Chapter 143

Chapter 143

“Looks like we’re mostly done?”

“Mm.”

Not bad at all.

At Baek Risan’s confirmation, Seomun Cheok surveyed their surroundings and offered a casual assessment. Even to Seomun Cheok’s eyes, the defensive fortifications encircling the village looked reasonably solid.

‘We need to fortify the village first.’

At first.

When Seohwa first suggested it, everyone in the group was skeptical. And for good reason—didn’t the village already have everything that could be called defensive facilities?

There was a sturdy wooden palisade, insufficient to stop yokai but solid nonetheless. Behind it were prepared openings for stabbing at yokai that might climb over, and even throwing stones that village residents could hurl to participate in combat if necessary.

If they couldn’t withstand a yokai encounter even with those defenses, there was simply nothing they could do. So what more could be improved by adding more defensive facilities?

That’s what everyone thought.

‘You’re thinking of securing visibility.’

‘Yes.’

Everyone except Seomun Cheok, who had extensive battlefield experience.

‘Right now, there’s one thing we need to prioritize. Preventing yokai from infiltrating inside the village.’…….

‘It would be fine if the yokai only came from the front, but this entire area is forest—yokai territory. That means we don’t know where the yokai might attack from.’

Yokai feed on fear and grow. The moment they allow infiltration into the village, the yokai will feed on the slash-and-burn farmers’ fear and swell in size.

Then they fundamentally need to think about not letting yokai inside. For that, the most important thing is anticipating yokai attacks.

This was the result of that thinking.

“As you said, we cut down all trees within fifty jang of the area and pushed them to the back. It’s hardly what you’d call a makeshift palisade… but it should at least serve as an obstacle.”

“We dug trenches too. An ordinary yokai could easily leap fifty jang, but it won’t be easy now. There’s terrain variation.”

“Good. What about the watchtowers?”

“Mm.”

At Seomun Cheok’s glance, Seohwa looked toward the inside of the village and nodded at the sight of the crudely but tall-built watchtowers. They looked shabby with no facilities for climbing up, nothing at all, but they were perfect watchtowers for surveilling the surroundings.

“That’s fine. From that height, we should be able to see everything around us, right?”

“We should be able to see everything… but looking at this, martial artists really are excellent laborers. To build all this in just one night.”

“We don’t know if it was one night or half a day. Day hasn’t come, after all.”

“Either way, it was fast.”

“Because they have internal energy.”

If they were building a proper fortress, they’d need to work step by step with the help of architects or carpenters, but what they needed now were temporary facilities usable immediately even if less convenient, right?

Then with multiple martial artists working together, one night was more than enough time. Those who could freely wield sword energy numbered at least five, and those who could enhance their physical strength with internal energy exceeded ten.

“I’ll organize the deployment.”

“Mm.”

“First, please have people go up the watchtowers in pairs. Since there are three watchtowers, I’d like six people with sharp eyes to take shifts in rotation…”

“We’ll assign our boys and those guys to that.”

At Seohwa’s words, Jinwoong stepped forward and glanced at the bandit group.

“Our boys have guts but won’t be much help, and those two have decent martial skills but don’t coordinate well with you folks. When hands don’t match, sometimes it’s worse than not working together at all.”

“Mm.”

“The numbers work out roughly too. If we rotate in twelve-hour shifts, we can maintain watch duty all day.”

“…You’re telling us to stand watch all day?”

“Are slaves supposed to talk back?”

“What the—”

“Oh, of course we will.”

The subordinate, Son Yu, who poked the cursing bandit’s side with his finger, bowed his head obsequiously.

“Get a grip, boss. Have you already forgotten what happened to that Nokrim expert?”

“We can do it. Just give us orders. These guys are exceptionally good at surveillance.”

“So it seems.”

“Then, we’ll do that.”

At Son Yu’s response, Seohwa lightly agreed as Jinwoong turned to seek confirmation. In Seohwa’s opinion as well, there was no better personnel arrangement.

“Then, the watchtower assignments are roughly settled. Shall we organize the standby teams…”

“Hmm.”

At Seohwa’s words, Seomun Cheok thought for a moment while surveying the surroundings and stroked his chin.

“Seohwa. You’ll be excluded from the standby team, right?”

“Yes. Honestly speaking, my abilities are still far too lacking to face yokai.”

“That’s a rational judgment. Then our fighting strength consists of Baek Risan and Seonwoo Gang, myself and Branch Master Jinwoong. And Wangpal.”

Five people.

Split into two leaves one short, split into three leaves one missing. They could balance it by pulling out one of the bandits with similar skill level from the surveillance personnel, but that would create a gap in the watchtower guard force.

“Mmm…”

“Let’s do this.”

Seomun Cheok glanced at the pondering Seohwa and immediately provided an answer.

“You move together with Wangpal.”

“…Is that okay?”

“It’s fine. Even if we have standby teams of two each, when an actual attack comes, all four will end up fighting anyway. I don’t think one person being absent will create a particularly notable gap in our strength.”

When an attack comes, the standby teams will join in, and the watchtower in the attacked direction will join in too, so a total of eight people will respond. At that point, they can certainly cover a one-person gap in strength.

“There’s one urgent matter right now. Investigating the means of defending the village and strengthening those means. Or finding a way to break through this situation.”

“It’s work only you can do, but it’s also not work you can do alone. It’s just a hunch for now… but this village has something fishy about it.”

Defense alone cannot win a war.

If the reconnaissance and standby teams were formations to plug immediate problems, the investigation team Seohwa was assigned to was closer to fundamentally blocking future problems. No matter how short-handed they were, it was a role that absolutely could not be done carelessly.

Kwa-deuk!

—Kieeeee!

“They’re starting to come.”

At the sight of yokai appearing while pushing through the piled wood barriers with screeching cries, Seomun Cheok furrowed his brow and released the spear shaft he’d been carrying horizontally on his back. Spear energy instantly surged through the spear blade.

“Originally, the Sect Master should have arrived by now. But the Sect Master hasn’t come yet. You understand what that means, right?”

“…Yes.”

While the yokai were strong, they weren’t strong enough that Baek Riyun couldn’t break through. Yet he couldn’t come—that meant some reason had arisen preventing Baek Riyun from coming.

“I don’t know how much time I can buy, but.”

Samjae Yukhap Yeonhwan

Siboguichang

Pu-wook—!!!

Seomun Cheok instantly pierced holes through the yokai’s entire body, then turned his back and raised his spear toward the yokai as he continued. And.

“I’ll buy you time. You do your job.”

Next, the moment Seomun Cheok finished speaking and stepped forward with true step.

The martial artists all launched themselves forward in unison.

To face the yokai.

—Big brother. Big brother… what’s that?

—A walnut.

It’s common in this harsh world, but Choil had a younger sister three years his junior.

—Is it… food?

She wasn’t blood-related. Just someone who’d drifted into the same beggar’s den and lived together for a few years.

—No, I don’t like walnuts. You eat it.

Even so, Choil cherished his sister as if she were his real younger sister. That small, delicate child was plain-looking, lacking in social skills, and had so little greed she couldn’t even beg properly.

The fortunate thing was that Choil himself was quite nimble and rather sharp.

Too little for two people but plenty for one—Choil always begged for that much food and gave it to his sister. On days when it was cold or cloudy, or when luck ran out and he couldn’t beg, they’d lie under the same straw mat and pass the day talking about the future.

—When we grow up, when we can work. When we can save money, what do you want to do?

—Um… I want to be a cook! A cook who makes the most delicious food in the world!

—A cook? Then should I run an inn? Since you’re shy, I’ll deal with the customers. “Today we have fresh pork. Great heroes!” Like that.

—Hehehe.

His sister would be a cook, and he would run an inn. They’d save money that way, send her off to be married, occasionally drop by her house to mooch food she’d cook, and get scolded for visiting too often.

Living an ordinary life like that before passing on. Just because they were born beggars didn’t mean the law said they had to live as beggars until death, right?

Let’s desire only as much happiness as others have, only as much as everyone else lives with. That much wouldn’t be excessive greed.

…There was a time when Choil thought that way too.

—But that was only until the imperial soldiers, having detected evidence that the beggar’s den was being used as a drug distribution route, destroyed everything and he was separated from his sister for life.

“…Choil.”

“Shh.”

Strolling along whistling and feigning indifference, Choil entered the central hall and pulled out a handful of pine nuts from his pocket, pushing them through the slightly open gap at the bottom of the door. Despite having quite a lot, Choil didn’t hesitate to empty all the pine nuts inside.

“What’s this?”

“Pine nuts.”

“Pine nuts?”

“They’re delicious. You’ve never had them, right?”

He’d originally wanted to give her walnuts, but couldn’t obtain any.

With a bitter smile, Choil shook his head and continued. A rustling sound came from inside.

“Big brother came too late, didn’t he? Weren’t you bored?”

“Not really…”

“I can tell without looking—your lips are pouting. You’re sulking, aren’t you?”

“I’m not sulking.”

“You are sulking. But don’t be too upset. I was just busy with work.”

Hearing the girl’s sulky voice, Choil stared intently beyond the door and turned to lean his back against it. At that moment, the girl asked.

“…Is something happening outside?”

“What?”

“It’s strangely noisy.”

“Ah… well, just.”

Nothing much. Yokai are invading the village.

There’d be no way a girl who didn’t even know what yokai were would understand if he told her that.

The boy, making an arbitrary judgment, trailed off and immediately changed the subject.

“Remember what I mentioned before?”

“You talk too much, Choil, so I don’t know what you’re referring to. There’s too much you mentioned before.”

“True, but there’s something more distinctive.”

“That you’d feed me meat until my stomach bursts someday?”

“That’s important too, of course! But I meant the talk about going outside.”

“…Ah.”

“It seems like it’ll be possible soon. There are good people here.”

Even while bringing the Uicheonmun people, Choil had been half-skeptical inside. He already knew from countless experiences that proper chivalrous heroes weren’t that common in this world.

It was a gamble—if he’d be forced to guide them to the village anyway under threat, might as well take a chance. When looking at their outward appearances, excluding the Gyoryongpa and bandit groups, the Uicheonmun disciples had quite good impressions, right? If it works, great; if not, so be it. That’s the mindset with which he’d approached them.

He became certain last night.

When they began solidifying the village’s defenses, while conducting massive work encompassing the entire village, the martial artists didn’t request a single bit of help from the village residents.

Simply because it might be dangerous. Because if they worked just a bit harder themselves, they could finish without risk. For that reason alone.

“Chivalrous heroes have come. Right now we can’t leave the village, but…”

“When we can leave the village, I’ll ask them to take us. Even the village chief won’t be able to say anything. They’re incredibly skilled masters.”

“Masters?”

“Yeah. People who can smash boulders with their fists, leap across rivers in a single step—people like that.”

Having poured out his biased view of martial artists, Choil continued.

“We’ll be able to leave soon.”

“…Leave.”

“We’ll escape from this suffocating place and live a new life. I’ve saved up money too, and I’m old enough now that I don’t need to beg. I’ll work as a porter, save money, and open an inn…”

Choil, who’d been excitedly talking, gradually trailed off. Gradually realizing reality.

“Open an inn… and.”

‘Become the world’s best cook, make the most delicious things in the world and share them together.’

The sister who’d said that with sparkling eyes wasn’t the girl behind this door. The girl who always said she hated the oil smell that came off his clothes wouldn’t want to be a cook.

“…Should we think about what to do starting then? Ahahaha.”

It’s okay. He could be the cook himself. His poor cooking skills would improve quickly with practice.

“…Mm.”

At the girl’s voice flowing from behind the door, Choil forcibly straightened his shoulders and burst into exaggerated laughter. And.

“Just wait a little. Just wait a little and the chivalrous heroes will…”

Save you.

Just as he was about to say that.

“That won’t happen.”

At the heavy voice, Choil’s face stiffened.

“We won’t let the Divine Maiden leave the village.”

It was the village chief’s voice.