In fact, Nausicaä had noticed something was wrong long ago.
Rations that had originally been distributed in fixed amounts had been swapped; miners had received strange rumors and rushed off to mine dangerous deposits; and long after the Tolmekian transport had departed, when there should theoretically have been no spores left, a forest infection had suddenly broken out...
Nausicaä was no fool. She had simply been unwilling to suspect the worst of her own people, so she had never looked too deeply into it.
What she had failed to imagine was that things were even worse than the worst outcome she had envisioned.
The Valley of the Wind had very likely been infiltrated, and some of its people might even have been turned, acting on the orders of the mastermind behind it all.
"Nausicaä? Who are you talking to?"
Yupa looked worriedly at Nausicaä, who had accidentally spoken aloud.
But Nausicaä had no time to explain. She urgently pressed for an answer in her mind:
Mr. Tree, what should I do? If they're already prepared, won't the people of the Valley of the Wind end up killing one another?
The thought of what might happen threw her into a panic.
Nausicaä knew that most of the valley's people still believed in and supported her as their chief.
And judging by what had happened in Pejite, if those people rose up, the first to be hurt would not be her, the chief, but ordinary people!
She would rather they planned an assassination targeting her alone than have the Valley of the Wind descend into bloodshed.
Nausicaä, calm down. The Kingdom of Pejite and the Valley of the Wind are different.
As an outsider, Mu En calmly analyzed the key points.
Pejite was a major power, and a country made up of adventurers from all over the world. Those explorers who came dreaming of making their fortunes never had a sense of belonging to the country in the first place.
For most of its people, as long as they could still enter the Sea of Corruption to explore, it made no difference who led the city.
But what about the Valley of the Wind? Your family has shared the valley people's hardships and joys for generations, working hard to cultivate this land. Do you really have so little confidence in your family's prestige and your own charm, my beautiful princess?
To ease the tension, Mu En deliberately adopted a slightly teasing tone.
The tribal system was not without its advantages. A family with strong personal charisma and leadership abilities could inspire tremendous solidarity.
The Valley of the Wind was a fine example.
Hearing Mu En's words, Nausicaä felt her cheeks grow slightly warm.
As the young woman widely regarded as the finest in the village, she was indeed admired by many young men. But she had always devoted all her attention to studying and flying, and had never cared about such things.
I... I understand. After quickly composing herself, her thoughts grew clear again. You mean the people causing trouble in secret aren't yet strong enough to do much?
That's right. I'd say the most those people would dare do is incite trouble in secret or serve as guides. With most of the valley people supporting you, they couldn't possibly launch a rebellion outright, Mu En said with certainty.
In that case, there's only one way they could overthrow the Valley of the Wind...
Nausicaä quickly grasped the crucial point.
Communication on the level of consciousness was extremely fast. All Yupa saw was Nausicaä talking to herself, then looking panicked, and finally showing a hint of girlish shyness.
It was more entertaining than the clumsy mime performances on Pejite's streets, but sudden silence and inexplicable muttering were hardly normal.
Just as he was about to ask further, Nausicaä spoke first.
"Master Yupa, how many people are in the refugee group, and how many of them are mercenaries from exploration parties?"
"About two hundred, roughly a third of them former explorers. It was a country of explorers, after all... Why do you ask?"
A sudden sense of foreboding rose in Yupa's heart.
"I suspect the mastermind who caused Pejite's downfall is hidden among those refugees. They may well have come to occupy the Valley of the Wind!"
"Huh?"
Unable to follow the train of thought shared by a person and a tree, Yupa could not imagine how the refugees were connected to Pejite's downfall.
Was there any necessary connection between the two?
Just as the traveler began to seriously doubt whether his long years of solitude had robbed him of the basic ability to communicate, Nausicaä's explanation came at just the right time.
"Master Yupa, this is what happened. The Valley of the Wind has recently experienced some things very similar to what you described..."
As Nausicaä laid out her analysis clearly and logically, the tip of the iceberg emerged: a vast conspiracy with many plausible details.
"No wonder... I kept feeling that something was wrong. There were just too many coincidences," Yupa murmured.
Could there really be such a coincidence in the world, one that caused a powerful nation to bring about its own destruction, step by step?
Once might have been a coincidence, but the same things happening at different times and in different places could hardly be a coincidence, however one looked at it.
Even so, he felt they could not arbitrarily identify a "culprit" just like that.
Sometimes, even a reasonable deduction could become an erroneous guess for lack of information.
"But if Tolmekia really planned all this, that doesn't seem quite right either... What tangible benefit could they gain from it? They haven't laid a finger on either the land or the wealth in the city."
"And how can you be certain those refugees, especially the explorers among them, harbor ill intentions? Even if they're carrying weapons, those are simply essential equipment for protection against wild beasts and sand bandits."
Nausicaä, however, shook her head. "Whether Tolmekia did it or not, we have to guard against the explorers mixed in with the refugees now."
"As for their motive... whoever else might leave, the explorers who make their living from the Sea of Corruption shouldn't have left. The fact that they followed the refugees north is highly suspicious in itself."
Yupa's brow furrowed deeply at her words.
"That makes things difficult. If those people really do have ulterior motives, the Valley of the Wind's current armed forces will have a hard time stopping them."
Explorers of the Sea of Corruption were not "adventurers" or "travelers" in the conventional sense.
No normal person would plunge into a nest of insects in search of treasure, much less insects that could easily grow tens or even hundreds of meters long.
Those who could survive in such an environment were all nimble, ruthless desperadoes who would disregard life and death for profit.
More important still was their weaponry and equipment.
Although they could not use force against those grudge-holding insects, insects were not the only danger in the Sea of Corruption.
While other explorers stockpiled supplies, they stockpiled guns; other explorers were their supply depots.
To "persuade" others in their line of work to remain calm when they encountered them, a few standard-issue firearms from Tolmekia or the City of Pejite were practically indispensable.
Well-funded teams would even rent or buy an aircraft to ensure they could evacuate quickly from deep within the forest.
By comparison, the Valley of the Wind's militia, equipped only with homemade weapons, had almost no chance of winning, even if they fought to the death.
After hearing Yupa's analysis, Nausicaä felt the weight of the pressure too, and for the moment could think of no foolproof plan.
How long until those refugees arrive? Mu En's steady voice rang out again.
"About... another seven or eight days. The desert between Pejite and the Valley of the Wind is hard to cross on foot. We came by Horseclaw, and we traveled day and night to get here."
After Nausicaä relayed the question, Yupa quickly made an estimate in his head and answered.
Seven days is enough.