Vol 10 Chapter 50 (2/2)

Xu Shu ignored Man Cheng. Looks like her emotional state is still stuck in what it was before and she does not want to admit defeat from the look of her slightly sorrowful expression as she looked at Man Cheng.

I looked at the 2 of them staring at each other with great interest. I had read Man Cheng’s report before but with this scene before me, the information I had feels more alive.

“What do you think, Man Cheng? The ones whom you said would come over to our side haven’t while the one who instructed them to fake their defections has actually come over.”

“Li Dian is deeply ashamed of this.” Man Cheng said and saluted once more before returning her gaze to Xu Shu, “But let’s leave the past behind and talk about the present. If you look at it objectively, Lord Xu Shu’s schemes were ingenious and will definitely be a great boon to our strength if she can join us.”

“Kekeke, it’s almost as if you bear no ill will towards her.”

“The responsibility for our loss lies squarely with our side for not being able to see through Lord Xu Shu’s machinations and has nothing to do with Lord Xu Shu.”

Un~ I see. I nodded at her but did not give her any praise.

Looks like that is the view of a top notch warrior. I cannot quite understand it but it pleases me, I thought while continuing to stare at Li Dian who has not lifted her eyes off of Xu Shu the entire time. Looks like she too has many questions for this new joiner.

Hu… In that case, let’s begin.

“Alright, Teacher Xu Shu.” I said and clapped once to draw her attention to me, “This meeting is to tell you about your work from here on out as well as address some questions we have.”

“… Regarding what?”

“I believe that you should be able to guess what I am going to ask you.”

Even though she knew, she still asked me anyway. Come on, what else could I possibly ask you about?

“If you want to ask about Xinye’s troop strength or the city defences, then you aren’t getting anything from me.”

“No no no,” I shook my head, “I’m not bothered if you aren’t going to divulge any of those things. I am not too concerned about such details in the first place. What concerns me is something else.”

When she heard this, Xu Shu’s eyebrows leapt up and she tried to feign that she had not wavered.

“What I want to ask, is about Liu Bei.” I said, deciding to toss it out and see what her reaction would be like.

“… Liu Bei?” She said and paused for a moment before tilting her head, “You mean Xinye’s previous Administrator?”

“He wasn’t just a former Administrator.” I said and took deep breaths as quietly as I could to calm my emotions, “He… I worked with him for a while so I thought I’d ask about him.”

“I’m not too knowledgeable about Liu Bei as he was already dead by the time I arrived at Xinye.” Xu Shu said without batting an eyelid or any irregularity in her breathing. As though what she said was true.

“I know that of course.” I nodded, “But don’t you think that it’s strange? Man Cheng?”

I did not take up the role of the challenger and instead pa.s.sed it to Man Cheng while I concentrated on observing every action of Xu Shu’s.

“Yes, your army acted far too orderly and disciplined for an army without a leader.” I did not know if Man Cheng understood my intent but she picked up after me and began asking, “Lord Xu Shu, if possible, I hope you can tell us if there is someone new who is filling in the role of a feudal lord in Xinye now.”

“… Or perhaps,” I quickly added on before Xu Shu could answer, “The old feudal lord has returned?”

I continued to stare at Xu Shu to see how she would react to these intentionally vague words but she did not get agitated in the least.

“The dead cannot return to life.” Xu Shu said as she met my gaze, “At least, I did not see anyone who could have been Liu Bei in the city.”

“T-then who is that Shamoke fellow?” Man Cheng immediately yelled out.

“That man is a warrior general who joined Xinye around the same time as I did and is a friend of General Zhou Cang’s.” Yuan Zhi explained, “As for the management of the city, though there is no feudal lord, the rest of us have been able to divvy up our responsibilities well enough that it does not get in the way of working together.”

“Lord Xu Shu, that explanation can only get 0 points from me.” Man Cheng remarked as her eyebrows leapt up, “How can you defend a city without its Administrator?”

“I do not know what kind of person Liu Bei is like but the remaining generals defended the city and carried on his will as though Liu Bei were still alive. That has also helped to keep everyone together, which is how we managed to defend the city.”

“Then when I attacked Shamoke, why did all of you try to stop me? Could there be some secret beneath that comical gra.s.s helmet?”

“That man is a Nanman and observes different cultural practices from us. Not only did Lord Li Dian not concentrate on the battle, you even focused on his face beneath the helmet. That is far too unbecoming of a warrior, no?”

“Kuh…” Man Cheng was rendered speechless by this.

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