Pharaoh’s Concubine - Chapter 17

Editor: Anonymous Stickman, Obelifera

Giza was a border city at the junction of Libya and Egypt. It formed a relatively autonomous area within the surrounding villages of Sittat, Moulay and a dozen other small villages. People within these villages and towns would proudly call this area Giza. Of course, their form of address was only spoken in private. The Pharaoh had absolute rights over the territories of Egypt, and would not tolerate this so-called “autonomy”.

The first prince, Sef, was the consulate general of Giza. He was appointed by Seti I himself, who had passed away months prior. As the eldest prince, Sef should’ve been next in line for the crown. But Seti I had instead given his second son, Ramses II, the title “Son of the Old Pharaoh”. With his grandfather’s namesake, this young prince ran the country in perfect order, displaying outstanding abilities in governing state affairs. As a result, the current position of Pharaoh is held by the second prince Ramses.

“Does the Pharaoh have a concubine named Maathorneferure?”

“Oh, even a hillbilly like you knows a lot. Yes, the Pharaoh had only two concubines before his enthronement. One was Princess Maathorneferure and the other was Princess Ebony. But rumor has it that he married these two women out of pure political agenda. His Majesty has quite the ladies’ man reputation, but he’d never before personally given any woman the title of concubine.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m implying that he had a lot of lovers. But he never made them his consorts, and allegedly, he never even bedded his only two wives. I guess Nefertari may have been an exception, but she perished long ago.”

“Nefertari died … long ago? When?”

Buka and Ivy walked one after another on the bleak and desolate sand while the tireless Lu flew ahead. The two chatted one sentence at a time. Ivy found that Buka was actually a very enthusiastic and chatty person. Although he spoke ridiculous words such as “hillbilly and bumpkin” sometimes, Buka answered each of her questions patiently.

“Oh … How long? I’ve forgotten, but it might’ve been four or five years ago.” Buka blew a sharp whistle into the sky, and Lu circled and flew down, landing steadily on Buka’s left arm.

“Lu, here’s some meat for you.” Lu skillfully took the meat out of Buka’s hands using its mouth and flew to the side, slowly eating it. Buka yelled at Ivy: “Bumpkin, you should eat too. Aren’t you gonna prepare food for yourself?”

Ivy gave Buka a blank look, sat on the ground, and opened her bag. Fortunately, she’d brought two packs of self-cooked fast food today just in case. Buka pulled out a bread-like sustenance from his own bag and sat next to Ivy, looking at the cooked fast food box in her hand.

“What’s that thing? Can you eat it?”

Ivy didn’t answer and opened the outer packaging of her lunch. After three minutes, an enticing curry aroma gushed out. Buka, who was munching hard bread, looked at the small box in Ivy’s hand with surprise. “So fragrant …” He reached out and touched the box,

“Oh? Ah! It’s still hot!”

Ivy looked at Buka’s curious yet greedy face, and found it very funny. “How long will it take to get to Giza?” When she arrived in Giza, she would have an opportunity to gather more food and a horse to support her trip to Memphis.

Buka’s eyes didn’t leave her lunch box. “Oh, maybe two or three days. Not too far away.”

It’d take six to eight more meals. Ivy had only brought two packs of fast food, and no other food or water. What would she do?

“Hey! You, is this delicious?” Buka couldn’t help asking. And after hearing him say this, Ivy couldn’t help but secretly laughed. It seemed as though the food issue for the next three days would be solved.

“Do you want to eat?” Ivy fought back the smile in her heart and looked at Buka seriously.

Buka turned his head and continued to nibble on his hard bread.

“Really, do you want to eat? I can make it for you.” Buka moved, slowly turned around, and saw Ivy sincerely handing her instant curry rice to him. “It’s delicious.” Ivy added fuel to the flames by enticing him even more. Buka took it doubtfully and sipped it carefully.

Delicious! Although it had a very strange taste, it was delicious! Buka put his bread aside and wolfed down the food. Ivy smiled happily while watching Buka eat it all.

“Good!” Buka wiped his mouth and handed the empty box back to Ivy. “The food you brought is really good.”

“You like it?” Ivy took the box with a grin. “In our country, this lunch is equivalent to fifty cows and one hundred horses. It is definitely a rare treasure.”

“W- What?!” Buka almost fell to the ground. “You’re lying!”

“I’m not, of course. The whole of Egypt, including the great Pharaoh Ramses II, have definitely never seen food cooked without fire, which would obviously be holy! I originally planned on bringing this to the Pharaoh …” Ivy deliberately revealed an embarrassed expression on her face. “This is quite troublesome. How could it be eaten by the son of Sittat’s village head?”

“You, you, you clearly gave me it …”

“You’ve been too kind to me.” Without waiting for Buka to finish talking, Ivy continued. “You’re willing to help me travel to Memphis. I’m embarrassed to have made things difficult for you …”

Buka nodded like a madman.

Ivy smiled happily. “Oh! Then as a reward for taking me to Memphis, I will consider this issue settled, but only if you provide me with water and food on the road, and give me a horse when I arrive in Giza. It’s a real huge cut in the price! Alas, I wanted to use this gift to please the Pharaoh.”

Buka hastily said, “That’s it. I must bring you to Memphis as soon as possible! Once you see the Pharaoh, this must not be mentioned again.”

“Well! Since you offered, I must reluctantly agree!” Ivy felt joy bloom inside her heart. The silly boy would not dare to yell at her again!

Looking at Ivy’s sly smile, Buka felt cheated, but he didn’t have time to ask questions. The sharp Lu screamed suddenly, flying alertly.

“What happened?” Buka stood and looked up in the direction of Lu, but saw nothing.

It seemed as though Parrison had some foresight. Thinking about it, Ivy took out the infrared telescope from her bag.

“What kind of weird object is this?” Buka leaned in and looked at Ivy curiously, holding the peculiar little thing. He stuck it in front of his eyes.

“Ah!” Ivy screamed in surprise instead of answering him. “Quick, Buka. Let’s go! It’s a man! A man covered in blood!”

Before Buka could respond, Ivy left him and ran alone. Buka looked in the direction she ran to. Strange, his eyes were clearly good, but why didn’t he see a person covered in blood?

Ivy felt her heart beating out of her throat. Seeing a wounded person with blood up close, she couldn’t help but feel a little scared. She knelt beside the injured person lying on the ground, unable to speak for awhile.

“Why are you dazed!” Buka, who came from behind, said aloud, “Let’s see if he’s still breathing! Give him some water!”

“Oh, right.” Ivy extended her trembling hands under the man’s nose. “Although very weak, he’s still breathing!”

“Then what are you still doing!” Buka ran up, picked up the man, pried open the man’s dry mouth, and poured water into it. “All the wounds in his body were wounded by a knife. Was he robbed?”

“Hurry… tell the Pharaoh…” the blood-stained person said, awakening a little while coughing. He then immediately grabbed Buka to say intermittently and anxiously, “… Libya, Libyans … three days ago …”

“Don’t talk, or you will die.” Buka wants to stop him from speaking.

“Mule… Mule village… please, save Mule village…”

Is he going to die? Ivy looked at the poor man.

Buka’s expression became very serious. “Mule Village? What happened in Mule Village?!”

“Mule… Libya… Save …”

The wounded man’s breathing came to a stop in Buka’s arms.

“He probably meant that the Libyans invaded Mule Village three days ago?” Ivy said softly.

Buka slowly put the deceased down. “Those damn Libyans! How dare they breach the peace treaty! Have they forgotten that their princess wedded Prince Sef, the consulate general of Giza!? Damn it! We need to quickly reach Giza! Mule Village is the Giza’s second largest village, Prince Sef will most definitely stand by this! Lu! Lu!” Buka called out to his companion aloud and walked faster.

Ivy stared at the deceased, this is the third time she witnessed death. Death is such a shocking thing, witnessing the passing of a person’s life let her feel the chills deep inside her heart involuntarily. “But, I always feel that something’s… off.”

“Hillbilly! What are you waiting for?! We have to request help from Giza!”

“No! Don’t go! We can’t go to Giza!!!” Ivy stopped Buka aloud.

“What? What are you saying? Are you crazy? Don’t you want to save Mule Village?!” Buka shouted incomprehensibly.

“Think about it, Buka! Think about it! How far is Mule Village from here?”

“A day and a half with our speed.”

“And from Giza?”

“A whole day! It is close! Yes, so let’s go get help from Giza! “

“Buka, use your brain!” Ivy said quickly. “The man just said that the war started three days ago, and Giza is a day’s journey by foot from Mule Village. That’s really close by, it’s impossible that they still don’t know the news. Yet no troops have been sent for three days, leaving us with only two possibilities! One is that Giza has fallen, or two…”

“Giza and the Libyans are working together?!” Following Ivy’s thoughts, Buka gave the answer suspiciously.

“That’s right!” Ivy sighed. “Regardless of whichever scenario, we won’t be able to change anything.”

Buka almost sat down, clutching his red hair which was akin to flames in frustration. “Then what should we do? Sittat Village are good friends with Mike Village. As the son of the Sittat Village Chief, how can I, how can I… ” The young man’s face appeared anxious or even helpless.

“Don’t fret.” Buka’s head was lifted with a firm and calm voice, and Ivy’s expression was surprisingly calm. “Don’t you have Lu? Send him to your brother in Memphis. He’s much faster than both of us. Let your brother notify the Pharaoh about the situation and request him to dispatch troops for aid. Remember, only requests for troops. The Pharaoh must not leave Thebes for the sake of merit. I fear that the Libyans may not be as simple as we think.”

Buka looked at Ivy with a stunned look.

“What are you staring at? Quickly write it down!”

Buka shook his head. “I don’t… I don’t have papyrus…”

Ivy took out the paper and pen from the bag, “Here, for you, quickly write down what I just said.”

Buka took the paper and pen and looked at it curiously.

“There’s no time to look, hurry up and write!”

“Oh! Oh!” Buka quickly lowered his head and wrote. “Then… Hillbilly… No, I mean Ivy, what should we do?” Buka began to seriously call Ivy’s name. His words just now made the image of this thin boy suddenly rose in his mind.

“Us?” Ivy frowned. In order to help Bifiitu, I can’t trivialize any event that may endanger his life.

“We’re going to Mule Village.”