The Nightless City (6)
“You mean Lord Jang?”
“It���s the only way we can grab a lead right now. Since we have no idea where the one who stole the treasure has gone, it’s better to get information from Lord Jang as quickly as possible.”
“Hmm…”
He nodded, seemingly acknowledging that my words made sense. After all, it was the only way to break through this situation. But he couldn’t hide the troubled look on his face as he stared at me.
“I suppose that’s all we can do.”
“Exactly.”
He stood up with an uncomfortable expression. Since someone addressed as “Lord Jang” likely held a status that couldn’t be ignored, he probably felt reluctant to question him. If the acquisition route of the treasure involved anything shady, digging into it would expose his secrets. And if that happened, the odds were high that both of us would end up in a difficult position.
People with plenty to hide tend to do dirty things without hesitation to keep their secrets buried.
“Haa… I really didn’t want to contact Lord Jang if possible… but given the circumstances, I suppose he’ll understand. I’ll visit him tomorrow. It’s already too late to go now…”
“Ah, yes.”
“Then have a good night.”
With a face heavy with exhaustion, he turned and left the inn. I quietly watched his retreating figure, gave a polite nod to the innkeeper who was watching us from the kitchen, then climbed the stairs.
How the hell did things end up like this?
I needed to resolve this as fast as possible and return to the Wuxia Alliance Headquarters.
“Ah, you’re here.”
“Good morning.”
“Not really a good one. I got chewed out thoroughly for having no results.”
There’s nothing more annoying than a superior reaming you out. I recalled the vice-leader who had been particularly strict with me. That guy had been a real stickler too.
Still, thanks to that strictness, he made sure supplies were managed efficiently so we never went hungry… I’d learned quite a bit from him in my own way.
“Hey.”
“…Ah. Sorry. Old memories came up.”
“It’s only natural to feel nostalgic sometimes. Shall we go meet Lord Jang, then?”
We headed toward the mansion where Lord Jang lived in order to obtain a clue. From what I’d heard, he owned the largest estate in the entire city.
“Were there any clues discovered during the night?”
“It doesn’t seem like the thief left the city. We searched everywhere, but there was no trace of the tracking incense. No suspicious signs either, so the whole case has fallen into complete darkness.”
“Didn’t leave the city, huh…”
Why?
Wouldn’t it be normal to just get out and run as far as possible? What reason would a thief have to stick around in this city? It’s not like there’s some barrier preventing escape. He could’ve just slipped out quietly.
“There are too many questions here. This is definitely not an ordinary thief. From the moment he used light footwork, it stopped being a normal burglary, but still…”
“The world is full of martial artists who became scoundrels. There are plenty of those types.”
“…Isn’t it a bit much to say that in front of a martial artist?”
“My apologies.”
“It’s fine. Right now, the important thing is… getting past this gate and meeting Lord Jang, isn’t it?”
From what I’d heard, decades ago he had suddenly appeared, founded a trading company, and grown it at an astonishing speed. He was apparently a legendary figure in this city in many ways.
Every time the night market opened, the collection pieces he displayed were said to be worth an absolute fortune.
I looked up at the massive gate of the mansion—which looked more like a palace. They’d basically built a damn Gyeongbokgung here. Just walking once around the garden would probably take an hour. We’d already passed an endlessly long wall just to reach the front gate.
This place was practically an entire district turned into a private residence.
“Lord Meng Podu. What brings you here?”
“I have something to ask Lord Jang. Is he inside right now?”
“Yes, he is.”
“Please inform him we’re here.”
“Please wait a moment.”
The warrior guarding the gate opened it and went inside. We waited quietly for his return. It took roughly one incense stick’s time—about fifteen minutes—before the warrior came back.
“Follow me.”
The warriors opened the gates wide as they spoke. We followed them through the entrance and into the mansion’s interior.
“…The home of the richest man in the city really is on another level.”
“He’s wealthy beyond anything we could imagine.”
That much was obvious at a glance.
But for someone this rich, his security was surprisingly lax?
That felt off too.
Maybe… he had known from the beginning that someone would steal the treasure.
I didn’t know what his goal was, but…
No. Right now everything was just speculation. What could I possibly deduce with such flimsy clues that would blow away with a single sweep of a broom? The most important thing was to hear what Lord Jang had to say.
“Lord Jang! Lord Meng Podu has arrived!”
“Let them in.”
There was a rustling sound between the words.
“He says to come in.”
The room was huge. After taking off our shoes, we entered a space that was closer in size to a living hall. Living in a house this big, I suppose it was only natural.
Still… living in a place like this… Nah.
It didn’t appeal to me.
It’d be too much of a hassle to clean something this enormous.
“Lord Meng Podu. It’s been two days. But who is that fellow wearing the bamboo hat behind you?”
Ah, I hadn’t taken it off. I removed the bamboo hat that had practically become a second skin to me, set it on the floor, and offered a polite fist salute.
“My name is William Marshall. Please call me Wi Mo.”
“A foreigner of the western regions…”
Lord Jang looked at me with a surprised face, then for some reason gave me a wary, sidelong glance.
“I didn’t know you were traveling with a westerner, Lord Meng Podu.”
“We met by chance. He’s quite intelligent, so I brought him along thinking he might help solve this case.”
“Hmm…”
The old man had a rather sly-looking face. The way he stroked his beard while scrutinizing me wasn’t exactly pleasant, but since I couldn’t cause a scene, I simply waited for him to finish his inspection.
“Hmm. Well. If he’s useful, I suppose it’s fine…”
He really was being unpleasant.
Noticing that Lord Jang had finished his examination, Meng Podu immediately got to the main topic.
“We came because we wanted to hear about the treasure.”
…Hmm.
The old man frowned.
“It was a manual I purchased by chance. It was an old book, so I bought it out of curiosity. But when I had my bodyguard examine it, he said it was a secret manual of the Wuyeong Shintu. I put it on display at the night market partly to show it off.”
By chance, huh.
It smelled fishy.
So it wasn’t obtained through proper channels?
Should I ask him directly? Or maybe…
“Is that all?”
“Are you suspecting me right now?”
“Not at all. I was just wondering if there was any more information…”
“Lord Meng Podu. You’re telling me you still couldn’t track it even after I sprinkled the tracking incense on the book?”
“That is…”
“Hah. And here I trusted you, Lord Meng Podu.”
…No matter how I looked at it, he seemed eager to kick us out quickly.
I subtly shifted my gaze and secretly observed the old man’s body. There was a chance he might have some evidence on him that I hadn’t noticed.
His temples were flat, his muscles almost nonexistent… No. This alone wasn’t enough to be certain.
In that case, it was time to take a gamble.
“I’m disappointed in you. I’ll leave this matter to another podu, so you may leave now…”
“Elder.”
“Hm? What is it, you?”
“Could you call the bodyguard who identified the Wuyeong Shintu manual for us?”
“…That warrior quit his job not long ago.”
…That sounds like a lie.
It wasn’t even a famous item. How could a mere bodyguard look at an old book and immediately recognize it as a secret manual of the Wuyeong Shintu?
Of course, it was possible the Wuyeong Shintu had literally written his own nickname into the manual. But Lord Jang’s reaction wasn’t the kind that came from such a simple reason.
The wariness pouring from the eyes he fixed on me had clearly grown even stronger.
“If he read the manual… doesn’t that mean he memorized its contents? And yet you let him go?”
A merchant? If that guy reproduced the contents from memory and sold it as a book, the value would plummet. Of course, who in their right mind would do something so insane? Still, it wasn’t an impossible scenario.
“Are you interrogating me right now?”
“It is you, my lord, who is looking for the Wuyeong Shintu manual.”
Lord Jang’s eyes sharpened. It was the gaze of someone looking at an enemy.
“…How unpleasant.”
I observed his face, which was a mixture of bewilderment and anger, and waited for an opening.
An opportunity to obtain a clue.
“As long as Lord Jang is hiding something, there is no way to find the Wuyeong Shintu manual. Wouldn’t it be better to speak honestly?”
If he got angry, I could just say I was done and walk out. My connections with the government would go up in smoke, but since I was essentially a martial artist anyway, I could just build some connections in the murim world and get by.
“Lord Meng Podu. Is this also your will?”
“N-no, it isn’t! Hey, what are you suddenly doing?”
Meng Podu tried to stop me with a flustered expression, but I had no intention of stopping here.
I still had one more thing to poke at.
I spat out the dagger I had hidden in my mouth. One that could be harder than steel, or softer than a blade of grass.
“…Lord Jang, don’t tell me you have some connection with the Wuyeong Shintu?”
The old man’s face twisted hideously.