The First Guildmaster of the Baihua Merchant Guild is a direct blood descendant of the Gu Clan.
At those words from the First Elder, I had to stand still, my body frozen stiff.
No reaction came easily.
In the first place, I couldn't begin to gauge what reaction to give to such insane talk.
I stood there stammering for a long while before barely spitting out words.
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
“Why doesn't it make sense?”
“…You call that something to say?”
Does he truly not know why it doesn't make sense?
‘How could that be possible?’
If he truly is a direct descendant of the Gu Clan… doesn't that make his relationship with Lady Mi strange?
‘Lady Mi is from the Mi Clan by birth.’
But if the First Guildmaster, who is my father, hails from the Gu Clan, the surname would be different.
Of course.
‘Though if he were a live-in son-in-law, that would be a different matter…’
Given that the father-daughter relationship was a complete mess, there was a chance she had taken her mother's surname.
That much was fine. Surnames weren't particularly important, after all.
What mattered was.
‘Then what of the marriage with Father?’
It meant the two were connected by blood.
If he was a direct descendant, he wouldn't be my father's brother. It meant the relationship was through the grandfather's side.
In that case.
‘Doesn't that mean they're cousins?’
It meant they were quite closely related.
A situation where you could perhaps call them family.
If in such a situation Father married Lady Mi and even had children….
‘Is that really okay?’
It was something my common sense couldn't quite comprehend.
‘…No wonder.’
The moment I saw the First Guildmaster, I thought the old man had a nasty temper.
Was it because he was family?
Could it be that Lady Mi's cold demeanor was also because of that?
This damn household really can't seem to escape that.
Well, maybe it's not surprising.
‘Our family is already ground to bean powder, what more is there to be surprised about?’
Since when had our family ever been normal?
Even as I thought that.
‘…Wouldn't I be crazy if I wasn't surprised by this?’
I immediately thought of the contradiction.
No, does this even make sense?
No matter how hard I tried to see it in a good light, it was impossible.
As I was rolling my eyes wide, wondering how to accept this.
“Your expression is quite a sight.”
“...”
The First Elder cackled with laughter, and I found it truly unpleasant.
“No… are you really laughing right now?”
“You make a funny face and then tell me not to laugh. You are nothing short of a thug.”
What was that? What's wrong with my face?
My heart was deeply wounded, but more important than that were the words the First Elder spoke next.
“I can guess what you're thinking, but if you look into it, it's fine, so don't trouble yourself too much.”
“It's fine if I look into it?”
“Yes.”
“…How?”
How could it possibly be fine? I asked intently, but.
“Uh-oh? I don't think that was part of our bet.”
“...”
The First Elder smirked and clamped his mouth shut.
Good grief.
‘He means he has no intention of telling me.’
It's truly absurd. It was my mistake for believing him even for a moment.
Anyway….
‘So at least it's true that that old man is from the Gu Clan.’
If the First Elder's words are true, the First Guildmaster is a man of the Gu Clan.
If you traced it, he would probably be his grandfather's brother.
If so, it wouldn't be strange for him to mention the Gu Clan.
However.
‘The fact that I didn't know a direct blood descendant was alive and well, and.’
that despite being a direct descendant, he never learned martial arts—more precisely, the fact that I couldn't sense even a hint of internal energy—among countless other oddities, were strange.
‘He says it's a situation where it's fine even if I dig into all that?’
The First Elder seemed to know all of this yet didn't care.
No matter how easygoing the First Elder was, there had to be a reason for such a reaction.
‘Yes, if there had been a problem, the marriage wouldn't have been possible in the first place…’
The Gu Clan might not be a proper martial family, but a family is a family.
Especially since the council of elders is weak and Father's standing is strong.
‘For that to happen, Father must have been full of justification.’
This would be impossible if Father had committed grave wrongs in his youth.
Marriage with the head of the Baihua Merchant Guild? No matter how helpful it was.
‘This is rather problematic.’
A marriage between direct bloodlines was quite a problematic matter. Yet here they were, despite that.
‘As the First Elder said, there must have been a reason why it was okay.’
If not that….
‘Few people know about it.’
There was a possibility that the information was unknown. However.
‘I think it's the former.’
The former reason was likely greater than the latter.
Having thought that far, I looked at the First Elder.
“Elder.”
“Yes.”
“Do you really know you're being absurd?”
“What, you rascal?”
At my words, the First Elder made a dumbfounded expression, but I could only sigh as I looked at him.
‘…Who's the one that's truly absurd?’
By this point, I could tell.
The reason the First Elder was telling me these things.
Was it really because he lost the bet and wanted to tell me? That wasn't the only reason.
The old man is one of the direct bloodline of the Gu Clan.
Thus, it wouldn't be strange for him to know the secrets of the Gu Clan. Moreover.
‘…That side is no less ground to bean powder than this one, so understand a little.’
The First Elder was explaining the circumstances to me under the pretext of telling me a secret.
No matter what the First Guildmaster had done, he was telling me to understand a little.
‘Ha.’
Anyway, he seemed to have mastered the art of annoying people.
‘…Putting that aside.’
Direct bloodline of the Gu Clan, my foot.
I was surprised, but honestly, I didn't care.
‘So what?’
As I said before, I'd known my family was a mess since I was young.
If there was a difference.
‘That Lady Mi and I might share mixed blood.’
The distance had grown a little closer (?).
That was probably the extent of the difference.
There was nothing more.
Besides, what was important now was ultimately.
“So, what was the reason that gentleman called me in the end? Do you know that?”
“Ah-!”
The matter of why the old man sought me out.
Hearing the First Elder's words made it even stranger. He couldn't have called me just to tell me the secret of the Gu Clan.
‘If that were the case, he should have met me in a previous life long ago.’
There was no reason for him to appear now and seek me out.
This was because my standing had grown and my name had spread throughout the Central Plains.
And related to that was how it had spread so widely that it reached the ears of the First Guildmaster.
‘If the First Guildmaster moved upon hearing this, there has to be a connection.’
The connection between my rising standing and the First Guildmaster moving upon hearing of it.
I had to know that.
So I asked the First Elder about this.
“Hmm.”
“Why? Is this another question you don't want to answer?”
“No, not particularly, but…”
The First Elder replied, stroking his beard repeatedly.
“It happens to be a question tied to the secret I was going to tell you.”
“…Yes?”
The secret he had been going to tell me.
I wondered what he meant, but recalled it before long.
‘Ah, right. That was a thing too.’
He had said he would tell me one more secret along with revealing the First Guildmaster's identity.
But this matter is tied to that secret?
Just as I thought that in puzzlement.
“The reason that old man called you and the secret are…”
“Yes.”
“Because he cherishes his daughter too much.”
“Yes?”
My expression furrowed at the First Elder's words. What was he saying?
“That man is an incredible doting father.”
“…?”
It was an answer I couldn't understand at all.
****************
I returned to my quarters afterwards.
There was more to discuss, but the First Elder said he would answer no further and suddenly disappeared, saying he had to meet someone.
As always, he was truly a man like the wind.
I was a bit envious. Living so freely might be worth emulating.
The First Elder said he would stay at the Gu Clan quarters but would visit often; naturally, I told him not to come.
He wasn't someone who wouldn't come just because I said so, but I didn't want to see him even like this.
Inside the quarters I returned to thus.
I sat askew in the empty room, lost in thought.
The conversation with the First Guildmaster I'd just met? The role held by the clan head of the Gu Clan?
Or doubts regarding the Heavenly Demon?
I wasn't thinking about such things.
Of course, it wasn't that they weren't important, but they weren't what filled my head right now.
'What was that sensation from before?'
The sensation I'd felt during the spar with the First Elder earlier.
The countless phenomena my body felt in that floating sensation.
I was struggling to recall that fleeting feeling commonly called enlightenment.
Martial artists often say that when enlightenment comes, if you don't somehow hold onto it, it becomes a lifelong regret.
That was how precious and weighty a matter it was.
‘…Hmm.’
I had lost it.
Why it had come so suddenly at that moment.
I didn't know if it was truly enlightenment, but I thought it was.
No, I was certain.
Instinctively, I was certain.
It was definitely enlightenment. My thoughts and even my energy said so.
That was why it was more of a shame.
'If only I had grasped it.'
If I hadn't missed the enlightenment and held onto it, what would have happened?
Wouldn't something have changed?
Wouldn't it have shown me a new world befitting the name of enlightenment?
I wondered if such a miracle could exist, but one never knew.
Why had enlightenment come so suddenly in the first place?
‘I don't know the reason.’
No matter how much enlightenment comes without warning, it wouldn't come truly without reason.
Enlightenment in the middle of a spar?
‘This is the first time I've experienced this.’
It was something I had almost never experienced.
I tried to guess.
‘…Is the White Horse Stone the reason?’
The White Horse Stone I'd scarfed down in a hurry.
The senses and firepower increased because of it. Could that have been the cause?
It might have been.
No, if you traced the cause, there was nothing else.
‘…What good is it now?’
As I said, it was already too late.
If I had swung my arm properly to try to grasp enlightenment then.
‘The First Elder probably would have been severely injured.’
Thinking that, it was an enlightenment I couldn't have obtained anyway.
Thus, this was nothing but a lament of regret.
‘Tch.’
I clicked my tongue and looked out the window.
The sun was already setting.
I hadn't done a single thing I'd planned all day, and so the day was ending.
‘This is going to be a bit troublesome tomorrow.’
Once one thing goes wrong, my life tangles up again and again in an instant.
Though it was worrisome on one hand.
“It'll work out somehow….”
When too much piles up, at some point everything becomes annoying.
It'll work out somehow. If it's something I can't handle right now, future me will take care of it.
So for now.
“Shall I go see the kids first?”
When tired and exhausted, fill the time with pleasant things; thinking thus, I tried to move and immediately stepped out of my quarters.
I had vented my frustration in the spar with the First Elder, so I could dispel my lingering unease with happy thoughts. I rose thinking that.
I moved my steps with a furrowed expression, as if tired.
Perhaps because I was exhausted, my concentration had dropped.
That was why I didn't notice.
Fwoosh.
That flames were flickering across my moving back for some reason.
Furthermore.
“Speak.”
“Guhh… ugh….”
Tomorrow, the fact that I would
“Try barking more, you dog bastard.”
destroy one of the leaders.