“You’ve got a long tongue.”
“What? Are you talking to me right now, brat?”
Looking at the spearman raising his eyes sharply, Il-hyang crooked a finger.
“If you’ve got a problem, come at me, dumbass. Don’t just chatter with your mouth.”
“You, you arrogant little brat…….”
As the spearman, his face turned bright red, took a large step forward.
The wanderers who had naturally been waiting nearby took a few steps back.
In truth, in the world of wanderers, such displays of strength were common.
In other words, it was a kind of greeting.
“This body is the great Bloodstorm Spear Yang Cheon-jo. What is your name?”
“Il-hyang.”
“Oh-ho? So you’re the fellow called Flame-Fist Pugilist!”
The spearman’s mouth spread wide.
That stupid bastard’s thoughts were far too easy to read.
He probably wanted to firmly make an impression on the employer.
And use this chance to show off his skill to the other wanderers during the escort run.
‘And he probably thinks I look easy while he’s at it.’
But from Il-hyang’s perspective, this was not a bad thing either.
He was used to it, since this sort of thing happened every time he joined a request.
Il-hyang clenched and opened his fist, tilted his head, and said,“How about the loser becomes the other’s personal servant while carrying out the request?”
While he was at it.
Having one slave to wait on him throughout the request period would be nice.
The word personal servant made the face of the Inn Boy at the inn suddenly flash through his mind.
When told that today was the last day, how sorrowfully he had pretended to cry.
In admiration of that incredible acting ability, Il-hyang had unknowingly taken out his pouch once again and given him a tip before leaving.
“Ha…… Personal servant? Look at this crazy bastard. You’ll only come to your senses after your arms and legs get broken. Then again, brats your age really don’t listen worth a damn.”
“Scared?”
It was a short and simple provocation, but its effect was certain.
Its cost-effectiveness was truly excellent.
A thick vein rose on Yang Cheon-jo’s temple.
“Bullshit. Brat, if I lose to you, I’ll serve you as my father.”
“Accepted.”
Il-hyang grinned.
Seeing him add such a useless condition, that fellow was not suited to surviving long in this line of work either.
At that moment.
WHOOSH—
When the spearman lightly swung the spear in his hand once.
An ominous sound of air being torn rang out.
‘Oh?’
Il-hyang’s gaze changed slightly.
This was unexpected.
Separate from his inability to grasp the situation.
He was a genuine expert who had properly learned the spear somewhere.
“I’ll yield the first attack to you. This is what an adult’s composure looks like, brat. Mwahahahahat!”
Looking at the thoroughly relaxed spearman, Il-hyang twitched the corner of his mouth.
Then he lightly shook out both hands and said, “Get ready to serve your new father.”
Il-hyang lightly flicked his finger and used Grease magic on the ground.
A 2nd Circle spell that dropped the friction coefficient of a very narrow patch of ground to the extreme.
Normally, it required the process of drawing a magic circle with mana, then pouring mana into it to call forth the phenomenon.
‘Not for me.’
This was a path Il-hyang had already passed long ago.
This level of magic was something he could activate in an instant even with his eyes closed.
‘Still, one probably won’t be enough.’
Il-hyang used one more spell at the same time.
He used wind-attribute magic on himself.
Then his body grew lighter, and Il-hyang’s body, which had begun running forward in an instant.
WHOOSH—
Shot forward like a cannonball, as though sliding across ice.
“Huh?”
It was a strange movement that was neither footwork nor a movement technique.
Perhaps because he had never expected Il-hyang’s ghostlike movements at all.
Yang Cheon-jo hurriedly let out a gasp and thrust his spear forward.
“Eek!”
SWISH—
Even in the midst of this, his basics were clearly well-built, and a fairly plausible thrust unfolded, sharp like a snake.
However.
‘Obvious.’
Il-hyang tilted his body like a loach, almost as if lying against the ground, and evaded the thrust.
Then he slipped deep into the spearman’s guard as though a baby were nestling into someone’s arms.
And toward the spearman, whose complexion had turned deathly pale, he threw one upward punch.
It landed precisely on his jaw.
THWACK—
With a single strike.
The light went out of the spearman’s eyes.
His consciousness had been severed in an instant.
THUD—
After looking at the spearman who had collapsed to the ground like a paper doll.
Il-hyang opened his mouth while looking at Senior Escort Guard Jo Chang, who had been watching blankly from behind.
“As you can see, he has no particular injuries.”
“S-so it seems.”
Senior Escort Guard Jo Chang swallowed dryly and looked at Il-hyang.
A Bronze Plaque wanderer was treated as a First-Rate Expert in this world.
Then how should one regard the boy who had knocked out such a First-Rate Expert with exactly one blow?
‘He’s even stronger than the rumors say!’
From the Escort Agency’s perspective, this was such good news that their shoulders might start dancing on their own.
It was already a long-distance escort run, and now a skilled expert had joined them.
‘And to think we get to employ an expert above Bronze Plaque level for the price of an Iron Plaque!’
This was a profitable deal in many ways.
He could already clearly picture the faces the higher-ups would make when they were pleased.
Meanwhile.
“I am called Jang Geo-i. I hold a Bronze Plaque.”
“Good to meet you. I am Il-hyang.”
Once Il-hyang showed his skill.
The other wanderers who had been watching quickly stepped forward and introduced themselves.
“Good to meet you. I am Yeong Ho-myeong. Among fellow martial artists of the martial world, I am called Hegemon-Force Saber. I hold a Bronze Plaque.”
“I’m So Il-hyeon. In the martial world, I’m called Drifting Blossom Sword. I’m a Bronze Plaque too. But your skill is quite something. I was rather impressed.”
“The opponent was simply too easy.”
When Il-hyang brushed the dust from his sleeves and responded calmly.
So Il-hyeon, who had a genial impression, widened his eyes and said, “Wow~ That was a pretty cool thing to say just now. Still, Bloodstorm Spear is a fairly well-known expert around these parts.”
“It seems this neighborhood is generous with its praise.”
“Puhahat, you’re a much more amusing fellow than I expected.”
Like that, Il-hyang chatted with the other wanderers, excluding the unconscious Yang Cheon-jo, and established his own position.
Meanwhile.
Yang Cheon-jo, who had briefly fainted, barely regained consciousness.
“Ugh…… What the hell just happened…….”
Il-hyang crouched in front of Yang Cheon-jo, who had just sat up while shaking his head, and met his eyes at the same level.
Then, when Yang Cheon-jo discovered Il-hyang, clear anger rose in his eyes.
“You…… You bastard, you cowardly ambushed me while I had my guard down…….”
“Try calling me Father.”
“……What?”
“You may call me Papa if you want to be affectionate.”
“…….”
Yang Cheon-jo’s eyes shook uneasily like candlelight before the wind.
Only then did the wager they had made before the duel come to mind.
Even so, the word Father simply would not leave his mouth.
‘……Did I really lose to a brat like this?’
His opponent was a brat barely half the size of his own body.
Yang Cheon-jo hurriedly sent looks for help around him.
But they were merely staring at him with grins, as if watching an amusing spectacle.
‘Kgh! I was insane. Why did I say that nonsense…….’
His master had warned him countless times to watch his mouth.
In the end, he had gone and caused trouble like this.
Regardless of whether Yang Cheon-jo regretted his own actions inside.
Il-hyang lightly curled up the corners of his mouth and whispered into his ear.
“Son. From now on, you are Il Cheon-jo.”
“…….”
From Yang Cheon-jo to Il Cheon-jo overnight.
His surname had changed.
“Make sure you remember your changed name. Ah! I always eat breakfast, so don’t forget to prepare it every day. I especially like warm tofu, so bring some.”
“……!”
As Yang Cheon-jo, too shocked to do anything else, only opened and closed his mouth.
The wanderers nearby smirked and laughed.
At that moment, all the preliminary preparations being made by the Escort Agency were finished.
“It seems the preparations have finished just in time. There will be a simple rite and departure ceremony, so warriors, please come with us as well.”
Senior Escort Guard Jo Chang desperately suppressed the laughter that kept leaking out in an unseemly manner and guided the wanderers gathered in the clearing to the training ground of the Jinsung Escort Agency.
While moving to the training ground.
Everyone present there thought the same thing.
Perhaps this escort run would be more entertaining than expected.
Of course, Bloodstorm Spear Yang Cheon-jo’s thoughts were completely different.
Naturally, no one considered his thoughts.
***
Bright Moon Sword Song Gwang-sik.
As the Captain of the Pursuit Squad of the Namgung Clan.
One month ago, he had struggled madly to save his subordinates from an expert of the Mansi Sect.
Song Gwang-sik had covered a two-day distance in barely half a day and joined the experts of a Namgung Clan branch house.
But when he actually arrived at the scene of the incident, he was dumbfounded.
Because there were no corpses of his subordinates.
And the young monster girl of the Mansi Sect had been torn apart and turned into a burnt lump of charcoal.
Without even time to be bewildered, he had followed the marks left on the ground and raced frantically, eventually arriving in Giyang County.
There, he was able to meet Storm Sword Na Han-il, the Vice Captain of the Pursuit Squad.
“What happened? Is your body all right?”
Na Han-il.
He stared quietly at Song Gwang-sik, whose face was full of worry.
The first thing that caught his eye was how Song Gwang-sik’s lips were cracked like a turtle shell.
Next came the disheveled hair and dust-covered clothes.
This noble gentleman, who always fussed about cleanliness and even left his post alone to wash during stakeouts.
Had rushed in looking so battered that Na Han-il felt strangely unsettled for no reason.
So Na Han-il lifted his scar-covered face, stared up at the ceiling, then soon smirked and threw out a joke.
“I suppose I’m not fated to die after all. You really never know what will happen in life. I stayed behind so impressively at the end. But I ended up surviving like this. Whew, I’m so embarrassed I could die right now.”
“Crazy bastard. If you’re alive, that’s enough. What embarrassment?”
Song Gwang-sik sat down heavily beside the bed and massaged his aching arms and legs.
For the past two days.
He had truly run about without even drinking a sip of water.
He had put everything he had into reaching this place.
To what extent? Even though there had been no battle at all, he had suffered slight internal injuries.
“Somehow, the other boys are safe too. Looks like those bastards took very good care of themselves in the middle of all that. I don’t know if it makes sense that they’re perfectly fine when their Vice Captain was dying up front.”
“Our boys have at least one useful thing, and that’s grit. Their hierarchy is a complete mess, though.”
Song Gwang-sik seemed greatly relieved to see Na Han-il rambling on perfectly fine.
Even though his lips split and blood came out, he grinned.
Na Han-il also laughed like a madman and said,“But when I looked earlier, the support troops from the branch house had arrived too. Didn’t we request support for nothing?”
“It’s fine. Those fellows got to take an outing and collect their travel expenses properly. They’ll probably like it instead. Besides, they’re taking care of the aftermath at the scene on their own, so I’m only happy I don’t have to write a report.”
“Our Captain looks like he could collapse at any moment too, so why don’t you go to the room next door, claim a bed, and rest? Maybe this physician’s business isn’t good, because there were plenty of empty beds.”
“Bastard. ‘Our Captain,’ my ass. Weren’t you calling me Brother Gwang-sik before? I thought we were going to become friends. You and I have a ten-year difference in seniority.”
Only then did Na Han-il avoid Song Gwang-sik’s gaze and put on an awkward expression.
“That was a title I used when things were urgent. Right now, nothing is especially urgent, is there? And when things are urgent, isn’t it normal to curse and all that?”
“Phew, since when did our Pursuit Squad’s hierarchy become such a mess? I, you bastard, in the old days, couldn’t even step on the previous Captain of the Pursuit Squad’s shadow.”
When Song Gwang-sik’s mouth seemed about to start telling stories from his prime.
Na Han-il quietly opened his mouth to cut him off.