The mountains of paperwork that had piled up day after day were now only about as tall as a person — low enough to see across to the other side.
Jinshi let out a sigh of relief and glanced toward the figure working silently in the corner of the room.
A folding screen had been set up to create a blind spot from the entrance, so no visitor would notice anyone was there. He had apparently wanted walls on all four sides, but that was where—
Ma Sen
drew the line.
So, who was the person hiding behind the screen—
"J-Jinshi, sir..."
The man who brought the gathered documents was of slender build and medium height, with somewhat pale skin. You could call him unhealthy-looking, but what was interesting was that his face bore a striking resemblance to that of Ma Sen — the picture of health, as always.
He stood perhaps an inch shorter than Ma Sen. His hunched posture made him look even smaller.
He was Ma Sen's older brother by a year, and
Gaoshun's
son.
His name was Ma Liang.
The Ma clan had, for generations, produced a great number of military officials. It was the Ma clan who primarily served as bodyguards for the imperial family. Gaoshun guarded the sovereign, Ma Sen guarded Jinshi — that sort of arrangement.
In principle, Ma Liang was supposed to have become Jinshi's guard. He was Gaoshun's second child and eldest son, but with his pallid, gourd-like appearance, he was hardly suited for guard duty.
Ma Liang had received the character "Ma" as his name, but the following year, his younger brother Ma Sen was also given a single character to represent the clan.
"That was fast. You're done already?"
"Yes. Since Jinshi is basically a decoration, there's no work to be done."
"...What's that supposed to mean?"
The conversation seemed to skip steps in its wording. Jinshi couldn't quite follow. But one person appeared on the scene without delay.
"Ma Liang is trying to say—"
A tall, fierce-looking beautiful woman was standing there. She had appeared before them with such speed that even Jinshi couldn't tell where she had come from.
Ma Liang flinched.
"'Jinshi is so beautiful he might as well be a decorative object — in fact, he hardly seems human at all. That means even I, who am no good with people, can interact with him perfectly fine, because I don't think of him as a human being but as an entirely different creature. So I can focus on my work.'"
「……」
How is this being received, I wonder? And on top of everything, he's being casually not treated as human. No, I suppose that's just how he's always been.
The stern-looking beauty who had been translating Ma Liang's words was the older sister of the Ma Liang and Ma Shan brothers. Her name was
Asami,
and she was already a mother of two.
Ma Shan and the others took after their father, Gaoshun, but Asami resembled her mother. Since her mother had been Jinshi's wet nurse, Asami had a vague sense of discomfort around him.
She took after her mother in personality, too. She had a strong will, and it was said even her husband was completely under her thumb. Their father, Gaoshun, had been loathed by Asami like a parasitic caterpillar up until a few years ago.
That said, when it came to handling the difficult-to-manage Ma Liang, Asami was probably the only one who could keep him in line. Ma Liang had passed the imperial examinations with outstanding results, yet he had quit his job due to his poor health and his peculiar way of thinking. He was bad at building new relationships, and before he could settle in, he was harassed by his colleagues and superiors until he developed stomach problems.
He was capable, no doubt, but his personality left something to be desired.
In a way, he was quite similar to the Luo clan, but unfortunately, those people possessed an incredibly resilient mental fortitude — to the point where it was actually those around them who ended up with stomach ulcers.
If he could just share even a tenth of that ability to not care about what those around him thought — even half wouldn't be asking too much.
Jinshi thought this as he reviewed the documents he had been given.
Between bouts of paperwork, the messenger would periodically arrive with updates. The latest was about the locusts he had brought back the other day.
He had brought back a large quantity of locust carcasses because he believed they needed as much information as possible to investigate how the locust plagues were occurring.
In principle, this kind of work should have been entrusted to specialists. However, no major locust plague had occurred in recent decades, and there was no one left who was knowledgeable about such countermeasures. They had all disappeared.
And so, Jinshi had no choice but to rely on Maomao, as always.
He felt it would be a bother since she was busy working at the medical office, but he knew she would do it if asked.
"......If only there were more capable people."
He wouldn't have to trouble anyone, then. But the number of usable people around Jinshi was limited.
"That's because you don't develop new talent."
Asami said casually.
"You should just push it off onto the Bureau of Waterways or the Bureau of Agriculture."
The Bureau of Waterways handled flood control, and the Bureau of Agriculture oversaw currency and grain. He had tried asking both, but they had both refused, saying, "That's not our job."
Even if he explained the situation, the person he was dealing with was Asami.
"Huh? Just push it on them, obviously. Why are you worrying about their feelings? You could just lean on those guys who show up in the middle of the day, sit around drinking tea, and leave — those blokes lounging about. Busy? Hands full? Then just have them camp out until dawn where the revelry in the pleasure district is happening. That sort of connection seems to be within your means."
Unwinnable.
As if pressing the advantage, another blow followed.
"Also, your perspective seems to be narrowing, so let me give you one piece of advice."
"W-What is it?"
He couldn't help but flinch.
"Speaking in the most general terms, sending a large number of insects is nothing short of harassment. Especially when the recipient is a woman."
"..."
Jinshi's shoulders slumped, and he pressed a hand to his forehead.
"Delegate the work. Anyone useful should be put to use. For those who aren't useful, give them a different job that won't get in the way—something neither beneficial nor harmful."
Just as Asami instructed, Jinshi was driven out of his office. He was told to shove work onto people—using his authority, and if that wasn't enough, using his looks too.
Even when told that he should go in person because people's attitudes would change if he did, he wasn't particularly keen on it.
Because Jinshi visiting personally carried that much weight. Back in his eunuch days, he would have exploited that without hesitation, but in his current position as imperial brother, he was reluctant to use such methods.
Still, it was better than things being neglected, which was why he went.
"...There won't be any using my looks, surely."
"My apologies. My older sister—"
It was Mamen, who had come along as his bodyguard. He wasn't the only one who couldn't stand up to Asami.
"Even so, I can understand what my sister means."
Mamen looked around.
When Jinshi approached, people hurriedly tried to hide whatever they'd been doing.
"I had heard that go was popular, but it's gotten worse than before."
Officials lounging on railing balustrades reading go books. In the break room, a crowd of officials surrounded go boards.
Upon spotting Jinshi, some stopped playing and tried to straighten up, while others sent glances his way. But there were even some so absorbed in their games that they didn't notice at all.
Asami's opinion—get back to work—was entirely justified.
Jinshi began to feel foolish for cutting into his own sleep over all this.
"Even things like this..."
What the exasperated Ma San was looking at was, in principle, where official postings were displayed. For some reason, a notice announcing a Go tournament had been put up.
"...Well, I suppose a break is necessary."
Even Jinshi, for his part, wouldn't do something as tasteless as tearing down a posting here.
The real problem, however, was the venue.
For reasons known only to himself, someone had written the Military Training Ground.
"Jinshi, please look at who the organizer is."
"I don't need to be told. I can imagine."
The face of the Fox Strategist came to mind.
There was no one else within the Inner Court who could operate this freely.
"It looks like they're going to be rather thorough about this. Are they perhaps planning to let ordinary citizens participate as well?"
The poster appeared to be printed rather than handwritten. That meant a large number of copies had been produced.
"No, we can't have just anyone wandering in."
Even if this was the Outer Court, it was where the Emperor resided. Allowing unrelated persons inside would be a serious problem.
"Then we should immediately file a protest with Commander Han—"
"No, wait. That would only make things worse. We should go to Raham instead."
Honestly, if someone was going to go this far as to organize an entire tournament, Raham, the Fox Strategist's nephew, was the more appropriate person to approach. He was probably planning to wrap it all up in some kind of business venture.
Sure enough, the poster had some interesting things written on it.
"A challenge right against Commander Han — ten silver coins, apparently."
It was Raham. He was undoubtedly the shadow organizer.
"Also, there's a new release. They'll be selling a collection of master games. Limited to five hundred copies — do you think they'll actually sell?"
"He certainly intends to sell them."
Just how thick-skinned could one man be?
Then again, perhaps Raham had no choice but to be that brazen to stay in business. The Fox Strategist's demolition of the rear palace wall last year had left repair costs that should still be lingering.
"Still, ten silver coins for a single Go match seems rather steep, doesn't it?"
Ten silver coins was enough for a commoner to live on for a month. Jinshi had been told repeatedly by Maomao and Gaoshun to learn a proper sense of money, so even he understood that it was no small sum.
However —.
"Rather, it's cheap enough."
"Cheap? Surely that's going too far."
Gaoshun shot that down. Indeed, for lesson fees it was expensive.
"If he were to beat Grand Commandant Han, wouldn't it be cheap enough that you'd get change back?"
"⁉"
That alone would lend prestige.
"They say the challenger plays with black stones, no komi."
Go favored the first player who held black stones. So to equalize, the white stones were pre-arranged so that the white player held more.
"Come to think of it, Grand Commandant Han does seem to treat people who are strong at Go with relatively more respect."
He was Jinshi's Go instructor, after all. Though "relatively" was the operative word, and calling it reasonable was a stretch.
"If Lord Jinshi wins, I think he'd stop coming to the office uninvited to bother you."
"That'd be difficult, though."
Even holding black stones, the opponent was a fox strategist. Far stronger than any garden-variety amateur.
Now then, enough idle talk.
"I'll send a messenger to Raban later."
"Yes."
"I'll grant permission to hold the match, so let's have the venue changed."
That was one point he would not yield on.