Inside one of the many weapon shops they had already visited this morning, Dohyun scanned the room, the walls rather, for the specific arrowhead that was used during the attack. Unfortunately, just like all the other shops, the arrows and materials here were far from what they were searching for.
Jaeyong was inside one of the rooms where they stored their 'premium items', it was worth the time to try and see if there was anything similar. If there wasn't, they would then show the actual arrow and inquire if they had seen that design before, all of which the people replied "No."
In the corner was a large chest made of wood carved with symbols of beasts, Dohyun brought himself over and slowly lifted the top revealing a pair of curved knives. A weapon of killing intent.
"That's just a display, young master, if you want to see the real ones are in there", one of the men working at the shop said pointing to the room Jaeyong was in.
Dohyun closed the chest, turning around, "No need, I was just looking."
"We'll take our leave now", Jaeyong informed, stepping out of the room, the expression on his face telling him that this place also didn't have what they needed. He made his way over to Dohyun making it easier for him to conceal his face, the hat he was wearing could only do so much as long as he looked down. With Jayeong's tall body covering him, it would be hard for others to remember his face.
Dohyun wore the set of clothes Jaeyong had brought last time while the other was back at wearing his usual black outfit without the black cloth that covered his face.
As they walked out Jaeyong spoke, "there's supposed to be another shop a few blocks from here the owner said."
"We've been to both high-end and low-end shops, I wonder if Byung Ho has had any success", Dohyun wearily said.
"Don't lose spirit yet your highness, when the waters drop, the rocks appear. There's still a number of places we haven't looked in, it's only a matter of time."
He was right, Dohyun couldn't afford to feel down just yet, not until they had searched every corner of every weaponry in the Golden Capital.
Four shops later, Dohyun glanced outside guessing the time. "Hyung, we should probably meet up with Byung Ho now, it's almost lunch time."
"Alright", Jaeyong said. With that, they made their way to a small soup shop the three had planned to meet up earlier during the day. Byung Ho searched from the west of the capital while the other two searched from the east, that way they wouldn't be overlapping with each other, being more efficient overall.
Upon stepping inside, Byung Ho was already waiting at the far back corner of the room.
"Byung Ho", Dohyun called, catching his attention. The two then proceeded to take their seats on either side of the tables.
A young woman then approached them asking, "It seems your companions have arrived young master, what will you be having?"
"Uh... three bowls of today's menu", Byung Ho replied.
After they were alone, Dohyun queried, "Have you found anything similar or exact?"
Byung Ho shook his head, "I don't think any of the common shops are gonna have them, all the ones I've been to so far have regular, cheap, and even the same kinds we use at the palace but the kind we're looking for is certainly unique."
"There has to be a place", Dohyun stated, "We just have to look harder."
The girl from earlier came back and served their meals, pouring them each a cup of tea while doing so. From the other side of the shop, four elderly men came in, all of them wearing the robes of the officials under the inspector general's office.
"Four bowls here please", one of them said.
"This whole thing is really getting on my nerves", another one grumbled while rubbing his temples.
"The entire office is in chaos because someone couldn't do their job properly."
The one who sat in front interjected, "We don't even know if that's the case or those peasants were just causing a ruckus to stir things up."
He added, "Also Official Yim, I advise you to not speak so freely, for all we know the walls have ears."
With that, Dohyun lowered his head even more. He sure had one sense of telling things. With the officials all over the place and busy with their jobs, it just made getting around easier for them. He was certain his decision was right, to do this by themselves and not get the royal guards involved.
After finishing their food, they set out once again. Byung Ho took off in the other direction while Dohyun and Jaeyong walked until they reached the next shop. It was the furthest one out, beside the shop was a Kisaeng house busy with people inside and out. Drunken men leaving and entering the place, business seemed to be going well for them.
Upon entering the shop they were greeted by one of the younger workers, "Good day young masters, how can I help you?"
"We're looking for arrows", Jaeyong stated.
"Ahh, follow me this way", the man replied, leading them to the back of the store. Dozens of arrows were mounted on the walls, all varying in design and use. "For what occasion would you be needing arrows? Small hunting? Practice?" The man inquired.
"We'd just like to look around for now", Jaeyong said.
"Sure, I'll be over in the front if you find what you like."
The two glanced at each other and nodded in mutual agreement, Jaeyong started individually checking the arrowheads from the left side of the wall while Dohyun was to the right. This shop seemed to have more of the high-end arrows and supplies which made inspecting the designs a bit harder than usual.
Regular arrowheads were usually just sharp, round, or blunt with little details. Advanced arrowheads were more specific in shape, depending on what they were to be used for also varying with different details. What they were looking for was one of the more advanced arrowheads, more specifically the design engraved on the sides, a few shapes which depicted a face of a bear.
Both finished at similar times, neither had found a similar one. "I'll check upstairs real quick", Jaeyong said heading off to the stairs. Dohyun scanned the wall once again still finding nothing, he turned to follow Jaeyong but a small chest on the ground caught his attention.
Curious to what was inside, he opened the chest. A few different arrows lie in there, some regular sized and some larger. As he picked through them, a single arrow singled in his vision. The same one they had been looking for.
This- this is it! Dohyun thought to himself hurrying to stand up and call Jaeyong until another voice spoke, "These arrows are out of limits" a man said, taking it away from him and placing it back into the chest, closing it and pushing away.
"That- that arrow", Dohyun managed to say, "Are you the ones who made it?"
"Us?" the man repeated, "No, my men just picked it up on the way, there must be plenty of them everywhere."
"No", Dohyun said, schooling his expression, "I don't think there is, could I please see it again?"
The man put a hand on his shoulder saying, "Listen here, wherever you saw it it must have been a coincidence, now if you have no other reasons to be here, I request for you to leave my shop."
An instant later he hastily removed his hand and repeated his words more thoughtfully, "What I meant to say young master is that if you have no other business-"
"I think he has business here so why don't you show him what he wants", Jaeyong's icy voice sounded from behind Dohyun.
When did he come down? Dohyun thought.
The man exchanged a few looks with his workers as they gathered around, "I'm going to have to ask you to leave", he said clenching his jaw.
Jaeyong looked at Dohyun, he was going to have to force it out of him. Quickly catching on, Dohyun moved a few steps backwards. In the blink of an eye Jaeyong held a blade to the man's neck, "Tell us now while we're asking nicely, where did it come from?"
Panicked, the man blurted out, "Alright! Alright we made it!"
"Who do you sell it to?"Jaeyong probed, pushing the blade a bit harder against him.
The man didn't answer, looking to the side, his people couldn't do anything rash at the moment since his life depended on it. A few seconds later the younger guy from before ran out shouting, "Where are the guards?! Thieves! Thieves! Someone help us!"
Dohyun stiffened, Jaeyong pressed the blade harder but the sound of horses hooves fastly approaching made him back off. They both ran off through the back door which led them to the busy streets, the guards were still on the other side giving them plenty of time to escape.
They kept running and eventually the shouts of "Catch them!" faded out. Jaeyong dragged Dohyun behind a short stone wall where they finally caught their breaths. "It was it, I'm sure of it", Dohyun said.
"I caught a glimpse too", Jaeyong replied. Resting his back against the wall he pulled out the one he had been carrying, it indeed was the exact one. And now they knew where they came from. The problem was that now, they had no way of finding out who they were selling them to.
"What do we do now?" Dohyun questioned, "They're most likely going to be on high alert now."
Jaeyong breathed out, "We wait."