Chapter 411: Yuna
Brothers. Mouths to feed. A young woman either twenty years of age or just. Desperate and meek. Her position in this was clear: it was the same as Kazi’s when he was a boy. A servant. A slave. Whichever one preferred. Whichever was legal.
Like many nations, Japan had their own official slave system. In 1590, that slave system was abolished by the daimyo Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Here was something some men did not understand. Just because something was "legally" cast aside did not mean it did not continue in practice. See Article 17 of the Gotōke reijō—the Tokugawa House Laws—stipulating that the immediate family of executed criminals could be subjected to "non-free labor" as a form of punishment or the Portuguese slave trade in Japan which sold men and women en masse. Daimyo Hideyoshi was disgusted. Laws were passed.
So what? People enslaved others anyway. His people enslaved others of his people.
Kazi glanced at the shop behind her, noticing the sign—a small general store, selling basic goods and food staples, nothing extravagant. The shelves were sparsely stocked and functional, the kind of shop that catered to the common folk. A place like this would be hard-pressed to make a living and it was clear that the woman worked here, either for little pay under the owner or none at all.
When Kazi was a child, there was an illusion of choice. That Pakistani "servant" came to him, Imtiaz Ahmed, he raised a hand and claimed he had a choice. In reality, there was no choice. He was going to be sent to that big house kicking and screaming. See, his "master" needed youth. He needed someone that would serve him and his family for their whole life.
Kazi had been the only healthy, rationale boy. Whether he liked it or not, he was going to go there. He was going to stay. That did not end up happening.
Kazi’s eyes shifted to the middle-aged inside the store, seated behind the counter, counting coins in his hand. The owner, no doubt.
"I’ll be back."
Amping up his smile and charm, Kazi stepped inside the store, drawing the attention of the owner. The man, dressed in a faded blue kimono, looked up, surprised to see a well-dressed foreigner in his modest shop.
"Good day, sir," Kazi greeted warmly. "I was hoping to make a purchase."
"Of course, ah, what are you looking for?"