“Did you just say they’re pirates?”
“Yes.”
He was Yun Byeok’s father, a man who’d lived as a boat owner in this fishing village for a very long time.
If that’s what he thought, then it was practically certain.
No wonder.
I kept thinking that the way the gambling hall owner talked, and the way those big guys who searched Man Suk’s uncle’s house moved and spoke, felt both unfamiliar and oddly familiar…
Only now did it finally make sense.
Pirates always end up with a particular way of talking and acting soaked into their bones.
Pirates, huh…
Things had gotten bigger than I’d expected, but that only meant I could sit still even less.
To merchants like us, pirates are the kind of vermin that make your teeth grind.
Especially when I think back on my last life… ah, there goes the back of my neck tightening.
When you’re moving a large amount of goods, it’s easiest to ship them along waterways, like rivers or the sea.
That’s why, back in the day, river bandits ran wild even on the Yangtze.
They only disappeared because the imperial palace launched a massive sweep.
But they still haven’t managed to get their hands around coastal pirates like these.
So we suffered more than enough headaches because of pirates.
Considering what they really are, the best strategy is to crush them the moment you see them.
Sure, you wipe them out and more of them keep springing up, but you still have to cut down every group you spot if you want a little less suffering later.
With that decision made, I looked at Man Suk and Yun Byeok.
They flinched under my gaze.
“W-why are you looking at us like that?”
“Is there something you want us to do?”
“As I see it, the pirates are clearly planning to turn this village’s people into slaves. The gambling is just there to blind everyone.”
“…!”
“I can’t just sit back and watch this. So let me ask: what about you two?”
The two of them answered with determined faces.
“I want to protect this village, even if it means standing against the pirates.”
“That’s right. This is where we were born and raised. It’s only right that we protect it.”
“They’re trying to destroy our village!”
“We can’t forgive that.”
I calmed them before they got carried away.
“You’re both getting too worked up. If you tried to fight pirates head-on, they’d cut you down in a single stroke.”
“…”
“So leave that part to other people. Instead, there’s something else I need you to do.”
“What is it?”
“I need you to take a letter from me and deliver it somewhere else.”
At my words, they both looked puzzled.
“Will we really be of any help with something that simple?”
“Do you really think it’s that simple?”
“What do you mean?”
“By now, word about me and about you two has already reached their ears. They’re probably keeping an eye on us.”
“…”
“So delivering my letter won’t be easy. But precisely because it’s you two, it’s something you can pull off.”
I looked at them and asked,
“Well? Think you can do it?”
At my question, they looked at each other, then nodded.
“Understood.”
“We’ll do it!”
Honestly, I could have just sent Geumryeong to deliver a letter to Brother Jeong-ho.
Even so, I went through this troublesome process because those two academy students needed to earn merit in this matter.
And it was also to keep all the attention from gathering on me alone.
Those two would succeed.
No matter how closely we were being watched, there are always gaps.
And since they were born and raised in this village, they knew its layout like the back of their own hands.
I entrusted them with a letter that laid out the situation here.
“I’m counting on you.”
“Yes!”
This whole thing was also a test for those two students.
Dawn.
Man Suk and Yun Byeok met at a nearby government shrine.
They had gone home first, pretending they were just turning in for the night, but they had already agreed to meet here.
They hadn’t needed any spoken words to arrange it.
Back when they were kids, there had been a set of hand signs they used at the village school to communicate with just gestures while keeping things hidden from the teacher.
They greeted each other with a glance, then started moving so they could slip out of the village.
Rustle.
Just then, they felt someone approaching and quickly ducked into a side alley.
Even at dawn, people had come to this quiet place.
“Seriously, why’s the boss so uneasy he has us watching those guys…”
“I’m so sleepy… can’t we just go in somewhere and close our eyes for a bit?”
“Forget it. If the boss catches us, we’re dead.”
“…”
Man Suk and Yun Byeok looked at each other.
“Deputy Merchant Lord Eun Seo-ho was right.”
“There really were people watching us.”
They stayed hidden there for a while, then moved as soon as the big men left.
The route they chose was a kind of hole-in-the-wall path that most of the villagers didn’t know about.
It was the way they’d used as kids to sneak out of the village, away from the adults’ eyes.
Since it wasn’t a proper road anyone would normally use, it was extremely narrow and rough.
Their clothes tore, and their skin was scraped until beads of blood formed, but they refused to give up.
They gritted their teeth and forced their way out of the village, because there was no way they could accept the village they were born and raised in being ruined.
Once they finally got out, they ran through the night and, the next morning, came across a merchant caravan.
Looking at their own clothes, Man Suk turned to Yun Byeok.
“I just thought of something.”
He then approached the caravan and greeted them carefully.
“Excuse me.”
“What is it?”
“We’re students from Apricot Blossom Academy in Beijing. We went back to our hometown for some business, but we slipped and fell off a cliff on the way back, and that’s how we ended up like this.”
“Goodness! Are you both all right?”
“Fortunately, we aren’t seriously injured, but we need to hurry back to the academy to prepare for the civil service exams, so we took the liberty of stopping your caravan.”
At those words, the caravan leader examined the two students’ clothes. They were definitely Apricot Blossom Academy uniforms.
Anyone doing business in Beijing knows about Apricot Blossom Academy.
So he decided to trust Man Suk’s story.
On top of that, if they were lucky enough to pass the exams, having this connection might come in handy someday.
“People have to help each other in this world. The only problem is, there’s no space left in the passenger carts, so you’ll have to ride in the freight wagon. Is that all right?”
“We’d be grateful just for that.”
“Then climb aboard.”
“Thank you.”
And so they managed to get a ride.
Thanks to that, a journey that would have taken more than four days on foot took them only two.
As soon as they arrived in Beijing, they straightened their clothes and headed straight for the house of the man known as Warrior Jin Yeong.
Bang, bang, bang!
“Is anyone home?”
The door opened, and a sturdy man stepped out.
“Who are you?”
The two students glanced around, then spoke to him cautiously.
“We’ve been asked to deliver a message from Deputy Merchant Lord Eun Seo-ho.”
“We were told to hand this to Warrior Jin Yeong.”
At that moment—
“Did you just say Deputy Merchant Lord Eun Seo-ho?”
A man approached the main gate, and the sword-bearing man quickly bowed his head.
The two students nodded.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Let me see that.”
“And you are…?”
“I’m the Warrior Jin Yeong you mentioned.”
“Here it is.”
Man Suk hurriedly handed the letter to Jin Yeong.
As Jin Yeong read it, his expression quickly turned grave.
“Is this true? That the pirates are luring this village’s people into gambling debt and planning to sell them as slaves?”
“Yes! It’s all true.”
“My father asked the County Magistrate to investigate, but he wouldn’t budge, so Father looked into it himself… he said pirates seemed to be involved.”
“So Deputy Merchant Lord Eun Seo-ho carried out his own investigation as well… and he also concluded they were pirates.”
“If Deputy Merchant Lord Eun Seo-ho said that, then there’s no mistake.”
Jin Yeong spoke decisively.
“I need to go to the imperial palace. Give these young gentlemen a place to rest.”
“Understood.”
I was walking along the beach.
Maybe it felt strangely nostalgic because it had been a while since I’d last walked by the sea.
But the reason I was out here wasn’t to enjoy the breeze.
There weren’t any large ships nearby, and when it comes to pirates, there’s a high chance they have a hideout somewhere along the coastline.
In my previous life, our Eunhae Merchant Group had even extended its business to maritime trade, and in the process, I ran into more pirates than I cared to count.
So I learned a thing or two about how they operated.
They usually moved around in big ships, but whenever they came onto land to pull something like this, they tended to hide in sea caves and similar spots along the coast.
This time would be no different.
— My lord, the people watching us are still tailing us. What should we do?
At Escort Guard Seo Wu’s Voice Transmission, I slowly shook my head.
— Guess they’re really curious about me.
Well, it made sense.
Their plan was only a few steps away from success now. In a situation like that, someone like me was a complete variable.
— We’re just here on a little seaside outing. Act like it.
— Understood.
We wandered up and down the shoreline like that, and before long, something foul brushed against my senses.
Escort Guard Seo Wu and Escort Guard Jin Yu must have felt the same thing, because their Voice Transmissions followed.
— We found it.
— It’s over there.
Now that we’d located the place, all that was left was to wait for Warrior Jin Yeong to arrive with the Imperial Guards.
Still, why were those pirates doing this here in Hebei of all places?
Hebei wasn’t that far from Beijing.
That meant the chances of getting caught were that much higher.
I mulled it over and came up with the most plausible guess.
Did they get pushed out by other pirates?
And the reason they’re targeting able-bodied men like this… is it to fill out their own numbers?
Thinking that far, I couldn’t help but let out a short, dry laugh.
No way…
Taking people who were living decent lives and turning them into pirates? In that case they’d really be the kind of bastards you beat to death on the spot.
Anyway, it had been four days since the two students left.
They should have arrived in Beijing by now, right?
As I waited with that thought in mind, something brushed against my senses.
This…?
It was the qi of people who had learned Imperial Palace martial arts.
If they were already here, that meant the two students had made it to Beijing in just two days.
A satisfied smile crept across my face before I knew it.
They were much cleverer than I’d expected.
Which meant there would be all kinds of ways I could make use of them in the future.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes!”
We immediately headed for the village entrance and saw the Imperial Guards just as they were marching through.
At their head, clad in armor, was Warrior Jin Yeong. I approached him and clasped my fists.
“You arrived faster than I expected.”
“His Majesty the Emperor said it was an urgent matter and ordered me to leave at once.”
“I see.”
“And since there’s a chance they might catch wind of our coming and try to flee, I’ve stationed troops at every route they could use to escape.”
As expected of someone His Majesty keeps close at hand.
“Then let me tell you where you’ll need to strike.”
I explained about the gambling house and the caves near the coast, and Warrior Jin Yeong immediately split his troops and ordered them to secure those places.
Things were wrapped up quickly.
The pirates hiding in the sea caves were wiped out.
No matter how used they were to fighting on deck, this was solid ground, and they were no match for the experts trained in Imperial Palace martial arts and the well-drilled Imperial Guards.
“Let go! Let go of me!”
“What did we do that’s worth dying for!”
The gambling hall owner and the others were all tied up like fish on a string and thrown into the dungeon.
And the County Magistrate couldn’t escape punishment either.
There was also one more thing I learned this time.
The Embroidered Guard were even more talented at torture than I’d thought.
In the end, the man known as the gambling hall owner confessed everything.
“Well… we were planning to turn this village’s men into slaves. We lost a lot of our crew in a power struggle with other pirates…”
“So you were going to sell them off as slaves?”
“No. We were going to make them our slaves, train them, and have them fight in our place.”
“…”
I was at a loss for words at that testimony.
I’d thought, ‘No way,’ but it turned out to be true?
Letting out a long sigh, Warrior Jin Yeong swung his fist at the man.
Thud—!
“Gah!”
Ah, I wanted to hit him too, but he did it for me.
“You really only planned to do that to the grown men?”
“Y-yes. Th-that’s right.”
“Do you think I don’t know your kind? It feels like you’re still hiding something.”
“N-no, I’m not.”
“Bring the branding iron.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Gugh! I-I’ll talk! Actually, the wives and children of those in our debt were also going to be made our slaves… gaaaah!”
No wonder.
There had been a reason I’d wanted to come here as soon as I heard Man Suk’s story.
.
.
.
“You did well again this time.”
After the case was wrapped up, Warrior Jin Yeong praised me.
“Not at all. I hardly did anything. The real credit goes to the two students who brought you news of what was happening here.”
“True, we can’t say they had no share in the merit. In fact, their help was invaluable in cutting off the pirates’ escape routes.”
Thankfully, things were working out the way I’d hoped, with the attention going to them rather than me.
“But sending those two instead of your own escort guards… it almost feels like you did that on purpose, doesn’t it?”
Damn. Was I found out?
This man was sharper than most.
Forcing a smile, I said,
“They were ready to do anything for the village they were born in. I was worried that, carried away by that zeal, they’d grab weapons and throw their lives away for nothing, so I chose this instead.”
Warrior Jin Yeong chuckled.
“Very well, I’ll think of it that way.”
“By the way, what happened to the County Magistrate?”
Warrior Jin Yeong answered as if it were nothing special.
“Right now, he’s hanging upside down.”
“What?”
“His Majesty said that if he took bribes, we were to drag him back hanging upside down the whole way.”
“…”
–TL Notes–
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I just made the ugliest laugh at that end part…