Chapter 34: Wave Market (2)
In the outskirts of the Wave Market, garbage floated around.
Torn pieces of discarded net, dirty cloth, broken wooden planks, pieces of paper mulberry rope, rotting carcasses of miscellaneous fish…
A new one was added to their group.
…*Splash!*
The owner of the hot soup shop fell into the river water.
In his forehead, a crossbow bolt was firmly embedded, trembling.
“Nice! Hit! With this, I am ahead by one.”
“You damn bastard! Where is the fairness in moving forward to shoot?”
“The one who kills first is the owner! If it is unfair, you use a bow too!”
“Fine. Today’s loot goes to the one who kills the most! Let us try it!”
The snickering men were all armed with weapons such as swords, spears, axes, and bows.
In the center of the boat carrying them, a large flag fluttered.
Yangtze River Water Bandit Union.
An organized band of water pirates that roamed the entire Yangtze River.
Existences that made even men doing rough ship work cry like young girls appeared.
“Hieek…”
“W-Why is the Yangtze River Water Bandit Union here…”
“It is over… We are all finished…”
Everyone on the Wave Market was terrified and shivered.
Soon, a single robust man stepped forward to the very front of the pirates’ boat.
“Hear me.”
He was a warrior of large build with a bushy beard.
Bulging temples proved that he possessed martial arts of a considerable level.
“I am Gongson Hap, a Baekdu of the Yangtze River Water Bandit Union. If you surrender quietly, the blood shed will be less.”
The “Baekdu” of the Yangtze River Water Bandit Union is a rank that commands a hundred heads beneath it.
Above that is the “Cheondu” rank, of which there are only twelve in the entire Yangtze River Water Bandit Union, and above that is only the Sect Leader.
The pirates crossed over to the Wave Market, snickering.
“You heard our Baekdu Gongson’s words well, right?”
“Scrape out and bring everything you have, hurry.”
“If we search later and something comes out, we won’t just take your lives. Understood?”
At that moment, a man bravely stepped forward.
“O-Our situation is a b-bit different from the f-fishermen here!”
“?”
Gongson Hap turned his head with a half-hearted expression.
The man raised his voice despite trembling.
“I, I am the one who manages the Wave Lanterns… B-Behind us is the Hegemon Society! Surely you do not know the Hegemon Society of Chu River County, Hubei Province?”
He thought that since he had put the words “Hegemon Society” in his mouth, the pirates would not be able to do anything to them.
But.
“I know it.”
Gongson Hap’s expression was still half-hearted.
He said, drawing a sword from his waist.
“Because the Hegemon Society sold you guys. To me.”
“……Eh?”
The man wore a blank expression.
And after that, he became a body unable to wear any other expression.
*Slash-*
Because the broadsword drawn from Gongson Hap’s waist cut off the man’s neck and sent it flying over the river water.
…*Splash!*
Watching the scattering blood, Gongson Hap clicked his tongue.
“The Hegemon Society asked me to convey a message to you. Thank you for your hard work paying tributes until now, and wherever you are sold from now on, think of it as your hometown and try to settle down and live.”
At that, the women of the Wave Lantern boat began to shiver.
“H-How could that be… We have almost fully paid off our debt now…”
“What do you mean by this? I, they told me if I worked only until this year, I could go home…”
“Sold? U-Us? They sold us to you guys?”
“M-Mom… I have to go see mom…”
As if they had no strength to stand in this unbelievable reality, several women collapsed.
At that moment, a woman ran in front of Gongson Hap and prostrated.
“Milord! General milord! Please show mercy! I must go to the land! *Cough, cough!*”
She wept, pointing at her sunken cheeks.
“I am so sick that they said if I do not get my pulse checked by a physician immediately, it will be hard to pass this year! I really must go to the land this time! Please…!”
“Oh—is that so? Then that won’t do. If you are sick, you must receive treatment.”
At Gongson Hap’s words, the woman’s facial expression brightened.
However, Gongson Hap did not take any particular measures.
He merely strode toward the woman and extended his hand.
“Let us see. I am Bian Que and Hua Tuo. So, where does it hurt?”
“Pardon? I-I have a bit of a headache…”
The moment the woman muttered while stroking her neck.
*Crack-*
Gongson Hap raised his broadsword and split the woman’s head in half.
Gongson Hap said, looking back at the pirates snickering next to him.
“If there is anyone sick among you too, speak up! I will cure you right then and there!”
“As expected, the Boss is the number one physician under heaven! If the head hurts, just eliminate the head!”
The pirates were busy flattering Gongson Hap, sending round of applause.
Soon, Gongson Hap spoke toward everyone with a chilling gaze.
“Whether men or women here, from now on you are all the property of our Yangtze River Water Bandit Union. Naturally, you can never go to the land forever.”
At those words, both men and women sat down and began to cry.
What could they do.
Yangtze River Water Bandit Union.
More precisely, the Twelve Water Forts of the Yangtze River.
They were a large-scale pirate group that set up forts in twelve gorges on the Yangtze River and controlled the passage to Sichuan.
Since their relationship with the government was close, they were not even classified as targets for subjugation, and instead held and exercised some autonomy, so from the perspective of ordinary small citizens, they were existences no different from a natural disaster.
Since they met them, the fate of all the people gathered at the Wave Market was as good as decided.
They would have all their property snatched away and do hard work like slaves all their lives before being murdered or dying of exhaustion.
The same was true for Baekli Yeon and her mother.
At that moment.
“W-We cannot just suffer like this!”
There was a man who stood up indignantly.
He drew the knife he used to catch fish and shouted.
“Since it will be over anyway if we are captured by them, let us fight them once here! Our numbers are also greater!”
Several robust men agreed to those words.
Men holding raw fish knives and hand axes rushed out from their seats.
Some even came out carrying nets and harpoons.
However.
Hahaha—
Gongson Hap merely laughed.
Soon, he swung the broadsword in his hand horizontally once with a whoosh.
*Thud-thud-thud-thud!*
The heads of the seven men who had risen up indignantly were smashed in one go.
Blood and brains splattered, and the expressions of the fishermen who had been burning with fighting spirit just a moment ago changed blankly.
“Ignorant fools who do not even know martial arts… yet their blood is red despite their place.”
Gongson Hap beat the surrounding men to death too easily.
The broadsword had a blunt edge and was chipped here and there, so it was actually closer to an iron club rather than a sword.
And every time they were struck by it, fishermen of robust build broke down like sorghum stalks.
*Whack! Thud! Crack! Slash-*
The way Gongson Hap killed the resisting fishermen was like a cat tearing fat mice apart.
“Aaaaah!”
The fishermen began to flee.
A net thrown by one person right before dying covered Gongson Hap, but.
“Hup!”
Gongson Hap tore that tough net with pure strength.
“For the bastards who held weapons, I will cut off their wrists, make slashes all over their bodies, and pickle them in salt. For the bastards who did not hold weapons, go stand on the left. If you behave obediently, I won’t inflict a single scratch.”
At those words, everyone at the Wave Market completely lost their will to fight.
*Clatter- Clang!*
Raw fish knives and hand axes fell onto the wooden planks.
As a result, the pirates walked over snickering and bound the fishermen.
“You were the guy running wild with an axe earlier, right? I remembered you.”
“This fellow has a pretty face for a man. I will dote on you in the future.”
“Oops, what did this fellow eat to grow this tall? That won’t do. Let us cut your ankles first instead of your wrists.”
After the men were bound, it was the women’s turn.
A one-eyed pirate went carrying a straw rope and bound the women of the Wave Lantern boat one after another.
At that moment.
“What? There is a kid too?”
The one-eyed pirate grinned upon discovering Baekli Yeon.
Baekli Yeon was startled and hid behind her mother, but the one-eyed pirate dragged her out by grabbing her hair anyway.
“Hehehe—I do not view them as women once they cross ten, so what a windfall.”
At that, Baekli Yeon’s mother grabbed the one-eyed pirate’s foot and pleaded.
“Please spare only my daughter, milord, I will do anything! Truly anything!”
“Get lost, mother-in-law. If you do not want to be stomped to death by your son-in-law!”
The one-eyed pirate kicked Baekli Yeon’s mother.
And then he dragged her to the boat while clutching Baekli Yeon’s hair.
Right at that moment.
*Splash!*
A single small raft arrived at the Wave Market by swimming against the current.
*Step-*
A boy with a still youthful face stepped off the raft and took a step onto the Wave Market.
The one-eyed pirate passing in front of him curled his lips and laughed.
“Kid—if you came to buy something at the market, you are too late. The market is closed.”
But the boy was calm.
“I did not come to buy anything.”
“Then did you come to sell something? Whatever it is, you are late. You come here too.”
“I did not come to sell either.”
The boy said, looking at Baekli Yeon caught in the one-eyed pirate’s hand.
“I came to have a conversation.”
“A conversation? Puhaha! Where did such a retarded thing come…”
The one-eyed pirate could not finish his words.
Because a single black staff with six edges was pulled out swiftly from below the gunwale.
*Crack!*
His skull shattered, and teeth and bone fragments splattered over the water surface.
*Splash-*
The body of the pirate whose head was blown away plunged into the river water.
The boy slowly moved his steps while holding the staff.
“W-What is this fellow?”
“Kill him!”
Two pirates who were dragging the women from behind rushed in, each holding a sword and an axe.
However.
…*Crack! Thud!*
One had his neck broken by being struck by the staff, and the other had the tip of the staff pierce his mouth and crush half of his face.
*Splash- Splash-*
Three corpses of pirates ended up floating on the river water.
The boy said, stroking Baekli Yeon’s head.
“You said to have a conversation, right?”
Baekli Yeon recalled the conversation she had shared with the boy not long ago.
‘My mom’s body is very sick. She said to go to the land, we must get permission from the martial artist uncles.’
‘Is that so.’
‘Yes. If you are also a martial artist, oppa, please do a favor when you meet the martial artist uncles later. Tell them to let my mom go to the land.’
‘Hmm. I do not know if I will meet them, but if I do, I will try to make the request.’
‘Yes. Since language might communicate well among fellow martial artists. I said I would try to speak to them, but mom told me not to do so. That they wouldn’t understand even if I spoke anyway. She said martial artists only communicate with other martial artists.’
‘Hmm. That is also true.’
Since he owed two copper coins for the price of the soup and rice, what could he do.
The boy was not very talented in conversation, but was quite skilled in conversation among martial artists.
Furthermore, did the boy not happen to hold a good means of conversation.
“I will try to have a conversation with the martial artist uncles.”
Namely, with the Ink Bamboo Staff he snatched after killing the Staff Ghost.
Unrivaled Spear Ghost