Chapter 454

The young man who had frozen with his eyes wide—or rather, Ju Wongong—asked in a trembling voice,

“W-what did you say?”

Had this bastard’s ears been plugged this whole time? He kept making me repeat myself.

Ignoring the people staring back and forth between Ju Wongong and me with their mouths hanging open, I spoke again.

“Get down.”

“I-I am Ju Wongong!”

“Main character, Ju Wongong, whatever. Get down.”

“You are a subject of the Great Nation! How dare you show such disrespect to a member of His Majesty the Emperor’s own bloodline?”

“I have a friend named Johnson.¹ If he were here, he’d have violated something else.”

“……!”

“I’ll say it one last time. Get down.”

He had no idea what I meant, but anyone with human instincts could sense danger.

Ju Wongong’s butt twitched instinctively, and he slowly rose to his feet.

Yet even as his eyes darted around in anxiety at this unprecedented situation, he didn’t forget to threaten me until the bitter end. Apparently, he still trusted his imperial pedigree to protect him.

“D-do you think you’ll get away with this?”

“Yeah. I think I will.”

“To insult an imperial relative? This is treason!”

“As long as it’s not hair loss.”

“What kind of bastard says things like that…!”

Although I answered casually, I was not entirely wrong.

The imperial family bore the same Zhu surname as the Son of Heaven and carried the blood of dragons. That alone made them noble.

Even though Murim and the government maintained a relationship of mutual noninterference, disrespecting or threatening an imperial relative was treated as a serious crime.

There was a reason the Zhuge Clan retainer had been whining like a dog desperate to relieve itself.

“P-perhaps it would be best if you stopped now.”

I frowned at his whisper.

“Why?”

“Pardon?”

“What did I do? I didn’t swear at him or threaten to kill him. His side even attacked first. All I did was tell him to get down from the four-person sedan chair.”

“……Well, if you put it that way, you’re right. But he is still an imperial relative.”

“Imperial relatives come in all grades. If he’s eight degrees removed, he’s not really a blood relative. They just have a few drops of blood in common. If I spat into the Yangtze right now, the river and I would probably be about eight degrees apart too.”

“Gasp. Great Hero Jin, please.”

“It’s fine. I said it quietly, so no one could’ve heard us anyway.”

At that moment, Ju Wongong misread our whispering and shouted triumphantly.

“It seems you have finally grasped the gravity of the situation. But it is already too late! The imperial court will soon dispatch a hundred thousand troops to exterminate the nine branches of your kin,² along with those of every other traitor!”

“Oh. A Buster Call.³”

“What have you been babbling about this whole time, you traitorous bastard?”

“Gasp!”

“Eek!”

When unmistakable fury filled Ju Wongong’s eyes, the commoners sucked in their breaths and threw themselves flat on the ground. Some had already begun fleeing in every direction.

They seemed eager to avoid being dragged into someone else’s trouble. That meant fewer eyes watching us, so I had no complaints.

They keep threatening people with the nine branches of their kin² whenever they get bored.

Did they not bother with anything less?

As I let out a deep sigh, the Zhuge Clan retainer whispered,

“Don’t be too frightened. His talk of a hundred thousand troops is only a bluff.”

“……Do you think I’m an idiot? Why would I believe that?”

“Master Ju was exiled for using his imperial authority to embezzle a fortune, so he won’t want to make this matter any bigger. Please apologize and withdraw while you still can.”

“Wait. Exiled?”

“Yes.”

“Him?”

“He is an imperial relative. No matter how distant his branch may be, his blood cannot be ignored. Besides, he is a distant branch with no chance of inheriting the throne, so even when he commits a crime, they allow him to enjoy a certain amount of special treatment.”

“In short, he’s such a fucking nobody that no one around him even bothers with him?”

“……Great Hero Jin, please choose your words more carefully.”

I let the retainer’s complaint go in one ear and out the other, then laughed quietly.

I had wondered why someone who was supposedly an imperial relative was hanging around with a gang of thugs on a main road in Hubei instead of living in the imperial palace. It turned out he was even less important than I had imagined.

Though I had already suspected as much when he started talking about being eight degrees removed.

“First, I shall gouge out those arrogant eyes of yours for failing to recognize this noble self. Then I shall tear you limb from limb, and afterward—”

“Yeah, yeah. I get it. Look at this first, then we can talk about the rest.”

I pulled something from inside my robe and tossed it at Ju Wongong as he delivered his grand speech.

At the same time, the man who had been puffing out his chest flailed both arms and sat down hard.

“A hidden weapon! A hidden weapon! This bastard is trying to assassinate an imperial relative!”

“……You really are something else.”

And then—

The “hidden weapon” landed with a soft clack in front of Ju Wongong’s feet, scattering a brilliant light beneath everyone’s gaze.

“Huh?”

Ju Wongong stared at the object with puzzled eyes, his mouth hanging open.

“Huh? Huh? Huhhhhhh!”

It didn’t take long for his question marks to become exclamation marks, or for his anger to turn to shock.

He looked back and forth between me and Prince Shangshan Zhu Bao’s token, engraved with clouds and a dragon. Then he spoke in a grave voice.

“I shall show you mercy and forgive you.”

“……”

What a load of crap.

“So you were on your way to Dongting Lake?”

“That is correct! No, I mean, yes, that is so!”

Ju Wongong nodded vigorously at my gentle tone.

The decorative showpieces from Qingxia Hall whom he had hired were warning people to keep their mouths shut alongside the government troops, who had arrived late. Meanwhile, Cheongpung, who had somehow succeeded in buying dumplings in bulk, opened his eyes wide at the mention of Dongting Lake.

“Wow! Dongting Lake!”

Ju Wongong had finally learned the identity of this dumpling ghost. His uneasy gaze flicked toward the sword hanging at Cheongpung’s waist.

“W-well, I could invite you along if you wished…”

I muttered,

“You don’t mean that at all.”

“That is a misunderstanding! No, I mean, you misunderstand.”

“Do you misunderstand things this often? Considering you attacked people who were trying to pass by peacefully, it certainly seems that way.”

“That was… I shall apologize once again. I never dreamed that you possessed His Highness Prince Shangshan’s token.”

“Oh, I see. So if I hadn’t had the token, you would’ve brought a hundred thousand troops to exterminate nine branches of my family,² gouged out my eyes, and torn me limb from limb?”

“W-why would you say such a thing? Ha, ha-ha-ha.”

His forced laughter was almost pitiful.

I didn’t know the token would have this much power either.

There was a reason Ju Wongong had become so submissive.

Even animals were judged as purebred or mixed-breed. How much more would the imperial family—the noblest bloodline in the world—care about such distinctions?

Even though the same imperial blood ran in their veins, Prince Shangshan Zhu Bao was the Son of Heaven’s only younger full brother and the sole prince he had personally appointed.

After the late Emperor’s death, the ruthless man who now sat upon the throne had eliminated countless blood relatives in the struggle for succession. Prince Shangshan Zhu Bao was that ruthless Emperor’s one soft spot.

Ju Wongong, on the other hand, came from a collateral branch eight degrees removed.

The direct imperial line possessed legitimacy and authority. Even by counting degrees of kinship, Prince Shangshan Zhu Bao was a distant and exalted elder of the household to Ju Wongong.

This is what they call using barbarians to defeat barbarians.

Defeat barbarians with barbarians, and a weak Celestial Dragon⁴ with a strong Celestial Dragon.⁴

The chairman of my fan club was this formidable. Just thinking about it made my heart swell.

“Well, putting that aside, what are you planning to do at Dongting Lake?”

“W-well, the weather is pleasant, so I thought I might go boating…”

At my incredulous expression, Ju Wongong hurriedly corrected himself.

“I intended to go boating while also inspecting the people’s welfare, since I heard the mood in Hubei Province has been rather grim lately.”

“……Shouldn’t you inspect your own life first? I heard you were exiled for siphoning off a fortune through back channels.”

“Ahem! Ahem!”

“And you brought all these people along for a boat ride? At a time like this?”

Everyone in Hubei Province with eyes and ears was trembling with anxiety over the grim rumors that refused to die down, yet this exiled imperial relative was planning a lavish boating excursion on Dongting Lake.

If Mr. Current Situation heard about this and smashed Ju Wongong’s skull with a sledgehammer, Ju Wongong would have no right to complain.

That’s rich people for you.

I shook my head and rose from my seat.

The matter had been settled without too much fuss, so I intended to leave and forget about it. Ju Wongong seemed to take it differently.

“W-wait a moment. Where are you going?”

“I’m a busy man. I have more important things to do than go boating on Dongting Lake. Why?”

“If I have offended you, I shall apologize once again. And in that spirit…”

Ju Wongong trailed off and gave a meaningful glance.

The Qingxia Hall martial artists who had been waiting for his signal carried over one of the ornate sedan chairs positioned throughout the procession.

They hadn’t even drawn back its curtains, yet a faint fragrance drifted into my nose.

Don’t tell me…

There was an old saying that the thing you dismissed with “surely not” was the thing most likely to get you. This time was no different.

“Show yourself.”

The moment Ju Wongong spoke, the sedan chair’s door slid open.

A woman carefully stepped down, and an exclamation escaped my lips before I could stop it.

“……Whoa.”

People often describe celebrities as pretty or handsome.

But the woman before me possessed something beyond those ordinary standards.

Beautiful.

Yes. That was probably the right word.

She was beautiful enough to draw admiration even from me, despite the fact that I had already guessed Ju Wongong’s intentions.

Beautiful enough to make Gung Gibang hurriedly wash his face with spit and Hyuk Mujin stare in a daze. Beautiful enough to make Cheongpung—who had been holding a meat dumpling in one hand and a vegetable dumpling in the other, trying to choose between them—drop them both.

As the quiet shock rippled through the crowd, Ju Wongong’s voice reached me.

“She is the singing courtesan I keep at my side. As you can see, her beauty deserves to be called unrivaled beneath the heavens. She is also extraordinarily skilled in music. Anyone who hears her play loses himself completely.”

I wasn’t so sure she needed the music. She looked capable of stealing a person’s soul without playing a single note.

Ju Wongong laughed quietly at the admiration plain on my face, then turned to the woman.

“What are you waiting for? Hurry and greet him.”

Her red lips slowly parted.

“This humble girl is called Honglan. It is my greatest pleasure to meet such an honored guest.”

“……Oh.”

“……Wow.”

“……Amazing.”

Before the shock of her appearance had even faded, exclamations burst out from every direction.

Her voice was clear and pure, yet alluring.

Honglan. Red Orchid. The name suited her better than anyone.

Of course, it wasn’t her real name, and she wasn’t an ordinary singing courtesan either.

Like most courtesans, including Wolhwa, Honglan concealed her true name.

And unlike Ju Wongong, who knew absolutely nothing about martial arts, she had received at least some training.

Lower District Sect?

Her slender shoulder twitched at my Sound Transmission, and Honglan gave a slight nod.

The Lower District Sect. I had a feeling that was it.

The Lower District Sect had more disciples than any organization apart from the Beggars’ Sect.

Ju Wongong didn’t seem aware of it, but like the Lower District Sect’s other courtesans, Honglan had learned enough martial arts to protect herself.

“So? What do you think, Great Hero Jin? Give me the opportunity, and this Young Master will treat you properly. Of course, Honglan will sit beside you…”

Let’s see you refuse to come along after this.

The words were written plainly across Ju Wongong’s smug face.

I gazed at Honglan for a moment, then smiled.

“Forget it. Let’s each continue on our way.”

“Then we can all go somewhere else together—hm? W-wait. What did you just say?”

“Why are you so flustered? I’m pretty sure I said I had something urgent to do. Is my memory failing me?”

“N-no. But Honglan is here…”

I raised a hand and cut Ju Wongong off.

I had already wasted enough time getting dragged into this nonsense. If I were the kind of man who lost his head over a beautiful woman and followed her wherever she went, I wouldn’t have survived this long.

“Don’t overdo the partying. You’d be better off going home and keeping your head down. See you.”

I was about to turn away when Ju Wongong held something out to me.

“Wait! Then at least this.”

“……?”

“I heard that His Highness Prince Shangshan received your autograph, Great Hero Jin. Please give me one as well…”

“……!”

At this rate, my fan café would be reaching Leaf Level 2 soon.⁵