Henan, called the most developed city, shone brightly, as it always did.
Unlike other places that naturally darkened when night fell, Henan always gave off light.
Lines stretched between buildings.
The lanterns hanging from those lines illuminated the city so it would not be dyed in darkness, and thanks to that, even at night, Henan was full of street vendors lined up in rows and people enjoying them.
I slipped through their gaps, slowly moving my steps.
Holding tightly onto my bamboo hat, lest it be blown away.
Honestly, so anxious was I that I had even used internal energy to erase my presence a little.
To an ordinary person without internal energy, they probably wouldn't remember me unless they saw my face right up close.
They might not even properly perceive that a person like me existed at all.
In that sense.
I had known from the moment we met that the figure following behind me was no ordinary person.
Despite having erased my presence to some degree, a man who had singled me out and called me to a halt.
The very person who had just asked for directions, saying he needed to go to the Bailin Inn.
I hadn't gotten a proper look, but I could tell he was a strong martial artist.
The aura caught by my energy sense was sharp.
His gait and unique breathing showed him to be a swordsman.
Even if not for that, I could be certain he was a swordsman from the sword at his waist.
His realm was at the very least a Consummate Peak.
He might have reached the Transformation Realm, but judging by how I couldn't properly gauge him, he seemed to be concealing his realm.
The fact that I couldn't see through him despite his concealment meant that, truly, he was at the very least at Consummate Peak.
Just who could he be?
A martial artist of this level should be fairly well-known.
Yet I couldn't identify him by his bearing alone.
If there was one unexpected thing in all this.
"So you see, my daughter…."
"…"
The man, who seemed sharp and weighty in demeanor, was surprisingly talkative.
Most of it was talk about his own daughter.
To my feeling, he talked enough to be annoying.
"As if she wasn't already cute, lately she's been growing prettier by the day…."
"I see."
"Taking after her mother, she's just so cute."
The laughter in his voice showed he had considerable affection for his daughter.
A daughter, huh.
'Then, does that mean a female martial artist staying at the Bailin Inn?'
A few came to mind.
It wasn't as if there were many women who had entered Shenlong Hall.
And finding a martial artist who used a sword among them was even easier.
Of course, just because the father wielded a sword didn't mean the child automatically did too.
The Gu family was the exception, but while the father was a martial artist of the fist, Gu Huibi had made her name as a swordsman.
'Who could it be. The Yeon family? The Seon family?'
By the feel of it, he seemed to be from a clan.
I knew them to some extent, but I wasn't some lunatic obsessed with women; I didn't have every female's surname memorized.
Those who came to mind amounted to roughly five.
Judging by the laughter in his voice, he seemed to be fortunately from the family of a survivor.
I glanced subtly to examine the man.
With his bamboo hat pulled low, his face was hard to see.
Though I doubted I'd recognize him even if I saw it…
If I mixed internal energy here and heightened my energy sense, I'd likely be able to see.
But then that man would notice I was trying to peer at his face.
And that could offend him, so it wasn't something to attempt out of mere curiosity.
The reason I, who had no interest in others' affairs, was curious about that man was none other than this.
'…Could it be…'
I wondered if he might be the family of someone around me.
Word had been conveyed that the patriarchs of the great families known as the Four Great Families would all be attending.
Three among them were entangled with me, so if there was a martial artist with a daughter, I had wondered if it might be so.
However, I didn't dwell on that thought for long.
'With seven days and nights left, there's no way they'd have arrived already.'
When speaking of the Four Great Families, they were the greatest among great families.
Which meant that the patriarchs of the Four Great Families were figures who had to maintain enormous justification and prestige.
Meaning they were chock-full of individuals with considerable pride.
Could this truly be a prejudice?
I didn't think so.
The martial world was already sickeningly rife with battles of pride.
The Righteous Faction Assembly was an important matter in such struggles.
The first battle they would wage here was, absurdly enough, who would arrive first.
You shouldn't arrive first, even if you weren't late.
One might wonder what kind of battle that even was.
But it happened more often than you'd think.
Utterly childishly, at that.
In the midst of all that, someone arriving first with seven days and nights left?
Among those gentlemen who spent their whole lives fighting battles of pride, it was unthinkable.
'So at least that man shouldn't be from that lot.'
His clothes said as much too.
Despite his bearing, his attire was quite shabby.
Too much so to call him a man from a prestigious family.
A man called a patriarch, without a carriage or servants, and asking others for directions because he didn't know the way?
Surely not.
Thinking thus, I quickened my pace slightly.
A question came from the man behind me.
"Young Hero, might I ask what business you have at the inn?"
"…I have an acquaintance there."
"An acquaintance, I see."
By the way he spoke, he didn't seem to think I was a guest staying there.
"Young Hero."
"Yes."
Annoying.
Why did he keep talking to me?
"By any chance, do you know of a rising star who bears the epithet, the 'Little Yama'?"
"…"
At the man's question, my shoulders twitched involuntarily.
It was an epithet that made my ears burn just to hear it.
"…Why do you ask?"
"Ah, it's nothing else.
I heard he's a martial artist famous in Henan these days."
"…Famous… he is.
For ridiculous rumors, that is."
Damn it.
To think I'd live to hear my own story from another's lips like that.
The man seemed to have no idea whatsoever that I was the Little… no, that guy.
"So it's all exaggerated, you think so too, Young Hero?"
"Yes.
It's exaggerated.
A very large bubble."
When I said that, the man suddenly pounded my shoulder.
What was with this guy?
Wondering why he was doing this, I looked at him and saw that he somehow looked extremely excited.
"A young person with very deep thoughts.
I quite like you."
"…Why so suddenly?"
Where had he seen deep thoughts?
All I'd said was that the rumor was full of hot air.
'Is he not right in the head?'
Thinking so, I inadvertently widened the distance between us slightly.
It seemed better to quickly see him there and part.
I hurried my steps.
The distance to the inn wasn't very long, but because so many people had gathered, it felt rather tedious.
Henan was originally a place with many people, but this time it was especially crowded.
The reason was obvious: the Assembly.
To be exact, people had gathered to see the great figures attending the Assembly.
Most of the monsters called the kings of the current generation were attending.
It was an assembly where half of the Ten Great Experts and a great number of those who had risen to the ranks of the Hundred Great Experts were attending.
Since monsters you couldn't see anywhere were gathering, people had come with fire in their eyes to gawk.
With one or two gathering like that, it had ended up like this seven days and nights before.
"Young Hero."
As I was moving my steps busily, the man spoke to me again.
Should I just tell him it was annoying and to stop talking?
"Young Hero, might you have… a betrothed?"
Now he was asking about personal affairs.
"…I do have a fiancee."
And I was answering again.
"I see.
Do you like your fiancee?"
"Well, I don't dislike her."
Why ask such useless things?
It was suffocating.
Upon hearing my answer, the man suddenly fell silent.
I thought perhaps he was done talking.
"These days, my daughter, you see."
He wasn't.
Starting again?
How much further to the inn?
'Not much.'
I decided to just go without answering now.
Quickly arriving and parting was the best course.
"My kind, pretty daughter seems to have fallen for some scoundrel."
"Haha.
I see."
That was truly a personal matter.
I wondered how frustrated he must be to bring it up, but since I wasn't curious at all, I didn't want to hear it.
"They say, well, that he's a man who even has a fiancee."
"I see."
Still, it was somewhat attention-grabbing.
He meant his daughter liked a man who had a fiancee?
His daughter must not be in her right mind either.
Why would she like someone like that?
"They say he told her he'd break it off with his fiancee and see my daughter…
Truly a rotten bastard, isn't he?"
"A madman."
He really was a madman.
To think he'd seduce another woman when he had a fiancee, on top of that.
Was he saying he'd break off the engagement and see that woman?
'Just how great a bastard is he to make such a thing possible?'
He was probably tall and handsome at a glance.
I didn't know who, but he must have an easy life.
Meanwhile, the woman called his daughter who gave her heart to such a scoundrel was a bit pitiful.
A guy like that would soon abandon his woman and seek another.
It was an obvious affair.
'Tsk tsk.'
She was a young woman who didn't know the ways of the world yet, so that was that.
Anyway, the youth these days…
Just hearing about it made my head spin.
Of course, if someone asked me whether I had much experience with such matters, I had nothing to say for myself either.
"It must be very hard on you."
I hadn't meant to engage, but the situation was so pitiful that I added a word.
"I'm truly grateful you understand…
And another thing."
"Again… what more is there?"
"No, I heard rumors that besides my daughter, there are more women meeting that rotten bastard."
"…He's an incredible bastard in many ways."
Not one or two, but more?
Wow, he was a really incredible bastard.
How could he do that?
If that were a talent, it would indeed be a talent.
'Should I envy that?'
It was indeed a talent that men might envy to some extent.
But why didn't I feel particularly envious?
While thinking ambivalently inside, the man continued.
"Seeing my… daughter's request, I tried to overlook it somehow, but if the rumors are true…."
'If true?'
"I intend to shatter his limbs.
No matter what."
The man's voice was full of killing intent.
He seemed truly serious.
Well, though I'd never had children myself.
If that situation were true, even I would have caught that madman and torn him apart alive.
"I see…
I hope you achieve your will."
"It must have been a useless story.
Thank you for hearing me out, Young Hero."
He seemed to know vaguely himself that he'd only been saying strange things.
Hearing that, I let out a chuckle.
"It was rather amusing."
A lie.
It hadn't been very amusing, but I was just playing along since it was time to part anyway.
By time to part, I meant we had literally arrived at the Bailin Inn.
Was it the largest inn in Henan?
There was an inn Moyong Huia had told me about before that had also seemed very large and nice.
This place was quite decent too.
The food was especially tasty.
'I wonder if the kids are waiting.'
Lately, having been doing insane things in the mountains, meal times were all over the place, so I'd told them to eat first and not wait for me if possible.
But they didn't.
The group always waited until I arrived.
Thanks to that, I'd been trying to return as quickly as possible.
If this was what they had aimed for, it was impressive in its own way.
I grasped the door handle of the Bailin Inn.
Then the man spoke to me.
"Thank you for showing me the way.
If the time comes later, I shall reward you."
Hearing that, I grabbed and opened the door.
Creeeak—
As the door opened, the interior of the inn came into view.
"There's no need for a reward.
We were simply going the same way."
I'd said it because I didn't want to get more entangled, but the man seemed to take it differently; a slight laugh was heard.
"That cannot be.
Having received a kindness, it is only right to repay it twofold.
I, Moyong Tae, swear upon my name that I shall certainly reward you, Young Hero."
"No, there's really no nee… huh?"
The moment I opened the door and quickly stepped inside.
My body stiffened rigidly.
…Just now.
What did this man say?
What did he introduce himself as?
"Moyong…?"
"Young Master!"
A familiar voice brushed past my ear.
It was Moyong Huia.
She seemed to have spotted me from afar, running toward me as if dashing.
"There's big trouble…
I just received word that Father has arrived in Henan… huh?"
Having come right up to me, uncharacteristically flustered and fluttering about, Moyong Huia looked at the man who had followed me inside and stiffened like a stone, just as I had.
Confirming that, I turned around.
Creeak.
My turning neck moved as stiffly as if rusted.
Straining to turn my head, I checked the face beyond the man's bamboo hat.
A sharp nose and thick eyebrows.
A handsome middle-aged man with eyes as cold as frost.
And in that face—sharp yet soft, tender yet cold—I saw Moyong Huia before me.
"…F…Family Head?"
Moyong Huia spoke to the middle-aged man in a trembling voice.
The moment I heard that, my head turned pure white.
Meanwhile, the man's gaze turned to me as well.
Eyes as cold as frost.
"Young Hero."
The voice calling me was completely different from before.
The man who had been talking about his daughter had a tender voice dripping with the feel of a doting father, but now.
It was a voice that seemed to be suppressing emotions about to burst.
"…H…huh?"
"Though it's a bit late to ask."
Tap.
The man's hand placed gently on my shoulder.
Though he had clearly placed it lightly, was it my imagination that my shoulder felt as if it would fall off from the weight?
"Might I ask your name?"
"…"
At the question filled with killing intent, I nodded my head involuntarily.
Ah, I see.
This was, without a doubt.
Looking pretty fucked.