novelraw Chapter 4 : Chapter 4
Chapter 4 : Chapter 4
Chapter 4 - Black Dragon Inn (3)
Hyeok-rin briefly explained the trade caravan while moving to the front of the carriage.
“As the Green Forest has gained power recently, crossing the mountains is no easy task. That is why we are moving goods on such a large scale like this recently.”
Jaun listened to Hyeok-rin's story and carefully observed the long line of carriages and people.
Martial artists in uniform attire were lined up around each cargo wagon; they were the White Tiger Squad of the Moyong Family in charge of escorting the caravan.
Just by seeing that each one exuded a well-ordered spirit, one could feel that the potential of the Moyong Family was substantial.
And perhaps, the ronin with sharp spirits mixed in between the White Tiger Squad members seemed to be those additionally selected through interviews at the Black Dragon River.
Hyeok-rin pointed his hand toward the large and splendid carriage located at the very front of the end of the long line of cargo wagons.
“And that is…….”
Unlike the other carriages, the carriage standing at the very front had considerably large wheels, and the patterns decorating the exterior were exquisite.
Unusually, a flag embroidered with the characters ‘Moyong ’ in large letters was planted on the roof.
“It is the carriage you two must protect.”
Hyeok-rin smiled at the two and continued walking forward.
As the group approached closely, the carriage door opened with a squeak, and Moyong Eun-wol revealed herself from inside.
“Brother! Get in now. I think we need to depart before it gets any later.”
Nam Chung, who was sitting on the coachman's seat, turned his body and waved his hand toward Jaun and bearded man.
As they got close to the carriage, Hyeok-rin opened his mouth.
“To speak accurately, protecting Eun-wol who is riding in the carriage is your mission. Protecting Wol-i takes precedence over anything else, so if something happens, do not stray from Wol-i's vicinity.”
After Hyeok-rin finished speaking and entered the carriage, the two people also made eye contact once and followed him onto the carriage.
The carriage was large enough to sufficiently accommodate about six people.
“Phew……. It is immense. This is practically at the level of an Imperial Palace carriage.”
At bearded man's remark uttered as he entered the carriage, Eun-wol wore a smile.
“Did you not know? One of my grandfathers is in the Imperial Family.”
bearded man flinched.
A prestigious family wasn't a prestigious family for nothing.
Moyong Eun-wol, smiling as she looked at bearded man with a stiff expression and Jaun with wide eyes, soon leaned her body out the window and spoke.
“Let’s depart. Brother.”
“Everyone. Depaaart!”
At Eun-wol's words, Nam Chung immediately shouted with a loud voice toward the rear.
“Move out!”
As if in response to Nam Chung's shout, loud voices were heard consecutively from the rear carriages.
─ Clop clop
Like that, the merchant group set out on the road, and the carriages leaving the village began to gradually increase their speed.
***
─ Rattle rattle
Before long, the procession of carriages left the flatlands and entered the mountain path in earnest.
Tension gradually seeped into the face of Eun-wol, who had been sitting blankly as if bored.
“From here on, it is an area where the Green Forest is active. Everyone, please be tense.”
At Eun-wol's words, the group straightened their posture.
“If we meet bandits, we will negotiate the toll first. So do not rush in rashly and just stay by Brother Hyeok-rin's side.”
Jaun and bearded man nodded.
Although she felt just like a tomboy at the inn, Eun-wol commanding the caravan gave off a completely different feeling.
Amidst the tense atmosphere, the carriage continued to climb the mountain path.
The group stopped talking and listened to the surrounding sounds.
Around the time the rattling procession of carriages passed the mountain's waist like that, Nam Chung's loud shout was heard.
“All stop!”
At Nam Chung's voice, the carriages reduced their speed all at once.
Looking out, a large log was placed in the middle of the road the carriage had to pass.
The freshly cut tree was clearly placed on the road by someone intentionally.
A long spear was stuck in the center of the log, and a green cloth with old bloodstains sparsely smeared on it was tied long to the spear, fluttering.
Nam Chung, who got down from the coachman's seat and walked a few steps in front of the carriage, checked the green cloth and shouted politely.
“This is the trade caravan of the Moyong Family. Experts of the Green Forest, please show yourselves.”
At Nam Chung's words, the group also rose from their seats, came out of the carriage, and headed to Nam Chung's side.
Silence flowed for a moment, and soon a grumbling voice was heard in response to Nam Chung's shout.
“Moyong Family? Eh, damn it. What is there to eat in the Moyong Family that you crawled all the way here? Just play in your own neighborhood.”
The voice rang through the mountain loudly.
It was profound internal energy.
“Tsk. Wasted my strength for nothing. This is a situation where we have to ask the Fortress Master before robbing, right?”
Two giants smoothly revealed themselves from behind the log where clearly nothing had been. It was a considerable level of movement technique.
Hyeok-rin and Nam Chung's eyes shone sharply the moment they saw them.
“Hmm. Moyong Family. Moyong Family, huh. Anyway, aren't they one of the Five Great Families? It doesn't seem like a place we can touch at will. I think asking the Fortress Master is the right thing to do.”
“Hey. Scholar! What are you going to do?”
The giant on the left shouted while turning his head toward the dark forest.
“Do what. Is there anything I can do? Fold it, just fold.”
A sharp voice came from somewhere in the forest.
One of the giants spat on the ground with a ptui.
As if annoyed, the two giants approached the log, grunted, lifted the log, and threw it to one side.
─ Thud-thud-thud
The thrown log rolled down the mountain for a long time.
The giants who cleared the log dusted off their hands, picked their ears, and walked toward the carriage with stomping steps.
As the two approached, Nam Chung smoothly took out a spear that was mounted on the side of the carriage.
Hyeok-rin also slowly brought his hand to the sword hilt tied at his waist.
Eun-wol took a step back behind the group.
“My. As expected of children from a prestigious family, they look sleek. Oh my? Look at the carriages. How many are these?”
The giants who approached the group stretched their necks and scanned the continuous procession of carriages.
“Hah. Why are there so many? I feel like we’ll get sick if we eat this wrong.”
“Indeed. Twenty carriages. It’s a bit excessive.”
The giants, who were talking among themselves while scanning the caravan, soon stopped in their tracks and looked at the group for a moment.
The two giants, lost in thought, exchanged glances and nodded, and the giant standing on the right took a deep breath and shouted.
“Yongho Fortress announces!”
The voice containing the giant's internal energy filled the mountain, ringing loudly.
“ Considering the name of the Moyong Family, we will let you go this once, but if you try to pass the mountain like this again, you will see our faces again.”
The giant scanned the group.
“Find another way on your own or go back down, do not show yourselves before our eyes again!”
At the shout of the hulk that rang through the mountain loudly, Nam Chung stepped forward quietly.
“We thank Yongho Fortress for the leniency. However, as you know, if we go around another way, the caravan will be delayed by more than ten days, so if you just let us pass, we will show sufficient sincerity from our side as well.”
Looking at Nam Chung bowing his waist, the giant laughed loudly.
“Kuh-kuh. They are not friends who don't know manners. Let’s talk about that when we meet again.”
The hulks turned their bodies and shouted into the mountains.
“Let’s return! It’s been a while since we met a big customer, so we must quickly inform the Fortress Master of this news.”
The hulk who finished speaking sent a signal, and the bandits disappeared one by one to the rear.
As even the giants standing at the very front hid their traces, the surroundings became quiet in an instant.
The group was on guard for a moment, and after confirming that all the bandits had disappeared, they turned their bodies and got into the carriage.
Eun-wol, who got in the carriage, opened a box fixed to one side, took out a booklet, opened it, and started looking for something.
“Yongho Fortress…… Yongho Fortress……. Ah, here it is.”
Following the written text with her finger, Eun-wol read the letters.
“Yongho Fortress. It was once the second-ranked fortress acting as the right arm of the Chief Green Forest Leader, the head of the Green Forest, but one day, after destroying the fortress on Mount Bokryong, the existing members scattered.”
Eun-wol's voice continued as she turned the page.
“Currently, only small and medium fortresses claiming to succeed Yongho Fortress have sprung up like mushrooms after rain here and there. Danger grade is lower-middle. Hmm. Lower-middle……. At this level, preparing about twenty taels of silver should be enough, right?”
Eun-wol said while closing the book.
“The bandits' movements were too unusual to trust only that book. The feeling was somewhat different from other bandits I've seen so far.”
Hyeok-rin was lost in thought with a furrowed brow.
“Brother. Let’s go up for now. Although the level of the bandits is a bit different from expectations, we can’t stop here after coming this far. just in case, I will prepare the toll a bit more generously.”
Nam Chung, hearing Eun-wol's words, sent a signal, and the carriages started climbing along the mountain path again.
***
How much time had passed?
─ Kwa-ang
A large spear flew and embedded itself in front of the carriage that had been climbing the mountain for a while.
The green cloth tied to the spear, which had pierced halfway through the hard ground, fluttered this way and that.
“……It is the start of the real negotiation.”
Eun-wol, who glanced out the window, said with a tense expression.
Behind the spear stuck in the ground, the presence of dozens of people was felt.
Hyeok-rin, tapping the tense Eun-wol's shoulder to calm her, flew out of the carriage first, and subsequently, the group all came out of the carriage.
“To continue climbing the mountain even after receiving Yongho Fortress’s warning, you are gutsy fellows I haven't seen in a long time.”
Along with the voice ringing the mountain, the bandit group revealed themselves once again.
A strong man, a hand span larger than the hulk seen earlier, was standing at the very front with his arms crossed; that strong man seemed to be the Fortress Master.
Nam Chung, stepping forward quietly, took out a money pouch from his bosom and opened his mouth.
“Moyong Merchant Group belonging to the Moyong Family offers greetings. First, we feel sorry for causing a disturbance.”
Nam Chung cleared his throat with a ahem.
“However, since this caravan must pass Mount Gillim often in the future, we offer sincerity befitting that, so we ask for leniency.”
Nam Chung, having finished speaking, slowly stepped forward, tied the money pouch to the spear stuck in the ground, and returned to his spot.
“Why are you being so polite to mere bandits?”
bearded man whispered quietly to Eun-wol.
“Phew. The situation these days is like that. Since the power of the Green Forest, which joined the Sado Alliance, has grown so large……. As we have to continue doing trade caravans over this mountain in the future, we have no choice but to bow down for now.”
Eun-wol replied quietly without taking her eyes off the bandits with a tense expression.
The hulk, looking at the money pouch tied to the spear, signaled to his subordinates.
Then, a bandit with quick movements ran forward, took the money pouch, and returned to his spot.
The Fortress Master, glancing into the money pouch handed by the subordinate, smirked.
“Ha-ha. Damn it. Is the Green Forest that easy? Whose nose are you sticking this onto!”
The Fortress Master threw the money pouch he was holding roughly.
The thrown money pouch fell in front of the group with a thud, and about thirty silver coins bounced out from inside the open pouch and rolled on the ground.
“Heh-heh.”
The Fortress Master, looking at the bewildered group, grinned, raised his hand, and started instructing something to the bandits.
“The atmosphere doesn't seem like they intend to negotiate the toll?”
Nam Chung, watching the bandits' movements, asked Hyeok-rin.
“Indeed. That Fortress Master fellow's martial arts skills also seem unusual. About thirty silver coins is not such an insufficient amount……. surely they are really targeting the carriages?”
Hyeok-rin, observing the bandits' movements closely, tilted his head.
“Hah, surely. It wouldn't be. No matter how much the Green Forest has gained power, can there be crazy bandits targeting the Moyong Family's carriages?”
Although he said that, Hyeok-rin, left with some uneasiness, untied his bound hair and loosened his body by shaking his shoulders left and right.
“Kuk-kuk-kuk.”
The Fortress Master, who was wearing a smile of unknown meaning while looking at the group, suddenly raised one hand high into the air.
At the Fortress Master's hand gesture, the group flinched, but nothing happened.
The Fortress Master, quietly holding a smile on his lips, only scanned the carriages this way and that.
“Those bastards……. What are they doing?”
The moment Nam Chung broke the brief silence and threw a question to Hyeok-rin, the Fortress Master's hand swung down with force, and a loud shout burst from his mouth.
“Everyone shoot!”
─ Shoo-shoo-shuk
As if answering the Fortress Master's shout, the bandits hiding here and there on the mountain path rose from their spots and fired their drawn bows all at once.
Countless arrow showers began to pour down over the heads of the Moyong Merchant Group party.