Houshin Engi by Fujisaki Ryuu, adapted from the novel by Ano Tsutomu published by JUMP Comics; Shueisha, Inc. ------------------------------------------------ 50. One's Own Present, Past and Future 5 -The Elephant Race- ------------------------------------------------ [147] 50. One's Own Present, Past and Future 5 -The Elephant Race- [148] KouTenka: What is this? Such a large animal? KouTenka: I've never seen anything like this! Shuukoutan: Hey! Tenka! KouTenka: Shuukoutan!! Shuukoutan: This is an animal called 'elephant' that's from faraway in the west, brought here using the Silk Road. There're two species here, the African and Asian elephants. Shuukoutan: I'm looking after them. KouTenka: Elephant, huh... [149] Taikoubou: What a surprise it was... Taikoubou: This fool was Ki Hatsu, after all... Taikoubou: But, now that he's cleaned up a bit, he actually looks respectible. KiHatsu: You talk too much~~~ Moneylender: Ki Hatsu, sir!! KiHatsu: ACK!! [150] Moneylender: You MUST repay your debt today!! (Paper: I.O.U. I, Ki Hatsu, owe you the sum of 500,000 ~Ki) Taikoubou: You borrowed money from others? KiHatsu: Idiot! Didn't I tell you not to look for me here!? Moneylender: He borrowed a total of one billion 'yuan', for drinking, women and gambling. (one billion....) Taikoubou: Why didn't you borrow from Kishou? KiHatsu: Shut up! That's my business! Moneylender: I don't care how you do it! [151] Moneylender: All rigth!! Within this month, you have to repay one million first!! Otherwise, I'm going to possess the contents of your palace! KiHatsu:.................. Taikoubou: Why the heck did you borrow that much money!? KiHatsu: I don't remember!! Money's not a problem, anyway!! Taikoubou: Oi--- is this guy really suitable to inherit from Kishou? Taikoubou: Oh well... I might as well teach you a method to earn some easy money! KiHatsu: A horse race!? [152] Taikoubou: Let me explain the rules of the horse race... Firstly, the venue. Find a piece of empty land outside the city. (Map: Proposed venue site) Taikoubou: Guests who want to watch the horse race must buy an entrance ticket... Taikoubou: Then, they will choose a horse from 1 to 6, and bet on it. Taikoubou: The money from the losing horses will pay for the winning horse. (Number 4 has won) In this way, we don't have to spend any money ourselves to pay the winners while we keep the entrance fees! Taikoubou: We can only make money from this!! KiHatsu: How interesting!! KiHatsu: But, horses... Horses... [153] A few days later Taikoubou: Hey... working hard? KiHatsu: Hey! Taikoubou! Look, it almost resembles a horse track, doesn't it? Taikoubou: To construct a track like this, you must have required quite a bit of capital, didn't you? KiHatsu: Well, I have a sponsor... My debt's increased to two billion! KiHatsu: And there are lots of helpers too! Taikoubou: Eh? [154] Taikoubou: Ah!! Bukichi supplied the wood... Taikoubou: But, isn't this horse track rather wide? Such a big area... KiHatsu: C'mon! You have to help too, don't talk so much!! Taikoubou: Why do I have to... Citizen: Hey! Haachan!! Citizen: We heard that you're up to some interesting stuff? We've come to help out too! [155] Taikoubou: Who are these people? (great!) KiHatsu: My partners!! Taikoubou: .............. Taikoubou: He's quite popular... - As for Shuukoutan - Shuukoutan: Eh? What is this? Sipuxiang: There's an elephant race this Sunday~~~! Everyone must come~~~!! [156] (Notice: First Round Elephant Race) Shuukoutan: Elephant Race? And so... (Please lend me your elephants) Ki Hatsu received the help of a lot of people. And successfully organised the first ever Elephant Race. [157] KiHatsu: Look! Taikoubou, there're lots of guests! Taikoubou: Yeah! It's quite a crowd! Taikoubou: We're going to make a fortune! KiHatsu: This is fun!! KiHatsu: Sipuxiang and Bukichi are very popular with the women and children... KiHatsu: Sipuxiang brought the Race Queen of the elephant race... Taikoubou: Race Queen!? [158] Dakki: Hi~! *heart* Taikoubou: You...you're You...? Dakki: I'm Dakki~! *heart* KiHatsu: Such a dropdead gorgeous beauty, I'm going to Chouka too! (super purin-chan) Taikoubou: It's a fake... KiHatsu: All right! The show's about to begin! [159] KiHatsu: Are the elephants ready? RyouGan: Because we are knights... Nankyuukatsu: Why isn't Kou Hiko riding an elephant!? KiHatsu: All right.... Positions... [160-161] GO!!!! Nankyuukatsu: Wow~~! This is most exciting! I will never lose!! Nankyuukatsu: Eh?? Bukichi: I was in a job before that required me to ride an elephant! Nankyuukatsu: What!? That's great! He's a natural! [162] Taikoubou: Woo! Looks like Bukichi's the fastest! KiHatsu: That's right! He's Seiki's famous elephant-rider!! Taikoubou: For the horse bets.... no, the elephant bets, Bukichi's sold the most! Taikoubou: Everyone's bet on Bukichi... so... If Bukichi wins, we won't get much money! KiHatsu: What then!? Taikoubou: The winner will be Sipuxiang, on No. 6!! He's very light, so I let him ride the best elephant!! KiHatsu: Aaaaa---- Taikoubou, how could you have bought so many bets for No.6... Taikoubou: I borrowed a huge sum of money to buy these bets, I'm going to get rich this time!! [163] KiHatsu: You big cheat!! Taikoubou: Ah...haha! I'm not a cheat! Don't say that!! Bukichi: Wow... Sipuxiang, you're really fast~! Sipuxiang: I won't lose!! Sipuxiang: Ah!! Nankyuukatsu: Move it! Move it~~!! Sipuxiang: Hey! Don't hit the elephant like that, the poor thing!! Nankyuukatsu: Shut up!! Nankyuukatsu: I must win!! Win...! [164] Nankyuukatsu: At such a speed, how is this elephant going to make the turn!? Bukichi: Ahahaha, that's impossible! Sipuxiang: What!? Crowd: So....so who actually wins!? KiHatsu: The winner is Nankyuukatsu on No.3!! Taikoubou: WHAT----!? [165] KiHatsu: I'll keep the entrance fee portion! Taikoubou: What!? Doesn't that mean I'm the one who owes money now?! Dakki: Oh, Taikoubou-chan! Taikoubou: What? Youzen...stop fooling around... Dakki: Those elephants are headed for the palace... Taikoubou: AAAAAAAHHHHH!! Bukichi: The total loss from the elephant race is over 100 billion! Moneylender: Where are Taikoubou and Ki Hatsu!? Sipuxiang: They've packed and ran to America. Shuukoutan: My poor elephants have been mistreated by Taikoubou and Brother...!! o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o Translation (c) 2000 Koushi - all rights reserved. No part or whole of this document may be broken up or published on a web-page without the express permission of the author. It may be freely distributed for _personal_ use ONLY on the condition that it is distributed in its entirety and no changes of ANY KIND are made, leaving all original author and copyright information intact. o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o