Bullets, Blades, and Bad Negotiations
Not enough? Should I give you more?
But what's there to brag about, having lots of gold and silver? We're overflowing with the stuff, and we barely even use it.
We'll have to spend the silver eventually, but spend it on what? There has to be something worth buying first.
"Don't lie to me!"
Yikes! I was off in my own little world and suddenly someone barges in?
"Fine, call it a lie."
"Hnngh!"
Huh? Do I have something that just makes people's blood boil? Funny thing is, the more I talk to people like this, the more of them there seem to be.
"How dare you show such insolence to Lord Fujiwara!"
"And where do you get off, failing to answer a lord with proper respect, you woman!"
Ugh, so annoying. Their voices are small, but that constant nagging yapping is unbearable.
"Silence!"
"Yes, my lord!"
Come at me. My Treasure No. 3 is crying at my hip right now! And if it comes to it, I've got a No. 4 too!
Let's punch some air holes in those lungs.
"Then could you pay one hundred thousand nyang every year?"
What is he, so small-time? He's hoping to walk away with just that?
But I don't feel like just handing it over.
"No."
"What did you say!"
"I'm proposing we renegotiate the contract. Start by handing back the hundred thousand nyang you already gave the Emperor."
"How about we count that first year as covered?"
What is this guy even saying? He doesn't understand the first thing about contracts.
"What are you talking about? And besides, you'd need a letter of delegation from the Emperor."
"A what?"
"A letter stating that you'll receive the silver on the Emperor's behalf. Write that up and bring it, and that's your letter of delegation."
"What!"
What do you mean, what! I'm telling you to get lost, you idiot. You have zero awareness, honestly.
"You dare think you'll be safe after this!"
"Safe? Probably."
Ooh, he's about to blow! His face goes pale, then red — quite a sight, actually?
"Grrr! I can't take this!"
"I'll kill you right now!"
"Lord Fujiwara, withdraw at once!"
Huh? Is the young master slipping back behind his guards? He's actually retreating? Let's see how this plays out, then.
"Your boys have no manners, don't they? You're only eight, you know? I'd say I'm going to win this one."
"WHAT!"
"Have you ever seen such an insolent woman in your life!"
The boys' insults are pretty tame, honestly. Stupid hag, I'll kill you — is that all they've got?
Clack.
"Oh? Drawing your sword? If you pull that out, someone's really going to die. Think carefully?"
Reaching for the hilt like that — I suppose I'll have to fix his manners once and for all?
Shing.
It's a bit short for my height, I'll admit, but still not bad.
"Hah hah hah! What do you expect to do with such a short blade?"
"Heh heh heh. A toy sword, nothing more."
"Why not swing it sheath and all and give his backside a good whack?"
"BWAHAHA!"
You all could drop dead right here and it'd count as dying of natural causes. Got it?
Ching!
"..."
"A black blade? Don't tell me Daehan forges its swords from pig iron? BWAHAHA!"
It does have a faint dark sheen, but not quite to that degree?
"May I have the honor of smacking you first?"
"Be my guest."
He's challenging me to a one-on-one?
"Put that toy knife away, stick your rear end out this way, and I'll go easy on you."
"What the hell? What kind of moron talks like that? Do you people fight with your mouths?"
"..."
That much isn't even a real insult, is it? What's with him? The guy's frozen solid!
"Strip her naked and beat her backside raw!"
Oh my? Has he lost his mind?
"HAAAP!"
FWOOOOM.
I swung it sheath and all, and it made exactly the sound of someone swinging a club.
"Yap!"
CRACK! CHING! THUD!
Huh? I figured I'd parry with the blade since it was just a wooden sheath, then smash him — but the whole thing just got cleaved clean through?
And the topknot he had tied up went flying too.
Sssshhh.
"Guh..."
The blade gasped, and so did I. I'd put real care into forging it, but I hadn't actually expected it to cut a genuine sword in two.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Is this really the kind of moment that calls for total silence? The guy who lost his sword looks like he's about to cry? Did he borrow it from his dad or his uncle?
"What kind of worthless sword was that?"
"You dare! That blade was forged by Master Danaka himself!"
"Um, your sword ran into mine and got sliced through sheath and all — how is that not a defect?"
"I'll kill you!"
Ching-chak-ching! Ching!
Swords hissed out of their sheaths on all sides, and the air turned murderous in an instant.
"All seven of you are really going to rush me at once?"
"Strip down and bow in apology right now, and I might show you mercy."
Why do these people love stripping others of their clothes so much?
"Ah. Now I'm annoyed? You've put me in a bad mood."
Clack-clack.
This beautiful thing, just a handspan longer than my palm — what a splendid tool for conversation!
BANG! BANG! Click. BANG! BANG! BANG!
"AAAAGH!"
"GURK!"
"Nnnnngh."
"..."
"..."
Aw, one of them misfired? So five of them dropped in one go?
"Two left? What'll it be? Coming at me or what?"
"..."
"..."
Ooh, I know this mood. They're debating whether to abandon their master and bolt, aren't they? Let me make the decision easy for them.
Click. Clack.
Swap in a pre-loaded chamber and this thing fires nearly like a fully automatic. That's the beauty of it.
"Hurry up and answer. Are you coming at me or not?"
Click.
"AAAAAAH!"
"SPARE ME!"
The moment I raised the gun, they ran without so much as a glance behind them.
"And you? Not running?"
"Y-you will come to regret this!"
The young master was still standing there glaring for all he was worth, so I asked if he wasn't leaving.
"Want to leave on good terms? Or would you rather take your beating and go?"
"No..."
Can't even meet my eyes, shuffling backward step by step, and still trying to act dignified!
"Hey!"
"Wh-what is it now?"
"Clean up after yourself before you go! You've got to take your men with you, don't you?"
Only now does he look back? They're not dead yet, you fool! If it's not a through-and-through, they might pull through... barely.
"How am I supposed to carry five men by myself?"
"Why by yourself? There's two of you — the one shaking like a leaf over there who lost his sword."
"Snap out of it, you idiots! Did you come here on holiday? Tidy up fast, or I'll put holes in your heads!"
"A cart! Just grant us one cart, I beg you!"
"Hm? Fine. I suppose I can spare that much."
I even kindly fetched them a cart. Aren't I such a sweetheart? And to be fair, no one's actually died yet.
If they die later because they couldn't get treatment, that's not on me.
And look, I even saw them all the way to the castle gate like a proper host.
"Travel safe — and never come back."
"Ngh. You will regret this!"
"Just take your hundred thousand nyang and go. Why poke around and blow things up into this mess?"
"Grrrk..."
Hey, hey. That's terrible for your teeth! You've got no dental implants to fall back on — what are you planning to do about it?
A hundred thousand nyang must be a colossal fortune around here? Maybe I should try unleashing some silver on this market later — converting it into gold, of course.
"My lady!"
"We have arrived!"
What on earth is with these lunatics? Why are they all strapping packs of explosives around their bodies like bandoliers?
"My lady! Are you all right!"
They're shouting so loudly that even running toward me, it feels like they're whispering in my ear. Wonderful.
"It's all over!"
"We heard gunshots and came running!"
So you ran straight into a gunfight. You could all have blown up together.
"Beats me. Some noble from the neighborhood dropped by, but he kept telling me to take my clothes off, so I just shot a few rounds and chased him off."
"..."
"Wha—"
"!!!"
Huh? Did I pick the wrong words? Well, it did happen, didn't it? The kids seem awfully worked up, though?
"Where are these men?"
I didn't ask where. Sadly. I could've watched their estates get blown sky-high.
"Ah, drat. Everything happened so fast I forgot to ask."
"A shame, my lady."
When he says it that calmly, it's somehow even more chilling... I'm scared, honestly...
"If a nobleman left like that, he might come back with an army, no?"
"Ah! We will make preparations at once."
"Mm. We'll need to stay sharp for a while."
Taking money that's freely given is one thing, but going through all this hassle for it? He only has his own greed to blame.
And this sword really is something? Now that I've actually swung it, it doesn't feel short at all. Is it because the grip is long?
Judging by the population, an attack wouldn't amount to much, so I topped up the personnel a little.
A hundred at the harbor, three hundred at the silver mine — people have been pouring in at an absolutely staggering rate, and the valley has filled up with houses.
"There's more than just silver here, isn't there?"
"Yes, my lady. There are mixed ores with all sorts of other minerals. How would you like them handled?"
"We've got plenty of ships, don't we? Ask for a few more to be sent over, and they can roast it or boil it however they like down there."
Looking at the houses strung along the valley from the harbor all the way up to the mine — that's got to be well over several thousand people, hasn't it?
"Tell them to send plenty of food, no scrimping. There really are a lot of people."
"They're clearing land and farming in their own way, my lady, so they shouldn't be desperately short."
"Feed them generously anyway. The children looked painfully thin."
Not a single well-fed person among them. Those wretched little foreigners.
No matter how little farmland there is, if everyone shared what they had, nobody would starve.
The visitors from before had taken one look at the place — grease practically dripping off them — and assumed the natives outside must be living decently too. Turns out that was a mistake. The elites had simply been eating and living well while everyone else starved.
"Oh! Right — set up a mess hall so the children can eat for free."
"Is that necessary, my lady?"
These kids will be working our mines someday. We ought to raise them right.
"The adults can starve to death for all I care, but I want the children eating well. They had no strength in them."
"Kh... You are truly a beacon, Haneul-nim!"
Huh? Why is he switching into moved-to-tears mode? These kids probably won't live long anyway, what with the lead poisoning.
Strangely enough, they keep seeing me as some warmhearted saint.
"By the way, why is the one who ran off being so quiet about it?"
"Could he be plotting something, my lady?"
"I need to know where he lives so I can go poke around, at the very least. Should've found out where his home was before he left."
"That is a bit of a shame. I was hoping to blow the whole thing to pieces."
He still hasn't let that go, has he? A castle, a manor — we won't be done until something goes up in flames.
"Father, I have returned."
"And the tribute?"
"We could not collect it."
Slap.
His scowl darkening, the man struck his folded fan against his knee. He was not himself the head of the family, but he was a Fujiwara all the same — a name that could not be forgotten. Born of the house that now wielded absolute power over all of Japan, he had been exiled to this remote province as its provincial governor, and he was quietly building his strength for a return to the capital.
That was when rumors of the silver mine had reached his ears.
"You worthless fool!"
He had sent his eldest son — and the man had returned having lost nothing but his guards.
"My apologies."
"Hmph. Nothing to be done, I suppose! What was the situation like?"
"It appears they could easily afford one hundred thousand nyang every year without strain."
"What!"
How could he not be astounded? A hundred thousand nyang in silver — wasn't that enough to run a nation, here in Japan?
"That much silver is actually coming out of the ground?"
"Yes, Father."
"Was what our spies brought back not almost entirely lead?"
"They seem to possess some special technique of their own."
Silver could be extracted from lead ore even without a proper separation method, but the difference in efficiency was considerable. And with other substances mixed in, the effect on purity was substantial as well.
"Did you learn what that technique is?"
"Something is evidently being done near the harbor — smoke rises from there — but the walls are so high that our men could discover nothing, they say."
"Bah! Tsk tsk tsk. So what did you learn, then?"
Even he could see how pathetic that answer was, which was why his son merely kept his head bowed.
"Only that there were very few people there."
"Hardly any Daehan men at all?"
"None, Father. There were supervisors of a sort, they say — perhaps fifty in all."
The woman had carried some terrifying weapon none of them had ever seen, true — but surely a few dozen men could not hold back an army. That much they had assumed.
"So we could attack and seize it ourselves, then?"
"My only concern is the permit we received from His Majesty the Emperor."
"Hm..."
"Besides, Father — the woman offered to sell it back, asking two billion nyang. Surely that is worth attempting?"
"Gah!..."
The moment the figure left his son's mouth, he felt the breath choke out of him. He had bought it for a hundred thousand nyang — and it was worth two billion? No wonder the man was stunned.
"There is truly that much silver?"
For did that figure not amount, at the very least, to proof of exactly that?
"Yes."
"And the woman?"
"Yes, Father. The one presented as governor of the territory was a woman."
"Ha ha! Then I shall have it all!"
Who could have guessed that being exiled to the provinces would turn out to be Fujiwara Yoriyoshi's great opportunity? His eyes slowly reddened, dyed through with raw, ravenous greed.