Volume 6, Chapter 21: Mama (1/2)

When they were heading back after their multiple doctor’s visits to the priestess were over, the streets from the view of the carriage were bustling with a spirit akin to new year celebrations.

“It seems like it’ll be faster to walk back,” Yao said.

Maomao knew about her dad’s bad leg, so she kept quiet.

Dad gave a troubled smile. “I’m sorry. It’s a bit far for my legs.”

Yao made an expression of dismay, but it was already too late. While Dad was fine with it, being who he is, it might sour the mood of any other big shot.

Maomao didn’t know if there was any point to the doctor’s visits, but some aspects of it seemed to be useful. Unfortunately, the useful thing wasn’t the medicine that Maomao and Yao prepared, but their lifestyle pointers about taking in more hydration.

In Sha’ou, water, being a valuable resource, isn’t drunk frequently. And the priestess, with her position making it that she couldn’t go relieve herself easily, appeared to drink extremely little. She had been pleased that her headaches subsided when she drank more often.

Next, the priestess reported to them in broken language that she was delighted that she can go out for walks. As an albino, she could only go out at night time, but the sun was comparatively weaker in Rii compared to Sha’ou, and it also rained more often. She told them that she could walk outside with an umbrella when the weather was downcast.

(She’s carefree.)

Maomao was on the verge of suspecting that the priestess actually came to Rii for sightseeing.

Of course, it wasn’t that the priestess was free for the entire day. Occasionally, she would also get visitors. Big shots were understandable, but there were also people who come in asking to speak with her for one time.

Like how Lady Pai was popular, the foreign albino priestess was also fascinating to people.

“It seems today’s visitor sought for divination,” Maomao said, suddenly remembering.

“Considering the priestess position, divination would be one of her jobs, but that might have been a little disrespectful. She is the authority of a foreign country after all.”

Everyone agreed with Dad.

Furthermore, she was officially here for medical treatment. Maomao couldn’t feel their concern, but worryingly, most people are like that.

“It’s said that her divinations are spot on, but I have no idea what to think about relying on that. There’s no clear reason for it, and I also don’t know what to think about deciding the future through fortune-telling.” Maomao was bothered about that part. There was no basis to divination. And even if there was, would that priestess possess the ability to read minds?

“It’s because Maomao wants to make sense of uncertain things, yeah,” Dad said.

“You hate divination?” Yao broke in.

“Isn’t it disgusting?” Maomao said.

She understood that things don’t ever come in black and white. But Maomao believed that mysterious things in the world were only due to her lack of knowledge and information. “Like how do you decide where to relocate a capital by burning a turtle’s shell?”

“No, unexpectantly, that has logic to it,” Dad refuted. “By using the animals in the area, you can determine the state of nutrition of the time. That is to say, we can tell how the bountiful the land is. By using the gods and sages in the name of divination, with believers, you can do things on a large scale. That might have been the start of government.”

(I see.)

She can agree with what Dad said. Yao also listened with great interest.

“However, what’s troubling is that even if it was meaningful in the past, it now remains merely for form’s sake, without knowledge of why it’s done and what meaning it holds. That is the most worrying part of it.” Dad made a sorrowful expression. “In the past, when there was crop failure, there was a village who bury the babies born in that year as sacrifices. The poor crop did not abate even with the sacrifices, so they went right on burying new sacrifices. And it was just when there were no villagers to turn into sacrifices, I happened to pass by in the middle of my travels.”

(Ah, I can imagine that.)

Since it was Dad who is predisposed to suffering, she could tell what happened next.

“When I was tied up with rope and dropped into a hole, I thought I was really going to die. If my companion who came after hadn’t noticed, I would probably still be underground even now.”

“….” Yao was lost for words. Dad was talking about quite a heavy past in a calm tone. Dad is wise, but he had the tendency to get a little numb to stories of his personal misfortune.

“You might think that sacrifices are silly, but there is a product to that in the past as well. In that village, fields were planted every year as usual. Though they add fertiliser, there will always be some nutrients they lack. Those are found in the human body,” he said.

Of course, with that reasoning, it would be pointless for other hindrances regarding repeated cultivation. The village Dad visited had crop failure from an insect-borne disease, so their sacrifices had been in vain.

“They would do it from experience even if they don’t know the meaning to it. The origin of sacrifices probably came to be by chance from how crops only grew in the areas where bodies had been buried. However, god was added to it in time, and it became sanctified. The word god is very useful,” Dad said.

The Sha’ou Priestess might also be something that had been sanctified via this process.

While they talked about that, they reached the medical office. Maomao supported Dad as she alighted from the carriage. They still had to write up a report after this.

However, it was noisy in the medical office.

And when she wondered why…

“You’re finally back.” A troubled looking court physician approached them.

“What’s wrong?” Dad asked.

“For crying out loud, have you ever thought that he would come when you two are not around? It’s awkward. We told him that you’re not here, and he said that he’ll wait until you’re back.”

The people who would speak in such a way were limited.

Maomao exchanged glances with Dad.

“Can’t be helped.” Dad went into the medical office first. Inside, as imagined, was the monocle weirdo. The weirdo tactician was lying on a sofa that had been carried in from somewhere.

“Uncle! You took so long!”

“Come on, Rakan ah. Don’t bring in furniture from other places. Look, throw the paper wrapping in the bin. Also, if you only drink juice, I don’t care if you get cavities,” Dad said.

What can she say about the figure of his bending forward to pick up the paper wrapping?

“H-he’s like a nanny.” This was what Yao, who had been brought up by a wet nurse, had thought, but other people would probably have something similar.