The Heavenly Demon Cult’s Strongest Maid - Chapter 193
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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 193
“Elder!”
It was when Noe Yeom-baek, who had been severely dealt with by Seolha, had stepped outside the inn for a moment to get some fresh air.
Gu-deung, the deputy leader of the Yongwang Clan and subordinate of Dong Jeong Yong-wang Cheok Gwang, approached and bowed deeply in greeting.
“Gu-deung, what brings you here?”
Noe Yeom-baek was inwardly surprised, but welcomed Gu-deung without showing any particular expression.
“We’ve established ourselves near Chaohu.”
“Ah, is that so?”
So they were in Chaohu, not near the Namgung Family?
“Don’t come out.”
Noe Yeom-baek quietly sent a telepathic message into the inn without Gu-deung knowing.
“The leader and the Haomun master urgently wish to see you, Elder.”
Gu-deung said while glancing at the inn.
“Stop that. You’ll lose your head at this rate.”
Noe Yeom-baek finally realized why Gu-deung had come all the way here.
After causing such a commotion in Chaohu, Sado-ryeon couldn’t have remained unaware of it.
As Seolha had said, his actions had been excessive.
“Why come personally instead of sending the youngsters below?”
“Oh my, how could I send only youngsters? I had to come personally to escort you, Elder.”
At Gu-deung’s flattery, Noe Yeom-baek chuckled and put his arm around his shoulder.
“You should have come by mountain instead of water.”
“Haha, thank you for the praise.”
“How about taking this opportunity to enter the mountains for good?”
“I’m sorry, but I’m someone who was born in water and will die in water.”
At Gu-deung’s firm answer, Noe Yeom-baek roughly ruffled his bald head.
“Tell me anytime if you change your mind.”
Noe Yeom-baek glanced at the inn and set off following Gu-deung.
“Is it alright to let him go like that?”
Eok Grandfather looked worriedly at the retreating figure of Bandit Grandfather leaving with what appeared to be his subordinate.
“Do we have the right to stop him?”
In contrast, Grandpa Tak’s reaction was quite cynical.
Should I say this is truly befitting of a demon?
“It would be even better if he doesn’t come back.”
Huh?
I unconsciously turned to look at Grandpa Tak.
“Where does he get off suddenly appearing and daring to covet our granddaughter? Isn’t that right?”
Excuse me, Grandpa Tak?
Are you starting again?
“That’s right!”
Eok Grandfather slapped his knee as if he hadn’t thought of that.
“The two of us are enough! Three is too many!”
“That’s why when keeping people close, you only keep a right arm and left arm, isn’t it? In all my life, I’ve never heard of a right foot or left foot!”
“I feel the same way!”
Oh my.
Just moments ago they were bickering terribly, but now they’re getting along perfectly.
Anyone watching would think they’re best friends.
Whether they knew my feelings or not, both of them asked me simultaneously.
“Our granddaughter, isn’t there anything you want to eat?”
“Our granddaughter, isn’t there anything you want to do?”
“Pfft!”
In the end, I burst out laughing.
Really, there’s no stopping our grandfathers, no stopping them.
‘Bandit Grandfather will be okay, right?’
Perhaps because I’d grown attached to him, even while laughing, I couldn’t completely erase Bandit Grandfather from my mind.
The place Gu-deung guided Ho Jeon Noe Yeom-baek to was a private house a little away from Chaohu.
“You’ve arrived?”
“Have you come?”
Sang Gwan-su and Dong Jeong Yong-wang Cheok Gwang offered him a seat, telling him to sit down.
“Is this an An-ga?”
Noe Yeom-baek looked around the modest house with admiration.
“It’s nice and cozy. I sometimes envy Haomun for this aspect.”
The saying about being everywhere and nowhere referred to the An-ga where one could comfortably hide anywhere.
“Didn’t you once say that when you lie down, the house is your bed, the sky is your roof, and clouds are your blanket?”
“That’s also true.”
At Cheok Gwang’s mockery, Noe Yeom-baek grinned and sat down in the chair.
“I heard on the way here that you held a council meeting?”
Noe Yeom-baek asked, meaning why they hadn’t called him.
“We couldn’t reach you.”
“Couldn’t reach me…?”
Seolha flashed through the puzzled Noe Yeom-baek’s mind. Then Hyeon-wol-dang and Gaebang came to mind.
If it was a place guarded by Hyeon-wol-dang and watched by Gaebang, it would have been difficult for Haomun to approach as well.
“I was going to ask you when I saw you anyway. What’s with the inn, so unlike you? And what’s with those clothes?”
Cheok Gwang frowned as much as he could while looking at Noe Yeom-baek’s attire. It was clothing he was seeing for the first time.
“Since everyone keeps going on about the Namgung Family this and Namgung Family that, I chose that inn to see it with my own eyes. When I climbed onto the inn’s roof, I could see the entire family estate at a glance. It’s damn huge.”
“You’re just realizing that now?”
“It’s natural since it’s my first time in Hefei, isn’t it? And did you think I’d wear leather clothes all the way here? Looking like a bandit?”
“Yes.”
Cheok Gwang replied without hesitation.
“It’s not like I’ve only known you for a year or two, but it’s strange. Such thoughts couldn’t come from that thick skull of yours.”
Cheok Gwang narrowed his eyes and looked Noe Yeom-baek’s clothes up and down.
Though he felt a pang of guilt since Seolha had chosen the clothes, Noe Yeom-baek brazenly maintained his act to the end.
“What do you take me for!”
“An ignorant mountain bandit.”
“What? You fish bastard!”
When Noe Yeom-baek glared and got angry, Cheok Gwang giggled.
The relationship between these two, who growled at each other whenever they met, was already famous in Sado-ryeon.
“Let’s stop the jokes here.”
As their bickering grew longer, Sang-gwan-su intervened to stop them.
“More importantly, Ho Jeon, may I ask who you fought with in Chaohu?”
“Don’t you already know? It was King Dang Cheol-u.”
“What I’m curious about is the person who accompanied him.”
‘Demon Sword Master Tak Joong-hak.’
Though it was a brief confrontation, he had easily withstood the combined attack of himself and the Dark King.
Though they were fellow Ten Masters, in that instant Noe Yeom-baek had felt many things.
“I don’t know.”
Noe Yeom-baek sighed and shook his head.
It wasn’t an intentional sigh.
“Don’t you have any idea who it might be?”
Even at Sang-gwan-su’s anxious question, Noe Yeom-baek’s answer remained the same.
“All I can tell you is that King Dang Cheol-u will soon ascend to the Ten Masters. That man was never beneath me.”
“So the rumor that the Dark King was half a step ahead of Namgung Cheon-bo in the Martial Arts Alliance was true.”
Sang-gwan-su leaned back as if troubled and pressed his forehead with his fingers.
“One more thing, about the person you’re curious about.”
Noe Yeom-baek thought of Tak Joong-hak and spoke honestly.
“We only exchanged one move so I can’t be certain, but he was at least equal to me or a master half a step above.”
“Is, is that really true?”
Sang-gwan-su’s eyes widened.
Suddenly, an unknown figure comparable to the Ten Masters had appeared.
This was far too great a miscalculation from Haomun’s perspective.
“Sansan, is that really true?”
Cheok Gwang also showed clear signs of shock. His voice even trembled.
“Damn, that hurts my pride.”
Noe Yeom-baek picked up the cold tea in front of Cheok Gwang and downed it in one gulp.
“However, he seemed to know me too, so he withdrew for the time being. After that, as you know, we shared tea in a gesture of clearing up misunderstandings.”
“What did he say he came to Hefei for?”
“Would he tell me that? I didn’t tell him why I was here either.”
“Could it be because of Cheonsu Dokhwa? Or did the Martial Arts Alliance notice Benglian’s movements?”
Sang-gwan-su’s expression hardened and his eyes moved restlessly.
Countless hypotheses were surely being formed and discarded in his mind repeatedly.
“Two-Faced Gentleman.”
Noe Yeom-baek called him carefully.
“I intend to go back to that inn.”
“Is there a reason you must do so?”
“At times like this, we need to confront things head-on. If it comes to it, wouldn’t it be fine to ask directly?”
Noe Yeom-baek grinned.
“When I go to Hefei, I’ll tell the inn’s waitress, so feel free to send word.”
“Understood. Then I’ll leave it to you.”
Noe Yeom-baek exchanged a brief nod with Sang-gwan-su before looking at Cheok Gwang.
“See you again.”
“Take care.”
Cheok Gwang watched Noe Yeom-baek’s retreating figure as he left An-ga for a long time. Then his brow furrowed.
How should he put it, a sense of incongruity?
Noe Yeom-baek’s words and actions were subtly different from what he usually knew.
“Hmm.”
Cheok Gwang stroked his chin and fell into thought.
What was it?
What had made him feel this way?
No matter how much he pondered what was causing this unsettling feeling, he couldn’t figure it out.
Then Cheok Gwang suddenly lowered his head and looked down at his own attire.
It was typical fisherman’s garb.
…That’s it!
“Gu-deung!”
Cheok Gwang urgently commanded his subordinate Gu-deung.
“Go buy a set of ordinary clothes!”
At that moment, Noe Yeom-baek, who had just arrived in front of the inn, was deep in thought.
Himself and his granddaughter, and Sado-ryeon and other entangled matters.
How should he resolve all this?
“Bandit Grandfather, you’re back?”
Just then, Seolha smiled brightly and waved at him cheerfully.
At that smile, his heavy heart melted away like snow.
“My granddaughter.”
Now he was no longer alone.
This granddaughter had come to him instead of the son he had searched for so long.
Noe Yeom-baek made his resolution and entered the inn.
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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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