Namgoong the Sword Ghost - Chapter 10

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 10. Sword Spirit’s Call
Swish. Swish.
“How pretty you are.”
“Ho Yeon, look at me for a moment.”
…….
Ho Yeon was deeply displeased with the current situation.
After sleeping late due to going out last night, she’d woken to find Peng Xiaohua and Namgung Sang-ah barging in together.
“The olive oil makes such a difference.”
“Doesn’t it though! And the plum blossom hairpin suits you so well!”
Peng Xiaohua was combing through Ho Yeon’s tousled hair with an oiled comb.
Namgung Sang-ah, meanwhile, had brought out various hair ornaments and was trying them on her one by one.
‘This is absurd…….’
Ho Yeon gritted her teeth and grumbled inwardly, but couldn’t voice her complaints aloud.
Because the expressions of this mother and daughter tormenting her looked far too radiant to spoil.
“Hehe, Mother. Have you heard the news?”
“What news?”
At that moment, Namgung Sang-ah, who seemed in high spirits, spoke up, and Peng Xiaohua answered her question with one of her own.
Then Namgung Sang-ah’s mouth curled upward and she spoke with unmistakable delight.
“The Baekun Trading Company caught fire!”
“Truly? I do hope no one was hurt.”
“By some fortune, it was only the warehouse that went up in flames.”
Peng Xiaohua spoke with concern, and Namgung Sang-ah shrugged and continued.
“But there were supposedly thousands of bolts of silk stored in that warehouse?”
“My!”
“They were the finest silks bound for Beijing, so the loss is simply staggering!”
As Namgung Sang-ah spoke, her expression was brimming with vindictive satisfaction.
At the same time, a smile crept across Ho Yeon’s lips as well.
‘Hehe, it worked beautifully. I only meant to burn a few pavilions lightly, but this is sheer joy in all outcomes!’
Joy in All Outcomes.
Happy in joy, and happy even without it.
In other words, a situation where one remains delighted no matter what.
As Ho Yeon was congratulating herself on her good fortune, the Cheon Roe Sword spoke up in exasperation.
―What? Lightly burning a few pavilions? You wretch! Is that how a normal person thinks?
‘What’s the matter, sir. The Baekun Trading Company is the enemy of the Namgung Clan. Destroying enemies is the first principle of strategy, is it not.’
―What dubious treatise did you pull that from! The Art of War itself says Victory Without Battle—conquering without fighting—is the highest art of all!
‘How does one conquer without fighting? Even that Master Sun was talking drivel.’
―What did you say, you illiterate fool?
While Ho Yeon was bickering with the Cheon Roe Sword through Sword-Heart Resonance.
Tap-tap-tap!
Creak!
The sound of rapid footsteps thundered down the corridor, and the door swung open violently.
“Huff! Huff!”
“Cheong-gang? Are you all right?”
“Hey! What on earth are you doing!”
The young man who burst in, breathing heavily, was Namgung Cheong-gang.
Peng Xiaohua looked at Namgung Cheong-gang’s pale, drawn expression with concern.
Namgung Sang-ah reproached him for flinging open someone else’s door so recklessly.
“Huff! Pant! Ho, Ho Yeon!”
But Namgung Cheong-gang paid no heed to their reactions and stared only at Ho Yeon.
“……Yes?”
Ho Yeon blinked, bewildered, and Namgung Cheong-gang asked with an expression of utter disbelief.
“Did you really…… write this?”
Swish.
Namgung Cheong-gang drew a book from his robes.
The characters emblazoned on its cover—”Endless Azure Sky”—were as sharp as a blade’s edge.
They were her handwriting.
“Ah, yes.”
“……Good heavens!”
“Brother, why do you look like that? Are you all right?”
As Namgung Cheong-gang stood there like a man possessed, Namgung Sang-ah, worried for her brother, asked with concern.
Namgung Cheong-gang turned to Namgung Sang-ah and cried out as though in distress.
“The entire clan is in chaos right now!”
“……It’s you who’s in chaos, isn’t it?”
“No, really! It’s because of the sword manuals Ho Yeon wrote!”
“What?”
At Namgung Cheong-gang’s words, Peng Xiaohua and Namgung Sang-ah’s gazes fixed on Ho Yeon.
But Ho Yeon was just as bewildered.
‘……What? What has Father done now?’
* * *
An hour earlier.
The great conference hall of Changgyeong Palace.
The clan patriarch Namgung Baek sat in the central seat with a stern expression, while a man stood behind him.
The next tier of seats held three aging men and two women, and behind them nine middle-aged men were arrayed in rows.
Sixteen people in total.
“Hmm, how many months has it been since the last Changing Heaven Council meeting?”
“Are you getting senile? It was three months ago.”
As an elderly man with a white beard stroked his whiskers and spoke, a short-statured elder with a coarse expression rasped out a response in a gravelly voice.
Then a bald elder with an impassive expression blurted out flatly:
“It wasn’t three months—it was four months ago.”
“What? Time’s already gone that fast? Aren’t we dying soon?”
As the three men began squabbling, the two women beside them offered their reproach.
“Ugh, quiet, all of you. The patriarch should speak first!”
“……Brothers. Hush.”
One was a sharp-tongued elderly woman with white hair, the other a middle-aged woman with a quiet, reserved bearing.
These five comprised the Five Elders who formed the elder council of the Namgung Clan.
And the nine middle-aged men listening to their exchange were the Nine Hall Masters.
The Namgung Clan was organized into 5 Councils, 9 Halls, 27 Divisions.
The highest-level meeting, restricted to attendance by only hall-master-level figures, was precisely the Changing Heaven Council.
“I thank you all for making time in your busy schedules to gather here. Then let us begin the Changing Heaven Council.”
Namgung Baek announced the start of the council in a voice heavier than usual.
“Master of the Cheon-i Hall. Have you investigated the fire at the Baekun Trading Company?”
“Yes.”
In response to Namgung Baek’s question, Namgung Seo, the master of the Cheon-i Hall which handled intelligence gathering both inside and outside the clan, answered.
“The joint investigative team from the Baekun Trading Company and the Geumneung Trading Company has concluded it was arson.”
“Arson?”
“The reason is that the fires broke out far too simultaneously to be accidental.”
“Who is the culprit?”
“Unknown.”
At Namgung Seo’s words, Namgung Yeom, the Second Elder, spoke in a voice thick with phlegm.
“The culprit’s name is unknown? Master of the Cheon-i Hall. Is work that easy for you these days?”
“……My apologies.”
“Now, Yeom. Is that how you show respect to the hall master?”
“Hmph! Seo is someone I’ve raised since infancy! If he’s taken my place, he should do the work properly!”
“Goodness, you must separate public duty from personal matters.”
Namgung Yeom, the former Cheon-i Hall Master, glared at his successor Namgung Seo and spoke; Namgung So, the First Elder, rebuked him.
“……An investigative team was also dispatched from the magistrate’s office, but there were neither witnesses nor suspects. The only things discovered were two small flints, and the conclusion was that arson would be impossible without supernatural intervention.”
“My goodness!”
“What impact will this matter have on our clan?”
Namgung Baek, pretending not to notice Namgung Yeom’s continued displeasure, posed the next question.
This time, a man dressed in the clean robes of a scholar spoke up.
“Might I offer my thoughts on that matter?”
“Go ahead, Master of the External Affairs Hall.”
“The penalty the Baekun Trading Company must pay to the Geumneung Trading Company is estimated to reach five hundred thousand taels of silver.”
“Five—five hundred thousand taels!”
“Good heavens, the silk was worth that much?”
“Hmm, that sum includes not only the price of the silk but also compensation for management liability.”
At a figure beyond imagination, Changgyeong Palace stirred with commotion.
Namgung Ja-cheong, the Master of the External Affairs Hall, waited for the uproar to settle before continuing.
“The Baekun Trading Company, with this fire falling upon their doorstep, has submitted a petition document to the magistrate.”
“A petition document?”
“It is to demand repayment of promissory notes from the main house whose terms have expired.”
“…….”
At the External Affairs Hall director’s words, Namgung Baek fell silent.
Then, after a moment, he opened his mouth heavily.
“I will hand over the northern farmland.”
“Patriarch! That cannot be!”
At Namgung Baek’s words, a stout man leaped up in protest.
“You would surrender such precious land for a pittance!”
“Finance Hall director. It cannot be helped.”
Even as Finance Hall director Namgung Sang-bo spoke, Namgung Baek’s resolve remained firm.
“We cannot continue to be dragged about by them. How much further must the honor of this clan be tarnished?”
“But……!”
“And I hear even this rumor circulating—that our clan will marry off Sang-ah to the Baekun Trading Company to pay our debts?”
A heavy wave of energy rippled outward.
From Namgung Baek, speaking in that cold tone, came a dense pressure of force.
“Ha! So this servant dares speak nonsense, not knowing his master!”
At Namgung Baek’s words, Elder Namgung Yeom, the second elder, burned with rage as well.
The expressions of the remaining elders and hall directors were dark.
A direct daughter of the Namgung Clan sold off because of debt?
And to the Baekun Trading Company, which once stood in the shadow of the Namgung Clan?
“Impossible!”
“We could never hold our heads high!”
“Give the young lady to that pig of a man? I would rather cut him down and fall on my own sword.”
Changgyeong Palace grew fevered with anger.
In the heated atmosphere, Finance Hall director Namgung Sang-bo could no longer speak, only sweat dripping profusely from his brow.
‘Ah, that land… Next year the budget will be cut in half….’
“Do not worry too much.”
Noticing the Finance Hall director’s distress, Namgung Baek spoke.
“If the Escort Protection Business we are advancing proceeds smoothly, we can make up for the loss. Is that not so, Security Hall director?”
“Indeed, sir!”
Thump! Thump!
At Namgung Baek’s question, a broad-shouldered man who looked solid as an iron tower beat his chest and spoke with absolute confidence.
“I stake my name on it—I shall make the Escort Protection Business succeed!”
“Hmm…….”
“Indeed…….”
At Security Hall director Namgung Ho’s declaration, several people showed skeptical reactions.
‘Well enough—it is a venture no one has yet attempted.’
But Namgung Baek understood their doubts.
The escort company business the Namgung Clan was currently preparing was different in character from an ordinary escort business.
It was called Escort Protection.
Protecting the escort companies themselves.
‘Many escort companies lament the absence of master martial artists. Without them, they cannot accept large commissions, and as a result their reputation declines until they vanish without a trace.’
This business had been conceived from that observation.
The idea was simple: rent out master martial artists and collect payment.
‘Our clan has, over the years, made tremendous investments even at the cost of debt, to improve both the quality and quantity of our martial artists. This human resource is our true strength.’
Generally, starting an escort company business requires extensive preparation.
One must establish stable routes, recruit clients, and build relationships with local figures.
‘It is beyond our capacity to prepare all of that step by step. Instead, we assign new roles to an already completed supply network.’
Escort companies protect goods.
Escort Protection protects the escort companies.
The advantage of this business is that a small, elite force can generate high added value.
The drawback is the enormous initial investment cost.
For the Namgung Clan, whose investments were already complete, this Escort Protection business was an opportunity to pioneer a new market.
‘The escort companies themselves stand to gain. Using Escort Protection allows them to secure large commissions they could not ordinarily receive, and as a result their reputation rises, making it possible to recruit new master martial artists.’
It was no exaggeration to say that the fate of the Namgung Clan rode on this Escort Protection business.
Especially now, when they must hand over the northern farmland to the Baekun Trading Company.
“Now then, let us turn to the main matter.”
The main matter?
Then everything until now had been mere preliminaries?
Several of the hall directors looked uncertain, but the elders and those others who had already been informed lit up with interest.
More pressing than the Baekun Trading Company fire and the Escort Protection Business was today’s true agenda for the Changing Heaven Council—
“Keeper of the Library Hall. What is the current situation?”
“…Changgyeong Pavilion is bursting at the seams. Operations have naturally ground to a halt. Even copying through the night, we cannot keep pace with demand.”
At Namgung Baek’s question, a small, dark-eyed woman with tired features responded in a weary tone.
“Lord of the Clan, whose master have you taken in? Surely not the Blade Emperor himself? He is decidedly an outsider.”
“Ha, no—not my father-in-law. One of our own Namgung.”
“…I beg your pardon?”
At Namgung Baek’s words, Namgung So-yu, keeper of the Library Hall, widened her eyes.
The reason Changgyeong Pavilion was currently bursting at the seams was the new texts that had been placed there.
Those texts were martial arts treatises native to the Namgung Clan—yet they were entirely different, wholly new martial arts.
‘Whoever annotated those treatises with such vast martial principles and inscrutably profound commentary—he claims to be one of our own? Who could it possibly be?’
As the keeper of the Library Hall’s gaze turned skeptical,
Namgung Baek, wearing a satisfied smile, finally opened his mouth.
“There is something I must tell all of you. The truth is, our youngest—Ho Yeon—is a prodigy of unparalleled talent in all of history.”
“…?”
“…!”
“….”
At Namgung Baek’s declaration, reactions of every conceivable sort erupted throughout Changgyeong Palace.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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