Mountain Fire 1
I'd only just managed to hold hands during a hug, yet Earth Dragon had already emptied an entire pot of my eco-friendly lipstick kissing me—his lips never even chapped thanks to the stuff.
A furious heat boiled up inside me, but I forced an awkward smile and answered his question.
"Ahaha… There was quite a lot of it. You've already used it all? W-well, it needs pearls to make, so once I return to the clan I'll brew a fresh batch and send it by messenger."
"Ah, there's no need to go that far."
"Pardon? No, it's really not that much trouble…"
"That's not what I meant. I was already planning to visit the Tang Clan once this business is finished, so may we simply accompany you after we wrap things up here?"
I'd thought he was just refusing out of politeness, but no—Earth Dragon was outright offering to follow me home to the Tang Clan. His eagerness was almost impressive.
Is he already going through lipstick withdrawal? That desperate already? Why does everyone I've met lately seem this pent-up?
Yet a gaze prickled from beyond his shoulder. When I looked past him I found Fist Dragon and Sword Dragon had already drawn near and were nodding along.
I tilted my head at the two of them.
"You two as well?"
"That's right."
"Then of course we're coming too."
Even Eumbong and Bow Phoenix further back were looking this way; clearly the whole lot of them intended to tag along.
We're not exactly close enough to invite them home, are we?
I did call them "elder brothers," but that was just a social courtesy. We weren't close enough for a family visit. While I was still thinking that, Sword Dragon smiled and spoke.
"Once Earth Dragon receives proper treatment, Eumbong will finally be able to rest easy."
"Ah. Right. That was a thing, wasn't it?"
Come to think of it, Grandfather Mandok Shin-gun of the Tang Clan had said Earth Dragon needed further treatment. Mercury poisoning required long-term care, he'd told us, and that we should come back later.
And Brother Paeng's group, recovering at the Beast Palace in Yunnan, ought to be mobile again soon. They'd promised to come to the Tang Clan once they were better, so bringing Earth Dragon's party along to reunite them wouldn't be a bad idea. I remembered how worried Earth Dragon had been about them when we first met.
"Very well. Let's do that."
"Thank you for permitting us to accompany you, Young Hero So-ryong."
Earth Dragon brightened the moment I agreed. Just then I spotted Murim Alliance martial artists climbing down one after another from the ship moored behind him.
Right—I still need to meet the person in charge.
"By the way, who is the commander for this operation?"
The sight of the Alliance men reminded me I still had to report to the officer in charge. Earth Dragon had jumped straight to lipstick talk the second we greeted each other, so the proper order had gotten a little scrambled. I needed to give a detailed account of everything I hadn't put in the letter, guide them through the stronghold, and discuss how to dispose of whatever was left inside.
Earth Dragon answered with a smile.
"Ah. That would be me."
"Pardon? You, Earth Dragon?"
I cocked my head. The Murim Alliance had plenty of high-ranking officers. Even if the Blood Cult kept them busy, I'd heard they still kept one Strategist and two Deputy Strategists. Earth Dragon might be famous for his cleverness, but that still made three people whose job was thinking. The idea that a man without any official post had been put in charge was odd.
Earth Dragon explained how it had come about.
"The Strategist is currently dealing with an envoy from the court. One Deputy is commanding a campaign elsewhere and the other is overseeing supply lines, so none of them could leave their posts."
"Ah. I see."
"Yes. In cases like this, the Jegal family—who have traditionally supplied the Alliance's strategists—usually sends someone to assist. As it happened, I was already at headquarters, so the task fell to me. It's only cleanup work, after all."
So that was the rule. Working with Earth Dragon rather than some stranger was a relief, but the mention of a court official raised a new question.
"Well, that works out nicely then. Still—someone from the court came down? I thought the principle was 'officials do not interfere with the martial world.'"
Hearing that an imperial envoy had arrived made me suspect Princess's ridiculous lie had landed perfectly. But officials weren't supposed to meddle, so I asked. Earth Dragon answered with a sly smile.
"When the imperial family heard that a princess had been attacked, they designated the Blood Cult a heretical sect and strictly forbade the common people from following it—on the grounds that they delude the world and plunge the people into misery."
"Oh-ho… That's one way to do it."
Officials might not interfere in Murim affairs, but a religion was another matter entirely. Labeling them a cult and suppressing them fell squarely under imperial authority; no one could object. The Blood Cult boys were about to have a very rough time of it.
I returned his sly smile in kind. Earth Dragon pointed at the ship he had arrived on.
"This conversation seems likely to run long. Shall we continue inside? I'll need both your account and your help."
"Understood. Excuse me, then."
I nodded, and he led me aboard.
Trickling tea.
He guided me into what appeared to be his cabin. Inside I was greeted by stacks of documents and the fragrance of tea. I took the seat he indicated, and Eumbong poured for us both.
"Here you are, both of you."
"Thank you, Eumbong."
At my age I preferred cold water to hot tea, but I'd learned proper tea etiquette from Hwa-eun while living with the Tang Clan. As I savored the aroma, Earth Dragon's voice reached me.
"Still—drunken bugs that large, and capable of killing people… When we saw the letter you sent and the dried specimens, the entire Alliance was stunned."
Even while writing the letter I'd doubted ordinary people would believe it easily. Better to see once than hear a hundred times—so I'd captured two of the bedbugs, taxidermied them, and shipped them as proof. From the way they'd rushed a survey team out here, the evidence had clearly done its job.
"But learning that Young Hero So-ryong handled everything alone was a genuine relief. Ah—and the Alliance Leader asked me to convey his thanks."
"Thanks? I only did what needed doing."
I gave an awkward smile at the praise, raised the cup to my lips, then set it down again. Compliments were fine, but it was time to get to business. First priority: the Blood Replenishing Pills.
"Speaking of which, we still have a few matters to settle. Have you decided what to do with the huge stockpile of Blood Replenishing Pills left in the stronghold?"
"Yes. The Alliance will buy every last one. With the fighting against the Blood Cult heating up, we need as many as we can get, so the Leader is quite pleased."
I'd floated the idea precisely because the timing looked perfect for selling them dear to the Murim Alliance. And sure enough, they wanted the lot. The reason I'd thought of selling to them in the first place was the memory of how many of those pills I'd gulped down myself after a Blood Cult elder drained my blood. An Alliance at war with the Blood Cult would never have enough of the stuff.
Looks like I might have a knack for business after all.
Among us creature-breeders we say that when everyone wants to take home a pup, the price jumps. Same principle here: the Alliance was jumping for the pills. And when the customer is that eager, a little service is the rule. I decided to throw in a favor.
"Then load the pills first and settle the price later with my father-in-law, the clan head."
"Oh—are you certain?"
"Yes. We can't carry them on our ship, and the Alliance is in a hurry."
"Understood, Young Hero. The Alliance Leader will be grateful many times over."
That took care of the largest haul. I'd already given roughly half the remaining treasure to I-chae—charity, since a third of the village had burned and people had died. Of course I hadn't handed it over without conditions. Nothing in this world is free.
"This isn't a gift."
"Th-then…?"
"First, you will never again harm anyone. If I ever hear that you have, you will not escape my children's wrath. Understood?"
"Y-yes, of course, sir."
"And I've heard all sorts of rumors flow through the Three Gorges of the Yangtze. Is that true?"
"Yes, it is, Lord So-ryong."
"Then gather the rumors I want."
"Which ones?"
"Rumors of poisons and venomous insects."
A condition tailored to my hobby, in other words. The rest I'd tucked away as emergency funds. Two issues remained.
"What about the stronghold itself? And the bedbugs still in the mountains?"
Leave the place empty and someone else would simply move in; the stronghold had to be dealt with. We also needed a clear plan for the bugs still nesting in the hills. They would all die off within a year, but people could still wander in and get killed before then, so at the very least a watch had to be posted.
Earth Dragon smiled.
"I intend to handle both at once."
"Both at once?"
I was still wondering what one-stop solution he had in mind when the words left his mouth and I nearly doubted my ears.
"We will set the mountain on fire."
"Excuse me? You're going to start a forest fire?"
The sheer scale of it made me blink. He continued without missing a beat.
"Burn the stronghold and the mountain together and we won't have to worry about either bandits or bedbugs ever again."
Is this the Central Plains scale of thinking? Just burn the whole mountain?
The casual way he proposed torching a mountain made me realize something: the Jegal family were hereditary arsonists.
They did burn a fair bit of stuff at Red Cliffs, after all. Blood will tell.
As they say, a thief who's stolen once knows how to steal. A family that's set fires before sets them extremely well.
When Earth Dragon said he would light the mountain I half-expected him to just fling torches around. Instead he carefully mapped the zones, sent Sword Dragon and the martial artists to clear trees and brush along the perimeter so the fire couldn't jump, and carried out every precaution. That wasn't all. Because Bow Phoenix was sensitive to wind, he sent her up to the summit every day for several days just to watch the breezes. Experience really did show.
"We'll burn only this mountain and its immediate surroundings. According to you, Young Hero, they can't cross water, so from this watercourse here to the far side of that ravine the drunken bugs could never have spread. We've already cut every tree along those borders."
Earth Dragon explained while pointing at a sketch of the terrain. Fires would be lit at four points around the base of the stronghold mountain; the flames would meet at the summit, rage, and then die out naturally.
Even arson can reach the level of art.
The final checks were finished. I nodded.
"Understood. Proceed."
"Bow Phoenix—the signal arrow."
"Got it."
At Earth Dragon's request Bow Phoenix lifted a massive bow and drew it toward the sky.
Thrummm.
Wheeeeeee—
The signal arrow streaked toward the summit. Its piercing whistle filled the heavens, and moments later smoke rose from all four directions. Within half a meal's time the entire mountain was blazing as though it had turned into a single colossal log.
Even watching from the distant ships, I could feel the heat. I was staring at the enormous wall of flame when Seol's voice called from our own vessel beside us.
"Hwa-yang?!"
I turned. Hwa-yang had crawled out of the cabin and was clinging to the railing, mouth hanging open as she stared at the burning mountain in a daze.
And the thought struck me like lightning.
Wait a second—isn't this the perfect chance for Hwa-yang to reach adulthood?
Not long ago she'd swallowed a huge amount of fire and still hadn't evolved. A mountain fire this size might finally do it. If she truly needed a massive blaze, this was the only opportunity.
I crossed to our ship with a burst of lightness skill and asked Hwa-yang, whose eyes were filled with the dancing flames:
"Bab?"
She looked at me and slowly nodded.
Cradling her, I launched myself toward the roaring mountain with every ounce of lightness art I possessed.