Twelve Kingdoms v05 by Fuyumi Ono

Author:Fuyumi Ono
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-4062552295
Published: 2016-04-22T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

[3-7] “Hello there, Miss.”

Ren Chodai glanced over his shoulder at Shushou. He and several of his party were sitting in a circle beneath a tree. They were clearly in a churlish mood.

“Was there something you wished to discuss?”

Shushou said, “I came to ask you for a favor.”

“What’s that?”

“I’ve had enough of shushi. I was wondering if you could hire me, doing chores and whatever.”

Chodai blinked several times. “Hire you?”

“Yes. You’ve seen enough of me to know that I’m in good physical condition. There’s nothing wrong with my legs. I can put in a full day’s work. What do you say? I don’t care how menial the tasks are.”

Chodai exchanged looks with the men gathered there then gestured to her. “Nothing personal, see, but I think it best you go back to the shushi.”

“I think not. I can’t abide the way shushi and goushi do things.”

“The way they do things?”

“That’s right. I’m not going into specifics. Frankly, I don’t even want to think about it.”

Chodai thin face clouded over. “Miss—Shushou, was it?—if you insisted, I would have no problem treating you as a guest. Unfortunately, as you have pointed out yourself, I am a novice when it comes to the Yellow Sea.”

“No matter how much a person knows about the Yellow Sea, if that knowledge is in the service of a twisted heart, then it doesn’t mean a thing.”

“A twisted heart.”

Shushou stared at the ground, her hands still clenched in anger. “Koushu are itinerants. It’s a tough life, I know, without a family or emperor to protect them.” She raised her gaze. “But it’s not like I don’t have any idea how tough life can be. It’s tough living without an emperor. It’s tough having youma coming out of the woodwork. Why else would all these people put their lives on the line to travel to Mt. Hou?”

Chodai quietly looked back at her.

“Yes, itinerants and refugees have a hard life. Supposedly it’s not possible for people like you and me to understand what that’s like. If that was true, nobody would ever venture into the Yellow Sea. It’s the koushu who don’t get it. It’s obvious to anybody who gives it a few minutes of thought that the koushu got dealt a bad hand in life. But that’s no excuse to beweep their outcast state, curse their fate, and envy those better off than them. And then when they’re in a place they know like the backs of their hands, lord it over everybody else.”

“Shushou—?”

“No matter how familiar they may be with the Yellow Sea, if they’re going to use that knowledge as some sort of retribution, they’d be better off as ignorant as the rest of us. That’s all I’m going to say. I am indebted to them for bringing me this far.”

“I see,” Chodai said with a thoughtful nod.

“I just don’t want to be around them right now. At any rate, Ren-san, you’re going to keep following the road, aren’t you?”

Chodai shook his head. “No. This once we will probably heed the advice of the goushi and follow them.

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