The Granddaughter of the Manhyang Escort Agency Hides Her Magic - Chapter 54

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 54

The opponent flinched at the killing intent that was rare to see from a young child.

They had said there were no masters, but an aura beyond that of a master flowed from the child.

“To an escort warrior, the package is life itself.”

Shin Ah quietly recited a magic spell. Soon, fire energy gathered in her palm.

She intended to confuse the opponent and buy time.

Rather than killing the opponent with maximum firepower, she would create an opening to escape with minimum firepower.

‘Even if it hurts my pride, this is the only way to keep everyone alive.’

Shin Ah steeled her resolve and spoke.

“My comrades are my life. But just now, mister, you said you’d take away both my life and my existence… so you can’t complain if I attack first, right?”

Shin Ah winked and shouted “Fireball!”

The crimson orb in her hand flew toward the leader.

“…!”

So Cheondo and Mugyeol whipped around to look at Shin Ah.

‘This is going to be hard to explain later.’

Shin Ah was calmly thinking such thoughts when it happened.

The panicked bandit shouted.

“Sa… madhi True Fire? I wasn’t told there was a master who could use that!”

Shin Ah’s eyes flashed in that instant.

“Who didn’t tell you that?”

Instead of answering, the bandit screamed.

“Aaaahhh!”

The rapidly flying fireball burned the bandit’s clothes.

As acrid smoke and the smell of burning fabric arose, the assassin group panicked and screamed.

“Aaaahhh, fire! Aaaahhh, it’s on fire!”

“Ugh! Put out the fire, what is this?”

And fearing the fire might spread to their faces, they frantically pulled off their face masks in a commotion.

While they were in chaos, So Cheondo, who had memorized each of their faces one by one, said.

“Now’s our chance, let’s run!”

At So Cheondo’s instruction, the children quickly used their footwork techniques to create distance.

“Those brats are escaping! Catch them! They saw my face, so we absolutely can’t let them live! Catch and kill them!”

“Leader! There’s a master who can use Samadhi True Fire! We’ll die trying to catch them!”

“That just now… must have been a secret technique! Otherwise, why would a master capable of using Samadhi True Fire be running away?”

It was a valid point.

A master confident in their abilities wouldn’t avoid a fight.

The quick-witted Mukgoldan Leader instinctively knew he couldn’t miss this opportunity and immediately shouted to the Mukgoldan assassins.

“It’s fine to kill them! So don’t let them escape!”

They had underestimated them for being children and paid dearly for it.

As if they wouldn’t go easy anymore, the momentum of those charging forward changed.

The distance between them gradually narrowed.

‘Are we going to get caught at this rate?’

It was the moment Shin Ah looked back worriedly.

Swoosh-

The instant she heard something cutting through the air, thwack, crack, sounds of splitting followed.

And then ugh, urk, uwek, ahh, euk!

Five screams shook the forest.

The children stopped and looked back.

Shin Ah’s eyes widened.

“Huh?”

The assassins who had been chasing them fiercely were all sprawled on the ground.

Next to them, collapsed with fist-sized bumps on their foreheads, fingernail-sized stones rolled and fell a beat later with a rumble.

Some master had infused internal energy into stones and hurled them at the assassins disguised as bandits.

The three children turned their heads simultaneously.

Behind the swaying bushes, the afterimage of black shadows remained faintly.

There were two shadows.

“…Father?”

“…Master?”

Shin Ah and Mugyeol muttered.

* * *

“You, what were you thinking stepping forward there! If it becomes known that we helped, it would cause great harm to the children.”

When So Cheonrim scolded him, Ok Chifung retorted with an incredulous expression.

“You were the one who picked up the stone first, weren’t you? If I hadn’t thrown it, you would have thrown it yourself. Am I wrong?”

Ahem, So Cheonrim cleared his throat and turned his head. There wasn’t a single thing wrong in Ok Chifung’s words.

“…Why on earth are those bastards here?”

So Cheonrim naturally dropped the stone he was holding and changed the subject.

The two men hid in the bushes and watched the bandits collapsed on the ground.

“The escort agency wouldn’t have been negligent in managing the examination hall, so someone deliberately let them in.”

Ok Chifung stated the obvious.

“We need to investigate this thoroughly.”

So Cheonrim’s voice was cold.

Though he was concerned about leaving the children alone in the forest, preventing future incidents and accidents was more important.

And if they went deeper from here, even being careful, there was a high chance the exam supervisors stationed throughout would discover So Cheonrim’s presence.

He worried about both disadvantages to Shin Ah and the child’s reaction.

‘She told me absolutely not to help…’

It was as good as a promise with Shin Ah. So he absolutely couldn’t be discovered.

“Let’s return to the escort agency for now.”

So Cheonrim said.

“What about those guys?”

“The supervisors will pass through this route soon. It’s better to let them handle it.”

Since he had struck pressure points with stones infused with internal energy, they wouldn’t regain consciousness for a while, and even if they woke up, they wouldn’t be able to move easily.

Ok Chifung clicked his tongue as if he didn’t like So Cheonrim’s answer.

“You really do have many enemies.”

“Why is that?”

Ok Chifung looked at So Cheonrim with a pitying expression as he asked seriously out of the blue.

“Because of your gentle nature.”

A gentle and kind nature was an advantage for ordinary people, but a disadvantage for those who must live by the sword.

The stronger survive. The weak merely become prey.

Hearing Ok Chifung’s words that contained such meaning, a sharp pain spread through So Cheonrim’s chest.

It was fine if he became prey. But he couldn’t tolerate anyone targeting his child.

“Let’s go to the escort agency.”

So Cheonrim vowed to thoroughly expose those bastards’ backers and make them pay.

* * *

Shin Ah, Mugyeol, and So Cheondo, who had run frantically, only slowed their pace and caught their breath when they reached the mountain slope.

“No one’s following us. Is everyone alright?”

Cheondo, who had looked around the surroundings, examined the children sitting collapsed on the ground.

Thanks to receiving Chifung’s harsh guidance before the Jaengjeasu test, the children didn’t tire easily.

When Shin Ah and Mugyeol nodded simultaneously, Cheondo let out a sigh of relief.

“Brother, who were those people who attacked us?”

Throughout the entire run, Shin Ah had focused on one thought.

“I’m not sure. I don’t know who they were, but they certainly weren’t people who entered with the escort agency’s permission. Once the test is over, I’ll report to the Lord of the Nation and have it thoroughly investigated.”

Shin Ah had a guess about who was behind them, but kept her words to herself.

“We’ll need to be more careful going forward.”

“Indeed. The benefactors can’t keep helping us forever, so we need to stay more alert.”

At the mention of benefactors, all three people thought of the same individuals.

Cheonrim and Chifung.

Infusing internal energy into pebbles to strike pressure points accurately was no easy task.

For such masters to appear at the perfect timing to help?

‘It doesn’t make sense. Unless they were continuously watching over us.’

Considering all the circumstances, it was clear that Cheonrim and Chifung had helped the three of them.

‘They followed because they were worried about me.’

During her days as a mage, if someone had secretly followed her, she would have felt it was stalking or surveillance, but now it was different.

One side of her chest felt strangely warm.

Feeling embarrassed, Shin Ah brushed under her nose. The fluffy emotions rising up felt unfamiliar.

Feeling awkwardly shy, Shin Ah tapped the dirt ground with her toes.

Then, Cheondo spoke.

“Shall we rest here for a moment?”

“Brother, shouldn’t we move diligently if we want to find a place to camp for the night?”

This mountain was famously treacherous, and with the escort agency having set up obstacles everywhere for the test, there wouldn’t be many suitable places to spend the night.

So they needed to secure a place where they could safely guard the package while allowing the team members to rest, getting there one step ahead of other teams.

“That’s my responsibility, so you don’t need to worry about it. And managing the Jaengjeasu’s stamina according to the escort mission schedule is also one of the important duties of an Escort Warrior. So rest here for a while. I’ll go check if there’s a suitable place to spend tonight.”

After finishing his words, Cheondo disappeared into the distance before anyone could stop him.

Shin Ah’s mouth fell slightly open.

Born a genius and having lived as the greatest mage while only doing exercise and research, Shin Ah didn’t know how to work with others.

She had never even thought about working with other people to begin with.

‘Because other people only got in my way.’

But Escort Warrior So Shin Ah was different, and had to be different.

This was something she absolutely had to learn in order to lead the escort agency. Large escort missions involved countless people working together.

Shin Ah engraved Cheondo’s teaching in her heart. And immediately put it into practice.

Shin Ah quietly brought her face close to Mugyeol, who was sitting still.

“Mugyeol, are you uncomfortable anywhere?”

Startled, Mugyeol trembled violently and hiccupped.

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