On the day of departure, Maomao boarded the carriage with an armload of luggage. Medical instruments and the like had all been packed separately. Most other necessities had been loaded into the carriage well in advance, so all she had on hand were changes of clothes and—
Yao
and the others had copied down for her. Since Maomao didn't get motion sickness, she planned to pass the time reading books during the journey.
(I heard four medical officers are going, but...)
In the end, no one would tell her who was actually going. She couldn't help but suspect they were hiding something for some reason.
One person she had figured out, though.
"Oh, so this is the ship we're boarding?"
The one poking his head out of the carriage was
Tenyu.
After all, he was the only one who had volunteered, so she had more or less expected it.
(She had no room to criticize them for sending someone so green—she was practically a newcomer herself.)
Maomao wasn't counted among the medical officers, but she had been selected too. Four medical officers and one assistant.
Liu
the medical officer had said they were short-handed, so this must have been the result of considerable deliberation.
With the Imperial Prince, known as
Jinshi,
coming along with the eccentric strategist, this journey was going to be a grand affair. Three large sailing ships were lined up. They would be heading by sea, and they were the finest ships Maomao had ever seen. Each had four or five masts, and numerous cannons were visible. The design appeared to incorporate Western technology extensively, while the gaudy color scheme emphasized
Li
's fleet.
They could probably carry several hundred people. Packed tight, perhaps even a thousand.
"Is the sea route faster?"
The words slipped out of Maomao's mouth before she could stop them. In terms of distance, the sea route had to be the longer way around.
"Probably because there's so much luggage. The big shots are staying for a long time too, and above all, there'll be plenty of souvenirs."
A gruff voice suddenly spoke up. It belonged to one of the senior medical officers—a man with a mustache and a slightly wild appearance. Despite supposedly working indoors, his skin was tanned to a dark shade.
I remember their faces, but since they're assigned to a different medical office, I don't recall their names.
She was the second of the four chosen.
"...I see."
Normally she could brush it off with a vague answer, but she would need to remember their names from now on.
"For the time being, I'll be taking charge during this journey, so I'd appreciate your cooperation."
He had a remarkably unpretentious demeanor. Given that this was Medical Officer Liu's doing, he had likely been selected for temperament as much as skill. His tanned skin suggested he might be from the western capital.
"The other two medical officers are already aboard. I'll be on the lead ship, Tenyu on the rear ship, and—"
Her Ladyship
"will be in the middle. Another senior medical officer will be assigned to assist."
"..."
Should she correct him on the name? No, she couldn't very well speak up when she couldn't even remember his name herself, so she decided to let it go.
"I have a question."
"What is it?"
"Who will be on the ship I'm boarding?"
Maomao asked through gritted teeth, her face contorting.
"The middle ship has the most important person of all. The younger one. Can't you tell from how grand the ship looks?"
The middle ship was indeed the largest and most elegant.
"The younger one..."
Should she feel relieved?
That meant it was Jinshi's ship, not the eccentric strategist's.
"As for
Grand Commandant
Kan,
Luomen
said he's fairly docile while being rocked on the ship, so I was told to give him fruit water for motion sickness and nutritional supplements."
"Ah"
Raban
It seems she has roughly the same constitution. She's weak not just with alcohol — ships get to her too.
"Have you been briefed on the ship?"
"Yes. There's an infirmary aboard, so all the necessary equipment has been brought there. I was also told to basically sleep there."
"That's right. You're welcome to sleep in the maids' quarters if you prefer, though."
"I'll stay in the infirmary, please."
Since Jinshi is here, he must have brought a maid along—
(
Suien
—could she be along for the journey?)
She's a woman in early old age. A long trip would be hard on her. Otherwise, the only person I can think of is
Amami,
Bashen's older sister.
I feel like I heard she had children, but maybe I'm misremembering.
As I turned this over in my head, I figured there had to be other maids regardless. They would have been careful about the selection, but it never hurts to keep your distance, just in case.
"For the details, ask the other senior physician."
(Seriously, who even is that?)
They make the eccentric strategist's information public, so why keep the physicians a mystery? I found it puzzling.
"Ugh, the senior physician?"
Tenyū called out as she climbed aboard the ship.
"What, got a complaint?"
It was none other than the junior physician who had been picking fights with me the other day. She'd seemed like a model student, but
as it
turned out, she was a handful. Of course, I don't know her name.
I climbed aboard the ship to find out who the other passenger might be.
The sailors were bustling about their work.
The room reserved for the important official jutted out slightly from the deck, looking rather more luxurious than the rest. The ventilation seemed decent too.
(Seems like the most comfortable spot, but also the most likely target.)
I descended the stairs and entered the interior of the ship. Damp, clinging air stuck to my skin. Perhaps to improve airflow, the space wasn't partitioned off by walls — instead, there were only sparse dividers that barely counted as such.
(This is probably where the officials all sleep together in a big heap.)
Meals were communal too. Since sailors were hired separately, there was nothing for the officials to do — they'd have plenty of idle time. Board games would probably become even more popular.
Cannons were also installed, so the vessel could serve as a warship when needed.
Several sections were properly walled off — those would be the rooms for the ladies-in-waiting and the important official. Considering the ratio of men to women, the men vastly outnumbered the women. Keeping everyone together in the open would have been risky, so the separate quarters were clearly a precaution against anyone getting any funny ideas.
(Kind of getting excited about this.)
Even though I figured I'd grow sick of this place soon enough once I had to be here every day, the urge to explore is simply human nature. Rough ropes and wooden flotation devices hung from various spots along the walls.
The ship had a three-tiered structure, and with the important official's room included, it made four levels in total.
The level below was almost identical in layout, but it housed an infirmary and a galley. I'd save the infirmary for last, so I checked the galley first. Multiple water barrels were lined up, and there was a cooking stove. Clever measures had been taken to vent smoke efficiently.
(Fire on a ship is terrifying.)
They used fire-resistant materials around it, but still, one would have to be cautious.
For the number of people aboard, the galley was remarkably small — it would barely suffice for preparing meals for the important official alone.
Someone of my lowly station would be lucky to get a thin soup, probably.
Once you've eaten what goes in, it has to come out.
As for where the toilet might be, I found a screened-off enclosure at the bow of the ship. Presumably, waste dropped straight into the sea with a splash. I'd best not accidentally fall in myself.
The lowest level was used for storage — cannonballs, water, food supplies, and perhaps souvenirs bound for the Western Capital. I happened upon some sweet potatoes and nearly groaned. It was all too obvious who had pushed for their inclusion.
After surveying the ship, I finally reached the infirmary. Walls had been erected to allow for isolation in case of illness. When I opened the door, a softly rounded figure was seated in a chair.
"..."
For an instant, I thought it might be my father — but no.
"Oh my, little miss."
There sat someone who was supposed to be in the rear palace. The quack doctor.
"…Is that you, Doctor?"
The reason there was a question mark at the end of that sentence was that the quack doctor was missing what could only be called his
*defining feature*
—his scraggly mustache. It was smooth. Truly, completely smooth.
"W-what, don't look! Isn't that embarrassing?"
The quack doctor's face turned scarlet and his lips pursed. His behavior was exactly like that of a girl who'd cut her bangs too short.
"What happened?"
"Ugh. They told me to shave it off. Apparently, growing one in the first place is strange for a eunuch."
"Well, I suppose it is strange."
Since eunuchs had their symbol of manhood removed, they lost their male physical characteristics. Their facial and body hair would thin out, though of course there were exceptions. Apparently, depending on the person, some part of what defined them as male could remain inside their bodies.
The quack doctor, despite being a eunuch, seemed to take pride in the fact that he could still grow a mustache, and he would often stroke his sorry-looking whiskers.
"Still, why are you here again, Doctor?"
"There aren't any consorts in the rear palace that require special attention at the moment. The only high-ranking consort is"
"*Rifa*"
", so Luomen can handle things on his own."
(Ah, so this is a demotion.)
Eunuch Liu was truly shrewd.
There weren't enough doctors to send to the western capital, so Jinshi had arranged for the required number. With one solid senior doctor accounted for, they'd need at least one more senior doctor to make it look proper.
And so, purely for appearances, they'd decided to use the quack doctor, who held the title of senior physician.
They'd crammed medical knowledge into Maomao possibly because she'd work well with the quack doctor. Or perhaps it was the other way around—they were bringing the quack doctor because Maomao was going.
"Hehehe, it's my first time on a ship, so I'm all excited! I don't know what'll happen, but if I'm with you, miss, I'm sure we'll have fun."
The quack doctor's greatest strength was probably his personality.
He also seemed to have the sort of luck that let him survive no matter what. Perhaps he was favored by some uncanny force.
"Well then, let's have some tea, shall we? I need to heat up some water first."
"I think you'd get in trouble for using the stove without permission."
"Huh? Then use a brazier."
"I think burning charcoal in here would probably make us suffocate."
The ventilation was poor, so the fire would burn incompletely. There were windows, but they were small. The room itself was dim.
The quack doctor's brows drooped.
"So... is ship travel really that inconvenient?"
"Needless to say."
The quack doctor looked disappointed and flopped his face onto the built-in bed with a soft thump.
"Hmm. The bed's hard too."
"There's nothing you can do about it, so just give up. At least it's better than having to sleep piled together. Oh, I'll use this shelf over here for luggage."
Maomao put her change of clothes in the shelf and opened the manuscript she had received from Yao. She claimed the spot where the window light fell just right and sat on the bed as if it were a chair.
"Hmm? You read books, little lady?"
"There seems to be plenty of time before departure. Someone will come to call us then, right?"
"Mmm."
The disappointed quack doctor puffed out his cheeks and quietly took out a portable Go board.
"Sure, I'll play tsumego too."
That the book she pulled out was a Go book by the eccentric strategist went without saying.
(´・ε・｀) Mmph