"That there is Yulu County."
Beyond the gentle hills a broad plain spreads out. Above it a bustling walled town can be seen. The eyes of Gaeddong, the country bumpkin, go wide as saucers.
The horses, worn out from the journey, also cognize that they have nearly reached their destination, and their steps grow lighter, while the peddler Gwak inwardly sets down one load of worry.
In any case it had been a fairly long haul. Arriving this far without any particular mishap counted for now as breaking even.
The eyeballs of the spider, Black Spider, roll round and round as well. Look here, look there, it is all nothing but humans. The density of population was different from the hamlet where the Gok Family Clinic stood — far too different.
Black Spider realizes it anew. That the world beyond the mountain range is truly wide and wider still.
And so the party heads for the walled town.
***
"What on earth is...? A spider!?"
Ordinarily they would have passed through the town gate without any trouble. Gwak had been in the peddling trade for more than ten years now.
Naturally he was on familiar terms with the garrison soldiers of Yulu County, and he had enough trust with them that if he slipped them a suitable number of coins he could bring in even a fairly awkward article without any trouble.
Only, today alone was the exception. From the start Gwak himself had expected that something like this would happen.
That was to be expected, since this was a spider a full ox in size. With that spider pulling a wagon in place of a horse, people's eyes were naturally bound to be drawn to it.
In a situation like this, even a familiar garrison soldier could not simply let it pass.
Even the squad leader, who ordinarily would have been chewing tobacco inside the guard post, had come dashing out and was inspecting this bizarre state of affairs.
"Haha, do not be alarmed. As you can see, it is well trained and gentler than a horse or a dog."
And with that Gwak boldly stroked Black Spider's enormous head, and his manner was quite unruffled.
In fact, at first Gwak too had felt a chill inwardly every time he looked at this enormous spider, but over the journey here he had come to know that the spider was truly clever, that it understood human speech, and that it was not fierce either.
And would that be all?
Thanks to this spider he had drawn other people's attention and closed several decent deals even while on the move, so that by now it felt as though the spider were a good-luck charm.
So naturally there could not help but be some sincerity in the stroking hand as well.
In any case, Black Spider too takes Gwak's stroking calmly, reading the situation. Black Spider clearly understood that the more amicable an attitude it showed toward those around it, the more other humans lowered their guard toward it.
"Oooh...."
In any case, Gwak's bold behavior gathered the attention of those around them. The garrison squad leader cleared his throat a few times and then said in a loud voice.
"I will permit entry for now. But if that beast causes trouble within the district, you will most certainly have to answer for it."
"Of course, there is no question of it. Thank you!"
And so they enter the walled town. Gwak went in front, and right beside him Gaeddong follows.
During the journey to this Yulu County, Gaeddong for his part had not simply sat idle.
Gaeddong did mean to help Black Spider, of course, but he also held for himself the goal of learning a merchant's skills.
In fact, to that end he had been keeping Gwak in good humor all this while. Besides preparing the meals morning, noon, and evening, he took the initiative in dealing with all sorts of petty dirty work himself.
Naturally Gwak knew that such behavior of Gaeddong's was not mere idle flattery.
So on the way Gwak had taught Gaeddong a fair amount of the basic common sense a merchant ought to know, and so it would not be wrong to call the two of them half comrades and half master and pupil now.
At any rate, having entered the walled town that way, they looked for an inn. But because of Black Spider, securing a room was no easy matter.
Every inn was appalled at the thought of keeping such a monster in its stable.
But there is always an exception.
"Haha! If putting it in the stable startles the horses, then it need only be stood at the entrance, no?"
The owner of one inn, a man of open-hearted temperament, reckoned that standing Black Spider in front of his establishment would rather draw the attention of passersby. And so Gwak was barely able to secure an inn, and they unpacked and rested.
Business began the next day.
Yulu County was a provincial city of considerable scale, and thanks to that the market was of great scale as well. Moreover, since Gwak had calculated the time when the market opened and come then, the market was already thronging with peddlers, itinerant traders, and trading companies come from all over.
But even among them Gwak's party was by far the most conspicuous, since with an enormous spider making a puppet dance and perform tricks, the eyes of the whole crowd were drawn entirely to them.
This was also a matter that Gwak, Gaeddong, and Black Spider had agreed upon among themselves beforehand.
From the start, the moment they arrived at Yulu County the contractual relationship among Gwak, Gaeddong, and Black Spider was as good as fully settled.
For Gwak had only promised to guide them as far as Yulu County; he had not said he would help them find the puppeteer said to have settled here.
To begin with, Gwak had never actually seen that puppeteer and did not know where he resided. He knew no more than the rumor that the man lived somewhere in this Yulu County.
And Black Spider and Gaeddong knew that well too, so the party had agreed on a new contract after arriving in the town.
In any case Yulu County was a wide city, and finding one puppeteer in it was a tremendously hard task.
So rather than wandering about searching from their side, why not instead make the puppeteer come to them — that was the bit of cunning Gwak came up with.
If a spider cursed beast controlling a puppet was something special enough to interest even ordinary folk, then how much more interesting would it be to a craftsman who made puppet-making his trade?
So Gwak, to gain the attention that Black Spider's feats would bring, and Black Spider, to use that attention to draw the puppeteer's notice as well, came to put on this modest acrobatic show.
And the strategy worked tremendously well.
Within a few days the rumor that some spider cursed fiend was performing a puppet play had spread all through Yulu County, and thanks to that the people who came to watch it packed the place to bursting.
Along with that, the inn where Gwak's party was staying also filled up with guests until not a room was left empty, since even apart from the puppet play, an enormous spider sitting obediently in front of the inn and greeting passersby with a wag of its foreleg was quite a wondrous thing as well.
"My thanks! Hahahaha!"
Thanks to that, the innkeeper made a killing too. He upgraded Gwak and Gaeddong's rooms to the finest private suite and provided Black Spider with good-quality chicken regularly.
In any case, once about two weeks had passed that way, the goods Gwak had brought had all been traded away.
Thanks to that, by now the admission fees earned from the performances Black Spider put on had become the party's chief income.
But the figure presumed to be the puppeteer still could not be found, and in fact even the people of Yulu County knew only the fact that such a puppeteer existed, and had no idea at all where he lived or what sort of man he was.
If anything, only idle rumors abounded, passed around among the gossips.
At this Gaeddong harbored a question.
"Elder Gwak. Isn't it strange? That the puppeteer should be this famous, and yet nobody has ever actually called on him. That way, even with outstanding skill, he would have no customers and no business, would he not?"
Gwak, by contrast, was unruffled.
"There is nothing particularly strange about it. By nature, as they say of an awl in a sack, if a man's talent is outstanding then however tightly he hides himself, it is bound to show through. Ordinary folk like us flail about like this and make a vulgar racket in order to draw attention somehow, but men of real skill have customers come to them of their own accord even while they merely sit in lofty stillness."
"Hmm. I see."
At any rate, as far as Gwak was concerned his business in this Yulu County was now all finished. Only, since he had profited handsomely from Black Spider all this while, he had remained and was searching for the puppeteer's whereabouts together with them.
At this point they might have to admit that Gwak's cunning strategy had failed.
Since the man could hardly be caught sight of even after they had gained this much fame, whoever that puppeteer was, he was without doubt a gentleman of considerable haughtiness.
Also, Black Spider looked somewhat more fatigued than before.
This was in fact only natural.
Between a bustling walled town to begin with and the attention of the world gathered on it as heavily as it could be, these past few days Black Spider had spent its time swept along in crowds.
Since a spider is by nature a creature that keeps quietly silent, it was unavoidable that it should feel some weariness at such bustle.
And since Gaeddong, a country lad by birth, was suffering from similar symptoms as well, the party decided now to stop the performances and rest a while.
And so, one day, when Gaeddong and Black Spider were taking a light stroll on the quiet outskirts of the walled town where few people passed, they came to see a group of beggar boys tormenting a beggar girl beneath a stream bridge that crossed the town.
"Why, those little...!?"
At this sparks flew from Gaeddong's eyes, and Black Spider rolled its eyeballs round and round.
In the small girl's figure Black Spider calls Yu Ran to mind.
At this, in the puppet that had been hanging and dangling at its waist a presence like a living thing suddenly stirred to life, and then, like a living human, it kicked off from its place and leapt down beneath the bridge.
All this while the puppet had usually gone about stark bare, but in the course of performing in Yulu County it had come to wear a woven hat on its head and a pitch-black robe on its body, so that at a glance it could even look like a human warrior.
When such a pitch-black warrior leapt down from atop the bridge and stared at them, the boys tormenting the girl were startled too and looked this way in confusion.
But the warrior says nothing. That is because it is a puppet. Only, conveying intent through action is precisely what a puppet play is, so it merely raised its blade-fitted right hand without a word and pointed silently at the boys.
Just then the wind blows. In the strong wind the woven hat the warrior wore tilts for an instant, and what is inside is revealed.
Inside there was no human face, only a faceless block of wood, glistening.
"It-it's not a person!"
"Aaah! It's a ghost!"
At this the beggar boys, startled out of their wits, scream and scatter in all directions. Only then does the warrior turn around to look at the girl.
"......!"
The girl too, looking at the warrior's faceless face, is horrified and goes pale. She quickly turns and flees, so that the warrior left behind looks oddly pitiable.
"Tch. We help her and she does not even thank us."
Gaeddong, who had been watching the affair from above, clicked his tongue.
Then suddenly a voice comes from behind.
"By the look of it, that is neither a man nor a ghost. It is a puppet, rather — well now, how impressive. To show that much skill even with a body half smashed to pieces, that is the talent of a Puppet Master such as appears once in a hundred years."
When Gaeddong and Black Spider looked behind them, an old man with a long pipe in his mouth stood there crookedly, staring straight at them.
At this Gaeddong was suddenly quick on the uptake.
"Ah, Elder! Actually, this puppet was not being controlled by me, but...."
"I know. That spider cursed fiend there. By the look of it, it has opened its divine awareness as well; how very peculiar. I do not know where it picked up that combat puppet, but if it handles the thing so carelessly, before long it will be ruined for good."
And then the old man, as though he had said all he had to say, turned his back again and headed off somewhere, and then suddenly left one more remark.
"Follow me. I shall take at least a rough look at that broken toe. But it is not free. This old man's price is rather high, so on the way, procure three bottles of green bamboo wine, one bowl of thin noodles, and three dumplings."
Only then do Black Spider and Gaeddong gain their certainty.
It is that old man. That old man was without doubt the puppeteer said to reside in this Yulu County.
And so the country youth and the great ink-black spider follow at the old man's back. And on the way they purchase green bamboo wine, thin noodles, dumplings and the like at the street stalls and take them along.
While doing so, Black Spider thinks.
However it looked at him, no divine awareness whatsoever could be felt from the old man before its eyes. And would that be all? Not even the faint formless energy that the old man Gok and the assassins had given off can be felt.
How had such an old man cognized its divine awareness?
It does not know. And if it does not know, it needs only to learn.
Black Spider's eyeballs roll round and round. The puppet hanging at its waist dangles and sways.