I was the one who got flustered instead.
Wait, why is that person here?
Just then, the gatekeeper spotted him and quickly bowed.
“Young Master, you’ve returned?”
No way…
He turned to me with a friendly look and asked,
“Did you already finish your business?”
“Um… by any chance, is Elder Bang Hyo-myeong here?”
“Pardon? He’s my father.”
“…”
A little later.
I was sitting face-to-face with the child’s father in the guest hall of Bang Manor.
His name was Bang Eun-seok.
He said he was Elder Bang Hyo-myeong’s second son.
“So, you came here to see my father?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“I had no idea the business you mentioned was about meeting my father. Do you have some connection with him?”
“Not exactly. I just heard of him through someone. Hahaha. Anyway, is something going on?”
I asked because the atmosphere in Bang Manor felt a bit unusually upbeat.
“Ah, yes. We had a family event. That’s why I rushed back from Kaifeng.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, what do you do in Kaifeng?”
“I’m serving as the assistant official of the prefectural office.”
An assistant like that is effectively the number two in a prefectural office. With a mid-fifth-rank post, it was a fairly high local position.
“Wait, then why would someone like you travel without a single escort? The world’s a dangerous place these days…”
“I can’t just use government people for my personal affairs, can I? If Father found out, I’d get an earful.”
“…”
Just then, I sensed someone outside the door.
He’s here.
The door soon opened, and an old man who looked to be around sixty walked in.
“You’re the one who asked to see me?”
I quickly stood, cupped my fists, and said,
“Yes, that’s right. Eun Seo-ho of the Eunhae Merchant Group greets Elder Bang.”
“I’m Bang Hyo-myeong. It’s good to meet you. Please, have a seat.”
“Thank you.”
At his invitation, I sat back down and sneaked a glance at the man who had come in with him.
The man stood by the door, completely ignoring my gaze and keeping his eyes only on Elder Bang Hyo-myeong.
He looked like a bodyguard, and his cultivation seemed to be around the Peak realm.
Judging from how tense he was, he must have realized the level of me and my companions.
“So then, why did you ask to see me?”
At that question, I quickly turned my eyes back to Elder Bang Hyo-myeong.
“To be honest, I came to see you because I was asked to deliver a letter.”
“A letter?”
“Yes.”
I handed the letter to Elder Bang, and he took it.
“Please open it. I was told to make sure you actually read it.”
At my words, he tilted his head slightly and broke the seal.
Then, as he read the letter, his face instantly twisted.
“Damn.”
Scowling, he looked at me and asked,
“Do you, by any chance, know what’s written in this?”
“I don’t. How would I know when I never read it?”
“Right. Seeing how relaxed your face is, it’s clear you didn’t.”
“Huh?”
What did my expression have to do with whether I read the letter beforehand or not?
He curtly handed the letter back to me.
“Read it.”
I took the letter again and read through it.
It opened with greetings to Elder Bang, his close friend and subject.
Then came some petty grumbling about how Elder Bang had left him…
[You thought you could just leave and that would be the end of it, didn’t you, you old coot? Bet you never imagined I’d drag you back with an Imperial order like this, huh?]—things along that rather childish line…
To joke like that, they had to be really close. Still, the age difference looked to be at least twenty years. Can you even call that a friendship?
Well, whatever.
[One of my Embroidered Guard warriors, Jin Yeong, is in trouble. I’d like you to resolve that first. The warrior went missing, and no one has been able to find any trace.]
The Emperor was asking Elder Bang to find Jin Yeong.
I figured the Emperor would be displeased about Jin Yeong’s disappearance, but I didn’t think he was this concerned.
[If it’s you, I’m sure you can find the warrior.]
The letter was full of firm trust in Elder Bang.
The problem was…
[The fellow delivering this letter is quite amusing. It should be entertaining to keep him by your side. So take him along and bring Jin Yeong back together.]
I couldn’t help but sigh.
Damn it.
I thought my job would be over once I handed over the letter… It wasn’t.
Turns out it really isn’t over till it’s over.
“Now that’s a face worth seeing.”
“You’re meaner than I expected.”
“Well, what’s so endearing about the guy who brought this letter?”
He turned his head, giving his second son a brief glance as he continued,
“Honestly, I never would have imagined you’d be the one bringing his letter. Someone carrying something like this wouldn’t just jump into a raging current to save a child.”
Ah…
Truth is, I didn’t have the letter on me at the time.
I’d stashed it in my travel pack just in case.
By the way, carrying an inkstone around in the pouch His Majesty gave me is more inconvenient than you’d think.
Oh, there I go, getting sidetracked again.
“And you’re not even some official or martial artist, but a merchant—and a famous one they call the Handsome Young Hero on top of that.”
“The feeling’s mutual.”
“In any case, I thank you for saving my grandson.”
He went on,
“But still… seeing as you smuggled the letter out, are you perhaps being chased?”
“…Honestly, yes.”
“So that’s why you refused when my son asked you to stay the night.”
At that point, Bang Eun-seok, who had been listening, asked with a puzzled look,
“What are you two talking about? Who in the world sent that letter? And wait, so you didn’t already have some connection with Father?”
At his questions, Elder Bang sighed and asked me,
“How much should I tell him?”
“He doesn’t know anything yet.”
“I see.”
Elder Bang nodded, then spoke to his son with a complicated expression.
“The person I served for so many years is calling this old body back again.”
“What? Then… does that mean…?”
“As you just heard, the situation isn’t very good. So tighten security at home and keep a close watch on everything for the time being.”
“Understood.”
After giving those orders, he took out paper and brush, scribbled something down, and handed it to his second son.
“Take this. Give it to your older brother and tell him to follow it exactly.”
“Yes, Father.”
“All right then, let’s go.”
His words caught me off guard.
“Huh? You mean right now? Is it really okay to leave without even saying anything to the rest of your family?”
Bang Eun-seok looked at me and laughed.
“He’s always been impossible to pin down, so if he suddenly disappears, everyone just accepts it. Even so.”
He continued,
“He’s never once been wrong about something he’s said.”
The way he said it, his face and tone, brimmed with deep trust.
.
.
.
About fifteen minutes later.
Elder Bang left the house with us, accompanied by an attendant and a bodyguard.
Judging by how unfazed the attendant and bodyguard were at this sudden departure, this must have been normal for him.
Still, it felt like he was rushing a bit too much…
“Excuse me, Elder. I have a question.”
“What is it?”
“Do we really have to leave in such a hurry?”
“Is that even a question? We don’t know when those pursuers might catch up to us.”
On the surface, Elder Bang was right. But this case was a little different.
“Actually…”
I explained in detail how I’d shaken off the pursuers.
“So they’re probably heading toward Guangdong right now. By now they might have realized they were tricked and started tracking us again, though.”
At my explanation, Elder Bang let out a long sigh.
“You.”
“Yes?”
“Couldn’t you have mentioned that a bit earlier?”
“I’m sorry. You were making decisions so fast I couldn’t get a word in…”
That was true. Elder Bang moved so decisively that I never had the chance to explain.
“Ahem.”
Elder Bang cleared his throat.
“Well, nothing to be done now. We’ve already said our goodbyes and left the house.”
Right. There’s that.
Just then, Palgap spoke to me in a low voice.
“Young Master.”
“What is it?”
“Don’t you kind of feel like you’re looking in a mirror right now?”
“What exactly are you trying to say?”
“Nothing at all.”
The letter from the Emperor also described the circumstances of Warrior Jin Yeong’s disappearance.
Warrior Jin Yeong had headed to Lanzhou and sent a letter saying he had arrived. After that, he vanished.
The task he had been assigned was a recent string of disappearances in northern Gansu.
Children had been going missing one after another in northern Gansu, and the local officials there had submitted multiple reports.
It was something the county and prefectural offices hadn’t been able to resolve.
“So that was happening…”
From Elder Bang’s reaction, it seemed he had had no idea.
Well, the north of Gansu wasn’t very populated, and most of the villages there were closed off and didn’t interact much with the outside.
“First, we should look for traces of that Jin Yeong here in Gansu.”
“We should.”
We headed for the Embroidered Guard’s safe house where Warrior Jin Yeong was presumed to have last stayed.
On the way there, I kept wondering why the Emperor was calling Elder Bang back, and why he had specifically asked him to find Warrior Jin Yeong.
To me, he just looked like an ordinary old man who had retired from office and gone back to his hometown.
“It’s certainly convenient traveling with someone rich. But you seem to be spending a lot because of me. Is that really okay?”
As we left a high-class inn where we’d just stayed, Elder Bang asked that, and I answered with a smile.
“This much is nothing for me.”
“Is that so?”
“Besides, this isn’t just my private business. It’s official duty. And His Majesty isn’t the sort to make someone spend their own money on official duties.”
At that, Elder Bang burst into hearty laughter.
“Hahaha. Now I see why His Majesty called you an amusing one.”
“Really? I don’t quite see it.”
“People like that rarely realize it themselves.”
I tilted my head at that, then happened to see Palgap, who was nodding so hard I thought his head might fall off.
“Palgap?”
“Yes? What’s wrong, Young Master?”
“It’s nothing.”
“…”
All I was doing was stating the obvious, and that’s what they find funny. It felt a bit strange.
That afternoon, we arrived at the Embroidered Guard’s safe house in Lanzhou.
It was an ordinary house, the kind a reasonably well-off family might live in.
But it was so silent it felt completely deserted.
I focused my senses, but I couldn’t feel any presence.
“Seems like no one’s here.”
“I see.”
Elder Bang answered and then told me,
“All right. Then follow carefully and only step where I step.”
“What?”
I asked back in surprise, but instead of replying, Elder Bang walked around, examining everything in detail.
“Wheel tracks from a wagon. They hauled something away. No signs the main gate was forced open. But there are traces of a fight all over the building…”
“…”
“Seeing these drag marks, looks like they subdued them, loaded them onto the wagon, and pulled them away.”
After inspecting here and there, he looked at me and asked,
“What do you think happened?”
“Since there’s no sign the door was broken, it seems they bribed someone to open it. Either the bribed person opened it for them, or they forced that person to open it.”
“Exactly.”
“And there don’t seem to have been that many attackers, yet there are barely any signs of a real fight. That means they were subdued before they could put up much resistance. In that case, poison is the most likely.”
“Excellent!”
“So they probably loaded the subdued people onto the wagon and left.”
“My guess matches yours. There were probably five people here. As for their builds…”
I wasn’t sure about the other four, but one of them had a physique very similar to someone I knew well.
Warrior Jin Yeong.
At Warrior Jin Yeong’s level, it should have been possible to resist poison to some extent.
If the warrior couldn’t even lift a hand before being taken down, then the enemies were no ordinary opponents.
From the traces alone, Elder Bang had figured out the number and builds of both sides, and even their martial arts.
“Even so, there’s a good chance they’re still alive.”
“Why do you think so?”
“There’s no blood. And they didn’t burn this place to erase the traces. That means they’re trying to buy as much time as possible.”
He continued,
“A missing Embroidered Guard and a murdered Embroidered Guard carry very different weight.”
“…”
“So if they took them alive from here, and still need time, what does that tell you?”
In that moment, a gruesome scene covered in blood flashed through my mind.
“We’d better hurry.”
I was starting to understand why the Emperor had called Elder Bang back and why he’d asked him to find Warrior Jin Yeong.
Elder Bang wasn’t some ordinary bureaucrat.
He was a brilliant investigator with keen powers of observation and judgment.
“Since they dragged them away by wagon, our first step should be asking around about that.”
He studied the wheel tracks, using the width of the wheels to gauge the size of the wagon.
Huh? Isn’t that obvious at a glance?
“It’s a fairly large wagon pulled by three horses.”
“How do you know that?”
“I’m the Eunhae Merchant Group’s Deputy Merchant Lord. Something like this is easy.”
But why are your eyes suddenly sparkling like that?
It’s kind of scary…
–TL Notes–
Tired of seeing Ads? Then please support me on Patreon! Any tier of subscription will make it so you won’t get any ads!
If you want to support me or give me feedback, you can do it at patreon.com/InsanityTheGame
Join my Discord! https://discord.gg/BWaP3AHHpt