Namgung Jin stood on the first floor of Baekgeumgak and looked around.When he had first stepped into Baekgeumgak, everything had been half-wrecked and smeared with blood.Yet now, not only had it been cleaned to a shine, the new display cases were filled with ornaments and precious jewelry.Ordinarily, one would be afraid thieves might come again and would hide away anything valuable, but Baekgeumgak laid out expensive goods as if nothing had happened.Namgung Jin let out a hollow laugh.He could not tell whether it was the peculiar foolishness of merchants who throw away safety before wealth, or the confidence that now no one could possibly intrude.Clatter.At the sound of footsteps coming down the wooden stairs, Namgung Jin’s gaze rose.Baekgeumgak’s manager opened his mouth with an awkward smile.“I heard a rumor you went straight to headquarters, but I suppose it was nonsense. I didn’t expect you to visit Baekgeumgak this quickly.”“No. Thanks to the path you told me, I met the Alliance Leader and went to headquarters.”Namgung Jin added with a bitter smile.“Only, something unfortunate happened and I was thrown out.”“Thrown out?”The manager’s narrow eyes opened wide. He seemed curious.But Namgung Jin did not seem inclined to satisfy that curiosity.Keeping his eyes lowered, he took something out from between his robes.“I understand the manager’s name is Min Doyu. Is that correct?”Namgung Jin asked it offhandedly, as if it were a trivial question.“Min Doyu? Who is that?”The manager tilted his head as if he had no idea what he was talking about.Namgung Jin lowered the envelope pinched between his fingers to the side of his leg. The manager’s gaze reflexively dropped to follow that hand, then snapped up quickly.Boom.Min Doyu blocked the dagger that had been about to pierce the back of his neck.The Namgung Little Clan Head showed no sign of surprise, as if he had anticipated the reaction.After Namgung Jin’s previous visit, Min Doyu had looked into him. He had dug into the Little Clan Head’s martial ability and openings, and among the findings was the fact that he was a right-handed swordsman.Because Namgung Jin held the envelope in his right hand, Min Doyu let his guard down.Yet the Little Clan Head, though a right-handed swordsman, gripped the dagger in his left. The tip of that blade was aimed precisely at the center of Min Doyu’s throat. Had Min Doyu failed to seize the wrist, it might have run him through.The Little Clan Head was already certain he was Min Doyu. He also seemed to have guessed that Min Doyu would have investigated him.Min Doyu swallowed a curse.'Tang Sohwa sent him.'Though the Hall Lord had told that woman many things, their true names were by no means light information. Even so, that woman had revealed their identities to the Namgung Little Clan Head.Min Doyu’s killing intent gradually thickened.It would be difficult to let the Little Clan Head leave as he was.Even if he did not kill him, he had to grasp how much the Little Clan Head knew and make him keep his mouth shut.The problem was that this Little Clan Head’s martial ability was not low.If Min Doyu failed to stop him and the man escaped, it would be a disaster.Just as Min Doyu’s gaze moved naturally toward the door, something caught his eye.“I have not come to harm you. I came to ask a favor.”Namgung Jin thrust forward the envelope he held in his other hand, as if to block Min Doyu’s line of sight.“I intend to leave for the Northern Sea. Help me.”“The Northern Sea?”At the abrupt words, Min Doyu asked back in surprise.Namgung Jin curled his lips and loosened his fingers. The envelope fell; Min Doyu received it.Min Doyu opened the letter at once and his features twisted fiercely. He had thought at most it would be a request to procure some goods, but this was no mere matter of items.“Are you planning to set up a household in the Northern Sea or something?”“Well. I don’t think that’s it.”“Don’t think?”“I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do in the Northern Sea. I was thrown out of headquarters without time to ask.”“……”“So then, what will you do?”Namgung Jin asked as if Min Doyu had a choice. But with what followed, Min Doyu realized he had none.Namgung Jin’s gaze slid toward the stairs.“Shall I go up myself to meet the owner of Baekgeumgak? Or will you pass it along and keep your lord’s identity hidden in his stead?”Min Doyu did not hesitate.“Wait here.”It was not that he feared the Hall Lord would be hurt.Min Doyu moved while keeping his own identity concealed, but the mad Hall Lord might brazenly reveal his face and kill this impudent Little Clan Head.If that happened, the cleanup of that enormous incident would fall to Min Doyu.As Min Doyu went up the stairs, one of Baekgeumgak’s clerks who had remained back out of sight revealed himself—as if to keep watch on the Little Clan Head.Doyu quickly climbed the stairs. When he reached the dark top, all sound vanished.He knelt before a closed door and bowed low.“Hall Lord.”But no answer came from beyond the door.The Hall Lord awaited Doyu’s report in silence. Knowing his lord’s temperament, Doyu did not drag it out and spoke at once of what had occurred below.“Tang Sohwa says she will go to the Northern Sea and has asked a few things of Baekgeumgak.”Doyu unfolded the letter and read the righteous woman’s shameless demands.“……It isn’t only items. She asks for an iron room, an apothecary, and Northern Sea clothing as well.”As his gaze reached the end of the sentence, Doyu closed his mouth.He reluctantly spat out the words he had meant to swallow.“And…… she asks whether the Hall Lord has returned safely.”“……”“If you have returned safely, she writes that after a trip to the Northern Sea she will come find the Great Desert Sun Palace, so don’t die—stay alive.”A small laugh sounded from beyond the door.Rattle.When the door opened, the Hall Lord sitting on the windowsill came into view.At Hae-rak’s gesture, Doyu hurried inside and handed him the letter.Hae-rak, checking the contents, propped his chin.“It’s not even a difficult favor. Before coming to the Central Plains, we secured a few pavilions along the coast to catch those Northern Sea rats, didn’t we? Give her one. To be used with separate rooms for man and woman. The farther apart they are, the better.”Though the Hall Lord tacked on something pointless, Doyu—for the first time in a while—could ignore that nonsense.Other thoughts filled his head.“Seeing the Great Desert Sun Palace mentioned, I can’t help but ask. Just what is Tang Sohwa trying to do in the Northern Sea?”Hae-rak spoke as if it were no big thing.“It seems she intends to shove the Northern Sea Ice Palace into the hands of those Northern Sea runaways.”“……Is that possible?”“She appears to believe it is.”Hae-rak stroked his long, hanging hair and let out a sigh.“Don’t they think along the same grain as the Ice Palace lot? Entertaining reckless notions, and unable to give them up, deliberately buying themselves hardship.”Ordinarily, Doyu would have agreed with Hae-rak’s words, but he could not echo that thought now.After a silence, Doyu carefully asked,“However, what does it mean that you will restore the Great Desert Sun Palace to them, Hall Lord?”“She means to keep repeating the same thing she’s doing now. Next she intends to separate the Great Desert Sun Palace bloodline from the Cult.”Finding it more absurd the more he considered it, Hae-rak gave a short laugh.“Foolish to the extreme. That she believes such a fantastical plan will succeed.”“It might succeed, might it not?”At Doyu’s sharpened tone, Hae-rak’s eyes slid.“No one thought the Northern Sea lot could keep running for three years. Perhaps reclaiming the Palace is possible as well.”One corner of Hae-rak’s mouth lifted.“So Tang Sohwa has reason to overreach. I see at least one fool already wavering when nothing has even succeeded yet.”He placed the letter into the wooden box set upon the windowsill.“In any case, make the preparations. As quickly as possible. She’ll know the Blood Demon is looking for me, so she’ll have set a hurried date to flee to the Northern Sea.”“……How am I to make preparations if you take that letter with you?”“There aren’t many things written. Could you not memorize them?”“Am I a sorcerer? I’m not as clever as those people. There were even herbs listed I’d never seen before.”Clack.Opening the wooden box again, Hae-rak took out the slip.“I’ll read it once. Memorize it.”“No, I can’t memorize it.”Doyu’s eyes flew wide in alarm, but Hae-rak began to recite the things Tang Sohwa had requested.With no choice, Doyu took it in with his ears, muttering inwardly as he tried to memorize it. Naturally, he did not memorize all of it.'Damn it…… I’ll just have to prepare everything exactly as written.'“And put the pavilion on the island in order as well.”“……Why are you going there?”The Northern Sea was a lake, but so vast that it was called a sea. Thus when one said “Northern Sea,” it commonly referred to that great lake and the shores encircling it.The Northern Sea Ice Palace sat on an island skewed toward the lake’s southern side. The island was as broad as a decent capital, and the bloodline of the Northern Sea Ice Palace that ruled the Northern Sea like a king, along with the Northern Sea nobility, dwelled there together.Where nobles gathered, a splendid commercial district had formed at the Northern Sea Ice Palace as a matter of course.Merchants had found their way onto the island by any means. Many wished to trade for rare elixirs that could be obtained only in the Northern Sea, such as Ice Crystal and Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng. Moreover, because the isolated island needed many supplies, merchants could receive those precious elixirs at relatively low prices.Only, that splendid marketplace had, with the fall of the Northern Sea Ice Palace, come under the Blood Cult’s domain.This was the problem.When Hae-rak crossed over to the Central Plains, the Northern Sea Ice Palace’s marketplace had been handed to the Red Blood Hall Lord.And though the Red Blood Hall had left its post, it was uncertain whether the island they had occupied for three years would be cleanly empty. No—uncertain was the wrong word. It was certain the Red Blood Hall rats would remain.From inns and taverns to shops, every inch of commerce had passed through Red Blood Hall’s hands; mishandle it, and they could be isolated on the island and face a major incident.And yet, going along to the Northern Sea to guard a pavilion they had cleared out was awkward as well.Because of the Blood Demon’s geas.Every member of the Crimson Blood Unit had received the Blood Demon’s Will to obey Hae-rak.Spiriting away Tang Sohwa and aiding the Northern Sea lot was certainly an act against the Blood Demon’s Will, but since Hae-rak’s command held highest priority, it was still fine—for now. Only, if they ended up facing the Red Blood Hall, which enjoyed the Blood Demon’s favor, no one knew how that damned geas would react.The ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ Crimson Blood Unit Lord who prioritized survival might remain unharmed, but Doyu could not vouch for the others’ safety.'……So he’ll leave everything behind again and go alone.'Unaware of Min Doyu’s uneasy heart, Hae-rak answered as if it were the most natural thing.“Perhaps because I’ve never been to the Northern Sea, I don’t quite know what’s needed. I should go see to it.”“So you were thinking of going yourself, Hall Lord. May I offer remonstrance?”“No.”With the Hall Lord’s refusal cutting cleanly, Doyu shut his mouth.“I thought you wanted Tang Sohwa to succeed, and yet you don’t want to lend a hand?”“Fulfilling only what she requested should be more than enough. Besides, it seems she’s even drawn the Namgung Little Clan Head onto her side. If that crafty woman means to make a play in the Northern Sea, the two of them can manage—”At the sudden rush of burning heat, Doyu closed his mouth. The smell of singeing rose from his scalp, as if fire had licked his head.He could simply have told him to be quiet, but he always had to make a man’s knees go weak like that.This sort of “communication” had happened more than a few times, so Doyu quickly understood the Hall Lord’s meaning and quietly withdrew from the room.Watching Doyu disappear, Hae-rak moved his hand. Following that motion, the door that had been opened closed.The bedchamber, silent to begin with, grew even more still.In the silence, he opened the wooden box, took the letter back out, and read it again.There was a line asking him to secure an apothecary along the southern coast.He thought he knew what she was thinking, but it was a mistaken thought. The fallen Northern Sea would not be the place she imagined.Taking in the written characters with his eyes and gauging Tang Sohwa’s plan, Hae-rak propped his chin with a grave look.At last his gaze reached the final sentence.“……I thought you were clever, but perhaps you’re half-witted.”He sighed and murmured,“For me not to die, you need to stay alive.”Hae-rak shook his head and put the letter back into the wooden box.

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