Namgoong the Sword Ghost - Chapter 21

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 21. The Sword Demon’s Bandit
The carriage came to a halt.
Ho Yeon poked his head out the window and asked,
“What’s the matter?”
“Yes, Young Master. Bandits, sir.”
“Mad bandits?”
“Haha, quite so. My Iron Sword Brigade shall dispatch them with haste.”
At the brigade commander’s words, Ho Yeon folded his arms and leaned back against the seat.
He would close his eyes for a moment, and by the time he opened them again, it would all be over.
“……You don’t wish to watch, sir?”
“Why bother?”
At Jegal Ahyeon’s question, Ho Yeon cracked open one eye and continued,
“The Iron Sword Brigade is the Namgung Clan’s elite force. Even if I’ve brought only two squads, that doesn’t change the fact.”
“…….”
“I haven’t trained them to be weak, and their duty is to protect us. I can’t rob my own men of their livelihood, now can I? Besides.”
Having finished, Ho Yeon yawned and closed his eyes once more, while Jegal Ahyeon watched him intently.
In her mind rose a conversation from two days prior with Seo Seonnim.
“What were your impressions?”
“Did he seem soft?”
“From a distance, he didn’t appear particularly tall. For a martial artist, that’s a weakness. What of the aura you felt? Was it majestic and overwhelming?”
Seo Seonnim, commander of the Heaven’s Small Brigade, had questioned Jegal Ahyeon thoroughly about Namgung Ho Yeon.
That was undoubtedly the task Jegal Sinsan had given her.
‘She means to gauge the young master’s worth and compare him against Moyong Cheol.’
But Namgung Ho Yeon was not a man to be understood from a single night’s acquaintance.
Rather, the more time Jegal Ahyeon spent with him, the less she seemed to understand.
Because of this, she had turned the questions back on Seo Seonnim.
“……This is new. So you’re curious about someone, miss?”
“They said to determine whether he’s a True Dragon or an Earth Dragon. For that, I need you to give me basic information first, don’t I?”
“Well, yes. Hmm…… According to the intelligence we’ve gathered, he’s called the greatest genius of all ages.”
“The greatest genius of all ages?”
“Haha, absurd, isn’t it? Greatest of all ages. That’s the kind of exaggeration you’d see in a Peking opera.”
‘The greatest genius of all ages…… this man?’
Jegal Ahyeon regarded the young master across from her, who was yawning repeatedly.
He was merely a handsome young nobleman.
Fair skin, dark brows—the typical features of a Han beauty.
“Still, he seems to possess considerable talent.”
“Talent?”
“To the west of Hapbi, he’s reclaimed vast wasteland into tea plantations. Recently, he’s apparently been preparing to open tea houses.”
“Tea houses……”
“Furthermore, within the clan he’s also called the Junior Master.”
“Junior Master?”
“He travels between the brigades giving lectures, you see? Haha, the Namgung Clan must be in a hurry. It’s transparently a cheap trick.”
At the brigade commander’s mockery, Jegal Ahyeon had fallen silent.
She herself had been thinking the exact same thing as the commander.
‘The Namgung Clan is artificially fabricating a hero to boost morale and deceive people……’
But why was it?
At what followed from the commander’s words, she had cried out reflexively.
“There’s nothing more to see. Send word to the family head—break the engagement at once and move forward with the Moyong Clan……”
“No!”
“……Yes?”
“There’s no need to rush like that. We were given a month, after all. I should investigate as thoroughly as possible.”
“……That may be true, but the sooner we decide, the better. Lord Moyong Cheol apparently prefers certainty.”
“Still, you never know, do you? He might be a True Dragon after all. Let me look into it myself.”
“Well, if that’s what you wish, miss……”
Seo Seonnim had regarded her with a look of surprise and nodded.
‘I don’t understand it myself. Is it because Heart-Seeking Empathy didn’t work? Or because of that golden light I felt at the time?’
In any case, Namgung Ho Yeon.
She needed more information about him—as much as she could gather.
“They call you the Junior Master, I hear?”
“……”
Jegal Ahyeon opened her mouth.
Ho Yeon said nothing.
“Aren’t you embarrassed?”
“…What about?”
At Jegal Ahyeon’s renewed question, Ho Yeon answered with his eyes still closed.
Then Jegal Ahyeon smiled knowingly and continued.
“When someone receives praise beyond their abilities, they show two kinds of reaction. They either feel ashamed, or they become conceited.”
“…”
“The first shows a person of conscience. The second shows someone without a shred of shame.”
“…Ha!”
Ho Yeon opened his eyes and met Jegal Ahyeon’s gaze.
“Why are you suddenly provoking me? Is this revenge for that night?”
“I was simply curious.”
Jegal Ahyeon smiled with her eyes as she spoke to Ho Yeon, whose brow had furrowed.
“You claim to want an ordinary woman—I wonder just how special you yourself are.”
“…See? Revenge, like I said.”
“That night, you told me this was your true nature, and to consider it carefully before agreeing to the betrothal.”
“…”
“So I shall consider it. Show me more of your true nature. Even when buying a single item at market, one examines it from every angle—how much more so when choosing a husband?”
At Jegal Ahyeon’s blunt words, Ho Yeon spoke with exasperation.
“So you want me to go out there and turn these bandits into skewered meat?”
“If it’s impossible, then stay put. I’d feel terrible if you got hurt.”
“…Ha! This woman is something else!”
At her renewed provocation, Ho Yeon let out a scoff.
Did she truly dare to weigh a sword immortal on her scales?
Did she think he’d fall for such a flimsy provocation?
This is what comes of the Jegal bloodline…
Just as Ho Yeon was about to shake his head and refuse, Jegal Ahyeon, sensing his hesitation, spoke quickly.
“Besides, this proposal isn’t entirely without merit for you either.”
“What?”
“Why are you going to the Baekga Swordsmanship Conference? Isn’t it to build your reputation?”
“…But what reputation do I gain from cutting down mere bandits?”
“They’re not ordinary bandits. These are Wa Ho Jae—one of the Seventy Bandit Gangs of Nok Rim. They belong to Gucheon Alliance.”
At Jegal Ahyeon’s words, Ho Yeon’s eyebrows twitched.
Gucheon Alliance.
From what he’d heard, it was a gathering of nine Dark Path factions who thought themselves the heavens themselves—a collection of madmen.
‘In my day it was the Sado Alliance. Gucheon Alliance? What kind of name is that? Are they planning to wander the nine heavens until they perish?’
As Ho Yeon lost himself in thought, Jegal Ahyeon continued.
“You’re unknown, so it will be difficult for you to receive good treatment at the Baekga Swordsmanship Conference.”
“What? Why?”
“Late-stage martial artists all prefer teammates with a high success rate. If you go as you are, you’ll be assigned to the weakest faction.”
“…”
Ho Yeon furrowed his brow at her words and considered carefully.
Now that he heard it, she was right.
His name was known only slightly in Hapbi. He had no real reputation to speak of.
‘Normally, late-stage martial artists from Great Houses and Orthodox Sects belong to their clan’s military brigades and build reputation from childhood.’
Take the Namgung—his brother Namgung Cheonggang belongs to the Spear Palace Brigade, and his sister Namgung Sangah to the Flying Swallow Brigade, and they go on missions regularly.
But in the past year, he had never once done such a thing.
“What do you say? Why not build your reputation with this opportunity?”
“…”
Ho Yeon stared at Jegal Ahyeon as she tempted him with subtle words.
A Jegal is a Jegal after all.
Her skill at manipulating people with mere words was extraordinary.
“Truly, the Jegal Clan.”
“Yes?”
“I’ll let myself be fooled this once.”
Bang!
Ho Yeon kicked open the carriage door and stepped outside.
* * *
The sun sets quickly in the mountains.
Beyond the shadowed thicket, torches bloomed one by one, and within moments the whole area glowed crimson.
“Hm… More than I expected.”
Geuk Jiryang, the Iron Sword Brigade commander, was a man of lanky frame and balanced build, his face carved into a hard, expressionless mask as he muttered to himself.
He was originally a wanderer who had pledged himself to the Namgung Clan ten years ago, rising through sheer merit to command the Iron Sword Brigade.
“Wa Ho Jae—that’s one of the Nok Rim’s seventy-two bandit holds. Part of the Gucheon Alliance, perhaps? Tch, this could become tedious.”
Geuk Jiryang clicked his tongue, muttering under his breath.
Nok Cheon, one of the Dark Path Alliance’s three main branches, was itself Nok Rim—the bandits themselves.
And for the past year, the Namgung Clan and Nok Rim had been at odds.
Naturally enough. Caravan security work meant inevitable collisions with them.
“Well, it’s a nuisance—but nothing we can’t handle.”
Geuk Jiryang smiled thinly, his murmur carrying confidence.
A year ago, he could never have spared such composure.
But since a True Dragon had been born into the Namgung, every brigade in the clan had advanced by leaps and bounds.
And with that True Dragon standing at their backs now, what cause was there for worry?
Splash!
“Commander Geuk! The rear guard is surrounded too!”
In that moment, Seo Seonnim, commander of the Jegal Clan’s Heaven’s Small Brigade, came sprinting up as though riding the wind, crying out.
Geuk Jiryang answered her calmly.
“Commander Seo, you and the Heaven’s Small Brigade—guard the carriage, if you please.”
“What? There are over three hundred of them!”
“I’m aware. Men!”
Clang! Clang-clang!
At Geuk Jiryang’s call, two squads of the Iron Sword Brigade—twenty men—gathered around him.
All wore ash-gray martial robes, each with a single Iron Sword hung at the hip.
This garb honored the spirit of Namgung Ilhon, who five centuries before had wandered as a masterless swordsman and earned the name “Undefeated with the Iron Sword.”
“They number three hundred, so they say.”
“Ha! Thirty per man, then—that’s manageable.”
“Hehe, and it’s good timing—I was itching for action.”
“Commander! Give me not thirty, but fifty!”
Despite being outnumbered by many times over, the Iron Sword Brigade’s morale seemed ready to pierce the heavens.
‘What—what is this? Have they all gone mad?’
Seo Seonnim could only stare in disbelief at their response.
While Nok Rim was a rabble of brigands, you couldn’t dismiss their numbers.
And if Wa Ho Jae was among them—a bandit hold of some repute—there would certainly be masters among their ranks.
“Commander Geuk! We have far to go. Better to negotiate properly and—”
Just as Seo Seonnim opened her mouth, a roar erupted from the front ranks of the bandits clustering like gathering clouds.
“There is no negotiation!”
The man who shouted was a tall brigand, long-limbed and seemingly in his thirties.
He wielded a Single-Edged Blade with a blunt edge and wide face, and at the grip’s end was carved the skull of a ghost—a Ghost-Head Blade.
“Khehehe! I am the Ghost-Head Blade Devil, Mak Cheonak! Disciple of the mighty Axe-Splitting Tyrant, Gal Sanha, master of Nok Cheon!”
The thin-lipped man bellowed his introduction with absolute self-assurance.
On hearing this, Geuk Jiryang’s brow furrowed.
“The Axe-Splitting Tyrant, Gal Sanha?”
“The great chieftain of Nok Rim! One of the Twelve Kings!”
Seo Seonnim cried out in alarm, and Mak Cheonak burst into raucous laughter.
“Kuhaha! I, Mak Cheonak, shall pass judgment upon the Namgung in my master’s stead!”
“Uoooooh!”
“Waaaaaah!”
“Mak Cheonak! Mak Cheonak!”
At his cry, cheers erupted from among the Nok Rim brigands.
They too harbored resentment toward the Namgung for obstructing their operations.
Seeing the mood shift his way, Mak Cheonak’s smile widened as he hoisted his Ghost-Head Blade high.
“Krehe! Since the Namgung have hindered Nok Cheon’s business and profited unjustly from it, you shall pay back every coin—with interest!”
“How much will that be?”
In that moment, a beautiful voice rang out from the rear.
“Ah, Young Master!”
Geuk Jiryang turned and, catching sight of Ho Yeon, let out a startled cry.
But Ho Yeon’s gaze remained fixed on Mak Cheonak alone.
“I asked—how much?”
“Fuha! How much, you say? Your lives—all of them—are what you owe!”
“Oh? A man with some backbone, I see.”
Ho Yeon nodded at Mak Cheonak’s exclamation, then turned to Geuk Jiryang with a question.
“Master Geuk. That one—is he famous?”
“I cannot speak for the man himself, but Gal Sanha, the Crescent Moon Tyrant, is one of the Twenty Fingers and Toes.”
Twenty Fingers and Toes.
Ten fingers and ten toes.
A name for twenty supreme masters, counted on both hands and feet across the vast expanse of Chungyuan.
“That works out well.”
“Sir?”
“The quickest way to build a reputation is to take the head of someone already famous. I’ve had plenty of practice with that.”
Step, step, step.
Ho Yeon moved forward with a smile playing across his face, murmuring softly.
“Is this the first outdoor lesson?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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