Chapter 49: Chapter 49

“…Yes, Red Envoy Wang. My apologies. I misspoke.”

While those two shared a conversation like that, the rest of the martial artists talked noisily among themselves, eating meals boisterously. Watching that sight, Red Envoy Wang continued in a somber attitude.

“…However, today we must inevitably accept that collateral damage. We do not know their relationship with the child, but they do not seem likely to hand her over easily, so rather than leaving useless traces for the Martial Alliance or Imperial Army to pursue, it is better to wipe them clean. Wait for night. Let’s move at the time the inn falls asleep.”

At those words, not only the one called Black Envoy Won, but also those who had been drinking and eating with loud voices all wore smirk smiles. It was a terrifying smile as if expecting the night.

* * *

Dark Dragon No. 24 held his hands together on the table and had both eyes tightly closed. It was a solemn and static appearance, as if lost in meditation or deep thought. Gam Gun-sang watched that sight while sipping tea. Then, as if getting bored, he tapped No. 24’s gathered hands. At that, No. 24 opened only one eye and looked at him.

“What is it?”

Gam Gun-sang shrugged his shoulders as if asking what he was going to do now. At that, No. 24 knit his brows tightly.

“Wait quietly for a bit. Because the ones who just entered are suspicious. They are talking about wiping things clean or whatever.”

Saying so, he closed his eyes again. Right now, in his ears, all sounds echoing in this inn were amplified several times and ringing. The reason he closed his eyes and wore a serious expression was because he had to find and distinguish the merchant’s voice among those buzzing sounds.

However, ending with the conversation a moment ago, the merchant and the martial artist did not converse in low voices. Like other martial artists, they merely laughed and talked loudly while eating and drinking liquor, and the story No. 24 wanted did not come out.

In the end, unable to endure the pain in his ears, he stopped the Ears Audition Technique. It seemed there would be nothing more to hear.

“Damn it, was it a mistaken impression? This is good for amplifying sound, but the ears hurt too much.”

Watching such a No. 24, Gam Gun-sang tapped his arm again, gesturing this way and that by himself. It was a movement as if asking what they were really going to do now. No. 24 answered quietly in a low voice.

“…What else is there? First, we report to the top and continue following behind that lady. If she is really going to Sinsacheon, there’s no need to rush. Because Governor Yeon will check the report and prepare accordingly over there. And if that lady has any shame, she won’t run away again. She probably knows well that if she runs away from there again, Governor Yeon’s head will really fly off.”

Just then, Gam Gun-sang gestured this way and that again. Narrowing both eyes, No. 24 looked at it and asked back.

“Which one is she? Why are you suddenly curious about such a thing? Why, since you fell deep into 5-mon novels, are you trying to hit on her with that? Do you want to try being an Imperial Son-in-law?”

At those words, Gam Gun-sang waved his hands as if startled. No. 24 laughed.

“It’s a joke. For a person to be surprised at this degree. Right, she is… probably about seventh among the daughters. Above her, she has six older sisters and about five older brothers? Below her, even more younger siblings. I know she gave up competition long ago and just plays and eats… She’s bloated with luxury. Playing and eating like that, what was she lacking to throw such a fuss.”

Listening to his words, Gam Gun-sang wore a somewhat flustered expression. Is it okay for someone who claims loyalty to the Emperor to speak so recklessly about a princess? As if understanding everything that expression said, No. 24 laughed again. And scanning around, he said.

“Why wouldn’t it be okay? The target of my loyalty is not that spoiled child. Besides, the master of Chang’an has dozens of such children. Even if Governor Yeon submitted a report, from Chang’an only an order to send a dozen commandants to bring her back would have dropped. Meaning there was no need to waste our manpower.”

Listening to his story, Gam Gun-sang swallowed hard. And scanning around himself, he gestured this way and that again.

“…Of course, that doesn’t mean we can let her escape. Still, she is His Majesty’s child, so we must prevent her from getting stabbed by a blade and dying somewhere in the New Continent, shouldn’t we? If she gets hurt and returns, then regardless of Governor Yeon or whatever, a blood wind will truly blow. So we must continue following behind.”

Looking at Gam Gun-sang’s tense expression upon hearing his words, No. 24 scratched his chin and continued as if showing favor.

“Hey, do you know why I’m letting you know these things? It’s so you can grasp the Dark Dragon Unit’s atmosphere. Because from now on, you are not Gale Blade Gam Gun-sang, but Dark Dragon No. 31. Of course, you’ll have to go to the training camp in Hawaii to formally complete the course, but before that, isn’t it good to know how things work around here?”

Gam Gun-sang slightly bowed his head as if thankful. No. 24 laughed as if it were nothing and stopped him. However, unlike his laughing mouth, his eyes looking at Gam Gun-sang were cold as ice.

* * *

“This fellow or that fellow. Not a single one is normal.”

Listening to the inn’s sounds from outside, Jang Geon entered inside carrying Seo-ha on his back. Since Seo-ha hadn’t wanted to fall away after flopping into his arms earlier, he had just piggybacked her inside. Carrying the girl on his back as she was, he approached the party. Sitting and drinking tea, Jin Gyeon saw his appearance and laughed ha-ha.

“It seems you’ve become very close in the meantime. Goodness, in the end it’s a relationship that must part…”

“A foreseen parting is no reason not to grow close. Because humans inevitably part in the end. More importantly, I have something to tell you, so everyone come up to the room.”

Saying so, Jang Geon piggybacked Seo-ha and walked with big strides up to the 3rd-floor room. Seol Myo-geum and Jin-ha looked at each other with bewildered expressions, then followed behind him, and Jin Gyeon looked at his back with a blank face for a moment before standing up late.

“…Amitabha…”

Watching them go up like that, the merchant, the martial artists, as well as Gam Gun-sang and Dark Dragon No. 24 stole glances with secretive eyes.

Entering the room first, Jang Geon placed Seo-ha on the bed and covered her well with a blanket. Lying meekly, the girl merely looked at Jang Geon with blank eyes without saying anything. Seeing those eyes, Jang Geon chuckled and unnecessarily flicked the tip of her nose lightly.

“What is the matter?”

Just then, Seol Myo-geum who followed into the room asked while resting both hands on her waist. Behind her, Jin-ha and Jin Gyeon also entered. Jang Geon spoke to Jin Gyeon at the very back.

“Could you close the door first?”

Looking at Jang Geon with questioning eyes, Jin Gyeon meekly closed the door. And the moment the door closed like that, Jang Geon suddenly drew his sword. Seol Myo-geum flinched in surprise, and Jin-ha quickly blocked her front while grabbing her sword hilt.

“What are you doing right now?”

Jang Geon did not answer her question. He merely out of nowhere flicked the sword with his finger. After a ‘tring’ sound of finger and steel meeting, the sword rang ziiing. Though that sound rang unusually long and deep for just flicking a sword, the people inside the room didn’t understand what he was doing and tilted their heads. Just then, Seol Myo-geum turned pale as if realizing something.

And at that moment, outside the room, sitting on the 2nd floor of the inn, Dark Dragon No. 24 was covering his ears, slumping on the table, letting out restrained groans.

When the ringing of the sword died down, Jang Geon flicked it once with a snap and sheathed it back. And he looked at Jin-ha, Jin Gyeon looking at him blankly, and Seol Myo-geum who had her lips tightly shut.

“Do you know that there are those who practice demonic arts in this New Continent?”

The party looked at each other with expressions asking what this was all of a sudden. Among them, Jin Gyeon stepped forward and opened his mouth.

“Those who practice demonic arts swept by wicked hearts exist in the Central Plains as well. Of course, I have heard rumors that it occurs a bit more commonly in this New Continent. Why do you ask that all of a sudden?”

Leaning against the window frame with arms crossed, Jang Geon thought. The merchant he saw earlier had hands like Seo Wi-ryang’s. That Seo Wi-ryang had mentioned an organization that formally divided ranks and practiced demonic arts before dying, and Jang Geon had previously fought a well-trained demonic practitioner like him. And that fellow was one targeting the spirit of the valley native tribe.

There was no precise and clear connection. However, Jang Geon could guess that those targeting the spirit were the organization Seo Wi-ryang mentioned, and that this time they were targeting Jin Seo-ha who possessed an extraordinary bloodline. It was hard to think that there were two organizations cultivating demonic arts avoiding the Imperial Army’s eyes.

Of course, the question of why remained. However, even Jang Geon alone had gained inspiration for new martial arts while treating those meridians. If they were demonic practitioners who extracted human hearts to increase internal power, it wasn’t even easy to predict what they would do to Jin Seo-ha’s body and what more they intended to gain.

“Warrior Jang?”

Around the time his thoughts finished, Jin Gyeon spoke to him again. Full of bewilderment, he too had organized his mind during that moment, and was now looking at Jang Geon with firmly settled eyes.

“Although I haven’t known Warrior Jang long, according to the trust Junior Brother Jin Jo showed to Warrior Jang, and what I have personally observed over a short period, I trust Warrior Jang. Please speak without hesitation.”

Jang Geon softly smiled at Jin Gyeon’s appearance. It seemed Shaolin monks trusted people too easily, just like his junior brother. Smiling briefly, he scanned the people inside the room, stopped his eyes at Seol Myo-geum, and opened his mouth.

“Tonight, something worthy of writing in your book will happen. It’s fellows targeting this little brat.”

After that, Jang Geon laid out his experience and inferences based on it. At his fight against demonic practitioners and his predictions close to foresight based on it, the two women and one monk wore dazed expressions.

* * *

Night deepened at the Nameless Inn.

Not to mention the guests, even the innkeeper and waiter had gone to sleep, so inside the inn was full of silence. Outside that silent inn, less than half a moon’s light cast faint shadows beneath the inn, and only the chilling howl of the cold winter night wind echoed faintly across the wilderness.

Just then, squirming shadows rose atop the inn’s roof.

Covered in black face covers and night-raid attire, they were Red Envoy Wang disguised as a merchant and his subordinates. Standing tall on the roof looking up at the dim moon, Red Envoy Wang opened his mouth.

“First, securing the child is priority. After that, we dispose of the sleeping ones and burn the inn.”

His subordinates bowed deeply in obedience without an answer or sound. The swords mounted on their backs were also drawn without a single sound, beginning to move smoothly. Like lizards, they moved along the roof and walls of the inn toward the room where Jin Seo-ha was staying.

It was the moment the one who reached the window first brought his hand to the window with cautious movements.

With a thud sound, a foot broke through the window and struck that fellow’s face. The fellow with a crushed face and the broken window frame fell straight to the ground in a heap. When the startled masked men looked inside the broken window, a monk stood with a benevolent smile, hands folded in prayer.

“Amitabha, those who come are not good, and those who are good do not come. I can easily tell that your visit is not for a good purpose.”

However, the masked men hanging here and there on the inn wall immediately raised their swords and tried to charge into the broken window without a moment of hesitation.

Just then, the window of the adjacent room burst open, and Jin-ha came out holding a sword, sleeves and hair tied up tightly. The masked men trying to charge at the monk were stunned at that timely appearance. Standing on the window frame, Jin-ha glared at those martial artists with cold eyes and slowly drew her sword. Even under the dim moonlight, the pure white blade sparkled frostily.

Immediately after, the light of that blade exploded, pouring toward the black-masked men.

“…What kind of…”

Red Envoy Wang looked down at the woman and his subordinates who fell in heaps from the inn wall and began clashing swords. He had guessed that the Shaolin monk’s martial arts would be a ankle-grab, but thinking that both arms were wrapped tightly in bandages and that his hands looked uncomfortable during mealtime, he thought it wouldn’t be very difficult. However, the problem didn’t seem to be that monk. Right now, his subordinates’ swords couldn’t even brush her collar, yet blood was already spattering on the ground.

At that moment, at an unknown chill, he slowly turned his body. A man on the inn’s roof was holding his scabbard with his left hand, looking up at the less-than-half moon. At Red Envoy Wang’s gaze looking at him, he also lowered his head and faced him.

Those eyes were as calm as the unconcerned moonlight.

His subordinates bowed deeply in obedience without an answer or sound. The swords mounted on their backs were also drawn without a single sound, beginning to move smoothly. Like lizards, they moved along the roof and walls of the inn toward the room where Jin Seo-ha was staying.

It was the moment the one who reached the window first brought his hand to the window with cautious movements.

With a thud sound, a foot broke through the window and struck that fellow’s face. The fellow with a crushed face and the broken window frame fell straight to the ground in a heap. When the startled masked men looked inside the broken window, a monk stood with a benevolent smile, hands folded in prayer.

“Amitabha, those who come are not good, and those who are good do not come. I can easily tell that your visit is not for a good purpose.”

However, the masked men hanging here and there on the inn wall immediately raised their swords and tried to charge into the broken window without a moment of hesitation.

Just then, the window of the adjacent room burst open, and Jin-ha came out holding a sword, sleeves and hair tied up tightly. The masked men trying to charge at the monk were stunned at that timely appearance. Standing on the window frame, Jin-ha glared at those martial artists with cold eyes and slowly drew her sword. Even under the dim moonlight, the pure white blade sparkled frostily.

Immediately after, the light of that blade exploded, pouring toward the black-masked men.

“…What kind of…”

Red Envoy Wang looked down at the woman and his subordinates who fell in heaps from the inn wall and began clashing swords. He had guessed that the Shaolin monk’s martial arts would be a ankle-grab, but thinking that both arms were wrapped tightly in bandages and that his hands looked uncomfortable during mealtime, he thought it wouldn’t be very difficult. However, the problem didn’t seem to be that monk. Right now, his subordinates’ swords couldn’t even brush her collar, yet blood was already spattering on the ground.

At that moment, at an unknown chill, he slowly turned his body. A man on the inn’s roof was holding his scabbard with his left hand, looking up at the less-than-half moon. At Red Envoy Wang’s gaze looking at him, he also lowered his head and faced him.

Those eyes were as calm as the unconcerned moonlight.