Why Is That Man Here? 1
“Oh! This is...?”
Hyun Jong’s eyes trembled.
“This is the Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron Sword forged by the Tang Family, yes?”
“Yes.”
The answer was simple enough, but the meaning behind it was anything but small.
“...I see.”
Hyun Jong reached out and lightly brushed a hand over the wooden box.
“Since it came from the Tang Family, even the box is no ordinary thing.”
Baek Cheon smiled as he watched him. In truth, the wooden chest holding the sword was nothing particularly remarkable. The reason Hyun Jong’s misunderstanding didn’t seem absurd was because his joy was written all over his face.
“Please open it, Sect Leader.”
“Yes. Yes, of course.”
Hyun Jong nodded and slowly lifted the lid.
Creak.
“Ohh.”
At last, the Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron Sword was revealed, and Hyun Jong’s eyes rippled with emotion.
His gaze fixed on the sword engraved with plum blossoms and would not move.
Even the softly dark scabbard alone was enough to show how much care had gone into making it. And what pleased Hyun Jong even more were the plum blossom patterns carved into the scabbard and the lower part of the hilt.
This is, quite literally, a plum blossom sword.
His nose stung for no reason.
If the late master had seen this, how happy would he have been?
It felt like only yesterday that they had been unable to place even a proper sword in the children’s hands, and now here was a sword forged from cold iron...
To others, it was merely a fine sword. But to Hyun Jong, the meaning of this blade was by no means so simple.
“It truly is splendid.”
With a soft smile, Hyun Jong reached out toward the sword.
But then—
Snatch!
Before his hand could even touch it, someone seized it with lightning speed.
“...”
Startled, Hyun Jong looked up and saw Hyun Sang already gripping the cold iron sword, staring at it with all his might.
“Hey, you—”
...you bastard.
Still, I’m the Sect Leader. You grabbed it before I even got a look at it...
But he couldn’t bring himself to say it. There was a madness in Hyun Sang’s eyes that Hyun Jong had never seen before.
“...A cold iron sword.”
“...”
Shing.
Hyun Sang slowly drew the sword.
From the blade, which was far whiter than an ordinary sword’s, a faint blue sheen seemed to drift and shimmer.
“Ooooh...”
A genuine cry of admiration escaped Hyun Sang’s lips.
Anyone who had spent a lifetime swinging a sword would be able to tell at a glance how extraordinary this blade was.
Hyun Sang quietly extended a hand and stroked the blade engraved with plum blossoms. He had only touched it lightly, but a cool chill pierced straight through his fingertips.
When he flicked the blade with a fingertip, it rang out with a clear, pure note.
“Incredible. It’s truly incredible!”
Hyun Sang kept exclaiming in wonder as he turned the sword over and over again.
He likes it that much?
Unlike Hyun Young, whose mouth fell open whenever something happened, Hyun Sang had always been the sort to keep himself as composed as possible. Seeing him look so childishly delighted made even Hyun Jong smile in spite of himself.
“You seem to really—”
“Let me try it!”
Hyun Sang gave the sword a light swing.
Then, from the tip of the blade, a sharp blue sword qi burst forth...
Sword qi?
“Aaaah!”
“Hiiieeek!”
With sword qi suddenly blasting out, Baek Cheon and the others all threw themselves to the floor and rolled away.
Slash!
The sword qi immediately tore into the wall, leaving a long gash behind.
“...Huh?”
Hyun Sang’s eyes flew wide open. At the same time, Hyun Jong shot to his feet and kicked him square in the backside.
“You madman!”
Thud!
Hyun Sang, kicked in the rear, rolled across the floor.
“Sword qi inside a room? Have you lost your mind?”
Hyun Jong glared and jabbed a finger at him.
Hyun Sang, still more bewildered than anything else, blinked at the sword in his hands.
“N-no, Sect Leader. I really didn’t put much inner force into it! I only breathed a little into it out of habit, and—”
Then—
Rumble. Rumble-rumble.
The section of wall sliced by Hyun Sang’s sword qi collapsed all at once. Before anyone could do a thing, one side of the room was suddenly wide open.
“...”
Staring at the wall that had fallen in before anyone could stop it, Hyun Jong slowly lifted his gaze. Moisture gathered at the corners of his eyes.
These fools, one and all...
The disciples had brought back credit, and now the elder was causing a disaster.
Oh, the misery of my life...
Hyun Sang muttered in a voice still thick with panic.
“N-no, this can’t be right.”
And those words only poured oil on the fire for Hyun Jong.
“You call yourself an elder and then go and cause a disaster like some brat! You’re old enough to know better!”
“I-I’m telling you, Sect Brother! This sword... this sword is strange. It shouldn’t be this sharp!”
Even while saying that, Hyun Sang was still marveling at the sword, and Hyun Jong felt his insides burn until they were practically rotting away.
“Give it here!”
Hyun Jong snatched the sword from Hyun Sang and carefully fed a thread of qi into it.
Fshhht.
He had only pushed a tiny bit of energy into it, but sword qi seemed to blossom from the tip of the blade. It was almost as though the sword itself were releasing it.
“...Unbelievable.”
Hyun Jong, too, finally fell silent, his mouth hanging open.
“...So this is why they call them fine swords.”
He had thought a fine sword was just something a little sturdier, a little sharper. This was on an entirely different level.
In that instant, he understood why the sword masters of the Central Plains threw dignity aside and clung so desperately to fine blades.
“They say a true artisan does not choose their brush.”
“That’s nonsense. The better the artisan, the better the brush they use.”
“Hm?”
At the sudden interruption, Hyun Jong turned to Chung Myung.
Chung Myung smiled with obvious satisfaction and said,
“If they’re a true artisan, they’ll have plenty of money.”
“...”
“Of course they’d use a good brush.”
Ah...
That made sense.
Chung Myung shrugged.
“Same with experts. You don’t get an expert who’s broke, and if someone rich insists on using junk weapons, that’s just showing off. Like, ‘Look at me, I’m still stronger than you even with this garbage.’ That kind of thing.”
“...”
Baek Cheon, who had been staring at the ruined wall in a daze, turned to Chung Myung and asked,
“You said that before, too, but isn’t that a bit exaggerated? From what I’ve heard, the Plum Blossom Sword Saint supposedly drove back the Demonic Sect’s forces with nothing but a single blade of grass...”
“Which crazy bastard started that rumor? Did the Plum Blossom Sword get traded in for snacks? Why would he use a blade of grass when he had a perfectly good plum blossom sword? Who the hell is spouting that nonsense?”
Instead of answering, Baek Cheon slowly turned his head to the side.
Following his gaze, Chung Myung found Hyun Sang standing there with a thoroughly sour expression.
“...Sorry.”
“Ah, it was Elder Hyun Sang? I had no idea. Heh heh.”
Hyun Sang, who had only been relaying the stories passed down through the sect, now found himself branded a madman spreading rumors, and he looked away with a faintly wounded expression.
Chung Myung cleared his throat lowly.
“Ahem. Anyway, swords should be good ones, period!”
Hyun Jong quietly nodded.
In truth, when Chung Myung had said he would make swords by digging up even the hidden treasury left behind by the ancestors, Hyun Jong had been deeply unconvinced. But now that he was looking at the completed Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron Sword, he could clearly understand why the boy had gone to such lengths.
This sword would raise the skill of Mount Hua’s disciples. And in turn, it would reduce the chances of them falling into danger.
Hyun Jong, gazing at Chung Myung with eyes full of gentle warmth, slowly nodded.
“I was thinking...”
Bang!
At that exact moment, a tremendous crash came from the door.
“...”
Then Hyun Young burst into the room through a door that was practically half-destroyed.
“Damn it! What kind of meeting drags on this long? Why the hell is everything so damn drawn out?”
“...”
Hyun Young, grumbling with force, immediately spotted Chung Myung and broke into a bright grin.
“Chung Myung’s here!”
“Yes, Elder!”
“Good! Good! You little brat, what now this time... Hm? What’s this?”
Hyun Young lunged toward Hyun Jong and stared at the sword in his hands.
“...Here.”
At least he wasn’t snatching it away like Hyun Sang had. Relieved, Hyun Jong obediently handed the cold iron sword to Hyun Young.
“Oho. This color... And the plum blossom pattern engraved into the blade itself. Heh. It truly deserves the name plum blossom sword.”
What’s more, the weight and balance felt in his hand made it obvious the blade had been forged specifically for Mount Hua’s sword arts.
“Be careful when you feed it qi. Your senior brother already demolished a wall.”
“A wall? Good heavens, what happened to that?”
Hyun Young stared at the ruined wall in shock. Then, with a frightening expression, he snapped his head around and glared at Hyun Sang.
Hyun Sang flinched, then quietly looked away and pretended not to notice. As expected, Hyun Young’s sharp voice came pouring out.
“A grown man who can’t even earn a penny!”
“...I’m sorry.”
“While the young disciples go all the way to Sichuan to make money, you—an elder!”
“...I said I was sorry.”
“Tsk tsk tsk. Honestly!”
Hyun Young clicked his tongue in disapproval, then said to Hyun Jong,
“Sect Leader. The children have returned after accomplishing something truly great.”
“Indeed. Truly so.”
“Chung Myung.”
“Yes.”
“Did you bring enough swords?”
“Yes. Enough for proper use. Though if you ask whether it’s plentiful, that’s a little iffy. We were a bit short on the cold iron.”
“That’s still more than enough!”
Hyun Young nodded with satisfaction.
Seeing that, Hyun Jong smiled as well, more pleased than ever. To see everything turn out so well made his heart feel warm...
“I mean, if you were just going to send them off, you should’ve sent them off properly from the start. You spent all that time whining about the treasury and the rest like some petty miser!”
“...”
“What, were you planning to take it to your grave? A person has to know when to let go of greed! Tsk!”
“...”
“Didn’t I say if you just entrusted it to him and sent him off, he’d handle it on his own? When has Chung Myung ever failed to do the job right?”
Hyun Jong turned his head and looked out the window... no, out through the hole where the wall used to be, at the sky beyond.
These fools, the lot of them...
I really wish they’d all just disappear.
But whether Hyun Jong’s insides were being eaten away or not, Hyun Sang and Hyun Young were far too busy being delighted to care.
“Yes, yes. You’ve had a hard time! Hahaha! You brought back an even better sword than I expected.”
“Tsk tsk. Just how hard was that road that the boy’s face got so thin?”
Baek Cheon, who had been listening with resigned acceptance all this time, twitched at the corners of his mouth.
Thin? Thin, you say?
If you doubled that, the brat would become a full moon.
He’s spent the whole trip lying down, eating and sleeping, so what do you mean, thin...
Just then, Hyun Young, who had been roughly ruffling Chung Myung’s hair, froze when he noticed something white slowly poking its head up beneath the collar of Chung Myung’s clothes.
“W-what is that now?”
“Oh, this? Beast Palace Lord gave it to me as a gift.”
“...That fur color doesn’t look ordinary... It seems expensive.”
“Right?”
As though it had sensed the greed in Hyun Young’s eyes, Baek Ah bared its teeth and gave an aggressive warning.
Haaah—!
“How rude!”
Smack!
But after Chung Myung immediately punished it, it slumped in misery. Then it tucked its head back into his collar once more.
Chung Myung shrugged.
“It still has no manners.”
“I see. Unlike certain others.”
No, Elder.
They’re really quite similar. Truly...
Hyun Young’s gaze dropped a little lower.
“Hmm? And this?”
“Ah.”
Chung Myung nodded and took the Dark Fragrance Plum Blossom Sword from his waist, holding it out.
“A craftsman from the Tang Family gave me this as a gift.”
“...”
Hyun Jong and the elders were left speechless as they looked at the sword.
“This is...”
Hyun Sang, in particular, couldn’t even finish the sentence and just swallowed dryly.
This is on another level.
The Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron Sword forged by the Tang Family would certainly not fall short of the title of fine sword, but the sharpness and aura radiating from this blade made it impossible to compare with an ordinary cold iron sword.
“May I look at it for a moment?”
“Yes.”
Chung Myung obediently handed the Dark Fragrance Plum Blossom Sword to Hyun Sang.
Taking it in both hands, Hyun Sang stared at it for a moment before drawing it carefully with trembling fingers.
“Huh!”
When the blade was finally revealed, he let out a startled breath.
“A... sword like this...”
His voice sounded as though his soul had left his body.
Hyun Young, standing nearby, was no less stunned as he asked Chung Myung blankly,
“They just gave you a sword like this?”
“Yes. It’s a gift for Mount Hua.”
“...A gift for Mount Hua.”
Hyun Jong repeated the words softly to himself, then nodded.
“That is truly something to be grateful for. Truly.”
“Want to use it?”
“No.”
At Chung Myung’s question, Hyun Jong firmly declined with a shake of his head.
“It may have been given as a gift to Mount Hua, but this is a sword made for you to use.”
“Hm. That’s true.”
“Then you should be the one to use it. A gift is important for the heart of the receiver, but the intent of the giver matters as well.”
Chung Myung nodded.
“Yeah.”
But even after that decision had been made, Hyun Sang still couldn’t easily give the sword back to Chung Myung.
“Just once, let me use it...”
Then Hyun Young’s eyes flashed.
“Hand it over right this instant! You old fool, don’t be ridiculous!”
“Y-you brat! Do you know how important a sword is to a swordsman?”
“A horse’s saddle on a dog’s foot! A horse’s saddle on a dog’s foot!”
Hyun Young barked at him and snatched the Dark Fragrance Plum Blossom Sword from Hyun Sang’s hands, then returned it to Chung Myung.
“You’re the one who should use it.”
“Yes.”
Chung Myung grinned and fastened it back at his waist. Hyun Sang clicked his tongue again and again, unable to hide his lingering regret.
“Then just let me borrow it later, once...”
“Will you shut your mouth? Just shut it!”
“...”
Hyun Young shook his head and looked at Chung Myung. As always, his expression softened as if nothing had ever happened.
“Still, you’ve really had a hard time. So, was there anything else?”
“Ah, well, for now the Ghost Sect’s problem is sorted out. I’ve already sent word to the Eunha Merchant Guild, so they should be able to start operations soon.”
“That is truly wonderful news.”
“And, um...”
Chung Myung thought for a moment before speaking.
“The Sichuan Tang Family and Beast Palace... together with them, we ended up forming an alliance.”
“An alliance?”
“Yes. I named it the Heavenly Alliance. For now it’s just three sects, but we’ll be taking in more.”
At the sudden news, Hyun Jong frowned slightly.
“Since it was your doing, I’m sure you handled it as you saw fit. Still, I can’t help but think it was a hasty decision. There will be countless large and small matters to coordinate.”
“Yes. You can sort those out. Since Sect Leader, you’re the alliance lord.”
“Hm? Who?”
“Sect Leader.”
“...What?”
“Alliance lord.”
“...”
Hyun Jong’s eyes twitched as he looked at Chung Myung.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“...Why me?”
Unfortunately... there was no one who could answer that question.
Unfortunately, that was simply how it was.