Seolhwa was gone.

From the moment the Martial Alliance sensed something and moved, not even a quarter-hour (about 15 minutes) had passed before they arrived.

Namgoong Mucheon, first to reach the Dragon & Phoenix Gathering grounds, stared blankly at the devastated arena.

Blood and screams, groans soaked with pain.

Nowhere could he feel the trace of Seolhwa.

He could not read her qi.

“Big sis... big sis...!”

Namgoong Mucheon’s gaze fell on Namgoong Woong, sprawled on the ground beside Jegal Hwi, sobbing.

In that instant, he felt as if something thumped down inside him.

Namgoong Mucheon went to the two.

Seeing him, Jegal Hwi started, stepped back, and bowed his head.

“What has happened. Where is Seolhwa... where is she.”

“G-grandfather....”

Namgoong Woong clutched the hem of Namgoong Mucheon’s long coat.

“Grandfather...! Big sis... Seolhwa big sis...!”

“...Where is Seolhwa.”

Leaving Woong, who could not get the words out, Namgoong Mucheon asked Jegal Hwi again.

Jegal Hwi could not bring himself to meet his eyes and lowered his head.

“Those in white masks. They... took Miss Namgoong.”

Namgoong Mucheon pressed his lips tight and lifted his chin to the sky.

His fist, clenched, trembled finely.

“...”

The murmur around them reached his ears.

“Didn’t it seem like those bastards knew Miss Namgoong? I swear they called her Little House Lord...!”

“Yeah! And Miss Namgoong walked after them on her own!”

“No way...”

Namgoong Mucheon lowered his gaze and asked Jegal Hwi again.

“Did Seolhwa... go of her own will?”

Jegal Hwi cried out, flustered.

“That...! The young lady had no choice but to go, to protect everyone! Right up until she went, she...!”

To keep even one person from being hurt...

How...

How desperate...

“...”

Jegal Hwi, too, dropped his head, unable to continue.

He had done nothing.

He could do nothing.

Even as people died before his eyes, he had been prepared for nothing.

The enemy’s might was overwhelming, # Nоvеlight # and he lacked even the courage to fight back.

While he was merely, helplessly afraid, Miss Namgoong staked her life to protect everyone.

She...

“What is this...!”

“Gasp...”

He heard the belated voices of the adults arriving.

Those who came hurried to gather their clans’ children and their sects’ disciples.

Jegal Hwi clenched his fist.

“The young lady surely... followed them because she had no choice... to protect everyone here....”

Surely...

Tap, pat.

Clear tears fell, helplessly.

The reason he thought he had steadied unraveled swiftly the moment the adults arrived.

As the tension released, relief, guilt, and helplessness crashed over him at once and shattered his composure.

Tap. Tap.

Namgoong Mucheon patted Jegal Hwi’s shoulder and passed him by.

“Brother.”

Seop Mugwang ran up to Namgoong Mucheon.

His face was full of unease.

A warrior’s intuition is sharp as a honed blade.

The unease that had dogged him before reaching the grounds turned to certainty the moment he stepped in.

“We track them at once. If it’s Seolhwa, she will surely have left signs. You follow me alo—”

Namgoong Mucheon cut himself off and turned to look at one place.

Atop the wall encircling the Gathering grounds,

a black snake was looking at him.

****

“Hm...”

So-and-so, Beggar’s Union Elder, tapped the tabletop with a finger—tok, tok—as he gazed at the materials spread there.

It was information on the sigil that the Shadowless Demon God—Namgoong Seolhwa—had asked him to investigate.

The sigil that child had left.

He had thought it felt somehow familiar; indeed, he had seen it, dimly, somewhere before.

‘Why would that child ask me to find this place.’

Was she entangled not only with the Sado Union and the Martial Alliance, but with these dangerous people as well?

Even those who counted for something in the Central Plains were loath to get involved with that place; what business could she possibly have there?

“...”

Staring fixedly at the sigil sketched on the report, So-and-so suddenly sprang to his feet.

Pain flared from wounds not yet fully knit, and he clutched his abdomen, swallowing a groan.

After a moment, once the pain ebbed, he rolled the documents up and tucked them into his chest.

His body was not yet whole, but this was a request from his and the Beggar’s Union’s benefactor.

He meant to deliver the information himself.

‘And offer my thanks while I’m at it.’

“...” 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

‘...And perhaps hear what ties she has to these people.’

In every way.

Without hesitation, So-and-so took up the staff resting by the table.

His gait was uncomfortable, but his step was light.

In a life lived along the Beggar’s Union roads, he had never met someone as interesting as Namgoong Seolhwa.

He had weathered most twists and turns and thought himself beyond surprise, yet every matter tied to that child startled him; this time, too, she would surely not disappoint.

‘What is the Alliance Lord’s granddaughter scheming now?’

The desire to confirm it himself made him forget even the pain in his flesh.

But just as So-and-so, the information for Namgoong Seolhwa tucked in his breast, finished readying to leave and reached the door—

“L-lord...!”

His disciple Chunpal burst in, flinging the door wide, panting.

Seeing his blood-drained face, So-and-so’s expression hardened; something grave had happened.

“What’s got you in such a panic?”

“T-that...!”

And Chunpal delivered news beyond belief.

As he stumbled through the rest, So-and-so’s expression gradually filled with shock.

****

Qiyang, southern Hunan Province.

At a somewhat quiet inn, a brimming bowl of wheat noodles landed with a thunk in front of Yu Gang.

He looked for a moment at the broth where the innkeeper’s fingers had dipped and at the noodles piled high in the bowl, then picked up his chopsticks and began to slurp, steadily.

“Heard the rumor? They say the Sado Union and the Flesh Curtain are about to clash.”

“’Course I heard. The Martial Alliance sent people to stop it, they say. Because of that, no one’s out after dark these days.”

“These days I get the shivers just seeing a stranger. Who knows? The one you bump into might be a killer!”

Even as he ate his noodles, he kept his ears open and did not let the chatter slip by.

It was only his third day since reaching Qiyang.

Rumors were spreading fast—tension between the Flesh Curtain and the Sado Union, and the Martial Alliance’s movement in response.

‘At this rate, the Flesh Curtain won’t move lightly, perhaps.’

Unless the Flesh Curtain struck first, the Sado Union would not attack them.

If only his movements could suppress the Flesh Curtain’s opportunism, that would be good.

That would help Seolhwa, too.

‘The rumors are plenty well spread by now.’

Shall I head toward the Gathering site soon?

Everyone would be busy meeting again after a long while and trading spars, no doubt.

Would Seolhwa be sparring others, too?

“...”

Suddenly he saw her face as she had swung her sword at him during the tournament.

Facing his Ouyang lineage saber with her swordplay, her expression had been full of life—purely happy.

She is happiest when she swings a sword.

Knowing that, Yu Gang could not bring himself to block her blade.

Even if there were moments when swinging that sword put her in danger—

He could never block her happiness.

‘It was truly dangerous in the ravine.’

Seolhwa had been strong in the battle with the Outlands men, but the enemy had not been trivial.

When the enemy blade cut Seolhwa’s arm, Yu Gang had been truly afraid.

That she might be gravely hurt.

That she might die.

That she might never lift a sword again.

That was why—

His body had thrown itself before he knew it.

Slurp— Tak—

Finishing the last chopful of noodles with a clean slurp and setting his chopsticks down, Yu Gang’s face was bright.

‘I like Seolhwa that way.’

Even if it’s dangerous, she meets it head-on.

She is always a step ahead.

Skilled with the sword, and yet in truth clumsy with many things.

‘I want to see her.’

He wanted to see Seolhwa eating the food he made with relish.

He wanted to see Seolhwa frowning as she scrubbed soil from herbs with all her might.

He wanted to see Seolhwa prank him, turn away, and struggle not to laugh.

He wanted to see her sulk when things did not go her way.

And...

“Not that... I’ll grant you anything else. Name another wish.”

“Anything?”

“...?”

“Truly?”

“...”

Yu Gang’s lips curled slightly.

Rising, he took two coins from his breast and set them by the empty bowl, then pulled down the bamboo hat he’d kept at his side.

It was about time Seolmae—whom he had sent to the Martial Alliance to report—returned.

As soon as Seolmae came back, he meant to set out for the Gathering site.

“It was delicious!”

With a light, satisfied call toward the owner coming out of the kitchen, Yu Gang stepped out of the inn and headed for the mountain.

He meant to go to the place where he had sent Seolmae and wait.

After passing through a dense forest path, Yu Gang reached a sparse stand of trees, took off his bamboo hat, and looked up at the sky.

Right on time, Seolmae arrived and circled above his head.

Smiling bright, Yu Gang stretched his arm out toward Seolmae.

Clatter—

Cheongun’s face froze in surprise.

“!”

As he turned, a cup caught on the hem of his long coat fell and shattered on the floor.

“Oh dear, are you hurt?”

Namgoong Mun, seated opposite, asked in a worried voice.

“Ah... I’m fine.”

“You’ve seemed a bit off lately. You’re absent-minded often.”

“...Have I?”

“Haha, do you already miss the young lady? It hasn’t even been a week since she left.”

“Ah...”

More than that, Seolhwa’s insistence that she would not become Little Clan Lord kept weighing on his mind.

Should he persuade her—or follow the child’s will?

“I’ll call a maid.”

As the chief steward rose to summon a maid and stepped out, Cheongun let out a low sigh and crouched down.

He meant only to clear the larger shards; as his fingers reached for a piece—

“!”

A prickle stung his fingertip.

Cheongun frowned and checked; red blood was welling from his finger.