Chapter 1046: That Creature Is a Harmful Creature (1)

The instant Qing stepped into the earthen pit where they said they were keeping the captured Japanese pirate, a shocking sight seized her attention at once.

That head.

Or rather, that hair.

It was long on both sides, but from the forehead over the crown it had been shaved, with only a soft fuzz growing back.

Originally it must have been shaved clean from the forehead all the way past the top of the head, but enough time had passed for a little bit to grow back. Hair always grew fast when it was cut short, after all.

Back in Qing’s homeland, this was exactly the hairstyle people pictured when they thought of Japanese pirates: the top shaved clean, the sides and back left long—a style the Japanese called a topknot.

Which raised the obvious question.

Why did such a bizarre, ridiculous hairstyle exist at all?

Human standards of beauty changed somewhat from era to era, but there were still limits. Shaving the head at all had generally been considered ugly no matter the age.

The answer, however, lay in practicality.

Without hair, a helmet did not slip.

And so hairstyles that shaved part of the head while leaving some hair behind—never all of it—had appeared all over the world among horse-riding peoples.

Qing’s homeland scholars held it as settled truth that after getting fed up with constantly readjusting their helmets while bouncing around on horseback, people simply got pissed off and shaved their heads.

Qing did not know whether that was true, and to be honest, she did not particularly want to know.

She just knew this much.

Wow.

That was genuinely hideous.

At that point, she would rather shave it all off. How the hell did anyone do that to a human head?

Starting from the hair alone, this was obviously no ordinary bastard. The villager had said they had kept him alive because among the Japanese pirates, there had been one who looked fairly important.

He really did.

Never mind the bizarre skull. Just looking at him, he did not seem especially weathered by hardship. His face and hands were dirty, but beneath the dirt they were pale and smooth. At a glance he looked like the sort who ought to be sitting at home reading books.

His skin was somewhat tanned, so not quite a delicate scholar. Dark-faced scholar? No, not exactly dark. Brown-faced scholar, maybe?

Both arms had been tied behind his back. One rope wrapped around his arms and chest, another around his upper arms and waist, another around his knees, and another around his ankles.

Because of that he lay on his side, snoring thunderously—whether because the position was uncomfortable or because that was simply how he slept.

Rrrrghk—khk—khrrgh—huhhh...

Good lord, he was going to stop breathing. He was really going to stop breathing.

One classic sign of a chronic snorer:

Seen from the side, they always looked like they were about to die.

Anyway, one villager took up a long pole and poked the outstretched Japanese pirate where he lay on his side.

But the pirate did not even open his eyes. He only frowned and muttered,

“...Higae...”

The instant Qing heard that mutter, her ears flew open.

And just like that, she scarfed down yet another foreign language for free.

The villager jabbed him again and again, but apparently this was far from the first time, because all that came out was another sleepy, “Higae... higae...”

Now that Qing could understand it, she caught the meaning.

Exercise restraint. Behave yourselves.

Hm. That was how someone of high status spoke to inferiors.

So he really was someone important.

Qing quietly opened her mouth.

“[Wake up, you bastard.]”

At once the pirate jolted with a startled gasp and snapped his eyes open—

Then failed to sit up, toppled, and collapsed sideways again.

Which was only natural. He had been locked up for days by people he could not speak to, living on bad soup. How delighted would anyone be to suddenly hear their native tongue in a place like that?

So he looked up at Qing with bright, desperate eyes.

“[Ah! So you’re a woman who speaks our tongue! Tell these insolent wretches to untie me at once! Quickly!]”

Qing tilted her head.

“[Me? Why?]”

“[That is—]”

Caught completely off guard by the answer, the pirate’s mouth opened and closed uselessly.

Well, obviously.

Qing had absolutely no reason to pass on his demands for him.

“[Very well, woman. If I am released, I shall speak to my royal father and have you richly rewarded. What do you say?]”

“[Your royal father? What royal father? Are you a prince?]”

“[Indeed. I am none other than Saruta Tadamasa, Crown Prince of Ippen.]”

Saruta Tadamasa.

Crown Prince of Ippen.

At that moment, as the Japanese pirate’s name and status were revealed, a sharp question stabbed through Qing’s mind.

Was something wrong with her translation ability?

Why had it turned into One-Slice Kingdom and Monkeyfield Loyal-Governance in her head?

Was that just how things worked in the world of Chinese characters?

Or was it because once she heard the name, it was all characters anyway?

And what kind of country name was Ippen, anyway? One slice? One piece? Who in the world named a country One Piece? No—more importantly, had there ever even been a country like that in Japan?

“[I’ve never heard of Ippen in my life.]”

“[This is why provincials are provincials. Listen well. My royal father is the great king of the East Sea, the ruler of every pirate upon it. Are you saying you have never heard the name of Pirate King Saruta Kōnichi?]”

“[No, but what the hell kind of title is Pirate King?]”

Apparently, in this fake ancient Central Plains, even the Japanese had turned into fake Japanese.

“[So then, if you’re such an impressive prince, why are you tied up in a dump like this? A grand personage in shabby surroundings.]”

“[As I was passing through, these rustics launched a sudden attack. The battle was confused, and I was captured. I demanded the treatment due a prisoner of my rank, but these peasants do not speak my language at all.]”

At that, Qing looked over at the villager, who was standing there awkwardly with the pole in his hands, shifting his eyes around.

“He says he was just passing through and got attacked.”

“Japanese pirates are the sort who attack while passing through,” said the villager. “When Japanese pirates pass by, nothing’s left behind but ashes.”

Hm.

That did make a certain amount of sense.

So then, what should she do?

Beat it out of him first?

Or coax him a little?

These were, after all, the available methods for extracting information: torture, persuasion, and deception, each with its own strengths and weaknesses.

First, persuasion and deception.

Advantages:

Information was easy to get, and tended to be fairly reliable.

Disadvantages:

Persuasion required giving something up or offering concessions, and deception tended to produce less reliable information than persuasion. Also, deceiving people was, in its own way, difficult.

And then there was torture!

The disadvantages of torture:

Its information was extremely, extremely unreliable.

More often than not, people under torture did not produce the truth. They produced whatever the torturer wanted to hear. Sometimes they even got so angry they started deliberately lying.

The advantages of torture:

It was very fun.

At this point, one might ask whether torture was not simply a method with nothing but disadvantages.

And in truth, that was exactly right.

As a way to extract information, torture was the worst of the lot. Really, it existed less for gathering intelligence than for venting anger or making an example of someone.

Of course, she could simply do all three.

Persuade first, torture next, and the deception would happen on its own, would it not?

“[So what you’re saying is that Your Highness came out to play pirate so you could become the next Pirate King, got your ass kicked by a bunch of villagers, and ended up captured?]”

Got your ass kicked like a dog.

Apparently Japanese people had a habit of comparing losers to dogs. Strange, really. Maybe Japanese people liked cats.

At any rate, Qing scratched at him just a little.

“[Defeated? I still have a hundred loyal warriors!]”

So, a hundred, was it?

That was not many.

She could kill fifty. San could take twenty. Yoye could take twenty. If Iri killed ten, that would do it—hm, although ten might be a little much for Iri.

In any case, Qing immediately felt much lighter.

What kind of prince came out pirating with only a hundred warriors?

Ippen my ass. This was not a kingdom. It was just a somewhat larger pirate band full of pirate bastards.

Then again, any king in his right mind would never call himself Pirate King in the first place.

“[Then where did those three hundred go, while Your Highness is here all alone? Ah, right. Or have I misunderstood the meaning of the word loyal?]”

“[Hmph! As Prince of Ippen, I was personally carrying out the most important of missions. By now they will be moving in search of me! Do you think you will remain safe once they arrive?]”

“[Really? Then since we won’t be safe either way, I guess we should take Your Highness with us on the way out. How did you always want to die? Should I lop your head off? Hang you? Burn you alive? Or would you prefer the Central Plains method? Do you know drawing and quartering? Tie ropes to each arm and leg, then send horses or oxen running in different directions.]”

The prince’s face went white on the spot.

“[Wait! Wait just a moment! You cannot suddenly kill me! And how do you intend to deal with the consequences afterward? If my royal father learns of it, he will mobilize ten thousand warriors of our kingdom and chew you all alive!]”

“[What? Weren’t you saying a hundred a second ago? Your numbers multiplied by a hundred in no time.]”

“[I meant that I brought a hundred warriors with me! Back in my kingdom there are still ten thousand warriors—true masters of the sword!]”

“[Couldn’t we just bury Your Highness quietly and be done with it? If your men still haven’t come by now, it sounds like they have no idea where you went.]”

“[No, wait! No—release me! If you do, I will see to it that your village is not touched!]”

“[Then you’ll touch other villages?]”

“[That—well, we too must live and eat...]”

“[Good. That’s enough. Judgment: death.]”

“[Wait! At least hear me out. Our land in Ippen is narrow, and most of it is mountains. If we do not raid, we cannot survive. If we do not turn pirate, our people will starve to death. So I will speak properly with my royal father and secure you a promise that this region will not be touched. Well? What do you say?]”

It was earnest enough. Desperate enough to sound almost heartfelt.

But Qing was simply dumbfounded.

What?

A country that had to pirate in order to survive?

Then shouldn’t a country like that just stop existing?

Well, whatever.

A hundred men, then.

“[So then—]”

The prince started to say something else, but Qing ignored him and turned on her heel.

She had already learned everything she needed, after all.

In other words, if she waited, a hundred men who deserved killing would come right to her on their own.

Unfortunately, though, the execution would have to be postponed.

She had no idea where Ippen even was, but this might still turn into some kind of diplomatic issue. Better to keep the bastard alive and hand him over to the authorities.

If she killed him now for a little fun, then later the Pirate King—bereaved of his son—might direct his revenge at innocent people.

And above all, dealing with a hundred men was not actually difficult.

Kill and run, kill and run, repeat, and a mere hundred would not even last her a few days’ entertainment.

That said, if the villagers were going to remain safe while she dealt with a hundred men, they needed a firm hostage.

She would use the prince exactly the way the villagers had planned to use him in the first place—as a meat shield—and once everything was over, she would dump him at the government office.

“This bastard stays alive for now. Later, we’ll have to take him to the authorities.”

At that, the villager’s face visibly darkened.

It was not the pirate’s treatment that mattered most to him, but the safety of the village. And now Qing was talking about taking away the meat shield—no, the hostage—they had been clinging to like a lifeline.

“Ah, honored warrior... then if the Japanese pirates come swarming in, what are we supposed to do...?”

“Oh, that? Don’t worry about it. I’ll deal with them before I leave. I asked, and apparently there are a hundred of them. That’s nothing. If they’re coming to us, then I suppose we’ll have to impose on you for a few more days.”

“A-a hundred...!”

The villager gaped in horror.

Qing waved a hand.

“Oh, come on, it’s nothing, so don’t worry. Call yourselves lucky. A peerless master of Murim just happened to be passing by. A hundred men is just light exercise.”

Qing sounded so perfectly natural that it was as though she were not talking about Japanese pirates at all, but about maybe a hundred little children running over.

That easy confidence lit up the villager’s face at once.

“Ah, by the way—have you ever heard of a Japanese country called Ippen? Ippen? Something like that?”

“Ippen? Never heard of it in my life.”

“Right? Me neither. Maybe the kids know. Ah, all that talking made me hungry. What’s for breakfast? Seafood again?”

“W-we were going to make soup with yesterday’s scorched rice, but if you’d prefer meat, we can slaughter the pig immediately.”

“Oh, scorched-rice soup. Seafood scorched-rice soup! Save the pig for later. Come on, let’s go. This turned out to be nothing after all.”

And so Qing and the villager hurried back outside together.

Behind them, a frantic voice called out to stop Qing—

“[Wait! Where are you going? I’m talking to you! Hey! Where are you—wait—]”

Then—

BANG!

The door to the pit slammed shut.