The whole thing started because a new building was going up in Guizhou, so the Commissioner of Land Affairs went to the Imperial Palace’s Ministry of Works.
“My lord, why do you look so gloomy?”
“It’s nothing serious… I just need to get my hands on a certain item, so I was looking for a capable Merchant Group. Do you know any place that could handle it?”
“What kind of item are you trying to find, my lord?”
“Snow. I need some snow.”
“Sir? In the middle of summer?”
“Ha ha ha. Sounds a bit out of nowhere, doesn’t it? Just pretend you never heard it.”
“Ah, then… may I make a recommendation?”
“What do you mean?”
“I know one very capable Merchant Group that could track down something like that.”
“Where? Which group?”
“They just opened a new branch in Beijing. It’s called the Eunhae Merchant Group, and their Deputy Merchant Lord is so infuriat… no, so ridiculously capable. Ha ha ha.”
After hearing that, the Commissioner of Land Affairs of Guizhou went straight to the Eunhae Merchant Group and placed his request.
What made things even more maddening was that Deputy Merchant Lord Eun Seo-ho of the Eunhae Merchant Group actually brought real snow.
If that snow reached Guizhou safely, he wouldn’t have the face to show himself in front of Mae Yeom.
Right around then, he happened to overhear a conversation.
“Did you hear? I heard there’s an artifact in that box.”
“An artifact?”
“Yeah. It’s an ornament that spreads cold around it so the snow doesn’t melt.”
From the words of the people who had gone to the Eunhae Merchant Group’s North Sea Branch with the Commissioner, Pyeong Tak came up with an idea he really shouldn’t have.
It was to steal that artifact.
Without that artifact, the snow would melt in no time under the blazing summer sun.
‘We just blame them for poor management, cancel the contract, and report that the commission should go to the Five Stars Merchant Group instead. Heh heh heh.’
With that in mind, Pyeong Tak quietly slipped out onto the deck of the ship and looked around.
Fortunately, no one was there.
‘Well, it’s between one and three in the morning right now anyway.’
Because the ship was gliding along calm waters, even the sailors were paying little attention to anything else.
He slipped into the cargo cabin where the goods were stored. Thankfully, there was no one standing guard there.
That made sense, since everyone on board right now belonged to the Commissioner’s party.
With no fear of thieves, they hadn’t bothered to post guards.
Inside that cabin was the box that held the snow.
He carefully, carefully lifted the lid of the box.
Creak–.
The sound came out much louder than he expected, and he flinched.
Cold sweat ran down his back as he glanced around, but he didn’t sense anyone nearby.
‘Whew…’
Breathing a sigh of relief, he finished opening the box and found the ornament hanging from the outer wall of the inner box.
‘There it is!’
He reached out and took the ornament.
Since he had opened the box anyway, he considered splashing water inside and melting all the snow, but soon changed his mind.
There was also a little bell attached inside the small box, and he was certain that if he disturbed it, the bell would jingle and make noise.
‘Needlessly thorough, aren’t they.’
In any case, without the artifact the snow would melt on its own.
He tucked the ornament up his sleeve and closed the box.
Then he left the cabin and was about to throw the ornament into the river when he hesitated.
‘It’d be a waste to toss away a priceless treasure like this! No, I should put it to good use myself.’
It was an artifact that radiated cold.
For weather this hot, it was the perfect thing to have.
Besides, summers in Guizhou were insanely hot.
With that, Pyeong Tak headed back to his spot, hoping his crime would sink away into the depths of the night.
When I woke up, it still seemed to be early dawn.
I immediately sat up and ran through a brief cycle of Qi circulation and breathing.
Ever since I reached the Profound Realm, that process had gotten even shorter, so it didn’t take long at all.
Still, I couldn’t skip physical training.
My Master always said that as your realm rose, your physical strength had to rise with it.
Otherwise, a mismatch between your internal Qi and your body would eventually cause problems.
I agreed with that completely.
Maybe because of my Master’s teachings, I’ve never suffered any side effects from a gap between my body and my internal Qi.
Just then, Escort Guard Jin Yu came inside.
“Did you sleep well?”
“Yeah. It’s a nice morning.”
“I have something to report. One of the Commissioner’s Deputies took that ornament last night.”
They must have thought there was no one around the box holding the snow, but did they really think I would pull back all the guards from around it?
No way.
Publicly, I dismissed the guards, then secretly asked Escort Guard Jin Yu to keep watch over the box.
During the day, I myself guarded it by heightening my Qi sense.
If we guarded it too openly, they’d complain that I didn’t trust them.
Now I finally had a good reason to guard the box openly.
And the culprit is who? One of the Commissioner’s Deputies?
“Wow, I really didn’t see that coming.”
Then why would that person do something like this?
We hadn’t done anything to particularly offend him. Even so, they’d risk danger just to screw us over?
No matter how I looked at it, there was only one reason someone would dare to pull a stunt that bold.
Someone bought them off.
The other party was probably one of the Merchant Groups in Guizhou.
By a stroke of luck with the Ministry of Works officials, the commission had fallen to me, but if not for that, just like in my previous life, they would have commissioned one of Guizhou’s Merchant Groups.
In that case, the answer was obvious.
They planned to blame us for negligence, cancel the contract, and grab it for themselves by taking over the commission.
But they were seriously underestimating me.
When I grinned, Palgap at my side flinched and asked nervously,
“Wh–why are you smiling so scary-like?”
“What did I do?”
“…Nothing, forget I said anything.”
I got up from the bed and said,
“So, shall we go catch our culprit?”
“If they threw that ornament into the river, wouldn’t we have no evidence?”
Palgap sounded worried, but I saw it differently.
“They won’t have thrown it away. I bet they see it as a priceless treasure.”
If they had tossed it into the river without a second thought, I’d have to respect him. I’d even want to recruit him.
“Well then, let’s go.”
“Yes.”
As I stepped out the door, the Escort Guards on rotation, Escort Guard Seo Wu and Escort Guard Myeong Jong, fell in behind me.
We went into the cabin where the box was kept and opened it. The ornament was indeed gone.
I took a deep breath, then shouted at the top of my lungs.
“Aaaargh!”
One by one, everyone on board came rushing toward the cabin.
“I think the sound came from here.”
“What happened?”
“Huh? Deputy Merchant Lord? Are you all right?”
As they crowded into the cabin, I cried out with a suitably panicked expression,
“Th–this is bad! The ornament! The ornament is gone!”
“Sir? Ornament?”
“The ornament that acts as an artifact to spread cold.”
News of this went straight to the Commissioner, and he turned pale as he rushed over.
“What do you mean? How could the artifact that spreads cold be gone?”
“To be honest, I had a terrible dream last night. So the moment I woke up at dawn, I came to check on the snow. But… the artifact was already gone.”
I spoke with a gloomy expression.
“I trusted everyone on this ship and didn’t even post guards, and then something like this happens…”
Before anyone could start blaming me for poor management, I moved first.
“You were much too careless. You should have posted guards, at least!”
Hearing someone scold me, I laughed inwardly.
Just as expected.
“When I said I would post guards, who was it that complained I didn’t trust you all?”
Who else? You. The one who just said that.
“Ahem, ahem…”
Looking embarrassed, he shrank back.
At that moment, someone else spoke up.
“Could river bandits have slipped aboard last night?”
“That’s impossible. This stretch of the Yangtze almost never sees river bandits.”
“That’s true, but still…”
“And if river bandits had gotten on board, they would have grabbed other valuables or attacked someone. They wouldn’t have come all the way into this cabin just to open an ordinary-looking box.”
At my words, the one who had suggested a river bandit raid coughed awkwardly, face flushing red, and looked away.
The Commissioner spoke with a troubled expression.
“Whatever the case, I must apologize. I’m sorry.”
“Not at all. How could this be something for you to apologize for, Lord Commissioner?”
“Thank you.”
The Commissioner let out a sigh, then suddenly realized something and cried out,
“Wait, if that artifact is gone, doesn’t that mean the snow is melting?”
“That’s all right.”
“Hm?”
He stared at me in confusion.
“I believe in being prepared. I used a few other methods in addition to that ornament, so the snow won’t melt that quickly. However, we do need that artifact to transport it in perfect condition.”
“So it’s a blessing in misfortune. But we still have to find it.”
“Exactly.”
I cupped my fists and said,
“Forgive me for saying this, but since only the artifact inside the box was taken, that suggests two possibilities. First, someone was after the artifact itself. Second, someone wanted to make sure the snow melted.”
I continued,
“Either way, they’re trying to cause you harm, my lord. We must catch whoever did this.”
“Of course. Do they have any idea how desperate I am to secure that snow, and they still dare to pull this?”
The Commissioner clenched his fist, anger etched across his face.
“May I conduct a search to find the artifact?”
“You have my permission.”
“Thank you.”
“Then from this moment, we’ll be searching everyone’s luggage. Everyone, please gather on the deck.”
At my words, everyone assembled on deck, and I had my Escort Guards watch over them.
Together with the Commissioner, I personally started searching through the baggage.
Or rather, I pretended to search.
Because I already knew where the ornament was.
While we were working our way through the luggage,
“Oh no!”
I deliberately tripped and fell.
“Hey, are you all right?”
“I’m fine.”
“You should be more careful.”
“My apologies. It felt like my foot caught on something.”
At my words, Palgap smoothly jumped in. As expected of a quick-witted guy.
“What could your foot have caught on, on such a smooth floor?”
As he spoke, Palgap bent down to inspect the floor, then tilted his head.
“Huh? This floorboard’s slightly raised.”
The cabin floor was made of long planks laid side by side.
And the plank Palgap pointed to was just the slightest bit lifted.
It was so subtle that anyone else would have ignored it.
Then Palgap’s eyes went wide.
“Huh? Why is there frost here?”
“Frost?”
At that, I quickly pried up the floorboard and found the ornament hidden underneath.
“Well, look at that.”
“Why would the ornament be here?”
“Seems someone hid it in this spot. Who uses this cabin?”
A short while later.
Ten people filed into the cabin. They were the ones assigned to this cabin.
They weren’t common soldiers, but people who each held some sort of position.
Since only people like that were called in, the Commissioner stepped forward.
“This artifact was found in this cabin. And since not just anyone can come in here, that means one of you is responsible for this outrageous act.”
The Commissioner began to pressure them.
“Who was it? Speak up! If you confess now, I may show some leniency.”
“…”
But nobody opened their mouth.
Of course not.
If they were the type to confess just because of that, they wouldn’t have done it in the first place.
For someone who looked so imposing, Lord Commissioner really wasn’t very good at interrogation.
I already knew who the culprit was, but that alone wasn’t enough. I had to convince everyone else.
I had expected them to hide the ornament somewhere else.
Anyone with half a brain would have anticipated a baggage search and hidden it elsewhere.
But since we were confined to the ship, the only place they could really hide it was the cabin they were staying in.
Anywhere else, there were always people around.
But in this cabin, there were fewer people using it, and those people were busy enough that there were gaps in the day.
The ornament’s role was to give everyone a reason they could accept for narrowing down the list of suspects.
What I was focused on was a different piece of evidence.
The kind you couldn’t possibly talk your way out of.
“My lord, may I say a few words?”
When he nodded, I took a step forward and spoke.
“This artifact has the ability to spread cold. That means it’s imbued with cold itself. Touching it briefly is fine, but if you hold it for too long, you could get frostbite.”
I went on,
“Now, think about it. You open the outer box and take the artifact. The ornament is freezing cold. While you’re holding it, you can’t close the box. But if someone sees you holding it, you’re in serious trouble. You can’t just set it down on the floor either. So what do you do with it?”
“…”
“Everyone, please hold out your sleeves.”
They extended their sleeves at my request, and I inspected them one by one as I spoke.
“You may not know this since you’ve only ever lived in hot regions, but the fabric you’re wearing is woven from plant fiber.”
Among plants, there are types with especially tough bark, and they use that to weave cloth and make garments.
Because Guizhou is so hot and humid, people have to wear breathable clothing, or they’ll suffer from skin diseases.
“The thing about that kind of cloth is, if it ever freezes, it discolors and the fabric gets badly damaged.”
I smiled faintly as I spoke.
“Since you’ve rarely experienced cold harsh enough to freeze your clothes, it’s only natural you wouldn’t know.”
“…”
“And that’s the answer to the question I asked earlier. They shoved the artifact up their sleeve.”
Every one of them was wearing robes with wide sleeves for ventilation.
“And that’s why the fabric is damaged.”
I grabbed one person’s wrist and said,
“Like this.”
That sleeve was discolored.
Got you. The culprit.
–TL Notes–
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