The Caravan Begins
The caravan had finally set out.
How long had it been since they left the provincial capital? Every so often the flat paddies and wetlands fell away on either side, and the horses’ hooves began to strike a dirt road that rose gently into low hills.
Clip-clop—! Clip-clop—!
The makeup of the caravan was simple enough. At the head rode Hwang Pil and Gwak Yeon side by side—the overall commander of the caravan and the commander of its escort. Behind them rattled six carts and wagons. Flanking the middle of the column, Cheon Gang and Gwak Ho-shin rode guard on either side. High above, Heoksijo circled and kept watch on every direction.
“Caw—! Caw—!”
Bringing up the rear, four warriors of the Cheonhae Merchant Group followed the last wagon. That was the whole formation.
Hmm.
Gwak Yeon, guiding his horse, took stock. Even counting the drivers and porters, the party numbered fewer than twenty—an unusually lean caravan. Which meant only one thing.
There are experts among them.
Having reached that conclusion, Gwak Yeon loosened his grip on the reins and spoke to the man riding at his side.
“By the way, Caravan Master Hwang… it seems you trained in the martial arts.”
“Ha-ha. You can tell, can you?”
“A man of real skill has a certain air about him.”
“Before I came to the merchant group I was a hot-blooded sort myself. Cut my teeth in an escort agency.”
“So you were an escort, then.”
“And not just any escort—I even played chief of escorts for a while, far above my station, then ran off to the merchant group. Ha-ha.”
“Ah.”
One light tap and the information poured out. A chief of escorts was the man who led the rough-edged warriors of an escort agency—a post that demanded both skill and long experience. And there, rising faintly through the bushy beard, was that quiet, pride-tinged smile. It was the air that only a fighter confident in his own strength could carry.
“I’ll learn a great deal on this trip. I look forward to working with you.”
“Ha-ha. What’s with the humility? This from the man who beat Young Master Baek of the Jusan Baek Family.”
“That was just a scrap between greenhorns.”
“Ho—! And modest on top of it. Just as they say—you really are Young Master Gwak.”
“Ah, you may call me Pavilion Master now, if you like.”
“Eh? How could I possibly address the young master of the great Seoho Gwak Family so casually?”
“Still, this is an official caravan.”
“Ha-ha! If we’re being precise, it’s a special caravan.”
There was steel under the words. On the surface it sounded like easy, generous courtesy; underneath, it was a refusal to accept Gwak Yeon as the formal head of the escort for this journey. Gwak Ho-shin had joined them as well—but only as an invited warrior under Gwak Yeon’s Iyeongak. Insisting on “Young Master” instead of the title
Master of Iyeongak
was, in its way, the attitude a caravan master seasoned in escort work and merchant life might take. A matter of pride—and a test. It usually had nothing to do with whose martial arts were stronger.
Having shown that stance, Hwang Pil suddenly leaned from the saddle and murmured as if confiding a secret.
“Young Master. About that…”
Gwak Yeon leaned in as well so the whisper reached him.
“Forgive the presumption, but may I ask one thing?”
“Of course.”
“Your younger brother who joined us this time—he’s rather famous, isn’t he? How would you say the two of you compare in martial skill?”
“You’re asking who would win if we fought?”
“Ah—when you put it like that it gets a little awkward.”
“That… is a secret.”
“Ha-ha! I thought you’d say that!”
Hwang Pil slapped his forehead in good-natured defeat at Gwak Yeon’s playful answer. The exchange had been short, yet it still carried the sense that the man valued martial prowess while treating the weight of this escort duty a touch lightly.
…He still doesn’t know.
“Please take it as simple curiosity from one martial man to another. I never for a moment meant to test the brotherly bond between you!”
“Then may I ask something in return?”
“Ask away!”
“Caravan Master Hwang—among the people of the Cheonhae Merchant Group traveling with us now, you’re the strongest, aren’t you?”
“Ha-ha! That one I can answer straight off!”
“So you are.”
“Embarrassing as it is, I don’t have a brother to compare myself against the way you do, Pavilion Master—so I have no choice but to admit it.”
“Haha. Now I’m the one left looking awkward for not answering.”
“It’s fine, ha-ha!”
Gwak Yeon was curious about the truth behind the man’s manner. In the merchant world, if there was profit to be had, they would strip a martial artist down to his underclothes. Anything he had not seen with his own eyes had to be filtered carefully—something a man who had lived a previous life knew all too well.
More than that: Gwak Yeon had already finished taking their measure.
Never mind that they still refuse to recognize me as a proper escort… he’s lying.
Gwak Yeon glanced back. He had already spread his vampire’s keen senses, so he already knew.
Clip-clop—! Clip-clop—!
The strongest person from the Cheonhae Merchant Group on this caravan was riding in the wagon farther behind.
Why join us like this?
The woman who had come as the little boy Yeo Baek-rang’s bodyguard.
…A master of that caliber.
She was clearly far stronger than this Caravan Master Hwang.
Rattle, rattle.
Inside the moving wagon, Ju Hwa-jeong sat facing Yeo Baek-rang and spoke with a serious expression.
“Young Group Master.”
“What’s with you, Nanny? Why so stiff?”
“This is your first official caravan. Didn’t we agree that from now on we would use titles proper to our stations?”
“Nanny!”
“Shh.”
Ju Hwa-jeong laid a finger against her lips. She glanced out the window, then gave a firm little nod of her head.
“Young Group Master—a merchant’s tongue must be handled more carefully than a thousand pieces of gold. Especially when you have people serving under you, as you do now! In settings like this, please call me your bodyguard.”
“Ugh.”
“And earlier, you said something you needn’t have said.”
“What?”
“At the meeting before we left. That business about how being solemn is cool… why did you say a thing like that?”
“I don’t know. Guess I’m the biggest idiot under heaven.”
Yeo Baek-rang folded his arms and shut his eyes. Seeing that sulky face, Ju Hwa-jeong fought desperately not to laugh and pressed on.
“On second thought… it might even be a good thing. Putting the other party off their guard and then taking the profit is also a merchant’s craft. If that was what you intended, Young Group Master, you might be a born genius.”
“I put him off his guard? Me? That guy?”
“Which guy?”
“That annoying one over there.”
“Ah.”
Yeo Baek-rang jerked his chin toward the far distance. Ju Hwa-jeong knew at once whom he meant.
Gwak Yeon.
The man now heading the group called Iyeongak and responsible for escorting this caravan—this little young master was still very much conscious of him.
“You mean Young Master Gwak Yeon?”
“What’s so ‘Young Master’ about him?”
“Why not find out for yourself how Young Master Gwak thinks of you, Young Group Master? Striking up a conversation can be a fine strategy.”
“Don’t want to. I don’t like that guy.”
“A caravan carries the profits of countless people. Sometimes you must learn to work hand in glove even with those you find uncongenial.”
“…”
“You are the future of our Cheonhae Merchant Group, Young Group Master. You must know how to handle many people—and for that, you must experience many kinds of people.”
Ju Hwa-jeong smiled gently as she offered the advice.
“Especially sharing a journey with someone as uncomfortable as that Gwak Yeon will be a great experience for you.”
“It’s all a pain. I just want to get stronger.”
“You are already bound to become stronger than that Gwak Yeon, Young Group Master.”
“Really?”
“Wielding vast wealth like a family heirloom treasure—that is how powerful a force it is in this world—”
“Tch. Not that kind of strong.”
Yeo Baek-rang propped his chin on the window frame. Seeing him look a little disappointed, Ju Hwa-jeong continued in a coaxing tone.
“In any case, this is the first caravan the Young Group Master who will one day lead the Cheonhae Merchant Group is experiencing. As far as you can, I hope you will keep the dignity of a Young Group Master and cultivate the bearing that matches it.”
That was before the boy stuck his head out the window and pulled it back in with a flushed, excited face.
“But… if I asked that bird to talk with me, that wouldn’t be okay, right?”
“…Absolutely not.”
A caravan, by nature, is a long stretch of monotony. It is not some Jianghu pleasure trip of boat rides and flower-viewing with fine wine and food at every turn.
Even so, in a situation where the merchant group’s faintly testing attitude toward Gwak Yeon and the Iyeongak escorting them could easily breed tension—
“We’re resting here—! Resting here—!”
Heoksijo became a convenient excuse that eased the awkwardness between them.
“Give me some of that too—! Looks tasty—!”
It was not only the child Yeo Baek-rang who found the talking spiritual beast fascinating. Cheon Gang, with his already fierce face. Gwak Ho-shin, whose air made conversation difficult. And Gwak Yeon, always speaking with the caravan master. The people of the Cheonhae Merchant Group, who had had no natural point of contact with any of them, began one by one to strike up conversation.
“Truly a wondrous spiritual beast. Does it belong to a great house?”
“Actually it used to travel with Baek Jung-hyeok of the Jusan Baek Family.”
“Then…?”
“Yes. Once our young master—well, our Pavilion Master—beat Baek Jung-hyeok, the bird followed him.”
“My word, that’s remarkable.”
“Of course, the fact that it listens so well now is thanks to my training—!”
“Don’t make me laugh—! You idiot—!”
“Pfft.”
Every time they stopped to rest at a staging point, scenes like this began to appear. One day, two days, three…
Cheon Gang laughing and joking freely with the caravan’s laborers, drivers, and warriors. Heoksijo circling overhead and muttering all the while. Day by day they grew more at ease with one another. Even with Gwak Ho-shin—whom everyone had avoided for his terrifying presence and reputation—a few people began occasionally to speak.
Clip-clop—! Clip-clop—!
And so several days passed.
“A post station—! It’s a post station—!”
After a road lined with tea fields on both sides, it came into view: a building with long willow branches trailing down. A government-managed post station. They had come in to rest the horses and fill empty stomachs.
“We eat here and then move on!”
“Very good!”
Gwak Yeon dismounted, took the reins, and entered the post station shoulder to shoulder with Caravan Master Hwang. He glanced back. Cheon Gang was coming in, trading loud jokes with the merchant group’s people. Gwak Ho-shin, not quite as sociable but willing at least to share a meal, and Heoksijo trailing after him overhead. By now everyone had mixed together to a fair degree.
Whicker!
The moment they stepped down from the wagon, two figures headed straight for a private room of the post station.
Again.
Yeo Baek-rang and Ju Hwa-jeong. It had been like this the whole way—as if they were deliberately avoiding any chance to mingle, so that their true thoughts would not be exposed.
Gwak Yeon allowed himself a thin smile. He had already caught every conversation. With his vampire’s finely honed senses, he had listened in on them whenever he was bored; there were no secrets left for him.
Is that woman trying to turn the brat into some kind of emperor?
Most of it had been lectures on wealth and talent, and how to test the abilities of the people you work with—the bodyguard Ju Hwa-jeong schooling Yeo Baek-rang. That she was not truly a bodyguard but a nanny was another fact Gwak Yeon had already uncovered. No matter how quietly they whispered, this vampire’s keen senses already far outstripped those of most experts.
And that was not all.
“Yes, yes, Young Group Master. Understood. I’ll keep it in mind.”
Gwak Yeon already knew where the orders came from when Caravan Master Hwang bowed outside that private room. Even while the caravan held the lead, Hwang had sometimes dropped back beside the rear wagon to take Yeo Baek-rang’s instructions. All of it was part of the successor’s lessons for the little boy—but what mattered right now was something else.
“Well then, please enjoy your meal.”
Click.
Caravan Master Hwang closed the door of the private room and came out. The man approaching with a deliberately grave look on his face—Gwak Yeon had already overheard what he was about to say.
“Young Master Gwak. After the meal, it seems we shall have to take the mountain road.”
“Crossing the range will put us well behind schedule.”
“Ah, I’m not suggesting we cross the whole of it.”
“Then what?”
“See there—the ridge running left of that rocky mountain? If we cut across that way we can actually shorten the journey by two or even three days.”
Beyond the post station wall the mountain range spread out. Caravan Master Hwang pointed toward some part of it.
“Hmm.”
Gwak Yeon pretended to weigh the idea. Of course he already knew.
So it’s begun.
The Cheonhae Merchant Group’s real test of his abilities had started in earnest. The nanny and Caravan Master Hwang had coordinated this to watch how he handled sudden situations, crisis control, and real combat. Because the road Hwang was proposing would lead them straight into a Green Forest bandit stronghold swarming with outlaws.
Of course—
“…Well, as you say.”
As long as it got him to the Hubei Pang Family faster, a pack of bandits was no problem at all for the Gwak Yeon of now.