Chapter 45

Yumimi and the Namgung family didn’t return until nightfall. Normally, she would have already returned and been busy preparing the meal.
As everyone grew tired of waiting, Yumimi’s assistants stepped up to the plate and hastily cooked a meal with the remaining ingredients.
“We’ll do it, just give us a minute.”
“You said you were going to do a good job this time, so I thought I’d see what you were so excited about.”
“Oh, is that so? Haha. Just thinking about it makes me feel good. If it’s your culinary skills.”
“I’m already feeling energized. We’ll have to use that strength to beat up the bandits!”
Everyone smiled at the comments. The air around us was filled with comments about how excited they were and how they felt better just thinking about it.
I and my uncle also sat down at the table, waiting for Yumimi to return.
“You seem to be taking longer than usual. I wonder who she’s preparing such a delicious meal for.”
“……I should have come with you.”
“Oh, no. You’re going to get stoned in the streets for going there in that dirty look, thank the nanny. You can thank the nanny for not saying anything when she saw the dirty look.”
The words were met with raucous laughter.
“Wahaha! That’s right, that’s right. Yu Suxue is squeamish!”
“If it were me, I’d say…… Phew!”
“Don’t tell me, there’s no one like Yu Suksu!”
My uncle, who was frowning at my words and the reactions around him, shouted at me about what nonsense I was talking about, but I just burst out laughing.
It was a happy atmosphere. I never thought I’d look forward to eating on a battlefield.
Unlike the dreary, desolate atmosphere of chewing on a bowl of dry rice.
It was so much more fun to spend the day here, to laugh with those who enjoyed it.
“There, that’s it.”
“It’s not as much as Mr. Yu’s, but you should try.”
“Oh my! We’ve all gotten so good after learning from Master Yu! Just think of all the stones we chewed on when we were cooking…….”
“Oh, by the way, when are you talking about the enemy!”
“Hahahaha!”
Since they had learned to cook from their nanny, their cooking skills were quite good, and everyone was satisfied with the end of the day.
Just as they were about to wrap up, only one person was complaining about the setting sun.
“……Why doesn’t it ever come back?”
“It happens sometimes, sir. I’ve had to wait until dawn the next day to get fresh ingredients.”
As I said, Yumimi did not return one day.
Perhaps she was attacked by a band of bandits,
or threatened by a tiger from the shadows of the mountains.
The old man’s fierce eyes sliced through the ground, soared into the sky, and sliced through the brambles, and all day long, he stared at Yumimi.
He had vowed to wait until she told him what was all the fuss about, and when he saw that the people in the neighborhood were freaking out.
Her anxiety was quite high, and she couldn’t go to sleep easily. I had a sneaking suspicion that she was feeling uneasy, but I tried to reassure her that it was nothing.
I had to.
It was my hope, my wish, that nothing else would happen now that the day had gotten better, that nothing special would happen, that it would just pass like any other day.
But.
“You mean he’s still not here?”
“It’s…….”
The answer from the samurai of the Southern Palace standing guard was not the one I had hoped for. The day passed with no news of Yumimi or the Southern Palace name. It was well past dawn and time enough for them to return, but the absence of a smokestack made me anxious.
“…… is the guy. I told him to call me if anything happened.”
Namgung’s father, Namgung Han, the current head of the Shandong branch, sighed softly. Even though he didn’t think anything was wrong, his fatherly heart was filled with worry.
I glanced at the scene and felt relieved.
I asked my uncle to patrol the neighborhood with several samurai, hoping that would ease his anxiety.
I comforted her by saying that Yumimi would be back when I returned.
I felt a pang in my chest as I remembered my departure, so I said.
“…… Should I move?”
Namgung-han’s voice was quick to respond.
“I’ll go.”
“……The Grand Duke?”
“If anything happens, I’ll send up a light bulb, so move immediately.”
“……Yes, sir.”
The atmosphere was awkward, but it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter in the heat of the moment.
“Oh, and.”
“……Say.”
“I sent out a patrol that lasted until dawn. If they realize you haven’t come yet, they’ll make their move. Stop them. They’ll do more harm than good.”
“……I will.”
Namgung Han sent me a puzzled glance, but I ignored him and unfolded the Divine Law, leaving Namgung Han behind. No, I was about to unfold it.
“Wait!”
A young man stood in my way.
“……? What’s going on? I’m a little busy.”
Namgung Dae-myung, he was the firstborn son of the White Tooth Sword Namgungseok. I was familiar with him and had some sort of relationship with him.
For me, he was like a nephew. The age difference was small, but it didn’t matter.
“Please take me to …….”
“I can’t.”
I had to move quickly. But Namgung Dae-myung had just gotten his first taste of swordplay. He wasn’t going to be able to help me with his clumsy skills.
But he didn’t back down and took a step forward.
“The pseudonym. He’s like a brother to me, and if he’s gone, how can I stand by and let him become my brother?”
He must be eighteen now.
I could see the impatience on his face.
Brotherhood.
Friendship.
The face of the Grand Duke of Namgung was strangely superimposed on the face of Namgungban, the Grand Duke and my eldest brother from my previous life. It was the face that first came to me.
“It could be dangerous. Something could happen.”
“……I wouldn’t have come out here if I was worried about that.”
I see.
This is what it means to be a brother.
To jump in even when you know you’re dead.
That’s what it means to be family and brothers.
I nodded. The look in Namgung’s eyes, the one he considered his family, erased all other thoughts.
“……Good.”
He looked up, his face flushed with color at my words.
“Follow me. We’re going to the lowlands of Shandong first, Black Lake.”
“Yes.”
Kuung.
The ground rumbled in unison. A gust of wind rose instantly. I stepped forward with a strong step.
The path beneath my feet.
There is no distance I cannot reach with my emperor’s stride.
The dignity of an emperor whose heels look down upon a thousand miles of road as if it were my own front yard.
That is the divine law of the thousand thunderbolts, and the path of the emperor who is willing to travel a thousand miles.
The Thousand-Leaf Household.
I have unleashed my full power. My heart and my steps followed.
The Grand Duke disappeared like a speck of light in an instant, leaving the Southern Palace Grandmaster stunned, while Black Lake laughed in disbelief.
“What a ……. I’ll have to be diligent.”
Carrying the lump of luggage, Black Ho’s head swam at the thought of taking Namgung Daemyung with him.
What can I do?
I’ll take what I can get.
* * *
Zzerzer.
The ground cracked and cracked.
If you step on the ground hard enough, the ground will shatter like ice cubes and crack.
“Get out of the way!”
“Ji, calm down, An Daihao!”
Nan Gonghan shouted as he stood in front of the roaring An Bai.
“It’s a trap, it’s a trap, you know it, that’s why the Grand Duke didn’t say he’d come to investigate first!”
“Even at this moment, we will be in danger.”
“I know, that’s why I’ve been moving in all directions!”
Step by step, An Bai took a step.
With each step, Nan Gonghan was unable to stop him, but he was overwhelmed by the aura that emanated from him and had to bite his lower lip tightly.
As the head of the Shandong branch, Nam Gung-han was experienced and familiar with the battlefield. As such, he could face dozens of bandits without a moment’s hesitation, let alone any amount of fighting spirit.
But then.
‘Tea, isn’t this a different level? You weren’t lying when you said that you had a battle with the Celestial Divine Sword and the Whistle.
Rattling.
Compared to An Bai, all of the opponents he had faced so far had been trivial. Even in front of the Southern Palace Martial King, she would never have trembled so much.
Donghui and Kang Wumen stretched out on either side of him to stop him from walking, while Namgung Han and Namgung Suk stood in front of him, creating a ridiculous scene.
Everyone was desperate to stop this one person, An Baek.
“When the hell is the Grand Duke coming!”
“It’s been a while since he said he was going to visit that place himself!”
“Damn it!”
The only one who could control and stop the Iron Blood Sword Castle was gone. At this rate, we were all going to get killed.
It wasn’t enough to deal with the bandits, but to stop An Baek.
At that moment, everyone pulled back, and An Bai’s entire body exploded with energy.
“Uncle.”
A muffled voice called out.
“The Grand Duke!”
“Why, why have you come now!”
“Not now, Duke An……!”
It appeared. The Grand Duke.
Kang Wumen, Dong Hui, Namgung Han, and Namgung Suk heaved a sigh of relief. Seeing that the Iron-Blooded Sword An Bai had also stopped walking, they were also thankful.
At that moment, the four of them turned toward the Grand Duke.
A clang.
When they saw the Grand Duke’s eyes, their livers fell out of their stomachs.
An abyss, an abyss of pitch-black darkness, was shimmering in his pupils. An Bai stared at the Grand Duke, his eyes narrowed.
“It’s them.”
“Mangu.”
The Grand Duke’s eyes were iron-blooded, and his gaze was filled with madness.
“How can you be so sure?”
“They’re disguised as bandits, stirring up trouble in the villages.”
A shadowy figure behind the Grand Duke fell to the ground with a thud. The Black Tiger and the Grand Master of the Southern Palace followed closely behind, breathing heavily as they slammed the ordinary-looking men to the ground.
“And the bums were selling the men of the same household to bandits.”
The cold voice turned to the three shivering men.
“They targeted the nanny from the beginning, to lure us in.”
“…….”
The iron-black eyes took in the three people, all of whom seemed so ordinary.
And Yumimi would have trusted them. Perhaps she would have investigated the disappearance of the private house.
It was in her nature to do so.
“…… Are you going to stop me?”
“Of course not.”
The Archduke shook his head and swung his sword at the trio’s thighs.
Thud!
Three pairs of legs were cleanly sliced off.
“Kwuuuuuuuuu!”
“Woof! Woof! Woof!”
“Uhhhhhh!”
The gag in their mouths prevented them from screaming, and tears streamed down their faces, but the eyes of the Grand Duke and An Bai remained cold.
The bugs had to be cleaned up. After cleaning them, the two turned around without regret.
“We must enter that trap willingly.”
“Let’s go.”