Chapter 297: Tangent (9)

Yu Ladal is currently acting as a retainer for Jangheung Trading Company to repay the price of his daughter’s life.

Originally, Yu Ladal is a person who calculates thoroughly.

But he didn’t know how much to set as the price for his daughter’s life.

He just thought that since it’s the price of his daughter’s life, the higher the better, right?

It’s not that Jangheung Trading Company’s treatment is unsatisfactory.

However, it wasn’t quite enough to employ an Unrestrained Realm master like a subordinate.

So he’s continuing to repay the difference as debt.

That’s why Yu Ladal kept staying.

It’s already been over five years.

He thought that someday he’d feel this was enough, that he’d finished the calculation and should leave, so he decided to stay until he had that thought.

And now was exactly when he was having that thought.

Hmm. Haven’t I sufficiently paid the price of my daughter’s life by now?

Yu Ladal is an old man, and an old man’s martial arts world is after the time has passed from memories of his prime in the distant past.

That was still the end period before Ximen Surin went into seclusion, but she was still active.

In Yu Ladal’s mind, Ximen Surin could be summed up in one line:

The most narrow-minded and vindictive person among the world’s masters.

But in this situation, to incur the resentment of the world’s most ill-tempered absolute master?

This doesn’t add up.

Thinking about it, he’s grateful for saving his daughter, but they didn’t actually bestow any great amount of gold and silver.

It was just a fever that children commonly get.

Of course, since his daughter lived because of it, the treatment fee and the price of life are separate matters.

Still, five years seems enough to have repaid it.

When you stay as a retainer for a long time, the world naturally considers you part of that group, so how ordinary could the benefits Jangheung Trading Company gained from having an Unrestrained Realm master as backing be?

Though he doesn’t know for sure, he must have raised at least two pillars for the company, so the price of his daughter’s life should have been more than paid off by now.

The reason he stayed despite this was because the longer he repaid the debt, the higher his daughter’s value rose.

So he had been vaguely putting it off.

Even without that, as an old wanderer, he’s starting to feel the itch to wander again.

Those who remain wanderers into old age are born with the restless spirit that prevents them from settling in one place.

However, while an old man with not much time left can wander, his daughter can’t.

Shouldn’t he find a good man and match her up?

Someone like himself won’t do.

Not an ignorant bastard who just swings a sword without even knowing if he has flesh and blood, but a fine son-in-law who is respectable, capable, and will be devoted to his wife.

So the longer Yu Ladal stayed at Jangheung Trading Company and continued repaying the price of his daughter’s life, the more his daughter’s value rose.

It was a truly wanderer-like calculation.

But. This should be enough.

And if it’s the Divine Maiden Sect, there was something else he wanted to ask.

“Child. Does the Divine Maiden Sect not take named disciples? I was thinking of entrusting my daughter for about five years. And, um, then wouldn’t they teach at least one martial art?”

At this, Qing thought to herself.

Oh? A sudden membership inquiry here?

“Elder. Well, our Divine Maiden Sect doesn’t turn away women who come. However, we don’t distinguish between noble and common, everyone works hard together, eats together, and sleeps together, so it would be quite arduous work.”

“I’m not asking for her to be treated like some precious young lady. It’s natural for people to work as much as they receive. But I heard the Divine Maiden Sect’s martial arts are exceptionally excellent for women.”

He was talking about the Fairy Arts.

The reason Divine Maiden Sect disciples’ basic appearance level is so high is because all their martial arts, from inner cultivation techniques to sword arts and movement techniques, have the Fairy Arts effect.

“Ah. Yes. But isn’t your martial prowess already famous throughout the world for being extremely high, Elder?”

“Don’t even mention it. Each section of the flail weighs over two jin, so the whole nine-sectioned flail weighs nearly twenty jin. How could this be a weapon for women to handle? If I had known, I should have just learned the sword. It’s a weapon that requires innate strength, so unless I meet someone to pass it on to later.”

Yu Ladal sighed deeply.

“What’s the use of having someone with strength? But no one wants to learn this strange weapon. Well, this is why strange weapons are gradually disappearing from the martial arts world. I never had any intention of forming a sect in the first place, but it’s a bit regrettable for it to just disappear like this. Well, you could say I have complicated feelings.”

“Ah, I see…”

“My daughter is gradually becoming an adult, so I’m thinking of picking up a proper son-in-law somewhere. I can’t keep taking her around with me all the time. So I was thinking of inquiring with the Divine Maiden Sect, but there needs to be another way.”

He’s saying he’ll leave his daughter and go find a son-in-law.

Qing tilted her head.

Still, shouldn’t the daughter choose her own husband? So she asked:

“Hmm. But if you’re looking for a son-in-law, wouldn’t it be better to search together with your daughter?”

“…What’s blood relation, my daughter is my spitting image. If I had long hair when I was young, she’d be exactly me. When I saw her and said she was my daughter, anyone could see she was my daughter at a glance.”

Qing tried to imagine Yu Ladal with long hair.

Of course, since the person in front of her is an old man, the long-haired Yu Ladal in her imagination looked quite terrible.

“Hmm.”

“So if I take her along looking for a son-in-law, she’ll just be a hindrance. If I don’t want to be resented for passing on plain looks, shouldn’t I at least have her learn extremely high-level Fairy Arts?”

What’s this? Suddenly the mood turns to counseling.

Worrying about children’s future seems the same in Qing’s homeland and the Central Plains, as Yu Ladal was extremely concerned about his daughter.

“Aigo. I don’t know where to go to find a proper man. What was it, Lang Yecha Yektaekang? I heard he’s a decent guy for a wanderer, but, hmm, still a wanderer is a bit… Aren’t wanderers the type who can’t stand staying put and leave their wife and children behind?”

“Oh?”

Qing tilted her head.

Lang Yecha? It sounds familiar?

Well, since Lang Yecha is such a cool title, I must have heard it somewhere.

“Yes. Isn’t there a good man somewhere? Moderately wealthy and moderately good-looking, no, even if his looks are lacking, someone sincere and loyal, yes loyalty. A man with loyalty is the real deal.”

It really was turning into a counseling session.

“Um, Elder. I’m sorry to interrupt, but…”

“Ah. Right. Sigh. There will be rumors later, I’ll really lose face in my old age. Well, I’m not going to tear off my face to eat at this age, and a wanderer didn’t have any face to begin with…”

And so the Nine-Sectioned Wanderer Yu Ladal kept muttering to himself as he exited sideways.

What, um. Did I defeat him?

He retreated anyway, so it seems I can pass now.

“Branch Manager! Big trouble! Big trouble! Those thieves have pushed all the way to the inner hall!”

“What! How, wasn’t the Elder, wasn’t the Elder stopping them!”

“Well, he said he’s helped for over five years so he’s repaid his debt enough and is leaving now…”

“No, why now! Of all times!”

This is why martial artists!

Especially wanderers!

The branch manager added one more complaint, still not satisfied:

“He should finish what he started!”

Leaving in the middle saying he’s done enough is too much, no, extremely too much.

If he repaid his debt midway, he could have asked for wages for the rest, but to slip away when the company’s fate is at stake!

Of course, strictly speaking, only the branch manager’s fate was at stake.

How much impact could losing one Nakryeong branch have on a huge company representing an entire province?

Moreover, Nakryeong wasn’t even in Shaanxi, Jangheung Trading Company’s home territory.

But a branch manager who loses his branch is finished.

Is any other explanation needed?

Just like replacing a defective carriage wheel, a branch manager who couldn’t protect his branch is defective and can simply be replaced.

As the branch manager trembled like that, there was a commotion outside the main office.

-Branch Manager? Hello? We know you’re in there? Aren’t you coming out?

It was a voice incomparably beautiful in the world, but he never imagined such a sweet voice could be so terrifying.

-What’s this? Is the person in charge not here?

“Branch Manager?”

“Ahem. Let’s wait a bit. If we don’t deal with them at all, what can they do? They’ll have no choice but to give up and leave-“

-Wow, the person in charge isn’t here either. Then if we raid the warehouse, no one will know. Everyone, shall we accept just a little donation, as much as each person can carry?

It was a voice that didn’t even wait for him to finish saying he would hold out.

“Branch Manager?”

“Kuk. At this point. I too came from nothing to get here. As a merchant, I should negotiate like a merchant.”

And so the branch manager finally lifted his heavy bottom.

He boldly opened the door of the central office and stepped forward to shout at the crowd!

“Aigo, my lady! You can’t do this. Originally, when visiting, whether the other party is famous or not, whether it’s a large tiled house or a shabby one-room thatched cottage, you should send word in advance and get permission, so how can you barge into a merchant company, and with so many people at that?”

Qing was momentarily at a loss for words seeing the branch manager prostrate himself on the main hall, wailing as if about to burst into tears.

Qing took a moment to choose her words before replying:

“Of course I know it’s not proper etiquette and I’m ashamed, but the city has been hit by floodwaters to the point where the city gates collapsed, so the damage is beyond words, and isn’t this a time when sorrow flows as tears pooling on the ground? At such a time, this girl only wants to provide some comfort with good intentions.”

“Aigo, my lady. Good intentions are good intentions, but shouldn’t you have made an appointment for later? Isn’t a merchant’s business resolved through conversation and negotiation?”

“Branch Manager? From what I hear, while the city is facing disaster and people have nothing to eat and are starving right now, some beasts worse than animals are trying to make excessive profits by raising grain prices thirty, forty, fifty times?”

“Aigo, my lady, please look at my pitiful situation. What authority does a mere branch manager have to release grain or sell it cheaply? I’m just a servant who does as the main branch tells me, so what can I do?”

It was the merchant’s ultimate secret technique to say he has no authority.

I am a person who can’t decide anything.

So make a decision with higher-ups and come back.

Of course, I don’t know how to reach the higher-ups, so the customer can figure it out themselves or not.

However, this was a method to use only when dealing with a single powerless customer.

Qing’s tongue is a world-class bewitching speech that even made the Tang clan patriarch surprised and empty his pockets.

Moreover, Qing’s eloquence with a crowd behind her has even more destructive power.

Plus, Jangheung Trading Company has committed the crime of being detestable.

Because they didn’t want to sell grain cheaply, they called in the county magistrate, mobilized disciples of Nakryeong’s top martial arts school, and even brought in an Unrestrained Realm master.

Honestly, if they had that much gold and silver to play tricks, wouldn’t it have been enough to release all the grain and more?

Since merchants are stingy about losses, they’ll surely add the gold and silver spent on defense to the grain prices and act even more viciously, so from here it was already a hundred times the crime of being detestable.