Chapter 47
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: Traces - 1
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Joo Yuri's body made a full recovery three days after her detoxification was complete.
Even though we'd used the Flower of White Calamity to purge the poison, it had been so potent that she still needed time to recuperate.
And during those three days, I'd been busy with quite a few things at the Emei Sect.
One of them was this.
Baking snacks.
"Namo Amitabha. Donor Jin. The treats you've made are hindering the monks' cultivation."
Yeolhwan, the head of the Medicinal Hall, said this as casually as ever while I baked the snacks.
Hindering them, huh? Well, can't be helped then.
I reached out to reclaim the cookies I'd set aside to serve her when she arrived.
"Oh dear, Donor. What are you doing?"
"You said cultivation was getting difficult."
"Namo Amitabha! This poor monk doesn't cultivate, so it's fine for me! With that in mind, please give me what you were going to share with the other monks."
Is this any way for a monk to talk?
I watched Yeolhwan burning with desire for the sweets, then piled a few more crispy cookies onto her plate.
As she beamed at them, Joo Yuri walked in.
"Namo Amitabha. Lady Joo. Are you feeling better now?"
"Yes, Sister. I'm completely recovered."
She had the same healthy glow I'd seen before.
After sparring with her maids to confirm her body was back in shape, she strutted over to me all cocky-like and popped one of the cookies I'd baked into her mouth.
"Mmm~ Delicious?"
"Glad you like it."
Ever since that day, Joo Yuri had dropped the formal speech with me.
She kept up her pure, demure act around everyone else, but she'd decided to show me her true self.
It wasn't anything to fuss over.
Everyone wants to let their guard down around someone now and then.
From Joo Yuri's perspective, I was someone pretty distant. Plus, I'd already seen her at her absolute worst. So she probably figured there was no point hiding her real side from me anymore.
"Finished today's letter?"
"Nah. No clue what to write."
"How'd Sword Heaven do hers?"
"She nailed it."
I couldn't show her someone else's letter, so I just vaguely explained the style. Hearing that, Joo Yuri munched on a cookie, snapped her fingers, and...
"Thousand-Mile Flying Messenger could deliver it in a day, right? How about sending these cookies?"
"No way. Are you a genius?"
Why hadn't I thought of that?
I sorted out the best-baked cookies. Joo Yuri sneakily reached for them like she wanted a taste.
"Hey. Those are for Sword Heaven."
"So?"
So what? I pulled the plate away from her and slid another one over.
She took a bite of the crunchy cookie loaded with walnuts and pine nuts, then glanced at the Thousand-Mile Flying Messenger chowing down on the cookies on the table.
- Piiik!
"Isn't this guy getting chubby? He looks puffier than when we first met."
Could be.
Every time I sent a letter, I'd make him wait and stuff him with treats. He'd scarfed them all down, so of course he'd bulked up a bit.
- Piiik! Piik!
The Thousand-Mile Flying Messenger finished off the cookies on his plate, flapped his wings, and eyed the next batch—Joo Yuri's plate.
She hid hers like she wasn't sharing. He sharpened his gaze like a hawk spotting prey and took to the air.
"Oh ho?!"
If she were still hiding her true self like before, she'd have just handed them over.
But not around me anymore. Maybe that's why I could see qi gathering in both her hands.
Good grief. The daughter of the Four Black Alliances' leader, scrapping over cookies with a spirit beast.
"You two, cut it out. There's more."
I pulled out some extras I'd made for the trip. At that, the Thousand-Mile Flying Messenger whipped his head around and flew straight to me.
"You're not a kid anymore. Fighting a spirit beast over snacks?"
"But these are seriously good..."
"Yeah, yeah. Good thing you like 'em. Wipe that crumb off your mouth."
"Where?"
She could've just brushed it off with her hand, but instead she grinned mischievously and tilted her head. Then she sauntered over naturally and leaned in a bit.
"Huh? What crumb on my mouth?"
Now she's even acting spoiled. Fine, fine. Do whatever.
I like this side of her better than the prim and proper act anyway.
As I reached for her lips—which she'd closed her eyes and puckered up—a voice came from the door.
"Milady...?"
"Kyaa?!"
The door opened, and Yun Ryeong stepped in. Joo Yuri, who'd been leaning toward me, yelped and jumped back. Yun Ryeong panicked at her reaction and bowed frantically.
"S-Sorry! D-Did I interrupt...!"
"No interrupting! It's not like that!"
Her face beet red, Joo Yuri waved her hands wildly. The Thousand-Mile Flying Messenger flapped his wings and chirped mockingly at her, earning an eye-roll in return.
"Ahem. So, what's up?"
"His Majesty the Fist Emperor is looking for you."
The Fist Emperor? I tied a box of cookies and a short letter to the Thousand-Mile Flying Messenger's leg.
"Take good care of it."
- Piiiik~!
He flapped once as if to say "You got it!" and soared into the sky. I watched him shrink to a dot and vanish, then grabbed cookies for the Fist Emperor and stood.
"Shall we go?"
The Fist Emperor hadn't been idle while Joo Yuri recovered, either.
He'd looked into those bandits we'd run into on the way to Emei Sect. Looked like he'd focused on what we got from capturing their Second Platoon.
Waiting for us in Emei's reception hall, he was talking to some Emei monks when he spotted us and wrapped up.
"You wanted to see me?"
"Yeah. Sit. Got something to say. Hm. What's that?"
"Baked some snacks. Want some?"
"Sure. Let me try."
Since I'd handled all the cooking on our trip together, he knew my skills well.
He'd been grumbling that the temple food didn't suit his taste anyway.
He popped one in his mouth and nodded with a grin.
"Mmm. Damn good. Even the imperial chefs couldn't bake cookies this well."
"Haha, you're too kind."
Though I doubt I could outdo the real imperial head cooks. I smiled at his praise and handed him the whole pouch.
As he pulled out another cookie to munch, the Fist Emperor slid a report my way.
"What's this?"
"Rumors spreading through Sichuan. About man-eaters. And their followers."
"Followers?"
I checked the report. It wasn't just the Dead Ones we'd fought before—there were mentions of bandits called Bone Buriers, Blood Drinkers, and other weird names operating all over Sichuan.
"Emei clashed with them quite a bit, too. And... so did the Four Black Alliances."
"The Four Black Alliances, you say?"
"Yeah. Their friction with Emei came from overlapping territories while driving these guys out, leading to fights."
"I see..."
"Anyway, we got this from that Second Platoon last time. Take a look."
The Fist Emperor pulled out a scrap of silk from his robe. It listed twelve bandit groups and their leaders.
And in the center...
"Blood ()?"
"Right. Blood. No idea what the character means exactly, but these bandits are banding together around it. Infamous Sichuan bandits... the kind armed and trained like a proper army."
When forces like this gather in one region, it's seen as a rebellion risk. Local garrisons, plus righteous and evil sect warriors, go out to crush them.
But scattered like this, it's hard for the military to mobilize easily.
Moving an army is like pouring money into a bottomless pit.
"Smells fishy, doesn't it?"
"The problem is we don't know what 'Blood' stands for. Ah, could it be that new poison the Tang Clan discovered...?"
It was definitely tied to blood as the medium. At Joo Yuri's words, the Fist Emperor nodded gravely.
"Maybe Sichuan's man-eaters, the new poison, and this mystery army are all connected. Hm... Anyway, I'm planning to track these bastards a bit more. What about you?"
I met the Fist Emperor's sharp gaze head-on.
It was exactly what I'd been hoping for.
"I'll join you, though I'm not much."
"Knew I liked you. Ever think about working for the throne down the line?"
"I already am. Haha."
What I was doing was basically saving the empire anyway, so it counted as serving the throne, right?