Full Moon
The moon was especially bright tonight. Bibi and I walked side by side through the silent night streets, heading back to Chwiwharu.
Along the way, my thoughts drifted to Chosun, whom we had just met—the peerless beauty who would one day steal the hearts of both Dong Zhuo and Lü Bu and complete the Linked Rings Scheme.
She truly lived up to her reputation. All she had done was glare at me with those sharp eyes and spit cold words, yet my heart was pounding hotter than it had in ages.
"Aigoo..."
Bibi's sigh reached my ears. This kid must be mad that I wouldn't let her go to Mengjin.
"Bibi? Even if we went to Mengjin, there's nothing we could do. If something's meant to happen, we should just let it—"
"How long have you known that woman from earlier?"
"Huh? You weren't mad about Mengjin?"
What was this? She had even stopped walking and asked so boldly that I assumed she was talking about Mengjin. Why bring up Chosun all of a sudden?
"As you said, there is nothing we could have done there. Had I gone and you been hurt because of it, I could never have forgiven myself."
"You were worried about me?"
"At any rate, that is not what matters now. Have you not been working every day at Chwiwharu? So when exactly did you come to know that woman?"
"That woman spent the whole time looking for a chance to put a hole through my neck—what is there to 'know'? I was the one shocked to run into Chosun there—"
"Ch-Chosun, you said? You already know her name?"
"..."
I slipped up. I had forgotten that the status window was only visible to me—I'd only just started this game, after all.
Bibi stared at me with even more suspicion. Her breathing had grown rough; she clearly thought I was hiding something again.
"Haa... You saw that sword earlier, right? Seven jewels set like the Big Dipper—it's the Seven-Star Treasure Blade, said to belong to Wang Yun, the Governor of Henan."
"Wang Yun, the Governor of Henan? Someone that important... Then what is Lady Chosun's relationship to him?"
"I don't know for sure, but maybe a maidservant he's raised like a daughter? Today was the first time I met her too, but she's quite famous—I've heard the name."
"I have never heard of her. What is she famous for?"
"Huh? Well..."
How am I supposed to explain that? But Bibi interpreted it her own way. She let out a sigh full of disappointment and turned her head.
"Aigoo... Well, she was extraordinarily beautiful. Is that how you know of her?"
"It's not exactly because of that..."
"I could believe she was the greatest beauty in Luoyang—no, under heaven. She is taller than I am, with a finer figure... It is no wonder you would wish to meet her even once. Aigoo..."
"..."
Bibi, are you jealous right now? I've never once complimented your looks—you go around wrapping bandages to hide your pockmarks—but the second I recognized Chosun, it got under your skin?
But. You. Also. Went on and on in front of me about how handsome Yuan Shao was, spittle flying.
And now you're treating me like some woman-crazed bastard just because I knew a bit about Chosun?
"Bibi? I never particularly wanted to meet Chosun. I just thought, oh, someone like that exists... and then she happened to appear right in front of me."
"But you fell for her at first sight, did you not? The whole way here you did not say a single word to me—you only kept smiling as you thought of Lady Chosun."
"I-I wasn't smiling... Don't be too disappointed. Chosun is beautiful, that's true, but you have your own strengths, Bibi."
"What strengths could I possibly have?"
"Well... a kind of sense of justice, maybe? You were ready to risk your life running to Mengjin, weren't you? And on top of that, you tried to walk a lost child home. I wouldn't have even dared think of doing that."
"Aigoo... But you said it would have been like throwing an egg at a rock. Lady Chosun would be different. She is brave and skilled in martial arts—had she gone to Mengjin, she could have saved countless people."
"Bibi? If you put yourself down like that on purpose, it makes me feel terrible. Not everyone in the world is like Chosun. Ordinary people like us need to exist too..."
"Ugh... You are right. I am so incompetent I only ever burden others—I have never once been told I was of any help."
"..."
Bibi poured out her self-pity and then walked ahead. I supposed any woman would feel diminished after seeing Chosun—that was only natural.
But she was just a waiter at Chwiwharu. She could simply live content with her lot... so why did Bibi get so disappointed by her own insignificance?
"Bibi? Anyway, who do you think that girl was earlier?"
I caught up and asked, feeling sorry for the way her shoulders drooped as she walked. Bibi still seemed sulky, answering with her lips stuck out.
"I do not really know. But if a maidservant of the Governor of Henan was personally escorting her, she must be the child of a very important family."
"That makes sense, right? The Governor of Henan is basically the person in charge of Luoyang. If he sent Chosun with his own treasured sword, she's at least the child of someone at the Three Excellencies level. Or maybe even imperial family."
"Hup... Did you just say imperial family?"
"It's possible. The Han dynasty has lasted nearly four hundred years—there must be imperial relatives scattered all over the place."
"Y-You are right. I have heard there are even imperial relatives so far removed from the main line that they live among ordinary commoners. Aigoo..."
Bibi sighed as she spoke. Sounded like she was talking about people like Liu Bei.
Come to think of it, starting in Luoyang of all cities had been pure, ridiculous luck.
Imagine if I'd dropped into somewhere like Anhui or Pingyuan and run into Liu Bei right away. I'd have been stuck—dragged around by Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, spending my whole life on the run until I burned to death at Yiling.
And even Yiling would have been generous. With stats worse than Yang Hong's, I'd probably have been found dead somewhere in Xuzhou.
So I needed to get a Yuedanping evaluation as soon as possible and go find Cao Cao or Yuan Shao.
"Ah... The moon is already full."
Whether she knew my thoughts or not, Bibi pointed at the completely full moon and sank into sentiment.
"You're right. Come to think of it, I can't remember the last time I looked up at the moon like this."
In modern society, the air had been so thick with fine dust that there was rarely any reason to look at the sky. But here the ozone layer was perfectly intact, CO₂ levels at rock bottom—a pure, clean world.
So this was what those stories meant about scholars walking night roads by the light of the stars and moon. Without either of us suggesting it, Bibi and I sat side by side on a pile of stones and looked up at the night sky.
"Come to think of it, Bibi, where did you live before?"
"Hup... Me? I, well... the south! I came from the south."
"The south—do you mean Jiangdong? Or Jingzhou or Bashu?"
"Y-Yes, that is right. And where is your hometown, Do Yeop?"
"Me? Uh... a place called Zhuo County in Youzhou."
"..."
I had brought up hometowns out of nowhere and ended up naming that place without thinking. But was it that surprising?
Bibi was staring at me with eyes so wide they looked ready to pop out. Honestly, those eyes alone were so clear and transparent that even Chosun from earlier couldn't hold a candle to them.
"Why... are you so surprised?"
"Ah, no. I never dreamed you were from the north."
"I didn't live there long, so it's not really a hometown. After that I wandered the realm and ended up in the capital. What about you, Bibi—any family?"
"Ah... Actually, I had a mother, but she already passed away. And I have younger sisters... but I do not know where they are or what they are doing now."
"Why? It's sad about your mother, but if you have sisters, didn't you think of joining forces and trying to make a living together?"
"Ugh... I tried, but I made a huge mistake and we had no choice but to part ways. Perhaps that is why I wanted to go to Mengjin even more. I thought maybe from there I could see my sisters beyond the Yellow River..."
"Huh? You said you were from Jiangnan. Wouldn't that mean the Yangtze, not the Yellow River?"
"Ah... You are right. I must have mixed something up."
"..."
Not mixed up—you misspoke and now you're covering it up, aren't you? This woman is suspicious.
With nothing going for her, she tries to run to Mengjin to save the people, or grabs a sword without a shred of fear when Yuan Shu's men come after her.
She even got angry and told Chosun to put that sword away when it was pointed at my neck. For someone looked down on as a plague-ridden waiter, she's surprisingly bold.
"Haa... Anyway, I think I need to leave Chwiwharu."
"Hup... What do you mean by that?"
"Chosun drove Qi Ling off, but word will still reach Yuan Shu's ears, right? Chosun is Wang Yun's person, so they can't touch her—but would they just leave me alone? So I need to leave before Yuan Shu's men come looking."
"Th-Then are you leaving Luoyang?"
"No. I can't leave Luoyang. Somehow get a Yuedanping evaluation and find a lord who can pacify the coming chaos. That's my goal."
"..."
Bibi hunched her shoulders as if a little disappointed. Well, she had given me a whole speech about how a man should strap on a great sword and stand above others.
So someone like me, scrambling to survive by latching onto others, must have been thoroughly unsatisfying. But not everyone in the world could become a hero, right?
"Aigoo... I understand. I shall come with you."
"Huh? What are you talking about? Why would you follow me, Bibi?"
Then came an answer I hadn't expected at all. The problem was there was no need for it.
"But you have always been kind to me when everyone else looks down on me, have you not? I was taught that when one receives a favor, one should repay it. If you stay in Luoyang, Yuan Shu will eventually find you. Then who will protect you?"
"..."
So Bibi wants to follow me to protect me from Yuan Shu's potential attacks? I knew she had a surprisingly strong sense of justice, but this self-efficacy is way over the top.
"You don't have to do that. It's dangerous, sure, but I've got some experience of my own—I'll manage to survive somehow. More importantly, you have no reason to put yourself in harm's way, Bibi."
"I had something I needed to do anyway. You know so much about the famous figures of the realm—I am sure that will help me too."
"What do you need to do?"
"Ah... Even for you, Do Yeop, that is a little hard to say..."
Bibi said she couldn't reveal that much and covered her cheeks with both hands again. Honestly, for someone with pockmarks, everything she did was so damn cute I wanted to chew those bandages right off with my teeth.
And so the two of us decided to leave Chwiwharu. Truth be told, traveling with Bibi as dead weight was a bit of a risky journey.
But at the time, I didn't know. Which of us was the real dead weight...