I’m a licensed teacher now.😊 Thanks to galaxytl, translator community and readers for your support.🙏 You helped me pass my exam with confidence. As a token of gratitude, I’ll give 5 chapters each for my novels today. Enjoy😍!
As soon as they opened the splendid letter, a paper with the Imperial seal was revealed.
The three people held their breath and stared at the paper intently.
The letter from the Imperial palace was full of fancy expressions, but the summary of the content was as follows:
[We inform the righteous factions of the martial world. Five days ago, a disaster occurred in the South Sea, where ten of the nation’s warships were destroyed by mysterious invaders. It is a very lamentable event…
…(skipping some parts)…
We cannot know the exact purpose of the enemies, but judging by their flags and symbols, we think it is an invasion from the Western Continent. Therefore, the Imperial palace issues a mobilization order to the martial world and requests the righteous factions to join forces against the foreign invasion.
-Admiral Yeosang of Hwa Empire-]
“Is this… could it be…”
“Gasp! Does this mean a war has broken out? And with another continent?”
“I can’t believe it. But it has the Imperial seal on it.”
The astonished three people nodded heavily at Shin Ja Seong’s words.
“This is definitely an official document from the palace. This martial arts tournament might be a way to gather troops.”
“…!?”
Even though the martial world and the Imperial palace did not interfere with each other implicitly, they were still citizens of Hwan Empire.
They had no choice but to follow this decree.
And it was not only their faction.
“I heard that this letter was also delivered to Black Flag Bandit and Alliance of Eight, who are treated as evil factions, except for Magyo, who is completely isolated.”
“Huh…”
“I understand why you withdrew your troops. I didn’t know it was not just a problem of the martial world…”
The leaders of Jeong Do-mang nodded their heads.
They knew well that Jegal Sega had been having active exchanges with the Western Continent for a while.
‘And he has a Westerner as his master, and now the Western Continent invades us?’
Wasn’t it a suspicious situation?
They had deep wrinkles on their foreheads.
In fact, they had protested earlier to ask for his intention, not to doubt him as a member of one of the five great factions.
“I don’t know what to do now.”
“I understand your dilemma. It’s a really difficult situation.”
“It’s a big deal. The Righteous Alliance will return to Nakyang in a few days.”
The leaders of Jeong Do-mang groaned. They agreed to trust Jegal Sega for now. It was Shin Ja Seong’s opinion.
“I want to trust him for now. That Westerner might have nothing to do with the Western army.”
“Master! But the risk is too high. If we accept that Westerner, we have to give him an important position in our faction.”
Of course, it was not easy to accept.
The leaders shook their heads and secretly admired Shin Ja Seong’s character.
‘As expected, our master is good at everything, but his personality is too soft. He still trusts him even in this situation.’
But if they didn’t save their master’s face, who would? They exchanged glances secretly.
‘How about giving him a chance to prove himself?’
‘But what if our faction gets hurt by doing that?’
‘I have a good idea.’
The first one to speak up was Chwi Seon-gae.
He didn’t show it, but he thought this was a golden opportunity.
‘It’s a bit sorry for him, but as a main faction, it’s important to look good in front of our master at this opportunity.’
Originally, it was the role of Gabang Bangju to oversee the information within the faction. But after Gu Cheon-geol retired, Gabang lost its status because it didn’t have a top master.
Therefore, they had no choice but to give up their place to Jegal Sega, but now they had a chance to make up for it.
“Hmm! Hmm! Master, I have a good idea.”
“Bangju has something to say?”
Chwi Seon-gae coughed repeatedly and made an enticing suggestion.
“The problem with Jegal Sega and that Westerner is that we can’t trust him, right?”
“That’s right.”“We understand your feelings for him, Master. Then how about giving him a chance to verify himself?”
“Verify?”
***
The letter from Jeong do-mang arrived at Righteous Alliance in one day. It was because they were not far away now.
“Do you need to verify whether I’m an enemy or not?”
Eurius asked with an incredulous expression. He had worked hard to build trust until now, but what was this ridiculous thing?
“Something seems to have gone wrong. Please read this letter.”
“Hmm…”
Eurius skimmed through the letter. But he couldn’t understand it easily because there were many words he didn’t know. Jegal unh-yeon asked cautiously.
“Do you have any idea?”
“Wait a moment.”
Eurius thought hard. The summary of the letter in three sentences was this:
One, Jeong Do-mang welcomes Eurius as an ally.
Two, but because of the recent clash with the Western Continent in the South Sea, they ask for his understanding that they cannot trust him immediately.
Three, therefore, Jeong Do-mang decided to give him a mission and judge him according to his performance.
After finishing his thoughts, Eurius opened his mouth.
“According to this letter, they give me the position of the leader of Red Flower Society, but can you explain it to me?”
“That is…”
Jegal unh-yeon looked embarrassed.
He was sure that Eurius would be offended if he told him.
“From what I heard from Ilcheon, not only the righteous figures of the martial world, but also all the factions except for Magyo are planning to attend this martial arts tournament.”
“So?”
“And Red Flower Society means ‘a group that drives out the foreign forces’.”
At this point, Eurius frowned.
“Do they want me to fight against the people who came looking for me?”
“…”
He had already heard information about the Western Continent’s warships.
There was no way that another kingdom would suddenly bring an army, so it was obvious that it was the empire’s fleet that came looking for Eurius.
‘I didn’t expect them to mobilize a fleet to find me. Father is too much…’
He grumbled inwardly and moved on to the next question.
“And I haven’t heard much about the members of this group either.”
“Hoo…”
Jegal unh-yeon sighed and gave him a detailed explanation.
“Actually, Jeong Do-mang already had Righteous Alliance, so there was no need to form a separate military group. They could just include the masters who gathered.”
“Hmm…”
“The problem is that this mobilization is an imperial decree. So Black Flag Bandit and Alliance of Eight, who are evil factions, joined in. We have a bad relationship with them, but we have to cooperate on the surface.”
“So the imperial order works in the martial world too?”
“No matter how many martial artists there are, they can’t stand against hundreds of thousands of soldiers.”
And after hearing about Black Flag Bandit and Alliance of Eight, Eurius laughed incredulously.
“Haha! So they want me to lead bandits and mercenaries and fight against our imperial army?”
The summary of the letter was this:
[We will give you the position of the leader of Red Flower Society (Cheokhwadan), which is specially formed, and cooperate with Black Flag Bandit (Nokrimbang) and Alliance of Eight (Alliance of Eight) to defeat the Western Continent’s army, who are invaders!]
Hehe, he was laughing, but Eurius suddenly stopped laughing.
Then he clicked his tongue.
“Tsk! Those bastards had a trick too.”
Jeong do-mang might have been fooled, but did they think that the empire’s army that came looking for him would rashly cause a conflict with another country?
It was obvious that this clash was also thoroughly planned.
Jegal unh-yeon also lowered his head as if he had no face.
“I didn’t expect such an order from the palace either.”
“It’s alright. You couldn’t have known.”
He only found out recently that there was something suspicious in the palace.
‘They’re trying to scratch their nose without using their hands. But Magyo’s power is more impressive than I expected.’It was clear that Magyo was behind all this, but their name was not mentioned at all. It was not possible to use the palace without a delicate scheme.
If this goes on, Eurius, the Western Continent’s fleet, Jeong Do-mang. They could make these three annoying forces fight each other. It didn’t matter if Eurius didn’t follow them.
‘Even if I don’t agree, I’ll end up fighting with Jeong Do-mang.’
“What are you going to do?”
Jegal unh-yeon also didn’t have a head to solve this complicated problem in one go.
“Hmm…”
After thinking for a while, Eurius asked a question.
“Are they going to make that Red Flower Society or whatever at the martial arts tournament that will be held soon?”
“Yes. There is a high possibility that they will have your appointment ceremony at the place where Black Flag Bandit and Alliance of Eight gather.”
“That’s good.”
“…!?”
Snort.
Eurius smiled and asked back.
“So if a fight breaks out at that martial arts tournament, wouldn’t the verification of me be postponed indefinitely?”
“Ah…”
He finally realized his intention and nodded.
“Then what preparations should we make?”
“First of all, gather information about Black Flag Bandit and Alliance of Eight. And we can do more after we join your three factions’ people.”
“Okay.”
Eurius started to move busily.
Just as his opponent had many cards he didn’t know about, he also had some secret cards, didn’t he?
****
Meanwhile, Gu Cheon-geol, who found out that the one who suggested the verification was his disciple Chwi Seon-gae, raged for a long time.
“Chwi! You worthless beggar bastard!”
He was ready to run to Jeong Do-mang and grab his collar and twist it, so Eurius quickly stopped him.
“Calm down, I know it’s not your fault.”
“Fault or not, this is so rude! How dare they try to verify the person that my master is hosting, even if they are his disciples!”
He couldn’t calm his anger for a while and shook his body.
Then he asked with a trembling voice.
“Then what should we do? I tried to expose Shin Ja Seong, that old man, but instead we became the ones who are suspected.”
“There is something you have to do urgently for now.”
“…!?”
Eurius took out a small pouch from his bosom.
“Take this and go to the place I tell you right now.”
“Huh…”
Gu Cheon-geol took the pouch and looked puzzled.
Jeong Do-mang was already close by, so why did he send him, who was a great master and a witness that Shin Ja Seong was colluding with Magyo, to another place?
“That is…”
After hearing a brief explanation from Eurius, Gu Cheon-geol had no choice but to agree.
This was something that only he could do.
“I guess your disciple’s education can wait until this is over.”
“Snort… I’ll follow your order.”
Gu Cheon-geol spat out his displeasure and stepped back from Eurius.
‘Chwi, you bastard, you didn’t get enough beatings for a few years and lost your mind. I’ll show you when this is over.’
Pop!
He kicked the ground and disappeared from Eurius’s sight with a terrifying speed.
Seeing him, Eurius smiled faintly.
‘This is almost the same as completing the first preparation.’
Gu Cheon-geol was the fastest person in the martial world.
No matter how far he was, he would be able to deliver the news in time.
‘What was his name? Jeong Do-mang’s master?’
Eurius checked his plan and suddenly grimaced.
‘Who’s verifying who?’
To be honest, this word verification was unpleasant for Eurius.
“Let’s see who’s going to be verified this time.”