Chapter 80

Hwangbo Ack, head of the Hwangbo family, is a skilled martial artist but a simple-minded man.

He can’t tolerate injustice in front of him; he’d rather act than scheme for distant gain—a prototypical empty-headed, chivalrous justice type.

“Are we just going to endure this? We must unite all of Shandong’s forces and oppose Drunken Flower Manor! We won’t bow our heads and walk in while being treated like this!”

By contrast, Zhuge Gun, head of the Zhuge house, was the exact opposite.

He’d swallow a momentary insult if it meant choosing practical gain over pride.

“The Drunken Flower Manor Lord’s attitude is displeasing… but Drunken Flower Manor’s power is clearly greater than Solitary Cloud Manor’s. If he absorbs all of Shandong, he’ll only grow stronger. There’s no point in jumping off a running horse,” Yeon Mujin said to Bukgung Yoon.

“Perhaps the two Family Lords’ intentions are clashing.”

“So you mean one cares about gain and the other about face.”

“Yes. They are parallel lines that cannot compromise.”

Maybe… like this?

Bang!

Hwangbo Ack slammed the table, anger spilling out of him.

“It’s unbearable; I can’t stand it! Do you have no pride as a warrior?”

“I simply don’t put my pride above the fate of the house.”

Hwangbo Ack’s fist shot forward. Zhuge Gun drew his fan and blocked the blow.

For a heartbeat, the two Family Lords’ sharpened gazes met and passed like blades.

“Are you going to admit defeat without even trying? This concerns not just your pride but the pride of the Zhuge family—no, the whole Shandong White Path! Are you saying we should crawl in like a thousand-tailed subordinate?”

“Your wild idea is far less sensible. Defy the Bukgung family? Then what? Suppose we beat Drunken Flower Manor—what comes after? What if the Bukgung Family’s Fourth Young Master sets his sights on Shandong? The Third? The Second? Will you still preach fighting the Bukgung Family then?” Zhuge Gun replied coldly.

“Don’t make statements you can’t stand behind. I’m no fool like you. If ruin comes, let the Hwangbo house fall alone.”

Hmm….

This will be worth watching.

After all, the most entertaining spectacles are fights and fires.

“If the two of you hold such different positions, what should we do?” Bukgung Yoon asked.

“The answer is simple. If one wants face and the other wants gain, we’ll take care of both.” Yeon Mujin tapped the Green Field and Sunny Breeze prizes cradled in his arms with a finger.

“Is that the face and gain?”

“If I must distinguish, it’s closer to face than gain. What changes by holding a single piece of junk?”

“Then what gain can Flying Swallow Manor offer?”

“The gain that Flying Swallow Manor can offer is…” Yeon Mujin chuckled to himself.

“What’s so funny?”

“Manor Lord, allow me an impertinent piece of advice.”

“How novel. Captain Yeon has always overstepped.”

“You’re crossing a line.”

“Better than merely overstepping.”

Somehow the brat seems less likely to yield as days go by…

Anyway.

“No gambler abstains from the game just because they hold weak cards.”

“We’re not going to gamble, though.”

“It’s a metaphor. Understand it perfectly.”

The important thing is this.

“In a gambling bluff, even with poor cards you must put on bravado. Claim you hold strong cards. If they want to win, they’ll have to follow you. In other words, it’s more important what gains they expect from Flying Swallow Manor than what Flying Swallow Manor can actually offer.”

“…That’s unexpectedly complex for you, Captain Yeon.”

“There’s nothing difficult. I’ve already called in some windbags for that purpose.”

“Yes? Who?”

Yeon Mujin grinned.

“Those who don’t even repay money—when else would you use them if not now?”

“We are Ha Ho-baek, Noh Ja-gwang, and Yu Un-seok of the Southern Four Alliance. It’s an honor to meet the venerable elders of the Hwangbo and Zhuge families in the murim world,” the rumor lords of the Southern Four Alliance bowed toward the assembly.

Not equal to the Zhuge and Hwangbo families, the Southern Four Alliance still held considerable influence in Shandong.

Naturally, the two Family Lords knew them.

“What brings you here?”

“We came despite the risk of impropriety because we heard the two pillar houses of Shandong path are deliberating their course.”

The master of Drunken Flower Manor had threatened to take all of Shandong’s forces under his command.

For those considering opposition to Drunken Flower Manor—or, as Zhuge Gun suggested, submission to him—courting the Southern Four Alliance was a problem that needed solving.

“I’ve heard about what happened at Namsa Lake recently. I didn’t expect the Dispersing Lotus Union leader to act like that.”

“No. Thanks to it, our Union had a chance to reform.”

“I see. You received outside help in exposing the Dispersing Lotus Union leader’s betrayal?”

“Yes.”

“Outside help? From where?”

Noh Ja-gwang looked at Hwangbo Ack and answered.

“From the Flying Swallow Manor of the Bukgung Family.”

“Flying Swallow Manor…?”

At the name, several shoulders twitched on both the Zhuge and Hwangbo sides.

Hwangbo Ack searched his memory for a long moment before recalling.

“Isn’t that the manor of the youngest daughter?”

“That’s right, Family Lord.”

“What was I thinking… In any case, you’re welcome. There’s a matter for which I want your counsel.”

“It’s an important matter that will determine the course of all Shandong.”

Hwangbo Ack and Zhuge Gun showed little interest upon hearing the name Flying Swallow Manor and instead explained the situation they faced.

“So what do you think? Will you fight Drunken Flower Manor with us?”

“Or will you ignore that Hwangbo fellow’s opinion and join hands with the Drunken Flower Manor Lord?”

The two giants looked at the rumor lords with glittering eyes.

In their day, such pressure would have broken lesser men. Their opponents were the giants of Shandong, while the Southern Alliance’s rumor lords were like candles in wind.

But today was different.

Today they hadn’t come to Jinan to be swept away by the giants’ opinions.

Ha Ho-baek spoke cautiously.

“I’m sorry to say this to you two Family Lords, but…”

Noh Ja-gwang took up the words.

“The Southern Four Alliance has no intention of following either of you. We follow only Flying Swallow Manor.”

“…What?”

Finally, Ha Ho-baek concluded.

“The Southern Four Alliance already owes our lives to the Flying Swallow Manor Lord. Without their help, we would not be here. How can we betray our benefactor on a cold cost-benefit calculation while wearing another man’s skin?”

The Family Lords of the two houses furrowed their brows.

“You are now…”

“Is that even something to say in this situation?”

They were simply dumbfounded.

No matter what anyone said, they had long been the rulers of Shandong.

Zhuge and Hwangbo—hawk and tiger—their power reached every corner of the province. In the era of competing warlords, it was thanks to the two houses that Shandong’s justice faction kept its prestige.

And now the rumor lords of the minor factions under their sway—what were they saying?

Ha Ho-baek bowed politely as if apologetic and said,

“We do not know what decisions you two Family Lords will make; we understand it may differ from our Alliance’s direction. But that doesn’t mean we’ll turn our backs on Flying Swallow Manor and follow your wishes.”

“Are you even listening to us? Now is the time to unite Shandong’s power. If you won’t follow, we’ll be forced to use force to subdue the Southern Four Alliance.”

“Do it.”

“…What?”

“I only wish to say one thing.”

Ha Ho-baek lifted his head and met Hwangbo Ack’s eyes squarely.

“If you crush and trample your subordinates’ will by force, how are you any different from Drunken Flower Manor?”

“…!”

Hwangbo Ack was at a loss for words. Zhuge Gun asked in his stead.

“Will you follow loyalty even when facing death?”

“You speak of loyalty?”

The small Union leaders met each other’s eyes and found the same intent within.

The rumor lords burst into laughter at once. Zhuge Gun, not understanding, looked on as if at madmen.

“Not loyalty but gain. We believe the Flying Swallow Manor Lord will one day ascend to the Family Lord’s seat.”

“…Ha!”

“Hahaha!”

For once, Hwangbo Ack and Zhuge Gun reacted the same way.

Hwangbo Ack muttered, stunned.

“What nonsense is that? Have I missed the Bukgung Family converting into a nunnery while I wasn’t looking?”

A woman as head of the world’s premier house?

It was an absurd idea he couldn’t have dreamed even in sleep.

“Even if Solitary Cloud Manor fell, do you think the Bukgung Family Lord would give his seat to his youngest daughter? Preposterous!”

“On what basis do you say that? Is the Flying Swallow Manor Lord’s ability that great?”

“No. The Flying Swallow Manor Lord is a Manor Lord, but in truth…”

There was a man who had left a deep impression on the Southern Four Alliance rumor lords—the man associated with Flying Swallow Manor.

A man who single-handedly toppled the Night Water Clan, exposed the Dispersing Lotus Union leader’s scheme, and dragged the Southern Alliance back from the brink.

At that time, Hwangbo Ryeong, a minor house master of the Hwangbo family who had been observing, spoke to Hwangbo Ack.

“Family Lord, there’s a very peculiar person at Flying Swallow Manor.”

“…A peculiar person?”

At Hwangbo Ryeong’s words, Hwangbo Seong, sitting at the end of the table, went inexplicably dark-faced.

He knew well whom his eldest brother referred to.

The one who had shamed him on Solitary Cloud Manor’s duel stage.

Hwangbo Seong still ground his teeth at the memory, even in his sleep.

Ugh….

At the same moment, Zhuge Jo-yeon’s expression shifted.

That man had saved the minor house master of the Zhuge house when his life hung by a thread, staking his own life to rescue his elder.

—It was an exact blood-cleansing method. He woke just in time.

How relieved they were when he finished the antidote and spoke those words.

They would never forget that moment.

“A wild boar… no, as Hwangbo Ryeong says, there’s a madman at the Bukgung Family’s Flying Swallow Manor.”

“What are you blathering about all of a sudden, Kwan?”

Hwangbo Ryeong, Hwangbo Seong, Zhuge Jo-yeon, Zhuge Kwan.

All four had participated in Solitary Cloud Manor’s duel hall.

They remembered the name Flying Swallow Manor well—not for its lady, but for one man.

“Flying Swallow Manor External Protection Troops Lord.”

“Yeon Mujin.”

“Madman.”

“Son of a dog.”

One name burst from many mouths at once.

Zhuge Gun asked, puzzled,

“Exactly whom are you referring to?”

They all owed Yeon Mujin a debt, whether great or small.

The one who owed the most was Zhuge Kwan, who spoke first.

“He is the one who saved my life.”

“Ah—the one you mentioned before? The one who antidoted the poison with the ‘blood-poison wine’?”

After speaking, Zhuge Gun sensed something odd.

“But that man is a martial warrior of Flying Swallow Manor? Wasn’t he a physician?”

The answer came from Hwangbo Ryeong across the table.

“He’s an aide to the Flying Swallow Manor Lord. And he’s a madman.”

“Why on earth would an aide to the Flying Swallow Manor Lord perform the antidote?”

“That man seemed to hold a deep grudge against Solitary Cloud Manor. And he truly is a madman.”

“The manors of the Bukgung Family compete with one another, so that’s not unusual. But a madman?”

This time it was Zhuge Jo-yeon.

“If not for that man, not only would my brother’s life have been lost, but Solitary Cloud Manor’s plot wouldn’t have been uncovered. That madman.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Finally, Hwangbo Seong, still irritated by Yeon Mujin, spoke.

“He was also the one who revealed that the Green Field and Sunny Breeze Solitary Cloud Manor put up as duel-hall prizes were fake. The way he speaks is so smooth it’s maddening.”

“…?”

Amid the torrent of testimony, the single common refrain was: the man is a madman.

Hwangbo Ack felt his head spin and barked,

“What does that madman have to do with the Flying Swallow Manor Lord becoming the Family Lord?!”

“That has nothing to do with it. It’s simply that there’s a madman.”

“A madman becoming Family Lord?”

“No—that’s the Flying Swallow Manor Lord.”

“The Flying Swallow Manor Lord is a madman?”

“No, that refers to the External Protection Troops Lord. No—the Flying Swallow Manor Lord is a woman to begin with, you see?”

Zhuge Gun tapped his forehead with his fan and neatly summed up the situation.

“So among the Flying Swallow Manor Lord’s aides there is an External Protection Troops Lord named Yeon Mujin? That man saved our Kwan’s life, exposed Solitary Cloud Manor’s plot, proved Green Field and Sunny Breeze were fake, and is a madman?”

“Yes. He’s no ordinary madman.”

“…From what you say, isn’t he a knight among knights? What exactly makes him a madman?”

“Uh…”

…Is that so?

Judged only by deeds, he had been their benefactor.

But somehow it was hard to accept. Intellectually they could, but not in their hearts.

Dizzy, Hwangbo Ack shouted,

“Ah, I don’t care! Anyway it’s none of our concern! Right now the important matter is Drunken Flower Manor, not Flying Swallow Manor! Whether that fellow’s Flying Swallow Manor Lord or a madwoman, unless he comes here carrying his bundles to look for us, there’s no need to worry further!”

But as the saying goes—speak of the tiger, and it appears; speak of a person, and he arrives.

Unbeknownst to them, at the gatehouse of the Hwangbo house….

Kwahng!

“Yeon Mujin of the Bukgung Family’s Flying Swallow Manor has arrived!”

That madman had arrived at the Hwangbo house.