There was a portly uncle with a tender smile.
Gyoku’en was his name. This person came to see Rikuson’s mother every once in a while. Rikuson heard he was called the new You. Rather than an old acquaintance, he was apparently a relative. He must be one of the people originally from the Ih clan, become the wind.
The plump-faced Gyoku’en gave Rikuson candy.
“What a smart child. Can you give me your son?”
“Cut it down with the jokes,” his mother said.
The uncle had such exchanges with his mother.
“You’re getting ridiculed for having too many wives.”
“Now then. A family I can provide for should be fine.”
Rikuson found it mysterious that he was a woman chaser with his looks.
Gyoku’en had brought up quite a large merchant house in the western capital. He had produced silk goods and ceramics for export to take the place of paper and supplied imported glassware. He also produced grape wine in Isei Province and sold it alongside the imported goods. There were people who like high class imported goods as well as a class of people who like somewhat affordable local grape wine with low sourness.
“And so, I’ll be going to purchase goods from as far as Sha’ou to provide for my wives and children,” he said.
“Oh my, will it be fine for a household to be missing its head for a long period of time?”
“The children are grown. My oldest child is already married with children. And with my clever wives here, they’ll make do.”
Gyoku’en smiled widely and his mother smiled, caught up in the moment.
“More importantly, shall we start bringing out the black stone?” he asked.
Once again, Rikuson heard the words black stone.
“Yes. We have no choice when there’s crop failure. You supply some at your place too,” his mother replied. His sister also had a meek expression. Rikuson was the only person here who had no idea what was going on.
“The amount I will be producing will be in decent form, right? If you’re that troubled, I think I can provide you with some support,” Gyoku’en said.
His mother and sister had meek expressions. “What do you want in return?”
“That’s unrespectable.”
“The men of the Ih clan are raised to be cunning as merchants.”
“…I want you to lend me the family register.”
The family register. A record of the lineage of the people in Isei Province. There were people who lacked one, but those who started a business at the western capital would have to make one to verify their identity at the very least.
His mother shook her head. “I cannot. It’s a public document. By lend, do you mean to rewrite it?”
“…it is not possible?”
“That’s right. Besides, it’s currently lent to Rin-taijin as materials.”
“I see.” Gyoku’en seemed disappointed.
“Why do you want to rewrite it?”
“My oldest child’s birthplace. He’s the only one that I wrote honestly. I have no idea where they learnt of it; farmers with crop failure would come asking to borrow money from me through blackmail.” Gyoku’en looked troubled.
“Your first wife…. was from the Wind-reader tribe, right?”
“Yes. The Wind-reader tribe I had planned to join. When we met again, she still remembered me. Since we’ve met many times before.”
They chatted about the tribe that perished. Rikuson wanted to hear more, but his mother told him it was nearly bedtime.
“Come on, go to bed.” His elder sister led him to the bedroom.
“Sister, what’s the black stone?” he asked his elder sister from his bed.
“You don’t need to know yet.”
“Didn’t you tell me to study when I’m worried about knowing nothing?”
“…the black stone is coal. It’s a burning rock that mined in a mountain way out in the west.”
“And what about it?”
“When there’s crop failure, there would be many families who won’t be able to buy fuel when they had given their all into food.”
“Mm.”
“We’re distributing it to families like that.”
“Oh?”
Then it’s not a problem, Rikuson thought.
“Is it hard to mine coal?” he asked.
“Yes, it’s hard. We use slaves.”
“Slaves?”
His sister didn’t make a good expression. “We don’t really want to, but we do. But the slaves can speed up their release with the amount they mine. I heard the fast ones can get released in five years.”
“What about the slow people?”
“A few decades. A long time ago, there were also people from the Wind-reader tribe.”
“Won’t you release those people?”
His sister shook her head. “They betrayed us. Our dead grandmother had by chance discovered those who had been forced into slavery and spoke with them. It seems they had been planning to go to another country with their technique for bird handling. They said that it was a tall order, to have the women as the head and the men to leave. They must have started to believe that the patriarchal way of other places was right while they spent a long time in a nomadic lifestyle.”
“Did grandmother send them to the mines?”
“Yes, since she thought they would be freed from being slaves the fastest this way. She also bought a lot of other former Wind-reader tribe slaves. But those people apparently said she deceived them. It seems they thought grandmother would say nothing and release them from being slaves.”
“Even though they would be freed if they worked?”
“It has its dangers. They might not do anything, and stay there for decades.”
They must surely hate us, his sister said.
.
.
.
They must surely hate us.
Who were his sister’s words directed to?
However, he understood that a lot of people hated the Ih clan.
The morning of that day, it was noisy. People surrounded the residence, complaining about something.
Rikuson had no idea what was what. He hugged his frightened cousins and soothed them.
“Sister, what’s happening? It’s noisy outside,” Rikuson asked.
“Mmm, it’s okay.”
It wasn’t okay at all. His elder sister’s complexion was ghastly.
His mother came and spoke to his cousin’s mother–Rikuson’s aunt. He called her aunt, but she wasn’t the aunt who was the head of the Ih clan. She was the youngest sister who was many years younger than his mother.
“You go out from the back. Take the children.”
Rikuson was also included among the children.
“The new You’s newest wife’s house is close. You should know. The former dancer. The children are close in age and you also get along with her.”
“B-but.”
“Never mind that! Take them and leave!” His mother drove his aunt out with a commanding tone. She also pushed Rikuson.
His mother and his other aunt went out in public. They went before the incensed people and spoke. Rikuson knew they were buying time for them.
“Let’s go, while we have the chance,” his aunt said.
They went to the house of You family’s newest wife. There was a red haired blue eyed lady. Noticing Rikuson’s group, she waved them in via the rear entrance.
“Wh-what is going on?” His youngest aunt was unlike his mother; she had a carefree personality. So she was rarely in the same position as his mother to be included in family meetings. Her children were young too.
“They are saying that the Ih clan is dishonest and the clan had been in direct talks with the capital.” The red-haired lady’s long lashes fluttered down.
“Dishonest?”
“Yes, the clan had falsified the production output of the mine. And—”
“And?”
“That the Ih clan is boasting about having a true successor, a son with the blood of the emperor in his veins.”
“…that’s impossible.”
His aunt and the red-haired lady glanced at Rikuson.
“It’s a fabrication, right?”
“It’s a fabrication!”
“But who’s his father?”
“A-about that–”
The Ih clan had a custom where they don’t reveal the fathers. This was due to an event in the past where the father of the head’s child came out and plotted to take over the clan. Rikuson didn’t know who his father was either.
“It’s true that my sister went to the capital before this child was born, but the timing doesn’t match. He cannot be a child of royalty, and more importantly, we can’t reveal it!”
As his aunt said, the Ih clan does not name the father. They have a lot of relatives who had to be the child of a noble of a foreign country or the child of an actor, but no one talks about it. This was the government of the women of Ih.
“Isn’t the capital foolish to take that at face value? They’re saying that someone delivered the letter.”
“Apparently…” The red-haired lady faltered. “…It was using the crest of my household.”
“What?” His aunt widened her eyes.
Anxious, the three sisters burst into tears when they saw his aunt lose her cool.
Rikuson couldn’t do anything.
“Are you okay?” A little girl came over. The red-haired green-eyed girl stroked his small cousins.
“You(葉), bring the children inside and play with them,” the red-haired lady said.
“Yes, mummy.” The red-haired girl pulled the three sisters to her. She tried to pull Rikuson over too, but he shook his head in refusal.
“Then, is it Gyoku’en-sama?!” his aunt said.
“No, my husband travelled to Sha’ou. That is all I know.”
“Then, then…”
“Anyway, change your clothes. I have an outfit for a wet nurse, and also…”
His aunt sank to the floor. His cousins went to the children’s room.
Can we trust this red-haired lady? Rikuson thought.
And he knew who here couldn’t stay here the most.
“Hey, you!” The red-haired lady tried to stop Rikuson.
However, Rikuson shook free from the lady’s hands and headed for the residence.
The matter about the mine was about the black stone. The thing his mother did was done for the people of Isei Province. But, the capital didn’t understand, as they only assessed the numbers on the surface.
The other thing was the problem of the fabrication. The one needed there, would have to be Rikuson.
If I, If I go out.
Nothing would happen should he go. But he had to go. Riksuon ran with a meaningless sense of duty.
The rioters have surged the residence. The guards were fallen, ran over. There were also people astride horses and beating people like they were relieving their anger. The onlookers cheered. There were also people who watched in sorrow. However, no one helped.
People have no idea what to do in an extreme situation.
He recalled his mother’s words.
It became a type of crazed frenzy. Occasionally, people would find pleasure in violence. And the Ih clan who controlled the western capital, women that they are, would have to be an eyesore for a portion of people.
He could hear shrill screams coming from various places.
No. No.
It wasn’t his sister’s voice. It wasn’t his mother’s voice.
He heard a lot of familiar voices, but Rikuson callously picked his priority.
He headed for the room his sister and mother were always in. He slipped through the men who were lost in violence and plundering. He continued to apologise to the clan women who reached out towards him.
The ruffians who had a just cause became demons stained in lust.
His body broke out in sweat. His clenched fist was wet. He panted like a dog. He was thirsty from dehydration.
When he passed by someone, he hid in a panic.
His arms were pinned from behind in front of his mother’s room. He kicked his legs in panic.
“Why are you here!?”
It was his elder sister. With a pale face, she clamped her hand over Rikuson’s mouth who was about to scream out. Her clothes were a little different than usual. Her hair was tied up in a bundle and wrapped in cloth, and she was wearing male clothing.
“Sister. Where’s mum? What’s with your clothes?” Rikuson asked.
“Mum’s inside. I’m just borrowing your coming of age clothes,” his sister replied.
“What?” He was pulled into the room while unsure of what she was talking about.
His mother was carrying a sword.
“Mum.”
No sooner he called out to her, something was stuffed in his mouth. His sister had cut up a piece of cloth to gag Rikuson.
“!?”
“Shut it, you’re too loud.”
“Don’t get noticed, ever.”
His sister tied up Rikuson’s limbs and, with the help of their mother, stuffed him into a large trunk. They closed it and carefully placed a heavy stone over it.
“You protect the western lands. That is the duty of the men of Ih. Use whatever and whoever at your disposal.” His sister grinned.
“Will the fire here be okay?”
“Yes. It won’t burn. It should be fine. The building can be used again.”
Rikuson had no idea what they were talking about. He peeked out from the stitching of the trunk.
“Mum, do I look the part?”
“Yes, you do. A little older, he’ll be like that. Don’t make a sound.”
“Got it.”
He understood his sister and mother’s intentions. The only male child in the Ih clan was Rikuson. If he were to believe the rioters’ excuse of the blasphemy of having a name of the imperial family, they would have to be aiming for Rikuson.
His sister was planning to become his body double.
“?!”
He couldn’t make a sound with his gag. He couldn’t move with his arms and legs tied up. However, he could hear the sounds of violence approaching. Beastly voices and the stink of blood and fat.
His mother swung her sword.
His mother’s swordsmanship was like a dance. It left beautiful sword streaks in the air, but it was light and fleeting. She could only scratch the opponent.
Stop, stop it.
He bit his gag. It was filled with saliva. The bottom of the trunk was now drenched in tears and drool.
Can’t do anything. Irritated.
He didn’t want to recall what happened to his sister and mother. But he needed to remember just the face of the man who used violence.
He couldn’t blink either.
A double tooth that glinted with saliva. Suntanned skin. Rough and boney hands, ears and hair type. A carrying voice like an actor. Rikuson didn’t only just remember the face. He used his five senses and cammed his head with all the information he could acquire. So that he will never forget…
There was righteousness in the ruffian’s eyes. If he discovers some absolute evil, he would do anything–he had that egoistic, uncontrollable righteousness.
Boiling emotions, a sensation like a heated stone, pressed down upon Rikuson. Even though he was getting dehydrated, he got hotter like he was going to evaporate.
This bastard, this bastard, he–
The man grabbed his sister’s head. He was dragging her by the hair.
He wanted to hit the man right now. Wanted to kill him. But he couldn’t. If he tried, Rikuson would probably die without even landing a hit.
His sister and mother knew. Which was why they locked Rikuson up. They tied him up so he couldn’t do anything.
His eyes dried up. He couldn’t cry anymore. He only cursed his weak self. He cursed himself, who was small, and dumb, and couldn’t do anything
Riksuon’s head overloaded from the anger and cursing. He didn’t know when he fainted. He woke up when he heard sounds.
Were there still ruffians? He won’t forgive anymore. Whatever happens, he’ll kill them.
Rikuson wriggled in the trunk like a caterpillar. The heavy stone placed over it fell while he struggled.
He rubbed his face on the group as he crawled. He pulled out the gag and yelled out in a hoarse voice. “I’ll kill you!”
The man he was glaring at was crying. He was kneeling before the battered shell of his mother. “How could this happen…”
A plump, tender smile showed up in his memories.
Gyoku’en was over there.
Rikuson bit Gyoku’en’s leg while crawling and twisting his body. Normally, he would be more composed. Gyoku’en was crying tears of sorrow and regret, so he definitely wasn’t the target of his grudge.
Gyoku’en soothed Rikuson who was biting him, saying nothing.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. It’s my fault. It’s all my fault.” His leg was being bitten, probably bleeding, but Gyoku’en continued to soothe Rikuson.
