episode_0035

The cries of seagulls can be heard not too far away.

If you pay close attention, you can feel the refreshing sea breeze and the unique salty smell of the sea tickling your nose from not too far away.

After joining Dan Seol-rin in Yogyung Fortress and moving straight from there, we were able to reach the city of Dandung in just a few days.

“We’re here.”

“Haa…, haa…, haa….”

“….If you’re tired, you can stop and go back to Sicheon.”

“I’m fine…, Ah!…”

Even though Dandung is a city within the Yogyung area, the territory of Yeomguk is so vast that even moving within the same area requires covering a considerable distance.

Reducing this distance to just a few days inevitably means moving a considerable distance in a short amount of time.

This inevitably leads to an exhausting forced march. Fortunately, Baekryeon is used to this kind of forced march, and since she is a swordswoman from the start, she didn’t crawl on the floor panting like when we first met….

“Haa…, haa….”

No matter how much of a martial artist she is, Dang Seol-rin, a martial artist from the Dang Family who mainly uses hidden weapons and poison, inevitably has relatively low physical abilities from the start. All their training probably doesn’t involve physical conditioning beyond basic physical training.

“Miss Seol-rin, are you alright?”

“I’m fine…, Don’t worry…, Baekryeon….”

Well, she doesn’t look fine at all.

Baekryeon herself looked at Dang Seol-rin, who was on the verge of crawling on the floor, with pitiful eyes, perhaps seeing her as overlapping with herself back when she followed me around wanting to travel together and experienced an unexpected forced march, but Seol-rin stubbornly insisted that she was fine, showing the will of the Dang Family (laughs).

The sea and the city are coming into view over there, but I guess I’ll have to postpone finding the boatman Jong-ui for about a day.

“Let’s find a decent inn and rest. I’ll talk about the next schedule while resting.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.”

Baekryeon nodded in agreement.

Seol-rin didn’t answer, but as soon as she heard the word “rest,” her complexion visibly improved.

Is resting that good? If it’s so hard, she could just go back.

After passing through the outer walls of the city and entering, we went into an inn called Haejo Inn, which was said to be quite large in this area.

“Welcome~!”

“I want to stay for a few days, do you have any rooms?”

“Yes! Of course, we do. How many rooms do you need? We also have a triple room.”

The clerk glanced at Baekryeon and Seol-rin standing behind me, and then spoke with a sly smile.

Baekryeon is one thing, but Seol-rin is not like that, so put those eyes away.

“I’d like a room with good soundproofing.”

“One room means a triple room then. Follow me! I’ll guide you!”

I paid the clerk for the lodging and headed to the 4th floor of the inn.

The room that the clerk guided me to was quite far in the corner on the 4th floor.

“The walls are thick, so the soundproofing is excellent.”

“Thank you. I’d also like to have some food. Can you bring it up?”

“Of course, I can. I’ll bring it up right away.”

“Oh, and there’s one more thing I’d like to ask. Do you know if there’s a boatman named Jong-ui, and how I can meet him?”

As I said that, I gave the clerk some money, and the clerk immediately nodded and went downstairs.

If it’s an inn this big, a lot of information will gather, so they should be able to find out information about a boatman pretty quickly.

I went into the room that the clerk had guided me to, and as it was said to be a triple room, there were three sets of bedding prepared.

Seol-rin wordlessly went to one of the bedding sets on the far left as if she was being sucked in and lay down.

“…Is Baekryeon always doing this kind of thing?”

“Haha…, I suppose so. It’s the young master’s theory. Everything in the world cannot stand on the ground. Therefore, the two feet that step on the ground are the most important thing in the center of all actions. I myself gained a great enlightenment after hearing this story.”

“….”

Seol-rin, who had her face buried in the bedding, glanced at me as if she had seen me in a new light.

I feel like I said something similar to Baekryeon, but I don’t think I said it that explicitly, but it’s not wrong, so I’ll just let it go.

“…But you know.”

“Yes? What is it, Miss Seol-rin?”

“Why did you get only one room? I can understand staying like this when we’re camping outside, but even in a place like this, using one room is….”

At Seol-rin’s question, Baekryeon turned her head and looked at me.

“It’s a waste of money.”

At my words, Seol-rin looked at me as if she was dumbfounded.

“You said you have a lot of money.”

“Having a lot of money is a different story from spending it recklessly.”

“…That’s true.”

“And if we get separate rooms, it’ll be difficult to respond in case of an emergency. It’s also inconvenient to talk.”

In case of an emergency. At those words, Seol-rin raised her tired body and looked at me.

“Are you talking about an attack by the Beastmen Alliance?”

“Yeah. I explained it to some extent while coming here, but to say it again, we’re here to cut off the Beastmen Alliance’s source of funds. The goal is to catch all the traders who are selling Keogeunhwans that are being smuggled out of Yeomguk from here. But we’ve already had a big battle with the Beastmen Alliance once.”

“That’s…”

“That’s right. It’s you.”

The Beastmen Alliance attacking the Dang Family.

I fought against such a Beastmen Alliance and killed all those guys. This news will probably reach the Beastmen Alliance slowly.

No, if there is a traitor in the Dang Family, it will be known much faster than I thought.

“You’ve already been targeted once, so there’s no guarantee that you won’t be targeted again. And Baekryeon and I are nuisances who interfered with the attack that was targeting the Dang Family. Either way, they have more than enough reason to start a fight. In that situation, I don’t want to take the risk of being caught and defeated individually by getting separate rooms.”

“….Hmm. I understand.”

“Good to know. Anyway, we’re going to take a good rest today. I don’t know about me, but you two must be tired. But at least the two of you shouldn’t go around alone when you’re out and about. Stick together.”

If it’s just me, I can smash everyone and go back unless the opponent is a fragment of the Demon King, but that’s not the case for Baekryeon and Seol-rin.

Knock knock.

Perhaps because I was just talking about the attack, I could feel Baekryeon and Seol-rin’s bodies tense up at the simple knocking sound.

“Relax, you guys. The food’s here, so let’s eat and then sleep or rest.”

* * *

Dandung Day 1.

First of all, since they’re women, the first thing they did after finishing their meal was taking a bath.

It’s a pretty fancy inn, so there was a simple facility for bathing inside the room. After Baekryeon and Seol-rin both took a bath together, Seol-rin, who had been looking rather shabby, sat neatly on her bedding as if she had been reborn.

“So, first of all, you’re looking for that person named Jong-ui, right?”

“That’s right. I heard he belongs to the intelligence organization of Yeomgun. I’m going to find out about the Beastmen Alliance group here from him, and then decide how to act.”

“But young master, don’t you have a rough direction in mind?”

“Well…, even if I have a direction in mind….”

Just go and beat them all up and disband them. That’s all I’ve decided.

“From the start, they’re guys who should all be caught and disbanded. Catch everyone as quickly and accurately as possible. If even one person is missed, they’ll scatter and everything will go wrong afterwards. That’s the only direction I’ve decided.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Okay.”

“Then I’ll go out for a bit. You two take care of the house.”

I left Baekryeon and Seol-rin and went down to the first floor of the inn.

Unlike before, the first floor was quite crowded with people who had come to eat, and it was noisy.

I sat down at an empty seat and scanned the surroundings.

Among the clerks who were running around, I found the clerk I had seen earlier in the day and called him over.

“Esteemed customer!”

“Did you find out what I asked you to find out?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Then bring me two bottles of Hwajoo and a recommended side dish.”

“Yes!”

The clerk nodded and went straight into the kitchen.

Then, as I asked, he put down two bottles of Hwajoo and some reasonably appetizing food and sat down in front of me.

“Did you bring a cup?”

“I brought it~”

Smiling brightly, he took out an old cup from his pocket.

It seems like this kind of thing has happened quite often, as he skillfully poured the first cup for me and the second cup for himself.

“If you’re going to talk, you have to lubricate your mouth a little. Feel free to eat.”

“Oh my, you didn’t have to do that. But it’s not polite to refuse, so I’ll just have a little.”

As he said that, the clerk devoured the food.

How long have you been starving and working?

“Aren’t you going to eat, esteemed customer?”

“As you can see. Because of the mask.”

“Ah…, so that’s why you asked me to bring the food upstairs.”

Oh, is that so? Let’s just go with that.

“This is all yours. Eat as much as you want.”

“Then, I’ll gratefully accept your ocean-like generosity~”

Munch munch.

You’re eating so deliciously. It’s making my mouth water.

After the clerk had eaten his fill to some extent, he chugged down the Hwajoo, and with a burp, the clerk opened his mouth.

“First of all, to tell you the conclusion, I don’t think you’ll be able to meet the boatman Jong-ui right now.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“Well, you see.”

The clerk, who had chugged down the Hwajoo once again, let out an exclamation of “Kyaa,” and after looking around, he quietly opened his mouth.

“Actually, some of the boatmen have been captured by pirates recently. And I heard that the boatman Jong-ui was also captured in the same way. In other words, if you want to meet Jong-ui, you have to catch those pirates, that’s what I’m saying.”

….Are you fucking kidding me?