Chapter 72: A Very Uncomfortable Relationship (1)

Patrick, who had left Hasein Territory after just one night of stay, rode his horse toward Filat Village.

He passed by the outskirts of Marlen Territory and continued northward.

It was a distance of roughly 40 kilometers.

Continuing his ride without rest, Patrick only arrived at the village after sunset, when darkness had already fallen.

The men guarding the entrance recognized him and greeted him.

“Have you returned!”

“You’ve worked hard.”

“You may go in.”

Even at such a late hour, the thick log gate opened to let Patrick through.

As he entered the village, his brow furrowed when he spotted something in the distance.

It was because a familiar carriage was parked in the village square.

“……”

Sensing a bad omen, Patrick tried to take a detour away from that direction.

But he was forced to stop when a voice called out from over there.

“Patrick? Is that really Patrick!”

The source of that ominous feeling was none other than the traveling merchant, Fordman.

“Ahem…!”

Fordman pushed through the crowd of customers and approached Patrick.

“It’s me! It’s me! The traveling merchant Fordman!”

When Patrick tried to ignore him and walk past, Fordman hurriedly blocked his way.

“Didn’t you hear me calling? Ah! Since you came into the village so late, you must be tired. I also came in not long ago, and it was quite exhausting. But you know, I can’t not sell the goods people need. So here I am, still doing business.”

“……”

Hearing Fordman’s chatter for the first time in a long while made Patrick’s fists tremble slightly.

He wanted nothing more than to shut the man’s mouth right then and there.

But since he couldn’t treat him rudely, he endured with effort.

“I’ve just returned from a rather urgent journey, so I’m quite tired. Let’s talk tomorrow instead.”

“Ah! My apologies. There I go again, rambling on about myself. I keep telling myself to fix that habit, but it’s not easy, you know. Habits like these don’t change overnight. Don’t you agree?”

In an instant, Fordman’s chatter resumed, pushing Patrick’s patience to its limits.

“Hm… I’ll be taking my leave now.”

Before he knew it, Patrick had arrived at his temporary lodging.

He tied his horse in the stable behind the house and tried to hurry inside.

“When you’re tired, the honey mead I brought from Dolianche Territory works wonders. How about a glass? Just one sip, and the fatigue melts away—!”

Bang—!

At that very moment, Patrick quickly entered the house and slammed the door shut.

He simply couldn’t get along with someone like Fordman, who could turn one word into a hundred.

“Tsk… He must really be exhausted. Well, I can talk to him tomorrow.”

Hearing Fordman’s muttering outside the door, Patrick let out a deep sigh from the other side.

“If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve just crossed the Clamen Mountains straight away. I’ll have to leave before sunrise.”

He had originally planned to take the funds gathered in Filat Village with him.

But since Fordman had come, he would be the one to transport them by carriage.

Putting off any further thoughts for later, Patrick went straight to bed.

For some reason, meeting Fordman for just a brief moment felt even more exhausting than dealing with the affairs in Hasein.

It was dawn the next morning, before the sun had risen.

Having woken up early and finished his preparations, Patrick straightened his clothes neatly and stepped out of the house.

He grabbed the reins of his horse tightly and quietly walked toward the village entrance.

“Are you heading out at this hour?”

The men on night watch were startled to see him appear.

“I need to cross over to Kanas quickly. Could you open the gate for me?”

“Understood. We’ll open it right away.”

Creak!

The thick log gate lowered with a heavy sound.

Passing through, Patrick mounted his horse and bowed slightly to the guards.

“Thank you. I’ll see you next time.”

He flicked the reins, and the horse galloped forward.

But it didn’t last long.

As he headed toward the Deoban Tree—the landmark that marked the secret passage through the Clamen Mountains—he was forced to stop.

“Whoa―!”

At his command, the horse came to an abrupt halt.

A familiar carriage was slowly moving ahead on the road.

When his horse stopped, the coachman popped his head out from the driver’s seat.

“Oh? Patrick, you’re leaving early too?”

“Fordman… why are you… at this hour?”

“I just remembered I had urgent business in Theron Village. I thought I’d better stop there first so I can reach the lord’s castle on time.”

“I… I see.”

There was no way around it—he would have to travel with Fordman all the way across the Clamen Mountains.

From that moment on, Fordman’s chatter burst forth like a dam that had finally broken.

“This time I went through Praizen and the Clarman Territory and all the way to the Prios Kingdom, and they were just throwing money around. There were so many people who collected expensive Chers and Jagir — changing the design and materials — as a hobby.”

“…….”

They were heading toward the cave after passing the Deoban Tree.

Even though Patrick didn’t really answer, Fordman kept up his inexplicable chatter.

“Also, on the way back I stopped by the Edina Federation — their recipes were absolutely something else. But, unlike the royal capital, they seemed to lack any real culinary progress; every time I went there people were in an uproar asking if there weren’t any new recipes.”

While that topic was being discussed, something suddenly occurred to Patrick.

“Speaking of merchandise, did you know about Hasein’s situation? About the Alqurey Trading Company making and selling goods without permission.”

“I knew about that.”

Fordman seemed to downplay it.

That made Patrick flare up.

“If you knew, why didn’t you report it to Master or to me sooner?”

“It involved the lord himself. You know the prince’s situation perfectly well; I left it alone because I was afraid that if I meddled the matter would reach the palace.”

It was a very cold and precise answer.

Patrick showed a slightly surprised expression at that reply.

“Did you really weigh that possibility and leave it alone?”

“Do you think I’d leave those bastards alone if I could chew them up and spit them out? Honestly, since the prince must hide a few things, there are surprisingly many details he has to be mindful of when doing business.”

Despite the coldness, his loquaciousness did not disappear.

“You’re stricter than you look.”

“There’s a saying: if you’re going to do proper business, put on a mask first. That way you can sell goods to customers with a cheerful face.”

Fordman’s business philosophy was firmly set.

Seeing that, Patrick understood why Raion had kept Fordman under his command.

“I understand what you mean.”

By then the carriage had already reached the cave.

Before entering, they lit torches and brightened the surroundings.

Even after the carriage entered the cave, Fordman’s chatter showed no sign of stopping.

Patrick had considered knocking Fordman out roughly thirty times before they passed through the long tunnel.

But he endured it, savoring the victory of his own patience.

At last they exited the cave and came to the fork where the road split toward Theron Village and the lord’s castle.

‘That’s it!’

After passing through the cave the sun had already risen.

“I’ll be going to Theron from here. It was short, but I had a really enjoyable time!”

“Ah……. yes.”

“Then when you finish your errands in the village and head to the lord’s castle, finish telling me the rest of the story you couldn’t tell me now.”

As soon as Patrick heard that, he lashed his horse hard at the bit.

“Giddy-up!”

He felt he would go mad if he stayed there a moment longer.

In the end Patrick rode off toward the lord’s castle.

Watching him leave, Fordman scratched the side of his head.

“So hurried. You must really be worried about the prince. And yet you even matched your speed to my carriage on purpose……”

Fordman muttered on in a complete misunderstanding.

“When I see you at the lord’s castle I’ll have to hear more about your travels to other kingdoms.”

It sounded like a resolve born of genuine sincerity.

At the Kanas lord’s castle, Raion was busy with another day’s work.

He was currently conducting a dangerous experiment in the annex workshop with Dike.

“Is this going to work like this?”

Before them lay earth, sulfur, and the ashes of wood.

They planned to combine them in small proportions to produce the black powder used in Joseon — the past of the Republic of Korea.

To be honest, even Raion had been reluctant about working with explosives.

But it was a component of weapons that would be absolutely necessary for the wars that would occur later.

When the combination was finished, Dike ignited a small portion of the powder.

Sssssss!

Both of them immediately ran to the separately prepared bunker and hid.

After a moment the flame followed the thin line of powder and reached the container holding the black powder.

Boom―!

The powder exploded with a loud sound, shattering the container.

The current workshop had been reinforced specifically for powder experiments, so it was safe.

“Phew∼! That sound was no joke.”

“Prince! This should count as a success!”

Meanwhile Dike seemed to care more about the experiment’s success than the noise.

“Yes, I think this should be fine.”

This experiment had been repeated hundreds of times over several days until it succeeded.

Of course, Raion had relied heavily on his abilities during the process.

‘I never imagined one of those floating Tips would include something like this.’

It had happened after he returned from hunting in Sellios.

While he had been pondering black powder, a Tip notification had popped up and guided him on how to make powder using materials from the Phalon Continent.

[Tip: The components of gunpowder are carbon, sulfur, and potassium nitrate. Sulfur and potassium nitrate can be obtained near the Clamen Mountain Range, and carbon can be supplied by belladna wood.]

Thanks to that, Raion had been able to create early black powder by combining his military knowledge with Decomposition and Synthesis.

Dike had been obsessed with the experiment for days after seeing the black powder sample Raion had made.

‘As expected, Dike is a genius when it comes to technology. If he had been born in the Republic of Korea, he would have been a sought-after technician or perhaps the founder of a major tech company.’

While Raion admired him inwardly, Dike checked the condition of the powder they had experimented with.

He had found the correct proportional amounts using only the sample and the basic manufacturing method.

“If this powder’s quantity were large enough, it would have tremendous destructive power. It could bring down a fortress, don’t you think?”

Perhaps driven by extreme curiosity, Dike made a fearsome remark without a second thought.

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