episode_0397

*** ***

The amount of herbs that Tang So-yeol purchased was more than enough to fill a cart.

First, except for one bag to be used as food, we asked that the rest be transported to the guesthouse where we were staying.

“I will definitely transport it at the risk of my life!”

Gul returned, leaving behind the needlessly sad merchant.

The sight of the group and the Iron Blood Book, still maintaining an ambiguous distance and continuing a confrontation rather than a confrontation, caught my eye.

Upright.

Did he feel a smell or energy flowing from the sack?

Cheolhyeolseo raised his head and raised his ears. Anyone can see that the nose is moving diligently, showing that it is reacting sensitively.

“Mmm. Is it okay if I eat this? Still, didn’t the teacher buy it?”

“Why are you assuming that I would want to feed that food myself? Don’t talk nonsense and feed yourself.”

I definitely should.

Because Cheolhyeolseo was standing upright and sniffing with his nose in the sack.

I took out the biggest chunk from the bag.

10 years old.

Squeak!

Cheolhyeolseo, who was excitedly sniffing the scent, caught a glimpse of me.

You might be wondering if you can actually eat it. Since it has been in the hands of humans and lost its powers for a long time, it seems to have been wary of the fact that humans were giving it spiritual herbs.

That’s why I put a long 10-year, 100-year-old dog directly into his mouth.

Tsk tsk!!

Then the guy chewed it without hesitation. After watching him eat it hungrily, he opened the mouth of the sack and placed it in front of him. Sanghyeolseo takes another look. I stroked the bridge of the Sangvis’s nose and applied a little force to aim its snout toward the handle.

It must have finally decided that what was in the bag was its own food, so it stretched out its front paws and started stuffing everything into the bag.

I laughed as I watched him shove it into his cheek without even chewing it. After storing everything in his cheek, the way he crinkles a little and looks at me is really cute.

He seems to think that his current luck may have been given or taken away, as if he couldn’t believe it.

I patted his head moderately to reassure him.

Squeak!

Then, feeling quite relieved, he sat down and savored the herbs stored in his cheek.

It seems that the first step in taming the Iron Blood Book was done well.

*** ***

Squeak!!

Cheolhyeolseo ate heartily every day. Considering the price of the herb contained in a bag, it was literally like feeding gold…

“It can take several years at the shortest, but it can be as long as replenishing the spiritual energy that may have been damaged at some point, so you should be prepared to continue to supply spiritual energy for a while.”

“Mmm. Is it possible to afford it?”

“I don’t know. Let’s feed them until the things we bought run out.”

“Sorry. teacher. I will repay this money later.”

“Do you want to gamble at a gambling house? Oh my.”

I felt very wronged by Tang Xiaoyeol’s lukewarm gaze. Although it is nothing compared to the Tang Xiaoyeol who can easily find gold on the battlefield, I am also a person of wealth.

The problem is that all that money was invested in the workshop of Gwangjae Refinement.

Once the smelting method is developed, I will also be able to make money as an investor in the workshop!

…Of course, the only money I have right now is a few dozen taels of gold.

As time passed, the companions’ attitude toward the Iron Blood Book also became friendlier. The person who was closest to Cheolhyeolseo was Hyeok Kirin. Hyeok Kirin is stroking the Iron Blood Book with an expression like a child raising a pet for the first time.

The rest of the party was still dealing with Sanghyeolseo a little awkwardly.

Well… the rat in this midfield is Hae-su.

Compared to modern times, when many people view rats positively thanks to pet rats, including hamsters, the perception is very limited.

The reason why Hyeok Kirin likes Iron Blood Books may be due to his personality, but perhaps it is because he grew up in the imperial family from a young age and never had a negative experience with rats.

“Oh, oh…!”

Hyeok Kirin let out an exclamation and turned around to see something. Cheolhyeolseo, whose cheeks were filled with spirit grass, wrapped his tail around Hyukgirin and placed him on top of his body.

Squeak!

“Take a look! I caught a spirit!”

Hyeok Kirin looks at us with an emotional expression. He was lying down on his back and stroking Sanghyeolseo’s fur, and he looked like he was going to die of happiness at any moment.

In fact, Cheolhyeolseo, who had placed Hyeokgirin on his body, was munching and chewing the herb in his cheek.

I don’t think I cleaned it up because it was interfering with my meal.

Those thoughts passed through my mind for a moment, but I couldn’t say those things to Hyeok Kirin, who was dying.

Yeo Il-ye, who had been looking at that scene for a long time, chuckled.

“At least it doesn’t seem like an animal that harms people, so we should accept it.”

“Sure. Now I feel like a fool for being cautious. The more I look at it, the more it seems cute.”

“Yes. I don’t know if this is the right word, but your eyes are bright.”

“How about giving it a new name? I feel like the name Iron Blood Book is too threatening.”

“Hmm. It would definitely be meaningful to give it a new name.”

“What name would be good? Squeak? Rat?”

“No, that’s a bit…”

Hyuk Kirin intervened in the conversation between the two.

“How about Xu Gong (鼠公)? Even though it has the shape of a rat, it is a spirit creature, and it is also gentle, so it somehow seems perfect!”

The two looked back at me in silence.

It’s Seogong.

Well, the name itself wasn’t bad, and more than anything, my objections disappeared as I looked at Hyeok Kirin’s expression sparkling with anticipation.

Our Hyukgi-rin, do whatever you want.

“Of course.”

“Hehe! Mr. Iron Blooded! From today, your name is Seogong. Seogong!”

Squeak?

In this way, we gave Sanghyeolseo a new name and the full-fledged taming process began.

“Seogong, sit down.”

Squeak?

Seogong was quick to notice, but could not understand what was being said. It seems like he realized that I was telling him something, but he didn’t show much of a reaction to the word ‘sit.’

However, if I instructed him to do something with gestures, he would easily follow along.

Is your hearing not very good? For something like that, my ears are constantly perking up.

It was a shame that I couldn’t understand what was being said, but the idea of free communication between spirits and humans may itself be greed.

The problem was elsewhere as well.

“Ugh, Mr. Seogong. Sit down.”

Hyuk Kirin sat down with me and made a movement, but Seogong just looked at Hyuk Kirin blankly and didn’t seem to have any intention of sitting down and taking a pose.

Hyukgirin was also diligently fed, so the intimacy itself must have been enough.

Seogong reluctantly sits down as Hyukkirin continues to use the dragon.

The instructions I gave were followed immediately, but the instructions given by the other party members were ‘Do I really need to do this?’ They seem to have the same thoughts.

Well, Hyeok Kirin ran to Seo Gong and hugged him as if he was happy with just that.

I also need to make the other party members aware that they have the authority to command.

We also did movement training at night.

Since we couldn’t put Seo Gong on the raincoat, we had to make him follow behind the raincoat.

Actually, this part was the biggest problem.

You can’t carry a Sanghyeolseo on the back of a raincoat, so you have to train the Sanghyeolseo to follow the raincoat…

Is it possible to have people voluntarily follow a bicheon carriage that moves to unfamiliar environments and places full of people, while maintaining proper prayer secrecy?

The training to make him chase me at a reasonable distance was successful without difficulty, but… walking in the forest and running a journey of thousands of miles were completely different problems.

Although it was not without elements of anxiety, the training at the Iron Blood Book went smoothly.

He seemed to be aware of the fact that Hyeok Gi-rin and the other members of his party were second-in-commands, and he also seemed to recognize that he had to stay with them.

Most of the gestures that can be used in daily life were also familiarized.

Hyuk Kirin, who was immersed in Seogong’s training, and my contribution to taking care of Seogong from time to time cannot be said to be insignificant, but it was largely due to Seogong’s outstanding intelligence.

“Seo Gong! Give me a ride!”

Perhaps because of repeated training or because of Hyuk Kirin’s sincerity, Seogong’s tail, which listened to Hyuk Kirin’s words, moved, caught Hyuk Kirin with both arms raised, and placed him on top of his body.

Looking at Hyeok Kirin, who was laughing loudly while riding a squirrel, Yeo Il-ye muttered in a voice so low that only me and the black cat could hear it.

“Although the Ambassador likes you so much, I am afraid of what will happen if I cannot travel with Seogong.”

As I listened to Yeo Il-ye’s whisper, I could clearly picture Hyeok Gi-rin holding Seo-gong and shedding sad tears.

Was it the same for the black cat? The black cat with a bitter smile shook its head.

“Hmm..,,Shall we do our best first and discuss measures later?”

“Whew, I guess I have no choice but to do that.”

When I came back to the guest house with a worry that wasn’t really a worry, I consoled Hyeok Kirin, who was making a fuss about sleeping with Seogong in the cave.

“Brother.”

Moyongmo was waiting for me.

Did Mo Yong’s family reach its conclusion while taming Seogong?

It seems the time has come to finish everything.

*** ***

What was the conclusion of Mo Yong-se’s family?

“It’s been a while since I saw you. Daehyup.”

“It’s been a while.”

Normally, I would have said hello or something like, “How are you?”, but I swallowed those words to myself.

Anyone who saw it could clearly see that Mo Yong-yeon-hwa was suffering from heavy work.

As someone who knew very well why he was overworked, it was difficult to easily say hello.

“Uncle Mo Yong-seo left for a while to visit other clans in Shaanxi.”

“Hmm, I guess so.”

“A conclusion was reached at the main house. We decided to reveal the death of Elder Moyongjingaek and the identity of Daebop. If the blood religion was practicing this kind of Great Law elsewhere… it would be possible to prevent casualties.”

In fact, it was a situation where the Moyong family could have taken the option of concealment.

Because, except for one outsider, the country was ultimately a matter involving only members of the Moyong family.

Since what I want is clear, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to keep my mouth shut by promising additional compensation.

However, Mo Yong-sega chose to attack head-on.

“We will make sure that Noegeomnanginnim was active in the process. I will also officially announce that I have a friendly relationship with Noegeomnangin.”

“Thank you.”

“How do you say thank you? Roninnim worked hard for the Moyong family. This is something I have to say thank you for.”

After that, we discussed the details of the announcement of this incident and the alliance between Noegeomnangin and Moyongsega.

How will I publicize my activities? Also, how much support is possible through the friendly relationship that will be announced later?

How much will be revealed about what happened in Shaanseobunta and how will it be made public. etc.

The quiet Murim will become noisy in an instant.

And since my name will also be mentioned in those loud rumors, I also have to be prepared.

After the discussion, there was a moment of silence between me and Mo Yong-yeon-hwa while we were drinking tea.

The information I have heard through various discussions with Moyongyeonhwa so far has not been positive for her.

According to the instructions of the main family, there was a clear intention to sell the mine, disband Shaanse Bunta, and completely eliminate Shaanxi Bunta itself, which was associated with blood religion.

Naturally, the collateral branches of Shaanxi Bunta will also be scattered, and Mo Yongmo will probably also leave Shaanxi.

This was the worst situation for Mo Yong Yeon-hwa, who wanted to give the members of Shaanseobunta a second chance… so why should she open her mouth so carelessly?

“You don’t have to worry about punishment for your mother. Even though all the other collaterals are detained, they are still moving freely. This is clear evidence that there is no suspicion.”

“I guess so. It’s a good thing.”

“Yes. Now all that is left is Seomseobunta and Gwangsan.”

I raised my head to see Mo Yong Yeon Hwa calmly continuing her conversation. Even though the situation was not good, Mo Yong Yeon Hwa’s resolve seemed to be firm.

Mo Yong Yeon Hwa smiled sheepishly, perhaps reading the young Lee Chae in my gaze.

“Hehe. I don’t know how to say this, but… it felt a little harsh. There are still families who have a stubborn attitude, and there are collaterals who are unable to fully reflect on themselves due to the extreme circumstances of the person’s change… It appears that there is still a long way to go.”

I was worried that I might be discouraged by a bad situation, but I guess I fully expected this.

“If so, what do you plan to do next?”

“You have to convince them. I’m planning to leave Bunta with Uncle Mo Yong-seo for a while and then head home. If you can’t do it by letter, you have no choice but to go in person.”

I saw a firm determination in Mo Yong Yeon Hwa’s eyes as she said those words.

“I have to leave urgently, so today will probably be the last day I can see you.”

is it.

As I was listening to Mo Yong Yeon Hwa’s words, a word escaped me without my knowledge.

“….It’s a shame.”

What happened in Shaanxi Bunta could be defined in just one word.

Confused.

Is it really Shaanseobunta’s fault that Shaanseobunta, which had been developing mines on a regular basis, has turned dark?

Was there any fault on the part of the original family for not intervening in the situation that Shaanse Bunta was in?

What about the people in the world who were blindly jealous of the great luck that a mine had exploded on the land they purchased?

Even if they didn’t know, to what extent is the fault of those in the collateral world who sympathized with the current situation?

How should we evaluate Shaanseobunta’s choice to eventually turn black and give up mining?

If the people with whom the leaders joined hands were not members of a blood religion, would Shaanse Bunta’s choice have been justified?

Even in such a confusing situation, there was someone who chose the right path and persevered.

It was Moyongmo.

I watched such a cruel struggle. Thus, Mo Yong-mo moved my heart, moved the hearts of the miners, and also shook the hearts of those in the collateral world who had turned away.

And there was someone who decided to walk the right path like Mo Yong-mo, and that person was Mo Yong-yeon-hwa, who was right in front of me.

In order not to let Bunta’s efforts be in vain. Moyong Yeonhwa swung the sword with all her might to give a second chance to the members of Bunta who were able to reflect.

Now, Mo Yong Yeon Hwa must head to the main family to persuade them.

I felt regretful about that fact.

If possible, I wanted to leave with good results unfolding before my eyes and seeing off Moyong Yeonhwa and Mo Yongmo who were happy.

Although it was unfortunate, it was something that could not be helped.

My role was to bring an end to the matter, and the affairs of the Moyong family had to be resolved among the members of the family.

“…I, too, am truly sad.”

Mo Yong Yeon Hwa also said such words as if she felt regretful about the current situation.

“I’m so sorry.”

…But how?

The sight of Mo Yong Yeon Hwa repeating those words was very close.