82.
Even if someone had a grudge, who would dare attack a Lucid bloodline? Lucid valued their kin and disliked outsiders interfering with them. That’s why Yu Jin had been able to live safely even as a good-for-nothing. So the identity of the attackers was quickly apparent.
“It’s Lucid,” Yu Jin said in a dejected voice. Jinhyeon agreed with Yu Jin’s thoughts. The remaining question was how many people they had sent. As Jinhyeon went around to the back of the mansion, he smiled when he sensed people. It seemed he had chosen the right spot. The most people were gathering here.
‘Then the other directions might be decoys to draw attention.’
Jinhyeon raised his sword and beheaded the person running at the front. The flesh split and the solid body fell to the ground. Next, he lowered his body and thrust his sword into the waist of the person standing behind, then pulled it outward. Only after two people fell in an instant did the footsteps of the approaching men stop.
“Wow,” someone exclaimed in admiration. It was a tall person with a fox-like face, whose behavior and attitude seemed light considering his comrades had just died.
“Your skills are impressive,” he even complimented Jinhyeon. He showed no concern for his fallen comrades. However, the others were wary of and relied on the fox-like man, and they all carried different weapons and had no uniformity in their attire. From these details, Jinhyeon guessed their identity.
“Mercenaries.”
Large mercenary guilds worked on commissions from countries or nobles and didn’t engage in excessive activities. But not all mercenaries were like that. Mercenary guilds weren’t a monopoly, there were several, and some of them took on underground jobs.
“That’s right. We’re mercenaries,” said the fox-like man. No, let’s just call him Fox. Fox seemed very relaxed even with Jinhyeon in front of him. And Jinhyeon knew the reason. Unlike the other mercenaries lined up here and there, he couldn’t read Fox’s abilities.
‘He’s strong.’
Given that he couldn’t get a proper sense, Fox seemed to be more skilled than Jinhyeon. However, even after realizing this, Jinhyeon didn’t despair or fear. Rather, his heart started pounding with anticipation.
‘This is why I like this world.’
Nothing was easy. When Jinhyeon first fell into this world, he was weak, so he gritted his teeth and worked hard. He had come this far, but it still wasn’t enough to reach the highest place. That’s why he didn’t dislike fighting strong opponents. Fighting a strong opponent meant pushing his body to its limits, and through such fights, he would eventually surpass them.
Although he knew Fox was strong, Jinhyeon didn’t feel like he would lose, as always. Of course, Jinhyeon wasn’t just happy about the upcoming battle. He now had precious people to protect. Not even one should be allowed to escape. This fact could become a weakness if Fox realized it, but Jinhyeon was confident he could endure.
Jinhyeon didn’t like Keith, but he knew well that Keith also cared for Yu Jin. So once he dealt with the decoys, Keith would protect Yu Jin’s side. That would be enough.
“Let’s fight then,” Jinhyeon said as he stepped forward. Seeing this, Fox pushed someone else forward instead of taking the lead. The mercenaries rushed in, seemingly confident in their numbers.
However, mercenaries had a lower understanding of group tactics compared to the military. Even with large numbers attacking, their attacks weren’t efficient. They managed the basics somehow due to their inherent skills, but sometimes their attacks got tangled. But that didn’t mean they could be taken lightly.
As they were mobilized for this job, each of them had skills that couldn’t be ignored.
“Die!”
Jinhyeon ducked to avoid someone swinging an axe, then someone stabbed a dagger at his ankle. He blocked it with his sword due to his posture, then a spear flew towards his side. Even while fighting frantically, Jinhyeon paid attention to Fox’s presence. Soon, he let out a bitter laugh.
‘He really is like a fox.’
He moved whenever Jinhyeon was about to kill a mercenary. It was an action taken knowing that Jinhyeon was watching him. Because of this, several mercenaries saved their lives. Jinhyeon wanted to fight Fox directly, but he was still leisurely observing the situation and keeping his distance, not likely to move immediately. But it didn’t matter. After all, Jinhyeon hadn’t shown everything either.
At the slightest opening, Fox would die by Jinhyeon’s hand.
The moment Keith saw those charging from the front, he realized, ‘This is a decoy.’
Then from which direction was the main force coming? Jinhyeon had taken the back, so he would hold out longer than expected. Although he didn’t like him, he trusted Jinhyeon’s skills. But what about Haruna and the guards? Keith clicked his tongue softly. It seemed he needed to move quickly. He didn’t wait for the intruders to come closer but approached silently first and swung his sword.
The well-maintained garden slowly began to turn red with scattered blood. And at that time, Haruna, who was on the right side of the mansion, thought, ‘It’s a decoy.’
There were many people, but no strong ones in sight. By Haruna’s standards, her combat ability wasn’t great. Yet the fact that they were manageable meant this group was used for buying time and dispersing forces. In this situation, they needed to quickly eliminate everyone here and send some to join the others.
‘Which side is the real one?’
There wasn’t time to capture and torture one to ask. For now, they could only trust those who had gone elsewhere. Most of the guards seemed to have the same thought as Haruna. Their attacks on the mercenaries became even faster.
Yu Jin anxiously clasped his hands together. The mansion was under attack, but there was nothing he could do immediately. He didn’t even know exactly who the attackers were. He separated his hands and slapped his own cheek. With the stinging pain, his mind cleared.
Instead of worrying about a future that might not happen, he should organize the current situation.
First, Yu Jin thought the attacker wasn’t likely to be Ruhan, the head of Lucid. The next thing that came to mind was his siblings.
“But it’s not them either.”
Grain was bedridden with an injury, but he was originally a confident character. He was the type to openly challenge to a duel rather than secretly attack like this. Ahmed might attack, but he wouldn’t do such a crazy thing while under probation. He was more cautious than expected. Then Yu Jin thought it might be his sisters, but he soon shook his head.
They had nasty personalities, but they had no reason to commit such a bold act.
“Then there’s only one left.”
Ruhan’s wives. In other words, the women who were mothers to the current Yu Jin. Pamina and Azeth. Both had good family backgrounds, so they could get help from them if something happened. But since this didn’t seem like something done with family help, he excluded Azeth. She was surprisingly cautious and was nothing without her family’s backing. So there was only one person left.
“Pamina.”
But why suddenly? Yu Jin, who hadn’t received the family summons, couldn’t guess why Pamina was suddenly acting like this.
‘What should I do?’
Should he trust the allies who had stepped up now and stay put, or should he seek help elsewhere? If he were to seek help, who should he ask?
As he thought that far, Yu Jin remembered the back alleys. Although he had left most of the back alley business to Jinhyeon, Yu Jin also knew how to contact the back alleys. He had memorized it just in case, and now it seemed it would be helpful.
Yu Jin moved urgently. Jinhyeon had told him to stay quietly in the room, but he wanted to do something to help. The fastest means to send news was a carrier pigeon, and to use that, he had to go to the highest floor of the mansion.
“It’s okay, I can do it.”
He was just a bit slow, but he was still a grown man. He quickly ran out and headed upstairs.
A small hand scribbled with a pen, then its owner slumped, pressing their cheek against the desk.
“What is life?” San asked.
Gee, looking no less tired, replied, “Life is a series of hardships.”
At those words, San unconsciously clenched his fist. San had been working for days, while Gee was just keeping his place beside him. Seeing him pretend to be so tired made something well up inside San. Whenever he tried to assign something, Gee would just make excuses like “I don’t know how to read” or “I don’t understand such difficult things.”
‘Was anyone born knowing how to read from the start?!’
Learn! Just learn! The surface leader of the current information group was Blando, but the real entity was San. Blando was gradually transferring power to San and later planned to side with Jinhyeon. He had said something about founding a knightly order. Maybe Gee would follow Blando then too.
‘Then, that is.’
But that wasn’t right now. So for San, it would be best if Gee diligently learned to read and helped with work even a little.
