With his sword drawn, Yeon Ryang gave off an atmosphere completely unlike the one from moments ago.

The playfulness had vanished from his face. He looked every inch the cold, deadly swordsman.

The thick killing intent made the backs of my knees go weak. As I hurriedly shoved a hand into my sleeve, Yeon Ryang said coolly,

“If you’re thinking of using poison inside the inn, I’d advise against it, Young Lady. Come here.”

I swallowed hard and followed after him.

He lightly jumped down from the second floor of the inn, then crooked a finger at me. I vaulted over the railing and landed beside him.

The inn runner, who had been sitting blankly in the empty inn with not a single guest in sight, gave a start and fell backward onto his rear.

“Sorry, friend. We’ll take care of this outside, so don’t worry.”

After apologizing to the inn runner, Yeon Ryang walked toward the entrance.

“Y-yes, yes, sir—!”

Only then did the inn runner start nodding frantically, one hand clamped over his mouth as he hiccuped in terror.

It looked like the sight of Yeon Ryang holding his sword so loosely had frightened him.

“Young Lady. We’re moving away from the inn. See that hill across there?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t lose me. Stay right behind me.”

Yeon Ryang flicked a glance at me, lowered himself, and shot off like an arrow.

I hurried after him.

My joints creaked all over after lying in bed for so long, but there was no time to whine about it.

I gritted my teeth and ran, determined not to lose him.

At the same time, I could feel the wandering martial artists pursuing me closing in.

They did not seem to have the slightest intention of hiding their presence. It felt like they were baring their teeth, openly declaring that they had come to hunt me.

Drawing in a deep breath, I wiped my clammy palms on my black robe.

I had clung to Yeon Ryang on impulse, but I still had no certainty.

Could Yeon Ryang really handle four of them by himself?

If those demon-faced wanderers all rushed him at once, wouldn’t even Yeon Ryang be in danger?

My worry turned out to be pointless.

The moment he landed on the hill, Yeon Ryang casually shifted so that I was hidden behind his back, then lazily twirled his sword and let out a low whistle.

“Well, well. Four of you came trotting along just to catch one Young Lady? Is that because she’s that skilled, or because you’re all worthless trash?”

Yeon Ryang chuckled as if he had just seen something absurd, and one of the wandering martial artists flushed bright red.

“Who the hell are you?!”

“Who am I? The man who’s about to take your heads.”

“You brat, you clearly don’t know who we are. We are the great warriors known throughout this region as the Four Hounds of the Mad Soul. Don’t interfere in our brothers’ business.”

“What? That’s your epithet? Hounds? Even local thugs wouldn’t pick a name that tacky. You came up with that yourselves, didn’t you?”

“You insolent little bastard! I’ll teach you a lesson!”

...Wow.

So this was what real provocation looked like.

I was honestly impressed.

He had made a man practically roll his eyes back and lose his mind with only a few lines. His talent for getting under people’s skin was almost artistic.

One of the wandering martial artists grabbed the back of his companion’s neck to stop him, then glared at me.

“So you picked up company already? Clever little bitch.”

He had an eyepatch over one eye.

It was definitely the man Cane had clawed a few days ago.

I wanted to sneer back at him just as hard, but my body froze like a mouse set down in front of a beast.

It felt as if the terror I had felt when he came toward me was rising all over again in vivid detail.

When my face went pale, Cane, who was perched on my shoulder, yanked at my hair as if telling me to get a grip.

“Ki!”

“Yeah.”

With trembling fingers, I pulled out a Butterfly Dart.

These were the men hunting me. I could not just stand here like an idiot and leave everything to Yeon Ryang.

As the shakiness faded from my eyes and they settled into focus, the eyepatch-wearing wanderer curled one corner of his mouth.

“Resistance is useless, girl. Even if we don’t kill you, someone else will. Do you think no one will come after prey worth a thousand taels of silver?”

At that, Yeon Ryang widened his eyes.

“Well now, Young Lady. Your price is a thousand taels of silver? I didn’t realize you were that expensive.”

The admiration in his voice made me instinctively shrink in on myself.

A cold fear hit me that now that he knew the amount, he might change his mind.

The wandering martial artist seemed to think the same thing, because he made Yeon Ryang an offer.

“I don’t know why you’re helping that girl, but how about handing her over to us? Once we collect the reward, we’ll give you half.”

I bit my lip anxiously and looked at Yeon Ryang.

What if he changed his mind?

Would I be able to run?

Maybe he noticed the panic in my gaze, because he glanced back and lightly wagged his fingers at me as if to say not to worry.

Then he looked back at the wandering martial artists and replied with a snicker.

“It’s a tempting offer, I’ll grant you that. But I’ve already agreed to a fee.”

“...Idiot.”

Clicking his tongue, the wandering martial artist drew his sword.

Only then did I feel a little relief.

At the very least, Yeon Ryang did not seem interested in handing me over to them right now.

What he would do after killing them was another question.

I shifted the Dissolving-Power Poison in my sleeve to where I could reach it more easily.

If Yeon Ryang showed even the slightest suspicious move, I planned to scatter the poison and run.

Unless he had a Myriad-Poison-Immune Body, Dissolving-Power Poison ought to work on him.

Next, I coated my Butterfly Dart with paralysis poison.

If I could slow the wanderers down even a little, it would help.

Yeon Ryang noticed what I was doing and murmured softly,

“I’ll draw their eyes. Just do me a favor and don’t aim for the top of my head, Young Lady. Poison scares me.”

Then he launched himself into the air.

“HYA!”

At the loud shout, all four wandering martial artists rushed at him.

I hurriedly threw my Butterfly Dart too.

The dart sliced through the air in a thin line, then curved, grazing the arm of the eyepatched man and the leg of the one wielding an axe.

“You rat-faced little—!”

Cursing, the ax-man clutched his leg and came thundering straight at me.

He was so fast that I did not even have time to retrieve the dart.

Just as I recoiled and tried to fire a Feather-Needle, the man lifted his axe over his head—

and then collapsed like a scarecrow whose strings had been cut.

Yeon Ryang was standing behind him.

Lightly flicking the blood from his blade, Yeon Ryang winked at me.

“One.”

“Wangpal! You bastard—!”

With a roar, another wandering martial artist rushed him and swung his sword at Yeon Ryang’s back.

I was just about to shout for him to look behind him when, in the blink of an eye, Yeon Ryang moved behind the man and slashed across his waist.

“GAAAH!”

“Two.”

“AAAGH!”

“Three.”

At the sound of Yeon Ryang calmly counting, a strange sense of relief rose inside me.

The wandering martial artists who had toyed with me like a rat trapped in a jar were dropping one by one in a single stroke.

He was much, much stronger than I had imagined.

At last, silence fell over the hill.

Wiping the sweat from my forehead, I looked up— 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

and saw Yeon Ryang holding his sword to the neck of the eyepatched wanderer.

The man was clutching his arm and groaning. It looked like the paralysis poison was starting to spread.

“I thought I was the hunter, but it turns out I was the prey.”

The wanderer gave a bitter smile and laughed at himself.

Yeon Ryang scratched his head.

“Do we really have to see blood here? Brother, how about turning around and calling it quits?”

“My brothers are lying here. Where exactly do you expect me to go back to?”

Coughing, the wanderer spat out a clot of blood and tightened his grip on his sword.

Yeon Ryang nodded as if he understood.

“So that’s a no. Then I’ve got no regrets.”

“Same here.”

The man answered in a ragged voice, glaring at him.

Clicking his tongue, Yeon Ryang said to me,

“Young Lady. Close your eyes.”

His voice was so firm that I closed them without thinking.

A death scream rang out, followed by the sound of something rolling across the ground.

Startled, I tried to open my eyes, but Yeon Ryang was suddenly right in front of me, covering my face with his large palm.

“Don’t look. I’ll clean it up.”

“But—”

“No. It’s no good for a child to see something ugly. Hey, furball. Cover your master’s eyes.”

Cutting me off, Yeon Ryang lifted Cane and pressed him against my face.

Soft fur brushed my eyes, and the world went dark.

Without sight, all my senses seemed to pour into my ears. I heard something being dragged across the dirt.

It sounded like he was clearing away the bodies.

“Cane. Get down for a second.”

“Kiie.”

“It’s fine. Get down. I need to find something.”

I pulled Cane away, searched through my sleeve, and took out a small porcelain bottle.

I had hoped I would not need to use the Hwagol Powder, but if I did, there was no reason to hesitate.

Trying not to think about the blood-soaked ground, I walked over to Yeon Ryang.

“Here.”

“What is it?”

“Hwagol Powder. We can’t leave loose ends. I’ll pour it.”

“...Young Lady. You really are a daughter of the Tang Clan. There’s a ruthless side to you.”

Yeon Ryang looked intrigued.

I answered flatly,

“Not anymore.”

“Haha. Spend three days sleeping outdoors, and you’ll start wanting to go home. Then again, having somewhere to return to is half the charm of running away.”

“I didn’t run away. I was cast out.”

“...Hm?”

“I was expelled. So I’d appreciate it if you stopped talking about my family.”

At my weak reply, Yeon Ryang looked flustered.

“Ah. I see. Sorry, Young Lady. I didn’t know that was your situation.”

Scratching ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) his head, he watched my expression.

I waved a hand to show it was fine and opened the porcelain bottle.

I had no idea how much I needed to pour to melt a corpse.

“How much should I use?”

“No clue. I’ve heard of Hwagol Powder, but this is my first time actually seeing it.”

“This is my first time using it too.”

We exchanged awkward looks and then both stared at the porcelain bottle, which was barely two finger joints tall.

“Let’s just try it.”

“Let’s.”

I carefully tilted the bottle, and little clumps of Hwagol Powder pattered down onto the corpse.

The instant the black liquid touched the blood, the body gave off a burst of white smoke and melted away in the blink of an eye.

There was a reason Tang Juhee had packed this for me.

I was still marveling at the effect of the lethal poison as we continued cleaning up when I ran into a problem.

“Young Lady. This one didn’t melt all the way.”

We were short on powder.

“I think I used too much at the start. What do we do? Burn him?”

“No. We bury him. Burning would be more noticeable. It would take too much firewood too, and the smoke would be enormous.”

Shaking his head, Yeon Ryang started jabbing the ground with his scabbard as though searching for a patch of softer earth.

In no time at all, he dug a pit about chest-deep, dragged over the half-melted corpse, and threw it in.

It was not a pleasant sight, and my brow furrowed on its own, but I did not want to look away.

I forced my eyes wide open and watched the final state of the wandering martial artist.

“Unexpected, Young Lady. I thought you wouldn’t be able to look at something like this.”

“I thought so too.”

But I had to carve it into my eyes.

What the martial world was really like.

What the grudges and debts of the martial world really were.

Because if I failed to understand that, then the one being thrown into a pit half-melted would not be him.

It would be me.

Perhaps Yeon Ryang understood how I felt, because he said nothing more.

He only quietly covered the pit and cleaned up the ground.