Surviving a Shounen Manga - Chapter 72

When he’d first heard the results of the second obstacle, Nergui had doubted his ears.

“They got beaten? Those horse thieves? That must be a lie, right?”

“Yes, that’s….”

The news was that the territories they had occupied had been taken away by another group who’d come suddenly at dawn. Right before the timer ran out.

A late night attack wasn’t particularly unexpected. It was also the time for the great migration, when those who hadn’t decided on their affiliation until the end, began to choose.

It didn’t matter if the attack came an hour before the end of the test or a minute. The important point was that they couldn’t stop it. That their flag had been pulled out.

Nergui bit his lip.

“Was it… that guy with the squat jaw?”

It wasn’t some riffraff whom he had put forward as the occupant of the peak. It was one who had cleared up all the horse bandits in the central region and had ascended to the position of the great chief all by himself.

It had been about two years since when Nergui had recognized his skills and started getting close to him. The amount of gold he had spent so far to make that guy his own subordinate was incalculable.

That man definitely wasn’t some chaff to be easily swept aside.

“Oh, no. It was the Great… the Great General who occupied the peak.”

“What?”

“G-, General Mong.”

“…”

Nergui was speechless for a moment when that name suddenly came up.

General Mong?

Of course, Nergui already knew that the man was there. Because he always moved as Khan’s shadow.

But he couldn’t figure out why he did it, or how.

So,

“The fourth prince seeks an audience! Your Majesty, may I please come in for a moment?”

Creak–.

He had no choice but to visit the owner of this gorgeous palace, who smirked as soon as Nergui entered his sight.

“Your Majesty, are you well?”

“Is that you, Son? It’s been a long time.”

“… It seems that the ministers have all left already. Your tone is too casual.”

“Haha, can’t you ever stop nagging? My son came to visit after such a long time! Do I still have to keep up the formalities?”

“So, did you enjoy your trip?”

“Ah, thanks to you, I was able to enjoy it until the end.”

“…”

Nergui took one long breath and then continued.

“By the way, you seemed to know I was coming? The guard at the door didn’t even block me.”

“I’m not an idiot after all. And neither are you. Isn’t that so?”

“…”

Troubling. This was turning out to be a mess.

Nergui silently rebuked himself for having come here so prematurely, driven by his own emotions and doubts.

“Since you seem like you know everything, there’s no point in playing games. Can I ask you something directly?”

“As you like.”

“What are you after?”

Even though he asked a question in a somewhat curt tone that would immediately offend those who valued good manners, Khan only gave an inexplicable smile.

“What do you mean?”

“Why make the Great General occupy the third peak?”

Then Khan cast him a somewhat puzzled look.

“You’re asking something obvious.”

And the answer that followed was, indeed, quite fitting.

“Yeah, because I thought it’d be fun.”

“…”

Nergui again silently sorted out his thoughts. To have a conversation with this man, he had to get rid of all unnecessary emotions. If he let himself loose, it was him who’d end up being the idiot.

“Then what did you do?”

“What?”

“I heard that the general entered as your subordinate, Your Majesty… Did you change the rules? How did you not drop out together…”

“…”

“But, tampering with the rules of the Warrior’s Path, even if it’s you, Your Majesty…”

Nergui paused.

Somehow, he felt a strangeness in the other party’s gaze.

When he looked up, he saw Khan staring at him with a frown on his forehead.

He was quite familiar with the expression, and on his own face it would’ve signified only one emotion.

Frustration.

“Hmm. Of course not, but…”

After a small pause, Khan clicked his tongue and continued.

“Tch, did you become an idiot in this little while that I haven’t seen you?”

Khan had returned to his original tone at some point. A tone of speech that was no different from that of a gossiper on the streets. It was how he behaved at his core.

“…”

“No. Should I say that you’ve become bold? To change the rules of the Warrior’s Path… Man, I never even thought about it.”

Nergui felt his face flush for an instant.

To the hells with this guy!

“And is that really what you’re curious about? It’s a little disappointing.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Aren’t you able to guess at least half of it? You must’ve prepared a few cheating ringers in advance to bear their flags for you. Or, if I had to guess, you must’ve given them a rough disguise with your abilities. Even though to the outside it seems like you don’t have any subordinates there at all. It’s a pretty simple tactic. You knew who’d participate, and the tests of the Warrior’s Path were prepared painstakingly over several months within my lands, so they couldn’t be hidden from you. Knowing everything in advance, didn’t you prepare?”

“…”

“Tell me. Was it difficult for you?”

“…”

Why did he always feel stuffy, like he was at the losing end, whenever he talked to this man?

Don’t be angry, be calm.

Nergui tried to calm himself down again.

And he had something to say in response.

“Even so, I wouldn’t have thought of mobilizing the general. Isn’t that a bit of a foul? If it weren’t for him, the people I’d planted must be…”

“Ah, you mean that gang of horse thieves at the third peak? Those guys who ran away at the first sight of Mong’s face?”

Khan grinned and then burst into laughter, clutching his stomach with both hands.

“Are you saying they… ran away?”

“Why, what’s the difference if they ran away instead of losing a fight? Does all that gold you fed them now feel like a waste?”

“…”

“Wow, you’re still a long way off from maturing. Did you think you could control them like puppets from afar, without ever standing next to them? With that dull brain of yours?”

“…”

He was indignant.

But Nergui couldn’t come up with any objections.

Because it was all true.

“Of course, I have to admit it. It’s true that I didn’t intend to make Mong the occupant from the beginning. It was unplanned. But don’t think that I was forced to use Mong to dispose of your toys. You’ve got it all wrong. He has nothing to do with you. What can a gang of horse bandits do? That Squatjaw… No, the princess would’ve smashed them all with just two of her fingers.”

“… Princess Thermis, is it.”

Yes, he’d heard the rumours about her too. That she’d won a tug of war contest against hundreds of Khan’s subordinates. Including even the general himself.

To be honest, he’d thought it was a bunch of exaggeration, but it seemed now that that wasn’t the case. If the person concerned, who was habitually ‘without a single touch of embellishment’, said something like that… it might be right to think that the rumours didn’t even scratch the surface.

“I had no choice but to put Mong forward in order to fight against that Squatjaw and Princess Thermis. If there’s no proper adversary, what fun would there be left in this Warrior’s Path? Even now, only the final obstacle remains. And do you know what Mong did after I pushed him in? He swept away all those who’d been watching and waiting until then, and made them join his banner. Intimidation, conciliation… he’s a man of many talents, General Mong.”

Khan shook his head as if at the absurdity of it, but there was a gentle smile on his face. And that, obviously, meant that he’d had quite a bit of fun in the process.

“Are you feeling a little better now? What should you have asked instead? What the rules were, how the general was able to become an occupant… you should’ve asked something more proper than this.”

“… What should that be?”

“For example, in the end, what kind of scenery did I want to paint, and what did I do to meet my goal?”

Nergui meekly acquiesced.

“I see. So what kind of a scenery did you want to paint?”

Then,

“Not sure.”

“… Eh?”

The answer that came back was absurd.

“Really. I thought I knew, but when I looked back, I didn’t really know. To be more precise, I would say it was constantly changing.”

“… Haah.”

It was like this every time. Yes, there was no such thing as a grand aim for someone who was constantly driven by his own feelings and impulses.

That was then.

“By the way, Son, can I ask you something?”

Khan looked at Nergui, his eyes suddenly flashing.

Those eyes that somehow made people defensive.

“… What is it?”

“Do you want to bully her?”

Nergui froze for an instant.

“What do you mean?”

“That kid. Princess Thermis.”

“…”

While he was silent, Khan continued with a smirk.

“You look so much like me. In appearance, and in personality. I’m a little older now, but I was really like you when I was younger, you know? Every time I see you, I feel a jolt of shock. As if my own past self’s come knocking at my door.”

“…”

“Of course, I was a little smarter than you back then, and you’re a little worse than me back then.”

“… What the hell.”

No matter how Khan said it, this was a remark that was hard to listen to.

“Now I’ve heard everything. I know all about your past, Your Majesty. Aren’t there enough anecdotes to fill a book or two? To be honest, Your Majesty, it makes me think that I have a long way to go if I want to catch up with you, no matter how many bad things I do.”

“No, no matter how bad I was, compared to you… maybe. Fine, let’s admit it. But I did get a little better after I met Mong, you know.”

Khan said –

“Son, can I give you a piece of advice? Go out and make some friends. Or you’ll be in big trouble one day.”

“…”

Khan had an exceptional talent at pissing people off.

“Anyway, let’s get back to the story.”

After a brief spell of silence, Khan began to stare at Nergui again.

Serious eyes that he hadn’t seen in a long time. Whenever he got eyes like that, Khan –

“I like First the best.”

Babbled something weird, every time.

“… Haah, is that something you should tell your youngest son so frankly?”

“Parents share their children’s pain, so the saying goes. If the child’s hurting, the parent feels like he needs to take care of his child. And, well, I’m the same with you, too. But still, I like that guy the most. Since he was a kid.”

“…”

“That’s how it is with you, too. Because we’re the same kind of people. Seeing how handsome and cool he is, don’t you keep chasing after him while pretending you don’t care? I used to be the same way with my brother.”

“Haah… what are you even…”

Of course, there had been times when he’d admired his eldest brother. That was true. But even so, he never remembered liking the other as a human being – or perhaps, at most, only once.

“I can’t agree at all….”

“Alright, so now I’ll say what I really wanted to say. This is the crux of it.”

At that moment, Khan’s eyes seemed to shine with a pale light.

“Don’t try to turn your back on First.”

…

“You’ve got a twisted personality; I know that better than anyone. Princess Thermis? Honestly, she doesn’t really matter to you, does she? Only your older brother is important to you.”

“…”

“Even if you mess with her, your brother won’t be angry. Even if he does get angry, it won’t give you what you want. That older brother who scolded the bad guys when you were young doesn’t exist anymore. You need to accept that he’s weak.”

At that moment, for some reason, Nergui felt a corner of his heart simmer and begin to boil.

He didn’t know what made him so angry. But the sense of irritation was clear in his heart.

“You seem to have misunderstood something. And… who doesn’t know about the first prince’s condition? If somebody’s bedridden for so many years, they’re bound to…”

However, Khan didn’t seem to want to listen to him.

“I wasn’t done. One more thing. Don’t think that if your big brother can’t do something, you should step up. I know it because I’ve tried it – the title of emperor doesn’t fit people like the two of us.”

“…”

This was a bit of an unexpected topic.

To be honest, Nergui hadn’t expected Khan to utter such words.

“I’ve never coveted the throne.”

“I was like that at first, too. Saying I won’t do it. But they kept saying that there was no one else to do it but me. Doesn’t that sound just like you?”

“Your Majesty and I are different. I don’t know if Your Majesty became greedy one day, but I…”

“You’d end up in my position eventually. I know it because I’ve tried it, but it’s definitely not something good.”

“…”

Nergui couldn’t figure out what Khan was aiming for.

“Then the first prince… no, my older brother, you mean he can ascend to the Khan’s seat? Forget me being greedy, is it even possible? If it is, of course…”

“Are you an idiot?”

“…”

“What kind of emperor is that sick kid going to be? Even if he just took the good parts and ignored the bad, the job would chew him up and spit him out. There’s no way he’ll survive.”

“Then are you saying there’s an alternative?”

The second and third princes had long since become foreigners. They, at the very least, were satisfied with their positions as sons-in-law in other countries. They wouldn’t come back even if it were to become the emperor.

“Well. I don’t know.”

As expected.

What was the point of this useless, completely unproductive conversation…

“Not yet.”

“…?”

Nergui looked at Khan’s face again.

His eyes were still shining.

“I told you, didn’t I? I don’t know what kind of picture I want. That it keeps changing. But I have a feeling. You know what I mean?”

“How do you feel, then?”

“It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time, but this place is too stuffy. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been on the back of a horse and breathing in the dust trails for so long. It needs something like a spark. Something new.”

At Khan’s next words, Nergui had no choice but to remain silent for a long time.

“An alternative… well, one might come up. Right around the end of the final obstacle of the Warrior’s Path.”

---

A place that would become a battleground for the final ‘war of conquest’.

The Warriors’ Land.

It happened while I was waiting in the room provided by the empire for the last ceremony, the ‘Departure Ceremony’, before going there.

Suddenly,

Tiling–.

A message arrived via the hologram.

And at that moment,

“Phew…”

I breathed a sigh of relief.

Although the second obstacle had already finished, the chapter end message hadn’t appeared until then.

So I gladly dove into it, and –

“… Hmm?”

It was a little different from what I was expecting.

[Chapter 24 – The Second Gate of the Warrior’s Path in the Skull Empire has ended]

[Starting the extended chapter]

An extended chapter?

It was the first I’d ever seen the like.

Puzzling.

“Huh… is this some sort of trick?”

A chapter type that’d never even appeared in the original. If I wanted to find something similar… a gaiden?

[Adventure King serialization resumed]

[Chapter 24# – The Final Gate of the Warrior’s Path in the Skull Empire]

[Belongs to the realm of the ongoing chapter]

[Hiro is the subject of character evaluation in this chapter]

[You have been given the leading point of view]

‘What is this… are you just going to tack on a # to the chapter number and call it a day?’

Since it was a chapter that didn’t exist in the original, the style seemed feasible. Or rather, the author could afford to be completely arbitrary.

Hmmm.

But, well, I thought I could understand why.

I could only conclude that the readers weren’t satisfied seeing only the second obstacle, but caving in and giving me another big chapter was too much, so this was the compromise. For some reason, a scene of the author himself sighing deeply sprang to mind.

Of course, it was a little disappointing that the compensation was going to be delayed.

There’d been a few quite unique and eye-catching elements, in my humble opinion. Didn’t I even become a ghost once?

So, to be honest, I had some reasonable expectations – something of some real substance.

However, what if the final obstacle had gotten its own, separate chapter? That would’ve been great. The rewards would be rolling in twice.

‘Oh, am I being a bit greedy?’

But on the other hand, I thought that the current situation wasn’t so bad either.

Once the amount increases, the number of rewards doesn’t seem to make much of a difference. Consider ‘awareness’, which is a cumulative number. And rather than splitting the chapters and dispersing the impact, you get it all in one shot! Boom! It might honestly be better this way.

‘Or am I just self-hypnotizing?’

Well, anyway, the fact that the leading point of view remained with me wasn’t a bad sign.

In other words, I just needed to finish it properly.

Just then,

– Those who’ve been waiting, please leave your rooms.

A call came to signal the start of the final obstacle.

I followed the instruction and walked out.

Then,

“Ooh!”

“It’s a peak lord!”

“It’s that Squatjaw!”

“That’s Mong! The general!”

A great cheer rose all around me.

There was a plaza where the ceremony was to be held, and the whole place was full of people except for the podium in the centre where the speakers stood.

Now that the bulk of the campaign was over, the candidates would go to the ‘Warriors’ Land’, and this great crowd was to be the audience. They’d all rushed here to watch, carrying their food and luggage with them.

I could see how this was the setting of a ‘national event’.

“All peak occupiers to the centre!”

Proceeding towards the centre following the guide’s voice, I could see the princess and that guy named Mong standing side by side from a distance.

The man named Mong had a different appearance from when I’d seen him last. Compared to that time, the body itself was much bigger and thicker, but the overall aesthetic impression still seemed unexpectedly very good.

And there was another.

A man standing on a high podium, looking at the two with a smile, caught my eye.

Bumio Khan.

The current emperor of the Skull Empire, a human who’d entered the Warrior’s Path while hiding his identity, causing all kinds of disturbances before running away. Somebody who had no compunction winking at me casually like that, despite how he’d fucked me over last time.

I frowned.

‘Oh.’

I quickly turned my head.

Either way, I couldn’t compete with that guy in shamelessness.

“Everyone forward! The Khan will give a speech!”

Khan nodded as he saw me, the princess, and Mong all gathered together, then started talking in a loud voice.

“Listen, people! Before the ceremony starts, I have one thing to say! I know that there are many discussions about the general’s participation this time. Is it right for him, who has already passed the Warrior’s Path, to walk the Path as a current participant, and even as an occupant?”

As soon as Khan finished speaking, murmurs began here and there.

It seemed to be quite a contentious issue.

“As you all know, it’s not really his fault that General Mong is standing there now. It was all me. I admit it.”

Then,

“Kkh… kahaha.”

“Cough, cough, kaha.”

Everyone stopped murmuring and began to chuckle.

To be honest, I was a little surprised to see this scene. The emperor humbled himself, and the people laughed. Their culture was more frivolous than expected.

“So, should we kick him out now? But this also goes against the rules of the Warrior’s Path. Applying external pressure on a participant. Of course, he can voluntarily give up and come out, but I told him not to. Why? Because that’s an insult to this ritual, a betrayal of those who’ve waited all night to see it, and furthermore, a great loss to the nation in that future that the warriors lose the opportunity to see and learn his strategies and tactics!”

Soon after,

“Oooh!”

“Yes!”

“Right!”

The crowd started cheering.

Mong was apparently highly popular.

“On top of that, the fourth prince said something recently. Wouldn’t it be fine to tweak the rules once in a while? As long as it doesn’t violate the long tradition of the Warrior’s Path, it’s okay to allow a little flexibility. I agree with that opinion, so I decided to include the general in this final checkpoint. Does anyone have any complaints? If so, come out now and tell me what you think! Come out and say it, why don’t you!”

“Oooh!”

“Right!”

“No complaints!”

…

It was crazy. A bunch of nonsense. Who was going to step up in this atmosphere? No, why was the emperor even doing something like this in public?

That was then.

“However, this may be a bit unfair for those who have to face the general. We should also consider their situation. It’s true that they can’t help but be at a disadvantage compared to him.”

Khan sneaked a glance at me and the princess in turn.

“Of course, I can’t intervene in the competition itself. So, I decided to make an exceptionally outstanding compensation plan for them. That is all I can do.”

Then he announced with an eloquent tone that couldn’t even be compared to before.

“If one of them overcomes Mong and returns as the final winner of the Warrior’s Path! Regardless of who they swear their allegiance to, they will immediately gain the title of Great General of the Skull Empire!”

And before the crowd could even start shouting, the following words continued:

“And if you truly wish, I will let you dream of even more than that.”