And so, a crisis was averted before it could take shape.
With tangible benefits right before their eyes, even those who had wavered in what they said began lining up of their own accord.
Though little of the rescued wheat remained, there was enough to give everyone in the valley a full meal.
Mito, who had hurried over with the militia, immediately caught on after hearing Nausicaä's words. He directed his men to maintain order and distribute the rescued grain.
Looking at the orderly crowd in front of the granary, hope rekindled in their eyes, Nausicaä let out a gentle breath.
Although things had taken a somewhat unexpected turn, the outcome was finally moving in a good direction.
Most importantly... no one had been hurt or killed. That was the best outcome.
As for Pao and Beruto, several old women had carried them back to the village clinic to recuperate.
Though their injuries had healed, their mental exhaustion would not be so easy to recover from.
"Your Highness, do we really not need to take those agitators into custody? And the arsonist is still at large. I'm afraid..." Mito couldn't help lowering his voice as he asked.
Although he still couldn't communicate directly with Mu En, he too could tell that someone was stirring up trouble in secret and that the fire before them had been set by a person.
As the leader of the militia, he could never tolerate anyone disturbing the Valley of the Wind's peace.
"There's no need to worry. As long as we don't give them a chance to stir things up, a mere handful of people can't cause much trouble."
"Besides, arresting them now would only alert them. I've already memorized what those people look like," Nausicaä explained.
From here on, as long as that evening's celebration succeeded, those clowns would be unable to shake the Valley of the Wind's peace, no matter what tricks they pulled.
She would ask Master Yupa to track their movements. They might even have a chance to uncover the true mastermind.
As for how to deal with them afterward...
She would never let those who had betrayed their own people off lightly.
"By the way, Mr. Tree, did you foresee all of this long ago?"
After finishing her conversation with Mito, Nausicaä asked Mu En through their mental link.
In fact, Mu En had anticipated something like this several days ago and had given her a subtle warning.
But Yupa had yet to return at the time, and she hadn't paid attention to the so-called "inconsistencies" he had pointed out.
Now, however, it seemed Mr. Tree had been looking much further ahead than she had.
"It was only speculation. I didn't truly confirm my suspicions until yesterday."
Several days ago, after hearing Mito's report, Mu En had suspected that someone would continue stirring up trouble.
How had the situation in this Valley of the Wind, whose course differed from the "original work," deteriorated step by step?
No matter how he thought about it, it looked as though someone had been deliberately guiding events.
It wasn't until he heard how the Kingdom of Pejite had collapsed that he became certain of his suspicions.
Whoever the mastermind was, his ultimate goal was to completely shatter the trust between the rulers and the people.
He simply hadn't expected these people to make another move so soon after Yupa arrived.
Moreover, judging by their methods, this disturbance had been planned for a long time. It didn't seem to have been a spur-of-the-moment decision prompted by Yupa's arrival.
Without Mu En, whether Nausicaä chose to suppress the unrest or compromise, her authority as clan leader would have been completely destroyed.
The kindhearted girl might even have believed that all this unrest stemmed from hunger and panic.
Now that they knew a mastermind existed, things had instead become simpler.
Before the Erdtree's power, some tricks were bound to be futile.
As long as they kept a close watch on those who stuck their necks out, sooner or later they would reel in the "big fish" behind them.
Inside the granary.
Leather boots crunched over wheat burned to charcoal.
Gol and several of the foremen under him were investigating the scene.
Some searched carefully for clues, while others gathered burned remains as samples.
One experienced craftsman covered his nose and mouth and complained:
"Cough, cough! That's strong. There must have been at least a tankful of fuel dumped in the granary!"
The inside of the granary was filled with a strong smell of fuel, rising from the charcoal after the fire had been forcibly extinguished.
Those responsible for maintaining the ancient gunship were all too familiar with that smell.
Gol ran two fingers over the scorched wall and rubbed their sticky tips together, his expression grave.
"The key question now is, where did all this fuel come from? I counted the storage tanks just yesterday, and none were missing..."
Even the Valley of the Wind, with its abundant wind resources, couldn't do without the help of machinery.
Clan Leader Jihl's gunship, the machine tools in the weapons factory, the miners' equipment... without fuel to power them, those things were no different from scrap metal.
The Valley of the Wind's fuel was all imported from outside. Only wealthy countries could afford oil-refining equipment.
Whenever fuel was purchased, merchants traded it by the "unit," in corrosion-resistant storage tanks. All one had to do was open the valve to use it.
Previously, people had also used this precious fuel to burn infected trees in the forest.
As the craftsman elder, Gol was naturally responsible for managing the storage of these raw materials, in addition to supervising workers and teaching apprentices.
He personally checked important supplies such as Ceramic Steel, fire powder, and fuel tanks almost every day.
They didn't have the technology to produce fuel tanks here. If even one went missing, the official merchants responsible for delivering the fuel would demand exorbitant compensation from the Valley of the Wind, or they would refuse to deliver any more fuel next time.
After the tanks had been used by the disaster relief teams, he had collected them one by one and only felt reassured once he had counted them all.
Only he and Nausicaä held keys to the storeroom.
So where had the arsonist gotten the fuel?
Apart from him and the princess, no one in the entire Valley of the Wind could have taken that much fuel. It couldn't have been him who burned the granary, could it?
As for eyewitness evidence, there was even less to speak of: all three guards had slipped away from their posts.
When the fire broke out, they had all been squatting by the wheat field, secretly chewing on wheat kernels that had spilled from the grain cart the previous night to satisfy their cravings.
By the time they spotted the thick smoke and rushed back, all they saw was Pao's back as he ran into the granary.
Perhaps they could only find something out once the young man who had stayed at his post woke up.
"Elder, we found something here!" A foreman who had been crouching and searching through the ashes suddenly straightened up, holding something shiny in his hand.
Gol strode over and took the object the man handed him.
It was a metal piece, with traces of scorching still on its edges.
His pupils contracted slightly-it was unmistakably the safety seal used to secure the valve on a fuel tank!
"Now this is interesting..." Gol murmured, rubbing the fresh scratches on the metal piece.
The tanks in the storeroom were all intact.
So where exactly had this part come from?