Battle at Sea (1)
I gathered Shim Bong-sa, Lady Ahn, and Cheong together, and laid the truth before them.
"There's a demon behind all of this."
"A-a demon, you say?!"
"A demon...?!"
Shim Bong-sa and Cheong both started in alarm, but Lady Ahn remained remarkably composed. As a fortune-teller who had long kept one foot in such matters, she had likely suspected as much already.
"The monk who visited you, sir, was most likely a demon in the guise of an old priest. And when I sounded out the merchants bound for the Central Plains, they told me they had met a monk as well—and heard much the same tale."
"H-heavens! Why on earth would a demon set its sights on us...?"
"That, I cannot say for certain."
My own guess was that it sought to grow its power and influence. But telling them that would only feed their fear, so I kept it to myself.
"If we don't catch it ourselves, this same tragedy will play out in other villages. Which is why... I mean to pull it up by the roots while we have the chance."
"And how do you propose to do that...?"
"In two days' time, Cheong and I will board the merchants' ship."
"...I beg your pardon?"
"The moment Cheong draws every eye on that vessel, I'll subdue them all."
"Th-that's—"
Shim Bong-sa clearly thought the plan was absurd. Frankly, I couldn't blame him. Some wandering scholar was proposing to put the man's own daughter out as bait and then overpower a merchant company bristling with hulking bodyguards.
But I was confident.
A fair few of those guards don't live up to their bulk, either.
I had already committed the merchant company's faces to memory while pretending to be drunk among them. With a decent plan and the right timing, we could settle this without too much trouble.
"But—!"
"Master Shim. Place your trust in the young scholar."
It was Lady Ahn, of all people, who stayed Shim Bong-sa's protest.
"M-my lady..."
The moment she addressed him, his agitation drained away. It seemed Lady Ahn had already built a considerable rapport with the man she would one day take as her husband. I had wondered whether he would yield so easily with his own daughter's life on the line.
"Cheong will be safe. Indeed, she will only be safe if the young scholar takes charge of this affair."
"...Very well. If that is what you say, my lady."
"You have my thanks."
No one spoke for a moment. Shim Bong-sa, it seemed, placed a great deal of faith in Lady Ahn the fortune-teller.
"But... how will you know the demon when you see it?"
Cheong posed the question.
"A cunning creature could well conceal its demonic aura. But I have a means of identifying such things."
I drew a talisman from my pack—the same kind I had received from the Landowner's Daughter, and the same I had affixed to Kongji's bracelet.
"Cheong. Hide this on your person. Should the demon try any mischief, this will stop it."
"Sir? But then what about you?"
"I can look after myself. Don't trouble yourself over me."
"...I understand."
Last of all, I cautioned Shim Bong-sa and Lady Ahn as well. The demon might yet come after the two of them, so I asked that they remain indoors as much as possible on the day itself.
The two days passed in a blink. And on the appointed morning, I started drinking from dawn.
"Urgh—hic! Cheong, let's go!"
"...A-are you actually drunk?"
"Would I do a thing like that? Even the hiccuping is an act. Excellent! If I can fool even you, I'll have no trouble fooling the rest of them. Now then—shall we go and expose those scoundrels for what they are?"
A moment later, seeing Cheong's face begin to darken, I gave her a reassuring nod, and together we made for the harbor. There, a massive ship waited, merchants loading cargo—and watching for our arrival.
"So you've come."
"Urgh! Master Nam! Fine weather today, wouldn't you say?"
I spread my palm toward the sky as I spoke. The weather was thoroughly gloomy, the kind of sky that looked ready to split open with rain at any moment. Whether Master Nam had chosen to interpret my words however he pleased, he merely smiled.
"You're quite right. Perfect weather for a safe crossing. Now then—leave the girl to us."
I stepped in front of the guards reaching for Cheong and blocked their path.
"...Just what do you think you're doing?"
"I've been thinking it over on the way here. Three hundred sacks of rice is a handsome sum, to be sure—but what good is a fortune if a man dies young, eh?"
"What is it you want?"
"I want to see my wife reach the Dragon King safely. I'd rather she not nurse a grudge and lay a curse on me, you understand."
In other words: I wanted to watch her die with my own eyes.
At that, several of the merchants pulled faces of weary disgust. A few even glanced at Cheong with something like pity. Cheong, playing her part, only looked sadder still.
"...Very well. Come aboard. But don't go wandering about. This ship is loaded with goods you couldn't repay in a lifetime of labor."
"Oh, of course! If you like, I'll tiptoe around in my socks!"
Master Nam ignored the remark entirely and led Cheong and me onto the ship.
It was the sort of vessel anyone would picture from the Joseon era—except that it had clearly been built to haul heavy cargo across rough seas, and its scale was far greater than I had expected.
"Cast off!"
At last the ship pulled away from the village harbor and out onto the open water.
"...Sir. Look."
At Cheong's words, I turned toward the village. There on the shore, Shim Bong-sa and Lady Ahn stood offering prayers toward the departing ship.
I would bring Cheong home safely. I would honor every hope they were sending after us.
The sea hissed and roared.
Dark clouds had closed in, and the wind off the water had risen with them; the waves were viciously rough. The ship lurched and rolled, and the merchants and laborers hovered anxiously over the cargo, terrified something might break loose and go sliding across the deck.
All except one. Master Nam's expression was so serene he might have been sailing under a cloudless sky without a care in the world.
As for Cheong, she was being painted and dressed beside the men preparing a ritual offering table. Since she was meant as a gift for the Dragon King, they seemed determined to send her off as lavishly adorned as possible. In a snow-white jacket and a blue skirt bound with a black ribbon, she was more beautiful than I had ever seen her.
She was already striking. Dressed like this, she's dazzling.
Even the merchants and laborers nearby couldn't help but steal glances. Taking my cue, I began to wander the ship at a leisurely pace.
"I say, is there drink to be had on this vessel? If so, I'd dearly love just one cup—just the one!"
Feigning a drunkard's ramble, I studied the ship's layout. Then I quietly slipped a sword that had been left lying about into my robes. I had brought almost no luggage in order to get aboard, which meant I had come unarmed as well.
It's a poorer blade than my own, but it'll serve. If it looks like snapping, I'll just take one off a guard.
All the while I watched the people around me, hunting for a demon that might be wearing a human face. But I felt no demonic aura, and no one behaved in any way suspicious. If anything, I was the one prowling about looking shadiest of all.
In the end, it seemed there was no demon on this ship.
I more or less expected as much.
I glanced out over the water. We had come a good distance from the village, but the mainland was still not far off.
In that case...
I watched the direction of the shore in silence, and after a time I caught it: people in the distance, exchanging signals.
Time to make my move.
For the past fifteen years, the West Sea had been a troubled place. Merchant vessels and warships alike had lost their way or run aground, and little by little those willing to take the sea routes had dwindled away. Overland travel took far too long, however, and so there were always some who gambled on the water—most of whom, of course, never escaped a watery grave.
Master Nam had been free of such troubles. He had simply followed the method an old monk had taught him.
Offer a maiden to the Dragon King each year.
Do this, and you shall know a year of safe passage.
If the price of a single life could guarantee a year of safe passage, who in their right mind would refuse?
And the woman being dressed so carefully before him was destined to become the fifteenth offering.
Fifteen already.
That was the number of young women Master Nam had lured by one means or another and consigned to the West Sea. He had pressed money into the hands of their families and their villages to buy their silence, so of course no rumor had ever spread.
"Master Nam. We're nearly at Indangsu."
"...Make ready."
Soon now.
So thinking, he rose slowly to his feet—and found someone standing in his way.
"I say, Master Nam."
"...? What is it?"
It was none other than the scholar—the woman's husband.
"You mean to send my wife to the Dragon King shortly, then?"
"...I do."
"Ah, so we're nearly there. But you know, I've been thinking..."
The air around Master Nam turned cold. His guards took the cue, angling their scabbards toward the scholar in open threat. The scholar flustered as if frightened, then hung his head and mumbled,
"No matter how I turn it over, my wife is simply too lovely. Can three hundred sacks of rice truly be enough for a woman like that?"
Then he looked up, smiling brightly.
"Three hundred is far too little. Make it thirty thousand sacks, and I'll step aside."
Thirty thousand sacks.
Master Nam sighed at the preposterous demand and glanced at the guard beside him. The man caught his meaning and reached out to seize the scholar's shoulder in a brutal grip—and failed.
"Aaargh!"
"I'm afraid I don't much care for other men putting their hands on me."
"...?"
The one who had screamed was not the scholar. It was the guard. His hand had swollen as if it had been struck by a tiger's paw.
"You bastard!"
"Now, now, why the hostility? I made a perfectly reasonable request. And let's be clear—you drew steel first, did you not? Which means... I should be well within my rights to draw as well."
The moment the guards charged with swords in hand, the smile vanished from the scholar's face.
And a moment later, Master Nam witnessed a sight he could not believe.
Six grown men. Every last one of them, put down by a single drunken scholar.
"They say the brave win the beauty. And at present, I appear to be the bravest man here—so I trust I may take my wife back?"
The scholar smiled, gentle as anything, and addressed Master Nam.