The Young Lord of the Northern Heavens 10
"Kill them all!"
One of the bandits at the front shouted in a rough voice.
As if answering him, every last one of the mounted bandits drew their weapons.
There had to be at least a hundred of them.
"What?"
Third Squad Leader Jeong Ik looked stunned.
The information the clan had obtained did not match what they were seeing from the Red Wolf Gang.
And no wonder.
They had been told there were around fifty men.
But the force charging at the Gale Squad now was easily twice their number.
At minimum, there looked to be a hundred and twenty.
"Don't panic! Prepare for battle! Brace for impact!"
Thinking that, First Squad Leader So Ho gripped his sword hard.
But even he couldn't stop the flicker in his eyes.
More than a hundred mounted bandits rushing at them like this was an overwhelming sight.
Naturally, tension spread through the men.
At this rate, we'll take serious losses.
Then there was only one thing to do.
I had to break the tension gripping our side.
I kicked my horse forward and rode to the front.
"Y-Young Lord?!"
A startled voice came from behind me.
They clearly hadn't expected me to place myself at the very front.
"It's dangerous! Please fall back at once!"
"I'm sorry, but I can't do that."
"Pardon?"
"I'm the Young Lord of the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect."
If that was who I was, I couldn't retreat from a fight like this.
If anything, I had to fight more fiercely than anyone else and raise our men's morale.
With that, I drew my sword.
Shing!
The blade slid free with a vicious hiss, flashing in the sunlight.
I immediately circulated the Vajrayaksha Divine Art through my body.
My heart pounded. My body brimmed with vigor.
This was the perfect state for battle.
"Will you truly be all right?"
Sagong Cheon rode up beside me and asked carefully.
His face was troubled.
He was probably wondering whether he ought to force me to the rear.
I gave a faint smirk and nodded.
"Don't underestimate me too much."
"...!"
"They're here."
While we spoke, the mounted bandits had already closed to striking distance.
They raised their weapons and swung them at me.
Sagong Cheon moved to intercept them first.
But I was faster.
My sword flashed, and with two short slashes I sent the heads of the two bandits attacking me flying.
Spurt!
Their headless bodies crumpled at once.
I could feel shocked stares boring into me from the side.
Ignoring them, I raised my voice and shouted,
"Show these bandits the might of the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect!"
"Waaaah!"
The Gale Squad, who had been wavering at first, answered with a roaring cry.
As if declaring they would follow behind me, they surged forward and began cutting into the mounted bandits with fierce momentum.
The ones caught off guard this time were the bandits.
Just moments ago they had looked ready to overwhelm us by sheer force, and now the tide had turned in an instant.
But that was only natural.
The Gale Squad may not be the equal of the Iron Blood Sword Unit, but they're still one of the clan's recognized martial forces.
Even if they were outnumbered, there was no way they would lose to common mounted bandits like these.
And the one they had thought was dead weight had started cutting enemies down and seized the momentum.
Of course the mood would swing to our side.
"Target that bastard!"
Realizing something had gone wrong, the Red Wolf Gang singled me out.
Did they think I was the source of it all?
More than a dozen mounted bandits rushed straight at me.
I answered with sharp sword forms and cut them down as they came.
Every time I swung my sword, another bandit lost his life.
"How can this be..."
Sagong Cheon, guarding my flank, muttered in disbelief.
His face was filled with shock.
To him, I had always been the sickly young master. Seeing me carve through a battlefield like this must have been impossible to reconcile.
But I paid it no mind and kept pressing deeper into the enemy ranks, cutting them down one after another.
"Young Lord!"
Sagong Cheon couldn't get to me at once, blocked off by enemies.
But that was fine.
In this clash alone, I had already confirmed that none of these bandits possessed the strength to truly threaten me.
The moment that thought crossed my mind—
Whoosh!
I knocked aside a spear thrust aimed at my side.
But the spearman targeting me did not panic. He followed with a second strike, then a third.
Clang! Clang!
I blocked those without losing composure.
Then, perhaps realizing he couldn't kill me at once, my opponent frowned.
"So the rumors were false. I'd heard the Young Lord of the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect was a sickly weakling who hadn't even properly learned martial arts."
"That was true until recently. Who are you?"
"I am Jeok In-hoe, leader of the Red Wolf Gang. Since I'm the man who'll take your head, you'd do well to remember the name."
With that, Jeok In-hoe launched into his spear technique again.
Though he fought from horseback, his movements were clean and dangerous.
So this was why he was said to have mastered mounted combat rather well.
By contrast, I didn't have much experience fighting on horseback.
Even so—
I can still see it.
The body strengthened by the Vajrayaksha Divine Art was producing output on a completely different level than before.
Attacks I would once have perceived only vaguely by instinct now appeared clearly before my eyes.
I swung my sword without hesitation and blocked Jeok In-hoe's attack.
As his strikes were stopped again and again, Jeok In-hoe's expression shifted to alarm.
"Is that all?"
I spoke with a mocking smile, provoking him on purpose.
At once, his face flushed red and he roared,
"Don't look down on me, you brat!"
Sweeaaak!
A thrust far deadlier than any of his previous blows shot toward me.
This was probably the strongest move he could use.
And unlike before, I had no intention of casually blocking or dodging it.
If I did, I would suffer internal injuries myself.
So instead—
"Hup."
I drew in a breath and raised my internal energy.
The power of the Vajrayaksha Divine Art coiled around my entire body, releasing a faint golden glow.
At the same time, wind wrapped itself around my sword.
"That is—?!"
"Farewell."
I gave him that brief parting and swung my sword.
A single wind-swift strike split through spear and flesh alike.
Slash!
Jeok In-hoe's chest split wide open, cut cleanly through together with the shaft of his spear.
Then—thud!
His corpse toppled from the saddle and crashed to the ground in a pitiful heap.
"Th-the boss is dead!"
Fear rippled through the Red Wolf Gang.
The Gale Squad seized the opening and began mercilessly cutting down the survivors.
The morale of the Red Wolf Gang, who had been fighting on nearly even terms until then, plummeted at once.
"Run!"
"F-fall back!"
In the end, more and more of them wheeled their horses away and broke formation.
But that was exactly what we wanted.
The moment an enemy suffered the greatest losses on a battlefield was when he turned to flee.
We charged after them without hesitation and butchered them as they ran.
After the battle continued for a while longer, I lifted the broken banner of the Red Wolf Gang and declared,
"We've won!"
"Waaaah!"
A thunderous cheer shook Hyo-eul Village.
A little later, we rescued the people of Hyo-eul Village, who had been worked almost like slaves, and recovered the iron that had been taken from us.
On top of that, we collected the horses of the dead bandits and seized the considerable wealth they had hoarded.
It was an enormous haul.
Better still, we had no dead on our side—only lightly wounded men—making the victory all the more precious.
While everyone was celebrating, Sagong Cheon approached me with a grave expression and bowed his head.
"I am sorry, Young Lord."
"Hm? For what?"
"I failed to remain at your side. As a result, you were forced to fight alone..."
"Ah."
So that was what this was about.
I let out a faint chuckle and answered,
"It's fine. We won, didn't we? And I was the one who chose to take the lead in order to break their momentum."
"But..."
"Being an escort doesn't mean you must always remain glued to my side. So there's no need to torment yourself over it."
As I said that, one possibility crossed my mind.
What if Sagong Cheon had not been forced away from me, but had left my side on orders from Yi Tae-gyeom, the Head of the Elders' Council?
It was entirely possible.
He might have been ordered to isolate me and then wait for me to die.
But if there was one problem with that plan, it was that I was far too strong.
I changed the entire course of the battle.
Originally, even if we won against the Red Wolf Gang, it was supposed to be a dangerous battle that could leave us with serious losses.
The enemy outnumbered us two to one, and they had struck amid confusion.
But I had stepped in and turned the mood on its head.
I had taken the lead and cut down the charging enemy myself, then handled more than twenty men who came at me directly.
I had even taken the enemy leader's head.
After seeing that, the Gale Squad's morale had soared, and they fought above their usual level to finish the battle.
Once we returned to the clan, this would likely cause quite a stir.
No one would ever have imagined that the Young Lord they treated like a puppet would distinguish himself like this.
That was why the Head of the Elders' Council had dared send weak trash like the Red Wolf Gang after me in the first place.
Of course, it had been a grave miscalculation.
"Young Lord, we've loaded all the wealth those bastards had."
At that moment, one of the Gale Squad members came forward and reported respectfully.
There was unmistakable admiration in his eyes.
My performance in the battle had clearly changed the way he saw me.
Not just him, either.
Everyone was looking at me differently now.
No longer as a Young Lord who merely occupied a position, but as someone truly fit to lead the clan.
It was a welcome change.
In my previous life, I had never enjoyed such a thing.
I looked at them and asked,
"You made sure to distribute food properly to the villagers, yes?"
As befitted a place occupied by bandits, Hyo-eul Village had been stripped clean. The Red Wolf Gang had taken the villagers' food and property alike.
After comparing the statements of the village chief and several others, I decided to investigate and return everything to its original owners.
Strictly speaking, we could have claimed it all as spoils of war.
But if we had done that, the villagers might well have starved to death.
So I had deliberately taken the time to return their belongings.
"Yes. We've returned everything. The villagers were weeping with joy."
There was a trace of pride in his voice.
As a member of an orthodox sect, he must have found satisfaction in acting with righteousness.
I patted him on the shoulder and said,
"Good. Then let's prepare to head back. We'll leave in a little while, so get some rest first. You've all worked hard."
"Yes, Young Lord! Please get some rest as well."
After replying spiritedly, the warrior withdrew.
For a while, I wandered through the Red Wolf Gang's stronghold to see whether there was anything useful left behind.
There might've been some hidden storeroom or secret cache.
But no matter how I searched, I found nothing of the sort.
Mildly disappointed, I was just about to leave.
"Escort Sagong?"
Standing in the way before me, inside Jeok In-hoe's room, was Sagong Cheon.
He was looking at me with a deeply pained expression.
"What is it?"
"Young Lord... I..."
He squeezed his eyes shut, wrestled with himself for a moment, then opened his mouth with the look of a man who had made up his mind.
"There is something I must tell you."