Surviving as the Villainess’s Servant in a Martial Arts Novel - Chapter 86

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

Episode 86

* * *

9 years later.

Guilin, Guangxi Province. Inside an inn.

Outside, rain was drizzling steadily.

The inn was relatively quiet. Perhaps because the busy time had passed, people were sitting sparsely at tables, and only a little conversation and the sound of eating could be heard in the quiet interior.

Then, with a creaking sound, the door opened. At the same time, a rough man’s voice was heard.

“Ah, suddenly it started raining and we got all soaked. Hey, server!”

“Welcome, customer! What would you like?”

“Bring us two bowls of noodles and one bottle of Dugang liquor.”

“Yes! Two bowls of noodles and one bottle of Dugang liquor ordered!”

The rough-voiced man and his colleague took seats at a corner table. The man shook off his rain-soaked clothes while grumbling in dissatisfaction.

“These days we can’t even take dangerous jobs. Things have gotten quite turbulent around here because of those Demon Cult bastards. If we accidentally get involved…”

At the man’s words, his colleague burst into laughter.

“A person who makes a living by the sword is afraid of the Demon Cult?”

“Is the Demon Cult just any ordinary cult group?”

The man frowned and spoke in a serious tone.

“Since the Seo Family tragedy, quite a few small and medium sects have fallen victim to the Demon Cult. They all disappeared without a sound after being attacked by the Demon Cult one day. Don’t they kill everyone without leaving even a single ant alive?”

“That’s true.”

“They even gather all the corpses they kill like that, set them on fire, and hold rituals. They say it’s an offering to their god or something.”

“That’s not ordinary bizarre behavior.”

His colleague clicked his tongue and then immediately continued as if something came to mind.

“Come to think of it, I also heard something. Last time, Demon Cult members attacked a sect, but for some reason they didn’t kill everyone and kept them captive. Then they made a proposal saying ‘We’ll release whoever kills their fellow disciple.'”

“Such a thing happened?”

“Yes. In the end, fellow disciple murder occurred, and the Demon Cult members who enjoyed watching that scene eventually killed all the disciples anyway.”

“Good grief… They’re completely people who have abandoned human morality.”

The two looked at each other with disgusted expressions and shook their heads.

Just then the server came out with noodles and alcohol, and the conversation paused briefly. The two didn’t even glance at the noodles and passed wine cups back and forth before opening their mouths again.

“At least things have gotten a bit better lately. Now the righteous factions aren’t just taking it lying down either.”

“Why? Ah…”

His colleague responded as if he understood.

“The Surveillance Corps and Enforcement Hall, was it?”

At his colleague’s words, the man nodded vigorously.

“That’s right. Organizations created directly by the Martial Arts Alliance Leader who couldn’t stand watching the Demon Cult’s atrocities. They say it’s to catch Demon Cult members hiding in Jianghu.”

“I see.”

“It seems to be quite effective in practice too. When there’s someone suspected of being a Demon Cult member, the Surveillance Corps goes out to investigate and find evidence, and if they’re proven to be a real Demon Cult member, the Enforcement Hall steps in to execute them.”

“Hmm, it can’t be easy though.”

“That’s why the Master personally asked the Nine Sects and One Alliance and Five Great Noble Families for help, didn’t he? Asking them to send talent for the sake of the Orthodox Martial World.”

“Ah.”

His colleague nodded as if he understood.

“So the elite of the great sects could be active as the Enforcement Hall and Surveillance Corps?”

“No, to be precise, only the Surveillance Corps.”

“Only the Surveillance Corps?”

The man clicked his tongue and continued.

“And not even the elite. The Surveillance Corps only has promising junior disciples from the righteous factions. No matter how serious the situation, the great sects don’t want to give up their main forces either. So they only sent promising junior disciples in response to the Master’s request.”

“Hmm…”

“The Master accepted it because he urgently needed talent right away. So there’s talk going around that the Surveillance Corps is like the Dragon Phoenix Corps of the past.”

“So that’s how it became.”

His colleague nodded and suddenly asked.

“Then what about the Enforcement Hall? How did they gather talent? Since they directly face Demon Cult members, ordinary skills wouldn’t suffice.”

“That’s…”

The man thought for a moment and then shook his head.

“I don’t know the details either. But there’s a rumor that the Master directly invited masters counted among the best in the Central Plains to create an elite force. Everything else is secret so nothing is known.”

“All secret? Why hide it? If they’re heroic figures fighting the Demon Cult, people would praise them endlessly.”

“That’s exactly why! They go around executing Demon Cult members in the shadows, so if their identities were revealed, wouldn’t they become targets of the Demon Cult instead?”

“That’s also true…”

After that, the two continued talking about martial world affairs while exchanging wine cups. Perhaps belatedly feeling hungry, the man began eating his noodles.

His colleague, who had been lost in thought while drinking alone, suddenly asked.

“…But you know.”

“Hmm?”

His colleague muttered blankly.

“Are all of the Master’s judgments correct?”

“What?”

When the man looked at his colleague in surprise, his colleague waved his hand and said hurriedly.

“It’s not that I don’t trust the Master. I know how much he’s working for the peace of the martial world. But… I’m concerned that the organizations that determine who are Demon Cult members are all under the Master’s command. Doesn’t that make the Master’s influence too great?”

“You…”

“How can those two organizations determine all Demon Cult members? And will Demon Cult members be caught so easily? They’ve been hiding among us for quite a long time.”

“Isn’t that why the Surveillance Corps exists, to find that evidence?”

“Evidence isn’t always correct. Someone with bad intentions could fabricate it, or create it after taking bribes. If innocent people are sacrificed due to fake evidence…”

“Hey!”

The man was shocked and cut off his colleague’s words.

The man hurriedly looked around. Fortunately, there weren’t many people in the inn. At most, just a few people in shabby clothes and one hunchback.

The man, who had been scanning the surroundings with sharp eyes, quickly lowered his voice.

“You can’t say such things anywhere. The Martial Alliance is the righteous factions themselves. The Martial Arts Alliance Leader was elected by the consensus of righteous faction leaders, so doubting the Master is the same as doubting the righteous factions.”

“…”

“Rather, you could be branded as a Demon Cult member. You’d better stop drinking. This could cause trouble.”

Only then, as if sobered up, his colleague’s face turned pale and he put down his wine cup. The man looked around briefly and then loudly changed the subject as if nothing had happened.

“Come to think of it, isn’t there a person as famous as the Demon Cult in the martial world lately? Have you perhaps heard his nickname?”

“Well, who might that be?”

“That person is none other than…”

The man shouted.

“Greedy Flower Bird!”

* * *

The inn was still quiet.

However, unlike when they were whispering among themselves earlier, this time the man was talking loudly, causing some commotion.

Even the people around, the hunchback, and the server were listening intently to the man’s story.

“Greedy Flower Bird? Who’s that?”

“My friend, aren’t you too ignorant of rumors? Greedy Flower Bird is so famous these days. He’s a lecher who’s crazy about women!”

“A lecher?”

At the man’s words, his colleague became uninterested.

“What’s the big deal about a lecher? Heroes being fond of women isn’t anything new.”

The man clicked his tongue and shook his head.

“Even if a person likes women, he should like them in moderation. That guy is completely insane. The moment he hears even a rumor that there’s a pretty woman somewhere, his eyes roll back and he immediately runs there.”

“To that extent?”

“Yes, last time he went into Ami-pa, which is a forbidden area for men, and caused a commotion saying he wanted to see a disciple whose face was covered with cotton cloth. He single-handedly faced the Ami-pa disciples and came out alive, and that’s when he got his nickname.”

“He’s crazy. He goes that far?”

When his colleague spoke in a disgusted voice, the man giggled and continued.

“That’s why he got such a nickname, isn’t it? That’s not the only peculiar thing about him. Would he have become famous just for being a lecher?”

“What else is so peculiar?”

The man slightly lowered his voice.

“At first, everyone thought that guy was just lustful and only followed pretty women around. But when he actually sees a pretty woman, he just checks her face and leaves right away, doesn’t he?”

“…He leaves?”

“Yeah, if she’s a beauty you can count on one hand, he tries to strike up a conversation for a few words, but after that, he leaves without much regret. Strange, isn’t it.”

“Huh…”

“After such incidents repeated, Greedy Flower Bird’s infamy did improve a little. But people from the Righteous Faction still don’t like him much. They never know when he might change his mind and defile the chastity of innocent women.”

The colleague’s impression after hearing all this was:

“Complete lunatic.”

“Quite the weirdo, a weirdo. How ugly must he be to go to such lengths just to have a word with a pretty woman…?”

The two men looked at each other and shook their heads. People around them also giggled or clicked their tongues.

Rumble.

Suddenly, a sound came from outside.

Not only the man and his colleague, but everyone in the inn looked outside. The sound seemed to get closer and closer, then soon stopped in front of the door.

As the man and his colleague exchanged uneasy glances, and the server approached the door wondering if customers had arrived.

Bang!

“Greedy Flower Bird, you bastard-!”

Someone burst through the door.

To be precise, ‘someone’ was a group of men.

About a dozen men with burly builds, fierce faces, and each carrying weapons stood beyond the door.

Even the server who should have been greeting customers was so startled that he froze in place.

‘Why are they looking for Greedy Flower Bird here?’

The man looked at them puzzledly. He had surveyed the inn before they did, but there was no one who appeared to be Greedy Flower Bird…

…Could it be?

Meanwhile, the men had already rushed into the inn. They searched the surroundings thoroughly as if looking for something, then soon pointed somewhere and shouted in unison.

“Found him!”

What they pointed at was…

‘The hunchback?’

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