The Guard Captain’s Secret Manual

Captain Han, leading the guards, hurried west along the highway on horseback. After traveling for about two hours, they found the wagon.

“To do something this awful to children…”

Lian said with his face stiffening. Hearing that, Captain Han nodded and counted the number of murdered children. The number matched what Kou had said.

“Let’s carry the bodies back to town.”

“What about the bandits?”

“Once we gather a few more men, we’ll search for their hideout and wipe them out.”

The guards decided to transport the bodies by wagon. Since the original horses had apparently been taken by the bandits, they had Captain Han’s horse pull it.

While resting in a room at the barracks, I apparently fell asleep while still sitting in the chair. When I woke up, it was dark outside. I was hungry, so I left the room and looked for something to eat, and when I found the dining hall, I went in.

“Oh, you’re awake?”

One of the guards called out to me. It seemed he knew I had been sleeping. He had probably come to check on me. Two small lamps were hanging in the dining hall, lighting up the inside.

“Has the captain come back yet?”

“Not yet. If you’re hungry, there are steamed buns in the kitchen.”

“Thank you.”

Since he said I could eat them, I went into the kitchen and looked for the steamed buns. I ate two cold steamed buns and was waiting in the dining hall when Captain Han returned.

“You were Kou, right? You were right. Everyone who remained in the wagon had been slaughtered.”

Hearing that, my expression darkened. It was what I had expected, but once the outcome was confirmed, it felt as though my heart had been filled with something cold. However, I had built up a tolerance from my experience in my previous life, so I recovered quickly.

“Won’t you exterminate the bandits?”

“Of course we will. But only after making sufficient preparations.”

“Then what should I do?”

After thinking for a bit, Captain Han told me to stay here until the bandit extermination was over.

“If the extermination succeeds, it will partly be to your credit as well. The county magistrate should grant you a reward.”

The region centered on Korta was governed by a civil official called a “county magistrate,” appointed by the king. The local administrative system of this country worked by appointing county magistrates to govern regions above village heads and town heads. That county magistrate was also responsible for trials and tax collection.

I ended up staying in the room I had been given and waiting for the bandit extermination to be finished. That night, for some reason, I woke up in the middle of the night and could not get back to sleep.

When I went outside to use the toilet and was about to return to my room, I noticed light leaking from a room at the far end. When I approached and peeked inside, Captain Han seemed to be training in something.

“Who’s there?”

Apparently he had noticed me. I went inside and showed my face.

“It’s me. I saw the light and came to check who it was.”

“What, it’s just you, brat. What are you doing up at this hour?”

“I’m on my way back from the toilet. What were you doing, Captain?”

“Martial arts training.”

“You don’t have to do that in such a cramped place.”

Captain Han picked up a book that was lying on the table. It was a thin book, apparently something like a secret martial arts manual.

“This is the secret martial arts manual that has been passed down through generations of Korta’s guard captains. But my predecessor’s predecessor died suddenly before inheriting the oral teachings, and the tradition was broken.”

It seemed that only when both the secret manual and the oral teachings were together could one properly master the martial art in the manual.

“But you are practicing it, right?”

“I’ve been researching whether it can be mastered even without the oral teachings.”

“Have you been able to master it?”

“As I thought, it seems difficult without the oral teachings. …Hm? Why am I even telling you all this?”

Captain Han tilted his head. I wanted to see that secret manual.

“Could you let me see that secret manual?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. This is something passed down from one guard captain to the next.”

“But you can’t master it without the oral teachings, right? In that case, even if you let me see it…”

Captain Han gave a wry smile. Judging from that expression, he seemed to have almost given up on mastering it. Captain Han tossed the secret manual toward me. If the oral teachings had still been passed down, he probably would not have treated it so carelessly.

After catching the secret manual, I flipped through it and looked inside. The pages were filled with characters resembling the kanji of this country’s writing system. Among them were a few characters from a somewhat different system. They resembled Siddham script, the script of ancient India. I could read the parts written in kanji, but the Siddham-like characters made no sense to me.

I had one special skill. It was a skill I had possessed since my previous life as a detective, something called “instant memory” or “eidetic memory.” It was the ability to instantly remember information I saw with my eyes and retain it vividly forever like a photograph. Using that ability, I memorized the contents of the secret manual.

However, just because I memorized it did not mean I could understand it. Having a memory like this made it sound as though I ought to be extremely intelligent. But aside from memory, I had been ordinary, so my grades at school had only been upper-middle at best. Still, when I had been a detective, I had memorized vast numbers of wanted posters and arrested many fugitives, which was how I rose to the rank of assistant inspector.

“Thank you.”

I returned the secret manual right away.

“Go to sleep already.”

I went back to my room and slept. The next day, I spent my time checking the contents of the secret manual I had memorized. However, while I could understand the broad outlines, the parts that seemed to describe the essential secrets were written in Siddham-like script, so I could not master it.

“If only I understood what these Siddham-like characters meant.”

The secret manual described a method of training one’s qi called “Meimei Gong” and a one-handed sword style called “Meisen Swordsmanship.” The footwork of the one-handed sword style contained a unique device, and the term “Shrinking Earth Method” was written there. The Shrinking Earth Method was a way of shortening the distance all at once without the opponent noticing, making it apparently feel to the opponent as though one had teleported.

If only I could understand the meaning of those Siddham-like sections, it would probably become an incredibly useful martial art. The parts about qi training and the Shrinking Earth Method contained many Siddham-like characters, so I could not even practice them, but it seemed I could practice the one-handed swordsmanship portion. That was probably the part Captain Han had been training in.

“There might be something else that happens again, so I should at least practice the one-handed swordsmanship.”

I decided to practice the one-handed swordsmanship.