After the spar with the Young Cult Leader, news of it spread in an instant.
It had not been some private, unofficial match, and there had been no shortage of witnesses.
Moon Hero and the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult had clashed.
And the fact that Moon Hero had won that spar was now spreading through Henan by way of the Beggars’ Sect.
Because of that.
The reaction in the county, which had already been noisy and uneasy since the Demonic Cult entered, was gradually starting to calm down.
“So he really is the Sword Saint’s inheritor? The Demonic Cult’s Young Cult Leader wasn’t much after all.”
“The Hero of Henan is still the Hero of Henan. I was trembling because the Demonic Cult had come, but Moon Hero is different.”
“So much for all that nonsense about the Heavenly Demon’s return...”
The talk kept drifting through the inn.
Listening to it, I lifted a strand of noodles from my bowl in the corner and swallowed it.
Being treated as the one who represented the current younger generation.
I had found the pressure and fame that came with that a little uncomfortable, but in a situation like this, maybe it was not entirely a bad thing.
“There’s a lot of whispering. You’ve become popular overnight. Or maybe not? Were you always popular?”
At the muttered remark, I clicked my tongue.
The one sitting across from me was Yu Yul, the Silver Moon Sword.
“...Are you picking a fight?”
“A fight? I’m complimenting my junior.”
“If that’s a compliment, then please stop.”
I really did not like that bright, cheerful smile of his.
For reference, Yu Yul must have fully recovered, because the bandages were gone from his arm.
How had I ended up out in the county with this man?
The whole thing was such a pain.
“Haah.”
“What? The noodles not to your taste? Then I’ll eat—”
“Take your hand off it.”
“Yeah. Sure!”
There was a reason we were together.
Normally I should have come out with the Lesser Moon Unit leader.
But something had come up for him.
Then the two of you go.
That had been Thousand-Mile Divine Eye’s order to me.
If he was sending two people from the Azure Moon Sect together, there had to be some reason for it.
“We should just get this over with. Why are we even eating first?”
Halfway there, Yu Yul had decided he wanted food and dragged me into the inn.
So now I was eating noodles even though I was not hungry.
“Since we’re here, should we have a cup of bamboo leaf wine too?”
“...Are you insane?”
He wanted to drink on top of that?
I stared at him in disgust.
“Why? The weather’s nice, the company’s nice, so we have a drink.”
“What about this weather is nice?”
I pointed out the window.
RATTLE—!
SHAAAAA—!
Outside, an unusual downpour was crashing down.
It was exactly the «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» kind of day I hated most.
A day when yin energy surged, and evil ghosts and spirits had the easiest time running wild.
That was why, if I could help it, I absolutely never wanted to go out on a day like this.
But—
“Ah...”
Yesterday, I had no choice but to listen to Thousand-Mile Divine Eye while he was furious.
Didn’t I tell you to behave? And in the middle of that, you went and had a spar?
After finding out belatedly that I had thrown down with that bastard of a Young Cult Leader, Thousand-Mile Divine Eye had gotten angry.
If you’d been hurt... No, what if you’d lost? What exactly were you planning to do then?
He brought up all the problems that would have come from losing.
I did not say anything pathetic like, But I won, didn’t I?
I had been trying not to fight precisely because I had been worried about what would happen if I lost.
Anyway, even though I had won in the end, his anger did not ease.
...Go take care of something for me tomorrow.
So he gave me an errand.
I had no grounds to refuse.
“...If you’re done, let’s get going. What the—? When did you order that?”
There was bamboo leaf wine sitting in front of him.
When had they even brought it?
I stared at Yu Yul in disbelief.
He had already knocked back a cup.
“Ahhh... How many years has it been since I had a drink?”
“...This is ridiculous. You’re really drinking? Have you lost your mind, Senior?”
“Come on, cut me some slack. I spent years rolling around in the mountains on assignment. I couldn’t drink there.”
“...”
He was bringing up the long-term mission.
Hearing that, my eyes narrowed slightly.
Maybe the timing was right.
There was something I had wanted to ask, but never had.
“Senior.”
“Yeah?”
“What did you do there?”
We were not close enough for me to ask before, and we were not the kind of people who had that sort of relationship.
Not that it was much different now.
But the timing happened to be good.
“Where?”
“On Death King’s mountain.”
“Ahh.”
A long-term mission lasting several years.
Yu Yul, once called Moon Immortal Sword’s direct disciple, had gone off on that mission.
What exactly had he done there?
That was what I asked.
“So you were curious?”
Yu Yul let out a small laugh at my question.
“A little?”
“And what will you do for me if I answer?”
“...”
At that faint smile, I scratched my cheek and answered,
“Then I just won’t ask—”
“Whoa, hey, now. That answer came fast...!”
If I had to do him some favor just to hear it, then I would rather not ask.
Before I could even finish saying it, Yu Yul hurriedly cut me off.
“I wasn’t asking for anything big. Couldn’t you at least make me an offer?”
“...No. I’m not that curious.”
“Then do me one favor. I’ll tell you if you do.”
“I just said I’m not doing that.”
“Please.”
“...”
Why was he that desperate?
I was the one who had wanted to hear it, yet somehow Yu Yul was the one pleading.
He even looked like he might actually do something if I refused.
What was wrong with him?
“...What is it?”
I would hear him out, at least.
That was the meaning behind the words.
“Let’s have one more spar.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
I refused the instant I heard it.
Yu Yul shouted, demanding to know why, but what kind of question was that?
Was I supposed to agree to this?
“What do you mean, a spar? We already had one.”
He was the one whose arm had practically been ruined last time, who had to walk around in bandages.
And now that he had healed, he wanted another spar?
Why was everyone so desperate to fight me?
“This time is different.”
“How?”
“It’ll be more fun.”
“This is insane.”
That was one hell of a reason.
At moments like this, I really could feel that he was Azure Moon Sect through and through.
The competitive fire in his eyes was far too honest.
“...A spar.”
And what was funny was—
Was I any different?
It was a thought that had been coming to me again and again lately.
Was I really any different from them?
Lately, I had been just as combative as anyone else, constantly fighting one person after another.
...Old man.
Just what had Yoo Cheongil done to me?
Or was that old man, who had now vanished as quietly as a dead mouse, still doing something inside me?
It was the kind of moment that made all sorts of thoughts rise up.
But a spar with Yu Yul here?
“...I’ll think about it.”
Surprisingly, it did not sound purely unpleasant.
“Oh?”
Yu Yul’s eyes lit up, apparently pleased with that answer.
“That’s a good answer.”
“So what’s the answer to my question?”
“Ah, right.”
Yu Yul poured himself another cup from the bottle in front of him, drank it down, and spoke.
“There wasn’t anything especially dramatic about why I went to Death King’s mountain. The Death King was still called a man of the orthodox faction, but the world was uncomfortable with him, and... in the process, we learned one thing.”
“...If you mean learned?”
Hummm—!
A barrier spread out with his words.
Yu Yul had cast it himself.
“The surprising thing was that above the Death King, there was Bow Ghost.”
“...!”
At that, my eyes widened.
It was not that I had not known.
I already did.
What shocked me here was that Yu Yul had answered that so casually.
“...Are you allowed to tell me that?”
“What does it matter? You’re the Azure Moon Sect’s Young Sect Leader, junior. The Sect Leader will probably let it pass.”
“...”
Right.
I was the Young Sect Leader.
I had momentarily forgotten.
“Bow Ghost is someone who treats the Azure Moon Sect as an enemy. We heard information that she stood above the Death King. So I was sent to his mountain to verify it.”
“...Why you, Senior?”
The Lesser Moon Unit was the same in that respect, but if that was the mission, there had been no need to send Yu Yul specifically.
So why had Yu Yul been chosen?
“Who knows. I just followed orders. But the Sect Leader said I was the right person for it.”
“The right person?”
“Right. Said I was in a state that made me hard for the Death King to notice, or something like that.”
“...”
Hearing that, I could not help but agree.
That’s true.
Yu Yul’s energy was strong.
What he carried inside himself was powerful, the sort of person whose mind would not easily waver.
Judging him as a shaman would, he was the sort of man whose depths could not be seen, no matter how deep you looked.
Whether he possessed spiritual energy or not, people like that were the kind even ghosts and shamans disliked.
But how did Moon Immortal Sword know that?
Someone capable of slipping past the Death King’s notice.
If that phrase meant what I thought it meant, then the strange part was that Moon Immortal Sword had known it.
“So after three years of getting tossed around, I confirmed that Bow Ghost really did have a close connection to the Death King. Then I came back.”
“That took three years?”
“I did other things too, but those are...”
Yu Yul smiled brightly.
“Secret.”
“...”
That was as far as he would go.
It did not matter.
I had gotten most of what I needed.
Moon Immortal Sword is keeping an eye on Bow Ghost. And it looks like he knows they handle spiritual energy.
The real problem was—
Yu Yul came back, but he also came back with that thing attached to him after catching the attention of Bow Ghost or the Death King.
That eye.
If it really was likely Bow Ghost’s ability, then Yu Yul returning with it attached was proof that she had noticed the Azure Moon Sect’s move.
Tap. Tap.
I drummed my fingers against the table.
My thoughts were deepening, but I had no time to sort through them and pull anything more out of them.
“Understood. Let’s get up now.”
First I needed to handle the errand.
I would organize what I had learned later.
“Hm? Already? I still have wine—”
“We’re busy. Why are you drinking so proudly? Let’s go.”
“Ugh!”
I dragged Yu Yul out with me.
SHAAAAA—!
The rain kept pouring down.
In conditions where it was hard to see even a few steps ahead, Yu Yul and I moved forward.
The place we were supposed to go was fairly deep inside the county.
There’s a street like this here too.
Henan’s county was well built.
Even after the attack had left it somewhat of a wreck, it had been rebuilt quickly and turned beautiful again.
But just as darkness was always thickest in the corners—
there was a street like this here too.
“O-one... coin... please...”
Beggars huddled in the rain and begged.
“Hero... please... just one coin...”
I ignored them and kept walking.
The muddy ground squelching beneath my feet irritated me.
After walking and walking, I finally saw the shanties in the distance.
A place that looked as though it might barely keep the rain off, at best.
This is it?
Was this really the place?
The location Thousand-Mile Divine Eye had given me was here.
“Oh. Well, this is something.”
Yu Yul spoke, then—
clink.
His hand settled on the sword at his waist.
“The atmosphere’s bad, isn’t it?”
I agreed.
That was how it felt to me too.
Just as I was about to walk toward it—
Grip!
Someone seized my ankle.
“Hero...! Please... please... just one coin...! Please, just one coin...!”
A gaunt figure, soaked through, with wet hair hiding the face.
The body was so emaciated it looked like every bone would show through.
The smell coming off him was foul enough to cut through even this rain.
A beggar.
That was the thought that naturally came to mind from the sight of him.
And yet—
“...”
I stared at the old man.
It could not have been more than a brief instant, but in that moment, I noticed something.
Slowly, I lowered my head.
At that, the beggar must have thought his begging had worked, because his voice brightened.
“Ah... thank—”
“It’s an honor to meet the master of the Beggars’ Sect.”
“...”
At my words, Yu Yul flinched, and the old man’s body froze.
“Hah.”
The voice that came from the old man changed.
“How did you know?”
The Beggars’ Sect Leader, Staff Strike Woo Aseok.
He was the one we had come to find.
