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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Teottry
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“What’s the damage?”
“Aside from… the garden Gwahae demolished… nothing of note.”
Jegal Xiao Feng, the acting head of the Jegal Clan, who had been briefly incapacitated by the lingering malevolent energy and had just regained consciousness, followed Jegal Liang as he inspected the estate’s formations, and answered his question.
“How are Yeon and Gwahae?”
“They seem to be fine. Though they were drenched by the sudden downpour, so they’re both taking a hot bath.”
“And the assassins’ bodies?”
“About that, Elder… well…”
Jegal Xiao Feng hesitated, then spoke cautiously.
“I’m not sure if they’re… missing, or… invisible… but they weren’t where you said they would be. There was nothing there.”
“They disappeared?”
“Yes… I apologize.”
Xiao Feng bowed his head in shame, and Jegal Liang frowned momentarily, then returned his attention to the formations.
“It’s fine. The assassin who fought Gwahae must have used some trick to escape with the bodies.”
He examined the formations, searching for signs of tampering, a breach created from within.
“Or perhaps he had help.”
“What?”
“From this moment forward, no one enters or leaves the estate.”
Xiao Feng’s face hardened as he understood the implications of Jegal Liang’s words.
“You don’t mean?!”
He realized how a group of unknown martial artists had been able to infiltrate the heavily fortified estate so easily.
He understood why he hadn’t been alerted to a breach in the formations. There hadn’t been a breach.
Jegal Liang’s eyes narrowed, his gaze sharp as a hawk’s. A chilling killing intent emanated from him.
“Yes, there’s a traitor within the Jegal Estate… a blood relative, skilled in formations.”
Someone had simply opened the gates from the inside.
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Standing before the gates of the Jegal Estate at the Martial Alliance headquarters, Mancheon felt a surge of frustration, his hand instinctively reaching for the back of his neck.
“I’m telling you! I know Jegal Liang! We’ve had tea together! And meals! We’ve even played Go together!!”
But the guard remained impassive, blocking his path.
“I cannot allow you to enter. Those are the Elder’s orders.”
He repeated the same words, a frustratingly monotonous refrain.
“Elder Jegal is not someone you can simply meet whenever you please. I suggest you leave before this escalates.”
Not someone I can easily meet? He was practically a wild Pokémon, wandering around, waiting to be encountered.
He could even be captured with a game of Go.
He had asked the guard to inform Jegal Liang of his arrival, but they clearly didn’t believe him, dismissing him as a mere aspiring martial artist.
Frustrated and indignant, he looked up at the sky.
He had endured so much, and he was finally here, about to be reunited with Gwahae, and yet… it was ridiculously unfair.
They were deliberately preventing him from seeing her.
‘Should I just… barge in? Slaughter them all?’
As he considered this, he heard a familiar voice behind him.
“Mancheon? Is that you?”
A tall, handsome man with a friendly demeanor approached him.
“Uncle Biyeong?”
It was Jegal Biyeong, a friend of his father’s and the captain of the Flying Dragon Unit of the Martial Alliance.
“You’ve grown so much! I almost didn’t recognize you.”
“Sir Biyeong, do you… know this young man?” the guard asked, slightly flustered by the arrival of the second son of the Jegal Clan leader, a direct descendant.
“Of course, I know him. He’s my friend’s son. Let him in.”
Biyeong clapped Mancheon on the back, vouching for him.
“I’m sorry, sir, but I can’t. And I’m afraid I can’t allow you to enter either, Sir Biyeong.”
But the guard remained unmoved.
“What?! I just pulled an all-nighter, and this is how I’m greeted?! What kind of nonsense is this?!”
Biyeong was outraged that a member of the Jegal Clan, the son of the clan leader, no less, was being denied entry to the Jegal Estate. But then…
“Those are Elder Jegal Liang’s direct orders…”
he clicked his tongue at the guard’s explanation and turned away.
“Tsk! Mancheon, let’s go. I’ll send word to him later.”
“Uncle, is there really nothing you can do?”
Biyeong considered Mancheon’s plea, then shook his head.
“If that stubborn old geezer Jegal Liang is being this strict, something must be going on. There’s nothing I can do.”
“What’s going on?”
Mancheon frowned, and Biyeong, sensing his unease, chuckled heartily, clapping him on the shoulder.
“Haha~ Don’t worry, it’s probably nothing serious. Maybe they’re just doing some spring cleaning.”
He smiled genially, as if he hadn’t just been denied entry to his own family’s estate.
-Rumble… rumble… Clop… clop…
Unable to do anything for now, he accepted a ride from Uncle Biyeong back to his lodgings at the Martial Alliance headquarters, provided courtesy of his senior brother and Xiaoshao.
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“So… you saved the young master of the Nangong family, and then the Alliance Leader saved you from a demonic sect attack? That’s quite an adventure.”
Biyeong listened to his slightly embellished tale of his adventures, which, while only spanning two weeks in real-time, felt like half a year, due to the sheer number of events. He nodded, impressed.
“But you got involved with the Nangong Family.”
He paused at the mention of “Nangong,” then chuckled awkwardly, as if he had said too much.
“They’re a rather… complicated family. I shouldn’t have said anything. Young people should handle their own affairs.”
Biyeong looked intently at Mancheon, his gaze lingering on his amber eyes, a characteristic trait of the Sima family, reminiscent of wolves. He thought of the girl he had failed to protect.
“Perhaps it’s because… we could have been family… but I can’t help but meddle.”
“Family? What do you mean?”
It was an unexpected statement. But now that he thought about it, Biyeong had always been unusually generous, showering him with gifts and affection whenever he visited.
He had simply assumed it was because Biyeong was a close friend of his father’s, but…
was there something more to it? Had Biyeong perhaps… been in love with his mother?
“Sima Bu didn’t tell you? That bastard… well, I suppose it’s not a pleasant story.”
Biyeong took a small, wooden frame from his pocket and showed him the portrait within.
Mancheon’s eyes widened at the image of the beautiful young woman, who looked like she belonged to a prestigious, noble family.
‘Yeonhwa?’
No, it wasn’t her. While the overall impression was similar, the details were different. The most noticeable difference was the eye color.
The girl in the portrait had dark amber eyes.
“Who is this?”
“Sima Hwa. Your aunt. My first love.”
He looked at the girl in the portrait again, who seemed to be in her early teens.
His father’s younger sister, his aunt?
He was stunned. He had never known he had an aunt.
What was with his family? It was like peeling an onion; there were always more layers. At this rate, he wouldn’t be surprised if a secret half-sibling popped up.
“I don’t know the full story, but there was… a great tragedy in the Sima family,” Biyeong said, his gaze distant, lost in memories.
“Hwa’s older brother was studying commerce in the Western Silk Desert at the time…”
“She lost everyone except for Sima Bu. Her bodyguard had connections to the Jegal family, so she was able to hide her identity and seek refuge at the Jegal Estate.”
It seemed “Hwa” was Biyeong’s nickname for Sima Hwa.
“She was a quiet girl, aloof, with a proud yet vulnerable air. She would pout silently whenever I teased her. She was adorable.”
“And then she died of a plague while searching for Sima Bu in the Western Regions, trying to escape her pursuers.”
The gentle flow of nostalgia was interrupted by a surge of anger, regret, and grief.
“She shouldn’t have died… not like that.”
-Clop… clop… Neigh~!
The carriage came to a stop.
“Haha… I’ve said too much,” Biyeong said, breaking the heavy silence. He clapped Mancheon on the shoulder.
“I just… wanted you to know that you’re like family to me.”
With those words, he gave Mancheon a generous amount of spending money and bid him farewell.
Mancheon stepped out of the carriage, his mind reeling, not only from the disappointment of not seeing Gwahae, but also from the revelation of a secret aunt he had never known existed.
-Tap… tap…
He limped back to his lodgings at the Martial Alliance headquarters, his usual energetic gait replaced by a weary shuffle.
He had always suspected it, but his family had too many secrets.
Why hadn’t they told him about his aunt?
And they always changed the subject whenever he tried to ask about such things.
He felt a pang of loneliness, a sigh escaping his lips.
“Haah…”
Was he truly that detached? Had he, once again, mistakenly believed he was closer to his family than he actually was?
Sigh… Mancheon is sad.
As he walked, lost in thought, he ran into Xiaoshao.
Xiaoshao’s usually impassive face brightened at the unexpected encounter.
“Young Master Sima? You’ve returned sooner than expected. How did it go…?”
“Well, it seems I’ll have to postpone my visit for a while. Where are you headed, Brother Nangong?”
“I’m going to purchase a new sword. The one I usually use was damaged in the recent… incident.”
Xiaoshao looked at Mancheon’s empty right hand, calloused from years of gripping his staff, and, self-consciously, lowered her gaze, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
“Would you… care to join me, Young Master Sima? You… need a new staff as well… and… of course, I’ll pay for it!”
Here in lay the surprising advantage of Taegu-zzang:
While a broken Bankai was irreparable, Taegu-zzang, no matter how badly damaged, could be easily replaced at any local shop.
He had nothing else to do, so he agreed to accompany Xiaoshao, hoping for a change of scenery.
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Oh no the ego Staff could be anywhere 🤣
