The Incompetent Hero and the Emperor of Yeom (6)
"Kh...!"
"F-Family Head! Are you all right?"
"Hah... I'm fine. Don't worry about me."
Moyong Muung forced a smile. But he couldn't stop the tremor in his hand, so he clamped it still with the other.
That day, in that place, he had seen a being out of myth — a catastrophe no human strength could hope to defy. A creature that fully earned the name Demon.
Fukhaedaeseong had carved a deep trauma into Moyong Muung's heart.
"I'll spare yer life. So quit bein' a nuisance and just sit quiet."
While the proud, trusted warriors of the Moyong family were slaughtered without mercy, the creature had said those words to him amid the blood of the men who had stood at his side. And he, pathetic as it was, had had no choice but to obey. Like a defeated wretch, he had scrambled onto a tiny skiff and fled for his life, barely managing to reach the shore at Dandong.
What came after that, he barely remembered. As if something were staring at his back the entire time — like a deer hunted by a predator — he had run under relentless pressure all the way to Yogyeong.
"F-Family Head! What on earth happened?! What became of the other retainers and warriors, that you alone arrived in this state?!"
"...Recall every warrior from Dandong."
"Pardon...? What do you mean—"
"...I am abandoning Dandong."
He did it to keep his family from vanishing entirely after he had provoked that terrifying existence. At the same time, he dispatched multiple informants to Dandong so they could keep watching the pirates' movements — just in case of the unexpected.
But I never imagined the Yeom Army would actually be able to wipe out the pirates.
"Family Head. What... do we do now?"
"...Right. First, tell them to make sure the warriors who returned from Dandong recover properly. We'll bring up the matter of Dandong later, at the national council."
"Understood. I'll pass that along."
"Good. And I need some time to think, so don't look for me for a while."
The retainer nodded at the Family Head's words and was about to withdraw so Moyong Muung could rest.
BOOM!!!
"?!"
"W-What was—"
A massive explosion roared from outside. At the same moment, the grounds beyond the walls erupted into chaos.
"W-What is going on out there?"
"I-I don't know, sir. I'll find out at once—!"
As Moyong Muung watched the retainer hurry out, Fukhaedaeseong's face flashed through his mind.
Had that creature come here?
But they weren't the ones who had wiped out the pirates. The Yeom Army had done that — so why would the creature come here?
"...Ah."
Then it hit him. That thing was not human. It was a yokai — a demon that had transcended the limits of living flesh. Just as a human could never grasp the culture or affiliations of ants, that creature neither knew nor needed to understand the culture and affiliations of humans.
It simply... crushed the nests of any ants that refused to obey.
"F-Family Head!!"
"What is it?! What in the world is causing this uproar outside?!"
The retainer gasped for breath as he shouted back.
"Th-The Yeom Army!... A Jaryong has arrived!"
"A Jaryong...?"
He cast his mind back over the reports. He had definitely heard that a member of the Jaryong Unit had arrived in Dandong — and that the man was conducting a pirate-suppression operation alongside the Yeom forces stationed there. But why was a Jaryong who should have been in Dandong now here in Yogyeong, and why were they suddenly raising hell?
"...I'll meet him myself."
After the three of us talked it over, we arrived at a single answer.
A frontal assault.
This was different from dealing with pirates. Those bastards had nothing you could call a proper base of operations, so they never hesitated to run — and once you lost them, they were a nightmare to track down again. But these people were different. With a clear home base, they couldn't just flee whenever they felt like it.
So we stood before the castle.
"Hold it right there."
"This is Moyong family territory. What business do you have here?"
As we drew near Yogyeong Castle, the Moyong family's gatekeepers blocked our path.
"I've come to see the head of the Moyong family."
"...What?"
"Who just shows up out of nowhere demanding to see a Family Head?"
Seollin shrugged and tossed the remark my way. But she wasn't wrong, was she?
I wasn't about to waste time dragging this out, so I said it straight.
"I am a Jaryong of the Yeom Army. I've come to see your Family Head — open the gate."
"A-A Jaryong...?"
"Why would a Jaryong be here..."
The influence of that name really was greater than I'd imagined.
The more I use it, the more curious I get — why hand a foreigner like me the name of a Jaryong in the first place...?
I thought about it for a moment, but nothing came to mind. The simplest explanation was that they needed combat power and it was a mutual win-win. Even so, the Jaryong name carried more weight than I'd expected.
"E-Even if you are a Jaryong, you do not have the authority to demand an audience with the Family Head."
"Submit a formal request and return."
"...Yeah. Figured it'd go this way."
I rolled my shoulders and loosened them up, then started walking slowly toward the castle. They startled and drew their swords.
"S-Stay back!!"
"What is the Yeom Army doing here all of a sudden—?!"
"What do you think? A house search."
I sharpened my hand into what people call a blade-hand and carved through empty air. With a shearing shhk, the great gate split apart.
"?!"
"W-Warriors, subdue them!!!"
The warriors stared blankly at the bisected gate, then snapped back to their senses, drew their swords, and charged me.
"Don't make this more annoying than it has to be... Things might get complicated, so you two stay out of it."
"Got it."
"Bare-handed, young master? You sure?"
"If I start swinging a blade around and someone gets cut, I'm the one in real trouble."
I loosened up as I walked in. Inside the gate, they already had everything ready to take down the intruders.
"Wow, that was fast."
"Hyaah!!"
"Receive the blade of the Moyong family!!!"
Warriors came at me. But not a single one of them had the speed to outpace my eyes. I read each of their movements one by one and sent them flying with open-palm strikes.
CRASH!!!
"Guh!!"
"Kraagh!!"
One after another, warriors went sailing and smashed into the walls. The ones still charging flinched at the sight — then charged anyway. And their endings were exactly the same.
"Enough!!!"
"Finally, the Family Head?"
In the middle of that one-sided beatdown, someone appeared with a booming voice. His presence didn't quite match Dan Seolpung, head of the Dan family — but he still carried the kind of charisma you'd expect from the leader of a major power.
"What is the meaning of this chaos?! And who are you to force your way into Moyong territory and raise this kind of uproar?!"
"Jaryong. Jang Cheon-woo."
"Jang Cheon-woo...?"
The Jaryong Unit primarily carried out covert missions that stayed out of the public eye. There were a few exceptions, but that was the rule. Which was exactly why Jang Cheon-woo of the Jaryong Unit — who had competed under the Yeom Army's banner at the recent Dragon-Phoenix Assembly — had become especially well-known. Under ordinary circumstances, a Jaryong would never appear at such a public event. On top of that, the Jaryong who had shown up in Dandong was also known by the name Jang Cheon-woo.
Which meant...
"You are the Jaryong who pacified the Dandong waters?"
"That's right. And I heard something so ridiculous I came straight here."
"Something ridiculous?"
He frowned as if he genuinely had no idea. Was he really in the dark, or just playing dumb?
"I heard a demand that the autonomous rights over Dandong be handed back over... After sitting on your hands this whole time, the moment the pirates are wiped out you suddenly want the autonomy returned? Give me a proper reason for that, Family Head of the Moyong. In other words..."
"Moyong Muung. The Family Head's name is Moyong Muung."
"Right. Moyong Muung. Depending on your answer, this could be treated as open rebellion against the Imperial House of Yeom. I'd like you to keep that in mind."
Seollin, who had followed me in at some point, supplied the Family Head's name, and I used it at once to press him harder.
"Rebellion? Our Moyong family would never do such a thing."
"Anyone can say that out loud. People curse kings behind closed doors all the time — that's just human nature."
"...Why are you doing this?"
"Are you really asking because you don't know? In the past, before the Imperial House of Yeom took over administration of the Dandong region, you managed it. There's no way people like you didn't know about the pirates there... and I don't take you for fools who wouldn't also know that Fukhaedaeseong was backing those pirates."
"!!"
He reacted to the name Fukhaedaeseong. So they had known the creature was behind the pirates.
"We have intelligence that Fukhaedaeseong is currently cooperating with the Beastman Alliance — the thorn in Yeom Kingdom's side. And you people, knowing of Fukhaedaeseong's existence, stayed silent. How do you explain that?"
"Th-That's..."
"Do you have any proof that you weren't colluding with the Beastman Alliance and deliberately leaving the pirates alone?"
He fell silent, with nothing to say. Then he hastily continued.
"Yes — Fukhaedaeseong. We knew that monster was there. But the Beastman Alliance? We have never entered into any cooperative relationship with them. Why would we ally ourselves with those villains who sow chaos across Yeom Kingdom?"
"Well. An investigation will settle that. If you're so confident, you'll naturally submit to one, right?"
It was the retainers around the Family Head who bristled at that.
"Th-That's an overreach of authority! Of course every family and sect is united under the name of the Flame — but for a mere member of the Jaryong to dare speak to a Family Head like that?!"
"Even a Jaryong must observe proper procedure and courtesy when seeking an audience with a Family Head. And now you claim you'll investigate the interior of our family? What kind of nonsense is this?!"
"..."
"They're not entirely wrong. A Jaryong does have the authority to request cooperation from each family and sect — but putting direct pressure on a Family Head is a different matter."
Seollin added the explanation, well-versed as she was in Yeom Kingdom's affairs. The Moyong retainers, catching that, grew even more emboldened.
"Exactly! And aren't you a daughter of the Dan family? Why is a daughter of the Dan family standing with the Yeom Army?!"
"Who I hang out with and where is none of your business. And by your own logic, every family and sect is one under the name of the Flame — so what's the problem if I, of the Dan family, am with the Yeom Army?"
"Th-That's..."
They shut their mouths because she was right. Yeah. Who she spent time with was her own call. Honestly, she had a real way with words.
"...Even so, investigating this place is beyond your authority. At the very least... bring a letter bearing the Emperor of Yeom's command. Jang Cheon-woo of the Jaryong."
So that was how they wanted to play it?
I frowned, weighing what to do next — and in that moment, someone appeared behind me.
"Then that will not be a problem. I command you in the name of the Flame."
"The Moyong family and its head, along with every retainer, household member, and warrior beneath them, shall submit to investigation under the Flame's decree."
"Y-You are—?!"
"...?"
I turned. Standing there was a young boy with black hair faintly tinged with red, and two men who looked to be his bodyguards.