Chapter 74: Interlude – Sniffing Out the Trail

Hyeong Daesung sighed as he carefully pored over the documents in front of him. It was dreadfully boring—mostly just business receipts, tax reports, and a few ledgers that he’d managed to get his hands on. A paper trail that he’d been slowly tracking down over the last few weeks—what passed for entertainment in his current situation. He was officially a ‘guest’ of the royal palace in Songdo, a prisoner in all but name and he suspected that it was only Princess Eunae’s influence that afforded him even that much.

He had to admit it was rather nice, for a prison cell. His quarters in the guest wing of the palace were much nicer than his dorm apartment back at the academy, or even his room back at his master’s estate. The sitting room had a large tea table surrounded by soft, comfortable couches and stocked with refreshments by the palace maids. A work desk had been prepared for him in the corner, which was now covered with the very same documents he had just been examining—the place where he spent most of his time. Further within was a luxurious bedroom with the most comfortable bed he’d ever slept in, and an attached bathroom featuring some of the most extravagant formations he’d ever seen used for such a mundane purpose. Overall, it was probably the nicest place he’d ever stayed, except for the part where he wasn’t allowed to leave.

His master had disappeared after the attack on the academy, along with Qin Zhao, both branded traitors and heretics by their countries, and the evidence against them was rather compelling. Investigations had revealed hundreds of suspicious deals involving one or both, and it was beyond clear that Do Hye had dramatically overstepped his authority during his time as Prime Minister. It was a miracle that the Grand Academy had managed to last for more than a year—it really shouldn’t have existed at all. Misappropriated funds, bribed officials, involvement with organized crime—the list went on, and at this point Dae had to admit that it was no longer a question of whether or not Do Hye had betrayed the nation, but rather how deep his betrayal ran.

Worse, he hadn’t told Dae anything! Oh, he liked to hint and allude to some greater purpose behind his actions, but Do Hye couldn’t make breakfast without acting as if it was all part of some grand plan—that’s just how he was! Dae never imagined something like this, and he certainly never expected the man that he’d looked up to like a father for most of his life to abandon him so suddenly. Dae felt hurt and betrayed, not because of his master’s schemes, but because he hadn't been involved in them. It made Dae wonder if he’d just been another piece in Do Hye’s game the entire time.

He sighed again, contemplating whether he should try to compartmentalize his thoughts about his master. Dae shook his head—that was a bad idea. The thoughts could be set aside, but not the feelings. It was something he had learned early on about his technique, it wouldn’t change the way he felt, only take away his ability to contextualize those feelings and make his behavior erratic. Still, it felt as though he had a lot of troubling thoughts these days.

As if answering his call for a proper distraction, Dae heard a knock on his door. Before he could answer, Eunae let herself in with little Haeun following close behind her. Dae stood and bowed deeply.

“Good afternoon, Princess. Please make yourself at home.”

Eunae nodded fractionally, not objecting to his use of her title as she would have at the academy.

“We’ve come to conduct Princess Haeun’s tutoring, Da—um, Magus Hyeong. We’ll be availing ourselves of your hospitality.”

Eunae frowned, clearly not happy to be speaking so formally, but she had to be careful with her words around the palace. Haeun was far less delicate, happily flopping onto one of the couches and staring at Dae with stars in her eyes, her tails swishing excitedly behind her.

“What are we going to do today, big brother!?”

Eunae grimaced as she began to prepare tea in a pot that had been prepared by the maids for just that purpose.

“Haeun, you are to refer to Magus Hyeong by his name and title. A princess cannot conduct herself immodestly.”

The words looked like they physically pained her to say, and Haeun pouted in response, her ears and tails drooping. Dae picked out a few blank talisman sheets and a calligraphy set as he made his way over to sit across from Haeun.

“You’re practicing calligraphy today. I know you already know your characters, but I’d like to start you on some basic spell forms.”

Haeun’s face fell even further at Dae’s announcement and she groaned with disappointment.

“Aww! But that’s what all my other tutors make me do—it’s so boring!”

Dae allowed himself a small grin as he set out the materials in front of her.

“Not like this! You remember how we learned about ki last week?”

Haeun crossed her arms and frowned grumpily as she begrudgingly answered.

“When I had to run and run until I sweat out that icky stuff? The maids got super mad at me, and scrubbed me in the bath for hours after that. I hate baths!”

Dae simply nodded. He could understand her feelings—ki awakenings were truly unpleasant.

“Well I’m going to show you a way to use that ki to write a talisman and turn it into a spell at the same time, doesn’t that sound interesting?”

Haeun continued to grump for a moment, but as her mind slid the pieces into place she started to get excited again.

“So I’ll be able to do magic spells like you!?”

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“That’s the idea!”

Haeun was an unusual child. She had awakened her mana sense before she’d even been able to talk, and her understanding of mana was so intuitive that she actually struggled with the more academic methods of spellcasting that her other tutors had tried to instill in her. Though his ‘job’ as her tutor was little more than a thinly veiled excuse for Eunae to visit him, he took it seriously. Eunae had to pause pouring a cup of tea to cover her mouth with a sleeve and stifle a giggle.

“I didn’t think you were fond of that particular technique, Magus Hyeong.”

Dae chuckled.

“I don’t like to use it, myself, but Princess Haeun’s intuitive use of mana is rather unusual. She’s awakened her ki, and with the rate she’d been progressing I doubt her spiritual awakening is far behind. We only really have one other example to go by, and you may recall that she was rather intuitive in the way she developed her style as well. There’s no sense letting that experience go to waste!”

Eunae nodded, setting out tea for herself and Haeun. She surprised Dae by serving him a cup as well—she really shouldn’t have, but there didn’t seem to be any maids present to notice her impropriety. Dae accepted it gratefully, taking a sip as Eunae settled in next to Haeun, who was already diligently practicing the example spell forms that Dae had set out for her.

“True—though you might recall that her style was something of a...work in progress.”

Dae grimaced. That was putting it lightly. Lee Jia and An Eui were both as likely to injure themselves or each other as they were an opponent. Their fighting styles were at best haphazard, and at worst self-destructive. The fact that they’d managed to find such success anyway only served to demonstrate just how talented the pair of girls that made up ‘Yoshika” were.

“Well, she and An only had a year to refine their techniques.”

Eunae nodded, smiling nostalgically before glancing furtively at the stack of papers on his desk. She had been the one to help him procure most of them.

“Have you made any progress?”

Dae sighed, shaking his head ruefully. It hadn’t even been a month, and it was unreasonable to expect results so quickly, but he could tell that Eunae was lonely in the absence of her other friends.

“No. The An family was easy enough to track down. They are doing well for themselves, though they have to operate through friends and subsidiaries in order to trade anywhere the Sun family has influence. An Eui’s court documents are a mess, it’s almost impossible to find anyone associated with that case that hasn’t been paid off in some fashion by either Sun or Yeong. It was a farce of a trial, but untangling just how much of one would be the work of years, not weeks.”

Eunae nodded along. It was to be expected, but An Eui’s status as an exile wouldn’t be easy to change—especially given the crimes she committed after being branded had yet to be answered for. Dae went on, getting to the part that he’d spent many sleepless nights trying to figure out.

“Lee Jia is a ghost. The name Lee is extremely common, but I am almost certain that she came from one of a number of establishments run by criminal organizations. More than that, I honestly can’t say. Organizations like this sprout up like weeds everywhere in the country, and for each one that gets pulled, another two seem to appear. It’s impossible to say which one she came from or if it even still exists. I’ve found information on at least four crime lords who call themselves ‘Lee’, but these places don’t exactly keep detailed records.

“I’ve tried to chase reports of a white-haired thief girl, starting with complaints registered to Administrator Tae in Nayeong City from just over a year ago. I’ve found scattered reports from a period of about four years, but the patterns don’t make sense. She’ll appear in one city, then vanish and pop up in another that’s nowhere close and not even directly connected by roads. There’s no path to follow, as if she just trekked through the wilderness to get from one city to another at random instead of following roads. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think it was done specifically to prevent someone from finding her origins. Never mind her parents—I can’t even find the city she was raised in.”

Eunae frowned and sighed.

“Keep looking. This isn’t just about finding our friend, remember.”

Dae nodded. Do Hye had scouted Lee Jia somehow, and if they could find that connection, they might be able to uncover some indication of his movements or motives. Tracking down information on his master would go a long way towards clearing Dae’s name, and Lee Jia was now the best lead they had in that direction.

“Big br—I mean, Magus Hyeong look! I did it!”

Haeun proudly held up a perfectly replicated spell talisman, reminding Dae that he had more present duties to attend to. He grinned at the little fox princess beaming up at him.

“Alright! Very good work. Now, let’s try practicing it with ki. You might make a little bit of a mess at first, but that’s half the fun...”

Haeun giggled as Dae began to demonstrate the first technique that Lee Jia had ever taught him. Just who was she, and where did she come from? How did she play into whatever bizarre game his master was playing? Whatever the answers were, Dae and Eunae were determined to find them.