“Log missile, huh?”
“To think a log missile would fire from my room. Countless log missiles collided with the windows and walls. Thanks to that, all the guards in the mansion came rushing out.”
“Assassin!!! An assassin has appeared in Master Kang’s room!!!”
“Is Master Kang safe?!”
“Fortunately, there are no injuries!”
“Chase after the flying logs! He flew away with them!”
“Huh? The assassin rode a log and flew into the sky?”
“That…! I know it sounds unbelievable, but it’s true! Find him!”
With only essential personnel left behind, the guards rushed out of the mansion in pursuit of the assassin who had become a star in the sky.
I wonder if the assassin is still alive. That must have been nearly a car accident level of impact. I guess it would be lucky to find a corpse.
While escaping the life-threatening crisis wasn’t the most pressing issue, there was something more important at hand.
“Ahh… aahhh…”
My room was a mess. Steel balls, long poles, and logs everywhere. It looked like a bomb had gone off, with hardly any furniture left intact.
Miss Zhuge was speechless at the devastation she had caused.
“Miss Zhuge.”
The moment I called her, she snapped back to reality and crumpled down in front of me.
“Ah! I, I’m sorry. To suspect Master Kang… I’ll, I’ll apologize with my life…!”
Miss Zhuge, why are you kneeling? Why are you picking up the long pole lying nearby?
“Why are you bringing the long pole to your belly?”
“Ugh. Please tell my mom that I tried my best as her daughter during my 18 years. Ugh.”
“Um, Miss Zhuge? Let’s not bring that up right now.”
“The unforgivable mistake… but will this hurt a lot?”
Yes. It will hurt a lot.
“I think the assassin was in much pain too.”
“U-uhh…?”
If you’re scared, just put it down.
“Please get up.”
I approached Miss Zhuge and extended my hand.
“Are you… not angry?”
With her head bowed, Miss Zhuge cautiously looked up at me. As I sighed softly while surveying the ruins, her blue eyes trembled.
She looked like a small puppy terrified of getting scolded for causing an accident. Despite my urge to hug her, I placed my fingers on Miss Zhuge’s head.
“I’m angry. What on earth did you set up in this room? Ugh!”
It’s punishment! I performed a scalp massage that would wake her up.
“Ahh! I-it’s Master Kang! It hurts.”
My hand is a miracle. Just like that, Miss Zhuge threw the long pole aside and stood up as if a paraplegic had suddenly stood up at a subway station.
“Goodness. Steel balls and long poles?”
I could clean up my messy room. The furniture doesn’t matter since it isn’t mine but belongs to the Man Geum Battlefield.
Thanks to Miss Zhuge, I escaped with my life. But still, I had to address the matter at hand.
“Um, that….”
“Did you set this up because of Miss Im Ha-yeon?”
It was something called a betrayal punishment formation, right?
As I pressed her, Miss Zhuge lowered her head and fidgeted with her fingers before speaking.
“If Miss Ha-yeon decided to betray me again, there wouldn’t be a way to stop her. I thought I might not be able to handle it by usual means.”
“Still, you could really get hurt if it goes wrong.”
It’s fine to test each other’s strength, but steel balls? A wrong hit could be a serious problem.
“Y-yes?”
Miss Zhuge looked up at me as if asking what I meant.
“Even if it’s a prank, isn’t it a bit too much?”
“When Miss Ha-yeon comes at me seriously, it’s hard to dodge even this.”
“……”
Now that I think about it, when Miss Ha-yeon worked as The Shadowless Thief, she and Miss Zhuge had experimented together before robbing a house equipped with traps.
“No matter how I calculate things, the best I could do was push her back to the window. So, I set this up as a way to buy time while the alarm went off.”
Miss Zhuge installed a warning device in the room too?
The trap that left even the assassin on the brink of death could do nothing but buy time against The Shadowless Thief?
“There’s a log too, right?”
“Ahaha. The thing is, even with preemptive firing, Miss Ha-yeon wouldn’t have taken a single hit. But there was nowhere to escape. So she must have ridden that log and flown away.”
“That’s why you used preemptive firing….”
“To drive Miss Ha-yeon out of the room, I had to do that much.”
Somehow, I could picture Miss Ha-yeon rising into the sky on a log, gritting her teeth while landing.
A trap that could only push a thief back while walking on the surface of the water ended up nearly killing an assassin?
That’s scary.
“Even so, that was too excessive.”
“There’s something that must be protected, even against Miss Ha-yeon.”
I felt a determination in Miss Zhuge’s eyes that refused to compromise. I could tell where that gaze was directed.
“Haha.”
Realizing what she had just said, Miss Zhuge’s face flushed, and she turned her head away.
“Um… I’m sorry. I thought Miss Ha-yeon might betray me without a word, and it seemed like Master Kang was agreeing with her, so I lost my temper… I think I went a bit overboard. I’m really sorry.”
Now I understood the situation from a moment ago.
Even amid flying steel balls and long poles, she spoke as if nothing was happening. To Miss Zhuge, it must have felt like something that absolutely should not occur in this room was happening.
“The reason I was angry was for another matter. I was saved because of you, Miss Zhuge. And also….”
“Pardon?”
I met her trembling blue eyes. Miss Zhuge. I actually know. She struggles to deal with others and, by nature, doesn’t explode in anger easily.
If Miss Zhuge lost her composure, there must be one reason.
That means she’s that precious to me.
I felt quite happy about that fact.
“It’s not your fault. I owe my life to you. Thank you so much.”
As long as she recognized her mistake, that was enough.
I decided to express my gratitude, having saved it for a while, worried that if I praised her first, it would lose its meaning.
“Hehe. It was n-not a big deal.”
If suddenly creating a trap that fires log missiles is “not a big deal,” then a transforming robot for the mansion would surely be possible if she decided to make one. I held back my curiosity for the moment.
“Next time you have a small wish, I’ll definitely grant it.”
“W-wish?”
Miss Zhuge’s eyes sparkled as if wondering when that had happened.
“Instead, when you set up anything in my room next time, please tell me in advance.”
“Ah… um… yes!”
That answer was oddly uncertain.
———
“I’m sorry!”
“We have committed a great sin!”
On the bright morning, the heads of the mansion’s guard were bowing down to me in unison.
“How could the mansion’s defenses be breached? Didn’t we strengthen them? What on earth happened?”
Even when we had hired more martial artists to strengthen the guards, I frowned and asked in an angry voice.
“That is… The Blue Robe Swordsman seems to be the assassin.”
“What do you mean by that?”
The Blue Robe Swordsman was the martial artist we had seen last night. That martial artist is an assassin?
“We found the corpse of a martial artist who was standing guard with the Blue Robe Swordsman in the storage room. Nearby, we also discovered clothing that the Blue Robe Swordsman frequently wore. It seems he had sinister intentions entering the mansion.”
“An assassin among the guards hired for protection! Didn’t you confirm their identities properly?”
“I’m sorry. Though he had a difficult personality, he was someone whose skills were guaranteed as long as money was offered, and he’s been hired from the Man Geum Battlefield as needed, so I never imagined this would happen.”
Did the frequent contractor betray us?
I had heard their first assassination attempt was meticulously prepared, but did they also plan for a second situation after failing?
“Was the assassin ultimately captured?”
“That is… We found traces of him vomiting quite a bit of blood but…”
“Ultimately couldn’t find him, right?”
At my cold conclusion, the reporting guard winced.
“Just looking at the traces near the logs! He must have sustained injuries that would render him bedridden for months.”
“Yes, that’s certain!”
Since I was lucky to have saved my life, should I consider this a good thing?
The assassin must surely have sustained serious internal injuries. Not only must he recuperate for a long time, but even if he managed to survive, he would need months for recovery.
While it was a stroke of luck thanks to Miss Zhuge, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of regret.
“Master Kang.”
As I was deep in thought for a moment, the captain of the mansion guard approached me.
“Huh?”
“This is my responsibility. As the head of the mansion’s guards, I will step down from my post and await punishment.”
The captain knelt down in front of me.
“Captain!”
“Raise your head.”
“How could someone who has jeopardized the master’s life raise their head?”
The captain bent down, his fist clenched like a general awaiting execution after losing a battle.
It was certainly a decisive mistake that couldn’t be avoided as a leader, but still.
“Wasn’t it you who bravely defended against a group of martial artists when they attacked the mansion before, even at the risk of your life? Please stand.”
He was the martial artist who had willingly put his life on the line to protect me when the bandits from the sect attacked.
Silent and stoic, he generally kept quiet about what was happening in the mansion, yet he had built a good reputation. While he might not have been entirely trustworthy, he was someone I could believe in.
But at least he had survived. It would be a shame to let a responsible and diligent person lose their post over one mistake.
“Master Kang.”
The guard captain’s trembling eyes stared up at me.
“This isn’t the time for this.”
“But…!”
“If a ronin would risk becoming an assassin, there must be a significant reason behind it.”
“……!”
If he had crossed over to becoming an assassin, there must be a huge motive behind it.
“If he was severely injured, he might have sought out an apothecary or healer. If there’s a healer the Blue Robe Swordsman usually frequents, that could be a place to start.”
“I’ll move right away.”
“If you make another mistake, both my head and yours might be on the line. So please do your best.”
“Understood!”
What was this “understood”? I had never heard anything like that from the captain before, but somehow it didn’t feel unpleasant.
“Master Kang! Thank you!”
“I will be going out. Gather trustworthy guards to follow me. It would be even better if some could handle the carriage.”
“I will organize it right away. But where are you going?”
I had no intention of just sitting still.
Once I figured out the identity of the leaf, it was only natural to dig down to its roots.
I had identified the identity of the assassin. He must have been offered a sizeable sum or met someone beforehand. Who did the Blue Robe Swordsman meet? The place I needed to search for that information was clear.
“Let’s head to the Gilu.”
“…What?”
