Chapter 11. Backing (2)
“What? A dog with its tail tucked?! That damned bastard!!”
Inside her private training room, Deputy Leader Yeonhwa wildly swung her saber and hacked apart wooden training dummies.
It looked like she was venting her anger.
She tried to clear her distracting thoughts through training, but the harder she trained, the louder Bi Anso's voice became inside her head.
Afraid of the Six Great Demonic Clans like some dog? You avoid shit because it’s filthy, not because you’re afraid of it! He’s only saying that because he came from outside and doesn’t know anything!
Her saber moved even faster.
Her saber art had no dazzling variations or profound martial principles. It was a violent style learned on the streets.
But its sheer ferocity was impressive.
He’ll act proud for a while, then lower his head once he understands reality. He’ll prove with his own actions that he’s no different from the rest of us!
Crack!
Her saber fell vertically and split the wooden dummy in half.
Even that was not enough to calm her anger.
She continued smashing her saber down like an axe.
At last, she roared like a beast.
“Aaaaaagh! Damn bastard! I’ll personally watch you lower your head in despair!”
Yeonhwa stormed outside, breathing like an angry bull.
Normally, she needed the Unit Leader's permission to leave for reasons unrelated to a mission.
But the irritation rising from deep inside her made her completely ignore that rule.
Yeonhwa marched through the streets and soon arrived in front of Hwayol Restaurant.
Those bastards...
Three men wearing the uniforms of the Enforcement Pavilion were inside, stuffing themselves with as much food and alcohol as they wanted.
They were clearly the thugs from the Enforcement Pavilion who had been tormenting the nearby merchants.
“Hey, Owner! What’s wrong with this food? Maybe you don’t have customers because your cooking tastes like rotten garbage!”
“The alcohol tastes terrible too. Did you mix it with water?”
“Business is this bad, so I wonder how much longer you’ll last. Treat us better! Who knows? Maybe we’ll bring our Enforcement Pavilion brothers here for a banquet someday. Hahahaha!”
The restaurant owner barely suppressed his anger as he approached them and offered them a heavy money pouch.
The man who appeared to be their leader opened the pouch.
Then he suddenly became furious.
“Hey, Owner. What is this? Is this all the gratitude you have for our hard work protecting the peace of the Cult?!”
“I, I gathered everything I possibly could! Even if you ask for more, there’s nothing I can do!”
“Then you should sell your daughter to a brothel and get the money! Maybe your business is failing because you don’t know how to satisfy your customers!”
The man violently shoved the owner to the ground.
“You dare refuse a demand from the Enforcement Pavilion? Do I need to throw you into the underground prison for obstructing official duties before you learn your lesson?!”
“Then just kill me! Stop slowly bleeding me dry and kill me already!!”
“Kill you? Anyone listening might think we’re common thugs stealing money from ordinary cult members. We are martial artists of the Enforcement Pavilion, protectors of the Cult's peace. How could we possibly kill an ordinary cult member?”
The man walked toward the fallen owner and crouched in front of him.
“By tomorrow, prepare twice the protection fee we demanded. If you don’t, I’ll show you a living hell.”
“T, twice?! Be reasonable! There is no possible way I can prepare that much money!”
“Shut up! If you fail, I’ll throw not only you but your entire family into the underground prison! Right, I’ll send your daughter to a garbage pit like the Black Blood Unit. I wonder what will happen to her once she’s surrounded by all those ruined criminals.”
“You bastard! If you touch my daughter...!”
“If we touch her, what will you do? What can a weak, worthless ordinary cult member like you possibly do to us?”
The Enforcement Pavilion martial artists burst into laughter and mocked the owner.
“No one will stand up for you! Why? Because we are descendants of the Six Great Demonic Clans, families carrying the blood of the Cult's founding contributors! Do you think anyone would make an enemy of the Six Great Demonic Clans for the sake of some worthless ordinary cult member?”
Tears fell from the owner's eyes.
They were tears born from overwhelming anger and resentment.
But even those burning tears were nothing more than entertainment to the three men.
“Hahahaha! A grown man crying? You’re so weak and pathetic, no wonder people will exploit you for the rest of your life!”
“Our Cult respects the strong. It is only natural for weaklings like you to offer everything you have to strong people like us.”
“Prepare the money by tomorrow. Otherwise, you’ll get to watch your daughter being passed around inside the Black Blood Unit.”
Watching them cause trouble, Yeonhwa honestly did not feel much.
Of course, she was angry.
But this was hardly the first time she had seen descendants of the Demonic Clans behaving like this.
The first doctrine of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, Respecting the Strong, acknowledged all forms of power.
Abilities developed through effort and personal influence were power.
Natural talent and the family one was born into were also forms of power.
From Yeonhwa's point of view, those three were simply using the power they had been born with.
The restaurant owner was merely someone who had failed to develop enough power of his own to resist them.
The strong oppressed and swallowed the weak.
It was an eternal law that had never changed since humans first walked the earth.
Therefore, the owner's suffering existed only because he was weak.
And because Yeonhwa herself did not have enough power to oppose the Six Great Demonic Clans, she had no intention of getting involved.
Hmph. That bastard who only knows how to talk still hasn’t appeared.
As expected, he’s all mouth.
Then again, no sane person would make an enemy of the Six Great Demonic Clans inside this Cult...
The three men finished tormenting the owner and walked outside with mocking smiles.
Yeonhwa sighed and turned away from them.
At that exact moment, something cut through the darkness.
“Aaaaaagh! W, what the hell?!”
“A, an arrow?!”
At the sudden screams, Yeonhwa turned around.
