Return of the Heavenly Sword

Chapter 29. The Steel Sinew Clan (4)

“Haa.”

A sigh naturally escaped my lips.

I wasn't trying to blame him.

This was my mistake.

It was wrong from the start to expect that foolish guy to know how to read.

“Then will it be alright if I read it to you?”

To my question, the guy gave an unexpected answer.

“B-big brother. B-bad big brother. I-I can't believe your words.”

An exclamation of admiration naturally flowed out.

“Oh.”

To think that stupid guy could even think of that.

But I couldn't just stand there in admiration.

“Then, it will be fine if someone trustworthy reads it.”

My gaze turned to the one who had been looking at Nam Seup with pity since he had been sleeping stretched out.

The innkeeper's wife.

“Do you know how to read a little?”

As if she hadn't expected me to ask her, the wife answered with a flustered face.

“I-I only know the simple characters needed for business. I-I don't know any difficult characters a-at all.”

“There were almost no difficult characters. Well, I'll be next to you to tell you any difficult characters.”

The wife, who was looking back and forth between me and Nam Seup with a troubled face, nodded as if she had made up her mind.

“T-then I will try to read it.”

At the sight of her heading towards the book, I turned my head and looked at the others.

“Could everyone please leave the Five Sword Sect for a moment? The contents of the journal can only be revealed to Nam Seup and the wife.”

Perhaps because of my kind tone and smile, everyone left the estate without any particular complaints.

Although I couldn't understand why they would show a startled expression every time our eyes met.

After sending everyone out.

The innkeeper's wife opened the journal and began to read it one character at a time.

It felt like she was telling an old story to her young son, but the content was not good for a child.

It was the dregs of repulsive emotions, stained with anger, malice, and impatience.

For a long time, I told the wife the characters she didn't know and read the contents of the journal.

After the wife had finally read all the contents of the journal, a silence fell upon the estate for a moment.

Soon, the wife opened her mouth with a complicated expression.

“I didn't know that woman had such a tragic story.”

As a woman herself, it seemed she sympathized with her story to some extent.

Of course, I didn't.

“Whatever her story may be, please think of the evil deeds she committed under the pretext of revenge.”

“That is true, but…”

The woman, who seemed to be thinking for a moment, looked at Nam Seup's dazed face and opened her mouth.

“Seup… I was afraid of being harmed by your mother, so I couldn't tell you the truth, but your mother was truly a wicked person. She had been constantly tormenting me and the villagers. Moreover, according to what's written in the journal, it seems she had even kidnapped innocent men and conducted cruel experiments.”

The woman who said that gently hugged Nam Seup and said.

“Besides, that woman didn't even think of you as her son. So, forget about that woman. From now on, this auntie will be your mother.”

As soon as the wife's words were finished, tears streamed down from the eyes of the child in her arms.

However, he did not cry like a child.

Nam Seup gently pushed the wife away, then tried his best to hold back his tears and opened his mouth.

“M-momma was a bad person. B-but momma. She raised me. I-I must repay her kindness.”

“Are you going to take revenge?”

I asked, thinking he was going to take revenge on me, and Nam Seup nodded.

But Nam Seup's target of revenge was not me.

“W-with the martial arts I learned from momma, I-I will take revenge on Danmok Hwan.”

“Hmm. It won't be easy.”

That bastard Danmok Hwan was a guy who would be called one of the Ten Swords North of the River in the future.

The Ten Swords North of the River.

It meant the ten strongest swordsmen in the region north of the Yangtze River, which crossed the Central Plains, so he was a formidable master.

Well, I was planning to visit him someday too.

“If that is your will, then try your best.”

At my encouragement, for some reason, Nam Seup looked up at me with a somewhat pleading gaze.

“B-big brother. You are good at fighting. T-teach me how to fight.”

I was about to refuse without a second thought, but another thought suddenly came to mind.

It would be a different story if he were to live peacefully as the son of that innkeeper's wife.

But since he had the goal of taking revenge on Danmok Hwan, this guy was bound to be swept up in the winds of the martial world eventually.

He might get caught by a strange guy and be used again.

Wait?

Before others can use him, I can use him, can't I?

I had no intention of acting like the Steel Sinew Sect Leader, Cha Hui.

I could just use him to catch and punish trash-like bastards.

I was already frustrated because I was limited in the number of trash bastards I could kill with only one body, so I thought it might be for the better.

“If you agree to follow all my words, I will teach you how to fight.”

At the condition I set, Nam Seup answered firmly.

“I-I'll do as big brother says!”

“Alright, Nam Seup.”

While I was answering Nam Seup's shout with a satisfied expression, I realized an important problem.

“Damn it. A name that means a child picked up.”

I really didn't like the name.

But I couldn't keep calling him this guy, that guy, this fellow, that fellow.

After thinking for a moment, I opened my mouth again.

“From now on, I will call you Geon. It means strong and sturdy.”

“T-then is my name now N-Nam Geon, big brother?”

It seemed he intended to keep the surname given to him by Cha Hui.

Well, there seemed to be no need to change his surname as well.

“Yes. It's Nam Geon.”

After giving him a suitable name, I turned my head towards the innkeeper's wife.

She was looking at me and Nam Geon with a somewhat complicated expression.

“Ma'am. You must keep the contents of the journal you read today a secret.”

“As a woman myself, I had no intention of speaking about such a tragic story.”

I shook my head at her answer.

“Cha Hui's tragic story is not the problem. It is because it contains Danmok Hwan's disgrace. The Danmok Clan is a quite famous clan in the martial world. If they hear rumors about this journal, they might try to harm you, saying you insulted them with lies. I am sorry for getting you involved in an unnecessary matter, ma'am.”

I bowed my waist completely to express my apology to her.

This was also the reason why I had sent the residents out before reading the journal.

If there had been some people with loose lips among the residents, the contents of the journal would have surely spread widely and reached the Danmok Clan.

Only then, as if she realized that she had become entangled in the feuds of the martial world, the wife's face turned pale.

“Still, as long as you don't spread rumors about the contents of the journal, there should be no problem.”

At my words, the wife took repeated deep breaths and calmed her startled heart.

And then, as if she had remembered something belatedly, she asked me with a troubled expression.

“S-surely some of the people who were here will keep asking about the contents of the journal out of curiosity. W-what should I do?”

There are always those who invite trouble with useless curiosity.

“I think it would be fine if you talk about it while hiding the part about the Danmok Clan. About the evil deeds that Cha Hui committed.”

“…Won't people think it's strange then? Why would you talk about such things secretly?”

“Please answer that it's because I'm a strange guy.”

At my answer, the wife made a confused expression.

“Y-you, young warrior?”

“As I said before, I am not a young warrior. And, I'm not so free as to come looking for revenge just because someone spoke ill of me, like those Danmok Clan bastards.”

Those who called themselves the righteous sect were truly idle bastards, leaving the overflowing trash in the Central Plains alone and only managing their reputation.

Towards her, who was still anxious, I added one last thing.

“Recently, I have started to be called the Ghost Sword Young Master in this area. So, if you answer that the Ghost Sword Young Master was possessed by a ghost and spoke crazy nonsense, everyone will understand.”

***

I called the people back in and cleaned up the Five Sword Sect.

I distributed the wealth from the Five Sword Sect to the residents appropriately, and while I was additionally cleaning up the Steel Sinew Sect's estate, Nam Geon picked up a large hammer placed on one side of the training ground and said.

“This hammer is n-necessary for training. A-also, i-it's momma's keepsake.”

“Alright. Keep it.”

By the time we had finished cleaning up even the Steel Sinew Sect's estate, the sun was completely setting.

The innkeeper's wife approached me and said.

“Young warrior. It's getting late, so why don't you stay one more day before you go. Geon. You should also sleep at this auntie's house tonight.”

It was late anyway, so there was no reason to refuse.

The only slight problem was that the expression of her husband behind her was not very good.

“Then, I will use these two swords for the meal fee. Geon eats quite a lot, doesn't he?”

When I handed the two pieces of iron I had picked up from the Five Sword Sect to the wife, the husband's stiff expression relaxed.

I returned to that inn with Nam Geon.

Munch, munch. Chomp, chomp.

As expected, Nam Geon ate well.

“Yes, yes. You've worked hard, so eat as much as you want.”

The wife even kept bringing out food that we hadn't ordered.

It seemed to be a farewell gift for Nam Geon, who would be leaving tomorrow.

I saw the husband, who was diligently calculating something with his fingers behind her, soon clutch his head.

“Oops.”

It seemed that for Nam Geon's food expenses, I would have to rob heretics and bandits even more diligently in the future.

After finishing the generous dinner mixed with the wife's consideration and the husband's tears.

Suddenly, Nam Geon held out a huge hammer to me.

“Big brother. Hit me.”

“You want me to hit you?”

“A-after eating, I have to t-train the Iron Blood Golden Skin Art.”

It seemed to be this guy's own way of training.

When I took the hammer the fellow held out, I felt a considerable weight.

“Let's go outside first.”

I left the inn with Nam Geon and went to the empty Steel Sinew Sect training ground.

And after hitting Nam Geon's body with the hammer with all my might several times.

Nam Geon said in a disappointed tone.

“Big brother. You are weak. I-it hurt much more when momma hit me.”

“…”

I wondered if getting hit more painfully by his mother was something to be proud of, but it was a strangely pride-hurting remark.

In the first place, she was superior to me in both external and internal energy, so it was definitely a correct statement.

However, martial arts were not all about internal and external energy.

If they were, the one who would have died today would have been the Steel Sinew Sect Leader, not me.

Slap.

I slapped my own cheek.

At that stinging sensation, I felt the drowsiness from the meal completely disappear.

The mindset of leisurely helping someone else's training was nothing but lazy.

“Focus, Jin Yuseong. This is also training.”

Yes. This is not to help Nam Geon, but my training.

I'm training in a powerful sword art.

I needed the mindset of training a one-hit-kill technique that concentrated all my power into one point.

“B-big brother, did you learn the Iron Blood Golden Skin Art too?”

Ignoring Nam Geon's nonsense, I controlled my breathing and focused my mind.

I recalled various powerful sword techniques that I had faced directly or seen with my own eyes in my previous life.

“Haat!!”

After hitting Nam Geon's body with the sledgehammer several times with the feeling of recreating those techniques.

“Hehehe.”

As the concentration that had been slowly building up reached its peak, several trajectories were once again embroidered in the empty air.

The trajectories of the various powerful sword techniques that I had been recalling from a moment ago became entangled, and one trajectory was completed.

As I swung the sledgehammer along that trajectory, I thought.

How can I swing a stronger sword strike?

After much thought, one answer came to mind.

A technique that disregarded defense.

I needed the mindset of crushing the opponent's body along with their weapon, regardless of their attack or defense.

Moreover, since Nam Geon was standing still and being hit one-sidedly, it was the optimal environment to train such a technique.

As soon as I had the thought of not considering defense or evasion, a subtle change occurred in the trajectory I was seeing.

After swinging the hammer along that trajectory several times.

I realized one surprising fact.

A powerful sword of one-hit-kill that disregarded defense.

The fact that the most suitable martial artist to learn this technique was right in front of me now.

Boom!!

While being hit by the hammer I swung.