Chapter 4 It was not just tanghulu.
Among the bequests her master left Yeo Il, there were truly countless trivial ones. When she recalled the list, tanghulu was actually fairly mild and easy—setting aside the fact that it had to be from Cheonju Mountain in Anhui Province.
If she had to guess, her deceased master had likely wanted her to roam the rivers and lakes under the pretext of fulfilling those bequests. In the end, it worked perfectly.
Just then, the carriage that had been running smoothly came to an abrupt stop.
"This… what do we do, noona? It looks like it'll be difficult to pass by carriage from here."
A problem, then. Not long after, a loud scream erupted from not far away.
"Assassins! Assassins! Don't panic—protect the carriage!"
Guard warriors?
To be attacked by assassins rather than bandits on a mountain road like this—it sounded like they were transporting something quite dangerous. Sitting inside the carriage, Yeo Il rolled the scroll back up and spoke.
"Seol-yeong, something happened to the road, didn't it?"
From the driver's seat beyond the wall came a baffled voice.
"Yes? How did you know? A tree has fallen and blocked the path, but it's huge—one or two men won't even make a dent."
"It seems you did not see the carriage that passed us a moment ago return the way it came. I could hear the merchant complaining all the way from here. You should have turned the horse around then, on your own."
"If you noticed that, please give me a warning next time. I wouldn't have had to waste time taking an even longer det—"
Seol-yeong's grumbling was cut off by the increasingly harsh vigilance outside.
"Damn it, don't scatter! Protect Young Lady Namgung Soyo!"
Namgung—an all too familiar surname.
So they were not escort guards, but guard warriors of a clan.
The carriage Yeo Il rode began moving again, this time in the opposite direction from where they had come.
"It'll be about two sijin later than expected, but if we keep running without stopping, we can still get down the mountain before sunset. If you'd told me earlier, noona, we could've cut it down to one sijin."
At that moment, sobbing burst out right in front of the carriage.
"P-please help!"
At the same time, the wheels that had been creeping forward had to halt again. Thud, thud—someone began pounding urgently on the carriage wall.
"Please help us, Great Hero! Our Young Lady is—Namgung Soyo, the illegitimate daughter of the Namgung Clan! If you save our Young Lady, the Gaju will surely grant a great reward! Please lend us your strength!"
For someone pleading with a driver, the claim was absurdly grand. Seol-yeong let out a long sigh and asked Yeo Il inside the carriage.
"What should we do, noona?"
After staying silent for a while, Yeo Il unfolded the scroll again.
There were forty miscellaneous bequests her master had left her. Over the past half year, she had somehow managed to complete about twenty of them while wandering the rivers and lakes.
Among the remaining twenty, the troublesome and the not-so-troublesome were cleverly mixed. Yeo Il singled out the ones that could, at least on paper, overlap with Namgung Soyo.
Let's see.
You should listen to the worries of a woman seven cheok tall and resolve them for her. "Is Namgung Soyo perhaps over seven cheok tall?"
At Yeo Il's question, the woman outside—likely Namgung Soyo's maid—answered in a flustered voice.
"Pardon? N-no…"
Then next.
If you meet a patient suffering from an incurable disease, grant that person one request. "Then is Namgung Soyo suffering from an incurable disease?"
"Not to the point of an incurable disease…"
Then next.
If someone with golden eyes appears… "Are her eyes golden?"
"..."
A mixed-blood… "Then is she mixed-blood?"
Unable to hold back, the maid snapped in an irritated voice.
"W-why are you asking such useless questions?! At a time when every moment matters, you're wasting time like this!"
"So she doesn't fit any of them."
Then she was sorry, but there was no reason to help.
Yeo Il had only two purposes for returning to the rivers and lakes: to return the jade ring to its rightful place, and to fulfill her master's bequests.
If Namgung Soyo was neither seven cheok tall, nor afflicted with an incurable disease, nor golden-eyed, nor mixed-blood, then she was simply fated to die here.
Fate was always merciless, and one could only accept what was given. Was that not the way of the rivers and lakes—of the Murim?
Rolling up the scroll, Yeo Il spoke coldly.
"Let's go back, Seol-yeong. At this rate, we'll arrive after dark."
"N-no!"
"Yes, understood. But, noona."
"Speak."
"While we were talking, the path on the other side was blocked—coincidentally."
Slowly lifting her head, Yeo Il stared at the carriage's inner wall before her.
At some point, everything around them had fallen silent. The clashing of weapons was gone, replaced by a chilling presence. Beyond the wall, she could feel killing intent so sharp it seemed to scrape the skin as it fixed on the carriage.
"Great Hero! Th-that's them! They're the ones who—our Young Lady Namgung Soyo's carriage…!"
Seol-yeong's tense breathing reached her.
Judging by how easily the guard warriors of a martial clan had been overwhelmed, these did not seem like ordinary assassins. Or there had been betrayal from within.
Then a cold voice made them an offer.
"Hand over that maid, and we will let your carriage pass without harm."
A fairly rational bargain.
"Noona."
At Seol-yeong's call, Yeo Il smiled as if nothing were wrong.
"Send her out."
"G-great hero! No, please—save me! Sob… I'll do anything, please spare me! I'm begging you, Great Hero!"
"Sorry. Your order matters more to me, noona."
Whether Seol-yeong had gotten down from the driver's seat and was pushing the maid forward, her tear-choked screams grew steadily more distant.
"This can't be happening! N-no! Please—please sp—!"
By then, Yeo Il had already set the scroll aside and picked up the sword resting beside her.
Until the moment Yeo Il rose and stepped out of the carriage, not a single person among those blocking the way noticed her presence.
When she moved out beside the carriage, she saw Seol-yeong facing a man in black beside the sniffling maid. The man in black let out a greasy chuckle and muttered.
"To believe us when we said we'd let you go unharmed. How naive."
In an instant, a silver blade flashed from his sleeve.
"Blame your stupidity for trusting people of the Murim—and die!"
But the dagger the man in black threw did not take Seol-yeong's life.
"Ghk!"
Instead, a horrific scream tore open beneath the clear sky. Blood sprayed—and someone among those standing behind the man in black shouted.
"Sword aura!"
That white light that had sent the man in black's hand flying—
Everyone's gaze snapped in one direction.
Precisely where Yeo Il stood.
"..."
As those who saw her face staggered back in disbelief, Yeo Il met the eyes of the man in black—who was clutching his wrist and retreating—and said,
"Whatever happens to Namgung Soyo is none of my business, but…"
"..."
"You'll pay for holding steel to the driver who was going to take me to Cheonju Mountain for tanghulu."
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