Geom Mugeuk silently watched Blood Heaven Blade Demon brewing tea.
Until now, he had brewed tea many times, but today it felt different from usual.
"Let me do it."
Unable to simply sit still, Dana offered to take his place.
"It's fine."
He spoke gruffly, but Blood Heaven Blade Demon's gaze toward Dana was gentle.
Dana assisted Blood Heaven Blade Demon from the side. She tried hard to make a good impression on him. Having lived as a wanderer, she couldn't afford to be called discourteous.
"You lived as a wanderer with your siblings?"
"Yes."
"You must have had a hard time."
Those words sounded unfamiliar to Dana. She had never heard such things from an adult before. Everyone around her, children and adults alike, had been people desperately trying to survive.
"If that lad gives you any trouble, come tell me anytime."
Geom Mugeuk could tell. What kind of mood Blood Heaven Blade Demon was in today.
To him, today was the day his son brought the woman who would become his daughter-in-law.
Unlike Seo Daeryong, who was fidgeting restlessly a short distance away from the two, One Flower Sword Venerable silently watched Blood Heaven Blade Demon's back.
What could she be thinking now?
Was she recalling the young Blood Heaven Blade Demon who used to recite poems to her? Or was she recalling herself listening to those poems?
Those days when her father roamed the Central Plains with Fist Demon, when everyone had been young.
As One Flower Sword Venerable turned her head toward the window, her eyes met Geom Mugeuk's.
"Young Cult Leader."
"Yes, Sword Venerable."
"Now that it has passed, time is truly fleeting."
"Do you not have more days remaining?"
"Is that truly so?"
"You might even achieve returning to youth."
One Flower Sword Venerable shook her head with a tutting expression.
"Do not think it is over. In about ten years, you may look back on today and regret, thinking you were hale and hearty back then, that you should have done such and such."
She looked out the window again. With those deepened eyes, it was impossible to know what she was thinking.
Meanwhile, Blood Heaven Blade Demon and Dana brought the tea.
"The aroma is excellent."
Geom Mugeuk savored the fragrance, taking in the scent.
The first to exclaim in admiration was Dana.
"It's so delicious. It's the best tea I've ever tasted."
At that, Geom Mugeuk said to her,
"Of course. This is a tea he said he'd serve only to precious guests, never to us."
Dana took it as a joke, but Seo Daeryong nodded with a genuine expression.
Joining in, One Flower Sword Venerable said,
"This is my first time drinking this tea as well."
Naturally, Dana's face turned red.
She was truly happy. Until now, most of the joy she had felt came from the relief of having survived. This commission finished safely. Her siblings were safe.
But the joy she felt now was different from that.
She was drinking tea that the man she liked's master had specially prepared for her. Before her was One Flower Sword Venerable, whom she had always admired, and the Young Cult Leader who had saved her and her siblings. And above all, Seo Daeryong was by her side. It felt like a dream.
When was the last time she had looked at others around her without tension or vigilance?
When was the last time she had felt the relief of being loved and protected?
Therefore, the resonance ringing deep in her heart right now was something she was experiencing for the first time.
"Thank you so much."
Dana's trembling voice contained all her emotions.
"You may stay here while Daeryong trains."
Since Seo Daeryong trained until late after finishing his duties, it meant they could be together.
Just when Seo Daeryong was even more moved than she was, One Flower Sword Venerable abruptly spoke.
"He is a child who uses the sword; what help could there be in watching him swing around such crude blades?"
"Crude!"
"Watching that frustrating master and disciple will make my blood boil. So..."
Then she said something astonishing.
"Come see me whenever you have time."
Dana's eyes widened. The person she had admired was telling her to visit. It was One Flower Sword Venerable, someone she couldn't dare look straight at, someone who shouldn't even be in the same place as her.
"May I truly do that?"
One Flower Sword Venerable nodded.
"Thank you so much. I will definitely come."
Geom Mugeuk could tell that a new wind of fate was beginning to blow for Dana as well.
Geom Mugeuk said to Seo Daeryong,
"Today, you're buying the drinks!"
* * *
Han Seol was crossing the lake by boat.
The one rowing the boat was Yeobin, one of the Three Great Drunkards.
Han Seol had the Hanbing Twin Swords wait on the other side of the lake and boarded the boat alone. Sa Han had said it wouldn't do, but So Bing had sent her, telling her to do so.
"Why exactly are you doing this?"
Sa Han couldn't understand his wife. At first, she had been more concerned about bodyguards than even he was.
"Both the Cult Leader and the Young Cult Leader. And that Extreme Evil Lesser Demon we saw too. Did any of them have weaknesses?"
Even the demons they had seen while passing through the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult had been properly disciplined.
"In the end, if someone targets the Young Palace Lady, it would definitely be with the Cult Leader's permission. Could we stop that?"
"So you're saying we should abandon protection like this?"
"It's not abandoning; it's letting the Young Palace Lady look around and play freely."
Sa Han guessed her reason for doing this.
"You trust the Young Cult Leader."
"I don't trust the Young Cult Leader."
She answered firmly, her gaze directed far away at Han Seol on the boat.
"Han Seol is no longer the little child we knew. It's the Young Palace Lady who is becoming an adult that I trust."
The boat Han Seol rode arrived at the island in the middle of the lake.
Following Yeobin's guidance, she ascended to the Drunken Dream Pavilion.
Drunken Demon was drinking alone in the Drunken Dream Pavilion.
"I greet the Demon Lord."
"Young Palace Lady, welcome! I heard you had arrived."
She had come to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, and while she didn't know about the other Demon Lords, she had wanted to pay her respects to Drunken Demon since he was the one who had rescued the North Sea Ice Palace with the Young Cult Leader.
"The lake is truly beautiful. This pavilion is beautiful as well."
"The problem is that an incorrigible drunkard lives in such a beautiful place."
At Drunken Demon's joke, Han Seol smiled.
"It suits you well, this place."
Drunken Demon sensed she had changed from when he had seen her at the Ice Palace before.
"Come, sit."
Han Seol saw the cup at Drunken Demon's waist.
Drunken Demon placed the cup before her.
"Do you know what cup this is?"
"Yes, it is the Ice Palace Holy Grail, a treasure of our cult."
"Have you ever drunk from this cup?"
When Han Seol shook her head, he poured wine into the cup.
"I've cleaned it thoroughly, so have a drink."
"I will drink gratefully."
Han Seol drank the wine in the Ice Palace Holy Grail. Though she wasn't someone who particularly enjoyed alcohol, Han Seol's eyes widened roundly.
"The wine tastes truly excellent."
"Good wine combined with a good cup."
Thus the two of them drank several cups back and forth.
After gazing at the lake for a moment, she spoke to Drunken Demon.
"I never thought I would come this far."
Drunken Demon made an expression showing he understood.
"You came to your senses and realized you're in the cult proper after being with the Young Cult Leader?"
Han Seol smiled faintly and nodded slightly. It was an exaggeration, but close enough.
"When I'm with him, I think things I've never thought of in my life."
"For example?"
After being lost in thought for a moment.
"I want to live like this person."
Drunken Demon poured wine into her empty cup and said.
"That's normal."
"Pardon?"
"I've had that thought dozens of times."
Because it was an unexpected remark, Han Seol looked at Drunken Demon with a surprised face.
"You compare yourself and feel jealous. And then you get angry and want to make excuses. But do you know? The moment you get angry and want to make excuses is precisely when you can best understand the person called you."
When you get angry and when you retort, that is where I am?
She felt like she understood and like she didn't.
Drunken Demon laughed and emptied his wine cup.
"The conclusion is, we can't live like the Young Cult Leader. Because the Young Cult Leader is crazy!"
Han Seol laughed and drank from her cup as well. 'Crazy'—she thought it was a word only Drunken Demon could say.
"Come, a toast between comrades!"
She thought it was good that she had come to see Drunken Demon. Actually, she had hesitated a little. Because of what Geom Mugeuk had said.
See much on this journey.
For one reason or another, she thought it wouldn't be easy to get away from Geom Mugeuk. She had thought that if she came here, she would only talk about Drunken Demon and herself, yet here she was talking about the Young Cult Leader again.
Still, being able to converse so naturally with Drunken Demon was possible because they had the topic of Geom Mugeuk.
"I suppose I'll drink at the Fengliu Tavern this evening."
"How did you know?"
"Because it's something related to alcohol?"
Drunken Demon handed Han Seol the entire box of wine that had been in the corner of the Drunken Dream Pavilion.
"Please convey my congratulations on the Young Cult Leader's safe return to the cult."
* * *
When Han Seol arrived at the Fengliu Tavern, no one had arrived yet.
"Welcome!"
Jo Chunbae greeted her politely. Having greeted her earlier, he knew she was the Young Palace Lady of the North Sea Ice Palace.
"This way, please."
"Before that, please take this first."
She handed over the box of wine that the Hanbing Twin Swords had carried.
"This is a gift from Drunken Demon for the Young Cult Leader."
"Yes, I will serve this wine today."
One might think he'd feel displeased about outside wine being brought in, but Jo Chunbae didn't mind at all. She didn't yet know how strong a bond Geom Mugeuk and Jo Chunbae shared.
Jo Chunbae guided her to the fixed seats on the upper floor.
The Hanbing Twin Swords didn't follow up and waited on the first floor.
Normally, Sa Han would have come up to the upper floor and taken a corner seat, but this time too, So Bing told him to just wait here. On top of that—
"Dear, let's have a drink too. We haven't properly had a drink since coming to the Central Plains."
"Let's. If the Young Palace Lady ends up coming to harm and we die anyway, we should at least have one last drink."
He spoke as if resigned, but that wasn't his true feeling.
Whenever there was a major affair, he had always trusted his wife's intuition and judgment, and they had survived well until now. He trusted his wife's judgment now too.
As Han Seol was about to sit in the upper floor seats, she was startled to see writing engraved on the wall.
"Is this really writing left by the Cult Leader and the Lords?"
Jo Chunbae answered proudly.
"Yes, it is. They left it during the Three Powers Meeting."
Not only them, but writings left by the Demon Lords as well were there.
She had never seen a tavern with such writing on the walls before. It was novel and surprising.
The words 'Young Palace Lady, please leave a word as well' hovered on Jo Chunbae's lips, but he didn't dare voice them.
Then Geom Mugeuk and Seo Daeryong entered the tavern.
"Innkeeper, this person is buying drinks today, so treat him well."
"Why are you doing this? I have people to feed now too, you know?"
"They're people who'd eat and live fine even without you."
After them, the Dana sisters followed in. Starting tomorrow, they would enter a new organization, so today would be their last day to drink comfortably with easy hearts for the time being.
Dan-yeon took Seo Daeryong's side.
"Stop tormenting my brother-in-law!"
Startled, Dana scolded her for being rude, and Seo Daeryong beamed.
"How cruel, youngest sister-in-law! How is a man without a sister-in-law supposed to live?"
Jo Chunbae, who had come down from the upper floor, said to them,
"Don't worry about the drinks today. Lord Drunken Demon has sent wine. After a long time, I will treat you to the food myself."
Seo Daeryong's expression brightened brilliantly. He whispered to Dan-yeon as if telling a secret.
"I saved money, so I'll give my sister-in-law pocket money!"
Geom Mugeuk laughed. He had never seen Seo Daeryong so happy.
Yes, laugh like that.
The reason he had returned was to protect that smile. So laugh and enjoy yourself to your heart's content.
Then someone entered the tavern.
"Young Cult Leader!"
This time, the one who had arrived was Demon Lord Jang Ho.
"Lord Jang! Have you been well?"
"Young Cult Leader! I'm relieved you returned safely."
The two happily reunited. Jang Ho, dependable anytime one saw him, seemed to have larger muscles.
"Lord Jang!"
The one who was truly happy to see him was Seo Daeryong. He was brimming with the desire to boast about Dana the moment they had a moment alone.
Because apart from Geom Mugeuk, the only people he could boast to with a peaceful heart were Yi An and Jang Ho.
Then Geom Mugeuk saw someone peeking inside the door and then trying to pass by.
"Chief Gang!"
It was Gang Dal. Geom Mugeuk had told him to come, so he had come, but he had hesitated several times about whether to actually show up. It might have been a mere polite invitation. Even now, he had considered just passing by and going back.
"Over here, where are you going!"
Geom Mugeuk welcomed him so gladly that his tension eased.
"I'm not sure if it's a place I should come to."
"This gathering started because of you, Chief Gang! Without you, this gathering wouldn't exist in the first place."
Hearing that, Gang Dal was happy. Since coming to the main hall, he had been busy adapting and hadn't even realized he was in good spirits. But when Geom Mugeuk returned, it began to feel like living among people.
"I greet the Demon Lord!"
Gang Dal politely greeted Jang Ho. He hadn't dreamed that the Demon Lord would be at this drinking gathering.
"Pleasure."
Perhaps because Geom Mugeuk was there? The Demon Lord felt different here than when seen within the cult.
The last to arrive was Cheon Sohui, successor to the Fist Demon.
"It's been a while, Young Cult Leader."
After becoming Fist Demon's successor, she had been known to devote herself solely to martial training, so he had called her today. Not for Han Seol's sake, but for Cheon Sohui's. To see people and take a breather.
With everyone gathered at the entrance like this, Geom Mugeuk looked up at the upper floor.
"Everyone's here now."
Han Seol looked down at them with a surprised expression. When he had said there were friends in the cult he wanted to introduce, she had thought it would be one or two people at most.
But she hadn't known he would call this many people. Was he calling everyone in the cult?
Cheon Sohui's words came to mind.
'That's right, this person is crazy.'
Geom Mugeuk walked up ahead.
"Innkeeper, close the doors and lay out the tables!"