I spoke, lost in a silly thought.
“Then, let’s pack snow.”
“Understood.”
Once snow piles up, it becomes no different from ice.
So we filled several trays with snow and stacked them layer by layer inside a special box.
Then we sealed it tightly again.
“Let’s head back now.”
“Yes.”
We returned to the North Sea branch and immediately got ready to depart.
“You’re already leaving?”
At Branch Chief Su’s question, I ducked my head awkwardly.
“I’m sorry we’re leaving in such a rush. But this request was urgent to begin with, and we’re already much more behind schedule than I expected.”
At my words, he spoke with a regretful look.
“Since you put it that way, I can’t keep you here any longer. At least let me load you up with plenty of provisions.”
“Thank you.”
I picked out mostly the light, small gifts to take with me and handed the rest back to Branch Chief Su.
This is the North Sea, after all, a place short on supplies. I’m sure they’ll put them to good use.
Once we leave the North Sea, the temperature will start rising right away, so I should chill the box in advance.
With that thought, I placed my hand on the box to send Qi into it, then jolted in surprise.
“Huh? W–what is this?”
My Qi was moving exactly as I willed, far too easily.
Honestly, moving Qi exactly the way you imagine is a pretty hard thing to do.
When I first began cultivation, guiding the Qi in my Dantian through my meridians for one full circulation had taken me a whole two hours.
After reaching the Peak realm, I could move my Qi much more easily than back then, but I still had to stay very focused.
Right now… none of that applied.
I had only thought about it, and my inner Qi moved, as if I were just moving my own hands and feet.
Could it be?
I closed my eyes and turned my awareness inward.
“…!”
Before long, I realized what kind of miracle had happened.
My Dantian was larger than it had been a few days ago, and my meridians were wider.
Suddenly, I remembered the last words the Heavenly Demon had left me.
‘Judging by your achievement, it seems this whole affair wasn’t a loss for you at all.’
Back then, the Heavenly Demon had realized I had broken past the Peak wall and stepped into the Profound realm.
That must be why he said that to me.
“Is something wrong?”
Seo Wu asked worriedly when I just stood there with a shocked look.
“Ah… I just realized something.”
“Realized what?”
“It seems my realm has risen.”
“What? Are you saying you only noticed just now?”
Seo Wu actually looked more shocked than me at that. Scratching my cheek awkwardly, I asked,
“Then… you all already knew?”
“Yes. We realized it that day.”
The six Escort Guards all nodded.
“…”
Feeling oddly embarrassed, I stared off at a faraway mountain.
The Escort Guards laughed and congratulated me.
“It’s late, but congratulations.”
“Our congratulations.”
I rubbed the back of my neck as I accepted their words.
“Thank you.”
“We’ll have to work harder too. How could we protect our lord if we’re stuck at a lower realm than you?”
Seo Wu’s eyes blazed as he said it, and for some reason, it felt a little scary.
Anyway, I sent Qi into the special box of snow on the wagon and cooled it down.
Then, with the North Sea branch staff and the tribespeople seeing us off, we set out for Guizhou.
Riding my horse, I recalled what had happened in my past life.
Back then, Guizhou’s Commissioner of Land Affairs’s daughter had died a few months later than now.
It had been around autumn, when the weather turned cool.
In other words, I still had a bit of time to spare.
Of course, that didn’t mean I could drag my feet.
The Commissioner of Land Affairs had asked me to bring it as quickly as possible, and the future I knew could always change.
As we headed toward Beijing, the clothes people wore made the season hit me all at once.
I’d been up in the North Sea and had forgotten for a moment, but it was summer now.
By the time we arrived in Beijing, the month had changed to the eighth month.
After ordering the Escort Guards to watch over the box, I went to the Virtuous Wind Department and worked through the backlog.
It felt great to wash up and fill my stomach for the first time in a while, but it was a little depressing that I couldn’t actually rest and had to dive straight into work.
We were leaving for Guizhou again first thing tomorrow morning, so there was no time off.
But I couldn’t exactly neglect the Virtuous Wind Department’s affairs either.
While I was dealing with the paperwork, Palgap came looking for me.
“Young master! Young master!”
“What? What’s going on?”
“The Commissioner of Land Affairs has arrived.”
“Hm?”
I tilted my head and asked again,
“The Commissioner of Land Affairs… you mean the one from Guizhou?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Wait, why would someone of his rank still be in Beijing?
I hurried straight to the reception room.
“I greet you, Commissioner of Land Affairs.”
“Yes, it’s been a while.”
“I thought you had already returned to Guizhou.”
“The work took longer than I expected, so I only just finished. I asked around on a hunch and heard you had come back.”
“Yes, I returned today.”
“Did you happen to bring the snow?”
“Yes, I brought it. Would you like to see it?”
He nodded at my question.
“If possible, I’d like that.”
Expectation, desperation, and doubt were all mixed together in his eyes.
He was hoping I’d really brought snow, but half convinced it couldn’t possibly be real.
I headed to the carriage house with him.
On one of the wagons stored there, the special box was loaded.
“Have you arrived?”
As I approached, the two Escort Guards watching the wagon bowed their heads to us.
“This is the Commissioner of Land Affairs.”
At my introduction, they also bowed to the Commissioner of Land Affairs.
“We’re here to inspect the snow. Please bring out the box.”
“Understood.”
The Escort Guards opened the box, then lifted the lid of the smaller box inside.
The two guards took out one of the trays from the box.
“This is snow. We picked out only the cleanest snow in the North Sea. You can touch it if you’d like.”
At my words, he reached out and touched the snow.
Then his face filled with shock.
“It’s real… it’s real snow!”
“Your daughter will love this.”
“Of course, she will, without a doubt!”
The Commissioner of Land Affairs looked elated.
Then he tilted his head and asked,
“But how can the snow not melt in this heat? It’s truly mysterious.”
At his question, I pointed at the ornament hanging on the outside of the inner box.
“It’s thanks to this artifact.”
“Artifact?”
“Yes. It’s an artifact that spreads cold air around it. Thanks to this, the snow doesn’t melt even in summer.”
Of course, that was a lie.
I had no reason to brag about my current realm.
I deliberately claimed the cold came from an artifact to prepare for anything unexpected.
That ornament was just some trinket I had bought in the market. I had only picked one with a blue-colored stone so my story would sound more believable.
This commission would be a huge boon to the Eunhae Merchant Group.
And word that the Guizhou Commissioner of Land Affairs had entrusted us with this request must have spread far and wide.
In a situation like that, some jealous party might try to interfere.
So I had to be ready for that.
As long as it held my Qi, I could track that ornament’s whereabouts.
Among the Imperial Palace Martial Arts, the tracking technique was useful in times like this.
If I infused it with just a bit of my Qi, I could trace that Qi. Of course, a random thief might go after the ornament instead of someone targeting us.
I didn’t care.
Either way, I’d be the one screwing them over.
“Remarkable!”
The Commissioner of Land Affairs exclaimed in admiration at my explanation.
“Now that you’ve checked it, may I put it back in?”
“Ah! The snow will melt! Hurry and put it back in the box.”
“Yes, sir.”
I put the snow back in the box, quietly drew up my Qi to infuse it with cold, then sealed the box tight.
“Can you depart tomorrow?”
“Of course.”
“Then let’s head to Guizhou together tomorrow morning.”
“Thank you.”
It was a stroke of luck I hadn’t even considered.
If we traveled with the Commissioner of Land Affairs’s entourage, we’d save on costs and suffer much less hardship.
The Forest bandits were unlikely to attack, and we wouldn’t have to deal with petty officials causing trouble either.
On top of that, after the battle in the North Sea with that freak… no, with that man named Man Gyeong, and the long journey, the Escort Guards’ condition was far from perfect.
That was why I welcomed the Commissioner of Land Affairs’s offer with both hands.
The next morning.
We got ready and waited for the Commissioner of Land Affairs’s party.
“Young master, they say the Commissioner of Land Affairs will be arriving soon.”
The Commissioner of Land Affairs had sent someone ahead, and after giving final instructions to the people of the Virtuous Wind Department and asking Branch Chief Eun of the Beijing branch to take care of things, I went out to the carriage house.
Then, taking the box with me, I left the Beijing branch.
“Good morning. Did you sleep well?”
“Honestly, I was too excited to sleep.”
“The journey is long. A good night’s sleep is important.”
“Right, I’ll keep that in mind.”
The Commissioner of Land Affairs smiled contentedly and nodded.
Soon, our position in the Commissioner of Land Affairs’s procession was decided, and we were placed right in the center.
Directly behind the Commissioner of Land Affairs.
That was how important the snow we carried was.
We set out for Guizhou.
“From here, we’ll head down to Jinan, board a boat, go up the Yang River, and from Shanxi Province follow the Zhaling River and Wuzhang River to Guizhou. Will that be all right?”
The Hundred-Man Captain, the officer serving as our guide for the journey, said that.
As the one overseeing all administration of a province, the Commissioner of Land Affairs naturally had a separate force assigned to protect him.
Since the unit was made up of exactly one hundred soldiers, their commander was also called a Hundred-Man Captain.
“It’s fine. The faster we can go, the better.”
Traveling by boat would be much faster than going over land.
But on this particular trip, the water could be dangerous.
If the snow came into contact with water, it would melt in an instant.
That was why we had even coated the special box with candle wax for waterproofing, but I still couldn’t let my guard down.
So this was how Master always felt whenever he escorted cargo. Once again, I realized the escort bureau’s work was anything but easy.
Since we were traveling with the Commissioner of Land Affairs, we didn’t have to go through the usual troublesome procedures to cross each province.
Thanks to that, we could board the ship with ease.
This time, since our party was so large, we had to secure a big ship.
Still, that only meant greater safety, so I was satisfied.
“Depart!”
At the captain’s shout, the ship set sail.
Guizhou Commissioner of Land Affairs Dong Hui had several deputies.
Of course, beneath the Commissioner of Land Affairs were six departments, similar to the imperial court’s Six Ministries, which divided up the administrative work.
But separate from that, there were many tasks the Commissioner of Land Affairs had to handle personally, so having deputies to assist him was essential.
Among them, one of the two deputies accompanying him on this journey, Pyeong Tak, quietly stepped out onto the ship’s deck.
“I can’t believe I’m about to steal, something I was never born to do! Damn it!”
He grumbled inwardly.
There was a reason he’d ended up doing something like this.
One day, after getting a severe scolding from the Commissioner of Land Affairs because of a mistake he’d made, he went alone to a tavern to drink, trying to swallow his resentment and shake off his gloom.
Back then, the prohibition order hadn’t been issued yet.
A man with a pleasant face approached the brooding Pyeong Tak.
“Well now! Isn’t this Deputy Pyeong under the Commissioner of Land Affairs?”
“You’ve got the wrong person.”
Not wanting any hassle, he answered that way, but the man just laughed and sat down across from him.
“I know how hard you work in all things. In fact, you once did me a favor.”
“Me?”
“You don’t remember? Well, it’s always the one who received the favor who remembers, isn’t it? Hahaha.”
He smoothed it over so slickly that Pyeong Tak just thought, maybe that’s how it was.
“Drinking alone isn’t right. Let me buy you a drink.”
And so he ended up accepting a free drink. But in truth, it wasn’t free at all.
His name was Mae Yeom.
He said he belonged to the Five Stars Merchant Group, one of the top merchant groups even in Guizhou.
He kept buying Pyeong Tak drinks, and feeling guilty, Pyeong eventually started granting his requests.
That was how it started.
Mae Yeom thanked him with generous gifts, and feeling puffed up, he couldn’t help but accept bigger and bigger favors.
That was how their relationship of bribery and requests was formed, and Pyeong Tak found he couldn’t break free from that snare.
In truth, he didn’t even realize he was sinking into a swamp.
He was just happy to be treated well and flattered.
Then one day, Mae Yeom said to him,
“I heard the Commissioner of Land Affairs’s daughter wants to see snow…”
“How do you know about that?”
“Our merchant group has pretty good information. So when the Commissioner of Land Affairs starts looking for a merchant group to take the commission, please recommend our Five Stars Merchant Group.”
“You lot can really get snow in this summer heat?”
“Of course.”
After receiving that request, Pyeong Tak had planned to recommend Mae Yeom’s Five Stars Merchant Group to the Commissioner of Land Affairs.
But then…
Something happened that was enough to drive him crazy.
–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