Friends Can Be a Blessing! (2)
The reception hall of the Sichuan Tang Family.
“…….”
Dang Gun-ak looked at Dang Soso with a complicated, unreadable expression.
Dang Soso met her father’s gaze, her eyes shining brightly.
Dang Gun-ak shut his eyes tight.
There’s nothing wrong with it.
Really, there wasn’t.
Dang Soso was now an official disciple of Mount Hua, a proper martial artist in her own right. If anything, this was far more natural than the way she had been before.
But Dang Gun-ak still remembered the daughter he had once known, delicate as a single bloom, as if it had happened only yesterday, so there was no helping the way this new look felt just a little strange to him. Even though this wasn’t the first time he had seen her since she had gone to Mount Hua.
Her hair was carelessly tied back in two braids.
Gone were the clothes she used to wear in the Tang Family; in their place was martial garb that looked unbelievably comfortable.
And that healthy bronze skin!
This is fine?
Yes. It was fine!
What did it matter, anyway? His daughter was healthy like this!
A deeply satisfied smile spread across Dang Gun-ak’s face.
“You must have had a hard trip getting here!”
“Not at all, Father!”
Dang Soso answered in a booming voice.
“……You can speak a little more quietly.”
“Yes!”
“…….”
Dang Gun-ak’s sulky gaze turned to Chung Myung. Chung Myung blinked round eyes at him and tilted his head.
“What?”
“…….”
This bastard turned my daughter into a bandit—
No, wait. Bandit or not, she’s healthy, so maybe that’s good—
As those thoughts collided, the corner of Dang Gun-ak’s mouth twitched faintly. He couldn’t make sense of his own position, no matter how hard he tried.
“R-right. It’s good to see you home for a while.”
“Yes! I’m happy too.”
“…….”
Soso-ah.
Please, at least with your father, speak as easily as you used to.
Please.
Dang Gun-ak’s shoulders slumped with helpless melancholy.
But the shock Dang Gun-ak had received was nothing compared to the one Tang Pae was suffering.
“……Soso.”
“Hmm?”
“You… ah, um… you’ve changed a lot.”
“Huh? I’m the same.”
“…….”
Very well. If you say so, then that must be the truth.
Hahaha.
Tang Pae looked awkwardly at Dang Soso, then quietly turned his eyes away. In an even more uncomfortable voice, he addressed Chung Myung.
“……Have you been well, Daoist Chung Myung?”
“Yep!”
“…….”
At that cheerful reply, Tang Pae’s face filled with embarrassment.
Once, he had thrown a dagger at Chung Myung’s back while Chung Myung was fighting a duel with Dang Gun-ak. Because of that, he had been pushed from the position of young lord and was now reduced to competing with Tang Jan.
Of course, he had never harbored any ill feelings toward Chung Myung over it. It had been an act absolutely unforgivable for a martial artist, and even now he only felt remorse when he looked at Chung Myung.
And yet, Tang Pae couldn’t help admiring him all over again.
He really is that unshaken.
Chung Myung simply smiled brightly and accepted his greeting as if the old matter were nothing at all.
That must be the difference in size of character.
The first time they had met, Chung Myung had been nothing more than one of Mount Hua’s many Taoist disciples. But now he had become a giant among giants, impossible to fully describe even with the title of the number one younger generation expert in the world.
So Tang Pae could only be astonished all over again by the breadth of Chung Myung’s bearing. Bowing his head, Tang Pae spoke with genuine humility.
“Thank you.”
“Huh? For what?”
“For forgetting what I did wrong….”
He let the end of the sentence trail off slightly, then took a breath and went on.
“Back then, I was foolish. Please forgive me for not even being able to offer a proper apology.”
“……Huh?”
But Chung Myung still only tilted his head, looking utterly clueless.
Just as Tang Pae was beginning to feel a little confused, Baek Cheon nudged Chung Myung in the side and whispered softly into his ear.
“He’s the one who stabbed a knife into you back then.”
“What? This bastard did that?”
“…….”
As if he had never been bright and cheerful a moment ago, Chung Myung’s eyes went wide and white as he stared at Tang Pae.
Baek Cheon covered his face and let out a sigh.
Come to think of it, Chung Myung had barely ever seen Tang Pae. After briefly noticing him when he had come with Dang Gun-ak, the next thing had been Chung Myung collapsing after being stabbed. After that, Tang Pae had been locked up in the brig, so there had been even less chance to see him.
“No, wait! You really want to die, huh?! Where do you get off showing your face? I ought to shove a knife into your back too—”
“He’s the young lord.”
“……That could happen, I guess. Hehe. Forget the past and let’s get along.”
“…….”
That instant shift in attitude left Tang Pae drenched in cold sweat.
He has a huge character too.
Just in a different sense.
Dang Gun-ak, watching the whole exchange, smiled with deep satisfaction.
Was it really the right choice to form an alliance with these bastards?
Um…
I feel like I might regret it a little. Just a little….
“Ahem.”
As if to fling that thought away, Dang Gun-ak gave a loud cough.
“In any case, you must all have had a terribly hard journey. Really… yes, you certainly look like you’ve had a terribly hard journey.”
Anyone who had dragged carts all the way here would naturally be exhausted, wouldn’t they?
Chung Myung, of course, was one thing, but even the disciples who had actually followed along to haul the carts were impossible to understand.
“Still, I heard you were coming. What exactly is going on?”
“Hm? You haven’t seen it?”
“Seen what?”
“What’s loaded on the carts.”
“I saw something wrapped up tight, yes.”
“Ah, so you haven’t checked yet because it was covered to keep off the rain.”
“The letter I received also said to hear the explanation from you.”
“Oh. It’s nothing much. We just wanted to make some swords, so we brought the materials ourselves.”
“Materials?”
“Yes. Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron.”
“Ah, I thought you meant something else. Cold iro—what? Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron?!”
Dang Gun-ak shouted in alarm, his voice snapping like a whip.
“You mean that’s really all Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“W-well, Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron isn’t something you just dig out of the ground, so where in the world did you get all of it?”
“It was buried in Mount Hua.”
“…….”
All the vitality drained from Dang Gun-ak’s body in an instant.
It took longer than expected for him to recover his senses.
During that time, there were some outrageous comments about how the Tang Family’s ancestors must have been fools to set up their home on land where not even cold iron could be found, but the Tang Family’s retainers quietly erased those words from their minds.
“H-here’s some cold water, Father.”
“Grrr….”
After gulping down the cold water Tang Jan handed him, Dang Gun-ak moved with uncharacteristic urgency.
“I need to check it first. Whether that really is cold iron.”
“Yes. Let’s go.”
Dang Gun-ak strode out of the reception hall at a brisk pace, and his retainers and the Mount Hua disciples followed behind him.
As they almost ran along, Yoon Jong quietly asked Baek Cheon,
“By the way, Sasuk.”
“Hm?”
“Is Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron really such an incredible treasure? I mean, I knew it was valuable, but the family head’s reaction is just….”
“……How should I know?”
“…….”
So it’s one of those things, then.
At that moment, Dang Gun-ak stopped walking, shook his head, and called for the chief steward.
“Chief steward! Chieeef stewaaard!”
“Yes, family head!”
Tang Sang-su came running out in alarm. He couldn’t help being surprised, because Dang Gun-ak never shouted for him like this unless something was seriously wrong.
“W-what is it?”
“Where is the cart we brought from Mount Hua?”
“Ah, that cart?”
Tang Sang-su answered with such calm that it was almost insulting.
“The wheel broke, so I left it in front of the rear workshop while it was being repaired.”
“And the things loaded on it?”
“I put them there too….”
“Out of the way!”
“Aaaagh!”
Dang Gun-ak nearly shoved Tang Sang-su aside and sprinted toward the workshop at terrifying speed.
And sure enough, there stood the cart, reduced to scrap. The things it had been carrying were plainly visible as well.
“The, the straw mat… ngh.”
Dang Gun-ak clutched at his chest. He had been shocked to see the metal wrapped in filthy cloth.
“You… you unforgivable brutes! Do you even know what this is, and still handle it like that? You’re going to be struck down by heaven, all of you!”
At that, he actually drew hidden needles from his sleeve and started hurling them at the Mount Hua disciples.
“H-hold on, why is this old man acting like this all of a sudden?!”
Slightly taken aback by the way Dang Gun-ak was acting like a completely different person, Chung Myung hurriedly drew his sword and knocked away the flying needles.
Even then, it was ridiculous that none of the needles flying toward Dang Soso were directed at her at all.
Still breathing hard, not yet satisfied, Dang Gun-ak finally used trembling hands to pull away the cloth covering the cart.
At last, the metal beneath, old and stained with grime, was revealed. At first glance it looked as if it had been well refined, but now its surface was so worn that the material itself was difficult to identify just by looking.
But Dang Gun-ak knew exactly what it was.
“Huff! Huff!”
After taking several deep breaths, he placed his hand on the metal’s surface. A cold surge ran up through his fingertips. His eyes widened.
“R-right. It is. It really is cold iron!”
And not just any cold iron, either. This was top-grade material, even among the best.
Dang Gun-ak hurriedly pulled away all the cloth. Then he exhaled in short breaths, staring at the cold iron with eyes full of both shock and excitement.
“T-Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron… this much of it…!”
“Hehe. Told you, right?”
Chung Myung quietly stepped closer and poked his head in. At that, Dang Gun-ak’s head snapped around so fast it looked as if it might break off, and his gaze locked onto Chung Myung.
Chung Myung flinched slightly and asked,
“……It’s not? It is, right? I thought it was.”
“……You—!”
Dang Gun-ak grabbed Chung Myung and hurled him away.
“Do you even know what kind of thing this is?! By weight, it’s more valuable than gold by a hundred times. No, what do I mean a hundred times? It’s become so rare now that it’s worth whatever price people ask. A priceless treasure, that’s what it is!”
Chung Myung, who had flown off, calmly returned to his spot and tilted his head.
“Huh? Really? I don’t think it used to be that bad.”
“What era are you talking about?! The price of Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron has already skyrocketed for the last hundred years. After the war with the Demonic Sect, cold iron practically vanished from the world!”
“Ah, I see.”
That made a bit more sense….
“With this much, even if you sold Mount Hua outright, you couldn’t buy enough! And you wrapped it up in cloth and hauled it here on a cart? Are your nerves made of iron too?”
“No, it’s just an iron lump anyway.”
At Chung Myung’s pursed lips, Dang Gun-ak swayed as if the world had spun out from under him, then grabbed the cart for support.
An iron lump?
An iron lump?
If one of the Tang Family retainers had said that, he would have stuffed charcoal into their mouth and sewn it shut on the spot.
But this was a swordsman who didn’t even know how precious cold iron was.
Don’t expect anything.
Yes. Why lose my temper? This bastard has always been like this.
“Huu… fine. So why in the world did you lug this cold iron all the way here?”
“To make swords.”
“……Swords?”
“Yes, plum blossom swords.”
“…….”
The corner of Dang Gun-ak’s eye twitched.
“You mean you’re making swords out of this?”
“Yep.”
His face, which had just barely calmed, went crimson again.
But soon he forced himself back into the composure of the Tang Family head.
No, no. Don’t get worked up yet.
Taking a deep breath, he looked straight at Chung Myung and asked,
“Are you perhaps planning to forge a sect treasure?”
“Nope. Just making plum blossom swords. For the senior brothers.”
“……Are you insane?”
“Pardon?”
In the end, Dang Gun-ak couldn’t hold back and spat out the crude words, fire practically spewing from his mouth.
“Why not just make swords out of gold? No, gold would be better! If you made swords from this stuff, one sword would be enough to buy an entire estate, and yet when did Mount Hua become such a rich sect?!”
“Hehe. Looks like you don’t know.”
“……Hm?”
Chung Myung puffed out his chest.
“I’ve got a pretty good amount of money, you know.”
“…….”
In the end, Dang Gun-ak sank down right there on the spot.
Even if he added up every time he had shouted in his life, it still wouldn’t compare to what he had done today.
“……You really aren’t right in the head.”
Of course, he had known that already. He had believed, however, that Chung Myung was at least half sane.
“You can make them, right?”
“…….”
“I brought it because I thought the Tang Family could make them. If you can’t, I’ll look somewhere else.”
Dang Gun-ak’s mind spun rapidly.
At last, he sorted out his thoughts, stripped away the last traces of agitation, and stood up with solemn composure, giving a firm nod.
“Of course we can make them. With the smelting techniques of the Sichuan Tang Family, forging Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron swords is not difficult.”
“Oh! Then—”
“However, there is one condition.”
“Yes?”
Dang Gun-ak’s eyes flashed.
“Would you mind giving me a little of that cold iron?”
“…….”
“I won’t ask for much, just a little. What are friends for, after all! Hahaha!”
Dang Soso, who had been staring blankly at the situation from behind, quietly turned her head away.
Her father, who had always been nothing but proud in her eyes… for some reason, today he seemed a little embarrassing.