Chapter 83
His eyes sparkled as he looked at the sweets placed on the tray the head maid was holding.
“Whoa...”
“Hehe, you mustn’t eat too many and skip your meal, so please hold yourself back with just these for now.”
Part 8: The Luoyang Sword Clan’s Supreme Operations Council
The Luoyang Sword Clan, the Fourth Young Master’s office.
The door to the office opened, and the Fourth Young Master’s head maid entered.
“Master, is your work finally starting to wrap up?”
From within the mountain of documents that had once been the Fourth Young Master’s desk, Yeon Bi’s voice could be heard.
“...Yeah. There’s just a little left now. I’m doing the final check.”
At the boy’s voice, which held not a shred of strength, the head maid smiled.
“Now then, for our tired master, I have prepared some sweets!”
“Sweets!”
The boy popped up from within the mountain of documents.
His eyes sparkled as he looked at the sweets placed on the tray the head maid was holding.
“Whoa...”
“Hehe, you mustn’t eat too many and skip your meal, so please hold yourself back with just these for now.”
At her words, Yeon Bi nodded.
“Yeah! I have to eat rice if I want to grow taller!”
Yeon Bi perched on the table and nibbled little by little at the sweets.
Seeing the boy look so happy, the head maid opened her mouth with a warm smile.
“But in the end, what do you think the Eldest Young Master was aiming for?”
The Fourth Young Master smiled brightly.
“I don’t know!”
“Really?”
“How could a little kingfisher like me understand the will of a great roc like Eldest Brother?”
Even as he said that, Yeon Bi wore a mischievous smile, as if he wanted her to keep asking.
“Oh, please don’t be like that. Teach me too about the Eldest Young Master’s wonderful and magnificent intentions. You must have some guesses, Master.”
It was not that she had any particular great interest in the Eldest Young Master.
She simply wanted to see her master regain strength and energy whenever the Eldest Young Master was mentioned.
“Hehe, then I shall specially teach you.”
“Wow!”
Lately, this had become her own special way of supporting her master, who was suffering under a heavy workload.
“Well, if I were to guess...”
Sitting on the table, Yeon Bi swung his feet and opened his mouth.
“...I think Eldest Brother’s goal may have been to be summoned to and attend the Supreme Operations Council.”
“...The Supreme Operations Council?”
It was an unexpected answer.
Had the Eldest Young Master not been driven further into a corner as the matter passed through the Elder Council and eventually reached the Supreme Operations Council?
“Isn’t the Eldest Young Master currently in danger because of those who want to further strengthen his seclusion? On top of that, the matter of the clan-head seal overlapped with it, and even the Supreme Operations Council became involved.”
At her question, Yeon Bi nodded.
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“You mean he is in danger?”
Watching the Fourth Young Master nod while diligently licking at his sweets, the head maid calmly organized her thoughts.
“...Then what you mean, Master, is that while it is true the Eldest Young Master has fallen into danger, that danger itself was the goal he wanted?”
The Fourth Young Master smiled brightly.
“Correct!”
“Wow!”
The two of them clapped hard together.
“Then what on earth is the Eldest Young Master planning to do after being summoned to the Supreme Operations Council?”
At her question, the Fourth Young Master shook his head.
“I can guess what Eldest Brother is aiming for, but I have no idea how he intends to do it.”
“Is that so?”
The Fourth Young Master gave a bitter smile.
“I have attended that place several times too, but not once has anything gone the way I wanted.”
“...That is true.”
Yeon Bi crunched down on the sweets.
“Those people are not supreme members for nothing. They’re absolute monsters. When all nine of them press in like one body...”
His body trembled.
***
The Luoyang Sword Clan, Supreme Operations Council.
A distorted voice echoed inside the enormous hemispherical stone cavern.
“Eldest Young Master. No matter that you are the Eldest Young Master of the main clan and possess the clan-head seal, there is a line you must not cross.”
Yeon Sang-hyeon shrugged.
“I have no idea what you mean.”
Another voice cut in and raised its tone.
“Do you truly not know how grave a crime it can be under the Sword Clan Code to dare pry into the identity of a supreme member?!”
“This council may formally request the Law Enforcement Court to impose punishment accordingly.”
Yeon Sang-hyeon chuckled.
“On what grounds will you accuse me?”
“The Supreme Operations Council has its own minutes, and those will serve as the grounds!”
Yeon Sang-hyeon burst out laughing.
The newly appointed supreme members were momentarily flustered.
No one had ever dared display such an attitude in this place until now.
“Are you truly determined to taste bitterness?!”
“Eldest Young Master, please allow this meeting to proceed in a direction that will be beneficial to both sides—”
Yeon Sang-hyeon, who had finally stopped laughing, cut the voice off.
“Sorry, but no records are left of this meeting. That includes minutes, of course.”
The two newly appointed supreme members fell silent.
After a moment, the voice of one of them was heard.
“General Affairs, is what the Eldest Young Master said true?”
The voice called General Affairs answered.
“Yes.”
Inside a small chamber, beyond the curtain, the newly appointed supreme member clenched her teeth.
‘...What is this?’
She recalled the preliminary meeting that had taken place before Yeon Sang-hyeon arrived.
“For what reason are records not left behind?”
“For the same reason records are not left behind, I cannot tell you.”
“...Just how many more meetings have there been that were not left on record like this?”
“None, aside from meetings with the Eldest Young Master.”
“Then how many times have these meetings with the Eldest Young Master taken place so far?”
“That, too, cannot be disclosed.”
“Then what were the minutes we have seen so far from the times the Eldest Young Master attended?”
Yeon Sang-hyeon answered that question.
“Of course, aside from the content that had to be recorded, wasn’t the rest all the General Affairs member’s creation?”
No voice could be heard.
As if to soothe them, Yeon Sang-hyeon casually raised a hand.
“Well, this must be your first time experiencing something like this, so I understand that you’re flustered. Let’s do our best.”
***
“What on earth do you mean, the supreme members will not agree on a solution to this matter beforehand?”
“It does not only mean that we will not agree on a solution. It means we will not establish countermeasures at all.”
“Do not say something so absurd! Do you not understand how great a problem this matter may cause for the main clan?!”
“I do know. Rather, it is precisely because I know that this council cannot agree on anything in advance.”
“What on earth do you mean by that?”
“Will the other supreme members simply let this ridiculous matter pass as it is?”
No answer came back.
Except for the two newly appointed supreme members, one man and one woman, no one raised any objection to this absurd situation.
She felt the impulse surge up within her to run out of this dark chamber at once and grab the other supreme members by the collars.
But that would be the grave crime of breaking the “Oath of Silence.”
The supreme members themselves were not permitted to know the identities of their fellow members, nor were they allowed to reveal their own status.
After a while, the newly appointed female supreme member regained some measure of composure and opened her mouth.
“...At least tell us the reason.”
“Because this discussion cannot take place without the person concerned, Eldest Young Master Yeon Sang-hyeon.”
“The very person concerned is the core figure of the problem this council must stop, and yet you say we cannot discuss it in a place where he is absent...”
A long sigh was heard.
“...You too will soon understand the reason.”
The newly appointed female supreme member sighed and opened her mouth.
“...I will try to understand the situation in which no records are left. In return, I would appreciate it if the Eldest Young Master also showed sufficient respect toward this council.”
“No, I understand, but...”
Even at her gentle request, Yeon Sang-hyeon only chuckled.
“It is difficult to endure a situation where I can tease a supreme member and not be punished for it...”
“Eldest Young Master!”
The newly appointed male supreme member shouted as if having a fit.
“What an utterly insolent bastard! How dare you spout such outrageous words here, of all places?! I will immediately—”
“Enough!”
A new voice cut him off.
“That is enough. Do you still not understand why the Eldest Young Master is provoking you?”
The voice rebuked the newly appointed supreme members.
***
This, too, was likely a sight that no one other than Yeon Sang-hyeon had ever seen in this Supreme Operations Council.
“Every time you say one more word, you are doing nothing but confessing your identities to the Eldest Young Master. You ought to have realized that much by now!”
Though distorted, the speaker’s tone was especially seasoned with age.
When the two newcomers fell silent, that voice rose toward Yeon Sang-hyeon.
“Eldest Young Master, I would also appreciate it if you stopped teasing the newly appointed supreme members every time.”
He requested it of Yeon Sang-hyeon in a gentle tone.
Yeon Sang-hyeon nodded and bowed politely toward the voice.
“It has been a long time, Chairman.”
The chairman of the Supreme Operations Council answered.
“It has been a long time, Eldest Young Master.”
The chairman added,
“You have become astonishingly imposing in the time I have not seen you.”
“You seem to have grown even older. It appears governing this family, which grows larger with each passing day, is not easy.”
“Hoho, thank you for worrying about this old man.”
The atmosphere was astonishingly mild.
They were exchanging greetings?
That was something never permitted in this Supreme Operations Council.
Even so, the two newly appointed supreme members who had been scolded by the chairman could not open their mouths easily.
Right now, they were in an even greater state of confusion than when they had first become supreme members and attended a meeting.
However, Yeon Sang-hyeon asked only the chairman how he had been.
He deliberately did not ask after the other supreme members, and the supreme members also did not bother to speak.
“Hoho, now we should begin this meeting in earnest. General Affairs, please proceed.”
As in any other meeting, the General Affairs member began the proceedings.
“The purpose of convening this Supreme Operations Council is to summon Eldest Young Master Yeon Sang-hyeon of the main clan and to put an end to the unease regarding the Eldest Young Master that is currently spreading around the highest levels of the main clan.”
The General Affairs member asked Yeon Sang-hyeon,
“What is the name of the summoned person?”
“Yeon Sang-hyeon.”
“What is your status in the main clan?”
“The Eldest Young Master, who possesses the clan-head seal.”
“Is it correct that the summoned person was notified of this summons in advance and attended after agreeing to it?”
“That is correct.”
“Does the summoned person swear before the sacred Code of the main clan that he will speak only the truth in this place?”
“That is correct.”
“May the heroic spirits of the great Luoyang Sword Clan bless this place.”
Then the chairman’s voice rose and spread.
“Then the supreme members may begin questioning the summoned person.”
The newly appointed female supreme member opened her mouth.
“Eldest Young Master Yeon Sang-hyeon.”
From beyond the special curtain, her gaze fixed directly on Yeon Sang-hyeon.
“In the past, at this council, you swore that the Sword Clan’s Golden Seal in your possession would not influence the successor competition.”
She asked,
“Is this record true?”
Yeon Sang-hyeon gave a bitter smile.
“That is correct, though it is somewhat different.”
He answered.
“How is it different?”
“In the past, I said that I would ensure the clan-head seal I possessed would not influence the successor competition of the main clan, so they did not need to worry.”
He continued.
“...Could you explain how that is different?”
Yeon Sang-hyeon spoke clearly, one word at a time.
“That promise was not some ‘achievement’ that you people drew out of me.”
“Then...”
“That means I was the one who brought it up ‘first’ and ‘voluntarily’ to the Supreme Operations Council at the time.”
His voice rose.
“To help you people, who did not know what to do because of the issue of the clan-head seal!”
He bared his teeth.
“And yet, at the time, you did not even make that fact public!”