As a Househusband, Awareness is Required (1.5)

As a Househusband, Awareness Is Required (1.5)

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Commissioned by Ichypa

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The trip back to the Namgoong Clan was as uneventful as trips in a world full of cultivators and demonic beasts went.

The guards stopped three demonic beast attacks.

A first-rate warrior went off to deal with bandits with a squad of second-rate warriors.

One of the villages we entered actually had some miscreants causing trouble, accidentally picked a fight, and got their shit kicked in by another first-rate warrior.

One week of travel required three encounters with dangerous beasts that can rip apart iron armor, dealing with bandits, and the disassembly of a small prostitution ring.

It’s really no wonder why nothing has advanced for countless years.

Trade, the flow of people, and even the sharing of knowledge were heavily constrained. It was nearly impossible for a regular person to reach the neighboring town by themselves.   One li was half a kilometer. Our caravan travelled twenty li a day on dirt roads. We had a cartographer, guards, a few warriors, and supplies to traverse ten kilometers a day.

We didn’t even carry anything valuable, yet we attracted attention and threats for being possible meals.

A regular merchant trying to ply their trade will need to hire guards and warriors. That’s an extra cost of doing business that knocks out a lot of competition from the very start. Even if all the beasts who are attacked can be loaded up or processed, you’ll need to pay the guards for their work or give restitution to their families for falling. If you’re a poor judge of character, you might even find the people you hire to be untrustworthy, thus leading you to being killed or getting everything stolen from you.

Which was why most of the Orthodox Clans made their money by acting as guards and protecting the people. Whole associations worked together to hire clans as protectors for their journey. They made up for the cost with volume and dispersing the price to all their members. The Orthodox Clans bring in money, they use that money to improve the clan, and they get more warriors and people who can do other things like purge populations of demonic beasts, guard towns, or take down dangerous beasts for materials.

But there’s a big problem with this relationship.

Improving the situation by fixing the problems will take money away from the Orthodox sects.

Better roads meant fewer days spent guarding caravans.

Fewer demonic beasts in the surrounding area meant guards wouldn’t be needed.

More output of goods and materials will mean more supply than demand, thus a lowering in prices, especially as more merchants get in with lower costs involved in becoming a merchant in the first place.

Fixing the problems with traveling by making things safer and better for the common people leads to less money for the Namgoong clan.

Less money for the clan means fewer warriors and talented individuals who can face the Unorthodox Sects.

So, why should the Namgoong clan make things safer?

It doesn’t bring in money and might even make the Namgoong clan weaker in the long run.

But a sufficiently large project achievable only by the Namgoong clan?

Say a massive length of road that would require frequent protection but would invigorate trade so much that it would be worth it?

A stretch of road between the Demonic Sect and the Namgoong Clan, for example?

That might just be worth it.

…

Interlude: The 7th Sword Saint of the Namgoong Clan, Seol

…

Winter passed, the Heavenly Demon sent his sons and daughters my way, and I defeated them soundly while they faced the warriors of Namgoong and found those who were lacking.

To my great shame, a mere handful of my cousins could challenge the Heavenly Demon’s children.

The number of those who could eke out a victory could be counted on one hand.

With our newfound wealth, and in an effort to cultivate my own skills by training others, I dedicated myself to training my peers.

It was halfway through spring when I realized that my fiancé was also hard at work.

The constant comings and goings of the Demonic Sect’s people had drawn attention initially, but they became a constant soon enough. Everyone became focused on contests against one another in the form of spars. Though I could soundly defeat all whom the Heavenly Demon sent, my victories against them were hollow, and the Namgoong benefited more from having warriors that could stand against the younger children of the Heavenly Demon.

Time passed with me training them, and so I unnoticed the great work behind the scenes conducted by my fiancé with the help of his father and my grandmother, the first of the elders.

It was a road from the Namgoong Clan to the Demonic Sect.

To be built, guarded, and profited from by both the Namgoong Clan and the Demonic Sect.

Nearly three hundred li long, it was composed of smoothed stones with gutters and areas for rest that would be maintained by our two families. It went close to territories of tenacious beasts, but the rest areas also served as places for hunters and trainees to rest as they learned to fight and gather materials from those territories. The road snaked through many dangerous locations, finding the most advantageous places to traverse for defenders, and connected the Demonic Sect and the Namgoong clan’s lands.

Where there once was nothing, there was now a bustling path that brought the two lands closer together.

Close enough that merchant associations on both sides were able to trade with one another, thus bringing wealth into both lands.

Wealth that found its way to both the Namgoong and the Demonic Sect.

Wealth that brought more strength than I believed possible.

“Virtues and merits carry mortals into legend and myth, but it is food and gold that sustains people in the present and permits them into the future.” I spoke to Grandmother about the matter. Though she was not an esteemed martial artist, she was trained to support the head of the Namgoong from the moment she was born. She has forgotten more in the management of the clan than I knew. “In truth, child, what you see now is merely the Namgoong being granted succor from the tragedies we endured in the conflicts that took my husband as well as your parents.”

My brow almost furrowed at her words, but fearing her raised hand, I kept my features composed.

The head of the Namgoong Clan must be like a storm.

Indomitable and beyond the reach of others, until the moment when lightning must strike.

My grandmother sniffed, barely pleased with my ability to keep calm, but made no motion to strike me with a dreadful chop to the head.

“I believed the Demonic Sect meant to shame us, initially. They sent their weakest to be your husband. It was when I saw the caravan of gifts that I realized the truth. The Demonic Sect seeks to dominate by being victorious not just in war, but also in peace.”

I was incapable of not furrowing my brow at Grandmother’s words and suffered for it.

When she spoke again, I was holding my head with both hands.

How she managed to impart such stinging pain upon me, despite all my training, I did not know.

“Being victorious in war is simple. You destroy your enemies. Winning peace is to become stronger and to have fewer enemies before the next conflict arises. The Heavenly Demon already has countless rising stars from amongst his children. Now, he seeks to lessen his number of potential foes.”

Clarity came upon me.

Unfortunately, I was unable to stop my eyes from widening at my realization.

Grandmother spoke again, while I was sure that I felt a welt forming upon the welt I already received.

Her precision was unrivaled.

“He has given us his son, who has in turn given us gifts, and now has bound our realms together while both our merchants and his ply their trade. To turn our swords against him now is to turn our swords against ourselves.” Grandmother reached for her tea and took a sip. When she finished drinking, she turned her gaze my way. “We are not yet bound by written contract nor any oaths, but that will come with time. The boundaries between Orthodox Sects and Unorthodox Sects will come apart by the time your children begin to show their worth. We will have to work hard to remain independent of the Demonic Sect.”

“What work is that? What can we do to retain ourselves?” I asked, intent on learning what must be done, only for Grandmother to suddenly, eerily smile at me. Making sure that I kept my face calm and that I sat straight across the room from her, I narrowed my gaze ever-so-slightly and directed another question her way. “Grandmother? What pleases you so?”

“Daft girl, who wouldn’t be pleased to know that they have great-grandchildren on the way?” She snickered, a truly disconcerting sound, but that mattered little. My stomach dropped, and my face felt as though it were suddenly aflame. I had… I had just accepted the matter of having children with Rui as an inevitability! Grandmother shook her head and cleared her throat, while I tried to suppress the blush on my face. “Indeed, though, that is good news. You will need at least three children. One that is supremely talented may be vied for by both the Namgoong and the Demonic Sect. The second can suffice to keep the lineage going strong. Finally, a third in case the Demonic Sect wrests the first from us, and if the second falls to combat.”

The thought of failure never frightened me. If I failed, then I would simply have to try once again.

The thought of dying never crossed my mind, as I would only fail against an individual of truly immense strength if I fought with the future of the Namgoong Clan on the line. For any other lesser reason, I would flee.

Grandmother saying that I should have multiple children, as some may die or some may be taken away, created a pit of terror in my stomach that I could not put into words.

It made me wish to run out to the nearest training ground and train until my hands bled and my heart begged for me to stop.

The thought made all my suffering and pain to gain my current strength seem infinitely small.

Grandmother’s voice, usually so strict, reached me as a soft whisper that was full of care.

Bringing me back from the edge of the madness that I teetered upon.

“Seol, your children will have more than you ever had. Not only that, but they will pull from the Namgoong and the Demonic Sect. They will outshine within the first two decades of their lives. I know this because this is what happened to me.” Grandmother’s chiding was filled not just with sagely wisdom passed down but also with experience. She had watched her children outshine her and her grandfather long ago. Even though they were taken by the fires of war, their strength and talent were still clear to her. “What matters is that we work to give them all the advantages we can to face the world as they confront its blessings and perils.”

I could only nod meekly at her words, and for once she did not rap me upon the skull with the edge of her hand for not acting as the head of the Namgoong Clan.

The moment soon passed, however, and Grandmother began to lecture me once more.

…

“I expect to have at least three children for Clan Namgoong.”

Well, that’s a hell of a way to start a conversation.

“I understand. I will do all that I can.” It made sense. None of my brothers and sisters had children yet. Father might be interested in someone of our bloodline with the Namgoongs. It goes without saying we can’t oppose Father’s whims if he wishes to teach our child. A second heir was necessary for that, and the third was just good sense in a world filled with so much danger. Father could also poach one child, maybe two, but three was atrocious enough that a traditional stickler like him would never do it. Thus, I believed that ‘at least’ three children for the Namgoong Clan will entail at least five. I made sure to clarify that I understood what she meant. “I hold to qualms to your expectations, even if you wish to have up to six.”

The Namgoong clan’s heiress didn’t even blink at my words. On her beautiful features there wasn’t the slightest twitch. A stoic ivory mask that betrayed no emotion.

Only beauty and grace.

The silence that followed made me think that I did something wrong, so I bowed my head to her slightly from across the tea table.

The garden and patio setting were fairly nice, but I’d still mind it if I got beat up or killed in it.

Anyway, I suspected that the Namgoong clan expected more children from me. It would make sense. They took a lot of casualties from the previous war, and they constrained their current generation greatly. It seemed like they didn’t want to just recover their strength from before the war but also go past it.

More children will also mean more alliances with outside clans and even the creation of subordinate houses in the Namgoong clan.

Yeah.

The more I thought about it, it was stupid to suggest just six.

So, I raised my head and assented to the Namgoong clan’s desires without any hesitation.

“Of course, I hold no complaints if more children are desired. I only ask that all our children be treated fairly no matter their number. I will do my utmost to ensure that they shall also want for nothing regardless of their number.”   Father had the luxury of being the most powerful man in the Demonic Sect; thus, he owned all of it. It was easy for him to raise hundreds of children to great heights of cultivation. I will need to find more methods to make money and embolden the Namgoong. I see. They’ve taken my measure and are now set to work me for all that I was worth. Since I wasn’t getting sent out to die, I saw no reason to back down. “I assure you, my dear fiancé. I shall fulfill my duties for as long as I am able and for as many as you wish.”

Thankfully, at those words, Seol nodded her head.

Man.

It’s really crazy how she can demand all that without hesitation or even the slightest bit of embarrassment.

I really can’t compare to martial artists like her and Father.

Their sensibilities are completely different from the norm.

…

Mini-Interlude: The 7th Sword Saint of the Namgoong Clan, Seol

…

As long as he is able!?

As many as I wish!?

He’ll support them all without favoritism and cherish them!?

How depraved is my fiancé to have such desires!?

And why am I so giddy at those words?!