We packed our things.
Everything here was out of my hands now.
Cleaning up the aftermath wasn't my job.
Which meant there was no reason for us to stay here any longer.
I already had more than enough to do. I couldn't afford to waste any more time here.
Before leaving, though, I should at least stop by and bid the Crown Prince farewell.
The Crown Prince was still staying on Hainan Island. He had to console the island's people, and there were still quite a few matters that needed to be settled.
“Then I'll be on my way.”
“Very well.”
With Escort Guard Seo Wu and Escort Guard Chang Un accompanying me, I headed for the place where the Crown Prince was staying.
My contribution to this incident had been considerable, so I was granted an audience with the Crown Prince immediately.
“I greet Your Highness.”
“Come in.”
I bowed respectfully, and the Crown Prince offered me a seat.
One look at his face told me he was already exhausted. I needed to get out of here while I still could.
One wrong move and I'd end up buried in work right alongside him.
“Your Highness, everyone has been singing your praises for what you've done since arriving here.”
“Haha, have they?”
“However… Forgive me for speaking out of turn, but I worry that His Majesty may have concerns about this.”
Ordinarily, an emperor wouldn't be pleased to see the Crown Prince's standing rise too high or watch him build an independent power base.
After all, there was always the possibility that the Crown Prince might try to depose him.
The Crown Prince seemed to understand exactly what I meant and let out a dry chuckle.
“I almost wish that were what he was worried about. If it were, wouldn't I be spared all this suffering?”
Come to think of it, the current Emperor had been actively putting the Crown Prince to work.
“His Majesty told me that after feeding me well, educating me, and raising me properly as Crown Prince all these years, it was finally time for me to earn my keep.”
Ah…
“He also said that since I'll inherit the position eventually anyway, I ought to get used to it ahead of time. Otherwise, how could he avoid being cursed by later generations? Then he warned me that he would never tolerate me ruining everything he's accomplished.”
“Those certainly sound like words His Majesty would say.”
“He also said that was the only way he could retire as the Retired Emperor and enjoy his old age in peace.”
As expected, His Majesty was no ordinary man.
And in that same sense, he was terrifying.
It meant that no matter what happened, he was completely confident that no one could force him off the throne before he chose to leave it himself.
I looked at the Crown Prince.
There must have been a trace of pity in my gaze, because the Crown Prince apparently misunderstood me and hurriedly waved his hand.
“Ah, don't misunderstand. You needn't suspect that I'm plotting something foolish because I covet the Dragon Throne.”
“Pardon? I hadn't entertained such a thought for even a moment…”
“…You hadn't?”
The Crown Prince cleared his throat.
“Ahem. Frankly speaking, the best life is being born an ordinary member of the imperial family and living comfortably. Become the Crown Prince and all you get is a lifetime buried under work. Just look at me.”
Well…
The burden of ruling as Emperor depended entirely on what kind of emperor one chose to be.
If you wanted to be revered as a wise sovereign, you had to endure an enormous workload and spend your life fighting exhaustion.
But if you simply gave up on all that, the job became much easier.
You only had to accept that history would remember you as a tyrant and an incompetent ruler, like the previous Emperor.
Of course, that also came with a fairly high chance of meeting a gruesome end.
“Which brings me to something…”
Danger!
My instincts screamed at me, and I cut the Crown Prince off before he could continue.
“Your Highness, the reason I came to see you today is that I believe it's time for me to return to Beijing.”
“Already?”
“Yes. My task was to uncover the abuses and corruption behind what happened here. Now that I've accomplished that, I believe my part in this matter has come to an end.”
I quickly continued.
“Besides, I have my own work to attend to. I can't simply abandon my livelihood.”
I had to report everything that happened on Hainan Island to the Emperor, continue the construction of the Martial Arts Academy, move forward with establishing a Luoyang Branch, prepare to turn Beijing into the Eunhae Merchant Group's secondary headquarters…
And establish an anchorage for the Eunhae Merchant Group on Hainan Island.
Why did it feel like my work never ended?
I could cry. Seriously.
“Furthermore, our merchant ships should be entering Nanjing soon, and I need to personally handle that as well.”
“Whew. You're every bit as busy as I am. Very well. You have my permission to return to the capital.”
“I am deeply grateful for Your Highness's grace.”
And thus, I narrowly escaped the prison of endless work.
From there, I headed straight for the Hainan Sect.
I needed to tell them I was leaving Hainan Island.
The Sect Leader had helped me greatly throughout this affair, so showing him at least this much courtesy was only proper.
I climbed Wuzhi Mountain and eventually reached Limu Peak.
Wuzhi Mountain was sometimes said to represent the Buddha's fingers.
According to an ancient tale, there was once a monkey named Sun Wukong who made a wager with the Buddha. Believing he had reached the highest point in the entire world, he even wrote his name there, only to discover that the place he'd reached was actually one of the Buddha's fingers.
The mountain was tall enough to inspire legends like that, and the vegetation changed dramatically depending on the elevation.
I took in the diverse scenery as I made my way to the Hainan Sect, where the disciples greeted me warmly the moment they saw me.
“We greet the Great Hero.”
“Is the Sect Leader inside?”
“Yes, he is. Please wait a moment, and I'll bring him here.”
I was shown to the Reception Room, and before long, the Sect Leader entered.
“Hahaha. Welcome.”
“I greet the Sect Leader.”
“Thanks to your efforts, Great Hero, Hainan Island has finally regained its peace and happiness. I truly cannot thank you enough.”
I waved my hands at the Sect Leader's praise.
“Not at all. This was only possible because of His Majesty's decisive action.”
“That may be true, but weren't you the one who actually solved the problem?”
“You're making things difficult for me when you put it that way.”
“It's fine. We're the only ones here, hahaha.”
I awkwardly scratched the back of my neck as I watched the Sect Leader laugh heartily.
As expected, he caught on fast.
“Besides, I had my own reasons for getting involved.”
“Whatever your reasons might have been, you'll always be our benefactor.”
It was getting too embarrassing to keep listening, so I gave him an awkward smile and finally brought up the reason I'd come.
“Thank you. And the reason I came here today is because the time has come for me to leave.”
“You're leaving already?”
“Yes. I have far too much to do, so I can't delay any longer.”
“I suppose it can't be helped. I know very well just how busy you are. When do you think you'll return?”
“I can't give you a definite answer, but I expect I'll come by at least once while the construction is underway.”
“I see. When you do, be sure to visit our sect again. We'll show you properly how the Hainan Sect treats its benefactors.”
“I'll look forward to it. And…”
I held out an envelope.
“Please take this.”
“What is it?”
I merely smiled without answering, and the Sect Leader opened the envelope.
“Hic!”
He was so shocked that he actually started hiccuping.
“Hic! What, hic! What is this?”
“Oh dear! Are you all right?”
True to his status as a powerful martial artist, he quickly managed to stop the hiccups.
“Whew, I'm fine. More importantly, what is all this?”
I answered with a faint smile.
“Do you remember the man who barged into the martial arena during the Dragon-Phoenix Martial Gathering, the one I stopped?”
Sister Hyang-ok had nearly been seriously injured by that lunatic back then.
“Of course I remember. Didn't you receive a hundred thousand Silver Taels as compensation afterward?”
“That's right. And this is everything that's left of it, aside from the ten thousand Silver Taels I gave you before.”
Back then, I'd given them ten thousand Silver Taels from my own money and another ten thousand from the compensation, for a total of twenty thousand.
But the Sect Leader still looked puzzled.
“But why give the rest to me? Why not use it yourself?”
I gave him the answer I'd already prepared.
“The reason I demanded such an enormous sum as a hundred thousand Silver Taels in the first place was because I intended to use it for Hainan Island.”
“You mean you did that even knowing people would insult you as a merchant who cared about nothing but money?”
I gently nodded.
“That's fine. People say things like that about me all the time anyway, so hearing it one more time doesn't make much difference. I figured that if the opportunity presented itself, I might as well squeeze some money out of the Murim Alliance and put it to good use for Hainan Island.”
The Sect Leader let out an astonished sigh at my explanation.
“Ha! No wonder they call you Handsome Young Hero!”
Cough…!
I only did it because I was annoyed at the Murim Alliance for sitting around and doing absolutely nothing to help.
And after everything that happened this time, my conviction had only grown stronger, because the incident on Hainan Island had been caused by the Blood Cult.
There was no longer any doubt that the Murim Alliance and the Blood Cult had close ties.
One of the things I'd learned after thoroughly wringing the truth out of those bastards was the real reason the pirates had invaded.
The pirates had been planning to transport all the wealth that had been stockpiled here over the years.
They'd even devised a scheme to distract the Hainan Sect, the force most likely to interfere with them, and keep the sect too occupied to notice what was happening.
After learning the truth, I once again found myself grateful that I'd arrived when I did.
“In any case, please use this money for Hainan Island.”
“Very well. I will.”
Now that the exploitation of Hainan Island had come to an end, this money could finally be put to good use.
And the Sect Leader was someone I could trust.
“Please spread some good rumors about the Eunhae Merchant Group while you're at it.”
“Hohoho! Leave that to me.”
“But please leave me out of those rumors.”
“…”
The fact that he didn't answer made me a little nervous.
After bidding farewell to the Hainan Sect Leader and the others in the sect, I returned to the inn.
I said goodbye to the people I'd gotten to know there as well, then departed for Guangdong Province.
The ship we took back to Guangdong Province was the same one we'd ridden when we first came to Hainan Island.
“It was truly an honor, Great Hero, to be entrusted with your return voyage as well.”
“Thanks to you, we had a comfortable journey. And if I need your help someday, may I call upon you?”
“Of course.”
After arriving in Guangdong Province, we went to visit Warrior Jang Won.
No longer working as an attendant at Sea Song Inn, he was now operating as a member of the Embroidered Guard, and he greeted me warmly.
“I heard the news. They said you found Sam-ryeong!”
“You know him?”
“He's the closest friend I mentioned to you before.”
“I see. I'm sorry I couldn't find him sooner. If I'd arrived earlier, perhaps I could have saved more people.”
“Please don't say that. You saved two of them. Isn't that already more than we could have hoped for? You even gave them precious Elixirs and treated their injuries. I don't know how I could ever repay such a debt.”
Instead, I thanked him.
“Not at all. I'm the one who should be thanking you for all the help you gave me. Without your assistance, there is no chance this affair would have been resolved nearly as smoothly as it was.”
“What did I possibly do that helped so much?”
“You helped enormously.”
“Thank you for thinking so highly of me.”
He smiled.
“By the way, are you heading back now?”
“Yes. I have far too much work waiting for me, so I can't afford to delay any longer.”
“Then I suppose I can't ask you to stay. I'll see you again next time.”
“Yes.”
I climbed onto my horse.
I'd met everyone I needed to say goodbye to, so now it really was time to leave.
But we weren't going straight to Beijing.
We had River-Crossing Horses, which meant we had more than enough time to spare.
Our first stop would be Guizhou Province.
Since we'd already come this far south of the Yangtze River, I wanted to give Lady Seohyang a chance to visit her parents.
She'd seen her father several times over the years, but she hadn't had a chance to see her mother at all.
“You really don't need to go through all that trouble just because of me.”
I shook my head at Lady Seohyang's words.
“It's not only for you. I also have something I need to discuss with the Provincial Administration Commissioner.”
“Really?”
“Yes. You know I wouldn't lie to you about something like that.”
“I suppose that's true.”
“So there's no need to feel guilty about it. Just enjoy the visit.”
We rode hard on our River-Crossing Horses and reached Guizhou Province several times faster than ordinary travelers could have managed.
After getting rooms at an inn, I sent Escort Guard Myeong Jong and Escort Guard Chang Un to deliver a letter to the Provincial Administration Commissioner.
The two Escort Guards returned before long with his reply.
[As you suggested, let us meet tomorrow evening at Yuhwa Restaurant.]
Now that I had some room in my schedule, perhaps I should take care of one of the things I'd been putting off.
First on the list was checking the treasures we'd retrieved from the ships sunk beneath the sea.
I opened the Hidden Vault and stepped inside.
To be honest, since everything had been collected from the bottom of the ocean, I'd expected the inside to be an absolute mess…
So why was everything so clean?
The treasures piled across the floor of the Hidden Vault didn't have so much as a drop of water on them.
“Huh? Geumryeong. Why isn't any of this wet?”
At my question, Geumryeong answered with a series of kui sounds.
“Kui! Kui!”
“What? Because I ordered you to put the ‘treasure’ into the Hidden Vault, the seawater and everything else stuck to it weren't allowed inside?”
“Kui! Kui!”
“You're asking if I seriously only figured that out now?”
I felt a little embarrassed.
Come on. That's not exactly something a person would normally figure out on their own.
Still, that certainly made everything easier to inspect.
I slowly began examining the things Geumryeong had brought up from the sea.
“Wow!”
The exclamation slipped out before I could stop myself.
Now I understood why Geumryeong had asked me for Gold Taels before.
Every last thing here was valuable.
There were Silver Taels and Gold Taels, of course, but also piles of gold ingots and all kinds of precious metals and jewels.
There were even Night Pearls and Artifacts.
Wait. What's this…?
I flinched when something caught my eye. It bore the imperial seal.
Had one of the sunken ships belonged to the imperial family?
There were several imperial items among the treasure, so I separated them from the rest to return later.
Even with the Hidden Vault, keeping imperial property for myself would only bring trouble.
If it was the Emperor, he probably wouldn't interrogate me over exactly how I'd gotten my hands on them.
If anything, he'd be grateful to have them back.
I also intended to return anything among the sunken ships' treasures whose rightful owner could be clearly identified.
Wasn't that a waste?
Couldn't I just pocket everything and no one would ever know?
Of course I could.
But I was doing this because returning them could earn me something far more valuable in the long run.
I'm a merchant, after all.
The real question was, when the hell was I going to finish sorting through all of this?
–TL Notes–
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