Chapter 31
Chapter 31
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: Nangong Clan
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The Ronin Squad and Wei Cheon-gyeong kept their promise.
They obediently cleared the road and let the escort caravan pass.
Of course, when we moved to follow behind them, they blocked us for a moment.
“Hey. Goon Ja-seong.”
“Hm?”
I turned my head at the voice calling me.
Wei Cheon-gyeong, leaving his battered subordinates behind him, was looking up at me.
“What is it? You still have something to say?”
“There’s something I want to ask.”
Something he wants to ask...?
“What?”
“What does it mean that you’re properly using internal energy?”
I gazed into Wei Cheon-gyeong’s eyes.
Inside those eyes, I saw a single small spark.
A spark so tiny and faint it seemed it might flicker out at any moment.
Was that question he just asked connected to that spark?
Could it be a yearning for martial arts?
After seeing my movements and hearing that those movements came from properly using internal energy, had a longing awakened for the true martial arts he didn’t know?
The spark in his eyes was far too small for me to discern its true nature.
It might just be simple curiosity. Even if I answered, he might forget it in no time.
But if there was even a one-in-ten chance, I would answer.
I couldn’t pass up the possibility of another butterfly beating its wings.
“The uses of internal energy aren’t limited to just enhancing physical abilities. Depending on how you use it, all sorts of things become possible.”
“......”
Wei Cheon-gyeong fell silent at my words, sinking into thought.
Seeing that sight, I gave a slight smile and tugged the horse’s reins once more.
-Neigh!
The carriage let out a short whinny and pressed forward again.
Hwa-ryeon, seated beside me, asked in a low voice.
“Was answering that question just now a flap of the butterfly’s wings too?”
“Hm, something like it.”
“...If it matches, just say it matches. What’s this ‘something like it’?”
I shrugged at Hwa-ryeon’s soft grumbling, then picked up the pace to chase after the escort caravan that had pulled far ahead in that brief moment.
Geez. No matter how badly they want to hightail it out of here, isn’t this too reckless with their protection target still back here?
My inward grumbling didn’t last long. I turned to the bold young lady inside the carriage curtain, where she was cooling her flushed face, and spoke.
“Enough hiding it now—why don’t you tell me? I heard about you running away from home, but I still haven’t gotten the other details...”
“Th-that...! Please, no more about running away...”
I sneaked a sidelong glance at Lady Seol as she covered her face with both hands and chuckled, when Master’s voice reached me.
“Fine, then. Tell us what happened. What’s the story? Is it true the Seol Clan unilaterally broke off the engagement with the Nangong Clan?”
“...Yes.”
Lady Seol, finally regaining her composure, nodded.
With a deep sigh, she began explaining the circumstances.
“My father, the head of the Seol Clan, initially sought to borrow the Nangong Clan’s prestige by betrothing me to Nangong Young Master.”
There had been some careful calculations behind that decision.
The previous head of the Nangong Clan, Sword Sovereign Nangong Seonhwi—who had passed away not long ago—had no children.
Thus, upon such a man’s death, the only one ranked right below him, his younger brother and Master’s sworn brother Nangong Seon-u, had a high chance of inheriting the head’s seat.
And if that came to pass, his son would naturally become the young lord. So my own daughter would end up as the future lady of the Nangong Clan.
It was under such calculations that the engagement between the two houses had been arranged.
Master pushed back against Lady Seol’s words.
“That’s not especially odd for the Seol head. Marriages between clans are all like that, after all.”
Barring the most exceptional cases, they were nothing more than blood alliances forged purely for the clans’ benefit.
That was the reality of inter-clan marriages.
“The Nangong Clan probably accepted the betrothal after running their own cost-benefit analysis. The Seol Clan wields considerable influence in southern Anhui, after all.”
“Yes, that must be it.”
Lady Seol nodded without much argument.
In response, Master cautiously pressed on with the next question.
“But why would the Seol Clan...?”
He was phrasing it delicately, but what he meant was how the Seol Clan could even think of breaking an engagement with the Nangong Clan.
Lady Seol, well aware of that, gave a wry smile as she answered.
“...The Nangong Clan’s current situation isn’t exactly favorable.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? What’s going on with the Nangong Clan...?”
“......”
Lady Seol clamped her mouth shut once more.
Right then, one of the escorts up ahead bellowed loudly.
-Hefei!
Before they knew it, the escort caravan had arrived right at Hefei’s doorstep.
And before Hefei’s walls stretched a line formed of carriages and people, culminating in an inspection checkpoint.
But the inspectors’ attire rubbed me the wrong way.
More precisely, the characters embroidered on their uniforms.
-Paecheon (Tyrant Heaven)
To embroider letters like that on their uniforms...
“Tyrant Heaven Fortress?”
Why were Tyrant Heaven Fortress warriors handling inspections in Hefei?
“What did you say?”
Hwa-ryeon startled at my words.
She craned her neck to confirm the inspectors’ attire, then frantically ducked back inside the carriage.
“Wh-why is Tyrant Heaven Fortress...?”
“Hm, that’s what I’d like to know.”
I directed my gaze toward the person who likely had the answer.
As the eyes of everyone in the carriage—including me—turned her way, Lady Seol let out a sigh and spoke again.
“Hefei can no longer be called Nangong Clan territory. They’re on the verge of losing everything to Tyrant Heaven Fortress.”
“...What?”
Master’s shock reverberated through the carriage.
*
Fortunately, our group made it into Hefei without incident.
It was thanks to Escort Chief Mak going ahead and properly greasing the Tyrant Heaven Fortress warriors’ palms—that is, slipping them bribes.
“Thank you. You went to such lengths for us.”
“No need. Compared to what Young Hero did for us, this is nothing.”
Escort Chief Mak waved off my gratitude.
Then, he suddenly exclaimed in realization and pulled a pouch from his bosom.
“Here—the promised ten taels of silver.”
I stared at the pouch for a moment, then smirked and quietly declined.
“Why...?”
“Thanks to you, Escort Chief Mak, we slipped into Hefei nice and quiet without any trouble. Wouldn’t want you taking all the heat for this incident and ending up with a sour taste.”
Well, and it’s not like I’m strapped for cash anyway. At that, Escort Chief Mak’s face lit up with deep emotion.
“...I’ll never forget this kindness. Please, stop by our Great Peace Escort Agency sometime. Anything I can do to help, I will.”
With Escort Chief Mak’s courteous cupped-fist salute, we parted ways with the escorts.
And headed straight for the Nangong Clan.
Lady Seol took Hwa-ryeon’s place on the coachman’s seat, directing me this way and that.
But as we traveled along, people’s gazes began mysteriously fixating on our carriage.
More precisely, on Lady Seol’s face.
“Looks like we need to cover that face up a bit. No veil or scarf on you?”
“Ah, no. I bolted out in such a hurry that...”
Right then, there happened to be a fabric shop along the route, so I bought two veils—one for Lady Seol, the other for Hwa-ryeon.
“Thank you.”
Lady Seol bowed politely in thanks as she draped the veil over her head. Only then did the stares finally drift away.
But now a different issue cropped up.
“Why, why didn’t you buy one for me?”
Our little kid suddenly thrust her head out from behind the curtain, demanding to know why she hadn’t gotten a veil.
“Huh? What’s a kid need a veil for? You’re still a long way off.”
“A long way? Next year I’ll be in my mid-teens, and by then the young guys’ll be slobbering all over...”
I cut Seol-i off with a firm declaration.
“Nothing like that should ever happen, but if some punk tries, you come straight to your big brother here, got it? How dare he go after a fifteen-year-old...”
“Big brother, my foot...”
Seol-i grumbled as she yanked her head back inside.
Lady Seol chuckled at the sight.
“You two get along so well.”
“Get along? She does nothing but gripe.”
I shrugged and quipped, drawing another chuckle from her.
Just as the mood noticeably lightened from moments ago, Master’s words brought the tension creeping back.
“Speaking of which, this is bad. Real bad. For something like this to happen to the Nangong Clan.”
“......”
Lady Seol wiped the smile from her face and hung her head.
Geez. Blunt as ever, that Master.
With a small sigh, I had no choice but to chime in.
“Something reeks to high heaven, doesn’t it? In just a few days—internal graft, escort failure, warehouse fire. Stuff that might happen once a year if you’re unlucky, piling up like this? Doesn’t add up. Someone’s definitely working the strings from the shadows.”
“Lady Seol’s account, the way things are going down in Hefei—it’s plain as day who’s behind it, even without looking.”
Hwa-ryeon peeked outside by lifting the curtain a touch.
Right on cue, a warrior with “Paecheon” stitched on his uniform sauntered past with a sleazy grin.
“Tyrant Heaven Fortress is finally baring its fangs for real. They’ve mopped up most of the vassal clans that wouldn’t fall in line, so now nothing’s holding them back.”
“Hah, that ringleader...”
Master let out a short lament at Hwa-ryeon’s words, brimming with conviction.
By then, we had at last reached our destination: the Nangong Clan.
Stepping down from the carriage, I stared at the Nangong Clan compound and could do nothing but gape vacantly.
“...Wow.”
This... was the Nangong Clan?
The grounds dwarfed even a military clan manor by orders of magnitude, their encircling walls stretching on so endlessly that—to exaggerate a touch—you couldn’t see the end.
Atop the grand gate hung a massive plaque inscribed with bold, flowing calligraphy.
The characters carved upon it.
-Nangong Clan
The sword-noble house that never failed to appear in every wuxia tale stood before my eyes.