The Incompetent Hero and the Pill Smuggling Ring (5)
The cries of seabirds — a distant, keening chorus — drifted from somewhere not far off.
If I paid close attention, I could feel a cool sea breeze and catch the distinctive briny scent of the ocean brushing past my nose.
After reuniting with Dan Seollin at Yogyeong, we'd pushed straight on and managed to reach the city of Dandong in just a few days.
"We're here."
"Haa... haa... haa...."
"....If you're exhausted, it's fine to stop here and head back to Sichuan."
"I'm fine..., ah!..."
Even though Dandong was a city within the Yogyeong region, Yeom Kingdom was so vast that traveling anywhere — even within the same territory — meant covering a considerable distance. Compressing that journey into a matter of days inevitably meant moving hard and fast, and that kind of forced march demanded a serious toll in fatigue.
Baekryeon, at least, was used to this sort of thing. As a swordswoman, she didn't end up crawling across the ground gasping for air the way she had when we'd first met. But—
"Haa... haa...."
No matter how much of a martial artist she was, Dan Seollin of the Dan family specialized in hidden weapons and poison. Her physical ability was relatively low by nature. Their training never went much beyond basic conditioning of the body.
"Lady Seollin, are you all right?"
"I'm fine..., don't worry..., Baekryeon...."
Yeah. She did not look fine from any angle.
Baekryeon watched her with a pained expression, as if she were seeing her past self — the one who'd insisted on following me around and then gotten hit with a sudden forced march — overlaid on Seollin, who was one step short of crawling on the floor. Seollin herself, however, stubbornly insisted she was fine, putting on a display of the Dan family's will (laughable as it was).
The sea and the city were already coming into view beyond us, but finding the boatman Jong-ui would have to wait a day.
"Let's find a decent inn and rest. We'll talk about the next steps while we recover."
"Mm. That would be best."
Baekryeon nodded in agreement. Seollin didn't answer, but the moment she heard the word "rest," her complexion visibly improved.
Is resting really that wonderful? If it's this hard, she could just go home.
Passing through the outer walls into the city, we entered a fairly large inn in the area, marked with a sign that read Haejo Inn.
"Welcome~!"
"We'd like to stay a few days. Do you have rooms?"
"Yes! Of course we do. How many rooms will you need? We do have triple rooms available as well."
The attendant glanced at Baekryeon and Seollin standing behind me, then put on a sly little smile as he spoke.
Baekryeon maybe, but Seollin's not like that — put those eyes away.
"One room with good soundproofing, please."
"One room — so a triple, then. Right this way! I'll show you up!"
I paid the lodging fee and followed him up to the fourth floor. The room he led us to was tucked into a fairly remote corner of the floor.
"The walls are thick, so the soundproofing is solid."
"Appreciate it. We'd also like a bit of a meal — can you send something up?"
"Of course. I'll have something simple brought up."
"Ah, and one more thing. Among the boatmen, is there a man named Jong-ui? Can you find out how we'd go about meeting him?"
I slipped him some money as I asked. The attendant nodded at once and headed downstairs.
An inn this size gathers all kinds of information. Finding out about one boatman shouldn't take long.
Inside the room, true to the triple-room description, three sets of bedding had been prepared. Without a word, Seollin drifted toward the leftmost bed like she was being pulled in by gravity and collapsed onto it.
"...Baekryeon, do you do this kind of thing all the time?"
"Haha..., I'm afraid so. It's Doryeong's philosophy, you see. Of all things under heaven, nothing stands that does not stand upon the earth. Therefore, at the center of every action, the two legs that tread the ground are of greatest importance. I myself gained a great deal of insight upon hearing those words."
"...."
Seollin, face buried in the bedding, cracked one eye open and looked at me as if reassessing me slightly.
I feel like I said something similar to Baekryeon, but I don't think I put it that precisely. Still, it's not wrong, so I'll just let it slide.
"...But still."
"Hm? What is it, Lady Seollin?"
"Why only one room? Sleeping rough is one thing, but sharing a room even in a place like this is...."
At Seollin's question, Baekryeon turned her head and looked at me.
"It's a waste of money."
Seollin stared at me like I'd said something absurd.
"You said you had plenty of money."
"Having money and throwing it around are two different things."
"...Well, that's true, but."
"And if we take separate rooms, it's harder to respond if something happens. It's also inconvenient for talking things over."
At the words "if something happens," Seollin pushed her exhausted body up and looked at me.
"You mean an attack from the Beastman Alliance?"
"Yeah. I explained some of it on the way, but to restate it — we're here to cut the Beastman Alliance's funding pipeline. The goal is to seize every last bit of Geogeonhwan being smuggled out of Yeom Kingdom from this place, and to wipe out the people selling it. But we've already had one major clash with the Beastman Alliance."
"That was..."
"Right. You."
The Beastman Alliance that attacked the Dan family. We fought them and killed every last one. That news would reach the Alliance eventually, however slowly.
No — if there were traitors within the Dan family, it would get out far faster than I'd expected.
"You've already been targeted once, so there's no guarantee you won't be targeted again. And Baekryeon and I are the ones who interfered with their raid on the Dan family. Either way, they have more than enough justification to pick a fight. In that situation, I don't feel like taking separate rooms and risking getting picked off one by one."
"....Mm. I get it."
"Good enough. Anyway, today we're resting properly. I might be fine, but you two have fatigue built up. Just make sure that when the two of you go anywhere, you don't go alone — stick together."
If it were just me, I could wander around and smash anyone who wasn't a fragment of the Demon King. Baekryeon and Seollin can't.
Knock knock knock.
Maybe because I'd just been talking about an attack, even a simple knock made Baekryeon and Seollin tense up all over.
"Relax, you two. It's just the food. Eat, then sleep or rest — whatever."
Dandong, Day One.
Being women, the first thing they did after finishing the meal was take a bath. As a reasonably high-end inn, the room had a simple bathing setup inside. Baekryeon and Seollin bathed together, and when they came out, Seollin — who'd looked like a complete wreck — sat neatly on her bedding as if reborn.
"So first we find that Jong-ui person?"
"Right. Apparently he belongs to Yeom Kingdom's intelligence organization. We'll get information on the Beastman Alliance groups operating here from him, then decide how to move."
"But Doryeong, do you not have at least a rough direction already in mind?"
"Well..., even if I say I have a direction...."
Just go in, beat the hell out of all of them, and force them to disband. That was about as far as I'd planned.
"They're people we have to catch and dismantle completely. Capture every single one as quickly and precisely as possible. If even one gets away, they scatter and everything afterward falls apart. That's the only direction I've set."
"I shall keep that in mind."
"Got it."
"Then I'm going to step out for a bit. You two hold down the fort."
Leaving Baekryeon and Seollin behind, I left the room and went down to the first floor of the inn. Unlike earlier, a considerable number of people had come for meals, and the place was noisy and bustling.
I sat at an empty table and swept my gaze around. Among the attendants bustling back and forth, I spotted the one from earlier that afternoon and called him over.
"Hero!"
"Did you look into what I asked?"
"Yes, of course."
"Then bring me two bottles of fire liquor and one of your recommended side dishes."
"Yes, sir!"
The attendant nodded and headed straight into the kitchen. Then, just as I'd requested, he set down two bottles of fire liquor and some reasonably appetizing food, and plopped himself down across from me.
"Did you bring cups?"
"I did~"
Grinning, he pulled a worn cup from his robes. He seemed quite practiced at this sort of thing — with a smooth, practiced motion he poured the first cup for me and took the second for himself.
"If we're going to talk, we should at least grease the wheels a little. Help yourself."
"Oh, you really don't have to. But turning down hospitality would be rude, so just a little."
Saying so, the attendant wolfed down the food in a hurry.
How hungry do you have to be, working like that?
"Aren't you eating, Hero?"
"As you can see. The mask."
"Ah..., so that's why you asked for the food to be sent upstairs."
Uh, is that how it works? Sure, let's go with that.
"All of this is yours. Eat as much as you want."
"Then I'll gratefully accept the Hero's ocean-like generosity~"
Chomp, chomp, smack.
Damn, he eats well. Watching him is making me hungry.
Once the attendant had eaten his fill, he downed a long pull of fire liquor, let out a belch, and finally opened his mouth.
"To cut to the conclusion — it seems you won't be able to meet the boatman Jong-ui right now."
"What? What do you mean?"
"Well, you see."
He took another long pull of fire liquor, let out a satisfied aah, glanced around furtively, then spoke in a low voice.
"Recently, some of the boatmen were captured by pirates. And from what I've heard, the boatman named Jong-ui was among those taken. In other words — if you want to meet Jong-ui, you'll have to deal with those pirate bastards first."
....Are you fucking kidding me?