Chapter 299: The Fire in Chang’an (1)

Qing bought grain at double the market price, and the amount was said to be enough to eat comfortably until autumn.

Originally, as a transit city along the Luohe River, it was an area with many warehouses.

Since expensive warehouses already filled the good locations in Luoyang, items with low value compared to volume, like grain, often moved to Nakryeong.

However, there was something Geol Taran deliberately didn’t mention.

The city’s mouths had greatly decreased.

The water control project finished this spring, so people were just starting to feel at ease with the newly built embankments and levees.

Rather, because of that, a huge flood rushed in enough to collapse the city walls, and unfortunately the embankment broke in the middle of the night.

In the riverside areas that were swept away, entire families were wiped out with no one left to hold funerals, and even beyond that, houses collapsed and people drowned, making it impossible to tally the scale of damage.

But he couldn’t tell the kind-hearted Heavenly Demon Lord, who was bearing resentment for the sake of complete strangers, that they could eat for a long time because the number of people to feed had sharply decreased.

So Qing just casually asked:

“Is there that much? Was it unnecessary to distribute it all?”

“Aigo, that’s not the case. Miss made a very wise decision. When a city is hit by flooding, all the merchants in the world have their eyes turn red trying to exploit it.”

When flooding occurs, grain prices in nearby areas rise all at once as if by agreement.

In fact, it is an agreement.

The prices are raised in unison through secret meetings of merchant leaders, so they rise sharply by design and agreement.

Then they sell expensively when people from the flooded area try to buy, and when selling in their own area, they gouge prices saying there’s no supply because those flood victims swept it all up.

People gnash their teeth at grain prices that suddenly became ten times higher, cursing that if they’re going to become water ghosts they should just quietly drown instead of causing trouble for other areas.

The hatred is directed not at the merchants who sold expensively, but at the pitiful flood victims, so the merchants happily raise prices while pretending to be pitiful.

However, by stockpiling grain to eat until autumn, there’s no justification for merchants in nearby areas to raise prices, and the people of Nakryeong won’t be cursed for no reason.

“Ha. I really can’t stand these merchant bastards.”

But it can’t be helped.

Because to succeed as a merchant, you need the heart of such a vicious mongrel.

The quality of a great merchant is to be the world’s biggest son of a bitch who can trample on others without any pangs of conscience, and sneeringly take even the last coin from victims shedding tears of blood in tatters.

At this, Geol Taran deeply engraved the Heavenly Demon Lord’s words in his heart.

Of course, he didn’t intend to engrave them only for himself.

Before the year is over, all the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult’s covert operatives in the Central Plains will engrave these words in their hearts.

Since this is the Heavenly Demon Lord’s will, merchants are the world’s sons of bitches who can be beaten and tortured without hesitation.

When the new era dawns, they will become the most lowly among all professions.

“Hmm. Did you receive the list?”

“Yes. However, rather than a list, it’s more of a daily wage payment record, so I suspect about half the people don’t actually exist.”

Of course, non-existent people refers to those whose names are just listed on the daily wage payment record but don’t actually exist.

Anyway, according to official records, work was officially done, so wages were officially executed.

However, how the wages of non-existent people were pocketed is unknown.

“Gold and silver are really leaking, leaking. No matter how much you dig, only rotten water comes out. But, miss, it’s troublesome…”

Qing scratched the back of her head vigorously.

At this, Geol Taran smiled very brightly and asked with a pleased expression:

“Aigo, miss! How is it troublesome? For such matters, you just need to order the servants of our Taecheong Company!”

“Oh? How can I casually use the company people?”

“Well. When Master Choi finds out later, how pleased he’ll be! He told us to provide every convenience!”

“But the old man is the old man.”

“And I! If I don’t have anything to do, I can’t stand it because I get so anxious, so please give me something to do if there’s anything! That’s the way to save me!”

It was a cry filled with such strong determination to do whatever task he was given.

Not just words.

His eyes sparkled so much it overlapped with the image of a dog begging after hearing the word “walk”.

Of course, it was a chance to carry out a task directly ordered by the Heavenly Demon Lord, so how could a covert operative who had been thoroughly brainwashed since childhood to serve the Heavenly Demon Lord as the sole purpose of life pass it up?

Faced with those desperate eyes, even Qing thought.

If he’s going this far, maybe it’s okay to use him a bit.

“From what I heard the server say before, it doesn’t seem like the technicians mobilized for the project have loose lips. So if we ask the workers, it seems like all sorts of personal information will come out, like those people’s names or what they do and so on.”

“Ah! For such a task, you must entrust it to a servant even more! It’s not even a troublesome matter to ask at a time when the city’s population is gathering for relief anyway.”

“Oh. Indeed. People with business sense really do solve everything easily. Right?”

“Kuhuk. Thank you, thank you. It’s the glory of ten thousand lifetimes, I will cherish this joy for life, no, I will never forget it even after death.”

Qing smiled.

This mister always makes a fuss like this whenever I give just one word of praise.

Does the old man never praise him?

Well. The old man is a bit like that.

“But, do you think there was a problem with the water control project?”

“The designer said there was no problem with the design.”

Rather, he emphasized that it should have been fine even with this much rain, so there must clearly be a reason why a disaster occurred despite that.

“Since we’re going to Mount Zhongnan anyway. Isn’t Jangheung Trading Company’s headquarters in Chang’an? We’ll stop by on the way, and if there’s a problem, hmm. Well. It’s not like I can say anything, but since I found out, I can’t just let it go, right?”

Qing continued with a sticky smile:

“If something happened, someone has to take responsibility.”

At this, a color that doesn’t exist anywhere flickered ominously in Qing’s pupils.

At this, Geol Taran’s eyes welled up with tears again.

Isn’t the Heavenly Demon Lord overflowing with an eye light like the end of the world?

Such terrifying majesty!

Heavenly Demon Lord, eternal master of my soul!

Separately from that, an ultra-fast Divine Cult covert dispatch was immediately sent by express delivery.

[The noble one plans to head to Chang’an]

The recipient was Taecheong Company Leader Choi Leeong.

The destination was Seol Family Company in Zigui County, Hubei Province.

Geol Taran said he would find out everything, so rest well until then.

He kept shooting looks practically begging her to stay.

Anyway, since they had to find out about the core technicians of the project, well, she had to stay.

He said he would hold a banquet in the evening, but she said what banquet with the city in this state, let’s just eat simply with lots of food, and returned to her lodgings.

So she was going to take a bath, change clothes, and take care of Seol Iri while she was at it, then eat dinner and rest well.

Like that in the Most Supreme Dignified Room of the Trichiliocosm within the company, no, why on earth did they give the guest room such a grandiose name?

Of course, in the Central Plains, large estates usually make the best room for guests and the second best room.

It was natural to rank guests.

At least distinguishing between the top guest and second guest was the Central Plains’ beautiful custom and etiquette.

So originally the best guest room tended to have a somewhat grandiose name.

The Murim Alliance had Wucheon Pavilion, and the Divine Maiden Sect had a high-class guest room called Yohwa Pavilion that was rarely used and became like a storage room.

But Most Supreme Dignified Room of the Trichiliocosm is too much.

Excessive courtesy is discourtesy, wouldn’t this make guests even more uncomfortable?

For reference, excessive courtesy means too much politeness, and discourtesy means rudeness, so being too polite becomes rude.

Of course, Qing didn’t know that this grandiose guest room existed for only one person in the world.

How could she know a fact deliberately hidden from her, when she didn’t know anything else either?

Anyway, it was the Most Supreme Dignified Room of the Trichiliocosm that was larger inside than outside.

What this means is, in preparation for the Heavenly Demon Lord’s visit, they set up detachable walls, so by removing them all they made an entire building into one room, making the interior much larger than the room’s exterior appearance seen from outside.

And there, a precious highest-grade bed was placed, on which a woman curled up raised her head and looked up at the sound of the door opening.

“You’re back.”

Qing’s eyes widened.

What? What did I just hear? Is it an auditory hallucination?

Did Miss Seol greet me first? Really?

It was a completely unexpected welcome.

“Miss Seol. Are you feeling better?”

“No…”

“No, don’t just say you’re fine, let’s go see a doctor- Huh? Didn’t you just say no?”

“Yes…”

Indeed, she was sweating profusely, looking like a seriously ill patient.

It’s Seol Iri sweating profusely without Ice Arts.

She had been sweating profusely in the carriage the whole time, so I thought that’s how it was, but now I see it’s not that, her condition is really bad.

“Damn. That’s why I said to get checked earlier. Hold on a bit. I’ll bring a doctor.”

And so a doctor with an immortal-like appearance took her pulse and said:

“Tsk tsk, how could they beat up a person, and a woman at that, like this? But, it’s also strange. In my 80 years, I’ve never seen someone injured so well.”

The snow-white old doctor clicked his tongue as he spoke.

But isn’t his way of speaking a bit strange?

So Qing asked:

“Injured well?”

“Of course. Injured well.”

“No, if you’re injured you’re injured, what do you mean injured well?”

“Hmph. Well, usually it’s one of two things.”

Either the beating side very skillfully beat them up evenly all over without crippling them or leaving aftereffects.

“Or the receiving side very artistically took the beating well, evenly distributing it to avoid breaking or injuring one area and becoming crippled.”

“Is there such a thing as taking a beating well? Does that exist?”

“Of course. Look at those beggar bastards. They get beaten to dust but after a while they’re fine as if they were never beaten. Everything becomes skilled with familiarity, so if you get beaten every day, you develop skill in getting beaten too.”

“Ah. That.”

When it comes to skill in getting beaten, Qing could be called an unrivaled expert.

So that’s what they call taking a beating well.

But where would Miss Seol, who’s like a princess of the Northern Sea, have been beaten?

She wouldn’t have learned skill in taking beatings, so the bandit bastards must have beaten her up very thoroughly.

From the start, didn’t they beat her up without weapons, saying something about young masters having to deflower her?

“Hmm. So. Is she okay?”

“Her bones are cracked. And evenly in arms and legs too. But if she rests well she’ll recover. Apply medicine and she’ll heal. Take medicine and she’ll heal faster. Since she was injured so well, there’s not much need for a thorough examination.”

Is he really a skilled doctor?

His words sound completely like a quack.

But the doctor Geol Taran found couldn’t be a quack, and since he’s a healthy old man over 80 calling himself a doctor, wouldn’t he be in the ranks of famous doctors just from accumulated experience?

“Hmm. So she’ll recover if she rests well?”

“Yes. Ah. But. Right. I heard the miss is carrying out large-scale relief efforts? Then could you use just ten gold taels on this old man?”

“Huh? Suddenly?”

“Right now people are in a panic with houses collapsed and nothing to eat, so just not dying is impressive in a flood like this. Do you think epidemics after floods happen for no reason? You have to quickly gather and salt the corpses, and give medicine to the sick before they get worse and collapse. Does that cost just a penny or two?”

“Ah. That’s right. Geol Taran, how much gold do we have left now? Is it over ten taels? Here, to the doctor elder-“

“Aing. Tsk tsk.”

The doctor clicked his tongue, cutting off Qing’s words.

Qing spoke in an aggrieved voice:

“No, why? I said I’d give it to you.”

“No, if you just give gold to a doctor, do medicinal ingredients magically appear? Even if ingredients appear, who decocts the medicine? You have to provide people too, what can an old doctor do alone?”

“Ah.”

Hearing that, it made sense.

“Geol Taran. The doctor elder here says he’ll provide medical treatment for the city, can Taecheong Company help a bit? I only thought about food and reconstruction, I didn’t think about this side.”

“Aigo. Miss, you don’t need to ask, just give orders. How dare we question what the miss says? Even if you tell us to carry firewood and jump into fire, we’ll follow exactly.”

It’s a terrifying statement saying they’d die if told to die, but when heard with his uniquely fawning tone of flattery, it has no persuasiveness at all.

So Qing just heard it, laughed, and moved on.

Qing didn’t have the ability to read minds after all.