Chapter 12: Yukiko — Building a Harem for the Master
In order to survive, the villagers had offered up all the women of the village. Meanwhile, the men, together with the elderly and children, hid inside their homes, not daring to make a sound.
This was the current state of this country.
Yukiko felt a deep sorrow. Being plundered because of weakness was one thing, but actively offering oneself up out of cowardice was another. She had wanted to say something, yet a suffocating tightness seized her chest, leaving her unable to speak.
Ren said nothing as well. He simply strode past the women and stopped before the grain that had been laid out in piles on the ground.
There was not much grain. If 1 or 2 people ate it, it could last a long time, but divided among an entire village, there would be almost nothing left.
He casually took some and had Yukiko pack it into a bundle.
The old man, thinking Ren was dissatisfied, immediately knelt and kowtowed, but Ren did not even glance at him.
In truth, Ren's feelings were not much different from Yukiko's. Seeing this scene with his own eyes, he felt both pity for their suffering and anger at their lack of resistance. Even if resistance led to death, living like this was, in his view, worse.
It took some time before Yukiko recovered from that suffocating feeling.
She herself had once been so poor that she had been forced to sell herself, yet witnessing such a scene still left her deeply shaken.
If anything, Ren was affected even more. He had once lived in a stable country, and what lay before him felt almost unreal. Still, he quickly suppressed those emotions. Speaking more with these people would achieve nothing; the people of this land were already too ignorant.
Perhaps in their eyes, this state of affairs had long since become normal. So much so that when Ren ignored both the women and the food, they did not feel relieved. Instead, they became even more frightened.
Ren had no intention of explaining anything to them. He would rule this country in the future, and the more dull-witted these people were, the more advantageous it would be for his governance.
"My Lord, the bandits from the mountains passed through recently. We truly can't produce any more food," the leading old man said tremblingly.
The people of this country had no spirit.
Looking at these villagers, Ren could not help but think of Cocoyasi Village in the East Blue. Though the villagers there were oppressed by Fish-Men, they had always harbored thoughts of resistance.
They endured only because of Nami.
As for offering wives and daughters to bandits, Ren found it disturbingly common. After all, this was a land with customs such as "night crawling," practices that outsiders found difficult to comprehend.
"We are not bandits," Yukiko said after regaining her composure. "We are the ones who will pacify all the bandits of Kuri. This lord will become the Daimyo of this land."
She had expected gratitude, even reverence. Instead, the villagers stared at her blankly.
That emptiness filled her with anger.
"There's no need to waste words on them," Ren said calmly as he pulled Yukiko back. He looked down at the kneeling villagers and spoke coldly, "We will stay here tonight. Prepare clean rooms."
The old man nodded repeatedly. "Yes… My Lord. What about them…?"
Ren chose a room at random and entered with Yukiko. Inside were a gaunt man and 2 small children. Seeing Ren enter, they hurriedly left without daring to say a word.
Soon after, the village head brought several women to clean the room and present the prepared food.
"Our women are plain and unworthy of Your Lordship's eyes. All the young girls in the village have already been taken by the bandits…" the old man said cautiously while directing the women.
He did not dare say more. If the bandits heard, the entire village would be slaughtered.
What he said was true.
Those who still plundered in such a barren land were powerful bandit groups of Kuri, such as those on Head Mountain. They occupied the mountain and ruled like kings, abducting young women rather than traveling far to satisfy their desires.
When the women grew older and were no longer wanted, they were driven back down the mountain, often with children conceived there. The men of the village had no choice but to accept them.
Even then, those women were not truly free. Whenever the bandits came to plunder food, they would take some of them again to vent their frustrations.
After the women finished cleaning and left, Yukiko collapsed onto the bed, looking like a wilted flower. She had no appetite at all.
"What's wrong? Feeling upset?" Ren asked indifferently as he continued eating.
"My Lord," Yukiko said softly, "seeing people forced to live like this makes me feel unwell. And those bandits—just fugitives from other regions—yet they lord over everyone here."
"Kuri is land you have already set your sights on. Everything here should belong to you."
In Yukiko's eyes, it was natural for the villagers to offer everything to Ren—not out of fear, but out of reverence, just as she did. The existence of the bandits was, to her, nothing less than theft from what rightfully belonged to him.
"Our purpose here is to defeat the bandits," Ren replied calmly. "Once that's done, order in Kuri will gradually improve, and the food problem will be solved in time."
"Mm!" Yukiko nodded firmly and forced herself to eat the unappetizing meal in small bites.
"Originally, I wanted to help you establish a harem in Kuri, My Lord," Yukiko muttered unhappily. "I heard Kozuki Oden used to snatch other people's wives, yet many still loved him."
"My Lord should also have a harem, but all the young girls have already been taken by the bandits."
Ren fell silent for a moment. "Can't they be taken back?"
"How could that work?" Yukiko said indignantly. "Those women were taken by bandits. How could they be worthy of entering your harem? Let them go to the Pleasure Quarter instead."
"If there are any truly presentable ones, they can remain as servants."
After thinking for a moment, Yukiko concluded that if all else failed, once Kuri developed in a few years, she could always follow Oden's example and take others' wives instead.