To Rise One Step Higher - 2
Over drinks with the Blade Emperor, I heard quite a few stories.
He told me that from childhood, his family had heaped expectations upon him, and that because of it, political marriages had been arranged for him here, there, and everywhere. But he had built up deep affection over long years, and he could not bring himself to cast aside the wife who had cared for him all this time. And so he trained, and trained, to overpower his family's decrees—and to laugh right back at the people who sneered that it couldn't be done, he finally ascended to the realm of the Transcendent.
"Some worthless bastards do like to run their mouths from time to time. But seeing one's own will through to the end is a man's duty too, is it not?"
His words were a hundred times right.
What I was doing was no easy thing either. But was I not likewise pressing forward, step by step, to see our will through?
So I could hardly deny the Blade Emperor's right to see his own will through.
Not that I had any reason to.
"As expected, Master Yu, you are a true man. I had a feeling you, of all people, would understand where I stand. Now then—another round."
He raised his cup, and I raised mine. When I downed mine in a single gulp, he flashed a wide grin.
"You drink with real gusto. I take it you can hold your liquor, then?"
"Haha. Well, I do run an inn, after all. If I don't know the taste of the liquor I sell, how am I supposed to serve it properly to my guests?"
"Heh heh. True enough. Meeting a fine drinking companion after all these years—I couldn't be more pleased."
With that, the Blade Emperor reached for the bottle. We had already put away quite a lot between us, yet somehow the evening showed no sign of ending.
"Ah, if you've had your fill, feel free to stop whenever you like."
"I'm quite all right."
"Heh heh. Good. Very good."
Not once did he resort to blowing away his drunkenness with inner energy. He simply laughed and drank, thoroughly enjoying himself.
So we drank late into the night, and when the last of the prepared liquor ran dry, he smacked his lips in disappointment, drew a pipe from his pocket, and glanced at me.
"Mind if I?"
"I smoke as well."
"Haha. Then let's have one together."
The two of us stepped outside. There, in the seats arranged in the garden, the Blade Emperor and I lit our long pipes and smoked.
His face flushed red with drink, smirking in easy contentment, the Blade Emperor spoke at his leisure.
"Now, I heard the story from Ryeon. You mean to develop Seomhwachon, do you?"
"That is so."
"And to raise up the Hongseong Sect with it?"
"I won't deny it."
"I see."
The Hongseong Sect and Moon Lotus Pavilion were well-matched rivals. My aiding Hongseong was, in effect, tantamount to declaring I would stand against Moon Lotus Pavilion—yet the Blade Emperor merely laughed.
"I'll be looking forward to it, then."
"You're not going to reproach me for it?"
"A man only grows strong when there is someone strong to grow against, after all."
Grinning, he tapped the ash from his pipe.
"But... let's still share a drink now and then."
"Next time, I'll host you in Seomhwachon."
"Hahaha! Now that's something to look forward to! Ah—come to think of it, I've been keeping a secret medicinal liquor of my own. Care for just one more cup?"
Facing that smirk of his, I nodded with a smile.
It seemed the man had never truly had a drinking companion before.
"Ughhh..."
A groan escaped me despite myself.
Barely hauling up my leaden eyelids as I dragged myself out of bed, I finally managed to piece together what had happened yesterday.
"Just one more cup," he'd said. Who knew he meant several more bottles?
Still, for all that I'd drunk, I had no hangover—it must truly have been fine liquor.
When I hosted him at Seomhwachon later, I would have to open my secret liquor cellar for him.
In any case, I rose at my usual hour and, after practicing the Five Animal Frolics and the Chaega Taegeukgwon as I always did, had barely finished washing up when a maidservant came knocking at my room.
"I will escort you to the dining hall."
Following her down, I found Hong Ryeon, Hyeon Hwi, Sa Yun, Chae Jin, and Chae Ryeon already seated in the dining hall.
"Sit here."
Hong Ryeon waved, and I took the empty seat beside her. A short while later the door opened, and the Blade Emperor walked in.
"Mmm. Master Yu. Feeling all right?"
"I'm quite fine."
"...Well, well. Aren't you something."
He could have blown the drunkenness away with inner energy if he'd wanted to, yet seeing that he didn't, I supposed he really was a drinker through and through.
The Blade Emperor chuckled, and breakfast began.
"Today, Ryeon—you are to rest."
"Huh? Why?"
"Because I intend to drill Lady Hyeon and Lady Sa, along with Chae Jin and Chae Ryeon, intensively. And tomorrow, Chae Jin, it will be your turn to rest."
"Understood."
As the meal wound on, the Blade Emperor laid out the schedule. Today it was Hong Ryeon, tomorrow Chae Jin, and the day after, Sa Yun, Hyeon Hwi, and Chae Ryeon.
Each of them would rest in turn like this, he said, and on the final day he would have them all spar against one another.
This training was under the Blade Emperor's direction, so there was nothing to be done about it.
"And your other disciples...?"
"They are away at the Murim Assembly. I'll train them separately when they return, so there's no need for you to trouble yourself over them, Master."
With that brief notice, breakfast came to an end, and the Blade Emperor headed straight for the training grounds. Left alone, I returned to my room.
Now, then. I had time to spare—what to do with it...
Knock, knock.
I had just been thinking that since I'd come all the way to Cheongho, I might as well start opening up a trade network for goods sold only in this region, when I heard the knock at the door.
Who could it be? No one should be coming.
"Come in."
"What are you doing?"
It was Hong Ryeon. To her, entering with a beaming face, I said with a smile:
"Seomhwachon keeps growing, and I thought I'd use the trip to survey the market here—perhaps expand the trading company's inventory while I'm at it."
"Perfect timing, then. I need to make a trip to the market myself. Today's my rest day, so I figured I'd get moving now while I can."
"Going to buy fabric?"
"Yes. So..."
Softly, Hong Ryeon looked at me.
"Want to go together?"
"Let's."
"Th-then, let's meet at the entrance of Moon Lotus Pavilion in a little while."
Hong Ryeon rattled it off in a rush and darted out of the room. Lingering in the scent of Thousand-Day Plum Blossoms she left behind, I rose from my seat.
All right. Time to get ready.
I stepped outside the Moon Lotus Pavilion, and after waiting a short while, Hong Ryeon emerged. Instead of her usual Hongseong Sect attire, she wore a flowing white court gown—apparently prepared for her by Moon Lotus Pavilion.
"S-so, how do I look?"
Clutching the hem of her long skirt, she asked. I considered for a moment before answering.
"It suits you beautifully."
And I meant every word. The airy white fabric and her long red hair set each other off in perfect harmony.
When I let out a genuine gasp of admiration at the sight of her, light makeup and all, Hong Ryeon smiled bashfully and nodded.
"Thank you."
"I was only stating the truth. Now, let's be off."
With a low cough, I set off for the market with Hong Ryeon. It being winter, the air was a touch crisp, but hardly cold enough to keep us indoors.
And, as if to prove the point, the market was bustling with people.
"I've been here before, but it's just as crowded as ever."
"The market at Seomhwachon is growing too, but it still can't hold a candle to Cheongho. Now then—shall we look at fabric first?"
"Sounds good!"
As it happened, I knew just the place. I walked to the cloth shop I'd visited once before with Chae Jin and, surveying an interior now stocked with far more goods than before, asked:
"Shall we browse together? Or..."
"Together would be better, wouldn't it? You were planning to look at fabric yourself anyway, weren't you?"
"True enough. Then let's look together."
I stepped into the shop with Hong Ryeon, and the moment the owner laid eyes on us, he greeted us with a beaming smile.
"Welcome, welcome~! What a well-matched couple you make."
"Thank you. I've come about importing fabric—might I take a look at your stock?"
"Ah, wholesale? Then come this way, please. And the young lady as well..."
"Ah, I'm having clothes made separately, actually..."
"Then please browse over here while we talk. For a bulk purchase, may I ask what exactly you require..."
"If you carry Jinho fabric, I'd like to see some of it."
"Jinho fabric, you say. You've a fine eye. One moment, please."
While Hong Ryeon lingered at my side, I looked over the other cloths.
"Oh my. Wouldn't this fabric look wonderful on Sayun, if we had clothes made from it for her?"
The cloth Hong Ryeon had picked up was a cheerful, sunny yellow—one that seemed made for spring.
Beyond that, she went on sifting through fabrics for clothes to make for her other junior sisters, chatting away in high spirits—and I watched her steadily all the while.
"Hm? What is it?"
She appeared to be smiling brightly, but there was a faint shadow across her face. Was the makeup meant to hide it?
"Your expression isn't good. Have things been hard on you lately?"
"...Do I look that way?"
"You do. It seems to me you're pushing yourself too hard, trying to make clothes for all your junior sisters."
Hong Ryeon pondered for a moment, then nodded.
"You really are impossible to fool."
"I've been watching you that closely—it would be stranger if I didn't notice."
"Ugh..."
She groaned softly for a moment, then gave a small nod.
"When I came to meet the Blade Emperor before, I couldn't grasp the Falling Meteor either. And I still haven't mastered it... I'm certain I've grown, and yet... that's what's been weighing on my mind, I suppose."
She murmured it in a small voice, as if to herself—and then she smiled.
"Hehe. So... would you cheer me on?"
At her words, I answered with a smile of my own.
"As much as you could ever want."
Cheongho counted fabric among its local specialties, so cloth shops dotted the district in great number. Since there were other places we needed to survey beyond the first shop, we only took our measurements of the stock and moved on. After making the rounds of several cloth merchants, we arrived at a grand teahouse perched beside the lake itself.
"The most famous teahouse in all of Cheongho is this one—the Hoyun Teahouse. Did you know?"
I did, in fact.
It made an appearance in Celestial Moon, after all.
I followed her into the teahouse and we climbed to its third floor.
When we settled into seats with a sweeping view over the whole of Cheongho, Hong Ryeon gazed out at the lake and smiled brightly.
Tea and sweets arrived, and Hong Ryeon nibbled happily at her pastries while drinking in the scenery.
"This is lovely. Every once in a while, it's nice to just relax and enjoy yourself like this."
"You're always driving yourself so hard. You need moments to unwind like this now and then."
Hong Ryeon gave a bright smile.
The way she always did.
"'Hardworking,' he says... aren't you the worse one of us?"
"I wouldn't say that, exactly..."
"Says the man who collapsed from a mere cold?"
When Hong Ryeon jabbed at me like that, I shut my mouth.
A man laid low by a simple cold—it was embarrassing enough as it was.
"Come to think of it, I never properly thanked you for catching me that day."
It had stayed with me—that I had fallen, as if straight into her arms.
I'd been meaning to bring it up anyway. A perfect opportunity.
"That was nothing at all. If anything, it made me happy. I'm always the one leaning on you—it felt like, for once, you were leaning on me."
"Even so, I wanted to apologize, and to thank you."
"Ahaha. So serious. Then I'll accept that apology and those thanks in the spirit they're given. And next time I'm the one having a hard time, you can be the one to catch me. How does that sound?"
"Just say the word, any time."
"You mean it? Hehe. I'll hold you to it."
Sipping her tea, she winked one eye at me.
It had been an enjoyable outing in its own right, and perhaps because of that, Hong Ryeon seemed to have rediscovered her spark.
After finishing our chat and the last of the tea, we strolled a while around Cheongho; by the time we made our way back, the sun was hanging low.
"Tomorrow the real training begins, then. Give it your best."
"I will. With you helping me and cheering me on like this, how could I not?"
Smiling warmly, she turned slightly.
"Then—see you at dinner."
Waving, Hong Ryeon walked away. As I stood gazing absently after her retreating figure—
"Oh? Been out somewhere?"
—I ran straight into Chae Jin, walking toward me with her saber in hand.
Apparently she had just finished a long stretch of training, for her hair, still damp with sweat, clung to her skin. Sweeping it back off her brow, she asked, and I answered evenly:
"I stepped out with Hong Ryeon for a bit. We were making the rounds on some goods-import business for Seomhwachon."
"...Oh. With Hong Ryeon. Come to think of it, she had today off, didn't she."
Having said that, Chae Jin broke into a grin.
"Did you see everything? There are plenty of shops in Cheongho, you know."
"Not everything. Not yet."
"Then tomorrow, you're coming out with me. You weren't planning on going around with Hong Ryeon only, were you?"
When she put it that way, what choice did I have?
I met her gaze for a long moment, then nodded.