The Letter Hidden in the Thief’s Den
“Who made that offer?”
I asked just in case. There was always the possibility I might uncover the culprit sooner than expected.
“Th-that is...”
“Speak. I’ll see to your safety.”
“It’s not that... I couldn’t tell. When he approached me, he was wearing a mask and hiding his face...”
So there would be no easy answer after all.
Still, it was more or less what I had expected, so I let it pass.
“Then what about his age? Can you make any guess?”
“Judging by his voice, he seemed to be around middle age. His height was about the same as yours, Young Master, and—ah! I think he had a sword at his waist.”
“That’s not especially helpful.”
There were countless men in the clan who were around my height and wore swords.
A middle-aged voice?
That doesn’t mean much.
He could truly have been middle-aged. Or he could have been young with an unusually deep voice. Or, on the contrary, an old man whose voice merely sounded middle-aged.
And memory had its limits. Even if I heard that voice for myself, there was no guarantee I’d be able to identify it.
I fell into thought for a moment.
Wait. Then in my first life too, was this bastard acting on someone’s request to screw me over?
That was most likely the case.
Now that I thought about it, hadn’t it always been strange?
No matter how notorious a thief he was, he had only targeted wealthy commoner households. For him to suddenly steal a martial clan’s heirloom, there had to be a reason.
I glanced sideways at Sagong Cheon.
He was standing there with his mouth hanging open, shocked by the truth now laid bare. Inwardly, wasn’t he probably already suspecting his master, Yi Tae-gyeom, the Head of the Elders’ Council?
If it were him, he could very well be the culprit.
That old man’s immense power came from the absence of the Family Head.
So of course he would want to crush me, the Young Lord, by any means necessary.
In other words, he had more than enough motive.
Of course, without proof, there’s nothing I can do.
I considered it briefly.
Should I drag this man back to the clan and force him to confess everything?
But I shook my head almost at once.
No matter how I looked at it, that was the worst option.
No matter how carefully I watched over him, the moment he was thrown into the clan prison, he would be as good as dead.
All I’d accomplish was getting a witness killed.
Even if he was a thief, that would still leave a bad taste in my mouth.
In that case...
After thinking it through, I spoke to Nam Cheon.
“Hmm. It can’t be helped. I’ve changed my mind.”
“Y-yes?”
“You don’t want to die or end up crippled like this, do you?”
At that obvious question, Nam Cheon nodded vigorously.
“Of course not!”
“But if I take you in, the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect won’t leave you alone. At minimum, your wrists will be cut off for theft. More likely than not, you’ll die.”
“What? Even if I’ve sinned, how could that—?!”
“They won’t kill you for stealing alone. The one who hired you will kill you first. To keep his identity hidden, he’ll make sure you never speak.”
“What?!”
Shock spread across Nam Cheon’s face.
The look of a man who had clearly never considered that possibility.
Letting out a small sigh, I continued.
“But no matter how much you tried to screw me over, I don’t want you dead for it. If someone dies over something like this, it’s too unfair.”
“What? W-wait. Don’t tell me... you are...”
“That’s right. I am the Young Lord of the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect.”
“...!”
Nam Cheon’s eyes went round, and the next instant he slammed his forehead into the ground.
“I-I am truly sorry, Young Lord! I have committed a crime worthy of death!”
“It’s not worthy of death, so lift your head. In any case, I intend to let you go.”
“What? Young Lord, are you serious?”
Sagong Cheon, who had been standing beside us, asked in astonishment.
I nodded.
“I told you already. If I bring him in, he’ll most likely die. I can’t allow that.”
“Even so, he is still a criminal who tried to steal the main family’s heirloom. If nothing else, we should turn him over to the authorities.”
“And do you think he’d survive that? Frankly, he’d be easier to kill there than in our prison.”
“...!”
Sagong Cheon couldn’t argue.
Because it was true.
“Y-you really mean to let me go?”
Nam Cheon looked at me with hope flooding his face.
I let out a faint laugh and nodded.
“I do.”
“Thank you so—”
“On one condition.”
I stopped him before he could bang his head on the ground again.
Startled, Nam Cheon asked,
“A condition?”
“Yes. Abandon your hideout and leave this place. And return everything you’ve stolen to its rightful owners.”
“What?!”
He looked utterly stunned.
Naturally so. I was telling him to disgorge the wealth he had worked so hard to amass.
That only made my tone firmer.
“Didn’t you understand me? Return what you stole to the people you stole it from. Of course, I’m not saying you must deliver it yourself. If you did, the government troops would seize you, and even if you were locked up in the magistrate’s jail, you’d still be assassinated to silence you.”
“B-but, Young Master...!”
“This is your last chance to save your life. Don’t tell me you mean to throw it away over a pile of stolen goods.”
“...”
Nam Cheon hesitated for a moment, then squeezed his eyes shut and answered.
“Then please allow me to stop by my hideout and take just one thing. There is something I absolutely need.”
[You’re trying to take the Overlord's Footwork, aren’t you?]
[H-how did you know that?!]
Nam Cheon nearly jumped out of his skin at my sudden voice transmission.
At the same time, I spoke aloud as if I hadn’t secretly transmitted anything, careful not to let Sagong Cheon notice.
“No. I won’t allow it.”
[Even if you return to your hideout, the Overlord's Footwork won’t be there. I already took it.]
“Wh-what?! No!”
Nam Cheon looked completely disoriented.
Information was hitting him from two directions at once, and he looked as though he could barely process any of it.
I spoke to him again, my voice firm.
“Just leave. This is the last consideration I can offer you.”
[But if you grant me one favor, I’ll let you take not only the Overlord's Footwork, but part of the wealth you’ve gathered as well.]
At those words carried through voice transmission, Nam Cheon cautiously asked,
“And if I refuse to leave... what happens then?”
[...What exactly do you want from me?]
“Simple.”
I grinned at him.
“You die.”
[All you have to do is forge a single letter.]
[!]
After being guided to Nam Cheon’s hideout, we immediately contacted the magistrate’s office.
The response was swift.
They had already been on edge over this whole affair, so they dispatched men at once.
I held out Nam Cheon’s torn, bloodstained clothes and said,
“I managed to wound him, but unfortunately the thief escaped. He was too fast to catch.”
“How unfortunate...”
“However, in exchange, I discovered the hideout where he had been staying and the stolen goods he had hoarded there.”
“I-is that really true?”
“You found everything he stole?”
The reaction was explosive, naturally.
Truth be told, no one had expected any real results from the Young Lord of the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect, yet here I was, having seized the tail of the phantom thief who had been tormenting the authorities for so long.
Sagong Cheon proved my claim by producing the recovered stolen goods.
Before long, government soldiers stormed into Nam Cheon’s hideout and turned it upside down.
And from within, they uncovered a great number of valuables he had stolen over time.
“Young Master Jin! Your service is truly immense.”
“We didn’t recover everything that was stolen... but thanks to you, we’ve been able to reclaim at least part of what was lost.”
“As expected of the Young Lord of the prestigious orthodox Northern Heavenly Sword Sect—truly a cut above!”
The discovered property was returned to its original owners through the magistrate’s office.
Those who got their possessions back came to thank me in person.
And did they only offer words of gratitude?
Of course not.
They also left proper gifts of thanks for the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect before departing.
Naturally, my standing within the clan rose.
“Our Young Lord recovered the stolen heirloom!”
“I thought he’d changed suddenly these past few days, but he’s truly remarkable.”
“To think he’d earn such merit...”
“This will make it much easier for the main family to deal with the local influential figures from now on.”
I could hear such comments everywhere I went.
The ordinary clan members, who had little to do with internal politics, were all delighted.
Thanks to my actions, the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect had not only avoided the disgrace of having its heirloom stolen, but had actually seen its prestige rise.
But this isn’t the end of it.
The plan I had prepared was only beginning now.
Sure enough, not long after, the magistrate’s office delivered a letter to the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect.
“I thought this was something you ought to see, so I brought it. It was hidden in the thief’s residence.”
“What could it possibly—ghk!”
Its contents were shocking.
To put the overconfident Young Lord in a difficult position, I require your help.
I will inform you of the hour when security is lightest, so raid the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect’s storehouse and steal the heirloom.
The letter delivered through the government troops unmistakably described a plot to frame me.
And it was presumed to have been sent by someone inside the clan.
Naturally, the entire clan was thrown into chaos.
“Who in the world would do such a thing?!”
“W-wait, let us all calm down. Isn’t it possible this is a trap?”
“A trap? What kind of trap would this be? Who would prepare something like this?”
“Perhaps a hostile force trying to sow discord in the main family...”
“Even so, knowing the clan’s security schedule and the location of the heirloom is clearly suspicious. This must be the work of an insider.”
No one could help but panic.
The time the theft had actually taken place really had been when the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect’s vigilance was weakest.
In other words, it could never have happened unless an insider had leaked the information.
As expected, the story spread like wildfire until there wasn’t a single person in the clan who didn’t know it.
At first, people had thought it was simply another tale praising Jin Muyeol.
The shock that followed was inevitable.
“Good heavens... how did such a thing happen in our Northern Heavenly Sword Sect?”
“No matter how much someone dislikes the Young Lord, to try and trap him like this...”
“Whoever the culprit was, they clearly intended to pin the theft on the Young Lord.”
“If that’s the case, then surely the culprit must be...”
“Shh! Quiet. Have you lost your mind, saying such things in the open?”
The clan retainers whispered among themselves and guessed at the culprit’s identity.
Naturally, the likely candidates were obvious.
The elders who had long opposed Father and me, and who had sought to diminish our power.
Among them, Wang Jin—who had been clashing with us especially often of late—emerged as a prime suspect.
Of course, that did not mean the other elders escaped suspicion.
“The Young Lord really is pitiful. It’s bad enough that the Family Head fell ill, and that his own body is weak, but to think he was almost slandered like this too...”
“I don’t know who the culprit is, but they’re truly vile. Heaven will surely punish them!”
“Then let us at least lend the Young Lord our strength.”
Some of the retainers began to pity me and openly root for me.
People who had never paid me any attention before were starting to turn into supporters.
And I...
It’s unfolding exactly as planned.
I watched the shifting mood of the clan with quiet satisfaction.
This brings back memories.
In my first life, I had borne the hatred of the entire clan.
I had been branded the main culprit behind the ruin of the once-glorious Northern Heavenly Sword Sect.
Whether that judgment had been true or false didn’t matter. Swept up by the atmosphere, every last retainer had hated me.
But what about now?
Even if it’s only sympathy, people are beginning to take my side.
Compared to the past, that was an enormous step forward.
And I had no intention of stopping there.
I’ll continue building merit like this. I’ll raise my standing in the clan until I’m acknowledged, in the truest sense, as the Young Lord.
And someday, I would become a Young Lord who was not pitied, but admired.
Then not merely admired, but respected.
That was my goal now.
And it was a future I would achieve before long.
To do that...
Securing my position in the clan was important, of course.
But first, I needed to grow stronger.
I headed straight for the training grounds.
First...
Shall I start by taking the spiritual medicine?