Book 13: Chapter 13: Presence

The Lord of the Elders' Hall's office.

"…"

In the ears of the Lord of the Elders' Hall, who sat silently lost in thought, the sound of knocking on the door was heard.

"Come in."

The one who revealed himself was one of the elders who followed him.

"…The Deputy Lord is in the Eldest Young Master's procession."

"…"

The Lord of the Elders' Hall let out a short groan.

'Did it turn out that way in the end?'

The day he had a private meeting with the Deputy Lord for the last time came to his mind.

"You just made an enemy of that crazy old monster!"

The voice of the Lord of the Elders' Hall himself, who had shouted in anger.

"And that, too, by holding hands with the Eldest Young Master, whom he hates the most!"

After the Inner Courtyard's 'book fee incident.'

The Deputy Lord had made the Chief Manager of the Inner Courtyard, to the Eldest Young Master.

Pay a massive amount of punitive damages.

"…Now I, too, have too many precious things I am carrying."

As a result, it was the Deputy Lord who had turned the world's Chief Manager of the Inner Courtyard into an enemy.

'…And afterward. The Eldest Young Master won the power struggle with the Second Young Master.'

Therefore, the Deputy Lord would have had no choice.

Since the only one who was scoring consecutive victories against the Chief Manager of the Inner Courtyard, who had displayed overwhelming political power until now.

Was the Eldest Young Master Yeon So-hyeon.

'It must have been a choice for survival.'

The Lord of the Elders' Hall.

Recalling the conversation he had secretly shared with the Eldest Young Master not long ago.

Fell into deep contemplation.

"…"

* * *

At that time, in front of the front gate of the Elders' Hall.

"…Before you care for the face of the Elders' Hall like that, how about caring for your own face which will be ruined in the future?"

The sharp, blade-like words of the heavyweight elder.

The Eldest Young Master Yeon So-hyeon merely smiled, baring his teeth.

He did not particularly respond to those words himself.

If it were in the past, maybe.

But now, Yeon So-hyeon no longer needed to represent and defend himself alone.

"For someone who cares so much about face, you kept the Eldest Young Master of the Main Family standing blankly at the entrance when he visited our Elders' Hall?"

The elders on the Eldest Young Master's side, who had stood like a curtain behind him before anyone knew it, threw in their words one by one.

"Tsk, tsk. I am ashamed as a fellow elder."

"In front of this large crowd, far from widely publicizing the etiquette of our Elders' Hall to all directions, you are only bringing disgrace."

"If any saw this, they would think it is a Luoyang marketplace, not the Elders' Hall of the great Luoyang Sword Family."

Having caught a flaw, the words of the elders on the Eldest Young Master's side poured down mercilessly.

"Ahem…"

Although the heavyweight elder's face immediately distorted inwardly, just like their words.

Like it or not, they could not keep the Eldest Young Master standing in the scorching sun.

"…Are they arguing from the start?"

"Surely, the Elders' Hall isn't trying to block the Eldest Young Master from even entering?"

"If so, wouldn't it be something for the world to laugh at?"

It was because murmurs were already beginning among the crowd watching from a distance.

The eyes of the heavyweight elder narrowing as he glanced at them.

'Is the crowd on the Eldest Young Master's side?'

Even a ruined thing has value.

Even only with the murmurs of the crowd whose content could not be heard clearly and actions that were not verified properly.

The heavyweight elder gripped the atmosphere.

'Tsk, tsk. When it was they who used to slander the Eldest Young Master the most and curse him behind his back…!'

Looking back, just like his words.

The Eldest Young Master was the easiest target for slandering by the subordinates in the Luoyang Sword Family, and.

Wherever they gathered, curses against the Eldest Young Master could easily be heard.

How bad could it be that there was even the 'book fee incident.'

Where the Inner Courtyard refused to pay for the Eldest Young Master's book fees.

"It seems the elders of the Elders' Hall are thoroughly scared of the Eldest Young Master."

"When they are together in one place, they inevitably compare long and short, so they must be acting narrow-mindedly."

However, that atmosphere had been changing from a certain point, and.

With the battle in the Valley of Sin as the turning point, public opinion had completely reversed.

'For now, there is nothing I can do.'

The heavyweight elder quickly decided on his thoughts and attitude.

"When did I ever say I would not welcome the Eldest Young Master?"

He glossed over it like that and stretched out his hand toward the Eldest Young Master.

"Now, Eldest Young Master. First, inside—" but at that moment.

There was someone who subtly blocked his front and clasped his hands toward the Eldest Young Master.

"Haha. As the Deputy Lord of the Elders' Hall, I cannot tolerate the saying that the hospitality of the Elders' Hall is stingy."

Sure enough.

The one who shrewdly intervened was the Deputy Lord, who had grown old in the political arena of the Luoyang Sword Family.

"Deputy Lord…!"

The heavyweight elder, who was slightly pushed by the Deputy Lord, blushed, but the Deputy Lord did not even care.

"Now, now, Eldest Young Master. The sun is hot. Please come inside quickly."

He ignored the heavyweight elder and gestured to Yeon So-hyeon, as if he had laid several layers of iron plate on his face.

"Deputy Lord. I received your welcome well."

Yeon So-hyeon responded slyly to that tune and moved his steps inside, and.

"For the Deputy Lord himself to come forward to welcome this Eldest Young Master. I express my gratitude to the protocol of the Elders' Hall."

"No, not at all. It is only an honor that the Eldest Young Master has visited our Elders' Hall."

The Deputy Lord, who had come along with Yeon So-hyeon before anyone realized.

Was a scene of him becoming the person in charge of the Elders' Hall's official protocol to welcome the Eldest Young Master.

"Now that I think of it, Eldest Young Master. Have you heard about our Elders' Hall's tea?"

"I have heard that there are tea leaves that can only be drunk in the Elders' Hall."

"Haha. As expected of the Eldest Young Master! While you wait, I will present that tea to you myself."

"Haha, thank you."

The Deputy Lord stuck close to his side, as if to show off to those who had originally come out of the Elders' Hall to welcome the Eldest Young Master.

Clinging to the Eldest Young Master and even rubbing his palms.

'What a damn old man…!'

Blood vessels stood out on the heavyweight elder's wrinkled forehead.

'Stealing my role on the sly…?!'

The role of welcoming the Eldest Young Master was subtly contested with fierce competition even within the Elders' Hall.

Because it was a good opportunity to highlight one's presence among those many elders.

"This way, Eldest Young Master."

But it was already too late.

One could not get angry over the Deputy Lord of the Elders' Hall guiding the visiting Eldest Young Master, could they?

On top of that, there was an even bigger problem for him.

"…"

"…"

As the heavyweight elder they followed lost his energy from the start.

Because the eyes of the junior elders looking at him began to stiffen little by little.

'Those bastards' gazes…'

The heavyweight elder knew that gaze well.

It was not the look of following the leader of the pack.

But the look that came out licking their lips when the leader of the pack grew weak.

'Dammit.'

He had to show a move to turn this situation around somehow.

"El-Eldest Young—" the heavyweight elder tried to call the Eldest Young Master, but the one who turned around and opened his mouth first.

Was that Eldest Young Master.

"Elder Yeom."

"Yes, Eldest Young Master."

As Elder Yeom stepped forward, showing off his huge size and intimidating presence.

"W-wait. This person…"

The heavyweight elder had no choice but to step back once again.

"Please give your order."

When the word 'order' came out of the mouth of Elder Yeom, who clasped his hands in an incomparably polite attitude.

"…!"

"…!"

Instantly, the complexions of the elders of the Elders' Hall stiffened, and their eyeballs bulged out as if they would pop out.

'…For that Elder Yeom to ask for an order.'

'What on earth happened between the two of them?'

The sight looked not like a relationship between a young master, who was one of the heirs, and an elder, but like a relationship of command and obedience that could only be seen in the military.

"Those people have been looking down on me from a while ago."

When Yeon So-hyeon's hand rose, the elders of the Elders' Hall reflexively avoided the direction of that hand.

Originally, the Eldest Young Master did not intend to point at them, so he did not even care, but.

"…"

"…"

The elders, who ended up looking as if they had avoided the Eldest Young Master's hand out of groundless fear, could not help but turn red.

"Uh, ahem."

Yet, there was no gap for them to open their mouths along with coughing and justify their own behavior.

"How dare they look down on the Eldest Young Master…!"

Discovering the Yeon clan blood relatives looking down at Yeon So-hyeon by sticking to the window of the teahouse, Elder Yeom's thick eyebrows twitched.

"Insolent!"

Rumble.

Elder Yeom's momentum to collapse mountains rang in all directions.

* * *

The teahouse in front of the Elders' Hall.

"Insolent!"

Would the sound of thunder falling to the earth in the form of lightning be like this?

At the shout of Sword Mountain Mountain Splitter, which tore eardrums and made legs tremble.

"Oops."

"Ahem…!"

The Yeon clan blood relatives who had been huddled together looking outside fell back from the window, scattering like cockroaches.

"My knees are throbbing after standing for so long."

"My throat is dry after conversing continuously…"

A few of them picked up any random words to excuse their unsightly state, but.

"…"

In the end, they too, like the others.

Realized that whatever they said in this situation would be miserable, and blushed with shame.

"Geez. Hasn't the tea gone cold?"

"Tsk, tsk. What a mess of managing the teahouse."

They just returned to their seats.

And repeatedly gulped down the cold tea while cursing the innocent teahouse.

[…Indeed, they called him the Sword Mountain Mountain Splitter. It was not a bit of empty fame at all.] the middle-aged man was also not lacking in skill, but.

He could not help but feel small in front of the Sword Mountain Mountain Splitter.

[Indeed.] looking at the middle-aged man who hid his body against the wall by the window, the young man with a short beard did not laugh at him.

Because he himself had already buried his body deep in the chair to avoid the boiling lava-like gaze of the Sword Mountain Mountain Splitter.

[They said the Elders' Hall of the Luoyang Main Family had been seized by politicians since long ago, so the warriors lost their place to stand.] that the pure warriors, who showed dazzling performances in the past, had already been pushed to the War Department.

Was not particularly a secret either.

[Yet, still.] feeling a stinging pain from inside his ears, the young man with a short beard shook his head.

[The lofty Sword Peak is firmly holding its ground…!] after marveling like that.

He slightly raised his head and peeked outside a bit.

"…"

As if he liked the sight of the Yeon clan blood relatives running away in fear.

"Hahaha!"

The Eldest Young Master let out a hearty laugh once.

"What a fine sight!"

Draped in his black coat, he spun around, clasped his hands behind his back, and strolled right inside the Elders' Hall.

"—!"

"—!"

Although the elders of the Elders' Hall belatedly followed the Eldest Young Master while chattering about something behind him.

The appearance was like a master entering his own house, so it was incomparably relaxed.

Who would dare look at that and think he was entering the enemy camp?

'A crane among chickens.'

It was not that they had conversed.

Nor was it that he had seen his face before.

Even though it was merely looking from a distant place.

The young man with a short beard could assert.

'The Eldest Young Master of the Luoyang Main Family is a figure beyond the rumors.'

When Elder Yeom, who followed behind the Eldest Young Master, looked over here one last time.

"…!"

Startled, he quickly bowed his head, wiped his cold sweat, and thought.

'Ah, I want to go into that Elders' Hall too and see how things turn out…!'

In this moment, that point was the most regrettable.