Intrusion
As soon as I shouted so confidently, the fellow the thief-and-bandit asshole had addressed as a “hero” drew his sword and stepped out in front of the group.
So he was going to face me one-on-one. Still, at least he wasn’t sending them all at once.
Before long, the fight broke out in broad daylight, and passersby began gathering one after another to watch.
A murmur. Whispering. Men sneaking looks at me and muttering behind their hands. Others frowning as they looked at the bastard across from me.
"I am Mount Tai SwordMa Jung-gil."
The bastard grinned at me with a faintly sleazy look and announced his name as though it were some grand introduction.
"So?"
"Hah. What a rude bitch. So you don’t even have the courtesy to tell me your name? How insolent! Let’s see how long that insolence lasts! I’ll see whether you can still act so arrogant even when you’re under my boot!"
Then he drew his sword and came straight at me.
The blade closed the distance in an instant as it swept toward me.
But it wasn’t really aimed at me. This guy wasn’t planning to kill me.
He’d just said it himself.
He was clearly aiming to bring me down. Their goal wasn’t my corpse.
Maybe that was why his sword didn’t feel all that threatening. I could see the path of the strike clearly.
So I repeated exactly what I’d done before.
Without even drawing my sword, I slapped his blade aside with the back of my left hand.
Clang!
With a sharp ring, the sword snapped, and I saw the guy’s face twist in shock.
And then my fist shot straight for his solar plexus.
Thud!
It happened in the blink of an eye.
His sword broken, his chest caved in by my blow, the man staggered back a few steps before clutching his chest and dropping to one knee.
The crowd let out a collective gasp.
The whole area burst into an uproar, and the Ma something-or-other bastard glared at me as if he couldn’t believe what he’d just seen.
The men around him, at a loss over this absurd turn of events, exchanged glances, gave tiny nods, and then seemed to reach a decision.
Ah. Are they going to jump me all at once now? Since their dignity’s already in the gutter?
"What is the meaning of this! Stop at once! Do you know where you are, causing such a scene here!"
Just then, a booming voice rang out.
When I turned my head, I saw the steward from earlier coming out of Yang Manor with three large guards behind him.
Since he was in charge of the household’s affairs, his martial skill didn’t look all that impressive, but his voice carried real authority.
Still, this was unquestionably Yang Manor’s turf, wasn’t it?
No, turf was putting it mildly. We were right at the front gate.
Causing trouble here was basically smearing mud all over Yang Manor’s face.
"I apologize for the disturbance, Steward. We merely had a brief dispute. It’s nothing serious, so please don’t worry."
When I said that to the steward, he took a look at the situation and then answered with a grave expression.
"Hmm, hmm. Is that so? Very well. If you need assistance, say the word."
"Thank you for your consideration, Steward."
As I smiled and said that, the steward broke into a broad grin as well, gave the situation one last surreptitious look, and then headed back into Yang Manor.
Meanwhile, the men who had been exchanging looks among themselves seemed to think the coast was clear and hurriedly helped Ma whatever-his-name-was to his feet.
Then they barked at the crowd to get out of the way and forced their way through.
The onlookers jeered at them as they left, and then turned to whisper about me.
Ugh. Being the center of attention really is a pain.
But after making that much of a scene, there was nothing to be done about it. I’d just have to endure it.
Still, the performance of Golden Dragon Body and Iron Body Weight-Adding Force was excellent, as expected.
So external martial arts really were something else once you’d brought them to great mastery.
How on earth had that walkthrough known about this?
Anyway, I couldn’t keep standing around here, so I started moving again.
As soon as I did, the crowd now cheered at me and parted to let me through.
Right. Before I go, I should ask what I need to ask.
"Excuse me. I have a question."
I addressed an old man, and he nodded enthusiastically with a beaming face.
"Oh, my. Of course, young lady. Just ask, and I’ll answer whatever I know."
"The fellow from just now. Ma… what was it again?"
"Ma Jung-gil of the Mount Tai Sword! He’s known around here as quite a swordsman. I hear he’s reached the Peak / Expert realm. Well, he did get knocked down in one blow by you, of course! Ho ho ho."
The old man answered while laughing, looking oddly delighted.
Maybe the guy’s usual conduct had been awful. That would explain why he was wearing such a satisfied expression now.
Anyway, the old man had already answered what I wanted to know.
Peak / Expert? So he was at the level where he could use sword qi?
That had been close.
Even if I’d mastered my external arts, there was no guarantee they’d be enough to block sword qi.
"Thank you for telling me. And then, just one more thing—could you tell me where the Taegajang is?"
"Taegajang, you say? It’s a little farther from here! Ah! Then I happen to be free right now, so I could lead you there myself!"
"No, no, it’s all right. Just tell me the location. If I get lost on the way, I can always ask again."
Why was everyone so eager to personally escort me?
In any case, the old man gave me directions, and sadly, I didn’t manage to memorize all of them.
Well, I could just ask again if I needed to.
"Thank you very much, sir."
Just as I bowed and was about to leave, the old man suddenly lowered his voice and, with a gleam in his eye, said,
"Young lady."
"Yes?"
"Are you from the North Sea Ice Palace?"
Huh? Why was the North Sea Ice Palace coming up all of a sudden?
"No. It has nothing to do with me."
"Ah, no, no. This old fool was too curious. Indeed, one can’t go around revealing one’s identity so carelessly. I understand. Pretend you didn’t hear me ask."
So saying, I quietly read the room and backed away.
What was that about? Why was he looking at me like that? Why was he sending me off with that expression?
It felt a little fishy, but for now I left the area and followed the road the old man had pointed out.
Most of the crowd had dispersed by then, but a few curious souls trailed after me from a distance.
Man, I really drew too much attention.
Should I just wear a veil? It’s not too late for that now.
Just then, I spotted a cloth shop along the road and went straight inside.
The old woman keeping the shop saw me and immediately went into full gush mode, and before I’d even been inside for a minute, I was already feeling a little dizzy.
Good grief. Why did she have to say so much? I really wasn’t used to this.
In the end, I decided to buy a veil to cover my face, only to realize that wouldn’t really mean much on its own.
What good was covering my face when there was this hair?
So I went ahead and bought a hat veil instead.
This should do it. On top of that, I even bought a fresh set of martial robes.
If I change clothes here and go out wearing this, it’ll at least be harder for anyone to recognize me…
Thankfully, I could pay with the silver ingots I had on hand.
But that meant I didn’t have much left now. At this rate, what was I supposed to do about dinner tonight? Where was I even going to sleep?
At least there was still plenty of daylight left. If I could just settle the matter at Yang Manor, something would come of it.
I had to hurry. A full purse makes the heart feel at ease.
I wasn’t about to spend my very first day in this martial world sleeping rough.
Once I tied the veil in place and came back out, walking the road became much easier.
People’s gazes didn’t linger on me for long, and no one seemed to think I was particularly strange.
But when I asked a few more people for directions to Taegajang, their reactions weren’t anything like the ones I’d gotten earlier.
Most of them answered rather curtly, in fact.
Hmm. Yeah, this feels much more normal.
Honestly, this is better. Earlier was way too much pressure.
Taegajang was farther than I’d expected. It felt like I’d walked nearly an hour. Ah—by the time in this world, that’d be about half a shichen.
Anyway, I finally arrived at Taegajang.
Now then. The problem starts here.
The second daughter of Taegajang and the third young master of Yang Manor are secretly in love.
But Taegajang and Yang Manor are bitter enemies.
It was probably a quest inspired by Romeo and Juliet. Well, that sort of thing was common enough.
But there was a twist.
In truth, the second daughter of Taegajang wasn’t really in love with Young Master Yang at all—she had been sent by her father to seduce him.
By doing so, she would pretend to reconcile with Yang Manor, only to tear it apart from within and bring their enemies low.
A fairly standard setup, even with the little twist layered on top.
In any case, since it was a quest, none of that was actually going to happen.
All the player had to do here was rescue Young Master Yang and complete the escort quest back to Yang Manor.
That was the end of the quest, and the reward was a precious elixir.
For an early-game quest, it was a pretty sweet one. Definitely worth the hassle.
That meant everyone in Taegajang was my enemy.
So all I had to do was deal with everyone inside.
In the game, it was implemented as an instance dungeon, something you had to clear solo.
Besides, Taegajang was already partly aligned with the unorthodox factions and involved in illegal dealings.
And once this was over, Yang Manor would expose all of Taegajang’s dirty business, so there’d be no trouble later either.
So I didn’t feel even a shred of guilt about it.
The problem was that I was the one who had to do it, and I was very much alive.
In the game, if you’d mastered Golden Dragon Body and Iron Body Weight-Adding Force, clearing this place wasn’t supposed to be all that difficult.
But I wasn’t playing a game right now.
In a game, if your stamina ran low, you could just pop a recovery item or something. Not here.
There was no such thing in this world. No magical potion that made your wounds vanish the instant you swallowed it.
Still, I had to try.
That was exactly why I hadn’t avoided the fight with Ma whatever-his-name-was earlier—to see just how far I could go.
There weren’t any experts here on the level of Peak / Expert realm. At worst, there’d only be third-class or second-class martial artists.
The Taegajang master should be first-class, at most.
So it should be fine. It’d be fine, right? It had to be.
With that determination, I took off my veil and knocked on the gate of Taegajang.
"Who goes there!?"
The door cracked open, and a man peeked out. The moment he saw me, his expression loosened.
And then I swung at that face without hesitation.