Chapter 63. The Cold Glint of a Well-Polished Sword (10)
The Prefect was suddenly reminded of a story he had heard about a magistrate who could speak to the emperor as equals, a story about an Absolute Master! That magistrate was rumored to have been bestowed the Lion God Saber by the previous emperor.
It was said that the magistrate had originally been a member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s Investigation Department but had resigned after the Lion God Saber had been broken in a battle against the Heavenly Demon during the Heavenly Demon Rebellion.[1] In shame, he had voluntarily enlisted to the army as a white-marked member and was given the rank of magistrate.[2] However, he wasn’t just any magistrate, and neither was he subordinate to any particular office. He was second under heaven!
This was just the first of many myth-level stories that followed the Saber Emperor Jeong I-Moon.
The saber in Jeong I-Moon’s hand was originally an imperial blade, and anyone who saw it had to kneel as if facing the Emperor himself. However, as the Lion God Saber was now broken and thus its imperial authority was lost,[3] there technically was no need for the Hefei Prefect to kneel to Jeong I-Moon.
Nevertheless, the Hefei Prefect quickly made his decision and knelt down. “I-I’ve committed a horrible sin by not recognizing you, great one. Please forgive me!”
The other officials of the Magistrate Bureau, including the bureau chief and the other magistrates who were standing behind the prefect, all knelt as well. Their eyes sparkled as they looked at Jeong I-Moon, a living legend among government officials.
“We discovered that an illegal slave market that sells kidnapped civilians exists here in Hefei. How the hell did you let this happen?!”
Hearing this, Hefei Prefect Wang Geon-Pyeong was shocked.
“W-We deeply apologize, great one! We truly had no idea! I-I-If you just tell me the location, I’ll immediately send the bureau chief to arrest them all!”
It was unthinkable that an illegal slave market could exist under his jurisdiction. That was a massive blunder.
“Good! Let’s go right now!”
Led by Woo-Moon and Jeong I-Moon, all the officials of the Magistrate Bureau, from the bureau chief to the magistrate captain and even the prefect himself, personally headed to the Golden Dragon Bank Branch.
Woo-Moon could only congratulate himself for his idea. Indeed, rather than just freeing everyone and destroying the slave market himself, having the government deal with it was much better.
The officials of Hefei Province all assembled in the underground slave market secretly created by Go Mu-Dong. Under the guidance of the Hefei magistrates, the slaves who had been kidnapped from various places were set free.
Now, with this slave market offering the necessary clues, the officials could start tracking down the organizations kidnapping people and those who had bought the illegal slaves.
Although slavery itself was legal in the empire, kidnapping certainly wasn’t. Thanks to Woo-Moon, the slaves were freed, and all those involved in the slave market were captured and dragged out. Finally, Go Mu-Dong himself was dragged out like a dog, not before receiving a solid thrashing on behalf of Jeong I-Moon.
Go Mu-Dong glared at Woo-Moon with eyes so swollen they were nothing more than slits.
“You devil! I’ll kill you!”
Although Go Mu-Dong screamed and fought the entire way, Woo-Moon just smiled and waved his hand to see him off. It was a no-brainer that Go Mu-Dong would be beheaded for this.
Then, the Hefei Prefect, who had ordered the other officials to confiscate the ledgers of the illegal slave market, approached Woo-Moon with a gleeful expression.
“Young Hero! You’ve really outdone yourself!”
As he was pleading for mercy and buttering up Jeong I-Moon earlier, he heard that it had actually been Woo-Moon who had made the most significant contribution.
"It was nothing."
From the Hefei Prefect’s perspective, the fact that Jeong I-Moon had pushed the credit for the raid to Woo-Moon meant that he really cared about the boy.
‘I have to get in this brat’s good graces if I want to get on the Saber Emperor’s good side.’
“The slave market was a lot bigger than we thought, and we captured most of those in charge with it. It’s connected not only to organizations here but also to organizations in other provinces. All those who contributed to this will likely get huge rewards. In your case, young hero, as you don’t have a government position yet, you may even be able to get a suitable position for yourself.”
“Pardon? Oh... well, I’m not very interested in a government position. If that’s the case, please don’t include my name.”
Wang Geon-Pyeong, genuinely puzzled by Woo-Moon’s words, pressed further.
“Wait, you don’t want an official position?”
He couldn’t understand Woo-Moon’s refusal to hold office. Any normal person would have jumped at the chance.
"Nope."
“Well...alright then? We can’t leave out your name, but when I report, I’ll make sure to write that you aren’t looking for a government position. There will also be financial compensation involved, anyway.”
“Thank you, that would be great.”
Woo-Moon didn't know how much he would get as a reward, but it never hurt to have more money, so he didn’t refuse that part. Leaving the puzzled prefect behind, he then walked up to Jeong I-Moon.
“Senior, I’ll be leaving now.”
“Huh? Ah, okay! When you see your grandfather later, tell him that I’m going to come see him soon and shut that cheap mouth of his.”
Woo-Moon just smiled in return and responded.
“I’ll do just that.”
With that, Woo-Moon returned to the Baek Estate.
***
Somewhere in a room, a girl slowly opened her eyes.
‘Where...?’
As soon as she woke up, she placed her back against a wall and wrapped the blanket that covered her around her arm, turning it into a shield. Then, as she looked around with a fiery gaze, someone called out to her in a grumpy tone.
“You’re not in any danger, so you don’t have to be so tense.”
‘I don’t feel any bloodlust from him.’
After realizing there was no bloodlust, the girl looked relieved and looked around. It wasn’t a very large room, and it looked very much like any other normal room.
Meanwhile, Woo-Moon was secretly admiring her face.
‘She’s so pretty. I can’t tell who would be more beautiful if I compared her to junior sister Si-Hyeon. I could tell she was pretty after Mother cleaned her face a little, but now that she’s awake, she looks even more beautiful.’
“Who, you? What goal?”
“Wow, you sure don’t like talking. Well, I get it. I rescued you from the underground slave market where you were imprisoned. You were in a state of qi deviation when I found you, and I already solved that, but because you still had internal injuries, I brought you here and had my parents take care of you.”
On the off chance that the girl thought he had brought her here to do something to her, Woo-Moon deliberately emphasized that he lived with his parents. Thanks to that, the girl’s guard dropped a little further.
At that moment, Dae-Woong and Jin-Jin returned from having a drink together.
“Oh? It looks like you’ve woken up.”
“Are you feeling okay?”
Jin-Jin and Dae-Woong both looked concerned. However, the girl didn’t respond.
Then, Gun-Ha followed them into the room.
“Um, oppa... has that pretty unnie woken up?” Gun-Ha said in a uniquely slow and quiet voice.
She was truly worried about the girl, who seemed to be in a similar situation to her and was as beautiful as a fairy.
The girl's gaze turned complicated as she felt the emotions of Jin-Jin, Dae-Woong, and Gun-Ha. She seemed perplexed.
On the other hand, Woo-Moon was thinking to himself that Gun-Ha became more adorable every time he saw her. She was incredibly nice and kind, very much unlike her brother.
“Yeah, she just woke up. But I guess she’s a little scared because this place is still unfamiliar.”
“I-Is that so?”
Gun-Ha hesitated. Then, with all the courage she could muster, she walked up to the girl and took her hand.
"Unnie... Don’t be scared.”
For some reason, the girl stood still even as Gun-Ha touched her.
“You can stay here until your internal injuries heal,” said Jin-Jin. “We’ll keep you here for the time being.”
“But what is your name?” asked Woo-Moon.
"Name?"
The girl frowned slightly and thought deeply before answering.
“Ma-Ra. Name.”
"Ma-Ra? So your name is Ma-Ra, then... Good. Woo-Moon, take Ma-Ra to the empty room near the back of the residence. She can stay there for now. And...”
Jin-Jin went to her wardrobe and took out a gown adorned with white flowers that Dae-Woong had bought with all of his savings when they had been newlyweds.
“Your clothes are really tattered, so wear this instead.”
MaRa's clothes were tattered and torn from her time in captivity, so they were little more than rags by this point. Ma-Ra looked at the white flowers with a still gaze for a moment, then accepted the gown.
Dae-Woong cleared his throat, unable to hide his joy.
“Ahem, did you keep that thing all this time?”
“Of course I did. This is the first gift you gave me after we got married.”
Woo-Moon, who suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable due to the strange atmosphere in the room, stood up quickly.
“I’ll show you to your room. Follow me, Ma-Ra.”
As he walked toward the room, Woo-Moon looked back at Ma-Ra. “Oh, I already asked you for your name. But you don’t know my name yet, right? Aren’t you curious?”
"Curious?"
"Yes.”
"No."
As Ma-Ra’s answer really was too short, Woo-Moon simply gave up.
“Ah...I see. Not curious. Alright...well, anyway, you can stay in this room.”
“Okay,” she responded as she entered the room.
As Woo-Moon followed her in and began explaining about the dining area, rear hall, training hall, and the people living in each building, Ma-Ra suddenly began to strip.
“Huh?!”
Before he could say anything, Ma-Ra had already stripped down to her undergarments. Although she looked to be only sixteen or seventeen, her body was already well-developed, curvy where it was supposed to be curvy and slim where it was supposed to be slim.
“Ahem! W-What are you doing?!”
Woo-Moon hurriedly turned around and looked away. However, the momentary glimpse he had of her body continued to be imprinted in his mind as if it had been a great shock to his system.
While most people of this era usually got married and started families as early as fourteen or fifteen, Woo-Moon was still a complete virgin who had never even held a woman’s hand before.
Ma-Ra paid no attention to whether Woo-Moon was embarrassed or not and put on the flower gown that Jin-Jin had given her. Confirming that Ma-Ra had fully dressed by the sound of the clothes rustling, Woo-Moon turned back around.
“Don’t do things like this. If you wanted to change your clothes, you should have done that after I left.”
“Why?”
Woo-Moon was shocked to see Ma-Ra asking him such an obvious question with an expressionless face and a voice that held zero emotion.
“Why? A grown woman shouldn’t be showing her body to a man she hasn’t married.”
"Can’t?"
"Of course not!"
“Okay. From now. Careful.”
Looking at her, it seemed like Ma-Ra really didn't know about these things.
‘What kind of environment did you grow up in...’
“You. Face. Red.”
Woo-Moon grumbled at her words.
“Of course I’m red. This is the normal response to something like this. Um...anyway...it looks really good on you.”
No, it wasn’t just that it looked good on her; rather, the gown adorned with white flowers suited her so well that it seemed as if it had been made specially for her. The flowers embroidered on the gown made Ma-Ra's beautiful appearance stand out even more.
However, Ma-Ra didn’t seem to like it, and she grumbled as she looked at the Flower Gown.
“Clothes. Uncomfortable. No good. Killing.”
Obviously, a flower gown was a decorative garment that young women wore simply for its beauty and was by no means a practical garment. It was just a flowery piece of clothing, hence the name.
It was only then that Woo-Moon had belatedly remembered her incredible assassination skills that didn’t match her age.
‘To reach that level... even if she cultivated from birth—no, even if she cultivated from her conception, without ever taking time to eat or sleep, it’s an incredible achievement.’
The more he thought about it, the more he started to understand Ma-Ra’s background and why she was acting the way she was acting.
‘Yeah...maybe she really did cultivate exactly like that.’
Suddenly, he felt sorry for her. However, he didn’t try to ask her about her past. She was most likely anxious due to the unfamiliar surroundings, so the first thing for him to do was to help her calm down. That was also why Jin-Jin hadn’t said much to her, either.
“Then, rest now.”
1. The Embroidered Uniform Guard was the imperial secret police of Ancient China. They had the highest authority under the emperor, weren’t bound by any laws or jurisdictions, were allowed to act at will, and avoided all due process. ☜
2. To be white-marked is to be demoted to the lowest official rank. It signifies that the individual used to be among the highest ranks and thus is a mark of shame. ☜
3. Generally speaking, imperial items bestowed upon subjects were only broken by order of the Emperor as a punishment and proof of the bestowed falling out of favor. If a bestowed item was destroyed or damaged in any way, it was seen as an insult to the Emperor. ☜
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