Chapter 22: Blood Debt (4)

The north of the Namgung Clan.

Beneath the towering Northern Palace, a large gate was visible.

It was the north gate leading to the north side of the Namgung Clan’s manor.

The gatekeeper guarding the north gate was scanning the surroundings with a solemn expression.

Today was the day the grand banquet was being held.

Since the distinguished guests were all scheduled to enter through the south gate, those entering through the north gate were mostly people for the back-end preparations of the grand banquet.

For instance, like the meat delivery carriage that stopped before the gatekeeper’s eyes just now.

“Halt.”

The gatekeeper stopped the carriage.

The carriage was clearly the Namgung Clan’s, and normally he would have just let it pass, but… since the face of Ga Woo-hyeon, the person in charge, was not visible on the carriage, he stopped it for now.

A boy got off the carriage.

Chui, with his face heavily covered in dirt dust and ash powder.

The gatekeeper furrowed his brow as he looked at Chui.

“Who are you? Where did Captain Ga Woo-hyeon go?”

“He said something came up and he would stop by somewhere else for a moment. He said the meat delivery might be late, so I should go instead for now…”

“Really? Why? There’s no way that fastidious man would suddenly do that.”

The gatekeeper’s gaze, narrowed thinly like a snake’s, scanned Chui and the meat carriage.

He walked to the rear of the carriage, to the cargo space, and opened the door.

Creak…

Cool air, and meats hanging in clusters within the darkness.

The gatekeeper glanced around the cargo space of the carriage.

“…”

A bloodstain caught his eye.

It was very small and had splattered far onto the rear door of the carriage’s cargo space.

However, the gatekeeper passed it over as nothing major.

Since it was a carriage that brought meats from the slaughterhouse in the first place, wasn’t it possible for some blood to be smeared on the door?

However, Ga Woo-hyeon’s disappearance was rather bothering to his mind.

The gatekeeper asked Chui.

“You said something came up for Captain Ga Woo-hyeon?”

“Yes.”

“What kind of matter?”

“I do not know that much. However, he appeared to be in quite a hurry.”

“But why on earth did he send a kid like you instead? There must have been plenty of adults at the slaughterhouse, right?”

“There… was a bit of a bad incident.”

“What does that mean?”

“The workers were a bit late in carrying the meat. At that, Milord said he would correct the workers’ manners and broke everyone’s legs…”

Chui did not tell a lie.

However, just by speaking a few truths, the gatekeeper guessed the situation on his own.

“Damn it, that man must have made a scene there again. Before, he cut off the finger of some butcher claiming they pretended not to hear his command, and this time it’s legs again? Anyway, his hatred of commoners is really something.”

Hearing Chui’s words, the gatekeeper waved his hand as if it was enough.

“Understood. Come here.”

Normally, he would have suspected Chui’s words a bit more, but today was the day of the frantically busy grand banquet, so there was no such leisure.

For right behind this meat delivery carriage, various carriages for vegetable delivery, firewood delivery, silk delivery, and so forth were lining up in a queue.

The gatekeeper called Chui and wrote his name on the entry-exit register.

“You’re a butcher, right? Do you have a name?”

“Yes.”

“What is your na… No, never mind. What’s the point with a butcher.”

The gatekeeper simply wrote the word ‘butcher’ on the register.

At that moment, he raised his head toward Chui.

“Is it because you’re a butcher… the smell of blood seems a bit thick.”

“It is because I just came out of the meat compartment a moment ago.”

“Is that so? Hmm.”

The gatekeeper nodded without saying anything else.

Eventually, Chui drove the carriage and entered through the north gate.

At the very moment Chui crossed the threshold.

“Hey, butcher. Wait a moment.”

The gatekeeper stopped Chui again.

The moment Chui turned his head, the gatekeeper pulled out his hand from his chest.

Flutter—

A towel fell into Chui’s hand.

The gatekeeper said.

“Your face is too dirty. Even if you are a mere laborer, we cannot let you roam around inside our Namgung estate with such a dirty face. I am telling you to wash up a bit.”

At those words, Chui slowly nodded.

* * *

…Whoosh!

A fire flared up in the furnace.

Jang Chil and Wang Pal, who came to deliver firewood from outside, were sweating profusely as they carried split firewood in front of the furnace.

“As expected of the Namgung Clan’s grand banquet. To think they use up in a single day the firewood we have to sell for an entire year.”

“Thanks to that, we made a tidy sum. Hahaha—”

Just then, Jang Chil and Wang Pal’s eyes turned toward one place.

A woman was walking across the other side of the furnace.

She was a handmaiden working in the Namgung Clan.

Jang Chil and Wang Pal admired her as they looked at the handmaiden.

“Coming to the Namgung Clan, even the handmaidens are all extremely beautiful.”

“Right. All the handmaidens are tall and have pretty faces. They say the Namgung Clan values looks when hiring servants in the first place, regardless of gender.”

“We would be disqualified immediately, then.”

“You might be fine since you are tall.”

“My good man, didn’t you say they look at faces too?”

“Indeed, that is true.”

Jang Chil and Wang Pal let out small sighs.

“Will we ever be able to meet women like that in our entire lives?”

“Wouldn’t it be difficult? I heard the handmaidens of the Namgung Clan behave very coldly toward laborers from outside. They don’t even talk to them or look at them.”

“It’s only natural, since they are all so pretty…”

It was literally so.

The servants working in the Namgung Clan had great pride in the place where they worked, and in their own appearance which allowed them to work in such a place.

Perhaps because of that, the servants of the Namgung Clan did not behave warmly toward other workers who came from outside like this.

They were cold and haughty, and rarely tried to even exchange words.

This point applied to both men and women without exception.

That was why Jang Chil and Wang Pal were merely glancing at the handmaidens from a distance like this.

…Right then, a strange thing happened.

Suddenly, the handmaidens of the Namgung Clan moved in groups of threes and fives and began to gather in the kitchen all at once.

“Hey, did you hear? In the kitchen…”

“Yeah, you mean the laborer who came from outside?”

“I just saw him slightly on my way back, and he is totally amazing.”

“To that extent?”

“Yes! I don’t usually say things like this!”

“I should go see too, quickly.”

The handmaidens of the Namgung Clan walked with quick paces toward the kitchen.

Their attitude was fully elegant, and their gaze was haughty, but an unmistakable anticipation flowed from their naturally quickened steps.

They were, without exception, carrying towels, water, mooncakes, or candies wrapped in their skirts.

Jang Chil and Wang Pal craned their necks and looked toward the kitchen.

Then, they saw the place where the handmaidens were swarming.

It was precisely the place connecting the kitchen and the slaughterhouse.

A single laborer repeatedly carried meat on his back and set it down.

The handmaidens surrounded him, chatting continuously.

“Hey. Are you working all by yourself?”

“Ugh, then would he do it in a group, you wench!”

“I didn’t ask you, you wench!”

“How old are you? You look young.”

“Hey. Don’t be like that, try some of this. It’s a mooncake. There are candies here too.”

“It’s hard, right? Take it easy, drinking some water here.”

“Oh my, look at him sweating. Do you want to wear this towel? No, I will wipe it for you!”

Watching the handmaidens surround a single laborer from outside, providing him with drinking water, a towel to wipe sweat, and even various snacks, Jang Chil and Wang Pal gaped.

For what reason did the handmaidens of the Namgung Clan, who were the most haughty and cold in the world, coddle that laborer from the outside?

Eventually, Jang Chil and Wang Pal could nod their heads.

“Yeah, indeed. It can’t be helped.”

“Pah, *spit*—what a dirty world.”

The servant surrounded by the handmaidens was carrying heavy meat, revealing a truly well-trained upper body that did not match his youthful appearance.

Precisely Chui.

“…”

Chui set down the chunk of meat with a frown.

As he wiped the sweat from his forehead with the hand holding the boning knife while shirtless, exclamations flowed from among the maidservants in front of him.

“His face is like carved jade.”

“Please look over here!”

“Which slaughterhouse did you come from?”

“My goodness, look at the sweat trickling down the lines of his muscles.”

“I’ll wipe it for you! My skirt hem was washed early this dawn, so it’s clean!”

The gazes continued to multiply.

Chui spoke with a frown.

“You are in the way.”

“Kyaah! He says we’re in the way! So cool!”

However, the response of the handmaidens only grew even hotter for some reason.

Chui touched his forehead, realizing his mistake.

Before his regression, Chui had gone through numerous hardships and scenes of carnage.

In the process, he had suffered numerous scars such as incised wounds, lacerations, burns, and so on all over his body, including his face, and because of that, he had once been treated as a ‘monster’ alongside Ho Ye-yang.

However, after his regression, Chui had recovered the appearance of his youth, which he could barely even remember.

Ho Ye-yang was not the only one whose appearance had changed after returning to the past.

‘…How bothersome.’

Chui headed to the cargo compartment of the carriage, avoiding the handmaidens’ gazes.

Eventually, the last chunk of meat to be carried came into view.

It was the corpse of a large wolf.

The sacrifice to decorate this grand banquet of the Namgung Clan.

From what he heard, they seemed to plan to collect the blood of this wolf in a copper tray and perform some sacred ritual.

Just then, various whispers were heard beside Chui.

It was a chat that Jang Chil and Wang Pal laid out on their way to look at the wolf.

“I heard the wolf caught by the Namgung Clan’s Northern Palace Court this time is so large, let’s go have a look.”

“That must be the sacrifice to be used for the blood oath ceremony this time, right?”

“What was the blood oath ceremony? I’ve heard of it somewhere.”

“You know, the one where they gather all the invitees together. Did they say it was to solidify the alliance ceremony?”

“Aha, I know that. They did it very grandly last year too. Who will drain the sacrifice’s blood this time?”

“Since it is a task that must be done holding a sacred sword, someone of high status in the Namgung Clan will likely do it. I heard the family leader did it himself last year.”

“Then that person will do it this time. I mean Lady Sword Flower.”

“Ah, Lady Namgung Yul, right? I heard she returned from the Ascending Heaven Academy this time. For vacation.”

Jang Chil and Wang Pal approached the carriage, exchanging talk with each other.

Just then.

“Huh?”

The two looked at the cargo compartment of the carriage with puzzled expressions.

Inside it lay a large wolf.

Chui, who was supposed to carry it, was nowhere to be found.

Jang Chil and Wang Pal tilted their heads.

“Strange. Wasn’t there a person here just a moment ago?”

“Right. I thought there was a laborer who was carrying meat?”

Just then, a sharp voice was heard from behind. A warrior of the Namgung Clan was pointing his finger at Jang Chil and Wang Pal.

“Hey! What are you doing right now! Why aren’t you moving the sacrifice quickly!”

“Yes? W-we are not the workers who came from the slaughterhouse?”

“What does that matter! Don’t you see everyone is busy right now? Hurry up and place that on the altar!”

Hearing those words, Jang Chil and Wang Pal wore aggrieved expressions but had no choice.

What could they do against the order of a client who raised an entire year’s sales in a single day?

In the end, Jang Chil and Wang Pal had to carry the wolf’s corpse and move it to the altar.

The wolf had all four legs tied to a black staff, so they only needed to lift and move the staff, but the problem was precisely the weight.

“Ugh, why is this so heavy?”

“Is it because it’s a large wolf, it’s extremely heavy.”

“It seems heavier than it looks. Did the wolf breed cubs? Its belly also seems a bit bulging.”

“Even this dark staff seems to weigh quite a lot… we will definitely need more workers for this.”

In the end, Jang Chil and Wang Pal called even the other workers who had come with them and carried the wolf together.

Only after as many as six robust men clung to it groaning could they place the wolf on top of the high altar.

Eventually, the laborers all exited before the grand banquet began.

…Now it was time for the real protagonists to step onto the stage.

Unrivaled Spear Ghost