The Youngest Son of the Eunhae Merchant Group - Chapter 531

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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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The Youngest Son of the Eun Hae Trading Company Chapter 531

Chapter 531. Vigilance is Essential (2)

Those who had been dumbfounded by the landslide began whispering among themselves as they looked at me.
“Weren’t we supposed to pass through there originally?”
“Y-yes, that’s right.”
“Then Eun Seo-ho saved us from almost dying?”
“Well….”
They rushed toward me, bowing their heads repeatedly in gratitude.
“Thank you so much!”
“We’re truly grateful.”
Then Gaksaoerang Chief approached me.
“I’m truly grateful! If it weren’t for you, something terrible would have happened!”
“I simply did what needed to be done.”
Pyo Du also expressed his gratitude.
“We all owe a debt of life-saving grace to you, Eun Small Merchant Leader.”
“I merely did what was necessary. You’re making me embarrassed with such words. Ha ha ha.”
I glanced back briefly.
Those who had complained about the detour earlier now gazed at me with eyes full of reverence, as if they had never objected at all.
I caught sight of Seo-woo Warrior, who shrugged his shoulders and let out a quiet chuckle.
Gaksaoerang Chief spoke.
“We’re fortunate to be safe, but I should send someone to investigate that area.”
“Yes.”
Gaksaoerang Chief immediately dispatched the Imperial Guards, and they returned after examining the landslide site to report.
“Report: The Eastern Pass of Myodun Mountain is completely blocked by the landslide.”
“It appears recovery will require considerable manpower and time.”
“Fortunately, there appear to be no casualties, as no one was passing through at the time.”
“No casualties? But that’s a fairly well-traveled road?”
“Yes, it seems someone placed a large boulder in front of it, and since people couldn’t move the stone, they took the detour instead.”
Upon hearing this, Gaksaoerang Chief approached me.
“Eun Small Merchant Leader.”
“Yes.”
“Did you block that road?”
“Ah… if you’re referring to blocking the path with a boulder, then yes, that was me. I was certain the landslide would occur, and I couldn’t bear the thought of someone passing through and meeting with an accident.”
So I took the same precaution on the other side as well.
And I made sure no one was passing through.
“You must have received quite a bit of cursing from those who wanted to pass through.”
“It’s fine. I’ve been cursed at plenty before—a few more voices won’t make any difference.”
At my words, he broke into a hearty laugh.
“Truly, no one embodies the title Seon Hyeop Mi-rang quite like you do.”
The title Seon Hyeop Mi-rang still feels awkward to me.
When will I ever grow accustomed to it?
“I shall visit the County Government of this prefecture to report the matter.”
“Understood.”
A major landslide had occurred.
Thus, I needed to inform the County Government so they could take measures.
Besides,
if I ignored this and simply proceeded to Namgyeong, the Emperor would eventually learn of it and rebuke me.
Whether this impulse came from genuine conscience or from fear of punishment, I couldn’t say.
But handling matters before facing criticism—that too was a form of capability.
“Then we shall have to camp nearby for the night.”
“Yes, we should.”
I gazed upon the site of the landslide and reflected.
Vigilance was indeed indispensable.

That evening, the rain ceased.
A blessing.
Honestly, when transporting goods, rain was never welcome.
And the Gaksaoerang Chief who had gone to the County Office returned as well.
“You’ve returned? How did the matter proceed?”
“The County Government says they will report it upward.”
It would be far faster for the County Government to send an urgent dispatch than for us to reach Namgyeong and report it ourselves.

The next day.
We set out for Namgyeong once more.
Since we were taking a detour, we consumed an extra day and arrived in Namgyeong after five days.
“Welcome.”
Ak Dae-in, the Military Commander of Namgyeong, came out personally to greet us.
“I am overwhelmed by your personal reception, Chief.”
“Are you not the honored guests who arrive bearing the Emperor’s command? Thus, I receive you with the honor you deserve.”
There was weight behind those words.
A veiled warning—fail to execute the Emperor’s orders properly, and you will be cast aside.
“Rest well. The waters ahead will be treacherous, I imagine?”
“We are grateful for your consideration.”
Ak Dae-in concluded his remarks and turned to me.
“By the way, I heard you went to welcome them.”
“Yes, that is correct.”
At this, Gaksaoerang Chief interjected smoothly.
“In truth, we nearly encountered a grave calamity on our way here.”
He then recounted the entire incident of the landslide.
“My goodness! Such a thing occurred? Thank heavens everyone arrived safely.”
“Had Eun Seo-ho, the Small Merchant Guild Leader here, not rushed ahead to warn us of this danger, we would not have made it safely, and we would have failed to properly execute the Emperor’s command.”
At this, Ak Dae-in regarded me with a pleased expression.
Under that gaze, I felt an unexpected warmth of embarrassment.
“Bang Hyo-myung—I had wondered why that man chose you as his successor. Now I understand his reasoning.”
So Ak Dae-in also knew that I had become the successor to the Meat-Loving Duke.
Of course, this place too fell within Bang Dae-in’s sphere of influence.
“Now then, everyone rest well.”
“Yes.”

I headed toward my quarters.
“Young Master!”
“You’ve returned, Young Master.”
Chang-un Warrior and Myeong-jong Warrior, who had remained here, greeted me.
“Nothing troublesome happened while you were away, I trust?”
“No.”
“That’s a relief.”
I continued speaking.
“And Gwak Vice-Manager?”
“She’s in her quarters.”
I needed to tell Eun Jung-ho that I’d returned, but first I had to meet with Seo Hyang.
“Gwak Vice-Manager.”
“Yes, please come in.”
I opened the door and stepped into Seo Hyang’s guest room.
She was processing documents on a wooden table.
“Were you handling the paperwork on my behalf? I’m sorry to trouble you.”
“Not at all. It’s work I should be doing.”
She set the documents aside and bowed to me.
“You’ve returned safely.”
“Yes.”
I nodded and spoke.
“Thanks to you all, everyone is unharmed.”
“I’m truly relieved.”
Why did her smile appear so beautiful?
“I saw the changed future. It was a terribly dark one….”
She continued.
“But you’ve altered that future, Young Master.”
Was it only this time?
When I think about it, I’ve changed quite a few futures.
Though unexpected crises have sometimes emerged from those changes, I’ve managed to overcome them with the help of those whose lives improved because of the futures I altered.
At such moments, I often felt as though the futures I changed were repaying me in kind.
.
.
.
The next day.
The cargo loading operation began.
For goods being loaded onto Eun Hae Trading Company’s ship, Eun Jung-ho and I had to personally inspect each item before it was shipped.
A considerable portion of our cargo consisted of spirits.
This included not only the spirits selected at the spirits evaluation competition, but also spirits produced by Eun Hae Trading Company itself.
The spirit bottles created this time by the late Merchant Guild Master of Cheongsoo and Dam Sub-Merchant Lord of Mudong Merchant Guild with imperial support were beautiful in their own right.
I could tell that quite a few craftsmen had been worked to the bone creating this.
With demand from both the Dae-Wol Kingdom and Marae Seo Kingdom, this would sell extraordinarily well.
It would bring us tremendous profits going forward.
With that, Eun Jung-ho and I rechecked all the merchandise and had it resealed before our eyes.
“You certainly make things difficult.”
An Eunuch Official who witnessed this spoke to me in that manner. He was the one who had come with Gaksaoerang Chief this time.
For matters like this, a Eunuch Official trusted by the Emperor typically accompanied the mission to oversee proceedings.
However, even this Eunuch Official couldn’t conduct himself arrogantly, because there was also a Geumui Guard present here.
Given the subtle competitive relationship between the two, they couldn’t help but be conscious of and attentive to each other.
Beyond that, there was also an invisible shadow.
Someone like me—an Imperial Inspector.
I smiled and spoke.
“My elder brother and I have come as those responsible for this matter. Should anything seem amiss, we must bear responsibility for it, which is why we have no choice but to be thorough.”
I continued.
“Moreover, this endeavor also serves to widely publicize the Emperor’s benevolence. How could we possibly be negligent in such a matter?”
“That’s true enough.”
My meticulous verification had two reasons as I stated, but there was one more reason behind it.
For some time now, unauthorized goods had been finding their way into boxes containing merchandise intended for foreign trade.
A form of smuggling, essentially.
When conducting trade with foreign nations, the merchant guild had to report every single item they intended to sell without exception.
And based on the proceeds from selling those items, they would purchase grain to bring back.
If goods other than those reported to the Imperial Palace were smuggled and sold, the profits from the smuggled goods would constitute unreported income, which would go directly into the merchant guild’s coffers.
This practice became even more rampant later, when the famine ended and there was no longer a need to purchase grain.
At that time, ships engaged in foreign trade were taxed on both the goods they sold abroad and the goods they brought back from foreign lands.
It was ostensibly under the guise of encouraging mutual commerce, but the tax rates weren’t particularly high.
Yet apparently even that seemed wasteful, so they employed all manner of ingenious methods to smuggle goods and evade taxes.
Naturally, as the trail grew longer, this came to light, and the Emperor punished them severely.
After all, they had deceived the Emperor.
Quite a few merchant guild members died in the Prison at that time.
I conduct myself this way precisely to prevent smuggling attempts from the outset.
It serves as a warning to Eun Hae Trading Company employees who might attempt smuggling, and as a means to build trust with the Emperor’s people and officials.
That was when it happened.
“Seo-ho! We have a serious problem!”
“A serious problem?”
“This cart… it’s missing what should be here.”
“What?”
I quickly checked the merchandise on the cart. But the boxes inside were completely empty.
That cart was supposed to contain boxes of small-bottle liquor.
Small-bottle liquor is about one-fifth the size of a standard wine bottle, containing the spirit selected at this evaluation competition.
It was modeled after what the Emperor had previously gifted to high officials—a present intended for the kings of the Dae-Wol Kingdom and Marae Seo Kingdom.
Ten bottles of liquor per small box, ten boxes per cart, twenty boxes total on two carts.
One cart was destined for the Dae-Wol Kingdom, the other for the Marae Seo Kingdom, and it was the shipment bound for Dae-Wol that vanished.
With ordinary goods, we could simply absorb the loss, but the disappearance of a gift intended for the King was unforgivable.
Naturally, chaos erupted.
“I distinctly loaded it onto the cart.”
“I also confirmed it being loaded onto the cart.”
Everyone insisted the boxes were definitely loaded, and that they’d verified the quantities and contents at every checkpoint.
Yet it had vanished without a trace.
If that were the case, then it must have disappeared recently?
Ah, truly… I couldn’t let my guard down for even a moment.
I exhaled silently in frustration.
So someone had switched out the carts sometime between our arrival at the Namgyeong Regional Command and now?
Jin Yu Warrior beside me spoke.
“However, from what I understand, the carts have been under constant guard.”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“I cannot fathom where or how such a gap could have formed.”
Those responsible for security stood silent, their expressions troubled and helpless.
After all, the responsibility ultimately fell on them.
But now was not the time to assign blame—it was time to solve the problem.
If only I’d sensed the Black Path’s aura on the carts, I could have used that as a lead to track them down… but I hadn’t.
Should I summon Chun-il or Geun Seong?
Suddenly, the pirates imprisoned in Namgyeong Prison came to mind.
I’d have to borrow some extra hands in a pinch.
Even the smallest clue would suffice.
The fact that Seo Hyang hadn’t mentioned this meant either she hadn’t noticed it, or she’d handled it well.
Then Palgap tilted his head.
“Why?”
“There’s a rose scent coming from somewhere.”
“That’s strange. Roses shouldn’t be blooming yet—someone must have sprayed rose fragrance.”
“It’s better than the smell of rotting fish.”

I arrived at the Namgyeong Prison.
“How have you been faring?”
I greeted the former pirates imprisoned here.
“We’ve been eating and sleeping quite well, sir.”
“Hehehehe, this place is paradise, isn’t it?”
I dropped down to sit before them.
“The truth is, I’ve come seeking your counsel.”
“Advice from wretches like us?”
“Yes.”
I nodded firmly.
“The Young Master once said that when three people walk together, one must surely be a teacher among them. How much more so when seeking wisdom from those who have mastered a particular craft?”
One of the men spoke in response to my words.
“Is this perhaps related to pirates?”
“I’m not certain.”
I explained the situation to them in detail.
“…And so, presently, we find ourselves in a most troubling predicament.”
Upon hearing my account, they began conferring among themselves.
“The entire cart was switched, yet no one knows anything of it?”
“No gaps in the operation, no one untrustworthy.”
“And if there’s no one in disguise hiding among them….”
As they put their heads together in discussion, someone suddenly clapped their hands and spoke.
“Wait! Could it be that? They cast an enchantment!”
“You mean that method we heard about from other pirates over drinks back then?”
“Wasn’t that the Blood Tide Gang? Those operating in this region!”
“That’s right! Yes! The Blood Tide Gang! That was their signature method. What was that scent called?”
“I believe it was called the Soul-Binding Incense.”
I started in alarm and pressed them for details.
“Soul-Binding Incense, you say?”
I was familiar with the Soul-Binding Incense.
“Yes, sir. Among the pirates, there is a gang called the Blood Tide Gang, and their captain possesses a mystical artifact—the Soul-Binding Incense. I cannot speak to its appearance, but it is said that those who inhale its fragrance become compelled to obey the artifact’s master’s commands.”
So… was encountering this sinister artifact the will of heaven?

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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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