That's Not How You Use Martial Arts

Chapter 26
Seol-yak-bing (3)

『 Translator – Divinity 』

‘What should I do about this?’

The Wanderer’s League had never failed a single request they had taken on.

And now they had failed a simple escort mission?

It was only a matter of time before the news spread throughout their relatively small world.

Soon, those who looked down on the Wanderer’s League would start causing trouble.

‘No, that’s not the issue.’

It wasn’t about things becoming troublesome in the future.

This was a matter of pride.

As the largest and most renowned wanderer organization in the murim, they couldn’t fail a request once they accepted it.

Especially not because of some unknown young master!

“He joined the escort?”

“Huh?”

“I’m asking, did that young master join the escort!?”

“Y-yes, sir! A few members of the third division are following them. It seems they’ve decided to head to Hefei together.”

“…Tsk.”

Of all things, to join the escort.

It meant that a rematch with that young master was inevitable.

‘How should I handle a guy who defeated the entire third division of the Wanderer’s League without a scratch?’

Cheon-gyeong pondered for a moment, then stopped.

Actually, there was no need to think about it.

If thirty men weren’t enough, then fifty, and if fifty weren’t enough, then a hundred.

“Mobilize the entire Wanderer’s League.”

“…The entire Wanderer’s League, sir?”

Chun-i, who had been silent, asked in surprise.

Cheon-gyeong nodded irritably.

“We only have one shot left. They’ll enter Hefei tomorrow. Hefei is Paecheon Fortress’s territory; we won’t be able to do anything after that.”

At his words, both Chun-i and the members of the third division couldn’t help but nod.

Naturally, their hearts grew heavy.

Because of their failure, the Wanderer’s League had to mobilize its entire force against a mere escort mission.

Even if they avoided the disgrace of failing the request, they wouldn’t be able to escape the ridicule of their peers.

They couldn’t help but feel guilty.

“What are you guys doing?”

“Huh?”

Cheon-gyeong looked down at them with a disapproving gaze.

Seeing them frozen and unable to answer his question, Cheon-gyeong roared,

“I said the entire Wanderer’s League is mobilizing! Of course, you guys have to move too!”

“Yes, sir!”

At his thunderous shout that echoed through the room, Chun-i and the third division members jumped to their feet.

“I hope there isn’t anyone so weak that they can’t follow because their wounds hurt too much.”

“There isn’t, sir!”

“Good. Move!”

At his firm command, the third division members rushed out of the room.

Cheon-gyeong clicked his tongue as he watched them leave.

He was about to prepare to leave as well when he recalled what the third division had said about the young master.

“He defeated the third division alone…”

‘Could I do that?’

The answer came immediately. Impossible.

If it were just the ordinary members, well, he could probably manage somehow.

But with Chun-i involved, it was a different story.

To defeat Chun-i without killing him after taking down thirty wanderers…?

He couldn’t even imagine how much internal energy one would need to be capable of that.

“Did we get caught up in some noble young master’s hero game?”

Did those guys who were being suppressed by Paecheon Fortress even have the resources for something like this?

‘Surely it wasn’t someone from Paecheon Fortress?’

That thought briefly crossed his mind, but he immediately shook his head.

There was no way those bastards would be playing hero.

“And they’re busy trying to crush the Namgung family, too.”

Come to think of it, wasn’t Hefei where the target of their request was headed?

Cheon-gyeong clicked his tongue, thinking about the current situation of the Namgung family.

“As they say, no flower blooms for ten days. Who would have thought that the Namgung family would fall like this?”

***

“To think that you, who was so small and cute, would grow up to be this beautiful. The passage of time is truly amazing.”

“I’m the one who’s surprised. The last I heard, you had gone missing ten years ago. I’m so glad you’re alive and well.”

Inside our carriage, which had joined the Peaceguard Escort Agency’s procession.

In addition to Master and Seol-i, who were already there, Miss Seol was also on board.

—How about we disguise ourselves to prepare for their attack? We’ll have Miss Seol ride in our carriage, and the escorts will continue to guard the empty carriage.

Leader Mak had readily accepted my suggestion.

Thanks to that, I was able to hear in detail about the connection between Miss Seol and Master from outside the carriage.

Surprisingly, Miss Seol was the fiancée of Master’s sworn brother’s son, which made her like a niece to Master.

Moreover, the destination of this escort mission was also Hefei, specifically the Namgung family.

And that wasn’t all.

“What? You’re saying that Seon-u became the head of the Namgung family?”

“Yes, the previous head of the family recently passed away without an heir, so his younger brother, Master Namgung Seon-u, succeeded him.”

According to the story, Master’s sworn brother, Namgung Seon-u, had recently become the head of the Namgung family.

In other words, Miss Seol was the wife of the young master of the Namgung family, the future mistress of the household.

Wow, how could things fall into place like this?

I wasn’t the type to believe in superstitions, but I couldn’t help but feel happy with how smoothly things were going.

I glanced at Hwa-ryeon sitting next to me and said,

“That’s great. It’ll be easier to ask for a favor when we get there, since we can score some points beforehand.”

“…Indeed.”

But Hwa-ryeon didn’t seem too happy.

To be precise, she looked like something was bothering her.

I had a rough idea of what she was thinking, so I asked quietly in a low voice,

“It’s strange, isn’t it? That the fiancée of the young master of the Namgung family would be threatened with kidnapping during an escort mission.”

“…Yes. And it’s also strange why the esteemed daughter of the Seol family would request an escort to Hefei like this. Normally, she would travel with warriors from her family.”

From what I had heard, the Seol family was a renowned and powerful martial arts family near Mount Cheonju.

For the daughter of such a family to be traveling to Hefei with such a modest escort…

It was a very suspicious situation.

“But why are you going to Hefei? Surely you’re not going to have your wedding with such a small escort.”

As if reading my mind, Master asked the question I was curious about.

And Miss Seol, who had been chatting happily with Master, fell silent with a slightly stiff expression.

Seeing Miss Seol suddenly clam up, even forgetting her joy at reuniting with Master, we exchanged glances.

It seemed like there was definitely something going on.

“Dear, what’s…”

“Stop!”

Just as Master was about to ask about the details, the procession stopped.

Looking up, I saw that the setting sun had already dyed the sky red.

As soon as the procession stopped, Leader Mak approached us from the front.

“We plan to camp here for the night. Is that alright with you?”

“…Yes, that’s fine.”

It seemed like hearing about Miss Seol’s circumstances would have to wait.

Following the procession, we settled in a fairly spacious clearing by the side of the road and started preparing for the night.

Rustle

While we were preparing to build a fire, something caught my attention.

I looked up and focused my vision, and I saw a figure hiding in the distance, watching us.

He had taken off the uncomfortable leather clothes, but I could still recognize him at a glance.

After all, I had seen his face earlier today.

“We have a tail.”

“Huh?”

“What do you mean?”

The others, who had been helping with the campsite preparations, turned their heads at my words.

“One of those guys who were pretending to be bandits earlier is watching us.”

“Wh-where?”

“Over there. About a hundred paces away in the forest.”

The others looked at me with disbelief.

“Don’t be ridiculous. You can see someone a hundred paces away in the middle of the night?”

“Yeah, you can do it too once you learn how to use your internal energy properly.”

I boasted, teasing Seol-i, who was scolding me, and she turned her head away with a grumpy expression.

Oh my, she’s sulking.

As I chuckled, Hwa-ryeon spoke in a serious tone.

“If they really put a tail on us…”

“It means they haven’t given up on Miss Seol yet, right? If they have any sense, they’ll bring more people next time.”

Seeing me speak leisurely, Hwa-ryeon looked frustrated.

“Then we shouldn’t be just sitting here. We should catch that tail or something…”

“It’s useless. Even if we do something about that tail, they’ll know we’re going to Hefei. If all else fails, they’ll just wait for us on the road to Hefei.”

The road we were traveling on with the escort agency led straight to Hefei.

Taking this road meant going to Hefei.

Hwa-ryeon fell silent for a moment at my words, then suggested a new alternative.

“If we start moving again now and travel quickly…”

“Then they’ll move faster. If we’re unlucky, we might end up in a fight in the middle of the night. Even I want to avoid that.”

“…Then what are you going to do?”

Finally giving up, Hwa-ryeon asked about my plan.

But there wasn’t much to tell.

“It’s nothing special. We’ll continue to have Miss Seol ride in our carriage to deceive them, and I’ll deal with them.”

“…Are you sure? You just said they would bring more people.”

At Hwa-ryeon’s worried expression, I shrugged and answered,

“Don’t worry. Even if a hundred of those guys come, they won’t be able to touch me.”