Book 16: prologue

Table of Contents

Prologue
Chapter 1: Snow which should not be falling
Chapter 2: The shaken capital
Chapter 3: The priestess with the red umbrella
Chapter 4: Chains of azure darkness
Chapter 5: The night in which the guqin echoes
Chapter 6: When all of the gates open
Epilogue [note: I may change some of the translations of the names of the chapters, as I reread the novel and further consider matters; as a whole, this is true for all of the translations as well. XD ]

Prologue

Within the darkness, something resembling a white cloud dimly rose. The image finally cohered, and became the figure of a beautiful young woman. Riou [note: Riou Sr.], who had been napping, languidly raised his silver eyelashes.

Even Riou, who was usually indifferent to everything, was truly astonished at the girl’s appearance. No matter how many times, she wouldn’t give up. After the girl had returned all alone to the Hyou clan, she had plotted at escape from her prison countless times, and then had been thrown into the “Prison of Time.” He hadn’t thought that would still have enough power, despite all of this, to separate her soul from her body.

It would have been alright to ignore her, but he decided to show some respect for that willpower.

“Have you escaped again, Shusui? You probably know that you can’t run away.”

When Shusui caught sight of Riou, she approached his side on with unsteady steps, and then crumpled, staggering. It was as if the real Shusui were there. He smelled the scent of medicinal herbs. It was like the real thing, even up to that. They must have been drugging her in order to brainwash her again. Even so.

“….Riou-sama….. Please…. let me… see ‘Mother’…. Where is she?”

Her gaze was strong, like the hopeful breaking of dawn. One wouldn’t have thought it possible of the girl that Riou had met before, when she was shivering in Shouka’s shadow.
That was because what Riou remembered of Shusui was that she had been Bara-hime’s last serving-maid.

Shusui’s role had been only to dispassionately look after the imprisoned Bara-hime and guard her. She had only been a beautiful moving ‘Assassin Doll,’ who could only do exactly what she had been told to do.
However, she had cut her strings, run away from the puppeteer and become a human being.
She had run and run and run, and now that she had returned, she continued to refuse to return to being a doll.
No matter how many times she was brainwashed, she would not throw away ‘Shusui.’ If she found any gap, she would escape her prison.
Even if she were to escape, there would still be subconscious directives left. Though no matter what she did, it was hopeless, still she would not give up.
“Why did you return? Shusui. If you hate it that much, you’d be better off dead. You probably knew that this would happen. You’ll be drugged, brainwashed, and then return to being a cute doll. The small ‘Shusui,’ which you’ve desperately preserved will be crumpled up like a ball of paper. It would have been better for you to have always been hidden in Kiyou by Shouka and Shou Yousen, shivering like a threatened bird.”
Shusui’s jaw shivered, but she looked hard up at Riou. With a strong gaze, she brokenly repeated.
“….’Mother’….let me see her…”
The Shusui of old had been like a beautiful female doll. A face so lovely one would not grow tired of looking upon it. She would listen to orders, and not defy a single one of them. She had been the finest ‘ornament,’ as if someone had painstakingly crafted her.
The present Shusui was unsightly. There was the smell of multiple medicinal herbs, which made his nose wrinkle, mixed with sweat. Blood dripped from her, from wounds throughout her body, her long hair stuck to her sweat-stained face, and her breath racked her entire body. Her face, which had formerly expressed only tranquility, was now twisted with anguish. She was not in the slightest beautiful.
However, she was impressive. She drew the eye, as if to show that her ‘self’ was there. Her eyes were alive.
Suddenly, Riou remembered something. Once, there had been a girl with the same eyes.
But, that too was over.
Riou stretched out his white fingertips, and lightly lifted up Shusui’s chin. It was very rarely that a separated soul could be touched, and this time was one of those occasions. Shusui’s skin was flushed and warm.
The heat of a living person. The eyes of a living person. A will that the former Shusui had not possessed.
“…You have certainly become human, adorable Shusui. Unsightly, but the most beautiful you have ever been. You’ve worked hard up till now. Now, go to sleep.”
Shusui gritted her teeth, and shook her head.
“….No….”
“You won’t die. You’ll only return to what you were before. Even if ‘Shusui’ is no more, no one will really be troubled.”
No one will be troubled….
With a soft voice, as soothing as a lullaby, he struck at Shusui’s weakest point. No one would be troubled. It was as he said. There were people who had cherished Shusui, and who needed her. But she was not a unique, irreplaceable person to them. There was no one who would drop everything and come running after her.
No one.
Without her noticing, tear drops fell from the corners of Shusui’s eyes. It was strange. Why did her heart hurt so much? She had acknowledged this a hundred times. Simply being liked by others had made her happy. She was fine if others only told her it was alright to stay there. She had been happy just being able to do something for the people she loved. That was true.
Despite this, why did Riou-sama’s words hurt her heart?
(Please…..don’t confuse me….I…I—)
She had already decided to no longer run away. She had decided to fight. Even all alone.
For her own destiny. For this house. For ‘Mother.’
Even though she had returned for the sake of these things.
Riou’s fingertips picked up a tear which had run down her jawline.
“Pitiful Shusui. In the end, the tiny ‘Shusui’ which you have protected, running from here in fear, is not necessary to anyone other than yourself. You should return to being a doll. Then, you will no longer cry. Once people have opened their hearts to someone, they can no longer live alone. However, you are alone.”
Riou’s words weakened Shusui’s heart more than any drug, torture, or spell.
All of Shusui’s determination and will shattered, and began to flow away.
—Because that was the truth.
“Sleep, my adorable doll. You have been dreaming. A happy dream. But in the end, it is only a dream. When you awaken, you will have returned to reality. To this house. Even if you dream the same dream, it will already never come true. You should return to being a doll, and forget everything. Then you can be at ease. You will no longer feel anything. Powerlessness, despair, sadness, isolation—even incomparably quiet loneliness.”
In that past, someone had said to her, ‘could I be allowed to have the happiness of loving someone?’
“If this is a dream, when I awaken, I will no longer be able to live.”
Her flowing tears blurred her vision. She was lonely, and her heart hurt. Though she had been the one who had wished that Jyuusan-hime enter the inner palace, when she had heard that she had really become the chief lady-in-waiting, she had felt lonely. Although she knew that this was really not the case, somewhere in her heart a voice said that she had been replaced.
Shusui, who had becme a human, had known the warmth of the heart. She could no longer live without it. Shusui had not known how the emotion known as loneliness could weaken humans. Even her tough mental strength, which had overcome countless brainwashings, and let her leave the prison, had become as fragile as sand.
(Someone)
She was okay with not being someone’s number one. But, she wanted someone to call her name. The name of her ‘self’ which Shusui had protected, with all of her might. If she had that, she could fight, even alone. Fight properly.
….But, there was no one.
In a blink, her soul returned back to her body.

….Finally, in the depths of her far off memory, she felt she heard someone’s voice.
“I’ve always been here for you.”

****
The Kou Province Government Offices [note: Kou here is red]

In a corner of the office complex, a lone man was looking up into the sky. His age could not be immediately told.
Suddenly there was the noise of someone running in, and the man groaned and gazed up into the heavens.
“—Governor Ryuu!! I find you’re not in the governor’s office, and you’ve gone out and are in this kind of place?”
“It’s a break, I’m taking a break. If I’m always cooped up, I can’t breathe freely. About this much is okay, isn’t it?”
The Kou Province governor, Ryuu Shibi looked at his scolding second-in-command, who had an obnoxious superficial politeness, and grinned.
“Noooo, Jun Iku, you’re making such a scary face. At this damned busy time, if you can’t smile, you can’t do anything.”
The vice-governor, who was around the same age as Shibi–Jun Iku gave Shibi a dirty look. He thought the way he didn’t let his way of speaking slip when shouting at someone was a result of his good upbringing, unlike Shibi, who had formerly been a low-ranking soldier.
“Please stop speaking that way. It’s disturbing. It sets a bad example for your subordinates. You yourself, sir, are already over fifty years of age, so indeed, please be aware of your behavior.”
“….You really are outspoken, aren’t you? Even though you’ve been my second-in-command for years, I’m still not used to it.”
While Shibi was reluctantly returning to being the ‘middle-aged governor,’ he stared at Jun Iku. Shibi took care of his looks, so he was confident he appeared younger than his years, but it irritated him that although his second officer was also a middle-aged man, he wasn’t like a retiree, but was looking pretty good. This annoyed Shibi, who took a lot of effort.
“…So? What is your reason for making that kind of face? ….I can guess, though.”
“Throughout Heki Province, the crops have been nearly all destroyed due to the locust plague. At the same time, there have been frequent occurrences of earthquakes in Heki Province, and so lines of transport have collapsed in various places, so that one could say it’s become like a land island. Over a thousand people have died from the earthquakes. Even more have been wounded. If there is no food aid from Kou Province, it has been calculated that in the winter some thousands of people will die.”
Shibi’s hand, which had been ruffling his bangs, stopped.
“The locusts have gone northward along Tenzan River, and at this point in time about 30% of Kou Province’s crops have been destroyed. The damage is spreading at a speed greater than predicted. In less than a month, the entire grain producing region will collapse. From below, the reports have come that Kou Province does not have any supplies to give Heki Province.”
Shibi closed his eyes. That was mostly within the bounds of the forecasts. However, the speed of the locusts was too fast. He had immediately ordered measures to be taken after receiving a report from an inspector named Shin Suou, but the provincial officials were flustered by the locust plague, which had not occurred there for some decades, and they could not proceed skillfully. A lot of the provincial officials were big-headed national exam graduates, and they were really awful at negotiating, so they were thoroughly mocked by the local officials in the towns. Damn, if their time hadn’t been taken up by the Kou clan’s embargo—Shibi made a noise in his throat, as though he were gulping down a rage strong enough to cloud his eyes. …. At this late date, even if he were to say something, there was no helping matters.
But, was it that there were no rations to give to Heki Province?
“….The merchants of the Kou clan probably have some supplies stored. From the beginning, because of the Kou clan’s embargo, mountains of excess supplies have been left in Kou Province. The head of the clan has also changed. We’ll make them open up what’s left over. Also, Ran Province should be unharmed. The direction of the wind is against them, so the grasshoppers won’t be able to cross the mountains. The Ran clan merchants may be hiding the numbers, but over there, the size of the harvest follows that of Kou Province. They must have mountains of wheat and grains, and supplies stored there. Kyou Bunchuu can squeeze that out of that damned Ran clan in negotiations. That’s why the previous king and Prime Minister Shou made him Ran province governor.”
“….Yes. Certainly, the grasshoppers cannot cross the mountains. From this summer, for some reason it’s been raining continuously.”
“….A long spell of rain? Hey, wait.”
Shibi’s eyes slowly opened wide. Then, they narrowed crookedly. Ran Province, called the capital of water and salt. Beauty sometimes was joined with disaster. As if to affirm this, Jun Iku lowered his eyes.
“…The water level in the rivers has increased, and floods have occurred throughout Ran Province. Near the sea, the crops have been destroyed by salt. Inland, beginning with the largest salt lake, Ryuuga, the salt lakes, both large and small, have also overflowed, so due to the salt damage and flooding, the yield will be less than half of a normal year’s. Governor Kyou is taking measures to keep the chaos to a minimum, but if he weren’t there, they probably would have already called for assistance from the capital. … I do not think that Ran Province has extra rations to distribute to other provinces.
That was to say, then, the second largest granary could not be relied on.
“….The Kou clan merchants were reluctant, saying that we should keep the extra supplies of Kou Province, and not release them to the other provinces. Following them, the provincial officials are also of the same opinion.— The reason is that the chances of a great famine occurring next year, or the year after that, are high.”
His deputy calmly related how once a locust plague had broken out once, it would often reoccur for several years afterward.
“…Both the Kou clan merchants and the provincial officials report that if we release the supplies to the other provinces at this current stage, after next year, there will not be any rations left to divide among the people of Kou Province, so because of that possibility, the food should be stored. They say that locusts will destroy themselves if they cannot maintain their swarm, so until then, we must endure for several years.”
“…..Should endure, they say?”
Shibi wanted some tobacco. Yuzu tea would also be good. When he was young, he had, in the folly of youth, turned to using strange drugs a bit, but now he had switched to tobacco and yuzu tea. But since there weren’t any now, it couldn’t be helped. While he thought that, his deputy offered him his pipe. This deputy really could annoy him. Shibi packed the pipe.
Following the trailing smoke, he could see the beautiful autumn sky.
They had said, hold on for several years, until the locusts naturally destroyed themselves?
“….While we’re enduring, how many dead will there be? You, you’ve come out with the numbers, right?”
His deputy, after a brief silence, gave out the numbers, one by one, as if he were dividing them off.
“In the worst case scenario, the number of dead in the entire country is a hundred thousand. After three years, it has been calculated that the population will decrease by half, and one in two people in the country will die. However, if at this stage in time we conceal the supplies and food of Kou Province, in Kou Province alone, 80% of the population will survive.”
He said conceal, not preserve. Yes, conceal was correct. If he had used ridiculous words like ‘preserve,’ he would have sent him flying. His deputy was always realistic, never embellishing. That was why, even now, Shibi did not fire him.
“By half? Then, if from this point in time Kou Province’s supplies are sent to the other provinces, beginning with Heki Province?”
“They will make it through this year. However, already next year’s harvest is forecast to be zero. Even if seedlings and crops grow, the chances that the locusts will break out and totally destroy them are high, and it is thought that a vast quantity of people from every province will flood in seeking food, and many people will die as a result of starvation and fighting. In that case, although the total population will still decrease by half, Kou Province’s population will decrease by 70%. That was why the Kou clan merchants and the provincial officials said ‘hide the food.'”
That meant ‘ignore the other provinces.’ Shibi looked up at the sky and sucked in his breath. He did not fly into a rage at his deputy. He had come to relay this to him himself, without pushing this unpleasant task on an underling. His deputy, who was always cool and collected, had come flying there sweating. The vice-governor was a middle aged man, compassionate, one of the few people with backbone. That was why he had selected him and placed him at his side. It wasn’t especially that he had decided that because of his face. Yeah.

No matter how unbearable it was, he had come to accurately report the facts to him, with only his face calm. The facts.
If those were the facts, then the following decision would be Shibi’s duty, as governor. It was too heavy, enough to make one cry.
When he saw tobacco smoke wavering like a living thing, a certain scene from his days as a boy soldier played before him.
On a battlefield full of broken corpses, Shibi was sitting half stunned at the root of a tree.
He thought that at his side, the fire was crackling, but it was someone lighting his pipe with the fire from the burning corpses.
“….Tobacco lit from a burning corpse tastes the worst and makes me want to cry. But, because of that, I can remember the guys I killed, and the troops I let die, every time I smoke. It’s become a substitute for incense.
His gesture of holding the pipestem in his mouth, as he mumbled odd complaints on a battlefield littered with corpses, was ridiculously stylish.
Finally, Shibi watched the smoke wafting away, and looked up into the sky.
The sky which he had been looking up into for some days was a clear deep blue, and a white bird was flying, making a circle. The corners of Shibi’s eyes blurred. His breath caught in his throat. –The war was over.
“Aah, this is the end of the war. —Welcome, to a world just a little better than the very worst.”
The man smiled calmly, while chewing at his pipe.
How easy those times had been. All matters, good and evil as well, had totally simple, there were only two choices, live or die. There was no thinking or worrying for the purpose of living.
That was very easy. No need to think. No need to worry. The same as an animal. The ease of not being human.
This heaviness now, was like the weight of feeling his humanity. If he threw that away, that was the end. A world without war was a hundred times more difficult to live in. That was obvious. Because everone had held on, there could be a world better than the very worst situation.
Shibi let the tobacco burn. Ever since then, when he smoked outside, it had become his habit to watch nature and look up into the sky. And then the blue sky, and the white bird were to be expected. It was as always, this world which was only a little better than the very worst. However, very soon, the capital of Kou Province, Godou, would be buried in the black cloud of the army of locusts.
Shibi composed the pieces of information one by one in his head. The cards which he had, and the hidden cards which someone else must have been hiding.
“….Hey, Jun Iku, you’re having them dig holes? And then you checked to see how many dry wells there are?”
The color of his deputy Jun Iku’s face changed. After taking some breaths, he nodded as coolly as he could.
“….I gave those orders. Because I am…..the vice governor, who must protect Kou Province. If you wish to fire me, please do so.”
Shibi’s eyes then narrowed. He breathed out smoke. Turning his wrist, he let the ashes fall from his pipe.
“I know that you mock me, for becoming an official through the exam, and being a former low ranking soldier. I passed when I was older, and my grades weren’t thaaat great. You thought I couldn’t make the decision? But, it’s not for you to take responsibility. Your orders are the same as my orders. I’ll take all responsibility. –Before the grasshoppers come, bury all of the food stores in the holes. Fill up the dry wells with the food, and nail them down with iron. —Hide them.”
The pure white bird flew away into the
[[]]
Shibi turned his back on the white bird. Having done that, he did not turn back a second time.
“–After that, it’s up to the central government.”

Notes:
Ryuu Shibi appears in Unmei no Deai no Yoru. Someone else is translating this story, so I’m not bothering to do anything it. Also, I never translate stories when they appear in the magazine, because typically the author alters them from their magazine form. I suspect that is why the author has been sitting on the other story that hasn’t been published in book form and not including it in the gaiden compilations. (Given that Riou Sr. and Sakujun appear in that story, I’m especially projecting that it’s going to have edits, ha). Anyway, if the person translating Unmei no Deai no Yoru hasn’t finishing it by the time get to the next scene Ryuu Shibi appears in, I’ll do a short summary of his role in that short story. (It’s a major role, BTW. Without spoiling things, let us just say that Ryuu Shibi is sort of a member of the Nightmare Exam group)

A note about the way Ryuu Shibi speaks: When he’s not speaking like a normal, slightly rough middle aged man, he speaks in onee-kotoba, which is a style of speech popular among some gay men in Japan. The best reference I could find in English That’s what Jun Iku was talking about.

Speaking of the vice-governor, Jun Iku’s name is the same of a notable historical figure of the Three Kingdoms period; in Chinese, Xun Yu. He was one of Cao Cao’s advisors, but met an unfortunate end. (At least according to legend. Historically, it was probably different). Anyway, the Three Kingdom’s period is the only period of Chinese history I know anything about, because I’m a huge fan of a comic called “The Ravages of Time,” which is a retelling of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. [I especially like Xun Yu in there.] You Shuu, BTW, is also another historical figure from that period, in Chinese, Yang Xiu. Interestingly, both of these personages were members of the kingdom of Wei. What significance this has, I’m not sure.

Commentary: Ryuu Shibi! Sorry, I wanted to see him come back after Yuushun mentioned him in the last book. Anyhow, looks like Saiunkoku is uhhhh in a bad state, and Ryuu Shibi is essentially saying the central government is going to have to take care of Heki Province themselves, since all of a sudden the crops in Ran Province have failed.

IMHO the person who Ryuu Shibi is probably remembering from his soldier days is Son Ryouou (given the pipe smoking, which Ryuu Shibi seems to have picked up. As to how people can be smoking in ancient China when tobacco is a new world plant, I don’t know). I’m hoping down the road this is all going to start leading to flashbacks of the time before Senka took the throne. This novel makes me especially curious about this.