We arrived at Eulrim Inn.
Normally, this was the second or third inn people stayed at after getting off the boat.
But for us, this was the first.
Which meant one thing – we’d ridden here at a ridiculous pace.
The idea was to stop at as few inns as possible and leave as little information about ourselves behind as we could.
And Eulrim Inn had been my recommendation.
“Welcome! Ah! Deputy Merchant Lord Eun Seo-ho?”
“It’s been a while.”
The innkeeper at Eulrim Inn recognized me right away.
It had been five years since I last came here, but that trip had been to search for Brother Jin-ho after he disappeared.
There was no way the incident back then hadn’t left a strong impression.
“What brings you all the way out here?”
Then he gave the people with me a quick look and tilted his head.
“It doesn’t look like you’re here on business…”
“Ah, I had something to take care of at the branch here for a little while.”
“I see.”
“I can’t go into detail because it involves merchant group business. My apologies.”
“Not at all! I was being too nosy.”
“In that case, I’d like some duck porridge, please.”
“Oh, you must be hungry! Of course. I’ll have it prepared right away. And are you only staying one night?”
“Yes. We’re leaving first thing tomorrow.”
We handed our horses over to the stable hands and went inside the inn.
The place was fairly large.
Probably the biggest inn around here.
And the specialty here was duck porridge.
As we sat at the table, Han Seok quietly asked,
“Can this place be trusted?”
He must’ve been worried because the innkeeper had seemed a little too loose-lipped just now.
I smiled gently and said,
“You don’t need to worry.”
He really didn’t. The innkeeper might’ve seemed easygoing, but he wasn’t careless at all.
He’d only asked out of curiosity because I clearly hadn’t come here on business. He wasn’t asking because he wanted to spread rumors.
How did I know?
Because he was the kind of man who’d gotten so sick of rumors that he opened an inn out here.
Before long, the duck porridge arrived, and we started eating.
“Oh! This is good!”
“Ohhh!”
The Embroidered Guard warriors were immediately won over by the taste and started wolfing it down.
Well, it made sense. They’d been living on dry rations this whole time.
The next day.
We left Eulrim Inn early in the morning.
As we kept going, the forest where Brother Jin-ho had disappeared came into view.
The place where a barren zone had formed because of the Silver Mist Sword’s rejection.
Passing through here again like this brought back a lot.
But this wasn’t the time to get sentimental.
We urged our horses on and soon reached the provincial capital.
Yunnan was famous for how unpredictable the weather could be.
Still, Kunming, the provincial capital, tended to stay like warm spring all year round.
That was probably why so many people gathered here and why it became the capital in the first place.
The only real drawback was the elevation.
“But, young master.”
“What?”
“You do know where the branch is, right? You’re not just looking for it as you go, are you?”
“Of course I know.”
“As far as I know, you’ve never been here before, so how do you know the way?”
Ah… come to think of it, I hadn’t visited the Yunnan branch in this life.
So of course I shouldn’t know.
But…
“Supervisor Seong explained it to me before. He was very detailed.”
“Isn’t it hard to find your way just from an explanation?”
“I’m smart, remember?”
“…”
Palgap didn’t answer. He just stared at me.
What was with that look?
I was embarrassed too, you know.
Anyway, we arrived at the Yunnan branch of the Eunhae Merchant Group.
“Huh? Isn’t that the Deputy Merchant Lord?”
The gate guard at the Yunnan branch cried out in surprise. He too belonged to the Eunpoong Division.
And the Eunpoong Division rotated assignments as a matter of policy.
That was why he recognized me.
In truth, the Yunnan branch hadn’t been all that large.
It had just served as a small shop where the supervisor and a few workers stayed and supplied tea.
But as the Eunhae Merchant Group rapidly expanded, the amount of Pu’er Tea being supplied rose with it, so a few years ago we formally established a branch here.
Much faster than in my previous life.
Of course, even so, it was only about half the size of the Sichuan branch, but a branch was still a branch.
The guard quickly rang a bell to pass the news inside, then came up to me and cupped his fist.
“Gi Suk of the Eunpoong Division greets the Deputy Merchant Lord.”
“It’s good to see you, Escort Guard Gi.”
He lifted his head and looked at the escort guards behind me. Then he smiled faintly, which made it seem like he knew the men who’d once belonged to the Eunpoong Division.
Just then, a familiar-looking man came running out from inside.
“What brings you all the way here?”
“Sorry for dropping in so suddenly.”
Supervisor Seong Jun-baek – no, Branch Chief.
Back when Brother Jin-ho disappeared, he’d only been a supervisor, but once this place was elevated into a branch, he became the branch chief.
“No need. Please, come in.”
And so, with a warm welcome, we entered the Yunnan Branch of the Eunhae Merchant Group.
“I’m afraid your lodgings weren’t prepared in advance, so it may take a little time to arrange them. My apologies.”
At his words, I waved a hand.
“If you say that, it only makes me feel worse. This is my fault for showing up without sending word.”
Then I continued,
“If you’re not too busy, could we talk for a bit?”
“Of course.”
We headed to the reception room and were served tea.
Yunnan was famous for producing high-quality Pu’er Tea.
Pu’er was a fermented tea, and the reason it could be fermented this well was because this region stayed humid year-round without extreme heat or extreme cold.
Mm, this is good.
“Has the Merchant Lord been in good health?”
At that, I set down my teacup and replied,
“Yes, Father is doing very well. The main branch has been peaceful too.”
“That is good to hear.”
“And we’re always grateful for all your hard work, Branch Chief Seong.”
Then I added,
“We haven’t forgotten your efforts, staying out here on the frontier and working so hard to supply quality tea for the merchant group.”
“You honor me too much.”
All right. Time to get to the point.
“The reason I came so suddenly this time is because I need to go to Springview Fortress Fortress at once.”
At my words, Branch Chief Seong Jun-baek looked troubled.
“That… may not be easy. These days, Springview Fortress Fortress is strictly controlling all outsiders.”
“All of a sudden?”
“Yes. About a month ago, the mood there changed abruptly, and those measures were put into place. When I looked into why, I heard assassins had tried to kill the Empire’s envoys. So according to them, the restrictions were imposed to protect the envoys in Springview Fortress Fortress.”
Huh?
What was that supposed to mean?
I glanced over at the Embroidered Guard warriors, and they looked just as baffled.
There was no reason for the Yunnan Branch Chief to lie to us, which meant there was only one answer.
That was what they’d officially announced to the outside world.
And of course, judging from my previous life, it was a blatant lie.
But Branch Chief Seong Jun-baek wasn’t done.
“Still, I have my doubts about that story. From what I can see, this doesn’t seem to be about protecting the envoys at all.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because the Lord of Springview Fortress Fortress would hire assassins to kill imperial envoys before he’d ever protect envoys from assassins.”
Then he went on,
“Every envoy who came here abused his authority, and under the excuse of ‘gifts,’ they extorted enormous amounts of wealth.”
“What?”
That was not the reason I’d expected.
“The envoys abused their authority? And they were extorting gifts?”
“Even from what I saw, the things they did were bad enough to make me wonder how anyone could think that was acceptable.”
As Branch Chief Seong Jun-baek explained, all I could do was let out a hollow laugh.
Apparently, whenever an imperial envoy came, Springview Fortress Fortress bent over backward to cater to him.
They served lavish feasts at every meal, of course, and if the envoy took a liking to some woman, they even turned a blind eye when he raped her.
They’d even cut off a commoner’s wrist once just for blocking the road.
Wow… that wasn’t a man. That was a beast wearing human skin.
“And not long ago, one envoy forcibly violated the Lord of Springview Fortress Fortress’s daughter.”
“What?”
“They begged him to at least take her as a wife, but the envoy refused. In the end, she took her own life, and those men never once offered so much as a word of apology.”
“Wow…”
“Makes you want to curse, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah. It really does. And not just a little.”
“And that’s not all. Every time they came, they left with wagonloads of wealth. Can you imagine how badly people suffered under that kind of plundering?”
“…”
I thought for a moment, then asked,
“Why didn’t they protest to the Imperial Palace? If they’d reported something like that, His Majesty the Emperor wouldn’t have let those men off.”
“Wouldn’t they have been threatened? Something like, ‘Complain about this, and I’ll brand all of you traitors. If that happens, erasing Springview Fortress Fortress would be nothing.’”
That was entirely possible.
But that required one condition.
I turned to Gwon Jik and asked,
“By any chance, were the same envoys always sent to Springview Fortress Fortress?”
At my question, he nodded.
“It’s such a remote place that, as I understand it, they petitioned to keep sending the same men, saying that if others were sent, they wouldn’t recognize faces and wouldn’t be able to handle matters properly, Deputy Merchant Lord.”
Since he was supposed to be playing one of my escorts, Gwon Jik spoke to me formally.
At that moment, Branch Chief Seong Jun-baek quietly asked,
“By the way… who exactly are they?”
“They’re part of my escort detail.”
“What?”
“That’s all you need to know.”
At my answer, Branch Chief Seong Jun-baek immediately nodded.
As expected of someone I could respect, he was quick on the uptake.
“Understood.”
“Then is Springview Fortress Fortress the only place where things like this happen?”
“No. The other tribes are the same. Kunming is just a little better because it has more people and more outsiders coming and going.”
That figured… it was an isolated, closed-off region with little exchange with other places, so things like that could get swept under the rug.
Still, to think the Imperial Palace envoys had been oppressing officials granted rank by the Emperor himself!
Branch Chief Seong Jun-baek continued,
“Anyway, because of all that, I don’t find it credible when they claim Springview Fortress Fortress shut out outsiders in order to protect the envoys.”
.
.
.
By the time our conversation ended, our lodgings had been prepared.
I was shown to my quarters, unpacked, then came back out into the garden.
Maybe because it was spring all year round here, the garden was full of flowers in bloom.
At that moment, Gwon Jik walked over.
He looked deep in thought.
Not surprising. What we’d just heard from Branch Chief Seong Jun-baek had been shocking even to me.
“You look like you’ve got a lot on your mind.”
“Ah. So you were here too.”
“Yes. I wanted some air.”
“So did I.”
Then he continued,
“To be honest, what Branch Chief Seong told us earlier is hard to believe. But… he wouldn’t tell a lie that could be exposed with even a little investigation.”
“Branch Chief Seong is someone you can trust.”
“Yes, and that’s exactly why this is even more… unsettling.”
Then he went on,
“It’s been nearly fifty years since the Empire last dispatched a Provincial Administration Commissioner here.”
“That’s a long time.”
“It is. But that doesn’t mean the Empire abandoned Yunnan. The Embroidered Guard and the Eastern Depot both have people stationed here to keep watch.”
Then he continued,
“And yet nothing like this was ever reported to His Majesty. If they had truly been keeping watch properly, then instead of a messenger from Springview Fortress Fortress, one of His Majesty’s own people would have sent word to us about this matter first.”
“Are the people here fixed as well?”
“They are. That’s the only way they can avoid suspicion.”
“…”
“So now the question finally makes sense.”
Only then did I think I finally understood why the Emperor had sent me here.
The Emperor had already noticed.
He’d realized that the very eyes, ears, hands, and feet meant to watch over Yunnan were serving someone other than him.
And in the middle of all that, his son had gotten caught up in it.
That was why he’d sent me along too, to make sure we had a good way to conceal their identities.
Then why hadn’t the Emperor told me and the others that in advance?
Probably because he trusted me.
He’d sent the Embroidered Guard in secret because he feared a leak, and maybe he hadn’t had the time to warn us.
Either way, at this point, we could no longer trust the Embroidered Guard and Eastern Depot forces stationed here.
It seemed like the Embroidered Guard warriors traveling with me had quietly been counting on the ones already stationed in Yunnan…
Still, whatever tragic circumstances surrounded Springview Fortress Fortress, our priority was rescuing the Imperial Prince.
“By the way, was this the Imperial Prince’s first trip to Yunnan?”
“It was. He came under His Majesty’s orders.”
So they must’ve decided this was their chance and detained the envoys.
From the Lord of Springview Fortress Fortress’s perspective, maybe it all looked the same either way .
Dead one way or dead the other.
But there was still one thing I didn’t understand. The deaths of the Embroidered Guard warriors who’d supposedly been dispatched here about a month ago.
Judging by the wounds left on the bodies of the dead men led by the Maoshan Sect Daoist, the killer had been someone they trusted.
Just like that, the pool of suspects behind their deaths narrowed.
Either it was the Eastern Depot or Embroidered Guard already stationed here, or it was the envoys who were supposedly being detained.
Maybe they’d even worked together.
If they had, it would’ve been because they didn’t want their corruption exposed.
No matter what, I’d received an order from the Emperor, and I had to rescue the Imperial Prince.
The Imperial Prince, who’d come here under imperial orders without knowing any of this, wasn’t at fault… wait.
An Imperial Prince was someone with a legitimate claim to inherit the throne.
This wasn’t something I could afford to look at simply.
