Chapter 410: The Last Bandit (1)

Chapter 410 – The Last Bandit (1)

After that White Ripple Sword appeared out of nowhere to cause me more trouble,

I cleared up the-

…Well, I didn’t exactly clear up the misunderstanding, but I managed to send away the bastards who were eyeing me suspiciously and sat down with the White Ripple Sword.

I tried to talk to her then and there, but her howling made it impossible to get a word in.

I’m going insane.

Who would have thought a middle-aged woman would cry out loud while sprawled on the ground?

It left me speechless every time I thought about it.

I prayed that no strange rumors would spread, but I knew it was inevitable, thanks to that bastard Woo Hyuk, who was most likely already spreading the news.

That bastard.

I still remember the time I suffered for days because he spread a weird rumor about me and the Snow Phoenix in my past life.

The Snow Phoenix was so infuriated she almost froze the Water Dragon alive, but the Celestial Sword ended up saving him.

I should have taped that bastard’s mouth shut as soon as he saw the scene, but I couldn’t right now.

It was understandable, though…

“Sigh…”

I sighed, seeing what was in front of me.

After thinking about how to deal with this mess, I decided to speak first.

…But what do I even say to her?

“Uh…”

Flinch.

She flinched as soon as I started to speak.

I sighed again.

Sigh-

She seemed to misunderstand my sigh because she asked me a question with an extremely pitiful expression.

“…S-Should I raise my arms higher?”

Despite her cold appearance, the lady was on her knees, arms held high, speaking in a squeaky tone.

It almost seemed as if she was being punished.

The problem was—

“…No, please put them down.”

I didn’t make her do any of this; she was doing it herself.

Moreover, she was more than twice my age.

And not just age, but she also had an incomparable amount of experience in the Central Plains and was a master martial artist. Yet, she was showing such an embarrassing appearance in front of me.

I just didn’t know what to do.

Because of this absurd situation, I asked the White Ripple Sword, Moyong Biyeon, a question as she was being punished.

“Why are you acting like this…?”

“I knew it; I’ll raise my arms higher-”

“Please, Senior…! Please put your arms down.”

Only after I begged her did she carefully lower her arms.

Just watching her made me nervous.

Why was this woman doing this to me?

Just trying to find a reason gave me a headache.

After suppressing my annoyance, I asked her a question as she carefully stood up.

“What’s your reason for doing this to me?”

“Huh…?”

“I’m asking why you are acting like this.”

I couldn’t find an answer no matter how hard I tried.

I didn’t know why she had suddenly come to me, begging on the ground and pulling my pants, and why she went on her knees with her arms held high, punishing herself.

It was hard to understand this woman called the White Ripple Sword.

This was the first time I’d met someone like this.

Just what was this woman?

As I continued to think, the White Ripple Sword responded with an awkward smile.

“I have to be punished since I messed up.”

I set aside my emotions and gave the White Ripple Sword a strange look.

She wasn’t wrong, but her answer was somewhat fascinating.

Considering I lived in a world where the powerful got to make the rules, it was understandable for the White Ripple Sword to be shameless and still get away with it, yet she was admitting her fault.

But still…

“…But you can’t just go on your knees like that all of a sudden.”

A woman decades older than her junior went on her knees.

Something like this shouldn’t have ever happened in my book.

Because of that, though, it was hard to get mad.

When I continued to stare at her bewilderedly, she asked me a question.

“Are you going to forgive me?”

“…”

I became speechless.

Why was she so obsessed about getting forgiveness from me?

I did my best to hold in my anger and responded to her as calmly as I could.

“Senior. Shouldn’t you be apologizing to others first rather than me?”

The White Ripple Sword honestly didn’t do anything to me.

I wasn’t the one she fought against.

My right arm may have ached a little afterwards, but it was hard to say that it was her fault since I was the one who stopped their fight.

Because of that, it should have been the girls who the White Ripple Sword apologized to.

When I responded with that in mind, the White Ripple Sword spoke with a bright smile as if there was nothing to worry about.

“I already apologized to them before coming here.”

“You did?”

“Of course!”

Wait.

“…Did you perhaps do it in the same way as earlier?”

Did she go on her knees while holding her arms up, begging forgiveness from the girls?

When I hurriedly asked her after the horrifying thought, the White Ripple Sword waved her hand and spoke.

“Nah, of course not.”

Good. The White Ripple Sword may be a weird person, but even she doesn’t do that to everyone—

“I didn’t get down on my knees, but I did beg with my hands!”

“…”

“And they told me that it was okay.”

Who in the world wouldn’t forgive the White Ripple Sword when she begged so hard like that?

I put my hand on my forehead.

…Should I be glad about this?

I really didn’t know anymore.

“Oh, the Lord of Tang Clan told me he’d kick me out of the party if I went out of control again. He said he’d seriously get mad.”

She spoke to the Poison King too, huh.

Kick her out if she went out of control, huh…

What a way with words.

I’m sure the Poison King didn’t say those exact words, but I understood the meaning.

It would be problematic for the trip if a martial artist like the White Ripple Sword kept causing trouble, so the Poison King told her to leave if she continued without helping at all.

I also became impressed by the Poison King’s patience.

If it was up to me, she would’ve been kicked out already.

Even if the White Ripple Sword was strong and could help the transportation process, I would have kicked her out if she were uncontrollable and kept causing trouble.

Moreover, the Poison King’s daughter, Tang Soyeol, was involved in the fight, yet he only gave her a warning…

As my opinion on the Poison King changed a little, I asked the White Ripple Sword a question.

“Can you please tell me why you are doing this?”

I’ve been wanting to ask this ever since she first came here.

The White Ripple Sword responded with the same awkward smile as before.

“Like I said, I came here for your forgiveness-”

“I don’t think there is a need for you to go this far.”

But I had no plan to let her off the hook so easily.

“Is there something you want from me?”

“…”

It was a bit strange for her to go this far unless there was something she wanted.

When I asked about her intentions, her expression started to change.

It seemed like there was something else, as I expected.

What is it?

I wondered what she wanted.

I thought about it, but I wasn’t able to come up with anything.

Because there wasn’t anything special about my relationship with the White Ripple Sword.

Because of that, I only felt more curious.

“If there’s something you want from me, you should just tell me-”

“You told me… to stop being your escort.”

“…Huh?”

I tilted my head.

Escort?

Escort, huh…

After thinking for a moment, I was reminded of what I said earlier.

I told her to stop being my escort if she wasn’t going to listen to me.

Wait, does that mean,

She was doing all this because I told her to stop being my escort?

I told her that for both of our sakes, but she was bothered by that and came to me for forgiveness?

Why, though?

I couldn’t understand.

The White Ripple Sword told me she came here as my escort because of Lady Mi’s request.

She came here as an escort despite being a master martial artist, so shouldn’t she be happy that I told her she didn’t need to be my escort anymore?

But instead, she came here for forgiveness…

What is this?

Was there something else she wanted while being my escort?

Because I gave the White Ripple Sword a strange look while I thought hard, she spoke carefully.

“I’m sorry. Can you please let me stay as your escort?”

“…”

“I won’t cause any more trouble. I’m usually good at that, but I went out of control a little because it’s been a while since I last had a spar, you know?”

“White Ripple Sword.”

“Hmm?”

“What’s with your obsession on you wanting to be my escort?”

“Well… That’s because of Lady Mi’s request…”

She had no intention of telling me the real reason.

She has a reason to stay as my escort, but she can’t tell me, huh.

Then what should I do? Just leave her be?

But I would be bothered if I left it like this.

Whatever her reason, she had a different intention that I didn’t know.

After thinking, I came up with something.

“Fine. You may continue being my escort.”

Her expression brightened.

Was it that important for her? Just being an escort?

However.

“However, there is a condition.”

I made a condition.

After hearing that, the White Ripple Sword put on a confused look.

Did she not think I would do that? It felt like her atmosphere became colder.

I was a little concerned by that, but it was what I wanted.

“Condition?”

“Yes.”

It was simple.

First,

“I hope you don’t act on your own without my approval.”

“…”

I was asking her to talk to me first before she did anything so that something like what happened earlier didn’t happen again.

Basically, I was telling her to get my permission first.

This shouldn’t really be a problem since she was my escort, but it was understandable for her to feel insulted considering she was a much older martial artist.

That wasn’t it, though.

I had one more condition.

“And I’d like to make a request.”

“…A request?”

“Yes.”

I not only asked her to get my permission before doing anything, but I even requested something, which made her frown.

Good.

I would’ve felt insulted and not done any of these things if I were her. Her reaction was well expected.

It was also what I wanted to see.

I went this far, so surely this would hurt even her pride.

The White Ripple Sword may have a laid-back personality, but even she would deny my request and even become angry at me for—

“That’s it?”

“…Huh?”

“Let’s do that. So Big Sis can stay as your escort then?”

I became speechless after seeing her become happy.

“Wait… Senior. Did you not just hear all my conditions?”

“Of course I did. You told me to get your approval before doing anything and you wanted to request something, right?”

“Yes, but then why are you…”

I did all that and she’s still happy?

…Why the hell was she happy?

Seeing my bewildered expression, she tilted her head.

“Can you not believe me?”

“…”

I nodded after hearing her.

I honestly found it hard to believe. I personally wouldn’t have accepted any of these conditions.

The White Ripple Sword rolled her eyes as if she was coming up with a solution, then she clapped her hand and spoke after seemingly thinking of something.

“Do you want to put a Shackle on me if you have trust issues?”

She said something even more absurd.

“…Pardon?”

Shackle wasn’t some kind of joke, yet a martial artist like her was letting me put it on her so easily?

When I continued to stare at her,

“Then you’ll be able to believe me. Where do you want to put it on me? Stomach? Chest? I’ll take my clothes off now!”

“Wait, I don’t think a Shackle is necess- Agh! Stop stripping! What do you think you are doing!”

I quickly stopped the White Ripple Sword as she tried to take off her top and thought to myself.

This was definitely a mistake.

I should’ve realized it the first time I met her.

The White Ripple Sword was much crazier than I thought.

It had been a little over a month since our trip to Sichuan began.

Because we spent a long time going through difficult paths, the estimated time of arrival was being delayed.

It didn’t matter too much, though.

I already had extra time due to the incident in the Heavenly Dragon Academy, and I was using it to train, so I didn’t think it was a big problem.

Though of course, I was experiencing hell with my training because of its difficulty.

I not only felt physically exhausted traveling by carriage, but I was repeatedly being killed by the Dark King at night, and rolled around in dirt a ton during the day while training with the Dishonored Venerable, so I wasn’t having the nicest time.

It got so bad that even Wi Seol-Ah tried to stop me because she was worried.

But funnily enough, seeing Wi Seol-Ah made it harder to rest.

Was it because of her spar against the White Ripple Sword?

Wi Seol-Ah and Namgung Bi-ah were spending some of their time sparring. I knew that people around me were training almost as much as me recently, so I couldn’t bring myself to rest, even if they told me to.

It was strange.

I’m running around in hell so that I could give you guys a break, you know…

I was working hard so that I didn’t have to go through what I did in my past life.

But because I was working so hard, people around me were working hard with me.

What was going on…?

Was I influencing them negatively?

But is it a bad influence if I gave them motivation for training as a martial artist?

Whatever it was, the situation was weird.

Anyway, all of us had been spending our days training hard.

We were also about to step into Sichuan’s territory.

Then, the Dishonored Venerable started talking to me as I was taking a short break after getting a beating.

“Child.”

“Huff… huff… yes?”

As I was breathing heavily, the Dishonored Venerable delivered a message with an amused expression.

“This is what that bat bastard said.”

The Dishonored Venerable was referring to the Dark King when he said “bat bastard.”

Jeez… I couldn’t believe he was calling the king of assassins a bat.

This old man definitely wasn’t normal.

After checking my expression, the Dishonored Venerable spoke to me with a frown.

“It seems like you’re insulting me again in your head, judging by your expression.”

“…Not at all. I wouldn’t do such a thing.”

He was disgustingly sharp.

The Dishonored Venerable stared at me with doubt, but he didn’t bother with it for long.

He had more important news to talk about.

“Anyway, it seems like there are some weird bastards around us, according to him.”

“Weird bastards?”

“Yes. He said they seem to be bandits. I can’t believe there are still bandits these days… tsk, tsk.”

“…!”

My eyes widened.

Bandits?