Chapter 204: Arrival (2)

Her granddaughter had died.

That had always weighed heavily on the elderly innkeeper’s heart.

It was why, upon seeing Soyak, she had given her a room far beyond what she had paid for.

“...Ma’am, I didn’t give you nearly enough silver for something like this.”

“It was sitting empty anyway. Don’t worry about it.”

Faced with the old woman’s firm tone, Soyak hesitated for a moment.

Then she bowed her head in gratitude.

“Thank you.”

“...All right. What will you do for dinner?”

“I think I’ll eat outside. I’ve never tried the food around here.”

The old woman nodded quietly.

“Then rest well.”

She slid the door shut and crossed back through the garden.

Soyak slowly looked around the place where she would be staying.

It was not particularly large.

For a detached cottage, at least.

But detached lodgings were generally built with two or three guests—or more—in mind.

The place was essentially a small villa.

For Soyak alone, it was almost absurdly spacious.

“...What am I supposed to do with all this?”

She would be staying for fifteen days, so the more comfortable the lodging, the better.

She had intended to find somewhere reasonably pleasant anyway, but...

she had nowhere near enough money for a detached cottage.

Even if Soyak emptied every silver piece she currently possessed, it would still fall far short of paying for a month in a place like this.

She let out a long sigh and looked up at the cottage’s high ceiling.

Then she slowly examined the interior.

The furniture itself was not all that different from what she had used at Flower-Haze Hall.

But...

the bed was on another level entirely.

“It’s so... soft.”

Every bed she had slept in throughout her life suddenly felt as though it had never deserved to be called a bed at all.

Deciding she might as well recover from the journey, Soyak set her belongings beneath the bed, slowly lay down, and pulled the blanket over herself.

And then...

before she knew it, she had fallen asleep.

******

By the time she woke again, the sun had already begun to set.

A crimson sunset burned beyond the distant ridge.

Soyak fastened her sword at her waist and stepped out of the cottage.

Several guests were coming and going through the inn.

A rich, savory aroma drifted from the main building.

Apparently, dinner was being prepared for the guests who had chosen to eat at the inn.

Soyak had not requested dinner.

There should not have been a meal prepared for her.

And yet the elderly innkeeper had made one extra serving.

...It might not suit her tastes.

Food served at inns generally had little regional character.

Their business did not depend on locals.

That was especially true in major commercial districts surrounding great martial factions.

Travelers coming and going were their real customers.

That was why the old woman prepared dishes that someone from virtually anywhere in the Central Plains could eat without objection.

And when cooking for twenty or thirty people, making one extra serving hardly made a difference.

Who would even notice if the portions came out short by one-thirtieth?

Even a martial artist would hardly get angry over an error that small.

But all her concern proved unnecessary.

Soyak had already left the inn.

And gone out to enjoy the city.

******

“...Shaanxi was certainly lively too, but...”

Soyak looked around.

Even at night, the flow of people and goods showed no sign of stopping.

Mount Hua was a Daoist sect.

Perhaps because of that, few businesses around Mount Hua stayed open late into the night.

It helped keep the area quiet.

The Namgung Household, however, was a family rooted in the secular world.

Perhaps that was why this place only grew livelier after dark.

Soyak frowned faintly.

This crowded, bustling atmosphere...

did not sit particularly well with someone accustomed to the quiet, unhurried life of Mount Hua.

After wandering the streets for a while, Soyak sat down at a modest tavern.

The waiter’s eyes widened when he saw a girl around his own age, but he quickly shut his mouth.

His gaze had landed on her pure-white martial uniform and the Mount Hua plum blossom embroidered over the left side of her chest.

“One bowl of plain noodles.”

“Yes!”

The order was simple, so the food came quickly.

Soyak had not come all the way to Mount Tianzhu with any intention of indulging in fine dining.

She simply wanted the easiest thing available to fill her stomach. ℯⅇ𝙡.

It was not as though her travel funds were overflowing to begin with.

“Here... your noodles!”

The waiter placed the bowl on Soyak’s table, then hurried back toward the kitchen as though fleeing.

He immediately began whispering about something with a man standing near the kitchen entrance.

There was no reason to pay it any attention.

Seeing a Mount Hua martial artist here was probably unusual.

There would not be many Mount Hua disciples entering this Dragon-Phoenix Gathering in the first place.

Some might be able to come while on their Roaming Pillar Journey, but...

if they had headed the wrong way and ended up on the opposite side of the Central Plains, making it here in time would be difficult.

...Brother Cheongak does seem like the type who’d just run all the way here, though.

A martial artist with complete command over their internal energy could easily cross the Central Plains on foot within a month.

Lightness Arts allowed a person to run faster than a horse.

Of course, how long one could sustain them depended on how much internal energy one possessed, but...

they were still overwhelmingly faster than ordinary running.

And Cheongak was obsessed with fighting.

Had he not constantly tried to spar with Seongeung at Shaolin whenever he got the chance?

At least until Monk Gong-eop stepped in to stop them.

Cheongak would surely know Soyak was participating in this Dragon-Phoenix Gathering.

And the Cheongak she knew was not the sort of man who would turn down a fight merely because he expected to lose.

If anything, he preferred getting thoroughly beaten and learning something from it.

“...Could he really be coming?”

Soyak tilted her head, picked up her chopsticks, and began emptying the bowl.

Soft noodles in warm broth were always a pleasant combination.

A few pieces of the pickled vegetables served alongside them made it even better.

By the time Soyak finished her simple dinner and rose from her seat—

the tavern had suddenly fallen silent.

Soyak blinked and looked at the people sitting around her.

More precisely...

they were looking behind her.

Someone was clearly standing there.

Someone famous enough to silence the entire tavern merely by appearing.

Soyak slowly turned around.

He had grown considerably taller.

His physique had filled out so much that she might almost have failed to recognize him.

Yet there was still a trace of mischief in the eyes looking down at her.

And that familiar arrogance still sat proudly upon his sharply raised nose.

“...It’s been a while, Heir Namgung.”

“That prickly way you talk hasn’t changed.”

The heir of the Namgung Household.

A martial artist at the very end of Transcendent Apex, otherwise known as the Heavenly Sword...

and the eldest grandson of Namgung Ak, the Sword Sovereign and number one martial artist under heaven.

Namgung Seon.

“Shall we go somewhere else?”

“You could simply sit down.”

“So you want to have this conversation here?”

His voice had grown somewhat deeper.

But the way he spoke was exactly the same as before.

Soyak looked around, then sighed.

If she actually made Namgung Seon sit down here, everyone in the tavern would probably choke on whatever they were eating.

“...I’ll come with you. Lead the way.”

“Good choice.”

Namgung Seon smirked and waved to the tavern owner.

The man flinched, then bowed so deeply that his forehead nearly touched his knees.

Soyak glanced at him.

Then she looked at Namgung Seon’s back as he walked out ahead of her.

******

Namgung Seon led her to an extremely expensive-looking restaurant.

One glance at the prices on the menu was enough to drain the color from Soyak’s face.

Of course, the atmosphere here was no different.

“...Hup.”

The restaurant owner froze the instant he saw Namgung Seon.

Then he rushed over and immediately began guiding them deeper inside without waiting for so much as an order or request.

Not a single person in the restaurant dared make a sound until Namgung Seon had disappeared from sight.

“...Impressive. Truly.”

“Are you mocking me? Because none of this is my fault.”

Soyak threw out one remark and got two back.

Namgung Seon sounded genuinely aggrieved.

Which was fair enough.

He truly had done nothing.

He had not even frequented this restaurant.

For the past three years, Namgung Seon had shut himself inside a cave and devoted himself entirely to closed-door training.

When would he have had time to come here?

“I’ll take your word for it.”

“You don’t believe me at all. I spent three years in closed-door training too, remember?”

“Then why are they acting like that? At the tavern and here.”

“...Because of my grandfather.”