CH 409

Inverse Proportion of Mind and Body

A few days later, an urgent message from Princess Rania of Perujin Agricultural Country arrived.

“Milady, you have a letter from Princess Rania of Perujin Agricultural Country.”

“My, from Rania?” Mia tilted her head in a confused way. Rania Tafrif Perujin was now back in Perujin. As their princess, she had to go home every year around this time to take charge of the crop and act as a priestess for their Thanksharvest Festival.

“Hm… I wonder if it has to do with her ritual dance…”

This year, Mia was meant to go see Rania do the ritual dance to honor the Lord at the Thanksharvest Festival. In fact, she had never been asked to the event before. Through her friendship with Rania, her founding of Saint Mia Academy, and her offer of a job to Second Princess Arshia, she had grown closer to the Perujin, which would be very important in the coming years when famine hit the continent. Mia would have liked to talk to the king if she could. It would be nice to meet the man in person.

All of these are good reasons to go to Perujin, but they only tell a one-tenths of the story about why she really wants to go. The other nine-tenths was, of course…

Oho ho, I can’t wait to try all the Perujin food!

…Food. No one should be surprised by this.

Perujin is the Holy Land of food. Also, the festival is meant to be a way to show gratitude for the harvest, so there should be a lot of great food. I don’t know if I’ll even be able to describe how good everything tastes.

She was already salivating just thinking about all the delicious foods that would be there. She had to gulp down keep from her saliva from leaking. She eagerly opened the letter and was stunned by what it said. Shalloak Cornrogue, a trader, had apparently tried to make a deal with Perujin, and Rania thought he was up to no good.

“That jerk!” He doesn’t learn anything, does he?!”

Mia clenched her teeth as she quickly thought about how dangerous this turn of events was. At first look, it didn’t seem like a big deal. In contrast to the other scenario, she got along pretty well with Perujin. She was close enough to Princess Rania that they could write each other letters like this, and getting Princess Arshia to teach had made their relationship even stronger. Still, she thought:

“I should probably go see Perujin right away.”

It had only been a few days since she realized how much mental F.A.T. she had gained because of her carelessness. If she put too much faith in the personal ties she had made and didn’t do anything, she would surely regret it. Her new way of thinking told her that this was too dangerous to ignore. If it turns out that she was wrong about how dangerous it was, so be it. But if what she said was true, this could be a disaster that brings down the empire.

“Plus, everyone sees things differently. This can also be thought of as ‘the earlier I go, the more Peruvian food I get to eat.’ This might be a good thing after all!”

The way a person’s mind changed was sometimes the opposite of how a person’s body changed.

“Can I go, too, Mia-neesama?” Bel, the little pixie who liked to listen in, flew over to Mia and gave her a look that was surprisingly serious.

“Oh? Why do you want to go?”

“I want to go see that trader named Shalloak. I’m a little interested in how he thinks.”

“Is that right?” Mia pursed her lips and said, “Interesting.”

To be honest, he’s not the kind of person I want Bel to hang out with, but it’s unusual for her to show interest in something like this. Even if I don’t like him, it’s true that he’s a great businessman… She thought it might help her to see how I trick a seasoned businessman like him.

With this in mind, she looked at Bel’s face. When she saw that Bel’s face was very serious, she nodded.

“I thought you might be using this as an excuse to skip your tests before the summer, but I see I was wrong. You seem to have a good reason for doing what you’re doing.”

“Huh? O-Oh, uh, o-o-of course I do. Aha!,” Bel said after clearing her throat. “Oh, please, Grandmother Mia. I would never try to escape an exam. I really want to avoid taking refresher tests this summer so I can spend more time with Rina, but that doesn’t mean I’ll run away from my problems. As a princess who is related to the Great Wisdom of the Empire, it would be shameful for me to do that. Also, I think the tests are a big chance for me to show how much I’ve learned from the study sessions you’ve been doing with me…”

Bel spoke quickly, like someone who is making up a lot of excuses on the spot. Mia was reminded of herself when she saw how much her granddaughter stuck to the idea that “when push comes to shove, just run away.” She chewed on it. It was a time of confused emotions.

“Okay, okay, fine. But just so you know, you’re still going to have to take your tests.” she said in a way that sounded final, but then she thought of something else.

“Oh, yes…” I also need to bring Tatiana.”

It made her feel bad to ask Tatiana to give up her studying time to come with her on the trip, but she couldn’t leave her trump card behind.

“He seems to be important to her, and I’m asking her to come along to reduce the amount of fighting I’ll have to do with him, so it should be fine…”

Mia, Bel, and Tatiana left Saint-Noel together. Ludwig met her on the way, and they all went to Perujin Agricultural Country together.