Moling (3)
With my course of action settled, I wasted no time in raising a military camp around Moling, where Yan Baihu had holed himself up.
Moling... So this is Moling. To think I'd ever end up coming here of all places.
Anyone who had ever touched a scrap of Romance of the Three Kingdoms media would find the name Jianye far more familiar than Moling. In the original history, the city was renamed Jianye the moment Sun Quan ascended the imperial throne — much the same as Cao Pi gutting and rebuilding his base at Xuchang after receiving the "abdication" of the throne from Liu Xie. But those later names were simply the more famous ones, which is why most Three Kingdoms games mark their maps accordingly. Quite a few people have probably tripped over exactly that.
...Come to think of it, I've now set foot in the capital of every one of the Three Kingdoms.
Yingchuan Commandery in Ye Province, where the capital of Wei had stood. Shu Commandery in Yi Province, where the capital of Shu had stood. And now Danyang Commandery in Yangzhou, where the capital of Wu had stood. Lining them all up like this, I realized I'd visited every famous stop on the Three Kingdoms tour. If Jizhou ended up being my final destination, it would amount to a full lap around China in an age without so much as an automobile.
Jiaozhou? Ah... I'd rather you leave that one off the list, if you don't mind. It's simply too far.
Besides, the man ruling over it, Shi Xie, was someone who would very likely bow his head to me of his own accord. In the original history as well, Shi Xie was the type to grovel before Sun Quan, shipping him every manner of extravagant treasure from Jiaozhou as tribute. Yet for all his earnest groveling, the moment Shi Xie died, Sun Quan had moved to swallow Jiaozhou whole — and when Shi Xie's sons rose in revolt, he marched in as though he'd been waiting for precisely that.
It was the sort of conduct anyone would curse as shameless, but what could you do? Even well into his gray years, Sun Quan remained a man who, blinded by the profit sitting right in front of his nose, periodically made a spectacular mess of things. The man had promised to merely strip the brothers of their offices and spare their lives — they surrendered on those exact terms — only to later play ignorant and have them put to death. ...Strictly speaking, that was less Sun Quan's doing than the fault of Lü Dai, who suppressed the Shi family at the time. He was fortunate, at least, to have sterling achievements to his name: developing Jiangdong from scratch and setting the state of Wu on solid footing. Without those, Sun Quan would be taking several times more abuse than he does today.
"……."
"……?"
Of course, the Sun Quan of this world was nothing more than a pint-sized officer who had only just completed her coming-of-age rite, so even beneath a gaze from me laden with countless layers of meaning, she simply blinked back with a pure, guileless expression.
Yes. Just keep growing up exactly as you are.
Don't go growing up strange and earning yourself a name like "rat-faced brat."
Just then, a familiar voice rang out from nearby.
"Zhongmou (Sun Quan's courtesy name)!"
"Eek?!"
"You haven't landed yourself in any trouble while I was away, have you?!"
Sun Ce had materialized without warning — like a ghost popping out of a horror game — and wrapped her sister in a hug, leaving Sun Quan's face frozen in bewilderment. With as considerable an age gap as there was between them, the two seemed to get along splendidly.
How should I put it? Even siblings in the modern world who were forever at each other's throats got along in rare harmony when the age difference ran large. And if the elder was already a working adult while the younger hadn't even finished growing up? Then there was hardly any need to elaborate. The older one babied the little one like something precious, and the little one toddled after her dependable big sister in wide-eyed adoration. That was precisely the dynamic between Sun Ce and Sun Quan right now.
Just as I fell briefly into thought watching the pair of them, Sun Quan — wriggling about in Sun Ce's arms — somehow managed to speak.
"Sister Bofu (Sun Ce's courtesy name)! The General-in-Chief is right nearby…!"
"Oh. R-right, of course."
At those words, Sun Ce — who had been nuzzling her cheek against the still-tiny Sun Quan's — recovered her composure. However she might look, Sun Ce was surprisingly rigorous about separating public duty from private feeling, so it was no surprise. That was how she had carried herself so ably even while enduring slights from Yuan Shu's faction. Taking care not to hurt the Sun Quan in her arms, she set her gently down and bowed to me.
"I, Sun Ce, have completed my reconnaissance as ordered and returned, my lord."
"Oh... Good."
Still, I can't get used to how she flips between modes like that.
I posed my question to Sun Ce, who had transformed from a gooey, goofball big sister into a capable career woman in the space of a breath.
"Anything unusual in the area?"
"No, my lord. We combed the nearby mountains from top to bottom, but found no one suspicious."
So there was still time before the Shanyue tribes gathered here?
Hearing Sun Ce's report, I nodded and issued my next order.
"Good. Then have the camp repaired and the watch strengthened. There will be a great battle before long."
"Understood."
Bowing with a respectful answer, Sun Ce then opened her mouth, a touch carefully.
"...Um, my lord?"
"Hm? What is it?"
"What would you think of arranging a gathering in the near future, to deepen the bonds between lord and vassal?"
What was this about? Don't tell me she was proposing some team-building mixer. Something that modest was no trouble at all, so I nodded.
"I've no objection, but is there a reason?"
"Ah, well, you see…."
At my question, Sun Ce slid her eyes toward one particular direction. My gaze followed hers — and there it was.
"...Ngh?!"
The owner of an overwhelming beauty that could steal the gaze of a hundred onlookers out of a hundred whipped her head around, dodging my eyes.
...That was Zhou Yu. Why had Sun Ce been looking at Zhou Yu?
As I bored my eyes into those dashing features — the kind that made you think a tailored suit would look magnificent on them no matter when you looked — Zhou Yu's face grew redder and redder.
...I had a fair idea of what was going on.
I asked Sun Ce in my usual voice.
"Just to be sure — is what I'm thinking right now correct?"
"Ah... Yes. Most likely."
Sun Ce nodded and went on.
"If you knew how relentlessly Gongjin (Zhou Yu's courtesy name) pestered me, insisting it was just one little favor… Mmph!"
"Why are you suddenly blurting that out for!"
...What in the world. I never even saw her move. Just how fast had she been, that I — proud of my sharp eyes — failed to catch it? Had sheer embarrassment pushed her past the limits of human physical capability, if only for a moment?
Face still scarlet, Zhou Yu clamped a hand over Sun Ce's mouth and spoke with a strained smile.
"You are the lord I serve — surely you know that everything she just said is a lie!"
"…Even the part about the get-together?"
"Th-that's…."
At my words, Zhou Yu seemed to realize her slip, and a flustered expression spread across her face. Sun Ce, for her part, simply smiled with her eyes, evidently finding the whole spectacle delightful.
Watching the Meizhou Lang panic so hard even her pupils were trembling, I let a short laugh slip. Judging by her state, it seemed Sun Ce hadn't been lying after all. She had granted the request of her one-and-only best friend — and, somewhere along the way, had deliberately thrown her into disarray for her own amusement.
I said, in a perfectly even voice.
"Just teasing. So when shall we hold this get-together?"
"Whenever the occasion permits, any time suits me."
And there she goes, answering without a moment's hesitation. Her words didn't even stumble like they had a minute ago.
"……."
"Is th-there something else you wished to say?"
"...Nothing at all."
I put on a face of perfect innocence for Zhou Yu, whose words had begun to trip over themselves all over again. One thing was certain: she was interested in me. The reason, however, escaped me entirely. I sank into thought, watching Sun Ce keep up her sly grin and Zhou Yu shoot her a just you wait glare.
Let's take stock, shall we? What exactly had I done toward Zhou Yu up to this point? Rare medicinal herbs of every description, dispatched practically every other day. Forced summons at fixed intervals for full health examinations. And, if memory served, a ceaseless nuisance of letters asking after her health.
...Put plainly, anyone would read that as a man making his advances. I only behaved that way because I knew the Zhou Yu of the original history had sickened and died young — but to anyone without that knowledge, it could only have looked like the General-in-Chief of Han tenderly and endlessly fussing over one particular woman.
At one point, Sima Yi had abruptly said this to me:
"Excuse me. Haven't you been up to something strange lately?"
"Strange? Such as what?"
"...That vacant look on your face tells me you genuinely have no idea."
Faced with Sima Yi heaving a great sigh at my reaction, I had no choice but to press.
"And what, precisely, is it that I don't know?"
"Never mind."
Sima Yi, who under normal circumstances answered every question I put to her, offered nothing but that flat dismissal.
"Ugh…! You're doing it again, aren't you…!"
"Doing what?"
"Stop trying to seduce women!"
...Now that I thought about it, Lü Bu had pulled the same face once or twice as well. True to form, I had simply taken it for one of her usual sulks. Wasn't she forever blurting out odd demands — mind how you carry yourself in public, keep quiet when we're out, and so on?
"...There you go spouting nonsense again."
"Grrrmph…! Mff noh nonsenth…! (It's not nonsense…!)"
Which is why, back then, my answer had been to give her cheeks an extra-hard pull.
Even Seo Yeo, who could hardly ever be persuaded to speak first, had once addressed me out of the blue.
"Master."
"Hm? What is it?"
"Do you know what becomes of a male deer that keeps loitering about in front of a tigress?"
Her eyes were utterly grave, as though attempting to impart some profound enlightenment, so I answered in a daze.
"...It gets eaten, I would imagine?"
"Correct."
At my reply, Seo Yeo dipped her chin in the barest of nods and, clasping my hand in hers, delivered her verdict.
"All women are beasts."
"……."
The conclusion, as ever, was a bizarre one.
"Pwahahaha…! This is far too entertaining…! To think I'd live long enough to see a sight like this…!"
"...Bofu. I told you to be quiet."
I held a discreet silence as the two best friends traded words. ...So that's why they all said those things. It finally makes sense now.
"……."
For some reason, the gaze resting on me from Seo Yeo nearby felt different from usual.