03x01 - Inago

[bunniefuu]

This story is a work of fiction. The names of all of the characters, organizations, and so on
are imaginary. It also bears no connection to any specific real-life events.

This is medicine that can heal your
heart and erase all worldly pains.

The Apothecary Diaries

Episode 49: Locusts

A locust plague?

Yes. That was written on
the note Loulan handed to me.

If a locust plague breaks out now...

The citizenry will surely point their ire

toward the ruler of
the nation of Li... our emperor.

The Shi clan was destroyed.

As a result,

there's a high chance that more political
conflict will occur within the palace.

The named clans.

Those that were given a character only
they could use in their names...

The three vassals who
helped establish the nation

happened to have the characters
representing a zodiac in their names.

Shi

Yi

From there, it became
customary for the emperor

Mi

to grant a zodiac-based name
to clans that served the emperor well.

Later, this practice expanded to include
characters unrelated to the zodiac.

This led to the oldest twelve clans
being treated separately

La

from the newer clans
that joined afterwards.

One such newly joined clan
is the "La" clan.

Concubine Gyokuyou will soon rise to
empress consort from high-rank concubine.

Her family will most likely be raised to
the status of named clan, like the La.

Gyoku Yi

If w*r were to break out,
the west would become indispensable.

Is that why you're raising Gyokuen's
daughter, Concubine Gyokuyou, to empress?

Marriage is another tool in politics.

After the Yi clan, the western rulers,
ceased to exist around a decade ago,

the one who took charge in their wake was
You Gyokuen, Concubine Gyokuyou's father.

Gyokuen

Meanwhile, Empress Dowager
Anshi's family was not given a name.

The Empress made sure they didn't.

I just have to hope this doesn't
cause more conflict in the future.

Who would've thought Master Jinshi was...

The Imperial Younger Brother...

Master Gyokuen!
Congratulations on the great news!

Oh, thank you.

Please, enjoy this drink.

I am grateful.

Yes, great news indeed.

What a splendid announcement!

Where is my father?!

Yes, this is worrying.

Master Onsou went to get him, but...

It's going to start!

Let's give up!

Master Rikuson, perhaps you could
sit in my father's seat in his stead—

I obviously decline.

Let's count on Master Onsou.

Let's do that.

Master Lakan!

Quiet please, Master Onsou.

Quiet? Today is the garden party
announcing the new empress dowager—

Oh, nice move! Let's see...

Lady Fengxian is in good health
today for the first time in weeks.

Well, how would you respond to this?

I'm in so much trouble...

Oh, Father!

Hmph.

Here, Master Uryuu.

Yes.

Lady Lishu...

Oh, if only Lady Lihua's son
was born just a little sooner...

If only the first prince survived...

Look at Gyokuen, beaming with pride.

An empress with foreign blood?
How could he...

It's cold...

Oh yeah, Grams wanted to see me.

I guess I'll let Chou-u sleep in.

I'll score myself a bath
at the Verdigris House, too.

It's been a month
since I left the rear palace.

The new year's festive air
has settled down now.

Good morning.

Morning.

Morning, Meimei.

You're early today.

Have you seen Grams?

She's talking to the owner over there.

You fool! What were you thinking?!

Grams runs the Verdigris House,

but the actual business owner is
a different man we call Mr. Owner.

He owns other businesses as well.

He's soft-hearted to a fault,

and probably couldn't run
the Verdigris House without Grams.

Looks like he got a solid whack
from the old lady.

Hey, Maomao. You're here?

You told me to come.

Did I now?

Finally going senile—

Ow!

I heard that!

Reminds me of a certain quack doctor...

From the looks of it,
you want a bath, don't you?

You want breakfast, too?
Bring that kid along.

Are you sure?

I can be generous on occasion.

I'll be off, then.

Hmm? He usually stays for breakfast.

There! It's all you can eat!

Yuck... These are locusts, right?

These were a gift from Mr. Owner.

Someone begged him to take them,
due to a bad harvest.

Mr. Owner deals with grains.

In this nation, the government takes
a portion of a farmer's yield as tax,

and buys up another certain portion.

Mr. Owner makes money
by trading the remainder.

He paid their asking price,

and used expensive sugar
to preserve them via broiling.

Should just toss 'em rather
than go through all the trouble!

Chou-u, you're fine with these?

This isn't very good.

How can you eat that?

It tastes pretty empty,
but it's still edible.

"Empty?"

Shut up and eat!

Hey, should I eat this for you?

I'll only charge one
mooncake in exchange.

Ow! That hurts, Freckles!

Oh dear.

Locusts are gutted before cooking.

It's only natural that they're
hollow inside, but...

Oh, Maomao.

What is it?

I just remembered. Go to the market
and buy some incense for me.

Sure. Do I get a tip?

Hmph! You got a morning bath
and two free breakfasts.

That's more than enough, no?

Cheap.

Huh? Did you say something?

Hey Freckles! Buy me that!

Declined!

Being here now,

it feels like the time I spent working in
that place was a dream or something.

Gross!

That idiot...!

What did you say, you brat?!

These are empty and gross.

You little...!

Chou-u! What are you doing?!

Sorry about that!

What was that for?! It's the truth!

Just shut up!

It really was gross.

Darn. The crops are gonna be
really bad this year.

What did you just say?

Huh? It was gross.

No, after that.

Uh, the harvest is gonna be bad?

That. How do you know?

I don't remember.

Something to do with skinny bugs
followed by bad harvests.

Chou-u died once and came back to life.

Because of that, he has some paralysis
and lost a large part of his memory.

Ow! Ow! Stop it!

Oh?

I might be able to remember!

Really?!

If you buy me something!

Ow! Ow!

What a way to jog a memory.

But I didn't expect him
to ask for pen and paper.

Chou-u, I'm going to deliver
the incense to the old lady.

Don't do anything stupid.

Got it!

Wow, that's great!

Draw me next!

Huh? What's that?

Wait, wait! In order please!

There, finished!

Here.

Wow, you really are good, kiddo! Here's a tip.

Thanks for the business!

Hey!

Ow! What's that for, Freckles?!

What are you doing?

Well, drawing, obviously.

And charging money...

Hey! What are you doing
blocking traffic?! Out of the way!

Sneak, sneak, sneak...

Stop!

Let the kid know I'll only
charge 10% for the location.

Greedy old hag...

If you're going to keep doing that there,
make sure you pay the old lady.

What? No way, I'll just go somewhere else.

Even if you have to pay,
stay near the Verdigris House.

Don't go anywhere the menservants
can't keep an eye on you.

Don't go buying paper by yourself, either.

That's none of your business!

W-What?

If you want to become
a flesh chunk, go ahead.

Flesh chunk?

Those types of people would come get you.

That's a courtesan that caught a disease.

She won't live for much longer,
but she still needs a client to survive.

The pleasure district
isn't all glitz and glamour.

The darkness runs deep as well.

You don't see it when you're
in the Verdigris House,

but there are loads of guys who would
gladly k*ll a kid to take his money.

I-I get it.

I didn't expect him to have
this talent, though.

It's almost like...

Oh yeah, look.

I remembered this.

Is this... a locust?

The top one is a normal locust,

and the other's a locust
during a bad harvest... I think.

A locust plague.

It's a calamity that can
destroy a whole nation.

A plague of locusts
can eat through anything.

Not just crops, but straw rope
and sandals as well.

Fortunately, during this emperor's
reign, we've yet to see a locust plague.

But many were ex*cuted after
the Shi clan's rebellion.

If a locust plague broke out now,

some will certainly claim it's divine
retribution for destroying the Shi clan.

If that happened, people would
point the blame at the emperor...

No. It's none of my business.

It's none of my business, but...

Seeing Chou-u's drawing reminded me...

I saw pictures like that before.

There's no way it'd be here...

Sir!

Where did you get this book?

Oh, a guy came in and
sold it to me a while ago.

Did he come to sell anything else?

Just that one. He did say
he'll come again, though.

This was one of the diagrams
in the references I got

when I was told to make
the immortality potion.

Plants: Vol. Two

Birds: Vol. One

This book is definitely the one.

Thank you!

Why is it here...?

The stronghold was locked
down by the royal guard.

How is a book from that stronghold
circulating in the market?

Is someone secretly
selling off confiscated goods?

If so...

The royal guard...

Maybe I'll try asking him.

Verdigris House

Fish: Vol. One

Hunting petty thieves is, you know...

Thank you, Master Lihaku.

I kept watch starting in the morning
and caught the guy trying to sell this.

You owe me one.

You didn't get one of
your subordinates to do it?

Well, it's a request from you, after all.

So, if you could just let Pairin know...

Ah. Yeah, sure.

Where's the culprit, anyway?

The Verdigris House menservants
are holding him outside.

I see.

Little lady!

Careful, don't get too close.

Hey! The snake girl!

Ah, it's the guard from back then.

What's wrong, little lady?

I'm sorry, Master Lihaku.

I know this guy.

Huh? What do you mean?

Oh, I just remembered, Pairin is
just about to get some free time...

Right! I think I'll leave you
to it, then! Later!

Ukyou, you don't have to
hang around, either.

I can't leave you here.

If something happened to you,

a certain fox-like man and a certain
masked man would be mad at me.

Don't worry. I'll just be here,
not speaking and not listening.

Ukyou has been here since
before I was born.

He can handle pretty much any task,
and is well-trusted by the old lady.

He'll probably squeal to
Grams about this, but...

I guess that's alright.

You've seen this before, right?

What happened to the other books?

The officer from earlier was part of
the army that took down the stronghold.

Should I tell him you were there?

Fine...

I sold two of the books
in a different town,

and have three more with me.

The rest I left behind.

I might be able to get
the volumes still at the stronghold.

The two he sold off are the problem.

Right now, I have the "Birds"
and "Fish" books.

Did you sell the "Insects" book?

I still have one of them.

One of them...

Birds: Vol. One

This says "Volume One."
So, there must be a "Volume Two."

Can you bring it to me right away?

Will you promise not to turn me in?

Depends on your attitude.

Hey, Maomao.

You're just shaking him
down at this point.

Hey, aren't you hungry?

You seem like you went
through a lot. Just wait.

C-Can I eat this?!

Sure. It's just leftovers, though.

Oh, so good!

I can see he went through
a lot before he got here.

He seemed to be treating
the books well, too.

Seems like he sold them
out of necessity, no?

He doesn't strike me as a bad person.

Maybe.

Maomao, it's carrot and stick.

What's wrong?

Yuck.

You don't like locusts?

This isn't a locust, it's a grasshopper.

These are locusts,
and these are grasshoppers.

Farmers separate them.

Locusts are edible, but grasshoppers
taste empty and bad.

Yuck, that one was a grasshopper!

Shisui said the same thing.

But, this...

What is it?

We might be facing a famine this year.

I knew it.

I-I don't know for sure!

But often, in a year after one where
you get more grasshoppers than locusts,

you get a lot of bad insect damage.

Just like Chou-u said.

Hey, you know a lot about
insects for a guard.

W-Well...

Besides, why did you take
books from the fortress?

I'm sure there were
more expensive things there.

I didn't want to sell it.

I was going to buy it all back
when I got the chance.

Nobody goes out of their way
to buy illustrated books, right?

Except this one.

I used to bring food to the old man
who was there before you.

The apothecary who was researching
the immortality potion?

Yeah. But he did other things, too.

One of them was this research.

How to avoid causing a locust plague...

That's...

Hey Freckles! Can I eat your dumplings?!

Huh? Young sir—

I forgot he knows about Chou-u!

The Shi clan were officially wiped out.

He can't know about this!

Take the dumplings. Just go away.

What's with you?

Chou-u, you can ride on my shoulders.

Really?! Thanks!

I don't know for sure, but perhaps
I should let Master Jinshi know...

I think it's time I fulfilled my promise.

Meaning?

I think it's time for Yue
to choose a flower.

Master Jinshi, it's time.

Yes...

Next Time

Episode 50: The Fire-Rat Cloak

Next time: "The Fire-Rat Cloak."