Go Ahead, Mia Expedition!
The Mia Expedition, composed of only two people, went deeper into the forest to look for food.
They already had a big pile of wild grass, but Mia wanted something else.
If we can’t get a rabbit, at least we should try to get some other kind of meat…
She already thought of rabbits as “meat” in her mind. All of the leporids on the island were suddenly in immediate danger.
“Oh, that makes me think. I’ve heard that frog meat tastes a lot like chicken. Keithwood, have you ever tried it before?”
“Unfortunately, no, I’m afraid not.”
She didn’t notice that his face looked tense as she kept talking about food.
“I’ve heard that people in the south eat bugs, but the idea doesn’t really appeal to me. But what about snakes? I might be willing to try a few bites if they are cooked well… Even so, the mushrooms… Not to mention the mushrooms…”
Keithwood finally spoke up when he heard her mumbling even though he was close enough to hear her.
“Princess Mia, I’m sorry, but I need to ask you something.”
“Oh? Then ask away.”
“You seem to know a lot about how to eat in the wilderness. Is it because you’re getting ready for a famine you think will happen soon?”
“My… How do you know that?”
“Ludwig told me about it when we were in the same carriage.”
She thought about what to say for a moment.
“I see. So, good for him. He was smart to tell you that.”
She gave a firm nod and then said, “Yes, it’s exactly what he said. The harvest will be bad next year, and it will stay bad for a few more years after that. Because of this, there will be famine across the whole continent. Preparing for it is very important. Take this as an advice and a warning from me.”
In reality, she didn’t give a damn about what happened in the Kingdom of Sunkland. They seemed to have gotten through the famine in the other timeline, so she thought they would be fine this time, too.
But at that moment, she remembered a problem she had had with Sion in the past.
During their undercover mission to Remno, when they were sitting around a campfire, she told him that he was too quick to judge without enough information. In particular, she was thinking about how uncommunicative he had been before he called her a “enemy of the people.”
For crying out loud, they had been in the same class! He could have spoken up. Even a quick “Hey, how about you tone it down a little” might have helped her keep her head on her shoulders.
So, she told Keithwood to be careful.
In line with the moral principle of “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” she—oh, who are we kidding?
Of course not.
Her real reason was more like:
I am telling this to them because I am a kind and forgiving person. I don’t hold the past against them. If the roles were reversed, there’s no gurantee that Sion wouldn’t hold it against me! I can totally see him taking revenge on me to get even.
…Self-preservation. In particular, she was worried that an angry Sion would retaliate her.
I guess I also owe them something. It seems like a good idea to square the debt…
She didn’t decide to give a warning until she had done all of these complicated calculations.
“I think Sunkland should take some precautions right away.”
Keithwood, on the other hand, tilted his head in a curious way.
“I don’t doubt that you’re telling the truth, Princess Mia, but how do you know? Is it even possible to guess something like that?”
His response did not surprise Mia. People had every right to wonder if her warning was true. None of them could remember what would happen in the future, and none of them had seen her old diary. She couldn’t just walk up to them and tell them how bad the future was going to be and expect them to believe her.
She made her answer fit the situation.
“Of course, it’s up to you to decide if you believe me or not. But the way I see it, there’s a difference between believing a famine is coming, preparing for it, and then it not happening, and not taking precautions and getting caught off guard. Well, one way is definitely sadder than the other.”
“I see. Prepare for the worst always…”
Keithwood said, his voice carrying a hint of quiet admiration.
Mia surprised him by shaking her head and giving him a sneaky smile.
“No, not really. I meant…which mistake is easier to laugh off? Let’s say I say there will be a famine and people believe me. People store up a lot of food, but the famine never comes. Well, we can use all that extra food for my birthday party. We will feed the people for free. It’s food, right? You can just eat it any time.”
Yes, it would be wasteful and a sign of an egotistical princess’s excesses, but the people, who would be enjoying her indulgence, wouldn’t do much more than give her wry smiles.
“The point is that I would only get a slap on the wrist,” she said.
She also had plans for a different kind of future, one in which strong wheat yields led to a huge amount of extra food. Plans to eat a lot of cake. She was sure that it would have been a good mistake to do it.
At the end of the day, it all came down to a simple truth: people were happier when they had extra cake than when they didn’t.
“So I see. I think that’s a good thing to do.”
As they walked, Keithwood looked at Mia and felt more respect for her.
The forest was soon replaced by a rocky area.
They were just west of the centre of the island.
“It’s hard to walk around here… Eek!”
She fell because the rocks she was walking on gave way.
He came in quickly and caught her.
“Now be careful. It looks like we’re walking on loose rock here. There is no solid ground. We might not want to go this way.”
“Yes, we should also tell the others. Even so, it goes in the opposite direction of the spring. I don’t think we’ll have to come here.”
She stopped and looked up at him as he stood over her to protect her. Then, with a smile, she gave him a gentle elbow.
“Wow, Keithwood, you really know how to talk to girls, don’t you? How many hearts have you broken?”
“Ha ha ha, I’ll let you think about that. “Right now, the only thing that’s breaking is my back,” he said as he smiled and scratched his cheek.
