Chapter 21
Chapter 21
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: Southern Jiang Merchant King (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Yin Ha-seong, who had taken the rod of love all over his body, was reborn as a new man in a remarkably short time.
Of course, people don't change that easily.
And as the saying goes, you can know ten fathoms deep in water but not a single fathom deep in a person's heart, so there was no way to know what Yin Ha-seong was really thinking inside.
But at least on the surface, he looked like a new man worthy of his status.
"Attention!"
Shak-
"At ease."
Shashak-
The kid who was old enough to be my grandfather's age difference away from me, who called Escort Leader Eun "Hey, Eun Jeong-gil" and, no matter how it looked, had received a token of gratitude tied to the family's honor from my own sister yet asked me, "What's this piece of crap?"
"Attention!"
Shak-
That same kid was now performing K-officer academy-style drills with crisp precision, even though his face was swollen like a puffball.
"At ease! Ease!"
"Haa."
Huh?
Haa? Haaaa?
This punk starts messing up the moment I give him a little praise?
Who just let out a sigh?
I clearly called attention, at ease, attention, so who sighed while standing at attention?!
Not "Let the gold manager hear!" or something.
"...The training captain is disappointed. Didn't I clearly tell you that both attention and at ease are at-attention stances? Or did I not?"
"Y-You taught us, sir."
"Then why did Yin Ha-seong the owl heave those noisy, fidgety breaths, making a show of how tired he is?"
"...Pardon?!"
"The first time, I let it slide since basic training like this and commands like attention or at ease must be new to you. But if you still can't tell them apart, can I interpret that as a form of rebellion?! Was the rod of love not enough?!"
Crack-
Crack crack-
"N-No, sir! Absolutely not! Never!"
"If not, then why did you do it?"
"Th-That's not it."
"Not it?"
"No, it's not. You clearly said 'ease,' Training Officer sir! Th-That's why I did it. Why else would I do something so insane?!"
Ha, look at this guy. With all these eyes on him, he's spouting excuses that won't fly anywhere.
"Escort Leader Eun. Did I really say 'ease'?"
"Uh... Um... You did say ease just now... Yes."
Oh.
Really?
No way.
Escort Leader Eun is always a thoughtful guy.
He sided with Yin Xia Lian in the Silver Radiance Merchant Group's successor race, and he's been directly scorned by Yin Ha-seong before, but maybe he's thinking of me and subtly taking the kid's side, like 'Isn't this enough?'
But I still had one more judge left.
'Master?'
The one with the most experience and insight in this area, and in his spirit state, his senses are the sharpest.
'Did I really say ease just now?'
-Honestly, you did.
'What? For real? I almost wrongly accused an innocent man.'
-You did, for real. But I don't see that punk as innocent.
Well, yeah, fair enough.
Considering all the mischief he's caused as the Pearl Eon Family's scoundrel up till now, it's only been about half an incense stick's time since I started drilling manners into him...
-His attitude is rotten! When an elder scolds you, the first words out of your mouth should be 'I'll correct it!' Back in my day, we started with 'I've committed a mortal sin!' Tch!
...Wait, you're the one with the twisted standards?
Anyway.
For a brief moment, I almost felt sorry for Yin Ha-seong.
But after chatting with Master, memories from my cadet days grinding at the Hunter Officer Academy flooded back, cooling my head right down.
'Your era is too old, Master. Even back when I was a cadet, they drilled us mercilessly for no reason.'
Compared to that, Yin Ha-seong the owl came here on his own two feet to cause trouble and even threw the first punch.
So he got a proper lesson—self-inflicted, right?
After a moment's deliberation, I nodded to myself at the conclusion and coldly switched expressions, striding toward Yin Ha-seong again.
But then.
"...Sniff."
Suddenly, Yin Ha-seong dropped to his knees with a thud and started bawling like a baby, tears streaming down.
"...Hic. Sniff... Y-You really said ease... dih-idn't you?"
Oh.
Hey.
You're crying?
"...Sniff... Hic-hic."
Master, he's crying?
-Tsk tsk tsk. That's why you should've gone easier. Making a grown man cry and upset his stomach?! I checked him out like catching a rat when I grabbed him! Beat and stir-fried him good!
...Weren't you just complaining about his rotten attitude?
No, but seriously, this guy's all grown up with hair everywhere—why's he bawling over this...?
That was when it happened.
While I was momentarily flustered by this unexpected turn.
A clanging sound echoed from afar, and led by Yin Xia Lian, warriors and escorts armed to the teeth came rushing in...
"??"
"?"
"???"
...They gaped at the scene before them, and the one who gaped the prettiest was the first to snap out of it and speak to me.
"Wh-What's going on here?"
Faced with Yin Xia Lian's question, I had no choice but to ponder.
'Where do I even start explaining this?'
I trusted you as much as I trusted Escort Leader Eun, so I went into the annex without a second thought.
And then one day—
That was when it happened.
As I was agonizing over where to begin the explanation.
Yin Ha-seong, still on his knees sniffling, crawled across the ground at tremendous speed, grabbed Yin Xia Lian's skirt hem, and started squeezing out tears and snot.
"S-Sis! Save me, please save me!!"
"...Prosperity Hall Leader? Is that really you?"
"Yes! It's your brother Ha-seong! I won't do dotssi anymore! I swear! So please save me!"
"...Won't do what? And I didn't come to save you. Quite the opposite—I came to punish the Prosperity Hall Leader for insulting my benefactor. Can't you see the Judicial Hall warriors here?!"
"Whatever it is, I won't do it! Ah! The Judicial Hall warriors are here too?! Hurry and cuff me—I'll go to the brig!"
"...Uh, Young Master Eon? What's wrong with him?"
To answer that, I first needed to peel off the blubbering lard bucket shedding tears and snot.
'No, Ha-seong, you tried to get rid of your sister by hiring people, and now you're clinging to her skirt like that?'
He probably didn't do it himself, but he still tried to push his sister out, fact is fact.
Anyway, over the past half incense stick, I spat out the command deeply imprinted into Yin Ha-seong's body.
"Ha-seong the owl, attention!"
"Eek!"
At that, Yin Ha-seong shot up unknowingly with a shak!, freezing into perfect at-attention stance like a stone statue.
Yin Xia Lian's mouth fell open again.
"...H-How?"
"When this young master visited the annex, his manners were a bit lacking, so considering my humble face, I gave him some etiquette training. Seems it worked too well."
"???"
Yin Xia Lian widened her eyes at my glib deflection, looking utterly confused.
But soon, she realized that wasn't the priority.
She moved swiftly to seal the situation.
"Judicial Hall members, secure Prosperity Hall Leader first."
"Yes, ma'am!"
"S-Sis! Thank you!"
And with the immediate crisis resolved.
"...Is it all over?"
"Over or not doesn't matter. Prosperity Hall Leader put the cuffs on himself."
She made me a proposal.
"You were with him at the Northern Deer Lair, so you know roughly, but by now, the people pushing this kid as Silver Radiance's heir will have heard about this. Let's go to Radiant Prosperity Hall. It'll be easier for me to protect you there. You can explain the details once we're there."
"Sure, let's do that."
Moving to Radiant Prosperity Hall, I first took a hot bath, then changed into the clean clothes provided.
As soon as I stepped out, word came that Yin Xia Lian was waiting, so I promptly sat before her.
"What on earth happened? Escort Leader Eun was spitting about the owl this and how we should adopt drill training... Honestly, he was so excited I barely understood half."
I began explaining the whole story.
"So, here's what went down."
* * *
There was no need to hide anything.
What merchants value most is ultimately aligned interests.
No matter how I thought about it, my thrashing of Yin Ha-seong was something everyone except the Great Madam and the uncle pushing him would secretly welcome.
But I had to give Yin Xia Lian the full context.
Truth be told, I had nothing to lose here at this manor.
'Worst case, they revoke my guest status?'
Even then, Yin Xia Lian's trust would remain.
So the cleanup falls entirely on her.
Thus, I laid out the facts plainly, in chronological order, no additions or omissions.
Ah, well, I added a tiny bit of seasoning.
Like, after the Northern Deer incident, I realized my internal energy was tangled inside. Went to the annex to sort it out, but heard a commotion outside. Something like that.
That's barely even seasoning, honestly.
"...So that's how it happened."
After hearing me out, Yin Xia Lian nodded vigorously and smiled brightly.
"You did well."
"Did well? If anything, I lost my temper and started a fight without thinking it through."
"Hmm. Really? You don't strike me as the reckless type. There must've been good reason."
"You tend to overestimate me. Am I really a merchant at heart?"
"Then you're underestimating yourself. My eyes haven't failed me yet, despite this frail body."
"...Then why at Northern Deer?"
"...Exclude that one. Anyway, first off, I'm sorry. You came to my place thinking it safe, and I caused you trouble."
"No need for apologies. This won't stain my host's reputation, right?"
"Not at all. I was going to punish him myself if you hadn't stepped in. It was justified self-defense."
That was when it happened.
As we were talking.
"!"
"What is it?"
"I hear sword hilts clicking."
Thinking I heard clanging outside, I opened Radiant Prosperity Hall's doors to look.
A shrewd-looking middle-aged man hungry for money and a middle-aged woman with a generally pretty face but an oddly venomous air led another group of warriors, each barking a line.
"Radiant Prosperity Hall Leader, come out at once!"
"Who dares lay hands on the Southern Jiang Merchant King's precious blood and chat idly?!"
And among them, the venomous-looking middle-aged woman—
Presumed to be Yin Ha-seong's birth mother and Yin Xia Lian's stepmother—pointed at me and shrieked, slicing the air.
"What are you lot doing?! Drag that thug before me and make him kneel! He dared touch Silver Radiance's precious blood?!"
At her words, her escorting warriors drew swords without hesitation.
Ching! Ching! Ching! Ching!
But they didn't dare move first.
Because Yin Xia Lian stepped forward on our side.
"Madam, will you lower the entire Prosperity Hall's standing out of maternal bias?"
In the original story, Yin Xia Lian entered the Righteous Martial Academy via the literary track, then became the Sword Emperor's favorite disciple upon recognition of her unique constitution and trained properly in martial arts.
So at this point, she had zero internal energy to speak of.
Yet her rebuke carried unmistakable menace.
Thus, as Yin Ha-seong's mother's warriors faltered, unable to advance, Yin Xia Lian pressed on.
"What's the holdup? Keep tarnishing Silver Radiance's name, and you'll all be biting steel at the merit review!"
At that, Radiant Prosperity Hall's doors clicked open one by one, and Yin Xia Lian's warriors and escorts drew weapons with a chorus of ching-ching-ching!, stepping forward.
-Things are getting interesting.
'Yeah. Just need some popcorn!'
-Popcorn?
'There's this country of red-haired foreigners called Portugal, and their merchants brought this crop. Perfect fried up for times like this. I'll make some for you sometime... Oh, right, you can't eat.'
-….
Anyway.
Tension stretched taut like a pulled rubber band on both sides, the powder keg ready to blow any which way. I couldn't predict it, sweat beading in my palm.
At that critical moment, a middle-aged man with an imposing build unfit for a mere merchant parted the crowd like the Red Sea with Moses.
"What a spectacle."
Southern Jiang Merchant King Eun Se-pyeong.
He had arrived.
-So he's the head of Prosperity Hall?
'First time seeing him in the flesh too, but yeah.'
-A big shot is a big shot. His martial arts feel like just a taste, yet that presence...
Big shot.
Master nailed it.
Even Ha-seong's blustery uncle paled and bowed his head.
His shrewish mother turned mute as a honeypot.
Yin Xia Lian, who had dominated moments ago, shrank back.
Then the titan of the world opened his mouth toward me.
"And you're the mastermind behind this spectacle, young hero? Or am I wrong?"
"Mm. Probably."
"Care for a cup of tea with me?"
He invited me for tea.
Tea with the Southern Jiang Merchant King.
The world doesn't turn without gold and silver, so sharing time with him is what everyone in the world would crave.
But every proposal in the world deserves at least one bounce.
"My time's kinda pricey, though?"
Gasps of "Hic!" echoed here and there.
"Did that guy just... reject the Hall Leader—no, the Merchant King's offer?!"
"Maybe not rejected yet. He said pricey, so there's room? Technically, he's proposing a consultation fee to the Merchant King."
"Either way, he's nuts. Guts or brains, something's off."
But one man.
Southern Jiang Merchant King Eun Se-pyeong gave a peculiar smile.
"Perfect. I'm swimming in money. How much?"