Chapter 374: The Imperial Family (2)
Was the discussion with the Imperial Family not going well? Meetings were being held practically every other day, and it seemed they were even running late into the night.
But that had nothing to do with me. It absolutely was not because Namgung Dowi had repeatedly warned me, nor because Tang Sowol was glued right to my side except when she slept.
Absolutely not.
I simply had no room to pay attention to anything else because I was focused on my training.
“Brother Cheon. It seems you’re turning in early today? Could it be that after sending me away, you have something you plan to do in secret......”
“I told you not to worry. Didn’t I promise? Until this matter is wrapped up, I wouldn’t go anywhere except the detached residence and the training ground.”
“No. I was only asking because I wondered whether you needed some time alone. After all, you’ve been stuck with me all day long, so you must have quite a lot pent up by now.”
“Heheh. I was joking. Then I’ll be off now, so please get plenty of rest tonight.”
Tang Sowol giggled behind the sleeve covering her mouth. After saying only what she wanted to say, she slipped away just like that.
The door was shut tight. But looking at the doorknob still swaying as though someone had just passed through, I let out a long sigh.
“Haa...”
Of course, there were times when I needed time alone for that sort of reason, but at least today was not one of them.
Today, I was simply trying to shake off the fatigue that had built up from pushing myself a bit too hard lately.
My new martial art was one in which willpower moved together even with each light movement. Naturally, that meant the consumption was all the greater.
If I repeatedly dragged it out to the limit, then of course I was bound to grow tired. I had to rest at least once in the middle. Today was just such a day.
Consciously suppressing the senses that had grown sharp without my realizing it from wringing out my willpower, and laying my body down on the bed after overworking it by repeating similar motions over and over in search of a more optimized sword path.
When I closed my eyes, the world grew quiet in an instant.
Darkness, silence, loneliness. Everything that would normally make a person uneasy gently enveloped all of me at this moment alone.
I entrusted myself to the drowsiness that came naturally, and fell into an early sleep just like that.
Until I sensed an unfamiliar presence outside the door.
“Ah.”
I hurried awake from sleep, my mind still hazy, but my body was already holding a sword reflexively as though warning me of danger.
The Murim Alliance Leader, knowing I was training an important martial art, had lent me a detached residence and training ground in a remote place where no one could come and go casually.
In other words, anyone who would come all the way here had to be someone I knew to some degree.
And if they had come this late at night, that went without saying.
Once I reached that point, my muddled head was quickly sorted out.
Cut them down first.
The sleepiness still had not faded, but my body and mind had become one, so my actions were natural.
I sprang out while swinging my sword at the two intruders beyond the door who were probing for my presence on this side.
Slice.
As I cut through the door and leapt out, what I saw was a young woman and, standing guard at her side, a middle-aged man.
Of the two, the middle-aged man with the stern impression hurriedly drew his sword and blocked my way.
“Danger......!”
Kaang!
Clear qi force bloomed over the clashing swords. Judging by how distinct that yellow sword qi was, he was no easy opponent.
The lingering drowsiness vanished completely, and my mind sharpened.
“So you were one with some skill.”
“Yooou bastard! How dare you draw your sword so carelessly in the presence of—!”
“And you, do you even know who I am to be sniffing around in front of me so carelessly?”
Do you know who I am. Or do you know who this person is.
Living in the Unorthodox faction, those were words I truly heard to the point of nausea. Of course, the truly great figures usually did not say such things.
Ignoring him, I swung my sword. Not the Raging Wave Death-Stealing Art, but the new martial art I was still developing. I had grown rather used to it by now, and I just happened to need a real combat opponent, so this worked out well.
Kang! Kaduk chaeng!
In the blink of an eye, dozens of exchanges passed back and forth. Even to me, who had seen all sorts of sword arts, his swordsmanship was quite unfamiliar.
It was extremely practical, yet steadfast. It was a sword that advanced to kill the enemy, but at the same time it also had a defensive aspect meant to protect something.
If there was one peculiar thing about it, it was that whether attacking or defending, it treated the user’s own safety as the bare minimum.
I knew one group that used martial arts with characteristics like that.
“Don’t tell me...... you’re those Sal Valley bastards again.”
“How dare you compare me to those filthy assassin wretches!”
“I’m sick of you bastards. I’ll finish it properly today.”
I swung my sword with even greater ferocity.
Ordinary slashes from which every unnecessary flourish had been stripped away. But what those simple trajectories produced was my own sword domain.
No matter how powerful a heavy sword he swung at me, my sword easily pushed it aside. The fast sword, too quick for the eye to follow, collided as though it had been drawn in from the start for my sword alone, then bounced away. The countless changes birthed by illusion sword were all neutralized together, whether feints or real strikes.
No matter where or how he tried to cut, my sword was already there. And no matter where or how he tried to block, my sword pushed through it.
It was a harmony that could only be described as sheer brute force, as outright absurdity.
Had his mind changed once all of his moves were shut down and he found himself driven onto the defensive before he knew it?
Some of the tension slipped from his oddly stiff neck.
“W-wait a moment. I think there’s been a major misunderstanding.”
“A misunderstanding, after barging all the way into another man’s bedchamber. I don’t remember inviting a woman, and I certainly don’t remember inviting some hairy man either.”
“Yooou bastard! Watch your tongue! As for this person......!”
At the instant his concentration faltered in his agitation.
My sword slipped through that tiny opening and cut straight through his sword entirely.
A bizarre phenomenon in which sword qi crushed down on sword qi and cleanly split even the blade within into two pieces.
Faced with an overwhelming difference, one rarely seen in a battle between Flowering Stage martial artists, his eyes widened greatly.
“What is this.....”
Even in his panic, his body moved reflexively and tried to shield the woman who had come with him, but—
“After you sleep it off, you’d better be more careful with your manners.”
I struck first, driving my fist into his abdomen.
Puh-eok!
“Keok!?”
The internal energy I packed into it ravaged the inside of his body according to the principles of the Internal Destruction Heavy-Hand Method.
The time it had taken to get this far was barely over ten seconds. Perhaps because he had never imagined he would be defeated this quickly, a flash of bewilderment passed through his eyes before they slowly shut.
The intruder collapsed unconscious. It was not enough to kill him, but it was a grave injury that would force even a Flowering Stage martial artist to recuperate in quiet for quite some time.
It was at the moment I raised my fist again to cleanly destroy even his dantian while I had the chance.
“W-wait a moment!”
The woman, who until now had only stared blankly while watching the fight, hurriedly stepped between me and the fallen man and spread both arms wide.
“What is this. If you’re only now thinking of begging for your life—”
“I am Princess Mueui, sent to the Murim Alliance by order of His Majesty the Emperor. And the one who just fell is the Commander, the head of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.”
“Don’t talk nonsense beyond reason. What princess in the world comes and goes in the quarters of a man she’s never met before in the middle of the night? And in the room of a man who’s already very much spoken for, at that.”
“Th-that, there were circumstances behind everything...... b-but it’s all true!”
“Yes, yes. We can hear the details in the prison later.”
I shifted the direction of my fist to knock out that woman as well while I was at it.
Fortunately, her martial prowess was only at the first-class level at best, so it would not take much effort.
“No, what kind of loutish rogue are you......!”
“If you feel wronged, then you should’ve built your strength ahead of time.”
I sneered at the woman protesting as though she had been wronged and thrust my fist toward the tip of her chin.
It was then.
The moon, which had been hidden behind clouds all this time, emerged, and the dark surroundings brightened noticeably.
Thanks to that, I could finally see clearly. The splendid clothes the woman before me was wearing.
More precisely, the various patterns embroidered upon them.
My knowledge was not especially deep, but I was not so ignorant that I could not recognize the symbols of the Imperial Family.
On the off chance, I shifted my gaze and looked at the one I had just knocked down, and that bastard was wearing gold-colored clothes. It had only been hard to distinguish the color because it was dark.
No way, for real?
With trembling eyes, I looked straight at the woman before me. Tang Sowol too was a daughter of a prestigious clan who had been raised in luxury, but this face carried a noble aura that could not even be compared to Tang Sowol’s.
Her martial realm was not high, and it was not as though she had cultivated some special martial art or possessed a special constitution, so what did it take to maintain skin and looks like that?
Simple. Eat spiritual medicines mixed into your meals, and receive care from countless attendants.
In other words, there was a high probability she really was someone of noble status on the level of a princess.
“Are you really Princess Mueui?”
“Hoo. Did I not tell you so?”
“Hmm.”
“Even now it is not too late. If you put away your sword and fist now, then I will hold today’s discourtesy against you alone.”
“You won’t forget it?”
“You have turned the Commander into this state, and you think this can pass as though nothing happened? Even if I wanted to, I could not. Understand that even this is already the most lenient treatment possible.”
After a brief moment of thought, I made up my mind.
“Princess, you should just sleep it off too.”
“Eh.”
Ppaak.
Since she was of noble status, I adjusted my strength as much as possible and struck the back of her neck with the edge of my hand.
Princess Mueui collapsed with her eyes shut, still wearing the expression of someone who had not understood what she had just heard.
Good. So what do I do now?
She said there was no choice but to make an issue of this, so I quieted things down first, but.
“It can’t be helped.”
My thoughts were short, and my actions were quick. For troublesome matters like this, should I not seek the help of a professional?
I immediately brought Tang Sowol over and explained the situation.
“Are we screwed......??”
“Please stay calm, Brother Cheon. What has already happened cannot be undone. So let us gag them and tie up their hands and feet first before they wake up.”
She responded calmly, as if she had expected something like this from me. As expected, bringing Tang Sowol in had been the right choice.
It was right in the middle of my trust in my fiancée growing more and more in my heart.
“Fortunately, Princess Mueui does not seem to have any particular injuries, and the Commander elder only has severe internal injuries, with no obvious external wounds. If it’s like this, then all we have to do is shut the mouths of those two.”
“That’s a relief. In other words, that means we only need to persuade the two of them, doesn’t it? Since you brought it up, you must already have a method in mind.”
“Of course. Traveling around with you, Brother Cheon, I too have seen and learned quite a few things.”
“Ohh...... I really did find myself a good fiancée. Right. What should I do?”
“It’s simple.”
Tang Sowol puffed out her chest with a proud smile.
Even compared to a princess raised more preciously than anyone in the Central Plains, the poison pouch overwhelming enough to eclipse her cast a deep shadow in the moonlight.
“First, let’s call for Illusory Illusion Witch!”
“Hm???”
For an instant I hesitated as the unreliable everyday presence of Illusory Illusion Witch came to mind, but it was still too early to judge.
“What do you plan to do after calling Illusory Illusion Witch?”
“Well, obviously we should erase today’s memories with evil methods.”
Tang Sowol spoke in a calm tone. Now that I looked, there was no focus visible in her deep green eyes.
We really were screwed.
***
To start with the conclusion, it was a huge success.
“Ddyuttya? Uttyattya...”
“Where is this and who am I?”
At the sight of Princess Mueui and the Commander muttering blankly while staring at the ceiling, Illusory Illusion Witch broke out in a cold sweat.
“T-this seems a little too severe, is it really okay..?”
“It looks like they don’t remember today, so it’s fine.”
Anyway, it was a huge success.