Chapter 304 - Underworld's Divine Star Black Flame Dragon (2)

The carriage that had left the Silver River Merchant Group headed for Hefei once again.

And on the way back, we encountered a welcome banner.

“Huh? The Daecheon Merchant Group!”

Just as we were about to enter a guest house, I spotted the Daecheon Merchant Group’s banner on a carriage.

“Ah, Young Master Jin.”

When I stepped inside the guest house, the warriors and merchants who had been eating all rose at once and greeted me.

“Are you on your way back from the Silver River Merchant Group?”

At Head Clerk Go Jungtak’s question, I nodded.

Then he asked cautiously.

“... Did the business you went there for conclude well?”

Like a proper head clerk, he seemed very interested in the deal made with the Silver River Merchant Group.

“Yes.”

I handed Go Jungtak the contract I had brought from the Silver River Merchant Group.

Go Jungtak carefully examined the papers, then could not hide his astonishment.

“It truly went through...!”

“You seem to have been hoping for it.”

“Do not even get me started. I cannot tell you how frustrated we have been, unable to pick up the money lying around in Hangzhou.”

Go Jungtak put on an anguished expression, and we shared a hearty laugh.

“But... how is it that you, Head Clerk, have come all the way out here?”

Head clerks usually do not travel far from the merchant group.

Judging the value of goods and calculating transportation and distribution costs is generally their work.

“Moreover, I did not see any escort agency banners. Did you not hire an escort agency?”

“Ah... well.”

Go Jungtak scratched his cheek with a finger.

“To reduce costs, we usually handle short distances directly within the merchant group. Besides, most of the goods for this trip are high in value compared to their volume, so I came in person.”

“I see.”

Well, it was customary not to use an escort agency for safe trading journeys over short distances or along official roads.

Using an escort agency itself added to the cost and reduced competitiveness.

“This works out perfectly. If you are headed to the Daecheon Merchant Group anyway, why not travel with us? Our porters are excellent cooks.”

The servants who had accompanied us from the Silver River Merchant Group were no slouches at cooking either, but I readily nodded.

I also wanted to see how the Daecheon Merchant Group operated.

‘This is truly a world transformed.’

Thinking back to what I had been doing around this time in my previous life, I had been looking for work, trying to earn even a few coins.

Gye Cheolyeong had entered the Murim Academy through special admission, and the disciples of the Taiyi Sect had not even dared to think of taking the Murim Academy’s standard exam.

There were still several years left before my mandatory service in the Murim Alliance.

Since I could not simply loaf around the sect every day, I looked for work, and since a thief learns by watching thieves, I naturally sought a job as an escort warrior, making a living by the sword.

‘But of course, there was no chance.’

I tried hard to find work as an escort warrior, but not a single place would hire me as one.

What escort agency would take someone with meager skills and no experience or connections?

In the end, I barely managed to keep myself fed by working as a porter for the Gyeryong Merchant Group, earning just enough to bring some money back to the sect.

But in this life, the Daecheon Merchant Group existed, established in the name of the Taiyi Sect, and countless people worked there and earned money.

There was no longer any need to worry anxiously that the Gyeryong Merchant Group’s support funds might decrease.

There was no need to stand before people I disliked and plead poverty either.

We could feed the children training in the sect three meals a day, and there was no need to make them wear martial uniforms patched over tears.

Thinking that put me in a good mood, so I called the waiter.

“What is the best liquor you have here?”

“We have Little Red Wine and Golden Goblet Clear Wine.”

“Ten bottles of Golden Goblet Clear Wine.”

“Ah! Yes, sir!”

The waiter bowed so deeply it looked as if his back might snap, then darted into the kitchen like an arrow.

The merchant group’s people listening to my order beside me could not hide their startled expressions.

“Young Master, we are still in the middle of a trading journey...”

“Yes, I know. So let us simply have it as a light drink with the meal.”

Under the expectant gazes of the others, Go Jungtak eventually let out a small sigh.

“You all heard him. Drink only enough that you do not get drunk.”

“““Yeees!”””

Even Go Jungtak, whose face had been stiff, found his expression softening once he smelled the fragrance of the Golden Goblet Clear Wine.

And so, while the cheerful meal continued...

BANG!

The door opened roughly, and a group of hulking men entered the guest house.

As if they were not customers, the waiter coming out of the kitchen moved to serve them, then sighed and went back into the kitchen, while the hulking men looked around the inside of the guest house instead of finding seats.

‘These bastards look filthy.’

With their ferocious faces and large weapons displayed openly, they were obviously Underworld scum at a glance.

‘Did they come looking for some debtor?’

As they swept their bulging eyes over the room while giving off an ominous air, everyone eating in the guest house tried not to meet their eyes.

I also stayed still, since it was none of my concern.

“Here! Where is the Daecheon Merchant Group!”

Huh?

SLIDE.

Huh??

All of a sudden, Go Jungtak, who had been sitting beside me, rose from his seat.

‘What is this?’

Go Jungtak politely cupped his fist.

“I offer my greetings to you Great Warriors. I am Go Jungtak of the Daecheon Merchant Group.”

“Right. The money?”

“Here it is.”

As he said that, he handed over a small coin pouch.

And the hulking men opened the pouch and checked inside.

“The Daecheon Merchant Group must be doing well these days. Drinking expensive liquor from midday and all.”

After confirming the pouch, the hulking man’s gaze turned to the Golden Goblet Clear Wine on our table.

“That is all thanks to people like you Great Warriors.”

BANG!

Fuck, that scared me... no, more importantly, my Golden Goblet Clear Wine...!

When the thick hand slammed down onto the table, I instinctively checked the bottles of Golden Goblet Clear Wine.

Phew, they are safe.

But that bastard just hit the table, didn’t he?

“In that case, should you not pay more in tolls!”

A thunderous voice soon rang through the guest house.

Even in the face of that ignorant roar, Go Jungtak did not lose his courteous attitude.

“... I will discuss it with the Merchant Group Leader.”

“Good. Then I shall tell our Gang Leader the same.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

Then the hulking man and his group turned away as if it were only natural.

Watching the whole situation unfold, I thought.

What kind of bullshit is this?

I rubbed my forehead and called them to a stop.

“Wait... wait, wait, wait.”

At my voice, Go Jungtak turned pale and hurried over.

“Young Master Jin. I will explain.”

“No. Head Clerk, please stay still for a moment. Hey, you! You, come here.”

The hulking man opened his bulging eyes wide and pointed at himself with his finger.

“Brat, are you speaking to This Seat?”

“This Seat, my ass. You trying to fucking die with that This Seat crap...”

“Y-Young Master!”

I pressed the paralysis acupoints of the head clerk clinging to me like a leech, then walked forward.

“Hand over that money.”

“... What?”

“That is the Daecheon Merchant Group’s blood-earned money, so hand it over.”

For a moment, silence settled over the guest house.

The atmosphere grew so heavy that even the sound of someone swallowing seemed like a roar.

Then the hulking man burst into wild laughter.

“Hahahahahahaha!”

When the hulking man laughed and looked at his companions, they also burst into laughter just like him.

“Hahahahaha!”

“Kahahahaha!”

“This mad bastard dares... You must be desperate to die!”

Then he immediately swung a fist the size of a watermelon.

THUD!

Instead of blocking or dodging, I simply took the punch.

However.

“Urgh...”

The groan flowed not from my mouth, but from the hulking man’s.

He tried hard not to show the pain he felt in his fist.

First, I loosened my wrist.

“You hit me once. Now it is my turn, right?”

I do not know what is going on here.

Mm, there must be some circumstances I do not know.

Yes. Fine, I understand all that.

“You mad bastard, have you lost every shred of fear...!”

“Enough.”

Still, seeing my own blood-earned money being taken right before my eyes made rage surge up within me.

“Clench your teeth.”

A rage that could not even be compared to when I met demonic practitioners.

Tolls.

Ordinarily, it means the fee paid by a user when passing through a road that has an owner.

The government office that paved an official road collects tolls at the city gate, and the Green Woods stronghold that paved a mountain path collects tolls on the mountain road.

I hear the waterway strongholds guide people through waterways and collect tolls too, but well, I do not know about that.

I simply could not understand these bastards collecting something they called a toll.

“You bastards did not pave this road, so why are you collecting a toll?”

The hulking man kneeling before me with his eyelids bruised blue scowled and answered.

“... Pwo-tective toll.”

“Why can’t you talk properly, you bastard! Do you want me to knock out more of your teeth?”

Maybe he wanted to protest that he could not pronounce things properly because his teeth had been knocked out.

The hulking man looked at me with eyes full of unbearable injustice, but what did he want me to do about it?

As I glared at him fiercely, Go Jungtak, standing beside me, spoke in his place.

“Young Master Jin. This protective toll is something that appeared recently.”

“Protective toll?”

Go Jungtak let out a small sigh and nodded.

From what I heard, Underworld gangs had lived by collecting protection fees only in places where they had definite territory.

If they started trouble in places where the Orthodox sects belonging to the Murim Alliance were present, that would immediately lead to an Underworld suppression campaign, so they had not dared to invade territory or engage in power struggles.

But after the Underworld Alliance was created, more and more Underworld gangs had begun creeping into the Orthodox faction’s sphere of influence.

Apparently, simply being affiliated with the Underworld Alliance allowed them to escape the possibility of being unilaterally exterminated, so they had gradually begun expanding their influence.

However, since the Underworld Alliance would not step in for incidents where they started a fight without justification or provided a pretext, they could not recklessly seize the existing Orthodox faction’s territory.

So the desperate measure they came up with was something between a protection fee and a toll: the protective passage fee.

Wow, what kind of fascinating bullshit is this?

“No, that is exactly why I do not understand! You are not protecting anyone, and the road is not yours, so why are you collecting a protective toll!”

“...”

“Not answering?”

“How dare you inshult our Asshmun Gang?”

“Asshole Gang? Is your sect’s name the Asshole Gang?”

“You! You lishping bashtard!”

At the sight of the hulking man glaring, one of the Underworld bastards behind him quickly answered in his place.

“S-Sangmun Gang.”

“Sangmun Gang?”

It was a sect I had never heard of or seen before.

“Head Clerk.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

“Does this sort of thing happen often?”

Go Jungtak hesitated for a moment, then seemed to give up and confessed.

“It has continued to increase ever since the Underworld Alliance was formed.”

“Huh...”

So these damn bastards found a new line of business thanks to the Underworld Alliance.

I tapped my temple and asked.

“How much do you usually get robbed of?”

“It is not much. It is also far cheaper than directly hiring an escort agency, so most other merchant groups tend to do this as well.”

“So how much?”

“Roughly ten times in one province...”

So they get robbed at least once in every village they stop at.

I turned my head toward Wang Soso.

“Do you pay the same?”

“Uh... as far as I know, we do not.”

Wow. Look at these bastards.

“So they only collect from easy targets.”

Fuck, is this the kind of side effect creating the Underworld Alliance brought about?

Hah, they dare rob my pockets!

“Y-Young Master Jin. I understand you are angry, but how about stopping here?”

“No, why? With this money, you could give the porters performance bonuses and stay at better guest houses when you rest, could you not?”

“That is only because you are here now, Young Master... Later, they might retali... no, there is no telling what may happen later.”

What the head clerk was worried about was ultimately the continued stability of the trading journey.

Even if they did not get robbed now, these people could turn into bandits on later trading journeys.

That was what worried him the most.

I looked at him and shrugged.

“Then it only needs to be safe later as well, does it not?”

“Pardon?”

In other words, if we put it the other way around, as long as we make sure these bastards can never turn into bandits, we can avoid being robbed and conduct trading journeys safely, can’t we?

I lightly kicked the hulking bastard with the missing teeth.

“Hey, Asshole Gang.”

“...!!!”

Then the hulking man glared daggers at me.

“Lead me to your Gang Leader.”

“Do you twuly wish to die?”

“Why would I die? I only want to talk.”

“Huh?”

Perhaps my meaning had not come through properly, because the hulking man and his lackeys looked blank.

Instead of the hulking man whose pronunciation was strange because his teeth had been knocked out, one of the lackeys carefully asked me.

“Um... do you perhaps know our Gang Leader?”

“How would I know some Underworld trash!”