Chapter 104: Chapter 104
An old man was looking up at the starry night sky.
The old man had a white beard reaching down to his chest, and his greyish hair was neatly combed and bound into a topknot. His clothes were worn but clean, his white beard was tidy, and he held a wooden staff in one hand, giving him an ethereal aura as if he were a hermit.
Standing behind such an old man was a martial artist in neat attire. He lowered his head and spoke to the old man with a reverent posture:
“···The report ends here. Currently, the Gamsan City branch is maintaining order. They also intend to dispatch warriors to clean up the surviving underworld forces in the back alleys.”
The old man did not look back. He merely continued gazing at the night sky and asked in a low, gravelly voice:
“What about the young warrior named Jang Geon? Has he joined the Alliance?”
“···No. He declined the invitation and left Gamsan City.”
“I see.”
The old man slowly nodded. The martial artist behind him continued:
“···Is it really acceptable to leave him be? Should we not send someone to track him? Seeing how he brought down the dark practitioners of the Palace and defeated the foreign sorcerer in Gamsan, his martial arts are by no means ordinary. If we can bring him into the Alliance, he would be a great asset.”
“Let him be. A free spirit like him will not be bound by the Alliance. Besides, we have more pressing matters to attend to.”
“···Are you referring to the native valley tribe?”
“Yes. The elders of the tribe sent a message requesting assistance. They claim that the dark practitioners of the Palace have been creeping near their territory, attempting to unearth ancient spirits.”
The martial artist hesitated for a moment before speaking:
“···Can we not send warriors of the Alliance to assist them?”
The old man shook his head.
“That is impossible. Opinion within the Council of Elders is far too divided right now. Even within the Alliance’s sphere of influence, so much corruption occurs. Rather than tidying that up, voices would complain about dispatching Alliance warriors to the outside. And that young hero was not a person of our Alliance to begin with.”
“···Yes. Therefore, I reported to them that we would review the matter positively for now.”
The old man let out a faint sigh and stroked his beard.
“The movements of the Palace are becoming increasingly flagrant. Wherever in the east they fled to build their estate and cultivate power all this time, the fact that they are revealing such overt movements means they are brimming with confidence to stand and fight against us. Furthermore, it means they realized the Emperor across the sea has little interest in this land, and is unlikely to have much in the future.”
Cho Sang-ryong remained silent, keeping his head bowed toward the ground.
“In the midst of this, the Imperial Army used the Commandant Fierce Tiger incident in New Sichuan as a pretext to tighten military discipline, summoning the troops of all three cities to Hawaii. Whatever method they intend to use to tighten discipline, the clear fact is that their influence in this land has vanished for now. It will likely become far noisier than before, never quiet. Magistrate Yeon made far too hasty a decision this time···”
However, when the old man, who had been lamenting while gazing at the stars, finally turned to face Cho Sang-ryong, what filled his eyes was neither worry nor concern over the coming chaos in this land. The old man’s eyes flickered with a peculiar desire.
“···We need a bait to move the Council of Elders. A bait that all of them will drool over and ultimately have no choice but to bite. The withdrawal of the Imperial Army is both a crisis and an opportunity. If we unite the intent within the Alliance and move, we can place that vacant vacuum entirely under our influence. Perhaps we can even completely escape the Imperial Army’s influence and be reborn as a true Martial Alliance.”
Cho Sang-ryong, who had been looking down at the ground, slowly raised his head to meet the old man’s gaze. A peculiar brilliance similar to the old man’s flowed in his eyes as well.
“···By bait, you mean?”
“I need your master’s martial arts. His true supreme arts—the martial arts of the Imperial Army.”
Cho Sang-ryong’s face stiffened, and a hazy luster glinted in both eyes.
“···He will not even speak the mnemonics.”
“Even so, we cannot refrain from trying. In the first place, he is a fugitive who broke his oath of loyalty to the Emperor, and a despicable fellow who experimented with martial arts through your body. I am certain he must have compiled his martial arts into a manual. In the end, all that remains for an aging warrior is martial arts. If necessary, capture and torture him. Why, would it be difficult because he is your former master?”
Cho Sang-ryong shook his head.
“Since seven years ago, he has not been my master. No master would attempt to kill his disciple to conceal half-backed martial arts.”
The old man nodded in satisfaction and said:
“Take the entire Soaring Eagle Unit with you. I do not know how high a rank he achieved in the Imperial Army, but the fact that he hid in this New Continent to escape the Emperor’s eyes means he is clearly a formidable figure.”
“···I shall bear this in mind.”
Cho Sang-ryong bowed deeply in farewell just as when he first appeared, turned around, and left the garden. Standing with hands behind his back while watching him depart, the old man turned his head to look back at the night sky.
Counting the stars, the old man pondered: the Council of Elders who only cared for their own interests; the Imperial Army that had withdrawn to Hawaii; the Palace whose dark plots while slaughtering natives remained unknown; Commandant Fierce Tiger Gyeon Woo-young who died in the Alliance dungeon; Great Peace Squad and Baek Sa-gyeong who left behind only corpses; Cho Sang-ryong who had just departed, and his master. And besides these, the mountain of information and secrets gathering under the title of Lord of the Martial Alliance.
He suddenly let out a dry laugh. It was because someone had crossed his mind during his brief conversation with Cho Sang-ryong earlier. The hero said to have carried out revenge on behalf of slaughtered natives. The one who captured Commandant Fierce Tiger here in New Sichuan. A master possessing considerable martial arts despite being no scion of an ancient noble clan, but merely the son of a merchant house.
In his youth, the old man had also wandered following the wind and clouds, playing the knight-errant. That he was able to earn the title of Lord of the Righteous Dragon Sword was partly thanks to such youthful days.
However, the name of that young hero quickly vanished from the old man’s mind. Defeating an Imperial Army officer as a young master was impressive, but in the end, he was merely a vagabond wandering alone without any backing faction. Such wanderers could create small tales in some countryside, but could not change the history of this continent. Unless one was an absolute master on the level of the Empire’s Emperor or Grand General, one could not ultimately overcome the power of an organization.
His mind began operating complexly once more on how to exploit the opportunity presented by the Imperial Army’s withdrawal from the New Continent, and how to utilize the active forces of the Palace.
And the stars bestowed upon that old man the same twinkling downward as they did to all other people gazing up at them. If there was a difference, it was that just as the old man had no interest in the starlight, the twinkling of the starlight seemed equally indifferent to him.
* * *
Jang Geon concealed half his face under his bamboo hat, swaying his body along with Jojo’s pace.
The reins were certainly held in his hand, but it was clear he was not guiding the path. He was not looking ahead, nor tugging the reins to suggest a route, nor kicking Jojo’s flanks to urge him on. He was merely perched atop Jojo’s saddle, bobbing and swaying in rhythm with his stride.
And beneath him, Jojo trotted along with an attitude just as unfaithful as his master’s, heading toward a destination unknown.
Thus, under the blazing sun, an afternoon where both master and horse ambled along a path unknown in a half-dozing state. Jojo suddenly snapped to alertness and raised his head due to the sight of heat haze shimmering far in the distance. Blinking his large eyes, the horse soon snorted and woke Jang Geon.
“···What is it, kid.”
Jang Geon, who had been in a state between meditation and sleep on the hazy boundary between dreams and reality, slightly lifted his bamboo hat and spoke dully. Since Jojo found it bothersome as well, his following gesture was quite lazy.
Yet it was not so vague that Jang Geon failed to understand its meaning, so he soon raised his head to gaze beyond the heat haze shimmering in the distance.
“···A village. I’ll get to sleep comfortably tonight.”
Of course, whether the people of that village would welcome Jang Geon or not remained to be seen. Few people liked wanderers. However, Jang Geon was not overly worried. Even if people disliked wanderers, few disliked money.
In Jojo’s saddlebag right now was not only the silver lumps obtained during the previous treasure map incident, but also plenty of gold and silver received for helping Anon. In a frontier village like this, it was an amount that could buy a house and a farm, let alone an inn room.
“Hurry up. You’d like to take off the saddle and rest too.”
Jang Geon lightly tugged the reins to urge Jojo, and Jojo, gaining some energy, began to trot lightly.
A short while later, the village they drew close to was very small. Rather than a full village, it was a cluster of a tavern, a general store, and two or three merchant houses. It was likely a settlement of merchant houses established to provide daily necessities and luxury items for local farmers who built houses on their own farms or ranches.
Riding slowly between those buildings, Jang Geon looked around to find an inn. However, he could only see the tavern, merchant houses, and a smithy, but no inn.
“Hmm.”
Such cases were not entirely unheard of. After all, an inn was a business that profited only when there were many passing travelers, so in places with little floating population, it was natural that no one ran one. In such cases, travelers had to rent a room from one of these merchant buildings or obtain a room from some kind-hearted farmer.
Scratching his chin, Jang Geon slowly led Jojo around to see if there truly was no inn. On one side, people were loading cargo onto a carriage. They cast glance after glance at the unfamiliar newcomer while continuing their work.
The clanking noise at the smithy briefly paused as Jang Geon passed by, and a man leaning against the door of the general store smoking tobacco exhaled a thin stream of smoke as he watched him. Though there were few travelers, the population was not tiny, as gazes could be felt from various buildings.
From those wary eyes, Jang Geon guessed that obtaining a bed for tonight would not be easy. Sometimes, there were problems that could not be solved merely with a reasonable amount of money.
At that moment, catching sight of something, Jang Geon unconsciously pulled Jojo’s reins tight. At that, Jojo, who was ambling along lazily, snorted as if asking why he was picking a fight all of a sudden, and came to a stop.
Far from soothing him, Jang Geon quickly dismounted and walked as if spellbound toward the curious object he had discovered.
“···Well now.”
Jang Geon stood crookedly, stroking his chin as he looked at the strange item before his eyes. A towering cylindrical iron pillar with a long horizontal handle was strange enough in shape to capture his gaze. And to Jang Geon’s eyes, it resembled a manual pump—something similar to what he knew as a lever pump.
“What are you looking at so intently, knowing what it is?”
Jang Geon slowly turned his head toward the voice behind him. Standing there was a man with a somewhat tired face, looking at him.
“···What is this?”
The man let out a smirk at Jang Geon’s somewhat dazed question, then stepped forward slowly and grabbed the handle of the iron pillar. Then, scooping a gourd of water from a large basin placed beside the iron pillar, he poured it atop the pillar and pumped the lever up and down with a creaking sound.
A moment later, water gushed out from the spout protruding forward from the iron pillar. The man caught it in the gourd and handed it to Jang Geon. As Jang Geon accepted it, the man spoke in an excited tone:
“I named it the Pillar Well. By sealing the well like this and drawing up water solely through this pillar, nothing can fall inside, so the water never gets dirty, and it saves the trouble of laboriously scooping up water gourd by gourd. Isn’t it truly amazing? As for how this is possible, this void space is actually not completely empty, so if one can create even a small sealed space, through that···”
“Dear! Are you grabbing another passerby to do that again!”
Just then, a woman opened the door of the general store and walked out toward them. The man who had been speaking excitedly flinched at her approaching voice, then immediately greeted her with a sheepish grin.
“Well, no··· this person asked what this was···”
“It’s the opposite, isn’t it? I know perfectly well you grabbed him first. Don’t you get tired of grabbing any passing traveler to explain it every single time? You tire people out every time like that, and that’s why problems arise! And how many people even understand your talk that you talk to just anybody like that? Have you already forgotten the warning from the patrol unit last time!”
The man could only offer an embarrassed smile at the woman’s rapid barrage of nagging, unable to say a word. He even cast a subtle glance at Jang Geon, asking for help. Holding the water gourd, Jang Geon looked down at it, raised it to take a gulp, tasted the water, and then spoke:
“I was indeed the one who asked first.”
The woman who had been pressing the man looked at Jang Geon in surprise at those words, then immediately bowed her waist in apology.
“Oh dear, I’m so sorry. You must have been bewildered because of my husband. There’s no need to cover for him. This isn’t the first or second time he’s done this. My apologies.”
“No, why are you bowing your waist again! I tell you this person asked what it was first!”
“Even if he asked what it was, so what? You would have digressed into strange topics again and babbled incomprehensible nonsense all day long! As if I’ve only seen you do that once or twice!”
The two soon began arguing loudly as if forgetting Jang Geon standing beside them. Having taken another gulp of water in the meantime, Jang Geon turned his head to gaze at the well pillar the man called the Pillar Well. Then, interjecting between the two in the middle of their argument, he spoke:
“Do you happen to have a spare room at your house?”
At those words, the man and woman looked at him in surprise. Jang Geon shrugged his shoulders casually and continued:
“It seems there is no inn here.”
“Well··· we have a room, but since we don’t know who you are—”
His words were immediately cut short. It was because of the thick silver coin Jang Geon held up.