As Sister Seol had said, Geum Gi-ryung’s letter was just as expected.

The ship was already complete, and the letter was to decide on a delivery location.

“Fufu. I’ll write a reply immediately and send it out.”

“So-ryong, you’re really excited.”

“How could I not be? It’s basically like we’re getting a new house. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight from the excitement.”

The shell being fitted onto the Geumdo was essentially armor.

A venomous beast wearing armor?

Wasn’t this basically like a transforming robot?

What kind of man could possibly resist that?

In my past life, there were cartoons where dinosaurs or animals wore armor and had weapons attached. That kind of thing wasn’t made for nothing.

It existed because there was demand.

Seeing the thrilled expression on my face, Sister Seol chuckled.

“So-ryong, turns out you like more than just venomous creatures?”

“There are plenty of things I like aside from venomous beasts. For example... Hwa-eun.”

“Hwa-eun must be lucky then, being loved by my little brother.”

“Unnie, stop...”

“Oh no, Hwa-eun’s running away.”

Embarrassed, Hwa-eun disappeared off to the side, only to return with brush and paper.

Was it because I had just said she was one of the things I liked most?

Sister Seol had said she was running away, but it looked like she had just gone to fetch the writing supplies.

“So-ryong, here you go. Brush, ink, paper.”

“Thank you, Hwa-eun.”

I was about to write the letter and ask where would be good to meet.

‘Wait, if I send this letter by courier...’

But once I finished writing, I realized that just deciding on a meeting place would take more than half a month.

At least two or three exchanges of letters would be needed just to confirm the meeting point, and even if I used a courier service familiar with martial artists, it would still take far too long.

It would be like sending letters all the way from here to Taean and back.

“I don’t think the letter will be fast enough, so I’ll go in person with Yeondu. If we fly, we can arrive within the day.”

“You’re going now? You just got back.”

When I said I’d go right away, Sister Seol gave Hwa-eun a look like, “You’re really going to let him go again?”

There had always been an unspoken ban on me traveling alone.

But this time, I wasn’t going to fight or hunt venomous creatures, so there was enough justification.

And with Hwa-eun much gentler after what had happened last time, I looked at her with hopeful eyes.

She adjusted my clothes and said,

“Be careful, okay? Let us know through the group chat if anything happens.”

“Yes, Hwa-eun.”

“You’re really letting him go...?”

Maybe it was the effect of me saying she was something I liked most earlier.

Though Sister Seol looked incredulous, Hwa-eun even changed me into a fresh set of clothes and pulled me quietly into the kitchen to send me off with a kiss.

“This time, don’t make me worry, okay? Chup.”

“Of—of course!”

‘Wow.’

Now that I had her blessing, I explained things to the kids, wrapped Hyang-i around my body, and shot off with Yeondu toward Taean.

Geum Gi-ryung usually stayed at his inn in Taean.

We’d left around noon and arrived just as the sun was setting.

Approaching the window of Geum Gi-ryung’s residence, I saw him inside by the desk, diligently organizing papers by lamplight.

As expected of a model merchant.

Smiling, I called out to him.

“Brother Geum.”

“Hm?”

We’d agreed to be friends when we parted, so I addressed him using the term younger friends use for their older friends.

He glanced toward the door, then shook his head as if he thought he’d misheard.

Suppressing laughter, I called again.

“Over here. Here.”

“Wha—! Little Brother So!”

He looked at the door again at first, but after my repeated calling, he turned to the window and stood up in shock.

Approaching the window, he quickly stepped back and said,

“Y-you startled me. Please, come in, So-ryong.”

After entering, he glanced once outside and then warmly grabbed both my hands.

“Coming without notice... Still, it’s great to see you.”

“I was about to write a reply to your letter, but realized that with mail, it would take far too long to arrange a meeting. So I came directly.”

“Ah, yes, you’re absolutely right. In any case, I’m glad you came.”

“So, where’s the ship?”

“Ah, the ship departed from the shipyard and is on its way here—”

-Growl~

Just then, my stomach betrayed me.

Geum Gi-ryung looked down at it mid-sentence.

“Haha... I haven’t eaten yet.”

“Then let’s eat while we talk.”

Scratching my head in embarrassment, he prepared a late dinner for us.

Thus began our conversation over food.

He explained that the ship was already complete, had left the shipyard, and would arrive here in a day or two.

“...It’s on the way. Ah, and just in case, I made it slightly larger than the last measurements.”

“Oh, better too big than too small. If it doesn’t fit, that’d be a problem.”

He even took care to make it a ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ little larger, just in case it didn’t suit Geumdo’s size.

Picking up another dumpling, I asked about the delivery location.

“These dumplings are great. Ah—where should we receive the ship? It needs to be somewhere quiet. We have to clean off the dirt on Geumdo’s back too.”

Since I intended to wash away all the dirt and moss that had built up on Geumdo’s back, I needed a quiet place.

Even if we were working at night, it had to be somewhere secluded.

Geum Gi-ryung answered like he’d already prepared for it.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

“I’ve thought of somewhere. There’s a small lake covered in reeds a bit away from here toward Beijing. Nobody goes there. It’s far from any village. And if we block the entrance with a boat, no other boats can come in. It’s perfect.”

He was thorough, as expected of a merchant.

Smiling, we decided on a time and location.

“Then let’s go with that place. Shall we meet there ten days from now, at dawn?”

“Sounds good. Let’s do that.”

Hyung’s group would probably return in about five days.

I returned, waited a few days, and soon the Five Dragons and Three Peaks regrouped. A few days later, it was finally time to receive the ship.

-Screeech. Screeech.

A misty dawn.

Through the haze of fog, something massive approached the lake from the direction of Taean.

“So-ryong, something is coming up ahead.”

Soon, a single ship emerged from the mist.

It was Geum Gi-ryung’s ship, and behind it, a much larger vessel was being towed with ropes.

“Ooooooh!”

An exclamation burst out the moment I saw the ship.

And for good reason—it was absolutely magnificent.

The two-tiered deck had a space perfectly prepared to carry Cheongwol, and instead of railings, both sides had ropes strung up to make it easy for the children to climb aboard.

Four ships entered the lake, and Geum Gi-ryung’s ship blocked the entrance leading to the river.

The work immediately began.

First up was giving Geumdo a bath.

The plan was to wash Geumdo thoroughly and then have him dive beneath the ship.

We dismantled the bamboo hut and poles covering Geumdo and tied them to our ship, then swept the sand piled on Geumdo’s back down to the lakebed.

—Swish, swish.

As the sand disappeared and I scrubbed Geumdo’s back with a brush, a gleaming golden hue began to emerge.

Once I cleaned his head, tail, and the crevices of his body, Geumdo wiggled in delight and bubbled the water around him.

—Bubblblblbl.

“Feels good, huh?”

All of our ship’s crew, the Five Dragons Three Peaks, and even the kids gathered to help brush off the dirt and scrape away the moss. As the fog lifted and the sun came out, Geumdo’s body sparkled with golden light.

“Oooh, so this is the true form of the Thousand-Year Golden Turtle!”

“Agreed.”

“It’s beautiful.”

Once the creature that had looked like a filthy mess was cleaned up, its true form was revealed.

A massive golden statue.

It was awe-inspiring.

Since it was drying its shell for the first time in decades, most of its carapace was exposed, and it truly looked like a giant sculpture.

The one flaw was the patched part of its shell.

A copper plate had been hammered into place and sealed with glue and lacquer to cover the damaged area—a slight blemish on an otherwise perfect form.

Still, that would improve with time.

After letting it dry for a couple of hours,

It was time to attach the ship.

“I doubt there’ll be any issue with a shallow dive, so let’s try matching it to his back.”

—Bubblblbl.

We double-checked to make sure no water could leak into the patched part, then instructed Geumdo to swim under the ship.

Geumdo dove smoothly underwater, and the ship aligned with the shape of Geumdo’s shell and head, rising slightly with a soft lift.

—Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!

The sound of wood being hammered followed.

We had prepared wooden clamps around the ship’s hull to latch onto Geumdo’s shell, and now the craftsmen who came with the ship were securing them one by one.

—Thunk!

When the last clamp was in place, Cho coiled around the ship and confirmed the fit around Geumdo’s shell. I looked at the eye socket-shaped cutout in the ship’s bow designed for his head, and saw Geumdo’s eyes gleaming through it.

The head and body seemed to fit perfectly.

“Is it uncomfortable?”

—Bubblblbl.

—Tsrut. ‘Daddy, he says it’s comfortable. He can float without even trying.’

It was a perfect fit.

Perhaps thanks to the buoyancy of the wood, it was even easier for him to stay afloat.

‘Now this is a turtle ship. Admiral Yi Sun-shin, are you watching? Your descendant just built a turtle ship in the middle of the Central Plains. Sniff.’

I let myself get emotional for a moment, then gave the order to move in.

“Alright! Let’s move the cargo!”

“Yes, So-ryong!”

Cheongwol was the first to be transferred, followed by planks and then all our luggage.

In the meantime, I headed to my cabin.

I had a few things to move myself.

Once inside, I saw the two cocoons in opposite corners.

Two silver cocoons, still hanging motionless.

According to my calculations, they should’ve hatched by now, but there was still no sign from Moji and Soji.

“When are you two planning to come out?”

I muttered, annoyed, but they remained still.

Since this ship was going to be handed over to Geum Gi-ryung, I took out my blade and began gently detaching the cocoons.

I couldn’t cut their silk with a blade, so I scraped the wood from the wall to remove them. Moji and Soji dropped into a small straw-lined box, and I could feel them twitching inside.

They seemed to be in good health.

“Alright, just take your time and come out strong. Hang in there.”

I gave them some encouragement and hung them up again in the safest corner of the new cabin using Yohwa’s silk.

Then, after a bit of waiting, the move was complete.

I gave the helmsman, now commanding a massive ship, the signal.

“Let’s depart!”

“Understood, sir!”

—Tsrururu!

At Cho’s signal to Geumdo, the huge vessel pulled out of the lake and began making its way up the Yellow River.

Headed toward the Central Plains’ capital, Yeongcheonbu.

***

It took two days going up a tributary of the Yellow River to arrive at Yeongcheonbu.

Being the capital of the Central Plains, Yeongcheonbu was indeed grand.

A massive waterway ran through the city center, spanned by wide bridges.

Lined along it were tall, ornate buildings.

It was the most splendid and imposing city I’d seen to date.

“Amazing. So this is Yeongcheonbu. But aren’t people staring a bit too much at our ship?”

“It’s just because it looks unusual. Larger ships than this come through all the time. Their attention will pass quickly, So-ryong-nim.”

Indeed, we drew some stares when we docked at the port, but as the helmsman said, interest faded fast. After all, no one would ever guess there was a turtle underneath.

The next day, the elder from the Ak family, whom Sister-in-law had asked for help, arrived at our ship.

“The cult has a base here in Yeongcheonbu!?”

“Yes, Uncle.”

He seemed to be Sister-in-law’s uncle, and when we told him that the cult had established a base in Yeongcheonbu, he looked stunned before bursting into anger.

“Unbelievable! Outrageous! Where is it!?”

“Please look over here.”

Ji-ryong showed him the materials we had prepared, and as he examined them, the uncle pointed out a discrepancy.

There were some differences from the intel we had.

“This gisaeng house has merged with this restaurant, and now it’s one of the top five establishments in Yeongcheonbu.”

“Looks like the situation has changed while we weren’t watching.”

The cult’s gisaeng house had merged with the Odo sect’s restaurant and reopened. Business had boomed, making it one of the top five spots in Yeongcheonbu.

Apparently, it happened three months ago.

That would’ve been when the female leader of the cult’s Bloodshade Division had left to come after me, so she likely didn’t know about this either.

I was starting to get a bad feeling, and it only deepened when Sister-in-law’s uncle, checking through the list of affiliates, spoke with a stunned expression.

“Huh? Eunuch Heo was the owner of the restaurant and a member of the Odo sect!?”

“Eunuch? You know him?”

It seemed the elder hadn’t known yet that the cult had been absorbed by the Odo sect, but that wasn’t the point—the problem was that title.

We’d been told he was a low-ranking eunuch.

But “Tae-gam” meant chief eunuch.

Ji-ryong and I opened our eyes wide in shock as he continued.

“Of course I know. Eunuch Heo is now the head eunuch of the Imperial Attendant Bureau.”

“The Imperial Attendant Bureau?”

“They manage the emperor’s private quarters. They decide which concubines go to his chambers. He’s one of the emperor’s closest aides. Two months ago, for some reason, His Majesty promoted him to that position.”

An Odo sect puppet had gotten promoted to a high post in the palace.

This wasn’t just bad.

It was critical.