Tales Of The Nine Dragons [EN]: Chapter 35

Gu-ryong Jeon-gi (35)

An Eye for an Eye, a Tooth for a Tooth

“What on earth happened?”

I asked, seeing Danri Hyeokjin lying in the inn room.

His face and body were bruised as if he had been beaten badly. The swelling hadn’t subsided, making him unrecognizable unless someone pointed him out.

“I’m not sure either. When I came out to the inn, I found him collapsed in the backyard of the kitchen.”

It was fortunate that he was still breathing. Hwa-rin even had to consider whether to teach Danri Hyeokjin martial arts.

‘He’s the strongest among the brawlers in Sanyang-hyeon [a district in a specific province]. So, mediocre guys couldn’t have done this to Danri Hyeokjin.’

He figured that even a third-rate martial artist, unless they were from the martial world, couldn’t have beaten Danri Hyeokjin to a pulp like this. He also wondered if he had gotten into a fight with a martial artist who was a guest at the inn.

“How long will it take for him to wake up?”

“Since he’s healthy, he’ll wake up in two or three days. But he injured his hand severely. The doctor said that he will have difficulty using his hand in the future.”

“His hand, you say?”

Hwa-rin looked at his hand.

“He won’t have trouble with daily life, but it seems like it will be difficult for him to lift and hold heavy things.”

“Have you informed Lady Soso of this fact?”

“Not yet.”

“Inform Lady Soso of his condition. And let me know when he wakes up.”

“Understood.”

Hwa-rin left the inn room.

“I didn’t know that working at an inn required not only physical labor but also emotional labor. With his hot temper, he used his fists without even recognizing his opponent…….”

Hwa-rin was convinced that he had ended up like that after fighting a martial artist.

“Anyway, if he can’t work at the inn, what kind of work should I give him?”

He already had many things to worry about, and now that Danri Hyeokjin was like that, one more thing had been added to his list of concerns.

“I’ll think about Hyeokjin later. The Hwamyeong Merchant Group said that the grains they import from the Travil Kingdom of the Western Regions will soon arrive at their warehouse.”

Hwa-rin had no intention of letting the Hwamyeong Merchant Group, who had played tricks targeting Gu-ryong-ru, get away with it.

“I don’t know how much grain there is, but if I use the spatial pocket of magic, I can hide their grain.”

Hwa-rin, who had advanced in both martial arts and magic through training, was able to learn some new things from the secret magic of the Beggars’ Sect.

He had achieved a union of martial arts and magic, but that was only with the magic he was learning at the time. The newly learned magic had to be united with martial arts through further training.

Hwa-rin had countless secret magic techniques of the Beggars’ Sect imprinted in his mind by his mother through the Illusionary Command Magic, but there were still many that he had not mastered due to insufficient magical power or training.

The spatial pocket that Hwa-rin mentioned was also a magic he had recently learned through training. It was a magic that created a storage space, like a warehouse, in the air using magic. It could store and retrieve a considerable amount of goods.

However, the disadvantage was that if the caster died, the things inside the spatial pocket would return to nothing, so inheritance or other people could not find and use them.

Hwa-rin thought about what could inflict the greatest damage on the Hwamyeong Merchant Group with a short amount of labor, and that was to steal the enormous amount of grain they were bringing in from the Travil Kingdom, causing them losses.

Hwa-rin had heard from Mi-ok when the Hwamyeong Merchant Group was bringing in the grain, and he planned to steal the grain.

“Since they are transporting a large amount of grain, the number of guards protecting it will be hundreds, but if I take advantage of the night, there will be no need to clash with them. I need to handle it quickly and return.”

* * *

Nyeongha in the Central Plains is a small autonomous region facing the Great Plains between Seoseong Province and Gamseok Province. It is small in area to be considered a province and considerable in area to be considered a city, so it is designated as a general autonomous administrative district. The Heungchin Orim Army is stationed here to monitor the invasion of the Great Plains or their actions, or to protect merchants trading with the Great Plains and the Travil Kingdom of the Western Regions above it.

The Heungchin Royal Palace, the head of the Heungchin Orim Army, was located in Euncheon, the largest city in Nyeongha.

Seokchwisan, located north of Nyeongha, has rugged mountains and many high peaks, so ordinary people do not go there often. However, merchants use the mountain road of this Seokchwisan for trade with the Great Plains and the Travil Kingdom because it can save a lot of time.

Since merchants frequented the area, inns naturally sprang up at the entrance of Seokchwisan, and with the inns, brothels selling alcohol and women also appeared.

As inns and brothels sprang up one by one, people flowed in, and peddlers engaged in businesses such as selling fabrics, accessories, and cosmetics to the courtesans working in the brothels would come here with their bundles and sell goods to the courtesans.

Starting with this, a small village has been formed now after the passage of time.

There was a large inn operated by the Hwamyeong Merchant Group in this Seokchwisan, which was built for the people of the merchant group who purchased grain from the Travil Kingdom to use, rather than accepting outside guests for business.

Tonight, the lights of the Hwamyeong Inn were unusually bright, and the sounds of people laughing and talking were heard noisily.

“Hahaha, so, is the breast of that Western Regions woman bigger than the girl’s breast?”

“You are a dumpling, and she is a steamed bun.”

The courtesan raised her chest with both hands at the sound of her chest being small and said.

“I’m big too.”

“That’s why I said dumpling. King dumpling!”

“Hahahahaha.”

The Hwamyeong Merchant Group called the courtesans from the surrounding area to the Hwamyeong Inn so that the people of the merchant group could enjoy entertainment when they brought in grain, in case there were any difficulties due to unexpected incidents or accidents.

Therefore, the brothels that sprang up at the entrance of Seokchwisan sent not only the working courtesans but also all the women, regardless of age, to the Hwamyeong Inn to generate revenue on the days when the Hwamyeong Merchant Group brought in grain.

In the warehouse behind the Hwamyeong Inn, grains brought from the Travil Kingdom were piled up, and there were ten people guarding the place.

“Ugh, why did I have to be on duty today?”

The guards guarding the warehouse grumbled as they listened to the laughter of men and women.

Everyone took turns working fairly, so there were no complaints, but the human mind is such that when others are playing, I also want to play.

“Today, I’ll put both hands on the chest of that old Yinghua…….”

The guards guarding the warehouse enjoyed themselves by telling lewd jokes.

At that moment!

Swoosh…….

Something flew out of the darkness with a sharp tearing sound, cutting through the air towards the guards on guard.

“Keuh!”

They fell to the ground without knowing what they had been hit by, and when other colleagues who saw this tried to move in surprise, a masked man appeared from the darkness and swung his sword at them.

“Heot!”

They were surprised by the sudden attack of the stranger and tried to defend, but the opponent’s sword was a little faster.

Swish…… Swish…… Swish…….

The guards guarding the warehouse fell without even defending properly.

In an instant, ten guards fell, and the stranger gathered the corpses, moved them to the back of the warehouse, and then returned to open the door of the warehouse.

The warehouse was full of grain, at least hundreds… no, it looked like thousands of bags. The wide warehouse was so full of grain that there was no gap.

“That’s a huge amount.”

The person who raided the warehouse was none other than Hwa-rin.

Hwa-rin closed the door of the warehouse and then made a dot in the air with his hand.

Goooooong!

Then, a small space appeared in the air and gradually expanded, creating a gap in the space large enough for an adult man to enter.

“Unjo Iraz Haturaz Aguso…….”

Strange incantations flowed from Hwa-rin’s mouth, and a small change occurred in the gap in the space.

Due to the strong suction force pulling from the gap in the space, the bags containing the grain were sucked into the gap in the space.

“I wonder if I can put it all in at once since there is a lot of grain.”

Only for a moment, the large amount of grain was all put into the spatial pocket in an instant as if it could be put in infinitely.

The grain bags that had filled the warehouse tightly without any gaps were all put into the spatial pocket and stored without leaving a single one.

The spatial pocket was in place as if waiting for Hwa-rin’s next command after doing its job.

When a strange incantation flowed out of Hwa-rin’s mouth again, the spatial pocket gradually shrank, turning into a small dot, and eventually disappeared.

“It won’t be boring. I can go back after finishing work in the morning.”

Hwa-rin, looking at the empty warehouse, smiled with satisfaction and disappeared from the warehouse.

* * *

“How could this happen!”

Hwasaengbang, the third-in-command of the Hwamyeong Merchant Group in charge of grain transportation, was stunned to see the empty warehouse.

“Overnight…….”

“Master, the guards who were guarding the back of the warehouse are dead.”

“What!”

Hwasaengbang hurriedly ran to see the fallen guards at the news that the guards were dead.

Some of the guards had daggers stuck in their bodies, and others had sword wounds.

“Judging from the fact that daggers were used and the sword wounds on the guards’ bodies are similar, it seems that everyone was attacked by one person.”

The head guard looked at the wounds on the guards’ bodies and was convinced that they had been attacked by one person and said.

“Head Guard Jang, can you tell if there is any martial arts involved in their wounds? If you find that out, you can find out who the culprit is, right?”

“It’s beyond my ability. But if you take the body to the main branch and bring an expert to investigate, you will be able to find out quickly.”

“There has never been such a thing before…….”

“I’m sorry. It is my responsibility as the head guard for not protecting the grain. I should have been on guard duty with you.”

“I’m not trying to find fault. First, send the bodies to the main house. I will send the details by messenger bird. And you should have the guards look for anyone who took the grain. If they loaded and left with that much grain, there will definitely be traces of wagon wheels left.”

“Understood.”

Hwasaengbang took the measures he could take now and then took a long breath.

“Yeongcheon Merchant Group has been eyeing our grain transportation…… I hope those guys didn’t do this.”

The Yeongcheon Merchant Group, which had been greedy for grain transportation for several years, was supporting the Saheolmeng [a secret society] as the Saheolmeng and the Demonic Cult expanded their power, and the Eastern and Western Poisons of the Yeongcheon Merchant Group were openly expressing their greed for the Yeongcheon Merchant Group’s grain transportation rights.

If the Yeongcheon Merchant Group had done this, the Hwamyeong Merchant Group might have to fight a difficult battle.

“My brother will take care of it. Anyway, I suffered a huge loss from this incident, how should I make up for this loss.”

Hwasaengbang frowned, pressing his head with his fingers as if he had a headache.

“First, I need to send a messenger bird to my brother and then go back to the Travil Kingdom to bring grain.”

Hwasaengbang went to his room where he had unpacked his luggage to send a messenger bird to Hwajeongsu.

After writing the same content on the feet of the three messenger birds in the cage, he sent all three of them flying.

The reason for sending three messenger birds was simple.

While the messenger bird was flying towards its destination, it was often attacked and killed by other birds of prey, so if only one was sent and it was attacked and killed by a bird of prey, the time it took to go back and forth would be longer, so it was to deliver the news more reliably.

The three messenger birds flapped their wings vigorously towards the sky and flew towards their destination.

The moment the messenger birds left the inn and tried to get out of the entrance of Seokchwisan, the three messenger birds suddenly fell at the same time and crashed to the ground and died.

“This will buy me some more time.”