Tearmoon Empire, Volume 7, page 1
Table of Contents
Cover
Color Illustrations
Characters
Map
Part 3: A New Oath between the Moon and Stars III Chapter 1: Princess Mia’s Festival of Debauchery (Part A) —Is This Gluttony? No, It’s Principle—
Chapter 2: Princess Mia’s Festival of Debauchery (Part B) —The Light of Hope and the Miraculous Memory—
Chapter 3: Donning the Most Sublime of Colors, Mia Prepares to Step Forth onto the Road to Empress!
Chapter 4: The Tea Party of the Moon and Stars —Thus They Joined in Oath—
Part 4: To the Moon-Led Morrow Prologue: It Begins with Mushroom Stew...
Chapter 1: Princess Mia...Be Spitting Facts
Chapter 2: To Wrong Someone through Food Is to Know True Fury
Chapter 3: The Birth Cry of the Empress Faction —Mia’s Hand Moves of Its Own Accord Again—
Chapter 4: Berman Gains Mia’s Trust
Chapter 5: Cowards Win through Sheer Numbers
Side Chapter: Why Is That Flower...
Chapter 6: Princess Mia...Resolves to Play the Gracious Host!
Chapter 7: My? Actually, That Time, I Was...
Chapter 8: The Bread-Cake Declaration
Chapter 9: The Rule of Merchants
Chapter 10: Grandmother Mia Is a Passionate Educator
Chapter 11: Despite Overeating, She Still...
Chapter 12: A Modicum of Payback —Groundwork—
Chapter 13: The Storied Life of Shalloak Cornrogue the Merchant King
Chapter 14: The Loyal Subject Anne...Hardens Her Heart (for Tough Love)
Chapter 15: Princess Mia...Recognizes Her F.A.T.
Chapter 16: Friends of Bamboo
Chapter 17: Princess Mia...Enjoys a Fruit-Picking Session
Chapter 18: Castle-Shaped Cake⇔Cake-Shaped Castle
Chapter 19: The Two Princesses Walk up the Golden Slope
Chapter 20: One Does Not Simply Evade the Great Sage of the Empire
Chapter 21: Mia’s All-Out Negative Campaign: Operation Mudslinging!
Chapter 22: Princess Mia...Takes a Dagger from Tatiana (in Her Heart)
Chapter 23: The Fateful Banquet —To Start the Party, Knock Back Three...Mushrooms—
Chapter 24: The Fateful Banquet —Like a Thorn Stuck in the Heart—
Chapter 25: Could You Please Place Your Trust in Me?
Chapter 26: Great General Mia Takes No Prisoners
Chapter 27: Princess Mia...Pumps Her Arms
Chapter 28: Thread
Chapter 29: Encouragement from Mushroom Empress Mia
Chapter 30: A Perujin Night
Chapter 31: The People Mia Dragged into Her Plans
The Promised Castilla
Mia’s Diary of the Birthday Festival
Afterword
About J-Novel Club
Copyright
Part 3: A New Oath Between the Moon and Stars III
Chapter 1: Princess Mia’s Festival of Debauchery (Part A) —Is This Gluttony? No, It’s Principle—
On the night of the Holy Eve Festival, Mia had survived a dangerous conspiracy that began with Bel’s kidnapping and ended with an attempt on her life. Then, she successfully rescued Citrina. And then, she engaged in a formal discussion of profound historical significance in the Yellowmoon manor. After all that, she immediately hit the road again.
Now, Mia sat with chin in palm and elbow on sill as her carriage trundled toward the imperial capital Lunatear. There was a somberness to her expression.
“Oh, look, milady. Lunatear’s coming into view,” said a delighted Anne, who hadn’t been back in quite some time.
Mia smiled at her enthusiasm, but on the inside, she was still mulling over her conversation with Lorenz.
When all is said and done, it looks like we’re still a long way from getting to the bottom of all this.
He’d mentioned the existence of a high priestess of the Serpents, who presumably had their bible, The Book of Those Who Crawl the Earth. But that was it. All they’d really learned in the end was that these things existed. That hardly counted as progress. Had Lorenz involved himself more deeply with the Serpents, he might have managed to extract more information, but he admitted that he’d been questionably compliant from the very beginning, so he never had a chance to see the high priestess in person.
“Moons,” Mia lamented. “I wonder how long it’ll be before we can make some real headway against the Serpents...”
“Milady?” Mia looked up to find Anne’s worried face mere inches from hers. “Is something bothering you?”
“Oh, uh... No. Nothing is bothering me,” said Mia, her hasty smile clearly evasive.
Then, she thought better of it.
Actually, I’ve been making Anne worry a whole lot lately, haven’t I? Maybe I should just be honest with her... She couldn’t shake the feeling of her guilty conscience, so she decided to speak her mind. “Actually, Lord Yellowmoon gave us some rather troubling information that highlighted the enormous scope and mysterious nature of our enemy but revealed nothing else helpful. Basically, we got a much better look at how tough this is going to be, but we made no progress toward solving it. It’s really quite depressing.”
“Milady...”
Anne fell silent for a moment, but soon shook her head and gestured encouragingly at Mia with her fists.
“Give yourself some more credit, milady. Miss Citrina is safe and sound now,” she said with conviction. “If it hadn’t been for you, neither Miss Citrina nor Lord Yellowmoon would have been saved. So please, be proud of what you’ve accomplished. You have every right to be.”
Mia reflexively glanced at the two carriages behind hers. In one rode Citrina and Bel. The former was thoroughly exhausted from her struggle against Barbara. Bel, ever the thoughtful one, had volunteered to ride in the same carriage and provide her weary friend with some company.
Hm... I see. She has a point. Maybe I’m being too pessimistic about the situation. The fact that we managed to rescue Rina should be enough of a victory. In fact, that was the original goal, so I should probably just consider the information we gained to be an extra freebie.
She’d saved her friend, with whom she’d bonded over foal and fungus, from certain death. Moreover, she’d made an ally of Duke Yellowmoon. The Tearmoon nobles he’d been secretly sending abroad were apparently talented individuals too, and if they could be called back, it would surely be a boon. Considering that the age of the great famine was fast-approaching, these were decidedly heartening developments.
And I got to eat some delicious tarts and cookies...though I would have preferred to have another cookie or two. Eh, scratch that. Another five or six, at least.
Mere seconds after entertaining this line of thought, she immediately felt her worries fade and her mood brighten. In case anyone has forgotten, not dwelling was one of Mia’s strong points.
“Good point... Yes, worrying about it won’t solve anything.” Mia smiled again at Anne, this time with earnesty. “Thank you, Anne. I feel a little better now.”
“Any time, milady. After all, such a long face doesn’t suit you.”
“All that’s left, then...is to see if Rafina can pull some information out of Barbara once she gets there... Oho ho, sermons every day... I can just imagine how much she’ll hate— Hm?”
The familiar cityscape of the capital suddenly leapt into view, only now it buzzed with a palpable energy. Vendor stalls lined the sides of the main street. Buildings had been decorated. There were also more people walking around. The busy capital was ever bustling, even more than usual.
“Ah... Preparations are already underway, I see.”
It would soon be time for the Tearmoon Empire’s year-end event that defines its winter—Princess Mia’s Birthday Festival. Work had always proceeded smoothly during the days leading up in previous years, and this year seemed no different. The festival proper would take place over five days, making for a lavish celebration to which a great many nobles from neighboring kingdoms were invited. Many of whom, by the way, Mia would have to meet and greet personally. Being the indisputable protagonist of the festival, she was always very busy.
She’d always found this aspect of the experience a tad unpleasant. Running from noble to noble, listening to all their wishes and blessings... It was, frankly, sort of a pain. At least, she used to think that. Now, she knew what an exceptional luxury it was to receive such treatment. To have her birthday celebrated by so many people and fill her stomach with so much delicious food... It was pure, unqualified bliss. And it was something she’d never have realized back when the unfailing regularity with which high-quality cuisine was delivered to her fingertips was something she completely took for granted.
Therefore, Mia’s tendency to stuff her face with food was not, in fact, due to gluttony. No, what she practiced...was appreciation! How could she leave food uneaten, knowing its value? Indeed, it was not gluttony but principle that drove her to devour all the contents of her plate. As a devout practitioner of F.A.T., she afforded her foods the utmost respect by consuming them all with gratitude.
As a steadfast observer of non-leftoverism, her own birthday festival was naturally a joyous occasion that she should be thankful for...but there was also an aspect of it that caused her some distress.
It’s...such a terrible waste...
Mia knew that during her birthday festival, she’d be greeted by mountains of food wherever she went, the vast majority of which would be thrown away after her departure. In attending to her numerous invitations, she’d end up going from place to place, leaving a trail of wasted food in her wake.
Why did this happen? Because nobles were creatures of vanity. They believed that the amount of food with which they welcomed her—and by extension the amount they squandered thereafter—demonstrated their power and generosity. During this time, every Tearmoon noble would vie for supremacy in this absurd game, each trying to outdo the rest through lavish banquets and exorbitant feasts. Everyone was committed to celebrating her birthday, but everyone was also determined to demonstrate to the emperor and Mia that they celebrated the hardest.
Speaking of which... How many times back then did I wish we could have somehow gotten back all the food we threw away during these festivals? Too many, that’s for sure...
Like an old friend, a memory from the previous timeline greeted her. She let it fill her mind, bringing her back to half a year before she was captured by the revolutionary army.
That day, Mia had been in the middle of an idle stroll through the palace. As she looked upon its various features, she let out a deep sigh.
“The Whitemoon Palace has always been so beautiful... I never thought there’d come a day when it would look so...beaten and abandoned.”
A lone figure accompanied her, walking a few paces behind. It was the young bespectacled minister Ludwig Hewitt. He watched as she stepped out onto a balcony and looked down on the capital’s sprawling panorama. A panorama that elicited yet another deep sigh from her.
“The capital is in pretty poor shape too,” she bemoaned.
“The biggest problem is that the people see no future,” said Ludwig. “From the great famine to the plague, then the civil war with the Lulu Tribe, followed by riots throughout the land... Despair looms so tall that no bright future can be seen behind it. People are losing the will to live and succumbing to their worst, most self-destructive tendencies.”
As Mia listened to Ludwig’s grim depiction of the present state of things, she quietly murmured, “How could this have happened...? Just two years ago during my birthday festival, there was so much food everywhere that we had to throw most of it away... We had so much food... Where did it all go?”
Now, she barely had enough to eat herself. She was Hungry Hungry Mia, every single day.
“All I can say is...the realization that there exists no magical urn from which food flows indefinitely...came a tad too late...” Ludwig wearily shook his head. If only there had been more nobles who understood this simple fact...things wouldn’t have gotten as bad as they did.
“Grrr... I won’t blame them for eating a lot, but making so much extra food just to throw it all away? Wh-What a terribly wasteful thing to do! What was I thinking, letting them get away with that? Ugh, that was definitely the biggest mistake of my life. Sweet moons, I wish I could go back in time and talk some sense into them.”
Mia ground her teeth in frustration. Ludwig regarded her for a moment, then shrugged.
“Even allowing for the feat of temporal travel, the feasibility of such a proposition is, in my opinion, doubtful. Sure, if they all had knowledge of the future, they would probably listen. But they did not. No one knew a famine of this scale was going to occur. Would it really be possible to persuade people when they do not have this crucial prescience?”
“Well, if it’s me telling them to, then yes. What, are they going to defy a direct order from me? I’d like to see who has the guts to try it.”
She glared at Ludwig for emphasis, but he simply shook his head again.
“His Majesty issued an imperial decree that nothing but the finest celebration would be suitable for Your Highness’s birthday. Your words bear weight, but surely not more than your father’s, yes?”
At that, he paused, falling into a meditative silence. A thought had occurred to him. A trifling thought, more entertainment than exploration, for it was a classic “what if” scenario. In this case, however, it might hold value. He could certainly refute Mia’s argument through the cold, uncompromising hammer of pure logic, but what could be gained by doing that? Better to make more constructive use of this conversation they were having.
With his mind made up, Ludwig finished composing his thoughts.
“With that said, though...if one does not directly refute the wishes of another, but rather prod those wishes toward another direction, then perhaps what you suggest is possible...” he said, sparing a glance at her as he spoke.
This, too, was a part of his educational program. In the future, when it was time to start rebuilding the empire, Mia would be faced with countless negotiations, each likely more difficult than the last. And she’d have to attend them all in person. Normally, this would be unthinkable. No empire would send its princess across the continent running from conference table to conference table. That was what ministry officials were for. Or the chancellor. Or a powerful noble. Whoever it was, it shouldn’t be the princess.
But these were no normal times. If a problem could be solved by the princess’s presence, there was no question that she’d have to show up. Furthermore, despite her grumbling, Mia never showed any true disdain at making the effort to travel and seat herself at the negotiation table. For all her faults, she always listened to Ludwig and did what she could to comply with his requests. Well, she made the attempt to do so, at least. Because of that, he would always in spite of himself end up looking forward to seeing her grow as a person and providing her with the pedagogical support needed to realize that growth.
“Hmm, I see, I see... Prod their wishes toward another direction...” she mumbled, crossing her arms in a way that ostensibly suggested she was deep in thought. “So, what exactly are we supposed to do?”
Ludwig gave her an oblique look.
Frankly, it’s not a particularly meaningful observation, but I suppose there’s some value in the process of arriving at it. It should help develop a habit of mental inquiry. Granted, either way, she’ll get plenty of practice soon enough. Once the empire recovers from this crisis, there will be no shortage of situations that shall require her to use her head.
So he thought. But sadly, it was not to come. The future he’d imagined, in which his careful instruction bore fruit and Mia’s grudging but steady efforts at brainwork would be rewarded...burned away in the revolution’s flames, leaving only cindered flakes to coat the cold, mournful dew on the guillotine’s blade.
But even then...it wasn’t all for naught.
The words they traded that day would persist as a memory in the mind of a girl in a carriage. Those unrequited wishes of times bygone yet lived on today in Mia’s heart.
Hmm... I see. He had a point. I’m imagining myself in that situation right now, and I can see how “be more frugal” is going to be a tough sell. Trying to persuade father...feels like a dead end too. Augh, but I can’t just watch them waste all that food. There must be something I can do.
Mia racked her brains.
The best way to prevent food from going to waste is to eat it all myself...but honestly, it’s just too much. Especially for a light eater like me. Aaah, curse this small stomach of mine!
Forced to abandon this method due to her supposedly small stomach, she kept thinking...and thinking...and craving sweets...and thinking some more...
“Prod their wishes toward another direction, huh? In that case...” she murmured as an idea came to her. “Yes... If what they want is a chance to show off how much money they’re willing to spend, why not just—”
Just then, the carriage stopped in front of the Whitemoon Palace.
“Ah, we’re here.”
She glanced at the carriage behind her. The one carrying Citrina and Bel had gone its separate way mid-journey, bound for Anne’s former home where the rest of her family lived. That was a preventative measure; the Emperor must not be allowed to see Bel in person. The other carriage followed her here. Inside were the two princes, Abel and Sion.
They ended up accompanying me all the way here. Basic courtesy dictates that I owe them a proper reception. All right, then. Time to make some arrangements.
The pair had not only gone to the Yellowmoon manor with her but also agreed to celebrate her birthday with her by attending the upcoming festival in person. Delighted to have them present, Mia was all fired up to give them a lavish welcome. Unfortunately, she was so eager to start preparing the reception that she failed to account for the possibility of a trap waiting for her in the middle of the capital. It lay in wait right in front of the palace and ended up catching her completely off guard. As she walked up, it sprung its villainous existence upon her with all the deadly impact of a blade bound for her neck.
