Ago Wind

When the summer festival ends, autumn eventually arrives in Hirado. When the north wind that fishermen call "ago wind" blows, the harbor overflows with the year's greatest vitality. It is the peak season for ago fishing. Ago refers to flying fish. From the end of summer through autumn, flying fish rich with fat are landed one after another in Hirado.

This year seems to be a bumper catch. The faces of fishermen mooring their boats at the harbor are all beaming, and their trading voices are filled with vigor. For Raquel, who has long traveled the seas, flying fish are also a familiar catch. Rodrigo would rejoice when catching flying fish that sometimes flew into the ship with excessive momentum. The people of Hirado dry these flying fish in the sun and use them in various dishes. Since they keep well when dried, flying fish are also important as trade goods. Hirado's flying fish are apparently known by name even in the capital beyond the mountains.

"Once this is over, winter will come soon," Raquel mutters to himself while watching the skillful handling of fishermen expertly exposing flying fish to the sun. This will be his third winter since coming to this land. Hirado's winters do not become unbearably cold. However, for Raquel, who came from a tropical land, it is still a season that requires some preparation. The number of sick people also increases. This year, sufficient spices and medicinal herbs did not arrive from Macau. Until the next procurement, he must use them sparingly. Thinking this, Raquel leaves the harbor.

Even if winter is harsh, even if medicine runs short, it doesn't matter. As long as this tranquility continues, he can somehow manage. Raquel murmurs this in his heart. However, this thought would be futilely betrayed.

Horses Racing Through Darkness

On a late autumn day when flying fish fishing has ended and the scent of winter begins to drift through Hirado's streets. The time is the hour of the ox. In the pitch-black darkness, several horses race through Hirado's town, where the scent of tide lingers. The hooves striking the stone pavement echo as they gallop past, slicing through the night's silence. The men on horseback are all clad in armor and helmets. Their eyes are bloodshot, as if they had escaped from a world of darkness.

On the back of a horse running in the center of the formation, a tall man barely clings on. Life has drained from the man's face, and the hand gripping the reins convulses violently. It would not be strange if he fell from his horse and was thrown to the ground at any moment. However, the flame of the man's life still refuses to be extinguished. Summoning his last strength, he desperately grips the reins. At that moment, far above the men racing on horseback, a massive light cuts through the distant sky. The men look up at the sky while spurring their horses, trembling with fear.

"What is that! A star is falling! How ominous!"

The man who was about to lose consciousness on horseback suddenly regains awareness at these words and looks up at the sky. The sight of a giant comet scattering the light of its tail as it races across the heavens burns into his eyes.

"That star is not trying to fall. It is the form of a dragon trying to fly even higher. It is a good omen. I will not die yet..."

After squeezing out these words on horseback, the man grips the reins again with trembling hands. The group soon arrives at Raquel's clinic. The horses, suddenly commanded to stop, are startled, and their neighing echoes through the pitch-black darkness. The man who had led them rushes straight to the gate and pounds on it violently.

"Master Raquel! Lord Tagawa has been shot! Open the gate!"

In the darkness of the hour of the ox, Raquel was dreaming. In the secret theological school for Conversos that existed in Viseu, Pereira was talking enthusiastically about something. Raquel was listening while resting his chin on his hand at a desk. Suddenly, someone bursts in, pushes Pereira aside, and begins raving while pounding violently on the desk. The man is shouting something in Japanese. Strange. There should be no Japanese people in Viseu.

"Tagawa... serious injury... gun..."

The moment he realizes that the intermittent voice belongs to the real world, Raquel jumps up and shouts.

"Diego, Rodrigo, wake up! Lord Tagawa has been shot! Boil water immediately. Every moment counts! Prepare all the cloth you can find!"

Diego and Rodrigo also fly out of their sleeping quarters like bullets. They have already grasped the situation and say not a word. Diego runs to the gate with Raquel, while Rodrigo rushes to the stove to start a fire.

"Is Lord Tagawa the only one who was shot? Are there others with life-threatening injuries?"

As soon as Raquel throws open the gate, he immediately asks. The samurai who had pounded on the gate answers.

"Everyone is wounded, but they can still move. Lord Tagawa is in danger. He was shot in the leg with a gun. We stopped the bleeding, but he has lost considerable blood!"

Raquel nods at these words and gives instructions to Diego and Rodrigo.

"Remove Lord Tagawa's armor and helmet immediately and strip him naked! I will check all wounds. Diego, prepare plenty of hot water and shochu! Rodrigo, prepare a small knife immediately. And heat the fire tongs until they're red-hot!"

The two spring into action as if launched by springs. There have been numerous emergency patients in the middle of the night before. However, this is the first situation since coming to Hirado with such urgency and importance.

"When was he shot! At close range? From a distance?"

"He was shot two and a half days ago! Not at close range. It was a stray bullet!"

Hearing this, Raquel stares intently at Tagawa's gunshot wound revealed from under his armor. Rodrigo illuminates from the side with a lantern. The bullet has pierced the right calf from the right diagonal rear. However, there is no exit wound where the bullet passed through to the other side. The lead ball remains in the leg. It must be removed. Fortunately, there seems to be no sign of shattered bone. A slight relief spreads through Raquel's heart.

"Diego. Rodrigo. I will cut open the affected area and extract the bullet. After three days, pus should have accumulated. I will scrape it all out. Once that's finished, I'll cauterize the affected area with fire tongs and wash it with shochu. Then I'll immediately apply castor oil and anti-inflammatory medicine, protect and preserve the affected area with bandages. After that, we must trust in Lord Tagawa's life force."

Saying this, Raquel takes pills from his medicine box, brings his face close to Tagawa's ear, and raises his voice.

"Lord Tagawa, can you hear me! You did well to survive and return here. I will definitely save you. Please do your best too. This is a painkiller made from poppy seeds. It will be rough treatment, but please endure it somehow. Your abdomen wasn't shot, and your bones weren't shattered. You will surely be saved!"

Tagawa tries to say something to Raquel with his pale face and trembling lips, but no words come out. His consciousness is also confused and his eyes are vacant. Right now, this man is undoubtedly at the boundary between life and death. It is a battle against time. Raquel forces Tagawa to swallow the pill with hot water, then makes him bite down on a hemp rope about the thickness of a finger. Then, he deliberately takes shochu into his mouth and sprays it on Tagawa's wound. Tagawa groans softly. As soon as Raquel receives the small knife from Rodrigo, he unhesitatingly cuts open Tagawa's gunshot wound and desperately searches for the lead ball in the sea of blood where candlelight flickers.

"Guuuu...!"

An indescribable scream echoes throughout Wang Zhi's residence. Without changing his expression, Raquel probes even deeper into the wound. Then he locates a bullet about the size of his little finger tip. He immediately extracts it. The fact that this didn't penetrate through the calf suggests it was indeed a stray bullet fired from a distance.

Next, Raquel uses a small spoon made from carved bamboo to scrape out the pus that has accumulated deep in the wound. The pus that had been sealed by the lead ball is released and gushes out, clinging to the spoon. Once all the pus is expelled, Raquel takes the red-hot fire tongs from Rodrigo and deliberately presses them against the wound.

"Gwaaaaah!"

Tagawa bites down on the hemp rope as if to bite it through and rolls back his eyes. He must not falter here. If he doesn't treat it properly, it will definitely become infected again. If that happens, Tagawa's physical strength probably won't hold out. Raquel unhesitatingly applies the fire tongs to every detail of the wound. Once he is confident in the effectiveness of the treatment, he washes the entire area with shochu. Then he applies anti-inflammatory medicine compounded from medicinal herbs such as rhubarb and rehmannia root. He wraps the affected area with bandages in cooperation with Diego and Rodrigo. When all treatment is finished, the sun is already high in the sky.