The Red Dragon Martial Emperor - Chapter 7

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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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Red Dragon Sovereign Episode 7

Chapter 7—The Disappearance of Cha Joong-gyeong

“Your Highness! He’s vanished!”
“You’re certain he’s gone?”
Clink.
Yi Hwan set down his cup and narrowed his brow, prompting Song Hui to continue.
“We found this beyond the wall. It’s undoubtedly his ring.”
Twitch.
Yi Hwan’s eyebrows lifted sharply.
A ring didn’t simply fall off unless removed deliberately. And it made no sense for a man fleeing to take off his ring.
Clang!
Yi Hwan seized the sword he’d leaned against the wall and rushed from the room, heading straight for the adjacent chamber where that man with the unsettling gaze had been lodging.
Song Hui followed close behind, hand resting on his sword hilt.
Bang!
They burst through the door, but the room lay empty.
Yi Hwan leaped through a window into the corridor outside, yet the man was nowhere to be seen.
‘Did he have designs on us from the beginning?’
Rage kindled within him.
The sole thread leading him to the Sword King Clan’s heir had just snapped.
Whoosh!
Song Hui descended beside Yi Hwan.
“Do you think this was the work of those men he was watching?”
“For now, they seem the most likely culprits.”
Song Hui had started to say something else when he faltered. A chill emanated from Yi Hwan—something unsettling and dangerous.
‘What is this dark aura…?’
“Go question the innkeeper about those men.”
“Understood.”
Song Hui turned back toward the Inn’s entrance.
Yi Hwan surveyed the Lower Market District, his gaze sharp and cold.
‘Could he be what that man claimed—a deserter from Zhao hunting down fugitives? Or was there another reason entirely…?’
Shortly after, Song Hui returned at a run.
“The innkeeper says he left about an hour ago. But before that, someone in blue robes came looking for him and left first. Then, when he departed, he was alone!”
An hour ago aligned exactly with when Cha Joong-gyeong had stepped out to use the privy.
“This is strange. If he’d been abducted, there should have been some commotion.”
“Yet the man was a former Black Tiger Corps member. However skilled, it would be impossible for anyone to subdue him silently alone. The one in blue robes who came first must have been an accomplice—that’s the most likely explanation.”
“Or perhaps poison of some kind was used?”
“That’s possible.”
Yi Hwan nodded slowly, his mind turning over the possibilities.
He could not simply abandon Cha Joong-gyeong. Without finding him here, the search for the Sword King Clan’s heir would become insurmountably difficult.
“How many troops does this city’s garrison command?”
“Roughly ten thousand, as far as I know.”
“Take me to their headquarters.”
“At once.”
Yi Hwan followed Song Hui northward through the Lower Market District.
Soon after, the Administrative Headquarters, situated on the city’s outskirts, came into view.
Soldiers blocked their path.
“Halt!”
“This is the Prince! Open the gates at once!”
“Ah!”

* * *

Was he in his early forties?
A man with a robust frame and eyes narrow as threads entered and bowed.
Yi Hwan remained seated, studying Jang-su intently.
Jang-su clasped his hands and lowered his head in deference.
“I bow before you, Your Highness!”
“Are you the one in charge?”
“Yes, Your Highness. But I confess myself puzzled — what brings you to seek me out at such an hour?”
“There are men I need apprehended at once.”
Yi Hwan proceeded to describe the man’s appearance.
But his eyes dimmed as he spoke. Jang-su was barely listening.
Song Hui cut in sharply, his voice rising.
“How dare you let your mind wander while His Highness addresses you!”
“I am listening, Your Highness. Please, continue.”
At such brazen insolence, Yi Hwan extended his hand toward Song Hui.
“Your blade.”
“……!”
Song Hui belatedly caught on and handed his sword to Yi Hwan.
Clang.
Yi Hwan laid the sword flat on the table and spoke without inflection.
“Recite back to me, word for word, what I have just said.”
“……I beg your pardon?”
“Not necessarily word for word — simply tell me what you remember.”
“……!”
Jang-su felt genuine alarm rise in his chest.
‘Has this man lost his mind? They say he stammers even before junior officers, and now he’s making demands like this — before whom?’
He had heard tales of the Fourth Prince from acquaintances in the Southern Army Corps, and so had felt no particular unease when word came that Yi Hwan had arrived.
“You spoke of finding a woman in dark robes with black hair falling to her shoulders, carrying a scabbard with a dragon pattern — is that not what you said?”
It was accurate.
A few words had shifted, but the substance matched what Yi Hwan had conveyed.
Yet Yi Hwan’s reaction was not what he expected.
“There should be one more detail.”
‘One more? What? But there wasn’t anything else — nothing at all.’
As Jang-su tilted his head in confusion, Yi Hwan brought the flat of the sword down with a sharp slap. The scabbard slid forward and struck Jang-su full in the chest.
Thud.
“Ugh!”
Jang-su gasped and curled in on himself like a shrimp.
Song Hui’s eyes went wide.
‘What could there have been? There was nothing else?’
He too could recall only what Jang-su had heard.
Yi Hwan’s voice turned glacial.
“For a mere garrison commander of a city to show contempt toward a prince of the Imperial House — how audacious.”
Shing.
Yi Hwan drew Song Hui’s blade slowly from its sheath. Cold radiated from the steel, chilling the air within the chamber.
“Deputy.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“What is the most severe punishment for showing contempt toward a prince of the Imperial House?”
“Immediate execution.”
“And his rank — does it matter?”
“Below the rank of General of the Four Expeditions, it does not.”
“……!”
Only then did Jang-su grasp the gravity of his situation. He lurched to his feet, dropped to his knees, and struck his forehead against the floor.
Crack.
“Forgive me! I beg your forgiveness, Your Highness! I was so troubled by indigestion that I could not give proper attention to your words!”
His forehead split open, blood streaming down. The hand bracing him on the floor trembled with fine convulsions.
“Mobilize all your forces now and find this man. The severity of your punishment will depend on what you bring me. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
Jang-su bolted from the room, blood pouring from his brow.
Yi Hwan returned the sword to Song Hui.
Clang.
Song Hui spoke up.
“Was there truly another detail, Your Highness? It seemed the commander hadn’t caught anything else either.”
“No, there wasn’t.”
“…….”
“A man like that won’t move unless you frighten him into it — and you can’t beat a man without cause, can you? Are you displeased?”
“That couldn’t be. You did well.”
Yi Hwan settled back into his chair, sinking deep into thought.
“We’ll stay the night here.”

* * *

Song Hui stepped outside.
He was going to fetch some wine for Yeon-hu. As he walked, he grinned to himself.
‘I wish he’d injured his head long ago.’
He still couldn’t quite adjust to Yi Hwan’s transformation. Sometimes it unsettled him.
But tonight—tonight felt vindicated.
Jang-su, whose head had been cracked open, had powerful backing with the Southern Army Corps, and was notorious for his arrogance.
Seeing such a man grovel was deeply satisfying.
‘Like a ten-year indigestion finally clearing out.’
Song Hui’s footsteps were unusually light.

* * *

In the Northern Mountainous Region of the city.
Beneath a sheer cliff face lay a cave, and a faint light flickered out from within.
Cha Joong-gyeong looked between Sa-nae and Cheong-po-in alternately, speaking with evident strain.
“I didn’t desert. I was captured by a Yeon Kingdom prince during combat.”
“That’s not why we brought you here.”
“Weren’t you a deserter pursuit squad?”
Sa-nae shook his head, and Cha Joong-gyeong shifted his approach.
“You show no respect! I serve a prince of the Yeon Kingdom!”
“Didn’t you just say you were captured?”
“Captured, yes—but I have sworn to serve the prince! If you acted in ignorance, I can forgive you. Now release the pressure point!”
He shouted with feigned severity, but Sa-nae’s eyes betrayed nothing.
Cheong-po-in let out a long sigh and turned to Sa-nae.
“Is it possible the Sword King Clan fell on some misfortune, making the descendants simple-minded? This one seems utterly incompetent. Could the technique he used be something similar to the Soul Escape Technique rather than the real thing?”
“Did you just say Soul Escape Technique?”
“Why? Keep up the act of dignity if you wish.”
“Answer me! Did you capture me because of that very technique?!”
Sa-nae’s eyes flashed.
“That means… someone besides us recognized the Soul Escape Technique?”
“A prince of the Yeon Kingdom came to the battlefield seeking me. That’s why I was captured. The reason was the same as yours.”
“What?”
Sa-nae’s expression shifted abruptly. Cheong-po-in’s eyes widened in astonishment.
“How could he have recognized the Soul Escape Technique?”
“If someone knows the Soul Escape Technique, they’re either with us or with them. Either way. Let’s deal with this one first, then find that man.”
“Yes.”
Cha Joong-gyeong misunderstood the word “deal” and cried out in alarm.
“I’m not the kind of person you think I am! I simply helped a wandering warrior in distress and learned a single technique from him!”
“You learned it from a wandering warrior?”
“Let me explain how that happened…”
Cha Joong-gyeong repeated to Sa-nae everything he had told Yi Hwan.
When he finished, Sa-nae fell silent for a long moment. Cheong-po-in spoke, not aloud but through Mental Transmission.
[We can’t search every inch of Yeon Kingdom at once, so it would be best to verify regarding the Fourth Prince. His incompetence all this time may have been an act to conceal his identity. And if he is who I think… we have no choice but to kill him.]
[If it’s him, we kill him regardless—even if he is a prince.]
Sa-nae fixed his gaze on Cha Joong-gyeong. Cha Joong-gyeong swallowed hard without meaning to.
It was because Sa-nae’s eyes had turned terrifying.
“Do you want to live?”
“I do.”
“Then you’ll need to help us.”

* * *

“What is that?”
Sa-nae and Cheong-po-in emerged from the cave and stopped. Along the path leading outward, hundreds of torches drifted like ghostly flames.
It wasn’t only that. Torches burned at other intersections too.
“They’re searching for this one, it seems.”
“What do we do? If they’ve mobilized soldiers, the entire city must be swarming with them.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Sa-nae turned to Cha Joong-gyeong.
“Don’t forget what I said.”
“I won’t.”
“Why that expression?”
“I can’t exactly grin like a fool, can I?”
“Go.”
Cha Joong-gyeong vanished into the darkness. Cheong-po-in furrowed his brow.
“Can we really trust that one, sir?”
“He’s not the type to surrender his life easily. He’ll help us if only to survive.”
“Understood.”
Sa-nae turned back.
Cheong-po-in followed at his side. “Where are we headed?”
“Where are we headed?”
“We’ll have to lie low in the mountains until the commotion dies down.”
“Should we just kill them all?”
“Are you serious?”
“…It was a joke.”
“Let’s go.”
“Yes.”

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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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