Moreover, all the younger cousins were about half a head shorter than me. If Ha Hyun, who was a full head taller than me, had been there with his expressionless face, it might have been unapproachable.

“I think I understand.”

However, at my agreement, the younger cousins instead opened their eyes wide.

“You understand about Sago too?”

“Why wouldn’t I? When he doesn’t smile, he looks a bit cold, right?”

“I don’t remember ever seeing him smile in the first place.”

…No, it’s not to that extent, is it?

As I was feeling a bit flustered, the younger cousin who had been looking up at me with round eyes soon smiled brightly and changed the subject.

“You seem different when you’re with Sago! Oh, Sago! Let’s go over there!”

Before I knew it, I was being led somewhere and the topic quickly changed.

The sightseeing continued after that. While it was cute to see them chattering amongst themselves without me having to interject, I couldn’t deny that I was getting tired as time passed.

‘I guess this isn’t a matter of physical strength but mental strength after all…’

Right, I’m weak in crowded places.

I suddenly thought that if this continued, I might become too exhausted to even bother talking. After pondering for a moment, I decided to buy snacks for everyone from a nearby street vendor and put them in the younger cousins’ mouths.

“There are a lot of people, so let’s sit down and eat before moving on.”

And take a break while we’re at it.

Fortunately, the younger cousins liked it. I’m not sure if they were actually tired too, or if they were just happy to see snacks from the secular world that are rarely seen in the Daoist temple.

Either way, maybe because they’re still at an age where they’re growing, once I put something in their mouths, all three focused on eating, so I was able to find a moment of peace.

It was just when I had barely caught my breath.

“Young lady, did you perhaps drop this?”

As an unfamiliar voice addressed me, a sturdy palm suddenly entered my field of vision.

What was placed on that hand was a decorative tassel worn at the waist.

Just looking at the red plum blossom shape, it was indeed mine. Although it’s meant to be worn at the waist, I had put it in my sleeve because it was bothersome, so it could have fallen out when I took out my purse earlier.

But instead of immediately taking it, I stepped back half a step and looked up at the other person’s face.

I knew it was rude, but I couldn’t help it as I’m in a position where I can’t trust just anyone if they’re a stranger.

Contrary to his sturdy palm, the other person had an unexpectedly refined appearance. He looked about a year or two older than Ha Hyun, with a handsome face that seemed as if it had been softly drawn with a brush.

In contrast, his height and build were quite good, and above all, judging by the sword at his waist, he was most likely a participant in the Dragon Phoenix Gathering.

“It seems to be yours. Won’t you take it?”

“…Thank you.”

As I reached out my hand, the decorative tassel soon dropped onto it.

Throughout this process, the other person maintained a very indifferent gaze.

Perhaps he even found the situation boring. Although his actions and attitude were polite, it felt more like a politeness ingrained from good education rather than kindness stemming from sincerity.

He had just picked up my item, and I had no particular interest in him, so I thought this short conversation would end here.

“Hmm.”

However, the next moment, the other person’s gaze briefly checked my sleeve.

I saw a flash of interest pass over his indifferent eyes.

“So you’re from the Hwasan Sect. I should have called you Dojang instead of young lady. My apologies.”

“It’s fine. I don’t mind how you address me, so there’s no need to apologize.”

I have personal circumstances that make me extremely wary of situations where strangers show interest in me. When someone who seemed like they were about to turn around and go their own way suddenly showed a willingness to continue the conversation, I found myself responding curtly without realizing it.

‘Ah, was that too much?’

And I immediately regretted it. Even if it was our first meeting, being so openly wary might have been a bit of a mistake.

Sure enough, the other person lightly furrowed his brow as if offended. Although his refined appearance meant that such an expression didn’t feel intimidating, perhaps because that indifferent gaze from earlier had been so striking, seeing his furrowed expression left me feeling uneasy.

“I’d prefer if you weren’t so wary… but seeing your expression, I suppose I should introduce myself first. I am Nam Kyung Seo Han.”

I blinked a few times, pausing.

Not only was the surname ‘Nam Kyung’ unfamiliar, but that name also seemed like I had heard it somewhere before. In a flash, I quickly retraced my memories. Fortunately, I soon recalled from whom I had heard it to feel so familiar.

No, is it fortunate?

Senior Liu’s voice faintly crossed my mind.

‘Why are all the things that come to mind such remarks…’

Anyway, now that the other person’s identity was clear, and I had actually committed the greater rudeness in this situation, I quickly apologized, putting aside my wariness.

“So you’re the young master of the Nam Kyung family. I’m the one who should apologize for my rudeness.”

“Well, it’s fine. We both made mistakes, so let’s just forget about it.”

For someone who had shown signs of being offended, Nam Kyung Seo Han surprisingly easily moved past the situation.

“More importantly… I wanted to ask if you’re perhaps the disciple of the Sword King.”

And at the words that followed, I again paused and stared at him intently.

“How did you guess that?”

“So I’m right, it seems.”

Nam Kyung Seo Han smiled for the first time.

“The story of the Plum Blossom Sword King taking on a disciple was quite famous for a while.”

Was it famous enough to spread even outside of Hwasan?

“Actually, I overheard you being called Sago by disciples of similar age earlier. Given that you’re wearing Hwasan Sect clothes, and you’re a young disciple of high status, I thought the possibility was high.”

Somehow, I felt his attitude had suddenly become more amicable.

Nam Kyung Seo Han had clearly maintained a subdued gaze until confirming that I was in a master-disciple relationship with my teacher. Rather than simply being indifferent, it was an arrogant gaze that seemed to consider everything around him as worthless.

Even after that, a faint arrogance that he couldn’t fully hide was evident, but his previous words had almost none of that tone. As if he had carefully concealed it.

“Being the Sword King’s disciple, I’ve wanted to see what kind of person you are at least once. So, I assume you’ll naturally be participating. Isn’t that right?”

“That’s correct. It seems the same is true for you, Young Master.”

“Indeed. If we happen to face each other, I look forward to it.”

The words were delivered with a light laugh, as if joking. However, Nam Kyung Seo Han’s gaze was not light enough to be considered a mere joke.

His expression was quite natural and his attitude the same, so it would be hard for most people to notice. In fact, staring directly into the eyes of the speaker like I was doing isn’t considered polite behavior, so most wouldn’t observe so closely.

But it wasn’t that I wanted to look.

The clear emotion barely concealed in his eyes was just too visible, drawing my gaze.

‘It seems like… competitiveness.’

I can be certain. This person was clearly feeling something like competitiveness towards me suddenly.

‘And not just good-natured competitiveness, but a competitiveness that seems to want to defeat me somehow.’

Since his attitude changed drastically from the moment he asked if I was the Sword King’s disciple, he must have felt some pressure from that title. But given that the Nam Kyung family has the Sword Emperor, and his attitude seems to respect my teacher, it’s unlikely to be an emotion stemming from jealousy.

‘Then…’

There’s only one possibility. He wants to use me as a sacrifice to elevate his own reputation.

When our eyes met, he blinked a couple of times as if slightly flustered, but soon raised the corners of his mouth nonchalantly. Seeing this, I lost any desire to continue dealing with this person.

I instinctively felt it.

I wasn’t particularly extroverted from my previous life to this one, and in this life, I grew up in a quiet Daoist temple on top of that.

Of course, there are people with various personalities even in the temple, but fundamentally, being a ‘Daoist temple’, it was inevitably somewhat more restrained compared to the real secular world at the foot of the mountain. Like Senior Liu who deviated slightly but quickly returned.

That’s why I could feel it more clearly.

‘Continuing to talk seems like it will only be tiring.’

Go ahead and burn with competitiveness on your own.

If we end up meeting in the tournament bracket, I’ll do my best because there’s no choice, but even if he wants to use me to elevate his own reputation, there’s no reason for me to comply.

Just then, it seemed like my younger cousins had almost finished their snacks, so I didn’t continue the conversation and just said goodbye.

“Likewise. Then my younger cousins and I will be going first. It was nice to meet you, Young Master.”

“Ah… Take care.”

He looked slightly surprised, as if he hadn’t expected me to react this way, but I pretended not to notice and politely made a fist-and-palm salute before turning around.

Only after taking care of my younger cousins and moving away from the place where we met Nam Kyung Seo Han did I let out a small sigh.

He was an opponent that left me feeling uneasy in many ways.

Several more days passed after arriving at the Murim Alliance, and finally, the day of the main competition arrived.

It seemed that the martial artists who had advanced from the preliminaries and were not affiliated with the Nine Major Sects or Five Great Families had all entered the Murim Alliance two days ago and been assigned accommodations. It appeared they had been given two days to rest and recover.

As the main competition was considered the real start of the Dragon Phoenix Gathering, from today, the gates of the Murim Alliance were opened for anyone to enter and leave.

Since ordinary civilians who are not members of the Murim Alliance or martial artists usually can’t easily enter this place, the very fact that they could enter the Murim Alliance if they had an identity token seemed to make this event quite attractive to civilians.

‘And they can even watch fights.’

When local dignitaries, ordinary civilians, and merchants all flocked in, the scene of not having room to set foot that I had seen a few days ago was replicated inside the Murim Alliance as well.

Looking at the seemingly ever-increasing crowd of people, I thought absent-mindedly.

‘This must be a real bonanza for the merchants.’

Me, a Daoist, having such thoughts, is that okay?