What Lies to the West? (4)
I set my bag down and began pulling out my assorted gift set.
A dagger, glass beads, silk, lacquered spoon and chopsticks.
"Ho? You carried all this with you?"
Whoa, is that too much? If I pull out any more he might get suspicious. Better stop the product showcase here.
"Have a look. These are my gifts in return for your hospitality."
"And this? Is it silver?"
Huh? He doesn't know iron? Really?
"It's called iron. Strike that bronze candelabrum over there and the comparison should be easy."
"Then allow me a moment."
Bronze is hard too, but this blade has been refined over centuries—surely it can scratch it without any trouble?
Wait, come to think of it, has iron ever been tested against bronze like this? It's not going to snap clean off, is it?
CLANG!
"Gasp!"
What? Why? Is the king just strong? Why did it cut? Was that candelabrum just cheap copper?
"Does it please you?"
"Magnificent!"
He must really like the dagger—he's turning it this way and that, admiring it like a kid with a new toy. Is it really that exciting?
Ahem. "And what is this leather pouch?"
Afraid of looking worse by comparison, he's pointing at the next gift—and by the way, sir, that dagger's already on your belt?
"Yes. We call it glass."
"Ah! We have glass too."
Clink, clatter—
"Gasp?"
I doubt it's the same kind of glass, though. That's mine, after all. Have you ever seen glass that clear?
This is glass?
He was so flustered he dropped into casual speech.
"Yes. Our artisans pour exceptional care into making it."
Hmm. From what I hear, it really is agonizingly difficult to make—especially to get it that transparent.
"What astounding craftsmanship you possess!"
"Next we have silk."
Touch the silk, come on, touch it. It's the easiest to make, which makes it the easiest to sell!
"My! How can anything be this soft! Is this fabric from the heavens themselves?"
"It's not quite that."
Heavenly fabric, you say? Well, I do own a fabric like that—the one those pirate fools out there each treasure against their chests wherever they go.
Ugh, I'd forgotten about that for a while, but now it's come back to me.
How, how, did those cursed idiots end up all the way over here, wandering around like that? Embarrassing, honestly...
"Euhaha! My sincerest thanks."
"Think nothing of it."
"May the gods bless our guest from the East!"
"And may blessing fall upon this city as well."
Then, at the slyly produced bottle of liquor, a drinking feast broke out. I'd need to send him off quickly and get some rest.
Evidently it was stronger than wine, because by the end of it he was dead drunk and the party wound down.
A successful advertisement. Plenty of guests will come now, won't they? Which means even more gold!
Hm? Wait—what am I saving all this gold for, exactly?
And then, that night.
Rustle, rustle.
"Mmm? What is it?"
Something rustling about woke me up. My sleep switch does cut out now and then.
"Huh?"
"Who's there?"
Huh? Why "huh"? Isn't this Mycenae? Why does that voice sound familiar?
"Miss, you're from Daehan, aren't you?"
"Eh? You're one of the Intelligence Bureau brats, aren't you?"
Would you look at that? He's been overseas so long he can't recognize me?
"Gah! Wh-who are you?!"
"Keep it down, you brat. Want to wake everyone up?"
Pat, pat—
Would he recognize me if I showed him my ID?
"Guh."
"What are you doing here? Weren't you at the palace?"
"Ah. There was a feast today, and I heard everyone was passed out drunk, so I came out to play."
So they do have local informants, in keeping with being an intelligence unit. Though everything they actually do is banditry...
"How many?"
The fellow slyly spread his fingers. Four.
"Four or so, then—"
"Pardon?"
"Hm?"
"Forty men..."
Ha! Are these people actually insane? No wait—if a number like that got in, what were the soldiers even doing?
"Haah..."
"Shall we head back?"
If they go back and stumble around searching for people, they'll only make a bigger mess.
"Do whatever you like. Just don't hurt anyone."
"Yes, ma'am! That's basic. If people get hurt, there's less stuff left to loot, after all!"
How proud. Since they have to pillage again anyway, they'll leave the people alone! I suppose they do have principles of a sort.
"Oh! Since we've met, let me ask you something."
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Why on earth did you come all the way down here? Isn't it awfully far from home?"
"Hehe. Well, following the trade routes, this was the easiest way through. The deserts down below have mountains far too treacherous to cross."
True enough. Even the locals here supposedly travel by ship when they trade with Mesopotamia or Egypt.
"No, I mean—why did you come this far west at all?"
"We just kept following the road, and here we were."
So they just mindlessly marched forward, huh.
"I see. Well, it's rough living far from home. Take care of yourself, all right?"
"Yes, ma'am! Thank you!"
"Get going."
"Sleep well, then!"
These kids' sense of direction is all wrong. I clearly created the Intelligence Bureau to gather intelligence—so how did they become a bandit gang?
What I ordered at the very beginning was clearly...
Wait. Am I the problem? I did order them to raid, didn't I?
"Oh well. Who cares. Time to sleep."
Still, how is a city this easy for bandits to sneak into? If anyone ever actually laid siege to it, the whole place would be wiped out.
Of course, the next morning the city was in an uproar over bandits having broken in, and there was nothing I could do but play innocent.
A secret to carry to the grave.
Helene absolutely loved my stories. I ended up staying a full week telling her about my many adventures, but every story has an ending, and the time came to leave.
"Take care of yourself, Helene."
"I suppose we'll never meet again?"
"Perhaps not..."
I'll drop by again someday—but by then, at least your grandchildren's grandchildren will be here.
It seemed women here truly had no life outside, because she didn't even come out to see me off.
Hm. Should I just head home? The Middle East can't be all that different from here.
Pat, pat, pat—
I should fly, shouldn't I? It's foreign land, but a person soaring through the sky would cause an uproar.
I'll go around behind that alley and take off there. Don't want to startle anyone.
Whoosh—snatch—wrap wrap wrap—
Huh? What now? There was a sound of someone sprinting, and suddenly something was thrown over my head like a bundle, I was wrapped up in something blanket-like, and I was being carried off somewhere.
Hm... that's four outings, four abductions now? Heh heh?
Whew. Should I at least look at their faces first?
After being carried for quite a while, the footsteps changed.
Pat—pat—
The echoing steps suggested a corridor—perhaps a basement somewhere?
Definitely indoors, underground or in a building. The cloth over my face was thin enough that I could make out light.
Thud!
"Agh!"
If you're bringing a guest, you oafs could at least set her down gently?
I'll have to give them a proper scolding later.
Fwap—
Hey, take the blindfold off gently, would you? You're no fun, you know that?
"Eheheh. A woman wandering about alone—what a reckless creature you are?"
"Who are you? Where have I seen you before?"
Some familiar, ugly mug came into view. I really do feel like I've seen him somewhere...
"You claim not to know me?"
I've barely left Helene's house, though? Where would I have seen him? Other than the banquet...
"You dare claim you don't know your king!"
Ah, right—the king. Must have been at the banquet, then.
"Honestly. Didn't I give you perfectly good gifts? What is this about?"
"Won't you become my wife? Such a fine-looking foreign woman as yourself. Eheheh."
Ugh... here we go again? Being pretty is such a curse. Not a single decent man among them. It's abduction, every single time.
"Whew... Untie me now and spare yourself the regret. Scary people are coming for me."
"Did you have guards?"
He flinched a little there—but too late for that! Oh, and by the way, the palace thieves a while back? Also my kids!
"This is really going to end badly for you."
"You didn't seem to have anyone traveling with you?"
"They follow where you can't see."
"Hahahaha! What an accomplished liar. No doubt you used that wicked tongue of yours to seduce Helene!"
Seduce? She was bored, so I told her stories. Her house is practically just a slightly roomier prison, you know?
"But is it true, what they say—that so many people live in your city?"
"Yes. There are even larger cities."
"Pfft, hah."
By sheer size, Moda is the greatest, after all. With all the facilities packed in there.
Still, he doesn't believe me. He doesn't seem to believe the guards story either, judging by his eyes. Fair enough—I did arrive without one. They only showed up after I got here.
Anyone would be skeptical, but my kids are no joke, you know?
They kept popping up in my field of view ever since we crossed paths that time—did he really not notice any of that?
Hm, if I just wait, I won't even need to lift a finger myself.
"Euhaha! What, two million people living in one city? Hahahaha! Let them come, if they can!"
The two million aren't the problem—it's the however-many of my kids already here that you should worry about...
Our corps' special forces are worth a hundred men each. No, scratch that—make it a thousand.
Shuffle, tug—
Yes, loosen these ropes a little, would you? What is this, so uncomfortable. I'm not an earthworm.
"And this is iron, you say? How is it made?"
"I couldn't tell you. Our artisans would know."
"What a waste. So sharp, so hard..."
You fool. Bronze is hard too. Iron's advantage is that it's easy to find!
"Then how common are glass and silk, truly?"
"Glass like this, you'd need my rank or better to get it. Silk, though—that's everywhere."
"Hm? Are you nobility?"
Hm. A bit higher than nobility, probably? If my kids find out about this, they'll throw a fit and launch an expedition...
"I'll try talking to my people about not being too harsh on you. Let me go now."
SMACK!
"Insolent woman!"
Ow. He hit me again. I'm letting it slide—just this once, for Helene's sake.
Padepadepade—
A man was sprinting along the outskirts of the city of Mycenae at a terrifying pace.
He was one of the watch team who had been taking turns observing Haneul ever since their chance encounter with her.
So fast were his strides that onlookers' jaws hung wide open.
Tak! Tak!
"Huff, huff."
The man fairly flew across the plain as if leaping with every stride. Where the plain ended in forest and low hills, his speed did not diminish in the slightest.
Dadadak—crunch—THUD—
He dodged around trees, and where he couldn't dodge, he barreled straight through them. Whatever the matter was, it had to be urgent.
Crossing the hills, the sea came into view—and beyond it, several hundred meters out, lay an island. His destination.
SPLASH! Shoosh, shoosh—
Without pausing for breath, he dove into the sea and swam across. Possibly faster than a dolphin.
Meanwhile, the comrade who had been on patrol by the river, having relayed the news, collapsed on the spot.
The man who received the report went pale with shock and immediately began sprinting through the forest.
BANG!
"Captain! It's an emergency!"
"What is it?!"
"The Lady has been abducted!"
"What Lady?"
"Lady Haneul!"
"WHAT?!"
This was the small island just off the coast of Mycenae—the hideout of the so-called bandit gang, hidden deep in dense woods with their ship concealed nearby.
Or rather, the hideout of the Intelligence Bureau.
"Gather the men! Now! We move!"
"Deployment!"
"Hurry up!"
"WAAAAH!!"
From all directions, people came shouting and pouring out. Powerfully built every last one of them—any observer would have sworn it was a gang of Daehan's bandits.
No! Sons of Daehan, they are!
"Our Lady has been taken! Time to show them what we're made of!"
"EUWAAAH!"
"Let's go!"
"KILL THEM ALL!"
Wasn't it just the other day they were bragging about never harming a soul? How quickly the human heart turns.
Rumble, rumble—
SPLASH!
Leaving their perfectly good ship behind, they swam across the strait once more—then immediately broke into a run.
At this rate, running really might be faster than sailing.
Over the low hills again, through the forest, the bandit gang sped along at breakneck pace.
"KYAAAAH! Bandits!"
"Run!"
People living on the plain spotted them and fled in a panic.
By pure luck, there were no soldiers on patrol, and no one made it back to the city to raise the alarm.
Not that it mattered—even running at full tilt, a messenger would only be slower than these men.
They ran on and on.
"WOO!!"
"There! The city!"
"TEAR IT ALL DOWN!"
Hm. Dressed in local garb, they were somewhat minimally attired—in other words, wearing nothing but loincloths as they charged forward with sword and shield.
Anyone watching would have thought a horde of barbarians had come to invade.