Graduation - 5
Ever since the last attack, the warriors of the Eastern Merchant Guild had been grinding their teeth. It was only to be expected—if Lee Hyun had not been there during that raid, they would have suffered grievous losses.
They could not accept it. They had prided themselves on their own considerable strength, and yet they had proven unable to protect what was theirs without another man's help.
And so they had made up their minds. They wanted to grow stronger. Stronger still.
And that was a hunger easily satisfied. Lee Hyun—the man who had come around a year ago as teacher to Sowol, heiress and next Guild Master of the Eastern Merchant Guild—had begun putting the guild's warriors through serious training. Here was a master strong enough to draw sword aura from Sowol in less than a single year. Under his hand, the guild's warriors, once nothing more than uncut ore, had grown strong at a remarkable pace.
That was why this raid amounted to a homework assignment: a chance to announce to all how far they had come. And the guild's warriors were not the only ones who had to see it through.
I have to show them.
Sowol felt the weight of the eyes upon her. The enlightenment won at the end of deep meditation let her behold everything with perfect clarity, and the mana carried on the currents of the air laid it all bare. The enemies drawing near from far away. The men fighting to hold this ground. And, behind her, the one radiating the most powerful presence of all as he watched on with a contented smile.
Which was why she could not fall back. I have to show them what I can do.
"My lady!!"
"The enemy is coming! It's dangerous, so please fall ba—"
"...Haa."
With that low breath, Sowol lifted her sword. In the same instant, a jet-black darkness began to swallow the night sky. It had certainly been a night for a waxing crescent—yet what rose from the darkness she had made was a full moon, cold enough to bite and pale enough to frighten.
As that light washed over the battlefield, the vision in Sowol's mind began to move.
The Moonlight Sword is the sword of the heart.
Calling up everything Lee Hyun had taught her, Sowol fixed her focus on the moon she had created. The Moonlight Sword was the sword of the heart—a discipline that bent the world into harmony with its wielder by manifesting the moon of her mental image into reality. Swordsmanship in name only; in truth, it was hardly different from a supernatural power. Holding it steady was never easy, yet Sowol kept her moon aloft as she went to meet the enemy.
One by one, the moonlight began to betray the enemy's positions, and Sowol spoke to the guild's warriors.
"Everyone—draw your blades."
A voice cold as frost and brimming with confidence. It was no different from the voice she used every day, and yet it carried within it a mana no one could resist. Drunk on that mana, the warriors who had not yet drawn steel did so in a flash.
"Attack."
She poured power into the moon her mind had conjured. In that instant, blades of the heart leapt from the moonlight and began to carve into very real flesh.
"Aaargh!"
"Aaaagh!!"
The screams had begun. Savoring the agonized cries of those struck down by the moonlight's blades, Sowol took command of the warriors. The moon in the sky watched over this ground and let her feel every shift of the battle. And so Sowol ruled the field entire. No one could slip free of the moonlight. No one could run.
"Baek Musa—move to the side gate. Lyla—take five to Socheon Hall. Chujageom—hold the front."
"Yes!"
"Understood, my lady!"
"Your orders will be obeyed!"
The warriors' movements grew keener by the moment. From the instant they began to feel, in their bones, that the commands ruling the battlefield were right, the fight had raced toward its end. Sowol's orders were exact, and wherever a gap opened, the blades of moonlight covered it.
A perfect battle. Watching the beautiful spectacle it made, Lee Hyun was lost in admiration.
She's mastered it completely.
In the game, Moonlight Slash had been nothing more than a simple attack that struck every enemy on the field. The real thing was different. The moon hanging overhead—through it, the swordsman could survey the whole battlefield in perfect contemplation. Feel every place the moonlight touched, read how your enemy moved within it, and you had mastered the Moonlight Sword.
Lee Hyun smiled at Sowol as she read the field with icy composure and steered the battle to victory.
Class Quest — Sage
🎯 Objective: Take on two disciples and raise them beyond a certain level of attainment.
📈 Progress: 1 / 2
For the condition of his class quest had just been met.
"My lady!!"
"That was incredible!"
Driving back the forces that had struck at the Eastern Merchant Guild had proven no great task. A battle without a single death, no less. True, the guild's warriors had grown stronger since last time—but Lee Hyun had not set foot in this fight at all. That it ended this way anyway was owed entirely to Sowol's blade-edged command.
"Whew..."
Bathed in the warriors' praise, Sowol released the moon. When the crescent lingering in the darkness announced that her sword was done, she stole a glance toward Lee Hyun. He was smiling, his face full of satisfaction.
That smile. That smile, which filled her with pride in herself, was so blinding that Sowol's fist clenched tight all on its own.
Master. You're happy for me, aren't you?
It pleased her beyond measure, and with a smile curving at her lips, Sowol started toward him. Just then, So Jung-yang came hurrying over and drew Lee Hyun into some grave conversation.
What could it be about?
The fullness that had filled her face began, little by little, to drain away, and Sowol tilted her head.
What's going on?
Could there be something more urgent than congratulating a disciple who had grown? Lee Hyun left at once with So Jung-yang, and Sowol stood there blankly, receiving the praise of the gathering warriors and letting out a hollow sigh.
"Hooo..."
"My lady! Are you all right?!"
"Yeah. I'm fine."
Only after checking Sowol over did Lyla—who had been fighting hard herself moments before—finally relax. There wasn't a real wound on her. Sowol had mostly commanded from the rear, it was true, but she had crossed blades with the enemy all the same. Searching for any injury that might be hiding somewhere, Lyla paused at her lady's sulky expression and cocked her head.
"What's the matter?"
"...It's nothing."
Nothing, indeed. Her plump lips were jutting out in a pout plain enough for anyone to read. Her mistress really was hopeless at being honest. Lyla grinned to herself and gave her a few pointed pokes.
"Is it because your Master didn't praise you?"
"...Ugh. No, it is not! I'm going inside to rest!"
Caught red-handed and pretending otherwise all the same, Sowol fled toward her room. Lyla snickered at her retreating back, asked Baek Musa to see to the cleanup, and followed.
Inside, Sowol lay face-down on the bed, squirming. Not a trace remained of that magnificent figure from the battlefield—only the girlish sulking she always showed when something displeased her.
"Goodness. If you adore him that much, why not simply confess to him first?"
At Lyla's words, offered as she perched on the edge of the great bed, the smooth legs that had been kicking went still. And then, slowly, the pink hair began to move. Sitting up, Sowol stared hard at Lyla—then gave a disdainful snort.
"Hmph! What is that supposed to mean?!"
"Pardon?"
"I am the heir of the Eastern Merchant Guild! I have a lovely face, and this figure of mine will only grow more splendid with time! Why would someone like me ever need to confess first?!"
Her mistress truly was hopeless at honesty. Anyone could see that Sowol loved Lee Hyun, and here she still was. At this rate, she would spend her whole life suffering in silent solitude, pining to the very end.
"But if you carry on like this, someone else may well steal your Master away."
"Hmph! Someone else? Who could possibly... Don't tell me..."
The light went out of Sowol's beautiful eyes. When that gaze swung onto her, Lyla merely shrugged.
"Frankly, your Master is very popular. Skilled, good-natured, and his face is nothing to scoff at. He does enjoy his drink, but he's hardly a sot. Quite a few of the guild's maids and the estate's young ladies are rather fond of him."
And then there's that smile he shows every once in a while...
Lyla's mind drifted to Lee Hyun's smile. The soft one he wore from time to time had a peculiar power to set a woman's heart ablaze.
"Just picture it. Another woman standing at your Master's side. And then the two of them holding hands. Embracing. And then, a kiss..."
"Th-that won't happen! It won't, I tell you...!"
Sowol shrieked, her face gone white. Seeing her like that, Lyla felt a stab of guilt she hadn't bargained for. This was, after all, the lady she had served all her life—and her childhood friend besides. Fearing she had prodded somewhere she shouldn't have, she moved to comfort Sowol, who was blinking back brimming tears.
"A-and anyway, I'm magnanimous! Whoever Master takes up with, I can smile and let it pass!"
"Oh. How very gracious of you, my lady."
"So long as, in the end, he stays by my side..."
Tears welled up once more in those big eyes. As she soothed the sniffling Sowol, Lyla smiled bitterly.
"...Ah. Yes. Only, at the pace you're going, I don't think you'll even get to stand beside him—never mind the end."
Even a truth ought to be delivered with a light hand. Reeling under the blow, Sowol finally exploded.
"...F-fine! Fine, already! I'll confess, happy now?!"
And so the lady who could never be honest bared her heart at last. Lyla beamed at her and nodded.
"Well done."
And next comes me!
Not that the thought was entirely for Sowol's sake.
Once the heart was decided, the feet had to follow. Sowol rose from her seat and headed straight for So Jung-yang's room—only to find him alone. Lee Hyun, she learned, had left quite some time ago.
How on earth do I confess?
Trudging along, Sowol turned the problem over in her head for a long while.
If it's truly what you want, Master, I suppose I wouldn't mind courting you?
No. Said like that, it would only backfire.
Ahh. If only Master would confess to me first instead...
Her steps felt heavy. The lodging she had always visited so gladly seemed, for no reason at all, impossibly far away. Thus it was that Sowol, deep in thought the whole long way to Lee Hyun's quarters, came upon him in the middle of gathering his things.
"Hm? There you are. I was just about to call for you."
He was going to call for me? Could it be... is Master about to confess to me first?
A sweet pink daydream the color of her own hair pulled a smile across her face before she could stop it. Sowol hurriedly scrubbed it away and spoke with all the haughty poise she could muster.
"Did you see it?! Me—perfectly mastering the Moonlight Sword?!"
"I did. It was quite a sight. Here—take this."
"...What?"
What dropped into her hands was a single short sword. It was a beautiful blade, as though a faint moonlight had been sealed away inside it—and while Sowol marveled at it, Lee Hyun slung his bag over his shoulder.
"Proof of your graduation. The Crescent Moon Sword. Congratulations. You can call yourself a swordswoman now."
"Th-th-thank you."
One look was enough to tell this was no ordinary blade. To think he had been keeping something this precious all along. Still reeling, Sowol lifted her head and met his eyes.
"But... what are you doing? Packing all of a sudden? Oh—are you going traveling? Shall I come with you?"
She said it brightly, smoothing over the sliver of unease that had crept in at the sight of him with his luggage. Lee Hyun stepped close and gently patted her head.
"I intend to leave, you see."
"...What? Wh-why...?"
To her stunned face, Lee Hyun answered, calm and matter-of-fact.
"Because teaching you is over now, too."