Taming the Sushi Girl — Teach Me How to Grow a Population (1)
Yuka had accepted Hannam's invitation and come to Polynesia.
"No... this has to be a lie."
The beautiful-girl shogun stared in shock at Pago Pago, a settlement that had swollen into a metropolis in a mere week.
"Come on. It's a hard-earned reward vacation — you should enjoy yourself too, Yuka."
Hannam himself came out to greet her, the same man who had spent that very morning pumping up Pago Pago's population.
The sushi girl couldn't shake a vaguely uneasy feeling.
"Hannamu-kun... a reward... vacation? What manner of talk is that?"
"Forgot already? Japan came under Hannamguk in exchange for me backing your piracy."
The logic was simple enough. The "king" of vassal Japan had pirated well enough to deliver Pago Pago, so the "emperor" Hannam was granting her a vacation as a reward. Yuka's samurai pride still ran deep, and being treated so openly as a subordinate stung.
Han Min-guk picked up on her mood at once and needled her for it.
"Why the pretty little scowl? I already told you — keep performing like this and Hannamguk will cover everything Japan needs."
"Y-yes. I understand... thank you for looking after us, Hannamu-sama."
Flustered, Yuka even tacked on the honorific sama.
She had originally submitted as a vassal out of fear that Hannam would invade Japan. Over time, she had come to realize that Hannamguk's true power was not military at all. It was economic.
A vassal Japan that ought to have been paying tribute was instead receiving gift after gift from Hannamguk? A little generosity was one thing. This much was suspicious.
A few days later, Yuka had casually asked Hannam what he was really after —
"Gotta fix the harbor if you want to build pirate ships, right?"
He parroted the same canned answer every time, like a broken record. And since she was the one receiving the gifts, she couldn't press any further. In the end, only the shogun was left to stew.
Now, walking the streets, she saw no shortage of females singing Hannam's praises.
Meanwhile the actual shogun was getting nothing but abuse for "selling Japan into vassalage." The once-unpopular Hannam had won over the sushi girls with a relentless gift offensive.
Hannamguk gifts 1,000 Gold to Japan!
As if Hannam would ever make a deal that cost his own civilization. The apparent sucker's play of showering a vassal with gifts instead of extracting tribute was, in modern terms, a venture-capital investment.
Polynesia has ceded the city of Pago Pago to Hannamguk!
And then the jackpot finally hit. The thousands of gold Hannam had poured into Japan came roaring back as Pago Pago — a city worth tens of thousands.
He had impregnated every female on the island he could get his hands on, exploding the population overnight, then used that doubled labor force to strip the port city of every last resource it had. For a city he'd picked up for a mere 240 gold, the return on investment was spectacular.
And the luxury goods left over from trade? Hannam gifted those to Japan too.
"Nani...? What in the world is that ghastly-sounding thing?"
A luxury good Japan didn't have — but Pago Pago did. As if gifting Hannamguk's specialty product, breast milk, hadn't been enough, now he was sending high-end cuisine like shark fin.
With things going this way, nine out of ten sushi girls had started calling Hannamguk their "father nation." And the ruler himself, Han Min-guk, had become a celebrity. He looked like a magnanimous soul who would even embrace the Japan that had once plundered his own civilization.
The "donations" kept coming, until some Japanese cities went so far as to swear loyalty to Hannamguk outright. Yuka's blood boiled, but the shogun had lost her authority a long time ago.
A chill ran down Yuka's spine. Honestly, when Hannam had been handing out gold and telling her to buy pirate ships, she'd thought the guy was an idiot.
Baka Hannamu. One day I'll use the ships you gave me to plunder Busan all over again!
But once those ships were built, the Japanese navy had become nothing more than Hannamguk's attack dogs. A shogun less popular than a foreign king couldn't exactly pick a fight with Hannam. She'd only lose more public support. Most sushi girls already wanted Japan to stay a vassal.
In the end, a great ruler was one who made her people happy. Technically speaking, Yuka's diligent piracy under Hannam's orders had contributed to Japan's happiness too, but...
The one actually showering Japan with luxury goods, gold, and food — wealth extracted through Yuka — was Hannam. And the foolish masses only ever saw what was right in front of them.
That was why Yuka had obediently boarded a ship and come all the way to Pago Pago. She couldn't afford to lose any more public support. She still held the title of shogun, but her underlings could rise up at any moment, drag her down, and install Hannamu in her place.
I am Japan's one and only shogun. Dual office is absolutely out of the question! And a coup is... suki janai.
So she hadn't been able to refuse the "reward vacation" Hannamu had granted her. If she made excuses and stayed home, her own sushi girls would just pile on the abuse for being "arrogant."
She could already hear her insufferable retainers needling her. Maybe... Yuka had fled to Pago Pago because she couldn't stand this reality.
Of course, the moment she actually arrived on the island, everything was as terrible as she'd expected. Hannam showed her the new Pago Pago, flaunting just how capable a ruler he was. Yuka took it as a roundabout way of bullying her —
"Honto... desu ka?"
The Pago Pago spread out before her eyes was simply too magnificent.
Fishing boats blanketed the sea. Cargo ships laden with treasure pulled into the harbor. This was no longer a ghost town so thoroughly pirated that even the seagulls had packed up and left. Bustling with residents and merchants, Pago Pago had transformed into a thriving port city.
"How... how did the population grow this much in a single week...?"
A thoroughly cowed Yuka asked Hannam. The shogun, too, wanted to make Japan great — not through plunder, but by governing cities.
As if on cue, Han Min-guk offered her the answer.
"Raiding other civilizations pays off in the short term, but it's a net loss in the long run."
"I know that much! If you plunder a city and beat the females, the population drops... it becomes a ghost town, so annexing it is pointless."
"If you already know, why are you asking? What is it you actually want to know?"
"The... population. The secret to how Hannamu-sama grew Pago Pago's population this fast. That's what I want to know."
Yuka clenched her fists as she spoke, as if learning Hannam's secret would make her an outstanding ruler too.
If I could grow a population like Hannamu-sama... I wouldn't just raid cities and run. I could annex them outright!
Yuka drifted into a fantasy of Japan expanding its territory across the sea. If she were recognized as a capable ruler, the public support she'd lost would come flooding back. And if Japan gradually grew in size, a domination victory might even be within reach.
"Pfft. Sure, I can tell you. How to grow a population."
"Hontoni?"
"Obviously. As long as you behave yourself, Yuka, I'll teach you every last method I've got."
Squeeze—!
The moment he finished speaking, Hannam grabbed Yuka's ass. Through the soft kimono, he felt the sushi girl's plump, well-packed rear. Amazingly, the cheek that had dimpled under his thick fingers sprang right back to its original shape the instant he let go.
Damn. The bounce on this sushi bitch's ass is no joke.
Hannam knew Yuka's temperament well enough not to push any further. The alliance with Japan mattered to Hannamguk too. She might have been a slutty shogun who walked around in figure-hugging kimonos, but she was still a samurai who followed bushido. Scratch her pride too hard and there was no telling what might happen.
That's enough groping for today.
Hannam forced down the cock that was trying to get hard.
But Yuka's reaction was unexpected.
"If I become a 'good' shogun... you'll teach me the secret to growing a population, Hannamu-sama?"
The sushi girl folded her hands together politely. Yuka's pretty face flushed red, and she whipped her head to the side.
Han Min-guk answered with a grin.
"I'll decide that once I see just how 'good' you can be, Yuka."
"Mmh. Wakatta, Hannamu-sama."
"You can learn city management gradually, working under me. For now, let's eat something good. You must be hungry after coming all this way, right?"
"Yes!"
Yuka let out a sushi-girl interjection before she even realized it. Females were animals that turned meek the moment you offered them food, after all.
"Pago Pago pulls in a lot of seafood, so I had some sushi made. How is it?"
Han Min-guk sat Yuka down beside him and probed her, casual as anything. How would the shogun respond? He wrapped an arm around her waist, privately hoping for a flustered reaction.
The recently deflated shogun decided not to make a scene over nothing. Yuka rationalized the physical contact as something an emperor was allowed to do to a vassal state's female shogun, and answered the question.
"Yuka also... sushi daisuki. Hannamu-sama."
Before she knew it, the female shogun was kneeling neatly at Hannam's side.