"The Sage and the Maiden ()"!
Human beings have had the habit of keeping records since early times.
Countless ancient civilizations, even in the tribal period before the concept of civilization was born, used charcoal, cinnabar, and stones to record certain things on clay tablets, cave walls, turtle shells, and animal bone tablets to convey to others and educate future generations. practices of future generations.
That was perhaps the earliest origin of the concept of 'society'.
Education itself is not exclusive to humans. Many wild animals and even goblins and giant trolls who are planned as barbarians by humans also have similar habits. Parents will teach their children by words and deeds before they reach adulthood, but this behavior is often limited to individuals or small families connected by blood.
Their bond is not a social one, it's purely family and familiarity.
To put it more bluntly - giants or goblins don't think, 'We have to leave records for future generations who have never met', they just instinctively share the knowledge they need to make a living. To the companions you know.
Strong social nature and a strong sense of belonging to a certain group are major characteristics of human beings. Even several major races other than humans, such as elves and dwarves, lack this characteristic. Their organizational structures are often loose and casual, and they pay more attention to the connection and intimacy between individuals.
——In other words, they will not be like what Henry and his party are experiencing now: just because the Qingtian family and his party are samurai from the domain, the samurai in the current territory will be hostile to them.
Elves will not love or hate people they have never met just because they belong to a certain country or region. Their judgments of likes and dislikes are more individual than collective, which often leads to conflicts between humans and elves.
But let’s get back to where we started. Having a record of verbal communication and sharing wisdom, and planning for the future on a group scale, is something that almost only humans can do.
The higher the level of civilization, the more astonishing the breadth of this concept becomes. The level of public education in a unified country is by no means comparable to that of a small country. The chaotic west coast of Rigal has several languages in the east, west, north and south, but the Crescent Continent can speak the same language from the vassal to the new Kyoto.
But like many things, it has pros and cons.
The wisdom accumulated over a long period of time is as thick as a mountain. Generation after generation, people record their perceptions and understandings of life and everything in the world, and they are compiled into valuable knowledge for educating future generations.
When relying on them, this can give future generations infinite courage and confidence.
But ancient things are ancient things after all, and they may not always be applicable to all situations and all generations.
Mountains are reassuring when used as a country's defense line. They look so majestic that it is impossible for enemies to overturn and attack. But when you need to leave, this line of defense will also block your progress.
The Moon Kingdom is too huge, with countless traditions and rules accumulated over 4,000 years.
Why is it not such a big mountain?
It is wise to follow them rather than deny and refute them. Because you are just one person, and what you are refuting are countless predecessors, among whom there are even more capable and sages who are far more intelligent than you.
--Yes.
Just like the Kingdom of Suomir, just like countless other countries that have encountered similar problems.
Ever since he set foot on the Crescent Continent, the stupid green Kaleva may have been lingering in his heart with such a strong sense of déjà vu and paradox.
It is also a country where tradition and new trends collide. What the smaller northern kingdom has done is to almost completely overthrow the traditions of the past. Abandoned its own culture, abandoned everything it had ever been proud of, and tried to make reforms that were like burning boats.
But what if it was bigger?
9 out of 10 people are against it. If you are outstanding enough and capable, you can single-handedly implement a certain plan; 99 out of 100 people are against it, and your voice will be easily drowned out.
It is true that as the number of people increases and the scale becomes larger, the number of people who hold the same opinions as you will also increase, but the resistance a large country encounters during changes is often much higher than that of a small country.
The Kingdom of the Moon is too big.
Too old too.
The countless rules and regulations left by thousands of years of history have been deeply imprinted on the minds and bodies of everyone in this society. These hundreds of millions of people follow the principles of those regarded as sages from the bottom of their hearts - the royal family is the world. God, the lower than the upper are taboos beyond life and death - and I am convinced that they will never change.
How profound is this attachment to tradition? When the schedule to turn eastward reaches the end of the second week - that is, after 14 days and 500 kilometers of journey, they are shocked by the bloody things they see in front of them. The scene reminds me again.
A civilian caravan was attacked.
The corpses were left on the road for crows to peck at.
Judging from the situation, it must have been a day since his death. The smell began to permeate the air when the weather was still hot and hot. This was why the group noticed it early in the morning. But instead of evading, they came closer because they needed to understand the situation.
The caravan was obviously local, because they had no cars and just carried backpacks. Walking too far to trade would not be worth it, so these people were probably small-scale merchants who traded between villages.
What's more important is that the products scattered on the floor obviously include dried pickled fish. Already turning east and going deep into the inland area, the only place far away from the coast that can obtain a large amount of salt is the small village at the destination.
Half of the items were looted, and some were scattered on the ground. This subtle reason for giving up halfway was discovered after Henry squatted down and opened the clothes of the corpse to check the wounds.
The wounds on the three civilians close to them were messy. The edges of the incisions were torn rather than cut. This was caused by dull blades of poor quality. Most of them have been used for a long time without being polished properly, and the cutting edges have been severely damaged.
The sage then lifted up the arm of the corpse that was already somewhat stuck to the ground to inspect it. Yajiro's sister behind him saw this scene and ran to Sakura's side with a pale face and covering her mouth.
"Defensive wounds." The Luoan girl read out a word that the warriors did not understand, and the sage explained: "It refers to injuries sustained when a person instinctively uses his hands to protect himself when being attacked. "
"It's so messy." The young master came over and said this while holding back the stench. The wounds on the arms are the same as the wounds on the body, numerous and superficial.
"It was an amateur's act. He was attacked from the side and behind, but the first attack was not fatal. The deceased who came back to his senses protected himself with both hands, and then continued to be beaten until he was beaten to death." The sage checked and hung up his outer robe. The purse inside was not taken away. Although there were not a few silver coins in it, he still recovered it.
"Sir, this is it." Narumi next to him hesitated to speak.
"It's not for money. Check other people and try to recover other tokens if you have them. The village is not far away, and their families will want to know about the missing relatives."
"Let them recover the corpses themselves." He said this, and the samurai and his party also reacted. They are a group of strangers, and their composition is quite strange, so if there is something that can serve as an opportunity to connect with the locals in a strange village, many things will go much smoother.
"But what people really have to pay attention to is this side." Henry stepped over the corpses and walked to the other side of the deceased whose goods were intact.
"...They are all killed with one blow." Mira, who followed him, noticed the wounds. They were all attacks aimed at the vital points and cutting deep enough to be fatal. They were obviously sharp, high-quality swords combined with high-level swordsmen. As a result, and compared to the original deceased, this time the murderer seemed less interested in the goods they were selling.
"All the hits were on the head." When Henry said this, the faces of the Qingtian family next to him changed.
"Sir, here is..." A Yong, who was recovering the deceased's token, hesitated to speak: "Horse hoof prints."
"It's a samurai." In addition to the unconventional existence of their profession, the appearance of horse hoof prints on the New Moon Continent can only mean the emergence of samurai.
"Are the samurai from Jeju, or from Wanzhou? This place is already so close to the border. Although Wanzhou has been under martial law, they may also send out a expedition team." Narumi fell into deep thought. They who were born in the feudal territory, in this delicate season, If they meet with the local nobles, conflicts or even fights are likely to break out, which is not what they want.
"They were attacked by a roving mob, mostly a small group of people. All the armed mob wanted was property, even food, anything at all - and then. Samurai on horseback came out of the alley and killed the civilians. Then he chased the fleeing mob into the forest to the north." Judging from the remaining traces on the ground, Henry roughly sorted out what happened along the way.
"Why do samurai want to kill Ping..." Yajiro knew the answer before he finished speaking.
"There is no difference between honest civilians and mobs in their eyes. The samurai know the existence of the movement, so they are more hostile to civilians - but these civilians." The sage knelt down and looked at the few people who were arrested. The civilians who were stabbed to death from the front had all their wounds on the front, but there was a distance between them. No matter how skilled a swordsman is, he cannot kill so many people head-on in a short period of time. This is the only possibility for such a result.
It's just that they didn't want to escape at all.
"The local dignitaries probably blocked the news about Xia Ke Shang and wanted to prevent civilians from joining in this kind of riot. So when these businessmen saw the samurai appear, they thought it was a savior. Even if their partners were killed, they did not run away. I'm afraid he fell into extreme confusion and was hacked one by one." His inference was also what anyone who knew swords would come up with, so the Qingtian family and his entourage were just silent.
"If the mob comes back alive after being exposed, I'm afraid they will start discussing this matter. Once it spreads, the news blockade will be invalid." Henry stood up, and others also collected the villagers' tokens.
"Since there is a potential possibility of joining the subordinates and suppressing the superiors to oppose you, why not kill them as a mob from the beginning, right..." The Luoan girl tightened her grip on the hilt of the sword, but finally let go.
"What should we do?" Narumi looked at Henry. Although they were natives, in the face of so many variables and uncertainties, the wisdom of the sage was the most reliable reliance he could think of.
"Just pretend we don't know this." He shook his head: "We were just passing by and saw this scene, and then we collected the villagers' tokens and gave them to their families."
"But the truth is." Galeva expressed his opinion in a rare way, which was still somewhat stiff in Japanese language.
"Idiot." Mira kicked him: "Speaking out will only hurt more people."
She clenched the hilt of the sword again and whispered: "Do you think I don't want to tell them the truth?"
"But what can you do? What can you do? What can we do?"
"Knowing that their family members were killed by samurai, all they can do is swallow their anger. But the seeds of hatred will be buried." Aya sighed. She started to invest in the academic profession because she hated such political-related things. .
"But they may still know the truth in the future." The young master also lowered his head. Things related to losing his family and revenge touched some soft parts in his heart. But he also knew how powerless he was right now.
It was the feudal king who destroyed the Qingtian family.
With the few men left now, if they want to take revenge on the feudal kings, they will only be able to hit the stone with an egg.
"Now that I think about it, the frog at the bottom of the well may be happy." The great god next to him, who had always been relatively quiet, suddenly sighed.
"Keep your own little world, at least everything is familiar."
“While I know how vast the outside world is, I also clearly realize how small and powerless I am in comparison.”
"Do you regret leaving Qingzhi?" Lao Qiao asked him loudly, but he just shook his head.
"Let's go." Narumi said after seeing that everyone had tidied up. The group of people walked around the corpse and walked forward for about an hour. A wide but not very long river appeared in front of them. It seems that only a wide water surface is formed in this basin, and the rest is either hidden underground or hidden in the mountains and forests.
From a visual perspective, it may be more appropriate to call it a lake, but it is undoubtedly flowing.
The small village stood quietly on such a border, and although the arrival of the group attracted some attention, there was no obvious hostility or alertness.
Henry's inference is correct. The administrators here deliberately suppressed the news.
After asking the people around them for information about whose family had a missing person, they waited there for a while, and the family members of the missing person ran over in a hurry.
The warriors handed them bloody relics and told them that their husbands and sons had been attacked by robbers. When the group passed by, it was a foregone conclusion.
The woman burst into tears, and the ignorant child looked around at the adults. Although he didn't understand the situation, he was moved to tears and burst into tears. The mother, who was crying herself, instinctively began to comfort the child.
Leng Touqing and the young master wanted to speak, but in the end they couldn't.
The movement attracted many villagers to watch. Yajiro finally couldn't bear it and discussed with Narumi to distribute some money to these villagers. His actions combined with returning with a token made the widows bow and thank the samurai master one after another. Henry and others next to him were trying to find out if there was a hotel or a place where they could stay.
But just as the tall sage was waiting for the villager who was stunned by his appearance, height and fluent Japanese language and could only say "Oh, oh..." to give any decent words. Before replying, someone from the crowd came over and walked behind him.
"Duo-" This was the sound of his footsteps stopping, as if he noticed him after walking by and stopped.
"呲呲" is followed by the sound of turning with the heel as the axis. The sound of the grass soles rubbing against the dirt floor was still accurately captured by him despite the noisy crowd.
The footsteps coming towards him were clearly audible to him, and Henry had roughly grasped the other party's information before turning around.
The pace is steady, clearly someone who has been trekking for many years. However, her weight and height are not high by Japanese standards, so she should be a standard adult woman.
He turned his head, and the other party took off the hat on his head.
The surrounding noise was like ripples, spreading out little by little and quieting down.
The slender hair on both sides of the dark blue bangs was tied with white ribbons, and the symbol of the attendant of the gods hung on her body. Although she looked dusty, her eyes were still bright.
"Grand Miko-sama..." Narumi was stunned for a moment, then knelt down and saluted with the other samurai.
"Why are you here?"
"My lord." The great miko, who had met once in the past, looked directly at the sage. Her title was the highest possible respect allowed by her status.
"please."
"Help us."
