Chapter 156

Flying Swallow’s eyes immediately locked onto it.
Every trace of confusion vanished.

I opened the manual.
Right there, I tore out the first page and held it out to Flying Swallow.

“…….”

Flying Swallow’s eyes trembled violently, her mouth hanging half open.

“Y-you’re…… giving that to me?”
“A promise is meant to be kept.”

Flying Swallow took the page with trembling hands.
Her eyes suddenly reddened.
As though trying to hide it, she hurriedly turned her head away.

“……What the hell? Did some dust get in my eye?”

I could guess, at least a little, what she was feeling.
It was a legacy her ancestors had searched for generation after generation.
Her father, her grandfather, and all those before them had devoted their lives to finding it, yet none had ever succeeded.
And now, she held its first page in her hands.
It would have been stranger if she wasn’t overwhelmed.

After a moment, Flying Swallow sniffed and turned back toward me.
Apparently, she had collected herself.

“But you know……”
“What?”
“Don’t you think one page is a little stingy? Give me just one more.”

Her expression was sly and shameless.
The emotion from moments ago had vanished without a trace.
I quickly shoved the manual back inside my robe.
Flying Swallow immediately complained.

“Wow. Stingy.”
“There’s still plenty of work left. You think the world is that easy?”
“Says the kid who looks younger than me. I’m twenty, you know?”
“I don’t care how old you are. Bring me the Ink Scholar and I’ll give you another page, so don’t get greedy.”
“I have to bring the Ink Scholar too?”
“Would you rather I bring him myself and keep the page as well?”
“No, no. That won’t do.”

Flying Swallow stopped complaining immediately.
She tucked the page into her robe with extraordinary care.

That night, I sat alone in thought.
I knew where the Ink Scholar was.
I had even decided to lure him out.
Only one problem remained.

‘How do I lure him out?’

I couldn’t approach him normally.
Someone who claimed to see the future couldn’t possibly be normal. A clumsy trick wouldn’t work.
I had to make the Ink Scholar want to move on his own.

“Ah!”

I sat at the table and picked up a brush.
The Ink Scholar spouted incomprehensible prophecies and, intentionally or not, used them to establish his own authority.
Then wouldn’t it be fitting to return the favor using the method he knew best?

Something the Ink Scholar couldn’t ignore.
Something he would be unable to resist checking for himself.
What could that be?

‘Something about the Ink Scholar himself.’

Seuk, seuk.

‘Under the full moon, a heavy fragrance spreads through Soul-Bewildering Forest.’

The full moon was only a few days away.
The scent was one of the Ink Scholar’s distinguishing traits, so he would immediately know it referred to him.

‘The scholar who cannot walk lives burdened by tomorrow.’

A scholar who could not walk.
One of the traits Flying Swallow had described.
He had a severe limp and spent all day writing.

‘Seek the one who has already swum through a thousand branching labyrinths.’

It implied that someone besides him knew the future.
And finally,

‘Refuse, and the brush shall break forever.’

A line implying death.

I read the completed passage to myself.

“Under the full moon, a heavy fragrance spreads through Soul-Bewildering Forest. The scholar who cannot walk lives burdened by tomorrow. Seek the one who has already swum through a thousand branching labyrinths. Refuse, and the brush shall break forever.”

Damn, even I was impressed with what I had written.
It was flawless.
It said nothing concrete while still being perfectly capable of stirring anxiety.
It would be far too unsettling to ignore.

‘Maybe I should just become a fortune-teller.’

All that remained was delivering it.
I needed Flying Swallow again.
I went straight to the storage room.
Flying Swallow was studying the page of the manual she had received earlier by candlelight.
She was so absorbed that she didn’t even notice me enter.

“Busy?”
“Ah! You scared me.”

Flying Swallow spun around with a start and frowned at me.

“What the hell? Why’d you come in without making a sound? Have you decided to become a thief too?”
“I wasn’t being quiet. You were just too focused to notice. Deliver this for me.”

I held out a sealed letter.
Flying Swallow took it and blinked.

“You wrote a letter to the Ink Scholar?”
“More of an invitation than a letter.”
“An invitation?”

Flying Swallow tilted her head but tucked the letter into her robe.

“Where do you want me to leave it?”
“Anywhere the Ink Scholar will see it.”
“Got it. That’s all, right?”
“No.”
“Nooo?”

Flying Swallow frowned.
Ignoring her, I continued.

“I don’t want to reveal my identity. So I need you to do a few more things.”
“You want me to disguise you?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, that much is easy enough.”

Flying Swallow shrugged.

“One more thing. Teach me the Voice-Altering Art.”
“……What?”
“The Voice-Altering Art. Teach me how to change my voice.”
“Hah.”

Flying Swallow let out a short, incredulous sigh.

“You think that’s some kind of trick you can pick up overnight? A disguise is easy because I can do it for you, but voice alteration is different. You have to change how you control your vocal cords, your breathing, even where you place your voice. It takes at least a few months.”
“I need to finish in three days.”
“Even if you’re ridiculously talented, that’s asking too much. Besides, voice alteration is part of how I make a living. Do you have any idea how useful changing your voice is when you’re stealing? Why would I teach you that?”

Flying Swallow folded her arms and continued.

“I don’t care if you have the manual, this is completely unreas-”
“Two pages.”
“……What?”
“Teach me voice alteration and I’ll give you two more pages.”

Flying Swallow’s eyes wavered.
Her mouth opened and closed several times.
Then she said,

“Five pages.”

So much for all that talk about her livelihood. Her eyes showed that she had completed the calculation in an instant.

“Two.”
“Four.”
“Two.”
“Three! I’m not going any lower!”
“Two.”

Flying Swallow ground her teeth.
But in the end, she let out a deep sigh and nodded.

“Fine. Two pages. But one up front.”

That much was easy enough.
I took out the manual and tore out another page.
Flying Swallow scoffed.

“You’re practically using it as currency.”

Even as she said that, Flying Swallow snatched the page up immediately.
Judging by the twitching corner of her mouth, she seemed quite pleased with the deal.
When I watched her with a smile, Flying Swallow cleared her throat a couple of times.

“I won’t be able to teach you perfectly. There isn’t enough time.”
“I know.”
“If you talk for too long, someone may notice. Especially if you get emotional. Your original voice might slip out.”
“That’ll be enough.”
“Then let’s start right away.”
“Good.”
“But you know……”
“What?”
“Teaching is hard work too, you know. So how about another half page-”
“Fine. I’ll give it to you.”
“……Really?”
“I told you, I keep my promises.”

I opened the manual and started tearing one page lengthwise down the middle.

“W-wait! If you tear it like that, you’ll cut the writing in half!”
“You asked for half a page.”
“……You’re really something else, aren’t you?”

I chuckled.
Being acknowledged by a thief didn’t feel half bad.
I said to Flying Swallow,

“Let’s start.”
“Fine, fine.”

Over the next few days, while I learned the Voice-Altering Art, the main base grew increasingly unsettled.
More and more people were arrested on suspicion of colluding with the Heaven Rebelling Society.
In the morning, word would spread that someone had been arrested. By afternoon, someone else had been dragged away.
Rumors like that reached my ears every day.
There was also news that a Heaven Rebelling Society base had been raided.
The suppression force included many members of the Radiant Moon Jin Family, and apparently fewer than half returned.

‘Looks like Gal So-ye made her move.’

Others might not know, but I did.
I knew what she was aiming for and how far ahead she was looking.

‘Things are only going to get messier from here.’

Now that Gal So-ye had begun strengthening central Cult authority as though she had been waiting for this opportunity all along, a bloody storm would rage for a while.

Before going to bed,
I stood by the window and looked up at the moon.
I wanted to clear my head.

‘Tomorrow, at last.’

The moon had grown full and round.
It was a sign that the day I would meet the Ink Scholar was almost here.

-Haaaah.

‘Hm?’

Suddenly, I heard a sigh from the rear garden.
I leaned out and saw Im Yeon standing there.
Her shift should have ended already, so I had assumed she was asleep, but she was standing there staring blankly up at the moon.
Maybe tomorrow’s events were weighing on her.

I left my room.
As I entered the rear garden, I spoke.

“What are you doing up instead of sleeping?”

Im Yeon turned her head.
A trace of surprise crossed her face, then quickly disappeared.

“You are still awake?”
“I was just about to sleep, but somebody’s sigh went drilling straight into my ears.”
“Ah, I apologize, Young Lord.”
“No need to apologize. Can’t sleep?”
“……Not tonight.”

Im Yeon awkwardly looked down at her feet.

“Me neither. Because of the Heaven Rebelling Society.”

Im Yeon flinched at the words Heaven Rebelling Society.
Just as I thought.

“Guard Im. Why does the Heaven Rebelling Society bother you so much?”

Im Yeon pressed her lips together.
A brief silence passed.

“……I hate the Heaven Rebelling Society.”
“Why?”
“They mock the sacred laws of the Divine Cult and insult the Cult Leader.”
“Besides that. The real reason.”

Im Yeon’s eyes wavered.
I quietly watched her.
I had noticed long ago that she had some connection to the Heaven Rebelling Society.
Since then, I had seen her try to hide something several times.
Now that she was acting the same way again on the night before something important, I couldn’t avoid asking.

“…….”

But Im Yeon couldn’t answer.
Her lips moved wordlessly for a long while.
She didn’t seem ready to tell me.

‘Understandable.’

Whatever her story was, it clearly wasn’t something trivial.
If she wasn’t ready to talk about it, I had no intention of forcing it out of her.
But there was something I needed to say.

“Guard Im.”
“Yes.”
“Tomorrow isn’t supposed to be a fight. Are you going to be all right?”

In other words, I was asking whether some personal grudge might make her ruin the operation.
Our primary objective was to learn about the Ink Scholar, not fight the Heaven Rebelling Society.
Even the slightest conflict could create problems, so if she thought she couldn’t control her emotions, it would be better to leave her at the Hidden Cloud Pavilion.

“Of course. I am your guard, Young Lord.”

But Im Yeon’s answer was firm.
Whatever her circumstances, I could feel her resolve to fulfill her role as my guard.
I nodded.

“All right.”

And I asked nothing more.
After hesitating for a moment, Im Yeon spoke again.

“Young Lord, must you really meet him yourself?”

Her voice lowered.

“The Heaven Rebelling Society is far more meticulous and vicious than you realize. You might not make it back tomorrow.”
“That won’t happen.”
“……Sometimes I think you’re different from ordinary people like me, Young Lord. I don’t understand how you can make every decision without the slightest trace of uncertainty……”
“Of course I feel uncertain. I just keep reminding myself, again and again, that I won’t repeat the same mistakes.”
“The same mistakes……?”

I gave her a faint smile without answering.
Just as Im Yeon had secrets of her own, I had mine.

“Get some sleep. Tomorrow might be rough.”
“Yes. Sleep well, Young Lord.”

With a somewhat more relaxed expression, Im Yeon gave a fist-and-palm salute.
And then the next day arrived.