Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

‘These bastards are dead today! Just a bunch of river thugs, and they think they can do what?!’

Wolyeong’s venom had clearly been neutralized, yet it still felt as if flames were shooting out of my eyes.

With a fury like an erupting volcano, I glared at the river bandits.

“Khehehe.”

“Boss, I really like the sound of that! Gahaha!”

The bandits were laughing, having the time of their lives.

But my uncontrollable rage? That would be handled by Cho, my daughter, who had inherited her father’s will.

I didn’t just want those boats flipped—I wanted them split in half.

‘Cho, just cut their boats in two!’

I was already imagining their smug faces turning pale, their laughter turning into screams—

But then, a small doubt crept into my mind.

‘Wait, why isn’t it happening?’

By now, Cho should have already launched herself at the boats.

And then, suddenly, a voice rang out in my head.

– Tss? 『Why?』

A strange, buzzing sensation ran through my skull.

‘W-wait... what?!’

Instead of jumping out and tearing the boats apart, Cho had just asked... why?

My hair stood on end.

Right at this moment—when she was supposed to charge in heroically—she had suddenly stopped to question me.

It could only mean one thing.

Cho had entered her ‘Why?’ phase.

‘Why now, of all times?!’

The Why? phase was something that supposedly happened when children reached four or five years old.

It started with small, innocent questions and eventually evolved into the ultimate existential crisis—endless why, why, why, why?

Parents called it the Question Mark Killer Phase because it shattered their sanity.

And it seemed that Cho had reached that stage.

Even though she had evolved to be as intelligent as a middle or high schooler, she had still only been conscious for less than a year.

‘No, no. Calm down, So-ryong. Maybe she’s just curious. That’s a good thing, right? She’s growing up well. It’s not like she should just attack without question... That’d make her a murder machine, not a daughter!’

I tried to convince myself.

Surely, this wasn’t really the Why? phase.

I was about to patiently explain the situation to Cho—

But before I could, an enraged voice came from beside me.

“Those bastards?! River thugs dare to—?! I’ll destroy them!”

Seol was already rolling up her sleeves, looking like she was ready to jump overboard and kill every last one of them.

She must have found this situation just as incomprehensible as I did, especially since she wasn’t from the Central Plains.

“Seol, w-wait! If we fight them, we might kill a few, but they’ll climb onto the ship and sink it! As much as I hate it, we should just pay the toll and pass. It’s also our fault for losing the clan’s flag.”

“Damn it. If this were Yunnan, I’d have fed them all to the dogs by now.”

The kind of we avoid filth, not because we fear it, but because it’s disgusting response I expected from Seol.

Hwa-eun, trying to contain her rage, turned back to the bandits.

“Fine. How much is the toll?”

“Hmm... well, this is a nice, big ship. Let’s say... one hundred silver taels.”

“A hundred taels?!”

Hwa-eun’s voice rose in disbelief.

The bandit leader sneered.

“Oh? The lady’s got a sharp tongue. Maybe we should charge even more! Kehaha.”

“Tsk... Fine. Wait here.”

The bastard must have heard Seol’s earlier outburst and was using it as an excuse to raise the price.

One hundred silver taels was a massive amount.

I had never even seen that much money when I was stuck on Hainan Island.

We weren’t exactly broke, but I’d rather throw money into a sewer than hand it over to these bastards.

While Hwa-eun went into the cabin to retrieve the money, I hurriedly explained to Cho.

“Uh... So, why should we do this, you ask? Well... Aha! Those guys said bad things about Mom!”

I couldn’t repeat exactly what that bastard had said—it wasn’t fit for children’s ears.

But even with my careful phrasing, Cho continued questioning.

– Tssr? 『Bad things?』

“Uh, well... Aha! They said Mom isn’t pretty!”

I picked the one thing Cho and Bini were most sensitive about.

But Cho just blinked, looking between Hwa-eun and herself, tilting her head in confusion.

Then she sent me another thought.

Something along the lines of: Mom doesn’t have enough legs or antennae, so isn’t it reasonable for some people to think she’s not pretty?

“...Oh. Oh no.”

Not only had Cho figured out my exact preferences, but she had also assumed that all men must think the same way.

If those bandits had emitted even the slightest killing intent, Cho would have attacked without hesitation.

But since they hadn’t, she was just... curious.

I briefly considered provoking the bandits into cursing again so Cho would have an excuse to attack, but if they just kept demanding more money instead, that wouldn’t work either.

Then, a brilliant idea struck me.

‘Ah! That’s it!’

“Cho, how about we play a game with those uncles?”

– Tssr? 『A game?』

“Yeah. It’s called tag. When you show yourself, those uncles will scream and try to run away. Your job is to catch them before they can escape. Sounds fun, right?”

Cho seemed to brighten at the thought.

– Tsst! 『I wanna play!』

“Alright, but first, let’s make sure they can’t run away. Flip their boats!”

– Tsssshh!

As soon as I finished speaking, Cho slowly floated up behind me.

The bandits, who had been watching us, suddenly froze, their eyes going wide, their mouths gaping.

“Th-th-that...”

“Th-th-th-that thing...!”

“I-it’s...”

They pointed, speechless.

The bandit leader, too busy grinning like an idiot, belatedly looked up.

And then, he stopped breathing.

Six meters of monstrous, flying centipede.

Its presence alone was suffocating.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Cho tilted her head cutely and chirped.

– Tssr? 『Shall we begin?』

At the sound, the bandits screamed and scrambled toward the edges of their boats, trying to get as far away from her as possible.

Grinning, I gave the final order.

“Go ahead, start the game.”

– CRACK! SPLASH!

The moment I spoke, Cho swung her massive tail.

One of the boats split clean in two, sending the bandits screaming into the water.

“Aaaaaaaahhh!!”

“M-m-monster!”

“Noooooo!!”

For Cho, it was a game of tag.

For the bandits, it was the beginning of a nightmare.

***

For Cho, a six-meter-long giant centipede, playing tag was a fun pastime.

For the ones being chased, it was a fight for their lives.

It was the same logic as why grandparents often ended up in the hospital with broken ribs or limbs when playing with their young grandchildren.

Kids couldn’t control their strength.

What was just playful jumping to them could end with a fractured rib if they landed on their elderly grandparent.

– CRACK!

Cho snapped a boat in half, then used her tail to scoop up a bandit desperately swimming away, flinging him back toward the ship.

– THUD! SPLASH!

The bandit smacked against the hull, slid down, and fell back into the water with a loud splash.

A delighted squeal came from Cho.

– Tsssshh! 『This is fun!』

“Aaaaaaahhh!!”

“R-run for it!!”

“Yeah, Cho! Wipe them all out!”

With Seol cheering her on, Cho moved like a raging dragon among the bandits, smashing their boats, pushing them toward the center, and keeping them completely trapped.

The entire scene had turned into pure chaos.

Then, Hwa-eun burst onto the deck, clutching a pouch of silver, her eyes wide in shock.

“So-ryong! Stop Cho! T-the Martial World’s unspoken rule...!”

She seemed worried about violating some kind of law.

But did that really matter right now?

Grabbing Hwa-eun’s shoulders, I calmly said,

“Hwa-eun, the thing I hate most... is when people try to take what’s mine.”

“W-what?!”

“Them. They need to be taught a lesson.”

Hwa-eun’s face turned red, and she froze for a moment before nodding blankly.

Judging by her reaction, she had understood exactly what I meant by mine.

With her permission secured, I started considering ways to make this even more educational for these scumbags.

That was when some new players entered the game.

– Ksshh?

– Tssssr?

Yo-hwa and Bini had appeared at the entrance of the cabin, as if asking to join the fun.

‘Guess we’ve got more hunters now.’

***

As the bandits tried to flee from Cho, Yo-hwa shot out silk threads, reeling them back onto the ship like fish on a line.

Then, once they were dragged aboard, Bini loomed over them, preventing them from moving.

One by one, the river thugs were subdued in an instant.

With all of them kneeling in terror, Cho and Yo-hwa started counting how many captives they had caught.

The bandits, misunderstanding the situation entirely, started wailing.

“P-please spare us!”

“W-we didn’t know you were warriors of the Martial World! We deeply regret our actions!”

“Forgive us!”

Bound in Yo-hwa’s silk, they begged for their lives, thinking that Cho and Yo-hwa were deciding who to eat first.

In reality, they were just comparing how many they had each captured.

I shouted at them,

“Silence! If any of you utter another word, I’ll let my beasts snack on you.”

– Tssssr!?

– Ksshh!?

Ironically, Cho and Yo-hwa were the ones who looked surprised.

After reassuring them that I was just joking, I turned to Hwa-eun.

Now that we had captured them, the question remained: what to do with them?

“By the way, Hwa-eun, what exactly is the ‘unspoken rule’ of the Martial World?”

Hwa-eun took a breath and explained,

“The bandits of the Yangtze operate under an understanding with the Nine Great Sects and the Seven Great Clans. They don’t attack ships that carry their banners, and in return, we don’t hunt them down.”

“...Ah. But if a ship has no banner, they demand a toll?”

“Yes, So-ryong.”

“So, since we technically broke the agreement, what happens now?”

Hwa-eun’s face turned serious.

“The Yangtze Waterway Stronghold isn’t just this group of bandits. They’re part of a larger organization made up of multiple river gangs. If word gets out that we attacked one of their groups, the others will start targeting Tang Clan ships and people who use the Yangtze for travel.”

“And we’d have to send them a tribute as an apology?”

“...Yes. Because even though they’re bandits, they’re still martial artists.”

My expression hardened.

“...Even though they insulted you? These bastards should be dead, not receiving an apology.”

“I-I appreciate the sentiment, but... th-that’s how the rules work...”

Hwa-eun’s cheeks flushed red again, but I had bigger concerns.

I might have won some major points with her, but now we were in a situation where we might have to bribe a bunch of scumbag bandits to stay quiet.

‘Martial artists, my ass. First, we had beggars claiming to be martial artists. Then thieves. Now river rats? This is ridiculous.’

After thinking it over, I decided to test something.

The bandits were already terrified.

If I played my cards right, we might be able to end this cleanly.

I gave Hwa-eun a meaningful look and spoke in a chilling tone,

“Where I come from, there’s a saying: if no one is left alive, there’s no one left to talk.”

Then, I glanced at the bandits.

Their leader visibly flinched before immediately throwing himself to the ground.

“W-we saw nothing today! Nothing at all! If you spare our lives, we’ll never speak of this! Y-you have my word!”

They were clearly terrified.

But just scaring them wasn’t enough.

People tended to change their tune once they were safe.

‘How did people handle these situations in my past life...? Oh, right. Accidents, insurance... Settlements! That’s it!’

In my previous life, the easiest way to resolve an accident was through an on-the-spot settlement.

Rather than calling the police or an insurance company, people often settled with cash to avoid future complications.

And if a settlement included a written agreement, the other party couldn’t go back on their word.

“Hwa-eun, what if we just... settled this here?”

“Settle? How?”

“Hold on.”

Turning to the bandit leader, I spoke in a low, dangerous voice.

“You say nothing happened? That’s funny. Because to me, it looks like a bunch of greedy rats tried to raid a Tang Clan ship, destroy its banner, and ★ ★ steal its cargo.”

Oh, and of course—

The settlement terms were 10:0 in our favor.