Jeok Wigang stepped forward.
“I actually came under the Lord of the Castle’s orders to deliver news.”
“The Lord of the Castle’s orders? What news?”
Jeok Wigang was about to speak, but Gongsun Cheongi stopped him.
“I’ll say it.”
At that, Jeok Wigang stepped back.
“Brother... Father has... passed away.”
At Gongsun Cheongi’s words, Gongsun Cheonbaek’s face went blank with disbelief.
“What are you talking about right now? Why? Why all of a sudden?”
Staggering from the shock, Gongsun Cheonbaek wavered on his feet.
“F-Father is dead? And you expect me to believe that?”
To the disbelieving Gongsun Cheonbaek, Jeok Wigang held out a letter.
“It’s a letter personally written by the Lord of the Castle.”
The moment he saw the seal of the Lord of Heavenly Martial Castle stamped clearly on it, Gongsun Cheonbaek collapsed to the floor.
With trembling hands, he accepted the letter and began to read.
As Gongsun Cheonbaek read, his pupils shook violently.
At the end of the letter, the Lord of the Castle had even personally written an apology.
“Hundred Demon Heaven? W-What the hell are these bastards now? What are they... what are they that those damned sons of bitches killed Father!”
Gongsun Cheonbaek’s voice was thick with rage.
“And what was Heavenly Martial Castle doing! Damn it! Do you know how much Father devoted himself to Heavenly Martial Castle! You’re telling me he died and you didn’t even know it, and mistook a fake for my father? And I’m supposed to believe this?”
RIP— RIIIP—
He tore the Lord of the Castle’s letter to pieces right there on the spot.
“Brother! Please calm down.”
Only after hearing Gongsun Cheongi’s voice did Gongsun Cheonbaek barely regain his reason, tears spilling from his eyes.
“Damn it... I never even got to properly repay him as a son... I worked that hard so that when Father retired and came back, I could show him a changed family and let him live in comfort...”
Sitting there with a vacant expression, muttering to himself, Gongsun Cheonbaek was approached by Gongsun Cheongi, who spoke beside him.
“Do you think Father would want to see you like this, Brother?”
Gongsun Cheonbaek looked at Gongsun Cheongi.
“You have to hold your place firmly, Brother, so that I can set Heavenly Martial Castle right and avenge Father on those Hundred Demon Heaven bastards.”
“Huh? What are you talking about? Set Heavenly Martial Castle right?”
“I’ve made up my mind. I’m going to succeed Father and become the strategist of Heavenly Martial Castle.”
“Cheongi. N-No. Absolutely not. Your body has only just recovered, and what are you saying? Do you even know how hard that position is?”
Shaking his head with a face that said absolutely not, Gongsun Cheonbaek listened as Gongsun Cheongi answered with a resolute expression.
“It’s the Heavenly Martial Castle Father built. I don’t want to hand that legacy over to someone else. I believe the path for Father is for me to carry on his will.”
Gongsun Cheongi looked at Cheonbaek and said,
“You know too, don’t you? How capable I ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) am?”
“I-I do. Didn’t Father say there has never been anyone in our family’s history who could surpass you?”
“Yes. So please trust me, Brother.”
“Cheongi...”
“I will absolutely set Heavenly Martial Castle right and take revenge on the Hundred Demon Heaven bastards.”
Gongsun Cheonbaek stared blankly at Gongsun Cheongi as he hardened his resolve.
Then he rose from his seat and looked at him warmly.
“My little brother... you’ve really grown up...”
“Brother.”
“If my little brother has made his resolve like this, then I can’t stay like this. Fine! Do it. Just remember that the Gongsun Family will always stand behind you.”
“Yes!”
“I’ll raise the family into something even stronger as well. I’ll help you. Let’s avenge Father together.”
“Yes! Brother!”
*****
The brothers, Gongsun Cheonbaek and Gongsun Cheongi, came to see Jeok Wigang off as he prepared to depart.
“My apologies... You’re the benefactor who saved our Cheongi, so we ought to have given you a grand reception...”
“It’s all right. Please send your father off properly.”
He spoke while looking at Gongsun Cheongi.
“Before long, someone from Heavenly Martial Castle will come to bring you there. Until then, recover your strength.”
“All right. Thank you.”
“Give that thanks entirely to Heavenly Martial Castle and the Lord of the Castle. That’ll be enough.”
“That alone isn’t enough. You’re the benefactor of my entire life.”
At the exchange between the two of them, Gongsun Cheonbaek cut in.
“What are you saying? You’re the lifelong benefactor of our Gongsun Family. If there is ever anything you need, say it. So long as it is within our family’s power, we will help as much as we can.”
“Thank you. If possible, I’d like that strength to be added to Heavenly Martial Castle.”
“What sort of relationship do you have with the Lord of the Castle to go this far?”
“You only need to know that we are very close.”
When Jeok Wigang said that with a grin, Gongsun Cheonbaek nodded as though he roughly understood.
“I see. Very close, is it? Then just as you said, if it’s for Heavenly Martial Castle, I’ll put everything else aside and help.”
“Where are you going? Heavenly Martial Castle?”
At Gongsun Cheongi’s question, Jeok Wigang replied,
“I’m going to the imperial capital.”
“Why there?”
“To take the Metropolitan Exam.”
“What? The Metropolitan Exam? You’re going to become an official?”
“Yeah. Thought I’d try becoming one.”
“Why? Someone with your ability becoming an official? That’s absurd.”
“You never know. There might be Hundred Demon Heaven bastards hiding in the Imperial Palace too.”
“Ah!”
“You know what happens if the Imperial Palace starts moving, right? Things get troublesome.”
“I know.”
“If those Hundred Demon Heaven bastards are plotting something in the Imperial Palace, then I have to stop it.”
“And that’s for Heavenly Martial Castle too?”
“No. For my family. For my family’s safety and peace.”
At Jeok Wigang’s words, Gongsun Cheongi nodded.
“If that’s the reason, then you have to do it well. I’ll work hard too.”
“Yeah. I’m counting on you.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll pour everything I have into Heavenly Martial Castle.”
“Thanks.”
Jeok Wigang gave a fist-and-palm salute toward Gongsun Cheonbaek and said,
“Then I’ll be on my way.”
“Travel well. If you ever pass by again, be sure to stop in. That day, I’ll show you proper hospitality for several days and nights.”
“Hahaha. Understood.”
*****
After leaving the Gongsun Family, Jeok Wigang went straight to Jeok Mugun and spoke about Gongsun Cheongi.
“Huh... You cured Nine-Yin Severed Meridians?”
“Yes.”
“Just where is the end of your ability? You’ve reached the point where you can even cure Nine-Yin Severed Meridians with sorcery?”
“It was just something minor.”
“You crazy bastard. There’s probably no one else in the world who would call that minor.”
“The real thing is this, after all.”
At the sight of Jeok Wigang clenching his fist, there was nothing to say in rebuttal.
Because it was true.
In truth, sorcery and all the rest were unnecessary anyway.
One punch from that fist and it would all be settled.
And he knew Jeok Wigang had only learned sorcery to make things more convenient for himself.
Then a question suddenly occurred to him.
“Can that sorcery of yours be used for attacking too?”
“Of course.”
“How?”
“Well, if I were to show you something simple.”
As Jeok Wigang murmured an incantation, a fireball appeared in midair.
The blazing heat filled the room.
“This is the most basic kind of attack.”
“Huh...”
He called it the most basic kind of attack, yet the heat it gave off was considerable.
When he murmured another incantation, the fireball instantly turned into ice, and freezing cold spread through the room.
CRACK—
The cold was so intense that the floor froze over.
SHATTER—
CRACKLE—
The chunk of ice shattered apart, and a mass of lightning came into being, only for that mass of lightning to turn into a lump of poison tinged with purple light.
“These are the basic ones. After that, you use them to create stronger offensive sorcery.”
“How strong is the power?”
“Hmm... It’s not all that strong. At my current level, maybe enough to erase Heavenly Martial Castle without leaving a trace?”
Considering the sheer area of Heavenly Martial Castle, it was an absurd thing to say.
Which meant he was saying he could wipe out a decent-sized city in one blow.
With a dumbfounded expression, he asked,
“And that isn’t strong?”
“No. Compared to this.”
Jeok Wigang raised his fist again.
At that sight, he shut his mouth.
“...That’s true.”
There was no choice but to admit it.
He gave thanks to the heavens.
He gave thanks, and thanks again, for the fact that such a monstrous existence was not evil.
And for the fact that he was his grandson.
Now all that remained was to hand Heavenly Martial Castle over to him.
At this point, he was going crazy wanting to hand it over.
He wanted to at least give him the position of Young Lord of the Castle, but he couldn’t even bring it up because it was obvious Jeok Wigang would hate it.
Before meeting Jeok Wigang, none of the successor candidates had pleased him.
That was why he had been verifying and testing them with absolute thoroughness, but Jeok Wigang had no need for any of that nonsense.
Catastrophic natural-disaster-like martial power, overwhelming intelligence, and on top of that astonishing sorcery so bizarre and versatile there seemed to be nothing he couldn’t do.
He had even handled most of Heavenly Martial Castle’s problems alone, and that still wasn’t all—he had even uncovered and dealt with the fake strategist.
If not for Jeok Wigang, Heavenly Martial Castle would have turned into a sandcastle without him ever realizing it, only to collapse helplessly the moment the true enemy appeared.
Thinking of that, gratitude came before anything else.
He had, in effect, performed the greatest service in all of Heavenly Martial Castle.
He was, quite literally, a perfectly prepared Lord of the Castle.
No, it was to the point that he could start handling the Lord of the Castle’s duties immediately.
“I’m not doing it.”
“What?”
“Lord of Heavenly Martial Castle.”
“Urgh.”
“It’s all over your face, Grandfather.”
Damn. He must have been thinking it too openly.
“Is it really impossible?”
“Pick someone else. From what I heard, there are four successors or something. Just choose one of them.”
“None of them satisfy me. Then I saw you—do you think those bastards would still catch my eye? Think about it. If a massive lump of gold is right in front of you, would a bunch of tiny silver nuggets satisfy your eyes?”
“I’m only a massive lump of gold? I’m disappointed.”
“You brat! It’s just a figure of speech! Why would you only be a massive lump of gold? To describe you, I’d have to invent a whole new word.”
With a desperate expression, Jeok Mugun pleaded almost like he was begging.
“Couldn’t you at least think about it? Hm? I’ll go to your father myself, apologize for how harshly I treated him, and earn his forgiveness. Hm?”
If the other successors had seen this scene, they would have felt hollow.
They had struggled desperately all this time to catch Jeok Mugun’s eye.
And yet Jeok Mugun was practically clinging to Jeok Wigang, trying to hand him the position of Lord of the Castle.
His grandfather was pleading to that degree, and Jeok Wigang couldn’t quite bring himself to outright refuse. He let out a sigh and said,
“All right. I’ll think about it.”
“Y-You mean it?”
“Yes. But you have to properly reconcile with Father.”
“I will! I’ll go and properly restore the relationship.”
“All right.”
“Kwa hahaha! Good! That alone is enough! Hahaha!”
Jeok Mugun laughed loudly with an expression like he had gained the whole world.
“That aside, we should continue what we were talking about earlier.”
“All right. I’ll place that boy into the strategist position at once. When the future Lord of the Castle wants it, how could I refuse even that? Hahaha!”
He had only said he would think about it, but somehow he had already become the future Lord of the Castle.
Later, I’ll just make him seat someone else appropriately.
Since he had said he would think about it, he probably wouldn’t bother him about this for a while.
“Don’t just approve it like that. You should meet him yourself too and see what he’s like, Grandfather.”
“You said you acknowledged him.”
“Yes.”
“Then that’s enough. If you acknowledged him, what is there to see? I should just seat him. I’m even thinking of handing over full authority. Shall I watch? Let’s see what kind of man the first talent nominated by our future Lord of the Castle turns out to be.”
Seeing Jeok Mugun’s grin stretched from ear to ear, Jeok Wigang shook his head.
It felt like no matter what he said right now, none of it would reach his grandfather’s ears.
“When are you leaving for the imperial capital?”
“I still have something to do here first.”
“You still do? What is it?”
“There’s something. The higher-ups of Heavenly Martial Castle have some money, right?”
“Hm? W-Well, yes. Why?”