Book 9: Chapter 24: Consoling the Spirits

The construction site of the Dragon and Phoenix Gathering stadium.

The command of the Third Young Master's side was the first to complete their withdrawal.

However, there were those who deliberately remained, avoiding the eyes of others.

“Eldest Young Master.”

They were people clinging to Yeon So-hyeon.

“Eldest Young Master. If by any chance you are interested in the security work cooperation that our Great Tiger Gate can provide—” yeon So-hyeon rejected them flatly.

“I am not interested.”

“Tsk, tsk.”

The sect leader of a small-to-medium sect, who had a foot in the Third Young Master's side, turned around muttering to himself.

“Let us see how well he does on his own without any proper backing.”

Since the distance was far and his voice was small, it would not have been heard by someone without inner force.

For the current Yeon So-hyeon, it was more than enough to be heard clearly.

“You.”

“…Yes?”

The sect leader of the Great Tiger Gate, who was going that far, flinched and looked back.

'Come to think of it, they said the Eldest Young Master has learned martial arts—' his train of thought was cut off there.

Smack.

His head snapped back mercilessly.

It was the Hundred-Step Divine Fist.

Although the power was adjusted moderately, it was not a power that the likes of the Great Tiger Gate's sect leader could withstand. "……!"

The sect leader of the Great Tiger Gate, whose jaw had been dislocated, fainted and fell flat onto the muddy ground.

The sight of him burying his face first into the muddy puddle with a splat was quite delightful.

“Sect Leader?!”

At Shaolin's ultimate art that had been unleashed without any sign, his disciples were frightened out of their wits.

“The Sect Leader collapsed!”

Giggling, Yeon So-hyeon stealthily slipped away from that spot and moved his steps.

“A physician! Find a physician!”

Even if their mothers were different, and even if they had not grown up eating from the same pot, was a sibling still a sibling?

The fact that around the same time, his younger sisters had also knocked a person down in the Luoyang Sword Family was something that even he, Yeon So-hyeon, could not possibly know.

But that did not matter anyway.

“Grab that side!”

“It is falling! Watch out!”

Yeon So-hyeon's steps stopped.

The troops of the Third Young Master's side were in the middle of dismantling their campsite.

In the end, regardless of the blood shed by themselves and their colleagues.

Although the victory went to the Eldest Young Master, Yeon So-hyeon, the expressions of the troops rather had a strangely bright corner.

“Fast, fast! Hurry up!”

Even while splattering through the mud on the ground that had turned into a mire due to the poured rain, their movements seemed light to Yeon So-hyeon's eyes.

“Let us go back and have a proper meal!”

“I am sick of eating on the dirt floor!”

It was so.

Whomever the political victory belonged to.

Whoever benefited from that high place.

It had nothing to do with them.

“I will be able to see the faces of my wife and mother after a long time!”

Their own survival.

The enemy who had tried to take their colleagues' lives.

As what was hanging precariously before their eyes vanished, they seemed to have become completely different people.

“The evacuation of the wounded has been completed!”

The explosion that shook their eardrums.

The acrid smell of smoke spreading in the heavy rain.

As if trying to bury all memories of that dawn—when the rain of blood fell and everyone trembled in fear—at this campsite and leave.

“Now, let us go back!”

At someone's shout, a smile hung on the faces of the troops.

Without exception, one by one they shouted along with that cry.

“Yeah! Whoever you are, well said!”

“Let us go back!”

“Let us go home!”

They noisily chattered and burst into a hearty laugh.

At first.

Yeon So-hyeon, who had clasped his hands and shouted to go back, looked at them with a smile and then turned his gaze to the distance. "……"

There was a view of the Dragon and Phoenix Gathering stadium construction site looking down from the campsite.

Under the clear sky.

Under the warm sunlight, smoke from cooking rice here and there was seen rising.

The roofs, and the streets, also glistened brilliantly in the sunlight, retaining moisture.

The sight of people busily coming and going was seen in miniature.

That scenery which looked like a ruin although it was right before completion.

Seemed, right now, even more than the scene after being grandly completed.

To look more beautiful. "……"

Behind Yeon So-hyeon, who was looking at that scenery as if it were dazzling.

“Master.”

His Head Maid, Jeong-ah, approached.

“They say preparations are finished below.”

* * *

The first thing Yeon So-hyeon saw upon setting foot on the stadium construction site was the sight of people standing in a long line.

“Let me ask you a question.”

He approached the person standing at the very back of the line and asked.

“Yes, Lord. If there is anything I know, I will answer as much as you like.”

The shabby poor laborer bowed his head flatly.

Although he did not recognize that he was the Eldest Young Master, Yeon So-hyeon, it was a reaction to the black silk coat he was wearing and the sight of him accompanied by a beauty like a fairy.

“What line is this line? Are they giving out meals?”

“No, sir. Because the places distributing meals have increased, there are not many who wait long. It is all the grace of the Luoyang Sword Family's Eldest Young Master!”

“The Eldest Young Master's grace?”

“Yes, that is right!”

The poor laborer replied with a bright face.

“Not only did the Eldest Young Master of the Sword Family save us, but he also sent many people from the House of Benevolence and Love to help us. Thanks to that, we were able to eat not just white rice, but even side dishes and soup!”

His explanation was cheerful and endless.

He seemed to enjoy explaining about Yeon So-hyeon.

“And this line is…”

He spoke, pointing at those standing in line.

“The House of Benevolence and Love is distributing clothes and daily necessities to us for free! That is why everyone is standing in line like this!”

“And are there no people who receive them for free and trade them for a kickback?”

“Oh my, there are none!”

The poor laborer nodded his head vigorously.

“Everyone knows that if they dare to do such a thing, they will receive heavenly punishment. This is not a secret, but…”

He looked left and right, and said in a lowered voice.

“On the day it rained heavily two days ago. There is no one who does not know the story of blood rain falling from the sky and the warriors of the Luoyang Sword Family dying in heaps.”

It meant that those who knew of that day's events dared not do anything foolish.

“Eldest Young Master! So you were here!”

At the shout of the field manager of the House of Benevolence and Love who spotted Yeon So-hyeon, the gazes of the crowd turned toward Yeon So-hyeon all at once.

“The, the Eldest Young Master…?!”

The poor laborer who was babbling stories to Yeon So-hyeon until just now gaped with wide eyes.

“Thank you. I heard the story well.”

Yeon So-hyeon patted his shoulder and approached the personnel of the House of Benevolence and Love.

“I greet the Eldest Young Master, the leader of the House of Benevolence and Love!”

The faces of the personnel belonging to the House of Benevolence and Love were also bright.

“Yes. The distribution of supplies is going well.”

Yeon So-hyeon went straight to the point.

“They are all people who went through difficult times. There must not be any lack in the help.”

“Yes, you do not need to worry. Since we are pulling all the supplies that were stockpiled at the headquarters, there will be no problem until the new supplies that we ordered come in!”

“You handled it well.”

Yeon So-hyeon nodded his head.

“The Sword Family will not block matters related to this place either, and rather, they will spare no cooperation.”

While agreeing with his words, they were all stealthily reading his face.

“What is it?”

At Yeon So-hyeon's words, the field manager asked cautiously.

“The personnel here are too many, and the required supplies are also plenty. There is no problem with other things, but the funds are…”

“Funds?”

At those words, Yeon So-hyeon smiled.

“Do not worry. Until the construction of this site is finished, all costs will be borne by the Sword Family.”

He switched to sound transmission and said to the field manager.

[So distribute everything generously, and just submit the billing for the costs to the Business Support Group of the Sword Family.] yeon So-hyeon winked and continued his sound transmission.

[The completion of this place is a major event for the Sword Family. The Sword Family has money, too much of it, so even if you bill the costs 'a little' excessively, no one will care.] going beyond the costs for the supplies delivered from the headquarters and the costs for the ordered supplies, it meant to skillfully push in even the cost claims for supplies needed here and there in Luoyang.

[Even if I do not speak further, you know what I mean, right?] the field manager, who understood Yeon So-hyeon's words, smiled meaningfully and nodded his head.

“Yes, I will do as you command. I will deliver it to the headquarters that way as well.”

As expected of someone from the House of Benevolence and Love who had gone through all sorts of hardships in this field, he was quick-witted.

“Good. Then—” behind the back of Yeon So-hyeon, who was about to express satisfaction and move his steps, there was a voice calling him.

“Eldest Young Master!”

As Yeon So-hyeon turned around, the sight of the poor laborer with whom he had conversed bowing down to him came into view.

“Thank you! Thank you!”

Those who were standing in line as well.

Those who had received the goods as well.

Those who were peeking to see what was going on as well.

Everyone in the vicinity bowed down to Yeon So-hyeon.

“Thank you!”

“Thank you, Eldest Young Master!”

The people bowing down spread like a wave.

Their words of gratitude resounded fully throughout the street.

At that sight.

Yeon So-hyeon felt a sting at the tip of his nose, and his speech seemed to be blocked. "……"

It was a moment when the speech of that Yeon So-hyeon, who had said everything he wanted even before the Scripture of Controlling Darkness and Shaking the Heavens, was blocked.

Although Jeong-ah, who possessed the Dragon Eyes, noticed the corner of his eyes glistening for a moment she did not show any signs and merely guarded his back.

“Everyone…”

Yeon So-hyeon cleared his voice which had been hoarse for a moment and spoke again.

“Everyone, you have worked hard all this time. However, not everything is finished. You will have to be confined here until all investigations are complete to finish the completion of this street.”

One by one, they raised their heads from their bowing posture and listened intently to Yeon So-hyeon's words.

“Also, even if this street is completed, you must live in labor under me for the rest of your lives. That will by no means be an easy thing.”

“Even so, it is fine!”

At those words, the poor laborer who had spoken with Yeon So-hyeon shouted in a loud voice.

“I will willingly offer this one life and follow the Eldest Young Master!”

As he shouted, everyone put their heads to the ground and began to shout.

“We will follow!”

“We will dedicate!”

Although they were shabby, miserably thin, had never received an education, and did not know martial arts at all for some reason, their shouts seemed as heavy as the oaths of warriors to Yeon So-hyeon's eyes.

And as if to confirm his thoughts.

[All of them are sincere…] jeong-ah read their minds and delivered it via sound transmission.

“…Thank you all.”

Yeon So-hyeon clasped his hands and offered a polite greeting to the poor laborers.

Yeon So-hyeon's heart contained in that greeting was by no means light.

“Thank you indeed.”

While bestowing goodwill was not very difficult from his position how difficult a thing was it for the receiver to perceive it as pure goodwill and accept it?

Yeon So-hyeon's salvation would have been sudden, and it was not even a matter they had requested.

Unlike the leadership of the poor laborers, they had not even heard a proper explanation.

They probably would not even know the full circumstances before and after.

“…Truly, thank you.”

For Yeon So-hyeon, who knew well that the weak could be more despicable and the poor could be more greedy, this very moment felt like a miracle.

* * *

The sound of drums resounded.

The priestesses of the House of Benevolence and Love danced gently as if matching that heavy drumbeat.

The young priestesses and those who knew the melody sang a song to console the souls.

It was a requiem.

Close to thousands of poor laborers all gathered in the large square, and they bowed their heads to observe a moment of silence.

The activists belonging to the Spring of Luoyang were also all gathered among them, and the leader of the poor was also mixed in with them.

All the corpses that had been gathered together in the pit were recovered over the course of the past day.

Although the smoke from burning those hundreds of corpses hung thickly, it was not solely because of the smoke that the eyes of the gathered crowd stung.

“Aigoo, Father…!”

“Go first, my friend! See you later!”

The sacrificial table prepared for the requiem was bountiful.

“Eat plenty over there!”

“Do not starve anymore!”

Atop the white rice piled up even higher than the illusion shown by the Scripture of Controlling Darkness and Shaking the Heavens, rare dishes they had never even tasted in life were placed on the sacrificial table.

“A brush.”

“Here it is.”

In front of everyone watching.

Yeon So-hyeon received a large brush from Jeong-ah.

Smearing plenty of ink that he had personally ground with time and effort, he stood before a large rock revealing its flat surface.

That was what was prepared in front of the main stadium.

A monument to the spirits.

[Here, good people sacrificed themselves and brought spring.] his fingertips moved as if dancing.

[Therefore, people of future generations, do not forget.] the movement of the brush tip, resembling the dance of the priestesses, danced gently as if to soothe the souls of the deceased.

[Although a harsh summer will come after spring passes, and through autumn, a severe winter will arrive again.] flying dragons and dancing snakes in a single sweep of the pen.

Even those who were illiterate held their breath and watched those brushstrokes.

[Spring does not just come,] the phrase written on the monument to the spirits would be read by countless people visiting this place later.

[Spring is something to be called,] the things that occurred here, and that there were countless people who sacrificed their lives here.

They too would come to know.

[Therefore, spring is all the more precious,] that preciousness.

[And beautiful.] that beauty.

The sound of hammers and chisels engraving along Yeon So-hyeon's characters resounded high in the sky.

The cherry blossom landscape tree, which had steadfastly bloomed its petals even in the heavy rain, scattered its petals generously.

Although this was a place that was merely a tiny part of the massive city of Luoyang and even if it were only for a brief moment when considering the hardships of life, spring had clearly arrived here.