The Reason for Trust - 6
"How about surrendering now?"
It was the voice of the very one who had wrought this silence that broke it.
Perhaps that was why. The men in black flinched and hesitated. They could hardly be ignorant of what a superior fighter meant in a battle like this—and their opponent was Chae Jin, the woman who had crushed Chae Jeok-yo as though toying with a child. Surrender would surely have been the wise choice, yet in the end they chose to raise their weapons.
"Huh?"
"They must have judged that fighting Chae Jeok-yo drained much of your internal energy, and chosen to come at you in rotating waves. If they can take you down here with sheer numbers, they can turn the whole situation around."
"How foolish. They'd be better off running. Not that I intend to let them go even if they do."
"Well, if they were capable of thinking that clearly, they'd never have come in the first place. By the way—can you still fight?"
"Of course."
Click. Sliding her blade back into its sheath, she raised her fists. She was hardly worn out from subduing a single Chae Jeok-yo, and yet she had exactly one reason for choosing to use Chae Family Tai Chi Chuan.
To show it to Yu Wol.
In truth, nothing trained a martial artist like real combat—but watching a technique properly unfolded was its own education, and she hoped he would take this chance to see it done right.
"Hah."
With a low kiai, she caught a charging man's arm, gave it a light twist, and flung him away. And just as she turned to face her next opponent, Yu Wol stepped up beside her.
"I'll help."
He'd taken a few hits during the earlier fight, and she'd wanted to let him rest out of pity for it.
Still, she liked that he had stepped forward of his own accord. Of course, the sight of him being struck still ached in her chest—but if she fought at his side, that would never happen. Chae Jin flashed a grin and leaned her back against his, and he leaned his back against hers in turn. That steadiness set her heart ablaze with an almost absurd warmth.
Before the feeling could fade, Chae Jin glanced sidelong at Chang Ju. "I'll leave the chef in your care."
"You got it."
Taking Yo Hwan with her, Chang Ju withdrew to the rear and hurled out talismans. Five of them wove together into a single small barrier. Among her earlier boasts had been a claim that, back in the army, she'd held out with nothing but a handful of talismans in ground crawling with magical beasts. There was surely some exaggeration mixed in, but she figured it would keep them safe at least until this fight was over.
"Uraaah!!"
Even as she thought, her body was already moving. When a thrusting sword darted toward Yu Wol, Chae Jin subtly extended her left foot, then pivoted on her right and spun. As the flying blade grazed past her face, Yu Wol—moving in time with her strength—tapped the man's wrist, and the sword, robbed of its course, plunged into another man's shoulder.
"Gyaaagh!"
Back to back, and still she could read his every movement. Watching him grow, steadily and exactly as she had taught him, a laugh bubbled up in her. Grinning at him over her shoulder, Chae Jin swung her outstretched leg up at the three who attacked in unison. She batted aside one man's fist with her foot and nudged the second strike off course with her elbow. Then, when the force of Yu Wol battling the enemy on the opposite side pushed against her, she rode that rebound and twisted aside the descending club.
WHAM—!!
The redirected club slammed into another man's shoulder, and Chae Jin caught herself humming an idle tune.
Ah.
Suddenly she remembered the first time she had ever learned the martial arts. Led by the hand by the Blade Emperor, moving her limbs to his instruction, feeling the breath of nature as she unfolded the Chae Family Tai Chi Chuan—perhaps that was the moment she had fallen in love with the sword arts.
But ever since becoming the eldest disciple of Moon Lotus Pavilion, she had forgotten that joy. Maintaining her position. Proving her competence. And yet here it was again. Who knew the Chae Family Tai Chi Chuan, worn familiar as an old coat, could feel this fresh, this delightful?
She wanted him to know this joy too. That was why Chae Jin lowered her strength—because she was far, far stronger than Yu Wol. Balance was everything. Just as yin and yang must fall into harmony to achieve unity and give birth to the Taiji, if she alone surged ahead in power, it would only breed discord. And so she tempered her strength—she who had once stormed secret realms alone, so proud of her own two hands. For him.
The sight of the two of them, moving as one as they felled the swarming men in black, resembled nothing so much as a dance between man and woman.
Perhaps it was because Chae Jin, looking oddly delighted, had joined the fray?
Downing every last one of the swarming men in black proved no trouble at all. Surveying the fallen—burst and broken here and there across the ground—Chae Jin turned to Cha Mo.
"Could you run over to Moon Lotus Pavilion? Explain the situation to my father."
"Yes, of course."
"Will you be alright going alone?"
"I trained at Moon Lotus Pavilion myself, so I can at least protect this one body of mine. Besides, the main road isn't far from here, and there are government soldiers posted along it. Don't you worry."
"Even so, just in case—take this one with you."
Having received even a talisman from Chang Ju, she raised her thick arms as if to say see? I'm fine and dashed off. To take the worst of the chaos that could ever befall an inn and remain utterly unbothered—her composure was genuinely impressive.
And once she was gone, as Chang Ju's barrier dissolved, Yo Hwan spoke in a voice heavy with unease.
"...I'm sorry about all this. Everything that happened... it's all because of me..."
"It isn't because of you, so don't dwell on it."
What fault was any of it hers? The ones in the wrong were these bastards who'd come to drag her off and gotten themselves wrecked for it.
"Once they come from Moon Lotus Pavilion, you'll have to go back?"
"Probably? The disposition for this matter will be decided at a Pavilion council, so I have to attend..."
"Will you be alright?"
"Of course. What she did is a truly grave offense. And after going through something like this, we're owed compensation, aren't we? I'll work hard and squeeze out every last coin for us!"
Winking one eye, she said it brightly.
"When do you suppose their council will convene?"
"Given the gravity of it... it'll likely begin as soon as Cha Mo returns with the others. They'll probably conduct the investigation and interrogation together, too. With Ryeon there, they might even start looking into things the moment Cha Mo sets foot inside."
"I see. Let's get this place sorted for now. Yo Hwan—even if you can't use your arts, you can still tie men up, yes?"
"Ah. Of course."
Chae Jin went to the inn's storeroom and returned with thick rope. Once every man in black had been bound and hauled into a single pile, Yo Hwan smiled wanly.
"You've all worn yourselves out—you must be hungry. Wouldn't something to eat do you more good? I wonder if I might borrow a few ingredients..."
With that leisurely remark, she disappeared into the kitchen. Chang Ju fetched a bottle of liquor, settled into a corner, and began to sip. It was quiet—so quiet the earlier mayhem might have been a lie.
I fished the tobacco case from my coat, sat down on the steps at the inn's entrance, and set a cigarette between my lips. Now then, where was my fire striker—
"Oh, come on."
My fire striker, knocked loose during the fight, lay face-down on the floor over there, resting in a puddle of spilled broth. When I picked it up, I found the tip cracked and the broth seeped inside—the ember dead.
Fwoosh.
A flame appeared before me. It was Chae Jin—she'd conjured fire with her internal energy, just as she had before. Moonlight Flash, then the Chae Family Tai Chi Chuan tuned to match my every move, and on top of that she'd done most of the work felling the men in black. She had to be exhausted.
"This much is nothing."
Saying it with a relieved smile, Chae Jin held out her finger. I brought the tip of my cigarette to her flame, and with a soft crackle it caught. Hazy smoke curled out. Savoring it, I made my way back to the entrance steps, and Chae Jin settled down beside me as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
It was quiet. Into that faint, lingering awkwardness, Chae Jin spoke at last, her voice barely above a murmur.
"...I'm sorry. Are you... disappointed?"
"Hm?"
"...About all this."
Unlike the brimming confidence of her voice earlier, Chae Jin's voice had shrunk small. It seemed the disgrace one of Moon Lotus Pavilion's own—an inner disciple, no less—had brought upon the sect wounded her more deeply than she let on.
To her furtive sidelong glances, I shook my head.
"I'm not disappointed in the slightest. This whole affair was Chae Jeok-yo's personal doing. Is this the will of Moon Lotus Pavilion?"
"Of course not."
"Then there's nothing to it. I know Miss Chae is a heroine who holds righteousness and chivalry above all. And I know the Blade Emperor won't let this matter pass unanswered. What is there to be disappointed about?"
I exhaled a mouthful of smoke, and it spread thin on the night air around us. I turned my head slightly—and caught Chae Jin's downcast gaze fixed on the tobacco case in my hand.
"After saying what you did last time, you're tempted to take it up again?"
The memory of that day still lingered in my head. I smiled and held out the case, but she shook her head gently.
"No, I'm fine. I've found something else I'd rather pursue now."
With a bright grin, Chae Jin settled comfortably beside me and said nothing more. It was quiet. But not awkward, the way it had been before.
Before long, Yo Hwan emerged with two dishes in hand. True to a chef who had once served in the Imperial Palace, she had conjured genuinely fine fare out of humble ingredients in hardly any time at all.
"This is good. Mm. Does this mean I get to keep eating like this from now on?"
Nursing her liquor over Yo Hwan's cooking, Chang Ju asked, and Yo Hwan flashed her a grin.
"Pay like everyone else and come eat at the inn. I'm its chef now, after all."
"Tch."
"More importantly, granny. What martial art did you learn at the Emei Sect, that Chae Jeok-yo would obsess over you like that?"
At Chang Ju's question, Yo Hwan's face turned awkward, and she stole a glance my way.
"It's best not to pry into another's affairs until they see fit to reveal them."
"Hm. Fair enough."
And that was the end of it. Chang Ju asked nothing more, and Yo Hwan smiled wanly around her mouthful of food. We ate, and we drank. How many rounds had passed by the time the dishes were cleared and the bottle ran dry? Then Yo Hwan muttered:
"Slow, for Moon Lotus Pavilion."
"Isn't it because they're handling the investigation alongside it, as Miss Chae said? If they think the evidence might vanish, they'd weight the search toward that side."
Just then, a commotion arose at the inn's entrance. All four of us looked over. There stood a beautiful girl dressed much like Chae Jin—looking slightly more mature than Sa Yun—escorted by white-clad warriors: the Moonlight Squad, the elite of Moon Lotus Pavilion.
Chae Ryeon.
A girl distinguished, like her sister, by beautiful long hair dark as the night sky. Another protagonist of Cheonsang Myeongwol and Chae Jin's younger sister, she was frowning at the devastation inside the inn. Then she walked straight toward us and bowed with impeccable courtesy.
"I am Chae Ryeon, inner disciple of Moon Lotus Pavilion. Younger sister of Chae Jin, the eldest disciple present here."
"I am called Yu Wol, keeper of the inn at Seomhwachon."
"A pleasure. Allow me to come straight to the point. Upon receiving Cha Mo's report, we immediately searched Chae Jeok-yo's room and a number of the Byeokroemun disciples. Beyond the plot to attack you all, we found several pieces of evidence there. There were also testimonies from others that they had pressed people into attempting to take Yo Hwan by force..."
"Is that so?"
That was fast.
When I marveled, she went on with a detailed account, unprompted. The moment Cha Mo's report arrived, the Blade Emperor himself had taken the elders and Moonlight Squad members and thoroughly searched Chae Jeok-yo's room within Moon Lotus Pavilion, along with Byeokroemun next door. In the process they had uncovered evidence that Chae Jeok-yo had prepared the ambush, along with the record of what she had done to corner Yo Hwan. They had also dug up documents of a sort—reports on using the Byeokroemun disciples to pressure her—and even caught someone fleeing with several pieces of evidence in hand, and the search for further materials was still underway.
At the same time, the implicated Byeokroemun disciples had been seized and interrogated, their testimonies likewise secured. Add to that the statements that would come from questioning those present here, and Chae Jeok-yo's guilt would be beyond dispute—there would be no problem, she concluded, then bowed her head.
"I apologize for troubling you with Moon Lotus Pavilion's affairs. I have no excuse to offer. Every loss incurred in this incident will be borne by Moon Lotus Pavilion."
"Hm."
"Compensation will likewise be rendered in full, without fail. So—would you entrust the handling of this matter to our side?"
Both Chang Ju and Yo Hwan looked my way. Leaving it to me, are they?
I regarded Chae Ryeon a moment, then nodded.
"I'll trust that you won't play favorites. But might I attend that council? After all, I'm a party to this matter as well."
If she was the Chae Ryeon I knew, she wouldn't try to simply paper over this affair. No—Chae Ryeon herself had clashed plenty with Chae Jeok-yo and Byeokroemun, the Pavilion's subordinate sect, so if anything she might seize this very chance to finish them off for good. She'd see the compensation paid cleanly, too, and stamp out any lingering complications.
And indeed, she smiled brightly and nodded.
"That was, in fact, what I hoped to ask of you. I would like to invite you all to Moon Lotus Pavilion as honored guests. Please, don't refuse."
"We accept the invitation."
"Thank you. We will not disappoint you."
Having bowed to me, she turned to look behind her, and at her glance the waiting Moonlight Squad members sprang briskly into motion. Watching them, Chae Ryeon—perhaps to lift the heavy air—addressed me with a smile.
"I hear you're my sister's employer."
"That's right."
"Then I worry she may be a burden on you. Until when does that employment run? She's been in your debt all this while, so I feel I ought to offer some separate token of thanks..."
"She's no burden at all. If anything, I'm the one indebted to her."
"Oh my. Is that so?"
"And as for that matter... won't it last for as long as Miss Chae herself wishes it to?"
The contract had been struck at an absurdly low price to begin with, after all. And with the enlightenment of slowness she'd just attained, she might well cross blades with Hong Ryeon before long... which meant that sooner or later, Chae Jin might leave. If she did, I'd have to redraw my plans—so let me take this chance to ask.
"Miss Chae. Until when do you intend to keep at it?"
Chae Jin answered with the utmost gravity.
"Until the innkeeper has the skill to earn my recognition...?"