novel Martial Wild West - Chapter 02

Chapter 02

Light chatter filled the tavern.

The tavern was a two-story-tall courtyard house. On the first floor were a wide variety of people—folks eating dinner, men drinking booze, and gamblers twiddling with their dominoes on the corner table.

Amidst those people, a middle-aged man with a beer belly who appeared like the owner buzzed around, carrying bowls of noodles, bottles of alcohol, and snacks.

A man wearing a rice hat entered the tavern through its beaded curtain.

He was an outsider. The people eating and drinking sneakily took glances at him.

The man had a sword on his waist, meaning he was a martial artist. But on the new continent, everyone and their mothers carried swords and spears around and called themselves martial artists, so that was nothing special.

The man stopped in his tracks, sensing the eyes on him.

Seeing the man standing still, the tavern keeper walked over to him and spoke while wiping his hands on the towel around his waist, “You must be an outsider. Welcome.”

The man raised the front tip of his rice hat with a finger and stared at the tavern keeper.

The tavern keeper continued on while looking the man in the eyes, “Will you be staying the night?”“It was self-defense.”

“I also need a meal.”

The tavern keeper nodded his head, “That’ll be ten wén*.”

TN: Wén was a currency denomination during Imperial China.

Not saying a word, the man pulled out ten wén and handed it over.

The tavern keeper took the money and spoke while walking over to the kitchen, “Sit wherever you like. I’ll bring the noodles out soon.”

After walking to a table in a corner of the tavern, the man undid his sword and scabbard from his waist and leaned it against the table before taking his rice hat off.

Once people realized that he was not going to cause trouble, the silent tavern quickly became lively again.

The man, Zhang Qian, put boths his hands on the table and slowly looked over the people in the tarven while sitting comfortably.

Most of the people in the tavern were local villagers or nearby farmers. There were a few people like him that had swords leaning against their tables.

In western, coastal cities and villages, there were more self-proclaimed martial artists than civilians, but there, in a region a bit far away, there were more farmers than swordsmen.

The few swordsmen present seemed nothing more than some random nobodies that were carrying a weapon for self-defense.

There were quite a lot of guests, but it seemed the tavern keeper was the only one working. Most taverns had at least one or two waiters, but none could be seen, and it didn’t appear like the tavern keeper had a wife or children. Qian was led to believe that it’d be a while before his noodles were ready.

“Fucking hell! You son of bitch! You just cheated, didn’t you?”

“What? Cheat? What are you on about? You’re just a lousy gambler! ”

The men playing dominoes in the corner started raising their voices. A man stood up and accused the man sitting behind Qian of cheating, and then the two started arguing, saying they’d kill each other.

It must have been a common scene because the people in the tavern either shook their heads or giggled while drinking. Even the tavern keeper, who had peaked his head out from the kitchen to see, smirked and went back in. Seeing how no one was anxious or nervous, they were probably going to end it as just a verbal argument.

Despite that, Qian’s eyes were locked on the two men. To be more precise, he started focusing on them after hearing the voice of the man that was sitting behind him.

“Fuck you! Then how does it make sense that you’ve been winning all day while I’ve done nothing but lose!”

“Like I said, isn’t that just because you suck? Other than you, everyone else won a lot!”

“What did you say, asshole?”

The man that was making the accusation finally couldn’t hold it back anymore and pushed the other man with both of his hands.

The other man ended up stumbling a few steps back before grunting.

“Do you really wanna go?”

“Yeah, you fucker! Did you think I was a sucker just because I kept letting you get away with it?”

The two men grabbed each other by the collar, shaking each other and shouting nonsensical swearing. Due to the commotion, Qian, who was watching them, got a good look at the other man’s face.

A faint smile appeared on Qian’s face, “So that son of bitch was here,” he mumbled to himself.

Qian stopped watching their kerfuffle and walked over to them. Meanwhile, the others at the table where the fight was happening giggled, not interested in stopping the men swearing violently in each others’ faces.

“Oi,” Qian said.

The two men looked over at Qian. The man that was making the accusation had a look that said, ‘Who’s this motherfucker?’, but the other man went pale from shock.

“…What do you want?” The man making the accusation asked.

Zhang Qian shook his head and said, “Not you.”

* * *

The spooked man’s eyes darted around the room back and forth. Eventually, he meekly smiled, saying “…Brother Zhang, I can’t believe we’re meeting here of all places.”

“Yeah. It’s been two months. Have you been well?”

The man Qian had business with let go of the other guy’s collar and slowly took a step back. Confused, the man that had made the accusation just let him slip out.

“Well. I mean. I, uh, I’ve been well. Uhm, what about you, Brother Zhang?”

Qian shook his head while smiling. He said, “I haven’t been well. Yet, for some reason, you guys always seem to tell me that you’ve been well.”

“…Did you find my friends?”

“That’s right. You’re the last one.”

The man took another step back. He stuttered, “Th-the thing is… I, uh, actually said let’s not do it. I mean, think about it. Why would I want to con a martial artist with dominoes? We’d get stabbed with a sword if we got caught.”

“Yet you guys still did it.”

After hearing Qian’s answer, the man stared at Qian with a blank face before bursting out in loud laughter. The man then quickly turned around and tried to run away, but the moment he turned around, he felt a burly hand grab the back of his head—and then that burly hand proceeded to slam his face directly into the domino table.

“Ugh!”

With the collision of the man’s forehead against it, the coins and dominos on the table rattled. The people around started moving away in shock.

The man that had his face slammed into the table felt his head ring with pain. He struggled to move his arms and legs around, but the hand holding him down felt like a boulder, not budging even a little bit.

“I p-promise that I said we shouldn’t do it! Besides, it was you that sat there until you lost all of your money! We weren’t going to stop you if you had decided to just stand up at any point! I’m serious! Please, go easy on me!”

Qian silently grabbed the man’s left hand, put it on top of the table, and pulled out the domino hiding in his sleeves; then, Qian shoved the domino into the man’s face and whispered to him, “That doesn’t change the fact that you used tricks while gambling. Now stop fucking around, Yang Gweng. Where is my money?”

The man named Yang Gweng, seeing the rage in Qian’s eyes, gulped before answering, “Well… I, uh, used it to pay the Martial Alliance’s bounty.”

“What the fuck? You used it to pay the bounty?”

Gweng trembled in fear as he saw Qian’s face get red in anger, “Wh-what was I supposed to do? There’s a branch of the Martial Alliance here. I needed to be able to come to the tavern to eat…”

Qian raised Gweng’s head and grabbed him by the collar, “So you’re saying you don’t have any money on you?”

 “T-that’s not it. I have some money I won here… So let that…”

Gweng looked over to the coins on the table. Seeing that, Qian tossed Gweng aside and went over to the spot Gweng was sitting and started pocketing the coins laying there.

The man that’d accused Gweng of cheating, the people that were gambling with them, and all the other guests in the tavern watched in a daze. They could tell that Gweng had gotten caught after cheating in a game before, but even taking that into consideration, Qian’s actions seemed harsh.

“W-wait. Hold it right there!” shouted the man that had been swearing at Gweng, snapping out of his daze, “Stop! All of that is money he earned with dirty tricks! That’s my money!”

Qian glanced over at the shouting man and proceeded to continue picking up the coins, “That’s not my problem. You can get your money from him later.”

The man shouted, “What the fuck did you say?” his face red with anger. He put out both his hands in front of him, attempting to push Qian like he had pushed Gweng.

But the moment the man tried to push Qian, Qian pulled at his hand while side stepping.

“Oof!” Qian said.

The man tumbled forwards from being pulled—he must not have learned any martial arts because he planted his face directly into the ground.

Not caring if he was fine or not, Qian returned to the table to collect Gweng’s money.

Having quickly grabbed all of the coins, Qian put them in his bag before grabbing Gweng by the collar again.

“Uh! Wh-why are you doing this, Brother Zhang?!”

“What do you mean ‘why’? It’s because this is far from enough.”

“B-but… I don’t have anything else…”

Gweng sheepishly smiled and showed his empty hands, trying to convince Qian it was true. It was like he was telling Qian to search him if Qian didn’t believe him.

Qian was seriously considering stripping Gweng down when…

“Motherfucker!” the man that’d fallen to the ground shouted before he stood up while holding his nose, glaring at Qian. Blood was oozing from his nose, dripping through the fingers, “Look what you did to my fucking nose! You’re dead meat!”

Seeing the pitiful sight, Qian smirked and said, “I’m sorry for hurting you, but I lost far more than just chump change to him…”

Qian trailed off because the man that seemed like was going to charge at him instead turned around and fled the tavern. Staring dumbfounded at the man running away, Qian let out a small laugh before looking over at Gweng.

“What’s up with that fool?”

“W-well… His name is Jin YangSuk—”

Qian cut off Gweng and shook his head, “I don’t care. So what are you gonna do?”

“What? Huh? Do what?”

Qian tightened his grip on Gweng’s clothes, “Do you want to figure out a way to repay me somehow, or do you want your dantian shattered?” he threatened.

Gweng’s left eye and two hands trembled in fear, “Wh-what good would dispersing what little ki I have do for you, Brother Zhang?”

Despite the pathetic, trembling voice, Qian felt no pity, instead, he clenched his fist until it was as hard as rock and brought it close to Gweng’s face.

Nervously looking back and forth between Qian and Qian’s fist, Gweng let out a deep sigh and slumped his head down.

“…Let me go first. I have something in my pocket.”

As soon as Qian let go, Gweng opened up his shirt and reached deep into it before he tore apart a hidden pocket that held a lump of cloth. Slowly and carefully, he unwrapped the cloth and revealed a tiny jade ring.

 Gweng stared at the ring one last time before letting out a sigh and handing it over to Qian, “…It’s, uh, something I got at New Sichuan. It’s real jade, so as long as you find the right seller, it should fetch a good price,” he told Qian.

Qian took the ring and looked around before putting it in his inner pocket.

“S-so does that suffice?”

“Yeah. I think that’s good enough,” Qian said while laughing lightly. Qian’s gaze went from the awkwardly laughing Gweng to the tavern keeper standing outside the kitchen.

Not giving a single fuck about the looks people were giving him, Qian spoke to the confused tavern keeper, “So, when are my noodles going to be ready?”

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