The Value of a Word - 5
Still, the morning rush wasn't something I could simply skip. Chae Jin seemed fairly disgruntled that I wasn't practicing Chae Family Tai Chi Chuan, but a man has to make a living.
"Oh my? This is actually tasty?"
Her constant staring was getting on my nerves, so I fed her a Seomhwa steamed bun. Her face was still set in a pout, but after one bite, her eyes went perfectly round.
"You're not half bad at cooking, are you?"
"It's nothing special."
"Innkeeper! We've sold out of Seomhwa buns!"
"Good. Go get some rest, then."
The waitresses who'd worked the morning shift filed back to their quarters to catch up on sleep. Watching them go, I sat down across from Chae Jin.
"I take it that suits your palate?"
"Ahem. It's hardly cuisine befitting the eldest disciple of Moon Lotus Pavilion—cheap food, really. But why on earth does it stick to the mouth like this?"
Moon Lotus Pavilion was a great sect, built on principles entirely unlike the Hongseong Sect. Divided into outer and inner courts, it took in disciples from outside its bloodline and felt no particular embarrassment about accepting donations either. In name they were the same kind of organization, yet in character they stood at the exact opposite pole from Hongseong.
Which meant the palate of Chae Jin, its eldest disciple, could only be described as refined—and it was little wonder she found it strange that a dish as cheap-looking as a Seomhwa bun suited her so well.
"Once in a while, this is exactly what you find yourself craving. Seomhwa buns especially—they're a worker's meal, meant to keep laborers going until lunch."
"And?"
"Isn't it only natural to have no appetite in the morning, when you're headed off to hard toil? So I made the flavor a little strong."
Granted, some people would balk at eating something this hearty first thing in the day. But those people could fend for themselves—it was no concern of mine.
"Hmm. Maybe Moon Lotus Pavilion ought to serve breakfast like this too. Nom."
She took another enormous bite. Clutching the bun in both hands, she chewed away contentedly, then washed it down with a mouthful of piping-hot bok choy soup. Once she'd primly munched her way through two giant buns and drained the bowl as a palate cleanser, I gathered up the empty plates before her.
"Well then, I'll finish the dishes and see to my work."
"Right. Thank you for the meal—wait, no! Hey! Innkeeper Yu! Aren't you going to practice Chae Family Tai Chi Chuan?"
"I have a life to live too, you know."
"Hmph. I have my pride as well. You're learning from me—surely you should have the basics down within a month?"
"And I'm supposed to simply stop working?"
"Er, no, but still."
"I'm no martial artist, so don't push too hard. And besides—what in the world are you wearing?"
"Huh? What's wrong with my outfit?"
Puzzled, Chae Jin glanced down at her top and billowing skirt. Right. Nothing about it was strange, not really. The problem was who was wearing it.
"Where's the proud regalia of Moon Lotus Pavilion?"
Granted, a gorgeous woman strolling about in nothing but tights was honestly a feast for the eyes.
"I washed it. I can't wear the same thing every single day, can I?"
This was reality, and in reality one couldn't wear the same outfit forever. She said it as though it were the most self-evident truth in the world, so I had no comeback.
"I see. Understood. So—planning to stay around here today?"
"Ahh, I'm debating it. Truth be told, I've been looking for some work."
I picked up the plates and headed for the kitchen, Chae Jin trailing behind me. Apparently she was bored. Standing at my back as I washed the dishes, she chattered away nonstop.
"I never expected to be stuck here this long. That's why I didn't bring much money with me either."
"......"
"...Why aren't you saying anything? You're not thinking I came here like a complete fool, are you?"
Can she read minds or something...
"Tch. I didn't come without a plan, you know. If provoking Hong Ryeon fell through, I figured I'd stay put and monopolize every commission in this area."
She unwound the thick blanket from her shoulders and sat down on a kitchen chair. Then she spread it across her lap, drew her knees up together, and hugged them with both arms. Her slightly slumped shoulders made her look positively sulky.
"But this town... it doesn't hand out commissions to martial artists at all... What kind of peaceful town even is this?"
"Seomhwa Village sits beside a sacred mountain, so demon beasts rarely show themselves, and with the Hongseong Sect's reputation looming over the place, even the unorthodox sects mostly keep their distance. Besides, folks here tend to handle their own odd jobs."
"You're telling me... If I'd known this place was like this, I'd have brought plenty of travel money."
Her plan had been to snatch up the work that rightfully belonged to the Hongseong Sect, resolve it herself, and use the results as a pretext to provoke Hong Ryeon—and it had collapsed completely. At the wreckage of that scheme, Chae Jin grew glum all over again.
"You should have done your research first."
"Easy for you to say... How was I supposed to know I'd be here this long? Thanks to that, my travel funds just keep dwindling. If you hadn't accepted my proposal, Innkeeper Yu, I might genuinely have had to sleep rough."
"Hm..."
"Oh, that reminds me—Innkeeper Yu. You're a local notable of Seomhwa Village, aren't you? I hear you're the richest man in town."
"That I am."
"Would you perhaps be interested in hiring a bodyguard for the time being? A splendid, strong, and beautiful bodyguard to protect your property and your very life. Not two taels of gold a day—one tael!"
"That's absurdly expensive."
If Chae Jin truly stayed on and fought the Iron Blood Dan for me, one tael of gold a day would be a bargain—I could pay any sum. But what she wanted was a showdown with Hong Ryeon. The moment that was settled, she'd leave without a backward glance, so her offer held little appeal.
"Huh?! I'm Chae Jin, the Moonlight Blade! Compared to my skill, one tael of gold is a downright steal?!"
"Still not interested."
"Th-then, fifty taels of silver?"
Rather than pay fifty taels of silver a day to hire her, I'd simply never leave the house.
Done with the dishes, I dried my hands on a towel. Time to go upstairs, sort through the ledgers, and check the goods destined for the trading house.
"Ten taels of silver! Ah! What a steal! What a steal!"
Good grief, she's loud.
I turned to Chae Jin, who was grinning ear to ear, practically buzzing with anticipation.
"The special suite you're staying in goes for three taels of silver a night. How about I waive that charge entirely? I'll cover your board separately as well..."
"Good heavens! You'd hire Chae Jin, the Moonlight Blade—eldest disciple of the prestigious Moon Lotus Pavilion and a reigning master of the murim—for a mere three taels of silver?!"
"If you don't like it, don't."
I turned away. Truthfully, I didn't especially need a bodyguard. As I'd told Chae Jin earlier, Seomhwa Village lies near Mount Hongseong, a sacred mountain, so demon beasts rarely appear. When they did, it was only sporadically at the village outskirts, and the ones that wandered in were seldom strong. What's more, the village sat squarely under the feared name of the Hongseong Sect, so even unorthodox elements rarely showed their faces. One sect had come sniffing around recently—the Iron Thread Sect—but since then, they hadn't shown so much as the tips of their noses. Simply waiving the lodging fee was already quite the concession on my part.
I turned away without a shred of regret—and her white hand clamped down hard on my shoulder.
"Who ever said I didn't like it? I was thanking you, that's all. Ufufu."
What kind of Udyr-tier stance-switch was that?
"Th-then, while we're at it... food expenses too...?"
Chae Jin mumbled, her face flushed crimson. She had made her own concessions in her way... and I decided it was better to meet her at this line and be done with it.
"As long as it isn't expensive."
"Deal! Transaction complete! Then I look forward to working with you~! Boss!"
Perhaps because the problem she'd been fretting over had resolved itself, Chae Jin beamed with vigor and thrust out her hand. Shaking on it would serve as proof of the contract—verbal though it was.
"No reneging later, now."
"Wouldn't dream of it."
I took her hand.
And then—
"My lord! My lord!"
"What's all the commotion?"
"You must come see the fields at once!"
"Hm?"
When I tilted my head, the servant who came sprinting reported in a breathless voice.
"Blade-hounds have appeared!"
Blade-hounds. Demon beasts shaped like dogs, covered in blue fur and as savage as wolves—beasts that devoured human flesh. They were among the most commonly encountered creatures in Cheonsang Myeongwol: if the Sonachal tended to appear in secret realms, the Blade-hound was what you ran into out in the open wilds. Of course, with even a modest measure of skill, they were hardly difficult to put down. Traveling through the mountains, they posed little more threat than the Wolf Ghosts one stumbled across on the road, or a pack of low-grade bandits.
And yet there was exactly one reason for all this fuss.
Blade-hounds nearly always moved as the underlings of a Mabok, a mid-tier demon beast.
By the time I reached the fields, a fair number of government soldiers were already on the scene.
"Innkeeper Yu. Welcome, welcome."
As a local notable of Seomhwa Village, I was greeted familiarly by the soldiers. Returning their salutes, I turned my gaze to the three grotesque blue-furred beasts lying sprawled dead in the field.
"It's fortunate we had soldiers on patrol. Otherwise, this could have turned very ugly indeed."
However weak Blade-hounds might be, three of them together could easily have made a meal of a farmer or two. Especially here at the village outskirts, where hardly a soul passed by—it would have been genuinely dangerous.
"Strange business, though. Who'd have thought Blade-hounds would turn up here of all places?"
"Stranger still, we found traces of a Mabok as well. But it appears the creature withdrew without launching any attack."
Walking with one of the soldiers to a spot well away from the field, we found a great many large paw prints pressed into the earth. Tiger tracks. I studied them a moment, then gave a nod.
"What will the authorities do about it?"
"Hmmm. For demon beasts to appear despite Mount Hongseong standing right there is a worrying matter... For now, we intend to strengthen the patrols. But... that Mabok weighs on my mind."
A Mabok—a demon beast with a tiger's body and a human face—was beyond what a soldier or two could handle. Unless one had trained properly in the martial arts, they might well find themselves on the losing end.
"We've already sent a request to the Hongseong Sect."
"Good thinking. Then I suppose I'll arrange a separate bounty for the Mabok's subjugation."
"Hm? Why would you do that, sir?"
Chae Jin, who had followed me out, asked in bewilderment, and I merely shrugged.
"Because this is my land."
"Oh... how much of it, exactly...?"
"Take a look around where you're standing."
Chae Jin turned a slow, full circle.
"Every rice paddy and every field your eyes can see belongs to me."
"You really are loaded?!"
A local notable. Not a title just anyone could hold. Truth be told, even I had been a little startled by the fortune I'd inherited when I took over Yu Wol's body. But that wasn't the point here.
"In any case, I'm counting on you."
"...Huh? Why?"
"What do you mean, why. This land is mine. My property."
"...Eh?"
The bewildered look on Chae Jin's face froze solid, and I smiled.
"Ha. Haha. R-right. As the eldest disciple of the prestigious Moon Lotus Pavilion, I do have to keep my promises... Of course... I-I absolutely will. Ahaha... AHAHAHAHAHA..."
Her voice was trembling.
Someone once said that life was all about timing. The ink on our deal wasn't even dry before this had to blow up—what was I supposed to do about it? I'd simply chalk it up as another of life's fine experiences and move on.
Still, watching her shake as though the tears might burst from her at any moment, moaning over the terrible injustice of it all, my heart softened a little—flesh and blood, after all.
"Bring down the Mabok, and I'll pay you a bounty of two taels of gold."
At that alone, the light returned to Chae Jin's face.
"Oh! What a splendid employer you are!"
Naturally, since she was hired as my bodyguard, I attached a condition: she wouldn't simply hunt the Mabok—she would also protect my property, meaning the people who worked this land.
But Chae Jin only kept up her brazen front.
"Fufufu! But of course. I am the eldest disciple of the time-honored, prestigious Moon Lotus Pavilion, and daughter of the Blade Emperor himself! Protecting the weak is simply what one must do!!"
This, from the woman who mere moments ago had been trembling on the verge of a full-blown sobbing fit over how unfair it all was. Shameless, truly. And if she was going to swagger about so boldly, the least she could do was hide those flaming red cheeks.
But pointing it out would only wreck her morale, so I resolved to keep my mouth shut.
"Is it true that Blade-hounds have appeared?"
Just then, a familiar voice rang out from behind us. I looked over to find three girls dressed in matching sect robes. Every one of them a face I knew.
Ryu Hyeon. Yu Hui. And Sa Yun.
...Huh? What are you doing here?
"Oh? Isn't that you, Innkeeper Yu? And beside you is..."
Sa Yun didn't seem to recognize her, but Ryu Hyeon clearly did. Perhaps that was why—her eyes narrowed to slits as she fixed Chae Jin with a look.
"What business does Moon Lotus Pavilion have here?"
A razor-edged tone. Considering the relationship between the Hongseong Sect and Moon Lotus Pavilion, I supposed I had to call that reaction downright cordial. And perhaps aware of the same, Chae Jin paid Ryu Hyeon's attitude no mind whatsoever, replying with breezy nonchalance.
"Oh my? As eldest disciple of the prestigious Moon Lotus Pavilion, aiding the common folk is simply my duty, is it not? Besides... the Innkeeper and I are nothing of the sort. Isn't that right?"
Well, she wasn't wrong. It would be quite a stretch to call an employer and his hired guard anything of the sort.