I heard the footsteps of soldiers climbing aboard the boat above us. Yuma rushed above deck to talk with them as I helped Josephine climb into an empty barrel. Once she was the barrel I placed in a false bottom and then laid some fresh fish on top of it so it looked as if the whole barrel was full of fish rather than just the bottom.
As I placed the actual lid atop the barrel, Yuma came down the stairs and walked up to me. He leaned in and whispered.
"Don't speak, I tell them you no can talk."
With a nod, the soldiers walked down the stairs. Their armour was red and layered, and a sword rested on their hips. There were three in total. Two of them stood at the top of the stairs as the third one, and the only one wearing a helmet, descended and looked around.
"これが申しておった者か.口の利けぬという男か."
"はい,我が弟の Shinya にございます.怪我のせいで声を失いましたが,耳はよく聞こえております."
He gestured his hand towards me, then pointed out my neck. It was clear that he was talking about me and making up some excuse why I was unable to speak. I glanced at his gestures to try and get some clue of what he might be talking about by the way he moves or his hands.
"ご覧のとおり,小さな漁船にございます.呉より五島へ,漁のため参りました.どうぞ,好きなところをご覧くだされ."
Yama finished his sentence with a half-bow, extending his right arm out towards the cargo and taking two small steps back. It looks like an invitation to inspect the cargo. I also bowed slightly and stepped over towards Yuma, standing slightly behind him in an attempt to hide my face. I may look like them a bit, but if my face was inspected closely for a moment, that's all that was needed to realise I wasn't one of them. After all, that's what happened at the Saltfort.
I watched as the soldier moved from barrel to barrel, lifting the lid open and looking inside. He moved closer to the one that Josephine was hiding inside of which was placed near the back. Every time he opened a barrel, he glanced in briefly and closed it. Most of them were empty. Every time he closed an empty barrel, he glanced towards Yuma.
"ご覧のとおり,漁はあまり運がなく,わずかしか獲れておりませぬ."
The soldier opened the last barrel that was filled with fish, the one that Josephine was hiding inside.
"そう言うが,この樽には魚がぎっしりだな.朝のうちにしては多すぎるではないか."
The soldier dropped the barrel's lid to the floor and reached in, grabbing a fish and holding it up by the tail. I looked to Yuma, who made a face as if he had just said something embarrassing.
"そ,それは昨日の獲物にございます.このあたりに二日ほどおりまして,今夜には戻るつもりでございます.本日の分は,こちらの樽にございます."
Yuma walked forward and held his hand out towards a barrel next to the one Josephine was hiding in. The soldier lifted the lid of that barrel and looked inside. It was the barrel I had gotten the fish from to fill the other one. Now it only held about three or four fish.
"ふむ...今朝はどれほど漁をしておった?"
"せいぜい二刻ほどにございましょうか...はっきりとは存じませぬ."
The Soldier nodded and placed the lids back on both of the barrels. From the look on his face, he seemed satisfied with whatever Yuma just said. Then he turned his head and pointed right at me.
"その Shinya とやら,口が利けぬと言うか.怪我のせいだと? だが首に異常は見えぬがな."
"若い頃に毒に当たりまして,それ以来,一言も申せませぬ.内に害が残っておるのです."
Yuma spoke in response to what the soldier said. Yuma stood beside me and placed his hand on my shoulder, and with his other hand, he pointed to my throat. Assuming he was talking about me again, and from his pointing at my throat, pretending I understood what was being said.
"よかろう.先ほど貴様に問いただしたように,この者にも問いかけてみるとしよう.うなずきで答えられる,簡単なことだけを聞く."
Yuma seemed to tense up. I felt his grip on my shoulder tighten slightly as if something bad had just been said. He nodded and stepped away. The soldier took a step closer towards me and looked at my face. He was examining me. The soldier turned to Yuma.
"こやつ,混血ではあるまいな? おぬしが純血なら,どうして弟だと言える?"
"血のつながりはありませぬ.名ばかりの弟にございます.父は戦に取られ,母は異国の女ゆえに流されました.赤子のころ,我らの家で引き取ったのです."
Yuma responded with rapid and panicked speech as if trying to quickly cover up a misunderstanding. The soldier looked back at me.
"本当?"
I glanced towards Yuma, who was staring at me intently. He was nodding slightly. I looked back at the soldier and nodded.
He raised his hand and placed it on my shoulder as her looked me deep in the eyes.
"同情するぞ.そうした境遇で育つのはさぞ辛かったであろう.…おぬし,川上の出であったな?"
I once again glanced over to Yuma, who was signalling me to nod. I nodded to the soldier, who then gave a faint smile and let go of my shoulder.
"今日は魚はよく獲れておるか"
I looked over to Yuma once again for guidance. This time he was shaking his so I copied him. The soldier looked over his shoulder towards Yama and then back to me. Did he know I was looking to him for answers?
He looked at me, his eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion. He turned his head towards Yuma and then back to me again. Yuma stepped forward with his hands raised.
"申し訳ありませぬ.あの子は昔から人が苦手で,里ではよくからかわれておりまして."
"わかった.では,二人きりにしておこう."
The soldier turned and started to walk away. The other two in the stairwell walked towards the uppermost deck. Just before ascending the stairs, the soldier with the helmet stopped and turned back to us.
"日も暮れてから,改めて参ろう.無事に帰れるか見届けてやる.川には岩が多く,夜は目に付きにくいゆえな."
Yuma stepped forward and bowed deeply.
"ありがとうございまする"
The soldier left, and I heard them climbing off the boat.
After a moment of stillness, Yuma sighed in relief.
"That could have gone bad"
Yuma walked over to the barrel where Josephine was hiding and removed the lid. I walked over to help as we started taking the fish out and dumping them in the other barrel. Once we pulled out the last fish, I pulled up the false bottom. Josephine stood up and stretched.
"Thank the saints. I'm used to a part of my body smelling like fish, but not my whole body." Josi
I looked at her with my head tilted to the side, not really understanding what she said. As she took my hand to get out of the barrel, she noticed my confusion and chuckled slightly.
"Oh, have you not done that with Kona yet? Don't worry, hun, I can show you if you want."
She gave a wink, and just then I caught on that she was making a dirty joke. While she still had one leg inside the barrel, I released her hand, causing her to stumble and hold onto the rim so she didn't fall.
Yuma held out his hand to aid Josephine out of the barrel. With a faint smirk, she stepped out.
"The best thing about Metonyms, they actually enjoy the smell of raw fish."
As she stepped out of the barrel, she leaned against Yuma, resting her head on his shoulder. Yuma looked down at her and then over to me.
"わからない. I now understand what she say."
I sighed and walked to the upper deck and saw the soldiers rowing away to the island we were here to spy on. Only now I realised my heart was pounding from that interaction. Not understanding a word that was being said, and on the verge of being discovered as spies. It was scary. I was afraid I would have to kill them; I didn't want to do that if I didn't have to do it.
I sat down on the side of the ship. My feet hung over the edge as I looked at the water. I sat there for a few minutes before getting up and heading back below deck to return to sleep.
As I lay there trying to sleep, I thought about the last dream I had and about how strange it was. It felt like Wrath was showing me something through my dreams. Like he was showing me his life till now. Why did he do that? Did I think about something I wanted to ask him? I don't remember.
I slept through the day with a dreamless night, or perhaps I did dream, but all I remember was a darkness. I couldn't tell if it was a dream or if it was my memory of having my eyes closed before drifting off to sleep.
When I awoke, it was near sunset. Yuma was sitting nearby, leaning against the wall, sleeping. Josephine was cuddling up next to him, but she was awake. She glanced at me as I awoke.
"Good morning."
"What's going on?"
"Oh, well, you moved around too much in your sleep, so I decided to make myself comfortable over here."
"You're just lying on people for fun?"
"Well, I can't go above deck, so what else is there to do but to enjoy the alluring scent of a man?"
I stumbled to my feet and held the back of my head. The pillow I was using had shifted in my sleep, so my head was against the hardwood, causing my neck to become sore.
"I thought it either needed to be Yuma or me above deck keeping watch."
"I have ears, I can manage just fine, thank you."
I stretched my neck as I walked towards the upper deck of the ship.
The island nearby was lit up with lanterns and bonfires. But everything seems a bit different. The island was still to our left side, but what little land I could see seemed… off.
Yuma walked up from the bellow deck with Josephine. I turned back to him.
"Did we move?"
"はい. I move us in case soldiers return."
As the sun set fully and the sky grew darker, Josephine climbed the crow's nest to look at the island we came here to investigate. As she climbed the ladder, she had a small bag that contained something to write on and the spyglass..
Yuma and I continued to fish with a net. Actually catching quite a few to our surprise, as Josephine continues to look at the island and learn as much as she can about it.
An hour passed, and the faint, dull glow in the sky gave way to the twinkling starlight. Josephine descended from the crow's nest with a parchment with a hand-drawn map on it, surrounded by notes.
"Done, let's go."
"おい! そこの舟の者ども! 灯りを点けよ!"
A voice boomed from the island's shore. Yuma yelled something in response and moved to the front of the ship, messing with the lanterns. Josephine walked below deck casually as I stood there trying to figure out what was going on.
Yuma lit the two lanterns at the front of the ship. Realising he was just lighting them, I moved to the rear of the ship to light the last one.
Once it was lit, I looked back to where the voice was coming from and saw on the water the man was rowing towards us on a rowboat. Yuma walks over to me and looks at the figure approaching.
"これより乗り込むぞ,少し問いたいことがある."
The rowboat neared our boat and pulled up alongside us. The light of the lanterns revealed this was a soldier, one without a helmet, but different to the pens we had encountered earlier.
"いえいえ,とんでもございませぬ.先ほども侍様に,この辺りにいることは申し上げております.わずかな漁師ごときで,お役目のお時間を取らせるのも心苦しゅうございます."
I looked over to Yuma as he spoke; his words were frantic and long. I figured there might be trouble. I turned to walk below deck to help Josephine hide in the fish barrel again, but as I was about to go below deck, the soldier pointed at me and yelled.
"そこを動くな! 先ほど舟にもう一人おったな,あれは何者だ."
I froze in place. I could tell just from his tone and how loud he was that he didn't want me to go anywhere. I turned to the soldier who was marching up to me with a pointed finger.
"隠している者がいるんじゃないか!"
Yuma scurried over to intervene.
"申し訳ございませぬ,侍様.実は五島で遊女を一人雇いまして…おそらくそれを見られたのでしょう.ちょうど今,着物を直しに艙に下がったところでございます."
The soldier snapped his head towards Yuma with a shocked expression on his face.
"え.なに? だから灯を消してたのか? 舟の上で女とやってたのか!"
"面目ありませぬが...ええ,そのとおりでございます."
Yuma replied while scratching the back of his head with his eyes closed. The soldier looks bewildered. He looked back and forward between Yuma and me. I tried to mimic the expression Yuma was making to make it seem like I knew what was going on, but I just looked confused.
The soldier pointed past me to the stairs.
"だが,申すことが真かどうか確かめねばならん.失礼するぞ."
As he spoke, he began to walk towards me. I took a half step back and was ready to attack, but I saw his eyes looking around the corner towards the lower deck. I shifted aside and looked at Yuma, who was shaking his head at me. I stood aside and let the soldier pass.
As he walked down the stairs and into the dark bowels of the boat, I followed behind him, as did Yuma. From behind a pillar and a barrel, we could see Josephine's legs from the knees down as well as her arms. With how she was standing, it looked as if she was not wearing anything at all. I looked towards Yuma to see if what was happening was alright.
He had his hand extended, palm down, as if to say 'wait'.
Just as the soldier took another half step closer, Josephine suddenly stuck out her naked ass from behind the pillar. The soldier immediately turned around and faced his back to her.
"し,失礼! ...異常はないようだ.これで引き上げる!"
I watched as the soldier walked back up the stairs and out of sight. Yuma rushed over to Josephine and whispered something in imperial, and she quickly put her clothes back on.
As she pulled up her underwear, she looked back at me and gave me a wink. Perhaps she thought I was looking at her exposed rear. I mean, it was hard not to.
I walked back up the stairs with Yuma to find the soldier standing atop the stairs at the threshold to the upper deck. He was bent over, picking something up from the floor.
"何これ"
From the ground, he picked up a piece of parchment, holding it up. It was the map.
"地図か?"
Yuma turned to look at me, his eyes wide.
"Shinya, kill him."
The soldier turned around quickly, dropping the parchment as he drew his sword. I lunged towards him to try and grab his arm to halt his blade, but he was fast, incredibly fast. As I ran towards him, I only managed two steps before he had drawn his blade with a slash. In an instant, my vision became red as a torrent of blood spurted from the right forearm. Both of my hands bear down upon the soldier's head.
My right hand falls away as my left makes contact with his face. As I continue to sprint forward, I push him back and off his feet. With my left hand pressing on his face, he falls onto his back as I push down as hard as I can. His head made contact with the ground with a loud crack.
I stood up and removed my hand from his face. His nose had been caved in and flattened, his jaw was broken, and a pool of blood was coming from the back of his head.
I looked down at my left hand, and several fingers were broken and bent back the wrong way. I looked at my right hand, and it was gone. My arm, from the middle of my forearm, had been sliced off, and blood gushed from the wound and onto the floor where my severed right hand lay. I looked into the red mass on the end of my arm, at the two bones protruding from it. Weirdly enough, it didn't hurt at all. I was more amazed by how clean the cut was.
I turned and looked back at Yuma and Josephine, who were watching in shock. I felt my head get light and my vision grow dark. The world spun as I toppled to the ground, as everything faded to black.