I Will Make It Like That. (2)

Inside a carriage of unsurpassed luxury.

Lying back with a languid face and enjoying the sway, Jang Ilso turned his head toward a small window in the wall.

The world seen through the tiny window, barely large enough to stick out a head, felt very small. From the scant scenery he couldn’t tell where they were heading or roughly where they were.

But he felt not the least bit stifled.

It amused him simply to imagine what ripples a small stone would make when thrown into a still lake.

Moreover, he was curious, how large those ripples might swell into waves in the end.

“Heh heh heh.”

He let out a low chuckle as if pleased.

“Alliance lord.”

At that moment a cautious voice came from outside the carriage. Jang Ilso replied slowly.

“I’m listening.”

“A report on the situation in Northern lands has arrived.”

Jang Ilso’s long eyelashes twitched faintly.

“Continue then.”

“Both the Nine Great Sects and the Heavenly Friends Alliance are bustling as if they’ve grasped the situation, but it seems they have not yet begun to move in our wake.”

“Hmm…”

“At least the Heavenly Friends Alliance appears to be preparing to move in, but the Nine Great Sects show no particular movement yet. It even seems possible they might just sit tight…”

Jang Ilso laughed, a little incredulous.

“Ga-Myung’s absence shows itself in moments like this.”

“…My apologies.”

“Not that they’re sitting tight; they’re just slow. Bigshots always fear any possible mistake, so they wait around until everything is certain.”

Especially Beop Jeong would act that way.

They had already assessed that old man Beop Jeong during the Namgung Family incident. He is someone who does not want his faction to suffer even the tiniest loss. More precisely, he is terribly wary of any responsibility falling on him.

Such a man would not move rashly in a situation still so uncertain. Even if it meant bearing some loss, he’d wait until things were clearer, then, though the losses might be larger, his personal responsibility would be reduced.

There was nothing particularly new or strange about that.

It’s a common trait of those who stiffly insist on face and moral pretext, the ones who hide behind the mantle of the Justice faction and have acted this way as a matter of course.

Rather, it was Mount Hua and the Heavenly Friends Alliance, who had always countered Jang Ilso’s moves like spirits, who had been uncharacteristically unlike the Justice faction.

“And… ah, never mind.”

“Hmm?”

The trailing off piqued Jang Ilso’s interest. There shouldn’t be any new news to speak of, right?

“Do you have more to say?”

“W-well, it’s a minor piece of news… I’m not sure it merits reporting to the Alliance lord…”

“Speak freely.”

“Yes! Uh… about thirty people have gone missing in the south.”

“Thirty?”

“Yes. The missing are only just entering first-rate level, so it’s not particularly important… but the cause is hard to find…”

The corner of Jang Ilso’s mouth twitched up slightly.

“Location?”

“Near Fuzhou. To the south.”

“Fuzhou?”

“Yes! We thought it might be the work of the Heavenly Friends Alliance moving northward, but the place where the disappearances occurred isn’t totally deserted, and it’s somewhat out of the direction we expected them to be. It doesn’t seem like they’d reveal themselves and fight there. Perhaps there’s another cause.”

“Heh heh heh heh.”

Jang Ilso, who had been silently listening, burst out laughing. Not his usual uncanny, chilling laugh, but the kind he couldn’t hold back because it was too funny.

“Ha ha ha ha. Anyway!”

Laughing cheerfully, he ran his long fingers over his face as if all the frustration he’d felt toward Beop Jeong’s handling had vanished.

“Really, what a nasty-tempered child.”

“Should we send an investigation team…?”

“Leave them be.”

Jang Ilso murmured softly to himself with a laugh.

“It’s like an invitation sent to me. It’s nothing you need worry about.”

At that puzzling remark, silence returned from outside the carriage instead of any reply.

Jang Ilso didn’t bother relaying what he had learned. There was no reason, and even if he said it they wouldn’t understand, so it would just be wasted breath.

He heard it in his mind.

‘I am here. Don’t you want to come kill me?’

The voice of that fellow, as if speaking.

“Ha ha ha.”

Unable to contain the laugh that pushed through, Jang Ilso laughed once more.

“I have absolutely no taste for falling for a man’s temptations, though.”

In any case, the Ten Thousand People Clan suffered losses because of the Heavenly Friends Alliance this time. Of course those losses could be fully compensated by catching the ones who infiltrated the Southern Island, but…

“Even so, the arithmetic still doesn’t add up.”

Even if the Four Sects Alliance profits and the Heavenly Friends Alliance takes a big hit, that wouldn’t stop the Nine Great Sects from reaping the benefits. From the Four Sects Alliance’s perspective, even if they don’t lose out, the gain would still taste bad.

And the same goes for Mount Hua’s Sword Saint, that is, the Heavenly Friends Alliance. They will try to draw in the Nine Great Sects somehow. From Mount Hua’s Sword Saint’s perspective, the biggest bait to move the Nine Great Sects is Jang Ilso, and…

“They think the biggest bait to move me is themselves? Tsk tsk tsk. Their self-importance is off the charts.”

Jang Ilso smiled and gazed quietly out the window.

This is when it’s interesting.

Mount Hua’s Sword Saint tries to lure him out to move the Nine Great Sects, and he is already moving just as Mount Hua expected. They’ve never spoken about it, yet they think the same.

Having dealt with fools who couldn’t react properly to obvious moves, he couldn’t help laughing at someone trying to seize his head and shake him about.

“You don’t have to hurry them, they’re already doing it.”

From Jang Ilso’s standpoint, there was no reason to watch the Nine Great Sects stand idly by across the river. Flames grow more splendid the more fuel there is.

A long finger tapped his pale cheek.

“But Mount Hua’s Sword Saint…”

The corners of his lips, red as blood, curved up fully.

“Be careful. Those flames might swallow you whole.”

Tilting his head back, he spoke in a languid voice.

“Tell the Pirates to move.”

“Yes, Alliance lord!”

“If those old men with little time left dither, then force them to move.”

Jang Ilso closed his eyes slowly with a triumphant expression.

❀ ❀ ❀

“Report!”

The man who burst through the door raised his voice without a care for propriety.

“Word has it the Four Sects Alliance’s forces, led by the Hegemony Lord, have reached Mount Huang!”

Beop Jeong raised an eyebrow and asked back.

“Already near Mount Huang?”

“Yes! The Beggars’ Union transmitted the news.”

“…Understood.”

“Yes.”

When the door closed, Beop Jeong sighed as if he’d been waiting; Jong Ri-Hyung, sect leader, who had been silently grim, spoke up.

“If they’re at Mount Huang, isn’t that a position that reaches Hefei when moving north?”

“…Yes, that’s right.”

“H-how could this…”

Jong Ri-Hyung asked anxiously with a dismayed face.

“Then shouldn’t we do something as well, Abbott?”

Beop Jeong closed his eyes without a word.

‘How…’

Jong Ri-Hyung felt urgency about the immediate situation, but what was truly boiling Beop Jeong’s blood was something else.

‘That Namgung attaching himself to the Heavenly Friends Alliance would lead to this!’

This situation would never have occurred normally. Beyond the lower Yangtze river, the land they should tread is Anhui, the place where the Namgung Family had held sway like landlords.

If Namgung, once called the head of the Five Great Families, had preserved their strength, even the Four Sects Alliance would not have easily invaded Anhui.

Even if the Four Sects Alliance is powerful, if Namgung had only momentarily held them back, Wudang and Shaolin could have sent reinforcements.

But that once-solid wall has crumbled now, due to the absence of the Namgung Family and Wudang’s sealing of the gates.

Wudang aside, Namgung Family joining the Heavenly Friends Alliance is terribly fatal. If they’d moved to river mouth instead of staying to guard Anhui, this would not have happened.

‘Namgung Hwang’s reckless move has ultimately produced this result.’

Beop Jeong sighed again, unable to ease his frustration.

At that moment, Peng Yeop, head of the Peng Family, spoke.

“As Sect leader Jong Ri said, it’s best to respond first. If we let them cross the river unopposed, the damage will be uncontrollable.”

Beop Jeong slowly opened his closed eyes.

‘Hegemony Lord Jang Ilso.’

There are many people in the world, but is there anyone else who can toy with others so painfully as he does?

“What is the Heavenly Friends Alliance doing now?”

“They seem inclined to follow the Hegemony Lord eastward, but they haven’t departed yet.”

“They’re dilly-dallying, uncharacteristic of them.”

Irritation colored Beop Jeong’s voice; Jong Ri-Hyung glanced at him carefully.

“I hear Mount Hua’s Sword Saint is not currently with the Heavenly Friends Alliance; might that be the reason?”

Beop Jeong bit his lip without realizing it.

What a hopeless fish. When present, they gnawed at him by existing; when gone, his absence brings its own headache.

When Mount Hua’s Sword Saint holds the reins of the Heavenly Friends Alliance, at least one can predict their actions. But with Mount Hua absent, Hyun Jong will likely seize control, and such a Heavenly Friends Alliance is hard to predict even for Beop Jeong of the world.

In the end, Beop Jeong had but one thing to say.

“Let’s wait a little longer.”

“Abbott! We don’t have that time. If they really do cross the river…”

“I know.”

The civilian casualties would inevitably be large, and Anhui would plunge into chaos in an instant.

“It’s not as if I’m at ease. But… at first, it’s not too late to move after seeing the Heavenly Friends Alliance move.”

A sigh escaped from Jong Ri-Hyung’s lips.

Beop Jeong might not be wrong, if the opponent weren’t Jang Ilso.

Why do they still not know that the moment Jang Ilso’s intention becomes clear, it’s already after irreparable events have occurred? Despite all they’ve been through!

‘There is a limit to prudence.’

Mulling words he couldn’t bring himself to say to Beop Jeong’s face, Jong Ri-Hyung clenched his lips in frustration.

“A- Abbott!”

Bang!

At that moment the door flew open and someone barreled in.

“What’s the matter?”

Sensing something had happened, Beop Jeong widened his eyes.

“T-the enemies are crossing the river…!”

“What did you say?”

He leapt up in alarm.

“Jang Ilso, who was at Mount Huang, is crossing the river? What is that supposed to mean?”

“N-no, it’s not that, it’s the Pirates! The Pirates!”

“W-what did you say?”

The messenger who had run in looked completely drained of color.

“A fleet of the Pirates is attacking this place right now!”

Beop Jeong’s wrinkled face went pale in an instant.