The Crown Prince Who Raises Alt Characters

#Chapter 185 Scholar Juyul (8) - Entering the Tiger's Den "Those who wish to obtain something must first leap in, or they will obtain nothing" *** 【Dragonkin】 Those born from the mysterious beings called 'dragons' dwelling within humans in the distant past. A collective term for them and their descendants. Physical characteristics include horns, tails, and unusual hair colors, with the color of horns in particular allowing one to guess which dragon lineage they inherited. White Horn is proof of inheriting the blood of the White Dragon, ancestor of the imperial family and protector of the imperial household, so they are regarded as sacred and wondrous beings. Other horns belonged to descendants of the defeated traitors from the Heavenly Dragon Great War, so they became targets of persecution, and even just a hundred years ago, parents who cut off their children's horns or even killed them outright were commonplace when children were born with horns. During the reign of the Antler Emperor, indiscriminate horn discrimination was legally prohibited, stopping official persecution, but negative perceptions still remain behind the scenes. Not all who inherit dragonkin blood are born with unusual appearances, and depending on how much the blood manifests, there are various types of dragonkin: those born with only horns, those with only tails, those with only different hair colors, and those who have horns and tails but are so small as to be unrecognizable. Among them, there are not few who live their entire lives unaware that they are dragonkin due to having almost no external characteristics. Those who strongly manifest dragon blood usually possess robust bones and muscles along with excellent spiritual power, and since this is one of the very important qualities for martial artists, it's easier to find dragonkin in the martial world than among civilians, and people's reactions tend to be more like 'an occasionally seen opponent' rather than 'something strange'. 【Lady of Trampling Fire】 Her real name is Zhang Hualing. Currently one of the Heretical Seven Hegemons, renowned as a candidate for the next strongest in the evil path. She first made her name known in the martial world by killing Yom Yu, the Seomso Wind Ghost who was famous in the Seomso region of You Province, but given that rumors of a young dragonkin as vicious as an evil spirit had been circulating throughout You Province even before that, her actual period of martial world activity is judged to be longer. Her physical characteristics are large black horns and a tail with red scales. Her hair is also a vivid red color, suggesting she strongly manifests black horn bloodline, specifically that of the Fire Dragon lineage. She possesses such outstanding beauty that gossipmongers count her among the ten great beauties of the martial world, and there are even opinions that if not for the facial scars and the sense of alienation from dragonkin-specific physical features, she could be selected as one of the three great beauties rather than the ten. She has been involved in various disputes due to her appearance, but instead of hiding her looks and avoiding others' gazes, she rather burned and smashed those who habitually harassed her head-on, ultimately obtaining her current position. She is notorious for tenaciously pursuing any grudge to the very end, and because she will attack with desperate determination even against superior masters or massive forces, she is regarded as 'a master who must never be crossed' in You Province where she was mainly active, and in Hae Province and Sa Province where she once rampaged. Her current level is estimated to be at the transcendent peak, but as befits a member of the Heretical Seven Hegemons who are generally on the younger side, her potential for future growth is ample. <Flutter> "I'm going crazy. Really." Hao Sect. Zhang Oh, a branch member from the Mao Province region, clutched his head. It had already been several days since he received a mission after being summoned by the Hao Sect Leader himself for making one wrong report. He had even been granted authority to directly access the information archives that normally only branch leader level personnel could use, supposedly to help with his mission, but he wasn't happy about it at all. After all, what could he do when the more he investigated the Lady of Trampling Fire, the darker his future became? "Heh heh heh, think positively. If you do well, you'll be the next branch leader." The white-haired old man watching him, the Mao Province branch leader, chuckled with amusement. "Ah, then why don't you just do it yourself, Branch Leader! If a branch member can become branch leader, then you could become a guardian to the Sect Leader!" "Hey, you brat. At my age, what guardian nonsense? No way. But you're young." "Being young is exactly the problem! I'm going to die young at this rate!" "That's just your fate." Damn it. Forcibly suppressing the curses that would have burst out immediately if the other party weren't a venerable elder and his workplace superior, Zhang Oh let out a deep sigh. The delay tactics of dragging things out under the pretext of preliminary preparations had reached their limit. In the end, he had to go. 'Right. Let's think positively. Logically, if I try to enter saying I'm from Hao Sect, I'll naturally be kicked out! I just need to sneak over when the Lady of Trampling Fire isn't there, get turned away at the door, and come back! I can do this!' *** "You said you came from Hao Sect? Well, it doesn't matter. There's no reason why martial artists cannot seek learning." "?" A white robe made of cotton and a black hood. An appearance that looked completely unconnected to dangerous affairs, with the impression of a natural-born scholar. At the words spoken by Juyul, the academy's sole instructor and owner, Zhang Oh's mind was instantly filled with question marks. "W-wait a moment please. Are you really going to accept me?" "Hehe, I told you. There's no reason to discriminate against martial artists." "B-but I'm from Hao Sect. I'm someone who has the obligation to see and hear various things here and report them to the main sect." I came here to spy at your headquarters. You shouldn't let such a suspicious person inside, right? So please quickly kick me out. Though Zhang Oh's words were filled with such sentiments, Juyul laughed it off magnanimously. "Hahaha! There's nothing to worry about. If there were anything that would cause problems by showing it to someone, how could this be called an upright academy?" It was a valid point. The problem was that it was so correct that Zhang Oh's words completely disappeared. With the only escape route the Sect Leader had given him - 'if they say no, just come back' - now blocked, Zhang Oh had no choice but to study at the same academy as Zhang Hualing. "I-I see. That's right. Haha, hahaha." Zhang Oh could only laugh. Somehow he felt like his vision was going dark. *** "Oh, a newcomer? This place is gradually getting livelier." "Hmm. This is troublesome. Such a good place should only be known by me!" "Hey! Did you already forget what Teacher said! Being stingy toward others is the same as being stingy toward yourself!" "Ah, how could I have forgotten? You're being too harsh over just one joke!" "Harsh, my foot. You deserved to be scolded for what you said. Come, come on over. I'm Lee Gwal, a blacksmith from down there. And you are?" "I-I'm called Zhang Oh. I work as a laborer at the Gu family fabric shop." While mentioning his cover job, Zhang Oh quietly observed the atmosphere inside the classroom. '...How should I put it, it's orderly.' It wasn't the strict and suffocating atmosphere that typically comes to mind when one hears the word 'academy.' As soon as Zhang Oh entered, the existing students greeted him warmly, and they were easily sharing jokes among themselves. But if you asked whether it was disorderly, that wasn't the case either. When several people of different backgrounds gather in one place, it's 'natural' for various spots to get dirty and for trash to roll around on the floor, yet the classroom was clean despite being old. Interpreting Zhang Oh's behavior of rolling his eyes this way and that, the blacksmith Lee Gwal who had first actively welcomed him wore a strange smile. "Hmm, looking at this fellow now, his mind seems to be elsewhere. Did you perhaps come here with the instructor in mind?" "Huh? The instructor?" "You don't need to try to hide it. Among men, there are quite a few who came here with no interest in studying, just having heard rumors about Instructor Zhang's beauty. But I'll tell you in advance, it's better to wake up from that dream quickly. She's devoted to one person." Only then realizing what misunderstanding Lee Gwal was having, Zhang Oh was horrified. Coming here targeting Zhang Hualing! Well, in some sense she was also a subject of investigation so it wasn't completely wrong, but it definitely wasn't what Lee Gwal was thinking. With so many good women in the world, why would anyone want to get involved with such a dangerous and violent woman! Unless they had dozens of lives and were a madman with a twisted mind! "N-no, I'm not—" Just as Zhang Oh was about to voice some rebuttal, a bell-like sound rang from somewhere and the paper door slid open with a rustling sound. And as Juyul appeared from beyond it, the students who had been making a noisy commotion until then all sat properly in their places in unison, arranging themselves neatly in respectful posture. Though surprised by this sight, Zhang Oh also carefully took a seat in an empty spot. "Well then, let's begin the lesson." Juyul proceeded with the lesson in a skillful manner, but his method seemed very strange to Zhang Oh. First, the number of people. In the classroom, excluding Zhang Oh, there were dozens of grown men occupying seats, which was an overflowing number compared to typical academies that had at most twenty people per class. Moreover, instead of the method of opening books and reading them aloud while exchanging questions and answers with each other, the lesson was conducted by writing text with white sticks on a large black board-like thing hanging on the wall and explaining while looking at it. As a member of Hao Sect with considerable miscellaneous knowledge, Zhang Oh was able to quickly realize its convenience. 'Ooh. It's convenient to write and convenient to erase. It's incomparable to scraping bamboo strips one by one and rewriting them. Making it also... seems somehow doable? If you apply soot or something to a black stone board, or a wooden board to make it black, and shape white clay into stick form to use. Hmm.' The usefulness of the tools was one thing, but Juyul's teaching was equally very easy to understand. He mixed in appropriate examples and jokes throughout to prevent people's concentration from easily dropping, and rather than simply making them memorize passages from books, the focus was on listening to various anecdotes and thinking about their own opinions on them. Also, taking short breaks about every half hour, it could be used for various purposes such as going to the privy or moving stiff bodies to relieve fatigue. When he asked Lee Gwal sitting beside him, the lesson content changed each time, but what Zhang Oh paid most attention to were the anecdotes and languages of the distant Western Regions. This was information that even Hao Sect couldn't easily obtain, so it was of very high value, and above all, it was purely interesting as stories from a completely different world. "So in the Western Regions, they call martial artists adventurers?" "The laws and culture of the Western Regions and the Empire are different, so it's difficult to view them as the same category. If we must compare, they're closer to ronin who handle all sorts of work like escort services, VIP protection, and spiritual medicine searches." "I've heard that among the sorcerers of the Western Regions, there are those who emit strange light from their hands to heal human flesh and bone. Is this true?" "That's power handled by those called priests rather than sorcerers, or in other words, mages. Based on our Liu Empire's perspective, there are many such people in places closer to the southwest rather than the Western Regions, but since the country itself has a closed atmosphere, it would be difficult to encounter them." "Oho, oho." After immersing himself in the lesson with fascination for some time. "Well, today's adult class will end here. I've prepared something simple to solve your meal needs, so everyone please eat without delay and let's meet again tomorrow. The evening martial arts class is voluntary participation, so only those who wish may join." Saying this, Juyul handed out rice balls wrapped in bamboo leaves and tea water in bamboo containers, but the rice balls weren't simply mixed grains but were combined with chestnuts, pine nuts, dried jujubes and such, seasoned with brown seasoning-like substance, making them taste quite excellent. Among the students who left one by one with satisfied faces after cleaning up where they ate, Lee Gwal patted Zhang Oh's shoulder and said. "You worked hard today. Seeing how you did, you'll adapt well in the future." "Hey, brother. May I ask something?" "What is it?" "What exactly did the teacher mean earlier by martial arts class? Does the academy also teach martial arts?" "Ah, that? It started recently, centered around the children's class. But while kids have plenty of time unless they help with chores at home, for us, just taking this brief morning time is quite burdensome, isn't it? So there are almost no actual participants. Those who went once or twice out of curiosity said they make you do what's it called, calisthenics?" "I see. Thank you for telling me." 'Calisthenics. Does it mean the art of governing the body? This really isn't an ordinary place.' Though he had initially come here as if pushed along, now Zhang Oh too had developed serious interest in the identity of this academy. 'With such extraordinary learning and knowledge, perhaps some organization is secretly trying to train private soldiers. It's worth investigating!'