The second round of the main tournament began.
As the thirty-two were reduced to sixteen, the fervor of the Little Dragon Tournament burned even hotter. Now, only the promising young talents who had made names for themselves not only in their own hometowns but in the surrounding regions remained.
“Well then, I’ll win the championship for the Martial Alliance Leader!”
Seo Daeryong said it as if in jest, but his resolve was contained in those words as well.
His opponent this time was Li Xiu of the Shandong Li Clan.
Saber art against saber art.
If anything, Seo Daeryong was more confident in this match than he had been in the previous one.
“Strangely, I feel more at ease facing saber arts than other martial arts. Why is that?”
Since he was in the midst of receiving the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s saber art, his understanding of saber techniques was naturally high. That was why saber arts felt comparatively more comfortable to face.
“Our young master is letting his guard down, that’s why.”
“No. Absolutely not.”
Seo Daeryong waved his hands in denial. He had every right to feel wronged by the accusation of carelessness. He was working as if he had been born for this tournament.
“You saw Li Xiu fight, didn’t you? He’s not an easy opponent. Don’t let your guard down.”
“Understood.”
Though I said that, I expected Seo Daeryong to win this match. That was because his opponent’s saber art was disadvantageous in compatibility compared to the saber art Seo Daeryong had learned.
Sure enough, just as I had expected, Seo Daeryong won without much difficulty.
Waving to the cheering heroes, Seo Daeryong came down from the arena.
“I finally made it into the top eight!”
Now Seo Daeryong would be selected for one of the Martial Alliance’s elite organizations.
“What a shame. You’ve gained a chance to live a new life now.”
“Want to stay? If you say you’ll remain as a spy, Tongcheon Pavilion will welcome you with both arms raised.”
“A spy?”
“You’d conceal your identity and operate in enemy territory. The genius mind that entered Hwangcheon Pavilion at the top of the class! And on top of that, the finest spy, equipped with martial arts as well! How does that sound?”
“You said the Martial Alliance Leader already knows your identity and mine, didn’t you?”
“You remembered?”
“Don’t even dream of abandoning me and leaving! Being your right-hand man is better than winning the championship. Even if I won the greatest martial arts tournament under heaven instead of the Little Dragon Tournament, I’d still prefer the right-hand seat.”
“Would you really?”
“Of course.”
“Then imagine this! You’ve become the greatest in the world. All the martial artists under heaven respect you. Even then, you’d prefer being my right-hand man?”
“Yes.”
“Even the Demon Venerables you fear so much smile when they see you. You accidentally step on the foot of the Extreme Evil Lesser Demon, and he says, ‘That can happen. Would you like to step on this foot as well?’ Now, even then?”
“Yes! Even then, I’d prefer being your right-hand man.”
“The beauties of the jianghu line up begging you to meet them just once. Even then?”
“You would still look impressive even as a one-armed martial artist, Pavilion Lord.”
I burst into laughter, and Seo Daeryong laughed along with me. Since he had lately become completely absorbed in martial arts rather than women, the joke was all the more amusing. How could I send away such an endearing Seo Daeryong?
“Just try leaving! If you’re gone, I’ll put Commander Jang in that right-hand seat immediately.”
“Ah! Now that I think of giving it to someone else, I’m hesitating again.”
With the brilliant feat of Seo Daeryong advancing to the top eight, we left the arena.
* * *
The next day, as Jin Haryeong was about to step onto the arena, her guard, Chuho, asked her,
“Are you feeling unwell anywhere?”
At his concern, Jin Haryeong turned her head.
“No. Why?”
“You look as though you’re in a bad mood.”
“Don’t worry. It’s nothing.”
In truth, her mood had sunk low.
Since the banquet hosted by her grandfather, she had met neither Geomyeon nor Jo Sin.
If someone like Jo Sin held a grudge, killing a person would be nothing to him. If he killed without leaving evidence, then even if suspicion fell upon him, he could not be held accountable. And in this world, no one would care about the death of a servant.
In all honesty, she wanted to smash Jo Sin to pieces until he begged for his life. The reason she could not was because of her grandfather. As long as her grandfather remained Alliance Leader, if she caused trouble, he would have to bear the burden of dealing with it. Yes, endure it. Endure.
She could endure Jo Sin, but there was something she could not endure quite as well. The human heart was truly strange; when she could see him comfortably, she had not thought much of it, but once she found herself unable to meet him, she found herself pointlessly wanting to see him. What was so good about that insolent servant who constantly flustered people?
When she stepped onto the arena, cheers rang out from all directions.
“Hubei’s Fairest! Jin Haryeong! Hubei’s Fairest! Jin Haryeong!”
“Do your best, Miss Jin!”
“I adore you, Miss Jin!”
“You must win!”
“Let’s eat noodles!”
“Win the championship, Miss Jin!”
She heard it clearly. The strange yet welcome words mixed in among the cheers.
Her gaze turned toward the crowd of heroes. Wherever her eyes fell, cheers erupted. Those moved by Hubei’s Fairest looking their way shouted her name until their throats nearly burst.
Among them, she found Geom Mugeuk. She looked at him and gave a single nod. It was a signal that they should eat noodles together.
That day, contrary to Chuho’s worries, she displayed more splendid skill than ever before. Her sword was swift and precise, and her footwork could not have been more graceful.
With a dazzling victory that drove the spectators wild, she, too, advanced to the top eight.
* * *
Geom Mugeuk had arrived at the inn early and was waiting.
“Congratulations on your victory.”
Instead of accepting the congratulations, Jin Haryeong spoke firmly.
“We shouldn’t meet.”
“Why not?”
“Are you asking because you don’t know? Because you’ll be in danger.”
“Then why did you come?”
“That’s…”
After hesitating briefly, she said something unexpected.
“Because of a promise.”
“What promise?”
“You’ll know when we get there.”
She took Geom Mugeuk and left the inn.
“Do you perhaps know how to use qinggong?”
Did she ask whether he knew qinggong? Geom Mugeuk smiled and answered.
“I do.”
“No. Let’s get horses and go.”
As if she had asked something pointless, she procured horses. Geom Mugeuk did as she wished.
“You know how to ride, don’t you?”
“An ordinary servant is someone who leads horses, but the servant you see before you is special, isn’t he? I ride well.”
And so they borrowed two horses and rode off.
The place she took Geom Mugeuk was East Lake, east of the Martial Alliance.
“You asked me before to show you around here, didn’t you?”
“You remembered that?”
“It’s not as though we’ve had so many conversations that I’d forget.”
After saying it herself, Jin Haryeong had this thought inwardly.
‘Exactly. How many conversations did we even have for me to be making such a fuss? Making a fuss in front of Grandfather, making a fuss in front of Jo Sin. Even coming all the way to East Lake.’
She looked at Geom Mugeuk. His hair still hung down in a disheveled mess, and with the beard covering his face, she could hardly see his features; his clothes were old and dirty. What on earth was there to like about this man?
Just then, Geom Mugeuk said to her,
“Shall we go over there?”
“What? Why?”
“I think the view will be better from that hill.”
At the place Geom Mugeuk brought her to, Jin Haryeong was genuinely amazed.
“It’s truly beautiful!”
It was a breathtaking spot where the beauty of East Lake could be taken in at a glance.
“How did you know? About this place?”
“Servants are good at finding the right spot by nature.”
Jin Haryeong truly felt that this man was impossible to understand.
For a while, the two of them stood silently, falling into the beauty of East Lake.
It was Jin Haryeong who broke the silence.
“Your young master will be admitted into the Martial Alliance. Ordinarily, you would stay too, wouldn’t you?”
“Why do you keep trying to send me away? I’ll remain together with my young master.”
Jin Haryeong looked at Geom Mugeuk. As if he had already made up his mind, Geom Mugeuk said,
“By saying in front of everyone that day that I was the person you were seeing, Miss Jin, you did everything you needed to do. What remains is my choice.”
“It will be dangerous.”
“How did you feel when your grandfather tried to force you into marriage?”
“I hated it.”
“I’m the same. I dislike people interfering in my life.”
“I may dislike it, but I won’t die.”
“A married life you hate might perhaps be more painful than death.”
“!”
After a short pause, Jin Haryeong said,
“You haven’t even been married.”
“I once saw someone truly suffer from it by their side. Don’t worry about me.”
“I don’t understand why you’re a servant.”
“Then what do I seem like?”
After a brief pause, she extended her hand and said,
“The Martial Alliance Leader’s granddaughter’s friend. Let’s be friends.”
She did not know her own heart. Why was she forming such a deep connection with a mere servant?
“Wouldn’t that be too much of a loss for you, Miss?”
“Why would friends weigh gains and losses? Then they wouldn’t be friends.”
Geom Mugeuk firmly clasped the hand she held out.
“To think I’d be friends with the Martial Alliance Leader’s granddaughter!”
“To think I’d be friends with a servant!”
After they shook hands vigorously, she said,
“If someone bullies you somewhere, tell them my friend is the Martial Alliance Leader’s granddaughter! Got it?”
“I will.”
“I’ll boast about it too, wherever I go. That the most special servant in the world is my friend.”
“Someday, when you need that servant friend, call for him. Perhaps that special friend might do something you never expected.”
Jin Haryeong looked at Geom Mugeuk.
“You’re strange.”
This man did not seem as if he would die. This man did not seem as if he would fall into peril. She did not know how much she would regret it later if, after all this, he ended up being killed by Jo Sin. What would she do then…
After returning from East Lake, the two parted at the entrance to Wuhan, avoiding notice.
Geom Mugeuk was returning alone when someone blocked his path.
A venomous snake, seething with poison—it was Jo Sin.
“Was your outing enjoyable?”
Geom Mugeuk faced him with an expression full of fear. Until he found out whether Jo Sin had come solely for the marriage proposal or had some connection to the Cheonmyeong Society, he intended to watch how the bastard behaved.
“You were so confident when you were with her. Why are you trembling now that you’re alone?”
“If you lay a hand on me, Miss Jin won’t stay still.”
When Geom Mugeuk acted frightened, Jo Sin’s face filled with a sneer.
“And all you can do is hide behind a woman.”
Jo Sin strode over and grabbed the collar of Geom Mugeuk, who was backing away.
“Because of a worthless bastard like you, Miss Jin has been tainted.”
Jo Sin raised his hand high, about to strike him with his palm. Geom Mugeuk squeezed his eyes shut and deliberately looked afraid.
“If you thought I wouldn’t be able to kill you just because you did that in front of the Alliance Leader, you judged me very wrongly.”
“Please spare me!”
Jo Sin lowered the hand he had raised.
“I won’t kill you. It wouldn’t be any fun if I just killed you. I need to see Miss Jin regret it. I need to see the scales fall from her eyes and see her disappointed in you. I’ll make her come clinging to me too late.”
Geom Mugeuk knew that was not the only reason. If he died or disappeared, Jin Haryeong would never agree to a marriage with him.
Using an expression like “tainted” while still trying to marry her—he did not need to see it to know what that married life would be like.
“If you don’t do as I say from now on, I’ll flay all your skin off and throw you into a barrel of salt. Understood?”
“Yes!”
“Tonight, I’m holding a banquet and inviting the young talents. I’ve invited Miss Jin as well, so you come there too. And come with your hair neatly arranged and your beard shaved. You must use this money to buy and wear the most expensive clothes you can.”
Jo Sin believed that this servant’s unadorned appearance had played a part in Jin Haryeong liking him. It was the kind of fantasy young women had. An unadorned man appeared more confident. But once opened up, there was nothing inside. Today, he intended to shatter that first.
If this servant bastard wore expensive clothes that did not suit him and came dressed up in his own idea of finery, it would instead have the opposite effect. In the end, he was no different from everyone else trying to curry favor with her. Today, he would completely shatter the girl’s fantasy.
“If you cooperate as I tell you, I’ll let you live. I’ll give you a large sum of money later too.”
“How much will you give me?”
“One hundred thousand taels.”
At the unexpected amount, Geom Mugeuk opened his eyes wide with greed.
“You must give it to me.”
“I always keep my promises. So you do as you’re told.”
Jo Sin felt pleased inwardly.
‘Trash-like bastard!’
That would make him far easier to use.
When Jo Sin left with light steps, Geom Mugeuk, who had been pretending to be a coward, returned to his original self.
“Seeing as he says he’ll give me as much as one hundred thousand taels, he intends to kill me once this is over.”
He spoke as if to himself, but it was meant for the hidden martial artist to hear.
“Report the conversation that took place in this meeting to the Alliance Leader exactly, without leaving out a single word. It is a very important matter for Miss Jin and the Alliance Leader.”
Just from hearing this report, the Martial Alliance Leader would be able to discern Jo Sin’s true intentions.
“And please convey this as well. When this matter is brought to a close, I am willing to take care of Jo Sin too. He is someone who will be harmful to Miss Jin for a long time to come. That said, the Martial Alliance cannot simply deal with the heir of a prestigious orthodox sect as it pleases. In the end, interests will become tangled, and he will be let off. Rather than do that, tell him to simply leave it to me.”
The hidden martial artist still gave no answer.
* * *
That night, Jin Haryeong entered the manor.
The young talents who had been invited had already all gathered at the manor. She absolutely had not wanted to come, but Jo Sin had said this when inviting her.
“I invited that servant as well, so Miss Jin, you must come too.”
If Geomyeon came, she had to come too. He was no longer a servant but her friend. She could not send him alone into a pit of vipers.
Jo Sin greeted her with a pleasant expression.
“The reason I called the two of you here today is because I wish to apologize.”
“Apologize?”
“That’s right. That day, my unnecessary pride got the better of me, and I unintentionally made a mistake toward the two of you. I’m sorry.”
Jin Haryeong looked at him with suspicious eyes, but Jo Sin faced her with a gentle expression. Today, he did not bring a snake to mind.
‘Yes, if possible, it would be better to resolve things amicably.’
For Geomyeon’s sake as well, there was no need to deliberately provoke this man.
It was just then.
A murmur began near the entrance, and Jin Haryeong and Jo Sin’s gazes naturally turned that way.