Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang Novel - Chapter 253

Chapter 253
“Honestly! I put in so much effort to be posted to Zhejiang, and I’ve hardly had a chance to step foot in Botan Temple!”

The princess leaned against the ship’s rail, her expression one of clear annoyance.
She shot me a look that seemed to say, *You get it, don’t you? Feel sorry for me.*

To be frank, she could be a handful—but we required her assistance.
So I responded to her grievances with polite attention.
“What happened?”

“The regional governors of Zhejiang sent appeals to the court about the recent surge in pirate raids. After reading them, His Majesty began dispatching confidential orders to me…”
“Confidential orders?”
“He keeps sending them, expressing his concern and hinting that someone as delicate as me ought to relocate to a safer place. What option does that leave me? If I ignore it, he’ll just reassign me again. The only solution is to eliminate the pirate threat so he’ll stop suggesting it.”

It was evident the Emperor held great affection for the princess.
I mean, it seemed unlikely that pirates could ever breach the city walls… right?
“But the city should be well-defended. His Majesty appears to be overly concerned.”
“Well, not at this very moment, but there was an instance in the past when pirates did assault the city.”
*‘So they have managed to get inside before.’*
I had assumed she was embellishing, but it turned out pirates had indeed forced their way through the gates on one occasion.
That being the case, the Emperor’s worry made perfect sense—particularly if he cared for the princess so deeply.

Nevertheless, the princess was visibly upset.
She had gone to the trouble of orchestrating a false marriage just to be stationed in Zhejiang near Botan Temple…
Only to find herself facing the prospect of another transfer.
*‘Wait, has she been personally pursuing the pirates?’*
From what she was saying, it sounded as though the princess had taken to the field herself.
Now that I took a closer look, her complexion was slightly tanned compared to before—likely from sun exposure.
When we first met, her skin had been as pale as freshly fallen snow.

“You’ve been personally involved in hunting the pirates?”
“Indeed. I persuaded my teacher and have been coordinating with the disciples of Botan Temple and the imperial troops. That’s why my skin has become so coarse from all the wind and sea spray!”
She frowned, gently touching her cheek.
I had been curious why she wasn’t training at Botan Temple as she usually loved to—now I understood.
Even so, it seemed somewhat extreme for her to participate directly.

“With the Lord of Seorinak Fortress present… is it truly necessary for you to go? Couldn’t you have just deployed soldiers?”
I meant, there were military commanders responsible for such matters.
At my question, the princess let out an exasperated sigh.

“There’s a reason for it. Iju is a humid, hot area home to many minority tribes. In recent years, more pirates have begun to settle there in force—and now, some martial artists who are fugitives from central clans have joined them as well. They’ve grown formidably strong. The military alone isn’t enough to contend with them. After all, they have martial artists among their ranks. And with individuals trained in internal energy manning the oars, their vessels move far too swiftly—we simply cannot match their speed.”

“Have you thought about assaulting Iju directly?”
If you can’t intercept them at sea, strike at their headquarters.
She grumbled in response to the question.
“Naturally, we have! We joined forces with Lord Bukgeom and mounted a campaign. But the instant we attacked, the scoundrels retreated into the eastern mountains—and their ships simply disappeared back to sea. We failed to capture a single one.”
“Ah…”
Yes, under those circumstances, I could understand why they were so troublesome.

I nodded, and then the princess’s demeanor changed abruptly, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
“But then, just as I was at a loss for what to do next—your letter arrived! And I recalled your daughter soaring through the sky. That was the answer! You always appear exactly when you are most needed!”
“R-right.”
I could feel the intensity of her stare.
As I offered an awkward reply, she said something completely unbelievable.
“My master told me… this is destiny!”
“Destiny? Between the two of us?”
I glanced to the side—
Hwa-eun’s eyes were wide with shock.
If it weren’t for the princess’s status, she might have grabbed her by the hair.
But then the princess added something that caused Hwa-eun’s expression to return to normal.
“Yes! My master said that in my previous life, I aided you greatly. So in this life, it is your turn to help me.”
“Y-you mean… a past life?”
“Yes, a past life.”
“…How odd. I don’t recall anyone like that from my past life.”
“Yes!”
“…No, forget I mentioned it.”
*‘The head of Botan Temple is nothing but a mystical fraud, I see.’*
Sure, people said her martial arts progressed slowly, but now I was convinced she was a charlatan.

It was then that Do Sagong’s voice called out from the ship’s bow.
“So-ryong! There’s smoke over there—it looks like a fire!”
We had been sailing along the coast, watching for any signs of pirate movements.
At his words, I turned my gaze toward the distant shoreline—
Smoke was indeed rising from a small village.
“Cho!”
I instructed Cho to fly up and use his enhanced vision to scout the village.
What he saw were men forcing people onto boats.
They had discarded their shirts, revealing sun-bronzed skin.
They brandished swords, menacing the villagers.
Most of the village was already engulfed in flames.
“Princess! Those are pirates!”
“I knew it!”
As Cho descended, I shouted, and the princess retrieved a horn from below the deck.
-Buuuuung!

As the sound of the horn echoed, four warships following us responded with beating war drums.
-Boom boom boom!
The warships and our own vessel accelerated, cutting through the waves.
A scene of chaos unfolded in the village harbor.
The pirates, who had been herding captives, abruptly shoved them aside and scrambled onto their ships.
Two small boats hastily departed the harbor.
Their sails were already stowed—they were rowing fiercely, quickly gaining momentum.
Our ships were falling behind.
“They’re using oars, similar to the vessels of the Wae people. Our ships have flat bottoms, while theirs appear to be sharp-bottomed designs.”
A flat-bottomed ship, like ours, offers stability but lacks speed.
A sharp-bottomed ship cuts through the water and moves much faster.
But at that moment, the hull shape was the least of my concerns.
What did the boat’s design matter?
I silently communicated with Cho.
*‘Cho? Can you set me down and then put a hole in the bottom of that escaping boat?’*
-Chorrt! “How large a hole?”
*‘Large enough for you to pass through.’*
-Chorrr! “Understood! I’ll catch up and puncture it immediately!”
Cho placed me gently back on the deck before diving into the sea with a splash.
He extended his antennae like a periscope and swam with shark-like speed, streaking through the water.
*‘Missile launched.’*
That boat’s fate was decided.
As for the other one—it was time for the next step.
“—Yeondu!”
-Shaaa!
“Do you see that boat over there?”
-Shaaa!
“Fly over and smash its deck!”
-Shaaaaaaah!
If there was one thing that changed when Yeondu reached adulthood, it was her speed.
Previously, she seemed to merely drift on the air.
Now—perhaps due to the power of Cheongyu, the Sovereign of Gold and Crown—she was truly fast.
No longer just floating—she was properly flying.
At my command, Yeondu shot into the sky and hurled herself toward the distant fleeing boat.

***

“Damn it! Just because we were running late, they made us throw all the fresh girls overboard—!”
Jin-gyu, leader of the Black Water Thieves, yelled in frustration from the deck.
They had come to seize new women, as the previous group had either died or lost their minds, and to plunder food and valuables—
but all the women captured that day had been discarded.
There had even been two especially attractive ones among them, making the loss particularly bitter.
Girls of that quality were hard to find…
“We had no alternative. The ship was already full.”
As the subordinate stated, the ship was already crammed with stolen provisions and goods—
they wouldn’t have been able to outrun the military ships with any additional weight.
So the moment they heard the military drums, they were forced to jettison the women and board in a rush.
“But Chief, wasn’t it an entertaining sight earlier? Heheh.”
“You fool! Do you only think about one meal a day?! Damn it. Why are those cursed soldiers suddenly so active on land recently…”
Jin-gyu swore, feeling both angry and remorseful.
“Row harder! I’ve heard rumors that martial artists are accompanying the government troops nowadays.”
“Yes, Chief!”
And his thoughts wandered to a memory.
“Man, that girl from the Ak family… she was incredibly powerful!”
Jin-gyu, once a renowned martial artist from the Central Plains, had become the pirate chief of the Black Water Thieves, operating from Iju.
A few years earlier, he had made a critical error—
He had come across a beautiful woman on the road, succumbed to his urges, and assaulted her after incapacitating her attendants.
The issue? She was a member of the Shandong Ak Clan.
“Shandong Ak Clan? We won’t let you live!”
“Shandong Ak Clan?!”
Just as he was preparing to leave after crippling her meridians, those shouts erupted.
Jin-gyu slaughtered everyone present to silence them—
but it was already too late.
The martial artists of the Ak Clan later inspected the bodies, found evidence of his techniques, and collaborated with other sects to place a bounty on his head throughout the Central Plains.
Thus, he had no choice but to escape to Iju, where he ultimately ascended to lead a powerful pirate faction.
“But why are they pursuing us so persistently today?”
Jin-gyu was just reminiscing about the tender flesh of that Ak Clan girl when one of his crewmen shouted.
He turned to look and saw that military ships were indeed giving chase.
“That’s unusual. They normally break off quickly…”
Typically, the government vessels would abandon the chase after a short while and return to aid the raided village.
They were well aware they couldn’t overtake the pirates’ faster ships.
He enhanced his eyesight to observe:
One of the five ships had indeed turned toward the village, but the other four were pursuing his ship.
“What a futile endeavor. Even with the wind behind them, they’ll never reach us.”
It was at that moment that it occurred.
“Waaahhh!”
“Chief! Chief!”
Screams erupted from the ship sailing alongside his.
“What’s going on?!”
Jin-gyu rushed to the rail, gripping it tightly, and looked toward the commotion—
The other ship was tilting severely, taking on water.
His men were frantically scrambling on the deck, shouting in panic.
“H-help us!”
“The ship is flooding!”
“What?! Was it overloaded?”
For some unknown reason, the ship was sinking.
Jin-gyu barked orders to his crew.
“Turn us around! Jettison some cargo if necessary, but get them on board!”
“Yes, Chief!”
Cargo could be reclaimed, but martial artists were a scarce resource.
Even if those men were wanderers from the Central Plains and not entirely reliable, he couldn’t maintain a pirate operation without them.
In Iju, a crew’s power was judged by the number of martial artists it contained.
If he lost half his trained fighters now, the Black Water Thieves would be diminished to mere rabble.
The government ships hadn’t closed the distance significantly yet—
they had time to rescue their comrades.
Just as Jin-gyu was turning his ship—
“T-th-th-th-that!”
One of his men began stammering in terror.
Normally, he would reprimand such nonsense in a crisis, but when he turned, the man was pointing at the sky.
Following his finger, Jin-gyu saw something flying overhead—
“Huh?!”
He gasped for air.
And with good reason—a gigantic snake was soaring through the sky.
“W-what in the world is that?!”
At first, Jin-gyu thought it might be some spiritual beast merely passing by.
The snake climbed higher into the air—
but then it abruptly dove, as if plunging into water, straight toward Jin-gyu’s ship.
“W-watch out!”
It was unmistakably targeting them.
Jin-gyu shouted a warning, clutching the railing—
-BOOM!
The massive snake collided at tremendous speed, crashing through the deck’s center and shattering the keel in two.
The bow and stern reared up like broken wings, and Jin-gyu, along with his pirates, were thrown in all directions.