For a while,
Maomao
had enjoyed peaceful days. Though calling them peaceful, occasionally the eccentric strategist would drop by, the quack doctor would bring strange rumors,
Jinshi,
and she would consult with him about various matters.
"Sounds like things are going well so far."
In Jinshi's hands was a crumpled letter. When he opened it, it was filled with meticulous descriptions of farmland.
"That's from Rakan, isn't it?"
"That's right. This is quite handy."
Jinshi looked at the birdcage and narrowed his eyes. A pigeon cooed softly inside.
"It's one-way, but the speed of information transfer is excellent."
It seemed he had given Rakan trained pigeons to take with him.
Unfortunately, since these were letters meant only to be tied to pigeons, writing about the current situation was all he could manage. Rakan didn't even have space to write
his own name.
At the end, he had written the name of the village where he currently was, and that was where the letter stopped.
(He must have written this through tears.)
Whether the day would ever come when his name could be known, no one could say.
"How many pigeons did you give him?"
Maomao asked, more out of idle curiosity than anything.
"Three. He seemed quite adept at caring for them, too. As for additional pigeons, we've dispatched riders to catch up at the last village he passed through."
Jinshi spread open a map of Xuixi Province.
Suiren
came over and marked the villages mentioned in the letter. It had already been over a month since Rakan had set out.
(He's really giving it his all.)
Jinshi had made the unreasonable demand that everything be finished by February, but she was already on the return leg.
(She really is someone who gets things done, one way or another — Brother Rahan.)
And precisely because she was so capable, she probably didn't even realize that everyone around her kept piling more work onto her.
"Maomao."
"Yes?"
When her business was concluded and she was about to make a quick exit, Jinshi called out to stop her.
"No, well, it's just that things have settled down somewhat for the time being."
"Yes, they have."
"If you were to turn your attention to other things for a bit…"
"Oh!"
Maomao clapped her hands as if suddenly remembering something.
"Now that you mention it, the wheat harvest is coming up soon. Would it be all right if I went to help with that?"
"…The wheat harvest? Is there some significance to it?"
"Yes. When I visited the farming village at the start, I asked about last year's wheat, and it seems there was an outbreak of ergot, so it's been on my mind."
"Ergot?"
It was apparently a word Jinshi was unfamiliar with.
"It's a disease that turns wheat black. In simple terms, it's poisonous if you eat it."
"Mm, easy enough to understand."
"I thought I should take a look beforehand, since once it's milled into flour, you can't tell."
Ergot was also used for inducing abortions. It often contaminated low-quality wheat flour, so she wanted to confirm whether it was present. While she was at it, she also wanted to check the harvest yield.
"Is that so? Then I understand. I'll arrange a carriage."
"Well, actually,
Rikuson
is heading out on a reconnaissance mission, or so I heard, and I was wondering if I might accompany him."
The quack doctor had told her this from who-knows-where. When she checked with Suzume, it turned out to be true.
"Ryūson..."
"I thought this would be a good opportunity, as there are several things I'd like to discuss with him."
As it turned out, Maomao had not crossed paths with Ryūson since her first day in the western capital. She had things she wanted to discuss with him in person.
For an instant, Jinshi made a complicated face.
"Very well. I'll pass the message along to Ryūson."
"Thank you."
While she was at it, she wanted to gather any medicinal herbs she might find in the grasslands along the way. She'd need to prepare her harvesting basket right away.
"Well then, Lord Jinshi, if you'll excuse me!"
"Oh—"
With Jinshi cut off mid-sentence, Maomao went about her preparations with the giddy excitement of someone heading off on a field trip.
"What lovely weather we're having!"
Suzume stretched luxuriously.
"There was no need to worry about rain after all."
Peering out from the carriage, the sky was utterly cloudless.
Maomao, too, let herself be rocked by the creaking carriage while feeling the scent of grass on the wind.
"It won't be raining for some time yet. In Jūsei Province, apart from the rainy season, you don't get any prolonged rainfall."
The one explaining was Ryūson, seated across from her. He was dressed in practical attire today.
"Then it's good for the wheat harvest."
When rain falls during the wheat harvest period, the grain can sprout and lose its quality. If it isn't dried properly, it simply rots.
"Yes. But weather can be unpredictable, and apparently there are times when
hail
falls just when harvest is near."
"Hail is hard to predict, isn't it?"
Maomao wasn't an agricultural specialist, so she could only offer a stock response. If her half-brother Raban were here, he'd clench his fist tight and go on about how hectic and grueling harvest season was.
Maomao glanced toward the driver's seat. Holding the reins was—
Bassen
It was. The guard could have been Li Bai, but since it had been Bassen last time as well, he was the one they called upon.
Sitting beside Maomao was Suzume, beaming with a smile.
(This should be fine, right?)
Maomao let out a quiet breath.
"Lord Rikuson, why are you conducting investigations of farming villages?"
She had been meaning to ask this question outright for some time. She had probably already heard about it indirectly from Jinshi or someone in his circle. But Maomao wanted to hear it firsthand, with her own ears.
Rikuson glanced around briefly, particularly at the subordinates trailing behind the carriage.
"There are several reasons."
"I'd like to hear all of them."
Maomao stated plainly.
"The first concerns the locust plague. I occasionally exchange correspondence with Lord Raban, and I frequently draw upon his wisdom. It was said that if a locust plague were to break out in the Li region, the granary districts in the north or west would be the most likely culprits."
Sure enough, a small-scale locust plague had already emerged in the northwestern granary districts. The truly terrifying thing about locust plagues was that, if left unchecked, the damage would only continue to snowball.
"For some reason I was appointed to serve as an administrative official in the Western Capital. It sounds rather grand when called a 'consolidation role,' but to put it bluntly, it amounts to menial work. Crop-related documents inevitably get mixed in with all the rest. So, as a working hypothesis, I had been looking into current food reserves and the like."
"But was it really necessary to go all the way there in person?"
"That would be the second reason."
What reason could that possibly be? Maomao's eyes widened.
Rikuson wore a troubled smile.
"You probably already know this, but the numbers on paper and the actual quantities often don't match up."
He must be talking about the falsification of production figures.
"And the third reason?"
"The third? I once heard that there was a type of cultivation practice that could reduce locust plagues."
"Autumn plowing, right? So that's why you went to visit—"
Nenshin
"—san. That's what this was about, wasn't it?"
"Yes. Do you understand now?"
Rikuson offered a gentle smile. He looked a bit thinner than the last time she had seen him.
"By the way — regarding Qiugeng, who did you hear about that from?"
"My mother. She ran a wide variety of businesses. She taught me all sorts of things when I was young."
"I see."
Rikuson gazed out the carriage window, his eyes growing slightly distant.
*(Is there anything else to ask—)*
"Maomao, Maomao!"
Suzume thrust a sketch forward. It was a portrait of Lin Xiaoren — the man who had gotten the drop on Maomao and the others the other day.
"Well done, Suzume."
"Not at all — if I didn't do something to make up for that blunder, I'd never live it down."
Suzume seemed a bit dejected. That was unusual.
*(If only Rikuson had been there.)*
If he had that special talent for never forgetting a face after seeing it just once, she had a feeling Lin Xiaoren would be found in no time.
"Have you ever seen anyone who looks like this?"
"Hmm."
Rikuson studied the portrait of Lin Xiaoren intently.
"What about skin tone?"
"He had a slightly dark complexion. His hair was black with a slight wave, and his eyes were"
hazel
"colored."
"'Hazel' — is it a color like this?"
Rikuson pointed at a cloth bag he had nearby.
"No — it was a bit more reddish and darker than that."
"Then perhaps something like this?"
Rikuson made a shadow with his palm.
"It's a little closer now."
However, since he'd only seen the person indoors, the difference in lighting made it look quite different.
"Whose skin color outside is closest to it?"
Rikuson looked outside the carriage.
Everyone was tanned, with light brown skin. The impression was that they weren't too dark but had sun-tanned skin, so he pointed to the lightest skin tone.
"Then, did they have freckles?"
"Freckles? I don't think so."
"Was their skin oily?"
"It didn't feel like that, no."
He also asked in detail about the amount of hair, the size of the ears, the prominence of the cheekbones, and how the muscles were built.
(They say he never forgets a face,)
Rikuson probably had every feature of the person's whole body committed to memory. She vaguely thought that his special ability of never forgetting a face was cultivated not through talent but through effort.
"In my memory, I recall a few people in the western capital who looked similar. However, I can't definitively say it was this person."
"Is that so? Just to be safe, could you tell me what you do remember?"
"Very well. Shall I tell you once we've arrived at the village?"
While they were talking, they arrived at the village.
The wheat gleaming golden could well be called a bumper crop.
It seemed they also grew potatoes, as green leaves were visible.
(Well, time to get busy with farm work for a while.)
She decided to leave the herb gathering and whatnot for the trip back. She and Rikuson would take separate routes on the return.
That was when she hopped energetically off the carriage.
Maomao could see a horse approaching at speed from behind. That alone would have been fine, but something about it seemed off.
(Were they fleeing from bandits?)
No, that wasn't it.
The horse halted in front of Maomao and the others. Its tongue lolled out as it collapsed onto its side. The rider wore a military officer's uniform.
(I've seen him before.)
He was one of the officers Jinshi regularly used as attendants. Maomao assumed he held a reasonable rank, so why was he so out of breath?
"What happened?"
Maomao offered him water, but the officer shook his head. He just kept opening and closing his mouth, then thrust a piece of paper at her.
(What's this?)
The finely folded slip of paper resembled a letter from Rahan's brother.
"The Moon— you— if you look, you'll understand—"
(If I look, I'll understand?)
Wondering what that could mean, she unfolded it and looked—
A single line had been drawn across the page. It was rough, as though the writer had not even used a proper brush but instead a chunk of charcoal.
That alone would have been one thing.
But above that line, something had been scribbled and smudged over in a black, scribbled mass.
There was no indication of where this was, but there was only one person who could have sent it. Rahan's brother must have managed to send the carrier pigeon in the middle of the chaos to convey something.
(This is—)
Maomao recognized it.
From last year,
when the priestess from Sasara
had come to visit. The eerie drawing she had received at the end from a girl named Jazuguru.
At the time, she had not understood what it meant.
(But now I understand.)
The single line was the horizon stretching before her eyes.
And the scribbled black mass above it—
"A locust plague is coming."
Maomao stared up at the empty blue sky above, where nothing yet stirred.