The Avalanche's Omen
Arc Six: The Imperial Capital
The Imperial Capital, somewhere.
The political world of the empire's ruling capital was like a colossal boulder of Mount Tai. Until it moved, it was agonizingly slow, lethargic to the point of absurdity.
"…And yet once it starts rolling, they say it triggers a landslide that shifts the very crust of the earth."
The voice that muttered those words was hideously hoarse. Its owner, throat scarred by inhalation burns, was none other than the Second Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Family—Yeon Ja-cheong.
"I hear the former family heads of the Sixteen Families are to have an audience with His Majesty the Emperor."
That was it. The boulder of Mount Tai had begun to roll—the omen of the avalanche to come.
"Is that true?"
For a man always saturated with absolute self-assurance, his voice now carried a rare and naked bewilderment.
"Yes. It is."
The one holding a private audience with the Second Young Master was the branch chief of the Luoyang Sword Family's Intelligence Bureau—Imperial Capital Branch.
"We are still working to secure a precise list of names, but the intelligence that they will be received by His Majesty has been confirmed as hard fact."
Krrrk.
The ink-black gauntlet encasing the Second Young Master's left hand emitted an ugly metallic scrape.
"…I cannot make sense of this situation at all."
"Neither can I."
At that brazen reply, the Second Young Master's red eye flashed savagely behind his gold mask.
"Is it not your duty to find these things out?"
Killing intent laced his voice.
But—
"Do not delude yourself."
Her voice was low.
"I am merely sharing intelligence with the Second Young Master under orders from the Family's highest echelons."
The branch chief of the Sword Family's Intelligence Bureau, Imperial Capital Branch, merely twitched an eyebrow at the Second Young Master's murderous gaze.
"You have not yet become the heir of the Sword Family. I am not your subordinate…"
The whites of her eyes were arid of any emotion.
"And this is not Luoyang. This is the Imperial Capital."
Krrrk-krrrk.
"Insolent bitch."
The glove around the Second Young Master's left hand grated out a noise thick with pure contempt.
"The day I ascend as Young Family Head, I will tear you apart with my own hands."
"I wish you luck."
She rose from her seat with unilateral finality, as though their business were concluded. She had the power to do so. As she herself had said—this was the Imperial Capital, and she was not only branch chief of the Luoyang Sword Family's Intelligence Bureau, but one of the Capital's true heavyweights.
"Should further intelligence arrive, I will share it with you immediately."
"Get out."
She offered a calm, measured bow toward the Second Young Master, who sat in the darkness scattering red light from his eye, then left the room.
"My lord."
No sooner had she departed than one of his retainers, waiting at the entrance, entered and reported.
"The Sixteen Imperial Capital Families have notified us of the location for an emergency summit."
"Understood."
The retainer bowed at once and withdrew. In his place came the Second Young Master's staff of advisors.
"It seems matters are unfolding quite favorably for my lord."
"Indeed."
"That the family heads of the Sixteen Families would seek my lord out the moment something involving the former heads erupts—that is excellent news."
One of the advisors nodded.
"It means my lord has established a distinct presence among them."
"It also means they have come to need him."
Another advisor stroked his beard and smiled.
"Behind those former family heads—those old monsters—gaining an audience with His Majesty, there is surely—"
"Yeon So-hyeon."
"Certainly, the skill with which that man, who lacks even a proper foundation, managed to move those old monsters is impressive, but…"
They had all heard the intelligence flowing in from Luoyang about Yeon So-hyeon's every shifting move. Yet their expressions remained easy.
Because—
"For all that."
"No matter how high Yeon So-hyeon soars, everything still rests in the palm of my lord's hand."
The advisors exchanged knowing, sly smiles.
"The more he moves those old monsters—"
"—the more solid my lord's standing becomes among the current family heads of the Sixteen Families, who hold the real power."
It was true. From the very day he had set out for the Imperial Capital, the Second Young Master had been maneuvering toward this outcome.
"Under ordinary circumstances they would never cooperate with us. But once they learn that Yeon So-hyeon has been meeting every last one of the former heads, the current heads will certainly want to join hands!"
Just as his mother, Grand Madame Ouyang, had said that day: the more tightly Yeon So-hyeon bound the former heads together and set them in motion, the more the current heads would have no choice but to unite in response—and the Second Young Master, who had warned them in advance and gathered them, would only see his position grow more unassailable.
"Even if what is unfolding now is the omen of an avalanche—"
"—it will without question become a shift of the earth that favors my lord."
"…"
Krrrk.
And yet, even as events moved in this direction, the Second Young Master sat motionless, his mood somehow sour.
"…What news of the Dae-seon-sang-hoe?"
Word that the Great Immortal Merchant Group was scrambling to withdraw had already reached them.
"As to that…"
Reading his face carefully, one of the advisors spoke.
"No further reports have come in yet."
The distance between the Imperial Capital and Luoyang was not short. Intelligence continued to arrive, but the present situation could not be shared in real time.
"But is Grand Madame Ouyang not still in Luoyang?"
As though to soothe the Second Young Master's visibly foul temper, the advisors spoke with careful delicacy.
"So long as she is there, no matter what arises, she will surely handle it more than adequately."
"My lord need only devote himself entirely to the Imperial Capital…"
Krrrk.
There was no answer from the Second Young Master.
"…"
While his advisors endured the uncomfortable silence, the Second Young Master was lost in thought.
That arrogant bitch…
He was picturing the face of the Intelligence Bureau's Imperial Capital branch chief, who had unilaterally finished her intelligence briefing and left as though delivering a notice.
If the one sitting in this seat had been Yeon So-hyeon instead of me—would she still have been that stiff-necked?
Who could say. But his instincts whispered to him that she would not. Instinct alone, perhaps—yet if it had been Yeon So-hyeon in this seat rather than him, her attitude would have been different.
"…The former family heads of the Sixteen Families."
His ruined, rasping voice resonated through the room.
Krrrk.
The burns he had suffered as a child still felt as though they were searing half his body, still scorching his throat. Every time he heard that voice of his own, his self-loathing swelled—and with it, the hunger to become Young Family Head and place the entire Sword Family beneath him, and the hatred for Yeon So-hyeon, grew in equal measure.
"Yeon So-hyeon is involved in those old monsters gaining an audience with His Majesty. Of that I am certain."
Killing intent thickened in his voice the moment he spoke that name.
"We must determine, without fail, by what means and for what reason they came to be received by the Emperor."
Not long ago, when no trace of Yeon So-hyeon's hand had appeared in the Imperial Capital, he had wondered—Has he already achieved whatever purpose he sought through those old monsters?
And now the former family heads were meeting the Emperor. Yeon So-hyeon's hidden hand, the shape of his design, was gradually revealing itself.
Was that design still only a rough sketch? Or had Yeon So-hyeon already completed the entire painting, and before setting down his brush, only one thing remained—
The finishing stroke. Painting the dragon's eyes.
"Of course, my lord."
The advisors, who had been enduring the strained silence, hurriedly nodded.
"Even if we cannot fully grasp it, we must at least calculate the various possibilities in advance and prepare accordingly."
"We are hoping to obtain additional intelligence at the coming summit with the current heads of the Sixteen Families."
"Indeed…"
One of the advisors stroked his beard and murmured,
"To arrange a meeting between the Emperor and those old monsters, who are practically mortal enemies—"
An astonishing feat of skill, even from an enemy. That was what he had been about to say, when he abruptly shut his mouth.
"…!"
The Second Young Master's red gaze was fixed on him.
"I—I beg your pardon!"
He dropped to his knees at once. The Second Young Master turned his head away as though the sight of him were intolerable.
"The Emperor is nothing more than a painted screen. Those old monsters are retired fossils who cannot even be called real power."
"Y-yes, precisely!"
The advisor who had misspoken nodded frantically.
"The true power-holders of this Imperial Capital are the current heads of the Sixteen Families, who have already entered into agreement with my lord!"
And if one added a little more—perhaps the Min clan, which had produced the new Empress.
The Second Young Master waved them off instead of answering.
"All of you, get out."
The advisors bowed deeply at once.
"We shall hasten preparations for the summit with the current heads of the Sixteen Families."
In the emptied study, the Second Young Master muttered in a low voice.
"…Yeon So-hyeon."
How could a name of only three syllables inspire such hatred.
Luoyang, the Valley of Sin.
"Is His Majesty the Emperor not practically mortal enemies with the former heads of the Sixteen Families?"
The family heads who had refused to pledge loyalty to Yeon So-hyeon were murmuring among themselves. While the section chiefs held a private audience with the First Young Master, the family heads had been left to converse among themselves in a separate reception chamber.
"That is certainly true."
"It was those very old monsters who thoroughly exploited His Majesty's position when, at such a young age, he ascended the throne after the late Emperor's passing…"
"They were the Ten Attendants reborn."
"Had they not stepped down taking responsibility for the Northern War, they would still be wielding the imperial authority as they pleased."
"Those old monsters may have withdrawn, but does the Sixteen Families not still exercise influence on a scale unmatched in history?"
"Indeed."
One of the family heads snorted, and the others nodded along.
"The current heads simply inherited the old monsters' influence intact and continue to jerk His Majesty about as they wish."
"There were even rumors that the current heads themselves were behind the old monsters' retirement."
Their conversation stretched on without end. Even facing a decision that would determine the fate of their entire houses—whether or not to swear loyalty to Yeon So-hyeon—their talk would not stop. The news the two section chiefs had brought was simply that shocking.
"…"
But even amid that murmuring, there were those who kept their silence.
…If the movements of those old monsters originated with the First Young Master…
At the sound transmission from the acting head of the Seo family, her husband—the live-in son-in-law—nodded.
At the very least, the highest-ranking officials of Luoyang's central government must have reached that conclusion.
…Which is why they went so far as to write letters of apology to the First Young Master before withdrawing.
Having conveyed that much, the son-in-law's face hardened. He was remembering the conversation he had just had with First Young Master Yeon So-hyeon.
…It may be just as the First Young Master said. The mouth of the Yellow River may be shifting its course.
You mean the tide of the age itself is changing?
The son-in-law did not answer. The acting family head did not particularly want one. They both already felt the answer to that question in their bones.
"…Hmm."
"…Hrm."
"His Majesty and the old monsters…"
And from a certain point, the other family heads—whose conversation had grown markedly thinner—were beginning to feel it as well.