Buying Information

"Young Master, the reply is here."

It was the answer to the letter I had sent Ha-ryeon. The contents, however, were a spectacle.

"Not worth hearing. It's trash. I'll throw that letter out at once."

Tomusa, it seemed, did not care for what the letter said. She was fairly radiating displeasure, venom and all. Did she really dislike Ha-ryeon that much?

"Even so, Ha-ryeon is someone I can trust.... Rather than marrying a complete stranger, this seems like the better choice, doesn't it?"

"Young Master, that promise with the young lady is a story from more than ten years ago. Time has done what time does. You ought to judge again whether she is still someone you can trust."

Hmm. Tomusa wasn't wrong. The last time I had seen Ha-ryeon with my own eyes was ten years ago, before she entered the academy. I probably did need to meet her face to face once more.

"Then we're back to where we started."

I dragged a palm down my face. Judging by the way Mother wasn't actually pressing me, it had most likely been an empty threat, meant only to scare me into line. Even so, if I let it pass unresolved, it was a fate that would land on me sooner or later.

"I need to settle this as soon as I can, one way or another.... What do you think about finding my eldest sister and bringing her back, Tomusa?"

"How do you mean to go looking for her when you cannot even step outside? You don't know the young lady's face to begin with, Young Master."

She was right. As things stood, I was in no condition to move myself.

"I know her name, at least. Let's use every resource we have. First we go outside. I need to find someone who can help me."

I tucked the pouch lying on the table into my robes and headed out. My destination was none other than the great training ground, where the martial artists in our clan's service drilled.

"Do the couriers from the escort agency our clan runs train here too?"

"Most likely. There won't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠be many, but there should be a few."

"Then I'll have to ask them to hear me out."

Hangzhou was a place where people and goods gathered and poured back out again, and the couriers who clung to that flow, coming and going across the whole of the Central Plains, would bring information in from every region. If luck favored me, they might even bring Sister Rin herself.

"Th-the Young Master...!"

"That's the Young Master...? Not the empress...?"

"Senior, he's a beauty...! A beautiful man...!"

"That's the Young Master, rookie."

Even a quiet, aimless stroll drew far too many eyes. Find someone and get out. Fast.

I was searching in a hurry when I spotted the very people I wanted, tucked in a corner of the training ground.

"Good day. You're couriers of our escort agency, aren't you?"

They looked a little young, but the clothes were those of the couriers from the agency our clan operated.

"Ghk... it's the Young Master. You talk."

"Hey, you talk. You."

"W-why do I have to be the one to talk...!"

Hmm. They looked a bit vacant. Then again, that might actually suit me better.

"H-hello. My name is Sam-ho."

Five or six of them hemmed and shuffled until one finally sprang forward to speak for the rest.

"Forgive me, then, but may I ask the young hero a few questions?"

"Yes, yes...! Of course, Young Master!"

She answered wound tight with nerves.

"Which regions do you mainly take your assignments in?"

"We don't really travel a fixed route. Whenever a job comes in, we move, all over the Central Plains."

Oh. Fortunately, exactly the talent I had been hoping for.

"Then, each time you set out, could you buy information for me and bring it back?"

"Yes. That much, I can do."

At Sam-ho's answer I draped an arm over her shoulder as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and dropped my voice to a whisper.

"Eh? Eeh? Y-you're too close...!"

"It's all right, young hero. The information I want to buy is nothing other than news of a person named Yu Rin."

"U-understood."

I slipped a hand into my robes and drew money from the pouch I had brought.

"This is the sum for buying the information. Use it for that."

"Eep...! Isn't this far too much...!!"

I ignored her and drew out more.

"And this is the fee I'll pay each time you bring information back."

"Eeep...! Th-this ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠is... what even is this...!"

"Is it not enough, by any chance?"

"No! It isn't!! It's plenty!"

Sam-ho took the money, rigid with tension. Seen like this, that flustered clumsiness was rather cute.

"This is a task I am giving to you alone, in person. Don't tell anyone."

"Yes...! Understood!!"

At the last, I took still more coin from the pouch and pressed it into her hands.

"This isn't for the job. It's so you can look after yourself out on the road. Buy yourself something good to eat."

"H-how much is all of this?"

"In return, could you bring a few people in from the streets for me?"

"Yes! After taking this much money, there's nothing I couldn't do for you!"

In a very small voice I told her where to go and what sort of people to fetch, then let the arm around her shoulder fall away.

"I'll make sure of it! I'll gather every last one of them!"

Sam-ho, her pouch now fat, thumped her own chest as she declared it.

"Then I'll trust you, and you alone."

I gave her a smile full of faith.

"Let's go, Tomusa."

"Yes. Understood."

Business finished, I turned back toward the inner grounds.

"You lucky brat, what did you talk about with the Young Master?"

"Argh, if I'd known I could get an arm around the Young Master, I would've been the one to step up."

"Hey, so did you touch? Did you touch him?"

Sam-ho seemed to have landed in an awkward spot, but she would sort it out herself.

"You seem to have spent rather a lot of money."

"Well, getting what you want while sitting still was never going to come cheap. For good information, this much is a bargain."

"Do you really think she will bring you good information?"

"Didn't you see her face just now? At that point she's already sworn loyalty, and then some. She'll do whatever it takes to bring me something useful."

Tomusa wore a look that said she did not quite follow.

"In any case, please don't make such free contact with women, Young Master."

"Oh, come on. I only put an arm around her shoulder. Allow me that much."

"It is only a warning. If she had let go of her reason, you would have been molested on the spot."

Tomusa said it with her cheeks puffed full of air. What was this? Jealousy?

I draped my arm over Tomusa's shoulder, exactly as I had with Sam-ho.

"It seems the Young Master really does need to learn a sense of distance where women are concerned."

Even as she said it, a faint smile touched her lips. What? Had she known it would turn out like this? Seeing how much she seemed to like it, I suddenly wanted to tease her.

"This sense of distance you're talking about — what is it, exactly?"

I stepped in front of her, set both arms on her shoulders, dipped my own head a little, and guided hers down until our foreheads met.

"Does this count as too close?"

"...Eh?"

Had the suddenness of it stalled her thoughts entirely? Tomusa couldn't get a single word out.

Hoo. Hoping to jolt her awake, I blew a soft breath across the bridge of her nose.

"Y-Young Master...?"

"Whyyy?"

"We're... we're touching...!"

"Touching what?"

"Y-your breath...!"

I could feel her breathing grow short.

"What was it you said about distance, again?"

"That you're too close...."

Hoo.

"What was that?"

"N-nothing. It's nothing."

Only after I had the answer I wanted did I let her go. As if she could stop me when I had already decided to do it. After that, there was nothing to do but wait until Sam-ho brought the people.

The hour was evening, the sun nearly gone.

"Young Master, your guests have arrived in the reception room."

A servant came to tell me they were here. I took the money pouch I had prepared in advance and made for the reception room.

"Aiyu, my, my. Precious guests, the lot of us."

"Don't blow that filthy breath around. Do me a favor and shut your mouth."

"Thank you, both of you, for accepting my invitation."

I had called two people in all. One had a greasy, matted mop of hair and wore a straw mat punched full of holes. The other had a rough face and the apron a shop clerk ties on.

"So. What business made our precious young lord call for us?"

This one was of the Beggars' Sect, active in Zhejiang.

"Did you really have to call these beggars in as well, young lord?"

And this one was of the Hao Sect, keeping a shop on the streets of Hangzhou. The Beggars' Sect ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and the Hao Sect — the twin pillars that hauled information through this murim.

"There's information I wish to buy."

"Aye. Stands to reason. You wanted information, so of course you called a peddler along too."

"What?"

For the moment, I handed each of them the pouch I had brought.

"This is an advance. Find the information I want, and I'll pay ten times the sum."

!!!