Book 13: Chapter 3: Sacred Valley

“S-Stop…!”

Although Yeon Bi gasped and wheezed as he tried to put up a weak resistance, the Second Young Lady, Yeon Seo-rin, had no intention of stopping, and once again piled a spoonful high with meat and fed it to Yeon Bi.

“No, to think you are full after eating only this much…!”

“You punk. It is because you eat like a bird that you do not grow tall…!”

Perhaps because of Yeon So-hyeon her tension had eased significantly.

Although she had only had a few drinks with her meal, Yeon Seo-rin's face was flushed red with intoxication.

Exhaling breath that smelled heavily of alcohol, she trembled.

“Your mother earnestly requested me to look after you, and at this rate, I will have no face to meet her in the afterlife…!”

It was a resolute tone, as if upholding a last will.

“No, Sister…!”

With his mouth stuffed full of food, Yeon Bi cried out in an aggrieved voice.

“My mother is alive, you know?! She just cannot come outside…! So please do not speak as if she passed away!”

“Uh-huh!”

When Yeon Seo-rin frowned deeply, her already strong impression exuded an even more intimidating atmosphere.

“Eek…!”

As Yeon Bi flinched and cowered, Yeon Seo-rin called out to him with a quite serious face.

“So-hyeon.”

“……?”

So-hyeon?

“Si-Sister? I am not Big Brother, but Yeon Bi—” his words could not be finished.

“So-hyeon. No matter how high and strong your martial arts are, you cannot bring out all its power with that height and build.”

Apparently, completely drunk as she was, she was confusing Yeon So-hyeon and Yeon Bi.

“The foundation of martial arts is the harmony of mind, Qi, and body! The growth of the physical body lies in meals!”

“I-I am a poison human in the first place, so I cannot grow any further—” as Yeon Bi shouted and opened his mouth, another handful of meat entered it.

“Mmph, mmph…!”

And seeing that sight, the Third Young Lady Yeon Da-eun and the Fourth Young Lady Yeon Da-hye were bursting with laughter, their faces flushed red, even stamping their feet.

Yeon Seo-rin's intention that they should learn drinking from an elder had long since vanished.

They were already dead drunk.

“Always avoiding these sisters. Serves you right, Yeon Bi!”

“Second Sister! For balance, eating vegetables is also important!”

…It was a passage that explained why Yeon Bi, who feared nothing in the world, avoided his sisters.

“Gack—!”

The family gathering, which had started as a lunch for the dignified siblings of the Yeon clan, had long since turned into a chaotic mess.

“Heh-heh.”

Sitting alone at a distance, Yeon So-hyeon enjoyed the scent of the liquor and laughed softly.

Though some might point fingers, saying that the children of a prestigious family were making a scene to Yeon So-hyeon watching that sight, the chaos was simply welcome.

And even he felt somewhat nostalgic.

'…How long has it been since I saw such a sight.'

Excluding his eldest sister, who had married into the Hwangbo Clan and the second and third brothers, who could not sit with them right now, how long it had been since the family gathered and shared such a family-like atmosphere.

It was.

For Yeon So-hyeon, who had previously lived a lifetime filled with pain and regret, it was an even more earnest and even sorrowful sight.

Clatter!

The sound of a chair being pushed over broke Yeon So-hyeon's thoughts.

“I hate you, Sisters! I hate you!”

While Yeon So-hyeon was lost in sentiment like that, Yeon Bi, who had been fighting a lonely battle without any reinforcements, fled with tears welling in his eyes.

“Wah—!”

“Catch him!”

“Catch him and make him plump!”

Laughing, “He-he,” Yeon Da-eun and Yeon Da-hye sprang up and ran out, chasing after Yeon Bi.

It was an extra detail that Yeon Da-eun tripped due to her drunkenness, grabbing Yeon Da-hye and falling down, but even while bickering, the two quickly stood up again and chased after Yeon Bi.

“No, Sister?! Why are you grabbing me and falling down there?!”

“And you, can you not even withstand that much?!

“Ah?! He is getting away!”

“Halt right there!”

Since they were children who had lived their entire lives as ladies of the family he had worried they might suffer deep emotional wounds from the recent incident where many people died and were injured, but it seemed Yeon So-hyeon's worry was merely groundless.

“Do you not resent this brother of yours?”

“We do not hold any resentment.”

In the past as he had felt when they tightly held the hand of Yeon So-hyeon, who was anxious at the blood-soaked Sword Family Bank, the image of their mother, Grand Madame Ha, came to mind.

'They are strong children.'

“Mmm-ph…”

Thud.

The dead drunk Yeon Seo-rin finally buried her head on the table and fell asleep.

“……”

Yeon So-hyeon slowly and quietly stood up from his seat, and covered the fast-asleep Yeon Seo-rin with his black silk coat.

Then, he brushed up and tidied her messy, cascading hair.

The touch was excessively delicate, meticulous and even thoughtful.

'Welcome back, Sister.'

He slowly raised his gaze and looked around the space.

It was the moment the siblings' meal came to an end.

Although it was a moment as brief as an instant the memory of this moment having closed his eyes for a moment as if savoring the present moment, Yeon So-hyeon slipped out of the room with quiet steps.

“……”

Would become his precious treasure that could not be exchanged for anything.

“Mumble, mumble…” although it was a space where Yeon Seo-rin fell asleep, Yeon Bi fled, the twins chased him, and Yeon So-hyeon exited only warmth was left behind in that space, completely filling it.

* * *

Entrusting Yeon Seo-rin to the Head Maid, Jeong-ah, Yeon So-hyeon put on the cotton clothes he had not taken out for a long time.

White cotton clothes that only poor scholars would wear.

Back when 'swordless' was a derogatory term it was the very clothing he used to wear to secretly view the marketplace.

“Cheap, cheap!”

“Hey, give me two skewers there!”

Even though the sun was setting the former Valley of Sin, now the Sacred Valley, was far more lively than during the reverent daytime.

Red oil lamps hanging and lighting up along the alleys created a festive atmosphere and wandering musicians playing instruments merrily for a penny or two heightened the mood even further.

“Oh, what a pretty ornament…!”

“It suits you well, young lady.”

The buildings along the alleys that had finished converting into shops were enjoying a boom with excited pilgrims, and even on the sites destroyed by the bombardment of the pirate mercenary fleet, street stalls had temporarily set up, completely filling the steep alleys of the valley.

“It is a Buddhist statue filled with the benevolence of the Medicine Fairy! The ones sold elsewhere are all fake!”

By now it was the night market of the Sacred Valley, which had established itself as a new specialty of Luoyang.

“……”

Like that, Yeon So-hyeon, with peaceful eyes, simply watched the crowds.

Putting aside his worries for a moment forgetting the hardships of life for a while, the sight of people enjoying their merry time was fully reflected in his black eyes.

This moment felt as if he was not the Eldest Young Master but had returned to the past when he wanted to remain a swordless, mere scholar.

“Are you on an inspection tour in disguise?”

However, unlike back then now no matter how shabby his clothes were, there was someone who recognized him.

Not as the Eldest Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Family but there was someone who recognized Yeon So-hyeon.

“My, a noble personage has made an appearance.”

Laughing, “Haha,” the one who sat down beside Yeon So-hyeon was the old strategist of the War Advisory Council.

Perhaps he had fallen into a wine vat for the old man's wrinkled face was flushed as red as a deep jujube.

“Have you been drinking since broad daylight again?”

“Of course.”

Although Yeon So-hyeon's tone might sound like a scolding, the old strategist merely laughed happily.

“An old man who has lived his entire life on the battlefield and knows nothing but war having nothing to do—how could that not be a good thing?”

Truly, fitting for the old strategist they were pointed words.

“…Indeed.”

Agreeing with a calm nod, Yeon So-hyeon turned his gaze to watch the scenery of the night market.

“The mountain breeze is nice.”

The old strategist leisurely pulled out a small bottle from his bosom and gulped it down.

The sharp scent of alcohol felt even from here suggested it was no ordinary strong liquor.

“Who on earth would have thought that a hellhole, which was like a ruin and filled with poor peasants devouring human flesh, could transform like this?”

In tune with the faintly drifting sound of singing and instruments, the old strategist spoke as if humming a song.

“My Lord, you have accomplished a great thing.”

My Lord.

Instead of the Eldest Young Master, the old man called Yeon So-hyeon his Lord.

That was his own expression of trust.

“But it is still not enough.”

Yeon So-hyeon said calmly.

“The ones enjoying that night market are those who have enough leisure in life to go on a pilgrimage.”

Traveling in the State of Zhongyuan was not quite a privilege but neither was it a pleasure everyone could enjoy.

“For the residents of this valley are working so hard even at this very hour.”

Yeon So-hyeon's gaze was directed toward those carrying goods, selling them, and calling out to customers.

“They must prepare for business before the sun rises, and perform labor like that even after the sun sets.”

Moreover their means of business, from shops to goods, were, from beginning to end, merely rented out by the House of Benevolence and Love.

For how could the poor have any money to secure business capital?

“Haha.”

However the old strategist shook his head with a pleasantly drunken face.

“If one lacks ability and capital, one must make up for it with their body.”

“…Merciless words.”

“Is that so?”

The old strategist burst into a laugh, then raised his hand to point to someone carrying a load on a wooden A-frame carrier up the alley of the valley.

“Do you see that young man's face?”

Even while sweating profusely all over his body and his legs trembling, there was no shadow on his expression.

The old strategist continued as if drifting along.

“Who is there that does not wish to become rich? Yet, what they realistically hope for is merely for life to become just a little bit easier.”

“…Life becoming just a little bit easier?”

“Indeed.”

The old strategist nodded his face, which was filled with the traces of time.

“It only needs to become a tiny bit easier.”

While Yeon So-hyeon took a sip of the strong liquor handed over by the old man, he continued.

“No matter what rulers do or how they strive, how dramatically would their lives change in the end?”

“……”

The old man raised his hand and pointed to an alley.

“Although this old man is leisurely enjoying alcohol right now, in the end, I will have to study strategy and ponder tactics again.”

“Over there, the warriors of the War Advisory Council are enjoying their vacation.”

Just as the old man said a group of warriors, looking so festive for some reason, were holding wine bottles one by one at a street tavern, putting their arms around each other's shoulders, and singing aloud.

Unlike when they disguised their vacation to secretly help Yeon So-hyeon this time they were truly enjoying a real vacation.

“The warriors and soldiers must train formations again, and sharpen the edges of their weapons. They must feed the warhorses, and practice martial arts. And in the end, they must go out to the battlefield again.”

The strategist, who had lived on the battlefield all his life and made war his trade, spoke.

“What such people want would be a brief moment of rest like this.”

Yeon So-hyeon understood his words beforehand and replied first.

“Are you saying it is enough if life simply does not lead straight from one war to another, from one battlefield to the next…?”

The old man nodded.

“Indeed. That is how life needs to become, just a little bit easier at a time.”

Yeon So-hyeon's gaze turned once again toward the one carrying goods on the A-frame carrier.

While they were conversing though staggering, he had already climbed that far up the valley before they knew it.

Looking at him, Yeon So-hyeon's face seemed a bit more at ease.

“Even so.”

Having succeeded in lightening Yeon So-hyeon's unimaginably heavy burden even by a tiny bit the old strategist continued with an inwardly pleased face.

“Perhaps, though it may be nothing but idealism. Because there are people who reach out for unreachable ideals like you, My Lord, our lives are undoubtedly becoming easier, bit by bit, like this.”

Having finished speaking, the old strategist stood up and staggered away.

“…Is that so.”

Closing his eyes for a moment to feel the night breeze, Yeon So-hyeon pulled out a small carving from his bosom.

It was crooked, clumsy and even unsightly as it was something broken glued back together, but it was a wooden carving of the Medicine Fairy.

It was, in the past an item left behind by the deceased younger brother of the retired soldier who had received meat porridge at the House of Benevolence and Love in Walnut Village.

“……”

Yeon So-hyeon propped the carving against the rock he was leaning on.

Then, he opened the wine bottle left by the old strategist and poured plenty of liquor over the carving.

“…I will not stop.”

Yeon So-hyeon said so as he raised his eyes to look at the sky.

In the summer sky, which had approached remarkably close before they knew it, the morning stars were shining brightly.