Chapter 98: Chapter 98

Startled by his sudden shout, Gwan Ryang began hiccuping with a clunk.

Glaring at Gwan Ryang with fierce eyes, the dark-skinned customer turned his gaze back to the clerk and spoke.

“That item’s owner was me! But that bastard stole it! Then whose fault is it!”

The clerk raised both palms as if begging him to please calm down.

“Understood, I will look into it for you. I will find the client and buyer and return the item, so please come back later, later.”

“When later! State the date!”

Under the increasingly gathering gaze of customers, the clerk began breaking into cold sweat. However, thinking of something for a moment, he soon spoke loudly as if for the other customers watching to hear as well.

“Then… since our blacksmith shop also bears responsibility for appraising and brokering the item… three days, if you come in three days, we will retrieve that item and capture the culprit. Staking the honor of our Poga Blacksmith Shop.”

The dark-skinned customer, who was about to yell out again at the mention of three days, quieted down at the subsequent story of staking honor. He looked at him with sunken eyes as if seeing whether the clerk was sincere, then snorted through his nose and spoke.

“I will trust you, coming in three days.”

He spoke in slightly awkward pronunciation, turned his body, and walked out with large strides. Passing the hiccuping Gwan Ryang, he glared fiercely with his huge two eyes, and the fellow, startled once more by that gaze, held his breath with a clunk and slunk backward.

Seeing the child so startled, Jang Geon placed a hand on his back. With a solid hand supporting his back, Gwan Ryang regained his composure and looked up at Jang Geon. And following that gaze, the dark-skinned customer also looked at Jang Geon.

Meeting eyes, Jang Geon spoke first.

“I apologize. The child made a slip of the tongue.”

Passing the two, he came to a sudden stop at Jang Geon’s words. Almost glaring, he stared intently at Jang Geon, then abruptly opened his mouth.

“Son?”

Jang Geon shook his head.

“Friend.”

He looked back and forth between Jang Geon and Gwan Ryang, then spoke again.

“No apology on behalf. Do it directly.”

“…P-Pardon?”

When Gwan Ryang asked back stupidly, he spoke again.

“I am not a slave. No one can own me. I am a free man.”

Unlike moments ago, he spoke in a calm voice. Because he did not get angry, Gwan Ryang could also erase his frightened look and look up into his eyes more clearly. Looking into his pupils with distinct boundaries between white and black, Gwan Ryang soon nodded his head.

“…Free man. I understand, I made a slip of the tongue. I’m sorry.”

Wearing an expressionlessly stern and hostile look, he suddenly smirked upon hearing Gwan Ryang’s apology. He abruptly extended a hand toward Gwan Ryang.

“I am Anon. Pleased to meet you, young friend.”

Gwan Ryang looked quietly at that palm for a moment, then awkwardly held it in return. And smiling back, he spoke.

“My name is Gwan Ryang. Pleased to meet you.”

Anon wore a satisfied smile upon hearing Gwan Ryang’s answer, then extended his hand toward Jang Geon this time. Jang Geon naturally held that hand in return, shook it, and spoke.

“Jang Geon.”

“Pleased to meet you, Jang Geon. Did you come here to buy an item by any chance?”

Jang Geon wore a strange smile at Anon’s question that followed abruptly.

“I didn’t come to buy… Is there a problem?”

“If you’re buying, buy three days later. There’s a credit issue here. If my item is returned three days later, credit is restored. Until then, they are accomplices with thieves.”

Not only Jang Geon, but Gwan Ryang beside him also laughed at those words. Though he didn’t know what trouble he was experiencing here, he could tell he was angry enough to abruptly urge a boycott.

Of course, the clerk listening beside turned pale. He approached the three and spoke in a low voice.

“Customer! I told you we will definitely find the item and seller! You only need to wait three days, so why go so far with other people…”

Anon squinted his eyes suspiciously, glared at the clerk, and nodded his head.

“Understood, stop squeaking. I will come in three days.”

“Sq-Squeaking?”

Anon turned his gaze to Jang Geon and Gwan Ryang, smirked once more, and gave a light nod of his head. Though his speech was slightly awkward, his way of greeting was no different from a Central Plains native.

Afterward, he departed the blacksmith shop with unhesitating steps, and only the clerk left behind by his departure let out a deep sigh and spoke to Jang Geon and Gwan Ryang.

“…Is there anything else you are looking for?”

“Nothing. We will come in three days.”

“…Yes, then farewell.”

Having no other business, Jang Geon and Gwan Ryang also exited the blacksmith shop. And exiting the blacksmith shop gate, in their eyes appeared Anon looking around nearby. Seeing him, Gwan Ryang turned to Jang Geon and spoke.

“I’m going to do some business.”

Jang Geon chuckled.

“Unless he’s looking for lodgings?”

“Hey, how long is my experience? Looking at that, an estimate comes out instantly. The back of a lost man whose schedule for three days went completely blank. Nine out of ten are looking for a place to stay today.”

“It’s still morning?”

Gwan Ryang smirked.

“Nine out of ten Westerners entering Gamsan are sailors, and I’ve never seen a sailor who distinguishes between day and night when drinking alcohol, you know?”

Having said so, Gwan Ryang rolled up his sleeves, ran over hurriedly, and spoke to Anon. And though he only said a few words, Anon laughed boisterously and nodded his head. There was no time for Jang Geon to concentrate internal energy in his ears. Anon immediately approached Jang Geon together with Gwan Ryang, laughing heartily as he spoke.

“Do you like liquor? I like it!”

* * *

Returning to Great Peace Pavilion, Jang Geon ended up drinking liquor together with Anon unexpectedly. Of course, had it been uncomfortable, he would have naturally refused, but Jang Geon, who had never conversed with a black man who spoke Central Plains speech so well, felt curiosity at Anon laughing heartily. And he was also curious about how he happened to drift all the way here.

Anon took a seat on the first floor of the courtesan house from broad daylight and gulped down strong liquor. Sitting on the opposite side of the table, Jang Geon leaned his body against the back of the chair, raised his liquor cup to moisten his lips, and looked at Anon enjoying himself alone.

Having gulped down strong liquor without a word for a long while, Anon emptied two bottles in succession before letting out a deep sigh and setting down his cup.

Seeing that, Jang Geon asked.

“What happened at the blacksmith shop earlier?”

At those words, Anon’s face flushed as if angry, then he let out a deep sigh again and opened his mouth.

“A fellow riding the same ship as me stabbed me in the back…”

He opened his mouth like that and gulped down another cup of liquor.

“…I am a person from a place very far from here. I came from a place where you have to go a year even by ship. Actually, coming all the way here was hardly by my own will. I simply went where the captain who saved me went.”

“Captain?”

“Captain. The person who saved me. I, who almost became a Kunlun Slave as Gwan Ryang says, became a free man thanks to the captain. A very thankful person.”

Jang Geon took a small sip of liquor and spoke.

“That captain person must be from Da Qin?”

“Da Qin? Ah, Rome? No. Even I don’t know the captain’s origin. But he is not Roman. Rather, he resembles someone from Persia, that is, the Pars region in Central Plains speech. At any rate, the important thing isn’t the captain. No, it is important, but not more important than that bastard…”

Just then, Gwan Ryang placed a plate of snacks on the table and chimed in.

“Da Qin? I know Da Qin too. Isn’t it an empire far to the west? Mister, are you a person from over there?”

“I lived in southern Carthage. I was not a Roman.”

“…Ca-Carthage? Rome?”

The fellow who set down the plate and chimed in quickly because a familiar word came out asked back with a blank face. Jang Geon flicked the fellow’s nose and spoke.

“If you’re curious, ask your father. I know Rome in Central Plains speech, but I don’t know what Carthage is called either.”

Seeing Jang Geon pronounce words similar to Anon naturally, the fellow tilted his head, then slyly pulled back. It seemed he was really going to ask his father. Watching that, Jang Geon turned his gaze to Anon and opened his mouth again.

“From what I know, Rome split into two quite a long time ago.”

“Two? Rome split into two? When? Why?”

Jang Geon, who opened his mouth to compare the history he originally knew with the history of this world, was instantly rendered speechless. Had he known that history well, he would have asked in detail, but because he knew it only roughly, words did not come out right away.

“…Well, split into eastern and western…”

Anon tilted his head.

“I don’t know history well. But I’ve never heard a story that Rome split into two. Rome is one. It was always one.”

Thinking for a moment at his answer, Jang Geon soon gently shook his head and emptied his cup. What was he going to do comparing the Rome he knew with the Rome of this world? Even if he painstakingly recalled faint old memories to compare them, in the end it would become a story only Jang Geon could understand. To people of this world, Jang Geon’s memories would seem absurd.

“…Right, so what is the story of being stabbed in the back?”

Savoring the bitter tip of his tongue due to the liquor taste, Jang Geon shifted the topic. Fortunately, even at such a topic change, Anon smoothly poured out his story.

“I said just now, but the captain saved me. I was about to die working only as a slave, but he saved me. So I worked hard on the ship. My only thought was to repay the favor. But it seems the captain viewed that favorably. Thanks to that, a while ago I was able to become bosun. Of course, there was also the help of the previous bosun dying while fighting pirates…”

“How long did you work on the ship?”

“On the ship? Five or six years? Our ship really hasn’t missed places it hasn’t been. From here in Gamsan today, to Heavenly Empress City in the south, passing New Sichuan, and of course passing the Central Plains… There were many times I almost died there too…”

Jang Geon filled his cup, and as soon as the cup was filled, Anon gulped it down and watched.

“Puh-hoo… On our ship, if you achieve a high rank, the captain gives a gift one by one. The navigator received something like a necklace, but I asked for a weapon if possible. A sword to slice off pirates’ necks was better than a useless gold ring…”

Delightedly gulping down liquor, Anon’s eyes began to loosen slightly as if the liquor were taking effect.

“…The captain said alright and gifted me a splendid sword. There was a wave pattern on the blade, and it was no ordinary beauty… I made that the token of the bosun. It was decided that bosuns after me would also use that sword…”

Even if Jang Geon didn’t fill his cup, he drank well by himself, sipping away. Naturally picking up snacks to eat, his use of chopsticks also looked accustomed.

“…There was a fellow named Lakka. When the captain saved me, he saved him together, and he did sailor life exact same as me. But this fellow was a pitiful fellow who only wiped the deck floor until now. His body was weak and he wasn’t brave, so he couldn’t get along with the sailors. I tried to take good care of him in my own way, but in the end he decided to get off the ship here in Gamsan. I asked how about getting off on the Roman side if possible, but he said he hated ships to the point of disgust and would get off right away… Man, this liquor is stronger than I thought…”

Rambling on with his story, Anon blinked his eyes and fumbled with his cup. Jang Geon, who had been listening quietly, poured liquor trickling into that cup. Anon, excited alone at the refilled cup, gulped it down again.

“Puh-hooo… At any rate… because that bastard said he was getting off here… I gathered money for him to settle down in my own way… encouraged him… so the two of us drank heavily together separately… ”

“When you woke up, that fellow, the money, and the sword you received from the captain were gone.”

Slowly speaking, Anon pointed at Jang Geon with squinted eyes and laughed when Jang Geon picked up the story.

“Heheh… How did you know…? Is it too obvious a story…?”

“And pursuing that fellow somehow, he disposed of that sword at that blacksmith shop this morning?”

“Correct, correct… That bad fellow… How well I took care of him as a peer…”

Afterward, Anon began muttering in a language Jang Geon could not understand. Setting aside the slurred pronunciation from being drunk, one could tell instantly from the harsh sounds that it was swearing. Leaning his body against the back of the chair and crossing his arms, Jang Geon watched with mysterious eyes, and when Anon’s hand fumbled through the air looking for the liquor bottle, he picked up the bottle instead. Seeing that, Anon smirked and extended his cup.

Jang Geon leaned his body forward and prepared to slowly fill the cup, then stopped with a clunk, smiled back, and spoke.

“You can speak Central Plains speech better, but you’re intentionally acting clumsy, aren’t you?”

Anon widened his two eyes into circles at those words, then soon smirked again with squinted eyes and merely shrugged his shoulders with an indistinct attitude. Watching that, Jang Geon tilted the bottle to fill his cup, and after gulping it down, he flopped onto the table.

Jang Geon leaned his body against the back of the chair again, sat with crossed legs, and rolled a leaf of tobacco. It seemed he had gained a friend to talk with entertainingly for three days.

Puffing tobacco smoke, Gwan Ryang, who had disappeared, approached. The fellow checked Anon snoring, then asked Jang Geon.

“Father says he doesn’t know what Carthage is either. Where is that?”

“West. No, perhaps east might be closer.”