True to Court Physician Ri’s words, they were so busy that they even wanted the help of a cat. Apparently being able to get medical care free of charge was a valuable opportunity. The military officials who were working would stop by too, so they had no time to rest.
Maomao’s group worked under Court Physician Ri’s instructions.
Most of the medical treatment was entrusted to Court Physician Ri. No matter the state of health of those getting treatment, Maomao treated injuries and served medicine.
Basen looked uncomfortable, but he handed out bagged medicine to the patients accompanied with words of gratitude. When he got accustomed to his job, he asked if he could cut wrapping paper while he was at it, so they gave him paper and scissors and he cut it for them. Everyone was busy working, so it seems he thought this would be better than doing nothing. However, it didn’t look good to treat him as a servant, so they had him do that away from the eyes of the patients.
(There’s nothing he can’t do, huh.)
Basen can do average civil official work. But being Jinshi’s adjutant, it was a given for him to achieve triple the workload, so it was pitiful when you compare it. Even taking into account his duty as a military official, a retainer directly under the imperial prince was naturally perceived to be doing that much anyway.
Chue makes a lot of odd, pointless motions, but it was a mystery how she works quickly. She was finished with washing and sterilising the pile of bandages before noon, and had started to cook since she was Maomao’s assistant and was available.
Rihaku was the one with the most free time. He was just standing at the entrance as a guard. The other two guards would occasionally be put to work by Chue, but Rihaku was only just standing.
“I really am just a good-for-nothing,” Rihaku laughed, but he was honestly quite useful. Court Physician Ri was relatively slim compared to the people of the western capital despite that slight uncouth vibe of his. Apparently, there were quite a number of thug-like people coming to the medical office to browse around too. A large six-shaku-three-sun man at the entrance, even as an ornament, was fairly effective at keeping them in check. When there were patients who’d try to pick a fight with someone, it goes without saying that Rihaku would be a help since he was prowling around the room.
It would still be okay if they picked a fight with Court Physician Rii and Maomao, but it’ll be troubling if they went at Basen. That man came in as Jinshi’s representative, so it would be bad to rouse his short temper, and more importantly, burning them after accusing someone falsely was picking a quarrel.
In terms of physical strength, Basen had no equal, and one or two broken bones were probably a minor injury to him. Also, she didn’t know much about the capital punishment at the western capital, but she wanted people to understand that hitting the representative of the imperial prince, even if temporary, was likely to result in decapitation.
In the meantime, Court Physician You and Tenyuu returned.
“We’re home!” They returned with a greeting as if they had returned home. The court physician’s tanned skin reminded her of the locals, and behind him was a slightly exhausted Tenyuu.
“Welcome back, masters. Do you want medical care? Food? Medical care?” Chue, who knew nothing of fatigue, responded. It seems she was showing appreciation and still wanted to be put to work.
“I want to eat too, but has Court Physician Ri not eaten yet?” Court Physician You said.
“Ehh, aren’t we going to eat?” Tenyuu was exhausted. He was carrying medical tools in his right hand, and a cloth pouch in his left.
“Then, shall we eat? The time limit is a quarter of a dual hour starting from now.” Chue clapped her hands. She was taking charge before anyone realised.
“Great. What dishes?”
“The dishes aren’t extravagant. It’s Chue-san’s deluxe fried rice with all of everything tossed in. The secret ingredient is the prized dried clams that had been set aside as snacks for alcohol.” Chue assumed a pose with a ladle and plate. She had said leftovers, but she also stir-fried in spices and eggs. It smelt delicious. “In addition, you have two drinks to choose from. Grape juice or goat’s milk. The water is a little polluted so let’s not.”
There were locusts floating in the well, so it can’t be helped. Chue did her washing while straining water with a sieve.
(It might be better to distribute drinking water.)
You’ll get diarrhoea from drinking raw water containing spoilage. The reason they were out of antidiarrhoeal medicine was probably due to the water.
(I want to filter the water and boil as much as I can.)
In reality, it was quite extravagant to wash and boil bandages in the western capital. Both water and fuel were valuable compared to the capital. Water goes without saying; for fuel too, there was hardly any firewood or charcoal, but they had a lot of livestock manure.
(Coal, huh.)
As the only substitute she could think of for the firewood and charcoal from the capital, wasn’t there a huge difference to the recognition of its worth in Isei Province?
(An advantage to being useable to go as far as to purposely dig out a mountain.)
Gold and silver were no substitute for it, so they had to dig. The capital wouldn’t think of mining something with the same value as the trees growing in that area. Isei Province wanted fuel as livestock manure cannot completely be supplied to everyone.
Certainly, it has its advantages, but…
(It seems like there’s still some other reason to wage war.)
Maomao groaned. Someone tapped her shoulders.
“Maomao-san, Maomao-san. Aren’t you brooding too much and letting your thoughts fly out?”
“Chue-san, Chue-san, am I that out of it?”
“Rather than that, you were saying a lot of things out loud.”
“…” Maomao covered her mouth.
“Well then, Maomao-san should eat too. It looks like Court Physician You has something he wants to say to Basen-san.”
“Huh, it sounds like a pain.”
“Yes, it sounds interesting.” Chue had a lot of discrepancy of interpretation with her.
At the table where the fried rice was served, sat a grinning Court Physician You and a sullen Basen. Tenyuu was leaning forward like he wanted to eat now, but the two others weren’t eating so he couldn’t. So Tenyuu knows manners too?
“Hahaha, is Basen-dono well-known?”
“What’s bad about it?”
Court Physician You and Basen had a volatile atmosphere from the start.
Maomao poked Chue’s elbow.
“What is it?” Chue asked.
“Do those two know each other?”
“No, as far as I know, it’s their first meeting.” A whispered exchange.
“What kind of person is Court Physician You?”
“Ehh, do you want Chue-san’s intel?”
“Please tell me without putting on airs. I’ll suggest going for a stroll around town next time.”
“Oo– Oh my.” Chue came along when Maomao went outside. Chue seemed to like wandering around outside, so Maomao thought she would get into her words. “Court Physician You is very bright and cheerful, but he’s diligent at work, not two-faced, and gets along with anyone, but honestly, he’s someone my husband can never understand.”
Chue’s husband–Basen’s older brother–still had yet to show his face to Maomao. If such a forward person were to approach him, he would go crazy.
“What do you mean by not two-faced?”
“As Court Physician Ri said, he’s not interested in politics. He’s familiar with the climate and geography of the western capital and is knowledgeable in medicine. Nevertheless, for someone not interested in politics, he was the best personnel selection one can ever pick.”
Was. The use of past tense meant that it included a miscalculation.
“We’d never expected the locust plague to come so suddenly. The Prince of the Moon isn’t fussed about his evaluation. Moreover, isn’t there the eldest son of Gyoku’en-sama who is extremely popular among the locals around here? There are talks about those.”
“Then, Court Physician You?”
“Yes, he will never betray the Prince of the Moon.”
Maomao was relieved by Chue’s words for some reason. But even if she’s relieved, there’s a person she couldn’t grasp.
“What kind of intention does he have?”
“What kind of intention?” Basen flared his nostrils even though he feigned serenity.
Court Physician You looked like he truly had no idea what he was saying.
“You came to the western capital under the Prince of the Moon’s orders. However, what is his reputation at the western capital like? The ingredients for the emergency food, and opening the medical office was the Prince of the Moon, right?” Basen asked.
“That’s right. He’s very wise. Such a large scale locust plague coming and calming the western capital to such an extent, I can deeply feel it is both thanks to the Prince of the Moon.” Court Physician You frankly praised Jinshi. Moreover, he was saying the main points without hesitation.
“You speak like you experienced the locust plague before.”
Yes, Maomao mentally gave Basen a round of applause.
“What know. I have experienced it multiple times,” Court Physician You said.
“Experienced? Multiple times? There hasn’t been a locust plague within these few decades, right?
“There were. However, they weren’t large scale events to be reported to the capital.”
Certainly, Court Physician You’s words weren’t impossible.
“Wouldn’t that be negligence?” Basen asked.
“Negligence? I’m only checking with Basen-dono, but how much grain do insects have to eat to be considered a locust plague?”
“…that would be, when there’s eating hardship?”
“Eating hardship? It shouldn’t be a problem if there’s enough just for me to eat, right? It shouldn’t be a problem if there are things I can sell to make up for it, right? Then, what about when you have two times the planting, but they encounter damage, and as a result, you only get the average yearly yield?”
Basen was at a loss.
Court Physician You, being a high ranking court physician, was smart.
He said it as a hypothetical example, but it probably happened in the past.
Even if the size of the harvest was unchanged, if the planting size increased, it would require a lot of labour and expenses. But they received no compensation and just got the same amount of tax. If that was unchanged, life would become difficult.
“The country of Rii is large. However, due to its size, they cannot take care of the western precinct. If they only see the yield as numbers, even if we reported a locust plague, it would be brushed aside. In that case, I think it is self-evident to settle the issue within Isei Province.” Court Physician You was straightforward. Which was why Basen could speak bluntly too.
(Does Court Physician You think like this too?)
The low evaluation of Jinshi at the western capital seemed to have a great basis on the awareness that the capital won’t do anything for them.
“However, the Prince of the Moon’s actions were correct. It reminded me of the Ih clan,” Court Physician You said.
“The Ih clan?” Maomao found herself asking back.
“Yes. Do you know about them?” Court Physician You wasn’t bothered about her cutting into the conversation. Basen’s slightly stubborn head was a little slack, so if she didn’t come forward, it didn’t seem like they would return to the topic so Maomao decided to speak for him.
“Come sit with us! That’s right, can I eat while I speak? Let’s eat.”
“Food!” Tenyuu looked like he finally got to eat. The reason he’s been quiet this whole time, was it because he was out of energy?
“The Ih clan always came to the front during a locust plague,” Court Physician You said.
“…Excuse me, but what about rebels?” Maomao asked.
“Rebels? Hmm, well, if they did something, it must be for Isei Province’s sake. At least from what I know, there weren’t people like that.” Court Physician You spooned rice into his mouth.
“What were the people of the Ih clan like?” Maomao also helped herself to one mouthful. The fluffy rice and egg were well seasoned. The spices and dried clams produced a good flavour. She raised her index finger to Chue, praising her.
“All of them were beauties. They gave off a nice scent when you get near them.”
“A nice scent?”
“Oh, you didn’t know. The Ih clan was matriarchal. It’s in the founding story of Rii, right? The story of the queen mother. She was such a brave woman, so it wouldn’t be odd to have one of her trusted confidants to be a woman too, right? The Ih clan descended from that woman.”
Maomao was shocked. However, Basen and Chue weren’t. Tenyuu was absorbed in eating.
“So you didn’t know.”
“I didn’t.”
It was probably common knowledge for people who served the imperial family, but Maomao had no connection with the lord who governed the lands of the far west. All the more if they had perished.
“It was precisely because they were women that they were able to defend the national border. The Ih clan never took on husbands, but they gave birth to beautiful children with foreign features. The female children will stay with the lord and the male children were sent out to travel.”
So were they giving birth to beauties precisely because they were mix blooded, and to keep other countries in check due to their mixed blood?
“Sha’ou is the country of the priestess, so they had good compatibility too. But despite all being women, they might not have gotten on well with the Empress Regnant.”
“I’ll hold back from remarking that it’s a dispute between women.” However, she heard something unexpected. Jinshi had never spoken about it so Maomao might be the only one who never knew about it.
While Maomao and Court Physician You spoke, it seems Basen finished eating his fried rice. He slammed down his spoon. It appears his stubborn head had calmed while he ate.
“I get Court Physician You’s point. I’ll consider it as an understanding that the Prince of the Moon is paying the penance of the capital. However, I have a slight problem with how the Prince of the Moon’s achievements have all flowed down to Gyoku’ou-dono. And how Court Physician You is supporting him too.” Basen said.
“Supporting? Me?”
“All your work, as one surnamed You from the western capital, has become Gyoku’ou-dono’s achievements.”
“Is this true?” Court Physician You checked with Tenyuu.
“Oh? Court Physician Ri said so too. That we should start medical care with the introduction that ‘I came from the capital’. I thought he was meaning that we were working under the orders of the Prince of the Moon,” Tenyuu replied.
“Doesn’t ‘I came from the capital’ sound odd? I was born here and I have a lot of acquaintances here, you know.”
“Then can’t you say “Under the orders of the Imperial Prince’?”
“Doesn’t that sound, a little… embarrassing?”
What was this old man talking about? In other words, it was embarrassing to boast to his friends, even though he left town, got ahead in life, and returned to his hometown?
“Maomao-san, Maomao-san, shall I put him in the same category as the quack?” Chue said.
“His type is a little different, so please make it a special case,” Maomao said.
“Understood.”
Maomao could imagine what category Chue was talking about.
“Rather, the locals would know the difference between the Old You and the new You, right?” Court Physician You said.
“Old? New?” Maomao tilted her head.
“The court physician’s You family is the old You. Gyoku’en-san is the newly settled You. It seems he has a large household with a lot of children and grandchildren, but when they first showed up, it was just Gyoku’en-san, his wife and his young eldest son. They had a lot of servants though.”
“No, any locals under the age of forty won’t know.”
Being commoners that commonly reach the end of their lifespan at around fifty, anyone over forty years of age would be quite old.
Above all, the face of the western capital became Gyoku’en’s clan. For the young people, the surname You would probably mean Gyoku’en or Gyoku’ou.
“I see. Is that how it is?”
“They’re unexpectedly new, huh. I was so sure it was generations ago.”
“It looked like they used to have a place where they’d stop by to base their business, but it was around that time when they actually settled down. If you look at the family register, you’ll get a proper time period, though.”
“The family register would be impossible. It’s been burnt up,” Chue replied while drinking goat’s milk.
“That’s unfortunate.”
“And so, please properly tell the patients about you being the Prince of the Moon’s subordinate.” Chue relayed the main issue at hand in Basen’s stead.
“…I have to do it, huh.” The old man’s brows dipped in sadness.
“Court Physician You, I don’t get why you’re shy about that even though you’re not timid,” Tenyuu said.
“Shut it, Tenyuu.”
He has the ability, and yet he’s the type to get shy about showing himself off. It might be precisely because he was under Court Physician Ryuu’s merit system that he could become a high ranking court physician.
“Umm…” There was a pair of eyes staring at Maomao’s group. “If you’re done with eating, can you hurry up and take over?”
Court Physician Ri reproachfully peeked through the gap in the door.
∧_∧
(`・ω・) 。・゜・⌒)
/ ｏ━ヽニニフ))
しーＪ
