The Incompetent Hero and the Emperor of Yeom (4)
A sharp whoosh of wind cutting through the air reached my ears.
Baekryeon, Seollin, and I were each racing forward at full speed. Every one of us was a warrior capable of taking on a hundred men alone, so our pace easily outstripped that of any ordinary galloping horse.
How long had we been running like that?
Seollin shot me a sidelong glance.
"What are you staring at? Fall for me or something?"
"...I don't even know what to say to that."
Faced with my completely shameless reply, Seollin looked at me as if she couldn't believe it, yet a faint flush colored her cheeks as she turned her eyes away.
Watching the exchange, Baekryeon let out a quiet snicker.
"Well, Doryeong does cut a rather reliable figure, after all."
"Hmph."
Seollin snorted at Baekryeon's words and pressed on.
"Enough with the nonsense. Do you really think it's true?"
"Think what's true?"
"What else? Whether those Moyong Family bastards really formed an alliance with the Beastman Alliance. You spoke to them so boldly—did you know something already?"
"Beats me. If I could know things like that, I wouldn't be out here doing this; I'd be making a living as a fortune-teller."
My utterly brazen answer left Seollin looking flabbergasted.
"So you weren't just showing off back then because you actually knew something?"
"How the hell would I know anything? They just looked suspicious as hell, so I followed them. Nothing more to it. Although..."
I started to speak, then closed my mouth again.
The moment I fell silent, Seollin's brows furrowed instead.
"Although what? If you're going to talk, finish the damn sentence! Now you've got me all worked up for nothing!"
"It's nothing. Whether the Moyong Family is cooperating with the Beastman Alliance or not, one thing is certain: they already knew Fukhaedaeseong was out there."
"What...? They knew that monster was around...?"
Of the two of them, Seollin was the one who reacted most strongly. It was only natural—Fukhaedaeseong had once targeted her directly, and the encounter had nearly shattered her mind. She couldn't help being hypersensitive about him.
"...It's just a guess, though."
"But if you reached that conclusion, there must be a reason for it, no? What exactly did you see that made you think so, Doryeong?"
"When we first started gathering information for the pirate cleanup, Yeogibuk—the naval administrator of Dandong—mentioned that the Moyong Family had carried out pirate suppression a few times themselves. And from what we heard this time, this whole area used to be under the Moyong Family's direct control. Yet when we arrived, the Yeom Army was the one maintaining order."
At first I had simply assumed the Moyong Family's influence didn't reach this far, so the Yeom Army had stepped in. That wasn't it. The Moyong Family had abandoned security here, and that was why the Yeom Army came.
So why abandon it?
Even the Yeom Army had been able to push the pirates back. The problem was that they couldn't finish them off completely and the pirates kept escaping. The Moyong Family's martial artists, whose individual combat strength far surpassed the army's, shouldn't have given up on security just because of the disadvantage of fighting at sea. The fact that they did anyway left only one possibility.
"...Because they realized there was a presence they couldn't hope to oppose?"
Baekryeon, grasping what I was driving at, spoke carefully. Since that was exactly what I had been thinking, I nodded.
"Right. I don't know when or how they ran into him, or whether they actually fought Fukhaedaeseong themselves. But it's clear that during their pirate hunts they either encountered him or became aware of his existence. He was someone they couldn't beat, so they abandoned security here. After all, they had no idea when that thing might head for Dandong."
"Th-that's... How could they do something so underhanded?! So they just dumped the whole mess on the Yeom Army?!"
As someone who bore the name of the Dang Family, Seollin couldn't believe that fellow members of a great clan would stoop to such a petty act. Her face twisted with fury.
"Calm down. We don't know if it's actually true."
"But the circumstances make it pretty damn clear...!"
I didn't bother answering her last remark. Because it was true.
"More importantly, these guys have gone farther than I expected. I held back, sure, but I still cracked their skulls pretty thoroughly."
"Indeed. It was a clean, perfectly controlled sword stroke. Just watching it felt like a lesson in itself, Doryeong."
I hadn't exactly put on a demonstration for her benefit, but if it helped her, fine by me.
"Anyway, to finish what I was saying earlier—they wouldn't have washed their hands of the place completely. The proof is the timing of their arrival."
"Timing?"
"How is that proof of anything?"
"They said it themselves earlier. From Dandong to the Moyong Family, it takes about a week for ordinary civilians who haven't trained in martial arts. News would take at least that long to reach them too."
Yet they showed up right when that week was up. That meant they had been keeping a constant eye on the situation here.
"Whether they planted informants in Dandong or some of their martial artists were secretly stationed nearby to pass along news about Fukhaedaeseong, I don't know which. But they clearly had an information network ready so they could check on Dandong and respond immediately."
Of course, whether that network existed purely to track Fukhaedaeseong's movements or to double-monitor the pirates who were cooperating with the Beastman Alliance, I had no idea—and I didn't mention that part to Seollin.
"Well... the conclusion is this: we've got nothing better to do, so we might as well take our time and follow them at a leisurely pace."
We hadn't been tailing the Moyong Family long before we spotted the rear of their party. Naturally, none of us were stupid enough to walk right up and announce, "You guys look shady, so we're going to keep an eye on you." We kept a careful distance and followed.
By the time we had been at it for a while, night had fallen.
"It's a shame we can't light a fire—someone might notice."
"Mm. Still, it's fortunate we all have good night vision."
My own night vision wasn't bad, probably thanks to my Technique stat. Baekryeon and Seollin, being a White Tiger beastman and a Imoogi beastman respectively, could see just fine in the dark.
"By the way, Seollin, I never figured you for someone who could cook."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
To my genuine surprise, Seollin was the one who prepared the meal. With no fire allowed, Baekryeon's specialty dishes were out of the question. I had been resigned to chewing on jerky when Seollin stepped forward.
And as it turned out, she was an excellent cook. Apparently she had been drilled endlessly in bridal training at the Dang Family when she was young.
Thanks to her, we managed a light but decent meal.
"Dang Family special health food, huh. All those greens almost made me lose hope, but it actually tastes pretty good."
"Of course it does. It's our clan's cuisine."
My praise seemed to put her in a good mood; Seollin's nose lifted proudly.
"This special health dish of the Dang Clan is a secret recipe perfected through thorough research—using the interactions of various poisons to create a synergistic effect that benefits the body."
"I'm curious how eating poison makes a person healthier, but I won't ask right now."
"I-it's fighting poison with poison!"
I wasn't sure that phrase applied here, but since it tasted good I let it slide.
"For the record, it's good for stamina."
"Ah, I see. Good for stami— wait, what?"
What did she just say?
I stared at her in confusion. Seollin smiled sweetly.
"I said it's good for stamina."
"...Huh?"
"It's good for stamina, okay?"
She drove the point home three times for good measure. Beside her, Baekryeon blushed faintly and nodded.
"Mm-hmm. I've always heard that for a man, stamina is more important than anything. Fortunate for you, Doryeong. We'll simply have to eat this."
"...Huh?"
What the hell are these women even talking about right now—
In that instant, Baekryeon had already closed the distance and wrapped her arms around one of mine. At the same time Seollin claimed the other side, leaving me sandwiched between two beauties.
...Normally this would be a fantastic situation, yet for some reason a chill ran down my spine.
"Girls? You're not seriously suggesting we do it out here, are you?"
"Do you dislike the idea?"
"Have you grown tired of our bodies?"
"No, that's not it, but..."
Rustle, rustle.
The sound of clothes being removed reached my ears. Even without looking I could tell that Baekryeon and Seollin, still clinging to my arms, had deftly stripped themselves bare.
"What if someone sees us...?"
"There's no one around, Doryeong."
"There's no one around. Besides, I set poison traps so anyone who approaches will be poisoned. We're fine."
"Have you lost your minds?"
The crude words slipped out before I could stop them, but neither woman seemed to care in the slightest. They carefully picked up the food I had left unfinished and brought it to my lips.
"Here, Doryeong. Say ah~."
"What a sinful man. Two beauties like us even waiting on you for a meal."
"Haha..."
Strange. I wasn't sure about Seollin, but had Baekryeon always been like this?
I couldn't tell. There was, however, one thing I knew for certain.
"...Fine. You two want to go all out? Let's go all out."
I snapped up the food Baekryeon offered and, at the same moment, activated the skill.
Killer Spot
It was a combat skill, yet somehow it proved far more useful during sex than in actual fights.
"Kyaah~!"
"Ahh!"
And so, completely forgetting our original purpose of pursuing the Moyong Family, we spent the rest of the day lost in wild outdoor sex.