North Sea Martial Arts Warrior - Chapter 19

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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19. The Rumor of the Plague Ghost

The carts came to a halt in the square of Selli Village.
Dawn light stained the eastern sky in pale, hesitant colors.
A dozen carts. Banners bearing the name of the Heksseol Merchant Guild snapped savagely in the north wind. The guild members who descended began shouting toward the villagers.
“The Plague Ghost is coming!”
“Ice Demons will devour the village!”
Airak rose slowly from his seat. His angry gaze swept across the guild members.
“So those are the ones.”
“Pardon?”
Garkan tilted his head in confusion.
“Why the villagers sealed their doors.”
Airak gestured with his chin toward the guild members.
“This rumor. They’re spreading it.”
“The Plague Ghost? Ice Demons?”
Harku ground his teeth.
“They’re talking about us. Those bastards dare to go around calling us Plague Ghosts?”
“That appears to be the case.”
Taikan’s eyes narrowed to slits.
“Look at the villagers’ faces. They’re more frightened now that they see these merchants.”
“They’re not frightened.”
Arko laughed, dark and low.
“They’re submitting. They’ve already been broken in by those men.”
The guild members’ voices grew louder still.
“If anyone comes asking you to open your doors, refuse absolutely! If the plague enters, the village is lost!”
“Chief.”
Garkan gripped his ice chain tighter.
“May I twist their necks?”
“Not yet.”
Airak raised a hand to stop him.
“There’s something we need to learn first.”
“What is it?”
“Who put them up to this.”
Airak fixed his gaze on Arko.
“Find out.”
“Understood.”

Arko melted into the shadows.

* * *

The guild leader was a corpulent man. He stood before the villagers, haranguing them like a preacher.
“The Plague Ghost comes! Already it has slaughtered entire villages! Not a soul survived! It will swallow this place whole!”
“Is that so? The Plague Ghost?”
A cold voice came from behind.
The moment the leader turned, a sharp dagger pressed against his throat.
“Don’t move.”
It was Arko. The hunchbacked figure had already seized the leader from behind.
“Ugh—ahhh! Who—who are you!”
“I ask the questions.”
Arko’s dagger bit slightly deeper. A thin line of blood ran down.
“Who sent you?”
“I—I don’t know….”
“Lie to me, and I’ll pull your tongue out first.”
Arko’s other hand seized the leader’s jaw.
“Open your mouth.”
“I really don’t know! I swear!”
The leader cried out, his voice breaking.
“You’ve seen the Plague Ghost?”
“I—I haven’t seen it myself, but the plague is spreading, they say. We only get word by letter! There’s no way we could see its face!”
“By letter?”
“Yes! A Black Sealed Letter! One arrives every month, and it’s always precise!”
“Who sends it?”
“We only know it comes from a larger organization above us. That’s the truth. I really don’t know!”
Tears streamed down the leader’s face.
“What happens if you don’t do what they say?”
“How can we refuse orders from the organization above us? If we did, our merchant guild would be wiped out.”
“Wiped out?”
“Yes! There was another guild that refused once. The Black Dragon Merchant Guild….”
The leader trembled.
“They were slaughtered in a single night. Everyone—from the guild master down to the stable hands….”
Arko’s eyes narrowed.
“So you were afraid and did as you were told? Which organization is connected to you? Tell me its name!”
“F-five different organizations are united in this structure, so we don’t know which one sent it… I’m telling the truth. Please understand!”
“A cell structure.”
Arko muttered to himself.
“The lower ranks know nothing of those above, and those above lose nothing by discarding the lower ranks.”
He hurled the leader to the ground.
“Chieftain.”
Arko turned to address Airak.
“These men know nothing. It’s a cell structure. Even if we catch the tail, we won’t catch the head.”
“I see.”
Airak’s gaze turned cold.
“There is someone behind this, but they’re hiding their identity.”
“That appears to be the case. However….”
Arko searched through the leader’s sleeves.
“We found this.”
A Golden Token emerged.
Airak took the Golden Token.
“What is this?”
“I’m still investigating it. For now, let’s dispose of these men.”

* * *

The merchant guild members were forced to kneel in the center of the plaza.
About a dozen men trembled as they looked up at Airak.
“Spare us!”
“We only did as we were ordered!”
“It was because of the Gold Vein! We haven’t committed a sin worthy of death!”
Airak walked slowly before them. The sound of his footsteps on the snow echoed unusually loud.
“The Gold Vein.”
“Yes?”
“You spread rumors because of the Gold Vein?”
“Y-yes….”
“Because of those rumors, we were driven from the village. Do you understand what it means to be driven out at night?”
Airak’s voice was steady. Yet that very steadiness was unsettling.
“Through a freezing night, we stayed awake in the open fields, without shelter.”
“I—I’m sorry….”
“A Plague Ghost, was it?”
Airak stopped before the leader.
“That was… just a rumor….”
“A rumor?”
Airak’s eyes blazed with cold light.
“People die because of rumors. Do you know that?”
…….
“Because of the rumors you spread, the villagers closed their doors to us. We nearly froze to death through the night.”
“Forgive me….”
“Forgive?”
Airak let out a scoff.
“You peddle fear.”
Airak’s gaze turned toward the wagons.

“Now sow hunger.”
“What?”
“Garkan.”
“Yes, Chieftain.”
“Overturn the wagons. All of them.”
“Right away!”
Garkan rushed forward and seized the first wagon. The sinews in his massive forearms stood taut and trembling.
Crack-crunch!
The wagon flipped over with the sound of splintering wood, spilling grain across the snowy field in a cascading torrent.
“No!”
The merchant guild members screamed.
“That’s all our wealth!”
“Please! Not that!”
“We spent a year gathering it!”
Garkan did not stop. The second wagon, then the third. Rough barley and rice kernels clattered against the frozen earth with a crisp, grating sound.
“Harku, Taikan. Help him.”
“Yes!”
Harku and Taikan sprinted forward. One by one, the wagons overturned, their contents cascading onto the white expanse below.
“Chieftain, what if we distributed this to the village people instead?”
Arko asked.
“An excellent thought.”
Airak nodded.
“Let the villagers receive payment for the fear these dogs sowed.”
The merchants’ screams grew louder.
“Noooo!”
“Please stop! Kill us instead! We beg you!”
“Run if you must!”
One of the merchants, seized by panic, bolted toward the forest.
Whip!
Taikan’s Fire Bow blazed. The arrow split the air, piercing the fleeing man’s thigh.
“Aaaahhh!”
Blood erupted, staining the white snow crimson.
“The next one gets the head.”
Taikan spoke flatly.
“Anyone else wish to flee?”
No one moved.
“Listen well.”
Airak looked down at the merchants.
“I will let you live. But there are conditions.”
“Anything! Anything at all!”
“Gather back the rumors you spread. Travel the length and breadth of the Northern Sea.”
“What do you mean?”
“Tell them the Plague Ghost doesn’t exist. The Ice Demon doesn’t exist. You spread lies.”
“Yes, yes, we will do exactly that!”
“If you don’t, I’ll find you.”

Airak’s eyes glinted with chilling menace.
“When I do, I won’t just take your heads. Understand?”
“Yes, yes!”
The merchants bowed their heads in submission.
The stench of urine wafted from their bodies. More than a few had lost control in their terror.

* * *

At that same moment, in Bingxin Palace.
Candlelight flickered between walls of ice. Among the dozens of martial artists gathered at the council table, tension hung thick in the air.
“The age of the former Palace Master has ended.”
Mukara’s declaration cut through the cold atmosphere of the chamber.
Heavy silence descended among the dozens of assembled fighters.
“If anyone has objections, speak now. This very moment.”
……
“Nothing?”
Mukara rose from her seat. In her eyes burned a frenzied survival instinct, wild and unrelenting.
“Good. Then I shall issue new orders.”
“Palace Master, perhaps we should not rush—”
A weathered martial artist opened his mouth. Mukara’s gaze turned toward him.
“Rush?”
“Yes. You have already purged all of Palace Master Karani’s inner circle, and now—”
“Yes. I rush.”
Mukara twisted her mouth into a smile.
“Rotten flesh must be cut away swiftly.”
“But—”
“Have more to say?”
Mukara’s voice dropped lower.
“Then you go first. Climb the Ice Pillar.”
The weathered martial artist fell silent.
Silence descended upon the council table once more.
‘Airak might return alive.’
Mukara’s insides were already rotting, festering. That terror coursed through her blood meridians, scrambling the flow of her internal energy.
‘If he comes… my blood meridians will freeze and shatter first.’
Even Balkar could not withstand ten exchanges with him. Balkar—the first of the Three Ice Masters. Then what of herself? She could not endure even one.
Her jaw trembled faintly as a sharp, crushing pain seized her heart.
In the moment she tried to forcibly suppress her inner energy, something hot surged up her throat. She clamped her lips shut to hide it, but a single drop of blood—dark crimson—fell silently from her pale chin.
“Messenger.”
Mukara called out the messenger, her breathing ragged.
“Yes, Palace Master.”
“Send spies to Seol-nyeo. Have them move. Now.”
“To where… should we go, Palace Master?”
“Fool! Selli Village. Crush them all. Wipe them out completely.”
“Selli Village? That’s where Airak is said to be—”
“Yes. Airak.”
Mukara’s eyes blazed with madness.
“Kill him. Without fail.”

* * *

The square of Selli Village.
Airak tramped forward through the snowy expanse, grinding grain scattered across the white field beneath his feet. Grains of barley and rice cracked and crumbled under his boots.
“Clan Chief.”
Arko approached.
“This—it is a Golden Token.”
Arko held up the token for him to see.
“It is a sacred credential that grants entry only to those permitted to set foot in the Forbidden Domain of the Northern Sea.”
“The Forbidden Domain?”

Airak’s eyes slowly turned northward.
The Extreme Yin Ground. The forbidden zone of the Northern Sea.
“To place such a thing in the hands of a minor merchant guild… I see.”
The corner of Airak’s mouth lifted. A cold, cruel smile.
“Clan Chief?”
“Did they want to open the path to the Forbidden Domain? Or did they want to see if I was alive or dead? So they knew Kaiła’s death would lead back to me.”
The shape of the rat hiding in the Northern Sea was slowly coming into focus.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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