One of the six departments held the military.
Among the six of them, one person was in charge of military affairs.
Even within that, there was a sub-department which took care of practical affairs, the Experience Division, and among the 12 divisions it held great authority.
Someone came to them as an officer in charge of palace management. It was Oh Muyang.
Step
“Uh?”
Upon discovering his visit, the fifth ranked officer’s assistant bowed.
“Royal official is here. The probation officer has arrived.”
At this, a tall young man with an eye patch over his left eye, who was busy with work, got up and greeted him.
He was the head of the military department’s guards.
“Greetings to the elder.”
“Hahaha. I am sorry for coming here all of a sudden but this was urgent.”
“No. Now that you are here, please come in. Shouldn’t we finally have a cup of tea?”
“Thank you.”
Oh Muyang went in with him, and the situation changed as they entered and closed the door.
He stroked his beard but then got down on one knee and bowed his head.
Pak!
“Greetings to the one who will be Lord.”
Right.
This tall young man was wearing an eyepatch over his left eye. His identity is the one who held a high position over Oh Muyang.
And the man waved his hand as if annoyed and sat down on the chair, crossing his legs.
“If possible, I remember telling you to not come here.”
“I apologize but this is an urgent matter so I needed to deliver this myself.”
It was a strange sight for those who didn’t know.
It was the image of a fifth rank being superior while the fourth rank was bowing. Of course, they weren’t letting their ranks decide their actual position.
And the man asked,
“Urgent matter? What happened?”
“The True King has finally moved.”
“True King?”
At this news, the man looked a bit concerned. The True King, who heavily defended his position despite all efforts of the emperor’s side, finally moved?
This made him smile.
“Even he cannot help it. In front of one of his own.”
“Right. I never thought he would crawl out on his own.”
“In the meantime, I think planting a spy is good.”
It took nearly two years to get information about his daughter who was in the academy.
No matter how careful he was about keeping his daughter secret, they knew that he would try to contact her by any means possible, and as a result, they were able to trick the princess.
“They must be on their way back to the capital.”
“Looks like they are almost here.”
“That was quick.”
“It appears to be moving quietly with less officials, but still they cannot escape our eyes.”
“They want to avoid being tangled.”
“Seems so.”
“Emperor’s side?”
“The palace has already moved.”
“They moved? The hidden troops?”
The man’s eyes lit up.
The hidden troops were like a secret society which had been nurtured in the palace due to the incident 17 years back.
The palace had raised them very generously and their level of martial arts was also pretty good, along with it being known that their vice and captain were better than most warriors.
In particular, there was a rumor that the captain of it was comparable to two guardians in the Imperial Palace.
As such the palace had been developing their own troops for a long time.
“If they used them… then they don’t want to miss this chance.”
“Seems like it.”
“Finally the stage is set.”
“Yes. The time you have been waiting for has come.”
If the True King was dealt with this time, the other people can be easily dismissed.
If that happens, the things they were planning for would finally begin. At this, the man got up.
“I get it. Then we should start getting…”
“Ah! Lord to be, there is something you need to know before that.”
“Something else?”
“Just in case since we never know, it seems like we have to take care of one person before the hidden troops do anything.”
“One person? Who is that?”
Oh Muyang spoke in a low voice,
“Yu Jin-sung, the royal inspector.”
There was information he received which was shocking, and he wanted to let the man die for the sake of the greater good.
But right now it felt like they had to catch him. In order to prevent the worst possible outcome that they had to be wary about.
‘!?’
Princess Hong Na-yeon was dumbfounded at the words she heard. What she wanted was to ask him to protect her father in case of an emergency.
However, she didn’t know that such dangerous words would come from his mouth.
‘T-take care of the emperor?’
It was a statement which even the most skilled warriors wouldn’t say as it could be considered treason on the part of Mumu. If someone else had heard this, it would be a mess.
But thankfully, there was no one else around.
“You shouldn’t say things like that. Mumu.”
“Why though?”
“Why? The other side…”
“The culprit is making it hard for you and his highness, so wouldn’t the problem be solved if the emperor was dealt with?”
“…”
He truly was constantly speaking out.
When she talked to him, she did know that he was naïve, but the logic he held was sometimes enough to make one’s stomach go cold.
Hong Na-yeon looked at Mumu.
‘… It really doesn’t suit him.’
She couldn’t get used to the face Mumu had now. And this made her smile.
‘Such a strange kid.’
Mumu’s attitude never changed even when he knew she belonged to the royal family.
Come to think of it, he still called her senior. If it were someone else, they would have called her princess. In this way, he felt different from others.
And she asked,
“You are speaking those words honestly?”
“If senior wants it.”
‘If I want it.’
Hong Na-yeon thought, a man says he will do the impossible for her.
And such words made her heart pound.
“What is it? Why is your face red?”
“Ah!”
Hong Na-yeon was a bit embarrassed and covered her face which was burning up along with her heart pounding.
She didn’t know why.
She tried to calm her breathing.
‘T-that is yes. Those words about the emperor cannot be true.’
The words Mumu had said were meant to soothe her only. And it wouldn’t be like that if he saw her as a woman.
The child just had a warm heart…
Hong Na-yeon looked at Mumu.
‘…’
Mumu titled his head. Even if he had the mask on, she was thinking of his original face. And there was no one around so—
“Mumu…”
Hong Na-yeon spoke with her pounding heart and then tried to reach for Mumu’s face.
At that, Mumu turned his head.
As a result, Hong Na-yeon felt a bit embarrassed and ashamed.
‘W-what was I trying…’
“See that?”
“Uh?”
At his words she ended up turning to the side Mumu was looking at. Something like dust could be seen rising. It was a herd of horses.
Even from a distance, it seemed to be well over a hundred of them.
Dududud!
And then came the sound of horses running. There were people in clothes with black on their back, making Hong Na-yeon frown.
‘Masks?’
They were all wearing masks because this was a wide plain, and it was often such cases when large groups moved.
But wearing a mask was different, it felt bad.
“Mumu… I think we need to move to our party now.”
It wasn’t known if they were enemies or not, but the group surely outnumbered them, so she wanted to move back, and at that, Mumu shook his head.
“I think waiting here will be good.”
“Wait?”
“If it is an enemy we cannot let them meet our party.”
‘Ah!’
Her eyes shone at the words of Mumu, who she thought of as innocent, but turned out to be more insightful.
As Mumu said, if they moved back, then the procession would be targeted too.
Their injuries hadn’t even healed, and if a fight broke out, it would be death for all of them.
“… You are right. But will this…”
Hong Na-yeon was about to continue, but she then took a light breath knowing it would be pointless. The man in front of her—
He had defeated two of the Four Great Warriors and cut down a collapsing tide to save everyone. It would be funny to worry when such a person was here.
Dududud!
Before long the masked men on horses approached them, and she was hoping this was all just a coincidence.
But as they got closer, the masked men pulled their weapons out, making things clear.
‘Enemies!’
They were enemies, and Hong Na-yeon pulled out her bow.
The bow she was holding was gifted to her by the Sichuan Palace lord.
This bow was made of redwood which was known to be the most flexible wood, which meant its string could be pulled back further than that of a regular bow.
Chak!
She pulled out five arrows at the same time and pulled them tight against the string.
Krrrik!
She glanced at Mumu and could notice he was fiddling with something on his left hand.
What was he doing? She wondered but then looked ahead.
Dududud!
The masked men were now in the range of her bow, so she took a deep breath.
‘We cannot help it.’
She realized that she could take advantage of this situation where she could bring people down from a distance and did her best.
‘Five Flower Blooming Shot!’
The moment she let go of the string—
Papapang!
Five arrows moved ahead and went a little higher than them, making the masked men laugh.
“Where is that being shot at?”
But—
Papapak!
“Kuak!”
“Euk!”
“Kuak!”
‘!?’
The arrows that flew upwards were bent and turned in an unpredictable direction as they moved down, striking two masked men.
Srng!
Chang!
Not everyone was caught off guard. Two other masked men who watched the arrows were skilled enough to defend while two were hit.
“Huh!”
“What skill is this!”
Those who managed to block it were overjoyed. However the problem was with the last shot.
Pak!
“N-no!”
The last shot went for the head of the one in the middle of the group, and the man who was targeted by it rolled to the ground.
Thud!
Thanks to this, the horse fell and so did the man, but the man was tended to by four others. Seeing that, Hong Na-yeon felt a bit happy.
The last one was unintentional, but with five hits, it felt like stopping seven.
“How was that? Mumu, I took down seven at once. Well…”
Pang!
It was the sound from his moment. Her hair fluttered at the wind which blew back.
Kwakwakwang!
There was a roar enough to hurt her ears.
Wheeing!
Even the horse she was riding on felt nervous at this.
“Phew!”
She barely managed to calm the horse down as she brushed her hair to the side.
‘!!!!’
Hong Na-yeon was speechless at what she witnessed in front of her.
Swish!
Mumu stuck out his black looking fist with steam spewing. And from there, the plains were destroyed in fan-like shape.
Everything that touched it was gone, simply vanishing, and many masked people also disappeared without a trace, leaving behind just the flags.
“Ah! What was that?”
Mumu titled his head as he asked her.
“…”
She felt a bit ashamed for bragging about taking down a few men.