Chapter 251 – Difficult Guest (6)

The result of the one-on-one battle was unfortunately my defeat.

I felt various illusions of swords surrounding me. I managed to penetrate most of them, but I couldn’t avoid them all.

While swinging my sword, I sensed that it would be blocked at a certain point. Namgung Cheon reproduced the sword I felt and turned my prediction into reality.

Namgung Cheon’s sword swung faster than a landslide and smoothly wrapped around my sword, slightly twisting its trajectory.

At best, it was a miss by half a chi. However, Namgung Cheon bent his body half a chi, and in the end, I was able to avoid it by a hair’s breadth.

And when I came to my senses, a sword was pointed at my neck.

“…I lost.”

“Good job.”

As I admitted my defeat by stretching out my arm, Namgung Cheon retrieved the sword he had pointed at me.

“It was a good experience to know why the Sword King is the Sword King and why Namgung Segaga is the best swordsman in the world.”

“Well, I was able to see a sharp sword of a sharp mind because I don’t compromise. You were really great.”

As I praised him while being surrounded, Namgung Cheon also praised me and faced me.

At first, I was surprised, but I was quite satisfied with the duel, having gained something here and there.

Namgung Cheon was just grinning.

“I’d like to have a few more duels if I could…but that would be too much of a nuisance.”

“Hmph! I know that very well.”

Hong Yeon-hwa, who came trotting over as soon as the duel was over, waved her hands frantically and grumbled.

It was obvious that she was telling us to go back.

Namgung Cheon smiled wryly at this and scratched the back of his head.

“I’m sorry for coming suddenly. But I thought it was an opportunity, not now.”

“Well, that’s true. I did receive a letter asking me to come and see you, but I didn’t actually plan on going.”

“I thought so. You’re a person who is content to quietly return to your hometown even though you’ve become the hero of the Jeongsadae.”

“What? No, I’m not. I’m very greedy. I decided to receive a lot of gold.”

“Haha! Just kidding. You’re a person who has refused all the invitations from the leaders of the Muryeongmaeng and the royal family, and you have no reason to be greedy for gold that can be easily obtained.”

“….”

It was a valid point.

If I received support from Pungsoso, I could live without any shortage.

If I had the power obtained through the Muryeongmaeng or the royal family, money would naturally follow.

Even if I could use my growing reputation and power to work a few times for a huge organization and receive a massive reward, I didn’t want to. I just wanted to spend my days playing and fooling around with my women without thinking about complicated matters.

But it seemed like Namgung Cheon saw me as a very greedy person because of that.

Was it because he was born into the wealthy Namgung family? Or was it because I grew up in a capitalist society?

Our perspectives seemed to be different.

I just wanted to be a wealthy commoner, but…

Well, it was a trivial matter, so we just laughed it off together.

As Namgung Cheon and I were laughing, Hong Yeon-hwa, who was caught in the middle, grabbed my sleeve with a pouty expression.

“Oh, right. Take this.”

As if he suddenly remembered something, Namgung Cheon rummaged through his pocket and handed me a small plaque.

It was a green plaque that was barely the size of my palm. On its surface, there were delicate carvings of the Changcheon Cangtian on the front and the words Namgung Nangung on the back.

“This is…?”

“It’s called the Changcheon Plaque. It’s a symbol that I will treat you as a distinguished guest of the Namgung family, so I hope you can come and visit us at our home next time.”

“I’ll gladly accept it.”

It was an obvious thing to say, but there was no harm in accepting such a distinguished guest plaque. I might be able to use it someday.

Even if I didn’t have a chance to go to the Namgung family, I might be able to receive help from their upper echelons.

“Well then, I’ll be going now.”

“Huh? Are you leaving right away?”

I didn’t plan on staying for too long, but I didn’t expect to be kicked out so soon.

When I asked him about it, Namgung Cheon shrugged his shoulders.

“I only came here to spar with you, and I’ve already achieved that goal. Besides…”

He pointed behind me.

When I turned around, I saw Pungsoso and the Sama mother and daughter with a somewhat uncomfortable expression.

“It’s not very polite to disturb them.”

“Oh.”

Sometimes, just watching someone else’s sparring can give you something.

I didn’t have an epiphany or anything, but I felt like I had gained some clues and wanted to review them quickly.

After all, even though I only had the Samjae Swordsmanship, Namgung Cheon had also shown off his own martial arts, so he must have felt something too.

“Thank you.”

“I hope you get good results.”

With those words, Namgung Cheon turned around and quickly walked away, waving his hand a few times to say goodbye to my other women before stepping on his horse and leaving.

He was a peculiar person, abrupt in both his arrivals and departures.

In many ways, he was unique.

Afterwards, we all relaxed and reminisced about the sparring we had just done.

Hong Yeon-hwa seemed lost in thought about something, even as she stood by my side.

How much time had passed?

We must have started sparring right after breakfast, but it was only when the sun was high in the sky that we finally stood up from our spots.

We looked at each other and then up at the sky, and then Pungsoso broke the silence with a soft voice.

“…Should we go out for lunch today?”

No one opposed the idea.

***

There were guesthouses in the lower village, but the food there wasn’t good.

The only decent one was run by Mr. Hwang, but honestly, apart from the dumplings, there wasn’t much else worth eating there.

You know how it is sometimes. When you go to a Chinese restaurant in your neighborhood that only makes jjajangmyeon and jjamppong, and you order something like la jiao rou, and the owner gets flustered.

It was a poor neighborhood overall, so no one ate expensive and delicious food, and the skill level of the cooks was probably low.

Today, I wanted to eat something tasty, so I decided to run a little and go to a nearby big city.

For ordinary people, it would take a whole day to walk there, but for a skilled martial artist like me, it wasn’t that far.

In fact, Pungsoso and Sama Yeoryeong, who were relatively unskilled, couldn’t keep up with me and Sama Mang as we rode our horses.

We arrived at a fairly large guesthouse.

We rented a whole room and ordered various dishes that looked delicious before starting to chat.

“I’ve met Namgung Cheon a few times before, but he’s always such a peculiar person.”

“Oh? Is that so?”

“Yes. The big factions like the Five Great Sects and the Nine Schools of the External Arts have a lot of interaction with each other. They can’t fight over territory like the smaller factions can, right? Sama Mang and Yeoryeong know this well too.”

“Well…that’s true…”

“The atmosphere in the Sapa faction is a bit different…”

Sama Mang opened her mouth with a wry smile.

“Nowadays, everything is peaceful, but the only place that maintained its power in the past was the Sama Clan. Everywhere else fought and destroyed each other, and repeated cycles of decline and revival.”

“Your mother is right. That’s why I acted like I was so great, boasting about how the Sama Clan was still standing…Well, all the people who used to pick fights with me back then ended up dead by my hand during the war.”

“Oh, uh…”

Pungsoso flinched at the brutal story.

“But, but the Sama Clan is still standing! And now it’s part of the orthodox sects, right?!”

“They say he carries both the Muryeong League and the royal court on his back, but soon a new Samaryeon will rise. I wonder if even then we can call ourselves part of the Samapa faction.”

Sama Mang sighed once and spoke in a slightly melancholy voice.

“…As expected, we can’t seem to get rid of the perception that we are Samapa.”

“Ah, uh, ah…”

Pungsoso started to stutter at Sama Mang’s gloomy words.

But I saw it. Sama Mang’s mouth slightly curled up.

“Sama Mang? Don’t tease Pungsoso.”

“Oh? Did I get caught?”

Sama Mang laughed with a smile, covering her mouth with her hand at my teasing.

“I stopped because the second wife’s reaction was funny…Actually, it was a joke. Whether it’s the orthodox or the Samapa faction, it doesn’t really matter. We weren’t a family that cared about that, and we have the first wife and the business to think about. Who would see us as the old Samapa?”

“Huh? What?”

Pungsoso, who had been making foolish noises for a moment, began to grumble with a pained voice.

“Ow! Sister Mang, you’re so mean! I was really surprised because I thought Sister Mang and Yeoryeong felt left out!”

“Hehe. At first, there were only people around us who had been hostile to us, people from the orthodox sects. So I was a little nervous.”

Come to think of it, that’s true. All of my connections and my sphere of activity were all people from the orthodox sects.

As a Samapa, Sama Mang must have been a little awkward.

“But not anymore.”

“Really?”

“Yes. The first wife is always kind to us, and she takes care of us in many ways. We are always grateful for that.”

“Well, that’s good then.”

At Sama Mang’s praise, Pungsoso quickly laughed.

I couldn’t help but smile and reach out to the back of Pungsoso’s neck.

Squish, squish.

“Jin Gaga?”

As if loosening the muscles in her neck, Pungsoso was momentarily puzzled when I pressed down on it.

But it wasn’t long before she began to enjoy my touch with a relaxed expression.

“Ah…a little harder, please…”

“Like this?”

“Yes…”

As I massaged Pungsoso’s neck for a while and continued our conversation, I suddenly realized that Hong Yeon-hwa was quiet and lost in thought.

She sat at the table with her chest resting on it, wearing a blank expression as if she still had something to think about.

“Yeon-hwa?”

“What’s wrong?”

“I was just wondering what you were thinking about.”

“It’s nothing, really. I just had a sudden thought.”

“Is that so?”

Hong Yeon-hwa looked at me for a moment, as if she knew I was curious, and then smirked.

“Are you curious?”

“….”

As much as her smug attitude made me want to roll my eyes, I nodded my head obediently since I was indeed curious.

“Yes. What is it about?”

“Put the lady on your lap and massage her shoulders, and then I’ll tell you!”

What? Was that all she wanted?

Maybe she was jealous of me massaging Pungsoso’s neck.

I lifted Hong Yeon-hwa up and sat her on my lap. She wiggled her butt and found her own comfortable position.

As I massaged her shoulders, she let out a small “ahh” and relaxed. But soon after, she cleared her throat and regained her composure.

“Ahem, do you remember? We said we were ready to embrace each other last time.”

“Oh.”

I had been busy with my training lately and had momentarily forgotten about it.

I had grown accustomed to intertwining my body with Hong Yeon-hwa, Pungsoso, Sama Mang, and Sama Yeoryeong, taking turns with each other.

“Wait a minute. You had that thought just now, which means…”

Our Heavenly Demon Lord…was having dirty thoughts all by herself? And in a guest room, no less?