Chapter 176

Episode 176

“I heard that among the captured demonic cultists, there were warriors from the Southern Mandarin.”

“yes.”

“The story goes that he also lost his senses.”

“It’s only natural that we interrogated him by injecting him with dead soul poison.”

“Can you tell the people here what you found out through the interrogation?”

“I would have already sent you a letter and told you everything I found out.”

“There are some people whose stories we haven’t heard yet.”

I stared at Joohwabaek with narrowed eyes and quickly nodded.

I didn’t know why they wanted to leave the explanation to me.

Still, I couldn’t refuse since it was something my boss told me to do.

In a calm voice, I summarized the main points and explained them simply.

Five factions competing with the goal of taking control of the Beast Palace.

The situation is that one of the factions is being supported by the Demonic Cult.

There is even an opinion that it is presumed that the faction in question dispatched palace warriors to the Demonic Cult to ensure smooth exchanges.

When everything was said, everyone in the conference room had serious expressions on their faces.

“If it is true, it is not a matter to be taken lightly.”

“If a faction supported by the Demonic Cult Lord takes hegemony over the Beast Palace, our faction will inevitably face difficulties.”

“We need to come up with measures as soon as possible.”

Starting with the Sanghyeolgeom (上血劍), an elder from Amipa, speaking, the Blue Dragon Grandmaster and the Suzaku Grandmaster spoke one after another.

Nam Hak-geom (嵐虐劍), a senior member of the communal faction who was quietly observing the atmosphere, glared at me and said as if he was throwing something.

“You did something rash.”

“......?”

“There’s no way he didn’t know that the target injected with Dead Soul Poison has a high probability of dying or turning into an idiot.”

“He was a person who would never open his mouth unless he used poison. Also, as I said just now, we took into account the possibility that they had taken poison beforehand...”

“Aren’t they all alive and well?”

“It is a result-based story. “I had no way of knowing that at the time.”

“Others may not know, but I should not have used Dead Soul Poison on the Beast Palace warrior. “If we had taken the time to cajole or torture, we could have elicited much more information.”

I met Namhakgeom’s gaze with a puzzled expression.

I couldn’t understand why he was acting so hostile.

I didn’t particularly think my method was perfect.

At the time, I thought it was the best, but depending on your perspective, there were definitely people who felt regret.

At least I didn’t handle my work so sloppily that I heard others criticize me.

‘I don’t think there’s any reason to be reprimanded. On the contrary, I wouldn’t know if I heard a compliment.’

He annihilated the assassins dispatched by the Demonic Cult Lord, interrogated those captured to extract information, and handed over their new recruits to the Taoists of the Hwasan Sect to escort them to the Maeng’s headquarters.

Although most of the personnel became idiots or died during the interrogation, some were not intentionally injected with the Dead Soul poison, leaving room for additional information to be extracted.

At this level, it would not be strange for the team to praise their contribution and give them a large reward.

However, Namhakgeom’s thoughts seemed to be a little different from mine.

“Besides, the two most important masters were not captured alive?”

“Both of them were top-level players. “They were not people you could capture just because you wanted to.”

There was no need to talk about suffering.

I had an intuition that if I got caught saying something pointless, something annoying would happen.

Namhakgeom tapped the table with his index finger and continued to push me.

“They say the number of soldiers mobilized to catch the demon cultists reached hundreds. “If we had taken advantage of the surrounding circumstances, wouldn’t it have been possible to capture us alive?”

There was no such unreasonableness.

What can’t you say with words?

How dare you criticize others for not being able to do what you yourself could not do.

‘I still have a long way to go.’

I was able to reflect on it again.

Namhakgeom turned to me and made a sinister expression.

Is this what it feels like to open your eyes and get your nose cut?

“......I am the branch president of the Sacheon branch. The branch cannot be left empty for too long. As you may know, the Sichuan branch is short on personnel due to a recent large-scale purge.”

“That’s not something someone who left the branch for a long time to attend a banquet hosted by the Namgung family would say.”

“.......”

“Don’t worry about manpower issues. “If there are insufficient personnel, we can just recruit them from the headquarters and send them there.”

The Great Blue Dragon and the Great Master Suzaku exchanged glances and moved their lips.

It seemed like they were talking to each other over the phone.

I couldn’t see any hole to get out of.

Even Joo Hwa-baek and Zhuge-hwan seemed to have already finished their discussion and were looking at each other and nodding.

“Sacheon Branch Manager Yeonseon.”

“yes. Lord Maeng.”

“Can I trust you?”

I sighed deeply in my heart.

Is there anyone in the world who can shake their head at this situation?

I wanted to scream and throw the table over, but I suppressed it with superhuman patience.

“Please leave it to me.”

“Then let’s just say it’s decided that way.”

“.......”

“You can’t just pass it off like this. “From a realistic perspective, it would be impossible to keep the Beast Palace in check with the Sichuan and Yunnan branches alone.”

Hwabaek Joo had a faint smile on his face.

The Great Blue Dragon asked with a puzzled expression.

“Do you have an idea?”

“Let’s send an official letter of cooperation to each clan and family. “Send a master to help the Sacheon branch.”

* * *

After returning to the dorm, I called Damwoon and told him what had happened in the conference room.

Damun said with an absurd expression.

“...So, the branch leader took charge of resolving the issue regarding the Beast Palace?”

“It just so happened to be like that.”

“How on earth do you come to such a conclusion?”

“That’s right.”

“So what exactly is the branch manager supposed to do?”

“Nothing is clearly set. The point is that we must prevent the Beast Palace from joining hands with the Demonic Cult and from thinking of invading the central plains.”

“.......”

“The most ideal and certain way would be to send a delegation and conclude a non-aggression pact.”

“I don’t think it’s something worth entrusting to just one branch.”

“It seems like Namhakgeom decided to screw me over.”

“If you are a Namhakgeom, isn’t he an elder from the communal faction? Why the branch manager...”

“I don’t understand that either. “I don’t remember doing anything to deserve resentment toward him.”

Why did Namhakgeom show a hostile attitude towards me?

That wasn’t the only strange thing.

A question that came to mind even when the first summons was given.

‘If you’re going to call me to discuss matters regarding the Beast Palace, wouldn’t it be right to contact me earlier while I’m staying at the Nangung Palace?’

As I was scratching the back of my head with an annoyed expression, I immediately remembered a person’s face.

A pot-bellied middle-aged man wearing a golden silk robe.

Geumhwa-gun, owner of Geumryong Sangdan.

What he said to me not long ago flashed through my mind.

[I don’t know what they were thinking in creating a rift between the Geumryong Sangdan and the Namgung Family, but they will regret it.] [

Look forward to it. The price for turning the Golden Dragon Merchant into an enemy will be high.]