"The day to put to sea... has still come!..."
Beside the lush vegetable fields, the old Militia Chiwako wore a strained expression as he reached to his waist and rummaged again and again. Only after a long while did he pull out a shriveled red chili, hold it to his nose and sniff it, then ask with a bitter look.
"Old Wood, when do we... leave?"
"The order is urgent. We leave at the start of next month!"
"Ah! Next month? I still wanted to go back to the Capital Region and say goodbye to my daughter and granddaughter..."
The old Militia sighed again. Last year, his daughter Reed had finally had a granddaughter with that fool Wood, Weizti. Reed had always been weak, and after giving birth she became even weaker, often with icy hands and feet and aching all over. In the end, it was Old Wood Cedar who brought out a prescription from a northern tribe and personally mixed some herbs for her, and only then did she recover somewhat...
Thinking of this, the old Militia gritted his teeth and fell silent for a while, then merely said.
"Next month it is, then! We're going south, thousands of li away, to find the place where Potato and Priest Bean came from, that whatever-you-call-it Lima? And then make contact with that 'Bowl of the Sun' or whatever?..."
"Oh! That's 'Tawantinsuyu,' the realm of the sun... Old Corn, you really need to learn to read properly. I'm this old, and I study seriously every day, while you spend every day farming, free and easy..."
Cedar Shaman smiled broadly and grabbed Chiwako's arm to keep him from running off. Only then did he put on a mysterious look and smile leisurely.
"But! This time, we're not going south first. That