Chapter 42. Black Market (2)

Eight days after leaving Dongin.

Finally, in the distance, the destination, Zunyi, came into view.

As I stopped for a moment and looked at Zunyi, I soon heard rough breathing from behind me.

“Heok. Heok.”

When I turned my head, Nam Geon was approaching, panting for breath.

“Just how lazily did you spend your time in Dongin.”

I had rested from training for a whole ten days.

But for that guy to be more tired than me was something wrong.

“I’ve felt it for the past few days, but it seems you’ll have to train even more harshly from now on.”

Nam Geon’s face, which had turned dark as if he were dying, turned pale.

“I-if it gets worse, I-I’ll die.”

“Don’t worry. People don’t die easily.”

Nam Geon’s expression changed strangely.

It was an expression I had never seen in my life, even including my past life.

How should I describe that?

A face that wants to curse but can't express it because it doesn't know any curses?

Anyway, it felt like that.

Well, it wasn't important, so I decided not to care.

“Do you see that over there? That is Zunyi. It seems we’ll arrive in about half a shichen if we run. We’ve rested enough, so we’ll run without stopping from now on. Follow me.”

I started moving my legs again and ran towards Zunyi.

From behind, Nam Geon’s shrill scream could be heard.

“I-I didn’t rest enough, brother!”

I slightly turned my head and looked back.

He had a bit of a whining side, but he was still following me tenaciously.

Half a shichen of running with Nam Geon for the last time.

Immediately after arriving in Zunyi.

The sound of vomiting was heard loudly from behind me.

I ignored it appropriately and looked around.

“Hmm.”

It had a somewhat leisurely atmosphere.

A few of the residents whose eyes I met looked at us as if they were wary of outsiders.

They whispered among themselves, but I could hear them faintly.

“I don’t know what they’ve come all this way to beg for.”

“That’s what I’m saying. Goodness, they should just work with the energy they used to come to a place like this.”

“Look, look at him vomiting. Phew. What a nuisance, coming to someone else’s village and doing that.”

It seemed there was some misunderstanding.

It was a misunderstanding I was quite used to.

As always, both my and Nam Geon’s clothes were close to rags.

They were not just soaked in sweat but torn from rough training, and our bodies and faces were also grimy with sweat and dust.

Well, since it was a familiar misunderstanding, I had no intention of struggling to clear it up.

“If you’re done vomiting, let’s go to the inn.”

“I-inn? A-are we eating, brother?”

“Yes.”

“I-I’m going too!”

Nam Geon, who had been vomiting, got up and approached.

We passed the village entrance and entered Zunyi.

We headed to an inn we happened to find while walking the streets.

“Is anyone here?”

“Welcome……. Tsk. Some beggars I’ve never seen before have come in. We have nothing to give, so get lost.”

The waiter, who was approaching with a smiling face, spat out curses.

I rummaged through the bundle on my back and pulled out a sword, holding it out.

“H-hiiik!!”

“We have money for the meal. Could you prepare a room and food?”

The money for the meal was, of course, the sword I had just offered.

“Y-yes, I will show you inside right away. Ha. Hahaha.”

I had no idea why the waiter’s face had turned white.

I thought he might have been startled by Nam Geon’s intimidating face.

After ordering a variety of food so that Nam Geon could eat his fill.

I asked the waiter.

“By any chance, are there no underworld figures or ruffians in Zunyi?”

“N-no, there are none.”

The waiter answered, startled, then looked around cautiously and asked.

“P-perhaps, d-did you come here to t-take over……?”

“Not to take over, but to clean up.”

“Clean up……. you say?”

After finishing the short conversation with the waiter.

I fell into thought for a moment.

“Hmm.”

Something was strange.

This was the closest village to where the Black Market was held.

It meant that it was a place where trash-like people came and went periodically.

But, there were no underworld figures in a place like this?

Even the village atmosphere was somewhat peaceful.

Three possibilities came to mind.

One, that slave trader bastard lied to me while he was dying.

Another, this waiter is lying to me right now.

The last one, there is something in this village, but the waiter knows nothing about it.

“First, I should look around a bit.”

“W-where, brother?”

Nam Geon, who was in the middle of inhaling food, asked, and I answered vaguely.

“The village.”

If the slave trader's words were true, there were about five days left until the eighth day of the month when the Black Market was said to open.

I thought that if I looked around the village and the nearby back mountain for those five days, something might turn up.

***

Early the next morning.

After waking up.

I first circulated my energy with the Great Swallow Nest Building Divine Art.

After Nam Geon similarly trained his Jade Cloud Divine Art, we left the room and headed to the first floor of the inn.

Just like yesterday, we ordered a large amount of food.

And finished breakfast.

Last night, I hadn't been able to look around the village enough.

After buying new clothes at the cloth shop and walking around the streets a bit, the sky grew dark.

After that, the residents all went back to their homes, so there were no open places and no people on the streets.

“We checked the cloth shop yesterday, so let’s look around other places a bit.”

In fact, the reason I bought clothes at the cloth shop was also to check if there was anything strange.

We left the inn at a busy time when the residents were moving around and working.

Occasionally, I felt gazes.

The problem was that it was ambiguous whether they were looking at us because we were outsiders or because they were watching us.

“It would be better to throw some bait.”

I moved my steps towards the back mountain near Zunyi.

The place where the Black Market was said to be held.

If there was something in this village, they would surely follow to watch us.

Or, there might be some trace left on the back mountain.

Since just walking leisurely was a waste of time, I immediately used my movement arts.

“Let’s train our movement arts! Follow me!”

“O-okay, brother!”

After running for half a shichen without resting, we arrived at the back mountain.

Unfortunately, there was no sign of anyone following.

We wandered around the back mountain with the feeling of tracking a trail.

On the side, I taught Nam Geon tracking skills and footwork and had a training session.

As I tried to climb a place so steep that it seemed one had to climb on all fours, Nam Geon, unlike his usual self, made a sharp point.

“B-brother. A market w-won't open in a place like that.”

“This is also movement arts training.”

Perhaps, he was trying to find an excuse because he disliked training.

Like that, after wandering the back mountain with Nam Geon for about a shichen.

By the time the clothes we bought yesterday were once again grimy with sweat and dust.

We arrived at a wide, open space.

“This is it.”

Countless traces of people coming and going remained faintly.

It might just look like an old trail, but it was subtly different.

“Look at those footprints. They are different from traces damaged by wind, rain, or animals. They are artificial traces that someone intentionally erased.”

There were several such traces.

There was even a trace that looked like something had been put down.

It seemed that the slave trader had not been stubbornly lying even while being tortured.

“One problem remains. Is the whole village involved, or just a part of it.”

It was a tiring problem in many ways.

Because I couldn't just kill all the innocent commoners.

“I’ll have to probe the waiter and the innkeeper.”

Nam Geon, with a tired face, asked in surprise.

“B-brother? A-are you going to kill those guys?”

“If they’re involved with the Black Market, I must kill them.”

“B-but why are you stabbing them with a sword right now?”

“I meant I’d probe them with words, not a sword.”

Nam Geon had a look of incomprehension.

“Since it seems certain that the Black Market is held here, a certain number of people will gather nearby around the eighth day of the month. I'm going to ask the waiter and the innkeeper if many guests come to the village on the eighth day of every month to gauge their reaction.”

If they showed signs of hiding their words or reacted cautiously, it would surely mean they knew something.

We came down from the back mountain and headed to Zunyi.

As soon as we entered the inn, Nam Geon’s stomach rumbled.

Grrrrr.

“B-brother. I'm h-hungry.”

After ordering food for Nam Geon.

As the waiter came over with the food, I asked casually.

While secretly positioning myself to draw my sword as easily as possible, without the waiter noticing.

“I went to the back mountain over there for a hike, and it seems there are quite a few hikers.”

“What are you talking about? Even the people here don't go to that mountain often.”

The waiter, who was placing the food on the table, reacted as if to say, what kind of bullshit is that.

“Hmm. Is that so? Then is there no particular time when guests come here often? Like a festival.”

“Well……. Ah! Come to think of it, the number of people coming and going in the village has increased a bit since a dozen or so years ago.”

This was slightly unexpected information.

“You mean they come and go consistently, not on the eighth day of every month?”

“Is there something on the eighth day?”

Was he pretending not to know, or did he not know?

Just as I was contemplating whether to just draw my sword and torture him.

The waiter spoke again.

“Hmm. Thinking about it, there are some guests who come around the eighth day, but it doesn't seem to be much different from other days.”

Instead of drawing my sword, I organized my thoughts for a moment.

First, assuming the waiter was telling the truth, a certain deduction was possible.

If that waiter was unrelated to the Black Market, then this village was largely divided into two groups.

The ones related to the Black Market.

And the residents who knew nothing.

Why would they operate a Black Market while leaving the unrelated residents as they were?

I imagined myself as them.

I am trash.

I am a bastard worse than a vermin who buys and sells people, and a piece of trash who makes money by stealing or killing and taking the belongings of innocent people.

As a sense of disgust and anger so intense that I wanted to cut my own throat right now surged.

I turned my head and looked at the waiter.

“Hiiik.”

“B-brother. Y-your face is too scary. W-what's wrong, brother?”

Ignoring the reactions of the waiter and Nam Geon, I continued to stare at the waiter.

A weak bastard who knows nothing.

Prey that can be exploited at will.

Why should I just leave a guy like this alone?

A piece of trash like me.

Indeed, was it because I was pondering with the mindset of trash?

One reason came to mind.

Because I am a coward and a despicable person.

Because I have to hide my identity.

And to deceive others naturally, operating in a pre-existing area was the best option.

If a village suddenly appeared where there was none before and the traffic of people increased dramatically, it would be suspicious in many ways.

Then, some of the guys who have been coming and going to the village regardless of the eighth day are probably related to the Black Market.

If customers only flocked on the eighth day, it would be unnatural.

Also, in the process of preparing for the Black Market, there would be occasions to go to other regions.

To prepare goods to sell at the Black Market, or due to exchanges with other Black Markets.

As my thoughts reached that point, the next step naturally came to mind.

“By any chance, among the outsiders who started visiting this village ten years ago, are there any who visit repeatedly?”

Perhaps because my expression was still not good, the waiter answered while trembling.

“N-not for t-ten years straight, b-but there are those who have been v-visiting p-periodically for the past two or three years.”

“Then is there a place they visit often?”

“A p-place they visit often? T-that is……”

After being lost in thought in fear for a moment.

The waiter shouted urgently.

“A-a tea shop! Perhaps because their t-throats are dry from traveling long distances, they often drink tea at the t-tea shop!”

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