Land Grab
The stars and moon that had twinkled in the pitch-black sky all vanish right before dawn.
Only after coming here did I learn that this moment is the darkest of all.
Unlike the jet-black night, the darkness of dawn is murky, as if wrapped in fog.
On Earth, city lights never faded for even twenty-four hours, so not even the solemn gloom of dawn remained.
Life here was by no means comfortable, yet somehow my previous life on Earth now seemed pitiful.
As I stared quietly at the sky, the sun had yet to rise and it still felt like the dead of night, but the darkness gradually began to thin.
The black sky slowly turned the color of pale ink.
From among the people who had been sleeping as if dead came the rustle of movement.
It seemed someone was getting up even before the sun had risen.
The people here really do wake early.
Normally Ji-geu would still be fast asleep, but this time he thrust both arms into the air and sat bolt upright.
What kind of way is that to wake up? I almost thought he was a jiangshi.
I smiled without meaning to, but Ji-geu was already scrambling to fold his blanket.
“Why are you in such a hurry? Isn’t it still time to sleep a little more?”
Ji-geu’s eyes sparkled brightly in the still-dark air.
“We have to claim our land, don’t we?”
Ah, that’s right. Today was the day we were supposed to mark out our own plots.
If you stuck branches in the ground to form a boundary, the area inside became yours.
Of course, that was only the first step. There were still procedures left.
Since no one would know whose land was whose with just branches, each person had to set up their own marker.
They could paint the branches, tie cloth to them—there were all sorts of methods.
I’d also heard that once the land was decided, you had to report it to the people from the kingdom who would arrive later.
But that was a matter for later.
First we needed to check the supplies the kingdom had provided and divide them among the households.
The supplies had been issued according to the number of households that applied, not the number of people.
We’d decided at yesterday’s meeting that to avoid future problems, it would be best to sort the goods in advance.
“You really are impatient. We can decide on the land gradually. There’s still plenty of time.”
“You might not know since you’re a mage, mister, but around here the early bird gets the worm. If you want the best land, you have to hurry.”
With that, Ji-geu dashed off toward his father as if he couldn’t waste another second.
“Dad, can I pick my own land?”
“Sure. If it turns out to be a bad spot, we can always change it later. For now, choose wherever you think is good.”
I’d thought Ji-geu was just being dramatic, but surprisingly his father, Warren, gave permission right away.
Was he just humoring the child?
I felt a little warm inside at the thought, but then someone shouted at Ji-geu.
“Hey kid, I already called dibs on the spot next to that clearing. That’s ours.”
The voice was gentle, yet somehow dead serious.
Ji-geu answered while picking up a branch from the ground.
“You have to stick the branch in to make it yours.”
“You little rascal!”
The man rolled up his blanket roughly and started running.
I’d assumed he was joking to play along with the kid, but it seemed he was completely sincere.
Once he’d gathered enough branches, Ji-geu stood up.
“You’d better hurry too, mister. Otherwise you’ll end up with the worst land or something way out in the middle of nowhere.”
After yelling that at me, Ji-geu dashed off with both arms full of branches.
That was the beginning.
As if competing with one another, people began sprinting in every direction.
Some even snatched up branches while still running.
It was still dark all around; the sky had only just begun to brighten.
“What the…?”
As I muttered in a daze, Ji-geu’s father, Warren, gave a small smile.
“What do you think everyone came here for? In the end, it’s all about the land.”
“....”
“They struggled all the way here just to get a patch of ground to farm. Once someone starts claiming land, it’s only natural for people to get anxious—no matter what was decided at the meeting.”
“Are you the same, Mr. Warren?”
When I asked, Warren smiled again.
“Of course.”
With that, Warren walked off in the direction Ji-geu had run.
Unlike the others, he didn’t run, but his stride was fast.
Before long, the only thing left around me was the dying campfire. Not a single person remained.
Everyone had scattered far and wide, eyes fixed on the ground as they ran.
Well, except for the thugs still tied up with rope.
“I guess I shouldn’t just stand here like an idiot either.”
People were already planting branches.
“Ah, that spot looks pretty good to me too.”
The place one man had chosen had the fewest trees.
It would take less effort in the beginning.
Others were single-mindedly sticking branches into the ground as well.
From what I could see, if the spot was close by and had neither trees nor rocks, they just claimed any patch they could.
Ji-geu was working hard too.
The boy had planted far more branches than anyone else.
Most of them were hidden by weeds, though.
At this rate, it looked like the only land left would be so far away it would be out of sight.
I was just thinking I should join the land grab myself when Popcorn suddenly thrust its two thin arms straight into the air.
It flapped its arms and legs as if making some kind of vow.
Its fluffy cotton-ball body tilted up and then wobbled back down.
Whether it was imitating the people or not, Popcorn grabbed a tiny piece of grass from the ground, dragged it along, and flew up into the air.
It looked exactly like an ant carrying a leaf.
Apparently the little guy thought this was all just a game.
Seeing everyone so worked up over claiming land made even me feel a little rushed.
But I didn’t know the first thing about farming, so how could I possibly tell which land was good?
As I wandered near where the others were moving about, a sweaty Ji-geu came running over.
“Mister, what are you doing here? You’re going to miss all the good spots!”
“I have no idea what makes land good, so I’m just wandering around.”
Ji-geu blinked at me.
“You don’t even know that? And you’re a mage?”
Apparently it was common sense in this world.
“I’ll show you what good land looks like.”
With a serious expression, Ji-geu grabbed my hand and pulled me along.
“Good land gives good crops. Bad land only produces empty husks. If that happens, you’ll starve before winter, so you have to pick good land.”
“What was your family’s farmland like?”
“We didn’t have any land.”
It seemed Ji-geu’s father had worked other people’s fields for pay because he had none of his own.
I’d asked the wrong question.
I placed a hand on Ji-geu’s head.
“That must have been hard.”
Ji-geu shrugged.
“It’s okay now. We get to have lots of land.”
Ji-geu looked around, confirming that his father was far away.
Then he lowered his voice.
“I overheard some people talking… they said if you live here, they’ll give you a bride.”
“Huh? A bride?”
That was an odd thing to hear.
I must have made a strange face, because Ji-geu giggled.
“It’s true! Someone said they’d give brides to people who don’t have one.”
“Uh… I see.”
Did Ji-geu want a bride?
Ji-geu tugged my hand again, eyes sparkling as he looked up at me.
“To have a bride, you need money. If there’s nothing to eat, they leave. They cry a lot.”
This seemed to be about his own mother.
For a child’s fantasy, it was far too specific and heartbreaking.
Ji-geu leaned in close as if sharing a secret.
Since I bent down a little, he whispered.
“Mom disappeared, so right now Dad doesn’t have a bride. That means we have to get a lot of good land so he can receive one. More than anyone else. A whole lot.”
“....”
“And if she becomes Dad’s bride, that person will become my mom.”
“I see.”
Only now did I finally understand why this boy had rubbed his eyes and gotten up in the pitch-dark dawn to mark the ground.
I’d heard that none of the people coming here were without their own stories.
It seemed that was true.
Even a child this small carried his own burden.
“You can tell good land just by looking. Like this—if you dig it up and there’s no moisture at all, it’s bad land.”
Ji-geu rubbed the ground with his shoe.
“Ah, this spot is good.”
He smiled brightly, picked up a branch from the ground, and handed it to me.
“You have to plant it quickly. Good land gets taken fast.”
Ji-geu went on to tell me several more conditions for good land.
Some of what he said was a little strange, while others sounded quite plausible.
A few men who had come closer to listen started laughing heartily, apparently finding it amusing that a child was teaching me.
“Well, the kid isn’t entirely wrong, but if you follow everything he says you’ll end up with nothing but empty husks.”
After passionately explaining what made good land, the men left again to continue their land grab.
“Whew, I rested a bit so I should get going too, mister.”
Ji-geu smiled brightly and ran off toward his father.
Now I suppose I should seriously pick some land.
I carefully examined the ground the way the others had described, but… well, I still had no idea.
Some places were full of weeds, others were packed with stones, and some spots were completely bare like a desert.
That was about all I could tell. I couldn’t distinguish good land from bad at all.
Everything looked the same to me.
When I turned to see what the others were doing, some had gone so far they looked like tiny ants in the distance.
Just how greedy for land were they? How did they plan to cultivate such an enormous area?
I was laughing in disbelief when Popcorn, who had disappeared for a while, reappeared.
It was still clutching the piece of grass.
Carrying it around, the little spirit would land on the ground, take off again, fly to another spot, and pretend to inspect the earth.
Was it really imitating the people?
I crouched down nearby. Popcorn was spinning in circles on the ground while still holding the grass.
It didn’t seem satisfied with this spot either.
It flew up again.
“....”
Since everything looked the same to my eyes anyway, maybe I should just go with wherever Popcorn chose.
With that thought, I wandered after the direction Popcorn was flying. Strangely enough, it was heading toward what looked like a dangerous forest.
“Hey, that direction is dangerous.”
I reached out to grab it, but Popcorn let out a loud string of “Pi-pi-pi-pi!” sounds.
It seemed to be telling me to let go.
Well, since it wasn’t human, maybe it would be fine even if it went into the forest.
The moment I thought that, Popcorn stopped heading for the woods and began spinning in place instead.
After spinning around for a long time searching for the right spot, it finally planted the piece of grass in the ground.
It looked like this place satisfied it.
Looking around, it was close to the forest but still had some distance.
It was far from the clearing where our belongings were, but other people had gone even farther.
The only downside was that it was a bit far from water.
Still, since the forest was nearby, we might be able to draw water from somewhere.
“Pi-pi-pi-pi?”
As if trying to appeal that this was a good spot, Popcorn flew right in front of my face holding another piece of grass.
It shook the grass vigorously as if saying, “It’s good here, I like it here, this spot is perfect.”
I’d heard that in this world, spirits were beings that brought abundance to the land and nature.
If Popcorn liked this place, there might be some meaning to it.
“If you like it, shall we take this spot?”
After muttering that, I picked up a nearby branch and stuck it in the ground. Popcorn immediately began flying around in the air with happy “Pi-pit!” sounds.
It seemed delighted.
“Pi-pi-pi-pi.”
Popcorn planted another piece of grass.
One, two, three…
It drew a circle slightly larger than the palm of my hand, creating a small patch with the grass pieces.
Then it pushed its fluffy body forward as if puffing out its chest.
Of course, all that did was make the round Popcorn bob forward a little.
“....”
Maybe this little guy had simply thought it was a fun game.
Perhaps it just wanted to do the land grab together with me.
Ah, whatever.
I muttered to myself and began sticking branches all around the area.
Some ground was soft and the branches went in easily, but other spots were so hard they wouldn’t budge.
Whenever that happened, Popcorn would fly over, land on the back of my hand, and struggle along with me.
It seemed to want to combine our strength.
It didn’t help at all.
While we were busy planting branches like that, it became time for the meal.
Come to think of it, we’d left the thugs tied up where they were.
We couldn’t feed them for free, so we’d have to release them and make them work.
That was another thing to decide at today’s village meeting.
“....”
Still… was it really true that they would give out brides?
It kept bothering me a little.