Call Me Your Lord
He wore a faint, unreadable smile, and I met it with one of my own.
"I am Yi Do, Dharma Protector directly under the Grand Elder."
"Heh heh, come now, speak comfortably. True, my years as a Dharma Protector are the longer, but there's a considerable gap between Elder Neung Don and the Grand Elder. Ease up, ease up."
"I'm comfortable as I am."
"If you say so. Your name has traveled far regardless. Above all, what happened here in Sambong County has spread all the way to the main headquarters—it's caused quite an uproar...."
His voice trailed off as Yi Maeng-rip's eyes drifted to the piles of goods stacked in the corner.
"And what might those be?"
"Nothing of consequence."
"Nothing of consequence...? That is a considerable quantity for nothing. Silk... medicinal pills... even weapons. Judging by the keen edges on those spearheads, they're high-grade goods. The swords aren't famous blades, but serviceable enough—and those garments over there, wouldn't those be Yan attire?"
"You seem to have a great many questions."
Sensing the strange charge in the air, Un Dohyeon slid subtly to my side and rested his hand on the hilt of his sword.
Yi Maeng-rip watched him for a moment, then smiled easily.
"If my presence displeases you, I'll apologize. Now then, allow me to explain why I've come."
"Go ahead."
"First off, the report our Branch Head submitted has set the whole sect abuzz."
"Abuzz?"
"Just so. There were certain questionable points, but setting those aside...."
My brow twitched.
"You said questionable points."
Apparently nettled at being cut off, Yi Maeng-rip's brow creased briefly. Then he smiled.
"...Just so. Above all, those two corpses hanging outside are members of the Asura Sword Sect's own branch, are they not?"
I stayed silent.
"The branch is short-staffed as it is—that's precisely why the Asura Pavilion Lord refrains from assigning them missions, as you know full well. Yet instead of replenishing the ranks, they keep thinning them further. So a notion has begun circulating among the elders... that perhaps this is a scheme to rule Sambong County under nothing more than the Asura Sword Sect's borrowed name."
I laughed.
"People are actually saying that?"
"I'm afraid so. The Sect Leader did declare he would entrust the whole of the Sambong Branch massacre to you, Yi Do. But with the branch so shorthanded, Elder Neung Don worried whether a proper investigation could even be carried out. So he sent me to stop by Sambong County along the way—with orders to inform you, and to deliver word of Wang Mu-tan and Jin Geon's deaths to their families."
"So in other words—you've come to help."
"Precisely. I made unusually good time from the headquarters and meant to rest a day or so anyway. Would it be all right if I rested here?"
"By all means."
"Much obliged. I won't interfere with your affairs, so simply treat me as though I weren't here."
Treat me as though I weren't here....
What a curious thing to say.
The words that followed were just as curious.
"By the way—about the goods here. When were you planning to send these to the headquarters?"
The absurd nonsense kept spilling out, and for the first time in a long while, laughter I couldn't suppress kept leaking from my lips.
"I have to send these to the headquarters?"
"That is the custom, of course. Surely a martial artist of the Asura Sword Sect wouldn't dream of filling his private coffers. And above all, I understand the two men hanging at the entrance died precisely because they shirked their duties to line their own pockets. We can hardly let history repeat itself, can we?"
"You seem to have the reason wrong."
"Wrong, you say?"
"Wang Mu-tan and Jin Geon died because they schemed with the Pacheon Fist Sect behind closed doors to murder members of their own branch. They didn't even grant them a clean death—they tortured them. These weren't enemies. They were their own branch members. Would you have me spare such men?"
"My apologies, but that differs from the report I read. I understood it to be simple greed. The Pacheon Fist Sect was involved? Is there proof?"
"I believe you told me to treat you as though you weren't here. You seem to be interfering rather a lot."
"Ha ha ha ha. No need to worry. Treat me as though I weren't here, I said. What difference would a few words from a man who doesn't exist make? Pay me no mind. Ha ha ha."
It was entertaining. His intent was so transparent it was almost fascinating.
I was curious just how far he would take it.
Yi Maeng-rip, about to open his mouth again, turned his head instead.
"Hmm.... Sounds as though we have visitors."
I had sensed it too. A considerable commotion, as though something heavy were being hauled about.
Yi Maeng-rip went out first, and Un Dohyeon and I followed. Outside stood Hong Chik-seo, patriarch of the Hong Clan, and his second son—now acting patriarch—Hong Ja-myeong.
The moment Hong Chik-seo spotted me, he swept into a cupped-fist salute.
"Branch Head. I trust you have been well."
Returning the greeting, I asked directly.
"What brings you?"
"Nothing of great import. You avenged our caravan, and this is but a modest token of our gratitude to you."
I shifted my gaze. Enough spoils to fill five carts, displayed in the open without even a screen—look freely, the gesture seemed to say. Weapons and cultivation resources, a few medicinal herbs said to nourish the body, clothing and undergarments besides.
"I'm grateful for the gift. But nothing is finished yet. This is only the beginning—are you already letting the thread of vigilance slip?"
Hong Chik-seo waved his hands in denial.
"No, no, never that. But... we wished at least to convey what lies in our hearts."
"I understand your hearts well enough. You needn't show your sincerity in this fashion."
At those words, Hong Chik-seo looked upon me with an expression of genuine feeling.
"I'll accept the gift. And see that you don't relax."
"Of course. We only wished to show our gratitude. Then we shall take our leave."
"Travel safely."
"Yes, sir."
Father and son departed with their porters, all smiles. It was our time again.
Yi Maeng-rip's smile widened.
"And naturally, I trust you'll be sending these spoils to the headquarters as well."
"Why should I send even these?"
"...Are you asking because you truly don't know?"
"I'm asking because I don't know."
"Heh.... Look here, Branch Head. Whatever deeds you may have accomplished, the reward for them is decided at the Asura Sword Sect's main headquarters. The goods here will first pass into the sect's warehouses, then be portioned out at a fixed rate. Best not to indulge in needless greed."
"Is that the law of the Asura Sword Sect?"
"Hmmm.... 'Custom' would be the more fitting word than 'law,' I'd say."
Absurd. I had never heard of any such thing.
"Though... there is one way, as it happens."
"A way?"
"Why not send it to Elder Neung Don? Surely you aren't unaware that the current Pavilion Master of the Medicine Hall rose to his post on the Elder's recommendation. Send it to him, and he'll hold you in fine favor—and a favorably disposed Elder would see you granted a far greater share than the usual allotment."
His intent could not have been more transparent.
What I was doing struck at Neung Don's reverse scale.
If I sent these spoils to Neung Don, it would be read as an overture of 'reconciliation.' In other words, Yi Maeng-rip was telling me, right here and now, to take Neung Don's hand and bury this whole affair where it stood.
I had listened purely to see how far he would go—and this was where it ended.
Chances were he had used the very same approach when co-opting the sect's other martial artists.
Almost endearing, really.
When I made no answer, Un Dohyeon—silent until now—stepped forward.
"I've listened quietly all this while, but isn't this going too far?"
Yi Maeng-rip's expression frosted over in an instant.
"...So there was a placeless mongrel lurking in this Sambong Branch after all. How dare a mere branch member intrude upon a conversation between Dharma Protectors!"
The roar dripped with killing intent, but Un Dohyeon didn't so much as blink.
Not that I blame him. Un Dohyeon had spent nearly every waking moment at my side steeped in the killing intent I gave off. Measured against that, this was child's play.
Un Dohyeon stepped forward.
"Everything here, and the spoils in the cellar below, are gifts the people of Sambong County offered to the Branch Head of their own free will. There is no reason to send them to the Asura Sword Sect's headquarters, and even were they to be sent, that is a decision only our Branch Head may make. Coming here to coerce him is simply wrong."
"Wrong? The audacity of a mere branch member—"
Yi Maeng-rip moved. He brushed past me and planted himself squarely before Un Dohyeon, eyes boring into him.
"Say it again."
Un Dohyeon opened his mouth.
"Whether everything here is sent to the headquarters or not is entirely—"
CRACK—!
Un Dohyeon's head snapped sideways. A vivid red handprint bloomed across his cheek.
"Again."
Un Dohyeon lifted his head.
"Everything here is not something the headquarters has any right to—"
CRACK—!
Un Dohyeon dropped to one knee, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. Then he rose back to his feet, eyes blazing, and glared up at Yi Maeng-rip.
"Doing it again?"
"...Your spirit is commendable, but your insolence has gone past all bounds. Very well. Let us see this through. Go on. Say it again."
There was something I needed to confirm first.
Un Dohyeon was, in name, a member of the Sambong Branch of the Asura Sword Sect.
But did Un Dohyeon give his loyalty to the Asura Sword Sect?
Not in the slightest. Holding a seat in the branch had nothing whatsoever to do with loyalty to the sect.
Un Dohyeon held no fondness for the Asura Sword Sect. If not outright hatred, then something hovering very near loathing. The object of his loyalty was not the sect.
It was me.
And that was precisely why he had intruded upon my conversation with Yi Maeng-rip.
"This Branch Head has walked roads savage enough to earn the epithet of the Cruel Demon Blade, and yet he manages his subordinates like a dog's breakfast. Well then—what can you do? As your senior among the Protectors, allow me to demonstrate how one properly handles one's inferiors."
Just as he reached out his hand—
I had meant to keep watching. But this was enough.
Un Dohyeon's state of mind. His spirit. How deeply he trusted me.
Every one of my doubts had been laid to rest.
That was enough.
It happened in the space of a breath.
SHRRK—!
A sound of cleaved flesh, and the hand Yi Maeng-rip had raised dropped to the ground.
He stood frozen, his face blank. His realm was Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown—not a low realm, but the distance between us had been far too small. And his back had been turned to me.
What more was there to discuss?
Pivoting on my heel, I swung my leg in a full rotation. My heel struck the side of Yi Maeng-rip's head.
BOOOM—!!
"Kugh—!"
I reversed my grip on the Cloud Dragon Sword and drove it down hard into the lower back of Yi Maeng-rip, sprawled wretchedly across the ground.
THUD-!
BOOOM—!!
"Gah... gaaahh...."
A gale howled outward in every direction. As it should. The dantian of a Three Flowers Gathering master had just shattered. With all that stored energy erupting from within, it would have been disappointing if the blast hadn't whipped up a storm.
I released the hilt and walked over to Un Dohyeon, who still knelt on one knee.
"...Why... why did you do it?" he asked.
I regarded him quietly for a moment, then tossed the question back.
"Were you anxious?"
"...."
"Did you think I might be swayed—that creature's proposal, or Neung Don's?"
Un Dohyeon shook his head, his expression firm.
"Then why did you intrude on the conversation?"
"...Because I was angry."
"Angry because you didn't trust me? Or angry at yourself for failing to?"
"Neither. I may not know everything about what kind of man you are, Branch Head, but I know this much: a promise you make once, you keep without fail. The road you have walked proves it. You will avenge my sister—I have no doubt of that whatsoever. And that is exactly why that cheap little scheme stood out so glaringly to my eyes. I know full well you would never be shaken by such ploys. What angered me was that he dared employ one at all—that he thought so little of you."
I smiled.
"Do you know why I let him keep striking you?"
"...."
"I never ordered you to join the conversation, and yet you joined. However much that creature displeases you, he is a Dharma Protector. He holds standing within the sect. If you serve me, then at the very least you must not do anything that smears my face. Isn't that so?"
The foundation of the bond between lord and vassal lies in how faithfully one serves, and how far one will go to protect.
The lord shields his vassal's honor; the vassal gives his lord unwavering loyalty. Break that compact, and there is no reason to call them lord and vassal at all.
"Do you know why I stepped in when I did?"
"...I don't understand."
"Because you were about to draw your sword."
I was certain of it. Un Dohyeon had resolved to draw.
"And had you drawn, that creature would have taken your head on the spot."
His eyes squeezed shut.
"That is why I stepped in. Un Dohyeon."
He lifted his head and looked at me.
"...Yes, Branch Head."
"Then tell me—to whom do you pledge your loyalty?"
"...To you, Branch Head."
"Then isn't it time you changed how you address me?"
"...Pardon?"
A smile curled at the corner of my mouth.
"From this day on, call me your lord."
I turned away. My long robe billowed—and came down upon the head of Yi Maeng-rip, sprawled on the ground and glaring up at me with bloodshot eyes.
CRUNCH—!
I crushed it beneath my heel.