Volume 2, Intermission: Thousand Li to the North, Embrace the Dawn II (1/2)
The yugushiva woman’s name was Yustia.
The way she looked with the demon mask on made even Yoshu, who knew much about society, gulp.
The yugushiva had long silver hair that extended down to her waist. She quickly recovered after eating the food Gi Go had hunted.
The bright light of the sun illuminated the snowy lands as a cold breeze fluttered the yugushiva’s silver hair.
As she felt the breath of the snow god on her cheeks, she turned to her benefactors.
“Village, here,” she said.
Yustia pointed at a location between the valleys, where a village that looked almost as if it were buried in the snow was. If Yustia hadn’t been with them, finding it would have surely been difficult.
Yustia led the pair of human and goblin to the biggest house.
Yoshu noted the children playing in the square. The game they played, however, was a duel of swords, a game which both young boys and girls played together. While some fought some jeered as they watched.
They were happy to see Yustia, but when they saw Yoshu and Gi Go - people they did not know - they pointed their swords at them.
“Kids playing with swords… I guess it’s about what you’d expect from the yugushiva,” Yoshu said.
“Hmm? But goblins are the same…” Gi Go said.
“It’s not normal for humans,” Yoshu pointed out.
“I see,” Gi Go nodded.
Gi Go and Yoshu talked nonchalantly despite having swords pointed at them. Meanwhile, Yustia told the children off in the northern language while she led Yoshu and Gi Go to the biggest house.
As they neared the house, a child ran into it. After which, a one- armed man in the prime of his life came out.
“Chief,” Yustia said. The words that came after that were all in the northern language.
She spoke to the chief about the matter of these people saving her as well as the medicine. She managed to let Gi Go and Yoshu understand what they were talking about through gestures.
The silver-haired man in the prime of his life made a difficult face. The wrinkles in between his brows deepened as the scars on his skin showed. There were few men in the world who fit the image of a veteran as much as he.
Yustia and the man she referred to as chief talked for a bit, then she went into the house with Gi Go and Yoshu.
“Medicine, please,” Yustia said.
Yustia led Gi Go and Yoshu into the big house and into what was probably a bedroom.
On the canopy bed laid a woman who looked just like Yustia.
“My mother,” Yustia said.
The woman on the bed took ragged breaths. As soon as she heard Yustia’s voice, her eyes opened, and she turned a gentle gaze at her, but that gentleness quickly vanished when she turned to Yoshu and Gi Go.
The woman forcefully stabilized her breath and raised up her body. It was a mystery whether she simply did this out of pride or because she couldn’t forgive outsiders.
Yustia took a step forward and spoke with her mother. Seeing that, Gi Go and Yoshu turned around to give them some space, but Yustia’s mother called out to them.
“Get out of this village, you animals…” She said weakly in the southern tongue.
“You speak our tongue?” Yoshu asked.
Yustia’s mother glared at them. “I have… married twice in my life. And both were killed by your people… I will never forgive you.”
She spoke hatefully as tears flowed out of her eyes, then she turned her back on them. After that Yoshu and Gi Go exited the room to prepare the medicine, leaving Yustia to speak with her mother.
“Marriage, is that something important?” Gi Go asked.
“Well, some people see it as something sacred, so I guess it depends on the person. I’ve never been married and I don’t particularly want to right now, so… I don’t know,” Yoshu said.
Gi Go and Yoshu chatted while the latter made the medicine. Gi Go, who came from Gi Village, found it difficult to understand what marriage was.
“In other words, it’s to form a mate,” Gi Go said.
“Well, yes. I mean it’s natural to want to leave behind a descendant, right?” Yoshu said.
“I have only one body, and it belongs to none but I. I would say the same to others as well. What good is there in leaving behind one’s own lineage?” Gi Go asked.
Hmm… Yoshu became thoughtful for a moment, then he thought of using Gi Go’s king as an example.
“Well, what about your king then? Don’t you think it would be bad if there was no one left to succeed him?” Yoshu asked.
“…The king’s greatness has nothing to do with his blood or lineage. He is great because of his own abilities and achievements not because of his blood,” Gi Go answered.
“Then what will happen to your kingdom when the king passes? Who will take the throne?” Yoshu asked.
“Another excellent individual obviously,” Gi Go said matter-of-factly.
Why do you say it as if it’s so obvious? Yoshu thought to himself. It was true that there was no guarantee to an excellent king’s descendant being as skilled as he, but it was human to hope such things. It was precisely because of that the human kingdoms have lasted as long as they have…
After mixing the medicine, Yoshu handed the medicine to Yustia. Apparently, several persons’ helping would be needed, so he decided to concoct some more.
With nothing to do, Gi Go decided to take a tour of the yugushiva village.
Gi Go walked to that square they passed by a while ago. The children from before were still playing.
When Gi Go saw that he approached them.
The children did not know him, so they pointed their swords at him.
“Hmm…”
In response, Gi Go drew his sword.
The younger of the children cowered when they saw his bared sword, but the slightly older kids took stance. They lowered their hips, ready to jump at a moment’s noticed.
“Good stance,” Gi Go said.
The children were probably playing, though, as they took whatever stance they felt like.
“Let me give you some pointers,” Gi Go said with a fierce smile as the children formed a semi-circle before him.
The younger children seemed to finally calmed down upon seeing the older of them step out. They took stance as well and prepared to charge at Gi Go together.
The pressure they emanated was quite impressive considering they were children.
“IeeAaa!” One child cried out with fighting spirit as he charged at Gi Go, but Gi Go deflected his sword, sending it flying into the ground behind him. At the same time, Gi Go pointed his sword at him.
In the next moment, the children around Gi Go came charging too.
Gi Go deflected their swords one after another.
Some of the children were scared to death, some even cried… The crying children, Gi Go patted on the head to comfort them while he gave them back their swords, then he gestured to teach them that they should lower their hips more and faced their opponents
straightforwardly. It took a while, but Gi Go managed to get his intentions across.
There was little fun to be had in the snow-caged village, so as soon as the children realized that Gi Go was no danger, their interests were piqued and they flocked around him like he was some sort of attraction.
Some found the color of his skin curious, while some tried pinching his hard skin, and others dangled from his great stature.
Gi Go had never seen so many human children before. The most he knew of were the few present in the Gi Village back when the humans still lived among them. Back then he also gave the willful children a few pointers.
Gi Go didn’t know what to do with all the children, so he just let the flow take him and he played with them.
“Hmm,” Gi Go muttered to himself.
This is not how things were supposed to go, he thought, but in the end, he couldn’t help but play with the children until sunset.
Gi Go went back a little exhausted to the chief’s house.
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