The Youngest Son of the Nanyang Jin Family - Chapter 40

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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 Nakhyang Jin Family — Chapter 40

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I entered the village where the Eastern Families resided.
Unlike my previous journeys, this one had been remarkably comfortable, and my physical condition was in pristine form—no exaggeration whatsoever.
I hummed softly to myself as I surveyed the village.
“So this is what they meant by small…”
Baek Jin-hwa had called it a small town, yet the reality before my eyes contradicted such a description entirely.
It possessed considerable scale and structure.
Moreover, the population appeared quite substantial as well.
As I rode slowly forward, I soon arrived at the marketplace, which—unlike those in other small towns—displayed remarkable vitality and commerce.
I took in the bustling marketplace with my eyes.
Yet the expressions of those passing by were far from cheerful.
Unlike the loud, boisterous atmosphere of Nakhyang, the people here moved quietly and melancholy, bearing an unmistakable air of anxiety in their daily lives.
They constantly glanced about nervously, surveyed their surroundings, and ultimately walked with lowered heads.
I observed their demeanor as I continued forward.
I spotted a respectable inn, but I did not enter immediately. Instead, to familiarize myself with the village, I slowly exited the marketplace and made a complete circuit of the settlement.
I committed the village’s geography to memory, taking care to remember the roads and noting which paths were most efficient, all while considering where various locations lay.
Soon, the signboard of the Eastern Families came into view.
Given their considerable reputation for producing Imperial Guards, the Eastern Families’ compound was impressively constructed. Though the high walls prevented me from seeing inside, the mere presence I sensed indicated that many people dwelled within.
Having confirmed this, I resumed my journey.
Just as I entered the residential district to make my way back to the marketplace—
A commotion erupted, unlike the quiet I had witnessed before.
“Come out here—!”
“Aaahhh!”
At the booming voice, passersby flinched and turned to look, then swallowed hard and hurried on their way—as if desperate to avoid entanglement.
I too naturally turned my gaze toward the disturbance.
Several men came into view.
They wore martial robes, with embroidery emblazoned across their chests.
In this place, only the Eastern Families could wear such robes.
Indeed, the embroidery on their chests bore the Eastern Families’ insignia.
They burst into a nearby building, kicked an old man in the abdomen, and dragged out a woman who had been beside him.
“Kyaaahhh!”
“You wretched old fool! If you borrow money and don’t repay it, you must offer something else!”
“I repaid it, sir! I repaid every last coin!”
“You only paid the interest! What are you babbling about?”
The Eastern Families’ warriors acted without restraint.
As though such behavior were natural, or as though they understood that no one could stop them, they seized the woman’s hair without hesitation and forcibly dragged her away.
I struggled fiercely and resisted, but it was all for naught.
The old man’s anguished cries proved equally useless.
Whether abducting the woman had been their objective from the start, the soldiers grinned wickedly as they began to depart.
They approached me, moving slowly on horseback.
As I passed several soldiers, our eyes met.
Whether to intimidate a foreigner or to cow me into submission, they fixed me with a piercing glare before letting out a sharp, vicious shout.
“Out of the way!”
As they bellowed with the posture of one ready to strike at any moment, the sound reverberated sharply, pounding against my ears with force.
A command infused with inner power.
Ugh—
The people nearby groaned in pain.
But I regarded the man without concern.
Perhaps because of this, the advancing soldiers also halted and turned their gaze upon me.
We locked eyes, neither of us moving.
A murderous aura emanated from them in waves.
The villagers watching held their breath.
Some even squeezed their eyes shut, as if they understood what was about to unfold.
But what they anticipated did not come to pass.
One of the soldiers shouted at me again.
“Did you not hear me tell you to move….”
“Move along.”
The same words the man had spoken, yet uttered in a distinctly different voice. A single murmur infused with inner power burrowed into their ears.
In that instant, they trembled.
Just as they had observed the villagers moments before, they now grasped what force lay behind my softly spoken words.
The arrogant man quietly turned his head away.
“…Let’s go!”
Had they recognized the disparity in strength?
The man yielded without resistance and commanded his subordinates.
Thereupon, they dragged the woman past me and headed elsewhere.
Perhaps this was the reason the Eastern Families had survived despite their tyranny.
They bowed their heads to those they deemed stronger, allowing the powerful to overlook the situation with indifference. Conversely, once those stronger ones departed, they revealed their brutish nature to the weak once more, flaunting their power.
This was how they had remained unscathed until now.
“When you think about it, those bastards actually did something good.”
I smiled, reflecting on the situation around me.
Though I had not annihilated the Eastern Families with the intention of cooperating with them, the result was undeniably beneficial to the villagers.
I urged my horse forward, watching them disappear.
Clip-clop—
As I slowly made my way down the street, I heard hushed voices from all around.
“Oh no… again? They took another one?”
“How many is this now?”
“Ah, truly! I just want to breathe. Let me breathe!”
“Shh! Keep quiet. Do you all have a death wish? Control your tongues!”
The people muttered their complaints as they witnessed the situation unfold. But soon, as if awakened by someone’s cry, they clamped their mouths shut and threw themselves into their work.
As though what had transpired moments before held no place in their minds.
Only the weeping of an old man sitting alone echoed through the street.
Yet no one approached him or offered comfort. It was as though such indifference were a law of the village itself.
A truly peculiar situation.
Ordinarily, one who suffered such treatment would surely rush to the Government Office, yet none harbored such thoughts.
Which meant the officials themselves were allied with the Eastern Families.
That was how they could rule like kings.
I let out a soft chuckle and turned the reins.
An inn came into view not far ahead.
It seemed I would have to spend the night there.
As I was slowly making my way toward the inn, I noticed several figures who appeared to be merchants entering it.
I quickly adjusted the reins and changed direction.
Moving to maintain distance from them, I smiled faintly, then turned back the way I had come and approached the weeping old man.
“Are you well?”
“Oh dear… young one, forgive me. I should move out of the way…”
The old man wiped away his tears and struggled to rise from where he sat in the middle of the road. It seemed he believed he had caused me inconvenience.
I dismounted slowly and took his hand.
“Pay me no mind…”
“I’m not troubled. Rather, do you happen to have any rooms available?”
“Rooms? Those would be at the inn…”
“The inn is full. I need a place to stay… if you have a spare room, I would be grateful.”
The old man could not hide his bewilderment at my sudden request.
While it was not uncommon for outsiders to arrive, asking to rent a room was unprecedented. Especially after he had witnessed what had just transpired, his confusion was understandable.
“By chance, how much did those men lend you?”
“…Five silver coins.”
At the mention of five coins, I nodded and opened my purse.
I withdrew ten coins and handed them to the old man.
“This is for the room. Will you accept it?”
“Wh—?!”
“I need a place to stay, and if you have a room to offer, then this money is yours.”
As I spoke, I smiled broadly.
Ten silver coins was an enormous sum.
For ordinary folk who could scarcely see a single coin in a month, to hold ten coins in one’s hand was as though treasures had rained down from heaven itself.
Thus the old man trembled and could not readily accept.
But soon, having made up his mind, he reached out and tried to take only five of the ten coins.
I pressed the remaining five coins into his hand.
“Take them. Surely… five coins alone will not be enough.”
“…Thank you…truly, thank you! Sob…go inside and wait. I shall return shortly with my granddaughter.”
With those words, the old man nodded and began to hurry away.
Undoubtedly, he was chasing after the men who had taken his granddaughter.
Moreover, ten silver taels would hardly suffice to bring her back.
Such men operated beyond the reach of reason and convention.
Yet I would not follow to protect them.
I had no desire to draw their attention.
I would remain here as quietly as possible before departing.
I entered the house as the old man had instructed.
A truly dilapidated dwelling.
Not quite on the verge of collapse, yet seeing it fall so far short of even the Jin Family Warehouse brought forth memories long buried—fragments of my past surfacing unbidden.
I had once hidden and slept in another man’s warehouse.
Sleeping in places teeming with rats and insects, stealing into kitchens under cover of darkness to fill my belly—now, reflecting upon it, I had done truly absurd things merely to survive.
I shook my head slowly and stepped into the room.
A musty stench.
Though the acrid smell assailed my nostrils, it scarcely troubled me—for I had endured far worse places than this.
Indeed, experience proved to be a most valuable thing.
I settled into a corner of that room and closed my eyes.
Undoubtedly more uncomfortable and unpleasant than my own chamber, yet strangely, I felt my heart grow calm, and sleep began to pour over me.

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“What… What are you saying? He really paid back the debt?”
“Yes, yes. Not only the ten taels, but he added two more taels in interest… and paid it all right then and there.”
At the warrior’s words, Dong-bang Gu, the head of the Eastern Families, furrowed his brow.
Crack!
In the next instant, he seized an inkstone within reach and hurled it down upon the warrior’s head.
“Ugh!”
“You fool! Just because he paid the debt, you let the woman go? You should have killed him and brought her here regardless!”
“Grrrrgh….”
The warrior collapsed, clutching his head as fury dripped from his voice.
Drip, drip—
Feeling blood trickle down, he could barely rise to his feet.
“I, I apologize….”
“Tsk, there’s no other beauty in this village quite like that woman… Damn it… What am I to do?”
Most of the attractive women in the village had already been claimed.
Sent as concubines to someone, sold off elsewhere.
Because of this, there was no woman to present for the County Magistrate’s Birthday Celebration coming soon. That was why he had targeted her, yet such a ridiculous blunder had occurred.
The fury burning from the crown of his head would not easily subside.
With eyes roiling like boiling water, he shot a sharp glare at his subordinate.
“Tomorrow! Bring that woman by tomorrow! If you don’t, I’ll cut off your heads!”
“Yes, understood.”
The man bowed his head in response.
Then he struggled to his feet.
At that, Dong-bang Gu waved his hand, gesturing for him to leave.
As the man staggered out, his subordinates watched him with sickly pale faces.
Was it because of that?
The man ground his teeth, his anger only intensifying.
“This evening, we bring the woman.”
“Yes!”
“Kill anything that gets in the way.”
There was nothing that would get in the way.
If there were something.
It would be the woman’s grandfather, perhaps.
To speak those words while knowing this was, in essence, an order to kill the old man.
The warriors nodded, their eyes gleaming with lethal intent.
Like puppies heading toward the Tiger’s Den, they began to move.

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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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