SSSSSSS—.

The moment the words left my mouth, the mood around us turned ice-cold.

The murmuring that had filled the room a second ago vanished in an instant.

The banquet hall was huge, so you’d think it couldn’t go quiet that fast—

but that just meant everyone had already been faintly focusing their attention on this table.

“...What?”

At my words, Wudang Cloud Dragon Seo Pyeong frowned and spoke. His face said he couldn’t believe what he’d heard.

And—

“Ah, I’m fucked.”

Me too.

I’d been dealing with people nonstop and I let my guard drop for half a second.

“I said my inside thought out loud.”

What I meant to say and what I’d been thinking got flipped.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.

[HAHAHAHAHA—!! You crazy bastard! HAHAHAHA—!!]

Yoo Cheongil was so delighted he was clutching his stomach and rolling around in the air.

Goddamn old bastard.

I steadied my breathing and scanned the room.

Maybe they didn’t hear me.

I wanted to believe it.

But no. Doesn’t look like it.

Just look at the faces at this table.

Black-Grand Saber and Thunder Dragon were watching like it was entertaining.

Cheon Hyein was looking at me with a strange expression.

Poison Dragon was still glaring at Black-Grand Saber.

Plum Blossom Sword Phoenix had her eyes closed like she didn’t care.

Fighting Beggar Dog wasn’t even here, so whatever.

While the Seven Prodigies’ reactions were all different—

the junior generation who’d been watching us also started boiling over.

“...What did the Little Sword Saint just say to Cloud Dragon?”

“I didn’t mishear, right?”

“I swear he said ‘fucking idiot.’”

They heard all of it.

“Goddamn it.”

I swallowed the sigh that almost escaped.

Ah, it got annoying.

“Who the hell is this bastard to start shit?”

I was going to let it slide cleanly, but day one and it’s already tangled up into a mess.

One second of carelessness, and this is what I get.

“Whew.”

I sighed inside and forced my head to work. I needed a way to get through this.

“What did you say?”

Cloud Dragon—Seo Pyeong from Wudang—asked again, eyes narrowed.

How do I answer?

I swept my eyes around in an instant.

All the gathered stares. The dead-silent space.

Could I twist the conversation and run?

“No.”

The decision was immediate.

Then—

“Another way.”

If I can’t run, I do something else.

“Seo Pyeong. How old are you?”

When I asked, his face shifted, confused. Of course it was weird to suddenly ask his age.

Then ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) he smirked and answered.

“Twenty-two.”

I could read what he was thinking off that face.

He definitely knew my age already.

It was such an easy reaction it was almost funny. I heard the answer and spoke right away.

“Ah, got it. You’re younger than I thought. So why’s that?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re not so old your ears are clogged. So why’d you hear it and ask again?”

“...!”

SSSSS—.

The reaction turned rougher than before.

I could feel people flinch, bodies tensing.

And in that instant—

CLAP—!

A loud sound. I glanced over.

Black-Grand Saber was clapping, genuinely impressed.

“Oooh... oooh... I really like you.”

What am I supposed to do with that pervert?

I forced myself to ignore him and looked back at Cloud Dragon.

His face had gone bright red.

Seeing that, I gave a small, sharp smile.

“Want me to say it again? I said, ‘What the fuck is wrong with you?’”

If I can’t run and I can’t twist it—

I push straight through.

I knew damn well that was the better choice than hesitating.

“You—!”

Cloud Dragon started to flare up, trying to continue—

but I was faster.

“We’ve never even met and you’re throwing casual speech around, picking a fight, playing some pathetic little pressure game. Is that how your sect teaches you to treat people?”

“...!”

“Or maybe not. I heard the Wudang Sect is a respectable lineage—calm and refined. So it’s probably not all of you.”

I stepped closer to him.

So close that if he drew, there wasn’t even room to dodge.

At that distance, I locked eyes with him and spoke.

“It’s just you, getting cocky for no reason. Not knowing your place.”

“You—!!”

He immediately went for the sword at his waist.

But—

SMACK!

Someone slid in between us.

“Hey now. What’s all this?”

Thunder Dragon.

With that handsome face, he wore a friendly smile and draped an arm over both our shoulders.

“Everyone’s watching, so calm down. Cloud Dragon. If your Sect Leader finds out, that won’t be good for you either.”

“......”

The moment Thunder Dragon mentioned the Wudang Sect Leader, Cloud Dragon’s momentum collapsed.

CRUNCH.

Grinding his teeth, he glared at me.

“You don’t even know who’s being cocky. Keep that arrogance. I’ll break it myself. I will never forget today.”

SMACK!

He slapped Thunder Dragon’s hand away and moved off.

Where he headed looked like the area where the other Wudang people were gathered.

“Hah.”

I let out an empty breath as I watched him go.

What the hell is his problem?

“Why the hell is he acting like that?”

From the first moment I saw him, I thought his eyes were off—

and yeah, he definitely had bad feelings toward me.

“What’s his issue?”

No matter how I turned it over, I hadn’t done anything to earn that kind of hostility from him.

So what is it?

Ah. Maybe—

“Is he too...?”

The thought made me look at someone.

Black-Grand Saber, standing right next to me.

Don’t tell me Cloud Dragon—

“Got hooked on Yeongsun too?”

Maybe he was tangled up with Murong Yeongsun and hated me for it.

But honestly, who knows.

And if we’re going down that road—

“Hahahaha!!! Little Sword Saint. I felt it last time too, but you’re way more of a man than you look, huh?”

Why does this bastard keep acting buddy-buddy with me?

THUMP! THUMP!

Black-Grand Saber’s huge hand kept pounding my shoulder.

It hurt like hell.

“Good! I really like you.”

“......”

His eyes were serious.

This bastard.

He really does seem to like me.

I got chills.

“Black-Grand Saber.”

“What?”

I looked at him and spoke carefully.

“I like that woman.”

“Oh? What a coincidence. Me too. We’ve got something in common, huh?”

“......”

Is he serious?

I can’t believe him at all.

No—he did say “Miss Murong is mine,” so it probably isn’t that kind of thing, but still.

I was trying to hide how unsettled I felt, barely managing to push his hand off my shoulder when—

“Don’t mind that Cloud Dragon too much. It’s just the flailing of insignificant people.”

Black-Grand Saber’s oddly dry tone made my body stiffen for a moment.

“The flailing of insignificant people.”

There was a barb in that sentence.

I’d felt it the last time too, but this guy had a strangely chilling side.

“If you’re the kind who’s headed upward, you don’t waste attention on what’s barked from below. Isn’t that right?”

Black-Grand Saber looked behind him as he spoke.

“Plum Blossom Sword Phoenix.”

“......”

At his words, Plum Blossom Sword Phoenix opened the eyes she’d been keeping closed.

Black pupils like game pieces turned toward Black-Grand Saber.

I felt no emotion at all.

Indifferent.

Like she had interest in nothing.

That attitude, that gaze—it was uncomfortable.

“.......”

“What is it? If you’re gonna look, at least say something. Ah! Right. You can’t talk. Sorry about that. Hahahaha!!”

This lunatic.

It was amazing he could say that so casually.

I wondered if Plum Blossom Sword Phoenix would be bothered—

but she didn’t seem to care.

She just stared at him for a moment.

Then—

SWISH.

She lifted one finger and brought it to her lips.

There’s only one thing that means.

“Ah. You want me to shut up?”

At Black-Grand Saber’s question, Plum Blossom Sword Phoenix nodded.

“Well, sure. I guess I’ve been talking too much. But don’t you think you people are way too quiet? In seats this nice, I mean.”

He just doesn’t stop.

Is Heaven-Martial Body supposed to talk that much?

Or is this bastard just insane?

“Brother Peng is still lively as ever. Ha!”

Thunder Dragon chimed in happily.

At the reaction, Black-Grand Saber grinned like he was pleased.

“See? Thunder Dragon’s the only one who gets me.”

“Hahaha. Of course.”

“Haha.”

“......”

I want to go home.

In an atmosphere that still hadn’t fully calmed down, only those two idiots were loud, chattering away.

“Ah.”

I really want to go home.

That was my entire impression of the first day of the banquet.

*****

The banquet didn’t end until late afternoon.

Alcohol came out, but no one went out of their way to drink. Starting tomorrow, the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering’s main event—the martial tournament preliminaries—would begin.

There was no reason to ruin your body by drinking.

Ah, of course—

“Hahaha! Bring more!!”

“Over here too!!”

—the Namgung Clan’s weird bastard and the Peng Clan’s crazy bastard didn’t seem to care about any of that.

Whether those two chugged themselves to death or not, I went outside.

I’d done everything I could do in there, so there was no need to stay longer.

“...Cheon Hyein already bolted.”

Halfway through, Cheon Hyein had been gone for a while.

She’d stormed out first like she couldn’t stand watching those two act like animals.

Cloud Dragon didn’t come back to the Seven Prodigies’ side—he just stayed with the Wudang group and occasionally glared at me.

Poison Dragon was drinking like he refused to lose to Black-Grand Saber.

It was a total shitshow.

“This is a banquet?”

A gathering of the junior generation who’ll lead the future of the Central Plains.

If you only looked at name and reputation, there probably wasn’t a banquet as “valuable” as the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering.

“But it’s not easy.”

Living it firsthand, it wasn’t comfortable.

Even so, they’re still just young juniors. No matter how crazy their backgrounds are—

“They’re still kids.”

Most of them were weak when it came to the political games and pressure games people play.

And my mind wasn’t strong enough to voluntarily wade into their pathetic little probing battles.

[So that’s why you’re leaving without enjoying it.]

“Yeah. I don’t need to stay.”

Like I said, I did everything I could inside.

I opened conversations with the junior generation. The problem is—

“One more weird rumor got added.”

Maybe because I cursed out Cloud Dragon.

From the middle on, I heard people saying the Little Sword Saint has a pretty nasty temper.

“But whatever.”

It’s nothing. I figured it would die down after a bit.

Thinking that, I walked.

I still had to return to where we were staying, but a short walk should be fine.

When am I ever going to be inside the Main Alliance Headquarters again?

With that feeling, I slowly looked around—

and then—

[Kid.]

Yoo Cheongil called to me.

“What?”

[Over there. Go that way.]

“Hm?”

Over there? The direction Yoo Cheongil pointed was the left branch at a fork in the path.

“Is there something there?”

[Yeah.]

“...Then I don’t want to go.”

[Hey. It’s nothing. Just go. Now.]

If this old bastard says there’s “something,” isn’t that exactly when you shouldn’t go?

My anxiety spiked, but I still followed him.

After walking along the path for a bit—

“Hm?”

At the end stood a fairly large tree.

The moon hung over it, making it look like it was holding light—mysterious.

“And that person...?”

Under that tree—

I saw a familiar face.

“Plum Blossom Sword Phoenix?”

“.......”

Plum Blossom Sword Phoenix.

She was under the tree, watching me.