Episode 83: People of Dahfa
Xiaolin.
A Strider woman from a region called the ‘Continent’ in this country… well, a place with a Chinese-like atmosphere.
The ‘Continent’ is a region equivalent to Asia on Earth, and within it, there is a particularly huge kingdom ruled by the ‘Heavenly Emperor.’
It has a very large population, different customs from this country, and martial arts as a pastime are widespread among the common people, so their average combat ability is also high…
Xiaolin, from such an ethnic group, came from afar.
Naturally, she was struggling in this country. As I said before, the culture is different.
Even so, she worked hard and became a decent Strider… and became a member of the ‘Blue Comet.’ That’s the kind of girl she is.
And now, with a flustered look, she’s barged into my house.
“What are you doing, Shirley?”
Shio, who is still eating free meals at my house, tilts her head. What are you doing…? Well, it’s fine if you’re here, but you’ll get scolded by Katrina if you don’t go home soon.
Katrina… of course, she gets mad at me for hitting on the members of her group, but apart from that, she gets mad at her own members if they cause trouble for me.
She’s… fair in a proper sense. After all, she received a noble education.
Well, in any case, what she says is right. The one being scolded is at fault.
Shio also gets a lot of food and stuff from me if left unattended, so Katrina is always yelling at her, “Don’t cause trouble for others!”
Also, Kaede gets angry if she stays out without permission. Kaede seems to be in charge of managing personnel…
“Hey! Shio! Staying out without permission—!”
Speak of the devil, Kaede’s here.
“Dru-dage! Help me aru! Dajie is going to kill me aru!!!”
Hmm… what to do.
First, I hugged Xiaolin and hid her behind my back.
I apologized to Kaede for keeping Shio, and gave her some souvenirs.
And…
“You were… Mingsha of the Lanpang, right?”
“That’s right aru yo. Lanpang, Missgancia branch leader, Mingsha, aru.”
Wow, a mafia boss is in my house. What is this?
“Do you have some business with Xiaolin?”
“I just came to greet my little sister aru yo?”
Sister…?
“…Mingsha-dajie is a big shot in the Lanpang who was a bodyguard for my family’s trading company aru. I’ve been bullied by this person since I was a kid…!”
“Xiaolin? It makes me sad to hear such things from the little sister I’ve been doting on aru na?”
“H-hiii…!”
Hmm…?
“In the ‘Continent’… in the country of Dahfa, the security is not good when you get away from the center aru. So, instead of soldiers, yakuzas…”
Xiaolin explains.
Hmm, I see.
The local mafia is maintaining public order, right?
Like Mexico? It feels like South America.
No, but Japan right after the war was apparently like that too, and in lands where the central authority doesn’t reach, it may be a common thing in human history for such yakuzas to start doing something like maintaining public order.
“Dajie is the child of a big shot in the Lanpang aru, so I couldn’t go against her positionally since I was a kid…!”
“Oh, there, there.”
She’s crying, so I hug her and pat her.
Xiaolin is the type of woman who casually lies, so I’ll take it with a grain of salt, but she’s quite frightened, so it must be somewhat true.
“You say that well aru na~, Xiaolin? You’ve had a lot of good times with my leftovers. I think it’s okay to repay the favor from when you were a kid aru yo~?”
And this one.
She’s the head of one of the mafia organizations I met in the slums before.
I don’t know this woman… Mingsha very well, so I don’t know her personality, but she probably isn’t lying either.
Human relationships are like kaleidoscopes with patterns that differ depending on the direction you look at them. If you believe one side’s opinion 100%, you’ll get burned. Specifically, you shouldn’t trust the words of a shitty woman you married through your parents’ introduction because they are 100% lies and shitty (admonition).
Well, so it’s a tomboy Mingsha-chan and a brat Xiaolin-chan, huh? I’ve got the gist of it.
“So? Why is Xiaolin so scared?”
“No… it’s just scary aru…”
Yes.
Childhood trauma, huh?
“It’ll be alright. No matter who Mingsha is, she can’t lay a hand on me.”
Count Missgancia would be seriously angry if they laid a hand on me.
“B-but, she might be thinking of using me as a stepping stone to get closer to you, Dage…?”
Ah, that’s possible.
I don’t really have strong likes or dislikes for people, so I don’t mind expanding my relationships. I had a lot of friends, and I’m the type of person who enjoys talking to strangers at bars.
But still, it’s not good when house stories or money stories get involved. When it starts to feel like that, it becomes a drag all at once. I want them to stop.
But, I’m an adult too.
I know that you can only build human relationships without such dirty stories when you’re a kid.
My shitty ex-wife from my previous life, well, I have the feeling that she was 100% at fault, but even so, I wonder if there wasn’t a better way for me to handle it…? For example, cutting ties immediately if I thought it was no good.
…Considering that, if I let it slide here because it’s “troublesome,” it will become a source of future trouble.
I should properly and clearly settle things.
“Um… so, what? What do you two want? I like Xiaolin, so I want to talk things out properly so that things don’t get twisted later. Ah, I don’t have any complaints about Mingsha either, I’m not trying to become an enemy, so please keep that in mind.”
“”…………””
The two are silent.
What’s up?
“…Dage, I like that about you aru yo. But, you’re not suited for being a merchant aru ne.”
“I agree aru. You come at us with a family-like closeness all of a sudden, so I was a little surprised aru yo.”
Hmm?
Ah, that’s right.
“In Dahfa, the culture is to not express your true feelings as much as possible, right? But this is Missgancia, and more specifically, my house. It’s better to talk things out properly than to do anything tricky.”
And so, the internal discussion began…