"Huh? Buddha preserve us! Deer Tribe chief, you want all three of my horses? You want to trade me this bronze amulet for them?... That won't do. At most, I can give you two, and I can even take nothing from you, but the biggest one has to stay... Wait! This feel, this weight?!..."
Snow rose past their calves, and the bitter wind froze river and sea alike. Two parties of men and horses, gripping Stone Spears, Copper Axes, and Iron Knives from different ages, wearing Leather Armor, Bronze-Cloth Armor, and Iron-Wood Armor of all different styles, met in a camp on the coast of the Far North Sea as though a thousand years of history had folded together. In that instant, they faced each other in tense confrontation, waiting for the results of their leaders' negotiations.
Faced with Zuwaro's demand to trade for the horses, Ship Magistrate Murakami Suemichi darkened his face and shook his head firmly. The Jurchen Horse was meant to be presented to the family head, Lord Nobuhiro. If this Deer Tribe who had popped up from who knew where demanded it away, how was he supposed to explain that to his lord?... He gripped the golden "bronze amulet" in his hand and was just about to return it to Zuwaro when he suddenly froze hard!
"No! No! This feel, this weight?... Such a small piece, and it actually weighs a whole catty?... How could copper be this heavy?! Could this little cake be..."
Murakami Suemichi raised his head and saw Zuwaro smiling, his face full of "simple honesty." He lowered his head again and glanced at the front of the amulet, at the strange engraving of The Sun and a bird, and then at the back of the amulet, at the very familiar yet very