At my question, Brother Jeong-ho tilted his head.
“What do you mean, did I pick something up and eat it?”
“You ate something else besides what I sent you here, didn’t you?”
Brother Jeong-ho nodded.
“I did eat a few things. Out of all of them, I ate mushrooms the most.”
“Mushrooms?”
When I asked back, Brother nodded.
“There’s a little fellow that came along with the one who delivered your letter to me. Ah, there it is.”
Brother pointed somewhere, and I spotted a shaggy creature standing stiffly beside a tree.
Huh? A raccoon dog?
Why is that thing here? Those usually live in the eastern part of the Empire.
Looking closely, unlike an ordinary raccoon dog, the fur on its chest was pure white.
Ah, so it’s a Spirit Beast.
But for some reason, it looked like it had been scared completely straight.
“What about that raccoon dog?”
“That raccoon dog kept bringing me mushrooms. It ate one itself to show me, then gave some to me, so I figured it was telling me to eat them.”
“Ah…”
“Still, I checked to make sure they weren’t poisonous before I ate them.”
Then again, Brother Jeong-ho was the Deputy Merchant Lord of the Eunhae Merchant Group, so he knew quite a bit about medicinal ingredients too.
“But honestly, how could one or two mushrooms fill anyone up? So I gestured to that raccoon dog that I was hungry, and it wagged its tail like it wanted me to follow. When I did, there were piles of mushrooms that looked just like them.”
“Where was that?”
“Over there.”
Brother led me to one place.
“Here.”
Quite a lot of purple mushrooms were growing there.
That was when Geumryeong’s Voice Transmission rang in my ears.
— Kui!
Ah, you were going to tell me later?
Sure, sure. How thoughtful of you.
I slipped my hand into my sleeve and stroked Geumryeong as I spoke to Brother.
“Brother, did you know what these were when you ate them?”
“How would I know when I’d never seen them before? And when you’re about to starve to death, you’re just grateful as long as they aren’t poisonous.”
Then again, even across both my past life and this life, I had only seen this once. And that had been in my past life.
“Brother, these are expensive.”
“What are they? Aren’t they just mushrooms?”
“They are mushrooms, but they aren’t just ordinary mushrooms. They’re Hundred-Year Purple Spirit Mushrooms.”
Hundred-Year Purple Spirit Mushrooms.
A mushroom that bloomed only once every hundred years.
“One Hundred-Year Purple Spirit Mushroom can give you a year’s worth of internal Qi.”
“Huh? Then they’re Elixirs?”
“That’s right.”
“Weirdly enough, there was nothing edible around here except for grass and these. If that raccoon dog hadn’t shown me these, I really might’ve starved to death.”
Right. That was one of the Hundred-Year Purple Spirit Mushroom’s traits.
It practically monopolized all the nutrients in the surrounding area, so wherever a colony of Hundred-Year Purple Spirit Mushrooms grew, fruit-bearing plants could not survive nearby.
Now that I had seen these Hundred-Year Purple Spirit Mushrooms, I could understand why Brother Jeong-ho, who was well-versed in all kinds of medicinal ingredients, had ended up dehydrated.
There had barely been anything else to eat.
Judging by how he did not seem especially shocked even after learning he had eaten Elixirs, Brother must have had some idea already.
“So how many did you eat, exactly?”
“A whole lot. Around fifty? Strangely enough, even a few were enough to make me feel full.”
“…”
For a moment, I was at a loss for words.
Fifty meant he had gained nearly fifty years’ worth of cultivation.
In other words… Brother Jeong-ho’s internal Qi, which had been stuck at Third-rate, had reached the level of a First-rate warrior.
In truth, consuming Elixirs was dangerous, so one had to be careful.
If there was one fortunate thing for Brother Jeong-ho, it was that each mushroom only contained about a year’s worth of cultivation.
Usually, when people spoke of Elixirs, they meant something that raised one’s cultivation by decades at a time.
After all, the Blue Ice Snow Plum I ate right after I returned had increased my cultivation by one full cycle.
But the Hundred-Year Purple Spirit Mushroom only offered a single year, so it placed far less strain on the body.
And because Brother’s body had been so exhausted that his life was in danger, it must have absorbed the Hundred-Year Purple Spirit Mushrooms’ Qi completely, without any backlash.
“Wait. Then this child ate the mushrooms too?”
“That’s right. A little less than me, but still several dozen.”
I quickly bent down and spoke to the child.
“Excuse me, Young Lord. May I hold your wrist for a moment?”
At my question, the child looked at Brother Jeong-ho, and when Brother nodded, the child nodded as well.
I took the child’s wrist and measured his Qi.
“…”
He had roughly the internal Qi of a Second-rate warrior.
I stood back up with a bitter smile.
“Getting swept away by the rapids somehow turned into a blessing in disguise.”
Anyway, now that I had found a treasure like this, I could not just leave it alone.
Before that, though, I needed to get permission.
— Geumryeong.
— Kui?
— These mushrooms here. They don’t have an owner or anything, right?
— Kui?
— I was just wondering if maybe they were food for that raccoon dog under you.
— Kui! Kui!
When Geumryeong said something to the raccoon dog, the raccoon dog urgently raised both hands and shook its head.
— Kui! Kui!
— Ah, we can pick all of them?
For some reason, the raccoon dog’s reaction looked like it was saying, Take them all if you want, just please never make me see you again…
Well, it did not matter. We had permission now…
“Let’s pick them!”
“Yes!”
If Brother and the child had been in poor condition, moving them would have taken priority, but thanks to eating these Elixirs, the two of them had no major problems.
So we could spare enough time to pick these.
This mushroom was extremely rare, and aside from increasing cultivation, it had quite a few other useful applications.
That was why it was incredibly expensive.
We picked a heap of mushrooms.
“Aren’t you going to pick those mushrooms too, Young Master?”
At Palgap’s question, I nodded.
“No. Leaving those is our thanks for protecting Brother and the child. Conscience says we should leave half, at least, so that raccoon dog can keep living off them.”
Then I looked at the raccoon dog and lightly smiled.
Was I imagining things, or did it look a little moved?
“All right, let’s go.”
I looked at Team Leader Do. Right now, Team Leader Do had an expression of deep emotion after learning that the child was alive.
“Everyone will be overjoyed once they learn that the Young Master is alive. Thank you, truly.”
And he kept cupping his fist to me and bowing his head.
“Are there any members of the Myeongmyeong Merchant Group searching around this area?”
At my question, he shook his head.
“We never imagined they would have been swept all the way here… so there should not be any.”
“I see. Then let us light a fire nearby, warm ourselves up, and rest for a while.”
“Yes.”
There were no inns around here, so we had no choice but to camp out.
As we moved to find a suitable campsite, Brother Jeong-ho lightly caught my sleeve.
That must mean he had something to tell me in secret.
I sent the others ahead and fell back, then whispered to Brother Jeong-ho.
“What is it?”
“That Team Leader Do fellow. Is he trustworthy?”
“Why are you asking?”
“The matter of Yu-jin and me falling into the river. How do you know about it?”
Yu-jin? Ah, that Merchant Lord’s grandson must be Seong Yu-jin.
“Ah… Merchant Lord Seong sent me a letter.”
I told him everything I knew. But after hearing it, Brother shook his head.
“No.”
“Huh? No?”
“It’s true that I fell in while trying to save Yu-jin, but Yu-jin didn’t fall because he was fooling around.”
“What? He wasn’t playing around?”
“No. He said they pushed him from the side of the boat.”
Someone pushed him?
“I’m not saying I don’t believe the child, but…”
“I saw it.”
“…”
Brother saw someone push the child?
“And the rope that had been tied around Yu-jin for safety in the rapids had somehow come undone.”
.
.
.
Crackle, pop, crackle.
The campfire burned bright, and the sound of wood splitting echoed through the air.
Thanks to the hot soup Palgap made for us, we were able to comfortably fill our stomachs with the emergency rations.
Brother Jeong-ho and Young Master Yu-jin had not eaten properly for a long time, so they had porridge instead.
After all, I had brought ingredients for porridge in case we found Brother and needed to feed him.
Perhaps because the tension had finally left them, Brother and Young Master Yu-jin were asleep.
Young Master Yu-jin was curled tightly in Brother’s arms.
In this place, where he could not let down his guard for even a moment, Brother Jeong-ho must have been the only person Young Master Yu-jin could rely on.
He likely felt guilty that Brother had fallen into the river with him while trying to save him, but that only made Brother someone he could depend on even more.
Anyway, someone tried to make Young Master Yu-jin fall into the river and kill him…
As the Merchant Lord’s grandson, he would have been tied down securely with ropes.
But that rope had not only come undone, someone had pushed him into the river…
Who on earth was the culprit?
No, more importantly, wasn’t that going way too far? What did a child even do to deserve being drowned to death!
I did not know who it was, but they would not die an easy death.
The next day.
We cleaned up the campsite.
“Whew. My escort guards and the people from the merchant group must be terribly worried.”
Brother Jeong-ho said with a worried expression.
At the time, that boat had held not only Brother Jeong-ho’s escort guards, but also several employees of the Eunhae Merchant Group.
“That’s why we need to hurry back.”
But there was something we had to do before that.
Brother Jeong-ho was, at heart, a kind and compassionate person. That was why he had thrown himself in to save the child.
At the same time, however, he was cautious and trustworthy enough that I had willingly handed over the Merchant Lord position to him.
And that Brother had said it.
Someone had tried to kill Young Master Yu-jin.
In that situation, sending Young Master Yu-jin back to the Myeongmyeong Merchant Group would be dangerous.
Young Master Yu-jin might be placed in danger again.
But we could not just keep Young Master Yu-jin with us as we pleased either.
The person who could resolve this situation was Team Leader Do.
I quietly called him over.
“Could we speak for a moment?”
“Ah, yes.”
“This way.”
I led Team Leader Do into the forest, a little distance away. Escort Guard Seo Wu, Escort Guard Jin Yu, and Escort Guard Lee Pil, whom I had informed beforehand, followed behind me.
“What is the matter?”
“How much should we demand as ransom for Young Master Yu-jin?”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
I deliberately gave him a vile smile.
“Come now, why pretend you don’t understand? From the look of things, the Merchant Lord seems to care quite a bit for Young Master Yu-jin. I’m saying we should make a tidy profit while we can. Don’t you think five thousand silver taels would be possible?”
At my words, Team Leader Do flared up.
“How could you even think of something so filthy! I misjudged you!”
“It seems you still don’t understand. Does this look like I’m asking for your cooperation?”
Shing.
Behind me, my escort guards drew their swords and pointed them at him.
Team Leader Do froze for a moment, but soon drew his sword and swung it at us.
Clang!
Clang, clang!
We exchanged a few moves, but with only the skill of a First-rate warrior, he could not possibly handle us.
“Urgh!”
In an instant, he was disarmed and subdued, then forced to kneel on the ground.
“Now, what will you do? If you cooperate quietly, I can give you about half.”
“Shut your mouth! I am an honorable warrior who protects the Myeongmyeong Merchant Group’s Merchant Lord’s family! I would rather die than do anything that harms the Young Master!”
Then he drew a dagger and tried to stab it toward his own chest.
Tap!
However, his dagger never reached his chest. I had caught the blade.
“…?”
At the confusion in Team Leader Do’s eyes, I changed my expression.
“I apologize for testing you, Team Leader Do.”
“Testing me? What is that supposed to mean?”
He still looked full of distrust.
I took the dagger from him, handed it to Escort Guard Seo Wu, and respectfully cupped my fist to Team Leader Do.
“I apologize. I had to test your loyalty, Team Leader Do, and that is why I committed such discourteous words and actions.”
“For what purpose…?”
“Now that it has been proven you will not betray Young Master Yu-jin, I will tell you.”
I continued.
“This incident was not an accident. Someone on the boat pushed Young Master Yu-jin.”
“…!”
He stared at me in shock.
“H-how is that possible?! No, is it really true?”
“Yes. Young Master Yu-jin apparently said so. And my brother says he saw the scene as well. He also said the rope tied to the rack for Young Master Yu-jin’s safety had come undone.”
“…”
“It seems dangerous to send Young Master Yu-jin straight back to the Myeongmyeong Merchant Group. Whoever is behind the culprit will target Young Master Yu-jin again.”
“That does seem likely.”
“And I cannot watch Young Master Yu-jin die for nothing after my brother saved him by nearly dying himself. If my brother saved him, then he has to live to the end. Isn’t that the only way to repay my brother’s effort?”
I continued.
“So for now, we plan to take Young Master Yu-jin to the Eunhae Merchant Group’s Sichuan Branch.”
“And you needed my cooperation in the process.”
“That’s right.”
“I will simply follow the Young Master’s will.”
That was the answer I had expected.
“That is enough.”
After we settled things there, we returned to where the group was waiting.
“I heard swords clashing earlier. Nothing happened, did it?”
At Brother Jeong-ho’s question, I smiled and nodded.
“Yeah. My body felt stiff, so we just warmed up a little.”
“That’s a relief, then.”
I spoke to Brother Jeong-ho and Young Master Yu-jin.
“From here, we’re going to Chengdu. And first, we should take Young Master Yu-jin back to the Myeongmyeong Merchant Group.”
At my words, Young Master Yu-jin’s expression changed, and he clung tightly to Brother Jeong-ho.
“But it seems Young Master Yu-jin needs some stability right now…”
I met his eyes and gently asked.
“Young Master Yu-jin. What would you like to do?”
“I…”
“I heard you are ten years old, Young Master Yu-jin. That means you are old enough to express your own wishes. Whatever choice you make, I will respect it. What would you like to do?”
“I miss my family. But that place is not safe right now.”
He spoke with surprising composure.
“I still want to stay with Uncle Jeong-ho. Right now, by his side is the safest place for me.”
“Understood.”
I rose and spoke while looking at Team Leader Do.
“Let us go to the Eunhae Merchant Group’s Sichuan Branch.”
–TL Notes–
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