The Steam Age: Gears and Bones

Chapter 9 Going there personally

Three days after the meeting, Princess Anne officially signed an imperial executive order.

The document has a long official title, using the usual tedious phrasing of the Minister of the Palace Secretariat, but its core content consists of only three points.

First, quarantine stations shall be immediately established in all ports of the Empire, and all ships sailing from the direction of the Old Continent shall be subject to mandatory quarantine and observation.

Second, a crisis response team was established, with the eldest princess herself serving as the team leader and Perfit Brandlis serving as the chief scientific advisor.

Third, authorize the formation of an expedition team to collect first-hand data on the spread of wilt disease within the territory of the Ross Empire.

The executive order was printed as a notice that evening and posted at the entrances of quarantine stations in Langton, Puss, and all the major ports of the Empire.

Perfit received the announcement in his study at Brandlis Manor—the princess’s adjutant personally delivered a copy stamped with royal wax, along with a handwritten note.

The note was signed by Princess Anne, and it inquired about her suggestions on the specific personnel configuration for the expedition, and invited her to attend the expedition's preparatory meeting at the military headquarters the following day.

Perfit finished reading the note, placed it on the table, and then glanced at the old butler standing across the desk.

"Grandpa Afu, please help me pack my luggage. I'll probably be staying in Langton for the next week."

Foster nodded, asked nothing, and turned to make the arrangements.

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The preparatory meeting for the expedition was held in Conference Room 2 of the military building.

When Perfit arrived, the eldest princess was already seated in the main seat, waiting for her.

The deputy director of the Naval Intelligence Office, the chief of operations of the Army General Staff, the president of the Royal Geographical Society, and the lean-faced judge Cohen sat on either side of the long table, each with a copy of the expedition proposal that Perfit had submitted the day before.

"The expedition's destination is the Predelshinsk district near St. Petersburg, the capital of the Rus' Empire," Perficott stood up and spread a map he had drawn in advance on the long table. "According to intelligence provided by Lieutenant General Chertsov, the wilt disease was first discovered in this area."

I need a highly skilled team capable of staying in infected areas for at least three weeks to collect samples from infected individuals at different stages, record transmission routes, and test various protective measures.

"Regarding personnel, the core team should not exceed twenty people, but these twenty people must include at least one referee, two alchemists, and two medics. The remaining personnel will be drawn from the Marine Corps, with priority given to non-commissioned officers with combat experience. I recommend that Referee Sabel serve as the referee."

Judge Cohen nodded slightly in agreement.

"In addition," Perfitt removed his hand from the map, straightened up, and continued in a calm tone that everyone present could hear, "I will personally lead the expedition."

The meeting room was silent for about three seconds.

Then, the eldest princess put down her pen.

"no."

Her voice wasn't loud, but when that word landed on the conference table, it carried an undeniable force.

The deputy director of the Naval Intelligence Bureau immediately shut his mouth again after he had just opened it.

The Army Chief of Operations lowered his head, pretending to look at a map. Judge Cohen placed his hands on the Book of the Word, his expression unchanging.

Perfit did not sit down. She stood in front of the map, facing the princess across the long table.

"Your Highness, I understand your concerns. But the core mission of this expedition is not reconnaissance or sampling—it is assessment. We need to determine on-site the actual extent, speed, and mutation of wilt disease in the Old World."

If you send an expedition team lacking professional judgment, they might bring back a bunch of useless samples while missing the most crucial data.

"You can stay in Langdon and command them by telegram," the princess said, her tone still firm.

"The information that a telegram can transmit is too limited," Perfit shook his head. "If I see the body of an infected person, I can determine its stage of infection, the distribution of filaments, and the direction of mutation within five minutes through human transmutation."

However, if someone else were to make the same judgment, they would need to send the sample back to Langdon, and then I would analyze it.

This round trip will take at least two weeks. Two weeks, in the context of a rapidly spreading epidemic, could mean a complete shift in the situation on the front lines.

The eldest princess was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly stood up.

"Everyone else, please leave. I need to speak with Miss Brandlis alone."

The deputy director of the Naval Intelligence Bureau was the first to stand up, his movements so fast it was as if the chair was burning hot.

In less than ten seconds, only the Princess and Perfit remained in the conference room.

After the door closed, the princess walked around the conference table to Perfit, picked up the copy of the expedition proposal, and turned to the last page.

On that page, Perfit had already filled in his name in the team leader's signature section, his handwriting neat and in the formal style of official documents.

"When you wrote this name down, did you ever think about who would take your place in the Empire if you died in the Old World?"

Perfit looked at her, not avoiding the question.

"Your Highness, you know the answer." She took the copy of the proposal from the princess, placed it on the table, and pointed to the appendix of the proposal.

There, she had meticulously listed all the data from the past two weeks of her collaboration with Sabel in treating infected individuals.

"Currently, only Sabel and I in the entire Empire are capable of performing dual intervention therapy. If I don't go to the Old World, the Empire's defenses will forever remain a single line—it only exists in Langdon."

But what if the expedition could find a survivor's stronghold within the Ross Empire that had not yet been completely conquered?

What if we could establish a forward observation post there, or even find the original lesions on the first infected individuals mentioned by Lieutenant General Chertsov? Then I wouldn't be taking any risks.

I'm plugging a leak that we haven't seen yet, but it's bound to appear sooner or later.

The meeting room was quiet for a while.

The eldest princess looked down at the densely packed data tables in the appendix of the proposal and did not speak immediately.

Perfit waited a few seconds, and when she didn't speak, he continued.

"And—you just said, 'Who else in the Empire can take my place?' If something really happens to me over there, Professor Archibald can take over the treatment of infected people in Langdon; he has enough experience to handle early-stage infections."

As for the rest, I will hand over command to Sabel before we depart; her understanding of the infected is not much worse than mine.

"You've even made arrangements for your funeral."

“This isn’t something for the future,” Perfitt corrected her. “It’s a contingency plan that must be prepared before departure. You did the same thing before every expedition when you served in the desert kingdom.”

When the eldest princess heard these words, her eyes flickered slightly.

She turned around and walked to the window, gazing at the gray sky outside the military building, and remained silent for a long time.

When she turned around again, the steely hardness of an imperial heir had faded somewhat from her voice, replaced by something more like personal emotion.

"Your mother was like that back then. Every time I advised her not to do dangerous experiments herself, she would say, 'Some data can only be obtained by me.' You two are practically cut from the same cloth."

Perfit didn't respond. She simply waited in silence for the princess to finish her last few words.

"You can lead the expedition. But I have one condition." The princess walked back to the conference table, picked up a pen, quickly wrote a few lines on the last page of Perfit's proposal, and then pushed the proposal back in front of her. "I will send a knightly standard-bearer team to accompany you and be responsible for your safety throughout the entire process—not the safety of the expedition team, but your personal safety."

If the situation on the front lines gets out of control, the Royal Guards have the right to forcibly remove you from the infected area.

Perfit glanced down at the few lines the princess had just written on the last page of the proposal, then closed it.

"make a deal."