CHAPTER 162: CHAPTER 108: LIVING A GOOD LIFE IN THE TERRITORY OF THE "GREAT PHILANTHROPIST

Mother’s Robe was a unique and iconic piece of military equipment on ancient Japanese battlefields.

It was usually round or oval, about one meter in diameter, with the main body consisting of a frame made from elastic materials, covered with a layer of tough yet light coarse silk, tied to the armor with ropes, and overall looked like a sort of hood.

Or you could say it was a brightly colored shell that could be freely attached or removed from the back of armor.

This equipment was extremely popular before the mid-Muromachi Era, when battles between Japanese Samurai were largely fought on horseback with arrows. Mother’s Robe could effectively defend against arrow injuries, and when a large group of Samurai clad in these charged the enemy on horseback, the colorful Robes and the enlarged silhouettes they created while fluttering in the wind would exert enormous psychological pressure on the enemy.

Of course, now that Japan has entered the Warring States Period, Samurai are no longer the main force on the battlefield. Plus, with advances in armor technology, the lethality of arrows is declining; Mother’s Robe has gradually become more of a decorative item signifying status and rarely appears in serious combat anymore.

Right now, Harano was holding one such traditional Mother’s Robe.

This Mother’s Robe originally belonged to his Yoriki, Nakajou Heichiro—it was Heichiro’s "family heirloom equipment." Harano, curious at first sight, borrowed it for a close look and discovered something unexpectedly suspicious about the material of the frame inside: it was an aged, ivory-colored, bone-like elastic material over one meter long—a real rarity. That was why he borrowed it and brought it to "Master of All Things," Ah Man, to have a look—he suspected it was baleen, the "teeth" of filter-feeding whales like blue whales or fin whales, but wasn’t sure. Nakajou Heichiro, the owner, couldn’t say for certain how the Mother’s Robe had ended up in his family’s possession—probably a spoils of war.

Ah Man hadn’t expected Harano to show up early in the morning to bother her about something so random, but having grown used to his regular bouts of weirdness, she checked out the Mother’s Robe frame, thought about it, and nonchalantly said, "Probably, yeah. The seafolk call this stuff ’whale right,’ or sometimes ’right whale’—all sorts of different names depending on local dialects. But I heard that giant whales usually only have this white... baleen on the right side of their mouths. Sounds about right."

After she finished, she smacked her lips, committing the new word "baleen" to memory, just as she always lumped everything unfamiliar into the West Sea Road dialect category.

Once she’d learned the new term, she curiously asked, "Are you looking for this material? It’s pretty hard to find, you know. Rather rare."

Harano wasn’t after baleen; what he needed were people, so he immediately followed up: "So, does that mean people are whaling right now?"

Ah Man grew more puzzled and said plainly, "Of course. It’s been going on for a long time! But not many do it. Usually, it only happens in really bad years—when some villages are desperate to survive, they’ll all head out to sea together, hoping to kill a whale and bring back some meat and skin... Whale oil is valuable, whale skin is valuable too, even during famine years you can trade it for food to survive. But not many succeed."

Harano nodded slowly—this was an unexpected bonus—and immediately put forth his request: "That’s good. Right now, I need someone who has hunted whales before—preferably someone who’s commanded others in a whale hunt. Can you find such a person?"

"Why do you need that kind of person?"

Harano pulled a hand-drawn map from his sleeve and pointed to the ocean south of Ise Bay: "I need to go here, and I need a captain who’s extremely familiar with the sea and capable of training sailors."

He knew nothing of navigation, nor did anyone around him, so he had to seek outside help. He had previously intended to spend handsomely on a merchant ship captain, but having stumbled onto the matter of baleen, he now wanted someone better. After all, the ocean was full of unpredictable events, and he was headed for a region humans had never reached before. He’d feel much more at ease with a captain who had dared to take a group of ordinary people armed with crude weapons and boats into the open sea, and fought whales in stormy waters.

So, even if it took more time, he wanted a real "tough guy" from the sea—in other words, an old captain with a strong will and adventurous spirit.

Ah Man studied the hand-drawn map and the blank patch Harano was pointing at. She clearly had no habit of blindly following orders and looked at him in confusion as she asked, "What madness is this time? Why go there? What’s out there?"

"There should be lots of small islands, but I don’t know their exact locations," Harano said without hiding anything. "I need to bring back a boatload of rocks from there. It’s important, so I have to have a reliable captain."

"There’s saltpeter there? Or is it rocks you can turn into saltpeter?" Ah Man was well aware of Harano’s current main task, and even more aware of his collection of bizarre tricks. With a bit of thought, she guessed what he was after, but still didn’t get it. "How do you know those rocks are there? Have you been?"

"Read it in a book."

"Which book? Let me see it too!"

"I didn’t bring the book." Harano was exasperated by her insistence on getting to the bottom of everything, and could only retort, "Even if I had, it’s a family secret, and I can’t show you. So stop thinking about it! Just focus on whether you or your grandfather know anyone like this. If you do, hurry up and bring them to me. I need them urgently!"

Family secret, huh...

That made sense to Ah Man, and with a strong sense of traditional values, she dropped the issue, frowning and pondering, "If that’s the case, I guess you’ll have to go look on the islands."

"The islands?"

Ah Man tugged the map over, and pointed to the blank spot in Ise Bay: "The islands here—there are like... twenty or thirty of them, or maybe less, a dozen or so. Anyway, a fair number, with poor folks living on them. If there are any real tough guys willing to risk it all against whales, most of them must be on those islands—since you can’t grow much grain on the islands, and you can’t live on just fish alone. In bad years, those people have nowhere to flee, so they have no choice but to fight whales."

Harano’s gaze shifted to Ise Bay, and only then did he realize something he’d overlooked. The vast sea of Ise Bay wasn’t as empty as he’d assumed. For instance, the future Kuuki Jialong, who would become Oda Nobunaga’s vassal, and his Shimabara navy—these actually counted as part of Ise Bay, too. But his home base was in the Shimabara Peninsula and Bay, still some distance from the Oda Family’s sphere of influence; at this time, he had more dealings with the Matsudaira family and the Imagawa family.

He immediately grew concerned, asking, "So what’s the current situation on those islands—whose territory do they belong to?"

"Only the islands close to the coast—places like Okinoshima—have Earth Warriors living on them. But as soon as you get a bit farther from shore, there are no so-called Lords at all." Ah Man, who technically counted as a mountain-dweller, nonetheless knew a thing or two about the seafolk: "Those islands are dirt poor. Many have only a handful of families. The bigger islands, like Rihe Island or Kamishirashima, maybe have one small village each, three to five hundred people, all so hungry their eyes are green with starvation—Samurai can’t be bothered to deal with them at all."

"Zong Village?" Harano thought it sounded like some primitive self-governing settlement—people banding together for survival in hostile conditions.

"Yeah, it’s basically a kind of Zong Village!" Ah Man agreed, "Same as over in Iga or Koka. All places Samurai can’t be bothered to rob. But over there, people’s main way out is to become Water Thieves—that’s different from us... um, my grandfather’s side."

She actually sounded just a little bit contemptuous about those islanders, as if being a "Ninja" was a cut above being a Water Thief—after all, Water Thieves were at the very bottom of the respect food chain, lumped in with bandits and scoundrels.

Harano shot her a glance, unsure what she was so proud about, but didn’t comment, just nodded: "Then I’ll trouble you to make the trip. Look for someone capable, preferably with a family, and someone whose character is also reliable."

He paused, then added, "It’ll be good for you to get some exercise, too. Lazing around all day isn’t healthy."

"Okay, okay, I get it!" Ah Man had no objection. This sort of thing was right up her alley anyway. She didn’t mind making the trip, but immediately stretched out her hand: "But pay up. The seafolk aren’t easy to deal with—they’re all tough as nails. You’ll never get them to work without a good offer, and don’t expect them to trust a Samurai—most of them fled to the islands to get away from you lot. So we’ll have to give them some grain, salt, cloth, and ironware to start with, plus promise them a fat reward before you’ll have a shot at bringing the right person in."

She thought about it some more and remembered Harano was a "Divine Doctor"—that might be an advantage—so she added quickly: "Oh, and bring along some medicine—the bitter pills from before, the ones that make people shit out worms. I’ll take them to the islands; that should help too."

Yeah, and she figured she could even fake being a "Divine Doctor"—that way, even if the negotiations collapsed or there was some sort of mishap, at least the islanders wouldn’t chop her up. A handy life insurance policy.

This was only to be expected—nobody’s going to risk their neck for nothing these days, so Harano didn’t mind: "List out how much money and materials you need, and I’ll authorize it. Don’t worry about spending extra on something this important. Also, while you’re there, try to recruit several candidates—people barely ever go there, and we might not succeed on the first try."

He paused a little longer, then instructed, "And since you’ll be going anyway, connect with the local bigwigs—even in a Zong Village, there ought to be some prominent folks. Talk to them and see if they might be willing to come live here with us."

This was his sudden brainwave. His labor supply so far had just been piecemeal "purchases," which was inefficient and unstable. Now, realizing there might be thousands of people bobbing around out at sea, he was tempted—life on the sea was tough, never knowing where your next meal came from, no doctor for your illnesses, just too pitiful. Wouldn’t it be better for them to come live on the lands of this "Great Benefactor" and have a good life?

He really did mean well, there.

He liked to imagine things, but Ah Man looked troubled, hesitating: "That’s not very likely. If those people wanted to return to the mainland and pay the annual tribute, they would’ve done it already. No way you’ll swoop in and snatch a bargain."

"Let’s just give it a try!" Harano really did crave all that manpower—he had to give it a shot, even if it was a long shot. "Either way, start building a relationship! They need salt, grain, cloth, and iron, right? If nothing else, we can offer all those scarce materials at low prices and get them to start coming here to buy. That’d be fine too!"

If he could establish ties, over time he’d make them dependent, and then he could gradually rope them in—whether as industrial workers or navy recruits.

"Fine, whatever!" Ah Man didn’t care; it just meant a few more conversations—it wasn’t much extra effort.

So that settled things. She was a woman of action: that same day, she took a big bag of silver bits, called in five of the Nozawa family’s veteran Lang Faction—hardy survivors from the fierce battles at Takeshige Manor—patted herself down, and headed off to Atsuta to buy supplies, hire a boat, and set out to complete Harano’s mission.