Chapter 155: China getting its skull smashed (2)

“Isn’t he under stress? He wouldn’t be acting like this unless he was mentally cornered.”

“That seems likely. On one side, Korea is pushing its Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, and the U.S. is suspecting Korea of being a religious group threatening liberalism.”

“Is this even okay?”

At Ttaengchili and Battle mage’s words, I shrugged my shoulders.

Are they asking if it’s okay?

Well, I have only one answer.

“Eh, whatever. The president will handle it. Honestly, after spoon-feeding them as far as Manchuria, they should be able to handle this much. Don’t you agree?”

“Ah, yeah. That’s true.”

Just with what I’ve already handed over, I’ll go down in Korean history.

Now it’s up to the church-state to negotiate with America or do whatever they want.

All we have to do is keep spreading our faith.

“Hey there, young folks.”

That’s when Namgung Cheolsu came looking for us.

“Is something the matter?”

“Chairman Zhang Guohe is looking for us. What do you think?”

“For us too?”

Zhang Guohe?

Isn’t he the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party?

Hmm.

Might not be a bad idea to meet him.

After all, if we’re going to keep spreading the faith here, we’ll have to either avoid him or face him directly at some point.

“He’s probably curious about the followers of our goddess.”

“Most likely.”

The Namgung family’s three siblings, along with their disciples and martial artists, had all agreed to receive the goddess’s blessing.

It wasn’t difficult.

Our Namgung family, knowing nothing about the goddess, accepted it without suspicion.

After all, we’re not a demonic cult, and looking at our image, they wouldn’t think of us as evil either.

Honestly, we aren’t evil, right?

Their martial arts serve righteousness, so they’d accept us rather than reject us.

-Oh, amazing. I feel the energy in my body opening up.

-Our goddess generously blesses her children.

-But is this really okay?

-If you do not believe in our mother, the goddess, she will simply withdraw her blessing. That’s all. There are no other risks.

And so, things turned out like this.

The Namgung family became our goddess’s children.

They fully indulged in her blessing.

Their bodies became stronger—perhaps not quite like ours, but still much improved.

Naturally, their disciples grew stronger as well, and they became resilient enough to live as true martial artists in the wilderness if needed.

Even ordinary people grow healthier with the goddess’s blessing.

So imagine how much stronger awakened martial artists like them became.

For people who pursue strength, this was probably a welcome gift.

“I thought the chairman would ignore us. Huh, things turned out rather interesting.”

Anyway, right now, the Kanora Church might be seen as a threat within China.

“With the south in turmoil, the higher-ups can’t risk letting the north fall into chaos too. But they probably don’t want to attack us outright, especially since it seems we have more influence than they expected.”

Right.

If they knew nothing about us, they would’ve attacked already.

At least they’re smarter than Korea’s hunters in that regard.

“Fine. Let’s go meet him.”

After all, in a negotiation, there’s always a power dynamic.

Right now, the chairman is the more desperate one.

He can’t afford to make an enemy of Kanora Church when the south is already pressing in.

And so, we arrived at the chairman’s palace in Beijing.

Beijing had been devastated before, but they seemed determined to rebuild it.

Compared to Seoul, it didn’t seem too shabby.

Though, well, every other city was still a hopeless ruin.

***

“Hmm. Welcome. You’re all quite young, I see.”

“Hello, Chairman.”

They say appearance reflects nature.

A fat belly and an aura practically dripping with greed.

Still, I suppose it’s better than someone sly.

If he looked clever, dealing with him would’ve been a headache.

“Hmm? Do you speak Chinese? I had a translator prepared.”

“Heh. Let’s just say we have our ways.”

No need to reveal Ttaengchili’s abilities here.

Who knows what this greedy man might try.

“Hmm. Not bad. I suppose you learned various languages to proselytize in our country.”

“That’s not exactly it, but let’s move on. We came to hear why you called us.”

Frankly, this pig was already annoying me.

No reason to waste time listening to him.

“Hmm. To be frank, we cannot accept the Kanora Goddess Church.”

“Of course not.”

“But even if we don’t accept your proselytizing, isn’t your Kanora Goddess said to be a god who loves peace?”

Well, not exactly.

She’s not so much a goddess of peace as… but there’s no need to explain that in detail.

“That’s not quite right.”

“What do you mean?”

Not at all.

Our goddess only loves her own children.

Why would she care about outsiders who don’t worship her?

No reason whatsoever.

Our goddess is very practical—she only cherishes her children.

“Our goddess bestows her blessings solely for the peace and well-being of her own children. Do you think there’s a world where peace is maintained just by praying to a god?”

“That’s true. Sounds like a rather realistic deity.”

“However, among our believers, all are harmonious. We are happy because we are all her children.”

“Hmm. Could I also receive this so-called blessing?”

His tone was mocking, and I couldn’t help but chuckle in disbelief.

The nerve of this guy.

“Unfortunately, that would be difficult. Chairman, you don’t believe in our goddess and even consider us a threat to your nation.”

“That’s true. So, Kanora Church isn’t just some cult, is it?”

Wow, still calling us that?

Unforgivable.

“Even so, she is our mother and goddess. Think what you will in your heart, but please refrain from speaking that way in front of me and my followers.”

“Well, let’s do that. Good. Let’s get to the point. The southern bastards keep trying to invade. That provocation was all planned too.”

Hmm.

Yeah.

That’s how it looked.

In short, this man finds it hard to fight the South right now, and pushing us out is just as difficult, so he intends to send us south instead.

And since we’re a religion, we can’t exactly oppose that by force anyway.

Hmm.

Too bad.

Honestly, I’d love to smash his skull right here.

“You wish for us to spread our faith in the South.”

“Well, wouldn’t be a bad thing, right? Call it a kind of deal.”

Yeah.

A deal it is.

A rather dirty deal, though—that’s the problem.

“Understood. Our Goddess doesn’t force anyone to become her child. But if there are new children fitting to be hers in the South, she would gladly welcome them.”

“You speak quickly. I like that.”

“Then, may the Namgung Clan members accompany us as escorts on our way down south?”

“Funny, I was just about to suggest that. I hear you’re already acquainted.”

The Chairman’s eyes shifted to Namgung Cheolsu sitting next to me.

Having been reborn as one of our Goddess’ faithful, he simply nodded without hesitation.

“Yes. These people have now become believers of our Goddess.”

“Ho? So that’s what happened while I wasn’t looking. Surprising.”

Yet, the way he subtly clicked his tongue made it sound like he regretted it.

I bet he wanted to recruit the Namgung Clan as part of his own forces.

But now, he has clearly failed at that.

Anyway, I get it now—the Northern Chinese can’t handle the Southern Chinese at the moment.

Hmm, looks like our Goddess might be getting some unexpected gifts soon.

“Wait… are we just getting used here?”

“Doesn’t matter. While coming in, I’ve already slipped in a bunch of our Kanora believers. By now, I bet the Great Wall is practically ours.”

The poorer and more desperate people are, the easier it is to find a way in.

The Chinese soldiers guarding the Wall were skin and bones—clearly starving.

Our Kanora followers are probably already showing them statues of the Goddess and persuading them.

As we left the Chairman’s palace, Ddaengchili let out a hollow laugh.

“This… really feels like we’re a cult now.”

“Hey, we’re not a cult, okay? But yeah, at least we’ve pinpointed Northern China’s weak spots.”

Either way, this country has no choice but to let Kanora faith spread.

“When you pull Hunters out from garrison cities, public order completely collapses.”

“And there’s no need to send Hunters back in. Just drop in a few enthusiastic Kanora Party members and they’ll stir things up just fine. That’s the plan.”

“Wow. You’re getting serious about this.”

“Well, that’s how I do things.”

You think I’d miss a chance like this?

Now’s the time.

While Han Sang-jae is busy with his high-stakes diplomacy, we need to move fast and get things done.

Even with this wide land, once a religion starts spreading, there’s no stopping it—and we won’t even need to act directly.

“And those guys think that if Namgung Clan escorts us, we won’t spread Kanora teachings along the way.”

“But there’s no way the Namgung Clan, now children of our Goddess, would just ignore the miserable lives of the common Chinese.”

“So, in the end, it will spread.”

I’m sure even the Chairman suspects as much.

His best plan is probably to rush us through the cities as fast as possible and push us down to the Yangtze River—that’s his safest move.

“Those guys have no other option. They’ll tolerate a little spread if it means they can hold onto their grip over the provinces.”

“Yeah. That’s exactly it.”

With the Namgung Clan, our group headed south.

Of course, along the way, we got some odd treatment—Chinese soldiers tailing us closely to keep an eye on us.

They didn’t interfere directly since brainwashing in plain sight would cause trouble.

But because of these Chinese soldiers, it was hard to make any sneaky moves.

Honestly, getting treated like a bunch of criminals like this is starting to tick me off.

“Hey, you there! No funny business!”

“We’re just pitying these poor folks living in poverty.”

Every time we try even the slightest side move, they somehow know.

Damn pests show up to block us immediately.

“The Chairman’s orders are clear: no breaking ranks, no funny stuff!”

Ugh.

Shiny-faced idiots, thinking they’re stopping our teachings?

“…Tch. Can’t be helped, huh.”

Heat started rising up the back of my neck.

Honestly, I wouldn’t mind just brainwashing them right here.

But calling us idiots?

These bastards have no manners.

Yeah, this is getting serious.

Guess I gotta crack some skulls.

Crack!

In the end, I smashed a guy’s head with my mace.

“Hey, isn’t this dangerous? Cracking skulls right here?”

With blood dripping from the mace and the dead Chinese soldier on the ground, the orc’s eyes went wide.

Come on—it’s not like this is the first time someone’s died.

Either way, we were never going to get along with these Chinese soldiers for long.

Might as well nip this in the bud now.

And luckily, there aren’t many people around here, so I can have some fun.

Perfect timing, too—Namgung Clan folks are off tending to some homeless people elsewhere, so this is my moment.

While I was at it, I figured I’d loot the body—and what I found was ridiculous.

“Hah. You know, sometimes you gotta stretch your muscles a bit. I actually had a plan in mind. But right now… this thing just fell into my lap.”

From the corpse, I pulled out an order document—and its contents gave me more than enough reason to keep smashing heads.

—If they continue south, let them be. But with the Namgung Clan siding with them, Kanora religion is truly dangerous to leave in the Central Plains. If the opportunity arises, use any means necessary to kill the Saintess and her companions.

Direct orders from the Chairman’s Palace.

So that Zhang Guohe was still suspicious of us all along.