New Year - 1
Maintaining one's composure, it turned out, demanded far more mental discipline than I had expected.
Especially the way Hong Ryeon or Chae Jin would gaze at me and let a small smile slip through—it took a real toll on my heart. If I weren't paying attention, I would simply think, ah, she's just smiling. But now that I was aware of it, even that seemed like some form of affection, and it set my insides tingling something fierce.
"Innkeeper? What's the matter?"
Sa Yun's voice steadied my heart a little. She looked up at me with a worried face and asked, "You look tired..."
"Have you been overdoing it again lately?"
"Don't do that. Really. Oh—and I'll set some tonic aside for you, so make sure you take that too."
Perhaps it was because of the time I'd collapsed before? The two of them reacted to Sa Yun's words in a heartbeat. As Hong Ryeon and Chae Jin drew close around me, I smiled, holding my composure together as best I could.
"Haha. It's nothing, so there's no need to worry. Still..."
I turned my gaze to the training ground.
Some time had passed since Hong Ryeon and Chae Jin returned from the Mirror Secret Realm, and at long last, only the final session of training at Moon Lotus Pavilion remained.
Today's training was sparring.
A day to put everything they had learned to the test.
"As for Miss Hyeon Hwi..."
"Ah, I'm fine sitting out."
The numbers simply didn't add up.
If Moon Lotus Pavilion had another inner disciple, Hyeon Hwi would have had a partner to spar with, but short of that, what could be done? When she shrugged, the Blade Emperor, who had been watching, spoke with easy composure.
"Then let it be an instructional match. How about you pair with me?"
"It would be an honor, but I hardly make a worthy opponent for you..."
"Haha. I'll use fists alone as well. And I'll keep my inner energy suppressed as much as I can."
"In that case, I would humbly like to test myself against you."
"Hehe. Good. Now then, you first."
The Blade Emperor lightly clenched his fist, and Hyeon Hwi clenched hers.
A contest of fist artist against fist artist.
I practiced fists too, after all—this was something I had to watch closely.
"Hyaap!!"
With a low battle cry, Hyeon Hwi shot forward, and the Blade Emperor met her head-on.
"Whoa..."
The admiration slipped out of me of its own accord. Was that what a proper fist art looked like?
Hyeon Hwi aside, the Blade Emperor clearly had real insight into fist techniques as well—his movements were anything but a joke. They say that simply watching masters fight is an education in itself, and it was true.
As I watched, utterly absorbed, the match came to an end. Drenched in sweat, Hyeon Hwi smiled in satisfaction and offered a cupped-fist salute, and the Blade Emperor gave a small nod.
"Your strength is fine, but overall you lean too far into hardness. The Hongseong Divine Art itself makes use of hardness, but you must not turn your back on softness."
"I will keep that in mind."
Her match done, Hyeon Hwi withdrew to a corner to review what she'd learned. The Blade Emperor glanced at her seated there alone, following her own thoughts, then turned his gaze our way.
"Next."
Sa Yun, and then Chae Ryeon. The two of them rose from their seats.
As they strode up onto the sparring ring, I—seated among the spectators—fixed Sa Yun with a grave look.
"Sa Yun's skills have come a long way, haven't they?"
"Mm. Yes. A very long way."
I nodded at the seriousness in Hong Ryeon's voice. And Chae Jin, seated beside me, clicked her tongue.
"But our Ryeon is no pushover either... and from what I've seen, she's been quietly reaching into the escape arts as well."
Hong Ryeon shot Chae Jin a look, and Chae Jin looked right back at her.
The match hadn't even begun, and already the air between them was razor-edged.
...With things like this, was I really going to be able to handle it?
"Begin."
The instant the Blade Emperor's word left his mouth, Sa Yun and Chae Ryeon bowed to one another.
Then sword and saber cleared their sheaths.
Two gleaming blades collided in a heartbeat, ringing out with a sharp crack.
"Ohh..."
By the Murim Alliance's measure, Sa Yun and Chae Ryeon were both Gap Grade martial artists, but a difference in their abilities was inevitable.
Even so, Sa Yun was not being driven back. No—if anything, she seemed to be pressing forward all the harder.
"The Hongseong Divine Art is an art of hardness, after all."
Hard enough, then, that it couldn't be easily turned aside? As Hong Ryeon finished her explanation, Sa Yun's sword moved. As though intent on settling things quickly from the opening exchange, her blade began to unfold in brilliant flourishes—and Chae Ryeon's saber answered in kind.
Against the fierce, powerful, destructive sword forms of the Hongseong Divine Art, Chae Ryeon's saber moved with liquid grace.
It was, in every sense, a duel of hard against soft.
"They call it 'the soft subduing the hard,' you know."
Watching Chae Ryeon deflect Sa Yun's sword strikes with room to spare, Chae Jin flashed a grin. It seemed she rather enjoyed seeing her little sister work the match to her advantage.
Wham!!
The moment Sa Yun, trading sword forms against Chae Ryeon's saber art, closed the distance, one of her strikes drove deep into Chae Ryeon's stomach. Sent staggering back by the blow, Chae Ryeon pulled herself upright with a groan.
"Well now, not bad at all, am I right?"
"Thank you."
"Good. Now then—my turn!"
Apparently the blow hadn't done any real damage. Chae Ryeon darted back in and unfolded her saber art, and as Sa Yun deflected it—
Click!
Chae Ryeon's saber whirled spinning past the sword, and as though flinging her blade into the air she simply let it go—her free hand flowing naturally onto Sa Yun's wrist.
And then—
Crash!!
It was Chae Family Tai Chi Chuan. Using a form I knew well, Chae Ryeon swept Sa Yun off her feet, and with Sa Yun's stance broken, she caught her saber—still spinning in midair.
And before the follow-up strike could land, Sa Yun unfolded a form of the Hongseong Divine Art to drive her back and scrambled to her feet.
"Hehe. Consider that one paid back."
"Ahaha. I thought I understood Chae Family Tai Chi Chuan well enough just from watching you practice it, Innkeeper, but that was something else."
"That's because my own style is mixed in."
Sa Yun settled back into her stance. Chae Ryeon grinned and leveled her saber at her, and their match went on.
"Hup!!"
With a low battle cry, Sa Yun's fist slammed into Chae Ryeon's chest. Only when Chae Ryeon—unable to turn it aside with Chae Family Tai Chi Chuan or any other defensive art—crumpled to the floor did the Blade Emperor raise his hand.
"Enough. The winner is Miss Sa."
"Huh? I can still keep going, though?"
Chae Ryeon sat up, puzzled. The Blade Emperor shook his head at her.
"We still have to mind how we divide the time."
"Oh, right. Sparring's just too much fun—I forgot all about that. Sa Yun, want to go another round later?"
"Whew... Yes, let's!"
Neither Sa Yun nor Chae Ryeon seemed all that attached to the outcome itself.
And no wonder—they were evenly matched, and they'd been able to pile up experience by trading forms.
Judged purely on the exchange so far, Sa Yun had simply landed a few more clean hits, which made it her victory; had the match gone on longer, there was no telling how it might have ended.
Even so, it had been a satisfying bout.
What mattered to me was confirming Sa Yun's growth—and I had seen, with my own eyes, that she had grown tremendously, beyond anything I had imagined.
To think she was already on par with Chae Ryeon...
I turned to Hong Ryeon.
"Hm? What is it?"
"Haha. You must have gone through a great deal of trouble for her."
The things I had witnessed within her mindscape rose to the surface of my memory.
She must have relinquished her own share and divided it among her junior sisters—that was how Sa Yun had been able to grow this far, wasn't it?
I smiled at her, and Hong Ryeon, looking bewildered for a moment, smiled back.
"...I sparred with Sa Yun plenty too, you know."
"And of course, I am always grateful to you as well."
I knew that Chae Jin had sparred with Sa Yun every chance she got.
For Sa Yun, who had little real combat experience and no dealings with the world beyond, those matches against Chae Jin must have been an immense help.
"Whoa—hey, you don't have to answer that so earnestly."
"I am simply sincere in everything I do."
"Ahaha!"
Chae Jin laughed, thoroughly pleased.
As the mood settled for a moment, the Blade Emperor looked our way.
"Step forward."
Today's main event.
The sparring match between Hong Ryeon and Chae Jin was about to begin.
The two of them hurried down to the ring, and the Blade Emperor, watching them go, said evenly:
"I hear from Master Yu that you two agreed not to deal each other any serious injuries when you spar?"
Chae Jin nodded. The Blade Emperor glanced my way and let out a sigh.
"For a martial artist to flinch at a few injuries is a little... well. If that's what you've decided, then spar accordingly. Now then... begin."
Before the word had even finished leaving his mouth, Hong Ryeon and Chae Jin were charging at each other.
A long while later, the match was over.
It ended in a draw for Hong Ryeon—same as last time.
Once the bout was finished, Chae Jin changed out of her clothes, now reduced to rags, and was promptly hauled off by the Blade Emperor to swing her saber in a corner of the training ground. Probably to walk her through the forms she had shown in the match, in greater detail.
Which was why I went looking for Hong Ryeon.
After the match, she was carrying injuries of her own as well—not serious ones, but I worried all the same.
Sa Yun and Hyeon Hwi were worried too, but I told them I would go, gathered medicine from my room, and came to a stop in front of Hong Ryeon's door.
When I knocked, a voice drifted out from within a moment later.
"Who is it?"
"It's me."
Every other time, she'd told me to just come in, so announcing myself like this felt oddly stiff.
"J-just a moment!"
A clattering racket rose from inside. Honestly—what was she doing in there? She was the one supposed to be recovering.
I waited, and when she finally said I could come in, I opened the door—and burst out laughing.
"Haha. What are you doing?"
"Mm. Playing the frail beauty?"
Cold winter air drifted in through the window left slightly ajar, stirring her red hair. White robes wrapped around her, bandages here and there.
Despite it all, Hong Ryeon was as beautiful as ever, her black eyes shining up at me.
"Did you come to check on the patient?"
"That I did. You really ought to be at the infirmary, though."
"Hehe. I just need a little rest, that's all."
"Ah, and take this. It's a fine recovery medicine—drink it down, sleep for a good stretch, and you'll be right as rain."
It was one of the recovery medicines I'd brought along. I'd packed it against emergencies; I never imagined I'd end up using it like this.
I'd heard earlier that Hong Ryeon had refused separate treatment, so no fresh prescription had been made.
Still, when you're hurt, taking your medicine is how you heal fast.
I opened the bottle, poured the medicine into a bowl, stirred it well, and held it out to her. She looked at it for a moment, then curved her eyes into a sweet arc.
"Ahaha... but whatever am I to do? I can hardly lift my hand."
She was asking me to feed her, wasn't she?
That she would pull this kind of spoiled act with me alone—something she'd never dream of doing with anyone else—meant that this much, at least, Hong Ryeon had let her guard all the way down around me.
Then oblige her, I would.
"Here."
"Huh?!"
"You did ask me to feed you."
"Uh... uhh. R-really?"
"Would I feed you pretend spoonfuls? Come now. Open up—ahh."
I lifted the silver spoon resting in the medicine bowl. Hong Ryeon's gaze darted between it and me; flustered, she squeezed her eyes shut and parted her lips.
When I slipped a spoonful of medicine inside, she tilted her head.
"Strange. The medicine tastes a little different somehow."
"Glad to hear it. Finish that, and have this too."
"Okaaay..."
Fed one spoonful at a time like that, Hong Ryeon only finally closed her mouth once I'd fed her the honey pastry as well.
A brief silence settled.
"Honestly, I could have won..."
"Well, you were also trying to keep your promise to me. There's no need to fixate on winning and losing, is there?"
Just then, a physician from the infirmary came in. She examined Hong Ryeon's condition, said that since she'd taken the medicine I'd brought, a day or two of taking it easy would be enough, and left. Only then did Hong Ryeon manage a sheepish smile.
"Something like this would heal on its own with a bit of breathing meditation. I feel like I'm just worrying everyone for nothing."
"All the same, rest is rest."
I pointed to Hong Ryeon's shoulder. The spot where she'd been struck by the new form Chae Jin had revealed earlier was still flushed red.
Chae Jin, certainly, had used forms she had never shown before. Passing through the Mirror Secret Realm meant she had overcome her inner demon—and grown stronger for it.
Just like the Hong Ryeon before my eyes.
"She overcame her inner demon too... didn't she?"
"I'd imagine so."
I caught the faint tremor in her voice.
Perhaps recalling what had happened in her own mindscape, the Mirror Secret Realm, she reddened slightly and squirmed, then stared hard at my face before ducking her head deep.
"You don't look well. Will you rest a while?"
Unable to answer, she gave only a small nod, and I eased her down onto the bed.
And when I drew the blanket over her, she tugged it up just high enough to peek out at me with her eyes alone, then let them fold into a gentle, curving smile.
"Thank you for coming to see me. No... thank you, always. For everything."
"That's my line."
"Hehe."
"Well then, I should get going..."
At that moment, Hong Ryeon caught the hem of my sleeve, gazed up at me steadily with those black eyes, and said:
"Could you not... stay a little longer?"
There was no reason not to.
I waited quietly at her side until she drifted into an easy sleep.