Surviving as the Villainess’s Servant in a Martial Arts Novel Chapter 129

Chapter 129

 

Daoist Woonhak spoke with a slightly displeased expression.

“A gambling den… you mean?”

Ayoung nodded and continued.

“Yes. Gambling dens were originally the main source of income for the Pleasure Pavilion. They operated several gambling dens in the Yeongpa and Taeju regions and accumulated money that way.”

“I see.”

“Even after their source of income changed to the Yeollak Pills, they continued operating gambling dens. It’s probably partly to avoid people’s attention, but their main purpose is, of course…”

Daoist Woonhak picked up her words.

“To secretly trade Yeollak Pills there.”

“That’s right.”

Ayoung paused to catch her breath before continuing.

“I said earlier that we discovered signs that they were trading Yeollak Pills, didn’t I? We discovered that several wealthy merchant guilds from around this area were coming and going from those gambling dens. Even though they aren’t particularly high-class gambling dens.”

“……”

“If that’s the case, there can only be one reason. They’re there to obtain their premium product… the Yeollak Pills. So there’s a chance we can get the Yeollak Pills if we go there.”

Ayoung pleaded earnestly.

“Please, obtain the Yeollak Pills. We’ll prepare all the information and funds you need.”

“……”

Daoist Woonhak was silent for a moment. Perhaps because he was a Daoist, the idea of infiltrating a gambling den seemed rather distasteful to him.

But since they couldn’t back out now, he soon nodded.

“Yes, understood.”

Ayoung thanked us several times and immediately prepared the information and funds we would need to infiltrate the gambling den.

We discussed things for a while inside the tent. When we spread out the map, there were dots marked all over Yeongpa and Taeju, just as Ayoung had said. I had been prepared for this ever since she said “several places,” but there were far more than one or two gambling dens.

At the same time, it didn’t seem like every gambling den would be dealing in Yeollak Pills, and it would take too much time for all seven of us to go around together and check them one by one.

I spoke immediately.

“It’d be better to split up.”

“Why?”

Zhuge Ye widened his eyes, apparently assuming we would obviously all go together. I clicked my tongue and spoke in a reproachful tone.

“Why do you think? Look at these dots. If we slowly check them one by one, it’ll take forever, won’t it? Wouldn’t it be better for you guys to finish quickly and go back? At least you’ll get scolded less.”

They didn’t say anything, but they seemed to agree.

“Our goal isn’t to raid the Pleasure Pavilion. It’s to infiltrate them. So it’s more advantageous to move in small numbers rather than in a large group.”

“……”

“And our faces have already been exposed to the Pleasure Pavilion once, haven’t they? I might be fine, but you guys will be recognized immediately, won’t you? Who wouldn’t recognize seven handsome men and beautiful women traveling together? Do you really want to get caught right away?”

“That certainly makes sense.”

Daoist Woonhak nodded with a thoughtful expression. I smiled brightly and continued.

“See? I told you it’d be better to split up. But going alone would be dangerous, so let’s pair up in groups of two or three.”

“Sounds good.”

“When we enter the gambling dens, it’d be best to pretend we’re ordinary gamblers. We aren’t going there after making an appointment like the other merchant guilds, nor are we going there on someone’s recommendation. So we’ll have to approach them as naturally as possible and ask.”

“Yes.”

“While gambling and getting friendly with them, wouldn’t it be best to casually bring up the subject of drugs? Then the key will be how naturally we can act, but…”

I stopped for a moment and looked around at everyone, their faces tense.

Then I raised my hand and asked,

“All right, has anyone here ever gambled before?”

 

***

 

‘So this is how it ends up.’

I glanced at the person beside me. I saw a smooth face that looked as though it had been carved from a sculpture.

After I had asked them that question, they looked at me with the utmost seriousness in response to my serious question.

And… No one raised their hand.

Not a single person.

‘Seriously?’

I was so dumbfounded that I couldn’t even speak. No, shouldn’t they at least have tried it once? If you get lucky, you can hit it big in one shot. Wasn’t that something to be curious about?

I had joined a gambling table a few times myself because of that… and then I realized.

‘Right. These people are promising young talents of the Orthodox Sect.’

There were even three wealthy young masters here. People who already had more money than they could ever spend, so they had no need to win more…

‘This is why rich bastards are…!’

“Ah, I see. So you’ve lived clean lives until now! You’re all really amazing. Amazing… Ah, what am I going to do with these spotless, upright bookworms…?”

“Are you saying having gambled is something to be proud of?!”

“Shh, Brother Paeng. Keep your voice down!”

And so, the groups were arranged as follows.

Zhuge Ye and Paeng Mirang in one group.

Daoist Woonhak, Tang Hi, and Ju Jae-hwa in another.

And lastly…

“Master Li, you know we have to disguise ourselves before going, right?”

Liyeon and I ended up as one group.

There was a reasonable reason for every group.

First of all, to properly coax the people inside a gambling den, we needed people who were good with words. People like Zhuge Ye and Tang Hi, for example.

I was a little worried about Zhuge Ye and Paeng Mirang’s group, but putting Daoist Woonhak with those two seemed like a waste of manpower. It seemed safer to put him with Tang Hi and Ju Jae-hwa instead.

Then what about Monk Heojae?

…I had left him with the Sacred Flame Cult. Since he couldn’t fight anyway, he could at least serve as a messenger.

‘This should be right, shouldn’t it?’

And so, Liyeon and I were riding horses toward a gambling den in the direction of Taeju.

At first, I had considered putting Daoist Woonhak and Liyeon together and going alone myself, but honestly, their combination wasn’t particularly good either. Daoist Woonhak was too honest, while Liyeon was seriously lacking in conversation skills.

In the end, I had to take this shy handsome man with me. Under normal circumstances, I would have been delighted to have some eye candy, but right now, I was simply at a loss.

‘Argh, how am I supposed to hide that face?’

Because Liyeon was just too exceptionally handsome!

If this had been a different mission, I might have used that beauty to set up some sort of honey trap, but this time, we had to avoid attracting attention as much as possible. Our goal was simply to quietly obtain the Yeollak Pills.

So how was I supposed to disguise that?

I swallowed a sigh and continued riding. It wasn’t until we arrived at a village a suitable distance from the gambling den that I turned the horse around and headed for an inn.

Perhaps because I had already told him that we needed to disguise ourselves, Liyeon followed me without saying much.

I rented a room and first sent Liyeon upstairs. Then I went around the village shops, bought the things we needed, and returned to the room.

Liyeon was sitting there demurely.

‘He’s totally a young lady. Completely.’

I gave a small chuckle and immediately asked,

“All right, Master Li. I’m going to ask you something, so answer carefully. That white outfit… do you have to wear it no matter the circumstances?”

Liyeon thought for a moment before slowly answering.

“…I should normally be wearing it, but if necessary, I don’t mind wearing other clothes.”

“Perfect.”

I immediately pulled out a set of ragged clothes.

“Here. Put these on.”

“……”

Liyeon stared at the clothes I held out for a moment. The brownish clothes were stained here and there, apparently with something. Above all… They smelled.

A very musty smell.

I pushed the clothes toward him as he stood frozen.

“What? Don’t you like them? But there’s nothing we can do. Do you know how much trouble I went through going around several commoners’ houses to find clothes that fit you? And on top of that, I even went through the trouble of dirtying them myself.”

“……”

“Hurry up and put them on. Come on!”

At my urging, Liyeon reluctantly accepted the clothes.

He took them behind the folding screen. If he thought of me as a man, he could have changed right here, but perhaps he didn’t like showing his body to others, so he carefully began changing behind the screen.

For a while, I could hear the rustling of clothes. Just listening to the sound somehow made me feel strange.

Fortunately, Liyeon soon emerged from behind the folding screen.

I turned around expectantly.

And said,

“Damn…”

What the hell was with that face?

The beauty who had looked noble in his white clothes had put on old, filthy clothes and somehow become an even more pitiful, tragic-looking beauty with a story behind him.

“No… No! This won’t do. Take the clothes off again. No, come over here and sit down. Let me see. We have to do something about that face first.”

Although I received some rather displeased looks from him as I kept telling him to do this and that, Liyeon nevertheless obediently went over to the chair I pointed at and sat down.

Come to think of it, he was surprisingly obedient.

I spread flour, glue, ash, and other things across the table and looked at him.

His dazzling face was right in front of me, but there was something else that caught my attention most.

The white cloth covering his eyes.

“Then… take off that blindfold first.”

“……”

“No, I know you don’t like it. But from now on, I’m going to put flour dough over your face to make a fake face. I can’t put dough over the cloth, can I?”

“……”

“…Can you really not see? Ah, I thought you weren’t, but are you actually blind…?”

“No.”

Though he answered coldly, Liyeon seemed hesitant inside. He placed his hands on his knees and pondered for a moment before suddenly asking me,

“Your internal energy is quite deep, isn’t it?”

“Huh? Well… moderately?”

Liyeon nodded.

Then he raised his hand and untied the knot at the back of his head.

Plop.

The cloth fell.