Editing Cute Kunoichis:Volume2 Chapter1 (section)

===2: The Princess’s Castle===

New Sapporo Domain was divided into a grid of districts like a Go board and one public facility took up four full blocks.

That facility was New Sapporo Castle.

“(Wow, check this out, Ouka. That’s the famous date spot they mention in all the guidebooks and tourism sites!)”

“(I know. They say any couple that has their first date there is guaranteed a long life of happiness together!)”

Asagao and Ouka were doing a poor job of hiding their excitement, but Sugiyado decided not to say anything since it made them look more like ordinary tourists.

They were on the walking path surrounding the castle outside its moat.

Everything in New Sapporo Domain was divided into those blocky districts, but this impregnable castle alone formed a perfect circle surrounded by a circular moat. The castle’s stone walls and tower had a Japanese design, but it also had some stone barracks extending flatly out from it, giving it a mixed Japanese and Western look.

The castle was located in the middle of a populous metropolis, yet four artillery emplacements had been built on the inside of the moat to aim outwards. All four were equipped with a large-caliber swiveling railgun.

The only ways to access the castle were the one bridge across the moat and the three piers. All four of those access points had a cannon keeping an eye on things.

With a population of 4.5 million, New Sapporo Domain was the largest metropolis of the Hokkaido Area, but it was also a giant military base and constant battlefield due to the over 25 years since it declared a quasi-war with the Cyrillic Empire and other nations. It was hard to imagine when seeing the colorful lights and the happy couples, but the slow-melting artificial snow that would continue accumulating even at average temperatures was a type of environmental defense policy. If a suspicious person or vehicle were approaching, the domain’s ruler would fire those cannons without even considering what would happen to the connecting bridge or the city on the other side of the moat.
Sugiyado glanced over at the water past the railing.

“A moat, huh?”

“Normally, we could pay them an official visit as Elite Ninjas or, if they weren’t willing to receive us, use fake IDs to disguise ourselves as tourists or government officials.”

That sighing response to their teacher’s comment came from 11-year-old Asagao.

White snow was still falling around them, but it was all artificial snow meant to construct an environmental barrier against an attack. The actual temperature was warm enough for short sleeves and the moat was at no risk of freezing into a giant skating rink.

They slowly walked around the moat and passed by some other groups of cheerful tourists. While remaining cautious of those tourists’ phone cameras, of course.

“Since we don’t know what’s going on inside, we can’t know what changes have been made to their security,” said Hoozuki to keep the conversation going. “Crossing the moat on the bridge or by boat would be too risky. If we’re found out, we’d be torn to pieces by a 900mm rapid-fire railgun, Sensei.”

“The railguns are how you really know you’re in the Hokkaido Area. On Honshu, they use ship’s guns. They would never use stationary weapons in a big city.”

“Bara wasn’t happy about this. Her Serpent Monster uses solenoid coils that she simplified for portability, so they count as technologically-inferior coilguns.”

As a gadget lover herself, the silver ponytail girl must have understood the feeling she was describing.

At any rate, they had to get across that moat.

A moat was an ancient and very basic defense, but that was also why it was so effective. Physically cutting off all routes in in all 360 degrees made it very difficult to sneak in.

Extremely small Asagao gave a cruel laugh in her white military uniform with baggy sleeves and a short skirt.

“Keh keh keh. How about we put on some mizugumo to glide right on over? Or we could dive underwater with a bamboo tube in our mouths to swim over on our backs like otters.”

“That moat is bound to be filled with a liquid sensor using electrolytes. Simply put, if you so much as stick your fingertip in the water, they can sense something is amiss due to the change in electric potential. The bottom of the moat has to be covered in a ton of electrodes. The turtles and koi that live in the water will be ignored, but anything deemed to be hostile will get zapped by 5 million volts. And that’s 5 million volts while in the water.”

Even the famously deadly electric eel only provided a voltage of around 600 volts. However, the three students did not look at all surprised to hear their instructor’s lecture. This moat was used to protect a castle, so of course it would have defenses like that.

Ouka asked a question with a tone that suggested she was testing the older boy.

“So we can’t use the bridge, we can’t use a boat, and we can’t use the water. How ''are'' we supposed to get across, Sensei?”

The instructor did not hesitate to answer.

There was only one real answer.

“We walk across.”