Knight of the Sea

Yener was silent for a while.

“My apologies, I cannot answer your question,” he finally said.

“Why not?”

“Young man, even though I’ve long since retired from court and become a bookish old man, I still cannot tell you anything about the emperor’s affairs.” His fingers tapped against the handrest. “My loyalty doesn’t allow me to answer this question..”

“Loyalty? Loyalty to the tyrant that demoted you, denied you your annuity, denied you land, and forced you to live off the meager wage of a scholar at Chenming Palace?” Fang Tinglan took a breath. “It seems that our opinions differ here.”

“No.” The man said clearly. “My loyalty is to my country.”

Fang Tinglan pursed his lips.

Several pigeons landed on the windowsill. They cocked their heads and stared at the two people sitting in the dim room inside. The older one sat illuminated by the sunset while the younger one sat in the shadows. The line between light and dark was clearer than a line drawn by the best craftsman1The line between…: It actually says the line is straighter than a master craftsman’s ink line, but I think this conveys the message better..

“You misunderstand. I’m not a Dongzhou spy. I’m only looking for Fei Yi for personal reasons.” Fang Tinglan let out a breath. “Before he betrayed Dongzhou and fled to Nanjing, he once came to meet with my father in secret. This secret meeting marked the end of our entire family.”

Yener was unmoved.

“Back then, I was the best student at Wulong Academy. If nothing went wrong, then I would have become a general loyal to the emperor, just as my father was. I would have protected the imperial family with my flesh, blood, and tears.” Fang Tinglan’s voice dropped, his words softer than the doves’ coos. “… that was if nothing had gone wrong.”

Fang Tinglan would never forget the intense sunlight that day. He had just spent a high price buying a young war horse and was jousting his classmates in his school’s riding arena and won five straight matches. Because of that, his classmates booed and asked him to pay for dinner.

The sixteen year old Fang Tinglan dusted himself off, tucked his whip away, and smiled up at the sun.

“Sure, you guys pick the place! This little master is in a good mood today; it’d be fine even if you toss a dish for each one you eat.”

However, his friends didn’t get to dump any dishes. They barely even made it to Chijin city’s most famous and most expensive Kuaizhen2Kuaizhen: lit. precious fish/meat Pavilion.

Beneath the scorching heat, Fang Tinglan could only stare dazedly at the man in black before him. His eyes blurred, making the stranger seem like a dark shadow that might evaporate at any time. And yet, that man’s voice was sharper than the cicada’s cries.

“Young Master Fang, your father is being suspected for assisting in the treasonous Fei Yi’s escape. His case has already been handed to the High Minister of Criminal Affairs. Right now, you need to come with us.” His every word pierced into Fang Tinglan’s ear.

“This trip led directly to jail.” Fang Tinglan’s smile held no bitterness and his tone was as if he were telling some absurd joke. “I’d originally wanted to play the ‘overbearing aristocrat’ at Kuaizhen Pavilion, to order a pot of ‘Yangchun Zui’3Yangchun Zui: lit. Drunk spring sun, name of the alcohol, then to ask some entertainers to sing us some songs. Yet in the end all I received was a prison meal of a rotten fish, a cup of muddied water, and the screams of fellow prisoners.”

Yener listened quietly.

Both the High and the Secondary Ministers of Criminal Affairs had visited. The jailer had as well. Each had asked him again and again if he knew anything about Fang Que helping Fei Yi escape; he answered again and again that he stayed in Wulong Academy and wouldn’t know.

He’d been bound from head to toe and his letter, notes, and even unread newspaper was brought before him. They went through each line of each page, asking him why he was writing, who he was writing to, what he saw, who he’d met, and what his intentions were.

No, no, and no. I don’t know anything. Can I see my father? My father is a backbone of the country; he is the most staunch of royalists. How could he have helped a traitor? You guys must be mistaken!

And when he had endured all he could, Fang Tinglan remembered his shout.

It was my father that safely escorted His Majesty out of Taiyan City and the new capital of Chijin City is in my father’s fief! The new palace is even built on our ancestral home! How could you suspect someone who has dedicated all their loyalty to the Hong dynasty and the Qin family’s4Hong Dynasty and Qin family: this actually refers to the same family. In China, the actual surname of the royal family is always different from the dynasty’s name land —

He hadn’t been able to finish speaking before being hit by a salt water soaked whip. This beating told the young man that there wasn’t a piece of land under the sun that didn’t belong to the emperor. It also told him that their emperor didn’t actually need this loyalty.

Before leaving, the Secondary Minister of Criminal Affairs had looked at the boy still bound5bound: onto a sort of frame like Jesus., shook his head, and spoke.

Luckily you were born in this day and age. If you had been born a couple hundred years earlier Young Master Fang, then your words just now… no, even just because your father is suspected of treason, anyone within nine generations6nine generations: in essence, this wiped out your entire extended family, and was a standard punishment for crimes like treason. of your family would’ve been sentenced to death.

“Ha. You see, sir, the fact that I’m still alive, can still drink this cup of tea, and can still have this conversation with you, is all thanks to my being born into this era.” Fang Tinglan rolled up his sleeves. Faint scars criss crossed his arms. As the evening sun set, the dark areas in their room silently and steadily grew; the line that separated the two slowly arrived by the old knight’s foot.

“After whipping me, and after confirming that I actually didn’t know anything, they sent me to the innermost cell, a death row cell. No official trial, no official verdict.”

His only visitors in this small and damp cell had been rats and the jailer. There was nobody to save him, and nobody to come see him. The Fang family that had once been close to the emperor was now avoided like the plague. In that dark and sunless cell, Fang Tinglan had felt confused, had cried, had shouted, had hated, had cursed, and had even died. But this all disappeared the moment he broke free from the suffocation of his inundating thoughts.

In other words, his confusion, tears, anger, and hatred had come together into an entirely new feeling.

“Revenge.” The man who’d been silently listening finally spoke.

Fang Tinglan noncommittally smiled.

“Young man, are you taking revenge on your country?” Yener’s voice was almost severe.

“No,” Fang Tinglan shook his head, “You think too poorly of me.”

“If it’s not revenge, then it must be something even more excessive.”

This time Fang Tinglan didn’t deny it.

The knight looked at him for an extended moment, as if trying to read the man’s deepest desires from his pitch-black eyes.

In this standoff, it was eventually Yener’s previously stiff back that relaxed first. The old man sighed and leaned back, one hand rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“We are not of the same nationality, so I have no position from which to judge your actions. But, I hope you have something that might control yourself, be it morals, familial bonds, love… even just one is enough to keep you from falling completely into the void.”

“I do,” Fang Tinglan replied seriously.

“That’s good then.”

The sky had darkened completely and the pigeons had gone to rest. Downstairs, Yener’s wife was calling them for dinner. Fang Tinglan also thought it time to leave. He hadn’t learned anything about Fei Yi, but had somehow narrated his past for the first time, and to this knight he’d only just met. Not only was it not uncomfortable, but it was even quite satisfying — the same feeling as when the masses are finally understood by the gods, the student by his teacher, or the son by his father.

Even if the man didn’t approve of his actions, Fang Tinglan knew that the old man understood his heart.

Fang Tinglan bid the knight farewell. Just as he opened the door, Yener abruptly spoke up.

“It’s rumored that within the sixteen islands of the Yun Sea, there is a pirate.”

Fang Tinglan turned back.

“Named Fei Kena. Because he controlled many ships and people, his area of influence was the largest among all pirates. Unfortunately, this pirate only acted within the open sea and never visited Tisu’s waters. Otherwise, our navy would never have allowed his savage ways,” Yener said casually. “He organized the plunder of many ships, and attacked Fanshui, Wanli, Dachuan7Fanshui, Wanli, Dachuan: names of small countries or islands, I believe… holding as much power as a navy general.”

“What if he actually was one?” Fang Tinglan had been fixed to the spot since the man started speaking.

“I didn’t say that.” The man’s brows crinkled as he smiled for the first time at Fang Tinglan.

“…Thank you,” Fang Tinglan closed his eyes, then repeated, “Thank you.”

“What are you thanking me for? I’m only telling you about a rumor.” Yener picked up the candlestick. “Let’s go, young man. Why don’t you also come and taste our cook’s skill.”

A/N: FTL’s backstory was originally supposed to come later, but it felt more troublesome to push it back, so it was stuck here.

Something even more excessive than revenge must be quite ambitious. Mister Fang’s goal is to have those that once harmed his people in the palm of his hand ^q^ If you want to split them into archetypes, then LianLian is chaotic good and Mister Fang is lawful evil [:

1

The line between…: It actually says the line is straighter than a master craftsman’s ink line, but I think this conveys the message better.

2

Kuaizhen: lit. precious fish/meat

3

Yangchun Zui: lit. Drunk spring sun, name of the alcohol

4

Hong Dynasty and Qin family: this actually refers to the same family. In China, the actual surname of the royal family is always different from the dynasty’s name

5

bound: onto a sort of frame like Jesus.

6

nine generations: in essence, this wiped out your entire extended family, and was a standard punishment for crimes like treason.

7

Fanshui, Wanli, Dachuan: names of small countries or islands, I believe