Tang Yeo-eun (1)

Two days later, I once again left the Thirteenth Flying Dragon Unit to go on leave.

And this time, I was going with Lady Tang Yeo-eun.

Of course, because of the attention it would draw, we could not leave the Thirteenth Unit together.

So Lady Tang Yeo-eun departed early in the morning, and I left the front roughly half a double-hour later.

A short while later, when we met on the outskirts of Yunnan Province, it finally felt real that the two of us were going on a journey alone.

“Lady Tang!”

I called her name happily and landed beside her, but then noticed that there was no one else around us.

In the middle of the deep forest, there were only two people—her and me.

‘Huh?’

As I looked around in bewilderment, I suddenly swallowed.

Gulp!

Then a wave of awkwardness suddenly washed over me.

‘What is this? Why am I suddenly like this?’

I was flustered.

I could not think of anything to say.

It felt as though my mind had suddenly gone blank.

And when I looked at her, I realized that this was not merely my problem.

She was also unable to meet my eyes, anxiously shifting her gaze here and there.

It was unbearably awkward.

I felt that I had to say something, but nothing came to mind.

Desperately racking my brain, I finally managed to think of one thing to say.

“Um, Lady Tang, did you… wait long?”

She hurriedly waved her hands and answered.

“No! You arrived much earlier than I expected.”

“Ah, that’s a relief.”

Then silence descended again.

My mind, which had never lost its sharpness even in the most urgent moments, felt as though it had turned to stone at this particular moment.

After awkwardly searching for something to say for a while, we finally ended the situation when I barely managed to speak first.

“Then… shall we depart now?”

“Ah, yes. Shall we?”

And so, Lady Tang and I began traveling together.

It was an incredibly awkward beginning.

Even after running for quite some time, we did not really converse.

Or rather than saying we did not, it would be more accurate to say that we could not.

Our eyes met briefly a few times, only for both of us to flinch and hurriedly look away. Each time, neither of us could think of what to say, so we merely continued running.

It felt strange.

‘Why am I like this? This has not even happened with Lady Na lately… Could it be?’

I suddenly wondered whether my feelings for Lady Tang had grown deeper.

However, I immediately shook my head.

My feelings for Lady Na had not yet been completely settled, so if I had already given my heart to another woman, would that not make me utter trash?

I did not want to believe I was that kind of person.

‘Well, it’s probably because I’m traveling alone with a woman, right? This is the first time it has happened in either of my two lives.’

I decided to believe that was the reason.

We continued running until around noon.

I was beginning to feel hungry and thought it might be best to eat something simple before continuing.

“Lady Tang, would you like to eat something before we go on?”

“Pardon? Ah, yes. That sounds good.”

Conveniently, a fairly wide stream flowed nearby.

I thought we could catch some fish and grill them.

I asked Lady Tang.

“My lady, I’ll go catch some fish, so could you start a fire?”

“Pardon? Ah, a fire…?”

Her expression as she repeated my request looked remarkably troubled.

Wondering if that might be the case, I asked.

“Could it be that you do not know how to start…”

She lowered her head with a reddened face and answered.

“Ah, I’m sorry. I’ve never done it before…”

I suddenly remembered that before she was the captain of a Flying Dragon platoon, she was the treasured young lady of the Tang Clan.

Even in the Flying Dragon Unit, she had probably always eaten meals provided by the dining hall, so it seemed she had never personally started a campfire.

I nodded and asked again.

“Then I’ll start the fire. Could you catch the fish?”

She smiled confidently as though that presented no problem.

“Yes. Understood!”

As I was about to gather dry leaves for the campfire, I suddenly noticed Lady Tang removing a small porcelain bottle from her bundle.

Huh? A small porcelain bottle? Surely not?

Just in case, I asked.

“Um, Lady Tang!”

“Yes?”

“H-How do you intend to catch the fish?”

She smiled brightly and answered.

“Ah, this poison is called Red-Crowned Crane Poison. If I drop just one drop into the water, every fish within a radius of about one jang will die. I was going to use this.”

Apparently, my suspicion had not been unfounded.

I asked again with a horrified expression.

“Can we eat fish caught with that poison?”

“…Pardon?”

“Pardon?”

“…”

Judging by her startled expression, there was no need to hear her answer.

In the end, I asked Lady Tang to gather dry branches and leaves while I caught the fish myself.

Well, it was not particularly difficult.

After all, I was now a Pinnacle expert.

First, I lightly launched myself above the stream.

“Hup!”

The fish swimming beneath the clear water entered my sight.

My eyes flashed as I drew my sword like a ray of light.

Seventh Form of the Four-One Sword Method.

Black Heaven Sword Rain.

Swish-swish-swish-swish!

Rays of sword qi poured down upon the water like a sudden shower.

They targeted every fish of a suitable size within a radius of one jang.

Spla-a-a-ash!

A short while later, the fish pierced by the sword qi could only struggle before floating to the surface.

There were exactly eleven.

After that, I asked Lady Tang, who had gathered dry leaves and branches, to skewer them on wooden sticks, then immediately went to make the campfire.

That was not particularly difficult either.

As I have said before, I was a Pinnacle expert.

In the past, I would have used a fire striker or flint, but there was no need to do so now.

I first grasped a dry leaf, gathered only the yang energy within my body, and concentrated it upon the leaf.

When its temperature rose sufficiently, I quickly rubbed it with the fingers of my other hand.

Then,

Fwoosh!

The leaf immediately caught fire.

“Wooooow!”

Lady Tang, who had been watching me with fascinated eyes, cried out in admiration.

She seemed quite impressed.

My shoulders rose with pride, but I smiled calmly as though it were nothing.

“It is nothing special. Anyone can do it once they know the trick.”

Of course, I had omitted the words “after reaching the Pinnacle Realm,” but it was not a lie.

An expert of Lady Tang’s level could imitate the method immediately.

A short while later, as the fish cooked over the campfire that had grown to a suitable size, we sat facing each other.

Sizzle!

Lady Tang had been staring blankly at the cooking fish when she suddenly asked carefully.

“Where did you learn all these things? You seem very accustomed to them.”

I answered with a slightly bitter smile.

“I learned most of them from Captain Seol Pung. He said he lived in the mountains for a long time before joining the Flying Dragon Unit.”

“Ah.”

That was also true.

Of course, I had learned it not in this life, but in my previous one.

The final few years I spent at the front in my previous life had been very different from our current lives.

By then, too many of our comrades had already died, and the number and level of the Demonic Humans attacking us had grown too high. Rather than staying in our quarters, we had been forced to spend most of our time roaming the forest and fighting like assassins or hunters.

If we had lain comfortably in our quarters, the attacking Demonic Humans would have slaughtered us like dogs.

Those days had truly been unbearably difficult and bleak. We had been forced to grow accustomed to our comrades dying every day, and there had not even been any hope that things would improve.

It had been a period in which only vengeance and sheer spite had allowed us to endure.

And perhaps this life would not be very different.

Not if I allowed the situation to continue until the Blood Demon Humans appeared once again.

Therefore, no matter what happened, I had to destroy the Blood Cult within the next five years.

While I was thinking that, Lady Tang suddenly asked.

“Are they cooked enough now?”

Her voice brought me back to my senses, and I saw that the fish were mostly cooked.

“Ah, yes. I think you can eat the smaller ones now.”

Her eyes gleaming with anticipation, she picked up a branch skewering a small fish and carefully brought it toward her mouth.

The childlike sparkle in her eyes as she looked at the fish and the small lips chewing it were both extremely adorable.

I smiled faintly and asked her.

“Does it taste all right?”

She smiled bashfully and answered.

“Yes! It’s delicious!”

I suddenly remembered how cold and composed she had appeared yesterday, releasing a frigid aura like a winter wind before the platoon members.

She had looked cold enough to make one wonder whether she was the daughter of the lord of the Northern Ice Palace…

Compared to that appearance, she somehow looked even cuter now than she had at first.

After watching her eat happily with satisfaction, I also brought a fish to my mouth.

However, the moment I bit into it with a smile, I could not help frowning deeply.

‘What is this? It’s far too bland.’

The fish tasted incredibly bland.

Only then did I realize I had not sprinkled salt on it.

I had salt with me, but I had forgotten to use it.

Freshwater fish without even salt truly tasted like plain water.

I suddenly found it remarkable that Lady Tang was enjoying it so much.

Perhaps she naturally preferred bland food.

I first asked her.

“Um, Lady Tang.”

“Yes?”

“Isn’t it a little bland? I did not add salt. Shall we simply eat it without any?”

“…Pardon?”

“Pardon?”

Apparently, that was not the case.

Once I added salt, Lady Tang began devouring the fish with an eagerness incomparable to before.

Watching her eat so happily, I felt both apologetic and amused by how cute she was, so I asked.

“You should have said something if it was bland. You ate it so happily that I thought it truly tasted good.”

She smiled and shook her head.

“No. It really did taste good before too. I suppose it was because everything simply felt so nice.”

I chuckled and asked again.

“What feels so nice? It is only bland fish roughly grilled over a campfire.”

She smiled happily and answered.

“It’s just that being together with Young Master Seonu…”

However, while answering without thinking, she stopped there and suddenly froze like a stone.

And I, who had been listening without much thought, did the same.

Huh? She liked being together with me?

Thinking I might have misheard, I asked again.

“…Pardon?”

“Pardon?”

“…”

While we stared at each other in confusion, blinking, Lady Tang hurriedly poured out an explanation with a bright red face.

“What I mean is! When I’m with Young Master Seonu, I can be like this—I don’t have to force myself to pretend to be perfect, and that feels nice, so…”

“Ah? Ah, that is what you meant?”

“Yes, yes! That is what I meant!”

Seeing her nod vigorously, I thought that certainly could be the case.

Since this was her natural personality, it could not have been easy for her to maintain such a cold and aloof appearance all the time.

I inwardly sighed in relief that I had nearly misunderstood her words.

‘I need to be careful. I almost got the wrong idea.’

Then I asked her, as her face still seemed deeply flushed.

“Is showing that side of yourself so uncomfortable?”

She flinched slightly, thought for a moment, and then answered with a somewhat bitter smile.

“I suppose it is because I am deceiving everyone. The real me is this weak and insignificant person, yet I pretend to be perfect and strong. If everyone discovered what I was truly like, they would feel betrayed.”

She looked deeply depressed as she spoke.

It seemed to be an emotion that had accumulated over a very long time.

“Lady Tang…”

I was about to say something to her.

Then a voice suddenly came from far away.

“There they are! Catch him!”

“Don’t let him escape!”

The voices came from quite a distance away, but the two of us were Pinnacle martial artists and had no trouble hearing them.

Lady Tang’s eyes immediately met mine.

She asked.

“What should we do?”

We were near the border between Yunnan Province and Sichuan Province and had left the front long ago, so there was a high chance it had nothing to do with us.

However, I immediately overturned the earth to extinguish the campfire and answered.

“Let us go and see first.”

If we confirmed that it had nothing to do with us, we could simply continue on our way.

But we could not pass by without even checking.

It might somehow be connected to us, and if we ignored it, we might allow someone to die unjustly.

At the very least, as someone taught by the Sword Saint, who wished to create a world where benevolence and righteousness prevailed, I believed I could never simply pass by.

We raced toward the voices, seeming to fly across the tree branches.

Soon, we discovered a man surrounded by a group of martial artists.

“This is the end, Do Munseung!”

“Did you truly think you could escape from us?!”

It seemed the surrounded man’s name was Do Munseung.

He was a serious-looking man in his mid-to-late twenties and appeared to know those surrounding him.

With a dark expression, he asked the martial artists.

“Wonwang, Upo. Do you truly intend to have me killed?”

One of the large men among those surrounding him snorted and answered.

“Hmph! What nonsense! You were the one who refused the society’s order because you wished to die. Why are you asking us?!”

“And you even tried to flee?! Do you still expect to live?!”

At their words, the young man named Do Munseung asked back with a frustrated expression.

“You know that if I leave, the future of my sect, the Yeongnam Sword Sect, will be endangered! In such a situation, how can I enter the society by myself?! Furthermore, sentencing me to death simply because I refused to join—what kind of absurd treatment is that?!”

I did not know the details, but the young man named Do Munseung seemed to have suffered some kind of injustice.

However, even after his desperate words, those surrounding him merely continued to sneer.

“Your sect is struggling, so you will violate the rules? What is that if not your wicked selfishness?! Because of that selfishness, you broke the noble rules of the society that has protected our Sichuan Province from the Six Ghost Hall all this time. Is it not only natural that you be executed as an example?! There is no need for further discussion! Seize him immediately!”

“Yes!”

At the large man’s words, the warriors began approaching Do Munseung while releasing sinister pressure.

The young man gripped his sword hilt with a helpless expression, and the large man shouted again with a mocking look.

“Try to capture him intact, but if he resists, it does not matter if you cut off an arm!”

“Yes!”

At the same time, all the warriors drew the sabers from their backs.

Clang! Cla-clang!

The situation was on the verge of exploding.

Lady Tang’s voice transmission immediately reached me.

-Young Master Seonu, what should we do?

We still did not understand the exact circumstances, so I could not decide whether we should interfere.

However, I first answered Lady Tang.

-Let us reveal ourselves for now. We should see how they react after noticing us.

Then Lady Tang and I immediately leaped down beside them.