Just now, Ogata and the villagers who were still able to pick up weapons to fight launched what could be considered a satisfying counterattack against the villagers of Qina Village.
After raising the heads of Vladimir and Alexei high on their spears, the morale of the Cossacks, seeing that their general had his head chopped off, quickly dropped.
After being chased by a group led by Ogata, their morale, which was already rapidly declining, finally fell to the freezing point and then began to collapse.
The Cossacks' fighting spirit and morale collapsed.
On the other hand, the morale of the villagers in Qina Village is high.
The villagers of China chased the fleeing Cossacks with a vengeful mentality.
Morale is a strange thing.
When morale is low, one may not be able to exert more than 30% of one's full strength.
When morale is high, perhaps 150% of one's strength can be exerted.
The villagers of Qina Village, who were originally stunned by the muskets, regained their proper state due to the high morale and fighting spirit.
Except for a few people, most of the Cossacks now just want to leave this damn place as soon as possible, and they don't even dare to turn back to look at the villagers who are chasing them.
Although these Cossacks rode horses and had high mobility, facing the poison arrows shot by the villagers of Qina Village, they could only be considered safe if they escaped to a place where no one's poison arrows could reach them.
Moreover, these Cossacks had an additional weakness because they were riding horses.
That is - they are very easily dragged down by their mounts.
A horse is much larger than a person on it, so it is easier to hit.
So the villagers of Qina Village did not shoot the people on horseback, but shot the horses instead.
As long as we shoot the horse down, everything will be easy.
If you fall off a horse, you will be injured if not dead.
So - poison arrows cut through the air, war horses were shot down, and one Cossack after another fell off their horses.
Ogata also did his best to launch a "relentless pursuit" attack on the fleeing Cossacks.
But Ogata only had a pair of feet and a pair of hands after all. No matter how high his swordsmanship was, it was impossible for him to kill all the fleeing Cossacks.
The same was true for the remaining villagers of Qina Village. They had suffered a lot of casualties in the previous battle.
Although the morale of those who were still alive and able to fight was greatly boosted, due to the small number of people, not all the Cossacks could be kept here.
According to Ogata, there were about 20 Cossacks who escaped from the village from different directions.
From nearly being defeated to turning defeat into victory - this transformation made many villagers in Qina Village feel like they were dreaming.
However - although they were happy, the villagers who were still able to stand also felt very heavy-hearted.
The cries and groans that were heard in various parts of the village told them that many of their compatriots were injured.
At the same time, many of our compatriots have lost the ability to even cry out or groan in pain.
So after the battle, without any instructions from anyone, those who were still able to move took action spontaneously to find the injured people scattered everywhere.
Ogata followed a group of people to look for Chepke, the chief of China Village.
Chepke is their village chief and their backbone, and enjoys high popularity in the village.
Since some time, no one has seen Chepke again, which makes the villagers who respect Chepke very much anxious.
So some villagers decided to look for Chepke, and the first place they looked for was Chepke's home.
The main reason why Ogata followed these people to find their village chief was to meet that Chepke.
As the "guest generals" who helped them tonight, he and Ating needed to meet with the leader of Qina Village.
As soon as the group of people arrived at Chepke's doorstep, they ran into Chepke, who was determined to risk his life to help his family escape and had a tragic expression as if he was going to the execution ground.
This was the first time Ogata met Chepke.
Ogata looked at Chepke in front of him.
His left shoulder seemed to be injured and blood was constantly oozing out. His entire left arm and the clothes on his left arm were stained red with blood.
Standing behind Chepke were a young man, a woman and a girl.
The man was probably in his early 30s, and his facial features were somewhat similar to Chepke's, so he should be Chepke's son.
In addition to this young man, the girl who looked to be only in her teens, Wu Ran, also looked somewhat similar to Chepke - she should be Chepke's granddaughter.
Ogata guessed that the woman with a plump figure should be Chepke's daughter-in-law.
After hearing the good news that the Cossacks had been driven away, Chepke and his companions all showed expressions of shock and excitement.
But I don’t know if it was Ogata’s illusion - after hearing the good news, Chepke and the others were shocked and excited, and Chepke, his son, and his daughter-in-law also showed strange expressions.
Especially Chepke - his expression seemed a little stiff...
…
…
Chepke's mood... is very complicated now.
Originally, he had already prepared himself for death and said goodbye to his son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter. At the same time, he also told his son and daughter-in-law everything he had not dared to tell them before, so that he would have no regrets.
But now they told Chepke that they had offended him and he did not have to die.
Chepke: ???
If it weren't for the fact that the "excitement" of the village being saved overshadowed the "embarrassment", Chepke would have blushed with embarrassment and wouldn't even know what expression to use.
Embarrassment aside, the deepest emotion Chepke felt right now was excitement and excitement.
Chepke quickly put away the strange look on his face and asked the people in front of him urgently:
"Have all those white people really been driven away? (Ainu)"
"Well! Only about 20 people escaped! (Ainu language)" a strong man said excitedly, "The rest were killed! (Ainu language)"
As soon as the strong man finished speaking, a woman added in an equally excited tone:
"It's all thanks to this and others' help! (Ainu language)"
The woman pointed toward Ogata.
Chepke looked at Ogata and Atachi, who were quite unfamiliar to him.
"He and the woman beside him are the Japanese couple that Aiyaka brought to our village today! (Ainu language)" A villager explained the identities of Ogata and Atachi on behalf of the village chief, "At least 30 white people were killed by this Japanese couple! (Ainu language)"
Ayaka from Kuma Village brought a pair of Japanese people into their village today - Chepke knew about this when Ogata and his friends first entered the village.
However, because Chepke was busy meeting with Skulucci and listening to the "important things" that Skulucci said, he never met Ogata and others.
Be it Chepke or his son and daughter-in-law behind him, they all opened their eyes wide in surprise, opened their mouths, and looked at Ogata as if they were looking at a rare animal.
"I just did what I could." Ogata said softly.
The young man standing next to Ogata happened to know Japanese.
As soon as Ogata finished speaking, he promptly translated Ogata's words to everyone present who could not understand Japanese.
The translator had just finished translating what Ogata had just said when a male voice that was very familiar to Ogata and Atachi sounded beside them.
"Mashima...Amaji...you two are here...I finally found you."
"Aiyaka." Ogata let out a low cry of surprise.
The owner of this male voice was Ayaka.
With a look of intense fatigue on his face, Aiyaka slowly walked towards Ogata and the others.
The quiver behind him, which was originally filled with arrows, now only had a few arrows left. His every move revealed his fatigue - one could imagine how fierce the battle he had just experienced was.
"Are you okay?" Ogata asked.
"Yeah." Ayaka nodded, and then forced a faint smile, "I am the most powerful hunter in Kuma Village. I won't be hurt that easily."
"Not only was I not injured, I also killed five people."
Seeing that Ayaka was not injured, Ogata was slightly relieved.
Although he had only known Ayaka for a short time, Ogata had always been grateful and respectful to Ayaka for helping him and Atachi a lot.
"Two warriors. (Ainu language)"
At this moment, Chepke suddenly looked at Ogata and Atachi with a serious face.
"What are your names, please?" (Ainu)
The young man standing next to Ogata who knew Japanese quickly helped Ogata translate.
Ogata: "My name is Majima Goro."
"My name is Ating."
In order to accommodate Chepke who could not speak Japanese, Ogata spoke his name slowly.
"Mashima...Goro...Amachi..."
Chepke slowly lowered his head towards Ogata and Atachi.
"Thank you. Thank you for your help. We will never forget your kindness. (Ainu)"
After saying that, Chepke turned around and bowed deeply to Ayaka.
"Thank you, too, Aiyaka. China Village will never forget its friendship with Kuma Village. (Ainu)"
"You're welcome," Ogata said. "Like I just said, I was just doing what I had to do."
"and--"
Ogata turned his head and looked towards the east.
"Besides us, there are others helping you."
"Others? (Ainu)" After listening to the translator's translation, Chepke cast a puzzled look at Ogata.
…
…
Time goes back to just now——
"Damn it! Damn it!"
A Cossack kept spewing out all the dirty words in Russian to vent his inner fear.
Bang!
Behind me, there was the sound of a heavy object falling to the ground and people screaming.
The Cossack knew without looking back that the loud thumping sound must be the sound of the horse falling to the ground, and the screaming sound was the screaming of the person on the horse as the horse fell to the ground.
He turned his head slightly and glanced behind him.
Just now, there were two people following closely behind him, riding horses and fleeing with him.
But now—there was no one behind him.
The two men died because their horses were shot by poison arrows and fell to the ground with their bodies.
In the current situation, without a horse, you will basically die.
And he had no intention of rescuing his fallen companions.
Because he himself is now unable to take care of himself.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The tingling sound of arrows breaking through the air kept passing by the Cossack's ears.
He pressed his entire body against the horse's back to minimize the possibility of being shot, and at the same time kept praying to God, praying that no poisonous arrows would hit his horse.
The low houses full of Ainu characteristics passed by the Cossack quickly.
Along the way, we met many villagers from this village.
They did not dare to stand in front of the galloping horse, but only dared to stand by the road or on the roof, shooting at it with bows and arrows.
I don’t know if his prayers worked.
Finally - the Cossack turned into a road leading directly out of the village.
Looking forward, he could already see the vast snowfield outside the village.
It is about 30 steps away from the village.
He said to himself excitedly in his heart: Almost there! Almost there! I will be able to escape soon.
The warhorse under him was already sweating profusely, shedding large drops of sweat with every step.
But the Cossack showed no mercy to his mount and tapped the horse's belly again, trying to make the mount, which had already reached its speed limit, go faster and further drain the mount's strength.
It is about 20 steps away from the village.
The sounds of arrows flying past him became less and less frequent.
As the sound of arrows breaking through the air became increasingly sparse, a look of ecstasy began to slowly appear on the Cossack's face.
However, when he was only 20 steps away from the village, the Cossack suddenly saw a figure appear in front of him.
A figure jumped down from the roof of a low house with nimble movements.
The figure fell directly in front of the Cossack, on the road that the Cossack had to take to leave the village.
And this figure was none other than Ogata.
How many people have he killed tonight? Ogata didn't count, but he was sure that he had killed at least 30 people.
He was now chasing after the Cossacks who were trying to escape, and the number of people killed continued to rise.
There was a lot of blood splattered all over his body, and he looked straight at the Cossack in front of him.
Then bring the Da Zi Zai in your left hand to your mouth and bite the handle with your mouth. Then, hold the Da Shi Tian in your hands with both hands, slowly lift the Da Shi Tian up, and switch to the upper posture.
Whether it is Dashitian or Dashizai, the blades are currently covered in blood and fat.
If he puts the sword back into the sheath without cleaning it, it will only take about 2 days for the sheath to emit an unpleasant odor.
After seven days, his scabbard would stink to such an extent that even Ating would not want to get close to him.
Faced with Ogata who suddenly stood in front of him, the Cossack was stunned for a moment, and the ecstasy on his face slowly turned into ferocity and a hint of doubt.
The reason he was confused was that he found that the guy blocking his way was wearing Japanese clothes, holding a Japanese sword, and his facial features were completely different from those of the Ainu. He seemed to be a Japanese.
Due to poor information transmission, this Cossack, who was just an ordinary member of the team, did not know that a Japanese suddenly appeared in the village and that their failure tonight was all due to this Japanese.
That's why he felt so confused when he saw the Japanese man suddenly appear in front of him.
As for why he looked so ferocious...the reason was simple.
There was no fork in the road for him to take a detour .
It was impossible for him to turn his horse around now, go back the same way, or take another route.
If we return the same way, who knows if there will be any accidents.
The guy who stood in front of him with the knife raised high, it was obvious at a glance that this guy dressed like a human would definitely not let him go.
So the Cossack drew his saber and tried to force his way through Ogata's block.
The distance between him and Ogata was 7 steps left.
Looking at the cavalryman riding his horse and charging straight towards him, Ogata couldn't help but recall the cars in his previous life.
The feeling of oppression when a car rushes straight towards you is very similar to the feeling Ogata is feeling now.
They all give people a feeling that "if they stay where they are, they will definitely be crushed."
Faced with this kind of oppressive feeling that ordinary people could hardly bear, Ogata remained calm, and just silently maintained the upper posture with both hands tightly grasping Daishikatsu, staring at the Cossack in front of him, silently calculating the distance between the enemy and himself.
The distance between Ogata and the Cossack was only 3 steps.
Ogata was calculating the distance, and the Cossack was also calculating the distance.
The Cossack knew that whether he could break through Ogata's obstruction while keeping himself and his horse safe was related to his survival tonight.
He didn't dare to charge Ogata with his horse.
The mount under his crotch was already panting.
If it is allowed to charge into the enemy in this exhausted state, something unexpected might happen.
The horse is his life now. He dare not gamble or expose his horse to any possible risks.
The Cossack tightly grasped the saber in his hand. Sweat oozed from his palm due to nervousness, slightly wetting the handle of the saber.
Both sides measured the distance between each other and waited for the best time to attack.
The distance between the two was only 3 steps.
2 steps.
Ogata could already feel the breath coming out of the horse's nostrils and mouth.
1 step.
Both of them could see each other's facial features clearly.
0 steps!
They finally waited for the best time to attack.
The Cossack swung his knife towards Ogata's head as if he was cutting wheat.
Almost at the same time, Ogata also raised the Daishiten and chopped it down heavily.
Dashitian moved diagonally from the upper right to the lower left, facing the Cossack's saber.
Sakakibara Ittoryu: Waterfall.
Snap, snap, snap…
The two swords collided heavily in mid-air—and the winner was decided immediately.
The Cossacks were far inferior to Ogata in strength.
The next moment after the two knives collided, the knife in the Cossack's hand was directly squeezed away.
That's right, just squeeze it open.
Sparks flew from the two swords, and the Cossack's saber was pushed off its original trajectory.
However, Ogata's sword continued to move forward without losing its momentum, and its trajectory did not deviate at all. After pushing the saber away, it slashed straight at the person behind the sword.
laugh!
The sound of a knife cutting through flesh could be heard.
The front half of Dashitian's blade swept across the Cossack's chest, cutting half of his chest open.
The horse continued to carry the Cossack forward, passing Ogata.
However, before the horse had run a few steps, the Cossack on his back fell off the horse like a limp noodle and fell into the snow without a sound.
The horse continued to run straight ahead on its own.
Swish!
Ogata took off the Dajizai that he was biting, then threw Dashiten down heavily. The blood that fell from the blade sprinkled like plum blossoms on the snow.
After killing the Cossack who was about to escape from the village, Ogata did not wait or take a breath, used the Shiranui stealth technique to jump onto the small house next to him, and continued to look for the Cossack.
Standing on the low roof, Ogata quickly moved his eyes, looking for the person riding a horse.
It's not hard to find the Cossacks, just look for those on horseback.
--Um?
At this moment, Ogata was suddenly stunned.
Ogata is now in the northeast corner of the village and can see the scenery to the east and north of the village.
It was only then that he discovered that there was a group of people on horseback to the east of the village.
Although the distance was quite far, Ogata could vaguely see that there was a man standing on horseback among the group.
And this person has bright red hair.
—Skulucci...? What are they doing?
Ogata saw that their group of people were holding guns, and some of them were pointing their guns at the village.
Ogata was just wondering why Skulucci and the others were staying outside the village, and now someone immediately gave him an answer.
Two Cossacks fled on horseback from the east of the village.
However, as soon as the two men left the village, smoke rose from Skulucci's side.
Then, the two Cossacks who had just left the village fell off their horses one by one and stopped moving.
——Skuluchi... Is he helping the Qina Village...
…
…
"Boss Skulucci!" Afjie shouted to Skulucci beside him, "They seem to be running away!"
"Yeah." Skulucci nodded slightly, "I saw it."
Just now, Skuluch saw through the telescope how Ogata beheaded Vladimir and Alexei single-handedly.
Then, together with a group of villagers who had suddenly arrived, they impaled the heads of Vladimir and Alexei on spears and rushed to other places.
After seeing Ogata successfully behead Vladimir and Alexei, Ogata knew that Vladimir and the others were finished.
Skulucci had never seen a battle where a team could win even when the general commander had been killed.
Sure enough - more and more of Vladimir and Alexei's men rode their horses and fled from the village in panic.
Their panic-stricken appearance made it hard to imagine that these people were the same group that had just wantonly killed the villagers of Qina Village.
Some people were so panicked that they didn't even look at the road and fled in the direction where Skulucci and others were.
The natural result of this behavior of running into the muzzle of a gun was to be shot to death by Skulucci and his men.
“Should we go after those who fled in other directions?” Afje asked.
"I really want to chase them." Skulucci shrugged with a smile, "But it's impossible to catch up with them, so let them escape."
As for those who were fleeing in other directions, it would be unlikely to catch up with them even if we rode our horses.
"Boss Skulucci..." Afjie said to Skulucci in a worried tone, "Letting so many people escape... I'm worried that they will report us for attacking our compatriots..."
"Among those who managed to escape, many of them may have seen you leading us to shoot at them with rifles..."
"What are you afraid of?" Skulucci showed a fearless smile. "Without the organization, it's a question whether those people can survive in this desolate mountain forest."
"Even if they do survive and report us to the higher-ups - do they have evidence?"
After saying that, Skulucci sneered with a hint of mockery in it.
If he was afraid that some survivors would report him, he would not have brought Afjie and others to support the villagers of Qina Village.
After finishing the brief conversation with Afjie, Skulucci continued to concentrate on observing the situation in the village through the telescope.
As he scanned the area with the telescope, he suddenly spotted Ogata.
He happened to see Ogata, who had killed with one blow the Cossack who was almost able to leave the village.
Then Ogata is seen climbing onto the roof to check the situation.
Then they saw Ogata looking towards them, as if he had discovered them.
Through the telescope, he clearly saw Ogata's face facing him with a puzzled look.
A faint smile appeared on Skulucci's face.
Skulucci put down the telescope in his hand and nodded to Ogata from a distance.
Then he continued to look in Ogata's direction with a meaningful look.
"Boss Skulucci!"
Afjie's voice suddenly rang out again.
"Those guys are almost all going to escape. What should we do after they escape?"
"What to do?" Sculucci shrugged. "Put away your guns, rein in your horses, and return to camp."
"Is that it?" Afjie's eyes widened.
"So what do you want?" Skulucci changed his tone to a joking one. "Ride a horse like a general returning from victory and stride into the village that has just been bullied by a group of our compatriots?"
"We've used up a lot of bullets tonight..." Afjie muttered, "We're far away in the Far East now, and it's difficult to get supplies..."
"Ammunition is hard to replenish..."
"We have spent so much effort to help them, we should at least exchange something valuable with the Ainu people in that village..."
"There's no rush!" Sculucci smiled. "The Ainu people in this village will definitely be busy treating the wounded tonight. They definitely don't have the time or energy to care about us."
"Let's go back to the camp and have a good sleep tonight. We can talk about the rest later!"
…
…
Time goes back to the present.
After telling Chepke briefly what he had just witnessed, that Skulucci led his men to help the Qina Village, Chepke showed a complicated expression.
"Is it true... Is that red-haired white man really coming with his men to help us... (Ainu language)"
Chepke's expression now was so complicated that it was hard to describe in words.
He couldn't help but recall their not-so-friendly attitude towards Skulucci when they met this afternoon. As he recalled this, Chepke's expression became more complicated...
"Village Chief! Village Chief! (Ainu)"
Suddenly, an anxious shout came from not far away, attracting the attention of Chepke and others.
She is a young girl.
The girl ran up to Chepke with an anxious look on her face, and said to him in a tearful tone:
"Village chief! There are so many injured people! We may not have enough medicine! Let's go to other villages for help! (Ainu language)"
As soon as the girl finished speaking, Chepke and the others' faces suddenly turned ugly.
…
…
When it comes to beheading, Ogata is an expert with both experience and skills.
But when it comes to saving people, Ogata can't help.
The same is true for Ating. Both of them have no knowledge of medicine.
The only medical skill Ogata knows is to apply saliva to wounds.
The village doctor of Qina Village is still alive - this is really a blessing in disguise.
Although they could not help much in terms of treatment, they could still help the villagers who were still able to move to find the injured villagers and carry them to the village doctor. Ogata and A-Machi could still do this.
The two of them...especially Ogata, now have an extremely high status in the hearts of the villagers of Qina Village.
Anyone with a little bit of common sense knows that the reason they were able to fight off that group of white people was thanks to the help of this person.
If it weren't for this person's help, those white people would have definitely held a "celebration banquet" in their village and wantonly abused the women in their village.
When the villagers saw Ogata and Atachi helping them search for and carry the injured, they quickly stopped them, saying that it was unnecessary and wanted Ogata and Atachi to have a good rest.
In the villagers' imagination, Ogata should be very tired now. After all, nearly half of all the white-skinned people who fell to the ground were killed by Ogata.
Faced with the kindness of the villagers, Ogata just smiled and declined.
Although he was indeed somewhat tired, and in the "selfless state" his physical strength would be rapidly depleted, Ogata was not so tired that he could not even move.
Anyway , in Ogata's eyes, helping the villagers find and transport the injured villagers was just a small matter, so Ogata decided to do his best to help with this small matter.
The number of injured people was far beyond what Ogata, Chepke and others had imagined.
It was not until the sky was slightly bright that they finally finished cleaning the entire village.
All the injured were found and taken to the village doctor.
The bodies of the Cossacks were thrown randomly into a pile and planned to be cremated directly afterwards.
As for the dead villagers - their bodies were carefully placed and a funeral was held for them later.
The population of Qina Village is slightly larger than that of Kuma Village.
Even after experiencing the "disappearance incident", there are still 209 villagers in Qina Village.
But after last night's fierce fighting, more than half of the population of Qina Village was killed or injured... 39 people died and 67 were injured.
Although we won the battle, the number of casualties told everyone a cold fact - this was a bloody and tragic victory.
…
…
Qina Village, the injured treatment area——
The so-called wounded treatment area is actually an open space in the village.
Because there were too many injured people, they had to be placed together in an open space.
"Uripash." Chepke whispered to a middle-aged man who was squatting beside a wounded man and bandaging him, "How is the situation?"
The middle-aged man's name is "Uripashi" and he is the only village doctor in China Village.
He is not only a village doctor, but also an excellent hunter.
He also participated in the fierce fight last night.
And luckily he survived without any injury.
I have to say - this is really a blessing in disguise.
If even Uripahi was seriously injured or died, there would be no one to treat so many injured people.
As soon as Chepke finished speaking, Uripash had just bandaged the villager in front of him who was wounded by a saber with a clean cloth.
Uripash stood up slowly and winked at Chepke: Let's go to a place where there is no one.
Chepke understood the meaning of Uripash's eyes and nodded, then followed Uripash and walked quickly away from the treatment area.
Only after they reached the treatment area where the injured could not see them and there was no one else around did Uripahi sigh heavily.
"It's quite bad..."
"There are too many injured people... The medicines in the village are not enough..."
"And... Chepke, I'm going to be honest with you."
Uripash adopted a serious tone.
"I don't know how to treat those who have been wounded by the white men's muskets."
"I've never treated this type of injury before."
"I have no idea how to get those round things out of their bodies, or what medicine to give them..."
After listening to Uripash's words quietly, Chepke fell silent.
After a while, he sighed heavily.
He had no intention of blaming Uripash for not being able to treat a gunshot wound.
Chepke would find it strange if Uripash could heal wounds caused by musketry.
Although they knew what muskets were, they had never been attacked by them before.
"... Chepke, should we try to ask the people of Heyezhe for help?" Uripash said softly, "The people of Heyezhe have muskets, and their doctors may know how to treat people who are injured by muskets."
As soon as Uripash finished speaking, Chepke quickly shook his head.
"No. 'Heyezhe' is too far away from us. Sending someone to fetch their doctor will take several days, even by dog ​​sled."
"Moreover, the muskets used by the Heyezhe people are also very different from those used by the white people."
"I don't think their doctors would be able to treat those wounded by the white men's muskets..."
At this point, Chepke sighed heavily again.
"I have sent people to ask for medicine and doctors from the villages that are closer to us and have a good relationship with our Qina Village."
"Uripahi, please continue to focus on treating the wounded to the best of your ability."
"I'll figure out the rest..."
"Yeah." Uripahi nodded slightly, then quickly returned to the treatment area.
And Chepke also quickly left the spot.
Not long after he walked, Chepke saw a middle-aged man with one arm walking towards him.
"Manakel. How is it going?" Chepke asked.
Manakel can be considered one of Chepke's right-hand men.
After the battle ended last night, Chepke sent Manakel to manage and place the villagers who died in the fierce fighting last night.
Facing the question raised by Chepke, Manakel nodded slightly:
"I put the bodies in the house."
"It fills up four rooms..."
After saying this, Manakel and Chepke walked side by side.
“How miserable…”
Manakel sighed in a sad tone.
"Why do we always suffer such unexpected disasters..."
"Yeah..." Chepke lowered his head, "Why do such unexpected disasters always befall us..."
First there was the “disappearance incident”, and now there comes the “attack by white people”.
The previous "disappearance incidents" had already reduced the number of young and strong men in their village.
And now a large number of villagers have been killed or injured...
"There are already very few young men in our village..." Manakel said with a wry smile, "and now another group has been killed or injured..."
"With so many men missing... I really don't know how people from other villages will treat us..."
Among the Ainu people, who still follow the primitive tribal system, population is everything.
Basically, the more young and strong men a tribe has, the richer and more powerful it is—and vice versa.
Villages with few young men are often bullied and looked down upon by people from other villages.
Although many women in their Qina Village have picked up bows and arrows and done work that should have been done by men, women's physical strength and power are still no match for men.
"Chepke, I've counted," Manakel continued, "There are only 41 men between the ages of 14 and 40 still alive in our village..."
"This also includes those who were injured last night and are still awaiting treatment."
"If some of them are not rescued and die, the number will continue to decrease..."
"If we don't want other villages or people to look down on us and bully us, we must find a way to increase the number of young men in our village..."
"I understand..." Chepke couldn't remember how many times he had sighed.
After sighing, Chepke stopped where he was.
He lowered his head, looking thoughtful.
I just don't know what he is thinking about.
"village head!"
At this moment, Chepke suddenly heard a loud young male voice.
Chepke looked in the direction of the sound—it was Ayaka.
Ayaka walked quickly towards Chepke.
"Village leader, I finally found you." Aiyaka said quickly, "It's daybreak now, I plan to set off now."
"I will return to Kuma Village as soon as possible and bring back our village doctor."
"I'll probably be back this evening."
Last night, when he learned that there were too many injured people in China Village and that medicine was insufficient, Ayaka, who was from Kuma Village and was on good terms with China Village, agreed to Chepke's request without hesitation:
After tomorrow morning, he will return to Kuma Village as soon as possible to bring back the medicine and village doctor from Kuma Village.
Seeing that Ayaka came to say goodbye to them, Chepke nodded vigorously with a touched look on his face.
"Thank you, Ayaka."
"Yes. Then, Village Chief, I will be leaving first."
After saying this, Ayaka turned around and prepared to leave, returning to Kuma Village alone on a dog sled.
However, just as he turned around, Chepke suddenly called him.
"By the way, Ayaka. I have a question for you."
"Hmm? What's the problem?"
"What's the relationship between that Majima and the girl named Atachi?"
"Village chief, why are you asking this?" Ayaka asked back.
"Nothing, just a little curious."
"They are husband and wife," Ayaka replied.
…
…
Chepke asked only this one question and then let Ayaka leave.
Looking at Ayaka's leaving figure, Chepke pursed his lips.
Then he suddenly asked Manakel beside him:
"Manakel... I just thought of it."
"We want other villages or other people to look down on us and bully us. Besides increasing the number of young men."
"We can also try to get some very capable young men to become members of our village..."
"For example...that Majima..."