The Hunting Dog of the Prestigious Family Has Returned Chapter 64

Funerals in Joseon are truly exhausting affairs.

Three days and nights without closing your eyes, and the constant stream of mourners arriving at every hour keeping your mind from any rest.

Perhaps it is a kind of consideration in its own way, keeping the bereaved endlessly occupied so they have no time to grieve.

“Riflemen, aim!”

In the heavy, somber atmosphere, soldiers lined up in formation raised their rifles toward the sky.

The bodies of hundreds of soldiers, surrounded by flowers of every color.

Amid the sobbing of the bereaved clutching memorial portraits, the garrison commander’s heavy voice rang out.

“Fire!”

Bang bang bang-!

Three shots, and the three-day funeral came to its end.

The bereaved weeping, and the people of Iron Tiger Fortress comforting them.

Most of those who had come to pay their respects from the very beginning had stayed on to the burial site to remain with the bereaved.

It was a sight impossible to imagine in Hanseong.

“Dad…. Dad……”

“My son. Don’t worry, rest well. All right? Your mother and father will be just fine……”

Only after all the mourners had been sent off did the dam break, and weeping burst from among the bereaved.

Wailing, mourning, grieving voices filled the space.

A short distance away from that funeral hall.

I stood there alone, watching the funeral of Iron Tiger Fortress’s people.

“……Mooyoung, are you crying right now?”

When I quietly asked Mooyoung, standing beside me, he turned his head away in a hurry.

‘I thought he was as unfeeling as a rock, but he’s more sensitive than expected.’

As that thought crossed my mind, Mooyoung, eyes red at the corners, asked me.

“Young Master…. does none of this affect you?”

“I feel a bit conflicted, but not enough to cry.”

I’ve been here less than a week and there’s not a face I recognize, so.

Do I feel sympathy? A little.

But even that is brief. In truth, I feel nothing particularly out of the ordinary.

What actually fills my head, rather, is what I’ve gained through this battle.

And mostly what needs to be done from here on.

“What needs to be done?”

“Ah, you heard that?”

I must have been muttering to myself without realizing it.

Since there happened to be time to spare, I caught hold of Mooyoung and began pouring out everything in my head.

“First. You and I, by taking part in the wall defense, succeeded in winning the goodwill of the wall garrison.”

“Wasn’t that just…. because we went to help people?”

“Have I lost my mind? Volunteering like that.”

Right now, in this battle alone, I had lost three tactical modules.

When I returned to Hanseong, I would have to write an incident report, submit a detailed report to my superiors, and on top of that, be separately summoned by Kim Jungheon for a look full of suspicion.

“Now. The question is whether helping these people was worth all that trouble….”

“Was it?”

“It was. More than enough.”

I kept talking while putting a piece of dried persimmon from the funeral hall in my mouth.

“Thanks to the Iron Tiger General smoothing things over, the hatred toward people from Hanseong has faded…. but the resentment these people have toward the aristocrat class is unchanged. If anything, it may have deepened.”

Just before the battle broke out.

I had sent Mooyoung out to gauge the state of the locals.

If it had been me instead of Mooyoung who went then, would they have offered rice cake and side dishes the way they did for Mooyoung?

No.

I would wager the only things the people of Iron Tiger Fortress would have offered me were insults and stones.

“But through this battle, I succeeded in forging something like a bond with the people here. That is the first harvest.”

“For that…. the way people look at you doesn’t seem to have changed much.”

As Mooyoung said, the gaze of the locals watching me from a distance at the funeral hall was not exactly welcoming.

But I shrugged as if it made no difference.

“‘At least they’re not throwing me in a detention cell the moment they lay eyes on me, right? Compared to when I first arrived, that’s a giant leap forward.”

“Is that…. really how it is?”

“Besides, you’ve become quite famous around here too, Mooyoung…. which means there’s no problem moving around here and there.”

In fact, the one who had produced better results than me was Mooyoung.

He had taken down around five special-type individuals inside the wall, and because of that, it seemed he had become quite well known among the soldiers.

I’d heard they were calling him by cringe-worthy names like ‘the Black-Armed Swordsman’ or ‘Black Blade’ or something.

“When we get back to Hanseong, I’ll have to tell Taewoong and everyone else. That our Mooyoung has a dark flame dragon living in his right arm.”

“Ah, please don’t….”

He seemed embarrassed by it himself, his face flushing red at the offhand joke.

I’ve finally got something to tease him about after a long while, so I won’t be bored for some time.

“And second. The Iron Tiger Army has gotten hold of the wreckage of the tactical modules I requested as reinforcements.”

This was precisely why I had deliberately crashed all three tactical modules into the monster swarm.

The tactical modules I dispatched were new-model units that had been in active deployment for less than a year.

And I had let the monsters destroy those brand-new models to their hearts’ content.

‘Unit 1 had its full-body armor crushed and crumpled; Unit 2, left-arm overload and lower-body destroyed; and Unit 3, internal reactor detonated…. are you seriously telling me all three were destroyed?’

‘It was that fierce a battle. Just file the report properly.’

I immediately contacted the operator and ruled all three tactical modules as destroyed.

I reported that ‘the wreckage of the units had drifted into contaminated territory along with the monsters and their whereabouts are unknown.’

So what actually happened to those tactical modules, you ask?

What else.

The Hahoe operatives who had been on standby completed the hacking, and right now they are sitting in the Iron Tiger Army’s armory, being disassembled and savored by any number of engineers.

“In other words, using my authority as secret royal inspector, I protected the Iron Tiger Army and at the same time provided them with important research material that can raise their technological level.”

As a bonus it would serve as a chance to assess the state of the enemy’s weapons, so this was more than profitable.

While I was mentally running through the arithmetic and pestering Mooyoung.

“Are you here?”

Garrison Commander Jeong Hyoyeong, dressed in white mourning clothes, came over and addressed me.

After running about for three full days alongside the chief mourners, it seemed all his duties had finally come to an end.

“It looks like the funeral for your soldiers went well.”

“Well, more or less. Are you not attending yourself?”

What would I go there for.

I waved my hand and spoke.

“I am someone who came from the Administration, and an aristocrat. There is nothing to be gained from inserting myself there uninvited.”

“I heard that the inspector also made a condolence contribution. Quite a large sum, apparently….”

“Think of it as the price of beef stew. As for the amount…. let’s just say the price gouging here was a bit steep.”

“My, goodness….”

Saying that, Garrison Commander Hyoyeong pulled a cigarette from inside his jacket and put it to his lips.

A cigarette that had not left his lips for three full days.

Before lighting the end, he held the pack out toward me.

“Care for one?”

I nearly took it without thinking, but held back and waved my hand.

“……I’ll pass. I’m still a minor.”

“Good to see such restraint. I wish my children would say the same.”

Ah, so his children had already taken up smoking.

Without intending to, I had learned something about the household affairs of Iron Tiger Fortress’s wall garrison commander.

“In any case, to help even with the soldiers’ funeral…. you have great affection for your subordinates.”

“When I die, the General will do the same for me. It’s only natural.”

An answer without a moment’s hesitation.

For these people, Yoo Sanghyeon was not simply a superior or a commanding officer.

Tigers who gave their loyalty to Yoo Sanghyeon, not to the Administration.

Somehow I found myself understanding afresh why Kim Jungheon regarded them as thorns in his side.

“From the mood on the battlefield, I thought there might be a victory celebration…. but the atmosphere inside the wall is completely different.”

“Win or lose, the fact that people die does not change.”

“Do you hold the fallen soldiers in your heart?”

“Only until today. I have done everything I can…. from tomorrow I’ll have to steady the soldiers who survived.”

I clicked my tongue at words that dripped with the soldier’s spirit.

If the old guard sitting on their backsides at the Training Command were even half like this man, there would never have been a revolt in Joseon.

“…And there is one thing I would like to say to the inspector.”

“Something to say?”

When I asked back, a group of officers gathered around Garrison Commander Hyoyeong.

Familiar faces mixed in among them, so they must have been the staff officers who had gathered in the command post during the battle.

Neat figures dressed in their military uniforms.

In time, having assembled, they bowed their heads politely in my direction.

“For providing reinforcements in this defensive battle. On behalf of the garrison, I express our deep gratitude. Thanks to you, many soldiers were able to keep their lives.”

“…….”

For a moment, no words came to me.

But that too lasted only a moment.

I immediately raised a hand to stop them.

“Please don’t. The wall was saved by the young lady, not by me.”

“Had the reinforcements not arrived in time to drive back the monsters, there would have been far greater sacrifice before the young lady arrived. The fact that my soldiers are alive is your achievement.”

“Understood, so please raise your heads. I was keeping my distance precisely because I knew it would come to this….”

I waved my hand and accepted the thanks roughly.

I feel it every time, but getting praised by someone decent is something I’ve never gotten used to. Off with you, off with you.

“So then, you said you would be conducting an inspection of all of Iron Tiger Fortress?”

“You remembered that?”

“Of course.”

Once the embarrassing pleasantries had been roughly wrapped up, the garrison commander, another cigarette in his lips, opened his mouth.

“I must repay the price of keeping my soldiers alive, so I will cooperate fully.”

“No, why do you have to be so earnest about it….”

There was an order to inspect Iron Tiger Fortress, but it would be fine to report back with just the bare formalities.

This inspection business was nothing more than payback for being thrown in a detention cell; at this point it serves no purpose whatsoever.

I had even said as much upfront, so why is he acting like this now?

“……However,”

As that thought passed, Garrison Commander Hyoyeong glanced over at me and added more.

“When you say you will inspect all of Iron Tiger Fortress, were you thinking of visiting the forward bases at the front as well?”

“Ah. That, certainly.”

His words made my eyes light up.

Strictly speaking, this wall is the rear.

It is where second-line equipment and reserve troops are stationed.

I could get a sense of the overall atmosphere of Iron Tiger Fortress, but had no way of knowing the real combat strength. Now that I think about it, this is a perfectly good pretext.

“Now that you mention it, I should go. I’ll need to meet with the Iron Tiger General as well….”

“If that is the case.”

As I nodded, Garrison Commander Hyoyeong clenched his fist and spoke.

“Would you be able to conduct an inspection of the 3rd Forward Base as well?”

“The 3rd Forward Base?”

Based on my prior investigation, it was a place commanded not by the Iron Tiger General but by the Defense Commander with jurisdiction over this region.

And the place that had not reported the monsters approaching the wall in time…. the place that had, in effect, provided the cause for this assault.

‘Well, well.’

Seeing the garrison commander’s determined expression, a faint smile came to my face.

“Your reason for cooperating with my inspection…. is that it?”

“I would ask that you inspect as closely and thoroughly as possible. And that you carry out the same procedures on them that you carried out on us.”

In other words, asking me to conduct a targeted investigation of the 3rd Forward Base.

As far as I was concerned, it was a welcome request.

‘Use the inspection as a pretext to tour the forward bases, and while I’m at it, root out the traitor inside…. that’s considerably better than I expected.’

The moment I finished that calculation in my head and was thinking that.

Rumble-!

The sound of something approaching rapidly was heard, and

Boom-!

with what sounded like a door being broken down, someone appeared.

“Uncle Hyoyeong! What about the funeral?! How many days have I been passed out…!”

What burst out in a frantic voice was Arin.

Hair disheveled as if she had just woken from sleep, still in the same outfit she had been wearing when she jumped out of the bomber.

It appeared she had fallen asleep on the spot after finishing the battle.

“Oh.”

As if recognizing my voice, the expression on Arin’s face as she looked in my direction shifted through a range of changes.

She narrowed her eyes as if she could not place me, tilted her head as if the face was familiar.

And then, past the denial that it could not possibly be.

“Yo, young… young……. Young Master?”

“We only met briefly two years ago, yet you remember remarkably well.”

Watching Arin’s flustered face, having finally recognized me, I said with a slight smile.

“It has been a while, young lady.”