“You are here.”
After mealtime, Jong Ri-heon called Seol-Hwi, Imugi, and Songhwa to his residence. The smile on his face was not fading.
Why would it?
In the crucial fight which spoke of his future and of the family, he won. He was immensely relieved that would not be kicked out of the house.
After leaving this place too, there were places of the Jong Family to live, but they were given to those who had made great contributions to the family.
“Thank you. Even if I say it, I know it isn’t enough…”
“Well, isn’t it a world where we share what we need? If our help is good, we are happy. It is nice it was something meaningful.”
Songhwa reacted quickly to the thanks.
Originally, such a thank you should have been responded with “it was not a big deal,” but he subtly spoke about what they did.
“Hahaha! Yes, that is right.”
However, Jong Ri-heon continued with a bright smile in response to the words.
“It won’t take long. The three of you here have played a very important role. We talked about how to repay the fortune teller who introduced us to such precious warriors.”
He took a look at each person and stood up
Drr
He walked to one side of the wall, he opened a cabinet there and took out this large wooden box and placed it on the table.
“What is this?”
Imugi asked.
“It is close to 10,000 coins.”
“Oh!”
“Wow!”
“Hmm.”
Imugi was startled and Songhwa smiled.
Seol-Hwi just nodded calmly. That was a common case for 5,000 coins to be multiplied by three and to give 15,000 coins for such results.
“This isn’t all.”
Whether he saw Seol-Hwi’s reaction or not, Jong Ri-heon opened the wooden box.
The gold coins were lined up. And to the left of it was a glass bottle that looked like it was for alcohol. It contained a yellow drink.
“What is this?”
Songhwa glanced at Seol-Hwi and asked.
“You know what Shaoxing is famous for? Alcohol. At our home, barley yeast is used to make high quality alcohol. And the alcohol collected each year when brewing is kept as an heirloom by making it age for years.”
“Then an elixir?”
When Imugi asked, Jong Ri-heon shook his head.
“It may be or may not be. It is sure to help with one’s health but honestly I am not sure about it being some miracle elixir.”
“And those words?”
“I heard it from my grandfather, a person with a weak body took it, and suddenly at some point he turned into a warrior. So, I gave it to a famous warrior wondering if this was effective, but he said that it only helps with energy and blood but nothing more.”
“Aha.”
Songhwa nodded and looked at Seol-Hwi, who calmly reached for them.
<Would you like to put the Shaoxing Godly Alcohol in the toolbox?>
Then, when he saw the words floating in front of his eyes, he felt excited.
It is an elixir! Wow!
The words there hinted at it, so Seol-Hwi put it into the toolbox, closed the lid of it, and checked the details.
<Shaoxing Godly Alcohol> Description: An heirloom of the Jong family. Glutinous rice mixed with barley yeast and it was known to be the essence of alcohol which gets purified over time. Effect: depending on how well it is absorbed, one can see an improvement between the internal energy from 10,000 to 1 million.
It was more suitable for beginner warriors.
This… is a wonderful thing.
Seol-Hwi’s eyes widened as he read this. This was an elixir which enhanced the internal energy of someone. It could even raise it by 1 million in one go.
If his memory served him right, the warriors who reached a minimum level had the internal energy of 1 million.
If his past self had gotten this, would this have not contributed to a huge growth for him? Jong Ri-heon bowed his head to Seol-Hwi.
“I will not forget the kindness shown.”
Anyone could realize it from his actions.
“But, could you stay a few more days if you don’t mind? Compared to what you did, I didn’t even treat you…”
Shhh
“It is fine. We have a lot of work to do.”
Seol-Hwi turned to Songhwa.
There was no reason to delay their time here, so they agreed to leave quickly.
“Ah. I understand. And I feel like I need to tell you this.”
Seeing the expression of Jong Ri-heon turn serious, all three men turned to him.
“It isn’t something extremely serious but the lord of the Namgung Family is interested in you. I heard that famous martial arts houses like having great warriors close to them so I thought of telling you this.”
“You did good and I understand what you mean, but I am busy…”
Seol-Hwi gently shook his head.
“Well, if that is the case, I will inform them. When are you planning to leave?”
“Right now.”
“I understand. I will prepare a carriage, so please take it.”
Jong Ri-heon stood up and then called a servant as he asked for a carriage to be brought.
And he bowed to the three of them and stood up.
“If there is ever a time, please come back here anytime. At that time, I will make sure to treat you properly.”
“Those words are good enough.”
So Seol-Hwi and Songhwa set out along with Imugi.
The last day at the Jong Family, it was quite sunny.
Returning to his residence, Seol-Hwi went straight for training.
The Taiji Sword—he wanted to study it, the movements of the technique along with self reflection
In the meantime, Imugi took the orders of Seol-Hwi and moved to contact the lower District Sect.
This was for the future, not just Hangzhou but in the Zhejiang province. They needed to have more information about the sect—to predict the future.
Sooner or later, the Demonic Sect will send their men according to the First Disciple and Mount Hua. Then there would be a place where they were gathering or moving around to hold a base, and this was his preparation to obtain information about it.
And Songhwa was back to telling fortunes.
As soon as the store opened, people burst into laughter as soon as the rumors spread. So his reputation increased and so did the customers, so this brought in a lot of money
Around a fortnight ago—
“Master. I have gotten in contact with the branch, but…”
Imugi came to Seol-Hwi.
“Okay, what happened?”
“They want money. A lot.”
“As expected.”
“Yes. However, their amount is a bit too much. They are asking for 1,000 gold coins each month.”
At those words, Seol-Hwi frowned.
A thousand? Normally four silver is one gold, so 1,000 gold is a fairly sizable amount.
Right now, two silver was good enough for a family to live without having a shortage of food for a month.
And 1,000 gold each month, it would be more than enough to last over two years.
“I managed to make some estimates. Even with the region they are in, the materials, and people they have to get, 500 gold should be enough. But they are asking for 1,000 gold…”
They were thinking of ripping others off, and Seol-Hwi nodded and understood it.
“Let’s do it.”
“Uh?”
“There is no other way for us. If we move, our identities will be revealed and even if we use someone else, there is a chance of problems coming up sooner. Even if it is expensive, in the end it is beneficial to hire those who are experts in this. It would be easy to cut them off when needed too.”
Imugi nodded.
What his master said was not wrong, giving and buying information. It was more advantageous to use that than buy people and plant them as spies.
The Lower District’s people are assets.
It was impossible to count the number of people they have, as they had gamblers, pickpockets, and prostitutes.
Therefore, this was the easiest way to get information.
“However, make sure this is known. If we are sent fake information intentionally, then it will be better to involve some other groups.”
“Yes. But…”
After Imugi said that, he paused and then said again,
“Master, then, would you like to give them 1,100 gold first?”
“An advance? Well it isn’t difficult but what is this 100 gold for?”
“I will come back and tell you.”
“Hmm.”
Seol-Hwi nodded.
It was Imugi who knew the inner workings of all these things, so if he needed it, then there had to be a reason for it. Seol-Hwi handed over the gold coins in the toolbox, and Imugi left with them.
After four days like this—
Imugi returned and Songhwa, who finished his work, came in too.
“Master. A letter from the sect.”
Songhwa handed the parchment over to Seol-Hwi.
After settling down here, another month passed and news came.
[Captain are you in good health? There is no chance yet. There are rumors that the Fourth Disciple is struggling with something… what it is, however, has yet to be figured out.]
Seol-Hwi thought as he threw the letter into the furnace and burned it.
As expected.
When he turned into a secret warrior, he was given the mission to deal with the people under the First Disciple a month from now.
But now the situation is completely different.
It would not be easy to take action unless the Earth Demon found another warrior as good as him.
Moreover, according to the AI, Goo Jong-myung would not have been there at the Supreme Pavilion. There was a high chance that a change in circumstances would have delayed the meeting for a while.
“Master.”
At the words of Imugi, Seol-Hwi turned to him.
“Yes. What happened with the Lower District Sect?”
“I made an agreement for 700 gold.”
“Oh. How?”
Seol-Hwi was curious at how the amount got lowered.
“There were a total of three branches in Zheijiang. Among them, I auctioned off the price of one of the leaders’ life and one month’s worth of information to the other two. Then I killed the branch leader who messed around. They lowered the price and decided to settle for it.”
“Haa…”
Seol-Hwi was shocked. Now he understood what the extra money was for
The worst case scenario he was thinking of was paying 100 gold for the life of that leader.
It was dangerous to do this, but this was the method Imugi was most certain would bring results.
This place was not one ruled by law, so when something happens, the others around only come in to take advantage of the situation.
And the situation with the branch leader is the same.
So, the place was auctioned off to another branch leader. The other two must have been scared. When the people who feed on information to live are killed like this, they must have thought back.
In lower levels of living, even revenge happens when one has money. It was what ruled them.
“Master. And this is the money I made this month.”
This time Songhwa spoke.
He held out gold.
It was a total of 280 gold coins.
It was a huge amount for a fortune teller to earn.
“Thank you.”
“No. I also thought about things and in order to make more money we need to take a different approach from now.”
“What do you mean?”
“Expand the store and bring in a disciple. I think we can earn five times more than we are now.”
“Building? Disciple?”
“First of all we need to make it easy for people to reach us. There are many who feel uncomfortable about coming to such fortune houses. So I thought we needed a space where they could relax, enjoy the view, and have a simple cup of tea.”
A clever thought. Although things had improved a lot, the perception of fortune tellers to warriors and others was not good. And if they made a situation where it was instead fun to be there, it would attract many.
“I mean. If you would invest 50 gold in me…”
“What do you mean, this is all your money. Take it all.”
Seol-Hwi just gave him back the money he had received. Songhwa was shocked at the actions of his master.
Then did he think of something else?
“Ah, and Master. I have something else to tell you.”
He held a straight expression and said,
“A few days ago, a person came from Jang Ryongjae. When I asked why he came he asked for a place.”
“Where is that?”
At that, Imugi answered.
“These are the Forces of Evil people who settled around here. They are known to have a filthy character and I ran into them a couple times and ran back.”
Hearing the words “ran back” Seol-Hwi smiled and asked,
“And their forces?”
“It is said that they have quite a bit of power not just in Hangzhou but in the Zhejiang area too. The number is around 100, but it is said that they are leaders who give orders. There are rumors that there are a thousand people below the leaders.”
Seol-Hwi nodded.
Was it because he never went out? It had been hard to go out lately and if he thought about it, the Forces of Evil were bound to be around here. Thinking for a while, Seol-Hwi said,
“Then… do they have a lot of money?”
“…”
“If we steal money from the Forces of Justice we will be called evil, but if we steal from the Forces of Evil, then no one would care even if we get caught.”
“I really admire this idea. If we can use the money to help our business thrive, it will be effective,”
Songhwa mentioned as he cut in.
“They are thieves, so there must be some pills or books of martial arts there,”
Seol-Hwi spoke again.
“And pretty girls too,”
Imugi added.
A brief silence followed and then it was broken at the same time,
“Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
“Let’s hit them.”
They all said in unison.