Chapter 87
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 87
Chapter Title: Prince Yeong (3)
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“What in the world were you all doing!”
The stout guard roared at his subordinates upon learning that Prince Yeong's daughter, Ju Hyein, had disappeared.
*I didn't see her either.*
He searched his memory, but he couldn't recall seeing Ju Hyein since boarding the ship.
“Did you happen to see her?”
“No. I didn't.”
Shin Yehyang also shook her head, indicating she hadn't seen her either.
This meant Ju Hyein had been gone since before Jinmyeong and Shin Yehyang even came aboard.
“Kugh!”
The stout guard examined his dead subordinates. Among them were the men assigned to guard Ju Hyein.
It seemed that while he was preoccupied with protecting Prince Yeong and Ju Baekjin, the attackers had killed her guards and abducted her.
*A mistake.*
The stout guard could only blame himself. He had been so focused on protecting Prince Yeong and Ju Baekjin that he had neglected Ju Hyein.
“Find her, now! Move!”
The stout guard hurriedly commanded his men.
As his subordinates, save for a few, moved to search the area, he approached Prince Yeong.
“Your Highness. I will find her without fail. For now, let us return.”
The stout guard still considered this place dangerous.
There was no telling when the enemy might strike again, so they had to move to a safe location.
*Of all places, it had to be where the New Demonic Sword Controller is.*
There were many nasty rumors about the Demonic Cult itself, but he didn't believe all of them.
To him, a member of the Imperial Palace, the Demonic Cult, the Righteous Alliance, and the Heretical Alliance were all the same kind of ruffians.
But the New Demonic Sword Controller was a different matter. Wasn't he a murderous demon who had slaughtered countless people?
However, right now, they had nowhere else to go.
“I understand.”
Prince Yeong reluctantly nodded at the stout guard's words.
Seeing the prince unable to move, worried for his daughter, the stout guard felt a pang of guilt.
But even if the same situation arose, he would protect Prince Yeong and Ju Baekjin first.
“Help me. Bring my daughter back to me.”
Prince Yeong, who had been following the stout guard, said this as he looked at Jinmyeong and Shin Yehyang.
Then, he bowed his head to the two of them.
“Your Highness!”
The emperor's uncle.
The man with the highest status in the world, second only to the emperor.
He had just bowed to mere martial world ruffians.
Not only the stout guard but even Jinmyeong and Shin Yehyang stared with wide, astonished eyes.
“Please raise your head. The princess will return safely to your side.”
“…I will trust you.”
Prince Yeong, along with the stout guard, headed for the small boat the enemies had arrived on.
*I didn't expect him to bow.*
Jinmyeong let out a small sigh as he watched Prince Yeong depart on the small boat.
He didn't know what the prince's intentions were, but the pressure was now definitely on him.
“Let's get moving.”
“Do you know where they went?”
“We'll have to start looking now.”
Jinmyeong walked around the ship, looking down.
The small boats the masked men had arrived on were moored here and there.
*That spot is where Prince Yeong's boat was.*
Jinmyeong began to look for an unnaturally empty spot where a boat should be.
“That one looks a bit out of place.”
It was Shin Yehyang, not Jinmyeong, who found the spot first.
“I guess we'll have to head in that direction first.”
Since they had already abducted Ju Hyein before Jinmyeong arrived, it was difficult to pinpoint their location.
Jinmyeong could only hope they had gone in that direction.
“Y-Young Master.”
Just as Jinmyeong and Shin Yehyang were about to leave.
“…Did they leave these ones behind?”
Jinmyeong sighed, looking at the five women.
Yuran of Myeonghwaru, and the four courtesans: Mae, Nan, Guk, and Juk.
They had left behind the women who had boarded the ship for Prince Yeong's entertainment.
“Still, you managed to stay safe.”
“Yes. It seems they didn't bother with us, so we stayed out of the way.”
It wasn't that the Heaven-Shattering Society didn't kill innocent people.
It was just that they had their immediate targets—Prince Yeong, Ju Baekjin, and Ju Hyein—so they hadn't paid the women any mind.
If the guards hadn't held out and the Heaven-Shattering Society had achieved its goal, the women might have lost their lives as well.
“Looks like you were lucky. Can you get back on your own?”
At Jinmyeong's question, the women nodded.
“We have learned some martial arts, so we should be fine.”
At Myeonghwaru, the courtesans learned martial arts in their spare time.
It wasn't for any particular reason.
It was simply a precaution in case they were targeted by thugs.
*If Prince Yeong hadn't bowed, I'd really just want to go back.*
Of course, these courtesans were nothing compared to the prince's family, but they were still the top earners of Myeonghwaru.
He felt sour at the thought that the prince had brought them along for entertainment when he needed them, only to forget and leave them behind when things got urgent.
“Let's go. It's not like you were planning to back out.”
As if sensing his thoughts, Shin Yehyang came up beside him and said.
Only after the courtesans had left on a boat did Jinmyeong immediately mount his sword and start moving.
“Give me a ride later.”
“Huh?”
“I want to try it once. It looks fun.”
It seemed the reason she had been glancing at it ever since they first crossed Dongting Lake was because she wanted to ride it.
Jinmyeong could see that Shin Yehyang's ears had turned red, despite her deadpan expression.
“Alright.”
It wasn't a difficult request, so Jinmyeong nodded.
It was unlikely Shin Yehyang would lose her balance and fall off the sword, but even if she did, she wouldn't be seriously injured.
“For now, let's focus on finding the princess.”
Jinmyeong and Shin Yehyang immediately began to survey the surroundings.
“Hmph!”
When they went to where they sensed a presence, they found Prince Yeong's guards searching the area.
“Any sign of a trail?”
“…There's no trace at all.”
The guard flinched at being spoken to so informally by a martial world ruffian, but when he recalled the ruffian's martial prowess, his rising anger subsided all too easily.
“No trace, you say?”
“That is correct.”
No matter how skilled a master was, it wasn't easy to leave no trace while hastily fleeing with a kidnapped girl.
But from what Jinmyeong had seen, the warriors of the Heaven-Shattering Society weren't masters of that caliber.
*This means they didn't come this way.*
The thought of having to search for a trail in this vast area was daunting.
“Huh?”
Jinmyeong tilted his head up slightly as he felt a sudden drop of water.
“…Looks like it's going to rain.”
Shin Yehyang also looked up at the sky after Jinmyeong, letting out a small sigh.
“Let's hurry and find them.”
When it rains, any traces the enemy left behind will be washed away.
Jinmyeong had no choice but to quicken his pace and wander around in search of clues.
*I wish those guys would find something.*
It wasn't easy for just the two of them, Jinmyeong and Shin Yehyang, to search this wide area.
On top of that, with the rain starting, they were now on a time limit.
So he could only hope that Prince Yeong's guards, sent out earlier by the stout guard, would discover a trace of the Heaven-Shattering Society first.
But in the end, they failed to find the trail they were looking for, and time passed helplessly.
“I think we should stop now.”
Eventually, the rain began to pour down in earnest, and Shin Yehyang shook her head in resignation.
Jinmyeong also thought it was impossible to find any traces in this situation.
“…We couldn't find anything either.”
He hadn't expected much, but in the end, the guards also failed to find any sign of the Heaven-Shattering Society.
They had learned martial arts, not tracking skills, so it was to be expected.
In the end, Jinmyeong and Shin Yehyang had no choice but to head toward Myeonghwaru.
And the guards, with slumped shoulders, followed behind them.
“…So you couldn't find her in the end.”
Seeing Jinmyeong return with nothing, Prince Yeong felt his world crumbling.
He even began to think that he shouldn't have left the palace.
“I will do my best to find her.”
“…I see.”
Prince Yeong nodded, but there was no hint of expectation in his eyes.
He sighed as if he had already given up on his daughter, Ju Hyein, and started moving toward his room.
“What should we do?”
“What do you mean? We have to do everything we can.”
Jinmyeong sighed at Yang Jeon's question.
“By the way, why haven't I seen Maeng Yo around?”
“I don't know. He said he was stepping out for a bit and left with Young Master Gu.”
“They're hanging out together again.”
Was it because Jinmyeong had completely given up on Gu Jahong that things changed?
Gu Jahong had suddenly started to take an interest in martial arts.
Since Jinmyeong and Shin Yehyang had given up on him, he had continuously sought out Maeng Yo, the next most skilled person available.
Perhaps they had grown close through that, as the two were often seen together.
“I was planning to use the Green Forest's information network.”
“Will it be that useful?”
“Right now, I'm desperate enough to borrow even the Green Forest's power. Go to the Namga Merchant Guild and the Unjeong Escort Agency and ask for help.”
He had to mobilize the Hunan branch of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
After giving Yang Jeon his orders, Jinmyeong immediately headed for Seongharu, the Hunan branch of the Underworld Sect.
“You've come at a late hour.”
O Seonha, the head of the Hunan branch and master of Seongharu, sighed as she saw Jinmyeong arrive deep in the night.
“Sorry, but it looks like I'll have to borrow your strength again.”
“Is that so? And did you take the Great Recovery Pill I gave you a while ago?”
“Not yet. I'm keeping it safe.”
The Great Recovery Pill that O Seonha had mentioned before Jinmyeong went to find the Blood Hand Demonic Lord had indeed ended up in his hands.
Thanks to that, he had to use up all the money he had, and even one of his Night-Luminescent Pearls.
Perhaps because he had paid such a high price for it, Jinmyeong couldn't bring himself to consume the pill.
“The Great Recovery Pill isn't what's important right now. You know Prince Yeong is here, right?”
“Yes. Though I never imagined he would go there.”
O Seonha smacked her lips in disappointment.
If a rumor spread that Prince Yeong had stayed there and been satisfied, people would have flocked to her establishment.
“…He was attacked.”
“Attacked?”
O Seonha couldn't help but look shocked at the news that Prince Yeong had been attacked.
“The Underworld Sect's information network isn't perfect, I see.”
“…We can't know about something that just happened. In any case, we'll have to be careful about this.”
One wrong word and her head could fly.
“Surely nothing happened to him, right?”
“It was close.”
Nothing had happened to Prince Yeong, but his daughter, Ju Hyein, had been kidnapped.
Hearing this, O Seonha's face turned deathly pale.
“This could trigger a war between the martial world and the Imperial Palace.”
“If it had been Prince Yeong himself, maybe, but…”
“Prince Yeong dotes on his children. If he loses his reason…”
A war could truly break out, just as O Seonha feared.
“You'll help, right?”
“…I suppose I have to. *Huu*. I'm really going to make you pay back this debt in full.”
“The sooner, the better. I feel like I'll be leaving soon.”
After requesting help from the Underworld Sect, Jinmyeong headed back to Myeonghwaru.
“…Y-Young Master!”
As soon as Jinmyeong arrived at Myeonghwaru, Gu Jahong, who had been waiting for him, called out.
“What? What is it now?”
Jinmyeong frowned as he looked at the approaching Gu Jahong. He was not in a normal state.
“These aren't just wounds from sparring with Maeng Yo, are they?”
Most of the wounds on Gu Jahong's body were in life-threatening places.
“H-He's going to die.”
“He? Who? Maeng Yo?”
Gu Jahong nodded furiously at Jinmyeong's question.