Chapter 9

The Grand Duke flew off into the distance and rolled on the ground. After rolling several times, he landed on his back against a beautiful tree.
“Kuluk! Kuluk, how much strength did you put into …….”
The Grand Duke coughed up blood, pointed at Black Lake in disbelief, then slowly rolled his eyes and fell to the side.
“Fuhahahahaha, I knew it, you bastard!”
Leaving the screaming hound behind, Black Ho was surprised to see the hand that had unexpectedly burst open.
He looked at his grip as he turned away from the screaming hound.
‘You said I felt threatened…….’
It’s obviously not true.
But it was hard not to believe it.
The counterattack came from his instincts and the practical experience he had accumulated as a drone. I recalled the two moves the Grand Duke had made before the counterattack.
In an instant, the Grand Duke’s left foot reached out and pressed down on Black Tiger’s right instep, which was holding the center. It was an unheard of move.
This kind of chaotic battle was rarely seen in the bimu and duel between unmanned warriors. Even throwing sand to obscure their vision was the dirty work of back-alley thugs.
The heat was well deserved, but Black Ho didn’t feel it.
Rather.
“I never realized that the orthodox swordsmanship of the Southern Palace could be used in so many ways.
It was amazing. Moreover, since Black Lake prided himself on having lived a life of untouched by the world, he gulped down the air as he watched the Grand Duke’s strange moves.
And the final move.
As soon as I felt the Archduke’s wooden sword crash into my side, I drew my katana up. It seemed to gain momentum rapidly, and then it was solidly against his side. Even as he reflexively reached out, the wooden sword struck his side.
Black Ho patted his side, then shifted his attention to the confused Grand Duke.
He boldly declared that he would deliver a blow to him in ten.
“……Namgungban. Grand Duke.
He did it.
He muttered the name Grand Duke Namgungban over and over again. The name was imprinted in my mind, and I couldn’t seem to get it out.
* * *
It hurt like hell.
Not only was my insides shaking, but there was a nasty bruise on my chest.
I had clearly won, and I felt like a coward. I felt the blow to my side with the precision of a ten-count, and just as I was about to shout my victory, you sent me flying into the distance with a punch of your own.
The next time we meet, I’ll give him a good beating.
I was stroking the underside of my chest as I thought this, and when I saw Han Inyoung still looking down at me with pathetic eyes, I sighed heavily.
“There is no need to do that. What if you come to my bed on a fictitious day?”
“It’s my job to take care of you.”
“What’s the use of taking care of a grown man, I’ve missed my training, and I’m not going to go around doing nothing.”
“You’re not a big boy, you’re only fourteen years old. It’s ridiculous that you’re yelling at me for skipping training when you’re out running, and if you’re not fooling around, how do you explain that bruise on your chest?”
He speaks so well because he doesn’t drink.
I vowed never to drink. I figured I needed to be sober to speak well.
Anyway.
They were all right, so I didn’t have much to say.
“…… asked me to pass this along.”
The plaque flew at me. I snatched it up and read the plaque, which said
“black
It was obvious that it meant black.
“Give me this and you’ll know what it means.”
For a cowardly hand outstretched, he made good on his promise. I feel a little relieved, like I’ve got something.
I smiled in satisfaction, but the way he stared at me made my skin crawl.
“What are you trying to do?”
“What do you mean?”
“Fourth Gongzi’s people are protesting. He jumped on him and punched him.”
Ah.
He started snitching.
I even gave him a punch at the end.
After all that fussing, he was so relieved that he ended up snitching.
You’re a male dog from now on.
A dog.
“……I can’t deny it, but he did something wrong.”
“What wrong.”
“He was trying to train me in martial arts.”
“On what basis are you saying that?”
“It doesn’t matter, I saw it.”
The twist of fate that had befallen the South Palace Wall in his previous life flashed through his mind, and it had all started with the Fourth Duke’s South Palace Dog.
How ridiculous it was. Perhaps if I hadn’t prevented it, the South Palace Wall in this life would have also mastered the Great Yan Dao, which had been twisted beyond recognition.
After realizing this, my emotions boiled like wildfire, but I didn’t get excited. Because because of me, South Palace Wall no longer has to accept the same fate as him.
I alone can master it.
And I alone can overcome it.
But the uncle-in-law, who didn’t know that, could only give me an incredulous look.
“If you can’t …… back it up, you’ve done nothing but make a fool of yourself.”
“So, what is it, Mr. Uncle?”
“Tell me.”
“Guardianship, that. Do it.”
At my words, Uncle An’s eyes grew strange.
“Did it sound so ridiculous to you that I would take care of your back, that I would be your guardian?”
“Why are you being sarcastic again?”
The old man snorted. His pride was obviously wounded.
I wonder if he was deeply hurt that I rejected him in front of him.
Either that or he didn’t like the way my demeanor changed like the flip of a palm.
I felt unnecessarily sorry for him, seeing him posture so low.
Well, of course I did.
“You don’t like it, then don’t drink it.”
Too bad it wasn’t me. My uncle-in-law was the one who saw through me.
“……I never took it back. But even if I did, it could always become a non-issue.”
But she also had a good tail.
It was the fact that he was a narrow-minded human being with a pride that he could impose on his nephew. Is it really true that he is a swordsman? Maybe the nanny was mistaken.
“It’s so hard to lose to a nephew.”
“That’s because he doesn’t listen to me.”
“Hmm.”
There was nothing to say about that.
“Why did you change your mind?”
I shrugged at my uncle’s casual remark.
“I have something to protect, and it takes strength to do so. I thought I was the only one strong enough to protect it, but it turns out I’m not. I felt weak, like I couldn’t face the waves head-on.”
“You felt the Namgung family as a wave.”
“It’s a powerful family.”
“In any case, I’m glad you’ve changed your mind.”
“Well, yes.”
I lifted my chin and looked at my aunt.
There he stood, an unremarkable man, his beady eyes unchanged, but with unkempt hair and bushy beard, a flask dangling from his left hand as usual, and unkempt clothes that made me wonder if he was truly a swordsman.
If it weren’t for his earlier display of the Iron Sword Sixty-Six and Island Warfare Thirty-Three, he would not have been swayed by the nanny’s tale, nor would he have responded.
“By the way.”
“Hmm?”
“I’m curious.”
“Curious about what.”
I looked at her with genuine suspicion, my gaze scanning her from head to toe.
“I wonder if you’d even bat an eye at the Southern Palace if you were truly standing behind me. I wonder if I’m not just saving myself a lot of embarrassment. I’m already an asshole, and now there’s another asshole behind me.”
The old man’s cheeks twitched at that.
Then.
“Fuhahahahahahaha!”
The old man burst out laughing. I covered my ears at the echoing laughter.
“Who are you to judge me?”
“……I’m risking my life and limb to entrust a foreigner with my back, so I shouldn’t be so judgmental. Please tell me you’re being prudent.”
The old man, who hadn’t avoided my gaze, curled up the corners of his mouth.
“It depends on your heart.”
What does that mean?
“Children of the Southern Palace are born to compete. Just because they are male. And names are passed around to determine who is better and who is not.”
“…….”
“Some are treated like bastards and kick the good fortune that rolls in under their feet.”
I said something, and it ended up being me, and then it went on.
“Some come from such a humble background that no one ever looks at them.”
I knew immediately who he was referring to: Confucius, the Fifth Confucius.
“Those who weigh and weigh and weigh, who don’t know what they really need, who don’t know who will make their paths brighter, blind themselves to what they really need. The gaze of ambition and greed clouds their vision.”
He must be talking about the other Confuciuses, about the elders and family powers that are folding behind them.
“For some reason, the household turns a blind eye, and the family says I don’t know. Or maybe it’s just tradition because it’s always been that way.”
A gentle breeze blew from where the elderly, iron-blooded An Baek stood, and gradually the sands began to stir like a gust of wind.
“It must be corrected, which is why I ask you.”
For the first time, I had to tense up.
I felt the kind of momentum one might expect to see when the monkfish leader from my previous life, Huang Tianhou, was leading the charge on the battlefield.
Such a fierce, fierce power radiated from the drunkard’s body.
“What are you looking at?”
“…….”
“How far are you looking?”
“……!”
As the stormy momentum slowly died down.
“Your answer will change everything.”
“……!”
The momentum was palpable, as if there were dozens of hordes standing behind An Baek.
I couldn’t help but gulp in the air as the illusion of standing in a thick fog, emitting a crystalline glow.
The four-character star sign of Iron Blood Sword Castle.
The two-character name of An Baek stuck in my heart.