Chapter 121: Red Moon
Mihyeon, located at the edge of Iheo Plain—one of the granaries of the Central Plains—was a small rural city.
As its na suggested, Mihyeon ant a region where rice was produced, and aside from the vast farmlands stretching endlessly in all directions, there was nothing else worth seeing.
The reason Mihyeon transford into a small city was because a rchant group called Yeonryuk rchant Guild had settled there.
Before that, it had been nothing more than a hamlet with a few shabby farmhouses gathered together.
The Yeonryuk rchant Guild was not a great comrcial house that dominated the trade circles of the Central Plains.
It dealt in only a single commodity—grain—had few trading partners, and its profits were not particularly large.
However, over the past few years, as famine and starvation swept across the entire Central Plains, there was no place that dared ignore the Yeonryuk rchant Guild.
They were practically the only rchant group supplying grain throughout the western region of the Central Plains.
Firmly connected to the great landowners and owning considerable farmland themselves, the Yeonryuk rchant Guild, unlike others, had a fairly abundant supply of grain.
To the point that people said if one wished to obtain grain in the western Central Plains, the only way was to persuade the Yeonryuk rchant Guild.
Deep within the Yeonryuk rchant Guild, in a place commonly called the inner courtyard, there stood a small pavilion known as Yeonhwa Pavilion.
Built as though cradling a small garden called Yeonhwa Garden—sharing the sa na as the pavilion—it was the residence of the Yeonryuk rchant Guild Master’s only daughter.
Yeonhwa Pavilion was considered the most beautiful place among all the guild’s buildings, to the extent that the Guild Master’s doting affection for his daughter was widely known.
Seated in that Yeonhwa Pavilion was a familiar woman.
It was Hwayeong, the only daughter of Geumhwa Manor.
As she had been wasting away from illness, the Geumhwa Manor Lord had sent her to the Yeonryuk rchant Guild. He had hoped that spending ti with the Guild Master’s daughter, who had been her childhood friend, might help her recover even a little.
Beside Hwayeong—who had grown so gaunt that one could no longer find the traces of her once radiant face—another young woman settled down.
Though her beauty did not quite rival Hwayeong’s, she exuded a lively and cheerful energy.
She was Yeon Jarin, the precious jewel-like daughter of the Yeonryuk rchant Guild Master.
“Are you thinking about that person again?”
At Jarin’s question, Hwayeong gave a faint smile.
Seeing her like that, Jarin asked with concern,
“You said he’s soone from another world. You know it yourself—what will you do if you keep holding onto him like this?”
“I know… but I just can’t empty my heart.”
“Haah… The girl who wouldn’t even glance at a man—how did this happen? What kind of person is he, anyway? The rumors say he’s just a blood-starved slaughter wraith.”
“A slaughter wraith?”
When I thought of the terrifying ruthlessness he had shown during the Geumhwa Manor massacre, I could not deny those words.
After all, I could not even dare count how many lives had vanished at the hands of that one man.
But if it had not been him?
Everyone at Geumhwa Manor would have died and been erased from the world without a trace.
So to the people of Geumhwa Manor—including Hwayeong—he was a benefactor.
“No, he’s a good person.”
At Hwayeong’s reply, Jarin shook her head.
“I’m the fool for asking you. If you like him that much, then say it. ‘I like you. What do you think of ?’ Just tell him.”
To Jarin, who spoke as though frustrated, Hwayeong offered a sorrowful smile.
“What if he rejects ?”
“If you’re too scared to even say it, he’ll never know for his entire life that you like him!”
“Even so… it’s better to be able to like him like this than to be rejected and not even be allowed to look at him.”
“What do you an better! Look at yourself in this mirror and see what you’ve beco.”
As Jarin handed her a mirror while scolding her, Hwayeong’s weak smile vanished and her eyes widened.
A group of martial artists was rushing toward them. Among them, she saw the Geumhwa Manor escort warriors who had followed her here.
An ergency council was suddenly convened at the Yeonryuk rchant Guild.
With the Guild Master and his most trusted head stewards seated together, a letter was revealed before them, containing quite shocking contents.
Before the two-line ssage, the Guild Master sat silently. The Chief Steward cautiously asked,
“How was this ssage delivered?”
“At dawn today, it was embedded in the pillar of my pavilion along with an arrow.”
“Then does that not an we do not know who sent it?”
“……”
The Guild Master silently nodded at the question. The Chief Steward continued,
“Then we should ignore it. The Martial Alliance has no reason to attack us.”
“Could it be revenge for when we intervened during the Geumhwa Manor massacre in the past?”
At the Guild Master’s question, the Chief Steward shook his head.
“We lodged a direct protest and suspended new transactions, but we continued selling grain without restriction to existing trading partners affiliated with the Martial Alliance. They may have taken offense, but it would not be enough to destroy us. If rchant houses were eliminated for such matters, there would be none left standing.”
“Then is this truly soone’s prank?”
As the Guild Master pondered, another steward spoke carefully.
“Guild Master, there is sothing I wish to say.”
“Ah! Steward in charge of external trade. Speak.”
The Steward in charge of external trade was responsible for cooperation with other rchant groups.
Having received permission, he opened his mouth.
“I agree with the Chief Steward that we have not incurred direct enmity severe enough for the Martial Alliance to designate us as an enemy and attack. However, if Geumhwa Manor, to whom we supplied a large quantity of grain, becos entangled, the story may change sowhat.”
“Geumhwa Manor? Why Geumhwa Manor?”
The Guild Master’s gaze turned cold in an instant.
Just as their daughters were childhood friends, the Geumhwa Manor Lord and the Yeonryuk rchant Guild Master were also close friends from childhood.
Their fathers had been the sa, and their grandfathers before them as well.
The ties between Yeonryuk rchant Guild and Geumhwa Manor stretched back many years.
Two hundred years ago, the founder of the Yeonryuk rchant Guild had settled in Mihyeon upon the recomndation of the Geumhwa Manor Lord of that era, who had been his childhood friend.
Geumhwa Manor had provided the initial business capital and had been the largest custor. They had not even charged interest on the money they lent to the guild.
They had given unwavering support to their childhood friend’s success.
That relationship continued to this day.
Their descendants still studied together and remained close companions. As a result, the entire households were practically friends.
It was said throughout the trade circles of the Central Plains that the enemy of Geumhwa Manor was the enemy of the Yeonryuk rchant Guild, and vice versa.
Indeed, when the Geumhwa Manor massacre occurred and a public protest was lodged against the Martial Alliance, the Yeonryuk rchant Guild had been the first to take action.
That was why the Guild Master’s reaction turned cold at the ntion of Geumhwa Manor.
To him, the Steward in charge of external trade replied cautiously,
“Most of the grain Geumhwa Manor purchased from us flowed into the Bright Cult.”
“The places that sell grain used in that way are not only us. I know of more than eight myself. Then are all of them to be attacked? No—if rchant houses were attacked for such reasons, which one would survive!”
The logic of ‘us and them’ was sothing used only among those who strutted about the martial world.
To rchants, as long as they were fellow people of the Central Plains, whether it was the Bright Cult or the Martial Alliance, if they wished to buy, it was their duty to sell.
At the Guild Master’s words, the Steward in charge of external trade nodded.
“You are correct. However, if circumstances change, then the hearts of the people may change as well.”
“Circumstances have changed?”
“The Bright Cult has been winning the hearts of the people with the grain we sold. That ans the hearts of the people are leaving the Hundred Paths by just as much. They may have found that intolerable.”
They spoke of public sentint, but that too was money.
Since wherever public sentint gathered, money inevitably flowed as well.
The Yeonryuk rchant Guild Master imdiately understood what the Steward in Charge of External Trade was implying and asked,
“Then do you believe this ssage to be genuine?”
“They may have needed an example. And there would be no place better suited than us to serve as one. We sold the most grain to Golden Flower Manor, and no one is more deeply tied to them than we are.”
After pondering for a mont at the steward’s words, the Guild Master asked,
“And the counterasure?”
“Flight is the only option. We have escort warriors, yes—but if the Martial Alliance truly set their minds to it, they would be no more than a drop in the ocean.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than the Chief Steward voiced his opposition.
“That will not do. To abandon the rchant guild and flee over a single letter whose authenticity we cannot even confirm? And what if it proves false? We would beco the laughingstock of the entire trade circle of the Central Plains, and it would only ensure we fall from the Martial Alliance’s favor. Most importantly…”
He trailed off, turning his gaze out the eting hall window before continuing.
“…the grain we have gathered so desperately over the years will be stolen. No one would leave warehouses standing empty once their owners have fled.”
He was not wrong.
If word spread that we had abandoned the guild and fled, the grain warehouses would beco the first targets of bandits.
Even now, raids by brigands were occurring with uncomfortable frequency.
At the Chief Steward’s concern, the Steward in Charge of External Trade carefully spoke again.
“Grain can be gathered again. But a human life, once lost, cannot be reclaid.”
“Gather it again? If you can go out right now and amass the sa quantity as what fills our warehouses, I will abandon my stance and follow your words without question.”
At the Chief Steward’s retort, the Steward in Charge of External Trade fell silent.
Because in the current circumstances, it simply could not be done.
Indeed, the quantity of grain piled within the Yeonryuk rchant Guild’s warehouses was sothing that could never be achieved through the present harvest alone.
This year’s yield had already been exhausted. If we were to purchase more, we would have to wait until next year’s harvest.
In other words, there was no solution.
Seeing the steward rendered speechless, the Chief Steward turned to the Guild Master and spoke firmly.
“For those reasons, we cannot abandon it even in death. Guild Master. We are rchants. There are tis when goods are more important than life itself. We must protect it!”
At the resolute declaration, many of the stewards nodded in agreent.
In tis like these, if grain rchants like us discarded what we possessed and fled, rising again would be nearly impossible. Everyone gathered in that hall understood it well.
In the end, that day, the Yeonryuk rchant Guild Master decided to stand his ground.
Of course, he did not entirely dismiss his worries, and so he resolved to prepare at least minimal counterasures.
He decided to send his daughter—and Golden Flower Manor’s precious jewel, who had co seeking refuge—back to Golden Flower Manor.
n were selected to escort them…
It was a selection that moved the stewards to tears of gratitude.
Every one of them was the eldest son of a steward. In other words, should the worst occur, they would carry on their family lines and safeguard the future.
Thus, to those departing in haste for Golden Flower Manor, the Guild Master entrusted most of the promissory notes he had kept in storage.
They were, in essence, funds for rebuilding should disaster strike.
With Yeon Jarin and Ga Hwa-yeong placed in a carriage, twenty young n mounted their horses and departed from the Yeonryuk rchant Guild.
The escort warriors from Golden Flower Manor who had accompanied Hwayeong remained behind at the guild.
It was because Hwayeong had ordered them to assist the Yeonryuk rchant Guild rather than follow her.
The Golden Flower Manor escort warriors, well aware of the deep ties between the two sides, readily obeyed her command.
Though the Yeonryuk rchant Guild possessed nearly a hundred escort warriors, the air was thick with tension and anxiety.
After all, if the Martial Alliance truly invaded, there would be none left alive.
Perhaps because of that, the eyes of Lee Chang—who oversaw the guild’s escort warriors—were filled with the resolve of one prepared to die.
Approaching him was a martial artist nad Bi Hyeon, who had remained behind leading the Golden Flower Manor escort warriors.
“Do you think there is a possibility?”
A possibility of survival? Or a possibility that the Martial Alliance would truly attack?
It was unclear, but Lee Chang assud the latter and answered accordingly. For he himself had once been a secular disciple of Mount Hua Sect, which belonged to the Martial Alliance.
Thus, he judged that Bi Hyeon was likely asking whether he knew sothing.
“I cannot say for certain. I have received no ssage from my sect.”
Feeling as though his inner thoughts had been exposed, Bi Hyeon gave an awkward smile.
“My apologies. If that was discourteous, I beg forgiveness. I am uneasy, but you are the only Unit Commander I could ask…”
“I understand. I, too, wish desperately to ask my sect.”
“Surely not… Even so, they are of the Hundred Paths. To launch a raid…”
At Bi Hyeon’s words, Lee Chang found himself unable to respond.
Before he joined the Yeonryuk rchant Guild, there had been a martial artist of Mount Hua Sect who had swept through the small rchant houses of Shaanxi under the na of ‘discipline.’
Lee Chang himself had taken part among them.
Though the scale could not compare to those rchant houses, the Yeonryuk rchant Guild was still, in the end, a rchant group.
rchants—whom the orthodox sects did not regard as worth even the dirt beneath their toes.
That thought prevented Lee Chang from answering.
‘Please, Sect Master. Let it not be so.’
The prayer he uttered inwardly was not because he believed righteousness and chivalry alone governed the world. He was long past the age of such naivety.
Even so, what he truly desired was to avoid raising his sword against his own sect.
For if the Martial Alliance’s strike force truly crossed the walls of the Yeonryuk rchant Guild, he would have no choice but to fight.
And he feared the mont he might face fellow disciples of Mount Hua Sect.
In Lee Chang’s line of sight, the moon rose high in the sky—unusually red.
“Red Moon… Hm.”
At his uneasy murmur, Bi Hyeon also lifted his head toward the heavens, a low sound escaping his lips.
“Hm……”
For in the Central Plains, a Red Moon signified ill on.
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