Side Story 25. The Three Newcomers (2)

The three newcomers all looked at one another the moment they finished speaking.

“?”
“……?” “?!”

That was roughly the kind of mood it was.
Son Hee-il stared blankly at the three of them.
Each of them had been thinking that they were the senior.

“What, you lot. Were you going around without even knowing your senior-junior order?”

Even if one had learned under the same master, senior-junior order was important.
Within a sect, the strict order between master and disciple was a basic rule.
A disciple had to follow the master’s words, and must never dare overstep the master’s authority.
To defy one’s master was called deceiving the master and destroying the ancestors, and was treated as a grave sin.

“Did Martial Uncle Yi-gang not even teach you something that basic?”
“……”

You could tell just by looking at Yi-gang, who was strong and shameless.
Even though Yi-gang treated Dam Hyun rather casually, he still addressed him with proper respect.
And that was not all.
He respected Dam Hyun’s opinions whenever possible.

“Who was taught by Martial Uncle Yi-gang first?”
“Me!”

The one who shot a hand up was Baek Sang-ye.

“I was already being taught by Master Yi-gang before the former Emperor passed away. I learned an inner cultivation method, and he instructed me in swordsmanship as well!”

Baek Sang-ye wore a proud and lofty expression.

“You’re speaking about time in a strange way. Was that so?”
“Yes, it’s true.”

What she said was not wrong. And on top of that, she had been given a chance the other two had never had.
Even as a tutor to the Crown Prince, Yi-gang had clearly taught her in the role of a master.
At that point, Cheongho, who had been quiet, opened his mouth.

“No, the one who met Yi-gang, no, Master Yi-gang first was me.”

Cheongho showed a level of drive that he normally never displayed.
Baek Sang-ye looked incredulous.
In her eyes, Cheongho looked like some little boy who knew nothing.

“What? Don’t lie.”
“It’s true.”

Cheongho looked at Son Hee-il in silence.
Son Hee-il had already been informed of something. That Cheongho was the very blue fox that had once lived in Azure Forest.
He had no intention of exposing Cheongho’s identity, but Son Hee-il spoke in his favor anyway.

“That is true. Of you three, the one who met Martial Uncle Yi-gang first would be Cheongho.”
“……What?”

Baek Sang-ye looked shocked.
She had clearly believed that she and her younger brother were Yi-gang’s first disciples.
But Son Hee-il added with a dubious look.

“But can that really be called being a disciple? In truth……”

Wasn’t he more like a pet?
Son Hee-il swallowed those words instead of saying them.

“It’s not as though you properly learned martial arts from him or anything.”
“……”

Cheongho also fell silent.
Could it be that only humans could become disciples?
If so, then perhaps Cheongho was not yet Yi-gang’s disciple.
Deep down, he was greatly shaken.
Fortunately, unlike Yi-gang, he was the sort whose shock and surprise did not show on his face.

“Hahaha, then I’m the senior brother, no, senior sister.”

Baek Sang-ye placed a hand on her waist with a self-assured expression.
The one who cut in at that point was Tsering, who had been quiet until then.

“D-do you have proof?”
“What? Proof?”

Baek Sang-ye looked at Tsering as though she had heard something ridiculous.
She was on the tall side, while Tsering was short.
So it turned into Baek Sang-ye looking down at Tsering.
Her posture and gaze carried the noble aloofness unique to royalty.
Tsering, who had not been frightened even among martial artists of the dark path factions, felt her hands and feet grow cold for no reason.
Still, she forced herself to voice what puzzled her.

“Y-you said you learned first. How did that happen? Wasn’t Master Yi-gang in Azure Forest the whole time?”
“……”

Baek Sang-ye froze in the very pose she had been standing in so proudly.
She had studied under Yi-gang in the imperial palace.
But there was no way she could say that here. Her current identity was that of a collateral member of the Baek Clan.
She only glared at Tsering in silence, but Son Hee-il joined in as well.

“Hm, I see. And did Martial Uncle Yi-gang pass down Azure Forest’s martial arts to you?”
“……Probably?”
“Huh? No matter that Martial Uncle Yi-gang is from the Baek Clan, surely you’re not saying he leaked the sect’s martial arts without permission?”
“……”

Yi-gang had left for the imperial palace with Azure Forest’s permission.
And so he had taught the imperial palace’s young Crown Prince and County Princess the foundational martial arts of Azure Forest, but she couldn’t say that now.

“……”

And yet to lie would mean tarnishing Yi-gang’s honor.
So Baek Sang-ye chose a more clever method.

“And you?”
“What?”
“Did you even actually learn anything from Master Yi-gang?”

She turned the issue around and picked at Tsering instead.

“O-of course I did!”
“Proof?”
“M-my proof is……”
“If you’re going to demand proof from someone else, shouldn’t you have proof yourself?”

It was an utterly reasonable point.
But after hesitating a moment, Tsering untied her bound hair.
Her hair came cascading down.
As they stared, wondering what she was doing, Tsering showed them her hair tie.

“Here.”
“……What? What is that?”
“It’s a token Master gave me. When we parted at Potala Palace, he told me we’d meet again.”
“A hair tie? Don’t be ridiculous……”

Baek Sang-ye, who had been about to argue back, shut her mouth tight.
To her surprise, she recognized it.
The purple-glinting hair tie was unmistakably a high-grade item.
The cord seemed to be made of durable, elastic deerskin twisted into thread, with finely ground amethyst, probably imported from the Kingdom of Persia, adhered to it.
To be honest, it was a refined thing that did not suit Tsering’s rustic appearance at all.
Yi-gang used to tie his hair with that.
Baek Sang-ye knew that for certain.

“How do you have that……”
“I told you. He gave it to me as a token.”
“……”

This time it was Tsering who wore a confident expression.
Seeing that, Son Hee-il looked fed up.

“You two can both recognize that?”

What kind of person was Baek Sang-ye, talking about tokens over a mere hair tie and then recognizing it on sight.
As if to add to her case, Tsering suddenly moved her hands and feet.

“I didn’t learn Azure Forest’s martial arts, but I was taught the Shaolin Fist.”

Pababababak!

Her fists burst through the air with the sound of drums exploding.

“Martial Uncle Yi-gang did learn martial arts from Divine Monk at Shaolin.”
“That’s right! And I’ve been learning Shaolin Fist from Divine Monk since I was little.”
“……Then it could be seen that you share the same master.”

Divine Monk could also be regarded as Yi-gang’s master.
It was difficult to say they were of exactly the same line, but in terms of legitimacy, it might be right to treat her as a senior sister.
At that point, Cheongho suddenly stepped in.

“I can do that too.”

And he swung his saber like a sword.

“Oh!”

Son Hee-il was greatly surprised.
What Cheongho displayed was unmistakably the Heaven’s Shadow Sword Technique Yi-gang mainly used.
And that was not all.
The stepping pattern of his footwork looked unmistakably like Azure Forest’s Cloud Treading.
Whether the release of internal energy followed the proper method or not, the form itself was genuine.

“So it’s true.”
“Yeah, no, yes.”

Of course, Son Hee-il had no idea that Cheongho was merely copying what he remembered of Yi-gang using martial arts.
And so the discussion returned to square one.
All three had a point, and it was hard to say for certain who was the senior.

Son Hee-il thought it over.

‘What a pain. Seriously.’

To be honest, it was burdensome and annoying.
Should he just pick one of them at random? Thinking that, Son Hee-il finally opened his mouth.

“Then from what I can see……”
“No, that won’t do!”

It was then that a hard-faced older man suddenly appeared.

“No, how can you say it isn’t before I’ve even said anything, Martial Ancestor……!”

Since he had been called Martial Ancestor, it was clear the Taoist who had appeared was at least two generations senior to Son Hee-il.

“From where I stand, all three have a point. It’s not something for you to decide on your own.”
“That may be true…… then what do we do?”
“We should ask that brat Yi-gang of course!”
“He’s far away right now, though.”
“Then we should ask him later, shouldn’t we? Until then, we will decide it temporarily.”

The one who had appeared wore a bamboo tube at his waist filled with pure gold needles.
This Taoist was one of the Three Great Divine Physicians Under Heaven.
The Golden-Needle Freak Physician, Do Gyeon.

“We set their senior-junior order temporarily, then later confirm it with Yi-gang and correct it if needed, wouldn’t that work?”

Son Hee-il looked dumbfounded.

“What kind of rootless, lowborn way of doing things is that……”
“Be quiet!”

The Golden-Needle Freak Physician turned to the three newcomers and smiled kindly.

“Well? Doesn’t it sound entertaini…… no, reasonable just hearing it?”

Surprisingly, the three didn’t react badly.

“Sounds good.”
“I’m fine with it!”
“That’s fine. As long as the method is fair.”

The Golden-Needle Freak Physician didn’t bother hiding how pleased he was.

“Euhaha, of course it should be decided through a reasonable method! Let’s go!”

He kicked at Son Hee-il’s backside with little taps, urging him on.
Son Hee-il let out a sigh and started walking ahead.

The Golden-Needle Freak Physician sidled up to Cheongho’s shoulder familiarly.

“It’s been a while, brat.”

Then he ruffled Cheongho’s hair roughly.
Cheongho shrank his neck a little.

“This is the Five Flower Grand Library.”

The Five Flower Grand Library.
The current Azure Forest Lord, Yu Jeong-shin, had once been the Library Master of this very Five Flower Grand Library.
It was also the cradle of the Honor Flower Disciples, who had to be proficient in both martial and mystic arts.

“Your master, Yi-gang, is not currently in Azure Forest. You will meet him someday, but until then, you will train here in the Grand Library.”

The Golden-Needle Freak Physician said.
These three newcomers were not formally initiated disciples, but outer disciples.

Honor Flower Disciples with five or more flowers embroidered on their robes could take disciples outside Azure Forest.
The three had entered Azure Forest through exactly that route.

“That brat Yi-gang was an Honor Flower Disciple. But you three have not formally become Honor Flower Disciples.”

That was how Honor Flower Disciples took in disciples, but the three had not yet become Honor Flower Disciples themselves.

“Depending on your aptitudes, you may become Martial Flower Disciples or Taoist Flower Disciples.”

Martial Flower Disciples and Taoist Flower Disciples were not somehow lesser than Honor Flower Disciples.

“You will take the very same tests Yi-gang once took in order to become a disciple of Azure Forest.”

The three’s eyes lit up.
They were intrigued by the fact that they would take the exact same tests Yi-gang had.

“Based on the results, your temporary senior-junior order will be decided. In other words, I will determine at the end who among you will be the senior. Does anyone object? Or, if anyone has questions, feel free to ask.”

Baek Sang-ye started to raise her hand, then quickly lowered it.
The Golden-Needle Freak Physician had taken up a brush and seemed about to write something down on a wooden board.

“What, I said you could ask freely. If you want to keep dragging things out, just say so. As I recall, that brat Yi-gang did whatever he was told right away without talking back.”
“No. It’s fine.”
“Good.”
“No, I said it was fine, so what did you write down?”
“Hm? So you’re losing your temper over what your heavenly martial ancestor is writing……”
“……”

Baek Sang-ye looked aggrieved, but quickly shut her mouth.
Seeing that, the Golden-Needle Freak Physician burst into laughter.
The three newcomers now understood why Do Gyeon, both physician and Taoist, had the word Freak in his epithet.

“Good, then we’ll begin the first test right away.”

The Golden-Needle Freak Physician took out a prepared book from the collection.
Then he opened it and showed it to them.

“Do you see?”

The writing on the pages was missing here and there.
The Golden-Needle Freak Physician placed a hand over the book.

“The books of the Grand Library are sometimes infested with little pests called Ink-Eating Worms.”

Ink-Eating Worms.
Tiny creatures that devoured the writing in books, too insignificant to even properly call yokai.
Sharp-smelling smoke began to rise from the Golden-Needle Freak Physician’s hand.

Chiiiiik!

Soon, pale little insects fell away from his palm, burned black.

“Your first test is to find these creatures quickly.”

It was the very test Yi-gang had taken in order to become an Honor Flower Disciple.
The Golden-Needle Freak Physician lifted an hourglass to measure time and spoke.

“The first one to go will be……”

The three newcomers had never imagined a test like this.
Tsering and Baek Sang-ye both avoided his gaze first.
They had no idea how they were even supposed to find an Ink-Eating Worm.

“There we go. Cheongho, you do it.”

And Cheongho, who had not looked away, was chosen to go first.