NOVEL NEXT Chapter 154
Chapter 154: Fabre in the Four Heavenly Houses
“Ah, what’s this? Are you all struck dumb like you’ve been hit in the head by a stick?”
The leader of the Water Bandits stared at me blankly, and behind him, the other bandits wore equally dumbfounded expressions, as if they’d heard something absurd.
“Why? What? Hey, so what?”
But in times like this, it’s best to be as brazen as possible.
I gazed at them with a “So what?” expression, and the Water Bandit leader frantically waved his hands, insisting they had done no such thing.
“W-what do you mean…? We just came to check because we heard a ship without a clan flag was passing through the Yangtze River Three Gorges… Just collecting a little toll outside the ship… um, maybe a lot…”
The type of people I dislike the most aren’t the clueless or the rude, but those utterly lacking in situational awareness.
Why? Because they leave me frustrated and talking in circles.
‘Isn’t my mouth getting tired?’
Back during the broadcast, I could forgive viewers who delivered clueless jokes or crossed the line, but I would promptly block anyone who failed to understand and spouted nonsense.
I cast a glance at the Water Bandit leader, then called for Chao and ruffled her hair as I said.
If they had forgotten what they did, they needed a reminder.
It seemed they were suffering from some sort of short-term amnesia, but the best way to cure memory loss is with shock therapy.
“Oh dear. Are the kids hungry? Chao, are you starving? Should we grab something to eat? I’ve got a nice, well-washed one that looks plump…”
–Tsuru? “Eat? What eat?”
‘No, Daddy is just joking.’
–Tsut? “Why?”
‘Um… well, it’s to surprise the uncle?’
–Tsut? “Why surprise him?”
‘…’
Look at that.
If they had any situational awareness at all, I wouldn’t be suffering from Chao’s persistent “Why?” questions.
As I was plagued by “Why?” from Chao, who seemed to be getting worse, it seemed the leader of the Water Bandits was suddenly hit by clarity as he crawled toward my feet like a caterpillar, shouting with desperate eyes.
“I-I just remembered! Yes, we did do that! We must have been startled by that spirit, causing us to lose our minds for a moment!”
As soon as the pressure of life and death strikes, even non-existent memories seem to come rushing back.
I made sure to remind him of important details he had overlooked.
“Hey, why did you leave out insulting the lady from the Tang Clan!?”
“Y-yes, that was also us! We’re scum!”
“And how about breaking the clan’s flag to avoid the conventions?”
“Y-yes! We broke the clan flag!”
At the leader’s ashen shout, all the Water Bandits nodded along.
Then, my questions drew responses from not just the leader but the entire gang.
“Alright, who was the genius that broke the Tang Clan’s flag?”
“This guy! This guy! I saw it!”
“Yes, it was me! Your Excellency! I broke it!”
“But where did that flag go?”
“Um… right! It… sank in the water!”
“Didn’t you tie it to a tree before it sank in water?”
“Ugh! That can’t be! We tied it to a rock before sinking it! Yes, a rock!”
Now the Water Bandits were clumping together and creating witnesses, all while looking serious and muttering to themselves.
“Whoa… thinking back, that really is a death wish, huh?”
“Right? Long, we should throw them all to the spirit creatures as food instead of throwing them to the dogs?”
As the situation took a turn, my older sister Seol interjected with gusto.
With my sister singing and Long drumming along, our rhythm matched quite nicely.
“Oh please! Spare us!”
“Your Excellency, please extend your grace!”
The Water Bandits, drenched and whimpering, I couldn’t tell if their tears were real or fake, but they were whining.
–Tsuru!
Chao seemed to find their reactions delightful, and with one growl, a few of the weak-hearted ones collapsed, frothing at the mouth like they’d just been hit by a truck.
‘I think this is enough.’
Having healed the Water Bandits’ amnesia and heard their confessions, it felt like they were ready to negotiate terms.
I casually cleared my throat.
“Alright, the leader of the Water Bandits, may I have your name?”
“I-I am Lee Tae, the Blood Wind Sand Master, known as the tongue of the Yangtze River Three Gorges!”
In the Martial Forest, a nickname is like an alias, generally given out of respect rather than self-made.
It typically reflects the characteristics or personality of the individual’s martial prowess, much like how Hua Eun’s Poison Flower Moonlight implies both beauty and poison.
In truth, no one would give someone like the Water Bandits a nickname, so I chuckled at Lee Tae’s self-proclaimed moniker.
“Aha, so it’s the esteemed Blood Wind Sand Master, huh?”
“W-what esteemed? You’re over-praising me.”
“Yes, well, anyway. Blood Wind Sand Master, your misdeeds are indeed grave, but I’m not one to enjoy seeing blood. So how about we settle with an adequate apology? What do you think?”
As soon as my words ended, the faces of the Water Bandits, which had been black as death, lit up with hope.
They were just moments away from being thrown into the belly of a giant centipede or spider and now saw a glimmer of survival.
Wouldn’t they reach for the life-saving rope dangled right in front of them?
He commanded his subordinates with a shout.
“Thank you, Your Excellency! Thank you! What are you all doing? Apologize now!?”
He urged his gang to apologize vigorously, practically shaking in his boots.
“W-we’re sorry! Your Excellency!”
“We beg for forgiveness! Your Excellency!”
“We were wrong! Your Excellency!”
While I had said I would settle for an adequate apology, it seemed their intentions were just verbal gestures, which was a bit troublesome.
I had lived in a capitalistic world.
So verbal apologies held no weight for me.
People say that the sincerity of an apology matters, that it must come from the heart, but the heart is invisible.
If we base it on hearts, I couldn’t evaluate how genuinely they were repenting.
In a capitalist society, how do we measure the sincerity of apologies?
It’s measured by money’s weight.
Paying 100 won means a 100-won worth of apology, while paying 1,000 won means a 1,000-won worth of apology.
‘I don’t need the money, but this is the rule of the game.’
As the Water Bandits continued their apologies, I seized a moment of calm to pose a question to Lee Tae.
“Earlier, I heard from Hua Eun that the ones who broke the rules must provide a gift of apology…”
Lee Tae flinched at that.
He hesitantly explained in a desperate voice.
“Y-your Excellency, we engage in the Water Bandit’s way of life, so people often misunderstand that we’re wealthy, but we aren’t that affluent.
To steer clear of the watchmen, we have to choose foggy days or times when there are none. We can’t even afford to set out during rainy seasons when the rivers swell.
And not only that, but the five great noble families supporting us grow by the day, leaving us barely able to scrape by. Just recently, the river’s sudden rise kept our boats docked for over ten days.
Today we just came out because we heard a ship without clan symbols was passing through…”
His words resonated with the bandits behind him, who nodded with tearful eyes.
“We just wanted some rice!”
“Wahh… We aren’t that bad of a bunch!”
‘Are these guys trying to pull a tear-jerking act?’
Just as I was about to lose patience with their empty apologies, a commotion erupted.
“L-Long!”
“Tao Master?”
While we were talking, a crew member who’d disappeared towards the cabin rushed back to me.
“Ah, the lady is throwing a fit, tossing people into the river! There’s flooding again!”
‘Oh, for crying out loud.’
I had been cautiously navigating the currents of the Yangtze River Three Gorges after making temporary repairs, and now it seemed our patchwork had failed due to Chao’s tantrum.
“Is it leaking a lot?”
“Yes, we need to do some emergency repairs ASAP!”
As the Tao Master reported, I furrowed my brows.
But amid my predicament, I heard a voice from Lee Tae, the leader of the Water Bandits.
“Y-your Excellency! We can help with the repairs!”
“You, can repair the ship?”
I displayed a look of skepticism, half convinced they were pulling a fast one to save their necks, but Lee Tae quickly called out.
“We have an excellent shipbuilder in our base!”
“A shipbuilder?”
Hearing that unfamiliar term, I tilted my head, and the Tao Master quickly chimed in.
“A skilled craftsman for shipbuilding.”
Lee Tae nodded vigorously along.
“Yes, a shipbuilder. How could we let our ships keep sinking with all this knowledge? Just give it a shot! He’s from Fujian Province!”
“Fujian Province!? Is that true!?”
“No way would I lie in such a dire situation!”
Seeing the Tao Master sooo interested in the mention of Fujian Province, I shot him a look to clarify his enthusiasm.
He explained why he was feeling so giddy.
“They say those from Fujian Province are the best shipbuilders! Our ship was built there, so if what he says is true, they should be able to handle repairs excellently.”
“Oh, is that so?”
I appeared intrigued, leading Lee Tae to chuckle.
“Your Excellency, can we serve you by sending the shipbuilder as a gift of apology…”
Just before he finished, I nodded in agreement.
“Very well, I will accept that shipbuilder as your gift of apology.”
It fit perfectly as an apology for a 10:0 accident.
*
After settling on an apology and opting for repairs at the Water Bandits’ base, talk naturally shifted to the names of the two mischievous insects.
Specifically, we were pondering over the names for the babies, debating between Seol-i and Dong-i.
“We saved So-ryong, so it’s absurd that he doesn’t have a name yet. We need to choose a name as soon as possible.”
“Right? We can’t keep calling him baby forever.”
Having saved his life, it was downright ludicrous that we hadn’t named him yet.
“So we have Dong-i…”
“So we have Naeng-i…”
While both statements made sense, the disagreement stretched on without resolution.
We seemed stuck, so I suggested, “How about we choose the name the baby likes?”
“The baby?”
“The baby?”
“Yes, we name him after what he likes, not just between you two.”
Honestly, I could name him as I pleased, but then Seol and Hua Eun would sulk and certainly not let me off easy.
Given the circumstances, I couldn’t just rush into decisions, especially after worrying them the other day due to the incident with Wol-yeong, so I figured the baby should get a say.
With that, neither would have grounds to protest.
“Hey baby, do you prefer the name Naeng-i or Dong-i?”
I carefully placed the baby on the table as I asked.
The baby tilted his head back and forth.
–Kwaek?
–Guggu.
–Guu.
The baby, while tilting its head, suddenly seemed to receive some information from Seol and Hua Eun, crawling up on Hua Eun’s shoulder and responding.
–Kyu-uw.
His smile suggested that he liked Dong-i better.
“Ah, so you like Dong-i?”
–Kyu!
“Why! Naeng-i isn’t bad either!?”
Seol’s face fell with disappointment, but the one in question, Dong-i, favored the name, so what could I do?
Thus, Dong-i officially received his name.
After this, the topic turned to Wol-yeong.
There was some talk about how the name didn’t suit him since it represented Yin energy and he possessed the toxin of Yanggyeong.
“We need to give Wol-yeong a new name. The name Wol-yeong means Moon Shadow, symbolizing Yin energy. Doesn’t really suit a kid with the toxin of Yanggyeong.”
“Right. Long, that name is somewhat insulting for him.”
Indeed, until now, we had chosen names to match traits or characteristics, and considering fire-eating would mean an inappropriate association with a name steeped in Yin.
‘Chao, would you mind asking Wol-yeong how he feels about changing his name?’
–Tsuru!
As soon as I sought Wol-yeong’s opinions through Chao, I felt a positive vibe coming through.
It seemed he didn’t really like the name assigned by the temple nuns who had starved him for ten years.
It was decided that his name would be left to Seol.
This was perhaps a way to relieve some of the disappointment from Dong-i’s naming process.
“Seol, I’d like you to name Wol-yeong’s new name.”
“Really!?”
Seol, who had been sad about not getting to name Naeng, now beamed at the chance to name Wol-yeong.
After a moment of thought, she suggested a name that seemed fitting.
“How about Hwa-yang (Fire Sun)?”
“Hwa-yang?”
“Right. Wol-yeong meant moon shadow, so turning it around leads to Sun. But since ‘Il-yang’ is rather masculine, I think Hwa-yang works for both boys and girls, especially since we don’t know the sex yet.”
“So Hwa-yang…”
Interpreting its meaning would reflect the fierceness of fire.
For a kid as prickly as one that could throw water at a nun, it seemed like an exceedingly fitting name.
“Does Hwa-yang sound good to you?”
The baby wagged its rear legs as if in agreement.
Then Wol-yeong’s name was decided to be Hwa-yang.
“It looks like he approves, Seol. I think it’s a good name too.”
“Great!”
I nodded at Seol on agreeing it was a good name, but then it hit me.
Something felt off—a subtle doubt flickered across my mind.
As I pondered what it might be that I missed earlier, a bizarre realization struck me.
‘Wait!? L-legs!?’
Rubbing my startled eyes and confirming once more, my jaw dropped at the sight of legs that had sprouted adorably in the span of two days since I accidentally got poisoned by him.