Chapter 237
The Youngest Son of the Eunhae Trading Company Chapter 237
Chapter 237. Here it was (2)
The Northern Sea Ice Palace Head smiled at me.
Until then, he had been smiling slightly, but it felt a little forced.
But now, it was a genuine smile.
“Really, that child was such a troublemaker when he was young... I can't even tell you.”
“You mean our Master?”
Our Master, who is usually taciturn and rarely expresses his emotions, was a troublemaker when he was young!
I couldn't imagine it at all.
“That's why his father, Seolpung Palace Head, often consulted with me out of concern. But I should have been the one to give birth to and raise a child. How could he ask me, who had never even been married, for such advice?”
“....”
You're not married yet.
Wait a minute...
Judging from the fact that you refer to the former Palace Head Seolpung as your friend and your master as that child, you seem to be quite old.
But the Palace Head only looked to be in his early twenties.
“I wonder how he is now. I wonder if he has matured or if he is still the same...”
The Palace Head continued.
“I heard that he is alive, but I haven't seen him since then.”
“I see. To be honest, he is so quiet and serious that I wonder if the Master you know is the same person you are talking about.”
“He grew up well. He used to wet his pants when I scolded him...”
“Gah!”
I almost spit out my tea at his sudden remark.
But soon, my mouth felt bitter.
“That must have been very painful for him.”
“...”
Not only did he lose his home, but most of his family members were also killed.
He was lucky to have survived.
Perhaps he changed as he grew older, but he must have changed completely when the palace was destroyed and he took over the maintenance.
Perhaps he became taciturn in order to suppress his grief.
However, there was something I couldn't understand.
The look in the Palace Head's eyes when he saw the Silver Sword earlier.
The emotion in his eyes was clearly longing.
The object of that longing was undoubtedly his former master, Seolpoonggung.
In other words, the former Seolpoonggung and the Northern Sea Ice Palace were very close.
Close enough to call each other friends.
Furthermore, considering the relationship between the Northern Sea Ice Palace and Seolpoonggung, they were practically blood allies.
Why did the Northern Sea Ice Palace not react at all when such a place was destroyed?
“Actually, the reason I asked you to come here is to talk about a few things and ask you for a favor in return for your kindness. You said you were leaving tomorrow.”
The Northern Sea Ice Palace finally got to the point.
“It's fine.”
“No, it is our palace's law. So please do not feel obligated.”
Then what should he say?
After much deliberation, he decided to ask for an answer to one question.
This answer would be the basis for determining whether the Northern Sea Ice Palace would be his ally or enemy in the future.
Rumors were circulating that the Northern Sea Ice Palace had destroyed the Snow Wind Palace, so I needed to confirm the facts.
From what the Palace Head had said about the previous Snow Wind Palace Head and my Master, I could guess that there was some kind of situation, but I thought I needed to get to the bottom of it.
I could have asked my Master, but it would have been cruel to bring back those memories.
I wanted to hear it directly from the Northern Sea Ice Palace Head.
“Then please answer one question.”
“Yes, please.”
“When Seolpung Palace was destroyed, why didn't the Northern Sea Ice Palace help? At the very least, you could have prevented the destruction.”
“...”
The Northern Sea Ice Palace's expression darkened.
Was he thinking about what happened back then?
What could have been the reason?
I became nervous without realizing it, and my mouth went dry.
I wanted to drink some tea, but I couldn't bring myself to reach for the teacup. I couldn't miss a single word.
“I think so too. If our palace had intervened, Seolpung Palace would not have been destroyed.”
She sighed and continued.
“But we couldn't intervene that day.”
“Do you mean that you didn't help, or that you couldn't help?”
“That's right.”
The expression on her face as she answered was clearly one of anger.
“Why wouldn't we help them? Not only are they closely related to our palace, but our disciples' children are there.”
“...”
“Once every five years, everyone in our Northern Sea Ice Palace, except for the essential security personnel, heads north. If we don't periodically eliminate the spiritual beasts in the north, they become uncontrollable.”
“Isn't the Seolpung Palace responsible for dealing with the spiritual beasts of the North Sea?”
“They cannot handle all the spiritual beasts of the North Sea. So we took care of this side, and they took care of that side. However, this side is the territory of our Northern Sea Ice Palace, so others did not know about it.”
“I see.”
“That day, we headed north to deal with the spiritual beasts of the North Sea.”
“...”
She continued.
“We successfully defeated the spiritual beasts and sent a letter back. We wanted to have a drink together since it had been a long time. But... when the disciple who took the letter arrived, he found Seolpung Palace reduced to ashes.”
“Was there no signal or anything to ask for help when you were attacked?”
Even Green Forest Bandits have a system for sending signals if they are large enough.
There must have been something like that in places as large as the Northern Sea Ice Palace and the Snow Wind Palace.
“Of course there was. But... it wasn't activated. If the signal had been activated, the guards at the main palace would have rushed over, or we would have hurriedly returned.”
I bit my lip at the words that the emergency signal had not been activated.
Suddenly, I remembered the mad warrior named Yoo Deok-jin whom I met when I found the Silver Sword in Yunnan.
I also remembered the contents of the letter he had in his possession.
“As I told you before, bring that sword to me.
Then I will recognize you as my son.”
Then why did Yoo Deok-jin's father tell his son to bring him the sword?
Was it because he wanted the sword?
No, it was probably because he was worried that the sword would prevent him from destroying Seolpunggung.
In other words, preparations to destroy Seolpunggung were already well underway.
The attack that day was probably carried out by bribing or eliminating anyone who might send a signal for help.
Or...
“We investigated the matter ourselves and found that the device used to send the distress signal had already been destroyed.”
There was a traitor after all.
But Master said there was nothing left.
When asked about this, the Northern Sea Ice Palace Head smiled bitterly.
“No matter how thoroughly we destroyed it, there would be no way to leave no trace behind when we left in such a hurry.”
“...
”And we collected the remaining remains ourselves and enshrined them.“
”That's why you couldn't find the remains.“
”That's right. But don't tell the child about this. He doesn't know about it.“
”What?"
I blinked my eyes because I didn't understand what he meant.
“But that includes Master's family. Why are you telling me not to tell him?”
“If he finds out, he will definitely come here.”
Of course...
“We can't be sure that those who destroyed Seolpung Palace aren't here in the North Sea.”
“Ah!”
Seolpung Palace is currently hiding its identity and barely surviving.
That's why it was dangerous for Master to come to the Northern Sea Ice Palace.
Knowing this, Master probably didn't come to the Northern Sea Ice Palace.
I remembered when Master asked me to look for traces of Seolpung Palace in the North Sea.
Perhaps if Master hadn't been injured at that time, he would have decided to take the risk.
The gates of the Northern Sea Ice Palace were open, and many people were heading there.
I clasped my hands together and bowed to the Palace Head.
“I was short-sighted. Thank you for your wise decision.”
“I appreciate your concern for that child.”
“Of course, you are my Master.”
There was a moment of silence, and the Palace Head and I raised our teacups.
My throat felt parched.
However, perhaps because I knew that the Northern Sea Ice Palace was not our enemy, the tea tasted refreshing.
“What I just said was something I should have told my direct disciple, Master.”
“What? Your direct disciple? I'm just...”
“He is a disciple who was personally trained by the Palace Head of Seolpung Palace. Are you saying that he is not your direct disciple?”
I felt embarrassed and scratched the back of my neck.
“Then please ask for something else.”
“Then...”
I remembered a request my master had asked me to do before, and a name naturally came to mind.
“I would like to send a short letter to one of the new recruits at Seolpung Palace.”
“It seems you have a connection with them.”
“Yes.”
I told him about Han Jae-ik, the Master of the Henan Martial Arts Academy, and his younger sister, Han Jae-in.
“The Chairman of the Ma Clan, who had been persecuting her family, has been punished according to the law, so I want to send a letter telling her not to worry about her family.”
The Palace Head stared at me blankly.
Why is he looking at me like that?
“Master, you really don't know how to take care of yourself.”
What?
I take very good care of myself.
“Don't you realize what a great opportunity this is to ask the Palace Head of the Northern Sea Ice Palace for a favor?”
“Of course I do.”
My help was a great help to them at the time, but it wasn't a big deal to me.
“Didn't you already give me three silver coins? Not only that, but you treated me so generously and even allowed my brother to visit. And although you said it was nothing, you also answered all the questions I had been wondering about.”
I continued.
“What more could I want?”
Too much of a good thing can be bad, and if I wanted more, I might end up with more than I could handle.
As a merchant, I had to know how to set a reasonable price. And I thought this was a reasonable price.
The Palace Head smiled at my words.
It was a genuine smile that came from the heart, not from a sense of duty.
“Your Master is very fortunate. Or perhaps Seolpungung is fortunate.”
She continued.
“Please convey my message to your disciple, Ja-in. However, we had to do this to prevent him from being possessed by his inner demons. Is there anything else you would like me to do?”
“Then... I would like to visit the place where Seolpungung's remains are enshrined. As a disciple of Seolpungung and on behalf of my master, I would like to pay my respects.”
She thought about my words for a moment, then nodded.
“You may do so.”
“Thank you for your consideration.”
I clasped my hands together again and bowed my head.
“By the way, I heard that you have Han Ho-su with you.”
“Yes, that's right.”
“May I see him for a moment?”
I nodded readily and took the golden bell from my sleeve and placed it on the table.
“Kui?”
When I suddenly took him out, the golden bell looked around nervously, then looked at the Palace Head and flinched.
He then slowly backed away, clearly afraid of the Palace Head.
So there was someone this guy was afraid of.
“You've grown quite a bit.”
“Yes.”
“You still seem young, but you've already grown so much... How much do you feed him?”
“Well...”
I scratched my cheek.
“I'm not sure. I just gave him whatever he asked for when he did errands for me. When he did something big, I gave him gold coins, and even silver coins, I think I gave him ten a month.”
“...”
The Northern Sea Ice Palace Head was silent for a moment.
“Can you afford that?”
“Of course.”
It's not that much...
“That boy is very lucky. But when and where did you meet him?”
“I met him when I got the Silver Sword in Yunnan.”
I briefly told her the story of how I got the Silver Sword and met Jin Ling.
I thought she should know about it.
After a while, I withdrew from the Palace Head.
When I returned to my room and was thinking about what I had to do next, Young Master Bing Haerin came to see me.
“He asked me to take you there.”
“Thank you.”
“And I am personally grateful to you.”
“What?”
“Actually, she has been spending her time very idly. Thanks to you, she had a good time.”
She was talking about the Palace Head.
Come to think of it, I heard that when the Northern Sea Ice Palace moves, the Central Plains are thrown into turmoil.
Perhaps that is why the Palace Head has not left the Ice Palace and has instead asked the Junior Palace Head to take care of things.
She walked with me for quite a while.
I'm not sure exactly, but it seems to be roughly west, so did she arrange a place as close to Seolpung Palace as possible?
Soon, I came across a stone sculpture.
It was a stone sculpture of a beautiful building with elegant roof tiles.
“This is what Seolpung Palace originally looked like. It has been reduced to about one-hundredth of its original size.”
“Ah...”
“He is enshrined inside.”
Suddenly, Geum-ryeong jumped out of my sleeve and rolled around on the floor.
Then she looked at me with desperate eyes.
In cases like this, she usually asks for money... Is she hungry?
Even though I am greedy for money, she is not the type to ask for money for no reason, so I took out a coin and handed it to her.
Then, I was surprised by Geum-ryeong's behavior.