Ch. 29
Since I was receiving special protection from the family head and the elders, even if the Silver Wind Force disappeared, I wouldn't be expelled from the Danli family, but it seemed that the other people were very worried.
"So everyone is on edge about this mission. We have to succeed this time no matter what, but there's a rumor that a new mountain bandit stronghold has appeared on the trade route."
Meng Doxin's face was full of worry.
"Will I be going too?"
"I don't think so. The reason we're ignored is because the martial artists of the other martial forces of the Danli family are too strong, but we're not that weak either. Once we're outside the Danli family, we're probably pretty strong."
It was somehow funny that he seemed to be boasting that they were also quite strong among them, if you removed all the people who were stronger than them.
Since Meng Doxin was so innocent and good-natured, he also felt cute.
"What's the cargo?"
"Ah, it's a bride's dowry. It seems she's taking a lot of dowry. Fortunately, the bride is going separately. It seems the bride has also heard the rumors. That we're not a reliable place."
I nodded, thinking that the security escort agency also provided protection for such things.
"If we fail this time too, we'll have to think that the Silver Wind Force will be completely disbanded. But that's not the only problem; the wedding will also be ruined."
It seemed that he would be worried.
"Then can't we get help from other martial forces? It's also a problem for the entire Danli family."
At that, Meng Doxin shook his head with a dejected face.
"Since there have been several cases that have been resolved that way until now, it seems they're just going to wash their hands of it this time. We have no hope."
It was pitiful, but it was funny.
But since this Silver Wind Force was the place I belonged to, I couldn't just watch it like a fire across the river.
"I'll help too. I'll be able to do one person's share. Even if I have to leave the Silver Wind Force, I have to leave, but I can't let my pride be hurt by being kicked out because the Silver Wind Force disappears."
"As expected, you're cool, Socheong. There was a time when I thought that way too, but now I just wish I could stick to the Silver Wind Force."
Since a new colleague wanted to do that, shouldn't I make it happen?
I also wanted to see how much my internal energy had increased with the elixir I had received from the family head, and how much that internal energy would help me, so it seemed like a good opportunity in many ways.
* * *
The grandmaster and the members of the Silver Wind Force loaded the boxes containing the dowry onto the security escort carriages and left the Danli family.
Meng Doxin rode his horse alongside me and taught me the things I needed to know.
"Since you can't maintain tension every moment on the way, it's also very important to relax and rest when you can. You don't need to be tense yet. You can trust our seniors and go as comfortably as possible."
Meng Doxin and the other members seemed to be in a good mood because a youngest brother had joined, and it turned out that no new person had joined the Silver Wind Force for a long time.
In the meantime, since I had joined, they seemed to be very fond of me, finding me both strange and cute.
I liked these people of the Silver Wind Force, who were the troublemakers and incompetent ones of the Danli family.
If the Silver Wind Force were to be disbanded, probably none of them would be able to remain and would be expelled from the Danli family.
Here, even the grandmaster was evaluated as being weaker than the team leaders of the other martial forces.
I didn't know if that was true or if it was a mocking statement, but that's what I had heard.
For a while, the journey continued smoothly.
I thought that if we could arrive without meeting anyone like this, a security escort would be a pretty enjoyable thing.
But it would also be absurd if no one showed interest in the goods that so many people were sticking to and protecting.
The uninvited guests appeared much sooner than expected.
They were mountain bandits.
It wasn't that we collapsed from the beginning just because mountain bandits appeared.
The deputy grandmaster, who had received the grandmaster's instructions, approached the mountain bandit chief with a money pouch.
I had heard to some extent that when a security escort agency went on a security escort, there weren't many cases where they fought head-on with mountain bandits, and in most cases, the mountain bandits would let them pass after receiving a toll.
So I thought that we would be able to pass in that way this time as well.
From the mountain bandits' point of view, they couldn't just subjugate all the passing security escort groups, and they didn't exist to block the mountain they were protecting and monopolize it.
But for some reason, they didn't seem to have any intention of letting us go obediently.
I realized that the grandmaster and the people of the Silver Wind Force were flustered.
It meant that things were flowing in a different atmosphere than usual.
"Who do you think is a beggar!"
The mountain bandit chief said without even opening the money pouch.
That meant that no matter how much money we had prepared, they were prepared to fight.
Seeing that, I was offended.
Would it have been like this even if it were another security escort group?
Those guys had decided to make an example of us.
There would be a need for something like that once in a while, and the fact that they had chosen us as their opponent would have various meanings.
The most important thing was that we looked easy.
So they were coming out like this.
They were trying to make the security escort groups that would pass by here in the future realize something by brutally slaughtering us, thinking that they could annihilate the Danli family's Silver Wind Force without much effort.
It was a strange thing.
Still, wasn't it the Danli family?
Even if the Silver Wind Force that belonged to it was weak.
For things to turn out like this, the mountain bandits must have learned something over a long period of time.
It meant that the Danli family had not been deeply involved in the affairs of the Silver Wind Force and had clearly drawn a line.
No matter how great a family the Danli family was in the Heavenly Demon Sect, it was impossible for them to stand out and be outstanding in all aspects.
There were bound to be parts where they were inferior to other families, and it seemed that they had deliberately kept their distance and pretended not to know about those parts.
While I was thinking that, the attack intensified, and the Silver Wind Force tried their best to block it.
In the midst of that, Meng Doxin blocked my way, and the others also tried to protect me.
It seemed that they were trying to let me escape, knowing that there would be a lot of losses here and that things wouldn't end that way.
If they had just pretended not to know and each had sought their own survival, I wouldn't have had to step up so fiercely.
If that had been the case, I would have just looked for an opportunity to escape on my own while watching the situation, but since things had turned out that way, I couldn't do that.
In the end, I drew my sword and flew towards the mountain bandit who was about to behead one of our members.
Since no one in the Silver Wind Force had shown such martial prowess, the mountain bandits didn't seem to have imagined that I would suddenly come out like that.
When a flow continues to some extent, you get used to it without realizing it and get soaked in that speed and intensity, and it seemed that the mountain bandits had also quickly adapted to the loose atmosphere of the Silver Wind Force.
That's why they were not prepared for me to attack, and their bodies were cut in two by my sword.
I didn't intend to cut them in two, but it just happened that way.
It seemed that the results of having trained with Pae Maseong under Yeon Cheongha were showing at times like this.
Thinking that I didn't need to use this much strength, I adjusted the intensity.
It was enough to just take their lives without necessarily cutting their bodies in two.
While I was swinging my sword with that thought, the mountain bandits slowly began to try to escape.
I wanted to know if the Silver Wind Force would chase after them, but the grandmaster seemed to think that it would be a relief if those guys left like that.
Then, when the mountain bandits had completely left, the Silver Wind Force shouted loudly as if they had won a great victory.
I thought that they had never had such an experience, and I felt a little dumbfounded and pitiful.
It was a little while later that a strange atmosphere was detected from those who had been intoxicated with victory for a long time.
"Uh."
Those words came from Meng Doxin.
The sound was not loud.
But the people sensed the strange atmosphere like a ghost.
"What is it, Meng Doxin?"
When the grandmaster asked, Meng Doxin stared blankly at the security escort carriage.
"Why is that open?"
The people who heard those words stared at each other blankly.
Until then, we had been happy about having driven away the mountain bandits, without even thinking about protecting the goods loaded on the security escort carriage.
Until the mountain bandits disappeared, the security escort carriage had definitely seemed to be safe.
If so, it meant that after that was over, the guys had secretly come and stolen the goods.
The more I thought about it, the more dumbfounded I was.
We had been so stupid, not even thinking about why we had set out on this path.
The grandmaster belatedly checked the security escort carriage.
Not all the boxes had disappeared, but a large quantity had disappeared.
If this happened, wouldn't we have to return the lost dowry and also pay a separate penalty?
When the dowry was the cargo, it seemed that various problems would arise.
I even thought that perhaps the person who had entrusted the cargo to us had entrusted it to us from the beginning, thinking that we would not succeed in the security escort.
It seemed that the possibility of them having colluded with the mountain bandits was not entirely absent.
Of course, it seemed that it would be difficult for an ordinary family to have contact with mountain bandits, but all possibilities had to be considered.
"What should we do?"
The members looked at the grandmaster with worried faces, but the grandmaster also didn't seem to have any particular thoughts.
He had a disappointed expression, as if it would have been nice if he could have just left in the mood of victory.
"Let's leave for now. Nothing will change by staying here, and we have to deliver the dowry within the deadline, don't we?"
Still, I thought that someone would step up and decide on a direction soon, but since they couldn't make a decision even after time passed, I finally spoke.
Only then did the grandmaster say that we should start again, and we moved the security escort carriage.
After that, we did not meet the mountain bandits again until we delivered the dowry.
But since we had already suffered damage, we paid a large penalty.
It was natural that we also returned all the dowry we had lost.
On the way back, the Silver Wind Force was all dejected and dispirited.
It seemed that they thought that the disbandment of the Silver Wind Force was now a set procedure.
"You'll be able to go somewhere else somehow. It was nice to meet you, but it's a shame that we have to part so soon. If we ever meet again, you must say hello. If you need any help, come and find me."
Meng Doxin and the other people of the Silver Wind Force said goodbye to me, telling me where they lived.
They were saying goodbye in advance, thinking that if the Silver Wind Force were to be disbanded, they would each go back to where they originally lived.
(End of Chapter)