How Does Brother Namgung Know About Claymores…?
Once we finished the pork soup and stepped out of the inn, Brother Namgung spoke up as if he had been waiting for the moment.
"…That aside, I still haven't heard from you. What became of that fellow Geungwang?"
"Ah…."
Only then did it hit me that I had never properly explained to Brother Namgung what had happened in the bathhouse.
"Well, you see…."
Watching me struggle to organize my thoughts, Brother Namgung took the lead and began walking at a leisurely pace.
"We have somewhere to go, so I'll listen while we walk. Tell me everything in detail."
…And so, following Brother Namgung wherever he was headed, I spilled every last detail of the bathhouse incident.
"…Using the method you taught me, Brother, things were going reasonably well, but…. Geungwang's, um, that was just too enormous…."
As I described how Geungwang's member had pressed hard against my belly, the memory rose before my eyes as vividly as if it were happening all over again.
"Tsk tsk…. So it was large enough to send you fleeing in utter panic? Looking at you now, your face is as red as a ripe persimmon."
"I-I was just startled, that's all."
Despite the scolding tone, Brother Namgung's voice and expression were laced with mischief.
"…Still, from where I stand, it's a solid green light."
"Green light?"
"Meaning the green signal. High chance of success. I guarantee it—you'll end up… quite intimately close."
"Haa, is that so…."
Does he mean becoming sworn brothers and best friends like Brother Namgung and me…?
I had approached hoping to get closer, only to bolt without a word, so I figured any chance of friendship was long gone and things would stay awkward. Yet hearing the confidence in Brother Namgung's voice, it almost seemed possible to salvage the friendship that had gone sideways from the very start.
"…By the way, where are we headed right now?"
"I ordered a self-defense weapon for you to use from now on. It arrives today, so we're going to pick it up. We'll introduce ourselves to the maker while we're at it, get acquainted, and give it a try in the training grounds."
"A self-defense weapon? This is the first I've heard of it! Anyway, thank you, Brother Namgung!"
It wasn't just any gift—the weight of the word "weapon" was something special, so hiding my excitement was impossible.
"A sword, right? Or maybe a spear?"
"Oh, look at this fellow. I said self-defense, not something made for harming people."
Apparently my eager prying rubbed him the wrong way, because Brother Namgung chided me.
"Is that so…?"
Still, even a self-defense weapon was a weapon in the end. His answer left me puzzled and curious, but since I would soon see the thing with my own eyes, I decided not to dwell on it.
More importantly, something I had been mulling over these past few days felt right to bring up now, so I seized the chance before it slipped away.
"Brother Namgung…, that aside, I'm grateful you personally chose my name and registered it in the family registry, but…. Unless it's a situation where I absolutely must use it, how about calling me Gaeul, the way you usually do?"
Brother Namgung tilted his head at my words.
"That's rather sudden. I don't mind either way…. Is there a reason?"
As we continued our slow walk, I explained my reasons to him.
To sum up what I told Brother Namgung….
Even if it was a false entry in the registry, it was still someone else's household. Brother Namgung said it was fine, but to me it felt like I was selling the name of the Namgung Clan, one of the Five Great Clans, and that weighed on me. Using the nickname Gaeul as my name would simply be more comfortable….
That was the gist.
After hearing me out, Brother Namgung nodded readily.
"Hmm, is that so…. I failed to consider your feelings carefully enough. Very well. But how do you plan to explain it to that Geungwang fellow? He knows your name as Namgung Chu."
"Uh… well, I'll just vaguely say I have personal reasons."
"…Well, I'm sure you'll handle it fine. So your surname is Ga and your given name is Eul?"
"Ah, no…. I'll use my family's original surname. It's common enough that no one will uncover my identity."
"Yu, is it… Understood."
Chatting like that as I followed Brother Namgung, we eventually arrived at the workshop he had mentioned as our destination.
And waiting for us inside that workshop was an utterly lovely young woman.
"Investor, it's been a while."
The one who greeted us was a young woman in truly exotic attire, speaking our language with a slight awkwardness. Her skin held a faint brownish tint… and her foreign clothing somehow brought sunflowers to mind.
"Ah, yes. It has been a while. This is a younger sibling I hold especially dear, and the one who will be using the weapon I commissioned this time…."
"Please call me Gaeul! Looking forward to working with you!"
"I am Arin. A pleasure."
The young woman who introduced herself as Arin possessed a blunt expression that contrasted sharply with her revealing exotic outfit, and it was genuinely charming. The new encounter set my heart fluttering.
Why the flutter? Because these past few days trailing after Brother Namgung I had seen my share of beautiful or lewd(?) men, yet aside from women I merely passed on the street, I had never even had the chance to exchange greetings with one.
So the presence of this lovely foreign young woman—undeniably a genuine female—was a fresh shock in the truest sense….
To be honest, now that we had been introduced, I wanted to grow close.
…But there was an unexpected massive obstacle.
…Uh, what am I supposed to say…?
Once I properly registered that the other party was a beautiful foreign young woman, I simply had no idea what to say.
Seeing me like that, Brother Namgung clicked his tongue.
"Tsk tsk…. Looking so thirsty. Hey, just show us the item I ordered."
"Understood."
While I fretted over how to become friends with a foreign young woman as easily as eating cake, Miss Arin brought over a box containing the so-called self-defense weapon.
"I shall open it."
Click—
The lock on a box of a structure I had never seen in my life released, and when I peered inside the opened lid, there lay an object that looked both familiar and strange.
"Hmm… a meteor hammer?"
Miss Arin shook her head at my question.
"A yo-yo and a meteor hammer are similar yet different. First, this silver thread bound between the two rotating axles…."
"…can withstand roughly six hundred kil… a thousand catties of force, so in an emergency you can wrap it around your hand or arm to block an enemy's blade, and…."
"Mm, mm."
Brother Namgung nodded in satisfaction at the explanation.
"…And on the side rotating axle, this clay… these iron-ball thunder bombs shaped like iron spheres can be loaded, and upon firing they can pulverize an iron-armored enemy within ten zhang without leaving a trace."
"Mm, …mm?!"
Brother Namgung, who had merely been nodding with arms crossed, suddenly whipped his head around to stare at Miss Arin, yet she seemed not to notice and continued in the same even tone as she picked up the device called a yo-yo.
"I shall demonstrate."
"…Wait, what did you just say?! Iron-ball thunder bombs? Lethal range of ten zhang?!"
Brother Namgung shouted belatedly, but Miss Arin had already flung the yo-yo, and she pressed a button-like thing attached to the glove around which the silver thread was wound with a click.
And then….
KWAANG—!
A tremendous roar echoed, and thick smoke immediately filled the training grounds.
"Cough, cough! …B-Brother Namgung! This is truly incredible…! With explosive power like this, you could send at least dozens of people straight to the King of Hell in one go!"
I looked at Brother Namgung with pure delight, marveling at the yo-yo's power, yet he was clutching his forehead with one hand.
"No…, no one in their right mind would order a weapon of that power…. Arin, what on earth is this?"
"I heard that in Asia, powerful martial artists who fly through the sky and run across water are common, so I designed it with suitable power to protect the body against such martial artists as hypothetical enemies."
"………."
A short while later, when the smoke in the training grounds cleared, the iron-armored scarecrow was revealed… or rather, it was not.
"Ugh……. I can't live like this."
The pitiful scarecrow had its upper body shredded to pieces along with the armor, torso and lower half completely separated and sprawled across the floor.
It was a truly exotic, wondrous place.
Bright lights I had never seen before illuminated a stage decorated with marble, making it easy to guess that Miss Arin and I would soon be doing something beneath those lights.
A man in Western-style clothing—something one might see in the Western Regions—appeared, fitting the exotic setting, and politely guided us.
"Welcome, both of you. I have heard the details from Hero Namgung."
"Ah, hello…."
Once greetings were exchanged, the man in Western clothes presented a contract along with tea.
"This is black tea, a specialty of my region. Please drink it all while you slowly read and sign."
"Thank you… Wow, it's sweet…."
Whoever had piled on the sugar had done so with abandon; an intense sweetness coiled around my tongue, and whether from the tea's effects or not, my body soon began to grow warm and tingly.
I was never one to refuse sweets, so I sipped the black tea while skimming the contract.
So I just put on the prepared clothes and strike the requested poses…?
I read as diligently as I could, but the contract mixed Western language with our own, making the contents far too difficult to grasp properly.
Unlike me, who was fretting over the contract, Miss Arin did not even bother reading it. She downed the black tea in one go and spoke in a calm voice.
"In any case, we already promised the investor we would work here today. Let us simply sign."
Well… since we're doing it anyway, there's nothing much to quibble over.
And so I pressed my fingerprint seal to the contract while Miss Arin signed, after which the man in Western clothes took the papers and said,
"First, both of you, remove everything except the chastity belt and change into the prepared outfits."
…Both of us… chastity belt…!?