“I’m sorry, just one.”
Before I could even step out to deal with the bandits, the situation was already wrapped up as soon as I unleashed the Ice Crystal Divine Art.
“Two, Great Hero.”
It felt like I was in a snowy mountain, with ice shards swirling around the area, freezing everything in sight.
“I’m really sorry!! Great Hero!!”
I made the bandit leader, Shan Pao, crawl on all fours, then I sat on him like he was a chair.
“Yeah, a bit louder.”
As I coughed up blood, cough cough, Bi-Wol wiped my mouth with a cloth, as if she cherished every drop.
Using martial arts even a little like this twisted my blood flow, leaving me in this state. It was already hard to breathe with all this yin energy filling me up.
In the Northern Sea Ice Palace, what could be called a blessing, the Extreme Yin Constitution, has blocked my nine meridians and was slowly gnawing away at my life.
“Daring to not recognize the Ice Dragon and demanding a toll, I will apologize with my life!”
“…Just your life?”
Bi-Wol carefully wiped the blood from my lips as if it was precious, then directed a sharp killing intent at the shaken Shan Pao underneath me.
I didn’t need his life. I was planning to turn these guys over to the authorities anyway, just pocketing a little bounty on the side.
“Bi-Wol, stop it.”
“However, these scoundrels dared to disturb my master’s noble presence!”
I absentmindedly patted Bi-Wol’s head, and from the sounds of hehe, she seemed to be enjoying it.
“I’m not that old yet.”
“But, with the Nine Pulse Meridians…”
“Even if I’m on the brink of death, I won’t leave everything to my disciple.”
I shrugged my shoulders. I’ve come this far, hanging on to my thread-like life while training my martial arts to the utmost.
I was determined not to have any regrets in this life.
Plus, due to the Heavenly Demon Star’s influence, I thought it best for the Heavenly Demon, Bi-Wol, to avoid taking lives or engaging in violence as much as possible.
“I won’t lay a hand on bandits again! Great Hero, please forgive me this once!!”
Shan Pao was in tears begging for forgiveness. His trembling arms and legs showed that he was reaching his limit.
“I trust those who act before they speak, rather than those who merely change their words. The will to change oneself comes solely from oneself.”
I looked down at Shan Pao with indifference. People who easily change their words could change them again later.
I’ve seen many people like that in reality. Weaklings who lie to themselves and find comfort in excuses.
One of them was me, who gave up on my dream of being a writer.
“I will turn myself in to the authorities. I will return all the goods taken from the mountain dwellings to those who were robbed!!”
“How do you intend to do that? Do you have records? Do you write down whose property you stole when you plunder people?”
I was used to recognizing lies.
“Do you remember the names of the people who bled and cried because of you?”
I spread my palm in front of Shan Pao’s face. He shivered at the sight of my scar-covered hand.
“If you name five, I might believe you.”
Thinking that it wouldn’t hurt to give him a chance, I decided to test Shan Pao.
“Geum Hwi, Jang Il, Wang Sam…”
There was a pause, then Shan Pao started rapidly firing names as if he suddenly remembered something.
“…Wait, anyone with those names raise your hand.”
Noticing something odd, I nodded toward his men whom Bi-Wol was watching closely.
They all exchanged glances, remaining still. A strange tension hung in the air between them.
“Must I turn you all into ice blocks before you tell me the truth?”
I released the yin energy to intimidate the bandits. Shan Pao, the closest to me, flinched and shook.
One, two, three.
I gave them a moment, and surprisingly, three of Shan Pao’s men raised their hands.
“I’m Geum Hwi.”
“I’m Jang Il, Great Hero.”
“I, I’m Wang Sam!”
As Bi-Wol exuded killing intent and confirmed their names, they matched perfectly with what Shan Pao had said. I nodded at her, signaling her to keep it up.
“You, you guys…!!”
This was nothing but a simple deduction.
Before being reincarnated in this world, I had worked as an instructor at an academy. I had seen plenty of cases where friends used each other’s names to mark attendance.
“You’re the kind of guy who’d sell out his underlings to save his own skin.”
I looked at Shan Pao with pity. He wasn’t even a character that appeared in the novel King of Diamond Fist, so there was a part of me hoping he might be different.
“N-No!! Great Hero!! It’s just that the names are common!”
“Didn’t people begging for mercy from you say the same thing? ‘Just forgive me this once, please spare my life!’”
The fact that he even tried to touch Bi-Wol was unforgivable. His requests for money and women indicated he wasn’t new to this behavior.
“You will run to the authorities and confess your crimes with that three-inch tongue of yours.”
“Grragh!!”
I grabbed Shan Pao by the nape, exhaling cold air as I slowly froze his neck. Without holding him back like this, he would commit the same acts again later.
“If you don’t release all the people you’ve captured in hiding, and return everything you’ve looted to its original state…”
I covered Shan Pao’s face with ice up to just below his nose, making sure he felt the sensation of death thoroughly.
“Your head will turn into an ice block by the end of the day.”
With this kind of mark left, even if he breaks his promise, he won’t live entirely unscathed.
“Uuuugh…!! Ugh, ugh!!”
Shan Pao nodded vigorously, begging for mercy while crying. He was so terrified that he even wet himself.
“Master seems to be too generous. I think it would be better to crush him into a eunuch.”
As I stood up from my filthy throne, Bi-Wol immediately stuck to my side, puffing her cheeks.
“…Isn’t that a bit excessive?”
I cringed at her words. I didn’t think I had taught Bi-Wol such behavior.
“The sin of not recognizing the Ice Dragon must be atoned for throughout your life. Young lady, please make an example out of this scoundrel Shan Pao.”
I didn’t respond to that and slowly patted Bi-Wol’s head instead. A mere bounty from the authorities would suffice.
“There’s no need for that. Those bandits have lost trust in each other and will fear committing crimes.”
That Shan Pao and his gang wouldn’t dare commit banditry anymore. Just hearing my sect’s name would shake them, and they’d be too scared to act, wondering when I might appear.
“I just hope my one and only disciple stays unharmed.”
“Master…”
Bi-Wol seemed overwhelmed with emotion, covering her mouth with both hands and bouncing in place. It was also because of her nature that I refrained from killing anyone.
“Great Hero! Thank you for earlier!”
The carriage driver, holding a Fist Technique, thanked us. He said he didn’t realize I was the famous ‘Ice Dragon.’
He bowed deeply, even shedding a few tears, looking entirely sincere, unlike Shan Pao.
“I didn’t recognize the esteemed Ice Dragon! Thank you for sparing my life!”
Well, that is true.
I tend to only step outside my sect for elixirs, opportunities, or during significant events in the novels.
“This is silver I had! Please accept it!”
“Just a thank you is enough.”
The carriage driver pulled out a piece of silver from his bosom, offering it to me. I waved my hand to refuse.
Just from the bounty offered by the authorities, I could earn enough to travel to the Western Region to meet Verdandi.
“…I’ll graciously accept it.”
At that moment, a small hand, like a cat snatching a fish, grabbed the silver.
“Bi-Wol, give it back.”
“No! Master, you are too stingy when it comes to accepting others’ kindness!”
The owner of that hand was Bi-Wol, with her red eyes and black hair. She stuck her tongue out, showing defiance to my words.
“Maybe I’ll need money to buy a wedding gift when I get married someday?”
“…….”
If that day truly comes, I don’t know if I’ll be able to hold back my tears. Imagining Bi-Wol getting married stirred something in my chest.
Could this be the feeling of raising a daughter as a father?
*
Bi-Wol and I boarded a ship heading to the Western Region after traveling to the Eastern Continent’s edge. The smell of salty sea air and the cries of seagulls tickled my ears.
“Master! It’s sparkling so much…!”
Bi-Wol was running around the deck, pointing at the sunlit sea with her finger. This was her first time seeing a scene different from streams and lakes.
“Don’t run. There are others aboard too.”
“But Master! Everything is so amazing in my eyes! It’s my first time seeing the vast river, and it’s my first time being on a ship like this!”
Bi-Wol bombarded me with questions about how such a large wooden object could float on an unpredictable body of water.
‘Ah, she doesn’t know. That’s called buoyancy.’ I wanted to say this but held back as I patted Bi-Wol’s head to calm her.
Once I started petting her, she quieted down, very much like a puppy you might find in the countryside.
She looked fierce on the outside, like she might bite, but in reality, she’d nuzzle in for head pats.
“Bi-Wol, remember this scenery well.”
I slowly opened my mouth to her.
“This is the world you’ll be looking at from now on. It’s a vast flow that cannot be understood with a narrow perspective.”
In reality, when I had significant worries about exam issues, I once impulsively went down to Busan.
Looking out at Haeundae’s ocean, seeing that vast horizon made my problems feel trivial.
“…Young lady, I don’t quite understand what you mean.”
“That vast ocean, compared to it, our worries or biases are merely dust. The waves break and reform scores of times daily.”
I remembered shouting into the sea about wanting to become a writer.
I hated the idea of giving up my dream for college or employment. I wanted to write.
The night sea of Haeundae, where no one passed by, the dark sea, like the night sky, silently listened to my problems.
“Even if I die tomorrow, the waves I created won’t cease. The traces of my existence, my life, the teachings I give will lead you to a broader world.”
I wanted to share that experience with Bi-Wol. I wished for her to have someone to confide in when she had worries.
“I only need Master. Why do you say things like that…?”
“…You need to get used to these things. You must see new things, feel them, enjoy them, and blend in with many people.”
Lightly tapping Bi-Wol’s head with my fingers, I said. Truthfully, I didn’t even know how long my life would extend.
In this way, we always had to prepare for separation.
“…You’re saying something interesting? Are you a mage?”
At that moment, I heard a chuckle beside me.
“That saying is exactly what I say when teaching about the ocean at the Blue Magic Tower. But the energy around you isn’t mana; it’s Qi, isn’t it?”
A woman with golden sparkling eyes and blonde hair was looking at me while sipping wine. Considering she was drinking the entire bottle that looked like grape juice, she seemed quite the drinker.
Could it be someone I know?
Narrowing my eyes at the strangely familiar sight, I realized she closely resembled a supporting character I had written in the novel.
“Nice to meet you, a person from the Eastern Region, right?”
The woman extended her hand to me for a handshake. With her smiling face and oddly unique appearance, I started to piece together her identity.
“…Golden Tower, Wolfram the Alchemist.”
A supporting character from I Must Kill the Hero.
“Oh? How do you know my identity? I haven’t even said my name yet.”
She was originally a character who got killed by Verdandi.
