Front Tiger, Rear Wolf
“No. Even if taking the great canal is the fastest way back to Luoyang, still…”
“To go back in there again…”
The near-eccentric conduct of the Life-Taking Ghost Sword was more than enough to leave the chivalrous warriors clicking their tongues in disbelief.
“Enough.”
An older warrior drew the attention of everyone present.
“There is no need for us to chatter on about the actions of a man whose martial prowess we can scarcely even imagine.”
They all nodded.
“In truth, it is not the Life-Taking Ghost Sword Great Hero we ought to be worrying about right now. Is it not ourselves?”
“That is true enough…”
One of them turned to the older warrior.
“Come to think of it, Brother Gam—did the eldest brother not leave you with separate instructions?”
The older warrior addressed as Brother Gam nodded.
“That he did.”
Then he shook his head.
“But the eldest brother merely spoke a single name to me. And told me only that we were to remain here.”
Confusion spread plainly across the warriors’ faces.
“A name?”
“Just stay here?”
“What does that even—?”
At that moment, one of the warriors standing habitual watch on the outer perimeter sent a warning sound transmission.
[Presence approaching!]
Everyone instantly seized their weapons and dropped into low stances.
[Enemies?!]
The thought flashed through their minds that a unit of the Raven Wolves might have looped around at speed and already been lying in wait for them.
[Damn it—we barely have enough internal energy left to even cast sound transmissions…]
Yet their tension did not last long.
“Ugh, why does this keep catching on my clothes…?”
The figure that labored through the rustling undergrowth and finally emerged was, by every appearance, an ordinary-looking woman in her twenties. If she had any distinguishing trait, it was that she stood taller than most men.
“Ah?”
She locked eyes with several dozen people already gripping weapons and looking ready to charge, then flapped her hands in flustered haste.
“Th-there’s no need to be so wary! Good warriors, all of you!”
At that harmless sight, one of the warriors tilted his head.
[I can’t sense any internal energy from her.]
The older warrior regarded her with careful eyes and asked in a cautious voice.
“…Might you, by chance, bear the surname An?”
“Yes, that’s right!”
The tall woman introduced herself.
“My name is An Song-gyeong!”
A smile settled on her face.
“I am a member of Daseonrang, and one who follows the First Young Master.”
At the name Daseonrang, the gathering stirred.
“Daseonrang—is that not the name of that famous merchant group?”
“The eldest brother has ties even with Sichuan’s Daseonrang?”
There were women among the warriors as well, and they reacted all the more strongly to the name. Daseonrang was, after all, the most closely watched name in the Central Plains right now when it came to luxury accessories and jewelry.
“Everyone, quiet down a little.”
The older warrior called Brother Gam stepped forward, settling the small commotion, and spoke to An Song-gyeong.
“That name and that appearance match exactly what I was told by the First Young Master. However…”
His eyes narrowed slightly.
“The eldest brother I know is not a man who would send a woman with no martial arts alone into a place as dangerous as this.”
A warrior who had kept his mouth shut and watched the situation carefully until now added his voice.
“We had best confirm whether she might be wearing a human-skin mask, or whether she has altered her face with disguise arts or bone-shrinking techniques.”
It was a thoroughly reasonable suspicion. The jianghu swarmed with strange and remarkable people like grains of sand, and among them were many who possessed bizarre skills.
“Ah, about that…”
An Song-gyeong made a troubled face as she spoke.
“The truth is, I am not alone?”
The warriors of the Spring of Luoyang nearly leapt out of their skins on the spot.
“……!”
“Wh-what?!”
No sooner had her words ended than unidentifiable presences made themselves felt from the surrounding rocks, underbrush, and tree trunks.
[Everyone, alert!]
[These are no ordinary people!]
Those who rose as if emerging from shadow and darkness itself were clad head to toe in black.
“Everyone, stay calm!”
[They are showing no intent to attack!]
While a few warriors restrained their more hot-tempered comrades who were about to lash out on reflex, those with sharper observation and deeper knowledge of jianghu rumors studied the newcomers and exchanged quiet assessments.
[They were right under our noses and we never even sensed a presence? At the very least they possess stealth techniques on par with the Raven Wolves—or better.]
[Look at their weapons. Eccentric shapes almost never seen in the northern lands.]
[The fabric of those black robes is extraordinary as well.]
[And those faintly glowing green eyes.]
One warrior sniffed the air, then scowled.
[…And this sharp, acrid scent.]
They looked at one another. The conclusion they had reached was almost too absurd to accept.
“…The Shadow Unit of the Sichuan Tang Family?”
What in the world were people who ought to be stirring up Sichuan doing in far-off Luoyang?
Of course the shadows of the Shadow Unit offered no answer. The green light in their eyes merely glinted a shade more chillingly.
‘The Raven Wolves, and now the Shadow Unit…!’
How often did one meet, one after another, the most famous of all the organizations that moved in the darkness of the Central Plains?
But their surprises were not yet finished.
“Ahem, ahem. We do not have a great deal of time to spare, so before any explanations—first.”
An Song-gyeong cleared her throat and gathered their gazes.
“I will tell you what you must do after a brief reorganization.”
She stopped there.
“……?”
An Song-gyeong scratched the back of her head with a helpless expression.
“Ah, this is really…”
As the bewilderment in the eyes of the Spring of Luoyang warriors only deepened, cold sweat beaded on her brow.
‘Why on earth did the First Young Master give me such an awkward mission…?’
When she still failed to speak properly, one warrior pounded his chest in frustration.
“Miss An! Just what is this thing we are supposed to do?!”
“…It is the First Young Master’s command!”
An Song-gyeong squeezed her eyes shut as if she had no other choice and cried out the order of the First Young Master, Yeon So-hyeon!
“From this moment on, you warriors must become a band of highway robbers!”
At the words “highway robbers,” every eye went round as saucers.
“……?!”
“Highway robbers, of all things…!”
A woman of indeterminate age threw her head back and burst into peals of laughter. The green-streaked strands of her hair flew with the motion, releasing a sharp, acrid fragrance. Had she not received the severe education of a ruler since childhood, she would have sprayed the liquor still in her mouth.
“Young Mistress, is it truly that amusing?”
Even Yeon So-hyeon’s question could not stop her—Tang Eun-rang, Young Mistress of the Sichuan Tang Family—from laughing for a long while, choking and wheezing.
“Aigo, thanks to the First Young Master I have finally laughed like this in my life.”
She wiped the tears that had gathered at the corners of her eyes from laughing so hard.
“The First Young Master would of course not know, but the Shadow Unit are extraordinarily high-nosed fellows.”
Yeon So-hyeon stroked his chin.
“They are one of the foremost intelligence organizations in the Central Plains, so I can understand that much…”
“No, no. It goes far beyond that.”
Tang Eun-rang waved a hand.
“Unless the mission is a major one, those people will not even dip water with their own hands.”
She let out another odd little snort of laughter.
“When I accepted the First Young Master’s request and issued the order myself… you should have seen the face my uncle made.”
The uncle she spoke of was Tang Gwi-ho—Vice Head of the Sichuan Tang Family, commander of the Shadow Unit, and the Family Head’s most trusted subordinate.
Yeon So-hyeon recalled the man’s face from their previous meeting and gave a wry smile.
“I imagine the Vice Head was not pleased.”
“Of course not!”
That sour expression on the face of Tang Gwi-ho, famous for his thick skin, would not leave her mind anytime soon.
“To tell the Shadow Unit to help with highway robbery…!”
She laughed again, bold and hearty.
“If not the First Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Family, who in the entire Central Plains could make such a request?”
“…It seems you had quite a few grievances stored up against your uncle.”
Yeon So-hyeon lifted the wine jug, refilled her empty cup, then filled his own.
“Well, there is that as well.”
She drained the wine he had poured in a single swallow and set the cup down with a sharp clack.
“More than anything, I was so impressed by those unfathomable stratagems of yours that I could not refuse.”
The gaze she fixed on Yeon So-hyeon was far too clear and sharp to belong to someone who had already emptied several bottles.
“To target the Yeon blood relatives who are siphoning off the ill-gotten fortunes they have amassed, all to evade the investigations of the Central Investigation Department.”
They sat close enough to share a table, yet not the faintest scent of alcohol left her lips.
“And from the beginning, it was you, First Young Master, who set the Central Investigation Department in motion behind the scenes.”
“If it were anyone else’s company, I would claim that our family’s Central Investigation Department is an organization that maintains thorough political neutrality….”
Yeon So-hyeon smiled faintly.
“But I will not bother denying it in front of the Young Mistress.”
“Astonishing. Truly astonishing.”
Tang Eun-rang, Young Mistress of the Tang Family, licked her lips and spoke in a low voice.
“In order to smuggle the wanted warriors out of Luoyang, you used the Yeon blood relatives themselves to block the Third Young Master’s faction from sealing the city.”
The look was less seductive than the taut intensity of a bladesman facing a lifelong enemy at last.
“And now you turn those very warriors you rescued upon the Yeon blood relatives, to intercept and seize the ill-gotten wealth they are trying to spirit away.”
“It is too sweet an opportunity to simply let pass, is it not?”
Yeon So-hyeon raised his cup, savored the bouquet of the wine, and smiled.
“This is the single moment when fortunes so vast and so cunningly hidden—scattered across so many places by so many methods that even tracking them is nearly impossible—all begin to move at once.”
The fragrance of the wine was especially sweet.
“The Central Investigation Department has still not even managed to grasp the full scale of the irregularities accumulated over the past ten years.”
“And furthermore!”
Tang Eun-rang struck her own knee.
“It is also the moment when their defenses are at their most lax!”
Yeon So-hyeon took a sip of wine and nodded.
“Ordinarily, the greatest difficulty in touching the Yeon blood relatives is—”
Tang Eun-rang snorted and cut him off.
“Because they are the Yeon Family itself—the Sword Family, is it not?!”
She nodded repeatedly in open admiration.
“And now those very people are moving of their own accord to slip past the Sword Family’s eyes!”
“I heard they expended enormous political resources simply to divert the gaze of our family’s intelligence organs.”
Tang Eun-rang laughed loudly once more.
“A tiger blocks the front gate, so a wolf slips in through the rear—there is no path of escape!”
Front Tiger, Rear Wolf.
In front, the Central Investigation Department had begun its investigation; behind, Yeon So-hyeon had caught the scent and appeared. For the Yeon blood relatives who had amassed wealth by illicit means, the situation was exactly that.
“And the most fascinating part of this entire tale…!”
Tang Eun-rang’s green eyes flashed.
“Is that those Yeon blood relatives still have no idea a wolf has already come in through the back door!”
She clapped her hands with a childlike smile.
“When you have laid out a feast like this, how could this Tang Eun-rang possibly stay out of it?!”
Yeon So-hyeon slowly shook his head.
“In the first place, without an intelligence organization capable of deceiving the eyes of the underlings those Yeon blood relatives employ and tracking them, the entire thing would have been impossible.”
His own intelligence network, the Hyeonwol Pavilion, was currently holding off the ongoing assaults of the Second Young Master’s intelligence organization—the Great Immortal Merchant Group—in the darkness. Merely tying them down was already something close to a miracle.
“Now then… soon…”
Tang Eun-rang gazed up at the ceiling and smiled.
“It is time for the warriors to move.”
Yeon So-hyeon took a pocket watch from his robes, checked it, and nodded.
“So it is.”
She possessed neither a watch nor any view of stars or moon in this space, yet the precision with which she perceived the hour was remarkable. Deep in the lightless jungles of Sichuan, the blood of the Tang Family had carved into their own bodies secret methods that let them measure time with perfect accuracy.
“Then, First Young Master.”
Yeon So-hyeon’s gaze turned to her.
“One last question.”
Her eyes sharpened.
“With the enormous sum you will obtain this way—what exactly do you intend to do?”
Yeon So-hyeon did not answer. He only smiled faintly.