The silence didn't last long.
The man in black, finally snapping out of it, scrambled to pick up his hand and yelled, "What the hell are you idiots doing?! Do you think some kid, barely out of diapers, could've unleashed sword energy?!"
He tried to sound tough, but the slight shake in his voice just made his companions even more frightened.
"She must have tricked us somehow. Get her head...now!"
At that moment.
"Silence!"
Everything went ice-cold when a yell, infused with qi, cut through the air.
The one cutting off the leader in black was a middle-aged man with graying hair.
The man's eyes were deep-set, like caves, but you could practically feel the experience radiating off him. The man, who'd been giving Yeo-il a once-over, bowed deeply and asked, very politely, "These clueless fools had no idea who they were dealing with, blocking the path of a grandmaster. My deepest apologies."
"Captain, what the...?"
"Shut it! You're more useless than a blind man. If you don't want to make this worse, keep your trap shut and worry about your damn wrist."
Yeo-il stared hard at the gray-haired man they called Captain.
Even though he was a small man, he had this incredibly intense aura. And even looking at Yeo-il, who could make anyone underestimate her, he didn't look cocky or unsure at all.
There are only a couple of reasons why a badass like him would call a young woman 'senior'.
One of them is that whole 'Reversal of Aging' thing.
It's when a master reaches enlightenment and gains a younger body.
The assassins, finally getting the picture, gulped and stiffened.
Young swordswoman, sword energy... It must have dawned on them that they were dealing with an ultimate master, the kind you almost never encounter.
"I've never seen external skills that strong, even at my age... Would you be willing to tell this lowly one your name?"
It wasn't Yeo-il who answered, but Seol-yeong.
"Since when are assassins anyone's 'juniors'?"
The Captain shot Seol-yeong a death glare, but Seol-yeong didn't budge, using his body to shield Yeo-il.
When Yeo-il remained silent, the Captain nodded slowly.
"Looks like you're keeping to yourself. Alright, I won't pry. Senior, if you'll allow it, we'll leave quietly. I swear, we won't make the same mistake again. Does that sound good?"
Seol-yeong finally turned to Yeo-il, his eyes practically screaming, 'You're seriously letting these scumbags walk? I almost got killed!'
Yeo-il's eyes drifted to the carriage sitting by itself not far off.
Seol-yeong, getting the hint, said, sounding annoyed, "The carriage stays."
When Seol-yeong gave her a look that said, 'That it?', Yeo-il jerked her chin toward the young maid shaking behind her. Seol-yeong nodded.
"Her too."
The Captain paused, then asked Yeo-il, very carefully, "Do you know who's in that carriage?"
“••••••••••”
"You do know."
The Captain and the man behind him exchanged a quick look. Then, the Captain dropped his hands and stepped back.
"We'll do what you said. But don't waste your pity on Namgung Soyo. She's not worth it."
Yeo-il ignored the Captain's loaded comment and called Seol-yeong over to check on him.
Seol-yeong whined a bit, but he didn't slap away Yeo-il's hand checking his face. Meanwhile, the assassins had vanished.
The maid, who'd been holding her breath the whole time, wiped her soaked eyes and kept bowing.
"Oh... Th-thank you. Thank you so much, Hero! You saved me and the young miss! You're a lifesaver!"
The maid scrambled over the fallen tree blocking the carriage.
Seol-yeong, looking worried, followed her.
"Miss! Miss! The bad guys are gone! Our hero saved us! Are you okay..."
Yeo-il's eyes landed on the maid and Seol-yeong, standing stock-still in front of the battered carriage.
A second later, the whole bloody scene came into view.
'One, two, three... Four, if you count the woman who must be Namgung Soyo.'
One woman, three girls. Seol-yeong checked their pulses, one by one, then shook his head, looking grim.
"All dead. That explains why they backed off so easily."
"Yeah."
"But... something's off. The other maids all died protecting their mistress, right? How did this one get away and come to us for help?"
Seol-yeong gave the young maid a cold look.
The maid, holding Namgung Soyo's cold hand and crying silently, looked completely out of it.
"Yeah... You're right... Oh, I should've died instead of her... I should've stopped her from just giving up... Waaah!"
Seol-yeong, still suspicious as hell, blurted out, "You're telling me your mistress didn't even fight back?"
The girl cried for a while, then fiddled with something near her neck and pulled out a necklace with a small crystal.
"I-it's this necklace... Three days ago, Miss Soyo gave this to me. She said it was the only thing of her mother's she had... And she asked me to find her mother for her, since she was going to die."
"She said what?"
"Sniff... S-she knew... Namgung Soyo knew ever since she left home. She wasn't going to make it back alive..."
From the maid's bitter words, Yeo-il figured there was some seriously messed up family drama between Namgung Soyo and the Namgung clan.
'Did the head of the Namgung clan kill his own daughter?'
Yeo-il didn't bother saying it out loud. This kid wouldn't know the answer anyway.
"Hic! She made a lot of noise on purpose so I could get away. But, Hero! I never thought... it would be such a sad, pointless death... She was the nicest, most beautiful person in the world!"
“••••••••••”
"Sh-she shouldn't have died like this. She took me in, a street rat, fed me, cleaned me up, made me human..."
The maid, eyes all puffy from crying, stared wide-eyed and stroked the heads of the other maids, who looked like they were just sleeping.
"This one, and that one... They were all orphans the young miss took in and treated like her own sisters. We were a family! They helped me escape because I was the fastest... Waaah..."
The maid seemed to be telling the truth.
Yes, when Yeo-il first found them, the three maids were huddled around Namgung Soyo, like they'd been protecting her until the very end.
"Oh, it's killing me, she's so pitiful. Sniff... All she ever wanted was to find her mom, who she got separated from when she was little... And she didn't even get to do that... She was kicked out as a kid and lived on her own ever since. What did she ever do to deserve this...?"
Her sobs echoed all over Cheonju Mountain, like they could swallow the whole place.
When the maid was hiccuping from crying so much, Yeo-il spoke softly.
"Namgung Soyo was a good person."
The maid sniffled, swallowed hard, and nodded.
"Yeah..."
"And all she wanted was to find her mother."
"Y-yes, Hero."
"But why was she kicked out?"
The maid gave Yeo-il a look like, 'How did you know?', then realized she'd spilled the beans herself and hung her head.
"I... I don't really know. She just said it was because she was an illegitimate daughter and the Lord didn't like her."
"An illegitimate daughter, huh."
What kind of sin is that?
Yeo-il, thinking it over, remembered the scroll the old man left.
There was a secret message on the ripped-up end of the scroll.
Rumor has it the Namgung clan keeps the Salmak's hit list.
Might come in handy.
And then she runs into the Namgung clan right here.
Coincidence? Crazy. Fate? Perfect timing.
Then she thought about the jade ring she kept tucked away.
The Salmak's hit list. The jade ring.
There was a connection between them, a long one, that Yeo-il couldn't ignore...
She asked the maid, trying to sound casual, "So, how old was Namgung Soyo when she left home?"
"Huh? Uh... She said it was ten years before jihak, so... five years old."
"After she left, did any family come to visit?"
"Oh, no. Her half-siblings were all jerks and never visited or called, not even once."
"So, after Namgung Soyo left at five, she never saw any of her family again?"
"Yeah, as far as I know... But why all the questions?"
A sly smile crept onto Yeo-il's face.
"I've got a proposition for you. Do you want to hear it?"
The maid looked nervous and asked, "To me? A nobody? What kind of proposition?"
"I'll take your dead mistress's place. I'll become Namgung Soyo.”
