Chapter 13

The sword meeting was held in grand style. Amidst enthusiastic cheers and anticipation.
“I want to fight the Grand Duke.”
“You can’t say that, considering the humiliation our Taishan Minister suffered last year.”
“Shut up. Your father has fallen. Because of that bird…… No, because of the Grand Duke.”
I was the only unwelcome greeting amidst all the cheering and anticipation. With so many eyes on me as I organized the bracket, it felt like an event for me in a different way.
“My uncle was right. They all want to eat me.”
One by one, each of the young men growled at me.
So what.
There’s only one person who can fight me right now, and even then, it’s a fair and impartial selection process.
There are thousands of people in Anhui Province alone. How many of them will participate?
Just because you participated last year doesn’t mean you can’t participate this year, and there were quite a few people who participated multiple times for various reasons.
There were some people who openly laughed at me.
“What a great man. You’re a stranger who has the audacity to come out here after turning everyone in Anhui Province against you.”
The giggling one was the male dog I had renamed Dog X. When I sighed at him, he bounced up to me with a big smile on his face.
“Don’t take credit for catching me off guard. I’ll make sure you don’t get another one in front of everyone.”
Yeah. Of course.
Not only did I punch him, but I also dueled with a black tiger, which apparently didn’t go unnoticed.
“Did you apologize to Wall Yi properly?”
“Apologize? Apologies are bullshit. I didn’t do anything wrong. Besides.”
The Southern Palace Dog snorted and stopped talking, and I shifted my gaze to see the Namgung Byeok.
He smiled and waved at me with a sailing hand, only to look surprised by the waves of people.
Yes, wall.
See only good things and hear only good things, for I will make sure that the world you see is full of warm, bright days.
While I was lost in my thoughts, a voice that shattered my colic came to me.
“What’s there to see in him, he comes from nothing and was raised by a poor mother.”
My gaze snapped to him, but he had no intention of stopping his bullshit.
“By the time he has any talent, it’ll be too late, because I’ll already be recognized by the House.”
He smiled, a knowing smile.
A gaze that I knew was filled with jealousy and envy.
A moment when I believed that the sibling rivalry was just that, a rivalry.
The incessant barking of the male archer dog made me realize.
I realized that I was an unrecoverable, end-of-life human waste that needed to be disposed of. At the same time, I realized the root cause of this unrecoverable garbage.
There were four women sitting side by side in the clearing.
Of the three women, except for Mr. Bai, who was holding the Namgung Byeok, the woman most closely resembled the Southern Palace Dog.
Furthermore, she had a glint of greed in her eyes, just like the South Palace Dog’s.
I looked at the woman who was the fourth wife of the Southern Palace, a woman called Ms. Pang, and I smiled wryly at the stern-looking Black Tiger standing behind her.
After I finished laughing, I looked at the Southern Palace Dog and said.
“Thank goodness. I’ll be able to greet my brother sooner.”
“What are you talking about? You’re mumbling to yourself. Hmph!”
He smiled coldly at the retreating Hound.
Wait a moment. Brother Nan Gongban.
Cut grass root.
The source of our family’s illness is over there.
* * *
“You’ve waited a long time. First of all, I would like to thank all of you for coming to the Southern Palace’s sword council on behalf of Anhui. I am the elder of the Namgung Clan, Namgung Ho. My fellow members have bestowed upon me the undeserved title of Windstorm Sword.”
The stage of bluestone, built more than twenty years ago, looks so ageless that it arouses admiration from onlookers, and its solid, unadorned, and unyielding appearance is in keeping with the atmosphere of the Southern Palace.
The only place in Anhui Castle that could accommodate a large enough crowd to hold an event like this was the stage on the blue river stone, and it was none other than the Tenth Elder, Namgung Ho.
“Jilpung Sword!”
“Jilpung Sword! Jilpung Sword!”
“Please come out again, and give the tough Jianghu the good influence it once had!”
“Waaaaaaaah!”
The people who looked at him all shouted with joy, their faces bright, and some even waved.
The elders of the Southern Palace were probably reacting in this way because he was the most recent of the elders of the Southern Palace, and he had made a name for himself as a sword-wielding, sword-swinging, and sword-swinging ally of the political factions.
Of course, there were others who disagreed.
“Don’t you think the other elders got tired of being bothered and just handed the job over to the youngest?”
“Is that what you see in your eyes?”
“I can’t say.”
“Go away, old men, I don’t like it.”
The two men, who were not alike in appearance, crossed their arms and wore fat faces, but one bore an uncanny resemblance. I wondered if this was how a conversation between an uncle and nephew should go.
Anyway.
“You said you would be recognized by me.”
“Yes.”
“You earned it.”
“What is it you want to say?”
“So I have something of my own.”
“…….”
The nephew’s expression was ominous for some reason, and the uncle curled the corners of his mouth.
“You should look forward to the arrangements I have made.”
“Hah.”
With a light sigh, the nephew was about to ask what the arrangements were, but he was interrupted by Namgung Ho’s next words.
“Now, I’ll call on the first person to open the sword council.”
“Namgung-hyeok! Namgung-hyeok!”
“Namgunggal! Namgunggal!”
“Namgunggae! Namgunggae!”
As soon as Namgungho uttered a single word, the names were being called out in succession.
“As much as everyone’s expectations are high, this Namgung Ho is also very excited! Now, the first bracket is……!”
Nam Gung-ho’s eyes widened as he looked at the plaque that showed the first bracket order. The first order is important.
The festivities and events can only truly begin when the first players show up to fulfill everyone’s expectations and get everyone excited. Namgung Ho was more than ready to fulfill them.
But.
‘……Why not.’
When I saw the name on the plaque, I couldn’t help but despair.
Why did this guy’s name come first?
But I had no choice, because I couldn’t change the bracket now, and I couldn’t deal with the aftermath if I did.
“Chu, the first bracket order is…….”
Seeing Nam Gung-ho’s hesitation, the faces of those watching from below the stage turned puzzled.
They couldn’t help but wonder why Namgungho, who seemed to be ready to start right away, was hesitating.
“Namgungban, the eldest Confucius, representing the Namgung family, and Kang Woo-moon, the second son, representing Minister Kang. Please come up to the stage.”
The questions were quickly answered.
At the same time, the heated atmosphere was instantly cooled as if ice water had been poured over it. Not just one or two people, but many, many people, were stiffened.
However, amidst the salty reactions, there was one person who walked onto the stage with a determined and unaffected expression.
“Goodbye.”
The nephew, who was sitting next to the uncle, calmly stepped up. In the midst of all the cursing, there was another confusion when two young men came up.
“……?”
“Why?”
“Which of the two young men is the asshole?”
“Besides ……, left or right?”
“The asshole I know is…….”
The crowd looked back and forth between the two young men with puzzled eyes.
It must be someone they remembered.
“He was fat, I guess?”
“Yes. ……He also had a greedy look in his eyes.”
“He could have been called a little devil.”
The following comments followed, but I couldn’t figure it out, no matter how I looked at it, just that.
“I think the one wearing the mark of the Southern Palace Family is that asshole…….”
“I can’t believe he changed in less than a year.”
The crowd’s jaws dropped, many of them having been directly affected by the bastard.
Even though they were not as powerful as the Southern Palace, they had not seen an accident in front of their eyes once or twice, but most of them had seen it for two days.
So I couldn’t forget it easily. No, I couldn’t forget it until I tried.
Or so I thought.
“……Heh, you’re right.”
“I feel like I’m watching the Southern Palace Gazoo when I was a kid…….”
“I wonder if it’s possible.”
Leaving the four women behind, the crowd couldn’t help but let out a gasp as they stared at Nangong Mu Bai, who stood tall among the many elders.
It was obvious that he was the child of Namgung Mu Bai.
No matter what, blood is inevitable.
The other Sixth Generals and the members of the Gu Pile also pricked up their ears in response to the crowd’s reaction.
“……Is that the one called the asshole of the Southern Palace?”
“He doesn’t look like such an asshole.”
“He’s a greedy pig, unaware of his status as a grand duke, and his prayer seems to be quite inadequate for an unattended prayer.”
Taoist.
Monks, too.
The members of the other houses all looked puzzled.
And they could only come to one conclusion.
“The Southern Palace has been deceiving the world, hiding the Grand Duke all this time in order to show him off in front of everyone like this!”
It was more of a dream than a reality.
Anyway, that was the conclusion.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t describe a man who was so devoted and a swordsman whose prayers had been caught as a wretch.
“But not by the looks and words of the crowd.”
“Yes, they all look like they’ve been chewing on something.”
“I wonder what’s going on.”
It wasn’t just the countless people in Anhui, people from different clans, different schools, who were confused.
“When will the Grand Duke go away…….”
“It seems that all the hard work you’ve been doing hasn’t been a lie.”
“Hasn’t your body…… changed, let alone your spirits? It seems like just yesterday you were falling down.”
“……Huh.”
Even the elders of the Southern Palace Family were suspicious of their own eyes. If there was one person who wasn’t surprised while everyone else was.
It was none other than the old man.
An elderly uncle looking fatly at his nephew.
A beautiful, well-dressed woman and a child in her arms.
“It’s you! It’s you! You must win, Ban!”
Seeing the only ray of light in a sea of hostility, the Grand Duke of the Namgungse Family laughed heartily.