Traveling Through Tales

Chapter 8 Getting Settled

After a bit of time had passed, Kajima was able to answer a few of Azi's questions concerning what the Empire of Yamato was and helped him get a better understanding of the current common sense of the world.

It seems that the Empire of Yamato was founded by the Gods of a religious faith called the Furuhitokami who were believed to be the creators of humanity.

The Furuhitokami was also known as the first race to inhabit the lands of Ancient Yamato and were humanities creators, this was evident as Kajima told Azi that there were ruins of their civilization in the mountains of Kujyuri.

The ruins have been around even before the recorded history of Yamato so the age of the ruins was estimated to be more than a few thousand years. The mention of ruins had caught Azi's attention, but what surprised him was what Kajima's words were implying.

"So you are saying that the Emperor of Yamato is one of the Furuhitokami and has lived for more than a few thousand years?"

"Yes. " Kajima said. "In the texts of the faith, the Furuhitokami are stated to be immortal beings of great wisdom."

"But, what happened to the rest of the Furuhitokami, surely there must be more than just the emperor?" Azi asked.

Rubbing his head, Kajima responded after a brief groan.

"I don't know much about the details of ancient history, but it's believed that another God-like race came into conflict with the Furuhitokami and with it a divine war took place. This time period was known as the Age of Divine Strife which in the end left both sides taking heavy losses.

The Emperor of Yamato is believed to be the sole survivor of the fallout of the war as he has led the mortal races since the end of the Age of Divine Strife. Most information concerning the Age of Divine Strife has either been lost to time or has been withheld by the emperor."

"Then why do the people of Yamato not ask the emperor to share this information?"

Raising a brow, Kajima retorted.

"Would you be able to ask an Emperor, who created your ancestors and who you are a follower of, to share his history on how he had lost the majority of his kin?"

Hearing this, Azi took a pause and felt a bit of regret for asking such an inconsiderate question.

"Do not worry Azi." Kajima assured Azi. "It is fine to ask questions but be sure to be mindful of who you talk to about this. Scholars and researchers would love this kind of discussion, but I would be careful of the religious zealots. They might persecute you if you question the emperor's decisions or make any negative implications towards the emperor."

"Alright thank you for your advice."

Azi then changed the subject as he asked.

"Please tell me about the mounts you were talking about earlier, I saw a few on the way here."

Kajima nodded, understanding that Azi wanted to move away from a sensitive topic, and began describing the mounts commonly used as transportation in the Empire. It was either a large bird-like animal called a Hororon or a lizard-like animal called a Kibusanshou.

The Hororon are swift creatures on plains and in mountains, but they are limited on how much an individual Hororon could carry and how they get tired quickly if they run too quickly with a heavy load. They are mainly used as traveling mounts, for patrols, or as scouting mounts.

The Kibusanshou on the other hand are slower than the Hororon but they have great endurance and are strong enough to carry multiple carts of stone on their own. They make for great mounts for pulling wagons and carts over long distances or as war mounts to charge through the enemy lines to trample them.

Kajima then moved onto the topic of common sense such as currency and economy. Azi, with his fractured memory, could interpret from Kajima's explanation that the Empire of Yamato was similar to a medieval like eastern culture from his memories. It had a system of feudalism where the class of a citizen could be divided into different tiers.

From top to bottom would be the emperor, the royal family, the Great Generals, the Kings of Yamato's individual nations, the ordain knights, and finally the peasantry.

The currency used was also called Minos which were divided as colored coins minted in the Capital Yamato. The coins mainly used by the peasantry were Silver, Bronze, and Copper where 10 copper coins turned into 1 copper plate, 10 copper plates into 1 bronze coin, 10 bronze coins into 1 bronze plate, 10 bronze plates into 1 silver coin, and 10 silver coins into 1 silver plate.

The reason why only the first three colors of coins and plates were only used by peasants was due to the absurd conversion rate from silver plates to gold coins which was 100 silver plates into 1 gold coin.

From 100 gold coins it could then be converted to 1 gold plate and finally 10 gold plates would turn into 1 platinum coin. Only people like the emperor, royal family, Great Generals, and Kings would use gold and platinum colored currency.

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Author's Note: See below for Modern world equivalent

Currency:

Platinum Coin ~ $1,000,000,000 ~ $10,000,000,000 Minos

Gold Plate ~ $100,000,000 ~ 1,000,000,000 Minos

Gold Coin ~ $1,000,000 ~ 10,000,000 Minos

Silver Plate ~ $10,000 ~ 100,000 Minos

Silver Coin ~ $1,000 ~ 10,000 Minos

Bronze Plate ~ $100 ~ 1,000 Minos

Bronze Coin ~ $10 ~ 100 Minos

Copper Plate ~ $1 ~ 10 Minos

Copper Coin ~ $0.10 ~ 1 Minos

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Kajima then described how anyone at the level of a King, had the undisputed authority over the nation they govern, only surpassed by the emperor's own authority, and that this power is passed onto the chosen knighted members of his family or an ordained knight from the nation's population.

When Azi heard this, he questioned Kajima stating.

"So, there is no such thing as a concept of princess or prince? Wouldn't a prince or princess take over should the position of king be left vacant."

In response, Kajima said.

"While there is a concept of prince and princess, this was abolished by the emperor near the beginning of the Empire's history due to too many political disruptions and civil wars concerning the inheritance of positions.

The royal family still had princesses and princes like our current princess to be. The royal family has the so-called divine blood of the gods, so their station of power is permanent.

In any case, the classification of Ordained Knight was made for the family members of Kings and those chosen to be worthy enough of being Ordained with the title of night by the King of their respective nation. Only through merit and recognition of either the majority of the royal family or the decision of the emperor can a knight become a king."

Kajima then paused and turned to the door as Shizu began walking inside and began directing his attention to her while stating.

"But we do have some brats that like to act as if they are a spoiled princess."

Shizu noticeably pouted at Kajima and retorted.

"I'm not that bad, the nobles in the Capital of Yamato are much more uptight than me. Not to mention the few corrupt nobles that leech off the emperor's grace."

Off to the side, Azi, who was processing the information he was given, felt that he was in a pickle as he knew from his fractured memories that his life before coming to Shisayama was in a democratic society without feudalism.

From his point of view, feudalism was from a bygone era, but he knew there was no changing his current situation. He resolved himself that he needed to adapt to this new environment quickly in order to survive.

He also believed he should keep what he knew as modern a secret as this would bring a lot of unneeded attention to himself. If he suddenly talked about cars, guns, or even vehicles that could submerge in water, he would likely be targeted for his knowledge or worse be targeted by the emperor as he may want to eliminate him.

If the emperor was a god, the emperor could use some way to identify him as an irregular of the world and would want to move to eliminate him as Azi remembered reading about how the Gods of worlds would always feel threatened by any irregulars that would go against the common established norms of "their" world.

One example he could remember was a novel where a God turned a world into his playground by plaguing it with war, making conflict the norm of the world. He would revel in the senseless death and slaughter caused by his own machinations.

He would slaughter any race that would try to work for peace or come close to realizing the true nature of the Gods' sickening personalities.

Noticing Azi's silent contemplation, Kajima broke Azi out of his deep contemplation by changing topics to get his attention.

"Let's move on to a more interesting topic, for now since you will be staying in Shisayama and will rooming with me here at the smithy. Let's get you equipped."

Successfully breaking Azi from his thoughts, he showed excitement from the word "equipped" as it reminded him of all the Role-Playing Games or RPGs that he would play on what he could interpret as a foldable red metal box from the remaining older memories of his past.