Volume 5 Chapter 14 – Reviewing the Game (2)

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Translated by Rain

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The Elders’ Hall, after the closing.

Only two people remained in the place all the elders had left.

“Do you know what on earth you have done?!”

The booming voice of the Lord of the Elders’ Hall echoed in the empty corridor.

“You just made an enemy of that crazy old monster! And by holding hands with the Eldest Young Master, whom he hates the most, at that!”

“Do you think he wouldn’t know that you are deeply involved in this?!”

The Deputy Lord cleaned his ears with a sly expression.

“My word. Did I not tell you to practice sound arts since long ago? If you had, you would have become the strongest in the world with that voice alone long ago.”

“Is this the time for jokes?!”

The Deputy Lord’s expression vanished.

“If I do not make jokes now, what else should I do?”

“…”

The Deputy Lord raised his hand and showed it.

“Do you see it?”

That hand, old, decayed, and covered in age spots, was trembling as if having a convulsion.

The Deputy Lord forced a smile, trembling at the corners of his mouth.

“That old monster never took his eyes off me. Even when the one who first spoke of punitive compensation came forward, and even when the one who agreed to it appeared, his gaze was fixed only on me.”

Although he knew it all too well.

He was an opponent far too dangerous to make an enemy of.

The Lord of the Elders’ Hall beat his chest.

“Then why on earth did you make a deal with the Eldest Young Master?! For what on earth?!”

He grabbed the Deputy Lord’s shoulders.

“Did I not say that I would take full responsibility and solve it? If it was your problem, I would have solved it no matter what price I had to pay!”

He shouted to his friend, who did not lift his head.

“I am the Lord of the Elders’ Hall! I am the Lord of the Elders’ Hall of the great Luoyang Sword Family!”

The Deputy Lord raised his eyes and looked at his friend of sixty years.

“That is exactly why.”

“What do you mean by that?!”

The Deputy Lord staggered and took a step away from the Lord.

“You are the Lord of the Elders’ Hall. With that power, you always helped me. However…”

“Then why…?”

Toward the Lord of the Elders’ Hall, who wore an expression of incomprehension, the Deputy Lord spat out a word.

“But you were like that since childhood. Even until now. Not once did you completely rescue me from the cliff.”

The Deputy Lord bared his teeth toward his friend.

“When I was about to fall from the cliff, you reached out your hand. But you never pulled me up to the top of the cliff even once…!”

He added.

“…And it was the same five years ago as well.”

“…!”

Sparks flew in the Deputy Lord’s eyes.

“That is exactly why.”

The Lord’s expression distorted.

“Did I not always say! In everything, there is—”

“Yes, in everything, there is ‘order’ and ‘procedure.'”

The Deputy Lord giggled and laughed.

“Just as it would have been the correct ‘order’ for that position to return to me in the first place. If only you had helped me properly five years ago!”

As the Deputy Lord’s words continued, the Lord’s wrinkle-filled face trembled weakly.

“Just as if all my problems are solved even now, I am ‘procedurally’ the most likely candidate for the next Lord of the Elders’ Hall!”

“If we had, both of us would have died! Do you still not know?!”

“There was plenty of possibility that we would have lived! It was fully possible!”

“Such a possibility was…!”

The Deputy Lord cut off the Lord’s words with a shout like thunder.

“Then why can you not help me even now?!”

The Lord’s mouth stiffened.

“If we combine our strengths, we can handle that old monster somehow! Is that not so?”

But conversely, the possibility of both of them being ruined was also plenty.

“That…”

In the Lord’s mind, the images of his family and subordinates, who would be finishing their day today while relying on him, flashed by.

The Deputy Lord gave a bitter smile.

“…I know. I know it all. Now you carry too many things on those shoulders. I know your sense of responsibility better than anyone else.”

Was he not the friend called the little giant for that very reason?

The Deputy Lord looked at his friend, who had an expression as if he would burst into tears at any moment.

“…Now, I too have too many precious things I am carrying.”

He turned around and walked to the other side of the corridor.

“Thank you for listening to my complaints until now.”

Standing blankly in that spot for a long time, gazing at the figure of the one who was no longer there, the Lord of the Elders’ Hall bowed his head.

In the end, he walked toward the opposite side of the corridor.

Just like that, the paths of the two men, whose connection had begun as milk brothers from the moment of birth, diverged.

Their relationship, which had been firmly bound by loyalty and trust.

That relationship also ended just like that, to protect the loyalty and trust that each carried.

* * *

The place the Deputy Lord headed with staggering steps was Elder Yeom’s residence.

Elder Yeom, who was swinging his greatsword in light attire, spotted him and ran over in a single breath.

“Deputy Lord!”

The Deputy Lord, with hazy eyes, spoke to Elder Yeom.

“…Could I get a drink of alcohol?”

At the other’s unusual expression, Elder Yeom nodded with a firm look.

“Of course. Please come inside.”

Elder Yeom helped the staggering old man and guided him inside.

And after dismissing all the servants, he personally brought out alcohol and snacks.

Leaning back in the armchair and staring blankly at the ceiling, the old man spoke.

“…I was prepared, but it hurts more than I thought.”

Elder Yeom breathed a deep sigh.

“…I do not know what to say to you.”

The old man muttered like talking to himself.

“Even when the transaction was completed, I thought it was satisfactory… I thought it was a price I could fully endure…”

Elder Yeom silently kept by his side without saying a word.

The appearance of the Deputy Lord, Elder Ham, looked ten years older than when he last saw him.

“…I thought at least five people would remain by my side. We even agreed beforehand.”

He refused the cup Elder Yeom handed him and drank straight from the jar.

Half spilled onto the floor, and half was as good as poured out along with coughing.

“…After seeing the old monster’s reaction today, no one kept their promise.”

Having already been drunk before seeking out Elder Yeom, he looked at Elder Yeom with out-of-focus eyes.

“I have paid the price. Far more miserably than I calculated. Now I am a kite with a broken string. That old monster will target me, who is completely exposed from now on. Even if you and the Eldest Young Master do not keep your promise, I will not resent you.”

No one remained by his side.

Without a moment of hesitation, Elder Yeom spoke to Elder Ham.

“Do not worry. From now on, Deputy Lord, you are a person of my faction, and you will receive the protection you deserve.”

“Is it true…? You will keep the promise?”

“Of course. Is that not what trust is?”

Elder Ham laughed out loud.

“Now you are indeed my close friend! My brother!”

Elder Yeom also laughed along.

But in that laugh, there was a somewhat chilly corner.

* * *

A night when the moon was bright.

Under a certain eave of Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment.

Yeon So-hyeon was looking at something under the moonlight.

The Medicine King stealthily approached him.

Though the Medicine King had approached without any sign of presence, who knew by what trick, Yeon So-hyeon turned back as soon as he drew near.

“Did you decide to change jobs to a night visitor now?”

Embarrassed, the Medicine King replied bluntly.

“What job change at this age…”

Even so, he glanced in that direction, as if he minded what Yeon So-hyeon was holding.

“It is nothing much.”

Yeon So-hyeon readily offered it.

It was a letter written with extremely brief text on silk.

[The grace you have bestowed, I will repay even if I die and come back to life.]

The Medicine King gave a short groan.

A subtle scent of musk drifted from the silk.

“…Yeom Baek-ha. Is it what that child sent?”

Turning his head back, Yeon So-hyeon merely nodded without a reply.

Looking at that back which seemed somewhat fleeting, the Medicine King spoke with difficulty.

“…Do you regret it?”

There was no answer.

Only the petals scattering in the gentle breeze glistened in the moonlight.

“The one who found the ‘herb that can artificially induce that child’s seizure’ was me. Then, should I be the one to regret?”

The Medicine King had said he artificially induced the seizure.

There was no reply from Yeon So-hyeon.

“It was the kitchen maids who ground that herb into the child’s meals. Should they regret?”

“…The decision was made by me, and the command was given by me.”

As soon as the reply finished, the Medicine King threw a question.

“Then, was there any other way?”

A brief silence.

“There was none.”

“Yes. It was something you did because you absolutely needed Elder Yeom.”

“It is so.”

Yeon So-hyeon recalled the history before returning in time.

The promised period of great chaos that had visited the Luoyang Sword Family after Yeon So-hyeon left as a matrilocal husband.

Up to the very last moment when the Luoyang Sword Family was shattered into pieces, there was a single general who never forgot his loyalty and oath toward the Patriarch and the Sword Family.

The man who was never defeated in any absolutely disadvantageous battle and always brought the necessary victory.

Guarding the front of the deep place that had already lost its Patriarch, and dying in battle after fulfilling his loyalty to the last moment, the world called him thus.

Ever-Victorious and Unbeaten,

Greatsword Divine General.

Yeon So-hyeon needed such a man.

To build the future he envisioned.

Without fail.

Yeon So-hyeon’s final move to obtain him was a ‘trick.’

* * *

The Medicine King, who had kept silent, asked.

“…If, on that day, Elder Yeom had not returned and had just gone back with his daughter, what did you intend to do?”

“…Nothing. Only that the sacrifices in the future journey would have grown larger.”

The Medicine King said nothing, as if waiting for something.

In the end, it was Yeon So-hyeon who continued speaking.

“…In fact, I believed that he would definitely return. He is that kind of person. A person with trust.”

Yeon So-hyeon gave a bitter smile.

“To obtain the trust of a trustworthy person, the final move required was a trick. What a paradoxical story.”

The Medicine King approached Yeon So-hyeon and sat beside him.

“If you had enough time, if there were several years of time, could you have obtained Elder Yeom’s trust?”

“…No. He is not a shallow figure who would trust someone just because of interacting for a year or two.”

Yeon So-hyeon spoke in a low voice, as if murmuring.

“If I had approached while showing everything open, he would have suspected everything. If I had given everything, he would have accepted nothing.”

For that is what a ruler is.

For that is the responsibility of one who carries many things.

“…And it is the same for me as well.”

Yeon So-hyeon looked up at the sky.

“Even if he had approached with a sincere heart, I would have had no choice but to suspect him. If he had offered loyalty without price, I would not have accepted that loyalty.”

Since he himself was also a ruler.

Since he himself also carried far too many things on his shoulders.

Yet the method of obtaining Elder Yeom’s trust, and the way Yeon So-hyeon trusted Elder Yeom, were also exceedingly simple.

Just like how Yeon So-hyeon sold ‘trustworthy deals’ to other elders these days.

The experience of being pushed to the corner to the limit, the experience of almost losing his daughter forever.

Yeon So-hyeon’s actions in that situation.

Elder Yeom’s decision, putting everything on the line.

Once paying such a heavy price, he came to trust the relationship with Yeon So-hyeon.

Because Elder Yeom had paid such a heavy price, Yeon So-hyeon was able to trust his relationship with him.

A firm relationship of trust created by a single minor trick.

Just why is that trust between rulers so shallow.

“…”

In the eyes of the Medicine King, who had no choice but to keep his mouth shut, other letters on the lap of Yeon So-hyeon, who was sitting turned away, were visible.

Seeing that they were all letters written on the same silk, it was clear that all of those letters had come from Yeom Baek-ha.

[Today, for the first time since my childhood, I was able to walk properly. Thank you.]

[Eldest Young Master gave me a new life.]

The Medicine King’s eyes scanned the contents of the letters.

[That Father and Eldest Young Master became friends who can deeply trust and rely on each other, this girl thinks of it with extreme joy.]

“…”

The two did not share any conversation.

They merely looked up at the night sky.

Chapter 03.

The Far Side of the Moon

An earthly kingdom cannot exist without inequality of persons.

Some must be free, some serfs, some rulers, some subjects.

An earthly kingdom cannot exist without inequality of persons.

Some must be free, some serfs, some rulers, some subjects.

– Martin Luther [Martin Luther, 1483.11.10.-1546.2.18]