Chapter 111 Triumphant Return (4)

Chapter 111 Triumphant Return (4)

When it came time to commend the top-ranked hero, the city lord rose.

He seemed intent on presenting the award personally.

But the reward that came from his mouth far exceeded my expectations.

“If there’s anything you desire, speak it.”

It was a blank check.

Excitement surged through me, causing my pupils and nostrils to dilate unconsciously, while dopamine began flooding my brain.

Ding ding ding…

Just then, the sound of a jackpot hitting on a casino slot machine echoed like an auditory hallucination.

‘Wait, this?’

I have to choose wisely, right?

Realizing it was a tougher problem than expected, my excitement instantly deflated.

Asking for something absurdly huge and getting rejected would be worse than not asking at all, but asking for something small would leave me regretting it for the rest of my life.

‘Hmm… Should I just ask for about ten million?’

In modern terms, that’s worth about ten billion won.

I quickly ran the numbers in my head, but it still seemed impossible.

‘Is that too much?’

No matter how great my contribution, they wouldn’t just hand over a hundred billion so easily.

‘Should I ask for treasure instead of money, even if it’s less liquid? Or pick something based on what others are asking for?’

Just as I was agonizing over this…

“I’d like the iron ore mine west of Guryong Mountain.”

Kwangcheol Daeju spoke with the expression of a gym rat discovering a brand-new, fully equipped fitness center.

He had chosen a reward just like himself.

‘The iron ore mine west of Guryong Mountain? That’s a mine with vast reserves and excellent mining profitability. Even conservatively, it’s worth at least five thousand nyang.’

In other words, if he accepted that, he could demand ten thousand nyang without hesitation.

Nod.

“So be it.”

Seeing the lord readily agree, I silently repeated the words ‘ten thousand nyang’ in my mind.

Then came Inhyeon Jin’s request.

“I wish to distribute rice so that no one starves to death this winter.”

“In the name of Myeongryongdang, I shall release twenty thousand bushels. Are you satisfied?”

Nod.

Once again, the castle lord readily agreed.

‘Twenty thousand bushels of rice is roughly ten thousand nyang.’

If things go well.

I should be able to leave Guryongseong soon.

Thump thump.

My heart began to race once more.

But then, someone broke the mood…

“Bring me some wine.”

It was none other than North Palace Baek.

“……?”

“……?”

“……?”

It was such an absurd statement that it was only natural for the three of us standing there to stare at him with eyes full of question marks.

The castle lord was equally bewildered.

The man who never showed any change in expression even frowned.

“I’m rewarding merit.”

“I don’t need that. I just want my drink.”

“Are you out of your mind?”

“As you can see, I’m perfectly sane.”

“Looks like you didn’t get beaten enough last time.”

“Don’t you remember your nose bleeding, Lord Seongju?”

“And you were bedridden for half a month.”

“……I went easy on you because he was Father’s friend.”

“And you think I’ll go easy on you just ’cause you’re some bastard’s son?”

Good heavens.

Arguing with the Lord right in front of nearly a hundred people?

I’d suspected Bukgung Baek was mad for a while now, but this? This isn’t just mad—it’s beyond it.

Just as everyone stood there with their jaws hanging open, the Lord made a unilateral decision.

“You get no reward. Instead, I’ll give it all to this guy.”

“Fine.”

He pointed directly at me and declared he’d give me all the rewards.

‘What kind of windfall is this?’

A double reward event?

This was the jackpot of jackpots.

I looked at North Palace Baek with gratitude.

‘While I remain in Guryongseong, I will serve you as my benefactor.’

Thanks to him, I could become rich in an instant.

Then.

“Alright, what do you want?”

The castle lord asked.

Thump, thump.

My heart raced.

Taking a small breath, I spoke as confidently as possible.

“Hehe, if you’d just give me money, I’d be overjoyed.”

“Money? Alright, how much do you need?”

“Well, I think around twenty thousand nyang should be sufficient…”

“That’s a hefty sum.”

“Huh, if that’s too difficult, then eighteen thousand nyang… No, fifteen thousand nyang would be fine too.”

He grinned.

The castle lord, smiling slightly, looked at Mun Sang.

“What do you think?”

Mun Sang replied in a businesslike tone.

“It is a large sum, but considering Captain Jin’s merits, it is certainly worth giving. However, since rewarding merit is meant to foster a sense of belonging among the martial artists of Guryongseong, paying solely in money would diminish its meaning. Therefore, I believe it would be more appropriate to pay with something else of equal value.”

The castle lord nodded slightly and said.

“Is that so? What else would you suggest?”

It felt like hitting a roadblock just as things were going smoothly.

‘This would be a total waste…’

But I wasn’t about to give up here.

If it wasn’t money, I could just get something more valuable instead.

As I spun my left and right brain like a dual-core CPU, a conversation with Jihwa-ran came to mind.

‘Ah! Right. If Lord Seongju asks what you want, tell him you want land.‘

Jik Hwaran came from the Jikryongdang.

She must have known something when she said that.

‘I trust you, Hwaran.’

Gulp.

“Th-then I want land.”

I swallowed dryly as I spoke, and Lord Seongju nodded.

“Land, you say…”

Moon-sang interjected at the lord’s mutter.

“As it happens, there is a suitable place. It’s distant, but it’s land that once approached a value of ten thousand nyang.”

He chuckled softly.

The lord smiled faintly and said.

“This fellow is quite sharp. Give him that land.”

“Understood.”

Shiver shiver shiver.

Hearing their conversation, he couldn’t control his trembling body.

‘Ten… ten thousand nyang!’

He would have been grateful for even ten thousand nyang, but ten thousand nyang!

The staggering sum left him utterly dumbfounded.

Thump.

Unable to bear seeing him standing there in a daze, Baek of the North Palace tapped him on the back.

Only then did I snap back to reality, quickly kneeling and bowing my head low.

“This favor! I am utterly overwhelmed and shall serve you faithfully for the rest of my life!”

“…….”

Long live the Red Flower!

After all the procedures for rewarding merit were completed, on the way back to the Oedang headquarters.

I rushed to the Manmul Hall to receive the land deed.

‘I must verify where this land is.’

And after examining the deed, I couldn’t help but be astonished.

‘What is this?’

Because the location listed on the document was Hanjung, which had been a battlefield until recently.

I read the deed over and over to understand the exact location, but it only contained vague descriptions.

This was the limitation of the martial arts world, which lacked the concept of a cadastral map.

“Hmm.”

This wouldn’t do.

He’d have to go see it for himself.

* * *

“Hmm… You’re asking for leave?”

When he met the deputy leader Garip after a long time and requested leave, the man looked troubled.

“Is that not possible?”

“Of course not!”

He pointed at his perfectly normal face and frowned.

“Look at this haggard face! Do you have any idea how busy I’ve been while you were gone? I thought things would finally calm down now that the war’s over, and you want to take leave? Isn’t that a bit much?”

His argument was compelling enough that I couldn’t easily counter it.

Garipp’s role in the outer division was managing the work schedules and commanding the teams, excluding the special operations unit.

My job was to command the special operations unit, which handled disputes among martial artists and violent crimes, and to deploy and arrest criminals if unexpected emergencies arose.

In other words, during my absence, Garipp had handled his own duties plus these two additional tasks simultaneously.

On top of that, he must have had to deal with the backlog of paperwork, so his daily life must have been quite hectic.

Of course.

‘Even so, he only worked six hours a day…’

Even so, it was clear he only worked half the hours others did.

Still, since he had the justification, it was hard to easily demand a vacation.

‘Hmm… I guess I have no choice.’

Finally, he resolved to bring out the secret weapon he’d prepared.

“…It’s been ages since I saw the faces of my bear-like wife and fox-like kids at home… Huh? What’s that?”

“Hmm, nothing much. I just brought ‘that’ thing Young Master Cheong made. You must have had a hard time while I was away.”

“You mean… that?”

“You know what I mean, right? That thing that’s incredibly useful at night. Hm hm, it’s rather embarrassing to describe this with words. Ah! In the marketplace, they call our Miss Qing the Qinghua Goddess.”

“No, no way! You mean the legendary ‘Nine Nights of Exhaustion’ that supposedly makes you do it nine times?”

That was it.

What I brought was a kind of aphrodisiac made by the Qingxiao Clinic.

Originally, it was a blood-nourishing pill created for patients with blood deficiency, but during treatment, a remarkable side effect was discovered: it caused vitality to surge. Now, it’s a pill used for tonic and aphrodisiac purposes.

I had secretly stolen it last night from the Qingxiao Clinic’s physician.

‘Getting scolded can wait.’

Getting leave right now was what mattered.

“Hehe, that’s right. It’s incredibly labor-intensive to make, so we can barely produce five pills a month.”

That was true.

The ingredients were utterly ordinary, but the process was so arduous that mass production was impossible.

If it were possible, the cleaning shop would be sitting on a pile of money by now.

“Ooh! Such a precious thing! With this, I can really show off to the wife. Ah, though I’m quite capable even now, of course.”

Garip reached out, beaming with delight, and I placed what I’d brought into his hand.

“Huh? But why only one? I thought I saw at least ten…”

“Ahem, well, as you know, it’s incredibly hard to come by. The rest is for people I need to share it with.”

“Whoa! Hey, you shouldn’t…”

“Well then, I’ll be going. Since I didn’t get leave, I should go out and work, shouldn’t I?”

Just as I slowly stood up, a frantic voice called out.

“Ah, got it! I’ll give you leave! How about three days?”

“……”

“Seven days! I’ll give you seven days!”

“……”

“Half a month! No more than that!”

“…….”

“Gah!”

* * *

“Trying to show off with just unpaid leave…….”

Having finally succeeded in purchasing a month’s unpaid leave with ten non-battle points, I headed straight home.

“Oh? You’re back early?”

“Yeah, I have to go to Hanjung…….”

“Huh? All the way to Hanjung suddenly?”

I told Myaehyang about today’s merit assessment.

“Wow! Really?”

“I told you. That’s why I want to check it out myself. They say it’s worth ten thousand nyang, I have to see it with my own eyes.”

“Then I’ll come with you.”

“You too? Why?”

“You don’t know much about land, right? You’re supposed to have an expert with you for this kind of thing.”

“……You’re the expert?”

“Don’t you remember? I stepped in and sold the Black Plague House for two and a half times more than it was worth.”

“That was because Lord North Palace bought it for you…….”

“Huh! You don’t trust me?”

“……Fine, whatever.”

Well, it’s true she knows more than I do.

When I allowed her to join, Myohyang got excited.

“Really? So I’m coming along?”

But besides Myohyang, there was someone else who wanted to join this trip.

“What if you steal the pills?!”

“Ugh!”

“I’ll never live to see tomorrow! Do you even know how hard it was to make those?!”

“…Sorry.”

“If you’re sorry, take me along too.”

It was Cheongso.

“What about the clinic?”

“Does that mean I’m only supposed to work? I’ll just take a little break this time, that’s all.”

“No. I can’t allow it.”

“Are you discriminating against me now?”

“The clinic’s income will drop.”

“Hmph, would someone like that steal pills in the middle of the night?”

Faced with his firm stance, the cleaning shop owner bit her lip tightly and said.

“Fine. Then if you must go, at least make the stolen pills before you leave. Otherwise, I’ll suspend operations indefinitely.”

“……”

In the end, he had no choice but to allow the janitor to join, having played the ultimate card of shutting down operations.

‘Ah… This is going to be exhausting…’