Chapter 029 : Guardian Squad
At that time,
The Council of Elders.
"To think that following Elder Gwak, even Elder Baek was defeated... It seems he wasn't a scoundrel, but a sleeping dragon."
"What if Ye-rin is bewitched by that guy?"
Elder Choi Han-rim and Elder Han Bing-ok were conversing.
"Elder Han, wouldn't acknowledging him be one of the options now?"
"Didn't I tell you I decline lechers?"
"Isn't the Young Palace Head's opinion what matters?"
"That is true, but……."
A lecher.
Wasn't it possible that Hyeokryeon Yeom had dazzled the Young Palace Head with sweet talk?
Elder Han Bing-ok crossed her arms and glared at Elder Choi Han-rim.
"Perhaps because you are from the Guardian Squad, you are quite favorable toward that live-in son-in-law, Elder Choi."
"That is not the case."
Thud, thud.
While the two were conversing, a figure approached.
"Hoho, it seems the two Elders are in deep thought because of the Small Snow Squad Captain."
"Chairman."
At the appearance of the Ice Council Chairman, Seol Un-gang, Choi Han-rim and Han Bing-ok turned to look at him.
"It is news I just heard. It is said that the Palace Lord showed the Ice Crystal to that guy."
"What?"
"What do you mean by that? From ancient times, the Ice Crystal is something that can only be shown to the direct bloodline of the Ice Palace Lord!"
"He violated the rule."
As if he had been waiting for this very day, a faint smile hovered around Seol Un-gang's lips.
"What do you intend to do?"
"As the Council of Elders and the Chairman of the Ice Council, we cannot simply watch this happen."
"Are you saying... you intend to personally reprimand the Palace Lord, Chairman?"
A slightly negative reaction to Seol Un-gang's opinion came from Elder Choi Han-rim.
"I agree. The discipline of the Ice Palace will only be established if the Palace Lord, the pillar of the Ice Palace, observes the rules first."
Han Bing-ok, with a flushed face, looked as if she would storm out right away.
"Shouldn't we listen to the opinions of the other Elders as well?"
"That is……."
Currently, Elder Gwak and Elder Baek are absent.
At that moment.
Creaaak—
"How about listening to the opinion of the person involved first?"
At the sound of the door opening, everyone's gaze turned toward the door.
The door to the Ice Council opened, and a man revealed himself in front of it.
"Nice to meet you, Elders. I am the Small Snow Squad Captain, Hyeokryeon Yeom."
Hyeokryeon Yeom had visited the Council of Elders and the Ice Council on his own two feet.
***
"I wonder if this is alright."
"If the Captain says we go, we go."
"Baek Mu-yong. Is it my delusion, or has your loyalty to the Captain increased a bit since he retrieved White Night?"
"I tend to do my best in the squad I belong to."
The path heading to the Council of Elders.
Eun Bin and Baek Mu-yong began whispering.
"Is Warrior Tae using a kitchen knife again today?"
"This is comfortable."
"I understand, but you should use a different knife than the one for slicing food!"
"Of course."
It seemed Wi Ji-yeong and Tae Un-seo had become quite close as well.
-Pant, pant.
Tamya, who was riding on White Night's back, was also with us.
It was a situation where the entire Small Snow Squad, excluding the Young Palace Head, was moving in earnest.
-To think the Elders of the Ice Palace might be plotting to overthrow the Ice Palace... It's the end of the world.
-Just two hundred years ago, the Elders used to crawl beneath my feet.
'Just what kind of lives did you two live?'
-If I said that the entire Jianghu trembled when we advanced into the Central Plains, would you believe it?
I knew they had a record of being thrashed by the Heavenly Demon, but I didn't bother to mention it.
'Did the Murim fear the Ice Palace that much?'
-Of course. Would the Potala Palace, Poison Palace, Great Thunder Temple, and even the Small Thunder Temple have combined their forces to try and bring down the Ice Palace first otherwise?
'Was there such a time?'
-Is that all? Even the Ten Venerables under the Heavens representing the Murim Alliance, the Saphaeryeon, and the Blood Cult feared me.
The exaggeration was severe.
-It is not an exaggeration. It was the same for this Queen, you know?
Now, I had no choice but to bring up the story of the Heavenly Demon.
'Then why couldn't such people defeat the Demonic Cult Leader?'
-Kuhum.
-Oh my, as expected of someone from the Demonic Cult. You are too much.
I was curious, though.
If the stories of the Sword Venerable were all true.
It meant that the Heavenly Demon of that time was stronger than the North Sea Martial Gods.
"By the way, Young Master. What do you intend to ask when you meet the Elders?"
At Wi Ji-yeong's question, I briefly paused my conversation with the Martial Gods and thought.
As Wi Ji-yeong implied, even if I asked the Elders if they were plotting treason, there was no way they would answer yes.
"I intend to crash into them for now."
The process of ferreting out a traitor was a difficult task.
However,
'It is a necessary task.'
It was important that I could pressure the Council of Elders with the Ice Palace Lord on my back.
I had to find the person who caused the problem with the Ice Crystal.
Having entered the Council of Elders like that, I was able to spot the Ice Council Chairman, Seol Un-gang, along with Elders Choi Han-rim and Han Bing-ok.
Since Tae Un-seo had given me a detailed explanation about the Elders while we were heading to the Council of Elders, I could immediately recognize who was who.
"Nice to meet you. I am the Small Snow Squad Captain, Hyeokryeon Yeom."
"...Small Snow Squad Captain. What brings you here?"
"I exchanged greetings with the Snow Tiger Squad and the Ice Wolf Squad, but I hadn't offered my greetings to the Elders, the key figures of the Ice Palace, so I came to visit. Let me introduce them. This is the newly organized Small Snow Squad."
"I am the Small Snow Squad Vice Captain, Eun Bin."
"I am the Small Snow Squad Squad Leader, Baek Mu-yong."
"I am the Small Snow Squad member, Wi Ji-yeong."
"I am the Small Snow Squad member, Tae Un-seo."
At the fact that I was already bringing four members with me, the Ice Council Chairman, Seol Un-gang, stiffened his expression.
"The former Small Snow Squad Captain demoted to Vice Captain, a Squad Leader from the Ice Wolf Squad and even the troublemaker of the Snow Tiger Squad. The origins of your squad members are truly diverse."
It seemed like the Ice Palace's way of drawing lines based on family background.
Didn't they say the Elders were those who had stepped back from the front lines?
Hearing Elder Choi Han-rim accurately pinpoint the origins of Eun Bin, Baek Mu-yong, and Tae Un-seo, I smiled leisurely.
"They are talents to protect the Young Palace Head."
"Coming to greet us specifically. Did the Palace Lord order it?"
At Seol Un-gang's remark, I could instantly realize the status of the Council of Elders.
'They are completely disregarding the Palace Lord.'
I hadn't lived in the Ice Palace for long, but I couldn't shake the feeling that something was strange.
That was because things that would never happen if this were the Demonic Cult were constantly happening in the Ice Palace.
'In Our Cult, the Heavenly Demon's order is absolute.'
In any case, if the Cult Leader gave an order, whoever it was had to follow that order.
Just like that, normally, this place, the Ice Palace, should also be trembling in fear at a single word from my father-in-law.
However,
'The fact that the Snow Tiger Squad Captain provoked me when I first visited the Ice Palace, and...'
The fact that the Ice Wolf Squad, one of the Ice Palace's armed forces, moved independently to deal with Baek Mu-yong.
Situations continued to occur as if they were listening to the orders of someone other than the Ice Palace Lord.
"No, it is my own will. I happened to meet Elder Baek and Elder Gwak, so I became curious about the faces of the other Elders as well."
Since I judged that at least Baek Seol-pung and Gwak Tae-san were not traitors.
I suspected that one of the three Elders gathered here might be a spy.
"I was curious anyway, so this turned out well. I wanted to ask if you were a lecher or not."
At that moment, one of the three Elders, Elder Han Bing-ok, approached right in front of my nose.
***
The Cold Blood Witch, Han Bing-ok, was an Elder representing the Cold Blood Han Family, one of the Five Families of the North Sea.
A position high enough to have competed with the Ice Palace Lord, Seol Baek-ho, for the seat of the Palace Lord.
Only she knew the reason why she gave up the Palace Lord seat and became an Elder.
There was something this Han Bing-ok was particularly obsessed with.
"The rumor that you are a lecher... is it merely a rumor?"
The fact that she insanely hated lechers.
"At one time, I did enjoy wine and women."
"Then you mean it is true?"
"Not anymore. As someone who has promised marriage to the Young Palace Head, I believe my relationships with women are clean."
"Such a guy brings a girl from the Demonic Cult?"
Elder Han Bing-ok's gaze turned toward Wi Ji-yeong.
"Member Wi is strictly a member of the Small Snow Squad. Please refrain from making insulting remarks."
I spoke while looking straight into Han Bing-ok's eyes.
'Straight eyes?'
In Han Bing-ok's view, the look in my eyes began to overlap with someone else's.
"It is your fault for having problems in the past."
"The past is merely the past."
"That sounds like saying there could be problems."
Realizing that words wouldn't get through to her, my attitude changed.
"Well, even if a problem arises, it is a problem for me to handle. Elder Han, it seems you have a lot of interest in my women's problems?"
Of course she did.
Although it was a political marriage, I might become the spouse of the Young Palace Head.
This matter was a very important issue to Han Bing-ok, if not to anyone else.
"It seems you still don't know... what it means to become the son-in-law of the Ice Palace."
"A son-in-law is a son-in-law, is there anything else?"
As I made a puzzled expression.
"Tsk tsk, you are truly a fledgling who knows nothing. Think about the relationship between the Ice Palace and the Demonic Cult. Do you really think you can become the son-in-law of the Ice Palace?"
Seol Un-gang cut in.
-Keul keul, from ancient times, the Elders of the Ice Palace used to give advice, but... since when did they start to directly oppose what the Palace Lord decided?
-Master, that's because the Master didn't treat the Elders properly.
'The gaze of the Ice Council Chairman is not very kind.'
-I don't think I could look at you with a kind gaze either.
'But it doesn't seem like he opposes me merely because I am from the Demonic Cult.'
I paid attention to Seol Un-gang's surname.
The current Ice Palace could be seen as being ruled by the North Wind Seol Clan for a hundred years.
'If the Ice Palace is overthrown, who benefits the most?'
First would be the forces of the Outer Regions.
It means that if they can absorb the power of the Ice Palace, they can concentrate the power of the Outer Regions into one.
All forces of the Outer Regions want to enter the Central Plains.
If they can become allies with the Ice Palace and invade the Central Plains, they would gladly help overthrow the Ice Palace.
My father sending me to the Ice Palace should also be seen as a part of an alliance in reality.
"Yes, I intend to hold a wedding with the Young Palace Head. However, I understand this is a matter decided by the Palace Lord and the Cult Leader... was it something that also required the permission of the Elders?"
I deliberately threw out a provocative remark.
While doing so, I turned to look at Elder Choi Han-rim, who hadn't said a word until now.
It was because I recalled what Tae Un-seo had said before we entered the Council of Elders.
'As expected, the Elder I need to be most concerned about is the Ice Council Chairman, Seol Un-gang, right?'
'No. The Elder you must be most concerned about is Elder Choi.'
'Why?'
To my question, Tae Un-seo had answered like this:
'Because Elder Choi Han-rim is a former member of the Guardian Squad, which protects the Ice Palace.'