WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Raised by a Ruthless Swordsman ◈

Chapter 14: protection convoy

──────

There were scarcely any people on the streets at that early hour. Even those I occasionally passed were busy hurrying along with large loads on their backs.

There was nothing worth looking at, so I followed the colorless streets at a brisk pace. Before long, I rounded the last corner.

Just as the walls of the Faithful Escort Agency came into view, small along one side of the main road, a boiling clamor of voices began to carry from afar.

The closer I got, the more layers of noise joined in. Horses neighed loudly, cart wheels struck against something, someone repeatedly barked orders in a harsh voice, and dozens of people talked all at once amid it all.

The main gate stood wide open, and people and cargo could be seen constantly passing in and out.

Three days ago, I had thought the courtyard quite crowded. Today, people packed the place from the very gate onward, leaving scarcely anywhere to step.

It was as though the sun had risen early inside the escort agency alone. Far removed from the quiet street outside, it bustled like midday.

I slowed my steps.

I had never seen so many people gathered in one place. On the street, I only had to walk past them. But thinking I had to squeeze in among them made it strangely difficult to move my feet.

Still, there was no helping it. I needed to get used to this now. I drew a deep breath and approached the gate.

Two escorts stood guard on either side. One wore a sword at the waist, while the other carried a broad sabre on their back. Together, they examined each person entering and leaving.

Both were powerfully built, with fierce eyes. With the inside in such disorder, they seemed to be taking every precaution.

I approached and took out my escort token. The man with the sword nodded and gestured toward one corner inside.

"You're a temporary escort. Go over there, give your name, and wait."

I nodded and stepped through the gate.

The inside was even more chaotic than it had appeared from outside.

Seven cargo wagons stood in a long row to one side. Most were tightly covered with cloth and bound with rope. At the end stood two separate carriages, finely appointed and with small windows at their sides, the sort that high-ranking nobles might ride in.

More than a dozen horses were tied up beside them. They blew white streams of breath and continually pawed at the dirt, seeming excited for the departure.

After passing them all, I approached a group standing apart from the bustle. The people here came in all sorts as well.

Up close, I saw that the group was divided in two. One side, with around fifteen people, was comparatively neat in appearance and stood in orderly lines. Conversation passed among them here and there. They appeared to be regular escorts.

The other side was dressed so unevenly that it was hard to believe they wore the same martial attire. Some had other clothes sticking out from beneath their attire, while others seemed unsure where to wear their swords and held them in their hands, resting them against their legs.

There were well over twenty people there, far more than on the other side.

Wondering whether I looked like that too, I looked down. My martial attire hung awkwardly from my shoulders, just like theirs. The rough hemp fabric still did not feel familiar against my skin.

It seemed I belonged with this group after all.

A table stood nearby, with a young escort seated behind it, brush in hand. I gave my name at the table and stood beside the others.

Once I had found my place, the courtyard came into view again. That was when I noticed someone among the bustling people.

It was the man who had given me my clothes and escort token three days earlier. Today, he moved diligently between people and cargo, receiving reports here and there and giving brief instructions.

I watched him blankly for about the time it took to drink a cup of tea.

Then I saw three people emerge from somewhere deeper inside and walk toward the center of the courtyard.

One led the way, while the other two followed a step behind. One of the followers looked familiar.

I narrowed my eyes. The man on the left was Ma Jeongsan. He was about a handspan shorter than the man beside him, but his broad shoulders and thick waist were unchanged.

If an escort captain was following behind him, then the man in front must be the head of this escort agency.

I studied him closely.

He looked around forty. His closely trimmed beard and thick eyebrows made him seem like a man with a temper. He was not especially tall, but his shoulders were solidly broad. He wore expensive dark blue silk martial attire, and a sword hung heavily at his waist.

At a glance, the scabbard looked valuable. Its gilded patterns flashed now and then in the dawn light.

When the leading man reached the middle of the courtyard, he stopped before the man in gray who had been hurrying about. The man in gray seemed to notice him and turned around.

The two soon faced each other and exchanged a few brief words, though I was too far away to hear them. For a moment, I considered circulating my Inner Energy to listen in, but then I remembered how drained I had been last time and changed my mind.

Whenever the gray-clothed man spoke, the leading man either nodded or replied. When the man raised a hand and pointed toward one side of the wagons, the other would turn his gaze there and inspect it for some time.

There was something slightly strange about the scene.

If the agency head stood above him, then the gray-clothed man should have been below him. Yet that was not how it looked. They seemed more like two people standing shoulder to shoulder as equals.

Judging by the treatment he received, people who could read and calculate must be quite difficult to find.

Thinking back, learning to read from Hyeonam had not been as difficult as learning the sword. Perhaps arithmetic would be the same.

If I had the chance someday, it might not be bad to learn how to calculate as well.

After standing face to face for some time, the two finally nodded briefly and finished their discussion.

As the leading man took a step back and looked toward Ma Jeongsan, Ma Jeongsan gave a short bow and said something to the other escort captain beside him.

That escort captain stepped forward. He drew a deep breath in the middle of the courtyard and shouted in a harsh voice.

"Form up!"

The atmosphere in the disorderly courtyard settled in an instant.

"This is a protection convoy personally led by the agency head! Check the cargo and take your positions! We depart!"

At that single command, the courtyard stirred anew.

The horses tied beside the lined-up cargo wagons were untethered one by one, taking riders into their saddles. The wagon drivers gave the ropes one final tug, securing their loads tightly.

The regular escorts took their positions one at a time as their names were called. Some stood beside wagons, some at the front of the main group, and some at the very rear. The formation came together quickly, with the ease of long practice.

Our side, however, remained chaotic for quite a while.

Unable to watch any longer, Ma Jeongsan let out a deep sigh and came over. Looking over the paper he had received from an escort, he called each name in turn and assigned the person called a position.

As he slotted us into place one by one, the convoy gradually began to take shape.

With the main gate as its head, two short, nimble-looking regular escorts mounted horses at the very front. They stood far ahead in the courtyard, watching the main road beyond it. They seemed to be the ones clearing the route first.

A group of escorts stood behind them. The other escort captain, who had been issuing orders beside Ma Jeongsan, stood in the middle, flanked by one regular escort and four temporary escorts.

The cargo wagons formed a line behind them. The two carriages sat in the middle, surrounded before and behind by cargo wagons.

An escort stood on each side of every wagon, with temporary escorts stationed beside most of the cargo wagons.

But one cargo wagon behind the two carriages had different guards. The two people standing on either side both appeared to be regular escorts.

The two carriages were guarded differently as well. Temporary escorts stood one on each side of the front carriage, while regular escorts guarded both sides of the rear carriage.

A short distance away from the formation, two more escorts had mounted their horses, just as at the front. They appeared to be watching the rear.

At last, Ma Jeongsan's paper reached my name.

"Jin A-pyeong."

"Here."

Ma Jeongsan looked up, and our eyes met briefly. The corner of his mouth seemed to twitch.

"So it's you. You'll be at the rear with me. Go stand in back."

"Yes."

I gave a short nod and headed for the rear position he had assigned me.

Then I noticed that the escort beside me had a familiar face. He seemed to recognize me as well, and his expression brightened.

"Oh, you? You're here too? Good to see you!"

"It's been a while. I'm glad to see you too."

It was Gwak Seok, the talkative man who had guided me three days earlier. At the very least, this protection convoy did not seem like it would be boring.

As we chatted about this and that, I noticed something.

The gray-clothed man, who had been rushing around until the very end, made his way between the cargo wagons. As I watched to see where he was going, he climbed into the rear carriage in the middle.

A protection convoy was supposed to be about transporting goods safely. Why would the man who handled the accounts be coming along?

Was that simply how large protection convoys worked?

When I casually asked Gwak Seok, he shrugged and said he did not know either. This was the first convoy he had joined where both escort captains, the agency head, and even the chief steward were all traveling together.

Hearing that, my attention shifted to the remaining carriage. But even when I looked around, no one seemed to be heading toward it.

I searched for the agency head, wondering if he planned to ride in it, but a black horse had already been brought to him, reins in hand. It appeared he intended to ride himself.

Could someone already be inside?

When the convoy had nearly taken its places, the escort captain at the front shouted once more from the middle of the courtyard. Ma Jeongsan had mounted his own horse by then and rode toward our rear section.

"Depart!"

The two scouts at the front rode out through the main gate.

The leading group of escorts followed, and the first cargo wagon slowly began to roll out after them. One after another, the rest followed in line.

Our group at the end began moving a step later.

As we passed through the gate, I saw the convoy stretching long across the main road.

The formation filled the street that had been empty at dawn. A few closed shutters quietly opened, and someone peeked out from inside a shop.

Looking ahead from the rear, the convoy looked quite impressive.

Seven cargo wagons and two carriages, escorts stationed between them, and laborers following alongside. Far ahead, the scouts on horseback were visible as small figures.

The long, winding formation curved past two corners of the main road, looking as though it occupied an entire district of the city as it slowly flowed onward.

The convoy followed the main road for some time. Soon, a large city gate appeared ahead.

It resembled the south gate through which I had first entered, though it was far larger than the east gate.

A two-story gate tower rose above it, with several flags fluttering in the dawn wind. People burdened with loads and carts had already formed a line before the gate, waiting their turns.

As the convoy approached, those in line naturally stepped aside.

Four soldiers stood guard before the gate. One came toward the front of our convoy and seemed to ask something briefly.

The escort captain at the front took something from his robes and held it out. The soldier accepted it, glanced over it, then promptly returned it with both hands.

The soldier only gave the convoy a brief look. Unlike at the south gate before, the soldier did not open the cargo wagons or inspect each person's face.

Another soldier raised a hand from inside the gate, clearing the way. The scouts at the front rode through the gate passage, and the convoy began filing through in a long line behind them.

When our group reached the entrance of the passage, I glanced back.

Within the city walls, the streets of Geonnyeong lay quietly beneath the dawn light. The place where the pavilions rose could not be seen from here. There were only layers of eaves overlapping one another, fading into a single blurry point in the distance.

Abok would be somewhere over there.

I hoped nothing would ever happen to drive that boy out to Yeongpa. I hoped the inn, where he hurried between the kitchen and tables and served warm tea to guests, would remain a place that suited him for the rest of his life.

I hoped he would live like that, open a small shop of his own someday, take a wife, and have two or three children.

My gaze then moved beyond the city walls to the foothills. Somewhere beyond those mountains would be Jang Sam's village.

What had happened to that tiger skin?

Had Jang Sam brought it down to Geonnyeong and sold it to some leather shop? Had he received enough silver? Would it be enough for his family to get through a season without worry?

I had only crossed paths with them briefly, but they were the first people to offer me a warm meal. I hoped their lives would be free of hardship as well.

The passage drew close, and I turned my head forward again. The convoy was sinking into it step by step.

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried