Martial King's Retired Life

“Hahaha, Your Majesty, it is understandable for a man of benevolence as yourself to feel upset at our village raids, but it is inevitable for our brothers to be a little loose when they are struggling. Do you not feel your teachings can change them? If the villagers are your citizens, are we not your citizens? Plus…” A hint of hubris came to Tufu’s tongue. “We have six thousand men stationed outside, all of whom are ruthless and brutal. Without any shackles, nobody knows what they are capable of. Are you going to kill them? On your own? You certainly embody magnificent skills of a calibre this old one has never seen. In saying that, can you defeat an army of six thousand?”

“Those fellows outside, you say?” I started fiddling with my hair. “Not that difficult.”

A ruckus suddenly started outside the camp, and a messenger soon came sprinting in, caked in dust from head to toe. “A… A cavalry unit! A cavalry unit suddenly ambushed us from the forest! We are surrounded by around ten thousand fully-geared elite cavalry! Our vanguard is already crumbling.”

Tufu instantly instructed, “Surrender! Tell everyone to surrender immediately! Do not resist!”

I started clapping: “Good call. As long as you’re alive, there’s always tomorrow. They say a wise man knows how to understand the times. You can call yourself a wise man from now, Elder.”

Tufu bowed his head: “Excellent, Your Majesty. Your wisdom exceeds this old one’s imagination. This old one admits defeat.”

“You’ve been backstabbing whoever you surrender to in order to reach your current place, haven’t you?”

“You must trust this old one, Your Maj-”

A bandit covered in blood of who-knows-how-many people came hobbling in and flopped to the ground, barely breathing. “Pl-please return to your garrisons, Chiefs, or it will be too late…”

“What do you mean? Didn’t I tell you to surrender?”

“D-do not surrender! They will not accept surrender! They… They are here to exterminate us!” And then, he passed out.

Despite being sent into panic, none of the chiefs had the audacity to run away due to my presence. Another bandit soon came back to report, “We told them we surrender, but they have ignored our pleas! They are cutting down everyone they come across! We cannot hold the line any longer!”

Tufu curbed his horror and anger to question, “Who do the forces belong to?! How are they overrunning us?! Who is their leader?!”

“Their leader… Their leader is… Wanyu’s King.”

Tufu pivoted back to me. “Y-you colluded with Wanyu’s military?! You are the leader of Shaman Faith! How can you ally with Beussent’s descendant?! Do you not know Beussent sabotaged your faith?! You traitorous cur!”

“You’re human, so why do you kill other humans? Rape, robbery, murder, what crime have you not committed? You should’ve expected this ending when you chose to commit those crimes. Struggle? How does raping women help you with your struggles? How does murdering families help with your struggles? Did someone hold a blade up to your neck?” I finished Tufu with a single palm strike. “I have nothing to say to any of you. I’m not an embodiment of justice, and I have no desire to be a messiah. I doubt you’ll change your ways. Besides, you don’t deserve a second chance after what you’ve done.”

Even though the chiefs were on the cusp of crapping bricks, someone cried, “H-he is just counting on Wanyu’s military! Call our men back! We have thousands of men. We’ll kill him one way or another.”

“You only got one thing right.” Even if I didn’t know I could sound so cold-blooded. “The number of corpses and volume of blood to my name exceeds the total here. The only reason I joined hands with the military is because it’s more efficient.”

I recoiled my right arm and then flicked it back out, killing twenty bandits with a single string. “If you are reincarnated, try living honest lives. At the very least, your deaths won’t be so horrible.”

***

I had to clutch my black blade to abate its craving for blood as we witnessed Wanyu’s military.

“Ever since that night, I have been brainstorming ways to meet you, but there was no means to due to Great Spirit Shaman’s restrictions. I never imagined you would be the one to create the opportunity.” Wanyu’s King dismounted and came up to me from behind in the chaos.

“It has been a long time. Are you well, Your Majesty?” I responded.

The King dressed in unadorned cloth attire smiled. “I never would have foreseen you letting me eradicate these bandits. You gave me a tough decision to make.”