Volume 8, Chapter 17: Travel Preparations (1/2)
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Departure was in five days.
As it was sudden, Maomao had to rush her preparations. Along with stocking up on things, she had to go around talking to various people.
(No, is this expedition something I should talk freely about?)
So she had wondered, but it didn’t seem to be a problem as the notice had already gone around.
(I absolutely have to tell the madam.)
Otherwise, she’ll get punched in the belly again.
And for that reason, she went to Rokushoukan.
“Hmmm, is that so. Ya can get me ambergris as a souvenir,” the madam said.
(T/N: 龍涎香, ryuuzenkou, Long Xian Xiang, lit. dragon saliva perfume. Some substance that is found in the digestive system of the sperm whale.)
(No, that’s unfeasible.)
As the name suggests, it’s a perfume made from the saliva of dragons, but it was apparently something else in truth. Very expensive. It’s even used as a medicine, beneficial to the heart.
“OI, AGAIN? WHAT AM I GOING TO DO? DO COURT LADIES EVEN GO ON EXPEDITIONS?”
Well, the one yelling was Sazen. He was complaining with tears in his eyes.
“My bad. You can do something about it. Kokuyou is here too, and if there’s anything, you can contact Dad,” Maomao said, ending it by passing him a paper with a signature.
Sazen reluctantly returned to the pharmacy as a customer had arrived.
(He’s more capable than he believes himself to be, though.)
He’s quite the worrywart.
“Oh my my. If you’re talking about the west, sunburns are terrible there.” The elder sister of Rokushoukan, Pairin, reacted calmly. Her skin was extremely glossy today.
(Did an honoured customer come in yesterday?)
For this older sister whose sexual appetite was overly excessive, an honoured guest wasn’t just someone who was well-paying. It must have been a gentleman with peerless muscles.
“Yes. This will be indispensable. Apply this every day when you wake up and wash it off before you sleep.” Meimei placed down a ceramic container. It probably contained cream that was good for the skin.
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to wash my face,” Maomao said.
The road to the western capital was long. Even by land or sea, there might not be enough water.
“What moron would take Maomao to such a place?”
(‘Tis the masked noble you know every well.)
Joka was the one who had said those biting words.
The Three Princesses have all assembled.
“I’m worried, Maomaoo. Can’t you quit now?” Pairin-neechan hugged her tightly. Her body temperature was feverish, as if she had gotten really good exercise last night.
“The money we desperately earned is used by the bigshots for travel, huh,” Joka spat out.
“What are you talking about? Isn’t it because of those bigshots that our business is viable?” Meimei smiled brightly. Her words were heartless.
“Besides, I am worried though…” Meimei looked out the window. “If there’s a person who can increase the degree of danger to Maomao, it would have to be the unforgivable person who is going, right?”
“Meimei-neechan. I’m saying it indirectly, but that is actually my greatest anxiety.”
It was about the weirdo tactician’s going.
Maomao had no idea about the reason why he was going. At least, if the western capital was aware of the kind of person he was, they would probably decline.
(A reason they can’t decline? There’s no way they invited him.)
For the weirdo tactician, even if he doesn’t do a couple of months of work, his subordinates will do it so it shouldn’t be a problem.
Above all, the scary part was whether he would cause trouble in the middle of the trip.
Just the act of imagining it hurt her head.
(Did he use me basing it on this?)
Her teeth ended up grinding audibly. Maomao, who had forgotten she was once used for anything, was sorry.
To say it from another perspective, she was also a little relieved that she was being treated as how she was from the time she was in the inner palace.
A person who stands on top cannot be swayed by emotions.
Jinshi’s actions were emotionally fuelled at times, but she believed there was some reasoning in them. She wanted to believe.
(I guess so?)
If not, she couldn’t understand his overly strange selection of people.
From the start, the personnel selection wasn’t what Jinshi had chosen, but might have been something he had done out of the lack of other options.
Either way, it was a bother to Maomao.
Maomao packed away the cream she got from Meimei.
“Oi, Freckles.” A cheeky voice.
“What is it, Chou’u?” Maomao turned around in annoyance.
“Idiooooooooot.”
He left after saying just that.
His follower, Zuurin also stuck out her tongue and trailed after Chou’u.
“What was that?” Maomao said.
“Maomao. As we already told you, Chou’u is feeling lonely,” Meimei said.
“Hmmm. Is Zuurin is sticking close to Chou’u, as usual too?”
“She started again recently.” Meimei looked troubled.
“Started again?” Maomao asked.
“That child has an older sister, right? That older sister was training as a kamuro, but she started to take customers this year.”
“Is that so?” A lot of women come in and out of Rokushoukan, so Maomao didn’t check every one of them. “Isn’t it still early for her?”
“She’s fifteen. She filled up nicely when she could eat, and a regular customer was dumbfounded when he saw her. Before she came here, she must have not eaten any good food.”
The girl was also ambitious, so it seems she wanted to debut early.
Her younger sister must feel complicated.
“Her skill is not quite there yet, but it seems she’ll grow, that child.”
“You think so? I have doubts that she’ll get a little too edgy though.”
Joka was the one who said that last bit, so Pairin burst out laughing.
“You’re not one to say, when you have ‘Joka’ as your name—”
It wasn’t the name her parent gave her in the beginning. The madam does give names to throw away the past, but Joka had named herself by parodying the name of the creation goddess.
“My mother had said that my father was a noble, so I have a right to use it.” Or so Joka had said.