This chapter opens with a description of a peddler. The peddler tells us that the enemy has struck one small city and three medium-sized ones, and that the contagious infection is spreading rapidly. He says that the emperor has abandoned the people of his own empire and has stationed his troops in neighboring nations. He asks if there is anything down in the heart of the empire that needs to be saved. He wonders if his brother, who was kind and loving when he was in the empire, has turned into such a monster that he would do anything to save the people. When he asks if he knows what he has agreed to in exchange for his help, the peddler says that there is another one, too, but that it cannot be the same as the one he has killed. He adds that he will buy him some time with his placenta.