Open Sesame!
"Open sesame!"
Led along by the servant who had come to guide me, I walked and walked, until...
"Uh... I don't think this is the right place."
"We have arrived. I will take my leave now."
With that, he deposited me right back in front of the Clan Leader's Hall, bowed his head, and beat a hasty retreat into the distance with quick little steps.
And there I stood, rooted to the spot at the sight of the Clan Leader's Hall — a building I was beholding again after a mere half a day — when...
"Do come in, Young Lord."
Before I knew it she was standing at my side, and at Jegal Baekhwa's voice, I followed her into the hall with the heart of a steer being led to slaughter.
"Baekhwa, hold on. Wasn't dinner supposed to be just the two of us?"
"Ah... about that. When I told my older brother that I would be dining alone with you, he said that if that was how it was going to be, we might as well all eat together..."
"Tsk. Well, nothing to be done."
Swallowing hard, I made small talk with her as we walked, and before I knew it we had arrived at a table laid out with dozens of dishes.
Beef, pork, chicken, duck... dozens upon dozens of dishes; the Jegal Clan Head, still cloaked in a bone-deep air of fatigue; and the Young Clan Head of the Jegal Clan, who gazed at me — not at the immaculately arranged food before him — with a face that promised to chew me up and swallow me whole instead...
"Ha... haha."
I edged into the room with an embarrassed laugh, and Jegal Baekjun, Young Clan Head of the Jegal family, pointed at my arm and asked:
"I don't believe it's proper to be putting on such displays right out of the gate."
Bewildered by the words that had come from nowhere, I followed the line of his pointing finger downward to find...
Gripped tight—
Our shy fiancée, at some moment I could not for the life of me pinpoint, had taken hold of the hem of my sleeve.
"Whoa! You startled me."
I flinched violently and knocked her hand away, and...
"Yo... Young Lord? How could you..."
Jegal Baekhwa looked up at me with a heartbroken expression, while...
"Why, you little..."
Jegal Baekjun glared daggers at me, eyes smoldering.
I hadn't the faintest idea what rhythm I was meant to keep, and just as my head was beginning to ache, the Jegal Clan Head opened his mouth.
"Enough, both of you. Sit. Best we eat before the food goes cold."
"Yep! Right away!"
Rescued from that excruciating atmosphere by those words, I answered with soldierly briskness and took my seat.
And so the meal began...
"So tell me — what is your father up to these days?"
"Hm? My father serves as the head of the Dang Clan?"
"...That is not what I asked. I asked how he has been."
"Ah... the same as ever, I suppose. He spends every waking hour approving documents. Goes about with that same worn-down expression you have, Clan Leader. Haha..."
"..."
"Haha... ha..."
It had all begun with a sudden, full-scale census of my private life, and from there...
"Then may I speak at ease with you?"
"Aigoo... but of course, big bro!"
"So, Muyeong — when were you thinking of taking our Baekhwa home?"
"For my part, the sooner the better."
"You've years yet before you've even come of age, and you would take her now?"
"Huh...? Then what if I took her a few years from now..."
"And made a young maiden in her prime wait those extra years before her wedding?"
"Th... then..."
"If my Young Lord will have me, I would go to the Dang Clan come tomorrow morning."
SLAM—
"Absolutely not!"
"Absolutely not!"
What rhythm was I supposed to keep up with...? They lobbed questions rigged like traps while feigning innocence, then worked themselves up into a lather all on their own — that father-and-son pair...
"Uuurgh... I think I've got indigestion."
"Are you all right, Young Lord? Won't you come to my quarters and have a cup of tea to settle your stomach before you go?"
Whether the meat had gone down my gullet or my windpipe, I could not say; I never managed to eat properly, and so the warm and convivial dinner drew to its close.
Looking gaunt, I staggered to my feet, and Jegal Baekhwa tried time and again to whisk me off to her quarters, but...
"No can do. It's late, so I should head back to my own quarters. The Clan Leader's about to blow a blood vessel."
"Even so..."
"I'll stop by tomorrow. Sleep tight, my little baby kitten."
"Yes..."
Watching her face turn as red as a boiled beet as she fidgeted shyly with her hands, I thought to myself:
Hold on — that actually works on her? I swear, I will never understand the sensibilities of the people in this house.
And so a day passed...
The next day, after a short tea time with Jegal Baekhwa, I set about my preparations to leave.
"Could you not stay just a little longer?"
She asked with those great eyes brimming, but...
"Young Master! We truly must be going now."
"He says it's time to go... I'm sorry to leave too... but I'll be waiting for the day we meet again."
At Dang Jihyeon's urging, I offered my farewells and climbed aboard the carriage.
In truth, back when the Clan Leaders still gathered in person, the assemblies used to drag on far longer, but the proceedings had grown shorter ever since everyone began sending proxies instead...
The Paeng, Hwangbo, and Namgung clans had already left ahead of us, if I remembered right...
Besides, this time the mood had been well and truly wrecked by the little bomb I myself had dropped, so the assembly had broken up earlier than ever.
And so, boarding the carriage while letting my reluctance show, I...
"Huh?"
"Shh... If we get caught, it'll just make things awkward, so keep quiet, all right?"
There, inside the carriage, was Namgung Han — flashing me a bright smile while gesturing for silence — and I froze in utter bewilderment.
Across from her sat Dang Giyeong, grinning like the cat that got the cream, while Dang Jihyeon sat with a hand pressed to her temple, scowling.
And so the carriage rolled away from the Jegal estate, and...
Once we were well beyond sight of it, Namgung Han finally opened her mouth.
"If that adorable little runt had heard, this was bound to become a headache. Phew..."
She stretched, then lounged back in the most outrageously comfortable sprawl, as though the carriage were her own bedroom, and...
"Big Sis, why are you in my carriage?"
"You object to my presence?"
"Yes. I object. Why is the very person who fled for her life just the other day riding along in it?"
When I asked, radiating incredulity, she scratched her head and answered.
"I figured going back to the Namgung Clan would just mean the same tedious days on repeat, so I ran away."
"Huh?"
"Well... I did leave a letter behind before I bolted, so they'll find their own way back to the clan, I'm sure."
She spoke with such perfect calm that I was struck speechless, and...
"Well? What do you say, Young Master? Having a Transcendent-Realm martial artist along for the trip is a boon, no?"
Dang Giyeong asked, shrugging with a face that positively screamed scheming, and I turned to Dang Jihyeon wearing my best is this right? expression.
"I couldn't tell you. Do as you like, Young Master."
"You're still sulking?"
"Yes! I AM sulking, so don't talk to me and do as you please, Young Master! Rob the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang or the Imperial Palace, I couldn't care less!"
"Oh... A-woo, what's this now? You had news that sounded that fun and you never told me about it?"
"No... haaah..."
Tap—
I tapped my forehead once, then turned to Namgung Han.
"Big Sis, have you ever done any tomb robbing, by chance?"
"Why so formal all of a sudden, between the two of us? Just relax... Though no, I've never robbed a tomb."
"Then—"
The words that followed forced me to regard her with a look that said, how does a person like this even exist?
"There was that time I nearly died sneaking into the Demon Fox's secret vault in Zhejiang, mind..."
Hearing this, Dang Jihyeon asked with a face of pure disbelief.
"You mean to say you raided the vault of one of the Ten Strong of the Evil Faction?"
"Well, I truly nearly died back then. It got so bad I even had the experience of crouching in a latrine pit, suppressing my breath with the Great Breath-Concealment Art... Hahaha."
Her words alone were enough to make my head spin, and even Dang Giyeong — a man whose expression rarely surfaced under ordinary circumstances — could only stare at her in open incredulity.
After retrieving my briefly runaway sanity and setting it back in its proper place, I murmured to her:
"Big Sis, then would you like to come rob a tomb with me?"
"Hmm... you mean the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang?"
"Yeah. I came into a map somehow, so I thought I'd give it a try. Doesn't it sound fun?"
Namgung Han flashed her teeth in a wide grin and answered.
"It does sound fun. I'm in."
At her hearty reply, I silently screamed YES! in my heart.
Setting the White Heaven Squad aside, with one Transcendent, one true Transcendent, and two Peaks... this should go smoother than I expected.
True, the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang was a brutal dungeon, but its minimum entry bar was not especially high, and above all the rewards were mouthwateringly sweet — I'd raided the place plenty of times, so I was feeling reasonably confident.
Even in the worst case, nobody should end up dying.
At this point, I had yet to learn that the hopelessly unlucky can fall flat on their back, break their nose, and watch their rhinoplasty fund shatter to smithereens along with it.
Whether or not I was thinking such things, the carriage dashed faithfully onward until we arrived in Shaanxi, and...
"What could bring such honored guests all the way to Mount Hua?"
"Ah... it's nothing major. We have a letter the Clan Leader asked us to deliver to the Sect Leader..."
"..."
Our party arrived at Mount Hua and met with the Sect Leader, and...
"Th... This is the truth? It is truly so?!"
"S...Sect Leader! First, if you would lower the sword in your hand..."
"THOSE DAMNED BASTARDS!!!!"
So profound was the Sect Leader's love of plum blossoms that even his face had flushed to the very color of a plum flower as he roared loud enough to bring the roof down — a rare and precious spectacle I was privileged to witness.
"Well then, we'll take our leave."
"Travel safely, all of you. We shall make our own inquiries on this matter as well, but... should it truly prove to be the truth, then tell your Clan Leader that Mount Hua will not forget the debt it owes the Dang Clan."
Receiving the Sect Leader's farewell, we departed Mount Hua, and before long arrived at the spot marked on that troublesome map.
Since our roster included noncombatants as well, we first billeted the White Heaven Squad and everyone else at a nearby inn, and only I, the two Squad Leaders, the White Heaven Squad's deputy, and Namgung Han made for the site itself.
"I believe it's somewhere around here..."
"Bah! Hand it over, let me see!"
"Ah-ah-ah! It's tearing... mind the map, if you please!"
Staring holes into the map, I watched Dang Giyeong and Namgung Han holler at each other with their mouths agape, and shook my head.
"Haah... Those two are barking up entirely the wrong tree."
After watching the pair diligently scour the surroundings with that half-accurate map for a good while, I called Dang Jihyeon over.
"White Heaven Squad Leader! Come here a moment."
"Yes? What is it this time?"
Still pouting and grumbling, she drew near, and I led her down toward a large boulder at the foot of the mountain.
"Hngh!!!"
With a rousing grunt of effort, I heaved the boulder half a turn, then said to her:
"See that?"
"What on earth am I supposed to be looking at?"
"There'll be boulders just like this one on all four sides of the mountain. Tell the others to give theirs the same half turn, then have everyone meet me in front of that old pine we saw earlier."
Confronted with my out-of-nowhere pronouncement, Dang Jihyeon...
"It's a formation, isn't it? But then how on earth did you, Young Master..."
She began to ask, then promptly let out a sigh and pressed on.
"Haah... Never mind. The only thing more explaining will get me is a sore throat."
With that, she went straight over to the two of them, still fussing away at the map to no avail, and relayed the orders.
Some time later...
We had gathered before the old pine.
"Oh... so this is the entrance. But how ever did you work out the method, Young Master?"
"There's always a way..."
"Well now, how remarkable."
Before the old pine, gnarled with what looked like ages beyond counting, a massive door lay flush against the ground.