Chapter 108: This Makes Absolutely No Sense (1)
Chapter 107 – This Makes Absolutely No Sense (1)
After the Gold King visited, merchants no longer approached Namgung Geom and Namgung Cheon.
They had seen with their own eyes that even the help of the Gold King, who had nothing but money, was coldly rejected, so with what courage would they dare step before Namgung Geom?
In the end, the wealthy merchants of Wuhan could only stare at the family that gave birth to the Divine Dragon while sucking their thumbs.
Instead, Namgung Geom and Namgung Cheon walked side by side through the streets of Wuhan for the first time in a while, spending time together.
“Will you return home?”
“Yes. Since the academy will enter its recess period anyway.”
Once the Joint Conference ended, all academies in Wuhan would enter a recess period.
After the recess period ended, they would return to the academy, but only the cadets who finished in the top eight would have a traineeship period in the Martial Alliance.
Namgung Cheon intended to return to the Namgung Clan during this recess period and completely settle the matter of the Young Patriarch.
Walking toward the lodging, Namgung Geom spoke in his usual cold tone.
“Receiving help from others is the same as incurring debt.”
“Doesn’t everything require a bit of knack? If used well, even debt can become a stepping stone.”
“It is a double-edged sword.”
“That is why the sword is the king of all weapons.”
Namgung Geom narrowed his eyes.
He did not back down by even a single word.
Indeed, looking back at the past Namgung Cheon, it was something that could not even be imagined.
Indeed.
If it were back then, winning the Joint Conference would have been an impossible dream.
Arriving in front of the lodging, Namgung Geom let out a shallow sigh and stopped in his tracks.
“We will return tomorrow morning.”
“Yes, please go ahead. I will return as soon as I wrap things up.”
Namgung Geom turned around without any lingering attachments, then paused.
As Namgung Cheon stared at his back, a voice like a sandy wind flowed from Namgung Geom’s mouth.
“Your mother would be proud of you.”
“…….”
The old man was really not honest, after all.
While Namgung Cheon twitched his nose for no reason, Namgung Geom completely entered the pavilion.
* * *
“Namgung Cheon received the plaque?”
“Yes, Alliance Leader.”
Murong Sin bowed his waist and replied politely.
The Alliance Leader gripped his teacup tightly.
Shatter!
Ultimately, the teacup shattered, and the tea spilled down his hand.
Murong Sin shook his head to stop the servant who was about to rush inside.
The Alliance Leader spat out.
“So he received the Gold King’s plaque.”
His clenched hand trembled uncontrollably.
The lump he had tried to remove ended up becoming even larger.
Was this not a case of doing all the work only for someone else to benefit?
Just then, a woman sitting on the window frame spoke in a voice like rolling jade beads.
“For your Alliance, shouldn’t you be relieved just by the fact that your conspiracy wasn’t exposed?”
The Alliance Leader narrowed his eyes and looked back at the woman.
She was a woman wearing a snow-white cat mask.
She wore white silk clothes, and the side hem of her skirt was slit high, beautifully revealing her smooth legs.
It was a dizzying and alluring figure, to the point that anyone with a weak mind would have their soul sucked in just by looking at her.
The one who rebuked her was Murong Sin.
“White Cat, in whose presence do you dare run your mouth so carelessly?”
“Your master is not my master.”
White Cat unfolded her snow-white folding fan and fanned herself gently.
Even though winter was approaching, a warm breeze blew from the fan fanned by White Cat.
She had warmed the air in an instant with her internal energy.
“For us, our disappointment regarding this matter is great. It is already the second time, is it not? That things have turned out differently from what was discussed.”
“Was he not a discardable pawn anyway? I should have told you. If things go wrong, we can silence him by death.”
“You did. However, the problem is that the plan wasn’t ruined by our side, but by yours.”
“Did you listen to my words through your ears? Those bastards were prepared to perish together first and…”
“In the first place, asking us to kill a single cadet was not part of the plan.”
“You seem to feel no responsibility for causing such a mess just because you couldn’t even kill a single cadet.”
“I wonder who it was that couldn’t handle a single cadet and ended up elevating him to the status of the Divine Dragon.”
“White Cat!”
“I am listening. I can hear everything even without you yelling.”
As the two glared at each other, the Alliance Leader spoke quietly.
“Stop it, both of you.”
“My apologies, Alliance Leader.”
When Murong Sin bowed his head politely, the Alliance Leader waved his hand and looked at White Cat.
“Tell your master that I regret what happened this time.”
“To repay the debt with mere words…”
“Deliver the message.”
“…….”
The Alliance Leader stared at White Cat with cold eyes.
After enduring that gaze for a long time, White Cat chuckled.
“This is highly disappointing.”
“I can make you even more disappointed.”
The expression beneath White Cat’s mask twitched.
She stared back at the Alliance Leader with a cold gaze and replied.
“I will deliver those words exactly as they are.”
“By all means.”
“Well then.”
Having finished speaking, White Cat vanished through the open window like the wind.
Murong Sin gnashed his teeth.
“Those bastards…”
“Calm down, Blue Wave Corps Leader.”
“My apologies.”
“You have been apologizing quite frequently lately.”
“My apolo—”
Murong Sin, who was about to speak, flinched and froze in place.
The Alliance Leader narrowed his eyes as he looked out the open window.
“We have let him grow too much. There is a need to suppress him a little.”
“If you just give the command…”
“No. There is no need to rush. From next semester, it is the traineeship period for the new trainees, correct?”
“Ah…”
Murong Sin soon realized the Alliance Leader’s intentions and nodded.
“That is correct.”
“It will be a good experience for the trainees.”
The Alliance Leader’s eyes narrowed like a snake’s.
* * *
“Welcome!”
The thunderous shout sounded less like a welcome greeting and more like intimidation.
As Namgung Cheon, who had just stepped into the Ghost King Eatery, frowned, the Ghost King quickly approached while rubbing his hands together.
“Oh my, you have arrived, young master? Hehe.”
Instead of replying, Namgung Cheon looked around the surroundings once. Seeing that there were more customers than expected, he swallowed the words he had been about to say and asked.
“Where is the guest who arrived first?”
“Yes, they are sitting over there in the inner section.”
As Namgung Cheon walked over, indeed, a man who had arrived first in a corner was eating noodles.
When Namgung Cheon sat down across from him without a word, the man glanced at him and quickly corrected his posture, bowing his head.
“Have you arrived?”
“Is it alright for the Obscurity Society Leader to walk around in broad daylight like this?”
“It is fine. Since no one knows that I am the Society Leader.”
“I told you to get a competent server to train the kids here.”
“Ah… I tried several times, but people do not change easily.”
“So you gave up?”
“Of course not. Is this not good enough?”
Indeed, just as Black Line had said, the atmosphere of the Ghost King Eatery was not bad. No, to say it was not bad was an understatement; business was booming.
“Even though it is not a mealtime, it is fully packed, is it not?”
“Now that you mention it, that is true.”
Even so, the customer service attitude of the Ghost Servers remained the same.
Speaking to the customers as if threatening them was basic, and they even argued with fierce expressions, hurling curses at one another.
However, the difference from before was that the customers were not afraid of the Ghost Servers and instead found them amusing.
Black Line set down his chopsticks and spoke.
“I thought that if it was a habit that wouldn’t change anyway, it wouldn’t be bad to turn it into a concept. So, I set the concept of the Ghost King Eatery to be run entirely by bandits.”
“So the customers think that insincere attitude is all part of the concept.”
“Exactly.”
“Business is certainly good.”
“Before long, we will have to do construction and add more floors to the building. The cook’s culinary skills are quite top-tier, so it will be a decent business.”
“Then I will trust you and leave it in your hands while I am not in Wuhan.”
“In the future, even if it cannot match the Yellow Crane Tower, we will be able to grow it into the next-best tavern.”
Namgung Cheon smirked.
“Why? Is the Yellow Crane Tower too much?”
“Of course not. Considering how many connection lines are linked to the Obscurity Society. However, a nail that sticks out too much might not end up just getting hammered down. A moderate limit is best for everything.”
Namgung Cheon nodded.
“Good. Then I will leave it in your hands.”
“I will not disappoint you.”
Black Line smiled broadly and bowed his head.
Meanwhile, a Ghost Server brought out a bowl of noodles.
“Stuff your face!”
Thud!
The Ghost Server slammed the bowl down roughly and greeted him with a crooked posture.
Somehow… this did not seem like a concept, but felt as if a bit of sincere emotion was mixed in?
Well, whatever. Let’s let it slide.
* * *
Clop… clop…
A scrawny white horse climbed up the hill path with difficulty.
Sitting on the white horse in a slouched posture was an old man as scrawny as the horse itself, his graying beard hanging down to his chest.
Because his shabby attire and the worn-out horse were in harmony, his appearance was not only extremely wretched, but he also looked considerably exhausted. In fact, both the white horse and the old man were quite exhausted.
Nevertheless, the old man’s sharp eyes were filled with a somewhat chilling energy.
Next to the white horse, a servant holding the reins trudged along; he too was just tall and lanky, equally emaciated.
As the white horse reached the top of the hill, the old man let out a long breath and muttered like a groan.
“Let us rest for a moment before we go.”
“Yes, Master.”
The servant stopped the horse and sat on a nearby rock.
Dismounting the horse, the old man took a deep breath as he looked at the superb view stretching out before him.
“Mount Huang. Indeed, it is the finest mountain in the Central Plains.”
“Indeed.”
“Our family should have been just like that Mount Huang.”
“…….”
The wrinkles on the old man’s forehead deepened.
Indeed it was.
The Namgung Clan, too, was a family that boasted of being the finest in the Central Plains, just like Mount Huang.
Lacking in absolutely nothing, were they not the most confident family in the world?
However, that was no longer the case.
“Mount Huang remains the same, but only our family is fading away.”
“Elder, do not be so disheartened.”
“With what face can I show myself to the Patriarch?”
“You did your best, Elder.”
The old man shook his head slowly.
“My best, you say. As the Lord of the Golden Cauldron Pavilion in charge of the clan’s finances, the only thing I have done is chip away and sell off our pavilions.”
“If you hadn’t even done that, by now, our family would have been thrown out onto the streets…”
The servant stopped mid-sentence and shut his mouth.
For he judged that it was better not to speak any further.
The old man grieved as he looked at Mount Huang.
He was none other than Namgung Hyo, the Lord of the Golden Cauldron Pavilion of the Namgung Clan.
As the cousin of Patriarch Namgung Geom, he had traveled to various places in the Jianghu, trying to secure funds to somehow rebuild the collapsing family.
However, the people who received him no longer showed the friendly attitude of the past.
Even though he had boasted when leaving the family estate that he would definitely return with ample funds.
There was no one who stepped forward to invest in the Namgung Clan, which had already tilted to the extreme.
He had even suffered the humiliation of being turned away at the door.
In other words, the pride of the great family had pierced through the floor and descended to the depths of the underground.
On his way back empty-handed after such a long journey, he received a letter.
It contained information that they would hold a Clan Council to discuss the position of the Young Patriarch.
Having not yet heard the news of the Joint Conference, Namgung Hyo felt anxious for no reason at the sudden news.
“Surely nothing has happened, right?”
“It couldn’t be. Literally, the Patriarch is probably trying to decide on the Young Patriarch now. It is about time.”
“Hmm. Does he have someone in mind?”
“It is presumptuous of me, but for some reason, in my opinion…”
“For some reason?”
“I suspect it might be Young Master Namgung Cheon.”
“What?”
“Although he is a maternal grandson, he was posthumously adopted and given the Namgung surname, and in some ways, he can also be seen as the closest direct descendant…”
“Silence! How dare you spout such nonsense! The closest direct descendant? Where in the world is there such a way of calculating!”
“I-I am sorry. This servant is completely illiterate…”
“Who is the reason our family has tilted this much, that you dare bring up that child? Anyone else can do it, but absolutely not that child! Until dirt enters my eyes, I will absolutely never allow such a thing to happen!”
“Yes, Master.”
“What absurd nonsense!”
While huffing in anger, Namgung Hyo suppressed his anxious mind.
‘Right, that makes absolutely no sense! Unless that child somehow backs himself with the wealth of the Gold King.’
Of course, since such a thing would absolutely never happen, there was not even a speck of room for imagination.
“Therefore, that child is absolutely out of the question!”
Namgung Hyo muttered firmly, as if trying to secure a promise from himself.