More than twenty days later, Scholar Miki returned from the North Bay Tribe in Napa Valley with a boatload of grain. It was already midsummer, the sunlight clear and bright as if washed clean, and there was still not the slightest trace of clouds or rain in the sky. Two rows of thatched huts had been built in the camp at West Mountain Port, and quite a lot of the fields by the river had been cleared as well; it had very much begun to look a little like a village.
And even after Miki stepped down from the Longship and set foot in the Kingdom's camp, he was still somewhat dazed. Thinking back on those twenty-odd days of exceptionally "fulfilling" teaching and study, he felt as though he had returned to Shenwei University in the Royal Capital.
"Main God bless us! Miki, you're finally back!"
Exploration captain Zuwaro stood before Miki with a face full of joy, his voice carrying excitement.
"If you hadn't sent warriors back to tell the camp everything was going smoothly... I would've taken the fleet and gone charging into that whatever North Bay Tribe to rescue you!"
"Uh... Main God bless us!"
Scholar Miki shook his head hard before he finally came back from his stupor. Looking at his excited friend, he answered with a bitter smile.
"Zuwaro, you have no idea. These past twenty-odd days, I didn't have a moment to myself... I was practically a tomato squeezed dry!..."
"Ah, this? A tomato squeezed dry?"
Hearing this, exploration captain Zuwaro looked astonished. He glanced at the Miwok hunters unloading tribal grain from the Longship, then at the haggard-looking Miki. In the end, his gaze flicked downward before he looked at his friend, whose eyes were ringed black, with sympathy.
"...Miki, you should've said