Politics is the sort of troublesome affair where being caught playing defense means it's already over.
A ruler must foresee what will happen in the country and preemptively crush the causes. If they fail, they're condemned; if they succeed, no one says a word.
(What a pain.)
Maomao
was grinding away at herbs in her mortar with vigorous enthusiasm.
(Visit Junsei Province and be back in two months, she said.)
Rahan's
brother found it nothing short of an unreasonable demand, and he wasn't even given any days off. Those two months fell during the period when the
locusts
were still in the egg or larval stage. If they were larvae that had hatched but couldn't yet fly, there were plenty of countermeasures available. If Rahan's brother, who was normally quite competent, had been there, he could have
shifted from the autumn harvest
to exterminating larvae.
Several days had passed since Maomao had seen off Rahan's brother as he tearfully climbed aboard the carriage and departed. She had been spending her time relatively peacefully. Different place, different medicine. What Maomao was currently grinding was a blend of herbs from Junsei Province, used as a fever reducer.
"Now then, let's see—this is..."
She confirmed the preparation methods of medicines sold in Junsei Province while adding different herbs. When compounding medicine, mixing ingredients could enhance the remedy's effects — or conversely, turn it into poison. Moreover, a formulation effective for the residents of the western capital might not work on people from the central region.
Just as herbs changed their chemical composition depending on how they grew, people had individual variations too. The times she spent trial-and-erroring to discern those differences were moments of pure bliss for Maomao.
"Fufufu, fufu."
"Miss, sorry to interrupt when you're looking so happy, but—"
Li Bai
approached. Maomao wiped the drool trailing from the corner of her mouth.
"What's wrong? Was the test dose of medicine I had you try yesterday not sitting well?"
"Mmm, well, the taste really is terrible — no, that's not what— ...That old man, he's coming—"
Before Li Bai could finish, Maomao quickly tidied away her mortar.
"I'm feeling unwell today, so I'll be taking the day off. I'm gravely ill and unable to receive visitors."
"Hey, hey!"
Maomao, grabbed by the scruff of the neck by Li Bai.
"What's wrong, little lady? Got a cold? Want me to whip up some kudzu tea?"
"Even the court physician would be taken in by that act, huh."
Li Bai let out a long-suffering sigh.
"Little lady, hear me out. Now think about it — ever since we got to the Western Capital, isn't it strange that guy hasn't come by the villa once?"
"That guy" went without saying — the eccentric strategist.
"...That's true. Did something happen?"
The eccentric strategist was, at the end of the day, the type to blow off work and do whatever struck his fancy.
"There's a real shogi master out here in the Western Capital, and apparently they've been going at it nonstop."
"That's a very convincing answer."
The Western Capital side had apparently been scheming how to handle the eccentric strategist. Just give the man a board game and he'd settle right down.
"And his opponent — the one who got called here today."
"...Ugh."
(Who invited him?)
The answer was self-evident. Who else but Jinshi?
"Well, I can see why you can't stand the guy, little lady."
"Pretty obvious, right?"
"Who is this fellow, anyway?"
The quack doctor asked with an innocent, guileless face, but she had no intention of answering.
"But you do get that he's talented, right?"
"I hate to admit it, but yes."
"Who is he?"
The quack doctor couldn't break into the conversation and was knitting his brows in frustration.
"Don't you think that if you called in sick or pretended to be out, that capable fellow would go crazy trying to hunt you down?"
"Nngh..."
"And here's the thing—the more someone plays hard to get, the more worked up you get and the stronger that impulse becomes."
Li Bai's words carried the weight of deep personal experience.
The Rokuyoukan.
So he must have been thoroughly strung along there.
"Wouldn't it be better to just show your face briefly and keep the contact to a minimum?"
"Say, Li Bai, aren't you awfully on that old man's side?"
"It's nothing like that."
"Then why?"
When Maomao pressed him, Li Bai raised his hand as if conceding.
"The shogi master coming today is apparently like a living encyclopedia of the Western Capital. When the Dog Clan was wiped out, a great deal of past documentation burned along with it. If I put it that way, can you follow, miss?"
In other words, Jinshi had invited the shogi master to hear what she had to say. But if the eccentric military strategist happened to tag along, there was no guarantee the conversation would go well. So he must have been asking Maomao to keep the strategist occupied.
"It's not that I don't understand, but where did they dig up this living encyclopedia? Won't people find it strange if he goes around doing whatever he pleases?"
Given Jinshi's position, he could never know when or where his life might be targeted. On top of that, he had already been acting freely on agricultural matters—what sort of reputation must he have in the Western Capital by now?
"Well, here's the thing—the person who introduced that shogi master was that old woman."
"Um, that makes no sense to me."
Maomao tilted her head in honest bewilderment. Meanwhile, the quack doctor, put out at not being able to join the conversation, had set out some dried fruit for
snacks
and started brewing tea.
"The Western Capital prepared the shogi master as a counterpart for entertainment—apparently over eighty years old. Long since gone senile and needing someone to look after her. But her shogi skills have never faded; she keeps honing them without fail, so she'd be the perfect match for an eccentric military strategist."
"If she's senile, wouldn't it be impossible to get anything out of her?"
"Apparently, she occasionally snaps back to lucidity when the eccentric military strategist speaks to her.
Her speech doesn't work right,
so she speaks in broken words—still, somehow her adjutant had things jotted down and showed them to Lord Jinshi."
Maomao wanted to bury her face in her hands.
"And on top of that, apparently he says he 'wants to see his daughter after so long, so prepare a tea gathering.'"
(Oh, come on...)
In other words, instead of exchanging information, he apparently wanted them to let him meet Maomao.
"Boss, you're always agonizing over something, aren't you? Lately you seem to have lightened up a bit, though. Around when you left Anan, maybe?"
The big dog's instincts were sharp.
It was right around the time Maomao had said "use whoever you can use."
(No, I did say that. I definitely said that.)
And so, Rahan was thoroughly used up and sent off on a journey by carriage. Rahan ending up in that situation might well have been Maomao's doing. If that was the case, she couldn't refuse the one who had brought it up.
"So, I was asked to pass along a message, but I think they got the wrong person for the job. You're clearly ready to run, aren't you, miss? I told them I wasn't about to go out of my way to stop you."
No, here—rather than carelessly
using Suzume
or the like, it was the honest Li Bai who would truly be a challenge for Maomao to deal with.
"But she told me that if you're honest and sincere when you talk, your feelings will come across, and she'll actually listen to what you have to say."
(What have I done.)
Maomao gritted her teeth, unable to do anything more than mutter "that bastard" under her breath.
"Fine..."
"Huh? You're okay with that? Really? Then I'll guide you to where the tea gathering will be. Oh, and apparently Suzume will bring you a change of clothes. Got it?"
"Sure."
Maomao, feeling like she was about to cough up her soul, staggered back to her room.