“In my case—Commander Seong knows this well—I’ve been very busy lately. So I haven’t had time to go visit the Assessor, but the Assessor has no such excuse.”

This wasn’t conjecture. He was stating it exactly as it was.

“The Assessor has been actively avoiding me. As if he despised the very fact that I’m in Seongjak Province.”

Unhwi’s voice turned cold.

“The more a man has to hide, the more he seeks shelter from the storm. The Assessor has treated me as that storm and kept out of my way until now.”

“...”

“It’s the Assessor who ignored the agreement. I’m merely here to fulfill my duty as the Heavenly Envoy. Are you still worried?”

Commander Seong took his words to mean: The justification is on our side.

“Understood, Young Master. Then I’ll go in first and—”

“We’re going in together.”

Before the moved-looking Commander Seong could do anything,

as Unhwi approached the door, the gatekeepers moved to block him.

It was just—natural.

Commander Seong vanished from where he stood and reappeared behind the gatekeepers.

Once, what had amazed Pung Muhwi was Commander Seong’s perfect movement and precise hands.

Just like now.

Thuk, thuk.

With two short sounds, the gatekeepers collapsed unconscious to the floor.

“It’s handled. Let’s go in.”

Unhwi nodded and stepped into the residence.

***

A man in his mid-fifties, bearded and neatly dressed in official robes, was reviewing government documents in his study.

Moments later the door creaked open.

The brow of Wei Jungdal (Assessor of Seongjak Province) furrowed hard.

He had ordered that no one be admitted.

Tsk.

He clicked his tongue and turned his head—then nearly collapsed on the spot.

Two men.

One he didn’t recognize, but the ash-gray-haired one he knew all too well.

That man spoke.

“You are the venerable Assessor of Seongjak Province, Wei Jungdal, are you not?”

When he swallowed and nodded, Unhwi bowed politely.

“My name is Seol Unhwi.”

Wei Jungdal’s face went chalk white.

“...Wh—why have you come to see me...? Don’t tell me you’ve come to kill me...?”

“Of course not.”

Saying so, Unhwi sat down naturally in a chair and spoke.

“I’ve come because there are things I wish to discuss with you, sir.”

“Discuss...?”

“I’ll overlook the fact that you’ve been in bed with the Green Forest strongholds.”

At Unhwi’s sudden, baseless-seeming thrust, Wei Jungdal’s complexion turned even paler.

“W-what...?”

“Don’t play dumb. We found plenty in the four strongholds based at Seongrim Mountain. Among them were ledgers.”

Unhwi took a rather thick account book from his breast and set it before Wei Jungdal.

“You seem to enjoy your reading. Care to peruse it? Or shall we get straight to the point?”

Wei Jungdal gulped and answered in a trembling voice.

“...It’s the original, I presume. No need to read it, then. Let’s proceed to the point.”

Unhwi smiled.

“For someone who’s been avoiding me, you’re more decisive than expected. Good. Straight to it, then. From here on out, a great deal of blood will flow in and out of Seongjak Province. The Green King and all the bandits will die, and among the officials who colluded with them, some will die as well.”

“Eh?”

The air in the study froze over.

Wei Jungdal swallowed.

“...What are you implying...?”

“Come clean.”

“...”

“I don’t care if you took bribes or whatever else. Frankly, that’s everyone’s own choice—who am I to moralize? What matters is that, as necessity dictates, I divide allies from enemies.”

“...Then...?”

“I am the Heavenly Envoy of Seongjak Province, and you are its Assessor. I intend to reform the system; if you hold the line for me, that work will proceed smoothly.”

“...Hold the line...?”

“When it rains, hold an umbrella over me. In return, I’ll present you with a gift—your reputation for integrity.”

He swallowed.

Seol Unhwi... Even by rumor I thought he wasn’t ordinary. In person, he’s worse.

He calculated rapidly.

He had colluded with the Green Forest. There was nothing to deny. The problem was that if this reached higher up, it would be disastrous.

Not just any official—an Assessor governing a province, in league with bandits? If that’s not a beheading offense, what is?

If it were just slander, that’d be one thing. But with ledgers like these, denial was pointless. Those who received them, those who saw them, those who caught the scent would all act in some way.

He swallowed again.

“What... exactly do you want me to do?”

“It’s simple. Every time I set a plan in motion, you will supply justification and report it to the court. As Assessor, you know how to craft grounds and pretexts—this shouldn’t be difficult.”

“...It could leave a tail to be seized. This isn’t something to view lightly. We must consider not only relations between the {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} Heavenly Alliance and Un Nation, but even the possibility of the non-interference principle being broken.”

“I trust you have the finesse for that.”

“Hmm...”

“I don’t want frictions with Un Nation to escalate. I judged that you, sir, were the right person to cut and settle such issues from the middle. Was I wrong?”

At Unhwi’s oddly respectful appraisal, Wei Jungdal slowly shook his head, expression grave.

“You were not.”

“Good. Then in this lax, demoralized land—be the hero. I’ll see that you are made into one.”

Wei Jungdal could say nothing against the surge that washed over him.

Because it truly felt possible.

Because this looked like a golden lifeline.

Unhwi crossed his legs.

“Back to the point—will you join hands with me?”

Wei Jungdal quietly tapped the ledger on the table.

“This... sounds like you’re putting a collar around my neck. Am I right?”

Unhwi grinned faintly. Wei Jungdal was no fool.

“You are. But I promise you this: so long as you do not cross the line, I will neither yank nor tighten that collar.”

“...You’re a frightening man.”

“If you take my hand, your perspective on me will change—if only a little.”

“...”

“You will become the hero credited with subduing the Green Forest strongholds. And you’ll earn additional merit for purging corrupt officials. The court will surely reward you handsomely. Promotion is possible.”

“...”

“I don’t know the inner workings of Un Nation, but you do. Which means you already have an idea what will follow if you join hands with me... Yes. That.”

Wei Jungdal’s eyes flashed.

“A most enticing offer. Can you truly keep your word?”

“Yes. If you look into me even a little, you’ll find that I keep any promise I make—no matter what.”

“...Very well. Let’s try it.”

Unhwi rose and offered his hand; Wei Jungdal clasped it without hesitation.

“Let’s maintain a good relationship going forward, sir Assessor.”

“Understood. When do you intend to begin?”

Without a trace of hesitation, Unhwi answered,

“Right now.”

Unhwi and Commander Seong stepped out of the residence.

Under the night sky, their two shadows stretched long.

***

To be honest, I hadn’t wanted to go this far.

But circumstances made it necessary.

Where the hell had the Green Forest bandits gone?

Once I learned the inside story, it was quite interesting.

“Stuffing the bandits into the government office... Truly ingenious.”

That’s right. The Green Forest bandits were now constables of the yamen.

And if you looked closely, it was remarkably systematic.

First, the core officers and the guards assigned to them infiltrated the yamen as constables; the mid-level officers hid among merchant caravans or inns; the common bandits disguised themselves as farmers, traders, porters, and so on.

Every step of the process had been too smooth.

Just two days.

To pull this off in two days—how much reach in information and how much influence would it take?

Which is why I had to contact the Assessor of this Seongjak commandery.

Because he would desperately hold back the torrential storm to come.

Then—

Commander Seong spoke in a hardened voice.

“Young Master. Do you truly think the Sword Heaven of Ten Transformations moved?”

It wasn’t a random question.

To put it plainly, the Green Forest bandits were stupid.

Arrogance filled them to the marrow; they were convinced the places they holed up in were natural fortresses no one could breach.

Even if the four Seongrim Mountain strongholds had been smashed, the odds they would relocate were very slim.

Especially in the case of the Green King, Im Cheongsan—his reputation was of a man who acted first and thought later, and in my past life I had faced him personally.

He was certainly foolish—but also exceptional.

Foolishness and exceptionalism don’t seem to go together, but as I saw it, when foolishness reaches its utmost, breaks through a boundary, it begins to resemble exceptionalism.

Im Cheongsan was excessively simple, the sort who did consider the aftermath once he’d set something in motion—but regardless of that aftermath, he was the sort to act first.

A man like that suddenly evacuates all the Green Forest bandits, even tucks them away in the yamen where the officials he’d been bribing reside?

Then disguises the rest and hides them in the city?

This was absolutely not Im Cheongsan’s own stratagem. But it was true that he gave the orders.

It sounds contradictory, but it isn’t at all.

Someone subdued Im Cheongsan and turned him into a puppet.

Across the Heavenly Alliance, there are plenty who could suppress the Green King.

But among them, those who could also hide the Green Forest bandits narrow to ten fingers; and among those, the one linked to me by a common thread narrows to a single finger.

The Ten-Thousand Transformations Sword Emperor, Jang Icheong.

Dispatched from the Sword Heaven of Ten Transformations, he had surely come under some secret mandate from within the Sword Sect.

“Young Master, is it only me who finds this strange? The Mukse Society we saw not long ago is trying to rebuild the Celestial Maiden Demonic Church, and Cheonrim is trying to rebuild as well... so why is the Sword Heaven of Ten Transformations so hell-bent on devouring you?”

I let out a short laugh.

“I think I said this before, but you view the world far too optimistically, Commander Seong.”

“Do I?”

“There are several reasons their path diverges: if they don’t know the Mukse Society exists; if they’re checking Seo Hyo; if they respect Yu Cheong’s intent to use me as a blade, yet don’t want to surrender initiative to Seo Hyo.”

That much was indisputable.