War of Nerves
"Bandits…?!"
The commander let out a short, derisive laugh even as his hand drifted toward his sword, amused by the Emei supervisor nun's alarm.
When she fixed him with a hard stare, he quickly turned his head and made a show of stroking his falcon.
"There, there. Is that so?"
From the start, the man had a gift for getting under people's skin. Still, the memory of that extraordinary armor from moments before kept the supervisor nun from rising to the bait; she merely tightened her grip on the hilt of her own sword.
"W-what on earth is that?!"
"Bandits?! Is it a bandit raid?!"
As the vibration and the roar grew impossible to ignore, the merchant convoy fell into panic. Heads thrust out of carriage windows, voices rising in frantic disorder.
"Guards! Where are the guards?!"
The martial artists and escort troops who had been coasting on the presence of the government soldiers scrambled for their weapons. The Emei nuns, whether mounted or riding inside the carriages, calmly took up their arms as well. Confident in their own martial skill, they showed little true fear—but even they tensed at the scale of that dust cloud and the tremor in the earth.
"Commander. What exactly are you doing? Deploy your men at once!"
At the sharp demand of an Emei nun who had already drawn her weapon and approached him, the commander's laughter finally broke free.
"Commander…?"
He laughed for a long while, ignoring the looks that suggested everyone around him thought him mad.
"Aigoo, I'll die laughing…"
"Stop laughing and explain yourself!"
When the supervisor nun finally snapped at him, the commander wiped his eyes and smiled beneath the brim of his hat.
"Honestly—do any of you even know where we are, that you're fretting about horse bandits and robber gangs?"
"Where we are…?"
At those words, the man who headed the investment delegation—who had been sprawled out asleep inside his carriage—ambled down onto the road. He gazed at the approaching dust cloud and muttered through a yawn.
"Yaaawn. Looks like we've nearly reached Luoyang."
To remain so unhurried amid the chaos, he was clearly no ordinary old man.
Then, bursting through the dust, several iron-armored cavalry appeared first. At their head rode a standard-bearer gripping a great banner that cracked and snapped in the wind.
The Luoyang Sword Family.
Those who saw the flag let out collective sighs of relief. The commander sneered.
"This road is administered directly by the Luoyang Sword Family."
There was no mistaking the tone of a man mocking country bumpkins.
"Around here, you're far more likely to run into one of their elders by accident than you are to meet a bandit gang."
The nuns flushed at his words, but with the Sword Family's forces closing in at speed, none of them had the nerve to pick a fight with the commander. When no one rose to the bait, he looked briefly disappointed and stroked the neatly trimmed beard beneath his hat.
"But this isn't a road patrol unit… Iron-armored cavalry?"
Apparently the people he had escorted all the way from Xi'an mattered more to the Luoyang Sword Family than he had assumed. That was as far as the thought went—until the armored transport carriages thundering up behind them came into view, and he could no longer hide his astonishment.
"Huh? The Sword Family's Combat Transport Division too?"
Then he saw the banner streaming from one of those armored carriages, and the shock tore the name from his lips before he could stop himself.
"Sword Peak Mountain Breaker?!"
"We greet General Yeom!"
The commander dropped to one knee and clasped both hands before him in the highest form of military respect.
"We greet General Yeom!"
The soldiers under his command followed suit, offering a salute that rose from genuine regard. The investment party, watching from the side, could only stare in blank confusion. Why would the force that had escorted them all the way from Xi'an show such profound deference to an elder of the Luoyang Sword Family?
"I never imagined I'd run into you out here!"
Elder Yeom, a giant of a man whose frame stood two or three heads taller than any ordinary male, broke into a look of open pleasure at the sight of the commander. He strode forward, seized the man's hand, and hauled him upright.
"Your unit took the investment party's escort upon yourselves? Your honored mother has shown us far too great a kindness."
"Kindness? Nonsense. If I'd known General Yeom himself was coming, I'd have run barefoot to meet you even without my mother's orders."
The commander rose as if reluctantly—though in truth Elder Yeom's strength had nearly lifted him off the ground. The rest of the troops stood as well, watching the reunion with warm smiles.
"And how is your mother? As formidable as ever?"
The commander waved a hand.
"As strong-willed as always. I don't know how she grows sharper with every passing year."
"Haha. To hear that the wise governor who rules Xi'an remains in such fine form is a comfort to her neighbors."
"Aigoo, don't even start. Living under that roof is enough to kill a man."
A man who called the Governor of Xi'an his mother. Only then did the onlookers piece together the commander's true identity, and more than a few mouths fell open. The Emei contingent looked particularly sour; they had been forced to surrender command of the procession to this man and had spent the journey locked in a quiet war of nerves with him.
"I must go and receive our guests now—but you and I will have to share a proper drink later."
"Haha. Don't forget those words. I'll follow you all the way into Luoyang if I have to."
Having secured the commander's understanding, Elder Yeom stepped before the investment party and offered a formal apology.
"I happened upon an old comrade-in-arms and committed the discourtesy of keeping our distinguished guests waiting."
"Not at a—"
The investment party's representative had barely begun to answer when a voice cut in from the Emei side.
"It has been a long time, Elder Yeom."
From among the sword-bearing nuns, an aged abbess stepped forward under their protection.
"I believe the last time I saw you was at Mount Hua."
Elder Yeom looked mildly surprised at the old nun's appearance, yet he answered with full courtesy.
"…I did not expect the Grand Abbess of the Emei Sect to visit the main house without so much as a word of notice."
The old nun, draped in the most ornate of monastic robes and a golden kasaya over them, bared her teeth in a smile. It was not a kindly smile.
"Are you rebuking this poor old nun for her lack of manners?"
She answered Elder Yeom's pointed remark about her unannounced arrival with blunt directness.
"Well now…"
But the man before her was no longer the mere unit captain who had once struggled to hide his nerves before the Sword Sovereign of Mount Hua.
"For the moment, Grand Abbess, you are an uninvited guest. I trust you will understand if I attend first to those who were properly invited."
Without waiting for a reply, Elder Yeom turned and walked toward the head of the investment party.
"How dare—!"
The nuns bristled, but the Grand Abbess raised a hand and stopped them cold.
Our counterpart is an elder of the Luoyang Sword Family. You will not act rashly.
At her silent transmission, the nuns swallowed their fury. Elder Yeom's Sword Family warriors and soldiers watched them with impassive faces.
"Am I addressing the representative of the investment delegation?"
Elder Yeom's courteous question met with no trace of complaint about the long wait—only the beaming smile of the investment party's leader.
"Heh heh. There's no need for a man of Elder Yeom's stature to use honorifics with an idle old fellow like me."
"Not at all. You are a guest we ourselves invited and have come to receive."
As if the formality sat poorly with him, the representative waved his hands and then clapped his broad forehead.
"Ah—look at me. My wits are wandering."
He bowed his head with proper gravity and introduced himself.
"I am Tang Go-gyu, and I stand as representative of this investment party. That a hero of the northern wars would come in person to greet us leaves me scarcely knowing where to put myself."
Elder Yeom called to mind the roster he had already received from Young Master So-hyeon's side.
"Ah! I had heard there was a man of deep virtue among the Sichuan Tang Family. So it was you."
"Aigoo. I'm a branch of a branch, nothing more—an old man who kills time in the back rooms playing with the children."
In Luoyang Sword Family terms, Tang Go-gyu held roughly the standing of an honorary outer-court elder. He demurred with practiced humility and gestured to those behind him.
"I merely wear the Tang name and carry a few extra years, so they stuck the title of 'representative' on me. These people here are the ones truly fit to be guests of the Luoyang Sword Family."
Figures representing various great houses of Sichuan each bowed their heads with due respect toward Elder Yeom. He returned their greetings with equal formality.
"I hope you will forgive me for not offering individual salutations—given the circumstances of the place and the hour."
At that, Tang Go-gyu turned to the rest of the investment party and called out.
"Elder Yeom apologizes so courteously—surely that means the Luoyang Sword Family will treat us to a proper drinking bout today!"
A wave of laughter and applause rose from the investment party. They looked less like a delegation that had traveled a great distance to decide on investments and more like a pleasure troupe that had come all the way to Luoyang for a holiday.
"Seems it wasn't a real emergency after all."
"We should get down too, shouldn't we?"
As the noise outside turned lively, the young ladies of Daseonrang opened the shutters they had barred, confirmed that the crisis had passed, and carefully stepped down from their carriage.
"Ah! And I must introduce guests far more precious than the likes of us!"
With a spryness that belied his years, Tang Go-gyu steered Elder Yeom toward them.
"Come, come—these fine young ladies are the very Daseonrang who have the entire Central Plains buzzing these days."
Elder Yeom offered the five maidens a formal bow.
"I am grateful that the five representatives of Daseonrang have come to Luoyang in person. I am Yeom Gwak-chu, an elder of the Luoyang Sword Family."
Sang-gwan Nan-hwa stepped forward to answer on their behalf.
"That you would welcome us so warmly leaves us scarcely knowing how to respond. I am Sang-gwan Nan-hwa, and I hold the first seat among Daseonrang's representatives."
Known as the greatest beauty of Sichuan, she observed the courtesies with such grace that she seemed a painting come to life.
"Representative Sang-gwan, is it."
At Elder Yeom's simple address, a spark of interest lit in Sang-gwan Nan-hwa's eyes. When she gave her name, the first words out of most people's mouths were almost always Ah! The greatest beauty of Sichuan! or So you are the governor of Chengdu's daughter!
"However…"
Elder Yeom's expression turned faintly awkward.
"There is another who was meant to receive the representatives of Daseonrang, but he has yet to—"
At that moment, a single horse came pounding up from behind him.
"E-everyone! My apologies!"
The man who leapt down, panting hard, was a tall, strikingly handsome youth—his only real flaw a certain air of flippancy about the edges.
"…I told you, if you weren't confident you could keep up, you should have simply ridden in the carriage with us."
Elder Yeom's low voice made the newcomer flinch—but he recovered at once, sidled casually toward the Daseonrang party, and introduced himself as if nothing had happened.
"Everyone! A pleasure! At the Young Master's request, I've been dispatched from the Luoyang Sword Family's outer court to attend you. My name is Yeon Ha-eung!"
Then a voice reached all their ears at once.
"Now that you've finished with that, isn't it about time you paid some attention to the uninvited guest as well?"