I was facing Arin.
We had been sharing rice balls and exchanging qi every night.
At this point, wouldn't it be okay to call her by her name?
Of course, only in my head.
"I wonder what kind of mission they'll give us."
"..."
"I hope it's an easy one. Do you have any guesses?"
"...Me? Not really. I don't know."
Arin was still taciturn.
The Arin I had seen over the past three months could be described in two words.
'Above heaven and earth, only I stand supreme.'
With her stunning looks and her skill as the runner-up, she was someone anyone would want to approach.
Yet all she did all day was study or train, over and over again.
She never left any openings, so no one had been able to grow close to her.
That probably included me as well.
'This is hard.'
I had planned to naturally bring up the Silver Moon Group someday and see her reaction, but she never gave me the chance.
Meet, exchange qi, eat, done.
Arin never started conversations first, and even when I did, it wasn't easy to keep them going.
But this time was different.
With the common topic of the practical exam we were taking as a team, we should be able to talk more naturally.
"All right, then each of you receive your missions. The basic mission is the same for everyone, so don't choose."
Since this was an exam meant to evaluate the results of just three months, it probably wouldn't be anything too serious.
I took a bamboo scroll and opened it.
– Find ten stalks of Autumn Glow Herb in the area marked on the map and bring them back. –
"Autumn Glow Herb."
Yu Arin nodded beside me as she read it.
I glanced toward Kang Museong.
I could roughly guess what he was trying to assess.
Autumn Glow Herb got its name because it only bloomed in autumn.
Its flowers, like red fallen leaves, gave off an even stronger autumnal feel than other flowers that bloomed in the same season.
Because it had such distinctive traits, it wasn't particularly hard to find.
The problem was that it wasn't autumn right now.
At this time of year, Autumn Glow Herb was hardly any different from ordinary weeds.
Of course, there were differences.
But there was no way students who had only learned herbology from books could easily tell them apart.
"So they're evaluating herbology too."
You could already see everyone suffering for it.
Once everyone had checked their missions, Kang Museong spoke.
"The exam lasts until sunset today. About one shijin from now, the supervisors will start following you. In this case, getting caught won't result in immediate failure, but you will receive a significant penalty, so don't forget to pay attention to erasing your traces as well. Now then, depart."
And with that, the first practical exam began.
An inn in the capital.
Lee Juwon, dressed in silk robes, poured alcohol for a bald man.
"Are you ready? Today's the day of the operation."
The bald man downed the drink in one go and spoke.
"Even if it's a guy, it tastes good when a pretty one pours it."
"Oh?"
Lee Juwon rested his fist against his cheek and said,
"Does it taste good when little Juwon pours for you, oppa?"
"Kahahahaha! A magnificent sight. Truly magnificent."
The White-Headed Sword Demon laughed loudly, then threw his cup aside and stood up.
"Next time, don't come out yourself looking disgusting. Send a woman. A woman. Got it?"
"You're picky. More importantly, just to confirm—you know not to touch Yu Arin, right?"
"I won't touch her. But is she really on our side?"
"I don't know."
Lee Juwon shrugged.
"The teacher never tells us everything about his plans. Still, if he says she's on our side, then we just accept she's on our side and follow along. Right?"
The White-Headed Sword Demon smirked and said to Lee Juwon,
"Yeah, the teacher's an educated man, so we should follow him. Lee Seoha, was it? Lee Gangjin's grandson."
"Yeah. Of the Cheongsin family. A truly impressive clan."
"Right. An impressive clan."
"But once you slit their throats, the sound they make isn't any different whether they're nobles or commoners."
Turning his head to look toward Mount Namak, the White-Headed Sword Demon wore a greasy smile.
"I'll be back. Until then, prepare a woman. A pretty, young one."
Lee Juwon kept smiling until the White-Headed Sword Demon disappeared, then his expression hardened.
"What bullshit. Bald bastard. When is the teacher going to throw that thing away?"
High Mount Namak.
After gazing up at the mountain, Juwon let his long hair flutter and vanished back into the city.
"There it is. Autumn Glow Herb."
No matter how fast we ran, it took a full shijin to reach the inner parts of Mount Namak where the Autumn Glow Herb grew from the Seongmu Academy.
Considering the return trip, we had about three shijin left.
Still, as summer approached, the time until sunset had grown longer, so we had more leeway than during the entrance exam.
Just then, Arin came back holding a handful of plants.
"Are these Autumn Glow Herb too?"
"Let me take a look."
I examined what Arin had brought.
"This one's a weed, this one's poisonous..."
Sorry to say, but none of what she picked was Autumn Glow Herb.
"None of them."
"...I'm sorry. None of them were right."
Arin stared at the plants that had fallen to the ground, looking dispirited.
It seemed like an explanation was needed.
I showed her the Autumn Glow Herb I had just found.
"Look. See how there's not a single hair on the stem? And if you look at the underside of the leaves here, the veins don't have sharp angles—they form smooth curves. That's what you need to look for."
It was an exam full of traps.
After all, warriors needed to join expeditions to gain as much experience as possible.
Expeditions meant entering regions where demonic beasts hadn't been fully cleared yet.
That always came with the risk of falling behind or getting lost.
In situations where you couldn't light a fire and had no remaining rations, surviving meant eating the plants growing nearby.
In other words, without accurate knowledge, you couldn't survive in the wild.
This exam was meant to assess whether the students were aware of those risks in advance.
"You know a lot."
"It's just written in books. I've got a good memory."
"And you're skilled in martial arts too."
Arin smiled ever so slightly and said,
"So I think it'll be okay."
"Huh?"
"No, it's nothing. I'll go look some more."
What did she mean by 'it'll be okay'?
But Arin was already walking away, so I couldn't ask further.
After some time passed,
Arin returned with seven stalks.
As if to prove she hadn't enrolled as runner-up for nothing, only Autumn Glow Herb was in her hand.
Her concentration really was on another level.
"We've got them all."
I looked up at the sun and nodded.
It had taken one shijin to get deep into Mount Namak and another shijin to find the herbs, so we should be able to head back with time to spare.
"Shall we head back?"
"Yeah."
Even if it took a bit longer, we decided to take a different route.
Securing the herbs and returning without being caught by the supervisors.
That was the ultimate goal of this practical exam, so we couldn't let our guard down until the very end.
How long had we been moving together, Arin following closely behind me?
A sudden sense of doubt struck me, and I looked around.
They had said the supervisors would follow us after a certain amount of time.
But more than two shijin had passed since we departed, and yet I hadn't sensed a single presence.
'Did we erase our traces too well?'
No.
Erasing traces was a matter of experience.
Footprints, broken branches, pressed-down soil, even scent—perfectly erasing traces required a wide range of knowledge and experience.
So even if I didn't leave much, Arin definitely left some.
No matter how talented she was, it was impossible for a fifteen-year-old to erase all traces perfectly.
'Does this mean we passed? I thought they'd apply pressure under the pretense of training.'
If the supervisors occasionally revealed themselves, it would be a valuable experience for the students.
'Well, they'll handle it as they see fit. And honestly, it's better if they don't show up.'
Just as I thought that and was about to move forward,
Arin, who had been following behind me, let out a puzzled sound.
"Over there..."
"Hm? What is it?"
Arin stopped and stared in one direction.
Her eyes were trembling.
When I followed her gaze, I saw a supervisor standing there.
No—more precisely, his head was missing.
The sight was so unreal that my mind went blank for a moment.
"...What?"
The next instant, a head dropped from a tree with a thud and rolled down the slope.
"Finally found you. Mountains are really wide, aren't they?"
A bald man sitting on the tree.
He held a thick saber, his face covered in scars, madness lurking in his eyes.
That appearance was painfully familiar.
"...!"
A figure whose name was recorded in history had appeared before my eyes.
'White-Headed Sword Demon...'
A being infamous for cutting off a hundred heads and displaying them.
Why was such a powerful figure here?
No, more importantly—found us?
Me? Arin? Why?
That he appeared at this point was completely unheard of.
The only murder case related to the Seongmu Academy was Yu Arin's massacre.
Had there been another incident I didn't know about?
Or did this happen because I had enrolled?
As I was thinking, the White-Headed Sword Demon leapt down from the tree leisurely.
"Sorry about that guy. He spotted me, so I didn't have a choice."
Keep talking.
At least until I could finish thinking.
Why he had come was still unclear.
And I had absolutely no idea how to overcome this situation.
Fighting the White-Headed Sword Demon wasn't even worth considering.
Before becoming a criminal, his final recorded status had been that of an intermediate warrior.
But even back then, he was said to have the potential of a Seonin, and judging by the people he assassinated later, it wouldn't be wrong to consider him Seonin-level.
Facing someone like that with just Arin and me?
It would be no different from jumping into a blazing fire carrying firewood.
On top of that, judging by Arin's panicked expression and trembling lips, it seemed she couldn't even display her usual skill.
"Let's not drag this out. Let's end it quickly."
The White-Headed Sword Demon started moving.
I needed more time to think.
How could I defeat him?
How could I escape this danger?
Supervisor. Kang Museong. Han Sanghyeok. Yu Arin.
I ran through all the cards I had, but none of them provided an answer to this moment.
In that case...
"Run!"
As soon as I started running, Arin followed right behind me.
"Well, I guess no one would just stand there and die if told to. Fine, let's have one last good run."
The White-Headed Sword Demon gave chase.
His speed was terrifying.
After three months of training, I thought my lightness skill had improved quite a bit, but getting caught felt like only a matter of time.
If there was one saving grace, it was that this was Mount Namak.
I had the advantage in navigation.
If I led him into terrain that was as rough as possible, with constant changes in direction, I might stand a chance in a speed contest.
As for how to deal with the White-Headed Sword Demon, I would think about that afterward.
Just as I thought that—
"Ah..."
I heard a small cry, and at the same time, I saw Arin fall.
Running at full speed through the mountains, she had tripped over a rock.
"Arin—!"
I saw Arin, who had fallen, getting caught by the White-Headed Sword Demon.
With her balance completely broken, one swing of his blade would send her head flying.
At that moment,
The White-Headed Sword Demon glanced at Arin and smiled.
"Oh dear. Wouldn't do to hurt one of our own."
He lightly leapt over Arin and continued chasing me.
As if I had been his target from the very beginning.
'One of our own?'
As those words echoed in my mind, a thought flashed through my head.
'...So that's how it is.'
In that instant, every question was answered.
Why an incident I didn't remember had occurred.
Why the White-Headed Sword Demon ignored Arin and targeted only me.
All of it pointed to a single truth.
The Silver Moon Group.
This situation was their doing.
And something I had only kept as a hypothesis was now confirmed as fact.
'Arin is also part of the Silver Moon Group.'
The moment I reached that conclusion, I turned my head and sprinted forward.
For now, focus only on surviving.
If I got through this safely, I could make a more complete plan with the important information I'd gained.
Don't think about it. Don't think about it.
I repeated that to myself countless times, but—
It seemed my attention had slipped regardless.
When I came to my senses, what lay before me was a steep downward slope.
Jumping straight down like this was dangerous, with trees and sharp thorns in the way.
But taking another route wasn't possible either.
Behind me—
"Done running?"
The White-Headed Sword Demon stood there, blocking my escape.
Now the only option left was to fight him.
I steadied my mind.
Honestly, I was afraid.
I had gained results from consuming Ten-Thousand-Year Polygonum, but I was still just a student who hadn't even taken the martial civil exam.
Meanwhile, my opponent was a powerful figure estimated to be Seonin-level.
I didn't know if I could win, and the chances were extremely low.
But if retreat was impossible and I had to fight no matter what, then I would seize victory by any means necessary.
In 180 years, I had experienced this kind of pursuit more than a hundred times and fought enemies stronger than me over a thousand times.
And yet, I survived.
And this time too, I would survive.
"Then let's die."
The White-Headed Sword Demon swung his saber.
My body reacted instinctively.
Moving according to the footwork I had practiced countless times, my sword collided with his saber with a clang.
I immediately grabbed the White-Headed Sword Demon's arm.
"Hm?"
"Let's go into the mud."
This was what you called quick thinking.