The Decision (3)
The road to Luoyang was a considerable distance away.
With the cooperation of Zhou Yu, who commanded the naval forces, we secured a number of ships and took to the waterway, planning to disembark and finish the journey as a slow overland march once we had closed the distance. Naturally, there were those among us who complained bitterly of seasickness along the way.
As a prime example, one of the tiny strategists comes to mind.
"So this is what seasickness feels like..."
"Sima Yi?"
"Don't talk to me... I feel like I'm dying right now..."
I watched with a smile as Sima Yi suffered, her head thrust out over the ship's railing. Word had it that this was her first time aboard a boat.
Then, without warning, the seasick strategist straightened her back and declared:
"Whew... Never mind. I've gotten used to it now."
...What on earth is with that body of hers?
At first I'd considered teasing her a little while she suffered, but the frightening speed with which she adapted to the ship made me change my mind.
"......"
Seo Yeo stood rooted in place, giving off not the slightest hint that land and sea were any different to her. Considering who that girl really was, it was hardly surprising. In the original history, hadn't that Hegemon-King of Western Chu hailed from the Jiangdong region? Even if she did seem to have been born in Bing Province in this world, the weight carried by that name was never small.
The most unexpected one, though, was Lü Bu.
"Ooh, this is actually kind of fun?"
Lü Bu was thoroughly enjoying the ship as it rocked this way and that even when it sat still, and the sight of her brought to mind a seasoned boatwoman who had spent years living on the water. She was surely riding a boat for the first time in her life too — so what on earth was going on with her?
Sima Yi had felt the seasickness but adapted within minutes, while Seo Yeo and Lü Bu had never felt it at all. Could it be that even seasickness varied according to physical ability?
I turned my head slightly to survey the others.
"Hurrgh... gahh..."
"Uuuargh..."
The soldiers whose physiques were comparatively ordinary looked like corpses that had learned to walk. Perhaps because they had spent their entire lives on solid ground, their combat strength seemed to evaporate the instant they set foot on water. Seeing this, I could understand exactly why Zhou Yu was so obsessive about naval training.
Just then, a familiar voice drifted over from nearby.
"General-in-Chief..."
"Hm?"
When I turned my head, I found Pang Tong staggering toward me. She spoke with a listless expression.
"My stomach feels all wrong..."
"Oh dear."
She's swaying like Spider-Man fresh off a finger-snap from that purple alien.
Crouching down to her level, I looked into Pang Tong's clear green eyes and spoke.
"Pang Tong."
"Yeess..."
"Even I can't do anything about seasickness."
"...?!"
My words must have come as a shock, because her eyes flew wide open.
...What's impossible is impossible, you see. I'm hardly an expert on the human body. Would Hua Tuo or Zhang Jue have had a solution, I wonder?
"Bleurgh..."
In the end, just as Sima Yi had done before her, Pang Tong lunged her head out over the railing. Just as I was smiling at that adorable, hapless sight, Sima Yi muttered beside me:
"...Which is precisely what I was doing just a moment ago, no?"
"You noticed, huh."
"Grr..."
At my reply, Sima Yi let out a low growl and began whipping her head this way and that.
"Well, since it's come to this, the very least I can do is watch that woman looking utterly wretched."
"......"
I could tell who she was looking for at a single glance.
The moment Sima Yi started behaving like that, a familiar voice sounded from nearby.
"Were you, by chance, looking for me?"
A petite frame that proved beyond doubt she was still a child. Aloof white eyes that seemed to gaze down upon the world from some great height. Zhuge Liang, her crane-white hair gathered and tied back at the nape of her neck, flashed Sima Yi a bright smile.
Sima Yi looked her over — the very picture of perfect health — and asked bluntly:
"...I take it seasickness doesn't touch you?"
"Indeed it does not. Most disappointing news for someone, I am sure."
Zhuge Liang hid her mouth behind her White Feather Fan, radiating undisguised delight.
A dragon and a tiger locked in a contest of auras in the middle of a ship, while the phoenix lay slumped against the railing.
"Grr..."
...It was no illusion that the phoenix, of all of them, stood out. She looked like someone who had carved out her own path between two creatures whose mere presence filled the air.
I walked over to Pang Tong, whose energy had drained away completely, and scooped up her tiny body.
"Eep?!"
"We've still got a long way to go, so sleep until we arrive."
"......Yes."
The moment Pang Tong registered my face, she started in alarm — then, cheeks slowly flushing red, nestled obediently against my chest. Carrying the peculiar warmth unique to small children, I set off across the deck.
"...Another thing I never saw coming."
"So such methods exist as well."
Watching Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang take turns piping up, I tossed out flatly:
"It's nearly night. You two should sleep as well."
"......"
Leaving the two of them to their respective reactions, I swept my gaze across our surroundings. While a handful of soldiers and strategists writhed in the grip of seasickness, the generals all stood in conspicuous comfort. They say motion sickness arises from a conflict between the senses, so it seemed that a body capable of shrugging off that dissonance without effort simply never fell ill — or else, like me, one was simply constitutionally bad at getting sick.
...Then what in the world do I make of Sima Yi, who adapted within minutes? Don't tell me she's actually stronger than me. A fourteen-year-old child, stronger than a grown man...
After a brief moment of confusion, I remembered that this world had always been like this, and my composure returned. What a bizarre world, truly. Come the age of Song and Yuan, people would probably be unfurling body-protecting qi barriers and the like. It fit perfectly — the Water Margin, grandfather of all wuxia fiction, took that very era as its setting.
...Still, a hundred and eight demon kings might be pushing it.
"Uuu..."
Pang Tong, who had blushed so demurely at first, soon enough had her eyes rolling in circles again as the seasickness came creeping back.
"Mmph...!"
"Huh?"
She very nearly brought something up all over my clothes, but in the end I succeeded in delivering her — limp as a dried squid in my arms — to a cabin.
"Keep your eyes squeezed shut and lie down however feels comfortable. If sleep comes, just let it."
"...Yesh."
That counted as an answer, right?
I watched Pang Tong for a moment as she lay sprawled across the bed, half-conscious, then turned to leave. Outside, the soldiers Zhou Yu had assigned to me were already standing watch, looking utterly at home on the water.
"General-in-Chief."
"Hm?"
As I leaned against the railing, staring blankly into the open night wind, a soft voice arose from nearby. It was a voice I knew well, so I answered without turning around.
"Liu Bei, is it."
"It is."
I turned my head and looked behind me. There stood Liu Bei, watching me with a mellow, gentle smile.
"So. What can I do for you?"
"Nothing of great import, my lord. I merely came in the hope that we might share a quiet conversation."
"...?"
It was quite rare for Liu Bei to request a private talk. What could this be about now? She was the sort who simply followed my orders in silence, and in ordinary times did nothing but linger at my side with an expression that gave away nothing at all of what went on in her head.
I let my gaze slide past her to the two women standing at her back.
"......"
"...Ahem."
For some reason, Guan Yu could not meet my eyes, and Zhang Fei, too, was oddly feigning distraction, refusing to look at me properly.
...Incredibly suspicious, the lot of them — and yet they somehow gave no impression of harboring ill intent.
I answered without much thought.
"I don't mind. So, what is it you wish to discuss?"
"I have a personal worry, and wished to seek your counsel on it."
"A worry?"
It feels a bit unfair to think this, but it smells less like counseling and more like using worry as a pretext to lure me off somewhere private.
My prediction was not wrong.
"It is somewhat difficult to speak of it here... Would you not care to talk things over in my quarters, my lord?"
"...Your quarters? With those two as well?"
"Yes."
Suspicious as suspected.
When I looked at Guan Yu and Zhang Fei once more, the pair again slipped slyly away from my gaze.
...What on earth are they after?
I did not believe I had accumulated enough karma with Liu Bei's company for them to come after my head. A person's gestures reveal a great deal, after all. If the Peach Sisters had truly hated me, then Liu Bei aside, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei ought to have shown something.
Freezing their expressions into ice. Fixing me with a glare terrifying enough to chill bone. Or pointedly ignoring me while pretending I did not exist. When a person is faced with someone they dislike, there are certain universal reactions — are there not?
Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were honest to a fault with their emotions. If they had marked me down as a detestable man, they would have shown it without fail. And yet neither had ever displayed any such thing — if anything, they had shown me favor, as though they rather liked me.
...Right. If I'm curious, the only thing to do is see it through.
In a voice that made clear I intended to watch how this unfolded, I gave Liu Bei my answer.
"Very well. Let us talk things over in your quarters."
"Thank you, my lord."
Liu Bei bowed with meticulous courtesy.
Now had come the time to find out exactly why Guan Yu and Zhang Fei had been avoiding my eyes.