Volume 6 Chapter 21 – Sixteen Imperial Capital Families (1)

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Translated by Rain

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Luoyang, the office of the Luoyang Governor.

The time when public duties were finished and leaving the office was near.

A scent said to put the mind and body at peace hovered subtly in the office.

“Massage the shoulder area a bit more strongly this time.”

“Yes, Governor, sir!”

At the words of the Luoyang Governor who lay face down on a bed prepared on one side of the office, the professional masseur began to stimulate the shoulder acupoints vigorously.

“Oh, this is good! Very good!”

The Luoyang Governor beamed with a wide smile, enjoying the joy that felt as if he had arrived in paradise.

“Do you know how difficult a path I walked to reach this position?”

The professional masseur shook his head.

“How could a lowly person like me dare know state affairs? I have only heard by hearsay that many high-ranking individuals wish to rise to the position of Luoyang Governor.”

“Yes. That is exactly it. This position is the very one that all the highest-ranking bureaucrats dream of!”

There was not a shred of exaggeration or falsehood in the Luoyang Governor’s words.

The position of Luoyang Governor was the one with the least power and least influence among all governors in the State of Zhongyuan.

But at the same time, it was the position that high-ranking bureaucrats envied the most, and the place where everyone wanted to go.

“Indeed! While a worthless fellow like me knows nothing else, I know a bit about massage, so even by just massaging like this, I know well that the great men under heaven are different starting from their natural bone structure and acupoints!”

“Kuhaha! It is obvious flattery, but for today at least, I shall accept it!”

Although it had been several months since he took office, the Luoyang Governor was still happy every single day.

The practical ruler of Luoyang was the Luoyang Sword Family, and the position of governor was almost no different from a figurehead, but that was the charm of this position.

‘It seems something happened to the construction site of the Dragon and Phoenix Gathering stadium, but the Sword Family will handle it well on their own.’

Simply leaving everything to the Luoyang Sword Family, receiving everything that could be received from the Luoyang Sword Family, and enjoying all the blessings and pleasures that could be enjoyed as a top official.

That was the reason why the competition rate for the Luoyang Governor was so fierce.

“G-Governor!”

The door of the office burst open without warning.

“What?!”

“It is urgent news!”

The Luoyang Governor was about to flare up in anger, but held back his anger upon seeing the gate official’s face, which had turned pale white.

As he lay just as he was, receiving the massage and listening to the report delivered to his ears, the color gradually drained from the Luoyang Governor’s face.

“Y-You, leave at once!”

The first-rate masseur, sent from the Reception Hall at the request of the Luoyang Sword Family’s Outer Courtyard, was kicked out in an instant.

“Is that report true?!”

“How could it be otherwise?!”

Although he said that, the Luoyang Governor knew well that there was no insane person here who would play a joke with such grave news.

He simply needed a moment of time to accept reality.

“The Eldest Young Master? The Eldest Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Family visited Mount Beimang? And he is visiting the families one by one at that…?”

Sitting on the edge of the bed in his undergarments, he trembled his legs and bit his nails.

“This is a big trouble. It is no ordinary matter. For such a thing to occur already during my term of office…”

Although the Luoyang Governor seemed somewhat lacking for a high-ranking official, he was by no means a person lacking in ability.

Was not the position of Luoyang Governor a place where one obtained the minimum qualification only by serving the Empire for that long period without leaving even a single flaw that could be seized upon in one’s career?

His mind spun rapidly.

“I do not know what on earth that person called the Eldest Young Master is thinking, but it is madness. Does he even know what he is doing?”

Using those Sixteen Families to show off his own prestige and influence?

It was an insane act.

He trembled his body violently.

“Then it is a trade! It seems there will be some massive trade! There will be a trade enough to shake this Luoyang! This is a natural disaster! A natural disaster!”

Sure enough, like a figure who climbed to the position of Luoyang Governor by possessing self-preservation abilities competing for the top ranks in the State of Zhongyuan, his grasp of the situation was amazingly fast.

“Gather all my close aides at once! No one must leave the office!”

The gate official slipped out of the office and ran as if rolling.

“But what on earth is that fellow called the Eldest Young Master thinking?”

The Luoyang Governor shook his hands and feet.

“The Sixteen Families! The Sixteen Families! Rather than visiting through formal procedures, if he stirs them up as he pleases, even before the trade, the price for that arrogance alone would transcend imagination…!”

* * *

The Luoyang Government Office.

A middle-aged man was running inside the government office like a madman.

“Step aside!”

A scribe who collided with him fell down, scattering documents, but he did not even pretend to look.

‘To think Father casually let the Sword Family’s Eldest Young Master into the house…!’

He was none other than the fourth son of the Kong family.

‘I must inform Eldest Brother in the Imperial Capital of this fact at once…!’

Whether his senile father was trying to intervene in the Luoyang Sword Family’s successor conflict, or making an unreasonable move to return as the patriarch, was none of his business.

What he had to do was simply to inform the main family in the Imperial Capital of this fact as quickly as possible.

And he was not the only one running at that time.

“Get out of the way! Everyone get out of the way!”

Other members belonging to the Sixteen Families were also running with their eyebrows fluttering to convey this fact to their main families in the Imperial Capital.

Although what the Eldest Young Master, Yeon So-hyeon, did was merely a visit without an invitation, its aftermath was gradually snowballing unimaginably.

* * *

Luoyang Mount Beimang, the Gongsun Family, lodgings for retained guests.

Dozens of butlers and maids visited the lodgings of the retained guests one by one, politely guiding the guests.

“There has been an earnest request from the master wishing that the guests refrain from going outside as of this moment, and remain indoors until further guidance is provided.”

Although it was expressed as a request using the format of guidance, it was in fact a notification.

Just like that, it became difficult to find anyone coming and going in this massive mansion estate.

* * *

The central garden.

“Oh?”

Gongsun Na-gang rolled his bright red tongue.

“Did I, Gongsun Na-gang, hear correctly? Are you saying now, Eldest Young Master, that you have prepared to pay the price?”

There was no longer the friendly title of young mentor.

The ones present there were only the former patriarch of the Gongsun family and the Eldest Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Family.

“Frankly, I, Gongsun Na-gang, do not know. Could the Eldest Young Master have regarded this Mount Beimang, these Sixteen Families, and this Gongsun family as some back hill of a neighborhood where good-natured friends gather and live? Surely not. Of course.”

The old man with a ghost-like expression poured out words like a flood, fully exposing the whites of his eyes.

“I, Gongsun Na-gang, am not well-versed in the internal affairs of the Sword Family, but shall I dare to guess?”

Pitching his words lower, then higher.

Although it sounded like he was just babbling words as he pleased, it was not babbling but the bizarre tone characteristic of eunuchs, which felt like swallowing the opponent whole.

“Since the Third Young Master’s camp of the Sword Family must be distracted with the construction site matter right now, is it the Second Young Master’s camp? Is it to deal a blow to the Second Young Master’s side, who is swooping in taking advantage of the Third Young Master being short-handed?”

Indeed, seeing through the political board of that complex Luoyang Sword Family successor conflict right from where he sat made one recall once again what kind of position this person had occupied in the past.

“Or was it because he wanted to grandly and splendidly announce his return to this Luoyang and the far-away Imperial Capital? Indeed, indeed. If he went in and out of the Sixteen Families like his own home after being confined for that long time, it would have made an excellent topic of conversation.”

His eyeballs trembled and his gaze snaked, constantly scanning the changes in Yeon So-hyeon’s expression, and whenever there was even the slightest change, a sadistic pleasure welled up deep in those eyes.

“Actually, the reason does not matter. It does not matter at all.”

He giggled to himself, laughing while spluttering spit.

“But…”

After laughing like that for a long time, this time he suddenly stiffened his complexion as if he had become a completely different person.

By that change of expression alone, a force like hard frost seemed to coldly weigh down the surroundings.

In a shape as if crawling stealthily over the table, he thrust his face toward the Eldest Young Master, Yeon So-hyeon.

His hot breath shook the long eyelashes of the Eldest Young Master, Yeon So-hyeon.

“If you thought that utilizing the Sixteen Families through the goodwill built from past connections would be tolerated at a cheap price, it is a miscalculation!”

The old man growled like a wild beast.

“No matter what the old folks of the preceding families said, what conditions they accepted, or what deals they were satisfied with, it has absolutely no relevance!”

He shook his head.

“Of course! You have thought greatly wrong. You have thought it wrong by far!”

And then, raising his hand that looked like a devil’s forepaw, he struck the table wildly.

“Now! So go ahead and present that price to this Gongsun Na-gang! Present a deal that is acceptable!”

The price for daring to visit the Gongsun family tenth!

The price for the wound inflicted on that honor of having lived a lifetime in a position second only to one person, having served the Emperor from the closest distance for a lifetime!

“But before that! Eldest Young Master, you must remember clearly!”

* * *

In front of the Gongsun family’s main gate.

The Eldest Young Master’s procession waiting in a space prepared on one side of the main road.

“Alert posture! Alert posture!”

As the Maid Captain shouted, the maids drew their swords all at once and formed a wall around the carriage.

The Guard Generals and their subordinate guard warriors sharpened their eyes, backing their horses and gripping the hilts of their swords.

Yet as if they could not even see their drawn swords, or feel the momentum of the guard warriors, the Second Guards Brigade approached with disciplined strides.

“Encirclement formation!”

And they began to surround the Eldest Young Master’s procession in layers with sharp movements.

“What is the meaning of this!”

Coming forward with a calm stride in front of the Maid Captain, who shouted in a sharp tone, was the Brigade Commander.

“A ‘request’ has come in. You should prepare to withdraw from Mount Beimang at any time once this commander orders.”

He spoke as if the dozens of blades pointing at him were invisible.

“Withdrawal? The only one who can issue orders to us is the Eldest Young Master of the Main Family!”

“Is that so?”

The commander crossed his arms.

“You should also know well that the only ones who can point swords at our Guards are rebels.”

Under the helmet, the commander’s expression was calm, but his cool gaze was chilling, and the meaning contained in those words was even colder.

* * *

The Luoyang Governor’s office.

“Governor! Governor!”

The gate official burst in, throwing the door open as if breaking it.

“What, what is it again?!”

The Luoyang Governor, who was grasping the situation and devising a way to respond along with his closest aides, jumped up.

“A messenger has arrived from Mount Beimang!”

“Do not stall, convey the messenger’s words at once!”

The scribe, who was panting as if his breath would give out due to rough breathing, took a deep breath and shouted.

“It is a ‘request’ that no one leave the office from now on, and to have all high-ranking officials of Luoyang stand by inside the government building!”

* * *

The one whom the ‘patriarch’ of the Luoyang Sword Family used to call an ‘old devil’ in the past—and none other than him—showed his teeth.

“But Eldest Young Master, you must remember clearly. If by some chance you fail to pay a price that is even slightly satisfactory…”

The old devil’s mouth parted wide, forming something like a smile.

“The Eldest Young Master will be kicked out of Mount Beimang immediately.”

Laughter burst out from his mouth without restraint.

“If that happens, far from widely announcing that you have returned, you will only buy the ridicule of the entire Luoyang!”

The Eldest Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Family walked on his own into the mouth he was holding open, so how could he not be delighted!

His words had the following meaning:

‘If you do not want to be humiliated, you will have to show enough sincerity to give up everything you have!’