More than four or five days have passed since the cold wave arrived, and October has officially entered. And the cold seemed to have gained a firm foothold. Even if a group of people didn't make a fire at night, they would still feel quite cold at the ends of their limbs even if they were wrapped in layers.
In particular, the Kazuto samurai wore mostly light clothing such as cotton and linen blends and silk robes.
When they first set out, there were a large number of them and they were fully armed and bundled up with some external objects to help them. But now they were only wearing normal clothes, and the weather without snow turned out to be a bit unbearable.
This sounds a bit incredible, because the Aoda family and his party are from the northern domain, but they do not have proper cold-proof clothing in the true sense.
There are two reasons for this;
One is the lack of raw materials. Cotton is not native to Crescent Continent, and the small amount of seeds brought from past ocean voyages are not abundant enough to be used to fill warm clothing because the planting environment overlaps with the cultivated land for food crops. Most of them are made into cloth, and pure cotton clothes are considered to be of a higher grade. Even the samurai mostly wear cotton and linen clothes blended with higher-yielding linen. However, linen is very breathable but not very warm. Summer clothes are okay, but it will be chilly if the weather is slightly colder.
In addition, the terrain of Crescent Continent makes it difficult to raise sheep on a large scale, so it is not feasible to use wool as warm clothing on a large scale like Rigar did.
However, the Yi people, who came to this land earlier than the Japanese and are now mainly active in the north, do not have this problem.
And this is linked to the second reason, which is also the most common reason in any country where civilization and culture have appeared in human history——
“Doesn’t fit the status”
Heren society has scholars, farmers, industry and commerce. Senai was the highest class, followed by farmers, followed by craftsmen engaged in various trades, and the lowest in traditional status were merchants.
But in addition to these four rankings, there are also existences called "untouchables" and "burakumin".
These are the people who are engaged in fur hunting, slaughtering and executioners.
If fishermen can barely manage to be included among workers and peasants, serious full-time hunters belong to this kind of "other than human" existence in the society of the Moon Country.
Those who are stained with blood and the scent of beasts are dirty, and the elegant warriors who are martial but also proficient in calligraphy and etiquette cannot join this kind of people. So they can't be covered in fur, no matter how warm they are. If you dare, you can put a little bit of fur on weapons such as scabbards, quivers, bows, or armor to achieve the spirit of beasts and show martial prowess, but you must not dress up like a barbarian or an inferior tribesman.
——And this is also the reason why the wild boar skins that Henry and the others hunted before were used as mats in the carriage.
Even so, the Aoda family members, especially Yajiro's sister, often complained about the smell of beasts in the carriage.
Henry and Mira went to the market in Maotian a few days ago and spent an extra sum of money to buy some incense in the drugstore to improve the mood of the delicate young lady.
Every country, nation, religion and even family will have some specific traditions. They may have had practical significance in the past, and some are just to strengthen the authority of the ruler.
Their existence is not necessarily beneficial, and some are even harmful. For example, some places use instruments to confine their bodies to make their bones grow and deform to conform to a certain aesthetic.
It is not due to pragmatism, but a resistance caused by cultural reasons. Even if they have been together for so long, they still often cause the Qingtian family and Rigar's group, as well as the Yiren girls like Henry and others to outnumber their colleagues in Crescent Continent. conflict between.
The more advanced civilization is, the weaker the connection between man and wilderness.
As the upper class of society, samurai were not engaged in production, and their daily dietary needs as living beings were provided by others.
Civilized society and nature are somewhat like two almost completely different and incompatible living environments. The criteria for success in a civilized society are sometimes writing a useful manuscript or poem and winning a much-anticipated joust. And these "successes" can bring you funds, and you can use the funds to buy the food and other materials you need to survive.
But these skills have no effect in nature.
Civilized humans have almost separated themselves from nature, neither preying nor being preyed upon.
This may also be one of the sources of most people’s inner disgust towards ghouls: disgust because of their resemblance.
The barbarians live in nature and are in the company of mountains and wilderness.
More like a living thing, a predator that occupies a part of the ecosystem.
Whether you can eat something depends on the success of hunting or gathering, and the success of both is related to your own skill level.
How to determine where the animal path is; how high it is and what kind of marks are left by what animals; what animals like to eat what kind of food; berries that are poisonous but can be used on arrows and will only cause attacks if eaten, so they are useless How to distinguish berries.
Just like fish that are accustomed to water, they will die quickly when they land on land. Whether the Yi people have lived in a civilized society with people for a long time or the other way around, they will only feel strong discomfort towards each other and want to return to their original lives.
Because the skills they have honed and the knowledge they have mastered can only be put into good use in the environment to which they are adapted.
The samurai are still enduring it, and the so-called habits of the witches actually just regard all this as a "process".
This is just a journey for them. They will eventually return to a civilized society, where there are people farming fields to provide them with food, and people burning firewood for warmth.
continue reading! Page 1 / 3 There are days when there is warm water to bathe in.
The process may be longer, but there will eventually be an end point.
But for Lulu, this is her life.
The well-made hunting bow is well maintained and smooth, retaining the oxidized black arrowhead during forging and not reflecting too bright light.
She slowly pulled out the arrows from the quiver covered with wild boar fur to prevent water and put them on the bow. For a barbarian girl with a small body and limited arm length, such a short bow was the best choice.
The prey did not notice her presence, and the human scent on her body did not escape at all from the leeward position.
She waited patiently, waiting for the deer to relax its vigilance and retract its constantly moving ears, lower its head and begin to eat the young leaves with peace of mind.
And it did so, because the forest was very calm, there was only a slight rustle and wind, and there was no sound to be alarmed about.
It lowered its head and relaxed its guard, and she slowly moved her thumb around the bowstring, pushing her left hand forward while slowly pulling the bowstring back.
"Crack!"
Something was wrong, and the Yiren girl noticed this immediately.
The crisp sound of branches breaking came from not far away, and the deer immediately raised its head alertly, then kicked off its hind legs and disappeared from her sight.
The arrow had no time to shoot.
"Alas -" Lulu sighed and turned around. What she saw was the Ashigaru of the Qingtian family collecting firewood in the forest not far away.
She put away the arrows a little irritably, looked at the sky, and decided to give up tracking.
"Nothing to hunt again?" And when she returned to the camp dejectedly, listening to the Kazuto warriors' words that sounded like questions and interrogations, the brewing annoyance became even higher.
"What's wrong?" Lulu, who deftly unstrung her bow, sat down next to Mira who was warming herself by the fire. The latter noticed the breath in her movements and asked.
"Same as usual, in the way." Lulu curled her lips and pointed at Ashigaru, who was walking over with firewood in her arms. The white-haired girl figured out the reason, but couldn't do anything about it.
"After all, there was no need to hunt before." She tried to mediate. Although the hunter girl had told them several times before about what they should pay attention to when moving in the forest, these people were not serious hunters after all.
A lifestyle that did not belong to them led to intransigence, and when their behavior led to hunting failure, these people spoke with a taste of blaming the reason on Lulu's limited abilities.
Even if they are members of the Qingtian family, they are still warriors, and they are still Kazuto who look down on the barbarians and disdain to understand their culture and hunting. Even if they are companions, they are not always on the same page, and there are often conflicts and frictions between them.
Sometimes it just lacks an opportunity to trigger it.
And this is the case this time.
The sudden cold wave and the various reasons that existed before made the group of them make a change in policy to rely more on hunting in the future and plan routes away from populated areas. The huge ghost tribe is only good at hunting prey such as wild boars. Their hunting is more like an occasional behavior, although they can feed them for a long time at a time.
For more stable and reliable hunting, we have to rely on Lulu, and she is willing to accept it because she has been a freeloader for a long time and has a tendency to prove her self-worth.
It was just the lack of cooperation and coordination in actions that caused other people in the team to interfere with her hunting several times. This made Lulu a little annoyed, but she didn't say anything and just leaned against Mira.
There were some similarities in language, which made her feel that this girl who might have been related by blood in the long past made the Luoan girl feel like she had an extra sister, so it was natural that she would pamper her.
Mira arranged her hair, and Lulu closed her eyes with peace of mind, like a tamed hunting animal.
"Tomorrow I want to go a little further, a little deeper," she said.
The distance between their route and Lulu's departure from the camp was not too deep into the mountains and forests, because considering the possibility of heavy snow closing the mountains after the cold wave, it would be all over if they rashly went deep into the wilderness and couldn't get out.
And because of the sudden cold wave, it affects more than just humans.
Most wild animals will avoid human settlements because they know these places are dangerous. The exception is a lack of food for some reason, such as cold.
In this case, they will move closer to human settlements that are dangerous but do have food to survive. This is why creatures such as pigs and deer often harm farmland in the cold season.
And because she was closer to human settlements, Lulu didn't need to leave the camp too far to hunt. In the past few days, she had frequently failed due to interference from fellow travelers, which made her want to go deeper and get further away.
"Then I'll go with you." Mira said, feeling uneasy.
"You idiot, come here too. If you hunt a big guy, the two of us may not be able to lift it." She turned her head and said this to Galeva who was chatting with Miss Doctor on the other side. The Luoan girl just said that Her gentle tone instantly became tougher once she spoke to him.
"Uh, okay." As always, the tall young Suomir could only give in. The doctor next to him looked at her again and again, then cautiously came over.
"Well, can I go too? I haven't seen Ezo, that, the hunting method in the north. I won't cause any trouble." As smart as she was, she naturally guessed the whole story from the conversation between Mira and Lulu. So she emphasized the last sentence.
continue reading! Page 2 / Total 3 "Everything is fine." The Yiren girl muttered like this.
The breath he exhaled turned into a clear white mist.
The Ashigaru, who had interfered with Lulu's hunting but was completely unaware of it, built a small fire pile under the big hanging pot with the dry branches he collected. On the other side, our Mr. Sage was with another non-Kazuto noble. Joshua, a prime-age male laborer, walked out of the forest on the other side carrying cut trees.
The night was long and very cold, and it was impossible to survive just by picking up a few twigs.
They need large pieces of durable firewood, but this cannot be obtained by just cutting down a tree. Fresh wood is full of moisture, and the evaporated water vapor mixed with smoke can choke the eyes of the entire camp, and it emits white smoke that can be clearly seen within a ten-mile radius heading straight into the sky.
But those dead trees on the ground may not necessarily be usable, especially when the cold wave comes and they often get frost and are melted by the sun during the day. Most of them have become rotten and soaked.
The best choice is an upright dead tree - sometimes dead trees will remain standing for a long time without external force, and the method of identifying them is also very simple: the trees full of green leaves are living trees, and the ones standing dead are Trees are often uniquely bald among the lush greenery. They have no green leaves and all their branches are dead. If you know how to look for them, it will be obvious at a glance.
Cut it down, drag it back, and cut it into smaller pieces. Use an ax to divide the firewood into large pieces as thick as your forearm. Since it has long since died and has not fallen to the ground, there is almost no moisture and can be burned directly. In this way, if you pile up a few large pieces of firewood, you can keep the fire burning for several hours.
And if there is anything left, put it on the carriage and cover it with a tarpaulin for later use.
The fire that was already burning was filled with new wood, while the fire that had just been lit with small branches was filled with large pieces of wood and waited for the fire to grow. The Ashigaru people placed a bag full of charcoal-black pebbles around the firewood pile. For Kazuto, who did not have wool or cotton warm clothes and refused to wear fur clothes, a small cloth bag contained the hot chest. Stone is the only barrier besides fire when it's cold.
Tiny snowflakes slowly fell from the sky.
Mira, who seemed to vaguely see a hint of black, stretched out her hand nervously, and when she caught it and saw that it was just an illusion, she let out a sigh of relief.
Lulu looked at her with some confusion and worry, while the white-haired girl shook her head and said nothing.
At this moment, she suddenly understood the teacher's feelings about many things that he had not told her.
Some worries will disappear if you talk them out, while others are better left alone in your heart.
