Late into the night, I was still in my quarters reviewing documents.
The most important reason I had come to Sichuan was to save Brother Jeong-ho, but now that I had done that, it was time to return to my ordinary life.
My ordinary life…
That’s right. Work. It always came back to work.
There was a mountain of it, too, from the supply problems surrounding Sichuan Brocade to all the businesses we could pursue while in Sichuan.
“Deputy Merchant Lord, what should we do with this one?”
Lady Seohyang asked from beside me. She had come with me when I came here, after all.
And she had been helping me with my work ever since.
“Ah, I think we’ll need to examine the actual goods for this.”
“Then I’ll set it aside.”
Lady Seohyang rolled up the scroll and was about to place it to the side when she suddenly froze.
For a moment, the focus vanished from her eyes, then returned.
“Uh…”
She turned to me and said,
“You need to go to Young Master Seong right now.”
“Pardon?”
“The Young Master is in danger.”
What?
Ignoring her advice would have been the height of stupidity. I immediately shot to my feet and headed for Young Master Yu-jin’s quarters.
As I ran, I sent instructions to Escort Guard Myeong Jong through Voice Transmission and headed toward the annex in the outer compound.
Young Master Yu-jin was currently staying there.
No matter how honored the guest was, we could not allow an outsider into the inner compound.
That was also why Brother Jeong-ho was staying together with Young Master Yu-jin.
As I drew closer to the annex, I sensed the Qi of an Unorthodox Sect martial artist, and I could also feel that the killing intent was aimed directly at Young Master Yu-jin’s quarters.
I launched myself into the air and shot toward that Qi.
Boom!
He quickly raised his sword and blocked my attack.
Qi clashed against Qi, sending a thunderous roar through the courtyard, and the two of us landed at a distance from each other.
Startled by the sound, Team Leader Do and Escort Guard Jeon rushed out. I shouted at them.
“Team Leader Do! Protect Young Master Yu-jin!”
“Pardon?”
“Snap out of it! That man is after Young Master Yu-jin right now!”
At my bark, he jolted back to his senses and hurried inside.
“I’ll join you!”
I shook my head and said to Escort Guard Jeon Woo-jin,
“Go to your position. That is how you help me.”
“Understood.”
“And have the other Escort Guards evacuate. They may get caught in this.”
Then I turned my head and looked at the black-clad masked man.
“Not bad. You actually realized I was after that little brat.”
“I’m pretty good at this.”
“But do you know this? Ten constables can’t catch a single thief. In other words, ten bodyguards can’t stop a single assassin. Hehehe.”
Then he pulled hidden weapons from his robes and said,
“Try stopping this!”
With that shout, he sent the hidden weapons flying and rushed toward the building.
While I was delayed blocking the hidden weapons, he meant to harm Young Master Yu-jin.
But that assassin didn’t know.
Those pathetic hidden weapons couldn’t even slow me down.
Tak! Tatak!
The hidden weapons the assassin threw bounced harmlessly off my Protective Qi Barrier. I retrieved them with Telekinesis.
They might prove useful later.
Then I pushed my Lightness Skill to the limit and thrust my sword at him just as he was about to enter through the door.
“Ghk!”
Clang–!
“Damn it! You’re persistent!”
He snarled in irritation and knocked my sword aside. Our blades continued to clash.
True to an assassin, his swordsmanship was Swift Sword.
However, the True Snow Twelve Form Sword I had learned also had a Swift Sword form.
The fourth form – Snow Wind.
They said Snow Wind Palace was named so because it could quell the Snow Wind, but that was not the established truth.
Even now, I still didn’t know the exact reason it had come to be called Snow Wind Palace.
But I did know one thing. Snow Wind was terrifying enough to deserve that name.
It was a natural phenomenon feared not only by the North Sea Ice Palace warriors, who could be called the rulers of the North Sea, but even by Spirit Beasts.
This fourth form, Snow Wind, was a martial art modeled after the Snow Wind that blew across the North Sea.
And when I entered the Patriarch’s arrangement, I was able to witness this form’s true essence.
My realm had not yet reached that level, but I could imitate it to some degree.
As I drew up my Qi, the temperature around us dropped.
I used that Qi and swept toward the assassin.
My body, sword in hand, moved with graceful fluidity, but my blade itself was nothing but speed and razor-sharp edge.
Shwik! Shweeek!
My sword moved too quickly to be seen, becoming the merciless wind of the Snow Wind itself, the kind that tore apart everything alive.
He struggled to block my sword and retreated step by step. Just as I intended, he was gradually pushed farther away from the annex.
The fact that he could block my sword even this much meant he had reached at least the Peak realm.
“Grrk! You bastard, were you hiding your strength? I clearly heard you were only at Peak.”
“So you know who I am.”
I continued,
“That doesn’t seem fair. You know me, but I don’t know you.”
“The world was never fair.”
The next instant, the assassin grinned and thrust his sword.
“Got you!”
“Got what?”
“…!”
The assassin’s eyes widened in shock.
Without hesitation, I swung my sword toward his face.
Shreds of his mask drifted down, scattered by the sword wind.
The bare face revealed beneath it was drenched in disbelief.
“H-How? I clearly pierced your throat.”
He wouldn’t know.
The True Snow Twelve Form Sword had one more Swift Sword form besides Snow Wind.
The ninth form – Snowlight.
Created from the shimmer of snow, it was a form meant to move at the speed of light.
Snowlight was also a higher form than Snow Blossom, the Illusion Sword form.
Illusion Sword was swordsmanship built on countless variations, making it impossible for the opponent to respond properly.
The Patriarch had also shown me how to apply that.
When he used Snowlight, he moved his own body so quickly that he made his opponent attack the wrong place entirely.
That was the trick I had learned back then.
I looked at his exposed face and grinned.
“Now we’re even, aren’t we?”
I raised my sword.
“Grrk! I’ll make sure you pay for this!”
“Oh, is that so?”
My provocation made his anger show.
Tsk, tsk. Letting his emotions show? He was unqualified as an assassin.
I glanced behind him and said,
“So, why are you after Young Master Yu-jin’s life?”
“That’s none of your business!”
“No, isn’t this going too far? He’s only ten years old, and you’re trying to kill him.”
I continued,
“Are you trying to use him to shake the Deputy Merchant Lord? That plan already seems to have failed.”
“It doesn’t matter. Either way, that brat has to die! Dead men tell no tales.”
What?
What he just said… so the point was to silence him by killing him?
In any case, it was about time to end this.
I adjusted my grip on my sword and warned him.
“Give up.”
“Why don’t you give up instead? Honestly, that child has nothing to do with you. Why are you so obsessed with him?”
“My Brother saved and protected that child. My pride won’t allow me to let him die.”
I continued,
“And if something like this happens at the Eunhae Merchant Group and a child under our protection dies, it’s not as though you’ll be the one cleaning up the mess that follows.”
“Hehehe, true enough.”
He grinned.
“But you see, you’re not the only one who’s been hiding your strength. I’ve been holding back a little too. So don’t blame me when you die. Your own stupidity brought this on.”
I already knew you weren’t showing everything you had.
I remembered what Escort Guard Jin Yu had once told me.
— It’s common for anyone who lives by the blade, but assassins in particular must keep thirty percent of their strength hidden.
— Is there a special reason for that?
— Because they still have to escape after completing the job.
That was right.
That assassin had been hiding his strength so he could escape.
But now that his face had been exposed, he was no longer revealing his hidden strength to escape. He was doing it to eliminate me, the witness.
Well, in a broader sense, I supposed that was still part of escaping.
More importantly, judging by his words, Young Master Yu-jin knew some kind of secret…
And I had a feeling I absolutely had to find out what it was.
“Did Young Master Yu-jin hear something he shouldn’t have?”
“…”
“Or maybe he saw something he shouldn’t have.”
His eyes moved in that instant.
That was it.
Then what in the world had Young Master Yu-jin seen for them to be this desperate to kill him?
In any case, I had learned what I wanted to know, but I still hadn’t heard the words I needed.
“By the way, did you know?”
I grinned.
“I already knew you were coming here. Your lord told me.”
“Wh-What are you talking about?”
“That lord of yours told me something. He said he was uneasy because you knew too many of his secrets. Your lord and I made a certain arrangement, you see.”
“What kind of bullshit is that!”
“I’m sure that’s what you’d rather believe. In any case, Seong Jun-min really is cold-hearted. Using such a loyal subordinate as a sacrifice like this.”
“Nonsense! My lord is not that sort of man.”
“Ordering his own nephew killed is proof enough he’s cold-hearted, isn’t it?”
“That’s for the greater cause!”
What damned greater cause?
Among those who spoke of a greater cause, how many would calmly sacrifice themselves if they were the ones that cause demanded?
“Ah, I knew it. Your lord is Seong Jun-min. And he was the one who ordered this.”
“…!”
At my words, he glared at me. Only then did he realize that I had led him along and made him say something he should never have said.
I looked behind the assassin and said,
“You heard that clearly, didn’t you, Merchant Lord?”
At my words, the Myeongmyeong Merchant Group’s Merchant Lord emerged from behind him and said,
“I heard it perfectly. What you told me was true, Deputy Merchant Lord.”
At his appearance, the assassin’s face filled with shock. Then he immediately launched himself away.
He was probably trying to report the situation to his lord, Seong Jun-min, and prepare countermeasures.
Well, at least his judgment was quick.
But where do you think you’re going?
I pulled out the hidden weapons I had retrieved earlier, the very ones he had thrown at me, and hurled them at him.
Shwik!
Shwik, shwik!
Learning Hidden Weapon Technique from Escort Guard Lee Pil had been worth it.
One of the hidden weapons struck true and embedded itself in his leg, and Escort Guard Seo Wu appeared on the roof and brought his scabbard down on the assassin’s shoulder.
Thwack!
“Grrk!”
He tumbled straight to the ground and glared at me.
As far as he was concerned, I was the reason everything had gone wrong, so he must have been dying to kill me.
“I’ll kill you before I goooo!”
He let out a monstrous shriek, sprang to his feet, and swung his sword at me.
He shoved through those trying to stop him and came straight for me.
“Pathetic.”
I muttered that and drove my fist toward him.
One of Extreme Yin Soul Ice Combat’s forms.
It struck a vital point and made the target writhe in agony.
And his strength would probably drain out of him in an instant.
How did I know that?
Because I had experienced it firsthand while learning from the Patriarch.
Damn it. That was when I learned a person really could die from sheer pain.
Not that I had wanted to know.
My straight punch landed without making a sound.
As a result, however, the assassin collapsed in front of me and began trembling in pain, choking and gasping.
Shing–!
Shing, shing–!
Soon, several swords were pointed at his neck, and a wooden ball was shoved into his mouth.
It was to stop him from biting off his tongue or taking a Poison Pill.
“Thank you.”
The Myeongmyeong Merchant Group’s Merchant Lord expressed his gratitude to me.
One of the instructions I had sent to Escort Guard Myeong Jong through Voice Transmission was to ask the Myeongmyeong Merchant Group’s Merchant Lord to come here.
I had also instructed him to dispatch the Escort Guards to block the assassin’s escape routes and protect Young Master Yu-jin.
Under Escort Guard Seo Wu’s command, my guards moved in perfect coordination, and this was the result.
As for me, I had kept the assassin occupied while waiting for the Myeongmyeong Merchant Group’s Merchant Lord. The moment the Merchant Lord arrived, I led the assassin with questions and drew out his confession.
Personally, I would have preferred to let Deputy Merchant Lord Seong Cheong-min handle the situation.
However, Young Master Yu-jin had been targeted while under protection at the Eunhae Merchant Group’s Sichuan Branch, so I could not simply place my trust in him and wait.
That was why I had called the Merchant Lord here.
His eyes sharpened as he ordered the Escort Guards he had brought with him.
“Drag this man back to the Merchant Group and lock him in the Underground Prison!”
“Yes, sir!”
“And guard him with absolute care! If he is killed by someone or takes his own life, I will hold you severely accountable!”
“Yes, sir!”
After giving those orders, the Merchant Lord looked at me and let out a sigh.
“The truth is, you had already told me about my fourth son’s crimes. I was agonizing over what to do, but thanks to you, I can finally make my decision.”
As the Myeongmyeong Merchant Group’s Merchant Lord said that, the emotions on his face seemed to be a mixture of sorrow, lingering attachment, regret, and more, but they were emotions I could not understand.
Honestly, they were also emotions I hoped I would never understand in my life.
And so, this incident entered a new phase.
“Then, pardon the disturbance. Please take care of Yu-jin.”
With that, the Myeongmyeong Merchant Group’s Merchant Lord took his Escort Guards and returned.
I took a calm, deep breath and headed toward the annex.
There was something I wanted to ask Young Master Yu-jin.
“Brother, it’s me, Seo-ho.”
At my words, Brother Jeong-ho’s voice came from behind the door.
“Is that really you, Seo-ho?”
“Yeah. If you don’t believe me, I’ll prove it. Let’s see, was it when you were fourteen? That time you broke Father’s favorite brush and…”
“Aaaagh! Stop! You… you really are Seo-ho!”
The door opened, and Escort Guard Jeon Woo-jin greeted me with a smile.
“Please come in.”
I went inside.
Within, Young Master Yu-jin had woken from sleep and was trembling in fear while held in Brother Jeong-ho’s arms.
“You can relax now. Your grandfather took that bad man away.”
“R-Really?”
“Yes.”
I nodded. Then I pulled over a chair, sat in front of him, and said,
“That man said you saw something you weren’t supposed to see.”
“…”
“Can you tell me what you saw?”
–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