Ha-eun and the 200-Man Bandit Gang! (2)
Clip-clop, clip-clop.
The merchant hurried his horse along, pushing past the bandits without so much as a glance.
“Whew...”
As the bandits faded into the distance, he let out a string of sighs. Was it really that exhausting?
“Seems like there are a lot of bandits around here?”
“There are. Bandits everywhere you look, in every direction.”
“The army doesn't go after them?”
“Those men won't lift a finger unless the nobles themselves are being robbed. And honestly, this area is one of the better ones. The bandits down in the southern mountains are demons.”
Southern mountains? Wait, aren't those my kids? What on earth had they been up to?
“What's wrong with the south?”
“Once they ransacked the royal palace itself. Threw the whole country into chaos.”
Excuse me? Say what now? The royal palace?
“You mean... the place where the king lives?”
“That's the one.”
Well, of course. How else do you explain someone robbing the king's own residence? Hm? Did I hear that right?
“The most powerful people in this country, you say?”
“Yes. And worse—they painted dung on the walls while they were at it. The nation was turned upside down for a good while afterward.”
Have they all lost their minds? I let them out to roam free and this is what they get up to?
Not that she had any room to talk, being the one who'd accidentally swallowed a country whole... Are they starting to take after me?
“It all began when a nobleman from a single town got robbed.”
“Oh? If it was a noble, surely the army was dispatched?”
“It was. He was a fairly high-ranking noble, so they sent out several hundred soldiers.”
Several hundred? Is that a lot? The bandits couldn't have numbered more than a few dozen, surely?
“So the bandits must have been numerous?”
“Well, rumor said there were hundreds of them, but that's probably an exaggeration. The soldiers lost, you see. They likely inflated the numbers to save face.”
Fair enough. An army losing to bandits and fleeing in retreat—of course they'd pad the story a little.
“The real trouble came afterward. Those bandits went and sacked the royal palace, claiming it was retribution for the attempt to hunt them down.”
Oh? So they raided the palace as a kind of revenge? Not a bad instinct, honestly.
“The king was said to be beside himself with rage. And according to rumor, they even stole the underclothes of his favorite concubine.”
“What on earth would they even do with those?”
“Oh, plenty of things, I'm sure.”
Ah—right. Not my kids, but the lowborn ones down there. Those are local people. So they're the ones who did the stealing.
“And so the army marched. Thousands of soldiers this time, surrounding the mountain and climbing it from all sides—so many torches that the mountain glowed bright as day even at midnight.”
Wow, that's actually kind of thrilling?
“So did they catch them?”
“Caught them, yes. Though not a single one of the boss and his second-in-command escaped capture.”
Wait—they only caught the underlings? No wonder all her kids had come out of it completely unscathed.
“That's troubling.”
“Well, the people don't actually hate them. From that day on, the story goes, they've only ever robbed nobles.”
Ah-ha! So that's why they had so many valuables. Were her kids, in their own way, walking the path of Daedo?
“Oh? Then what were those men we passed earlier?”
“Just common bandits. The rabble of the roads. There are so many of them now that even the state can't get a handle on it.”
Hm, fair enough. Scattered ones and twos in every direction were actually harder to root out than a single big nest.
So they're imitators—knockoffs copying my kids?
“You must take heavy losses, then. Traveling these roads and losing money at every turn.”
“What choice do I have? I just have to sell at a higher price when I arrive.”
“But why is food so scarce here?”
This wetland terrain couldn't be the worst for farming, could it? If people just put their backs into clearing the land, they ought to have more than enough.
“The nobles, that's why. What else?”
“How so? You all eat five meals a day here?”
There had to be a limit to how much a person could eat, surely? Unless the pigs had somehow been ennobled...
“They say they're brewing alcohol, so they seize up every last grain. And the taxes are crushing.”
“Hm? How much could they possibly brew?”
Once you'd had your fill of drink, you couldn't exactly eat on top of it. Why?
“They drink some of it, and use a great deal in their rituals, it's said. Sprinkling it here and there, offering it up to the gods.”
“Why not just eat it instead? What are they even doing?”
“How should I know?”
So they had rituals of their own, apparently—ones ordinary folk knew little about.
“That's why people buy rice flour and wheat flour like this. So that someone can actually eat.”
“Everyone has it hard, don't they.”
“Ah! That reminds me—be careful when you reach the city. A pretty young lady like yourself is bound to get kidnapped.”
Oh? Ugh, again? That would make three kidnappings in a row, wouldn't it?
“I'll just stick to crowded places during the day, then.”
“No, that won't help. A face like yours could be snatched in broad daylight. Sold off as a concubine, or used as a sacrifice—there's always a market. Stay alert at all times.”
These people are insane... Concubine, sure, she could vaguely follow that logic—but sacrifice?
“A sacrifice? Surely you don't mean—”
“I do. Do you have any idea how many people die whenever there's a ritual? If they run short of foreign captives, they'll snatch anyone off the street.”
So they didn't restrict themselves to war prisoners—anyone would do. How does this country even function?
Shouldn't a state at least protect its own citizens?
“Skin as clean and fair as yours would make you an exceptionally rare sacrifice, so you truly must be careful.”
“...Right.”
She'd come to poke around a bit and take the measure of local society, but apparently she'd already seen everything there was to see. This place is brutal. How does anyone live like this?
“Hyahaha! Halt your cart a moment, friends!”
“Damn it. They're back again.”
What now? Bandits again? How long had it even been since the last ones? Didn't these people have any shame?
Once again she watched the merchant uncle bow and scrape, holding out his toll pouch, and for some reason his back looked smaller than ever.
Clip-clop, clip-clop.
“Isn't this a bit much? Shouldn't they at least set up shop a little farther apart?”
It wasn't really her business, but wasn't the spacing truly ridiculous?
“What can we do about it? That's where they've planted themselves.”
“Wouldn't farming be better than this?”
“Oh dear me. Farming is precisely how you get into serious trouble.”
Hm? Was farming really that hard? He'd flinched like she'd suggested something reckless.
“It's a shortcut to becoming a slave in truth. After the nobles tax you, there's nothing left. Half the people out there are digging up roots in the mountains to eat.”
So no one's trying to grow the population, huh. Big surprise.
“That's terrible... You should never touch what people need to eat.”
“Ahaha! What an honest young lady you are! If the nobles had even a fraction—a fraction of a fraction—of your goodness, things wouldn't be this hard.”
What does he even do with all that money, anyway? There didn't seem to be any real luxury goods here to spend it on.
This country isn't long for this world either...
“By the way, you kept handing over pouches back there—is the money something separate?”
She was curious how they'd managed to mint currency. If they'd made it even halfway sensibly, counterfeits would spread in no time.
“Oh, it's nothing special. Just a matter of filling a pouch with shells.”
What? Did I mishear? Shells? The kind you find all over the beach?
“The kind that are everywhere by the sea?”
“Ah, no. Not those—shells that come from far away. Like this.”
Clatter.
Oh? She'd assumed it would be clams or the like, but these were pretty things shaped like conches, with a single long slit running along the side.
Even she had never seen one before—so they must be hard to come by. No wonder they served as currency.
“Ah. How much of that could you get with gold or silver?”
“Hard to say exactly, but a piece the size of your fingernail would fill a whole pouch.”
Should I exchange some money with this man? She'd left home carrying nothing but gold and silver, after all...
“How much money would I need for a while's stay?”
“Hm? Doesn't everyone carry some when they travel?”
In the martial novels she remembered, there were always inns—surely she could stay somewhere like that?
“Somewhere like an inn.”
“An... what? What's that?”
Oh? They don't exist? They don't exist yet? Didn't merchants stop over somewhere as they traveled?
“A place where merchants lodge while traveling to sell their goods?”
“Where would you find such a thing? Most of us merchants are just people who buy grain in Daehan like I do.”
Damn it. We're still far, far back in time, aren't we? With so few merchants, there was simply no need for lodging houses yet!
“Looks like you've nowhere to stay, then? Come to my house.”
“Um. About payment...”
“A Daehan merchant already promised to help me find lodging for you—whatever you use during your stay will be deducted from what he owes me. Don't worry about it.”
Ah, thank goodness. That merchant had been Intelligence Bureau too, hadn't he? He'd sorted everything out on his own.
“Thank you. Really.”
“So who is it you're going to find?”
“Family I lost long ago.”
Hm, they're my kids, so technically family, yes?
“Ah, a refugee of Daehan, then. Tsk tsk. Listen—never breathe a word of that story to anyone out here! You'd be snatched up on the spot, no questions asked.”
“Understood!”
How nice, he was filling in the blanks on his own. Well then, time to grease the wheels, shall I?
Smallest gold ingot in the subspace... yes! There was one the size of a fingernail tip. That would do nicely.
“I'll settle my account with this while I'm staying with you.”
“What's—good heavens! That's gold!”
“That's all I have. Will it be enough?”
“Enough? More than enough!”
He's not going to threaten me into handing over more gold in my sleep, or sell me off to kidnappers... right?
Clip-clop, clip-clop.
“That's the city ahead. Sang-i, they call it. A market town.”
“It really is enormous.”
What an arduous journey it had been. She'd crossed paths with bandits more than forty times in ten days. One enterprising fellow took a toll, then sprinted down a shortcut to collect from her again.
And the nerve of him, panting the whole while while brazenly pretending it was the first time. Even her merchant uncle had looked ready to spit.
“It is a very large country, after all. Haha.”
“Yes. Haha.”
Not a shred of soul in that laughter. We're bigger. Think of the two months it took just to travel up to Seolju—good grief.
I really should go see how our wolves are doing sometime~
The city was larger than she'd expected. Even after passing through the gates they traveled a long while before reaching the merchant's home—a big house with an attached warehouse.
“Here we are. This is my home. Make yourself comfortable.”
Was it the power of the gold ingot? From that moment on, the man wore a perpetual grin, and his treatment of her changed completely.
“I'll be in your care~”
The house hadn't changed much from the time she'd passed through long ago, but someone had clearly made an effort to finish it off neatly.
At the very least, the floor no longer kicked up clouds of dust. The windows were still wooden shutters, though.
She wasn't asking for glass, but couldn't they manage something roughly paper-like?
“Hey! Is that you? So you're the guest Father was talking about?”
She was just trying to have a look around the house and now—what is this? Squinted eyes, sharp as slits, like a Tibetan fox. Genuinely an unpleasant face.
Going by first impressions, the clothes had ornamentation and the girl wore jewelry—a wealthier household than she'd expected, apparently.
“Yes. Nice to meet you. I'm Ha-eun.”
“I'm Mimi. Come on, I'll show you where you can wash.”
“Sure.”
So she was showing her around? Maybe she wasn't as bad as her face suggested?
But they were headed somewhere strangely remote, toward a well...
“Just draw water from that well and wash there.”
Oh? What is this? She hadn't expected warm water, granted, but wasn't there even a bathing tub or something? Surely there needed to be at least some kind of screen?
“Isn't that spot a little too exposed?”
It being a well, it sat out in the open where anyone could see... especially over there—that kitchen or dining hall? You could see everything from there, plain as day.
“Then don't wash.”
“Fine. I'll manage on my own.”
“You remember where your room is? I'll come call you when it's time to eat.”
Right. Thanks a lot, you brat! Playing games with people just like her face said she would. Apparently in this world you had to be pretty with a big chest to be kind. This one had neither, hence the manners of a barn cat.
Well, she didn't strictly need to wash anyway—she'd just make do. Cold water she could handle; it was the total absence of a changing screen that bothered her, and nobody had thought to mention where one might be.
She was heading back toward her room when she heard an unexpected sound.
Oink.
Oh? A pig! Aren't the pigs here cute?
Her kids back home still looked basically like wild boars—though they'd grown quite docile, at least, and no longer went around knocking people flat.
There was nothing much to see in the house, and off to one side sat an animal pen.
Oink oink oink!
“Hm, hungry? Here, eat this.”
She fished a potato out of her subspace in secret and fed it to the pig.
Crunch!
Just as expected. Nearly every animal loved potatoes, in the end. The pig wasn't particularly fat—maybe they weren't feeding it much.
Whether man or beast, you ought to eat well. Poor thing.
“I see you're fond of animals?”
“Sorry?”
Was this man one of the household too? Except his clothes screamed nobility at a glance—what kind of servant strutted around dripping with ornaments like that?
“Ah. My apologies for intruding. I am called Ryu Ho.”
“A pleasure! I'm Ha-eun.”
So he wasn't one of this household's layabouts? That rude girl earlier had already wrecked her first impression of the family—but at least this one seemed a cut above.