The Genius Warrior Who Remembers Everything Chapter 30

Chapter 30. A Second-Rate Warrior Searching for a Legend (2)

The hall was as quiet as though cold water had been poured over it.

Not only the hall masters, but even the elderly elders tried to say something, then stopped, bringing their cups of tea, long gone cold, to their mouths as they remained at a loss.

“……Outer Hall Master.”

The one who broke the silence was Sect Leader Hong.

“Yes. Sect Leader.”

“Do you perhaps know any trustworthy miners and blacksmiths?”

Father thought for a moment, then nodded.

“Heo Il-nam’s father has always supplied weapons to our Taeul Sect at a low price. And I heard that the father of the three brothers Geum-pyo, Eun-ho, and Dong-ryong worked as a miner in the past.”

“Then as quickly as possible……”

“I will confirm it right now.”

“Yes. And after that, a real estate broker……”

“I will purchase Mount Seokju immediately.”

Father answered promptly before the Sect Leader’s question had even ended.

Yet even that seemed not to satisfy Sect Leader Hong, for he gazed steadily at me. Then, as though he had decided something, he spoke with a firm expression.

“Do we have the money to buy Mount Seokju?”

“Mount Seokju is a stone mountain that has had no owner since before. Even slash-and-burn farmers have never settled there because the land is barren.”

“Then purchase Mount Seokju first. Confirm the mine after that.”

“Sect Leader!”

“Do so.”

Father looked back and forth between me and Sect Leader Hong, then nodded.

“Understood.”

“Swift Blossom Hall Master.”

“Yes.”

“Visit Geum-pyo’s father and Heo Il-nam’s father and request their cooperation.”

“Understood.”

“Move quickly. Remember that the fate of the sect may depend on this matter.”

“I obey!”

Father immediately stopped by the government office and sounded out the purchase of Mount Seokju.

When buying and selling national property, the officials who usually demanded bribes merely asked what it would be used for when they heard he wanted to buy Mount Seokju, and did not find any particular fault.

After Mount Seokju fell into Taeul Sect’s hands, Heo Il-nam’s father and the father of The three brothers Geum-pyo, Eun-ho, Dong-ryong immediately climbed Mount Seokju and confirmed that it was a place where an iron ore mine could be established.

According to them, this sort of thing was rare, but they said, “It was easy to confirm thanks to someone having dug deep into the middle of the cliff.”

Mount Seokju had been bought, and the mine had been discovered, but they could not begin development immediately.

Money was one issue, but Taeul Sect had never owned a massive asset like a mine before, so they did not know what to do.

Moreover, if someone learned that there was an iron ore mine on Mount Seokju, they might harm Taeul Sect.

In the end, Sect Leader Hong and Father asked Wang Estate for help.

“Ha ha ha. As expected, they say Heaven helps those who help themselves, and in the end, it has sent down such great fortune.”

“I am ashamed.”

“I was worried that Taeul Sect might stagger because of the Gyeryong Merchant Guild’s conduct. After all, it is my daughter’s sect, is it not?”

“Even your words alone are greatly appreciated.”

“Good. How should I help you?”

“Taeul Sect does not have the capacity to develop the mine on its own. If you, Estate Master, help us together, nothing could be better.”

“Hoho, for people who will become owners of a great mine in the future to be this lax. How can you be weak to sentiment like that and earn great money? Let us do this. I will invest in the mine. I will develop the mine and bring in miners. In exchange, for ten years, you will sell half of the iron ore from the mine exclusively to us.”

Jin Tae-san was shocked. This was literally no different from swimming with one’s feet touching the ground.

“Are you certain this will be all right? Then you, Estate Master, will suffer a loss……”

“There will be a slight loss at first, but that is all investment. When I looked into it separately, they said the iron from Mount Seokju is good-quality black iron. The reserves are also considerable, so there should be no worries for half a century. If we exclusively sell half of that amount, then even considering the market price, this condition is far more profitable for Wang Estate.”

When Jin Tae-san tried to develop the mine jointly with Wang Estate, he had expected to give up part of the profits.

However, the conditions Wang Geum-san offered gave Taeul Sect complete benefit and even entirely erased their worry over the initial capital.

“I hear the hall master’s son discovered the mine.”

“It seems the boy who wanders all over heaven and earth was fortunate enough to discover it.”

“Hoho, it seems only you, Hall Master, do not know your son’s true value.”

“You praise him too highly.”

“If you feel grateful toward me, please tell So-un to visit the Wang residence once. Perhaps because of the mistake I made at our first meeting, he does not come no matter how many times I invite him, and it troubles my heart greatly.”

Jin Tae-san inwardly cursed his son.

When a person like this called him, who did he think he was to resist?

Even though it was his own child, Jin Tae-san could not understand him.

“So you are telling me to visit the Wang residence?”

“In any case, is he not the person who offered Taeul Sect good terms? Leaving aside offering thanks, as the eldest senior brother, visiting the home of a junior disciple and paying respects is something you naturally ought to do.”

At Kang Chae-seok’s words, I opened my eyes like axes and spoke.

“You are not thinking of selling me off to Wang Estate, are you?”

“Ahem. Selling you off? Who says I am selling you off……”

“That is not true. Back then, it looked exactly like you wanted to wrap me up nicely and deliver me to Wang Estate.”

“Ahem. This is all for Taeul Sect……”

“I will not go.”

“What?”

“Why would I go there? In any case, Estate Master Wang is investing for his own profit too.”

“No, even so……”

“Then acknowledge that I have completed Swift Blossom Hall.”

“What?”

“Then I will go pay my respects.”

“What kind of sudden nonsense is that?”

“There is something I must do. To do it, I have to move right now, but if I am to complete Swift Blossom Hall, I still need another half a year.”

Hong Mun-gi, who had been listening silently, opened his mouth.

“What are you planning to do that cannot be done half a year later?”

Here, I could not speak honestly.

If I said that, as Taeul Sect’s chief disciple, I would lead the junior disciples and take the Regular Exam, they would look at me as though I were insane, just as Sa-ryeon had.

“I am sorry. I still cannot tell you.”

“You damned brat, how are we supposed to help when you are doing something you cannot even speak of?”

“When the time comes half a year later, I will tell you.”

“Grr.”

Kang Chae-seok shook his head and kept tossing back wine cups.

“Is it an important matter?”

“Yes. It is an important matter.”

“How important a matter is it?”

“It is a matter on which Taeul Sect’s future depends.”

“Cough—”

“!”

“!”

At my words, Kang Chae-seok, who had been tossing back a wine cup, choked and coughed, and Father, who had been silently holding his own wine cup, also opened his eyes wide and looked at me.

Hong Mun-gi gazed steadily at me, then looked at Jin Tae-san.

“What do you think?”

“……From the start, he is a nasty brat who does not even say anything to his own father. I do not know.”

Father was pouting his lips, looking strangely upset in a way that did not suit him.

“When you ask to be treated as having completed Swift Blossom Hall, does that mean you have already learned all the martial arts?”

“Yes.”

“……Hm. Very well. Do that.”

“!”

“Sect Leader!”

Hong Mun-gi continued calmly.

“Everything you have done until now has been for Taeul Sect. I believe what you will do from now on will be no different. You are doing in our stead what we should have done, so at the very least, I do not wish to break your wings.”

“……”

“……”

While Kang Chae-seok and Father lowered their heads deeply, Hong Mun-gi smiled gently at the corners of his mouth and said,

“In exchange, make sure you pay your respects to Wang Estate before you go.”

Stagger, stagger.

On the way back to the lodgings after leaving the Great Mysterious Hall.

Father’s gait, after drinking four bottles of Bamboo-Salt Clear Wine granted by Sect Leader Hong, unlike usual, resembled the footwork of Drunken Fist.

“Please come to your senses, Father.”

“Let go, brat. This father of yours is perfectly fine.”

“Then walk straight.”

“Enough. This useless father will be taken to the mountains and abandoned if he cannot even walk on his own, right?”

“Ah, why are you doing this?”

“Brat, the worst child in the world is one who says nothing to his parents.”

“Then what is the best child?”

“One who comes and chatters about every last detail.”

“Then you should have had a daughter. Why did you have a pitch-black son?”

“Even so, when the Sect Leader had a daughter, I truly wanted to switch you.”

“Good grief.”

I took out the Seven-Colored Jewel from within my robes.

Within Taeul Sect, where only moonlight had been shining, a brilliant cluster of seven-colored light illuminated every direction.

Father, who had been showing off drunken steps, straightened his posture like bamboo.

“……Wh-What is that?!”

“I even prepared something like this to become the best child. But if I cannot become that anyway, I may as well trade it for taffy.”

“Y-You were going to give that to me?”

Father’s expression already looked as though all the alcohol had gone from him.

“Forget it. I have already become an unfilial child. What use is there in being filial now?”

Father suddenly cleared his voice and spoke.

“Do you know this? Above the best child, there is a child sent down by heaven.”

“……”

“A child sent down by heaven brings a jewel of brilliant color to his parent.”

As he said that, Father took the Seven-Colored Jewel from my robes and brought it before his eyes.

“Good grief.”

“I-Is this real?”

“I have no ability to appraise jewels, so I do not know, but Namgung San said it could buy three palace-like mansions, so would it not be real?”

“N-Namgung San? Why would Namgung San have this?”

“In truth, I made a wager with Senior Namgung San. I won that wager and received it.”

“Huh huh…….”

“Use seventy percent of the money from selling the jewel however you like, Father, and with thirty percent, please buy up every landlocked plot around Taeul Sect you can find.”

I told him to use it however he liked, but that money would ultimately flow into Taeul Sect.

Because Father was someone who had lived such a life.

“Landlocked plots? Why?”

“Some should be made into fields for famine relief crops, and we need space to install mechanism formations. If the number of disciples increases, will we not have to increase the number of buildings too?”

“Mechanism formations? Do you know how much those cost?”

Father tilted his head, as though something was not entering his mind properly.

“If money steadily comes from the mine, should we not be able to install mechanism formations? As it happens, I know someone who is skilled but whose price is cheap.”

I spoke while thinking of Jegal Cheon-gi, who should be suffering in Prison around now.

“If we install mechanism formations, we can better guard against invasion from outside forces, and based on that, we can also build our strength. Is that not the foundation of a great sect?”

“……”

Father looked at me with complicated eyes, like a jewel giving off seven-colored light.

“Let us go, Father. This filial son sent down by heaven will pour you a cup of wine.”

“……Come to think of it, you were secretly drinking wine earlier, were you not?”

“What are you talking about? A filial son sent down by heaven does not drink things like wine.”

“If only you could not speak at all.”

Sa-ryeon packed a large bundle and joined the group of Appraisal Envoys.

Before entering the Murim Academy, she would undergo intensive training to match the level of those entering through the Regular Exam.

All the people of Taeul Sect came out to see Sa-ryeon off.

After first greeting the elders and hall masters, Sa-ryeon stood before Sect Leader Hong and the Sect Leader’s wife with tears brimming as though she might cry at any moment.

It seemed she was very anxious about leaving her parents’ embrace for the first time.

“Do well. When you go to the Murim Alliance, take good care of the disciples.”

Instead of answering, Sa-ryeon only nodded.

Next, the junior disciples rushed over in a swarm, surrounded Sa-ryeon, and made a commotion as they each tried to say goodbye, and only after they barely settled down did she stand before me.

“You really do not regret this, right?”

Sa-ryeon still seemed full of lingering guilt.

“The intensive training period is only half a year. If you do not want to be pushed behind those entering through the Regular Exam, you will have to train so hard it feels like death.”

“……If it seems impossible, give up on the Regular Exam at any time. I will fight tooth and nail to rise high enough to take care of all the junior disciples.”

“Yes. That level of resolve is enough.”

Even though I smiled for her, Sa-ryeon stood before me for a long while, fidgeting with her fingers as though she had something to say.

“We will depart.”

Then, once Lee Ja-gon said they would depart, she did not know what to do and joined the procession.

And she looked back again and again.

After everyone from Taeul Sect had gone inside, I remained for a moment and waited until the procession could no longer be seen.

At that moment, The three brothers Geum-pyo, Eun-ho, Dong-ryong slipped up beside me.

“Senior Brother.”

“Hm? What is it?”

“Please take us with you.”

“Hm? Where?”

“They say you are taking the Regular Exam. We want to follow you too.”

“!”

Where in the world had the secret leaked from?

Only then did I understand why Sa-ryeon had looked back several times while being led away in the procession.

“Do you think the Regular Exam is child’s play? Do you know what people of the Murim World call the Regular Exam?”

“They call it the Hell Regular Exam. Please be sure to take us on that road too.”

“Please take us with you.”

“Please take us with you.”

The three brothers looked so determined they seemed ready to grab my trouser legs.