How to Trust - 4
It was the hour when the dawn stars still hung in the sky. People had gathered near Yangwi Fortress, an area that would ordinarily be deserted at this time of night.
Relief was written across their faces. And fair enough. These were soldiers led by the Lord of Yangwi Fortress—though in truth they were surely Cheon Il-hwa's men—and the disappearances they had been working to solve had finally been resolved.
Of course, they weren't the only ones rejoicing. Smiles were blooming on the faces of others as well, people who looked nothing at all like soldiers.
"Daddy!!"
The hulking man who caught the girl as she came running, tears pouring down her face, was weeping every bit as hard as she was—a strange sight on such a grizzled visage. His thick arms wrapped around her so tightly she looked ready to shatter, but surely he would never actually squeeze that hard.
All around them, the families and kin of those who had become Soul-Lost Humans were breaking down in tears of relief. After all, to become a Soul-Lost Human was to lose your mind and dance on another's strings—left in that state, nothing good could come of it, and if it dragged on long enough, the body itself would often begin to spoil.
If there was any blessing to count, it was that those ruled by Yang Myeong had come to no real harm beyond bodies worn a little thin. True, she had siphoned away their vitality, but their soul-loss had been fully lifted, and a few restorative tonics would set them right.
"Thank you!"
"Thank you so much!"
The freed captives and their families and kin bowed to Chae Jin again and again in gratitude. Since I hadn't taken this job to be thanked, I just gave them a casual nod. And in fairness, Chae Jin had borne far more of the burden than I had—she was the one who captured Yang Myeong, after all, and the one who flattened most of the Soul-Lost Humans.
"As a chivalrous heroine of the orthodox sects, I merely did what anyone ought to do! Ohohoho!"
"Ahem. Ahem. Still, if you would at least tell us your name..."
"It's hardly a name worth announcing. Hohoho."
It was painfully obvious her mouth was itching to brag. Still, even she must have found it embarrassing to sing her own praises with her own lips. But that skintight outfit of hers, and the emblem stitched across it—couldn't anyone guess where she was from at a glance?
So instead of her, still visibly wrestling to keep her composure, I answered for her.
"May I present Lady Chae Jin, the Moonlight Blade, eldest disciple of Moon Lotus Pavilion."
"O-Ohhhh!!"
"Moon Lotus Pavilion! You mean the Blade Emperor's sect?!"
"Wow! Incredible! Thank you! Thank you so much!"
The moment I made the introduction, the crowd took up Chae Jin's name in a chant. She looked flustered by the cheers ringing around her, but her delight was showing through all the same.
Expression management: failed.
"Ah, honestly. I hadn't meant to reveal myself. What did I even do, really?"
"Ohhhh! And so humble, too!"
She's absolutely eating this up, isn't she? Just as I shot her a sidelong glance—jittering with barely contained glee, the corners of her mouth straining not to curl up—a hulking man came toward me, his face as hard as they came.
"...Was it you who saved my daughter?"
The man who had been clutching Oh Yuna and sobbing only moments before. It was Oh Chil, master of Yangwi Fortress's back alleys. His eyes were swollen puffy from all his weeping, and he made no effort to hide the weight in his low voice.
"That would be me."
"...I will never forget this debt."
"I didn't do it to be thanked."
Right. All I wanted was to bank some points for the hunt against the Iron Blood Dan. Oh Chil was a capable martial artist in his own right, of course, but I could hardly drag him into a war with the Iron Blood Dan—not when the man needed to stay rooted in Yangwi Fortress.
"Even so, I cannot simply let this pass. I may earn my bread by the blade, but I am not so beastly a creature as to forget a kindness."
"If that's how you feel, then do me a favor someday."
"Anything."
With a bow, he greeted me once more, then walked over to Chae Jin. Orthodox and heterodox—in the murim, the two were natural-born enemies. Even so, Oh Chil bowed his head. Because she was the one who had saved his daughter.
"I owe Moon Lotus Pavilion a debt."
"And I intend to collect that debt in full, so remember it well."
"Of course I will. Well then. Until we meet again."
Oh Chil cupped his fists to her in salute one last time, then turned to me. He seemed to have something more he wanted to say...
"You're wondering how I came by the information on Yang Myeong, I'd wager. I asked the Ha-O Gate."
"...The Ha-O Gate. Hoo. I see. Thank you."
At those words, Oh Chil's expression hardened. I couldn't begin to guess what he was thinking, but I decided a word of caution was owed here.
"It's only a personal request of mine, so feel free to ignore it. Still, if you can manage it, I'd rather you left the Ha-O Gate alone in Yangwi Fortress from here on. It would make things difficult for me, you see."
This wasn't about repaying a debt. I was the one who'd received the information from the Ha-O Gate, so Jin-gwon Hall owed them nothing. Even so, my request that he leave them be was purely for my own sake—Seomhwachon had no Ha-O Gate of its own, which meant any contact with them had to go through the Yangwi Fortress branch. Otherwise I'd have to trek somewhere far more distant, and that was simply too much of a hassle.
"...I will look on it favorably."
Of course, how a sect ordered its own affairs was that sect's business alone; there was little I could do about it either way. Still, it was a relief that Oh Chil was inclined to view the matter kindly.
And with that, Oh Chil took his leave. As the soldiers set about tidying the area, I rose from my seat.
"Well then. Let's head back too."
"To Seomhwachon?"
"No."
The commission was settled, so it was time to report. Cheon Il-hwa had surely already heard that this end of things was resolved, but I had favors of my own to ask, so reporting in person was the better course.
By the time Chae Jin and I returned to Yangwi Fortress, the hour had grown quite late, yet Cheonghoeru was as loud and rowdy as ever. Drunks bellowing, wine being hauled back and forth, courtesans plucking at pipas and zithers or warbling the same tune yet again. Listening to the merriment of people who knew nothing of what had happened outside Yangwi Fortress, I climbed Cheonghoeru until the noise had faded away entirely.
At the end of the corridor, two masters stood waiting to greet us.
"Welcome back, Master Yu. Remarkable as ever, I see."
Gi Cha-jo chuckled and waved. Beside him, Wi Yeol let an eyebrow twitch—barely—but that was all. He simply opened the door without a word. Beyond it, Cheon Il-hwa could be seen rising to welcome us.
"Well done, Master Yu. Haha. I confess I'm curious how you settled this so quickly."
"Nothing to it. I simply placed a request with the Ha-O Gate. They had the information."
Cheon Il-hwa, who had been seating us and pouring tea with a satisfied smile, froze for an instant. But only an instant. Composed once more, he held out a teacup to me—and then to Chae Jin, the woman he had excluded entirely until this matter was resolved.
"I see. The Ha-O Gate. The Ha-O Gate, you say..."
"You know as well as anyone, General, what passed between the Ha-O Gate and the authorities."
"I do. Of course I do. Trust is slow to build and all too easily shattered. How could I forget the fool who pulled such a boneheaded stunt for his own gain?"
Cheon Il-hwa scorned the man quite openly, and Chae Jin, who had only been listening, bobbed her head in vigorous agreement. Naturally, I felt the same. Promises exist to be kept, not broken.
"They are the weak, you see. The weak are fearful, and their wariness runs deep. For the authorities to earn that wariness away... who knows how many years it might take."
It did get mended eventually, though.
But there was no need to say so, so I kept my mouth shut.
"In any case, you've worked hard. I hardly know how to reward you for all this... Is there anything you desire? An official post? Money? If not that, perhaps goods?"
"I'll pass on the post... Just remember me when I come asking for help someday."
I had no interest in official positions, money could be earned, and goods could simply be bought. Masters, though, were another matter entirely—those couldn't be bought so easily, which was precisely why I asked this way. As for elixirs, the military barely had enough for its own people; asking would have gotten me nowhere.
Cheon Il-hwa gave a slight nod.
"You have my word."
"Ah, and would you take a look at this?"
I held out the paper I'd drawn from my robe—something like a business proposal, asking him to introduce me to merchants so I might sell the Hongseong Sect's medicinal herbs and incense pouches.
"Hmm. This should certainly sell. Though it will depend on how you package it. Show me the samples once they're ready."
"Thank you."
Chae Jin didn't look particularly interested. Well, naturally—a martial artist to the bone like her had no reason to care about such things. Unlike the Hongseong Sect, Moon Lotus Pavilion had land and buildings to spare, collected donations, took in disciples, and pulled in hefty sums under the name of entrance fees. When money multiplied even while you sat still, who would bother with business?
Once the report was finished and he offered to at least feed us before we left, we headed down to Cheonghoeru's first floor. He'd offered us the fourth, but I had no intention of dining there. Chae Jin apparently felt much the same, following me down without a word of complaint, and we settled into seats along Cheonghoeru's outer edge.
I had gotten what I wanted, and the Blue Gathering Merchant Group—no, the Imperial Conscription Department—had agreed to view my proposal favorably. Maybe that was why. With the tension finally drained away, I found myself craving a smoke.
I rose from my seat, meaning to step a little ways off—and Chae Jin, watching me go, snorted a laugh.
"Just smoke here. It's fine."
Well, if she insisted.
With her blessing, I drew the tobacco case from my robe. I hadn't noticed earlier, but looking at it now, cracks spidered all over the wooden case—it must have taken a beating during the fight with the Soul-Lost Humans. Good thing I hadn't brought the bamboo pipe case Hong Ryeon gave me. If I had, it would have snapped clean in half mid-battle.
"Did you know? There's supposedly a sect that works sorcery using tobacco??"
"I've heard of it. A family founded by a lay disciple of the Mosan Sect—Chung Family Manor, was it? They supposedly harness the awakening effects tobacco carries."
"Oh? You know more about the murim than I expected."
"Well, more than someone who doesn't know how to handle Soul-Lost Humans."
Chae Jin shot me a sour glare, and I turned my head away to escape it. Then I set a cigarette between my lips and reached for my fire striker—
Of course. The fire striker was broken.
Manifesting the fire form just for this would be overkill... No helping it, then.
"Excuse me a moment."
A pleasure house like this was bound to keep a fire striker on hand. But the moment I moved to rise, Chae Jin smiled and held out her hand.
—Fwoosh.
What gathered at her fingertips was flame. She had kindled it with her internal energy.
"Much obliged. Though you've burned through quite a lot of internal energy yourself today, haven't you, Lady Chae?"
She'd had to seize Yang Myeong in a hurry and neutralize the Soul-Lost Humans. After that, forget circulating her energy—she hadn't even managed a moment's rest. Was it really wise to keep spending internal energy like that? From what I'd heard, conjuring fire from raw internal energy—without the Five Animal Frolics or some technique laced with elemental attributes—was dreadfully inefficient.
"This much is nothing at all. More to the point, Innkeeper—may I try one of these too?"
"I don't mind, but... this would be your first, wouldn't it? I can't say I'd recommend it."
It wasn't as if I was going to tell her never to touch the things... but I still didn't much want to encourage a first-timer. Chae Jin only shook her head and stretched out her hand.
"Father smokes all the time, so I'm used to the smell. Anyway, I'll be taking one~."
She plucked out a cigarette and set it between her lips. Then, just as before, she moved to kindle it with her internal energy—only to stop, and stare instead at the cigarette between my lips.
"What are you staring at?"
"Um. May I trouble you for a... no. Never mind."
Her fingers wiggled as though she wanted to say something—no, to do something—before she let out a long sigh. Then she lit her cigarette with a light touch and, copying me, drew on it gently.
And then.
"Cough! Cough!"
I knew it.
Being used to the smell and actually smoking it were two very different things...
"Hack, hack. Why would anyone even smoke this stuff?"
There were plenty of reasons. Some used the awakening effect to sharpen their focus and work sorcery, like that Chung Family Manor I'd mentioned, and there were even masters who had attained enlightenment in that awakened state. But what could I possibly say to someone who had turned her head away without so much as looking at me, coughing between every breath, the back of her neck flushed scarlet?
I just stubbed out my cigarette and laughed.
"Tell me about it."