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Traveler of the Blue Road
Soro no tabibito cover
Title Traveler of the Blue Road
Romaji Title Sōro no Tabibito
Kanji Title 蒼路の旅人
Author Nahoko Uehashi
Illustrator Makiko Futaki
Miho Satake
Publication Order
Preceded by
Guardian of the God
Followed by
Guardian of Heaven and Earth
Japanese
Publisher Kaisei-sha (hardcover)
Shinchosha (paperback)
Publication date

April 2005

ISBN

ISBN 978-4-03-540310-4

English
Translator

Ainikki

Traveler of the Blue Road (蒼路の旅人, Sōro no Tabibito) is the sixth novel in the Moribito series written by Nahoko Uehashi. This story is the second novel within the "Tabibito" strand that features Chagum as the protagonist.

Plot Introduction[]

Following the events of Traveler of the Void, Sangal is engulfed by forces from the Talsh empire, which now draws nearer to New Yogo. In order to protect his country, Chagum must make a perilous journey alone.

Plot Summary[]

Word comes to the Mikado that Sangal's Kalsh archipelago is about to be attacked by the Talsh empire. King Karnan requests aid from New Yogo. A fleet of twenty ships, roughly a third of New Yogo's navy, is dispatched to help. The naval forces are led by Chagum's maternal grandfather, Admiral Tosa. Meanwhile, Chagum receives a letter from Princess Saluna, whom he met in his previous travel to Sangal. Her letter is difficult to interpret, but Chagum and Shuga believe that Sangal has already been overrun and that the New Yogo fleet is sailing into a trap. When Chagum begs his father to recall the fleet, the Mikado becomes angry. He sends Chagum to go fix the problem himself, accompanied by a third of New Yogo's navy, which is approximately 20 ships. (Note: In the drama, Tosa and Chagum are sent south to Sangal in only a single ship.)

Since the events of the first novel in the series, Chagum, now fifteen, has become very popular with the people, leading to a widening rift between him and his father. Because the Mikado now has another son, Tugum (トゥグム), by his third wife, he sees this as an opportunity to eliminate Chagum, whom he considers a rival. He assigns two Hunters, Yun and Jin, to be Chagum's bodyguards, but gives them instructions to kill Chagum. Chagum's tutor, Shuga, separately gives Jin orders to protect Chagum. Shuga gives Jin his alsam medal to convince Chagun that he's telling the truth.

Chagum leaves with the fleet and tells his grandfather about the trap, who feels honor-bound to complete the mission. Tosa sends the entire Yogoese fleet home except for the flagship, which he sails straight into the Sangalese fleet gathered around Kalsh. Kalsh island's military commander Olran informs Tosa that Sangal has already fallen to Talsh and demands that the ship give itself up without a fight in exchange for fair treatment. Tosa orders the crew, including Chagum disguised as an officer, to surrender and leave the ship. Tosa remains aboard and sets the ship on fire, ultimately going down with the ship. Chagum and the others are locked into a small hut as war prisoners.

During the night, Yun attempts to smother Chagum, but Jin stops him and tries to organize an escape. The escape fails, resulting in Chagum's capture by a Talsh spy, Hugo Arayutan. Hugo has been ordered to capture Chagum and bring him to the Talsh capital. Hugo explains that the trap for the Yogoese fleet was actually a part of his plan to lure Chagum out, since the Second Prince Raul of the Talsh empire intends to use Chagum to conquer New Yogo peacefully. During the long journey to the south, Chagum becomes friends with the pirate ship's female captain, Sena, who even teaches him swimming in the sea and diving.

Hugo is native to Old Yogo; his city was overrun and his family killed by the Talsh when he was seven years old. Although Talsh subjugated and almost completely destroyed Old Yogo roughly twenty years before the events of Traveler of the Blue Road, Hugo remains resentful and often expresses negative opinions about Talsh in veiled and not-so-veiled language. He warns Chagum that a Talsh military commander named Kurz speaks Yogoese when Kurz pretends that he can't because Kurz was the commander who destroyed Hugo's home city.

The Talsh empire is constantly expanding. They are usually compared to ravening wolves or a monstrous storm cloud. If they stop conquering new nations, they will run out of resources and collapse from within. Talsh also suffers from internal unrest from its conquered nations rising up in protest against high war taxes; there is also tension regarding which of the two princes will succeed the Talsh emperor. Chagum is caught in the crossfire of some of this unrest when Prince Raul's older brother, Crown Prince Hazar, orders him poisoned during his journey. Hugo manages to foil the assassination attempt, but Chagum continues to be treated poorly throughout his sojourn in Talsh. When he is bathing after his long journey, one of the female bath attendants attempts to seduce him, which sickens him and makes him strengthen his resolve to fight against Talsh on equal terms.

During Chagum's meeting with Raul, the Talsh prince explains that it is his duty is to take over the comparatively small countries in the north, including Sangal, New Yogo, Rota, and Kanbal. Raul plans to kill the Mikado and then have Chagum, who will become the next Mikado, make New Yogo surrender. Chagum agrees to the plan to avoid massacre of his people by overwhelming power of Talsh army. The Talsh army has 200,000 soldiers as opposed to New Yogo's 30,000; the New Yogo navy is also outnumbered ten to one. However, Chagum amends the plan to make Tugum the next Mikado and Chagum his regent. He does this to save Tugum's life (otherwise Raul would have had him assassinated) and to free himself from being New Yogo's Mikado for the rest of his life.

Chagum requests the flagship crew to be released to act as cover for his return to New Yogo. Prince Raul grants this request. Near Rasu Archipelago, he reunites with the crew, except Yun, onboard a Sangalese ship given to them in place of the sunken flagship. Yun was transferred to a Sangalese prison after the Sangalese royal family discovered that he tried to assassinate Chagum. Chagum has no intention of following Raul's plan because it actually does not save his people from war, since Talsh will later recruit New Yogo's people in order to invade Rota and Kanbal, which are not expected to surrender without a fight.

Chagum decides that making an alliance with Rota could possibly prevent the Talsh invasion of New Yogo. However, the Mikado's religious stance does not allow such an alliance, and by the time the Mikado is supposed to be killed by Talsh agents, it would be too late. Chagum must personally travel to Rota unnoticed by both the Mikado and Talsh.

During the night, when his ship comes close to a Sangalese island, Chagum jumps overboard and swims for shore. He leaves Jin written instructions about his plan. Jin must announce that Chagum committed suicide, separately informing the Mikado of a successful assassination. The book ends on a cliffhanger.

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