Vol 10 Chapter 12 (2/2)
“My lord!” Li Dian yelled but I shook my head as I really did not want to admit this fact.
“At the end of the day, it’s just a hypothesis based on circ.u.mstantial evidence.” I continued. At this time, my smile had completely faded away and all that remained was a cold and stormy expression.
“No, that’s not all.” Li Dian continued, “The last battle was very suspicious as well. When I attacked Shamoke with the intent of prying away his helmet, I was stopped by all other generals present. Would they really go to such lengths for an ordinary general?”
“That’s…” I really did not know how to refute this and trailed off.
“But at the end of the day, it’s still just circ.u.mstantial evidence right?”
Un? Just as I found myself at a loss as to how to reply Li Dian, Cheng Yu spoke up.
“But we can be virtually certain of this by now.”
“Then did you see his face?”
“… Ah,” Li Dian was silenced and sank into thought for a moment before exchanging glances with Cao Ren and shook her head.
“Then we cannot conclude with certainty that Shamoke is Liu Bei.” Cheng Yu said as she turned to look at me, “Even if this possibility is high.”
“Ah, un. Yes.” I nodded.
“But…”
“There’s no need to say any further. I have my own considerations.” I immediately cut off Li Dian, “Of course, I cannot deny that what you said might be true and we must be even more careful in the battles from here on out.”
“Yes, of course.” Li Dian agreed and backed off after I too compromised with her. I had no choice, I was very exhausted by this discussion.
“I understand everything now then. Man Cheng, Ren, you have fought very hard in this battle so please have a good rest and recover before the next one. begins.” I said and looked at them, “You will have to remake your hat and weapons. I’ll arrange for a good blacksmith to make them for you.”
“Many thanks, my lord.” Li Dian thanks me and saluted.
Un, I wonder if Ma Jun is free now. If she is, I will consider handing this to her.
“Well then, we’ll be taking our leave.” Cao Ren said and got up along with Li Dian. Seems like she understands what I mean.
“Well then, my lord.”
“Un?”
“When will the next battle take place?”
Looks like she cannot put aside losing that easily huh? I have to admit that I am the same as well.
“I understand how you feel. It will be soon. The southern campaign is something that will proceed no matter what.”
Yes, nothing will stop it now.
“Understood.” Li Dian said and saluted me with Cao Ren before leaving.
“Ah yes.” Li Dian seemed to have remembered something and turned back to look at me, “Something seems to be up with Zhang Fei so my lord should keep this in mind.”
“You mean Zhang Fei Zhang Yi De?”
“Un, her martial prowess greatly deteriorated in the first battle but she seemed to have regained her former strength in the last battle and even slew Lord Lu Xiang.”
Un… Her strength is unstable huh? Or is there some other reason…
“Alright, I’ll keep this in mind.” I nodded. It seems like Li Dian has finally finished saying everything she has to and left without saying anything else. Even though they lost, they gained a fair bit of valuable information, even if it is information that I may not like.
“My lord, you–”
“Cheng Yu, umm–”
Just then, we both spoke up at the same time and we could not quite hear each other’s words and stopped.
“Cheng Yu, go ahead.”
“No, my lord should go first. My matter is not important anyway.”
“Alright, I’ll go ahead then. Have you remembered what you know about that Xu Shu yet?”
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