Chapter 240 : The Fruit
A welcome voice flew from afar.
But it flew from so far away that it didn't quite reach his ears.
[Hui. Is now a good time?]
Because Beak Seolhwa's voice echoed in his head instead.
They hadn't been able to contact each other often because their schedules didn't match and they were busy moving around.
Beak Seolhwa had refrained from contacting him so as not to disturb Namgung Hui, who she thought was engrossed in the Purple Thunder Divine Art.
And Namgung Hui also had no choice but to strictly refrain from contacting her, as Beak Seolhwa had said she had things to look into here and there.
Now that Namgung Hui had left home, there would be no in-depth training for the time being.
On top of that, since Beak Seolhwa had said she had visited all the places she needed to infiltrate, it seemed there would be no more covert movements in the future.
[Of course, I have all the time in the world. What have you been up to?]
[That's a relief. As for me, I've been looking around as usual. Oh, right. Muchi came to visit yesterday after a long time, and we said hello. He brought his wife and his recently born daughter to introduce them. His wife is a beauty, just as Muchi said. His daughter also takes after her mother and is incredibly cute.]
He had wondered why Muchi hadn't come to see him when he was in the Blood Cult, but it seemed his wife had recently given birth to a daughter.
'Still, seeing as her voice is bright, she must be doing really well. She seems somewhat excited, too.'
Namgung Hui felt a little disappointed, thinking he could only say one more thing.
If he could make time tomorrow, they could talk, but sometimes their schedules didn't match, or the communication artifact would malfunction.
It seemed to be related to the barrier spread across the Blood Cult, but it wasn't certain yet.
Or it could be a problem that occurred because the artifact was old and worn out.
Namgung Hui suddenly recalled what he had experienced a while ago and wondered if he should tell Beak Seolhwa about it, but it seemed he couldn't summarize everything in one sentence.
'I'll have to postpone this for the next opportunity.'
[That fellow Muchi. He's going to be called a doting father now. Ah, and Seolhwa. By any chance, when Muchi returned with us, didn't he bring some kind of sacred artifact? Like the Young Cult Leader's sacred artifact or the Saintess's Sacred Flame.]
[I don't know. He didn't show us anything in particular, did he? Rather, he even asked for our help in finding the sacred artifact or the Saintess. Anyway. I'll contact you again when I have time next.]
[...]
Just in case, he tried to infuse his internal energy into the artifact, but as expected, he couldn't get through.
With a sense of disappointment, Namgung Hui stood up from his seat.
Then, as if someone had been waiting, they spoke to him.
"Benefactor. Are you alright without sleeping?"
"And you, Escort Leader Bang, are you alright? I'm fine since I came comfortably in the carriage, but you were busy leading and organizing the situation, weren't you?"
Escort Leader Bang smiled sheepishly and said.
"Haha. This is my job, isn't it? Besides, I'm still in my prime, so one night is nothing."
As he said, his eyes were not sunken, and his gaze was clear.
Rather, his sharp focus was so intense that one could feel his strong determination.
He could get an indirect glimpse of how much effort he was putting into this escort mission.
"I see. But do you have something to say to me?"
"Yes. First, as a token of my gratitude to my benefactor, I thought I should at least show my sincerity, though it is small. Please accept this."
Namgung Hui just stared at the money pouch that Escort Leader Bang was handing him.
To him, a few silver coins like this were not a large sum of money, and since he had recently received 100 nyang of silver from Mo Socheon, he had plenty of cash to spend right now.
"It's alright. Please put the silver away for now. I'm not ignoring your sincerity, but I will receive it in another form."
"Haha. It's not silver. Please accept it and open it first."
As Escort Leader Bang said, he accepted the pouch that looked like a money pouch and opened it, and inside were small tree fruits.
However, as soon as Namgung Hui smelled it, he realized that these were no ordinary tree fruits.
"By any chance, pepper?"
"Oh! You recognize it. Then you must know how precious it is, right?"
Of course, Namgung Hui knew. It was a fruit that grew on the pepper tree and was used as a medicinal ingredient, but above all, its value as a spice was considerable.
In the West, it was so popular among the upper class that wars even broke out over this pepper tree, to the point that they couldn't sell enough of it.
Naturally, it was that expensive and rare.
So much so that it was difficult to obtain even with money.
'Pepper is mainly cultivated in Yunnan, a tropical region. But Yunnan has many swamps and is so far away that transporting it is said to be quite a struggle.'
"I don't know if I can accept something this precious."
"Haha. It's alright for you to accept that much. I didn't put that much in."
"Still, isn't this amount more expensive than gold? By any chance, do you have a favor to ask of me?"
"Yes. It's shameless of me, but I would like to ask for one favor. Could you lend me your ear for a moment?"
He looked around as if to have a secret conversation.
Namgung Hui also checked if there was anyone eavesdropping nearby and then offered his ear to Escort Leader Bang.
"I don't know if you've noticed, but our escorted goods are these pepper fruits. However, we received intelligence that someone is targeting our escort mission, as the information has leaked from somewhere. In fact, this is the reason why I can't sleep."
As soon as Namgung Hui heard it, he had a rough idea of where the information might have leaked from.
'The destination of the escort mission was said to be the Golden Merchant Guild. Since a secret power struggle with the Hoicheon Association is unfolding within the merchant guild, it's highly likely that the Hoicheon Association was the one to leak this information.'
If the escort mission failed, the escort agency would have to pay a huge amount of compensation.
Usually, this was set higher the lower the escort agency's credit rating was, and for an escort agency run by a small and medium-sized sect like the Hyeongmun Sect, it would probably be about five times the amount.
Since Namgung Hui had heard it from his brother who had been in the escort business until recently, the information should be somewhat accurate.
"So these pepper fruits are an advance payment for my escort fee, is that right?"
"Haha... Yes. It would be more comfortable for you to hear it that way."
"I like that you don't beat around the bush. If the down payment is this much, does that mean you can give me more after completion?"
"Of course. Not only me, but the Golden Merchant Guild will also compensate you generously. So, I'm saying, they will probably show their teeth in earnest at the next base, Ningxiang. In fact, this is probably why the Vicious Dog withdrew."
"Ah. You mean that since an unexpectedly strong master appeared, they will bring even better reinforcements to safely seize the escorted goods?"
"Yes. Although the Vicious Dog is one of the hundred great masters of the unorthodox path, doesn't that mean there are at least 100 people more outstanding than him? This time, it's obvious that they will bring someone from the upper ranks of the hundred great masters. So I'm asking... how much can you handle, young lady?"
"Me? I wonder. I haven't even properly seen the hundred great masters of the orthodox path, so I'm not sure how far I can handle the unorthodox path masters."
This was not Namgung Hui talking nonsense.
In fact, the Vicious Dog he had met before was not very high in martial prowess.
But his senses themselves were excellent, and as soon as he saw Namgung Hui, who had reached the state of returning to the origin, he realized that he was a master superior to himself.
This much showed that it was difficult to judge the ranking of the unorthodox path by simple realm.
Secret struggles were rampant, and besides martial arts, there were plenty of other means of attack.
They could poison the food.
They could hide a mechanism in a body part and use it for a one-hit kill.
Besides that, there were many times when they eliminated enemies by digging traps or through surprise attacks or pincer movements.
Rather, it was rare for them to decide the ranking through a frontal confrontation.
'Seolhwa was also poisoned by the Heretic Faction. And the Heretic Faction Leader is also a person who rose to the position of Faction Leader by defeating his martial brothers in such secret struggles.'
So, if one were to ask who was the more outstanding martial artist between a 50th-ranked master of the orthodox path and a 50th-ranked master of the unorthodox path, eight or nine out of ten would side with the orthodox path person.
But if they were to bet on which of the two would survive until the end, a large amount of money would be bet on the unorthodox path person in reverse.
That was something Namgung Hui also agreed with.
"Ah. I should have just slept when I had the chance."
"Th-Then. Would you like to get some sleep now? I will delay the journey by about half a day."
"I'm kidding. Do I look tired? And is there anything I should be particularly careful about?"
"Hmm... Food or sleeping arrangements. Shouldn't you be careful about everything from now on?"
"You should be careful too."
The slightly flustered Escort Leader Bang distanced himself from Namgung Hui and cleared his throat.
"Ahem. Even though I'm like this, I'm a devoted husband, and my wife is very beautiful. The young lady is also a beauty, but I will not let my eyes wander."
"Oh? That's not what I meant. I meant that you should also be careful about your food and sleeping arrangements, Escort Leader. Did I perhaps hit a nerve?"
"..."
Only then did Escort Leader Bang's face turn red.
In fact, since Namgung Hui had intended this, he smiled brightly and patted his shoulder.
"It's a joke. A joke. I said it as a way of asking you to take good care of me in the future. Because if you're too stiff, you'll look even more suspicious."
Escort Leader Bang scratched his cheek with an awkward laugh.
"Ah. So that's what it was. I thought... Anyway. I'll be in your care from now on. And as for things to be careful about, there are too many to carelessly bring up. As it happens, water bandits are appearing from the Yangtze River nearby, there are plenty of unorthodox path people heading to the Iron Blood Alliance recently, and the Green Forest is even stationed at the nearby Mount Yuelu, aren't they? Honestly, it wouldn't be strange if someone popped out and aimed for the escorted goods."
'What a ridiculous thing. If the Golden Merchant Guild establishes itself, public security should improve, but the Green Forest, which has joined hands with the Hoicheon Association, and other riffraff are running rampant.'
Of course, in normal times, they might be cooperative with the Golden Merchant Guild and even provide escorts, but since the current Golden Merchant Guild was planning to break away from the Association, their intervention might become even more severe.
The fact that the Hyeongmun Escort Agency was attacked now must be in a similar context.
'If so, the more I protect the escort mission, the more I'm weakening the Association's power. Good.'
"Then shall we depart now? It seems the other escorts have rested enough."
"Is that alright?"
"Yes. Let's do that."
Whether the escorts rested or not, once it turned into a battle of masters, they wouldn't have much of an impact.
At best, the Escort Leader Bang in front of him had a chance to intervene; it would be a relief if they didn't get in the way.
And so, Escort Leader Bang woke up the escorts and began to prepare for the escort mission.
"A-hoo... My body aches. The fatigue isn't going away. Is it because I'm getting old?"
"A fellow who's only just turned thirty is complaining about his age. Even Escort Leader Bang is full of energy. It's all because you're a weakling. Right. I have some medicine that's good for stamina. Want to buy some?"
"Ahem. If you had something like that, you should have said so earlier. How much is it?"
"Alright, alright! Stop the chatter and hurry up and prepare."
The escorts stopped their chatter and diligently checked the condition of the horses and carriages.
Escort Leader Bang personally inspected the escorted goods, then looked at Namgung Hui and nodded.
When the final inspection was complete, Escort Leader Bang looked at the group and shouted.
"Hyeongmun Escort Agency, depart!"
The flag-bearing warrior waved the flag vigorously and moved forward.
And the dignified departure of the Hyeongmun Escort Agency was able to leave Mangseong County smoothly.
Since they were following the main road, this time the unorthodox path people did not aim for the escort mission in broad daylight.
However, as expected, a problem occurred before they even reached the next county.
So much so that the carriage had to stop.
"Escort Leader Bang! We have a big problem! The bridge supports are all destroyed."
That's right.
The bridge of the river they had to cross was not just destroyed, but even the bridge supports had completely collapsed.
(End of Chapter)