Volume 6 Chapter 14 – Player Substitution

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Translated by Rain

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Luoyang Sword Family, Second Young Master’s Camp.

In a corner and shaded spot outdoors, tacticians smoking tobacco were whispering.

“In the end, is this the result of the meeting that all the elders serving our lord gathered to produce?”

The tactician opposite glanced left and right.

Only after reconfirming that only tacticians belonging to the same faction as themselves were gathered puffing tobacco did he open his mouth.

“…It is ultimately that. Since it is also true that our South of the River Division, led by Elder Son, has not produced results until now.”

An elderly tactician from the South of the River spat on the ground.

“To begin with, the countermeasure team for the Eldest Young Master was formed not long ago. There was no particular support for the Fourth Young Master’s countermeasure team from before either. Yet, at this point, they hold our South of the River faction responsible?”

A young tactician, holding tobacco that he couldn’t even smoke well, cautiously cut into the conversation.

“But from the beginning, was the Second Young Master’s… no, our lord’s camp divided into the ‘Luoyang faction’ and the ‘South of the River faction’?”

At his words, everyone snorted.

“From the beginning, my foot.”

“To begin with, even just a few years ago, something like the Luoyang faction did not even exist.”

At those words, the young tactician’s eyes widened.

“It did not exist?”

“Where is our lord’s mother, Grand Madame Ouyang, from? Isn’t she from Evil Tyrant Heaven, which holds the four provinces of Gangnam—Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong—as its sphere of influence?”

“Since she is the daughter of the Alliance Leader of Evil Tyrant Heaven, naturally, our lord’s original force was composed of those from the South of the River.”

Everyone nodded.

“Well, in truth. Even during those days, it was more correct to view it as Grand Madame Ouyang’s force rather than our lord’s force.”

“Since that was the story of when our lord was young.”

The young tactician, who was listening to the story, asked.

“But how did the camp end up split into two branches like this now?”

The elderly tactician unfolded his fan.

“As our lord grew up and his cleverness increased day by day, those charmed by his character and virtue…”

The tacticians waved their hands, shutting his mouth.

“You, stop talking nonsense and finish smoking your tobacco.”

“Maybe for ability, but what nonsense about character…”

While everyone was giving the elderly tactician looks like that, one tactician kindly explained to the young tactician.

“It is not difficult. The situation where the position of the family’s Young Patriarch remained vacant continued, and the successors aged. Ultimately, the elders from Luoyang, who thought our lord had a high possibility of becoming the Young Patriarch, came to join.”

It was a story that, thus naturally, factions came to be created.

“…I see.”

The young tactician scratched his head and brought up a new question.

“Then, why did the Luoyang faction, which was created later, become strong enough to compete with our faction that existed from the beginning?”

At that, the tacticians who had been answering questions continuously got angry.

“If you are a tactician, think a bit, think!”

“Where is this family that you are currently in located? Is this family in the imperial capital or something?”

The young tactician slapped his forehead.

“Ah, Luoyang…!”

“Yes. Luoyang. Since the Luoyang Sword Family is in Luoyang, the strength of the Luoyang faction grew that much faster.”

At that moment, a tactician came running from far away, panting.

“Everyone, to the grand conference hall…!”

* * *

“Glad to meet everyone!”

The old man, who offered a greeting in a resounding voice, had a splendid physique as a martial artist, fitting for someone born in a general’s family.

The tacticians filling the grand conference hall exchanged glances and replied to the greeting.

“…Nice to meet you.”

“Haha! It is very good to see that everyone is overflowing with vitality.”

The old man was someone upon whose face a deep red complexion circled, as if he had taken a sip of daytime liquor.

“Right. I look forward to working with you! As everyone knows, you can just call this old man Elder Hahou!”

Elder Hahou burst into a hearty laugh.

Of course, there was no one so out of their mind as to force a laugh together in an atmosphere like this.

Regardless of that, only after laughing as much as he wanted to did Elder Hahou enter into the main topic.

“I expect there are many comrades who find it strange to see this elder standing in front like this.”

He looked around at the tacticians in the crowd with a smiling face.

“You gathered here right now are the entire personnel, excluding the essential workforce including the team responding to the Third Young Master. We are one family working and sweating together under our lord. Yes, that’s right. One family!”

Agreeing with his own words like that and nodding his head by himself, he laughed heartily again.

“Therefore, you have absolutely no need to worry about disadvantages in personnel matters due to the question of where you are from! That is what I mean!”

He shouted toward the crowd in a blunt tone.

“I am saying that this decision itself is not a disciplinary personnel action in the first place! It is merely a personnel change to employ a countermeasure method more suitable for the current situation!”

He beat his thick chest.

“Can you not believe the words this Elder Hahou speaks?!”

Although answers came from a few places, they were not the South of the River Division at all.

At this point, even a brazen-faced person would feel embarrassed, but Elder Hahou did not care in the slightest.

“Right! That’s it! Since every single one of you is a splendid tactician and an outstanding strategist, if you fell for just these few words, that would also not make sense.”

“…”

Then he came down from the platform and sat on the floor.

“Well, I understand the hearts of you South of the River comrades as well. In truth, if something like unity could be resolved by just those few words, we wouldn’t have even come to this state in the first place.”

And he took out a thick, special cigar, bit it, and lit it.

“Mmh, tastes good.”

As it was thick, dense smoke rose gently.

“Even so…”

He jumped up from his seat.

And he grabbed the collar of a tactician from the South of the River who was sitting closest and lifted him up.

“You, do you look down on me?”

“Y-yes?! N-no, I don’t!”

“Did you just say yes? Or did you say no?”

“No! I do not look down on you!”

Elder Hahou threw him back onto his seat.

And he shouted.

“Then why does everyone not even answer, as if looking down on a person?!”

He shouted in a resounding voice.

“Is my word that much like rubbish to all of you?”

The tacticians who had buried their bodies deep in their chairs hastily straightened their backs and answered.

“No!”

At that, Elder Hahou changed his expression and burst into laughter.

“Haha! It is very good to see that everyone is overflowing with vitality!”

Those words were what he had said next after the greeting standing before the crowd.

“Ha, haha, hahahaha…”

If there was a difference, it was that unlike the beginning when they didn’t even answer properly, they were laughing together even if by force.

“There is something I want to say to my South of the River comrades.”

Elder Hahou waved the hand holding the cigar in the air.

“Right. The land of Gangnam is like rubbish. I know that well too. Surviving as a rogue tactician in such a place, you feel like you have tasted all the bitterness of the world, probably so.”

He looked around at the crowd with burning eyes.

“So, coming to this Luoyang, does this place feel like a neighborhood where milk and honey flow? Extremely easy?”

Could that be possible?

“No!”

Elder Hahou nodded slowly with the cigar in his mouth.

“Right. Whether here or there, in the end, the world where humans live is about the same. It is the same that you must struggle to survive in this hellhole just to barely breathe air through your nose.”

“…”

Confirming that everyone’s gazes gathered clearly onto himself, Elder Hahou burst into a satisfied laugh.

“If we lose in the succession struggle of this massive family, it is the same that your lives and mine are dead anyway!”

He crushed the cigar held in his hand into powder.

“If you do not want to die, kill first! Do you understand?!”

“Yes! We understand!”

He laughed heartily at the loud sound of answers echoing through the grand conference hall.

“Good. Very good.”

Nodding his head, he unfolded and read the note he had received before entering the grand conference hall.

“Our Eldest Young Master has started his pleasant first official move.”

He shouted toward the crowd.

“From now on, let there be no shutting yourselves in backrooms individually, rackings brains with only the kids below!”

He raised his hand and pointed at the floor.

“Everyone shares the same information in this grand conference hall and seeks countermeasures together! Do you understand?!”

“Yes! We understand!”

“Good!”

He clapped loudly once, putting spirit into it.

“Although it is a short time for us, almost unlimited resources and manpower have been given!”

Which tactician in the world could not welcome a situation like the present?

Everyone’s eyes filled with venom and enthusiasm.

“Now! First, conceive the Eldest Young Master’s expected route of movement! Then, with the strength of the entire camp given to us, smash that guy’s plan! Do you understand?!”

The sound of answers returned resoundingly.

* * *

The Buddhist nuns riding in Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment’s four-horse armored carriage could not make any sound and merely stared at the scenery passing outside.

And it was the same for the deputy general director nun, who had received the consent to accompany from the Eldest Young Master in a daze.

She was busy wiping off the cold sweat that kept running down with the sleeve of her splendid Buddhist robe.

‘Why? For what reason?’

The point of the question currently filling the deputy general director nun’s head was precisely that.

Why, and for what reason.

‘For what reason on earth did the Eldest Young Master of the Sword Family join our Emei Sect’s Buddhist nuns, who are clearly in a hostile relationship, to the procession?’

He was even an Eldest Young Master who obtained and loaded an additional carriage for them, who were large in number.

This armored carriage made of ebony wood was a luxury item to the point of being incomparable even to the most luxurious carriage of the Emei Sect in which the Buddhist nuns had arrived.

Therefore, even while racing through the city streets at high speed like this, it showed an exceptionally splendid ride comfort.

Every place hands touched was covered with purple velvet, beneath which was packed tight with soft cotton, making it incredibly cushiony.

However, only at this very moment, this splendid ride comfort felt all the more like a bed of thorns.

She looked out the window.

Like a lie, the scenery of the noisy and complicated Luoyang streets was ignored, and the Eldest Young Master’s procession was racing down the street’s main road without any hindrance.

That was bound to be the case, because Luoyang’s government soldiers had stepped forward and were controlling all street corners and main roads.

At every alley and every intersection, a commotion was taking place with carriages, carts, and people being controlled.

Even in that peaceful Sichuan, even if it were the Tang Family, if they did such a thing, they would eat all kinds of curses.

Yet for some reason, in this Luoyang, everyone was merely watching the procession with curious and submissive faces.

‘Luoyang is a strange place. The Sword Family is an even stranger place.’

And above all, there was another question bothering her right now.

‘Just where is this procession heading right now?’