The Mad Dog Inspector of the Martial Alliance

Chapter 72 : A Heroic Journey (4)

The most difficult thing about a heroic journey is that there are many enemies, but I am only one.

The second most difficult thing is that I have to abide by the law and heroism, but the opponent never abides by it.

One sword. One horse. A little silver.

And a hot sense of heroism.

A hero travels the martial world with only these four things, protecting the weak and punishing the wicked.

It's a good story, but if you think about it calmly, in most cases, it's a story of a guy with nothing, with only shit in his head, who can't grasp his own situation and runs wild, showing off his weaknesses in all directions.

The fact that he has one sword means his armed state is poor, and a journey relying on one horse reveals a lack of numbers. A little silver? He has no money and only a hot sense of heroism, so it's also very good to use.

This is why villains can run wild so easily.

Compared to the hero's poor preparation, the means that the villain can mobilize are many.

They take hostages, and they also intimidate the powerless common people and make them confront the hero. They can confuse the mind with a dream-inducing drug, and they also use a beauty trap.

When it comes to a battle situation, it's basic for the majority to gang up and kill one. They can shoot a rain of fire arrows or use gunpowder.

The methods the enemies can use are endless, so what's the big deal about killing a hero according to the situation?

"If an ordinary hero were to try to do this, what would he do? He would take a small boat and challenge the fortress head-on, get hit by arrows, and become a porcupine."

"W-well, that's true, but..."

"I'm not such an idiot, so I have to use a stratagem."

"If it's a stratagem, what kind of stratagem specifically?"

Jang So-gil leisurely looked around.

"Look. We have so much."

"Even if you say we have a lot, I don't know at all. Because I'm the shit-stupid hero you're talking about."

"Tsk, tsk. Now, look. There are three boats over there. They're free boats that no one will blame us for using and smashing."

"The water bandits will blame you."

"Let them. It doesn't matter if they're broken. Inside those three boats, there's surprisingly gunpowder. There are also cannons."

"Don't tell me you're planning to blow them up?!"

"Why not? Hehehe. Those boats were originally the water bandits', so they won't be suspected. When we dock at the fortress, we'll blow them up with a 'kwang', go inside, and take the leader's head."

Yang Gwan touched his forehead.

He couldn't even grasp where to start pointing things out.

"No matter how much the opponent is a water bandit, you shouldn't make a surprise attack. I don't expect a fair and square frontal confrontation, but shouldn't you at least declare who is attacking?"

"The water bandits can make a preemptive surprise attack, but I can't? What kind of discriminatory remark is that?"

"It's not discrimination, but morally-!"

"Find morality at the bottom of the Yellow River. It's all for naught after you die. In the first place, isn't it because you orthodox sect bastards act so soft that those bastards use you as they please?"

It's over. The Young Master is really going to do it.

Yang Gwan squeezed his brain as much as possible and tried to come up with a reason why he shouldn't.

"Do you know how to handle gunpowder? What about cannons? That's something you can't do without being educated."

"It's true that I don't know how to handle gunpowder. Because I haven't learned the knowledge as a soldier or been trained in real combat like those bastards."

"Then-!"

"But am I going to shoot a cannon and hit a distant enemy?"

"What?"

"I'm going to blow up the fortress and the boat together, I said. What kind of skill do you need to do that? You just have to light it."

That's true, isn't it? Yang Gwan, at a loss for words, shut his mouth, but soon a triumphant smile appeared.

"How are you going to get the boat to the fortress?"

"Huh?"

"Don't tell me you're not going to trust those water bandit bastards?"

"Me, trust those bastards? Do you think I would?"

Those who betray easily will betray easily again. If he took those bastards near the fortress, they would quickly turn on him and betray him.

As Jang So-gil shook his head, Yang Gwan, thinking this was his chance, raised his voice.

"Then how are you thinking of getting the boat? Neither you nor I know how to handle a boat, Young Master So. Steering a boat is not an easy task, and there are even three of them. With what skill are you going to move them!"

"Ooh, for a Yang Gwan, that's a pretty sharp point."

"..."

"But do you think I didn't think of that? We have a lot of things. How much? Right now, under my feet, there's even a bastard who inherited the blood of the most famous captain in Henan. We can use this guy."

Jo Jun, who was being stepped on by Jang So-gil, suddenly came to his senses and let out a shrill sound.

"What? Me?"

"Yes. You. You lead the boat at the front, and the other two boats can be tied to that boat with chains and go, can't they?"

"Th-then I'll just lend you my sailors, so how about you go with the sailors?"

"I'm going to blow up all those boats, I said. If there are many people, I can't blow them up. They could die."

"Then there's someone who steers a boat better than me. Can't we do it with that person?"

"No. You have to do it."

"Why me?!"

Hearing Jo Jun's scream, Jang So-gil smiled faintly. It was a genuinely happy smile.

"Because my heart won't ache even if you die."

"What!?"

"It's also perfect for beating you to death if you show any signs of betrayal."

"Eek!!"

"If you do anything foolish, I'll kill you right away and go back, so if you can do anything foolish, try it."

Even Jo Jun could distinguish the truth of the killing intent that was pouring out.

That was a pure killing intent without a single bit of falsehood mixed in.

'A devil-like bastard...'

How did he get on the bad side of such a devil? Even a three-year-old child could know the reason. It was money. It was because he didn't give the money.

Although he had said he had no money, it wasn't that Jo Jun really had no money. His entire fortune was hidden in every corner of the boat.

If he had just torn off a plank from a corner of the boat and handed him a basket of silver, wouldn't this have not happened? His eyes became moist with belated regret.

Jang So-gil lightly stepped on such a Jo Jun once more.

"Now, the outline of the plan is this. Gwan, any problems?"

"None."

"Then let's prepare a little and go."

"Is there anything to prepare?"

"We have to sneak out the valuable items inside those three boats, and before we raid the fortress, we have to get the reward for protecting the boat from this guy."

"Didn't this person say he had no money?"

"He has money. It's just hidden."

"How do you know that?"

"My nose is no match for Ye-er's, but it's amazing at smelling money. Right now, the smell of money is vibrating from all directions. This bastard, it seems he's hidden a lot of things behind the planks or in the ceiling."

How did he know that?!

Jo Jun's back heaved greatly.

Pressing down on the bastard's back, Jang So-gil smiled again.

"I have to get what I'm owed, and at the same time, I have to take his money as a hostage so that this bastard can't do anything foolish."

"H-hostage?"

"Don't they say that a wise rabbit digs three burrows? If this guy does anything foolish, I'll kill him, but it's best to prevent him from doing anything foolish in the first place."

Yang Gwan's mouth hung open.

He was threatening a person by taking their hidden property as a hostage and forcing them to work.

He was making a surprise attack without a declaration of war. And he was blowing up the boat with gunpowder.

This, a heroic journey?

"Do you even have any intention of going on a heroic journey, Young Master So?"

"Huh? I'm doing it right now. I'm fighting the water bandits who control the Yellow River, so isn't it a great heroic journey?"

Where is there such a heroic journey?

Everyone must be thinking the same thing. The sailors, Jo Jun, and Yang Gwan just moved their mouths without a word.

* * *

And so, the stratagem succeeded.

"Spit fire, Gwan!"

"Damn it-! Please stop treating me like a tinderbox!"

As Yang Gwan deployed the Fire Wheel Art, the fuse burned, and the gunpowder loaded on the three boats exploded.

Jo Jun, even if he was rotten, was a man of the Yellow River, so he was quite good at swimming. As soon as he arrived at the fortress, he jumped into the yellow muddy water of the Yellow River. If he hid well in a corner as instructed beforehand, he would be able to save his life.

Kwang-!

Kwangkwang-!

Kwang-!

The three boats exploding in succession. The water bandits' bewildered appearance could be seen.

The boats exploded and scattered sparks in all directions, and when they touched the other boats that were docked, the fire spread.

The gunpowder loaded on the boat that had caught fire exploded, and the sparks that flew in all directions from that boat this time fell on the powder magazine, and when the powder magazine exploded, this time the fortress...

"It's burning well! Very well! This feels amazing!"

Jang So-gil laughed maniacally, watching the exploding boats and the burning fortress.

Watching that, Yang Gwan realized that Sima Hui was a truly excellent martial arts scholar.

Sima Hui had said that Jang So-gil had a strong fire energy, and if he learned a martial art with the same fire nature, he would easily be called into a state of qi deviation, and his fiery temper would not be suppressed. To suppress that temper, he had deliberately recommended learning an ice art.

It was a truly wise and great judgment.

Look at what he was doing now.

"Uahahaha-! Gwan, did you see that just now? The powder magazine is right next to where the boats are docked. These stupid bastards. Even I, who don't know much about gunpowder, know that you shouldn't put it in such a location, but they built it right next to it because they were too lazy to carry the gunpowder! That's why it exploded!"

"..."

"People are flying like ants. They're flying high too. Gunpowder is really great! Fire is really great! Wahahaha! Burn it all! Burn it all!"

If Jang So-gil had learned a flame art like Yang Gwan instead of an ice art, a great fire demon whose name would be left in the history of the martial world would have been born. To have seen that in advance and made him learn an ice art.

"Military Advisor Sima is truly an outstanding person."

"Why are you talking about that old man here?"

"There's something like that. Anyway, the plan succeeded."

It was a great success.

The fortress was neutralized just by exploding three boats.

Did the architects who designed this fortress foresee this situation?

The truth could not be known, but in Jang So-gil's opinion, the architects would have definitely designated a different location for the powder magazine. But since the lazy water bandits had built the powder magazine nearby to load the cargo easily, this was a man-made disaster caused by carelessness.

"Put out the fire!"

"Bring water!"

"Which idiot made a mistake!"

"No, it's an intruder! An intruder set the fire!"

"We have to catch the intruder..."

"Aaaack! Help me!"

The water bandits who had rushed in to put out the fire belatedly were caught in the chain explosion and died. In the midst of that pandemonium, Yang Gwan and Jang So-gil were running openly, but no one could approach them. The person who should be in command was not in sight, and there was no one to give orders. All that existed was the noise of the explosives shaking the fortress and the licking tongue of the fire demon that seemed to burn everything.

Jang So-gil cooled his slightly flushed face with his ice art and raised his head.

"They say the leader of the stupid bastards usually likes the highest place. Then that fellow Huseong is probably in that high spire over there."

"Are you going, Young Master So?"

"I have to go."

"That fellow was in the Fierce Tiger Mountain Fortress, and seeing that he has built up such a plausible force now, he must have naturally crossed the threshold of a second-rate martial artist. It would be better to see him as a first-rate master at least. Fighting such a person is a dangerous thing."

"Although my real combat experience is lacking, I have one sixty-year cycle of internal energy, I am holding a precious sword of the world, and I have learned a divine art. If I can't even catch the leader of a mere water bandit, what great cause can I achieve in the future? I have to catch that fellow and confirm my level."

There was no room for compromise in his firm decision.

Yang Gwan turned his spear and slowed his steps.

"Then I will stay here and block their intervention."

"Yes, I'll leave my back to you."

There must be a lot of traps to block intruders in that high spire. Judging so, Jang So-gil ran up the wall of the spire as if he were flying.

The Cloud Dragon Nine Forms was a martial art of flying in the sky. The wall, with its protruding stones and planks, was no different from flat ground.

In front of Jang So-gil, who had come up to the top floor in one go, two men were visible. A man with a hooked nose who was sitting down as if his knees had given out, wiping his wine, and a brawny giant man who was looking at Jang So-gil with his eyes wide open as if they would tear.

The judgment was instantaneous.

"You're Huseong-!"

Kicking off the air and rotating, Jang So-gil's body cut through the wind like an arrow.

(End of Chapter)