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The inn where the Little Princess and I stayed was the finest in Sichuan. I had deliberately chosen a well-managed inn so that no flies would swarm around the Little Princess, whose beauty shone even through her face veil, but before long someone appeared that even the waiter couldn't hold back.
"Bi-cheon, that person is..."
"The head of the Jegal Clan and strategist of the Murim Alliance, Jegal Gil. Next to him are the head of the Sichuan Tang Clan and his subordinate warriors."
A substantial big shot had appeared on the inn's first floor. As I filled my cup with wine, I settled my churning stomach.
"Damn, I'll have to think more carefully about picking the best place to stay. I chose an expensive inn to avoid getting tangled up with random riffraff, and now I've hooked a big shot."
"Wasn't this place chosen deliberately to meet them?"
"As if. I said I have business with that side, but I have absolutely no intention of stirring up trouble on purpose. You seem to be misunderstanding that I chose this inn to deliberately make contact with them, but that's not it."
Although I did have a reason to visit the Sichuan Tang Clan, there was no need to run into the head of the Sichuan Tang Clan in person.
"Then why did you pick this place?"
"It's the most comfortable for you to bathe, and the food is delicious. Where else would you ever get the chance to stay at the best, most expensive inn in Sichuan?"
I winked and raised my cup. The Little Princess quietly clinked her cup against mine with both hands.
"...Within the Alliance..."
"...Within the Tang Clan..."
The two middle-aged men began conversing in a voice even smaller than whispering lovers. I wanted to plug my ears to avoid listening.
"Bi-cheon. Are you all right?"
But then I wouldn't be able to hear the Little Princess's beautiful voice, so I decided to leave them alone. I nodded, then looked away from them.
"In a place like this, speaking to someone at another table is inherently a nuisance. Unless you're prepared to never set foot here again, you can't break this inn's rule."
"A rule, you say?"
"That you don't pick pointless fights with people at a different table."
A single night's stay at this inn cost enough to easily hire five courtesans, so an incident like "excuse me" simply didn't occur—that was precisely the advantage of a top-class inn.
"So rest assured—"
"Excuse me."
"......."
The wine cup I had raised trembled faintly. Beneath her veil, the Little Princess let out a soft laugh and tilted her own cup. Even that expression, which seemed to say "serves you right," was pretty, but now I had to look at the owner of the middle-aged voice that had reached my ears, and fury simmered.
"What is the matter?"
"My apologies. I am the strategist of the Murim Alliance, Jegal Gil. I couldn't take my eyes off you as I passed."
"Then go on your way—"
Tap tap. Beneath the table, the Little Princess nudged my knee with her foot, tap tap. The small thoughtfulness of her having removed her shoe and touching me with her stocking-clad foot soothed my anger a little. If it hadn't been for her eye-smile, I would have sent Jegal Gil packing outright.
"...What is your business?"
"By any chance, are you the disciple of the Divine Doctor?"
Ah, damn. He hadn't come looking for the Little Princess, he'd come looking for me. I'd jumped to the conclusion that he was trying to hit on the beautiful Little Princess. After all, I wasn't wearing a face veil, nor had I altered my face with the Body Transformation Art.
"You've mistaken me for someone else."
"What? That can't be."
"I don't know what basis you have for calling me the disciple of the Divine Doctor, but I am merely the young lady's guard warrior."
Jegal Gil scrutinized me up and down for a long while. Just as I was about to continue my excuse, the Little Princess rose and inclined her head briefly.
"It is an honor to meet the wise man of the Alliance who leads the White Path. This girl is called Seo-hui. I am the daughter of the Geunnam Escort Bureau."
"Geunnam Escort Bureau? Ah... in the Hwabuk region..."
"This person is our bureau's guard warrior, Saek-bung."
"A pleasure, I am Saek-bung."
The Little Princess had revealed her identity of her own accord even before I could send a separate telepathic message. For something improvised on the spot, our coordination was quite good. Saek-bung—a blend of Lust Demon and Mubung. It was the kind of name the Blood Cult Leader would have rather liked, had she heard it.
"Is that so? Hmm, my apologies for the rudeness. I had intended to ask a favor of the Divine Doctor's disciple..."
"A favor, you say?"
The Little Princess's eyes sparkled as she shot me a look. I signaled her to send the Alliance's old men on their way, but she instead reached out and pressed my hand down to make me stay seated.
[I would like to briefly share a table and talk with that person.]
I was doomed. The Little Princess had become curious.
"Have a seat here, Saek-bung."
"As the young lady commands."
Since she told me to sit, I naturally sat, but I picked up my wine cup and moved to the seat beside the Little Princess. That naturally created an empty space before us—almost as if inviting Jegal Gil to take a seat.
"What are you doing now?"
"Do you have proof that you are from the Alliance? If you are an Alliance man, please take a seat."
"What? There are limits even to suspicion. How can you be this suspicious of me?"
Jegal Gil's expression twisted. The Little Princess's expression also stiffened, her eyebrows quivering imperceptibly.
"I came merely to ask if you were the disciple of the Divine Doctor. Yet why do you give an evasive answer and tell me to sit? What sort of rudeness is this?"
"Ah..."
I felt once again that the Little Princess was still a young child whose craft and schemes were weak.
[You made a mistake, Little Princess. The moment we aren't the Divine Doctor's disciple, that fellow's interest is over. Telling him to sit was forcing it.]
I could feel the Little Princess breaking out in a cold sweat. She still had a long way to go before she could fully embody the form of the Heavenly Demon, I thought.
'If the Heavenly Demon were here, she would have realized from the start that the Alliance strategist was looking for the Divine Doctor's disciple.'
— What business does the Alliance strategist have here? Speak quickly, or I will cause a blood calamity right here.
In the future, Lee Si-a would have taken the lead in the conversation by pressuring the strategist with demonic energy before I could even lie. But the current Little Princess had inadvertently given the strategist just enough of a push to set him on the path to deducing our identities.
Unnecessarily. She had tried to outmaneuver the opponent by five moves and ended up face-planting on the spot.
— You dare suspect this body? Hmph, what suspicious folk! On the contrary, you are the suspicious ones!
If the other party simply became angry and turned their back, the scheme would have failed. And we would clearly become the mad ones who had suspected the Alliance's strategist.
The Little Princess sent me a pleading look for rescue, and I sighed, giving Jegal Gil a pointed glance.
[We don't wish to draw the eyes of others, Strategist. This place is close to the Demonic Cult.]
"Ah...!!"
Jegal Gil's eyes went wide. He swiftly erected a qi barrier around us to prevent our conversation from leaking out.
"Hiding his identity to such a degree... could it be?"
"Yes, that's right. This person is the disciple of the Divine Doctor. I am his guard warrior."
To make up for her mistake, the Little Princess instantly turned her palm over and aligned herself with my lie. As a result, the person drawing Jegal Gil's suspicion became Dang Yeon-ji.
"Just a moment ago, you introduced the opposite. Why?"
"Because that way we can deceive people."
The Little Princess bowed her head and tapped the back of my shin with her heel. Faced with her pleading gaze, I had no choice but to reveal my identity.
"...We meet for the first time. There was much discourtesy. There are many occasions when subordinates of the Demonic Cult approach, pretending to be from the Alliance."
"Ah! Not at all, Doctor. I fully understand. Indeed, I was the one who nearly made a mistake."
The Little Princess sighed of relief and inclined her head toward me ever so slightly. The situation had nearly turned strange because of her error, but she was still young, so she could learn one thing at a time from now on.
Wasn't that the very reason I had decided to stand by her side as the Sky-Soaring Lust Demon?
"So, what is this favor you wished to ask of me?"
The conversation returned to square one. I, who had been trying to earn points as "the young lady's guard warrior," had been forced by the Little Princess back into the role of the Divine Doctor's disciple.
[My apologies, Bi-cheon. But I was curious and couldn't help it.]
There was only one reason the Little Princess had stubbornly overridden my opinion and made this request.
[There is only one reason the Murim Alliance strategist would seek the Divine Doctor's disciple... and I wished to confirm it.]
One cannot help curiosity. She had become so curious about why the Alliance strategist would seek the Divine Doctor's disciple that she could not restrain herself. I too had one thing I suspected. While we exchanged telepathic messages, Jegal Gil diligently prattled on with his own words.
"...and so, just when I had been wanting to find the disciple of the Divine Doctor, to think I would meet the very person in Sichuan, where I am on assignment! This is surely the work of heaven."
"Ha, haha."
"Oh my, now that I think of it, I'm sorry. I had forgotten that the Doctor suffers from a fear of men."
"...It's all right. I overcame it while treating many rising stars at the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering site. Now, I am somewhat better."
Goodbye, my fear of men.
The barrier that had once driven away every man who visited the physician no longer held at the moment Jegal Gil was welcomed. Indeed, at the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering site I had treated all nine of the Nine Dragons while looking after Sagong Hee, so there was no way it would still hold.
"However, having many people in front of me is still a bit burdensome. If even the people from the Tang Clan over there were to come..."
"Hoho, excuse me."
'I said don't say "excuse me."'
The reason I had come to this most luxurious, special inn had completely vanished. I had planned to enjoy a cozy moment alone with the Little Princess, but two middle-aged men had suddenly popped up and thoroughly twisted my mood.
"I am the head of the Tang Clan, Crow Chaos Finger Disease (烏亂指病) Dang O-dok."
"Ah...!"
'The master of the Crow Bird Technique (烏鳥法)!'
A peak-realm expert who had mastered unusual martial arts while serving as the head of the Tang Clan. His finger technique, executed with movements like a crow's talons, was imbued with vicious poison arts, and his fighting form was so peculiar that I recognized who he was the moment I heard his epithet.
"Since the disciple of the Divine Doctor seems burdened by even my presence, may I state just one word and then leave?"
"That is fine."
As long as he would get out of my sight, he was more than welcome. Dang O-dok took a martial salute toward me and gently bowed his head.
"I earnestly hope that the disciple of the Divine Doctor will graciously bestow his knowledge of medicinal arts upon the Tang Clan. Even a single day would be fine. It is a difficult journey to make, but I beg you to visit the Tang Clan for one day. With that, I take my leave."
Dang O-dok finished speaking and turned around. Then he left without the slightest lingering attachment, heading back to his original seat.
"Doctor. Um..."
I nodded toward the Little Princess. I happened to have business at the Sichuan Tang Clan, and the head of the Tang Clan himself had invited me—what better justification could there be?
'My options have increased.'
Sneaking in clandestinely, or striding in grandly through the main gate.
'Perhaps I shouldn't stop impersonating the Divine Doctor's disciple after all?'
Pulling out 'Physician Mubung!' only when necessary didn't seem bad either. However, getting entangled in troublesome affairs under the guise of a physician was something I absolutely detested. I fired a look at Jegal Gil that plainly said, get lost quickly. As it happened, Dang O-dok behind him also smiled at Jegal Gil with his eyes and pointed toward their empty seats.
"...I was being tactless. Then I too will state my business and take my leave."
Taking the hint from Dang O-dok, Jegal Gil stealthily rose to his feet. With an embarrassed face, he bowed his head and pulled out a letter from his chest.
"This is what I wished to deliver to the disciple of the Divine Doctor. Please, I beg you to examine it carefully."
'Jegal Gil went on his own way.'
I gave a brief nod to the Alliance strategist returning to his own seat, then emptied my wine cup. After handing the letter to the Little Princess, I rose from my seat.
"Let's return."
"Yes, elder."
"......."
This was quite nice in its own way. Hearing the Little Princess's "elder" ringing in my ears, I could not contain my joyful heart.
* * *
"To travel about with a peak-level female master as an escort—truly, the disciple of the Divine Doctor."
"You fool. That's why you hear people say you have no tact. A young man and woman sending each other heated glances over their cups, alone together—in the whole world, who would think to approach them there?"
"But wasn't he the disciple of the Divine Doctor?"
"Even so. Tsk, tsk. Matters like that, you can just quietly ask later. This is why you ended up having a child so late. The age difference between you and your son is over thirty years, isn't it? What was his name again? Right, Geon-d...—"
"Ahem! cough cough!!"
* * *
"Just as expected."
The Little Princess and I nodded at the contents of the letter Jegal Gil had handed over.
"The place we'll go after finishing matters here has been decided."
"Yes. It would be a shame to end this without ever crossing swords with her."
Once we wrap up the Emperor Shaolie twin sword uproar as quickly as possible, we must head to where the Murim Alliance is.
"Good. Then let me pose you a problem right now."
"What? So suddenly...?"
"Now is the best time."
I used the Taiji Wisdom Sword to simultaneously float four swords. Then, while employing three different sword arts at once, I posed the Little Princess her problem.
"The Sichuan Tang Clan, Qingcheng Sect, and Emei Sect—amidst these three sects interlocking with one another, who stands to gain the most?"
The Little Princess lifted a finger and pointed at one of the swords.
"That's correct: it is the Demonic Cult."
The sword the Little Princess pointed at was the fourth sword, the one using no sword art at all. Yet inside it, the demonic energy of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art I had infused into the sword roiled violently.
"Then, Little Princess, from today follow close by my side and try to reach a conclusion. The deadline is right up until the eve of the operation's execution. Among the many factions in this land of Sichuan..."
What kind of expression would the Little Princess make upon hearing this?
"...one of the Earth Qilin Three Demons, the Flame Demon (炎魔), lies hidden."
The sight of the Little Princess covering her mouth with both hands—I wanted to treasure it in my memory for a lifetime.