Clouds and Rain (2)

Stepping into Shuchun, Yuan Shu's one-time stronghold, I promptly found myself staring at a building of staggering opulence.

That Yuan Shu bastard had pulled this stunt back in Nanyang Commandery, and here he was doing it all over again. There had clearly been a structure of similar scale back then, too — nothing on the colossal order of what you'd find only in Luoyang, but I could see it plainly enough. All that had stopped him from building bigger was a shortage of time and money; given free rein, Yuan Shu would have raised something to outshine the imperial palace of Luoyang itself, purely to gratify his ravenous lust for power. The man had finally ascended the throne as emperor, after all — naturally he'd indulged in every luxury while raising his walls, and the backlash such extravagance invited would never have cost him a moment's worry. Knowing what manner of creature Yuan Shu was, it went without saying.

Before I got around to the cleanup, however, a soldier of Sun Ce's handed me a bundle.

"General-in-Chief! This was found tucked inside the robes of Yuan Shu, who has since lost consciousness!"

"Inside his robes?"

I replied with a puzzled tilt of my head. The thing seemed a touch too large to have been carried against one's chest... Did the man have a four-dimensional pocket or something? Well, it wasn't as if sewing an extra pocket into ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠one's garments was impossible, so I let it slide. This was something Yuan Shu had cherished too dearly to discard even midway through his desperate flight — and I had a fair guess as to what it was.

I set the bundle down in a conspicuous spot and undid the knot. The cloth slipped away in soft folds, and an object emerged into the light.

"Ooh..."

"So this is..."

The onlookers nearby let their awe slip out audibly — hardly surprising, once you laid eyes on the thing. White jade, gleaming with a dazzling luster. Coiled across its face was a dragon whose every last scale had been incised with the painstaking devotion of a master craftsman, more than enough to wring gasps from everyone present. If the seal had any flaw at all, it was the corner chipped ever so slightly and mended with gold — a blemish in the jade, in the most literal sense.

"Now, let's have a look."

While the rest stood spellbound by its beauty, I swept up the Heirloom Seal of the Realm and turned it over to read the characters engraved on its underside.

"Having received the Mandate of Heaven, may the sovereign's years flourish without end."

The inscription, so the story went, had been composed by Li Si, chancellor of Qin. Well, it certainly had an air of grandeur about it.

"It really is the genuine seal."

Nodding to myself, I carefully stowed the seal away once more. At this point, Yuan Shu was practically a raid boss — the kind of monster that spawns at a scheduled hour, triggers a massive world event, and drops a legendary item for whichever faction contributed the most to its downfall.

I cinched the wrapping tight and asked the soldier who had brought the seal, "What's Yuan Shu's condition at the moment?"

"They say he merely lost consciousness, worn down by hunger and dehydration together."

The soldier — a Gangdong man with somewhat swarthy skin — went on. "The physicians say he'll be fully recovered before long..."

"That's a relief."

A dry chuckle escaped me as I listened to the report. Not, of course, out of any goodwill toward Yuan Shu. When he'd been discovered, not a single soul had been anywhere near him — which told me his attendants had either all been captured or had simply abandoned him where he lay. If hunger and thirst did finish him off, I supposed the record would read death by starvation. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠You could call that a painful enough full stop, and yet weighed against everything Yuan Shu had perpetrated, it was a death far too gentle.

The man had founded his own Zhong dynasty and usurped the imperial title, after all. From the Han's standpoint he was a traitor beyond all argument, and for traitors of his caliber, an ultra-deluxe execution course had been prepared — custom-tailored, and for their kind alone.

Let's see now. What would suit him best, specifically? There was boiling, there was frying... or simply tearing him apart in one clean motion...

Then something occurred to me, and I addressed the soldier still kneeling where he was. "For now, pass along my commendation for the feat of taking Yuan Shu alive."

"Understood!"

"And see you don't forget to add that a generous reward will follow before long."

Sun Ce's soldier bowed once and withdrew from my presence. A good long while had flowed past since the Little Conqueror had sworn herself to our cause. In the campaign against Jing Province she had come forward as vanguard and pulled off the preemptive strike against Liu Biao's forces; then, after quietly digging in across the river, she had faithfully carried out my order to seal off Yuan Shu's escape. Beyond that, while I was off in Bing Province playing with the Xiongnu, she had worked herself to the bone keeping Jing Province stable. And now, on top of it all, she had racked up the monumental achievement of capturing a false emperor. It was high time I started thinking about seating her somewhere high.

...Though what office would actually suit her, I had no idea. For the moment I would settle on a rough framework and sound out her own opinion later. I only hoped she wouldn't beg off again like last time, protesting that she had merely been repaying a debt.

I picked up the seal and tried to slip it inside my robe, but it proved larger than I'd expected — no chance. Far too unwieldy a size to lug around by hand. How on earth had that Yuan Shu bastard carried this thing everywhere he went? Had the glittering bauble really meant that much to him? And yet entrusting the seal to someone else felt little better. This wasn't the simple possessive itch to own a treasure — losing this thing would be an outright catastrophe. Even within the imperial palace, the Heirloom Seal was deemed important enough to warrant an office dedicated solely to its keeping. And I was supposed to just... misplace it? Now, wouldn't that be entertaining.

After a moment's agonizing, I heaved a sigh and resolved to carry the seal on my own person. If anyone else lost the thing, their head would leave their shoulders on the spot — whereas I, in all likelihood, would walk away without a scratch. Her Majesty the Emperor would simply haul out whichever official insisted on my beheading and say:

"A trinket of a seal? We can always have another made."

"..."

"Well? Any objections?"

And with that, the official's screams would come ringing in from beyond the hall — lips curved in a smile, eyes frozen hard and glacial.

"Objections, Your Majesty? None whatsoever!"

The court officials facing her would double over at the waist, and only then would the Emperor turn her gaze upon me and smile.

By now I could predict, with perfect accuracy, how the Emperor would behave whenever something happened. ...Whether that was a good thing, I honestly couldn't say.

I dispatched a number of soldiers and officers to help settle the region's public order. As for the prisoners who had surrendered to me, I released every last one — barring the small handful with no wish to return home. I did fret that a few ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of the freed commoners might take up banditry, but I intended to dole out relief grain using the supplies I'd wrung out of Yuan Shu, so I doubted it would come to much. And even if some of them did turn bandit in earnest, they'd be hunted down soon enough. Small wonder, really: among the people I had sent out was Cao Cao herself.

"For the time being, I shall patrol the Jiujiang Commandery area and set its public order to rights."

I was considerably thrown when Cao Cao came out with that — I'd assumed she would march straight back to Yanzhou the moment Yuan Shu was dealt with. After all, she had been on the verge of finishing off that old man Tao Qian when she received the imperial edict I'd sent and wheeled her army about.

"A welcome offer, as far as I'm concerned — but is there a reason behind it?"

"To win your favor."

"...I shouldn't have asked."

At my reaction, Cao Cao curled her lips into a seductive smile. "If my reckoning holds, everything will be finished and dusted by the time I return."

"What is that supposed to mean, all of a sudden?"

"Merely thinking aloud."

Hee-hee—!! The instant Cao Cao hauled hard on the reins, her steed Zhuahuang Feidian reared up, forelegs flung high, and whinnied with all its might.

"Then off I go! See that you stay safe and sound — alive!"

Alive? What was that supposed to mean? Before I could even put the question to her, Cao Cao had vanished at a blistering gallop. I watched Xiahou Dun and the Tiger-Leopard Cavalry trailing in her wake for a long moment, then exhaled a sigh and turned my horse's head.

And now, here I was. I had done just about everything that could be done here. All that remained was to move elsewhere, give the interior of Shuchun a proper going-over, and settle on a course of action for what came next. Watching the sun sink slowly toward the horizon, I ordered the troops to stand down and rest.

With the soldiers quietly settling into suitable corners of the Shuchun camp, I set off with only a small escort at my side, strides brisk and businesslike, toward the great building where Yuan Shu had surely made his residence. In his own mind he had probably posted guards and locked the place down tight; it meant nothing now. Not as if there was a landlord left to file a complaint with me.

Crack!

Seo Yeo gave her sword the barest flick, and the main gate's lock burst apart on the spot, the doors swinging wide open. The escort behind me halted at the threshold as though bound by prior arrangement, and Seo Yeo alone went on shadowing my heels.

Sweeping my gaze around the building's interior, I remarked, "I expected as much, but this is downright lavish."

Oddly enough, not one member of Yuan Shu's household showed their face. Had they already fled? Given the collective-punishment laws, anyone older than a child would have struggled to keep their life anyway — so it was hardly a bad choice. As for where the runaways had gone... most likely they had fled to Yuan Shao, blood of the same Yuan line. She would deal with them as she saw fit.

Throwing doors open one after another as I inspected the luxurious rooms, I eventually came upon what looked to be a bedchamber. The bed was a size smaller than the one back in Nanyang Commandery, so this was evidently ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠not Yuan Shu's room. The Yuan Shu I had sized up was the sort to bristle at the pettiest of trifles; a cramped little room like this would never have served as his. Even so, the furniture was lavish enough that I found myself guessing it belonged to one of his wives...

"My lord."

"...Huh?!"

The words had scarcely left Seo Yeo's lips before a force of staggering strength took hold of me and pressed me flat onto the bed.

"...?"

By the time I had blinked my way through the sheer abruptness of it, Seo Yeo — now astride me — had turned her gaze down upon my face.

"...A wish."

For a long while Seo Yeo simply held me in that unwavering stare; then her lips parted, slow and deliberate. "I ask this of you."

"..."

And with those words, Seo Yeo leaned her body down over mine.