The Price of a Puppet
The celebration for the Golden Core breakthrough, which had dragged on for several days, finally came to an end. While a few remained to discuss political interests, most of the guests were already preparing to depart. The Yeonha Baek clan, which had been bustling with noise throughout the banquet, finally regained its natural tranquility.
“Ah, right.” Baek Cheong was rolling around in her private quarters, finally liberated from the tedious banquet. Just as she was about to log into Moomyeongbang to reward herself for enduring the boredom, a forgotten fact surfaced in her mind. With a sigh, she rose from her bed and left her room. There was a far more important goal she had to resolve right now.
Her destination was the study of her uncle, who was busy handling administrative affairs as the head of the Baek family merchant company. ‘This time, for sure.’ She had been scouting for an opportunity throughout the entire banquet, but her uncle had shown no openings while dealing with mountain hermits and various minor factions. Now that all the guests had left, this was the only time she could get a private audience with her uncle, who had been busy enough to not even have a moment to blink.
If she missed this chance, she didn’t know how many days she would have to wait.
“Uncle.”
“Come in.”
At her cautious call from outside the study, her uncle’s voice sounded from within. Pushing the door open with a creak, she stepped inside to find her uncle quickly calculating figures amidst a mountain of Jade Slips piled high on his wide desk. He seemed to be organizing the rare techniques and commercial agreements collected from the mountain hermits into his ledgers one by one. Even while busy with his calculations, he asked her business without lifting his head.
“Oh, Cheong. You must be tired, yet you come looking for me as soon as the banquet ends. You must have some urgent business, surely?”
“That’s right.” Baek Cheong sat down on the chair opposite him and answered honestly. Beating around the bush was not a good way to deal with her uncle, the head of the merchant company.
“Could you ask Senior Yuk Muk to make me a puppet?”
Baek Mujin lifted his head the moment he heard her request. He opened his mouth, looking at his niece with a puzzled expression. “Ask him to make a puppet? Is one puppet not enough for you?”
“Not the play-puppet for children you gave me last time. I need a puppet that can be used for alchemy.”
A brief silence fell within the study. One of Baek Muyeong’s eyebrows arched at a subtle angle. “For alchemy... a puppet?”
No matter how logically he thought about it, these were arts that shared absolutely no common ground. Alchemy was an art that required delicate control of energy, while puppetry was an art that relied relatively more on Divine Sense than energy. The very idea of grafting these two arts together was, to say the least, bizarre.
“I’m not saying I’ll make the puppet brew the pills, but if I could have it handle the spirit herbs or perform simple tasks, wouldn’t that lighten the workload?” Baek Cheong said as if it were nothing. In reality, the process that took the most time in alchemy was the preparation. If she could just cut down on that, her alchemy time would be halved, and she calculated that she could spend the remaining time logging into Moomyeongbang to enjoy browsing the forum at her leisure.
“Where on earth does your head keep coming up with such preposterous ideas?” Baek Muyeong slowly set down the Jade Slip he was holding. A deep sigh, which could have been either admiration or lament, escaped him. It hadn’t even been a few days since she received the introductory Jade Slip for puppetry from Yuk Muk, and she was already thinking of completely overhauling the art of a heretical sect to graft it onto alchemy. He was at a loss for words at his niece’s way of thinking, which defied the framework of a typical cultivator.
“I’ve run the calculations in my head several times, and I don’t think there’s any reason it wouldn’t work. After all, I just need to control the energy well.”
Looking into his niece’s eyes, which sparkled with baseless confidence, Baek Muyeong swallowed his admiration once again.
“It is not particularly difficult for this uncle to make a separate request to Cultivator Yuk Muk to order the puppet you desire.”
“Really?” Baek Cheong’s eyes widened, and her face brightened with joy. However, the warmth slowly peeled away from the benevolent smile that had been lingering on Baek Muyeong’s lips. He held his index finger straight up.
“However, there is something you must keep in mind. Puppets are expensive items that require a lot of effort to begin with, and ordering a brand-new, never-before-seen puppet is not a matter that can be solved with a few Spirit Stones. Furthermore, if it is a puppet specialized for alchemy, it will need to handle energy as well, so it will require a large amount of precious materials.”
“About how much would it cost...?”
“The cost is a matter for the merchant company to handle at its discretion. The real issue that needs to be addressed lies elsewhere.” Baek Muyeong paused for a moment and cast a meaningful gaze at her.
“If you want it that much, I have one condition for you.”
“...A condition?”
A sinister premonition brushed slightly against Baek Cheong’s spine. She knew well enough that the uncle in front of her was not a person who would grant a favor without a price. The problem was that the way he openly mentioned a condition didn’t feel right.
‘What kind of bothersome thing is he trying to make me do?’
Her craving for the forum and her wariness toward the unknown condition weighed against each other in her mind. However, she absolutely did not want to miss the opportunity to dramatically shorten her cultivation and alchemy time.
“...What is the condition?”
In the end, her craving for the forum suppressed her wariness as she asked.
“A very special guest is scheduled to visit our Baek family soon.”
“A special guest?”
“Yes, a very noble and high-ranking person.” Baek Muyeong did not reveal the guest’s specific identity or affiliation.
“When that person arrives at the main house, please conduct yourself properly. Show proper respect to your elder, and if they ask you anything, answer them with all your heart. That is my only condition.”
“...Is that really all?” Baek Cheong blinked in confusion. It was a vague story, but the condition itself was far more modest and trivial than she had imagined. Showing respect and greeting a guest politely was, to her, a basic etiquette that she should naturally observe.
“Yes, that is all. It’s not like it’s physically demanding or difficult, is it?”
“Yes, well... but they’re such a special guest. Is it really okay for me to be there?”
“They are such a precious guest that we must treat them with the utmost courtesy.”
His continued concealment of their identity was suspicious. However, since the guests visiting the Baek family were so diverse, it was hard to guess. She nodded reluctantly and opened her mouth.
“Fine.”
“Good. Since you have promised, you must keep it.” Baek Muyeong laughed heartily with a satisfied expression.
“Now, go back and get some rest. I will make a separate request to Cultivator Yuk Muk early tomorrow morning regarding the puppet order you mentioned.”
“Thank you, Uncle!”
Baek Cheong jumped up from her chair, gave a deep bow, and hurried out of the study. Her footsteps, having achieved her goal, felt as light as if she were flying. However, as she walked down the hallway with her back to the closed study door, a corner of her small chest felt strangely uneasy.
‘Conduct myself properly...’
It was great that the condition her uncle presented was as simple as eating a meal. But his attitude of blurring the lines without clearly revealing the identity of the special guest weighed on her mind. If he was packaging them as such a noble and high-ranking person that he could talk until his mouth went dry as the head of the Baek family merchant company, there was a high possibility that they were at least a great cultivator at the Nascent Soul level. A subtle worry rose that perhaps some picky, foul-tempered old monster would come and try to persuade her to become their disciple.
‘Well, what could possibly happen?’
Baek Cheong brushed off the uneasiness and quickened her pace to return to her quarters. She wanted to lie down on her bed as soon as possible and enjoy her freedom by indulging in Moomyeongbang.
“Hehe.”
Meanwhile, Baek Muyeong, left alone in the study, watched the direction in which his niece had disappeared. The corners of his mouth, which had been stiff from holding back laughter, rose to form an arc. He carefully picked up a sealed letter from among the pile of Jade Slips stacked on one side of the table. Stamped on the surface of the letter was the seal of the Heavenly Sword Sect, shaped like a sword soaring toward the heavens. It was the reply that had reached him during the banquet.
‘The Pacheon Sword Sovereign has accepted the invitation of our Yeonha Baek clan.’
The premier great sect of sword cultivators that overwhelmingly commanded the central continent. If they could obtain the protection of the Heavenly Sword Sect, which symbolized military might, following the Biun Sect, whose protection they had secured through the supply of Five-Element Pills, it would mean laying the foundation of an impregnable fortress for the Yeonha Baek clan’s ten-thousand-year grand plan.
‘To think he is still roaming the continent because he hasn’t found a disciple yet. No matter how scatterbrained Cheong is, she is the only talent who has unraveled the sword-intent fragment. In nine cases out of ten, he must be feeling regretful because there is no talent as good as Cheong.’
It was a case of openly using the precious treasure of the family as bait. If his older brother found out the inside story later, he would surely be met with a thunderous roar and a stern scolding. But for the sake of the family’s endless prosperity and high leap, he could willingly endure his brother’s nagging while covering both his ears.
Baek Muyeong carefully tucked away the letter and revealed a sinister smile without even realizing it.