I Became the Crown Prince of a Ruined Country

63 – In Qi

In the land of the moon that Hongseong Lu spoke of, there was originally the country of the moon. It is a country ruled by Goo-cheon, the king of the moon, the main character of the well-known Washin Counseling (臥薪嘗膽).

However, Yue was conquered and destroyed by Chu about 50 years ago. Originally, in the Warring States period, such things were not uncommon.

The state of Qi absorbed the state of Lu, and the state of Zhao swallowed Zhongshan.

For a strong country to annex a weak one was not a big deal in the Warring States period. In the past, even the seven kings of the Warring States were all destroyed, and the unification of the world by the Qin Dynasty was achieved.

Anyway, I think my prediction was exactly right. It was an aristocratic family of the Yue Dynasty, but the family collapsed when the Yue Dynasty was destroyed by the Chu Dynasty. Leaving his hometown, Hongseong sets foot alone in an unfamiliar midfield….

In addition to that, Hongseong Yeo briefly introduced himself while talking about his hometown. From the origin of her name, which she herself writes, that her adult woman (黎) is because her skin is black, to the simple boast that she was stronger than herself in the land of Mon.

However, it was a personal history that did not contain any information related to family or status.

‘Yes. There must be circumstances that are difficult to tell others.’

He is a person who came all the way here from the distant Wolji, so there is no background like that.

It’s funny to reveal such a deep inner feeling from the first day, and I think you’ll find out if you travel together until Limchi and get closer step by step.

‘In the first place, I’ve been hiding my identity, so it’s hard to say anything.’

The more we talked, Yeo Hong-seong was a fun person. Do you have a knack for words? Rather than attracting people’s hearts like Shin Leung-kun, it feels like I’m just talking to a ball friend I haven’t seen in a while. Even more so, even though she was a woman, she said more clearly than a man.

“Come to think of it, how old is the girl?”

“Age? Naira… I forgot to count since when. Umm… I don’t know the details, but I’m not over thirty, I’m over twenty. I’m guessing maybe twenty four? Five?”

She is about 10 years older than me. She honestly thought she would be in her thirties.

I still don’t know if her face is young or presbyopic, but maybe it’s because among the people around me, Shin Leung is the only older woman, so basically it’s become a habit to put her age a little more generously. She was a reference point that was twisted because Shinneung-gun was young.

Although her older brother was gone, the period of her face to face was too short.

In that respect, I hope Yeo Hong-seong can see her for a long time. There were people around me who used their brains, but the only ones who could be said to be great in terms of power were Mosu and her brother-in-law. I don’t know if they’re even going to be eaten in a war.

On the other hand, Yeo Hong-seong, as well as the attitude she shows herself, radiated that she had a strong military force from the atmosphere she gave off.

She wasn’t up to the level of the ruckus she grew up with, even taking medications, but her firm and tight muscles radiated her physical beauty and pressure.

But I shouldn’t jump to conclusions based on my first impressions, as I don’t know much about real combat. I thought I would like to check how strong Yeo Hong-seong is at least once if possible.

But that means we have to be attacked by someone. It must be a selfish idea to hope for an attack to happen, as there is no chance that something unexpected will happen in it and someone will die.

I guess the best thing to do is to arrive at Imchi and test your skills with something like sparring.

But regardless of my heartbreak, the opportunity to see Yeo Hong-seong’s skills came quickly and suddenly.

The very next day when she started to accompany her.

They appeared just as our upper troupe climbed the mountain path to go to Ureung and passed halfway up the hill.

“I heard that there is a group of bandits roaming Mount Tai…”

I thought it was a rumor, but it was true.

Judging from their behavior, they don’t seem to be eating well and living well, but judging from the ferocious look coming out of their eyes and the way they were holding their weapons, they weren’t like bandits who have done this once or twice.

“Hmm! That’s good. If it’s bandits who harass the good people, the blood on my mace won’t be enough. Benefactor, watch. I’ll beat them down with a single blow and come back!”

Yeo Hong-seong, who jumped off the wagon with a mace wrapped around his waist, rushed out before approaching the bandits.

“Wait a minute!”

No matter how hurriedly he ran out, the person in charge told me, panting, even though it was a short distance.

“Gong Choi, please leave this task to me. Rather than fighting them, I just pay the toll. Those guys didn’t attack at random, they openly stood in the way. Wouldn’t that be proof?”

Perhaps it was no wonder that Nogucheon entrusted him as the person in charge of this trip, he showed quite a good eye.

Certainly, if they were just going to kill us and take our things, they would have come from hiding instead of appearing from the front like this. There was some truth in what the person in charge said.

However, Yeo Hongseong must have sounded very unpleasant, so she scolded him with anger.

“How absurd is that! To make a deal with those who suck the blood of the people!”

“Would it be comfortable for us to do business with them? However, fighting with them will inevitably lead to injuries and deaths in one way or another. In that case, it would be better to give them a little money and walk away.”

“If that’s the case, don’t worry! I swear to you, Ye Hongseong, that I won’t let one of them reach you!”

“Maybe. But what if they have hidden underlings?”

“That’s…”

The person in charge made a principled argument that a person’s life is more important than money.

In front of that logic, Yeo Hong-seong couldn’t find anything to refute, and only let out a drool filled with dissatisfaction.

When the argument between the two ended with one side winning, I gave that side a chance. Deep down, I wanted to see Yeo Hong-seong’s skills, but the person in charge was right about people’s lives being important.

“Then I’ll leave it to you.”

The person in charge who bowed to me hurriedly stepped forward and spoke to the group of bandits.

“Look! At this sad time when the queen passed away, can it be done by adding more sad things to the world!”

The call of the person in charge meant that the situation was dire, so let’s negotiate moderately, but the group of bandits were so calm that they were almost ignored.

An intuition crossed my mind that something was going differently than expected.

And with the words of one of the bandits, that intuition turned out to be true.

“Sad asshole. It’s really hard to put together, but since the king and queen died, we’ve been playing hard.”

With the death of the queen, Qi’s economic activity lost its vitality, and the merchants who used to collect the toll money from bandits passing through this street ceased their activities.

That’s why it’s inevitable that the death of the queen is annoying to them. It was because their rice bowls were on the verge of flying due to the death of the queen.

“Still, it’s not so wrong. Hey, hyung, we’re not the kind of scumbags who like to kill people.”

“As expected, you know the principle of coexistence! If so, tell me. How much will it be?”

“In the meantime, we have been suffering because of the queen, and we healed our painful wounds by mentioning the queen…”

The bandit giggled as if playing a prank, then pointed the knife he was holding at the cart in the back row with a serious expression.

“Leave it all away.”

“Well, to leave everything behind! You’re too lazy!”

“Nong? You still haven’t figured out the situation. Hey, merchant bro, don’t you know what your situation is?”

The head of the bandits glanced around on either side of him and pretended to count our ascent with his fingers. However, as if he didn’t know the numbers properly, he just pointed his finger a few times and then shrugged.

The guy who showed off that their numbers were doubled at a cursory glance said the most shocking thing to me so calmly.

“You should be grateful for not eating them.”

When I first heard that, I thought it was an exaggerated threat usually made to scare others.

But then, as they flirted with each other, they remembered the soft human meat they had eaten last time, and the words to just eat it came out, and when the members of the upper house heard it, the faces of the members of the upper house began to be stained with real fear instead of being terribly frightened. .

I understood that it was never empty words or bluffs to overwhelm.

Upon noticing that, it dawned on me that some of the bandits were wearing ornaments that appeared to be made of human bones.

They really ate.

People.

Why didn’t I know yet?

It is a time of chaos due to war. It is an era in which Jeongnam, who will be farming, is dragged into the war and farming properly is rare, and the nobles use force to engage in usury, so the people have to worry about the day’s meal when they wake up in the morning.

Insufficient to eat, the starving people turned to the easiest food available around them. To people like themselves.

My body was shaking. Even though I wasn’t scared, my limbs trembled for some reason. I feel like I just know something I shouldn’t have known. If possible, I wanted to take out the brain that reminded me of it and wash it.

And behind that reluctance was anger and disgust toward the bandits who proudly claimed that they ate human meat.

Feeling that wasn’t just my story.

“These—those scum that aren’t even worth brute force——!!!”