Childhood Anime Grand Tour

Chapter 18 Ashi, Okayama

Looking at the magnificent castle before him, Ashitaka immediately pulled up his mask. He had experienced too much on his journey, and instinctively went on guard when facing the world. Compared to humans, Ashitaka was more at peace with nature; after all, humans represented the ugliest side of nature.

Ashitaka's village has gold, but because of their harmonious coexistence with nature, the gold mining is extremely limited. In contrast, Tadara only has iron ore, but they have chosen to exploit it to the point of exhaustion.

This is due to human nature's inertia, which makes it very easy to form path dependence. In fact, Dadala cannot destroy the forest because iron ore is finite. One day, as the iron ore is depleted, Dadala will also perish.

And all of this was destined. Dadala could not change it, nor did he want to. When the reinforced concrete collapsed, it was a time of painful cries.

Paradise is the root of all evil!

As the four slowly approached, Jia Liu was the first to burst into cheers.

"Hey!! Here, hey!!"

He could no longer contain his joy at being reborn, and his excited shouts immediately attracted the attention of those around him, who all looked up.

"It's Jia Liu, he's still alive!!"

"No way! He looks like he came out of the forest, could he be a ghost?!"

"That warrior, the one who fought the White Wolf God last night, he's still alive!!"

"It's me! Jia Liu, the cattle herder!! Quickly, steer us over here!"

Jia Liu thought the others hadn't recognized him, so he introduced him. Hearing his loud voice again, and seeing his shadow in the sunlight, the others immediately relaxed.

"It really is Jia Liu! You're still alive, that's great!! Come here!!"

"Haha, young master, sir, please go first!"

Liu Yufei and Ashitaka were bewildered, but they didn't say anything and went up. Yakuza leaped into the water, and the group quickly reached the other side. From a distance, Jia Liu excitedly shouted:

"Go quickly and tell Ah Shi that I'm back!!"

Several girls who were washing up immediately ran back when they saw it was Jia Liu. The others gathered around to watch.

Liu Yufei's attention, however, was not on the residents, but on the musketeers standing to the side. They were uniformly dressed and looked out of place with the residents of Dadala. Clearly, the two sides did not get along well.

"Jia Liu? You're not a ghost, are you?"

"What about the others?"

Have you seen my son?

"Uh! Only Ah Qi and I were rescued!"

Upon hearing that there was no news of his son, Da Shu's eyes immediately fell into a state of despondency. The people around him immediately offered words of comfort, but such things were commonplace in this era.

At this moment, the group also noticed the two strangers behind them, and their eyes immediately became wary. Although the two were Jia Liu's saviors, trust between people had long since disappeared in this world.

“Get out of the way…”

"Lord Okayama has arrived! Two strangers have come!!"

Gangshan pushed through the crowd and came to the front. Just as he was about to speak, he saw Liu Yufei and immediately recognized him.

"It's you?"

"Ah! Um! We meant no harm!!"

Gangshan's eyes immediately became more wary, and his pupils contracted sharply. After all, he had witnessed Liu Yufei and the White Wolf God fighting head-on last night, falling from such a height, and now Liu Yufei was vividly reappearing before his eyes. It would be strange if he wasn't terrified.

Last night, not only Gangshan saw Liu Yufei, but several other people also recognized him.

"It's him! It's that samurai from last night!"

Fortunately, Jia Liu knew the character of these people and immediately explained:

"Brothers, Lord Gangshan! It was this young master and the samurai who saved us!! We mustn't be rude!!"

As Jia Liu was about to lead the two inside, Gangshan immediately stopped him:

"Wait a moment!!"

Liu Yufei immediately gripped the hilt of his knife, looking at Gangshan warily. Gangshan, seeing Liu Yufei's gaze, immediately became friendly. At such close range, if Liu Yufei were to attack, he wouldn't be able to escape without a musket.

"Heh, samurai, it's just routine, weapons aren't allowed inside!!"

Okayama was also a samurai, and a samurai of high status, as evidenced by the presence of a hidden samurai-like figure behind him holding his sword. Just as Okayama was about to say something...

"Jia Liu, you're still alive!!"

Upon hearing that Jia Liu was still alive, Ah Shi immediately rushed over. Looking down from afar, he realized it really was Jia Liu and ran over with great joy.

Gangshan, who was about to question them, shrank back when he heard the voice. His arrogant expression immediately collapsed. As far as his job was concerned, he could manage all the men in Dadala.

However, the system in Dadara is female-dominated and male-subordinate. After all, the real leader is Princess Eboshi, so even though Gangshan is the highest-ranking guard in Dadara, he has no authority over women.

Ah Shi didn't care about any of that. She pushed through the crowd and came running over, swaying slightly. Just those two wobbly steps made Liu Yufei dizzy from the headlights. He thought to himself, "Seeing is believing!" The girls of Dadala are indeed all very generous.

"Ah Shi, I thought I'd never see you again?"

"You idiot, you finally decided to come back! I was already thinking about remarrying!! Do you know how worried I've been about you?"

Although he was criticizing her, the concern in his tone was genuine. Jia Liu, clearly used to A Shi's personality, immediately begged for forgiveness:

"Don't say that! I didn't want to either!!"

Clearly, Jia Liu is a typical example of a husband who lacks authority, or rather, all the men in Dadara are like this. With the appearance of A Shi, the men behind him consciously took two steps back, clearly indicating that the power of speech in Dadara is in the hands of these women.

Liu Yufei looked at everything in front of him with amusement. Having traveled this far, he knew that this world was still a feudal society, and the women outside were not as unrestrained as the woman in front of him.

Ah Shi's fiery temper reminded Liu Yufei of Sun Erniang from the Water Margin. At this moment, Gangshan also said with a hint of helplessness:

"Ah Shi, let's talk about it when we get back! I have important business to attend to here."

This only made things worse. As soon as he said it, Ah Shi got angry and approached Gang Shan, who immediately took two steps back.

"I haven't even settled accounts with you yet! Not only did you not help, but you also abandoned the wounded. What kind of bodyguard are you?! You never even step on the bellows normally, but when it really matters, you should at least risk your life!"

Gangshan blushed instantly, feeling humiliated. Ashi was the leader of the female workers and also Huanji's right-hand woman. Compared to him, a guard, Ashi had more say in Dadala.

Actually, abandoning these people was Genki's order, but Okayama couldn't betray Genki at this time!

Gangshan was speechless after being confronted, which is why the residents and these musketeers had a bad relationship. In ordinary times, they were the ones who died the most, especially in critical moments.