***
I stared blankly at the ronin as they skillfully built a fire and boiled porridge, then I suddenly stood up, approached them, and spoke.
“Could I get a bit of that to eat as well?”
Warrior Jang readily gave his permission.
“Of course. But didn't your beautiful younger sister pack a meal for you earlier? I thought you would be eating that.”
I gave a bitter smile at his question and answered.
“My sister’s cooking skills aren't quite up to par with her appearance yet. It wasn't something a human could eat.”
At my words, the ronin burst into laughter and spoke.
“Hmm? Puhahahahaha! Well, I suppose so! It would be unfair if a daughter of a prestigious family who is that beautiful was also good at cooking!”
“Wahahaha! The young master who marries your sister is going to have a hard time! How flustered will he be every time she says she’ll prepare a meal?! Khahaha!”
“Gong-ga, are you talking about yourself?!”
“What, you brat?! Yeah, actually, I’m talking about my own story. That’s why I always leave early and come home late even when there’s no work. I only want to see her at night. Khahaha!”
Amidst the ronin who were laughing and chatting boisterously, I suddenly looked toward the bushes where I had thrown the rice balls.
There, the squirrels and bugs that had eaten the thrown rice balls lay dead in a heap.
The survival rate of comrades serving at the front was about thirty percent based on a three-year standard.
In other words, if I were alive after three years, it meant that the two people beside me were dead.
‘Well, that was the standard for the five years starting from now. After that, it dropped to less than ten percent.’
Anyway, if one of those two died at the hands of the Blood Cult’s demons or monsters, the other often died at the hands of their own comrades.
By comrades who had been soul-possessed by the enemy without anyone knowing when it happened.
Therefore, we absolutely had to keep a close watch on our comrades.
To see if there was anything different about them, or if they might ambush us from behind.
The Yeon-ha who visited me yesterday was very different from my memory.
And her coming out to see me off today was also a point of difference from my memory of my previous life.
Yeon-ha, who hadn't even come to see me off in my past life, had somehow come out to see me off in this life, even preparing a meal she usually never made. It was something worth paying close attention to.
More than anything, it was Yeon-ha’s eyes.
The eyes of that child as she spoke as if worrying about me contained emotions completely different from her words.
Things like hatred and contempt for reasons I couldn't fathom.
Those who are soul-possessed by the Blood Cult lose emotion in their eyes.
So, the change in Yeon-ha was likely not because she had been soul-possessed.
I had to admit it now.
It wasn't that Yeon-ha had changed, but that the foolish me back then hadn't noticed.
That from the very beginning, that child had not been acting for my sake.
When I thought about it, the person with the potential to kill Dan Ha-sang might not have been limited to my male brothers.
“Huuu.”
I let out a deep sigh.
My chest felt tight.
It felt as if I had lost the child I had thought was my only real family for the past thirty years.
Just when I thought I had gained one person by realizing my father’s true heart, I had lost another.
It seemed I was destined to only have one family member at a time.
A bitter laugh escaped me.
Feeling frustrated, I stood up and asked Warrior Jang.
“Could I perhaps borrow a saber?”
“Hmm? A saber? I carry this one as a spare; go ahead and use it. But didn't you use a sword, Young Master?”
“Haha, actually, I’m not very good with a sword either. Thank you.”
While the meal was being prepared, I began to swing the saber.
My body was currently in a state where it wasn't accustomed to either a sword or a saber; it was obvious that if I tried to perform ultimate techniques with this body, I would be nothing more than a slug.
Is it because true masters are strong in basic skills that they are called masters?
The masters I had actually seen used to easily slaughter underlings with just basic slashes and stabs.
Therefore, I had to train my basic skills while simultaneously losing weight.
And from experience, when my heart felt heavy, slashing felt much more refreshing than stabbing.
The journey after that was also a continuation of training.
I continued to run every time we moved, and after I got somewhat used to running, I ran while swinging a saber and a sword.
During breaks or at bedtime, I practiced my internal arts while cutting back on sleep.
Thinking of the front that was gradually drawing closer, I couldn't waste even a single gok.
That place was literally a place of death; considering there were many cases in my previous life where I survived danger by being excluded from duty because I was too weak, there was a chance I might actually die earlier in this life.
So, if I didn't want to die, I had to do my best.
Warrior Jang, who had been watching me for several days, suddenly brought it up during a meal.
“In all my life, I have never seen anyone train as relentlessly as you, Young Master. At first, I thought you wouldn't last long, but now I find myself feeling ashamed. Seeing you makes me think I should start living diligently as well.”
The other ronin were also nodding their heads with eyes full of goodwill now.
I just gave an awkward smile and replied.
“I’m just struggling because I don't want to die. If I had lived like this from the start, why would I have gained so much weight?”
However, Warrior Jang shook his head and answered.
“Even though I’ve only reached the second-class realm at this age, I have a bit of an eye for things thanks to the years I’ve spent living by the blade. Seeing the way you swing the sword and saber, you look like a retired old master rather than a novice warrior.”
At those words, another ronin asked curiously.
“What do you mean by that, Brother?”
“I mean that although the saber the young master swings is slow, his form looks as if he already knows the path and is swinging accordingly. He isn't blindly swinging like a novice and learning what he doesn't know one by one, but rather repeating a path he already knows, so his progress is bound to be fast.”
“Ahhh.”
“Indeed, seeing Young Master Sunwoo swing the saber, he does look strangely experienced.”
Warrior Jang looked at me again and said.
“I don't know what the circumstances were, but it seems your life has not been easy either, Young Master. I thought the life of a young master from a prestigious family would be a bit different from ours.”
At his words, which somehow felt insightful, I gave a bitter smile and simply bowed my head once.
Just as he said, I was changing rapidly.
Although it took a week to travel a distance that would have taken two days by horse, in that short time, I had lost a noticeable amount of weight, and my swinging of the sword, saber, and hand-to-hand techniques had become quite proficient, even if not yet satisfying.
It was around that time.
When it had been about seven days since we departed, an arrow suddenly flew toward me as I was running and panting.
Pying!
“Ugh!”
Keeping one’s senses open to the surroundings regardless of what one is doing is the most basic of basics for a member of the Biryong Unit. No matter how tired I was, I wasn't so out of it that I would be hit by an arrow flying in a curve.
I could have easily deflected it with my sword, but just in case, I rolled my body and dodged it.
Puk!
‘Hmm, what a graceful roll.’
I felt proud of my body, which had become much more agile.
Then, the sound of laughter was heard.
“Puhahahahaha! What is that?! It looks exactly like a rolling bear?!”
“Exactly, Boss! It seems even bears have a talent for rolling!”
At the sudden attack and voices, the ronin, including Warrior Jang, drew their blades and shouted.
“Who is it?! What kind of bastards ambush like this without knowing the ethics of the martial world?!”
Then, people armed with weapons began to spring out from the surrounding forest.
“Uhahaha! Bastards who are about to die are talking about the ethics of the martial world and shit! Just drop your weapons and surrender quietly!”
There were about thirty people in total.
In particular, the man who was the largest and most ferocious-looking among them was wearing a tiger skin and holding a large axe; he clearly didn't look like a nameless underling.
Warrior Jang muttered like a groan.
“Green Tiger Great Father (Nok-ho-dae-bu) Mak Gu-sam? Why is the Green Tiger Fortress here?”
The Green Tiger Fortress?
I had heard of them as well.
It was a mountain fortress located near Mount Nok-ho in Heung-in, which was some distance from here, and the fortress leader’s Herculean strength and violent nature were quite famous in Guizhou.
He was a warrior at the tail end of the second-class realm who had properly mastered martial arts, which was rare among mountain bandits who were generally nothing more than third-class dregs.
Warrior Jang clasped his hands and shouted.
“I have heard much of the Green Tiger Fortress Leader’s great name! It is an honor to meet you like this!”
He was likely trying to attempt a dialogue.
Compared to them, who numbered thirty, we were only six, so we were numerically disadvantaged; furthermore, since we couldn't say our individual martial prowess was superior to theirs, it was a natural course of action.
However, they were people who had already fired an arrow with the intent to hit me; there was no way they had any intention of talking.
“Khahaha! To think it’s an honor to meet this lord—it’ll be even more of an honor once you’re dead?!”
“Khahahahaha! Exactly, Boss!”
“It seems we should kill them quickly, Boss!”
At their response as they laughed and talked violently, Warrior Jang gritted his teeth and shouted again.
“We are willing to pay a toll if you wish! Why try to see blood the hard way when we can settle this through conversation?!”
Then he spoke to me in a low voice.
“Young Master, if a fight breaks out, take that horse and escape. we won't be able to stall for long either.”
I was truly moved by those words.
Normally, most ronin were people who only thought of their own gain and would betray you as a matter of course, so what kind of luck did I have to meet such people?
I could guess that Father had made an effort to choose trustworthy individuals.
At Warrior Jang’s proposal, Mak Gu-sam snorted and shouted.
“A toll?! A toll is good! The toll is everything you bastards own! Those clothes, horses, swords, everything you have! If you leave it all here stark naked and run away, I won't chase after you!”
“Khahahahaha! You’d better strip quickly!”
“Boss, if their backside looks tempting, can I pounce on them?! Khahaha!”
Realizing there was no room for dialogue, Warrior Jang hurriedly whispered to me.
“Young Master! Quick, get on the horse! There is no time!”
However, I did not follow his words.
Instead, I walked forward and shouted.
“You scoundrel! How dare you ambush me, the third son of the Sunwoo Clan! It seems you truly wish to be completely annihilated!”
Then, they stopped their laughter abruptly and looked at me.
Their expressions were as if to ask what kind of nonsense this was.
Mak Gu-sam frowned and asked me.
“Hey, you bear-like brat! You’re the third son of the Sunwoo Clan?!”
“That’s right! Green Tiger Great Father Mak Gu-sam! Do you dare to ambush me and dig your own grave?!”
I had heard a glimpse of it in my previous life.
Stories about mountain bandits who chose and ambushed only those among the children of martial families heading to the front who looked like easy targets.
I had already arrived at the front and started my activities by then, but they had ambushed and killed quite a few children of martial families before their tails were finally stepped on and they were slaughtered.
They had targeted the fact that children of small-to-medium martial families heading to the front moved in small numbers, trusting their own martial strength, and carried plenty of money since they planned to be away from home for a long time.
‘So they must have no intention of leaving witnesses.’
Because even for them, they wouldn't want to earn the resentment of even a small-to-medium martial family.
In any case, they didn't ambush just anyone.
They only ambushed easy-looking people where it seemed there would be the least trouble.
Of course, it meant that I looked that way right now.
Look even now.
Aren't they flustered after hearing that I am the third son of the Sunwoo Clan?
I roared at them once more.
“Why can't you speak?! I am asking if you truly ambushed this person, the third son of the Sunwoo Clan?!”
Then, the fellow, whose expression had turned sour, shouted at me.
“How can I believe that a bear-looking brat like you is the third son of the Sunwoo Clan?! If it’s not a lie, prove it!”
At his words, I snorted and replied.
“Why should I, a clear member of the Sunwoo Clan, prove that?! And how am I supposed to prove it?! Are you telling me to bring my father, the Clan Head?!”
Then the fellow shouted in an enraged voice.
“You must prove it right now! Because if you can't, whether you’re the third son or the eldest son of the Sunwoo Clan, you will die on this spot!”
Faking a flinching expression at his words, I rummaged through my clothes and pulled out a bronze token to show him.
“Will this bronze token, the symbol of the clan, suffice?!”
However, it was impossible for the fellow, who was about five or six jang (1 jang = approx. 3 meters) away, to recognize the bronze token.
The fellow pointed at my bronze token and shouted.
“Throw that to me! I will check it!”
But at his words, I shouted as if it were absurd.
“You’re asking for the family symbol! What kind of nonsense is that?! If you can't see it, why don't you come and see it for yourself?!”
Then the fellow also scowled and shouted.
“Are you joking?! You come and show it!”
Flinching at his enraged roar that sounded as if it would explode at any moment, I asked in a slightly trembling voice.
“If I go over there, aren't you going to suddenly attack me?!”
Then he shouted in a fit of rage.
“If you don't come right now, I’ll attack you this instant!”
After hesitating, I finally faltered and approached him as if I had no choice.
But when I got within about two jang in front of him, I spoke again with an expression as if I truly couldn't go any further.
“I-I’ll just throw it from here! In exchange, you must definitely look at it and return it!”
Looking at me with a pathetic expression as I approached hesitantly and fearfully, he answered in a voice full of annoyance.
“Just hurry up and throw it!”
“A-all right.”
I threw the bronze token upward with all my might.
Then, perhaps because I had applied a bit too much strength, the bronze token that had soared high into the sky fell right behind the fellow’s head, and the fellow tilted his head back to catch it.
“Whoops!”
Teok!
And as the fellow caught it, he suddenly read the words written on the bronze token.
“Huh? Guiyang… Restaurant?”
The fellow might not know, but it was a bronze token given only to regular customers even at the Guiyang Restaurant, a specialty of Guiyang.
It was at that moment.
Puuuuuk!
“Ke-he-e-e-ok!”
My sword, which had closed the two-jang distance in an instant, pierced through the fellow’s heart.
It was the ultimate technique ‘One Arrow Piercing the Sun’ (Il-si-sa-il) of the Shooting the Sun Sword Style (Sa-il-geom-beop), which the disciples of the Jeomchang Sect boasted was the fastest stab in the world.