Chapter 139. Restoration (7)

Punish the villains with the weapons forged by Blacksmith Yeo.

This could be called an act of restoring his tarnished reputation.

It might be an extremely personal matter, but it didn’t really matter.

After all, it was a matter of punishing villains.

But there was one small problem.

“The places I am going to introduce you to are quite far from here. Won’t you need travel expenses to get there?”

“Don’t worry. After I finish crafting the weapons for you, I plan to sell the remaining ones at a reasonably cheap price. That money should be enough to last for a few months, don’t you think?”

In that case, there was no particular problem.

“How long do you think the forging and repairs will take?”

“First of all, just forging that black iron into a proper sword will probably take at least three days. In addition to that, the time will increase depending on the swords that need repairing.”

I turned my head and looked at my companions.

Choyeon opened her mouth in an indifferent tone.

“The daggers here seem to be of better quality.”

Junior Sister Baek Hyang, for some reason, glanced around a bit before opening her mouth.

“Senior Brother. If you are going to use the sword forged from black iron, will you not be using the Restoring Name Sword anymore?”

“I might need a spare sword, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be the Restoring Name Sword.”

“Then, would it be alright if I used the Restoring Name Sword?”

“I don’t mind, but will it fit your hand?”

As my junior sister hesitated at my question, Blacksmith Yeo opened his mouth.

“Don’t worry about that. I just need to fix it to fit Miss Baek’s hand.”

At this, Junior Sister Baek Hyang smiled brightly and clasped her hands in a salute.

“Thank you, elder!”

“Hehehe. It is a natural duty for a blacksmith.”

Perhaps because he had sorted out his thoughts to some extent, Blacksmith Yeo’s expression had lightened considerably.

Soon, Blacksmith Yeo turned his head and looked at Nam Geon.

“What do you plan to do, Young Master Nam?”

“I-I’m n-not changing my sword. I-it’s a memento from my mom.”

“Heoeo. In that case, I will only repair it.”

After things were roughly settled, Blacksmith Yeo handed the Restoring Name Sword to my junior sister and said.

“Would you like to swing it once?”

Junior Sister Baek Hyang took the Restoring Name Sword and swung it around.

Blacksmith Yeo watched the scene with a prudent expression and occasionally approached my junior sister with various requests.

“Could you swing it slowly in a diagonal line?”

“Hmm. Don’t force your posture, just relax and swing it comfortably once.”

Blacksmith Yeo, who was watching my junior sister’s sword dance, nodded and asked Yeo Yun.

“Do you see what the problem is?”

“First, the thickness of the sword hilt is too large for the young lady’s hand. Because of that, the sword either slips a little in her hand, or her movements are slightly choppy because she is trying to prevent it from slipping.”

“What about the weight and center of gravity of the sword?”

“It doesn’t seem to fit Miss Baek very well.”

The father and daughter discussed how to fix the Restoring Name Sword while observing my junior sister’s posture with very serious expressions.

After my junior sister’s sword dance ended, Blacksmith Yeo told Nam Geon to swing the Mother’s Affection Sword as well.

“I-I’m not changing my sword.”

“It’s because there is something I want to check.”

At this, Nam Geon hesitantly swung the Mother’s Affection Sword.

Fwoooosh!!

The huge sword tore through the air, and a powerful sound of tearing air rang out.

After observing the scene with a serious expression for a moment, Blacksmith Yeo opened his mouth.

“Young Master Nam’s monstrous strength is truly astonishing. The phrase ‘strength to uproot mountains, qi to cover the world’ comes to mind.”

Despite his words of admiration, his expression was not very good.

“But, that sword is the problem. Far from giving wings to Young Master Nam’s monstrous strength, it’s a case of the sword riding on Young Master Nam’s monstrous strength and acting high and mighty.”

“U-uncle, your words are too difficult.”

At Nam Geon’s reply, Blacksmith Yeo scratched his head and said concisely.

“It seems the shape of the sword needs to be corrected a bit during the repair process.”

“Th-this is a memento from my mom.”

I approached Nam Geon, who was hugging the Mother’s Affection Sword and shaking his head.

“Don’t worry. It’s the same principle as when we changed the hammer into the Mother’s Affection Sword last time, since we’re using the same iron from the Mother’s Affection Sword.”

Nam Geon, who had been contemplating for a moment, carefully held out the Mother’s Affection Sword.

“A-alright, Hyung-ah.”

After persuading Nam Geon, Blacksmith Yeo now asked me.

“What kind of sword shape do you prefer?”

“The shape doesn’t particularly matter.”

In my past life, I had just used whatever sword was available.

In this life, too, until I obtained the Restoring Name Sword, I would often swing whatever sword I could get at the time.

Naturally, I wasn’t particularly picky.

But for some reason, Blacksmith Yeo looked at me with a strange expression.

“……Are there no characteristics of the martial arts you are learning? Like, specialized for cutting, or emphasizing speed, or things like that.”

Only then did I understand why he had asked about my preferred shape.

It seemed he crafted the shape to match the martial art one had learned or the techniques one mainly used.

But unfortunately, it wasn’t a very important issue for me.

“Doesn’t the technique one uses depend on the opponent one is fighting?”

I had been training by imitating all the sword arts I had seen or experienced.

Naturally, I had also learned a variety of sword arts.

“Please make the shape convenient for you to craft, Master Yeo. Instead, I ask for a sword that will not break in a fight against any formidable foe, a sword that can cut down any formidable foe.”

“You don’t need anything else, just the strongest and sharpest, is that what you’re saying?”

“That is correct.”

At this, Blacksmith Yeo let out a dry laugh.

“Do you know? That’s the most difficult thing.”

But unlike his dry laugh, his expression looked quite pleased.

“It’s actually for the better. Before I leave, I will see for myself where my limits are.”

***

During the days it took to craft the weapons, we stayed in Shengzhou and dedicated ourselves to training.

One day, I tried to review my duel with Sura Blood Blade.

The biggest reason was to imitate his techniques.

His techniques had similarities to the five forms of the Sun Moon Infinite Sword.

Now that I was somewhat accustomed to the fourth form, the Moonlight Coiling Sword, I intended to try training the fifth form.

After swinging my sword several times while recalling Sura Blood Blade’s techniques, a strange thought came to me.

“Should I say I was lucky?”

It was a thought about the special eye I had obtained just before returning to the past.

Sura Blood Blade was a master who was not far behind that Hyeok Ilso bastard. But this time, I was able to deal with him really easily.

It was because of the matchup with this eye.

Furthermore, it was the same during the battle with Red Moon Falling Flowers last time.

This eye truly shone when dealing with those who tried to deceive others.

In that case, what kind of martial arts would be difficult to face with this eye?

A powerful strike that is difficult to block even if you know it’s coming.

A swift technique that is difficult to dodge even if you know it’s coming.

The orthodox techniques that had delved into a single path came to mind.

In addition to that, defensive martial arts were difficult to break through.

Martial arts specialized in protecting others, martial arts for saving someone.

That was why I was lucky.

An upright martial artist, a martial artist who drew his sword to protect others.

I had no intention of fighting such people.

Though I might have a duel to improve my skills, I had not the slightest intention of killing such people.

As I was thinking this, a chuckle escaped my lips.

“Come to think of it, it’s my eye in the first place.”

I began to wonder if I had obtained such an eye because of my desire to kill villains and find hypocrites.

Shaking off my distracting thoughts, I focused on training again.

While I was engrossed in my sword, Nam Geon and Junior Sisters Baek Hyang and Choyeon also devoted themselves to training beside me.

Then, occasionally, Blacksmith Yeo would call me to the forge.

“Today, I will start by crafting the sword hilt.”

Saying so, Blacksmith Yeo measured everything from the length of my arm to the length of my palm, and even the length of each of my fingers.

In addition to that, he brought a dozen swords and held them out to me.

“Grip each one and swing it.”

It was a process to craft the sword hilt that fit my hand perfectly.

Other than that, on some days, he would bring swords of slightly different sizes to find the perfect weight for me, and on other days, he would bring dozens of swords with slightly different widths and lengths to compare.

Whenever I was called by Blacksmith Yeo and went through these various tests, I would sometimes hear the conversation between the Tang Clan bastard and Miss Yeo from the side.

“For now, these are the needles I’ve temporarily forged. Would you like to try throwing one?”

The Tang Clan bastard was working with Miss Yeo to craft a special hidden weapon for his use.

“How about if the path of the hidden weapon suddenly changes in mid-air? Like how a swordsman swings his sword with a feint.”

“Like this?”

When he threw a needle into the air, the path of the needle shifted very slightly.

He had changed its direction by giving the needle a spin using his wrist.

Yeo Yun, who had been observing the scene for several moments, clapped her hands and said.

“How about we intentionally shift the center of gravity for a few of them? I think the direction will change more drastically when you give it a spin!”

“Hahaha. It would be very useful to mix those in with regular hidden weapons and throw them!”

It was truly a harmonious conversation.

At other times, instead of crafting hidden weapons, he would be teaching Miss Yeo martial arts.

“You must close your eyes and feel the qi of the world.”

“Please show me how you swing the hammer. I need to create a technique to match that motion.”

In that process, his hand would naturally touch Miss Yeo’s back or arm.

“Ahem.”

Each time, Blacksmith Yeo, who was crafting my sword, would let out a dry cough.

To think of acting like a libertine right in front of a woman’s father.

I found myself nodding.

“Indeed.”

This was something only that bastard could do.

Who else but a man who had cut ties with his own father could act like that?

***

Eight days had passed since our arrival in Shengzhou.

It had taken quite a long time, considering that forging the black iron sword was supposed to take three days.

Of course, it wasn’t just because of the black iron sword.

The work of fixing the Restoring Name Sword to fit my junior sister’s physique, and fixing Nam Geon’s Mother’s Affection Sword.

Furthermore, crafting the hidden weapons that the Tang Clan bastard would use had inevitably caused a considerable delay.

In that process, the Tang Clan bastard was truly busy.

He would spend time with Miss Yeo at Yeo’s Forge, and he would also come to where we were training and ask various things.

“Miss Cho.”

“Yes.”

“By any chance, did you also learn hidden weapon arts there?”

“Yes.”

“Then do you also know the forms and usage of hidden weapons other than needles?”

“Yes.”

He would seek advice on hidden weapons from Junior Sister Choyeon, who had received assassin training like this.

“I need to create a martial art that suits metallurgy, but it seems it will be difficult for me to create it alone within the remaining time. Please help me a little for Miss Yeo’s sake.”

He also made such a request to me.

I willingly shook my head.

It wasn’t to mess with the Tang Clan bastard.

“It would be better to ask Junior Sister Baek Hyang for help than me.”

Creating something new.

For something like this, my genius junior sister seemed more suitable than me.

After that, Junior Sister Baek Hyang also visited Yeo’s Forge from time to time.

Miss Yeo’s metallurgy demonstration, Junior Sister Baek Hyang’s insight, and the Tang Clan bastard’s knowledge of muscles and acupoints as a physician.

Thanks to the combination of those three, they were finally able to create a basic martial art suitable for metallurgy.

And just around that time, Blacksmith Yeo came to find us.

“The weapons are all ready.”

I wondered if he had perhaps intentionally dragged out the time for his daughter’s sake.

Since it wasn’t a particularly important matter, I didn’t bother to ask.

Instead, my gaze was more drawn to the weapons that Blacksmith Yeo had brought.

As if sensing my gaze, Blacksmith Yeo held out a sword in its scabbard.

“Please take a look.”

I willingly drew the sword.

Shing.

Starting from the arm holding the sword, goosebumps rose all over my body.

Even though it was a black sword forged from black iron, sunlight reflected off its surface, and light flowed.

Also, I felt a sharpness from its edge, as if it would cut flesh.

It felt as if just a slight touch would tear through flesh and muscle like paper.

But the reason I got goosebumps was not because of that sharp energy.

The expression ‘the sword fits in the hand like a glove’ was a very common expression in the Jianghu.

I, too, had used that expression from time to time. When I had obtained a decent sword.

But that was my misconception.

What I had felt until now was fake.

The moment I gripped and drew the sword, I realized what it truly felt like for a sword to be one with my hand.

As I was silently examining the black iron sword, Blacksmith Yeo opened his mouth.

“The sharper you hone a blade, the weaker it usually becomes. So, once you pass a certain level, you can no longer hone the blade. But that black iron was twice as strong as ordinary iron. Thanks to that, I was able to hone the blade to my limit.”

Blacksmith Yeo’s voice was slightly excited.

He, too, was a man who had dedicated his life to metallurgy.

The process of handling a material into which he could pour all the techniques he had learned and realized seemed to have been quite enjoyable.

“Instead, the weight of the black iron was a little heavier than ordinary iron of the same volume. Thanks to that, the width of the sword became a little narrower than what you wanted, Great Hero Jin. It might need some adjustment, so please try swinging it once.”

I willingly swung the black iron sword in the air.

Even though it only cut through the air, a chilling sound of tearing air rang out.

After swinging it a few times, I sheathed it.

“It’s perfect. I don’t think it needs any more adjustments.”

The sword hilt fit my hand perfectly, and the center of gravity and weight were also perfect.

It felt as if I were swinging my own arm.

No. It actually felt more comfortable than when I swung my arm without a sword.

I could clearly feel that this was a sword made only for me.

The corners of my mouth lifted slightly without me realizing it.

With this sword, it seemed I could clean up even stronger trash to my heart’s content.

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