Chapter 78

Mantian picked up one of the splendid swords displayed in the forge and slowly admired it.

The King of Ten Thousand Weapons.

There’s a saying that the spear is the king of all weapons, but swords still have that cool factor.

It’s not for nothing that fantasy manga, novels, and game protagonists use swords.

Somehow, the first martial art I learned was the Dog Chasing Stick Technique, so I went down the path of stick and fist techniques, but deep down, I’ve always nurtured a little egoistic sword-wielding maiden in my heart.

Suddenly, from within my inner world, Tagujang poked their face in.

“Mantian, you said it was the martial art of soul partners? Were you lying to me?”

I could hear them saying that, but I lightly ignored it.

“Shut up! I’m sick of your fragility, breaking at the slightest rough treatment! Going Tagujang!!”

Of course, it’s a joke. Tagujang is my precious starting martial art. If it were Pokémon, it’d be Pikachu.

But that doesn’t mean Ash only uses Pikachu, right?

I flicked my wrist and spun the sword around.

I don’t have much to do for a while, so maybe I’ll learn some sword techniques too?

The more, the better. Martial arts are always better in abundance.

“Do you see anything you like?”

As I was thinking this, Sososo, who had a new sword at her waist, approached.

“I was just thinking of learning the sword myself, so I was looking around.”

Swords aren’t just swung with the arm. You need to support your body with your lower body and put strength into it.

All martial arts are like that, but the lower body is especially important.

Given that, Mantian, with his limp, wasn’t exactly the ideal body for learning the sword…

Sososo’s eyes scanned Mantian’s body.

A well-built torso from years of training since childhood, a naturally large frame, and solid arms.

While flashy sword techniques with unique footwork might be out of the question, his body was well-suited for heavy or strong swords that press and overwhelm the enemy.

Even a dual-sword style, using a cane in the right hand and a sword in the left, would work well.

“Um… Young Master Sima, if you’re serious, I can teach you some tricks.”

Moreover, this was an opportunity for Sososo, who had lost her reason to stay close to Mantian after arriving at the Martial Alliance.

Of course, she could have just run away.

But it bothered her to make such a self-serving proposal to someone who had fought tooth and nail to protect her from assassins not once, but twice.

…No, no!

This is definitely a helpful suggestion for Young Master Sima too.

Having struggled to learn the heavy Namgung sword techniques due to her small frame, Sososo could empathize with Mantian, who had physical limitations in learning martial arts.

Plus, after training, they could have tea and get to know each other better, or occasionally go flower-viewing or on light outings.

Maybe even hold hands if the mood struck….

Sososo’s face turned red for a moment as she indulged in her happy delusions.

Anyway, she was confident she could teach him well based on her experience—!!

“I may not look it, but… I’m known as Namgung Sososo, the Sword Dragon. I’m confident when it comes to swords.”

So, suppressing her embarrassment, she even boasted about her reputation, something she’d never done before.

“If you’re willing, I’d be grateful. This useless younger brother will be in your debt again.”

Mantian had planned to ask Sososo for some pointers if he had time anyway, so he accepted her offer without hesitation.

“You—you’re really going to learn from me!”

At this, Sososo’s eyes widened, and she unconsciously rose on her tiptoes to look up at Mantian before quickly regaining her composure.

“Ah… um… it’s a promise.”

She hurriedly lowered her heels and muttered softly, her cheeks slightly red.

‧

‧

‧

After some time, while shopping at the market with Sososo to get a new body for Tagujang and returning to the Martial Alliance, an unexpected person was waiting for me.

A face you’d see anywhere, a body you’d see anywhere.

A childhood friend and my father’s lackey.

“…Jang Sam-i? How did you get here?”

“Of course, I came to deliver travel funds on the master’s orders. You’re almost out of money, right?”

Jang Sam-i, who had been secretly guarding me on my father’s orders, decided it was no longer possible to hide his identity and guard me like a human.

So he returned as a familiar servant and boldly appeared before me.

“Father sent you?”

I had sent a letter to my family telling them not to worry after changing my destination from the Jiegal Family to the Martial Alliance, but I didn’t expect them to come find me.

Also, my father wasn’t too keen on me meeting Guhae, so I never thought he’d send money to support me like this.

“Yes, of course, the master sent me.”

But the most important information, the real reason Jang Sam-i appeared before me, was yet to come.

“Ah~ and the master will be arriving at the Martial Alliance soon with Miss Yeonghwa.”

***

Thwack-!

“Don’t get too cocky. You’re just one of the many seeds I’ve scattered that happened to sprout.”

Sima Lun, the head of the Sima Family, slapped Sima Bu, the son of a concubine, for daring to confront the legitimate children of the main wife.

Under the barrage of harsh words, young Sima Bu ran away, choking back tears.

“Tsk! Weakling… What should I even do with him?”

“Just a dog’s tail.”

“When the mother is lowly, even a wolf gives birth to a dog.”

The sound of his father’s disapproving tongue clicks and the mocking laughter of the legitimate children stabbed at his heart.

Returning to his room, his sanctuary, he opened his diary.

[I’m also my father’s child… but I was called just a seed. It’s sad. I’ll never become a parent like my father.]

He poured his emotions into the brush, writing densely.

[If he was going to discriminate like this, why did he take my mother as a concubine? I’ll never take a concubine. I’ll love only one woman.]

[I won’t become someone who uses violence on their children just because they don’t like them. I won’t discriminate based on food or clothing. Whether weak or strong, I’ll care for them all equally.]

[I’ll become… a good parent who cherishes and loves their children.]

Tears fell on the diary, smudging the words. His swollen cheeks ached.

Knock- Knock-

“Sima Bu… it’s your mother. I’m coming in.”

“Mo… mother….”

…As he was scribbling in his tear-stained diary, his mother, whom he loved most in the world, entered.

“You can call me mom. Sima Bu will always be my little child.”

She approached gracefully and hugged him gently, patting his back.

“May I ask why you fought?”

“…I was teasing the dog. I tried to stop it, but father hit me.”

He burrowed into his mother’s warm embrace like a mole digging a tunnel. He sniffled quietly.

“Father… does the family head… hate me because I’m weak?”

“Sima Bu, you’re not weak. You’re kind.”

She lifted his face gently and smiled warmly.

“…Really?”

“Really.”

He burrowed into his mother’s embrace again. For young Sima Bu, these moments of indulgence were some of the few happy times in his cold, harsh household.

…But soon, even this small happiness was brutally trampled by others.

“You, you bastards, do you know who I am! I’m the legitimate heir of the Sima Family… Gah!!”

Screams echoed throughout the house. Countless blades harvested lives, cutting and stabbing through flesh.

“Don’t leave a single male child alive! Kill them all!!”

Those who had groveled before Sima Lun just yesterday now drew their blades and charged.

The legitimate children, who had boasted of their noble emperor’s blood, fell to the ground, bleeding profusely.

Why this was happening, young Sima Bu couldn’t understand.

But one thing was certain—the world he knew was about to shatter.

“Sima Bu! Quickly—change into these clothes!”

His mother, who had lost all her usual composure, urgently handed him a set of girl’s clothing.

“Mother… I’m a boy… this kind of thing….”

Whether it was his pride as a male or the memory of being teased for being girly, he blurted out something foolish given the situation.

Slap-!

For the first time, his mother slapped him.

“Snap out of it! This is no time for such things!”

Her delicate hands, now strong, gripped his shoulders.

“In the past, during the defense of Wuzhang Plains, Sima Yi wore women’s clothes to counter Zhuge Liang’s provocation.”

“To avoid Cao Wei’s scrutiny, he pretended to be a senile old man.”

She looked at her only child, whom she could no longer protect.

“The shame is temporary. Survive. Please survive.”

Sima Bu couldn’t say anything to his mother’s trembling voice.

“That’s… this mother’s wish.”

He simply let down his hair and changed into the unfamiliar, fluttering clothes. It was all his weak self could do.

“There’s still one more child of a concubine! Find them!!”

“It’s a boy! Kill him without fail!”

He fled on horseback, following the instructions of the bodyguard who had accompanied his mother since she entered the Sima Family as a concubine.

“Young Master, are you alright?”

He abandoned his beloved mother and fled alone.

The martial world is cruel. If you’re weak, you can’t have or protect anything.

If his mother, who always told him the truth, ever lied about one thing, it was…

“If you’re going to do it, do it properly… from now on, call me young lady.”

That I wasn’t weak. I was weak. Because I was weak, I lost everything.

“Understood. Then, what shall your alias be?”

On the running horse, he cautiously turned his head and looked at the crimson smoke rising into the sky.

It wasn’t a place of good memories, but that was Sima Bu’s home. It wasn’t something others had the right to burn.

“…Hwa (Fire).”

A flame flickered in Sima Bu’s deep, tawny eyes, reminiscent of a beast.

“Hwa.”

He engraved it to never forget the shame.