Rising Warriors: Chronicles of a Lion

Purple Gold Coin

It was the summer season at this time. The days were longer than the nights.

At around this time, a blonde-haired man was on his horse while tightly holding two children. A raven-haired 4-year-old boy and a little girl who was just about a month old.

If someone looked closely, they would notice that there were some marks on the face of the man, it looked like his tears had dried after a long time. He was completely silent as he traveled eastwards through the forests and reached a village.

It was a small village with a population between 200-300. The people who lived here were mostly tribal people. They had a hard time gathering money to even buy clothes from the cities.

These villagers used the leather of a beast to create clothing for themselves. Most of the men remained bare-chested while covering their lower bodies.

While women wore clothing, which covered their bodies but revealed their legs. The little children didn’t require much leather so they were easily able to create clothing for themselves.

As of this moment, the man on the horse while carrying two children was about to enter the village.

There were two guards stationed at the entrance. The two were skeptical when they saw this man on the horse.

“Stop!”

After stopping him. They observed him carefully. From this’ clothing, it was clear that he was someone from the city. Most probably a respected person in the city.

With a careful look in their eyes, they asked him, “Who are you? What brings you to this small village?”

The Blonde-haired man swept his eyes over the two of them and calmly answered, “My name is Kudo Tajima. These two are my children. My son, Kudo Ryusuke, and my daughter Kudo Ayumi. I hope you let us seek shelter in the village.”

The guards had a calm look on the surface as they asked him, “What’s the benefit for us to let you in?”

Without even saying anything, Tajima threw a coin towards the two of them. They both caught it easily. After catching it, their eyes widened as they stared at the coin.

It was a Purple colored coin. It was called a purple gold coin. It was very rare in the world. Normally, only the rich nobles possessed the wealth to use these purple gold coins.

1 Purple gold coin = 10 Gold Coins = 100 Silver Coins = 1000 Bronze Coins

Normally, even 1 Gold Coin was enough for a family to eat well for an entire year. Naturally, this was assuming that they do not utilize the money for buying clothes and other things.

The fact that Kudo Tajima was able to throw Purple Gold Coins so casually surprised them. They both greedily stared at Kudo Tajima and wondered ‘He is so rich to be throwing these Purple Gold Coins casually. Does he have even more?’

Even though they were greedy, they knew their limits. It would be foolish of them to try and steal from someone like him. The people who possessed this much wealth were naturally powerful.

They naturally invited him to the village. It wasn’t hard to find accommodations for Tajima, his son, and his daughter with the money he held.

The village chief didn’t understand why Tajima was so adamant about having his hut on the eastern side of the village.

The house was at some distance from the village. However, Tajima had paid them quite a lot so they had no choice but to comply.

It took around half a day for the villagers to form his hut.

In the meantime, Ryusuke groggily woke up. Tajima was carrying Ryusuke on his back. While his daughter Ayumi was tied with cloth on his front body.

Ryusuke said as he stared down from so high, “Waah! So high! Let me down!” He started to punch Tajima on his back with his little fists.

Naturally, this didn’t affect Tajima in the slightest but he bends down and let Ryusuke jump down.

Looking around and finding the place to be very unfamiliar, he asked Tajima, “Where is this place, father? Where is my mother? I don’t see her anywhere?”

Tajima didn’t answer him and stood up before he was about to walk again. Ryusuke didn’t seem to care as Tajima ignored him. He stared at the little girl who was tied with a red cloth. She looked like she was just a month old.

With a bright smile, Ryusuke tugged Tajima’s sleeves and loudly said, “Let me hold her! Let me hold her! Let me hold her!”

He repeatedly asked Tajima to let him hold his little sister. Tajima was reluctant to do so. After some time, he sighed and removed the red cloth to free Ayumi. He gently placed Ayumi in Ryusuke’s hands.

Ryusuke lovingly gazed at his little sister and poked her cheeks. Poking her chubby cheeks, he said, “Ayumi is such a good girl.”

As if responding to him, she started to cry in a low voice. Tajima stared at the two of them for a long time before he said, “Can you carry her?”

“Of course, I can! What sort of big brother will I be if I can’t even carry my little sister!” He said that with a child’s innocence and enthusiasm.

Tajima didn’t respond to his words. He started walking towards the newly built hut in this village.

He didn’t spare a glance at his children and kept walking with his head down. Anyone could see an aura of melancholy spreading out of his body.

Well, anyone except his children. They followed him to the hut.

The hut only had a single room. But it was enough for the three of them to live in it. After all, Ryusuke and Ayumi were young so they didn’t occupy much space.

Ryusuke looked inside the hut and frowned. He turned towards his father and asked, “Where is the bed father? Are we going to be living in such a place?”

Tajima calmly answered him, “It is as you see. There is no bed. Yes, we will be living in such a place.”

“Why?” With his eyes filled with curiosity, he asked Tajima.

“Because I feel like it.” That shut down all other questions that Ryusuke had. Ryusuke felt that his father was a little different from before. He thought in his head ‘Maybe he is in a bad mood. But where is my mother? Did she not come with us?’

His questions remained unanswered as he heard his sister cry again. He naturally started to pay more attention to her.

Tajima suddenly bent down and took Ayumi from Ryusuke. Ryusuke naturally didn’t resist and let him hold Ayumi. He himself was getting tired of holding her in his hands.

He was after all just a 4-year-old boy. His strength, stamina, and endurance were limited due to his young age.

After his Tajima took Ayumi from Ryusuke. Ryusuke followed Tajima out of the hut. They both entered the main village.

Ryusuke saw some villagers. He walked up to them and asked with a nervous voice, “Umm… Uncle, where can I get a comfortable bed?”

The villager was somewhat shocked to see Ryusuke asking about a comfortable bed in such a rural village. He replied with an embarrassed laugh, “There is no comfortable bed. That’s the luxury found in cities.”

“Is there really not even one? I wanted to have it for my little sister. Please tell me who would have it in the village.” Revealing his reason for buying the bed. The villager was a little touched.

He bent down and pats Ryusuke’s forehead, “You want it for your little sister. You are a really good brother. I don’t have it but if you talk with the village chief, he could arrange it for you.”

With a low whisper, he said to Ryusuke, “Be careful though. He is a stingy old man who cares the most about money. He will surely try to take advantage of you.”

Not minding those words in the slightest, Ryusuke responded with, “Mhm~!”

He ran towards Tajima and tugged his trousers, “Father, father, let’s go to meet with the village chief. I want to ask for a bed for Ayumi.”

Tajima responded with a nod. They moved towards the residence of the chief of this rural village.

The residence of the village chief was a lot better than Tajima’s little hut. Naturally, the reason was because of the time invested in forming this hut. Besides, Tajima had specifically told the village chief to create a simple hut for himself.

Before Tajima and the Village Chief could start talking, Ryusuke’s clear voice was heard, “Umm… Uncle, I wanted to ask for a comfortable bed for my little sister.”

“Hmm… A comfortable bed for a little child huh. It is going not going to be cheap. But if you can provide me with money, then I shall naturally order for the bed from the nearest town.” The village chief was looking into the eyes of Tajima.

Tajima pulled out a Gold Coin and threw it at the Village Chief. Catching the gold coin, the village chief said, “Wait for a day. I will personally deliver it to your hut.”

Ryusuke was happy to hear that. He innocently smiled. Feeling quite satisfied, he was about to return back when Tajima suddenly called out to him, “Wait, son!”

Confused at why his father had called out for him, Ryusuke waited. Tajima looked at the village chief and said, “Can I ask you to lend me those 5 books placed on the shelf?”

The books he was pointing at were the storybooks common within the world. The village chief was more than happy and said, “Naturally… Lending these books is not an issue.”

Tajima immediately said to Ryusuke, “Pick them up and take them back to the hut. Start reading these storybooks.”

Ryusuke didn’t really know why his father was telling him this. But he took the books and returned back to the hut. He had learned how to read from his mother. He only needed time to finish reading these books.

After Ryusuke left with the books. Tajima looked at the Village Chief and said with a serious face, “Now, let’s talk...”

The village chief invited him to sit in the living room. Tajima still held his young daughter in his arms. The village chief ordered a servant to bring tea for them in the living room.

As they both faced each other, Tajima started talking calmly, “I would like to request for some milk and food to be delivered to our hut every day. Naturally, I will pay in advance.”

The village chief raised his eyebrows because this was an unusual request. He thought that this man had come to find something to do and was going to ask about it.

“That’s naturally not an issue. You don’t want to do any work here? Are you sure?” The village chief has tried to convince him to join the workers and work in the field but Tajima had politely declined.

“No, money is not an issue for me. Oh right, when you are bringing the bed, also get some books and alcohol.” After saying that, he pulled out a slip from his pocket and handed it to the village chief.

“These are the names of the books you have to buy.” As he handed the slip. The village chief stared at the names of the books and frowned.

The names were very unfamiliar. However, he was sure that finding these books would be easy in the town.

With a greedy look on his face, he grinned and said, “Of course, I shall go along any request that mister has. But it will be a little expensive since the transportation costs have to be added and-”

Before he spoke any further. Tajima flicked a purple gold coin at him. The Village chief caught it and stared at the Purple Gold Coin for an entire minute.

The expenditure of the things that Tajima asked for would not exceed 3 Gold Coins. The rest 7 Gold Coins were left for him. He was naturally delighted to gain such wealth without even doing something.

Tajima stood up and left the village chief’s residence without drinking any tea. It was unknown what he was thinking.

The village chief didn’t really care what Tajima was thinking. Since he received the money, he had started ordering the slaves to make arrangements.