Chapter 82: Insubordination (2)
Tiger Fortress (寅砦).
As the third mountain fortress of the Yangtze River Water Bandit Union, it was a natural fortress built with wooden fences and stones piled atop a high and rugged peak.
Right now, a mounted polo (馬上擊毬) tournament was in full swing here.
Clack-clack, clack-clack, clack-clack—
Mounted young men swung long wooden sticks named polo mallets.
…Crack!
They reached out with their mallets to strike the wooden ball, fiercely competing to put it into the opponent’s goal (毬門) over two hundred and fifty paces away.
And among the numerous polo players, there was one man who stood out by far.
“Out of the way! You small fries!”
A tall man with a hairy face and arms that were bizarrely long.
He cut through the enemies alone on a single horse and dashed right in front of the goal.
Shin Butcher Won I-hu (元二猴).
Since the mallet was held in his exceptionally long arms, the ball moved from unpredictable distances.
The opposing players were constantly at a loss, unable to stop him.
At that time.
“I can’t let Senior Brother Monkey get all the attention by himself.”
Another man appeared in front of the Shin Butcher.
A man with fierce eyes and hair sticking straight up stood in the Shin Butcher’s way with a mallet in hand.
Yu Butcher Neuk (肋). He glared with eyes like a fighting cock as he contested the ball with the Shin Butcher.
“Hey, you gamecock-like bastard! You should strike the ball, why are you trying to strike me?!”
“Isn’t it because you keep dodging swiftly like a monkey, Senior Brother?!”
The Shin Butcher and the Yu Butcher were attacking each other using their mallets.
In fact, at this point, it was closer to a spear-and-staff spar rather than polo.
Right at that moment.
“Ahem—isn’t the ball actually just lying idle? That won’t do.”
There was someone who snatched the ball between the Shin Butcher and the Yu Butcher like a ghost.
A man driving his horse with long hair fluttering against his brown skin.
Oh Butcher Ma Meng (馬孟) snatched the ball before anyone knew it and ran.
He was a man rumored to be the best at mounted polo among the Thousand-Heads of the Yangtze River Water Bandit Union.
“Oh dear! There is no point if we lose the ball itself.”
“Senior Brother! That’s cheap! Give the ball back!”
The Shin Butcher and the Yu Butcher hurriedly chased after the Oh Butcher.
However, the Oh Butcher was running toward the enemy’s goal, shaking off the two Thousand-Heads with a horsemanship that could almost be called a divine skill.
At that time, there was someone who blocked the Oh Butcher’s path.
“You cannot.”
A giant with a red face and a long, two-pronged beard.
His build was as if two Guan Yunchangs had been joined together.
Upon seeing him, the Oh Butcher’s eyes narrowed.
“……Senior Brother Jin.”
He was none other than the Jin Butcher, Jiang Jiao (姜蛟).
He was also the Thousand-Head with the strongest martial arts among those gathered for the mounted polo today.
The Oh Butcher clenched his teeth and maneuvered his mallet.
“Even if I lose in a duel, I will not lose in polo.”
“……Hmph!”
The Jin Butcher also reached out with his mallet imbued with internal energy, aiming for the Oh Butcher’s ball.
Crack!
Force against force, the two Thousand-Heads fought tight against each other without yielding an inch.
The Shin Butcher and the Yu Butcher also joined in respectively.
“If it is a battle of internal energy, I am also confident!”
“Fighting is done with technique!”
The Dragon, Horse, Monkey, and Rooster began to fight, entangled with one another.
The four mallets became tangled like a ball of thread, twisting in a complex manner.
Meanwhile, there were women watching that spectacle from afar.
“……Men, really. What is so important about such a useless ball game? Tsk-tsk—”
“Indeed. They are truly masters at wasting their strength in vain. Rather than sweating in a place like that, they should come to my mountain fortress and help with debt collection.”
A woman with a skinny body and an orchid tattoo engraved on it, and a huge woman boasting thick bones sat side-by-side.
The small, nervous-looking woman was Mo Ah (牟娥), who was called the Myo Butcher, and the giant woman wearing a loose fur coat was Yang Ang-nyeo (良鴦女), who was called the Mi Butcher.
The Myo Butcher and the Mi Butcher shook their heads as they watched the men fighting from afar.
“I didn’t come all the way here to watch such a sweaty spectacle.”
“Only Senior Brother Jin and Senior Brother Oh are excited. Sigh, that monkey and rooster are also cackling, having the time of their lives.”
“Tsk—when Master was around, the game never dragged on so tediously.”
“Right, right. Master always finished it in an instant…… Gasp!?”
At that instant, their conversation stopped abruptly.
Their expressions, which had been crumpled in boredom, smoothed out completely.
At the same time, unseasonal sweat droplets began to pour down from their foreheads.
A low voice drifted from behind the two women.
“I told you talking about Master is forbidden, Junior Sisters.”
There were hands resting on the shoulders of the two women, the Myo Butcher and the Mi Butcher.
White and elegant hands.
The owner of those hands was indeed a beautiful beauty.
A face so delicate that at first glance, one would think he was a woman.
However, his shoulders broad like a bear’s, his waist agile like a wolf’s, and the tiger skin covering both his upper and lower body highlighted his masculinity all the more.
The Myo Butcher and the Mi Butcher spoke in trembling voices.
“S-Sorry, Senior Brother…… I, I, I accidentally misspoke……”
“T-That…… I didn’t mean to…… I just forgot……”
Contrary to their worries, however, the man comforted them with a gentle smile.
“As long as you understand, that is fine. Please be careful in the future, Junior Sisters.”
At the same time, he walked forward, passing between the Myo Butcher and the Mi Butcher.
Catching and mounting a horse on the way, he charged straight toward the center of the mounted polo arena.
Clack-clack, clack-clack, clack-clack—
The four Thousand-Heads, who were engaged in a fierce contest over the ball, turned their heads.
“!”
“!”
“!”
“!”
The Jin Butcher, the Oh Butcher, the Shin Butcher, and the Yu Butcher.
A single mallet swung in front of the four Thousand-Heads.
“Urgh!?”
The Jin Butcher was the first to react.
Snap!
As his mallet broke off, the horse’s legs tangled.
The Jin Butcher fell straight to the ground and rolled.
Next was the Oh Butcher.
“Argh!?”
The Oh Butcher plunged helplessly before the internal energy that pressed down on him.
Crash!
In the end, the Oh Butcher was also reduced to rolling over and over on the ground.
“Gasp!”
“Hieek!?”
The Shin Butcher and the Yu Butcher turned their horses back, having given up resisting early on.
The four-on-one battle ended disappointingly fast.
The four Thousand-Heads were subdued in an instant.
However, not a single one of the watching water bandits was surprised.
They merely nodded their heads as if it were a matter of course.
Clack-clack, clack-clack, clack-clack—
The beautiful, fair-complexioned man drove his horse in front of the four Thousand-Heads.
“It seems I must apologize for intruding on my junior brothers’ play.”
The one calmly reaching out with his mallet to strike the ball was none other than the Tiger Butcher, Ga Jeong-maeng (賈政盟), the next Union Master of the Yangtze River Water Bandit Union.
“Well, we absolutely cannot match Senior Brother In.”
The Oh Butcher, who was the best at mounted polo, scratched his head and smiled.
The Tiger Butcher, who looked down at him, also smirked.
A scholar’s cap worn elegantly over his white forehead.
A reddish tint lingered at the corners of his curved eyes beneath it.
His beautiful yet decadent gaze was enough to make even the Myo Butcher and the Mi Butcher, who were watching from afar, clutch their chests.
“……As expected, Senior Brother In’s beauty must be acknowledged.”
“How can a man be so beautiful? He is so delicate, looking exactly like a pale-faced scholar.”
Yet the Tiger Butcher was the master of this mountain fortress and the strongest expert of the Yangtze River Water Bandit Union at present.
It was unknown how he, who was merely third in rank, rose so rapidly in such a short time, but for the other Thousand-Heads whose ranks were originally lower and whose martial arts were weaker than his, they had no choice but to accept it as it was.
Meanwhile, the Tiger Butcher looked around at his Rabbit, Dragon, Horse, Goat, Monkey, and Rooster junior brothers and sisters in front of him and spoke.
“Where is Junior Brother Sa (巳)?”
Then, sound transmission (傳音) was heard from behind.
‘I am here, Senior Brother In.’
“I see. Are you hiding in the shadows again?”
‘Bright and noisy places are burdensome for an assassin (殺手).’
“Yes. I understand.”
The Tiger Butcher nodded as he looked at the shadow beneath the pavilion far away.
Sa Butcher Tang Sanlang (唐三郞).
His second junior brother was hiding somewhere over there.
With this, all the junior brothers and sisters had gathered.
“……Except for those two, that is.”
The Tiger Butcher stroked his chin.
Dog Butcher Gyeon Sul, and Pig Butcher Jeok-hyang.
Only these two had not responded to his mobilization order.
Even if the eldest, Ja Butcher, and the second, Chuk Butcher, were senior brothers whose generations were higher than his own, it was unpleasant that the two of the lowest ranks had not obeyed his orders.
“Well. Since there will soon be an opportunity to talk face-to-face.”
The Tiger Butcher smirked and tossed away the mallet.
Then, he spoke toward his subordinates around the barracks.
“My junior brothers and sisters must be hungry. Hurry and prepare the meal.”
Whose command would they dare delay? The water bandits busily began preparing the feast.
While the Thousand-Heads were playing mounted polo, the banquet hall had already been nearly completed.
The grand banquet seating prepared in the center of the large pavilion was spacious enough to easily accommodate not only the Tiger Butcher and the other seven Thousand-Heads, but also the hundreds of water bandits they had brought along.
Gradually, the food was carried in.
The delicacies, which cooks kidnapped from various villages below the peak had prepared to the death, made their appearance one after another.
Delicacies of land and sea—steamed bird’s nest (燕窝), shark fin (魚翅) made from flood dragon fin, roasted suckling pig, wine-steamed bunting, stir-fried duck web, softshell turtle soup, honey-preserved bear paw, carp sashimi, fried bat, raw monkey brain, and dried abalone and sea cucumber seasoned and mixed with truffles—were laid out in a row.
Carefully selected courtesans sang, and likewise, carefully selected musicians played their instruments.
In, Myo, Jin, Sa, Oh, Mi, Shin, Yu.
The eight senior and junior brothers and sisters, led by the Tiger Butcher, were thus eating, drinking, and enjoying the feast.
Right at that moment.
“Union Master!”
A water bandit of the Tiger Fortress sought the Tiger Butcher in a hurried tone.
“What is it?”
The Tiger Butcher asked in a languid tone.
He did not say anything in particular to the subordinate who addressed him as Union Master.
The other siblings also accepted this as a matter of course.
However,
“U-Uninvited guests have arrived.”
At the subsequent report from the subordinate, everyone’s expressions changed abruptly.
The complexions of Myo, Jin, Sa, Oh, Mi, Shin, and Yu turned pale.
At the same time, the corners of the Tiger Butcher’s mouth curled upward.
“How many uninvited guests are there?”
“T-Two.”
“I see.”
Having received the report and grasped the situation, the Tiger Butcher looked around at his senior brothers and junior siblings.
“It seems Senior Brother Ja and Senior Brother Chuk have arrived.”
The corners of the Tiger Butcher’s eyes were dyed in an even redder peach blossom color.
The deadly allure was to the extent that even the surrounding courtesans were captivated by it.
Slowly—
The Tiger Butcher rose from his seat.
And he spoke to his siblings, who were in an awkward, half-standing posture, unable to either stand up or remain seated.
“Bring them inside.”
With those final words, the Tiger Butcher went inside the pavilion.
Almost simultaneously, the door in the center of the banquet hall opened.
Snap! Crash!
Three thick bars bolted to the iron door were shattered like rotten pieces of wood.
Two men walked into the manor.
“……The Heavenly Killer Star (天殺星) has risen in the night sky.”
“A malevolent star indeed has a malevolent nature. It seems what one is born with does not change.”
Ja Butcher Seo Woo-hak (徐宇鶴) and Chuk Butcher Woo Cheol-woo (禹鐵牛).
They were the direct lineages who originally should have become the Union Masters of the Yangtze River Water Bandit Union.
Unrivaled Spear Ghost