Chapter 17. A Third-Rate Warrior Who Saves a Girl (4)
The Namgung Clan.
Located on Mount Huang, the Namgung Clan, the local overlord of Anhui Province, normally had countless guests visiting as well.
From high-ranking officials to Elders of renowned sects.
Since such things were like daily life, even the servants and maids were not greatly tense, but today was a little different.
The Grand Strategist of the Murim Alliance himself had visited.
For a fine steward, knowing the importance of a visitor and giving treatment befitting that importance was an essential skill.
But the warmed liquor, tea, and refreshments prepared according to taste were stopped by warriors at the entrance.
“Important matters are being discussed inside, so come later.”
“Y-yes, understood.”
While the stewards secretly cursed the ignorance of the warriors, who did not even think that the warmed liquor and refreshments would cool,
“I gave the Entry Token to someone else.”
“…….”
Inside, Namgung San’s brow furrowed deeply as he listened.
Jegal So-myeong had gone out of his way to stop by the Namgung Clan after giving roundabout words at the Iron Sword Sect, and in the end, things had turned out like this.
“Seon-hwa possesses ability that does not fall short compared to any young talent.”
Namgung San spoke with confidence.
He said it as a member of the Murim Alliance’s Dragon and Phoenix Assembly and the next-generation master of the Namgung Clan, but the person facing him was someone who felt even such a background was nothing special.
“Then she should be able to enter smoothly even if she takes the regular exam.”
Unable to control his emotions, Namgung San spoke.
“You know what people call the Murim Regular Exam, do you not?”
The Hell Regular Exam.
That was what the Murim’s gossip-lovers called the regular exam taken to enter the Murim Academy.
A brutal examination where hundreds of thousands applied from all over the Murim each time, and only five hundred passed.
In the previous session, Namgung San had led members of his clan and taken that hellish regular exam, but Namgung Seon-hwa was not in the same position as he had been.
“Had you entrusted the Entry Token to me?”
“…….”
Even Namgung San, of all people, could not help but be wounded by Jegal So-myeong’s words.
“I said from the beginning that I would test whether Seon-hwa had the qualifications. I cannot give it to one without qualifications.”
“Then why can Seon-hwa not even take that test?”
“Because the bastard who took the Entry Token is more outstanding than Seon-hwa.”
“…….”
Rage burned like an active volcano.
In the present Anhui Province, who could possibly have talent enough to surpass Namgung Seon-hwa of the Namgung Clan?
“That cannot be. Grand Strategist, you must have misunderstood something.”
The moment he said it, he felt the atmosphere around him change abruptly.
Because his reason had been briefly paralyzed by rage, he had made a slip of the tongue he should not have made.
“Am I in a situation where I must convince you?”
“…….”
“I am asking what reason I have to persuade you at all.”
“……I apologize.”
Regret is always late, no matter how quickly it comes.
By the time he noticed the unique chill in Jegal So-myeong’s gaze, it was already far too late.
“You said your family’s circumstances are worsening day by day, did you not? But what reason is there now for the entire Murim to take all of your circumstances into consideration?”
Painful words pierced his chest one by one.
It was a feeling he had not felt in the days when there had been nothing he feared and nothing he regretted.
But he could not stake Seon-hwa’s life because of the emotion of misfortune that gnawed at his heart.
“……I apologize. And may I ask just one thing?”
“You want to ask whom I gave the Entry Token to?”
He heard the answer before even asking the question.
It meant that Jegal So-myeong already knew all the questions and actions he would take next.
The position of Mantongbu’s Grand Strategist truly was not something anyone could hold.
“Jin So-un of the Taeul Sect.”
Even so, the fact that he told him meant that even knowing what Namgung San would do afterward, he was not worried.
“May I take it from him?”
“From the beginning, it seemed that bastard intended to give it to someone else anyway. Do as you please.”
Namgung San silently offered his respects and left the hall.
After Namgung San left, Jegal So-myeong, who had been writing documents, grumbled.
“Why must I get involved in such trifling matters because of the wastrels in your family?”
There was no one inside, but Jegal So-myeong continued speaking.
“If you keep acting like this, I will set fire to your Azure Sky Hall.”
“Heh heh, old man. It seems you went to a high position in the Murim Alliance and now fear nothing.”
Along with that reply, an old man with a long white beard appeared before Jegal So-myeong and sat in a chair.
It was Namgung Tae-ha, the current Head of the Namgung Clan.
“You saw it too, did you not? That rotten bastard glaring at me and shouting back? I almost plucked out one of his eyes but held myself back.”
“Tsk. I have nothing to say.”
“That son of a dog. How many times did I change that bastard’s diapers……. I should have ripped off his little pepper right then.”
As Jegal So-myeong’s rough words continued, Namgung Tae-ha’s face flushed bright red as well.
“That is enough, you old bastard! And when did you ever change San’s diapers, for you to make such a fuss! And what do you mean, ripping off the precious son of another family’s what?”
“You senile old relic! Why do you think I came all the way to Anhui Province and even attended the sixtieth birthday banquet of some Iron Sword Sect Leader I had never heard of or seen before? Are those words for you to say right now?”
“Goodness! Who told you to come! You came because you were sick of watching the Elders’ moods!”
After the two men grappled verbally like children not yet twenty, they eventually snorted for a while and then remained silent for a long time.
“Sang-won, that bastard, is scheming something, is he not?”
A direct descendant of the Namgung Clan feared the regular exam.
That alone was already no different from a warning that a great calamity was coming.
“The clan is just before splitting in two.”
“Heh heh, you damned old man. What did you do all your life inside the family without even keeping things in order?”
“…….”
Jegal So-myeong’s mockery continued once again, but Namgung Tae-ha could not say anything.
“Is it truly that serious?”
“The collateral bastards, centered around Sang-won, have begun acting as they please.”
“Would it not be enough to call them inside the clan?”
“Would I be agonizing like this if that were possible?”
The Namgung Clan thoroughly distinguished between the direct line and the collateral lines and divided their work.
The direct line carried on tradition within the clan, and the collateral lines took charge of the clan’s livelihood outside the clan.
But the power inside and outside, which should have been balanced, began to fall into imbalance, and in the end, the outside had reached the point of coveting the power of the inside.
“The forces of the collateral lines are being reorganized around the Azure Sky Merchant Guild. Now, when we handle matters inside the clan, we have to make ‘requests’ to the collateral lines. ‘Requests,’ I say.”
“……Ugh.”
“Moreover, all channels through which we could know what the collateral lines are doing outside have already been cut off. Reports are already coming in from here and there that those bastards are committing atrocities by borrowing the Namgung Clan’s name. You heard as well, did you not?”
“……I heard.”
Because the reason he had come to Anhui Province this time was to speak about that.
“Do you have a countermeasure?”
“I am making…… a Sword-Breaking Form for the Boundless Firmament Sword Art.”
“Are you insane?”
The Head of the Namgung Clan was trying to break down the martial art that was no different from the face of his family.
Even if one viewed it favorably, this was a matter so enormous that it would end in impeachment.
If it went wrong, there would be nothing that could be done even if the entire direct line were slaughtered.
Since he was preparing such a thing calmly, there was no way Jegal So-myeong would not be dumbfounded.
“Otherwise, I must see the children’s blood with my own hands.”
“……So did you make it?”
Before being the Grand Strategist, it was curiosity as a single Warrior.
Could a Sword-Breaking Form truly exist for a profound sword art like the Boundless Firmament Sword Art?
Namgung Tae-ha’s gloomy face alone was enough of an answer.
“Is it not a sword art layered with the Founders’ lifelong experiences? It is not something a man like me can create just because I suddenly rush at it.”
“Then you are wasting your time pointlessly?”
“What else should I do? Do you have another solution?”
“…….”
He was Jegal So-myeong, the Grand Strategist under heaven, but even for him, nothing in particular came to mind regarding the current situation.
“See? In the end, it is a problem even you cannot answer. Who could answer a question that even the Grand Strategist under heaven cannot solve? I have no choice but to dig into this as if I mean to die.”
“……Perhaps.”
Suddenly, a face came to Jegal So-myeong’s mind.
A slippery, shameless bastard who even dared to suspect the Grand Strategist in front of him, an utterly insolent fellow, yet somehow seemed as if he might know a clear answer.
But at the same time, a face he did not like, as if the bastard would thoroughly demand calculation in return.
“……But I think the price to pay for receiving that answer would be far too great.”
“Who are you talking about?”
“The bastard your grandson is chasing after.”
“Jin So-un of the Taeul Sect? That man knows the answer?”
“Who knows? How could a bastard like him solve a problem even the Head of the Namgung Clan and the Grand Strategist of the Murim Alliance could not solve? Still, he is a bastard with remarkable cunning, so I wonder whether he might make some hole to escape through.”
“Heh heh, a fellow acknowledged by the petty mind under heaven. I would like to meet him once.”
“You senile old bastard! Who are you calling petty-minded!”
“Now, now. Instead of that, let us go have a drink. Leave those documents roughly aside too.”
“These are not documents that can be left aside like that! With this one document, the power structure of the Murim Alliance……”
“Ah, enough. I know how to imitate your signature anyway, so I will do it with you. Let us go.”
“You bastard! Those documents I do not remember, you were the one who did them, were you not?”
The two men threw off the dignity that had weighed down their shoulders all this time and moved elsewhere with light hearts.
My carefully woven plan went awry from the very beginning.
“We are not hiring escort warriors.”
“Then may I at least stand guard?”
“……Which sect are you from?”
“The Taeul Sect.”
“……Ahem. I am sorry. There is no position.”
The wall of reality was still harsh toward the Taeul Sect.
If I could stop the kidnapping, it would be best to do so from the inside, but if I said, ‘Your daughter is in danger of being kidnapped,’ then there was a high chance I would instead be treated the same as the kidnappers or as a madman.
Whichever result it was, it would not be good for me.
Instead of infiltrating the inside, I finished the matter by sending a threatening letter, as if I were the one who would intrude.
If they saw the threatening letter, they would prepare something, at least.
In the end, I had no choice but to stop the kidnapping from the outside. The problem was that the confidential document only stated the fact that she had been kidnapped and killed, not the process.
“It was a document written through interrogation, and the process would not have been necessary anyway.”
Thanks to that, I had to search through the library in my head all over again and find documents related to this.
※Grade E
-A large number of animal corpses occurred in the forest between Hefei and Chao Lake. Concluded to be an incident caused by indiscriminate hunting. Hunters were warned.
※Grade F
-A report that thieves had entered a slash-and-burn farmer village. The stolen items were trivial things such as old clothes and famine-relief crops. No response.
※Grade F
-A report that women were disappearing from a slash-and-burn farmer village. After Grade 9 warriors from the branch were dispatched, no traces could be found, and the investigation was closed.
※Grade F
-Several female corpses discovered in Chao Lake. Presumed to be women who disappeared from the slash-and-burn farmer village. There were no facts by which they could be identified, so word was delivered to the slash-and-burn farmers, and the case was closed.
※Grade F
-The corpse of a girl with her head severed was discovered in an empty house near Lujiang. She was wearing the clothes of the slash-and-burn farmer village, but no one from the slash-and-burn farmer village came forward, so she was cremated and dealt with. Case closed.
I could find traces of Wang So-so in Grade F and Grade E reports that even the branch did not consider very important.
In conclusion, Wang So-so’s corpse was not discovered, but judging by the physical description of the corpse found in Lujiang written in the report, there was a high possibility that it was Wang So-so.
Also, hiding an important case inside several incidents was one of the common methods used by assassins.
My operation began from the slash-and-burn farmer village on the road from Wangbu to Lujiang.
“But why did they not use the hostage more?”
From Wangbu to Lujiang was only three days’ distance.
From the beginning, a hostage was more useful while alive, so I wondered why they had killed her immediately.
In fact, if Wang So-so had been used well, it would have been possible to exploit the tremendous wealth the Wang Estate had accumulated.
“Well, if they had done that, their identity might have been exposed, and if so, it would not have ended well.”
Though the Azure Sky Merchant Guild had the Namgung Clan at its back, their opponent was the Wang Estate.
If they touched them wrongly, an enormous situation in which even the military and the imperial family moved could occur.
“Still, if they feared that, why did they touch the Wang Estate?”
Leaving behind such doubts, time passed, and people of unclear identity began gathering in Hefei.
