(Ahh, it really is much worse here.)
Maomao regarded the condition of the western capital like it was somebody else’s problem.
There were still locusts on the roadside and walls of buildings. Let’s not focus on the black clusters here and there.
While there weren’t as many in the locusts as in the farming village, there was hardly any foot traffic.
She could see tattered street stalls and half-bitten fruits on the ground.
(The city people hate insects.)
Compared to the farming village, their feeling towards the swarm of locusts was a lot different. There were hardly any people out and about.
“How was the chaos?” Maomao asked Rihaku, who was the coachman.
Apparently, Rikuson will be staying behind for a few more days. The village might have been helped, but it was odd whether it was fine for him to not come back with this state of emergency, but that was the message they got.
“Pandemonium. It was raining hail,” he answered.
“Did no one say that the locusts were coming?” Maomao had gotten a notice at least, so it wouldn’t be odd if there was some sort of countermeasure in place if it were Jinshi.
But…
“This is the western capital. There’s an order of things to every matter, right?”
“…that’s true.”
Jinshi cannot raise his voice. Unlike Maomao, he was a person with social status.
“But it’s not that he didn’t do anything.”
At the centre of the plaza, there was something like emergency food distribution going on. It has been a few days since the locusts attacked. It was not necessarily the case that all families had food in stock.
(Since poor families live life trying to make ends meet.)
It wasn’t unusual to subsist with money earned from day labouring.
There were restaurants opened here and there, but distribution channels were halted due to the chaos. It didn’t seem like there was anything decent being served.
The smell of porridge from the food bank wafted in the air. And she suddenly remembered.
(Rahan’s older brother.)
It was the smell of sweet potato. It was likely the potatoes brought over here by ship together with Maomao’s group. They were cooked, filling the stomachs of the starving populace of the western capital.
“And the person who deserved better was lost.” Tears filled Chue’s eyes.
He became a dead person.
“Huh, isn’t it a good thing that the thing he brought over was useful? The potato guy would’ve been pleased.” Rihaku spoke like he was uncertain if the person was dead or alive.
The carriage reached the villa. As if they heard the horse’s neigh, there were people gathered around the entrance. It was the quack doctor and Tenyuu.
“Laaaaass.”
The old man ran over, looking a little exhausted. Before he crashed into Maomao, Rihaku caught him by the scruff of his neck. The tiny old man flailed his limbs.
“Court Physician-sama, are you fine?” Maomao bowed her head at the quack doctor. Rihaku put him down.
“Lass, you’re okay, right? Even though you were in a safe place, it was scary, wasn’t it? I was sooo scared. Like, what was that? I thought it was the end of the world.”
“Court Physician-sama faints at the sight of a cockroach after all.”
The quack doctor turned green every time he came across one during cleaning.
“Isn’t it unfair that it’s just Nyannyan; that’s how it is, right? You have good connections.” Tenyuu was full of snide comments as usual, but she had no idea how much he knew of Jinshi’s excuse.
“Is it okay for the medical office to be empty?” Maomao expressed her honest thoughts.
“Nah. We’re not that busy. It’s since we’re responsible for the Prince of the Moon. Apparently Court Physician You is very busy.”
(Free because they’re responsible for Jinshi?)
That felt a little strange.
“Oh yeah, Lass. Rakan-sama was really worried about you.”
“Is that so?”
Rather pointless information.
“He seems to like sweet foods so go greet him with some mashed sweet potatoes.” the quack doctor said.
She wanted to ignore that old man, but he’d probably come over here unannounced
“Wait, lass, you’re injured! What happened to your hand?”
“Ah, it’s fine. It was an experiment when I was making insecticide,” she said.
“Experiment? Are you an insect?” The quack doctor tilted his head in confusion
“If it can kill a cat, it would work for an insect at least, right?” Tenyuu cut in teasingly.
“Alright now, the both of you. Let’s stop here.” Chue stepped in. “We have a couple of reports to make.”
“Reports?”
“It’s about the insecticide.”
“Ahh, that’s true. My bad.” The quack doctor stepped out of the way. Tenyuu was just here to tease, so it seems he had no intentions of getting in the way.
Gyoku’en’s villa was pointlessly large, but Jinshi’s room was in the deepest section. She understood it was a show of respect to the guest, but honestly speaking, it was far.
“Okay, your clothes aren’t rumpled. It’s fine.” Chue checked Maomao and Rihaku’s clothes. Chue’s hair was curling up, so Maomao pressed them down.
“Excuse m—”
The moment they went in, there was a clunk.
Jinshi had been sitting with a slight slouch.
As usual, Suiren and Taomei were standing in wait and Basen was standing with a sour look.
“We’re back.” While wondering if she should leave the reporting to Rihaku, the person in question took a step back, so Maomao said the first words.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
Seeing the faces in the room, she wondered how she should act. For the time being, was it fine to direct it to the Prince of the Moon?
“’ways, how was it?” he asked.
Even if he asked how, Maomao decided to report what she heard from Chue. “The crop damage was terrible, but it wasn’t devastating. It seems, of the wheat itself, we have seventy per cent remaining of the average yield.”
“Then it seems Rahan’s older brother’s report was useful.”
(Rahan’s older brother even officially.)
Jinshi probably still didn’t know his real name. If that man didn’t return, she didn’t know what to write on his gravestone.
“Messengers have also been dispatched to other villages, but their harvest seemed to have fallen below half no matter how you see it. And areas, where the messengers haven’t returned from, would have to be a lot worse.”
No matter how hard Rahan’s older brother tried, he didn’t make it on time. No, he might have endured so much, but she could only get the impression from seeing everyone that ‘The heavens did nothing’.
“Rihaku, how many people should we send to one village?” Jinshi asked.
Rihaku replied, “Ten people minimum would be needed. There’s dealing with the insects and rebuilding the houses, but the scariest thing would be…”
“The mob? Or the bandits?”
“Both.”
When a disaster occurs, people’s lives will be messed up. Once lives are messed up, the heart is hardened. And a hardened heart will be primed for robbery and violence.
Will Jinshi ask me too? Chue’s hair bounced up, but she didn’t get her turn.
“Got it. I appreciate your efforts, Rihaku. You can return to your station.”
“Yes.”
Rihaku left the room, so Maomao was also going to follow suit, but Suiren immediately barred the exit.
“What is it?” Maomao asked.
“Fufu, you can stay for a bit longer,” Suiren said.
Being told that, Maomao could only pivot back.
Jinshi who was sitting down had peeled off his Prince of the Moon mask. “Is your head okay?” he asked.
It seems Basen had reported that Maomao had fainted from getting hit by a hailstone.
“I don’t know. There are cases where people can collapse a few days later,” Maomao replied.
She got a head injury, no external wound, but apparently an internal haemorrhage could result in death.
“Then, stay put!”
“No, even if I stay put, I’ll collapse when I collapse, and the person who can treat it is my adoptive father.”
Court Physician Ryuu might be able to do it, but there was no one in the western capital.
“If that’s the case, I want to do what I can do.”
“Then, what about your right hand?”
It seems he noticed Maomao’s bandages.
“…scars from experimentation.”
“I didn’t think you’d experiment on your dominant hand, though?”
She stared at Jinshi. It was a reverse of the usual.
“Huuu, whatever. More importantly… it’s best that you’re safe.”
(Ah.)
The Prince of the Moon completely became Jinshi, she thought. He was clenching and unclenching his hands. It exuded a somewhat childish, human-likeness.
“You must be tired. You should return to your room and rest,” he said.
Maomao was quite appreciative of his words. Chue also raised her hands in joy, then stopped, noticing her mother-in-law’s gaze.
Maomao wanted to return to her room, but there was one thing she wanted to confirm. “Jinshi-sama, are you not going to do anything?”
It might sound rude. However, Jinshi, who had been thinking so hard about countermeasures against the locust plague, couldn’t be lazing about in his own room now.
“With the current unprecedented circumstance, wouldn’t there be a lot of things Jinshi-sama can and should do?”
Apparently what Maomao wanted to say had been relayed.
“As you can see, I am a guest. Thus I prepared a gift,” he said.
The sweet potato porridge that was distributed in town.
“Looks like it’s been used well,” he said.
“Used is…”
The food prepared had already been handed over to the western capital. So the distributor would be the lord of the western capital. In other words, in the perspective of the residents, the benefactor would be the distributor.
(Doesn’t that mean his meritorious deed got snatched from him?)
So, Gyoku’ou had snatched away Jinshi’s only good part.
“I understand the reason I was given free rein. It seems he had read my actions and character to some extent,” he said.
Jinshi had an honest character in contrast to his appearance. He thought about the country without thinking about factions.
If used well, no doubt he would be extremely convenient.
And conveniently, a great disaster, the locust plague, had broken out.
“I had assumed it beforehand. It’s probably better, to have Tactician-dono take the lead and come out in public.”
“B-but–” Maomao said.
Regarding this matter, there were people who were more mortified than Maomao. Basen had a sour look. Suiren and Taomen didn’t look cheerful.
“The reason I was summoned to the western capital this time was for this sort of thing. It seems he wants to have me around to make himself look better.”
The lord of the western capital, Gyoku’ou, of all things, apparently wanted to put the imperial prince in a supporting role.
(Aiming to be the hero, he’d said.)
Is that how it is? Maomao clenched her fist.
