Running Away? No, Just Stepping Out! (2)
Over the course of several days, the sailors hauled in droves of people, and on the final day they returned carrying bundles of some unidentifiable plant.
"What's that plant for?"
"No idea. First time I've seen it, so I grabbed some."
I'd assumed they collected it because it was useful — then why did they pick it in the first place?
"Ah. You must be curious. If you bring back a plant nobody's seen before to Sinsi, they pay good money for it."
Oh. So they send them off to the research institute, apparently.
The institute was doing the sort of work medieval alchemists would have handled — everything from botany down to basic chemistry. They were still at the foundation-laying stage, so thankfully nothing exploded and went flying out the windows every other day.
"So are we heading back now?"
"Already?"
"Excuse me?"
"We've got one more stop to make."
And what else was there to stop for around here but China?
"Hurk."
"Uuugh."
Apparently our new cavemen had never been out on the open sea before. The lot of them were seasick and in complete chaos. There was truly no cure for seasickness — even the Holy Water didn't help.
The real problem was that nobody was cleaning up properly, and the stench was unbearable. At this rate they'd all fall ill...
And I was the only one suffering for it, since I was the one feeding these kids.
"Haneul, you're just too kind. Why do you work so hard feeding them?"
"Because they might starve to death."
"Hah? True enough. They're only worth money if we keep them alive."
These... utterly heartless pirates. They might as well be children I raised myself. Aigoo...
Scolding them was just spitting into my own face. Or spitting out Holy Water, I suppose?
Come to think of it, maybe it was because they'd been drinking water laced with even a trace of Holy Water the whole time — not a single one of them had gotten sick, and they were all moving around just fine.
I'd heard that people on ships were supposed to come down with all sorts of stomach troubles, but I hadn't seen a single case.
"Hurk."
Ugh, the smell. Fine — I'd better toss them some potatoes before I go.
After days of sailing, we arrived at a river in China — muddy and yellow. Was this the Yellow River?
I wondered what China was up to these days. The last time I'd seen them was back at Haseo, so they probably had bows by now.
I'd seen their bronze axes and bronze shields too, so I was a little curious.
"Alright, everyone, grab your wooden planks!"
"Can't we just take the hits and slap on some Holy Water?"
"Holy Water isn't free, you fool!"
"Yes, sir..."
Still, at least they were looking for something to block with. They might have bows — seemed they had ranged weapons, most likely.
"Haneul, stay hidden around here. Stone arrows won't hurt us, but they might hurt you."
The captain could be surprisingly thoughtful.
"Okay. Oh, and I can shoot a crossbow too!"
"Hah? Is that so? I'll give you a mechanical crossbow, then — you should be able to handle one of those."
Cocking a crossbow was such a pain that someone had invented a wheel-crank loading mechanism. It took a while, but it put loading within reach even for women.
"Thank you very much."
If they saw me just pulling the trigger, they'd probably faint.
"We'll deal with them for now, but if any of them come toward the ship, you shoot without hesitation."
"Yes, sir!"
You don't know this, but about two hundred years ago? Those guys and I already have a bad history. I probably fired off several hundred shots at them over two days myself...
"Alright, boys! Let's go!"
"Waaaaah!"
Over in the distance, the native village was packed with people too. Wasn't the gap in numbers way too big?
Those poor souls had it rough. How many years had they been tormented like this? The crime of my beauty is heavy. Very.
"Waaaaah!"
Thunk-thunk-thunk.
Arrows actually made it this far? Though they were terribly crude. Stone arrowheads, of all things. And they fluttered down so feebly that you probably wouldn't even get a bruise if one hit bare skin.
It looked like something someone had thrown together after getting beaten once — they still had a long way to go.
Our muscular sailors could probably take a direct hit up close and shrug it off with a single battle cry.
Just look at that. Charging straight through the arrows again, knocking everyone flat and tying them up with rope.
"Honestly, from their perspective, it must be terrifying. Their weapons don't work, and the enemy is strong..."
Oh... a man just went flying. And apparently something set him off, because one of the natives was being slammed down headfirst into the ground. His head was buried in the dirt. Was he still alive?
"GRAAAH! That bastard kicked me in the balls!"
A small but fury-filled voice. Ah... right. That is a fatally vulnerable spot. But it didn't burst? Is that part tough too? Scary.
"Hkk... huh... huk..."
These ones at least put up some resistance before getting captured, and they were scattered everywhere nursing their bruises. Plenty of sore spots, but no visible breaks — they were a hardy bunch.
"Everybody, let's get the medicine on, quick!"
"Yes, sir!"
Whatever it was, they all gathered around looking relieved, already rubbing the ointment into their skin. Thank goodness the ointment didn't smell foul. I'd taken a sniff once — it was floral, actually.
"Wow, that burns! Thank you, priestess!"
Um. Yeah — the person who made that is right here. You know, that ointment really does heal you when you rub it on. Back in the day, "rub some ointment on and you'll be fine" actually used to be true.
Still — here we were wrecking havoc along the Yellow River. Didn't this mean the Yellow River civilization was doomed?
If I remembered right, the Great Wall was built because of raids from northern nomads. China had so many people, and there was so much to plunder, that raiders came from everywhere...
Who knew? Maybe this time they'd build something like the Pyeongwon Wall instead.
Vikings in Europe, Daehan in Asia — world history class a few thousand years from now is going to be quite the read. I really should make sure to attend school.
"So are we going back now?"
"Yeah. We'll swing by Pyeonghwa first, then head home."
"Is that necessary?"
"The farther from Sinsi, the higher the price. Hehe."
So the provincial cities still had plenty of construction to do? Well, fair enough — even Sinsi still had far too much left to do, so the sparsely populated provinces must be worse.
I should prepare things in advance so there'd be no racial discrimination later on. Though I noticed they only captured men — what was left over, I wondered?
Truly ugly cavemen, those. Surely no woman would want anything to do with them?
Splash.
How cruel. Today, another body went over the side into the sea. These captives were so frail — even drinking water laced with Holy Water, one of them had died of seasickness.
Our boys were all hale and hearty. Same food, same water — why did only these men suffer this way? Was it the muscle? Or did the medicine just work better on our people?
"We'd better make land soon."
"You're telling me."
"Oh, you're back."
"Those ones are too frail."
The teachers seem plenty sturdy to me, though?
"We'll have to do a lot of rowing, then."
This ship carried sails, but it also carried oars. When the crew rowed on top of the sails, the ship was astonishingly fast.
The slaves were too weak even to pull an oar, so the sailors rowed themselves. So that's how they built up all that muscle — impressive, really.
They swung oars bigger than a man around like they weighed nothing. You could have used them as weapons.
"You're really leaving?"
The captain looked tremendously disappointed.
"Yes. I have to go home, don't I?"
"Fair enough. A pretty young thing like you was never built for a sailor's life anyway."
He smirked. So he'd known I was leaving all along.
"Then why did you take me on in the first place?"
"Because you're pretty."
Oh... was this some eternal, unchanging truth? Beauty permits everything. Come to think of it, wasn't that my greatest weapon?
"And here I thought you'd been hired for your competence..."
"We got along fine without a cook anyway."
"You do know your way around a kitchen. You always carried good ingredients around."
"None of the rest of us can do that. Bwahaha!"
The only talent you lot have is cracking people over the head! Still, luck like this wouldn't last forever. It was precisely because they suffered like this that weapons developed so quickly.
"Be careful. They have hands and they have brains — sooner or later they'll build themselves better weapons."
"I know. It's different every time I go. Won't be long now, I figure."
So he did understand. Slavery would all but vanish before long. It'd take a few hundred years, though.
"Thank you for everything~"
"Take care now."
I got off at Pyeonghwa. They said the road there had finally been completed, and I meant to walk it and see for myself.
The great highway itself wasn't much to look at, but there were inns along the way — ones I'd invested in — so eating and lodging were pleasant enough.
And I'd heard a new road had opened near Danhwa, cutting through the mountains straight to Sinsi, so that was the way I was headed.
"St... stay right there!"
And on the mountain path, I ran into bandits.
"Who are you supposed to be?"
Bandits, technically — but with no decent weapons to speak of, and so starved they were skin and bones, they were a sorry sight.
"Don't move!"
"Hm? I'm not moving."
"Hand over that bag..."
Hm. There wasn't much in the bag anyway. Poor things — I might as well just give it to them.
"Here. Take it."
They snatched the bag and dumped its contents everywhere. Oh — there was underwear in there too... and these men were doing this right by the side of the highway. Shameless!
There was a bit of food, but nowhere near enough. It wouldn't even cover your labor costs, boys.
"So can I go now?"
"No!"
What? What was I supposed to do about that? They didn't even look like they had food for themselves — what did they intend to do by dragging me off? Get your story straight first, you idiots.
"She could report where we are!"
"Right! We have to take her!"
Well, they get along fine with each other. Go on then, do as you like. Just remember to be grateful it's me.
Most of them were so feeble that an ordinary Daehan woman could have beaten them without breaking a sweat.
They'd apparently seen this done somewhere before, though, because they tied me up with the cords from my bag and started dragging me along.
"L... let's go!"
Why so fumbling about it? First-time offenders? They looked like escaped slaves, but what on earth were they?
Off the road, we wandered lost through the mountains for a long while before arriving at their hideout. Hideout was generous — come winter, they'd all freeze to death there.
They lived in a hovel of branches thrown haphazardly together.
"Phew..."
And they "locked me up" by... sticking me behind a screen of woven branches and just leaving it there? I could kick my way out in one step, you dolts.
"What do we do?"
"We barely have food for ourselves — why did you bring her here?"
See? I told you. They don't have food for themselves. Why take prisoners at all?
"She might come back later with people to catch us!"
And you, you drooling idiot — how did you escape? Planning a breakout takes brains, doesn't it?
The ground was packed dirt, so a chill crept up from below, and my clothes were filthy now. Ugh. My bottom was cold. Someone do something, quickly.
"We're hungry, so let's eat this for now."
"Yeah. Eat first, figure it out after."
"I haven't eaten anything all day..."
Unbelievable. Just go back to being slaves, why don't you. At least then they seemed to make sure you slept in a warm room and ate well — can't have the labor force breaking down, after all.
Come to think of it, slave treatment wasn't actually all that bad, was it? Ah — because they had no families, that's why.
"What do we do with her?"
"That's what I'm saying — why bring her here!"
"Sorry."
Outside, the men rustled about for ages. Building a fire in the middle of the mountains — how was that any different from announcing I'm over here?
They started pulling away the branch screen, as if to open the door. Don't tell me they're going to feed me too?
"Here. Eat this."
"That's mine to begin with."
Still, a person has to say these things. Playing the generous benefactor with someone else's food.
"S... sorry. I was just so hungry."
"Ugh..."
Oh? Now that I looked at him, he spoke rather well. Had he been a slave for long?
"You speak pretty well, though?"
"I was captured a long time ago."
"You've had it rough. Food's scarce, I know — I'll just let you go, all right? I won't tell anyone you're here."
"Really?"
People here were simple folk through and through... Believing that without a shred of doubt. Look at his eyes, sparkling like that.
But nobody actually untied me. The others had objected, apparently.
And sleeping was fine and all, but why did we all have to sleep together? For the first time in ages, a smell assailed my nostrils. I'd only meant to spare the poor things, and now... maybe I should just kick this shack apart and walk away?
"Hey, can't I just sleep outside?"
"It's cold out there. Stay with us."
Such unnecessary consideration. His breath was lethal, too.
"So how long ago did you escape?"
"A week or so? Who knows."
"If it means suffering like this, wouldn't it be better to go back where you came from?"
He thought about it for a long while, as if he'd already been turning it over in his mind.
"Still. I want to live free. I hate being a slave."
Poor things, really. Sorry about this. Only reason I'm squatting here looking harmless is that, well — the truth is, I'm the one those slave-takers answer to.