Hebei Peng Clan
"Come by in about three days. I’ll have it finished by then."
After wrapping up the commission, I stepped out of the smithy.
Before I’d gone far, a woman with red hair came out right after me.
"Thanks to you, Uncle Gangcheol says he won’t be taking any more commissions for a while."
She spoke to me with an amused smile.
"You’re not from around here, are you? Did you come from far away?"
"I came from the North Sea. I heard there was a blacksmith here who knew how to work Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron, so this is my first time in Hebei."
"No wonder you looked unfamiliar..."
She stared at my face for a moment, then noticed the dagger at my waist.
"Huh? That’s the tournament prize from the Martial Arts Tournament, isn’t it?"
"It is. How did you know?"
"Then you’re the North Sea Divine Dragon?"
"I’m embarrassed to say that’s the name people call me."
It was strange being recognized as the North Sea Divine Dragon, and I felt my face heat up a little.
"My older brother hasn’t stopped talking about it ever since he came back from the Martial Arts Tournament."
"Your older brother?"
"You remember Paeng Hosik, right? My hopeless older brother."
"Paeng Gongzi, then? So you’re the sister he mentioned?"
"That’s right. He’s been bragging to everyone that he’s close friends with the North Sea Divine Dragon. My name is Paeng Hoyeon."
Paeng Hoyeon held out a hand to me.
"Nice to meet you. I’m Han Yugang."
Her red hair was a different color from Paeng Hosik’s, so I hadn’t recognized her at first, but now that I knew they were siblings, their air and temperament did seem similar.
"If you’re staying in Hebei for a while, why don’t you stay with us at the Paeng Clan? I’m sure my brother would love that too."
"I’d be grateful if I had your permission. It’d be nice to see Paeng Gongzi again after so long."
Paeng Hoyeon was practically beaming as she led me to the Paeng Clan.
When we reached the gates, a group of rough-looking men were standing guard.
"Uncles, I’m back!"
"You’re back quickly, miss."
"Uncle Gangcheol took a commission, so he looks like he’ll be busy for a while."
"More importantly, who’s the person behind you...?"
"Good to meet you. I’m Han Yugang, from the North Sea."
As soon as I introduced myself, the guards recognized me at once.
"The famous North Sea Divine Dragon!"
"I heard your blade technique is something else."
I wasn’t sure my martial arts really qualified as a blade technique, but seeing the guards’ bright, admiring eyes, I couldn’t bring myself to say it wasn’t.
A katana is still a dao, if you think about it...
While I was thinking that, Paeng Hoyeon dashed inside and started looking for Paeng Hosik.
"Hey! Where are you?"
I followed Paeng Hoyeon deeper inside.
When I did, I found Paeng Hosik in the training yard with another man.
Even at a glance, the man radiated an intimidating presence.
"Didn’t I tell you not to interrupt me when I’m training?"
"Look who I brought!"
At Paeng Hoyeon’s point, Paeng Hosik and the man both turned to look at me.
The instant my eyes met the man’s, I knew it instinctively.
Is this the Paeng Clan lord?
I bowed politely, then greeted Paeng Hosik.
"It’s been a while. Have you been well?"
Paeng Hosik lit up and hurried over to me.
"Ha! What brings you to Hebei? And why are you two here together...?"
He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at me.
"We ran into each other by chance after I went to the smithy."
"Ahem..."
The man approached me with an air of discomfort.
"By chance, you say! Then it must really have been a coincidence."
"Of course. I’m Han Yugang, third son of the Ice Palace."
"You’ve got manners, at least. I’m Paeng Daeung, lord of the Paeng Clan. So I hear you’re the champion of the recent Martial Arts Tournament?"
"I was fortunate enough to win."
"You say you were lucky after beating our Hosik so easily... How humble, hahaha!"
"In any case, Father. Young Master Han has to stay in Hebei for a few days. Why don’t we have him stay at the Paeng Clan?"
"That’s a fine idea. But there is one condition."
"What is it?"
"I’m curious about the famed North Sea Divine Dragon’s blade technique! I refuse your refusal!"
From Paeng Daeung’s manner, it was obvious he wanted a spar.
I had no intention of refusing anyway, so I accepted readily.
"Though I don’t have a weapon on me right now, so sparring would be a little difficult."
"Hm? Aren’t there plenty of weapons over there?"
Paeng Daeung said, pointing at the racks full of dao.
Then Paeng Hosik spoke up.
"Young Master Han’s weapon is quite different from an ordinary dao. If he used one of those for a spar, he wouldn’t be able to show his real ability."
"I’ve already commissioned a sword from Uncle Gangcheol anyway. How about I stay here at the Paeng Clan until it’s finished, and then we spar after that?"
Paeng Hoyeon said, full of excitement.
"Bah, I suppose there’s no helping it. I’ll at least show you around Hebei until then."
Paeng Daeung looked visibly disappointed as he headed bitterly toward his study.
Paeng Hosik and Paeng Hoyeon crowded around me, both overflowing with excitement.
"So, shall we go have some fun first?"
"Let’s go to the arena! The arena! Yahoo!"
Paeng Hoyeon rushed back to her room and came out with something in her hands.
What she’d brought were two dao at her waist.
"If you’ve come to Hebei, you have to visit the arena!"
Two swords? No, two dao? That’s unusual.
I hadn’t seen many people wielding two weapons with both hands since my reincarnation, so I found it a little fascinating.
Paeng Hoyeon took the lead and guided me forward.
Really, it seemed less like she was guiding me and more like she was using me as an excuse to go play at the arena.
"Please understand her, friend. Hoyeon loves fighting."
"Are you going to take part yourself?"
"There are more days when I participate than when I just watch."
That surprised me a little at Paeng Hosik’s answer.
It was unexpected that the children of the clan governing Hebei would take part in street arenas like this.
But when we arrived, I realized my assumptions had been pretty far off.
The arena wasn’t some modest little fighting ring set up in a market square.
"This is the pride of Hebei: the arena!"
Paeng Hosik introduced it with obvious pride.
The arena was at least three times larger than the tournament grounds where the promising young martial artists had competed in Anhui Province.
There was no separate platform for sparring; aside from the audience seats that started from the second floor, the entire circular space on the first floor was open for combat.
"They spar in a space this big?"
"You’re too early to be amazed by just that!"
Paeng Hoyeon led me somewhere else.
Where we headed was the registration desk.
At the desk, you could not only sign up to participate in the arena, but also place bets on who would win.
"What’s today’s rule?"
At Paeng Hoyeon’s question, the attendant answered politely.
"Miss Paeng, welcome. Today’s rule is a brawl."
A brawl?
"Ahem, we’ll just be watching today."
Paeng Hosik declared flatly.
Paeng Hoyeon looked like she wanted to join, but Paeng Hosik wouldn’t allow it.
"Still, what do you mean, today’s rule? What are you talking about?"
I finally asked Paeng Hosik the question I’d been holding back.
"This arena doesn’t just do one-on-one sparring. The rules change every day. In today’s brawl, ten participants start at the same time. Only one winner survives. Other days, there are team matches or other special rules."
"That’s pretty unusual..."
I thought it sounded interesting, with such a wide variety of competition formats.
Since you had to place a bet to watch, we each wagered a modest sum.
Since I didn’t know any of the names anyway, I just bet on whichever one sounded appealing.
After that, we sat down in the audience seats and waited for the match to begin.
"By the way, Young Master Han, you beat my brother pretty easily, didn’t you?"
Paeng Hoyeon’s question caught me off guard.
When I looked at Paeng Hosik, he already wore the resigned expression of a man who’d accepted his fate.
"It wasn’t easy. I had quite a hard time."
"What did you think of my brother’s blade technique? What was wrong with it?"
Her sharp follow-up left me flustered.
"Paeng Gongzi’s blade technique? It’s a martial art with a fairly fierce momentum, and I learned quite a bit from it."
"But something was lacking, so you beat him easily, right? Isn’t there anything else?"
While I was struggling under Paeng Hoyeon’s persistent questions, the tournament thankfully began.
Once it started, Paeng Hoyeon finally gave up and turned her attention to the matches.
It was my first time seeing this format, but it was definitely interesting.
When the ten participants began sparring at once, they started by probing one another and building their own alliances.
After each side had formed into groups and established some degree of strength, the weakest-looking factions began to fall behind first.
But even then, betrayals kept happening, and the balance of power continued to shift.
"Good! Knock those bastards out!"
"This is your chance, betray them! If you want to win, you’ve got to beat everyone anyway!"
The spectators were each shouting outrageous advice at the fighter they supported.
The participant I’d bet on had apparently misread the early balance of power and was eliminated quickly.
Though the one I’d chosen lost, there was no denying this had a different kind of excitement from one-on-one sparring.
The brawl, full of alliances and betrayals, eventually came down to three people.
One man looked like an obvious powerhouse, while the other two didn’t seem nearly as skilled.
Paeng Hosik and Paeng Hoyeon seemed to have bet on the stronger-looking man.
"All right! Take those two down with ease!"
Paeng Hoyeon shouted, thrilled.
The two men must have sensed the stronger fighter’s threat as well, because at some point the weaker-looking pair began attacking him together like allies.
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