Several days passed that could be called an ordinary routine. Because the situation continued in which I couldn’t enter a gate due to the difficulty of securing one and the lack of tunnels, I had no choice but to laze around—and this problem wasn’t something that had happened only to me.
It was nice to see Jea’s face after so long, but seeing the shadow over her expression made it feel as if she had come with some worry on her mind, so I couldn’t readily open my mouth.
I figured that if there was some circumstance, she would tell me first, so as we sat facing each other in the pavilion with tea and refreshments laid out, simply looking at the scenery, Jea opened her mouth.
“It’s peaceful.”
“Isn’t it? It’s about time for the children to come running around, but they’re a bit late today.”
“Children?” Jea asked, almost as if talking to herself. So when I explained what had happened a few days ago, she told me I had done well.
“Still, I think it would be good to show a little restraint.”
“Why?”
“You’ll have to pay attention to how the world sees you, too.”
How the world sees me, huh. It was absurd, but this place was the Korean Empire. A world packed with high officials and great nobles who, rather than praising someone for doing many good deeds, would habitually spit out scathing criticism as if their intentions had to be impure.
Over the past few days of going in and out of the gate yard, I had been able to engrave the ugly behavior of such nobles into my own eyes. To put it bluntly, I wondered whether even Jea would have acknowledged me if I hadn’t been an Awakened and had fallen to the status of a government slave.
At any rate, since such a worst-case scenario had not happened, I supposed that was why I was sitting face-to-face with royalty like this.
“What are you thinking about?”
“Nothing much. Just, well.”
Because you’re pretty—I almost said it, but closed my mouth. Perhaps finding that strange, Jea tilted her head. Truly, if she hadn’t been royalty, I would have made a quiet move on her. But since she was royalty, and one wrong touch wouldn’t end with merely being led around by the nose, I was currently practicing keeping my distance.
In any case, she was someone who would be helpful if I maintained a friendly relationship with her.
“By the way, Isan, are you not going to gates?”
“No? I’ve gone three times in total.”
Jea was surprised to hear I had gone as many as three times, so she asked what grade of gates I had gone to. When I told her exactly as it was, even explaining what gains I had made, Jea looked at me in astonishment.
“Wasn’t it dangerous?”
“Well, dealing with the stone monkeys was actually fun. In the next grade of gate, there were fang lynxes? Anyway, I had a bit of a hard time beating every single one of them to death. I knew their pelts were traded at a high price.”
They were monsters commonly called “Giant Tooth Cats.” Shortened, they were “Jatu-cats,” and I remembered that their pelts were sold as luxury goods because of how fine the grain of their fur was.
That was because one of the items my mother, “Madam Ju,” treasured was a scarf made from Jatu-cat fur.
It had been specially altered so it could be fastened to a mouton coat, so I had often seen her wear it when she had important business or was going out to meet guests.
And that very Jatu-cat fur was also traded at an extremely high price here in the Korean Empire. It was mainly used as lining for the shoes of high officials, even Chief State Councillors.
It was ridiculous that such precious pelts were used as shoe lining, but well, if some rich bastard wanted to spend his own money however he pleased, what did it matter?
In any case, all that mattered was that I had profited.
“I’m jealous. Fang lynxes are monsters you can hardly meet without extraordinary luck...”
“I was lucky. In exchange, the next one was an utter disaster.”
“What did you encounter for it to be a disaster?”
“A thing called a fire lizard.”
A so-called fire lizard, in Earth terms, a salamander. It was a monster of the spirit realm, and when killed, it turned into a handful of ash and scattered away. So what was left behind?
Not even a single thing. A pauper of a monster.
Jea laughed at my words. It wasn’t exactly something to laugh about, but in any case, I was still angry that I had suffered like hell and came out of the gate with no results.
If anything, the best gain I got from that gate was that I managed to take one for my collection.
Honestly, that wasn’t really a gain either, but I decided to think of it positively. After that, I continued some light chatter with Jea, and around the time we finished our tea, she asked me with a serious expression.
“Um, Isan.”
“Yes?”
“Would it be possible for you to enter a gate with us?”
“...A gate? What about your team members?”
“They’d be coming too.”
“Ah.”
I had misunderstood. I thought she meant just the two of us. To put it bluntly, since I had been crossing gates alone, from my perspective, gates were still the kind of place one could go to alone.
But Jea and her team might be trying to go to a higher grade than before, and perhaps they were asking for help because of the burden. I began listening to Jea’s explanation while briefly pondering what to do.
“It’s difficult to secure gates, so we’re thinking of trying a higher-grade gate that’s already open. The grade of gate we usually go to is a ‘Gi’ grade gate. But if we have your help, I’m thinking we might be able to try one step higher, a ‘Mu’ stage.”
“Is the stage where ox demons appear perhaps the ‘Gi’ stage?”
I answered with a question instead. It was to get a rough estimate. Jea slowly nodded.
In that case, it meant that with my current ability, I should be going to either the “Gi” stage or the “Mu” stage one step above it. Thinking that Jea’s proposal had come at just the right time, I weighed this and that before obediently nodding.
“Let’s go together.”
Jea’s face blossomed like flowers in full bloom. I wondered whether it made her that happy, but in any case, advancing to a gate one grade higher was also something that carried considerable risk.
To put it bluntly, it wasn’t a case where we could safely play around inside and come back out. If things went wrong, someone—or I—could lose their life, so it was by no means a simple matter.
After that, Jea began explaining the gate we had to go to.
“First, the place we’ll be going is a ‘Mu’ grade gate, which is where they start being called upper-grade. It’s also a gate that only gets approved when you have the career experience or ability to back it up. We’ve already completed our certification, and I think you can come with me today and take the certification exam.”
The mention of taking a certification exam made me think of Earth again. At this rate, I wondered if I would end up getting homesick. Still, I was in a position where I, too, would have to go to gates designated as upper-grade sooner or later, so this was a necessary step.
And after saying I would help this time, it would be ridiculous to say I couldn’t because taking the certification exam was a hassle.
After that, Jea explained the situation inside the gate.
“The party that originally opened the gate apparently explored a certain portion near the entrance, decided it didn’t suit them, and quickly withdrew.”
“Why?”
“The environment there was the biggest problem, and second, they judged that the prey wouldn’t be easy.”
“What appears there for them to say that?”
“First, the terrain was an ‘island,’ and the monsters that mainly appear there are supposedly called ‘Lamellar Ghosts.’”
At the words “island terrain” and “Lamellar Ghosts,” I roughly guessed that perhaps it was a place where groups of “nagas” or “mermen” appeared as monsters.
That was because the scales covering their skin could be thought of as resembling lamellar armor.
“Do those things, by any chance, come out of the sea?”
Jea slowly nodded. In that case, I thought they were likely some kind of merman. They certainly were troublesome creatures.
I remembered hearing that if there was water nearby, they used it to wield powers similar to supernatural abilities. On top of that, they were outstanding warriors with exceptional combat sense, and they were also a monster race with a record of having sacrificed many New Humans.
“There’ll be a lot to prepare.”
In Jea’s team’s case, from the very start of aiming to raise their gate grade, they had chosen a burdensome opponent. And considering the current atmosphere, it wasn’t easy for an empty tunnel slot to appear, so I could understand that they had no choice but to aim for such unpopular options.
Hearing my words, Jea readily agreed. And so, as I left the manor with her, I took out a lump of black iron.
“What are you planning to do with that?”
“Do you know Master Jeong Jongjin, the weaponsmith?”
“Yes, he’s a first-class weaponsmith. I understand he mainly supplies weapons to the royal family.”
At the words that he was doing business with the royal family, I thought, Aha, got you. To put it bluntly, if it was the royal family, then as long as the goods were good, they would surely pay whatever price was asked.
“Why do you ask about him?”
“That man desperately wants this metal.”
“That’s metal?”
Jea looked at it curiously, so I casually handed it to her and said,
“They said it’s a rare metal.”
“Didn’t you have an awful lot of it?”
She was asking while thinking of the black iron piled up in my storehouse and guest room, so I began explaining the circumstances to her.
As I did, her expression changed from moment to moment before she finally laughed. That clear smile made my heart restless, but the background of her being royalty once again pressed down my desire.
After examining the black iron for a bit, Jea lost interest, handed the item back to me, and said,
“There’s an imperial event this time where a sword has to be made.”
“A sword?”
“Yes. It’s time to craft the Hoin sword.”
Realizing she was talking about the “treasured sword” made by matching the year of the tiger, the month of the tiger, the day of the tiger, and even the hour of the tiger, I inwardly cursed that old codger Jeong Jongjin.
And I was dumbfounded by the fact that he had tried, somehow, to lowball me(?) for an item that would be used in such an important event. Was that why?
My steps naturally quickened, and where those steps led stood a large smithy.
I was grateful that Jea, knowing I had business with Jeong Jongjin, followed behind me without urging me along. The problem was that Jeong Jongjin glanced at me, did not acknowledge me, and focused on the work he was doing.
At a glance, I could see that he was tempering the edge of a newly made sword.
Yes, it was right to focus on the process of making a weapon. But from my position, I had no intention of waiting. Feeling mischievous, I let out a small laugh and said,
“This place sure neglects its guests. I’m leaving!”
At those words, a young man from inside the smithy—perhaps an apprentice craftsman, or perhaps a swordsmith—hurriedly ran out and stood as if blocking my path.
“I’m sorry, sir. We were in the middle of such important work that we failed to notice a guest had arrived.”
Saying that, the man subtly shifted his gaze behind me, then looked at me.
“I came to trade this, but since you’re busy, I’ll come another time! Well then.”
The man, who failed to recognize the black iron in my hand, said, “I see? Then would you come again next time?” And then a sudden situation unfolded.
“If you’ve come, you should come inside. Why show me your back?”
At Jeong Jongjin’s voice coming from behind me, I nearly burst into laughter. The young man and Jea did not understand the situation, but I turned slightly and said,
“You seemed to be a man with many official duties, so I was going to come another time.”
“Ahem, I just finished the work.”
I looked at the sword he had hastily set down. Seeing that it had no edge on it at all, I said,
“Weren’t you about to temper the edge of this sword?”
“Ahem, it won’t be too late to let it cool a little and do it afterward. Please come inside first.”
And so, Jeong Jongjin ultimately tried to bring us into the smithy. But I had no desire to go in there. The sweltering heat.
It was something they were used to, but for ordinary people like us, it was a heat we could never become accustomed to.
So I stared blankly and said,
“We’re not blacksmiths, though.”
“...Then I shall come out.”
In the end, as they say, the thirsty man digs the well; the one who was desperate came over himself. And seeing how his eyes never left the black iron, I thought he truly was an artisan who couldn’t help himself.