The Martial Tournament Begins
Looking over the bracket, I saw that my opponent in the round of thirty-two was a man named Tang Ak of the Tang Clan.
It was a little worrying that my first match was against someone from the famous Sichuan Tang Clan.
Seeing that, Sohui must have picked up on my mood, because she started telling me about Tang Ak.
“Tang Ak is the second son of the Tang Clan’s patriarch. From what I’ve heard, he doesn’t have much talent in martial arts, but there are rumors he’s been obsessively buried in some kind of research. He was even forced to enter this tournament under his father’s orders.”
Hearing that he wasn’t especially gifted in martial arts, I relaxed a little.
I had come all this way, and I didn’t want to be knocked out right away and sent home.
“Your bracket draw isn’t bad. The favorites, Namgung Hyeongeom and Master Jinmu, are all packed onto the other side. You’ll probably end up meeting Paeng Hoyeon in the semifinals, but even so, this is a pretty lucky draw.”
At Sohui’s words, I felt my mood lift a little.
Then, from far off, a crowd in green clothing came surging toward us.
“Oh. That’s him.”
Sohui leaned in and whispered to me.
She didn’t say his name, but judging by the green clothing, it had to be Tang Ak.
Just looking at him, I could feel a bad sort of energy coming off him.
For some reason, his face looked petty and mean, the kind of face a villain ought to have if villains actually existed.
Tang Ak walked over to us and spoke to Sohui.
“To meet Lady Je Gal in a place like this... truly, it seems we are destined for each other.”
At his sudden nonsense, Sohui’s expression twisted faintly.
But Tang Ak didn’t seem to care at all.
“It’s been a while, and you’ve only grown more beautiful. If you’re free, shall we have tea together?”
“I don’t remember ever being that close to you, so I’ll decline. I’m also here with companions.”
“Even your stubbornness is cute. But no matter how much you refuse, it won’t change anything. We’re fated, after all!”
He kept muttering about fate, and it was obvious he was insane.
“Lady Sohui seems uncomfortable, so why don’t you step back a little?”
Watching this any longer made my temper rise, so I stepped between them.
“And who are you to interfere between us?”
“I’m Han Yugang, from the North Sea.”
“The North Sea? You mean you came from some backwater village like that?”
That set me off, and my hand moved toward my sword.
From behind me, Sohui grabbed my sleeve, urging me to hold back.
“And who might you be?”
“I am Tang Ak of the Sichuan Tang Clan. You’ve surely heard of the Tang Clan’s reputation, even from that backwater of yours in the North Sea.”
In a lofty voice, Tang Ak began looking down on me.
“Forget some country bumpkin like him and come have tea with me instead.”
Ignoring me completely, he held out a hand to Sohui.
I knocked his outstretched hand away with a cold slap.
“You’re remarkably rude. I suppose the Tang Clan doesn’t care much about raising its children properly.”
“You insolent—!”
At Tang Ak’s rising fury, the martial artists who had come with him also reached for their weapons.
“The two of you should stop.”
In the end, Sohui, who had been standing behind me, spoke up.
“I don’t think I have time to drink tea with Young Master Tang. I have business to attend to with Yugang oppa, so we’ll be going now.”
She made no attempt to hide how uncomfortable she felt, hooked her arm through mine, and dragged me away.
Seeing that, Tang Ak shouted after us at the top of his lungs.
“We’re destined for each other no matter what! We’re meant to be married!”
I wanted to give Tang Ak a good lesson for the crazy nonsense he was still spouting, but the sight of Sohui grunting as she hauled me along made my anger vanish almost at once.
We returned straight to the Je Gal family’s quarters.
“From what I overheard just now, were you two involved before? He kept yelling that you were supposed to get married.”
At my question, Sohui shook her head so hard it was almost violent.
“Absolutely not! Absolutely not! I only met Young Master Tang once, a few years ago, at the exchange gathering of the Five Great Families, and ever since then he’s been pestering me with nonsense about fate, or sending proposals of marriage, or saying we should promise ourselves to each other!”
The way she denied it so fiercely was pretty cute.
From what I’d heard, Tang Ak seemed to be completely lost in some delusion of his own.
Still, that Tang Ak guy irritated me.
I’m going to beat you no matter what.
A few days later, I steadied myself and headed for the tournament grounds.
Now that the main bracket had begun, the arena was packed with spectators.
It felt as though everyone staying in Anhui Province had come to watch.
Before the matches started, I was the very last of the thirty-two contestants to fight, so I took a seat in the stands with Sohui.
Not long after, the Martial Alliance Leader appeared to announce the start of the tournament.
As soon as he showed himself, everyone cheered and shouted, but I froze in shock.
The man introduced as the Martial Alliance Leader was the same mysterious man who had given me advice at the North Sea Ice Palace’s Young Palace Lord appointment ceremony, then later at the Young Palace Lord’s wedding, and who had handed me the tournament guide.
“Huh?”
At my confused reaction, Sohui asked quietly, “Have you met the Alliance Leader before?”
I nodded.
“I saw him at the Young Palace Lord appointment ceremony, and again at the wedding recently, but he wouldn’t tell me who he was, so I only just realized it now.”
“That man is Namgung Taeseong, the current Martial Alliance Leader.”
The man who had seemed so carefree now stood there in such formal attire, delivering an opening speech, that it looked almost absurd.
As he spoke, the Alliance Leader noticed me and gave me a little wink.
That opening speech was shocking to me and me alone, and once it ended, the main tournament began in earnest.
I could see a few of the contenders Sohui had mentioned before, but the matches went quickly; partly because there was so much going on, and partly because the gap in skill between the qualifiers and those who had entered directly into the main bracket was huge.
After watching a number of matches, my turn finally came.
I followed the attendant to the waiting room.
“Oppa, you have to win. Fighting!”
With Sohui’s encouragement behind me, I walked into the waiting room. Tang Ak had already arrived.
“You backwater fool, and you still came with Lady Je Gal again today. You really don’t know your place.”
“You keep calling me a backwater fool. You’ve got no manners.”
“The one without manners is you! Don’t stand around beside someone else’s betrothed!”
“Whose betrothed are you talking about? Keep your delusions in check.”
Tang Ak was the kind of person you couldn’t reason with.
I gave up on conversation and checked my weapon.
“Using some weirdly curved blade like a backwater bumpkin, are you? Guess you couldn’t afford a proper new weapon.”
While Tang Ak kept chattering on and on, our turn finally came.
You’re done for.
I gripped the sword at my waist and stepped onto the ring.
As soon as I mounted the platform, the roar of the crowd swelled thunderously.
Tang Ak followed after me, and Namgung Taeseong raised his voice.
“The next match is Han Yugang of the North Sea Ice Palace against Tang Ak of the Sichuan Tang Clan!”
At Namgung Taeseong’s shout, the crowd’s cheers grew even louder.
“Then it seems both sides are ready. Let the match begin!”
With the Alliance Leader’s declaration, I clenched my teeth and lowered my stance, gripping my sword.
I wanted to cut down that fool who didn’t know his place, but I held myself back as much as I could while drawing up more inner energy than usual.
The cold of my inner energy spread outward, and the ground beneath my feet began to freeze.
Crack, crack.
Even the air around me started to freeze.
There was something different about this feeling.
A sense of domination over everything around me.
Confidence, as if I could cut down anything.
Without hesitation, I sprang toward Tang Ak.
Tang Ak looked flustered, apparently overwhelmed by the force of my momentum.
“W-what... What is this! You’re just a bumpkin!”
But I gave him no time to recover.
I’ll make that arrogant mouth shut.
Drawing the blade.
It felt clean beyond words, as though I had sliced through the air and everything with perfect ease.
I flicked the sword back into its scabbard without a moment’s hesitation.
The crowd’s roar rose like thunder.
I could already tell I had won.
“The winner is Han Yugang of the North Sea Ice Palace!”
At Namgung Taeseong’s declaration, the cheers only grew louder.
When I looked back, I saw that the dagger Tang Ak had hurriedly drawn had been shattered to pieces, and a red line had been drawn across his neck, while the surrounding area had frozen solid.
Luckily, I had restrained myself well and controlled my strength, so I hadn’t cut all the way through.
Tang Ak’s neck had been lightly sliced, but the wound froze over at once, so no blood flowed.
“This is cheating!”
Unable to accept his defeat, Tang Ak caused a scene and was eventually dragged away by the guards.
After bowing to the cheering crowd, I climbed down from the platform.
When I made my way back through the waiting room and returned to Sohui’s side, the people around us had grown noisy again, all because some spectators had recognized me.
“That was a tremendously fierce strike. Truly a spectacular sight!”
“Are there many handsome men like you in the North Sea?”
Questions and attention came pouring down on me, leaving me dizzy.
In the end, I grabbed Sohui by the arm and escaped the stands as though fleeing.
“Haha, thank you. Thank you.”
Sohui looked genuinely pleased, as if she were happier about my victory than I was.
“I knew oppa would win!”
“I couldn’t lose to a guy like that.”
“At this rate, are you going to win the whole tournament?”
“I came here to win it.”
We were laughing and chattering away like that when someone approached me.
“You’re Han Yugang, then? I’ve heard a great deal about you from my father.”
He wore very elegant clothes and spoke with proper formality.
“And you are?”
“I am Namgung Hyeongeom, son of the current Martial Alliance Leader. I wanted to meet the North Sea’s divine dragon.”
At the words divine dragon, I felt embarrassed all over again.
“A divine dragon? That’s far too generous a title. It’s just a nickname they use to tease me in the North Sea.”
At my answer, Namgung Hyeongeom tilted his head.
“Is that so? Just from the strike you showed earlier, I can see perfectly well why you’re called that. Then I’ll look forward to meeting you in the finals.”