Chapter 252: Guest Of The Party (1)
Chapter 251 – Guest Of The Party (1)
“Waaah. Waaah, waaah. Waaah.”
Inside the carriage running diligently along the official road, the baby’s crying echoed noisily.
“Baby, be good, okay? Coo, coo.”
Namgung Cheon, who clumsily held the baby, shook it here and there to coddle and soothe it, but to no avail.
Even when the baby seemed to stop crying for a brief moment, it soon clenched its tiny fists tightly and burst into loud crying with all its might.
“Waaah! Waaah!”
Thanks to this, Namgung Cheon had to break out in a cold sweat. Namgung Geom, who was watching, clicked his tongue.
“That is why, why did you wake the baby?”
No, you agreed to it too, old man!
Actually, at first, the problem was that the baby was sleeping too gently.
Since the grateful existence to break the awkward silence was just sleeping soundly, it did not help change the atmosphere at all.
So he tried waking it up… who knew it would cry loud enough to tear his eardrums.
“There, there. Good child. Peek-a-boo! Coo, peek-a-boo!”
Namgung Cheon did everything he could to soothe the baby, but the crying rarely subsided.
Namgung Geom clicked his tongue again.
“To think you cannot soothe a child like that.”
“Well, I need to have raised a child to know.”
Namgung Cheon muttered with a pouty expression.
‘I didn’t even raise my own child myself.’
Looking at the crying baby, a deep regret for his past years suddenly touched him.
Namgung Geom shook his head.
“From ancient times, a child must not be unconditionally coddled.”
“Then what should I do?”
Namgung Geom looked at Namgung Cheon with a pitiful gaze and reached out his hand.
“Give it here.”
Namgung Cheon carefully handed the crying baby to Namgung Geom.
Namgung Geom, holding the baby, looked down at it with the most gentle gaze in the world.
‘Oh, the look in his eyes is different from the start. To think that ice-cold old man would have such a gaze. Is this indeed experience?’
Namgung Geom glanced at Namgung Cheon and soon smiled broadly at the baby.
“Child, is it very hard for you?”
“Patriarch. Will a baby that hasn’t even been weaned answer you?”
“Tsk, tsk. It is not that one must speak to know. Sometimes, mind and mind communicate. What do you think is the reason the mothers of this world talk to their babies?”
“Ah…”
“Just as sometimes clashing swords tells you more than a hundred words, minds can communicate even without conversation.”
Uh… the analogy is somehow strange, old man.
Whether Namgung Cheon thought it strange or not, Namgung Geom looked at the crying baby with a serious expression and slowly nodded.
“This baby is hungry right now.”
“Oh, that makes sense! Come to think of it, it must have starved since last night.”
“It must be very hard. However, life is originally hard.”
Namgung Geom let out a sigh with a complicated expression and spoke gently to the baby:
“Child, stop crying. The world is rugged. Once we arrive at a village soon, I will beg for milk to feed you, so endure for just a moment.”
When Namgung Geom spoke in a calm tone from beginning to end, the baby would surprisingly stop crying… or not.
“Waaah! Waaah!”
The baby, for some reason, cried even louder.
Namgung Geom narrowed his eyes, smiled faintly, and murmured quietly:
“I told you to stop crying.”
“Waaah! Waaah!”
“Does my word truly sound like nonsense to you?”
“Waaah!”
“While I’m speaking nicely… stop. Child.”
Namgung Geom’s eyes had begun to turn cool before long.
Namgung Cheon stared at Namgung Geom with somehow anxious eyes.
‘Somehow… I think I should stop him.’
Whether he did or not, the baby cried frantically, and finally, Namgung Geom slightly raised his right hand.
“Right, so you have stubborness too. Then, this grandfather will also…”
At that moment, Namgung Cheon was startled and quickly snatched the baby away.
“No, what are you doing right now? Are you trying to kill the baby?”
“Give it here. That child does not yet know the hardships of the world.”
“Of course it doesn’t know. First, I will soothe it.”
“Did I not say that from ancient times a child must not be coddled? One whose blood has not even dried on his head is already disobeying an elder’s words, is he not? I must advise him so that he understands.”
‘As if he would understand!’
Namgung Cheon let out a sigh and shook his head.
“It is a baby that doesn’t even understand words. Did you raise me in this manner too, by any chance?”
“You, I…!”
Namgung Geom stopped mid-speech and closed his mouth.
Had he himself ever held his maternal grandson even once?
Looking back, he did not know why he had acted so harshly.
Because he was the child of the Great Killing Star?
Because he considered him to be the one who took his mother’s life?
He did not know.
As time passed, only emotions of unknown origin remained, and memories had been erased. Into the ears of Namgung Geom, who wore a bitter expression, Namgung Cheon’s low voice flowed.
“It is fine to cry a little, Grandfather.”
“Mmm? What did you say?”
“I said it is fine to cry a little. Because he doesn’t know the world yet. A day will come later when he cannot cry even if he wants to. Can he not cry a bit now?”
Namgung Cheon muttered, staring blankly out the window.
Watching that somewhat melancholic appearance for a moment, Namgung Geom wore a bitter smile.
“Indeed. But what did you call me after saying those words?”
“What? I don’t remember?”
“I heard something, though.”
“I said I don’t remember.”
As if adding accompaniment to Namgung Cheon’s answer, the baby’s crying grew even louder.
‘This is rather better.’
It was at that moment.
Suddenly, the eyes of Namgung Cheon and Namgung Geom turned cool at once.
Namgung Cheon spoke first:
“Those guys are very late.”
“Indeed. It seems we have just entered the land of Sichuan.”
The next moment, Namgung Geom tilted his head slightly. Instantly,
Swish!
Thud!
An arrow pierced the carriage, grazed Namgung Geom’s head by a hair’s breadth, and stuck next to Namgung Cheon’s face.
Looking at the arrow trembling as it stuck right next to him, Namgung Cheon let out a hollow laugh.
“Wow, did you just evade it to save yourself?”
“I trusted you.”
“No, what trust…!”
It was at that moment.
“Giggle!”
Did the frantically crying baby not suddenly burst into laughter?
It seemed the sight of the trembling arrow stuck in the carriage wall was amusing to it.
Although it was an age to laugh even at a rolling leaf, to think it would move its hands and feet and laugh like that in this urgent situation.
Namgung Geom nodded heavily.
“The kid is a promising sprout.”
At that moment, the carriage jolted and tilted, shaking heavily. As a result, when the baby’s body floated up, Namgung Cheon quickly snatched and held it.
“Giggle! Giggle!”
The baby laughed to the point of losing its breath, as if something was so amusing. On the contrary, from the outside, the coachman’s voice filled with fear was heard.
“P-Patriarch…!”
“I know. They are targeting us, so do not worry and take refuge for a moment.”
“Yes, I understand.”
The coachman had run off somewhere, as his presence was no longer felt.
The carriage stopped abruptly in the middle of the official road cutting through the forest.
In the midst of the quiet surroundings, only the baby’s laughter was heard.
Was the silence long?
The baby, who laughed to its heart’s content, stared blankly for a moment, babbled, and was soon ready to cry while twitching the bridge of its nose.
“Heung. Heuk… waaah.”
As if that crying sound was a signal, a dark blue sword suddenly popped out from the ceiling and fell straight down vertically.
Tap!
In an instant, Namgung Cheon reached out his hand and caught the blade with his index and middle fingers.
The tip of the sword, which stopped by a hair’s breadth, grazed the baby’s nose and trembled.
Had it been even a little deeper, the baby’s short life would have ended here.
Snap!
When Namgung Cheon broke the blade while circulating the Jiangling Divine Art, the baby laughed happily again.
“Giggle!”
Namgung Geom smiled, seeing that sight.
“Indeed, it is good that the baby is laughing.”
The next moment,
Thud, thud, thud!
Dozens of blades popped out from the ceiling, but Namgung Geom extended his palms upward and deflected them.
Boom!
As the ceiling was torn away entirely, the attacking assassins fell off with screams.
“Kuaak!”
“Aaak!”
Soon after, blades also surged up from the floor of the carriage.
Thud, thud, thud!
Namgung Cheon quickly held the baby and kicked the floor, soaring up into the air at the same time.
Spinning like a whirlwind, he flew up and then landed gently on the ground, making the baby laugh as if losing its breath.
“Giggle. Giggle…!”
Sigh, this brat seems to be enjoying it?
While Namgung Cheon let out a hollow laugh, blades flew in from all directions.
“Die!”
“Haat!”
Namgung Cheon, who quickly lay down while holding the baby, extended his foot just like that and kicked away the blades.
Clang, clang, clang!
The blades crossing in the air like a flower in full bloom opened wide and bounced away.
Holding the baby, Namgung Cheon deployed the Boundless Steps just like that and flew rapidly into the enemy’s embrace.
Slash!
As the Emerald Silk Sword pierced the assassin’s heart, a blood flower bloomed. At the same time, the baby burst into a giggle.
A blood fountain spurting at a single blow of the killing sword, and the baby giggling away.
‘Well, this isn’t bad either.’
Could this strange harmony be called a fresh experience?
The innocent laughter of a baby in a scene where only curses, shouts, the stench of blood, and groans ran rampant.
So Namgung Cheon and the baby became a pair enjoying the slaughter, dancing a sword dance splendidly.
However, this strange sight came as a peculiar fear to the assassins.
For that was natural, as every time the baby’s laughter was heard, an assassin was bound to die, was he not?
Thud!
“Giggle!”
Thud!
“Kya-hang, giggle!”
While Namgung Cheon was active in all directions deploying his killing sword, just then, a huge giant who did not fit the occupation of assassin swung a giant axe.
“Hee-yah!”
Finding it difficult to block, Namgung Cheon quickly threw the baby to Namgung Geom.
“Grandfather! Catch!”
“Got it!”
Namgung Geom quickly threw his body and caught the baby in midair. Simultaneously, he spun his body rapidly and scattered his sword in all directions.
Slash, slash, slash!
“Kya-ha-hang, giggle!”
While the baby’s laughter was heard frantically, the screams of the assassins mixed in.
“Kuaaaak!”
“Uaaak!”
Swish!
Landing on the ground, Namgung Geom held the baby in one hand and pointed his sword forward with the other.
Namgung Cheon, who had just deflected the giant-axe man, also retreated lightly, approached Namgung Geom, and stood back-to-back.
“Phew. That brat seems to enjoy it more than us, doesn’t he?”
“What does it matter? It is fine as long as he is enjoying it.”
“Well, that is true.”
Namgung Cheon adjusted his grip on his sword and twisted the corners of his mouth.
Namgung Geom swept a cool gaze around the area.
Casualties were scattered all around.
Even so, the number of enemies had not decreased yet. Pushing through the thickets, assassins were continuously being replenished.
Namgung Cheon firmed his expression and said:
“It seems they have made up their minds completely.”
“They must be thoroughly irritated. Furthermore, since we have entered the land of Sichuan, they must have grown anxious too.”
“How is the baby?”
“This brat is excited… Huh? Mmm…”
Namgung Geom wore a strange expression.
Simultaneously, an aroma that spread secretly yet clearly around them.
“What the fuck, what is this smell?”
Just then, a few assassins smelled the poop stench and retreated in a hurry.
Namgung Cheon also covered his nose and drifted away slightly.
Namgung Geom looked back at Namgung Cheon.
“Even you…”
“I am sorry.”
“You must clean up the aftermath.”
“F-first, let’s deal with those guys and then decide on that matter.”
Namgung Cheon’s gaze directed toward the bundle that was turning yellow.
‘Brat, you pooped a lot. Even though you haven’t eaten anything.’
Namgung Geom let out a slender sigh and scanned the surrounding assassins.
“They must know that this is the land of Sichuan. How do they plan to handle the aftermath?”
At that, one of the assassins sneered:
“Old man, what about the land of Sichuan? Have you ever seen an assassin choose a location to run rampant?”
At the moment the gazes of Namgung Geom and the assassin clashed violently in the air,
“Chuckle. Those words are difficult to just overlook. You must not look down on the land of Sichuan.”
Did an old man not walk slowly from the end of the official road cutting through the forest?
Despite it being quite a distance away, the old man’s voice felt close as if heard right next to them.
‘That old man is…?’
Following Namgung Cheon’s thought, Namgung Geom spoke with a faint smile:
“The Tang Clan has come to greet us.”