The Mad Dog Inspector of the Martial Alliance

Lifting a brawny adult male with one arm? It was a monstrous divine strength, unimaginable for someone with a small body that didn't even reach Jang So-gil's chest.

Jang So-gil's mouth was slightly agape in bewilderment. The girl shouted in a shrill voice.

"Die! You lecherous thief!"

Thud, thud, thud, she slammed the mountain fortress boss onto the ground. It looked like a housewife beating laundry, but that was a person, not laundry. For a small girl to swing an adult male like that. Jang So-gil's eyes widened at the vibration he felt through his feet.

'What kind of monstrous strength is this? Is she the Hegemon-King Xiang Yu?'

According to old stories, Xiang Yu held two strong men in his hands and used them as weapons. If one saw it in person, it would probably feel like this. Pure strength is this overwhelming. As he was letting out an admiration that went beyond astonishment, the girl, huffing and puffing, threw the mountain fortress boss away.

The mountain fortress boss, who hit the wall and bounced several times, didn't even twitch. His breath was probably cut off the first time he was slammed. Seeing that gruesome sight, Yang Gwan was terrified and ran over. So stopped Yang Gwan with his hand and got up.

"Are you done?"

"Not yet! This bastard's gang, where are they! Ah, there they are!"

She spotted the group of thieves tied up by Yang Gwan and was about to run over. Her speech was somewhat clumsy, and she didn't seem to be familiar with the Han language, so he couldn't expect any etiquette. Jang So-gil stopped the excited her.

"I've already subdued them all, so it would be troublesome if you killed them."

"You, his gang?"

"Do I look like I'm in a gang with these guys?"

The girl's eyes scanned Jang So-gil from bottom to top. Even to the eyes of an ignorant Southern Man girl, the lecherous thief from before and the man in front of her looked like completely different types of people. Leaving aside their appearance and actions, first of all, their smell was different. The lecherous thief from before smelled of rotten pork fat, but this man smelled of orchid flowers.

The girl shook her head.

"No."

"You have a good eye. First, let's introduce ourselves."

"Ye-er."

In the Southern Man region, children are not given names before their 15th birthday. It's because the environment is so harsh that children die easily. So Ye-er was a childhood name meaning 'child of the Ye clan'.

"My name is So."

"So? Small?"

How should I interpret this?

Jang So-gil's mouth twitched, but he managed to regain his composure.

"Not small. My nickname is So."

"A name is the essence. A nickname is also a name. A name is you. Isn't it because you're small that you're called small?"

"...I said I'm not small."

I can't get angry at a child, I have to endure.

Jang So-gil bit his molars hard and pried the story out of Ye-er.

To summarize the story, it was like this.

Ye-er was the daughter of Ye Daesan, the lord of the Southern Man Beast Palace. The Southern Man was currently suffering from a food shortage due to a record-breaking wind disaster, and Ye Daesan had contacted the Dali Ye Clan of Yunnan to solve this problem. And the Dali Ye Clan, in exchange for providing food, wanted Ye-er as proof of their alliance. Their youngest son was at a perfect age to get married, or so they said.

But that youngest son was the problem. He was said to be incredibly ugly.

"Is being ugly the problem?"

"Marriage is a lifelong companion. Trust. Reliability. Happiness. For that, the face is important."

"...You have a very clear opinion."

She didn't want to marry an ugly guy. But she needed food.

So Ye-er had secretly run away from home to get food. Her drive to come all the way here from the Southern Man was dazzling.

'So this kid named Ye-er is the daughter of the Beast Palace Lord, with the status of a young palace lord. If I force it, I could even call her a princess. No, damn it. What am I supposed to do if the pieces keep fitting together in a strange way.'

Jang So-gil let out a sigh and pointed out coldly.

"What are you going to do about food after running away?"

"You, I was looking for you."

"It's getting more and more ridiculous. Why were you looking for me?"

"You. My fiancé. A fiancé is rice."

Jang So-gil was at a loss for words for a moment. Me? Fiancé? Getting food from a fiancé?

It wasn't that he had no idea. His adoptive father, Jang Daegil, had once said in passing that there was a fine young lady he really wanted to introduce him to later. For a moment, he thought, 'Could this be it?'

But thinking about it calmly, it wasn't. There was no way this kid was a fine young lady. As he was shaking his head, Ye-er pointed her finger at the White Azure Divine Sword.

"That's a divine artifact of the North Sea Ice Palace. My original fiancé is the young palace lord of the North Sea Ice Palace. You are the young palace lord."

"Ah."

So that's how it was.

In the past, during the Great War against the Demonic Cult, the Demonic Cult of the west, the Southern Man Beast Palace of the south, and the North Sea Ice Palace of the north had united with a grand dream and attacked the martial world. The alliance of these three was formed with the complacent thought that if they attacked from three directions at the same time, the martial world would be helpless.

And as everyone knows, the North Sea Ice Palace was completely shattered by Gumen Long and went bankrupt, and the Demonic Cult similarly collapsed after their Heavenly Demon was killed by Gumen Long.

Among the three, the Southern Man Beast Palace had relatively little damage, and he had heard that it was because the palace lord had survived by begging for forgiveness from Gumen Long with a desperate apology on his knees.

'It seems they made an engagement between their children when they formed an alliance in the past.'

Anyway, he had to clear up the misunderstanding. Jang So-gil shook his head again.

"I'm not from the North Sea Ice Palace. I'm from the Martial Alliance."

"M-m-m-Martial Alliance?"

"I'm an inspector, a reasonably high-ranking person."

"Hiiieek-!"

Ye-er's pupils trembled violently.

'Dad told me not to even go near anyone from the Martial Alliance!'

Considering the relationship between the Southern Man Beast Palace and the Martial Alliance, it was only natural.

Ye-er hesitated, stepped back, and watched him cautiously. The way she rolled her eyes was just like a child who had wet the bed.

As Jang So-gil grinned and pretended to look elsewhere, Ye-er bolted and ran away. She was quite fast.

"Gwan, catch her! She's an important witness!"

"Understood!"

Yang Gwan quickly intervened. He threw away his spear, as it could hurt the child. It would be right to stop her with his bare hands.

"Young lady, don't run away and stop!"

"Get out of the way-!"

Ye-er, who had squeezed her eyes shut, rammed Yang Gwan with her shoulder. Yang Gwan used the Shaolin Diamond Art at full power and put strength in his lower body to endure.

In the first place, Yang Gwan was not foolishly worried that this tiny girl would get hurt if he blocked her shoulder charge with the Diamond Art. He had seen the mountain fortress boss get turned into pulp, how could he let his guard down!

"It's no use resisting..."

It really was no use.

"Keok!"

Yang Gwan was sent flying just like that. As if hit by an angry bull, he flew several dozen zhang and rolled on the ground. Still, he managed to regain his posture before rolling three times, so he saved the face of a Dragon.

Yang Gwan, without getting tired, charged in again.

"I won't miss you!"

"I said get out of the way!"

"Ack!"

And his efforts were in vain as he was sent flying again.

"Kuaack-! Young Master So! This young lady's strength is no joke!"

"I'm watching too. What kind of kid has that much strength? Is she a bear?"

"I can't subdue her without injury. Is it okay if she gets a little hurt!?"

"No. She hasn't committed a crime. I said she's an important witness. It would be troublesome if you were rude."

"Then what do you want me to do!"

"Catch her."

"How?!"

"Well!"

"That's easier said than done!"

He couldn't attack. He couldn't hurt her. If he had his way, it would be a piece of cake to neutralize her by breaking something, but he had to catch her with all her limbs intact.

Ye-er had a cute appearance, but in Yang Gwan's eyes, she looked like a tiger or a bear pretending to be a human.

How could he catch that monster without injury?

"Aargh! I don't know!"

There was only one thought that came to mind. He had no choice but to cling on tenaciously.

Yang Gwan followed Ye-er's short legs and repeated the process of being sent flying by her shoulder or foot.

By the time he had repeated that several dozen times.

"Kuueng... dizzy."

"I-I caught her..."

The exhausted Ye-er fell forward.

And Yang Gwan fell down with her.

Jang So-gil, who had been watching, nodded his head in satisfaction.

"See, you can do it if you try."

"..."

If only he wasn't my master, I'd just... that bastard's mouth...

* * *

By the time the sun set and the moon rose, the officials from Guizhou and Guangxi arrived.

They grasped the situation and proceeded with the work in an orderly manner.

"These guys are not real Green Forest bandits belonging to the Eighteen Fortresses of the Green Forest. They were originally escorts from an escort agency called the Crouching Dragon Escort Agency."

"Oh dear."

The relationship between the Green Forest and escort agencies was not a normal one. At first glance, they seemed hostile, but in reality, they had a mutually beneficial relationship.

Merchants entrusted their escorts to escort agencies because bandits existed. Escort agencies received requests from merchants because bandits existed. What would happen if the bandits were completely wiped out and public order was good? The merchants would move on their own on safe roads, and the escort agencies would go bankrupt.

That was the gist of this incident.

"It's not exactly a rare occurrence for escorts to become bandits."

"That's right. Bandits become escorts, and escorts become bandits, that's how it is."

"A few months before the Diancang Sect committed the slaughter, the number of heroic acts suddenly increased."

"Ah, that's probably because the Sect Leader of Diancang put in some effort at the last minute to fill his 1,500 good deeds."

"I see. Anyway, because of that, the bandits were completely wiped out. As a result, the merchants cut off their deals, and the Crouching Dragon Escort Agency went bankrupt. Since they were bankrupt, well, they had no work, so they changed their profession to bandits. Among them is an escort leader named Georyanggi. Have you by any chance seen a big, bald guy with an axe?"

"I have. He's pulp now, though."

"That guy is very smart. Under his leadership, they planned to take over Huize County entirely, and they actually succeeded."

It wouldn't have been difficult to launch a surprise attack on a village they usually did business with.

They entered the village pretending to be escorts, closed the north and south gates so they couldn't escape, and if over a hundred escorts launched a surprise attack with their martial arts, there was no way ordinary commoners could stand a chance.

"Leaving aside the commoners, how did they deal with the government office's patrolmen?"

"It seems that because the government office in charge of Yunnan was short on manpower, Huize County originally had no patrolmen."

"...It's incredibly lax."

"Yunnan is all like that. They think they're not citizens of the Ming Dynasty anyway."

"Ugh, then what happened to the villagers? Did they kill them and bury them?"

The old official answered coolly.

"After interrogating a few of them, they said they sold all the villagers to the mines. We have a rough idea of the location, but it's quite far, and the mountain terrain is rough, so it will take quite some time to find them. And as for the matter of stationing separate personnel to manage the official road as you ordered, it will take time to select the manpower."

"It's not urgent, so it's fine as long as you handle it within a month."

"That much should be no problem."

"I'll be counting on you."

"Of course. Is there any doubt?"

Was it because it was a matter of the Martial Alliance? The officials were kinder than anyone Jang So-gil had met during his time as a merchant, they carried out their duties diligently, and they even treated Jang So-gil with respect. No one looked down on him for being young, but respected him and showed him reverence.

"A sense of belonging to the Martial Alliance is welling up. Power is good, after all."

As he was smiling contentedly, Yang Gwan approached, limping.

"Ugh. Oh my, I'm dying. Young Master So, the little young lady has woken up."

"Does it hurt a lot?"

"There's no place that doesn't hurt. That little young lady's whole body is a lump of iron, a lump of iron. It's hard, and her strength is so good that every time I touched her, lightning flashed before my eyes. I thought I was going to be beaten to death. It didn't hurt this much even when I was hit with a diamond staff by Abbot Mingyan..."

"If you look in my bundle, you'll find the Imperial Family's Golden Wound Medicine. Go and apply it."

"You mean the wound medicine that smells of plum blossoms? Understood. Ouch, ouch..."

"Apply it in three layers. That way it will heal faster."

"Yes, yes."

As Yang Gwan retreated, groaning, Jang So-gil took a big look around the village.

It might have looked like he was setting fires indiscriminately, but in reality, all his actions were done with the future in mind.

He had only burned places like stables, warehouses storing straw, and cloth merchant shops, which would burn brightly on the outside but the flames would quickly die down once there was nothing left to burn.

But even so, since the escorts who had turned into a band of thieves had occupied the entire village, there were almost no buildings that were intact on the inside, even if they looked fine on the outside.

The best house, relatively speaking, was the one Georyanggi had lived in. Bad memories must have come to mind right away. As soon as she entered his house, Ye-er, who was tense and shrunken, let out a low scream.

"Heeik! Martial Alliance!"

"Stop being so scared for no reason. No, I know the place is bad, but there were no other intact houses besides this one."

"Ugh. Ugh, ugh. Lecherous thief."

"I'm not a lecherous thief."

"Then why did you tie me up?"

"I had no choice. A delicate person like me would die if I was hit by your shoulder."

"So, weakling?"

"I can't tell if this kid is scared or audacious. Anyway, let's talk business. About the Dali Ye Clan story from before, can you tell me in detail?"

Dali Ye Clan?

Ye-er pouted her lips.