Chapter 47
Chapter 47
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: Gold Mine
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Puhahaha!
Lord Lee's booming laughter shook the entire manor.
The retainers who heard it broke into pleased smiles of their own.
"Looks like the patriarch sold that land for a good price."
"I overheard it went for forty thousand taels—land worth only seven or eight thousand."
As the retainers buzzed with delight, the doors to the main hall flew open.
Lord Lee stepped out with a grin and surveyed the young retainers.
"You lot need to train hard in your martial arts. Next year, you'll join the Murim Alliance's Elusive Squadron, got it?"
"We'll keep that in mind, Patriarch!"
Lord Lee's greatest wish was to get even one retainer into the Murim Alliance's Elusive Squadron.
His clan dominated the area without rivals, but it lacked the prestige to be called a true martial family.
Yet if even one made it into the Elusive Squadron, the entire martial world would take notice.
Se Yeong and Instructor Kang felled trees in the rugged hills and built a house from the start.
It was only a temporary shelter, but to fool Lord Lee, it had to look convincing.
"We should build two houses for the team members, plus a kitchen and outhouse, Instructor."
"Of course—we'll do it right."
Thud!
As Instructor Kang stacked logs for the walls, his eyes flicked toward Se Yeong's sword propped nearby.
"Young Master Han seems awfully fond of that blade."
It was only natural for him to say so.
Se Yeong hadn't drawn the sword—not even in front of Instructor Kang or the team.
At first, Kang had let it slide, but now curiosity about the blade gnawed at him.
Haha...
"Why don't you give it a draw?"
Se Yeong chuckled and played along.
"How could I let someone who's not its owner touch it so casually? I'll let you have a look later."
"Very well."
Shing.
A flash of sword light—and the tree stump sliced clean off.
Groooan... Crash...!
Se Yeong lopped off the branches from the toppling tree amid the roar.
Instructor Kang, watching intently, nodded to himself.
Sure enough—Se Yeong's art was swordsmanship, not staff techniques.
'This young man's full of secrets.'
Ten days later, the team members returned from gathering gold dust, their hands laden not just with it but pots, bowls, blankets, clothes, and shovels.
"Big brother, we're in trouble."
Paeng Se Gi set down his sack of gold dust with a dramatic flourish.
The team's faces were grim.
"What's wrong?"
"The Murim Alliance has you listed as an official wanted man. There's a bounty of two hundred thousand silver taels on your head."
Se Yeong wasn't all that surprised.
"Only that much?"
He'd braced for a Murim warrant when he left the Alliance.
But a measly two hundred thousand on his head stung his pride.
Yi Cheon Yeong spoke up, his face etched with worry.
"It's not 'only,' Great Hero Han. Since the Demonic Cult war, fewer than ten wanted posters have carried that price. Soon, every master in the martial world will come hunting you."
"He's right, Great Hero Han. Not just rogue experts—the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families will be scouring the land for you with fire in their eyes."
Dang Ok Yi looked just as anxious.
But Se Yeong had other concerns.
"Don't worry about it. More importantly, we need to wrap this up before that Lord Lee catches on."
Se Yeong took the sack of gold dust and began scattering it across the hillside.
"Big brother, it'd be easier to collect if we dump it in one spot."
"Scatter it like this, and he'll think gold's popping up everywhere. Flip the soil over the spots you dust."
They tilled the earth so the gold flakes would mix with the dirt.
Se Yeong saved a bit of dust, wrapping it in cloth.
"Instructor, make us a wide wooden pan."
"Got it."
With Instructor Kang on that task, Se Yeong called Dang Ok Yi and Sa Sa Un.
"Head to the village, sell some gold dust for food. Grab liquor too. Leave the weapons here—no rumors about martial artists."
He handed them the cloth-wrapped dust, and they hurried off.
Se Yeong turned to Yeong Gak, who stood idly by.
"You—weave a thatch roof."
Yeong Gak clasped his hands.
"Om mani padme hum."
Truth be told, he had his own worries.
Watching Se Yeong work, the scam was unfolding with ruthless precision.
No one this meticulous would wager his beads lightly.
'I can't lose these prayer beads...'
They were far too precious to hand over.
"What are you standing around for? Move it!"
Se Yeong's shout made Yeong Gak flinch; he leaped into motion, soaring to the roof.
Whoosh...
"Catch."
As Yeong Gak landed, Se Yeong tossed up a bundle of thatch.
A retainer burst into the manor, panting from the village.
"Patriarch! Big trouble!"
Lord Lee, out on the training grounds, scolded the frantic arrival.
"What's got you in such a panic?"
"A gold mine... They've found a gold mine."
Lord Lee's eyes gleamed at the words.
"Gold mine? Where?"
This village had once been famous for its gold.
But after the vein ran dry, none had been found anywhere.
"In the wild hill you sold ten days ago."
Lord Lee recalled the young man who'd bought it half a month back.
"Nonsense. That hill's nothing but rocks and trees."
Gold veins usually ran with quartz—but that hill lacked even pebbles.
"I checked because it sounded fishy. They've been hauling gold dust from there for five straight days."
"Who? How much?"
"Day one: a young man and woman sold dust. Day two: another young man. About two hundred taels' worth a day."
Two hundred taels a day.
That was two thousand in ten days, twenty thousand in a hundred.
With enough laborers, maybe two thousand a day.
"That green kid fooled me...!"
Lord Lee bellowed in rage.
He should've suspected talk of planting beans on a rocky hill.
The kid had known about the gold and snapped it up for forty thousand taels.
"Follow me!"
He stormed out with his retainers.
He had to see the gold for himself.
"They're coming."
At Se Yeong's word, the team bustled about on purpose.
Paeng Se Gi and Yi Cheon Yeong shoveled dirt into sacks; others hauled them to a distant stream.
Se Yeong and Instructor Kang sat by the water, swirling dirt in large wooden pans.
Rinse after rinse left black iron flecks and yellow gold dust.
They collected it in bowls.
Lord Lee, arriving at the hill, first eyed the houses.
Not crude twig-and-thatch shacks—these were sturdy log homes for long-term stays.
'He knew about the gold all along.'
Next, the workers and dig sites.
Two young men in ragged clothes shoveled; dig marks dotted the area.
'And a monk...?'
Among those carrying sacks was a young monk in worn robes.
Lord Lee approached him.
"What brings a monk like you here?"
The monk blinked.
"Carrying... dirt."
Lord Lee ground his teeth at the obvious reply.
Who didn't know that?
"Why carry dirt?"
"Ah... This dirt's laced with gold, so I'm hauling it."
"How'd you hear of this place?"
"The folks working here are friends from my village."
His conviction deepened.
'That damned punk.'
Suppressing his fury, he headed to the stream.
"Welcome."
Se Yeong stood mid-pan, offering a greeting.
"You've struck gold here, I see."
Lord Lee glanced at the pan as he returned the bow.
His blood boiled; his words turned sharp.
Hahaha...!
"Just got lucky."
Se Yeong flashed an innocent, friendly grin.
It only twisted Lord Lee's guts further.
'Two hundred taels from just these two washing dirt...'
Two made two hundred; twenty could make two thousand.
Two hundred—twenty thousand a day.
He inspected the bowl of mixed iron and gold flecks.
Heat it to dry, magnet out the iron—pure gold left.
'All this gold was mine... Oh, what a loss.'
What infuriated him more: the gold dust dropping into the stream from sloppy washing.
'Insane fools.'
So much gold they ignored the streambed.
Maybe the stream held deposits too.
Far from the vein, but floods could've washed flakes here.
"...Let's talk privately."
"Of course."
Se Yeong followed, feigning ignorance.
Lord Lee led Se Yeong to a secluded spot.
"Hand this hill back to me."
Se Yeong shook his head.
"Can't do that. I brought friends from the village and elders from home to mine it."
At the firm refusal, Lord Lee hinted at threats.
"You're no fool—you know how martial clans operate. I'll pay handsomely; just give it back."
"Not even if I died. I've sunk my life's savings into this hill."
As Se Yeong's eyes flashed, Lord Lee backed off a step.
"Two hundred thousand taels."
"No chance. I wouldn't sell for a million, even."
Lord Lee scoffed inwardly at the million-tael mention.
'A measly million? Village yokels have no vision.'
He could make a million in two months mining.
But he couldn't scrape that much together now.
'Kill them all?'
One order, and his retainers would end them.
But these weren't martial folk.
Killing them meant families reporting to the magistrates—investigations, bribes to bury it.
He gathered his thoughts and probed slyly.
"If I offered one million one hundred thousand—what would you do with it?"
Se Yeong's gaze grew dreamy.
"Share with my friends, buy a big manor and fields to care for the elders and family."
Lord Lee crowed inside.
He owned three or four manors, all the local fields.
"Every manor and field nearby is mine—pick one."
"...For real?"
Kekekeke...!
Lord Lee beamed, convinced Se Yeong had taken the bait.
"Absolutely. But tell me quick which one you want."
"Th-thank you."
Se Yeong stammered with a beaming face.