novel Martial Wild West - Chapter 04

Chapter 04

One of the Dogma sect’s scoundrels who was looking back and forth between ChungSuk and Qian snapped out of it and shouted.

“Attack him!”

If any of them had somewhat learned martial arts, they wouldn’t have dared to attack him like that. However, their most skilled fighter, Jin ChungSuk, had already fainted, and the scoundrels had never trained their eyes to recognize Qian’s movements.

“Die, you son of a bitch!”

The scoundrel who was closest to Qian swung his club at him. It was just a simple diagonal swing with no depth—a movement strong enough to smash an average person’s head.

Qian easily dodged by stepping back with one foot and leaning slightly backward, he then raised his body back up and punched the scoundrel’s chin with his right fist. With a smacking sound, the scoundrel became stiff and collapsed forward.

Before the man even finished collapsing, Qian stepped past him and raised his right foot to smash it down on another scoundrel’s face. At the same moment, he used the rebound of the blow to perform a roundhouse kick to the back on another one’s chest.

Surprised by his movements, one of the scoundrels reflexively jumped at Qian and raised his club. Qian quickly turned his body towards him, and quickly punched the scoundrel’s wide-open flank. When he became unable to breath and halted his movement, Qian punched the man’s face and raised his elbow while stepping to the right side, leaving the collapsing man behind.

The end of his elbow met the solar plexus of another scoundrel, and the moment the man threw up, Qian had already moved away to graze another man’s chin with a left roundhouse kick. Upon getting his chin grazed, the man’s eyes lost focus, and he collapsed to the front.

Qian regained his posture and walked towards the two remaining guys with casual steps. The two remaining scoundrels were just staring at Qian with their mouths agape after having witnessed the other scoundrels collapsing one after another so easily.

Qian provocatively stood in front of them and checked their pathetic faces before punching each of them in the chin. Both men collapsed with a final sound of surprise.

Qian, who had beaten up nine scoundrels, including ChungSuk, dusted off his hands and looked around. YangSuk was nowhere to be seen because he was clever enough to run away right after his older brother had lost. Qian snickered and turned around towards Gweng.

Gweng’s expression looked as foolish as the last scoundrel’s had been before getting punched in the face.

“…You didn’t get injured at all.”

“I didn’t learn martial arts to lose against such scoundrels.”

Gweng looked down at the collapsed Dogma sect guys and stroked his chin, “Still, I didn’t know you were this strong…”

“If I was half as good with the tiles as martial arts, I wouldn’t have lost money to your group.”

Avoiding stepping on the scoundrels’ bodies, Qian returned to his seat, attached the sword next to the table to his waist, and picked up the rice hat.

“Anyway, it was nice to see you again, and let’s never meet ever again, scammer.”

Gweng, who was deep in thought while stroking his chin, flinched upon hearing that and started smiling like a fool, “No way, brother Zhang! Why are you saying goodbye? That’s so heartless! Let’s drink some more instead.”

“What the fuck, say what again? Do you want to hand over more money?”

Yang Gweng shook his hand, “No, no. That’s not it. Are you really going to leave just like that?”

Qian pointed outside the tavern’s window with his cheek. The tavern’s owner and the guests, who had run away were sneakily looking at them through the window; Gweng also recognized their faces.

“…Ah, indeed. We can’t really keep drinking in this tavern anymore.”

Qian smiled slightly upon hearing Gweng’s murmur and went out the tavern’s door. Gweng, who was looking out the window, quickly followed him.

“Aww, brother Zhang! Don’t be like that. Let’s go together. There are at least ten more of those Dogma sect guys, including their sect leader, ChungSuk’s superior! Moreover, what do you think is the reason for why he is the sect leader despite being weaker than Jin ChungSuk? It’s because he has connections with the Martial Alliance’s branch here…”

Qian stopped walking upon hearing him, and Gweng flinched as he almost rammed his face against Qian’s back and came to a rest.

“What’s up? Why did you stop?”

Qian didn’t respond, so Gweng had to stick his head over his shoulder to check the situation outside the tavern, where one sturdy, middle-aged man and five warriors that were each holding a sword were surrounding the tavern’s entrance.Gweng silently stepped back into the tavern.

The middle-aged man riding the horse was staring at Qian while rubbing his abundant mustache. While it seemed he was interested in Qian, YangSuk, who was next to him, was full of anxiety as he looked at Qian.

The middle-aged man started speaking.

“You don’t look disconcerted at all. Do you realize who I am?” He asked, and Qian pointed at the middle aged man’s chest with his chin, crossing his arms.

“You must be the Martial Alliance’s branch manager.”

A small, metallic hexagon was attached to the middle-aged man’s shirt—it was the Martial Alliance’s symbol that was distributed to the branch managers of each branch. The middle-aged man laughed lightly and continued.

“Yes, I’m this village’s Martial Alliance branch manager, and I received a report about your assault against my villagers.”

“It wasn’t just an assault! My older brother lost consciousness! He can’t even eat properly anymore with his teeth broken!”

Jin YangSuk, who was standing next to the branch manager. shouted. The branch manager looked at Qian with the intent to confirm his words.

“It was self-defense,” Qian bluntly responded with his arms still crossed.

“Self-defense?” The branch manager asked back, and Qian slightly shrugged his shoulders.

“What else can a nine versus one fight be called other than self-defense? And eight out of those nine were even holding a club.”

“But you are the only one who came out from the tavern.”

“Those nine were wusses.”

The branch manager smiled in satisfaction for some reason and asked again.

“Did anyone die?”

Qian didn’t say anything and just slowly shook his head. The branch manager smiled even more broadly and nodded. Upon watching the scene, YangSuk’s face became distorted as he shouted.

“Branch manager! What are you doing right now instead of arresting him? My brother is unconscious! He also broke my nose!”

The branch manager’s face became stiff upon hearing his shout and he looked at YangSuk. YangSuk’s face was red with anger, yet he soon realized something upon receiving that gaze after a moment of confusion, and his face turned pale.

The branch manager spoke to him, “Nine people from the Dogma sect including ChungSuk have collapsed? Then tell me why I should keep putting up with you. ChungSuk and the sect leaders are the only ones who are anything close to being martial artists, and if only one of them is left, then I can easily win against him on my own while my subordinates handle the rest of the scoundrels.”

“Th-that’s…O-once my older brother wakes up, h-he won’t overlook…”

 “The only thing he will see once he wakes up is going to be the bars of a cell.”

The branch manager signaled with his chin to the warriors holding swords, and one of them unsheathed his sword and unraveled the rope he had around his waist to tie up Jin YangSuk. YangSuk could only stay dumbfounded as he was dragged away.

The branch manager approached Qian without dismounting from his horse.

“Well, get away from there now since we need to arrest the scoundrels harming the village.”

Since Qian had been watching the situation, he obediently stepped aside, walking away from the tavern’s entrance towards the stake where his horse was tied to. While the Martial Alliance’s warriors rushed into the tavern, the branch manager just watched Qian, who was untying the horse’s reins.

“Are you planning to leave right away?”

Qian didn’t look back or respond, and the branch manager nodded on his own.

“That’s a good idea. Even though it was self-defense, it will be bothersome if you keep staying in this village since the villagers will be anxious.”

During the short time he spoke, the warriors had taken the fainted scoundrels out of the tavern, spreading them on the roadside. The branch manager confirmed ChungSuk’s body, whose face was completely messed up, and asked Qian once again.

“Where did you learn martial arts? While ChungSuk isn’t exactly an expert, he is pretty good at fighting.”

Qian still didn’t respond and mounted the horse’s saddle. After pulling the reins of the neighing horse, he finally looked at the branch manager. Qian silently looked at him for a moment, then put on his rice hat and changed the horse’s direction to the opposite side of where he’d entered the village.

“…He isn’t a talkative fellow.”

The branch manager’s expression became stiff once Qian turned around. He wanted to threaten him using the Martial Alliance branch manager’s position, but he was reluctant since he could’ve been an expert who wasn’t scared of the Martial Alliance. In the end, the branch manager couldn’t stop Qian from leaving. The manager spat on the ground and stared at Qian’s back with displeasure.

At that moment, Gweng ran out from the tavern and shouted.

“Brother Zhang! Let’s go together. Brother Zhang! Don’t leave me here alone!”

After recklessly shouting like that, he flinched upon receiving the Martial Alliance warriors’ and branch manager’s gazes and quickly mounted his horse and started chasing after Qian. Quickly catching up to him, Gweng rode next to him and took a glance back.

“shit… The Martial Alliance’s branch manager is such an opportunist…”

Qian didn’t say anything.

As they crossed the main road of the small pioneer village, the villagers cautiously watched them from their houses through their window or in front of their doors. Gweng met their gazes with a bitter expression, “Oh, man, Brother Zhang solved the village’s problem in the end, so they shouldn’t be looking at us like that.”

He turned his gaze towards Qian, “Brother Zhang, do you know why the branch manager did that?”

“What do you mean ‘why’? He was just arresting criminals since he is from the Martial Alliance.”

“Villagers wouldn’t have talked behind his back so much if he was the type to fulfill his duties. Brother Zhang, listen. I heard a rumor about the Martial Alliance’s patroller around this area. It looks like that man was worrying about that and took the opportunity with brother Zhang to take action.”

Qian was just riding on the swaying saddle without saying anything, but Gweng restlessly blabbered until they left the village.

“Which means he managed to hide his wrongdoing thanks to you, so he should be rewarding you for that. Giving some money or providing lodging is the correct thing to do, yet he just chased you away! I’ve seriously never seen a decent person from the Martial Alliance. They are either lacking something or are opportunists just like that guy. I guess any decent man wouldn’t join the Martial Alliance. That’s why, brother Zhang, it might be sudden, but don’t you want to work with m…”

Gweng’s horse stopped because Qian, who was riding ahead of him, had stopped. Gweng looked around to figure out why and realized they had already left the village and were facing a crossroad. One road was headed towards the north, while the other was towards the east, with a small wooden sign posted in the middle.

“…Why did you stop?”

Qian looked at Yang Gweng.

“Where are you going?”

“I-I wonder? Where are you going, Brother Zhang?”

Qian snickered.

“I don’t work with people who use dirty tricks during gambles.”

“…I did tell them to stop. It’s true! And you didn’t even hear what work I was going to suggest.”

Qian softly shook his head upon hearing his answer and turned his horse towards the east.

“Let’s never meet each other again, scammer. I’m going to smash your legs if you keep following me, so make the correct decision.”

He galloped the horse and left. Having been left with the threat that his legs would get smashed, Gweng stayed speechless and just kept watching Qian’s back and the horse’s ass. Once Qian was far enough from him, he sighed deeply.

“…He really is playing hard to get. I wonder what his identity is. I just know that he hasn’t always lived in the Hermit Valley. I should investigate him properly,” Yang Gweng murmured while stroking his chin, turned his horse towards the north, and sighed again.

“Shit, I got chased out of the village when the sun was setting. shit!”

He was about to depart to the north, but he looked towards Qian, who was already far away, one last time. The setting sun was dying the eastern sky a dark blue, yet Qian and his horse were fearlessly running towards that dark world.

Getting a strange feeling from that sight, Gweng also departed to the north, followed by the cloud of dust rising from the horse’s hooves.

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