Urban Vagabond: Reload

In the spot where only black ashes remained.

The Glacier Priestess stared blankly at it for a while, then spoke to Choi Geon in a somewhat subdued voice.

“...Was it necessary to stab his heart? If you’d cut off his arm, subdued him, and taken him alive, we could have squeezed out much more.”

“Do you think my hand was too heavy?”

Choi Geon asked back as he, too, quietly looked at the same place.

He had cut down the sect leader of one of the Eight Great Sects.

Because the other man had been less than a beast, he felt not the slightest hesitation, and yet he couldn’t help but feel strange all the same.

That was separate from whatever feelings he had toward the Eight Great Sects, tangled up with him in a vicious karmic feud.

“It was a life-and-death match between top experts. If I’d cut too shallowly, his hand might’ve stabbed not your cheek, but your eye or your head.”

Choi Geon turned to look at the Glacier Priestess. Her face looked utterly exhausted, and a burn scar severe enough to never fade in her lifetime was carved into it.

“I did what I thought was best, so don’t blame me.”

“I’m not blaming you. I just... wondered what it would’ve been like, is all.”

The Glacier Priestess looked as if she had aged several years in the span of moments.

It wasn’t simply from wounds or fatigue from the life-and-death match.

The guilt of having killed the sect leader of her sect—a person who had once been her friend—pressed heavily down on her heart.

But she was a martial artist with a far tougher heart than the dead sect leader.

“I have received the debt of saving my life. If an opportunity arises in the future, I will surely repay this kindness.”

Turning her gaze away from the ashes, the Glacier Priestess formally clasped her fist into her palm toward Choi Geon.

“You should pray you never get a chance to repay it. That would mean this old man ends up in danger of dying again, wouldn’t it?”

Choi Geon, now wearing the yaksha mask again, tossed out a pointless joke, and the Glacier Priestess let out a weak laugh.

Soon, as the Golden Winged Bird’s flames that had been burning through the area gradually died down, other people approaching came into view beyond them.

When the Glacier Priestess recognized who they were, her eyes widened.

“Those people are....”

“The ones who came with me.”

Kim Muhyuk and Shin Kangheon, whom he had taken note of during the license exam, a young spellcaster he’d never seen before, and a generous-looking middle-aged man who somehow didn’t fit with them.

“Did you have ties to those young rising stars?”

“The sharp-eyed one over there is my disciple. Of course, it’s still a secret, so pretend you don’t know.”

So the young rising star who had caused the greatest upset at the license exam was the disciple of Sword Demon.

If the sect leaders of the Eight Great Sects—who had a karmic feud with Sword Demon—found out, it was the kind of story that would send chills down their spines, but the Glacier Priestess only looked surprised for a moment before nodding.

“Somehow... I thought so. His skill was extraordinary.”

“My final masterpiece.”

At Choi Geon’s tone full of pride, the Glacier Priestess smiled faintly.

Then, suddenly realizing that both she and her disciple Yang Hayun had owed their lives to Sword Demon and his disciple, she let out a hollow chuckle.

“I meant to repay that child someday, but now I’ve ended up owing my life to his senior as well.”

“I told you not to think about repaying.”

Kim Muhyuk, who had walked up while hearing their conversation, cut in.

“I redirected the Eight Great Sects’ attention somewhere else for a bit. You’ll probably have about five minutes to clean things up.”

With a startled expression, the Glacier Priestess looked at Kim Muhyuk and the Blue Wolf Crew members who had followed behind him.

She had already assumed the Eight Great Sects’ elites would arrive soon.

And yet the reason they were delayed longer than expected was because of these four.

“...Remarkable.”

Realizing Kim Muhyuk wasn’t merely a young rising star with excellent martial arts, the Glacier Priestess murmured with genuine admiration.

But the surprises weren’t over yet.

“Glacier Priestess. If it isn’t too presumptuous, may we take the Golden Winged Bird’s inner core?”

Despite the polite tone, the content was so unexpected that the Glacier Priestess blinked several times and asked back.

“What are you talking about all of a sudden? What inner core—where...?”

It was just as the Glacier Priestess furrowed her brow, unable to properly understand what he meant.

PYAAAK!

The baby Golden Winged Bird, which had been squirming in Kim Bokja’s arms, sprang out and ran to the ashes, digging into them with its tiny beak.

And a moment later, the baby Golden Winged Bird found a single red-glowing orb in the ashes and tilted its head.

PYAAAK....

A cry that sounded as if it was disappointed—like this wasn’t the mother it had been looking for.

As the Glacier Priestess stared at the sight in a daze, Kim Muhyuk explained in an even voice beside her.

“It’s the child of the Golden Winged Bird Jang Jinmyeong harmed. They say if it isn’t cared for with the energy its mother left behind, it’ll slowly weaken and eventually die.”

PECK-PECK-PECK!

The baby Golden Winged Bird pecked at the orb containing its mother’s energy and rubbed its cheek against it. It looked like it was pestering someone to play with it.

After watching for a moment, the Glacier Priestess spoke.

“Don’t tell me... you intend to take a Great Anomaly and raise it?”

Taming a Great Anomaly was something with no precedent of success.

Countless great sects and spellcasters had tried—and experiments that ended only in enormous damage and failure.

Of course, Kim Muhyuk knew that well.

“We’ll release it at an appropriate time. Right now it’s so weak it’ll only become prey for other anomalies. We should care for it only until it can protect itself, then let it go.”

But while it was still a young chick, it could live with people to some extent.

Once it fully awakened as a Great Anomaly, it would become a being impossible to control, but until then, there had been rare cases where it lived alongside people.

“Even after we release it, there won’t be any problem. Without a stroke of fate, even if you searched your whole life, you’d never meet a Great Anomaly.”

Still looking like she couldn’t understand, the Glacier Priestess stared at Kim Muhyuk.

“Why go that far? What do you gain by taking the baby Golden Winged Bird? If anything, killing it while it’s still a chick would prevent future trouble.”

In the end, if the Glacier Priestess didn’t permit it, they couldn’t take the Golden Winged Bird’s inner core.

And Sun and Moon Gate could also claim ownership of the baby Golden Winged Bird.

No matter how it happened, Blue Wolves had brought it out from Sun and Moon Gate’s underground.

“That’s...”

But Kim Muhyuk had a reason he needed the inner core the Golden Winged Bird’s mother left behind, and the chick itself.

‘It’ll be a huge help to the Five Elements Divine Art.’

The Golden Winged Bird carried pure, intense fire energy.

Just keeping the inner core close would be a tremendous long-term help in cultivating the fire energy lacking in the Five Elements Divine Art.

Of course, he couldn’t answer the Glacier Priestess like that.

Because learning the Five Elements Divine Art was still secret.

Just as Kim Muhyuk was turning his mind to come up with a plausible reason—

“Don’t you feel sorry for it?”

Kim Bokja stepped forward and lifted the baby Golden Winged Bird into her arms.

The baby Golden Winged Bird had its mother’s inner core clamped tightly in its beak, and Kim Bokja—holding it close—glared at the Glacier Priestess with an angry expression that was hard to see on her normally.

“This kid was trapped underground, tied up, without its mom. And you’re talking about profit, killing it or not killing it, future trouble... how is what you just said any different from the dead sect leader of Sun and Moon Gate?”

A young spellcaster who looked to be around twenty at most.

Compared to the Glacier Priestess, she was a far, far younger age.

But she snapped at a giant of the martial world without a shred of fear.

“C-calm down.”

“...Are you insane?”

“Haha. She’s not normally like this.”

Choi Geon and Hwang Suksu, flustered, grabbed her arms from either side, and Shin Kangheon laughed awkwardly as he blocked in front of Kim Bokja.

It was because they feared the Glacier Priestess’s anger might turn toward Kim Bokja.

“I’m sorry. My friend misspoke.”

Kim Muhyuk stepped forward as well and stood directly in front of the Glacier Priestess.

No matter how strong a top expert was, she had just fought a life-and-death match, and had lost a long-standing tie—even if it was a bitter one.

Meaning her mind and body could be unstable enough that she might try to hurt Kim Bokja.

But it seemed that worry had been unnecessary.

“...The same, huh. That isn’t wrong at all.”

Contrary to everyone’s fear, the Glacier Priestess smiled as if she felt relieved.

PYAAAK?

After briefly looking at the baby Golden Winged Bird in Kim Bokja’s arms, she nodded as if she’d made a decision.

“Take it. I will act as if I saw nothing.”

“...Really? You can’t change your mind later!”

“Whew. I thought my heart was going to drop.”

Toward Kim Bokja, who was practically bouncing with joy, and the others who let out sighs of relief, the Glacier Priestess nodded again.

“......”

From Sun and Moon Gate’s perspective, it was clearly a decision that inflicted enormous loss. Even if it couldn’t be tamed, the value the Golden Winged Bird possessed was limitless.

But the Glacier Priestess’s face looked, if anything, lighter.

As if the words that she was no different from Jang Jinmyeong for trying to judge by profit and loss had given her some kind of realization.

Still looking utterly exhausted, yet with a noticeably brighter face, the Glacier Priestess looked at Kim Muhyuk.

“You have a much warmer heart than I thought.”

“Pardon?”

“If you’d told me the real reason from the start, I would’ve been less ashamed. No—maybe I would’ve doubted your words too quickly, and suspected you had another motive.”

“...Thank you for the compliment.”

It seemed the Glacier Priestess had misunderstood something, but Kim Muhyuk didn’t bother correcting her.

‘If things go well, they go well.’

Then Choi Geon, who had stepped back for a moment, cut into the conversation again.

“Then what will happen to Sun and Moon Gate now?”

“We will have to close our gates.”

“......”

Sun and Moon Gate had become entangled in an event far too large.

Because the Glacier Priestess had personally executed Jang Jinmyeong, they could receive a certain degree of absolution, but even so, they would still have to halt external activities for at least a year and take time for penitence.

‘So I won’t be seeing Yang Hayun for a while.’

With his thoughts suddenly going to his license exam peer, Kim Muhyuk spoke to the Glacier Priestess.

“Please tell Yang Hayun to stay strong.”

“Don’t worry. I have no intention of locking even the young rising stars inside the sect. From now on, you may contact her and meet whenever it’s convenient.”

“...?”

Even with the Glacier Priestess’s official permission, the person involved could only look bewildered.

Thankfully, Choi Geon smoothly changed the subject.

“You. Have you ever heard of an organization called the Cult—the one Jang Jinmyeong mentioned?”

“I have not. However... I will find them, without fail.”

The Glacier Priestess shook her head, her expression turning cold, and continued.

“They corrupted Sun and Moon Gate’s sect leader, disgraced the main sect, and inflicted damage beyond measure. We must repay them several times over for what they’ve done.”

In her eyes—cold as sheets of ice—it looked as if flames were blazing.

Choi Geon also nodded with a cold expression.

“It seems we’ll think alike. If either of us finds a clue, how about we share it?”

“Agreed. If I obtain information about them, I will contact you.”

An alliance formed naturally.

While the two spoke briefly about it, Choi Geon turned his head behind them and clicked his tongue.

“The hyenas will come rushing in soon. We’ll be going.”

With the Golden Winged Bird’s inner core secured, Blue Wolves planned to avoid the Eight Great Sects’ elites and return to The Dark Den.

“Yes. I’ll see you again lat—wait.”

The Glacier Priestess’s gaze slipped past Choi Geon and Kim Muhyuk, toward behind them.

Perhaps because he felt relieved that things had gone well, Shin Kangheon was squatting in the back, watching the leftover embers the Golden Winged Bird had left behind.

“Oh, this is kind of cool?”

At Shin Kangheon’s hand gesture, the flames were moving around, dancing this way and that.

A bright, innocent face, as if he didn’t even know what he was doing.

Seeing someone from childhood in that look, the Glacier Priestess walked toward Shin Kangheon.

“...May I make one suggestion?”