The chief refrained from stating what specifically would happen in such an instance. Instead, he simply smiled. It was probably safe to assume, however, that such a scenario would lead to armed conflict.
“Firewood, woodwork, ash… All of the tribes have different ways of making a living, don’t they?” said Ko.
“If we don’t try our very hardest to do something unique, we’ll end up like the Yukyu and the Yuji tribes,” the chief said.
“Oh, I see. It’s in order to avoid disputes.”
“We spent so long repeatedly bickering and fighting against one another that it ended up decimating our tribes. That’s why we settled on doing things the way we do now.”
“But you’re all still earning your money from wood, aren’t you? Whether it’s firewood, woodworking, or ash, the material you use comes from the same source.” Ko then paused for a moment, having come to a sudden realization. “Oh, I understand now. It’s so you don’t have to compete for the same customers.”
“Exactly. After all, different types of wood lend themselves to different specialties. That’s one of the main reasons why we don’t have any more disputes with the tatara ironsmiths of Do Province,” the chief said.
“From Do Province?”
“They require a huge amount of wood in order to cast their iron, so they’d started coming all the way to the Northern Mountains to cut down our trees. That caused a real predicament for us.”
“Do Province’s moderation envoy has done an excellent job of keeping them in check—at the direction of His Majesty,” Jikei elaborated.
“Is that so…?”
In other words, the people here had no reason to defy the emperor.
“Still, now that we don’t have those sorts of external enemies to worry about anymore, our tribes have started quarreling with one another instead—just like the Yukyu and Yuji tribes are doing. It’s not going to end well,” the chief said, sighing. “Ultimately, it could lead to their mutual ruin—in which case, our mountain population will diminish even further.”
The chief smiled dejectedly. “Has anything new happened recently?” he then asked, turning toward Jikei. It seemed like he was trying to steer the conversation away from the tribes’ potentially bleak future.
“I expect you’ve already heard that a living relative of the Ran Dynasty has been found, haven’t you?”
“I have. A traveling salesman who visited the other day told me about her.”
“If you want some more recent news, then there’s the eruption at Je Island,” Jikei offered. “Apparently, a nearby underwater volcano has erupted.”
“What?” The chief’s eyes widened in surprise. “An underwater volcano…? From a mountain dweller’s perspective, I can’t even imagine such a thing.”
“It had been lying dormant and the bottom of the sea for all this time, and now it’s erupting. I expect it’s made it difficult for the sea merchants to travel. Their business will be on hold for a while.”
“Can’t they just use a different port…?”
“Surprisingly enough, there are very few ports that fit the bill. If they used small boats, it’d be a different story, but the sea merchant’s boats draw deep… Or rather, they’re quite large, so they go so deep down into the water that they’d never be able to fit in a shallow port. Then there’s the sea currents to take into consideration too. Depending on the currents, you can get taken in an entirely different direction from the one you wanted to head in. If you’re not careful, you could end up stranded or shipwrecked. Je Island, however, is suitable in those respects, so that’s why it’s the main hub for trade.”
“This eruption must present a real quandary, then,” said the chief, nodding in awe.
“Well, yes, but this is an isolated island we’re talking about. I doubt much of the upheaval will affect you here.”
“I suppose not. Je Island is a fair distance away.”
That being the case, the chief didn’t show much interest in the eruption itself. When Ko happened to shift his gaze to the side, he spotted somebody standing in the shadow of the woolen fabric that partitioned off the room. He peeked at them out of the corner of his eye. Flustered, the person backed away and appeared to leave.
“Excuse me, but would I be able to take a little look around this settlement?” said Ko.
The chief willingly accepted and offered him a tour.
Just as Ko was about to decline, he changed his mind. “That’d be wonderful,” he said.
The man who took on the role of Ko’s tour guide was the chief’s youngest son.
“My name is Seki,” he said.
Seki was an honest-looking young man—around the age of twenty—with a somewhat smaller build than his father.
As Ko followed Seki through the settlement, he noticed that at every single house, men and women of all ages were working hard to clear away the snow with wooden spades.
“People have to dig every time there’s fresh snowfall. Otherwise, we’d be submerged in it before we knew it. It’ll snow again today, I believe. It’s such tedious work, digging day in, day out.”
Seki looked up at the sky, and Ko followed his gaze. Indeed, the sky was thick with gray clouds, and it looked like it was about to start snowing at any moment.
“What do you make of our life here?” Seki asked.
Ko shifted his gaze toward him. Seki’s eyes were remarkably clear, like those of a young boy. They were full of hopes and dreams, as if all he could see was the future that lay ahead of him.
Don’t act as if you’ve experienced all of the suffering in this world.
Ko gave him a faint smile. “Don’t you join in with the snow digging?” Ko asked, not answering his question.
Seki’s eyes widened and his face flushed red. He’d probably never even tried to shovel snow before. At his house, clearing the snow was likely a manservants’ job. Either that, or he’d been mollycoddled like youngest children often were. All of a sudden, Ko’s own siblings came to mind. The youngest child in his family was Banka, but he had no recollection of his father ever spoiling her. Her mother never really showed her face, and her father was cold—not just to Banka, but to Ko and his brothers too.
No… That wasn’t right.
Ko’s older brother was the exception. Their father spoke to him quite regularly—but mostly to give him instructions or scold him and never just to chat.
Even so…
How many conversations have I ever had with my father?
Their father was always polite to other members of the clan or outsiders. He was only cold to his own family. At other times, he was a dignified leader—considerate, extremely wise, and well-respected by all those who crossed paths with him. That fact filled Ko with pride, and as a child, had made him eager to earn his father’s praise.
At least if I carried through with his orders and died out here, he might think I’d done a good job.
No—he wouldn’t. Ko knew that.
It hurt to breathe.
“These people wouldn’t have to go through this hardship if they were living in the flats, at least,” said Ko after a few moments, as if their most recent exchange hadn’t even happened.
“I-I suppose not…” replied Seki, nodding repeatedly. “Um, did I hear you mention something about an eruption earlier? Something about an underwater volcano…”
Unsurprisingly, Seki had been the one eavesdropping on their conversation. Ko decided not to challenge him about it and instead flashed him a friendly grin.
“That’s right. The underwater volcano near Je Island has erupted. Do you know anything about Je Island?”
“Yes,” Seki replied, but he didn’t seem very confident.
“It’s an island to the southeast of Sho,” Ko began. “It’s very important, since it’s used as a gateway for trade. This eruption is preventing people from traveling to and from it though, and that’s causing a lot of trouble. We don’t know whether the island has suffered any damage either.”
“Is it really a big problem? It didn’t sound like it was that serious, going by the way Yozetsu was talking about it.”
“He has to downplay it. Otherwise, everyone will worry—especially considering there’s still so much public unrest surrounding the discovery of the Ran Dynasty descendant.”
That was a lie Ko came up with off the top of his head. The public probably weren’t even that interested in the fact that there was a living relative of the Ran Dynasty. On the other hand, the eruption truly was a big issue—at least for those whose livelihoods were affected by it.
“Did you hear about the Ran Dynasty descendant?” Ko asked.
Seki nodded. “The Ran lineage originated from this area, after all. I don’t know much about them, aside from what older members of the community have told me.”
He really doesn’t know much…huh?
Ko could tell the young man wasn’t particularly interested. Perhaps the Ran lineage seemed like ancient history to him. Ko had suspected this might be the case, but he hadn’t expected him to be this unresponsive. There wasn’t even a spark to ignite the fire with. What was he supposed to do now? Was he better off looking into the other tribes?
Or…maybe he could create a spark himself.
“Actually…I’d like to pay a visit to the Yukyu and Yuji tribes’ settlements as well. Are they far away?” Ko asked.
“Not at all—they’re basically right around the corner. Both of those settlements are just over this mountain pass. There are few habitable areas in the mountains, so we’re all clustered together, more or less. That helps keep wild animals away too,” Seki explained. “In the spring, we go into the surrounding mountains, set up huts and cut down the trees, moving to a different place every year.”
I see, thought Ko. That’s the sort of life they lead.
“I’m sorry, but would you mind showing me there?” he then asked.
“I wouldn’t mind, but…” Seki looked skeptical.
“It’d be for business purposes. I want to go around all of the settlements in the area.”
“Oh, is that right?” responded Seki. He was easily convinced.
If there was no spark to ignite the fire, Ko knew he had to become that spark.
“If that’s so, then let me accompany you both,” said a voice from behind.
Startled, Ko turned around to find Jikei standing there.
“I was just thinking how I needed to stretch my legs, so it’s perfect timing,” the older man went on.
Ko said nothing. He stared intently at Jikei’s smiling face, but he still couldn’t decipher what his true intentions were.
The three of them left the settlement together and began walking along the snow-covered road.
“Hopefully it doesn’t start snowing,” said Seki, looking up at the sky with a nervous scowl.
The thick clouds were still there, blocking out the sun.