After Mia made her intentions clear, Ludwig scrambled to arrange for soldiers
to accompany them. Due to the abruptness of the request, he only managed to
gather four guards, but they were all highly competent. While such a small
group would be wholly insufficient for something such as battlefield
reconnaissance, it should be enough for their purposes, especially considering
they were technically still inside the capital city.
Frankly, I'd prefer to have at least ten more people with us, but given the
rushed circumstances, this will have to do, he thought with a sigh.
This was, after all, the emperor's daughter herself heading out into the city.
There was no such thing as being too careful.
"By the way, Your Highness, is His Imperial Majesty aware of your plans for
today?"
"Huh? You mean Father?" asked Mia with a curious tilt of her head. "There's
no need to worry about that. For something like this, I'll just tell him about it
afterwards."
As the young princess walked away after dismissing the issue with a casual
wave of her hand, Ludwig couldn't help but feel a sense of unease in the pit of
his stomach.
When they finally arrived at the Newmoon District, they found it to be every
bit as bad as the rumors claimed. There was a palpable change to the
surroundings as they stepped into the area. Even the air had a different quality
to it, which one of the guards described very succinctly with, "Damn, it stinks
here."
The man frowned and held his nose.
A terrible stench permeated the streets. The whole area reeked of rot, sweat,
and general filth. It was the kind of pungency that would never exist in the
castle or any upper-class residential area, and it assaulted the sensibilities of
their whole company. Everyone — the guards, Anne, even Ludwig — couldn't
help but grimace at the offensive odor. Everyone except...
"Is that so? I don't find it to be all that bothersome..."
Mia was completely unperturbed. For her, who'd spent three years confined
to a dungeon, this place wasn't all that bad. Being in the open, at least there
was plenty of fresh air.
"It must be terribly difficult for the people here to even bathe, yes? Spend
three days without cleansing the body and anyone will start to smell. Such is the
nature of humans. It's really not much different than travelers who come from
afar," she said with a shrug. "Now, come on. Let us proceed."
Then, she walked off. For some time, her guards could only gape at the small
but intrepid figure of their young princess stepping boldly forward into the
heart of the decaying district.
Hidden amongst the dirty roads, dark alleys, and decrepit houses were
countless pairs of eyes, all looking out from the shadows. The focus of their
perplexed gazes was one peculiar group of people, at the center of which was
Mia. She paid no mind to what a jarring sight they were and continued to make
her way down the street.
"Your Highness, where exactly is our destination?" asked the leader of the
guards.
"Hmm, good question. I haven't really decided on one, but... What's that?"
she asked, turning her gaze to where a child was curled up in a ball on the side
of the road. As she approached the hunched form, she found a young boy
wrapped in pieces of ragged cloth that barely passed for clothes. He was
younger than Mia, no more than five or six years of age. She gently placed her
hand on his thin, bony shoulder.
"Wai— Your Highness!"
"Pardon me, are you all right?"
Slowly, the boy looked up at Mia. He gave no reaction. His eyes were cloudy
and seemed devoid of the lively spark of childhood.
"Is something bothering you? Do you feel bad somewhere?"
"..."
His parched lips briefly stirred, but they emitted no sound. Instead, the reply
came from behind in the form of Ludwig's voice.
"Judging by his appearance, I'd say he suffers not from illness but hunger.
Such sights are not uncommon around here."
"I see... Hunger is no small suffering."
Mia asked Anne to give the boy some of the snacks they had on hand before
turning to face Ludwig.
"Ludwig, I have a question for you."
"What is it?"
"If I wished to ensure that a plague does not occur here in the future, what
should I do?"
"Did you say... a plague..."
Mia's words hit him like a clap of thunder. For a second, everything went
white. He stumbled back a little, utterly shocked by the question. Such a
possibility had never even crossed his mind. He knew that within a few years,
the empire would undoubtedly face financial collapse. Pressed by a sense of
urgency, he'd racked his brains thinking of ways to reduce spending and
increase tax revenue, and he had every confidence in the efficacy of the policies
he'd begun implementing. However, all his efforts — everything he'd worked
for and built up — would be rendered next to meaningless if a plague were to
break out. Only now did he realize the terrible possibility of such an event, all
thanks to the warning from the tiny princess standing before him.
"In order to... prevent a plague..."
Before he could contemplate the issue further, his thoughts were interrupted
by Anne.
"Princess Mia, I think we should take this boy to a place where he can get
some rest. There's a church nearby. Should we head over there?"
"I do believe we should. I'd hoped to have a chance to see all manner of
sights, so this works out perfectly."
Ludwig gazed silently at the smiling Mia, feeling like he finally understood why
she'd brought him here.