Chapter 61: Chapter 61
* * *
Jang Geon, lying stretched out on the bed, opened his eyes.
Lying motionless for a moment with blinking eyes, he slowly raised his upper body and looked out the window. In the yard of the merchant group’s detached building visible through it, bright morning sunlight shattered against the bare, leaf-stripped tree branches, spilling down onto the ground. Staring blankly at that sight with a face not yet fully awake, Jang Geon slowly got out of bed.
Yesterday, after returning the young girl from the Ju Merchant Group to her home, he too had returned to the Jang Merchant Group, checked his wounds, and immediately fallen asleep. He could have relieved his fatigue through internal energy circulation, but he had simply slept. Because he had wanted to get some sleep. Thus, he had slept deeply from broad daylight until now.
Getting up from the bed, he found washing water and a towel placed on the table. It seemed his sister-in-law had prepared them before stepping out. Jang Geon lightly washed his face and headed outside.
In the inner courtyard, Jang Un’s family was having breakfast.
“Uncle!”
“It’s Uncle!”
Eating their food, his nephew Jang Sang and niece Jang Yeong were the first to discover Jang Geon and call out. Beside them, Lady Yeom stood up and gestured to him.
“You’ve awakened? Come sit down. You must eat breakfast.”
“Ah, yes.”
Jang Geon walked over to the table and thudded into a chair. Lady Yeom stepped away for a moment to fetch a rice bowl, while the two siblings munched on their food and looked up brightly at Jang Geon. And Jang Un was chewing his food with closed eyes and a stern face.
While he was slowly scratching his chin, Lady Yeom brought rice and utensils. Jang Geon received them and began eating. Unlike when the siblings had excitedly called him, there was no conversation at the table while they ate. This was because the children and Lady Yeom were reading the room around Jang Un, who was silently eating his food.
After the clinking sounds continued for quite a while, just as Lady Yeom, reading the room, was about to speak carefully, Jang Un brought down his rice bowl and chopsticks with a clatter. Then, opening both eyes, he looked at Jang Geon, who was munching on his rice.
“…I am sorry. You got caught up in an unnecessary mess because of me.”
Jang Geon, who was picking up stir-fried vegetables, wore an ‘Huh?’ expression at those words. Jang Un, as if he lacked the face to meet such a look, avoided his gaze and continued speaking.
“When that Martial Alliance warrior asked if there was anything I suspected, I should have spoken right away about the threat letter I received. Then the Martial Alliance would have pursued the case, and there wouldn’t have been a need for you to fight. But seeing them disguised so identically to Nanny that no one in the merchant group could tell them apart, I suddenly panicked. I felt that we had gotten caught by people who were clearly dangerous…”
Even as Jang Geon looked at Jang Un and listened to his story, he stealthily brought the stir-fried vegetables he had picked up to his rice bowl, put them slowly into his mouth, and chewed. Returning yesterday, he had gone straight to sleep and hadn’t heard, but it seemed the Jang Merchant Group had indeed received a threat letter as well.
“…So in truth, I intended to use Nanny’s death as an excuse to return immediately to the Central Plains.”
“Dear…”
Lady Yeom took Jang Un’s hand, and the siblings also stopped their chopsticks, quietly reading their father’s mood. Only Jang Geon kept picking up side dishes and munching. Jang Un raised his dropped head and looked at Jang Geon.
“I thought that after taking the family back to the main house in the Central Plains like that, I would return and properly have it out with them. Still, I am the eldest son of the Hunan Jang Clan, so I couldn’t just flee like a frightened mouse, could I? And while going, I intended to take you with me as well.”
Jang Geon chuckled softly while munching his rice. It was an action that could be called bold in that he hadn’t completely avoided a fight, and timid in that he stepped back considering his family’s safety. Swallowing what he was chewing, he spoke.
“Spoken like a merchant.”
“Hahaha! Indeed! That is why I am the eldest of the Hunan Jang Clan! To run the family without ruining it, one must naturally be a merchant.”
Jang Un lightly sipped the tea beside him and continued speaking.
“At any rate, thanks to you, it seems things in New Sichuan will work out well. They said the New Sichuan Guild was behind that threat letter, right? The Martial Alliance will probably disband that guild. Then the commercial world of New Sichuan will enter a Warring States Period. If played right, we can place the Jang Merchant Group at the center of the new commercial guild.”
Jang Geon nodded casually and continued eating his meal. Having eaten lunch the day before yesterday and nothing since, he was hungry. After that, Jang Un rambled on excitedly by himself about all sorts of business plans, and Lady Yeom and the siblings resumed their meal as well.
A short while later, after they finished eating, a servant came over to clear the dishes and set out tea. And at that moment, Jang Un briefly stepped away as another New Sichuan merchant had visited the merchant group early in the morning. The undercover struggle for the new guild had already begun.
As Jang Yeong fidgeted while drinking tea, her older brother Jang Sang helped her. Jang Geon and Lady Yeom looked on at that with warm eyes.
Just then, Lady Yeom spoke quietly.
“Young Master, to tell you the truth… I saw that threat letter as well. But after that, when Nanny suddenly said she was sick and didn’t come out, an anxious feeling came over me…”
Jang Geon smirked. Unlike Jang Un, who had treated the letter as a simple prank or bravado, it seemed Lady Yeom had felt genuine anxiety. But in the midst of that, when Jang Geon appeared, remembering that he possessed some martial arts, she had kept him beside the children.
“Think nothing of it. It was a matter of protecting my nephew and niece.”
Jang Geon answered without any sign of displeasure. If he had not been here that afternoon and something had happened to those siblings, then Jang Geon himself would have been furious with himself.
“…Thank you, Young Master.”
Lady Yeom spoke with slightly tearful eyes. Hearing from Jeok-sein yesterday that the Ju Merchant Group’s daughter had had her finger severed, she had been very frightened. If things had gone slightly wrong, the siblings could have ended up like that as well.
After that, as all four of them spent time drinking tea, Jang Un returned. However, there was a woman following behind him.
“Jang Geon!”
Jeok-sein raised a hand to greet Jang Geon, and cupped her fists lightly toward Lady Yeom. Seeing her told to make herself comfortable, she was truly acting like it. Jang Geon smiled faintly and addressed her.
“What brings you here?”
“Ah, I came to let you know how things were sorted out. Isn’t Warrior Jang the one who rendered the greatest service in this matter?”
At her words, Jang Un and Lady Yeom nodded, and the two siblings looked up at Jang Geon again with bright, sparkling eyes. Jang Geon scratched his chin with an embarrassed expression before asking again.
“How is it, is that big fellow held securely?”
“The big fellow? Ah, you mean that tiger-masked man. He is held securely. The rest of the commercial guild associates were all rounded up as well. Now only the matters for the higher-ups to handle remain.”
At her indirect phrasing to cover up the Imperial Army’s name, Jang Un’s expression brightened unexpectedly. It seemed to be due to the news that the commercial guild associates had been arrested.
“And regarding your contribution, the Alliance Leader himself will bestow a medal. A considerable monetary reward is also being prepared. If you wish, a position will be arranged for you in the Martial Alliance as well. How about it?”
The eyes of Jang Un and Lady Yeom, who were nodding, widened in surprise. The Martial Alliance Leader was a chivalrous hero famous even in the Central Plains and a figure symbolizing justice and order on the New Continent, recognized by the Emperor. Especially since there was even talk that the Emperor had personally recommended an Imperial Army official post to him in a letter, he was an even more impressive figure to the Jang Clan.
But Jang Geon sipped his tea with a sullen face while looking at a tree in the inner courtyard. Jeok-sein asked with a bewildered expression.
“…Are you not pleased?”
“Well. I intended to leave New Sichuan by tomorrow or so. Will it be given before then?”
“That… For the Alliance Leader’s schedule to clear up, it will take at least a week…”
Jang Geon set down his teacup.
“Then I suppose I cannot receive it.”
Jeok-sein opened her eyes slightly wider at that answer, rendered speechless for a moment. And after staring into Jang Geon’s eyes for a long while, she soon smiled faintly and nodded her head.
“…Understood. Then I will bring the medal and reward money tomorrow. Still, since it is being given to you, you ought to receive it, right?”
Jang Geon nodded. Jeok-sein then conveyed the message that an administrative staff member with good stories from the Martial Alliance would visit Jang Un within a few days, and departed. Once she left, Jang Un sat in a chair and asked Jang Geon.
“No, to kick away an opportunity to become a Martial Alliance member like this? A position that could even be incorporated into the Imperial Army if played right?”
“Dear, that Imperial Army incorporation is just a rumor.”
“No, but even so, compared to wandering around like now…”
Even at those words, Jang Geon silently drank tea while looking at the inner courtyard without answering. Jang Un let out a small sigh at that sight.
“…Right. How you live is for you to decide.”
However, even as he nodded like that, he looked at Jang Geon to bring up the subject again as if he still didn’t understand. Just then, a servant announced that a new guest had arrived.
“Who is it?”
“It is Chief Merchant Ju Wol of the Ju Merchant Group.”
Jang Geon let out a dry laugh. He didn’t know why so many people were visiting since morning.
* * *
Gyeon U-yeong was kneeling in a dark underground dungeon, bound by a cangue constricting his neck and both wrists. Unlike the other Dark Dragon members, he was imprisoned here alone, and besides the cangue around his neck, long needles suppressing internal energy were driven into his dantian and back. Before the iron bars sat a martial artist guarding him. Currently, the only part he could move was the portion above the neck cangue—his face alone.
In his mind, as he merely breathed like that, the fight with Jang Geon was repeating itself even now. The marvel of the movements and martial arts Jang Geon had displayed, which he hadn’t felt when simply fighting to kill. And the fact that those techniques had shattered his own martial arts. That threw his mind into confusion.
That emotion was the shock of a martial artist who had learned only fast and powerful martial arts having the worldview built up inside him destroyed, and simultaneously a vortex of joy from realizing that another world had existed—that there was a new horizon in martial arts.
At a certain moment while spending time in that dark underground where he didn’t even know if it was night or day, the prison door clattered open. Gyeon U-yeong, who had forgotten his own state and was reflecting on Jang Geon’s martial arts, rolled his eyes to look at the three people entering the cell.
Two were Martial Alliance martial artists, and the remaining one was a shabby old man with a heavily bent back. And in that old man’s hands was a large plate, on top of which was steamed fish emitting faint steam.
“It’s mealtime. The cook from your house brought private food, saying he was worried about your health. He carried it tightly embraced in a bundle, saying it might get cold. Enjoy your meal.”
The Martial Alliance martial artist who had come down opened the iron bars and spoke politely. Setting aside Gyeon U-yeong’s crimes, this was out of respect because he was originally from the Imperial Army. After all, outwardly the Martial Alliance was an armed organization following the Emperor’s will as well.
Once the iron bars opened, the two martial artists stood beside the cell door to guard him. It was to stop him just in case he broke free of the suppression and went on a rampage.
The old man with a bent back, shabby in appearance, was Old Man Gang, who did odd jobs in the Martial Alliance, and he was the person who fed food into Gyeon U-yeong’s mouth in place of him whose hands and body were bound during meals. With slow hands, the old man picked up a bit of the steamed fish with chopsticks and pushed it toward Gyeon U-yeong’s mouth.
Gyeon U-yeong’s eyes directed toward that steamed fish. Traces of bits of fish already picked off here and there were present. They had tested it to check if poison was included. Gyeon U-yeong opened his mouth, and Old Man Gang slowly picked off small pieces of steamed fish and put them into his mouth.
Gyeon U-yeong felt doubt as he chewed the fish. That doubt was regarding the person who had made this steamed fish; the cook he had newly hired recently was not a person who would make him such steamed fish—that is to say, nourishing food. Because that cook would dislike him.
Then, even if he wondered whether they were trying to poison him to conceal information about the Imperial Army and Dark Dragon Corps, the guards had already tasted the fish and confirmed there was no poison.
Just then, his eyes met Old Man Gang’s.
“…”
Gyeon U-yeong’s mouth, which had been chewing, stopped. Unlike his shabby outer appearance, a peculiar light was twinkling in Old Man Gang’s wrinkling eyes. And Gyeon U-yeong knew whose gaze that was.
Old Man Gang scooped up fish again and pushed it into his mouth. Gyeon U-yeong, who had been frozen for a moment, opened his mouth again and swallowed it down.
A moment later, Gyeon U-yeong had eaten almost the entire large fish. Old Man Gang put away the chopsticks, gathered up the remaining flesh and seasoning with a spoon, and holding the plate underneath, brought it to Gyeon U-yeong’s mouth. Gyeon U-yeong accepted the spoon while looking straight into Old Man Gang’s eyes.
Afterward, Gyeon U-yeong, who was chewing, coughed lightly at the spicy seasoning in his mouth. Thanks to that, for a brief instant, the two Martial Alliance martial artists looked at Gyeon U-yeong’s face, and due to that field of view, Old Man Gang’s back, and the large plate, a blind spot was created that no one inside the cell could see. And in that blind spot, Old Man Gang’s hand moved covertly.
No one saw that blade. Because he stabbed using only the sensation of his hand, even Old Man Gang himself did not see the blade.
Thus, the blade thinner than paper attached beneath the plate pierced into Gyeon U-yeong’s heart. That blade was so sharp that Gyeon U-yeong’s clothes showed not even a sign of being torn.
Afterward, Old Man Gang stood up holding the plate and spoon, and Gyeon U-yeong, having coughed lightly, gulped and swallowed the food in his mouth. The Martial Alliance martial artists who confirmed he had finished his meal closed the iron bars again and left the underground dungeon together with Old Man Gang.
With fading eyes, Gyeon U-yeong looked at the dungeon door where Old Man Gang, who was going up, had left. Since all the other Dark Dragon members were low-ranking and knew nothing, as long as he alone died like this, the Imperial Army could play innocent regarding the Dark Dragon Corps. In any case, even if it was a trick where both sides knew the truth, whether a witness named Gyeon U-yeong existed or not was bound to make a world of difference.
And besides such reasons, that Dark Dragon agent, Dark Dragon Agent No. 3, was probably also inflicting punishment on Gyeon U-yeong personally for having manipulated the Dark Dragon Corps for his own ends.
After reflections that felt long yet short, feeling his vision grow increasingly blurred, he unconsciously muttered.
“Your Majesty… I merely…”
“What?”
The Martial Alliance martial artist sitting in the chair heard that muttering and asked back. However, Gyeon U-yeong gave no answer, and the martial artist tilted his head, stood up, and approached the iron bars.
“…Uh, uh-oh?”
Blood only now seeping from Gyeon U-yeong’s chest was gradually staining his upper garment. The Martial Alliance martial artist hurriedly opened the iron bars, entered, and checked him, but contrary to the blood pouring out only now, Gyeon U-yeong’s breathing had already stopped.