The Prefect of Sichuan
"Haha, I never expected so many guests to arrive at such a late hour."
"I apologize..."
"Heh heh, I am not scolding you. I am simply delighted that you would place such trust in me."
Sama Yeom, Prefect of Sichuan.
He looked every bit the classic scholar—tall and slender, with deep-set eyes and a neatly trimmed beard. Far from reproaching Hyeok Gi-rin for dragging a throng of uninvited guests into his residence and robbing him of a night's sleep, Sama Yeom regarded her with unmistakable fondness.
Though Hyeok Gi-rin lived in the murim as a disciple of the Jeomchang Sect while cross-dressing as a man, her ties to the imperial family had never been fully severed. Power struggles had forced her to change her gender presentation and take shelter with Jeomchang, yet it was less a desperate flight for her life than a mutual decision to keep a careful distance so neither side would harm the other.
I had expected some lingering connection between Hyeok Gi-rin and the prefect, but I had not imagined they were this close. Sama Yeom was looking at her the way a man looks at an especially adorable niece.
Objectively speaking, Hyeok Gi-rin was cute—cute enough that even Heukmyo had fallen for her at first sight. Still, the fact that he could smile so warmly after she barged in at midnight with a pack of Sichuan nangin suggested their relationship was anything but ordinary.
"I had been thinking the murim felt restless of late... It seems something has gone wrong."
Sama Yeom, too, had clearly been keeping a sharp eye on everything happening in Sichuan Province.
"The night is already deep, so please rest first. I will prepare rooms for your companions as well—including the nangin."
"Mm... I am grateful for your kindness."
"I am well aware of the sort of work nangin do, so you need not worry."
Sama Yeom smiled genially, yet the words themselves were not especially warm. From a provincial governor's perspective, nangin were troublemakers who disturbed public order. Of course, the moment they caused a stir the orthodox sects usually stepped in to clean up the mess, so nothing catastrophic ever came of it... Still, a prefect could hardly look upon the Sichuan nangin with pure goodwill.
"I must ask you to look after these people and my... younger sibling for a short while."
"Hmm... How disappointing. After showing your face for the first time in so long, do you intend to finish your business and simply leave?"
"Th-that is..."
"Heh heh. I am joking. You clearly have reasons that compel you to return at once. I intend to send an invitation to the banquet tomorrow—shall I have it delivered to the Hwanggeumga where you are currently staying?"
"...Thank you, Prefect."
"Hurry back. I will hear the rest of the story at tomorrow's banquet."
In truth, bringing us to Sama Yeom's mansion had already been a considerable imposition on Hyeok Gi-rin's part. Sama Yeom had worn a broad smile while watching her leave, yet the moment she stepped through the main gate his expression vanished completely.
"Well then, would all of you care to join me for breakfast tomorrow so we may talk a little?"
"We are grateful for your hospitality."
"This is the residence of Sama Yeom, Prefect of Sichuan. Not even the sect leaders of the Nine Great Sects may cross this threshold lightly, so rest easy. I shall see you tomorrow."
I had fully expected that at breakfast he would ask me to explain the situation surrounding Hyeok Gi-rin.
"Hmm. I see. So that is why you hired these people? And after that?"
"After that..."
But the things Sama Yeom grilled me about were nothing of the sort. Where Hyeok Gi-rin had gone, what she had done, whom she had met...
When I reached the part about going to meet the bandits and growing close to Heukmyo, he smiled with genuine pleasure. The moment I mentioned receiving praise from Hyeok Gi-rin, however, his face twisted into something that looked capable of stabbing a man to death. I hastily launched into a spit-flecked account of how Hyeok Gi-rin had dealt with the bandits and how I had later turned the atmosphere around at the inn.
Clap. Clap. Clap!
"Truly, truly magnificent!"
When he heard that my sleight-of-hand performance had made the people at the inn realize Hyeok Gi-rin's chivalrous spirit and left them floundering in a cauldron of emotion, Sama Yeom applauded with tears glistening in his eyes.
Later, when I described how we had negotiated with the Nine Great Sects and gone around meeting merchants to have the conditions imposed on Jeomchang withdrawn, the corners of his mouth curled upward in a crooked smile.
"You say the Jade Dragon Hero visited such-and-such places? Wait a moment... Someone! Bring writing materials! Can you be any more precise? For instance, at one merchant house she met the chief steward, or perhaps an officer in place of the master... No need to catch the wrong people... ahem."
In more ways than one, Sama Yeom was an extremely kind man toward Hyeok Gi-rin.
After hearing everything up through the previous day, he wore a thoroughly satisfied expression. He seemed interested only in what Hyeok Gi-rin had experienced since arriving in Sichuan, so I could no longer hold back.
"Do you have no need for any other information?"
"Correct. I already know everything else."
Sama Yeom's face turned sour.
"I am aware of their intentions and goals as well. Unfortunately, it remains nothing more than conjecture."
He took a sip of tea before continuing.
"The government is an organization that must, by nature, be rigid. Because it can only establish policies that apply across the entire realm, those policies may be large and solid, yet they can never be fine-meshed or adhesive... They can stop great boulders and mighty beasts, but rats and vermin are far harder to keep out."
"Especially," he added, "the yellow-furred rat of this Sichuan has quite a few companions here. Very... sticky companions."
"Companions, you say."
"Gae Myeong-bu of the Jambong Sect, and Yu Ji-gyeong, master of the Seongrak Pavilion."
"...I see."
So Gae Myeong-bu had indeed joined hands with Hwanggeum-seon. And the one who had been spreading rumors through the night streets and inciting the people was almost certainly Yu Ji-gyeong, master of the Seongrak Pavilion.
He owned one of the three great entertainment houses of Sichuan Province and dabbled in nearly every illegal trade—usury, fencing stolen goods, and more. He was a man perfectly optimized for this kind of dirty work. In a way, he had been an expected figure all along.
"This is only my conjecture, but all three of them are also the enemies of Lady Yeo Il-ye."
The words that followed, however, left me stunned.
"Fifteen years ago, each of them laid the foundation of their present power with an incomprehensibly vast fortune."
...The enemies of Yeo Il-ye coiled within Sichuan Province were not one.
They were three.
"Ugh! Those damned bastards!"
The moment Hyeok Gi-rin arrived she erupted in fury.
They called it a banquet hall, yet the atmosphere was anything but festive. Hyeok Gi-rin, rage boiling to the crown of her head. Sama Yeom gazing at even that furious face as if it were adorable. Heukmyo looking startled by the force of Hyeok Gi-rin's rampage. And Yeo Il-ye, forcibly dragged out with a debt token and drained of all vitality.
I was not in good shape either.
The news Sama Yeom had delivered at breakfast had been so shocking that my thoughts still refused to settle.
"What is this nonsense about needing to approach carefully?! Those filthy bastards! They even put pressure on Jeomchang, telling us not to interfere!"
"Hahaha, Great Hero. Do not let your temper rise too high."
What exactly was this man Sama Yeom trying to accomplish? Watching him sip wine while treating Hyeok Gi-rin's anger as a side dish, I could form no other question. Did he simply lose his mind with joy the moment he saw her?
It felt exactly like a grandfather listening to his granddaughter earnestly recount a fight with a friend at kindergarten, smiling the whole time simply because she was cute.
Never since entering Murim Cheonha had I felt so frustrated by not knowing a character's sheet. I needed to understand what he was thinking.
Separately from that, nothing positive emerged from the torrent of complaints Hyeok Gi-rin was pouring out.
The collusion between the Hwangbo Clan and the three sects appeared to be progressing smoothly. Establishing branch temples of the Daoist or Buddhist orders right in the glittering heart of Chengdu would not have looked proper; a Daoist priest or monk living in the middle of a city simply gave off the wrong impression.
The Hwangbo Clan had reached a provisional decision to settle in Sichuan Province, and they had already agreed on how to divide the profits that would follow. The finer details would be worked out among the Hwangbo Clan and the three sects themselves.
Moreover, the Hwangbo Clan and the three sects had agreed to carry out the bandit suppression at whatever time Hwanggeum-seon requested.
That last point was precisely what had driven Hyeok Gi-rin into a towering rage.
"Even if they are murim sects rather than the government, they are free to form their own alliances! But when the people of this Sichuan Province are clearly suffering and they still turn a blind eye to chase profit, how are they any different from the unorthodox factions?!"
Had she expected that when the senior figures of each sect gathered, they would still pursue righteousness over gain?
It was true that the measures being taken did not match the reputation of the Hwangbo Clan or the Nine Great Sects.
Especially for Hyeok Gi-rin, who had been born and raised in Jeomchang, she must have believed that every one of the Nine Great Sects possessed a chivalrous heart comparable to her own. Under ordinary circumstances the other great sects did look like gatherings of true heroes, after all.
It was simply that the board Hwanggeum-seon had prepared was large enough to rip the masks clean off those great sects.
Irritated by Sama Yeom's perpetual smile, Hyeok Gi-rin snatched the wine pot in front of him, filled her own cup, and downed it in one go.
"Haha, Great Hero. I did not know you drank."
"What do you take me for?! I passed the age of twenty long ago! Hoo! If I do not drink on a day like this, when am I supposed to drink?!"
She sprang to her feet, filled the cups of Heukmyo, Yeo Il-ye, and me, then raised her own.
"Cheers!"
"Uh... mm..."
Heukmyo looked at her with open discomfort. Yeo Il-ye lifted her cup listlessly, as if nothing mattered. Sama Yeom laughed heartily, egging them on.
"Haha, this wine is far too weak for a murim master to get drunk on. Once we finish one round I will switch it for something strong enough to put even a high expert under the table."
Even with my mind in chaos, I thought I understood Sama Yeom's way of thinking. He was simply stirring the situation so he could see every possible side of Hyeok Gi-rin. In other words, the mindset of a collector who wants the bikini skin, the Santa skin, and every other variant of his favorite character.
He wanted the angry Hyeok Gi-rin and the drunken Hyeok Gi-rin both.
The thought even crossed my mind that a man like him might stand by and watch the current crisis simply to obtain a Hyeok Gi-rin with the "broken" tag attached.
I raised my wariness toward Sama Yeom another notch, but the one currently running wild was still Hyeok Gi-rin.
"Pwah! Drink! If I catch anyone circulating internal energy, three more cups!"
It was true that the higher one's realm, the harder it was to get drunk. Even without conscious effort, a portion of one's internal energy remained active at all times. Scientifically speaking, intoxication is simply the state in which alcohol the liver has failed to process circulates through the bloodstream.
From the First-rate realm one could deliberately strengthen the liver to sober up quickly; a Peak expert could expel the alcohol through sweat; a Super-Peak master could simply blow the entire drunken haze away in a single breath.
Of course, that only worked while a shred of sobriety remained. Once completely drunk and judgment clouded, Super-Peak or not, it no longer mattered.
"Unnie! Caught you! Three cups!"
"Ah..."
Heukmyo, who had been secretly circulating energy to clear her head, was caught red-handed by Hyeok Gi-rin. After downing three cups in succession her body began to sway.
"Hoeh~ Drink~ The Nine Great Sects~ are bad guys~!"
From that point the atmosphere spun completely out of control. Neither Hyeok Gi-rin nor Heukmyo possessed the hardened drinking techniques that Sama Yeom and I had cultivated at countless tables; both of them became thoroughly intoxicated. Yeo Il-ye simply drank whatever was poured and never so much as blinked.
Her natural capacity for alcohol was apparently extraordinary.
"You hold your liquor well."
"...From where I sit, Prefect, your capacity is the more astonishing."
"Haha. The higher one climbs, the only thing that grows is one's drinking capacity. In the world of officialdom, a man who cannot drink dies."
I could not tell whether he was joking.
Hyeok Gi-rin had already lost consciousness. Heukmyo was nearly as far gone, grinning as she played with the cheeks of the thoroughly plastered Hyeok Gi-rin.
"So soft~ Look how her cheeks puff out."
"Auu~"
"Ugh~ As cute as a cat! How can a person be this adorable?!"
Sama Yeom watched the sight of Heukmyo hugging Hyeok Gi-rin and squishing her cheeks with a thoroughly contented smile.
"Heh heh, that young heroine seems well aware that the Jade Dragon Hero is cross-dressing, does she not?"
At his words the loose reins of my mind snapped taut.
"Ah, there is no need to tense up so. After traveling together for a long time one might well notice Great Hero Hyeok Gi-rin's disguise. Since you are Sichuan nangin, I have always trusted that you would keep a client's secrets absolutely confidential."
"...Of course."
"The Jade Dragon Hero is far too harsh on herself. There are times when one must loosen a tightly drawn thread. Shall we clear the table and have another drink? Here—please look after that young lady over there. Lady Yeo Il-ye, would you mind helping as well?"
"Hwaaam... Senior... could you support me a little? I need to circulate energy in my room~"
I offered an arm to the half-limp Heukmyo while Yeo Il-ye scooped up the unconscious Hyeok Gi-rin. Heukmyo hung so heavily on my arm that certain parts of her pressed against me in an awkward fashion, yet one glance at Yeo Il-ye's gloomy face drove even that thought away.
"Circulate your energy and come out."
"Yeees~"
Sama Yeom looked like more than I could handle alone. Heukmyo was at the very edge of the Peak Realm; a short session of energy circulation would burn off most of the alcohol's poison.
I confirmed that she had flopped onto the bed, wriggled into a lotus position, and begun circulating energy, then closed the door.
"Benefactor."
Yeo Il-ye called to me.
"Please tell me what is happening to the Jeomchang Sect."
Hyeok Gi-rin had not spoken a single word today about the pressure being applied to Jeomchang. I hesitated. Was it right to pass on information she herself had chosen not to share?
"Benefactor. I beg you."
"...Let us move somewhere else."
Yeo Il-ye and I relocated to a small pavilion in front of the guest quarters. It was not something that could be hidden forever, after all.
I told her that the Sichuan Merchants' Association had decided to invite a branch of one of the Nine Great Sects into the province, and that the condition for Jeomchang to enter that competition was the complete resolution of Yeo Il-ye's blood debt.
Tears streamed down her face.
"...So now I have become a burden even to my own sect—nothing but a liability."
"Lady Yeo."
"Is avenging the souls of the manor's household truly so wrong? Why does Heaven visit such trials upon me alone?"
Yeo Il-ye simply hung her head and wept. I could not even begin to fathom the depth of that emotion, so I could only remain silent.
"...I wish to be alone."
"Lady Yeo."
"Please go. I wish to look at the moon."
Faced with her dismissal, I could only sigh and return to the banquet hall.