Chapter 36: Chaos of the Andes.


    < 36. Chaos of the Andes. >


    So, what happened?


    Well, you see


    The colorful ma chuckled at the voicesing from beyond the cabin door.


    Theyre at it again.


    He could picture the situation in his head without looking.


    Most likely, Blue Sun was telling the neers stories from the past.


    The colorful ma opened the door and entered. Then, Blue Sun greeted him warmly.


    Did youe? Hows outside?


    Well, we still have to go further. Besides, are you at it again?


    Haha. At it again? These guys keep asking me to tell them, thats why.


    Yeah, yeah. Sure they do.


    The colorful ma rubbed his ears and went to his bed andy down.


    Uh-hum, hum. Where did I stop?


    Blue Suns story continued, but the colorful ma tuned him out.


    Anyway, he never gets tired of it.


    Actually, the colorful ma didnt remember his childhood very well. The part he remembered was from when he had already joined the Creek tribe.


    The colorful ma and Blue Sun were sailors from the imperial maind.


    But there were more sailors from the ocean region than from the maind here.


    They were always curious about the Wakan Tanka Empire.


    The stories of how the emperor descended from the sky and unified the surroundings at a tremendous speed, creating a powerful empire.


    Thats lucky.


    The colorful ma was very satisfied with his current life.


    He had been sailing around various ces since before he became an adult.


    Staying in one ce didnt suit the colorful mas temperament.


    He had sailed beyond the current empires territory and visited various ces in both the ocean and Andes regions.


    That way, he could feel the difference between the central part of the empire and the non-empire regions.


    The natives of other regions were definitely worse off in terms of quality of life.


    Moreover, the empire was developing at a fast pace even at this moment.


    The colorful ma, who traveled frequently between the capital and various ces, knew this well.


    Living as an imperial citizen was truly a blessing.


    As he was thinking that.


    Ding-ding-ding!


    Suddenly, a bell rang out loud.


    Assembly!


    Damn. I thought I could rest a bit.


    He had just changed shifts, but it seemed like they had arrived at their destination already.


    He hated this time the most.


    But what could he do? As long as he was on this ship, he had to follow the captains orders.


    The colorful ma reluctantly got up from his bed and left the cabin.


    Hey, did you rest well?


    Shut up. Are you trying to tease me right now?


    Hey. Its just your mood, your mood. Hahaha!


    A colleague who had not been on duty for long smirked at him annoyingly.


    He was quite irritated, but the colorful ma just sighed.


    He knew that he was just yful and had a good heart.


    Its been a while since weve been here.


    About a month or so?


    Thats right.


    Anyway, I have to appreciate his wanderlust. Why does he have to go on different ships all the time?


    I dont like going on just one route. I got on this ship because the timing didnt match with other ships.


    Yeah. You work hard by yourself. Im just going back and forth between Shit Ind and Ocean.


    The colorful ma smiled faintly and leaned on the railing.


    The open sea calmed his mind and body.


    Whats beyond there?


    What kind of beings lived beyond the horizon?


    He was very curious about that.


    But he was just a sailor right now.


    He couldnt go to such ces on his own.


    So he worked as a sailor and kept saving money.


    His sry as an experienced sailor was quite hefty.


    He saved and saved his ie until now.


    I dont have much left.


    He had umted quite a lot of wealth by now.


    Of course, he had to buy a ship with that money and do various transportation jobs to earn more money, then pay his fellow sailors who shared his intentions.


    But it wasnt as hopeless as before.


    As he was thinking that, the ship approached Shit Ind soon enough.


    What kind of faction is there this time? Hehe.


    Thats right. Anyway, Andes is chaotic.


    Shit Ind was a battlefield for various factions. It seemed to show a miniature version of the current chaos in Andes region.


    It couldnt be helped.


    Shit Ind mined bird droppings that were all bought by Wakan Tanka Empire.


    In exchange for iron weapons and various imperial specialties.


    Before long, the ship anchored near Shit Ind.


    Hurry up and get off!


    Following the captains order, the sailors including the colorful manded on Shit Ind.


    Wee.


    d to see you.


    As the group got off the ship, the leader of the faction that upied Shit Ind greeted them.


    This was tranted in real time by the interpreter who came with them on the ship.


    Is there anything you need?


    Captain White Dog tilted his head and asked.


    Even if he was a captain, he couldnt know all the tribes of Andes.


    Especially these days, many tribes wore clothes imported from Wakan Tanka Empire, making it harder to distinguish them.


    Its an alliance of five tribes, including the Pekcha tribe.


    Oh, I see.


    Only then did the white dog nod his head.


    He had heard of that tribe before. It was a tribe that had a considerable power in the Andes region.


    The Pha have expanded their territory this far.


    He almost snorted as he listened to their words.


    As far as he knew, the Pha tribe was a tribe that had grown their influence in the ind area.


    The Tawantinsuyu must have weakened, so they are fighting among themselves.


    The Wakan Tanka Empire had dyed enough time and then started trading with the Tawantinsuyu, or the Inca Empire.


    But in the meantime, several tribes that had already acquired enough weapons joined forces and swept away the Tawantinsuyus territory.


    This was more aggressive and rapid than the Wakan Tanka Empire had expected.


    As a result, the Tawantinsuyus power had shrunk drasticallypared to before.


    Still, they were able to recover some of their power by starting trade with the Wakan Tanka Empire.


    Even though they had weakened, the Tawantinsuyu were still a powerful nation.


    The problem started from then on.


    Some of the tribes that had united to take over the Tawantinsuyus regions showed their true colors.


    They stabbed the backs of the other allied tribes.


    It became a mess from then on.


    If they had joined forces to punish the traitorous tribes, it would have been different.


    But they didnt do that.


    They didnt know which tribe would stab their back next.


    A distrust arose among them.


    It was natural.


    They had only joined hands for a while to fight against the powerful enemy called Tawantinsuyu.


    Besides, they had a desire to expand their territory with the powerful weapons they had acquired.


    Especially, they had to secure the mining areas such as gold mines or silver mines, in order to buy the powerful weapons from the Wakan Tanka Empire.


    Eventually, the tribes that agreed with each other formed alliances, and the huge coalition was practically dissolved.


    And then, wars began to take more mines in their own spheres of influence.


    And one of those battlefields is this shit ind.


    The faction that upied the shit ind could get more weapons, necessities, food, and other goods from the Wakan Tanka Empire.


    And this would eventually lead to further expansion of their power.


    Naturally, the shit ind became an inevitable battleground.


    The workers who dug up bird droppings remained as they were, but the faction that took their profits kept changing.


    The workers who dug up bird droppings did not attack.


    That was an unwritten rule for all workers in gold mines and silver mines as well.


    It was hard to bring workers to these ces every time the faction changed.


    And another faction.


    The Wakan Tanka Empires trade ship never touched it.


    If they sumbed to a momentary greed and touched it, the Wakan Tanka Empire wouldpletely cut off trade with that tribe.


    There were already tribes that had fallen because of that.


    As for us, we just need to get more bird droppings.


    He didnt care much whether they fought or not among themselves.


    The empires policy was that they could trade with any tribe as long as they didnt attack the empire.


    Ill give you one sword for this much bird droppings.


    No, thats too expensive! It seems more expensive than what I heard!


    Haha. You must not have heard the news yet. The demand for the empires weapons and specialties has increased in many regions of the Andes. There are more tribes that want them, but the quantity is fixed. Of course, its natural that it costs more.


    Hmm Then lets do this.


    Soon after, a fierce bargaining began between the leaders of the two factions.


    Thanks to that, the price was lowered a bit from what the white dog had initially offered, but he still got more money for his weapons than in hisst trade.


    What he said was true.


    More and more tribes wanted goods from the empire.


    Especially iron swords broke easily.


    It cost a lot to rece them with new ones. Of course, the production of iron swords also increased steadily, but demand rose faster than that.


    Haha. It was a good deal. I hope I can trade with your tribe again next time.


    You will definitely see my face again.


    He could feel a strong will from his face that he would defend this shit ind at all costs.


    Afterpleting the trade on shit ind.


    The empires trade ship soon left shit ind.


    The ship left the ind and stopped by several regions of Andes to load gold and silver.


    Then it would go to Pacific region.


    And from there, goods would be transported to maind of empire.


    ***


    At an experimental site of chemistry department at Imperial University.


    An experiment was in progress here.


    Everyone back off!


    At shout of senior researcher, researchers of university prepared for explosion that would happen soon.


    Soon, fuse got shorter and me reached explosive material.


    Then.


    Bang!


    An explosion urred in middle of site.


    Hmm


    What do you think?


    I think itcks firepower. What do you think?


    I agree.


    Lets record it for now.


    Yes.


    Kim Ki-woo had introduced inductive research method to various departments of Imperial University.


    It was same for chemistry department.


    Chemistry department was currently researching explosive materials.


    This was because Kim Ki-woo had suggested it.


    He hadmented to try using bird droppings as explosive material.


    I think we need to increase amount of material made from bird droppings.


    That seems right. To increase firepower.


    They had tried putting in many materials.


    They had tried putting in soil, and even salt.


    They had tried all kinds of experiments, but only time they witnessed clear explosion was when they put in three things at same time.


    It was material refined from bird droppings, charcoal, and sulfur.


    In fact, bird droppings were hint from Kim Ki-woo.


    He hadmented to try using it as explosive material.


    Then lets add more refined bird droppings.


    Okay.


    They continued their experiments on explosive materials.


    Gunpowder was about to be born at aboratory of Imperial University.


    < Chaos of Andes. > The end