Synopsis: Chagum challenges a Rota boy to a rucha match

This is perhaps my least liked Seirei no Moribito episode. I guess I have to agree with most that the plot has began to drag. Well, at least this episode sets some things in motion once again.

The summer solstice festival draws near and much of Yogo is abuzz with preparations, especially for the festival night when people go from house to house lighting bonfires. According to Chagum, they have the Founding Festival at court during the spring equinox to commemorate the victory of the sacred founding father, Emperor Torgal and his eight warriors over the water fiend. Their victory marks the founding of the New Yogo Empire. Chagum wondered then why the farmers didn’t light bonfires on the spring equinox. He thinks that is must be because the farmers are busy with planting during the spring so they can only celebrate when summer comes. Chagum recalls that during every solstice festival, his father, the emperor, and his brother would go to the star diviner’s tower to look upon the city. The bonfires lit at every house makes it look as though the River of Heaven flowed across the land. Balsa asks Chagum if he wants to go back to his previous life. Chagum tells her he doesn’t.

Chagum’s new friends come over and tells him that they are going to practice for the rucha contest. Chagum goes with them. They meet a boy from Rota who wants to fight. Whenever there’s a festival, merchants from other countries come to visit. One of the boys with Chagum accepts to fight with the Rota boy who said that he’ll use porak, Rota’s martial art. He tells them that if he wins, they will be his lackeys. The Yogo boy, however, lost. The Rota boy says that they are pathetic and that the emperor must be a coward. This enrages Chagum and he demands that the Rota boy take back what he said. Chagum challenges the boy to a fight. The boy accepted and said that he will spare Chagum for a day but during their match, if Chagum loses, he must eat slugs.

Back at home, Chagum asks Balsa about Rota. Balsa tells him that Rota is home to different groups of people and there’s a large gap between the rich and the poor. This makes most of the people from Rota touchy. Yogo people, in contrast, are easygoing. Chagum tells Balsa that he ended up arranging a duel with the Rota boy who uses porak. Balsa explains to him that porak is a style developed from hand-to-hand combat in the battlefield while rucha is just an extension of farmers just playing around. Balsa tells him that if all Chagum needs to do is to remove his opponent from the ring, he has a chance.

Balsa asks when the fight will be and Chagum tells her that it will be on the festival night. Balsa tells him that he’ll have to let it go. On the festival night, all sorts of people come so they might be seen by enemies. Chagum is disappointed. The following day, Chagum asks Balsa how it would possible to remove an opponent from the ring. Balsa tells him that she will teach him if Chagum will promise not to go to the festival.

On the festival night, bonfires are lit one by one including the one Balsa and Chagum prepared. Balsa tells him that since they aren’t going, she will make something special to eat. She asks Chagum to prepare more firewood. Chagums obeys but he runs off towards the festival after, without telling Balsa.

The competitions had just ended when Chagum arrived but the Rota boy was still there. He and Chagum went up the ring. The boy attacks but Chagum employs the trick Balsa taught him, to use the opponent’s weight to his disadvantage. The Rota boy falls off the ring. Chagum then demands that he take back what he said about the emperor. The Rota boy, however, wouldn’t. According to him Chagum cheated. A quarrel begins but the Rota boy’s father arrives.

The boy and his father starts to leave but Balsa stops them. She tells them that the Rota boy should keep his promise. Balsa challenges him to a fight. Whoever wins will be the one whose child is right. The man accepts though he is surprised that he will be fighting a woman. Balsa tells him that he should give everything he’s got. The man and Balsa fight and as expected, much to the surprise of those who have gathered to watch, Balsa won. The Rota boy then apologizes.

As Balsa and Chagum were going home, Balsa tells him that if someone had seen them, they would have to give up the kind of life they are living. Chagum apologizes. Balsa then tells him that his parents must be proud that Chagum, in way, defended them.

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