Chapter 79: Chapter 79
“Thank you.”
At the Escort Bureau Lord, who had been repeatedly expressing his gratitude from earlier, Yeo Un-gi scratched the back of his head with an awkward expression.
“It was something I had to do.”
“Thanks to Young Hero Yeo Un-gi and Young Miss Hyeokryeon Cheong-hwa, there was no damage despite the attack from the Water Dragon Stronghold.”
“I was just lucky.”
The Escort Bureau Lord looked at Yeo Un-gi in front of him and then at Hyeokryeon Cheong-hwa, who was standing quietly in the corner.
Thanks to the two of them, the ship of the Dancheong Escort Bureau was able to cross the Yangtze River without any trouble.
“I will be sure to report this matter to the Alliance.”
In an instant, Yeo Un-gi broke into a broad smile.
It was the result he wanted more than the words of gratitude.
“Hahaha, thank you.”
Around the time Yeo Un-gi replied loudly.
“Thank you very much. Thanks to the Female Hero, my humble life was saved.”
“I will not forget this favor.”
In front of Hyeokryeon Cheong-hwa, it was crowded with escorts and porters.
An appearance so beautiful it was dazzling.
In addition, she even had outstanding martial prowess.
Right now, in their eyes, Hyeokryeon Cheong-hwa was the incarnation of a Female Hero they had only heard about in stories.
“I only did what had to be done.”
Hyeokryeon Cheong-hwa was feeling burdened by the escorts and porters who took turns expressing their gratitude one by one.
‘……It is uncomfortable every time.’
This wasn’t the first or second time this happened, but she didn’t get used to it at all.
Simply giving them an awkward smile that didn’t suit her was the best she could do.
A moment later, the Dancheong Escort Bureau left.
“It drains my energy.”
Yeo Un-gi dropped his shoulders.
Hyeokryeon Cheong-hwa agreed with those words.
It was rather comfortable to fight; this kind of work was torture for her.
“More than that, where in the world did Young Hero Cheon-hwi go? We were in the middle of the river.”
“Hmph. He’s probably swimming or something.”
Hyeokryeon Cheong-hwa spoke flatly.
She did not like Cheon-hwi.
To suddenly run away in the middle of a fight, was that what a martial artist did?
However, unlike her, Yeo Un-gi did not think that he had run away.
‘He possesses skills superior to mine.’
Cheon-hwi’s martial prowess was outstanding.
Of course, he had never seen him swing a sword, but he could sufficiently predict it just from the footwork he saw for a brief moment.
It was then.
Whee-eek…
Suddenly, a falcon descended from the sky.
“That is the Vice Squad Leader’s messenger falcon.”
Yeo Un-gi skillfully stretched out his arm.
Thereupon, the falcon alighted lightly on Yeo Un-gi’s forearm.
“What is the matter? He wouldn’t send a messenger falcon for just any ordinary matter.”
After untying the paper tied to the falcon’s foot, Yeo Un-gi lightly waved his hand.
The messenger falcon immediately took flight again.
While he was opening and reading the paper after watching the messenger falcon quickly move away.
“Ch-Cheong-hwa Young Miss! They say they have confirmed the location of the Water Dragon Stronghold!”
He shouted loudly.
“Is that true?”
“Yes! And……”
Yeo Un-gi, who had been speaking vigorously, stiffened in that state.
“What is it?”
Hyeokryeon Cheong-hwa, who was waiting for an answer, couldn’t endure it any longer and snatched the paper.
“Confirmation of the Water Dragon Stronghold’s location. And……”
Soon, she too stiffened her expression at the phrase written at the end while looking at the paper.
“Exterm…… inated?”
In an instant, a person’s face came to the minds of Yeo Un-gi and Hyeokryeon Cheong-hwa.
“Could it be!”
“Could it be!”
* * *
Clatter!
Seol Geom, who was processing documents as usual, lifted his head at the sound of the door suddenly opening and flinched without realizing it.
The person who opened the door and appeared right now was a figure who shouldn’t be here.
“Young Hero Cheon-hwi, why are you here?”
“I came because I finished the mission.”
“Excuse me? What are you talking about?”
At Cheon-hwi’s appearance of speaking abruptly, Seol Geom was dumbfounded beyond bewilderment.
“The mission I gave you was clearly to prevent the attacks of the Water Dragon Stronghold for a month……”
“There will be no more attacks from the Water Dragon Stronghold now.”
Cheon-hwi cut off his words.
“You say there will be no more attacks?”
“Yes.”
Seol Geom could not understand his words at all.
Was there a way to solve the attacks of the Water Dragon Stronghold?
If there was, it was something that would have been done earlier.
However, the solution he was suspicious of soon flowed out of Cheon-hwi’s mouth.
“Because I eliminated the Water Dragon Stronghold.”
“Excuse me?”
Seol Geom’s mind momentarily stopped.
To suddenly say the Water Dragon Stronghold was gone, what kind of absurd nonsense was this?
“What does that mean……”
“My. You really can’t understand words.”
Cheon-hwi looked at Seol Geom as if he was pathetic.
“I said I wiped them all out.”
“You mean the Water Dragon Stronghold?”
In an instant, Seol Geom made a blank expression.
It was a method he hadn’t thought of at all.
However, coming to his senses soon, his face stiffened coldly.
“Those are words that are hard to believe straightaway.”
Seol Geom spoke coldly.
The Water Dragon Stronghold was one of the top locations among the eighteen Yangtze River Waterway Strongholds, and he didn’t even know where their home base was yet.
But to say he eliminated them.
“Young Hero. The location of the Water Dragon Stronghold has never been known yet.”
It was a remark spat out telling him not to tell useless lies.
However.
“That makes sense.”
Cheon-hwi chimed in.
Not only that, he went one step further.
“Who would have thought that they would settle down in a cave.”
“A cave?”
It was a place he hadn’t thought of at all.
And because of that, he instantly became convinced.
Because if it was a cave, it made sense why the Chivalrous Commission Squad hadn’t been able to find it despite wandering around various places on the Yangtze River.
“H-How did you find the Water Dragon Stronghold?”
“I went by riding their ship.”
It was an answer that stabbed at the blind spot.
At the same time, it was a perfect answer.
Wouldn’t it suffice to follow them as they went back?
However, the reason they had failed in pursuing them all this time was because their counterattacks were fierce every time they were chased.
‘Even so, to board the ship alone.’
It was amazing nerve.
To go to the Water Dragon Stronghold on a ship full of enemies was completely like offering one’s neck into the jaws of a tiger.
“Didn’t they attack you?”
“They did.”
“But how.”
“Did you even listen to my words earlier?”
Cheon-hwi looked Seol Geom up and down with pathetic eyes.
“I said I exterminated them.”
Seol Geom gulped down his saliva.
‘Is it really true?’
Seol Geom’s eyes wavered slightly upon seeing the incomparably confident Cheon-hwi.
“Is there a way to verify that those words are true?”
“What would I do by telling a lie that would be caught immediately.”
Seol Geom lost his words.
Just as he said, if the Water Dragon Stronghold attacked again, he would be caught immediately.
“And I did tell the person called the Vice Squad Leader of the Chivalrous Commission Squad where it was. If he checks later, he’ll probably send a letter or something.”
Cheon-hwi recalled the middle-aged man he met at the ferry crossing of the Yangtze River on his way back to the Murim Alliance after smashing the Water Dragon Stronghold.
Seeing the exact same martial uniform as Yeo Un-gi and Hyeokryeon Cheong-hwa’s, he felt it was good that he had told him, to at least leave the corpse disposal to him.
“To the Vice Squad Leader?”
Seol Geom’s eyes widened.
When he mentioned none other than the Vice Squad Leader of the Chivalrous Commission Squad, he felt his doubts about Cheon-hwi gradually tilting towards certainty.
‘Did he really eliminate the Water Dragon Stronghold!’
As he realized Cheon-hwi’s words were true, astonishment struck his chest.
The Water Dragon Stronghold was a place with widespread infamy.
Not only did all the water bandits learn martial arts, but the roster of their leadership was splendid.
Starting with the Black Night Senior who once turned Qinghai Province upside down, and the Blood Ghost Axe who was originally a stronghold leader of the Green Woods but was deeply moved by the Water Dragon Stronghold Leader and voluntarily went under him.
And the Water Dragon Stronghold Leader who commanded them.
Small Tiger Giant Blade, Jak Ryang.
He was an expert who rapidly grew the formerly weak Water Dragon Stronghold to its current position with his high popularity and amazing skills.
It was the public’s evaluation that if he had ambition, he would have become an expert making a name for himself in the Central Plains beyond the Water Dragon Stronghold.
‘……To think he killed them.’
If these words were truly a fact, he had to change his thoughts on Cheon-hwi.
‘I thought he was dangerous just with the skills he showed when he met the Beggars’ Sect Leader……’
He thought he was someone worth paying attention to just for enduring the Beggars’ Sect Leader’s momentum, but in reality, he was showing more than that.
‘Perhaps he might have skills superior to even the Great Disciples of the Nine Great Sects and One Gang.’
A martial arts genius who occasionally appeared.
Cheon-hwi seemed to be such a person.
‘Is it a good thing for me.’
A faint line was drawn on the corners of Seol Geom’s mouth as he organized his thoughts.
Right now, he had joined hands with the Mount Hua Sect.
For him, it was a great blessing that there was such an outstanding person in the Mount Hua Sect.
‘Moreover, if the power of the Mount Hua Sect grows like this, the balance of the Alliance will also crumble.’
He suppressed the laughter that was about to come out.
In order for himself to become the Strategist, there was a need to draw out the hidden Strategist.
What was needed to do so.
He needed someone to shake the Murim Alliance.
And right now, Cheon-hwi in front of him and the Mount Hua Sect perfectly fit that.
“Then I will believe the Young Hero’s words.”
Seol Geom took out a document from the drawer.
As he turned over the paper densely written with text, a drawing of a pavilion soon appeared.
“You can sign here.”
Cheon-hwi looked at the pavilion.
Even at a glance, it was an antique and good pavilion, but.
“It is not here.”
It was not the place he wanted.
“I am planning to move to the lodgings the Mount Hua Sect used in the past.”
“If it is the lodgings the Mount Hua Sect used in the past……”
Seol Geom’s smile twisted.
“That place is the lodgings of the Zhongnan Sect.”
Seol Geom spoke in fluster.
“I heard it was originally the Mount Hua Sect’s lodgings.”
“That was in the past.”
“That’s why I am trying to take it back.”
The flustered Seol Geom quickly changed the subject.
“Haha. Young Hero. Do not do that, how about the pavilion in the east this time? As it was newly renovated this time……”
“Wow, then that’s great.”
Cheon-hwi smiled brightly.
However, Seol Geom, who was looking at that smile, felt some anxiety.
And that was not wrong.
“Should we give that place to the Zhongnan Sect?”
“Excuse me……?”
“You said it’s a better pavilion.”
“B-But that is……”
“Why? Did you lie just now?”
Sweat trickled down Seol Geom’s forehead.
“It is not that. It is true that the newly renovated pavilion is better, but……”
“Then it’s settled. It just so happens that we prefer our old lodgings even if they are old. My, this really worked out well.”
Cheon-hwi made eye contact with Seol Geom, who was smiling awkwardly, and twisted the corners of his mouth.
“Isn’t that so?”
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