I took Young Lord Namgoong Yang to a nearby inn.
No matter how highly I thought of him, and even though I had decided to make a deal with him, I had no desire to bring him to our Beijing Branch.
I still did not trust him enough for that, and more than that, I hated the idea of anyone from the Namgoong Clan setting foot inside the Beijing Branch.
You think I’m being petty?
In the current martial world, the Namgoong Clan’s prestige practically pierced the heavens.
Naturally, the people under their banner were just as arrogant and overbearing as one would expect.
Would people like that look kindly on merchants?
They would barge into the Beijing Branch and start throwing their weight around as if they owned the place.
And I had absolutely no intention of watching that happen.
On top of that, this was the clan of Namgoong Gang, the Merchant Lord who had killed me in my previous life, and the Alliance Leader who gave him that order had been the Namgoong Clan’s previous Clan Lord.
Honestly, if I had my way, I would turn my back and pretend none of this had anything to do with me…
But as a merchant, I couldn’t do that.
Even so, I brought him to a fairly high-end inn.
Feels like I’m sleeping on a pile of firewood with a bitter gallbladder in my mouth. Damn it.
I calmed myself and looked at the situation coldly.
It was obvious that Elder Namgoong Yeon, Namgoong Yang’s spiritual mentor, had been framed through someone in the Namgoong Clan’s scheming.
And he had been looked down on for a very long time besides.
That meant that while Namgoong Yang was a member of the Namgoong Clan, he did not actually think well of the Namgoong Clan.
As the saying went, my enemy’s enemy was my ally.
So drawing him over to my side for the sake of revenge was an entirely proper move.
I put on a gentle smile and said,
“This way.”
“Ah, yes.”
“I have already sent a messenger to the Namgoong Clan’s estate. They will come here to pick you up.”
“Th-thank you.”
His expression turned uneasy at my words.
Apparently, he had not come to Beijing alone for the Poetry and Prose Competition either.
Well, there was no way the Clan Lord would have sent him to Beijing alone.
Whether for protection or surveillance, he would have had escort warriors and attendants accompanying him.
Naturally, the Namgoong Clan also had an estate here in Beijing, and Young Lord Namgoong Yang had been staying there.
That was also why news had reached the Namgoong Clan so quickly.
But… if the young lord they served had been locked up in the Underground Prison, shouldn’t they at least have brought him some outside food?
I had already noticed it when I brought him the fried sweets before.
He had not been eating properly.
Honestly, the meals given to people locked in the Underground Prison could never be called decent.
They probably took some basic care of him since he was still a child of the Namgoong Clan, but that would hardly be enough to fill the stomach of a boy in the prime of growing.
I had a good idea what kind of attitude the attendants and escort warriors showed him.
He was the child of the seventeenth wife, so they probably wanted to mistreat him, but the Clan Lord doted on him, so they couldn’t go too far…
They must have served him only well enough to avoid punishment, and Young Lord Namgoong Yang likely did not trust them either.
For all he knew, one of his brothers might have bribed them to harm him.
Ah! Come to think of it, Young Lord Namgoong Yang may have been the one who told them not to come to the Underground Prison. They could have mixed poison into the food.
Somehow, I felt sorry for him.
“Before the others arrive, let’s have a talk.”
“Ah, yes!”
The reason I brought Young Lord Namgoong Yang to an inn was so we could talk in private.
Having that conversation at the Magistrate’s Office would have been awkward.
We entered a guest room.
The room was quite luxurious, and he seemed slightly overwhelmed by it.
We sat facing each other with a table between us.
“First, I have already arranged our story regarding your whereabouts that night, which you have refused to explain.”
“Yes?”
“That night, you went to the nearby Moon Immortal Pavilion, got rejected by a courtesan, and returned.”
At my words, he blinked a few times, then opened his mouth.
“N-no, but still, a pleasure house is…”
“It has to be something on that level for your silence all this time to make sense, doesn’t it? Just say you were too embarrassed to mention it.”
“…I-I see.”
“That much will not become a serious problem. Just say you became curious because the adults around you liked women, so you went there on a whim. Then they’ll dismiss it as a minor lapse in judgment and move on.”
The person coming this time would probably accept it at face value too.
Every one of the Namgoong Clan Lord’s brothers had an absurd weakness for women.
“Well, they may later suggest going to a pleasure house together, but when that happens, make some suitable excuse and avoid it. Say you were ashamed back then, and now you’ve decided to stay away from women until you achieve your goal.”
“Understood.”
“Well, you can go if you want.”
“N-no! I have no intention of doing that!”
Do you know how much money I spent to fabricate that evidence?
Yes, this is all an investment.
Still, if Young Lord Namgoong Yang wasn’t the culprit, then who exactly killed Poet Na Jeong-su?
A First-rate martial artist who had learned the Namgoong Clan’s martial arts…
How would the Namgoong Clan react if they learned that someone from their own clan had been hired to commit murder?
Just then, Escort Guard Seo Wu’s voice came from outside the door.
“My lord, someone has arrived from the Namgoong Clan’s estate.”
“Ah, tell them to come in.”
As I said that, I sent Young Lord Namgoong Yang a Voice Transmission.
— Do not forget our contract, and make sure you do not make any mistakes. If you slip up, I will be in trouble too.
— Understood.
.
.
.
The next day.
Warrior Jin Yeong came to see me.
“Good morning.”
“Yes, good morning.”
But judging by Warrior Jin Yeong’s expression, it was not exactly a good morning for him.
“Did something happen?”
“People came from the Namgoong Clan.”
“Ah, is that so?”
“So I told them to come to the Magistrate’s Office. But they told me to come to the Namgoong Clan’s estate instead.”
“Pardon?”
For a moment, I was speechless.
So… they were trying to start a power struggle?
How absurd.
Young Lord Namgoong Yang had already been proven innocent.
But if we lowered ourselves and went to them, instead of hearing “Thank you,” all we would get was “You’ve done well.”
“No matter how you look at it, the other party may be the Namgoong Clan Lord’s younger brother, but I am also an officer of the Embroidered Guard. If I go to them, His Majesty the Emperor’s dignity will be damaged… What do you think I should do?”
Excuse me.
Why are you asking me that?
When you keep doing this, it puts me in a very difficult position.
But after all the effort I had already put in, it would be a waste to shrug and say I had no idea.
After thinking for a moment, I came up with a clever plan.
“Warrior Jin Yeong. You still have the analysis of the victim’s wounds, correct?”
“Of course.”
“Send them a messenger. Tell them, ‘After analyzing the wounds of the murdered victim, we have determined with certainty that the Namgoong Clan’s martial arts were used. Therefore, we intend to hold the Namgoong Clan accountable for this matter, so you are to appear at the Magistrate’s Office at once. If you do not appear, we will consider it an abandonment of responsibility regarding the management of the Namgoong Clan’s members, and from this point forward, when a Namgoong Clan member is arrested, punishment will be carried out without notifying the clan.’”
At my words, Warrior Jin Yeong’s eyes lit up.
“Oh! I was told to come to you whenever a situation became difficult, and it seems those words were right after all.”
“Pardon? Who said that?”
“His Majesty the Emperor.”
“…”
I quietly lifted my head, looked up at the sky, and took a deep breath.
Then I lowered my head again and said,
“Then I’ll be off to the Poetry and Prose Competition grounds.”
“No, you will come with me to the Magistrate’s Office. I have already informed His Highness the Crown Prince, so you do not need to go there.”
He really was thorough in the most unnecessary places.
I headed to the Magistrate’s Office with Warrior Jin Yeong.
Then we wrote and sent a letter to the person who had come as the Namgoong Clan’s representative.
Exactly one hour later.
“Ahem! Hrrm!”
A middle-aged man visited the Magistrate’s Office.
“I am Elder Namgoong Geon-ji, here on behalf of the Namgoong Clan Lord.”
“You must have had a tiring journey. I am Jin Yeong.”
It was just as I expected.
There was no way they would refuse to come after receiving a letter like that.
So why start a power struggle they couldn’t win?
If they had simply come when asked, they wouldn’t have ended up looking this ridiculous.
I swallowed my laughter and offered my greeting.
“It is an honor to meet you. I am Eun Seo-ho, Deputy Merchant Lord of the Eunhae Merchant Group.”
“Hm? What is a merchant doing here? Tsk, tsk. Do you not know when something is none of your business?”
At that rebuke, Warrior Jin Yeong spoke gently.
“In the martial world, he is known as the Handsome Young Hero.”
“…!”
“I asked him to attend because I wished to borrow the weight of his reputation.”
I added a word of my own to that.
“Undeserved as it was, the Alliance Leader personally bestowed the epithet Handsome Young Hero upon me.”
In truth, people had been calling me that even before then, but that was not what mattered right now.
What mattered was lowering that arrogant nose of his.
“I-is that so? Ahem, excuse me.”
“It’s quite all right.”
Warrior Jin Yeong said,
“Then shall we go inside and talk?”
“Let us.”
We headed to the Magistrate’s Office reception room, and a maidservant from the office brought us tea.
Warrior Jin Yeong spoke first.
“As I told you in the letter, we found traces of the Namgoong Clan’s martial arts in the wounds left on the murdered victim.”
He countered calmly, as if he had prepared for this.
“How can you be certain it was our clan’s martial arts?”
“I must have appeared quite unskilled to you. I have spent a very long time living by the blade. I have also crossed swords with countless martial artists.”
He continued.
“As you know, the Namgoong Clan’s martial arts have distinct characteristics. We examined the wounds carefully and concluded that those traces belonged to the Namgoong Clan’s martial arts.”
“Hrm…”
Elder Namgoong Geon-ji let out a low groan, as if he had been left without an answer.
“And I believe the Namgoong Clan must also take responsibility for this incident.”
“What kind of responsibility are you asking us to take?”
“Shouldn’t you capture the murderer who used the Namgoong Clan’s martial arts?”
“…”
After thinking for a moment, Elder Namgoong Geon-ji nodded.
“That is naturally something our clan must do.”
Was that really an answer that required deliberation?
Managing those who had learned the Namgoong Clan’s martial arts was also their responsibility.
I sent Warrior Jin Yeong a Voice Transmission.
— Now.
Warrior Jin Yeong gave a small nod, then smoothly continued.
“It was difficult to prove Young Lord Namgoong Yang’s innocence after he had been framed as the culprit.”
“Ah, I heard. You went to quite a bit of effort, it seems.”
“In truth, uncovering the real culprit is the Magistrate’s Office’s duty, as well as ours, and we merely fulfilled that duty…”
Warrior Jin Yeong looked at Elder Namgoong Geon-ji and continued.
“Did this not make you realize anything?”
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Then I will speak plainly and directly.”
“I am listening.”
“His Majesty the Emperor is a fair and impartial man. Even if the martial world keeps encroaching on his domain and earning his displeasure, he is not someone who would oppress them for personal reasons.”
Now came the conclusion.
“In other words, if His Majesty the Emperor is currently placing pressure on the martial world, there must be a reason for it.”
“…”
“So, while His Majesty the Emperor is still showing mercy, I hope you will stop trespassing into his domain.”
What His Majesty the Emperor wished to gain through this incident…
It was a warning telling them not to get cocky.
“I hope you will convey that clearly, without any misunderstanding.”
They would have to take the Emperor’s warning seriously.
Because once the Emperor decided to do something, he did it.
If he set his mind to it, hundreds of thousands of imperial troops would be mobilized to subjugate the martial world.
Wait. Could it be… the reason they kept meddling with the Imperial Palace was so they could control those imperial troops themselves?
It seemed far-fetched, but the more I thought about it, the more uneasy I felt.
Considering the things that had happened in my previous life, this was not something I could simply overlook.
What if the Empress’s death, a concubine taking her place as Empress, and the Emperor gradually neglecting state affairs after falling into grief over the Empress’s death had all been part of a plan to seize control of hundreds of thousands of imperial troops?
All of a sudden, I remembered the people Cousin had removed when he looked into the past.
The thought of how meticulous and secretive their plan had been from that point on sent chills down my spine.
Wow… those bastards are terrifying.
But was that really all?
It felt like they had some other goal besides that.
After we finished a conversation that was mixed with a slight power struggle and a fair amount of threat, the Namgoong Clan’s people returned to their estate in Beijing.
Then Warrior Jin Yeong said to me,
“You went through a lot today.”
“Please, you’re too kind.”
“They say excessive modesty is no different from rudeness. Thanks to you, I did not have to lower my head to them. If I had acted as they intended, His Majesty the Emperor would have rebuked me.”
Warrior Jin Yeong shuddered.
“Ugh! Just thinking about it makes my blood run cold.”
I know exactly how that feels.
“Still, now that Young Lord Namgoong Yang has been acquitted and released, the investigation is back to square one.”
“That is true, but do not be too discouraged. Doesn’t that also mean we now have a chance to catch the real culprit?”
“That is also true.”
“Then I will take my leave.”
I left the Magistrate’s Office and headed to the Poetry and Prose Competition grounds.
I was the representative of the Merchant Group hosting the Poetry and Prose Competition, at least in name, so no matter how busy I was, I had to show my face.
There were so many participants in the Poetry and Prose Competition that even the first preliminary round would take several days.
The judges certainly had their work cut out for them.
Young Lord Namgoong Yang would be able to participate in the Poetry and Prose Competition tomorrow. Since he had come to Beijing using that as his excuse, he could not avoid competing.
“That will conclude the third day of the first preliminary round.”
When it was time for dinner, the host made that announcement.
The participants left in small groups to eat and chat.
Only after greeting the judges and finishing a few matters of coordination was I able to leave the competition grounds.
At that moment, Poet Song Rok approached me.
“Deputy Merchant Lord.”
“Yes, what is it?”
“I found out.”
At those words, I felt the day’s exhaustion vanish at once.
Whoever the culprit was, I would make sure they paid dearly for making my life this troublesome.
–TL Notes–
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