Chapter 146: Fire Carp (1)
Translator: bjgoofy
The moment I finished my explanation, the Princess shot up from her seat and exclaimed.
"Ah! You're talking about that anecdote from Tang Taizong, aren't you, Young Hero? The one where the people were suffering from a sudden locust plague, so he swallowed the locusts alive? I've read about that. Well, I should say someone read it to me?"
'Wait, that was Tang Taizong? Not Solomon?'
The Princess was telling me that the protagonist of the anecdote I'd referenced was Tang Taizong.
But whether it was Solomon or Tang Taizong, what did it matter right now?
All that mattered was that our interests aligned.
"Who cares who it was? And whether you read it yourself or someone read it to you, what difference does it make? What's important is that, right here, right now, we can help each other."
"You know, that's true? I had a feeling we'd come to understand each other and be of mutual help. Ahaha."
I'd thought the Princess had a serious personality, but that was just her public face. Judging from how she was acting now, she was the refreshingly straightforward type.
The Princess beamed and praised me.
"Right, of course there was a method like that! If he swallows the insects alive and then they disappear, that'll definitely move the people's hearts.... It's a good way to report to the court, too. Yes. I'll just tell Bin-ak to swallow a few! Young Hero, you really do possess remarkable wisdom."
"Well, I hear that a lot. Haha."
'Oh, wait. But didn't she say the Governor was terminally ill?'
In my excitement with the Princess, I'd forgotten, but hadn't she said the Governor was terminally ill?
Feeling a pang of guilt about making a patient with an incurable disease eat bugs on top of everything else, I asked in a cautious voice.
"But about the Governor... didn't you say he has an incurable illness? Wouldn't feeding insects to a sick man be a bit... much?"
The Princess replied as though it were nothing.
"Hmm.... He'll be fine. The Medicine Immortal said there wasn't any food in particular he needed to avoid."
"The Medicine Immortal?"
Love Bugs weren't exactly food, but what surprised me more than that was the term that had come from the Princess's lips.
The Medicine Immortal was, after all, the most renowned physician in the Central Plains.
I'd assumed that since the Governor was terminally ill, she was just performing rites for him while rushing to get to Botaam Temple, simply waiting for the day he died. But what she'd just said implied she had actually arranged for him to be treated by the Medicine Immortal. I couldn't help but find that unexpected.
When I looked at the Princess with surprise in my eyes, her expression turned stern.
"Surely, that look doesn't mean... you thought I found a terminally ill man, made him my fake Prince Consort, and have just been coldly performing funeral rites while waiting for Bin-ak to die?"
'It wasn't like that?'
That was exactly what I'd assumed, but her face said absolutely not.
The Princess continued with a look of disbelief.
"I'm obsessed with the sword, not actually insane."
The Princess insisted she was not insane, but honestly, she did not seem entirely normal.
Because the difference between us was clear.
I loved poisonous creatures to the point of madness, but I wasn't actually mad. The Princess, on the other hand, was so obsessed with the sword that she seemed to have a screw loose somewhere.
But there was no reason to ruin a good working relationship, so I quickly waved my hands and answered.
"O-of course not. We haven't spoken much, but I never thought you were the sort of person to be that heartless, Princess. Not at all."
The Princess nodded her head up and down in satisfaction.
She then explained the details of their arrangement.
"Exactly. Bin-ak was someone who could have dropped dead at any moment. I had the Medicine Immortal and the Herb Immortal examine him, and they've barely managed to extend his life with medication. They said five more years, if he's lucky?
So Bin-ak, who was destined to live in poverty and die alone, agreed to enter into a lord-and-vassal relationship with me in exchange for enjoying wealth and comfort while he's still alive. That's all there is to it."
"Well then, I suppose that's fine."
She said the finest physicians in the Central Plains had looked after him, so a bug or two should be harmless enough. And now that I knew the full story of their arrangement, it felt more like he was settling old scores before the end.
Come to think of it, I was terminally ill myself, so if the Princess had offered to track down all Ten Great Venomous Creatures for me, I wouldn't have turned down a position as Prince Consort either. So I nodded.
Getting to fulfill every last wish before dying, after all.
"Then, why don't you call the Governor in and explain it to him? Judging by the state of the Love Bugs, we'll need to gather people and have him eat them first thing tomorrow morning."
"Ah, understood!"
The Princess dashed out herself and called for the Governor to come back in, and he came scrambling through the door.
When the Governor looked at the Princess, she gave a nod.
"The talks went well. The Young Hero was kind enough to understand my situation. We're all in the same boat now. He's agreed to cooperate with us."
"Oh, wonderful. Then the Princess has gained another retainer? Young Hero, let us serve the Princess together with our lives. Though I hold the title of Governor, that's all thanks to the Princess, and I'm of humble origins myself, so please treat me like an elder brother. No need for formality."
'Huh? What's this? Oh, no.'
Between the Princess's "all in the same boat" and the Governor's "let us serve the Princess together with our lives", it dawned on me. I'd been so preoccupied with turning Yeondu back into a Flying Celestial Serpent that I'd briefly forgotten: helping the Princess ultimately meant becoming an accomplice in her sham marriage.
It came flooding back why the Princess had opened with that warning about dying if this got out.
Because if they were caught, the Emperor might very well have them all killed.
'Damn it all.... The moment poisonous creatures are involved, I lose every last shred of sense.... I'm in no position to criticize the Princess....'
But what could I do?
The deal was already done.
While I resigned myself to my fate, the two continued their conversation.
"The Young Hero says he has a good plan to help the Princess?"
"Yes, he came up with a brilliant idea."
"Is that so? What a relief. Then what should we do?"
The Governor's face brightened as he asked eagerly.
The Princess spoke to him in a deeply solemn voice.
"Bin-ak, swallow insects out of loyalty." [TL Note: The Princess makes a wordplay pun; in Korean, 충(忠) meaning "loyalty" and 충(蟲) meaning "insect" are pronounced identically.]
"Pardon?"
The Governor's face was blank with confusion.
She could have explained in more detail, but apparently it was a habit of the Princess to string together words that sounded the same but had different meanings.
She'd reportedly confused people before by playing on the identical pronunciation of "leaving home to become a nun" and "leaving home to marry", and now she was doing it again, telling him to swallow bugs for loyalty's sake in the most cryptic way possible.
'I'm telling you, she's not normal.'
***
The next day, a crowd as thick as the Love Bugs blanketing the ground in front of the government office was assembled, and a grand performance began.
It wasn't simply a display of someone eating insects. They had organized an event to offer a ritual sacrifice to the heavens.
In this era, when droughts or natural disasters struck, offering sacrifices to the heavens was standard practice.
Apparently, rather than the Governor simply summoning people to make an announcement, holding a ritual like this would draw a far larger crowd, since they distributed the ritual offerings to the people afterward.
Before the lavishly prepared altar.
Amid the insects flitting through the air, murmuring voices drifted from the crowd.
"So the Governor's finally holding a ritual, is he?"
"Well, they're saying this whole mess started because of the newly appointed Governor. He couldn't very well sit still."
"It's not that it started because of him specifically. It's just that whenever someone new comes or goes and a great calamity strikes, who else gets the blame?"
"Careful there, friend, soldiers are everywhere. One wrong word and you'll be in real trouble."
Sure enough, the talk among the crowd pointed blame at the newly appointed Governor.
Shortly after, before the imposing altar.
The Governor stepped forward, lit incense before the offerings, and spoke.
"I cry out to the heavens: why do you torment the people of Yueyang so!? Why do you make the people of Yueyang weep!?"
Then he performed a deep, full bow.
Rising again, the Governor raised his voice toward the sky.
"I humbly offer this sacrifice to appease the wrath of heaven. I beseech you, let your anger be quelled!"
"Is that it?"
"Think we'll get to grease our throats a bit today?"
"Better get in line quick."
The people assumed the ritual would end that simply and were already eyeing the food they'd be given afterward, bugs and all. But then came the Governor's next words.
"Yet if that wrath cannot be quelled, then let this anger fall upon me alone! I, Seo Bin-ak, Governor of Yueyang, shall bear it all!"
At the same moment, his hand swept through the air and snatched over a dozen insects buzzing near the altar.
Then his hand moved toward his mouth.
'I told him to eat just a couple, and now he's going all out for the main performance.'
Love Bugs were insects whose innards were acidic enough to corrode metal.
So if one happened to pop inside his mouth, there would be a distinctly sour taste. The man who'd struggled to eat even a single one during last night's practice was now shoveling over a dozen into his mouth at once, swept up in the fervor of the real show.
I glanced toward the Princess. She wore a deeply satisfied smile.
The plan they'd prepared was executed flawlessly, but the crowd hadn't realized what the Governor had done at first.
They were standing far from the Governor, and Love Bugs weren't that large, so they couldn't tell whether he was eating them or not.
What was needed in a moment like this?
Plants in the audience, of course.
From within the crowd, Hwa-eun and I, along with my father-in-law, Sister Snow, and the ship's crew, all shouted at once.
"The G-Governor just ate the Black Insects!"
"The Governor ate the Black Insects for the sake of his people!"
A ripple of shock swept through the crowd.
"He, he ate the Black Insects?"
"N-no. How could he eat the Black Insects...."
"I thought he was just some lucky bastard who married well and got his position through his wife.... To think he, he cares for the people that much!?"
Then, two days passed.
Two days later, when every last Black Insect died and dropped to the ground, the atmosphere in Yueyang didn't just shift the way it had during the ritual. It transformed completely, in the blink of an eye.
The people of Yueyang, who had been whispering behind the Governor's back that the Black Insects were a calamity he'd caused, and some who had dismissed the ritual as a pointless stunt, all went silent. Instead, they began showing up at the gates of the government office, asking the soldiers about the Governor's well-being.
"All the B-Black Insects have dropped dead like that, but is the Governor all right?"
"Excuse me, these are some fo-ti roots I dug up in the mountains. I'd like to offer them to the Governor."
"These are angelica roots. I thought they might help, so...."
Because every last insect had died, the people believed it was because the Governor had shouldered all of heaven's wrath, and they began to worry about him.
For that reason, from early in the morning, well-wishers came calling and medicinal herbs, humble as they were, foraged by the common folk, were being brought to the government office.
"I can't believe how well this worked. I won't forget this kindness."
One person was especially delighted by the sight.
The Princess met with me privately in the reception hall, wearing a smile she could no longer contain.
"You must keep your promise to help the Murim Alliance."
"Of course. I'll not only approve the troop deployment, I'll make it so those vermin can never set foot in the Central Plains again. If I report that someone infiltrated my residence here in Yueyang and they turned out to be from the Blood Cult, the Emperor will be furious."
The Princess was the sort of person who wouldn't hesitate to tell that kind of lie to get what she wanted.
Thinking that things had worked out well, I asked about the Spiritual Creature she'd promised in our deal.
"Then, about the Fire Carp you mentioned before...."
"Ah! Yes. Did you think I'd forget? I've prepared everything."
The Princess drew a letter from her robe.
She slid it across to me and spoke.
"Go to Botaam Temple and deliver this letter to my master. Then she will give you what you seek."
"The Fire Carp is at Botaam Temple?"
"Yes. In the letters I've been exchanging with my master, she mentioned that a large Fire Carp lives in a mountain lake on Mount Putuo, where Botaam Temple is located."
'If it's Botaam Temple, I just need to follow the Yangtze River downstream, head out to sea, and then go a little further south along Zhejiang Province.'
It was a bit far, but since I could simply sail downstream, it would be an easy journey.
I nodded with a pleased expression.
"Thank you!"
"No, I should be thanking you. And since we now share a secret, let's keep in touch from time to time."
"You mean about this?"
Just when I thought the transaction had concluded to mutual satisfaction.
As I tucked away the letter with a grin on my face, I heard her cry out.
"Ah! I almost forgot."
"Forgot what?"
When I tilted my head at the Princess saying she'd nearly forgotten something, she smiled and said,
"The Sacred Peak on Mount Putuo, where that Spiritual Creature lives, is a place no one but women may enter. Make sure you go disguised as a woman. I've already explained things to my master in the letter, so just make sure you don't get caught by anyone else."
"I'm sorry, disguised as a woman?"
Now I had to cross-dress, all for the sake of poisonous creatures.
The road of pursuing hobbies in the world of murim was far too arduous.
'Maybe I should find a new hobby?'
*****
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