Chapter 98
The Youngest Son of the Eunhae Trading Company Chapter 98
Chapter 98. Eun Jin-ho Goes Missing (6)
I thought back on my previous life.
The incident when the Imperial Palace sent an investigation team to solve the case of the missing martial artist, only to find him gone.
The incident when the Emperor bestowed the Eunmu Sword upon the Alliance Leader.
These events have one thing in common: the imperial palace.
So, a master swordsman from the imperial palace got hold of this sword, put it in its sheath, and the master swordsman disappeared.
And this sword was later bestowed upon the Alliance Leader.
It seemed like a lie that an unworthy person would go mad if they held this sword.
I mean, I'm fine even though I'm holding it.
That must be why the master of the Imperial Palace was able to get his hands on it.
So it seems that its power is limited when held by someone unworthy.
I've never heard of the Martial Alliance Leader showing any remarkable power with this sword.
At that moment, the boy peeked out from my left sleeve.
“Kui.”
He saw the silver sword in my hand and smiled.
“Did you bring me to this cave to give me this?”
The boy nodded in response to my question.
“Well, thank you anyway.”
I wondered if this was his reward for eating my coin.
In any case, I confirmed that there was nothing wrong with the sword, and it was now in my hands.
So, I had to make good use of it.
It would be much better for me to use it than for it to fall into the hands of the Martial Alliance Leader and cause the bloodshed of innocent people.
I retrieved my broken sword.
In the process, I realized why my sword had broken.
My sword was too weak to withstand my sword qi, which had just reached its peak.
The broken sword blade was frozen solid, proving this.
And the body of the mad warrior...
Come to think of it, that's what the mad warrior said before he died.
He said that the letter in his bosom was atonement for his sins.
I approached the mad warrior's body and searched his bosom.
I wondered if he might still be alive, but that was not the case.
I found a token proving his identity and a letter.
Thanks to the fact that they were in the warrior's right bosom, my sword did not pierce them.
Should I be grateful?
The identity tag had the name Yoo Deok-jin of Seolpungung written on it.
The letter had already been torn open.
Since it belonged to a dead man, I took out the letter without hesitation and read it.
[As I told you before, bring that sword to me.
Then I will recognize you as my son."
There was no sender's name.
However, from the contents of the letter, I could guess that the sender was his biological father.
But Seolpung Palace?
That place was destroyed more than ten years ago.
There is a place in the north that still boasts powerful forces.
It is the Northern Sea Ice Palace.
Seolpung Palace was known as the family that protected that place, but it was destroyed more than ten years ago.
No one knows who destroyed it or what happened.
There are only rumors that the Northern Sea Ice Palace destroyed Seolpung Palace to hide their own shame, or that some force targeting the Northern Sea Ice Palace destroyed the palace's guardian family.
In fact, it was a mysterious martial arts school whose true nature was unclear, said to be able to bring a blizzard with a single sword.
So, this guy named Yoo Deok-jin was carrying this sword when this incident occurred.
To be honest, I don't know exactly what happened.
However, I knew that this letter was important, so I put the identity card and the letter in my pocket.
As I was about to leave the cave, I noticed the body of the mad warrior, Yoo Deok-jin.
So I found some dry wood and burned his body.
I bowed my head slightly in front of him.
It was self-defense, but he was killed by my sword.
I felt I should at least show him some respect.
After a short moment of silence, I left the cave.
The fog had completely disappeared.
When I put the Eunmu Sword back in its sheath earlier, it must have absorbed the fog.
“Hey.”
When I called out to him, he poked his head out from his sleeve.
“Where should we go now? You know the way, right?”
At my question, he came out from my sleeve.
But how did he manage to stay inside my sleeve when I was fighting Yoo Deok-jin earlier?
There must have been some way.
“I have to meet my companions.”
He pointed his tail to the left, and I followed him down the path.
* * *
Pal-gap and his companions began searching for Eunseoho, and the next day arrived.
They had to climb down the cliff, but no matter how long they tied the rope, it seemed impossible to climb down to the bottom.
The only option left was to go around the mountain and climb down.
At night, they couldn't move a step, so they took a rest, but no one could sleep easily.
Most of those who stayed behind to search for Eun Seo-ho believed that he was dead.
Therefore, they felt that they had to at least recover his body.
However, for some reason, Pal-gap did not believe that Eun Seo-ho was dead.
He had no evidence.
He had no reason.
He just felt that way.
As soon as it was light, they set off again.
They walked and walked.
At some point, they realized that something about the mountain had changed.
The fog that had been hanging thickly below the mountain had disappeared without a trace in an instant.
“The fog... is gone.”
They had no idea what had happened.
However, thanks to the fog clearing, they could see that the cliff where Eun Seo-ho had fallen was very deep.
That meant there was no chance of Eun Seo-ho surviving.
“...Let's go.”
They resumed their journey at the words of So Gun-deok, who decided to stay behind and lead the group.
They had been walking for half a day when
So Gun-deok raised his hand. It was a signal to stop.
Soon, a group of about ten people appeared from the grass.
It was obvious that they were Green Forest Bandits because they were carrying various weapons.
However, they looked strangely clumsy.
* * *
It had been about an hour since we started walking with the guy's guidance.
In the distance, we heard the sound of cold weapons clashing.
Hearing this, the guy quickly slipped into my left sleeve.
I approached them and was taken aback.
Why are they doing that?
It was Yeo-eung-am, Lee Pil, So Gun-deok, four warriors from Eunpungdae, and Seo Woo.
Among them, the most skilled were Head Escort Seo Gun-deok and Seo Woo.
I understood why Seo Woo was so famous.
He was a really good fighter.
He dealt with the Green Forest Bandits with movements as light as a butterfly.
Was that why he was called the Hundred-Blade Sword?
However, the battle did not end easily.
The two sides were only evenly matched.
Why are they fighting here?
Sogungdeok's group must be fighting because of me.
However, the dozen or so people they were fighting were dressed like Green Forest Bandits, but they were not Green Forest Bandits.
They were slightly clumsy to be Green Forest Bandits.
They were hesitating to use assassins.
Looking closely, I noticed that their sword techniques had a distinctive feature.
Their sword strokes formed the character “乙” (et).
I knew a sect that used that sword technique.
The battle paused for a moment, and I hurried forward toward them.
If someone died, it would not be easy to resolve the situation.
“Judging by the unusual curve of your swords, you are using the Snake Sword Technique, which is a sword technique of the Eulmyeongpa in Yeogang. Why are you, members of the Baekdo Murim, imitating the Green Forest Bandits?”
They looked at me in confusion.
Just as I expected.
“Who are you?”
I chuckled at their question.
“My name is Eun Seo-ho. I am the king of Hyungpung Kingdom, Eunhae Trading Company.”
“Kui!”
I tapped my left sleeve.
Be quiet.
At that moment, someone rushed over from the side. It was as if a bear was running toward us.
“Young master! Oh my! Young master! Is it really you? How are you still alive?”
Pal-gap hugged me and wept bitterly.
Seeing Pal-gap like that, I felt sorry for no reason and patted him on the back.
“I'm sorry. It's a long story.”
First, I had to finish talking with these people.
So I calmed Pal-gap down and turned to them.
“I asked you why you were acting like Green Forest Bandits here.”
They hesitated at my question.
They looked like I had hit the nail on the head, which meant that they were indeed disciples of Eul-myeongpa.
“Are you doing this because you need money?”
“...!”
They looked even more flustered.
I knew it.
I know about the Eulmyeongpa.
They borrowed money from the Martial Alliance because they didn't have any, and because of that, they were taken advantage of and eventually driven into the black market and their clan was wiped out.
I saw a warrior among them.
The one wearing a half mask.
That must be the Half-Faced Swordsman.
Later, the excellence of the Eulmyeongpa became known through a wanderer who went by the name of Half-Faced Swordsman.
Well, the Martial Alliance probably used them because they were skilled with swords.
“So why do you need money?”
They hesitated at my question.
“I have some money. I can lend it to you if you want. But if you ignore my kindness, the Eulmyeongpa will go from white Taoism to black Taoism.”
“...”
“Is that what you want?”
At that moment, a warrior beside me said,
“Senior Brother! Even with one more person, we still have the upper hand. And you said you have a lot of money, right?”
“...”
“You're just bluffing. If we kill them all, no one will know.”
“...”
“Senior Brother! Are you just going to stand by and watch Sect Leader die?”
I looked at the warrior chattering beside me.
Haa...
No wonder I've been feeling a disgusting energy since earlier...
Still, now that I had reached my peak, it was indeed as my Master had said, and it was no longer difficult to endure the disgusting aura.
In any case, every time he made a certain sound, his awkward expression confirmed it.
He was wearing a mask.
I approached him with my footwork and grabbed his face.
He was caught off guard and was taken by surprise.
However, the others were even more surprised.
This was because another face was revealed under his face.
"...
Realizing that his true face had been revealed, he tried to escape.
However, his attempt was unsuccessful.
This was because the sword of the man wearing the half mask cut off his arm.
“Kraaaah!”
“Who are you?”
“You can ask that when you return.”
“Ugh...”
The man called Senior Brother looked at him with fierce eyes, pressed his acupoints to stop the bleeding, and then pressed his blood points.
Then he bowed to me with clasped hands.
“Yoon, the eleventh disciple of the Eulmyeong Sect, has caused trouble for you.”
“I am glad that you caught the man who was secretly working for your sect.”
He bowed to each member of my party as well.
“We have no excuse for you to blame us. It is true that we were members of the Green Forest Bandits. However, everything is my fault, so I hope you will end this by punishing only me.”
He knelt in front of me.
“I beg you.”
Hearing his words, the other disciples also knelt down.
“No! It is our fault for not speaking up even though our senior brother was being swayed by the words of the author.”
“We are also guilty of the same crime.”
“Please punish only us and do not tell our sect.”
“If the Sect Leader finds out... Ugh!”
I looked at them and said.
“So how much do you need?”
“What?”
“I asked how much you need. I heard that the Sect Leader is unwell.”
The one called Senior Brother hesitated before answering.
“About a hundred silver coins...”
I took a gold coin out of my pocket and handed it to him.
“Here you are.”
He looked at me with a confused expression.
“That's... a gold coin, isn't it?”
“Yes, it is.”
“We can't accept such a large sum of money.”
When the man called Senior Brother waved his hand, I smiled slightly.
“Who said it was free?”
“What?”
“Everything has a price, and this money is no exception.”
At my words, he asked me with a tense look.
“What is the price?”
“You will join our Eunhae Trading Company.”
“...I don't understand.”
“It's not difficult. I helped you, so you can help us when our company is in trouble.”
“That is our duty to you. We would be ashamed if you asked us to do that in return.”
“Are you saying that because you think something might happen to our Eunhae Trading Company in the future? It might be difficult for you to help us.”
“I don't think you would ask us to do something like that.”
“Hahaha.”
I laughed heartily.
“I'm a pretty harsh employer, aren't I?”
Pal-gap sniffled and replied to my question.
“You are a harsh employer. You left me hanging off a cliff and then acted like nothing happened... You should have come sooner and spared me the agony... Sniff.”