That's Not How You Use Martial Arts

Chapter 28
The Wanderer’s League (2)

『 Translator – Divinity 』

“…Not at the level to be called a master?”

Cheon-gyeong was taken aback by Ja-seong’s words.

If the guy who single-handedly wiped out the third division of the Wanderer’s League wasn’t at the level to be called a master, then just what level was required to be called one?

From Cheon-gyeong’s perspective, it sounded like Ja-seong was looking down on the Wanderer’s League.

It seemed that Cheon-gyeong wasn’t the only one who felt this way, as the first and second divisions behind him simultaneously began to emanate a menacing aura.

Dozens of martial artists who had cultivated internal energy.

Their intense emotions resonated with their internal energy, and the resulting pressure spread in all directions.

“Hmm…”

Leader Mak and the escorts paled at the terrifying aura.

But Ja-seong, seemingly unaffected by the Wanderer’s League’s pressure, spoke with a nonchalant expression,

“So, why did the father ask you to bring his daughter back?”

“…Sigh.”

Cheon-gyeong let out a small sigh as he looked at Ja-seong, whose expression hadn’t changed, and answered,

“It’s simple. His daughter, who’s about to get married, ran away from home.”

“…Huh?”

Ja-seong’s face twisted into a strange expression at his answer.

***

…What was he talking about?

The attempted kidnappers before me, did Leader Mak call them the Wanderer’s League?

Anyway, the answer given by the guy who seemed to be the leader of this Wanderer’s League was hard to understand.

His daughter, who was about to get married, ran away?

So, he was saying that Miss Seol had run away?

If someone ran away before their wedding, it usually meant they didn’t want to get married, right?

But Miss Seol had even hired an escort to go to the Namgung family, where her fiancé was.

No matter how I thought about it, the situation didn’t make sense.

How was I supposed to understand this?

Completely baffled, I asked again,

“…So, you’re saying that Miss Seol ran away because she wanted to break off her engagement with the Namgung family?”

But the answer that came back was completely unexpected.

“Who said she was marrying into the Namgung family? It’s been a while since the engagement between the two families was broken off.”

“…!?”

The engagement, broken off?

I widened my eyes at the news I was hearing for the first time.

Miss Seol hadn’t said anything about that.

Seeing me tilt my head, the leader smirked.

“I guess that woman didn’t tell you? Well, considering she came all the way to Hefei, where her ex-fiancé is, she must not be accepting the broken engagement.”

At those words, I could roughly guess Miss Seol’s situation.

A broken engagement.

This explained everything about Miss Seol’s situation.

Why she was going to Hefei with a hired escort instead of her family’s guards, and why her father, the head of the family, had even hired the Wanderer’s League to bring her back.

Wow, to think she came all the way to Hefei herself just to refuse the broken engagement.

She was quite bold, contrary to her appearance.

As I remained silent, inwardly impressed by Miss Seol, the leader chuckled for some reason.

“Do you understand now? We’re not here to kidnap her, but to bring the runaway young lady back home. Now that you know, hand over the woman.”

“No way.”

“…What?”

The leader looked dumbfounded at my curt reply.

“Did you even hear what I said? I said we were hired by her father!”

“I heard you. So what?”

I could clearly sense the bewilderment from the Wanderer’s League.

Though I couldn’t understand why they were so confused.

“You’re saying I should hand her over because her father wants to drag her back? If you say that, should I just go, ‘Oh, yes, I understand. I’ll hand her over right away’? Sorry, but I have no intention of doing that.”

The leader licked his lips and spoke again.

“…It seems you haven’t grasped the situation properly. This isn’t something to take lightly. You’ll be making an enemy of not only our Wanderer’s League, but also the Seol family. No matter how strong you are, do you think you can handle a powerful martial arts family alone?”

I chuckled at the leader’s threat.

“You talk too much. Did you bring all those people just to chat?”

“Ha…”

Did he finally realize that I wouldn’t hand over Miss Seol?

The leader let out a short sigh and dismounted his horse.

Following him, dozens of members of the Wanderer’s League also dismounted and stepped forward.

“If you refuse the offered drink and insist on the punitive one, then I have no choice.”

Oh, the offered drink and the punitive drink.

Wasn’t that a common line in martial arts novels?

Hearing that line with my own ears, I felt strangely amused, despite the situation.

Perhaps displeased by my chuckling, the dozens of Wanderer’s League members who had stepped forward drew their weapons in unison.

Most of them were wielding crude single-edged swords, but some were using strange hidden weapons.

“Y-Young Master…”

Leader Mak called out to me with a tense voice.

Seeing his worried face, I smiled reassuringly.

“Don’t worry too much and step back.”

“…Thank you. I wish you luck.”

I glanced at Leader Mak, who was retreating with his escorts, and then faced the Wanderer’s League in the middle of the road.

The leader scowled at me.

“…You fool. Are you trying to take us all on alone?”

“Isn’t it obvious? There’s no need for others to get involved when dealing with shameless kidnappers.”

“We are not kidnappers!”

Of course, they were.

“Don’t you know what kidnapping means? It’s forcibly taking someone against their will. Are you that eager to show off your ignorance?”

“…Attack!”

Waaaagh!

At the leader’s command, his face contorted with anger at my words, dozens of Wanderer’s League members charged at me with a roar.

Seeing the crowd rushing towards me, I drew my sword and charged as well.

***

“Oh, what do we do?”

Yak-bing, peeking at the situation from behind the carriage curtain, was at a loss as she saw Ja-seong confronting dozens of Wanderer’s League members alone.

‘To think things would escalate this far…!’

No matter how much they wanted to bring her back, she never dreamed they would hire the infamous Wanderer’s League.

‘…Father. Did you have to go this far?’

Yak-bing thought of her father, Seol Se-ung, the head of the Seol family.

She had known since she was young just how ambitious her father was.

Wasn’t it to exploit the prestige of the Namgung family that he had arranged her engagement with them when she was not even ten years old?

And then, when the Namgung family faced a crisis, he had shamelessly declared the engagement null and void just fifteen days ago.

‘…Hyeon.’

Yak-bing thought of her fiancé, Namgung Hyeon.

A young man who was always kind and had an exceptional passion for the sword.

How would he have felt when he heard about the broken engagement?

What would he say when he saw her visiting the Namgung family in person?

Would he blame her? Call her a shameless woman?

—…Attack!

—Waaaagh!

A great roar reached Yak-bing’s ears as her mind raced with conflicting thoughts.

She snapped back to reality and saw Ja-seong charging towards the dozens of wanderers.

“H-how reckless! Even if Young Master is a skilled martial artist, those numbers are…!”

There were easily twice as many as in yesterday’s attack.

To Yak-bing, who hadn’t seen Ja-seong fight properly because she was inside the carriage, he seemed incredibly reckless.

“I-I have to help…!”

Yak-bing grabbed her sword and was about to leave the carriage.

But then she saw her companions, completely unfazed.

Her travel companions were in danger, and yet they were just sitting there calmly.

Anyone would think they were strangers, not companions.

“Miss Seol, please don’t worry too much.”

Hwa-ryeon, who was sitting on the driver’s seat, spoke to Yak-bing, who was looking at them with a bewildered expression.

“H-how can I not worry? Because of me, you’re in such a dangerous situation… Huh?”

Yak-bing, turning her gaze back to Ja-seong, doubted her own eyes for a moment.

And for good reason, for she was witnessing an unbelievable sight.

Kyagh!?

Cough!

Ja-seong was rampaging like a divine general among the wanderers who had swarmed him.

He was leaping here and there, dodging the swords swung by the wanderers, and striking them down in the blink of an eye, appearing and disappearing like lightning.

His movements were so marvelous that he looked like a ghost, not a human.

“Wow…”

“See? I told you.”

Yak-bing stared blankly with her mouth agape.

When Hwa-ryeon asked, she nodded with a dazed expression.

Then, she came to her senses and asked Hwa-ryeon a question.

“Um, Miss. Just who is Young Master Gun? Is he perhaps a disciple of the Nine Great Sects…?”

“……”

Hwa-ryeon remained silent at Yak-bing’s question.

The Nine Great Sects? No way.

Ja-seong was a country bumpkin who didn’t even know what Paecheon Fortress was until she told him.

Moreover, he didn’t have any special encounters or other masters.

All he had learned was the Three Talents Technique from her uncle.

When teaching Ja-seong, her uncle had praised his talent highly.

He had lamented having to teach Ja-seong the Three Talents Technique, the only thing he knew besides his secret martial arts.

But Ja-seong didn’t need any outstanding or peerless techniques.

He had achieved such movements and strength with just the Three Talents Technique, a third-rate martial art.

“…There are people in this world who defy common sense. People whose way of thinking and talents are extraordinary.”

There was a word to describe such people.

Genius.

Literally, someone born with a talent akin to that of a ghost.

Someone who could gain power on their own, even without proper instruction.

Someone born with the destiny to change the world.

That was Ja-seong.

Kraaagh!

The last of the dozens of wanderers who had been toyed with by Ja-seong collapsed on the ground.

Standing alone amidst the groaning wanderers, Ja-seong grinned and said,

“Now, who’s next?”