The roundup of the bandits was over so quickly it was almost laughable.
Those who had already headed for the latrines were taken into custody, and the bandits inside the church, though they put up some resistance, were captured in a nearly bloodless fashion.
However, since the bandits were suffering from vomiting and diarrhea, the scene became utter chaos in an entirely different sense, so I'll spare the detailed description.
Absolutely no desire to clean that up.
And then—
Maomao,
her brow tightly furrowed,
was facing off against Chishō.
Beside her were
Xiaohong
and the female bodyguard. Xiaohong's face was beaming at the reunion with her uncle.
They had borrowed one of the rooms in the meeting hall.
Guards stood outside to prevent anyone from eavesdropping.
"Surely it's about time you gave us a proper explanation?"
Maomao had no intention of being cowed by a man who probably weighed twice as much as she did.
Whether out of consideration or something else, the female bodyguard took Xiaohong and left the room.
"Well, I'd like to explain, but first let's introduce ourselves. How much do you know about me? Give me your candid opinion—hold nothing back."
At Chishō's words, Maomao decided to answer honestly.
"You're the grandson of Lord Gyokuen,
the eldest son of Lord Gyokuyō,
and the nephew of Lady Gyokuyou. Your bloodline is impeccable, but your conduct is poor and you're not well regarded in the succession dispute—the prodigal son, in other words. You've been brewing and selling illegal liquor, and there are rumors about whether or not you have connections to bandits.
And while I'm at it, I think you should do a better job educating your children."
"My, that's certainly candid."
Chishō showed no signs of anger.
"Alright, my turn first. You're the Han Grand Commandant's daughter. Officially, you're a court lady here assisting the medical officer, but truth be told, you're Consort Moon's favorite, aren't you?"
"The Han Grand Commandant merely has the wrong idea—I'm the daughter of a woman he used to frequent. As for Consort Moon, I'll only say that I'm valued for my work as a poison taster."
She had to correct him on that.
"Hmm, well, let's just go with that."
His wording gnawed at her, but she had to let it go or they'd never get anywhere.
"Now, as for how things came to be this way—where should I even begin?"
Shiō groaned, drumming his fingers on the table.
"People say I'm some kind of crime boss, but well, it'd make more sense if I told you I ran an escort agency. Technically, I bought out a small one and took it over. As for my connection to the bandits... it's not exactly a cordial relationship. Ever since I crushed one of that bear-man's eyes, he's had a grudge against me. He'd show up crashing into my territory, and sometimes he'd even go so far as to impersonate my escort agents."
She couldn't take everything Shiō said at face value, but most of what she'd been told
was what Sparrow
had brought her.
(Sparrow's intel is the more dubious one.)
Taking Sparrow's account at face value led to contradictions. For starters, it was odd that Sparrow was the one who'd helped Maomao escape alongside Shiō.
(Knowing Sparrow, she'd have cleverly woven in truths here and there—the more likely scenario was that she'd been subtly misdirected.)
If that was the case, she needed to listen carefully to what Shiō had to say and cross-check the facts.
"Not long after Consort Moon came to the Western Capital, someone asked me to escort a foreign merchant caravan there. It was a job another escort agency had taken on, but since it was outside their territory, they passed it to one of my trusted escorts. They probably came to me because they knew me well—if the old man, Yuukō, found out, they figured they could talk their way out of it. My old man's xenophobia was well known among escort circles."
"What about the son of"
"Yuukō"
"-sama, then? How do you feel about it?"
"...I used to hate them too, back when I was under my old man's influence. But there's no point in shunning foreigners in a place like this, hemmed in by borders on all sides."
(I see.)
Maomao sipped her kumis in lieu of tea.
"So this merchant caravan—were they foreign dignitaries or something?"
"I didn't know at first. But I gradually started to suspect something was off."
"Like what?"
Shikō raised his index finger.
"They seemed to have come after hearing about the Moon Prince's stay. But as soon as they arrived, pursuers showed up. For people targeting a merchant, they were awfully persistent and thorough. Also, they resembled the Rii people, but it turned out they were from a foreign tribe. I figured some bigwig from another country had come to meet with the Moon Prince. But in reality, they were trying to lay low in Rii territory and pull a vanishing act."
"Why would they go and do something like that?"
There was no need to come all the way to another country just to hide. And what was the significance of timing it to when Jinshi was there?
"If things went well, maybe they were hoping for asylum. Or maybe they figured that with important people around, it would be harder for their own countrymen who were chasing them to get in. Seems like they have an advisor who is either a complete idiot or a genius — someone who only operates on the razor's edge."
(That sounds like a pain.)
In any case, they had been lying low — but...
"The locust plague had them stuck in one place for a long while. The hostility toward foreigners was dangerous, but
Dahai's
uncle took them in at the post town, so they pulled through. They did panic along the way when someone fell ill and they needed a doctor, though."
"..."
(Foreigners, a post town, a doctor...)
This was a story Maomao knew all too well.
"Is the important person a child?"
"That's right."
Just as she had suspected — Maomao held her head in her hands.
"They can't just stay forever loitering at the post town. But with my old man's death, things have progressed in various ways."
"What changed after Lady Gyokuō was gone?"
"If you had to choose between someone who'd actually listen to a foreigner's account and someone who wouldn't, which would you rather deal with? In other words — the foreigner. I suppose I can name them now.
Rijin
sent people to retrieve the child. The unrest in their country has settled down considerably."
(Rijin...)
Probably,
Hokuaren.
She had a feeling it was one of their countries. Beyond that, Maomao couldn't say.
"So I ended up stepping in to mediate between Moon Prince and the other party. But just as I was about to go have that conversation—"
Shisui slapped his side, the spot where the poisoned arrow had wounded him.
"I was ambushed the moment I entered the main residence. I reflexively knocked out the gate guards nearby. That was the wrong move. Anyway, I had no idea where the assassins were, so I hid in that passage and dug the arrow out."
"And then I treated you."
The story connected.
"So how did I end up having to go with you?"
"I was set up. Before I knew it, I'd become the culprit who abducted a foreign dignitary. And since you treated me, you were seen as connected too. In diplomacy, the basic rule is never to show your opponent anything that would put your country at a disadvantage."
Having received an education as the eldest son, he apparently understood such matters.
"Considering blowgun darts were used inside the mansion too, the possibility of an insider was high. That's what Suzume said."
So it was Suzume's decision to bring Maomao along. Since Maomao had already come into contact with the foreign dignitary, she couldn't claim ignorance.
"If you could meet with the foreign dignitary and introduce them to the Li people without any misunderstanding, you'd be freed. Of course, only after confirming that the person you're introducing them to isn't a political enemy of the dignitary. In the meantime, both you and your niece would need to go into hiding, and we'd have to shake off anyone following us. Plus I wanted to get some contact with Moon Prince somehow."
(Easy to say, but there's so much to do, so much to do.)
"Well, not everything went smoothly. The dignitary, sensing danger, left the inn town and headed to a prearranged meeting point in case something happened. As a result, I ended up dragging you all around again."
"...One of the people who came chasing after that dignitary was this One-Eyed Dragon fellow, wasn't it?"
"That name's too grand for him—Bear Man is plenty. That guy's had a grudge against me for a while now. He probably took the job with relish. This town was a place I often used when doing preparations, so maybe he was lying in wait for that reason. ...I'm sorry for what happened."
"So the fact that you're here now means you've safely delivered the dignitary."
"Yeah. I wanted to get here sooner, but I couldn't risk Bear Man noticing something odd—no telling what he'd do. It sounds like an excuse, but I never intended to use you or Xiaohong as bait."
"I know. You wouldn't normally make that kind of mistake."
The reason the One-Eyed Dragon—Bear Man—mistook Xiaohong for the foreign dignitary was probably because the man couldn't read. The portrait sketch had no color, and the finer details were listed in bullet points beside it. Whether he got hair color or eye color wrong, it meant he hadn't bothered to read the descriptions at all.
And if most bandits couldn't read, there were all sorts of ways to outsmart them.
Maomao looked at the sleeve of her garment. She had changed from the wool clothes into freshly laundered ones. The sleeve bore Suzume's embroidery. It was intricate work—far beyond simply "mending a loose thread." More importantly, there had been nothing to mend in the first place.
This kind of delicate embroidery couldn't be done in short intervals between labor, so Maomao concluded it had been there from the start.
It was as if the one who did the embroidery knew full well that Maomao had no interest in clothing, and had anticipated that she would realize "mending a loose thread" was
a code word.
That required knowing Maomao well.
There had already been an accomplice inside the town — the older woman. Among all the pastoral townsfolk, she was the only one who seemed to have a strangely extensive vocabulary.
"Was there some prearranged method of communication?"
"I just snuck in and told her. Well, I wrote the instructions at an agreed-upon spot and had her check there."
"There's really someone like that?"
"There is. Someone who's good at that sort of thing."
"...You don't mean the female escort?"
"Correct."
"...Could it be that—"
Just as Maomao was about to ask, the door opened.
The female escort was standing there. She should have had the sharp-featured face of a woman in her thirties, yet her expression was oddly approachable.
"Could it be that... you're Suzume?"
Maomao looked at the female escort with narrowed eyes. She had half-expected it, but—
"Heheh, you figured it out? That's right."
The female escort struck a very ridiculous
pose
.