Volume 1 Chapter 23 – Ancient Story

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Translated by Rain

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The gatekeeper was very angry.

Even when those who were nothing but day-old puppies committed acts that defiled the name of the Sword Family, his teeth gritted at the situation where he could do nothing.

Next, he was angry at the Eldest Young Master.

If he had possessed power fitting the status of the Eldest Young Master, he would have easily retrieved the Sword Family Bronze Plaque on the spot, and would have hacked them all to pieces for the crime of insulting the Sword Family.

However, when he finally opened his mouth toward Yeon So-hyeon, what came out was not resentment or anger.

“……I am sorry.”

In the end, he too had done nothing for the sake of self-preservation .

In order not to take responsibility, he had merely refrained from causing an unmanageable incident.

“What is there to be sorry for? You have fulfilled your role.”

Even the words of encouragement, which he heard from Yeon So-hyeon for the first time, did not bring comfort.

“It would be better for you to return at this point. The person who handed the Sword Family Bronze Plaque to Golden Spider might view even you as being bundled together with me.”

“But I must escort the Eldest Young Master……!”

Yeon So-hyeon smiled at him.

“You do not need to sacrifice yourself for someone to whom you do not offer your sword.”

“That is……”

He opened and closed his mouth several times, trying to make some protest.

“……I am sorry.”

Yeon So-hyeon handed him a written order prepared in advance.

“Take this.”

That order, stamped with the seal of the Patriarch, was for him.

It proved that he had performed a temporary escort mission in accordance with Yeon So-hyeon’s command, and that he had received a return order as of the current moment.

Although his steps stopped several times as he turned back with the order, in the end, he could not turn back.

‘Damn it……’

Even after reaching his realm, he had felt much powerlessness, but it was the first time he felt this bad.

‘Damn it.’

His own long shadow cast by the setting sun was wretched indeed.

* * *

“Humm.”

Waiting for a long time for Yeon So-hyeon to finish taking Jeong-ah’s pulse, Se-ah’s patience was slowly starting to run out.

The famous physicians she had called had visited, and they had guaranteed that Jeong-ah was merely very exhausted.

They said she was just sleeping deeply.

However, unlike the public perception, she knew that the medical skills possessed by Yeon So-hyeon were more than enough to establish his own school of medicine.

Therefore, she could not hide her anxiety.

“The security of the safe house is perfect. And as you ordered, we have increased the vigilance to more than twice the usual amount.”

Despite her subordinate’s report, she only waved her hand while nibbling on her pipe irritably.

After pacing outside and waiting for some more time, her patience finally bottomed out.

“Eldest Young Master, this girl is coming in.”

Without even asking for permission, she opened the door and entered the room.

Inside the room, almost the exact same scene as right before she stepped out was unfolding.

Her one and only younger sister was still unconscious, and the Eldest Young Master was holding her wrist, taking her pulse.

After hesitating for a moment, she asked Yeon So-hyeon.

“……Is Jeong-ah alright?”

Yeon So-hyeon, who had been quietly closing his eyes, looked back at her.

“Is she alright, you ask? Did you not hear that she is simply sleeping?”

Yeon So-hyeon’s tone was absurdly calm.

“That……!”

Strength automatically entered the hand holding the pipe, but she barely managed to hold back.

“……Ahem. Then why is it taking so long to take her pulse?”

Ignoring her question, Yeon So-hyeon held out his hand.

“You brought the information on the Black Bone Gang, right?”

This time, she almost broke the pipe.

However, repeatedly reminding herself of the character ‘patience’, she showed a bundle of documents to Yeon So-hyeon.

“Before that, how about telling me what kind of problem my younger sister has first?”

“Is this all of it?”

“……It is all of it.”

Since she gritted her teeth toward the end, her pronunciation was slurred.

At that, Yeon So-hyeon stroked his beard-less chin and frowned.

“Hmm. Actually, upon taking her pulse, it turns out Jeong-ah is suffering from a major serious illness .”

He clicked his tongue.

“But seeing your attitude……”

Se-ah immediately handed over the bundle of documents as if throwing it at him.

“W-What illness is it?!”

Without giving any reply, Yeon So-hyeon untied the bundle of documents and began to read.

It was at such a fast speed that it would not be strange to think he was merely skimming rather than properly reading.

“Humm.”

Soon, having gone through all the documents, Yeon So-hyeon nodded.

Suppressing the trembling of her entire body, Se-ah asked him once more.

“So, what kind of illness is Jeong-ah suffering from?”

At that, Yeon So-hyeon looked at her with an expression that asked what she was talking about.

“Did I not say she is sleeping because she is exhausted?”

In the end, the pipe broke in her grasp.

“……You said it was a serious illness.”

Yeon So-hyeon frowned.

“Overwork is a serious illness. Even a young person can lose their life in an instant without realizing it.”

“……”

On one hand she felt relieved, but on the other hand Se-ah was having a rare experience where it was difficult to control her surging anger.

“Then you are saying Jeong-ah has no major problems.”

“Yes.”

Cradling her forehead, Se-ah asked.

“……Why did you ask for the information on the Black Bone Gang then?”

Although Se-ah had discarded her respectful language before she knew it, Yeon So-hyeon, as always, did not mind at all.

“Looking at the level and flow of the gathered information, it seems you are plotting something quite dangerous against the Black Bone Gang.”

“……”

Se-ah, whose head had been heated up, naturally missed the chance to deny it.

Since she was a beat too late, it had become meaningless for her to deny it now.

After letting out a small sigh, she spoke.

“What relationship does that have with the Eldest Young Master……?”

Yeon So-hyeon looked at her and said.

“Stop it.”

Se-ah’s eyebrows arched.

“I am not a subordinate who must listen to the Eldest Young Master’s commands.”

Yeon So-hyeon leaned deeply back in his chair.

“That Sword Family Bronze Plaque was genuine. The connection Golden Spider has is real. As someone in the same industry, you must know the power of the Sword Family’s information department better than anyone, right?”

Of course she did.

At least in this land of Luoyang, the information network of the Sword Family was second to none.

Even so, or rather because of that, Se-ah could not help but be angry.

“You, about that……!”

Yeon So-hyeon suddenly stood up and blocked Se-ah’s bursting shout.

“Let us step out so the patient can rest.”

Without even waiting for an answer, Yeon So-hyeon left the room.

* * *

Darkness had fallen over the sky before anyone knew it.

Even the moon hid its face in the cloudy night sky, and the winter wind wailed as it brushed past the roof tiles.

With his hands behind his back, Yeon So-hyeon was looking up at such a sky.

Se-ah shouted at his back.

“In Luoyang, no, in the world, where is the most outstanding merchant house ? It is the Sword Family. In the world, where is the most outstanding martial family ? It is the Sword Family.”

Her voice grew louder.

“And naturally, the one most outstanding in information in this Luoyang area is the Sword Family!”

At this moment, she threw off her mask of a neutral information broker.

“Did such a Sword Family not even give the Sword Family Bronze Plaque to a dark underworld organization like the Black Bone Gang?!”

Her remaining eye seemed to breathe fire.

“While all the people of Luoyang groan in pain and die of hunger! What did the Sword Family do?!”

There was no answer from Yeon So-hyeon’s back.

“While that brutal rabble with no sense of righteousness like the Black Bone Gang sucks the lifeblood of the people in Luoyang, and while countless organizations like them increase……!”

“The Main Family was standing by with its hands behind its back.”

Yeon So-hyeon cut her off.

“No, rather, the Main Family is utilizing them.”

At Yeon So-hyeon’s attitude of already knowing everything, Se-ah became even angrier.

“Then, in the meantime, what did you do?!”

She flung the broken pipe, which she had still been holding in her hand, onto the ground.

“To be honest, I felt that the words Golden Spider said to you, though vulgar in expression, were not wrong at all!”

For a moment, Se-ah felt that her words were becoming excessive.

“I also know that the past you showed outstanding abilities! But what did you do with those abilities until now?”

She did not stop.

“Using the seclusion order handed down by your father as an excuse, are you not just playing the immortal even now?!”

Yeon So-hyeon had a calm expression.

Se-ah found that expression incredibly annoying.

“Naturally, there must be a reason. Even while being cursed and pointed at, there must be a reason why you stay shut away!”

An attitude as if he would carry all the burdens alone.

“But! You ultimately have done nothing properly!”

She cried out spasmodically.

“So do not tell me what to do when I am trying to achieve something even at the risk of my life!”

Her ringing voice resounded in the yard, but it was soon buried by the cold wind and vanished.

“……”

Steadying her rough breathing, Se-ah turned away from him.

His calm gaze did not waver at all, even at her denunciation.

Rather, at that moment, she felt ashamed of herself.

‘Do not touch Golden Spider anymore.’

That was the advice Yeon So-hyeon had given her.

She also knew that it was accurate advice.

Once Golden Spider held the Sword Family Bronze Plaque, it had become impossible for her to neutralize the Black Bone Gang.

Rather, she knew she had to focus all her efforts on erasing the traces left by Crescent Moon Pavilion.

She had merely needed someone to vent her anger on.

She had been easing her feelings by pouring it all out at the powerless Eldest Young Master of the great Luoyang Sword Family.

Also, just how broad-minded that Eldest Young Master was, that he would overlook her rudeness, perhaps she had subconsciously calculated that as well.

Her face burned hot.

“I-I am sorry, no. I apologize, Eldest Young Master.”

Fidgeting with her clasped hands, she carefully offered her apology.

That appearance was to the point where it was hard to believe she was the iron-blooded woman who had established Crescent Moon Pavilion solely by her own strength at the very bottom of Luoyang.

At her behavior, which could even be described as cute, Yeon So-hyeon let out a small chuckle.

And at that laughter, Se-ah could not lift her face even more.

“In the past, there were sisters who got along very well.”

At the sudden old story, Se-ah raised her head and looked at Yeon So-hyeon.

“The elder sister was overflowing with a sense of justice. She could not forgive the culprits who were ruining the town she lived in.”

Se-ah intuitively felt that it was a story about herself and Jeong-ah.

“The elder sister threw herself in with all she had along with the comrades who shared her will, and ultimately failed. And they were all killed.”

Was that an ominous prophecy?

Se-ah could not understand Yeon So-hyeon’s intention.

Naturally, she had no choice but to be unable to.

“The highly talented younger sister learned of her elder sister’s death and went mad. She attacked those who had driven her sister to death. Although she accumulated damage on them, the enemies were too strong. In the end, the younger sister also became a public enemy and was killed. She was hunted down.”

That was a story of the past.

And at the same time, it was a story of the future.

Yeon So-hyeon was speaking of a picture completed after putting together the missing pieces.

“They could not properly leave behind their names or their noble intentions. In the stories made up as others pleased, they became rebels and mere public enemies of the martial world . People cursed and detested those sisters.”

Having finished the story, Yeon So-hyeon looked up at the sky.

“……Due to my foolishness, I do not understand well what the Eldest Young Master is talking about.”

Se-ah carefully spoke.

“It is a story that the righteous wither away all too futilely.”

Yeon So-hyeon’s tone was incredibly heavy.

“And it is also a story that the wicked tend to win as if it is only natural.”

Grind—.

From Yeon So-hyeon, the sound of teeth grinding so roughly that it made one’s skin crawl resounded.