Vol 4 Chapter 18 (1/2)

Volume 4 Chapter 18: Don’t tell me these are the 3 requests

Yun Chang POV

I forced my eyes to stay open and kept my grip on the Green Dragon Crescent Blade tight as I stepped into the encampment filled with Cao army troops. I kept this up as I knew that the ones around me would be more cautious if they saw me being on guard.

But if something untoward were to happen later, would I really be able to break out of here alone?

No, I can’t. My stamina has been completely drained and there is no way I can make it out of here alive.

“Oi, Xu Chu. Why doesn’t Lord Cao Cao just overwhelm me with numbers? Does she intend to humiliate me before killing me?” I asked Xu Chu in front of me. She was both messenger and guide.

“How am I supposed to know what my lord is thinking!” Xu Chu seemed to not know what was going on as she exclaimed indignantly, “Death on the battlefield is the best ending for a warrior like yourself.”

We were on the same side once, and as warriors, our thinking is aligned. Though I don’t plan on dying here of course.

What I need to do know, is to try and think what Lord Cao Cao might say to me later.

“Go in. My lord ordered me to wait outside.” Xu Chu stood at the entrance of a tent as she looked at me with the eyes of a beast, “If you so much as touch a hair of my lord, I will rip you to pieces.”

… These eyes would probably give a horrible fright to most people.

“What happens will depend on what Lord Cao Cao has to say to me.” I returned her gaze and entered the tent without saying anything else.

As I parted the curtains, I saw a familiar figure sitting at the table inside. She looked at me, and gave her characteristic confident, unfathomable smile.

“You’re here.” She said, and continued her work without meaning to get up.

“Un?” I was about to speak to her when 2 other people in the tent came over. These 2, were very familiar people indeed, and I couldn’t help but to call out their names the moment I saw them, “Lord Lu Bu?! Wen Yuan?!”

Why? Why are the 2 of them here? Shouldn’t they have left Xiapi for Yuan Shao by now?

“Yo, Yun Chang. It’s been a while.” Wen Yuan ran over to me and grabbed and shook my hands affectionately the moment she saw me.

“W, why are you both here?” I didn’t bother with greetings and cut to the chase.

When she heard me ask this, Wen Yuan’s smile diminished somewhat.

“Hai, we were planning to leave yesterday morning but a scout told us that there was no movement from your side so we didn’t leave as we thought there might be some new developments.” Wen Yuan said and turned to look at Lu Bu, “We only received news today that your night raid failed and you were ambushed. When she heard this, my lord emptied the city and charged out to where you were but we were only a few miles out when the Cao army occupied Xiapi city.”

(TL: Some of you may recall that Cao Cao defeated Lu Bu in the Battle of Xiapi and had Lu Bu executed. That was supposed to happen a little while before this. Because Lu Bu in this series followed Liu Bei all along, Lu Bu never became the brash and foolhardy traitor the original was and never clashed with either Liu Bei or Cao Cao till now. If anything, I believe this is more than proof enough that history can be changed and have faith the author will deliver a fulfilling ending.)

Wen Yuan grew more and more despondent as she continued. And Lord Lu Bu, who was visibly enraged, continued from where Wen Yuan left off. “We had no way to retreat and so we could only continue to where you were. We were hoping to break through and at least escape with you 3, but we were surrounded before we could make it to where you were. Thereafter…”

“Thereafter, you both were ‘invited’ here by Lord Cao Cao just like I was right?”

Wen Yuan and Lord Lu Bu nodded.

Strange, why is Lord Cao Cao doing this for?

I directed my gaze to Lord Cao Cao and saw that she was still preoccupied with doc.u.ments and was not looking at us.

“Lord Guan Yu, where is Xuan De now? How is he?” Lord Lu Bu got up and walked over with a grave expression as she asked me.

“That’s right that’s right, is our lord is alright?”

…

I couldn’t help but lower my head at the sudden question. The hand which held the Green Dragon Crescent Blade also began to tremble uncontrollably.

“… It’s my fault,” I said falteringly, “When we were ambushed, I got separated from big brother and little sister. I’ve been looking all this while but I haven’t… Wu!”

“My lord!”

I was lifted forcefully by my armour to the point where my legs couldn’t even reach the floor and it became difficult to breathe.

“Lord Guan Yu, this is a joke right?” I looked down and saw Lord Lu Bu’s eyes wide open and bloodshot. Her expression right now, was like that of a bloodsucking monster, “Please don’t tell me Xuan De has…”

“Calm down,” Just then, a firm and calm voice along with a brush being placed down could be heard, “Xuan De has neither been caught nor killed by anyone on our side. Li Dian just delivered a report which said that Xuan De has escaped on Li Dian’s horse.”

The strength that held me up disappeared the moment Lord Cao Cao finished and the monster before me flopped to the ground as well.

“My lord!”

“Ah, that’s great.” Lord Lu Bu muttered softly, before softly snoring.