The Red Moon (1)

The fine iron ore found in Sichuan drew skilled miners together.

As miners gathered, merchants followed to sell high-grade iron.

And then blacksmiths came to forge the delivered iron into farm tools, weapons, and iron crafts.

Among them, the most skilled were scouted by merchant guilds or offered generous terms and taken into major ironworks..

One day, a master craftsman opened a modest smithy with the money he had saved for the sake of his fellows.

Pressure came from various merchant guilds, but the master stood his ground more firmly than the iron he worked.

Afterward, blacksmiths, moved by his character, gathered there one by one, and the smithy naturally gained a measure of renown in northern Sichuan.

But the master cared nothing for fame.

He poured himself into uplifting slighted smiths.

The earnings were invested in improving skill, and there were no limits on teaching juniors.

The smithy flourished, and smiths from other regions came at the rumor, until it grew into a great ironwork.

Surprisingly, though the ironwork’s fame soared, the smiths’ true skill outstripped even that fame.

Techniques were freely shared, and those who broke discipline were cast out without mercy.

The expelled bad-mouthed the ironwork, yet that only became a catalyst raising its name even higher.

Thus, when countless smiths had gathered and at last became Sichuan’s finest, the Empire’s then-untroubled emperor personally bestowed the name Divine Iron.

So was born the Divine Iron Great Guild.

After the first Guild Master achieved great feats and passed, the Divine Iron Great Guild decreed the post would go to the most skilled, bloodline aside.

But within ten years of his death, a bloody war swept the continent, the Uprising of the Eight Wastes.

The conquest of the Eight Wastes Alliance Leader was brutal.

Countless died, and just as many swore fealty to him.

The blood-reeking war stretched its claws to Sichuan as well.

Yet the Alliance Leader did not touch the Divine Iron Great Guild.

Rather, he wished to place it under his banner like the famous ironwork he had taken elsewhere.

The second Guild Master gently refused the Alliance Leader’s offer.

He said if he became lord of all under heaven they would serve, but Divine Iron’s history lay in honing craft, not meddling in interests, so let them live as they were.

People thought the Divine Iron Great Guild, having defied the Eight Wastes Alliance Leader, would be exterminated.

But he didn’t touch them.

Rather, he tossed them one hundred thousand taels of gold, saying when the day came that he set the world beneath his feet, he would come to receive that promise, and left.

The Divine Iron Great Guild never touched that money.

They used it neither for their own interests nor to aid the ravaged Sichuan.

It was a prudent choice.

Spend it rashly and they would earn resentment and draw the Eight Wastes Alliance Leader’s eye anew.

The problem came with the second guild master’s death.

The newly seated master declared the times had changed and said they should take the places of merchant houses erased by the war.

Factions split for and against, but in the end, with the Eight Wastes Alliance’s leave, the Divine Iron Great Guild laid hands on trade.

It was to oversee all the fine iron produced in Sichuan themselves.

The third master, to carry along the opposition, changed the guild’s name to a merchant house.

It was to declare that whatever path they walked, they were one family, and though now a merchant house, as in history the most skilled smith would serve as Patriarch.

Thus the Divine Iron Great Guild became the Divine Iron Merchant House¹, and the third master, as first Patriarch, led the house.

This was the history of the Divine Iron Merchant House, Sichuan’s best at iron, home to its greatest smiths, now famed among the province’s three great merchant guilds.

And now.

A youth who had entered the Divine Iron Merchant House as an adopted son, been slain, yet by heaven’s prank returned to live anew, still bearing an indelible history in his chest, was looking upon a man of the house.

‘Who is that?’

Jin-hyeon could not place the man whose clothes bore the characters Divine Iron.

He felt he had seen him somewhere, yet the memory was blurred.

Judging by the look, he was from the Trade Routes Department, but Jin-hyeon had holed up in the forge so much there were many he did not know.

Of course, the man must hold a high seat even within that department.

Otherwise he could hardly stand face to face with the Cheongyang Association’s Third Elder.

And the Divine Iron Merchant House’s Trade Routes Department was administered by the First Young Master, Gyeong Do-cheon.

Puseuseu!

Strength drained from his clenched fist white as bone.

Powder, once wood and moments ago part of the door, sifted away between his fingers.

Ha Suk-heon cleared his throat.

“Teacher.”

Jin-hyeon came to at once and realized his mistake.

“It seems I was greatly startled when you said you would introduce an honored person.”

“Heh heh.”

“I never imagined he would be of the Divine Iron Merchant House. My discourtesy.”

Shaking his hand free, Jin-hyeon cupped fist to palm with respect.

Gong Cheong of the Divine Iron Merchant House’s Trade Routes Department bowed politely.

“Think nothing of it. I am Gong Cheong of the Divine Iron Merchant House. It is an honor to meet one such as you.”

Gong Cheong.

Bluish light seeped from Jin-hyeon’s eyes as he bowed, then faded.

‘Second-in-command of the Trade Routes Department.’

He served as vice head there, acting for the department head.

The department head was the First Young Master, Gyeong Do-cheon, who could not attend solely to that work, so in practice the one in charge was Gong Cheong.

Even caring only for smithing, he knew at least that much.

Naturally, he knew Gong Cheong’s name.

Wooong!

His Soul-Refining Qi writhed madly.

It was not trying to sharpen his senses as before.

Now it sought to restrain his violent killing intent instead.

Unseen to others, his mind was on the verge of exploding into a fearsome war.

And so, Jin-hyeon smiled.

“You are mischievous, great hero.”

“Mm? You mean me?”

“The Divine Iron Merchant House is more than a merchant guild representing Sichuan, it is the pinnacle of blacksmiths the world over, a great house whose very existence can reverse the flow of funds in Sichuan.”

“!”

“You would introduce a noble of such a house and yet say not a word. I may need to visit the latrine to calm my nerves.”

A jest should sound light.

Yet his low, trembling voice proved he was truly shaken.

Ha Suk-heon chuckled without meaning to.

“My apologies, my apologies. I meant to give you a good surprise, Teacher, but it seems I startled you far more than I expected. I am abashed.”

“I still cannot hide my trembling heart. I am aggrieved with you, great hero.”

Ha Suk-heon aside, the one most taken aback by the first sight of the door’s edge crushed in his hand was Gong Cheong.

But to hear that it was from surprise at seeing a man from the Divine Iron Merchant House.

There was no more touching twist from his perspective.

“We are only grateful you view us kindly.”

“Rather, it is my honor that you value a mere man like me so highly.”

Jin-hyeon shot Ha Suk-heon a look.

“So you had resolved on this. To introduce a man like this means you esteem me that much. At this rate, I will be too burdened to take even a drink.”

If Gong Cheong was moved, Ha Suk-heon was impressed on top of that.

Everything Jin-hyeon had said thus far helped him and the Cheongyang Association.

Moreover, he spoke of Divine Iron’s greatness while neatly lifting his own valuation.

He was wise, considerate, and quick on the uptake.

A good impression doubled in a single conversation.

“Bear with me on that much. I had strove so much yesterday to share a cup with you, did I not?”

“Then please tell me next time.”

“Very well, very well. I shall apologize thus.”

Gong Cheong was again surprised at Ha Suk-heon’s rueful tone.

The Ha Suk-heon he knew did not bow easily even before eminent figures.

For such a man to treat a youth not yet thirty so cordially?

‘So he was truly someone remarkable.’

Tension welled with gratitude.

Ha Suk-heon had brought one of ‘his own’ whom he showed to no one.

That meant he cared that much for him and for the Divine Iron Merchant House.

With a few words from Jin-hyeon, both men’s spirits rose to the heavens.

In truth, Jin-hyeon himself smiled brightly while reining in the boiling killing intent.

“Come now, let us sit rather than stand.”

“Let us.”

Thus the four sat with a low table between them.

Pointing beside himself, Gong Cheong spoke.

“Forgive the late introduction, Teacher. This is Heo Jang-un, a wandering swordsman we recruited not long ago. He will lead the main house’s Swift Wind Unit.”

The Swift Wind Unit.

It was Divine Iron Merchant House’s one and only martial unit besides the guards.

Jin-hyeon dipped his head.

“I am Jin-hyeon.”

“Heo Jang-un.”

Their greetings were plain.

Partly due to their betters present, partly the pride peculiar to warriors.

After the greeting, Jin-hyeon drank his tea at once.

The man named Heo Jang-un meant nothing to him.

By contrast, Heo Jang-un eyed him all the sharper.

“Come to think, I have heard the name Jin-hyeon many times somewhere.”

Gong Cheong’s eyes widened.

“Could you be the one who broke the Mighty Tiger Merchant Guild and took down the Red Sword Sect’s fiends?”

Before Jin-hyeon spoke, Ha Suk-heon answered.

“He is.”

“Ho!”

He had wondered at the white hair, but to think it was truly the man of rumor.

‘So that is why he treats him so warmly.’

The Cheongyang Association had little love for the Mighty Tiger Merchant Guild, calling it rootless.

For him to have shattered it alone, how could they not favor him.

‘But I heard this Jin-hyeon had ties to the Seol Clan…’

A meaningful light came to Gong Cheong’s face.

‘I see how this is turning.’

Even so, Ha Suk-heon’s response amazed him.

Beyond valuing talent, it seemed he truly wished to make him one of his own.

Watching Jin-hyeon with a smile, Gong Cheong suddenly cocked his head.

‘But his look… seems familiar.’

It was no wonder he did not recognize him.

Even ten pounds lost changes a face.

Moreover, Jin-hyeon’s build and skin tone had changed, and his very air was different from then.

Naturally, he could not know him.

They had not met often to begin with.

Ha Suk-heon spoke candidly.

“I called you for tea. Let’s leave the official talk for later. No need to watch each other. We are ties that may wind well hereafter, so let us speak with smiles.”

Smiling, Gong Cheong answered.

“Ha ha, if you say so, Elder, I might chatter on till the sun sets.”

“You must be tired from meeting people day in and day out. We need gatherings like this too, do we not?”

“We do.”

Then Jin-hyeon spoke.

“If it is not rude, may I ask a question?”

“Ah, of course. There is no rudeness.”

Smiling, Jin-hyeon asked.

“Is the Divine Iron Merchant House’s First Young Master well?”