The Granddaughter of Manhyang Escort Bureau Hides Her Magic - Chapter 107

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 107

Shin Ah stepped back from food delivery within Chang’an.

The courier workers she had trained for several months now handled deliveries efficiently on their own, and escort warriors weren’t particularly needed for activities within Chang’an.

No one dared interfere with the work of the Chang’an Branch, which was steadily growing its influence with Manhyang Express backing it.

Even if some riffraff picked a fight or problems arose, Shin Ah or Dokgo Sin could appear within two minutes to resolve it.

However, occasions requiring Shin Ah and Dokgo Sin’s intervention rarely occurred.

Chilseon, who had become a supervisor, resolved disputes well with words, and when that didn’t work, Juhwa would charge in aggressively, terrifying the opponents.

Nevertheless, Shin Ah was still busy.

‘I need to take care of the courier workers’ salaries, and since the Short Ice Storage season is over, I should make Warming Storage Boxes now… Actually, should I just not make the Warming Storage Boxes?’

The Short Ice Storage boxes she had made last summer to prevent food ingredients from spoiling were distributed in small quantities, mainly to small restaurants friendly to Geumwa Trading Company and the Chang’an Branch.

Naturally, they were a huge hit and brought in decent side income.

‘It would have been nice to sell more. But I don’t have the capacity to supply large inns. I can’t spend all day just drawing scrolls either.’

Merchants who were greatly impressed by the Short Ice Storage’s performance were very curious about the source of the items, but they didn’t dare ask carelessly.

They simply assumed that Manhyang Express had brought items from the Northern Sea Ice Palace.

And everyone kept quiet about the existence of the Short Ice Storage.

Shin Ah’s casual remark at the right time had greatly influenced this outcome.

‘It seems securing Short Ice Storage supplies won’t be easy going forward.’

Then everyone, thinking that the already insufficient Short Ice Storage would become even scarcer, voluntarily kept their mouths shut.

So rather than the supply and demand of Short Ice Storage, there was a separate problem Shin Ah had to carefully solve.

It was resolving internal suspicions.

So Hyeokho and So Baekrim had shown interest in the Short Ice Storage.

Since they knew Shin Ah had no reason to be connected with the Northern Sea Ice Palace, she couldn’t use the method she had used on the merchants.

Having no choice, Shin Ah added deceptive devices to the chests.

She made round holes on top of the chests, created double walls, waterproofed them, and filled the space between with water.

The production cost per box increased, but it was better than arousing Yuwon Pavilion’s suspicion.

‘This way, air circulates well and the cold can be maintained a bit longer.’

When she actually tried it, food ingredients could be stored for about one or two days longer.

So Baekrim dismissed it as a trivial trick and stopped mentioning the Short Ice Storage.

‘He didn’t like getting attention the more the Short Ice Storage was mentioned.’

Then So Hyeokho closed his mouth with the feeling of letting it slide even though he knew everything.

She had to consider that luck was on her side in various ways.

‘Having many skills makes hiding them a chore. How long can I keep hiding my abilities? I want to hide them as much as possible until I grow the Chang’an Branch to a proper level.’

She wasn’t afraid of Yuwon Pavilion’s interference, but she didn’t want to worry about that while growing the branch office.

‘Well, if I get caught, there’s nothing I can do about it.’

Shin Ah let out a deep sigh. Her breath rose white and then scattered.

Having expelled her complicated thoughts with that sigh, Shin Ah hugged her arms and rubbed them vigorously.

“Ugh, it’s so cold.”

On days like this, there was a face that particularly came to mind.

Looking at the stars in the dark night sky, Shin Ah muttered.

“Big brother, when are you coming?”

* * *

It was an autumn day when the sky was exceptionally clear.

However, for eleven-year-old Shin Ah, it was just another ordinary day.

“Branch Manager, a protection request has come in from a giru.”

While the basic work of escort agencies was delivering goods, they were also often commissioned to be deployed where force was needed or to escort people.

However, the Chang’an Branch had not accepted escort requests until now because they lacked sufficient escort warriors.

The Chang’an Branch had finally hired new courier workers at the beginning of this year.

Now it had become a branch office with ten courier workers and two escort warriors.

Dokgo Sin, the other escort warrior besides Shin Ah, would leave without question whenever Shin Ah attended the Escort Assignment Ceremony and brought back profitable escort missions.

Even though it was a murderous schedule since he was the only escort warrior who could go outside Seomsu, he didn’t complain.

There was a good reason for this.

In the past, Dokgo Sin had accepted Shin Ah’s commission and requested to be allowed to sit in on a private meeting with So Hyeokho instead of the escort fee.

Shin Ah did as he wished, and a month later he grabbed her and said:

‘Wow, I will absolutely never become Branch Manager’s enemy, loyalty! Loyalty! I believe that if I listen to Branch Manager’s words, gold ingots will fall even while I’m sleeping!’

After that, Dokgo Sin acted as if he would believe it even if Shin Ah said the sun rose in the west.

‘I didn’t do anything special. Ah… I told Grandfather to buy land.’

So Hyeokho listened to Shin Ah’s words, which could be written as advice but read as demands, and bought abandoned land and a ruined house in the forest.

But a hot spring erupted there!

So Hyeokho immediately cleared the site, built a house, and sold it at a high price to a eunuch who had the emperor’s full trust.

It would have been fine to just keep it, but that too was following Shin Ah’s advice.

‘Wouldn’t establishing connections with a eunuch be of great help later?’

It was the right thing to say.

Dokgo Sin, who watched and heard about this incident from the side, would jump up even from sleep if Shin Ah said something.

Shin Ah chuckled briefly, thinking of him who was probably running around covered in dust somewhere in the Central Plains right now.

“Branch Manager?”

Shin Ah’s expression became serious as she quickly emerged from her thoughts.

With Dokgo Sin away, Shin Ah was the only escort warrior left at the branch office.

But even if Shin Ah offered to provide escort, the other party wouldn’t want it.

There were still plenty of people who looked down on her skills based solely on Shin Ah’s age and appearance.

Of course, their evaluation completely changed after working with her, but escort work wasn’t something you could do by stubbornly insisting, “Just give me one chance.”

Since they had to work in close proximity, mutual trust was more important than in any other job.

“What should we do?”

Juhwa asked.

Shin Ah thought carefully and then looked at Juhwa.

“We don’t take escort jobs. But is there a reason you’re asking me?”

Though she hadn’t officially made it clear, Juhwa also knew that Shin Ah was selective about the work she took.

Yet there must be a reason she was specifically reporting this.

Come to think of it, lately Juhwa had been handling tasks like screening requests coming into the branch office and setting escort fees.

So she seemed more like a general manager or accountant than a courier worker.

‘A kid who should become an escort warrior is doing this instead.’

Though Shin Ah said it was her job, Juhwa absolutely wouldn’t hand over those tasks.

“Ah, well…”

Seeing Juhwa hesitate, Shin Ah suddenly wondered if she had wanted to become an accountant rather than an escort warrior.

At escort agencies, accountants were selected only from those who had studied for a long time and had quick situational judgment.

For this reason, perhaps Juhwa, who due to her family circumstances had never even set foot in a proper educational institution, had never dared to dream of such a thing?

Having thought that far, Shin Ah suddenly threw a question at Juhwa.

“Juhwa, would you like to try being an accountant?”

“How could I do that? That’s something only people who have studied a lot can do.”

Juhwa waved her hands dismissively, but Shin Ah didn’t believe her words at face value.

Because she could see Juhwa’s eyes sparkling with interest.

“It’s just that we habitually pick people who studied a lot, but it’s not set in stone as a regulation…”

“Really?”

Before Shin Ah could even finish speaking, Juhwa asked.

“…No. Yeah, that’s right.”

“Then I want to try it!”

She had just made a guess based on Juhwa’s recent behavior, but Shin Ah’s prediction was correct.

“I can do it well. Handling goods and pricing them! That kind of thing is so fun. Counting money too!”

“It’s not even your money, so what’s fun about counting it?”

“Just because. These days when I go to the market, everything looks like money to me. That silk costs several silver coins for an Escort Mission, a basket of beans costs several iron coins… like that.”

She briefly wondered if it was right to derail the guaranteed future of Juhwa’s reputation as a dog trainer, but hearing her words, it seemed like needless worry.

If she enjoyed it that much, regardless of any predetermined future, it was right to let her do it.

And in the first place, was there really such a thing as a predetermined future?

It had been about a year and a half since Shin Ah had traveled back in time.

Looking back on that time, there was no such thing as an unchanging future.

‘Just look at me. Who would have known I’d become a Branch Office head.’

So Juhwa, try walking a new path that’s not that of a dog trainer.

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