Nano Mashin

The new academy of Demonic Cult.

Thud!

Baekhyun, the envoy from North Sea Ice Palace, showed his earnestness by hitting his forehead on the floor.

“Please help us.”

Everyone in the room was in deep thought.

He didn’t miss the opportunity when he revealed that the owner of the identity slate was Chun Inji, the former Lord of the Demonic Cult.

Despite the situation, Baekhyun thought that seeing the identity slate, the new Lord would surely come to help them.

‘Please help us out, like your former lord did.’

At that moment, Chun Yeowun’s voice entered Baekhyun’s ears, who had his head on the ground.

“I have a question for you.”

Baekhyun raised his head slightly.

“Yes?”

“According to Wang Jing, the North Sea signed an alliance agreement with the Yulin forces, why didn’t you ask them for help?”

‘This…’

The North Sea and the Demonic Cult rarely interacted, and that was the truth.

But they were doubting it because of Baekhyun’s behaviour.

And when Chun Yeowun pointed it out, he was too flustered to answer.

“I am grateful that you brought us news about our former Lord. However, I don’t understand why the North Sea sent one envoy to us expecting that we would trust the words of one person. Besides, this isn't even a formal request.”

‘… maybe we look easy to him.’

Of course, he knew that such a request would be a bit unreasonable in normal circumstances, but he thought that since he brought the slate along, the Demonic Cult would help him.

“Do you think that any man from the palace can come down to Jianghu alone, without an official request and ask us to dispatch people just because we are loyal to our former lords?”

Baekhyun’s face hardened at those words.

Wooong!

“Huh?”

Baekhyun’s body, which had been lying face down, was raised by force.

Shocked, he tried to rebel against the force which was raising him in the air, but he couldn’t even move.

Chun Yeowun spoke to the man, who was flustered.

“Since I am no idiot, I can make two guesses. You came here by yourself thinking you can represent the North Sea.”

‘!!!’

Gulp!

Baekhyun gulped his saliva with a nervous face.

While Chun Yeowun continued to speak to him.

“Maybe you judged that there is an enemy inside, so you are asking for our help personally, this is not an official request from the North Sea, right?”

Baekhyun couldn’t help but be shocked.

He only talked about the related events to the Dragon Turtle and what happened in the North Sea Ice Palace, but that information was omitted.

‘His intuition isn’t normal.’

Indeed, he was the lord of the forces which moved the Wulin.

He heard the rumors, but he thought that they were exaggerated because of the age of the Lord, however, Baekhyun was wrong.

‘I can’t hide it anymore.’

If he guessed so much, a couple more guesses and the Lord would probably figure out everything.

Baekhyun nodded and apologized.

“I never meant to deceive you. I couldn’t tell you right away because I was scared that the Lord would turn down my request right away.”

From Baekhyun’s point of view, there was nothing else he could do.

The reason he asked for the help from Demonic Cult alone was because it was a matter related to the internal problems of the North Sea Ice Palace.

He couldn’t just reveal such matters to outsiders casually.

“Explain everything.”

“… I am the prince of the North Sea Ice Palace.”

“I knew it!”

Hu Bong couldn’t hold back his words.

Baekhyun wasn’t an ordinary man from the palace.

He was the prince, who would lead the North Sea Ice Palace in the future.

Listening to how Chun Yeowun was on guard, the others had roughly understood his identity.

“I am amazed at the wisdom of the Lord. Please forgive my rudeness.”

“That was pretty bold of you. If you hadn’t given me that slate of our former Lord, I would have made you pay a considerable price.”

Crap!

He spoke casually but goosebumps rose on Baekhyun’s body.

That jade was acting as a shield for him.

Baekhyun knew that if he spoke any more lies, his life would be in danger, so he decided to reveal everything.

“I have no intention of hiding it anymore. As the Lord guessed, the formal envoy went to request Yulin.”

Baekhyun revealed everything.

“Ha!”

Hu Bong couldn’t hide his dissatisfaction at those words.

From what he said, it was likely they wanted help from both the Demonic Cult and Yulin forces.

The problem was that the official request was only for Yulin, so if they went to the North Sea by listening to this man, it would end up as a problem from the Demonic Cult.

At that time, Ko Wanghur pointed out a fact.

“That is strange, If you are the prince of North Sea Ice Palace, aren’t you the deputy king?”

Right.

In case of an accident, it was normal procedure for the prince to take over the position as a proxy and lead the office.

At that, Baekhyun bit his lip trying to calm the anger and spoke.

“I am not. Now, the deputy king of the palace isn’t me, but a person named Dan Jucheon, my second uncle.”

“Second uncle?”

At those words, Chun Yeowun’s eyes lit up.

If so, it meant that the current head of the Palace was someone else.

Judging from Baekhyun’s reaction, there must have been an internal conflict in the Palace.

This attracted Chun Yeowun’s attention.

“Excluding everything you said, you are currently asking for our Cult’s help, when you have no authority in your hand.”

Chun Yeowun asked Dan Baekhyun in a stern tone.

“T-that, it can be thought of as such, but there was nothing I could do. There are numerous spies in the main palace.”

“Spies?... Are you talking about the Blade God Six Martial Clan?”

“… yes.”

In addition to those who died in the underground, Baekhyun was certain that there were spies of the Blade God Six Martial clan everywhere in the Palace.

The most suspicious ones were Dan Jucheon and his followers.

Hearing that the king met with an unfortunate accident and the dragon had been released, the first action he took was to convene a meeting and be appointed as the deputy king of the palace.

“He took advantage of the crisis rather than devising measures. At that time, I was unconscious because of the wounds I suffered, only if I was fine! Tch!”

Taking advantage of the release of the Dragon Turtle, he had himself appointed as the deputy king in the palace, and was delegated all the powers as he gathered all the powerful people in the palace.

Although it was a moment of crisis, Dan Jucheon was being respected as a hero by the people of North Sea Ice Palace.

While Baekhyun was unconscious because of his injuries, everything had already been decided.

As if they were all waiting for that moment.

“It is a situation which raises suspicion, but maybe he could have done it without the help of spies?”

Ko Wanghur asked.

At that Baekhyun raised his head and answered in anger.

“If that person really wanted the position of king based on his skills, maybe my father and I would be able to understand! But he, a person who is supposed to be my father's brother, took advantage of a crisis and took power. If something like that happens in your Cult, would you dismiss it as a simple power struggle?”

“…”

At that, Ko Wanghur went silent.

Baekhyun’s words weren’t wrong.

He kept saying that his uncle took advantage of the crisis, but there was a high probability that he thoroughly colluded with the Blade God Six Martial clan.

They had plotted things the same way everywhere.

“And, the three elders are known to be the right hands of my uncle. They and my uncle were all in favor of bringing in those bombs from the Blade God Six…”

“Enough.”

‘?’

Chun Yeowun asked him to stop talking.

When he said that without hearing the entire story, Baekhyun turned restless.

Chun Yeowun spoke to him.

“I don’t think there is any need to hear more.”

“T… then?”

“Well, people of the Demonic Cult will head to the North Sea to secure the safety of the former Lord.”

“Ah!”

Baekhyun’s face swelled with happiness at the good news which came out from Chun Yeowun’s words.

From looking at how Chun Yeowun acted, it seemed like they were going to send Baekhyun back, but now he was willing to help.

“Th-thank you!”

However, the happy feelings ended quite fast.

“Let us sign a contract here.”

“Huh?”

Baekhyun doubted his ears at the sudden words of a contract.

He thought that since they would need their former lord, they would help, but the new turn of events were unexpected.

“The safety of your former lord of the Sky Demon Order is at stake…”

“Don’t get me wrong.”

“What?”

“If we head to the North Sea without an official request, we will undoubtedly face backlash from the Yulin and the North Sea soldiers.”

“W-well…”

“If the life of our former Lord cannot be secured or identified, our cult will choose to not move.”

It was an undeniable fact.

If the former Lord, Chun Inji’s body wasn’t left behind by the Dragon Turtle, it would be like the Demonic Cult had interfered in the matters of another Palace without an official request.

No one could point fingers at the cult when getting rid of the Dragon Turtle, but once the matter gets solved, people are bound to question their reasons.

‘Ah! A justification!’

Baekhyun understood.

He had no idea how the current deputy king would act.

But there was one problem.

“Lord. Even though I can write down the contract, I hold no authority. The deputy king of the palace might ignore this, would you still like this?”

“It doesn't matter.”

“Huh? Really?”

“Write it down.”

Baekhyun was puzzled at Chun Yeowun, who spoke as if he didn’t care about it.

However, realizing that Chun Yeowun could change his mind any moment, Baekhyun took the brush on the table.

He looked up at Chun Yeowun.

“What kind of contract should I write?”

“Simple one. All you need is to put down three conditions.”

“Three?”

Baekhyun frowned.

He didn’t know that there were going to be three conditions.

He was anxious, but he decided to give in and listen.

“First. The core and blood of the Dragon Turtle will belong to the Sky Demon Order, who will kill it.”

“You mean, the cult will kill it?”

“Yes.”

That was understandable.

If they killed it, they would have the right to take it.

Of course, if they joined up with the North Sea Ice Palace to kill it, there could be problems.

The Cult was indeed risking their life to help the North Sea, a place which had nothing to do with them, so this condition felt acceptable.

“Second. After the Dragon Turtle is eradicated, break the agreement between North Sea Ice Palace and Yulin forces.”

“Huh? That is a bi…”

While he was still flustered, Chun Yeowun continued the third condition.

“Third. In place of the cancelled agreement, the North Sea will make a new one. Write these three things very clearly.”

‘!?’

At Chun Yeowun’s words, Baekhyun was speechless.

His first condition felt right, but the second and third weren’t something he could decide on his own.

“If we sign the contract with the said conditions, we will head to the North Sea right away.”

“W-wait a minute! Lord! The contents of the contract that you mentioned aren’t things I can…”

“You don’t have to worry about that.”

“Huh?”

“You will soon be inaugurated as the King.”

Baekhyun trembled at the sudden words which came out of Chun Yeowun’s mouth.

The feeling of embarrassment he felt had changed.

Chun Yeowun’s lips raised into a smile and spoke to Baekhyun.

“You decide. King Dan.”

After many hours passed, Chun Yeowun came out of the guest room, and gave orders to his subordinates.

“Call the Six Swords right now. We will depart.”

“Yes!”

At that moment, the Demonic Cult’s expedition to the North Sea was confirmed.