In this chapter, the three young men discuss the situation in the village where they are staying with their aunt. They do not know if they will be able to find any of the people who have been infected with syphilis. They are afraid that the food they eat will be contaminated with the deadly disease. The old man tells them that a long time before the current epidemic, all the people of the village lived in the center of the city, which was a paradise for them. The queen could not simply watch, but she gave the people a way back to the core. He tells the young men that the current king of the empire is the last of the last kings of the kingdom, and that he has been hiding in the city for a time. The young men wonder if the king is still making the queen carry on with her plan to return the people to the city.