I returned to the Qingcheng Sect first.
I still had to pick up Lady Seohyang, the people from the Eunhae Merchant Group, and the members of the Changin Escort Bureau who were staying there.
“Deputy Merchant Lord!”
The first person to greet me when I arrived at the Qingcheng Sect was Lady Seohyang.
“Deputy Gwak. You knew I was coming.”
“Yes.”
She nodded.
“Are you feeling all right now? I was so worried about you.”
“I’m fine.”
I lightly thumped my chest as I spoke.
“Thanks to you, I made it back in one piece.”
“Thank goodness. Really.”
Lady Seohyang let out a relieved sigh, her eyes turning red.
Well, after seeing something like that, she must have been worried sick!
The thought made me feel guilty.
“I’m sorry.”
“No. This isn’t something you need to apologize for. You were only in danger because you were doing what had to be done.”
She shook her head and continued.
“I’m just glad I was able to help.”
I pulled her into my arms and gently patted her back.
“Palgap, what’s with that look on your face?”
“To think the Young Master could be this affectionate! Ah! If Madam had seen this, she would’ve been moved to tears!”
“Ahem.”
.
.
.
In the meantime, the heroic tale of how I had captured Blood-Eyed Sword Demon spread throughout the Qingcheng Sect in the blink of an eye.
“Oh! So that’s the Handsome Young Hero!”
“He really is handsome.”
“Isn’t he the one who captured Blood-Eyed Sword Demon?”
“I heard he even fought at the very front! Ah! A hero really is something else!”
Having people look at me with admiration everywhere I went was honestly a little uncomfortable.
And my epithet was still Handsome Young Hero.
Sigh. Why won’t that thing ever change?
“By the way, where is His Highness Prince Seongbo?”
“Two days after you left, sir, the Provincial Administration Commissioner summoned him, so His Highness went to see him.”
“Something must have come up.”
They were probably discussing the establishment of his princely residence.
The Qingcheng Sect had more or less gotten everything under control by now.
Support from the Sichuan Tang Clan continued to arrive, and the Eunhae Merchant Group’s construction company would be here soon as well.
What remained was for them to handle.
Besides, if I stayed here any longer, I felt like all this praise would make my hands and feet curl up until they disappeared entirely.
After paying my respects to the Qingcheng Sect Leader, I immediately departed for Chengdu.
.
.
.
“Our Seo-ho is finally here!”
When I arrived at the Sichuan Branch, Uncle greeted me with obvious delight.
“I heard what happened. You saved Hyang-ok. I don’t even know how I could possibly repay you for this…”
“Repay me? Don’t say something so ridiculous.”
I waved my hand.
“Are we strangers? Cousin Hyang-ok and I share the same grandfather. How could I possibly have stood aside and done nothing? If anything, I’m just grateful I was able to save her.”
I gave him a cupped-fist salute.
“I also owe you an apology for how coldly I spoke to you before.”
“No, no.”
Uncle patted me on the shoulder as he spoke.
“If anything, hearing you speak so firmly was what finally brought me to my senses. I should be thanking you.”
I awkwardly scratched my head.
“Cousin Hyang-ok went straight to the Emei Sect. She said she’d stop by home before too long.”
“I see. Come, let’s go inside.”
I returned to my quarters, washed myself with warm water for the first time in ages with Palgap’s help, then collapsed onto the bed.
Flop.
“Ah… This is nice.”
Come to think of it, that reminded me of the hot spring I’d found this time.
Well, technically, Geumryeong was the one who found it.
I can worry about work later… For now, I should take a look through the Hidden Vault.
I got up, opened the Hidden Vault, and stepped inside.
Everything I had accumulated over the years was neatly organized within.
I had sorted it out with Lady Seohyang’s help before.
There was one sack on the floor that still hadn’t been put away.
I had found it while searching Blood-Eyed Sword Demon’s safe house and tossed it in here.
When I opened the sack, I found it packed with gold taels, silver taels, and all sorts of other valuables.
Some of it had probably been looted from nearby homes during the chaos caused by the earthquake. The rest was likely money they had accumulated from collecting tolls over the years.
I took out roughly enough to cover the estimated losses suffered by the nearby residents and placed it in another sack.
That much had to be returned.
Then I divided what remained into two equal shares.
“Geumryeong. Come out.”
“Kui?”
Geumryeong poked its head out from inside my sleeve, and its eyes immediately lit up at the sight of all the gold and silver spread across the floor.
“Kui! Kuiii!”
“Here. This half is yours.”
I pointed to half the money as I spoke.
“Kui? Kuit?”
“You’re asking if I really mean it? Of course I do. I don’t joke around when money’s involved.”
“Kuiii!”
The instant Geumryeong heard my answer, it leaped straight into the pile of gold and silver and began happily paddling through it.
Clink, clink.
The coins and ingots chimed against one another.
Little rascal. You really love it that much?
Geumryeong deserved a reward of this size.
It had shown me that excellent hot spring, but more importantly, if it hadn’t told me about the Path-Revealing Map, I might never have managed to rescue Cousin Hyang-ok.
Some might worry that giving it more than fifty gold taels all at once would spoil it, but Geumryeong wasn’t like that.
Despite having eaten a ridiculous amount of gold and silver over the years, it still made absolutely certain that I paid it every last silver tael it was owed.
That only proved it understood exactly how valuable money was.
“Ah! Geumryeong.”
“Kui?”
“You’re not planning to eat all of this at once, are you?”
“Kui? Kui?”
Huh? You’re asking who I’m calling a pig?
You are a pig…
Oh, right! You’re not just a pig. You’re an Ice Guardian Beast, aren’t you? Almost forgot.
.
.
.
That night.
After getting plenty of rest and eating dinner, I headed to Uncle’s office.
“Come in. Did you enjoy dinner?”
“Yes. It was Hubei-style, so I enjoyed it very much.”
“Hahaha. Then bringing a cook with me from Hubei was worth the trouble. Come, sit.”
Once I sat down at the tea table, Uncle personally brewed the tea and poured me a cup.
“This tea is excellent.”
“As it should be. Father trained me very strictly in that regard too.”
Well, Grandfather had always taken tea very seriously.
I took a sip before speaking.
“I heard you gave the hot spring I discovered a proper name.”
“I did. People have been calling it the Eunhae Merchant Group Hot Spring for convenience, but I thought a place like that deserved a proper name.”
“I agree.”
I had previously asked Father for his opinion, but since the hot spring was in Sichuan, he told me to leave the decision to Uncle.
“I named it the Spring of Abundant Peace.”
“A hot spring overflowing with comfort and peace… I like it. More importantly, how has the public responded?”
“Do you even need to ask? The response has been extraordinary.”
“That’s good!”
Uncle smiled with satisfaction as he continued his explanation.
“So I’ve also purchased the land around the hot spring. I’m planning to build an inn there.”
“An inn?”
Uncle nodded at my question.
“With the hot spring’s remarkable effects, word has already spread far and wide. There are people coming from distant places who want to stay for several days and enjoy the spring at their leisure.”
He wasn’t wrong, but…
After thinking about it for a moment, I offered a different opinion.
“Uncle, I think we should approach this differently. Instead of building an inn, I think you should invest more into the hot spring facilities themselves.”
“Of course we should improve the hot spring facilities, but if we don’t build an inn, where are the guests supposed to stay?”
“They can stay at the existing inns nearby.”
I carefully explained my reasoning.
“The Spring of Abundant Peace began with the goodwill of Sichuan’s common people. If we build our own inn and turn the entire place into a luxury resort, we’ll throw all of that away. It’ll become no different from the other hot springs.”
“That’s certainly true.”
Uncle nodded.
Inns built around hot springs tended to charge far more than ordinary inns.
They pursued wealthy customers to increase their profits, which naturally made those places difficult for ordinary people to afford.
“I want the Spring of Abundant Peace to remain a place anyone can use.”
“You have a point, but if we do that, members of the upper class won’t come. That could make the hot spring difficult to operate profitably.”
“That’s why I said we should invest more in the facilities. Build several private hot springs that wealthy guests can reserve entirely for themselves.”
“That’s a good idea as well. But it still doesn’t solve every problem.”
“I know. You’re concerned about the distance between the Spring of Abundant Peace and the nearby inns, aren’t you?”
“Exactly. How do you intend to solve that?”
“Operate shuttle carriages between the inns and the hot spring.”
“Shuttle carriages?”
“Yes.”
I nodded.
“Have the carriages travel a set circuit – Inn A, Inn B, Inn C, Inn D, and then the hot spring. If we keep them running on that route, guests can visit the hot spring without any inconvenience.”
“That’s a good idea. Then the distance wouldn’t cause much trouble at all.”
“Exactly. And since the guests could stay at the existing inns, it would also reduce the amount they have to spend on lodging.”
“Indeed. And… if we handle it well, the inns themselves might even volunteer to help cover the cost of operating the shuttle carriages.”
As expected of Uncle.
There was no actual need for the shuttle carriage to stop at every inn.
A handful of stops would be enough.
Once that happened, which inns were selected as stops would suddenly become very important, so some of them would probably be willing to help cover the operating costs just to have the carriage stop at their doors.
“It would also be far less burdensome for us than building our own inn. Constructing and operating an inn near the hot spring would cost a great deal of money and require constant attention. This way, the existing inns handle all of that for us.”
“Exactly.”
“Seo-ho, your business instincts truly are remarkable. I can’t believe you came up with something this clever!”
Uncle casually asked me another question.
“Then why are you so uninterested in becoming the Merchant Lord? I heard you and Jin-ho both withdrew from the succession competition.”
His face showed both regret and confusion.
I could tell he wanted me to become the Merchant Lord, but his sentiment alone was more than enough for me.
“That’s right. Brother Jeong-ho will be the next Merchant Lord. Brother Jin-ho and I decided that we’ll support him instead.”
“Yes, I heard. I suppose I simply find it regrettable. You have such exceptional talent for business.”
“Uncle, I don’t believe being talented at business is enough to make someone a good Merchant Lord.”
I smiled as I continued.
“A Merchant Lord has to show everyone a future they can believe in. No matter what hardships come his way, he must remain steady and lead everyone forward without wavering. He has to treat everyone fairly, and when necessary, he has to be willing to step to the front and sacrifice himself for them.”
“And you believe Jeong-ho is that sort of man.”
“I do.”
“But it isn’t as though you lack those qualities yourself.”
I gave an embarrassed smile and scratched beneath my ear.
“To tell you the truth, I absolutely hate the idea of sitting around all day trying to look dignified…”
“Hahahaha!”
Uncle burst into laughter.
“Yes! I suppose you’re right. Once you become the Merchant Lord, sitting there and maintaining your dignity practically becomes your daily occupation!”
“I prefer traveling all across the Empire like this. Maybe I was born under a wandering star. Hahaha.”
“All right. I understand how you feel.”
Uncle nodded.
“I’m grateful you settled the matter so early.”
A succession struggle could become exhausting in any organization.
It wouldn’t just throw the organization itself into chaos. It could also weaken its overall power.
And there was no chance its competitors would simply sit around and ignore such an opportunity.
So Uncle was probably thanking us for allowing the leadership to pass cleanly to the next generation.
That was likely why he had brought up the succession issue again as well. He wanted to hear my answer for himself one last time.
“Ah, Uncle. The construction company should arrive in Chengdu soon.”
“The one you mentioned before?”
“Yes.”
I explained the matter to him.
“Please oversee their work rebuilding the Qingcheng Sect’s structures.”
“Very well. It looks like I’ll be busy for a while.”
“And once the Qingcheng Sect finishes rebuilding, they’ll probably ask us to review the inscription they intend to carve onto the commemorative stone. I’d appreciate it if you could handle that as well.”
“Leave it to me.”
“And when His Highness the Crown Prince and His Highness Prince Seongbo return to Beijing, I intend to travel there with them.”
“I see. You’ve worked hard. Thanks to what you accomplished this time, the Eunhae Merchant Group’s name has become quite well known throughout Sichuan.”
.
.
.
The next day.
I headed for the Spring of Abundant Peace at the crack of dawn.
I wanted to inspect it before leaving for Beijing.
Actually, it was still a little too early to call it dawn, so the surroundings remained dark.
But I had a Night Pearl.
Thanks to that, I had no trouble making my way to the hot spring.
Burble, burble, burble, burble.
As I drew closer, I could hear the spring water bubbling up from the ground, while wisps of steam drifted through the darkness.
“Since we came all this way, why don’t we soak for a little while before heading back?”
None of my Escort Guards objected to the suggestion.
So we removed our outer robes and climbed into the hot spring.
“Ah, this feels good.”
“It really does. And to think it even restores Internal Power! It’s practically an Elixir Spring.”
“Exactly.”
That was when Escort Guard Seo Wu spoke.
“What happened last time made me realize something all over again. I may have reached the Peak realm, but if I become complacent where I am, I won’t be able to protect my lord.”
Ah… He must be talking about when we encountered Lone Serpent Sword.
Well, we really did almost die then.
At his words, everyone nodded.
“I’ll work even harder… so that my lord is never placed in such danger again.”
I spoke as well.
“I intend to work harder too. I realized that if I want to accomplish my goals, I’ll need to reach an even higher realm.”
After all, I had nearly died without ever taking my revenge or making the Eunhae Merchant Group the greatest merchant group under heaven.
Just then.
“Kui!”
Geumryeong had been happily paddling around the hot spring when its tail suddenly began flicking back and forth, and it shot away like an arrow.
A short while later.
Geumryeong returned with something clutched in its mouth.
“Huh? Is that…?”
I took it from Geumryeong and stared in surprise.
“Longevity Herb?”
“Kui!”
Huh? It’s a present? You’re giving it to me because you’re grateful I paid you so much this time?
Longevity Herb was a rare spirit herb that could extend a person’s lifespan with just a single cup of properly brewed medicine.
I’d actually been worried about Grandfather and Elder Ghost-faced Constable lately, so this was perfect.
Still, Geumryeong, you little rascal… You really know how to play the long game, don’t you?
–TL Notes–
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