Xi Zhicai (戲志才).
As if her monstrous Intelligence stat of 97 spoke for itself, she was an outstanding strategist in Cao Cao’s army—one so capable that things simply wouldn’t feel right without her.
‘I happen to have some favorability items on hand. Should I try to earn some currency?’
If you filled a female officer’s favorability gauge by gifting her items, you received 250 Yuanbao.
It might not seem like much when counting them one by one, but since Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII had so many female officers, filling all of their favorability gauges would yield an immeasurable amount of currency.
I immediately opened my inventory.
Inside were the favorability items I’d obtained when I first encountered Cao Cao in Juancheng, still sitting there untouched.
“Counselor Xi. It is with utmost respect that I have prepared a small token of goodwill. Would you accept it?”
I feigned rummaging through my robes and took out the honey water from my inventory.
“What… is this?”
With a very natural and courteous motion, I withdrew a bamboo flask from my robes.
“It’s honey water.”
Xi Zhicai blinked slowly at the bamboo tube I suddenly held out.
“Well, this is… thank you. I’ll enjoy it.”
Xi Zhicai accepted the bamboo tube with her gloved hand.
—Ding!
[You have gifted the favorability item ‘Honey Water’ to Xi Zhicai!]
[Xi Zhicai’s favorability has reached 40!]
[A favorability reward has been granted!]
[You have acquired 50 Yuanbao!]
‘Great! Just three more and I can hit 100 favorability.’
Since we had run into each other like this, I intended to instantly raise her favorability with the stockpiled honey water in my inventory and earn some currency.
“I brought plenty, so please have another.”
[You have gifted the favorability item ‘Honey Water’ to Xi Zhicai!]
[Xi Zhicai has refused the gift!]
[The used item will be returned.]
Huh?
She refused?
Wasn’t it an unspoken rule in gacha games that officers swallowed up favorability items as fast as you gave them? My flustered gaze alternated between the system window floating in the air and Xi Zhicai’s face.
“Squad Leader.”
Xi Zhicai lightly pushed away the bamboo tube I offered with the tip of her folding fan.
“Kindness is sufficient but once.”
“Ah, did it not suit your taste?”
“It is not that I dislike sweets, but…”
Xi Zhicai tapped her fan against her palm, letting the words trail off.
Her gaze was directed at my waist.
“The Lord would not simply give me honey water for no reason, so I was pondering the cause.”
Xi Zhicai’s sharp eyes turned toward the Qinggang Sword.
Could she have mistaken that, since Cao Cao’s beloved sword was with me, the honey water was also from Cao Cao rather than me?
“To readily bestow your beloved sword upon a mere squad leader, and on top of that, to send along precious honey water to pass to me…”
Xi Zhicai’s sharp pupils gleamed as if piercing straight through me.
“I see. It is both the Lord’s warm disposition to show concern for my health, and at the same time, Ian—a sign that you are to remain by my side!”
“I gave you the honey water on my own, though?”
“The Qinggang Sword is the Lord’s beloved blade, a treasure akin to his own body. In other words, the Lord has effectively appointed you as his proxy and sent you ahead.”
“No, if you would just listen to me…”
My explanation was no longer reaching her ears.
“The Lord will soon arrive here in Dongmuyang leading the soldiers. Before that, he has sent one of his most trustworthy men as an advance party to correct the slackened military discipline!”
“Um… Counselor?”
“Please call me Xi Zhicai! Hee hee…”
“……You want me to call you by your name? Is that acceptable?”
“How could I act as a superior before the Lord’s proxy? Please speak comfortably.”
I hid my awkwardness and nodded.
“All right, Xi Zhicai.”
Xi Zhicai covered her mouth with her folding fan, her eyes curving in a mysterious smile.
“Even if you learn the truth later, the cause won’t be me. Understand?”
“The cause won’t be you…? What a truly profound remark.”
Xi Zhicai nodded, falling into thought.
‘Is it really okay to leave it like this…?’
Thinking that I should set the record straight even now, I opened my mouth, but Xi Zhicai struck first.
“Lord Ian, are you properly aware of the current situation?”
I only knew that this was China, a world of the Three Kingdoms; beyond that, I was completely ignorant.
I shook my head.
“Not at all. But I believe there must be a reason General Yuanyang and the Lord sent me here first.”
“I see…”
At my answer, Xi Zhicai nodded and walked to the edge of the cliff.
She pointed to the land stretching out far below the hilly terrain.
“The present age is truly an era of warlords dividing the land (群雄割據). The authority of the Han Imperial House has fallen to the ground, and the feudal lords of every region have formed factions, standing in mutual opposition to tear apart and devour the realm.”
Xi Zhicai’s eyes glinted sharply.
“This place, Yan Province (兗州), is where the Lord set up base to free himself from the shadow of the warlord Yuan Benchu. The previous Grand Administrator of Dong Commandery, Lord Wang Hong (王宏), lost his life to a bandit attack, and the Lord crushed those bandits in his stead. It was by that merit that he became Grand Administrator of Dong Commandery.”
I quietly nodded, listening attentively to her words.
“Yet rather than waning, the bandits’ momentum has only grown stronger. They have invaded Dong Commandery once more, leading a massive force of no less than one hundred thousand.”
“A h… hundred thousand?!”
Xi Zhicai nodded.
“The one leading those bandits is Yu Du. Currently, she has established a base near Dunqiu to the west of this Dongmuyang and is invading Yan Province from every direction.”
So that’s why Xiahou Dun said he was sending troops to Dunqiu.
“If the bandits have a hundred thousand, how many do we have?”
“At present, we have two thousand infantry and two hundred cavalry.”
“…Isn’t that way too few? We’re supposed to face a hundred thousand with just twenty-two hundred?”
“That is why the Lord has personally gone to Juancheng to recruit men.”
No matter how many he recruited, the situation would remain desperate.
By simple arithmetic, each man would have to kill fifty.
No wonder the bandits appeared without rest—now that I knew they had a hundred thousand men, it all made sense.
“Since our numbers are few, we have no choice but to capture the leader. Rather than fighting endless waves of bandits, we must strike the head and collapse their organization.”
“Hoo…”
Xi Zhicai exclaimed in admiration, covering her mouth with her folding fan.
“‘Capture the bandit, capture the king’ (擒賊擒王)… Truly, a magnificent insight befitting one chosen as the Lord’s proxy.”
“So, I have to kill Yu Du?”
Xi Zhicai shook her head.
“Not so. Of course, if Yu Du—the focal point of the bandits—were eliminated, nothing could be better. But she is timid and rarely leaves her stronghold. And to infiltrate the very center of an army of one hundred thousand to behead their leader would be nothing short of recklessness.”
‘Skipping the stage to fight the boss right away is asking too much, after all.’
“Weren’t there quite a few bandits even on the way here from Juancheng?”
“That’s right. I brought over two hundred ears as proof.”
“Are you saying five of you cut down so many…?”
A peculiar light settled in Xi Zhicai’s eyes.
“As expected… there was deep meaning behind the Lord organizing a special unit and sending it ahead to Dongmuyang.”
Xi Zhicai pointed with her folding fan toward a mountain peak in the western direction.
“Do you see that mountain ridge?”
“It looks incredibly rugged.”
“It is the most treacherous of the treacherous lands west of Dongmuyang—a place called Seomu Mountain. And on its mid-slope, the Heishan Bandits have built a mountain fortress.”
“Mountain fortress?”
“Indeed. That place serves as an intermediate supply point for the main Heishan Bandit force west of Dunqiu, and simultaneously acts as an outpost monitoring the movements of our Dongmuyang camp.”
Don’t tell me you want me to go all the way there?
“For this reason, punitive expeditions have been dispatched several times to seize the mountain fortress, but all have failed.”
Xi Zhicai spoke with a bitter smile.
It certainly looked difficult to break through steep, narrow mountain paths to capture a mountain fortress.
“Still, we cannot leave the mountain fortress as it is. Therefore, we are planning to mobilize troops and attack once more.”
—Ding!
“Before that, we intend to send a small unit to scout their mountain fortress and establish a bridgehead.”
As if it had been waiting, a familiar notification chimed in my ears.
[A Faction Quest has occurred!]
[Seomu Mountain Fortress Reconnaissance]
[Description: Following Xi Zhicai’s proposal, stealthily scout the Heishan Bandits’ outpost located west of Dongmuyang. You must avoid detection by the enemy.]
[Objective: Ascertain Heishan Bandit troop numbers and scout an infiltration route.]
[Reward: Xi Zhicai’s Favorability +10, 400 Merit]
“If it is a small elite force with overwhelming martial prowess capable of cutting down over two hundred Heishan Bandits, you should be able to approach the mountain fortress in secret and thoroughly grasp the enemy’s scale and movements.”
Xi Zhicai paused and looked up at me intently.
“Lord Ian. Will you please tear away the veil of that rugged mountain fortress so that our main force may capture it?”
“Hmm…”
It was clearly a dangerous-looking mission.
But the reward was absurdly small.
Given the mission characteristics of Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII, where higher difficulty meant greater rewards, they should have at least given some gacha currency like Yuanbao, yet there was no sign of it.
‘Something’s definitely hidden!’
Then it happened.
—Ding!
As if the system were reacting to my thoughts, new choices in red and blue slid into view beneath the existing quest window.
[Please select a mission execution method.]
[1. Covertly scout the mountain fortress and return according to orders. (Upper Route)]
[2. Is there really a need to bring the main force? I am more than enough alone. (Lower Route)]
‘I knew it!’
In other games, it was commonly called the “hard route”—the Lower Route had opened.
Without hesitation, I chose option 2.
“You intend to accomplish what the main force could not…?”
Upon selecting the Lower Route, Xi Zhicai’s eyes went wide.
“It is reckless! How could a mere five of you capture it?!”
Xi Zhicai furrowed her brows in an instant, viewing my words as foolhardiness.
But my resolve was already firm.
[The Lower Route is opening!]
[Seomu Mountain Fortress Subjugation]
[Description: Destroy the Heishan Bandits’ outpost located west of Dongmuyang. The enemy numbers are great, so proceed with caution.]
[Objective: Subjugate the Heishan Bandits at the outpost and burn their supplies.]
[Reward: 800 Yuanbao, 1,200 Merit, SR-grade Equipment Chest]
Eight hundred Yuanbao was a whopping five summon tickets.
Let this opportunity slip by? Absolutely not.
Moreover, the Merit gained as a reward was no less than 1,200.
I had earned 2,600 Merit on the way here from Juancheng, so clearing this quest would almost satisfy the conditions to be recommended as a Xiaolian.
“If it truly seems too dangerous, I’ll just gather the information and come back, so don’t worry too much.”
“Why must you choose a path so far removed from common sense…?”
“That’s… simple.”
I answered Xi Zhicai’s question brightly.
“Because there’s a mountain there.”
Because there’s Yuanbao there.