Welcome, New Friends
Everyone gave us a warm welcome.
After causing chaos all night long, Woori and the others walked off into the crowd. I should go get some rest too. I'm fine, but Moses looks like she's about to collapse.
"Want to head down to the lake and wash up and change?"
We were both in a sorry state. All I really needed was a fresh set of clothes, but unlike me, Moses was an ordinary human without anything like an automatic self-cleaning function.
"Ugh… I'm so tired…."
"Come on, let's wash up quick and go."
"It's freezing out. Let's just go home and heat some water."
Oh, right? She could catch a cold if we're not careful.
"Yeah, let's head back."
When we got home, the longhouse was pleasantly warm even without a fire lit — one of its perks. The neighbors next door kept their hearth burning, so it was always cozy.
"Warm, sure, but without underfloor heating it's still chilly."
"Haah… and more importantly, I don't have anything to change into. What do I do?"
"Want to borrow mine?"
I do happen to carry around an absurd amount of clothing.
"Yes. Let's wash up first."
"I'll get the water going."
This is where telekinesis falls a little short. I can't boil water with it.
Crackle, crackle.
Once the fire was lit, the room warmed up faster than I'd expected.
"Once the water's lukewarm, just soak a cloth and wipe yourself down, then let's sleep."
"Yes, ma'am."
The water was just shy of cold, and we started wiping ourselves down with wet cloths.
"But Haneul-nim, why are you being so half-hearted about it?"
"Me? I don't need to wash, you know. I'm always clean."
"What? Really? I'm so jealous!"
Yep. This is more convenient than you'd think. Since I'm clean without washing, I can just live my life swapping out clothes whenever.
"Then why do you wash at all?"
"How do I put it? It's purely for the vibe."
I still like to think of myself as human, after all.
"Anyway, wipe down enough and let's get dressed. I'll pull out something for you to wear."
"Yes!"
I dug out something roughly my size, handed it over, and hurried into my own clothes. It'd be a little embarrassing if anyone walked in, you know?
Rustle, rustle.
"Huh?"
"Whoa—what?"
Mid-change, the two of us could only stare blankly at each other.
Moses… has a pretty significant gap at the chest and hips? She did say she'd given birth to four kids. Isn't she a bit… developed?
"Sniff…."
"It's from using your brain so much…."
"Sob…."
She's taller than me too, which makes it just a little bit tragic.
"Come here, big sis will give you a hug."
"I'm the taller one, though!"
"Whoever has the bigger chest and the fatter wallet is the big sis. That's just the rule."
"…."
Moses must have been exhausted — she didn't stir even when evening came. I ended up lying down alongside her and sleeping the whole day away too.
Lying there, I turned the thought over in my mind. Wouldn't it work well to push forward with evangelism here using Holy Water? It's worked better than anything so far, hasn't it?
Snoooooore—
She sleeps like the dead.
SQUEEEEZE—
What on earth is she dreaming about? She's mauling my chest. Is she trying to crush it? Did she lose to it in some past life? Normal people stop when the other person says it hurts, you know?
When morning came, we got to work. Evangelism through Holy Water, you could call it.
We pitched a tent in the middle of the village and began receiving patients.
"Would a bad tooth be treatable too?"
Oh dear, a cavity already? There shouldn't even be any sugar around here.
Hold on — a cavity? That's a first for me. I'd never once heard of anyone in Daehan dying of a toothache, so it seemed like something I could manage.
"Hmm? That's a new one for me. Shall we give it a try? Here, hold this in your mouth for a while, then swallow it."
Trickle, trickle.
It's not like I can smear it on anywhere obvious — just holding it in the mouth should do it.
"Go home and let it sit for about a day. It sometimes fades away slowly on its own too."
"Yes! Thank you!"
"Spread the word to the villagers too. If anyone's sick, send them here."
"You got it!"
At first it was nothing but a steady stream of children.
Cavities, scraped knees — honestly, what were these kids doing to play this hard? One of them even came in with a cracked skull.
"Um… excuse me… miss? Maiden? What should I call you?"
"Just call me Haneul."
"Right then, Maiden Haneul. My knees ache — is there anything to be done? On rainy days I can barely stand it…."
Ah. If it's bacterial, Holy Water could handle it — but if the cartilage is simply worn away, there's nothing to be done.
"Well. If the bone itself is worn out, there's not much I can do. But if the pain comes from an illness, I can treat it."
"There's more than one reason for aching?"
"Yes. There are many causes. For now, shall we have you drink this?"
Now that I look at it, 'treatment' isn't much of anything, is it? Have them drink, wipe them down — and that's it? Astonishingly simple.
Glug, glug.
"Mmm~ it smells lovely and it's sweet? I expected medicine to be bitter?"
Huh? That's new information. My saliva is sweet?
"How does it feel? Any better?"
"Let me walk around a moment."
The old woman rose and took a few steps, still limping. As I thought — the cartilage really is gone.
"Ah well, the knee's no better. Still, thank you kindly."
"Not at all. I'm sorry it couldn't be treated."
"Huh?"
Hm? Why is she looking so startled? Did the effect just kick in late?
"I can see! My eyes are clear!"
"I'm sorry, what?"
"My vision had been going cloudy lately — I could hardly see what was in front of me! But now it's all clear!"
Oh? So she had something like cataracts or glaucoma?
"That's wonderful!"
"Bless you! So my eyes weren't just wearing out with age — something was actually wrong with me! Thank you!"
"Ahaha. It was nothing."
Watching the old woman hobble away on her bad knees with a beaming grin made me feel wonderful too.
"Miss? Are you planning to just sit here with nothing to do?"
What's gotten into Moses? It's not like I'm idling the day away without a care.
"Why? What's wrong with this?"
"If you want to truly win these people over, shouldn't you be going around, seeing the work, getting involved?"
Oh, come on. If the two of us have to traipse around in person, how many years until we reach hundreds or thousands of people? This is a job for multi-level marketing!
"This is by far the most effective way, I'm telling you."
"We saw all of four people today? Three of them were children?"
"Just wait. It's about to get busy."
This is all just priming the pump, you see? Give it a few days.
It didn't take long. After seeing one or two patients a day, by the end of the week the line had grown staggeringly long.
Bustle and murmur.
"Oh my, Grandma! It's been so long!"
"How long has it been!"
"You were still alive?"
People came pouring in from the village over and the village beyond that, lining up patiently for treatment.
With so many patients and only the two of us to treat them, the night before, we had summoned every healer in the village and made our case.
Please help us treat the sick, together. We need your assistance.
It couldn't be helped — and really, what alternative was there? Compared to their methods of chewing herbs and praying, Holy Water produced results you could see with your own eyes.
"Let's begin treatment!"
"It's all the same, so everyone just line up wherever!"
And so treatment began under six tents.
"Um, my wrist hurts. Could you treat it, please?"
"Hmm? Where does it hurt?"
No matter how I look, he's perfectly fine? No swelling, nothing — a kid this young with rheumatoid arthritis? Not a chance.
"I think a little ho~ of yours would help more than medicine."
"Ah…."
For some reason, strange patients keep finding their way to me.
"If nothing actually hurts, shall I make something hurt for you?"
"Gah—!"
Does he think I'm sitting here to be laughed at? This little punk!
Having now used Holy Water on real patients face to face, its effects turned out to be even more remarkable than I'd thought.
Disease, bacteria? In those areas it was a hundred percent cure rate so far, and it even sped up the healing of wounds.
If the crowds keep growing, I might have to start classifying it as a strategic resource or something.
And as it happened, it worked wonderfully even when heavily diluted with water. Why not build a factory someday and have people drink it like everyday bottled water?
Murmur, murmur.
As the treatment wore on, the village entrance began to stir. Had a fight broken out?
"Mother! You've returned!"
"They're back!"
"Oh!"
The delegation that had gone to see Sinju had come home.
Hm? But… why are they dangling all that off themselves? Silks draped over everyone, and the men strutting around with not one but two axes apiece?
Did they go shopping?
Well, thanks to that, we get to turn in early today.
Apparently they had a great deal to discuss, because the whole clan disappeared into a tribal council, so we returned to our room as well.
"Looks like they liked what they saw."
"Right? I couldn't figure out why they came back so festooned."
"Anything sparkly and pretty is basically every woman's instinct!"
Hm? Is that the same as me liking gold and silver?
No, it is not! I like them because they're the most convenient things to spend as money!
"By the way, do you think the council will go well?"
"You saw how they looked coming back, didn't you? It'll be fine."
And sure enough, that very evening, the Seneca Clan Mother came looking for me.
"Haneul-ssi? Haneul-yang? Haneul, maiden of…? What should I call you?"
"Just call me by my name, comfortably. And speak comfortably too."
"May I really?"
"You've seen how our people treat me, haven't you? That much is more than fine."
What on earth did she go and do over there?
"Well then. The truth is, I doubted you for a long while."
How could anyone trust a stranger at first sight? Fair enough.
"I toured the railway, the steelworks, the mills that weave your cloth — so many places. And I came to understand: if we stay as we are, we will be forgotten, or we will perish."
So she saw all the key industries while she was at it, huh?
"That won't happen. If you don't want it, we'll stop right here."
"No. We are not the only strangers in this world, are we?"
So she looked at the world map too, then?
"No. The ones crossing the ocean to the east will not be kind."
"The history books? I read through the night for two days. About the cruel peoples of Europe. And the story of the Jews in particular did not feel like someone else's story at all."
Labeled as sinners though they were, after coming over here they'd committed plenty of cruelty themselves, all in God's name….
"And I thank you, truly, for healing our people while we were away. You've utterly bewitched everyone in the surrounding villages?"
"Ahaha… it just sort of turned out that way."
It's not as if we're on bad terms with anyone — I simply hated to send people I could save away to die.
"I suppose this is simply the current of the times. Can our culture be preserved?"
"Tribes that have been with us for thousands of years still keep their own cultures alive."
"Ah…."
That much I can promise. And little by little, as they absorb new things, they'll build a culture that is uniquely their own.
"We have no intention of oppressing you. We are looking, with open hearts, for companions who will face the future alongside us as equals."
"I see…. Then the eastern tribes, we shall persuade them together. It will take time — but time is something we can wait out, yes?"
"Yes. We'll wait."
After all, once the Europeans start crossing over, we'll be the only alternative they have….
Here's hoping they can hold out until then.
"By the way — are you truly four thousand years old?"
"A little shy of that, actually?"
"Ho? Then are you a god, or a spirit, or what?"
"Hmm. I've given it some thought, and I think I'm just a person with unusual powers who happens to live a very long time."
"Hohoho!"
If I were a god, I'd have to be omniscient and omnipotent, wouldn't I?
I fall rather short of that, honestly?
"Well, I shan't hold it against you. So — once the railway reaches us, will people be able to come and go freely?"
Ah. She rode it once and now she's quite taken with trains, I see? You'd need the railway if you wanted to go shopping, that was true.
"There would have to be some payment, of course. Taxes to pay, and fares for riding."
"From what I saw, we haven't much to give."
There isn't much you can squeeze out of the natives. In practical terms, the Daehan Company was nearly single-handedly feeding the nation as it was.
"I think you could sell the pottery and crafts you make."
We'll have to produce goods from here, you see.
"Crafts?"
"Yes. Those country bumpkins over in Europe pay handsomely for such things."
"Pwahaha! Bumpkins!"
Well, aren't they, though? They pay gold and silver for a clay bowl with a few black lines drawn on it, I'm telling you?
"They genuinely have no idea what's actually good."
"Quite so. What matters is culture and spirit."
"I hope you hold on to them well."
Their harmony, their consensus — I really do love that about them. Who knows, maybe democracy will take root right here on the Eastern Continent.
"Though I do have a worry. I fear the young ones will drift away…."
"I'm sorry, what?"
"The Daehan people are so striking? And their cities so dazzling and full of life — and then there's a village like ours, oh dear…."
That's not something I can fix for you either, you know? You're on your own there….
So — does this make them our new companions?
"Welcome! Then we're in each other's hands from here on out."
"Indeed. I shall do my utmost — and so will the mother who comes after me."
And so, welcoming fine new friends to our side, we opened the final gate on the road to the far end of the Eastern Continent.