The Deepening Night

A collateral branch can never become the main line. Justification—within a clan, nothing matters more. Break a single rule, and every other rule breaks with it. The moment order comes apart, the community collapses. That is why justification matters. Promises that must never be broken between one another have to be kept, without exception.

And yet it hardly mattered that a collateral line could not become the main line. Power, in the end, was something anyone could seize. That was what mattered most.

A collateral branch could become the head of a clan as well.

All one had to do was put a main-line puppet out in front.

Head of the Elders' Council. The man who, in practice, decided every great and small affair of the Ghost Sword Baek Clan.

Baek Jingyeom, Head of the Elders' Council, was about to begin his day as he always did when he received a visitor he had not expected.

"...Heh heh. Young Clan Head, how long has it been since you last set foot in a shabby place like this?"

He looked at him. His foolish nephew.

A stupid nephew. A decent face, and a trail of every vice imaginable behind it. Baek Jingyeom had always worn a smile in front of him, yet not once had that smile been real. The boy before his eyes was nothing short of the very definition of incompetence.

What had he done wrong ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this time, to come crawling in? He had seemed a little quieter of late, but a vulgar nature does not simply vanish. One hardly needed to look to know. Inwardly, the Head of the Elders' Council clicked his tongue.

And yet.

Words he had never expected came out.

"I've come in the hope that you would return the clan seal, Uncle."

"...Eh? Whatever do you mean?"

"For all that I'm acting clan head, I found I don't know the first thing about how the clan actually runs. It seems I've been far too indifferent to the clan's affairs. Hardly fitting for a young clan head. So I thought I might try growing up, even if it's late."

What change of heart was this?

Baek Jingyeom narrowed his eyes.

"...And is there any need to walk a difficult road? People each have something they do well. Leave the hard work to your uncle, Nephew, and walk only the comfortable path. There is so much that is difficult that even if you began learning now, you could never learn it all."

"If a person has done wrong, shouldn't he try to set it right? To know it was wrong and still refuse to move would make one no different from a beast. I was born a person, so I mean to try living like one."

"Heh heh. And what, exactly, was wrong? Some passerby must have said something to you, but that talk is mistaken. The Ghost Sword Baek Clan is running perfectly well as it is. So well, in fact, that if anyone else laid a hand on it now, it would collapse. It turns quite smoothly, with not a single thing for the Young Clan Head to worry over."

"Even so, shouldn't I pay it some mind? I'm only acting clan head for now, but later I'll be the real clan head. I'm my father's only legitimate son. When that day comes, I won't be able to live the life of an idle wastrel the way I do now. So it would be better to learn at least a little, starting from today."

Well, well.

He seemed to have come with his mind quite firmly made up. In that case, there was only one thing to do. Baek Jingyeom slowly poured tea into a cup. The act itself was the signal, and the Sword Demons hidden throughout the room began to move.

"If that is truly the Young Clan Head's will, then it cannot be helped. The clan seal—of course I shall return it. The rightful heir wishes to reclaim his rightful authority. What else could we possibly do?"

Control of the Sword Demons lay in the divine relic, the Soul-Binding Stele. The Stele existed only in a place the clan head alone could enter. Even so, that did not mean the clan head always held every Sword Demon's soul-binding seal.

Authority passed as well to one who had received the clan head's permission. The clan head now lying on his sickbed, unable to trust the young clan head, had split control of the Sword Demons in two.

One half to himself—the trusted younger brother who led the Elders' Council.

One half to Baek Muheun, the young clan head who would one day become clan head.

A single Sword Demon obeys only a single master. And every Sword Demon hidden in this room obeyed his command alone. Merely extending a hand and pointing would be enough for them to take that shameless brat's head without a moment's hesitation. Blood would spray, and the last blood of the main line would grow cold...

But he had no intention of doing so.

The aftermath of such a deed would damage justification, and to damage justification would mean that anyone could become clan head. That, in turn, would split the clan.

For now, something small would do.

Frightening him was enough. As it had been before.

The young clan head of before had soaked his trousers the moment it struck him. Crushed beneath the pressure, unable even to cry out, he had spilled excuses, thrust out the clan seal, and fled.

Baek Jingyeom did not doubt for a moment that it would be the same this time.

Just as before, he offered the young clan head a cup brimming with tea.

"Then... will you truly take it?"

It poured out all at once—the killing intent of the Sword Demons lying in ambush.

The air trembled. The killing auras of Sword Demons among the elite of the elite, those who had reached the pinnacle, nearly took on form. Each one pricked the skin ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠like a needle.

The young clan head standing at the center shuddered. Only natural, for a young clan head who had never properly learned martial arts and was lazy beyond measure.

This time, too, he would tuck his tail and run. He would bolt without managing so much as a proper answer.

But then—

In a single instant, the killing intents that had come pouring down were swept away.

"...?!"

A Sword Demon who sprang from the young clan head's shadow brushed them all aside with one light gesture of the hand. The pouring killing intents veered off in every direction and slammed into the wrong places, and even those that followed were overpowered, scattered, and gone.

Power. Overwhelming power.

With both eyes, Baek Jingyeom confirmed the trembling mask, and the character for Heaven written upon it.

...A Heavenly Ghost?!

A Heavenly Ghost?!

Among the Sword Demons forged by the Ghost Sword Baek Clan, the most outstanding of them all! He had heard it was a direct Sword Demon that only the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠clan head could wield...!

Why now, when it had not shown its face even once during that previous incident?!

"A joke is amusing the first time. The second time, it rather loses its charm, doesn't it?"

From within the Sword Demon's shadow, the young clan head clicked his tongue.

"That's enough. Hand over the seal. I request it as the legitimate heir, and as the legitimate acting clan head. Un. Cle."

A vein bulged.

This... bastard...?!

Clan seal: acquired!

I held the seal up to the light. Getting it hadn't been difficult. Well, of course it hadn't. I was taking back what was mine—what justification did they have to stop me? So I had simply slipped it out of the big shot of the Elders' Council, who couldn't get a word out.

This seal symbolized power. Why? Every document required the clan head's permission, and the seal itself was that permission.

I gave the back of my hand a light stamp. Heh heh. Came out nice and clear. From now on, whatever the matter, they'd gather in front of me to get my permission. A natural authority of the acting clan head, you might say.

And all of it had been possible because of Hongryeon, who had stood as my shield even while holding a grudge against me!

"Thank you. For helping."

"...I followed only because it was an order."

"You still helped. Thank you. Sincerely. You probably didn't want to, and I'm sorry I forced you."

Starting tomorrow, things would get rather busy. I'd have to learn the clan head's duties. So if I was going to say thank you, now was probably the only time. More than that, now felt like a moment when I could sincerely apologize to the one who had helped me.

A point of contact is a strange thing. When someone is a complete stranger, you can brush anything off as light. The moment you're even slightly involved, you can get a little serious. All the more so if they helped you.

"I'm sorry for everything until now. I know this isn't something light enough to settle with a single line. From the start, the wrongs my clan itself committed against you aren't something money could stand in for."

"......."

"Even so—an apology can't be made with money, and this alone won't make up for it, but..."

Beside the chest already packed with coffers of gold in the corner of the room, I filled one more small pouch.

"There's nothing more pathetic than an apology that's only words."

Right. One more severance payment! Extra silver I'd slipped out without Cha Eunseol knowing! At this rate, she'd really leave!

Of course, this incident had taught me just how important Hongryeon was. How much a bodyguard mattered to someone as weak as I was. But I'd rather pay more and hire a person. Why would I depend on a Sword Demon who'd take my head the moment the soul-binding seal was gone...?

Retire Hongryeon, and hire someone new.

That was right. Yes. That was right! I'd already made a different choice, so the story might branch in a direction unlike the original, and the soul-binding seal might break in some way I'd never heard of or seen. Better to put up with a little weakness and employ a warrior with no bad blood than to take on that risk!

Therefore—you're retired, as of here! Come on! See my sincerity and leave! You really can go! Shoo, shoo!

"You can take all of it and leave. I mean it. On the day I become the official clan head, I'll erase your name from the Soul-Binding Stele without fail. I swear it on the name of Baek Muheun... no. I swear it on the honor of the Ghost Sword Baek Clan."

Hongryeon looked at me without a word. Her face still could not be seen.

But for the first time, the question came from her side.

"If you mean to apologize, then why did you do those things?"

Ah.

Right. Right. Fair enough. Baek Muheun, that son of a bitch. He'd have to be one hell of a bastard—an absurd bastard—for that question to come out as a matter of course. No apology would be accepted, and that was only natural. Yes. Of course it was.

Because the body I'd possessed was Baek Muheun's, I truly had nothing else to say. He'd committed every kind of vice, wrecked the clan's affairs one scandal after another, and because of that the clan—unlike the Heavenly Demon's other Sword Demon-rearing houses—had fallen clean out of the Heavenly Demon's sight. That was why they'd moved the estate all the way to the outskirts of the Demonic Cult.

The wrongs numbered in the hundreds. And he had the nerve to apologize? Shameless didn't begin to cover it.

From Baek Muheun's position, there was nothing else to say. So all I could do was hedge.

"...There were reasons I couldn't help. That wouldn't be enough, would it?"

There really had been reasons I couldn't help.

I wasn't Baek Muheun!

Hongryeon quietly looked down at the sleeping Baek Muheun, turning over what had been said during the day.

Reasons he couldn't help. That ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was what he had said. What could they be? She thought about those reasons all through the night.

Reasons he couldn't help. There was no excuse more clumsy than that.

What, exactly, could he not have helped? What reason could possibly justify every one of those vices? Why, whenever he found an opening, had he slapped her cheek, rapped her shin, kicked her in the chest?

Why had he toyed with passing women and tried to steal a kiss?

Why had he humiliated the heirs of other clans to their faces, and taken his beatings so pathetically?

Why had he squandered money on gambling, even drawing on private loans, and failed to properly handle the work the clan head entrusted to him?

All of it had linked together like a chain reaction. And in the end, after countless failures, the Ghost Sword Baek Clan had fallen out of the Heavenly Demon's sight. His father, who had covered for him to the last, had taken to his bed with an illness of suppressed rage.

The Ghost Sword Baek Clan was in decline. All of it was his fault. Even she, a mere Sword Demon, knew the weight of that sin—so what of him? No matter how much of a scoundrel he was, he had crossed the line absurdly far...

...Crossed the line absurdly far...?

"...?"

Wait.

Something.

Something was there.

Hongryeon narrowed her eyes. She even propped her chin on her arm and followed a thought that seemed as if it might just come within reach.

That is... that is to say...

There was something. Something she had missed.

Let her sort it from the beginning. The one who had made the Ghost Sword Baek Clan what it was now was its sole heir. Baek Muheun—the only legitimate son of Baek Jinak, the current clan head. He had caused all of this.

His petty mistakes and his great disasters had piled together until the Ghost Sword Baek Clan, once renowned even among the Sword Demon-rearing clans, fell out of the Heavenly Demon's favor. What good was the quality of the Sword Demons they raised? Those above would hardly look kindly on a string of failed missions. There were several other Sword Demon-rearing clans besides this one, anyway. They could simply use those. And if circumstances turned unfavorable, they could call the Ghost Sword Baek Clan back then.

And so the work the clan now received from the Demonic Cult was, without exception, trivial. Unimportant work. Work that did not particularly require the Ghost Sword Baek Clan. And the result...

More Sword Demons were coming back. Those who returned without dying.

"......"

Hongryeon looked once more at the sleeping young clan head.

A higher survival rate among the Sword Demons. The clan's influence, its wealth, the money it brought in had dropped sharply—but because it no longer took on dangerous missions to that same degree, most of the Sword Demons sent out came back alive.

If it were only that, it would have seemed nothing more than a small butterfly effect. But he had spoken a line that stretched the suspicion further. There were reasons I couldn't help. And on top of that, there was what he had said to her yesterday.

Sudden. Something she had never imagined.

The words that he would let her retire.

At the time she had been certain it was a vicious joke, but coming to today, it was different again. Even after seeing what she was good for—even after watching her sweep aside the killing auras of countless Sword Demons—he had said the same thing once more. As if he saw her not as a sword, but as a person.

"......."

Even what had happened only a few hours ago was the same. Today, the moment he returned after finishing his business, he had said to her that he would add more money to her severance. That he was grateful she had done something she hated.

He had expressed his thanks like an entirely different person from the Baek Muheun of a few months ago.

As if...

he meant it.

"...Wait."

Wait. Wait. Wait.

She was reading too much into it. She had leaned too far. But looking at what followed, the suspicion kept rising. Was there a chance the person had been replaced? No. She was the one who had guarded him. She slept with one eye open, and if he had been switched with someone, she would have had no choice but to notice.

And yet he had changed in an instant. At a strange time, at that—when the clan head had taken to his bed with an illness of suppressed rage, and he had secured a portion of authority over the Sword Demons. As if he were revealing a heart he had kept hidden.

If he had been acting the scoundrel all this time... if, by acting the scoundrel, he had deliberately tilted the clan's fortunes, pushed it out of the Heavenly Demon's sight, and tried to raise the Sword Demons' rate of survival... if he had belatedly pretended to come to his senses and begun walking toward some purpose...

...Could that purpose, too, possibly be tied to the treatment of the Sword Demons...?

"...Tsk."

Stop thinking.

She had gone too far.

If the goal had been the fall of their reputation in the first place, then the petty torments she had watched him inflict were things he need not have done at all. There was not a single reason to commit vices where no one else was looking.

Do not assign meaning to it. Baek Muheun was trash.

...There was no mistake. It had to be so. It absolutely had to.