Chapter 10 — The Sorcerer And The Mother (2)

“I have heard the tale, madam. Your son, it seems, has been struck down by the disease that has lately come into fashion.”
“From the Yun House…. Yes, I had received word. It truly can be cured, can it not?”

The terms between them had already been settled, so the words that passed now did not run long.
In any case, this was not a matter that could be resolved by trading a few sentences on the spot.

To judge by Yun Jubaek having sent word ahead, the core of the bargain had already been struck.
More than that, the mistress of the house, her eyes wild with fear for her child, was in no state to weigh one circumstance against another.

“You may put your trust in us, madam. With my own eyes I have already seen one ‘patient’ cured.”
“Aaah…! I shall not forget the Yun House’s goodwill. Quickly, inside, quickly!”

Even a stage comedy could not have arranged an exchange so neatly.

Shin Hweein gave a small snort at the sight of the Seo House mistress, the tracks of her tears not yet dry, and thrust out his staff to halt Shin Myeongin, who looked ready to flare up and step forward at any moment.

“What is it!”
“This matter is already settled. So think only of what you can carry back for the sake of your House. A word let slip carelessly becomes a weakness on the spot, but gathered up well it will surely help you later.”
“…You can’t even carry anything back yourself, so why is it you who’s bothering?”

Just so, indeed.

Shin Hweein sighed inwardly.

When he had first clashed with Shin Myeongin, his fury had run so high his eyes nearly rolled back in his head. Yet now that the feeling had subsided, the thought that she was, after all, his own flesh and blood had begun to weigh on him. Truly, the human heart is a thing past knowing.

“Since I cannot carry anything for myself, ought I not at least to carry something for another?”

Pressing down the urge to enlighten his fool of a younger sister even at this late hour, Shin Hweein made whatever excuse came to him.

At that, Shin Myeongin’s reaction was a sight to behold.

“You… could it be you like me? It’s a little creepy, you turning all weird like this.”
“If ever such a day should come, by then I shall already be no longer human, so kill me without a second thought.”
“What did you just say?!”

Had not Father Lucas, the other day, likened her to a wild boar?
That description was, in truth, exact.
She was nothing but a boar-yokai given human shape, charging headlong at whatever stood before her without a thought in her skull.

“That cannot be!”

But just as the party was about to step smoothly inside, someone came bursting out in stockinged feet to bar their way.

“It is true that the Yun House sends its people upon secret business, and I understand it well. Even so, one whose face is hidden by a mask cannot be brought into the main hall of the Seo House.”

He was, in all likelihood, the steward who oversaw the servants, a middle-aged man in a robe of office-like solemnity, panting as he stood blocking their path.
The woman who had been about to lead them inside flared up at the sight, her eyes flashing, and shoved him aside.

“Steward, stand back! Do you think this is a moment to be quibbling over empty formalities?!”
“It cannot be done, my lady! The head of the house will never forgive it!”
“His son has been struck down and he has not so much as shown his face. What kind of head of the house is that!”

The affairs of this household run smoothly indeed.

It was common talk that, of the three of the Three Capital Houses, this one stood lowest in dignity. Even so, that an illustrious house, a member of the Eight Pure-Blood Houses representing all of Aeshin, should welcome a guest with so dignified a conversation before he had even crossed the threshold of its main hall was enough to make him want to applaud in admiration.
At least there was the small mercy that, from outside, a barrier had been raised so none beyond could behold this spectacle.

— Moa.
— It is already done, young master.

Reasoning that to cast the disguise-art himself, as before, might risk discovery, Shin Hweein had asked Geum Moa to perform the sorcery, and the moment he heard her answer he stripped off his mask at once.

“….”
“Ah, the mask….”
“Eeeh….”

They had surely never dreamt he would cast off the mask so easily.
The steward put on a somewhat dismayed expression, the mistress one of relief.
Last of all, ignoring the deeply disappointed look that came over Shin Myeongin, Shin Hweein opened his mouth.

“Allow me to greet you again. I have passed the national Rank-3 Sorcerer examination and formally obtained the qualification of sorcerer. I am called Shin Hae.”
“…Is that, then, your true face?”
“It is. As you see, it is utterly plain, and so, thinking to lay at least a curse upon it, I go about wearing a mask. I have been most discourteous before persons of so distinguished a House.”

When he had finished and bowed politely, the steward, who had been about to say something further, at last drew back beneath the mistress’s fierce gaze.

“You have shown consideration for our position, Sorcerer Shin Hae. Thank you. Then come, please, inside.”
“Pardon the intrusion.”
“Ah, since I am the one who has brought him, let me lead the way.”

At that, Yun Jubaek tapped Shin Hweein on the shoulder and stepped forward ahead of him.
To another eye it might have looked as if he were putting on airs of seniority, but Shin Hweein did not miss the faint stirring of ki that arose the moment Yun Jubaek crossed within the gate.

‘A kind of security device, I take it. Without doubt the Gate-King God dwells in this place as well.’

So Yun Jubaek had stepped to the front in order to show him this.
He had no need to worry, however, for at this moment he stood under the protection of Geum Moa, who had concealed her true nature within the Shin House for upwards of ten years.

“…Tch.”
“Hm.”

When he passed through the gate as though nothing whatever had occurred, the steward openly clicked his tongue, and the mistress, too, briefly let a displeased look cross her face.
For if he had been hiding something and been caught at it, from that point on the balance between them would have been wholly overturned. They would not have had to entreat him as they did now, but would have been free to make use of him as they pleased.

‘Truly, they are people one cannot associate with.’

Had he still been wearing the mask, he could at least have glared at them unnoticed; but with his face uncovered he had no choice but to keep a composed expression.

“Then let us go and see the patient.”
“This way, please.”

The party at once moved into the interior of the Seo House main hall.
Entering the building was not the end of it. The inner space, broad as a palace, was such as to leave anyone who stepped within wandering this way and that, robbed of all sense of direction.

“This way.”

Yet whenever the mistress moved her feet, vast doors swung open as if to welcome them, and the space beyond revealed itself.
Without doubt there were paths known only to the people of the house.
So it came about that, whenever she moved her feet, all the rest followed in her train.

“It is wide….”
“Just how wide, one could not even say with any precision.”
“This way.”

Each time a door opened, a magnificent corridor newly kindled into light.
The dazzling ornament hanging from the lofty ceilings made plain how much wealth the Seo House possessed.
It was said that their tradition fell short of the other two of the Three Capital Houses, but that, through the many enterprises they presided over, the money they brought in was the foremost of the three; and so, even from a brief glimpse of the main hall, that wealth was readily surmised.

“Next, this way.”

What was more astonishing still was that, each time a new door opened, the inner structure of the building shifted in real time.
One whose senses were dull might never have noticed, but to Shin Hweein’s spirit-eye more than that was visible.

“Ah, it’s Her Ladyship…!”
“How can she be here already.”
“It’s not ready yet.”
“The steward said he would send word!”

Could it be that the formations and barriers in which the Seo House took such pride were also installed in great number throughout the building?
Each time he passed through one of the doors that partitioned the spaces, the figures of attendants at work in regions hidden from view came into his eye.
There were even, in the gaps between the barriers, the figures of combatants held in reserve, no doubt to intercept any intruder.

“Oh.”
“Shh.”
“This way, please.”

The priest, who could likewise observe souls, seemed to have felt it too and given a small start; but Shin Hweein had anticipated that reaction and restrained him, and thankfully nothing serious came of it.
There was nothing to be gained by showing that one had caught wind of formations the host had set up precisely so as not to display them to outsiders.

Meanwhile, several new doors opened in succession, leading the party further on, into deeper places still.

‘Countless barriers have been raised between space and space, so that even what is true and what is false cannot readily be told apart. I now understand why my little mother’s disposition has come to be as it is.’

Feeling the pressure within the mansion grow heavier with every door he forced his way through, Shin Hweein walked on, murmuring inwardly to himself alone.
Beyond the barriers raised on every side, among those at their work, there were even some who, supposing Shin Hweein had not perceived them, were sending him gazes somewhat insolent in cast, which was merely laughable.

“Are you all right, Brother?”
“That is a question they should be asked, is it not.”
“Hahat, as I thought, Brother, even had you become a priest you would have done well enough.”
“In jest, surely.”
“In jest, seriously, Lucas.”

When the two of them, in the midst of their soft exchange, turned their gazes in unison upon Sister Barbara, who had cut in between them, she snapped back asking what they were looking at, and, out of habit, was about to put her electronic vape to her lips when, catching the steward’s pointed glare, she desisted.

“This way… ah.”
“My lady, you must go further. He is still….”
“Y-yes.”

It was at about this point that the mansion-exploration, which had seemed it would unfold endlessly into space upon space of barriers and formations, like the layers of an onion that no peeling can finish, at last drew to a close.

“This is the place.”

To be precise, the steward and the mistress had been about to hurry past the front of the door and on into another passage when, before they could, Shin Hweein gave voice and brought his footsteps to a stop.
If they passed this place by now, they would have to circle around countless barriers and return only after a long while, and he had no intention of wasting the time.

“Ungh.”
“How…”

At the sight of the two of them flinching in unison, Yun Jubaek added in with an easy, affable smile,

“Haha. You have been testing the sorcerer’s ability, then. As I have told you, we of the Yun House have already confirmed it. The Seo House, ever painstaking and never given to oversight. It is indeed worthy of its name.”
“Th… that is so. Since I cannot entrust my son to just anyone, I have once more been discourteous.”

For Shin Hweein had proved that, even without the aid of any other, he could trace the source of the sorcery and reach this very place; that their expressions should now crumple was only natural.
Yun Jubaek had thus given a second warning that they were not to think of slipping past lightly once the son had been cured.
For Shin Hweein’s part, however the bargaining among them turned out, it was enough that he could drive off the dream-demon and escape this place in safety.

“You wretchessssss!”

The patient’s face was all that remained to see, but even that was not so easily had.
The door of a chamber was suddenly thrown open, and an old man came hurtling out from within, his finger jabbing in every direction as he raged.

“Now they bring even a yokai that will be the ruin of the House inside! You wretches, you wretches! I told you again and again to manage the House properly, and you could not so much as keep that one thing, so that our precious Min has been made to suffer; and now you yourselves bring a great yokai into the House! I am ashamed even to face the ancestors, you damnable creatures! You whose hearts I would tear out and boil and eat!”
“A… a yokai, you say.”
“Honored Elder, it cannot be!”

The mistress turned the color of ash, while the steward took hold of the old man in alarm.
Shin Hweein, too, narrowed his eyes as he watched: the old man’s behavior was that of a madman, while the spiritual power slumbering within him appeared to be considerable.

“Did I not, from the very first, tell you not to trust those creatures! I told you again and again that they could not be the sort to do anything that would aid Aeshin, and yet, with your eyes blinded by greed, you have at last brought about this calamity! Aye, go on then, offer up the whole House on a platter. Or else, wield the yokai’s power and bring the pillars themselves down to ruin! No, do not. Bring the yokai before my very eyes! I shall pluck out its liver first of all!”
“It cannot be, Honored Elder, I said!”

A sliding paper-panel door suddenly appeared in the nearby wall and opened, and from beyond it servants in disciplined rank and file rushed forth, seized the old man in haste, and dragged him off in another direction.
By any reckoning it was not a sight to be shown to guests on purpose.

At that, struck of a sudden by a single possibility, Shin Hweein and Yun Jubaek raised their heads at the same instant and, meeting each other’s eyes in midair, wore awkward expressions.
It might be, indeed, that just now, when they had tried so deliberately to pass by the front of the chamber where the caster lay, it had not been to make some trivial show of force or to angle for a pre-negotiation, but rather to lead them off into another space first and so spirit the old man out of the room.

— Indeed, the old aberrations are not to be taken lightly. To think he should even faintly catch wind of my presence —
— Knowing that, be all the more careful, you great yokai who would bring the House to ruin.
— Should I bestir myself in earnest, I could ruin a country or so without breaking a sweat; there is a limit to how much you may underestimate me.

Even at this moment, though he could not tell where she was hidden, Geum Moa addressed him in a perfectly composed voice; and after rebuking her, Shin Hweein turned his eyes upon Yun Jubaek, who stood there utterly dumbfounded.
It was only then that Yun Jubaek came back to his senses and opened his mouth in haste.

“Ah, that is right… ahem! Madam, may we now go and see the patient?”
“Yes. Pay no mind to what just passed. It is the elder of the House. The child whom he had cherished like a grandson lies bedridden, and his heart has been wounded by it….”
“Of course.”

Such was the spoken exchange; but for Yun Jubaek it amounted to one more card added to his hand.
It was likely, too, that the very reason the steward had at first sought to bar them from entering the mansion was so he might keep that old man under control beforehand.
But the mistress, unable to restrain her urgent heart, had brought about this very accident; and so she could blame no one and could only knit her brows the harder.
In her own heart, of course, she must surely have been cursing Shin Hweein for having perceived the existence of the perpetrator beyond the barriers.

“Within here….”
“I shall open it.”

At last the door of the chamber opened.
Within the room, filled with sumptuous ornament, lay a magnificent bed such as a king might not have found wanting.
There, too, lay a boy of a pallor a shade more wan than even Do Yumi had been before, asleep and uttering little groans.

“It is he.”

So Shin Hweein softly murmured as he looked upon him.
At that single utterance, weighted with countless meanings, Yun Jubaek for an instant bit hard upon his lip, and Shin Myeongin lifted her eyes in a sharp glare.
The steward and the mistress, for their part, glared at Shin Hweein as though in some contest over who could kill a man by stare alone. And yet,

“Ha.”

When he lifted his head, the two of them turned their gazes aside in unison.
A soft smile playing about his lips, Shin Hweein spoke to Yun Jubaek.

“It seems, after all, that we ought now to draw up the contract.”
“Is the Yun House’s guarantee insufficient?”
“Until but a moment ago I, too, had believed it sufficient; however, it appears that there are those here whose thoughts differ from mine.”
“…Ha. Yes, let us make it certain.”

At that, after fixing Shin Hweein with a single sharp look, Yun Jubaek turned his head toward the mistress.

“Madam, may I take this to be the will of the whole of the Seo House? I have already told you that this sorcerer has come in the name of the Yun House.”
“…I have been discourteous. Let us draw up the contract, as you have said.”
“My lady!”
“Steward, leave us. At once!”
“…My apologies.”

Once the impudent underling had been driven out, Yun Jubaek brought out a paper on which the basic terms of the contract were written.
In the order of the mistress and then Shin Hweein, each took the paper in hand to verify it, and then, going round once more in the same order, set their names upon it.
Father Lucas, who had been watching this, thrust his head in as though the moment had arrived.

“Let me, too, be included. Brother Shin Hae is a partner formally bound to the Catholic Church of Aeshin Korea, so I must witness this on the Church’s behalf.”
“What?”
“Ah, me as well.”
“Myeongin, you…!”

Daring to enter with an entire vast religion at her back, the priest could be let pass; but Shin Myeongin’s interposing was a thing the mistress could not simply abide, and her voice rose at last.
Shin Myeongin, however, with a coldness quite out of keeping with her usual self, looked her up and down and said,

“I’m not here as your niece or whatever, you know. I’m here in the name of the Shin House. I came after talking with Father, not with Mother. …Could you please knock it off already. Have you no shame?”
“You… y-y-y…!”

She has a head full of straw, yet here she stands, brazenly delivering such words to the mistress of a great house. How fortunate for her.

So thought Shin Hweein as he checked the contract one last time.

His own safety having been made certain, there was now no further need to hesitate.

“I trust you have been duly informed, but to return the patient entirely to his original state may be difficult.”
“…You will do your utmost, won’t you? It is written so in the contract. This is a contract witnessed by the Three Capital Houses. To break it would prove troublesome for you.”
“Of course. I pledge, upon my name, that I shall do my utmost.”

Yes, of course. He would do his utmost to save the boy.
As “Shin Hae,” that is.

The name written upon the contract in crimson ink twisted ever so slightly, unknown to any.
By the time the parties realized that he had set a false name to the contract, it would already be too late for them to call in its price.

— My, the blood-curse really is more useful than I had thought. By all rights the Three Capital Houses are not such pushovers, and should have arranged it so that even a false name would bind the true name as well.
— It is not false. At least in this moment, that is the whole of what I am. So I am thought to be.
— Truly, you mosquitoes are every one of you swindlers. Ah, saving young master, of course, since young master is no mosquito.

Bearing a renewed gratitude toward Attila in his heart, Shin Hweein drew near the bed where the perpetrator lay asleep.
A boy heaving forth painful groans, tormented by nightmares that would not cease.
From the countless cursed objects arrayed around him, one could tell that even this much was less than half the pain that he ought by rights to have been bearing.

‘Because he, in his immoderate greed, sought to fashion a thing as grave as a Bulgasari, many others must even now be in peril of their lives, or have already crossed into the realm of the dead, while he himself, after a few days of being tormented by nightmares, will wake and the matter will be at an end. When he has grown up safely and put on years, this too he will, no doubt, dress up grandly and tout as his own growing-pain.’

Striving with might and main not to let his inner mood show, Shin Hweein laid one hand upon the boy’s brow.
The dream sorcery and the disguise-art manifested at once, and an auspicious violet mist spread forth and enwrapped him.

“Father, bear me up.”
“Of course, Brother! Leave it to your partner!”
“Lucas, that’s exactly why I’m asking you. Why are you so happy about it…!”

Casting a look of dismay at Sister Barbara, who was once more adding to her suspicions of Father Lucas, Shin Hweein lost consciousness and slumped backward where he stood.

The judge of dreams brought down his hammer.