Chapter 17
It was an outrageous act.
“She is far too lacking to serve as the maid accompanying the eldest young master of the Luoyang Sword House.”
…said the man himself, though he was wearing nothing but plain white cotton clothes.
Chapter 17: Outing
“Master, I have finished all my preparations.”
Jeong-ah, having finished getting ready to go out, smiled brightly.
She was merely wearing the single outfit for outings she had worn when she entered Wongak Pavilion, and had paid slightly more attention to her makeup than usual.
Even so, her natural beauty was so outstanding that those small changes alone were enough to make her dazzling.
“Is that the best you can do?”
But Yeon So-hyeon did not seem pleased.
“...Does it not satisfy you, Master?”
Frankly, dressing up even this much was practically taboo in the reception hall where guests were welcomed—
“Gatekeeper!”
At Yeon So-hyeon’s call, the middle-aged man who was the “captain of the guards at Wongak Pavilion’s main gate,” the “liaison officer of Wongak Pavilion,” and also an “unidentified expert,” approached while grumbling.
“No matter how much you are the eldest young master, what is this ‘gatekeeper’ business? My name is—”
“Be quiet, gatekeeper. Stop spouting nonsense and go to any steward of the Inner Court. Bring back a woman’s outing outfit, the finest quality.”
The Inner Court was the department that attended upon the direct bloodline, centered around the family head.
“...What did you just say?”
The sound of grinding teeth came from the gatekeeper’s mouth.
Yeon So-hyeon gave a faint laugh.
“If you do not run there and bring it back this instant, you will no longer be the gatekeeper. You will become Wongak Pavilion’s night-soil carrier.”
The gatekeeper instantly felt his vision turn red.
He had devoted his entire life to the Luoyang Sword House.
Though he was half-retired now, he was still serving the Sword House’s main family by carrying out the duty assigned to him here.
In the past, he had fought countless real battles outside the reach of the Luoyang Sword House’s influence, and the number of brushes with death he had survived was just as many.
How many enemies of the Sword House had he cut down until now?
And yet this wretch of an eldest young master, the disgrace of the Sword House and the object of its contempt, was now mocking him.
‘Using his father’s order as an excuse, he still shuts himself in and wastes his days away...!’
“Are you still here?”
At the sight of Yeon So-hyeon glancing back at him, he clenched his teeth, used his movement technique, and headed out of Wongak Pavilion.
“Ah...!”
His movement technique was so swift that even Jeong-ah unconsciously let out a sound of admiration as his figure vanished in an instant.
It was an extraordinary movement technique, enough for her “eyes” to momentarily lose track of his position.
Even in this vast Central Plains, how many people could display a movement technique of that level?
‘Damn it...’
That movement technique was the gatekeeper’s own little show of force.
And yet even after doing so, he did not feel the slightest bit relieved.
Rather, he felt extremely unpleasant as cold sweat ran down his forehead.
‘What was that look in his eyes...?’
In truth, the reason he had used his movement technique was no different from a last-ditch escape.
The moment he turned and saw the eldest young master’s gaze, he had reflexively retreated from that spot.
Having crossed countless lines between life and death, his instincts had sensed a threat to his life and reacted.
Somehow, immediately afterward, he had used his lightness skill to leave the place, but it still felt as though that gaze was following him.
‘Those were the eyes of a madman. A real lunatic. How can someone who does nothing but read books day after day...?’
The forest path was coming to an end.
The main gate of Wongak Pavilion came into view.
‘Yes, just endure it a little longer. I’ve submitted an official request for reassignment, so just endure it a little longer.’
But the things he had to endure did not end there.
***
A short while later, at Wongak Pavilion.
“...They say they won’t give it.”
“What?”
“They say they won’t give it. They said they will not cooperate.”
The Inner Court, which was in charge of attending to the direct bloodline, had refused the eldest young master’s order.
The sight of the eldest young master looking dumbfounded was rather amusing, but the one who had been rejected to his face was the gatekeeper.
“What was the reason?”
The gatekeeper shrugged.
“The reason is something you yourself would know best, Eldest Young Master.”
They had given several excuses, but all of them were nonsense. In the end, it simply meant they did not want to cooperate with Wongak Pavilion, where the Swordless One resided.
“...How absurd.”
Yeon So-hyeon clutched his forehead and stared into empty space, while Jeong-ah merely lowered her head in utter bewilderment.
“What will you do?”
The gatekeeper’s question was strangely provocative, but Yeon So-hyeon only looked bewildered and, unexpectedly, remained calm.
“There is no helping it.”
Jeong-ah, who had been watching the atmosphere, seized the moment to step in.
“Since time has already been delayed, perhaps you should depart now—”
But when she saw what Yeon So-hyeon took out from his sleeve, her voice gradually faded and stopped.
“It has been so long that I had forgotten.”
At first, the gatekeeper stared blankly at what Yeon So-hyeon was holding, wondering what it was, but then his jaw dropped wide open.
“T-That is...?!”
Yeon So-hyeon approached a nearby pavilion and picked up a brush.
Then, with bold, flowing strokes, he wrote a letter.
‘Bring the clothes.’
It was an absurdly crude letter with no formality, no courtesy, no anything.
But his handwriting was so remarkable that Jeong-ah and the gatekeeper, who had been watching blankly, unconsciously let out small exclamations of admiration.
Bang!
Before the ink had even dried, Yeon So-hyeon stamped the letter with the object in his hand.
Then, the magnificent seal of “The Greatest Sword Under Heaven” appeared on the letter.
“Here. Take it.”
Yeon So-hyeon roughly folded the letter and handed it to the gatekeeper.
“...!”
At that, the gatekeeper was greatly startled and rushed forward to stand before Yeon So-hyeon.
Then, on the spot, he dropped to both knees and received the letter with both hands.
“Y-Your command!”
His hands trembled as he accepted the letter.
“What are you doing? Run.”
“Your command!”
Before Yeon So-hyeon had even finished speaking, his figure vanished.
“M-Master, surely that is...?”
Yeon So-hyeon sat on the railing and held up the thing in his hand.
“This?”
“Yes, that, Master.”
Yeon So-hyeon smiled with a grin.
“Yeah, you’re right. It’s the family head’s official seal.”
Jeong-ah’s complexion, which usually revealed little emotion on the surface, turned pale.
“The Sword House Golden Seal!”
It was both the seal and the wondrous object symbolizing the one absolute authority who possessed the power of absolute command within the Luoyang Sword House.
Just seeing the actual item of such a seal was shocking enough, but for it to be used merely to order someone to bring clothes for a maid...
“H-How does Master have such a thing...?”
Yeon So-hyeon looked at Jeong-ah as though asking what she was talking about.
“With my father in ‘that state,’ who else could possibly have it besides me, the eldest young master of the main family?”
It was true.
“H-However, to use something so precious to issue an order to bring clothes for the likes of me...?!”
“Do not worry.”
Yeon So-hyeon chuckled, then slipped the Sword House Golden Seal back into his pouch and tucked it into his sleeve.
“I have used it for useless things often since long ago.”
“In fact, I can only use it for useless things,” Yeon So-hyeon added.
“If I do not use this, there is nowhere that will properly cooperate with me.”
He laughed.
“Well, I use it when I buy books, when I buy ink and brushes, and things like that. That is all it is used for.”
Jeong-ah wanted to faint on the spot.
***
After that, everything proceeded at lightning speed.
The Sword House Golden Seal, the sacred token of the Luoyang Sword House’s family head, was a wondrous object once personally bestowed upon the family head of the Sword House by the emperor of that time.
There was no fool in the Luoyang Sword House dull enough to interpret the words “Bring the clothes,” written on a document stamped with that official seal, literally.
The first to appear was the female steward of the Inner Court.
Behind her, marching with impressive dignity, followed more than ten Inner Court maids in perfect order.
Behind them came strong male attendants, each carrying large chests.
The chests were lined up across the courtyard, and when their lids were opened, dozens of women’s outing outfits, shoes, and ornaments were revealed inside.
Every single one of them was of the highest quality.
And in no time at all, Jeong-ah, taken away by the Inner Court maids, was transformed into a woman like Chang’e of the Moon Palace.
“Mm, this much should be enough.”
When Yeon So-hyeon nodded, the female steward of the Inner Court gave a short command.
“Withdraw!”
“If you had simply cooperated from the beginning, it would have been easier for everyone...”
“What are you doing every time?” Yeon So-hyeon clicked his tongue at her.
But she pretended not to hear his words, offered a bow, then turned and left.
After the people withdrew like the receding tide, the chests they had brought, along with the belongings inside, were left behind just as they were.
“What are you doing?”
At Yeon So-hyeon’s words, the face of the gatekeeper, who had been avoiding his gaze, crumpled.
“...What do you mean?”
Yeon So-hyeon wordlessly rummaged through his sleeve in response.
“A-All right, so stop that!”
The gatekeeper shuddered and walked toward the chests.
He could be heard muttering things like, “How can he handle such a precious object so carelessly?” but Yeon So-hyeon paid him no mind.
“Do you like it?”
Jeong-ah was looking into the full-length mirror placed in the courtyard.
She seemed to be maintaining a calm mind, but she could not hide the slight flush in her cheeks.
“...It does not seem fitting for one of my station.”
Yeon So-hyeon shrugged.
“You came to Wongak Pavilion, and I have begun to move.”
His tone was light, but the meaning contained within it was by no means light.
“From now on, you will have more occasions to wear clothes like that.”
Jeong-ah’s black satin-like hair swayed in the breeze.
At that moment, she sensed it instinctively.
This breeze might now be flowing leisurely toward the west, but in the end, it would become a ferocious typhoon and whirl back.
“...Yes, Master.”
Resolve settled in Jeong-ah’s eyes.
***
“...Do you truly not need an escort?”
Yeon So-hyeon smiled at the members of the Luoyang Sword House’s guard detachment blocking his way.
“I told you, it is fine because this friend is here.”
In the direction Yeon So-hyeon pointed stood the “gatekeeper,” his expression as if he had chewed on filth.
He already had a fierce face, and with that scowl on top of it, he looked no different from a fiendish demon.
A liaison officer, an errand runner, and now even an escort.
There was no way he could be in a good mood.
“For the time being, we have no choice but to obey the eldest young master’s order, but without permission from the captain of the guard...”
Yeon So-hyeon cut off the guard’s words.
“Yes, yes. Report it however you like.”
“But we...”
In the end, only after Yeon So-hyeon took out the Sword House Golden Seal and made another simple written order did they finally step aside.
“Who is that man wearing the security unit’s clothes?”
“Who knows? He looks like an expert. Seems he’ll suffer in our place today.”
Having escaped from “escorting the Swordless One through the marketplace,” they did not even try to hide their joy.
Jeong-ah was about to step forward at the sight of them, but Yeon So-hyeon raised a hand and stopped her.
“Enough. We still have a long way to go.”
However, they could not help but be stopped again at one of the rear gates of the Luoyang Sword House.
The guards blocked them on the grounds that they had not received permission “from above” for the “eldest young master” to go out during the day.
And of course, Jeong-ah, whose anger had exploded, rebuked them with the force of someone spewing fire.
Only the guards caught between the eldest young master and the head of the security unit were pitiful.
“Haha, we have not even set off yet, and already so many amusing things are happening.”
Naturally, Yeon So-hyeon was the only one who found it amusing.
And the gatekeeper was looking at Yeon So-hyeon with utterly fed-up eyes.
‘What in the world is the inside of this eldest young master made of?’
What was that eldest young master who had driven him mercilessly yesterday?
What was that eldest young master who occasionally revealed eyes filled with madness?
And what was this person showing himself today, appearing to have no pride at all—the very image of the Swordless One?
Even so, there was one thing he could be certain of.
‘I have to get transferred as soon as possible!’
And so, in the end—
One maid, who looked like Chang’e of the Moon Palace but held the lowest status among the group.
One man, who looked like an ordinary guard of the Luoyang Sword House but was an unidentified expert.
And one eldest young master of the Luoyang Sword House, who looked like a handsome scholar assisting a young lady but carried within him an ancient demon.
That strange party set foot into the streets of Luoyang.