move.”
I spoke politely. I was trying to soften telling him to get lost. But Go Du-mak must have understood my words as telling him to get lost, because he was now fuming.
“I’m sticking around because you’re not doing well. How can you not even make a proper porridge? Don’t you remember the poor ingredients you burned on the first day?”
“Ah, everyone makes mistakes when they do something for the first time. Is that why you’ve been nagging me ever since?”
“Because of that mistake, we didn’t eat well that day. It’s still amazing to me. How can you burn all the ingredients?”
“Didn’t you make mistakes when you first started?”
“I didn’t.”
“Ah, my environment is different from yours. I’m the son of the Yuseong Sword Sect, so the servants did all this kind of work since I was young. Well, I understand you. You must have had a difficult childhood, so you didn’t have any servants. Ah, by the way, what did your mother do? Farm work? Market work? Or…”
“You little…”
Go Du-mak’s eyebrows twitched. I didn’t avoid Go Du-mak’s gaze. This was just a one-time thing as a guard anyway. There was no reason to keep doing it. I could feel killing intent from him. I also clenched my fist.
“Go Du-mak. Go check if the barracks are properly set up.”
The head guard, Seok Ji-don, appeared from behind.
“Head Seok! Yes, sir!”
Go Du-mak was startled and quickly moved away.
Seok Ji-don glanced at me for a moment and then turned away and disappeared.
Seong Ji-gon, who had been watching from the side, sighed and approached me.
“Just bear with it. If you cause trouble, it will only make things worse for you.”
“That’s right. The guards are all on that bastard’s side. But does that bastard know I’m the son of the Yuseong Sword Sect and still pick a fight with me?”
“Even if you’re a son, you’re the 38th child. He knows our father doesn’t care about his children. And… if this goes wrong, it’s our Yuseong Sword Sect that will be in trouble. I heard that our sect will gain a lot from this.”
“So the Jikga Bureau is the boss.”
“The Jikga Bureau is much bigger. I heard it’s at least three times bigger than our sect.”
“…But why is Go Du-mak only picking on me? He doesn’t bother you or the others.”
“Well, I don’t know. Maybe he just doesn’t like you… Or maybe he found out that we were talking behind his back…”
“Haa…”
I sighed.
It didn’t matter what the reason was. The important thing was that the bastard had shown killing intent towards me earlier. And there was a limit to how much I could listen to his nagging.
“I can’t take it anymore.”
“Huh, what are you going to do? You should just bear with it. This is an important matter for the sect.”
“This is a world where you become a fool if you endure. And it’s fine as long as I don’t get caught. You just have to testify later. That I was next to you.”
I went into the forest when no one was looking and took out a human skin mask from my pocket and put it on my face. It was a cheap human skin mask I had stolen from a dark merchant who occasionally visited the city, but if I used it with a voice changer, I could easily hide my identity.
I took a spear instead of a sword and stood in front of the trial transport team.
“Hey. What are these riffraff doing, daring to make a fire and eat beasts in my territory?”
I leaned the spear on my shoulder and walked crookedly.
“…Identify yourself.”
Seok Ji-don took out his sword. The guards and porters around him also jumped up from their seats and took a fighting stance.
“If you’ve entered my territory, shouldn’t you be the ones identifying yourselves?”
“We are guards of the Jikga Bureau. You also identify yourself.”
“You? You’re trying to be on equal footing with me.”
“Step back. There’s no need for us to fight.”
*Click.*
I snapped my fingers.
A blue lightning bolt struck Seok Ji-don from the sky.
“Kuaaaak!”
Seok Ji-don, struck by the lightning, knelt on the ground and bowed his head to the floor. He wasn’t dead, but he seemed to have lost his will to fight.
“This Seok Ji-don… didn’t recognize… you, senior…”
Seok Ji-don would think that my level was above the Five Qi realm. You had to be at least in the Five Qi realm to use the power of nature.
And I realized from Seok Ji-don’s attitude. My body was at the Entry realm, but my skills were above the Will Manifestation realm.
“Is it okay to not know?”
“I’m sorry! I’ll compensate you with money! Please, just spare my life!”
Seok Ji-don immediately slammed his head on the ground. He had been acting so tough on the way here, I thought he would fight to the death. Was it all just a bluff?
“Since you have invaded my territory, shouldn’t you pay the price? If I show mercy, the martial artists of the world will look down on me.”
“We will never reveal what happened today. I will control their mouths. What happened today will not be known. We will leave this place immediately, so please have mercy and spare our lives.”
“One.”
“Yes?”
“I will only kill one of you.”
“Th, then…”
Seok Ji-don’s eyes darted around. Towards the porters. It would be better to kill one porter than a guard, who was considered a high-level personnel.
“If the rumor spreads that I only killed one porter and left, my reputation will be damaged. I will only kill one person above the level of a guard.”
“Gasp! Senior! Is there no way… with money? We will give you all the items we have.”
“Are you trying to insult me by making me a bandit!”
“I, I’m sorry!”
*Thump thump.*
Seok Ji-don slammed his forehead on the ground again.
“Guards, come forward. Hmm. There are a total of five of you, including the head guard. In this case, it’s right to vote.”
I handed them paper, ink, and a brush.
“I’ll give you a quarter of an hour. Each of you write the name of the person you want to die on the paper. The person with the most names written on it will die. You can write your own name. However, if you don’t write a name, I will find you and kill you. If you all write your own names and each get one vote, I will kill you all for deceiving me.”
“…”
No one, including Seok Ji-don, said anything. It seemed like they didn’t even think about taking me down together.
“Write it.”
They hesitated to move the brush and looked at each other.
“Don’t look at each other and write. Or do you all want to die?”
When I threatened them, they finally started to move the brush. But surprisingly, they were very decisive. Was looking at each other just an act?
Before a quarter of an hour had passed, I collected the papers.
“Ha.”
I chuckled at the votes. It was as if they had planned it.
Seok Ji-don 4 votes. Go Du-mak 1 vote.
All four guards had written Seok Ji-don’s name.
‘They must be trying to take Seok Ji-don’s place. If the head guard position is vacant, one of the guards will take it. Seok Ji-don’s lack of popularity also played a part.’
*Snap.*
I burned the votes with lightning.
“The results are in. Which one is Go Du-mak?”
“…”
Everyone’s gaze turned to Go Du-mak.
“Th, that, is that me?! No! Something is wrong! It’s not me!”
“Why are you so sure it’s not you?”
“That’s… that’s obviously… Kugh…”
“Did you guys plan something behind my back? You’re quite talented. I’ll tell you the results. Seok Ji-don 2 votes. Go Du-mak 3 votes. Hehe.”
“Y, you…!”
Go Du-mak’s eyes filled with anger. Ironically, his target was not me, but the guards.
“You were supposed to write Seok Ji-don’s name! You damn bastards!”
“Wh, what are you talking about!”
“When did we?!”
I didn’t care how those guys had tricked my senses and communicated their intentions. They must have used telepathy or secretly exchanged hand signals.
“Quiet. Do your little drama when I’m not around.”
The person who was going to die was decided from the beginning anyway.
“G, great hero! Please, spare me! I’ll do anything! Please, just spare my life!”
I chuckled and ignored his words, snapping my fingers.
*Click.*
*Kwarurururung!*
*Click.*
*Kwarurururung!*
*Click!*
*Kwakwakwakwang!*
Lightning struck Go Du-mak in succession. Go Du-mak would never breathe air again.
“I’ll be on my way.”
“Please be careful!”
Seok Ji-don greeted me with a loud voice.
His eyes were burning fiercely. On the other hand, the guards’ faces had turned pale.
Seok Ji-don would try to find the one guard who wrote his name, and the remaining guards would now try to become the two who wrote Go Du-mak’s name.
‘It won’t be boring during the transport. I can just watch their political games.’
