Chapter 136
Pat pat.
I stroked Namgung Yeonhee's head, genuinely quite proud of her.
Come to think of it, she was placed under house arrest because of me and the Blood Cult.
If she had simply not defended the Blood Cult, nothing would have happened.
She even shielded me while being punished.
I liked her not because she was a candidate servant with S-rank potential, but because she was a loyal and honorable person in her own right.
…….
Namgung Yeonhee remained kneeling obediently while my hand rested on her head.
Her pale face was shyly tinged with a faint pink.
It was a little cute.
‘Hehe. I guess she likes being praised.’
If not for [Noble Bearing], I definitely would have been wearing a proud father's smile.
Then again, her family elders had probably done nothing but scold her.
She must have felt happy because I acknowledged her and praised her as a good girl.
As expected, nobody dislikes being praised.
‘I should pat her head to my heart's content.’
It was just as I was about to stroke her head a little longer out of fondness for her.
“Stop——!!”
An urgent cry came from somewhere.
‘Huh?’
I raised my head and looked toward the source of the sound.
A middle-aged man came rushing toward us, his elaborate robe fluttering behind him.
He was a handsome, actor-type man, but his face had gone completely pale.
‘Ah, that guy….’
I recognized him without difficulty.
The Namgung Family Head.
I had seen an explanation of him in Solo Warrior's strategy guide.
Naturally, several other elders and reinforcements were also rushing in behind the middle-aged man.
‘Hmm. Speaking of which.’
The Namgung Family Head's expression as he ran over looked less angry at the situation than desperately urgent.
“Please take your hand off that child. I beg you.”
The Namgung Family Head pleaded earnestly, even stopping to catch his breath.
‘Oh. He's still showing some courtesy, even using polite speech?’
He was different from the elder who had attacked without a word earlier.
I willingly took my hand off Namgung Yeonhee's head.
‘Hmm. Did he hate me touching his daughter that much? Looks like he's one hell of a daughter-obsessed dad.’
***
Namgung Cheon, the forty-second head of the Namgung Family.
After receiving a frantic report that the Blood Lord had invaded the Namgung Family and had even come to meet him personally, he felt his vision go dark.
‘……!’
The scene that came into view as he rushed to the estate using qinggong was horrific.
The elite martial artists and elders the family prided itself on were sprawled across the ground, groaning.
And.
The Blood Lord was gripping the head of his kneeling daughter, Yeonhee.
It was a hair-trigger situation, as if the Blood Lord could crush his daughter's head with a squeeze at any moment!
Even his daughter, who possessed such a principled and upright character, had frozen in fear and could not move at all.
“Stop! Please take your hand off that child. I beg you.”
Namgung Cheon could do nothing but plead desperately without thinking of the consequences.
Fortunately, the Blood Lord obediently took her hand off Yeonhee's head.
“Father. It's a misunderstanding. The Blood Lord merely…….”
Namgung Yeonhee turned toward him with startled eyes, but the Namgung Family Head cut her off.
“Yeonhee. It's all right. Come over here.”
He had judged that his daughter was so terrified that she could not properly comprehend the situation.
As he embraced his approaching daughter,
Namgung Cheon quickly grasped what was happening.
‘Nobody's dead.’
The first thing that caught his eye was the fact that not a single person had died.
Their weapons had merely been broken, or they had been knocked unconscious; none had suffered a fatal injury.
Having read the situation, the Namgung Family Head ordered the martial artists who had followed him.
“Everyone, sheathe your swords.”
The martial artists flinched at the order, while the elders accompanying him objected.
“Family Head!”
“What do you mean, sheathe our swords!”
“The Blood Lord smashed through our family's gate and barged in! We must capture that demonic fiend at once—!”
However, Namgung Cheon replied firmly, his eyes unwavering.
“If they had wanted slaughter, everything would have been over before I arrived.”
“……!!”
The elders fell silent.
Looking at the wretched state of the elite warriors sprawled on the ground, he was clearly not wrong.
“Hmm—.”
The Blood Lord stared intently at Namgung Cheon with an expression of great interest.
Blood-red, vivid eyes.
When that unfathomably deep gaze fell upon him, a line of cold sweat ran down his back.
Suppressing his fear, Namgung Cheon took a step forward.
“I am Namgung Cheon, the head of the Namgung Family.”
It was a polite and respectful self-introduction.
The Blood Lord raised her chin slightly in response.
“I am the Blood Lord.”
Her voice was clear and ringing like a young girl's, yet imbued with the arrogance of someone looking down upon the entire world.
Namgung Cheon carefully continued.
“First, as the family head, I thank you for sparing our people. However, smashing through the Namgung gate and knocking down our martial artists cannot simply be treated as though it never happened.”
***
‘Ahem.’
I felt a little pricked by the Namgung Family Head's words.
‘No, they didn't open the gate. The guards drew their swords first.’
I searched for an excuse in my head, but no matter how I looked at it, the fact remained that I had broken down someone else's front gate and barged in.
Of course, [Noble Bearing] would never let me apologize, even a little.
“I merely asked to speak. Were you not the ones who drew your swords first?”
Even as I said it, I felt it was a little shameless, but it was not technically wrong.
The Namgung Family Head did not deny that fact.
He glanced at the fallen martial artists, then nodded.
“You are not wrong. Very well. Since you say you wish to talk, I shall listen, staking the Namgung name on it.”
“……!”
The tense atmosphere eased somewhat, and the surroundings began to stir.
“Family Head!”
“How can you possibly negotiate with that fiend!”
The elders looked worried, but the Namgung Family Head's attitude was firm.
Having confirmed that the family head had no intention of reversing his decision, the elders could only fume in frustration, unable to think of anything they could do.
‘Oh, good. This man is actually reasonable.’
He was different from those stubborn elder geezers who rushed in demanding a fight.
As expected, someone capable of leading a family could at least have a rational conversation.
“Hehe. A wise decision. In that case, how about we go somewhere out of the sunlight and talk?”
I meant that we should talk inside.
Standing beneath the blazing sun while holding a parasol was starting to get tiring.
The Namgung Family Head readily nodded.
“Understood. I'll escort you to a hall.”
Blood Cult–Namgung Family Summit, Successfully Held!
***
Thus, we were guided by the family head into a spacious hall.
Namgung Yeonhee and the Namgung Family Head sat on one side.
I sat opposite them with Katarina and Siyeon.
Teacups giving off a fragrant floral scent had been placed on the table, but no one readily picked one up.
‘Awkward.’
The atmosphere was suffocating.
It was the Namgung Family Head who broke the silence.
“What is your purpose in coming for my daughter?”
His gaze was fixed directly on me.
Since I had no reason to beat around the bush, I answered honestly.
“Her treatment is not yet complete. Since she did not return even after the promised date had passed, I came to find out what had happened.”
At my answer, the Namgung Family Head looked at Namgung Yeonhee sitting beside him.
“……That is correct.”
Namgung Yeonhee quietly nodded.
It was an affirmation acknowledging both that I had treated her and that one more treatment remained.
The Namgung Family Head let out a low groan and spoke.
“I have examined my daughter's qi and blood. It is true that her inherently blocked meridians have improved noticeably. No renowned physician had ever been able to cure them….”
He continued.
“Blood Lord. I already know that your treatment was effective.”
“Hmm.”
However, there was still a hint of suspicion in his eyes.
He looked at me again and asked.
“What do you plan to do after completing her treatment? Do you intend to keep that child confined in the Blood Cult?”
‘Confine her in the Blood Cult? Tch. Am I like you people?’
I answered calmly, as though it were obvious.
“Why would I keep her by force? Where she stays after her treatment is complete is for her to decide herself.”
It was nothing more than common sense to me.
Forcing someone to stay did not increase their loyalty or favorability.
I had no intention of forcibly hugging her and turning her into a servant when she did not want it.
“…….”
A hint of surprise briefly crossed the Namgung Family Head's face at my answer.
He cupped the teacup in both hands and fell into thought for a moment before opening his mouth.
“I will be honest.”
The Namgung Family Head spoke in a calm tone.
“The things you have done in Namyang are very different from the Blood Cult I know. I have also heard that you fed the hungry and treated the sick.”
After saying that much, he sighed briefly.
“But do you know what the name ‘Blood Cult’ means to the martial artists of the murim?”
I recalled Solo Warrior's strategy guide, the settings of wuxia web novels, and the explanations I had heard from Cheon Ryuyeon and the martial artists who had joined the Blood Cult.
A villainous faction that had run rampant about a hundred years ago.
A group even more evil than the demonic path.
That was all I knew about it.
So I nodded appropriately and answered.
“I know only that it was a group that plunged the murim into chaos in the past.”
The Namgung Family Head bitterly shook his head.
“It was more than mere chaos. The Blood Cult used the blood of martial artists as sacrifices to achieve martial arts mastery. They abducted people, treated them like livestock, and killed them.”
He went on to explain in detail the atrocities committed by the Blood Cult.
His voice was not emotionally agitated, but the contents were horrifying.
They ground down an entire sect and used its blood to make elixirs.
They locked abducted children in a dark cave, forced them to slaughter one another, and took only the final survivor, among other things.
“Countless sects and families were destroyed by their hands. The surviving captives were brainwashed by the Blood Cult's sorcery and forcibly made into Blood Cult members, who then had to turn their blades on their own brothers. If the orthodox and demonic factions had not set aside their long-standing grudges and joined forces at the time, the entire murim would have fallen to them.”
The Namgung Family Head stared directly into my eyes.
“Even now, the descendants of those who lost their families and sects to the Blood Cult are still alive.”
“…….”
“To our orthodox faction, the Blood Cult is the name of a calamity. Even if the Blood Cult you lead is different from the one of the past, we cannot forget centuries of hatred overnight.”
As I listened to the Namgung Family Head, I finally began to understand why the orthodox faction was so hostile toward the Blood Cult.
It was not simply a heterodox sect or demonic cult that had done a few bad things in the distant past.
To ordinary commoners, it might have been a terrifying legend from a hundred years ago.
But to the prestigious families and orthodox martial artists who had lost their sects and families to the Blood Cult, it was practically an unfinished grudge.
‘To these people, is the Blood Cult basically like the Nazis?’
That was why the entire family had been thrown into an uproar and Yeonhee had been placed under house arrest simply for going to the Blood Cult.
Once I thought that far, another thought occurred to me.
‘Huh? Then did I rebuild the Nazis and claim that these Nazis are nice this time?’
Because it was the New Blood Cult, after all.
……Neo-Nazis?!
Aaaagh!!