Thinking that my proposal to do business must have struck Jeong Jongjin like a thunderbolt, I held out the black iron to him as he drew near and said,
“I’d like to obtain a suitable... spear to go with this metal.”
When I thought back to the first weapon I had ever used, it had been a “spear.” It had belonged to Na Miryeong, but at the time, it had also been the only thing available.
Besides, after using it here and there for quite a long time, I’d grown accustomed to having a spear in my hands.
Hearing me, he asked, seeming a little surprised.
“You needed a weapon?”
“Yes. I’m starting to feel the limits of fighting barehanded.”
Jeong Jongjin slowly nodded. Then, noticing Lady Jea, he greeted her.
“This is the first time I have seen you from so close, Princess Gwangmyeong. It seems you, too, are in need of a weapon.”
At Jeong Jongjin’s greeting, Lady Jea looked puzzled and flustered. It seemed she had never seen him before.
“Ah, I only came along with Isan...”
At the words that she had followed me, Jeong Jongjin looked at me with surprise, his gaze growing tangled with complicated thoughts. Then he asked quietly,
“Were you a member of the royal family?”
It seemed he had guessed as much from the fact that my surname was “Yi.” So I shook my head and said,
“I’m just an ordinary citizen. I’m rather far removed from royalty.”
When Lady Jea heard my words, I saw her expression turn slightly sulky, but since there wasn’t a single lie in what I had said, I couldn’t understand why she was acting that way.
As the atmosphere grew strange, Jeong Jongjin gave a dry cough and asked,
“Well, since you say you came to find a spear, I suppose we should go inside first. For now, how much do you wish to sell that black iron for?”
“Twenty percent of the value of the finished weapon.”
“On a day like this... No, I think that is a bit much.”
“If you don’t like it, then you don’t have to buy it, do you?”
“....”
Jeong Jongjin looked as if he were wondering what kind of bastard I was. To be honest, I had nothing to regret. Black iron didn’t rot, and it certainly wasn’t something that would wear away in the wind.
To put it bluntly, the longer I kept it, the more its value would soar through the roof in the hands of those who needed it. On top of that, rumors had begun to spread little by little, so these days even noble households, one might call them the yangban, occasionally sent people to me.
To put it plainly, couldn’t a single fine weapon change a person’s fate? Even if one’s skill was exceptional, if the weapon failed to support it, one might ultimately be unable to reach greater heights.
And yet I was supposed to hand it over at a reasonable price to a fellow who had tried to shamelessly knock down the value of black iron? Impossible. There was a reason spite was considered a crime of its own.
“Must you really do this?”
“Yes, I really must. A once-in-a-lifetime chance! A sudden fortune!”
At my playful shout, Lady Jea, who was beside me, laughed. Thinking that it was a smile I wanted to see for a long, long time, I fanned the desire hidden beyond Jeong Jongjin’s distorted expression.
“You’re trying to make the Hoin Sword, aren’t you? Isn’t that an item to be used in an event overseen by the emperor?”
“How did you... Ah, no...”
He was about to ask me, but when he saw Lady Jea, Jeong Jongjin let out a series of deep sighs. From his perspective, it must have felt as though his circumstances had become completely tangled.
He was making a sword to be used in a major state ceremony. If he cut corners here and there and ended up disappointing them, I was certain it would damage his reputation as a first-class weaponsmith.
So I poked at Jeong Jongjin, who was filled with nothing but regret, one more time.
“Twenty percent is a bit harsh, so I’ll go down to ‘eighteen percent.’”
I put a bit of emphasis on “eighteen percent” so that it would sound like a curse for no reason, and Jeong Jongjin, his face boiling with anger, let out a sigh dragged up from the depths of his chest before opening his mouth.
“Fifteen percent. No more than that.”
I inwardly shouted in triumph, but I did not readily nod. Pretending to ponder as though I were reluctant, as though it was a little lacking, I handed the black iron to Jeong Jongjin and said,
“Let’s do that. Shall we write a contract?”
At my words, Jeong Jongjin looked at Lady Jea and said,
“With Princess Gwangmyeong, a royal, present, what use is a contract? It is enough for her to serve as witness...”
At the sorrow in his voice, the thought of lowering the price a little quietly raised its head, but I immediately trampled it down with cold reason and asked Lady Jea,
“Would you serve as witness for us?”
“Th... pfft. All right.”
It seemed she couldn’t help laughing at Jeong Jongjin, who was starting to look like a puppy drenched in rain. Well, even I felt my heart ache looking at that pitiful sight, so how much more would someone else?
In any case, once Lady Jea gave her consent, Jeong Jongjin shot me a sidelong glare and disappeared into the smithy with the black iron. I heard him say to me,
“Wait here. I shall send you a spear suited to the fifteen percent payment.”
Just as I was about to head into the smithy, thinking I wanted to see and choose it myself, another man came out from inside carrying a long object carefully wrapped in silk. It seemed to be a little under two meters in length, and seeing how preciously it had been wrapped in silk, I thought it was no ordinary item.
“It is a spear close to being a treasure. He says he would like to use this in place of payment...”
The man carefully handed me the spear, so I accepted it, untied the cord, and removed the silk wrapping. And then I saw a spear that was the very height of splendor.
Was it entirely made of iron? The blades and shaft were engraved with the Four Divine Beasts, and they looked impressive.
“It is a masterpiece called the Four Gods Spear.”
At the man’s words, I handed him the silk wrapping and checked the spear’s weight and balance. It was certainly not light. A spear made of metal all the way down to the handle.
It was clearly an object ordinary people would find difficult to use. And when I recalled how the man who had brought it out had been struggling under its weight, I thought it was by no means a spear made for ordinary people to wield.
“Did this spear already have an owner?”
At my question, he shook his head and said,
“It had no owner. But many people coveted it.”
“Coveted it, huh... I suppose it wasn’t something he meant to sell?”
The man nodded, so I called out toward the smithy.
“I’ll put the spear to good use!”
No answer came back, but satisfied with the spear in my own way, I looked at Lady Jea.
“Does it suit me?”
At my question, Lady Jea said neither yes nor no. Then she clapped her hands and said,
“Your clothes look awkward. Let’s go.”
With those words, Lady Jea took the lead. What was wrong with my clothes? Even as I thought that, I had no choice but to hurry after her. And in the end, having completely forgotten our actual purpose, I had to flounder for half a day in the swamp of shopping. Only in the afternoon did Lady Jea remember our objective and say to me, her face flushed,
“Um... It’s too late today, so I don’t think you can take the certification test. Tomorrow should be fine, right?”
I burst out laughing. After I laughed for a while, Lady Jea, her face reddened with embarrassment, glowed softly in the sunset. Truly, it was then that I realized, if only a little, that even when a person knew better, they could not help but grow greedy.
After that, we shared a cozy dinner together and parted ways. On the way home, looking at the bundles of clothes I was carrying and the spear, I could only laugh hollowly.
* * *
There was nothing special about the certification test.
It was, literally, only a test to prove one’s ability. All I had to do was attack the measuring device prepared in the testing grounds with all the power I could produce.
So, thinking I would start lightly, I swung the Four Gods Spear gently through the air to build up centrifugal force, then struck the target squarely with the shaft.
With a crack, the shaft embedded itself cleanly. Then I immediately spun in the opposite direction and launched a follow-up blow, and once again a crack rang out, filling the inside of the testing ground.
Thinking it had been a good thing I had spent all of yesterday swinging it around in the yard to get used to it, I quickly stepped back, then sprang forward again as if rebounding and thrust the spearhead toward the target. The blade went beyond lodging in the pillar at the center of the testing ground and pierced straight through it.
Exactly three attacks. That was when it happened.
Diiing! An alert sounded, and then a human voice flowed out.
“Applicant Yi Isan, you have passed.”
“...Pardon?”
In my bewilderment, I could only stare into the air, flustered by the word “passed.” The voice that followed also seemed somewhat surprised.
“Your strength was measured to be higher than expected, so you have passed immediately.”
Wondering what on earth was going on, I came outside in confusion, where the waiting certification applicants and Lady Jea looked at me with strange eyes.
Their expressions seemed to say, “Just what are you?” Feeling awkward for no reason, I scratched my head and asked Lady Jea,
“I did well, right?”
“....Yes, you were impressive.”
Which part was? I couldn’t understand Lady Jea’s words, but thinking that it must have looked good in any case, I turned my head toward the display board showing the measurement data.
And there, written on it, were the results.
“Eul,” “Eul,” and “Gap”—three markings.
Wondering what they were, I turned back to Lady Jea, but she quickly grabbed me and pulled me along. After leaving the waiting room, she asked me in a secluded corner,
“Isan, were you hiding your abilities?”
“What? Why...?”
“It was a test that measures power. But your first two strikes were judged as ‘Eul,’ and your final thrust was ‘Gap’ grade.”
“Isn’t it good to be strong?”
It was a certification test anyway, wasn’t it? Thinking that, I wondered if there was really any big problem, but from Lady Jea’s perspective, it seemed that was not the case.
“The passing standard for the test was to display power of ‘Mu’ grade or higher.”
Only then did I understand why everyone had been so surprised. And when I realized that the power I could produce was an absurd figure by Earth’s standards, I understood why they had all been so shocked.
“It seems the weapon is good.”
Then I looked at the weapon anew, and Lady Jea spoke with an expression that said she was dumbfounded by me.
“No matter how good a weapon is, there is a limit to the power it can produce.”
She was right, but to be honest, it was also hard for me to believe. To put it bluntly, I had not used my full power in the test just now.
I had merely intended to warm up in my own way and then take the test at full power afterward. I considered telling her that, but quickly shut my mouth and said to Lady Jea,
“In any case, as long as I can go, isn’t that a good thing?”
At my words, Lady Jea let out a sigh. At the time, I could not understand why she kept sighing.