The Battle for the Heavenly Sword - Chapter 41

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

41
Woo Geom-San Defends the Blade
Around the time the sun reached the middle of the sky, the merchants who traded tea every year entered Guangu County.
Watching the merchants approaching the Zhuyang Inn, Woo Geom-san quietly asked Baek Wol-sang.
“Are those the merchants you trade with every year?”
“That’s right! They are, but…”
Baek Wol-sang let his voice trail off.
There was a very good reason why he spoke with such a lack of confidence.
It was because the scale of the merchant group arriving at the Zhuyang Inn was far larger than anything he had imagined.
There were over ten horse-drawn carriages, and the number of people traveling with them looked to be well over thirty.
It was at a level where an entire small merchant group was moving together.
Woo Geom-san narrowed his eyes and observed the crowd.
‘At least ten of them have mastered martial arts.’
He could tell just by looking at their sturdy builds, the calluses on the backs of their hands, and the weapons strapped to their waists.
Even the sharp, relentless glints in their eyes as they constantly surveyed their surroundings made it clear they had trained in martial arts to a considerable level.
‘The caliber of the escort guards is impressive.’
Naturally, hiring such escort guards cost a fortune.
Hiring just three or four proper escort guards would place a significant burden on a small merchant group.
Furthermore, to hire as many as ten escort guards meant taking on an immense financial weight. If they were proper escort guards like those men, it would inevitably cost even more money.
It was something the financial power of a small merchant group simply could not handle.
Baek Wol-sang spoke with a dazed expression.
“The goat-bearded man leading the way is Master Seo, the merchant who trades with us every year. But all the others are faces I’ve never seen before. Whenever he came here in the past, it was always just him and about five or six workers.”
“Is that so?”
“Sigh! I honestly don’t know what on earth is going on.”
Ever since coming down to Guangu County, it had been a continuous string of unexpected events.
The Cheongmun Gang’s attempt to steal the tea was one thing, and the merchant who traded with Yunjung Village every year arriving with such a massive crowd was also entirely outside his expectations.
It was certain that something peculiar was happening, but it was frustrating because he could not grasp the reality of it.
As Baek Wol-sang and the village youths stood there filled with confusion, the merchants arrived in front of the Zhuyang Inn.
The merchant acquainted with Baek Wol-sang approached quickly.
“Oh! You’ve already arrived.”
“Master Seo! What is the meaning of this? And who are all these people?”
“Don’t mind them.”
“How can I not mind them? They are right here in front of my eyes.”
“As always, you only need to focus on your trade with me. I assume you brought the goods?”
The voice of the merchant called Master Seo turned cold.
Baek Wol-sang flinched at his frosty tone.
The merchant known as Master Seo possessed an air of authority that Baek Wol-sang found difficult to withstand.
Because of this, Baek Wol-sang’s spirit was crushed every single time they traded.
Master Seo asked.
“What is the quantity?”
“We fully loaded twenty donkeys and brought them here.”
“Good! I will pay the usual price. Fifty taels of silver should be plenty, right?”
“Could you perhaps give us just a little bit more?”
“Do you have any idea how much we spend on travel expenses to come all the way to this remote place? If you don’t like it, go trade with another merchant group. Do you think there is any other merchant group besides us who would buy this kind of tea?”
Master Seo’s voice grew even colder, and Baek Wol-sang hung his head low as if he had become a criminal.
Whenever they traded with Master Seo, it was not just Baek Wol-sang; the spirits of all the youths were crushed in this manner.
“Just because people are looking for your tea, do you actually think it’s popular? That’s all because I spread good rumors to sell it, and if it weren’t for me, who would buy this tea at this price? If you don’t want to trade, take this tea and go back up the mountain right now. Seriously, I treat you nicely, and you take me for a fool?”
“Master Seo, please calm down. It’s not that…”
“If it’s not that, then what? How lightly must you take me to say something so utterly preposterous without a second thought?”
Master Seo jabbed his finger in the air, spitting as he shouted.
Feeling like a criminal, Baek Wol-sang spoke carefully.
“Then, we will go with the original price…”
“Forget it!”
“Pardon?”
“My mood is ruined, so I won’t buy it at the previous price. I am cutting five taels of silver. If you don’t like it, take your goods and get lost this instant.”
“No, if you do that, we will starve to death.”
“Then why did you ruin my mood? Do you know how much effort I put into helping your village…”
It was at that moment.
“That is enough.”
A single cold remark cut Master Seo off mid-sentence.
Master Seo stared at the person who had interrupted him with an utterly flabbergasted expression.
It was none other than Woo Geom-san.
Upon realizing that the person who had interrupted him was a youth who still looked quite young, Master Seo asked with a ridiculous expression.
“What did you just say?”
“I said that is enough.”
“Who do you think you are to butt into an adult conversation?”
“I am also a member of Yunjung Village. I have every right to participate in this trade.”
“Ha! A little brat whose blood hasn’t even dried on his head dares to…”
“Forget it, and just as you said, we will take our tea and get lost. Therefore, consider today’s trade canceled. Furthermore, we will never trade with you ever again.”
“What?”
Leaving behind the dumbfounded Master Seo, Woo Geom-san turned around. Then, he grabbed Baek Wol-sang’s hand and pulled him along.
“Brother, let’s go back.”
“But…”
“You trust me, right?”
“Of course I trust you.”
“Then please listen to me for now.”
“Well… alright.”
Seeing the conviction in Woo Geom-san’s eyes, Baek Wol-sang nodded.
The other youths felt the same way.
Without a single shred of lingering regret, they followed Woo Geom-san into the Zhuyang Inn.
At this, Master Seo roared in great anger.
“If you leave this spot right now, know that you will never be able to trade with me again!”
Baek Wol-sang and the youths flinched at his threat. However, Woo Geom-san did not pay his words any mind.
When his threat failed to work, a look of anxiety washed over Master Seo’s face.
Though they had traded dozens of times before, this was the very first time they had taken such a firm stance.
He thought that if he applied a moderate amount of pressure as he always did, they would bow their heads on their own, but this time went completely against his expectations.
The village youths’ unexpected behavior was more than enough to throw him into a panic.
He shouted a few more times after that, but Woo Geom-san had already led the village youths away, disappearing inside the Zhuyang Inn.
It was at that moment.
The door of a carriage situated toward the rear of Master Seo’s group opened, and someone stepped outside.
“Uncle Seo!”
The person who stepped out of the carriage and called Master Seo was a young lady who looked to be around fifteen or sixteen years old.
Her two large eyes sparkled as if black jewels had been embedded in them, and her exceptionally small lips were as red as roses.
Upon seeing the young lady, Master Seo’s complexion turned deathly pale.
“Young Lady…?”
“Is this how you have always conducted business?”
“Well, that is…”
“I spared my precious time because you said you were trading the highly valuable Yunjung Tea, but to see such a display, I am truly disappointed.”
“I am terribly sorry. I do not know what those ignorant fools ate to suddenly go mad and act out like this…”
At Master Seo’s excuses, the young lady’s expression grew even more disappointed.
“Save your excuses. I will handle the trade myself, so arrange a meeting with them.”
“There is no need for you to step forward yourself, Young Lady. I will finalize it on my end, so please rest comfortably until then.”
“You do not seem to understand my words. I told you to step down.”
“I cannot do that, Young Lady! I am the one who first discovered them, and I am the one who has been distributing it. The shipping rights belong to me. No matter if you are the Young Lady, you cannot infringe upon my rights.”
At Master Seo’s unyielding response, the young lady furrowed her beautiful brows.
In principle, Master Seo’s words were correct.
The merchant group to which the young lady belonged was comprised of the main headquarters and four sub-divisions.
Each sub-division also managed dozens of branch offices, and Master Seo was running one of them.
Although the main headquarters designed and managed the grand framework, a certain degree of independent authority was granted to each sub-division and branch office.
Unless a severe blunder had been committed, that independence had to be respected to some extent. If not, and a bad precedent was set, the other sub-divisions and branch offices would undoubtedly rebel against the decisions of the main headquarters.
The young lady gently bit her red lips and spoke.
“Very well. If you insist, I will give you one more opportunity to negotiate. However, if you fail this time as well, I will step in. Do you have any objections?”
“…Understood.”
Master Seo bowed his head deeply to conceal his humiliated expression.
***
“Is it really alright to do this? I did as you said, but I am still anxious.”
Baek Wol-sang asked Woo Geom-san with an intensely worried expression.
“It’s fine, brother!”
“What if the trade falls through completely because of this?”
“They can absolutely never break off this trade.”
“How can you be so sure of that?”
“Brother, I am from the Woo Family Manor.”
“The Woo Family Manor?”
“Yes! You might not know much about it, brother, but my family holds shipping rights and conducts a great deal of trade.”
“What on earth are shipping rights?”
“I’ll explain that to you later. What I can tell you for sure is that this trade is incredibly unfair, and another thing is that the weaker party in this trade is not us, but them.”
Baek Wol-sang could not understand Woo Geom-san’s words.
They had carried out this trade for decades, yet the weaker party had always been the people of Yunjung Village.
His father, Baek Do-gyeong, had always been dragged around by Master Seo, and it was the same for his son, Baek Wol-sang.
This was because they believed there was no one else who would buy their tea if not for Master Seo.
Even when the workers who came with Master Seo told them that Yunjung Tea was popular, it did not feel real.
It was because Yunjung Village itself was completely isolated from the world, entirely cut off from information.
Baek Wol-sang asked with a confused expression.
“We aren’t the weaker party?”
“Yes!”
“How can you be so sure of that?”
“Brother, merchants never engage in a business that loses them money. It is their very nature to chase profits even to the ends of hell. Think about it, brother. Why would they travel all the way to Guangu County three or four times every year just to buy Yunjung Tea? They endure the trouble precisely because it brings them massive profits.”
“Even so…”
“From what I can see, our village’s tea—that is, Yunjung Tea—is by no means worth a mere fifty taels of silver.”
Woo Geom-san had also drank countless varieties of tea since his childhood. However, not a single tea had ever left such a deep, lingering aftertaste as Yunjung Tea.
The aroma, the flavor, the aftertaste—Yunjung Tea possessed every single condition required to be called a famous tea.
Handing over such a famous tea for a measly fifty taels of silver was an immense loss.
It was practically no different from giving it away for free.
If he had been ignorant of this fact, it would be one thing, but knowing it, he had no intention of letting them be taken for fools.
“Brother, if you trust me and leave it to me, I will make sure we receive the proper price.”
Baek Wol-sang looked at Woo Geom-san.
Though he was quite a bit younger than himself, he was a brother who was always dependable.
It was not simply because he had mastered martial arts.
It was because of the pure trust that the person named Woo Geom-san inspired.
Even though time must have been scarce just focusing on martial arts, he worked hard on village matters and performed the grueling task of connecting the plank road every single day.
The other villagers performed the same tasks, but no one had a workload as heavy as Woo Geom-san’s.
Despite that, far from bragging, he consistently maintained a humble attitude.
Baek Wol-sang knew very well just how difficult that was.
“Alright. I will leave this entire trade to you.”
“I won’t disappoint you, brother!”
It was right when Woo Geom-san flashed a smile.
Thump, thump!
Someone knocked on their room door.
“Hey there! Let’s talk for a moment.”
It was Master Seo’s voice.

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