Chapter 401: To Sichuan (2)

Freckles all over his cheeks, a bit shorter than me and seemingly around the age of thirty.

He had the appearance of an ordinary servant, but I knew his identity.

It’s the Dark King.

He was none other than the Dark King.

I was unsure at first, but I became certain of it after hearing his voice through a telepathic message. Moreover…

He feels very strange.

I was able to feel a strange aura from him as well as a vibration coming from my right arm.

…Why is this arm acting up all of a sudden?

The scale on my right arm throbbed crazily as if it had a heart of its own. Why was this happening?

I put aside the vibration and gazed at the Dark King. The Dark King had cold sweat running down his cheek as if my gaze flustered him.

Well, he was pretending to be flustered.

Why were these people so good at acting anyway?

Whether it was the Dishonored Venerable or the Dark King, all of them had professional acting skills.

After a moment of staring at the Dark King, I looked at the Dishonored Venerable, wondering what was going on.

I wondered if the Dishonored Venerable was also unaware of this.

But this old man…

I was able to know instantly when I saw the smirk on the Dishonored Venerable’s face. This man definitely knew everything that was going on.

So he knows the Dark King, huh…

I didn’t know what kind of a relationship they had, but I didn’t think it was anything ordinary. Moreover, I didn’t even know why the Dark King was in that bunch.

I asked the Dishonored Venerable a question, as I tried my best to ignore the Dark King’s gaze.

-What’s going on…?

-What are you talking about?

-I’m asking why that man is standing there.

-Don’t worry about it, he’s just one of the servants.

-What… are you perhaps sick anywhere?

I already knew that it was the Dark King, yet he told me not to worry about it, as he was just a servant.

Was he crazy?

When I asked him again in a speechless tone, the Dishonored Venerable responded with an easy-going expression.

-I also happen to have a request to make.

-A request…?

I worked my brain after hearing the Dishonored Venerable’s response.

He? Making a request to the Dark King?

-Who are you trying to kill?

That was the only conclusion I was able to come up with. I honestly couldn’t come up with any other answer, as that was the only kind of request a person would make to the Dark King.

After hearing my words, the Dishonored Venerable gazed at me with a slight frown.

-The way you think is… hmm… As he was about to insult me, he tilted his head midway. Why was he acting that way?

-…Something like that I suppose?

-…Pardon?

-Hmm, I guess it’s similar to that. Just leave it at that.

What did he mean by that?

The Dark King was going to kill someone?

It felt strange to think that the Dishonored Venerable would make such a request to the Dark King, but I didn’t bother asking him any further.

Everyone has their own things to worry about, and I only needed to learn martial arts from him. The Dishonored Venerable, too, only wanted me to learn his martial art, so that’s how our relationship was.

It was hard to say that we had a master-to-disciple relationship.

That’s how it seemed in my eyes, at least. It was a relationship formed for our own benefits.

It was a very strange relationship that I’ve never heard of before. I was concerned that the Dark King and members of the Bi Clan were tagging along with us to our trip to Sichuan, but I was fine with it as long as I wasn’t involved in their problems.

It’s just…

Would I really not be involved?

I had my doubts.

The Dark King was originally from the Golden Nature Clan.

I was able to learn that the Dark King was the descendant of none other than Yeon Il-Cheon, and the traces of the Golden Nature Clan were left behind in Sichuan.

Because of that, I couldn’t help but feel a bit concerned with the Dark King tagging along.

But… is this really happening?

I couldn’t help but be amazed by our crew that was about to head to Sichuan.

Not only did we have the ruler of Sichuan, the Poison King, the Lord of the Tang Clan, but we also had the Dark King, the king of all assassins, and even one of the Three Venerables, who were known as the top amongst all martial artists.

This group was stacked with well-known martial artists. At least I won’t have to worry about getting ambushed. We definitely had safety, for sure.

The only bad thing that could happen is the possibility of the Dark King trying to kill all enemies.

Plus, what kind of maniac would even try to ambush the Tang Clan’s carriages?

Even if such a thing did happen, there was nothing to worry about.

It seemed like the Poison King brought an extreme amount of force in order to bring these prisoners to Sichuan, but I wondered if he would’ve done the same thing if he knew that the Dark King and the Dishonored Venerable were going to be joining us.

Probably not, right?

With that thought, I started walking away from the Dark King, but someone came over to me and wrapped around my neck.

“…?”

To be more accurate, it felt like my neck was being squeezed.

Right as I was about to push this person away, I paused after noticing a familiar scent.

“Little brother, are you really leaving?”

It was Gu Huibi’s scent.

“…What are you doing, elder sister?”

“You’re really going to go somewhere that far? You don’t want to go back home with your sis?”

“Of course.”

“You’ll go home?”

“No, I’m going to Sichuan.”

Gu Huibi’s arm wrapped more tightly around my neck after she heard my response.

“What… are you doing…?”

“You’re always outside of home. Puberty hit you wrong it seems. You were so cute back then.”

I was speechless at Gu Huibi words.

“What do you mean it hit me wrong?”

I wasn’t at the age for puberty to hit after all.

Moreover, I was even weirder back then, if anything. I just couldn’t understand how she said I was cuter back then.

I escaped from Gu Huibi’s arm and stared at her, and she had a strong frown on her face as if she felt unpleasant about something.

It looked as if she was trying to be cute with that face, which made me feel sick inside.

Did that woman forget how old she was? Why was she acting that way when she was fully grown up?

“Seriously, you always… “

“What about you, sis?”

“Hmm?”

“Aren’t you going to marry someone? You are more than old enough.”

“…”

I asked Gu Huibi thinking about her age, but her expression changed in an instant when she heard my question.

She almost seemed like a Demon because of it. After checking her expression, I asked her again, after backing up a step.

“…I just, asked because… I was just curi—“

“Little brother, did you really want to lose all your hair that badly? You should’ve told me. Your sis is really good at that.”

“Sorry.”

It seemed like she was rather angry, because her eyes were extremely fierce. I had asked because I was honestly curious, but it seemed like it insulted her badly.

To be fair, what kind of man would be willing to deal with her crazy personality?

She was more than old enough to marry, but she wasn’t… no, she couldn’t marry anyone. She was single in my past life as well.

Was she really going to live alone for the rest of her life?

It didn’t matter, as there were many martial artists who stayed solo, but it seemed like she cared about it a lot judging by her reaction.

“I’ll let you off the hook if you come home with me.”

“I don’t know about that one.”

“No need to be so cold. How annoying.”

Gu Huibi clicked her tongue and turned around after hearing my response. Without having anything else to say, she started walking towards where members of the Gu Clan were.

“You do you.”

She then finished her sentence with a cranky tone. When will that woman’s personality soften up?

That’s probably impossible, right? Probably.

As long as she had our family’s blood, that was going to be impossible.

Right after Gu Huibi left, the First Elder appeared as if he was waiting. Why is everyone all coming in order?

It would’ve been easier if they just came all at once. I had to frown when I saw the First Elder. Then, the First Elder frowned back at me.

“…For your expression to crumble like that after seeing me. What kind of disrespectful manner is that?”

“What are you going to give me this time? I won’t be taking anything from you.”

“Ha, you think I’m going to give you a gift when you didn’t do anything good?”

“The problem is the fact that it’s never a gift.”

If I thought about everything that the First Elder had given me up until this point, I was able to remind myself that they all got me in big trouble.

It was obvious the same thing was going to happen this time, so I was determined to deny whatever he was going to give me.

I glared at the First Elder with that determination, and he started to take out something from his pocket, as I expected. After seeing that, I immediately shouted at him.

“I’m not going to take it! Hey, hey, what are you trying to give me this time!”

“You little brat! You think I want to give you this!?”

“Then you could simply just not!”

I started arguing with the First Elder. I wasn’t going to take anything from him no matter what it was. Why is this man always trying to make me deal with his problems?

Right as I was about to run away from him, the First Elder spoke.

“This is from your father, not me.”

“…Pardon?”

“Both the father and the son are horrible. Sending this old man to run errands.”

The First Elder spoke in a complaining tone, but all my focus went to the object that the First Elder’s hand was holding.

It’s from father?

It was none other than my father. He really sent me something?

I looked towards Father. Our eyes met as he was also looking in my direction.

In an instant, father turned away first. Judging by his reaction, it seemed like the First Elder wasn’t lying.

What was this? I accepted the item from him. It didn’t matter as long as it wasn’t from the First Elder.

…It seemed like an ordinary golden pass.

“What is this?”

“How am I supposed to know? I simply delivered it to you since the Lord told me to do so.”

“He should’ve just given it to me directly, why did he…”

“That’s what I’m saying. Go ask him if you are that curious.”

“Uh, that would be a bit…”

“Haha… what a drama the father and the son are putting up.”

The First Elder shook his head as if he was exhausted.

Our relationship may have gotten better compared to before, but it was still uncomfortable for me to ask Father such a thing.

…I guess he gave it to me since there’s a use for it.

With that belief, I briefly put the pass inside my pocket. I didn’t think that he would give me anything weird.

“What are you going to do when you get back, First Elder?”

“What else would I do? I would probably just sleep.”

“…Ah, got it.”

That may have been his response, but the busiest people in the Gu Clan were, Father first, and the First Elder second. I couldn’t believe how active this old man was.

The First Elder seemed to be always outside of the clan. After observing him for a moment, I pointed to someone using my fingertip.

It was a personal question.

“Then… are you really going to take that bastard with you?”

The First Elder turned towards where I pointed to. In that direction, Gu Jeolyub stood with a dark expression.

The First Elder’s expression started to change after seeing him. There was only one reason why I asked him about Gu Jeolyub.

It’s because Gu Jeolyub said that he wasn’t going to be coming to Sichuan this time.