"Captain, I've found out! The nearest Portuguese town from here is Coimbra, just three days east of the village, about a hundred li away!... As for the Capital City Lisbon, it's to the south, but no one knows how many hundreds of li away it is? No one in the village has ever been there... But according to the villagers, Portuguese Kingdom's trading ships often come by here, along with tax officials belonging to the Royal Family..."
The rainy season had just passed, and the damp coast reflected the clear sky, as if it were a luxurious Venetian silver mirror, sparkling with blue and white water light. The northern Portuguese coast stretched with yellow and white sands, but it was not wide and flat; instead, there were many rugged cliffs. And a small Portuguese fishing village was nestled in the low valley where cliffs broke off and by the river, like a green grape hanging on the branch in early summer.
