The Incompetent Hero and the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering (3)
I stepped out of the government office, raked my fingers roughly through my hair, and let out a long, heavy sigh.
"What a pain in the ass…"
Of course, I never expected the Geogeonhwan to just fall into my lap—but I sure as hell hadn't counted on things getting this tangled right out of the gate.
It was a forbidden pill that converted every last drop of the user's life force into raw virility until it finally killed them. Manufacturing it was banned. Taking it was banned. And from what I'd overheard, the poor bastard who swallowed one died in the most spectacularly wretched way imaginable—sprawled out, emptying every last drop of seed from his own body. Hearing that, I could finally understand why they'd stamped it as forbidden.
"…Honestly, I'm not even sure the Geogeonhwan would work on me."
Back on the Filgrea Central Continent, even the low- to mid-grade recovery potions you could pick up anywhere had done absolutely nothing to my body.
On the other hand, the degraded Grand Elixir the Sword King had handed me had definitely worked. There was no way a common shop-bought potion and a sect's secret-formula pill were the same grade—so my body, it seemed, simply refused to accept anything that wasn't high-tier medicine.
Which meant if the Geogeonhwan wasn't on the same level as that Grand Elixir… it would do precisely nothing.
"Haa… and even if it does work, that's still a problem…"
What good was a bigger package if it killed you? A pretty shell with nothing inside—that was all it would be.
"Yeah… still. I've got to get my hands on one first."
I'd come this far. Walking away empty-handed wasn't an option. Even if I couldn't take it in the end, I was going to obtain it no matter what.
"…Not that I've got any way to find it right this second."
It was a banned pill. Even looking for it was a crime, so there was nowhere I could just casually ask around.
But if rumors about the Geogeonhwan had reached even Baekryeon's ears, then somewhere out there a dark-market pipeline was quietly moving the stuff. Find that pipeline, and getting one would be trivial…
"Haa… fine. Let's just pretend I'm here as a tourist."
One of my companions had gotten hauled into the office, but after a warning like that, they probably wouldn't pull any more stunts. And if they did… well, I'd just cover my face and cause a little chaos. No point overthinking it.
"First things first—I need a place to stay. Somewhere I can bunk for at least a week…"
In your typical wuxia novel, where did the protagonist usually put up for the night? An inn, right?
I'd spotted a few while wandering around. I'd just hop between them until I found a free room.
I walked into the nearest one.
It was getting on toward evening, and the place was packed. On top of that, my clothes were so foreign by Yeom Kingdom standards that I drew every eye in the room the moment I stepped through the door.
But Shinhyeon City saw plenty of merchants from the Central Continent, so the curious stares faded almost as quickly as they appeared, and people went back to their own conversations. A young waiter hustled over with a polished customer-service smile.
"Welcome~! Here for a meal?"
"A meal, and—any chance you've got a room I could take for a few days?"
"Uh… a room?"
The waiter scratched his head, looking troubled. His eyes flicked to the sword at my hip; he swallowed hard and spoke carefully.
"I'm terribly sorry… the martial artists from the Mount Hua Sect are staying with us right now. We don't have a single free room."
"That so…?"
Well—of course. The Dragon-Phoenix Gathering was being held in Shinhyeon City. Naturally every participating sect would be flooding in.
…Okay, now I was starting to worry. Forget a week—could I even find a bed for one night?
"Apologies. This establishment is fully occupied by the Wudang Sect…"
"Sorry. The Tang Clan has taken all our rooms…"
"Zhongnan martial artists…"
"Kongtong…"
In this entire sprawling city of Shinhyeon! Across all these inns!! How was there not a single empty room left?!
"Right! Thirteen sects and noble houses, all participating—and they wouldn't bring just one person each, would they? Especially the great families, with their entourages! Even if each group only brought ten people, that's a hundred and thirty!! That's a lot! A whole damn lot!!"
And the real number was probably higher!
But still!!
Didn't this complete lack of rooms feel like it was crossing a line?!
"I'm going to end up sleeping on the street!!!"
I wasn't some Beggars' Sect bum!
Get lost! Stop looking at me like that, you actual beggars!!!
"…Haa."
"Need a place to stay?"
Would the government office even let me crash there if I went back? Honestly, bunking at the office was starting to look like the better option.
I was seriously considering turning around and heading back when an old woman spoke up beside me.
"Who are you?"
"Just a nobody running a little shop up the road. You look like you're in a tight spot for lodging… If you don't mind, you're welcome to stay at my place for a few days."
Suddenly having a roof over my head was great and all… but in wuxia stories there was an ironclad rule: never trust an old person or a child whose identity you couldn't verify. Was I supposed to follow that rule or not?
I hesitated for a moment—then the hesitation evaporated.
Yeah. He really was just a nobody of an old man.
His Technique was a bit high compared to the rest of his stats, but if you chalked that up to a lifetime of hard-earned experience, there was nothing strange about it.
"If you're offering me a place to stay, I'd be grateful."
"Heh heh. In exchange, though—I'd like you to help out around the shop while you're here. That all right?"
"That's nothing. I'll help."
"Reliable lad. Come along, then."
I followed the old man down the road.
He left the main thoroughfare and led me into a fairly secluded back alley. A flicker of unease finally stirred—but I trusted my eyes. I trusted the stats. I kept walking.
We emerged from the alley into the outskirts of what had been glittering Shinhyeon City.
"This place… the houses all look like they've weathered more than a few storms."
"No need to dress it up. You can just say they look ready to collapse."
"…"
So this was the city's underbelly.
Shinhyeon was wealthy, no question—but there was always a place the light never reached.
And he ran a shop out here?
"Security's not great around these parts. Seeing as you carry a sword, I figure you can handle yourself in a fight?"
"…Well, I can keep my own skin intact, at least."
"That's a relief. Ah—there it is. That's my shop."
A building appeared that looked exactly like what you'd get if someone tried to build a house out of scrap lumber planks.
…Did I make a bad call here?
Day two in the Yeom Kingdom.
The house that had looked ready to fall apart turned out to be surprisingly cozy. Sleeping there was no problem at all.
"We only open for lunch and dinner, so your mornings are free. Those clothes of yours stand out quite a bit—might be wise to pick up something local."
I took Old Man Wang's advice and headed back into Shinhyeon City's bustling commercial district to find new clothes.
Finding a clothing shop wasn't hard. And thanks to Shinhyeon's nature as a trade hub, Central Continent merchants came through often enough that I could pay in common Central currency without trouble.
"My, with a frame that solid, you'd look good in anything~"
"…"
Laying on every scrap of flattery to close a sale—apparently that was a universal constant, East or West, medieval or modern.
I bought the plainest Yeom-style outfit I could find, nothing fancy, the kind anyone on the street would wear, and changed into it. My old clothes went straight into the inventory.
"Will you be staying in the city long, young hero?"
"Probably… There's something I'm looking for, and it seems hard to come by. I don't think a few days will cut it."
"Then you'd do well to exchange some currency in advance~ We're relatively open to trade with other continents here, so Central coin still works—but once you head deeper inland, it won't get you anything."
"Ah… right. I hadn't thought of that. Thank you."
She had a point.
Until I found the Geogeonhwan, I'd be roaming the Yeom Kingdom—and for that, I'd need a decent stash of local money.
From what I've heard, the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering isn't really a prize-money tournament.
There was a nominal purse, sure—but most winners came from the very sects or houses that had put up the funds in the first place. Basically, they were just taking their own money back home.
…So where did you exchange currency?
"The most renowned trading company in this area is the Yuwun Merchant Company. If you need to exchange money, you wouldn't go wrong looking them up."
"Ah, thank you. You've been a huge help."
"Just come back and shop with us again sometime~ Ohoho."
I stepped out of the clothing shop.
The change of clothes was already doing its job—far fewer eyes lingered on me as I walked.
I headed straight for the Yuwun Merchant Company.
The claim that it was the most famous trading house in the area looked true enough; a steady stream of goods was flowing in and out of the compound. I exchanged my currency without any trouble, and as I walked back out, a thought struck me.
A place like this… they might even know something about the Geogeonhwan.
But if I just walked in and asked about a banned pill cold, I'd only be repeating yesterday's disaster.
If I wanted to inquire about something like the Geogeonhwan, I needed to become the kind of customer this company couldn't afford to lose. And right now, I was nowhere near that kind of client…
"…Wait."
Something flashed through my mind.
I yanked open my inventory and checked—and there they were.
The massive stock of wolf pelts and bear hides I'd hunted on Snow Mountain. The meat. The rest of the materials.
"…Can't I just sell these?"
I spun around and hurried straight back to the Yuwun Escort Agency.
"You've come… to sell goods?"
"Yes."
The man across from me frowned as he looked me over.
His reaction was perfectly reasonable. Think about it. Say you worked the customer-service line at Samsung. Some random guy calls up out of nowhere claiming he's had a brilliant business idea and wants to sell it to the company—who wouldn't frown?
I'd have started by asking if he'd been day-drinking and cussing him out from there.
So his response was downright gentlemanly.
Which meant I ought to answer in kind.
THUD!!
"…Huh?"
I pulled a dozen-odd cleaned wolf pelts and bear hides from my inventory and dropped them on the floor.
"I'd like to sell roughly this sort of thing. Can you appraise them?"
"J-just a moment…"
Leather had been used for countless purposes since ancient times—and most of those purposes were luxury goods.
These pelts, in particular, were striking for their pure, snow-white fur, the kind you almost never saw. On top of that, they'd been harvested with a Technique stat of 999: not a single blemish, flawlessly clean. They had to be worth something.
…Please say they are. Please…
"W-where on earth did you get all this…? You clearly weren't carrying any luggage… Don't tell me you have some kind of special spatial artifact…?"
"Yeah. Something like that. So—can these be traded?"
Please say yes!!
On Snow Mountain, under the pretense of "training," the Sword King had put me through more than twelve dungeons. The wolves and bears I'd killed along the way easily numbered over two hundred.
And because the inventory stacked identical items, I'd been able to stuff every last pelt, cut of meat, fang, and miscellaneous part from over two hundred magical beasts into it and walk around like it was nothing.
If someone told me everything I'd packed away had been a complete waste of time, I might actually cry!
"Th-this is… Please wait a moment. I'll call someone more senior than myself. Just a moment, please."
With that, he disappeared inside.
…He didn't take the pelts with him, though? Are they worthless…?