Chapter 882

From the day the imperial proclamation went up in the streets, the area around the palace was busier than ever.

People came for all sorts of reasons.

Commoners lingered outside the palace, hoping to catch even a glimpse of the ill-fated young prince they’d heard about only in rumors. Confucian scholars who fancied themselves men of loyalty and righteousness shouted at the top of their lungs, demanding to know why Prince Shangshan had been summoned in secret at a time like this. And poets and writers hoping to land themselves a position took the opportunity to compose and recite poems for the Emperor, who had finally secured an heir.

“How long are we supposed to wait? We can’t see a damn thing from here, Prince Shangshan or no Prince Shangshan.”

“You fool. Did you think His Highness would come out and say, ‘Oh, you’re here,’ just because we’re waiting? We’re only here on the off chance he might.”

“Fair enough. But why are those high-and-mighty people so desperate to tear each other apart?”

“Perhaps they disagree.”

The commoners murmured as they watched two groups of scholars argue, their faces flushed red.

“What? The Emperor having an heir is the Great Nation’s good fortune and a joy to all its people? It’s toadies like you who are ruining this country!”

“Shut your mouth! How dare you speak like that before His Majesty… Right outside the imperial palace!”

“How is it nonsense? You vermin can see perfectly well what’s happening, yet you pretend you can’t!”

“What did you say? Vermin? I’ve heard enough from you, you backwater scholar!”

“You bootlicking son of a bitch! Which academy are you from?”

“So what if you know? What are you going to do about it?”

“You son of a—Everyone! Words won’t settle this! Let’s drive those toadies out of the Imperial Capital!”

“Yeah!”

Hundreds of scholars hurling fists and inkstones at one another made quite a spectacle.

“Hit them! Hit them!”

“Grab that one first!”

Shouts and screams rang out from every direction. Someone watched the scene with their mouth hanging open, then muttered, “The greatest contest since the founding of the nation.”

But the fierce brawl ended as suddenly as it had begun.

And it wasn’t the imperial guards watching the fight from up close with keen interest who stopped them.

Thud.

Amid the chaos, a scholar backing away with a brush gripped like a dagger felt something touch his back.

Have I already been driven up against a wall?

That couldn’t be right.

The main road in front of the imperial palace was so wide that a hundred grown men could walk abreast without their shoulders touching. Besides, there was nothing nearby that could be called a wall.

And it doesn’t even feel completely hard.

So what was it?

The scholar started to turn around cautiously. At that very moment—

“You rat!”

“Gah!”

“I’ve finally got you—!”

One of the poets and writers, a pair of inkstones in his hands as he raced through the battlefield, charged toward the scholar—and suddenly froze. His mouth slowly fell open as he lifted his head.

Not toward the scholar’s face, only a few paces away, but far above it.

“Uh… uh…”

A dazed voice escaped his lips. At the same time, a huge shadow fell over him.

Step.

A particularly heavy footstep sounded, and something pushed the scholar forward. He gulped, turned around, and finally understood.

What stood behind him had never been a wall.

It was a monstrous man, tall as a wall and hard as a boulder.

“……!”

“……!”

The air, hot with the brawl only moments ago, froze. Everyone gathered along the road outside the imperial palace stared, mouths agape, at the giant who had appeared among them.

What kind of monster is that…?

A shock flashed through everyone’s minds like a bolt of lightning.

The fierce disagreement of moments before was forgotten. They could only stare at a giant unlike any they had seen before—or would ever see again.

Even at a glance, he stood well over nine feet tall.

His limbs were like pillars; a single swing looked as if it could raise a gale. Muscles covered his body like armor, enough to make their knees go weak just looking at him.

And what about the head perched on his thick neck like a great boulder?

Never mind that it was as big as a well-grown pumpkin. Every time those enormous eyes blinked, people felt as though it took years off their lives.

The scholars who, only moments ago, had dared to demand an explanation from the Emperor were especially beside themselves.

Could he be an Embroidered Uniform Guard?

No. The Guard recruits from among ordinary people. That thing isn’t human.

A secret weapon! The Emperor raised him to wipe out his opposition!

To hell with loyalty and righteousness. At the sight of that terrifying giant, their hands and feet trembled and their heads went numb.

If they were formally sentenced to drink poison or be beheaded, at least people would call it an honorable death. But if they took even one slap from that hand larger than a pot lid, they’d die like dogs.

And yet…

“Y-You think we’ll back down just because of that?!”

The scholar who would go down as the first person to discover the giant—and probably the first person to die at his hands—in the annals of the Great Nation’s scholarly world, barely managed to force out a voice that wouldn’t come.

“J-Justice still lives! Even if you kill everyone here, the whole world will learn of your wicked plot!”

He was speaking to the giant before him and to the Emperor.

How many years had he spent committing the words of ancient sages to heart, beginning with the Four Books and Three Classics?

There was right and wrong in all things, and a nation could stand only if it upheld the Three Bonds and Five Relationships.¹ The scholar bit his lip until it bled.

I’d rather die here than spend the rest of my life cowering beneath the Emperor’s power!

If he died protecting Prince Shangshan and the world for a great cause, it would be worth it.

His body trembled like an aspen, but his resolve was like bamboo: it would break before it bent. He forced down his fear and looked up at the giant.

Then he noticed that hundreds of Imperial Guards had surrounded them and knew death was coming.

Until the guards’ commander shouted in a trembling voice.

“W-Who are you?!”

“……?”

“……?”

“Id-Identify yourself at once!”

The scholar and everyone else watching blinked.

What the hell?

Weren’t they on the same side?

Then what’s that monster?

And then—

The giant, who had stood there like an iron wall without saying a word, finally spoke.

His voice was as innocent as a child’s.

“I am Taishan—no, Geosan. I don’t want to get in trouble. I don’t know what I did wrong, but I’m sorry.”

“……!”

“……!”

“I just heard a noise and came to watch. Can I go on my way?”

In an instant, the atmosphere, drawn taut as a bowstring, collapsed.

He came to watch? Just to watch?

He’s sorry? He doesn’t want to get in trouble? He apologizes that easily?

And what’s with the way he talks?

Everyone was at a loss for words as the giant blinked slowly, like a young calf.

“Y-You little bastard, I finally found you! Hey! Stand right there! You’re built like a damn mountain, so why the hell do you vanish like a squirrel the moment I look away?”

The voice rang through the hushed crowd. A dark-skinned old man who barely reached five feet shoved his way through and ran over. He gave the giant’s thigh a sharp smack, then noticed all the eyes fixed on him and froze like a statue.

“……”

“……”

In the awkward silence, the commander of the guards looked back and forth between the young giant and the old dwarf, his eyes gone cold.

“Who exactly are you, old man?”

After a brief silence, the old dwarf answered, “An ordinary traveler passing by. Nothing more.”

“You look awfully suspicious. Do you two know each other?”

“Sadly, yes.”

“Then what’s your relationship?”

“I’ve no idea what that idiot thinks of me, but whenever he falls asleep, I try to strangle him. Unfortunately, I’ve failed every time.”

The commander of the Imperial Guards looked at the giant’s neck, thicker than a bull’s, and murmured in understanding.

“You sound even more suspicious now.”

“I hear that a lot. It’s because of the big fellow next to me.”

“Have you ever been arrested by the local authorities because of him?”

“Not once.”

“Then let’s make this your first time. Guards!”

Clang!

Sharp spears and swords flashed in the tightly clenched hands of the guards. The old man let out a deep sigh at their menacing show of force, then spoke.

“Could you wait just a moment?”

The commander’s expression and voice hardened.

“Not a chance. Hand over your identity tag before blood is spilled.”

“My companion has it, so that’s a bit difficult.”

“Then you’ll learn what a truly difficult situation is. And what companion? Is there another accomplice?”

“He’s not an accomplice… Hey, don’t just stand there. Hurry up and call your wet nurse.”

“Wait! Don’t try anything!”

The guards nearby sensed trouble and hurried to stop him, but they were too late to prevent the giant’s shout.

“Fiiive-spiiice poooork!”

The people filling the road outside the imperial palace were startled once by the tremendous shout that battered their ears, then again by the strange words it contained.

Why is he suddenly asking for five-spice pork?

Is he actually crazy?

Even the commander of the Imperial Guards was momentarily confused.

Why was he shouting about five-spice pork out of nowhere? Was the name of those suspicious men’s accomplice Five-Spice Pork? Or had something gone wrong with his ears?

It was none of those things.

The giant had shouted because he wanted five-spice pork right then and there. And his companions had been through this sort of thing so often they were sick of it.

Put simply, they knew better than anyone that there was only one man in the world crazy enough to call for five-spice pork that loudly and desperately outside the imperial palace.

They also knew he was their companion, who had vanished the moment they looked away.

“Tai… no, Geosan!”

At the urgent shout, the crowd parted like a receding tide.

The people who had thought nothing could surprise them anymore found themselves rubbing their eyes again.

A carriage pulled by two horses was racing toward them at a mad pace.

“Whoa! Whoaaaa!”

“Move! Get out of the way!”

The street erupted into chaos. The carriage barely managed to stop when it reached the tense Imperial Guards.

A young man jumped lightly down from it and hurriedly felt over the giant’s body.

“Are you all right? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Hehe, I’m fine. Everything’s good except I’m hungry.”

The giant answered with a broad grin like a five-year-old’s. The onlookers shuddered again, but the commander did not.

He watched people spill out of the little carriage.

What kind of group is this?

There were seven of them in all.

A pretty girl with noticeable freckles, and a young man beside her whose face was as stiff as a log.

A giant who looked like a walking natural disaster, and a young man who handled that mountain of muscle as if it were a delicate piece of porcelain. An old man smiling placidly like an immortal amid all the chaos, and a short, dark-skinned old man beside him muttering curses.

And finally…

Is that a monk?

For some reason, even his eyebrows had been shaved clean off. He was a mean-looking, disreputable monk.

What the hell is going on?

The commander guarded one of the imperial palace’s twelve gates and had seen all kinds of things, but he swore he had never seen anything like this.

As he hesitated in confusion, the mean-looking monk, who had been the last to climb down from the carriage, approached and held something out.

“What is this?” the commander asked.

“What is this? You son of a—”

“……?”

“Ah. That slipped out.”

As if trying to hold back his anger, the disreputable monk took a deep breath and continued.

“We’re the circus troupe performing at the banquet. That’s our official letter of introduction.”

“A circus troupe?”

“That’s right. To liven things up, some bigwig or other invited us.”

The commander hurriedly unfolded the letter in his hand. His eyes widened when he saw the seal of a high official—someone far beyond his station to question.

“This is…”

“You’ve seen it, so you know. Open the gate already.”

He might only be a junior officer, but he was a hundred-man commander in the imperial guard, responsible for protecting the capital. To be spoken to like that by a troupe of traveling performers—

But whoever backed the troupe was beyond his ability to deal with. He swallowed his anger and ordered his men to open the gate, committing the troupe’s name on the letter to memory.

The Blazing Flame Troupe? Even the name sounds tacky.

Of course, it never crossed his mind that the monk would have beaten him half to death if he’d said that aloud.