At those words, I unconsciously froze.
If he was the Young Clan Lord of the Hebei Peng Clan, then he was Young Hero Peng Gang-un’s uncle.
“He said his nephew must never return alive.”
Which meant, if Young Master Peng returned to the Peng Clan, the Young Clan Lord’s position would be in danger.
“This is all we know.”
“He didn’t tell us anything else, so we really don’t know.”
Even as they pleaded, I firmly shook my head.
“That’s nowhere near enough to pay for waking me up. I think it’d be better to just call in the Embroidered Guard.”
“We really don’t know anything more!”
“No, what I’m curious about is the killings you two have done up to now.”
“…!”
“Let’s hear it. Tell me about everyone you’ve killed so far.”
There was no way this commission to kill Young Master Peng was their first assassination job.
And their killings were information, and information was money.
They woke me from a nice deep sleep, so I was going to squeeze them dry.
Like that, they came clean about all the assassinations they had done.
“There’s nothing else.”
“We really don’t have anything more.”
Even looking into their eyes, it was clear there was nothing left to shake loose.
“Good.”
When I subtly signaled with my eyes, Escort Guard Jin Yu and Escort Guard Seo Wu brought their sword sheaths down on the tops of their heads.
Thud—!
Thump—!
They died on the spot.
The two Escort Guards went out the window to deal with the bodies.
“Phew…”
Palgap shook his head and muttered.
“It’s really a relief you didn’t go down the wrong path, Young Master! If you had, you’d have ended up a once-in-a-generation villain who’d strip people down to their skin and bones!”
“Don’t talk nonsense. I was just acting. You have to at least go that far if you want the truth to come out of people like that.”
“Was it really just acting?”
“Yeah.”
I nodded and stroked Geumryeong hidden in my sleeve…
Huh? Geumryeong, why are you trembling and dodging my hand?
If even you act like that, it really hurts my feelings, you know.
“Anyway, give me some tea.”
“Right away.”
I drank the tea Palgap handed over and collected my thoughts based on the information I’d gotten.
So the reason Young Master Peng had been wandering the martial world wasn’t just to find his uncle?
Why in the world did the Young Clan Lord want his own nephew dead?
Well, if he didn’t want to be cast aside by the current Clan Lord, then secretly hiring assassins like this was the only way he could move.
Wait.
Could it be that the reason Young Master Peng hadn’t gone back to his clan after the Dragon-Phoenix Martial Gathering and came straight to the Eunhae Merchant Group instead… was to escape the Young Clan Lord’s clutches?
Thanks to this Dragon-Phoenix Martial Gathering, word had spread that both mine and Escort Guard Seo Wu’s realms had risen to Peak.
And I had come to Luoyang from Beijing, not from Hubei. A little investigation would easily reveal that I had to return to Beijing again.
Of course, we wouldn’t send a guest back alone, so we’d travel with him all the way to Beijing.
If that was the case… had Young Master Peng used me for his own safety?
But I soon found myself understanding.
Just from how he’d acted on the way here, I could tell how badly he’d been hounded.
So after winning the Dragon-Phoenix Martial Gathering, he must have wanted at least the journey home to be peaceful.
Still, wouldn’t a normal clan send Escort Guards to protect him?
For a prestigious clan like the Hebei Peng Clan, winning the Dragon-Phoenix Martial Gathering would greatly raise their reputation, so it wouldn’t be strange for them to do that…
Ah, but from Young Master Peng’s perspective, that’d be the last thing he wanted.
When the person watching him like a hawk was the Young Clan Lord, how could he fully trust his clan’s escorts?
Anyway, by now, Young Master Peng should’ve come over.
Escort Guard Yeo Eung-am and Escort Guard Lee Pil were already awake and guarding my door.
Speak of the devil and he appears—right then, Young Master Peng’s voice came from outside.
“Deputy Merchant Lord, may I come in for a moment?”
“Come in.”
The door opened and Young Master Peng stepped inside.
And then—
Thud.
He dropped to his knees in front of me.
Honestly, I hadn’t expected him to kneel that quickly, so I was a bit taken aback.
“What are you doing? Please, get up.”
“No. I’ve offended you, Deputy Merchant Lord. How could I shamelessly look you in the eyes?”
I couldn’t tell if he was crafty… or just a decent person.
“Alright then. Stay like that.”
At my words, his face flashed with surprise for an instant.
Well, he said he wouldn’t get up himself, so I didn’t feel like dragging him up by force…
And part of me thought that if he’d just talked to me properly from the start and asked for help, it would’ve been better.
Another part of me was still annoyed he’d used me.
I sat down in my chair and looked down at him.
“So, what brings you here?”
“As you already know, my life is currently being threatened.”
“Your uncle, the Young Clan Lord, is after your life, right?”
“…!”
He flinched at my words.
“H-how did you know?”
“How else? I just added a bit of pressure and they spilled everything. They also said he told them his nephew must never return to the Peng Clan alive.”
“…”
He bit his lip at that.
“Now, be honest with me. Why is the Peng Clan’s Young Clan Lord trying to kill his nephew?”
“That’s…”
He let out a long sigh.
“It’s because the Clan Lord—my grandfather—made a promise with me. He said if I won this Dragon-Phoenix Martial Gathering… he’d give me the position of Young Clan Lord.”
“Huh?”
I cocked my head.
“Right now, the Young Clan Lord is…”
“Yes. My eldest uncle currently holds the Young Clan Lord position. But Grandfather believes that, for the clan’s future, someone with strong martial arts should be the next to succeed as Clan Lord. And most of the clan’s elders agree with him.”
“So if you return to the Peng Clan, Young Master Peng… the current Young Clan Lord will be removed from that position?”
“That’s right.”
It was an extremely simple and clear reason.
For something like that, it was only natural the Young Clan Lord would want him dead.
“Is that why you left the clan to wander the martial world?”
“To be honest, yes. Once I started standing out in martial arts and Grandfather made that announcement… I got the feeling that if I stayed in the clan, I’d just end up dead. Until then, they only tried once or twice a year… but after I won, the attempts became a lot more blatant.”
“And this business about searching for your second uncle?”
“The biggest reason I wandered the martial world was to find my uncle. That gave me a justifiable excuse to leave the clan.”
I quietly watched him and thought.
In my previous life, he never became Clan Lord and died.
That was because I’d told him about “the price he’d pay if he found his uncle but still failed to become Clan Lord.”
He never returned safely to the Peng Clan and lost his life to the Young Clan Lord.
If that was the case, if I got him back to the Peng Clan safely and helped him become Clan Lord… wouldn’t he stand on my side?
From what I’d seen so far, Young Master Peng wasn’t the type to forget a debt of lifesaving grace.
Once my thoughts reached that point, I held out my hand to him.
“From now on, don’t lie to me. I’m the one who accepted Young Master Peng’s secret request, remember? I know you’re extremely cautious. I know you have your reasons. But if you won’t even trust someone who’s promised to keep faith with you, that would really hurt my feelings.”
“I’m truly sorry. From now on… I’ll trust you, Deputy Merchant Lord.”
“Then stand up.”
I naturally helped him to his feet and had him sit comfortably across from me.
“Now then, how about we make a new deal?”
“A new deal?”
“If I safely escort Young Master Peng back to the Peng Clan, what will you do for me?”
“…”
“And if I help you become Clan Lord, what will you be able to do for me?”
.
.
.
Morning broke.
The business with the night visitors felt like a dream; not a single trace of them remained.
All that effort we took to avoid leaving bloodstains had paid off.
We set out once more for Beijing.
To go from Hubei to Beijing, we had to pass through Henan. And in Henan was Luoyang, home of the Murim Alliance.
In other words, there would be a lot of people who recognized us.
“I’d like us to take a roundabout route.”
“You mean we should travel by some remote mountain path?”
When I asked, he nodded.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Well, the more people there are, the more potential threats there are to watch for.”
“That’s true. But there’s something more important than that. Young Master Peng, what do you think assassins care about most?”
“That would be…”
When Young Master Peng couldn’t answer right away, Escort Guard Jin Yu spoke up.
“Other people. They can only keep doing that kind of work if there are no witnesses. And they need the surroundings to be clear of others so they can quickly take the target’s life and flee without interference. That’s why assassins love secluded places the most.”
He spoke from experience as a former assassin.
“If you want to escape an assassin’s clutches, it’s actually better to stay where there are a lot of people. Assassins can’t move easily there.”
“But… how do we know who’s an assassin?”
I answered that question.
“That’s exactly why we need to go through Henan.”
“Huh?”
“More precisely, through Luoyang. I have a way, so don’t worry.”
We continued toward Luoyang, and along the way, we had two more visits from night guests.
At this point, the Peng Clan’s Young Clan Lord was honestly dead set on killing his nephew.
Of course, we weren’t people who’d be taken down so easily.
We wiped them all out with our own hands.
.
.
.
Night.
By tomorrow, we’d arrive in Luoyang. I issued instructions to Escort Guard Yeo Eung-am.
“There’s something I need you to do, Escort Guard Yeo.”
“Please tell me.”
“Spread a rumor in Luoyang. Say that tomorrow, the Dragon-Phoenix Martial Gathering’s champion, Swift Blade Hero Peng Gang-un, is arriving, along with the Dragon-Phoenix Martial Gathering’s hero, Handsome Young He… ahem, ahem! Handsome Young Hero, Deputy Merchant Lord Eun Seo-ho, and his escort, White Butterfly Sword Hero, Escort Guard Seo Wu.”
“Understood.”
“Hurry along, then.”
I rose from my seat as I spoke.
“I think I’ll be busy greeting our night guests.”
How many has it been now?
That damn bastard.
Since it’d be dangerous if Young Master Peng was nearby, I told him to stay quietly in his room, then moved out with the other Escort Guards to take care of the assassins.
Morning came.
We headed straight for Luoyang after breakfast and reached the outskirts around dusk.
Escort Guard Yeo Eung-am, who’d been waiting there, rejoined us.
“I’ve carried out my lord’s orders.”
“Well done.”
No sooner had we entered Luoyang than a crowd began to form around us.
“So that’s Handsome Young Hero?”
“His title’s not wasted. He really is handsome.”
“He’s way too handsome…”
“He’s going to make a lot of young ladies cry.”
My face burned at their chatter, but I endured it and quietly guided my horse.
The crowd’s interest wasn’t focused solely on me.
A lot of attention gathered on Young Master Peng as well, the Dragon-Phoenix Martial Gathering’s champion.
“It’s Swift Blade Hero!”
“He’s really tall and impressive too!”
“He’s the one they say will restore the Peng Clan’s glory, right?”
Alright, people were finally gathered.
Time to start.
“Heup—!”
I suddenly kicked off, flying lightly through the air.
Tap!
When I landed, I was holding a dagger between my index and middle fingers, gripping the blade itself.
At the same time, Escort Guard Seo Wu darted off somewhere with a sharp whoosh.
But he soon returned, dropped to one knee in front of me, and reported.
“My apologies. I lost them.”
The crowd blinked in confusion at the whole sequence. They had no idea what was going on.
I clasped my fists to them and spoke.
“I apologize for startling everyone. Just now, there was an assassin’s attack aimed at Young Master Peng.”
“What? An assassin?”
“Someone tried to kill Swift Blade Hero?”
The murmurs grew louder.
Ah, of course, this was all an act.
I suppressed the laughter bubbling up and calmly explained.
“In truth, this isn’t the first time assassins have attacked Young Master Peng. We were ambushed four times already on our way here. In my opinion, it’s probably jealousy over his victory at the Dragon-Phoenix Martial Gathering.”
“Oh no!”
“There are such heinous people in this world!”
“As it happens, with so many of you gathered here, I’d like to make something clear.”
I looked slowly around at everyone.
“Young Master Peng personally came all the way to my birthday banquet to celebrate with me, and he’s also a guest of the Eunhae Merchant Group. For someone like that to be targeted—this is something I absolutely cannot tolerate.”
The crowd fell silent, hanging on my words.
I made a bold declaration to them.
“If anyone discovers someone attempting to assassinate Young Master Peng, please report it to me. I’ll put up a reward of three thousand silver taels.”
The rumor that Eun Seo-ho had put up three thousand silver taels on the assassins targeting Peng Gang-un spread through the region in an instant.
At an assassin group based in Henan—
The ones who’d accepted the Hebei Peng Clan Young Clan Lord’s commission all arrived at the same conclusion.
‘We should report that bastard and finally change our fortunes.’
‘I’ll turn that bastard in and collect the reward.’
‘How many tiled houses can you buy with three thousand silver taels? If I report those bastards, that money’s all mine, right?’
Their eyes met at the same moment, and they instantly realized they were all thinking the same thing.
Clang—!
Their swords collided.
–TL Notes–
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