The Postponed Duel - 2
"Why are you staring at me like that?"
"It's nothing, elder."
"'Elder,' you say. Haha. I'm hardly a man worth such a title. Anyway, come, have a seat. Let me at least serve you a cup of tea."
"Thank you."
The furnace was pouring out a ferocious heat — perhaps in service of forging the finest iron possible. Chae Jin, mistress of formidable martial arts that she was, couldn't have cared less; I, however, was another matter entirely. Whether he noticed this or not, Old Man Mak led Chae Jin and me outside.
Beneath a tent pitched beside the Sword Workshop stood a worn old table. Boiling water over the brazier there, Old Man Mak served us tea — and then, without my asking after anything, launched into conversation.
"My, my~. I'd heard the rumors, but this plot of yours is truly fine land."
"You've heard, then..."
"From your magistrate, of course. The man went on and on about what a good place this is. And he wasn't wrong — it really is something."
He said this with a crafty grin, then fished tobacco from his coat and glanced my way, silently asking leave to light up.
Which is why I turned to Chae Jin.
"Go right ahead."
The moment Chae Jin smiled her permission, Old Man Mak and I both had cigarettes between our lips. As I watched the smoke curling up from the Sword Workshop and the smoke curling up from the tent slowly mingle into one, Old Man Mak remarked, in a matter-of-fact tone:
"Mount Hongseong is sacred ground. And Seomhwachon is a village that has drunk in that mountain's spiritual energy for generations. I trust you know as much."
"Of course."
"Which is why I have a feeling that if I hammer iron here long enough, I might just hear the Sound of Iron."
"The Sound of Iron? What's that?"
"Think of it as something like a blacksmith's enlightenment. Young lady of Moon Lotus Pavilion — you'd be the Blade Emperor's daughter, I take it? The blade His Excellency wields is also a work forged by my master, a man who heard the Sound of Iron."
"Huh? But isn't it a rare blade he obtained in some hidden realm?"
"Haha. Ask the Blade Emperor yourself someday."
Chae Jin looked at Old Man Mak as though he were something out of a legend. By then he had finished an entire cigarette at remarkable speed; he rummaged through his tobacco case and, finding it empty, finally smacked his lips.
"Here you are."
I held out my own cigarette case. He flashed a grin, popped one straight between his lips, and took up his story again.
"Truth be told, I never meant to come here at all. At my age, there's no telling when my time will come."
"I see."
"So I meant to set aside everyone's commissions, burn through everything I have, and train myself to hear the Sound of Iron. Haha. And yet — would you look at that. The moment I set foot here, some instinct told me this might be the very place I could hear it. Lord Yu. Do you know what I'm about to ask of you?"
"You want my support, don't you?"
"If it's no trouble, might you see your way to procuring some good iron for me? The magistrate did say he'd cover the cost..."
The bold bearing of moments ago had vanished without a trace. Fidgeting, he pleaded with the earnestness of a man begging for his life.
I smiled and nodded at him.
"Consider it done. Don't you worry."
I already knew of mines that could yield good iron. Ha-O Gate had apparently done its own digging — they'd tipped me off about a few likely candidates over drinks some time ago — and my knowledge of Cheonsang Myeongwol told me of several more mines whose ore veins had yet to be discovered by anyone in this world.
Among them, I had settled on the mine where fine iron would be unearthed in the latter half of the game's first arc — the very one Ha-no had judged worthwhile as well.
I had quietly passed word of Jucheon Mine — an abandoned pit not far from Yangwi Fortress — along to the Cheonghoe Merchant Guild. Cheon Il-hwa had set exploration and development in motion on the spot, and just days ago I'd heard they were already reaping results.
Thanks to that, I'd earned back more than I'd invested. A happy turn of events, that.
"You'll be hearing good news before long."
"Oh? Some interesting tale, is it?"
To him, ears perked with curiosity, I offered nothing but a smile in reply. Cheon Il-hwa had asked me to keep the mine's details confidential, after all.
Still, as an investor, if I asked for good iron, Cheon Il-hwa was not a man who would refuse. And whatever the circumstances behind it, so long as the iron was good, that was all Old Man Mak cared about — he dropped the subject at once.
"Well, I'll be. My apologies for keeping a busy man. I'll be in your hands from here on out — and I swear I'll forge you nothing but my finest work."
"The pleasure is mine. Oh — one more thing. I plan to install the dharma treasure I brought back from Changungwan today."
"Eh? Don't tell me — Zhongli Quan's Plantain Fan?"
"The very one."
"My, my. So you truly do intend to build this village up proper, my lord. Heh. That's fine news indeed. With Master Zhongli's power dwelling here, the quality of everything we produce will climb. Although... I hear installing the thing is no small undertaking. Were you thinking of requesting the Hongseong Sect's aid?"
"It's nothing so difficult as all that. I only need the young lady Chae at my side."
"Hmm... well. If you say so. Send word once it's done. I'll make you a proper set of armor by way of thanks."
"Thank you."
With that, our conversation drew to a close, Old Man Mak now warmer and more deferential toward me than he had been before.
All that remained was to head back, see to a little work, and wait for night to fall.
"If you'd like to look around a while longer, say the word."
"Really? Then might we take it slow — call it a stroll?"
I met Chae Jin's bright smile and nodded. I had some thinking to sort through myself; I might as well treat it as a rest and enjoy the walk.
Walking the streets of Seomhwachon was nothing new to me, but this was the first time I had ever drifted through them with my mind at ease.
We wandered past the farmland and the newly broken fields, and on the way back, Chae Jin spoke, her eyes on the far distance, as if only in passing:
"How was Mount Changun?"
"Plenty to see, one way or another. And we had a visit from the Demonic Cult, too."
"Ah, sounds like you had a wonderful... I'm sorry — what?"
"A Demonic Cult raid. Did you know Changungwan is attacked by them again and again?"
"Er... I mean, I'd heard that. But why on earth would they pick that exact day to strike?"
"That's what I'd like to know. Still, I came away with this and that for my trouble, so no harm done. 'Turn calamity into blessing' — never has a saying fit so well."
"Are you hurt anywhere?"
"Not a scratch. Chae Family Tai Chi Chuan proved its worth against the jiangshi."
Thanks to the Chae Family Tai Chi Chuan Chae Jin had taught me, I had been able to fight at Sa Yun's side. Honestly, that was something even I had never seen coming — and it would be a lie to say it didn't make me happy.
"That I didn't turn down your offer back then is my proudest boast."
"Ah. Uh. Um. I-if that's how you feel, then I'm glad... Phewwww..."
Chae Jin heaved an enormous sigh. But she still seemed too embarrassed to look this way.
Haha. Imagine being this flustered over a simple word of thanks.
"So? How was it on your end?"
"Nothing special, really. Oh — that's right. Old Master Gi Cha-jo says he'll be paying us a visit one of these days?"
"Is that so? Good timing, that. Yohwan will need to show what she can really do before long."
"He does love his food and his drink, so wouldn't he and Yohwan get along famously?"
Come to think of it, that old woman did love her meals and her liquor too.
And so Chae Jin and I walked on, trading talk of this and that, and before I knew it we had arrived at the inn.
"Right! Time for training, then?!"
"...Weren't today supposed to be a day of rest?"
She was the one who'd dragged me out for a walk, so I'd assumed we were taking it easy. But my protest didn't land so much as a flicker with our one-and-only instructor.
"Don't you go making excuses. Besides, if we're to match our breathing later, we need the practice, don't we?"
How did she always manage to be so thoroughly, point-by-point right about everything?
Faced with Chae Jin's wink and grin, I had no reply in me — I simply settled into my stance.
Night fell. Around the time the inn was shutting its doors for the day, Chae Jin, Yohwan, and I gathered at the inn.
"Yohwan. You didn't have to come."
"Weren't you saying you'd install Changungwan's dharma treasure? If the balance starts to slip, I can call it out from the sidelines, can't I? Just leave it to this old lady. My eye for these things is nothing short of miraculous."
Speaking without a trace of ceremony, she opened the door to the underground chamber.
Perhaps because several holes had been bored through the cellar ceiling here and there, connecting it to the world outside, the air wasn't entirely stagnant — but underground was underground, and that peculiar dampness clung to everything all the same.
Not that anyone present gave it a second thought.
"Banners, hmm... Those are what one receives as rewards from Changungwan, yes?"
"That's right."
"Haha... It's been a long time since I've laid eyes on one of those."
Apparently Yohwan knew exactly what the three banners I carried were. Well, any sect of decent standing almost invariably held at least one of them.
"Well, then."
I stood the Plantain Fan upright at the center of the cellar. The moment I did, a faint radiance began to seep from it, and that light reached out and settled into Chae Jin and me.
"What do we do now?"
"Nothing much to it. We simply unfold the same martial art as before."
"The Eight Immortals are immortals of the Dao. And so they prize yin and yang above all. The rite of installing a dharma treasure works the same way. You wield the same art, but as it resonates with the art unfolded by another, the treasure releases the power sealed within it."
She knew her stuff, as expected. At her added explanation, Chae Jin nodded.
"Then let's begin with Soft Illusory Form."
Soft Illusory Form. The first form of Chae Family Tai Chi Chuan — the first I had ever learned. And the very heart of the art.
Recalling the day I'd first been taught it, I extended my left hand as well.
Between our outstretched hands, facing one another across the fan, the Plantain Fan poured out its light. The rite had begun.
Sensing it, Chae Jin set her left hand stirring in a soft, unhurried arc. As though she were dancing.
When I moved my own left hand to match her rhythm, our domains met — and collided. Yet there was no impact. For this, too, was harmony; this, too, was flow. As if to teach me that the soul of Soft Illusory Form lay in softness — yu, the gentle — her domain and mine did not strike one another, but simply slipped past each other in a gentle blur.
"You remember, don't you? That extremes oppose extremes — and that this very opposition means oneness."
"I remember."
Was it because we had already harmonized once before? Or because Chae Jin was bending herself to fit me? Either way, the further our Chae Family Tai Chi Chuan flowed, the more the Plantain Fan's light swelled, steady and without a flicker.
And so Soft Illusory Form ran its course, and next came Jinhongha — the True Great River.
The moment we stepped into the form named for a vast river, Chae Jin's movements quickened. Like the current of a great river skimming along the riverbed, she swept through and swiftly devoured my domain — and I, unfolding Jinhongha in answer, reached for hers.
Seizing and seized, devouring and devoured.
Perhaps because our two domains shifted and changed yet never grew beyond their constant measure, the Plantain Fan's light blazed brighter than ever — then slowly, gently, began to settle.
"Whew... So that's as far as it goes."
The fan now gave off a soft, even glow, unlike the light it had shown at the start. I let out a long breath and brought Chae Family Tai Chi Chuan to a close. Chae Jin eased to a stop in time with me, gazing at the treasure in wonder, and I planted the banners I had prepared around the Plantain Fan.
From this day forward, every good produced in Seomhwachon would be touched by the dharma treasure's power — and its quality would rise.
"Is that everything?"
"That's all."
"I see."
Chae Jin studied the dharma treasure for a long moment, then gave a small nod. Her face had gone serious — it seemed she had made up her mind about something.
"So — the duel comes now?"
"I did promise."
"Then once the duel is over, you'll be leaving..."
"...Pardon? Me?"
Hadn't the whole point of her stay here been the duel in the first place?
At my look, Chae Jin only flung her eyes wide, the very picture of incredulity, and said:
"I still have plenty left to teach you, innkeeper. Where on earth would I even go?"