The Making of a Hero - 1
At those incomprehensible words, Sowol found herself unable to part her lips.
You've taught me everything?
You're leaving?
"Wh-what do you mean by that?"
Flustered, Sowol forced the words out.
Say it's a prank. Say it's a joke.
She waited for Lee Hyun to laugh it off cheerfully, the way he always did, but the reply that came back instead shattered her expectations to splinters.
"There's nothing left for you to learn. Nothing left for me to teach, either. I've passed on the Moonlight Sword Style in its entirety, so I have no reason to stay here."
"..."
"You've done splendidly, my disciple. You are my pride."
"...That's it."
So. All that hard work, and this is what it added up to?
Her heart wavered. The corners of her eyes went damp, and resentment crept in at the edges.
"I never knew that!!"
If she'd known this was coming, she never would have tried so hard. If she'd known, she would have lazed about a whole lot more.
"I hate you, Master!!"
To think that all her effort to please her master had done, in the end, nothing but hasten the day she would lose him.
Tears pouring down her face, Sowol whirled about and fled straight to her room.
"My lady?!"
Lyla nearly leapt out of her skin when Sowol came back from her confession in tears. Could she have been rejected? Then how on earth was she supposed to comfort her?
"M-Master, sob, sniffle... waaah... sniff, sniff... Master, he..."
Rejected, then. Well and truly rejected. Lyla pulled Sowol into her arms.
"There, there. It's okay. It's okay. That master of ours simply has terrible taste in women, that's all..."
"Sniffle... Master... sob... Don't... don't talk about him like that..."
What was she supposed to do with her?
In moments like these, wasn't simply holding her quietly the answer?
Lyla patted her back in slow, soothing circles, and it was only after a long stretch of hiccupping sobs in her arms that Sowol finally calmed enough to tell her what Lee Hyun had said.
"...So. You're telling me Master is leaving?"
"...Yeah. Sniffle."
Lee Hyun is leaving.
It was something Lyla had never once imagined, yet something she ought to have kept in mind all along.
So Jung-yang had always hoped that Lee Hyun would take a proper place in the Eastern Merchant Group.
But he had always declined, keeping the guild politely at arm's length—as if to make sure he could walk away at any moment.
And all of it had been for this.
"I just don't understand that man."
"Sniffle... I know, right..."
Wiping away her tears, Sowol grumbled on. With the sadness ebbing, resentment seemed to be welling up in its place.
"That idiot! That fool! That absolute killjoy! Honestly...!!"
"..."
"I hate him to death?!"
"...Waaah!"
Even now, she couldn't bring herself to say she despised him.
Because even in a moment like this, her feelings for him hadn't wavered one bit.
Sowol burst into fresh floods of tears, and Lyla gathered her close and held on tight.
Knock, knock.
That was when it came—the sound of knuckles rapping at the door.
Having given Sowol one more reassuring pat, Lyla cracked the door open a sliver.
Standing outside was Lee Hyun, wearing a distinctly helpless expression.
"Sowol's in there, isn't she?"
"She is. But I don't think any conversation is going to happen."
Lyla stole a glance inside. Sowol had her face buried in the mattress, playing dead.
It was part a refusal to show anyone a face ruined by tears and snot, and part a sulk aimed squarely at Lee Hyun.
Having attended her lady for so many years, Lyla read her meaning at once. She slipped quietly outside and eased the door shut behind her.
"Why do you have to leave?"
"Because my work here is done."
"But... there are so many people here who care about you, Master. And not only my lady..."
"And yet go I must. If I hung around, I'd only end up getting in the way of Sowol's growth."
Not to mention I need to go looking for a new disciple, too.
For Lee Hyun, everything was proceeding right on schedule—but Lyla, who knew nothing of that, felt as though a fire were roaring up inside her.
To think that her lady—and the man she was so terribly fond of—could both be this maddening.
"So... when exactly were you planning to leave?"
"Right now."
"Isn't that far too sudden? We're the ones who've served you all this time, Master. The least you could do is give us a little time..."
"A parting is best done quickly. That's simply how it goes."
"At the very least, couldn't you wait until my lady has opened her heart again..."
"I was coming by anyway. Figured she'd thrown another proper fit, and someone had better go soothe her."
Lyla heaved a deep sigh and opened the door once more.
Sowol was still playing dead.
After so many years in her lady's service, Lyla could read this much with ease:
a Sowol in this state would stay in a snit for at least a week.
"In that state, I don't see any conversation happening..."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. If you could just wait a week— no, two weeks or so..."
"I can't carve out that much time. The road ahead of me is long."
"Where are you headed, if I may ask?"
"Who knows."
"If you have no particular plans..."
"Oh, I have plans."
First on the list were the candidates the Church had recommended.
The Church was gathering talent of its own, which meant he had to get there, size them over, and claim one as his disciple before someone else snapped them up. For that, the sooner he set out, the better.
Lee Hyun shook his head, and Lyla could only glare back at him, her face set in a sulk.
"...Can't you just not go?"
"No."
"You're being remarkably cold about this."
"I've always been like this. Just as you do what you want to do, I'm doing what I want to do. That's all."
Lee Hyun rested a hand on Lyla's head.
Puffed-up cheeks. Eyes gone hot and red.
It was plain as day that Lyla, too, was unhappy about his leaving.
But even knowing that, he had no intention of changing his plans by so much as a hair.
"When I say I'm leaving, I don't mean I'm cutting all contact. We may well meet again."
"...Meet again?"
"Sowol has to enroll at the Academy when she comes of age, doesn't she? By then, I plan to be at the Academy myself."
"What? The Academy... why on earth would you go there?"
"I have my reasons. I'll explain them someday. And... before that, I'll drop by to visit whenever I can spare the time, so don't take it so hard."
"...Haah."
"I've already squared things with Guild Master So. Sowol is on you—do your best to talk her around for me."
"I'll give it my best... though I can't promise it will go well."
No matter what he said about meeting again, the fact remained that he was leaving. And "once Sowol comes of age"—just how many years from now was that?
Lyla couldn't wipe the sullen look from her face as she watched him. He patted her head once more, then let his gaze drift slowly around the grounds.
"It was only a year, but this was a fine place to be."
"..."
"Full of good people, too."
"...Honestly, Master..."
"You're one of them. It's been fun, all this time. When we meet again, I expect to find you grown even more beautiful."
"......"
Truly, this was a man no one could win against.
To think a single line from him could turn a person's heart upside down like this.
Watching Lee Hyun walk away, looking for all the world like a man finally unburdened, Lyla let out one enormous sigh.
I had expected a fair share of pushback.
But even so, I couldn't very well toss my own plans aside.
Getting tangled up in personal sentiment and failing to do what needed doing was never my style.
It was a shame I couldn't coax Sowol out of her sulk, but what couldn't be helped couldn't be helped.
It wasn't as though I could be on hand to placate her every single time she got into one of her moods, after all.
"You're leaving, Master?"
I was back at my lodgings, finishing my packing, when I sensed someone approach.
I turned to find So Jung-yang.
He studied me with a somber look, heaved a heavy sigh, and spoke.
"Must you truly go?"
"Yes. Everything I needed to do here is finished."
"What a pity. A man like you, Master, could stay here without working a day..."
"Hahaha. That's not what I meant, and you know it."
"There's no helping it, then. Then, this..."
The pouch he held out was stuffed full of gold coins.
That should be more than enough for travel expenses.
"Really, you didn't have to..."
"It is nothing compared to everything we have received from you, Master. So I ask only that you come find us at the guild whenever you wish."
"Haha. I will. Ah—and one more thing."
I drew a letter from inside my coat.
It was one I had written after passing the fourth form of the Moonlight Sword Style on to Sowol.
Ordinarily I would have handed it to her myself, but the girl was sulking so thoroughly she refused to even look at me. This was the best I could manage.
"Would you deliver this to Sowol?"
"She must be terribly put out with you."
"Haha. Yes. She won't so much as glance my way."
"Haah... clearly I raised her poorly."
"By that logic, I clearly taught her poorly as well."
"That is not what I meant... Very well. Then I take it you depart tomorrow evening? We could at least hold a farewell dinner..."
"No. I'm leaving right now."
"In the dead of night? Why not rest tonight and set out tomorrow?"
I checked the time. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
Dong. Midnight had come and gone.
"There we go. Today has just begun."
"Haah..."
"A farewell is best made fast. Linger any longer, and all that's left is regret on both sides."
"If that is how you feel... then there is nothing to be done. I pray that everything you wish for comes true, and that we may meet again before long."
With So Jung-yang's farewell, I turned on my heel.
As I made for the main gate of the Eastern Merchant Group, a few of the warriors greeted me with grins.
"Where are you off to, Master? Come have a drink with me tomorrow! My treat!"
"Sure. Sure."
Tossing them a careless smile and a wave, I carried my steps into the darkness.
How long had I traveled like that?
I had left the territory behind, and was just drawing near to Mount Wol-ah when—
"...Well, now. What's this?"
A sinister aura hung over the mountain. A heretic cult.
Had that ambush earlier been nothing more than their vanguard showing itself?
I didn't need to investigate to know where they were headed—the Eastern Merchant Group.
So I drew my sword and unfolded the Moonlight Sword Style.
Darkness pressed down on all sides. And the moon had climbed into the sky.
Perhaps sensing that wrongness, the sinister presence seeping from Mount Wol-ah began to swell, heavier by the moment.
So they meant to come at me with everything this time.
I smiled as I watched the monsters pouring down the mountainside, with the Asura Cult's elite at their head.
Cleaning up this lot would be a chore, granted.
But eh. I'd just think of it as a send-off gift.