Power (4)
Wang Yun, who had been intent on filling my cup without pause, didn't hold out for very long.
The reason was simple—I had answered him with the crudest possible counter-strategy.
True to his boast about drinking until his nose ran crooked, Wang Yun emptied cup after cup, and every time his cup ran dry, I filled it right back up.
When a man bearing the staggering office of General-in-Chief pours wine with his own two hands, how many people in this world could bring themselves to refuse?
My original plan had been to stop the moment Wang Yun showed the least discomfort. Few creatures on earth are more insufferable than a superior who forces drink on you.
Against all expectation, however, the old man genuinely relished his liquor.
If anything, every time I reached for the bottle, he received the refill with such flustered gratitude, bowing over his cup as though it were an imperial decree.
But how long can an old man hold out against the drink—especially one who had lived so austerely that he rarely touched wine in the first place?
"……"
Barely had our contest gotten underway before Wang Yun was three sheets to the wind, and moments later he crashed over where he sat.
Watching him sprawl there, I turned to the attendants waiting nearby.
"See the elder to his chambers."
"R-right away, my lord!"
The servants replied in stunned voices, as though they had never once seen their master in such a state.
"Elder, you've had too much. Time to rest now, isn't it?"
"Uuurgh…"
Like any man properly drowned in drink, Wang Yun answered only with incomprehensible moans as the attendants propped him up between them and hauled him off.
Xun Yu watched the whole scene unfold, then spoke.
"To think a man so circumspect in his daily conduct could unwind like this. It seems he has finally set down the whole of his burdens."
"Burdens, you say? Is that how you read him?"
At my question, Xun Yu took a composed sip of wine and let the faintest smile touch her lips.
"Yes. Even after surrendering his office and withdrawing from court, he was a man who fretted over the imperial house through rain and snow alike. For a man like that to show himself in such a state—does that not itself mean he has laid down a weight he carried far too long?"
"……"
Having said that much, Xun Yu turned her head toward the doorway.
"Wouldn't you say?"
"Hm?"
She might as well have been addressing a third party, and I let my confusion show. Was there anyone else here besides the servants?
Tsk.
"……"
Lü Bu, planted behind me, clicked her tongue as if she'd seen through everything from the start, while Seo Yeo stared straight ahead, expressionless as ever.
From beyond the doorway—where every gaze in the room had converged—a figure appeared.
"…You knew, then."
"I do flatter myself that I have a keen eye."
Light brown hair spilling down to her shoulder blades, and eyes like the Milky Way itself—eyes a man could fall into and never climb out of. Meeting them, I made no effort to hide my astonishment.
Keeping that gentle smile in place, Xun Yu explained.
"The servants had been behaving strangely from well before the elder collapsed."
"……"
"One blushing to the ears, another fidgeting where she stood. And if there were but one person in this house capable of wringing such reactions from the elder's own attendants… well. There is only one candidate, is there not?"
At that explanation, the servants realized exactly how badly they had betrayed themselves and began breaking out in cold sweat.
"…I see."
The woman of delicate features—Diaochan—spoke in a voice of perfect calm.
While I still stood there half-dazed by her sudden appearance, Diaochan bowed low before me.
"I have no excuse, my lord."
"Why? What's this about?"
Needless to say, I could only gape at the woman now folded double before me.
Diaochan answered.
"I moved on my own judgment, without any order from you. That much is unmistakably a transgression…"
"……"
And with that, all the tension drained out of me. Oh. Is that all? And here I was bracing for disaster.
"If that's the whole of it, then there's nothing to apologize for."
I told her—this woman whose thinking turned out to be far more rigid than I'd ever imagined.
"Do I really look like such a harsh master to you?"
"…No, my lord."
"Then there's nothing to it."
Having heard her answer, I pressed on without pause.
"From now on, don't stand there checking my mood every time you think to do something."
"…As you command."
That much, at least, had to have sunk in. Diaochan's mind worked on a plane far above my own.
"Now then, to my real question. What business brings you all this way?"
"I came in case an incident should arise."
"I see."
I answered with a measured nod. In other words, she had feared that something grave might erupt between Wang Yun and me.
Had it truly come to that, Diaochan would have wedged herself between the two of us and mediated on the spot. The evening had gone smoothly, so it never did.
A corner of me was a little curious just how she would have gone about smoothing things over—but I let the thought rest there. Interrogating her over a hypothetical would have been poor form.
Diaochan's entrance had bent the banquet's atmosphere slightly out of true, but not past bearing. None of that mattered, though.
"……"
We had run clean out of things to say to each other.
With Wang Yun gone, it would have been perfectly respectable to call the feast to an end right there. But a chance to talk with the celebrated Talent to Assist Kings had landed in my lap—surely it was only sensible to bind her wholly to my cause while the iron was hot.
The questions had been asked and answered; to carry things further, I needed a new subject. But what subject? Should I ask what she liked packed in her lunch box?
After a brief bout of topic-hunting, I gave up and simply decided to charge in headfirst.
"Xun Yu."
"You called, my lord?"
"You once compared me to Emperor Guangwu."
I looked her full in the face as her brow creased in puzzlement.
Emperor Guangwu. Now there was a monster of a man—led armies in person, swung a sword with the best of them, devised stratagems, ran a government, all of it single-handed. And the crowds adored him on top of it all? Small wonder Wang Mang, the man who brought the Former Han crashing down, was annihilated at the Battle of Kunyang. To this day I struggle to imagine how ten thousand men put four hundred and thirty thousand to rout.
Guangwu's own era had been every bit as chaotic as the Chu-Han contention or our Three Kingdoms—warlords rising in every corner, the whole world a shambles. The only difference was that the moment that human cheat code named Guangwu so much as roared, everyone else went screaming and got swept off the board.
Recalling the man's achievements, I shook my head.
"I am not that extraordinary a man."
"……"
"But this one thing, I can say with certainty."
Xun Yu waited quietly for me to finish.
"With a talent as fine as you at my side, I am confident we can build an age of true and lasting peace."
What verdict posterity would hand down on me, I had no idea. I only prayed it would not read history's most notorious lecher.
"One can never have too many fine ministers, however many you gather."
"……"
"Someone once called you the Talent to Assist Kings, I hear."
I went on in an even, unhurried voice.
"So—will you put that ability in service of my cause?"
"Of course, General-in-Chief."
Xun Yu answered without a heartbeat's hesitation, as though she had been waiting all evening for those exact words. Then she flashed me a smile and added with a touch of mischief,
"Is that how you coaxed my nephew Xun You as well?"
"…No? Xun You came to me of her own accord."
What kind of way is that to put it? Anyone overhearing would assume I'd made a pass at Xun You too.
There was nothing of the sort between Xun You and me. Really.
So I whiled away the hours trading talk with Xun Yu—until I noticed the sky outside had gone dark, and rose to take my leave of Wang Yun's house.
Lying about for the rest of the night had its appeal, but I could see all too plainly that Wang Yun's servants would spend the whole of it wringing their hands if I lingered. An awkward situation like that served nobody, myself least of all.
"Well then, I ought to be going."
With that familiar remark, I got up from my seat.
I asked Xun Yu, still seated,
"And what will you do?"
"…Zzz."
Out cold.
Had the wine been stronger than I'd judged?
Xun Yu had dropped straight off after only a few cups. So that was her drunk habit—out like a lamp the instant the alcohol caught her. Of all the drinking habits a person could have, that was easily the most benign.
"Wh-what are we to do…"
As surely as night follows day, Wang Yun's servants were wearing that troubled look again.
"Hmm. I'll carry her home with me. Two birds, one stone."
"…Say what now?"
"I know where Xun You's residence is, after all."
At my words, Lü Bu's eyes went wide with astonishment.
"Th-thank you, General-in-Chief!"
Wang Yun's servant spoke up, visibly overwhelmed by the honor.
"It's hardly any trouble. Her home isn't far from here."
I walked over to Xun Yu, who lay face-down on the table like a lump of sticky rice cake.
"W-wait just a moment…"
Just as Lü Bu muttered something under her breath, Diaochan swept in and lifted Xun Yu first, with practiced ease.
"…?"
"Allow me to carry her, my lord."
I asked, utterly bewildered.
"…Will you manage?"
"Yes."
Small as Xun Yu was for a grown woman, she was still a full-grown person—she had to weigh something.
Yet Diaochan hauled her up onto her back as though the question weren't worth asking. …Huh. She's stronger than she looks.
"Well, if you insist."
"Thank you, my lord."
Given my permission, Diaochan bowed her head slightly.
"G-General-in-Chief!"
Just then, while Lü Bu and Diaochan traded glances neither would explain, an unfamiliar voice called out from nearby.
"…?"
When I turned, a man who could only be one of Wang Yun's servants came hurrying out of the house.
"What is it?"
"A gift from the elder, sir!"
With that, the servant thrust out a long, narrow box, and the moment I took it in my hands, I couldn't help but recoil at its surprising heft.
…Is this a bribe?
Wang Yun hardly seemed the type to send such things.
"Did he say anything else?"
"Ah—yes! That you would please look after his adopted daughter…"
"……"
Why does that phrasing feel vaguely off?
With a faintly uneasy feeling, I opened the box.
And there it was before my eyes.
"……"
A magnificent sword, its scabbard adorned with seven different jewels.
"Whoa, now that's a good-looking weapon. What is that thing?"
Even Lü Bu, who never had a kind word for any blade, couldn't hide her astonishment at the sight of it.
…Why on earth is he handing this over?
And for some reason, for just an instant, I thought I saw Diaochan's eyes waver.