Chapter 48
Part 23: Price
In the courtyard stood the man who claimed to be Elder Yeom’s butler, the four warriors guarding him, and everyone from Wongakjeong.
“Say it again.”
At the sight of Yeon Sang-hyeon appearing after kicking the door open, the man who called himself Elder Yeom’s butler unconsciously swallowed dryly.
“I told you to say it again.”
Yeon Sang-hyeon’s low, pressing voice was far too different from that of the Swordless the man had heard about in rumors.
But he trusted in the weight of the name of the elder he served.
An elder held one of the highest positions in the Sword Clan.
“Elder Yeom has ordered that the honorable Medicine King be escorted to him.”
At those words, the triplets snorted, and Jeong-ah burst into laughter.
Tilting his head crookedly, Yeon Sang-hyeon asked,
“Who gave an order to whom?”
The butler hastily cleared his throat.
“Ahem. Of course, it was an order given to this butler.”
Yeon Sang-hyeon asked again,
“This butler?”
The butler floundered.
“No, not this butler…”
“Not?”
“Not this butler, but… that is…”
The way his words tangled was so ridiculous that the maids all burst into laughter.
That laughter seemed to have thoroughly provoked the butler.
Or perhaps he wanted to deny the fact that he had been mocked by the Swordless.
“How insolent! How dare mere maids…!”
Cutting him off, Yeon Sang-hyeon raised his hand.
“The insolent one is you.”
He was about to slap him across the face.
“Eldest Young Master, stop!”
The four escorting warriors all grabbed their sword hilts at once.
“How dare you…!”
With Jeong-ah at the head, the maids also grabbed their sword hilts in unison.
It was at that moment.
The wrists of the guards who had grabbed their sword hilts all fell to the ground at once.
It was swordsmanship so sharp that even the guards who had lost their wrists only realized what had happened after hearing the sound of their wrists hitting the ground.
“U-uaaaagh!”
The butler leapt in shock at the sight.
The guards, however, remained calm, as expected of Sword Clan warriors, and retreated while pressing their acupoints to stop the bleeding.
“Insane bastards…”
A man in a security uniform stood there with a sword in hand.
Amazingly, not a single drop of blood stained the sword that had severed the guards’ wrists.
Moreover, that sword was a blunted practice sword.
“You dared to show your sword hilts toward the Eldest Young Master of the main house…?”
The sword in the hand of the Life-Reaping Ghost Sword flashed once more.
This time too, the sword made no sound.
It cast no shadow.
The forearms of the guards, who had each backed away and taken their guard, were cut off all at once.
His sword had no blind spot.
“What are you doing, you mad traitorous bastards?”
At the word “traitors,” the warriors realized what they had done.
Because they had always looked down on the Swordless in ordinary times, they had ended up committing an utterly absurd act.
The Life-Reaping Ghost Sword bared his teeth and emitted a terrifying killing intent.
It was a killing intent so intense that even the mild air of Wongakjeong seemed to freeze over.
“If you were warriors, then die with swords in your hands.”
Just as his sword was about to move again, Yeon Sang-hyeon’s voice quietly rang out.
“Stop.”
The Life-Reaping Ghost Sword stopped his sword, but he did not withdraw the blade pointed at them.
Looking at that sight, Yeon Sang-hyeon spoke again.
“No one has their life taken in this Wongakjeong. That is the solemn law set down by my mother, the Great Madam of this clan.”
The Life-Reaping Ghost Sword immediately withdrew his sword.
The butler foamed at the mouth.
“E-Eldest Young Master! Do you think you can harm Elder Yeom’s warriors and have nothing happen to you?”
“Yes.”
Yeon Sang-hyeon grabbed the butler by the collar and slapped him across the face.
Even though he had not infused the strike with internal energy, he was a practitioner of The Ruler Of Darkness.
According to the Medicine King, he was no longer human.
He was capable of seizing people, tearing them apart, and ripping them to pieces by brute strength alone.
The butler’s cheek split open, and his teeth flew through the air in a shower.
Looking down with indifferent eyes at the butler, who was dangling as if suspended by his collar, Yeon Sang-hyeon opened his mouth.
“My mother said not to kill them.”
His palm struck the butler again.
The few teeth that had barely remained scattered through the air along with a mist of blood.
“And I am certain Elder Yeom will say nothing even if I cripple not only the warriors, but also a butler bastard who does not know his place.”
His palm struck the butler yet again.
Now half of the butler’s face was covered in blood, his cheekbone had collapsed, and one of his eyes was destroyed and hanging loose.
“Do you know why?”
Though that question was clearly being asked of the butler, the butler had already lost consciousness.
“I-I do not know, my lord.”
A warrior who was holding his severed forearm and stopping the bleeding answered in his place.
Yeon Sang-hyeon smiled at him.
“Because Elder Yeom knows the value of his own name. No matter how lacking I may seem, he is more than capable of calculating that, compared to the value of my name, the value of his own is insufficient.”
Yeon Sang-hyeon bared his teeth at the warriors.
“So what is the conclusion?”
The warriors could not answer at all.
At that, Yeon Sang-hyeon’s palm struck the butler once more.
His ear tore away and flew off, his skin was ripped open, and the already fractured cheekbone was exposed.
“This bastard lied. That is what it means.”
To the speechless warriors, Yeon Sang-hyeon shook the hand that was gripping the butler by the collar.
“And even if it was not a lie, it does not matter.”
As his killing intent leaked out, a chill surged forth that could not even be compared to the Life-Reaping Ghost Sword’s killing intent.
“Whether he is an elder or whatever else, I will make him look exactly like this bastard.”
When everyone had frozen in place, Jeong-ah stepped forward.
“…Master.”
Yeon Sang-hyeon sighed and withdrew his killing intent.
But he did not let go of the butler. Instead, he spoke to the warriors.
“Are you worried that I might disobey my mother’s words? Do not worry about that.”
Yeon Sang-hyeon chuckled.
“Because there are two of the finest physicians in the Central Plains here.”
At that moment, the Medicine King stepped forward.
“It seems Elder Yeom’s subordinate was overzealous in his loyalty because he wanted to earn merit.”
He spoke as he approached Yeon Sang-hyeon.
“Elder Yeom’s daughter suffers from an incurable illness. Whenever I came to Luoyang, I would look after her.”
The Medicine King frowned at the sight of the courtyard, which was now covered in blood.
“Eldest Young Master. For my sake, as someone who is acquainted with Elder Yeom, or if not that, then for the sake of the Merciful Hall that tended this courtyard, why not let them go now?”
Though he was trying hard to act calm, there was no way Yeon Sang-hyeon could fail to guess the complicated and stifled feelings in the old man’s heart after seeing his grandson changed so much.
Yeon Sang-hyeon threw the half-dead man in his hand toward the warriors.
The Medicine King spoke to them.
“Tell him that, because such an unfortunate incident occurred, it will be difficult for me to look after his daughter any longer.”
To those who had caused this incident, those words were no different from a death sentence.
They knew Elder Yeom’s personality, after all.
However, they could not say a word. They bowed their heads deeply, then carried the butler with them and left Wongakjeong.
The Life-Reaping Ghost Sword followed them all the way to the main gate and confirmed that they had completely left Wongakjeong.
The courtyard was silent.
A short while later, without turning around, Yeon Sang-hyeon spoke to the Medicine King.
“This too is my responsibility.”
The Medicine King said nothing and waited for Yeon Sang-hyeon to continue.
“Because I was foolish and dull, because I earned contempt and then left it alone, four promising warriors of the main clan had to pay the price.”
In the courtyard, their wrists and forearms were lying scattered.
The Medicine King sighed and approached Yeon Sang-hyeon.
“…No. Those men merely paid the price for their own stupidity.”
He put an arm around Yeon Sang-hyeon’s shoulders.
“Now then. Tonight, let us run until dawn with this old grandfather of yours.”
Yeon Sang-hyeon gave a faint laugh.
“No, what do you mean ‘run’ at your age? How undignified.”
“You brat. Come to think of it, did you say earlier that there were two of the finest physicians in the Central Plains? I must have misheard, yes? The only finest physician is this Medicine King, is he not?”
“You did mishear. The Medicine King is the finest in the Central Plains, while I am the finest on this continent.”
As the two of them bickered and went back into the room, Jeong-ah let out a sigh of relief.
She had been worried that her master’s emotions might become so agitated that that would emerge.
It had only been a short time since her master’s mind, which had been eroding away after the mass slaughter, had regained stability.
She clapped her hands.
“What are all of you doing? Hurry and clean up this mess, then prepare more side dishes for the alcohol.”
The triplets, who had still been frozen from the aftermath of Yeon Sang-hyeon’s killing intent, began to move busily.
***
“What did you say?”
An enormous greatsword repeatedly struck the ground.
“Say that again.”
Each time the sword collided with the earth, the ground shook as if an earthquake had occurred, and a roar spread out like thunder.
“I said, say it again!”
The hall trembled, and dust that had gathered in unseen places scattered through the air.
“Why are you not answering?!”
The ground was being gouged out in deep dents.
The faces of those around him had turned deathly pale.
“Elder.”
Unable to watch any longer, his chief steward stepped forward and spoke to him.
“As you can see, he has already been dead for some time.”
What Elder Yeom had been striking over and over with his greatsword was the butler who had returned half-dead.
His corpse had been crushed so horribly that it was impossible to tell whether it had originally been a human or a beast.
Elder Yeom silently looked down at the blood-soaked lump of flesh lodged in the caved-in ground, then let out a sigh.
When he threw his greatsword over his shoulder, it flew in a smooth arc and lodged itself in the fixed scabbard.
It was sword-controlling technique.
He then sank down onto the floor.
“…Damn it. I killed him in a fit of temper. I will have to listen to another round of nagging again.”
Then he looked at the four warriors who were kneeling before him with their heads pressed to the floor.
“You lot, go to the Law Enforcement Council, confess your crimes, and receive punishment. Anyone who feels wronged may request a trial by duel.”
“…We are grateful for your mercy!”
The warriors shouted loudly, but for some reason, they were trembling even more than when Elder Yeom had been angry.
None of them seemed likely to dare request a trial by duel.
Elder Yeom waved his hand.
“Now, everyone except the staff officers, get out.”
Once the group of people had all left, only the small number of people he referred to as his staff officers remained.
“The Medicine King said he would no longer visit?”
“According to what I confirmed, he said, ‘Because of this unfortunate incident, it will be difficult for me to look after the young lady any longer.’”
Elder Yeom did not say, That means the same thing.
Someone in his position knew full well how great a difference a small expression could make.
“And I already feel as though my head is about to burst because of the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering…”
Elder Yeom raised a hand as large as a bear’s paw and gripped his head.
“…The Swordless, the Swordless, that damned Swordless!”
When he struck the floor with his bare hand, spiderweb-like cracks spread across the paving stones.
He spoke in a low voice.
“There is something the people below are seriously mistaken about…”
The chief steward continued,
“What might that be?”
Elder Yeom answered.
“The Eldest Young Master was not looked down on because he was the Swordless. He was called the Swordless because he stayed still even when he was looked down on.”
He looked up at the ceiling.
“If he does not stay still, then he is not the Swordless. Then what is he?”
“Then he would be the Eldest Young Master.”
Elder Yeom suddenly shouted.
“Exactly! The Eldest Young Master! The Eldest Young Master of the great Luoyang Sword Clan! Is there anyone here who does not know where the Eldest Young Master ranks in ceremonial order under the main clan’s legal code?! Is there any bastard here who does not know how heavy the value of that name is?!”
“…We have no excuse.”
The staff officers all bowed their heads deeply at once.
“Then how have you been educating the butler bastards below?!”
He shouted at the staff officers.
“Have every single person under me undergo ceremonial order education again! Especially those warrior bastards who have nothing but swordsmanship in their heads—educate them twice as much! If that is not enough, three times as much!”
His staff officers answered loudly in unison.
“And find a way to invite the Medicine King back!”
He growled like a mountain lord.
“And if anyone brings me a so-called plan that drags in someone they cannot take responsibility for…”
He raised his finger and pointed.
Everyone’s gaze turned toward the lump of meat in the pit.