Traveling With The Enemy (2)

“Boss, aren’t we going back to the mountain?”

〔If we return today, it could look like we stole the Ice Essence Crystal and fled.〕

He worried about everything.

“Then when do we go?”

〔After word comes from the Martial Alliance.〕

“What word?”

〔There is such a thing.〕

Majil kept asking while Neung Je-gang replied by sound transmission as they had a late breakfast.

“Huh? That woman is really pretty.”

Suddenly, Majil stopped eating, turned his head, and spoke.

“Who is she?”

Neung Je-gang also turned his gaze.

Hiccup!

Neung Je-gang wasn’t endlessly iron-nerved. He was so startled he hiccupped. The “pretty woman” Majil meant was Go So-jeong, neatly dressed in a light women’s field kit.

“Boss, what’s with you all of a sudden?”

Majil stared wide-eyed at the hiccupping Neung Je-gang. Warriors didn’t hiccup; they could control it with inner energy.

Go So-jeong stepped smartly over to their table and spoke.

“Father is looking for you.”

“Huh?”

This time Neung Je-gang was surprised. Wasn’t she the sort who ought to start cursing him out as a bastard? But “is looking for you”? He glanced at her again, thinking he’d misheard.

“So this is the man they call Blazing Flame Ghost, right?”

Ignoring Neung Je-gang’s reaction, Go So-jeong greeted Majil.

“I’m Go So-jeong, captain of the Order-Relay Squad under the Martial Alliance’s Investigation Unit.”

“I’m Ma… Blazing Flame Master.”

Enthralled by her beauty, Majil tried to hide his own name. Honestly, “Majil” was a bit embarrassing to say aloud with pride.

“Master Ma Blazing Flame? Is that your original alias?”

Unaware of the circumstances, Go So-jeong drove a spike into Majil’s chest.

“His name is Majil. His alias is Blazing Flame Master.”

Watching from the side, Neung Je-gang answered for him.

“Oh—my apologies. The official notice said Blazing Flame Ghost… Anyway, what a distinctive name. Why did you choose it?”

Assuming he had deliberately changed his name, she asked another tactless question.

“If you’ve delivered the message, go back. Don’t sour people’s mood with random questions.”

Neung Je-gang shut her down again.

Go So-jeong glared up at him, eyes narrowed. But Neung Je-gang was the sort who believed once rude, always rude; whatever she did, he didn’t so much as blink.

What startled him at first wasn’t her showing up, but the thought she might have caught him stealing the crystal.

Go So-jeong sprang up, and, as when she had entered, walked briskly out of the inn.

“Whew!”

Once she was completely out of sight, Majil let out a deep sigh.

“Boss, how could you do that?”

“Do what?”

“How can you talk so rough to such a pretty woman? I couldn’t think of a single thing to say…”

“You’ve seen plenty of pretty women before, haven’t you?”

“Sure, lots. But never one that pretty… She almost gives off a fragrance just standing there.”

Majil’s face went dreamy with rapture.

“What fragrance… At best, it’s tracking scent.”

Neung Je-gang had already sensed she’d scattered tracking powder again. Which meant another bath in sulfur water.

“So that’s why you couldn’t even say your own name and stuttered?”

“‘Majil’ is embarrassing, you know. Hehehe!”

Majil ended up laughing like that—but there was sadness in the laugh.

“We’ve decided to grant your condition. Since the Martial Alliance and the Black Alliance aren’t strangers just now, most elders approved. With the proviso that your one request must not be judged evil…”

Four people were gathered in Go Won-gi’s office: Go Won-gi, Neung Je-gang, Go So-jeong, and Majil.

As Go Won-gi spoke, only Go So-jeong’s expression subtly changed; the room otherwise stayed even.

Majil, staring at Go So-jeong’s face, didn’t know whether his tea went into his mouth or his nose.

“If anything not evil is allowed, then I could ask for the Alliance Leader’s seat, yes?”

“What?”

Go Won-gi froze. Go So-jeong’s jaw dropped and wouldn’t close.

“Oh, don’t be alarmed. I wouldn’t take such a headache of a post even for free. Naturally, what I ask won’t be something evil.”

“I know very well Secret Shadow isn’t evil. But what to do—surely some elders are their people. As I said, by now they may be ready to seize you…”

Go Won-gi spoke with a worried face.

“You said most elders approved—so there were dissenters.”

“Right. We’re already quietly digging into their backgrounds. They must have something rotten to have opposed it.”

Go Won-gi clenched his fist—meaning he’d smash anything even slightly off.

“Then also look among the approvers for whoever had the closest ties to those dissenters—or the greatest influence.”

“Hm? Why?”

“The real one usually hides in the dark. The ignoramuses strut in the open. He might have ridden the prevailing current while using small fry to muddy the mood.”

“Ah…!”

“Oh-ho, I see.”

Go Won-gi and Go So-jeong exclaimed. Majil, of course, simply stared brazenly at Go So-jeong’s face without a thought in his head.

“If, by chance, that person also stands to gain the most when the man I flagged last time is out of the way, then it’s almost certainly him.”

Or not.

Neung Je-gang smiled inwardly.

“But how can you read things that far? That isn’t something you learn from books…”

Can’t exactly say it’s because I saw so many power struggles back in the Eastern Depot.

Grin.

Neung Je-gang only smiled. Anyone could understand he couldn’t explain—anyone but Majil.

“Time is urgent. Head to Guangxi at once.”

As if loath to hold him any longer, Go Won-gi urged departure.

But Neung Je-gang had business at Kuaiji Mountain.

“I’ll stop by Kuaiji Mountain first. I have something to do there.”

“More urgent than the Black Alliance’s affair?”

“No, but it concerns a person’s whole life.”

What if Je So-yeon could never live as a proper woman?

By importance, the Black Alliance matter was surely greater.

“If it isn’t urgent, handle the Black Alliance first and go after. Do that for me.”

If So-yeon starts growing a beard, the shock will be immense…

Because Je Yeong-hak had said he could even call back a departed soul, Neung Je-gang had no doubts—he truly believed Je So-yeon might turn into a man.

〔Tell them you’re going to Guangxi—if you don’t want the Ice Essence Crystal exposed.〕

At that moment of hesitation, Go So-jeong’s sound transmission reached his ear.

Gasp!

Neung Je-gang looked at her in surprise.

She lifted her teacup and sipped, feigning ignorance, but with the cup covering her lips, she kept sending.

〔Wondering how I knew? Don’t I know you can change your face as you please? But your eyes never change. The moment I saw you in the Ice Vault, I knew. Hehe—if you don’t want it known that Secret Shadow is a petty thief, say you’re leaving for Guangxi now.〕

“I’ll go. We depart immediately.”

He had no choice. With her so certain, pretending ignorance was pointless.

“Oh, excellent. Loyal as ever, I see. Ha ha ha!”

Not knowing why, Go Won-gi laughed in relief.

‘The Divine Doctor will take good care of things so they don’t worsen—it is his granddaughter, after all… Anyway, in the Black Alliance I’ll have to be rough if needed and finish fast.’

Until he delivered the crystal, he would have to trust Je Yeong-hak.

“Then we’ll be off…”

Time pressed; there was no leisure to sit any longer.

Whether he sensed Neung Je-gang’s impatience or not, Go Won-gi added,

“Take this one along. Let her learn something by watching you.”

He tapped Go So-jeong. Likely a bit of heir training; for a unit like the Investigation Unit, breadth of experience was best.

“Very well.”

At another time they’d have argued “yes” and “no” for a while, but there was no time to waste now.

When Neung Je-gang left and Go So-jeong followed, Majil, delighted to be going with her, trailed behind grinning ear to ear.

After they all bustled out, Go Won-gi cocked his head. He had been braced for a shouting match over taking her along.

“Well, if it worked out, good. Now I should investigate the matter Secret Shadow raised—how the Vice Alliance Leader ties to those who opposed.”

Go Won-gi suspected the Vice Alliance Leader. In the Alliance Leader’s absence, the vice was the closest successor; besides, he often disagreed with the leader.

“Hm… That aside, it’d be a waste to leave Secret Shadow free. I must draw him into the Martial Alliance somehow. Temptation won’t work on So-jeong’s temperament; in the end I’ll have to use the Dam father and daughter as terms.”

Go Won-gi, too, had busy days ahead.

Meanwhile, Go So-jeong said to Neung Je-gang, who was hastening toward the main gate,

“A carriage is ready.”

For official journeys, riding by carriage was standard.

“At a carriage’s pace, we’ll never get there.”

Since Go So-jeong was being careful with her words, Neung Je-gang also refrained from barking orders.

“Then how?”

“We’ll go by lightness skill.”

“Are you mad? It’s over five thousand li from here to the Black Alliance. You’d go that far on lightness?”

“The Necromancer Cult will be after us. You don’t intend to ride a carriage and eat every one of their ambushes, do you?”

There was no need for a tedious quarrel.

“……!”

If you just declared “we’re running there,” anyone would object; it wasn’t a one- or two-day dash.

But when the enemy called the Necromancer Cult entered the equation, Go So-jeong had to close her mouth.

“Even so, let’s at least swing by the carriage. There’s something I need to take.”

“Did you leave travel funds there?”

“No.”

“Then we go as is. Clothes can be bought when needed.”

In the end, yielding to Neung Je-gang’s stubbornness, they set out at once.

“Boss, what about me?”

Majil asked, worried. His “lightness” was basically fast sprinting; he’d have to die three or four times to match Neung Je-gang’s flying speed.

“You… I’ll have to carry. Damn it.”

Neung Je-gang twisted his face.

“Hehehe!”

Why did Majil’s laugh grate so much?

In any case, the thought of riding on Neung Je-gang’s back filled Majil with bliss—he’d finally get to fly like he’d wished.

“Then keep up. Don’t lag behind.”

Leaving a jab at Go So-jeong’s pride, Neung Je-gang shot forward with Majil on his back, ignoring the unspoken etiquette of not using lightness recklessly before common folk.

“Hmph, look down on me, will you? Shall I just kill him and make him pay dog’s blood money?”

Go So-jeong leapt after them; feeling slighted brought out her true temper.

Thus they set off on a long, long road.