Chapter 14. A Third-Rate Warrior Who Saves a Girl
The sixtieth birthday banquet that had been scheduled for one week ended on the second day.
Those who had come a long way from other castles had many complaints because they had not even been able to enjoy themselves properly, but no one spat out curses.
Because of this incident, the atmosphere in the Iron Sword Sect had turned so ominous that no one could easily vent their anger.
Important figures from various places had attended, but they did not receive a send-off from Seong Cheon-wol, the Iron Sword Sect Leader.
After the incident, Seong Cheon-wol shut himself away, and Seong Mo-hyeon was locked in prison.
“He learned the Great Star-Absorbing Art! I am telling you, he definitely learned the Great Star-Absorbing Art!”
Seong Mo-hyeon shouted about the Great Star-Absorbing Art like a madman, but even the servants who brought him meals merely looked at him with resentful eyes.
And I woke in a place that was not my original lodging.
‘What is this?’
Not only were Father and Kang Chae-seok not in circumstances where they could wear such silk clothes, but their physiques themselves were so bear-like that such clothing would not suit them.
“Are you awake?”
“Who are you?”
“Is that question meant to test me? Or is it meant to mock me? Whichever your intent may be, I find it unpleasant.”
“…….”
“Is that all you can do toward me, who helped with that ridiculous little play of yours? A man who spoke of righteousness?”
As expected, Jegal So-myeong knew everything.
The Taeul Heart Method was a heart method of indescribably outstanding purity, so even if Seong Cheon-wol stirred my acupoints a little, I would not suffer internal injuries.
“I was discourteous. Grand Strategist.”
“Enough. Sit.”
Jegal So-myeong seemed to have a great deal of overdue work even now, and he was busy reading documents and signing them.
To quench my thirst, I poured the tea before me.
“The wound inside your mouth was large. Should I have them prepare plain water instead?”
“Ahem……. I-it is all right.”
I had not suffered internal injuries, but because I needed to vomit blood for dramatic effect, I had torn up the flesh inside my mouth recklessly.
For a while, I probably would not even be able to smell spicy food.
“You knew?”
“I became certain after seeing your condition. Still, it was surprising that you had not suffered internal injuries. Was there such an outstanding inner arts heart method among the Taeul Sect’s inner arts methods?”
“It is the Taeul Heart Method, the foundation of the Taeul Sect.”
“The Taeul Heart Method should not be able to gather that much inner arts.”
A question I had no need to answer.
What mattered now was why Jegal So-myeong had not told the Iron Sword Sect Leader despite knowing the inside story.
If he had become certain after seeing the wound inside my mouth, that meant he had already predicted it before that, and if so, he could have escaped far earlier. Yet Jegal So-myeong had lent strength to my plan.
“…….”
When he finished drafting one document, he read a new one and either signed it or rolled it back up and returned it to its place.
“From where did you plan it?”
“What do you mean……?”
“Was it at the banquet they say took place the day before? Or was it when Seong Mo-hyeon mentioned the forbidden art?”
“……I do not know what you mean.”
“You are wasting time pointlessly. Must I speak of how great a crime it was to drag the Murim Alliance into your little play by deliberately bringing up the Execution Pavilion before you will open your mouth?”
Only then did I understand why Jegal So-myeong had knowingly let himself be deceived.
He had joined in simply because he found this board I had laid amusing.
When I recalled Cheon-gi’s words that intelligent people felt strong interest in things that were ingenious and surprising, I became certain that I could also extract something from the Grand Strategist.
“I have not known what you have been talking about since earlier.”
“……Must I ultimately take up the whip?”
“As a rule, I understand that silver is more effective than the whip when one wishes to make another open his mouth.”
With an expression of utter disbelief, Jegal So-myeong placed the Ninefold Sword, which had been standing beside him, on the table.
“They say you refused when Seong Mo-ran first said she would hold a banquet.”
It seemed he had probably investigated the entire course of events.
“The Iron Sword Sect Leader also said he would give me three Iron Heart Pills. Is that now as if it never happened?”
“Heh heh.”
Jegal So-myeong took out a small wooden box from his robe, and I quickly opened the box to confirm that there were three Iron Heart Pills inside.
“……Are you checking that in front of me right now?”
“Is it not best for all matters to be certain?”
Jegal So-myeong wore an expression that asked what sort of bastard this was.
“It was from the moment I heard that the Iron Sword Sect had used the Gyeryong Merchant Guild to invite the Taeul Sect.”
“What?”
“If it had simply been for the sake of friendship, would they not have sent a polite invitation? But that was not what they did. They used the Gyeryong Merchant Guild, which has immense influence over the Taeul Sect, to force us to attend. Why would they do such a thing unless they had some intention?”
“Huh…….”
Since what I had known from my past life was still something I had known, I spoke honestly.
If I tried to lie before the Grand Strategist for no reason, everything would be exposed.
“Then did you know Seong Mo-hyeon would mention a forbidden art? And how did you make Seong Mo-hyeon think that?”
“Which of the two are you curious about?”
“I am curious about both.”
“Then the calculation does not balance.”
“What calculation does not balance? Without me, you would not have obtained the Ninefold Sword or the Iron Heart Pills. On top of that, you might have lost your life.”
“In exchange, the Iron Sword Sect and the Murim Alliance would be cursed for this incident for a long time. The Iron Sword Sect would never again have dared to suppress the Taeul Sect and enter the One Hundred Eight Peaks.”
“However it happened, things were able to work out this well because my help was there.”
“Grand Strategist, you did not do what should have been done in the first place, and only resolved it after the problem grew larger later. That cannot be called receiving help.”
“You say I did not do what should have been done?”
“Our Taeul Sect was being unjustly oppressed, and rather than judge right and wrong, you were calculating who would be more beneficial to the Murim Alliance.”
“……That is my duty.”
“Therefore, I did not receive the Grand Strategist’s help, nor do I owe the Grand Strategist anything. So would answering all of the Grand Strategist’s questions not be a calculation that does not balance?”
For the first time, Jegal So-myeong’s mouth fell open.
“In the Murim, there are those who wait for days and days with ten thousand gold simply to converse with me for fifteen minutes. You can obtain such an opportunity merely by giving a few answers, and yet you refuse?”
“Is that not because they wish to meet you because there is something they can gain that is worth more than ten thousand gold?”
“Ha! You have nothing to regret before me?”
“Our Taeul Sect accepted Gye Cheol-yeong simply to eat three meals instead of two. What benefit would our Taeul Sect gain by joining hands with the Grand Strategist?”
“Huh…….”
An overt display of displeasure.
But even so, if I never had to meet him again, wasn’t he just some uncle?
Even if I entered the Murim Alliance, what occasion would I have to meet a high-ranking person from Mantongbu?
“Perhaps today will be the last day of my life that I see you, Grand Strategist, will it not?”
“…….”
“If you have nothing more to say, I will take my leave now.”
“……Speak about ‘Did you know Seong Mo-hyeon would mention a forbidden art?’”
As expected of the Grand Strategist, his curiosity about strategy was greater than his curiosity about martial arts.
“It did not have to be a forbidden art. Seong Mo-hyeon was certain of his own victory, and even the people of the Taeul Sect knew that fact. In such a situation, he could not have believed that he was losing. Perhaps outstanding prodigies who cross swords with me will be unable to shake from their minds the thought that I am using witchcraft.”
“……So you could simply have won?”
“Is that not something the Grand Strategist also knows?”
Jegal So-myeong was not merely a man of intellect, but an outstanding Warrior in his own right.
In his younger days, each time his Snowflower Iron Fan moved, the blood of the Black Path scattered in all directions formed a river.
“Then would it not have been enough to lead the martial duel cleanly to victory?”
“If I had only won, I would not have gained anything.”
“…….”
“After I won the martial duel overwhelmingly, who knows what methods they might have used later to inflict harm? But once an incident like this breaks out, would they not stay quiet for at least ten years, if nothing else?”
“I could have ignored it to the very end.”
“That would have been no different from the justification for the Murim Alliance’s existence disappearing. Would you really have done that?”
To grit his teeth and ignore it while drunkards gathered from all under heaven watched?
That would only have worsened public opinion about the Murim Alliance, which was already becoming unfavorable.
“……Even so, what if, despite all that, you were framed to the end as having learned a forbidden art?”
“Then the Execution Pavilion of the Murim Alliance would probably have taken my corpse away, and through an autopsy, they would have revealed that I had not learned a forbidden art.”
Jegal So-myeong, who had shut his mouth tight as if he had eaten honey, opened it only after quite some time.
“……You risked your life over a matter merely this small?”
“Did you say ‘merely’? Because of that ‘merely,’ the Iron Sword Sect used the Gyeryong Merchant Guild to pressure the Taeul Sect. Because of that ‘merely,’ the wound Seong Ju-tak inflicted on my father twenty years ago still remains as a scar. Because of that ‘merely,’ the people of the Taeul Sect were prepared to risk their lives and fight the entire Iron Sword Sect.”
“…….”
“Is the name of the Jegal Clan not more important than gold to you? What is different about a small sect?”
“Hmm…….”
This was always the problem with high-ranking people.
The narrow-mindedness of thinking that their names were values more sacred than anything, but our names were not objects worth risking our lives over.
That must have been what made the Murim Alliance of my past life turn out that way.
“Then let me ask one thing. If the name of a small sect has such value, then when the Taeul Sect and the Jegal Clan stand opposed to each other, by what method would the Taeul Sect deal with the Jegal Clan?”
“…….”
Instead of answering, I looked at him.
He quickly grasped my intention and gave an incredulous laugh.
“Heh heh. The calculation does not balance, is that it?”
“Yes.”
“Good. What should I give for the calculation to balance? I have entrusted myself to a traveling party with only my body, so I have no money and cannot give you any.”
Jegal So-myeong rummaged through his robe and took out a small token made of ivory.
On an ivory token about the size of two fingers, the characters “Entry” were written.
It was an item about which only rumors of its existence had been abundant, while few people had actually seen the real thing.
An Entry Token that allowed one to enter the Murim Academy without taking the “regular exam” known as the hell regular exam, and without using “special recruitment,” the privilege possessed by the One Hundred Eight Peaks.
An Entry Token that could not be obtained even with a fortune of a hundred million gold had appeared right before my eyes.
“Will this much suffice?”
I quickly picked up the Entry Token and put it inside my robe, and Jegal So-myeong let out a sigh of disbelief this time as well.
“To stand opposed to the Jegal Clan. Truly, it is dreadful just to imagine. If I had to choose the most troublesome opponent among the Five Great Clans, I would choose the Jegal Clan.”
“Enough flattery. Speak.”
“Let me see. First, I would sell off all the family property I had.”
“And after that?”
“Then I would divide the family property, separate the adults and children, and scatter them throughout the world. Even the Jegal Clan, being an Orthodox Path clan, would not send pursuers and kill us to silence us, would it?”
“…….”
Jegal So-myeong looked at me with eyes like he was looking at a dog eating filth.
“Is that all?”
“Yes.”
“…….”
“You said you wanted me to answer the question. You did not tell me I had to give the correct answer.”
“……Was this also part of a strategy?”
“The calculation does not balance.”
“……I am sick and tired of hearing about that calculation.”
“May I leave now?”
“You will come to the Murim Academy, will you not?”
“……Um, do I necessarily have to enter myself?”
“I gave the Entry Token to you, so how you use it is up to you. Its existence has already been proven by the fact that it exists.”
“I understand. I intend to challenge the Murim Academy.”
“To enter Mantongbu, it is advantageous to complete the Murim Academy.”
“Yes…… well, that is true.”
A prodigy among prodigies.
Mantongbu was an extraordinary position one could not enter, especially without a good mind.
But in truth, it was the place I least wanted to go.
“If you complete the Murim Academy, I will prepare a seat for you in Mantongbu.”
“??”
Jegal So-myeong’s sudden nonsense made me nearly faint.
Mantongbu? What was he talking about? Even in my past life, I had been unable to fight together with my junior brothers because I was looking at documents, and now he was telling me to do that again in this life?
I would not do it even if I died.
Once the war continued anyway, I would have to go out to the battlefield too.
In that case, it would be better for me, better for my junior brothers, and better for those in the field if I built up field experience from the beginning and raised my rank.
“Ah…… I have no interest in Mantongbu.”
For the first time, Jegal So-myeong tilted his head.
“I have been thinking this since the martial duel. Are you a little insane?”
No, honestly, when my junior brothers are dying, isn’t the bastard who says he will sit at a desk the more insane one?
