When Persimmons Turn Red, Doctors Turn Pale

[Senba Village]

Ten ri to the west of the Library-City Dungeon, after Kishi Village, a second village was built: "Senba Village." A road ran dead straight out from the dungeon proper forty kilometers away, and overhead an aqueduct ran high above it. There were plans to build several auxiliary post-station towns every two or three ri along the road in the future, but for now there was nothing. As for the road itself, a hundred meters of land was reserved for its width, but only about ten meters of it was solidly built as dungeon structure. Even so, that was enough for two daihachi handcarts to pass one another without worrying about pedestrians.

The road and the aqueduct ran in a straight line all the way to the dried-up river just short of Kawagoe Castle. The dungeon's sphere of influence extended as far as the Biwa Bridge that spanned the dry riverbed. Beyond the river was the territory of humans, of Iruma, and it would remain outside the dungeon's sphere of influence in the future as well.

"With this, you can now reach Iruma on foot in two days without camping out in the open."

It was also possible, by way of Iruma, to travel to Ke or Sō, though by a somewhat roundabout route.

"So I just need to use this place as a base and keep watch so pirates and the like don't show up, is that it?"

So said Senba Sama-no-jō Jiro.

"Ordinarily, yes. And, naturally, when the need arises, you'll be obligated to render military service. Once things settle down, we plan to build a checkpoint at the Biwa Bridge to properly clamp down on criminals and contraband."

"Understood."

Right away, a band of Asura came up the brand-new road. Some had gray-green hair, others reddish-green, with eyes of vivid red-orange or yellow. Most of the rest had jet-black hair and eyes. The black wasn't melanin but tannin, though that's neither here nor there. The last few were shaven-headed.

"A pleasure to meet you. I'm Yokono. I serve as a physician."

A black-haired, round-faced woman greeted Marie.

"Welcome to the Library-City Dungeon. I'm Marie, of the Shiso family. I serve as personal secretary to this dungeon."

"Name's Saijō. As you can see, we're the Persimmon family, so like they say, 'when persimmons turn red, the doctors turn pale.' We've got a knack for the healing arts, so we're bound to be of use."

So said another black-haired woman, this one with a somewhat long, horsey face, though of course there was no telling a Persimmon Asura just by looking. Incidentally, since the persimmon plant has both female trees and hermaphroditic ones, strictly speaking the Persimmon Asura too include females and hermaphrodites, the hermaphrodites looking sometimes male and sometimes female. And while we're on the subject, since neither Asura nor beastfolk nor Preta have their occupations decided by their kind, there are plenty of Persimmon Asura out in the world who are something other than doctors.

"Rokai. Also known as 'the doctor-not-needed.' But a doctor all the same."

A male-looking Asura with reddish-green hair and vivid red-orange eyes gave his name.

"This aloe lot got cast out of their family for not being true lilies, so they're wandering Asura with no fixed affiliation."

"For the moment, the Squill family. Before that we were the Usugi family, but the point is simply that we're Aloe Asura; which family it is doesn't matter."

"There is a certain rivalry of skill between doctors, but it's not as though we're on bad terms. We simply belong to different factions."

So said Yokono.

"Taking two for the same family, only to find they're complete strangers with no blood ties who merely happen to resemble each other. And conversely, taking two for strangers, only to find they share a bloodline. It's a common enough story."

So said Marie.

"We heard this was a dungeon ruled by Asura, so we figured we could work here without humans and the like sticking their oars in."

"It's not as though Asura alone are exalted here. In any case, doctors are most welcome. More and more settlers will be pouring in from here on, and Sapien-sensei, ah, that's our dungeon's Named-monster physician, could never manage on his own. Incidentally, since this dungeon is a library, we can summon otherworld medical texts to our hearts' content, so please do study and refine your craft. Unfortunately they're for humans, so they can't be used as-is for Asura or beastfolk."

"Books are dear, after all. We're grateful for that."

In this world, doctors are often shaven-headed. Among the Persimmon Asura doctors too there are some with names like Hōrenbō or Gionbō, shaven-pated and priestly-sounding, but it's not as though they're actually monks.