Today, I continue my virtual adventure in the world of Tsushima. There are lots of undiscovered areas in the Izuhara region, so I am not going to rush into the Toyotama region yet. I want to clear the Izuhara region first before continuing my adventure to the middle part of Tsushima Island. There are many story available to tell and more beautiful places to be discovered.
While I am reaching the Arrow Peak Shrine, which was still marked as '?' on the map, I discovered a Pillar of Honor that located at the North of Azamo Foothill. Like all the Pillar of Honor in the world of Tsushima, there was a sword, waiting to be discovered, a new master in this world.
I found the Mamushi Venom sword on that Pillar of Honor. Although the new sword that I found gave me nothing special attribute or skill other than it's appearance, I still happy to have it in my collection. It like changing skin of my sword.
I switch my sword's look to Mamushi Venom, which I just recovered from the pillar. The view that can be seen from up here was beautiful as you can see ships were hold their position on the blue sea.
The, I continue my journey to the north, the next undiscovered area on the map. I reached this small settlement where the bonfire still burning, as if the person of lighted it up just left in emergency. I don't see any corpse or any traces of struggle and fight though.
From where I stand in this settlement, I can see the mountain marked '?' in the distance. It seems that I will go through a steep, difficult, and climbing path that was inevitable. I am excited for great effort will be rewarded great gift after the completion.
After arriving at the foot of the mountain, I began my ascent up this steep mountain. Climbing the steep hill wall was not difficult because there were noticeable rock bumps, which allowed the mountain to climb easily.
After climbing the first level of the mountain, I looked back, and I could see the settlement where I was standing just now. The view is very beautiful and mesmerising.
I have to continue my climb. In front of me was a torii gate. These torii gate lead to Arrow Peak Shrine, sanctuary of Inari, kami of agricultures, that's what was written on the sign near the torii gate.
Among the obstacles that needed to be overcome was the fact that I had to jump from one tree trunk to the next. The experience of jumping was really fun, especially if I had to take pictures. It's exciting to get an interesting picture.
Next, I found a hole that could only fit my body to squeeze into.
Inside the hole was a cave, narrow enough, but big enough to allow me to stand upright in it.
After I got out of the narrow cave, outside, there were rock bulges arranged on the mountain wall, they were arranged horizontally. It seems that this time I had to climb horizontally to reach the mountain area on the right.
I continued my ascent, then encountered an obstacle again that required me to jump over a log. This time, after I landed, I arrived at a small camp. Enough to provide protection to a person at night. However, I found a note next to the tent. It is written, "Father's sick. He can't stop shivering, and we're running out of food. As if that weren't bad enough, the Mongols are back. Brother is scared they'll find a way across the bridge.
After reading that little note, my heart was touched. As I continued climbing, my mind began to think that, of course, it was a child's account of his condition with his father, who had fallen ill. They fled from the Mongol army to this mountain until one day they ran out of food, and his father began to fall ill. It's an emotional note!
I wonder, what is the fate of the child's father now? And what about the child? All these questions make me unable to think calmly. It's just a fictional story, right?, but it's still a very touching story.
Finally, I arrived on the other side of the bridge. It's funny to think that the game forced me to go through all the climbing challenges to make it more challenging, but logically, I could have used my grapple hook from the other side of the bridge and reached this place easily. Most likely, this bridge was demolished by the fleeing people so that they could not be pursued by the Mongol army since the other route was difficult and there was a high risk of falling.
From where I was standing, I realized that I was very close to the top of the mountain, which is where Inari Shrine is located.
While I continued my ascent, this time just walking, not involving difficult routes and stunt activities, in the middle of the road, I came across another scroll of notes, which read, "Father died last night. I am so tired, but I can't sleep. Not while the sun is out. It's beautiful up here."
Even though I had reached the top, the story about the son and the father really touched my heart. I will try to find the bodies around this mountain to pay respect to these two victims of Mongol violence. If it is a true story, imagine the difficult situation at that time. How do you strengthen yourself to face such difficulties?
I looked back at the settlement that was below this mountain, where I was standing earlier, apparently there were traces of a struggle, there were traces of blood, which were visible from up here, which I had overlooked when I was there. The father and son must have came from that house. Such a sad story.
So, that's all for today. Thank you so much for your support, until next adventure in Tsushima! Have a nice day, goodbye!
Note : All photos were screenshots taken by me while playing Ghost of Tsushima game. My thumbnail picture was edited using PixeLab apps, the photo in there is my face with a samurai armor that was generated by ToonMe apps.