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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
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I quickly made my rounds through the Hongseong Sect with Sayoon, placing White Jade Tablets in areas with lingering demonic Qi.
After finishing that task, I headed straight for the building near the sect’s entrance.
“Are you done?”
It seemed like she was in the middle of her break after training. Ryuhyeon was drenched in sweat.
Perhaps because she was naturally beautiful, her slightly damp hair looked quite alluring, but that wasn’t important right now.
“I heard that the Sword Saint encountered the Demonic Sect members. I’d like to speak with her…”
Ryuhyeon’s expression darkened for a moment. She seemed willing to cooperate with me as much as possible, but she was clearly reluctant to bring out the Sword Saint.
However, I had to meet her. Not only because of the task the magistrate entrusted me with, but also because I had something to tell her.
“I understand. Please wait a moment.”
Ryuhyeon eventually nodded and left. Sayoon, who was sitting next to me, fidgeted nervously, but I couldn’t back down now.
How long did I wait?
The door flew open, and I gritted my teeth as I saw the Sword Saint enter.
Her attire was completely different from before.
A pure white outfit.
It was form-fitting, with an embroidered plum blossom on the chest and slits on both sides, revealing her fair thighs.
The design seemed intended to accentuate her figure, emphasizing her ample bosom and her narrow waist, cinched tightly.
The long, flowing fabric of the single pant leg, extending from her shapely hips to her long legs, contrasted with the exposed skin, creating a breathtaking sight.
I couldn’t meet the eyes of the woman,
The Sword Saint, clad in the official attire of the Hongseong Sect Leader, who approached me with her long, dark blue hair swaying gracefully.
It was impossible.
Because for me,
And for us, that outfit represented longing, affection, love,
And the evidence of Sayoon’s suffering.
I glanced at Sayoon, standing there in her old, worn uniform, holding a tray.
Recalling the event where Sayoon became the Sect Leader of the Hongseong Sect and donned that outfit, my mind turned as white as that attire, and my resolve hardened.
I, who had come this far,
Carrying the hopes of everyone,
Knew that I couldn’t let Sayoon wear that outfit while shedding tears of pain.
My mind was in turmoil, overwhelmed by a mix of emotions.
But I had to compose myself.
Because what I had to do now was crucial to achieving our goal.
“Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Yu Wol, the owner of the inn in Seomhwa Village. Please, speak comfortably.”
“Na Yerin, Sect Leader of the Hongseong Sect. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
She introduced herself as the Sect Leader of the Hongseong Sect, not as the Sword Saint. It meant she took pride in her position as the Sect Leader.
That would make things easier.
“Let’s get straight to the point. I have a proposal.”
This was business. So, I had to speak in terms of profit, not personal connections.
I changed my tone accordingly, and a glimmer of interest appeared in the Sword Saint’s deep eyes.
“You have another proposal besides the investigation?”
“Yes. I heard that the Hongseong Sect is cultivating medicinal herbs.”
“Ah, that.”
It seemed like the Sword Saint was aware of it. She nodded slightly and then glanced at Ryuhyeon.
“We’re planning to supply them to Old Man Cheol’s pharmacy in Seomhwa Village.”
“Supplying them to a pharmacy. That’s not a bad idea. I visited the herb garden earlier, thanks to Sayoon’s consideration, when I was suffering from the lingering demonic Qi. The refreshing scent of the herbs was quite pleasant. It seems like your disciples’ hard work has paid off. Even in my eyes, those herbs are of high quality.”
“Oh, th-thank you.”
Ryuhyeon’s face lit up with joy. Unfortunately, she would have to put that joyful expression aside for a moment.
“So, how much do you think you can earn from it?”
“Based on the market price… we should be able to earn at least one gold coin per month…”
“Yes, that’s about right. But there’s one problem…”
“Problem?”
“There’s no guarantee that they’ll sell consistently.”
“Ah.”
Ryuhyeon seemed to realize her mistake and bit her lip. I calmly continued my explanation,
“You know the nature of Seomhwa Village, right? There aren’t many people getting injured, and monsters or bandits rarely appear. Not many people take tonics, and the ones who use medicine the most are the government office and the Hongseong disciples, but…”
The government office had their own herb garden and used it to make medicine specifically for government officials.
And the Hongseong Sect rarely used medicine.
“Supply without demand drives down prices. Of course, Old Man Cheol might continue to buy at the same price even if he suffers losses, but…”
Of course, the amount of herbs the Hongseong Sect would supply was unlikely to affect the market price significantly.
It wasn’t like they were going to flood the market and cause prices to crash.
While there would be the burden of excess inventory for the pharmacy, Old Man Cheol, the owner of the pharmacy in Seomhwa Village, was not the type to consider it a burden.
However, that wasn’t what the Hongseong Sect desired.
If they were going to burden Old Man Cheol to earn a profit, it would be better to just accept donations from their families.
“Does Sunset Sword know about the herb sales?”
Ryuhyeon shook her head and then explained something I hadn’t even asked about.
She said that the disciples involved in herb cultivation were either from martial arts families or farming families, so they hadn’t considered the market aspect.
They were blinded by the hope of earning money to support the Hongseong Sect by selling the herbs they cultivated.
And they hadn’t told Hongryeon about it because they didn’t want to burden her with more work when she already had so much on her plate.
In other words, they were so caught up in their optimistic plans that they hadn’t considered the risks.
Well, it could happen.
People tend to focus on the positive rather than the negative.
And the Hongseong disciples had no experience in business, so this level of mistake was forgivable.
But Ryuhyeon didn’t seem to think so, her face pale as she bit her lip repeatedly.
Now,
Time to throw her a lifeline.
“So, here’s what I’m proposing. Why don’t we form a partnership?”
“Huh? A partnership?”
“Yes, I’ll buy all the medicinal herbs cultivated by the Hongseong Sect and the scented pouches… you’re planning to make scented pouches, right?”
“Well… but your store doesn’t make medicine…”
Of course it didn’t.
In Heavenly Bright Moon, you could craft medicine by learning recipes, gathering ingredients, and possessing the skill “Alchemy.”
I knew the locations of all the recipes, but I couldn’t go find them right now, and even if I did, I didn’t have the skills to craft medicine.
I remembered trying to craft some medicine before, just in case, but it didn’t work. It seemed like I needed someone who possessed the recipes and the skills to craft medicine… I had given up on it for the time being, as it was something I couldn’t do anything about right now.
Anyway, that wasn’t important.
“That’s why I’m making this proposal.”
I grabbed a piece of paper from the table and started sketching with a charcoal stick I had picked up from the kitchen.
The eyes of the Sword Saint, Ryuhyeon, and Sayoon widened as they watched.
“…Huh? Innkeeper, you can draw?”
“Wow, you’re good.”
“Is that… me, Master, and Sayoon?”
What I drew were portraits of the Sword Saint, Ryuhyeon, and Sayoon. Just simple sketches.
Why did I know how to draw?
Because there weren’t many people who drew fan art of our poor, adorable Sayoon, so I practiced whenever I had time.
And fan art was a valuable asset for promoting the Sayoon Corps, so I practiced even harder.
As the three of them stared blankly at my decent sketches, I tapped the paper.
“I’m thinking of making the herbs more special by adding drawings of the disciples to them.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll also add a tagline, something like ‘Medicinal herbs meticulously cultivated by the beautiful disciples of the Hongseong Sect.'”
The Hongseong Sect was a prestigious righteous sect with a good reputation, built on their noble, but financially unrewarding, deeds. So, using their name, I could sell these herbs at a higher price than average.
The Sword Saint’s eyebrows twitched slightly at my proposal.
“Shall we discuss the Hongseong Sect’s principles? The Hongseong Sect teaches that it’s natural for those with martial arts skills to care for those who don’t, so we shouldn’t accept compensation for something that’s our duty. And we should act accordingly as a righteous sect. There are other sect rules and principles… but isn’t the main point not to exploit the sect’s name for personal gain and not to be swayed by greed? So, what’s wrong with what I’m trying to do?”
I didn’t think the Hongseong Sect’s teachings were wrong. Of course, some Sayoon Corps members complained about those “bullshit teachings.”
But was it wrong to pursue ideals?
Then, let’s find a way to bypass it without breaking it.
Now,
Were these herbs truly cultivated on Mount Hongseong?
Yes.
Were the Hongseong disciples beautiful?
Yes.
Were these herbs meticulously cultivated by the Hongseong disciples?
They were cultivated with dedication by the disciples who couldn’t go on missions yet, sacrificing their rest time after training to help their struggling senior sisters.
Faced with pure facts, the Sword Saint couldn’t refute my arguments.
After all, it wasn’t against the rules.
“How do you plan to price them?”
“I’m planning to process them slightly for commercialization before delivering them, so they’ll be more expensive than the ones sold at the pharmacy in Seomhwa Village.”
If I added a story to the products and created a premium, of course I had to sell them at a higher price.
Especially since they were limited editions.
“Items with history carry a certain value. Even a cheap brush can be sold at a high price if it was used by a noble. Considering the reputation of medicinal herbs cultivated by the disciples of the Hongseong Sect on the sacred Mount Hongseong… we can charge two or three times, even four times, the usual price.”
“…Isn’t that too much?”
Too much?
Actually, depending on the method, I could earn dozens of times more profit by combining expensive words like “limited edition,” “specialty product,” and “premium,” and selling them in a gacha format.
Anyway, this wouldn’t be considered exploiting greed or violating the Hongseong Sect’s principles.
So, I’ll save that for Season 2.
“If I were exploiting ordinary people in Seomhwa Village by taking advantage of their livelihood and charging exorbitant prices, the Sect Leader would be right. But the ones I’ll be selling to are a different story.”
I took a sip of tea and continued,
“They are weak to superstition. So, for them, medicinal herbs cultivated on the sacred Mount Hongseong by the honorable disciples of the Hongseong Sect, scented pouches meticulously crafted by the Hongseong disciples, will carry a much higher value. That’s the price I’ll be charging. Three times? Four times? They’ll happily pay even more. Because they’ll find comfort and peace of mind from the name ‘Mount Hongseong’ and ‘Hongseong Sect.'”
“You’re saying they’ll find peace of mind from it?”
Ryuhyeon, surprised, asked, and I just shrugged instead of answering.
Don’t you know about the placebo effect?!
“…Who are they?”
The Sword Saint asked with a dubious expression, and I smiled.
“Government officials from wealthy, prestigious families.”
Just like Superman couldn’t save the world alone, I couldn’t save Sayoon and protect the Hongseong Sect on my own.
Therefore, the first thing I did was build connections.
Starting with the magistrate, the Imperial Recruitment Division disguised as the Cheonghoe Merchant Guild near Seomhwa Village,
And the Hao Clan, which acted as an errand center in Heavenly Bright Moon, among others.
By leveraging the connections I built and the knowledge I had, there was a good chance I could establish connections with wealthy officials, even if reaching the Imperial Family was too difficult.
And many of them were susceptible to superstition.
I didn’t have many cards to play in this world where I had been dropped all alone.
So, I focused on gathering cards, and I now had a decent hand.
I looked at the Sword Saint, fiddling with the cards I had acquired through my efforts.
Now, it was time for persuasion.
“If you refuse, I can’t force you. But both you, Sword Saint, and the disciples of the Hongseong Sect must consider this. They say even a bad law is still a law, but if you’re too bound by rules, you can’t survive. The current situation of the Hongseong disciples…”
I talked for a long time, utilizing the eloquence I had honed from arguing with those who slandered Sayoon on the forum, the persuasion skills I had developed to spread the truth that Sayoon was the true protagonist,
And other essential qualities of a Sayoon Corps member.
The Sword Saint and Ryuhyeon interjected a few times, but their arguments were nothing compared to those who slandered Sayoon.
At least these two were reasonable.
After listening to my long speech, unable to refute my points, the Sword Saint chuckled and interrupted me,
“It’s a bit of a self-serving interpretation, with a touch of forced reasoning… but it’s true that you haven’t broken any rules. Then I can’t refuse your proposal. And if it can ease the burden on my disciples, I shouldn’t stand in your way.”
The Sword Saint stood up. And then, she bowed deeply to me.
Ryuhyeon, Sayoon, and I were all surprised.
“Innkeeper Yu, I’ll be in your care.”
The Sword Saint,
A renowned figure in the martial world, a master among masters,
Bowed to me.
For her disciples.
For the Hongseong Sect.
So I quickly stood up and bowed to the Sword Saint as well.
“I’ll be in your care.”
For our pride.
“However…”
The conversation was over. We didn’t sign a contract, but that could be done later.
As I was about to leave, having finished my business, the Sword Saint stopped me with a single question.
“What if the goods don’t sell? What if they refuse to buy them?”
I answered her question with a smile.
It wouldn’t happen, but even if it did, it wouldn’t matter.
Because I would just buy them all myself.
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