kscans

t/n: long time no post hehe. hopefully the pace can pick up a bit.

CHAPTER 6 FYUZARION – Episode 5 The Blessed Land (Part 1)

1

Bard had his concerns. This place was excellent for establishing a village. Too excellent. To the south of the village lay vast green plains, and beyond them, mountains stretched from south to east. To the north, an expansive forest spread all the way to the Great Barrier. A clear stream flowed to the east of the village, and a bit to the west, there was a large river. The soil was fertile, promising for crops. It was suitable for grazing. Likely, it was home to a variety of animals.

Which meant, it also harbored giant beasts that preyed on those animals. Indeed, on their way south from the Sea of Trees, they had encountered many ferocious beasts and had been attacked. It was indefensible. In such a place, defense was impossible. For now, with their small numbers, Bard and Karz could fend off attacks. But they couldn’t always be there for everyone. It was impossible to establish a human settlement here. It was a wonder there had been a village here at all.

In this place, the trees, the grass, the beasts, and the earth itself were too strong. To live and settle somewhere was, in a way, to fight and continue winning against the nature of the land. To live was to battle nature. In lands where nature had strong defenses, humans were encroached upon and trampled. Even modest attempts at cultivation were crushed by nature’s efforts to reclaim itself. Weak humans would become food for beasts, birds, and insects. Without a sufficient quality and quantity of people, a village would disappear in the blink of an eye. Even though the frontier was already a place of strong natural forces, this place was exceptional. Establishing a village here, maintaining it over the long term, was unfeasible. Seeing Bard’s troubled expression, Zariya asked him the reason. Bard shared his concerns candidly. Zariya went to a corner of the cabin, grabbed something piled there, and showed it to Bard. It was a charred vegetable of some sort.

“Don’t you recognize it? It’s Egalsocia.”

Egalsocia!

Bard remembered. He had been taught about its properties by this old woman. He had seen it, eaten it, and vividly experienced its effects. Three years ago. He had set out from Linz towards Fyuza, and on the way, his beloved horse Stavros had died. In a village a bit north of there, he had acquired an ancient sword, and a bit further north, he had stayed at a house with a boy aspiring to be a knight. That place was a natural habitat for Egalsocia. In that area, Egalsocia was called blue-leaf cabbage. It was a delicious vegetable that could be prepared in various ways, but it was also highly nutritious and effective as a medicinal herb.

But that wasn’t all. Beasts did not approach places where it grew. Even applying the boiled juice of its stem to cloaks or carriages could repel wild beasts. Bard had personally used it and felt its effectiveness. However, Egalsocia was a vegetable that was very particular about its soil. Rather, it wouldn’t grow anywhere but its natural habitat. It was an extremely difficult vegetable to cultivate.

“One of my goals in traveling was to find land where this could be grown. At the edge of this forest, it was growing just a little. I built a cabin here and tried various things. As far as I’ve tested, both the plains and the forest here can support the growth of Egalsocia. So, you see. It’s possible to create a village, no, even a country that won’t be attacked by wild beasts, right here. Look at this bag. Inside are seeds of Egalsocia. After a fire, crops grow well. In three months, there will be splendid Egalsocia growing everywhere.”

What a revelation. This truly was a blessed land.

2

The first thing Jurchaga did as the village chief was to bury the dead. The fire had been fierce, completely burning down the crudely built houses, leaving no trace. Moreover, they had been washed away by a heavy rain afterward. The bodies were burned and washed away, but when they scooped up the mud, they found some bones. They put these in a bag, carried them to a depression with horses, covered them with soil, and made it a graveyard. (t/n: depression here is not the mental sickness. it means a sunken part of the earth. like a basin)

Jurchaga deliberately had the children help with this. The little ones trembled and cried. Gently comforting the frightened children, Jurchaga said soemthing.

“Are you scared? If you’re scared, it’s good to pray. Look. Put your hands together like this, pray, and talk to them. Did it hurt? Was it hot? Was it painful? It’s okay now. There are fun things waiting in God’s garden. We’ll pray properly so you can go straight to God’s garden without getting lost. Then, the messengers will hear the words of the prayer and come to pick you up. If you pray like that, you won’t be scared anymore. The ones who were truly scared, who suffered, were the ones who died. So, we pray for them like this.”

Eventually, the children stopped crying and began earnestly praying for the dead villagers. Some of them might have been their fathers or mothers. Bard joined in praying for the dead too.

3

Karz was sent to the port of Himaya. Himaya was on the east bank of the Ova River, a fairly prosperous city for the frontier. After defeating a demonic beast and training Doriatessa, Bard had stayed there when crossing the Ova with Arflaburne and the others. First and foremost, they needed salt. Building tools, farming tools, clothes, and many other things were on the shopping list. Money was not an issue. Not only the payment for the Great Red Bear and the travel expenses received from Marquis Fafarlen, but Bard, Karz, and Jurchaga had also received considerable rewards for their achievements in the Wars of Nations. Bard, for instance, had received so much money that he couldn’t accept it all and had left most of it in the royal palace of Parzam. What could be used should be used. Building a foundation for life in Fyuzarion without financial difficulties was a significant advantage. There must have been people who had drifted to this area before, but it was utterly impossible to start from scratch in this place, and they would disappear before the wilderness’s fury. Fyuzarion must not follow in those footsteps. A solid start was crucial.

While Karz was away, they repaired the cabin and cleaned up the surroundings. There was plenty of burnt wood, which, being less prone to rot, had its drawbacks in processing but was handy for temporary repairs. They created small fields in four places around the cabin and planted Egalsocia. They caught a lot of fish. They needed to prepare dried fish for the winter. Everyone was amazed to see Bard shooting swimming fish with a bow. They all wanted to try it too. Bard had mastered this skill when he was about ten years old. Quinta was probably around that age. Seto was a bit younger. Bard made bows for them and taught them the tricks. Quinta had an astonishingly good sense for it. He was also physically strong.

Could this child be suited to be a knight?

The thought crossed his mind, and he laughed at himself for being foolish. Of course, it was good to learn enough self-defense. But there was no need to eagerly teach the art of killing. There were plenty of other things to do in the village.

4

Karz returned after twenty-eight days. According to him, it took five days to get there, two days for shopping, and twenty-one days to return. Considering it took Karz five days while riding his beloved horse Satra, it was not a distance that could be easily traveled back and forth. The shopping included a horse and a cart full of goods. Salt was not available in one place, so he had to visit several. A single man buying in such large quantities in a frontier town raised questions about whether a new village had been established. Since Karz hardly responded, it’s unlikely they thought a village had been established here. Fortunately, Karz didn’t look like a farmer or settler at all. However, if they kept going shopping, the existence of this place would become known.

Thieves would eventually come. This place was far from human settlements. Villains would think they could do as they pleased without getting caught. But that was okay. If they were just after theft, they wouldn’t shoot fire arrows, and Bard and Karz could handle it. The problem was the exchange of goods.

According to Karz’s report, they were quite reluctant to sell. Bard hadn’t considered this issue. But it was a natural and troublesome problem. Without a powerful backer, the village would be exploited in selling and face restrictions or high taxes in buying. They might refuse to sell in large quantities or refuse to trade altogether.

Why? For frontier towns and villages, the establishment of a nearby village, meaning an unknown number of people gathering, was a source of fear and caution. It could become a band of thieves overnight. Or a mob desperate for food.

Being too well-off was also a cause for caution. It was unlikely for people who could earn a decent amount of money to settle at the very edge of the frontier. The money was suspicious, and those who had it were considered unsettling.

If they had settled with a clear powerful backer from the start, it would have been a different story. Even if it was a village made of criminals, as long as their origins were clear, they could expect a certain level of interaction. But Fyuzarion was a village made by people of unknown origins. Even if Bard declared himself a knight from Pakula and a former Union Marshal in the Central Plains, it meant nothing. It was too hard to prove and too far removed from the locals. How could they get recognized as a proper village?

5

Bard quickly realized he had underestimated the forest’s regenerative power. The greenery revived rapidly. It was fortunate that the rain began before the cores and roots of the large trees were burned. The animals returned too. They built a new house near Zariya’s cabin and lived there together.

Regarding salt, Zariya provided crucial information. When she had cured a passing traveler’s illness, he told her about a valley made of salt in the northeast mountains. It was visible to the eye, and understanding the surrounding situation was necessary anyway, so they immediately sent Karz to check. Karz returned in just three days, bringing back bags full of rock salt. There was plenty of salt, but the journey was fraught with beasts, so only those capable of fighting should go, Karz reported. He also sensed the presence of a demonic beast far away. Since Karz could detect a demonic beast from farther away than it could detect humans, he indeed was an unusual man.

People began to trickle in. Most of them had lived near the edge of the forest before. They were either driven out without being affected by the devil’s fruit or had temporarily left and lost their place to return. Those who drifted to such a remote place were in tatters, with almost no possessions. The fact that Fyuzarion was building houses that couldn’t be built without proper tools made it stand out. There must be various goods there, thought those who saw it. Of course, food too. This attracted more people than Bard and the others had anticipated.

They accepted those who recognized Jurchaga as the village chief and swore to do what they could for the village. Those who didn’t were not accepted. Those who attempted violence were unhesitatingly beaten down. Three men suddenly attacked Bard in the middle of a conversation. Drawing their shoddy swords. Bard punched all three in the face with his fist. The three men fell, bleeding from their noses. They were piled up on Yueitan and dumped far enough away from the village. They might have woken up and fled, or they might have been eaten by wild beasts. They had done something that warranted such an outcome.