Chapter 69
“No, why…”
Rosetta wanted to ask why she had to go all this trouble to watch the training, but Benny shushed her. So Rosetta kept her mouth shut and followed Benny.
They crawled behind the overgrown flower beds that had been planted there. This was the first time she had ever experienced anything like this in her life.
Rosetta crawled anyway, thinking that she was really experiencing something special by coming here. Just when her hands and knees were aching and she thought she couldn’t go on, Benny stopped.
Benny bent down and whispered, “This is the best place to look.”
Rosetta brushed the dirt off her hands. “What? The training?”
“No, muscles.”
Rosetta glanced up in surprise. Sure enough, in front of her, she saw dozens of men, all shirtless and wielding swords.
“……!”
Rosetta barely muffled a scream with her hand, and quickly turned to the side.
“Rigaina, you’ll get caught!”
Benny pulled back Rosetta who was about to run away. Rosetta crouched down in the flowerbed, covering herself as best she could.
It must be a dream, there’s no way I’m doing this here, this is something only a voyeur would do.
“You only get to see this in the summer. In the fall, everyone gets their clothes on when they train.”
By now, Benny’s eyes were crescent-shaped. Benny put one hand on her chin and began to watch in earnest.
“After all, a man’s muscles look the best when they’re sweating, don’t you think?”
When Benny saw that Rosetta’s eyes kept wandering, unable to find a place to look, she pointed forward with her finger.
“Look over there. There’s Riga.”
And with that, Rosetta cautiously glanced up. She could see Rashid standing in front of a crowd of men, commanding them. Among those practicing with their swords were several men who had accompanied Rosetta here, including Sika.
Soon Rashid’s gaze fell on a group of boys squatting in the corner of the training ground. The boys, all of whom looked young at first glance, stood still as Rashid approached. Rashid walked slowly in front of them.
“What’s the most important thing in a real battle?”
The boys exchanged glances. One of them answered loudly, “Slashing the enemy!”
“Wrong. The most important thing is to stay alive by taking a good defensive stance. Run a lap.”
He snapped his fingers, and the boys kicked up a cloud of dust and began to circle the training ground.
When they returned, Rashid asked again, “What part of your body can you protect while attacking your opponent?”
The boys clamped their mouths shut this time. Rashid smiled slightly, showing his teeth.
“You’re not answering? Run a lap.”
The boys circled the training ground again, and by the time they returned, they were out of breath.
“I ask you again. What part of your body can you protect while attacking your opponent?”
“Arms!”
“The heart!”
This time, the answers poured in. Rosetta hoped one of them had the right answer, but Rashid shook his head.
“No, it’s the head. Run a lap again.”
As the boys ran off in a huff, Rosetta thought to herself, God, he’s mean, he’s so evil.
Rosetta shuddered in retrospect, realizing that the way he had taught her to ride was indeed gentle.
The boys returned, their legs all wobbly. Only then did the real training begin.
“That’s why the hawk stance–the way you raise your sword and bring it down on your opponent’s head–is so fundamental to swordsmanship, and so crucial to survival. That’s why you have to do it over and over again, not just whine about it after a few times.”
Rashid picked up his wooden sword and demonstrated the stance himself. It was a simple two-handed grip, raising the sword above his head and slashing it down quickly in front of him.
Rosetta’s eyes naturally traveled to his broad shoulders, thick thighs, and forearms holding the sword. More precisely, the myriad muscles carved into his body.
Not too thick, not too thin, they were sculpted all over his arms, back, waist, and stomach. With each stroke of his sword, the tightly woven muscles twitched and moved as if they were alive. Thick beads of sweat rolled down those muscles from the heat.
Rosetta stared at the sight in disbelief, and remembered that she had once touched that body herself. Technically, she had only bandaged it, but her cheek had even brushed against it.
She wondered how she had the presence of mind to put a bandage on his body like that, and she had yelled at him to stay still. If I had to do it again now, my hands would tremble and I would drop the bandage.
“Don’t you think a man’s body is beautiful when you look at it like this, especially those abs?” asked Benny without taking her eyes off the training ground.
Rosetta nodded unconsciously and realized that Rashid had now turned his back on them to examine the posture of a boy.
Rosetta glanced around.
“Benny, who are you looking at?”
Benny turned to look at Rosetta in panic, then suddenly tugged on her hand and whispered, “L- Let’s go, we’ve been here too long.”
As Rosetta was being dragged by Benny again, Sika, who had been practicing striking a tree with his sword, caught sight of them.
“Huh? Rigaina?”
Sika immediately ran to Rashid.
“Riga, have you seen her? Rigaina’s over there now…”
-puck.
Rashid’s wooden sword struck Sika in the center of his head. Sika screamed as he felt the pain of his head being split in half.
“Ack! Why are you hitting me? I’m just…”
-puck.
This time, the wooden sword struck his right waist. Sika was stretched out on the ground, having taken two hits in quick succession.
The wooden sword stuck right next to his ear. Sika swallowed hard. This is weird. What is this feeling I have, like I’ve done something wrong when I haven’t?
Rashid steadied the wooden sword with both hands and looked down at him.
“Do ten laps because you did something unnecessary during training.”
“Yes?”
“And for failing to dodge my attack, five more laps.”
“……”
Ugh, it’s unfair!
Sika started running around the training ground in a fit of rage. All he wanted to do was let Riga know that Rigaina was here, but it ended up like this.
The boys giggled and laughed at the sight of him. But when Rashid gave them a cold glare, their laughter vanished, and they hastily resumed slashing with their wooden swords.
After watching them for a moment, Rashid glanced sideways toward the flower bed. He had already noticed that a few moments ago, a green ribbon had been fluttering.
***
By the time they arrived at the backyard, everything was already set up.
“Welcome, Rigaina.”
Rosetta was greeted by a group of the best craftsmen who had been dyeing for many years, some of them gray-haired old people. Rosetta was somewhat impressed that they were still doing this at such an advanced age.
“Nice to meet you. The reason I called you here today is to make the dye color I want.”
Rosetta picked up a few cloths on the table and held them out to them. “This one is too dark, this one is too light, and this one is an ambiguous color. What I want is a color that’s somewhere between this and this.”
With Rosetta’s specific orders, they put their heads together and began to discuss. Dyeing hair is not a simple process: different colors require different ingredients, and even the same color can vary depending on temperature, auxiliary ingredients, and the number of times it’s dyed. Colors can’t be mixed together like paint; to achieve an in-between color, you need to add color over and over again.
After much discussion, a general direction was decided upon. The ingredients were poured into the jar. On one side, they mashed the ingredients, and on the other, they started a fire to boil the water.
Rosetta rolled up her sleeves and helped with the dyeing. Benny protested that her hands would get wet, but Rosetta didn’t mind.
The old woman stirring the dye next to her asked Rosetta, “So, Rigaina, how did you get interested in dyeing?”
Rosetta tossed the petals into the jar and answered without hesitation, “I thought I’d try to make some money with this.”
The old woman paused for a moment, then tilted her head and began to chuckle.
“By the way, Riga has a good wife. With the two of you here, I don’t think we’ll ever starve.”
Rosetta couldn’t figure out why the old woman was laughing so hard at her honest answer; she just knew she was in a good mood and smiled along with her.
As they chatted away, the old woman craned her neck, searching for something.
“Now that I think about it, I don’t see any salt. Did I forget it?”
“Salt? Does dyeing require salt?”
“Yes, because different concentrations of salt make different shades. A moment, I’ll go ask for the salt…”
“No need, just leave it to me.”
Rosetta got up, thinking that she would rather do it herself than make the old woman get up.
Rosetta looked for a maid to run an errand to the kitchen. Everyone was busy doing their own thing, so it was hard to find the one who wasn’t.
Finally, she spotted one of the maids casually walking by. Just as Rosetta was about to call out to her, someone grabbed her.