Love 2
Geolhwang had gone and used my personal catchphrase—"specialty"—without so much as asking permission. Still, dropping the word "specialty" at precisely the right moment like that meant he had to be a full-blown superfan from my previous life's streams.
It made sense. Pulling off a streamer's bit with that kind of perfect timing was impossible unless you had watched every single broadcast. Without that, you just could not capture the feel of the joke.
Not that I was streaming anything here, of course.
Geolhwang's got more of a soft spot for me than I thought, huh? And the way he keeps dropping by—does he have me bookmarked or something?
He seemed to hold me in pretty high regard. The fondness of an old beggar was a little much to handle, but Geolhwang was a useful man all the same. I decided to accept his goodwill.
After all, he had already brought me the Shin-tu case and led me to meet our silver silkworm moths, Moji and Soji. Annoying as he could be, jobs like that were more than welcome.
And from the way he had tossed out the word "specialty," I had a rough idea why he had come looking for me this time. I had cleaned up the Naok business and wrapped the Shin-tu incident he had brought me in a neat bow. In his mind, I must have been firmly stamped as the poison-and-insect specialist.
Being too competent really is a curse, isn't it?
So I asked back with a look that said I already half-expected the answer.
"My specialty, you say? Could it be…?"
Given that Geolhwang had brought up my specialty, it had the distinct feel of another poison- or insect-related job.
Sure enough, he nodded.
Just as I had guessed, the reason he had sought me out was insects.
"That's right. It's about the bugs you know so well."
I decided to hear the details first. He had said "bugs" rather than "spirit beasts," so it was ordinary insects—yet earlier Geolhwang had used the word "strange affair." A strange affair meant something uncanny. Uncanny things involving insects were hardly common.
"Could I hear exactly what happened, then?"
At my question he gave a short nod and began to explain.
"It's Murim Alliance business, and there's a reason I came myself. We were stuck, unable to march out, when a few days ago someone came calling at the Alliance…"
"So? Have we grasped the imperial court's true intentions?"
Alliance Leader Ju Joong-hak demanded the moment Strategist Jegal Hu stepped into the Alliance Leader's Hall, his voice tight with urgency. A courier bearing news from the court had arrived only moments earlier, and he had been waiting for his military advisor to deliver it.
Even so, Jegal Hu only stood there with a dark expression, unable to answer at once.
"That is…"
"What is this? Why can you not speak?"
Pressed again by the Alliance Leader's impatience, Jegal Hu reported with a heavy face.
"We are in a most awkward position. Through the ministers our family still has some influence with, we confirmed the truth—the imperial court has no intention of yielding. Ever since the Blood Sect calamity, the palace has made it clear they will not allow anything like that to happen again…"
"What?!"
Bang!
At the words that the court would not bend, Ju Joong-hak's palm slammed down onto the blue-steel stone table, leaving a perfect handprint. A bitter voice followed.
"We are marching precisely so that such a thing will not happen! If the Blood Sect spreads through the Central Plains like vermin, countless innocent commoners will suffer catastrophe—what in the world is the palace thinking?!"
After that both men wore the same hollow expression.
The intelligence Vice Pavilion Master Bang Sun of the Flying Dragon Pavilion had given his life to send had let them pinpoint the Blood Sect's base and draw up a plan for a lightning raid. Without the court's leave, however, they could not move a single soldier. They had hoped the ministers under their influence might at least clarify the palace's true mind—and this was the answer. There was no other road.
They could have split off a force in secret, of course, but the imperial eyes planted inside the Murim Alliance would never stay silent, and charges of disloyalty would follow without fail. Even martial artists were subjects of the Emperor. "Official and martial do not interfere" was the old saying, yet once a sealed imperial letter had come down, no one could act as he pleased.
After a stretch of silence the Alliance Leader's voice broke it, soft and bleak.
"So this is when people say Heaven is heartless."
To men in their position the imperial court was a bolt of lightning out of a clear sky.
The expedition had been blocked by that unforeseen obstacle, yet the Murim Alliance had not simply folded its hands. Through the same well-placed ministers they set about informing the court of the Blood Sect threat—letting the Emperor know that a heretical cult was rising to endanger the people, laying out the just cause for a campaign, and hoping to turn the imperial heart. At the same time they sent small parties to the borders of the Great Yue kingdom to watch the Blood Sect's movements.
Still the days slipped by without result.
Then, one afternoon about a fortnight later, Strategist Jegal Hu burst into the Alliance Leader's Hall, face pale with alarm.
"Alliance Leader, you must come out at once!"
For the Alliance Leader himself to go out and greet someone meant a visitor of the highest rank.
"Who on earth has come that you speak like that?"
Ju Joong-hak looked puzzled. Among all the guests who might visit the Murim Alliance, there was not a single person the Fist Emperor needed to go out and receive. No one in the martial world stood higher than one of the Three Emperors.
Yet the answer that left Jegal Hu's mouth was wholly unexpected.
"The wife of the Governor of Akyang—Seo Bin-ak's wife—has arrived."
"Seo Bin-ak's wife? Seo Bin-ak, the man who only recently took up the governorship of Akyang… Gwando? Then—Princess Gwando?!"
"Y-yes."
At the words "wife of the Governor of Akyang, Seo Bin-ak," Ju Joong-hak's eyes flew wide. The newly appointed governor of Akyang, a city not far from Wuhan, was someone the Murim Alliance already kept an eye on—because he was the Imperial Son-in-Law, the Emperor's son-in-law. Which meant that his wife was none other than Princess Gwando, Yu Ji-ryeon.
"Where is she? Let us go!"
"She has just passed through the Alliance gate."
Princess Gwando Yu Ji-ryeon, wife of Governor Seo Bin-ak of nearby Akyang. The pair held rather unusual stations. Seo Bin-ak had been an unremarkable student of the Imperial Academy until his marriage to Princess Gwando catapulted him upward—a man widely called the luckiest fellow in the Central Plains, made governor while barely past twenty. The common judgment was that he lacked ability yet had married well and mended his fortunes. After all, a mere academy student had captured the heart of the Emperor's most cherished daughter.
Princess Gwando Yu Ji-ryeon herself was stranger still. Beyond being the Emperor's daughter and his greatest favorite, she was also a martial artist. Deeply devout from childhood, she had wandered the temples of the Central Plains offering prayers; at Putuo Temple on the Southern Sea her talent had been recognized, and she had become a lay disciple of the Sword Pavilion. The Sword Emperor himself had once remarked that, had she not been of the imperial blood, he would have wanted her as his successor. In short, Princess Gwando Yu Ji-ryeon was a martial artist of the imperial line.
By the time Ju Joong-hak and his strategist hurried down beneath the Heavenly Martial Pavilion, the princess and her party had already arrived: one woman, her maid, and a handful of government soldiers. At the center stood a young woman who looked only a little past twenty, dressed not in silks but in the plain clothes of an ordinary martial artist—yet her eyes were those of a tiger.
Ju Joong-hak's gaze lit up. The clothes were one thing; more telling was the sword she wore at her waist. She had come not as a member of the imperial house but as a martial artist. Traveling in plain dress on a long journey was natural enough, yet plain dress would never have brought government soldiers along. And a princess arriving in her official capacity would never have worn a blade.
The Fist Emperor began to cup his fist and bow, testing his guess—only for a surprised female voice to stop him from the other side.
"Please forgo the formalities, Fist Emperor. I have come today in the capacity of a disciple of the Sword Pavilion."
Ju Joong-hak smiled as he answered.
"As a mere disciple of the Sword Pavilion it is no easy thing to meet this Ju Joong-hak. Are you certain that is wise?"
He was probing what sort of person she was after this unexpected approach. Yu Ji-ryeon only smiled in return.
"I am well aware. But once you hear what gift I have brought, I am certain you will agree to see me."
"Gift?"
As he tilted his head at the idea of a gift simply to meet him, Yu Ji-ryeon's clear voice rang out.
"You have been unable to march out, have you not? I believe I may be able to help with that. If I tell His Majesty that I am frightened and uneasy because of the Blood Sect, he might send reinforcements rather than refuse the campaign outright."
The Sword Emperor of Putuo Temple had once mentioned in passing that she was devout and exceptionally sharp-witted. Yu Ji-ryeon was clearly a clever woman. Ju Joong-hak threw his head back and laughed, then nodded.
"Haha. A gift of that magnitude certainly qualifies her to meet this Ju Joong-hak."
A short while later they were seated in the Alliance Leader's Hall with warm tea between them.
"Very well. What business brings you to this Ju Joong-hak?"
Yu Ji-ryeon cupped her fist with perfect courtesy.
"I shall help the Murim Alliance. In return, I hope the Murim Alliance will help me."
"The Alliance help a princess?"
Ju Joong-hak immediately glanced at his strategist. The Jegal clan often produced officials; perhaps Jegal Hu knew more about imperial matters. If she wanted help with palace intrigues, that was something they could never touch.
A sound transmission slipped into his ear.
[I have heard nothing of late either. Princess Gwando is said to take no interest in the struggles of the imperial house and supports neither the Crown Prince nor any of the princes.]
Yu Ji-ryeon's voice followed at once.
"You seem worried, but of course this has nothing to do with the imperial house. Though I am only a lay disciple, I am still a disciple of Putuo Temple. I know the rule that official and martial do not interfere—how could I drag the heroes of the martial world into a fight within the palace? Besides, I followed my husband and have already left the imperial house. I merely ask that you help my husband a little."
"Your husband meaning the present Governor of Akyang, Lord Seo?"
Even after her marriage the Emperor's favor toward Princess Gwando was common knowledge. If anyone could do what the Murim Alliance needed, it was she. He would have to grant her request if at all possible—yet helping her husband, the Imperial Son-in-Law, could still brush against imperial affairs.
Ju Joong-hak asked again carefully. Helping the Imperial Son-in-Law was, after all, helping the Emperor's son-in-law.
What came next was somewhat unexpected.
"Yes. To be precise, a strange affair has broken out in Akyang, where my husband has only just taken office. The people's hearts are in turmoil, and I ask that you help us with that."
"A strange affair? The people's hearts?"
When Ju Joong-hak tilted his head, Yu Ji-ryeon drew a small pouch from her robes and held it out.
"Open it."
He did as she said. Inside lay something black and dry. When he shook it into his palm, a heap of already withered insects piled up—jet-black bugs. The wings suggested they were flying insects, and there were a great many of them. His face showed open surprise.
"This is—?!"
"Right now every inch of Akyang is blanketed by these insects. The roads, the streets, the houses. Without cloth over your face you cannot even walk outside. And because of it, rumors are spreading like wildfire that the disaster began with the newly arrived governor. My master once told me the martial world is full of unusual people, and that some among them command insects. In the name of the Murim Alliance, would you find me someone who can help?"
At the princess's words the Alliance Leader and his strategist looked at each other and spoke the same name in the same breath.
"This is almost certainly So-ryong…"
"This is almost certainly So-ryong…"
Of all the people they knew, the one who handled insects best was So-ryong.