The Incompetent Hero and Cheonsan (5)
After we left the command tent, Baekryeon's face wore a thoroughly satisfied expression.
"You look like you're in a good mood."
"Indeed! Thanks to your words, Doryeong, I feel quite refreshed."
"Glad to hear it."
Baekryeon smiled and nodded at my reply. I gave her hair a light stroke, then turned my gaze toward Baekho.
"Baekho, are you all right?"
"Hm? About what?"
"You just met Juzaku for the first time in ages. I was wondering if it was okay to just walk out without saying anything."
"Ah… that, is it?"
Baekho gave a slight nod, as if she understood exactly what I meant.
"I am fine. Of course, as fellow Sacred Beasts, it is not as though we lack a sense of camaraderie, and seeing Juzaku's familiar face after so long was genuinely welcome. But that is as far as it goes. So long as none of us interferes excessively with the lower world, the principle is that we do not meddle in one another's affairs."
"Excessive interference, huh…"
The reason Juzaku had lost her power was because of a promise she'd made with Hyeonmu. Breaking the pact among the Four Sacred Beasts in exchange for lending her strength to humans…
"Come to think of it, why did you decide to help humans, Baekho?"
"The reason, is it? …Hmm. It was so long ago that I do not remember clearly… but one thing I am certain of is that something about humanity moved me, and so I bestowed my blood upon them… or so I believe."
"Is that so?"
If she didn't remember, there was nothing to be done about it. It wasn't anything important — pure curiosity on my part.
"Well now~ What a welcome face. Seems we've been running into each other quite a lot lately. Haha."
"Yang Jamun. I'm pretty sure we left Jo first. How did you get here ahead of us?"
"Well, you all came by way of the Dan family, whereas I headed straight for Cheonsan. On top of that, you spent several days at the Dan estate dealing with the aftermath, did you not?"
"That… is true enough."
Fair enough. We hadn't exactly rushed from the Dan family to Cheonsan either, so it made sense that he'd arrived first.
"Yang Jamun, back then I was so shocked by the news of Dan Seolpung's death that I never got around to asking — but there's something I want to ask you."
"If it's something I can answer, I'll answer gladly. Shall I show you to the tent you'll be using, and we can talk there? There are rather too many ears around here."
He had a point. Even if this was the command tent area, plenty of people were milling about. And given the Kunlun martial artists who'd brought me here, rumors about me had almost certainly already spread far and wide.
"Fine. Lead the way."
"Understood. The ladies as well — this way, please."
"Waaah~ The second we got here we got dragged into some stiff meeting — you have no idea how exhausting that was~ It was just like sitting through a theology lecture~"
The one most delighted at the prospect of a place to rest was Lucy. I'd thought she was being uncharacteristically quiet and demure trailing behind us, but seeing her free-spirited self reassert itself so quickly, I figured she'd done well to hold it in this long.
"Mm, we may have come at a leisurely pace, but that does not mean fatigue has not accumulated."
"I, too, would like a moment to groom my fur."
"Very well. Please follow me."
Everyone seemed in favor of resting, so we followed Yang Jamun toward the tent where we'd be staying.
"Ah, right. There's one more thing I should mention."
"What is it?"
Yang Jamun spoke as if something had just occurred to him.
"We're currently at war with the Beastman Alliance, are we not?"
"We are."
"That being the case — while being too thrifty with resources isn't ideal either, deliberately wasting resources we could conserve isn't a good choice either."
"…Right?"
What exactly was he building up to with all this preamble?
"Just spit it out already if you've got something to say."
"Haha. What I wanted to say is this."
Yang Jamun stopped walking. The place he'd halted was a tent bearing the emblem of the Yeom family.
"There's only one tent available, so I'm afraid you'll all have to share. I trust that's acceptable?"
"I don't mind, but…"
I turned to look at Baekryeon and the others.
"Yes, so long as I am sharing it with Doryeong, I have no objection."
"I am fine with it as well. Think nothing of it."
"Me too~ Actually, that's even better…. Hehehe."
There seemed to be one defector among them at the end there, but I decided to ignore that for now…
"They say it's fine."
"Glad to hear it. Ah, and one more thing — please keep any amorous activities quiet. It would be rather awkward if people got… stimulated, if you take my meaning."
"…I'll be careful."
Yang Jamun pressed a finger to his lips with a sly grin. Naturally, the ones who looked embarrassed by his remark were Baekryeon and Baekho. Every time they had sex with me, they couldn't help but cry out — so if anyone needed to be careful, it was those two first and foremost.
"Then, please come in."
"Right."
We followed Yang Jamun into the tent. The interior was cleaner than expected, and considerably more spacious than it looked from outside — more than enough room for four people to sleep. Yang Jamun settled into one of the chairs provided, and I took the seat opposite him. The women arranged themselves on the simple bedding and waited for our conversation to begin.
"So then — what did you wish to ask?"
"Dan Seolpung and I both expected there would be a traitor within the Dan family. And we expected that traitor to be Dan Seollyun. In other words, Dan Seolpung already suspected Seollyun was the traitor. So why did he take Seollyun with him to the national council?"
Yes. I should have realized something was off. At the time, between the news of Dan Seolpung's death and the report that Seollyun had seized the Dan family and was cooperating with the Beastman Alliance to strike at Yeom Kingdom, I hadn't thought deeply about it — I'd just rushed straight to the Dan estate. But once the Dan family's problems were resolved and I had time to think it over carefully, something felt wrong.
Dan Seolpung was… at least as far as I knew him, not the kind of man who would leave such a danger sitting right beside him.
So why had a man like that brought Seollyun to the national council — and ended up dying at Seollyun's hands?
…I can roughly guess how he died. Seollyun probably delivered the finishing blow after Dan Seolpung was exhausted from fighting Fukhaedaeseong.
Fukhaedaeseong himself had said he hadn't finished the job, so that much was certain. He had no reason to lie, and he hadn't shown any sign of lying either.
"I see. So that's what this is about?"
Yang Jamun nodded, seeming to grasp the thrust of my question.
"Yes. When we discussed that matter, there were people from Haoman present as well. You, from what I hear, are the commander of the Jaryong Unit… so you have access to the intelligence coming in through Haoman, don't you? You must have known he was a traitor. So why did you leave Seollyun free to wander around on his own?"
"To be precise, we had only circumstantial suspicion — no concrete evidence."
"Are you kidding me?"
"Not at all. There's a considerable difference between suspicion and hard proof."
Yang Jamun shrugged as he spoke.
"First of all… the reason we left him alone stems from something Dan Seolpung himself told us."
"Because of Dan Seolpung?"
"Yes. He said he wished to avoid a situation in which Seollyun would grow suspicious. Therefore, he instructed our Jaryong Unit not to place any clumsy surveillance on him."
"…"
Not placing any watch on him simply to avoid arousing suspicion…
Still, Yang Jamun showed no sign of lying.
"I would not dare claim to fully understand his thinking, but if I were to venture a guess… perhaps he hoped Seollyun was not the traitor after all."
"?"
"Regardless of what he has become now, Dan Seollyun is still the biological son of the former family head, Dan Seolpung. So perhaps he hoped his son was not a traitor. For all his stern exterior, he was a man of deep affection."
He wanted to believe in his own child…
I wasn't sure I bought that entirely, but I couldn't dismiss it either. Parents who cast off their own children were rare anywhere in the world.
"Especially since, after his first wife Yeonhui, Dan Seolpung never took another. That alone suggests how deep his love for her was — and how hard it must have been for him to let go of the three children who were the fruit of that love."
"His wife…"
Come to think of it… I'd visited the Dan family twice, and even stayed there for a long stretch, yet I'd never seen or heard a single thing about Dan Seolpung's wife. How had I not noticed? If a man had children, he'd clearly been married — and if he'd been married, there had to be a spouse. And yet I'd completely failed to pick up on it…
"So Dan Seolpung truly loved this wife of his — Yeonhui?"
"He did. Originally, he was a rather cold and rational man. It was only after meeting Yeonhui and marrying her that he softened somewhat."
"…That was him softened?"
Three children born of the woman he truly loved.
One child possessed genius talent that surpassed even his own, yet desired a peaceful life more than the chance to display that gift — so he accepted her wishes and let her live as she pleased.
One child wanted a free life of martial training more than the power of a family head — so he accepted her wishes and let her live as she pleased.
And the remaining child…
"…Tsk. Fine, I get it. Digging any deeper into someone else's family affairs would be out of line. Then this is something else. I hear the Beastman Alliance has already launched several small-scale skirmishes?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"Then let me ask you this. What do you think the army's next move will be?"
"Hmm… that, is it? If my prediction is correct…"
Yang Jamun considered carefully, then lifted the corner of his mouth.
"I expect they'll go for a swift, decisive campaign."