The Grand Library in the Whitemoon Palace housed knowledge collected from
all across the empire. Sitting at one of the wooden desks inside was Mia. She
had her chin in her palm, and she let out a dejected sigh.
"Hmm... This has been most unfruitful..."
She had spent most of the last couple days cooped up in the library. After the
memory of Anne came back to her, she spent the following week pouring over
her diary and sorting through everything she remembered. In the end, she
finally came to the conclusion that what she saw wasn't a dream. It was
something that had actually happened, or rather, was going to happen in the
future. As soon as this realization dawned on her, she shrieked, "N-N-Never! I
am not going through that again!"
She absolutely couldn't stomach the thought of being put to the guillotine a
second time. No matter what, she had to figure out a way to avoid that future.
Propelled by a singular desire to escape this gruesome fate, she holed herself
up in the library and started reading up on the current state of the Tearmoon
Empire. According to her memories, within a few years, the empire's finances
would begin to deteriorate. To make matters worse, a famine would strike soon
after, followed by the outbreak of a plague. Then there would be a popular
revolt that turned into a full-blown revolution. Finally, the empire would be
subject to direct foreign intervention when neighboring kingdoms decided to
assist the revolutionary army.
That was, she believed, the gist of how things had played out. After reading
through all sorts of books in the library and cross-referencing them with her
own memories, she summed up all that she'd learned in one simple sentence:
"How terribly complicated this all is."
Unsurprisingly, her pampered childhood had left her hopelessly unprepared
for such an undertaking. There was no way she could thumb through a few
books and suddenly understand politics or economics. The problem was that.
she knew what was going to happen. She just didn't know what to do about it.
Frustrated, she held her head in her hands and groaned. Even sugar bingeing
didn't help; no matter how many sweets she ate, she couldn't come up with any
good ideas. To her credit though, she did sort of begin to understand why it
might be a problem for just one of her meals to cost a commoner's entire
monthly salary.
"It would appear that I have no choice but to find that man..."
When she recalled the events with Anne, she also remembered another of
her loyal subjects. He was a young ministry official, exceptionally competent
and fiercely dedicated. Faced with a crumbling empire, he worked his fingers to
the bone trying to save it and, in the process, the royal family. Even after Mia
had lost everything, he never abandoned her, trying everything he could to help
until the very end.
There was, however, a problem.
I don't see his name written anywhere. All I remember is that he was terribly
rude...
References to the man included: "four-eyes," "stupid four-eyes," and
"goddamned four-eyes." She remembered calling him all sorts of things, but his
name was the one thing she might never have called him.
"Well, I can't do much if I don't know his name. I wonder if I'll find any hints in
here..."
She flipped back to the beginning of her diary and read through it again. On
the page that detailed their first meeting, she found a small line of text that
described him as "the fool who got kicked out of Central and was sent to the
countryside."
"Ah-hah! I do recall that he held office in the capital for some time... Perhaps I
should go look for him."
It was possible that he was still in the imperial capital. Figuring that it was
best to make haste, Mia got to her feet and had Anne make arrangements for
an excursion.
Lunatear, the imperial capital of the Tearmoon Empire, was home to five
ministries that aided the emperor in governance.
The Azure Moon Ministry was the administrative agency for the capital city.
The Golden Moon Ministry handled taxes. The Scarlet Moon Ministry was the
administrative agency for the surrounding rural regions. The Jade Moon
Ministry handled foreign affairs. Finally, the Ebony Moon Ministry commanded
the seven armies of the empire.
Mia was headed for the ministry nearest to the Whitemoon Palace, the
Golden Moon Ministry. She didn't have any particular reason for doing so.
Neither the fact that he'd labored extensively to restore the empire's finances
nor the fact that he'd been extremely fussy about the usage of money crossed
her mind. It was, in all honesty, just a hunch.
"Um, Princess Mia, what exactly are we doing here?" said Anne with a puzzled
frown.
"There's someone I wish to meet."
Mia's answer was short and simple.
"Someone... you wish to meet? You mean..."
Anne's hands shot to her mouth and she gasped. Then, she nodded in
apparent comprehension.
"If that's the case, then rest assured that I'll do everything in my power to
help."
"...Hm? Is that so? Well, if you insist. I certainly appreciate it."
Mia wasn't sure why Anne seemed so enthusiastic all of a sudden, but she
didn't dwell on it.
"I do hope he's here... Oh, my."
They heard a pair of voices. It sounded like they were arguing.
"Why is such wasteful spending allowed to continue unchecked? You know
just as well as I do that at this rate, it won't take long for the empire's finances
to implode!
Bah, enough of this talk."
"But..."
"I said enough! What good is there in fussing over such trivial details?"
"They're not trivial details. If this keeps up, the empire will..."
She smiled. Now here was a voice she recognized.
"My, my," she said, feeling a mild sense of nostalgia, "it would appear that
we've struck gold. All that time spent in the Grand Library was well worth it!"
The total irrelevance of her limited learning in the library notwithstanding,
Mia did indeed happen upon a stroke of very good fortune.
To Be Continue...