Chapter 377. I am Squad Leader I of the Liberation Front.

I woke to the sound of a bell, having fallen asleep with my axe in my arms. I felt like I’d slept for about two shichen, and my fatigue had eased quite a bit. Without even wiping the sleep from my eyes, I stepped outside the tent and saw the laborers moving somewhere.

Sometimes you wake up and feel as if the puffiness hasn’t left your face. This was one of those times.

I was swollen all over.

“……”

With half-lidded eyes, I mingled with the crowd moving in a line like ghosts and walked along. The men ahead of me picked up wooden bowls and chopsticks, so I did the same. The state of the bowl woke me up a little.

I might not be good at cooking, but I was good at washing dishes. This thing was in such a state that I couldn’t tell whether it was meant to hold sand or food.

In any case, I was hungry, so I quietly stood in line.

Were they handing out meals?

When my turn came, a man dressed in clothes as filthy as mine ladled watery porridge and three dumplings into my bowl. I was now wide awake, and I looked back and forth between the watery porridge and the man serving the food.

“……”

The man serving the food said to me with an unpleasant expression.

“Move. Next.”

So this was the meal. Following the line ahead, I saw laborers sitting here and there, eating. I stood for a moment with the bowl I’d been given and looked around at the workers. I was so dumbfounded that words failed me.

‘Can anyone work after eating this?’

Only then did I realize the people working here didn’t belong to the merchant guild. In other words, they were people the guild had hired separately. If they were formally affiliated with the guild, they wouldn’t be eating trash like this. So they were the ones at the very bottom.

I sat down a little apart from the others and muttered.

“They expect us to eat this crap?”

Even though I’d only muttered softly, the laborers nearby looked at me while eating. My drowsiness was gone, and so was my appetite, so I set the bowl down beside me. Then a man holding a bowl in one hand came over and asked me.

“……Are you not going to eat that?”

It felt a bit wrong to throw it away, so I handed mine over to him. Right in front of me, he poured everything I’d been given into his own bowl, then went back to his spot.

I sat there and quietly looked around at the people eating.

I met the eyes of a man nearby and asked.

“Why is the food like this?”

The man answered.

“Why act surprised now? Are you new?”

I nodded.

“Even beggars under the bridge would eat better than this.”

A man dressed a little differently was passing by, then came over and looked around at the laborers eating as he said.

“Who was running his mouth?”

Whenever the man’s gaze fell on them, the laborers lowered their heads and kept eating. Then his eyes met mine, since I hadn’t lowered my head. His gaze went to my bowl, then back to my face.

“Got a complaint about the food? We feed you, pay you, give you a place to sleep, and you still have complaints? Get up.”

I stood up, holding on to my axe.

The man jerked his chin and said to me.

“Follow me.”

“Why?”

“If you have a complaint, tell the squad leader. Don’t grumble to yourself. Didn’t we tell you? If you have complaints, speak up right away.”

I followed the man somewhere. When he arrived at the entrance of a fairly large tent, he spoke inside.

“Squad Leader Tak.”

A voice came from inside.

“What?”

“I brought someone who seems to have complaints about the rations.”

“Come in.”

The man turned around and held out his hand to me.

“The axe.”

The man took my axe, then opened the tent entrance with his other hand. I stepped inside. The tent was large enough for about thirty people to lie down in, and there was even a table inside. The owner of the tent looked as though he hadn’t been awake for long either, eating with his hair all tousled.

There was proper rice and soup, meat, vegetables, assorted side dishes, and even fruit laid out.

The man called Squad Leader Tak spoke to me while using his chopsticks.

“Where were you hired?”

I looked at Squad Leader Tak and answered.

“The Jungcheon Merchant Guild.”

Squad Leader Tak nodded and said.

“You should have heard the circumstances. Because of the situation of the people who hired you, food cannot be procured at Baekeungji. In exchange, they said they’d pay generously. And now, after all that, you’re dissatisfied with the food?”

I approached the table and answered.

“If food can’t be procured, then what is all this?”

Squad Leader Tak said with a laugh.

“Are you telling me to eat the same thing as you lot?”

I went closer and looked down at Squad Leader Tak. Squad Leader Tak set down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth, then grabbed the dagger beside him.

“Young man, if you don’t want to work, you can leave. If you don’t like the food, then leave. You were warned, weren’t you? When you leave, leave quietly. Who told you to spout that nonsense in front of the other laborers?”

This mad bastard suddenly stopped eating and stood up.

All I’d said was that the food killed my appetite, but he looked ready to threaten me with a dagger. He walked around the long table, came up in front of me, and thrust the dagger out.

I snatched the dagger away and jabbed Squad Leader Tak in the chest with the index and middle fingers of my left hand. After injecting Ice Art into him, I covered Squad Leader Tak’s mouth with my left hand.

“Shh.”

First, I held up the dagger I’d taken from Squad Leader Tak and tried threatening him.

“Make a noise, and I’ll feed this dagger to your mouth. Your voice is unpleasant.”

From outside came the voice of the man who had brought me here.

“……Squad Leader Tak?”

I walked toward the entrance and said.

“Come in.”

As the man pulled back the entrance and came in, I slapped him across the cheek. There was a thwack, and the man immediately fainted. I grabbed Squad Leader Tak, who was trembling because of the Ice Art, and stood him in the spot where one would make a report, then sat down in the seat of honor.

I took a fresh pair from the chopstick holder and, while eating a meal that served as both breakfast and lunch, looked at Squad Leader Tak. His complexion had gone pale, and he stood there stiffly, trembling.

It wasn’t a pleasant sight to look at while eating.

But the food tasted good, so it didn’t matter. If it was a fairly successful merchant guild, this was the sort of meal they ought to be serving. Looking at it this way, he didn’t seem to be someone from the Demon Cult, but rather a labor overseer sent by the guild.

Whether these bastards would actually pay the laborers properly was doubtful.

In truth, it wasn’t impossible that everyone here might end up dying at my hands the moment they arrived. They were construction laborers, and there was still a high chance they would become blade fodder.

As I ate, I said to Squad Leader Tak.

“……How should I kill this bastard? Once I finish eating, you’re dead. The time you have left to breathe is exactly as long as my meal. What are you going to do, Squad Leader Tak?”

Squad Leader Tak’s jaw clattered violently, and as he muttered something, drool dripped down.

I frowned as I ate.

"What are you saying. Ugh... what?"

After roughly eating a meal, I put both feet on the table and peeled some fruit. While chewing, I spoke to Captain Tak.

"Hey, seeing how I want to beat you to death every time I look at you, isn't this demonic deviation?"

"……."

Come to think of it, I'm a guy who attained enlightenment, shaved his head, entered a temple, then either became a defrocked monk because he wanted to drink or grabbed a fellow monk's hair and fought him. I suddenly realized the secret of Buddhism. It seems monks shaved their heads so they wouldn't fight while tearing at each other's hair. Ah, or maybe not.

While eating fruit, I looked behind me and saw something covered with a cloth. I got up and lifted the cloth to find a chest. Inside, it was full of coiled strings of common iron coins.

"What a windfall. I have wealth luck this year, I do. I'll probably have wealth luck next year too. The problem is, I have a premonition that I'll only have wealth luck, damn it……."

I muttered and looked at the cloth lying next to the chest.

This cloth was simply spread over the floor.

Why would a cloth be lying on the floor? Whether I've fallen into demonic deviation or not, I'm a twisted man who can't just pass by something like this. When I stepped on the edge with my foot and pulled, a small sealed jar could be seen in a dug-up spot.

I glared at the jar, then raised my head to glare at Captain Tak. Captain Tak's gaze also went toward the jar and was shaking violently.

"……."

I didn't say anything harsh to Captain Tak. Instead, I took out the buried jar, placed it on the table, and tore off the seal. Inside was a pale gray powder. At a glance, it looked like ash made from burning something.

Honestly, I had no idea what this was.

With pure intentions, seeking to find out what it was, I put in a cup and scooped up the powder. Since it seemed like it would choke him if he ate only the powder, I mixed in water from a kettle. I shook the cup vigorously with my wrist and approached Captain Tak.

"……What is this?"

Captain Tak's jaw trembled severely.

"I... I only received... orders."

"Without knowing what it is?"

"Y-yes... yes."

I grabbed Captain Tak's jaw and locked eyes with him.

"Captain Tak, do I look like a fool? Do I really look like a fool? Did I look like a fool because my clothes are shabby? Do I look like some back-mountain hick woodcutter? Speak before I change my mind. Who is this for?"

Since Captain Tak couldn't answer, I figured out the answer myself. It seemed to be powder mixed into the food distribution after construction finished. I gave him one last chance.

"You're not going to talk?"

"……."

I met eyes with Captain Tak one last time.

"I've discovered a great villain. Where were you hiding to suddenly appear? Marvelous. Such is the mystery of life."

I poured the powder-mixed water into Captain Tak's mouth. With a crack—, foam formed immediately, and even as his whole body froze up, he struggled desperately to spit it out. I covered Captain Tak's mouth with my hand and watched his Adam's apple bob.

"……If it's just powder that makes you lose consciousness, you survive too. If not, you're simply unlucky. Seems you don't have wealth luck this year, Captain Tak. You must have done this crazy shit to earn money. It's all come to nothing."

My words became a soliloquy. Because Captain Tak had ascended while standing. When I let go of the jaw I was holding, Captain Tak collapsed to the side. At the same time, the guy who had been slapped and knocked out regained consciousness and immediately met eyes with me.

I asked the man.

"Did I hit him too softly?"

"……Who are you?"

I approached so the man couldn't suddenly flee, shifted the tent aside, picked up the axe lying on the ground, and came back in. Holding the axe, I approached the man and answered.

"I am Captain Ijaha of the Slave Liberation Front. Who are you? A merchant group?"

I slowly raised the axe.

"Hey, seems like it's about time you answered... To Captain Tak's side."

"I am a recruiter for the Jungcheon Merchant Group."

"A recruiter? You gathered the laborers?"

"Yes. Simultaneously from various merchant groups."

"Were you planning to kill the laborers after construction finished?"

The moment I saw the man's pupils quiver like a startled snail's body, I beat him to death with the axe.

"Demonic deviation, bullshit, whatever."

The captain of the Slave Liberation Front doesn't need such sentimental words. Because words signifying martial arts realm or physical state cannot define my life. I got up holding the blood-soaked axe, lifted the chest full of iron coins with one hand, and exited the tent.

I kicked the chest open and looked at the laborers working here and there. They were people who would die eating the final meal on the day the barracks were completed.

Laughter came out naturally.

I grabbed a bundle of string-bound iron coins and called a nearby laborer.

"Hey."

I threw the iron coins to the laborer. As the laborer who caught it with both hands looked at me with a bewildered expression, nearby laborers swarmed like people receiving food rations. I took out bundles of iron coins in order of arrival and paid wages. The Demonic Cult's money is my money. It was annoying to hand them out one by one, so I lifted the chest and slammed it down on the ground. Then quite a lot of iron coins disappeared on their own.

The laborers holding bundles of iron coins looked at me.

I looked around at the laborers and spoke.

"You're liberated."

"……."

"The Demonic Cult is above the administrators here. Take that and scatter. And while scattering, take everything that can be turned into money. Dismissed."

I thrust the blood-stained axe toward the half-stupefied laborers.

"……I said dismissed. Before I kill you all."

As if the word 'survival' had urgently surged into their heads, they soon scattered in all directions. It was a movement as if they had instinctively learned qinggong anew simply because of the iron coins in their hands.

There must have been more of Captain Tak's subordinates, but I got the feeling they were mixed among the laborers and fleeing. I didn't bother chasing them.

How dare they build barracks and plant flags in front of me?

Holding the axe, I leaped into the air and collected all the flags planted here and there. Shortly after, I bundled about seven or eight flags together, slung them over my shoulder, and set fire to the barracks being erected by the Demonic Cult's orders. It seemed some fairly clever guy had schemed something to fight me as an equal, but there was no need to find out what the specific plan actually was.

Whatever that plot had been, it was engulfed in flames along with the barracks.

This is precisely the fire attack (火攻).

I didn't know where the southeast was, so I couldn't check if the southeast wind was blowing. I slung the merchant group's flags over my shoulder and watched a burning building for the first time in a while.

Ate a meal, liberated slaves, and watched a fire for the first time in a while.

One stone, three birds (一石三鳥).

It seems my realm really has risen.