Chapter 144: Love (6)
Translator: bjgoofy
The princess spoke as though something absolutely had to be done, and as I clutched my bewildered head and mulled over what on earth she meant, a single hypothesis came to mind.
And what was it?
Could this be... the bureaucratic approach to getting things done?
'The bureaucratic approach... is that really what this is?'
The world of government officials was one where, the moment the word "official" was attached to anything, one had to put on a show for the higher-ups, and that inevitably bred ceremony and empty formalities.
A governor was essentially a high-ranking government official of this era, and it seemed he needed something to present to those above him.
But having carried the mindset of my previous life, the thing I hated most was exactly that kind of bureaucratic posturing.
It was all about putting on a show, wasn't it?
In my past life, hadn't I suffered tremendously when some law was suddenly passed requiring breeding facilities that made no sense for actual conditions on the ground?
I steadied myself and asked the princess in return.
I told her that the people should come first, and that putting on a show for appearances wouldn't do anyone any good.
I left myself a bit of wiggle room, just in case she might scold me for being impertinent.
"Um, this is something that'll blow over on its own if you just leave it alone, so you're saying something needs to be done? Is there really a need for that? Wouldn't it be better to reassure the people first by telling them things will calm down in a few days?
It seems like you need something to show someone.... What sort of method might there be?"
At that, the startled princess and the governor looked at each other with widened eyes.
It seemed like that had struck a nerve.
Then the princess appeared to send a Sound Transmission, as the two exchanged glances and shared a silent conversation.
Soon, as if their discussion had concluded, the governor and the princess nodded one after the other, and from the princess's side came words that carried a sense of concession.
"At first, I simply thought of you as a young hero, but you've turned out to be a man of considerable insight in many ways. You are correct. As Young Hero says, I do need something to show. How should I explain this.... I wonder if Young Hero would be able to understand...."
That was when it happened.
A sudden creaking sound of door hinges.
Despite the princess having clearly dismissed everyone, the door cracked open and the creak of hinges echoed through the reception hall.
-Creeeak.
"Who is it!? I believe I made it quite clear that no one was to come anywhere near here until our conversation was finished!?"
The princess's sharp cry lashed out at the creaking hinges.
I expected a voice of apology from outside, but what poked through the slightly opened door into the reception hall was not a person at all, but two unexpected figures... no, two venomous creatures: Cho and Bin.
-Tssrit?
-Tsurur?
The two of them tilted their heads sideways through the crack in the door, peeking in and staring at me, asking, 「Daddy, is the talking still going?」 and 「Do we have to wait more? Why is that woman yelling?」
Their antennae were wriggling through the gap in the door.
Yohwa and these two were too large to come inside, so I had told them to wait at the entrance until the conversation was over, but it seemed they couldn't hold out and had poked their heads in.
"My apologies, Princess. The children couldn't wait any longer, it seems."
"Ch-children?"
Worried the kids might get scolded for interrupting the princess's conversation, I quickly apologized to her and rushed toward the door.
"Hey, you two, Daddy told you to wait. Just a little longer, the talk is almost done, okay? Let's wait just a bit more. Hmm?"
-Tsurur.... 「When's it gonna be over? We're bored!」
-Tssrit. 「Okay, Daddy.」
Bin, throwing a little tantrum, and Cho, nodding obediently.
True to form as the eldest daughter, Cho coiled her body around Bin and dragged her back through the gap.
With Bin's grumbling still echoing in my heart, I turned around to find the princess and the governor wearing stunned expressions.
The princess asked in a voice full of disbelief.
"Th-they understand what you say!? And d-daughters, you said?"
"Ah...."
Earlier, I had only shown Cho and Bin's outward appearance as though they were just some animals I happened to keep around, trying to present myself as an expert, and since I had told them to wait outside through my thoughts alone, the princess was apparently shocked to discover they could understand speech and that I called them my daughters.
'It's been a while since I showed off, hasn't it? Well, since she's royalty, I'll be generous for once.'
Seeing the stunned pair, I threw open the reception hall door that I had just closed and called out to Yohwa and the two waiting outside.
"Bin, Cho, Yohwa."
-Tssrit?
-Hisss?
The three gathered at the doorway at my call.
At the same time, I summoned the other children nestled in my arms and Hwa-eun's.
"Yeondu, Hyang, Snow, Ice. And Baby. These two are Moji and Soji. Sorry for the late introduction. They are my family."
Snow and Ice leaped out from the folds of Hwa-eun's skirt with Baby perched atop their heads, bounding over to me, while Moji and Soji, who had been sitting still like shoulder ornaments, began to squirm the moment I called their names.
On top of that, when Hyang and Yeondu popped out from the nape of my neck, the governor's and the princess's eyes went wide.
When Hyang nuzzled her cheek against mine, their eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.
'Astonishing and marvelous, isn't it? This is the kind of thing you can't see without a VIP pass to the Venomous Creatures Garden....'
Just as I was privately thinking that I had given the princess quite the show today and she should be grateful to me for the rest of her life, her question reached my ears.
"F-family, you say?"
"Yes. As you can see, I'm a man who is absolutely mad about venomous creatures. So, they are family."
That was when it happened.
The instant my words ended, the princess abruptly shot up from her seat.
A beaming smile spread across her face as she asked.
"Mad about venomous creatures? Is that truly so?"
"Yes, well, you could certainly call it madness."
I was slightly taken aback by her sudden burst of delight.
'Wh-what?'
"And here I was worrying for nothing? Then it seems our conversation will go quite smoothly."
"Pardon?"
The princess, suddenly saying our conversation would go smoothly.
She then made a request to my father-in-law.
"The person to help me seems to be none other than this Young Hero. Would it be all right if I spoke with him privately?"
"Excuse me!?"
I had no idea what had made her so pleased, but the princess's face was clearly brimming with joy.
She was suddenly requesting a private audience.
'Something about this feels unsettling?'
A private audience that made me deeply uneasy, at that.
***
With everyone else sent away, only the princess and I remained.
Sure enough, my uneasy gut feeling had not been wrong, as the princess lowered her voice to a conspiratorial tone and put the fear into me.
"From this point on, you must keep everything I say strictly secret. If this gets out, it could put your life in danger. Do you understand?"
'Damn it, I knew something felt off....'
Even from the dramas of my past life, I knew that when it came to political secrets, not knowing was the best way to stay alive....
With a deflated expression, I asked cautiously.
"C-couldn't I just not hear it?"
At that, the princess flashed a mischievous grin and gave a little wink as she answered.
"No, you may not. Hehe. If I don't tell you this, I don't think Young Hero will help me. And I believe Young Hero needs to hear it to understand me."
"I'll just help you regardless. Now let's see, what would be a good way to help the princess?"
I went as far as saying I would help no matter what, but the princess shook her head.
With a perfectly haughty expression that barely concealed her amusement, the princess gave her command.
"This is an order from the imperial house, so listen well."
"...."
Once an imperial order was invoked, what choice did I have?
All I could do was put on a long-suffering face and resign myself to listening.
Seeing my expression seemed to only delight the princess further as she began to tell me her story.
"So, you see, it happened when I was six years old. For the first time, my eyes were drawn to the sword hanging at the waist of an Imperial Guardsman. A beautiful sword with golden tassels. I think that was when it all started. When I first became mad about swords......."
***
"Waaaaah!"
Guandao Princess, Yu Ji-ryeon.
Ji-ryeon's first memory of a sword came with tears.
"Wh-what has happened here! Why is the princess crying?"
The empress's thundering rebuke descended at the sound of her weeping.
Ji-ryeon wiped away her tears and pointed at one of the Imperial Guardsmen.
Ji-ryeon was the only legitimate child born to the empress whom the emperor cherished most. Though she was a princess, from the moment of her birth she had monopolized the emperor's affection just as her mother the empress had. Making her cry was an offense that could cost a man his head, though six-year-old Ji-ryeon could not have known such things.
The Imperial Guardsman she had pointed at prostrated himself, his face drained of all color.
He cried out from his prostration.
"P-please, take my life! Your Majesty the Empress! Her Highness the Princess asked for my sword, and I feared she might be injured...."
"She wanted the sword, you say?"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Is this true, Princess?"
Ji-ryeon nodded tearfully at the empress's question.
She had wanted to wear that sword at her own waist, the one with the glittering golden tassels.
"Swords are dangerous, so that will not do, Princess."
The empress gently explained that swords were dangerous, and Ji-ryeon's desire to wear one at her waist seemed to fade. However, a few days later, when Ji-ryeon accompanied the emperor to observe the Imperial Guard's training, her eyes were stolen completely by that magnificent display of martial choreography. Right then and there, she begged the emperor to let her learn swordsmanship.
"Swordsmanship? Very well. If my princess wishes to learn, then learn she shall. I will assign you a fine instructor."
At first, the emperor seemed to think nothing of it.
Perhaps he regarded it as nothing more than a child's whimsical request, for he simply ordered the commander of the Imperial Guard to teach Ji-ryeon the sword as she desired.
And so began her first training.
Her first training session was a tremendous disappointment from the very start.
She had imagined herself wielding a gleaming sword and performing dazzling swordsmanship, but what her instructor, the general who commanded the Imperial Guard, brought was a small wooden sword.
One that fit perfectly in her hand, about a foot and a half long.
"A wooden sword.... It's so short...."
"Your Highness, everyone begins their training with a wooden sword. If we started with a real blade and you were injured, it would be a grave matter. Once you've grown accustomed to the wooden sword, I shall speak to His Majesty and request that a real sword be bestowed upon you. So let us start by getting comfortable with it."
"Really!?"
"Of course. Now then, let us begin with basic cuts...."
The commander of the Imperial Guard seemed about to teach her something strange, but the moment Ji-ryeon gripped the wooden sword, she closed her eyes and recalled the Imperial Guard's sword dance she had seen days ago.
Then, regardless of whatever the commander was saying, she began to slowly perform what had appeared in her mind.
At first, since it was her very first time moving while swinging a sword, she nearly stumbled from the unfamiliarity. But with each repetition, the feeling grew more natural.
When she finally lowered the wooden sword with a look of satisfaction, what she saw was the commander of the Imperial Guard, his eyes wide with astonishment.
"M-Martial Talent!"
"Martial Talent?"
The fact that Ji-ryeon possessed exceptional Martial Talent was promptly reported to the emperor, and the emperor was greatly pleased, bestowing upon Ji-ryeon a real sword.
He rejoiced at the words that she was a prodigy for the ages, woman though she was.
Thanks to this, Ji-ryeon was free to practice swordsmanship to her heart's content. Yet the more she trained, the more she felt something was off.
The further she extended and honed her blade, the more the thought grew that the imperial house's finest sword art was not truly hers.
At twelve years old, Ji-ryeon asked the commander of the Imperial Guard.
"Why is it that the more I practice the imperial martial arts, the more it feels like they are not mine?"
"You feel they are not yours, Your Highness?"
"Yes."
At her words, the commander fell into deep contemplation, his expression grave.
He spoke in a careful voice.
"Not all swords are the same; each person has a sword that suits them. I believe the sword befitting Your Highness is not the Killing Sword of the imperial house, but rather a Daoist or Buddhist style of swordsmanship."
Given the pragmatic nature of imperial martial arts, the imperial house's swordsmanship was predominantly Killing Sword, the art of taking lives. According to the general, however, Ji-ryeon exhibited the temperament of someone who found enlightenment through solitary practice with the blade, a disposition more suited to Daoist or Buddhist traditions.
Hearing this, Ji-ryeon resolved to study Daoist or Buddhist martial arts.
She first tried learning several Daoist and Buddhist martial arts from the imperial archives, and found that Buddhist martial arts suited her better.
That realization pleased her.
Daoist martial sects would obviously refuse her, citing the policy of Non-Interference in Martial Affairs as their reason, but the Buddhist Sect would ordain anyone who sought refuge in the faith, so she believed they would not refuse her either.
And so, Ji-ryeon made a show of visiting various temples across the Central Plains, pretending to offer devout prayers, all to disguise herself as a woman of sincere Buddhist faith.
Her true objective was the Emei Sect.
But the Emei Sect rejected her.
They feared that accepting a princess who had come declaring her wish to become a Buddhist nun might invite the wrath of the imperial house.
When she was asked whether the emperor had granted permission for her to become a nun and Ji-ryeon hesitated to answer, she was refused outright.
In the end, the disappointed Ji-ryeon had no choice but to turn her steps back toward the Imperial Palace.
And it was then, by fate, that she met her master.
A small hermitage she stopped at midway through her journey home.
Plagued by frustration and wanting to swing her sword, she slipped away from her court ladies in the dead of night and climbed the hill behind the hermitage, where a familiar sound reached her ears.
-Shing. Shing.
The sound of a sword cutting through air drew her feet forward of their own accord, and where that path led, she found a woman.
One who clearly wore the robes of a Buddhist nun, yet kept her hair long.
A sword traced an arc from which she could not tear her eyes away.
What Ji-ryeon had yearned for in her heart was right there before her.
The swung blade cleaved the moonlight, and darkness scattered along the cold edge of the sword.
Leaves, caught in the sword's wind and torn from their branches, drifted gently around the woman before fluttering softly to the ground.
While Ji-ryeon stood transfixed by the sight, the woman, having sensed her presence, rebuked her in a sharp voice.
"One does not spy upon another's training! Who is your master, that they failed to teach you even that!?"
Startled by the rebuke, Ji-ryeon quickly bowed her head and spoke.
She had never been taught such a thing, but she wanted to learn that very sword she had just witnessed from this woman.
"I-I have no master, so I was never taught such things. I'm sorry."
"Hm? You have no master?"
"I-I was so captivated by your swordsmanship that I committed a discourtesy. Please, I beg you, teach me!"
Having previously learned martial world etiquette from the commander of the Imperial Guard in preparation for entering the Emei Sect, Ji-ryeon performed a Cupped Fist Salute and bowed formally. The woman regarded Ji-ryeon steadily.
The woman smiled and answered.
"You ask to be taught without even knowing who I am? Very well. Draw your sword and come at me. It would be a fine thing to offer guidance to a younger student, no?"
And the time that followed was like a dream.
In the Imperial Palace, she had never been able to cross swords with anyone, and even when sparring with opponents wielding wooden swords, they never struck back, leaving it utterly dull. But now, fabric tore beneath the blade.
When the sword grazed her cheek and drew blood, she could not help but tremble with exhilaration.
Training where one's life was on the line.
Yes, that was one of the things Ji-ryeon had longed for.
-Clang! Claaang!
"You parried that? Then try this as well. Great Compassion Thousand Hands Sword!"
-Clanggg.
After dozens of exchanges, the sword the emperor had bestowed upon Ji-ryeon snapped in two, and then came a voice.
Ji-ryeon was gripping the remaining hilt of her broken sword with hands still trembling from the impact of parrying those strikes, when the woman's voice reached her.
"Will you let me see your wrist?"
At the woman's request, Ji-ryeon held out her wrist as though in a trance.
The woman grasped it, examined something, and then nodded.
"I knew it! You possess remarkable talent! And pure Internal Strength at that. There is a trace of Killing Intent in your swordsmanship, but that seems to be the fault of what you were taught. You said you have no master. Is that truly so?"
When Ji-ryeon, dazed, nodded at the question, a voice followed.
"Is that so? Then, would you perhaps like to become my disciple? I am Yeonhwa, the 11th Sword Empress of Botaam Temple of the South Sea, of the Sword Pavilion."
"Th-the Sword Empress!?"
She had certainly heard of Botaam Temple, but the reason she had set her sights on the Emei Sect was that she had heard Botaam Temple was even more reclusive.
She had given up, having been told it was no easy matter to become a disciple there, yet the Sword Pavilion was the greatest sect for a woman to learn the sword.
Ji-ryeon dropped to her knees at once and answered.
Moreover, if this woman was the Sword Empress, she was the head of Botaam Temple.
It meant she could finally learn the supreme Buddhist sword arts she had so desperately longed for.
"Th-thank you! Thank you!"
"Well then, you must offer the nine bows of discipleship to your master, should you not?"
"Yes, of course! Master, please accept my bows."
And so, after performing the full ceremony of nine bows with utmost reverence, it happened.
"Very well. Then, at first light, I shall go to your parents and inform them that you have become my disciple. Where is your home?"
At that, Ji-ryeon rolled her eyes this way and that before answering.
"The... the Imperial Palace."
"?"
Her master blinked at the words "Imperial Palace".
After a moment, regaining her composure, the master asked again.
"Ah, do your parents happen to work at the Imperial Palace? Then, what is their post?"
"The... the Emperor...."
Her master's eyes flew wide open in utter disbelief.
*****
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