Reincarnation of the Martial Emperor

Chapter 31: I’m going to be the one to burst that yolk.

A steward.

Or, in a larger organization, a senior steward.

When it came to the livelihood of a faction, not its martial might, this was the position second to one and above all others.

Of course, the principle of distributing wealth was set by the faction's supreme leader.

However, the supreme leader could not control all the paths of silver that were entangled like a spider's web, from the highest institutions to the most junior organizations.

That was why, when considering the appointment of a senior steward, I preferred someone whose personal relationships were extremely dry.

One might think that because they have to soothe and manage many people, it would be better to choose a more flexible person.

But if it was someone whose heart grew numb before those who approached shouting, ‘We’re all family!’, then the state of that faction’s coffers was obvious.

Right, this one is pitiful, and that one needs to be taken care of more. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ n0velfire.net

If the steward's heart was filled with only such good intentions, there was no way any silver would remain.

Therefore, by simply observing the steward, one could grasp the character of the supreme leader who led the faction.

At some point, I found myself trying to read my father's values through the eyes of this steward, who was currently scanning my list of expenditures.

“Forgive my impertinence, but may I know the reason for setting a monthly salary of six gold coins for someone with no official position?”

Of course, he was talking about the Blood Demon’s monthly salary.

“He’s my Martial Companion. It’s normal. To invite such a master and keep him as a Martial Companion, you have to spend that much money. If you think about his reputation, it’s rather cheap, don’t you think?”

“It is not possible. The monthly salary for the heads of the outer halls is also five silver coins.”

“I’m telling you he’s worth that much. What if I gain enlightenment while sparring with him and reach the Transformation Realm? Could you convert that value into silver?”

“Naturally, I cannot gauge the value of such martial prowess. Nor do I need to know such things.”

I was slowly starting to lose my temper.

“Please grant him a position befitting six gold coins. Until then, I will not execute this, even if it kills me.”

“Are you really going to be like this?”

“Yes.”

At that, the steward’s mouth closed firmly.

His brow quickly furrowed.

“Then isn’t there something like a private fund under my name? Or a pre-determined inheritance.”

“There is not.”

Wow, look at that grim face.

The person who had warmly welcomed me just a moment ago had become a completely different person the instant he was handed the expenditure list.

‘The third young master doesn’t even have an allowance?’

Just like that, I read the Jaegal Clan’s family customs at a single glance.

I should have known from the moment they shoved all the family’s young prodigies into the Nine Phoenix Gates.

Now it was certain.

This family of mad scholars was, if anything, more extreme than the notoriously ruthless Sichuan Tang Clan, never less.

“But still, I’m the third young master?”

“I am aware. Then you must also possess the capability to grant him a suitable position.”

Was he, by any chance, mocking me right now?

Aside from my glamorous status as the third young master and the authority to select the disciples of the Phoenix Martial Emperor Pavilion, I had virtually no power within this Jaegal Clan.

“So what this steward is saying is, you’re telling me to go get my father’s permission like a little kid, is that it?”

Perhaps sensing my mood, the steward’s expression quickly changed at my contorted face.

“Oh, it is a misunderstanding. I am merely stating the principles and clan law to you, Third Young Master. I have no other intentions whatsoever.”

“Hmph.”

The steward, who had been cautiously sipping his tea, carefully asked again.

“Forgive my impertinence, but may I know why you are going to such lengths for him?”

It was a reasonable question for him to have.

Even setting aside his grudge with the Jaegal Clan, the man was, after all, the Blood Demon of the Demonic Cult.

However, sometimes, silver becomes the most powerful motivation to move a person’s heart.

Moreover, if he was dreaming of the revival and reconstruction of the Demonic Cult, no amount of silver would ever be enough.

Though he might be anxious, being able to live in the Jaegal Clan, which could be considered a temporary safe house, while even receiving a monthly salary, he would think there was nothing better.

Of course, I would use that comfort of his.

“Money is like that. It tames people easily. Once you start receiving it, you’ll be reluctant to see it stop, and naturally, you can’t treat the person giving you the money carelessly. That’s how an implicit hierarchical relationship is formed.”

“That will not do.”

I furrowed my brow as I watched my father enter the steward’s office.

“No, Father, you don’t seem to understand. Originally, to invite a master of the Transformation Realm as an attendant or a Martial Companion—”

“A hundred gold coins would not be a waste.”

Damn it, and he knows that?

“The reason I do not permit it is because of your way of treating people. Trying to bind human relationships with money. Trying to buy a superior position in such a relationship with money. Do you truly not know how dangerous an act that is?”

I smiled bitterly.

Those were not words for this Martial Emperor, the emperor of connections, renowned for his heaven-sent social skills, to hear.

Did he really think I did it because I didn’t know how futilely a relationship built on money could crumble?

That was me seeing the Blood Demon as just that.

A disposable bone tile.

There was no reason for me to share a deep bond with a Demonic Cult member, nor did I want to.

Surely the Jaegal Clan felt no different from me?

“Then are you telling me to build a deep friendship with a Demonic Cult member? Damn it, should we go have a drink or something?”

“How could that be?”

What in the world was this man telling me to do?

A chilly energy began to weave densely in my father's eyes.

“Why should the family’s assets be consumed for such sentiments of yours?”

A transparent question, devoid of any emotion.

Right, so that’s how it was.

I had finally read all of my father, Jaegal Myeong-won’s, values.

That there was no distinction between public and private.

Not in the sense of being unruly as people generally meant, but literally, a person who judged all matters publicly.

Since he even included family within that public sphere, should I say this was actually better for me?

‘This is rather easy.’

Before my father’s permission was even granted, I began to pull out and examine the ledgers tucked away on the office bookshelf.

If this was the Jaegal Clan’s attitude, there was a very easy way.

My head was already throbbing just looking at the blackened pages filled with dense text.

Accounting should have been all about numbers, yet it was rampant with justifications for expenditures and explanatory footnotes.

I wondered if the ledgers were like this because they were an orthodox faction that attached a justification to every small matter, but then I saw they had attached reasons for the food expenses of blood relatives as well…….

This was just because it was the Jaegal Clan, because it was my father.

The family custom of scholars driven mad by cause and logic.

I had expected it to some extent, but this was far more severe than I thought.

“Why do you attach reasons even for family members eating a meal?”

The hesitant steward finally answered.

“If there is an increase or decrease compared to the previous month, the reason must be recorded.”

“Argh, damn. So if someone suddenly craves expensive food, do you have to write down that gluttony too?”

Besides such changes in a person’s palate, there were countless other factors for the increase or decrease in food expenses.

Market prices according to the harvest, changes in suppliers, even the weather could change the purchasing cost.

If ingredients spoiled quickly on a hot day, were they going to write that down as a reason too?

“Father, this is a waste of administrative power. Things won’t run smoothly this way.”

“That is right. This method is indeed very taxing.”

At that moment, my father took out the Medicine Hall’s ledger from the bookshelf and held it out to me.

“Look again.”

As I opened the ledger to read, my father’s words continued.

“Everything can be identified. When you suffered from what illness. How the symptoms of the Six Viscera Strange Disease worsened and improved. The ingredients of the medicinal soup you consumed. The place where those medicinal herbs were purchased and the list of merchants. The wages used to brew the medicinal soup.”

“……Are you saying it’s an anti-espionage record for a ‘just in case’ scenario?”

In that instant, my father’s eyes shone fiercely like a wildcat’s.

“If someone were to poison you, I could identify them within half a day.”

A chill ran down my spine.

Not moving after a situation has occurred, but preparing before it even happens.

Even in this small ledger that recorded the comings and goings of silver, the Jaegal Clan had infused the very methods of a strategist.

“Of course, it would be simpler to only leave traces of silver coming and going. The steward would be more comfortable, and I too would be spared the trouble of supervising. But that is merely the easy way. Such a comfortable path cannot be used to manage the rise and fall of the family.”

In that moment, a chill ran over me, and a shock went through my mind.

I realized it.

Why those Murim Alliance bastards were so quick to react to everything.

If even a common ledger was recorded with such diligence, there would be no need for a separate intelligence network.

I had finally realized that for the orthodox faction bastards, an ‘incident’ was not about resolving what had happened, but about retracing what had occurred.

‘Damn it, so it was to this extent.’

To track down the culprit who caused an incident, our Great Murim Alliance always sought out the Night King’s Gate.

The bastards from Night King’s Gate, whose intelligence network was comparable to the Beggar’s Gang, always demanded an astronomical amount of money.

But the orthodox faction bastards, no, the strategists of the Murim Alliance, would have immediately started rummaging through their ledgers, just like now.

Naturally, they would have found many clues within them.

How much silver did they save that way?

Suddenly, my stomach started to hurt.

‘Hmm…….’

Simply recording things in detail.

It was certainly a small task, but its implications were by no means small.

After carefully examining over thirty ledgers, I realized two things.

A reflection on how extravagantly I had run the Great Murim Alliance.

And the fact that the history of a faction could be recorded just by a ledger that detailed the flow of money.

Of course, I was also able to quickly discover what I had been looking for, the characteristic blind spot of an orthodox faction family.

When I came to my senses, my father, surprisingly, was waiting for me.

For a father busy with official duties, four hours was by no means a short amount of time.

“What did you see?”

I stated what I felt without adding or subtracting anything.

“We’re a poorer family than I thought.”

The emotion that appeared on my father’s face was bewilderment.

A face that said he had not expected such an answer at all.

“This family is a wealthy one, vying for the top position among the Five Great Clans. What on earth made you feel that way?”

From my perspective of having managed the Great Murim Alliance, it was, how should I put it, a sort of poverty experience.

My father probably couldn’t even imagine how obsessed I had been with that damn silver.

“The income is too low.”

With eight subordinate inns, three escort agencies run by branch families, a whopping twenty tea houses, and even a promissory note business.

To think that they were barely earning five thousand gold coins while operating a business of this scale.

“These tea houses. What are their trade items?”

“It varies by season, but ninety percent of it is Biluochun.”

What?

Of course, Biluochun also varies by grade.

But the highest-grade Dongting Biluochun mostly crosses the tributaries of the Yangtze River to Anhui or Jiangsu.

That was because it was traded at a much higher price than in Wuhan.

Above all, considering the vast territory of the Central Plains, Wuhan was practically a stone’s throw away from the production area of Biluochun.

Due to the nature of trade, it was impossible for tea from a nearby region to generate significant profit.

“You’d make more profit trading things like Baihao Yinzhen or Longjing tea. What profit is there in selling Biluochun, which is produced right next door?”

“However, the teas you mentioned are primarily handled by Hebei and the Namgung.”

I couldn’t help but burst out laughing at the typically orthodox way of thinking.

The Jaegal Clan’s commercial power was not in much competition with our Great Murim Alliance, so I hadn’t paid it any mind, but the Namgung were different.

I already knew that the Namgung were making a lot of money distributing Longjing tea.

“So you’re saying you’re too scared to touch it because the ones who already have the yolk are scary, is that it?”

There was a reason why the Peng Clan and the Namgung were so close.

They were partners who joined forces to plan things and share the profits.

A smirk.

“That yolk. I’m thinking of trying to crack it.”

“What did you say?”

There was more to the gist of what I felt while looking at the Jaegal Clan’s ledgers.

They stopped too much.

It was good to be frugal and save, but they turned a blind eye at the very point where they needed to invest.

That’s the Murim Alliance, this is Namgung, that’s Wudang.

Naturally, every floor where money was involved was a place where you couldn’t even stick a needle.

To survive in such an endless hell, you had to squeeze into the gap another needle had made and drive a spear into it.

“Instead, I will take all the profits that arise from it. It’s obvious you won’t be able to do it anyway, Father.”

Now, all I had to do was wait.

I said I would spend the money I earned, so how would my father, that incarnation of public duty, react?

Of course.

I was, contrary to expectations, very good at making money.