Chapter 12: The Stench of a Plague

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.