For the Japanese peasants, the concept of childhood is almost non-existent. Although children can sometimes frolic at times, parents and elders tend to teach them practical skills as early as possible, rather than letting them play freely in the name of "children are still young".

Food is not easy to come by, and every grain is hard. Against this backdrop, every additional mouth for eating in the home must be made to make it recoup.

Before marriage, girls are an important labor force in every family, and most of them learn to do household chores from the age of five or six. Weaving and sewing were seen as essential skills, and older sisters often took on a caregiving role for younger children, so that parents could work in the fields with peace of mind.

Farmers are often the ones who have relative freedom. Unlike girls, who are expected to work from an early age, boys who are seen as family incense can play until they are older and are taught all kinds of knowledge, and they are expected to devote themselves to the cultivation of their families, but very few of them actually become talents.

Even so, childhood, which accounts for less than a quarter of a lifetime in terms of life expectancy and adulthood, is still the first thing that many people in this era will miss when they successfully survive and grow old.

The beautified memories abandon the impure ingredients, leaving only freedom and casualness, and the favorite words of the old people among the people, in addition to "one generation is not as good as the next", is pronounced "Arnogoloyu Kadana" - literally translated as "it was so good at that time" type of nostalgia.

But is childhood really carefree?

For Aqiu, who was in the hot spring village in the summer of 4164 in the Great Moon Divine Calendar, this answer was probably no from the beginning.

According to the statistics of Dr. Land, the average life expectancy of the population of the Land Land is about 39 years old. It seems to give people the illusion that it is very unusual for someone to live past the age of 40, as if everyone has made an appointment to die together at the age of 39, but this data is actually very deceptive.

Although Rigal does not have similar statistics due to the limitations of its national strength and academic system, the average life expectancy of most of the populations on most of the two continents is very similar.

Naturally, this is not the case that the people of Rigal and Crescent, who are separated by different cultures and languages, have agreed not to live past the age of 40, and the root cause of this situation is the extremely high rate of infant death.

Pregnant in October, childbirth is a ghost door for women. More than half of inexperienced first-time mothers will die of dystocia and postpartum hemorrhage, and if the child whose biological mother dies is born in a noble family and can still spend money to find a nursing mother, the civilian family is basically a dead end.

Even if you survive infancy, childhood is still fraught with dangers. A drought caused by a late monsoon can kill at least half of all children, and only 1-2 out of 10 children survive the age of 10 with a combination of domestic violence, wild animal invasions, summer drowning, and even malnutrition.

So will you be safe after the age of 10?

Not really.

"Half-grown children eat Lao Tzu to death"

This proverb with the people presents a complex relationship between peasant families that is far beyond outsiders can imagine—children who have grown up in their teenage years have a rapidly increasing appetite, but their physical abilities and all aspects are still not comparable to those of adults. They eat as much as adults, but they can't do as much labor as adults to earn rations. Children during this period are also the most conflicted with their parents, girls are expected to marry off as soon as possible, and additional boys are required to be self-reliant if there are additional sons in addition to the eldest son who inherits the family business.

Poor couples mourn everything. Children who grow up in a family of farmers never tell what their parents' love is.

Childhood playmates who play together die at some point because of something inconspicuous, older sisters marry early, and older brothers need to consider inheriting the family business if they survive. Parents who are alive often do not take care of themselves, and are busy with work, allowing them to grow freely.

But even so, after she woke up in the hotel, she was still crying for the first time and wanted to go back to her mother's side.

Ah Qiu, who is only 7 years old, is unaware of the fact that she has been abandoned, and she may not even understand the meaning of hatred, but only thinks that her father will get better after being temporarily angry.

No matter how gentle Miss Luo An and the others are? These people are always strangers they don't know.

No matter how bad or bad this family looks to outsiders? For this child, it was always her only home.

"It's hard for a clean official to cut off family affairs. Narumi next to him sighed? In the end, it was only after inviting the hotel manager that Ah Qiu was more familiar with that she finally calmed her down and fell asleep again.

"I tried to mix some tranquilizing medicine and waited for her to wake up and take it with water. "Jian Ye said this, people are more or less kind? He has become a pharmacist in the Qingtian family, and he no longer counts the small amount of money, and directly handed it to the store manager.

"Let's take a look after the contempt, go talk to Aaron. The store manager sighed? After that, he glanced at Rigal and his party next to him, hesitated for a moment, and finally opened his mouth.

"Everyone? The lord of the Nanban. ”

"Although a guest? Is it a bit inappropriate to open such a mouth? But I heard what Master Torotaro said before. ”

"You seem to be, a sword that can be hired?" Mr. Masayuki used a rather elegant tone, and the concept of "mercenary" does not exist in human language? Therefore, when Torotaro tried to explain when he communicated with him, he created a new vocabulary.

"Hmm. The shopkeeper responds to the Roan Maiden, Henry and Caleva are still outside repairing the carriage, while Yajiro and Old Joe go to the nearby blacksmith shop and other places to make purchases.

"But they're different? They are. The Nanban old men mentioned by the store manager also included the missionary party, and the Luoan girl thought for a moment: "Monk." She explained.

"Well, isn't it a warrior monk? The manager nodded, and he said a concept that Mira didn't know much about, but now was not a good time to satisfy her curiosity, so she didn't ask.

"Do you want to say that you are going to fight against evil dragons and thieves?" Mr. Masayuki didn't hide it, so Narumi also judged his intentions and asked before him, but before the store manager could reply, he shook his head: "It's really unlikely, we are also on our way." The swampy miasma is vast and difficult to travel, and the evil spirits are haunting, and the search alone must have taken days. ”

"This, it is. The store manager sighed, there are many depressions and swamps in Zhangzhou, and there are miasma in some places that make people dizzy and difficult to identify the direction, even if it is a local, few are willing to go deep into those places.

The entire territory is divided by these large and small swamps, and the population of Zhangzhou is basically scattered in small settlements except for a few large towns.

The unregulated forests, swampy areas, bandits, bandits, and even rebel ronin are rampant, and repeated killings have not been able to clean them up. Coupled with the presence of various vicious beasts and poisonous insects, the swamp area has always been the scene of horror stories of parents and elders intimidating disobedient children.

But on the other hand, the swamp also has some rare resources. The abundant grass charcoal can be used for heating and fertilizer in winter, and the frogs and large snails in the fields are rare delicacies among the people, and even crocodiles can be used to open meat if they are able to catch them enough.

Patches of delicious berries, lotus roots, and other edible plants also grow near the swamps, luring hungry farmers to risk their lives to get them.

The hot spring village is one of the larger villages in the vicinity, but it is too small to be seen on a map compared to the swamps that border. Narumi, who had seen the swamps all the way south, knew the trouble of assisting these people, and although what was happening here was indeed painful, they were also beyond their power.

The crocodiles in Zhangzhou are nowhere near as large as their cousins in Rigal's saltwater marshes, and most of the crocodiles here are only one to one and a half meters long. Adults are relatively safe when they enter the swamp, and if they only encounter one, they can escape if they are bitten. Most of the time, they don't even attack people too aggressively, unless they're small enough to look like they're able to eat them.

"My Iceberg Beauty Wife"

However, the swamp here is vast and tall with reeds, and the vision is limited, and if you really want to exterminate the crocodile, it will take far more manpower and time than the few samurai of Henry and his party can do with a few Rigalese mercenaries.

Crocodiles grow quite slowly, and a single kill is enough to keep the waters safe for a long time. According to the manager of Masaya, in the past, large-scale hunting was organized in the hot spring village, and the samurai leader of Pingshan County led the young and middle-aged labor force to conduct a large-scale search by boat. Destroy Jiao Dan and shoot and stab adult evil Jiao with a big bow and a big gun, but with turmoil and division, today's county order is unable to take such manpower.

However, his statement was a wake-up call to the group, because although they themselves did not have such manpower, they had a group of people who were nearby.

Ryunosuke and his entourage are chasing down Saburo, a sworn enemy who fled back to Zhangzhou from the domain, and according to Masayuki's store manager, the thieves who are also lurking in the swamp in addition to that part of the evil Jiao have only recently appeared.

"In fact, it may be they who drove the evil Jiao to the swamp near the village. This information made Narumi and the others interested, and the timing was just right, so it would be strange to say that there was no contact.

"Although we can't help directly, we may be able to pull the rope and ask someone who is able to help. It's just that the identity of the other party may be a little subtle. "Ryunosuke and his entourage are planning to bypass the hot spring village, although they will seek supplies in some villages, but the hot spring village, which directly supplies grain to Pingshan County, is not among them.

There will inevitably be rumors when the mighty ronin comes in, and because of the delicate nature of his own identity, there is also a certain risk of being detected about the size of the army.

Because of the distance between the two sides, when they said goodbye, they only knew that Ryunosuke and his party would probably repair in the nearby mountains. However, the samurai had horses to travel on their behalf, so it would not be too difficult to go back down the mountain path to find them.

The rest of the decision is mainly decided by the store manager, and the fornication ronin can be big or small. The main reason is that the army of Ryunosuke and his entourage is not small, and if there is a bloody clash near the hot spring village, it is basically impossible to hide it from the top of Pingshan County.

After all, the ronin is not treated in the Japanese society, and it is considered that lawlessness may do bad things at any time. Coupled with Ryunosuke's status as the former county magistrate of Pingshan County, it is natural that the Chinese in power today will harbor hostility and prejudice against him. So it's probably better not to mention it in the following paragraph.

"Ronin. But even so, the manager of Masayuki still seemed quite hesitant.

Removing the evil Jiao and entrenched bandits can solve the big problem in the hot spring village, but please ask the samurai to be serious, and entrusting the ronin to do this kind of thing is obviously to fight poison with poison.

"What if they decide for themselves to entrench themselves here? "The shopkeeper's concern is not unreasonable, if a gang of bandits comes and a gang of thieves has a greater appetite, then they will not face greater trouble.

The indecision based on distrust caused the air in the room to be a little dull, and in this case, the girl sighed:

"I don't believe I'm going to say anything like that, but. ”

"Let Torotaro come forward and give it a try?"

"If it's an order issued by the son of a Chinese clan in Pingshan County, it's more or less restrictive, right?" Our white-haired girl, who has dealt with nobles a lot in the Rigal world, has applied her experience to her current situation, and unsurprisingly, others have accepted Mira's advice.

"Indeed, if the Chinese come forward and go back on their word, it is tantamount to tearing the skin and going against Pingshan County. Narumi nodded.

"With the name of the Iwakura family, it will be easier for the contemptible people to persuade the villagers. The store manager seems to agree with this proposal - although he has some connections and is admired by the villagers, he is ultimately only a commoner and not the person in charge of the village, so this kind of thing cannot be arbitrary, and the villagers need to be convened to discuss it.

"Then, let's go and discuss with Young Master Torotaro, and then try to gather the villagers. On the ronin side, there is Lao to inform you. ”