Chapter 48
I thought we could go on horseback, but it seemed like a good idea to walk slowly and look around, so we started walking, and something happened when we reached the market.
Other people might not have noticed anything strange, but my attention was drawn to a man who was intently watching two children playing.
The children seemed to be children who lived by begging nearby, and they seemed to be around ten years old.
The moment I saw those children, I thought that I must have looked just like them when I was taken to Nether Shadow Valley, and the man who was glaring at the children seemed to have a dark intention.
'But to do such a thing in the territory of the Danli family?'
If it were the Cho family, it seemed that they could operate an assassin training facility by kidnapping new children in place of the disbanded Nether Shadow Valley, but I wondered if they were doing this in the territory of the Danli family without any fear.
"Maling, that man is suspicious, so I'm going to follow him. You go back to the family. Let's have the tea we couldn't have today next time."
"I'll go with you, brother. I'll be of help too."
Pae Maling did not back down obediently, but there was no time to keep arguing.
When the children who were playing together moved to another place, the man also moved, following the children.
I thought that if they got out of people's sight, he would just kidnap the children, so I quietly followed behind, and the expected thing happened.
When the children entered an alley, the man snatched the children under each arm and was about to kick off the ground.
The children couldn't even make a sound, as if their muting acupoints had been sealed.
As soon as I saw that, I remembered what had happened to me, and my anger rose to the top of my head.
When I drew my sword at once, the man, whose two arms were not free because he was holding the children, threw the children away, avoided it, and drew his sword.
When I swung my sword in an instant, his sword spun in the air and fell, and he looked at me blankly with a face that said, 'What just happened?'
Pae Maling, before I even told her to, gathered the children and released their muting acupoints.
The children burst into tears as if they were scared.
"It's okay. The young master over there saved you."
While Pae Maling was talking, I released my poisonous creatures and easily subdued the guy.
Since I had a lot to hear from this guy, I also sealed his disabling acupoints so that he couldn't rashly commit suicide.
Then I put my sword to his neck.
"Are you from the Cho family?"
Seeing him noticeably flustered, as if he hadn't expected that question from the beginning, I thought that my thoughts were more or less correct.
"Has a place like Nether Shadow Valley been created again?"
This time, his eyes widened even more.
"If you don't tell me where it is, I'll kill you."
I had no intention of showing mercy to the guys who were trying to take the children to Nether Shadow Valley.
"I, I, I'll tell you!"
A familiar place name came out from the scared man.
At some point, Pae Maling came to my side.
"I think the family head of the Danli family should also know about this, so I will take this person to the Danli family."
Pae Maling nodded, and I took the man and returned to the Danli family.
I still didn't know how the Danli family would handle this matter.
There was a high possibility that they would try to avoid a full-scale war with the Cho family.
If the Danli family fought with the Cho family, the victory would be decided to go to the Danli family, but if two martial families belonging to the four great families fought a full-scale war, the Danli family would inevitably suffer damage.
No matter how well they fought, it would be so.
If that happened, the Danli family's power would inevitably be greatly weakened compared to the other two prestigious families.
As I was thinking that and returned to the Danli family and asked to see the family head, the people guarding the family head's residence looked at me with tense faces.
I entrusted the man who had tried to kidnap the children to the people outside and went inside, and the family head welcomed me.
I told him what had happened in the market, and I saw the family head's expression change sequentially.
He closed his eyes as if he were lost in thought.
The fingers on the desk moved regularly and made a sound.
"Those guys are determined to drag us in."
"I would like to know what you are thinking of doing, family head."
"What do you think I will do?"
"I think you will cover this up and let it pass. And I think you will have your martial artists strengthen the security in the future."
"You've thought well. Yes, I will do that. Since nothing has been revealed on the surface yet, there is no shame for us. It's a relief that we discovered it at the right time."
It seemed meaningless to ask the family head if he would just leave Nether Shadow Valley alone.
Still, I had a lingering feeling, so I asked.
"If you turn a blind eye to what is happening in the Cho family, many children of the Heavenly Demon Sect will be captured and lose their lives."
"Yes, but I am the family head of the Danli family. I have a duty to protect the people of the main family from falling into danger. You are a bright child, so I will speak without hiding anything. A Heavenly Demon has not come from the Danli family for a long time. It is very difficult to maintain our reputation as a prestigious family without producing a Heavenly Demon. It is human nature for the Sect Leader and the Demonic Empress to give strength to that family."
The Danmu family, which had produced the Heavenly Demon Dan Mok-san, and the Baek family, which had produced the Demonic Empress for generations.
He was saying that in order to maintain the power of the Danli family while walking a tightrope between them, he could not engage in a full-scale war with the Cho family.
"I have granted most of your requests so far. At first, it was because you were Pae Maseong's close friend, but later, I was so drawn to you that I forgot why I had looked for you in the first place. Despite your young age, you have a deep insight into the future, so there were many times when it was more comfortable to talk with you than with the elders and seniors of my age."
The story was getting long, but it was just that the reasons why he couldn't attack the Cho family were getting longer.
Once I had heard that, it was better to at least save my time.
"I understand, family head. Thank you for speaking frankly. Then I will be on my way."
"Are you thinking of attacking alone?"
He asked with a pitiful face.
Although we couldn't go the same way, I seemed to know his heart of cheering for me.
"I think I'll have to discuss it with the children. If it's the children I know, now that they know that such a thing is happening again, it seems they won't pretend not to know. The situation has changed a lot from before, and the children have also become stronger. I think I can make a decision after discussing it with the children first."
At that, he nodded and then told me to wait a moment and went out.
When he returned, a small box was in his hands.
"This is all I have to give you. It will be helpful."
When I opened the box, it was full of gold taels.
I took it for now.
"Thank you, family head."
When I went outside, Yeon Cheongha was waiting for me.
Seeing him with Pae Maling, it seemed he had heard the story in advance and knew.
"Are you going to attack the Cho family, Socheong?"
"I'm thinking of discussing it with the children. And if the children want to, I will lend my strength. If the children say that it's not the time yet, I'm also planning to wait. I think it will be okay to just attack Nether Shadow Valley again without necessarily attacking the entire Cho family."
Yeon Cheongha sighed.
He seemed to know what decision the children would make.
"It seems it's time for me to leave this place too."
"Master, you don't have to do that."
"Don't say such things. Although I didn't take those children as my disciples, I have been teaching them as if they were my disciples. How can I just turn a blind eye when they are going to a fight that is beyond their strength?"
"For now, I think it's more important to go back and find out the children's will. They might say that it's still premature."
"Yes, let's do that."
While we were talking, Pae Maling looked at me with an anxious face.
"Then are you going back right away, brother?"
"I guess so."
Pae Maling had a face that said she had a lot to say, but it seemed that we would have to share that story next time.
* * *
On the way back to the mountain bandit stronghold, I had many thoughts.
To be honest, I didn't understand why only the Cho family was always like this.
And I also wondered if the Heavenly Demon didn't know what the Cho family was doing.
Even if that had been the case until now, I briefly thought that since Pae Maseong was serving him at close range, they might be able to talk.
'Is it not that much? The martial forces that protect the Heavenly Demon are several, and the number of people belonging to each martial force is said to be in the hundreds, thousands. Still, if it's Pae Maseong, he must have already caught the Heavenly Demon's eye.'
Then I thought that the Heavenly Demon might have known about the Cho family's corruption and had pretended not to know in order to balance the families.
'Did he think that if the Cho family disappeared, the Danli family might quickly absorb that power and pressure the other two families?'
Without being able to find an answer on my own, I reached the mountain bandit stronghold.
The children, who had been devoting themselves to training in the training ground until their clothes were soaked, belatedly noticed my return and came over with bright smiles.
Then, when they discovered that my expression was unusual, they all waited for my words with tense faces.
"Let's have dinner early today. There's something we need to talk about."
The children moved quickly and prepared dinner.
They didn't seem to have any thought of having to cook deliciously, but only the thought of finishing the preparations quickly and listening to my story.
Knowing that the children were in a hurry, I also started talking without any further delay.
I told them one after another, starting from the fact that a person from the Cho family had come to the Danli family and tried to kidnap children, that the Cho family was preparing to create a second Nether Shadow Valley, and that the Danli family would not be involved in that matter.
The expressions of the children who had heard all my words changed from moment to moment.
"What do you want to do, Senior Brother?"
The first person to ask was Dan Yujong.
The children nodded and urged me for an answer.
"First, I want to ask you. I want to know what each of you is thinking, and what your hearts are."
As I looked at Dan Yujong, he said as if he didn't even need to think twice.
"I don't think we should leave the Cho family alone. We also have strength now."
At that, a few people agreed with those words and angrily shouted that we should go to the Cho family right away.
In the meantime, Jeok Soju seemed to be lost in thought and then looked at me.
"Senior Brother, it seems that there are people in the Cho family who oppose the operation of Nether Shadow Valley. How about we use the method of helping that person? I remember that when we were in Nether Shadow Valley, there were direct descendants of the Cho family among the First Class children, and those children did not get along with each other."
At those words, the other children also nodded one by one, as if they remembered that.
(End of Chapter)