Chapter 316
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 316
Chapter Title: So, the Lady Is...
Ha Mu-baek glanced around at the cadets and flashed a grin.
"Sparring like this will continue for the time being. But starting tomorrow, someone other than me will be overseeing it."
The cadets' faces showed a mix of emotions at Ha Mu-baek's words.
They had no idea if it would be easier or harder than with him.
Above all, Instructor Ha hadn't been back long, yet he already seemed poised to leave again.
"Train well starting tomorrow, then."
With that, Ha Mu-baek turned and vanished.
Wi Ji-gun had watched the entire process with keen interest.
"Hmm. So that's how it's done. In that case, I could probably handle three groups at once. Did that rascal Mu-baek go slow just to show me? Heh heh heh."
Uttering words that would have shocked the cadets if they'd heard, Wi Ji-gun began sweeping with his broom.
He needed to clean the spots he hadn't gotten to while overseeing the Fierce Dragon Corps' training, all before dawn.
And he still had to learn Reverse Flow Technique from Ha Mu-baek.
It looked like a busy night after far too long.
Dawn arrived amid a chill that bit like knives into the flesh.
Yet it was as bright as midday.
White night.
For several months around the summer solstice, the North Sea knew no sunset.
Nights as bright as day.
Dawn was no different.
Han Seol-bing opened her eyes from her bed.
She immediately ascended to the highest pavilion in Han Ga.
Amid the vast grounds of Ice Heaven Palace, each family had claimed their spot and built their walls.
At the center of Han Ga stood a towering pavilion where Family Head Han Go-jeok, Chief Steward Na Hong-ryeon, and the other family elders were already gathered.
Tension was etched plainly on their faces.
"What about the Tak Clan?"
After greeting those present, Han Seol-bing approached Han Go-jeok and asked.
"Still quiet."
She looked toward the Tak Clan's direction, but there was no movement.
Han Seol-bing scanned the gathered group, her face heavy with concern.
Na Hong-ryeon was the first to notice her demeanor.
"Is something wrong, my lady? You seem deeply troubled."
All eyes turned to Han Seol-bing at her words.
Whatever she was pondering now had to involve the Tak Clan.
Curiosity flickered across their faces.
"What's going on?"
Han Go-jeok spoke for the group.
Even as the family head's question hung in the air, Han Seol-bing hesitated.
The night before.
As she lay down to sleep, her mind had been a whirlwind.
How could it not be?
Come dawn, they would fight the Tak Clan.
The difference in their forces was five to one.
She had asked Ha Mu-baek for help, but it was still a desperately uphill battle.
A five-to-one disparity.
It was like leaping into fire while soaked in oil.
Thus.
Han Seol-bing had racked her brains for every possible strategy.
Nearly a decade of two Martial World Wars.
Time she had never wasted.
That experience was etched into her body and mind.
And so, she devised one plan.
But would it work?
Would the family head, the chief steward, and the elders accept it?
She shook her head.
They absolutely wouldn't.
Not to mention, the first prerequisite had to be met.
Han Seol-bing met the eyes of those watching her as she revisited the tactic in her head.
Would they follow her thinking?
"I've come up with one... no, just one method."
Expectation lit their faces at her words.
Everyone here knew she had the most real combat experience of anyone present.
A survivor of nearly a decade of the fiercest Martial World Wars—a hero of reversal.
"But for it to work, a prerequisite must first be met."
"What is it?"
Na Hong-ryeon asked.
"The Tak Clan must stay put today."
Puzzlement crossed their faces.
Everyone expected the Tak Clan to move today, but it wasn't impossible they wouldn't.
But why must that happen?
"And every soul in Han Ga must move in perfect unison. Children included. Everyone breathing here."
Her words grew ever more baffling.
A true enigma.
"What on earth? What does that even mean?"
Han Go-jeok asked, frustration mounting.
"Half our family's full strength takes the vanguard, the other half the rearguard. Families in the middle."
"Hmm..."
Han Go-jeok frowned at Han Seol-bing's explanation.
It sounded like abandoning Han Ga and fleeing.
But given what she'd said earlier, he held his tongue and simply listened.
With the family head showing such restraint, no one else interjected.
Though they all looked deeply uneasy and frustrated.
"We move our entire force like that and..."
Han Seol-bing paused.
All swallowed dryly, eyes fixed on her lips.
"...break the siege on the Palace Lord's Hall and enter it. That's our path to survival. The Palace Lord's Hall can stop the Tak Clan."
"?!?"
"Th-that..."
"Wh-what..."
"Heh..."
A cacophony of reactions erupted.
One thing united them.
Incomprehension.
It was inevitable.
She'd said the Tak Clan mustn't move, yet breaking the siege meant striking them first.
And a path to survival in the Palace Lord's Hall?
A way to stop the Tak Clan?
Absurd.
If such a means existed there, why was the Palace Lord blockaded without countering?
"War with the Tak Clan is inevitable anyway. Better we strike first than wait for their attack."
"And that means breaking the Palace Lord's siege?"
Han Go-jeok asked.
"Precisely—the Ice Clan outside must join and sync their movements. That's the hardest, most crucial part. If I'd known the palace's situation in detail and prepared before returning..."
The Tak Clan already knew of her return, and with imminent war, coordinating with the Ice Clan was arduous.
"Why must we?"
This was a fight between Tak Clan and Han Ga.
Why involve the Ice Clan's movements?
"Once we enter the Palace Lord's Hall... the Ice Clan could become the Tak Clan's hostages."
Incomprehensible.
How would their entry make the Ice Clan hostages?
The Tak Clan could just use the attack on the siege as pretext to assault the hall.
That seemed even more reckless.
Na Hong-ryeon, deep in thought as she listened to Han Seol-bing.
Her expression shifted.
Shock, then hope dawned on her face.
"If we proceed as you plan, my lady... I have a way to convince the Ice Clan!"
Na Hong-ryeon cried out.
All eyes turned to her.
Demands for explanation in their gazes.
"So, the lady is..."
Just as Na Hong-ryeon was about to reveal her realization.
Han Seol-bing shook her head.
A signal not to speak.
Na Hong-ryeon promptly shut her mouth.
"You have a way to convince the Ice Clan?"
Na Hong-ryeon nodded at Han Seol-bing's question.
Han Seol-bing brightened.
How could she not?
It was the second hurdle in her strategy.
To move the Ice Clan, they needed the Palace Lord.
But with the hall besieged, she was effectively confined.
No way to contact her through the blockade.
"If only White Hawk were here..."
She'd slip the surveillance net and fly to the Palace Lord.
But White Hawk was off seeking Ha Mu-baek in Wu Chang.
As she pondered alternatives, Na Hong-ryeon's words were a godsend.
"Lady So Seol of the Ice Clan—that is, little Miss So Seol—is currently handling the clan's affairs."
Light sparked in Han Seol-bing's eyes at Na Hong-ryeon's answer.
"So Seol?"
"Yes."
Han Seol-bing's irreplaceable friend in Ice Heaven Palace.
Her leading the Ice Clan now? News to Han Seol-bing.
"Last year, when Miss So Seol turned thirty, the Palace Lord declared she'd focus solely on palace matters and entrusted the clan to her. As if foreseeing this very crisis."
The siege on the Palace Lord's Hall.
The Ice Clan must be in the deepest chaos from it.
"If we can assure her we can save the Palace Lord, I can convince little Miss So Seol."
Na Hong-ryeon gazed at Han Seol-bing with conviction.
Just then.
A man rushed up to the hall.
The leader of the warriors scouting the Tak Clan.
"The Tak Clan seems busy, but no external movements yet. However..."
"However?"
Han Go-jeok prompted.
"It feels like they're mustering an enormous force."
Han Seol-bing brightened at his words.
While others fretted.
"They're gearing up for an all-or-nothing gamble."
Her optimistic expression drew eyes once more.
"They plan to crush Han Ga in one blow, then sweep up the Ice Clan on the momentum. No immediate march means they won't move today. An immense force—half the palace's total power. Some tied to the siege, but gathering the rest isn't easy. Especially without experience commanding such a host."
So what?
Some faces said as much.
"That fulfills the first prerequisite I mentioned."
In other words.
Even if it did.
What then? Frustrated faces.
Even reaching the Palace Lord's Hall.
They'd fall to the Tak Clan anyway.
Na Hong-ryeon eyed the elders impatiently but stayed silent.
Thanks to Han Seol-bing's earlier restraint.
"Seol-bing. Why fixate so on the Palace Lord's Hall? What's there...?"
Frustrated, Han Go-jeok nearly pressed, but stopped.
Something clicked in his mind too.
How had he not thought of it?
Especially with Han Seol-bing back.
"Chief Steward. If the Tak Clan is gathering for one big push, their watch on us and the Ice Clan will slacken. Convince So Seol."
"How?"
"Tell her what you realized. And have her bring every retainer here by mi-jeong—two in the afternoon. With ample food and supplies."
Only four hours left.
Urgent.
Convincing and preparations both needed haste.
Han Seol-bing looked to Han Go-jeok.
He nodded.
"We'll do the same. When do we march on the hall?"
"Shin-jeong—four in the afternoon."
Han Go-jeok nodded.
"You heard her. Move! By the family head's command!"
At his order, people sprang into synchronized action.
With so little time to mobilize everyone.
Word reached the Tak Clan that Na Hong-ryeon had entered the Ice Clan.
"Is that so? Better this way. Easier to sweep them all at once than pick them off separately. I was getting impatient with the delays. Them playing into our hands like this."
Tak Yo-beom grinned at Yang Jeok-san's report.
His irritation from the plan's hitches eased somewhat.
The Tak Clan's forces dwarfed even Tak Yo-beom and Yang Jeok-san's estimates.
Hence.
Delays in preparation.
Yang Jeok-san's scheme: overwhelm Han Ga with sheer might, then steamroll the Ice Clan and Palace Lord's Hall.
It demanded thorough prep, but snags arose.
A day's delay.
"But Han Seol-bing returned yesterday. If she pulls some trick..."
"Trick? What trick could that wench pull? Returning alone."
Tak Yo-beom dismissed it.
Yet Yang Jeok-san felt uneasy.
Like he'd overlooked something.
Han Seol-bing was an elite veteran of the Martial World Wars.
With her back, Han Ga wouldn't act rashly.
"Can't put my finger on it. What are they scheming...?"
Tak Yo-beom smirked at Yang Jeok-san's furrowed brow.
"Why overthink? Our power makes it a done deal. We waited for her return for the pretext. But that's over now. Tomorrow, Ice Heaven Palace changes hands. Keh heh heh."
"Still, maybe dispatch some forces to check their moves..."
Tak Yo-beom shook his head at Yang Jeok-san's suggestion.
"If they scatter, it's more hassle. Let them clump together. We can't march till tomorrow anyway."