Chapter 43 — Red Leg (1)
Carrying Choi Sihyeon's letter, Doyul headed toward the marketplace and found the merchant caravan without much difficulty.
"My name is Doyul."
"...I am Hong Mun, the caravan master."
At first, Hong Mun regarded him with little interest.
"What business do you have with me? We're rather busy, so please keep it brief..."
Then Hong Mun noticed something beside Doyul.
His eyes widened.
"Wait!"
"...Hm?"
Dun!
"Good heavens! I have never seen such a treasure in all my life!"
Hong Mun suddenly became excited and made Doyul an astonishing offer.
"Sell this treasure to me! I'll pay you extremely well!"
The treasure he was referring to was...
"Mooooooo!"
Bangul, who had returned triumphantly with Nureungi.
Doyul stared at him in disbelief and shook his head.
"...I'm sorry, but he isn't my cow, so I can't sell him."
"Tsk... I understand. What a shame..."
The moment Doyul refused, Hong Mun's eyes narrowed again.
"Then what is your business?"
Doyul handed him the letter Choi Sihyeon had written.
"This is from the Magistrate of Eonyang."
"I need to travel all the way to the capital, but as you can see, I have far too much baggage."
"Would it be possible for you to exchange these coins for silver?"
"Hmm..."
Hong Mun fell into thought.
He wasn't particularly pleased by the idea of taking on so much additional weight.
However, with a magistrate's letter in hand, refusing outright would be awkward.
And if he charged a reasonable fee for exchanging the money into silver, it wouldn't be a bad deal either.
"..."
Hong Mun glanced toward someone sitting in a corner.
A masked figure gave the faintest nod.
"...Very well."
"Since even the magistrate has asked, I can't simply refuse."
"But this isn't something we can handle by rough estimation."
"We'll need to confirm the exact amount."
"May we inspect the carts?"
"Thank you. Please do."
"Men! Come out and count these coins!"
"Yes, sir!"
Several servants emerged at Hong Mun's call and began counting the coins loaded onto the carts.
The masked figure was among them.
That person is wearing a mask too, just like Yeoni.
Doyul watched the masked person for a moment before turning his attention toward Yeoni.
"..."
Yeoni kept glancing around the Eonyang marketplace with curiosity.
Come to think of it, she's spent most of her time inside the government office.
She probably hasn't had many chances to walk around a market like this.
Since we're already here, I should buy her something to eat.
While Doyul was thinking, the caravan workers continued counting the coins.
Then...
"...Hm?"
The masked person's hand suddenly stopped.
This is... one of our headcloths.
The nearest family should be the ones around Yeongsan.
Did he meet Gwidol?
The masked figure had discovered traces of the bandits among Doyul's belongings.
Since the group was traveling disguised as a merchant caravan, they couldn't haul all their cargo into every mountain stronghold along the way.
That was why they had not stopped to check on the Yeongsan bandits during their journey north.
Apparently, something had happened in the meantime.
He definitely made contact with the Yeongsan family.
The masked figure found Doyul's calm expression strange.
If he had encountered bandits on the road...
How could he look this unconcerned?
Yes.
Something is definitely off.
I need to confirm it.
The masked figure subtly passed Hong Mun a torn piece of the bandits' headcloth and gave him a signal.
Hong Mun immediately cleared his throat.
"A-Ahem. By the way, did you encounter any trouble on your way here?"
"The road from Yeongsan to Eonyang is quite rough."
"Hm, well... it was..."
Doyul trailed off.
Something about Hong Mun's question bothered him.
How does he know we came from Yeongsan?
"...I suppose we were fortunate."
"Nothing particularly happened."
"Hmm. Is that so?"
"That's good to hear."
Hong Mun glanced toward the masked figure again.
The masked figure gave another signal.
...He came into contact with the Yeongsan family and yet claims nothing happened.
The merchant caravan's true identity was Hong Gil's bandit group.
They were currently disguised as merchants so they could travel safely to the provincial office without exposing themselves.
Strange.
There had clearly been contact with the Yeongsan bandits.
And yet Doyul calmly said nothing had happened.
Don't tell me...
Did this man rob the Yeongsan family instead?
"Ahem."
"...Is there some problem?"
At Doyul's question, Hong Mun slowly answered.
"There are far more coins than I expected."
"I don't think we can simply exchange all of this."
"I see."
"You don't have to exchange the entire amount. If you can help with as much as possible, I'll compensate you properly."
Shake, shake.
"That's not what I mean."
"If we push ourselves, exchanging the full amount isn't impossible."
"...Excuse me?"
Hong Mun grinned.
"Would you like to make a wager with me?"
"If you win, we'll exchange every coin for silver."
"...What kind of wager?"
The masked figure slowly stepped forward.
"...Anyone from your side will do."
"If they defeat this person in a fight, we'll exchange everything without taking a fee."
Doyul sensed something strange too.
They knew we came from Yeongsan even though I never told them.
And the moment I said nothing happened on the road, they suddenly suggested a wager?
While Doyul was thinking, Donggu leaned closer and whispered.
"Young Master."
"Yeah?"
"They're suspicious."
"I think so too."
"A bandit's headcloth fell out of the cart just now."
"When that masked person saw it, their expression changed."
Although the masked figure had moved discreetly, there was no escaping Donggu's eyes.
Don't tell me...
Just as the caravan had been observing Doyul's carts, Doyul began observing the caravan in return.
From the way they exchanged signals, he gathered several pieces of information.
First, that masked person is definitely the one actually in charge.
And the caravan master's name is Hong Mun.
If they reacted to the bandits' headcloth...
Doyul finished thinking.
"All right."
"Oh? I like how decisive you are."
"Who will you send out?"
Maybe... this caravan has something to do with Hong Gil.
If the bandits needed to travel safely to Daegu, disguising themselves as a merchant caravan would make perfect sense.
Doyul answered immediately.
"Donggu. Step forward."
"Your loyal servant Donggu obeys."
