WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle

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◈ Raised by a Ruthless Swordsman ◈

Chapter 37: Clouds Part, Sun Appears

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Wi Jin-ak’s words left my thoughts in disarray. I had expected that someone might recognize my sword, but why was it being treated with such gravity here?

It was almost as though they had arranged this whole affair just to see my sword.

The thought sent a chill down my spine. But I had no time to consider why. The woman came straight toward me and bowed deeply.

“I am Chae Wol, proprietress of Mist and Sunset Pavilion.”

She continued.

“I have no words sufficient to apologize for the discourtesy of testing you, Young Master.”

Even after she finished speaking, she did not straighten. A woman who seemed much older than me, and one who had been pointing a blade at me until moments ago, was bowing her head so low that it made me uncomfortable instead.

“Please raise your head. Only then can I hear your reason.”

Only then did Chae Wol slowly straighten. The unreadable look in her upturned eyes had faded, leaving behind a faint shadow. Her lips, too, held an expression that could not quite become a smile.

“So you are the companion Taoist Master Yun Baek spoke of.”

It seemed Du Gi had told them beforehand. It was one thing to mention that someone would be following behind him. But why had he also told them I used a Wudang sword?

I felt uneasy, but as I considered it further, it made sense. If he wanted them to recognize me, he would have needed some sort of sign. For Du Gi, mentioning my sword must have been the surest way.

Perhaps I had become overly sensitive whenever Hyeonam or Wudang was involved.

“So you finally believe me.”

I had not meant it as a jab, but it sounded that way once the words left my mouth. Still, they were the ones who had drawn blades over something that could have been settled so easily, so I did not feel like taking it back.

Perhaps Chae Wol understood. An apologetic look returned to her face.

“I truly have nothing to say in my defense. Things have been so chaotic that we had no choice but to test every stone bridge before allowing someone in.”

I looked straight at her and thought it over. It was not that I could not understand, and she had apologized enough. But my mind was on something else.

Why had I come here? To find my family’s whereabouts.

Yet Du Gi, who had promised to give me a lead, had vanished, leaving that promise hanging in the air.

But whatever had happened, Haomun, the very organization Du Gi had promised to connect me with, was right before me.

I cautiously broached the subject.

“I hear Haomun is skilled at finding people.”

Chae Wol looked at me quietly, then smiled faintly.

“Is there someone you are looking for?”

She was quick to understand. That was good.

“My family. We were separated ten years ago.”

I paused, wondering how to explain it. Where near Yeongpa they lived, what sort of household it had been, how many people were in my family. As I sorted through the words in my mind, Chae Wol spoke first.

“A small fishing village on the coast east of Yeongpa. I heard your family operated fishing boats.”

I was speechless.

How did she know? How did this woman know where my village was, even what my family did?

Had Du Gi told her? But I had only told him it was a village near Yeongpa. I had never given him such detail.

Something slowly crawled up my spine.

“...How do you know that much?”

My voice naturally dropped. I subtly adjusted my grip on the broken sword hilt. Perhaps reading my wariness, Chae Wol gently shook her head.

“We had no intention of harming you, Young Master. We simply needed to know what kind of person you were before bringing you in.”

She then calmly continued. Yun Baek had asked them in Guju to look into a companion. He had said there was a young man who used a Wudang sword and asked them to investigate who he was.

She recited the details as well, and I compared them one by one with what I had told Du Gi.

Nothing was different. Everything Chae Wol said stopped at the details I had personally told him.

“So we used Taoist Master Yun Baek’s words as a lead and looked into Yeongpa.”

This was what Chae Wol had learned. It was well known among those in that line of work that one branch of Wudang had pursued someone for over ten years, though no one knew who was being pursued.

Then someone gathering herbs in the mountains behind Yeongpa had said they saw several bodies in Daoist robes around ten years ago.

Around the same time, people from Wudang had stayed at an inn in Yeongpa for a while. And at about that time, a young boy had disappeared from a fishing village on the coast.

Those scattered fragments, she said, had finally been threaded together by one young man who used a Wudang sword.

I could not speak. They had picked up a few scraps scattered far apart, and in the end, they had reached me. It was astonishing enough that they could uncover such detailed information from ten years ago.

Was this what people who dealt in information were like?

A chill ran down my spine, yet there was also something strangely relieving about knowing that someone knew of my past. Chae Wol studied me and continued.

“What you wish from us is, in the end, news of your family. We have already begun looking for your village in Yeongpa, so word should arrive before long.”

Something that had always weighed hopelessly in one corner of my heart seemed to have finally found a path forward.

“...Thank you.”

It was not an empty courtesy. For the first time in ten years, I felt as though I had taken a step closer to that distant place.

I did not know what expression I wore, but Chae Wol looked at me and smiled beautifully. Then she invited me to sit again.

I did not refuse this time. I put away the sword hilt and sat down. Chae Wol sat across from me, and Wi Jin-ak took a seat beside her.

Once we were settled, Chae Wol filled my cup and asked,

“But why did Taoist Master Yun Baek not come with you? I thought you would arrive together.”

That reminded me of Du Gi. So I told them what had happened from Lanxi to Tonglu.

How I had helped Du Gi remove something from a cart at the ferry along that waterway, only for its owners to quickly discover us and give chase.

How Du Gi had told me to go on to Hangzhou first, then remained alone on the boat to buy time.

How I had thrown myself into the river with the item we had taken and drifted here, but had not known whether Du Gi was dead or alive since then.

As my account grew longer, the last traces of amusement gradually faded from Chae Wol’s face.

“If it is Taoist Master Yun Baek, he is not someone who would be easily overcome.”

With her eyes closed, she said it in a way that made it impossible to tell whether she was speaking to me or reassuring herself.

I reached into my robe and took it out.

A palm-sized round lump wrapped in silk. It had darkened after soaking in the river, and its edges had grown damp enough to shed powder. But when I lifted one corner of the silk, a dry, bitter fragrance faintly seeped out.

“This is what Du Gi, no, Yun Baek, was trying to take from that cart.”

I set it on the table.

“I don’t know what it is. But he remained behind just to save this one thing.”

Chae Wol’s gaze slowly fell upon the lump on the table.

My throat was dry from the long story, so I lifted the cup before me and took a sip. It had cooled somewhat, but the scent that had tickled my nose when I first smelled it still lingered and spread faintly through my mouth.

Meanwhile, Chae Wol picked up the lump. She carefully lifted the silk and seemed to glimpse what lay within. At that moment, her face stiffened.

Chae Wol passed it to Wi Jin-ak, who took it and looked at the lump. Wi Jin-ak’s expression changed in much the same way.

What could it be to affect them so?

“What is it?”

Chae Wol did not answer at once. She seemed to be weighing something. Perhaps she was considering whether she should tell me. But I had already carried it all the way into this hidden place.

“It is Dragon-Phoenix Cake Tea.”

“Dragon-Phoenix Cake Tea?”

Tea. I had heard the word before. But when would there have been any reason to drink tea in a fishing village?

When thirsty, we drank well water. When our stomachs felt empty, we drank scorched-rice water. I had thought steeping leaves and drinking their fragrance was something only the village chief spoke of when telling stories about noble folk.

“Is tea really so precious? Is that why everyone was so surprised?”

Chae Wol shook her head and pointed at the cup I had just drunk from.

“Even fine tea can be obtained if one pays the price. The Wuyi tea you drank is like that.”

So this had been tea. I traced the taste remaining in my mouth anew. The fragrance truly was pleasant. It was dry and bitter, yet a faint sweetness still lingered on my tongue.

“But this is different.”

Chae Wol turned her eyes to the lump on the table.

“It is originally supplied only to the imperial family. Even if you brought bundles of money into the marketplace, you could not so much as glimpse it.”

Only supplied to the imperial family. How had something like that been in the cart? Even as I continued thinking, Chae Wol went on.

“Furthermore, the state prohibits private trade in tea. Only those who receive an official permit may handle tea. Anyone else who buys or sells it is dealing in private tea, and is punished severely.”

Only those with official permits could handle it. Then that cart had been moving from the start while avoiding the authorities’ eyes. Mount Hua Sect’s people had charged in as a group, the Alliance had intervened, and so many people had died. Only then did it all connect into a single line.

But after realizing that, I was dumbfounded. Did that mean they had diverted goods meant for the imperial family and sold them privately?

The more I thought about it, the more insane it seemed. Even ten heads would not be enough if they were caught doing such a thing.

“It seemed the people backing that protection convoy were Nangong. Are they people who would dare treat even the imperial family lightly?”

Chae Wol furrowed her brow at my question.

“...No. The Nangong great clan is respected in Anhui, but that is all. They are not a family capable of shaking the world. They may be greedy, but they were not people who would go this far...”

Her words trailed off and faded into the air. Chae Wol was the first to break the silence.

“You have done us an enormous favor, Young Master.”

A faint smile returned to her subdued face.

“You have personally recovered proof that something like this is being moved about.”

She looked toward the lump on the table.

“So, though it is shameless of us to ask, may we take this?”

There was no reason to refuse. Now that I knew how dangerous it was, I wanted to hand it off myself. Carrying it around would only make it a source of trouble. When I agreed, Chae Wol gathered the lump, silk and all, to her side.

“And one more thing. Unless you have arranged another place to stay, how would you like to remain here for a few days?”

She added that Nangong would surely be looking for me, since I had come away with the tea cake. This place would be safe.

It was not an unappealing offer. Now that I knew the whole story, I did not feel comfortable being out in the open, and any news of my family would come here in the end.

But there was one thing that bothered me. How could I sleep soundly in a house that would be noisy all night with the faint melodies and laughter I could still hear? That thought must have shown on my face.

Chae Wol smiled prettily.

“A quiet detached residence is separate from the pavilion where we receive guests.”

Having heard that much, I had no further reason to refuse.

“Then I will gratefully accept your kindness.”

We exchanged a few more words, and the meeting soon ended. As I rose to follow Chae Wol, Wi Jin-ak silently followed behind.

When we stepped out of the room, the two men by the door bowed toward me. Their faces had already changed to those of men attending a guest.

The two of them pushed the closed doors open to either side. Beyond them, someone was standing demurely and waiting.

When I looked closely, I was surprised to find it was Chae Ryeon.

With the same youthful face that had giggled beside the drinking table earlier, she looked up at me with both hands clasped before her.

What was this child doing here? As I stood there bewildered, Chae Wol’s voice came from behind me.

“She will escort you to the detached residence, Young Master. You recognize her, do you not?”

Chae Ryeon approached with a bright smile. The voice that had complained about her hardships, the face that had pouted and called me heartless, they had all been part of the same act.

A hollow laugh escaped me.

There was nothing to trust beneath the mountain.

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