Serves him right, a complete loser! But for any other family taking a beating like this, losing over and over again, they'd have been ruined already. And yet he just won't die, still manages to hang on, all thanks to having a few stinking coins!"
Although she and Harano, this fake samurai, seemed to get along well, joking and laughing without any taboos every day, in reality, she had quite a lot of hostility toward the samurai class. Now that she could gloat, she made no attempt to hide it, bursting out with wild laughter, utterly brazen.
She wasn't much gifted in martial arts. Back when she'd just saved Ah Qing, despite training since childhood, she'd been kicked over in a flash by Ah Qing, who'd only trained three months, took her half a day to climb up, lost all face—so she'd always wanted an iron cannon. But at that time, iron cannons had only just reached Japan, hardly anyone knew how to make them, and they were stupidly expensive. She couldn't afford one at all—if she worked herself to the bone, even sold herself and her sister, she still couldn't buy one. Yet idiots like Oda Nobunaga could lie down and earn tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of coins a year, casually coughing up 160 coins for a fancy toy!
Every time she thought of things like this, she got a nasty urge, felt the world was unfair and life wasn't worth it, and wanted to go stab a couple of those dogshit samurai.
She was basically a textbook rogue proletarian, with a natural hatred for the upper classes. She'd always want to mock Harano whenever nothing was going on, joke about what a clueless sucker he was, try to trick him into betting his money—mostly from this kind of mentality: a kind of inferiority complex, self-pity, resentment at unfair wealth distribution, all turning into a thorny defiance.
After all, in her eyes, Harano was a bona fide highborn upper-class guy, just looking at him was irritating. But Harano, on the other hand, treated her really well—would take off his own coat for her, share his food, show respect even to a nobody like her, a bastard child anybody could kill on a whim. Not like the usual samurai. This gave her a weird kind of gratitude, so the most she could do was tease him sometimes, keep herself balanced between both feelings.
All this was subconscious, even she didn't realize it. After laughing like a maniac for a while, she waved it off and got back to the topic: "All right, enough about that unlucky old bastard Oda Nobuhide. He's almost finished anyway. But Shimazu has gathered nearly all of Japan's goods, you can even find rare stuff from the Ming Country and the Southern Barbarians. That's for real.
So, no matter what you want to buy in Owari, no matter how rare or weird, if it exists in this world, and you're willing to pay, you'll definitely find it there. A bit of medicine? That's child's play!"
"Hmm, so I guess I'll have to take a trip to Shimazu... Is it far?" Harano didn't care if Oda Nobuhide got trashed or not, and Ah Man's contempt for Japan's ruling classes didn't move him at all. He just went right back to business.
Ah Man replied, "If you walk it, four or five days. By boat, three days round trip. The Haixi and Haidong regions are split by a mountain; you have to go way south before you can turn back, all twisty and rough, and the road isn't safe either. Now Oda Nobuhide's power is waning, it's absolute chaos on the way. Every samurai and noble clan sets up secret tolls to squeeze money. You've never dealt with them—they might not show you any respect. There's a good chance you'll get drained going, and coming back will be even worse. But if you avoid the samurai's turf, you'll likely get hassled by mountain bandits or river pirates instead. If you're not used to this road, you can bet you'll bleed money regardless."
"But I have to get the medicine anyway, just..." If there was a plan, he had to follow through. Harano paused, thinking about bringing two Lang Faction members, maybe hiring Ah Man and her sister to go along. There were still a few uses left in the electric stick, so their safety would probably be fine. Paying some tolls—well, he could swallow that. But there was no way he could drag along his fool of a son, and he wasn't comfortable leaving him with Yayoi for too long, either.
Ah Man saw he was in a bind but didn't volunteer herself for the job.
If Harano gave her the money to go buy the medicine, she fancied she'd be able to bring it back. She wasn't that shameless, after all—she had some integrity. Still, she was afraid that once she got her hands on some cash in Shimazu, she'd go blow it all gambling, trying to hit it big and maybe buy herself a cannon. If she lost it all again, she wouldn't be able to show her face anymore.
Luckily, her street smarts and years of hustling in the underworld gave her plenty of random knowledge. Thinking for a bit, she soon came up with a solution and immediately suggested, "You know, you might not have to go in person. As long as you're willing to spend some extra money, just hire a Submerged Merchant. Those guys are always making trips to Shimazu for submerged goods, then sprucing them up to sell to country folks for a scam. Asking them to bring back medicine for you along the way, they'll definitely say yes."
"Submerged Merchant?" The occupations in Japan's Warring States sure were bizarre. Harano hadn't expected there would be a whole business of selling junk in the countryside.
Uh, maybe not just selling junk—more likely passing off garbage as quality goods, basically a scam operation.
But that's not his problem. He thought this idea sounded pretty good, so he asked at once, "Do you know any Submerged Merchants? How are the prices—how much more expensive would it be?"
"Probably twenty to thirty percent higher than Shimazu, those guys have to eat too, obviously they'll turn a profit, but it still saves you trouble and money compared to going yourself. Plus, they've got connections with river pirates, work together all the time, pay out regular protection, so after a few trips it's no big deal."
Ah Man thought for a second and added, "Submerged Merchants I know... There are a few old countrymen of my grandpa's, actually... uh, my grandpa's got a few old pals doing this kind of shit-for-brains job. If you're willing to hire them, just write down what medicine you need and I'll find them for you."
"Sorry to trouble you." Harano figured he could test the waters, buy just a bit to check price and quality. If it all checked out, he could just keep sourcing from them in the future—definitely better than, with barely enough protection, having to leave his idiot son behind, dragging a handful of Lang Faction punks across hundreds of miles of danger.