Chapter 77

‘What just happened?’

That thought popped up in the minds of everyone watching.

What on earth had just happened?

Even the brothers on the Lotus Pavilion and the Bukgung guards below couldn’t believe the identity of the person who had fallen into the pond.

No way, right?

Nah, it can’t be.

I must have seen it wrong…

“Pffft—!”

But when Bukgung Yeong-noh surfaced and spat out water, everyone had to accept reality.

Bukgung Yoon had sent Bukgung Yeong-noh flying; the family’s youngest daughter—long regarded as its weakest—had knocked the feared Second Young Master into the pond.

And she had done it with a flourish.

Even the Fourth and Fifth Young Masters—men who had never cared for others’ opinions—glanced anxiously at their elder, worried about what would come next.

Strength was Bukgung Yeong-noh’s only pride; if it was shattered, how would the Second Young Master react?

“……”

Under everyone’s gaze, the Second Young Master pushed himself out of the water and climbed up onto the Lotus Pavilion.

His finely woven martial uniform was soaked and clung to his broad frame.

Bukgung Yeong-noh swept his hair back and glared at Bukgung Yoon.

Bukgung Yoon, without intending to, ducked behind Yeon Mujin.

People held their breath for his words.

“Uuum!”

He sank into a seat and said.

“Damn it! I lost!”

There was no malice in his voice.

He scratched his head, blaming himself.

“Damn it! I let my guard down. I never imagined you’d have that move up your sleeve. Bukgung Yeong-noh still has a long way to go.”

He looked at Bukgung Yoon.

“Yoon, you’ve learned Easy Shift of Hand. Where did you pick that up? That’s Shaolin’s Golden Nasu Technique.”

“Why, you’re not suggesting the Lord of Heavenly Martial Manor will call it a foul, are you?”

Yeon Mujin answered for her.

“So you were the one who taught her?”

Yeon Mujin smiled broadly instead of answering.

“Ha! You caught me. But how do you know Easy Shift of Hand? Your skill level is high—could you be a Shaolin disciple, or a heretic expelled from the order?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I picked it up somewhere.”

Bukgung Yeong-noh regarded Yeon Mujin with growing interest.

He knew it wasn’t something picked up casually.

Learning a technique and teaching it to someone else are entirely different matters.

Besides, wasn’t the youngest sibling someone who didn’t even know the basics?

The more he learned, the more he wanted this fellow Yeon Mujin.

“A man doesn’t break his word. Lady of Flying Swallow Manor, do you have a request for me?”

When Yeon Mujin stepped aside, Bukgung Yoon stepped forward, her face tense.

Seeing her, Bukgung Yeong-noh’s itch for a fight stirred.

“Lady of Flying Swallow Manor, Bukgung Yoon!”

“Yes, yes!”

“Servility is no virtue of a victor. If you defeat me, hold your head high. Do you intend to humiliate me?”

At his roar, Bukgung Yoon straightened.

“Speak. Do you have a petition for me?”

“I…”

Bukgung Yoon slowly looked over the faces around her—Heavenly Martial Manor Lord Bukgung Yeong-noh, Lord of Ten-Thousand Gold Bukgung Yun-ram, and Lord of Drunken Flower Manor Bukgung Mok-min.

One dragon watching her, and two whales eyeing Flying Swallow Manor hungrily.

They were the lifeline she had been agonizing over for Flying Swallow Manor.

She clenched her fist and swallowed.

“I have one question for Heavenly Martial Manor Lord.”

“Speak.”

“Heavenly Martial Manor Lord, are you aiming for our External Protection Troops?”

Bukgung Yeong-noh’s gaze flicked momentarily to Yeon Mujin before returning.

“Yes.”

Bukgung Yoon nodded.

“Lord, behind you, Bukgung Yun-ram and Bukgung Mok-min are targeting our Flying Swallow Manor.”

The two men’s shoulders twitched.

It felt like a bullied younger sister telling the elder brother all their misdeeds.

Bukgung Yeong-noh looked at his youngest sibling with a frown.

“…So? Are you asking me to block them for you?”

“Yes.”

“What?”

“Please block them.”

It was an oddly confident request.

Yeong-noh was taken aback—she was making this plea with no shred of pride?

“You said that with your own mouth now…”

“Flying Swallow Manor has only just taken its first steps. We lack the strength and standing to negotiate properly with you brothers. Whether Heavenly Martial Manor Lord has his eye on Captain Yeon, or on Flying Swallow Manor itself and its legitimacy—if anything is to be exchanged, I want it sold at its proper price.”

Bukgung Yoon met the eyes of the Fourth Young Master and Fifth Young Master in turn.

“So I need time—time for Flying Swallow Manor’s worth to become apparent. Or…”

Then she looked at the Second Young Master and spoke again.

“Time for our Flying Swallow Manor to grow strong enough to dominate and defeat other manors.”

“……”

The Fourth and Fifth Young Masters’ brows tightened with malice.

They were displeased with their sister’s provocative declaration.

But Bukgung Yeong-noh was different.

He curled a corner of his mouth and asked Bukgung Yoon.

“Do you think you can beat me?”

“Why would I have to win? I’m just acting as a manor lord. I have guards that even the Heavenly Martial Manor Lord covets. The External Protection Troops will handle Heavenly Martial Manor’s warriors.”

“You think that fellow can take on the entire main force?”

“Given time, I believe it’s certainly possible.”

“Ha!”

Bukgung Yeong-noh threw back his head and laughed loudly.

Before he became head of the Bukgung Family, he was a warrior—one who sought out fights and relished a challenge.

Unfortunately, since becoming Heavenly Martial Manor Lord, few had come to challenge him.

People saw him not as a warrior but only as the Manor Lord.

Everywhere he looked were flatterers, swindlers, and hollow brutes.

And now, a challenge from a younger sibling he’d never paid attention to?

Bukgung Yeong-noh looked at Yeon Mujin and asked.

“Do you have the confidence to amuse me?”

Yeon Mujin replied.

“That depends on the Manor Lord’s level, doesn’t it?”

It was unbearably arrogant.

If anyone else had said that, Yeong-noh would have had them beaten to death on the spot.

But this man was the warrior who had dealt crippling blows to the Lonely Claw Troops of Solitary Cloud Manor and survived. In origin and skill, he was an inscrutable expert hidden behind a veil.

Bukgung Yeong-noh could not contain his curiosity. He wanted, someday, to face him one-on-one as warriors.

But.

Not today.

Bukgung Yeong-noh rose from his seat.

“Very well. I accept the Lady of Flying Swallow Manor’s petition.”

“…Hyung!”

Bukgung Mok-min cried out in astonishment.

“Hyung? Who said I was your hyung? I didn’t come here as family, you brat.”

The Heavenly Martial Manor Lord rose to his feet.

Though he’d been defeated by Bukgung Yoon and was soaked head to toe, there was no trace of a defeated man’s servility.

“Bukgung Yun-ram, Bukgung Mok-min, listen. Do not think to seize Flying Swallow Manor through scheming. If you want it, fight and take it by your strength. I will not forgive deals struck with a few words. If you attempt such a thing…”

The Heavenly Martial Manor Lord struck his fists together and declared.

“You will learn how many monsters are in my main force.”

It was the moment the dragon pushed the whales away.

Bukgung Yeong-noh looked at Bukgung Yoon and asked.

“Satisfied?”

“We are grateful for the Heavenly Martial Manor Lord’s protection.”

“Hah! It’s not mere protection—it’s so the fight will be more entertaining. I want a battle where we risk our lives and clash at full strength, not schemes that exchange interests with a few words.”

He approached Bukgung Yoon and reached out his hand.

Bukgung Yoon flinched; he merely patted his sister’s head.

“Grow up fast. Grow up and once in a while give me some amusement. Hahaha!”

Bukgung Yeong-noh left the Lotus Pavilion, his laughter trailing behind.

Once he left, the Fourth and Fifth Young Masters felt utterly put out, like dogs chasing a chicken.

The first to stand was the Fourth Young Master.

From the start he hadn’t been desperate for Flying Swallow Manor’s aid; he simply didn’t want it to fall into the Fifth Young Master’s hands.

Because of the Heavenly Martial Manor Lord’s declaration, it became difficult for either of them to make a move on Flying Swallow Manor right away.

That wasn’t entirely a bad situation for him either.

“Hmph! Let’s go back!”

The one who lost the most in today’s meeting was the Fifth Young Master, Bukgung Mok-min.

He was angry, but couldn’t cause a scene here.

If word reached his second brother, he couldn’t handle the wrath.

The playful smile that had been on his lips was gone.

Bukgung Mok-min glared at Bukgung Yoon and Yeon Mujin as if he would kill them, then said to his escort commander,

“Prepare some good liquor. We’re returning to Drunken Flower Manor as well.”

Only after all the lords had left did Bukgung Yoon slump into her seat.

“…Phew!”

As the tension eased, fatigue washed over her all at once.

In any case, this bought them a reprieve for the time being.

“After doing well, why are you like this?”

“I can’t do it twice…”

Yeon Mujin looked at Bukgung Yoon with tired eyes.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I don’t have the confidence to face the Heavenly Martial Manor Lord. What am I supposed to do if you dump that on me?”

“I would do it if the manor lord ordered it. Why are the lesser ones so full of complaints?”

“Ah, really. You’re getting more brazen by the day.”

“This is all I learned by watching.”

Yeon Mujin let out an incredulous laugh.

He’d only picked up bad manners somewhere.

Staring at the calm pond, he said suddenly,

“I’ll resign as the External Protection Troops’ captain and run away.”

“Not permitted. Absolutely not.”

“How am I supposed to deal with that monster?”

“If you go back, I’ll bury you in a sunny spot.”

“……”

Yeon Mujin thought if he died and regressed, the first thing he’d do was take revenge on Bukgung Yoon.

…Of course.

That Bukgung Yoon of that day probably wouldn’t remember Yeon Mujin.

There was one thing he hadn’t explained to Bukgung Yoon.

This wasn’t Yeon Mujin’s original plan.

Yeon Mujin had intended to ask the Second Young Master for something else: among the items Flying Swallow Manor needed, the Second Young Master possessed one.

Though the man himself might not even know he had it.

But Bukgung Yoon beat him to it, and the chance to petition vanished.

In the end, he didn’t think Bukgung Yoon’s approach was bad.

After all, she’d achieved the original purpose of finding a lifeline for Flying Swallow Manor between the two whales.

However…

The next part was the problem.

In the Second Young Master’s Heavenly Martial Manor estate stood a treasure vault where he kept secret manuals and divine artifacts.

It was called the Heavenly Martial Vault.

Heavenly Martial Manor’s Heavenly Martial Vault—only Bukgung Yeong-noh would name it that.

Yeon Mujin wanted an opportunity to enter the Heavenly Martial Vault.

There was something inside he needed.

You ask what it was?

What could it be? It’s obvious.

It was the real Green Field and Sunny Breeze.

The Green Field and Sunny Breeze that Solitary Cloud Manor had was a fake; the real one was kept in the Heavenly Martial Vault.

Even the Second Young Master who possessed it did not know Green Field and Sunny Breeze’s true nature; Yeon Mujin learned that later.

So, having missed his chance, would he give up on Green Field and Sunny Breeze?

Not a chance. Yeon Mujin was not a man quick to give up.

If he couldn’t obtain it honestly, he’d get it by dishonest means.

How?

Sss—.

He felt the snug, clingy sensation of a night robe again after a long time.

A chilly breeze brushed his eyes; the air of the dead of night.

Ah—it’s time for the great thief Yeon Mujin to return.