Everyone hurriedly steadied themselves and tried to figure out what was happening.
“What’s going on!”
“Why did the Sword Tomb suddenly start shaking!”
Master Craftsman Cha braced himself against the floor and answered from where he had fallen.
“It seems someone touched something they were never supposed to touch.”
He swept his gaze around the chamber, then froze in horror when he spotted something.
“Th–that…!”
Everyone else followed his gaze.
Standing there was a stone statue carved in the likeness of Bo, a demon from ancient mythology.
Bo was revered as a guardian deity who protected the common people from the ravages of war.
Perhaps that was why Bo was also known as a righteous and honorable demon.
The horn protruding from Bo’s forehead had been fashioned from gold.
And someone had one hand pressed against that horn, frozen stiff where he stood.
“Jang Gal! You stupid bastard!”
Commander Gwon Jik roared at him.
“I know you were told not to touch anything!”
Good grief. Aren’t you supposed to be an Embroidered Guard? You’re practically advertising that you’re a rookie.
Did he seriously not know that you should never touch random things in a place like this?
Someone clearly hadn’t drilled enough discipline into him.
Truth be told, I already knew that man was going to cause trouble.
Lady Seohyang had warned me before we came inside.
The only reason I’d done nothing to stop him was because I knew the situation could be resolved without any serious consequences.
Rrrrrrrumble.
The Sword Tomb continued to quake around us.
“You idiot! Take your hand off it!”
“Y–yes! I’m trying! Huh? Why won’t it come off?”
At Commander Gwon Jik’s order, Warrior Jang Gal desperately tried to pull his hand away, but it seemed to be completely stuck to the horn.
Everyone else was having trouble moving because the entire Sword Tomb was still shaking when Jang Gal suddenly began screaming.
“Aaaagh! Help me! It hurts!”
I quietly let out a sigh at the sight.
Bo was a righteous and honorable demon.
Which also meant that anyone who lacked those qualities would be punished without mercy.
The fact that Jang Gal had coveted that golden horn enough to put his hands on it was already proof that righteousness wasn’t exactly his strongest quality.
For now, I suppose the strongest person here would have to step in.
Besides, I had another reason to be the one who did it.
I kicked off the floor, rushed toward Warrior Jang Gal, and drove my foot straight into his body.
“Guh!”
Thud!
His hand tore free from the horn, and he slammed into the Sword Tomb’s wall before bouncing off it.
“Cough!”
The impact must have been considerable because he collapsed to the floor and spat out blood.
But the moment his hand came away from Bo’s horn, the Sword Tomb stopped shaking.
“Whew!”
“Haa…”
Only then did everyone finally relax, sinking to the floor as they breathed sighs of relief.
“Thank you. You saved us from a serious disaster.”
At Commander Gwon Jik’s gratitude, I shook my head.
“I’m just glad I was able to do something.”
As I spoke, I recalled what Lady Seohyang had told me.
— A man named Warrior Jang Gal is going to touch the horn on a statue of Bo and cause a serious problem. You’ll have to forcibly separate him from it.
— I see. Then I suppose I should give him a good, hard kick.
— Please do. Kick him with all your strength and put my share of anger into it too.
Apparently, Lady Seohyang still hadn’t forgotten the way Warrior Jang Gal had harassed her.
I had my own grudge against him, so I’d happily given him the kick he deserved.
“Ugh…”
The warriors of the Embroidered Guard approached Warrior Jang Gal.
“Hey, are you all right?”
“Cough! I–I’m fi… Ugh!”
“Damn it! I think his ribs are broken.”
“We should probably send him outside so he can receive treatment.”
“That would appear to be the best choice.”
That was when I smoothly stepped into the conversation.
“I believe I may have kicked him too hard. My apologies.”
“Nonsense! Nonsense!”
“You obviously didn’t do it on purpose.”
Well, actually, I did…
“Weren’t you only trying to separate Warrior Jang from that horn?”
I nodded.
“Yes. I thought everyone would be in danger if I didn’t get him away from it as quickly as possible, so my body moved before I could think.”
“You did well. We’re all unharmed thanks to you.”
“Thank you.”
“I injured Warrior Jang, yet you’re all praising me like this. I hardly know what to say.”
“Haah…”
Commander Gwon Jik sighed before speaking.
“I’m afraid Warrior Jang will have to leave the Sword Tomb. In his current condition, there’s no way he can continue the mission…”
Now that wouldn’t do.
“Actually… I brought something with me. If he wears it, I don’t believe he’ll have much difficulty moving.”
“Hm? You prepared something for this?”
“Yes. If he has to leave now, I’m certain a Great Hero as deeply loyal to His Majesty as he is would be terribly disappointed. Why not have him try on what I brought?”
“Bring it over. Let us have a look.”
“Yes.”
I took out the iron breastplate I had brought with me.
It was the breastplate I had originally designed for Brother Jeong-ho after he broke his ribs during the Murim Grand Assembly.
And it just so happened to be a brand-new product the Eunhae Merchant Group had recently launched.
“This is it.”
After explaining how the breastplate worked, I pulled a bottle from inside my clothes.
“And this is a medicine I always carry with me. If he drinks this and puts on the breastplate, he should be fine.”
“Very well.”
Who would’ve thought I’d get another chance to use this stuff?
That bottle contained Geumryeong’s saliva mixed with water.
It sounded disgusting if you knew what it was, but if you didn’t know, it was medicine.
And since Geumryeong demanded silver or gold taels in exchange for its saliva, it certainly wasn’t cheap medicine either.
Warrior Jang Gal drank it and put on the breastplate.
About an hour later, he spoke with astonishment written all over his face.
“I think I’m completely healed! No… I am completely healed!”
“Oh! Truly?”
“That’s a relief!”
“Deputy Merchant Lord Eun! Thank you so much.”
At Commander Gwon Jik’s words, I answered with a slightly embarrassed expression.
“It was nothing. I’m simply glad I could help.”
Then I grinned inwardly.
There was a reason I had gone out of my way to heal Warrior Jang Gal and even put him in that breastplate.
Once we finished exploring the Sword Tomb and headed back to Beijing, someone would have to pull the cart after it had become considerably heavier.
If he left because of an injury, he wouldn’t be around to do that.
Did he really think I was going to let him get out of the hard work that easily?
He’d nearly caused a catastrophe because of his own greed, so surely he wouldn’t behave recklessly again.
And injuries like broken ribs were common among the Embroidered Guard, so while I was at it, I’d even managed to advertise one of the Eunhae Merchant Group’s products to a group of people who were likely to need it.
.
.
.
I opened my eyes.
Since we were underground, there was no way to know the exact time.
But I felt like I’d slept for roughly four hours, so it was probably around dawn or sometime in the morning.
I woke the workers and had them prepare breakfast.
“Oh! You’re up early.”
“Yes. You’re up early yourself, Commander.”
Commander Gwon had already risen and was loosening up his body, while Master Craftsman Cha was inspecting the area we would be exploring next.
“Sir, you’re already awake? You certainly rise early.”
“When you get old, you don’t need as much sleep.”
Master Craftsman Cha was already past sixty, yet he still took the initiative and worked harder than anyone.
I suppose I should work even harder myself.
– Kui! Kui!
Hm? What was that? If I said something ridiculous like that again, you’d bring Master here?
You’re asking how I could possibly work any harder than I already do?
…I had no comeback.
After breakfast, we resumed our exploration of the Sword Tomb.
I wasn’t sure how long we had been moving when we encountered something completely unexpected.
“Isn’t this somewhere we already passed through?”
“Judging by the traps that have already been dismantled, it certainly appears so.”
The atmosphere instantly turned grave.
We had spent more than a full day exploring the Sword Tomb, only to find ourselves back near where we had started.
“Has anything like this happened during your previous explorations?”
Master Craftsman Cha nodded at Commander Gwon’s question.
“I encountered something similar in a Sword Tomb a very long time ago. We were only able to enter the true interior of that Sword Tomb after solving a riddle.”
“A riddle?”
“Yes. Sword Tombs built in this manner are extremely rare. Constructing one requires an extraordinary amount of time and effort, which suggests that something exceedingly important may be hidden here.”
At those words, I studied the others.
Their eyes were burning with desire.
The moment they heard something important was hidden here, they had probably started imagining some priceless treasure.
But was that really what it meant?
I’d told Geumryeong to let me know if it smelled anything expensive, yet I hadn’t heard a single peep about it.
“Then where is this riddle supposed to be?”
“It’s inside here.”
“Inside here?”
“Yes.”
Master Craftsman Cha continued.
“This entire space is both the riddle and its answer.”
Commander Gwon then explained the situation to everyone.
“…Therefore, from this point onward, we will all work together to solve the riddle. However, that does not give anyone permission to touch things recklessly. You all saw what happened to Warrior Jang, so I trust I don’t need to explain why.”
Warrior Jang Gal’s face flushed red at Commander Gwon’s warning.
“Then begin searching for anything that might be part of the riddle.”
“Yes!”
With that, everyone scattered and began searching for anything that might serve as a clue.
In other words, we had decided to put our heads together and see what we could figure out.
I also examined the surroundings alongside my Escort Guards while talking things over with them.
“If all we had to do was walk through here, it wouldn’t even take half a day.”
Half a day?
It probably wouldn’t even take two hours.
“It only took us this long because we had to dismantle traps as we went.”
“But a riddle… What in the world could it be?”
At Escort Guard Myeong Jong’s question, Escort Guard Chang Un awkwardly shook his head.
“I have no idea. I’m good at memorizing things, but solving riddles is about the last thing I’m good at.”
I chuckled at their conversation.
“There are plenty of experts here. Surely someone will figure it out.”
At my words, Escort Guard Jin Yu spoke up.
“If you ask me, I suspect that someone will be you, my lord.”
I laughed at Escort Guard Jin Yu’s remark.
“Not this time. I genuinely have no idea.”
I turned to Escort Guard Jin Yu.
“Escort Guard Jin Yu, what do you think about this Sword Tomb?”
“First, I agree that something extremely important must have been stored here. I also learned a little about Sword Tombs when I studied Trap Formations. After all, Sword Tombs are essentially where every imaginable Trap Formation is brought together.”
He continued.
“The reason there are so few Sword Tombs built like this is because constructing one requires an almost unbelievable level of obsession.”
Hearing that only made me even more curious about the true purpose behind this Sword Tomb.
That was when Escort Guard Myeong Jong asked a question.
“Didn’t you say there was another entrance to this place, some sort of backdoor? Wouldn’t it have been easier to enter through there?”
Escort Guard Jin Yu shook his head.
“It’s easy to think that, but the matter isn’t that simple.”
“Why not?”
“The people who built this place couldn’t possibly have failed to consider that intruders might use the secondary entrance the craftsmen took when construction was finished. They weren’t fools.”
“That’s true.”
“So even if we entered from that side, there would probably be countless Trap Formations and traps between there and the actual interior of the Sword Tomb. It may be no different from this route at all.”
“Then why did we bother finding the other entrance?”
“Because if something goes wrong, we may need to use it to escape.”
“I see.”
I had actually been wondering the same thing, so that cleared up one of my own questions as well.
I slowly surveyed our surroundings.
Now that I thought about it, there were quite a few statues of Bo like the one Warrior Jang Gal had touched and nearly caused a disaster with.
Their appearances were mostly identical, but the materials used to make them varied.
There were horns made of gold and silver, and even some made of coral.
– Geumryeong, why aren’t you reacting to any of those?
– Kui? Kui! Kui kui!
– Hm? You can’t eat any of those either?
Did that mean every single one of them was a trap?
Considering the golden horn had been a trap, perhaps Geumryeong was saying it couldn’t eat the others precisely because they were dangerous.
Geumryeong might love money, but it had an uncanny ability to tell the difference between money it could eat and money it absolutely shouldn’t.
That was when something caught my eye.
A horn on one of the Bo statues had been made from wood.
According to Master Craftsman Cha, this place had been constructed several hundred years ago.
If that much time had passed, something made of wood should have rotted away long ago.
Especially since Yunnan was an extremely humid region.
Yet the interior of this Sword Tomb wasn’t humid at all. If anything, it was remarkably dry.
“I think I may have figured something out.”
I headed back to where we had started searching and found Commander Gwon.
He also appeared to be deep in thought.
“What is it?”
“I believe I’ve figured out the riddle.”
“I knew it! I had a feeling you’d be the first to notice something.”
“You flatter me. My guess may still be wrong.”
“Let us hear it first.”
Commander Gwon called Master Craftsman Cha over, and I explained my thoughts to them.
“I believe the riddle left behind in this chamber is connected to those statues of Bo.”
“I had the same thought. There are far too many Bo statues for that to be a coincidence.”
“Then I assume you also noticed that the horns on the statues are made from different materials.”
“Of course. But I couldn’t determine what sort of question that was supposed to represent, or how it served as a clue, so I kept it to myself.”
“The wooden horn is the answer.”
“The wooden one? Why do you think that?”
I smiled as I answered.
“Master Craftsman Cha, didn’t you find something strange about this place? We’re in Yunnan, an extremely humid region. Yet this chamber is completely dry.”
“Ah… Now that you mention it, that is strange.”
“The reason they went to such lengths to keep moisture out is because wood would rot.”
I continued.
“If it didn’t matter whether the wood decayed, there would have been no reason to keep this place this dry.”
Commander Gwon interjected.
“Could it not have been to prevent the Trap Formations or other mechanisms from malfunctioning?”
Master Craftsman Cha thought for a moment, then shook his head.
“Every Trap Formation we’ve encountered so far could function perfectly well even in high humidity. And there is no possibility that whoever built this Sword Tomb would have been unaware of that.”
“Then?”
“Yes. The more I think about it, the more I believe Deputy Merchant Lord Eun is correct.”
Commander Gwon called everyone over and explained what we had concluded.
“Therefore, we will touch the wooden horn.”
“I understand that much. But who is going to do it?”
No one immediately volunteered.
And understandably so. If our conclusion was wrong, whoever touched it could be seriously injured or even killed.
“I’ll do it.”
I raised my hand and stepped forward.
“It was my idea, so I should be the one to test it.”
–TL Notes–
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