Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 219 - Artisan (2)
Chapter 219 – Artisan (2)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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-That man’s two eyes were blue.
-What? Blue eyes?
Blue eyes.
While referring to blue pupils, that expression also meant a person from the Western Regions.
People of the Western Regions were those who lived to the west of the Central Plains.
There was a distance between the market square and the gate and rear building, but Mok Gyeong-un, who was in the Flower Realm and whose five senses were more developed than those of ordinary people, had discovered the blue pupils shining through the gaps in the mask.
-Are you certain?
-The eye area of the mask jutted out, so the inside was dark and hard to see clearly, but I could see them.
-Hmm. That is very strange. This is neither Tibet nor Xinjiang, yet a Westerner serving as an official in the imperial palace.
That was not merely rare.
Though in recent times they had interacted with murim people and become more open in many ways, the imperial palace could still be said to be more closed and conservative than any other group.
That was only natural, because this country prided itself that only the Han people stood at the center of the Central Plains.
Had they not even arrested all those connected with the Fire Worship Sect from the Western Regions and destroyed their lines because they were said to have deceived and misled the people?
For such a country’s imperial palace to appoint a Westerner as an official rather than merely a slave was something that could be called extraordinarily unusual.
-It seems there must be some reason.
-You answer so calmly. But simply the fact that a Westerner who has learned martial arts is part of the imperial palace’s Embroidered Uniform Guard means we should be careful. Make sure you do not get entangled with him for no reason.
-Of course.
In any case, their purpose here was only one.
It was to steal the Sacred Flame Token that was said to be imprisoned in the underground forbidden prison of the imperial palace.
No matter whether he had some hidden agenda or any other purpose, it did not particularly concern Mok Gyeong-un.
As they continued following the bearded guide, a pigsty giving off the stench of livestock dung came into view.
The squealing was enough to hurt the ears.
The bearded man did not stop and guided them into the pigsty.
Then the vow-breaking monk Ja Geum-jeong frowned and muttered,
“Surely we did not really come here to catch pigs?”
At that, Mong Mu-yak shook his head and said,
“If you know nothing, then just follow quietly.”
“Then are you saying that even with an open mouth I should say nothing? Hmph.”
“Tsk tsk.”
Mong Mu-yak clicked his tongue as though displeased.
As the bearded man continued walking through the pigsty, he stopped at an empty pen.
Then he pushed aside with a rake the heap of straw piled high there.
Under it was a wooden hatch.
The bearded man grabbed the rusted iron ring on the hatch and pulled.
-Creeeak!
The hatch opened, revealing stairs leading underground.
Seeing that, Seop Chun said with clear approval,
“You hid a place like this well.”
Who would imagine that a secret underground place was hidden inside a pigsty shack filled with the smell of dung?
The bearded man gave a grin and pointed his thumb toward the underground stairs as he said,
“Please follow me.”
So they went down following the stairs.
When they had descended to a depth of about two floors, an open underground chamber about ten jang across finally appeared.
Inside the chamber, lit by lamps, were various tools and workspaces.
Pointing toward a set of reception chairs at one side of the workshop, the bearded man said,
“The artisan will come soon, so please wait a mome…”
-Tatatatak!
His words had not even ended.
Someone hurriedly came down the stairs and ran over to the bearded man.
Judging by the blood-stained leather apron he wore, he appeared to be a worker from the slaughterhouse.
“Brother Song, I need a word.”
At that, the bearded man asked Mok Gyeong-un and the others for their understanding.
“Please wait just a moment.”
Gan Yang nodded, saying with a gesture that it was fine.
So the worker and the bearded man moved a little away from them and spoke in whispers.
Though they whispered, Mok Gyeong-un, whose hearing had grown sharper with the heightening of his martial level, could hear them clearly.
“This has become troublesome.”
“What do you mean troublesome?”
“The one who made that earlier commission seems to have been a military official.”
“What?”
“So I think these people will have to wait for a while.”
At their whispered conversation, Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes narrowed.
It seemed some sort of problem had arisen for them.
Then the bearded man approached them, bowed his head in apology, and said,
“I am sorry, but would you be able to wait here just a little longer? It seems the artisan will be late because of an urgent matter regarding an item to be delivered.”
“What difficulty is there in that? Then we will wait.”
Gan Yang said it in a tone suggesting it was fine.
Since they were the ones who had come to make a commission, they could not well urge the other side on.
After the slaughterhouse people went back out asking for understanding like that, Gan Yang looked toward Mok Gyeong-un and the rear group and said,
“It should not take long.”
Then the vow-breaking monk Ja Geum-jeong picked at that statement.
“Well now. Will it really?”
“Pardon?”
“I heard those bastards talking earlier about some military official or other. Did you not hear them?”
It seemed Ja Geum-jeong had also overheard their conversation.
Gan Yang asked back,
“Military officials?”
“Yes. Are they not talking about those Embroidered Uniform Guard fellows the master mentioned earlier?”
At those words, Gan Yang stroked his chin as though troubled.
The Embroidered Uniform Guard should simply have come to inspect and retrieve the meat to be delivered to the imperial palace.
Yet he could not understand what exactly was going on.
Seop Chun said to him,
“If something happens to the artisan, will that not cause trouble for the mission?”
“That…”
“Did you not say that this is the only artisan who can produce human skin masks for us within the required time?”
“…….That is correct.”
The reason they had come here was precisely to commission the making of human skin masks.
A human skin mask was something made using human skin or pig hide, a leather face covering that could not be distinguished from a real human face.
Though the master of Hongbong Meat earned his living openly through slaughtering, in the shadows he was highly renowned for producing extremely intricate human skin masks.
Of course, there were not many even in murim who knew this.
“Even so, if as the Demon-Subduing Fist Warrior said, those military officials are the Embroidered Uniform Guard, then nothing good will come of us interfering midway.”
“Of all days for market day to fall today, what rotten luck!”
It truly could not have been more unfortunate.
Since they were in the position of having to infiltrate the Embroidered Uniform Guard, there was nothing to be gained by causing friction with them at once.
If they stirred up trouble and it affected the martial examination of the Imperial Guard Bureau, everything would come to nothing.
“Let us wait for now. It is not as though we have an alternative plan.”
At those words from Mok Gyeong-un, everyone nodded.
It was around the time that roughly two more hours had passed like that.
Then, from above, there came the sound of the hidden underground door opening and someone descending.
They thought perhaps the artisan had come, but it was not so.
The one who came down was the bearded man who had guided them earlier.
But unlike before, the color of his face and his expression were not very good.
Gan Yang said to him,
“Has the artisan still not come?”
“I am sorry to have kept you waiting, but I must give you even more regrettable news.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“The artisan is currently in a situation where he cannot accept any commissions.”
“Cannot accept any commissions?”
At that, Gan Yang raised his voice.
The bearded man then bowed his head with a shrinking voice and said,
“I am sorry, but I cannot explain the circumstances. So I ask that you honored guests please return.”
“What? Did you just tell us to leave now?”
Gan Yang, dumbfounded, sprang up from his seat with a scowl.
Frightened, the bearded man flinched and stepped back half a pace.
Gan Yang pressed him.
“Are you saying you mean to break the rule that one who brings the token will have his commission accepted? Moreover, even though we came first, did we not wait here out of consideration for your circumstances?”
“I, I know that. But truly, right now no commissions can be accepted. Even if you honored guests threaten my life…”
At that moment, Mok Gyeong-un opened his mouth.
“I smell blood.”
‘!’
At those words, everyone looked at him in puzzlement.
Then Mok Gyeong-un pointed with his index finger at the bearded man’s hand and said,
“That hand, I mean.”
At those words, the bearded man frowned.
They were nearly ten steps apart, so what was Mok Gyeong-un, some sort of dog’s nose, to smell blood from there?
So the bearded man waved his hands and said,
“Since my work is slaughtering, naturally there is the smell of blo…”
“No. Not the smell of cattle or pig blood, but the smell of human blood.”
“W-what are you talking…”
“It is not ‘what.’ Along with the scent of blood, there is also the smell of dried purple orchid and sedum mixed in, so it seems you hurriedly stopped some bleeding.”
At those words, the bearded man’s eyes widened.
It was natural, because even when blood had first been mentioned he had only thought perhaps, but once purple orchid and sedum were mentioned as well, he could not help being shaken.
Both herbs were hemostatic herbs used in the slaughterhouse.
They were herbs used whenever someone happened to get cut while doing slaughter work.
Yet the smells should have been all mixed together with the blood. Was he saying he had smelled all of that?
Startled, the bearded man opened his mouth in a trembling voice.
“…….How on earth did you know that?”
“Ah. I studied medicinal herbs a little.”
‘A little?’
At those words, everyone stared at Mok Gyeong-un in astonishment.
Was this really possible merely by studying medicinal herbs a little?
Even in this basement, the smells of leather and iron were mixed together, making it hard to smell almost anything else.
Yet Mok Gyeong-un had distinguished both the scent of blood and the scent of herbs from the bearded man’s hand, which was astonishing.
Then the bearded man suddenly approached Mok Gyeong-un, dropped to his knees, and said,
“M-might it be that you know medicine as well, honored guest?”
“Medicine?”
Before the questioning Mok Gyeong-un, the bearded man, who had even lowered his head, spoke in a pleading voice.
“Please help us!”
* * *
A building situated between the pigsty and the cattle shed.
“Guuuuuh.”
Inside one room of that building, a middle-aged man in his fifties, wearing leather clothes and a thick beard, was suffering with a deathly pale face.
That was only natural, because both of the man’s wrists had been cut off.
The slaughterhouse workers at his side had tightly bound cloth above both wrists to stop the bleeding, but it seemed the bleeding would not stop easily.
One of the slaughterhouse workers said to him,
“Manor Master, please endure just a little longer. The physician will arrive soon.”
“Haa… haa… more than that… Song-ah…”
“Miss Song-ah will be brought back. Brother Mo went after her at once.”
“Bring Song-ah first… guuh…”
“Please calm yourself. At this rate something serious will happen.”
The slaughterhouse workers restrained him as he struggled to rise despite his agony from the severed wrists.
It was then that the door opened and, led by the bearded man, six men rushed into the room.
They were Mok Gyeong-un’s party.
One of the slaughterhouse workers sprang up and shouted,
“Brother Song, what are you doing? Why have you brought guests here?”
At that, the bearded man pointed to the middle-aged man called the Manor Master and said to Mok Gyeong-un,
“The bleeding from Manor Master’s severed wrists will not stop. We have called a physician, but before he comes something terrible may happen. Please help him.”
“No, what in the world happened here?”
Gan Yang, seeing this, was dumbfounded.
What could have happened for the Manor Master’s arms to have been cut off like that?
Seeing it, Seop Chun and Mong Mu-yak both looked at Mok Gyeong-un at the same time.
That was natural, because although they did not know what had happened, Mok Gyeong-un had once previously reattached Mong Mu-yak’s severed arm with occult arts.
That was why they looked at him with that hope.
-Step step!
At that moment, Mok Gyeong-un walked toward the Manor Master.
The slaughterhouse workers at his side tried to block his way with wary eyes.
The bearded man called Brother Song hurriedly rebuked them.
“This is someone who came to help, so do not obstruct him!”
At those words, the hesitating slaughterhouse workers stepped aside.
Then Mok Gyeong-un walked up to the suffering Manor Master and rapidly struck the acupuncture points in both arms.
-Tatatatatatak!
Once he pressed the hemostatic points, the blood leaking out from the severed area wrapped with cloth visibly slowed.
Seeing that, the suffering Manor Master looked at Mok Gyeong-un with astonishment in his eyes.
“Haa… haa… honored guest… who are you?”
“That can be discussed later. More importantly, where are the severed hands?”
Mok Gyeong-un asked as he looked around.
That was because the man’s two severed hands were nowhere to be seen.
At that, not the Manor Master but one of the slaughterhouse workers beside him slammed the table and shouted in a furious voice,
-Bang!
“Those damned bastards wrapped the Manor Master’s severed hands in leather and took them away.”
“They took the severed hands?”
At those words, Mok Gyeong-un’s expression turned troubled.
But then, having become somewhat more bearable after the bleeding had stopped, the Manor Master spoke with difficulty.
“I do not know who you honored guests are, but please go back. I am not in a position right now to accept anyone’s commission or help any…”
“Who are the ones who took the two severed hands?”
“What good would asking th…”
“If you want to save those severed hands, it would be better to speak.”
At those words from Mok Gyeong-un, the Manor Master and the slaughterhouse workers alike wore expressions of incomprehension.
How could severed hands already cut off possibly be saved?
While they were wondering this, the bearded man who had been called Brother Song said to Mok Gyeong-un with a troubled face,
“The one who cut off the Manor Master’s hands and took them away is the Embroidered Uniform Guard. I am sorry, but even if you honored guests follow after them, you will not be able to retrieve them.”
“Damn it!”
At that, Seop Chun spat out a curse.
He had half expected it, and as expected, it was the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
If the hands of the Manor Master, no, the artisan who was supposed to make their human skin masks, had been severed by none other than the imperial palace’s guard warriors, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, then there was no immediate way to do anything about it.
Even so, Mok Gyeong-un turned on his heel.
“My lord?”
Mong Mu-yak called out to him in puzzlement.
Then Mok Gyeong-un shook his head and said,
“There is no help for it. I will be back soon, so all of you wait here.”
“What? But my lo…”
-Srrk!
Before the words could even finish, Mok Gyeong-un’s figure broke apart like smoke before their eyes and vanished.
At that sight, the eyes of the Manor Master and the slaughterhouse workers widened enormously.
* * *
Hongbong Meat, the slaughterhouse, was great in scale, but because of the nature of slaughtering it was located on the far southwestern outskirts of the city.
The outer roads were surrounded by forest, so there were comparatively few people about.
-Rumble rumble rumble!
There, a procession of carts loaded with meat was moving along, and at the very rear was a single carriage, flanked as if in escort by four Embroidered Uniform Guard men in indigo Flying Fish Robes riding alongside on horseback.
Among them, the drooping-browed Embroidered Uniform Guard man riding on the right clicked his tongue and said,
“That wench is bold indeed.”
At that, the bearded Embroidered Uniform Guard man riding beside him said,
“Indeed. No matter that it was her father’s hands, for her to come chasing after us and cause a disturbance, she really had no fear.”
“She is simply thoughtless.”
“Try to understand. Who would not lose their head when it concerns a parent?”
“Well, that is true.”
“But still, how does the Thousand-Household Commander intend to deal with that wench? It is not as if he can return them after the great man personally ordered that the severed hands be brought.”
Saying that, the bearded Embroidered Uniform Guard man looked toward the carriage.
Inside that carriage were the Thousand-Household Commander and that wench.
It was then.
The carriage moving forward with the line of carts suddenly came to a halt.
“Hm?”
Wondering what was going on, the Embroidered Uniform Guard men rode their horses to the side and looked toward the front of the procession.
There stood someone with hands clasped behind his back, his face covered by a black cloth.
Seeing that, the drooping-browed Embroidered Uniform Guard man rode forward toward the front of the procession, drew his sword, and shouted,
-Srrng!
“Who dares block the path of this procession?”
At that shout, the man with his face covered gave a faint laugh and said,
“You are foolish.”
“What?”
“If I intended to tell you, why would I cover my face?”
“You insolent bastard!”
-Pat!
In anger, the drooping-browed Embroidered Uniform Guard man leapt from his horse and swung his sword toward the masked man with fierce momentum.
However,
-Clang!
the man’s sword blade was blocked by the masked man’s index finger.
With his sword blade stopped by a mere single finger, the drooping-browed Embroidered Uniform Guard man could not hide his shock and bewilderment.
‘A-a master!’