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Horizon:Volume 4A Chapter 01

2015-09-24T15:50:54Z

68.109.52.245:

==Chapter 1: Anticipaters of Unseen Footing==
[[Image:Horizon4A_0047.jpg|thumb]]
''Even if your footing is uncertain

''You are fine as long as the horizontal remains level

'''Point Allocation (Restraint)

The afternoon sun was artificially created in a certain place.

That place was the vast interior of the Ariake. The metal space was large enough that the four walls looked hazy in the distance.

It was longer lengthwise than widthwise and eight docks were carved into it. The docks sat over massive goliath cranes and girders even larger than the cranes and each one contained a ship with bearing the name “Musashi” followed by an individual name.

The Ariake had no windows. Instead, sign frames displaying the view outside were lined up along the ceiling, walls, and around the docks. Artificial environmental light based on the time of day outside was created by lamp spells.

As the Musashi was remodeled within, the Ariake contained the light of an early summer evening.

Most of the sounds inside were from moving cranes or linked wagons carrying materials or from the work taking place between the canopies covering parts of the ships or inside the wooden prefab construction buildings.

There were sounds of hammering, welding, saws, drills, and cargo being set down or dragged. There were also the occasional cheers when some piece of work was completed.

But another sound was added in.

It came from the rear of Okutama which had a few wide blocks removed and had holes filling its surface. Musashi Ariadust Academy’s bell was ringing.

It was already past time for school to be let out, so this bell was informing the ship that it was now 5:00 PM.

The artificial light illuminating it from overhead gradually began to set, but the sounds of work continued. No one went home or even grabbed an early dinner. If anyone did leave, it was to buy some food for the entire group they were working with.

They all stubbornly remained at the work sites.

“Hey, you got a moment?”

A certain conversation would occasionally begin at one of the work sites. Even if no one said “yes”, the person would continue as if asking themselves.

“We can win once we finish this, can’t we?”

They would receive a few different answers, but the most common were the following two:

“Of course we can. What are you talking about?”

“Stop thinking about that and just do your duty.”

Sometimes the other person would reply with a silent bitter smile or try to avoid the issue with a joke, but it always ended in the same way:

“If we don’t do whatever we can, we’ll regret it later.”

“Yeah.”

Then, they would begin to chat. They would distract themselves from what lay ahead and what future awaited them, but they would keep those things in the corner of their vision.

Once a certain place started chatting, people found it hard to leave, so they all ended up chatting cheerfully.

“Hey, did Satomi’s Student Council President end up transferring in?”

“I always thought we had the same taste, but it looks like I was wrong.”

“I-I didn’t mean it like that! Wait, are you making crazy accusations in a plot to steal my AsaShoots collection!?”

“Hey, could you two quit drawing swords on each other and help carry these materials?”

As that conversation played out on Takao’s surface, a light god of war activated.

“Okay, East Ship Team 3B-26. Let’s go!”

They all followed the god of war and climbed from its tail ballast to its head.

“Hey.”

Their conversations always started with that word.

“The Satomi Student Council President sure is great, isn’t she?”

“What!? You aren’t overlooking the perfection in glasses that’s a year older and maybe even flatter, are you!?”

“But Naomasa’s been in the engine division so much lately that my points in the large religion nearly got to the point of a class change. I’ve been playing this minigame in between trips to carry supplies to her unit. This Musashi remodeling minigame sure has a lot to it. You just keep playing and playing, but it never ends.”

“Chief! Everyone but me is dangerous!”

But once they arrived on top of the dock, they all looked around.

The Musashi’s ships rose higher than the dock’s floor, but…

“About twenty percent to go. …We need to hurry up and stuff everything inside.”

They were definitely making progress on the remodeling and they could hear sounds of construction even now, but…

“We’re gradually focusing more on the most important parts. Is this what you call the last spurt?”

So…

“What do we do?”

“Yeah, what do we do once the remodeling is done? We need to figure that out pretty soon.”

As soon as someone said that, two objects passed by far overhead. They were people.

“The Tachibana couple? They go for a run while fighting each other every morning and evening, don’t they?

Recently, Tachibana Muneshige had decided to eat dinner outside.

Their residence in Musashi was on Tama’s second belowground floor. That was a part of the student dorms and the next wide block to the right was an underground nature district. The English Queen and the 1st Special Duty Officer lived nearby, so they got along with the neighbors well enough.

…''It is such a nice place.

But they had something to do besides spend their time there.

This was not training. It was a form of discipline.

They were eighty meters up from the dock’s floor off the starboard side of Musashino, Musashi’s front central ship.

Muneshige was going through rehabilitation with Gin’s help. He checked the feel of his legs as he ran on the reinforced wooden deck, clashed pieces of metal shaped like swords with Gin, and held combat training as sparks flew.

“…”

But as he ran alongside and exchanged attacks with Gin, Muneshige consciously held back his body that wanted to test his full strength.

He had not fully recovered yet. His muscles had not returned to their pre-Mikawa levels. If he tried to use his full strength now, the discrepancy between his memories and the present reality would place an unnecessary burden on him and confuse him. So…

…''I will hold back!

Impatience stewed inside his body, but he tamed it by telling himself he was controlling himself. If he could control himself, recovery would be a simple task.

He ran. He jumped over one of Gin’s attacks, flipped to avoid it, and sent out his own attack.

Even if they were only going for a run, Gin showed no restraint in her attacks. If he let his guard down for even a moment, attacks quick enough to leave him with a new injury would fly accurately into the places where he knew he was weak.

She only did so because she trusted him and because she was trying to rid him of his weaknesses.

…''And because she wants me to…

She wanted to return him to his position as the Peerless in the West.

And because he understood that, he did not go easy on her.

With each and every step, his footsteps travelled up his entire body and he spoke the words that came most naturally to him.

“Gin.”

“What is it, Master Muneshige?”

“Compared to when I could barely move, I am incredibly happy now.”

“You have not recovered yet. You still have a stiffness in your step.”

“Oops.”

He made sure to step rather than just let his foot drop. And as soon as he took a leap, a metal sword pierced the spot in which his foot had been.

“My attack was too slow because I warned you first,” Gin was entirely expressionless. “I have room for improvement too.”

She wore a vermilion track suit and gave a small nod.

“But I agree that this is a happy time.”

“Judge.”

Muneshige nodded in agreement, avoided an attack to his head, and reminded himself that victory was the only option from now on. After all…

…''This is the Far East and Musashi’s last chance.

''Musashi lost so much during the Battle of Mikatagahara three weeks ago,'' thought Muneshige.

Hashiba had sent Azuchi Castle to Kantou and it was still sitting above Edo and Satomi. That giant aerial warship belonged to the same class as the Musashi and it was holding southern Kantou while receiving supplies from Sagami.

…''You could probably say it’s in top form.

Meanwhile, the Musashi sat above the territory belonging to 5th Special Duty Officer Mitotsudaira’s clan. It was inside the Ariake, a giant dock designed specifically for the Musashi that had created a stealth defense barrier around itself.

The residential districts had been rearranged into transport ships and most of Musashi’s residents were living at the land ports in Mito territory. The eight ships had been split up between the eight land ports, so…

…''The people can’t set up a chain of dissatisfaction or plot to rebel.

“But,” muttered Muneshige to no one in particular as he ran and deflected Gin’s jab with the pommel of his sword. “This is their last chance.”

The same could be said of the members of Class Plum. Given the situation, they were all moving around busily, but each one of them would occasionally stare into the south even though there was nothing to see there.

Muneshige had grown accustomed enough to life on these eight ships that he hoped that was a sign of their will to fight Hashiba and not of their fear.

But it was true this was their last chance. And so they kept moving. Gin had only been using one hand before, but she finally moved her second to send out both her metal swords at once. And so Muneshige deflected them with both of his.

The two of them were moving as well.

But even if they were moving, it was not actual movement. Their current movements were preparations to ensure they won once they did take actual movement. That was what they had to do now, so…

“Gin, pour on the killer intent.”

“Judge.”

Gin nodded, narrowed her eyes, and sent out constant attacks.

These were not gentle attacks. They were serious attacks that targeted his legs when he landed or the backs of his joints. Muneshige avoided or dealt with them all.

“Nice killer intent, Gin!”

She smiled. It was a cold smile filled with killer intent.

''Wonderful,'' thought Muneshige. He had not had many chances to see that look on her face since they had started living together, so he was truly glad they had moved to Musashi.

He felt real accomplishment as he ran, leaped, and moved his body. This would continue even after they returned home. They would read books or divine websites on cutting edge combat techniques and check on the most cutting edge weapons.

…''Yes, I am so thankful we have so much to do.

All of them had lots to do. Those repairing the Musashi were pursuing that, those supporting the first group were pursuing that, and those “keeping the Musashi moving” were pursuing that.

It all went back to three weeks prior.

Muneshige had seen something during that loss three weeks ago, although he was not sure if it was a good thing or not.

These were the people who were moving the current world, but he had seen them desire even more and pursue themselves.

Muneshige had once been an inherited name holder like them.

He was not any longer.

Would he be able to become like that again? Would he be able to do something like that or do something even greater? He restrained his doubts with the sensation of his feet pressing against the ground.

He used his mind to restrain his stewing body and he used his body to restrain his stewing mind. And as he repeated that process…

“Gin.”

“What is it?”

“I will grow even stronger than before. Just like when I confessed to you.”

“That was not so much ‘growing strong’ as it was ‘refusing to give up until you won’.”

“That had not occurred to me.”

“You were so strong it did not need to occur to you.”

She nodded, suddenly put away her swords, and lined up alongside him. She then opened the wicker basket attached to her waist hard point and showed him the water bottle and rice balls wrapped in bamboo grass contained inside.

“Master Muneshige, it is about time for dinner.”

Gin picked up the wrapping with her giant false arm.

These were special rice balls. She had not made them with these false arms. Before Muneshige had woken that morning, she had brought out the false arms based on her original arms and made them.

She felt she should not hide those arms from him since he had given them to her and she had used them in her battle with Musashi’s Vice Chancellor. The arms were beginning to feel less special to her, but…

…''Am I being oversensitive when I hesitate to use them in public?

But since they and Musashi were coming up on their last chance, hesitating to use anything available to her would be dangerous. So she was gradually trying to accustom herself to using them in public, but she could not change the part of her that still needed a reason to use them.

…''So it is all for Master Muneshige.

He made for the all-purpose excuse.

…''I would expect no less of Master Muneshige.

Currently, she used those false arms for combat and rice ball making, but she felt that was evidence of the changing nature of all things. All things and people would sometimes do what one expected and other times would not. Her relationship with him was a perfect example. The future destined for her by her inherited name had greatly changed with his interference and Musashi’s interference, but…

“Today, I mostly made the soft-boiled egg and chicken ham rice balls you like so much.”

“Are you sure you should have done that? The egg supply is pretty limited.”

“Please thank me.”

“Judge. Thank you very much. …I can’t wait to try them.”

“Judge.” Gin nodded and glanced around the area. “About what the 1st Special Duty Officer contacted us about…”

“Judge. I wasn’t sure whether he should have told us about that. …It sounds like things are finally beginning to move. A representative of the Date clan will arrive tonight for an unofficial meeting.”

“Judge. And we were all asked to gather tonight in preparation. Master Muneshige, does this mean we are one of them now? I do not recall giving our consent.”

“I have a feeling those people think everyone is one of them.”

“True.”

Gin sighed because she could not understand that way of thinking.

But as she recalled the information on the surrounding nations she and Muneshige had been gathering lately, she raised her head as emotion filled her face.

“Oushuu had its foundation in Qing-Takeda’s power and in the stability Matsudaira will bring in the future, so they had completed their history recreations in a relatively peaceful manner that nearly qualifies as a mere discussion. But…”

“But the Mogami clan in west Oushuu, Date in the east, and Sviet Rus have all stopped everything they were doing.”

That had happened only a few days before. As Gin ran, she looked up at the sign frame reproducing the external light.

“That means Oushuu has cast aside its trust in Matsudaira’s future stability after the loss three weeks ago.”

“It means the real history recreation and the real Warring States era has arrived in Oushuu.” Muneshige smiled. “So now it’s our turn to crush the future someone thought was set in stone.”

He had once done exactly that to her, so she could only trust him when he said that.

Gin took a slow breath and nodded once to convince herself.

“Then let us eat dinner.”

With that, she placed the water bottle and bamboo grass wrapping on her false arm.

“…!”

And she forcefully threw them high into the air ahead of her.

Muneshige saw his dinner hang in the air for an impressively long time.

The throw from Gin’s false arm refused to fall back down. Meanwhile, he nodded her way.

“Please go on ahead, Gin.”

“Judge. I have my own route, so go on without me, Master Muneshige. I need to greet a few people afterwards, though.”

When he spotted some sweat on her brow, he smiled her way.

“I told you to go on without me, Master Muneshige.”

“Oh, I was just realizing how lucky I was to have moved here since it lets me see you so full of life, Gin.”

She wrinkled her brow, but her mouth moved in a slight wave. Her cheeks also flushed.

“I should have thrown it so high and far you couldn’t see it.”

“Not to worry. I have excellent eyesight.”

“I wouldn’t know.”

But then she nodded again and jumped to the right.

She did not hesitate to throw herself into the air at a height of eighty meters.

As she fell, she stretched out and gave a midair bow to the transport Technohexen flying by.

And then…

…''Arcabuz Cruz.

She fired blanks to launch her body through the air. She directed herself to the thick rope passageway leading starboard to Tama.

At the same time, Muneshige began to run.

He did not use his full strength. He focused on the soles of his feet and took each step with care. First, he set his heel down, bent his knee, and pulled his body forward. Then, as he tilted his balance forward, he would use the arch of his sole to stand on his tiptoe. From there, he would place his big toe on the floor and press down like he was tearing into the floor.

“…!”

He filled himself with reliable acceleration.

Without rushing or hurrying, Muneshige simply accelerated forward as if memorizing each and every step.

He could see the transportation district on the port-most long block to his left.

His dinner was falling and…

…''It is falling off the edge of the ship.

That was too far to reach and there were no thick rope passageways in the area.

“I’ll have to go for some interesting footing on this one. I would expect no less of Gin.”

He accelerated and leaped.

He lifted his left leg and jumped.

His initial destination was the first floor roof of a warehouse in the transportation district. First, he placed his left leg on a small wooden box left on the ground and used it as a stepping stone.

“…”

As if stepping over it, he leaped toward the warehouse roof.

He made a midair flip as he passed over the heads of the transportation workers helping with the remodeling.

“Excuse me.”

He raised a hand of greeting as they gave shouts of “Oh!” or “That’s amazing!” and he landed on the rooftop.

He used the motion of his landing to briefly sink forward and used his body like a spring.

He felt the momentum building in his body.

“Toh.”

So he kicked sideways and made another flip in midair. Just as his feet circled downwards again, he leaped toward the third floor rooftop of the warehouse across the way.

He landed, leaned forward, moved his right leg forward, and ran across the roof toward his dinner.

He did not stop and he quickly reached the edge of the roof leading toward the edge of the ship.

“Now, then.”

He jumped from the elevated roof and flung himself into the empty space beyond the ship’s edge.

Everything vanished below his feet and the movement of the wind changed.

This was a dangerous action, but it felt almost nostalgic to him.

…''I helped prepare the Grande y Felicísima Armada after all.”

Knowing how to move between ships in a large fleet and being trained in naval hand-to-hand combat were both necessary for Tres España and their history recreation of the Armada Battle.

He reached a hand out in midair while recalling older times.

The dinner Gin had made was there.

He reached it, grabbed it, opened the bamboo grass wrapping as he pulled it in, grabbed one of the handmade rice balls, and put it in his mouth.

…''Oh, soy sauce tortilla flavor.

''Wonderful,'' he felt while flipping around in midair and pointing his legs downward. He maintained a falling stance as he dropped toward his destination.

“Excuse me.”

A tugboat was there in order to move transport ships alongside the Musashi. Gin had likely thrown his dinner only after noticing the boat’s presence. Muneshige landed on the Shinto rope that provided shock absorption on the sides of the bow and he crouched down to prepare for his next jump.

“Thank you very much.”

He raised a hand in response to the crews’ raised hands and he made his jump.

His target was Musashino’s outer hull.

…''I need to land on the wall and then…

He had to run up it. The 1st Special Duty Officer had taught him this form of training and he had improved enough to pull this off. However…

“Oh?”

He spotted a familiar face on the work scaffolding halfway up Musashino’s hull.

It was Honda Futayo.

Futayo placed a foot on Musashino’s wall-like outer hull.

She was forty meters from the deck at the top, so if she was to climb that height with only her feet…

…''It truly becomes a “wall” at about the ten meter mark.

But…

“That means I cannot actually climb this wall.”

If she could not climb the wall after losing her initial speed, that meant she could not climb or balance on the wall with only her initial kick.

It sounded simple, but it was actually quite difficult. The ninja who had taught it to her had raised his index finger and told her the following:

“Muneshige-dono trains this way every single day.”

It had sounded like something from a bogus mail-order advertisement. But…

“————”

She looked up and really did see Muneshige there.

Futayo watched Muneshige.

…''It looks like he jumped to the wall from that tugboat passing by overhead.

He was approximately fifteen meters above her.

He placed one foot above the other on the wall and stood there. He was looking at her, but he was not looking down on her. He turned his definite gaze in her direction.

Was she being conceited if it looked like he was challenging her to climb up after him?

She had planned to climb the wall regardless.

She wanted to train. She was always completing her own sort of training, but she had recently started wondering if she should try adding on some different or extra training, whatever that might be.

But she was not sure what kind of training she should add on. Part of her felt she could add on a few more programs derived from her normal training, but…

…''Would that really work?

She was not sure how to put it.

…''What can I do to get stronger?
That was a vague question. She did not know what it was she lacked.

She knew she had to avoid any training that had no direct connection to her strength. Her time as the Far East’s Vice Chancellor and the time Musashi would remain safe were both short. So she had asked the ninja. She had asked him to tell her what kind of training Muneshige and Gin did, since she had fought both of them.

“—————”

Futayo looked up. Muneshige stood fifteen meters above her and he was looking at her.

If it was only due to her conceit that he seemed to be challenging her, then why was he looking at her?

She did not know, but…

“Here I come.”

She filled herself with initial speed.

Muneshige saw Futayo coming up.

''She’s serious,'' was his initial impression.

Her acceleration spell, Soaring Wings, purified away everything extraneous to her acceleration, but it was not active at the moment. She intended to make the climb with her pure strength and skill.

And she started up.

She rose with the speed of a fall.

She immediately covered about seven meters. She seemed within arm’s reach, but that was an optical illusion. The speed of her approach had caused an error in his judgment of her position relative to his.

But she was definitely approaching.

She placed her feet on the wall and let her knees sink forwards to press her weight against the wall.

“Hoo.”

With a single breath, she relaxed her strength and pulled her body up with the foot caught on the wall. Instead of kicking down, she needed to pull herself up.

She covered three more meters with a single step, so she would reach Muneshige in another two steps.

So he began as well.

…''Now, then.

He could not just watch. This was his time to train.

When he had noticed her and realized what she was trying to do, he had felt something.

If he had spoken that feeling aloud, it could easily have been viewed as conceit, so he had left it unsaid and sealed it deep in his heart.

He knew what he needed to do now.

“…!”

He began running up the wall as a standard part of his training.

Futayo saw Muneshige start climbing up ahead.

He seemed to be testing her, he seemed to be ignoring her, and he seemed to be telling her to follow him.

…''And…

She did not understand, but she did know that the person running out ahead of her had held an inherited name.

She thought on the term “inherited name”.

She had fought inherited name holders a few times and had barely scraped by with victory. Her father had held an inherited name and he had trained her and taught her quite a bit. But…

…''What does it mean?

She asked herself what meaning an inherited name held.

Until recently, Futayo had thought of inherited names as the textbooks had taught her to.

According to the textbooks, their holders bore the responsibility to move history and the world. Her father had held one, so she had seen that for herself several times. They lived according to the history recorded in the automatically-updated history book known as the Testament.

Recreating the Testament’s history was everything to them.

The Testament’s history was long.

…''Long ago.

When the people had descended to this planet, every part of the world save the Far East where the Environmental Gods were, had been given too great a recovery, so the Far East had been the only livable place. So the people had started a war over that land and nearly wiped themselves out again. Having learned their lesson, the people had known they could not leave the state of the world to people and had decided to obey proven history instead. That was what Futayo had been taught in class.

The rules concerning inherited names had been developed back then. And when they had made the Testament to provide instructions, they had made sure it automatically revealed only the next hundred years of history to make sure no one tried to get their hands on too much power.

That way, the people could once more develop to the point of ascending to heaven without destroying themselves.

That was known as the Anti-Decline Pro-Tuning Movement and, due to the environmental issues, another Far East in an alternate space had been created. Everyone but the Far Easterners had moved to that Harmonic World and fulfilled the Testament’s instructions there.

And before history was enclosed within the Testament, the different copies had been distributed to those that were determined to be the ancestors of what would become great nations in the future. That way, the inherited name holders could fulfill their duty to protect the world and to help it redevelop.

Futayo had once asked her father why they even bothered going through with the inherited names and history recreation. She had asked why they didn’t focus on technological development so they could ascend to heaven as soon as possible.

This had been her father’s answer:

“Hey, Kazuno, why is that?”

…''My father truly was honest about the things he did not know.

After Kazuno had given her father a look of pure scorn, she had sat politely down and said the following:

“Any kind of competition brings conflict. And some people were in better positions than others. After all, the Far East was the only safe land. Everywhere else had been so recovered so much that no one could live there anymore.”

“Couldn’t they have all worked together?”

“That’s a good question, Futayo. I was thinking the same thing, Kazuno. …Wait, why are you only glaring at me!?”

“Futayo-sama.” Kazuno had gestured toward Futayo’s father. “Even this house has a head of the household. Technically.”

“Judge. That would be my father.”

“Judge. Now, Futayo-sama. If everyone were to work together in a single group with the fate of the world at stake, how would they select the ‘head of the household’? And even if they found a way, would everyone really be satisfied with that selection? Would everyone feel confident that selection would allow them to ascend into heaven? And…”

And…

“The technological development would surely take many generations of work. But if they had to select a ‘head of the household’ for their group, could they really continue to select a satisfactory individual for generations?”

“They wouldn’t know until they tried…”

At that point, it had hit her.

If they had tried that, it would have caused conflict and they would have wiped each other out. When she had trailed off, Kazuno had given her a rare smile.

“Do you understand now? Out of a sense of responsibility for the future generations, the people back then cast aside their ambitions to name themselves the leader and instead left their fate in the hands of something else. They decided to reference the history of the past age, when the people truly did ascend into heaven.”

That was the basis on which her father and the others had been moving the world.

Her father’s friends in Mikawa, the automatons with inherited names, and everyone else had done so. But…

…''Why?

The destruction of Mikawa that had taken her father away had not been a part of the history recreation. What had they been thinking? And…

“—————”

Futayo thought about her father who had opposed the history recreation and about those who had obeyed it.

…''They’re gone.

Anne and Luynes of Hexagone Française, Matsunaga of P.A. Oda, Yoshitsune of Qing-Takeda, and Yoshiyori of Satomi had either obeyed or disobeyed the history recreation, but their decisions had all led them to disappear as her father had.

…''What does it mean?

Inherited name holders were supposed to have a responsibility to obey the Testament and move both history and the world, but…

“What does it mean?”

Futayo asked a question under her breath as she watched the back of the former inherited name holder moving up ahead.

“When one inherits a name and follows the world and its history,” she asked. “Is their death assumed?”

Futayo accelerated.

She swung her body upwards to run straight up the wall.

She could see Muneshige’s back up ahead.

She could catch up. She only needed to move a little further. But she felt heavy. The object in her right hand felt heavy.

It was not Tonbokiri. It was a spare provided by Kantou IZUMO. It artificially reproduced the weapon’s functions and its artificial intelligence was only based on the original.

However, its weight and the distribution thereof were identical to the real one.

…''Even though it is a fake.

It was a fake, yet the weight alone was real.

…''It’s almost like…

What was it like? The thought reached her for just a moment.

“——————”

And in that moment, her feet failed to grasp the wall.

“…”

Balanced on her heels, her body bent back on the wall.

She could not recover.

She was going to fall with her back pointed down.

“Kh…”

In that instant, Muneshige looked back.

He reached out his hand and she tried to grab it.

…''No.

She did not know what she was rejecting, but that thought definitely reached her.

And a moment later, she fell.

She had failed.

Gin saw it happen from Tama’s port deck after crossing the thick rope passageway.

Futayo fell and her back slammed into the scaffolding below.

The people on the scaffolding turned around and the tugboat stopped moving, but Muneshige stopped on the wall and raised a hand toward them all.

He was telling them this was just a part of their training. That was true and preserving the reputation of their Vice Chancellor was important for Musashi at the moment. But…

“She has seemed somehow exhausted ever since Mikatagahara.”

Gin frowned.

“If this continues, she has no future.”

Futayo lay face-up on the scaffolding of hardened bamboo and wooden boards.

She was out of breath and her pulse was racing. Both were caused by this unexpected mistake and by the fear of falling backwards without being able to see where she was headed.

''I can’t believe this,'' she thought in the back of her mind.

Something seemed to be catching at her heart and it would occasionally take over her entire body. At the most crucial moments or when she was making a decision, something seemed to cut across in front of her, obscuring her vision.

What was it?

She did not know.

As she lay face-up, she could see Musashino’s starboard hull and the Ariake’s ceiling supported by trusses. The boards behind her back swayed with her breathing and the pain gradually reached her as heat.

She belatedly realized her hand was touching something.

It was Tonbokiri’s spare. It contained the extension capability and had an artificial cutting power that used a spell, but she had yet to use the latter. Its OS was made to be compatible with the real one, and…

…''I cannot use this Tonbokiri until it recognizes me as its master.

It was a troublesome authorization function, but restraints like that were necessary for a weapon that could hurt someone. Also, she was currently living in the Ariake rather than facing an enemy.

She intended to eventually have the Tonbo Spare recognize her as its master and then wait for the real one to return. At that point, she had planned to have the spare’s memories transferred to the real one so it would know she had never parted with it.

…''But will that actually work out?

For some reason, she was not so sure since Mikatagahara.

“Am I…?”

Had she become a coward?

<noinclude>
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| [[Horizon:Volume 4A Prologue|Prologue]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 4A Chapter 02|Chapter 02]]
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</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 4A Prologue

2015-09-24T00:57:50Z

68.109.52.245:

==Prologue: Those with their Feet in a Winding Stream==
[[Image:Horizon4A_0021.jpg|thumb]]
''Where is the final destination

''Of all those twists and turns?

'''Point Allocation (Liberalism)

Light poured down from high in the sky.

It was the sunlight of an early summer afternoon.

More than warmth, it carried a stabbing heat, and it cast deep shadows across the land.

Those shadows created waves on a three square kilometer grassy field surrounded by forest.

A faint breeze washed across the mown grass, creating waves.

But there was a gap in the waves. A small stream cut south to north across the middle of the field.

Two figures sat on the northern downstream bank on the southern end of that stream of shadowy water. Their legs were cooling off in the water nearly up to the knee, but neither of them had human form.

One was a girl character sheet with legs growing from it and the other was a body pillow.

The body pillow kicked up the water with its normal legs. It was a carefree motion. With the movement of a long acquaintance, it turned its air hole toward the sheet.

“Wow, it’s already the afternoon and the water’s still cold! I feel like a child again, Koni-tan!”

“Yes, it’s a shame no one else could escape the temporary provisional council building, Nobu-tan!”

Still sitting, they both swayed back and forth while singing an anime OP.

“♪Don’t you look down on yourself like that. Overthrow yourself so you have to look up at yourself. You can argue your case with incredible ease. Trust in yourself and your dreams will come true. If you’ve hit a dead end with the lesser cuckoo, just show your purity with a Ha-Ra-Ki-Ri♪”

After singing, the body pillow sighed and the suddenly looked back to the north.

A few white and black forms were visible beyond the tall grass hiding them. They were large transport ships bearing Musashi’s emblem. The body pillow spoke up when he saw them in the sunlight.

“Since the Musashi is being remodeled in the Kantou Izumo’s Ariake dock, the residents, facilities, and companies not needed for the remodeling are being carried out.”

The body pillow continued speaking.

“Even those of us on the provisional council are using the temporary provisional council building at the first land port along with the Musashino’s ships.”

As he spoke, the wind blew. A few ships measuring a dozen meters were ascending from the ships docked at the land port to north.

But they stopped after reaching a certain height.

As the body pillow and sheet watched, cargo was carried out from the floating ships’ decks and side hatches. The altitude differences were used to send the cargo along the thick rope passageways connecting the ships.

“So the early afternoon cargo transportation has begun. Mito’s land ports were originally divided up so other nations could use them, but now they’re being used by the transport ships providing living spaces for the Musashi’s eight ships. The Musashi’s cities have rearranged their wide blocks into transport ships that have docked at those land ports separated by the forests. As for the Musashi itself…”

The body pillow looked even further north.

Green mountains were visible in the distance and the sky could be seen twenty kilometers away.

“Shirakawa, the entrance to Oushuu. The Ariake is remodeling the Musashi there.”

“Only because Date holds eastern Oushuu and they won’t let us move any further north because they’re ‘busy’. And we can’t move into Siberia in western Oushuu because Mogami and Sviet Rus’s Uesugi are also putting off making a decision. Time passes, but little else happens.”

The sheet sighed, but the body pillow said that was not necessarily a bad thing.

“Time is useful. The Musashi’s remodeling will be complete soon and we can get somewhat used to living in these divided temporary homes. It wasn’t a bad decision by the student council after the loss at Mikatagahara.”

“True.” The sheet swayed as it sighed in a different way from before. “They moved the people from the Musashi so they wouldn’t see the damage and split them up into eight groups so they couldn’t form a union of negativity. And by sending them down to the surface and giving them a busy lifestyle they aren’t used to, they get a nice change of pace and can’t lose themselves in their negative emotions.”

“And they were also given the choice to leave the ships and live in Mito’s castle town. …Also, the manufacturing districts are making parts for the Musashi and volunteers can return to the Musashi to help with the remodeling for some bonus pay. They’re given a way out and their overall unity is given a chance to recover.”

“Was that Masazumi-kun’s decision?”

“Mostly,” said the body pillow. “But some of the arrangements were not made by her. That was done by the student council’s underclassmen.”

“I see. Do you mean Ookubo and Kanou?”

“Yes.” The body pillow nodded. “That’s Ookubo-kun’s daughter. …She is the daughter of a colleague who inherited the Ookubo name before Mikawa was cleared out. Afterwards, he came to Musashi like I did. I had thought he was living a fairly low-key life, but his daughter has done enough to inherit the names of Ookubo Tadachika and Nagayasu. Add in Kanou, the inherited name automaton that came with them from Mikawa, and they are certainly skilled. …Not as much as Masazumi, but they are some people to watch among the second years.”

“Kh… I can’t stand how you hint at the connections you have there.”

“According to the Testament descriptions, the Honda and Ookubo clans have some political battles. It would help me quite a bit if Masazumi could get along with them. But…politics is more than a domestic affair. Isn’t that right, Koni-tan?”

“Judge. You mean Hashiba’s warriors which have stopped moving north for the history recreation of the Korean invasion in Edo and the reactions from Date, Mogami, Uesugi, and the other Kantou powers?”

“Yes. And do you remember what Lady Yoshitsune said during the Battle of Mikatagahara?”

“Judge.” The sheet nodded and turned its air hole toward the body pillow. “Make allies of Date and Uesugi.”

“That means it would be best to actively try to make allies of Date and Uesugi.”

A boy in glasses drew a map of Oushuu on the blackboard.

The armband on his short sleeve read “Secretary – Neshinbara Toussaint”.

…''Well, they probably already understand all this.

He looked across the sparsely filled classroom. This was Class 3-Plum of Musashi Ariadust Academy at the back of Okutama, Musashi’s rear central ship. He could see all of the Musashi outside the window. He could also see the interior of the Ariake, the specialized dock the Musashi had sunken into.

The Ariake looked like a vast hole from here. Large land bridges passed by on either side and lifts covered the walls and ceiling, but it was mostly an IZUMO land port with a roof.

The Musashi was contained within, but this was different from before. Many objects covered the surface of the eight ships, scaffolding surrounded them, or pieces were missing.

…''It’s being remodeled. And this time, it’s getting weapons.

Below the coverings, it was being remodeled on the pretext of acting as a mercenary for other nations. Some were meant for defense and they had apparently reached the testing phase.

''I wonder how this will turn out. I hope it’s cool. I hope the cannons have names,'' thought Neshinbara as he heard a woman’s voice from the side. It was Oriotorai who had removed her track suit jacket. She was checking over some datasheets on where the restaurants on the Musashi’s surface and interior had moved.

“Okay, okay. Just because you’re using the self-study time for a meeting is no excuse for getting distracted. Asama, Mitotsudaira, Masazumi, and everyone waiting for work may be out, but make sure you do this right. …So Neshinbara, what do you think about joining forces with Sviet Rus’s Uesugi?”

“Oh, judge.” Neshinbara continued speaking. “According to the Testament, Date joins Matsudaira for Sekigahara and Uesugi joins Hashiba, so the standard thinking would be to assume allying with Uesugi will be difficult. The powerful nation of Mogami stands between them, but since it shrinks after Sekigahara, going for time-limited cooperation would be useful.”

Someone spoke up from the back of the classroom. It was Naito, with her six gold wings. She was using a Magie Figur to communicate with Naruze who was helping transport cargo outside.

“Mogami declines and then Date becomes the ruler of Oushuu, right? So would we be getting Date’s support and using their influence to get Uesugi on our side?”

“I doubt it would be that simple. Date, Mogami, and Sviet Rus’s Uesugi have had connections for a long time and they have continued their history recreation through discussions rather than battle.”

That comment came from Crossunite who sat next to Mary who wore an English summer uniform.

He opened a sign frame by the ceiling so everyone could see. It displayed a bird’s-eye-view map of Oushuu to Jouetsu, but it contained several large red circles and geometric shapes.

“These are the many harmonic territories that Oushuu and Sviet Rus are well known for.”

They almost entirely filled Oushuu and Sviet Rus. More of the map was covered in red than was not. Ohiroshiki sighed and spoke up while looking almost straight up at the map.

“Sviet Rus, Mogami, and Date have all fortified themselves behind these natural defenses, haven’t they?”

“Judge. They have techniques for living in the freezing cold that were cultivated in the Harmonic Divine States. And they use them to live in those vast harmonic territories. Not even the Musashi can approach without using the safe corridors. When the Harmonic Divine States collapsed, the few regions that collapsed first ended up like this, but Oushuu has more than anywhere else and has become very self-sufficient.”

''Yes, Musashi’s ability to trade is difficult to use here,'' agreed Neshinbara.

…''Oushuu has long been wary of outsiders.

They had historical connections from long ago, so they had been able to handle everything through peaceful discussions.

“In the Age of Dawn before the Testament was made, Oushuu is said to have been the site of the most intense fighting in the war over the Far East’s land. That fighting was treated as an early recreation of the later eastern expeditions of the successive imperial courts, so a relatively peaceful age began on the Far Eastern side of things. But with the confusion of the Kamakura Shogunate’s establishment and the Harmonic Unification War, it became a dangerous region once more. Especially since the collapse of the many harmonic regions caused a resonance that affected the surrounding Far Eastern ley lines. That tuned the Far Eastern land with the harmonic regions making them just as frigid.”

So…

“Because the Musashi would normally have such a hard time getting in, the provisional council and the heads of committees will be sent in first. But we can’t spare any time on foreign diplomacy with the remodeling going on, so we can’t send anyone out to the other nations. …Musashi has to effectively cut off all diplomacy at the moment.”

“Isn’t that bad?”

The nudist was sitting in his desk wearing swim trunks.

Neshinbara considered ignoring him.

But the musician of an entertainer god built up internal Blessings by offering up performances, so that was probably what this was. It was not just his personal preference. That had to be it. And so Neshinbara answered the idiot.

“Musashi has not interacted with any other nation for about three weeks now. The Hirazumo hidden city of Oushuu Fujiwara gave us some initial supplies, but they’ve only been watching since.”

“I see.”

Seeing the idiot pout his lips and lose himself in thought, Neshinbara smiled in his heart.

He had shown a lot of interest in these meetings lately.

Of course, he never seemed to actually be listening. It was less about him understanding what was being said and more an interest in what everyone was involved in and what they were doing. But…

…''I wonder.

Long ago, he had said he wanted to create a kingdom to make everyone’s dreams come true. And by rescuing his princess, he had started moving in that direction, but he was watching what the rulers of other nations did, asking the Reine de Garous about it, and had overcome the defeat at Mikatagahara.

…''I really do wonder.

They were acting on the world domination and retrieval of the Logismoi Oplo he had started at Mikawa.

Since they were on the move, in a way, he was not with them. His objective remained unchanged, so he only needed to watch.

''But,'' thought Neshinbara. ''What if he found a way to do more than watch and actually took part? Would we no longer have anything like Mikatagahara happen?

''I do wonder. Am I viewing him as too much of a hero? But he’s still peeping and doing stupid things. When he leaves these meetings, he keeps smiling and doing weird things like he always has.

…''I wonder.

“Yes.”

Neshinbara nodded and spoke. He inhaled, changed his line of thought, and glanced over at the idiot for just a moment.

“This is pretty bad, but we do have an intermediary even with diplomacy cut off. Oushuu has always been a resistant land, but once you get close, they treat you like family. …The merchants on both sides are secretly trading to keep business booming, aren’t they?”

“Judge.”

Heidi nodded from right in front of the teacher’s desk. Shirojiro was out working and she was assisting him via divine transmission.

“We’ve mainly been dealing in food. But the most valuable items are the Oushuu-made Orei Metallo. Konishi-sama of the provisional council is handling most of that. We’re doing our best to see if we can steal some of that business from him.”

“I’m not about to lose to the student council. This deal is going to make me a lot of money, after all. I can buy the Orei Metallo from Date and Mogami’s ruins and sell them directly to IZUMO. It’s especially profitable with the remodeling going on.”

As the sheet spoke with its legs soaking in the small stream, the body pillow sitting next to it nodded.

“We need to show them that we are still their superiors. …But Koni-tan, you started to say something before we all began dancing in the viewing room, didn’t you? What happened in the Date clan? …Two weeks ago, Hashiba visited Date, Mogami, and Sviet Rus to ‘check on their history recreation’. Sviet Rus is being invaded by P.A. Oda’s Shibata, but Mogami and Date both stopped everything they were doing, didn’t they? Of course, I’m sure that was meant to show that Oushuu couldn’t rely on Musashi and to show what a threat Hashiba is to them.”

“Judge.” The sheet kicked at the water. “The Date clan and Mogami have stopped moving. But based on some observations, there are occasional massive thunder clouds at night so aerial ships cannot pass through. Also…”

“Also?”

“Judge. This is an unrelated matter, but both Date and Mogami sent out a ship bearing signs of mourning. They were both sent south, toward Azuchi Castle.”

“Date and Mogami sent someone who died to Hashiba? Did someone have to take responsibility when faced with the threat of Hashiba?”

“I don’t know.” The sheet swayed gently to the side. “But Hashiba’s forces responded by sending a ship to Kantou. Are you familiar with the Jurakudai? That castle belongs to Hashiba Hidetsugu, Hashiba’s nephew whose name had supposedly not been inherited yet. In other words…”

“Don’t say it all. Someone has inherited the name of Hashiba Hidetsugu.”

The body pillow’s words suddenly grew icy.

“I see,” he said before slowly turning toward the sheet. “You understand, don’t you? Ha ha. This is very dangerous.”

“Yes. This is quite dangerous, but it is also a chance to influence some great historical upheaval.”

“Ha ha ha.” The body pillow bent over in laugher. “Is this Hashiba’s thoughtfulness or thoughtlessness? Either way, history is on the move and Hashiba has a blade against Date and Mogami’s throats. Masazumi and the others have their work cut out for them.”

“Judge. Based on my investigation, if you include that fox woman’s movements, this is actually the opposite-…”

As soon as he said that, something flew their way from the north.

“Oh?”

It was a purifying attack using an exorcism arrow.

The sheet and body pillow rapidly went on the defensive and stomped their feet as the glowing attack arrived.

“Seppuku Barrier!!!”

Then their air holes exchanged a glance.

“Run away!!”

It exploded.

[[Image:Horizon4A_0035.jpg|thumb]]

“Did you get them, Asama?”

After leaving the first land port’s forest on Mito land, Masazumi was blinded by the bright sunlight.

When she called to the archer in a summer uniform who stood on the grass up ahead, that other girl tilted her head while finishing her follow-through. Her Mouse, Hanami, and her own black hair fluttered in the slight breeze.

“Hmm. The homing doesn’t seem to work well when you don’t know their identity. I blew away everything in the area, but it’s hard to say I actually hit them. We need to check the corpses.”

“Judge. Sorry about all the trouble. The residents reported some white figures dancing in the temporary government building. …I assume it’s some new kind of mysterious phenomenon.”

“Agreed. With the remodeling of the Musashi and the cities split up, our shrine’s divine protection is split between them too. We’re managing with some help from the local Kashima Shrine, though.”

Asama nodded, folded up her bow, and stowed it inside her side skirt through the slit.

''We sure have been busy since changing to our summer uniforms,'' thought Masazumi as she watched.

Then again, the only difference for Masazumi was the lack of a coat and the short sleeves.

However, she had worn a boy’s inner suit for previous years, so she had had some extra room around the chest and had worn pants.

…''The boy’s one always felt drafty, but the girl’s one feels chilly in its own more sudden way.

The girl’s suit was fit to her body, so she could feel her sweaty skin cooled by the air. The temperature difference between sun and shade was much more noticeable this way.

…''Mukai can sense the temperature around her as well as the sound, but is that due to this inner suit?

She wondered if it bothered any of the others as she looked over at Asama.

“Now, let’s go check the site of the blast.”

“Yes,” agreed Asama just as someone else stepped between the two of them.

Masazumi voiced her surprise at the sudden appearance, but this new figure only brushed her plentiful silver hair back into place. Then she turned her gold eyes toward Masazumi.

“I, 5th Special Duty Officer Nate Mitotsudaira, am here to protect you, Vice President. …This may be my territory, but aren’t we acting a little too freely?”

Mitotsudaira’s warning was given with a bitter smile in her voice. The chain-supplying obelisks were attached to the hard points on either side of her waist and she shrugged while looking to both Asama and Masazumi.

“Then again, it is important to show off that the Vice President and the Asama Shrine are working to maintain peace. According to Neshinbara, the drop in the student council’s approval rating is showing signs of stopping.”

“That’s because everything that’s making it drop is over now. Now it will naturally recover, starting from the areas of economic activity.”

“Heh heh. You learned that from Heidi, didn’t you?”

“I’m busy, so I choose to rely on anyone I can.”

Masazumi took a breath and pointed toward the site of destruction on the southern end of the waterway. Mitotsudaira started forward, Asama followed, and she took the rear.

They began to walk.

The site Masazumi found was less damaged than expected.

“I detonated it in midair, so the stream shouldn’t have been damaged. It only took out some of the grass.”

“There’s only two centimeters of grass on the river bank.”

Masazumi did not entirely understand, but based on Mitotsudaira’s expression that must have been impressive accuracy.

At any rate, Asama covered her right eye and checked around with her false eye while Mitotsudaira began to wiggle her nose. Meanwhile, Masazumi had nothing to do but look around.

…''This is a pretty large area of land.

All of the land, including the land ports, belonged to Mito Matsudaira and thus Mitotsudaira. The land had not been well taken care of since Mitotsudaira lived in Musashi, but they were using it now after maintaining it.

The Testament Union recognized the land as Mito Matsudaira land, so it was actually land from after the Matsudaira clan’s reign began, but…

…''That means Hashiba can’t easily interfere since she’s from a previous era.

That was partially why they had escaped to Mito.

It felt like they were abusing their connections, but Masazumi shuddered when she considered what would have happened without Mitotsudaira. Mitotsudaira simply smiled bitterly, but…

“It’s a pretty good solution for us.”

Masazumi felt like she was doing nothing but rely on others, but her job was to make political decisions and negotiate. With no way to negotiate with Oushuu or Sviet Rus, she was of secondary importance.

She approached enough to catch the scent of Mitotsudaira’s hair.

“By the way, how are the appeals from the different ships going?”

“Eh? Oh, right. Mary and the 1st Special Duty Officer are scheduled to go around this afternoon. Those two should be able to listen to the representatives of the ships’ residents well enough.”

“Judge. If it was me, I’d probably try to dissuade them on the spot.”

Masazumi heard two bitter laughs and felt a slight warmth in her cheeks. She told herself to assume it meant they understood her, but it also felt like they were treating her like a child.

“I wonder if I’m using Mary here. She does seem like the best person for the job, though.”

Asama turned her way.

“I think Mary was delighted to be made the 1st Special Duty Officer’s aide.”

“Judge. I know that, but there’s a subjective and an objective way of looking at it.”

“Then,” said Mitotsudaira. “Stop using a negative subjective way of looking at it, Masazumi.”

Mitotsudaira remained facing forward as she spoke without a smile on her serious expression.

“Leave anything negative to our king.”

''To him?'' thought Masazumi. But at the same time…

“…Our king, huh?”

Aoi seemed the same as always. He was always smiling, doing stupid things, and half-helping half-hindering people’s work. He did have a way of helping people relax, but that was the same as always too. Yet she always thought the same thing when she looked at him.

…''You need to pull yourself together.

She thought that to herself, not to the idiot.

Aoi had admonished her during the Battle of Mikatagahara. He had said she was not her usual self.

Since then, she had not had a chance to test her usual self.

And the fact that they had lost the battle weighed on her heart.

She understood. Everyone was continuing their usual lives by remodeling the Musashi or living at the land ports and there were few complaints, but that was because they had a goal and because they were simply keeping their worries unsaid. So…

“I need to pull myself together.”

She knew she would find herself at the negotiating table or in a meeting once more. And once that happened, she wanted to avoid doing anything like what Aoi had admonished her about.

…''And what about you?

That idiot had supported her and pulled her along at Mikawa, so what did he think about their loss at Mikatagahara?

She wanted to ask if she could, but first…

“I need to do what I can. …First comes the remodeling of the Musashi and the return to the international stage.”

Meanwhile, the wind blew in. It was a slight breeze from the mountains. She felt its chilliness through her hair and summer uniform, but…

…''What is this?

She could not put it in words, but something still seemed different in the bottom of her heart.

She wanted something other than this cool breeze.

She had been busy and had gotten little sleep since Mikatagahara, but this still was not it.

…''What is it?

What should she do about her stewing self and what should she think about the others?

She did not want a cool breeze, so…

“I…”

“Eh?”

Asama turned around in surprise and Masazumi quickly swallowed her words, but Asama simply tilted her head.

“What’s the matter, Masazumi? Did you go crazy again?”

“What do you mean ‘again’!?”

''And don’t look so disturbed Mitotsudaira.

But before anyone else could react, two forms stepped out from the grass remaining to the south.

“Oh, dad? And Konishi-sama?”

Asama saw Masazumi correct her posture. She placed a hand on her chest and lowered her head.

“We had heard two beings thought to be mysterious phenomenon had fled here from the temporary provisional council building. Are the two of you all right?”

“Masazumi, use your brain. Why do you think we are here?”

Masazumi’s father grabbed the cigar in his mouth and blew out a sharp line of smoke. Mitotsudaira stepped back a bit from the scent of the smoke and Konishi crossed his arms.

“We were pursuing those very beings.”

“Eh? Th-then you weren’t caught in that blast were you?”

''No, think carefully, Asama Tomo. If they had been, they wouldn’t be speaking with us right now. That’s just how serious I was. Yes. So I need to give them a salesman’s smile.

“Of course you weren’t caught in the blast! Yes, that couldn’t possibly have affected you! I would never carelessly fail to check where I was shooting or anything! Let’s just go with that!”

The two adults gave her expressionless looks.

“…”

''Owwww!! This silence is painful!!!!

As a dangerous sweat poured down Asama’s face, Masazumi’s father suddenly turned toward his daughter.

“Anyway, it seems those mysterious phenomena have vanished. You can exterminate them some other time.”

“Judge.” Masazumi nodded. “The two of you are very important, so please do not push yourselves too hard.”

“Ha ha. No need to worry, Masazumi. We were students once, you know?”

''That’s true,'' thought Asama. One’s student life ended at eighteen in the Far East, but if those two had been in a position to reach the provisional council…

…''They must have been plenty powerful as students.

She nodded and spoke her conclusion.

“Yes. So in other words, I don’t have to worry about firing on the two of you in the future.”

''They don’t look happy, but doesn’t that contradict what they just said? Yes. And don’t you give me the same look, Mito and Masazumi.

''I’d better change the subject.

“So you say the mysterious phenomena have vanished? I’ll have to finish them off next time.”

“Um, Tomo? You seem to be in a good mood, but if we’re done here, shouldn’t we head back?”

“Eh? Oh, right, right. Let’s head back.”

The two adults nodded and said “judge”, but Masazumi’s father suddenly spoke up.

“Masazumi, if you tell the people we dealt with the situation on your orders, you can score some points.”

“Judge. I’ll do that. Also…”

Masazumi looked up to the east.

A moment later, a large humanoid form flew by with the wind.

It flew down nearby, so Asama looked up in surprise to see a heavy god of war with a blue dog’s face. The wings on the back remained open and a sign frame appeared next to the face.

The sign frame displayed the virtual cockpit and a long-lived girl. She appeared to be sitting in a small Far Eastern-style room and Masazumi nodded toward her.

“How are you doing, Satomi Student Council President?”

“You can call me Yoshiyasu if you want. …Righteousness is doing really well. Hurry onboard. The student council room has apparently been cleaned up, so they want you to check over it during the lunch break.”

''The student council room?'' wondered Asama with a tilt of the head, but she quickly remembered where that was.

“Oh, that room right above the academy’s main entrance. That’s where Toori would stand naked in the window drinking milk in the mornings. That probably was pretty filthy.”

“Tomo! Tomo! That’s the room we’re going to be using at school from now on!”

''Yes! A new purification job!'' she celebrated in her heart, but then she looked to Masazumi.

She saw the tension leave the girl’s eyebrows.

“Are you feeling better?”

“Right now, it’s important to have a place of our own. …Now, then.”

Masazumi stepped up onto the outstretched hand of Yoshiyasu’s god of war.

Suddenly, a sign frame appeared next to her face.

'''Marube-ya:''' “Masazumi? It’s Heidi. I just received word through some trade connections that the Date clan wants to hold a secret meeting.”

“What?” said Masazumi while glancing over at her father and Konishi. Her father nodded back and pointed into the sky where the Ariake had to be.

“Hurry on back. We can no longer take things easy. The situation surrounding Oushuu, Russia, Kantou, and most importantly Musashi, has begun to move all at once. First, you must take on Oushuu, the land that experienced the conflict from the Age of Dawn and is now a solid rock of resistance and talking things out.”

“This isn’t going to be easy if we have to deal with Sviet Rus at the same time.”

“Ho ho.” Konishi laughed quietly and placed a hand on the side of his mouth. “To face P.A. Oda, Uesugi has gone through internal reform and placed ‘Man of Love’ Naoe Kanetsugu as their Vice Chancellor and Vice President. …And to face Date and Mogami, they have placed the brave general Honjou Shigenaga as their 2nd Special Duty Officer. But the real problem lies within.”

“You mean…?”

The look in Mitotsudaira’s eyes said “people who talk this much can’t hide anything, can they?”, but Konishi probably knew that perfectly well. He then pointed northwest.

“Listen. Novgorod is a large floating city like IZUMO located in west Sviet Rus. Eight years ago, Sviet Rus Chancellor Ivan the Terrible carried out a great purge there and the Musashi has not visited since. …But that city is clashing with Shibata’s P.A. Oda forces.”

“So if we get involved with Oushuu and Sviet Rus, we might have to deal with Shibata’s forces too?”

“Most likely. I also have word that the Jurakudai, castle of Hashiba Hidetsugu whose name shouldn’t have been inherited yet, has arrived in Edo. …Well, do your best, I suppose.”

“Judge.” Masazumi nodded. “Thank you for all the important information.”

She gave a quick bow, so the other two girls did as well.

“We’ll be going.”

“Yes. This land has a history or resistance. You should proceed carefully.”

Masazumi heard those words from her father.

This was not something he had done in the past, so she wondered if it meant he recognized her skill a little now.

…''No, I still have a long way to go. He might be trying to help me out because of that. After all, Musashi still hasn’t left the shadow of our loss at Mikatagahara.

Once they returned to the Ariake, they would find the Musashi being remodeled, the working people, and their training classmates.

''Let’s get back,'' she thought. She wanted to get back and begin searching for the way to recovery. And she wanted to check on this secret meeting with the Date clan that could help them find that way.

“Let’s go home, Asama, Mitotsudaira, and Satomi President. …And for now, that means the Ariake.”

The idiot would be waiting for them too.

He was their king.

And he was a king who she had worried when she was supposed to be supporting him.

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| [[Horizon:Volume 4A Chapter 01|Chapter 01]]
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Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 92

2015-09-09T06:18:27Z

68.109.52.245: /* Chapter 92: Condemner in a Place of Parting */

==Chapter 92: Condemner in a Place of Parting==
[[Image:Horizon3C_0801.jpg|thumb]]
''Now

''Where is there a nice breeze?

'''Point Allocation (An Elevated Place)

To the west of the Musashi, several beams of light flew even further into the west.

Two people were rushing toward the stern of Musahino’s surface area as if to see those lights off. One wore a Qing-Takeda coat as a vest and the other wore a Qing-Takeda girl’s uniform and a skirt.

“Hurry up!”

“Sure thing, Saizou. What about the others?”

To answer him, five sign frames appeared next to his face. The covert sign frames produced no light and drew their images with shadow. One of those shadow-drawn people was a woman with heavy makeup and a metal fan sword resting on her shoulder.

“#7, Riichi. I’m on my way there. I found a safe spot on the outer edge, so I can jump down at any time.”

A demonic giant priest shrugged in the next sign frame over. He scratched his cheek with a bitter smile.

“#3, Miyoshi Seikai. Diving really isn’t my thing.”

“#4, Isa. And you call yourself a ninja, Seikai? Oh, but I guess it’s about time to go home. And I was just getting used to getting three Western meals a day.”

After the short girl’s comment, a young man with closed eyes spoke from the next sign frame.

“#5, Anayama. Leader Sarutobi, I can meet up with you, but do you need any help?”

“Not from anyone who let the Reine des Garous treat them like a child.”

“Understandable.” Anayama nodded. “But that would be #10, Kakei, not me.”

They all laughed as a slender man shouted “No fair!”

“Anyway, don’t overreach, okay?” said Anayama.

“We won’t. …Oh, I think this is about far enough for you.”

With that comment, Saizou wrapped her arms around Sasuke’s back.

They jumped into the wind.

The two of them hopped up to the roofs of the surface business district.

Mist trailed after Sasuke as Saizou, a wind spirit, protected him, but he did not actually set foot on the roof. The two of them pulled up their knees and gently flew over the roof. A road came into view diagonally below them.

On that road, two people were rushing sternward, toward Okutama. One was a girl in a lab coat and the other was a man in a work outfit.

Sasuke nodded toward the man’s back.

“There you are, Musashi King.”

Sasuke rode Saizou’s wind silently down to the road.

Musashi King Yoshinao was positioned behind the lab coat girl to protect her, but he did not turn back toward Sasuke. He was too focused on the out-of-breath girl.

Aiming for the man’s neck, Sasuke drew a short sword and rode down on Kirigakure’s wind.

“————”

But a sudden kick flew up toward him from below.

“————!?”

Sasuke did not have time to catch it on the short sword, so he twisted his body around instead.

He held Saizou’s shoulders as she held him from behind and he sank down toward the ground.

He dodged by slipping below the upwards kick.

It all happened in silence.

The kicking foot flew over his lowered head and then leaped quickly into the air.

…''Whose attack was that!?

As a ninja, he memorized the movements of every opponent’s weapon and body, but this kick was both familiar and unfamiliar. He had seen it before, but it felt somehow off.

So as he moved back and straightened up, he checked who it was from the corner of his eye.

He identified the individual who had leaped without making a noise and landed on a nearby roof.

…''The inheritor of the Mito Matsudaira name!

Yoshinao continued running while returning his sword to his hip.

…''So they got here in time.

Mishina Hiro must have noticed his action because she looked back at him.

“What is it, vice principal? Are you worried about the solitaire game you left running on your PC?”

“No,” Yoshinao replied without looking back. “I realized I needed to rethink a number of things after this battle.”

“That was a close one. We were so distracted by the sabotage that we left our VIPs unguarded. We need to be more careful.”

Sasuke saw the silver-haired girl standing on a rectangular wooden structure in the business district.

By that time, he was already jumping to the next building over, but…

…''The Reine des Garous’s daughter sure has changed.

Back in IZUMO, she had seemed somehow restless, but…

“She has guts for this not to faze her.”

As soon as he landed on the roof, his comrades surrounded him.

Including him, this was seven of the Sanada Ten Braves.

But the Reine des Garous’s daughter only smiled at him.

“Is this your way of saying goodbye? If so…”

Her own comrades surrounded her: Musashi’s 1st special duty officer, Mary Stuart, the Tachibana couple, the half-dragon 2nd special duty officer, and an Indian holding a pot of curry.

The last one was a bit of an enigma, but he was probably some kind of secret weapon. A secret ingredient was an important part of curry, after all. Those not here were presumably protecting the other VIPs, but…

“Thank for your hospitality.”

The half-dragon replied with a nod.

“Noriki will be disappointed. You helped him repair the ships quite a bit. …Of course, then you destroyed all that.”

“Yes,” agreed Tachibana Muneshige while looking to Miyoshi Seikai. “Nyuudou, you played with the children a lot, so this is a difficult situation.”

“I also wish that could have lasted longer, but…”

“Sorry.” Saizou removed herself from Sasuke’s back and smiled bitterly. “We have to do our duty, so the next time we meet, we’ll be enemies from the start. I don’t want to hear any complaints if we kill you without warning, okay?”

“I don’t think they can complain if they’re dead.”

“Pipe down, you.”

Mary smiled at Saizou’s comment and then bowed their way.

“Take care.”

As soon she said that, Musashi’s 1st special duty officer launched an attack.

He threw Ex. Collbrande as a projectile.

The goodbyes were over, so they would always face each other as enemies from here on out. This attack signaled the beginning of that, so Sasuke purposefully chose to block it.

He used a shallow strike of his short sword to produce sparks without breaking his weapon.

“See ya.”

He had already leaped into the sky behind him.

He jumped and ran toward the outer edge of the ship.

“Honestly, this is not going to be an easy enemy to deal with.”

He jumped from the deck and into empty air. Sanada territory waited below, west of Kantou.

He spoke to himself as he fell into the dark mountains and to the depths of the forest and valley.

“What am I supposed to tell the young master and our teachers?”

Mitotsudaira sighed and lowered her shoulders.

They had driven off an enemy faction, but another faction was still attacking from the sky.

“Still, one of our enemies has left. We need to make repairs and fight back!”

She understood the situation, so she made instructions through a sign frame.

She checked the course information “Musashi” had sent the student council and chancellor’s officers.

…''Currently, the Musashi is heading east while turning a bit north from Suruga Bay.

Instead of traveling along the coast as a provisional border, they were going to head straight to Edo.

…''We’re recreating history, so we don’t need to worry about the provisional borders.

They did not have to follow the marker points, so they had an easier time of evading the Nagahama’s attacks.

'''Silver Wolf:''' “What will we be doing now?”

'''Novice:''' “The Battle of Mikatagahara ends when the Matsudaira side loses its pursuers and escapes to its castle, so we need to lose the enemy before reaching Edo and fly into our specialized dock at Kantou IZUMO.”

'''Smoking Girl:''' “The Musashi’s land port at Kantou IZUMO is the floating kind, so we can dock more quickly than when it’s on the surface. It’ll still be pretty rough, though.”

'''Me:''' “Um, does anyone need a joke somewhere? Anyone? Please?”

Even through the sign frame, Mitotsudaira could tell everyone was ignoring him, so she did the same.

At any rate, losing the enemy would be easier said than done. The large Nagahama was one thing, but…

“The Sunomata!”

That ship was following them using the ghost ship.

…''But we have a way of dealing with that!

First…

“All ships, begin gravitational cruising. Over.”

After the ship-wide announcement, ether light reached them from the outer hull.

The expanding components had been left idling so they could use gravitational cruising at a moment’s notice. Given the durability of the parts and the remaining fuel, they had to settle this soon.

“Sink the Sunomata before we reach Edo!”

Mitotsudaira’s words were accompanied by a great wind blowing across the Musashi.

They had accelerated toward Edo.

Toshiie saw the Musashi move forward.

Due to its great size, it creaked as if shrinking down and then shot forward.

No matter how many times he saw it, it seemed to have the strength of the crashing waves.

But if that great speed was viewed as a wave, then the Sunomata was a small boat riding that wave. Its small size let it ride above the wave without being caught in the middle.

And so it did just that. It was pulled forward by the Musashi, it circled above like a kite, and it borrowed the Musashi’s acceleration while looking down on it.

It rode that speed. The Nagahama was left behind as it flew to the north on their left, but the Sunomata only had to attack and force the Musashi to use the power of its gravitational cruising on defense. That would lower the Musashi’s speed and allow the Nagahama to catch up.

But something unexpected happened.

The Musashi gained a new color: white.

The color spread from the bow like a flower or sparks.

It was an ocean. The Musashi had created its ocean in front of it in the instant it accelerated.

The water seemed to be set thickly, so a massive amount of spray collided with the air the Musashi was carrying with it and it burst apart in the shape of a spindle. However, the Musashi itself was stopped by the water, erasing its acceleration.

“Oh, no!”

The Sunomata danced.

The ghost ship’s speed had dropped in response to the Musashi’s actions, but the same could not be said of the Sunomata that had the ghost ship attached to the back as a source of thrust. As light as it was, it still had enough weight to create a tug-of-war between the stopping ghost ship and the coasting Sunomata.

As a result, the Sunomata was pulled back by the ghost ship and pitched forward.

“…!”

It was forced into a midair dance that created a fatal opening.

Asama did not overlook that instant of opportunity.

Below Musashi Ariadust Academy’s bridge, she fired an arrow from the landing partway up the stairs. Her binder skirt was already holding her in place and Kimi was getting in the way by hiding behind her.

“Hit!”

“Clap!!”

She had cast several ghost purification spells on the arrow and provided no homing reinforcements to focus on acceleration.

The Sunomata was trying to temporarily purge the ghost ship to stabilize itself, but it was too late.

Asama had abandoned her attack’s homing properties to focus on speed, so it transformed into a spear of light and scored a direct hit on the ghost ship.

The ship was broken. Its light scattered everywhere and the ghosts ascended toward heaven as glowing mist, but…

“Please!!”

A moment later, the ocean in front of Musashi’s bow vanished.

Immediate reacceleration was launched backwards from the opened portions on the ships’ side hulls. The Musashi almost seemed to have grown wings as the most acceleration light that day was blasted into the sky to send them away from the Sunomata.

“…!!”

The Musashi used everything it had built up to push itself forward, and…

“————!!”

After passing a certain point, the eight ships raced forward.

The Musashi poured on speed as it flew alone to the east.

White mist exploded and trailed from every corner and point as the Musashi continued onward. It seemed to bend in agony as it slipped through the wind and dropped far down in the sky to pick up even more speed.

The Nagahama could not keep up and neither could the Sunomata now that it had lost the ghost ship. The Musashi simply headed east, leaving behind the roar of the air it broke through and split apart.

Qing-Takeda’s warriors looked up at that roar as they began exchanging fire with the enemy fleet arriving overhead.

“So they’ve gone.”

Yoshitsune had finished riding Shizuka up to Benkei’s lowered shoulder and she watched the leaving ship through the descending noise, scattering flames, and shrapnel.

…''Okay, what to do now?

The Battle of Nagashino had already begun.

Takeda’s heavy mechanical horse cannons were exchanging artillery fire with P.A. Oda’s aerial fleet.

She was surrounded by light and noise. The fleet overhead was large enough to hit without really aiming and they sent a downpour of shells back their way.

Gravity barriers, defense barriers, personal barriers, large barriers, and countless other defensive spells scattered light as the exchange of cannon fire pierced up and down through the night sky.

But despite the shockwaves, explosions of light, and falling shrapnel, Yoshitsune asked a question.

“I’d like to know what you think, since you’re crazy enough to contact someone who’s supposed to be ‘dead’.”

She looked to the sign frame “Shizuka” had opened on top of Shizuka’s tank.

“Your ‘sweetheart’ is on there, isn’t he? You thought you could guide them, but it looks like they rejected you, Houjou Ujinao.”

“Qing-Takeda’s ruler keeps sticking her nose into other people’s business even after she is dead? I can see your nation is going to have an irritating future, Lady Yoshitsune.”

“You always have to have the last word, don’t you? …Hey! You over there! Show more care when you shoot those! The Satou Brothers put a lot of work into gathering all the catalyst material for the shells! You’re supposed to ignore that fact and fire them completely carelessly!!”

“Are they supposed to show more care or be careless?”

''Only kids care about those little details,'' thought Yoshitsune as she moved Shizuka to the right.

In the spot she had vacated, a five meter square piece of armor dropped down, was knocked back up, and then dropped back down. She watched it fall and saw the Satou Brothers scramble out of the way below.

“Now, what do you want, Houjou? I’m busy being destroyed, so make it quick.”

“Testament,” replied Ujinao.

The Association of Indian States belonged to the Mlasi religion and was provisionally ruled by the Mughal Empire which belonged to P.A. Oda, so she normally would have used “shaja”.

“What’s got you using the Testament Union’s method? …Hey! Anti-air unit over there! Don’t let any of the ships fly above me!”

“You seem otherwise occupied, so should I wait until later?”

“What? I’ll be destroyed before long, so better do it now.”

“In that case,” said Ujinao as she sent some data over.

It was a map of the ocean near Mikawa and near the Sagami region.

“This is the course predicted by the Fuuma.”

“Oh?”

When she saw the indicated course, Yoshitsune scratched her head and bared her teeth in a smile.

“Ujinao, of all the things you’ve said to me, shown me, and done around me, this is far and away the best! Did Satomi’s chancellor stay on the Musashi because he predicted this!? I can’t believe it…”

Yes.

“I’ve been waiting so long to see the moment the world is set into motion! Well done!”

“Thank you very much. I will tell my subordinates you said so.”

“That’s the problem with you. You need to have more pride in yourself. More like me.”

“You just like to take credit for everything. I heard about the time you were woken up and were crazy enough to say, ‘Good job waking me up. You couldn’t have done it without my help.’ ”

“Honesty is the best policy, so can’t you be more honest with yourself? Life will be pretty boring otherwise.”

“Being honest is not always a good thing. It lets people deceive you again and again.”

“For example?”

Ujinao placed a hand on the side of her mouth and answered the question.

“Topknot.”

“Damn you!!”

The people running around attacking the fleet above looked back and Mobile City Benkei’s sight devices turned their light Yoshitsune’s way, but she waved a hand outward to drive away their gazes.

“So are you saying we’ve already lost?”

“I don’t know how it will happen, but let’s just say this will not be our loss.”

“What has you so confident?”

“Testament,” said the demonic princess with an automaton body. “A loss due to the history recreation and a true loss are two very different things.”

“Agreed. And in that case…”

Yoshitsune crossed her arms behind her head.

“We’ll do whatever we can. C’mon, Benkei, get up. The enemy’s main fleet is here, so let’s show them what we can do.”

Houjou Ujinao sensed it from the roof of the Odawara school building she used as a castle.

With Mt. Hakone to the west, she could not see the battlefield plain, but with her automaton eyes closed, she gathered the visual data sent in from the watchtowers scattered throughout Odawara. What she “saw” like that was the movement of the P.A. Oda fleet as it hung in the sky like dark clouds.

…''The fleet is split into three rows to fire in three stages.

The ships of the front row fired in unison and used the recoil to fall back. While those ships loaded their next shells and cleaned the cannons, the next row of ships moved forward and fired.

With two rows, they would have had a firing row and a standby row, but they had three. By the time the front row fired, the second row had nearly finished its preparations, so it could fire almost immediately afterwards.

The barrage itself was bad enough, but that attack had an even more frightening aspect.

…''The other side can’t tell when a gap is coming.

The other side was also attacking with cannons, but no matter how powerful those cannons were, they never had a chance to fire when the enemy was firing so constantly.

They might as well have been focused entirely on defense. And…

“The three-stage firing of main cannons is from Nobunaga’s history recreation, so the other nations can’t use it against them.”

Yoshitsune’s unit seemed to be falling back and firing as a countermeasure. The Fuuma ninja unit observing from the peak of Mt. Hakone said Yoshitsune’s heavy cavalry unit was running back to open enough of a gap to negate the enemy’s shellfire.

The enemy had to move forward to pursue them, but moving forward left them unable to fire or at least to fire properly.

In the gap that created, Yoshitsune’s forces would fire their large anti-air cannons.

That had crushed the enemy’s front line and was working on the next line, but the enemy was still numerous and Yoshitsune’s forces were clearly being worn down. The ships that had been modified for higher altitudes were staying in those relatively safe altitudes as they fired.

Qing-Takeda was at a disadvantage.

Yoshitsune had not actually been preparing for the Battle of Nagashino, yet she had agreed to P.A. Oda’s request.

“You wanted to show off your ruler’s pride by protecting the Musashi and keeping Kantou from being conquered,” muttered Ujinao. “But I know the other reason. Mikatagahara is a smaller battle than Nagashino. If you complete Nagashino with the smaller unit you have here, you can leave behind even more forces despite the fall of Takeda.”

She could keep the loss of personnel to a minimum and that personnel would remain in Kantou as an anti-Hashiba force.

The nations protected by Qing-Takeda would not forget that.

“Honestly. And after all that talk about not caring if you lost your people.”

Ujinao clenched her fists as she realized something. If the Musashi traveled through northern Houjou land to Edo and Qing-Takeda was destroyed to the west, Houjou of Odawara would have been protected by both of them.

She made sure to keep that in her heart as she spoke.

“Lady Yoshitsune, you truly were fit to be a ruler. But…”

She could perceive the aerial battlefield, but the ground was harder to “see”.

She continued speaking without looking up at Mt. Hakone’s peak which rose into the night sky.

“But…you are still an idiot.”

As soon as she said that, a massive form rose above Mt. Hakone’s silhouette

The great form was tall enough to reach the fleet in the sky, yet it still looked short.

“That is Qing-Takeda’s striking-style anti-air weapon, Mobile City Benkei!”

The falling shells stabbed into Benkei as he used his backwards motion to stand up.

When standing upright, he was about three kilometers tall and at least two kilometers wide and long.

Gravity barriers opened below his feet to keep him from sinking into the crust.

“Stand!” he shouted.

“Hi there!!”

On his vast shoulder, Yoshitsune raised a hand toward the P.A. Oda fleet that was now at about the same height as her.

A moment later, they fired.

“Ah! You intolerant fools!!”

Benkei’s armor was thick, but that was why almost all of the three-stage firing was aimed at his upright form. Countless armor panels broke and sparks flew, but he finished standing regardless.

“Get! Ready!”

“Face forward, Benkei! Isn’t that big one the Kiyosu!?”

Benkei answered Yoshitsune’s question.

As she rode Shizuka, he appeared in her hand as a warrior monk Mouse and stared into the distance.

“Correct!”

The Kiyosu was a two kilometer striking ship in charge of the left wing of P.A. Oda’s fleet. It must have sensed danger in Benkei’s focus because it frantically tried to move back as it fired. But…

“Pull them in, Benkei!!”

As soon as Yoshitsune swung her left arm outwards, Benkei’s left arm – the front left fork normally used to keep him afloat – moved unbelievably fast.

It was controlled using Qing-Takeda’s Oat. This was an application of Oat’s thousand ''li'' travel spell.

The spell was said to let someone run one thousand ''li'' in a single night, but a great number of the spells were used to send the giant armored doll’s left arm forward.

Several circular emblems appeared on the outside of the arm. Instead of using internal motors, spells on the outside moved the giant arm around. The arm groaned under the strain, but…

“…! …! …!”

The two kilometer arm flew rapidly through a space of less than one thousand ''li''.

The movement did not hit a single enemy ship. It missed, but the arm’s speed instantly broke the sound barrier.

“We’ve got you now, you fools!!”

An overwhelming amount of air was pushed out of the way and a vacuum was created in front of the P.A. Oda fleet. It initially struck the fleet as a shockwave, but then a pocket of air started to fill the vacuum.

“Pull them in close. Try not to make it too painful for them.”

An explosion of wind and a long trail of white water vapor appeared and the enemy fleet’s front line literally fell into them.

The small and even mid-sized ships were pulled into a gap or drop in the air.

A few of the ships collided and even the Kiyosu was sucked in as it tried to move away.

After judging the Kiyosu’s movement and distance, Yoshitsune swung her right hand from atop Shizuka and raised an over-the-top voice.

“Go for a punch☆, Benkei!!”

“Punch☆!”

Copying her movement, Benkei made a horizontal chop with an over-the-top movement.

With a gravity barrier knuckle guard attached, the metal blow drew an arc with a two kilometer radius.

The small ships were mowed down, the midsized ships were knocked away, and…

“Direct hit!!”

The Kiyosu was struck.

“Hit!”

A splendid sound of impact rang out.

A great noise and an intense noise blended together to send a single tremor through the sky.

The ships whose armor had been torn away during the battle were blown away by the shockwave and Benkei’s surface was also blown away like stains on its paint.

A moment later, the Kiyosu was destroyed as if it had been hit by all the forces built up inside it.

The front half was compressed to a third of its size from left to right and the entire ship tilted.

“Hey, support that thing.”

“Support!”

Benkei reached out both arms and supported the tilting ship. The crew cried out and jumped off, but Yoshitsune still pointed to the left and spoke.

“Go for another hit.”

Benkei responded by swinging the Kiyosu like a baseball bat.

He targeted the right side of the enemy fleet. They were still dancing about from being sucked in and then hit by the second vacuum created by the horizontal chop, so Benkei got a clean hit with the Kiyosu.

After innumerable sounds of destruction, the Kiyosu bent and the enemy fleet broke and scattered, especially the small ships.

“Strike!”

“That was really more of a hit.”

“Don’t! Worry! About! It!”

As the wind blew in after the fact, Benkei’s Mouse tilted his head and Shizuka’s Mouse stroked his head. After seeing that, Yoshitsune faced forward.

The enemy’s left wing had been crushed, but…

“There’s still more?”

The enemy fleet was still plenty thick, so…

“Let’s go, Benkei.”

“Let’s! Go!”

As soon as Benkei took a large step forward, their surroundings grew dark.

It was night, and yet darkness suddenly surrounded Yoshitsune.

“…!?”

The only light was her own sign frame and Benkei’s glowing sight devices.

…''The fleet around us has vanished!?

''No,'' she realized. ''They haven’t vanished.

“We just can’t see them!?”

She suddenly realized there was no noise either. Only one thing surrounded them.

…''Dark clouds!?

Something swirled around her with occasional lightning racing along its surface.

The wind blew in.

“What is this?”

She did not know, so the corner of her mouth naturally rose.

“Interesting!”

She had no idea what had happened, but she knew what was here. The surrounding dark clouds were growing thicker and the wind wrapped forcefully around her.

“…! …! …!”

Benkei’s entire body shook. He corrected his posture and took a defensive stance while Yoshitsune sensed a presence around her.

…''This was earlier than expected, but there’s no helping that!

“Listen!”

She sent out her words.

“Listen, fools of Musashi!”

As the Musashi accelerated, Masazumi listened to the staticky voice coming from a sign frame.

“Head north! Make allies of Date and Sviet Rus!”

And…

“Masazumi! I don’t know if this has anything to do with the Princess Disappearances, but there is one thing I can tell you.”

“…What!?”

“Won’t you answer me!?”

She had, but it did not seem to have reached her. Even so, Yoshitsune sent out her words.

“The Princess presumably belongs to some kind of organization, so let’s assume that organization is an academy. But I’ve never heard of an academy with someone known as the Princess. However…”

However…

“When the people descended to this planet long ago, they decided how they would keep the world moving. The old stories say the leaders gathered and created an ‘academy’ to guide the people. That must have been the beginning of the modern academies. And after the world was split between the real world and the harmonic world, the Emperor built academies across the Far East as places of guidance. Those academies no longer exist, but I do know what they were called.”

That being…

“The Divinely Ordained Prayer Academies. I believe they were the locations of rituals meant to pray to the environmental gods for rain in the harsh environment of early history. I’ve never seen one of them, but rumor has it they existed up to the Harmonic Unification War.”

Yoshitsune continued.

“Go there. It may have nothing to do with the Princess, but if you’re searching out some hidden group, then searching out a hidden organization wouldn’t be a bad way to start. The lands up north have existed for a long time and the imperial army conquered the non-humans there in the past. There must have been a place of guidance there. I had no interest in it, but there must be traces of the past there.”

So go.

“Go children of Musashi Ariadust Academy, the newest of the Far Eastern academies. Challenge this oldest of academies and-…”

The divine transmission was cut off by static and Masazumi shouted a single name.

“Lady Yoshitsune!”

Yoshitsune thought she heard someone calling her name, but she was already preparing to fight.

She felt a power straight ahead in the darkness surrounding her. She sensed something approaching, so…

“There, Benkei! That’s it! That’s the enemy that crushed K.P.A. Italia…that crushed Itsukushima!”

She gave a smile of anticipation.

“Go! Benkei Throat Thrust!”

“Throat! ☆! Thrust!”

Benkei stomped forward with a rumbling roar and threw the strike.

As the tremor roared through the sky, something could be heard breaking.

Benkei’s outstretched arm was split into a top and bottom half, gravity barrier knuckle guard and all.

“!?”

…''What!?

Benkei had been the one to attack, but something had torn into his arm even more quickly and powerfully.

Just as Yoshitsune wondered what it was, Benkei was sent flying backwards by an impact across his entire body.

…''Well, this is simple!

Yoshitsune felt a tremor assault her body from the enemy’s attack. Benkei’s defense system had protected her as his master, protected Shizuka, and even cast defense spells on himself.

“…!”

But Yoshitsune was still sent flying through the air with Shizuka’s broken pieces.

Everything on top of Benkei’s giant shoulder was knocked into the sky.

She was falling, but she managed to open a sign frame with a trembling hand even as the dark clouds swallowed her up.

Also, Benkei’s giant form appeared before her. He intended to protect her from the enemy, but…

“…! …! …!”

The giant armored doll’s body suddenly exploded.

He had been destroyed.

Benkei broke apart and even the fragments came apart in midair as if being devoured.

“Ha ha!”

Yoshitsune laughed as she fell into the darkness.

“It’s been far too long since this world of mine was so interesting!!”

Masazumi looked at the sign frame sitting motionless in front of her.

It was filled with static and shook a little.

“Maa?”

It broke into fragments of light and vanished.

…''Ah.

As soon as she realized the divine transmission had been completely cut off on the other end, she heard a distant noise.

Beyond the darkness to the west, she heard a brief but distinct sound of shattering metal.

It almost sounded like something was breaking.

“Lady Yoshitsune…”

She spoke aloud without thinking, and…

“Masazumi! Up ahead!”

Mitotsudaira instantly ran up next to her.

“You can see Edo!”

The beginnings of cheers rose from the Musashi. It was a surge of hopeful doubt from the people moving and working on the surface of the ship. They had seen lights in the form of a bay far to the east.

“…!”

They could not let their guard down yet, but the confirmation of their hopes coming true helped raise everyone’s morale.

Masazumi realized they were all reacting with relief and expectation.

…''Honestly.

Did it mean she was a worrier if she was already thinking about what came next? She also had to think about what had happened to Yoshitsune and Matsunaga, but…

…''If the vice president starts getting depressed, so will everyone else.

She decided to steel herself for the time being, so she breathed in and corrected her posture.

But then she looked around.

“You…?”

She noticed the tense atmosphere of the others. She distinctly saw it on Asama, Mitotsudaira, Kimi, and the others.

“Ohhhh! Edo! It’s Edo! Akihabara! We’ve gotta go to Akihabara!!”

The idiot aside, no one had relaxed their expression.

Among them, Asama spoke as she looked east.

“Masazumi, I overheard what Lady Yoshitsune told you.”

Masazumi knew more or less what the girl wanted to say, but she asked to help with her own concerns.

“That’s fine. …Did anything stand out to you?”

“Yes. Why did she…?”

Asama hesitantly tilted her head, so Mitotsudaira nodded to urge her on.

“Right.” Asama faced Masazumi again. “Why did she start by telling us to head north?”

…''You wondered that, too?

Masazumi realized she was thinking the same thing as Asama.

They probably all were and Asama looked around seeking confirmation.

“Isn’t that right? Wouldn’t she normally tell us to do that after the Battle of Mikatagahara? And Edo isn’t to the north. It’s to the east.”

Just as she started to ask why again, a sun blossomed above Edo Bay in the east.

It was a dragon line reactor.

It was the light of an explosion.

The ball of light was ten kilometers across. It turned to darkness as if peeling away from within, created a massive empty space, and swallowed up everything.

The air was consumed and erased, causing the sky to move.

The Musashi was heading east toward the Edo region and it was rapidly pulled eastward, but…

“Releasing upper power limits and turning to the north! Over!!”

As they made their forceful turn, all eight ships were thrown northward at full speed. However…

“Some of the accelerators have exceeded their load limit! Over!”

On Tama and Takao’s starboard side, the accelerators in the opened outer hull burst. Light scattered and the ships shook, but…

“We have broken away!! Over!!”

The air was thrown about seven hundred meters to the east as the Musashi flew in a sharp arc to accelerate north.

The wind blew in from behind. The air was sucked in to fill the ten kilometer gap, but that air collided as it filled the vacuum and ultimately slammed into the Musashi from behind.

That windy impact struck their stern after they had already finished their turn to the north.

The windows on the stern all shattered, the doors inside were broken, and the contents of the rooms were thrown violently about.

The stern of Takao, Okutama, and Oume hopped upwards.

“Everyone, brace for impact! Over!!”

The vertical movement as it fell back down was greater than fifteen meters.

To prevent an impact with those rearmost ships, the other ships moved forward.

The towing belts were removed so the front five ships and rear three ships could move into intersecting positions.

Okutama very nearly moved past Musashino, but…

“We rode it out! Over!!”

The ships caught up to the wind that had blown past them and they broke through it.

They broke through an explosion of mist and a great noise sounded out.

As the Musashi returned to its normal formation and continued north, the crew realized three things.

First, the great volume of water in Edo Bay had indeed been annihilated.

Second, the Sunomata and Nagahama were still pursuing them, so the Battle of Mikatagahara was not yet over.

And third, a new form had appeared in the windy sky above Edo Bay behind them. It was…

“The Musashi!?”

A giant ship had appeared there.

After breaking free of a primary stealth space, six linked ships came into view. Overall, it had a triple fuselage structure and it was a quasi-Bahamut class at just below seven kilometers long.

The red and black ship was equipped with cannons and its bow bore the emblem of P.A. Oda and a ship name: Azuchi.

Light raced across the entirety of the massive Azuchi. Some of it was meant to illuminate, some it was decorative, and some of it took the form of pulsing veins of energy, but it all throbbed in waves of bright and dim.

“The Azuchi will now open its outer hull. Shaja.”

After a ship-wide communication, sounds of splitting and of air rushing in accompanied the outer hull sliding apart.

Glowing mist escaped the gap between the outer hull and the inner hull.

That was the light of gravitational accelerators charging up.

The Azuchi began its preparations to head north after the Musashi.

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 91|Chapter 91]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 93|Chapter 93]]
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</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 88

2015-09-07T03:20:42Z

68.109.52.245:

==Chapter 88: Waiter at the Corner==
[[Image:Horizon3C_0707.jpg|thumb]]
''In what relationship do you not say goodbye

''And simply pass each other by?

'''Point Allocation (Consideration)

In the sky west of the Kii Peninsula, Toshiie moved his ghost ships quickly to the right.

The Shigisan had started firing from the Kii Peninsula to port.

With the Musashi in the center, the two ghost ships raced toward the Musashi’s starboard side.

The ghost ships borrowed the Musashi’s own speed, so they were swung around the Musashi as if revolving around it. They flew in a wide arc to the Musashi’s right side.

And just as Toshiie could see the Musashi ahead and to port, he raised his eyebrows in a smile and gave a shout.

“So you decided to help, Lord Matsunaga! I’ll leave the inner corner interference to you!”

A wall of sparks scattered from the entire port side of the Musashi. That was the light of the Shigisan’s shells colliding with the Musashi’s gravity barriers.

The shellfire continued and the close range allowed a few shots to slip past the barriers.

They hit the Musashi’s surface area.

Warning bells immediately started ringing and a few lines of smoke trailed after the ship.

But Toshiie could tell the Shigisan was not letting up. It continued firing its main cannons without a break, but…

…''Is he hiding the marker point!?

The Shigisan was slowly moving toward the third marker point.

It was trying to move in front of it.

That would completely block the inner corner for the Musashi, but Toshiie raised his voice as he watched from his ship.

“That’s quite a twisted decision, Lord Matsunaga!”

…''This has taken a troublesome but welcome turn!

On Musashino’s front deck, Neshinbara displayed a map and watched the Shigisan’s movement.

Visibility was poor. The attacks were focused on the port side and the light of the destroyed torii emblems was too bright to see his sign frame very well.

The Musashi was currently taking the turn to port while focusing its defenses in that direction.

After learning their lesson in England, they were first defending the outer shell. For gravitational cruising and other reasons, they had to avoid damage to the outer hull.

…''From now on, we need to plan for small ships with abnormal speed like those ghost ships.

While recording his thoughts, Neshinbara checked the sign frame map to see what was happening beyond the protective light and sound that was focused on the outer hull even more than in the past.

“Currently…”

The Shigisan was approaching from ahead and to the port.

Its intent was clear: it would hold the inner corner and force the Musashi into the outer corner.

That showed a lack of fear over the Musashi hitting the ship. The Shigisan was trying to take the position between the Musashi and the marker point at the entrance to the provisional border cutting across the Kii Peninsula.

It was putting itself in danger to stop the Musashi, but the corner of Neshinbara’s mouth rose and he gave a shout.

“Honestly… He’s just as much of a contrarian as I’d heard!”

Matsunaga had promised Masazumi a battle on the border to his territory, but he was currently moving out beyond that provisional border. He was breaking his promise, but…

…''If we can get past the Shigisan, we’re free to move along the border!

He was opening up the provisional border for them, but he was not abandoning his job as a member of P.A. Oda either.

''Then,'' thought Neshinbara.

“Let’s stubbornly force our way through and travel that border.”

He spoke it aloud to make a promise to himself. He also gave instructions to the port side defenders and the damaged surface areas.

“Let’s go! It’s time we left Europe!”

Toshiie saw something as he circled around in his pursuit of the Musashi.

The Musashi accelerated.

“You’re kidding!”

They had already been moving too fast to make the turn, so if they accelerated now, they would fail to check the marker point and would officially be ignoring the course designated by the Testament Union.

That would give plenty of justification for attacking the Musashi as well as a means of preventing other Testament Union nations from allying with them.

So after a gasp of realization, Toshiie corrected himself.

“No, please don’t be kidding! Please don’t! Accelerate even more and fly on through!”

He could guess what Musashi was thinking.

…''Are they trying to accelerate away from the battlefield!?

They would likely escape to Kantou and either have the Kantou forces protect them or hide themselves there. Even if the Testament Union accused them of ignoring their designated course, that Eurocentric organization had little influence in Kantou. Also…

“K.P.A. Italia has lost its power.”

''So did they choose a more forceful solution?'' he wondered as the Musashi accelerated. The ghost ships were swung in their arcing path by the Musashi’s acceleration.

“…Eh?”

''Something isn’t right,'' he realized. ''This is weird.

…''What is this?

The Musashi had remained visible to port for a while now. Even as his vision was swinging around in an arc, he had remembered to keep his eyes on the enemy. That was his intention anyway.

But the scene beyond the Musashi had changed. Before, he had seen the Kii Peninsula running parallel to the eight giant ships, but now he saw the Shigisan and…

“From Sakai to Osaka!?”

They were turning.

The Musashi was making the turn despite its excessive speed.

“Are you going to do the impossible, Musashi!?”

A single figure could be seen on the Shigisan’s central ship which looked more like a disk with a lid than a boat.

The man sipping a teacup of sake on the edge of the tatami-covered roof was Matsunaga.

He sat with his legs crossed and the teacup of sake held to his lips, but he still watched it all.

…''Ohh.

The Musashi was turning.

His ship was firing from close range and a blizzard of light blew between them.

But the Musashi was turning even as it accelerated. It made a rapid turn as if scraping up against the Shigisan’s extended legs.

“Not bad.”

Watching from above, the trick behind their high-speed turn was obvious.

“So you used our shellfire, did you?”

That shellfire had occurred on the inside of the Musashi’s turn, so they had opened a massive number of gravity barriers on the port side.

But the Musashi had done something else to strengthen those barriers: they had weakened the atmospheric buffering on the port side.

The ship creaked and the metal wept, but the unbuffered port side felt the resistance of the wind and slowed down.

“And at the same time, you accelerated with only the starboard side.”

As he watched, acceleration light exploded on the starboard side.

It slowed on the left and sped up on the right, thus it made a rapid turn.

It was a modification of the technique used to jump over Kuki’s fleet. They braked on one side and accelerated with the other. They had used the front and back sides with Kuki, but now they used the left and right.

…''That was quite a leap in logic there.

“But I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

The Musashi currently looked like a group of boats breaking through glowing rapids. Matsunaga confirmed its path as he heard the eight ships creaking from the port and starboard speed difference, felt the wind they whipped up, and saw the glow from the fragments of light.

…''At this rate, they’ll just barely pass through the marker point.

Musashi had won this round, so he slapped his knee and gave a shout.

“Okay, get the Shigisan moving! Start moving to the south! Let’s push the Musashi to the outer corner!!”

Those instructions meant one thing.

“This is getting interesting!!”

As he swung around with the Musashi, Toshiie saw the situation continue to develop.

The Shigisan was moving. The Musashi was circling around its outer edge, so it was going to push them southward.

The Musashi had no way of fighting back. They were pushed right up to the edge of the Shigisan’s circular shape and the Shigisan had made itself the arc of the inner corner.

The Musashi would have just barely hit the marker point.

They would have been able to angle the marker ejector to fire into the marker point.

But if they could not move in any closer than the Shigisan, they could never reach the point.

The point at the entrance of the provisional border fired its red light into the sky. It was telling the Musashi where it was and where to fire their marker.

It was located ahead and to port of the Musashi, but the Shigisan’s presence would keep the Musashi away. The light rising from below was shifted far to the left from where the marker ejector on Musashino’s bow would pass by.

As he was powerfully swung to the outside, Toshiie saw the straight line of the Kii Peninsula’s western coast.

From his vantage point, he could see the Musashi, the scattering light, the Shigisan, and then Osaka in the distance. And at that very moment, he saw a few silhouettes backlit by the shattering light.

Some people were standing upside down below Musashino’s bow and working on the course marker ejector.

They were trying to remove the ejector so they could manually aim and fire it.

The work was being done from the outside.

The marker ejector was a light emitter with a diameter of about two meters. It was embedded in the bottom of Musashino, but it still had a limited range of movement.

They needed to remove it from its base and aim it at the marker point on the surface.

The work was being down by Persona-kun whose feet were plastered to the outer hull by Nenji and whose waist was held in place by Itoken. He was using a giant Phillips head screwdriver to quickly remove the bolts locking it to the base. He placed all of the removed bolts in a bag hanging from his waist hard point, but he was working so quickly he removed all eight in no time at all.

However, he ran into a problem even after removing all of the bolts.

“Is the creaking and bending of the ship squeezing it in place!?”

As Nenji had said, the ejector would not come out.

The outer shell had been badly bent as they took the turn. The light emitter was about five meters long, but the ship’s frame had squeezed around it, preventing it from coming out.

Persona-kun grabbed and pulled on the hook used to remove it for repairs, but…

“…!”

It shook and he heard the cry of straining metal, but it only moved out a few centimeters. Having Itoken pull on his waist produced the same result, so Itoken gave a dashing smile.

“This is difficult, isn’t it!?”

The color red began to fill their surroundings. The red light from the surface was starting to pass by in the sky to port. Once they passed the light, they would have failed, but…

“A ghost ship!?”

One of the ships was approaching from the south to ram them at full speed.

Persona-kun briefly glanced over at its rapid approach, but…

“…!!”

He resumed his work. Nenji raise his eyebrows and Itoken gave another dashing smile.

“We will help!”

“We’re all in this together!”

As soon as they said that, a voice shouted down at the charging ghost ship as it whipped up the wind.

“Even if you have converted from Protestantism to Catholicism, a ghost is still a ghost. So…”

It was a half-dragon. Urquiaga was flying down with a giant metal rod. The metal rod was over ten meters long and he swung it down in a straight line.

“Catholic Inquisition Set #452: Ghost Ship Sinking Tool ‘Palo Bautismo’!”

The strike more bisected than crushed and light scattered everywhere.

The ghost ship was chopped in two and instantly destroyed.

Light scattered and rose to heaven.

Their demise was accompanied by a voice from the inside end of the ejector.

“Move out of the way. I’ll hit it through the padding.”

The voice was Noriki’s and he could be heard preparing to attack.

“I’ll hit it thrice and open the path forward.”

Matsunaga distinctly saw the red lights cross paths.

It had been forcefully done. If the Testament Union learned how they had done it, they were sure to protest.

But they had done it all the same.

They had not made an excuse, let time take care of it, ignored it, or run away.

“So those idiots pulled it off.”

The course the Musashi would use was the same one it had used to escape from Mikawa. Back then, it had travelled east to west, but this time it was west to east. And…

…''Back then, they were being pursued by armed Portuguese trade ships and other Tsirhc Testament Union ships.

Now, they were pursued by P.A. Oda.

When would they realize what that meant and the value of what they had gained in Europe?

“Well, they are idiots, after all.”

“Heyyyyy!!”

Beyond the passing light, a crossdresser raised his hands on the front deck of the central rear ship.

The idiot shouted over with a bowl of seaweed on his head.

“Old man! We promised to lend each other porn games, but you thought you could bully a cute kid like me just because you’re an old man, didn’t you!? I’ll seaweed you with everything I’ve got! …Listen! My seaweed is horrifyingly lukewarm! So do as you’re told and let me borrow the limited edition Far Eastern history version of ‘Soapy Conquest – Bathtime with Luís Fróis’! …Ah, stop, stop, Horizon! Don’t pile on more bowls! Wait, is that three with trays in between? Four? Wait, I can’t, I can’t, I can’t, I can’t, I can’t!”

It was a mystery what the crossdresser was trying to say, so…

“You really are an idiot, aren’t you?”

As the idiot raised his hands again to say something, they passed by and the bowls toppled over.

''That idiot knows how to keep things noisy to the end,'' thought Matsunaga as he looked to the academy on the central rear ship.

He spotted a familiar face on the bridge out front.

It was Sakai.

The man waved a hand in greeting next to an automaton tending to an ether flower garden.

…''He hasn’t changed.

He had been the same in the past. When that kid had arrived on Suleiman’s introduction, he had approached casually with an excellent spear on his back.

Matsunaga had heard he had picked a fight with the pope, so he had always thought of Sakai as an idiot.

…''I’m trying to stay smart myself.

Matsunaga had moved between many different factions, actively changed the flow of events in the world, and made new discoveries. The long houses used in the Musashi’s residential districts were based on the defensive structures he had thought up for his castle.

Idiots were quick to rely on the smart.

''They sure can be annoying.

''But,'' he thought. ''I’m smart, so I can tell how much different idiots might change the world.

And he had seen the greatest of those.

“Nobunaga the ‘fool’.”

As he spoke those words, the Musashi finished passing by. The light scattered and the wind vanished, but…

“—————”

He heard the Musashi accelerate. He was worried about their fuel consumption, but hurrying was probably best since P.A. Oda would continue to pursue them.

But instead of looking back, Matsunaga kept his gaze facing forward. He saw the dark ocean and dark sky of night and Shikoku between them. And in the background…

“Kuki’s managed to organize…looks like about three hundred ships for the pursuit.”

In the dark woods, Masazumi stood on the stone pavement and dealt with two sign frames. One was with the idiot.

“Honestly, I won’t go easy on that old man next time I see him!”’

“Sure, sure. Go right ahead. You’ll see Lord Matsunaga at the – do you call it an event? – in Edo, right?”

“Yeah! But I’ll be lined up for all the new stuff there!!”

“I see, I see.”

She nodded and turned to the other sign frame. This one displayed Neshinbara who was sending a few pieces of information along with the video.

'''Novice:''' “We’re on a stable course for now. It’s the opposite route from when we escaped Mikawa, so we thankfully know what’s coming.”

He then added a quick “but”.

'''Novice:''' “Lord Matsunaga has gathered in a defensive formation behind us.”

'''Vice President:''' “Why? Well…I can actually make a pretty good guess.”

'''Novice:''' “I won’t ask whether that guess is about his reasons or what’s about to happen.”

'''Four Eyes:''' “I see you’re showing off again.”

'''Novice:''' “I was not! That’s what I actually thought!!”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “Ow, ow, ow, ow…”

''I can’t argue with that,'' thought Masazumi as she checked the divine transmission settings. Asama was recording the conversation but not sending it to Aoi. She had likely decided to wait until things were a little calmer.

…''Asama’s getting stuck with all the worst jobs.

But at the same time, she was worried about Matsunaga. He had been a hard man to understand, but he had seemed to have a unique direction to him. And now…

“Why is the Shigisan blocking the way for the Oda forces?”

Neshinbara was naturally the one to answer.

'''Novice:''' “I assume you know that Matsunaga Danjou Hisahide rebelled against Nobunaga twice. He was forgiven the first time, but he holed up in his own castle the second time. Nobunaga offered to forgive him if he handed over a famous tea kettle known as the Hiragumo, but he refused and blew himself up along with the kettle.”

And…

'''Novice:''' “Lord Matsunaga has already rebelled once. It was right after he was appointed Nobunaga’s attendant.”

'''Flat Vassal:''' “Then…does that mean this is his second rebellion!?”

Masazumi understood why Adele was shouting, so she chose to speak up.

'''Vice President:''' “He moved the Shigisan beyond his provisional border and let the Musashi pass. If they criticize him for that, you could say letting us onto the Kii Peninsula’s border was his rebellion.”

After all…

'''Vice President:''' “I said at Magdeburg we would defeat Nobunaga and Hashiba. He let us go, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see that as an acceptance of Nobunaga and Hashiba’s destruction.”

Also…

'''Vice President:''' “If he opposes the pursuers from P.A. Oda, this will definitely be a rebellion.”

Masazumi let her shoulders droop when she realized no one was replying.

Then, a sign frame appeared next to her face.

'''Asama:''' “If Toori-kun says anything, please tell him I told you not to tell him.”

“Judge,” replied Masazumi as she closed Neshinbara’s sign frame.

“Maa.”

''Yeah, don’t worry about it,'' she thought while walking toward the academy.

She had a feeling going there would not accomplish much of anything, but…

…''What is this?

They had lost Anne.

And now something similar was about to happen.

…''What is it?

A boiling feeling sort of like irritation filled her stomach.

She had never felt this before.

As she wondered what it was, she hung her head and continued toward the academy.

“Lord Matsunaga.”

''You must be a smart person, so…

“Please don’t make a mistake here.”

At the entrance to the Kii Peninsula, Matsunaga faced Kuki’s three hundred aerial ships.

They had all stopped in front of him in a fan formation.

All three hundred ships had their cannons trained on him.

…''And is that Shirasagi Mk. II managing them all from a distance back there?

Toshiie had continued in pursuit of the Musashi and another fleet would have left P.A. Oda’s stronghold in Kinki to move south to Mikawa, but he was facing the fleet put together by M.H.R.R.

“I’m rebelling…”

“Lord Matsunaga! No, let me call you my upperclassman!” Kuki addressed him via divine transmission. “Our rightful enemy at the moment is Musashi! They are Matsudaira who become an enemy of Hashiba and threaten P.A. Oda! There is no reason to fight amongst ourselves here!”

“You really are an idiot, Kuki. …There is a reason.”

Kuki did not reply. ''He’s a smart one,'' thought Matsunaga. ''If he’d replied, I might’ve dragged him down my line of thinking.

So…

“The thing is, I like idiots. The idiots will do things no one else would ever think of and that has a way of changing the world.”

But…

“You have villains, traitors, and backstabbers, but what’s the difference between them and the people who actually change the world?”

“Please stop stalling for time, upperclassman!”

“Just listen.” Matsunaga stood on the Shigisan’s roof to view it all. “Villains, traitors, and backstabbers are those who destroy the traditional bonds but fail to become an absolute victor. They’re the ones who end up losing somewhere along the line or were found lacking at some point.”

“Then…!” said Kuki. “If you disappear here, you will only be known as a villain!”

That’s fine. After all, Nobunaga’s still around.”

Listen.

“I serve Nobunaga.”

On the high-speed ship’s deck, Kuki understood what Matsunaga was saying.

…''So that’s it!

Matsunaga Hisahide had done quite a lot. He had slain his lord and called in the chaos of the warring states by killing a shogun, the leader of the warrior class. He had also burned Todai-ji and its Great Buddha, a symbol of faith.

He was the individual who had risen to power by destroying the nation’s previous values.

That was why he had a poor reputation among those who did not know him well, but…

…''He led the people of his territory well.

Kuki knew someone else who was similar.

“Nobunaga… Our chancellor.”

“That’s right.” Matsunaga smiled. “Nobunaga is the Demon Lord of the Six Heavens who burned Mt. Hiei, seized control of the shogun clan I tried to crush, and fought the Ikkou-Ikki. …Nobunaga did even more than I did.”

But…

“That was all the work of a ‘fool’ taking what I did even further.”

“Then…!”

“Kuki,” called Matsunaga. “After everything I did, I found an even greater destroyer than myself. And I even realized that destroyer would take good care of me. According to the history recreation, my first rebellion would be forgiven, right? And, well, I’m smart.”

So…

“A while back, I was thinking of making some random rebellion, using that as an interpretation, and retiring. If Nobunaga conquered the world, then it was the same as me conquering the world.”

''Yes,'' thought Kuki.

…''This man…

“Lord Matsunaga! You are truly a loyal retainer!”

After all…

“You found someone who might be able to destroy the chancellor! But you chose not to crush them! Instead, you gave them the room to grow and let them live!”

He gave his conclusion.

“You intend to let Chancellor Nobunaga defeat them and become a true destroyer who can face any kind of destruction!!”

“Yes… That seems like the most interesting result. For a destroyer like me, anyway. Now, listen.”

Matsunaga smiled.

Masazumi listened to the intercepted internal P.A. Oda divine transmission the PR council sent to her.

She heard what Matsunaga said.

“P.A. Oda and especially Hashiba, listen very carefully. Nobunaga is a ‘fool’, yet also tries to do things the proper way. So it’s possible Nobunaga will be properly slain by Akechi.”

But…

“Listen, P.A. Oda, Hashiba, and all others who will continue on after me and after Nobunaga. …You are to defeat the ones who will destroy even Nobunaga. Do you understand what that means? I’m telling you to defeat the history recreation, or destiny, or whatever you want to call it. The destruction I’m leaving to you is the destruction of Matsudaira’s victory.”

After all…

“If Matsudaira grows, they will become our greatest enemy, both militarily and historically. I want to see whether those who follow after me can destroy the greatest assignment I prepared for them. If you can do that…”

Masazumi heard him give a quiet laugh.

“Then even if I’m known as a villain, I’ll know that I didn’t make a single mistake in how I dealt with the past or the future.”

The Shigisan spread out before Kuki’s eyes.

The spidery ship pointed its eight connected ships his way.

“I’m gonna leave behind something that can destroy even me,” said Matsunaga.

“Then we will destroy you here and crush that future destruction because we are not as great as you!”

“Shaja. That’s fine. That just means you’re loyal.”

Matsunaga opened an ''insha kotob''.

“Musashi Vice President, you’re listening to this, aren’t you?”

Masazumi heard Matsunaga’s voice from the sign frame that suddenly opened.

“I’m sure you were listening to all that, so listen to this too.”

He did not give her a chance to speak, so it probably was not a two-way connection.

“First, tell that naked idiot that I was a monstrous liar. I hate being called a good person more than anything else. To me, nothing’s cooler than being known as the villain of this chaotic age. Got that?”

“Judge.”

Masazumi nodded and thought about him again.

…''He’s our enemy.

That intercepted conversation had clearly treated Musashi as an enemy, but…

…''He’s definitely an enemy that stands parallel to us.

They were two mutually exclusive sides.

He had decided to step down and leave the fight to the next generation, so…

“I will use you as an example of a direct opponent.”

He had left all of the important things unsaid, but he had surely been a straightforward enemy.

He had judged them and always faced them head-on to bring it all to his side’s next generation. When she thought back to the meetings shared with him, Masazumi was certain of it.

He had a single purpose in having things his way.

He had guided and supported P.A. Oda, so he had given them the ultimate enemy. He would then judge whether he had done the right thing by seeing whether P.A. Oda could defeat that enemy or not.

…''He’s seeing whether he did the right thing or not without allowing for any compromise.

That was all. That had been important enough to build his resolve and he would have his way here.

Masazumi thought on the word “enemy”.

But Matsunaga suddenly said more.

“Listen. You’re at a bit of a disadvantage, so I’ll do you a little favor, okay?”

“Eh?”

Her confusion was immediately answered.

“I’ll tell you one thing about P.A. Oda’s Genesis Project.”

That being…

“It is to end the world but not to let it end.”

…''What?

Masazumi frowned at Matsunaga’s words. What kind of phrasing was that?

She would have understood if he had said “end the world and reset it”.

…''That would mean to end it and then begin anew.

But that was not what he had said. Nor had it been a loop where they would “end it, redo it, and repeat”.

“To end the world but not to let it end?”

The positive and negative forms of the verb were used together. It was a contradictory and incompatible phrasing.

It was a parallel phrasing.

That was why she questioned it, but…

“Wait! Lord Matsunaga!”

Nothing had yet been made publicly known about the Genesis Project. She had concluded only the high-ranking members of P.A. Oda knew what it actually was. Yet now he was leaking a small portion of it to Matsudaira, their future enemy.

“Is this your excuse for rebelling!?”

The answer came in another form. She heard a rumbling like distant thunder from the sky behind her.

That was the sound of battle and she ground her teeth when she heard it.

“Don’t choose to die! Fight it, Lord Matsunaga!”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 87|Chapter 87]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 89|Chapter 89]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 87

2015-09-06T22:36:21Z

68.109.52.245:

==Chapter 87: Attacker in a Place of Pursuit==
[[Image:Horizon3C_0653.jpg|thumb]]
''What is far away

''And yet close by?

'''Point Allocation (The Enemy)

On Musashino’s bridge, Suzu felt several spots of heat in the sky to starboard.

A veritable wall of sound had appeared to the right of the Musashi.

The cannon blasts were approaching from far away.

Something was arriving from the west while the Musashi travelled south-southeast.

“It’s…there…”

Suzu sensed the great disturbance of a stealth ship. She had heard it was an M.H.R.R. Hashiba flagship, the Shirasagi Mk. II. It was almost three kilometers long, making it the longest individual enemy ship that had opposed the Musashi.

Suzu recalled what “Musashino” had said.

…''It uses the same kind of virtual sea as the Musashi to ascend.

However, it apparently fired wind from its wings to accelerate.

''That’s different,'' thought Suzu as she felt a vibration coming from the floor and moved the model of the Shirasagi Mk. II that she had to hold in both hands.

“Musashino” nodded as she watched.

“It is a large striking-type warship, but its speed and mobility are its selling point. It was supposed to be modified for high altitude use after it became Hashiba’s, but I have determined that has already been completed. Over.”

“I see.”

Suzu nodded, but touched the Shirasagi Mk. II she held in her hand.

She had been the one to detect the disturbance caused by the ship, but…

“How did…you know…its name?”

“We determined its identity by measuring the ejection pattern of the acceleration wind leaving the stealth space. Most ships have the sound they make during flight recorded and that data is exchanged or gathered. And…”

And…

“The data on the Shirasagi arrived from K.P.A. Italia when we arrived in IZUMO. The Pope-Chancellor pressured us into purchasing it with deferred payment. Over.”

''Oh,'' thought Suzu. She did not like the Pope-Chancellor very much after the incident in Mikawa, but he may have had his own thoughts about them.

…''I guess…I can’t hate…him.

She decided to thank him and then nodded.

“What do…we do now?”

As soon as she asked, she felt movement in her hands.

The Shirasagi Mk. II was leaving stealth mode. The form Suzu sensed was much like the estimated model “Musashino” had created. The only difference was that the three movable fuselages were cruising at different heights, making the entire ship look like three stacked horizontal lines, and all of the ship’s port cannons were aimed toward the Musashi.

The automaton in charge of divine transmissions spoke from the front of the bridge.

“The Shirasagi Mk. II is requesting a divine transmission link! Should I open it!? Over.”

Suzu could tell everyone was looking her way.

…''Eh?

Automatons tended to seek instructions from people and she was the only person on the bridge.

“Eh? Eh? U-um, wait… Uh…”

She frantically waved her hands back and forth.

“I-I don’t…know.”

The Shirasagi Mk. II’s bridge was located on the back of the center ship. The bridge was known as the Castle Keep and it was almost empty.

Divine monitors and spell keyboards were being operated in front of the windows to the front and either side, but their users were nowhere to be seen. However, a woman in a ninja version of a P.A. Oda girl’s uniform stood in the center with an ''insha kotob'' displaying their course on the floor.

She was Takigawa Ichimasu. She turned to look at the divine transmission equipment that seemed to be functioning on its own.

“Has the Musashi still not answered us? And after we went out of our way to remove our stealth and try to chat.”

An empty chair swiveled toward her. There was no one visible in the seat, but it still held the weight of someone sitting there thanks to ninja stealth techniques. The ninja in charge of divine transmissions spoke without showing himself.

“Shaja. Boss, our Shirasagi is meant for the fight against Mouri, so…”

“Yes, our general mission is to patrol the Osaka Bay area. We can’t have the Shirasagi taking damage before the fight against Mouri.”

Ichimasu shrugged.

“So we’ll only be acting as the command and intelligence ship for the airspace around Osaka Bay. If the Musashi tries to run, we’ll do everything we can to follow them halfway across the bay, but Cookie will have to take over after that. We’re really only meant to deal with Mouri.”

Black and white letters suddenly appeared on the book-shaped divine display board for the divine transmission device.

“Boss! We have a reply from the Musashi! It says ‘I don’t know’!”

“Eh? What does that mean?”

“Boss! Our information says their current acting captain is a girl named Suzu! And something about filling the bangs slot!?”

A secretly taken photo of a girl appeared in the center of the bridge. It may have been taken during PE class because she was wearing a track suit. Everyone on the bridge let out a breath when they saw it.

“So this Suzu said ‘I don’t know’?”

“W-was it like this!? Did she tense up her shoulder like this and say ‘I don’t know’!?”

Amid the comments of “maybe so” and “shut up”, Ichimasu tilted her head and glared forward.

“At any rate, this means we can’t speak with them. …Let’s try attacking even harder. We’re not firing blindly from stealth anymore. Oh, and send them another divine transmission.”

She instructed them what to send.

“We have a divine transmission from the Shirasagi Mk. II! They’re asking ‘are we getting through to you?’ Over!”

“Eh? Eh? Wh-what…does that mean?”

“Suzu-sama, I would guess they are demanding we listen to them. Over.”

“Eh? O-oh, no. Then, um, uh… Send them…this.”

“We have a divine transmission from the Musashi! It says ‘I’m sorry –Suzu’!”

“What? Did I say something wrong?”

The unseen people gathered in the front and center of the bridge for a whispered discussion.

After a while….

“Boss, this may be inappropriate, but I felt a twinge in my heart when I saw the enemy’s divine transmission!”

“Is their captain an airhead?”

They all started whispering again.

“Boss, you didn’t do enough research. That’s Suzu! Suzu!”

“You should at least read the interview she gave at IZUMO.”

“Yeah… If only it was Flat Vassal…”

“You guys need to keep your private lives out of your work.”

Ichimasu appreciated the “Shaja!” she heard, but then someone else spoke up.

“Personally, I’d have an easier time of firing if we were up against some filthy old man. I wouldn’t have to hold back.”

“Yeah, I’d have trouble sleeping if I squished a cute girl.”

“But things can get rough afterwards when you only think of your enemy as an enemy.”

“That’s right,” said someone. “If you squish a cute girl, you wonder why you didn’t stop fighting, but if you squish a filthy old man, you decide it couldn’t be helped. Approving of someone’s death like that can be really rough. …It dulls you to the value of people’s lives.”

So…

“So…well, we’ll fire, we’ll target you, and we won’t hold back. But…”

But…

“Don’t you die, cutie. That’s your job in all this.”

“In that case.” Ichimasu nodded and raised her right hand. “Fire all weapons! This is now an official battle as we monitor the Musashi inside Osaka Bay!”

“They’re firing! And they’re sending a divine transmission! It says ‘For cruising through M.H.R.R. airspace after the ban, we will capture and stop you’. Over.”

“I see,” said “Musashino”.

“Cruising? But…um, we launched…ourselves…”

“It is not uncommon for our interpretation to differ from theirs. Over.”

After a comment of “oh, dear”, “Musashino” opened a sign frame and set it to address the entire Musashi.

“Everyone, Musashi King Yoshinao-sama may have come up with the idea to launch ourselves, but this is not his fault. Yes, it is not his fault at all. I am not sure whose fault to say it is, though. Suzu-sama and I worked out the details, but…at any rate, it is not Musashi King Yoshinao-sama’s fault. Over.”

'''Musashi King:''' “No matter what you say, we will not run or hide!!”

'''Me:''' “Eh? But that’s the most boring reaction you could have.”

'''Asama:''' “Um, Toori-kun, he did save us with that, you know?”

At any rate, Suzu was not sure what to do. She had a feeling she had made their opponent mad, so…

“L-let’s run away?”

“That is an extremely appropriate decision, Suzu-sama. In all of history, not many generals have been able to say that immediately after the battle began. Neshinbara-sama tends in the opposite direction, which, from an automaton’s perspective, creates for some ominous possibilities, but…yes, let us run away. Over.”

She was thankful “Musashino” agreed, but…

“How?”

It was not “Musashino” who answered that. It was a sign frame that had appeared between the two of them. Neshinbara had apparently sent it and his voice came from it.

“I too agree we should flee given the situation! I really do, okay!?”

“Eh? …Why?”

“For appearances. Merely for appearances, Suzu-sama. Deep down, he loves charging the enemy, talking for far too long, and glasses. Over.”

“Oh…then, there’s no…helping it.”

“You’re making some horrible assumptions about my character, but let’s get back on topic. We’re up against a high-speed striking-type. Beginning a shoot-out with them would be like taking on a fortress. A giant ship with nothing but gravity barriers and secondary cannons has no chance, so we should hurry on to Mikawa.”

Everyone on the bridge started whispering.

“Secretary Neshinbara always treats us so distantly. Over.”

“Judge. We are moving, speaking beings, but he talks about the Musashi like an object. Over.”

“Statistically, that’s the kind of guy who isn’t popular with girls. Over.”

''But doesn’t Neshinbara-kun have a girlfriend?'' wondered Suzu with a tilt of the head. ''There’s that person who judges him with extreme objectivity and monitors him extremely closely.

Regardless…

“What…do we do?”

“Judge. The Shirasagi is an anti-Mouri ship, so it will be important to the recreation of Hashiba’s invasion of Mouri. The Musashi is outside its jurisdiction, so it should not be able to begin an all-out battle with us. If we accelerate and put enough distance between us, it will most likely take on the role of Osaka Bay’s command and intelligence ship by supporting another ship in the bay.”

''Huh?'' thought Suzu. That was not quite what she had asked, so she tilted her head and asked again.

“What…do we do?”

“Eh?” replied Neshinbara.

Everyone began whispering again.

“See? Suzu-sama was asking for a realistic means of piloting or an actual course to take, but his explanation went on too long. Over.”

“This is the problem with nerds. Over.”

“Suzu-sama is… Suzu-sama is angry now! Over.”

“Eh? I-I’m not…mad. Just…troubled.”

'''Almost Everyone:''' “He troubled Suzu-san!!”

“Wait! The rest of you have been making a lot of noise, but you misunderstand!” said Neshinbara. “They may be a high-speed ship, but our top speed is higher. Our primary objective is reaching Edo through Mikawa, so if we accelerate away from the Shirasagi Mk. II, we can force them back to their original patrol duties. …‘Musashino’-kun, if we continue our acceleration from here on out-…”

“There is no need to speculate. Our fuel will not last until Kantou. We must use inertial cruising. Over.”

“Then let’s accelerate while using inertial cruising. ‘Musashino’-kun, you know how, don’t you?”

“There’s…a way to do…that?”

“Judge. There is, Suzu-sama. It is something we can only do in our current situation. Over.”

“Musashino” looked toward the bow and opened her mouth.

“All ships, begin descent. Angle down by fifteen degrees. …We will use the momentum of our descent to accelerate while remaining in inertial cruising. After the descent, begin acceleration and lose the Shirasagi Mk. II. Over.”

As the Musashi slowly began to tilt down, “Musashino” said more.

“Neshinbara-sama, please prepare yourself. Currently, the Musashi is traveling along the provisional borders between nations and principalities while using markers. Even during a battle, we can only move along those borders. In other words…”

“Musashino” nodded before continuing.

“If we do not fire a course marker at an estimated four locations before reaching Matsunaga’s territory, we will have given the enemy a justification to attack. Over.”

“Boss! The Musashi is descending!!”

Ichimasu whistled at the report from the unseen divine transmission operator. To their port side, the moonlit Musashi was kicking up the clouds in its descent.

It was moving quickly. The bow pierced the clouds almost immediately, the clouds reached the waterline, and then the streets, gantry cranes, and derricks on the top slid below as well.

“Boss! What should we do!? The Musashi has the higher top speed, so we’ll lose them at this rate!”

“Maintain our altitude,” replied Ichimasu. “Instead of moving up or down, stay behind them and pursue them at full speed.”

“We’re not going to attack!? But we just finished showing off how manly we are!”

“I’m a woman, so that has nothing to do with me. Besides, the Shirasagi is meant for Mouri, so we only have permission to patrol around Osaka Bay. Plus, they can only move along the provisional borders. We have our own defense network, so our only role is to monitor and pursue them. We’ll stay on the Musashi’s tail until almost to the Kii Peninsula. We’ll follow at full speed.”

Ichimasu punched her palm, looked to the course on the ''insha kotob'' at her feet, and crossed her arms.

“I don’t know what Old Man Matsunaga wants, but it looks like he’s getting it. But things are getting busy here. Akechi controls the area north of the provisional border the Musashi has to follow through the Kii Peninsula, but he’s been strengthening Kyoto’s defenses since Hashiba ended their shift toward Magdeburg. That means only the light ships up front can make an appearance now.”

That’s right.

“Well, there is one person who can summon a fleet by cheating, so is he arriving on a high-speed ship down below?”

The navigation officer answered in the affirmative.

“Shaja. They’re following from behind. Also, even though the M.H.R.R. Catholic fleet was focused on Magdeburg and K.P.A. Italia, they still set up a defense network on the ocean and more ships are arriving as we speak. And a major ship will be coming from P.A. Oda on Lady Hashiba’s request. If we can slow down the Musashi somewhere, they should be able to sink it with ease.”

“So there’s more than enough pursuit, is there? That means we have to figure out how to reduce the Musashi’s speed with the defense network.”

Ichimasu looked to the Kii Peninsula on the map.

“The biggest problem is Old Man Matsunaga at the Kii Peninsula. Will he block the Musashi’s way or take their side? What do you think?”

“Well…”

They all sounded uncertain, but then the course confirmation officer’s voice cut sharply across the bridge.

“The Musashi has passed the course marker on the south while maintaining their south-southeast course! They have entered the Seto Inland Sea and are headed for the Kii Peninsula! I believe they have chosen the shortest route toward the center of the Kii Peninsula, north of Matsunaga’s territory!”

“At how many more points will the Musashi have to fire a marker?”

“Three!”

Three red dots appeared on the map of Osaka Bay. The Musashi was currently crossing the bay from the north to the southeast.

According to the navigator…

“The first point is directly along their course, the second is along a gentle southward turn to leave the Sakai region and arrive alongside the Kii Peninsula. And the third…the third will be difficult because it requires a sharp eastward turn into the Kii Peninsula!”

The Musashi rumbled as it descended southward.

It applied the same buffering control as when it used gravitational cruising, but it still had some effect on the air. It produced the same rumbling as thunder clouds as it sank below the clouds toward the dark inland sea.

Below them, the great expanse of the sea was filled with darkness.

The cloudy sky meant the water’s surface was entirely dark.

Still, the Musashi continued on.

The slight brightness in the sky made the horizon vaguely visible, so they pointed south and accelerated horizontally.

They shot forward.

They pushed on the air, creating a powerful rumbling between the sky and sea. Mist formed on the sea below, blurring the darkness visible there.

And just as the Musashi accelerated toward the south, red light dropped to the sea from their bow.

They had fired a course marker.

It fell to the buoy-mounted marker set up on the water and the Musashi corrected its course somewhat. It turned port, toward the Kii Peninsula south-southeast of them.

Of the three markers they had to pass on the way to the peninsula, they had passed the first and were on their way to the second.

Currently, they could see dark shadows beyond the eastern sea on their port side.

They looked like scratch marks between the sea and the sky, but they were actually islands stretching from Osaka to the southern end of the Kii Peninsula.

However, countless people existed in the small lights on those islands.

Those lights belonged to Osaka and the Sakai region.

The Musashi traveled south-southeast with the lights on their port side. They were on their way to the Kii Peninsula that had relatively few village lights.

After descending and floating back up a little, the eight giant ships fixed themselves in a perfectly horizontal layout.

But the Musashi did not slow down. A pursuing enemy distorted the clouds in the sky behind them.

That enemy was the Shirasagi Mk. II.

It was a good distance away, but it whipped up the clouds as if to show off its presence.

A red light stretched into the sky from the sea ahead and to the port side.

The second point had given a sign to confirm its location.

This second marker point was positioned alongside the Kii Peninsula and required a southward curve from the Musashi’s south-southwestern course.

The wind on the sea grew stronger and the chilled air surrounded the Musashi with mist. It kicked up the white mist as if sliding along some waves on its way to the marker point.

Its course took a turn to the right.

Light filled the inside of the Musashi’s expanded outer hull. It was beginning to accelerate via gravitational cruising.

It had to turn starboard, which was to the south, so the port side acceleration kicked in slightly earlier.

The wind roared and the Musashi slid sideways as it turned southward.

The second marker point fired another red light when it detected the Musashi’s approach, so the Musashi corrected its bow to the south to sweep away the mist.

Asakusa, Shinagawa, and Musashino’s bows faced the marker point and the entire Musashi accelerated.

They hurried. They would have to slow down for the tricky third point, so this was their only chance to lose their enemy.

And so they sped up.

Their gouging trajectory twisted the Musashi from south-southwest to south.

They continued on.

They could not fully restrain the shaking of the air, so that shaking slammed into the ocean approximately 1.5 thousand meters below. The water bounced back up and mist rose in a wide range on either side of them.

They passed the second point.

They were slightly off course, but the marker ejector angled diagonally to correct.

They fired and the marker point fired back its own light to confirm receipt of the signal.

They passed through.

The Musashi then shifted to inertial cruising. They maintained as much of their accelerated momentum as possible, but they had already started angling eastward to safely pass through the third marker point.

However, some mist suddenly appeared in front of them. It was neither a natural occurrence nor created by the Musashi.

This was another fleet.

Catholic warships bearing the school emblem of M.H.R.R. had arrived ahead of them.

After the battle with K.P.A. Italia, this fleet had predicted the Musashi’s route and situated themselves here instead of heading to the Magdeburg region. Musashi had run into one point on their defense network.

However, the Musashi did not slow down.

They continued their advance.

The enemy had removed their primary stealth to make a sudden appearance, so the eighteen ships were all wrapped in white mist that trailed through the night sky.

As if to prove their hostile intent, the mist was blown away and light was sent toward the Musashi.

They had fired.

The cannon fire sounded like distant thunder and it carried far to the east.

With the sea to the south, a mountain range overlooked a great plain from the northwest. Yoshitsune sat among the campfires munching on a Shingen Mochi, but she looked up toward the low rumbling from the west.

“Have the heavy mechanical cavalry prepare for battle. Send out all Eight Banners.”

The Satou Brothers had been preparing tea and peeling pears that were not quite ripe yet, but they raised their eyebrows at that.

However, they sent her instructions via sign frame without asking a thing.

A few moments later, several lines of light began moving quickly from east to west along the plain.

Those lights came from the mechanical cavalry.

With the elites of the Eight Banners, there were twenty seven thousand of them.

The students in the lead wore horo with anti-air defense spells written on them and they rode large, two-wheeled mechanical horses. The mechanical horses were all equipped with cowlings. They switched from the quadrupedal gait of their standby mode and entered the fixed-leg position of their mobility mode. Wind ether surrounded their legs and filled the night with bluish white light.

Wheels were attached to their legs in place of horseshoes, but due to the position of the four legs, the ether light of the two wheels in the front or back overlapped and formed a single wheel of light in the front and back.

While they were technically driving, the two glowing wheels floated a few centimeters off the ground.

They shined their lights forward as they moved west.

They were followed by the heavy mechanical horses.

These were over one hundred meters tall. They looked like bigger versions of the smaller mechanical horses except with four or eight wheels, but anti-air cannons larger than they were tall were equipped on their backs and sides. These heavily-equipped models had a few spell piles on the sides of their legs to hold themselves in place while firing.

Each of the mechanical horses leading each unit and all twenty four of the heavy mechanical horses had a flag raised on their backs. The eight colors of those flags divided them into eight battalions which formed up to view the western sky.

The Satou Brothers brought a single mechanical horse over to Yoshitsune. It was a large white touring type. The ether tank bore the emblem of Qing-Takeda and a shrine maiden Mouse stood on it.

The Mouse did a little dance and beckoned her over, so Yoshitsune smiled and nodded.

“I’ll be counting on you again, Shizuka.”

“I’ll be with you wherever you go.”

“I suppose so.”

Yoshitsune stood up and climbed aboard Shizuka. She wiped the dark syrup from her mouth with a finger and licked the finger clean.

“If we sold these in the Edo region, we could do some good business.”

“If we can win over Musashi, we might be able to open a trade route.”

“That’s true.”

She nodded and faced forward to look at the western sky beyond the rows of fires.

“Listen, everyone.”

She thought about what to say before continuing.

“It looks like the Musashi is on its way, but Hashiba, Oda, or M.H.R.R. are going to be right on their tail. We need to recreate Mikatagahara, so they’re in the way. I’m sure the Satou Brothers will show their tolerant spirits by telling M.H.R.R. ‘get lost, you fools’, but… Are you going to tell them that, Satou? You are, aren’t you? Make sure you do. And in those exact words. Hm? The older one is going to do it? …Quit trying to force that onto each other, you fools.”

She took a breath.

“Anyway, we need to get them away from the Musashi, but we can’t fire any warning shots. I really do like firing cannons. I love it. I always want to fire some to celebrate during festivals. Horizontally, of course. …Now, what was I talking about again, Satou Brothers? C’mon, no need to be so polite. …What! Is that any way to address me!?

“Well, anyway, there’s a chance we’ll have to use our scouts, so everyone prepare for battle. If any idiots show up, shoot them. …No, wait. Only shoot the sort-of idiots. There’s a spectacular idiot on the Musashi, but shooting him wouldn’t do anything to fix him.”

Yoshitsune rubbed the back of her head from above and sighed.

She heard another sound much like distant thunder. It was deeper and she could make out the individual sounds now.

The Musashi was under attack.

Yoshitsune smiled with her eyebrows raised.

“Once the Musashi shows up, make sure to celebrate by firing your cannons. But not horizontally, okay? And feel free to hit the Musashi too as long as it’s small enough we can pass it off as a joke.”

A windowless room of not quite ten square meters contained a bunk bed and two desks by the wall.

A girl in a wheelchair sat in front of the desk in the back. She gave the door a sharp look where a girl in glasses stood with a notebook held to her chest.

“Judge. Well, I think I’ll be going now.”

“That’s fine, Adele Balfette. I understand the situation now. Yes.”

She smiled bitterly.

“Staying here wouldn’t help anything, so you should probably get back. You’re busy, aren’t you?”

Despite that, Adele looked around the room curiously.

“They say people change, but it looks like they really do. Azuma-san’s tastes sure have.”

“That’s my bed actually.”

“Mama’s bed!”

Adele smiled at the translucent girl who stood up with the lower bunk’s blanket still over her head.

“Ah ha ha. Mama? So do the two of you have a common-law marria- ah!”

The floor suddenly shook as if being rocked by waves. The wheelchair’s wheels automatically moved to recline the device and balance itself.

Adele however almost tripped and frantically grabbed at the sliding door.

“Ah.”

The door slid open, pulling her for about three steps. Then she saw who stood on the other side.

“Papa!”

It was Azuma.

To prepare for battle mobility, the Musashi had to supply the rooms with air and hold the contents of the rooms in place using spells. Azuma had visited a police box to pick up the “high mobility house safety set” distributed for that purpose.

…''Oh, she’s here to report on what happened today.

Miriam completed her schooling in this room using the notes taken by their classmates, the textbooks, and the lessons prepared by the teachers. One of the girls in the class would take notes each day and drop them off. During busy days like this one, they would also explain what had happened.

They apparently chatted a lot like girls tended to do and also complained about their everyday life or their work.

According to Miriam…

“Almost all girls talk about the same kinds of things together.”

Azuma had to wonder if that was how it worked, but at the moment, Adele bowed toward him.

“I’ll be going.”

“Huh? You’re leaving already?”

“Ah ha ha. I’d only be in the way. …So you’re the mama and papa? You’ve got a pretty mature setup here.”

“Adele-kun, are you sure the rest of the class hasn’t been influencing you a lot lately?”

With that, Azuma opened the home shrine above the door and replaced the old Shinto charm with the new one he had gotten. The home shrine was well-made, but it was different from those in other rooms.

“This one is bigger than the others.”

“That’s because this is Miriam’s room,” replied Adele.

“Really?”

Inside the room, Miriam looked up a bit and nodded. She placed a hand on her wheelchair and chest before shrugging.

“It can be difficult for a girl to live all on her own. Of course, there are some different difficulties now.”

Adele nodded too.

“Just think of it as a way of making sure she can get by without too much trouble.”

''I see,'' he thought while also thinking that was implicitly referencing her legs.

…''But if I apologized, she’d definitely say I hadn’t expected that answer when I asked and she would say apologizing here meant she would always be someone who needs to be apologized to.

He finished preparing the home shrine without saying anything more.

Adele was about to leave with the notebook in her arms, but…

“Do you not have to fight this time?”

“My mobile shell is more or less fixed, but the secretary said this will be a naval battle.”

So…

“It’s probably going to get a little rough.”

The Musashi flew over the nighttime sea while under fire.

It had plenty of speed and its destination was clear, but that meant the enemy knew exactly where to position themselves and the small fleet could persistently attack.

During inertial cruising, they had no trouble creating gravity barriers, but that weakened their buffering against the air and their speed dropped more quickly. The enemy’s eighteen high speed ships were already ahead of or alongside the Musashi, so they could constantly fire on any point.

“I have determined it would be dangerous not to apply a burst of gravitational acceleration! Over!”

“Musashino” shouted within Musashino’s bridge and “Musashi” replied via their shared memory. “Musashi” was already tending to her ether flower garden on the bridge in front of the academy.

“That will make it more difficult to pass through the next point, so put together a countermeasure. If you have one, then I will allow it. Over.”

All of the automatons replied “judge” over their shared memory.

But inside the bridge, Suzu gasped at the movement she sensed inside the enemy fleet.

“R-rows!”

The eight enemy ships up ahead formed an upper and lower row of four ships.

This was a wall.

Their way forward was blocked and at the same time…

“The five ships on either side are firing! Over!!”

The impacts on the left and right shook the Musashi.

The P.A. Oda forces had caught the Musashi right in front of the Kii Peninsula.

The P.A. Oda high speed ships began firing on the Musashi.

The way forward was completely blocked and constant cannon fire struck them from either side. That arrangement had been decided by the demon on the stern of the third ship in the group up ahead.

He was Kuki who had lost his right arm.

To keep his balance, a large shield from M.H.R.R.’s Holy Knights’ Steel Association hung from the hard point part on his right side. He spread his empty left hand forward.

“Continue firing! And if the Musashi tries to accelerate their way through, ram them with the leading ships! We need to stop them over the sea even if it means sacrificing our own lives!”

Kuki looked to the giant ship that seemed to be pursuing them.

…''Such an enormous presence.

''But,'' he thought. He had done something similar to his own opponent today. Murakami Motoyoshi, leader of the Murakami Navy, had opposed his galleys with a fleet of smaller ships. The size difference between those smaller ships and the galleys would have been similar to this. Also…

“Our tactics here are similar to the ones he used against us.”

''Now, what will they do?'' he wondered.

He had come here despite his injuries out of pure curiosity as a tactician.

…''Talk about being selfish!

He was glad he belonged to P.A. Oda. Hashiba was an understanding person. She had said “If you are curious, then I guess there’s no stopping you.” while averting her gaze for some reason, but he considered it a win because he had been allowed to come.

But here on the battlefield, nothing was greater than his curiosity in his enemies and allies.

The Musashi was an unusually large ship, so what would it do on the battlefield and what would its enemies force it to do?

…''You don’t often get a chance to see and experience something like this!

An ''insha kotob'' appeared next to him. It displayed the ninja woman named Takigawa Ichimasu.

“What should I do, Cookie? They’ve pulled away from me, so can I leave this to you?”

“This is the site of my curiosity. And if you did anything unnecessary, Hashiba would be disappointed.”

“It’s really not fair that you don’t just say she wouldn’t be happy.”

“Sorry, but I speak from a man’s perspective. Anyway, the information you gathered on the way here was useful. The information processing of a large ship really is on another level. Also, let me ask your opinion. What do you think they’ll do?”

“They’ll head down, won’t they? It takes a lot of power to move something that big up. That’s why you chose to go down during the evening, right? I saw the records of that.”

“Shaja,” replied Kuki, but the right side of Ichimasu’s mouth rose.

“Well, in the worst case, they’ll come straight at you. That might be what I would do.”

“That would be the worst case. Do they think they can reach Kantou if we destroy their armor?”

“They might think so, they might think you’ll move out of the way, or…” said Ichimasu. “Whatever the case, nothing’s scarier than an enemy without any sense.”

“That’s true,” agreed Kuki.

At that moment, a lookout spoke up.

“The Musashi is beginning to move! Its bow is lowering! They’re descending to speed up and slip below us!!”

Kuki’s decision was swift and so were the movements of his men.

Having already experienced a similar battle, they knew what would happen and how it would turn out. So…

“Descend! If it comes to it, crush the Musashi from above!”

They began descending quickly enough for their feet to float off the deck.

Ahead, the Musashi was lowering its head toward them, revealing its upper surface.

''But,'' thought Kuki.

…''We will win this!

The Musashi was large. With its great height, it would have to descend quite a bit to slip below Kuki’s ships. With its upper surface exposed like this, they only had to descend and collide with that upper surface.

…''Will they try to deflect us with gravity barriers? Or snag us with the derricks?

“What are you going to do!?”

As soon as he asked, the Musashi displayed a sudden color.

It was the white of mist and spraying water.

As the Musashi descended, it created its buoyancy ocean in front of its bow.

Just as Kuki wondered why, the thought leading to the answer came to him. With the solution in mind, he gave a shout.

“So that’s what you’re doing!!”

The Musashi applied powerful brakes to its bow.

Its descent had provided acceleration, but the instant it took on that additional speed, it created a thick buoyancy ocean only in front of its bow.

The descending front end collided with the ocean that tried to lift it.

This was a powerful braking method.

The ocean stopped the ship and also lifted the creaking stern.

But then they began the acceleration of gravitational cruising.

The Musashi had pitched forward, so the acceleration from the rear caused the stern to quickly swing upwards.

But they did something else just as leverage lifted the stern.

“Release the virtual ocean!! Over!”

On “Musahino’s” command, the ocean lifting the bow vanished along with the ether light.

With nothing restricting the bow anymore, the Musashi gained a certain motion.

It pitched forward in midair and skidded forward and upwards.

It hopped.

“Ensure internal anti-shock buffering! Over!!”

The bow was thrown forward and upwards and the stern flew after it.

The Musashi made a short jump with its rear lifted high like a pouncing beast.

The wind roared and the eight ships leaped through the night sky in unison.

Like a knife being pushed forward, they made a powerful jump with great initial speed.

The bow pointed down towards Kuki’s descending fleet, but they jumped over those ships.

Then, the eight ships resumed gravitational cruising, starting from those in the back.

After jumping over the enemy ships, the Musashi quickly picked up speed while making a shallow descent.

By the time Kuki and his men looked back through the whipping wind, the Musashi was already just above the sea’s surface in the distance. And it was splitting the sea below it.

“Well done!!”

On Musashino’s bridge, “Musashino” nodded at the sign frame from Mitotsudaira.

When they had been surrounded by the enemy fleet and under fire, a divine transmission had arrived from Mitotsudaira.

“Can we jump over them?”

She had had difficulty explaining it verbally, so she had bent one of Asama’s arrows and sent it flying into the distance as a real-time demonstration.

In the footage of that one-shot demonstration, the spinning arrow had hit Ohiroshiki who was wandering the deck yelling “Any little girls! Any lost little girls around here!?” Regardless, it had been enough to explain the principle and they had immediately done it for real.

However…

“I have determined that went quite well. Over.”

They had all used a lot of their processing power to pull that off with no practice.

Under those conditions, they had to perform the calculations several times over to avoid failure and they had to perform a wider range of calculations because a lot of the directions were not yet clear. That had put a large burden on them, but Mitotsudaira had praised them and…

“Amaz…ing!”

Suzu also looked back at them, so it had all been more than worth it. Most wonderful of all, everyone was safe and they had accomplished the necessary acceleration.

They simply had to continue on toward the Kii Peninsula.

However, the automaton detecting ether readings suddenly straightened up and turned around.

“A new ether reading is pursuing us approximately three kilometers to port! Over.”

“Pursuing us? Over.”

“Musashino” could not imagine what kind of ship could be pursuing the Musashi after they accelerated to lose Kuki’s high-speed fleet.

''In that case,'' she thought while giving instructions.

“Determine the identity of our pursuer. Over!”

“Judge!”

That response was immediately followed by the answer.

“These are ghosts! Ghost ships made of ether have manifested! This reading…”

They all realized the same thing.

“This is Maeda Toshiie’s Israfil! These are Landsknecht aerial warships! Over!”

The ships made waves in the empty air as they slid along.

There were a total of five ghost ships made entirely of ether. They moved quickly and smoothly toward the Musashi without making a sound or shaking in the slightest.

They were old ocean ships.

These ships from the Age of Discovery amplified the wind hitting the sails to power their flight and they had no bow. They were less than one hundred meters long and looked a lot like modern transport ships.

However, the sails made of ether light were torn and catching no wind.

The crew wore torn sailor’s outfits and were all made of bones.

As the wind washed over them, they would occasionally move to stare directly at the Musashi.

The central command ship contained Maeda Toshiie in his red M.H.R.R. uniform. Matsu stood on his right shoulder with her wings of light expanded.

“Thanks, Ma-chan. I’m glad I held back in Magdeburg. It took a lot of work to call in this group that died in the Pacific.”

The ghosts may have retained some slight memories of their lives. First, the bicorne-wearing captain came to greet them and the others came in order of rank. The crew of the other ships approached the side of their ship, some bowing, some raising their swords, and some removing their hats.

“Thank you.”

Were they being so polite because he had made a contract with them using money and also used a European ghost spell that included a vow to god? Or were they showing their courtesy for their employer who was a ghost just like them? He did not know.

…''But I’m quite the opportunist for thinking of them as alive and myself as a ghost.

Toshiie faced forward.

The mist trailed behind and tore away from the Musashi as the ship traveled alongside the Kii Peninsula.

“Aren’t they moving too fast to make the turn onto the peninsula’s provisional border?”

The ghost ships were closer to the peninsula and thus had the inner corner, so Toshiie gave his instructions.

“Do not fire. Focus on speed so we can hold the inner corner at the third marker point. The turn into the peninsula is a ninety degree angle from south to east. If we hold that inner corner, they can’t fire the marker at the point. That gives us the material we need to accuse them later.”

The Shirasagi Mk. II slowed down in the sky. It was already near the Kii Peninsula, which was the edge of its jurisdiction as Himeji Castle in the history recreation of the attack on Mouri.

But as Ichimasu managed the courses of the ships participating in the battle, she expressed her astonishment with the direct-line path of Toshiie’s accelerating ship.

“Not bad.” She whistled. “That’s some amazing acceleration, Toshi. Or is it just that ghost ships are fast? Then you’re useless, Toshi.”

“B-boss! This is progressing too quickly!”

“Don’t worry about it.” She checked Toshiie’s course. “That speed is cheating. That would be how they caught up after the switchover on the coast.”

The Musashi had left Osaka Bay on the east and taken a gentle curve toward the Kii Peninsula, but Toshiie had made a straight shot across the coast from the west side of Osaka Bay. It was a slight difference, but the fact remained that Toshiie’s straight line would arrive first.

But…

“Boss, the Musashi’s gravitational cruising is quite fast, so how can Master Toshiie’s ghost ships keep up like that?”

Ichimasu spread her mouth side to side at the navigator’s question. She was not sure how to answer.

“Shaja. Well, I called it cheating, but it really is. Any European sailor has probably heard the legend of Der Fliegende Holländer that has to eternally wander the seas after cursing god and dying at the Cape of Good Hope.”

She laughed and saw on the map that Toshiie’s five ships had finally caught up to the Musashi.

“That ship wanders in the distance, but when it approaches, it smoothly follows you and you can never get away. Ghost ships are often described like that, but that’s because they appear by resonating with the other ship’s ‘existence as a ship’ through the ley lines. They appear because they’re called. That means a ghost ship’s speed is dependent on the other ship. They’re pulled by the ship that called them, so they will always follow it. It’s sort of like a kind of shadow. That’s the basics of it anyway.”

Ichimasu stepped on the white intersection between the Musashi and Toshiie’s ghost ships on the map displayed on the floor. Then she smiled.

“No matter how fast the Musashi moves, it can never lose them.”

The unseen crew audibly gulped, but Ichimasu shrugged and spoke. ''Toshi has a pretty unique fighting force,'' she thought.

“Of course, that means the ghost ships would be small fries if they’re called by a slow little ship. But for a high-speed ship like the Musashi, a ship that can always catch up to them is deadly. Then again, the ghost ships have old equipment and probably won’t be able to get a decisive blow in. We need either the Shirasagi or…”

Ichimasu kicked the map at her feet with her heel.

Halfway across Osaka Bay, the number of lights indicating their forces had exceeded one hundred.

“That’s Cookie for you. Even after they got past him, he’s gathering all of the defense network’s ships to pursue the Musashi.”

As she spoke, Toshiie’s five ships and the Musashi approached the turn into the Kii Peninsula and their courses began to mix together on the map.

They were fighting for the proper position to make that turn.

“They have to make a ninety degree eastern turn to make the provisional border across the Kii Peninsula. The marker point is on the inner corner, so an out-in-out route would get them through without slowing down as much.”

But…

“Toshi has the inner corner, so it isn’t going to be easy for the Musashi.”

Based on the courses visible on the map, both sides were maintaining their speed and pushing for the inner corner.

However, Ichimasu smiled bitterly when she saw Toshiie’s course.

…''You really are bad at this, Toshi. You haven’t used ships much, have you?

He was here despite that because he was intent on winning and because he was relying on Kuki’s fleet catching up.

So…

“We need to live up to Toshi’s expectations since he’s really pushing himself here. …It makes me want to show off what I can do.”

She said “listen” as if speaking to herself.

“The word Holländer can refer both to a ghost ship and to a Dutchman. If it was a Protestant Dutchman that cursed god and died after being shipwrecked, then you might be able to invite him to Catholicism so he can redo things. Toshi, I’m impressed you visited the Cape of Good Hope…which I suppose that would be Kyushu. Kyushu is where Naru will eventually rebel and where you have to defeat him, so did you get permission from the Testament Union by saying you were preparing for that? …You really can be masochistic like that, Toshi.”

So…

“Keep up the hard work. A chance is sure to present itself.”

The five ghost ships and the eight ships of the Musashi continued fighting over their position in the sky.

As the Musashi continued south, its destination was the center point of the Kii Peninsula’s western coast on the left up ahead. Turning left there would take them east along the peninsula’s provisional border.

The peninsula had already grown large on their port side. The red light fired by the third marker point rose toward the heavens in the center of the dark shadow’s western edge.

Toshiie’s five ghost ships were small, but they were pushing southwest, to knock the Musashi out of the turn.

The Musashi was at least seventy times as long as Toshiie’s ghost ship, but he showed no fear. He was trying to push the Musashi away by ramming it.

“Go, everyone! Start by keeping the Musashi from checking in with the marker point on the peninsula’s entrance! We need to accomplish at least that much!”

“Toshi, won’t that be due to our interference and not due to the Musashi’s mistake?”

Ichimasu sent a divine transmission and Toshiie nodded.

“Shaja. Listen, Ichimasu. The Musashi will leave its course both because of our interference and because it’s moving so quickly. Watch.”

As he spoke, the ghost ships collided with the Musashi.

They primarily pushed at it on the bow and stern of Asakusa, the first port ship. Each time Asakusa tried to take the proper path for the turn, the ghost ships would push it away from that inner corner.

“Do you understand?”

The Musashi was moving very quickly. The impacts from outside were greatly affecting its movements.

The ghost ships were far smaller, but the Musashi could not help but shake.

Fearing that interference, the Musashi took a wider turn, to the detriment of its overall movement.

“My interference is only affecting it so much because it is moving so fast. If it were not moving this fast, I doubt ghost ships this small could push it off course. …To put it another way, the Musashi could maintain its course despite my interference as long as it cruised like normal.”

Which meant…

“The Musashi will have left its course for its own safety and it will fly into another nation’s airspace fast enough to call it an invasion. …That’s how this will turn out.”

“You sure do love sophistry, Toshi.”

“I do.” He smiled bitterly. “But if the Musashi is allowed to leave its course for its own convenience, then the other nations will be forced to let it fly through their airspace any time Musashi can claim they have a reason for it. …Even if that reason is entirely false. Any nation at war or with an enemy will never allow that. There would always be a threat of the Musashi cooperating with their enemy, invading in the name of ‘leaving their course’, and letting down troops from that enemy.”

Toshiie looked to the Musashi.

“Here it comes. The Musashi is taking me seriously now.”

After that, light flew from the side of the Musashi’s deck.

“It’s firing!!”

The Musashi repeatedly fired on the ghost ships.

The ghost ships used their small size and great speed to evade.

A shell would occasionally graze them or hit them, but…

“You can’t sink us that easily!!”

Toshiie did not hesitate to drop some money as he raised his eyebrows and the corners of his mouth.

When the silver coin landed, the dead rose and used their own bodies as parts to repair the ship.

The cannon fire was affecting them, but the money could buy some time before the ghost ships were fully destroyed.

But from Tama’s deck, Neshinbara ordered the Musashi to continue firing.

“Always focus your fire on the closest ship! Make sure to damage that one ship!”

They could not sink the ghost ships easily, but by always damaging one of the five, they could force the ghost ships to attack in a rotation. They set up the rotation in groups of two, so the other ship could swap out for the damaged one.

However, that gave the attacks a tempo.

“Toshi! They can tell what you’re going to do! Throw some more randomness into your movements!”

“Sorry! I’m a little overwhelmed right now! I’m sure I’d wonder what that idiot commander is doing if I was watching this from afar, but it sure is hard to focus in the middle of it all!”

“If you get it, then show some respect to your upperclassman and do as I say!!”

But just as the ghost ships began a new rotation, the Musashi responded in a new way as well.

Each ship moved separately to give the port ships vertical movement.

“They’re evading at this speed!?”

It would be harder for them to make the turn now, but the automatons’ calculations could correct for it if they incorporated the vertical movement into their course.

The ghost ships had difficulty targeting the giant ships as they moved up or down.

On Musashino’s bridge, Suzu added the air currents up ahead into the model, “Musashino” sent that data to all eight ships, and they all calculated out their countless course patterns.

On the ghost fleet’s flagship, Toshiie gave instructions to the ships trying to ram the Musashi as it moved up and down.

“It’s impossible to push on the outer hull when they’re moving like that! But this reveals something else to us!”

His eyes were focused on the Musashi’s outer hull as wind wrapped around it. He was looking inside the opened accelerators and the idling light inside.

“Let’s rob the Musashi of its legs!”

The first to notice the enemy ship’s movement was Noriki as he carried an armor panel on Asakusa’s outer shell.

The enemy was coming. They all knew that, so he did not need to say it.

The enemy was approaching. They all knew that as well, so he did not need to say it.

But the enemy’s movement was weird. They were no longer trying to ram the hull.

…''They’re trying to slip below our port side.

He did not know what that meant, so he said it.

'''Laborer:''' “The enemy on the port side is weird.”

'''Almost Everyone:''' “Weird!?”

''Come to think of it, people sometimes say I’m a bad speaker,'' he remembered just as shattering light burst from the front port side and the entire ship shook violently.

The ghost ship had rammed full speed into the accelerator to destroy it at the cost of its own destruction.

“The enemy has rammed the opened hull on Asakusa’s port side! The enemy ship has been destroyed and has vanished!! Asakusa’s gravitational cruising accelerators #11 to #13 have been damaged! We have lost a maximum of 12% from Asakusa’s port side acceleration! Over!”

Hearing the report from the ship-to-ship communication automaton, “Musashino” used her shared memory to quickly speak with “Asakusa”.

'''Musashino:''' “How are you feeling? Over.”

'''Asakusa:''' “Judge. Having learned my lesson in England, I purged the affected area just before the enemy hit. I have determined the damage will have minimal effect on the outer shell and internal components. I am working with the kobolds to rearrange the internal ether pathways in the damaged area. By adding in blocking parts, I can reduce the loss to 5% within two minutes. Over.”

'''Musashino:''' “That is the result of an excellent learning experience. Please share those memories with the rest of us afterwards. Over.”

After an instant to go over things, “Musashino” gave her decision to the rest of the ships.

“As our speed will drop from now on and because we could take more damage, I would like to build up some more speed here, but…”

As soon as she said that, an automaton spoke up after detecting an ether reading.

“Another enemy ship is approaching! It is trying to ram Oume’s port side! Over.”

“Musashino” frowned.

…''The enemy must have a reason to go as far as destroying themselves to wear us down.

“Are they sacrificing themselves for the fleet arriving from behind!? Over.”

“We wouldn’t sacrifice ourselves for no reason. Someone needs to capture you. But…I will sacrifice the piece that will have the greatest effect.”

Toshiie looked to the Musashi through the wind.

Ether light smoke was rising from Asakusa’s port side.

''An excellent result,'' he thought.

“We have an expert in naval battles, so I only need to set the stage. That’s why I’m the treasurer.”

He sent one of his ships into Oume’s port side from below. This collision would rob the port side of all its speed. Even if the Musashi took emergency measures, this would be enough when combined with the damage to Asakusa.

The ship slipped into the gap in the Musashi’s giant outer shell.

The ghosts on the ship looked back toward him and crossed themselves, so he nodded back.

“Thank you. May you rest in Catholic peace.”

Meanwhile, the ghost ship continued its charge.

“!?”

It was destroyed.

Light exploded before Toshiie’s eyes. It was the expected light of the ghost ship’s destruction, but…

“What just happened!?”

The Musashi was unharmed.

''What just happened?'' he asked silently this time. ''Their cannons couldn’t have hit it at such close range and while they’re moving up and down.

Also, the ghosts had been acting oddly at the moment of destruction. For some reason…

…''They were raising their arms!?

Just as he questioned what could have made them so happy as they were destroyed, the light of the destroyed ghost ship and crew rose into the heavens and vanished. That meant powerful purification had sublimated the ether instead of destroying it. And…

“Gunner,” said Matsu while looking upwards.

Toshiie saw the enemy on Oume’s starboard deck.

It was a shrine maiden. Her black hair fluttered in the powerful wind, her binder skirt held her in her firing position, and she held a giant bow.

“I-I completely forgot! All ships, keep your distance and fly in an evasive pattern!”

Toshiie’s eyebrows rose as he shouted a warning.

“Musashi’s critical shrine maiden has joined the fight!”

“Wh-who are you calling a critical shrine maiden!?”

Even as Asama watched the three ghost ships move away, she breathed a secret sigh of relief.

…''Th-thank goodness! That used up all of my internal Blessings!!

''Anyway,'' she thought as she looked back where the crossdresser was walking along Okutama’s bow. He was carrying a charcoal grill while Horizon searched for Mitotsudaira, but he waved when he saw her looking.

She had been constantly using divine transmission spells in Magdeburg, so she had not been able to respond to the aerial ships falling from the sky. But with Toori here, his Blessing distribution could replenish her internal Blessings.

“Well, at least that refill made it in time.”

She looked down at her butt. Long brown hair with ribbons and cloth wrapped around it was crouching between her two tail ballasts.

“Kimi, why are you hiding behind me?”

“B-because ghosts! Those are ghost ships! Don’t you know what’s going to happen!? They’ll ask for a water ladle, but if you give it to them, they’ll scoop up the water to sink your ship!”

“They can’t exactly scoop up any water in the air and we aren’t even using our virtual ocean right now.”

“They can do it because they’re ghosts!! They’re spirits! Spiiii! Riiiiits!”

She grabbed Asama’s butt on “spi” and pulled down and out on “rits”. Asama tried to knock her to the ground, but the girl dodged.

It was no use reasoning with a crazy person, so Asama took a step to the side to reveal the ghost ships in the distance. The strange girl collapsed onto her side.

“Th-that was a close one! What if I had fainted!? What would happen then!?”

“To be blunt, could I just ignore you?”

“Not before I faint! Definitely not! But if I do faint, you can do whatever you want!”

“In that case, I think I’d call your mom.”

“D-don’t make this any scarier than it already is! My mom is a legit samurai, so she doesn’t know when not to joke about something! Fine then! You want to turn this into a fight, don’t you!?”

''Eh? Why?'' wondered Asama, but she would only be dragged further into it if she went along with it.

So instead, Asama sighed.

“Um, Kimi? Try to calm down. Sure there are some ghost ships here, but I’m stronger than them. There’s nothing to worry-…”

…''Huh? Why does saying that make me feel so sad?

She looked back down and found Kimi lying limply on the floor. ''Huh?'' she wondered before realizing the girl had passed out cold.

''It can’t be,'' she thought as she turned back around.

“A ghost ship!”

Kimi had fainted because one of them was fast approaching.

After keeping their distance, they had likely decided she had used up her internal Blessings. Sure enough, the Internal Blessing gauge Hanami was displaying had yet to rise above one-third. Toori’s refill was being distributed to Asakusa at the moment.

…''Which means…!

There were other students trained in being a shrine maiden, but they were up against ghosts here, not monsters. Plus, this was a powerful opponent. She could not destroy the ghost ship at the moment and neither could anyone else she knew, so…

“ ‘Musashino’-san! Take care of this!”

Just as she shouted into the sign frame Hanami lifted up for her, her field of vision shifted forward.

The Musashi had accelerated.

Toshiie did not hesitate to swear when he realized the enemy had escaped.

“Aerial battles really are difficult. I’ll chalk this up to how new at them I am!”

Toshiie continued his inevitable pursuit of the Musashi that had briefly moved away.

They had made the emergency repairs to Asakusa while the ghost ships were held off by the shrine maiden. And when another ghost ship tried to approach now that Asakusa’s repairs were complete…

…''They accelerated forward.

The ghost ships would always pursue their target ship, but the Musashi had accelerated horizontally while the ghost ships were focused on their vertical movement. It was only temporary, but that had put some distance between them.

“But still… After them!”

This pursuit had a purpose.

“They can’t make the right angle turn for the marker point at this speed! It was a difficult enough turn already, so keep up the pursuit and ram them if they try to slow down!”

But then the ghost ship in the lead fell apart.

…''What!?

Toshiie saw the annihilation of one of his ships.

It occurred directly behind the Musashi. He had positioned it there because he had thought it was the safest place.

After all, the secondary cannons were equipped on the sides and the gunner shrine maiden could not fire there from her position on Oume’s bow.

Nevertheless, the ship had been destroyed.

He heard a scraping sound, the ether light scattered like a sandstorm, and both ship and crew were destroyed. The scene quickly vanished as if battered by a storm, but the way the light scattered was odd.

This light also rose as it vanished.

The ghosts had been given a peaceful rest.

“Was it that shrine maiden’s anti-ghost shot!?”

His eyes opened wide as he observed Oume which was accelerating away, but he saw no sign that the shrine maiden on its bow had fired an arrow. The girl was focused on peeling off the dancer who was clinging to her butt.

…''Then what was this!?

Toshiie’s ship had given the vanishing light of the other ship a wide berth, but he suddenly detected a certain scent.

“Curry!?”

“That is correct.”

Toshiie saw two people sprinkling a yellow powder from the back of Oume’s deck.

One was a fat boy with an arrow sticking into him and the other was a student in a turban.

“We did it!” said the fat boy. “We really did it! The curry exorcism was a success! This has got to improve my popularity with little girls!”

“Curry is from the country of the gods. It can instantly purify even an evil spirit.”

“You liar!” shouted Toshiie. “Curry is just a collection of spices!! What did you put in there!?”

“Oh!” The turban boy shrugged and shook his head. “All of the spices in curry have been accepted by the gods. I would never dare to object to them.”

“Wait! You’re the one that mixed that, aren’t you!? Don’t tell me you think you’re a god!!”

“Heh.”

The boy shrugged again and threw some curry powder Toshiie’s way.

The ghosts frantically moved the ship out of the way and the boy watched the curry powder scatter fruitlessly into the air. He then looked down on Toshiie.

“Why would you dodge that? I will never forgive someone who wastes curry.”

“Look in a mirror!!”

By the time Toshiie saw Matsu give a powerful nod on his shoulder, they had escaped from the range of the enemy’s curry.

''These people are dangerous!'' Toshiie realized anew.

He did not want to live in a world where someone could destroy a warship by sprinkling curry powder around.

“This is what makes aerial battles so frightening! You never know what’s going to happen!”

“Actually, Toshi, this is a new one for Cookie and me, too.”

''Well, those upperclassmen aren’t ghosts,'' he thought, but he needed to come up with a countermeasure for next time. With that in mind, he spoke to the other remaining ship.

“Approach from upwind! That will give you a safe approach! Also…”

He shouted into the wind toward the Kii Peninsula.

“It’s about time you decided whether you’re on our side or not, Lord Matsunaga!!”

Toward the back of Okutama, Masazumi was on her way to Ariadust Academy. She was currently in the nature district on Okutama’s surface and she looked back to the east.

A bug-like form was slowly coming apart in the shadows of the Kii Peninsula.

“A spider?”

No, she had seen that ship once before.

“Is that Lord Matsunaga’s castle, the Shigisan?”

''What is he going to do?'' she wondered as she came to a stop.

On the stone path through the trees, she saw the flat spider created in the night sky by the eight attached ships.

She had spoken with Lord Matsunaga both at IZUMO and Magdeburg. He had been an elusive person, but he had still arranged a way to Magdeburg for them as they escaped IZUMO. And in Magdeburg, he had joined the negotiation and supported her in a number of ways.

…''He isn’t an ally, but I want to believe he isn’t an active enemy either.

She lightly hit her own head. If he were to join them, he would effectively be rebelling against Nobunaga. He had already rebelled once, so if he did it again…

“He’ll blow himself up along with the Hiragumo tea kettle.”

“Maa?”

She smiled bitterly as Tsukinowa rubbed against her cheek to cheer her up.

''What is he going to do?'' she wondered again.

“Maybe it’s natural to want a reason for the selfish things you do.”

By the time she said that, she saw and heard Matsunaga’s answer.

“So you aren’t going easy on us, Lord Matsunaga!”

His answer was to fire.

Countless red shells of light cut across the sky as they flew from the Shigisan to the Musashi.

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 86|Chapter 86]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 88|Chapter 88]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 84

2015-09-06T05:04:30Z

68.109.52.245:

==Chapter 84: Samurai of the Sunken City==
[[Image:Horizon3C_0571.jpg|thumb]]
''There is only one thing

''I must do

'''Point Allocation (Victory)

As Magdeburg continued to flood, it was largely divided between three separate battles.

The first was against Sassa Narimasa after he entered the city through the western wall.

The second was the retreat of the siege troops after successfully destroying the south of the city and starting the flood within their fifteen minute time limit.

And the third…

“Dammit. Do you intend to seal off my attacks to the end, daughter of Honda!?”

On the eastern side of the flooded city, Shibata Katsuie and Honda Futayo confronted each other on the house rooftops as the water began to reach even that height.

Katsuie wanted to make a one-man charge on the transport ships, but Futayo stood in his way.

Futayo fought with her back to the northern cathedral. She would detect the initial movement of her opponent’s vice chancellor level sword techniques.

“…!!”

Whether it was a faint, brute strength, or a continuous barrage, Futayo focused entirely on interfering with the initial movement and continued doing only that.

Sparks flew, the clashing of blades scattered through the air, and their movement made no progress.

“What a pain in the ass!!”

Katsuie gave a yell and the sparks and clashing sounds grew all the more intense.

“————”

But he was still stuck where he was, unable to move.

The scattering light and noise simply strengthened.

Futayo focused on detecting the beginning of his speed.

Seeing through Katsuie’s attacks was the key to victory.

However, the opponent before her had muscular strength far exceeding that of a human. And it was made all the worse because…

…''He has more than just brute strength.

With brute strength alone, he would lose his balance and leave an opening when she deflected his attacks, but whenever her strikes stopped Kamewari, he immediately regained his balance and began his next movement.

He had the brute strength, but he used a gentler strength to instantaneously launch that brute strength.

Futayo’s acceleration spell was cumulative, but Katsuie worked in a single instant. He was similar to Muneshige in that regard, but Katsuie’s acceleration came from his race’s natural traits instead of a spell. That meant it put little burden on his body.

Katsuie was entirely defined by his own overwhelming potential.

''But,'' thought Futayo.

His physical abilities were his limits. He could not do anything more than his body allowed for.

That meant he would not do anything unexpected.

He would not sacrifice a leg to launch himself forward as Muneshige had done.

''Yes, there is nothing to fear. I only need to react to what I see before me. Nothing strange will happen. This opponent is normal. He will not do anything odd. To sum up, Muneshige-dono was a strange individual who did odd things.

…''Oh?

''Did I make a mistake in there somewhere?

''Well, not that it matters,'' she thought. ''Everyone from Musashi is weird, so Muneshige-dono should fit in just fine if he too is strange. They know how to look after him. I would expect no less of Musashi.

As for the present…

“Damn you!”

“Damn you.”

Futayo did not mind. She simply struck and simply pushed. She pushed back as much as her opponent pushed at her and remained at the same distance from him. Eventually, he raised the density of his attacks.

“Damn you!!”

Katsuie continued yelling.

“Damn you, damn you, damn you, damn you, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn you, damn you, damn you, damn you, damn, damn, damn, damn, you, you, you, you, damn you!”

“Damn you, damn you, damn you, damn you, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn you, damn you, damn you, damn you, damn, damn, damn, damn, you, you, you, you, damn you.”

''Tonbokiri really must hate losing to go along with his rapping,'' she thought. ''And he must be quite diligent to bother saying it each and every time.

''My father would not have done that. When Kazuno-sama would say the food was ready, he would ignore her and keep laughing at the divine television, so she made sure to always have a butcher’s knife handy by the kitchen pillar.

''That takes me back,'' she thought while continuing to stop her opponent with Tonbokiri.

She pushed, struck, and deflected.

“There!”

She stopped him. She stopped him, continued stopping him, and always stopped him.

Sparks flew, the noise rang out, and they both stepped forward and moved back.

They exchanged glances and words, but none of it surpassed their movements.

As time went on, they honed their movements.

This helped her know what initial movements he would use and even let her narrow it down based on the movements of his shoulders. How his shoulder muscles moved gave her a general idea of what angle the sword would come from, so she sent Tonbokiri there.

“?”

The tactile feedback unexpectedly vanished.

Tonbokiri cut through empty air.

It happened suddenly.

Futayo saw Tonbokiri’s tip gouge into empty space.

''Strange,'' she thought. She had definitely seen his initial movement coming, so why had the expected tactile feedback been missing?

When she perceived her enemy with her whole vision, she realized something.

“You let go of Kamewari!?”

“Say I sacrificed it. It sounds cooler.”

Sure enough, Kamewari was falling a step in front of Katsuie.

The very next moment, Katsuie grabbed Tonbokiri’s errant tip.

He pulled on it, which threw her off balance.

Katsuie moved closer to her than Tonbokiri’s tip and held the base of the blade below his arm. That prevented the blade from reflecting him. At the same time, he kicked up Kamewari, tossing it to his opposite arm.

He grabbed it and opened his mouth at close range.

“Get her, Kamewari.”

Kamewari’s smashing power activated.

The air split, opened up, and burst along a horizontal line.

Futayo’s split-second decision was more of a gamble than anything.

She extended Tonbokiri’s shaft to launch herself backwards.

“…!!”

She escaped by leaping as far back as the bottom of the spear would allow.

Katsuie was holding the blade below his arm to avoid being cut, so the extension naturally moved away from him. And since Kamewari had been tossed up from below…

…''The blade should be pointed up!

Futayo’s predicted path of the smashing power became a reality along a nearly horizontal line.

That cutting and smashing power swept along just above Tonbokiri’s shaft. Futayo dropped her hips down and hung from the shaft, so a few slower tufts of hair were taken off.

Still, she had dodged it.

However…

…''Oh, no!

She had reached the edge of the roof and Tonbokiri was extended so she would have to pull it back to attack. Also, the longer weapon would get in the way if she tried to jump to another roof.

“You’re mine, Peerless in the East!!”

Katsuie came toward her. He adjusted the position of Kamewari’s blade and made a horizontal cut along Tonbokiri’s shaft.

Futayo also took action. She held Tonbokiri’s shaft and retracted it.

“Bind! Tonbokiri!!”

“Iiidiot! I’ll be there before it gets back and it can’t cut me when I’m past the blade!!”

She did not care because she was not cutting her enemy.

“I am cutting the roof!”

Futayo cut the battlefield itself.

While pulling the blade back to the left, she pointed it downward and made a diagonal cut to the roof’s ridge.

…''Go!!

Immediately afterwards, the roof broke in two near the center.

She had cut the very top, meaning the ridge supporting the entire roof and the straw around it.

But with its support gone, the center fell straight down with the thickness of a blanket.

The roof formed a V-shape. Katsuie was in the center so he fell down and Futayo was on the edge so she was lifted up.

“…!”

Futayo threw her shortened weapon to the opposite side of the roof.

At the same time, she jumped. She used the rising of the roof’s edge while also crouching down and straightening up again like a spring.

“—————”

She took a mighty leap.

She stretched and twisted her body in midair, jumped over Katsuie, and prepared to land on the opposite southern edge of the roof.

The center of the roof fell into the water below her.

She heard the splash and saw the straw roof spread out and flow into the water, starting from the cut she had made.

After crossing over that, she landed on the opposite end of the roof’s ridge.

Her feet seemed to stab into the straw as she placed them on the diagonally tilted end of the ridge and she had already turned around.

She then grabbed Tonbokiri from the air as it finished its own flight.

She looked to the enemy.

If Katsuie attempted to go on ahead, she would attack him from behind.

He was standing on the opposite end of the collapsed and tilted roof, but…

…''He’s turned my way!?

He was looking at her and his body was facing her as well.

He was not going to carelessly show her his back.

But he had been running forward, so would it have been possible to turn around that quickly on the tilted roof?

Futayo saw the answer to that question.

He had not actually turned around.

His demonic body maintained the stance from taking a large step in the other direction, but there was something odd about his pivot leg placed toward the center of the roof.

Even its ankle was applying a powerful twist to the roof.

…''Is he pushing down on the center of the ridge!?

Katsuie had used his leg to help along the collapse of the roof and that was bringing the roof to a nearly vertical tilt. Also…

“I can see you just fine. That isn’t up, is it?”

As he stood on the vertical roof that was now more of a wall, he bent back to look up at her.

He did everything through brute strength.

That was the proper strategy for his demonic race. He created a battlefield out of his own body’s strength.

Then he sank down on the vertical roof.

He was going to move and Futayo sensed danger, so she held Tonbokiri in front of her.

“Bind, Tonbokiri!!”

In the instant, she launched the cutting power forward, Futayo saw something.

It was the night sky.

“…!?”

She saw the clouds and the Musashi floating in the sky.

She wondered how her horizontal gaze could be showing her that, but then she saw a ripple in the sky.

What looked like the night sky was actually the water’s surface.

…''Is this…?

She understood now. Her own footing had grown nearly vertical and her vision was pointed down at the water.

She also knew why: Katsuie.

He had predicted the timing of her attack and stepped down on the center of the roof.

The ridge supporting the roof had broken, but the straw and other materials were still holding it together.

So when Katsuie’s side was pushed down at the center, her side also tilted.

…''Oh, no!

She tried to hold her ground on the steeply tilted surface, but she saw movement in the water filling her vision. Something had broken through the reflection of the night to shoot up from below.

It was the soaked center of the roof.

Katsuie had pushed down with the foot on the edge of the roof to send the center hopping back up like a seesaw.

“…!!”

Futayo had placed a foot forward to hold her ground, but the rising center of the roof struck it from below.

And as the V-shaped roof returned to its horizontal shape, its momentum also affected her pivot foot.

She was pushed back into a sitting position.

…''How careless of me!

She could breathe and, knowing only that, she moved her body forward to stand back up.

That decision saved her life.

Kamewari raced toward the previous position of her neck.

Katsuie had crossed the center of the roof to reach her.

“Tch.”

She heard him click his tongue, but it was the sound of the sword slicing the air that made her tremble.

But not from fear.

…''Beautiful!

The sword strike she heard was powerful, but it was also as straight as a taut thread.

''Splendid,'' she thought. ''He has so much strength, yet he does not use his sword roughly.

Futayo watched Kamewari draw a silver arc forward and back as she jumped backwards.

She stood on the edge of the roof.

The excess force of Katsuie sending the roof upwards kept the center from falling back down for a brief moment.

He used that loose balance to launch a second strike.

Futayo launched a movement of her own in response.

She kept the soles of her feet on the edge of the roof as she stood straight up and toppled backwards.

…''Is she trying to fall!?

Katsuie saw his opponent remain entirely straight as she toppled backwards without bending back first.

He did not change the horizontal swing his right hand gave Kamewari.

…''Uh, oh.

The line of metal raced through the position his enemy’s chest had been in.

It cut through empty air.

By the time he was certain he had missed, his enemy’s body lay horizontal to the roof. Like the hand of a clock, she rotated around the edge of the roof on the soles of her feet. Still standing straight, she rotated down lower than the roof.

“Is that what you’re after!?”

Katsuie understood what his enemy was doing. She was not dropping down to escape.

“——————”

He heard a sound below the roof’s edge.

It was the sound of Tonbokiri extending.

He knew it would hit the wall. The bottom of Tonbokiri would strike the house’s wooden wall.

As she fell back and around, she would push herself back using Tonbokiri.

She would bounce back up.

Like playing her fall in reverse, she would rise once more.

He had just finished swinging Kamewari.

“Bind, Tonbokiri.”

Before he could pull it back, he heard a voice.

Futayo produced the words needed to launch the cutting power.

She targeted a horizontal line along the center of her enemy’s chest. She initially thought he had no way of dodging it, but…

…''No, he does!

She saw Katsuie step strongly down with his right leg.

He had decided to make the center of the roof sink back down.

She was taken up and he was taken down. The rising edge of the roof tugged her upwards a bit, so Katsuie moved below her vision as he intentionally lowered himself.

…''Will I make it in time!?

If her cut did not hit, he would counterattack with Kamewari and she would lose. No, she needed to make her next move, too.

She had to keep moving forward toward victory. She had to read what came next and continue moving.

With that in mind, she felt the cutting power being fired.

She wanted it to hit, but she also felt a desire for it to miss. She wanted the battle to continue like this forever. She knew that was a dangerous desire, but…

“!?”

A sudden light came from the east which was to her right.

…''A cannon blast!?

At the same time, Katsuie looked and shouted to the east.

“You idiot! Don’t interfere!”

His shout was accompanied by a line of light shooting between her and him.

“!?”

It burst and their surroundings grew bright.

…''What is this!?

There was light, but it had not hit anything. She assumed it had failed to activate properly.

But something was destroyed after all: Tonbokiri in her hands.

The base supporting its blade contained the device that managed the activation of the cutting power.

“Overload.”

With a solid sound, that device burst from within.

Tonbokiri was broken.

“You complete moron!!”

Katsuie looked to the east. Two people could be seen on the white flagship of the M.H.R.R. fleet.

One of them was Toshiie who raised a hand in apology and the other was scratching his head.

“Dammit, Matthias!”

“Sorry, Katsuie. That was supposed to be test firing, but my timing was really bad.”

Matthias held a giant arbalest. It was colored white and black and it resembled bones.

“I was just test firing my Logismoi Óplo, Pheugos Gastrimargia.”

…''A Logismoi Óplo!?

Futayo had been left in a daze by Tonbokiri’s destruction, but the term she heard was enough to quickly snap her out of it.

…''Did that light come from that arbalest!?

She could guess what it did. Tonbokiri had fallen silent, but it had uttered a single word at the very last moment: overload.

Also, that weapon represented the deadly sin of gluttony.

“Does that Logismoi Óplo overload weapons, causing them to explode from within!?”

“It can be a huge problem from a friendly fire perspective, so we’ve told him not to fire it just for fun,” grumbled Katsuie. “Sorry about this. I would’ve won if that had continued, but that was an ugly way to end it. …But now you are only an obstacle to me.”

He responded with Kamewari.

He did not activate it, but the strike had plenty of speed.

“You kept me from turning my back and continuing on. Allow me to do the polite thing and kill you.”

Katsuie pulled his right hand to the left in a horizontal line. He moved it from right to left as if pulling it in with his reversed hand.

The enemy’s neck was positioned along its path. He had no real interest in the girl, but he wondered if he should have at least asked her name. ''But I wouldn’t want to make Lady Oichi jealous,'' he decided.

And so he made the cut in silence.

However, Kamewari’s path suddenly changed.

Someone had struck the blade from behind. The blow had enough force to produce a metallic noise and it knocked the blade upwards.

“————!?”

Kamewari passed over his enemy’s head.

He had a new opponent behind him on the right. He looked back to the north end of the roof.

“Tachibana’s son-in-law!?”

The man wielding a metal spear slipped past Katsuie’s right side using the same motion that had pushed up Kamewari.

“Yes, but I’ve lost my inherited name for the time being.”

…''What a troublesome man!

“But this is interesting!”

The Peerless of the East and of the West. He had no choice but to decide these two were too dangerous to turn his back on.

If he wanted to continue on, he had to defeat them. Matthias’ unwanted favor had just about ruined his fun, but it all worked out now that he had multiple enemies. He could enjoy this without having to hold back.

“You can take a dip first!!”

Tachibana was moving up alongside the Honda girl on the south of the roof, but Katsuie tried to send him flying with a kick.

However, his right knee was stopped by Honda. The Honda girl strongly deflected his leg with the bottom of her dead divine weapon.

Still, the attack had been lacking. It had only stopped his attack and had no real force behind it.

…''Has Tonbokiri’s destruction left her shaken!?

She may have been trying not to think about it, but this would be the first time she had to fight without being able to use that cutting power. She did not know how to build up her countermeasures and tactics under those conditions, so she was hesitating.

That was why Katsuie brought back his swung sword and prepared to take care of the Honda girl.

Except a metal spear struck back the blade he was moving back.

That was Tachibana.

Tachibana then crossed paths with the Honda girl.

They switched places. From Katsuie’s perspective, Tachibana was on the left and the Honda girl on the right.

[[Image:Horizon3C_0591.jpg|thumb]]

Katsuie moved Kamewari back to his right, and…

“I didn’t really want to use this!”

He drew a short sword with his left hand.

The Honda girl and Tachibana held their spears at the ready and both stepped forward at the same moment.

“————!!”

A series of rapid strikes began.

Sparks flew and the wind blew through to bind them all together.

Muneshige dealt with the lighter short sword. While it was lightweight, that allowed it to move much more quickly.

Next to him, Futayo faced Kamewari just as before, but the damage to Tonbokiri had filled her movements with some slight hesitation.

Still, neither of them let their guard down. The two of them held their side-by-side positions and focused on their respective targets.

“Ohhh!”

After an exchange of several dozen strikes, both of the Peerless powerfully deflected Katsuie’s weapons backwards simultaneously.

The force of the intense noise caused those demonic arms to spread to either side. The short sword had already broken and more of Kamewari’s surface armor was damaged than not.

But just as the two from Musashi made their attacks to pursue him, Katsuie breathed in and forcibly swung his upper body backwards.

Instead of bringing his deflected arms back forward, he swung his own upper body behind him.

He moved back which returned his arms to the position needed to launch an attack.

“Die!!”

He yelled and took action at the same moment.

He suddenly lowered his hips to a crouch.

A moment later, a speedy shell shot in from behind and passed through the spot his head had vacated.

That was an attack from Gin’s Arcabuz Cruz. After both predicting it and dodging it without seeing it, Katsuie smiled.

He quickly stood back up and changed the movement of his arms for an attack from below.

“Don’t think you can get me with the same trick twice!!”

A hammer flew powerfully in from directly ahead and collided with his face.

It came from Tomoe.

After Futayo had kicked her out of the way, she had monitored the state of the battle and she now stood on a roof far to the south. She used her remaining hammer as a staff.

“In other words, it will work the first time. Keep that in mind, Reine des Garous.”

The silver cross had already activated behind Katsuie.

By controlling her center of gravity, the Reine des Garous had landed on the slanted roof without making a noise.

“Stab, Valkyrie Marteau.”

A direct hit from point-blank range was fired into Katsuie’s back.

The noise throbbed in one’s gut and turned the water’s surface to spray.

Katsuie’s body was sent skipping along the water. He flew toward Tomoe who rested her hammer on her shoulder before raising it in preparation.

“Die, kid!!”

She made a splendid swinging strike.

But the attack’s intended victim flew over it.

Katsuie had used Kamewari. The weapon had finally reached a charge, so he had activated it downwards.

“Get it, Kamewari!!”

The water exploded and the wind blasted upwards.

He flew high enough into the sky to easily clear Tomoe’s head and land five rooftops over.

He was alive, but he fell to one knee and coughed up quite a bit of blood.

His body was covered in a sticky sweat that was clearly not water and his entire body shook from the blow.

However…

“Ha ha! It’s been a while since I took something like that!!”

“Pipe down and eat the rest, kid.”

“Not a chance. I was thrown off my pace and I can’t get back into it now. My ribs were smashed to pieces. I think one’s pierced my stomach. Sorry, but I couldn’t possibly eat any more. Not even if some old hag asks me. So…”

He spat out the blood that had collected in his mouth and he leaped eastward, toward the Elbe River and the opposite bank.

The Reine des Garous’ eyebrows rose when she saw it.

“You’re running!?”

“What!? Don’t be stupid! I’m leaving because I’ve won! It’s called quitting while you’re ahead! Remember that, okay!?”

“Quitting while you’re ahead?”

The demonic form jumping into total darkness answered their question as he disappeared into the blackness.

“You’ll die by the time you see it. So if you don’t want to die…you need to get running!”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 83|Chapter 83]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 85|Chapter 85]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 80

2015-09-05T04:24:40Z

68.109.52.245: /* Chapter 80: The One in the Place the Wolf Desires */

==Chapter 80: The One in the Place the Wolf Desires==
[[Image:Horizon3C_0489.jpg|thumb]]
''What can you accept

''As a human?

'''Point Allocation (Relief)

Mitotsudaira had only one option.

She could only shorten her snapping movements even further.

Instead of snapping her entire arm or leg forward, she would divide it up into parts such as the shoulder to elbow or elbow to shoulder.

She made more precise movements.

She was forced to do this to oppose the Reine des Garous who was larger than her, had a greater reach, and had a higher top speed. If she made the same sort of movements, her mother would catch up and overpower her.

That was why Mitotsudaira made her own movements.

They were rough at first, but she continued to change them each time she repeated them.

“—————”

Suddenly, the movements fit into place.

Through repeated trial and error, she found the right answer and learned the trick to it. And…

…''I need to make sure I don’t forget that trick!

When compared to her mother, she doubted she had enough talent to say she was especially skilled at combat.

She was half Loup-Garou and half human. Her body had the advantages of a beast, but it was still bound by her humanity. She had the initial speed of a wolf, but her human parts were an impediment.

Her movements were neither entirely those of a beast nor entirely those of a human.

Hers was an awkward body.

That was why she added her human side into her bestial movements.

She used her beastly speed to make human movements.

She swung her arms and ran, she bent her elbow and guarded, and she sent out her motionless hand.

Instead of just making quick short jumps with her legs, she ran, performed turns, and stepped forward to attack.

These were not the movements of a beast. She used the combat footwork and martial arts of a knight and a warrior.

It all passed through her body and carved into the battlefield.

She felt like she was carving it into herself.

She carved down her movements, further perfected them the more she made them, and corrected any mistakes she made.

The Reine des Garous’ claws, jabs, and kicks grazed her or struck her several times and those claws had just torn into her right upper arm, but…

“…”

She had learned to pull back in the instant of contact to reduce the damage. In her battle with Rudolf II, she had first come to understand these movements of hers through that damage reduction.

And the more she moved, the more the Reine des Garous moved.

She moved like a beast pursuing its prey.

She circled around on a curving path and her claws would rush out if Mitotsudaira showed even the slightest opening.

She even used those attacks as feints and then suddenly attacked from outside Mitotsudaira’s field of vision.

…''This is insane!

Mitotsudaira felt a cold sweat and evaded on reflex.

The wind whipped up as she moved.

She thought about her next move and sent herself into her opponent’s blind spot.

She changed her movements based on split-second decisions.

This was unlike Futayo’s cumulative acceleration or Muneshige’s repeated acceleration. She quickly made instantaneous accelerations and stops while changing her fighting style each time she snapped her body around.

She carved out her speed.

With each step, she would launch herself in a different direction. A moment later, she would do something else.

She did not commit herself to anything and would not let her opponent grasp her.

She could not oppose this woman otherwise.

She knew perfectly well that she was inferior.

…''So…

She fought back using her full strength and everything else available to her.

“Mitotsudaira-sama is battling her mother?”

On Musashi’s bow, Horizon tilted her head as “Musashi” passed on the report that Asama had sent via staticky divine transmission. Next to “Musashi”, Sakai looked down on the battlefield from the vertical deck.

“Where are they doing that, I wonder?”

“Sakai-sama… Did you realize Mitotsudaira-sama’s mother was the Reine des Garous? Over.”

“Now, now. You’re sounding a little frightening there, “Musashi”-san. …Will you be mad if I tell the truth?”

“Based on your answer, I will determine whether you acted inappropriately. Over.”

“Ahh.” Sakai nodded and placed his kiseru in his mouth. “Then I probably shouldn’t say.”

“That is a decent compromise, Sakai-sama. Over.”

“Judge, judge.” He nodded again and turned to Horizon. “What do you think, Horizon? Can Nate defeat the Reine des Garous?”

“I cannot say. There are too many uncertainties.”

“Musashi” nodded in agreement and placed a hand on Sakai’s shoulder.

“That is the standard view. Do you understand now, Sakai-sama? You should stop buying black disk sets on the divine network ‘because they look good’ when you have never seen the show and its quality is uncertain. Over.”

“The ‘standard view’ these days has gotten pretty harsh.”

After Sakai’s comment, Horizon continued where she left off.

“But…one thing ''is'' for certain.”

Asama’s divine mail had mentioned Mitotsudaira’s past.

“It seems Mitotsudaira-sama made a promise to me when I existed before. She promised to protect me. And…”

“And?”

“Her dream was apparently to become a knight and protect people. So what does that mean?”

Horizon expressionlessly looked down on the battlefield.

“I have received that promise once more, so if Mitotsudaira-sama also holds that promise…”

“Then what?”

“Judge. Then she will win. After all…”

After all…

“A knight keeps her promises. Every book I have read says so.”

Mitotsudaira fought her mother.

She slipped through her mother’s attacks, made her own attacks, and then repeatedly defended or evaded.

She moved.

She gave her speed to every part of her body, carved out each and every movement, and made her attacks at great speed.

She did not use the flowing movement of swordplay and she did not constantly increase of her entire body’s speed with acceleration techniques.

She only knew the combat techniques taught in her lessons.

She strengthened those using the speed of a beast.

However, she changed one thing from her lessons.

She kept her hand flat instead of forming a fist.

When a clenched fist hit at high speed, the returning force would destroy her hand. The same would happen if she used the heel of her palm. She wore gloves during training both to reduce the damage to her opponent and to protect her own fist.

Instead, she made straight jabs with her flat hand.

For a human, that would destroy their fingers. If it caught on something, it would rip off the nails.

But things were different for a beast, and…

…''I was given a manicure.

The color her king had chosen existed below her white gloves. It was not a product of the workshop she owned, but she wanted to think that was his way of saying it was a present and not something she owned in the first place.

With that blessing on her nails but hidden from the world, Mitotsudaira accelerated her flat hand forward.

She carved down her speed and snapped herself forward as if continuing to carve the movements into herself.

Then, she added on another movement.

To show her mother what she had gained after going to Musashi, she made several adjustments to her attacks.

“—————!!”

She continued forward without ever giving up.

The Reine des Garous saw something nostalgic in her daughter’s movements.

She saw human movements.

Hopeful heroes had turned those movements against her countless times in the past. These were the movements of a group who had all become her prey.

These were the movements of those she had eaten.

''But,'' she thought. ''They must not have been wrong.

After all, someone was opposing her with those movements at their foundation. That someone was a young girl who had a beast’s blood and a human body, but who could not defeat a beast with her strength.

Her inability to win made her the same as those hopeful heroes.

…''But…

By mixing man and beast, new techniques and power were created.

It almost seemed the Reine des Garous’ attacks and martial arts were embracing her and helping her grow.

“————!”

How far would the techniques of the weak take this child?

She did not know.

All she knew was who exactly was pushing this child forward.

The person who had become her husband had saved her when death was her only option and she was prepared to die.

This child’s king had saved their princess when death was her only option and she was prepared to die.

This child was that king’s knight. She had the same will and the same look in her eyes.

''She takes after her mother in the strangest ways,'' thought the Reine des Garous.

She was glad she had not gone ahead and killed this child’s king.

Eight years ago, this child had been unable to fight back and was left crying and apologizing. She had likely grown twisted afterwards, but that king had kept her from giving up.

He was a good king.

…''That was eight years ago, wasn’t it?

The Reine des Garous remembered something.

She was certain she had been involved with this child’s king when he was worried about becoming a king.

It had happened eight years before.

''I was horribly worn down then,'' thought the Reine des Garous amid the flow of battle.

She had been in a bad mood after returning from beating up her own child at Bizen IZUMO, so she had visited her true home at the candy house. She had wanted to get some rest there.

After a few days, two children had visited at night.

They had apparently gotten lost on their way back from visiting their great-grandmother in IZUMO.

The children were a sister and brother about the same age as her daughter. The sister had been wary of her, but the brother had been extremely excited and she had been forced to tell him all sorts of stories long after the sister had fallen asleep.

He had wanted to hear stories about chivalry. As for why…

“There’s something I’m going to do in the future, so I’m gonna become a king.”

However, he had also said something else while looking a little more dejected.

“There are some people who look like they might join me, but they all seem to be changing. …Maybe it won’t work out.”

She had admonished him then.

She felt that had been a mistake. The adult thing to do would have been to tell him that was not the case. However, she had instead told him that everyone gave up on those silly things when they grew up.

She had essentially been “killing” a child’s dream by telling him to look at reality.

The boy had looked like he wanted to say something and she had realized her mistake, but he had spoken before she could say anything else.

“Well, I can do it on my own if I have to.”

To distract him, she had held a late-night candy party with him, keeping it a secret from his sleeping sister.

…''But who would have thought?

''That boy’s dream wasn’t killed by my admonition. I’m sure plenty of other people tried to “kill” his dream too, but he still became a king.

…''I’m glad I noticed it was him.

The night before last, she had noticed from his scent when pressing her cheek against him as he lay in bed. She had thought she was imagining it, but another scent on him was the same as the sister who had visited eight years before.

The children probably did not remember it very well, but it had all led to a single result.

The boy had become a king and her daughter had become a knight.

She understood that her daughter desired a future with this king and the others there, not with her.

So…

“Show it to me.”

She wanted to see proof of the future her daughter had chosen.

“Show me what can stand up to me!”

Mitotsudaira leaped right. She snapped her body to her mother’s left side.

However, her mother was already turning that way.

Her mother’s right hand was flying to stab into the left side of her neck.

She received the attack.

She did not guard or deflect it. Her mother would break through if she guarded with her hand or arm and she would be knocked back herself if she deflected.

She had to use her shoulder.

Her shoulder was a collection of muscles near the center of her body, so a strike from that would match her mother’s jabbing hand.

A beast did not use its shoulder. This was a human defense.

She lifted her left hip forward and used the momentum to send her left shoulder up.

It was a sharp collision. The shoulder of her clothing ripped, sending cloth and chain-supplying parts flying into the air.

“—————!?”

She was pushed back. Even her shoulder was knocked back and her mother’s hand twisted back on course to her neck, so…

…''The left arm!

The left forearm hanging below her deflected shoulder struck her mother’s right arm from below.

She would lose if she simply tried to deflect it, so…

…''I’ll twist it with a wrapping motion!

She had learned this technique in England to deflect Walsingham’s Wars of the Roses. She had been slammed to the tatami mats by Naomasa countless times in training, so the movement had permeated her body.

She twisted her mother’s hand outwards to just barely knock it off course.

She felt a cold wind pierce through her hair behind her neck, but she had avoided it.

Then she moved forward. Her target was her mother’s left hand. Her mother had just had her right arm deflected outwards, so she was leaning backwards to pull that arm back.

That stance allowed Mitotsudaira to grab her left wrist and perform a twisting backwards throw.

Beasts did not perform throws.

That was why she would do exactly that, slam her mother to the ground, and then attack. Even if she could not throw her, grabbing the wrist allowed her to perform a joint lock or even break the arm.

She had techniques to draw on and she had the strength to pull them off.

She felt no exhaustion. Morning runs across the Musashi with Adele and the others and running after Oriotorai had given her endurance and the ability to focus for longer periods of time.

She could do this.

But her mother’s left hand was sent out in a flat-handed uppercut.

It was directed toward the right side of her gut.

That would be a fatal blow, but whether she guarded or deflected it, she would be driven back in front of her mother.

However, Mitotsudaira sought her mother’s left hand, so she took action.

“The heel of the palm!”

She stepped forward on her right foot, accelerated by carving down the speed from her toes to her shoulder, and she dropped down the palm of her heel with her fingertips bent. She aimed a bit higher than her mother’s flat hand. That meant the wrist.

And to increase the power of the blow, she gave her entire arm a twisting motion.

The attack struck.

She heard the air explode, a ring of wind hit the ground, and her attack counteracted her mother’s hand.

Both of their attacks were deflected, but…

“…”

Mitotsudaira corrected her posture by snapping her entire body.

Her returning elbow, her dropping hips, and her rising knee all gained instantaneous speed to cancel the wandering of her body.

As if pursuing her opponent, she moved through the wind to grab her mother’s deflected left hand.

But in that instant, she realized all color had vanished from her vision.

“————!?”

Mitotsudaira saw darkness before her.

Everything was dark and the color of her mother’s hair, body, and clothing were gone.

All she saw was the night sky visible from the hilltop.

Her mother had vanished.

…''Is this…!?

She knew what had happened. After all, this was something she could do.

Instead of a Loup-Garou’s acceleration, her mother had used the short-distance acceleration performed over a shorter period of time.

She had carved down her speed as Mitotsudaira had as a combination of wolf and man.

Her mother had pulled it off as a pure wolf.

''It can’t be,'' thought Mitotsudaira as she saw fluttering silver hair in the left corner of her vision.

Her mother was there.

The woman had reaccelerated to cancel the wandering of her evading body and then she had circled around to Mitotsudaira’s right.

It was the same carved down acceleration as Mitotsudaira used.

“…!!”

''That’s insane,'' thought Mitotsudaira in astonishment.

Her mother’s build and weight were entirely different from hers.

Mitotsudaira could only carve down her speed like that because of her light, small body. It was obviously a technique made for her, yet her mother had mimicked it with no training or trial and error.

…''How skilled is she!?

She was a Loup-Garou.

She was both beast and human. She was closer to the beast side than Mitotsudaira, but she must have powered through the human portions using her beastly strength.

Mitotsudaira was reminded of her opponent’s Urban Name: the Reine des Garous.

However, neither of them was in a good position.

She was charging toward her mother’s left hand and her mother had done the same.

Their dominant right hands were on the outside.

That meant they first had to twist around and face their opponent.

Deciding to do just that, Mitotsudaira began to move. Her right foot was on the ground, so she poured speed into that ankle.

A moment later, she noticed something was wrong.

Her mother was not turning toward her in the corner of her vision.

She simply saw the color silver spilling down from her mother’s hair and the silver seemed to unfold like origami.

“The silver cross!?”

A three meter silver cross fell from her mother’s hair and supported the woman’s back.

“That’s right.”

Mitotsudaira heard her mother speak.

“The one thing the Loup-Garou race has gained outside of our own existence is the silver armaments. Your silver chains belong to the Loup-Garous, not to you.”

So…

“If you are going to join the humans and show off what you have gained from them, you must use everything you have gained to fight every part of the Loup-Garous.”

She now knew what her mother’s carved down speed had meant.

…''Even a Loup-Garou can do that much!

Everything she had gained could be outdone by a beast, so she had to overcome even that.

However, light filled the silver cross as if to criticize her. A panel of bluish-white light in the empty center began to rotate, the cross’s short arms lowered to the end of the long body, and the weapon was cocked.

A moment later, she heard someone look back at her and speak.

“Nate, show me your answer.”

Valkyrie Marteau was fired.

Like a large crossbow, a bolt of light was fired from the cross.

It cut across the empty space with a roar.

The ether blast had been given the power of a physical blow and it struck the empty space itself.

The strike would crush and transform the ground over a diameter of ten meters. The Reine des Garous distinctly saw where it was going to hit.

Her daughter was there.

The light was going to score a direct hit.

…''What will you do now?

''Do you not have anything else? Can you not fight back against a Loup-Garou?

''Your silver chains and this silver cross belong to the Loup-Garous.

''Your grandmother, the previous Reine des Garous, obtained these weapons as a memento of a friend she failed to save.

''Death was that friend’s only option and she was prepared to die.

''And she did die.

''Your grandmother was unable to save her, so she lived hidden in the forest and I continued that tradition.

''But I found someone important to me and he led me into the world of man where I found someone I could call a friend.

...''What will you do now?

''Yes,'' thought the Reine des Garous as she asked her question.

Associating with humans had given the Loup-Garou race just one other thing besides those weapons.

“————”

She looked directly at her daughter.

Her two eyes focused on what the Loup-Garou race had gained with a human.

“What will you do now!?”

As soon as she asked that, something fell from the sky, slicing through the explosion of ether.

It was a thick white sword.

The single-edged blade was wrapped in ether and it stabbed straight into the ground to protect her daughter.

“Ex. Collbrande!?”

The Reine des Garous realized this child had indeed done something she had found to be very difficult.

…''Yes.

She watched her daughter grab the hilt of the blade that sliced through the ether explosion.

…''Nate.

She had thought she was an awkward, selfish, and overall lacking child, but…

…''You made some friends, didn’t you?

[[Image:Horizon3C_0509.jpg|thumb]]

The explosive pressure was split apart and shattered.

The sword of a king served by knights travelled down the center of it. The knight who had borrowed it raced straight ahead.

The Loup-Garou tried to turn around with all her might, but the knight’s speed won out.

When faced with that explosive pressure, the knight had chosen to advance. It might have knocked her to the ground, but she seemed to be saying it was her duty to choose resistance.

She ran forward.

The flying sword proved that the knight had made the correct decision. If she had not chosen to advance, she could not have grabbed its hilt to support it and it would have been blown away by the blast.

That king’s sword lent its power to one worthy of being called a knight.

The knight sent that power toward the beast.

“Rrr…”

She howled.

“Ohhhh!!”

The knight that howled like a wolf poured all of her strength into the attack.

She used the speed of a beast to launch the movements of a man.

The cross was deflected into the sky and the beast was knocked away. The knight finished her cry and took a few more steps.

“…!!”

There, she stabbed the sword into the ground and fell to her knees.

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 79|Chapter 79]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 81|Chapter 81]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 79

2015-09-04T04:52:13Z

68.109.52.245:

==Chapter 79: Wolf at the Site of the Promise==
[[Image:Horizon3C_0471.jpg|thumb]]
''What did

''The knight rely on

''Back then?

'''Point Allocation (Loyalty)

“Mitotsudaira is fighting her mother?”

Masazumi frowned on the transport ship’s deck and asked that question of Asama.

A pre-prepared divine mail had arrived from Naito who was battling Narimasa with Naruze. It provided the route Toori’s group was using, and…

“It says, ‘When we were stripping Mito-tsan and doing a variety of things to her, it ignited maman’s maternal instincts and she started asking if I knew any curses to make boobs grow, but to make a long story short, I think Adele would be first in line for that and maman will decide whether to release Mito-tsan after “testing” her.’ ”

“Messages like that have started making sense to me lately. Do you think that means I’m heading down the wrong path as a politician?”

…''Huh? But it makes perfect sense to me!

Despite that thought, Asama simply smiled and ignored the comment.

She then spoke to Masazumi while thinking back to the past.

“This is going to be their third battle, isn’t it?”

“The second one was back at IZUMO, right? Then was the first one…?”

“Yes.”

As Asama nodded in agreement, Kimi looked west from the edge of the deck as if searching for something. She stared outside of Magdeburg to the flat battlefield and the hill beyond it and she slowly opened her mouth.

“How should I put it? Was it eight years ago? My foolish brother and I didn’t know about it because we were at our grandmother’s house, but apparently the same thing happened at Bizen IZUMO.”

“Can I ask why?”

“Well,” said Asama as she looked to Kimi who nodded.

“I would like to know that, too. Even if it’s a little late to be asking.”

After all…

“If Mitotsudaira can defeat the Reine des Garous and arrive here, it will mean she has swept away her past from eight years ago. So can you tell us what happened then?”

“Well.” Asama breathed out. “Mito…tried to leave Musashi.”

“Lady Mitotsudaira did?”

Tenzou was traveling with Mary and Toori behind the supply station of the M.H.R.R. siege troops. They could hear the battlefield, but they were not actually on the battlefield.

Given the topic, Tenzou was using a ninja technique and Mary was using a spirit spell so they could converse without Toori hearing. Tenzou felt awkward going behind Toori’s back like that, but…

…''Toori-dono…

The crossdressing idiot was slipping in and out of the warrior camp built alongside the supply station. And each time…

“Look, Tenzou! They’ve got Western stuff! This is German-style 18+ material! It’s a treasure trove of everything from magazines to games!”

“When they return to camp, I bet the M.H.R.R. warriors will be shocked to find only their pornographic possessions have vanished…”

“? Master Tenzou, what does he meant by ‘Western stuff’?”

“Nothing, nothing, nothing.” Tenzou shook his head and changed the subject while acting like he was improving her vocabulary. “Um, to get back on topic… Well, Mitotsudaira-dono was in a difficult position.”

“With the inherited name of Mito Matsudaira?”

“Judge.”

Tenzou checked to make sure there were no guards in the camp. Mary’s spirit spells kept anyone from sensing them from a distance, but they still could not afford to let their guard down. He continued speaking as he moved ahead.

“That was part of it, but being separated from her parents was probably a factor, too. As soon as we began elementary school, she would brag about her mother who could not come to Musashi and about her inherited family name.”

“Given the kind of person she is now, it would be wrong to say that was because she was anxious, wouldn’t it?”

Mary asked another question while arranging another invisibility spirit spell.

“When did that change?”

“I think it was about half a year after we began elementary school. …That was when she learned the truth. Mito Matsudaira was second in line to the Far East, but…”

He took a breath.

“Horizon-dono was there.”

“I see. Horizon died ten years ago, so she was with you for the first two years of elementary school, wasn’t she?”

Asama nodded and worked through the jamming and noise to see if a new divine mail or chat message had arrived.

“Horizon was…um…Lord Motonobu’s…yes, his official child, but she was a secret. But, well, despite that, pretty much everyone on the Musashi knew about it. So Mito eventually learned about it, but then she said something to Horizon.”

''Should I really be saying this?'' she wondered while feeling pathetic that she had to look over at Kimi for permission.

But all Kimi did was mime shoving a hand between her breasts. Asama concluded nothing good would come of paying any attention to that crazy person, so she continued the story.

“She said Horizon was an unrecognized child, so she was lower than her in the Far East’s line of succession.”

“———”

Masazumi was clearly dumbfounded and Asama began to panic.

“U-um,” she began. “Th-that was a long time ago! Mito has corrected her personality quite a bit since then, we all understand that, and that was just one especially harsh point from the past. U-um, want to try shoving your hand between my breasts!? Pull out Hanami and you win one free spell contract!”

“No, uh… I was just thinking that kids can be cruel. I used to say some pretty heartless things myself.”

“For example?”

“Well, I once asked my toupee-wearing principal why he always had an air intake on his head.”

'''Almost Everyone:''' Deliberating.

“Hey, wait! Why do you only do that when it’s me!?”

“Calm down,” said Asama before sighing.

…''Our pasts can be such tricky things.

But that thought led to another one.

…''We can tell each other these things because we know each other well enough to know they’ll tell us not to worry about it.

At most, they would laugh and ask why it was even worth saying.

So Asama recalled those days while knowing Horizon would no longer remember them.

“Everyone paled when we heard what Mito said, but Horizon replied with a relieved look on her face.”

She recited the words that still rang in her ears and remained in her memories.

“She said, ‘That means it won’t matter if I disappear, doesn’t it?’ ”

…''That’s right.

Mitotsudaira thought while fighting her mother. She thought while swinging her hands around, rotating, and sending her body out in small, carving movements.

…''There was a princess who was far more worried than me.

How had she felt herself?

She had been avoided for being from a Loup-Garou family and her presence had been treated as a bother, so she had held a childlike pride in making a definite place for herself and keeping anyone else from getting in her way.

But that princess had had difficulty even with her own place.

Mitotsudaira had wondered what she was doing and had not known what to say, so she had run from the classroom.

For a few days afterwards, she had not left her mansion and had feigned illness while curled up in her bed.

She knew she had done something awful.

She had demonstrated a complete lack of understanding to someone feeling even more fear than she had.

But she had soon been able to leave again. The idiot – who at the time she had only thought of as an idiot who hung around the princess a lot – had come by with the princess and the archery girl.

…''He said, “Let’s go eat yakiniku by the river! My mom’s hosting. And if you say you don’t want to, Asama says she’ll shoot you with the same thing she shot at the opening ceremony.”

A knight could not allow herself to be targeted by an evil-destroying arrow, so she had gone to the river.

Everyone had been there and she had sat next to Horizon and the idiot.

…'That turned into something pretty awful.

She breathed in a bit, pursued her mother, continued pursuing her, and thought to herself.

That had likely been her starting point.

“It was pretty lively. And, well, it looked like Mitotsudaira-dono wanted to say something to Horizon-dono.”

Tenzou checked to either side as he spoke and Mary laughed quietly.

However…

“Oh, sorry. But…my sister would often be like that. Yes… There would be no real reason to apologize, but she takes everything so seriously.”

“Judge. Anyway, Toori-dono helped push them along, and…”

He gestured for them to start moving again and mimed an action as he pulled the hand back.

He pretended to grab something with chopsticks and hold it out.

“He rigged a punishment game so Horizon-dono would have to feed Mitotsudaira-dono.”

“Oh, my.”

Mary turned around and saw the idiot following them while shoving his prizes inside a rucksack he had found somewhere or other.

…''He sure knows how to live a fulfilling life on the run.

''But a lot changed because of him,'' added Tenzou.

“At the time, Mitotsudaira-dono promised Horizon-dono that she was second in line and a knight, so it was her role to protect Horizon-dono.”

''She must have felt a responsibility to wipe clean her guilty conscience,'' thought Tenzou.

A lot had happened after that and the idiot had eventually read his dream for the future in writing class.

…''Was Mitotsudaira-dono able to agree with Toori-dono’s dream?

He could not remember if she had, but that was hardly surprising.

“But after Horizon-dono’s death, Mitotsudaira-dono tried to leave Musashi.”

“Eh?”

Tenzou nodded at Mary’s tone of question.

“Mitotsudaira-dono had been happily looking forward to the festival at which Horizon-dono died. She had heard from Hexagone Française that Lord Motonobu would be announcing that Horizon-dono was his legitimate child, so she was waiting at the ceremony hall. She probably wanted to tell Horizon-dono that she was finally first in line for real.”

But…

“Horizon-dono never made it to the ceremony hall. Neither did Toori-dono.”

When he finished speaking, Mary hung her head a little.

The two Excaliburs must have sensed their master’s will because they lowered down on either side of her. He felt somewhat apologetic, but he continued speaking.

“Mitotsudaira-dono had to have realized she would inherit the Far East if Lord Motonobu passed away without designating a successor. And she must have felt that she had stolen Horizon-dono’s position after promising to protect it.”

“Eh? But that wasn’t her fault…”

“Everyone thinks about things differently.”

“…Judge.”

Mary may have thought of an example of her own because she silently nodded.

Tenzou remembered that time clearly.

…''In the end, she must have made up her mind.

Even at that young age, she had tried to take responsibility.

“Mitotsudaira-dono tried to leave Musashi at Bizen IZUMO of southern Hexagone Française. Of course…”

“Of course?”

“Judge. The Reine des Garous was waiting for her there and she did the same thing she did back in IZUMO.”

Even as a child, Tenzou had felt fear as he watched from the deck, but as a result…

“She was ultimately unable to leave.”

…''That’s right.

A lot had happened in the long time since then.

“For a year or two, she was pretty depressed, but she grew wilder and wilder once we entered middle school.”

Had it been to take back or preserve her pride that her mother had left in tatters? No.

“She wanted to erase her position in the Far East’s line of succession. She felt she was unworthy of that position. So she grew violent, her Loup-Garou blood started showing itself more, and she was able to use its power.”

When he thought back on it…

…''She may have tried to leave Musashi because she didn’t want the rest of us to see her becoming a nonhuman.

“But even as she grew wild, she kept her distance from us and never acted violently to us. She only ever attacked the more oppressive upperclassmen ‘as a knight’.”

“That sounds like a position that would make her popular with the girls.”

“Judge. She still has a lot of fans from that time. But halfway through our first year of middle school, she was called out by those upperclassmen.”

He did not know much about that incident. Asama had still been on speaking terms with Mitotsudaira and she had been worried when she heard about it, so she had gotten Mitotsudaira to tell her where she had been called to.

…''But that was a lie.

Everyone had waited ''there'' equipped for a serious fight, but they had found nothing there and searched around in confusion.

“Well… I don’t really know what happened, but by the time we found Mitotsudaira-dono behind the school building, we found her looking up into the sky and sobbing with the nudist collapsed in her lap and beaten to a bloody pulp.”

“That sounds like a serious incident.”

He could only agree. But until Asama had prepared her healing spells, Mitotsudaira had refused to leave the nudist’s side and she had returned to her old self afterwards.

The others had not asked for details, but they did know one thing.

“That was when Mitotsudaira-dono became a true knight.”

…''That’s right.

Mitotsudaira accelerated and thought about her mother’s assignment.

She was to prove what she had gained.

What was that? What did she have? What had she gained?

She was aware she had acquired quite a bit in the past, but it was all linked together by that incident with the upperclassmen shortly after entering middle school. A certain person had told her the upperclassmen would be waiting for her that evening behind the school building.

She had gone there at the designated time and found a certain person naked, collapsed, and beaten to a bloody pulp. In the distance, the upperclassmen had been leaving in tears yelling, “I-I’ll sue you! You’re the worst! You really are the worst!!” Mitotsudaira had realized what must have happened.

…''Honestly, and he had pretty much left me alone up to that point.

But when she had lifted him in her arms while wishing he had minded his own business, he had spoken.

“Sorry.”

''For what?

“A while back, I said I’d become a king, but a lot’s happened since then. For one thing, my well-endowed sister once gave me a lecture about looking at reality. And once we got to middle school, everyone started looking a lot more grown up. Their boobs got bigger…well, not you and Adele. Ah, wait. Don’t raise your fist. Calm down. Stay, stay… Not the fiiiiist! Anyway, calm down. Listen. Um, but… But…”

…''But?

“I’m going to become a king one day. I’m not going to give up. That’s all I wanted to say.”

''What?

“So, um, yeah! …So I’ll become a king, and, uh… I’ll make a kingdom like the one we could have made with Horizon here, so…”

''So?

“I’ll make the kind of kingdom Horizon would have lived in, so you be my kingdom’s knight.”

She had found it ridiculous.

She remembered all too well how she had snapped back at him.

“Are you willing to take on all of the debts in my heart!?”

“Don’t be stupid.” He had smiled. “I can’t do anything, so I don’t care if you leave all your debts with me. So if you have anything like that, just leave it with me. If you’re ever feeling gloomy or down or you’re tormented by memories of the past, then – yeah – just leave it all with me. And you can be my kingdom’s-… Well, for the time being, just be Musashi’s knight. And once I make my kingdom, I’ll call for you.”

She had thought he was an idiot and that there was no way he could do it, but he had smiled up at her with his head resting on her lap.

“And if I make a suitable king, then you become my kingdom’s knight. I think that would make Horizon happy.”

She had thought it was all ridiculous, but then she had found herself crying.

When she had given her dream for the future, she had said she wanted to become a knight and protect people.

Horizon had been her starting line for protecting people. Her young self had decided to start with her, learn about being a knight, and then protect that princess and lots of other people.

But she had lost that starting line.

She had since drifted from that path and she had tried to forget it all because she had felt she had no other choice, but she had been unable to forget anything and that idiot had come to bring her back on track.

“Then…”

It was possible she would walk down a different path in the future, but she decided to hold onto her dream instead of throwing it away.

“Then if you decide to create the kind of kingdom Horizon would have lived in and I can follow you there…”

She had made a promise.

“I will pave the way for you, my king. I will make sure you can continue to hope and never give up despite your loss.”

That was right.

A lot had happened afterwards, she had begun working as one of Musashi’s knights, and they had entered high school. He had never said anything more about it, he had become the chancellor and Student Council president, and she had thought nothing would ever come of it, but…

…''I’m sorry. That wasn’t the case at all.

Her king had not given up on anything.

He had not changed even when he learned Horizon was alive.

He had to be broken, too. He had to have broken when Horizon had died.

He had gained the broken feeling of losing something important to him.

So if Horizon was alive, he would try to fill that brokenness in himself. He would make sure he never lost that important thing again.

That was why he was trying to make the world his own.

“—————”

Mitotsudaira carved the same words into her heart as she had before.

…''One day…

''I hope one day, my king will be able to actually fill his brokenness instead of taking on the debts of loss the others and I leave with him.

If she was to pave the way…

“I…!”

She moved forward. No matter the hardship, she would move forward so her king need never come to a stop.

“I will not give up!”

Mitotsudaira charged forward.

She ran. She snapped each and every step forward at tremendous speed.

The Reine des Garous also snapped her body to launch attack after attack.

Mitotsudaira fearlessly chose to attack and evade at close range.

The Reine des Garous did the same.

They tore through the wind, smashed the ground, and collided with each other.

The Reine des Garous’s movements were instantaneous and her sharp nails accurately pursued her opponent.

Those were the movements of a wolf.

On the other hand, Mitotsudaira’s movements changed.

She essentially used the same lupine movements as her mother. She raised her initial speed to increase her movement or destructive power. However, those movements began to change and underwent a constant transformation.

“…!”

She was changing from a wolf into something else.

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 78|Chapter 78]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 80|Chapter 80]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 77

2015-09-03T03:45:35Z

68.109.52.245:

==Chapter 77: Attacking Woman by the Water==
[[Image:Horizon3C_0397.jpg|thumb]]
''This action is needed

''To incite repentance

'''Point Allocation (Prostration)

In the park a bit north of Magdeburg’s cathedral, the evacuees and hemispheres were being loaded onto the transport ships supplied by the city.

There were three Dragon-class ships there. Guericke and the other Europeans boarded one, Masazumi, Kimi, Asama, and the Far Easterners boarded another, and the hemisphere cart was loaded onto the final one by Righteousness and the Palais-Cardinal. Adele guided them as they loaded it.

“Okay! Oh, over there! Over there! Over there! No, not there! Here!”

While the girl gave her instructions and gestures, Yoshiyasu had a thought inside Righteousness.

…''The Musashi is supposed to be a transport ship, but is all of their work this careless?

Anne and Mazarin commented from the Palais-Cardinal’s shoulder.

“Milady, how are you able to work with instructions like this?”

“That’s a good question, Luynes. I think it’s because I’m too nice.”

The Palais-Cardinal then addressed Yoshiyasu while holding half of the hemisphere cart.

“This took a fair bit of time. If it wasn’t for the barrier ceiling, we could have flown this here.”

Hearing that, Yoshiyasu looked up at the glowing barrier covering the sky. She judged the distance by eye and then looked to the six large wing-shaped flight devices on the Palais-Cardinal’s back.

“So you have the same flight ability as our Yatsufusa.”

“Isn’t that confidential information?”

It took Yoshiyasu a moment to respond.

“Ah.”

To hide her feeling of wrongdoing, she pushed the cart into the hangar. The Palais-Cardinal helped with Anne smiling bitterly on its shoulder.

“There. …Anyway, so much has happened that I’m feeling a little scatterbrained,” said Yoshiyasu.

“Oh, sorry. Our people did do a lot to you.”

Adele bowed her way after climbing down from the hemisphere cart and leaving the ship.

…''That they certainly did, but…

“I may have lost my focus a bit after this much contact with Musashi’s strange atmosphere. Satomi is a small nation, so you have to stay focused on whatever you’re working at, be it politics, economics, or defense. So…I had come to a decent understanding of the Palais-Cardinal’s power when you pulled on my hand and trained with me, but I mistakenly assumed that meant we were sharing our information.”

“That’s fine. We can let that be our little secret.”

Anne added “right?” while looking to Adele and the others working in the hangar.

They had all started working tying down the hemispheres inside the hangar, but they turned back toward Anne, and…

“————”

Every last one of them looked her in the eye and nodded. Some said “testament” and some replied with “judge”.

''This is a nice atmosphere,'' thought Yoshiyasu.

She had seen similar scenes in Satomi. While maintaining Righteousness, her sister had used to bring her homemade snacks, but recently…

…''Yoshiyori brings me food.

She stopped thinking there and wondered why her sister and that man tended to overlap in her mind.

…''But I don’t feel anything wrong with my sister and Anne overlapping in my mind.

Then what was it about her that insisted on rejecting that man?

Yoshiyori sensed a bad habit of hers.

Whenever she thought about something, she would use that man who killed her sister as a comparison or example.

She glanced over at Anne and the vassal below noticed before Anne did.

“What is it?”

The girl tilted her head as she asked, so Yoshiyasu gave a mental sigh that could not be expressed by the god of war’s voice device.

“I’m not sure how to put it.”

A thought had come to her after leaving Satomi. She had noticed this after seeing other leaders such as Anne and after having a chance to compare them to her sister and that man.

…''There are a lot of similarities between Anne, my sister, and that man.

That may have been what a leader was.

That thought had led her to another one during the few days of this journey.

“I need to see so many more things and accept so much more.”

“I see…” said the vassal.

The silver god of war turned around and the girl on its shoulder spoke.

“That would be good. You do have a lot of room for growth. …In the chest for example.”

“This isn’t just about my chest!”

However, she did feel better now that she had said that. This may not have been something to think about in the middle of a battlefield, but…

…''Is this why Yoshiyori forced me to go along with him?

Even if she did not try to understand Yoshiyori himself, she could learn a lot by watching the leaders of other academies. She could observe their attitudes, where they placed their gaze, and their toughness or flexibility.

Her sister was gone, but the other academies were supported by people like her sister. And…

…''Does that man play that role for Satomi?

She did not feel entirely certain of it, but that may have been her way of resisting the idea. When she made enough of a concession to think she was bringing too many personal feelings to her official position, a feeling of self-deprecation filled her heart. Regardless, she spoke while listening to the cannon fire and watching the light in the sky.

“Once this battle is over and I return to Kantou, it might not be a bad idea to visit the other nations there a bit. It could be useful to expand Satomi’s trade and political connections.”

If she did that, would she find more approval when she returned?

She was not sure, but the vassal smiled down below.

“The Musashi is great for taking a trip. The travel fees are cheap.”

“Can you at least make sure my bed won’t be destroyed each morning?”

“What are you talking about?”

Hearing Anne’s confused voice, Yoshiyori began wondering how to explain.

…''Oh.

''I really am feeling a lot better,'' she thought.

But a sound suddenly reached her auditory device in addition to the continuing cannon fire.

“Impacts? And they seem to be on a pretty large scale.”

“Yes. The defense of the riverside path has started in earnest.”

Work tying down the hemispheres was continuing inside the hangar, but the transport ship was not waiting for it to finish. Bands of mist began to appear around its waterline. Seeing that, Righteousness asked a question.

“So it’ll be leaving as soon as everything’s ready?”

“Testament, as soon as the defensive barrier is removed. …We’ll be closing up shop quite quickly.”

“Will you be fighting by the river?”

“No,” replied Anne. “Unless it’s an absolute emergency, protecting Magdeburg is a job for the M.H.R.R. Protestants. Well, them and the Musashi which is helping them. If anything, we are only guests. The Satomi family has only been fighting ‘because of possible damage to your cargo’, right?”

“…Sorry.”

“I wasn’t accusing you of anything, so don’t apologize.”

Anne smiled from the silver god of war’s shoulder. As if protecting the three transport ships, she had the god of war take a step north and place a hand on the scabbard at its waist.

Another powerful sound of impact came from the direction of the river.

“That’s quite the noise. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.”

Anne explained who was charged with defending that area.

“M.H.H.R.’s secretary and Protestant representative. …Tomoe Gozen clearly still has her strength.”

The path traveling three hundred meters south to north was approximately six meters wide.

To the west was an earthen slope and to the east was a barrier of white rising into the heavens from the edge of the path. A muddy river reached two meters high just beyond the barrier.

Six cannons were lined up at the city entrance to the north.

A unit of one thousand M.H.R.R. Catholic mobile shells descended the riverside path from the south, but they had been stopped about two hundred meters along. Or more accurately…

“Don’t let them push you back!”

Those in the lead were being worn down, blown away, or torn into.

The loss of the warriors was pushing their ranks back.

There were two reasons for this. The first was the constant fire from the six large cannons. However, the cannons were stuck at a fixed angle and could be dealt with if the front row held their shields just right and set up a rotation.

The real problem was the enemy charging into the front line.

It was a demonic long-lived woman with two horns. She wore Far Eastern armor over an M.H.R.R. girl’s uniform and her white headband fluttered in the wind.

“Tomoe Gozen!?”

“You can call me Luther if you want. After all…”

Tomoe swung her arms, both of which held a Testament hammer. Protestant spell charms flew from her wide kariginu-like sleeves. Instead of falling, those spell charms decorated her surroundings and rotated.

“Yes, because I created the foundation of the Modern Kunst.”

Six cannons’ worth of shells pierced straight down the path.

They reached Tomoe, whose spell charms were rotating around her, and the M.H.R.R. Catholic mobile shell unit, who were confronting her at close range. The mobile shell unit raised their holy spell shields in preparation for the shells.

“C’mon, now. How about we keep fighting without worrying about defense?”

Tomoe rushed in toward them.

The enemy formed a row of three and she stepped between the middle one and the one to her right.

Aiming for the enemies on her left and right, she swung up her two Testament hammers.

First, the right hammer caught on the right elbow of the mobile shell on the right.

Its elbow broke and was knocked upwards. The shield was lifted up along with the arm and a shell struck it.

The impact on the shield knocked the right mobile shell backwards.

However, the mobile shell in the center jumped to his right, which was toward the river, to avoid the left hammer coming his way.

He managed to dodge, but he also ran shoulder-first into the shield-bearing mobile shell by the river.

The one by the river caught and supported his comrade with his shoulder.

That was when Tomoe attacked.

As her left hammer had missed, she swung it straight up as if to pull her body toward the sky.

She had already swung her right hammer upwards, so she swung it downwards and to the left like a pendulum.

The right hammer made a scooping swing with her floating body at the central point.

“Your feet are wide open.”

Ignoring the two shells passing by her back and below her chest, she swept out the feet of the central mobile shell whose balance had been thrown off by the shell hits.

Rather than hit the mobile shell’s legs with the striking surface, she snagged and threw its legs with the joint between the hammer and handle.

The mobile shell and shield spun around and a flying shell struck its back.

The remaining mobile shell by the river held a weapon in the arm that had supported his comrade.

It was a long, thick spear meant for assaults. He used the mobile shell’s reinforced framework to provide powerful speed to an attack directed at Tomoe, who was wide open after swinging her two hammers.

The high-speed attack broke through the wind in an instant, but…

“That height was a mistake.”

As soon as she spoke, a shell from the city hit the spear. A sound of destruction filled the air as the spear was bent and knocked upwards.

“Sorry, but I decided when they would fire, so they aren’t going to hit me,” she said, sounding bored.

By then, the right hammer swinging down below caught up to the left hammer pulling her up into the air.

Both of the hammers now stood straight up, and…

“Now, then.”

She swung the two hammers to the left like a golf club to attack the riverside mobile shell.

The two attacks landed at the same moment she did and the enemy was knocked away, along with his shield.

The shield was knocked upwards, both the enemy’s arms were pulled up with it, and a shell hit his body.

The riverside mobile shell was blasted high into the sky, but…

“…!”

Another row of three charged in.

They had waited for the gap between shells. Tomoe had also created an opening by swinging both hammers up toward the river. She was facing the river and stretched upwards, so the three enemies rushed in toward her side.

The two on either side wielded long spears and the central one wielded a rifle.

Even if she held off the outer two with her hammers, they were prepared to safely finish her off with the central firearm.

The spears came and the gunfire flew.

Tomoe showed a single response.

She jumped straight up and pulled her legs up, as if being lifted by the hammers she had swung upwards.

Her feet surpassed the coming spears, so she stepped on them and made a light additional jump.

The spell charms flying around her followed her movements.

At this new height, she pulled her legs up further and the bullet passed by below her feet.

She then let go of the hammers and had them rotate in midair.

At the same time, she performed a half spin to turn her back on the group of enemies.

Next, she raised her hands toward the vertically rotating hammers.

By grabbing the handles and swinging them down from front to back, they automatically formed an attack rotating past her legs from top to bottom.

The two backwards-facing midair attacks accurately struck the faces of the two spear-wielding enemies.

She heard a solid sound of collision, the armor broke, and the two mobile shells stopped moving.

Then the cannons fired.

The two enemies were blown away.

However, the central mobile shell charged in after abandoning his rifle. He drew a long sword from his back and targeted Tomoe’s waist and back as she dropped down.

Tomoe looked over her left shoulder toward the simple, straight-line attack.

“Please take this.”

She threw her left hammer toward the central sword-wielding charge.

However, the mobile shell swung his sword up toward the flying blunt weapon and deflected it into the air.

“…!!”

He immediately went on to slash down toward Tomoe’s stomach as she turned around in midair.

In that instant, Tomoe opened her left hand that no longer held a hammer.

And she spoke.

“Activate – Consecutive Style.”

As soon a Tomoe spoke, a spell charm rotating behind her shoulder began to glow.

Smoke rose from the usage meter printed on the charm and a brand appeared there.

While still falling, she swung her left hand.

Just as the rectangular scorch mark appeared on the spell charm, a single large book made of ether was ejected into her hand.

The bluish-white ether book had no decorations and it was six meters tall, six meters wide, and almost a full meter thick.

“This is a copy of the Testament. Nothing could be more important to us Protestants.”

With a movement of her wrist, Tomoe slammed the giant glowing Testament copy into the mobile shell with the sword.

It was a vertical attack.

“You Catholics love idol-worshiping your images of Jesus or the cross. You’re so focused on those things that you’ve lost sight of the teachings in the Testament copies.”

The attack landed and Tomoe spoke quietly to her enemy while the sound of smashing metal rang out.

“Bow before the Testament copy.”

She landed just as the enemy was crushed to a prostration on the ground.

The ether Testament copy vanished at the same moment as the brand for a single usage was completed on the spell charm.

Tomoe then moved forward.

She raised her left hand and smiled toward the row of enemies that moved back a bit.

“Read through it again, Catholics.”

Several spell charms around her began to glow and seven giant books were produced in a straight line along the path.

The Testament copies made of light opened themselves in the instant they were ejected into midair. They flipped through their glowing pages with a sound like flapping wings.

At the same time, Tomoe crouched down and struck the ground with her left hand.

“Amen.”

The mobile shells cried out as the opened books crashed into them.

The sounds of impact sounded like crashing waves and the ground shook seven times in quick succession.

Destruction and cries of pain sounded out as several dozen mobile shells were destroyed.

They were crushed.

Tomoe grabbed the handle of the fallen hammer with her left hand and moved forward. She leaned forward and raced toward the enemy as if pursuing the giant vanishing books of light.

That was when the muddy Elbe River shook to her left.

“…!?”

As soon as she turned to look, the wall of light holding the flooding river back was cut by a horizontal attack.

…''Is he here!?

Tomoe focused on the position on her left that she was just about to pass.

With the enemy group up ahead, turning her body and focus to the left was dangerous; but the person who had suddenly rushed in outdid that.

…''He’s even more dangerous!

This person had temporarily sliced through the defensive barrier holding back the river.

“So you’re here, Shibata Katsuie!?”

The man was soaking wet after easily crossing the muddy river and breaking through the barrier with Kamewari.

Not only was he of the demonic long-lived race, but he was from a combat tribe.

Once he arrived on the path, his eyebrows twisted and he glanced toward the city.

“What the hell!? I thought I was a lot closer to the city than this! Dammit, Narimasa! It’s times like this when you’re supposed to convince me to bring more weight with me!”

Only then did he seem to notice Tomoe.

“Huh?” He tilted his head. “What!? What’s this old hag doing here!? Go up in the mountains to die already!”

“What!? Who the hell are you calling an old hag!? I might as well still be a child!!”

“Huh!?” Katsuie got up and pointed at her while ignoring his wet clothes. “Who in the world would call you a loli hag!?”

Tomoe threw a hammer strike his way.

The hammer and Kamewari collided and sparks flew.

Their weapons were not the only things knocked back; they themselves were knocked back.

After taking up a position five meters away, Tomoe noticed the timing of Katsuie’s footwork.

…''Oh?

She realized he had begun his attack at the exact same time as she had hers.

…''He’s gotten pretty good.

She was from the direct line of the demonic long-lived race which was very similar to humans. However, he was from the combat type that had apparently come about during the era in which the gods had ascended to heaven.

And both types had seen a sharp decline during the Genpei War and the later Kamakura period.

She had lived on and used her experience to strengthen herself.

Katsuie had been born much more recently, but he had still trained and grown stronger in order to improve himself.

Even though he was of the combat type, his age was only a bit over one hundred. She had heard he had joined P.A. Oda in order to experience the intense fighting there, but if that was enough for him to move at the same time as her…

“Well done training yourself this far so quickly!”

“I’m not some stubborn spot on the ground, so don’t look down on me!”

A moment later, Tomoe realized she had stopped moving.

There was a single reason for this: ether light had wrapped around the silver shield attached to the right hard point on Katsuie’s back.

That was the Testamenta Arma named Animus Caritas – Novum and she knew what it did when activated.

…''It interferes with any attack or defense made in combat and stops them for just an instant!

''No,'' she thought. ''This isn’t “stopping” them.

''It adds a moment of hesitation.

It was a feeling of not wanting to crush your opponent or of wanting to see how much they had grown. It was like the look of charity a parent gives to a child.

Of course, what was charity to a family member was nothing but danger to an enemy, but…

…''Well done!

Their speed was equal, but he still did not hold back. This was not an ideal challenge of blades meant to compare their pure skill because all else was equal.

This was a method used purely to win a fight.

“Are these the principles you learned from Nobunaga!?”

“That’s too complicated for me!”

Katsuie attacked with Kamewari with a magnificent smile on his face.

“Winning feels good! That’s all there is to it, you old hag!”

“Then I’m going to be feeling great!!”

Tomoe raised her voice as she turned her head and looked up into the sky.

“My Testament copies activate automatically to defend me!”

Three giant books had already been ejected into the air above her.

This spell activation was essentially a conditioned reflex and therefore not a conscious attack or defense, so how would Animus Caritas – Novum respond?

“That thing wasn’t made to battle something without a will of its own. It’s an idealist’s weapon!”

With those words, the three giant books struck Katsuie with three vertical blows.

Katsuie did not even have time to look up before the attacks hit his shoulders and head.

His legs were instantly embedded in the ground up to half the shin.

“Whoa!”

His shins tore into the dirt and he nearly fell to his knees, but…

“————!!”

He endured it. The strength filling his entire body caused him to heat up and his sweat turned to steam, filling the surrounding air with heat.

He was fortunate he had not looked up or bent backwards. His forward bent back and neck had absorbed the impacts from above, so he was able to gather strength in the feet buried in the dirt.

“…!!”

He jumped up. The three giant books scattered into particles of light, but he did not bother looking at them.

“I hate books full of words!!”

Tomoe had yet to recover her movement. Having her initial movement forcibly stopped meant she had to prepare herself anew. Katsuie, of course, had to redo his own attack, but he could convert his standing motion into an attack and that gave him an advantage when it came to speed.

He decided to swing Kamewari as he stood up, but that was when Tomoe suddenly looked to his right and raised her eyebrows.

“Ah,” she said as if she had noticed something.

''It’s a feint,'' he thought. ''She’s trying to distract me so she has a chance to attack.

…''I’m not falling for that!

“Heh! What do you think you’re doing, you stuuuuupid old hag!? Die!!”

A shell flying in from the right collided with the right side of his face.

''That was a close one,'' thought Tomoe. ''And I was the one that decided when and where the cannons would fire, so I really should have known exactly where they would be coming from.

However, she had completely forgotten about the cannons once Katsuie appeared and she had to deal with him. That was why she had reacted to the shell that flew in as if to remind her of their presence.

If her reaction had allowed Katsuie to notice the shell, it would have been her mistake.

Fortunately, the idiot had taken the full force of the blow, but…

“No damage!?”

His body swayed and his eyes were not quite focused, but strength filled his brow before long.

“Kh!”

He was coming to and forcing his body into motion.

He may have suffered a concussion because he started to collapse backwards, but Kamewari shot forward nonetheless. And it was a high-speed slash made from a snap of the wrist similar to throwing a slap.

''Well done,'' she thought again. ''You are a combat-type demonic long-lived.

…''So well done becoming so obsessed with combat!!

As soon as she prepared to intercept his attack, two things suddenly appeared in the air behind her: noise and light.

They came from above the city of Magdeburg near the park behind the cathedral.

…''Directly above the transport ships!?

She looked back in shock and saw what was there.

An aerial ship had stabbed into Magdeburg’s sky.

It was a straight-line attack.

An aerial ship stood vertically at the very top of Magdeburg.

The three hundred meter ship showed no hesitation because it was unmanned.

A roar rang out and metal broke.

The defensive barrier surrounding Magdeburg glowed pure white and a flare of intense lightning appeared in the sky.

Naruze saw it as she fought Narimasa.

“They’re using an aerial ship as a battering ram!?”

The M.H.R.R. aerial warship was almost three hundred meters long, which put it at Kraken-class.

It had collided with the defensive barrier from directly above.

Despite the armor and solid structure of the warship, its length had shrunk by half. The crushed frame burst in the sky above and the broken parts scattered across the barrier like rain.

The barrier’s light looked dense enough to grab.

…''That isn’t good!

The redirection type of barrier redirected any weight outwards, but the damage it could not redirect would accumulate and, if a weight constantly pressed down on it, the ether would gather and create the same phenomenon as a solid.

…''That makes it easier to break, doesn’t it?

That thought was followed by something else.

“Another one!?”

Naruze thought a second ship had been dropped.

She thought a second body-slam had descended from the dark, cloudy sky.

But she was wrong.

She what had actually happened a moment later.

“A second ''and'' third ship!?”

Two simultaneous attacks showed themselves in Magdeburg’s sky.

They did nothing but continue their descent.

Righteousness and the Palais-Cardinal reacted to the weights falling from the sky.

“Not good!”

Righteousness saw that the evacuation transport ships had already begun to float. Wary of the enemy attacking and boarding them, they had prepared to get moving the instant it was time to escape, but that had half-covered them in water spray.

“Can you not land!? Then can you escape from the deck!?”

But the Palais-Cardinal stopped Righteousness from calling out to the ships.

“Don’t say that. Leaving the ship is exactly what the enemy wants. They fear that the various academy leaders will use the transport ships to escape to where they can’t reach them. That’s why they attacked from above.”

“Then…”

The transport ships were slowly beginning to move. They tilted to the west and slowly moved out of the way. That way, they could avoid the wreckage that would fall from above once the barrier was destroyed, but…

“There are more of them!?”

The second and third ships hit at supersonic speeds.

The sound arrived a moment later. What sounded like a heavier version of a slap shook the light of the barrier. The transport ships directly below were slow-moving and had yet to escape the range of the hits, so Righteousness took action.

“Sorry!”

She flew to the side of the westernmost transport ship.

She saw Guericke and the others on board gasping and she sent Righteousness’s right shoulder slamming into the ship carrying the Europeans.

She fully opened the flight devices on the god of war’s back and spread them like butterfly wings.

“…!”

She accelerated to get the transport ship away from the overhead attacks as soon as possible.

“That was a good decision, Satomi Yoshiyasu!”

The Palais-Cardinal arrived next to Righteousness.

“If the outside ship isn’t moved out of the way, the Far Eastern ship can’t move!”

Righteousness did not respond.

The two gods of war simply pressed against the transport ship and accelerated.

Naruze saw the entirety of Magdeburg lit up by a white dome.

However…

…''The barrier is still holding up!!

The color white was focused on the area of sky where the aerial ships had hit. Their falling wreckage was stopped by the light and fell no further. Occasionally, wiper-like spell light would wash across the sky like a wave, but it had not been made to handle three objects as large as these ships. All it did was whip up the wind.

Naruze could not say they were safe.

She looked directly below the enemy ships stopped by the barrier above Magdeburg.

…''The Maurice Cathedral and the evacuation ships containing Masazumi and the others are there!

The barrier could not be removed when it was being pressed on from above, but the evacuation ships were too close to the overhead dome to perform any major evasive maneuvers.

They had essentially been stopped where they were.

“Dammit!” shouted Narimasa as he ran along the wall. “It still hasn’t broken!?”

That told Naruze what the enemy was after. ''It can’t be,'' she began in her heart.

…''Flooding the Elbe wasn’t meant to weaken the barrier so they could break through the gate!?

It was not.

While attacking Narimasa, Naruze realized just why the enemy had flooded the Elbe River.

“Was it to make us think the city was dangerous and gather the leaders of the different nations in one place to evacuate them!? And then you could use warships as giant shells to take them all out at once!?”

The entire battle and the entire Sack had only been a way of gathering international leaders in one place and separating them from their bodyguard forces.

“You weren’t after the city or the history recreation at all! You were after the international leaders, weren’t you!?”

“Yup.” Narimasa threw stone toward her attacks while dodging them. “Once the international leaders had boarded their escape ships, we just had to attack the barrier above them enough to break through.”

He smashed the flying stone with his own fist and ran forward.

“Do you get it now?” he pointed at the light in the sky. “Then we crush their ships too! Of course, that’s not all we’re going to do here! But if they’re gonna gather together so conveniently, setting that as our goal is the logical thing to do!”

''This is insane,'' thought Naruze. ''They flooded the Elbe, started such a large-scale invasion, and brought in so many powerful people, but it was all a diversion?

…''No.

“You aren’t a diversion. …If you’re going to do it, you’re going to do whatever you want. Is that it!?”

“Shaja. That’s right.” Narimasa re-combed his bangs as he ran. “We’ll flood the place and we’ll drop ships from the sky, but our master’s policy goes beyond that. If we can accomplish even more, then we’re free to do what we want.”

He laughed.

“If this had happened just a few hours ago, I could’ve killed that bastard Suleiman. Well, I guess I’ll have to put that one off until later.”

“————”

Naruze was left speechless for several moments.

…''This is dangerous!

Those were their enemy’s tactics.

…''So they put together a strategy and then allow their people to show off if they’ve already accomplished that.

Of course, it was probably only those with considerable strength that were allowed to do that, but some of them could indeed do it.

''No,'' she thought. ''We have official positions too and the strength to pull that kind of thing off.

Nevertheless, they had entirely relied on their strategy and had not even thought about doing anything more.

“We were careless!!”

“Do you finally realize why people say P.A. Oda is so great!?”

Naruze mentally agreed with what he said as he ran, avoided her attacks, and made attacks of his own.

…''They think about things on an entirely different level.

She became strongly aware of Nobunaga’s existence, but not because she was impressed. She had another thought in her heart.

“What a troublesome enemy!!”

“Then learn just how inadequate you are and die!!”

Narimasa made a stomp as he ran and a long stretch of the stone wall hopped up.

Naruze accelerated. Carelessly lowering her speed would get her hit by a scattershot of stone, so…

“Take this!”

She drew some reverse focus lines and the stone wall exploded out the other side.

Then the stone bullets arrived. The cluster of fragments flew her way, so she accelerated around them.

Or she tried to.

“Eh?”

This was not stone. Something longer flew through the air, blocking her way.

It was a large cannon.

…''When did he do that!?

The answer was obvious. Narimasa had not sent the wall upwards with a powerful stomp in order to defend himself or gain the stone he needed to attack. He had done it to hide the cannon he was sending her way.

“!?”

She had accelerated to evade, so she could not avoid the cannon.

It collided with her as if catching on her right shoulder.

“————!”

She saw two things as her vision rotated.

First, Narimasa had kicked the wall’s stone her way.

And second…

…''The sky!

A fourth warship had fallen on the bright white defensive barrier.

''Oh, no,'' she thought.

The barrier above the transport ships was already unable to redirect the weight pressing down on it, so it had solidified. A new rapid strike would mean one thing.

“It’s going to break!?”

Tomoe sensed two dangers.

First, the falling warships were going to destroy Magdeburg’s defensive barrier.

Second, the first danger had distracted her.

…''And I was too slow to react to Kamewari!

She had been trying to avoid Kamewari, but…

“—————”

Her movement had been briefly stopped by the Testamenta Arma and she had already used all of her reactionary defense spells.

Nothing she could do would make it in time.

She would of course take evasive action again, but the blade was still going to reach her just below the chest.

A moment later, she heard a female voice.

“Bind! Tonbokiri!!”

With the sound of shattering glass, the Testamenta Arma’s power was cut.

As she accelerated and leaped along the path, Futayo saw Katsuie try to drive Kamewari into Tomoe as he avoided collapsing.

Past them, the battalion of M.H.R.R. mobile shells was beginning to climb the slope to slip past those two.

Futayo was worried about the enemy battalion, but the slash approaching Tomoe was more worrying.

Tomoe was trying to move back again, but Futayo decided that was not quite enough.

She moved to jump between them and to catch Kamewari on Tonbokiri.

“Oh?”

But she was moving too quickly and missed her chance to stop. She had been too distracted by predicting the damage to Tomoe.

''Oh, no,'' she thought while acting on a certain solution.

She decided to make sure Katsuie would not cut down Tomoe.

“He’s going to hit you!”

She used the momentum of her dash to kick Tomoe out of the way.

Katsuie awoke in an instant.

…''What!?

Something unbelievable was occurring before his eyes.

An idiot had just kicked Tomoe Gozen. Of course, he had been trying to cut her down.

“Clearly, you’re the one that was going to hit her!!”

However, kicking Tomoe Gozen had eaten up enough momentum for the girl to come to a stop. She took a quick step and turned to point both her eyes and spear tip toward him.

Sparks flew from Kamewari.

The girl, Musashi’s vice chancellor and the wielder of Tonbokiri, had deflected Kamewari.

“Interesting!!”

Katsuie straightened up, stood tall, and quickly moved forward.

He swung Kamewari to push Musashi’s vice chancellor down the path and toward the city.

“But what do you hope to accomplish!?”

He smiled and jerked his chin toward the sky.

“The final warship is already falling!!”

The fourth warship was coming.

It was on a direct vertical course for Magdeburg and the transport ships below.

“Everyone but the crew get up on the deck to prepare for the barrier breaking!”

Masazumi and the other Musashi passengers frantically moved through the Far Eastern ship which was the central of the three transport ships. They were all rushing through the narrow corridor.

“Hey, hey. Asama, are you really not going to let go of my hand? Are you going to marry me or something? In fact, if those things are falling from above, can’t you do your ''fwoosh'' and make them go ''boom'' to make everything nice and ''boing''?”

“I’m not sure how to respond to that… But since I’ve been working against M.H.R.R.’s divine transmission jamming, I’ve used almost half of my internal Blessings. There are three ships up above, but I would probably only be able to destroy one of them.”

“''Only'' one?”

The others looked at Asama in consternation, but she ignored them. Everyone had their own standards, so she decided to change the subject.

“A-anyway, is everyone here? There’s Masazumi and Kimi and…um… Where’s Adele?”

'''Flat Vassal:''' “Oh, I’m here. I’m here, okay?”

'''Asama:''' “Are you already on the deck? That was fast.”

'''Flat Vassal:''' “Eh? No, um, I’m still inside. I’m a little busy is all.”

'''Vice President:''' “Hm? Are you working on something? Or are you carrying something?”

'''Flat Vassal:''' “No, um… To put it nicely, I’m, uh, in the restroom. You know how when you’ve been really tense, it sometimes hits you all of a sudden after you relax? Anyway, since we were about to leave on the ship, I – ah ha ha – thought this would be my best chance. You know what that’s like, right?”

'''ANA:''' “Come to think of it, I haven’t had to worry about that since combining with the god of war.”

'''Dragon Dog:''' “Milady, I have determined that is not necessary for you.”

'''Righteousness:''' “Well, now that you mention it, I don’t have to worry about that when I’m combined either.”

'''Flat Vassal:''' “Ah… That must be nice. The mobile shell isn’t that convenient… And another thing, everyone.”

“What is it?” asked Asama as she and the others tilted their heads while evacuating to the deck.

'''Flat Vassal:''' “You know the – to put it indirectly – health screening we do before the school trip? The sample we have to give? That’s coming up soon, isn’t it?”

'''Almost Everyone:''' “Oh, no!”

'''Asama:''' “A-anyway, warriors use that kind of set during their detailed medical testing after their battles, right!? There should be some on this ship, so you can use those instead after the battle! And once you finish your ‘battle’, Adele, hurry to the deck!”

'''Flat Vassal:''' “Please stop piling on the pressure like thaaaaat!”

As soon as Adele’s typed-out shout reached them, a voice was broadcast throughout the ship.

“The fourth ship is coming from directly above!!”

With a roar of destruction, Magdeburg lost its ceiling of light.

The defensive barrier had shattered.

An instant of bursting and wind sent the fragments down like a blizzard, but directly below…

“The water!”

The loss of the barrier allowed the flooded Elbe to assault Magdeburg like a five meter tsunami.

Something similar happened to the wreckage of the four warships supported by the barrier above the park behind the Maurice Cathedral.

“Are they coming!?”

They fell. It began slow, but they began to accelerate a moment later.

“Here they come!!”

Despite their damage, the warship wreckage was still almost one hundred meters long and they fell quickly toward the three transport ships lined up below.

The wind roared, surging waves pressed in on and struck the city, and a great din fell from the sky.

It all brought destruction.

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 76|Chapter 76]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 78|Chapter 78]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 69

2015-08-30T21:42:36Z

68.109.52.245: /* Chapter 69: Resigners in the Metal Tower */

==Chapter 69: Resigners in the Metal Tower==
[[Image:Horizon3C_0217.jpg|thumb]]
''Oh, my

''Are you all right?

'''Point Allocation (Carefree)

The battle in the ring began with an exchange of strikes and evasions.

First, they both pursued the other who was trying to move around to their side.

They pursued each other like a ballroom dance, but they also rotated their bodies with quick hooks and backhands or tried to land a lethal blow by jabbing a hand at them.

But neither of them forgot to have a backup plan if their attack was avoided. As they spun about like blooming flowers, combination attacks were added in after the fact.

They did not stop.

They would throw a kick to tear into their enemy’s advance or launch a quick kick from below when that enemy was focused on their upper body.

Their footwork was primarily composed of stepping forward and immediately evading. They would charge in with all their strength before twisting their body and leaping away.

They would spin, step in to attack, evade, and spin some more to move back in.

They would dizzyingly swap positions and Rudolf II would sometimes put some distance between them.

“Hmmm.”

He would swing his body into the chains and use the reactionary force to charge quickly forward.

Mitotsudaira responded by determining the point he would begin his lariat or knee-blow and hit him with her heel or a slash of a sword. But with his instant regeneration and lack of pain, no amount of crushing or cutting would stop him.

The wind whipped up, sounds of impact rang out, and blood sprayed.

High-density actions produced countless noises in the center of the large steel room’s illuminated ring.

And instead of stopping, those actions and noises picked up speed.

“————!”

A voice escaped both of them. It was a groan that sounded both delighted and furious.

“…!”

The sounds of impact grew even stronger.

…''What a troublesome opponent!!

Mitotsudaira thought while deflecting her opponent’s attacks with the sword in her right hand.

This enemy used more than just physical blows. He would sometimes spread his fingers and grab at her joints by entangling his fingers around the back of her knee or her wrist. She had nearly been thrown several times and she had actually been lifted from the ground a few times. Each time, she had kicked off the floor to accelerate the throw herself and escape.

''I’m at the disadvantage here,'' she thought.

''Don’t be so fainthearted,'' she scolded herself, but facts were facts.

For one thing, their rate of recovery from injury was completely different. A broken arm would be a major disadvantage for her, but he would recover instantly.

Currently, he was rushing toward her.

“…!”

She brought her heel down on his knee, destroying it, but that crushed knee regenerated after only a moment.

In fact, his knee pushed up on her heel and sent her flying into the air.

She spun around in midair to regain control, but…

“You really are troublesome!”

“I love that you aren’t calling me a ‘monster’.”

With those words, Rudolf II sped up and she saw someone circle around to her left.

…''A woman!?

She had never seen this woman before. Her brown hair fluttered behind her, but…

“He’s faster than when he was a man!”

She knew why. In his male body, Rudolf II had the ideal athletic form, but the male body was large and entirely covered in muscles.

When those muscles were perfectly balanced, they included muscles that provided acceleration and muscles that provided endurance.

The all-purpose male physique was quite inefficient for high-speed movement.

Its initial speed was slow and its maneuverability was poor.

On the other hand, the female physique was skinnier and shorter, giving it maneuverability and flexibility.

In a limited space like this, the female form could fight at greater speeds than the male form. And…

…''His muscle density must not be what it seems!

This was still Rudolf II’s body. When he became a smaller woman, his body would grow denser.

He was a maneuverable woman with the explosive strength of a man contained within.

As a man, he could make large movements. As a woman, he could make precise movements with instantaneous power behind them.

He was switching between the two forms more and more quickly as the battle progressed.

“Kh…”

As the woman rushed in to her left, Mitotsudaira threw a left backhand and she kept her fingers together for a finger jab bent like a duck’s neck.

However, the woman accelerated even further. She transformed into an even shorter woman and leaped behind Mitotsudaira.

“…!”

Acting on reflex, Mitotsudaira jumped forward.

And she heard something like clapping hands directly behind her where her head had been.

The movement of the shadow on the floor told her Rudolf II had tried to grab her in his male form. He had brought his hands together to grab at her head.

To hold him back, she swept back the sword in her left hand and she turned around. As she did, Rudolf II swung his hands straight down, leaned his upper body forward, and…

“Here I goooo!”

He accelerated in his male form, but a moment later, he became the spear woman, the smiling woman, an unfamiliar woman, and consecutively smaller women while continuing to lean forward.

…''That’s…!

It was her. It was her silver hair and gold eyes. The only differences were the holes in the right shoulder and right side of the M.H.R.R. uniform.

“I have more or less figured…nn, you out!”

With those words, her other self rushed toward her.

Rudolf jabbed a hand forward as he ran.

…''What a wonderful body!

This Demi Loup-Garou girl had been born between a non-human and a human. And from what he had heard, she was the Reine des Garous’s daughter.

Her body was made to hunt her opponent. She would have no problem moving just like a human and her wrist joints and other points on her skeleton were well-balanced for attack.

His initial jab was enough to tell him that. A normal human needed to explicitly move to thrust their hand forward, but with this body, he simply had to attack and leave the details up to the body.

He did not need to twist the muscles beyond their limits and he did not need to focus on turning the joints. As long as he decided he wanted to thrust his nails into his opponent and then swung his hand, the rest happened automatically.

This was a beast’s body.

He had not yet perfectly read the positions of her joints and muscles, but if he could move like this already, just how much could he do once he read it all perfectly?

“Magnificent!”

He then quickly moved within range of his opponent.

“!?”

Mitotsudaira’s mind was taken over by surprise and confusion.

…''That was fast!?

She understood that her opponent had copied her body.

…''But why is he faster than me!?

The way he was carried by his initial speed was completely different. She did think he had built up acceleration by starting in his male form and transforming into smaller and smaller bodies, but his speed had not dropped even after remaining in her body.

In fact, his speed had increased.

Mitotsudaira was confused.

“…”

As he attacked, she made a broad counterattack by swinging her sword diagonally upwards.

Her own face ducked below the blade. It was an instantaneous duck, there was a smile on the face looking up at her, and that smiling face continued up toward her chest.

''He’s so fast,'' she thought. ''But how?'' she also thought.

His initial speed was completely different. The rest may have been the same, but there was an overwhelming difference in that initial speed.

“Just to be clear, I’m keeping my muscle layout as close to yours as possible.”

Meaning…

“The two of us are the same right now. Except…as far as the quality of the muscles is concerned, mine are a strengthened human version while yours are naturally half Loup-Garou. Yes, so yours should be superior.”

Mitotsudaira was confused by that comment in her own voice.

…''Then why is he faster than me!?

She received an answer in another statement.

“In other words, I know better how to use this body. I have copied so many different people and studied the formation of their bodies, so…yes. I use their body better than they can and surpass them. …That is what I do. So…”

As her own face approached, it seemed to ripple and distort. It showed its teeth in what could be seen as a smile or protest.

“What am I!?”

Then the attack arrived.

''She is slow,'' thought Rudolf II while observing his enemy.

She had not mastered the use of her own body and she was simply relying on its basic abilities to fight.

While she could very well be strong that way, she became a heavy tank that lacked the advantages of a female body.

“That’s not how you do iiiit!”

Rudolf II jabbed his sharp fingernails forward again and again.

After throwing his right hand forward, he pulled it back, reversed his rotation, and threw in his left hand. He then swung his outstretched left hand to the outside, rotated his body to the left, and thrust his right hand up from below.

He kept stepping further and further forward as if making quick jabs with his feet and he would use each step as a launching point for his hands while making sure his opponent could not escape to the left or right.

She could only continue moving back with an occasional large leap away.

“…Hoo!”

So he spread his hand and tried to grab her instead. She shrank down during her jump, avoided having him grab her during that stiff moment, and immediately dropped back down.

''She has excellent reflexes,'' he thought. ''And she seems to have a knowledge of joint locks and throws.

She had likely been trained by one of her fellow students. She was especially good at escaping in the instant when he grabbed her and tried to knock her from her feet.

That was why he could try to grab her as a simple feint to control her movement.

However, she continued to avoid his attacks and she would occasionally counterattack with solid blows. She seemed to have adopted a tactic centered on evasion and defense. She had already dropped her sword onto the ring and only attacked with her more maneuverable bare hands.

…''But you have nowhere else to go!!

She had just about reached the western corner post and she would have no escape once he pursued here there.

They were three steps away, then only two, and finally…

…''One step!

There was still the one step left, but Rudolf made his attack there. He forced his way forward.

A moment later, the enemy took action as if she had been waiting for this.

“You were luring me innn!?”

She did not answer, but she was staring directly at him.

She sent out the nails of her right hand as he stepped forward. It was a diagonal slash from below, making it a difficult attack to see.

Rudolf II forcibly twisted his body.

As Musashi’s 5th Special Duty Officer’s attack raced diagonally from the lower left to the upper right, he tilted his body back and to the right.

He tried to lean away from the attack and he had perfectly judged its range.

“————!!”

So he managed to dodge it. Her nails tore a deep gash in his left cheek, but the wound would heal in half a second. He doubted it would pain her heart to have hurt him either.

And now that he had dodged, it was his turn to attack.

He used his leaning body to move his right foot outwards and his left foot forwards. As he swung his body forwards, he launched his left hand straight forward to corner his opponent.

He targeted the center of her body: the chest.

In an instant, she pulled her right hand back from its failed attack to guard her neck and chest.

That was a wise decision. She was protecting the center of her body and her neck.

But Rudolf II did not mind.

…'''Your body has more than enough strength to tear itself apart!

He would break through her defenses and pierce his hand through her and out her back.

It would destroy his arm, but that would regenerate soon enough.

Victory was his.

With that in mind, he simply launched his hand straight forward.

But then he saw his opponent vanish from before his eyes.

“…!?”

He knew why: her speed had increased.

…''But how!?

His hand gouged into something.

It stabbed wrist-deep into the angel-shaped corner post he had cornered her against.

And then he sensed his enemy circling around behind him.

He had thought of her as slow until now, but she had suddenly sped up.

…''How!?

Mitotsudaira’s body felt light.

Rudolf II’s back stood before her with his hand stuck in the corner post. It was identical to her own back.

The only difference was the uniform.

Rudolf II wore an M.H.R.R. girls’ uniform, but…

…''I removed mine!

Something floated in the air by the corner post past Rudolf II’s back.

It was a uniform. She had removed the coat and skirt, including the hard point parts.

She had removed it just before her earlier evasion.

When thinking about her speed, she had reached a certain answer.

Fighting in an unfamiliar uniform was dangerous.

The M.H.R.R. girls’ uniform had quite a few metal parts and excellent defenses, but her usual Far Eastern uniform and the Hexagone Française girls’ uniform on which her personal combat dress was based allowed for more graceful movements.

That made a large difference.

So when she had made the diagonal swing of her arm, she had removed her waist’s hard point parts and her skirt. When she had pretended to bring her hand to her neck and chest to guard, she had actually removed her neck’s hard point parts and her coat.

She now only wore the inner suit and the tights. She could not lighten herself anymore without stripping down to her underwear or completely nude.

She removed as much of the unfamiliar clothing as she could and then attacked.

“…!”

She grabbed the sword she had dropped on the ring and went for…

…''The neck!!

As her other self started to turn around, she made a rising horizontal slash.

It flew through above the shoulder and into the center of the neck.

The quick slash produced a sound much like chopping through a tree.

“How about that!?”

And her own head flew through the air.

…''I did it!

''It’s a good thing he wasn’t wearing my usual clothing,'' thought Mitotsudaira.

Anyone with a combat position was trained in slaughtering livestock and dissecting animals, so the sensation of the attack and its result were not enough to fill her with revulsion.

…''But I have never done it to myself before.

''So I’m glad for that slight difference,'' she thought as she watched her own head fly through the air.

''At any rate, that ends this,'' she also thought.

Decapitating him would prevent his body from moving. The severed hand had turned to bloody smoke earlier, so the beheaded body would likely do the same and move to the head.

That meant her enemy had lost his body. And…

“This is my chance to take the memo!”

Leaving him unable to move and swiping the memo had been her plan for victory.

The memo had always been her only objective here, so as long as she got that, nothing else mattered. She did not even need to continue fighting. That was a very un-knight-like thing to think and she felt some shame, but…

…''I honestly don’t think I can win.

Their skill or their pure “strength” was too different. She was hardly one to talk with her non-human blood, but his transformation ability, lack of pain, and rapid regeneration was a veritable smorgasbord of unfair abilities even for a monster.

She needed to find victory somewhere outside of defeating him in battle.

And that was what she was doing. She stepped forward and took action to rob the airborne head of its freedom.

“…!”

She thrust her sword up into her other self’s head to pin it in place.

But instead, a certain color exploded before her eyes.

It was the red of bloody smoke.

That was the spell smoke that appeared during Rudolf II’s regeneration, but it had not come from where she was expecting.

…''It was the headless body that was supposed to vanish.

But that proved wrong.

Instead, her own decapitated head vanished from the air in front of the sword.

“The head disintegrated!?”

“That’s right. The thing about my body is…the bigger part is always the main part.”

Silver hair suddenly spread out atop the headless body in front of her.

He was regenerating quickly and she saw gold eyes turn back toward her.

…''Then!!

He had said he wanted to feel pain.

“Then…!”

As her own face turned toward her, she pierced her raised sword through its side.

With a cold and solid sound, the blade stabbed through the side of her own head and into the medulla oblongata.

“What about this!?”

Mitotsudaira felt the version of herself before her eyes looked like a corpse.

She had taken three steps away as soon as she made the stab, but she had let go of the sword.

And ahead of her, her other self had stopped moving. The sword was stabbed in up to the guard and most of the blade was sticking out the other side of her own face.

This tilted that head in the opposite direction, but…

“How very heavy.”

Her other self gave a casual comment and smiled a little.

“That was a good idea. …It really was.”

Yes.

“Even if my head can regenerate, I still see with my eyes and hear with my ears. In that case, it is my head that tells my body what to do, so you might be able to stop me by attacking there. And if you’re going to do that, you should go for the center of the nervous system. You should make a quick attack on the brain and medulla oblongata that send instructions to my body.”

Her other self tapped on the guard of the sword sticking from Mitotsudaira’s side of his head.

“And if you leave the weapon there, the constant damage to my nerves would cause me pain. Was that your idea?”

He was right and she saw no other possible way.

However, Rudolf II pointed something out to her. He slowly stuck a few of his fingernails between the blade and his skin.

“Let’s see…”

He peeled both sides away as if spreading them to create a gap.

The blade and sliced portion of his head opened up and she could see inside.

…''That’s insane!

But she could see inside all the same.

“Well? The cut is so clean, isn’t it?”

“———”

The sight just about made her want to vomit, but he was right. She could see the cut, but there was no blood or any other kind of fluid. It looked like it was lined with soft glass.

“It can’t be… Did your regeneration power block off the cut as soon as the blade stabbed into you?”

“If anything, it was my shapeshifting power that did it. I transform into the kind of creature that would survive being cut without removing the blade.”

Her other self laughed and returned the blade and gap to normal.

“It’s true I feel a brief twitch when something hits my brain or medulla oblongata, but it’s more like an itch and it never reaches the level of pain. If you want to do it…”

“I need to continually use new blades?”

Her other self nodded at that impossible suggestion and that enemy used the downward motion of the nod to grab the sword’s hilt from below.

“There.”

With the sound of breaking bone, Rudolf II pulled the blade through the top of his head like removing a hairband. Mitotsudaira realized something when she saw it.

“You didn’t feel pain even with the blade moving through your head?”

“Not at that speed, no. It was blocked from the beginning. And you know what?” He threw the sword aside. “No one has ever succeeded in making me feel pain.”

He turned toward her in the time it took the sword to fall.

“Now, I think I’ve figured it out.”

“Figured out what?”

She knew the answer, but her pride as the “real” one forced her to ask. And the “fake” one was forced to answer.

“You. …Yes, I’ve mostly read how you work.”

With those words, her other self rushed toward her.

And at a speed she had not seen before.

Mitotsudaira did not hesitate to fall back.

She was light and he was fully-equipped.

…''Full speed away!

She moved back, but not by back-stepping. She turned her back and ran with all her might. She poured in all her strength starting with the first step and she was moving toward something three meters ahead and a little to the right.

…''The western corner post!

She would jump over it and land beyond it. If he pursued, she could attack in the slight opening as he landed. If he sensed that danger and stopped, she could put some distance between them and prepare herself for what came next.

“…”

She gathered strength in her thighs and made the three meter dash.

And she saw herself run right in front of her.

“!?”

Mitotsudaira was truly surprised.

She had nimbly moved away and then run at full speed, yet her other self had still cut in front of her.

…''How fast is he!?

She was briefly reminded of her mother. When they had fought at IZUMO, her mother had also demonstrated abnormal bursts of speed like this.

This brought back the thought that had been carved into her heart eight years before and had returned to the surface just the other day.

It was the thought that she could not stand up to her mother.

But that was not accurate.

“What’s wrong?” asked her other self.

Her mother was not the only one she could not stand up to.

It was one thing when she was no match for an ally, but this opponent was an enemy as well as a copy of herself.

…''And I still can’t do anything!?

She felt something hit her left side. While circling in front of her, her other self had used that motion to perform a roundhouse kick.

The sound of impact reverberated through her entire body and she was torn from the floor and into the air.

The chains that caught her lightened body gave a heavy groan.

The corner posts supporting the chains were made of metal, but they still bent from the force.

The recoil sent the chains back forward and launched Mitotsudaira high above the ring.

The other silver wolf jumped up to meet her there.

Her enemy lowered down until he was skimming by just above the metal ring’s mat and then he used his great strength to jump straight up. He used his entire body as a giant spring, but used it to produce speed rather than height.

“Here I goooo!”

The right of his spread legs hit Mitotsudaira back down.

As soon as her body bent downwards, the other silver wolf’s left leg flew upwards and kicked her bent body toward the ceiling.

The midair double kick produced a tearing sound and moved their bodies apart in the air.

The kick from below sent Mitotsudaira upwards and the other silver wolf dropped down.

However…

“I’m not done yet!”

The fake silver wolf used the recoil of kicking Mitotsudaira to perform a flip.

Using the acceleration of his great strength, he stretched out his body for a roundhouse heel kick from above Mitotsudaira.

That made three midair kicks.

It sounded more like a stake being driven into her flesh than a simple blow to her flesh and she quickly shot diagonally downward. The fake silver wolf kicked off the ceiling and jumped in the opposite direction.

They rapidly flew diagonally down to the west and east where the ring’s chains awaited.

They fell.

Mitotsudaira and the other silver wolf were simultaneously stopped by the chains. Mitotsudaira’s entire body shook from the shock and she sprawled out limply, but the other silver wolf looked like he was lounging on a sofa.

“Next.”

One of them was thrown into the air, the other jumped up into the air, and they crossed paths.

As they crossed, the fake silver wolf flipped onto his side and shrank down.

“…!”

And he hit Mitotsudaira with a repelling drop kick.

Mitotsudaira was sent right back to the chains.

She had already lost control of her body due to the repeated strikes, but the other silver wolf showed no mercy. He flipped around in midair, landed in the ring, and moved below Mitotsudaira as she was bounced back by the chains again.

“Now, time for the main eveeeeent!”

The fake silver wolf grabbed her ankle.

For an instant, some slight life returned to Mitotsudaira’s face. After all…

“Heh hehn. I’m not going to do what your mother did.”

As he spoke, the false enemy spun around. He stood on his right toes with Mitotsudaira’s right ankle in his left hand.

“Half giant swing!”

The fake silver wolf spun in place, tore through the wind, and waved Mitotsudaira around like a flag.

And he accelerated.

By the third rotation they were producing a tremendous sound, by the fifth the wind was shaking the entire room, by the ninth the weapons were rattling in the stockers, and by the fifteenth…

“Max speeeeed!”

The fake silver wolf threw what he held. Instead of just letting go to make a side throw, he forcibly bent his entire body forwards for an overhand throw.

It resembled a one-armed shoulder throw, he bent far enough for his forehead to reach the floor, and he launched Mitotsudaira.

“That’s where you wanted to go, wasn’t it?”

She collided with the western corner post.

The post bent at its base and the chains burst off of it.

A wave of metallic sounds filled the room and chain links sprayed outward while reflecting the light.

After taking the blow to her back, Mitotsudaira saw something in her blurry vision.

“Now, then. When I make my body so small and skinny, it leaves something to be desired in attack power. Then how about I try this?”

She saw her other self spread his arms and change form in the center of the ring.

…''That’s…

She recognized the silver hair, the height, the sharp gold eyes, and the huge breasts.

This was the Reine des Garous.

Seeing her mother’s form shook Mitotsudaira’s heart.

“———”

Her body was still shaking from the beating it had taken, so she could not move. She had a concussion and the swinging had thrown off her inner ear and her center of gravity.

She could not stand and she even slid down the tilted post until her butt reached the floor. However, she kept her eyes open to view what stood before her.

Her fake mother demonstrated the same instantaneous acceleration as her real mother had.

“…!”

But this fake hit her chest with a drop kick using both feet.

She no longer felt any pain.

…''It’s no use.

She did her best to hold back the thought that she had lost. If she let herself think that, she knew she really would lose.

But her body could do nothing about the attack and simply became a medium for the force to travel through.

The western corner post broke from its base behind her.

“————”

And she was sent flying through the air.

The angel-shaped corner post flew through the air.

Below it, the girl known as the silver wolf was knocked outside the ring.

Her light body crashed into one of the stockers of metal weapons surrounding the ring.

“———!!”

It broke and it was not the only one. Like a spreading wave, several of the weapon stockers were destroyed and the grips attached to blades or blunt metal flew up into the air.

A moment later, a crashing sound came from the western wall of the round room. Mitotsudaira had reached the outer wall and she was buried in a pile of broken weapon stockers.

All that remained was the fake Reine des Garous standing in the ring.

The airborne weapons and fragments clattered loudly on the floor and other objects that had fallen ahead of them.

The overlapping sounds almost sounded like rain or applause.

“The sounds have stopped,” said the smiling woman at the wall’s entrance below the tower.

The spear woman at the tower’s entrance gave a deep nod.

“Master Rudolf excels at that combination attack. He rarely makes it to the end, though.”

“Didn’t he get to the end with you?”

“No.” The spear woman smiled bitterly. “He slammed me against the post and then stopped just before making the finishing blow. And he was using your form at the time. I had no idea what was happening to me.”

“I see,” said the smiling woman. “But it sounded like he made it to the end this time. And it seemed faster than usual. It must not have been my form. I’m too light.”

The Reine des Garous nodded and sighed.

“That girl must not have been able to keep up. She can be rather slow.” She placed a hand on her cheek and sighed even deeper. “She’s always been so smart and diligent. …And that’s what slows her down. She overthinks everything.”

“Hm? Is Nate really that slow? I’m not sure I get it.”

“Well,” began Tenzou as he looked up at the tower.

He saw Mary worriedly holding his arm and gave her a reassuring nod.

And then…

“As far as speed is concerned, Mitotsudaira-dono is not all that fast.”

''I’m being harsh, but it’s the truth,'' thought Tenzou.

“She lacks speed both in her attacks and her movement. I’ll set aside Futayo-dono and Muneshige-dono since their speed isn’t exactly measurable, but she is the slowest of our special duty officers outside of Naomasa-dono.”

“Are you one of the faster ones, Master Tenzou? And does this have to do with stamina?”

“Well, I am relatively quick and my stamina is pretty decent… Why are you recording this, Naito-dono!?”

He turned back to the crossdresser before continuing.

“Anyway, you can probably tell by watching Naito-dono or Naruze-dono, but reflexes are vital in battle. But on the vanguard where one uses their whole body, attack speed and movement speed are more important. Of course, someone who uses a god of war like Naomasa-dono is different. But as I said, Mitotsudaira-dono is only a little higher than Naomasa-dono in attack speed and movement speed. You can find it all in the measurements we have taken.”

“Then why is she able to fight on the vanguard?”

“Her constant attacks with the silver chains, her superhuman strength, and her endurance.”

It was because she lacked speed that she used four silver chains to protect herself and to continuously attack without stopping.

…''But she doesn’t have those chains now.

Against normal students, she could still manage with her superhuman strength and endurance. Depending on how she fought, she could even handle someone on the level of a special duty officer.

But at the vice chancellor level or higher, that was no longer the case. One only reached that level by having skill, speed, and strength. Some vice chancellors like England’s Dudley gained the position as a commander of the other warriors, but otherwise anyone at vice chancellor level or above was truly non-standard.

Tenzou felt Mitotsudaira was at a serious disadvantage here.

…''But…

He mentally tilted his head. He had long known Mitotsudaira as a classmate, so he had a solid understanding of her speed.

“Did you give Mitotsudaira-dono the silver chains because you had noticed her speed? Is that it, Reine des Garous?”

“Didn’t I tell you? That girl is too diligent. That’s why I thought the silver chains would suit her better than my silver cross.”

“What do you mean by diligent?”

That seemed odd to him. It was true that Mitotsudaira was diligent. In their class, she would take it too far, become overly conservative, and be teased by Kimi and the others.

…''And a lot happened in the past, too.

“What happens because she is too diligent?”

“You don’t know? Overly diligent people tend to overthink things.”

He did not know what that meant, so he guessed it was something only Mitotsudaira and the Reine des Garous would understand.

But then he felt a tug on his arm and saw Mary tilting her head.

“Um, you keep saying Lady Mitotsudaira is slow, but I think she is plenty fast.”

“Eh? Oh, well, we were talking about a different standard for speed.”

“You mean in battle, right? Then she showed plenty of speed last night.”

''Oh,'' thought Tenzou as he found himself speechless. Mary had to mean what Mitotsudaira had done in the battle the night before.

…''That high-speed throw.

As if to agree with his thoughts, Mary smiled and spoke.

“She seemed to be thinking about something when we bathed in the spring today, but I think it was about that. So…yes. I think she will be fine,” she said. “After all, people who don’t simply stew in their thoughts and instead search for an answer are sure to find that answer somewhere.”

Rudolf II sighed in the ring.

Two minutes had passed since the final attack, but there was still no sign of his opponent moving from the corner of the room where he had sent her.

…''This is over.

''My final job as Holy Roman Emperor is over,'' he thought.

Technically, he had never done any real work, but that was exactly why he thought what he did.

…''As Holy Roman Emperor and as chancellor I did nothing that would give another academy a piece of M.H.R.R.

Still in the Reine des Garous’s form, he tapped the right chest of his uniform, where Carlos I’s memo was sealed.

As M.H.R.R. Emperor, he had protected the records left by the great chancellor of two generations prior.

And he had driven back a representative of Musashi, that academy that had quickly become the talk of every other academy.

He had shown the other academies that M.H.R.R.’s chancellor could easily handle an attack from a Musashi student.

“Will my brother think I was at least a little bit capable now?”

The enemy remained motionless, but he did not let his guard down. This was the Reine des Garous’s daughter. Even if he had felt the blows land and even if she was battered and concussed, he doubted her bones had broken or that she had been fatally wounded.

…''She is not moving because her heart is no longer struggling.

She had decided she was no match for him.

Once he had begun his high-speed combo, he had no longer sensed any ambition in her movements. The surprise and resignation on her face had been especially strong when he had taken on the Reine des Garous’s form.

“I did something horrible to you, didn’t I? I really did.”

''But it is over now,'' he thought while turning to the room’s exit.

…''In the end…

“Even as the emperor, I still don’t know what I am.”

As soon as he said that, he heard a noise.

It was a metallic noise.

In the corner of his vision, he saw silver hair swaying and rising on the western edge of the room.

The battle was not yet over.

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 68|Chapter 68]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 70|Chapter 70]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 65

2015-08-29T21:11:52Z

68.109.52.245: /* Chapter 65: Slightly Heated Moaner */ rearranged line 11 based on the descriptions of the scene later in the chapter and undid an earlier "fix" because the original was already correct.

==Chapter 65: Slightly Heated Moaner==
[[Image:Horizon3C_0131.jpg|thumb]]
''What is by your side

''Yet not by your side?

'''Point Allocation (Self-Discipline)

A certain dark room was shaking.

The cramped, oblong room was actually the cabin of a carriage. The room was installed with two benches facing each other, the left side contained a curtained window and the right side contained curtained double doors.

The only sounds were those of turning axles, of overlapping horseshoes, and of voices beyond the thick curtain to the front.

“Okay, Ture-yan, we can get to Rudolf II’s tower with this, right?”

“We can. It should only take about an hour longer. But Miss Margot, you are surprisingly good at driving a carriage.”

“Well, my family used this kind of thing sometimes.”

Those two were up front in the coachman’s seat.

Mitotsudaira listened to them while sitting motionless in the cabin’s back seat.

The crossdressing idiot was fast asleep and leaning up against her.

…''I-I must not interrupt his sleep!

Her characteristics as a beastman non-human left her feeling more alert at night. That and all the thoughts in her head kept her from sleeping.

…''How can I sleep after that letter a bird delivered to my mother during our break?

It had informed them of K.P.A. Italia’s defeat and that the Sack of Magdeburg had been moved up to eight at night which was only about an hour and a half away.

''This is not good,'' thought Mitotsudaira.

They wanted to confirm the information, but they could not use any wide-range or base-point divine transmissions for fear of having the signal intercepted. And as they approached the Magdeburg region, they entered the effects of the M.H.R.R. Catholics’ transmission blocking barrier, so any divine transmission grew staticky unless they were close enough to speak face-to-face anyway.

Based on what her mother had said during their break, they were still about half an hour away from Rudolf II’s tower on the outskirts of Magdeburg. They needed to get Great Chancellor Carlos I’s memo in the remaining hour and, according to Tenzou…

“We could always break into Magdeburg and meet up with the others there.”

They had a single primary reason for doing something so dangerous.

“Most likely, the Hashiba and M.H.R.R. Catholic fleets in the K.P.A. Italia region will arrive from the south and they will attempt to sink the Musashi as an extension of the Sack of Magdeburg. The Testament Union cannot move with the Pope-Chancellor missing, so no one will stop them or see any reason to do so. The Musashi will need to keep its time in Magdeburg to an absolute minimum, so they will not have time to retrieve us outside the city.”

“Couldn’t you meet up with them later in order to protect your king?”

“Musashi’s next stop is Edo in Kantou. If we wanted to meet up with them, we would have to pass through P.A. Oda.”

“I see.” Mitotsudaira’s mother had nodded and smiled as she climbed onto the coachman’s seat. “Then let us go with that. And I think we will help you out in a few ways. So if it proves too difficult…yes. Until Musashi secures its rule over Kantou and Tohoku and then returns to Europe, Hexagone Française could place you under our protection.”

They certainly wanted to avoid that, but it did function as a backup plan just in case.

However, the idiot had muttered “A party in the candy house, hm?” with a perfectly serious expression.

…''I-if I had to live with my king while surrounded by that smell, I think I would go insane.

“…”

That smell had permeated her memories. It told her that her parents had spent some happy times together, but it also proved that her mother’s story was completely accurate. It scared her when she remembered asking “Why did you scream if it felt good?’ when she had heard the story as a child. She was also unsure what to think of her mother for answering “You’ll understand when you’re older.”

At any rate, she sighed in the dark cabin while supporting the crossdresser with her shoulder and she began to wonder how to spend the nearly half an hour until they arrived.

Tenzou and Mary sat in the opposite bench, but they were both leaning up against each other as they slept. At first, Tenzou had asked if he could get some sleep.

…''It’s quite something to hear the 1st special duty officer say that.

At the very least, she had never heard him say it before. She did think he had spent a sleepless night standing watch the night before and given what was to come…

…''It’s a little conceited to assume it’s because he feels safe when we’re with him, isn’t it?

Not having her mother as an enemy was likely the biggest factor. Mary had initially let him lean on her while speaking with Mitotsudaira, but she had finally nodded off and now they were both gently leaning on each other.

Tenzou was pressing against Mary’s breasts from below, but Naito had already recorded it. Once they returned to the Musashi and everything Naito had recorded in the past few days was released, it seemed certain that Tenzou would receive overkill levels of damage, but according to Naito…

“I’ll release it bit by bit, so don’t worry, Mito-tsan! Even Tenzou will be able to level up!”

If it was going to help him grow stronger, there was no arguing against it.

Anyway…

…''Rudolf II’s tower, huh?

''I suppose my king will handle the negotiation while Tenzou and I support him. I have a feeling that isn’t going to turn out well, but if it comes to a fight, mother or I will have to take over.

“I wonder what’s going to happen.”

Mitotsudaira looked out the carriage window.

A dark forest of thick trees surrounded them. The ground was covered with a complex mixture of fallen leaves and trees, but the headless horse-drawn carriage raced through it all without hitting anything and while only shaking slightly.

But it was not that the carriage was avoiding everything. The trees – even the largest of them – would move out of the carriage’s way before it hit them. Meanwhile, the wheels spewed blue flames while leaping over any stones, slopes, bumps, or cracks.

“..!”

Some gentle wind carried a whinny into the carriage.

…''How does that thing whinny?

She felt that asking would be admitting defeat, but then she saw some silver hair dancing outside the window.

It was her mother’s.

Mitotsudaira looked away from the window and toward her mother in the coachman’s seat up front.

In Europe, a headless horse-drawn carriage was a spirit of misfortune, so only someone on an even higher level could contain its power and control it as her own. In other words…

…''Only the Reine des Garous can use this.

There was a procedure to follow, but if she called for this type of being, they would come. That was her right as a royal of a high-level non-human race.

And since the Reine des Garous and other Loup-Garous had lived in the forests and mountains without obeying the national boundaries, she knew a lot about the forests and mountains of M.H.R.R. despite her affiliation with Hexagone Française.

According to her…

“Normally, the M.H.R.R. Catholics would be watching the forests as well, but their focus on Magdeburg and K.P.A. Italia has left the western border shorthanded. The forests continue almost all the way to Magdeburg, so we should be able to follow them. If it comes to it, we can also run along the river.”

…''This thing is fast.

For brief moments when they moved from the forest to a mountain ridge or leaped across a valley, the night sky would come into view.

They raced onward as if they were rolling uncontrollably down a hill.

Mitotsudaira only now realized why her mother was acting as their guide. Help from a high-level non-human royal allowed them to cross national borders without issue.

She saw Naito sitting next to her mother and navigating with a Magie Figur that displayed a hand-drawn map of M.H.R.R. Naruze had once made the map by drawing the landscape from the air and it had only been allowed because it qualified as a landscape drawing and not a map.

Naito knew the M.H.R.R. land, so she used a viewing spell to search out spots without any Catholic forces or aerial ships. Mitotsudaira’s mother would then speed up to make up for the extra distance needed to circle around the Catholics.

They leaped across a valley and the carriage accelerated as soon as it landed. At the same time, the trees moved out of the way and the fleeing fairies would occasionally laugh loudly perhaps to hide their fear.

Mitotsudaira heard her mother laugh quietly out front and the fairies quieted down.

However, her mother then began to hum.

“Hm, hm, hm. I’m glad I have you with me, Margot. On my own, I probably wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble. I would have taken the most direct path and broken through any kind of checkpoint.”

“Well, I’m only doing this based on Tenzou’s advice. When dropping down from IZUMO, he checked on M.H.R.R’s terrain and on the movements of the ships, so he managed to work out the shortest route.” Naito laughed quietly. “I guess you could say our current situation is thanks to a combination of his good points and your good points. Those goods points don’t conflict at all, so I think we’ve gotten twice the speed out of it.”

…''She summed that up well.

Tenzou had instructed Naito to work as navigator, but that must have been because he deemed her the best at giving Mitotsudaira’s mother instructions. With her mother alone, the odds were good she would intentionally charge right into a checkpoint to “have some fun”. And since Naito was used to moving quickly…

“C’mon, let’s speed up even more!”

She would egg Mitotsudaira’s mother on which allowed the woman to enjoy their reckless journey.

…''Huh? I can rationally analyze this when I’m on my own?

She had a feeling that meant the carriage as a whole was not rational, but there was no point in thinking about it any further.

Meanwhile, she sensed her mother nodding in response to something Naito said. The curtain suddenly opened and the woman glanced at Tenzou and Mary.

“He is a reliable individual, isn’t he? …He even calculated the angle at which I jumped down to catch up more quickly. To be honest, I didn’t expect for you to arrive until midday.”

Her smiling eyes then turned toward her daughter.

“Oh, Nate. You’re too skinny to make a proper bed for your king.”

“Wh-what are you talking about, mother!? Just focus on your conversation! There’s no need to start insulting me!”

Mitotsudaira bared her teeth as she spoke, but her mother only placed her hands on her cheeks and wiggled around.

“Oh, dear. My daughter is jealous that I’m talking with her classmate!”

She had let go of the reins to bring her hands to her cheeks, so the carriage made a large bounce. Naito frantically grabbed the reins and handed them to the woman, but Mitotsudaira was certain she briefly saw the bottom of a valley.

…''Th-that was close!!

She only now realized what it meant to entrust her life to someone so capricious.

But when the carriage shook a bit as it stabilized, the boy next to her swayed and leaned further onto her. Before she could even think, his cheek pressed up against her shoulder and chest.

…''Ehhhhh!?

With the wig on, one could almost mistake his face for a girl’s, but…

“…?”

His scent was different. No, she sensed a new scent on him.

It was her mother’s.

“…!?”

Mitotsudaira felt her eyebrows bend and strength enter her lower lip.

She detected her mother’s scent on him.

She normally only detected his and Kimi’s scents and more recently Horizon’s had joined the mix. Thanks to the Blue Thunder, Horizon’s scent was that of bread, bacon, and butter, so it was especially hard to bear on an empty stomach.

She also noticed Asama, Suzu, Masazumi, and something dog-like, but it was all overpowered by her mother’s scent. Not only that, but it was the scent of her lips.

“Kh…”

It was not a knight’s place to ask what had happened the night before, but when she pictured Kimi and Horizon in her head, her mood took a truly regrettable turn. An awful sense that he had been “stolen” or “tainted” pushed up from the bottom of her heart.

So she brought her nose in close.

“…”

She looked forward and saw her mother speaking with Naito.

“So the M.H.R.R. broadcast committee’s famous divine TV show ‘Burnt at the Stake Around the World’ really is done live? I had a feeling that part where they run around at the very end wasn’t rehearsed.”

“Next week, they’re doing the Celtic version in England, so I wonder what’s going to happen. The craftsmen have been getting pretty crazy lately.”

Mitotsudaira wanted nothing to do with that conversation, but that only left…

…''The 1st special duty officer and Mary.

The two had slipped from their previous position, so Tenzou’s face was now pressed up against Mary’s breasts. He risked suffocation, but he was probably getting a nice dream out of it. Mitotsudaira made a mental note to inform Naito later.

For the moment, she had other business to attend to.

“Nn.”

Her nose twitched as she more closely observed his scent. The strongest scent was a nostalgic one of her mother’s cooking. Salt and herbs were the primary seasonings and the meat was mostly deer or boar. But below that…

…''Ah.

She detected the scent of her mother’s skin as if the woman had held him in her arms. She also seemed to have wrapped her legs around him a bit, but…

…''I-it doesn’t seem like they were lying together!

Part of her felt she had let her imagination run too wild about her mother and king, but one was a capricious beast and the other was a nudist idiot. The latter also seemed to be something of a heroine, so reality could be quite cruel.

At any rate, she found the scent of her mother’s lips on his forehead, cheek, and neck, but it seemed their lips had never met.

“…”

She took a deep sigh of relief. She was mostly glad she did not have to share that kind of a secret with her king, but…

…''My mother’s scent…

The woman had clearly licked him and moved her lips across him.

The mere presence of that scent irritated her, but it especially angered her that it was on her king.

It felt like someone else had marked her king and it transformed her faintheartedness into anger.

So to erase her mother’s scent, she brought her own lips and tongue in close.

“…”

But she stopped.

Her shoulders drooped and she pulled back a bit.

…''I am his knight.

She was not a beast, she was not the princess who was meant to have this sort of intimacy, and she was not part of the family that supported him. In the group here, her role was in combat.

Once they returned to the Musashi, she could ask Kimi to have him take a bath or ask Tomo to purify him.

But just as she told herself this was not her role…

“Nn.”

He shifted position and leaned even further up against her. She did not have large enough breasts to catch him like Mary did Tenzou, so he began to fall straight past her chest.

“…!?”

She frantically supported him in both arms as he collapsed face up.

…''What is this!? Why am I holding him like a prince holds a princess in a school play!?

She remembered when they had done Snow White for a school play in elementary school. Asama had been tall back then too, so she had played the prince. Kimi had been wicked back then too, but for some reason, she had played the princess.

…''After the princess ate the poisoned apple in the forest and stopped breathing, she for some reason shouted ‘Now! Give me CPR! Get that heart massage started!” to the prince. That was a very dangerous play.

It had been so sudden that Asama had forgotten her lines and frozen up, so the idiot had walked out from behind the curtain. He had been naked but coated in melted chocolate and had worn a bundle of greens on his head.

“I’m a tree! A tree of the forest! But I’m a tree with a stamen! Okay! Topknot!”

He had started doing that indiscriminately, so Asama had shot him and brought peace back to the world just in time for the play to end.

Was the current pose meant to be revenge for his sister not getting her massage back then?

…''N-no, calm down! This is a coincidence! Yes, a coincidence!!

She tried to correct their positions, but…

“…Nn.”

She relaxed when she heard him breathing in his sleep.

…''Well, if he is comfortable, I suppose this is fine.

She checked again to make sure no one was paying any attention to her.

“…”

And she gently brushed her cheek and throat on his forehead.

She knew this was just like a cat or dog marking its territory and she placed her own scent on top of her mother’s.

She decided she would have Kimi or Tomo get rid of it all once they returned to Musashi.

“So everyone has finally disembarked, have they?”

Lines of bookshelves filled the library on the starboard side of Musashi Ariadust Academy’s first floor. Horizon sat in the seat in front of the counter and she closed her book after Heidi gave her a report on the situation.

The library’s lights had already come on, but some children were still inside. The evacuation of Magdeburg and transportation of materials had left everyone so busy that a lot of children’s parents had yet to return home.

Horizon handed the children some biscotti she had brought from the Blue Thunder and asked Heidi a question.

“So when can we return to Magdeburg?”

“I think we’ll have to wait another two hours before we can leave. We have to unload the transport ships, unload the people, and unload the materials, so it’s probably going to take some time.”

“In that case...”

Horizon placed a hand on her chin and saw Heidi place Erimaki on her head.

“It will take a total of ten hours to reach Magdeburg? By then, the Sack of Magdeburg will have ended and enemy reinforcements will have arrived from K.P.A. Italia.”

“That’s true,” admitted Heidi while sitting on the counter and looking into the southern sky. “Hexagone Française has Anne of Austria and Mazarin there, the Protestants have Luther aka Tomoe Gozen and Mayor Guericke the Hemisphere Manufacturer there, and we have some of our people there. Whether they’re partially eliminated or simply ‘protected’ will greatly affect the future situation in Europe.”

“It is a difficult situation,” muttered Horizon with a sigh.

Heidi suddenly tilted her head.

“Have you changed, Horizon?”

Horizon tilted her own head at that question about change.

“How would I have changed?”

“Oh, um…” Heidi opened sign frames and took care of some work as she spoke. “You’re still impatient because you want to go rescue Toori-kun, right?”

“Impatient? And ‘still’?”

“Judge.” Heidi’s bitter smile lost its bitterness. “Maybe it’s the influence of your new greed and sorrow. Are you impatiently greedy because you don’t want to experience sorrow?”

“I have no sense of it myself, but is that how I look?”

But then Horizon asked something else.

“Have you ever felt something like this?”

“I think we all did when we went to save you.”

Horizon slowly looked away from the girl and finally nodded.

“Judge. I see. I just found the answer to a mystery I had put on hold.”

“Oh, did I accidentally cause something amazing?”

“Judge. …To be honest, even if I think back to then, I have a hard time judging Toori-sama’s true intentions because he camouflaged them behind so many irregular actions.”

Heidi averted her gaze when she heard that.

“Yeah…”

“But that too must have come from his impatience and his other emotions I have yet to obtain.”

“You should tell him that once he gets back.”

“Judge.” Horizon nodded and faced Heidi again. “Have you ever felt something like that on a more individual level?”

“Hm. I think I’d like it if it was Shiro-kun that felt it instead of me.”

Horizon tilted her head in confusion, so Heidi smiled.

“A lot happened while you were gone.”

“Will you eventually tell me about it? If it happened while I was gone, then it is not something I absolutely must hear about.”

“Judge. It might help you figure out how to use your emotions once you get them all back.”

Heidi typed on her keyboard and tapped Erimaki’s head. The Mouse produced a new sign frame, but Heidi frowned when she read it.

“Ugh… I changed the transport ships’ descent pattern to speed up the process, but it actually slowed it all down…”

“Yes, something similar happened when I was trying to figure out the best way to place my new bread in the Blue Thunder’s oven. My first method fit the most in, but when I tried it again, it seemed impossible to reproduce.”

“Hmm. What to do? With this, it’s going to take us ten hours to reach Magdeburg. It’s seven in the evening now, so we won’t arrive until five in the morning.”

“The Sack of Magdeburg begins at eight, so we would be nine hours late.”

Just as Horizon frowned, a sign frame displaying Shirojiro appeared next to Heidi’s face.

“Heidi, I have brought the Commerce and Industry Guild under control. We will not be transporting the materials. That allows the Musashi to leave two hours early.”

“Eh? What do you mean?”

“When sending down Magdeburg’s people, we had planned to load the transport ships with materials for the Musashi, but that has been cancelled. We will leave the transport ships here and let the people use them as temporary housing. That should allow the Musashi to begin moving right away. Please rearrange the schedule.”

Horizon tilted her head at their exchange.

“Shirojiro-sama is passing up a chance to make money? Has he gone insane?”

“Shiro-kun! Shiro-kun! Did you hear what she said!?”

“Just to be clear, I have not forgotten about the money,” said Shirojiro while crossing his arms. “I have bought the ships we are leaving behind and their previous owners will use those funds to help buy new transport ships in Kantou IZUMO. …Of course, I have already bought up all of Kantou IZUMO’s transport ships.”

“Way to go, Shiro-kun! You’re so wonderfully cruel!! That darkness makes the glint of gold appear all the more beautiful!!”

Over the sign frame, the treasurer duo formed a yen symbol with their fingers and ended the conversation.

Horizon watched as Heidi sighed and opened a new calculation sign frame.

“This is becoming something of a puzzle, but I guess I have to work at solving it,” she said. “We can’t cruise over M.H.R.R., so it’s still going to take eight hours to reach Magdeburg even if we shorten it by two hours.”

Just as she leaned back on the counter, Horizon spoke up.

“Judge. Then how about I search for a way of fixing that? And I have an idea who might be the best one for the job. Until then, you continue coordinating everything, Heidi-sama.”

“Eh?” asked Heidi.

Horizon nodded expressionlessly.

“If something is frustrating you, I believe you should take action to deal with it.”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 64|Chapter 64]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 66|Chapter 66]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 64

2015-08-28T06:03:41Z

68.109.52.245: /* Chapter 64: Searcher of a Dark Path */

==Chapter 64: Searcher of a Dark Path==
[[Image:Horizon3C_0111.jpg|thumb]]
''Can you bring the situation with you

''When you make a decision?

'''Point Allocation (Self-Judgment)

Several people wearing black stood in a thicket of dark trees.

A tall woman stood in the lead and several boys and girls followed.

They were the Reine des Garous and the Musashi group sent to meet Rudolf II.

At the back of the line, Mitotsudaira turned around and narrowed her eyes to peer into the forest that was already filling with darkness.

“The unicorns have gone now that we’ve left their territory, haven’t they?”

Mitotsudaira turned her back on the others to look into the darkness and sighed in her heart.

…''We covered a lot of ground pretty quickly, but we still have a long way to go.

Unfortunately, the divine protection had run out on the ivy wrapped around the chancellor. It had happened while they were still riding the unicorns, so she had been forced to drag him along with the ivy. He had yelled with excitement, but she had felt more like an execution rider than a knight.

Mary had reapplied the protection, but the ivy itself had been worn down enough that it snapped partway through and they had planted it in the earth again.

However, they had been unable to find any other suitable ivy.

…''Well, I suppose this is as far as the unicorns can take us.

“But mother, we may have crossed into M.H.R.R., but we still have forests and valleys to travel through. What are we going to do?”

She looked over her shoulder to see a calm smile on her mother’s lips.

“We will wait until our next ‘ride’ gets here. It’s been a while since I called it, so it may take a while. But…”

The Reine des Garous reached into her pocket, pulled out a piece of parchment and an attached ''signe cadre'', and tilted her head.

“Anne and the others must be holding their secret meeting in Magdeburg right now. I can guess most of what they’ll talk about, but what is the M.H.R.R. ambassador from P.A. Oda going to say?”

“I would assume the customary recommendation of capitulation,” said the ninja.

The crossdresser reacted immediately.

“Recommendation of titillation!? Where!? I want to be a part of that!”

“Reine des Garous, you can ignore that. Now, about the recommendation of capitulation…”

“Yes.” The Reine des Garous placed a hand on her cheek. “Even if they claim to be doing it out of mercy, there are sure to be some strings attached. Assuming their purpose is to attack Magdeburg, it will likely be exactly what Anne mentioned in this letter,” she said. “First, they will request all of the documents on the Magdeburg Hemispheres. After all, those could easily be used to assist Musashi. And…”

“And? What else is there?”

“Testament.”

What she said next brought them all to a stop.

“They will similarly request Musashi’s princess and the Logismoi Oplo.”

“…”

They were all speechless, but she said nothing more on that subject.

“Now, we need to hurry on to Rudolf II. We won’t accomplish anything by discussing problems to come after that. …So let’s go.”

She looked deep into the forest and Mitotsudaira did the same.

“Ah…”

Their next “ride” was here to replace the unicorns and Mitotsudaira heard hooves on the ground.

“At night, this will be faster than the unicorns. This monster represents the fear of night in Europe. …A carriage drawn by a headless horse can carry us thousands of miles.”

The black carriage that arrived from the side produced sounds of wind and hooves yet produced no actual wind or clouds of dust.

The headless horse raised its front paw toward the Reine des Garous and spoke.

“Long time no see-mare.”

“M-mother! Why do I feel like we’re living in the Egg Monster series!?”

“How rude. Isn’t he cute? The blue flames along the neck cut will disappoint anyone obsessed with gore, though. Well, no need to wait around for my complaining daughter. Hurry onboard everyone.”

“Me first!”

As soon as she opened the door, the idiot jumped in. “Oh, my,” said the mother as she escorted him inside with a smile. Mitotsudaira was upset that her job had been taken from her, but the idiot patted the black sofa with both hands.

“Get in, Nate, get in! You can have the window seat!”

“Eh? Next to you?”

Just as she began thinking about the proper positioning for a knight and her king, her mother placed her hands on her hips.

“If you don’t want to, maybe I’ll sit there.”

“It would bring shame to the title of special duty officer to allow that kind of danger!”

Just as Mitotsudaira began to climb in, she heard Mary laughing. The girl hid her smile behind a hand, took a breath, and looked eastward.

“I hope those in the meeting at Magdeburg are having this much fun.”

In Magdeburg and below Avalon’s night sky, Masazumi listened to Matsunaga. He was explaining what P.A. Oda was demanding to accept their surrender.

…''Just as I thought, they want the hemispheres and the Logismoi Oplo, including Horizon.

“To P.A. Oda, those things could be a problem for the Genesis Project. You can see how we have little choice,” said Matsunaga. “But I’m guessing the surrender negotiations aren’t going anywhere.”

Guericke and Anne nodded in agreement and Masazumi…

“Removing the Logismoi Oplo from Horizon would mean breaking down her body. …We obviously can’t agree to that request.”

“So you’re giving us conditions we could never accept but claiming you still showed us a ‘merciful compromise’, hm?” said Anne. “Well, I have to admit demanding a surrender with strings attached is pretty amazing. …In a way, I guess P.A. Oda wants power too.”

Guericke nodded in agreement.

“If you have the Logismoi Oplo, you can focus on the Genesis Project but still have a backup plan in case that project fails. Is that it?”

“I don’t really know the details about all this, but…” Matsunaga smiled bitterly. “I kind of wanted to meet Musashi’s princess for a variety of reasons.”

“I bet you did,” replied Masazumi before a sudden voice reached her from the side.

It was Guericke’s. Still sitting, he slid a half spot forward.

“At any rate, as Magdeburg’s provisional mayor, let me respond to the recommendation of capitulation concerning the Sack of Magdeburg.”

He closed his eyes and sighed before continuing.

“I cannot agree to surrender. …After all, Magdeburg’s surrender is not a part of the history recreation.”

The negotiation indeed went nowhere.

Guericke’s decision left everyone speechless.

But just before the silence grew to a sigh, Suleiman opened his mouth.

“In that case, I suppose we’re back to normal or at least the way things were before, right?”

''You make it sound so trivial,'' thought Masazumi, but to him, it really was a trivial matter. And when she thought about it…

…''Musashi may be helping, but we’re really only an observer here.

Even Matsunaga had only been temporarily put under Hashiba’s command because Hashiba’s forces were stretched thin with their strategy placing them on multiple fronts. Matsunaga himself had no connection to the history recreation here.

…''That’s probably exactly why he was sent here as their ambassador.

The others here had to understand that, so Masazumi relaxed her shoulders.

“In terms of the Sengoku period, Lord Matsunaga, we could probably take you hostage to negotiate with Hashiba.”

“That’s a dangerous idea, but it’s just the kind of idea I like. …Then again, I’m not a part of this fight and my history recreation has me rebelling against Nobunaga twice before blowing myself up. If I was captured, they’d probably just leave me here.”

“Hold on. Then how am I supposed to get home?” asked Suleiman with a bitter smile.

Matsunaga laughed.

“Sassa’s outside the city too, so you’d probably have some trouble.”

…''So Sassa and Suleiman know each other.

''There are a lot of connections out there,'' thought Masazumi before suddenly thinking about her connection with Matsunaga.

But if she was ready to let her mind wander like that…

“I suppose that mostly ends the part of the meeting meant to determine Musashi’s position in the fight against P.A. Oda.”

After Masazumi’s question, Guericke, Tomoe, and Anne all nodded.

“Hmm. I suppose. Then I guess it’s time for the discussions between individual nations.”

That noncommittal response came from Matsunaga’s bitter smile.

Eventually, he continued.

“You’re planning to pass through my place after Magdeburg, right? Are you really going to do that? I’ll send out the Shigisan, you know? Are you sure you want that?”

“We can’t allow ourselves to destroy the Hiragumo, so it is a formidable foe,” replied Masazumi with a bitter smile of her own.

Matsunaga’s smile relaxed.

“But,” he said. “If you’re doing Hashiba’s history recreation, then it won’t be long until I retire. I’ll be rebelling, after all. How’s that going to go?”

He asked that final question to no one in particular.

However, it did bring an image to Masazumi’s mind. While at IZUMO the night before last, she had seen Matsunaga drinking at the cafe counter and the nudist cooking in the kitchen.

…''Will that ever be able to happen again?

With that in mind, she made a suggestion.

“Once your role is complete, why not come to Musashi, Lord Matsunaga?”

“Huh?”

Matsunaga had a thought as that question escaped his throat.

…''Oh, c’mon. What kind of pathetic sounds am I making now?

But it had been so sudden.

…''They’ll take me in?

''That’s ridiculous,'' he thought. ''That’s impossible,'' he thought.

After all…

“Wait, wait, wait. I’m a pretty evil person. You’d be in trouble if the other nations knew I was with you. Some would ask you to hand me over and others would refuse to trust you. I’m a shogun killer and the burner of Toudai-ji. That’s just the kind of destroyer I am.”

That was also why he had agreed to work for Nobunaga.

Nobunaga had used the shogun as a puppet and burned Mt. Hiei.

…''As destroyers, I’m the senior and Nobunaga is the junior.

“If necessary, I’ll kill and destroy. That’s the kind of person I am. But you’re different. Just like that idiot and your princess chose at Mikawa, you refuse to think of killing or destroying as necessary. We’re incompatible. And…”

He smiled a little as he spoke.

“In the Far East, I thought you couldn’t be a student past the age of eighteen.”

“Wouldn’t it be interesting if you became the one to destroy that rule?”

When he heard Musashi’s vice president, Suleiman elbowed Matsunaga’s shoulder.

“You’re a popular guy, Matsunaga.”

“It comes naturally to me.”

Musashi’s vice president smiled bitterly at the two men’s exchange.

“Well, just think of it as a suggestion.” The bitterness left her smile. “Our idiot and princess’s policy is to never lose anything. Lord Matsunaga, from what I’ve seen, you’re quite the trickster. In other words, you refuse to let anything go as planned. That’s why I won’t insist that you come. But if you’re ever nearby while on a trip, feel free to stop by.”

“I might even refuse to follow that plan of yours, you know?”

“That’s why it’s only a suggestion. If you visit us…” The bitterness returned to her smile. “You can speak and drink with the idiot who decided on this policy, you can meet the princess you wanted to see, and you can visit Principal Sakai and some others you might know. …Whether it’s porn games or anything else, you’re free to do whatever you want.”

The aide sitting next to the vice president tapped on her shoulder and glared at her. The aide handed over a sign frame and the vice president finally reformed her smile.

“Whatever you want that’s ''legal''.”

“That sounds awfully restrictive…”

However, he let out a single smiling cough as if his chest were vibrating.

“Heh. I see. So that stupid boy and the princess have a policy of never losing anything, do they? Interesting. But…an evil person can’t have people worrying about where he’ll end up.”

“Ha ha. Lord Matsunaga, I think that attitude is just about perfect.”

“Don’t flatter me,” he said. “But what are you going to do? …Musashi has no strength as a nation, isn’t that right?”

''That’s right,'' thought Masazumi as she was drawn in by Matsunaga’s tone of voice.

But…

“I mostly realized that at the meeting the night before last.”

Her tone had gotten lighter which she felt showed her inexperience, but there was no point in hiding it here.

“Before, I had planned on travelling from England to M.H.R.R. to attend the Peace of Westphalia, but…”

But…

“Even if we managed to prove Musashi’s ability to influence the history recreation at England, England was the only nation that really understood us. We also needed more than three weeks of repairs afterwards, so I think we are far too weak to handle the main forces of Hexagone Française or P.A. Oda. Musashi is currently carrying out the history recreation and fighting as the main force of a nation, but that is all. We aren’t a true nation that can rush out into the world at large and continue cruising indefinitely.”

'''Tonbokiri:''' “Sorry, Masazumi.”

'''Vice President:''' “It isn’t your responsibility. These recent battles haven’t even been individual duels. We’ve been using our overall power. And if that isn’t enough, we can never win a war even if we win some local battles.”

Masazumi knew that quite well, so…

'''Mal-Ga:''' “Wh-what is this serious mood between you two!? You’re trying to tempt me into drawing up a storyboard, aren’t you!? No, at this point, I should probably ink it too!”

''Shut up, you idiot. But anyway,'' sighed Masazumi in her heart before opening her mouth.

She needed to express Musashi’s future plans.

“After helping rescue the people of Magdeburg from the Sack, Musashi plans to enter Kantou with the help of Qing-Takeda. Of course, that’s after traveling from Osaka Bay and forcing our way through Lord Matsunaga’s land.”

She looked across the others’ faces.

They were all looking her way, but they looked more curious than serious.

''They’re testing me,'' she realized anew. ''And not just me. They’re testing Musashi as a whole.

So she stated their plan as a response to that test.

“We will travel to Kantou, negotiate with Qing-Takeda, Satomi, Houjou, and – if possible – Sviet Rus to try to bring them over to our side. Our overall strength as a nation does not include just the Musashi itself. It includes the strength and influence we gain through the cooperation of other nations.”

And…

“On the way to Kantou, we will recreate the Battle of Mikatagahara with the help of Qing-Takeda.”

“Oh?” said Tomoe. “That’s quite a decision on Yoshitsune’s part. The Battle of Mikatagahara means the death of that idiot’s inherited name of Shingen.”

“But thanks to that, we can continue with our history recreation. Yes… That’s the starting line. Shingen will die and we will stand just before the Battle of Nagashino that leads to the fall of Takeda.”

Once Takeda fell, Nobunaga’s death would be close. Historically, he had travelled to and from Kyou but been killed by his retainer, Akechi Mitsuhide, at Honnouji before establishing his rule over the entire Far East.

“We’re going to owe a lot to Qing-Takeda.”

“But,” cut in Matsunaga with a tilt of the head. “You can’t rely on Satomi, Houjou, and Qing-Takeda forever. Musashi itself needs its own strength, doesn’t it?”

“We are already making the arrangements for that.”

Masazumi waved her right hand.

“Maa.”

A sign frame appeared in front of that hand and it displayed a line drawing.

“This was made on short notice, but these are the plans for the modifications we’ll have made at Kantou IZUMO.”

Everyone reacted with surprise and for good reason. The image of the Musashi based on Naomasa’s suggested design had a certain addition.

“We will arm the Musashi, including a main cannon. These are the plans for making the Musashi a combat-ready ship.”

“C’mon, now. I thought the Musashi had been disarmed.”

“We need to fight to defend ourselves. Plus, we need weapons when hired as a mercenary. But most importantly, we learned in England that we will sometimes have to fight in order to gain the Logismoi Oplo needed to stop the Apocalypse. So while these modifications are made, we will solidify our position in Kantou and then return here. And when we return, we will have the strength needed to get away with what I just mentioned.”

And…

“When that time comes, please test us again. You’re worried about Musashi’s strength as a nation, but I promise you that we will be strong enough once we return.”

No one immediately agreed or disagreed with her, but Tomoe was the first to move. She placed her hands on her crossed legs and gave a deep nod.

“That is enough. With that, I think I can expect something from you in the future. So at this point…”

Masazumi predicted Tomoe was going to call the meeting to a close, but…

“?”

A sign frame suddenly appeared next to her face and it contained a message from Neshinbara.

'''Novice:''' “Everyone, please remain calm and hear what I have to say. We just received word that the battle between K.P.A. Italia and M.H.R.R. has ended.”

They all turned around in surprise, but the report on the battle’s end was summed up quite succinctly.

'''Novice:''' “Itsukushima has fallen.”

Masazumi thought about what that meant.

…''K.P.A. Italia lost?

They would have had many powerful fighters including the Pope-Chancellor, Galileo, and Tachibana Dousetsu, but Neshinbara had told them what had happened.

“The floating island of Itsukushima…was sunk and split down the middle?”

She had seen a portion of IZUMO break off and fall away the day before.

Itsukushima was a smaller floating island than IZUMO, but…

…''How do you split something like that?

She had questions, but the footage from a PR committee member clearly showed what looked like two islands in the ocean below the dark clouds. Reports of tsunami damage were coming in from the surrounding areas and the remaining K.P.A. Italia forces had sent out a statement saying they would continue their resistance.

“Wow,” said Asama. “The divine network is on the verge of overloading. …Oh, sorry. I’ll switch it over to local mode for the time being!”

Several sign frames appeared around her and Hanami struck a few of them to shrink them.

Everyone exchanged a glance to see what the others would decide.

“That took some time getting here,” said Matsunaga. “I heard about it before I arrived.”

He took a more casual posture and looked up into Avalon’s sky as he spoke.

“Well, as ambassador, I’ll give you one last notification.”

“What is that?”

“Shaja.” He breathed out into the sky as if exhaling tobacco smoke. “Hashiba told me to say this. She said Musashi could easily bring in some supplies or mercenaries when it returned to Magdeburg, so she told me to make an announcement at the end of the meeting. Basically, the Sack of Magdeburg is beginning early.”

“…!?”

“Don’t look so shocked,” he said. “It’s beginning a day early, so tonight at eight. That’s two hours from now, right? Right. …In two hours, the thirty thousand warriors laying siege outside will come rushing in.”

And at 6:12 PM, Matsunaga had completed his job as ambassador, so he and Suleiman left Magdeburg in his primary ship, the Shigisan. At the same time, the M.H.R.R. Catholics used a barrier to cut off all divine transmissions around Magdeburg.

Asama worked with Magdeburg’s academy to restore a Shinto base to the city’s divine transmission environment, but they could not contact anyone outside the city. Essentially, Magdeburg’s eyes and ears had been taken from them in the darkness of the night.

However, they managed to salvage a few pieces of information from the transmissions sent in just before they were cut off.

The first was K.P.A. Italia’s situation. Asama distributed it to everyone else.

“To Whom It May Concern,

How are you doing on this early summer day? Amen.

Thanks to your excellent guidance, we have just had the wonderful experience of defeat. Itsukushima was sunk and the Pope-Chancellor is missing, but all the more, the moderates are working toward a peaceful resolution while the resistors are heading out to the field to resist. Once that begins…”

“Is it just me, or is there a lot of sarcasm in this?”

“Heh heh heh. I do see some hints of resentment here and there. Flat politician, what do you think?”

“It’s definitely an issue that the Pope-Chancellor is missing. That means the manager of the Catholic forces and the Testament Union nations is absent. The different nations will have to begin checking on and trying to take advantage of the situation.”

Meaning…

“The European and Tsirhc nations won’t be able to work together and that creates the perfect opening for Hashiba’s group to interfere.”

Another piece of information was the Musashi’s status.

When the Musashi had been informed of the early start to the Sack of Magdeburg, it had still been in a city on the border with Holland while letting off the evacuees.

It would take eight hours to be towed all the way back to Magdeburg. Even if they left at 6:30 PM, they would only arrive the following morning at 4:30 AM. The divine mail from the Musashi just before transmissions were cut off had been short:

“We will do our best to arrive as quickly as possible. Over.”

The Musashi group in Magdeburg could only interpret those words for themselves.

And at 6:30 PM, the entire city of Magdeburg was filled with a rush of reconsidering or reconstructing their defenses and a state of emergency was announced.

'''Novice:''' “The enemy could receive reinforcements or any number of other bad scenarios could play out, so whether the Musashi can arrive more quickly is going to be our lifeline here.”

Would Magdeburg last until then?

And Asama spoke for all of the Musashi residents there.

“I wonder what Toori-kun and the others are doing right now.”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 63|Chapter 63]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 65|Chapter 65]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 63

2015-08-27T19:34:55Z

68.109.52.245:

==Chapter 63: Collective Resister==
[[Image:Horizon3C_0085.jpg|thumb]]
''What is it I hear?

''Divided resentment?

''Or joyous relief?

'''Point Allocation (National Circumstances)

Tomoe nodded once and spoke to Musashi’s vice president and Mazarin of Hexagone Française.

“Listen. If Musashi and Hexagone Française are allowed a unilateral friendship, there is no saving M.H.R.R. Just to be clear, the M.H.R.R. Protestants must oppose the Catholics thanks to the Sack of Magdeburg, but we are part of the same overall collective as the Catholics. Do not forget that we did not oppose them until the Sack because we benefit when they benefit.”

So…

“If Musashi opposes the M.H.R.R. Catholics as a sign of friendship with Hexagone Française, the Thirty Years’ War will bring more damage to M.H.R.R. than it otherwise would. The same holds true if Musashi sticks to behind-the-scenes support. So…”

She breathed in.

“The M.H.R.R. Protestants would find it most regrettable if Musashi chose to oppose the Catholics to negotiate a friendship with Hexagone Française.”

Masazumi saw a message from Naruze on her sign frame.

'''Mal-Ga:''' “Why not ignore this pain-in-the-ass old hag and keep going?”

She noticed Asama quickly erasing the log and then heard the girl sigh.

'''Asama:''' “There. But is ignoring her, as Naruze suggested, not an option? M.H.R.R. is Hashiba and they will lose the war. It seems horrible to just ignore them no matter what they say, but as a politician, shouldn’t you keep that option in reserve?”

''Could I really do that?'' wondered Masazumi.

But…

'''Vice President:''' “No, I can’t. After all, M.H.R.R. will be at Westphalia.”

'''Almost Everyone:''' “Oh, that’s right.”

'''Novice:''' “Eh!? I wasn’t part of that ‘almost’! I already knew that!”

'''Four Eyes:''' “Why do you insist on showing off like that?”

'''Novice:''' What’s wrong with it!? And how did you get into our chat again!?”

'''Asama:''' “Eh? Oh, because this is a Protestant city. …I did it to show off the spirit of the Asama Shrine.”

'''Novice:''' “Y-you didn’t have to do that! You didn’t!!”

''Then couldn’t you ask Asama to cut the connection?'' wondered Masazumi, but since he did not, he may not have truly wanted to be separated from Shakespeare.

…''So the M.H.R.R. Protestants and Catholics are pretty much the same?

They were on opposite sides of a war, but M.H.R.R. was a collective nation of principalities that belonged to both groups.

Despite the internal conflict, they were still a solid group when it came to opposing external foes. They were only going to oppose each other after Magdeburg because the Catholics had crossed a line. So…

…''Even as Protestants, they cooperate with the Catholics to form M.H.R.R. as a whole.

When viewed as a single nation, any damage to the Catholics would also be a burden on the Protestants.

So if Musashi’s actions during the Thirty Years’ War caused more damage than M.H.R.R. would have taken in a normal history recreation, the Protestants would not support Musashi.

'''Novice:''' “Therefore, they don’t want us to oppose the Catholics.”

'''Righteousness:''' “…What if you still do it?”

'''Wise Sister:''' “Oh? Yoshy is included in the chat? Heh heh heh. We’re all typing, but it’s wonderful how everyone goes the extra mile to add in the ellipses and such! Do you want me to hit you!?”

'''Four Eyes:''' “Who is Yoshy?”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “A flat-chested long-lived girl from another academy’s student council who’s staying on the Musashi for the time being!!”

'''Novice:''' “Ahhhh!! Do you have any idea how dangerous that statement was!?”

'''Four Eyes:''' “It doesn’t really matter. …Yeah, I think I’ll go investigate that person, so talk to you later.”

'''Novice:''' “Don’t just assume we’ll be talking later! And don’t cause any international incidents!”

'''Almost Everyone:''' “G-get a room?”

Masazumi had a feeling something horrific was in the works, but she hoped she was only imagining it.

At any rate…

'''Righteousness:''' “How about we get back on topic? What happens if you still oppose the Catholics?”

That was a simple matter, so Masazumi used Tsukinowa to form a reply.

'''Vice President:''' “We would lose the support of the M.H.R.R. Protestants during the Peace of Westphalia. In the worst case, Holland and all the other Protestant nations would turn against us.”

If possible, Masazumi wanted to make sure Musashi sided with the victors of the Thirty Years’ War and the Peace of Westphalia. And she wanted to do so by earning their gratitude.

If Musashi had Hexagone Française, Holland, and other victors on their side, it would be easier to accomplish their goals with the Logismoi Oplo and freeing themselves from provisional rule.

…''I’d love to do that, but opposing the M.H.R.R. Catholics would mean making an enemy of the M.H.R.R. Protestants and the Protestant nations they cooperate with.

'''Novice:''' “It would be pretty bad to lose the great victor of Holland. They’re Protestant and they cooperate with the M.H.R.R. Protestants, so they could still oppose Musashi even though they come out on top with M.H.R.R.’s defeat. They could claim we caused more damage to their allies than the history recreation required.”

'''Vice President:''' “And that would make it all the easier for the other victors to similarly hide behind the history recreation.”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “Then we just have to avoid opposing the M.H.R.R. Catholics, right?”

'''Novice:''' “We can’t do that either. You remember the group that attacked us this morning, right? The M.H.R.R. Catholics and P.A. Oda are our enemies.”

'''Tonbokiri:''' “This is getting complicated, so how about a snack break?”

'''Almost Everyone:''' “You sure are honest with yourself!!”

''Futayo has always been like that,'' recalled Masazumi while continuing to think.

Hexagone Française had just revealed the threat of Hashiba and the M.H.R.R. Catholics joining forces, so they could earn Hexagone Française’s gratitude by opposing that combined force.

But the M.H.R.R. Protestants said they wanted to avoid having Musashi join the fight against the Catholics they shared a collective nation with.

…''If only we could split Hashiba from the M.H.R.R. Catholics.

But how could they do that?

…''Physically? Politically? According to their roles? No…

She thought through a number of ideas as she tried to figure out what to do.

“Well…”

She began to wonder what kind of simple conclusion that idiot would reach in this situation.

…''There is a way.

There was. It was a simple yet highly dangerous way of resolving this.

“I have a suggestion for the M.H.R.R. secretary who represents the M.H.R.R. Protestants.”

Suleiman listened to Musashi’s vice president speak.

She leaned forward while sitting cross-legged in the grass and gently spread her arms. She then formed a smile that could be seen as bitter or self-deprecating.

“It is still a vague suggestion, but there is a single method of completely splitting P.A. Oda’s Hashiba from the M.H.R.R. Catholics. Needless to say, this is something that will be proven by Musashi’s future actions.”

“Tell me.” Tomoe nodded expressionlessly. “I will make up my mind after that.”

“As will I,” said Suleiman to urge the girl onward while thinking he knew what she was going to say.

…''If I am right, the Far East will need to be cautious at the very least.

But he also thought they had already made up their minds about this.

…''The question is whether they are aware of this decision of theirs.

He looked to her and asked his heart how he would react if he received the response he was hoping for.

As he watched, Musashi’s vice president breathed in just once and then spoke calmly.

“Listen.”

Here it came.

“Before the Peace of Westphalia, Musashi will destroy Hashiba as a Far Eastern power.”

Masazumi made her suggestion.

“Musashi will destroy Hashiba not as a Catholic or Protestant power, but as a Far Eastern one.”

If they did that…

“Hashiba can be split from the M.H.R.R. Catholics. Due to our history of opposing Hashiba, only Musashi can accomplish this. And if Hashiba is defeated before the Peace of Westphalia, the victors can pay no heed to P.A. Oda as they make their demands and speak of the defeated nations as nothing more than that.”

This was the answer to what she had been asked at the beginning of the meeting. This was their stance against P.A. Oda.

“Musashi is P.A. Oda’s enemy.”

And…

“Musashi will handle Hashiba.”

Asama heard laughter. Suleiman was leaning forward and laughing in his monk’s robe of a Far Eastern uniform. He laughed uncontrollably, but held his right palm toward Asama and Masazumi.

“Sorry, sorry. My apologies. B-but…I am not laughing at your idea.”

''Then what are you laughing at?'' wondered Asama while exchanging a glance with Masazumi.

Suleiman tried to catch his breath before continuing.

“Oh, what is it? To think I had such humor left in me! That must be it!”

'''Asama:''' “ ‘In me’? So it wasn’t that Masazumi was funny?”

'''Vice President:''' “Wait, wait, wait. Don’t say anything that will cause misunderstandings.”

'''Wise Sister:''' “That’s right, Asama. We can’t have anyone mistakenly thinking Masazumi is funny!”

'''Vice President:''' “Huh? Am I being attacked right now?”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “Then make a joke about Holland.”

'''Vice President:''' “Eh? …Well, I hear tulips cover the ‘whole-land’ of ‘Hol-land’.”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “Wait, why are you laughing, Yoshy!? I’ll put you in my doujinshi!”

'''Righteousness:''' “Eh? Y-you people are strict!”

'''Wise Sister:''' “Heh heh heh. This is the problem with flat-chested fighters who don’t know how to enjoy themselves! You need to get some training at the physical comedy-style solitary confinement hall at the shrine of an entertainer god!”

At any rate, Masazumi waited for Suleiman to calm down before opening her mouth. She did not know why he had laughed, but it was not because he had a poor opinion of her.

“I do not know how we will do so. It’s just a proposal.”

After all…

“Hashiba meets a slow death rather than a decisive one in battle, so it would be impossible to use the history recreation to destroy them in battle.”

'''Novice:''' “That’s right. Hashiba died of old age. That’s one of the main reasons he was known for unifying the Far East and bringing the Warring States period to an end. He lived out his life in the peace he created instead of dying in battle. Matsudaira then plotted to take advantage of the following chaos within the Hashiba forces and took the Far East for himself.”

Yoshiyasu tilted her head when she saw those words in the dancer’s sign frame.

“So you want to defeat Hashiba, but no one can force that death onto her? What are you going to do?”

“There is still a way.” The dancer smiled bitterly. “In this age, you can hide behind the history recreation and force death onto someone as long as you have the power to back it up.”

“You’re going to put someone to death by force?”

“Don’t be silly.”

The dancer’s bitter smile grew, but she pointed to the sign frame where the words of Musashi’s vice president appeared.

'''Vice President:''' “There is no certain way of destroying Hashiba, but the method itself is clear.”

That being…

'''Vice President:''' “We use the rules of the history recreation to end Hashiba’s history recreation.”

…''Can you do that!?

Yoshiyasu gasped at what Musashi’s vice president had said and recalled something.

Not long ago, much the same thing had happened in Mikawa and England.

However, those had been a true forced death based in the history recreation.

…''Everyone was listening with bated breath to the divine radio in the Satomi living room.

Then, when Musashi’s chancellor and student council president had ended the confrontation on the bridge and walked down the stairs, “that man”, Yoshiyori, had left the living room on his own. Yoshiyasu had wondered why he was not listening through to the end, but she had later found a new flower on her sister’s grave.

Musashi’s chancellor and president’s determination at Mikawa had led that man to make some kind of decision and dedicate some kind of feelings at that grave.

Yoshiyasu did not know what he had meant by it.

…''So…

So even as her heart filled with irritation toward herself, she was curious about Musashi because that man had shown an interest in it.

…''How will they handle the kind of situation that set his heart in motion!?

If they were not going to force death on someone, what were they going to do?

“How does Musashi plan to ‘defeat’ Hashiba!?”

Masazumi did not know the specific method, but she had a general policy in mind.

“Listen. Musashi will not carry out the kind of deadly history recreation forced on us at Mikawa or nearly consented to in England. This was decided by Musashi’s Princess and Vicereine Horizon Ariadust and is the general consensus of Musashi as a whole.”

So…

“Instead of an assassination, we will push the Far Eastern history recreation forward and leave Hashiba with nothing more to recreate. In other words…”

She had said something similar to England’s Fairy Queen.

“We will set history in motion and use that result as a weapon.”

Tomoe smiled bitterly in her heart when she heard Musashi’s vice president.

…''The Far East has quite the strict new representative.

She would bring Hashiba to its end in order to strip it away from M.H.R.R.

Everyone here had to have a number of ideas how to accomplish that, but the situation would change greatly if Hashiba was truly eliminated from M.H.R.R. The Catholics would be greatly weakened, the Protestant minority would have much more influence over them, and if it was all done before Westphalia…

…''M.H.R.R. can actually stand its ground during Westphalia.

If Hashiba remained when the Thirty Years’ War ended, the nations attending the Peace of Westphalia would try to strip M.H.R.R. of as much power as they could. But if Hashiba was gone, the Peace of Westphalia could remain a peace conference based entirely on the history recreation. They would have to do something about Student Council President Matthias who had invited in Hashiba, but it would be possible to play the role of victims.

“In that case, our influence at the Peace would be directly connected to how well the Catholics and Protestants could work together to regain our strength beforehand.”

If Matthias could be used as a scapegoat and the Catholics and Protestants could reconcile, the two sides would be able to come together quite quickly.

…''Honestly.

Thinking about that brought the past to Tomoe’s mind.

Tomoe had a long past.

Long ago, she had been used as a scapegoat.

During the Genpei War, she, her husband Minamoto Yoshinaka, Yoshitsune, and Yoshitsune’s brother Yoritomo had worked together to defeat the Taira family. However, their army had been fairly crude and some turbulent times had arrived once they had entered Kyou. That had partially been due to the history recreation, but…

…''Well, we had a lot of fun.

At the same time, the friction between Yoritomo and Yoshitsune had gradually risen to the surface and, as the Minamoto clan had gathered strength to defeat the Taira family, the nobles had realized they were becoming a new threat in the Taira family’s place.

So as a scapegoat for a number of problems, Yoshinaka’s forces in Kyou had been attacked and defeated by Yoshitsune.

Tomoe would be lying if she said she did not hold a grudge. Even if it was part of the history recreation, she could not accept some of it. Most importantly of all, her beloved husband, Yoshinaka, had been killed.

So she had decided to live on. First, she had followed her grudge against Yoshitsune, crossed over to the continent, and fought against Yoshitsune’s Yuan Dynasty. As that horse-riding empire had conquered westward into Eastern Europe, Tomoe had struggled against them in the name of fighting Yoshitsune while taking on a few different inherited names from Eastern Europe and Russia.

Finally, the Yuan Dynasty had fallen and split into various horse-riding nations which changed form and died out.

Was that enough to say she had defeated Yoshitsune? Or had history simply continued on? She did not know, but she did know what she had felt back then.

She had lost her reason to fight.

But by that time, she had become well-known in Europe and a lot of people had gathered to rely on her when the harmonic world was destroyed during the Harmonic Unification War.

She had ultimately chosen this city of Magdeburg.

Magdeburg was where Otto I, the original emperor of M.H.R.R., slept.

She had heard he had used this land as the front line base against the horse-riders and savages arriving from the east. The fact that she had seen herself in him showed that she had still viewed herself as a hero of the Genpei War, but…

…''I decided to take their side.

The Testament had still been updating after the Harmonic Unification War and it had informed them of the Reformation to come from M.H.R.R and it had told them the Protestants would win their position in the world despite being oppressed.

''I see.

''Long ago, we caused trouble and were purged.

''And now, those trying to purify their world will be purged yet will remain.

''And that is why I am here now.

''I do see Yoshitsune from time to time. That idiot always complains that I’m there and tries to pick a fight with me, but she’s probably just trying to get me to hate her.

''Now, then,'' thought Tomoe. ''I need to focus on the present instead of the past.

''The situation might be different, but I can’t make a scapegoat of Matthias. However, that will make it difficult to bring together the Catholics and Protestants without any spilt blood.

“I assume I would be able to play an important role in that,” she said. “It is an interesting idea and it is worth thinking about.”

Masazumi listened to Tomoe.

“Ending Hashiba’s history recreation before Westphalia means advancing history that far in about four months. That will be difficult, but it is Musashi’s problem. We only need to see whether you pull it off and criticize you if you do not.”

“You don’t hold back, do you, old lady?”

Tomoe bared her fangs toward Matsunaga and Guericke slid back two spots.

…''Oh, c’mon. Please don’t start fighting here.

Despite Masazumi’s thought, Tsukinowa opened a sign frame.

'''Wise Sister:''' “Yeah, that was worth getting mad at.”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “Yes. It was definitely worth getting mad at.”

''Huh? Is there something wrong with me as a girl if I didn’t think that?'' wondered Masazumi with a mental tilt of her head, but Tomoe corrected her posture after only clicking her tongue toward Matsunaga.

She then faced the two from Hexagone Française.

“And I don’t think Musashi’s suggestion contradicts what you want.”

“Testament. That’s true. If Hashiba is defeated early, it will shorten the amount of time Mouri is under their control. It would be nice to have that end while we can still find a way to avoid doing everything they say. And if Musashi has a friendly relationship with my brother and Terumoto, it opens up a lot of options for the later Battle of Sekigahara. …Mazarin, what do you think as treasurer?”

“Testament.” Mazarin nodded. “According to my calculations, a shorter time under Hashiba’s rule will reduce what they can take from us as a sign of our fealty. And Sekigahara will be a lot cheaper if we can use connections with Matsudaira to talk things out.”

…''She sure is blunt.

“Then,” said Anne. “I’d say it’s an option. But listen, Musashi Vice President. There are three problems with your suggestion.

“First, Hashiba’s history recreation is closely connected to the history of a lot of other Far Eastern commanders, so you won’t be able to advance history just for Hashiba. You might get everyone related to Hashiba or even the entire Far East involved and end up with a massive war on your hands. Are you aware of that?

“Second, you say you want to advance the history recreation, but where will you begin? You can’t do anything without a starting point.

“And third,” she said. “Does Musashi have the power as a nation to do this?”

“Listen,” said Anne, but not to Musashi’s vice president. “Old Man Matsunaga.”

“What’s this all of a sudden, little lady?”

“You’re going to tell Hashiba…no, Nobunaga everything that happens at this meeting, aren’t you? After all, P.A. Oda gave Musashi a warning this morning. It was a simple demonstration of what would happen if they stuck their nose in P.A. Oda’s business. And that was on Hashiba’s instructions, wasn’t it?”

“Wait a second.”

Musashi’s vice president raised her right hand and frowned when Anne gave her a look that said, “What is it?”

“Are you saying Hashiba sent Sassa Narimasa, Shibata Katsuie, and Takigawa Ichimasu to determine our strength because she predicted what this meeting would be about and that Musashi would oppose them?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. It must have been a good opportunity for Hashiba and for P.A. Oda to learn what kind of a threat Musashi posed to them. So…”

A sudden chill reached Anne and she grimaced a little.

…''Don’t worry.

''I still have plenty of time. I have to believe that. At the very least, I’m not going to disappear here, so focus on that. And I need to say this, even if it sounds harsh.

…''I have the special privilege of saying whatever I want without worrying about the personal consequences.

“If you advance Hashiba’s history recreation, it will involve the history recreations of those with a close connection to her. But based on this morning, it doesn’t look like you would be able to force Katsuie or Sassa’s history recreations onto them. And…”

She said it.

“If you are going to ‘end’ Hashiba, you will first need to ‘end’ Oda Nobunaga, her boss. …Can you do that?”

Masazumi listened to Anne.

“That won’t be easy. Nobunaga still remains hidden yet has earned great trust from P.A. Oda’s leaders. And while Nobunaga’s Genesis Project is still a mystery, we do know they are constructing some massive structure inside the stealth barrier surrounding Lake Biwa.”

“Is there anything else?”

“The Princess Disappearances. Just as Maeda Toshiie stated and demonstrated in England, they must know something about that mystery you are pursuing.”

A response came as soon as Asama sent Anne’s words to the others using Hanami’s voice input.

'''Novice:''' “Vice President Honda-kun, ask about Richelieu again. He was a victim of the Princess Disappearances and he was Hexagone Française’s treasurer during Anne of Austria’s era and before, so I bet Anne knows something about him.”

“Judge,” sent back Masazumi as she faced Anne. This would be a digression, but Lord Motonobu had said at Mikawa that investigating the Princess Disappearances would lead to stopping the Apocalypse.

“Could you provide us with some details on Cardinal Richelieu’s Princess Disappearance? It doesn’t have to be now and it can just be a general summary if you want.”

“He just suddenly disappeared is all. Right, Mazarin?”

“Testament. He was going through the process of handing the treasurer position over to me and he told me to wait for a moment while he signed the paperwork. And then…”

'''Novice:''' “That’s just like Sakakibara-sama!”

Masazumi immediately realized what Neshinbara meant. That situation was very similar to when Principal Sakai witnessed Sakakibara Yasumasa’s disappearance at Mikawa. He had prepared some water and…

“Did Cardinal Richelieu leave behind any kind of message?”

Mazarin’s eyebrows rose and she peered into the ''signe cadre'' she held. Anne then nodded and gave a slight smile.

“It would seem the Princess Disappearances truly are afflicting the Far East as well. To be honest, I was skeptical of these stories, but fine. ‘Because there is a short delay before the Princess Disappearance is complete’, the victim has time to leave behind a message. If you know that, then you must have experienced the real thing.”

She continued speaking.

“This is something I heard from someone long ago. …Before inheriting his name, Richelieu apparently went missing for about three years.”

…''Eh?

“You’ve heard something similar before, haven’t you?”

Masazumi had indeed heard of a Princess Disappearances victim having gone missing in the past.

…''Crossunite gave us bits and pieces and Mary later gave us an official report.

“Judge. I have. Before inheriting their names, Henry VIII, Queen Catherine, and Anne Boleyn went missing for a year.”

“It apparently happened during Richelieu’s high school years.”

''Wait,'' thought Masazumi. Her mind could not keep up with so much sudden information.

However, Anne continued without letting her catch up.

“His final message was, ‘The Princess has a parent’.”

To Asama, something did not feel right about those words.

…''Huh?

''What is it?'' she wondered and opened a sign frame to check the divine network.

But suddenly, Anne’s eyes turned her way.

She was looking at Asama’s hands on the spell keyboard.

“…”

But Anne only smiled. Asama nodded back without thinking and realized the two of them had reached an understanding.

…''Eh?

Anne’s smile seemed to be praising her for reaching the right answer.

…''Eh!? W-wait! But I don’t understand anything yet!

''This is bad,'' she realized. ''Anne is definitely asking me to answer the mystery hidden in those words.

…''U-um… What could it be? Well, anyway, I need to make my search.

But she was away from the Musashi and this was a Western Protestant city. She could not use Musashi’s databank and she would have to convert her query into German to make a search. She started up a translation spell and typed in “The Princess has a parent”, but…

“…!?”

She realized what Anne’s hidden trick was.

“Was that message in Far Eastern!?”

“Yes. It was written just as I said it. After all, Richelieu was originally from the Far East.”

And…

“To kill some time while lying in my hospital bed, I once asked him about when he had gone missing and he smiled. He was already past middle-age and well on his way to being an old man at the time. We had no choice what with the history recreation, but we were always saying nasty things to each other and lying to each other. But this time, he was probably trying to pass it off as a joke, but it contained a hint of something different.”

Anne spoke to Musashi’s vice president.

“He nostalgically told me he had gone to a nonexistent academy.”

“A nonexistent academy?” asked Masazumi.

But she accepted Anne’s words and began thinking on them.

…''If I sum it up, this is what she’s telling me:

●'''The Princess has a parent.

●'''When Richelieu and the others went missing, they were at a “nonexistent” academy.

She had no way of analyzing those two facts here, so…

“You have given us some valuable information and some important hints to guide Musashi in the future. I thank you.”

“Testament. But what will you do? Is Musashi truly going to advance Hashiba’s history recreation from the outside? That decision necessitates conflict with Nobunaga, you know?”

“I need them to do that,” added Suleiman. “My goal is to reclaim my birthplace. I want to take back Mt. Hiei and the Mlasi holy land. That is why I have been working with Matsunaga here.”

“Yeah, because I happen to be the one who’s currently in charge of the Kii Peninsula.” A small smile entered Matsunaga’s voice. “But let me say one thing for now. Let me tell you why someone like me is here under the temporary command of M.H.R.R.”

That being…

“It’s standard practice before a battle, but we need to discuss whether all of you will accept our terms for the Sack of Magdeburg. If you will, you can surrender in advance.”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 62|Chapter 62]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 64|Chapter 64]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 61

2015-08-25T22:07:46Z

68.109.52.245:

==Chapter 61: Leaders Under Siege==
[[Image:Horizon3C_0043.jpg|thumb]]
''What begins quietly

''And definitely?

'''Point Allocation (Expectations)

The evening light shined through a room’s window.

It was a classroom.

The lights had already been turned on and a short female teacher with “Sanyou” on her nametag stood in front of the blackboard. She drew a quick map of the Far East from Kinki to Chugoku and tapped her fist on the northern coast.

“Now, the Musashi is currently in northern M.H.R.R. where it borders Holland.”

She tapped on the northern coast again and rotated her hand to point toward the Chugoku region.

“This is M.H.R.R. As we covered last class, Charlemagne unified Europe during the 8th to 9th centuries to create the Carolingian Empire. Its headquarters were here in M.H.R.R where he is known as Karl the Great. But…”

…''This is where it gets tricky.

With that thought, Sanyou wrote “Carolingian Empire” on the blackboard.

“The empire created by Charlemagne was not known as the Holy Roman Empire. The emperor was crowned by the Pope of Western Rome and Charlemagne was known as the Roman Emperor, but at the time Rome was split between papal Western Rome and imperial Eastern Rome. The Eastern Roman Empire had a Roman Emperor of their own, so they referred to the coronation as a usurpation of the imperial throne.”

But due to Charlemagne’s great deeds, he was later known as a hero.

His story had been told again and again as a revival and he was seen as “everyone’s father” in Europe. In the age of the knights, everyone had tried to give themselves some importance by claiming he was their ancestor. That had given rise to the saying “No matter what happens, your old man is Karl”.<ref>A reference to the tagline for the Japanese snack food Curl/Karl: No matter what happens, your snack is Karl.</ref>

…''Recently, they used New World corn to make a snack based on it. It’s advertised with Old Man Karl, isn’t it?

“But…”

While thinking emotionally on it all, Sanyou wrote the year 962 on the board.

“962 was an important year.”

“Are you listening?” asked Sanyou. “In 962, the Carolingian Empire had already split and the Kingdom of the East Franks, which would later become M.H.R.R., finally produced an individual powerful enough to be crowned Holy Roman Emperor. That individual was Otto I. He was the head of Magdeburg and was buried in Magdeburg’s Maurice Cathedral.”

…''But Otto I had to work hard before becoming emperor.

He had first become king of the East Franks, but he had found himself constantly fighting rebellious princes and his brothers.

He was betrayed by his mother and younger brother, made allies of enemies, and unified the Kingdom of the East Franks. After reconciling with his brother, his heir betrayed him and he conquered Italy.

His sworn friend Conrad agreed with his heir’s betrayal and became yet another enemy, but Otto fought them with the help of his younger brother.

Afterwards, rebels attacked the Pope in Italy, putting Otto in a dangerous position; but Conrad, who had previously betrayed Otto, rushed in and achieved victory with his own death. That achievement earned Otto I the position of Holy Roman Emperor, but…

…''This is where chivalry comes in.

Manga and the like would always reach their climax here.

…''Come to think of it, Otto I must have been doing something wrong to be betrayed that often!

Sanyou sighed and tapped on the drawn map.

“Anyway, with Otto I as emperor, M.H.R.R. was born; but it took a long time to make the throne more established. The Pope held the right to crown the emperor, so the Holy Roman Empire could not set up an emperor to rule themselves. So to ensure they had an actual leader, the princes of each principality were given the right to vote for a ‘King of Germany’ instead of an emperor. This eventually fell apart and the princes were too busy holding each other in check to elect a king. This was known as the Great Interregnum and…”

Sanyou hesitated but continued.

“Emperor became a powerless position that was nothing more than a title.”

Everyone in the classroom stopped moving.

A lot of students and families on the Musashi had come from M.H.R.R., so they had a real connection to all this. Even if this kind of topic was difficult, this silence still scared Sanyou.

She decided to continue on and wondered if she was gradually getting used to Musashi’s way of doing things.

…''Eh? But isn’t that a bad thing?

“Teacher! Teacher! Did something happen!? Why aren’t you moving!? Is it about marriage again!?”

…''What do you mean “again”?

At any rate, she breathed in and recovered.

“Now then,” she began. “Ironically, the Pope stopped insisting on choosing the emperor once the position lost its power. And in the 15th century, M.H.R.R. used its own right to crown an emperor. Starting then, the throne was effectively passed down by the Habsburg family.”

Some students took notes, but others nodded to say they already knew that. The ones that shrugged were ones from M.H.R.R. who had ended up in the Far East due to all that confusion.

…''M.H.R.R. went through a lot, didn’t it?

Sanyou wrote M.H.R.R.’s current lineup on the board.

'''Chancellor: Rudolf II – “Wahnsinniger”. Was imprisoned in Prague but moved near Magdeburg.

'''Student Council President: Matthias – Rudolf II’s younger brother and the one who imprisoned him. Logismoi Óplo user.

'''Vice Chancellor: Shibata Katsuie – P.A. Oda’s vice chancellor. Double inherited name with General Tilly. Testamenta Arma user.

'''Vice President: Hashiba Toukichirou – One of P.A. Oda’s Five Great Peaks and Six Heavenly Demon Armies. Details are unknown.

'''Secretary: Luther – A ghost and Tomoe Gozen. Parent of the Reformation and Protestant ideology.

'''Treasurer: Maeda Toshiie – One of P.A. Oda’s Five Great Peaks and Six Heavenly Demon Armies. A ghost.

“That’s pretty much it, but there is a reason why M.H.R.R. is working with the Mlasi P.A. Oda despite being religious enemies. The Peace of Westphalia that Musashi will be a part of marks the end of the Thirty Years’ War, but it also means M.H.R.R.’s defeat.”

That defeat was not a kind one either.

“The Peace of Westphalia is called the world’s first international treaty, so defeat there is not just decided between two nations. It is internationally decided and enforced.”

Their defeat was recognized by the entire world. Their influence would drop among every nation and recovering would be no easy task.

“That is why M.H.R.R. Student Council President Matthias is trying to fight against that fate. Hashiba responded by having her troops drop the Mlasi religion and take on Catholicism in its place. And in accordance with history, the two of them imprisoned Rudolf II, a “Wahnsinniger” or madman who enjoyed his imperial fantasies and refused to look at reality. Because Rudolf II has no power, they partially hold the imperial throne already.”

Sanyou looked to the evening sky out the window.

“But to put it another way, their Student Council and Chancellor’s Officers will use any means necessary. Given Musashi’s and our plans, that is something we cannot afford to forget.”

At that point, Sanyou looked out the window again.

She could see dark clouds spreading out far too the south. And below them…

“Magdeburg. I hope Vice President Honda and the others are doing a proper job.”

The space was filled with night and the color green.

It was a vast and flat field and a forest separated by a perfectly straight border. A small straight stream ran through it all, too. This world had no ups or downs.

“This is Avalon, isn’t it?”

Masazumi muttered to herself as she and Asama looked around.

Guericke walked past her. He stepped ahead of the others and spread his arms to indicate their surroundings.

“This was recreated based on the documents sent by England. And…”

He pointed to one corner of Avalon.

…''Stonehenge?

Stonehenge was the massive stone structure that acted as a controller for England’s ley lines. What Masazumi saw before her resembled the circles and lines of stones that formed Stonehenge, but these were thin panels that shined with a white light.

Asama narrowed her false left eye and stared at the light.

“That is amazingly dense ether.”

“Testament.” Guericke nodded. “Those are the Hemispheres I mentioned as a barrier against the Apocalypse. We tested the strength of a number of shapes and settled on a non-hemispherical one, but I would prefer it if you let that slide.”

He nodded, crossed his arms, and opened his mouth to provide an explanation; but before he could, Mazarin held up the ''signe cadre'' displaying Anne.

“Let us go visit the henge, Lady Anne.”

Being ignored left Guericke speechless and the others gave him sympathetic looks.

…''This feels surprisingly similar to our environment.

After Masazumi and Asama nodded, Suleiman approached. He too walked over to the henge, but he then turned back toward Guericke.

“Do you have a pamphlet or something on that Apocalypse barrier?”

“I do.”

When Guericke reached into his pocket and pulled out a stack of folded papers and packs of pocket tissues, everyone else took a disturbed step back.

…''Germans sure are amazing.

Half in awe, Masazumi took a pamphlet along with Suleiman and the others. Afterwards, Guericke pointed to the source of the stream. A device resembling a four meter pot lid was located there.

A movable pedestal was placed on the bottom of the machine.

“That is the emitter for the Hemispheres.”

He gestured toward the emitter and looked to Masazumi.

“When the Musashi returns, we will transfer it over.”

Masazumi had not expected that.

During the meeting Horizon had attended the night before, they had agreed to a joint development of the Hemispheres, but…

“Why are you giving it to us?”

The one who nodded in response was Tomoe who stood next to Guericke.

She shrugged.

“We don’t know how the Sack of Magdeburg will play out, but we know the city will not escape unharmed. That opens the possibility of the Catholics or P.A. Oda stealing the Hemispheres. More importantly, we will be unable to research the Hemispheres in the same environment once the city is reconstructed. So…”

She looked Masazumi right in the eye.

“So you will take the Hemispheres with you while Guericke and the others here will contact the Musashi for a more theoretical development or the creation of a new prototype.”

“Testament.”

Guericke nodded, so he must have already discussed this with Protestant Representative Tomoe.

“In that case,” said Masazumi. “Thank you very much. We will do our best to ensure this leads to the results we both want.”

“Testament. We are thankful that you will take it. With P.A. Oda’s Genesis Project and your Logismoi Óplo, there are indeed methods of stopping the Apocalypse. While our Hemispheres are not enough, I hope they can help you even a little as you work to stop it in your own way.”

Guericke held the pamphlets up toward the others.

“There are more than just bad things in this world. With the Genesis Project and the Logismoi Óplo, we wish to investigate any positive means of fighting the coming Apocalypse. I want everyone attending this meeting to feel the same.”

“If our treasurer heard that, he would probably get into an argument over how exactly to investigate that. And I guess that’s one way of doing it.”

With that comment, Masazumi looked forward.

They were making their way to the center of the henge created by the Hemisphere barrier.

She and Asama entered the ring of light and looked around. In there, Guericke, Tomoe, Mazarin who held up a ''signe cadre'' displaying Anne, Suleiman, Matsunaga, Asama, and she could all see each other.

Realizing that was why they were using this spot for their meeting, Masazumi was the first to sit down.

“Okay.”

Asama also sat and Masazumi looked up at all the others.

“I would appreciate it if we could call this an official meeting, but at any rate, I want to speak. Is that okay?”

Masazumi felt the pointy grass gently scraping and tickling at her butt and legs.

She interpreted the feeling as her calm rather than her impatience, so she settled her hips down even further.

As the others looked down at her, she spoke.

“Should I say why Musashi is taking part in this meeting?”

“You should,” said Suleiman with a nod.

The others also nodded and Matsunaga cut in with a bitter smile.

“To be honest, I just want to hear what an irregular participant like you has to say. If we only gathered the usual members, we’d all know what everyone was going to say. So it’s fine with me if you say as much as you want.”

“Thank you,” replied Masazumi.

She turned to Asama and had the girl begin recording.

“Now, let me be blunt.”

She looked across the others who were still standing.

“We want allies. That’s as simply as I can put it.”

“Oh? Is that the will of Musashi’s princess? Hm?” asked Suleiman.

“Judge.” Masazumi nodded. “I want you to view that as the will of everyone from Musashi, myself included.”

Even she was unsure of what she was saying. After all, Musashi had only been able to fight defensively against Hexagone Française and they had only just barely defended Musashino’s bridge against some of P.A. Oda’s main fighters.

A lot of Musashi’s citizens probably wanted to save the world from the Apocalypse but also wanted to avoid any fighting.

Neshinbara would be helping with that by not participating in the meeting and acting as a spokesman to the normal citizens, but…

…''Any result besides victory will definitely drive us into a corner.

So at the very least, there was one thing she wanted from this meeting.

“Let me say it again: Musashi wants to gain some allies.”

Still sitting, Masazumi looked to the space directly ahead of her. She opened her mouth and began to speak.

“At this point, I have finally understood something as fact rather than mere knowledge. We caused trouble at Mikawa and we helped make history in England, but England, Tres España, Hexagone Française, M.H.R.R., K.P.A. Italia, Qing-Takeda, and probably Sviet Rus, P.A. Oda, and the other nations we have yet to see have all been doing this all along as if it were normal. It was just that the Far East’s history recreation was closely controlled by the provisional rule, so the other nations kept our history moving without us having to do anything. That was all it was.”

''So,'' she thought.

“The other nations were not just fighting for some advantageous conclusion with the strength they happened to have. They are constantly fighting to strengthen their rule and to gain an advantageous position against the other nations and they have constantly been gathering power to accomplish that. They were using their own strength and their own will to choose what they were doing.”

“What about it?” asked Suleiman who was still standing.

Masazumi nodded without looking up at him.

“From now on, we too will continue growing stronger while constantly choosing the path of warfare.”

“Will you make yourselves our enemy?”

“That’s hard to say,” she began. “We will fight back if anyone tries to conquer us through battle or appeasement. That is why I want to send Musashi out into the world at large as soon as possible. We will not simply take part in a piece of history as we did in England. I want us to always exist and move history as a presence equivalent to the other nations. And to do that…”

Masazumi returned to her main point.

“I want allies. That is why Musashi is taking part in this secret meeting. Now, what do your nations and world powers want from Musashi in this anti-P.A. Oda and anti-Catholic meeting?”

'''Dragon Dog:''' “Is that crossdressing girl stupid? This is where you’re supposed to make powerful demands and win big if it looks like the other party will accept. I have determined the best plan here would be to play the role of the squeaky wheel like that.”

'''ANA:''' “If a small nation tried that, they would just be attacked twice as hard. And against a nation they could look down on, that’s no different from saying ‘I could always take it from you by force, but I’ll let you off easy and accept it in exchange for not attacking’. It wouldn’t work when other nations are present because it requires taking on a different attitude with each separate nation. Doing that here would fill the related nations with hostility and leave you surroun- ah.”

'''Dragon Dog:''' “What is it, Lady Anne?”

'''ANA:''' “Sorry, sorry. You were getting me worked up in a positive way, weren’t you? Sorry for getting carried away and lecturing you.”

'''Dragon Dog:''' “No, I was relieved to find you can still speak like you used to. As Luynes and Mazarin, I will allow you to fully take part in this meeting and I will fully support you. But…”

'''ANA:''' “Testament. But what?”

'''Dragon Dog:''' “Then why did Musashi’s vice president reveal her hand and ask for help?”

'''ANA:''' “Testament. I love how much like old times this is. …To answer your question, that is because this is a secret meeting with almost no time for preparation. I’m sure you know, but before a meeting between nations, the ambassadors of the nations involved will contact each other, lay the groundwork for the meeting by exchanging information on what they will be discussing and what result they want, and lower the odds of wasted time or a breakdown in negotiations.”

'''Dragon Dog:''' “In other words, an actual meeting is preferably just a place to double-check everything, correct?”

'''ANA:''' “Testament. For Musashi, that is done by the adults on the Provisional Council and the various committees, but Musashi is currently at odds with the Testament Union nations and can’t properly lay that groundwork. Without that groundwork, she must make their view known at the negotiation table itself. Her confrontation with the Pope-Chancellor and her meeting at England were the same, remember? But…”

'''Dragon Dog:''' “This meeting really does have no groundwork, so she decided she wouldn’t make any progress without revealing her hand, didn’t she?”

'''ANA:''' “Precisely. She chose to make progress instead of wasting time vying for the best possible deal. This is dangerous. She will cut down any incomplete idea that's given just for show. The kind of plotting used with a proper groundwork won’t work here. Luynes…no, here you would be Mazarin. Sit down, Mazarin. If we don’t say what we have to say, we won’t be able to keep up with this discussion.”

“Hm.”

Suleiman quickly finished thinking and sat down.

Guericke and Tomoe soon did the same, and…

“It is unfortunate everything is covered in grass.”

Mazarin sat down while holding up the ''signe cadre'' that displayed Anne.

Once they all turned to Musashi’s vice president, Tomoe opened her mouth.

“I see,” she began. “While this meeting will still be about our financial and history recreation plans to oppose P.A. Oda, I would first like to discuss the more urgent issue related to the actions of our sudden guest Musashi.”

Everyone nodded in agreement and Tomoe spoke to Musashi’s vice president who everyone was watching.

“Will Musashi be our ally or our enemy in your opposition of P.A. Oda. That is what I would like to know.”

<noinclude>
===Notes===
<references/>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 60|Chapter 60]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 62|Chapter 62]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 60

2015-08-24T17:40:11Z

68.109.52.245: /* Chapter 60: Warriors in a Place of Rest */

==Chapter 60: Warriors in a Place of Rest==
[[Image:Horizon3C_0017.jpg|thumb]]
''What do you do

''When the unexpected arrives?

'''Point Allocation (Introduce Yourself)

In central Magdeburg and in the plaza in front of the Maurice Cathedral, Masazumi ate a late lunch.

…''I can finally get some food in my stomach.

A large stone had been set on the ground with the top cut away to form a bench. She sat there eating the fried mincemeat on bread that Futayo had gotten for her. It had come with sauerkraut and boiled sausage, so she added some to the bread and set them aside.

“This is all so salty.”

…''I’d love some kind of stew or something. …And the bottled beer they gave me doesn’t have any hops in it. Are they treating me like a child?

However, this was the battlefield and an M.H.R.R. city. It played an important role in the history recreation, so everything was being done in the Western fashion. Plus, she was lucky to get any food at all during a time of war. Complaining about the primarily salty food was not going to help.

Futayo had returned to the ration tent and was eating any food as soon as it was cooked, so it seemed some with a Far Eastern diet still preferred stronger flavors. The crossdressing men doing the cooking were delighted.

“My, my. This girl is eating all the food as fast as we can serve it. How lovely!”

“Your big sis is going to have to get cooking!”

“Thank you,” said Tonbokiri.

Masazumi was thankful that the girl and her pet were so passionate about interacting with other nations.

But that morning when the Magdeburg residents had been evacuated by the Musashi, the food rations had helped them relax. Masazumi realized that food could really have a calming effect.

…''Oh, this mincemeat, sausage, and bread are really good together.

She did not usually like meat all that much, so it meant a lot for her to think that. She looked around and saw the local warriors eating like normal. She had a feeling this only seemed so valuable to her.

But then…

“Vice President Honda-kun, we really can’t seem to contact K.P.A. Italia. It would seem something has happened.”

Neshinbara walked over from the cathedral. He wore primarily sand yellow personal clothes that were a little too big for him and he had several sign frames open around him as usual.

“Well, given what we saw, K.P.A. Italia should have put up a pretty good fight with the Murakami Navy, but it seems there is still no word from the PR committee members the different nations sent to the border. If the divine transmissions are cut off, there must be some kind of regional jamming in effect.”

“Do you think K.P.A. Italia will win?”

“I think they will successfully defend themselves.”

Masazumi tilted her head at that. She also stopped eating her sauerkraut and sausage bread long enough to add quite a bit of the whole-grain mustard a crossdressing cook had given her.

“Weren’t they ignoring the history recreation? Historically, all six iron-clad ships returned safely.”

“M.H.R.R. was breaking the rules quite a bit themselves by sending in Suzuki Magoichi. Whatever the case, the Murakami Navy will be destroyed, but I bet K.P.A. Italia will claim the history recreation of the iron-clad ships is none of their business. In other words, their sinking will be M.H.R.R.’s mistake.”

“The Pope-Chancellor has a way with words, so he probably could pull that off. But in that case, will it come down to the Murakami Navy? And it’ll be do-or-die for them. …Oh, but you don’t have to explain about them. I’m sure it’ll be really long.”

“But it’s really interesting! Even if it is long!!”

A new sign frame appeared next to Neshinbara’s face. He shouted “Like I said before! Why are you listening in on me!?”, so she could guess what that was about.

“You need to stop flirting on the job, Neshinbara.”

“Dammit. Why does everyone take her side!? Can’t you take the man’s side just once!?”

“Sorry, but given where we are, we’ll have to take the Ger-man’s side.”

Everything fell silent.

Neshinbara and everyone else in the plaza stopped moving or speaking. Asama was the first to speak from the cathedral’s steeple where she was performing divine transmission work.

“Ah, wah! I almost fell off! Don’t fall off, Asama! You can’t let yourself fall!”

“C’mon, my joke wasn’t bad enough to deserve that kind of ‘fall’-out,” muttered Masazumi.

Asama really did fall at that. At the same time, the Aoi sister was looking out a window just below the steeple.

“Heh heh. Those people all look like my citizens down there! I can hold an entire populace in my arms!!”

Asama fell into her spread arms and she automatically adjusted her arms to catch the girl.

“Some giant breasts just fell from the sky! …Oh, it’s you Asama. Are you offering yourself to me as a present!?”

When she saw that, Masazumi thought about saying something more, but Neshinbara cut in.

“W-wait, Vice President Honda-kun! Don’t say anything else! There’s nothing more to support them below!”

“How is this in any way my fault?”

“Heh heh heh. Asama! Tell her the truth! …And you really are heavy. Wait, your shirt opened and Hanami is buried inside. Pwa ha ha ha ha! Like this morning! Ha ha ha ha!”

“Kimi, please don’t pass that off as a weird habit of mine!!”

The two of them lost their balance and fell.

The god of war Righteousness made a frantic short jump, caught them in its hand, and lowered them to the ground.

Masazumi sighed and looked away from them.

“Anyway, Neshinbara. What do you think is the situation in K.P.A. Italia?”

“Eh? O-oh, right. …You really have gotten used to our class, haven’t you?”

“Please don’t assume my life is in that awful a state. …And can we please get back on topic?”

“Of course.”

Neshinbara pulled a charm-covered bottle from his coat pocket and took a drink.

“Whatever the result, M.H.R.R. will make their next move. For example, their aerial warship Shirasagi – also known as Himeji Castle – is currently somewhere in stealth mode and has yet to show itself. However, I expect it will make an appearance once the battle with the iron-clad ships is complete,” he said. “Also, P.A. Oda is suspicious since they’re working with M.H.R.R. After all, people from other academies aren’t allowed in P.A. Oda beyond the major highways and not much is known about Lake Biwa since it is surrounded in a large stealth space and only authorized individuals are allowed in. …Apparently, a castle connected to Hashiba left there in stealth mode.”

“So the Nagahama or the Sunomata?”

“Most likely,” agreed Neshinbara. “But even then, Aki’s Itsukushima is K.P.A. Italia’s headquarters, so it won’t be easy to conquer. If anything, I would think the Pope-Chancellor has the advantage here.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because they need to land if they’re going to occupy it. They need to take control of the city’s buildings, secure the important individuals and assets, and mop up any hidden resistance. All of that requires sending actual people into the city. That’s what makes urban warfare so much more difficult than out on a field. …Are you listening?”

“Oh, yes, of course. Judge.”

“You aren’t, are you? …Well, along that line of thinking, the Pope-Chancellor has Stithos Porneia and I expect their headquarters are fully prepared for urban warfare. From K.P.A. Italia’s viewpoint, this invasion is sudden, but once they eliminate the threat of the iron-clad ships, they can endure a few days until another nation intervenes. So to sum up, K.P.A. Italia will not win, but they will be able to defend themselves.”

“So that’s what you meant. I see.”

Masazumi nodded, bent her sauerkraut bread and placed it in her mouth.

…''Oh, the flavor of the bread goes pretty will with the spicy mustard and the sour cabbage.

''Although it’s so strong I would get sick of it pretty quickly,'' she added while wondering if she should have had the bread cooked longer to make it more aromatic. She decided to try that at home sometime and took a breath.

“In that case, what do you think M.H.R.R. will do?”

“If Hashiba plays it safe, they will send ambassadors to the other nations, telling them not to send K.P.A. Italia any aid and to negotiate for the time they need. And…they’ll probably send one here, too.”

“Here?”

“Judge.” Neshinbara nodded. “I expect they’ll send one to Hexagone Française and Tres España as well, but Anne of Austria is here and she will have some influence on Hexagone Française’s chancellor and she has not had any connection to K.P.A. Italia in recent times. They should be able to move the negotiations along if they use the Sack of Magdeburg as a bargaining chip. I expect that is why Mazarin is here. And with Luther here too, they can make sure M.H.R.R.’s own Protestants don’t catch them off guard. That’s more than enough reason to come here.”

And…

“Whatever the situation and whatever the result, they need to regroup after a battle. That gives them a reason to send an ambassador whether they win or lose.”

“Who do you think it will be?”

“You would know the political connections better than me.”

“True,” she muttered and took a bite of her bread.

…''There’s a lot to like about finding a new flavor you like.

“Let’s try thinking about a number of things related to the situation. And we also need to know about the progress and conclusion of the Seto Inland Sea battle.”

The wind blew like a storm.

Some land floating in midair had a large piece torn off on the eastern edge and the surrounding ocean was scattering into the sky.

The temperature difference in the air caused by the explosions, the dust, and the seawater filled the dimly-lit sky with steam and wind.

That dark sky was a swirl of scarlet and black. The sky sank into the colors of evening beyond the storm of dust and mist, but wind and dust slammed against the floating island. On the island’s eastern surface, almost everything had collapsed and entire groups of trees were torn up, revealing bare rock below.

The eastern coast looked like it had been roughly carved into and the scarlet storm continued blowing its foundation out into the air.

And on that eastern coast, a figure in a white and black uniform stood above the stormy ocean that was being pulled out into the sky to fall. The figure stood next to a great torii that had tilted.

“Galileo! You’re all right, aren’t you!?”

“You have a bad habit of assuming things are all right, former boy.”

Papa-Schola Innocentius laughed and held his arms out to the sides.

''Cornice firma'' appeared there to inform him of Itsukushima’s situation. Almost the entire display was dyed red and a portion was painted the white of “unknown”. The red continued to grow while graphs and numbers never stopped appearing to inform of the damage to different areas.

However, he kept his eyes pointed forward.

Similarly, Galileo kept his eyes on the sky.

The wind blew and dust slammed into them as their surroundings blew about.

Suddenly, a distant rumble reached them. It was the sound of something breaking and small fragments continuing to fall away. It was accompanied by the ground shaking and the entirety of the falling ocean jumping up and turning to spray.

“I suppose the southeast side just fell,” said Galileo.

Innocentius did not bother turning around.

“Can you hear it, Galileo?”

“What is it? Give me a precise answer, former boy.”

“I hear an aerial ship.”

“As do I, former boy. And this is not one of those iron-clad ships. It is much bigger. This means something even larger has arrived in this stormy sky.”

“Testament,” agreed Innocentius. “Luckily, the acceleration pathway is still seventy percent active. If we use the secondary pathway, we can fire on it as soon as it appears.”

“Would this be the Shirasagi, Hashiba’s second wave that was supposed to arrive after the iron-clad ships?”

“I don’t know, but either way, they won’t be able to see us right away while we ''can'' see. That means…”

Innocentius trailed off as the sky suddenly grew dark.

The swirl of scarlet and black was pushed outward by something on the other side. Something massive. From their perspective, the entire sky seemed to grow and swell out.

“It’s here!”

Innocentius fired a bullet from the Itsukushima acceleration cannon.

The acceleration pathway had the same entrance and exit for the bullet. The bullet sent through the great torii was made from the defense barriers opened between Innocentius’s outstretched hands.

They were meant to deflect an enemy’s attacks, so they could not be broken without an opposing spell, a divine weapon, or overwhelming force. He opened them between his hands and used a compression spell to combine them into a single object.

The number was based on the seven virtues, so it was seven to the seventh power or 823,543 barriers. The divine protection of that number imbued each individual barrier with the seven virtues which further raised their defensive power.

After compressing them into a fist-sized ball of light, he threw it into the acceleration pathway where it raced through the center of the torii-style cross acceleration spells surrounding Itsukushima. At its initial speed, it looked like it was going to fall, but it began to float up more and more and the torii seemed to knock it up to greater and greater speeds.

“My modifications are going well, former boy!”

A massive model of the solar system set across Itsukushima began to move when Galileo used his control spell. The accuracy of each planet’s rotation, revolution, and trajectory was transferred to the bullet from the nine ten-meter planetary models.

Ultimately, the bullet received the divine protection of the seven virtues as well as the planetary movement and speed.

And…

“Here it comes!”

The clouds split apart and it arrived.

Innocentius saw a great shadow within the storm.

The massive shadow arrived wrapped in swirling scarlet and black. He removed Stithos Porneia from his back and raised it toward the shadow.

…''If it comes close enough, I can disarm it with Stithos Porneia.

And at a distance, not even a large ship could do any real damage to Itsukushima. At most it could destroy the surface city, but that city had already been swept away. So…

“If it comes to a shootout, we’ll win. Hm!?”

As soon as he said that, the shot was fired from the acceleration pathway. It blew away the ocean, tore into the ocean floor, and flew in a straight line toward the front of the shadow.

As it went, the clouds split directly above the storm. The air pushed forward by the shadow had produced a disturbance in the storm.

Some scarlet light of evening shined in on the bow of the arriving shadow.

When Innocentius saw what was there, he and Galileo opened their eyes in surprise.

Galileo commented on the ship arriving with a rumbling that tore through the sky and storm.

“That is not the Shirasagi, former boy!”

It was…

“Damn you!!” shouted Innocentius. “Do you think your rule has already begun!?”

At the same time, there was an impact and a great roar.

And once more, Itsukushima was swallowed up by darkness.

A massive and powerful shadow robbed K.P.A. Italia of all light.

“A runaway ley line reactor?”

As the colors of evening filled the sky, Sakai lay on a bench set up on the academy roof located up in that sky.

His question was directed toward “Musashi” who stood to his right.

She currently held a long ladle for a large pot.

“Judge. We only just detected it. This information is known only by a few of the automatons and you. ‘Musashino’ went to inform Musashi King Yoshinao and…he now knows. Over.”

“What a pain,” muttered Sakai before realizing something. “You said you detected this, didn’t you?”

“Judge. Well done noticing, Sakai-sama. We can do quite a lot if we try. We detected something similar to the noise detected at Mikawa. Based on a comparison, this is weaker, but it is undoubtedly the pattern of a ley line reactor explosion. Over.”

“I see.”

Sakai pulled his pipe from his pocket, so “Musashi” snapped a disposable spark charm between her fingertips and held it out toward the pipe.

“Judge. Thanks. You sure are kind, ‘Musashi’-san.”

“Statistically, the situation is quite serious if you pull out your pipe while thinking. Are you worried about the Pope-Chancellor? Over.”

“I’m really not sure how to answer a question like that. …Oh, sorry. Were you trying to be considerate?”

“No, an emotionless automaton cannot be ‘considerate’, so you must be imagining things. However, if we made no mistake in our detection, this is the truth. Over.”

He took the lit pipe and held it in his mouth.

“How is K.P.A. Italia doing?”

Suddenly…

“Here it comes. Over.”

A ripple-like current of air arrived from behind them in the south.

The sky was dyed in the colors of evening, but all of the thin clouds had vanished. Instead…

“The southern sky…”

Dark clouds welled up beyond a distant line of mountains.

Sakai and “Musashi” looked south where black clouds were appearing and spreading out.

They resembled a summer cumulonimbus cloud, but they were thin as they rose, caught on the “ceiling” of the sky, spread out, and fell back down.

A rumbling much like distant thunder continued on and on.

The academy and storm barriers on the back of the ships prevented the people from immediately seeing what was happening in the south. They only noticed the rumbling and the movement of the wind.

“…?”

A stir ran through them as if they were simply worried about the weather. As he listened, Sakai blew smoke out the corner of his mouth.

“Now, then. ‘Musashi’-san, what would you say if someone asked you what that is?”

“Automatons cannot lie. Over.”

“You sure are strict.”

“In what way? Over.”

“You’re saying Yoshinao-san or I have to order you not to tell if we want this hidden.”

“Musashi” tilted her head.

“But only I and a few others know about this. Over.”

Sakai nodded.

“Yeah. So I think I’ll just rest here for a while.”

“Judge. I will bring a tea set, so please relax. I have determined remaining silent would be for the best, Sakai-sama. There is no reason to worry the people when there is nothing they can do about it. We can wait until word arrives when we depart next. Over.”

“This is a lot of extra trouble, isn’t it?” said Sakai. “What about at Magdeburg?”

“Asama-sama is in charge of the divine transmissions, so I sent a coded divine transmission to her from the Asama Shrine. It seems Masazumi-sama and Neshinbara-sama will make the decision.”

“Makes sense. Well, this information will get out sooner or later, so there’s no real point in hiding it. We could even flaunt our own ability by showing we got wind of this before anyone else. Of course…”

He removed the pipe from his mouth, rested his head on a hand, and stared into the southern sky.

“That kind of trick wouldn’t have any effect on Old Luther, but maybe she would find it charming.”

“Sakai-sama, do you know Luther-sama?”

He nodded and pointed to the south.

“When I fought the idiot inside that thundercloud, I passed through here to reach the Seto Inland Sea.”

“I got help from quite a few people.”

Sakai smiled bitterly, but kept his eyes on the southern sky.

“Y’know what?”

“Judge. What is it? Over.”

“Judge. Well, a lot happened in the past,” he began. “When I fought that idiot, I would’ve been caught by K.P.A. Italia’s guard network if I’d gone straight there via Osaka, so I pretended to be on my way to Edo and Yoshitsune helped me head north. Yoshitsune hates – or rather is too focused on – Old Tomoe…that is, Old Luther, so I had the Satou Brothers talk to her about it. After that, I travelled from M.H.R.R. to the Seto Inland Sea. Old Man Matsunaga supported me and Innocen was out in the Osaka region for an interpretation of the Crusades, so I traveled south and attacked from behind.”

Sakai demonstrated the respective locations with hand gestures and he realized “Musashi” was looking his way.

“Oh? What is it, ‘Musashi’-san? Why are you staring at me?”

“This is the first time I have seen you enjoying yourself so much while talking about the past. Over.”

“There wasn’t anything enjoyable about it. It was a hell of a lot of work.”

“I have statistically determined that work put into victory provides a sense of fulfillment. Anyway, I hope the Pope-Chancellor and the others are unhurt. And…do you have a moment? Over.”

“Do you have a question?”

“Judge.”

“Musashi” nodded, used her gravitational control to pull a movable table over from the rooftop entrance, and asked her question.

“You said you attacked the Pope-Chancellor from behind in Osaka, correct? Then during that time…no, and during the later battle, where were you hiding? Matsunaga-sama’s headquarters are Kii, south of Osaka, so it would be impossible to attack from there. Also, K.P.A. Italia would have noticed if you were anywhere along the coast of the Seto Inland Sea. Where exactly where you hidden, Sakai-sama? Over.”

“Well.” Sakai smiled bitterly and pointed his pipe southward. “Perhaps they’ll visit Magdeburg. …No, M.H.R.R.’s ambassador should already be on the way there right now. No one knows what’s going to happen at the moment, so it’s the perfect timing for someone who does know.”

“What do you mean? Is your former protector now working for M.H.R.R.? …To be honest, I am having difficulty understanding.”

“You’ll get it soon enough. Based on what Asama-kun said, they’ll be there. I sent Masazumi-kun a divine mail earlier, so it’s probably about time to greet them.”

So…

“Masazumi-kun is going to have to work hard here.”

The first in Magdeburg to notice the shadow were the ones surrounding the walled city.

This shadow was not caused by the dark clouds rising in the south. It was the shadow of an aerial ship arriving from the southwest.

Word of the approaching ship quickly passed through the tents bearing the flag of M.H.R.R. When the PR Committee sent a report to Narimasa and Katsuie, who were cooking the fish they had caught in the Elbe River, they understood just what it meant.

M.H.R.R.’s ambassador had arrived in Magdeburg.

“I see.”

Katsuie shoved an entire fish into his mouth and pulled it from the skewer.

“So the ambassador’s here. I’m sure he’ll advise Magdeburg to surrender, but the question is what he does afterwards. …Well, I’m sure Magdeburg just wants to buy some time with it.”

“But!” shouted Narimasa.

He was already standing and clenching his fists and teeth. He glared up at the ambassador’s ship arriving from the dark, cloudy southern sky.

“Fine then,” sighed Katsuie when he saw his underclassman’s reaction. “Calm down, small fry. Sending an ambassador at times like this is something like an international rule.”

“Dammit!”

Narimasa took a breath and kicked a stone from the riverbank.

“This is obviously nothing but a farce! Our master understands the situation, doesn’t he!?”

“Our master would have him do it regardless and that old man would do it regardless. Our master hopes for a great many possibilities and that old man…well, he just wants to cause trouble.”

So…

“Narimasa, you need to restrain yourself better. You’ll be after his head eventually anyway.”

“But! You understand, don’t you!? That old man’s not the only one on that ship! There’s someone even worse on there!”

Narimasa pointed toward the giant ship rapidly approaching from overhead.

“Look! That’s the Shigisan, the main ship of our ambassador, Matsunaga!”

He turned toward Katsuie with his eyebrows raised.

“Don’t you know who Old Man Matsunaga worked with when he supported Sakai Tadatsugu, leading to the Pope-Chancellor’s defeat!? That same situation is happening again!”

“When that old man starts his second rebellion, the two of us just have to defeat him. He may be damn good at running, but finishing things here isn’t too bad an idea.”

The wind blew overhead as the Hiragumo-style Aerial Ship Shigisan slowly descended. It almost looked like a metal lid being placed on Magdeburg.

At 5:30 PM, Masazumi and the other national representatives greeted the visitors in front of the Cathedral of Magdeburg.

Mazarin and Anne on the Palais-Cardinal’s shoulder represented Hexagone Française while Guericke and Tomoe Gozen represented the M.H.R.R. Protestants.

They were greeting two guests.

One was Matsunaga Hisahide, lord of Shigisan Castle. He looked to Masazumi and spoke.

“Hey there, crossdressing girl. Is that naked boy not with you? Has he not made it back after falling off?”

…''We all know you know the answer.

Masazumi started to shake her head, but the old man suddenly said more.

“Is he on his way to Rudolf II’s place to pursue the mystery of the Princess Disappearances?”

“Eh?”

Her confusion escaped her mouth.

…''Could that mean he knows what the Princess Disappearances are?

Matsunaga laughed.

“Ha ha. I heard about it from Yoshitsune. I’ve been investigating it some myself.”

“Really?”

“Most any academy leader will have been gathering information on it. That’s just how abnormal a situation it is. …You, little transparent girl up there. Your Richelieu was taken, wasn’t he?”

“So it seems. I was never too fond of him. Still, he was skilled and he always gave me treats, so it is a shame.”

“How nice.”

Matsunaga smiled and suddenly took a step to the side, revealing the other guest.

[[Image:Horizon3C_0041.jpg|thumb]]

It was an elderly man wearing a Far Eastern uniform made to resemble a monk’s robe. However, he had the dark skin of a Middle-Easterner and his back was straight and unwavering. His shoulder width was a bit small for his great height, but his thick eyebrows faced Masazumi below his huge turban.

“A pleasure to meet you.”

His voice was low and deep. When he noticed everyone except for her and Tomoe stirring, he narrowed his eyes and said more.

“Do not worry. I have already retired. Musashi Vice Chancellor, I assume you have heard about me from Sakai.”

“Judge. I have. You are Honganji Kennyo, monk and leader of the Ikkou-Shu. Or…”

“Could you use my old name? The name Nobunaga stripped me of.”

“Judge.” Masazumi nodded. “Lord Suleiman, former chancellor of the Ottoman Turks.”

Masazumi placed a hand on her chest and gave a light bow.

“I would like to convey Principal Sakai’s thanks for supporting him with the Mlasi forces on the Seto Inland Sea’s islands and the African region of northern Kyushu.”

“And what did he say?”

“Judge.”

Masazumi raised her head and nodded. She held out her right hand, displayed the divine text from Sakai, and held the hand straight out toward the man.

She then spoke the words Sakai had sent.

“ ‘That guy will give you anything you ask, so take him for everything he’s worth.’ ”

After a pause, Suleiman held a hand to his face and laughed.

“Ha ha. Honestly, that boy. That really takes me back to my younger days.”

With that comment, he took Masazumi’s hand. His hand was hard and covered in scars. The surface felt cold, but there was a great strength within.

“Judge. The man who built the world’s largest empire, the Ottoman Turks, is now a cynical and stingy old man. But that is why I’m looking forward to seeing what the current generation of youths will show me.”

He glanced toward Tomoe and formed a bitter smile.

“It’s time for our meeting. There is much to discuss.”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 3C School Rules|School Rules]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 61|Chapter 61]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 55

2015-08-22T19:39:24Z

68.109.52.245:

==Chapter 55: Viewer of the Interval==
[[Image:Horizon3B_0711.jpg|thumb]]
''It is vast

''And it is cold

''But it is filled with something absurd

''Even as it sweeps you off your feet, you cannot look away

'''Point Allocation (First Step)

A large form moved slowly through the sky.

It was a giant white and black ship made up of eight smaller ships.

It was the Musashi.

As it was towed to the north, it cast a shadow on the forest below and the rivers flowing through the gaps in that forest. Occasionally, it would scare flocks of birds into flight or send beasts running.

However, there was no sound below or around the ship. It was being towed with acoustic primary stealth enabled.

But a great number of sounds could be heard within the stealth barrier.

A festival was underway.

“While also making repairs, we are holding a festival to distract the evacuees and Musashi residents from their worries and complaints. Was this Shirojiro-sama’s idea? I have determined it is proving quite effective, but it also means we could not continue on without doing this. Over.”

“Musashi” spoke quietly on the academy bridge at the back of the rear central ship.

She aligned the pile of documents she held and turned toward someone else.

“Satomi Chancellor Satomi Yoshiyori-sama, thank you for taking care of this. However, Musashi Chancellor and Student Council President Toori-sama is not here and the vice president and vice chancellor are both in Magdeburg, so I called Vicereine Horizon-sama here. Horizon-sama, can you greet home? Over.”

“Judge.”

Horizon was wearing her personal clothes and she raised her right hand vertically toward Yoshiyori.

“Thank you for visiting our shop. Please come again.”

“Um, no, I should be thanking you.”

He bent his narrow eyes but then shrugged.

“It’s looking like I’m not going to meet your chancellor a second time.”

“Toori-sama is currently having fun down below with Mitotsudaira-sama, Mary-sama, and Naito-sama.”

“Horizon-sama, you seem to be forgetting someone. Over.”

“Judge.”

Horizon nodded in understanding.

“There is indeed one more: the Reine des Garous who is currently assisting them. Thank you very much, ‘Musashi’-sama. I can be forgetful.”

“Musashi” stared off into the distance and Horizon looked down below.

“I am impressed we could take this many people onboard,” she said.

Horizon had a thought as she looked across the entirety of the Musashi from the academy bridge.

…''Is all of this liveliness a representation of the lives Guericke-sama and I saved with our decision?

''No, that is not accurate,'' she decided.

If she had not made that decision, Guericke would have gotten someone else’s help or done something himself. She had simply gone along with his desire to save them. And…

…''I see.

She finally understood what Asama had said the night before.

She was splitting up the different roles between everyone in order to accomplish something.

She was not saying anyone should be sacrificed.

“…”

She had not gone down to save him the night before because she had heard the others were better suited to that role. And now she had managed to save others here.

…''Yes.

She was playing her role as vicereine.

She looked down at the festival again.

There were people there.

The schoolyard, the second and third schoolyards that followed the stairs down from the academy, and the streets below were filled with people carrying things or sitting around.

Next to her, “Musashi” calculated the number of people with a sign frame.

“Twenty-five thousand people. It is fortunate we could hold them all with only the deck. They are also permitted to enter the commerce block on the first level down as well as the atrium. Over.”

Satomi Yoshiyori had followed Horizon’s gaze and he crossed his arms and nodded at “Musashi’s” explanation.

“That’s the same as Satomi’s population. Musashi really is a massive presence.”

“Thank you very much,” replied “Musashi” before looking to the white god of war standing in the loading port on the back of Takao. “I have determined Satomi’s technical ability is impressive as well.”

“All we do is gather things from elsewhere. The base of our god of war tech was made by Kantou IZUMO engineers.”

He took a breath and looked at his Yatsufusa.

“We acquired an output device for flight equipment from a certain place, but we only managed to modify it for use with the Eight Dogs and Yatsufusa. And the engines have substitution restrictions applied to increase their power, so the pilots need to display the appropriate virtue.”

Horizon looked to “Musashi” and asked an expressionless question.

“Why do guys get so excited when talking about mechs and the like?”

“Judge. Sakai-sama has the same symptoms, so I have determined it is some kind of illness. Over.”

“It’s nice how you people can say anything without reservation.”

“?”

Horizon looked at him as he smiled.

“Are you having trouble communicating with Yoshy-sama?”

''That’s a good question,'' thought Yoshiyori.

He was keeping silent about several important things and that had led her to act hostilely toward him. Sometimes she would seem to grow closer, but then she would move away as if embarrassed.

But…

“I’m the type that thinks that makes this easier. But at the same time…”

He let out a bitter laugh.

“I also wish it didn’t have to be that way.”

“I have determined it is difficult to hold parallel views within yourself.”

“Are you letting me join your parallel views club?”

“No.” Musashi’s princess shook her head. “Recently, I have come to think that everyone has something like that. In England, the Fairy Queen wanted to keep Mary-sama from leaving while also not wishing for her execution and Chancellor Felipe chose to destroy himself yet ultimately chose to continue fighting. …I also saw a battle in which many other people moved forward while also moving back.”

“I see.”

Yoshiyori nodded, but Musashi’s princess unexpectedly said more.

“I have determined it would be nice if you eventually had a chance to speak with Yoshy-sama.”

“…”

He very nearly asked her if she knew what he was hiding from Yoshiyasu, but she gave him a slight nod.

“I apologize. That was only something I learned from Toori-sama…although through his grandmother, Mitsu-sama.”

“And what was that? What did that chancellor’s grandmother say about him?”

“Judge.”

Some urgency had entered his voice, but she answered calmly.

“He went to meet his great-grandmother before he lost her.”

The princess spoke slowly.

“And his great-grandmother was satisfied because she had ‘lived a life that gave her grandchildren who would come see her before the end’.”

“That…”

Yoshiyori paused to choose his words.

“That must have been a wonderful way to live.”

“Judge. And, Yoshiyori-sama, I want to avoid losing anything or being lost. But if the time does come for that, I would want to feel satisfied with myself up to that point.”

So…

“If you are hiding anything or regretting anything, I have determined it would be best to tell Yoshy-sama. If you do, you should be satisfied with everything else.”

“Then are you living a life like that?”

The princess’s answer was not the one he expected.

She shook her head.

“I am still a child who cannot even determine if I am hiding anything or regretting anything.”

“Testament. So do I look like an adult to you?”

“You do,” she replied. “When you use difficult phrases like ‘without reservation’ in reference to our normal conversations, what could you be except an adult? You have an adult flavor to you.”

“Judge. On the vocabulary test I helped with the other day, Toori-sama shamelessly misspelled it as ‘rezervashon’. Over.”

“It’s an issue of spelling?” he asked.

The princess tilted her head as if to say “You mean it isn’t?”, so he gave a slight smile.

“Well, I suppose that means I was saved by children.”

“Saved?”

“Yes,” he said. “At the very least, I was saved by Musashi’s chancellor.”

“That heroine boy is raising flags with both sexes now?”

“What?”

“Nothing. Just talking to myself. I merely felt a need to punish him later.”

''I’m not sure what that means, but whatever,'' thought Yoshiyori. He remembered the past, when he had often gotten lost in thought and tried not to let it show.

“Thanks to him and to you, I was able to avoid abandoning myself. I thought I would tell you that here.”

“Me too?” Musashi’s princess lowered her head and brought a hand to her chin. “I never thought I was a flag-raiser, too. I have been giving Mitotsudaira-sama so many presents, so I may have been raising her affection stat like crazy. …This is perfect!”

He still did not understand what she was saying, so he simply filed it under “childish talk”.

He then bowed and prepared to leave. He had yet to finish repairs on Yatsufusa’s damaged right arm, so he wanted to do that on the way to the Holland area.

“?”

But he saw a maid climbing the academy stairs. It was an automaton who wore glasses and who he had seen on occasion. “Musashi” addressed the short maid as she moved briskly up the stairs.

“ ‘Okutama’, what is it? Did Sakai-sama do something again? Over.”

“Judge. He is once again forcing me to watch his DVD set of the fashionable drama Topaz Story, but I have put that problem off until later. Currently, I have come with something I wanted to inform you of directly. Over.”

Feeling like he should not be present for this, Yoshiyori began to leave, but Musashi’s princess lightly waved a hand back and forth.

“She is merely setting the mood.”

“Okutama” turned around and frantically shook her head, but the princess was not looking. Instead, she sighed and asked “Okutama” a question.

“What is it?”

“Judge. Um… To put it simply, the Palais-Cardinal has created its link with Anne of Austria-sama in Magdeburg. Masazumi-sama and the others are on their way to greet her.”

'''ANA:''' “Is the link okay? Can I open my eyes?”

'''Dragon Dog:''' “The sight devices are in extremely excellent condition. Try to clench your right hand. That will initialize the reaction setting. …Excellent, Lady Anne. The sensory assistance for your entire body has been set. After visual confirmation, it will be reset, so please begin viewing.”

'''ANA:''' “You’re as forceful as ever.”

'''Dragon Dog:''' “And I have determined you are ignoring me and doing whatever you want just as always, but you cannot leave like that. And…”

'''ANA:''' “And?”

'''Dragon Dog:''' “Due to our relative positions, you will have primary control of the Palais-Cardinal once your connection is complete. I will provide assistance, but I will be unable to move this body. Please keep that in mind.”

'''ANA:''' “So you can no longer do everything for me while I lie in bed? Well, that’s fine. I’ll do my best.”

'''Dragon Dog:''' “That’s the spirit. But do you feel cold even inside the Palais-Cardinal?”

'''ANA:''' “Testament. I do. But it looks like it can be reinterpreted as the actual cold felt by Palais-Cardinal. The sun is shining on the right shoulder right now, isn’t it?”

'''Dragon Dog:''' “Excellent, Lady Anne. The temperature settings have been reset.”

'''ANA:''' “Things are gradually filling in, aren’t they? But Luynes, do I not have to put on any makeup?”

'''Dragon Dog:''' “It is splendid how you do not ask to have everyone cleared from the area. And one thing, Lady Anne. Please do not forget that I have confidence in your decisions.”

'''ANA:''' “You are perfect. As always.”

The first thing Anne felt was a breath.

Feeling that air suddenly enter and reside within her body allowed her to sense her own body’s presence. The next thing she knew, light entered her vision as the color white. Not long later, she could make out the shadows as well.

She was outside.

And not in a ''Lourd de Marionnette'' body.

…''Mouse technology is being used to create an ether image with artificial senses.

She sat at the feet of ''Lourd de Marionnette'' Palais-Cardinal.

However, she still could not move. She was afraid that moving would make her body fall to pieces. But with surprise and hope filling her heart, she focused on her lowered hand.

“…”

She grabbed at empty air.

By clenching her hand, she felt the presence of that hand and was aware of her own existence.

That may have been what it felt like to be born.

''I will not cry,'' she told herself as she moved. She knew telling herself to remain calm meant that she was no longer calm, but she still moved her eyes to look around.

Her vision was divided between light and shadow because this was a large place reliant on the sunlight shining in from a tall window.

She was inside the Maurice Cathedral. It was a twin-steepled cathedral along Magdeburg’s Elbe River. When she had come to Magdeburg to have her body converted to data, this large space had been the last thing she had seen.

…''It’s been a while.

She slowly stood up but lost her balance.

“Do not worry, Lady Anne.”

She was supported by a ''Lourd de Marionnette'' hand that carried the Mouse Luynes.

That was when she realized something.

…''I have no weight.

She found she could stand if she kept the “pressure” on the bottom of her feet even.

So she stood. Several Gallican ''signe cadre'' opened around her to adjust her settings. As she watched them, she looked forward.

She could see it there.

…''Yes.

She had entered the outside world.
[[Image:Horizon3B_0725.jpg|thumb]]

Anne first tried to see who was standing around her.

…''I need to greet them and thank them for everything they have done for me.

She thought that to calm herself down as she set foot in the outside world after so long.

However, she first spotted the letters, piles of documents, and some drawings lying on top of the altar before her. The drawings placed atop decorative cloth had been made by a ''Belle de Marionnette'' copying the scene in its memory and the top contained the signature of the models instead of the artist.

The one of her brother and his wife had both of their signatures. Another with her friend, the Reine des Garous, had her signature.

“…”

She wanted to say something, but found she could not. She simply picked up the two illustrations that were both about thirty centimeters tall.

She held them up before her eyes so the light from the window shined on them.

They were black and white, but she could sense a definite form within them.

“Brother, you’ve grown so much.”

She had met his wife Terumoto just once, but she had lost a lot of her sharpness since then. Terumoto was smiling and driving her right fist into her husband’s side, but she had not put her hips into it quite as much in the past.

Anne decided to assume that meant they were getting along.

The Reine des Garous’s drawing seemed to be from a stop by the academy while out shopping. She was smiling, but…

…''The child who was with her before isn’t anymore, is she?

She felt apologetic for what she had forced onto her friend, but she also gave a natural smile of relief.

…''I want to see them.

These drawings were not them, but they let her feel how much time had passed for them and for herself as well. But…

…''I want to see them.

She understood she was fortunate enough for Luynes to arrive and to receive these drawings, but one’s understanding and one’s feelings were different. If possible, she wanted to share the same space as them once more and she brushed her ether fingers across the signatures.

The three models of those drawings had made those.

Their given names, their family names, and their handwriting were there. This allowed her to touch them.

“Yes.”

And for them to touch her. Once she realized they had touched the drawings, she rubbed them against her cheek. Using those two objects they had touched, she had them touch her cheek.

…''I want to see them.

''Luynes was too perfect. To make sure I wouldn’t cry, she gave me a Mouse body without that ability.

So…

“Luynes, why won’t you let me cry?”

“That is simple, Lady Anne. If you cry, the water-cooling effect would give you a chill. Lady Anne of Austria must always be full of passionate heat. After all…”

“Testament. I understand.”

She held the two pictures to her chest and looked to the people standing in front of her.

“Magdeburg Provisional Mayor Guericke, thank you for all you have done. And…”

“Long time no see, Anne.”

“You are a difficult person to deal with, but it is lovely that you show up at times like this. …Tomoe.”

“I’m glad you see it that way,” said Tomoe with a bitter smile.

Behind her and the others Anne recognized were some people she did not. However, the black-haired girl in a Far Eastern boy’s uniform and the long-haired girl behind her both bowed.

“I am Musashi Vice President Honda Masazumi and this is Asama Tomo who will be providing divine transmission assistance.”

Masazumi had a thought as she bowed.

…''This is a unique group.

After all, there was a Mouse and god of war treasurer, a hemisphere prostration mayor, Tomoe Gozen aka Luther, and a sickly ether girl with divine blood.

Masazumi silently sighed at how unique her surroundings were.

'''Vice President:''' “England was unique enough and now we have this.”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “How about you look in a mirror? Or maybe get your brain looked at?”

'''Vice President:''' “But I have a reason for wearing a boy’s uniform. Don’t ask me about everyone else, though.”

'''Wise Sister:''' “Heh heh heh. If you have to justify yourself, that means there’s something there needing an excuse.”

'''Asama:''' “Oh, but Naruze aside, I’m glad to see Kimi’s here with us in Magdeburg. I don’t think my mind would last without plenty of other people to play the straight man.”

'''Wise Sister:''' “Did you hear that? This perverted shrine maiden is saying she can’t survive without being surrounded by plenty of ‘men’. …And why are you confessing to me? If you want to get married, I have to be the wife. If I was the husband, I wouldn’t be a sister anymore.”

'''Asama:''' “Wait, stop that! We’re in a Catholic cathedral, so what if you get caught by the sexual security settings!? I’m blocking it for now, but you never know when that won’t work!”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “Try to realize you’re over the line from the moment you have to block it, you idiot. Anyway, I brought a few underclassmen with me, so we can escape if anything happens. I left Weiss Fräulein with Edel Brocken for repairs, but they sent me divine mail saying it would be fully repaired by tomorrow morning.”

Masazumi sent her thanks and took a breath.

The representatives of Hexagone Française and the M.H.R.R. Protestants stood before her, but…

“Last night, Mazarin said that two other VIPs besides Anne would be here.”

One was Tomoe.

“Will someone else be joining us? Who?”

“You can look forward to finding out when they arrive.”

Tomoe crossed her arms and turned around with a smile on her cheeks.

“Yoshitsune forced a lot of stupid things onto you, didn’t she? How about we discuss that to pass the time until everyone arrives? You also have yet to view Magdeburg’s defenses and I’m curious about your team that was sent to meet with Rudolf II.”

“Speaking of that team, is M.H.R.R. interested in the Princess Disappearances as well?”

“Testament. We have our own issues. …And after seeing the situation in other nations, we’re all the more curious.”

“For example?”

Tomoe raised her eyebrows a little.

“An excellent invitation,” she said with a laugh. “Are you familiar with Hexagone Française’s previous treasurer, Prime Minister Richelieu who laid the nation’s current financial foundation?”

“Judge. His policy of expansion created the foundation for Hexagone Française’s development but also created a massive amount of debt. From a simplistic view, you could call him evil, but to his nation and its people, nothing is more reliable than a prime minster who will work for the good of the nation without fearing evil.”

“An excellent assessment. The thing about Richelieu is…”

She pointed her right thumb toward Mazarin, the Mouse sitting on the Palais-Cardinal’s hand.

“While Mazarin there was taking over after him, he vanished. He fell victim to the Princess Disappearances.”

“In other words, Hexagone Française has also lost a leader to the Princess Disappearances. According to your mother anyway, Lady Mitotsudaira.”

Mitotsudaira listened to Mary’s voice over the sound of water.

They were in a forest spring about a minute’s walk east of the candy house.

The area was around three meters lower than the surrounding land and water filled a ten square meter spring from the northern rock face.

“Do not worry. Everyone is saying things can continue as normal even with us here.”

Mary walked waist deep into the water while wearing nothing, scooped the rippling water up in her hand, and turned around. She smiled and called to the others who waited at a slightly higher spot.

“It’s not quite a bath, but your mother was kind enough to offer. We have sweated quite a lot after all the hiking and fighting yesterday.”

“You’re right,” said Naito who had already started removing her clothes and cracking her neck. “Standard cleaning charms aren’t enough to get the oil out of my wings. Nothing beats water. …You’ll be joining us right, Mito-tsan? Want me to strip you down?”

Naito’s spread hands approached and Mitotsudaira backed away when she remembered the previous night. But she realized she only had to remove her clothes, so she hurriedly reached for her shirt.

…''Ah.

That reminded her that her choker was gone, but before she could feel too down…

“You’re mine!”

Naito was already wearing nothing but her shirt and she grabbed Mitotsudaira to strip off all her clothes.

“Hey, is it just me or are things pretty noisy over there? Don’t you want to check it out, Tenzou?”

Toori was tied to the yard’s fruit tree with rope and Tenzou was sitting in the grass checking on the topography.

…''Not even this situation can change that boy.

“Toori-dono, you could have avoided this. When Mary-dono said they were going for a bath and asked what you wanted to do, you could have kept quiet and not announced your plans to peep.”

“Yeah… Unlike you, Mary’s pretty nice, so if I’d said we’d take a bath too, she might’ve let us.”

“M-Mary-dono might very well have said that, but I would have stopped you! And I feel like you slipped an insult in there! But anyway…”

Just as Tenzou said that, the candy house’s door opened and the Reine des Garous stepped out. However, Tenzou immediately looked away.

…''G-going outside in nothing but a shirt!? How shameless can you get!?

He repeatedly shouted “inappropriate!” in his heart, but he sensed her approaching and setting something down. Then she suddenly tapped on his shoulder.

“I wouldn’t be dressed like this if I cared if you saw me. Men decide for themselves that they’re looking too much.”

“Uuh…”

''The wife genre really isn’t for me,'' decided Tenzou before looking to what she had set down next to him.

“These are M.H.R.R. uniforms, aren’t they? And…”

“Hello.”

He saw something a lot like the brown algae creatures except with a little more green. It may have been an indigenous variety and there were five of them.

“Testament. We will be passing through M.H.R.R. territory, so I had a change of clothes brought for my daughter and the others. And if they put their current clothes in this basket, these little guys will clean them. I also had a special program prepared for copying your clothing’s divine protection settings into the M.H.R.R. uniform hard points.”

“I am very grateful, but…”

“?”

He sensed her confusion but still did not turn around.

“Earlier, Mary-dono and the others destroyed the house a little.”

“…Pf. …Ha ha. Wh-where?”

Surprised that she had laughed and not been angry, he pointed at the wall.

“The chocolate around there, I think. When Mary-dono grabbed it, about half a brick came out. When I touched it, about a tenth came out. When Naito-dono did, she could peel off about a fifth of a wafer brick, but…”

“Yeah, when I pulled out one of the popsicles making up the eaves, it said ‘winner, take another’,” said Toori. “That happened four times in a row, but I put the last winner back because I didn’t want to take them all and I’d give myself a chill if I ate any more. That last one fell back down, so I split it with the others.”

“You really are a child, aren’t you?”

“Yes, he is,” agreed Tenzou. “And wait! You didn’t split it with me!!”

“I think Mary saved half for you with a freezing spirit.”

''I see,'' realized Tenzou. ''That’s Mary-dono for you.

“Tenzou, you’ve got a great wife, don’t you? Hm?”

“Eh? Well... Ha ha. Mary-dono makes every day wonderful. Living with someone like her makes every hour, every minute, every second, and every split-second worth it.”

“Hey, Nate Maman. We can ignore that idiot while he wiggles around there. And did Naito’s Magie Figur record that? …All right! Let’s make a new MAD and release it!”

“I can’t believe you! I just can’t believe you!! And what do you mean a ''new'' one!?”

But after checking the things the Reine des Garous had set next to him, Tenzou had something else to focus on.

“There is a fair distance to Rudolf II’s tower. I would like to reach Magdeburg by midnight tonight to prepare for the Sack of Magdeburg tomorrow, so we do not have all that much time.”

He had allowed the girls to bathe so they could take a breather and maintain their motivation.

His ninja hearing sensed distant voices saying “Wow, yours are huge, Ma-yan! They stick out on either side!” and “Really? I think they’re just perfect for resting on Master Tenzou’s back when I lean up against him.”, so his own motivation was rapidly recovering.

However, the Reine des Garous tapped him on the shoulder and walked toward Toori.

“Don’t worry. I’ve prepared us transportation. …I am the ruler of the forest, remember?”

''Eh?'' he thought as she used her fingers to easily tear the rope binding Toori and rubbed his head.

“I’m going to take a bath too, but no peeping, okay?”

“Sure! I won’t peep! I won’t peep at all! Super zoom! You’ve got nothing to worry about there!!”

''You never betray people’s expectations of you, do you?”'' thought Tenzou.

“Good, good,” said the Reine des Garous with a smile in her voice. “It’s been so long since things were this lively around here.”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 54|Chapter 54]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 56|Chapter 56]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 54

2015-08-22T13:16:18Z

68.109.52.245: /* Chapter 54: Inexperienced Meeting Participant */

==Chapter 54: Inexperienced Meeting Participant==
[[Image:Horizon3B_0691.jpg|thumb]]
''Why is no one

''Leading me by the hand

''Like they used to?

'''Point Allocation (Subject and Object)

Satomi Yoshiyasu’s morning started early yet again.

She felt she had been careless the day before, but she was careless again today.

Due to the Musashi Chancellor’s early morning splatter the previous day…

…''Today, I surrounded the bed with spears and such with evil-repelling charms on them, but…

She had thought her defenses were perfect, but she had woken screaming again when the vassal’s mobile shell fell and smashed everything. Half embedded in the floor, the vassal moved the round shell to crawl out.

“Wow, I missed my landing a bit! Another seventy centimeters to the right and I’d have crushed your head! Thank goodness I didn’t! …Ah! Sorry! I have to go flying to Musashino now! See you later!!”

The girl had then left, but it had been Yoshiyasu’s carelessness to not notice the battle on Musashino.

Yoshiyori had apparently noticed, but he had said P.A. Oda’s involvement meant Hashiba might be making a move via Houjou. Yoshiyasu thought that was a little unfair, but…

“Miss Balfette, was it? You don’t need to give me a gift of confections or bow down, so just relax.”

She and Balfette stood in front of the city hall along Magdeburg’s river. M.H.R.R.’s forces looked like a sea of warriors across the river and their aerial ships were waiting overhead.

“The Musashi is evacuating people, so the city’s practically empty. It must be tough for M.H.R.R. to keep up their motivation to attack.”

Chancellor Yoshiyori had stayed on the Musashi because he claimed to have some paperwork to complete with “Musashi”, but Yoshiyasu had remained in Magdeburg because she wanted to view what could be a major turning point for the Far East.

Righteousness stood next to the city hall and she hoped it would help threaten the M.H.R.R. forces across the river.

“Do you know anywhere to get food around here…should I call you Miss Vassal?”

“Sure, for now.”

The vassal opened a sign frame. Hers was a Catholic sign frame, so the nearby Magdeburg residents shrieked and backed away.

“Oh, whoops. I should put on Musashi’s special Protestant camouflage skin. I don’t want unnecessary fear and suspicion when I’m on their side.”

She scrolled through different designs for her sign frame. There were flower, sumo ring, and keyhole kofun designs that Yoshiyasu could not imagine a use for, but the girl finally found the Protestant one.

“There. Pretty well made, isn’t it? It displays a bible verse every morning and the crossword puzzle includes the Ninety-Five Theses.”

“Why is Musashi making things like that?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

The vassal began searching the map, but Yoshiyasu spoke to her again.

“Miss Vassal, shouldn’t you be fixing that armor of yours? At the meeting last night, you decided the Musashi forces would create an escape route for the people taking part in the Sack of Magdeburg, didn’t you?”

“Judge. The Musashi will take in the participants. Once inside, they’ll be in a ‘city other than Magdeburg’, so M.H.R.R. won’t be able to attack them.”

The vassal lowered the ends of her eyebrows and smiled.

“But the disturbance this morning took out the leg actuators of my mobile shell. It’s being looked at on the Musashi, but I’m afraid it’ll be some unique issue.”

She then lifted her eyebrows and sighed.

“We’re in charge of evacuating and securing the people, but the Magdeburg warriors have the harder task of defending the city. Their death is pretty much guaranteed here.”

“I heard Mayor Guericke gathered a bunch of Living Dead, but I doubt that’s enough.”

“Historically, the surviving women were raped, weren’t they?”

“Don’t make me shudder,” muttered Yoshiyasu as she looked around the square in front of the city hall. Rows of muscular men who had chosen to remain in Magdeburg were gathered there.

“Listen up! Tomorrow night, we’re gonna show those M.H.R.R. Catholics and Far Eastern apes what we’re made of! They’re all the pathetic type that’s here for a woman!”

“Testament!”

Yoshiyasu spoke quietly as she watched that main force of a thousand men.

“They sure are full of energy for a crossdressing and legitimately gay army.”

“They were recruited from all of the Protestant cities, weren’t they? Those heroes gathered when they heard they would be counted as women in the official records. Almost makes you feel sorry for the M.H.R.R. army that has to rape them to follow the history recreation.”

The men began training by tackling each other and pinning each other in the north-south position. After a glance toward them, the vassal raised her right hand.

“I found a restaurant that’s open! But there’s a problem. Others from my class are bound to be there. Is that okay with you? There’s no other option.”

“There’s also… Oh, the city hall cafeteria is working as a distribution center for the warriors, isn’t it?”

Men dressed as maids stood with their arms crossed below the customer-less tent of the distribution center at the back of the square.

The vassal looked their way and they walked over when they noticed.

“Oh, dear. Those girls are looking our way.”

“Poor things. Neither of them have anything at all.”

“You’re right… And yet even I have a 121 bust. I wish I could share at least 10 of that with them.”

''That’s your chest measurement, not your bust,'' thought Yoshiyasu, but she managed to endure by reminding herself that she was sure to grow and become more like her sister. ''That’s right! I just have to!

The vassal took a step forward.

“The nearby cathedral is running a food stand, so let’s go check it out.”

Yoshiyasu looked south past the buildings and trees. She saw two steeples there, but she saw something else on one of them.

“That’s Palais-Cardinal, isn’t it?”

Yoshiyasu saw one of the steeples had its roof portion removed and a silver god of war sat on it. The god of war’s upper chest appeared to have slid forward somewhat.

“Anne of Austria is being transferred from the church’s hospital via a wired connection.”

“Judge. She apparently said she wanted to see the outside world and walk around.”

A god of war had a wide range of vision and its accelerated thoughts slowed the passage of time. But was that a good way to view the scenery just before one’s death?

Yoshiyasu briefly thought of her sister and the man who had killed her.

…''The last scenery she saw was…

It had apparently been the water of Edo Bay and the dawning sky. Or so ''he'' had told her.

She wondered if the sky and the sea had been a good final sight for that girl who so loved the land of Satomi.

But…

…''What did she and that man hope for and what did they gain from it?

She clicked her tongue at the annoyance of not having been told anything.

“Want to go? They probably have some snacks there.”

When the vassal turned and smiled at her, Yoshiyasu erased her inner thoughts and closed the lead of a few steps the girl had made.

“You like to keep things positive, don’t you?”

“What makes you say that?”

“This might be rude of me, but that battle this morning more or less ended as Musashi’s loss. If I were in your place, I’d be feeling down.”

“Oh… I’m pretty down, too. It makes me want to curse. I mean, that Sassa guy didn’t see any of my charm as a decoy and I’m too slow to keep up with him.”

“That’s not being down. That’s frustration.”

The vassal laughed behind her glasses and they turned left at a four-way intersection.

“Oh, that was the code calling a meeting of Technohexen. The 3rd special duty officer was right,” said the vassal, but Yoshiyasu had not noticed anything.

But as she walked along the dried dirt…

“I don’t change much when I’m feeling down. I’d only trip up our main fighters if I did. But when you are a main fighter – like a special duty officer or higher – then I think you have a real reason to feel down after your loss. After all, you have to think about how to use your different techniques, weapons, and abilities and how to improve with all of those things. But someone like me only has to give them the time they need to think through all that. I feel like that’s what I can do to have some real impact.”

She gave a bitter smile.

“Oh. Satomi Student Council President, you’re one of those main fighters, aren’t you? Sorry if I insulted you.”

“No, um…”

What was she supposed to think?

Unlike the chancellor’s officers, the student council was usually not expected to fight, but she had been given Righteousness, she had stood alongside her sister and that man, and she had tried to have Yatsufusa accept her after her sister’s death.

…''But Yatsufusa wouldn’t even activate for me.

What was different between her and that man? And…

“I’m…not really a ‘main fighter’.”

There was no real point in telling this to someone from another academy. In the past, she had told her sister and that man that they were not treating her like a main fighter. She had been half complaining and half hopeful.

''What am I really?'' she wondered as she lifted her head. Directly ahead, she saw a large cathedral and Palais-Cardinal was connected to one of the steeples.

…''Did Anne of Austria think any of these things too?

Even on her sickbed, Anne of Austria had been given the authority of chancellor and student council president for the provisional inherited name that would ensure her brother’s inherited name. However, she had gained the Reine des Garous’s trust, laid the groundwork for her brother’s rule, and…

“She went beyond the history recreation to place herself in Magdeburg and drive a wedge into the world.”

“Eh? Oh, you mean Lady Anne of Austria. …Hey, there’s the stand.”

The vassal took a few steps forward as if she had completely forgotten about Yoshiyasu, but she suddenly turned around and followed Yoshiyasu’s upturned eyes.

“From what I’ve heard, Lady Anne sent a request to the Reine des Garous.”

“Should you really be telling me that?”

“The secretary said I could share information with you while you’re working with us.”

The vassal continued.

“There’s a steel tower near Magdeburg but outside the siege. M.H.R.R. Chancellor Rudolf II is imprisoned there and the Reine des Garous is supposed to guide Musashi’s representative there. In other words, it was a request to put together an expedition to visit Rudolf II and obtain a document on the Princess Disappearances. …Apparently, that’s the tower.”

The vassal pointed to the southwest.

Beyond the city walls and past a hill, a black line rose into the sky. Yoshiyasu used the standard abilities of a god of war pilot to judge its distance and size by eye.

“That’s six or seven kilometers away. It’s about thirty meters wide but five hundred meters tall.”

“That’s apparently where the expedition is headed. Yesterday’s enemy can become a reliable ally today, but I hope they can at least wait long enough to give the 5th special duty officer and the Reine des Garous time to talk.”

“Anyway, based on the information I have, the defenses at and around Chancellor Rudolf II’s tower are fairly useless.”

Tenzou spoke from the right side of the table, Mary sat with him, and Mitotsudaira listened from the top end the table.

They were currently holding a meeting, but…

…''Honestly, my mother was acting so hostile just half a day ago, so I can’t believe she’s being so cooperative just because someone ordered her to.

At any rate, Mary had agreed to the suggestion that the chancellor make them breakfast, so they were using that time to hold a simple strategy meeting.

“Anyway, that is the order instructing us to go to Rudolf II’s tower near Magdeburg.”

Tenzou was speaking to Mitotsudaira’s mother who sat on the left side of the table.

She looked down at the letter Tenzou had given her. The surface of the parchment from Hexagone Française displayed a Gallican ''signe cadre'' and she read it while listening to Tenzou.

“Testament. I have heard of it. During the Age of the Gods, the historical Catholic Emperor Rudolf II was imprisoned because he neglected his governmental duties and obsessed with researching Technomagie. The same happened during the history recreation, but the Catholics gave his tower in Prague to Hashiba and moved Rudolf II to a newly-constructed tower southwest of Magdeburg.”

She smiled with the ends of her eyebrows lowered.

“Magdeburg is a city of the Protestant principality of Saxony and yet they placed the Catholic emperor there. …Basically, they were showing off and proving that they did not care what happened to the emperor. That shows that he has no one to rely on even if he wants to stop M.H.R.R. and Hashiba and it proves his brother Matthias and Hashiba have more power than him. …Not to mention that he was emperor before the Thirty Years’ War, so M.H.R.R. likely plans to abandon his tower and declare his history recreation complete during the Sack of Magdeburg.”

“In that case, we need to reach his tower before the Sack begins,” commented Tenzou.

“That’s right,” said Naito who sat toward the entrance across from Mitotsudaira. “But even assuming we do get this…document on the Princess Disappearances? Well, whatever this memo from Chancellor Carlos I is, even if we get it and send it to Hexagone Française, how will we get back to the Musashi?”

“Judge. After the Sack of Magdeburg, the Musashi will fall under the authority of the city of Magdeburg. From there, it will be towed along the river as a transport ship. That will apparently take it all the way to the Seto Inland Sea.”

That had apparently been Horizon, Masazumi, and the others’ decision.

“So,” continued Tenzou. “Once the Sack begins, the battle will spread to the neighboring areas, so we need to move somewhere safe before then. And once it is over, we can have the Musashi pick us up while it’s being towed. Of course, if something happens, we will need to enter Magdeburg itself.”

“Yeah,” said Naito across the table from Mitotsudaira. “Tenzou, are the divine transmissions from the Musashi being intercepted? If not, we could call some underclassmen and Ga-chan to take us back from Rudolf II’s tower.”

“They probably are being intercepted. The Catholics have a connection to Aki’s Itsukushima Shrine through the Pope-Chancellor and they would probably try to use that when faced with Shinto transmissions.”

After listening to all that, Mitotsudaira had a thought.

…''Th-there’s almost nothing for me to say here.

Mitotsudaira suddenly felt left out.

…''Well, there’s no helping that.

She knew they were going to complete their preparations and leave for Rudolf II’s tower.

But Tenzou was in charge of their tactics and route, her mother would check on Tenzou’s ideas, Mary would ask about anything she did not understand, and when Tenzou’s ideas were not enough, Naito could jump in with her knowledge of Technomagie or familiarity with the land as a former M.H.R.R. resident.

Mitotsudaira was usually in charge of combat, but with her mother helping, there was nothing for her to do there either. She felt horribly left out as she nodded and peered at the map on Tenzou’s sign frame.

…''I’m sure I’m only imagining it, but I feel like the kid no one likes who tries to join other people’s groups!

Her mother smiled and turned toward her.

“Nate? If you have any questions, don’t hold back. Just ask.”

''I know that!'' she thought. ''You don’t have to treat me like a child.

She knew her mother could be mean and that saying this would not help, but…

“I am the 5th special duty officer, you know?”

She only noticed how prickly her voice was after the fact. She had been ignoring that her mother was trying to help them. She was not just being treated like a child; she was acting like one too.

…''But, well…

It may have been the location that made her feel left out.

…''I can’t believe we’re holding a strategy meeting in this candy house.

She had never actually been here before. Their home had been far to the west near Paris. Thinking back, she realized her mother had moved to disguise the fact that she was the Reine des Garous.

After hearing her mother’s stories, she had often begged to be brought here. Her mother had smiled bitterly and said that was impossible, so she had called her a liar to provoke her.

…''I tried searching the nearby forest but naturally couldn’t find it.

After getting lost and crying until she fell asleep, her mother had found her and taken her home. She remembered seeing the starry sky from her mother’s gently swaying back.

“…”

But now that she was here, she knew why her mother had never brought her.

…''It smells very strongly of her and father.

The others did not seem to have noticed, but a Loup-Garou would pick up on certain scents. It resembled blood yet had a sweetness to it, so smelled somehow sticky and addictive.

Mitotsudaira realized that her mother’s old stories about what was here and what happened here were all true.

“Ugh…”

The smell and the images it gave her made her feel a little woozy.

''I give up,'' she thought concerning the feeling of being left out.

“Here’s yours, Nate. There’s plenty more, so make sure you eat up, okay?”

Another smell suddenly appeared in front of her.

It was a plate of the chancellor’s cooking.

Mitotsudaira looked at the food on the metal plate in front of her.

“I can really have a ham steak this thick?”

“Well, I don’t get a chance to cut it this thick with anyone but you. I got to have some fun on a bit of a ham adventure or pork adventure.”

He served the vegetables next, but they were stewed in a bowl with butter floating in a cream sauce. The cod mixed in eliminated any complaint about eating only vegetables.

“Oh, I kind of want some of that too,” said Naito.

“Wait just a bit. Nate comes first.”

It concerned her how much that last part improved her mood. He probably just meant she ate the most and he was preparing the most up front, but…

“Nate looks like she’s starving. Her nose has been twitching for a while now.”

…''No, um, that’s because…

She could hardly say she was bothered by her parents’ smell, so she gave a harsh denial without thinking.

“I-I was not doing that.”

“Oh, my. What a disgraceful girl. …You need to take deeper breaths when doing that. That will bring in more of the smell.”

“Is it just me or are you pretty amazing, Nate Mama?” said Naito.

''Was that a compliment?'' wondered Mitotsudaira, but her mother placed her hands on her cheeks and wiggled around. She must have been happy to receive any kind of praise.

The woman could not have missed the smell of her and her husband, but did she understand how Mitotsudaira felt? If so…

…''I can’t tell if she’s partially ignoring me or trying to help.

Mitotsudaira sighed and the chancellor shook a bowl.

“Tenzou, what are you gonna do for food? Do you not need any? Yeah, a ninja can’t eat much. If you get too heavy, you can’t move around fast. There’s no helping that. If you insist the straw here is enough, I guess I’ll leave you with that.”

“W-would you stop giving me that sympathetic look without letting me speak for myself!?”

Mary reacted to Tenzou’s protest by standing up. She pushed her chair in and turned toward Mitotsudaira’s mother with a serious look. The look was enough to make the woman falter.

“I can borrow your kitchen, I assume.”

After Mary requested confirmation instead of asking, Naito began recording and Mitotsudaira’s mother nodded once she realized what was going on.

“Oh, my,” she said with her hands on her cheeks before returning Mary’s look.

“Are you that…um…ninja? Anyway, are you his…well…lover?”

“Judge. We have decided we will be together.”

“Then…you live together? And at night, do you…um, sleep together?”

“Judge. When we sleep together, I am on the bottom and Master Tenzou is on top.”

'''Gold Mar:''' “Victoryyyyy!! I don’t know what just happened, but I just won!! I hit the jackpot!!”

'''Silver Wolf:''' “Well, I suppose that’s better than anything abnormal.”

'''10ZO:''' “Th-this is a misunderstanding! She’s talking about our bunk beds!”

At any rate, they were served a bacon and cabbage soup. Mitotsudaira was served first, followed by Naito. Mitotsudaira felt bad toward Naito, but she also felt a fleeting happiness at being chosen to go first.

She went on to eat some bread with liver paste.

…''Ah.

It made her feel nostalgic.

Mitotsudaira continued eating a few more bites without thinking.

…''This liver paste tastes so nostalgic.

That may have been because it tasted the same as her mother’s homemade paste she had eaten for breakfast back home. She had eaten similar breakfasts on the Musashi, but her mother had not been there.

''Why did I think she was an enemy?'' she started to wonder.

“…”

But she corrected herself: ''She is an enemy. She is only helping for the moment.

She knew her mother would crush someone if that person would eventually oppose her. That was the kind of person she was. So once this cooperative mission was complete, it was possible she would immediately attack once more.

Mitotsudaira wondered if it was wrong of her to be so worried about that future that she could not enjoy herself now.

But…

“Here, Nate. Ham #2.”

“Eh!? Wait! Um, when they’re this thick, a second one would bring my calories up to…”

Her mother raised her hand, placed it on her cheek, and spoke in a reserved tone to the chancellor.

“May I have a third one?”

Mitotsudaira could feel her competitive spirit firing up.

…''Th-that woman!

She was starting to understand what led Horizon to remove walls. However, her mother turned her way and tilted her head.

“Just so you know, Nate, I slept with him last night.”

“Eh?”

Mitotsudaira looked to the chancellor who was cutting the ham.

“Yeah, that’s right. I ended up bleeding a whole lot.”

'''Gold Mar:''' “I’ll delete this part when I hand it over to Ga-chan.”

'''10ZO:''' “Huh? Huh? Why are you handling this so differently than with me?”

'''Silver Wolf:''' “I have a feeling it’s all over regardless from the moment she’s giving it to Malga.”

''Anyway,'' thought Mitotsudaira as she noticed something heavy in her heart.

…''Um, my king was…

''“Eaten” by my mother? Does that mean, in a way, I wasn’t able to protect him?

She briefly pictured Horizon’s face and thought of the word “knight”.

“W-wait! Um, uh…!”

She looked at her mother who smiled back with just the corners of her mouth.

“Oh, my. What a frightening look.”

“Mother!”

“C’mon, Nate. Your hair’s bristling up.”

More plates arrived. First for her and then for her mother.

“When we say ‘slept’, we literally just mean ‘slept’,” said the chancellor. “Unfortunately for me, nothing sexual happened.”

…''Eh?

She did not know what exactly happened and she did not know what he had meant by bleeding, but she breathed a sigh of relief.

“Is that so?”

“Oh, dear. She actually bought it.”

Mitotsudaira did not listen to her mother’s cruel joke. She relaxed her shoulders, sighed again, decided to resume eating, and saw what was on her plate.

“Um, can I have a third one too?”

“Can you manage as much as your maman?”

Her mother gave a triumphant laugh, so her response was obvious.

“Easily!”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 53|Chapter 53]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 55|Chapter 55]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 52

2015-08-22T00:59:52Z

68.109.52.245: /* Chapter 52: Pursuer in the Rising Wind */

==Chapter 52: Pursuer in the Rising Wind==
[[Image:Horizon3B_0643.jpg|thumb]]
''Is it here?

''Finally?

'''Point Allocation (Next Generation)

Four beams of light swept through the sky.

They came from the four-gun cannon of the galley charging straight toward the Musashi.

The ether cannon used its power to burn through everything in a straight line and the speed of its deployment allowed it to use its full power.

Two of the beams scorched the sky and turned the thin morning clouds to steam. One of them struck the rear of Shinagawa, but several gravity barriers appeared around Shinagawa to detonate the white cascade.

The final beam pierced directly through the area the Technohexen had occupied.

It eliminated everything there.

At the same time, the galley arrived above Musashino.

A voice filled the galley’s bridge.

It belonged to Takigawa Ichimasu. She barked orders while petting or tossing aside the Djinns and Garudas that appeared to control the ship.

She looked ahead to where Katsuie was already about to leave the area below the enemy bridge.

This was their only chance to fire, so…

“Front starboard gunners! I know you’ve been trained to take aim in an instant! So fire around the vice chancellor!”

As Ichimasu gave her orders, the side of the galley transformed as it flew in toward Musashino’s bridge.

The turret-less cannons jutted out and they rotated ninety degrees to the front.

The cannons released their inner connections and then connected front to back in groups of eight to combine into a single long cannon.

Three such cannons were created. Behind them, the non-homing eight-gun high-speed cannons also rotated their barrels to link together.

The non-homing high-speed cannons formed the base and the homing cannons attached to the front to create three high-speed homing cannons.

Small forms appeared at the front and back locking portions of the individual pieces making up these cannons. They were Mlasi-style Mice. The spell-controlling artificial spirits were known as Djinns. The super deformed Garuda Djinns cried out and the cannons produced a harmony of sound as they locked together.

The galley continued on.

It tilted diagonally as it charged into the square area below Musashino’s bridge.

At the same time, the three front starboard cannons were fired.

Light was emitted from the back and tracking light trailed behind it as it raced through the sky.

There were three shots in all. The high-speed homing shells had solid cores and flew toward Musashino’s bridge.

Katsuie saw the accelerating galley fire.

After locking onto its target locations, it fired homing shells from the front starboard side.

A few Garuda Djinns flew alongside the three lights for a bit.

“————”

And the lights accelerated as the Garudas vanished.

The shells were coming.

They were wrapped in distorted air as they flew in behind Katsuie.

Musashi’s gravity barriers opened over his head to protect the bridge, but…

“My Testamenta Arma will stop them for an instant.”

As soon as he spoke, the barriers stopped. Static ran through them like a slight hesitation and the homing shells slipped through the gaps this created.

Katsuie decided to continue ahead and finish this, but then he heard three explosions in the air.

“…!?”

He saw three bullets of light pierce through the homing shells from the side.

Katsuie saw the destructive shells break apart.

The final shells in their plan to damage the Musashi’s bridge were destroyed.

…''They got us!?

The enemy’s homing bullets had broken straight through the solid core of their homing shells. Not just anyone could fire something like that. If anyone, it would be…

“The Technohexen!”

He turned around and saw the gunner beyond the galley.

It was indeed the Technohexen.

Musashi’s Technohexen was alive. The galley’s four-gun secondary cannon had supposedly hit her, but she stood on the steeple of a church in Musashi’s city and she held her ship’s hull in her arms.

“Ichimasu! What the hell are you doing!?”

'''Taki:''' “Eh? Huh!? How!? But we shot her down!”

Ichimasu answered him with a question and her answer was found in the white ship’s hull the Technohexen held.

The front end had a large half-circle torn into it.

It had definitely been hit, but not by the galley’s cannon. ''It can’t be,'' thought Katsuie. ''But,'' he added as the corner of his mouth rose.

“Did you fire one of your four homing shots at yourself!?”

“I’m a Technohexen. We excel at harming ourselves.”

Standing on the steeple, Naruze held Weiss Fräulein’s hull and sighed.

…''Honestly, you made me take some pretty drastic measures there.

As Katsuie had said, she had chosen to attack in order to evade.

Normally, homing shots had a time lag until the homing activated to ensure they did not lock onto their firer.

But she had quickly altered the settings on just one of them to begin homing immediately.

It had locked onto the front of Weiss Fräulein’s hull. The bullet had just barely made it in time, but it had supplied a powerful strike to the front of the hull.

“I was shot down, but I managed to avoid your cannon fire so I could interfere here.”

She smiled toward the galley flying below the Musashi’s bridge.

“I made high-speed homing bullets using all of the spirit fuel Orei Metallo that Margot didn’t take with her yesterday. They can’t be fired right away, but you can’t ignore the firepower that destroyed an enemy ship during the armada battle.”

She lowered her hips. Blood was still flowing from her right arm, so even standing was difficult. However, she set Weiss Fräulein’s hull on the ceiling to sit on.

“I’ll have to send it in for repairs again, but I can’t complain too much. After all, I traded my speed for the Musashi’s safety, so…”

Yes.

“Margot is sure to praise me.”

As soon as she muttered that, she heard a single sound.

It resembled shattering glass and it filled the area below the bridge.

She recognized the sound.

…''That’s a barrier being destroyed!

“Tonbokiri smashed the enemy Testamenta Arma’s barrier from outside, didn’t it!?”

“Musashi’s vice chancellor is still alive!?”

Katsuie raised his voice as he ran.

Three actions occurred in sequence.

First, Ichimasu fired another heavy barrage.

Three high-speed homing rounds were quickly fired from the front starboard side of the galley and all of the port cannons plus the rear starboard ones completed their preparations and joined the volley.

This sent a massive amount of light racing forward.

The solid reverberation of the long cannons tore into the air as if filling every inch of it.

But before the striking light could reach its targets, the second action arrived.

Musashino’s surface and the inner side of the bridge’s legs suddenly filled with light.

It was the ether light of a shattering barrier.

The Testamenta Arma’s barrier had been destroyed by Tonbokiri, so its ether scattered light and vanished.

That light meant Musashino’s bonds were gone.

And that led into the third action. Musashino’s gravity barriers all reactivated. With nothing obstructing them any longer, countless torii-shaped emblems appeared below Musashino’s bridge.

The galley’s shells exploded against those barriers.

There was a great cacophony of mutual destruction.

Light roared, sound blossomed, shockwaves blew through, and the wind rumbled, but…

“It isn’t getting through!?”

Katsuie’s yell was answered by the destruction of light flying upwards like the splashing created by pouring rain.

The stern of Musashino’s surface was filled with the fragments of gravity barriers and ether cannon blasts and the light was brighter than the morning sun.

The sky turned white and lost its color as if it had been purified.

That light meant the bombardment had not reached Musashino and the bridge had been protected.

…''Not bad!

Katsuie continued to run as he looked up at the bottom of the bridge and the galley flying past.

His Testamenta Arma’s barrier had been broken, so the galley’s shellfire was now meaningless.

Just as Ichimasu had let her guard down about that Technohexen, he had let his guard down about Musashi’s vice chancellor.

“I never thought she would survive a direct hit from my smashing.”

But…

…''My Animus Caritas – Novum has an effective range of about fifty meters around me.

She would have had to attack from outside that, she had to have been injured by his smashing attack, and it could not have been easy to catch up to him.

With that in mind, he shouted to Ichimasu and Narimasa.

“Ichimasu! We’re going to withdraw now! Come over to the right! …You can let Narimasa fall!!”

“I knew you’d say that!” shouted Narimasa.

''I know how to meet people’s expectations!!'' he praised himself while running to the right. He was heading to the closest edge of the ship. Once he passed the bridge’s leg, he would jump from the outer edge of Musashino’s deck.

But he let Narimasa go on ahead and followed at a more casual pace while checking on Kamewari by how it felt in his right hand.

It was almost at a full charge, so…

“I can’t just leave empty handed.”

The surface city came to its end, so there were no more roofs to run along.

Instead of simply jumping down, he used his speed and angle to land and continue running without slowing.

His target was the port bridge leg. He would take a large leap from the edge of the deck and toward the back end of that leg.

…''I’ll activate Kamewari in midair to destroy that leg!

Kamewari could cut five meters deep, which was not much use against a ship as large as the Musashi. Not only did it have thick armor, but it had a double hull structure to stop any damage and allow any impacts to safely escape.

But he still ran through the scattering and vanishing light.

For Kamewari’s attack to reach the vital parts inside the Musashi, he had to leap in close and throw his momentum behind the slash. He raised Kamewari in preparation.

He would jump from the edge of the ship at the end of the bridge leg, so he had another seventy meters to run.

Each of his steps took him eight meters, so he adjusted his pace to reach the very edge on his ninth step.

“I need to hurry!”

He accelerated, but…

“!?”

He detected a presence approaching through the light and wind behind him.

A swift enemy approached from behind and to the left as if prepared to collide with him.

As they charged forward with the wind and light wrapping around them, Katsuie saw the shape of their weapon.

It was a spear.

He reacted by strengthening the smile on the corner of his mouth.

“So you’re here, Musashi Vice Chancellor!!”

As he called out to his enemy, Katsuie used Animus Caritas for a shield attack.

But as soon as he did, the enemy coming in from the left suddenly threw the spear into the air.

“…!?”

He saw the discarded spear was not a spear after all.

In fact, it was not even a weapon.

It was one of the steel beams he had smashed apart earlier.

“I’m in the process of ensuring my future employment, so I hope you can be of some help.”

Something stood on the shield Katsuie had swung backwards. It was the individual he had thought was Musashi’s vice chancellor.

“Unneeded #1. Sarutobi Sasuke. …Should I say ‘long time, no see’, Lord Shibata?”

It was a ninja.

“Curse you!”

Without slowing, Katsuie looked to his enemy.

He was definitely surprised, but he was also aware he had a joyous smile on his face.

“A ninja disguise!?”

The ninja standing on the shield on his left arm had crudely altered his appearance.

He had not actually changed his physical build. All he had done was tie his hair in a high ponytail and wrap a Far Eastern boy’s uniform coat around his waist in place of the skirt. But that was not the only reason Katsuie had mistaken him for Honda Futayo.

“What a pain. The people who can keep up a transformation for very long sure are amazing. …Of course, my specialty is using martial arts to mimic someone’s movements.”

Sasuke had disguised his form as well as his presence and behavior.

Anyone who took part in combat would react to the surrounding actions, sounds, and movements of the air before a visual form.

Sasuke had taken advantage of that.

Katsuie did not feel he had let his guard down.

As a demonic long-lived, he was blessed with armor and great strength, so an attack on the level of a divine weapon was needed to defeat him. The only weapon capable of that on this battlefield was Tonbokiri.

It was his caution over that weapon that had led him to mistake the enemy.

''In that case,'' he immediately thought.

“I thought you withdrew after charging in with Musashi’s vice chancellor!”

“You have good intuition, Lord Shibata. That’s exactly what you should think a useless Unneeded would do.”

Sasuke crouched down on top of Animus Caritas – Novum and tried to place his hand on the edge.

“How about I swipe this to earn some points!?”

“Those would be negative points, you idiot!!”

Katsuie swung his left arm and Sasuke used the momentum to flip through the air.

But the ninja did not stop there. He kicked off the discarded steel beam he had used as a spear and jumped even higher. He then drew a sword from the back of his waist as if to show it off.

“Negative points, you say?”

He used his other hand to remove the coat from his waist and spread it out in front of Katsuie.

This blocked Katsuie’s view, but he simply looked away from Sasuke.

He was running, so if he sped up, the attack from beyond the fabric would not reach him.

His goal was to attack Musashino’s bridge leg with Kamewari and he was about to reach that leg. He was within twenty meters of the deck’s edge and the small fry turned back toward him.

“Shibata! The enemy’s coming!”

''Shut up. I already know about Sasuke, so don’t worry.

“It’s Musashi’s vice chancellor!!

''Say that part sooner.

Narimasa looked to the enemy that ran in between him and Katsuie.

It was Musashi’s vice chancellor.

However, she was not alone.

When she rapidly spun around to face Katsuie, Narimasa saw a woman supporting her back.

…''Is that…?

Before he could say anything, a composed woman’s voice reached him.

“Unneeded #2. Kirigakure Saizou.”

As Katsuie faced forward, he saw the wind spirit woman seem to spin through the air as she pulled Musashi’s vice chancellor along.

She was a spirit who could move with the speed of the wind and she had previously accompanied Sasuke to assist his movements.

…''Yes!

''That’s right,'' thought Katsuie. ''Even Sasuke’s disguised attack was a diversion.

The attack had turned his focus left and back toward the ship and the attempt to steal Animus Caritas – Novum had made him force the ninja off of it.

What happened when he swung the large shield Testamenta Arma outwards and continued to run forward at full speed?

“My body is left wide open!”

His arms and shield were not protecting him.

He could try to swing Kamewari down to intercept, but he was holding it in preparation to strike the bridge leg to his right. He would need to adjust its position to intercept Musashi’s vice chancellor as she blew in from the front and a bit to the left.

…''No one would normally be stupid enough to leave an opening this wide!

The enemy only had to strike during this defenseless instant.

To help with that, Saizou released Musashi’s vice chancellor.

The girl spun through the air and prepared Tonbokiri in one hand.

Her hair was a mess and her right arm hung limply down, so she was in no state to fight.

But…

“Bind… Tonbokiri!”

She activated the cutting power.

Katsuie made a definite decision in the moment that would decide this confrontation.

Kamewari was charged, but he could not turn it toward the enemy in time. Musashi’s vice chancellor was coming from up ahead and Sasuke was coming from overhead behind him.

He made his decision with that in mind.

He held Kamewari out in his right hand and he moved only his wrist to point it further to the right.

Musahino’s bridge leg was there.

However, there was too much distance between him and the leg. Even with the weapon’s thirty meter range, only the very tip would hit.

However…

“I can still take out the outer hull!”

Damaging the outer hull would not be a fatal blow to the Musashi, but they could not use their gravitational cruising in that state. They would certainly repair it quickly, but they would lose their mobility in the meantime.

Until those repairs were complete, they would be unable to force their way out of M.H.R.R.

He chose damaging the Musashi over defending himself.

…''Offense is better than defense!!

One could say that was his style, but…

“Get them, Kamewari!”

Even as he shouted, he asked a silent question to Musashi’s vice chancellor.

…''What is your style, Musashi Vice Chancellor!?

As soon as Katsuie shouted and asked his question, Kamewari activated.

Power swelled up within the blade. The weapon briefly attempted to contain it, but it grew too great and was released.

In that instant, he realized his prediction had been correct.

Musashi’s vice chancellor had been directing her cutting power toward him, but…

“You’re going to cut my smashing power instead!?”

His enemy’s style was different from his own.

She chose the Musashi’s safety over defeating her opponent.

The smashing power produced by Kamewari was cut down the center.

The power was emitted from the fixed shape of the blade, but it was thrown off balance when it was cut partway through its expansion from that blade.

The cutting power was split between the tip and the hilt and the two pieces lost their appropriate directionality and exploded.

The power torn from the tip bent like a whip and burst. The movements of Katsuie’s hand continued to control the power on the hilt end, so the remaining power expanded and exploded as it traveled straight forward.

Some of the severed power did reach the bridge leg, but it was weak. After sweeping by right above Narimasa’s head, a gravity barrier neutralized it.

The power that exploded right in front of Katsuie was also weakened, but it covered a large area.

The smashing power created an explosion that covered both Katsuie and Musashi’s vice chancellor.

An explosion blew many things away and broke many other things.

However, something moved unconcernedly within it.

It was Katsuie.

He was injured. The right half of his clothing was almost entirely torn to shreds and he had lacerations on his side, but he took a powerful leap forward and raised Kamewari.

The large sword was not charged with its smashing power, but he still decided to make his attack.

“Musashi Vice Chancellor!”

That girl had been blown away by a second hit from his weapon’s power. She had defended with Tonbokiri in her left arm, but that arm had a large gash in it and her body was doubled over.

She was obviously badly injured, but she was alive.

That honestly irritated Katsuie.

He was vice chancellor of both M.H.R.R. and P.A. Oda. If she had survived two hits from his attack…

…''She understands how Kamewari works, doesn’t she!?

Kamewari was a divine weapon sent to P.A. Oda from Mikawa. It was one of the weapons developed at the same time as Tonbokiri, so they could be called brother weapons.

Its activation system would smash anything reflected in the blade, so it was identical to the activation system for Tonbokiri’s cutting.

That gave it the same weaknesses.

''Most likely,'' began Katsuie. ''She realized I was pointing the blade at my targets and held Tonbokiri’s blade toward Kamewari’s blade.

If all she had to do was hold up her blade, it did not matter if she could not hit and she could continue after the instant in which her defensive action was stopped.

That had allowed her to survive.

She was an excellent enemy.

''You really don’t find people like this often,'' he thought deep in his heart. ''And you don’t often have a chance to take out such a skilled warrior.

So inside the remaining blast from Kamewari, he gave up on destroying the bridge leg.

He did not worry about the smashing power. He would simply slam his weapon and strength into his opponent.

“Here I go!!”

He swung Kamewari toward Musashi’s vice chancellor as a simple sword.

As he did, he saw her eyes looking straight at him.

“Now that’s the look of a warrior!”

His enemy could no longer move. He could tell her left arm was broken too, so he would cut through her body as she glared at him.

“…”

He made his attack.

Narimasa tried to leap from the outer edge of the ship and into the sky.

Overhead, a giant form descended headfirst.

It was Ichimasu’s galley.

The white galley was tilted vertically to plunge between Musashino and Tama like a blade.

Narimasa was supposed to jump aboard in the instant it passed by.

Katsuie would run over after cutting down Musashi’s vice chancellor.

Narimasa poured acceleration into his legs, but…

…''Ah?

Musashi’s vice chancellor flew toward Musashino’s stern.

She had been sent flying after blocking Katsuie’s attack, but Narimasa questioned that.

“What is going on!?”

This made no sense.

The girl should not have had the strength left to block Katsuie’s strike. Both her arms were broken and she was covered in blood.

…''So how did she raise Tonbokiri with both arms to defend!?

He then found the source of the oddity.

The girl’s injuries had healed.

“Eh? What just happened?”

A girl spoke from atop the steeple of a church on Musashino’s surface.

It was Naruze with her white outfit and black hair and wings.

She held up her right arm after applying a new hemostatic spell.

“Eh?”

She widened a tear in the sleeve along the eye of the protective fabric.

Some slightly sticky blood was stuck to her arm, but as for the skin below…

…''There’s no wound?

She tried touching the arm. The wound that had felt so hot before was gone and the bleeding had stopped. The pain had also vanished from the rest of her body.

Her injuries were gone.

And it seemed she was not the only one. The surface had calmed down with the enemy gone, so the warriors defending various locations opened the doors leading underground and emerged. They were all tilting their heads.

“Ohh!? What is going on!? I cut my finger when filing down a divine figurine to give it a flatter chest, but it’s healed!”

“I-I burned my divine area when frying tempura in the nude last night, but that’s healed too!”

“I was smoking in the nude yesterday and burned my divine area when I accidentally dropped it, but it’s better now!”

Just as Naruze hoped all of them would die, a great roar descended from the sky.

Ichimasu’s galley was diving between Tama and Musashino.

As Narimasa ran toward the descending galley, he looked back to Katsuie who was two steps behind him.

“Shibata!”

He called out to his upperclassman, but Katsuie was not looking forward or into the sky.

He was looking at Musashi’s vice chancellor whose injuries were rapidly healing as she flew away.

…''It bothers him, doesn’t it!?

His attack should have been a sure thing. The girl had been injured and unable to move, so she should have been sliced in two. But for some reason, she had pulled off a defensive stance to catch the strike.

The enemy was alive, which meant she had endured three attacks from Katsuie.

And…

“…”

In the instant before he jumped down from the edge of the ship, Narimasa realized Musashi’s vice chancellor was looking their way.

There was no more hostility in her eyes and that may have been why Katsuie reacted the way he did.

“Ha.”

He gave a quiet laugh.

“Let’s go, Narimasa. I understand the general trick here. Someone dangerous has shown up. They probably came up from Magdeburg to welcome the Musashi. …But only after making sure Musashi was willing to fight us.”

“You mean…?”

Narimasa made his leap as he spoke.

He took a powerful leap and Katsuie made a light jump. As the wind from Ichimasu’s descending galley reached him, Narimasa looked back to Musashino’s stern.

A woman stood in front of the gate leading to the thick rope passageway connected to Okutama.

She had demonic horns, she wore an M.H.R.R. women’s uniform, and she held a large silver shield in her left arm. However, the feet supporting her were not those of a normal person. They were the fading ones of a ghost.

She was a demonic long-lived ghost.

“Narimasa, you’ve never seen her before, have you? That’s M.H.R.R.’s secretary, the only Protestant on M.H.R.R.’s student council, and an enemy of the Catholics. She’s the ghost of Martin Luther, who created the foundational ideals of Protestantism about a century ago, and she still protects the Protestants. Her real name is…”

Katsuie gave his explanation while digging into the vertical deck to land.

“Tomoe Gozen. During the Genpei War, she was an eastern warrior on the Minamoto clan’s side and yet she became Yoshitsune’s enemy. When Yoshitsune travelled to the continent, she pursued her to take revenge.”

Futayo realized she was safe.

''Honestly,'' she thought, but another thought followed.

…''I am too inexperienced!

She had been unable to strike back at her enemy and had simply taken damage.

She had quite a few thoughts on her failures, but another question rose to the forefront.

“Why?”

“Are you wondering why all your injuries fully recovered?”

She suddenly realized a demonic long-lived woman was standing next to her and looking down at her.

“Well, you did well to survive two or three clashes with that reckless idiot. The rest of you can be proud enough of your results here and you can rest now. I, Tomoe Gozen, allow it.”

With that, the woman named Tomoe held up the shield modified for use in the left arm.

“This is the Testamenta Arma: Animus Caritas – Vetus. This defensive Testamenta Arma can fully heal anyone who is injured once per day.”

Futayo realized pale ether light had risen from below.

''I can walk,'' she thought while feeling impressed and relieved. ''And I will be able to fight again.

In order to thank the woman, she placed Tonbokiri against the deck to prop herself up and tried to walk toward Tomoe.

“…”

But she could not gather any strength and she fell to her knees.

However, even the sensation of her knees hitting the deck was unclear.

…''Am I tired?

A weary feeling rapidly filled her and sleepiness seemed to drag her to the deck.

“Do not force yourself to move. You required a lot of tension to remain conscious with your nearly fatal injuries and with the pain, so being released from that will hit you hard. Also, this cannot restore your lost blood. So sleep, Musashi Vice Chancellor. You have already arrived.”

Futayo heard a breath and a laugh before the final words she heard before falling asleep.

“Welcome to Magdeburg, the site of the worst defeat in the Thirty Years’ War.”

Upon arriving at Magdeburg, the Musashi moored itself above the city while distantly surrounded by M.H.R.R.’s warriors and aerial fleet.

Musashi’s crew began repairing the damage to Musashino’s surface early in the morning and they hurried through the planning and details for evacuating the people of Magdeburg.

During this, Guericke spoke.

“It has finally come. The M.H.R.R. Catholics carrying out the siege sent a notification that they will begin the Sack of Magdeburg tomorrow at 8:00 PM. They likely plan to finish their battle with K.P.A. Italia today and then complete their preparations.”

“Has M.H.R.R. decided that the Musashi’s arrival has changed the situation?”

Masazumi and the others were worried about that, but Guericke simply said the following.

“Let us stay positive. The best we can do is reduce the damages as much as possible. It’s the same for you, isn’t it?”

“The same?”

“For us, it is Magdeburg. For you, it is the Apocalypse. …Isn’t that right?”

He smiled a little as he spoke.

“Our best is on a smaller scale than yours, but it is important to me and it is right in front of us. That is why I want the Musashi to begin evacuating Magdeburg’s citizens as we continue towing it.”

Masazumi nodded and they quickly decided to evacuate twenty five thousand of Magdeburg’s thirty thousand citizens. Before the early morning’s end, they had decided to use Musashi’s deck and transport ships and to take the people to a city on the northern border with Holland.

Musashi would leave at 8:00 AM and it was expected to return by 6:00 AM the following morning.

After a discussion, they made another new decision.

Masazumi would go to the Maurice Cathedral in central Magdeburg for the secret anti-P.A. Oda meeting at 5:00 PM.

“I’ll be speaking with Luther aka Tomoe Gozen, Anne of Austria, and others there. It should be a short meeting out of concern for any movements from the siege, so I need to do things right.”

“Heh heh. Pushing yourself is fine, but don’t force yourself, flat-chested politician. But why are they holding a secret anti-P.A. Oda meeting in enemy territory and when surrounded by a battlefield? Are they stupid? Do these VIPs like making things unnecessarily exciting?”

“I would assume they were only surrounded after already planning this event,” commented Horizon.

“Probably,” said the others while hanging their heads, but Asama frantically spoke up.

“A-anyway, we have allies here and we might be able to gain more allies from these VIPs. Um, Masazumi? I will remain here with you for divine transmission assistance, so let’s do our best, okay?”

“There it is! This lewd shrine maiden has brought out her motherly services! If you don’t watch out, she’ll make you her child!”

While Asama raised her right arm and Kimi fled, Mazarin brought them a report on the constantly changing state of the battle in K.P.A. Italia. Neshinbara examined that report and made a certain prediction and decision.

“M.H.R.R.’s actions may change quite a bit depending on the outcome in K.P.A. Italia. It would be best to hurry the evacuation. No matter which side wins, it will definitely influence our enemy’s actions.”

With that, they began the evacuation with Guericke’s cooperation.

Some remained behind for the meeting in Magdeburg, the Musashi started toward Holland, and…

“What will happen to Toori-sama and the others? The plan was for them to obtain Great Chancellor Carlos I’s memo from Rudolf II and then meet up with us in Magdeburg, but that is looking difficult.”

Below the rising sun, Horizon muttered to herself aboard the Musashi as it began to leave Magdeburg for the evacuation. Her eyes were turned toward Hexagone Française in the southwest.

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 51|Chapter 51]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 53|Chapter 53]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 50

2015-08-21T19:54:00Z

68.109.52.245:

==Chapter 50: Greeter in the Shade==
[[Image:Horizon3B_0591.jpg|thumb]]
''Even though it has been a while

''Why do you do things

''That are inexcusable?

'''Point Allocation (Choice)

Shibata Katsuie’s slash instantly smashed Musashino’s surface city.

“Musashino” used her sight devices to view the result of the attack from Musashino’s bridge.

The attack had not been a cut.

…''It was smashed!?

Musashino’s surface resembled a vegetable roughly cut by a knife. Cabbage especially tended to end up like this.

The destruction continued for about thirty meters and was about five meters deep. It looked like someone had pressed a knife down from above and it shot out ahead of the running enemy vice chancellor.

“Kh!”

The damage that reached “Musashino” through the ship was too much to finish with “over”.

The pain was noise. A portion of the ship’s control pathways had been destroyed and static filled her like it was clawing at her mind.

But amid that noise, she confirmed the power of the destruction.

The ship had been broken and smashed. Below the massive slash, a V-shaped split had opened in the buildings and the floor at the bottom had been instantly cut open.

However, it resembled a cut from a dull blade. If one pressed a blade against a cabbage, it would split open, but it would not be fully sliced and the blade would stop. The force of the blade would have nowhere to leave, so it would press in on the cabbage.

“The shock…”

Musashino rumbled, but “Musashino” predicted the spread of the shock and opened her mouth.

“Over!!”

As she shouted, “Musashino” realized this divine weapon did not cut its target.

…''It simply slams the blade against the target to break it open and smash it!

This weapon used brute strength to accomplish pure destruction.

A moment later, the shock of the smashing power shot from the opened cut and into the sky.

Pieces of buildings and the deck seemed to undulate as they flew, burst, and scattered through the sky.

Several ether pathways were severed, so “Musashino” felt more noise in her mind.

“ ‘Musashino’-sama! The galley is approaching from the front! It is on a collision course! Over!”

It was still a fair distance away, but the white high-speed galley was charging toward them.

At the same time, the enemy vice chancellor leaped toward them down below.

He cleared the thirty meter scar of destruction he had created and he landed on the opposite roof.

“Yo.”

He ran toward them with his usual long strides.

The bridge was located to the stern of the galley accelerating toward the Musashi. In her ninja garb, Takigawa Ichimasu gave piloting instructions for the rolling ship while monitoring the battle up ahead.

She noticed the thirty meter gash in Musashino’s surface and narrowed her eyes at the ether light smoke spewing from it. She grabbed the Garuda standing on her head and she threw it.

“Shiba, aren’t you getting too wrapped up in your own tempo? You can’t grasp the proper distance to fight Musashi’s reckless vice chancellor like that.”

'''Great Upperclassman:''' “Ahh? Shouldn’t she be working to follow my lead? I’m older than her.”

The bridge’s magnified image showed Katsuie raising Kamewari. Its hilt contained an ether fuel gauge that was split between the left and right. It was currently empty.

'''Great Upperclassman:''' “The fuel compressed inside needs about ten seconds to expand into a usable form. It’s flashier than Tonbokiri, but that makes it more of a pain to use.”

“I think Tonbokiri is too stylish for you, Shiba. As are the other historical divine weapons.”

“Maybe so,” laughed Katsuie while running.

'''Great Upperclassman:''' “Ichimasu, isn’t it about time you picked up speed? I’m running too, you know?”

“What’s Naru doing so far away from you? Oh, he wanted to put some distance between you two so Animus Caritas wouldn’t stop everyone from attacking him. …Naru, how were the Unneeded?”

'''Lily Flower:''' “How should I know? The second they got here, Shibata’s cheats kicked in.”

The magnifying spell showed Narimasa looking back as he ran two houses over from Shibata. He may have felt checking behind them was his role as underclassman. ''He takes things pretty seriously,'' thought Ichimasu.

…''But based on what people gain, that’s probably best left to Toshi since he can take the initiative and enjoy it.

“Such cute underclassmen,” she muttered to herself before giving the order to accelerate.

The entire crew of the ship was either trained in ninja techniques, automatons, or members of races with similar abilities. Even as the ship rolled, they could continue to stand on the floor or move to the walls.

As the ship rolled, messengers ran down the rotating corridors and the people working on the deck calmly stood on the upside-down surface. Of the Djinns in charge of the different spells, the wind spirits could naturally float in the air, but the Garudas tumbled around the ship while remotely managing their spells.

The ship had a single destination and Ichimasu smiled as she faced it.

“Ahead! We’ll reach Musashino’s bridge in two minutes! We’ll fly below it and pick up those two!”

While viewing the enemy’s predicted path, “Musashino” realized what they were after.

Why was the galley flying their way? And why had Narimasa and Katsuie jumped down?

Suzu indicated the answer while enlarging the model of the Musashi.

“Here… The legs…on the inside!”

The enemy was after the inside of the two “legs” supporting the bridge.

The Musashi could defend against external attacks using its armor, gravity barriers, or ocean, but the armor on the inside portions was weak and the gravity barriers were harder to open there. The inner walls of the arch-like bridge were no exception.

On top of that, the chain of command and output control were handled through there.

“If even one leg is destroyed, full speed gravitational cruising will be impossible. Over.”

Gravitational cruising put a lot of stress on the ships. If the base of the bridge had been smashed or even cracked, they could not use their full speed. For that reason, “Musashino” opened a sign frame.

'''Musashino:''' “Neshinbara-sama, give me your decision. Over.”

'''Novice:''' “Judge. I think we all know what this means.”

''I just received an abstract response to my request,'' thought “Musashino” while rapidly transmitting the thought to the others. Their responses were 20% criticism, 60% sympathy, and 20% instructions to handle this herself. She accepted the sympathy and remained silent.

'''Novice:''' “I believe this means it’s possible P.A. Oda will invade Musashi. We can no longer hold onto the naïve hope that the Oda clan connection will lead to them to remain uninvolved or even take our side. …That is why I have made some arrangements. I ''would'' like to get Lord Shibata’s signature, but don’t worry. I’ve done everything I can here. After all, we’re in M.H.R.R. If the value of Musashi’s military strength drops here, P.A. Oda will look down on us. It would leave a bad impression on the European forces at Westphalia, too.”

''That was long,'' concluded “Musashino’s” honesty function. She and the others had had a high-speed discussion on preparing breakfast while he spoke, but she nodded regardless.

Thanks to some intercepted divine transmissions, they knew the enemy galley was captained by P.A. Oda’s Takigawa Ichimasu.

…''She is close to Kuki Yoshitaka, commander of Oda’s iron-clad ships, she is a ninja, and she commands an aerial fleet.

She statistically determined flying below Musashino’s bridge was a shameless act. Even Lord Motonobu had never done that during his customary inspection of the Musashi at Mikawa. She knew it was dangerous, but her greed as an automaton wanted to gather as much data as possible. That was why she raised her voice.

“Everyone, shift to defense! We will allow the enemy galley to pass through! Over!”

Ichimasu’s galley quickly accelerated as if jumping up out the water.

It moved heavily, but picked up speed after a certain point and did not stop.

“Only eight kilometers to the Musashi! Shiba! Naru! Here I come!”

Ichimasu faced forward on the galley’s bridge. As the ship rolled to the right, she saw the Musashi and her two comrades running along the distant floating city.

As she gave instructions for small course corrections, Katsuie spoke to her.

'''Great Upperclassman:''' “I just had a thought, Ichimasu. What if you ram right into their bridge? That would win it right there.”

“I’ll do it if you don’t need anyone to pick you up. Also, this isn’t an unmanned fire ship set on a simple path. As a serious answer, by the time we got close enough that they couldn’t evade, about a third of the crew wouldn’t have time left to evacuate and I’m sure they would open up as many gravity barriers as they could.”

Ichimasu faced forward as she spoke.

“Also, Asakusa and Shinagawa are taking a rising trajectory. If we try anything, they’re sure to snag us with a derrick to forcibly change our course like they did to the Regno Unito.”

'''Great Upperclassman:''' “You mean they do have some defenses against a head-on collision?”

“Shaja. That’s why we have to put up our fight from here. Shiba, you two do your part!”

“Sure,” replied Katsuie just before his ''insha kotob'' vanished.

Their vice chancellor was continuing forward. In which case…

“Now, then. We just got a whole lot more busy.”

After expressing her trust in her comrades, Ichimasu placed her hands on the command ''insha kotob''s.

Along with the Garuda managing the ''insha kotob''s, she checked over the ship’s condition and recalculated their course. While giving further instructions, she checked the changes to the ship’s overall state. The results were good, but…

…''Are we too exposed to the Musashi’s secondary guns like this?

She closed her eyes and predicted the ship’s course. After two seconds, she found the answer.

“Everyone! Roll right 180 and then back 180 three times! Angle down five degrees for thirty seconds, then angle back up five degrees and fly straight! From there, accelerate on in!”

“Shaja!!”

The ninja on the bridge replied while hidden yet fulfilling their duties.

Just as the Garudas began to cry, the ship began rolling to the right. But…

“The Musashi is firing on us! It’s their secondary cannons on the port and starboard!!”

“That’s fine. They’re targeting where we were before rolling, so they won’t hit us.”

Ichimasu smiled as she replied.

“Continue forward. This is fun when you know the enemy shells won’t hit you!”

“Shaja!”

The ship accelerated and the force gave a slight push on her back.

“Oh.”

The world outside the window seemed to grow larger.

A moment later, the enemy shells flew past the tilting ship on both sides. A sound resembling tearing paper reached her ears and a tremor ran through the bridge, but…

“They won’t hit.”

And they did not.

“Now, let’s go!”

Ichimasu nodded.

The oar-style accelerators on both sides of the galley were still creaking from the shellfire and rolling motion, but…

“Records officer! We wouldn’t let a PR committee member onboard, so don’t forget to record what’s happening on the Musashi. And make sure the footage can be rendered in 3D! During the armada, even that skilled mechanical phoenix unit had trouble judging the distance on their first bombing run. This is our chance to get material for virtual training!!”

“Shaja!!”

A report came in from gun control.

“We have an adequate angle of fire to port!”

“Record the locations of the gravity barriers before firing!”

The reply of “shaja” was immediately followed by shaking from port. Ichimasu was knocked up from the floor a bit.

“Wah, that’s too much shaking. Cookie’s a boy, so I bet he designed it to focus on the guns. Personally, I like cleanly slipping past their attacks.”

After she gave stronger orders for the ship’s rolling, a report came in from the sensors.

“An enemy is approaching from the sky straight ahead! It’s Musashi’s white Technohexen!”

“Oh?” She crossed her arms. “So she wants to try her hand against the Black Metal armor Cookie designed? Not bad. …Rear gunners, bring out the secondary guns too! We’re in M.H.R.R., the home of the witch hunts.”

So…

“Don’t hold back on the ammo!!”

A battle between a Technohexen and an aerial ship began about five kilometers in front of the Musashi.

At the very start, several movements occurred in just an instant.

The galley flew in toward the Musashi, so Naruze first flew in at it from the front.

She prepared some homing bullets for when they passed by, but…

“What’s with all these cannons!? A high-speed ship normally only has eight on the back and sides!”

However, this galley had more than double that.

On the sides, it had four evenly-spaced turret-less eight-gun cannons that fired non-homing shells and sixteen turret-less homing cannons above and below those.

Similarly, the back had an eight-gun cannon at the base of each accelerator forming an H-shape and a homing cannon above each line making up the H.

Including both sides and the back, it had 47 cannons.

The attacks were already on their way.

The galley’s roll brought the portside cannons up and fired on Naruze who was flying above.

A barrage of light flew from the twenty portside cannons like rain or like a wall.

“…!!”

Naruze did not evade. She swung her body once in midair and used the reaction.

“Here I go!”

She charged toward the galley down and to the left.

She wrapped her arms around Weiss Fräulein’s ship’s hull and almost seemed to pull it down with her as she fell to the left.

She was aiming for the gap in the homing shots. She could see the forest on the surface and she flew toward that color.

But there was not much room between the bullets of light, so…

“Herrlich!!”

While firing her own homing bullets, she peeled herself from the ship’s hull.

Despite being in midair, she held it under her right arm like a rifle, pointed it upwards, and forcibly pulled down with her entire body.

Ultimately…

“Yes!”

The enemy’s homing bullets shot past her on either side and scattered into the heavens. Seeing that, she took a deep breath.

…''Homing isn’t very effective at this range!

Their homing ability had a certain limitation. To ensure they did not lock onto the very ship that had fired them, the homing ability was deactivated in the earliest stage.

That was why Naruze had flown forward, dropped down, and gotten as close to the enemy as she could. By approaching the glowing bullets rising from below, she could evade them. Sometimes she used her wings or twisted her body and sometimes she used Weiss Fräulein’s acceleration. As for the attacks flying straight toward her…

“Hit them!!”

She fired repeatedly and smashed the shots that were on a direct course, but…

“A second volley!?”

The enemy filled the sky with new glowing cannon fire.

…''I can’t let my guard down, can I!?

She bared her teeth in a smile and pushed in the ship’s hull’s throttle as she held it below her arm. She circled below the enemy before the further attacks arrived and she flew behind the galley, but…

…''They don’t give up!!

The rear homing cannons had predicted her movement and had already fired. The homing cannons on the sides were also targeting her and their arcing shots had her completely trapped.

“Now you’ve done it!”

But just as she wondered what to do…

'''Wise Sister:''' “Heh heh. If you lose, I’ll tell Naito. Well? Are you going to lose? Are you?”

Something pretending to be an ally decided to provoke her.

…''Kh.

''I won’t fall for it,'' thought Naruze. ''It is true Margot might worry for me if she knew about this and that might open up a number of options like that or even that…I can think of about five different patterns.

But…

…''No! You aren’t the kind of cheap person who’s satisfied with imagining about all that! That part of my life ended in England!

She would no longer corner herself with her imagination.

Besides, she was living a life she could truly feel in her grasp. Especially when a certain pair of breasts was in her grasp.

So she did not want to give into this cheap provocation and lead anyone to think she only won with that girl’s help.

…''So calm down! Don’t listen to what that horrible person says!

'''Wise Sister:''' “Should I tell her while doing an impression of you? ‘Ahhn. Margooooot, I’m sad, sad, sad after losing. Let me kiss, kiss, kiss you. Smooch.’ ”

The attached image contained a lipstick mark, but Naruze endured. She clenched her fist and her teeth, but…

…''Good! I made it!!

A moment later, all the effort she put into enduring it caused her to break down all the harder. She felt like about five blood vessels burst in her brain. ''Okay,'' she thought with a smile on the corners of her lips. Her lips moved to form the words, “that damn girl”.

“Just shut up and watch!!”

She broke into a swift flight and fully opened up Weiss Fräulein.

She pointed the skirt’s rail wings and everything else straight down.

“This is all too annoying!”

She used all of the accelerators to provide massive thrust. Her vision darkened a little, but several bodily correction Magie Figurs appeared around her to heal her.

She instantly launched herself nearly two hundred meters down to evade.

She successfully evaded. Instead of stopping, she stalled and was caught by the air, but she still looked up into the sky.

The third volley was already being fired and the shots were persistently following her, but…

“Constantly being targeted is the same as not being targeted. You just have to go wherever you aren’t being targeted.”

She looked up at the third volley, fourth volley, and even more homing bullets raining down from above and she knew this was the time to fulfill her duty.

She intended to do so.

Neshinbara had told her what that duty was before she had left.

…''Draw the galley’s attacks!

The more attacks she drew, the less damage to the Musashi’s surface.

So she would circle above to draw the gunners’ attention upwards and then circle below to fly alongside them.

It was no easy task. What if they hit her? It would not be so bad if she died, But if she did not die…

…''That’s right.

Kimi would undoubtedly make the joke she had threatened to make. She would keep her promise. That was the kind of girl she was.

''I have to stop that girl’s idiocy,'' thought Naruze as she closed her wings and moved the pen in her right hand.

Light rained down from the sky.

Illuminated by that light, Naruze changed Weiss Fräulein’s settings.

She hurriedly rewrote the output spell to focus more on evasion than before. She would not need long-term aerial mobility here, so she shifted its abilities toward quicker movements and…

“I don’t have much choice.”

There was something she had to do.

“Yes, you want me to do it, don’t you? Fine, then! I’ll do it! Those are the awful words that will get you stuck in a shotgun wedding!”

'''Asama:''' “Stop yelling that into the pure morning air!!”

''Why do you know what I meant?'' wondered Naruze as she finished the adjustments.

She struck Weiss Fräulein and pressed it against her body like she was embracing it. She pressed on the throttle with the back of her thigh and she looked to the heavens.

The barrage was there. It was thick and looked unavoidable, but…

“This is perfect for putting the finishing touches on the settings modifications.”

She expanded and synced the waist rail wings. She used those as her thrusters, but she used most of Weiss Fräulein’s power for firing.

“It’s time I returned fire. And…”

She stuffed a tower of about seven coins into Weiss Fräulein and the auto-loading spell dealt with them.

“This is a Technohexen’s multi-coin shot. I won’t stop until we close up shop.”

With that, Naruze charged into the glowing barrage to take the shortest route to the enemy.

Again and again, rapidly-moving light crossed paths in the sky.

Five kilometers in front of the Musashi, a white galley and a white Technohexen on a broom flew and exchanged fire.

At their speed, the five kilometers of distance was not far.

But the density of their attacks was enough to literally scorch the air and leave a trail behind them.

As they soared, their firefight drew an arc in the sky.

Naruze slipped through the barrage that pursued her and cut her off. Meanwhile, she moved up above the galley. The galley deflected her four homing bullets with its barrage and armor.

They exchanged fire again and again.

The noise rang out over and over and the sky was filled with even more light than the rising sun.

Amid the exchange of light and destructive force, Naruze moved Weiss Fräulein with her entire body. She tugged it upwards, pushed it down, and spun the rail wings around as if kicking off the air.

“…!”

She seemed to hop around the sky as she carried out her evasions and attacks.

The gaps in the barrage were small. Her shoulders were grazed and her wings were torn at, but…

…''Margot is working down below!!

She was certain of that. Even if they could not always see each other, they were always facing some kind of trouble.

That was life as a Technohexen.

…''That’s right.

During the Age of the Gods, M.H.R.R. had been the home of the witch hunts.

War, plagues, and unrest had created an age of unease, so in some regions, witches had been executed as “suspicious” or the “cause of unfortunate or disturbing things”. Those were the witch hunts.

“There!”

One of the homing cannons had turned toward the Musashi, so Naruze fired two shots into it as if to slap it and draw its attention. She trusted that the two shots would hit.

“Take that!”

She wrapped her arms around Weiss Fräulein and launched herself below the galley.

''Honestly,'' she thought. ''Life as a Technohexen is tough.

But she had it relatively easy.

…''Because I’m a white Technohexen.

Society had a generally positive image of the color white and they used healing spells, so even when the witch hunt was at its peak in M.H.R.R., Weiss Techno was understood as a type of folk remedy.

Even if they were not officially recognized, a Weiss Techno user could earn some money by healing people. ''But,'' continued Naruze as she repeatedly dodged.

…''Black Technohexen families were different.

Her parents had told her about the worst of the witch hunts held in M.H.R.R. for the history recreation.

Most had been “interpretations” that did not actually take any lives, but no one had known how far those “interpretations” were allowed to go. So in the end, they had compromised and decided that exile and alienation were the “right” answer.

She knew what that meant now, but she had not in the past.

She had thought she had gone through the same troubles.

“But it wasn’t the same in Margot’s case.”

She clenched her teeth and smiled as she thought.

“I can’t let Kimi’s silly act worry Margot!!”

She pursued the galley that continued firing on her.

The enemy was moving forward, so she moved forward as well. Not only would she draw its attention as a decoy, she would crack its armor and do actual damage. So…

“…!”

She let her attacks fly as if to push the galley into the sky, but she saw its shadow overhead.

The galley accelerated even further and quickly reduced its distance to the Musashi.

“Full speed ahead!!”

Ichimasu shouted on the galley’s bridge.

“Raise our speed and move forward so they can’t lock onto us! Only correct our angle of flight once! Do so when leaving our rising line. Make sure you only need to hold your hand down on the controls in the end!!”

As she spoke, she looked down at a diagram summarizing the ship’s state.

The galley was about eighty meters wide. Musashi’s surface was 164 meters wide on average, so they could easily pass below the bridge up ahead.

But there were gravity barriers.

…''How many of them will reach us!?

If the Musashi’s gravity barriers had as wide a range as their output allowed, they would push back at the galley when it tried to pass below the bridge.

With that in mind, she had made sure they accelerated enough to break through any gravity barriers that might be placed in their way.

“Open our own gravity barriers on the bow’s ram! We’re breaking through in one shot!”

A moment later, the navigator spoke up.

“The Musashi is opening new gravity barriers!”

Specifically…

“Their maximum range is fifty meters! They’ll tear into either side of us for ten meters!”

“Roll an extra forty degrees to the right!!”

Ichimasu made a split-second decision. The ship was now almost on its side.

“Tilt the ship toward Shiba- toward the vice chancellor and fill the width! Focus the starboard cannons on the area around the vice chancellor and concentrate fire to starboard while passing below Musashino’s bridge!”

“What should the gunners on the port side do!? Our boys are selfishly complaining that they want something to do!”

“Tell them to make some kind of pose toward Musashino’s bridge! A provocative one!”

“Shaja!!”

“ ‘Musashino’-sama! The gunners on the enemy galley’s port side are making an ‘ahaaan’ pose! Over.”

“Not to worry. Statistically, they are likely insane. People like that are generally harmless. Over.”

'''Great Upperclassman:''' “Who ordered our boys to act gay?”

'''Taki:''' “Huh? Provocative… Huh?”

''What are they doing?'' thought Narimasa as he glanced at his ''insha kotob'' and continued to run.

He turned toward Katsuie who ran two buildings to the right while wielding a large sword and shield.

“Where’s Takigawa?”

He turned toward the galley approaching the Musashi from the sky behind them.

…''Damn is she fast!

For a while now, he had been accelerating with Lily Flower constantly opened around his feet.

To be collected by the galley, he had to reach the back end of Musashino before the galley did, but at their current speed, they would arrive there at about the same time.

“Why are we all so hard on our allies!?”

He clicked his tongue and accelerated along the rooftop.

He could see the giant bridge up ahead. It was so large that it threw off his sense of distance and he felt like he was not approaching it at all. But…

…''We’re going to destroy that thing, huh?

That was the greatest objective of this attack.

They had a plan. The Musashi’s powerful gravity barriers could be stopped for an instant with Katsuie’s Animus Caritas – Novum.

They would use that opening to attack.

The galley would fire anti-ship homing shells to destroy the base of the bridge.

“I see,” muttered “Musashino” on Musashino’s bridge.

Suzu tilted her head in confusion, so “Musashino” created a model of the area around Musashino’s bridge so the girl could feel it.

“Um, what is…this?”

“The enemy’s objective. I had determined flying below here was a shameless stunt meant to shame us, but it is actually a shameless attempt to attack us after stopping our gravity barriers with the Testamenta Arma. Over.”

The galley, Katsuie, and Narimasa appeared on the model in Suzu’s hands. That was the result of the automatons’ real time predictive calculations. As Katsuie and the galley moved closer, they predicted the enemy would attack the rear port side of the bridge’s leg.

“W-will we be…okay?”

“Musashino” nearly said this would not be easy, but she decided to stop.

To find a better response, she quickly had her thoughts go over the conditions for this battle.

…''The problem is defending the inner sides of the bridge.

The Musashi’s armor was focused on the outside, so it was thinner on the inside of the legs of that arch.

Normally, that area could not be targeted, so the gravity barriers and a double hull were used to protect the vital parts such as control lines, fuel lines, and the main frame. It had been made light and flexible.

So if the gravity barriers were stopped, they could only rely on the gaps between the thin armor and double hull.

…''And I have determined the enemy will be using homing anti-ship shells.

Even if they were homing, the anti-ship shells used by a Kraken-class galley were powerful. Piercing shells meant to break through armor would pass through the thin armor and reach the vital parts hidden within the double shell.

Luckily, Katsuie’s Kamewari had a short range.

An attack that created a gash thirty meters long and five meters deep was certainly a threat, but Musashino’s bridge was not situated on its deck. Its legs were constructed on the side accelerators and that gap made it impossible for that weapon to attack them.

Of course, the enemy would know that, so Katsuie would not make a vain attempt to reach the bridge. Instead, he would maintain a position from which his Testamenta Arma’s effects would cover the area below the bridge.

So “Musashino” reached her conclusion and spoke to Suzu.

“Judge. Do not worry, Suzu-sama. Neshinbara-sama and the others are already on the move. They will make up for our weaknesses and eliminate the enemy.”

So…

“They will stop Shibata Katsuie. Let us trust in that, Suzu-sama. Over.”

…''The enemy’s going to target Shibata, aren’t they?

''I can’t imagine anything else,'' thought Narimasa as he ran. ''I guess I have to protect him.

After all, their plan was centered on Katsuie and Ichimasu working together.

“A person and a warship working together sounds more like a stunt than a battle plan.”

…''But if those pain-in-the-ass upperclassmen say they’re going to do it, they’ll do it.

With that thought, he accelerated. By rushing forward and eliminating any danger, he would at least not be in the way. He also glanced over at Shibata.

Meanwhile, Katsuie moved alongside him with a leisurely pace.

“Hey,” he said. “I’m hungry.”

“What!? Didn’t you just eat that annoying love-filled box lunch!? Does your brain not tell you when you’ve had enough!?”

“Oh!? I may be satisfied with Lady Oichi’s love, but I’ll never have had enough, you idiot! I’ll leave you behind if you keep being so selfish!”

Narimasa wanted to beat the crap out of him if he could.

'''Taki:''' “C’mon, Naru. Put up a good fight. If you beat Shiba, I’ll buy you lunch.”

“You’re going to make me buy you lunch if I lose, aren’t you?”

'''Taki:''' “Don’t be mean. I would never do that. …I will make you go without lunch, though.”

Narimasa ignored her.

At any rate, Ichimasu had to be piloting her ship while giving instructions to the crew in the back. She would only be speaking to him if she had the attention to spare, but he wanted her to avoid a mistake if at all possible. However…

“———”

The sound of the galley grew behind him. The time for the charge was coming.

He looked back and saw the white high-speed galley approaching while exchanging countless arcing shots.

He guessed it was around half a minute from reaching the bridge and he rushed forward himself.

He had a number of worries, but…

…''Takigawa won’t mess up.

Just as he nodded while running, he faced forward again and saw something at the top of his vision.

It was something he recognized.

Something made of glinting metal fell from the sky and right alongside Musashino’s bridge.

“Shibata! Up above!”

It was coming and at a decent speed.

“That’s Musashi’s strange mobile shell!!”

Adele frantically controlled her mobile shell as it dropped down.

She had a single goal: fire herself from the launch catapult on the rear of Tama to turn herself into a piece of artillery.

…''But if I don’t hit, this will be very, very bad!

She was supposed to hit Shibata Katsuie.

His Testamenta Arma stopped all of his enemy’s actions, but…

“That just means you have to attack from outside its range!!”

If it stopped all of his enemy’s actions inside its field of effect…

…''It won’t stop actions taken outside that field!

They had considered using a sniper but had decided a mere sniper shot would not be very effective.

“So I’m a little doubtful that I’ll work either!”

'''Novice:''' “Yeah, but you’re our only option! We don’t have anything else!”

'''Flat Vassal:''' “You’re clenching your fist as you say that, aren’t you!? You’re hiding something, aren’t you!?”

'''Wise Sister:''' “Heh heh. If not, it must be time for glasses to confess to glasses! Now, you’re below the legendary bridge, so go in for the attack!”

'''Four Eyes:''' “Oh?”

'''Almost Everyone:''' “Eek!”

At any rate, Adele steadied her mobile shell’s fall.

She was falling legs-first. The escape device in the legs contained plenty of shock absorption, but more importantly…

…''The armor is broken.

The broken head armor had been directly bolted to the new body armor, so she could not turn its head and her vision was fixed in place. However, that did not matter when falling like a shell.

She had decided she only needed to protect her head when rolling.

“I understand having to launch me from the back of Tama so they wouldn’t notice, but I never thought I would be launched three times. Once from Okutama where the Asama Shrine is, once from Takao, and finally from Tama.”

She understood it was to accustom her to it and to move her quickly to Tama. The first time had been extremely thrilling and had chilled her insides, but it felt normal by the third time.

…''Bit by bit, I’m getting the hang of controlling my fall!

When falling from the Tower of London, she had failed to control the fall and ended up spinning.

That had concerned Suzu a little, but she doubted anything like that would happen again.

…''It shouldn’t happen, anyway. But sadly, I can see it happening given my luck.

At any rate, she could see the enemy. He was running down below. Beyond him, she saw the galley tilt further and she saw Naruze drawing its fire.

She quickly approached the running enemy while Naruze and the galley moved overhead.

She was dropping quickly and her vision rapidly approached the ground.

She could no longer see the ground between the ships. Instead, she saw the rows of houses, a demonic form, and…

“Eh?”

Someone else was running along the rooftops and he had lily flower emblems glowing on different parts of his body.

“Sassa Narimasa!?”

Meanwhile, she reached the target altitude.

She was going to hit, but just before she did, she heard Narimasa’s voice. It was the same shout she had heard before.

“Lily Flower!!”

A moment later, Adele was hit by a high-speed flying kick from the right and her mobile shell was knocked away.

After his flying kick, Narimasa side-flipped through the air. He twisted around while passing by over Katsuie’s head.

“Shibata! You weren’t hit, were you!?”

He pointed at the round mobile shell that had flown through the air and fallen in the city streets to starboard. Katsuie looked to him while running.

“You didn’t destroy it? You have a troublesome personality, you know that?”

“It’s just how I am.”

Narimasa smiled bitterly, but gave a silent thought.

…''This is the second time with that vassal!

He had gone all out the first time and destroyed a portion of her mobile shell, yet she had come with almost the same equipment this time.

''Interesting,'' he thought.

He was from P.A. Oda, he was one of the Five Great Peaks, and he was Sassa Narimasa. Most people reacted to those three terms by avoiding him, but this vassal was a normal student and yet…

“She tried to take us on again after losing the first time.”

''Not bad. That takes guts. I don’t think I’ve met anyone like that in a good long while.

''Interesting.

''This Musashi place is more interesting than I thought,'' he decided.

''It’s a pretty lively place.

But in that instant, he heard a sound from overhead.

“There’s more!?”

“Shibata!”

Hearing Narimasa’s shout, Katsuie turned toward him. Narimasa was about five buildings away and pointing upwards, so Katsuie tilted his head and leaped over a road.

While in midair between roofs, he made the same pose as the lowly boy.

“Like this!? Like this!? What’s with that Saturday Night Fever pose? Are you stupid? Wa ha ha ha ha!!!”

“Look up!!”

''He needs to do something about that short temper,'' thought Katsuie as he looked up. He saw a steel beam falling toward him. It was a slender H-shaped beam and it was about four meters long.

However…

“Looks to be about two hundred of them.”

A massive amount of steel materials were falling toward him after being released from the rope binding them together. They must have been released at the perfect time to hit him as he ran.

''I see,'' he thought while continuing to run. He was on the central ship of Musashino, but these had been transported by air from the port ship of Tama. That was outside the range of his Testamenta Arma and it was a good enough surprise attack to make a decent trap.

They had even kept the lowly boy busy by dropping that vassal as a decoy.

…''But this is a real pain.

The steel beams would not do much damage even if they hit him, but they would obstruct his movements as obstacles. In the worst case, he could even be late to catch his ride home on Ichimasu’s ship. He could of course jump down to the surface without issue, but the lowly boy would be a problem. After all, Oichi would scold him if he abandoned an underclassman.

“I have no choice.”

He raised Kamewari in his right hand as if placing it on his left shoulder. He instantly crouched down as he ran. Immediately afterwards, he sent a twisting attack into the air overhead.

“Get them, Kamewari.”

The blade sliced through the air. What travelled about thirty meters from the weapon was not a cut as with Tonbokiri.

“Be smashed!”

Instead of cutting, it broke and smashed. And instead of doing so to an object, it smashed things in order to defeat his enemy.

That power was fired here.

The weapon gave a roar, a spray of ether light, and a scorching sound.

From there, the sound of smashing overwhelmed all else.

The two hundred pieces of metal were broken, smashed, and blown away, creating a path for Katsuie. He then took a step to travel down the gap in the steel.

At the same time, a form appeared in front of him. He briefly wondered who it was, but…

…''Oh?

Before his question could form, he felt a smile on his lips.

There was a single reason for his joy.

“So someone has the guts to face me! Name yourself and I will listen!”

“I am the Musashi student…”

The individual jumped from a rooftop up ahead and flew through the steel-filled air.

“Tachibana Muneshige. …I am a normal student!”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 49|Chapter 49]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 51|Chapter 51]]
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</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 50

2015-08-21T14:00:31Z

68.109.52.245: /* Chapter 50: Greeter in the Shade */

==Chapter 50: Greeter in the Shade==
[[Image:Horizon3B_0591.jpg|thumb]]
''Even though it has been a while

''Why do you do things

''That are inexcusable?

'''Point Allocation (Choice)

Shibata Katsuie’s slash instantly smashed Musashino’s surface city.

“Musashino” used her sight devices to view the result of the attack from Musashino’s bridge.

The attack had not been a cut.

…''It was smashed!?

Musashino’s surface resembled a vegetable roughly cut by a knife. Cabbage especially tended to end up like this.

The destruction continued for about thirty meters and was about five meters deep. It looked like someone had pressed a knife down from above and it shot out ahead of the running enemy vice chancellor.

“Kh!”

The damage that reached “Musashino” through the ship was too much to finish with “over”.

The pain was noise. A portion of the ship’s control pathways had been destroyed and static filled her like it was clawing at her mind.

But amid that noise, she confirmed the power of the destruction.

The ship had been broken and smashed. Below the massive slash, a V-shaped split had opened in the buildings and the floor at the bottom had been instantly cut open.

However, it resembled a cut from a dull blade. If one pressed a blade against a cabbage, it would split open, but it would not be fully sliced and the blade would stop. The force of the blade would have nowhere to leave, so it would press in on the cabbage.

“The shock…”

Musashino rumbled, but “Musashino” predicted the spread of the shock and opened her mouth.

“Over!!”

As she shouted, “Musashino” realized this divine weapon did not cut its target.

…''It simply slams the blade against the target to break it open and smash it!

This weapon used brute strength to accomplish pure destruction.

A moment later, the shock of the smashing power shot from the opened cut and into the sky.

Pieces of buildings and the deck seemed to undulate as they flew, burst, and scattered through the sky.

Several ether pathways were severed, so “Musashino” felt more noise in her mind.

“ ‘Musashino’-sama! The galley is approaching from the front! It is on a collision course! Over!”

It was still a fair distance away, but the white high-speed galley was charging toward them.

At the same time, the enemy vice chancellor leaped toward them down below.

He cleared the thirty meter scar of destruction he had created and he landed on the opposite roof.

“Yo.”

He ran toward them with his usual long strides.

The bridge was located to the stern of the galley accelerating toward the Musashi. In her ninja garb, Takigawa Ichimasu gave piloting instructions for the rolling ship while monitoring the battle up ahead.

She noticed the thirty meter gash in Musashino’s surface and narrowed her eyes at the ether light smoke spewing from it. She grabbed the Garuda standing on her head and she threw it.

“Shiba, aren’t you getting too wrapped up in your own tempo? You can’t grasp the proper distance to fight Musashi’s reckless vice chancellor like that.”

'''Great Upperclassman:''' “Ahh? Shouldn’t she be working to follow my lead? I’m older than her.”

The bridge’s magnified image showed Katsuie raising Kamewari. Its hilt contained an ether fuel gauge that was split between the left and right. It was currently empty.

'''Great Upperclassman:''' “The fuel compressed inside needs about ten seconds to expand into a usable form. It’s flashier than Tonbokiri, but that makes it more of a pain to use.”

“I think Tonbokiri is too stylish for you, Shiba. As are the other historical divine weapons.”

“Maybe so,” laughed Katsuie while running.

'''Great Upperclassman:''' “Ichimasu, isn’t it about time you picked up speed? I’m running too, you know?”

“What’s Naru doing so far away from you? Oh, he wanted to put some distance between you two so Animus Caritas wouldn’t stop everyone from attacking him. …Naru, how were the Unneeded?”

'''Lily Flower:''' “How should I know? The second they got here, Shibata’s cheats kicked in.”

The magnifying spell showed Narimasa looking back as he ran two houses over from Shibata. He may have felt checking behind them was his role as underclassman. ''He takes things pretty seriously,'' thought Ichimasu.

…''But based on what people gain, that’s probably best left to Toshi since he can take the initiative and enjoy it.

“Such cute underclassmen,” she muttered to herself before giving the order to accelerate.

The entire crew of the ship was either trained in ninja techniques, automatons, or members of races with similar abilities. Even as the ship rolled, they could continue to stand on the floor or move to the walls.

As the ship rolled, messengers ran down the rotating corridors and the people working on the deck calmly stood on the upside-down surface. Of the Djinns in charge of the different spells, the wind spirits could naturally float in the air, but the Garudas tumbled around the ship while remotely managing their spells.

The ship had a single destination and Ichimasu smiled as she faced it.

“Ahead! We’ll reach Musashino’s bridge in two minutes! We’ll fly below it and pick up those two!”

While viewing the enemy’s predicted path, “Musashino” realized what they were after.

Why was the galley flying their way? And why had Narimasa and Katsuie jumped down?

Suzu indicated the answer while enlarging the model of the Musashi.

“Here… The legs…on the inside!”

The enemy was after the inside of the two “legs” supporting the bridge.

The Musashi could defend against external attacks using its armor, gravity barriers, or ocean, but the armor on the inside portions was weak and the gravity barriers were harder to open there. The inner walls of the arch-like bridge were no exception.

On top of that, the chain of command and output control were handled through there.

“If even one leg is destroyed, full speed gravitational cruising will be impossible. Over.”

Gravitational cruising put a lot of stress on the ships. If the base of the bridge had been smashed or even cracked, they could not use their full speed. For that reason, “Musashino” opened a sign frame.

'''Musashino:''' “Neshinbara-sama, give me your decision. Over.”

'''Novice:''' “Judge. I think we all know what this means.”

''I just received an abstract response to my request,'' thought “Musashino” while rapidly transmitting the thought to the others. Their responses were 20% criticism, 60% sympathy, and 20% instructions to handle this herself. She accepted the sympathy and remained silent.

'''Novice:''' “I believe this means it’s possible P.A. Oda will invade Musashi. We can no longer hold onto the naïve hope that the Oda clan connection will lead to them to remain uninvolved or even take our side. …That is why I have made some arrangements. I ''would'' like to get Lord Shibata’s signature, but don’t worry. I’ve done everything I can here. After all, we’re in M.H.R.R. If the value of Musashi’s military strength drops here, P.A. Oda will look down on us. It would leave a bad impression on the European forces at Westphalia, too.”

''That was long,'' concluded “Musashino’s” honesty function. She and the others had had a high-speed discussion on preparing breakfast while he spoke, but she nodded regardless.

Thanks to some intercepted divine transmissions, they knew the enemy galley was captained by P.A. Oda’s Takigawa Ichimasu.

…''She is close to Kuki Yoshitaka, commander of Oda’s iron-clad ships, she is a ninja, and she commands an aerial fleet.

She statistically determined flying below Musashino’s bridge was a shameless act. Even Lord Motonobu had never done that during his customary inspection of the Musashi at Mikawa. She knew it was dangerous, but her greed as an automaton wanted to gather as much data as possible. That was why she raised her voice.

“Everyone, shift to defense! We will allow the enemy galley to pass through! Over!”

Ichimasu’s galley quickly accelerated as if jumping up out the water.

It moved heavily, but picked up speed after a certain point and did not stop.

“Only eight kilometers to the Musashi! Shiba! Naru! Here I come!”

Ichimasu faced forward on the galley’s bridge. As the ship rolled to the right, she saw the Musashi and her two comrades running along the distant floating city.

As she gave instructions for small course corrections, Katsuie spoke to her.

'''Great Upperclassman:''' “I just had a thought, Ichimasu. What if you ram right into their bridge? That would win it right there.”

“I’ll do it if you don’t need anyone to pick you up. Also, this isn’t an unmanned fire ship set on a simple path. As a serious answer, by the time we got close enough that they couldn’t evade, about a third of the crew wouldn’t have time left to evacuate and I’m sure they would open up as many gravity barriers as they could.”

Ichimasu faced forward as she spoke.

“Also, Asakusa and Shinagawa are taking a rising trajectory. If we try anything, they’re sure to snag us with a derrick to forcibly change our course like they did to the Regno Unito.”

'''Great Upperclassman:''' “You mean they do have some defenses against a head-on collision?”

“Shaja. That’s why we have to put up our fight from here. Shiba, you two do your part!”

“Sure,” replied Katsuie just before his ''insha kotob'' vanished.

Their vice chancellor was continuing forward. In which case…

“Now, then. We just got a whole lot more busy.”

After expressing her trust in her comrades, Ichimasu placed her hands on the command ''insha kotob''s.

Along with the Garuda managing the ''insha kotob''s, she checked over the ship’s condition and recalculated their course. While giving further instructions, she checked the changes to the ship’s overall state. The results were good, but…

…''Are we too exposed to the Musashi’s secondary guns like this?

She closed her eyes and predicted the ship’s course. After two seconds, she found the answer.

“Everyone! Roll right 180 and then back 180 three times! Angle down five degrees for thirty seconds, then angle back up five degrees and fly straight! From there, accelerate on in!”

“Shaja!!”

The ninja on the bridge replied while hidden yet fulfilling their duties.

Just as the Garudas began to cry, the ship began rolling to the right. But…

“The Musashi is firing on us! It’s their secondary cannons on the port and starboard!!”

“That’s fine. They’re targeting where we were before rolling, so they won’t hit us.”

Ichimasu smiled as she replied.

“Continue forward. This is fun when you know the enemy shells won’t hit you!”

“Shaja!”

The ship accelerated and the force gave a slight push on her back.

“Oh.”

The world outside the window seemed to grow larger.

A moment later, the enemy shells flew past the tilting ship on both sides. A sound resembling tearing paper reached her ears and a tremor ran through the bridge, but…

“They won’t hit.”

And they did not.

“Now, let’s go!”

Ichimasu nodded.

The oar-style accelerators on both sides of the galley were still creaking from the shellfire and rolling motion, but…

“Records officer! We wouldn’t let a PR committee member onboard, so don’t forget to record what’s happening on the Musashi. And make sure the footage can be rendered in 3D! During the armada, even that skilled mechanical phoenix unit had trouble judging the distance on their first bombing run. This is our chance to get material for virtual training!!”

“Shaja!!”

A report came in from gun control.

“We have an adequate angle of fire to port!”

“Record the locations of the gravity barriers before firing!”

The reply of “shaja” was immediately followed by shaking from port. Ichimasu was knocked up from the floor a bit.

“Wah, that’s too much shaking. Cookie’s a boy, so I bet he designed it to focus on the guns. Personally, I like cleanly slipping past their attacks.”

After she gave stronger orders for the ship’s rolling, a report came in from the sensors.

“An enemy is approaching from the sky straight ahead! It’s Musashi’s white Technohexen!”

“Oh?” She crossed her arms. “So she wants to try her hand against the Black Metal armor Cookie designed? Not bad. …Rear gunners, bring out the secondary guns too! We’re in M.H.R.R., the home of the witch hunts.”

So…

“Don’t hold back on the ammo!!”

A battle between a Technohexen and an aerial ship began about five kilometers in front of the Musashi.

At the very start, several movements occurred in just an instant.

The galley flew in toward the Musashi, so Naruze first flew in at it from the front.

She prepared some homing bullets for when they passed by, but…

“What’s with all these cannons!? A high-speed ship normally only has eight on the back and sides!”

However, this galley had more than double that.

On the sides, it had four evenly-spaced turret-less eight-gun cannons that fired non-homing shells and sixteen turret-less homing cannons above and below those.

Similarly, the back had an eight-gun cannon at the base of each accelerator forming an H-shape and a homing cannon above each line making up the H.

Including both sides and the back, it had 47 cannons.

The attacks were already on their way.

The galley’s roll brought the portside cannons up and fired on Naruze who was flying above.

A barrage of light flew from the twenty portside cannons like rain or like a wall.

“…!!”

Naruze did not evade. She swung her body once in midair and used the reaction.

“Here I go!”

She charged toward the galley down and to the left.

She wrapped her arms around Weiss Fräulein’s ship’s hull and almost seemed to pull it down with her as she fell to the left.

She was aiming for the gap in the homing shots. She could see the forest on the surface and she flew toward that color.

But there was not much room between the bullets of light, so…

“Herrlich!!”

While firing her own homing bullets, she peeled herself from the ship’s hull.

Despite being in midair, she held it under her right arm like a rifle, pointed it upwards, and forcibly pulled down with her entire body.

Ultimately…

“Yes!”

The enemy’s homing bullets shot past her on either side and scattered into the heavens. Seeing that, she took a deep breath.

…''Homing isn’t very effective at this range!

Their homing ability had a certain limitation. To ensure they did not lock onto the very ship that had fired them, the homing ability was deactivated in the earliest stage.

That was why Naruze had flown forward, dropped down, and gotten as close to the enemy as she could. By approaching the glowing bullets rising from below, she could evade them. Sometimes she used her wings or twisted her body and sometimes she used Weiss Fräulein’s acceleration. As for the attacks flying straight toward her…

“Hit them!!”

She fired repeatedly and smashed the shots that were on a direct course, but…

“A second volley!?”

The enemy filled the sky with new glowing cannon fire.

…''I can’t let my guard down, can I!?

She bared her teeth in a smile and pushed in the ship’s hull’s throttle as she held it below her arm. She circled below the enemy before the further attacks arrived and she flew behind the galley, but…

…''They don’t give up!!

The rear homing cannons had predicted her movement and had already fired. The homing cannons on the sides were also targeting her and their arcing shots had her completely trapped.

“Now you’ve done it!”

But just as she wondered what to do…

'''Wise Sister:''' “Heh heh. If you lose, I’ll tell Naito. Well? Are you going to lose? Are you?”

Something pretending to be an ally decided to provoke her.

…''Kh.

''I won’t fall for it,'' thought Naruze. ''It is true Margot might worry for me if she knew about this and that might open up a number of options like that or even that…I can think of about five different patterns.

But…

…''No! You aren’t the kind of cheap person who’s satisfied with imagining about all that! That part of my life ended in England!

She would no longer corner herself with her imagination.

Besides, she was living a life she could truly feel in her grasp. Especially when a certain pair of breasts was in her grasp.

So she did not want to give into this cheap provocation and lead anyone to think she only won with that girl’s help.

…''So calm down! Don’t listen to what that horrible person says!

'''Wise Sister:''' “Should I tell her while doing an impression of you? ‘Ahhn. Margooooot, I’m sad, sad, sad after losing. Let me kiss, kiss, kiss you. Smooch.’ ”

The attached image contained a lipstick mark, but Naruze endured. She clenched her fist and her teeth, but…

…''Good! I made it!!

A moment later, all the effort she put into enduring it caused her to break down all the harder. She felt like about five blood vessels burst in her brain. ''Okay,'' she thought with a smile on the corners of her lips. Her lips moved to form the words, “that damn girl”.

“Just shut up and watch!!”

She broke into a swift flight and fully opened up Weiss Fräulein.

She pointed the skirt’s rail wings and everything else straight down.

“This is all too annoying!”

She used all of the accelerators to provide massive thrust. Her vision darkened a little, but several bodily correction Magie Figurs appeared around her to heal her.

She instantly launched herself nearly two hundred meters down to evade.

She successfully evaded. Instead of stopping, she stalled and was caught by the air, but she still looked up into the sky.

The third volley was already being fired and the shots were persistently following her, but…

“Constantly being targeted is the same as not being targeted. You just have to go wherever you aren’t being targeted.”

She looked up at the third volley, fourth volley, and even more homing bullets raining down from above and she knew this was the time to fulfill her duty.

She intended to do so.

Neshinbara had told her what that duty was before she had left.

…''Draw the galley’s attacks!

The more attacks she drew, the less damage to the Musashi’s surface.

So she would circle above to draw the gunners’ attention upwards and then circle below to fly alongside them.

It was no easy task. What if they hit her? It would not be so bad if she died, But if she did not die…

…''That’s right.

Kimi would undoubtedly make the joke she had threatened to make. She would keep her promise. That was the kind of girl she was.

''I have to stop that girl’s idiocy,'' thought Naruze as she closed her wings and moved the pen in her right hand.

Light rained down from the sky.

Illuminated by that light, Naruze changed Weiss Fräulein’s settings.

She hurriedly rewrote the output spell to focus more on evasion than before. She would not need long-term aerial mobility here, so she shifted its abilities toward quicker movements and…

“I don’t have much choice.”

There was something she had to do.

“Yes, you want me to do it, don’t you? Fine, then! I’ll do it! Those are the awful words that will get you stuck in a shotgun wedding!”

'''Asama:''' “Stop yelling that into the pure morning air!!”

''Why do you know what I meant?'' wondered Naruze as she finished the adjustments.

She struck Weiss Fräulein and pressed it against her body like she was embracing it. She pressed on the throttle with the back of her thigh and she looked to the heavens.

The barrage was there. It was thick and looked unavoidable, but…

“This is perfect for putting the finishing touches on the settings modifications.”

She expanded and synced the waist rail wings. She used those as her thrusters, but she used most of Weiss Fräulein’s power for firing.

“It’s time I returned fire. And…”

She stuffed a tower of about seven coins into Weiss Fräulein and the auto-loading spell dealt with them.

“This is a Technohexen’s multi-coin shot. I won’t stop until we close up shop.”

With that, Naruze charged into the glowing barrage to take the shortest route to the enemy.

Again and again, rapidly-moving light crossed paths in the sky.

Five kilometers in front of the Musashi, a white galley and a white Technohexen on a broom flew and exchanged fire.

At their speed, the five kilometers of distance was not far.

But the density of their attacks was enough to literally scorch the air and leave a trail behind them.

As they soared, their firefight drew an arc in the sky.

Naruze slipped through the barrage that pursued her and cut her off. Meanwhile, she moved up above the galley. The galley deflected her four homing bullets with its barrage and armor.

They exchanged fire again and gain.

The noise rang out over and over and the sky was filled with even more light than the rising sun.

Amid the exchange of light and destructive force, Naruze moved Weiss Fräulein with her entire body. She tugged it upwards, pushed it down, and spun the rail wings around as if kicking off the air.

“…!”

She seemed to hop around the sky as she carried out her evasions and attacks.

The gaps in the barrage were small. Her shoulders were grazed and her wings were torn at, but…

…''Margot is working down below!!

She was certain of that. Even if they could not always see each other, they were always facing some kind of trouble.

That was life as a Technohexen.

…''That’s right.

During the Age of the Gods, M.H.R.R. had been the home of the witch hunts.

War, plagues, and unrest had created an age of unease, so in some regions, witches had been executed as “suspicious” or the “cause of unfortunate or disturbing things”. Those were the witch hunts.

“There!”

One of the homing cannons had turned toward the Musashi, so Naruze fired two shots into it as if to slap it and draw its attention. She trusted that the two shots would hit.

“Take that!”

She wrapped her arms around Weiss Fräulein and launched herself below the galley.

''Honestly,'' she thought. ''Life as a Technohexen is tough.

But she had it relatively easy.

…''Because I’m a white Technohexen.

Society had a generally positive image of the color white and they used healing spells, so even when the witch hunt was at its peak in M.H.R.R., Weiss Techno was understood as a type of folk remedy.

Even if they were not officially recognized, a Weiss Techno user could earn some money by healing people. ''But,'' continued Naruze as she repeatedly dodged.

…''Black Technohexen families were different.

Her parents had told her about the worst of the witch hunts held in M.H.R.R. for the history recreation.

Most had been “interpretations” that did not actually take any lives, but no one had known how far those “interpretations” were allowed to go. So in the end, they had compromised and decided that exile and alienation were the “right” answer.

She knew what that meant now, but she had not in the past.

She had thought she had gone through the same troubles.

“But it wasn’t the same in Margot’s case.”

She clenched her teeth and smiled as she thought.

“I can’t let Kimi’s silly act worry Margot!!”

She pursued the galley that continued firing on her.

The enemy was moving forward, so she moved forward as well. Not only would she draw its attention as a decoy, she would crack its armor and do actual damage. So…

“…!”

She let her attacks fly as if to push the galley into the sky, but she saw its shadow overhead.

The galley accelerated even further and quickly reduced its distance to the Musashi.

“Full speed ahead!!”

Ichimasu shouted on the galley’s bridge.

“Raise our speed and move forward so they can’t lock onto us! Only correct our angle of flight once! Do so when leaving our rising line. Make sure you only need to hold your hand down on the controls in the end!!”

As she spoke, she looked down at a diagram summarizing the ship’s state.

The galley was about eighty meters wide. Musashi’s surface was 164 meters wide on average, so they could easily pass below the bridge up ahead.

But there were gravity barriers.

…''How many of them will reach us!?

If the Musashi’s gravity barriers had as wide a range as their output allowed, they would push back at the galley when it tried to pass below the bridge.

With that in mind, she had made sure they accelerated enough to break through any gravity barriers that might be placed in their way.

“Open our own gravity barriers on the bow’s ram! We’re breaking through in one shot!”

A moment later, the navigator spoke up.

“The Musashi is opening new gravity barriers!”

Specifically…

“Their maximum range is fifty meters! They’ll tear into either side of us for ten meters!”

“Roll an extra forty degrees to the right!!”

Ichimasu made a split-second decision. The ship was now almost on its side.

“Tilt the ship toward Shiba- toward the vice chancellor and fill the width! Focus the starboard cannons on the area around the vice chancellor and concentrate fire to starboard while passing below Musashino’s bridge!”

“What should the gunners on the port side do!? Our boys are selfishly complaining that they want something to do!”

“Tell them to make some kind of pose toward Musashino’s bridge! A provocative one!”

“Shaja!!”

“ ‘Musashino’-sama! The gunners on the enemy galley’s port side are making an ‘ahaaan’ pose! Over.”

“Not to worry. Statistically, they are likely insane. People like that are generally harmless. Over.”

'''Great Upperclassman:''' “Who ordered our boys to act gay?”

'''Taki:''' “Huh? Provocative… Huh?”

''What are they doing?'' thought Narimasa as he glanced at his ''insha kotob'' and continued to run.

He turned toward Katsuie who ran two buildings to the right while wielding a large sword and shield.

“Where’s Takigawa?”

He turned toward the galley approaching the Musashi from the sky behind them.

…''Damn is she fast!

For a while now, he had been accelerating with Lily Flower constantly opened around his feet.

To be collected by the galley, he had to reach the back end of Musashino before the galley did, but at their current speed, they would arrive there at about the same time.

“Why are we all so hard on our allies!?”

He clicked his tongue and accelerated along the rooftop.

He could see the giant bridge up ahead. It was so large that it threw off his sense of distance and he felt like he was not approaching it at all. But…

…''We’re going to destroy that thing, huh?

That was the greatest objective of this attack.

They had a plan. The Musashi’s powerful gravity barriers could be stopped for an instant with Katsuie’s Animus Caritas – Novum.

They would use that opening to attack.

The galley would fire anti-ship homing shells to destroy the base of the bridge.

“I see,” muttered “Musashino” on Musashino’s bridge.

Suzu tilted her head in confusion, so “Musashino” created a model of the area around Musashino’s bridge so the girl could feel it.

“Um, what is…this?”

“The enemy’s objective. I had determined flying below here was a shameless stunt meant to shame us, but it is actually a shameless attempt to attack us after stopping our gravity barriers with the Testamenta Arma. Over.”

The galley, Katsuie, and Narimasa appeared on the model in Suzu’s hands. That was the result of the automatons’ real time predictive calculations. As Katsuie and the galley moved closer, they predicted the enemy would attack the rear port side of the bridge’s leg.

“W-will we be…okay?”

“Musashino” nearly said this would not be easy, but she decided to stop.

To find a better response, she quickly had her thoughts go over the conditions for this battle.

…''The problem is defending the inner sides of the bridge.

The Musashi’s armor was focused on the outside, so it was thinner on the inside of the legs of that arch.

Normally, that area could not be targeted, so the gravity barriers and a double hull were used to protect the vital parts such as control lines, fuel lines, and the main frame. It had been made light and flexible.

So if the gravity barriers were stopped, they could only rely on the gaps between the thin armor and double hull.

…''And I have determined the enemy will be using homing anti-ship shells.

Even if they were homing, the anti-ship shells used by a Kraken-class galley were powerful. Piercing shells meant to break through armor would pass through the thin armor and reach the vital parts hidden within the double shell.

Luckily, Katsuie’s Kamewari had a short range.

An attack that created a gash thirty meters long and five meters deep was certainly a threat, but Musashino’s bridge was not situated on its deck. Its legs were constructed on the side accelerators and that gap made it impossible for that weapon to attack them.

Of course, the enemy would know that, so Katsuie would not make a vain attempt to reach the bridge. Instead, he would maintain a position from which his Testamenta Arma’s effects would cover the area below the bridge.

So “Musashino” reached her conclusion and spoke to Suzu.

“Judge. Do not worry, Suzu-sama. Neshinbara-sama and the others are already on the move. They will make up for our weaknesses and eliminate the enemy.”

So…

“They will stop Shibata Katsuie. Let us trust in that, Suzu-sama. Over.”

…''The enemy’s going to target Shibata, aren’t they?

''I can’t imagine anything else,'' thought Narimasa as he ran. ''I guess I have to protect him.

After all, their plan was centered on Katsuie and Ichimasu working together.

“A person and a warship working together sounds more like a stunt than a battle plan.”

…''But if those pain-in-the-ass upperclassmen say they’re going to do it, they’ll do it.

With that thought, he accelerated. By rushing forward and eliminating any danger, he would at least not be in the way. He also glanced over at Shibata.

Meanwhile, Katsuie moved alongside him with a leisurely pace.

“Hey,” he said. “I’m hungry.”

“What!? Didn’t you just eat that annoying love-filled box lunch!? Does your brain not tell you when you’ve had enough!?”

“Oh!? I may be satisfied with Lady Oichi’s love, but I’ll never have had enough, you idiot! I’ll leave you behind if you keep being so selfish!”

Narimasa wanted to beat the crap out of him if he could.

'''Taki:''' “C’mon, Naru. Put up a good fight. If you beat Shiba, I’ll buy you lunch.”

“You’re going to make me buy you lunch if I lose, aren’t you?”

'''Taki:''' “Don’t be mean. I would never do that. …I will make you go without lunch, though.”

Narimasa ignored her.

At any rate, Ichimasu had to be piloting her ship while giving instructions to the crew in the back. She would only be speaking to him if she had the attention to spare, but he wanted her to avoid a mistake if at all possible. However…

“———”

The sound of the galley grew behind him. The time for the charge was coming.

He looked back and saw the white high-speed galley approaching while exchanging countless arcing shots.

He guessed it was around half a minute from reaching the bridge and he rushed forward himself.

He had a number of worries, but…

…''Takigawa won’t mess up.

Just as he nodded while running, he faced forward again and saw something at the top of his vision.

It was something he recognized.

Something made of glinting metal fell from the sky and right alongside Musashino’s bridge.

“Shibata! Up above!”

It was coming and at a decent speed.

“That’s Musashi’s strange mobile shell!!”

Adele frantically controlled her mobile shell as it dropped down.

She had a single goal: fire herself from the launch catapult on the rear of Tama to turn herself into a piece of artillery.

…''But if I don’t hit, this will be very, very bad!

She was supposed to hit Shibata Katsuie.

His Testamenta Arma stopped all of his enemy’s actions, but…

“That just means you have to attack from outside its range!!”

If it stopped all of his enemy’s actions inside its field of effect…

…''It won’t stop actions taken outside that field!

They had considered using a sniper but had decided a mere sniper shot would not be very effective.

“So I’m a little doubtful that I’ll work either!”

'''Novice:''' “Yeah, but you’re our only option! We don’t have anything else!”

'''Flat Vassal:''' “You’re clenching your fist as you say that, aren’t you!? You’re hiding something, aren’t you!?”

'''Wise Sister:''' “Heh heh. If not, it must be time for glasses to confess to glasses! Now, you’re below the legendary bridge, so go in for the attack!”

'''Four Eyes:''' “Oh?”

'''Almost Everyone:''' “Eek!”

At any rate, Adele steadied her mobile shell’s fall.

She was falling legs-first. The escape device in the legs contained plenty of shock absorption, but more importantly…

…''The armor is broken.

The broken head armor had been directly bolted to the new body armor, so she could not turn its head and her vision was fixed in place. However, that did not matter when falling like a shell.

She had decided she only needed to protect her head when rolling.

“I understand having to launch me from the back of Tama so they wouldn’t notice, but I never thought I would be launched three times. Once from Okutama where the Asama Shrine is, once from Takao, and finally from Tama.”

She understood it was to accustom her to it and to move her quickly to Tama. The first time had been extremely thrilling and had chilled her insides, but it felt normal by the third time.

…''Bit by bit, I’m getting the hang of controlling my fall!

When falling from the Tower of London, she had failed to control the fall and ended up spinning.

That had concerned Suzu a little, but she doubted anything like that would happen again.

…''It shouldn’t happen, anyway. But sadly, I can see it happening given my luck.

At any rate, she could see the enemy. He was running down below. Beyond him, she saw the galley tilt further and she saw Naruze drawing its fire.

She quickly approached the running enemy while Naruze and the galley moved overhead.

She was dropping quickly and her vision rapidly approached the ground.

She could no longer see the ground between the ships. Instead, she saw the rows of houses, a demonic form, and…

“Eh?”

Someone else was running along the rooftops and he had lily flower emblems glowing on different parts of his body.

“Sassa Narimasa!?”

Meanwhile, she reached the target altitude.

She was going to hit, but just before she did, she heard Narimasa’s voice. It was the same shout she had heard before.

“Lily Flower!!”

A moment later, Adele was hit by a high-speed flying kick from the right and her mobile shell was knocked away.

After his flying kick, Narimasa side-flipped through the air. He twisted around while passing by over Katsuie’s head.

“Shibata! You weren’t hit, were you!?”

He pointed at the round mobile shell that had flown through the air and fallen in the city streets to starboard. Katsuie looked to him while running.

“You didn’t destroy it? You have a troublesome personality, you know that?”

“It’s just how I am.”

Narimasa smiled bitterly, but gave a silent thought.

…''This is the second time with that vassal!

He had gone all out the first time and destroyed a portion of her mobile shell, yet she had come with almost the same equipment this time.

''Interesting,'' he thought.

He was from P.A. Oda, he was one of the Five Great Peaks, and he was Sassa Narimasa. Most people reacted to those three terms by avoiding him, but this vassal was a normal student and yet…

“She tried to take us on again after losing the first time.”

''Not bad. That takes guts. I don’t think I’ve met anyone like that in a good long while.

''Interesting.

''This Musashi place is more interesting than I thought,'' he decided.

''It’s a pretty lively place.

But in that instant, he heard a sound from overhead.

“There’s more!?”

“Shibata!”

Hearing Narimasa’s shout, Katsuie turned toward him. Narimasa was about five buildings away and pointing upwards, so Katsuie tilted his head and leaped over a road.

While in midair between roofs, he made the same pose as the lowly boy.

“Like this!? Like this!? What’s with that Saturday Night Fever pose? Are you stupid? Wa ha ha ha ha!!!”

“Look up!!”

''He needs to do something about that short temper,'' thought Katsuie as he looked up. He saw a steel beam falling toward him. It was a slender H-shaped beam and it was about four meters long.

However…

“Looks to be about two hundred of them.”

A massive amount of steel materials were falling toward him after being released from the rope binding them together. They must have been released at the perfect time to hit him as he ran.

''I see,'' he thought while continuing to run. He was on the central ship of Musashino, but these had been transported by air from the port ship of Tama. That was outside the range of his Testamenta Arma and it was a good enough surprise attack to make a decent trap.

They had even kept the lowly boy busy by dropping that vassal as a decoy.

…''But this is a real pain.

The steel beams would not do much damage even if they hit him, but they would obstruct his movements as obstacles. In the worst case, he could even be late to catch his ride home on Ichimasu’s ship. He could of course jump down to the surface without issue, but the lowly boy would be a problem. After all, Oichi would scold him if he abandoned an underclassman.

“I have no choice.”

He raised Kamewari in his right hand as if placing it on his left shoulder. He instantly crouched down as he ran. Immediately afterwards, he sent a twisting attack into the air overhead.

“Get them, Kamewari.”

The blade sliced through the air. What travelled about thirty meters from the weapon was not a cut as with Tonbokiri.

“Be smashed!”

Instead of cutting, it broke and smashed. And instead of doing so to an object, it smashed things in order to defeat his enemy.

That power was fired here.

The weapon gave a roar, a spray of ether light, and a scorching sound.

From there, the sound of smashing overwhelmed all else.

The two hundred pieces of metal were broken, smashed, and blown away, creating a path for Katsuie. He then took a step to travel down the gap in the steel.

At the same time, a form appeared in front of him. He briefly wondered who it was, but…

…''Oh?

Before his question could form, he felt a smile on his lips.

There was a single reason for his joy.

“So someone has the guts to face me! Name yourself and I will listen!”

“I am the Musashi student…”

The individual jumped from a rooftop up ahead and flew through the steel-filled air.

“Tachibana Muneshige. …I am a normal student!”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 49|Chapter 49]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 51|Chapter 51]]
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</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 49

2015-08-21T03:50:05Z

68.109.52.245: /* Chapter 49: Bringer of Calamity on the Ship */

==Chapter 49: Bringer of Calamity on the Ship==
[[Image:Horizon3B_0567.jpg|thumb]]
''What shows up

''Without an invitation?

'''Point Allocation (Surprises)

After jumping down from the galley, Narimasa landed in the streets toward the bow of Musashino.

Far behind him in the sky, the white galley moved away from the Musashi to turn around.

“Once that comes back, it’ll pick us up. …That’s going to take some acrobatic flying, but it should be easy for Takigawa.”

He ran along a long Western-style business building. His destination was past Musashino’s arch-like bridge at the back of the ship.

He picked up running speed and opened a book-style ''insha kotob'' that displayed a map of Musashi’s surface.

“Oh, dammit Matsu. You only marked the tailors, hairdressers, and graveyards!”

He continued running while muttering, “What should I do about breakfast?”

He maintained his speed as he jumped over the first road.

He took a great leap.

“There.”

After lightly landing on the opposite roof, Narimasa began running again.

From what he had seen of the street below, they were on full alert. The doors and windows were all closed and ether light was coming from the gaps. Those were defense barriers. As for below the deck and inside the ship…

…''Is that an atmospheric barrier!?

That was a spell which weighed down on all of the air inside the ship to slow down anything moving inside. It was less of a burden than the defense barriers and it had likely been developed from the spell used for elevated work inside and outside the Musashi. It was a trap that would slow him down and slam him into the wall if he carelessly broke through the floor.

''What a pain,'' he thought while picking up speed. A giant form was moving two buildings to his right, but it was more taking long strides than out-and-out running. It was a demon-horned man with a black M.H.R.R. uniform stitched with the numeral “1”.

He carried a long case on his back and turned to Narimasa.

“Hey! What’s the matter, Narimasa!? You going without breakfast!? Well!?”

“Yeah, that’s right, Shibata. The edamame I got from Matthias was too much work to eat, so I left it behind.”

“C’mon, you need to eat what a superior gives you.”

Shibata pulled a large rectangular case off of the hard point on his right waist. It required a full arm to hold and he opened it while running.

“Look! This is Lady Oichi’s love-filled box lunch! Just look at it! Hey! Over here!!”

“God, how annoying.”

“Ahh!? What’d you say!? You got a problem with Lady Oichi’s handiwork!?”

“No, I was calling you annoying. Not Lady Oichi.”

“Oh, me!? That’s okay, then!! I’ll be as annoying as possible! That’ll teach you!!”

“Kh!!”

Narimasa brought a hand to his forehead and pushed up his sunglasses. Meanwhile, Katsuie began digging into the lunch.

With a bamboo bottle of tea hanging from one of his demon horns and shaking as he ran, Katsuie asked a question.

“Who do you think is gonna show up? And do you want any of this lunch? You won’t be able to fight well on an empty stomach. Well?”

“Hm, I’d guess the most likely one to show up is Honda-… Huh? Or maybe not. I broke her spear yesterday.”

“On Musashi, do vice chancellor level fighters let enemies run freely through their streets?”

“Well, they’ve apparently got a pretty good strategist here. Something a little different from Hashiba’s Takenaka. It’s possible they might just let us run on through.”

A book-style ''insha kotob'' appeared next to both of them. It was a divine transmission from the bridge of the galley turning around in the sky behind them. It displayed a woman. She had armor wrapped around her forehead and wore a P.A. Oda girl’s uniform modified into a ninja outfit.

She used a hand to brush aside the Garudas and wind spirit Djinns flying around the bridge.

“If you two take your time, I’ll fly right by and leave you there.”

She crossed her arms which lifted up the cloth around her chest and she let a Garuda land on her shoulder.

“I have to get to my next mission after checking out the Musashi.”

[[Image:Horizon3B_0571.jpg|thumb]]

“You mean bowing down to old man Akechi? Having the main dock in Kyoto sure isn’t easy.”

“Show some respect. He’s the vice president which is higher than you.”

“Don’t say that, Ichimasu. Narimasa falls under me, the vice chancellor. We have so many arguments with the student council over our budget that it isn’t surprising he would have some hard feelings. …He just isn’t as tolerant as the rest of us.”

“Takigawa, this annoying upperclassman has gotten even more annoying after his marriage. What am I supposed to do about that?”

“Why not try getting married? I kind of want to see what you’re like when you’re annoying, Nari. I feel like it would drive the world insane.”

“Now things are doubly annoying.”

Narimasa sighed as he jumped over a street and Katsuie followed. Katsuie spoke while he was airborne.

“Ichimasu. Give this starving delinquent a map.”

“Eh? Sure, if you want. The one Matsu made, right?”

“I already have that one! That’s the exact one I’ve got right here!!”

“Fine then.”

After landing on the opposite roof, Katsuie resumed the long strides of his running. He grabbed a Western-style fried shrimp with his chopsticks and faced Narimasa.

“Hey, you want a fried shrimp?”

“What’s this sudden change of heart? But I need to eat what a superior gives me, right? I can’t exactly say no, so shaja.”

“Shaja,” replied Katsuie before raising the shrimp over his head. “Cooooome and get it!”

“…”

“Toooooo slow!”

“You… Ah! You really ate it!?”

“Damn, that’s good! Lady Oichi’s a genius! Hey! Narimasa! Why are you running up ahead and ignoring me!?”

“The enemy’s here!!”

He pointed forward where someone was charging toward him along the rooftop ahead. And they were not alone. Ichimasu sighed when she noticed the enemies.

“I’ll be recording this while I approach from behind. Make sure to do this right.”

“Shaaajaaa. This leaves us with only one choice. …Narimasa, you take care of things up there. I’ll be back here eating this work of art Lady Oichi made. Yes, you have a noble duty to protect her artwork.”

“God, you’re annoying…”

“You’ve gotten really impertinent for someone who isn’t even a real man! Well!?”

“If I’m not a real man, what does it matter if I’m impertinent?”

With that, Narimasa ran on ahead.

…''If I hang around with these adults, I end up feeling like the normal one.

The enemy arrived from the front and one took the lead.

“Musashi’s 2nd special duty officer!!”

Urquiaga charged in on a path between Narimasa and Katsuie.

He travelled through the air. He was a half-dragon with armor, wings, and powerful acceleration, so he had the highest odds of surviving a one-man attack on Narimasa and Vice Chancellor Shibata Katsuie. Neshinbara had been the one to make that decision.

He would not overreach. He was only a special duty officer. A normal commander was one thing, but he was a step behind a combat-oriented vice chancellor.

He understood the gap in power between a vice chancellor and a special duty officer and he understood where that gap came from.

…''Combat-oriented vice chancellors are all combat-obsessed idiots who never think about anything other than combat!

They might have an everyday life, but it was a small part of their lives. Whether it was thinking, relationships, eating, sleeping, or bathing, it was nothing more than a means of training themselves.

Even when they slept, they would think about the best position to recover from their weariness and the optimal amount of sleep for their metabolism to strengthen their muscles.

They were like a wild beast that had learned how to train.

Compared to them, Urquiaga felt he was a normal person. He had an everyday life, he trained as an inquisitor, he would finish off his horrible classmates if they showed an opening, he played elder sister porn games, and he researched the divine network to find out how to register and post on walkthrough sites without triggering a Catholic moral violation.

The divine firmware had gotten quite harsh lately, but that was just a part of god’s trials and tribulations. It gave him a reason to research even more.

But at the vice chancellor level, they did nothing but combat training all day without any of those other things. There had to be something wrong with their brains. It saddened him.

“You poor thing!” he shouted as he attacked.

His weapon was the chain dangling down from his hands. Both ends contained counterweights modelled after the Virgin Mary giving a drill kick. As he flew in, he rotated it around in both hands.

“You may be M.H.R.R. Catholics, but that is not a problem if you are here under your Far Eastern names! Inquisition Set No. 637! Binding Chain 11: Taladro Maria!”

The Virgin Mary threw a kick toward the chests of both enemies.

As he ran, Narimasa did not dodge the chain’s counterweight. He simply gave a powerful swing of his right arm.

“Lily Flower!!”

The roof was not the most solid footing, but he did not choose to break his running form to dodge.

He counterattacked.

He used the strength of his right arm. The glowing lily emblems on his shoulder, elbow, and wrist carried that strength and one last emblem appeared at the end of his opened hand.

The power gathered on the tip of his middle finger. When concentrated on one tiny spot, even the strength of a single arm was plenty powerful.

“…”

So he deflected the flying counterweight. A solid sound filled the air and the Lily Flower scattered.

…''That worked perfectly!

He then looked to Katsuie.

“What’ll you do, Shibata!?”

He saw the counterweight strike Katsuie.

Naruze heard the solid sound as the attack hit Katsuie.

She was at the entrance to the arch forming Musashino’s bridge.

In the distance, the galley had finished turning around and was flying back in. Much closer, Narimasa and Katsuie were running her way.

…''But the counterweight hit the big one!?

The counterweight was just a hunk of metal and she had assumed he would dodge it. She had certainly never expected him to be so busy shoveling food into his mouth that the lunchbox created a blind spot. The counterweight flew right between the diagonally-held lunchbox and his lowered head and it hit him square in the face.

So Naruze fulfilled her duty. She was already equipped with Weiss Fräulein. The pen was covered in its ship’s hull and she held it under her arm as she aimed from a rooftop.

She drew a new guiding line toward her enemy’s position.

That left firing Weiss Fräulein’s guided coin bullets.

“Herrlich!!”

The shot produced recoil and scattering ether light. She had fired four coins. Two ten-yen coins drew arcs of light toward Narimasa and two toward Katsuie.

But that was when she saw sudden movement.

…''Eh?

Katsuie looked up from his food and turned to the left and right. He almost seemed to be asking if something had happened. But first and foremost…

…''What happened to the direct hit of the counterweight!?

The counterweights and chain had moved behind them as Urquiaga flew past them.

The half-dragon’s high speed attack had had a lot of force behind it, but…

“It didn’t damage Katsuie at all!?”

Even as she shouted that question, two of her coins flew toward Narimasa and two toward Katsuie. Narimasa would dodge his two, but Katsuie had his head down in his lunchbox again.

Suddenly, he turned toward Narimasa with an expression that seemed to be showing off how good the food was.

“——————”

The two coins scored direct hits on the side of his face.

Narimasa chose to leap out of the way of the white Technohexen’s two shots.

He gathered Lily Flower on the tips of his toes and kicked off the roof.

He used his jump to dodge.

But he had to do more than just jump. After all, this Technohexen had used her guided shots against aerial ships during the armada battle.

…''They track your movement and shape more than your ether reading, right?

So when he reached the end of the roof, he kicked down on the very edge.

Pushing down there caused the roof to rise like a seesaw.

The straw of the thatched roof scattered everywhere as it sprang up like a wall. And it swallowed up his presence as both motion and shape.

“That should do it.”

The tilting of the roof took a lot of the force out of his leap, but he turned sideways and flipped to the side in order to hang in the air longer and to make his shape harder to grasp.

The enemy’s bullets flew right past his spinning back and stomach.

They did not hit.

He heard the two overlapping sounds of them striking the risen thatched roof behind him and he smelled burning straw.

He landed on the next roof. His feet made contact just as the roof behind him exploded, but he did not feel like turning around.

“Shaja!”

Just as he began to run forward again, he looked to the right.

Katsuie ran along while covered in ether light smoke from the two shots that had hit him.

…''He doesn’t even try to dodge!

But he decided to say what he could.

“Shibata, you should probably look where you’re going.”

“Shaaajaaa. But what’s going on here? Is it some kind of festival?”

Katsuie came into view as he broke through the glowing smoke. He continued his long strides and his uniform was torn to pieces, but there was not a scratch on his black skin or face.

He was unscathed.

Narimasa had a thought as he saw Katsuie unharmed and nearing the end of his lunchbox.

…''This is why he’s so damn annoying.

Katsuie was from the combat tribe of the demonic long-lived. He was large compared to a human, but he was one of the smaller members of his tribe.

However, being small meant something different with him.

He had trained and fought on the battlefield from a young age, so the bodily ether defenses that normally appeared as an adult had manifested when he was still young.

That had stunted his body’s growth and development, but it had also given him something else.

The flesh and bone that was meant to swell out as he grew had been trapped densely inside him.

His entire body was compressed, so there were no gaps in his defenses and he could pour overwhelming bursts of power into his attacks. However, that made it difficult for him to hold back and people had a tendency to keep their distance if not avoid him entirely.

…''All of that used to be kind of cool, but…

“Hey, look! Lady Oichi put tangerine slices in here! They got warm in with the other food, but I think those little bits of carelessness are great! What do you think!? I’m gonna eat them!”

''He’s beyond saving,'' thought Narimasa.

At the Oda clan’s council meeting at the beginning of each year, it was customary to unreservedly give advice to superiors and inferiors alike to help correct each other. That turned into a hellish scene every year, but this year, the lower levels had chosen Katsuie as the #1 most liked superior.

…''Old man Akechi kicked a locker since he’d always won that title in the past. I never knew he cared that much about what people thought of him.

“Anyway,” said Narimasa as he landed and started to run. “Shibata, the next enemy is coming.”

Wind blew in to catch them as they landed and that wind named itself.

“Sanada Academy! Unneeded #1: Sarutobi Sasuke!”

“Unneeded #2: Kirigakure Saizou!”

A ninja in a vest rode in on the back of a female wind spirit.

Katsuie glanced over at the battle between Narimasa and the two leading members of the Sanada Ten Braves. Fighting while running along the rooftops took quite a bit of skill.

…''Narimasa’s gotten pretty good lately.

The Sanadas’ movements were good too.

…''They named themselves to show what they can do before eventually joining us, didn’t they? But…

“Unneeded, hm? There’s no need to put yourselves down like that.”

Katsuie called out to them.

“Hey! Is Seikai with you, too? I never returned the manga ‘Flushed Cheeks’<ref>Pronounced similarly to the Hojoki, an old work of Japanese literature.</ref> I borrowed from him ages ago, so I should probably speak with him.”

A demonic monk quickly stood up and raised his arms atop Musashino’s bridge.

“Th-that was a rare revolutionary romance story and you just took it!”

“Oh, there you are. From the title, I thought it was porn, but it was nothing but a guy and girl talking on and on about boring crap! If you keep reading things like that, you’ll lose sight of reality.”

“I can’t believe you! I just can’t! And after you stole it from me!”

“Shut up,” said Katsuie as he ate more of his lunch. “Ahh, that’s so good.”

…''I’m so glad I got married.

“Bind, Tonbokiri!”

…''Oh, c’mon. Don’t get in the way of my Lady Oichi festival.

Futayo jumped up from between two roofs for a surprise attack and she used Tonbokiri from a distance of thirty meters. That was right at the edge of the range the spear allowed her.

…''And with the greatest range of effect!

While using it to cut scrap wood to help with Musashi’s repairs, she had realized it cut wider the farther away she was.

Of course, stepping back and trying to cut numerous targets would reduce its effectiveness, but she did not always need to fully cut through everything and the reduction was slight when she only had a single target.

And at farther range, the enemy could not cover the blade to stop the cut.

…''So I realized long-range attacks are easier!

''Father! I will become a long-range samurai who wins with projectile attacks!'' she thought as she used the cutting power on Katsuie.

She aimed for his legs. An attack on his torso would have reduced effectiveness due to his lunchbox shield, so she chose his legs. The distance would weaken it somewhat, but she would win if she could get a cut in on his knees.

“————”

But Tonbokiri did not respond.

“Are long-range attacks not allowed, Tonbokiri?”

“Attack currently impossible.”

That answer confused Futayo.

…''Attacking is currently impossible?

She had been able to cut the scrap wood at a distance without issue, so why was it suddenly impossible?

“…?”

Without an answer, she moved in closer. Thinking something might change if the distance was shorter, she held Tonbokiri up toward Katsuie at a range of fifteen meters.

That was when three things happened.

The first came from the two Sanadas clashing with Narimasa to her right.

“What is this!? I’m being stopped!?”

Saizou cried out and moved away from Narimasa.

The second came from Narimasa as he watched the Sanada forces move away. He turned toward Katsuie.

“Shibata! Does that count as ‘running’!?”

There was a hint of anger in his voice.

The third came from a boy in glasses who appeared in a sign frame next to Futayo’s face.

“Spear Honda-kun! This is most likely a Testament Arma! A passively-activated Testamenta Arma is in effect!”

When she had approached, the Testamenta Arma’s field of effect had opened up. Even if Tonbokiri could destroy a Logismoi Oplo’s field of effect, it could not do so from inside that field.

She did not think she had made a mistake. Something unexpected could not be called a mistake.

And so she thought about what the enemy’s Testamenta Arma did.

…''What is this!?

She first noticed that Tonbokiri had stopped.

…''And everything around us has gone quiet.

All noise and motion had vanished from her surroundings. For fifty meters around Katsuie…

“The gravity barriers have stopped!?”

On Musashino’s bridge, Suzu sensed “Musashino” had stopped moving her arms.

“What…is it?” she asked.

“Judge,” replied “Musashino”. “My gravity barriers are being stopped in the instant of defense. Normally, I would carry out minute adjustments, but they collapse at that very instant…and then again when it is time to open the next one. Over.”

“What does…that mean?”

They were stopped for an instant. She had no combat experience, so she could not say what that meant in this situation. However, she could sum up what was happening below.

“All attack…and defense…is being stopped…for an instant?”

“Judge. That is correct. The only information we had on M.H.R.R.’s Testament Arma was that they are both defense related, but it seems we are seeing one of their abilities. In other words…”

“Musashino” faced forward and opened a sign frame to contact the entire ship.

“I have determined the enemy’s ability is to stop all of their enemies’ offensive and defensive actions for an instant! And be wary of the gap in the gravity barriers created around the enemy vice chancellor! The galley might try to fire into the area of ‘stopped’ gravity barriers! Over!”

Futayo saw the distant galley perform a rapid roll as it approached.

In accordance with the history recreation, its cannons were located on the sides instead of the top or bottom, so it twisted for a revolution and a half to point its starboard side down.

Still at a distance, it fired its starboard cannons down toward the Musashi.

…''Well done!

Futayo was impressed by the group of physical shells that cut through the air.

The galley was apparently captained by Takigawa Ichimasu, a P.A. Oda commander. She was a military commander, but she acted mostly as a ninja and she excelled at commanding fleets and constructing fortresses

With her, Katsuie, and Narimasa, three P.A. Oda leaders had gathered here.

“I see!”

''The world is such an interesting place,'' thought Futayo.

“Anti-shell defenses! Over!”

As if in response to “Musashino’s” words, the shells wrapped in trembling air soared toward Musashino. They slipped through the gap of gravity barriers that seemed to hesitate and vanish.

“…!”

Buildings were smashed and roads split. Wood flew, wind blew, and…

“Ahh, now that was a meal.”

Katsuie ran through the gaps in the explosions and looked up from his lunchbox. He closed the case and attached it to the hard point on his waist. The action was one seen anywhere in everyday life, but he accomplished it instantaneously.

…''That was fast!

Sensing danger, Futayo tried to put some distance between them by jumping to the side.

“Hey, stupid. You probably shouldn’t run. That counts as a defensive action.”

Her movements stopped just as she rose up to jump.

She concluded this was a lot like the pope-chancellor’s Stithos Porneia, but that was limited to attack because it only destroyed weapons. This only stopped things for an instant, but it worked on both attack and defense.

…''Did Tonbokiri say attack was impossible as an automatic safety to prevent an explosion caused by a forced shutdown!?

Tonbokiri had decided it was too dangerous to activate without understanding the enemy’s ability. And…

“…”

She could move again. Her jump had only been stopped for an instant and she had not lost her momentum, but…

“See? You won’t make it now.”

Katsuie opened the case mounted on his back hard point. He pulled out a silver tower shield resembling a wing and he attached it to his left arm.

“Testamenta Arma: Animus Caritas – Novum. This thing took a liking to me, so I had no choice but to inherit the name of General Tilly. It’s a pain in the butt, but it’s a cute little thing. Not that I really need it.”

After all…

“I have this!”

He drew a large sword from his waist. It was a thick blade encased in a cowling.

“I don’t know how it stands up to the cutting power of your Tonbokiri, but my divine weapon isn’t half bad. This is Kamewari<ref>Means “Jar Breaker”.</ref>.”

''Not good,'' thought Futayo.

She did not know what this divine weapon’s ability was, but there was still a distance of five meters between them. However, he still swung the weapon.

It was a swift attack. He had only just drawn the blade, but he was already close to completing his swing. She barely noticed he had even done it.

The blade had not reached her, but…

…''Does it have a long-range attack like Tonbokiri!?

He had a defensive Testamenta Arma and an offensive divine weapon. And as for the power of that weapon…

“Get her, Kamewari.”

He swung the attack down toward her and it split Musashino.

[[Image:Horizon3B_0590.jpg|thumb]]
Study:

Battlefield Diagram 2

Toori: Sis! Sis! What’s going on up on the Musashi!? Everyone’s running and jumping around, so I’m confused as hell!

Kimi: Heh heh heh. Hell brother, this is more or less the situation. Take a good look.

Upper Left: Zoomed In (Front Middle Ship – Musashino)

Below 1: About ten kilometers

Lower center: Zoomed Out

1. Ichimasu’s Galley

2. Katsuie

3. Narimasa

4. Musashino’s Bridge

Toori: Wait, are you guys okay? You get into so much trouble without me around, don’t you?

Kimi: While we are in trouble, having you around is another kind of trouble entirely.

<noinclude>
===Notes===
<references/>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 48|Chapter 48]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 50|Chapter 50]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 48

2015-08-20T21:11:10Z

68.109.52.245: /* Chapter 48: Sponsor of the Battlefield */

==Chapter 48: Sponsor of the Battlefield==
[[Image:Horizon3B_0539.jpg|thumb]]
''What shows up

''Without an invitation?

'''Point Allocation (Damage)

“Well, then. I didn’t expect to be on the front line the second I showed up.”

A man in an M.H.R.R. uniform brought a hand to his forehead and sighed on a vast area of land covered in the darkness of the night. He faced west and had a row of several thousand mobile shells behind him. They were all armed with guns and swords and the accelerators on their shoulders and backs were already open.

A ''lernen figur'' appeared near his face. It displayed a young ghost in a red M.H.R.R. uniform. He had a small feminine ghost on his shoulder.

“Matthias, sorry about all this. After you give the command to begin, you can return to the ship and get some sleep.”

“Sleep,” added the small ghost.

“And yet I would go die if I was told to, just like you were.”

“Matthias, we have applied for you to be given the inherited name of Ukita Hideie. He takes part in the Battle of Sekigahara and lives the longest of all of us. Keep that in mind.”

“Thank you for your consideration, Maeda. How is Sassa?”

“He’s gone on to his next destination. Oh, and he took the edamame you left for him and asked me to pass on his thanks.”

“He can be so wonderfully dashing. …But anyway, I guess I should do my job as M.H.R.R. student council president.”

Matthias smiled bitterly and faced forward.

He stood in a one kilometer square area with a stepped hill to the south and a forest to the north.

To the west, an old-style aerial ship was placed as a barricade and students were lined in the same equipment as the ones behind him. He glanced at them in their K.P.A. Italia uniforms and mobile shells.

“Maeda, are they part of your army?”

“No, they are primarily composed of the Kriegs Georgern and the Murakami clan’s warriors. The Murakami clan contains a lot of the remnants of the Kitabatake clan we crushed before, so they have a lot of swordfighters. Be careful.”

“If you tell me to be careful, I guess I’ll have to.”

Matthias sighed.

He pulled a knife from his pocket and began casually filing down his nails, but a stir ran through the enemy in front of him.

…''It’s not like I’m going to attack you with this.

''I am thankful you fear me though,'' he added while bringing up a map of the area on the ''lernen figur'' next to him.

…''Looking at this, the Seto Inland Corridor is going to be difficult to attack.

He acted like it was someone else’s problem, but he was indeed leaving the entire strategy to someone else.

He was aware none of this belonged to him.

He always left everything to someone else.

''I belong to someone else,'' thought Matthias.

But he also felt that leaving everything to others made his own life easier.

Even if a strategy failed or he made some political mistake, he was only a puppet and did not need to worry about it. People might attack him, but it did not hurt him any as long as he knew he was a puppet. On the other hand, when things went well, people would praise him, even if only for show. The trick was to pray that everything would go well but not to expect it to.

…''That’s right.

He finished filing down his nails and returned the knife to his pocket. The enemy put their guard up again, but he did not care. What came next was none of his concern.

The others would be travelling down a K.P.A. Italia path named the Seto Inland Corridor. It was a long coastal path that followed the Seto Inland Sea from eastern Bizen to K.P.A. Italia’s Aki in the west.

…''It’s about two hundred kilometers long. It’s almost entirely straight and most of it is flat as it’s on the coast.

As long as their supply line was not cut off, the mobile shell warriors could cover it in half a day.

However, the corridor was a flat area only about three to five kilometers wide and…

…''Hexagone Française is directly to the north.

The flat, clear area would leave them defenseless to their enemy’s attacks. With Hexagone Française to the north, any careless evasion into that territory could set some political conflict in motion.

“And…”

Countless shadows were visible in the western sky of K.P.A. Italia.

That was K.P.A. Italia’s aerial fleet.

It was led by the Murakami clan which had started out as pirates on the Seto Inland Sea and it had received support from Tres España. They were familiar with the sky along the coast of the inland sea and they would mercilessly attack any ground forces attempting to travel along the corridor.

“They’re only at most light Dragon class, but there are six hundred of them. They use conflagration spells to quickly burn and sink any ships that attack. And for ground forces, they carpet bomb them with their cannons.”

Meanwhile, M.H.R.R.’s principalities were highly independent, so they had little naval or god of war power because those required large-scale factories. Gods of war also required regular supplies and maintenance, so they would have trouble invading a corridor that left one exposed to constant attack. P.A. Oda was equally weak as far as gods of war were concerned, but…

“P.A. Oda and the Oda clan have lots of cool aerial ships. Most notably, they have the true enemy of the Murakami Navy.”

Matthias snapped his fingers.

“The iron-clad ships have been further improved after their use in the Battle of Lepanto. Even in the original history, Murakami had a lot of trouble with those.”

As if to answer him, the night sky tore open and something revealed itself. Black ships measuring eight hundred meters noisily exited stealth mode. They all had cannons on both sides and the front.

“These six galley types are specialized for the inland sea. The Lepanto may have officially been a loss, but these gave the Ottomans the chance to be reborn as P.A. Oda. They are covered in the Black Metal made by BIZEN of the IZUMO brand. Your special conflagration tactics won’t work anymore.”

Matthias saw the six black ships spread out in the night sky.

The ships’ decks carried smaller boxy ships with mechanized dolls onboard. These metal ships were over twenty meters long and the automatons continually sang the word “Shaja” and played kanuns to control the ships.

A new ''lernen figur'' appeared next to Matthias. It displayed the night sky. A fish demon with one of his ten bent horns broken stood on the deck of the first iron-clad ship. He had brown skin and he faced his enemy far in the west.

“President Matthias, I am Kuki Yoshitaka, the naval representative of P.A. Oda’s defense committee. I have brought six iron-clad ships for this battle.”

“Testament. That is wonderful. Try to show off even more. I can’t help but feel delighted that I’m a puppet for people this cool.”

“In that case…”

A new ''lernen figur'' opened. It showed a humanoid demon girl. Her left eye was hidden by a cloth wrapped around her head and she bowed along with the three rifles attached to the hard point on the left side of her back.

“I am Suzuki Magoichi, the special forces representative of the defense committee. I was ordered to participate in this battle as a test after transferring to P.A. Oda.”

“Are you not using the Saika name because our enemy hired a lot of warriors who were originally from the Saika Ikki?”

“I would like to live a normal life. To ensure that, I must survive the Warring States period and I want to avoid a family name that stands out too much.”

“I see,” replied Matthias as he faced forward.

…''Ohh.

The enemy warriors were solidifying their ranks after seeing the iron-clad ships.

…''How wonderful.

Matthias thought that way because he had done nothing and yet the enemy feared him.

…''Such a wonderful example of relying on others. Merely being a puppet lets me see this panic on the enemies’ faces. I’m so glad I came to the front lines!! Being a puppet is so much fun!!

''But,'' he thought as he looked to his own fleet floating in the sky.

“Everything is perfect, but this can’t be easy, Kuki. In the history recreation, the Mlasi never invade K.P.A. Italia during this period. And if we try to attack using the Far Eastern history recreation, the aerial bombardment as we advance along the Seto Inland Corridor will make K.P.A. Italia impregnable. The only way to defeat their geographic advantage is to…”

“Testament. There is a single battle that allows P.A. Oda to send its forces to the inland sea. And it only lasts half a day.”

“Yes.” Matthias looked up at the countless small ships of the Murakami Navy in the western sky. “The decisive battle with the Murakami Navy. The Second Battle of Kizugawaguchi.”

“Testament.” Kuki’s voice was quiet. “My iron-clad ships will destroy the Murakami Navy in only half a day. The oceans around Osaka Bay will fall under Oda’s control. This battle was meant to lead into the battle with the Hongan-ji forces, but that was fought long ago. K.P.A. Italia has put off this recreation for fear of losing the Murakami Navy’s protection.”

So…

“We will complete the recreation and eliminate the Murakami Navy’s aerial bombardment. This will ensure the safety of the Seto Inland Corridor and allow us to reach K.P.A. Italia’s headquarters of Itsukushima in only half a day.”

“And if you do not succeed? What if you lose, but ‘an interpretation’ – such as the Murakami Navy retreating – is used to represent their ‘loss’? After all, the history recreation says this is your first and last time to use those iron-clad ships.”

“Testament. That is correct. To better recreate this battle, Hashiba and the others took care of the previous preliminary battles while prepared for some losses. We will make sure to complete this somehow or another.”

“Not that,” muttered Matthias. “I’m asking what happens if you don’t complete it.”

“Testament.” Kuki seemed to have made up his mind. “Hashiba and P.A. Oda will no longer be able to send this powerful a force to the Seto Inland Sea area, so the only possible way to fight the Murakami Navy defending the Seto Inland Corridor will be a political one. We will be unable to rely on the ground forces and a long, drawn-out war with K.P.A. Italia will be unavoidable.”

The demon commander took a breath before continuing.

“For K.P.A. Italia, this is the battle to ensure their future safety.”

“I see. …This must be tough. Sorry for asking about something so harsh.” Matthias sighed. “Please win.”

Kuki seemed confused by that request, but he finally gave a powerful nod.

“Sha-… Testament!”

''Oh, how cool,'' thought Matthias.

“Now, then.”

He raised his right arm and faced forward.

…''This is great.

Even as a puppet, this announcement was his as student council president. While reveling in the fact that this was his alone, he gave the sign to begin the conflict. He swung his right arm forward.

“Let the battle begin!!”

As soon as the fighting began, the two fleets spread out as if trying to take up the best positions.

They exchanged shellfire, but the Murakami Navy created a thick wall with their small ships. By focusing their fire on a single enemy ship, they prevented the iron-clad ships from advancing either as single protrusion or a large surface.

As the iron-clad ships began moving forward, the Murakami Navy created a curving formation and showed their intention to pull back toward Itsukushima and stop the enemy fleet. They would use the distance from M.H.R.R. to Itsukushima to slowly fall back and continue firing.

This allowed the iron-clad ships to make some forward progress, but their speed was controlled by the Murakami Navy. However, it was difficult for the Murakami Navy to break through their armor, so time passed as the slow invasion continued on.

Kuki commented on the situation.

“They are trying to drag out the battle. This is meant to end in half a day, so they want us to run out of time.”

After fierce political conflict over the exact limit of that half day, K.P.A. Italia and M.H.R.R. had settled on sunset that evening at four.

M.H.R.R. had to destroy the Murakami Navy before then.

By the time the sun had risen, Kuki had made a few new calculations related to that problem. Based on the damage to their armor and the speed of their westward invasion, he made a decision.

“Let us change our formation. If we establish a rotation, we can push the Murakami Navy back by four PM and arrive within range of Itsukushima. Once that happens, we can reach Itsukushima quickly. Of course, the Murakami Navy will be forced to begin a real battle before that happens. The critical point for stopping us will be thirty kilometers east of Itsukushima and we will arrive there at…”

He predicted the time of the decisive battle.

“Three PM. That leaves us one hour to the limit.”

He gave orders to all six ships with that time as his goal.

“It can be slow, but move forward! The sooner we reach the critical point, the more time we will have to spare!”

Both fleets had decided what they needed to do and their movements were complex but orderly. Their actions were being broadcast to the academies of the different nations by the PR committees of K.P.A. Italia and Hexagone Française.

This also reached the Musashi as it approached Magdeburg and the M.H.R.R. Catholic warriors laying seige to that same city.

The sun had already risen.

That bright light only dimly lit a certain room.

Other than the narrow beam of light, the tatami mat room was completely dark.

It was a still place, but sudden motion came from within.

The movement was caused by the girl springing up from the white futon.

The girl was Adele.

“…!?”

She sat up quickly enough to send the blanket flying upwards and she sucked in a breath.

“Huh?”

She stretched her back straight up and eventually tilted her head.

“Um,” she began while looking around the room with her tilted head. “Why am I here? In fact, where is this?”

A certain word appeared in Adele’s mind.

…''Did I warp!?

A warp was a powerful teleportation technique used by some of the gods during the Age of the Gods. There were several different versions including the short warp, the long warp, the folding warp, the male warp, the midair warp, the meditation warp, and the yoga warp. It was full of variations.

…''With all those variations, it isn’t much different from prostrations, is it?

At any rate…

“Umm…”

She did not understand her current situation. She seemed to be wearing a Far Eastern robe, but…

“Isn’t this a kid’s size?”

She understood this was a disgraceful situation.

But she could not connect the last scene in her memories to the scene before her eyes now.

She was pretty sure she had been wearing an inner suit before, but now she was wearing a robe.

…''Wait… H-huh? I don’t remember being anywhere like this! And I don’t remember being dressed like this!

She looked around, but she only saw a dimly-lit room. She had apparently been sleeping in a futon laid out on the floor.

“A Far Eastern-style room?”

The door was a sliding screen and the sun came in through a paper sliding window. After seeing the brightness through that window, she brought a hand to her forehead.

…''It’s morning?

She had a feeling it had been the afternoon before.

She tried to recall why she was here.

“Um, I was running along that IZUMO field with the chancellor and…”

''No. That isn’t all. There was something before that too.

She worked her mind even more to recall the past.

…''If I’m not mistaken…uh…Sassa Narimasa showed up.

As she tried to remember, she held her right hand forward and placed her left hand alongside it.

“Um, this one is me and this one is the chancellor. So, um…”

She needed a third hand for Narimasa. She could always have her left hand be the chancellor and herself, but she had a feeling that was a very bad idea. From an intelligence perspective.

At any rate, she could use her gaze to represent Narimasa, so she and the chancellor had…

“Um…”

The gaze representing Narimasa came in toward the left hand representing herself and hit it. And then she…

“…”

Suddenly, she swung her left hand outwards.

“Eh?”

She could not quite remember what had become of that. She only remembered a brief view of the sky before everything went black.

…''Wow.

Her mind shook a bit.

Her body shook as well and she began to fall backwards. ''Eh?'' she thought as she frantically swung her hand and tore through the sliding door behind her. She could feel the clearly expensive paper between her fingers.

“Ahhhh!! And I have no moneyyyyy!!

''I need to hide this,'' she seriously thought. ''Is there anything to cover it with? No, it’s paper, so if it has paste on it, I just need water. And even without that, I can use my spit. I still feel like my life is over, though.

Just as she licked her fingers, she heard footsteps walking down what seemed to be a corridor. A voice soon followed. It was Asama’s calm voice.

“Adele? Are you awake? We’ll be arriving in Magdeburg soon, so we need to examine your brain while we have the chance.”

…''Oh, I get it. This is Asama-san’s shrine.

“W-wah! But now I don’t have time to hide the evidence!!”

She opened the window, thinking she could escape through it, but then she saw what sat outside.

Next to the window and below the eaves of the building was her mobile shell.

However, the head armor was missing.

Everything clicked into place when she saw that headless mobile shell.

…''I…

She had been sent flying and passed out from the attack Sassa Narimasa had used to destroy her mobile shell.

…''And no one was left to protect the chancellor.

An even greater pang of regret stabbed from the depths of her gut and into her chest.

Her eyes settled on the headless mobile shell. As she looked at her incomplete armor, a cry of anger rose meaninglessly from her throat. It was in reference to both the mobile shell and her own skill.

“It just isn’t enough!!”

Asama stopped walking down the shrine’s corridor and broke into a run.

She needed to hurry to Adele.

The girl had been sleeping in the shrine’s medical room.

She had simply wanted to check on Adele’s condition before heading to the spring for some early morning purification.

However…

…''What was that hopeless lament!? Is she having a nightmare!?

''She didn’t used to be this kind of character,'' thought Asama. ''She would sometimes stare into the wall at the insufficient state of her body and finances, but she used to keep a generally positive outlook along with Mitotsudaira and the others.

But something in her brain must have been knocked loose in Narimasa’s attack.

…''I have to do something!

Her shout had been all too meaningful. Who would have ever thought her flat chest would drive her insane? Before they arrived in Magdeburg, Asama needed to hit the girl’s brain with spells until the usual Adele was back.

With that shout of inadequacy ringing in her heart, Asama ran down the corridor with a robe worn over her inner suit.

“Adele! Was I right about the brain damage!? There were signs of it in the past, though!”

Asama arrived alongside the room. Adele’s room was right in front of her, so she used the corridor’s raised floor as a step and leaped.

“Asama-san!”

At the same moment, the sliding screen opened in front of her and Adele ran out. As Asama fell, Adele’s head performed a counterattack by stabbing straight up and into Asama’s chest fastener.

Both of them stopped moving.

Asama had caught Adele who was standing straight upright. Asama remained in her landing pose as several long seconds passed. A single thought dominated her mind.

…''H-how am I supposed to get her out?

Adele’s head was stuck inside her inner suit’s chest fastener from below.

Adele’s head was pushing her breasts out and forward from within, but that tensed the cloth. Also, the pressure sent back in on Adele’s head kept it from pulling back out.

What were they to do?

This was of course a first in Asama’s life, so she had no past experience to rely on.

The other girl’s head was completely caught to the front and back, so…

“I guess it has to be up or down.”

Adele raised her right hand and gave a thumbs up. She seemed to understand, so Asama stood on her tiptoes and lifted her breasts as if embracing them.

“Nh…”

This unexpectedly lifted Adele’s head with them.

“Nwaaaah! Wait! A-Asama-san! M-my neck’s gonna break!”

Adele tapped out as she stood on her tiptoes and tried to endure the stretching of her neck. And she tapped on Asama’s breasts.

Not only did the girl suddenly touch her, but her breath tickled.

“Eh? Ah, wait! Phah. Wait. No. I’m gonna laugh.”

Just as laughter was about to burst from Asama, Kimi arrived from the right end of the corridor.

“Asamaaa, I want to use your bath, so- What are you two doing!? Can you not get out!? Are you stuck? Oh, this is too much. And after the pressure jokes from before too. Ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

The dancer started rolling around on the floor in laughter as soon as she arrived. Seeing that useless girl was enough to calm Asama down.

Asama made sure no one was around, opened the fastener, removed the other connector below her breasts, and exposed her skin. Adele was finally able to remove her head as if lifting it from the surface of the water.

Asama tried not to let it bother her as she closed the front of the robe instead of replacing the fastener.

“Are you okay, Adele?”

“Well, um, uh, sound effects like ‘squish’ or ‘squash’ won’t leave my head.”

“The pressure must have damaged her brain,” said Kimi, but Asama ignored her.

To help Adele calm down, she began telling the girl what had happened while she had slept.

“Listen,” she began. She also placed her hands on the girl’s shoulders. “Right now, the Musashi is being towed to Magdeburg because Shirojiro-kun flipped the floor around with a prostration. Toori-kun fell and was abducted by the Reine des Garous, but Mito, Mary-san, and Naito will do something about tha- …Tenzou-kun is there too. You mustn’t forget him, okay? Anyway, it seems he’s alive.”

“Wow… I actually understood most of that. I think there’s something wrong with me.”

That comment surprised Asama, which made her wonder if there was something wrong with her as well. At any rate, Adele looked up at her, frowned, and tilted her head.

“Um… Is the chancellor alive?”

That was a difficult question to answer, but Kimi spoke up from where she sat on the floor.

“My foolish brother is fine. At the very least, Sassa wasn’t able to touch him since you shielded him. And it seems the Reine des Garous has taken a liking to him, so…”

“The real question is what M.H.R.R. will do now that they have begun a battle with K.P.A. Italia.”

“Eh?” said Adele. “Isn’t that bad? You said the Musashi is inside M.H.R.R. and P.A. Oda has the strength to easily fight a three-front war.”

That was true. P.A. Oda was attacking K.P.A. Italia while Hashiba faced Mouri, but P.A. Oda itself was also splitting it strength to deal with Sviet Rus and Takeda. And P.A. Oda had the national strength needed to pull that off.

…''M.H.R.R. won’t be too busy to deal with us.

But despite that thought…

“It will be okay.”

She prepared to say that to put Adele at ease and that may have been a privilege of hers as someone without an official position. But just as she prepared to wipe away the girl’s concern…

“It’ll be okay!!”

Adele said it first.

After moving from the floor to the corridor’s low railing, Kimi narrowed her eyes at Adele’s words.

…''Oh?

'''Wise Sister:''' “She doesn’t get all depressed when she loses. Quite a difference from a certain cowardly fallen angel I know.”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “What? I’m in the middle of an all-nighter inking this douijinshi, so provoke me and I’ll put you in as a guest character!”

'''Worshipper:''' “Huh? I only just woke up, but these horrible people are already filling this refreshing morning with chatter.”

But Kimi saw Adele grab Asama’s hand and shake it up and down.

“Contact 6th Special Duty Officer Nao-san or someone to get my mobile shell repaired! Now I know I can withstand a single attack from P.A. Oda’s Six Heavenly Demon Armies! So…”

“U-um, Adele?”

“Judge! What is it!?”

Asama responded to Adele’s energetic question.

“Do you have the money for those repairs?”

Kimi saw Adele’s expression vanish altogether. The girl fell limply to her knees and then onto her side.

“That was a critical hit,” said Kimi. “Her mind is in the wall now.”

“I-I don’t need your commentary! And, um, Adele?”

Asama spoke to Adele who was trembling on her side.

“I-I’m done for. M-money… Why did it have to be money? That’s the ultimate monster. Except it isn’t money that’s truly frightening. It’s the lack of money.”

“D-don’t worry, Adele! Money isn’t everything!”

“That’s right, Asama,” cut in Kimi. “You’ll always have your body.”

Adele had started looking up, but she curled up on her side again.

Adele held her knees in her arms and began singing a strange song that repeated “loo” over and over again.

“This isn’t so bad,” said Kimi. “You’ll find the money somehow and it’s always good to be motivated. After all, we’re about to be busy again.”

“With what?”

“You haven’t noticed the aroma hanging in the air? This is the scent of the food being cooked in the M.H.R.R. camps around Magdeburg.”

She smiled.

“Plus the scent of spell gunpowder.”

“Master Muneshige, is this…?”

Gin had been making a circuit of Okutama for her morning training with Muneshige, but she stopped on the front deck and pointed to the scenery visible over the barrier surrounding the deck. Muneshige stepped between her and the barrier as if to hide her from the scenery below.

“I see. So this is why the automatons stopped cleaning and went back inside.”

He viewed the ground where the dim light of dawn showed a fortress city far ahead.

The city was on the western bank of a winding river. From their perspective, it looked like a star-shape split down the center.

However, the shallow angle of the sun covered the distant city in a stark contrast of light and shadow. The river looked dark and the forest surrounding the city also looked dark.

The forest was covered in fog. Or so it seemed. However…

“We will be able to see it once the sun rises.”

As if to agree with Muneshige, the morning sun slowly changed its angle. Its gentle movement turned the dark purple sky to dark blue, blue, and then yellow.

Something was visible on the surface that seemed scorched by that color.

“That’s M.H.R.R.’s thirty thousand man siege formation around Magdeburg!!”

Camping tents, maintenance areas, food distribution centers, and tents or turf for emergency supplies filled the vast forest. The apparent fog was actually smoke from them cooking.

…''And they’re almost done!

One thing was certain: the enemy could begin at any time.

From the look of their camps, their main division was about five thousand strong. They were likely the ones who would charge Magdeburg. The remaining ten thousand were meant to continue the siege and stay behind as a rear guard.

This was the perfect formation for an attack on a fortress.

Only a moment later, they took sudden action. Before Gin could see what had happened, Muneshige swung his arm back while still looking down. He was trying to have her step back.

“Gin!”

His hand latched onto her breast over her track suit.

…''Eh?

Without thinking, she reacted to this unexpected accident.

At the same time, Muneshige turned around with a sharp look in his eyes.

“Please stand back!”

“Eh? Oh, r-right. Testament.”

Even as she gave the wrong response, she took a large step back. Meanwhile, something shot up from below.

It was a barrage of anti-air shellfire.

“…!?”

She saw and heard a stream of light, sound, and wind.

The light was exploding sparks and the shards of broken gravity barriers. The sound was the harmony of impacts and destruction. The sound of the shellfire itself arrived after the wind, but it was still powerful.

And it did not end.

“Master Muneshige!”

He held his right hand below his eyes without moving.

She called his name again, but he still did not move. She wondered if he could not hear her, but…

…''That isn’t it!

She focused on the reverberation of shellfire and detected what he was watching.

She heard a roar of moving air from below. That trembling noise seemed to ripple through the air again and again, but the air was also powerfully pushed up to the Musashi’s altitude.

This ascent of the air could only be caused by one thing.

“An aerial ship!?”

Gin saw it in the center of her vision.

She saw a white high-speed galley bearing the emblems of P.A. Oda and P.A.M. as well as the logos of M.H.R.R. and A.H.R.R.S. It pierced through the trembling air to rise up in front of Musashino and between Takao and Asakusa.

The galley fired cannons from its port and starboard sides to attack the inner sides of Asakusa and Takao.

Gin noticed its cannons used Mlasi-style homing spells. The turret-less cannons fired four divine tones in preparation and Mlasi divine messenger birds had been built into the top of the cannons.

“The Djinn Garudas have appeared! Cannon fire incoming!”

The super deformed Garudas cried as one atop the cannons.

“All ships defend!! Over!”

After that shipwide broadcast of “Musashi’s” voice, the torii-style emblems of gravity barriers appeared over the entirety of the different ships. However, the galley had already twisted itself toward the Musashi’s bow and forced itself into a roll. Wind wrapped around it as it rotated, but it still fired.

…''Such accuracy!

They targeted the important points and seams of the ships with amazing precision even for homing shots.

The gravity barriers shook and fixed in place. Meanwhile, the galley’s roll took it too far, so it corrected and rapidly turned around toward the sky in front of the Musashi.

The belly of the white galley had already passed by above Gin and shown its stern.

The barrage of cannon fire from the galley at such close range held the Musashi’s gravity barriers in place and prevented new ones from being raised to block the galley’s path.

Gin then saw movement. As the galley calmly flew past the Musashi, two people jumped down to Musashino’s bow.

“Those are…?”

She recognized the two-hot blooded individuals who had come from the siege army down below. The first was…

“#4 of the Six Heavenly Demon Armies, Sassa Narimasa!”

The other had demonic horns visible even as he fell.

Gin recognized him from his introduction in the Testament Union’s almanac.

“#1 of the Six Heavenly Demon Armies and vice chancellor of M.H.R.R. That demonic long lived has General Tilly of the Catholic army as a double inherited name.”

He was…

“ ‘Demon Shibata’ Shibata Katsuie!”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 47|Chapter 47]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 49|Chapter 49]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 47

2015-08-20T02:41:00Z

68.109.52.245: /* Chapter 47: Sunny One in the Moonlight */

==Chapter 47: Sunny One in the Moonlight==
[[Image:Horizon3B_0519.jpg|thumb]]
''When do you hope it goes well

''But would honestly be annoyed if it did?

'''Point Allocation (Surprise Attack)

The starlight shined on the clouds in the night sky and several shadows floated between those clouds.

They were ships bearing the national emblem of Hexagone Française and the academy emblem of Ecole de Paris. They sat motionlessly in the air with the floating city of IZUMO below and an especially large white ship in the center.

That was Hexagone Française’s flagship Pension Versailles.

The ''Belle de Marionnettes'' and people on its front deck were silently watching the surrounding sky.

A single light in the center of the deck supported them all.

That light was Louis Exiv.

Powerful light and flares wrapped around his body as he crossed his arms and faced east. His eyes were turned toward the Musashi visible in the distance. In the starlight, the Musashi looked like a floating mountain range and Exiv’s eyebrows were slightly raised.

“Do you think Luynes is handling this in her usual way, Terumoto?”

“What? You noticed me? And here I thought I could sneak up behind you and put some clothes over your back.”

“Heh. Of course I noticed, Terumoto. There is nothing about your presence I won’t notice.”

“Oh, an opening.”

Exiv collapsed to the deck from a sudden wooden sword to the butt.

“What? You didn’t notice that? You’re hopeless.”

Terumoto kicked Exiv’s collapsed form while holding a non-tobacco herb kiseru in the corner of her mouth.

Her foot audibly struck his flesh and he let out a shriek, but she paid it no heed, crossed her arms, and puffed out her chest. Before long, he slowly stood up in front of her and turned to face her.

“Heh. T-Terumoto… I would like to have a calm chat with you.”

“Not now, dick boy. I’m busy, so it’ll have to wait. For now, you can randomly reply to or give your thoughts on what I’m going to say. I’m only out here for a change of pace and some fresh air.”

“Oh? Has the Artemis of Ecole de Paris been so busy studying that her frustration has been building up?”

“I can’t help it. I made a promise to Anne.”

“Oh, you mean finding people to inherit the names of all my mistresses?”

“Don’t say it.”

She swung her wooden sword and Exiv got up on his tip-toes in a shallow V-shape to dodge it. He gave another “heh” and brushed up his hair, but he suddenly stopped and took a defensive stance.

“Oh? Terumoto? What has you so fired up? Why are you wielding that with both hands?”

“All you have to do is stay still.”

She slowly moved in closer and he slowly backed away.

“Did Mouri-01 and the others fail down below?” she asked.

“Testament. They showed a willingness to destroy the spirits’ forest to complete their mission. I believe that was more than enough to provide a warning to M.H.R.R. After all, they had likely thought my warriors would be too afraid of the spirits to fight in the forest. …Mouri-01’s group did well.”

“If it will force M.H.R.R. to rethink their front line, then it was worth it. But what about the Reine des Garous and Musashi’s chancellor and student council president?”

“That’s the question.” Exiv crossed his arms and brought a hand to his chin. “She has yet to do anything. She seems to have taken a liking to the boy. …We need to thank Luynes and Anne.”

“The only ones she’ll listen to are her husband and Anne. Her husband isn’t interfering, so that leaves Anne. …It’s a good thing Musashi went to M.H.R.R. They were able to relay our communications to Anne in Magdeburg. Will the Reine des Garous be starting her new mission with the Musashi Chancellor rescue team tomorrow?”

“Heh. We’ll be in trouble if she doesn’t. After all… Now, listen.”

“Stop acting so self-important.”

With a snap of the wrist, the back of her wooden sword shot up into Exiv’s crotch like a scythe. All of the surrounding men shrieked and drew back while Exiv swayed but kept his feet.

“A-a king never falls! I will bend my knee to no one, Terumoto!”

“You’re no fun. Now, get to the point.”

“Heh. Y-yes. First, um…”

His legs were turned somewhat inward as he pointed east with his thumb.

“Magdeburg will be a battlefield by the day after tomorrow. And…”

His thumb turned to point south.

“Word just came in from the southern division. M.H.R.R.’s Catholics and Hashiba’s southern warriors are preparing for battle on the eastern border of K.P.A. Italia.”

“You mean…?”

“Testament. M.H.R.R…no, Hashiba is finally beginning their battle to settle things with K.P.A. Italia. It will be a short battle based on the history recreation of a Far Eastern naval battle. Our main force is deployed here at IZUMO in the north, so it’s the perfect opportunity for the M.H.R.R. Catholics and Hashiba. The M.H.R.R. Catholics probably want to win this battle and then move on to Magdeburg the day after tomorrow,” he explained. “But it can’t be easy. With Magdeburg and K.P.A. Italia, M.H.R.R. has two upcoming battles. That means all of M.H.R.R. will be fighting. Meanwhile, Musashi’s chancellor has to reach Magdeburg through it all.”

“Well, he’ll be fine if the Reine des Garous’s with him. Do you think Musashi will send an ‘additional rescue team’?”

“Heh. I doubt it.”

She struck him and clicked her tongue as he began to collapse.

“Don’t act so full of yourself when it involves us. …C’mon, give me your reasoning.”

“Heh…heh heh… W-well, you see, the Reine des Garous will be the one to choose their route and there is no chance of anything standing in their way when they have her with them. In fact, I doubt the Reine des Garous herself will feel any need for us to send assistance either.”

“You sure are useless compared to some beast.”

“A king needs enough leeway to let a beast do as she pleases. But anyway…”

He crossed his arms and looked across the sky from east to south.

“After the Sack of Magdeburg, the battle over K.P.A. Italia finally begins.”

Terumoto sensed some discouragement in Exiv’s voice.

…''He’s worried about Anne’s lifespan.

Both Exiv and Anne had divine blood, so they had long lives, although not as long as the long-lived race.

From what she had heard, Exiv had grown slowly when he was young and had only grown to what he was now in the last few years. If his family was anything to go by, his lifespan would be no different from a normal person’s from here on.

Anne on the other hand had grown quickly when young, but her growth had stopped at the age of fourteen or fifteen. The divine blood had shown itself in her more.

…''But that didn’t mix well with her human side.

As a god, she did not belong in this world and her body had started to disappear.

Based on what Terumoto had heard, Anne was something halfway between ghost and human. She would trip getting out of bed because her feet would disappear, but when she looked, her feet would be there. But…

“She’s family, so you want to see her, don’t you?”

“Heh. I have you, Terumoto. And I have plenty of retainers. My sister only left because she knew that.”

“Is acting tough, a king’s primary job?”

Exiv gave her a look with the corner of his mouth slightly lifted, but that was all. His expression quickly returned to normal and he looked to the east.

“Terumoto, you are looking for someone too, aren’t you? The previous bearer of Mouri-01’s inherited name. That Mouri Motokiyo left Mouri when he was unable to bear the weight of that name.”

Masazumi asked a question as she took Mazarin to the diplomat lodgings on Tama’s surface.

“She’s looking for someone?”

Past ten at night, the surface’s wide blocks and long blocks had closed their movable barriers and shut their doors. Masazumi and Mazarin were speaking while Naruze went to the police box in charge of those barriers and doors.

Asama accompanied them and she tilted her head.

“The previous Mouri Motokiyo?”

Guericke had returned to his own ship, so Mazarin was alone and she nodded expressionlessly.

“Testament. He was one year older than Lady Terumoto and it was apparently after seeing him inherit the name of Mouri Motokiyo that she decided to inherit the name of Terumoto. I hear he really was her uncle or something.”

“But didn’t one of your automatons inherit the Motokiyo name?”

That information was in the almanac, but Mazarin shook her head with a troubled look.

“Not originally. You see, he ran away.”

“Yeah, an inherited name is a source of pressure.”

…''Come to think of it, I don’t have that stress since I never inherited my name.

She knew being an Hexagone Française leader like Mazarin had to be really stressful and it had to have been for Motokiyo as well.

“According to the Mouri clan, he ran away shortly before entering elementary school.”

“That was fast.”

“Testament. But he had his reasons. At the time, the Mouri clan and Hexagone Française were exchanging inherited names and VIP hostages, but a certain individual’s inherited name became a problem.”

“May I ask who that was?”

“Testament,” replied Mazarin. She looked around and made sure no one else was around. “It was Louis XIV’s half-brother, Eustache Dauger. According to the history from the Age of the Gods, he was not a child of the king’s wife, Lady Anne of Austria, so Louis XIV was above him in the line of succession. However, he was still a man who could easily shake Louis XIV’s reign.”

“Lord Motokiyo was to become your aide, so the Mouri clan tried to give him the name of my half-brother Eustache Dauger as a double inherited name.”

Exiv crossed his arms even more as he spoke quickly.

“They were trying to assist Hexagone Française by keeping that threat to my rule away from anyone with connections inside Hexagone Française itself.”

“Judge.” Terumoto nodded and shrugged. “That’s right. Even if he tried to rebel against Hexagone Française, the people of Mouri wouldn’t go along with it. It was a strategic inherited name.”

She paused.

“But my uncle ran away. …Although back then I thought of him more like a brother.”

“Heh. It wouldn’t bother me even if you said he was like a lover.”

“I feel like pointing out that makes it sounds as if you think my past is meaningless.”

She smiled bitterly, placed the tip of her wooden sword on the deck, and wrapped her hands around the bottom of the hilt.

“Well, I doubt we’ll ever find him. If he’s still alive, he’d be eighteen now.”

“Eighteen?”

That question came from Asama who was managing Mazarin’s divine transmission settings next to Masazumi.

Masazumi turned around and found Asama frowning.

“Um… But didn’t you say Lady Terumoto was a year younger than him?”

“Testament. She is in her second year of high school.”

Masazumi and Asama exchanged a glance.

'''Asama:''' “To choose my words carefully…Lady Terumoto is very mature for her age.”

'''Wise Sister:''' “Heh heh. Well, she probably is already trying to create some descendants.”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “Could you not make those jokes while I’m working?”

''I can agree with that,'' thought Masazumi before asking a question.

“Cardinal Mazarin, we will help in any way we can. …Can you give us anything more-ri about Mouri Motokiyo we could use to identify him?”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “Oh, sorry, Masazumi. I actually laughed at that one a little. Sorry, sorry.”

'''Wise Sister:''' “Heh heh. Why are you laughing at Masazumi’s jokes? You need to apologize a lot more than that.”

'''Vice President:''' “I didn’t mean that one! It just slipped out, okay!? Dammit, this pisses me off!”

She felt like this day had helped her get used to expressionlessly typing in protests. And with that thought, she spoke to Mazarin.

“If Musashi ever comes across someone like that, we’d like to report it.”

Naruze ran back with her hand in the air to say the police box had okayed their passage. Seeing that, Masazumi asked Mazarin’s Mouse form a question.

“What are his identifying features?”

“Testament. Very well. According to what Lady Terumoto has said…”

Mazarin described Motokiyo for them.

“Even as a child, he was very tall and had a macho build. And since he’s on the run, he would probably be wearing a mask or something to hide his face.”

All of them froze in place.

Masazumi maintained her expressionless look.

She looked to the side and Asama nodded expressionlessly back at her.

'''Asama:''' “Our class really is nothing but influential people and idiots, isn’t it?”

'''Vice President:''' “I-it’s too soon! It’s too soon to say that! We still don’t know it’s really him!”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “Isn’t it more than halfway confirmed?”

''Anyway,'' thought Masazumi as she forced a smile and asked Mazarin something else.

“What if someone like that was already on the Musashi?”

“Oh? Is there someone?”

''You have to know who I mean,'' she thought. After all, video footage of Musashi’s battles had been transmitted over the divine network several times.

But they would not want to forcibly interfere here, so Masazumi slowly shook her head.

“No, I just meant in the off chance. Yes, if – hypothetically – that were the case, what would happen?”

“Well,” Mazarin brought a hand to her mouth in thought. “I believe we have spoken with Musashi’s previous student councils about this on a few occasions in the past. I have determined we could claim you were hiding him from us and use it against you in negotiations.”

'''Wise Sister:''' “Heh heh. That settles it! It does! I bet this was all a setup!”

…''Stop pouring on the pressure.

Masazumi said nothing, so Mazarin shrugged.

“Of course, that is just my personal idea. Yes, I was only joking. Ha ha ha ha.”

That final laugh was made completely expressionlessly.

…''She isn’t joking. She’s completely serious.

Masazumi nodded and laughed too. She saw Naruze gesturing instructions to the person in charge of opening and closing the barrier.

“Ha ha. A joke. Of course, of course. A joke. Ha ha ha ha ha ha.”

“Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.”

“Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.”

As the movable barrier opened, a group including Persona-kun and Ohiroshiki appeared on the other side.

“…!?”

Asama had moved to Masazumi’s side, so she had an excellent view of the girl’s surprised look.

…''Masazumi really has gotten good at her visual reactions lately.

Mazarin was looking at Masazumi, so she had yet to notice Persona-kun’s group. However, she had noticed the wind produced by the opening barrier.

“Oh? Is the barrier opening?”

Naruze threw as many acceleration spells onto the barrier as she could manage and it slammed closed.

With a great roar, the hatch sealed shut in front of Mazarin. As the metallic sound reverberated through the air, Masazumi tapped the Mouse’s shoulder to turn her around and pointed to the neighboring wide block.

“C’mon. This door is acting up, so…um…let’s go this way.”

“Eh? R-really?”

Just as Mazarin looked back at the barrier hatch, the impact of slamming shut caused it to bounce back open. Naruze, the one who had added on so many acceleration spells, scratched at her head.

“Oh, crap. I didn’t think this through at all.”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “Don’t be too hard on me☆.”

'''Wise Sister:''' “So you’re saying you want us to be gentle!? You are, aren’t you!? Oh, what a dirty girl!!”

'''Asama:''' “P-please don’t sully my divine network! And the door!”

As Asama watched, Jizuri Suzaku suddenly fell from the sky and forced the door shut. The landing and closing caused two additional loud noises and shook the floor.

Naomasa sighed from the god of war’s shoulder and Asama glared up at her.

…''Can we really say that settles it?

Next, Ohiroshiki’s voice came from the other side of the door.

“Wh-what are you people doing!? We were out working on Tama’s repairs, so we’re on our way to a late-night bathhouse!”

“Yeah?” said Naomasa. “Well, this road’s closed. Find another way.”

“Ah, y-you tyrant! You large-breasted women are all such tyrants! You take up too much space! And when people try to move you out of the way, you say they’re molesting you! And in accordance with my faith, I don’t even want to touch you in the first place!”

“Shut up! Go eat some rotten fried rice, get diarrhea, and get too sick to leave bed!!”

“What, what!? Th-that was oddly specific!”

…''Why do we attack each other like this?

As Asama wondered that, Masazumi crouched down and tapped Mazarin’s shoulder.

“U-um, it seems this road is closed. So, uh, let’s go over there and, uh, talk more about Lord Motokiyo.”

“Eh? Oh, Testament. The thing about him is…”

Masazumi nodded repeatedly to urge her on and the Mouse pointed at her own back.

“Lady Terumoto thinks he has a tattoo on his back. When she and her group were in a confrontation against a group of local children, Lord Motokiyo saved her.”

Mazarin shrugged.

“He was apparently badly injured in the process and he got a dragon emblem on the back that protected her. She suspects the tattoo provided some kind of divine protection. I have determined that would be the best way to identify him.”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “Huh? So it isn’t him? Persona-kun’s skin doesn’t have a mark on it.”

'''Asama:''' “It isn’t a manga-style tattoo that only appears during battle, is it?”

'''Uqui:''' “I have never seen anything like that during our past battles.”

“In that case…”

Asama snapped her fingers and Jizuri Suzaku opened the door.

“Oh?”

Mazarin tilted her head and looked to the group walking through with bathhouse bucket sets. The boys all looked to the girls and Jizuri Suzaku.

“Did you see that!? Did you!? There was no good reason to keep me from going to the bathhouse to enjoy having only a single wall between me and the little girls! You and your stupid breasts!”

“Shut up! Do you want me to have you arrested!? I will!!” shouted back Naomasa.

“We all understand that, but you can say it anyway.”

“Anyway, Nenji-kun! A bath after a day of hard work truly is the best! It always makes me feel like I’m melting away!”

“Indeed it does. I always nearly end up sucked down the drain.”

“Tonight will be a curry bath!”

…''What an overwhelming bother.

Regardless, Asama, Masazumi, and Mazarin nodded toward that group as they passed. But after a while, a boy with a macho build and a bucket helmet walked past. It was Persona-kun.

“…”

When he noticed them, he placed his hands on his thighs, gave a shallow bow, and continued after the others.

There was no longer anything to worry about, so Asama waved.

“May I…suspect you a little over that one?” asked Mazarin.

“No, no, no.” Asama frantically shook her hand and head. “I-it isn’t him. It really isn’t. For one, his name isn’t Lord Motokiyo. It’s Persona-kun. Yes, and I think the ‘-kun’ is part of his name. And look. There’s nothing on his back.”

“True,” said Mazarin.

Asama also turned around to check and saw nothing on Persona-kun’s back. As they watched him walk away at a natural pace, Mazarin tilted her head.

“It is strange how some people can look so alike, but it does happen.”

Asama had a feeling that was the wrong way of looking at this in a number of ways, but she decided not to worry about it.

…''He does wear the helmet, though.

The sky was dyed deeply in the colors of night and the stars were growing bright. Dawn was approaching.

Terumoto laughed bitterly into the night air as she read the ''signe cadre'' from Mazarin.

“So it really wasn’t him. It seems a bit hard to say it isn’t, though. Will I eventually find him? …Or would it better if I didn’t?”

“Why would that be?” asked Exiv.

She closed the ''signe cadre'', closed her eyes, and nodded.

“If I never find him, I can continue thinking he’s living his life somewhere else.”

“Heh. I adore how reserved you are about what truly matters to you.”

“Oh? Is that so?”

She took a breath and rested her wooden sword on her shoulder.

“Is our tryst over already?” he asked.

“I’ve seen enough of your face for now.”

“Heh. Then you should be fine.”

''What does that mean and why is he so confident?'' she wondered with a bitter smile. ''But I am thankful for him.

At that point, a single ''Belle de Marionnette'' ran up to them.

Terumoto and Exiv both stiffened.

…''Nothing good is ever reported directly instead of by ''signe cadre''.

“I have a report!”

The ''Belle de Marionnette'' maid covered the long deck in three steps, stopped without sliding, and gently kneeled before them. She then spoke with a directional voice that only Terumoto and Exiv could hear.

“A report just came in from our southern warriors.”

“And?” asked Exiv.

The ''Belle de Marionnette'' nodded.

“M.H.R.R. and Hashiba’s southern warriors have begun their attack on K.P.A. Italia west of Bizen.”

After a pause, she continued.

“M.H.R.R. and Hashiba’s forces have begun an inter-academy dispute with Aki and K.P.A. Italia’s forces!”

Study:
[[Image:Horizon3B_0538.jpg|thumb]]

Witch Hunt

Toori: Sis! Sis! Wait! Wait, wait! We’re talking about a p-p-p-p-p-p-p-porn game plot this time!! I’m so excited!

Kimi: Heh heh heh. Excited brother, this topic has come up a bit already, but let’s dive right in for a closer look.

Originally, there were a lot of witches in Europe. They used folk remedies, made weather predictions, and had other techniques that differed from those of the church or the specialists, so their special abilities were labelled as “magic”.

In a broad sense, everything from music, art, and architecture were originally treated like “magic”. They were just eventually absorbed by the church and viewed as god’s presence in the world.

During the middle ages, their presence was accepted. But some of them did bad things with their techniques in certain regions, so laws were made to judge them. However, those were official witch trials that were no different from normal ones.

Toori: Witches sure are plain. But how did those trials end up as those exciting ones that pretty much hunted them down?

Kimi: As I said, that kind of “magic” had always existed in Europe, but after the middle ages, repeated wars left the world in chaos.

It wasn’t uncommon for former mercenaries to become bandits and attack villages. There was also the fear of wolves and wild dogs, famine and starvation, and even disease once the black plague started up. But the people didn’t know how to deal with all this and they couldn’t exchange information easily.

After wolves, disease, and famine brought despair and unease, the people began to think it was all caused by someone who rejoiced in their unhappiness. They thought god wasn’t answering their prayers because someone was interfering.

Toori: Sounds like the group psychology of people with nowhere left to turn.

Kimi: At that stage of civilization, no real communication methods had been developed, so the villages and towns were generally isolated from the rest of the world.

But as this went on, they decided a “suspicious witch” would be their scapegoat and made use of the inquisition that the church had long used to deal with heretics.

Toori: In other words, they got the help of the inquisition to judge people who seemed “witch-like” with no evidence whatsoever?

Kimi: Exactly. The rest is simple. The different inquisitions heard the appeals of the other inquisitions and – while they still kept the form of the witch trial – they used the rules of the inquisition to execute the witches who had “turned their backs on the teachings of god”.

Toori: Weren’t the Protestants also called heretics? So were the witches a victim of their own “reformation”?

Kimi: The Protestants weren’t the only kind of heretic. But unlike the relatively peaceful regional witch trials, the inquisition rules introduced executions. That shift began in the fifteenth century when Protestantism began to grow. And about forty thousand “witches” were executed across Europe due to it.

It’s easy to think the witch hunts were a Catholic thing since it came from the inquisition rules, but influential people held the same kind of trials in Protestant areas.

Toori: Huh? Could they do that without the church?

Kimi: They were executing “witches”, not heretics. Influential people were free to judge them to gain popularity among the people. But that’s why the witch trials actually happened everywhere, regardless of nation or religion.

In unstable areas, zealous feudal lords or judges would decide to have them executed, but it would cool off quickly after the judge or feudal lord died. In other words, it comes down to people getting desperate in difficult situations with a society that didn’t allow them a lot of information.

Toori: Hmm. I can’t exactly make a joke about this. What am I supposed to do now?

Kimi: It would be best if you just stayed quiet.

<noinclude>
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| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 46|Chapter 46]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 48|Chapter 48]]
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Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 46

2015-08-19T20:42:18Z

68.109.52.245:

==Chapter 46: Storyteller Among Classmates==
[[Image:Horizon3B_0471.jpg|thumb]]
''The depths of the night

''Tend to help people grow

'''Point Allocation (Not referring to their breasts)

The darkness of the night was amplified in the depths of the forest.

When three girls gathered in the faint light of spirits, stories were bound to follow.

…''This feels somewhat nostalgic.

Mary had that thought as she had the light spirits float around them. In England, the children and women would sometimes gather together for a lively night.

“Well, you see,” said Mitotsudaira as she looked at the other two girls. “My mother’s family originally ruled this area. …Or so it seems. But when I say ‘ruled’, I mean as the beast at the top of the food chain. But…”

“But?” asked Mary to urge Mitotsudaira on.

Mary and Naito had already moved up so all three were on the same level with Mitotsudaira in the center.

“Oh, the water has boiled. Have some herb tea.”

“Yay! Made by a real Englishwoman!”

“Thanks,” said Mitotsudaira as she grabbed both ends of the container made from bent leaves.

She blew on the tea to cool it and the aroma filled her surroundings.

“What a calming smell. …Anyway, my mother was from the Reine des Garous' family, but the number of humans outside the forest grew and the forest was divided up by roads and wars. Also, the people began working together to hunt down the Loup-Garous. My mother’s family… Yes, I laughed when she once said she came from an unrivaled family, but I never thought she meant the Reine des Garous' family… Yes…”

“Don’t let it get you down, Mito-tsan! Pretend you’re eating some meat!”

''You can cheer her up like that?'' thought Mary in amazement.

Meanwhile, Mitotsudaira smiled bitterly.

“Um, sorry if I’m not entirely consistent in how I say things. Anyway… Partially due to pressure from the lower Loup-Garous and other races, my…yes, the Reine des Garous' family promised to support the humans in the Hundred Years’ War to ensure the rights and safety of non-humans. But after that, the lifestyle of the non-humans became a lot more like that of humans. It might have been an intentional strategy on the humans’ part. It was a way of acclimating and taming the non-humans.”

What she said sounded harsh to Mary, but that may have been because England was so centered on non-humans. But even if she understood that, stating an objection would not help the situation.

Instead, she urged Mitotsudaira to continue.

“What did you mother do during all that?”

“Eh? Oh. From what I’ve heard, when her mother died, the noble who ruled the area tried to make a name for himself by taking advantage of the situation and hunting her down. My mother apparently purged all of his hunters. From then on, it seems people stopped coming here. But…”

But…

“The humans were pretty clever. They knew they could not stand up to her, so they put a weak noble family in charge of this forest and then sealed it off by dividing it up with roads.”

“They divided up this forest?”

That question filled a room now lit only by a single flickering candle.

A boy asked the question to the Reine des Garous.

His nosebleed had finally stopped, but he had been told not to move from his back and the Reine des Garous lay on her side next to him.

“That’s right.” She nodded. “My family had originally allowed a few roads so that the humans could pass through because some generations preferred to avoid any complications. But they used that permission to expand all of the roads, even the ones that had fallen into disuse, and they started dividing up the forest.”

She thought back to an old memory that was also a regret.

“And, well, the circulation of the ecosystem doesn’t work well when the forest is too small. Once we could no longer secure enough animals for food, we began to weaken as well.”

“Yeah, Nate does eat a lot of meat.”

…''If she has been keeping that up away from me, I must have taught her well when she was younger.

She felt satisfied in her education but brought her thoughts back to the past.

“My fellow Loup-Garous were hunted down or left for human society. Eventually, I was the only Loup-Garou in this area.”

She naturally let out a bitter smile.

“Honestly,” she sighed. “The humans did an excellent job. They knew they couldn’t hope to defeat me directly, so they isolated me and my forest so I might as well not be there at all. And the next noble family to rule the land was too weak to ever defeat me, so they were just telling me to die here all alone.”

“How did that lead to meeting your husband?”

“Well,” she said while looking to the boy.

He lay on his back and turned a look of expectation toward her. ''Not that this is all that interesting a story,'' she thought to herself.

“The head of that noble family died during Hexagone Française’s Reformation and his son became the next ruler of the land. He was small and weak and disliked athletics, but he was a serious boy who loved books.”

She took a breath.

“And he would eventually become my husband.”

“When my father inherited the land, yes, he was a very diligent person. He saw the rulers of other areas hunting down the werewolves for their people, so he decided to do the same. But my mother had already been isolated and what she had done in the past was well-known, so no one would help him.”

Mitotsudaira saw the other two girls nodding eagerly and she took a sip of tea. She quite enjoyed the way they leaned forward and the way their gazes told her to hurry up and continue the story.

“But my father knew fighting was not his thing, so he asked a friend for some advice. That friend… Well, according to my mother, she was a sickly girl and my father’s childhood friend, but in the academy…um, uh, to be blunt, she saved him from being bullied a lot.”

“What kind of advice did that girl give him?”

“Judge.”

Mitotsudaira leaned back and waved a hand to copy the act her father would sometimes make to match her mother’s story.

“ ‘You really are stupid. There’s no way you can win in a fight, so that means you need to lay a trap. Yes, a trap.’ ”

Mary applauded after realizing she was acting out the part. Mitotsudaira was not sure if that was a good or bad thing, but she smiled regardless.

…''I don’t have many opportunities to act like this on the Musashi.

“Anyway, he decided to lay a trap. And then…”

“But when I realized the humans had isolated me, I felt I had finally been freed from all the annoyances of life and decided I could live the rest of my life in quiet solitude.”

The Reine des Garous lay on her side with her back to the wall and Musashi’s chancellor to her left. She gave him a bitter smile.

The werewolf queen placed her cheek on his left shoulder and wrapped her left arm around his head.

She stroked his opposite cheek with her hand and he narrowed his eyes. That reaction removed the bitterness from her smile.

“But my fellow Loup-Garous were gone and my mother had died, so…”

“You weren’t lonely, were you? You are the Reine des Garous, after all.”

Whether he was being considerate or not, she swallowed the weak words she had almost said.

“Testament. That’s right. Royals are always isolated from everyone else. But…”

“But?”

“Testament. When you are alone, you begin to think about the meaning of your own existence. I had books, cooking implements, clothes, and even food in this candy house that any child would be delighted to visit. …But I no longer had anyone to talk to, so there was no meaning in entertaining, protecting, or dressing up. That was when I realized the lifestyle my mother had taught me was a human lifestyle.”

She had realized something then.

…''I put distance between myself and the neighbors who lived the same way as me.

Whenever one of the others had approached the humans, she had laughed and called them dogs, but she had only been able to do that because she had those others there in the first place.

Once she was all alone, even being queen had no meaning.

But at the time, she had thought she was unclean for being so immersed in a human lifestyle.

She had even hated her mother for immersing her in it. She had even wandered naked through the forest to return to being a beast.

But she had been shocked to realize even her appreciation of the beautiful scenery came from a human mindset.

…''And that tree grew in front of the house.

It was a fruit tree. Not only that, it bore a strong-smelling citrus fruit.

When her mother had still been alive, a lost child had apparently reached the house and planted the fruit seeds he had with him. A fruit tree looked perfect with a candy house and her mother had said it would be something for her generation to look after, but she had seen it more as a threat.

The smell reached its peak when spring shifted to summer and the tree began to bear fruit.

The smell seemed to have been telling her to leave the house, so she had stayed out in the forest a lot more.

“Well, a lot happened, but I thought it was all the result of the current age, of destiny, and of what I wanted. …So I decided to throw away everything I had.”

“Throw it away?”

“My first thought was to wander through the forest every day and, if someone had the guts to face me, I would obediently let them kill me. …But I couldn’t find anyone like that. That was when I decided to give in to my lifespan and just let myself rot.”

And then…

“I found a poorly hidden trap set up on the road back to this house. It was a spring-loaded kind that would capture my leg.”

“Did your husband do that?”

“Testament,” she confirmed.

She thought back to that time and did not bother stopping the smile that ran from the corners of her mouth to her cheeks.

“When I saw it, I realized someone would definitely come for me if I was caught in that trap. Yes, and it would a knight in shining armor who was willing to face the Reine des Garous.”

“Maman, you’re pretty amazing, aren’t you?”

“Any girl would think the same thing.”

She had nothing to be ashamed of as she clenched her right fist and said that.

At any rate, she went on to say what she had done back then.

“So I returned to the house, did the best I could to dress up for my knight, searched through my books to find the perfect way of expressing my thanks…and I intentionally let the trap catch me.”

“Intentionally? I don’t think I would go that far,” said Naito.

“Well, to be blunt, a trap like that can’t even scratch my mother.”

''We really are a strange family,'' realized Mitotsudaira.

…''Yes. Now that I think about it, we weren’t even a normal Loup-Garou family, but she kept it such a secret that I just thought we were an amazing family!

''That overly honest and diligent side must have come from my father,'' she decided with a sigh.

“But anyway,” she said. “After my mother waited for about two days, my father showed up. He was in his first year of high school at the time and he ran over to her when he saw her.”

“Was he excited that he had caught her?” asked Mary.

Mitotsudaira hesitated but finally answered.

“Well, no.”

She hesitated again but made up her mind.

“When he saw her leg in the trap, he started crying and saying ‘I’ve done something awful’, ‘I didn’t think it would do this’, and ‘I’m so sorry’.”

“I wasn’t hurt at all, but he had a weak body, he was bullied at the academy, and he had experienced a lot of… How should I put it? Not so much painful things, but restrictive and hurtful things.”

When setting up the trap, he had likely aspired to be a hero, but then he had seen her caught in the trap.

“He suddenly realized what exactly it was he had done.”

“That’s a lot like Nate.”

She stroked him from the cheek to neck and he acted ticklish.

But anyway, that had surprised her too. She had expected some great hero to appear, but it had been a skinny boy who was short enough to mistake for a girl. And far from wearing shining armor, he had worn an old worn-out school uniform.

“He cried and apologized while trying to remove the trap, but that kind of trap takes a lot of strength to remove. He had a lot of trouble and hurt his hand. As he tried, it even started to rain.”

She had not helped him, but she chose to believe it was out of respect for him.

“After he removed the trap, he put his coat over me so I wouldn’t get wet. At the time, he was a full head shorter than me, but he still tried to carry me.”

“Did you let him?”

“Testament. How could I not after all the effort he put into it?”

But…

“He collapsed once we reached here. …It was because of the rain soaking him without his coat.”

“And because he had to carry such a heavy- ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!!”

“Then I placed him in this very bed and had the spirits heal him. Once he woke, I tried to look frightening and told him I was the Reine des Garous. That name has a lot of power, after all. And then he said, ‘Sorry, but thank you for saving me, Miss Loup-Garou.’ ”

She had spent a busy week after that until he had recovered. She had been so busy because it was filled with things she had not had to do before.

“He was still weak, so I made food for him, did his laundry, and…”

She had felt shy. After all, she had been alone in the house with a boy. That tension and damage to her honor had never before been present in her life. And with all that…

“We talked about so many things. Including why I was here and why I was alone.”

The most interesting part was that he could remove the parts of the candy house.

…''The condition the Technohexen set for removing the candy was to be a child.

The Reine des Garous would not attack children. She had told him that and seen him off after he recovered.

“When we parted, I made sure to tell him never to return.”

“Why?”

She answered the boy’s surprised question.

“That is simple. Because he smelled amazingly good.”

She thought back to that time.

His scent had not changed, but she had never smelled it before back then. It was not the smell of an herbivore or a carnivore. She had assumed it was the human smell of an omnivore, but…

…''I had never smelled it before.

She had only realized the source of the smell later.

At the time, she had simply thought it was a good smell and sent him safely back to his village without eating him.

“Then what happened to him?”

“Apparently, he consulted with a local friend. That person did not believe he had actually met me and assumed he was making an excuse for getting lost, but he asked that friend a certain question. He said he wanted to properly thank and apologize to ‘Miss Loup-Garou’, but he did not know what to do since I had told him to never return.”

“And what did his friend say?”

“Testament.”

The Reine des Garous waved a hand and did an impression of that friend’s voice.

“ ‘You do not need to worry about her telling you not to come back. If she really didn’t want you to come back, she wouldn’t say that the first time around. If she really wanted to keep you away, she would act nice the first time but in a way that made you want to stay away if you wanted to be a good person. She would only reject someone who missed the clues and came back the second time. She kindly nursed you back to health, didn’t she? Then you’ll be fine.’ But…”

“But?”

“Apparently, that friend asked what was so great about me.”

“The boobs, right?”

“No.”

He had apparently answered differently.

“He said he had never seen someone so beautiful, he said I was cool, and he said he wanted to talk with me more.”

“I see,” said the boy. “That must’ve been a shock to the friend. Your husband doesn’t have much tact, does he?”

“No, he doesn’t.” She could not help but smile bitterly. “I think we both realized what we lacked and from there it was an issue of compatibility.”

And then he had arrived.

“Anyway, a few days later, I caught him entering the forest and demanded to know why he had come.”

Looking back, she could tell she had been happy. She had known the only reason he would be there was to see her. She had been proud that he wanted her, but she had tried to reject that feeling back then.

“I came at him a little too harshly.”

“But wasn’t that the perfect attitude for a guy who liked the cool Reine des Garous? Wasn’t it a real thrill for him?”

“Yes… It has always been a mystery just how well we communicated with each other. It feels like we focus so much on the convenient parts of the other.”

But that was likely what compatibility was.

“When I approached him, he got down on one knee and held out a wooden box. He said my clothes had to have been torn by the trap, so he brought me some new clothes. My heart was racing as I opened it on the spot and I found a Hexagone Française uniform of all things.”

“Your husband is into some crazy things.”

She hit him once and then thought back on the past.

…''So much happened back then.

She had refused the uniform and brought him to the house. She chose to believe she had done so out of respect for him.

“By the time I tried on the uniform and showed it off to him to see if he liked it, it was already night.”

Since it was late, she had made him spend the night. She had stood guard over him, he had gone to sleep first, and she had slept in the following morning.

…''But I found something amazing when I woke up.

He had gotten up early and cooked breakfast. And he had made jam using the fruit on the tree outside.

“When staying with my mother before, my father had realized from her cooking that she had trouble with citrus fruits. But the Reine des Garous had to take care of the forest, so she could not let the tree die. So my father decided to use the candy house’s sugar candy to make jam.”

Naito tilted her head.

“That’s citrus marmalade, right? But did your mom really like that? If she was living in the forest cut off from human civilization, she wouldn’t have access to flour and wouldn’t have any bread, right? Even a single fruit tree would make a lot, so how would they use it all?”

“Um, Lady Naito? There are more ways to use jam than putting it on bread.”

After speaking to Naito, Mary turned to Mitotsudaira and said exactly what she expected her to.

“He used it as a sauce for cooking meat, didn’t he?”

“Judge. By mixing it with mustard and other sauces, he could make a salty-sweet sauce a lot like sweet vinegar. And doing that uses quite a lot of the jam. My father belonged to a poor noble family and there were a lot of fruit trees around their house, so he cooked like that a lot for himself too. That was why he thought to do the same for my mother.”

She took a breath.

“When he saw how much she liked it, he taught her how to make the jam and tried to leave. He assumed he would never meet her again. But then…”

“Yes?”

Mitotsudaira smiled as the other two girls asked her to continue.

“My mother said the uniform would no longer fit her after eating so much, so she asked him to bring another one for her.”

That was when she had realized the identity of that unfamiliar scent she had detected on him.

…''Yes, it was citrus.

When a poor noble family was surrounded by a variety of fruit orchards, what would happen as they tried to keep food on the table?

Most of their food would come from those fruits and it would become a part of their scent. The smell of citrus was an irritant to Loup-Garous, but after passing through a human body, it became the smell of meat.

…''The sharp, harsh aroma is sweetened and dissolved inside the meat.

The jam sauce was an artificial reproduction of that.

…''That first jam sauce he made was so very sweet.

She had felt like she was eating his scent.

It had dumbfounded her to the point that she had to look over at him to make sure his body was still intact.

She remembered everything from the days following that. He had visited to teach her how to cook and she had taught him what edible plants he could find in the forest. Their repertoire of jam had increased, they had been able to eat all sorts of things together, and the forest environment may have been good for him because his health had not declined quite as often.

She remembered it all.

Their eating habits had grown more similar, so the citrus smell she had supposedly hated had started coming from her own body and the meat smell she loved so much had started coming from him. This had delighted her and they never had the exact same smell because one of them was a carnivore and the other was an omnivore.

She had wanted to smell like him, so while helping him with his studies or something else, she would pretend to peer down at the textbook while really leaning in from behind and pressing her throat against him. That may have been the reason for something else.

“Helping him study was especially fun. I taught him history, old languages, and war while he taught me about new sciences, politics, and economics. But on occasion, he would mention his friend from back home. To be honest, I did not like that very much.”

“You said she was a sickly girl, right? That’s definitely the heroine type. …And the Reine des Garous is the jealous type, is she? Oh, and does Nate say not to compare girls with other girls because of that?”

“That is simply the nature of women. …But anyway, I didn’t really understand what I was feeling back then. I simply wondered why he was talking about someone else when I was with him. Thinking back, I can tell he saw no problem with bringing her up because he thought nothing of her. But…”

“But?”

“He seemed to have talent at managing his land and did well with that, but he seemed to have trouble getting along with people. Word spread that he was meeting with me or with a Technohexen. Once people realized it was partially true, rumors spread that he was working with me to expand his territory.”

“What did he say about that?

“Oh, I heard about it from the birds because he never said anything. But when I indirectly turned the conversation in that direction, he said not to worry and that he would solve everything once he became a man.”

But would he really?

“I didn’t really understand what he meant by becoming a man. He was short, weak, and looked just like a child, but…”

One day, an incident had occurred.

“Suddenly, my father was no longer able to remove the sugar candy from the candy house.”

“You mean he became an adult?” asked Margot.

Mitotsudaira nodded.

“My mother tried to comfort him, but he only apologized and said it was because he had thought things about her he shouldn’t have.”

“Such as?”

“He had been thinking of confessing to her that he would come for her once he had grown to be her equal and could truly say he loved her. But it seemed the house had seen through it, so he assumed it was rejecting him so he couldn’t take her from it.”

“That wasn’t it, was it?” said Margot. “The candy house was telling your mom to go with him, wasn’t it?”

“I may not be one to talk, but I don’t think either of my parents really understood the other’s feelings or their own feelings. My father thought my mother was someone who protected the forest and my mother thought she would lose her excuse for not eating him once he grew up and was no longer a child.”

The two other girls stiffened at that last part.

…''That’s right.

“My mother hadn’t realized what it meant to have someone she didn’t want to eat. But since my mother didn’t want to eat him and my father was ashamed of what he had thought about her…”

She took a breath and shrugged.

“They stopped seeing each other.”

“I see,” said the boy in the flickering candlelight. “This is starting to get exciting.”

“Y-you sure are taking this lightly! But anyway…”

The Reine des Garous nodded and found the boy had turned to face her at some point. Fortunately, he seemed to have stopped bleeding, so she grabbed the shirt next to the bed and placed it over him.

“Nn. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Well, I was an idiot too. Once I stopped seeing him, I thought I had done a decent job of withdrawing from it all, but it was really just him feeling ashamed. But I was convinced I would have to eat him the next time I saw him because I was the Reine des Garous.”

“Well, there’s no helping that. You lived in two different worlds.”

“Testament. That’s true. He had a good friend back home. …And from what I hear, that friend had feelings for him. I had convinced myself it would be better for him to say he loved her instead of me. I thought that would end that relationship between Loup-Garou and human.”

She smiled bitterly.

“After he left, I even said it. When he was still there, I was too afraid to do so, but I used the words to convince myself.”

“Maman, you shouldn’t bring yourself down like that.”

“I know that,” she said as she stroked his head and gave a genuine smile.

She then continued with the story.

“But I began to hear unpleasant rumors from the birds and some of the spirits. When he entered the third year, classmates from a neighboring area approached him and accused him of taming the Reine des Garous. And if he wanted to prove them wrong, he had to go defeat me. And…”

And…

“They said they would accept him as a man and obey him if he did. It was actually a trick to take control of the land that had developed so well under his management. They wanted him to challenge me and be killed by me. And the council of feudal lords told him he could always run away but gave him these instructions: drive a stake into the Reine des Garous’s body to take her soul. But if you are going to run, we will decide you lack the ability needed to protect your land. …They were worried about the rumors of him conspiring with me. When I heard about it all, I decided I would die for his sake.”

“Wasn’t that a bad idea?”

“It was.”

She smiled and realized it had been a long time since she talked about this. She had not had anyone to tell it to since her daughter had left, so she hid nothing and did not try to make it sound better than it was.

“At the time, I was stupid, inexperienced, and desperate, so I wrote a letter and had the birds take it to him. It said, ‘On the night of the next full moon, come prepared to take my life. I will give you my entire being.’ ”

“The chancellor would definitely lecture her about that.”

“He probably would,” agreed Mitotsudaira.

…''Horizon would too, but hers would be expressionless.

“Judge, but my father was also stupid, inexperienced, and desperate. He thought as much as he could until the day of the full moon, but he apparently decided he wanted to see her and so he went. He also asked his friend for help. He said he had these two letters from the council of feudal lords and from ‘Miss Loup-Garou’ and asked what he should do.”

Mitotsudaira smiled.

“And she said, ‘You really are dumb. If you do what I tell you, the Reine des Garous will be a piece of cake. Did you know you have to use a special weapon for a Loup-Garou?’ ”

''Was that night even quieter than tonight?'' wondered the Reine des Garous.

“I set up the silver chain obelisks in front of the house and wrapped the chains around my arms and legs to…well, to make sure I couldn’t resist. Yes, and I opened the uniform he had given me from the chest to below the navel to make sure he could pierce my heart with a stake or a cross.”

“You’re into some crazy stuff, too.”

She hit him twice and then smiled.

[[Image:Horizon3B_0495.jpg|thumb]]

“C’mon. It set the mood and was perfect for being so full of myself. And halfway through the night when the moon was almost directly overhead, he showed up in front of the house. I was so excited!”

“Ah, wait! If you hold my head like that and rub it with your chin, my face goes right between your breasts and it’s really amazing!”

She laughed and released him.

Noticing heat in her cheeks, she continued to speak.

“I hadn’t seen him in a while, but he had grown a bit and he had brought a large basket with him. Also…he looked extremely uncertain of himself, so I told him to calm down and assured him I would obey him. …I said I would offer everything up to him.”

“And what did he do?”

“Testament. He moved so close I could feel his breath on me, he opened the chest of my uniform even more, and he said he had come here after being told to kill me.”

But he had said more with a serious look on his face.

“He said a friend had told him of a way he could avoid killing me.”

“A way to avoid killing her? Was there a way to do that, Lady Mitotsudaira?”

“Judge,” replied Mitotsudaira with a nod to Mary who was looking sleepy.

…''I can’t believe my parents.

With that thought, she continued the story.

“My father didn’t really know how to kill a Loup-Garou, so his friend had given him instructions. ‘Listen. First, remove her clothes and look closely. Like at her breasts. And then say this.’ ”

“This” being…

“ ‘I heard from a friend that the stake and taking of your soul are metaphorical. So I was told to ask you what to do. I was told you would guide me through it all.’ ”

Her mother had apparently not known what he meant. She had supposedly even asked if there really was a way to do that, but her father had nodded and said what his friend had told him to say.

“ ‘As a man, I apparently already have the stake needed to take everything that you have but also still be with you. …But what is that stake? If I do have it, what am I supposed to do to you? Please tell me.’ ”

Because…

“ ‘I don’t want to kill you and I want to be with you. So teach me what I’m supposed to do.’ ”

''I didn’t know what to do either when he said that,'' thought the Reine des Garous.

She had thought he was there to take her life, but he had no intention of doing that and on his friend’s instructions…

…''He wanted to give me ''his stake''.

That meant for the Reine des Garous to be with a human and a weak one at that.

It was unthinkable. To ensure their lineage remained, each generation of Reine des Garous would devour a powerful male and bear a mixture of their soul and her own soul as her child.

“But being queen had already lost all meaning for me.”

For that reason and because the chains prevented her from moving, she had asked him something.

“I said the clothes he had given me had gotten tight again. So I asked him to remove them since I couldn’t use my hands at the moment.”

When he had moved in close to remove her clothes, she had brought her lips to the corner of his eye.

The first time she had tasted him, it was through his tears.

The Reine des Garous recalled what had happened after that.

She had thought she might resist that first time and she had been afraid of any slight discrepancies in their understanding, so she had remained chained up in the moonlight.

She had then taught him what to do.

“The etiquette of wolves is to start by moving in close and sniffing each other’s scent.”

They had rubbed their cheeks together, brushed their hands through their hair, touched their necks together, and felt each other’s breathing and warmth.

That was the first time she had allowed herself to tell herself she loved that smell.

He smelled nice, he was attached to her, he wanted her, he fed her delicious food, and he thought of her first in everything. She had tried to sacrifice herself, but he had never considered the possibility and insisted on them being together.

If she thought or said she loved him, no one would blame her at that point.

So as they rubbed their bodies together, disturbed their clothing, and became enveloped in each other’s warmth, she gave another instruction.

“Now, please hold me tight.”

…''Thinking back, we had gone a little overboard during our normal study sessions. Bad queen.

But he had awkwardly and hesitantly embraced her.

“Now the lips.”

Their lips had met.

“Um, is your…tongue ready?”

He had answered yes by sticking out his tongue. While they wrapped their tongues around each other, tugged, and licked each other’s tongues, she had realized something.

She was tasting him.

But had he understood that as well? Urgency filled his movements as he embraced her and hers as she pressed against him. Their movements filled the gaps in each other’s skin and pressed them against each other.

“Um, more…”

She had not been drinking his blood, devouring his flesh, or chewing on his bones. They had been smelling him and pressing their skin together, rubbing their tongues across each other’s mucous membranes and soft flesh, tightly embracing as they brought their bodies and minds together, and wiping away or licking up or even rubbing in their saliva and tears.

…''And it was intoxicating.

Loup-Garous were nearly spirits, so they could control others through ether. It was a type of assimilation, so they would even obtain their prey’s thoughts when eating them.

Those thoughts would be submission, fear, and futile resistance. Feeling those ensured their status and the joy of being devoured that some felt was the power and pride of being a predator.

But what if they did not eat the other person and instead wanted to be with them?

…''Our thoughts, movements, and feelings all passed back and forth between us.

As she accepted his feelings, her own feelings reached him via the ether. Not only was it impossible to hide anything, but what he thought about her thoughts and her own thoughts inside him would return to her through the assimilation.

“…”

Simply remembering it was enough to make her shudder. The more they had thought, the more their thoughts had combined. She had lost track of who she was and simply felt good and happy as they intertwined.

“Now, please…”

He had done exactly what she wanted. The feeling would reach her and circulated between them, so…

…''I accepted him as if offering myself up to him.

He had been a different being from herself. She had wanted to be closer to him and his scent resembled hers, but he was definitely a different creature.

But as he had kissed her and attacked where she could not resist, she had spoken up.

“O-okay. Let’s try to go deep in there.”

She could now say they had done a little too much studying then, but that was because she was calmer now. At the time, they had both been very serious. She even had a faint memory of saying “three, two, one, go”, but she hoped she was imagining that one.

But that gathering of his flesh and scent had reached a place she was unable to see.

The empty part of her she could do nothing about was expanded and filled by that flesh and scent of his that she wanted more than anything else. As she had wetly wrapped around it, she had felt a strong pain.

“Ee!”

She had wondered if this was really okay, but had that been due to surprise, fear, or joy? Without finding the answer, his embrace had grown even stronger. Instead of simply bringing their lips together, they had started seeking each other to the point of exchanging breaths or kneading each other.

“…”

The two of them had continued pushing or groping each other’s bodies yet never moving away from each other. As time went on, they fulfilled each other or were fulfilled countless times.

…''But…

After remembering that much, the Reine des Garous sighed.

…''My inexperience took that in an interesting direction.

After desiring each other for a while, the two of them had realized something about their condition.

First of all, they never grew tired.

She was a non-human royal, so she had predicted her own endurance, but he could also continue without end due to receiving her feelings and regenerative ability through the ether.

One could say he had received the protection of the Reine des Garous.

And on top of that…

…''The regenerative ability of the Loup-Garou race kept trying to heal my “wound” right away.

To teach her body it was not a wound, they had needed to keep at it for a very, very long time to make a “mold” of his shape.

…''We really did just keep doing that.

But he had been incredibly worried about her “wound”.

“Um, are you okay? Should we stop?”

“No, no, no, no, no, no! I’m fine! Perfectly fine! I really am, so just a little longer!”

…''Thinking back, if I was, then I could have stopped. Well, I can chalk that up to a discrepancy in our understanding of each other. Yes, that was it.

But as they brought their bodies together, those kinds of words had melted into warm thoughts and circulated between their hearts.

It had all been perfect for desiring each other without end.

For the first three days and three nights, they had continually desired each other and answered that desire while still standing.

She had started off offering herself to him, but because she was sharing her pain with him and receiving his feelings, she soon began to prioritize what she wanted. Worst of all, she was able to request whatever she wanted in the name of “teaching him”.

“N-now, there. Work hard there and keep at it. Don’t give in until I say it’s okay.”

“C-can you be more specific, Miss Loup-Garou? Make your instructions more specific.”

…''How could he ask a girl to say something so embarrassing? …I did tell him, though.

But to be absolutely sure she would not resist, they had only loosened the chains a little and they had remained standing while desiring each other, answering each other’s desires, begging for what they wanted, and responding to those requests.

On the fourth day, she had been relieved to find she still had no desire to resist. They had loosened the chains further so she could get down on her knees and elbows in front of the house. In that position, she could reach any part of his body with her lips and she could finally hold him in her arms.

That was when their mutual desire had truly begun.

Instead of only being on the receiving end, she could directly desire things, wrap around him, and bend her back to offer herself to him since the chains weighed down her arms and legs. She had also answered his desires when he cried out like a child or like he was crying.

She had wanted to pay him back for everything he had done over the past three days, so she had continued doing all sorts of things for him.

…''It was wonderful that my mouth could reach.

She had sent out her tongue and licked over every single part of him. She had trembled as she felt his scent reach her nose from inside her mouth, on her tongue, and in the back of her throat. When she had made him stand with his back pressed up against the pillar and kneeled in front of him, her lips were at the perfect height to reach him.

She had done anything for him in the name of “teaching him”.

“To tame a Loup-Garou, you must stick your spear everywhere you can. And to keep a beast from biting, you can stick something in the back of their throat. That prevents them from closing the base of their jaw and… Well, just stay still.”

“H-huh? I feel like you gave up explaining partway through!”

…''Again, why are you trying to make a girl explain all the details? …I did explain them, though.

She had kissed him, used her tongue to guide him deep into her throat, and slowly moved her head forward and back while sucking and moving him back outside of her lips. She had also used the pressure of her lips to pull his scent from him and savor it. When he could no longer contain himself, she had taken her reward onto her tongue, the backs of her teeth, and the back of her throat before carefully swallowing it. She would also sometimes gently bite him with her back teeth. After repeating this again and again, a new thought had come to her.

…''I’m glad I didn’t eat him.

The flavor that soaked into her mouth, the back of her throat, her skin, and inside her body was the human flavor she had wanted so much.

If she ate him, it was over after the one time.

But by not eating him, she could continue to enjoy this flesh and this scent as she felt it thick on her tongue, sticky in her throat, and resilient against her teeth.

And it went beyond her mouth. She felt it in her skin, in her flesh, in the sensation of being touched, in the sensation of him pressing up against her, in being groped, in being pinched, and in being embraced.

She could stay with him forever because she had not eaten him.

And the grooming and regeneration of a bestial spirit was perfect for refreshing and preparing their bodies. Even after experiencing it countless times, it would quickly fade and leave them wanting more.

So they had both decided to keep going until the other was exhausted and they had continued for another three days and three nights. Only then did they finally remove the chains and fully remove their clothes.

“Now, can you take off my clothes? …Oh, but you can do that without me telling you how, right?’

“Well, um… I’ve imagined doing it for so long.”

He had apologized, so she had no choice but to embrace him and whisper that she had too.

[[Image:Horizon3B_0507.jpg|thumb]]

Newly exposing their naked bodies to each other had been embarrassing, but it was no longer a one-way situation of doing something or having something done. Once they had begun intertwining their bodies, there had been no stopping them. When she had taken his hand, he had pulled her hand to him. When she had moved her body in close, he had moved back toward her and deep inside her. When she had turned her back, he had embraced her and filled her up. Without saying a word, they had known exactly what the other wanted done and they had fulfilled those desires and had their own desires fulfilled.

The biggest change was that she could have him lick her now that she had removed her clothes. His wetness reached the places filled with her scent and he had licked all over every part of her, front and back. She had moved around at the ticklish feeling and done the same to him, but she had grown nearly intoxicated from having his scent washed all over her by his tongue and she had asked one thing. She had gotten on hands and knees in front of him, traced her tongue along him, and spoke.

“Now, will you cover me with your scent?”

She had wanted him to mark her, but he had hesitated. Once she had urged him on with her tongue and gaze, he had granted her desire. That was when she had nearly passed out. While she lay face down and trembling in the puddle of his scent, he had moved up behind her.

“U-um, to tame you, I have to drive my stake everywhere, right?”

“Eh?”

They could not allow a discrepancy in their understanding. She had raised her hips toward him, he had grabbed them, and to tame her, he had “driven his stake” into a place he had not yet done so. But…

“U-um, Miss Loup-Garou, this doesn’t seem to have tamed you at all!”

“W-work harder! Yes, work harder! The Far Eastern character for hard work is a combination of the characters for ‘woman’, ‘crotch’, and ‘strength’, so keeping this up will give you strength!”

…''I really am stupid, aren’t I?

But she had offered him every place she could accept him, received what he gave her when he could not hold it in any longer, was covered by it, licked it up, and swallowed it. They had continued embracing and desiring each other without interruption for another three days and three nights.

…''Yes, we really did. I even used my high-speed techniques to…um…be tamed. Yes, that’s right. I was tamed at high speed.

But eventually, their bodies had begun to lose their strength. Thinking it was finally over, they had moved into the house while still embracing each other.

During this break, she had thought back on the past days and begun to realize just how horribly embarrassing everything they had done was.

But then…

“Ah.”

Right inside the front door, her weak feet had stumbled and she had fallen so her knees and breasts reached the floor. She had tried to get back up and managed to raise her knees, but her arms had been too weak. The next thing she knew…

“Eh?”

She was on the floor with her knees spread wide and her hips sticking up toward him behind her.

It was an embarrassing position and the way she had asked him to hold her up had been a mistake.

“Please.”

Their mutual understanding had failed, so he had come at her with even more desire than before. In truth, she really had cried several times. Because it was so good.

Her carelessness had led to an even more embarrassing time over the next three days and three nights. After the battle, the two of them had ended up collapsed on the floor in each other’s arms. This time, she truly, truly had thought it was time for a ceasefire. Any more education would have definitely been wrong. Not that everything up until then had not been wrong. At any rate, she had not seen how it could get any worse.

But after she got up first, she had seen him next to her covered in sweat, gasping for breath, and red in the cheeks. She had found him incredibly cute and he was amazing no matter what he did.

He had looked up at her with teary eyes and reached out a hand as if asking for help.

“Please…”

A failure in their mutual understanding had suddenly filled her with even more desire than before. In truth, she really had almost cried several times. Because his reactions were so good.

She had been fairly certain that the “teaching him” excuse was still valid. Probably.

“Heh heh. How is it? C’mon, don’t hide your face. I’ll hold both your hands down if I have to. And – heh heh – tell me exactly how good it feels. …Now, begin.”

She had made him say all sorts of things, but she had later “taught him” all sorts of things to balance it out.

…''But even if our understanding could be a little off, our amazing compatibility was the real problem. Yes, that was the problem. A huge problem. And he didn’t help with what he said.

“Wh-what if a lost child shows up?”

…''Of course that was going to fire me up even more.

They had continued for another three days and three nights on the floor, below the table, or next to the chairs. Their movements of desire had formed a slow crawl toward the neighboring room. She had decided that they would surely get some sleep once they were in the bedroom.

But she had been too naïve.

Another problem had arisen because the bedroom had a bookcase and it of course contained a health textbook.

“Y-you need to study before going to bed, don’t you!?”

“Eh? What is this acrobatic position? Can humans really do that? Wow!”

She had been unsure why he was so impressed.

Regardless, they had studied the book on the floor, had a hands-on lesson, and then went over it again just to be sure. They had confirmed their own techniques, blushed as they taught each other just what they should do when they were alone and thinking about the other, and then finally made it onto the bed.

She had exposed her defenseless stomach on the soft sheets, spread her thighs to receive him, had her knees lifted up from below, raised her own hips, looked down on him from above, and embraced him again.

She was no longer “teaching him”. They simply obeyed their circulating thoughts, spent a final three days and three nights as she accepted him in from above countless times, and finally fell gently to sleep while still embracing each other.

Although he had woken up five minutes later as he suffocated in her breasts.

Afterwards, they had slept like a log for three days straight, pecked at each other as they dozed, and repeatedly desired each other and answered the other’s desire to confirm they were there when they woke up.

Their connected and overlapping minds had shared a single thought from the moment they had begun until the very end: I never want to leave this person.

…''Come to think of it, I’ve done just that here.

Remembering it all filled her heart with love instead of embarrassment.

She also remembered what had happened after they had woken from their excessive time together.

They had both gotten up, exchanged a glance, smiled, shared a meal, and played in the water together.

“Let’s go.”

He had then tugged on her hand.

He had been ready then. When seeing his thoughts, she had learned that he knew human society would never allow him to marry the Reine des Garous.

But he had made up his mind, so she had done the same.

“Yes, let’s go.”

She had taken his hand and she had wanted to go with him.

“And when my parents left the forest together…”

Mitotsudaira stopped at that point. Mary was slowly nodding off to her right.

…''Was the story too boring?

But she also remembered the exhaustion from the day.

“Ma-yan must be tired after all the healing and other stuff she did. From what I saw, she fell asleep around the time your mom tied herself up with the chains.”

That would explain why she had never been asked for details about her parents joining together. Tenzou would probably have some difficulties concerning that at some point, but it was not her problem. For now, she supported Mary’s head with her shoulder, but…

…''H-her breasts are pressing against my right elbow!!

She felt some fresh surprise at realizing what it felt like with someone who actually had something there, but she managed to support the girl. Naito opened a new Magie Figur and moved the meter down to zero before speaking.

“Now, get on with the story.”

“Margot, you really like this kind of story, don’t you?”

“It’s called having taste,” she said with a smile and a wave of her bandaged right hand.

But Mitotsudaira raised one corner of her mouth in a smile of her own.

“I say that, but I don’t really know much more. No one would approach my parents after they left the forest and his friend went to Paris where her brother lived. But my parents lived a fulfilling life and they eventually realized my mother was pregnant with me. And…”

“And?”

“Paris…that is, Hexagone Française’s central academy, Ecole de Paris, summoned my parents. They thought the time had finally come to be punished for what they had done, but when they got there…”

She had a feeling they had always be vague about this part of the story.

“According to them, they were given a plea to spare some people’s lives. It had been sent by the classmates and feudal lords who had plotted against my father. They travelled to Paris and they gave their swords to my parents.”

“They…kept their promise?”

“A lot must have happened, but they had the blood of knights in their veins and they had promised to serve my father if he defeated my mother. He had made her his wife, so they kept their promise and my parents have been protected by them ever since.”

Mitotsudaira smiled bitterly.

“And my parents were forgiven. Based on what my mother said, it must have been in exchange for becoming vice chancellor as the Reine des Garous once Louis Exiv took his inherited name. That allowed her to give birth to me in Paris, hide her identity, claim to have ruled a different land, and yet continue to protect this forest. But…”

At that point, she realized something.

“That sickly girl who was my father’s local friend was probably the same one who judged them in Paris.”

She was…

“Anne of Austria. …Louis Exiv’s younger sister by birth and his mother by inherited name.”

“She’s rumored to be in Magdeburg now, right?”

“Judge.” Mitotsudaira nodded and stared into the darkness ahead of her. “She was probably sent to this spirit-filled forest for a restful lifestyle to help with her incurable illness. Her brother Exiv’s abilities were recognized, but the Testament Union’s interference forced her to take the position of provisional chancellor and Student Council president. To her, the Reine des Garous that her local friend had taken as a wife had to have been a reliable existence.”

“Mito-tsan, I’ll erase that last part from the recording.”

Only then did she notice the sharpness of her words.

“Sorry,” she said with a light bow. “From my parents’ perspective, she’s the one that brought them together and then allowed them to remain together.”

“Without her, you never would’ve been born.”

The thought of her own birth got her thinking, but as she thought, she began to wonder what was wrong with her mother for telling her that sexual story when she was so young. She had a feeling she had seen her mother telling it while wiggling back and forth with her hands on her cheeks about once every three days.

She also remembered her mother rejoicing when she copied that action, but she stopped herself because she had a feeling that remembering any more would lead to a fatal dose of painful memories.

…''But I really do owe my life to a lot of different people.

“Then again, I guess the reason my mother is my enemy now is so she can pay back the debt made before I was born and right after I was born.”

“Oh, Mito-tsan, you’re so cool.”

She had recovered enough to reply with “I am a knight, after all.”

…''But that’s thanks to the others.

She had still not fully recovered, but she was not wrong to think that.

“How about we get some sleep? I’m sure we’ll be moving before the sun is up tomorrow morning.”

“What about Ma-yan?”

“You can just leave her next to me.”

''I sure have gotten lenient,'' she thought while supporting the girl’s back and lying down.

She managed to get both her and Mary lying on the slope.

“Nn.”

But Mary fell toward her and gently clung to her.

''Eh?'' she thought, but Mary’s arms were already wrapped around her back and chest and were even approaching her waist. The girl’s head and floral-smelling hair rested on her chest and held her in place.

“Nnn…”

…''Ehh!? Does she like to hold something when she sleeps!?

“Wait, um… Margot! Why are you recording this!?”

“Tenzou! Tenzou! Is she like this with you too!?”

“W-well, I’m always on the top bunk, so…”

Mitotsudaira and Margot exchanged a serious glance.

“Mito-tsan, why don’t we take a major step in your father’s footsteps and teach her some things here?”

“No matter how I look at this, I have to agree with you.”

“Y-you two don’t understand the beauty of conflicting feelings, do you!?”

As they argued back and forth, Mitotsudaira placed her chin on Mary’s head.

Since Mary had not said anything more, she could assume the chancellor was still safe.

…''But what are he and my mother doing right now?

After telling her long story and taking a break, the Reine des Garous looked to the boy who was embracing her left arm.

He was asleep. He was curled up next to her and gently breathing.

…''Honestly, how defenseless can you be?

This was not a kind place where she would not eat him simply because he did not oppose her, but…

…''He really is entrusting everything to me.

This was just like a child feeling safe in his parent’s arms and falling asleep. He was lost in the relief of leaving his safety up to someone else. And if he was doing that, she could do whatever she wanted. Thinking this would be her last chance, she opened her mouth and brought her lips to his forehead.

“…?”

She smelled something there. She smelled the nostalgic scent of her daughter, the scent of bread, the scent of the incense used at Shinto shrines, a dog-like scent, and…

…''Oh?

Curious, she licked him and detected a flavor rising from her tongue to her nose.

…''This is…?

She knew it but at the same time did not. Frustrated, she licked him a second and third time to check.

But she really could not place the flavor.

Whatever it was, it was saying “I’m here”. She did not know what was saying “I’m here”, but she had a feeling the words “I’m here” could describe this boy. Wanting to know what it was, she prepared to move from licking to just about sucking on him, but…

“…”

She suddenly remembered something she had forgotten for a long, long time.

“It can’t be.”

At the same time, a ''Signe Cadre'' appeared next to her face. It was a Catholic type, but…

“Hm? Didn’t I temporarily block any from the Student Council or chancellor’s officers?”

She checked and saw this one was not from either group. It had arrived via her home, so her husband had forwarded it to her and it was originally from…

“Anne, of course.”

She looked to the boy next to her.

“My. Does everyone find this boy to be that important?”

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| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 45|Chapter 45]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 47|Chapter 47]]
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Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 46

2015-08-19T19:41:51Z

68.109.52.245: /* Chapter 46: Storyteller Among Classmates */

==Chapter 46: Storyteller Among Classmates==
[[Image:Horizon3B_0471.jpg|thumb]]
''The depths of the night

''Tend to help people grow

'''Point Allocation (Not referring to their breasts)

The darkness of the night was amplified in the depths of the forest.

When three girls gathered in the faint light of spirits, stories were bound to follow.

…''This feels somewhat nostalgic.

Mary had that thought as she had the light spirits float around them. In England, the children and women would sometimes gather together for a lively night.

“Well, you see,” said Mitotsudaira as she looked at the other two girls. “My mother’s family originally ruled this area. …Or so it seems. But when I say ‘ruled’, I mean as the beast at the top of the food chain. But…”

“But?” asked Mary to urge Mitotsudaira on.

Mary and Naito had already moved up so all three were on the same level with Mitotsudaira in the center.

“Oh, the water has boiled. Have some herb tea.”

“Yay! Made by a real Englishwoman!”

“Thanks,” said Mitotsudaira as she grabbed both ends of the container made from bent leaves.

She blew on the tea to cool it and the aroma filled her surroundings.

“What a calming smell. …Anyway, my mother was from the Reine des Garous' family, but the number of humans outside the forest grew and the forest was divided up by roads and wars. Also, the people began working together to hunt down the Loup-Garous. My mother’s family… Yes, I laughed when she once said she came from an unrivaled family, but I never thought she meant the Reine des Garous' family… Yes…”

“Don’t let it get you down, Mito-tsan! Pretend you’re eating some meat!”

''You can cheer her up like that?'' thought Mary in amazement.

Meanwhile, Mitotsudaira smiled bitterly.

“Um, sorry if I’m not entirely consistent in how I say things. Anyway… Partially due to pressure from the lower Loup-Garous and other races, my…yes, the Reine des Garous' family promised to support the humans in the Hundred Years’ War to ensure the rights and safety of non-humans. But after that, the lifestyle of the non-humans became a lot more like that of humans. It might have been an intentional strategy on the humans’ part. It was a way of acclimating and taming the non-humans.”

What she said sounded harsh to Mary, but that may have been because England was so centered on non-humans. But even if she understood that, stating an objection would not help the situation.

Instead, she urged Mitotsudaira to continue.

“What did you mother do during all that?”

“Eh? Oh. From what I’ve heard, when her mother died, the noble who ruled the area tried to make a name for himself by taking advantage of the situation and hunting her down. My mother apparently purged all of his hunters. From then on, it seems people stopped coming here. But…”

But…

“The humans were pretty clever. They knew they could not stand up to her, so they put a weak noble family in charge of this forest and then sealed it off by dividing it up with roads.”

“They divided up this forest?”

That question filled a room now lit only by a single flickering candle.

A boy asked the question to the Reine des Garous.

His nosebleed had finally stopped, but he had been told not to move from his back and the Reine des Garous lay on her side next to him.

“That’s right.” She nodded. “My family had originally allowed a few roads so that the humans could pass through because some generations preferred to avoid any complications. But they used that permission to expand all of the roads, even the ones that had fallen into disuse, and they started dividing up the forest.”

She thought back to an old memory that was also a regret.

“And, well, the circulation of the ecosystem doesn’t work well when the forest is too small. Once we could no longer secure enough animals for food, we began to weaken as well.”

“Yeah, Nate does eat a lot of meat.”

…''If she has been keeping that up away from me, I must have taught her well when she was younger.

She felt satisfied in her education but brought her thoughts back to the past.

“My fellow Loup-Garous were hunted down or left for human society. Eventually, I was the only Loup-Garou in this area.”

She naturally let out a bitter smile.

“Honestly,” she sighed. “The humans did an excellent job. They knew they couldn’t hope to defeat me directly, so they isolated me and my forest so I might as well not be there at all. And the next noble family to rule the land was too weak to ever defeat me, so they were just telling me to die here all alone.”

“How did that lead to meeting your husband?”

“Well,” she said while looking to the boy.

He lay on his back and turned a look of expectation toward her. ''Not that this is all that interesting a story,'' she thought to herself.

“The head of that noble family died during Hexagone Française’s Reformation and his son became the next ruler of the land. He was small and weak and disliked athletics, but he was a serious boy who loved books.”

She took a breath.

“And he would eventually become my husband.”

“When my father inherited the land, yes, he was a very diligent person. He saw the rulers of other areas hunting down the werewolves for their people, so he decided to do the same. But my mother had already been isolated and what she had done in the past was well-known, so no one would help him.”

Mitotsudaira saw the other two girls nodding eagerly and she took a sip of tea. She quite enjoyed the way they leaned forward and the way their gazes told her to hurry up and continue the story.

“But my father knew fighting was not his thing, so he asked a friend for some advice. That friend… Well, according to my mother, she was a sickly girl and my father’s childhood friend, but in the academy…um, uh, to be blunt, she saved him from being bullied a lot.”

“What kind of advice did that girl give him?”

“Judge.”

Mitotsudaira leaned back and waved a hand to copy the act her father would sometimes make to match her mother’s story.

“ ‘You really are stupid. There’s no way you can win in a fight, so that means you need to lay a trap. Yes, a trap.’ ”

Mary applauded after realizing she was acting out the part. Mitotsudaira was not sure if that was a good or bad thing, but she smiled regardless.

…''I don’t have many opportunities to act like this on the Musashi.

“Anyway, he decided to lay a trap. And then…”

“But when I realized the humans had isolated me, I felt I had finally been freed from all the annoyances of life and decided I could live the rest of my life in quiet solitude.”

The Reine des Garous lay on her side with her back to the wall and Musashi’s chancellor to her left. She gave him a bitter smile.

The werewolf queen placed her cheek on his left shoulder and wrapped her left arm around his head.

She stroked his opposite cheek with her hand and he narrowed his eyes. That reaction removed the bitterness from her smile.

“But my fellow Loup-Garous were gone and my mother had died, so…”

“You weren’t lonely, were you? You are the Reine des Garous, after all.”

Whether he was being considerate or not, she swallowed the weak words she had almost said.

“Testament. That’s right. Royals are always isolated from everyone else. But…”

“But?”

“Testament. When you are alone, you begin to think about the meaning of your own existence. I had books, cooking implements, clothes, and even food in this candy house that any child would be delighted to visit. …But I no longer had anyone to talk to, so there was no meaning in entertaining, protecting, or dressing up. That was when I realized the lifestyle my mother had taught me was a human lifestyle.”

She had realized something then.

…''I put distance between myself and the neighbors who lived the same way as me.

Whenever one of the others had approached the humans, she had laughed and called them dogs, but she had only been able to do that because she had those others there in the first place.

Once she was all alone, even being queen had no meaning.

But at the time, she had thought she was unclean for being so immersed in a human lifestyle.

She had even hated her mother for immersing her in it. She had even wandered naked through the forest to return to being a beast.

But she had been shocked to realize even her appreciation of the beautiful scenery came from a human mindset.

…''And that tree grew in front of the house.

It was a fruit tree. Not only that, it bore a strong-smelling citrus fruit.

When her mother had still been alive, a lost child had apparently reached the house and planted the fruit seeds he had with him. A fruit tree looked perfect with a candy house and her mother had said it would be something for her generation to look after, but she had seen it more as a threat.

The smell reached its peak when spring shifted to summer and the tree began to bear fruit.

The smell seemed to have been telling her to leave the house, so she had stayed out in the forest a lot more.

“Well, a lot happened, but I thought it was all the result of the current age, of destiny, and of what I wanted. …So I decided to throw away everything I had.”

“Throw it away?”

“My first thought was to wander through the forest every day and, if someone had the guts to face me, I would obediently let them kill me. …But I couldn’t find anyone like that. That was when I decided to give in to my lifespan and just let myself rot.”

And then…

“I found a poorly hidden trap set up on the road back to this house. It was a spring-loaded kind that would capture my leg.”

“Did your husband do that?”

“Testament,” she confirmed.

She thought back to that time and did not bother stopping the smile that ran from the corners of her mouth to her cheeks.

“When I saw it, I realized someone would definitely come for me if I was caught in that trap. Yes, and it would a knight in shining armor who was willing to face the Reine des Garous.”

“Maman, you’re pretty amazing, aren’t you?”

“Any girl would think the same thing.”

She had nothing to be ashamed of as she clenched her right fist and said that.

At any rate, she went on to say what she had done back then.

“So I returned to the house, did the best I could to dress up for my knight, searched through my books to find the perfect way of expressing my thanks…and I intentionally let the trap catch me.”

“Intentionally? I don’t think I would go that far,” said Naito.

“Well, to be blunt, a trap like that can’t even scratch my mother.”

''We really are a strange family,'' realized Mitotsudaira.

…''Yes. Now that I think about it, we weren’t even a normal Loup-Garou family, but she kept it such a secret that I just thought we were an amazing family!

''That overly honest and diligent side must have come from my father,'' she decided with a sigh.

“But anyway,” she said. “After my mother waited for about two days, my father showed up. He was in his first year of high school at the time and he ran over to her when he saw her.”

“Was he excited that he had caught her?” asked Mary.

Mitotsudaira hesitated but finally answered.

“Well, no.”

She hesitated again but made up her mind.

“When he saw her leg in the trap, he started crying and saying ‘I’ve done something awful’, ‘I didn’t think it would do this’, and ‘I’m so sorry’.”

“I wasn’t hurt at all, but he had a weak body, he was bullied at the academy, and he had experienced a lot of… How should I put it? Not so much painful things, but restrictive and hurtful things.”

When setting up the trap, he had likely aspired to be a hero, but then he had seen her caught in the trap.

“He suddenly realized what exactly it was he had done.”

“That’s a lot like Nate.”

She stroked him from the cheek to neck and he acted ticklish.

But anyway, that had surprised her too. She had expected some great hero to appear, but it had been a skinny boy who was short enough to mistake for a girl. And far from wearing shining armor, he had worn an old worn-out school uniform.

“He cried and apologized while trying to remove the trap, but that kind of trap takes a lot of strength to remove. He had a lot of trouble and hurt his hand. As he tried, it even started to rain.”

She had not helped him, but she chose to believe it was out of respect for him.

“After he removed the trap, he put his coat over me so I wouldn’t get wet. At the time, he was a full head shorter than me, but he still tried to carry me.”

“Did you let him?”

“Testament. How could I not after all the effort he put into it?”

But…

“He collapsed once we reached here. …It was because of the rain soaking him without his coat.”

“And because he had to carry such a heavy- ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!!”

“Then I placed him in this very bed and had the spirits heal him. Once he woke, I tried to look frightening and told him I was the Reine des Garous. That name has a lot of power, after all. And then he said, ‘Sorry, but thank you for saving me, Miss Loup-Garou.’ ”

She had spent a busy week after that until he had recovered. She had been so busy because it was filled with things she had not had to do before.

“He was still weak, so I made food for him, did his laundry, and…”

She had felt shy. After all, she had been alone in the house with a boy. That tension and damage to her honor had never before been present in her life. And with all that…

“We talked about so many things. Including why I was here and why I was alone.”

The most interesting part was that he could remove the parts of the candy house.

…''The condition the Technohexen set for removing the candy was to be a child.

The Reine des Garous would not attack children. She had told him that and seen him off after he recovered.

“When we parted, I made sure to tell him never to return.”

“Why?”

She answered the boy’s surprised question.

“That is simple. Because he smelled amazingly good.”

She thought back to that time.

His scent had not changed, but she had never smelled it before back then. It was not the smell of an herbivore or a carnivore. She had assumed it was the human smell of an omnivore, but…

…''I had never smelled it before.

She had only realized the source of the smell later.

At the time, she had simply thought it was a good smell and sent him safely back to his village without eating him.

“Then what happened to him?”

“Apparently, he consulted with a local friend. That person did not believe he had actually met me and assumed he was making an excuse for getting lost, but he asked that friend a certain question. He said he wanted to properly thank and apologize to ‘Miss Loup-Garou’, but he did not know what to do since I had told him to never return.”

“And what did his friend say?”

“Testament.”

The Reine des Garous waved a hand and did an impression of that friend’s voice.

“ ‘You do not need to worry about her telling you not to come back. If she really didn’t want you to come back, she wouldn’t say that the first time around. If she really wanted to keep you away, she would act nice the first time but in a way that made you want to stay away if you wanted to be a good person. She would only reject someone who missed the clues and came back the second time. She kindly nursed you back to health, didn’t she? Then you’ll be fine.’ But…”

“But?”

“Apparently, that friend asked what was so great about me.”

“The boobs, right?”

“No.”

He had apparently answered differently.

“He said he had never seen someone so beautiful, he said I was cool, and he said he wanted to talk with me more.”

“I see,” said the boy. “That must’ve been a shock to the friend. Your husband doesn’t have much tact, does he?”

“No, he doesn’t.” She could not help but smile bitterly. “I think we both realized what we lacked and from there it was an issue of compatibility.”

And then he had arrived.

“Anyway, a few days later, I caught him entering the forest and demanded to know why he had come.”

Looking back, she could tell she had been happy. She had known the only reason he would be there was to see her. She had been proud that he wanted her, but she had tried to reject that feeling back then.

“I came at him a little too harshly.”

“But wasn’t that the perfect attitude for a guy who liked the cool Reine des Garous? Wasn’t it a real thrill for him?”

“Yes… It has always been a mystery just how well we communicated with each other. It feels like we focus so much on the convenient parts of the other.”

But that was likely what compatibility was.

“When I approached him, he got down on one knee and held out a wooden box. He said my clothes had to have been torn by the trap, so he brought me some new clothes. My heart was racing as I opened it on the spot and I found a Hexagone Française uniform of all things.”

“Your husband is into some crazy things.”

She hit him once and then thought back on the past.

…''So much happened back then.

She had refused the uniform and brought him to the house. She chose to believe she had done so out of respect for him.

“By the time I tried on the uniform and showed it off to him to see if he liked it, it was already night.”

Since it was late, she had made him spend the night. She had stood guard over him, he had gone to sleep first, and she had slept in the following morning.

…''But I found something amazing when I woke up.

He had gotten up early and cooked breakfast. And he had made jam using the fruit on the tree outside.

“When staying with my mother before, my father had realized from her cooking that she had trouble with citrus fruits. But the Reine des Garous had to take care of the forest, so she could not let the tree die. So my father decided to use the candy house’s sugar candy to make jam.”

Naito tilted her head.

“That’s citrus marmalade, right? But did your mom really like that? If she was living in the forest cut off from human civilization, she wouldn’t have access to flour and wouldn’t have any bread, right? Even a single fruit tree would make a lot, so how would they use it all?”

“Um, Lady Naito? There are more ways to use jam than putting it on bread.”

After speaking to Naito, Mary turned to Mitotsudaira and said exactly what she expected her to.

“He used it as a sauce for cooking meat, didn’t he?”

“Judge. By mixing it with mustard and other sauces, he could make a salty-sweet sauce a lot like sweet vinegar. And doing that uses quite a lot of the jam. My father belonged to a poor noble family and there were a lot of fruit trees around their house, so he cooked like that a lot for himself too. That was why he thought to do the same for my mother.”

She took a breath.

“When he saw how much she liked it, he taught her how to make the jam and tried to leave. He assumed he would never meet her again. But then…”

“Yes?”

Mitotsudaira smiled as the other two girls asked her to continue.

“My mother said the uniform would no longer fit her after eating so much, so she asked him to bring another one for her.”

That was when she had realized the identity of that unfamiliar scent she had detected on him.

…''Yes, it was citrus.

When a poor noble family was surrounded by a variety of fruit orchards, what would happen as they tried to keep food on the table?

Most of their food would come from those fruits and it would become a part of their scent. The smell of citrus was an irritant to Loup-Garous, but after passing through a human body, it became the smell of meat.

…''The sharp, harsh aroma is sweetened and dissolved inside the meat.

The jam sauce was an artificial reproduction of that.

…''That first jam sauce he made was so very sweet.

She had felt like she was eating his scent.

It had dumbfounded her to the point that she had to look over at him to make sure his body was still intact.

She remembered everything from the days following that. He had visited to teach her how to cook and she had taught him what edible plants he could find in the forest. Their repertoire of jam had increased, they had been able to eat all sorts of things together, and the forest environment may have been good for him because his health had not declined quite as often.

She remembered it all.

Their eating habits had grown more similar, so the citrus smell she had supposedly hated had started coming from her own body and the meat smell she loved so much had started coming from him. This had delighted her and they never had the exact same smell because one of them was a carnivore and the other was an omnivore.

She had wanted to smell like him, so while helping him with his studies or something else, she would pretend to peer down at the textbook while really leaning in from behind and pressing her throat against him. That may have been the reason for something else.

“Helping him study was especially fun. I taught him history, old languages, and war while he taught me about new sciences, politics, and economics. But on occasion, he would mention his friend from back home. To be honest, I did not like that very much.”

“You said she was a sickly girl, right? That’s definitely the heroine type. …And the Reine des Garous is the jealous type, is she? Oh, and does Nate say not to compare girls with other girls because of that?”

“That is simply the nature of women. …But anyway, I didn’t really understand what I was feeling back then. I simply wondered why he was talking about someone else when I was with him. Thinking back, I can tell he saw no problem with bringing her up because he thought nothing of her. But…”

“But?”

“He seemed to have talent at managing his land and did well with that, but he seemed to have trouble getting along with people. Word spread that he was meeting with me or with a Technohexen. Once people realized it was partially true, rumors spread that he was working with me to expand his territory.”

“What did he say about that?

“Oh, I heard about it from the birds because he never said anything. But when I indirectly turned the conversation in that direction, he said not to worry and that he would solve everything once he became a man.”

But would he really?

“I didn’t really understand what he meant by becoming a man. He was short, weak, and looked just like a child, but…”

One day, an incident had occurred.

“Suddenly, my father was no longer able to remove the sugar candy from the candy house.”

“You mean he became an adult?” asked Margot.

Mitotsudaira nodded.

“My mother tried to comfort him, but he only apologized and said it was because he had thought things about her he shouldn’t have.”

“Such as?”

“He had been thinking of confessing to her that he would come for her once he had grown to be her equal and could truly say he loved her. But it seemed the house had seen through it, so he assumed it was rejecting him so he couldn’t take her from it.”

“That wasn’t it, was it?” said Margot. “The candy house was telling your mom to go with him, wasn’t it?”

“I may not be one to talk, but I don’t think either of my parents really understood the other’s feelings or their own feelings. My father thought my mother was someone who protected the forest and my mother thought she would lose her excuse for not eating him once he grew up and was no longer a child.”

The two other girls stiffened at that last part.

…''That’s right.

“My mother hadn’t realized what it meant to have someone she didn’t want to eat. But since my mother didn’t want to eat him and my father was ashamed of what he had thought about her…”

She took a breath and shrugged.

“They stopped seeing each other.”

“I see,” said the boy in the flickering candlelight. “This is starting to get exciting.”

“Y-you sure are taking this lightly! But anyway…”

The Reine des Garous nodded and found the boy had turned to face her at some point. Fortunately, he seemed to have stopped bleeding, so she grabbed the shirt next to the bed and placed it over him.

“Nn. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Well, I was an idiot too. Once I stopped seeing him, I thought I had done a decent job of withdrawing from it all, but it was really just him feeling ashamed. But I was convinced I would have to eat him the next time I saw him because I was the Reine des Garous.”

“Well, there’s no helping that. You lived in two different worlds.”

“Testament. That’s true. He had a good friend back home. …And from what I hear, that friend had feelings for him. I had convinced myself it would be better for him to say he loved her instead of me. I thought that would end that relationship between Loup-Garou and human.”

She smiled bitterly.

“After he left, I even said it. When he was still there, I was too afraid to do so, but I used the words to convince myself.”

“Maman, you shouldn’t bring yourself down like that.”

“I know that,” she said as she stroked his head and gave a genuine smile.

She then continued with the story.

“But I began to hear unpleasant rumors from the birds and some of the spirits. When he entered the third year, classmates from a neighboring area approached him and accused him of taming the Reine des Garous. And if he wanted to prove them wrong, he had to go defeat me. And…”

And…

“They said they would accept him as a man and obey him if he did. It was actually a trick to take control of the land that had developed so well under his management. They wanted him to challenge me and be killed by me. And the council of feudal lords told him he could always run away but gave him these instructions: drive a stake into the Reine des Garous’s body to take her soul. But if you are going to run, we will decide you lack the ability needed to protect your land. …They were worried about the rumors of him conspiring with me. When I heard about it all, I decided I would die for his sake.”

“Wasn’t that a bad idea?”

“It was.”

She smiled and realized it had been a long time since she talked about this. She had not had anyone to tell it to since her daughter had left, so she hid nothing and did not try to make it sound better than it was.

“At the time, I was stupid, inexperienced, and desperate, so I wrote a letter and had the birds take it to him. It said, ‘On the night of the next full moon, come prepared to take my life. I will give you my entire being.’ ”

“The chancellor would definitely lecture her about that.”

“He probably would,” agreed Mitotsudaira.

…''Horizon would too, but hers would be expressionless.

“Judge, but my father was also stupid, inexperienced, and desperate. He thought as much as he could until the day of the full moon, but he apparently decided he wanted to see her and so he went. He also asked his friend for help. He said he had these two letters from the council of feudal lords and from ‘Miss Loup-Garou’ and asked what he should do.”

Mitotsudaira smiled.

“And she said, ‘You really are dumb. If you do what I tell you, the Reine des Garous will be a piece of cake. Did you know you have to use a special weapon for a Loup-Garou?’ ”

''Was that night even quieter than tonight?'' wondered the Reine des Garous.

“I set up the silver chain obelisks in front of the house and wrapped the chains around my arms and legs to…well, to make sure I couldn’t resist. Yes, and I opened the uniform he had given me from the chest to below the navel to make sure he could pierce my heart with a stake or a cross.”

“You’re into some crazy stuff, too.”

She hit him twice and then smiled.

[[Image:Horizon3B_0495.jpg|thumb]]

“C’mon. It set the mood and was perfect for being so full of myself. And halfway through the night when the moon was almost directly overhead, he showed up in front of the house. I was so excited!”

“Ah, wait! If you hold my head like that and rub it with your chin, my face goes right between your breasts and it’s really amazing!”

She laughed and released him.

Noticing heat in her cheeks, she continued to speak.

“I hadn’t seen him in a while, but he had grown a bit and he had brought a large basket with him. Also…he looked extremely uncertain of himself, so I told him to calm down and assured him I would obey him. …I said I would offer everything up to him.”

“And what did he do?”

“Testament. He moved so close I could feel his breath on me, he opened the chest of my uniform even more, and he said he had come here after being told to kill me.”

But he had said more with a serious look on his face.

“He said a friend had told him of a way he could avoid killing me.”

“A way to avoid killing her? Was there a way to do that, Lady Mitotsudaira?”

“Judge,” replied Mitotsudaira with a nod to Mary who was looking sleepy.

…''I can’t believe my parents.

With that thought, she continued the story.

“My father didn’t really know how to kill a Loup-Garou, so his friend had given him instructions. ‘Listen. First, remove her clothes and look closely. Like at her breasts. And then say this.’ ”

“This” being…

“ ‘I heard from a friend that the stake and taking of your soul are metaphorical. So I was told to ask you what to do. I was told you would guide me through it all.’ ”

Her mother had apparently not known what he meant. She had supposedly even asked if there really was a way to do that, but her father had nodded and said what his friend had told him to say.

“ ‘As a man, I apparently already have the stake needed to take everything that you have but also still be with you. …But what is that stake? If I do have it, what am I supposed to do to you? Please tell me.’ ”

Because…

“ ‘I don’t want to kill you and I want to be with you. So teach me what I’m supposed to do.’ ”

''I didn’t know what to do either when he said that,'' thought the Reine des Garous.

She had thought he was there to take her life, but he had no intention of doing that and on his friend’s instructions…

…''He wanted to give me ''his stake''.

That meant for the Reine des Garous to be with a human and a weak one at that.

It was unthinkable. To ensure their lineage remained, each generation of Reine des Garous would devour a powerful male and bear a mixture of their soul and her own soul as her child.

“But being queen had already lost all meaning for me.”

For that reason and because the chains prevented her from moving, she had asked him something.

“I said the clothes he had given me had gotten tight again. So I asked him to remove them since I couldn’t use my hands at the moment.”

When he had moved in close to remove her clothes, she had brought her lips to the corner of his eye.

The first time she had tasted him, it was through his tears.

The Reine des Garous recalled what had happened after that.

She had thought she might resist that first time and she had been afraid of any slight discrepancies in their understanding, so she had remained chained up in the moonlight.

She had then taught him what to do.

“The etiquette of wolves is to start by moving in close and sniffing each other’s scent.”

They had rubbed their cheeks together, brushed their hands through their hair, touched their necks together, and felt each other’s breathing and warmth.

That was the first time she had allowed herself to tell herself she loved that smell.

He smelled nice, he was attached to her, he wanted her, he fed her delicious food, and he thought of her first in everything. She had tried to sacrifice herself, but he had never considered the possibility and insisted on them being together.

If she thought or said she loved him, no one would blame her at that point.

So as they rubbed their bodies together, disturbed their clothing, and became enveloped in each other’s warmth, she gave another instruction.

“Now, please hold me tight.”

…''Thinking back, we had gone a little overboard during our normal study sessions. Bad queen.

But he had awkwardly and hesitantly embraced her.

“Now the lips.”

Their lips had met.

“Um, is your…tongue ready?”

He had answered yes by sticking out his tongue. While they wrapped their tongues around each other, tugged, and licked each other’s tongues, she had realized something.

She was tasting him.

But had he understood that as well? Urgency filled his movements as he embraced her and hers as she pressed against him. Their movements filled the gaps in each other’s skin and pressed them against each other.

“Um, more…”

She had not been drinking his blood, devouring his flesh, or chewing on his bones. They had been smelling him and pressing their skin together, rubbing their tongues across each other’s mucous membranes and soft flesh, tightly embracing as they brought their bodies and minds together, and wiping away or licking up or even rubbing in their saliva and tears.

…''And it was intoxicating.

Loup-Garous were nearly spirits, so they could control others through ether. It was a type of assimilation, so they would even obtain their prey’s thoughts when eating them.

Those thoughts would be submission, fear, and futile resistance. Feeling those ensured their status and the joy of being devoured that some felt was the power and pride of being a predator.

But what if they did not eat the other person and instead wanted to be with them?

…''Our thoughts, movements, and feelings all passed back and forth between us.

As she accepted his feelings, her own feelings reached him via the ether. Not only was it impossible to hide anything, but what he thought about her thoughts and her own thoughts inside him would return to her through the assimilation.

“…”

Simply remembering it was enough to make her shudder. The more they had thought, the more their thoughts had combined. She had lost track of who she was and simply felt good and happy as they intertwined.

“Now, please…”

He had done exactly what she wanted. The feeling would reach her and circulated between them, so…

…''I accepted him as if offering myself up to him.

He had been a different being from herself. She had wanted to be closer to him and his scent resembled hers, but he was definitely a different creature.

But as he had kissed her and attacked where she could not resist, she had spoken up.

“O-okay. Let’s try to go deep in there.”

She could now say they had done a little too much studying then, but that was because she was calmer now. At the time, they had both been very serious. She even had a faint memory of saying “three, two, one, go”, but she hoped she was imagining that one.

But that gathering of his flesh and scent had reached a place she was unable to see.

The empty part of her she could do nothing about was expanded and filled by that flesh and scent of his that she wanted more than anything else. As she had wetly wrapped around it, she had felt a strong pain.

“Ee!”

She had wondered if this was really okay, but had that been due to surprise, fear, or joy? Without finding the answer, his embrace had grown even stronger. Instead of simply bringing their lips together, they had started seeking each other to the point of exchanging breaths or kneading each other.

“…”

The two of them had continued pushing or groping each other’s bodies yet never moving away from each other. As time went on, they fulfilled each other or were fulfilled countless times.

…''But…

After remembering that much, the Reine des Garous sighed.

…''My inexperience took that in an interesting direction.

After desiring each other for a while, the two of them had realized something about their condition.

First of all, they never grew tired.

She was a non-human royal, so she had predicted her own endurance, but he could also continue without end due to receiving her feelings and regenerative ability through the ether.

One could say he had received the protection of the Reine des Garous.

And on top of that…

…''The regenerative ability of the Loup-Garou race kept trying to heal my “wound” right away.

To teach her body it was not a wound, they had needed to keep at it for a very, very long time to make a “mold” of his shape.

…''We really did just keep doing that.

But he had been incredibly worried about her “wound”.

“Um, are you okay? Should we stop?”

“No, no, no, no, no, no! I’m fine! Perfectly fine! I really am, so just a little longer!”

…''Thinking back, if I was, then I could have stopped. Well, I can chalk that up to a discrepancy in our understanding of each other. Yes, that was it.

But as they brought their bodies together, those kinds of words had melted into warm thoughts and circulated between their hearts.

It had all been perfect for desiring each other without end.

For the first three days and three nights, they had continually desired each other and answered that desire while still standing.

She had started off offering herself to him, but because she was sharing her pain with him and receiving his feelings, she soon began to prioritize what she wanted. Worst of all, she was able to request whatever she wanted in the name of “teaching him”.

“N-now, there. Work hard there and keep at it. Don’t give in until I say it’s okay.”

“C-can you be more specific, Miss Loup-Garou? Make your instructions more specific.”

…''How could he ask a girl to say something so embarrassing? …I did tell him, though.

But to be absolutely sure she would not resist, they had only loosened the chains a little and they had remained standing while desiring each other, answering each other’s desires, begging for what they wanted, and responding to those requests.

On the fourth day, she had been relieved to find she still had no desire to resist. They had loosened the chains further so she could get down on her knees and elbows in front of the house. In that position, she could reach any part of his body with her lips and she could finally hold him in her arms.

That was when their mutual desire had truly begun.

Instead of only being on the receiving end, she could directly desire things, wrap around him, and bend her back to offer herself to him since the chains weighed down her arms and legs. She had also answered his desires when he cried out like a child or like he was crying.

She had wanted to pay him back for everything he had done over the past three days, so she had continued doing all sorts of things for him.

…''It was wonderful that my mouth could reach.

She had sent out her tongue and licked over every single part of him. She had trembled as she felt his scent reach her nose from inside her mouth, on her tongue, and in the back of her throat. When she had made him stand with his back pressed up against the pillar and kneeled in front of him, her lips were at the perfect height to reach him.

She had done anything for him in the name of “teaching him”.

“To tame a Loup-Garou, you must stick your spear everywhere you can. And to keep a beast from biting, you can stick something in the back of their throat. That prevents them from closing the base of their jaw and… Well, just stay still.”

“H-huh? I feel like you gave up explaining partway through!”

…''Again, why are you trying to make a girl explain all the details? …I did explain them, though.

She had kissed him, used her tongue to guide him deep into her throat, and slowly moved her head forward and back while sucking and moving him back outside of her lips. She had also used the pressure of her lips to pull his scent from him and savor it. When he could no longer contain himself, she had taken her reward onto her tongue, the backs of her teeth, and the back of her throat before carefully swallowing it. She would also sometimes gently bite him with her back teeth. After repeating this again and again, a new thought had come to her.

…''I’m glad I didn’t eat him.

The flavor that soaked into her mouth, the back of her throat, her skin, and inside her body was the human flavor she had wanted so much.

If she ate him, it was over after the one time.

But by not eating him, she could continue to enjoy this flesh and this scent as she felt it thick on her tongue, sticky in her throat, and resilient against her teeth.

And it went beyond her mouth. She felt it in her skin, in her flesh, in the sensation of being touched, in the sensation of him pressing up against her, in being groped, in being pinched, and in being embraced.

She could stay with him forever because she had not eaten him.

And the grooming and regeneration of a bestial spirit was perfect for refreshing and preparing their bodies. Even after experiencing it countless times, it would quickly fade and leave them wanting more.

So they had both decided to keep going until the other was exhausted and they had continued for another three days and three nights. Only then did they finally remove the chains and fully remove their clothes.

“Now, can you take off my clothes? …Oh, but you can do that without me telling you how, right?’

“Well, um… I’ve imagined doing it for so long.”

He had apologized, so she had no choice but to embrace him and whisper that she had too.

[[Image:Horizon3B_0507.jpg|thumb]]

Newly exposing their naked bodies to each other had been embarrassing, but it was no longer a one-way situation of doing something or having something done. Once they had begun intertwining their bodies, there had been no stopping them. When she had taken his hand, he had pulled her hand to him. When she had moved her body in close, he had moved back toward her and deep inside her. When she had turned her back, he had embraced her and filled her up. Without saying a word, they had known exactly what the other wanted done and they had fulfilled those desires and had their own desires fulfilled.

The biggest change was that she could have him lick her now that she had removed her clothes. His wetness reached the places filled with her scent and he had licked all over every part of her, front and back. She had moved around at the ticklish feeling and done the same to him, but she had grown nearly intoxicated from having his scent washed all over her by his tongue and she had asked one thing. She had gotten on hands and knees in front of him, traced her tongue along him, and spoke.

“Now, will you cover me with your scent?”

She had wanted him to mark her, but he had hesitated. Once she had urged him on with her tongue and gaze, he had granted her desire. That was when she had nearly passed out. While she lay face down and trembling in the puddle of his scent, he had moved up behind her.

“U-um, to tame you, I have to drive my stake everywhere, right?”

“Eh?”

They could not allow a discrepancy in their understanding. She had raised her hips toward him, he had grabbed them, and to tame her, he had “driven his stake” into a place he had not yet done so. But…

“U-um, Miss Loup-Garou, this doesn’t seem to have tamed you at all!”

“W-work harder! Yes, work harder! The Far Eastern character for hard work is a combination of the characters for ‘woman’, ‘crotch’, and ‘strength’, so keeping this up will give you strength!”

…''I really am stupid, aren’t I?

But she had offered him every place she could accept him, received what he gave her when he could not hold it in any longer, was covered by it, licked it up, and swallowed it. They had continued embracing and desiring each other without interruption for another three days and three nights.

…''Yes, we really did. I even used my high-speed techniques to…um…be tamed. Yes, that’s right. I was tamed at high speed.

But eventually, their bodies had begun to lose their strength. Thinking it was finally over, they had moved into the house while still embracing each other.

During this break, she had thought back on the past days and begun to realize just how horribly embarrassing everything they had done was.

But then…

“Ah.”

Right inside the front door, her weak feet had stumbled and she had fallen so her knees and breasts reached the floor. She had tried to get back up and managed to raise her knees, but her arms had been too weak. The next thing she knew…

“Eh?”

She was on the floor with her knees spread wide and her hips sticking up toward him behind her.

It was an embarrassing position and the way she had asked him to hold her up had been a mistake.

“Please.”

Their mutual understanding had failed, so he had come at her with even more desire than before. In truth, she really had cried several times. Because it was so good.

Her carelessness had led to an even more embarrassing time over the next three days and three nights. After the battle, the two of them had ended up collapsed on the floor in each other’s arms. This time, she truly, truly had thought it was time for a ceasefire. Any more education would have definitely been wrong. Not that everything up until then had not been wrong. At any rate, she had not seen how it could get any worse.

But after she got up first, she had seen him next to her covered in sweat, gasping for breath, and red in the cheeks. She had found him incredibly cute and he was amazing no matter what he did.

He had looked up at her with teary eyes and reached out a hand as if asking for help.

“Please…”

A failure in their mutual understanding had suddenly filled her with even more desire than before. In truth, she really had almost cried several times. Because his reactions were so good.

She had been fairly certain that the “teaching him” excuse was still valid. Probably.

“Heh heh. How is it? C’mon, don’t hide your face. I’ll hold both your hands down if I have to. And – heh heh – tell me exactly how good it feels. …Now, begin.”

She had made him say all sorts of things, but she had later “taught him” all sorts of things to balance it out.

…''But even if our understanding could be a little off, our amazing compatibility was the real problem. Yes, that was the problem. A huge problem. And he didn’t help with what he said.

“Wh-what if a lost child shows up?”

…''Of course that was going to fire me up even more.

They had continued for another three days and three nights on the floor, below the table, or next to the chairs. Their movements of desire had formed a slow crawl toward the neighboring room. She had decided that they would surely get some sleep once they were in the bedroom.

But she had been too naïve.

Another problem had arisen because the bedroom had a bookcase and it of course contained a health textbook.

“Y-you need to study before going to bed, don’t you!?”

“Eh? What is this acrobatic position? Can humans really do that? Wow!”

She had been unsure why he was so impressed.

Regardless, they had studied the book on the floor, had a hands-on lesson, and then went over it again just to be sure. They had confirmed their own techniques, blushed as they taught each other just what they should do when they were alone and thinking about the other, and then finally made it onto the bed.

She had exposed her defenseless stomach on the soft sheets, spread her thighs to receive him, had her knees lifted up from below, raised her own hips, looked down on him from above, and embraced him again.

She was no longer “teaching him”. They simply obeyed their circulating thoughts, spent a final three days and three nights as she accepted him in from above countless times, and finally fell gently to sleep while still embracing each other.

Although he had woken up five minutes later as he suffocated in her breasts.

Afterwards, they had slept like a log for three days straight, pecked at each other as they dozed, and repeatedly desired each other and answered the other’s desire to confirm they were there when they woke up.

Their connected and overlapping minds had shared a single thought from the moment they had begun until the very end: I never want to leave this person.

…''Come to think of it, I’ve done just that here.

Remembering it all filled her heart with love instead of embarrassment.

She also remembered what had happened after they had woken from their excessive time together.

They had both gotten up, exchanged a glance, smiled, shared a meal, and played in the water together.

“Let’s go.”

He had then tugged on her hand.

He had been ready then. When seeing his thoughts, she had learned that he knew human society would never allow him to marry the Reine des Garous.

But he had made up his mind, so she had done the same.

“Yes, let’s go.”

She had taken his hand and she had wanted to go with him.

“And when my parents left the forest together…”

Mitotsudaira stopped at that point. Mary was slowly nodding off to her right.

…''Was the story too boring?

But she also remembered the exhaustion from the day.

“Ma-yan must be tired after all the healing and other stuff she did. From what I saw, she fell asleep around the time your mom tied herself up with the chains.”

That would explain why she had never been asked for details about her parents joining together. Tenzou would probably have some difficulties concerning that at some point, but it was not her problem. For now, she supported Mary’s head with her shoulder, but…

…''H-her breasts are pressing against my right elbow!!

She felt some fresh surprise at realizing what it felt like with someone who actually had something there, but she managed to support the girl. Naito opened a new Magie Figur and moved the meter down to zero before speaking.

“Now, get on with the story.”

“Margot, you really like this kind of story, don’t you?”

“It’s called having taste,” she said with a smile and a wave of her bandaged right hand.

But Mitotsudaira raised one corner of her mouth in a smile of her own.

“I say that, but I don’t really know much more. No one would approach my parents after they left the forest and his friend went to Paris where her brother lived. But my parents lived a fulfilling life and they eventually realized my mother was pregnant with me. And…”

“And?”

“Paris…that is, Hexagone Française’s central academy, Ecole de Paris, summoned my parents. They thought the time had finally come to be punished for what they had done, but when they got there…”

She had a feeling they had always be vague about this part of the story.

“According to them, they were given a plea to spare some people’s lives. It had been sent by the classmates and feudal lords who had plotted against my father. They travelled to Paris and they gave their swords to my parents.”

“They…kept their promise?”

“A lot must have happened, but they had the blood of knights in their veins and they had promised to serve my father if he defeated my mother. He had made her his wife, so they kept their promise and my parents have been protected by them ever since.”

Mitotsudaira smiled bitterly.

“And my parents were forgiven. Based on what my mother said, it must have been in exchange for becoming vice chancellor as the Reine des Garous once Louis Exiv took his inherited name. That allowed her to give birth to me in Paris, hide her identity, claim to have ruled a different land, and yet continue to protect this forest. But…”

At that point, she realized something.

“That sickly girl who was my father’s local friend was probably the same one who judged them in Paris.”

She was…

“Anne of Austria. …Louis Exiv’s younger sister by birth and his mother by inherited name.”

“She’s rumored to be in Magdeburg now, right?”

“Judge.” Mitotsudaira nodded and stared into the darkness ahead of her. “She was probably sent to this spirit-filled forest for a restful lifestyle to help with her incurable illness. Her brother Exiv’s abilities were recognized, but the Testament Union’s interference forced her to take the position of provisional chancellor and Student Council president. To her, the Reine des Garous that her local friend had taken as a wife had to have been a reliable existence.”

“Mito-tsan, I’ll erase that last part from the recording.”

Only then did she notice the sharpness of her words.

“Sorry,” she said with a light bow. “From my parents’ perspective, she’s the one that brought them together and then allowed them to remain together.”

“Without her, you never would’ve been born.”

The thought of her own birth got her thinking, but as she thought, she began to wonder what was wrong with her mother for telling her that sexual story when she was so young. She had a feeling she had seen her mother telling it while wiggling back and forth with her hands on her cheeks about once every three days.

She also remembered her mother rejoicing when she copied that action, but she stopped herself because she had a feeling that remembering any more would lead to a fatal dose of painful memories.

…''But I really do owe my life to a lot of different people.

“Then again, I guess the reason my mother is my enemy now is so she can pay back the debt made before I was born and right after I was born.”

“Oh, Mito-tsan, you’re so cool.”

She had recovered enough to reply with “I am a knight, after all.”

…''But that’s thanks to the others.

She had still not fully recovered, but she was not wrong to think that.

“How about we get some sleep? I’m sure we’ll be moving before the sun is up tomorrow morning.”

“What about Ma-yan?”

“You can just leave her next to me.”

''I sure have gotten lenient,'' she thought while supporting the girl’s back and lying down.

She managed to get both her and Mary lying on the slope.

“Nn.”

But Mary fell toward her and gently clung to her.

''Eh?'' she thought, but Mary’s arms were already wrapped around her back and chest and were even approaching her waist. The girl’s head and floral-smelling hair rested on her chest and held her in place.

“Nnn…”

…''Ehh!? Does she like to hold something when she sleeps!?

“Wait, um… Margot! Why are you recording this!?”

“Tenzou! Tenzou! Is she like this with you too!?”

“W-well, I’m always on the top bunk, so…”

Mitotsudaira and Margot exchanged a serious glance.

“Mito-tsan, why don’t we take a major step in your father’s footsteps and teach her some things here?”

“No matter how I look at this, I have to agree with you.”

“Y-you two don’t understand the beauty of conflicting feelings, do you!?”

As they argued back and forth, Mitotsudaira placed her chin on Mary’s head.

Since Mary had not said anything more, she could assume the chancellor was still safe.

…''But what are he and my mother doing right now?

After telling her long story and taking a break, the Reine des Garous looked to the boy who was embracing her left arm.

He was asleep. He was curled up next to her and gently breathing.

…''Honestly, how defenseless can you be?

This was not a kind place where she would not eat him simply because he did not oppose her, but…

…''He really is entrusting everything to me.

This was just like a child feeling safe in his parent’s arms and falling asleep. He was lost in the relief of leaving his safety up to someone else. And if he was doing that, she could do whatever she wanted. Thinking this would be her last chance, she opened her mouth and brought her lips to his forehead.

“…?”

She smelled something there. She smelled the nostalgic scent of her daughter, the scent of bread, the scent of the incense used at Shinto shrines, a dog-like scent, and…

…''Oh?

Curious, she licked him and detected a flavor rising from her tongue to her nose.

…''This is…?

She knew it but at the same time did not. Frustrated, she licked him a second and third time to check.

But she really could not place the flavor.

Whatever it was, it was saying “I’m here”. She did not know what was saying “I’m here”, but she had a feeling the words “I’m here” could describe this boy. Wanting to know what it was, she prepared to move from licking to just about sucking on him, but…

“…”

She suddenly remembered something she had forgotten for a long, long time.

“It can’t be.”

At the same time, a ''Signe Cadre'' appeared next to her face. It was a Catholic type, but…

“Hm? Didn’t I temporarily block any from the Student Council or chancellor’s officers?”

She checked and saw this one was not from either group. It had arrived via her home, so her husband had forwarded it to her and it as originally from…

“Anne, of course.”

She looked to the boy next to her.

“My. Does everyone find this boy to be that important?”

<noinclude>
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| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 45|Chapter 45]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 47|Chapter 47]]
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</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 45

2015-08-15T04:30:03Z

68.109.52.245:

==Chapter 45: Classmate in the Depths of the Darkness==
[[Image:Horizon3B_0429.jpg|thumb]]
''The depths of the night

''Tend to flatten people out

'''Point Allocation (Not referring to their breasts)

Someone sat in the dark night.

It was Mitotsudaira who wore a Far Eastern girl’s coat over her shoulders and had a skirt placed below her butt and thighs. She took a slow breath, sat up a bit, and looked around.

They were currently resting in preparation for their early morning departure, but she could not sleep.

…''It’s so hot.

Her body was filled with heat, but it was more of a swollen heat than a flushed one. She felt pain and itching across her body and it all throbbed too much to sleep.

She could always have Naito cast another pain reduction spell, but…

…''Margot is tired, too.

The battle was over and the Hexagone Française forces had withdrawn.

“But this is still a complicated situation.”

She thought about the result of that battle and the present situation.

…''Musashi and Hexagone Française agreed to a ceasefire and the chancellor should have been released.

“But I never thought my mother would ignore the ceasefire order.”

Was it wrong to think that was very like her mother?

Hexagone Française’s vice chancellor had ignored their orders and was imprisoning another nation’s chancellor, so it had to be an awkward situation for them. Before withdrawing, Henri of the Three Musketeers had said Hexagone Française would continue trying to convince her mother before they reached her.

According to Henri, Hexagone Française’s internal situation meant they could not afford a conflict with their vice chancellor. Mitotsudaira sympathized with them, but at the same time…

…''There isn’t a doubt in my mind that my mother isn’t thinking about that. This is all about having fun and sating her hunger!!

But others could easily view it differently, so Henri had suggested another method of restraining her.

…''We have to continue our mission.

No, that was not quite accurate.

…''We have a new mission with my mother.

Henri had given them the mission that Masazumi and Mazarin had settled on aboard the Musashi. It was a mission for Hexagone Française that took place inside M.H.R.R.

<Work with Hexagone Française’s vice chancellor, travel with Musashi’s chancellor to the tower outside of the M.H.R.R. city of Magdeburg, and meet with Rudolf II who is confined there. Acquire the memo he has from Great Chancellor Carlos I concerning the Princess Disappearances.>

The details would be sent in a letter carried by a black bird spirit.

“Even my mother won’t be able to touch the chancellor if the mission specifies to travel with him.”

But would she really? A capricious beast was a frightening thing.

And that mission also required them to meet with Mitotsudaira’s mother and travel with her.

“…”

Her thoughtful mind and body were filled with heat and refused to work properly.

The others were the same. Naito and Mary were both injured and exhausted.

…''Especially Margot.

After the battle had ended and Henri’s group had left, she had been the first to sit down. Her wings were stained with blood in a few places and the fingers of her right hand were dislocated.

According to her, the dislocation had allowed the damage to escape and kept them from bursting, but she had soon pretended to cry and said, “Ma-yan, it hurts.”

Mary had expressed legitimate concern and started to heal her, but her uniform was cut in places or otherwise disturbed. She was likely injured, but she had a way of prioritizing others.

…''And after the reduction spell and my previous healing, I can’t let myself be too much trouble.

Mitotsudaira had declined to be healed. She had asked Mary to heal Naito, herself, and Tenzou first.

Building a fire was bad for the forest, so they had used a spell to cook some light food in a kettle and make some plans. Tenzou had taken the first watch and that led to the present.

“…”

But Mitotsudaira was wide awake and unable to sleep.

Mitotsudaira took in a breath to cool her body.

The air filling her lungs was chilly and contained a hint of dampness and flavor.

As her body cooled, she could tell it was loose, dull, and swollen.

…''Maybe that’s why I can’t gather my thoughts and calm down enough to sleep.

What had happened to the chancellor? What was her mother doing with him?

What had happened to the Musashi? What did the other nations want to do with Musashi?

And what should she do about all of this? What did she ''want'' to do about it? She acted like she understood it all, but there was a great barrier standing in her way.

…''My mother.

If they did not do something about the Reine des Garous, Musashi had little chance of victory when they faced Mouri in the history recreation. But the fact remained that not even Futayo could touch the woman.

“And no matter how much thought I give this, if the chancellor is eaten…”

''It will all be over,'' she thought while sticking her hands into her hair to hold her head. But then she heard a sudden sound from below.

She heard the moving of underbrush and rustling of clothes as someone got up. Based on the direction it came from, she knew who it was. It was Mary.

Mary must have realized she had noticed because Mitotsudaira heard a voice before she could wonder what the girl was doing.

“Can you not sleep?”

She could hardly say she ''could'' sleep, so…

“Judge. That’s right.”

She naturally gave that answer and the small fact that she had exchanged honest words with the girl seemed to calm her heart a little.

…''I really am obedient, aren’t I?

It was too dark to see her face clearly, but the weariness was beginning to leave it. The superiority of her Loup-Garou blood may have been helping her or it might have been the effect of the exchange during the previous battle and of the rice ball.

Regardless, she could now clearly acknowledge that she had shared the battlefield with the other girl.

And so she spoke first this time.

“This is a difficult night to sleep on.”

“Judge. You’re right. …I can’t sleep either.”

Mary walked over while still crouched down, but she did not approach any further than Mitotsudaira’s feet.

“Lady Mitotsudaira, may I see your heels? You were dragging them a little as we walked earlier. Your shoe was rubbing you, wasn’t it?”

“I don’t need-…”

She trailed off and was not sure what to say, but Mary smiled and spoke in her stead.

“I can’t seem to calm down, so can you help me out a little?”

Toori woke in the darkness.

“Hwah?”

He was leaning back in a chair with his arms dangling over the back.

He was also completely nude.

He tilted his head when he noticed this.

“Did I strip when I was drinking? Well, the God Mosaic is set to activate automatically, so that’s not a problem.”

''But where am I?'' he wondered as he looked around the dark room again.

…''Nn.

He had a number of thoughts, but none of them were going to help. It was dark, so…

“I guess I’ll go to sleep. …Oh, I’m wearing shoes! I’m a maniac!”

At any rate, he was in the dining room and he guessed the neighboring room was the guest room.

“I doubt Nate’s mom wouldn’t prepare a bed for her guest.”

''But,'' thought the naked boy in front of the door’s entrance. He put his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest.

“If Nate charged in shouting ‘Chancellor!’ right about now, she’d probably kill me.”

''But I’ll go to sleep and wait for her,'' thought the idiot while scratching his head and continuing into the back room.

…''Hm?

''Something isn’t right,'' he realized. ''Why am I going back here to sleep?

“I can always spend the night sleeping in that weird position on the chair.”

No, more importantly…

…''What’s this smell?

It was not quite a good smell. Nor was it a strong one. Whatever it was, it lingered, refused to go away, and wafted in from that back room.

…''This isn’t a smell.

It was an aura, a presence, and a sensation that all mixed together into a vague feeling of anticipation.

The anticipation told him he would find something back there, so his body reacted on its own.

“…”

His legs had taken him three steps forward by the time he noticed their movement.

…''Oh? Why am I headed that way?

But his legs refused to stop and they slowly walked onward.

…''Wait. Wait, wait, wait.

A part of his mind was telling him this was a bad idea, but the usual side of him had a different thought.

…''I really want to see what’s in that room!

''What could it be? It isn’t everyday I feel this much anticipation. The most recent time was three days ago when Horizon crouched over to pick up a spoon at mom’s shop. I’m not sure if that’s really what you call anticipation, but it made even me gasp in surprise. You’re a frightening girl, Horizon. Oh, but my gasp sensor also reacted when Asama’s fastener came a little undone on her way up the stairs yesterday.

“What is it this time?”

His feet had grown unsteady at some point, but the idiot entered the next room regardless.

“If you’re asking for help, I don’t have much choice.”

Mitotsudaira noticed a hint of a smile in her voice as she removed her shoes. She undid the ankle fastener for her tights and revealed her feet. Mary gasped slightly.

“You’re bleeding.”

“Heh heh. It’s slow, but Loup-Garou skin absorbs blood to heal. It’s much like how spirits and other ether life forms absorb ether to form their bodies.”

“I see,” said Mary. “Then I need to heal you before you absorb that blood or my efforts will be meaningless.”

Her tone made it clear she could do it.

…''Tenzou has gained quite a capable wife.

As she gave that impressed thought, a soft green light appeared at her feet and first touched her calf.

“Ah.”

“Sorry. Did that hurt? I was loosening your body’s ether pathways with a massage.”

In England, she had learned the bottoms of her feet were sensitive, but…

…''My lower legs are too!? I was careless!

At any rate, she felt her back and shoulders suddenly go limp.

“That’s due to the circulation in your foot, Lady Mitotsudaira. As a Loup-Garou, the flow of ether is especially important. England’s Celtic healing spells pass the ley line ether through your body to remove any toxins and normalize your body, so it might help you relax and get to sleep.”

Even as she listened to Mary, she could feel the swelling in her back and the other heat across her body vanishing.

…''The Celts have frighteningly good healing techniques!

At the same time, something else bothered her.

“But isn’t this an Hexagone Française forest? Don’t your spirit spells use-…”

“Judge. The spirits are impartial as long as you do not pollute the forest. Just like your mother had no connection to the nation, spirits are generally independent beings. It is all reliant on whether I can communicate with them effectively or not.”

The girl laughed bitterly.

“I had difficulties at first, but there is really nothing to it. England’s control of the ley lines ensures there are always spirits nearby, but…”

Mary struck empty air.

“Come,” she called and something appeared there.

“Light,” said Mitotsudaira.

“Judge. It is important to call for them. The spirits are always out in the open in England, but they are still hidden and watching us here. It’s easy to think they are already showing themselves in a forest this large, but they are cautious and want to relax at home.”

Mary’s cheeks were illuminated by the light and there was a fresh injury there. It would eventually disappear, but it bent as she smiled and she pulled an ointment from the small bag hanging from her waist hard point part. The scent was enough to know it was made by crushed plants.

“I will use a Far Eastern divine charm to make a compress. If you keep your tights off, the charm will remove the impurities from your body, so can you do that?”

“Judge. By the way, where did you learn to mix Celtic healing spells and Shinto spells?”

“Judge. While working at Lady Asama’s shrine. They use medicinal plants with Shinto healing spells and this is the same. My way uses a lot of plants you can only find in Europe, so I need to learn about the Far Eastern plants eventually.”

''What a capable girl,'' thought Mitotsudaira as her hostility continued to vanish.

Suddenly, Mary said something else.

“I think Musashi’s chancellor is still safe.”

“Eh?”

That was what was bothering her. Suddenly hearing the forefront of her worries confused Mitotsudaira.

“Wh-why would you say tha- hyan!”

“Eh? Oh, s-sorry. Did I start too strong?”

''Control yourself, control yourself,'' she thought while biting her lower lips.

Meanwhile, Mary massaged her foot and spoke.

“To be honest, the spirits and wild animals are still cautious.”

“Cautious?”

She then realized what that meant. This was the Reine des Garous’s territory and she was a forest predator.

“You mean my mother still hasn’t filled her stomach?”

“Judge. If the predator had calmed down, the spirits and animals would have relaxed. Since they haven’t, it means Musashi’s chancellor is safe for now. And if that is still true in the morning, I think it will be safe to assume the Reine des Garous has decided not to eat him. A wolf eats at night, after all. But…”

Mary tilted her head.

“That is all I can say. …I don’t actually know when or how she eats. Do you know, Lady Mitotsudaira?”

It was hard to say that she did. Her mother had not eaten anyone since Mitotsudaira had been born. But she had heard some things from her mother or from other people.

“She has young men surrender to her and then eats them. And she does it at night. At times much like this.”

“Surrender to her?”

Mitotsudaira more or less knew how.

“Um, well, it’s nothing too strange. She…uses a woman’s weapon.”

Toori passed through the door-less entrance and found a bedroom. The dark room contained cabinets and shelves, but the light from the small window shined on the bed.

The bed was already occupied.

It contained the Reine des Garous.

She had the blanket pushed against the wall, she leaned diagonally against it, and she looked at him with her knees pulled back just a bit.

She was completely naked.

“So, well, uh… She uses a woman’s weapon to get the man to surrender.”

How did the Reine des Garous lure in the men?

After giving a brief explanation, Mitotsudaira looked back to Mary. She was afraid the girl would think she was being inappropriate or vulgar, but Mary nodded with a perfectly serious expression.

“That is…a serious problem for Musashi’s chancellor.”

“Y-yes, i-it is.”

''She understood me!'' thought Mitotsudaira in surprise.

“I hope my mother does not try anything so unbefitting of her age.”

“Judge. But your mother ''is'' currently a student.”

“Um, well, it’s enough of a crime to wear a school uniform when you have a daughter in high school, but I think it’s even more criminal to use that along with a woman’s weapon.”

She was unsure she should be discussing a family member’s shame like that, but Mary tilted her head.

“I don’t see the problem. Isn’t her woman’s weapon that silver cross? Won’t she just be beating Musashi’s chancellor with it until he surrenders?”

…''She didn’t understand me at all!!

She suddenly noticed Naito getting up from beyond Mary. Naito waved a hand in front of her face to say it was useless and lay back down.

…''H-huh? Aren’t you going to help me!? Or at least say something!? You’re just leaving it be?

From his scent, she could tell Tenzou was crawling away from them. She wanted to throw a rock at him, but she could not when Mary was watching.

Meanwhile, Mary tilted her head.

“Was I…wrong? But don’t you need strength to make a guy surrender?”

“Um, well…”

''What am I supposed to do?'' she wondered just as Mary smiled.

“But your mother might be able to manage without strength. She is very beautiful, so Musashi’s chancellor might let his guard down enough for her to sneak up on him.”

This was a new kind of comment that left her unsure whether Mary was complimenting her mother or saying the chancellor was going to die.

…''But it seems Mary has little understanding of that kind of thing.

She decided that was up to Tenzou. She also had a feeling Naito or Kimi would interfere, but there was no stopping that if it was destined to happen. But for the time being, the “beauty” that Mary had mentioned was somewhat similar to the “truth” that Mitotsudaira had tried to explain, so she began to speak based on that slight misunderstanding.

“I’m not so sure. My mother is pretty old.”

“But she has an excellent figure and she stands straight and tall.”

Mary answered with a smile, but Mitotsudaira sensed something off about it.

''Huh?'' she thought.

She soon realized what it was, but decided to ask to be sure.

“Um, Mary? How would you describe me in that regard?”

“Eh? Oh, you have an excellent figure, too.”

…''I knew it!!

For the first time, she realized that someone satisfied with their own size would place anyone above or below them in the general category of a “decent figure”.

From the point of view of England’s representative, both Mitotsudaira and her mother were nothing more than different types of “well-formed figures”.

…''She’s on my side!!

But another thought occurred to her.

…''But wait. That doesn’t solve anything concerning my mother’s seduction of the chancellor.

She held her head in her hands and Mary spoke to her.

“Um, Lady Mitotsudaira? Is something the matter?”

“No, um,” she hesitated. “I have a feeling the chancellor is going to surrender to her.”

What were the chancellor and her mother doing?

With the moonlight on her exposed skin, the Reine des Garous looked to the boy.

“Come join me.”

She raised and bent the fingers of her left hand to beckon him over.

…''It has been a while since I played this game.

Quite a few divine ''courrier'' had been coming in from the chancellor’s officers, but she had ignored them all. A Loup-Garou royal was having some fun tonight for the first time in decades, so it was crass to interrupt her.

…''I haven’t done this for over twenty years.

[[Image:Horizon3B_0447.jpg|thumb]]

This was a “game” Loup-Garous played.

Starting with the War Cry, there were several techniques lupine races had as predators. That included their fangs and claws, but Loup-Garou royals and nobles had nearly spiritual bodies and could alter the surrounding ether to lure people in.

Their mind would be taken from them, they would subconsciously realize they did not stand a chance, and they would stop moving and offer up their own heads.

The fear of a predator was transformed into the pride of being eaten.

Long ago, she and the others had made a game out of seeing how quickly and deeply they could achieve that state. At first, all of the men would show hostility and harbor doubts about the temptation, but they would eventually be unable to resist any longer and would try to take sexual advantage of the situation.

But as they drew closer, the temptation would grow stronger. Their “desire to become one with her” would begin as a sexual desire, but ultimately…

…''We exist on entirely different levels and that difference creates to the relationship between predator and prey.

Once they approached, they would realize they could no longer escape. So instead of resisting and being crushed, they would choose obedience. They would choose to sleep with her and be painlessly eaten.

“Is something the matter?”

She narrowed her eyes and lowered the ends of her eyebrows as she lured him in.

The timing of her question and the tone of her voice were perfect. It had been a long time, but her instincts had not dulled.

…''Even as a mother, I still have what it takes!

She had her husband’s permission. While eating breakfast, she had said she was going to “deal with a boy who is after our daughter”.

Her husband was quite tolerant, but he had told her not to push herself too much while she licked butter from his lips.

…''I don’t know what he meant by “pushing myself too much”, but th-that isn’t a problem here! I’ve still got it! I really do!!

''When I get home, I need to “devour” my husband in a way that doesn’t involve eating him!!

She somewhat missed the others who would be watching from the shadows back in the day, but she gave the same soft breath she would back then. She gently twisted her hips to point her navel toward the boy.

“Will you join me?”

He did not respond, but he had to be reacting. No one had ever resisted the Reine des Garous’s seduction and no one ever would.

…''This really takes me back.

In this opening stage of the game, some lower level Loup-Garous would fill the room with erotic scents or slip something into their food.

That was one way of enjoying yourself, but the higher level Loup-Garous viewed the seduction like a kind of sport. They would try to get their prey to surrender without relying on anything but their own ability.

This boy was Musashi’s chancellor and student council president as well as the one her daughter referred to as “my king”, so he was well worth being her prey.

And if her daughter’s king surrendered to the Reine des Garous’s seduction and was eaten, she would stop pretending to be a knight and return to being the obedient child she had once been.

…''She will probably hold a grudge, though.

This might break the bond between mother and daughter, but that was fine. Musashi’s plans sounded like a game and she could only imagine they had been made up on the spot, so the second in line to ruling the Far East should not be going along with that.

…''So I will make this boy mine.

''Once he is part of my flesh and blood, will my daughter start referring to me as her king?

“Come.”

She called out to him again and gently crossed her arms below her breasts to show them off.

“…”

The naked boy took a definite step toward her.

The motion and footstep toward her confirmed that she was still attractive, so she pictured her husband’s face.

…''Honey! I’m still in top form! I hope you’re ready for when I get back!

She mentally struck a triumphant pose.

Two girls hung their heads while exchanging words in the dark forest.

“D-don’t worry, Lady Mitotsudaira. I don’t think Musashi’s chancellor will give in to strength.”

“Yes, he definitely isn’t the type to give in to strength, but I’m worried about something else.”

“Eh? What would that be?”

After a brief pause, Mitotsudaira whispered her answer.

“Her excellent figure.”

Thoughts moved rapidly through Toori’s mind.

…''Um, is it just me or has this gotten kind of amazing?

''What even is this? All of a sudden, there’s this wife. A Loup-Garou, but a wife. Is this what you call a Wife-Garou? That’s gotta be it. And she’s the Reine des Garous, so is she also the Reine des Femmes? Or maybe not. Anyway, this is Nate’s mom in front of me. Oh, man. My first time’s gonna be with someone’s wife? Isn’t that pretty sinful? And it’s a classmate’s mom, too. Isn’t that pretty amazing? Or will this make me less hesitant from here on out? Oh, but come to think of it, if all my time studying porn games pays off here, will Nate and I be brother and sister? Um…huh? If anything, wouldn’t I be her step-dad? Which is it? I don’t know Oh, but what’s with this wife in front of me? Her boobs are huge and her waist is all like…like…

“Wh-why are you twisting around like that?”

''It’s supposed to be you, okay!? And her butt is more like th-th-this…um…

“Uh, what is that gesture? A trapezoid? Mt. Fuji?”

''Sorry, but it’s your butt! Except I’m not sorry at all!! Anyway, what’s with this wife? If you like things big, she’s pretty much perfect. Her husband’s got a hell of a wife. I give her a perfect score!

''But looking at her like that and comparing her with Nate… Nate, you’re way too different. And given your age, is your boob destiny already set in stone? Nate… Nate, you can cry if you want.

“Wh-why are you crying all of a sudden? Are you okay?”

''Shut up. I’m crying for your daughter! Dammit, dammit! Give back Nate’s boobs! Give them back!! Give back the boobs! And make it a double! In French, that would be deux! Okay, I’m even starting to confuse myself now. But something tells me this is dangerous. After all, this is a wife and a classmate’s mom and a wife. I feel like I’m overlooking something important, but she’s a wife. That part’s for sure. …Now that I think about it, this could be a hidden camera show or something. Once I take three more steps, Tenzou’s gonna barge in holding a big sign saying “Surprise! You’re on Ninja Camera!” Damn you, Tenzou! I’ll never forgive you! I bet you can’t even tell me how much trouble I went through in England to get you a girlfriend! Well? Can’t do it, can you? Then you lose! Not that I actually did anything back then. Ah, this wife needs to stop wiggling like that. I’m gonna start moving! I’m gonna walk right up to her!! And I’m really afraid this is a hidden camera show. I mean, it’d take a third generation blacksmith to match the hardness I’ve got going on here. If this is a hidden camera show, Horizon’ll kill me once they measure that physical evidence.

''Oh, crap! Horizon!!

''This ain’t good. What do I do if she finds out? And if Nate or someone shows up to rescue me right now, they’ll definitely find out! And with the parent connection, Nate’s gonna find out no matter what! I’m screwed! Or am I? Can Nate and the others wait a while to show up? Well!? No, calm down. The trick to calming yourself down at times like this is to do math in your head. Um. 2378905 x…There’s no way I can multiply that!! Are you stupid!? Know your limits here!! So how about addition!? 65333 + 95829 =…No, when I see more than two numbers in a row, my brain refuses to think! I lose my focus and try to escape by looking at the wife right in front of me. Ha ha ha …No, don’t look! Don’t looooooook! O-oh, I know. I need to think about some other girl! I feel bad, but that’ll definitely distract me! Yeah, another girl’s the way to go! Like when Horizon gets the bread from the other side of the register and bends down like this. Then her butt goes like this and…um…

''My hardness is only growing from that.

''Crap. This is hopeless. Completely hopeless. I’m doomed to an erotic death. I’m definitely going to die. Is this fate? No, there has to be some other option! I’ll ask the angel and devil inside me. They’ll give me opposite answers, so I just have to trust in the one that sounds like it’ll work!!

''Okay, my angel and devil. What should I do about this fate?

'''Devil:''' “Fighting fate is hard, so don’t do that.”

'''Angel:''' “Going along with fate is easy, so keep doing that!!”

''Those may be opposite answers, but they mean the same thing!!

''Oh, dammit. Her husband gets to indulge in this every night without having to worry. Damn, that must be nice.

“U-um, wh-why are you crying again? Excuse me?”

''Don’t give me that worried look while wiggling around like that!

…''I-is this boy okay!?

The Reine des Garous saw him react differently from all of her previous targets.

He was only three steps away. Normally, they would choose to kneel before her at that distance.

But this boy was not normal.

A normal person would not be muttering under his breath, would not suddenly start wiggling around, would not hold himself in his arms and shout “Ahh!”, and would not slowly begin to cry.

Earlier, he had turned toward the door and started saying, “D-don’t watch! There’s no thief here! There really isn’t!!” She had initially thought he had gone insane, but it seemed to be some kind of act.

He was approaching and he had a sleepy expression, but she could not let her guard down. If he did return to his senses, she would be forced to make him surrender by force.

…''But the Reine des Garous has never before experienced the disgrace of having to make a man surrender by force!

Everything had been set up perfectly, but would she have to handle this like a common beast?

However, a sudden thought occurred to her.

…''D-don’t tell me my charm has faded as I’ve aged.

Feeling uneasy, she decided to strengthen her seduction. She exposed her body to the moonlight once more and faced him. She gently spread her knees, reached her hand toward him, and undid her hair.

“Feel free to join me.”

She lowered the ends of her eyebrows.

“Do you not want to?”

As soon as she said that, the boy took another step.

She had drawn him closer and she rejoiced that she still had it.

…''Now, kneel before me! Yes!

He bent over right in front of her.

She knew she had won.

…''I did it! Honey, I really do still have it! I do!!

She thought about her daughter and how this would solve everything. She only had to finish things here.

“Now.”

She relaxed her body, faced him, and called out to him.

“Get down on your knees and crawl into bed. I’ll give you all the attention you want.”

She called out to the boy who was bending forward in front of her.

But…

“Oh.”

Beams of blood shot from both his nostrils and the force sent him flying backwards.

“Kyaaaaah!?”

Rather than a fountain of blood, it shot from his nose in a straight line. The Reine des Garous took evasive action on reflex, but she suddenly came back to her senses.

“W-wait. You’re draining the blood yourself!? Just how helpful are you trying to be!?”

The force of the bloody stream sent the idiot slamming into the wall behind him. He then bounced off it and collapsed forward.

“Nh!?”

He collided into the floor starting with his naked crotch.

A dull sound and a prying sound came from the floor.

Musashi’s chancellor did not scream, but his expression did immediately grow serious.

“Hh!”

He let out a grunt of air and collapsed limply into a manji shape.

The Reine des Garous watched the series of events in a daze, but…

“U-um.”

A puddle of blood formed around his face on the floor.

She was taken aback when she confirmed the scent of the spreading blood.

“Wait. Um, uh?”

Flustered, she directly shouted her thoughts.

“What is going on!?”

“Huh? A-a disturbance is running through the forest’s spirits and animals.”

“What do you mean by a disturbance? Did my mother cause it? Or the chancellor?”

“Hm.” Mary brought a hand to her forehead. “It seems more like the Reine des Garous is confused.”

…''The chancellor must have done something.

She was certain of it and there was nothing she could do about that.

But what had he done to disturb her mother so much? She did not want to think about it, but Naito suddenly sat up and gave her a thumbs up. She did not know what exactly that meant, but she got the general idea. She looked the girl in the eye and Naito lay back down.

“But,” muttered Mary while glancing around their surroundings. “The spirits are wondering what they should do and if they should help. It seems there is quite a commotion at the Reine des Garous’ place.”

“I have a feeling everything is going about as well as normal.”

“But… Yes, I think everything will be fine.”

“Why?”

Mary smiled and held up Mitotsudaira’s foot.

“Because the Reine des Garous has given her heart to a human once before.”

…''You mean…

Mitotsudaira had an idea what she meant and Mary confirmed it.

“That is why you are here in the first place.”

Mitotsudaira listened to what Mary said about her.

“I have studied Far Eastern history and master Tenzou has taught me a lot, including your inherited name. …You have inherited the name of Lord Mito Mitsukuni, haven’t you? According to an aside in the Testament descriptions, he performed a pilgrimage of the Far East and researched a variety of things.”

“Y-yes. Judge. That’s right.” She shrugged. “I had been thinking of taking someone with me and making my own pilgrimage of the Far East after I graduate. Tomo has mentioned wanting to visit the different nations to investigate the mysterious phenomena there, so I had thought she might want to join me. But…”

“That would be difficult in Musashi’s current situation, wouldn’t it?”

Mary gave a troubled smile, but she made sure to say what she had to say.

“According to the Testament descriptions, Lord Mitsukuni was an unwanted child, wasn’t he? He was apparently the child of a master and his maid.”

Mitotsudaira knew about that. She had looked into it herself and others had made sure to inform her. But Mary continued.

“That is why his mother was ordered to kill the child; but the family that looked after her disobeyed their master’s orders, allowed the birth, and raised Lord Mitsukuni in secret. And…”

“And?”

“I think that is similar to the reason your mother hid her position as the Reine des Garous until yesterday.”

Because…

“It was to hide that such a powerful being had entered human society and to hide herself when her body was under the strain of childbirth. Also, if people knew you were the Reine des Garous’ daughter, they might try to take you hostage. But she could prevent that by hiding her identity.”

“Then why did she send me to Musashi?”

“Probably to make people think you were not such an important individual. You may be second in line to ruling the Far East, but you were also a knight sent from Hexagone Française and therefore a puppet working for Hexagone Française.”

That was true. People had once pointed that out to her. They had told her, hurt her, and twisted her. She sighed while remembering all that. She hung her head and rested her forehead on her hands.

“You’re right. …I was sent there so the other nations would think I was unimportant. And I really was just a child when I was sent away.”

“But…”

“?”

“There are some things I do not understand, but one thing feels certain to me now.”

Wondering what it was, Mitotsudaira raised her head and saw Mary tilting her head.

“You were not an unwanted child, were you?”

Mitotsudaira felt a chill at Mary’s words.

But not because she was angry or upset at the girl.

This was different. The chill felt like it was stroking her spine.

…''Mary doesn’t know if she was wanted or not.

She had not been born to the correct mother and she had led to the death of the mother she had been born to. That second point applied to her twin sister Elizabeth as well, but…

“Mary, have you…ever resented your birth?”

“No, because I have no one to resent. But…I do wonder why.”

“You ask something you can never know the answer to?”

How long had she been wondering that? Mitotsudaira had no way of knowing; but Mary’s smile deepened.

“It’s fine. Master Tenzou gave me the answer.”

Mitotsudaira wondered if she should record this conversation and share it with the others later. But she noticed Naito open a Magie Figur as she lay on her side, so she left it to her. At any rate, she asked a question like an interviewer.

“U-um… The 1st special duty officer did? How?”

“Judge. …You see, I’ve been thinking recently. A lot may have happened between my parents and I may be looking at this in a convenient way, but…”

She held a hand to her cheek.

“I feel so happy when I’m with the person I care for, so I hope my parents had times like that too.”

Naito gave a thumbs up and Mitotsudaira replied via eye contact. She heard Tenzou collapse in the underbrush in the distance, so he had likely given up. At any rate, Mary continued while blushing.

“So can I assume the Reine des Garous had times like that too?”

“It isn’t my place to say.”

“Then!” said Naito while suddenly standing up.

Her bandaged wings shook, she held up her recording Magie Figur, and she gave a crescent moon smile.

“Mito-tsan, I want to hear about how your parents fell in love!”

“What? Wh-why do you want to know that all of a sudden?”

“Because.” She wrapped her arms around Mary’s shoulders from behind and the two of them looked up at Mitotsudaira. “I want to know how your mom ended up accepting your human dad. …It could even help us find a way to keep the chancellor safe.”

Mitotsudaira felt it was rare for Germans to be this motivated by pure curiosity, but she decided it was fine. It was late at night, this was a gathering of girls, and she had heard the general story before.

“Fine then. …It’s a pretty ridiculous story, though.”

As she began to speak, she wondered what her mother and the chancellor were doing.

Mitotsudaira’s mother and Musashi’s chancellor were intertwined on the bed.

“C-come on. Settle…settle down. Stop moving.”

“Nwah! O-ow, ow, ow. Wait. Seriously, stop rubbing me like thaaaaaat!”

“You’re a boy, so put up with it for now. I can’t believe you’re making this much of a fuss over some disinfectant.”

The mother was straddling the chancellor and pinning him below her butt. She looked down at him where he lay sprawled out with tissues in his nostrils. The idiot had gone limp from the healing charms placed across his body.

“D-dammit. I tried to resist, but now you’ve rubbed that disinfectant towel all over me and placed charms over my hair. My pride is in tatters.”

“And my pride as the Reine des Garous insists that I heal you after you were injured in my house.”

''But,'' she sighed while wearing a shirt. ''I’ve finished treating his injuries.

“Anyway, I have to apologize. The floor in here is made of hardened wafers, so of course falling down that hard was going to leave you covered in scrapes. The floor used to be chocolate bars.”

“I was wearing my shoes, so I thought it was a wooden floor. I thought the contents of my God Mosaic would slide, but it caught on the wafer pattern. I haven’t felt a scrape that bad in a long time.”

“Anyway,” said the Reine des Garous as she looked down at the boy.

She had put his underwear and waist hard point parts on him. The ether gathered in the hard points regulated his body temperature and gave a barrier of air to support him while living on the Musashi, but it also regulated his blood pressure and heart rate when injured. So…

“Have you stopped bleeding?”

“Hmm. I still feel something stinging in my throat.”

“What a waste.”

She said that partially as a complaint and started to sigh, but she stopped herself.

This had been brought on by her failure to predict what would happen. This boy was a guest, so if she had failed to make him bow to her, it was due to her own lack of skill.

…''My old friends would have laughed at me if they had seen that.

But she had another thought as well.

…''At this point, it’s probably impossible to make him bow.

The room smelled of blood and disinfectant, so the mood was all wrong.

She had brought several dark green moss creatures in from outside and they were cleaning the floor

“Cleaning.” “Thick.” “Bleeding.”

…''The mood could hardly be worse.

With that serious thought, she tossed the towel to the moss creatures. They called it a reward, but she wondered if it was really that great.

“Anyway, you bled an awful lot.”

“To be fair, I did eat a lot of meat for dinner.”

Musashi’s chancellor had a wet towel on his forehead to cool the heat in his face. The towel covered his eyes, so she could not see his expression.

“I’d really been holding back, so it had all kind of built up inside me.”

“Holding back?”

He nodded.

“After all, I’d had a lot on my mind. But as I thought about all that, I suddenly decided ‘to hell with it!’ and relaxed myself. That’s when it all came at once.”

''Oh?'' thought the Reine des Garous.

“So you gave in?”

“Yeah. I mean you’re super sexy. And it all looked like it would feel really great. I started thinking no one would blame me if I explained the situation.”

But…

“I think it was too much for me.”

“My.”

She felt heat when she brought a hand to her cheek, but there was no point in denying it.

…''So he did surrender to me?

He had simply been too honest in his acceptance and she had gone in too strong. He had forcibly tried to oppose her, so she had gone in even stronger and ended up with a forced result.

And the boy said something else.

“Sorry.”

“For what?” she asked.

“I brought shame to you.”

The Reine des Garous stared at Musashi’s chancellor.

He groaned in thought and placed his right hand on top of the towel covering his forehead and eyes.

“You see,” he said. “Horizon’s definitely part of the equation, but I also don’t like blaming others for something I did. And Nate said it’s rude to compare a woman with another one. So if you were doing your best to show off your beauty, I need to give a proper answer without thinking about anyone else. And if I was better with words, I’m sure I could convince Horizon of that.”

He sighed.

“But I can’t. I don’t have confidence in my skill with words, I have no idea what I should do, and I’m afraid of making some people angry or making them dislike me. But in the end, you’re the one that ended up losing out from all that.”

…''This boy really does take things seriously.

So she opened her mouth and spoke while leaning down on him.

“Um, to be honest…I really was going to devour you. Oh, and when I say ‘devour’, I don’t mean it sexually. I mean I was going to literally eat you.”

So…

“You have nothing to apologize for. This was a battle between predator and prey…and, well…”

This was only her second time to ever say this.

“Even if it was a situational fluke, you defeated me.”

“Don’t say that.”

…''Eh?

The boy sounded certain of himself here.

“Don’t say that. I was the one that messed up. That’s what happened.”

“But…”

She was left speechless and she stared at the boy as he gave a weak smile.

“Whether we’re talking about sex or dinner, Hexagone Française’s vice chancellor and the Reine des Garous isn’t allowed to make mistakes, right?”

“But the Reine des Garous can’t have a victory just given to her either.”

Then…

“Then one day, once I’m the king of the world, let’s have a rematch.”

“…”

The Reine des Garous was dumbfounded.

She had someone she could call her king. She had promised to serve them, her allegiance to them was certain, and that person’s brother would one day rule Europe.

…''But a king of the world?

Would the boy pinned below her only call himself a “king” once he had become something even greater than that?

She suddenly wondered if she ought to kill him now.

After all, his face was hidden and he was defenseless below her.

''Now is my chance,'' she thought while reflexively raising a hand.

But then he spoke.

“Sorry I’m not up to the task yet. I’m an idiot and I can’t seem to do anything right.”

She heard him sigh.

“You may have been planning to eat me if I was more skilled, but not even that happened. If you think you would’ve eaten me if I hadn’t started bleeding, then you’re basically saying I’m still too inexperienced.”

…''Ah.

She realized that her conceited words and actions had hurt him.

So she lowered her head.

“Sorry.”

She relaxed her shoulders.

''I see,'' she thought. ''That’s right.

…''The Reine des Garous cannot lay her hand on an inexperienced child.

She would wait until this boy had grown into a man who could actually oppose her. That was how the Reine des Garous did things. And this boy faced her while viewing her as the Reine des Garous.

They had both understood that previously, so suddenly laying a hand on him here would be lying to herself and betraying this boy.

Also, her king and the others who had desired her position as Reine des Garous would be disappointed in her.

So she faced the boy. She looked directly into his unseen eyes.

“I have no intention of looking down on you. …You were trying to stand on equal footing with me, weren’t you? But you do not yet have the skill needed to do that. And yet… I’m sorry for pitying you for that.”

“Eh? Oh… It’s fine. That was just a little complaint. I can’t say things like this in front of the others. Also, I definitely lost to one person.”

“Eh? Who?”

“Your husband. …Nate was born because he defeated you, right?”

She felt her pulse quicken and her body stiffen.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow. You’re squeezing my hips between your legs! Tap, tap, tap! Ohhh! What’s this!? Boobs! These are nothing like Nate’s!”

“You’ve felt my daughter’s?”

She glared at him, squeezed until he screamed, and then sighed.

The boy also relaxed his body and his mouth bent upwards below the towel that hid his eyes.

“I’m jealous of your husband. He gets this all to himself every day, doesn’t he?”

“My.”

“But,” he said. “Why did you leave here? From what I saw outside earlier, there’s a fruit tree…well, forget that one. But there’s a spring and it’s a nice environment, don’t you think?”

“Well…”

She trailed off as she began to think and then smiled a little.

They were alone together in this hidden house at night, and…

…''I am his guardian right now, aren’t I?

It was a little much for a child’s bedtime story, but she wondered if it would work nonetheless.

“A lot happened a long time ago.”

''I can tell him about that,'' she decided while lying down next to him.

“Long ago…well, not that long ago. Yes, it was when I was a bit – just a bit – younger than I am now.”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 44|Chapter 44]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 46|Chapter 46]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 44

2015-08-14T04:39:07Z

68.109.52.245: /* Chapter 44: Those who Wait in a Place of Movement */

==Chapter 44: Those who Wait in a Place of Movement==
[[Image:Horizon3B_0415.jpg|thumb]]
''Why do dangerous things

''Always have to

''Show up?

'''Point Allocation (Worrier)

The battle in the forest ended and the wind blew through.

While kneeling in the underbrush, Mouri-03 looked up at the light aerial ship and at Henri who jumped down from the rear deck. When she lowered her gaze…

“Big sister?”

Her sister had lost her left shoulder and looked at the tree skewered in the ground in front of her.

It was only one meter in front of her and it had split from the impact of landing.

“Now that is an abnormal ability.”

“Yes, the Reine des Garous threw this because she predicted what would happen, didn’t she? How much strength and an eye for tactics does she have?”

“Testament,” replied Mouri-01. “The Reine des Garous is of course amazing, but her daughter is impressive too. Take that stone’s speed for example. How did she strike with greater speed than an automaton’s accelerated throw?”

“That’s a good question,” said Mouri-03 who did not know either. The information in her artificial memories told her Musashi’s 5th special duty officer used her monstrous strength to control the silver chains, but…

…''There are no records of her making an attack with that kind of speed.

She wondered what this meant, but her sister sighed in front of her.

“There is nothing we can do about it here. At any rate, we have lost.”

The eldest sister readily admitted that and lowered her shoulders, but Mouri-03 had a question about the action and conclusion.

“Big sister!? W-wait!”

Her sister turned toward her, smiled, lowered the ends of her eyebrows, and groaned uncertainly.

“You probably wouldn’t accept it if I said it was because of our orders.”

“Testament. And, um… Why? What do you mean we lost!? Because you would’ve been hit if it hadn’t been for that tree?”

But in that case…

“I could intervene with my gravitational control! I could even act as a shield like our middle sister! So don’t give up on the battle! You’ll make Terumoto sad!”

But her sister raised her partially destroyed right hand with the ends of her eyebrows still lowered and she motioned for Mouri-03 to calm down.

“From a standpoint of whether we could continue to fight, we did not lose. But as far as deciding the outcome is concerned, just look at this.”

Mouri-01 showed Mouri-03 what sat on her hand.

“That’s a fragment of the projectile you made.”

“Testament. That is correct. But…”

She tossed the stone over and Mouri-03 caught the fragment.

…''Ah.

She realized what her sister meant.

“The compression is incredibly high.”

“Testament. I increased the power used in forming the projectile to increase its attack power and to increase its stability in acceleration. So even though it was made from the forest’s materials, it can never return to that state,” she explained. “So if we were proud of a victory won with this, the forest’s spirits would have a poor opinion of us.”

“But we had to do it to win!”

“Testament,” agreed her sister. “That is why I created and used it. But now that it did not work and the battle has been stopped, I’ve realized the princess would not want us to win this way.”

After all…

“She is insistent that we do the right thing. …So now that we have not won and the battle has been stopped, this method is completely worthless. That must be why Lady Henri stopped us.”

“Testament. That is what I was told to do.”

Her sister nodded toward Henri and turned back to Mouri-03.

“Sorry, okay?”

There was nothing she could do when her sister said that. She felt she should be the one to apologize and her sister expressed why she felt that need.

“I suppose this means our combined efforts were not quite enough.”

“Don’t say that,” said Henri as she walked over. “I have determined you did plenty to show how much victory matters to us. And I am sure the higher ups are aware of it. …I also have a message from the princess.”

“What is it?” asked Mouri-03.

Henri smiled bitterly as she answered.

“ ‘You can push yourselves, but not too much.’ ”

“Anyway, winning is fine, but not at the cost of stirring up trouble with the spirits and non-humans of Hexagone Française’s forests. City non-humans like us see things differently from them.”

Masazumi nodded as she listened to Mazarin in the light of the spell lamp hanging from the eaves in front of the diplomatic building.

She briefly glanced at Guericke who stood next to Mazarin before continuing.

“Has the Reine des Garous freed our idi-…our chancellor and student council president? I would think she would release him as soon as she received the request for a ceasefire.”

Mazarin opened a ''signe cadre'', but soon answered.

“To be blunt, she is ignoring it.”

“Wait a second.”

The Reine des Garous was their vice chancellor, so she was required to obey the chancellor’s orders. And Hexagone Française’s student council and chancellor’s officers had unofficially approved of the ceasefire.

“If she is disobeying the request and continuing to hold Musashi’s chancellor and student council president, this is an international incident.”

“That is what makes her the Reine des Garous,” immediately replied Mazarin. “Hexagone Française is home to the greatest of all beasts. …This is no different from the kings who wished to bear emblems of lions and dragons. Any damage caused by them functions as a demonstration to other nations. Still, it is not impossible to get her to listen to you.”

Mazarin tilted her head and looked to Masazumi.

“But what does Musashi have to give us in exchange for getting her to listen?”

…''She really is reliable and straightforward.

''The way she goes in for an attack so strongly reminds me of our treasurer duo,'' thought Masazumi before answering.

“If it isn’t free, I’m not interested.”

“Why not? Your chancellor and student council president’s safety is on the line.”

'''Uqui:''' “How about you come out and tell her we don’t care about that?”

''The problem is that I have half a mind to do just that,'' thought Masazumi as Naruze stepped forward from where she had been on guard duty. She sighed and spoke to Mazarin.

“Do you think all lives are equally valuable?”

'''Worshipper:''' “Th-that sounds like a decent thing to say, but you really are the worst!!”

“Calm down,” said Neshinbara on the chat.

'''Novice:''' “But regardless, it isn’t good that the Reine des Garous is ignoring the ceasefire on a whim. Even if this develops into an international incident, it won’t bring Aoi-kun back to us. But if she is ignoring the student council and chancellor’s officers, it’s a pretty big problem for Hexagone Française too. Vice President Honda-kun, you know what I mean, don’t you?”

“Judge. More or less. They’re the opposite of us, so…”

Masazumi looked over at Mazarin.

“Listen, Cardinal Mazarin. I would like to confirm something.”

Masazumi saw the small Mouse look her straight in the eye.

“What is it?”

Masazumi nodded at that prompting question.

“If the Reine des Garous is ignoring the student council and chancellor’s officers, it creates a certain difficult problem for Hexagone Française.”

Namely…

“Louis Exiv is king of the nation that will rule Europe, but this means there is someone in his own nation he has no control over.”

“As I already explained, the leeway to let beasts run wild is one side of being a king and it also demonstrates his power to the other nations.”

“That’s probably true.” Masazumi crossed her arms. “But this is no mere beast. We’re talking about the Reine des Garous, the queen of werewolves. If that includes all of her subjects, this goes well beyond Hexagone Française. It means the non-humans of all the land she and her ancestors ruled and every member of the Loup-Garou race cannot be controlled by Hexagone Française’s student council or chancellor’s officers. And on top of that…”

“On top of that?”

“Judge.” Masazumi stared straight at Mazarin. “If nothing is done about this, it creates another danger for Hexagone Française.”

“Why?”

''Is she luring me in?'' wondered Masazumi as she spoke.

“For a certain reason, Hexagone Française cannot currently make use of its full power under Louis Exiv’s rule. …That is why you shouldn’t be able to do anything that would disgrace his authority.”

Masazumi saw two distinct reactions from Mazarin.

She said “testament”, but she also shrugged.

“I have determined you understand that Hexagone Française is in a difficult position.”

'''Asama:''' “What do you mean they can’t make use of their full power under Louis Exiv’s rule?”

'''Wise Sister:''' “Well, Asama, the way I see it, international opinion of them would drop if that nudist wandered around outside too much, so they are too ashamed to use him.”

'''Asama:''' “Wow, but a certain aerial city ship isn’t doing a thing to stop that very same problem!!”

'''Bell:''' “B-but…that’s Toori-kun’s…shtick?”

'''Wise Sister:''' “Yeeeeeeah! See, Asama!? What do you have to say now!? Suzu took my side! And it’s dangerous to take her too lightly! She can use Musashi’s sensors to scan all of your sizes and grope your body in empty air! Oh, but will you do me next time? Make a sculpture! A sculpture!”

'''Asama:''' “Suzu-san? Don’t listen too much to what these idiots say. It’ll rot your brain. Now, over here, over here.”

'''Bell:''' “Eh? Eh?”

…''They sure have a lot of energy for this late at night.

But if even Suzu was with them so late, it meant everyone was worried about the others. So to share her information with them all, Masazumi spoke to Mazarin.

“Louis Exiv still can’t use his authority as chancellor too carelessly. Isn’t that right?”

Mazarin remained expressionless, but her silence was a sort of answer. One could take it as a lack of denial.

So Masazumi continued to convey just how much she understood them.

“It doesn’t take much thought to figure out. Hexagone Française’s full authority has not actually been given to Roi-Soleil Louis Exiv. After all, Mouri Terumoto holds the position of student council president.”

“Can’t you view that as an intention to cooperate with Mouri?”

“No.”

“Why not?” asked Mazarin.

Masazumi turned toward Takao because Mazarin’s actual body, the Palais-Cardinal, was located in its rear loading port.

“Listen. During Provisional Chancellor and Student Council President Anne of Austria’s rule, she worked to cooperate with Mouri and that is what led to the marriage with Mouri Terumoto during Louis Exiv’s rule. But…”

But…

“You can view that in a different way. By cooperating with the Mouri clan, Louis Exiv’s presence is being set up as a foreign aspect and not a domestic one.”

“If I may ask again, why? Why would we do that?”

The answer was simple

“Because it is still not officially time for Louis Exiv to directly rule your nation.”

Masazumi spoke of the Testament descriptions.

“According to the Testament descriptions, Louis Exiv was born in 1638 and took the throne in 1643. But as a young king, his mother Anne of Austria remained as a guardian.”

And…

“In the final year of the Testament descriptions, 1648, Anne of Austria is still alive. If all authority were shifted to him in that state, the other nations would claim you are neglecting the history recreation and would attack. Thus, he has only been given the position of chancellor for the time being. Eventually, his wife Terumoto will hand over the position of student council president or they will cooperate as family.”

She added “however”, but Mazarin remained expressionless.

“Okay,” she said. “Let’s stop this.”

“Eh!? Why!? I must ask why!”

“Because you aren’t reacting.”

'''Smoking Girl:''' “Is she some kind of performer?”

'''Wise Sister:''' “No. A performer has to continue on even if the audience isn’t reacting. That makes her a terrible performer! And with a washboard chest to boot!”

''Shut up,'' she thought while karate chopping the sign frame apart.

She then turned to Mazarin.

“Anyway, Mouri Terumoto was present during the attack this afternoon, so I assume you had the Mouri clan’s cooperation. But using the chancellor’s authority to stop the vice chancellor would be Louis Exiv’s personal decision, so the other nations will be careful to see whether he is beginning his ‘direct rule’ early or not. While fighting M.H.R.R., it is too dangerous to use his authority as chancellor simply to pursue a rescue team for Musashi’s chancellor. Not to mention…”

Not to mention…

“Our chancellor was taken by the capricious Reine des Garous. She ignored the ceasefire and may eat our idi-…our chancellor. But if that happens, not only will Louis Exiv be unable to begin his direct rule, but his international influence will be completely ruined. Both as a result and a process.”

Mazarin remained expressionless, but she tilted her head a bit and asked a question.

“Are you assuming the Reine des Garous will eat your chancellor?”

That was not an easy question, so she held out a hand for time to think.

'''Vice President:''' “What do you think? If I just say ‘yes’, she’ll think I’m a cold-hearted vice president.”

'''Asama:''' “As long as you don’t say you’d be perfectly fine with that outcome, I think you should be fine. So just give a brief ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer. Three, two, one, yes!”

'''Uqui:''' “Are you trying to get her to answer ‘yes’?”

'''Tonbokiri:''' “Wait, wait, all of you. Masazumi, you must not be so negative. Just say this: ‘Musashi’s nudist has it in him to spend the night having sex with the Reine des Garous, so there is nothing to worry about.’ ”

'''Azuma:''' “Um…”

'''Wise Sister:''' “…”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “Wait, Kimi. You’re scary when you’re quiet.”

'''Wise Sister:''' “Ha ha. Sorry, sorry. Well, I have my own thoughts about the Reine des Garous, but I do think there is nothing to worry about…”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “Again, don’t fall silent at the end like that.”

''I get the feeling I’m not going to get any worthwhile opinions out of them. No, I’m certain of it,'' thought Masazumi as Mazarin shrugged in front of her and spoke

“Anyway, I can see that you have a general understanding of the various problems facing Hexagone Française. We will do what we can to restrain the Reine des Garous’s hunger.”

She paused.

“But Lady Anne is in charge of this and she can be fairly capricious too. Yes, I just hope she makes it in time.”

“D-don’t make me worry like that.”

“Calm down.” Mazarin expressionlessly opened a ''signe cadre''. “The Reine des Garous does not eat children and she has not eaten humans since entering human civilization. I have determined we can only hope she takes a liking to your chancellor. …As something other than food.”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 43|Chapter 43]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 45|Chapter 45]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 42

2015-08-13T06:28:04Z

68.109.52.245:

==Chapter 42: Counterattackers in the Dark Forest==
[[Image:Horizon3B_0357.jpg|thumb]]
''Why do we

''Never forget

''The trick to fighting?

'''Point Allocation (Duty)

The battle in the forest continued as Tenzou and Mary separately charged in at the automatons who had been split between left and right.

Tenzou thought to himself as he heard repeated sword strikes from Mary and Excalibur on the other side.

…''Well done!

Ex. Collbrande’s path did not waver. Unlike the irregular iai techniques of a ninja, she sent the arc of the sword toward the thickest part of the enemy.

It was a bold sword technique.

…''The three hundred she cut down in the past is at least coming in handy now.

Ex. Collbrande was likely helping as well. The other half had come to him. It was light and dull, but it was effective as a blunt weapon. It was far from being a stealthy item and he was unsure a ninja should be wielding it, but he had no choice since it had taken a liking to him. He decided to think of it like a type of ninja dog.

…''When I think about it, I’m completely relying on Mary-dono here, but I can’t let myself think that way.

But as he cut down the enemy with his attack…

“Oh.”

He heard guns being prepared. The sound he heard in the noisy forest was unique to humans, so he held up Ex. Collbrande as a shield and bullets soon collided with it.

He realized the enemy’s grasp of the situation was recovering and used the sounds to count the number he and Mary had defeated.

Together, they had reached a total of twelve or thirteen.

The leading teams on the left and right had each had ten members, so the two teams had been reduced by about seventy percent. Two additional teams were arriving from below, but they could not do anything with the automatons of the leading teams in the way.

''This was well done,'' he thought.

'''10ZO:''' “Mary-dono.”

He sent a prepared sign frame as a sign and he made a wide swing with Excalibur.

The slash pushed the enemy outward and up the slope.

He had a single reason for distancing them like that. He placed Excalibur on his back to defend from behind and…

“…!”

He ducked low and charged toward the additional team below while Mary did the same on the opposite side.

Mary was relieved to be moving.

She had a variety of thoughts about having to fight, but she was here because of everything that had happened in England.

…''Doing what I can here is the least I can do for the others!

The enemy she drove back here was likely the same, so…

“Here I go!”

She held her skirt and seemed to fly as she rode the wind spirits.

…''Is this really okay?

According to Tenzou, they were being pursued by Mouri’s three automaton sisters.

They had originally been part of a Hexagone Française academy, but they had apparently transferred to Mouri when Mouri Terumoto married Louis Exiv.

Mary had formally married into Hexagone Française in the past, so she knew these automatons’ abilities even if she had never met them.

Using that knowledge, she and Tenzou had exchanged ideas and put together this counterattack plan.

According to Tenzou’s knowledge of the Testament Union’s almanac, the three sisters held the positions of 4th through 6th special duty officers. On their side, Tenzou and Naito were special duty officers, but…

…''What about me?

She moved on. Instead of utterly crushing the enemy, she had left a few behind her. That was to leave the possibility of friendly fire to stop the additional team from attacking.

“…!?”

Mary could see the spirits express their thoughts via movement in the ether and that revealed something to her. In the noisy night, the spirits were expressing their surprise at something that did not belong.

…''A wooden skewer!

She realized this was Mouri-02’s attack at the same moment as Ex. Collbrande moved from her back, circled around her, and arrived in front of her. An attack tried to gouge into the large sword raised as a shield.

But Mary had a sudden thought.

…''Strange.

The attack did not continue. There was nothing more from Mouri-02 or the others up ahead.

…''That was a diversion meant to draw my attention forward!

In the past, she had cut down three hundred and later fought a fleet attacking England. Her spirit spells were weaker while away from England, but she had not lost the intuition that had given her.

“Behind me!”

Instead of using her hands, she had Excalibur sweep behind her using its autonomous movements.

It hit, but it hit more than just one object.

…''All of the remaining ones!?

She looked over her shoulder and saw the correct number of enemies, but something was different about them.

“Headless dolls!?”

Their arms were held out toward her as they tried to grab her.

Her strike had smashed them all as they attacked from behind, but beyond them, the previously damaged automatons were holding their comrades’ heads.

“I have determined she has noticed.”

As soon as Mary heard those words, the headless automatons she had hit with Ex. Collbrande exploded at close range.

“Mouri-01 to all others. If you determine you cannot continue your mission or that you are obstructing the others, remove your core and memory device and then self-destruct. Your body can be replaced and this is an excellent chance to gain a new body. There is no replacement for victory and your new body can be a reward you have earned instead of a simple replacement. …Make sure your decisions are sound.”

Mouri-01 heard everyone reply with “testament”.

They were excellent replies. All of those here, herself included, had bodies of hard wood frames, silicon outer shells, and soft resin skin. The wire cylinders of hardened cords that moved their bodies wore out quickly, but they ensured high performance on short missions.

“All but your head is made from natural materials, so it will all return to the earth eventually. If you detonate yourself, make sure to remove your head and core first and continue as we trained. Everyone remaining is to secure the heads and cores.”

“Testament,” the others replied just as another explosion rang out.

…''Now, then.

This self-destruction was not a “last resort” for automatons.

When they were acting in groups, even if only one survived, they could secure the cores and memory devices of the others and return with all of them.

And detonating their bodies after giving them instructions for an automatic charge could quickly turn the tide of a battle.

It was powerful enough to destroy an enemy’s front line or put a fleeing foe on guard. This was why they had achieved a 100% survival rate and a 100% success rate in their unofficial skirmishes with M.H.R.R.

“But how will Musashi’s special duty officers handle this?”

…''Mary-dono!

Tenzou did not speak a word when he heard the explosion and saw the flash of light. An expression of surprise or panic would only aid the enemy.

His ninja training allowed him to continue as normal no matter what happened in battle.

He still mentally expressed his worry, but was that due to confidence in his abilities or insufficient training?

“…”

However, he soon saw the color of gold push out from the leaves scattered by the blast. It was Mary’s hair.

She had swung Ex. Collbrande back and hid behind it as a shield. She had also used a spirit spell to control the flow of the air.

She was unharmed, but she and Excalibur had been blasted into the air.

The danger was not over yet.

After all, a headless charge was approaching Tenzou as well.

He heard their footsteps behind him. They had not caught up yet because he had started running faster than Mary had, but if the enemy further up the slope was planning to self-destruct…

…''The additional team further down the slope doesn’t have to worry about them!

That was exactly what he saw in front of him.

The additional team was readying their guns.

They no longer viewed the explosive headless bodies as comrades.

So Tenzou lowered down a bit.

“Mary-dono!”

And he leaped high into the air toward her.

Mouri-02 calmly observed the ninja’s leap.

Her additional central team was in the process of joining with Mouri-01’s leading central team, so she left everything in the rear to the others and moved further forward. She rushed in front of her sister to protect her.

“…!”

She accurately threw three wooden skewers toward the airborne ninja. She targeted his knees and ankles to stop his swift movements as soon as he landed.

…''!

After throwing the skewers as if pushing them, she prepared more. She would throw these at the ninja’s estimated landing spot, but something happened just as she gently spun around in preparation.

“Mouri-02!”

Hearing Mouri-01 call her name, she reversed her movements. Her sister was telling her to be cautious and that meant she must have gotten ahead of herself.

She kicked off the ground to quickly move back to the others. She accurately traced her previous movements in reverse and finally looked up.

She looked toward the ninja, but he was gone.

…''!?

No, he was there, but he was not down below or to the left or right.

He was up above.

The ninja’s thermal reading was moving up.

He had jumped again in midair. Mouri-02 wondered how that was possible. She also wondered if it was even true, but another automaton shouted the truth.

“R2’s attack was evaded!”

That meant it was true. In that case, she had to determine what had happened.

Tres España’s Tachibana Muneshige had recently become famous for a double-jump spell and there were similar Signe Testament and other spells for floating or moving in midair.

But her sister pointed out the ninja way of doing this.

“Ivy!”

More specifically…

“The earlier tree disguised as a human form was thrown at us using ivy. …I estimate he grabbed that ivy to pull himself up!”

''In that case,'' thought Mouri-02. ''He must have predicted a situation like this back when he was disguising the tree with the hot stone.

He had left a means of assisting his movements on the battlefield and he had used the previous disguised tree to make it look useless.

Mouri-02 decided this tactic was worth remembering and she also decided their enemy here was on the same level as them.

But…

“…”

The leaves rustled as the tree branches shook and something fell behind Mouri-01. Mouri-02 and the others turned toward it, but it was too late.

After his double-jump, the ninja was attacking their eldest sister who was their central pillar.

The sudden attack from overhead was so unexpected that the automatons were slow to react.

However, Mouri-01 spoke calmly amid their confused pause.

“This is nothing to worry about.”

After all…

“Statistically, I predict Excalibur will be the first to drop down.”

They soon saw the result of that prediction. The object dropping from above had a human form.

However, it was only the upper body.

The coat of the ninja’s modified Far Eastern uniform descended while wrapped around Ex. Collbrande.

Branches and leaves scattered as it dropped straight toward Mouri-01.

But she had already taken a step out of the way.

The dropping sword did not hit its target and Mouri-01 predicted the ninja’s actions as well.

“He will drop down from directly above Excalibur. I predict he wants us to think that Excalibur is a diversion and that he will attack from elsewhere.”

Just as she said, a shadow shot down from above Excalibur.

“No one move.”

As soon as she said that, she used her gravitational control.

“Mine is not as powerful as Master Armand’s.”

She grabbed different spots along the ground, pulled up, and gathered them together as hard spikes.

“But this should make for a decent counterattack.”

Three meter spires of crust stuck straight up from between the automatons and the shadow fell toward that wide-range attack.

“Whoa, watch out.”

The shadow jumped up in midair.

“…!?”

This true midair jump should have been impossible for the ninja, but…

“Musashi’s 3rd special duty officer!?”

Naito did not answer the enemy’s question because she had already answered with an incantation.

She activated an acceleration spell. She wrapped her fingers around a pendant-style Orei Metallo and opened four speedometer-style Magie Figur inside her palm. Two were for acceleration and two for counteracting the recoil.

She often used this for her attacks, but without the broom to determine the angle of fire, she could not make any long-range shots.

…''So it has to be close-range!

She had erased her thermal signature with a reduction spell and waited for the right timing.

They had all decided this would begin their path to victory.

After all, automatons were dangerous enemies.

Their life on the Musashi had taught them how immeasurably accurate automatons’ predictions were.

''But,'' thought Naito.

…''When you’re too accurate, you only ever think about the best possible option!

That was why the enemy had predicted Tenzou would attack here.

And they had not known how to handle her unexpected appearance in his place.

Naito’s right hand was pulled back by her waist, but after confirming the enemy was caught off guard, she thrust the hand forward. Her palm broke through the speedometer-style Magie Figur and sent light scattering everywhere.

“Herrlich!!”’

She fired a ten yen coin toward Mouri-01 as the automaton tried to turn toward her.

The sound of the blast filled the air.

Naito was about five meters from Mouri-01, so the automaton could not avoid the attack.

The mountainous spikes she had created actually left her even less able to move.

But something did move.

It was Mouri-02 who was outside the spikes and quite nearby.

She used what she had prepared when predicting the additional attack above her sister. It was a different defense method from her sister’s spikes.

“…!”

She used her gravitational control to lift up four automatons who had met her gaze through the spikes and nodded. After saying “testament” via their shared memory, those four had removed their heads.

Mouri-02 forcibly launched them upwards.

She forced her arms up to instruct her gravitational control. She was generally in charge of more precise control, so she was not suited for this powerful and forceful manipulation. Her arms creaked under the strain.

“Don’t hurt my sister!!”

With those words, the four doll bodies flew up as shields.

The four automatons’ heads dropped behind or in front of them and their bodies created a definite barrier between the eldest sister and the Technohexen.

“…!”

Two were smashed by the direct hit, one was torn into, and one creaked but endured.

“Mouri-221, detonating.” “Mouri-222, detonating.” “Mouri-223, continuing as normal.” “Mouri-224, continuing as normal.”

Two exploded and the other two continued to act as a barrier.

However, the blast did reach the airborne Technohexen. Mouri-02 heard her wings moving and saw the light of a defense spell through the blast.

''A special duty officer would have a countermeasure for a counterattack,'' she thought. ''She did not shift to defense so quickly by chance. That was the result of constant training.

But Mouri-02 heard another sound.

It came from up the slope behind her. It was directly below the location of the ninja’s previous double-jump.

“…!?”

It was the ninja. He had removed his coat and let go of Excalibur, but he was preparing to throw a kunai with only the movement of his forearm. And he was targeting…

“Sister!”

Tenzou threw the kunai as if shoving it forward.

His target was Mouri-01. She was the enemy’s leader and she had created that group of spikes.

…''So she can’t form another barrier!

''But,'' he thought. ''First Horizon-dono’s ‘you thief’ joke and now this. Do automatons naturally like walls or something?

…''At any rate, we need to finish this here!

They had used up all of their tricks and automatons could adapt too well for a trick to work on them a second time.

Not settling this here would be too dangerous.

He was concerned about their numbers as well. Including Mary, they had three fighters at special duty officer level and the enemy had two. That was a large difference, but the enemy had plenty of other automatons fighting with them.

Tenzou’s group was at a disadvantage for a long-term battle and they did not want to thoroughly annihilate their enemy to win.

That was why they needed to defeat the enemy leader to stop their advance.

And to do that, he was throwing this kunai.

“…?”

But his hand suddenly stopped moving.

He had not decided to stop his attack. Instead…

…''The kunai stopped!?

As if it had hit some invisible barrier, the kunai refused to move even when he pushed it.

It seemed like a gravity barrier, but that technique required the great output of the Musashi. And the idea that this was the automatons’ doing conflicted with another fact too.

…''Because automatons exist to serve their master, their gravity is only supposed to affect their master, themselves, and their fellow automatons!

He had learned that from studying porn games.

But regardless, his weapon had been stopped.

“Wait just a bit there.”

He heard a girl’s voice he had not heard before and the kunai began to move. However, it moved toward his waist and into the stocker on the hard point there.

After the kunai was placed inside like a child putting away a toy, an invisible hand lightly tapped on the stocker.

This was gravitational control.

…''What is going on?

Tenzou was confused because this should have been impossible for an automaton.

“Tenzou! Watch out!!”

After Naito’s shout, he was fired on from the left.

“Big sister, are you all okay!?”

He heard the same voice as before as thirty-odd automatons charged forward with guns at the ready.

The group was led by a girl who kicked off tree trunks and branches to secure an elevated position.

“Mouri-03 is here with her unit of thirty-two!!”

They split into groups of eight as they ran. They crouched low, aimed their guns, and accelerated further.

“Crush them!!”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 41|Chapter 41]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 43|Chapter 43]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 41

2015-08-13T02:19:53Z

68.109.52.245:

==Chapter 41: Attackers in the Dark Forest==
[[Image:Horizon3B_0345.jpg|thumb]]
''Now, let us begin

''Traveling down an untrod path

''Is one form of beauty

'''Point Allocation (Excursion)

“Would you like another glass?”

In a candy house, a dining table was covered with piles of used plates and a wine glass was added to it.

However, the person to which the Reine des Garous held out the bottle was leaned back in his chair and did not move.

“Oh? Did you fall asleep, Musashi Chancellor? How defenseless. And in front of the Reine des Garous no less.”

She laughed quietly, brought a hand to her cheek, and smiled deeply.

She circled around to the boy in the chair and brought her face to his throat.

It was a still night and her non-human hearing detected the pulse in his carotid artery.

“Heh heh. You ate well and now you’re sleeping well. …You must have been exhausted.”

She brought her hands to her hips and stood up.

“Honestly, do Musashi’s students understand how exhausted he gets even if it only looks like he’s doing stupid things?”

She pushed the table out of the way with her butt, moved in front of the boy, opened his clothing from collar to navel, and gave a crescent moon of a smile.

But…

“…”

She focused her ears toward the house’s entrance and looked to the north.

“Heh heh. The forest is noisy tonight. Quite a bit must be headed this way.”

She placed a hand on the boy’s shirt and smiled.

“They’re still outside my territory, but how about I watch a little bit before taking this boy.”

The first thing to fill the forest night was a gunshot.

There was no moonlight and barely any starlight below the broadleaf trees where shadows overlapped. The gunshot raced up from below a rising slope.

Next, a firing line of ten all fired in the same direction.

They aimed at the center of the slope where they had sensed their target.

They continued firing on that location for ten full seconds.

“…”
As soon as they finished, a group of shadows moved below the trees.

They were automatons equipped for night missions in mountainous forests. They wore dark green Far Eastern maid uniforms with black aprons.

They split into three teams. One fell back a bit to act as the rear guard and command unit. The other two circled to the left or right of the slope. Their enemy was in the center of the slope, so they intended to flank the enemy on both sides at once.

The ones moving left had rearranged their bodies to be right-handed and the ones moving right had done the same to be left-handed. This allowed them to constantly aim their guns at their target.

They moved forward.

As they rushed through the forest, they searched for their enemy by heat and sound rather than vision. They also avoided speaking. They could use their automaton shared memory to rapidly exchange thoughts.

Even now, they were confirming each other’s positions via thoughts instead of words.

“Right team has arrived. Checking for unusual movements.”

“Left team has arrived. Checking for unusual movements.”

“Center team has received confirmation. Please continue.”

“Testament,” the other teams replied to the center team.

But shortly thereafter, an especially loud report reached them.

“Okay, this is Mouri-01. Everyone, Mouri-02’s unit has reached us, so I will now command both units. Please keep that in mind.”

Mouri-01 double-checked their current formation.

Two teams had split off from her unit for the pincer attack up ahead. To assist, Mouri-02’s unit had also split into three teams with two sent after the other two teams sent ahead. So…

“An additional team will be added to both advance teams. The leading teams will be known as R1 and L1 while the following teams will be known as R2 and L2. Please confirm.”

“R1 here, testament.” “L1 here, testament.” “R2 here, testament.” “L2 here, testament.”

The responses came in almost simultaneously and Mouri-01 gave them silent praise from the central team.

When she had come to the Mouri clan, she had never expected to be given combat work as well, but…

…''We can handle this with the proper training and knowledge.

Thanks to the instructions of Henri, Armand, and Isaac of the Three Musketeers and their familiarity with the forest due to their princess’s love of taking walks through the mountains, after only two years in Mouri, all of the maid dolls had been able to traverse the forests covering eastern Hexagone Française alone and with no equipment.

In a group of three, they could accomplish reconnaissance and delaying missions.

“Mouri-97 of R2 here. I have detected a large group of ''framboise'' in this area. Permission to pick them?”

“Only if you use your spare hand while remaining in motion.”

“Testament,” they all replied.

A few reports of successful harvests came in afterwards.

Mouri-02 was silent even in their shared memory, but she seemed to have found a similar clump of fruit behind the central team. Mouri-01 decided this was a good thing and that the girl had changed since being dragged around by the princess.

“But everyone, show some restraint and do not pick too many. The forests of Hexagone Française belong to the spirits. Disturbing them is strictly forbidden.”

While they all replied with “testament”, the central team prepared their rifles.

The bullets they used were muzzle loaded in accordance with the history recreation’s rules. They could control the loading and firing with their gravitational control as automatons, so they could fire quite rapidly even with a normal gun. As for the materials used for the bullets…

“Mouri-01, this is Mouri-236. I have reconfirmed the makeup of the soil in this area. The rain last month has changed the soil since the last survey. Raising the acidity of the bullet composition by 2% should speed up the compost rate of the used bullets.”

Dirtying the land would turn the spirits against them.

…''And then we would lose the cooperation of the Reine des Garous and other local non-humans.

And if the spirits avoided the people, their blessings would naturally no longer reach the people.

This was why it had long been said to be very careful when fighting in a spirit forest.

…''And that is why it has become a job for Belle de Marionnettes like us.''

When moving through the forest, they could avoid speaking while also confirming each other’s positions and maintaining order. Automatons were likely the only beings that could do that outside of the non-humans who lived in the forests.

However, the combat automatons could not do that. Henri’s giant swords and Armand’s extreme gravitational control were bad enough, but Isaac’s shellfire would destroy the forest down to its roots.

''And that is why we do it,'' thought Mouri-01 as she gave instructions.

“Everyone, compress the bullets within 2% acidic soil. Our previous shots were a response to sudden movement, but this will allow our used bullets to be absorbed into the ground. Also, R1 and L1, have you detected the source of that sudden movement?”

“Testament. R1 is investigating. …The sound is gone. No heat source.”

“Testament L1 is investigating. …The sound is gone. No heat-…”

L1 was cut off before finishing.

“R1 has a correction! There is a heat source!”

Something quickly rose on the bullet-riddled slope.

It was a shadow and it sank down for an instant.

“…!”

Wind wrapped around it, and it leaped down the slope toward the central team.

The automatons reacted calmly. Just as the enemy shadow leaped down the slope, the central team simply confirmed its presence and left the direct interception to R2 and L2 who were moving to the right and left.

The next to move were R1 and L1 who had moved ahead and reached about the same height as the point the shadow had leaped from. They calmly fired in a fan shape along the slope where it had jumped from as well as above and below that.

Down below, Mouri-01’s C1 team finished confirming the shadow in the air ahead of them.

At the same time, that enemy shadow was suddenly stopped.

Mouri-02 stood at the lead of C2 which had caught up from behind.

“…”

She had used accurate gravitational control to fire a wooden skewer as a high-speed counterattack.

Mouri-01 saw Mouri-02’s counterattack strike the enemy shadow.

Gravity had compressed the tip of the wooden skewer that stabbed into the shadow as gunfire from either side poured into it.

“…!”

Mouri-02 twisted her right wrist and the skewer was forced into the enemy.

The impact caused the shadow to burst, but the way it scattered and the sound it made told Mouri-01 something.

“That is not human! It is a tree!”

The scattering shadow was indeed a fallen tree, yet it also had definite heat.

…''What is this heat source!?

Mouri-01 soon realized what it was. A mass of heat she determined was a hot stone spilled from the scattering splinters.

Just as she determined the enemy had put it there, the other automatons’ thoughts shouted to her.

“L1 here! Noise detected to the outer left!” “R1 here! Noise detected to the outer right!”

Suddenly, new shadows appeared beyond them all to the right and left.

Two movements raced through the underbrush and the automatons defended against the shadows moving down the slope.

“Please rise up!”

The automatons on the outer edges of the teams used their gravitational control to lift the ground on either side.

They created barriers of earth between them and the shadows descending on either side.

It was enough to defend, but something suddenly appeared over the heads of R1 and L1.

“Heat source detected.”

But it was not just one. Countless heat sources poured down on their heads.

“Hot water!?”

As soon as the hot water splashed down on the automatons, Tenzou leaped above R1 and Mary leaped above L1. Their actions seemed to be stopped by the steam rising from the hot water dropped below, but…

…''We can do this!

They jumped down into the hot air created by the water dumped on the cold air and cold automatons. Tenzou had boiled the water in a ninja tool known as a paper bucket, Mary had asked the water spirits to keep it hot, and Naito had cut off the path of the escaping heat with a reduction spell.

The forest had very few heat sources, so what happened to steam or the people surrounded by it?

“…!?”

The confused automatons turned toward each other.

''Of course they would do that,'' thought Mary.

If they had been searching for heat sources, they would first notice their fellow automatons after being covered in hot water. And when searching for an enemy heat source, they would naturally be confused when so many appeared at once.

And the heat of the scattering steam would form a mist and make their vision uncertain.

Tenzou and Mary had prevented the enemy from using their eyes.

…''Now we only need to seal off their auditory senses!

When Mary landed, she waved her skirt to make a loud noise.

The automatons looked over in surprise, so they had likely switched from thermal sensing to auditory sensing.

…''Just as Master Tenzou predicted!

That made her happy, but a voice behind her seemed to push her onward.

“Herrlich!”

It was Naito’s voice from far up the slope.

That signaled the completion of her spell.

“…!”

Everything in the forest shook and cried out.

More accurately, Naito’s acceleration spell had created a straight line wind that shot through the forest’s trees and their branches. Instead of moving the air, the spell simply accelerated and released it.

…''But if the branches shake enough…

The wind struck all the trees in an area one hundred meters long and thirty meters wide.

The forest shook. Trees tilted, branches collided, and leaves sounded like a heavy hand was striking them.

The blowing roar grew and pressed in on the ears of the automatons using auditory sensing.

“Kh!?”

The heat sources had been disturbed and now the sound was too confusing.

But the automatons knew an enemy was here, so they had to do something.

However, they could not escape and put some distance between them due to the wall they themselves had created.

And then Mary shouted out.

“Ex. Collbrande!!”

The shadow that had raced down the slope on the outside sounded like it kicked off the underbrush.

The shadow that flew into Mary’s raised hand was the left half of the original Excalibur.

Mary crouched down but used her full strength to swing her divine weapon.

She charged at the enemy.

===Study===
[[Image:Horizon3B_0356.jpg|thumb]]

Battlefield Diagram 1

Toori: So, um, Tenzou doesn’t matter, but what are the others doin’ in the forest!?

Kimi: Heh heh heh. Doin’ brother, this is the current situation in the forest.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>The distances are a bit arbitrary. They are actually spread out more from front to back.

1. Naito

2. Excalibur’s Route

3. Tenzou

4. Mary

5. Disguised Tree

6. Automaton Team L1

7. Automaton Team L2

8. Automaton Team R1

9. Automaton Team R2

10. Walls Raised by the Automatons

11. Mouri-02

12. Automaton Team C1 (Mouri-01)

13. Automaton Team C2

Toori: Doesn’t this diagram look like a face?

Kimi: Hey, watch what you say. Now I can’t help but see it. And try to remember that they’re on the way to save you.

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 40|Chapter 40]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 42|Chapter 42]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 40

2015-08-12T21:30:49Z

68.109.52.245: /* Chapter 40: Visitor in a Hard Place */

==Chapter 40: Visitor in a Hard Place==
[[Image:Horizon3B_0317.jpg|thumb]]
''I have always thought

''Far Eastern etiquette

''Is a strange thing

'''Point Allocation (Because They’re Horrible People)

Asama prepared tea in the rearranged diplomacy room.

She used the same method she always did for her club activities.

…''Boil the water in the iron kettle, put the…um, we’re not doing the soup today, so I guess I don’t have to grate any vegetables.

She managed the divine transmissions alongside the tea preparation. She had her hands full with all this, but the previous Western meeting had allowed Guericke some freedom. They needed to keep this a little tenser now.

Even so, Asama said what she could.

“Oh, this isn’t a formal tea ceremony, so feel free to relax.”

The Europeans exchanged a glance and clearly did not know the Far Eastern etiquette.

“Um, you too.”

''They don’t know what they’re talking about, but at least they’re being modest,'' thought Asama.

At the same time, Horizon slowly stretched her legs to either side and let out an expressionless sigh.

“My impression of Toori-sama.”

She crossed her legs, grabbed her feet in her hands, and began swaying her body forward and backwards.

'''Wise Sister:''' “That does look like him. I’m a little surprised.”

'''Asama:''' “Th-this is no time to be impressed! Don’t do that in front of our guests!”

The two guests assumed that was the Far Eastern way, so they began swaying their bodies too. A dull sweat covered Asama’s body and she saw Masazumi hang her head while Shirojiro and Heidi copied Horizon’s action as well.

…''Kh! Wh-why do they have to put this kind of pressure on me!?

She knew her smile was stiff, but she went ahead and poured the first cup.

The first person she had to serve was clearly the most dangerous one, but…

“H-Horizon?”

She made it into a question in the hope that Horizon would reject, but the girl looked up at her.

And she held out her right palm.

“I have a child’s sense of taste, so something as bitter and powdery as matcha just does not taste good to me.”

''Thank goodness!!'' thought Asama while truly feeling saved, but Horizon continued while still expressionless.

“But why does Far Eastern culture insist on drinking matcha? All it is is bitter. …But at any rate, please serve it to our guests, Asama-sama.”

…''Really!? You’re fine with all of what you just said!?

Sweating, Asama turned to Masazumi, but the vice president was looking in a different direction for some reason.

Horizon held a hand out toward their guests with the palm upwards.

“Now, Asama-sama. Do not worry about me and serve them their tea.”

Guericke frantically shook his hands.

“W-well, you see, I… No, Cardinal Mazarin would like-…”

“A Mouse can’t drink, so you can give it all to Mayor Guericke.”

Guericke’s mouth hung open and he gave Mazarin a look of extreme displeasure.

Outside the window, Naruze wrote “Special rule?” on a Magie Figur, but Asama was not about to agree.

At any rate, Asama decided to help out Guericke.

“U-um, I have drinks for Western tastes too. Would you prefer that?’

“Eh? Oh, testament! If you have a European drink, I’ll take that!”

“In that case…”

Asama decided to serve him what she had prepared.

Masazumi watched Asama’s forced smile as the girl filled a teacup halfway with coffee powder, poured hot water in, and mixed it together. But as she mixed it, her movements suddenly slowed and she said, “Huh? I’ve never made this before, but it isn’t dissolving.” Masazumi was a little concerned, but she realized the winner had been decided when Guericke expressionlessly accepted the paste-like substance.

…''I’m glad I’m not on a European student council.

Meanwhile, Mazarin looked up at Guericke and gave an expressionless nod.

“Mayor Guericke, I can’t drink, so please drink a second cup for me.”

“Eh?”

Guericke froze in place and prepared to say something, but Mazarin raised a hand toward Asama before he could.

“For his second cup, please make a Hexagone Française drink. Yes, cheese fondue should work.”

'''Asama:''' “I didn’t think that was a drink. …Well, whatever.”

'''Almost Everyone:''' “Try stopping before those last two words!!”

Asama looked more like she was cooking than preparing a drink, but Masazumi ignored it and asked a question.

“Now, can we get to the main question? Why will the Sack of Magdeburg begin the day after tomorrow?”

She had a specific question about that.

“Why did the M.H.R.R. Catholics and Hashiba agree to it? That event triggers the Protestant resistance and Catholic decline during the Thirty Years’ War.”

“Testament,” said Mazarin with a nod and a glance to Guericke. “To start with, what was holding back the Sack of Magdeburg will soon be gone. Lady Anne of Austria, Hexagone Française’s previous provisional chancellor and student council president, fell ill and was left with Magdeburg, but…”

She fell silent and hung her head, so Masazumi spoke up.

“If possible, I would like to hear the rest.”

“Testament. …Lady Anne’s remaining life is running out.”

Words filled the depths of the night. The voice came from the Palais-Cardinal which sat below the temporary roof built on Takao’s rear loading port.

“That would be the first point.”

Naomasa sat in front of her while eating a roast manju.

She opened a sign frame.

'''Smoking Girl:''' “You’ve started over there, haven’t you? The OS Mouse and the god of war are synchronized, so I can hear it here too. But if that’s a problem, I can stop it. What should I do?”

'''Vice President:''' “It’s fine as long as the voice is being cut off from your surroundings. You’re part of the chancellor’s officers and you’ll probably be involved from here on. I also want you to hear this as a representative of the engine division.”

'''Asama:''' “I’ll set things up there just like they are here, so you can talk like normal.”

“Sure, sure,” replied Naomasa as she checked the sign frame.

Hanami’s icon appeared on the upper left.

'''<Sync complete. Clap.>

Naomasa nodded and looked up at the Palais-Cardinal.

“Okay, this is going to be a double meeting. Got that?”

She crossed her legs, took a bite of the roast manju and asked the god of war a question.

“It isn’t that I don’t understand your circumstances. My family environment isn’t much different. …But is Anne really in that bad shape?”

“''Lady'' Anne.”

Behind her, the cockpit block had been opened to check inside. The maintenance division group in charge of that waved to tell Naomasa it was safe.

“Oh, you can close your back. It must have been cold.”

“This was nothing compared to the chill Lady Anne feels.”

“She feels cold? That’s strange. …Didn’t you say Anne combined with you, was left as data inside the cockpit container, and taken to Magdeburg? Her senses would be completely cut off, so she wouldn’t be able to feel the cold.”

“''Lady'' Anne. …And the chill she is feeling comes from…I guess you could call it ‘unease’.”

“I see,” said Naomasa.

…''I wonder if my sister feels cold inside Jizuri Suzaku.

“Anyway, Anne is in Magdeburg, right? I’m sure they have new medical techniques since they aren’t bound by the Catholic rules there, but why take her to such a troublesome city?”

“''Lady'' Anne. …And to be honest, she is a hostage.”

After closing her back and letting out a quiet groan, the Palais-Cardinal raised her right index finger.

“As long as Lady Anne is in Magdeburg, Hexagone Française cannot choose to spread the flames of war to the city. In other words, we cannot advance the Thirty Years’ War’s recreation to the point of the Sack of Magdeburg. For the city, this indirectly protects their people from the Sack. For the M.H.R.R. Catholics, it delays the war’s turning point.”

“Who asked to have her made a hostage?”

The Palais-Cardinal stopped moving briefly, but finally corrected her posture and answered.

“The decision was made by Lady Anne herself.”

Masazumi did not find Anne of Austria’s decision to be a bad one.

…''Using a former provisional chancellor and student council president as a hostage, hm?

After retiring, she lost a lot of her importance to Hexagone Française, but that was what made her a perfect hostage. She was still undoubtedly a VIP, so sending her out would affect both the M.H.R.R. Protestants and Catholics as well as Magdeburg and the Testament Union.

'''Novice:''' “So as long as Anne herself lives, the M.H.R.R. Protestants and the city of Magdeburg can prepare for the Sack and what comes afterwards. In other words, her life determines the fate of the Thirty Years’ War for M.H.R.R.”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “Have you finished reading the divine mail from your stalker? You’re clogging up the network.”

'''Novice:''' “Shut up. It isn’t easy when more keeps piling up as I try to read the old ones!”

'''Obscene:''' “Ha ha ha. Such happiness!”

''Relationships are a tough thing,'' thought Masazumi while staying as detached as possible and turning to Mazarin.

The small Mouse body was hanging her head slightly. It seemed to be a way of expressing a lack of energy.

However, she suddenly nodded and looked up.

“Let us continue speaking.”

“Judge,” replied Masazumi as Mazarin opened a ''signe cadre'' showing a girl.

The girl had wavy hair and was wrapped in faint light.

“Lady Anne has an incurable illness. The simplest explanation is that she has problems with her ether circulation. Due to her family, she has divine blood, but she suffers from a destructive illness that is similar to the process by which a human transforms into a monster.”

Hearing that, Asama’s eyebrows rose and she handed the cheese fondue to Guericke.

“Even though she’s a god? No, it’s ''because'' she’s a god, isn’t it?”

“Testament.”

Mazarin closed her eyes and turned toward Guericke.

“Drink it all. You don’t get to leave otherwise.”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “It’s the standard school lunch rule! I hated that because I don’t like the green onions in sukiyaki.”

'''Vice President:''' “I always brought my lunch, so it didn’t affect me.”

Meanwhile, Guericke took in a deep breath.

After a while, he froze in place and Mazarin turned back to Masazumi.

“Let us continue.”

'''Uqui:''' “Is it just me or is that Mouse bullying him?”

Masazumi thought so too, but there was no way Guericke could oppose someone like her.

…''But based on their interactions, can I assume Magdeburg and Hexagone Française have been in contact?

She turned to Guericke.

“I have a question. If Anne of Austria’s passing is the trigger for the Sack of Magdeburg, does Cardinal Mazarin’s presence here mean the M.H.R.R. Protestants and Hexagone Française have been communicating?”

She received no response. Guericke was hopeless, but Mazarin looked at her without confirming or denying it.

…''So they can’t officially admit to it.

However, their silence said enough. If they were not going to deny it, she was free to interpret it how she liked. And so she continued speaking.

“Seeing her death coming, the city of Magdeburg is preparing for the battle, but the M.H.R.R. Catholics shouldn’t need to attack. If they lay siege and don’t actually continue on to the Sack, the Thirty Years’ War can proceed. So if they are going to attack…”

She wanted to confirm her thoughts.

“The M.H.R.R. Catholics and Hashiba intend to ‘win’ the Thirty Years’ War, don’t they? Does this mean they’re already prepared to do that?”

“Testament.”

Masazumi saw Guericke nod after drinking eighty percent of his “drink”.

He faced her, wiped his mouth with a handkerchief, and spoke.

“Three years ago when Hashiba had stationed their Ten Spears in M.H.R.R. and solidified a foothold there, we received a notification from them. The Magdeburg Hemispheres were already under development then and Hashiba asked us to hand them over for M.H.R.R.’s victory. And if we did not, they threatened to carry out the Sack of Magdeburg.”

“The Hemispheres were more of a pretext to attack than anything, weren’t they? That doesn’t sound good.”

“Testament,” agreed Guericke. “That is why we quickly proposed secretly sending them to Holland or Hexagone Française. However, we would need a transport ship to carry the devices. Transporting them to Hexagone Française would have been difficult and Holland would be invaded by M.H.R.R. during the Thirty Years’ War. Just as we were at our wit’s end, Lady Anne of Austria arrived.”

He continued speaking.

“But now Magdeburg is already besieged by M.H.R.R.’s General Tilly.”

“Why? Anne of Austria hasn’t died yet, has she?”

“I would like to say these are just anticipatory preparations, but the scale of their deployment shows they are serious. And the other day, the M.H.R.R. warriors laying siege contacted us to tell us they would invade two days from now.”

He took a breath as if to build his resolve.

“As I previously told you, the Sack of Magdeburg begins that night.”

“Judge. It seems pretty sudden to me.”

The Sack would begin in two days’ time. Masazumi looked to Mazarin concerning that date.

But Mazarin only shook her head.

“As far as I can tell, Lady Anne should live a little longer at least. If she rests, she should be fine for another week.”

“Then why are the M.H.R.R. Catholics rushing the Sack? That’s suicidal. And if she’s still alive, won’t they be criticized for this?”

Guericke shrugged and shook his head.

“There is one more reason for them to begin the Sack right away.”

“What is-…” began Masazumi, but she changed her mind. “No, I shouldn’t be asking. The answer to that is obvious.”

The corners of Guericke’s mouth rose when he heard that. He seemed to be telling her she was right.

So she faced a certain person.

…''That’s right.

There was one strange fact about this meeting. Someone was sitting here like it was normal even though it was blatantly unusual.

“Cardinal Mazarin.”

Masazumi looked her in the eye and spoke clearly.

“Why are you here?”

Masazumi called to the Mouse who was looking her way.

“Lady Luynes is Anne of Austria’s maid, so I understand why she would board the Musashi as it travelled to Magdeburg and take part in a meeting concerning Anne. But you introduced yourself as Mazarin, your other inherited name. That makes you Cardinal Mazarin, treasurer of Hexagone Française. …Why are you traveling to Magdeburg?”

“Testament. Well done.” Mazarin gave a deep nod. “I am of course traveling to Magdeburg to ‘visit Lady Anne’, but that is not all. My visit is a covert one as it is not part of the history recreation, but I still have a reason for it.”

That being…

“This is just between us, but a representative of the M.H.R.R. Protestants and the leader of an anti-P.A. Oda alliance are visiting Magdeburg. Those two do not fear opposing the Testament Alliance and they will join together against P.A. Oda under Lady Anne’s guidance. This secret meeting was called together in a hurry due to the few days remaining to Lady Anne, but the Catholics are speeding up the Sack to attack that meeting.”

Masazumi gasped at that reason for the battle and Mazarin smiled bitterly.

“Lord Matsunaga Danjou Hisahide helped arrange this and he asked us to work with Musashi if we could.”

''I see,'' thought Naomasa.

She had let the Palais-Cardinal talk on and on, but now…

“I think I get the picture. Since the Catholics are rushing their preparations for the Sack and beginning the day after tomorrow, you planned to meet up with Anne by using the Musashi and skipping all the unnecessary formalities by defecting. And once you get there, the secret meeting can be held tomorrow, before the Sack. But who are these two representatives of the M.H.R.R. Protestants and an anti-P.A. Oda group?”

“I cannot say. Lady Anne has asked me to keep that a secret. And…at present, I see two problems concerning working with Musashi.”

The Palais-Cardinal raised a finger on her right hand.

“First, Lady Anne is not the only hostage sent to Magdeburg. M.H.R.R. has sent one as well.”

That being…

“M.H.R.R. Chancellor and ‘Wahnsinniger’ Rudolf II. He is imprisoned near Magdeburg.”

“I knew this time would come eventually, but I doubt my brother cares at all.”

Matthias muttered to himself on the bridge of an aerial ship positioned across a river.

He drank beer from a small wooden mug and looked at Narimasa who sat across from him.

Narimasa was leaning back in his chair sleeping. His arms were dangling down from the chair and he was completely relaxed. Matthias then turned to Toshiie who sat in another chair to the right.

Matthias reconfirmed that a ghost like Toshiie had no feet.

“Your relationship with Sassa is a lot like mine with my brother.”

“Chancellor Rudolf II doesn’t hurt people that readily, does he?”

Toshiie gave a troubled smile and Matthias began to nod, but…

“That’s why I hesitate so much. We told him to temporarily move to Magdeburg because his castle in Prague is being remodeled. It’s such a blatant lie, but he still trusts us. It’s obviously a trap to attack and kill him during the Sack of Magdeburg. I am telling him to escape, but who knows if he’s listening.”

Matthias sighed and took a deep breath.

“He has no desire for fame and no ambitions. He simply worries about his own power. He’s always kind to me…no, he’s kind to everyone. If it hadn’t been for his position as emperor, he could have been any-….”

Matthias placed his mug on the table, sighed, and placed a hand over his eyes.

“If possible, I hope the Protestants can attack his tower and destroy it before we get there.”

“You won’t be making the attack yourself, so don’t worry,” said Toshiie. “General Tilly will be handling the basics and my Kaga Millionen Geist will be effective against the chancellor. I’ll probably be the one who ends up doing it, so you can resent me for it.”

“Say that and I really will. Are you sure you want that?”

“I think it’s perfectly normal for a ghost to gather resentment.”

“You need to order me to do it, Maeda. Otherwise, I won’t resent you.”

“Sorry. …But it would be best for the chancellor to escape and go missing. Wasn’t there a time when he wanted to go to England? But…”

Toshiie looked into the eastern sky. He could see a large cloud-like form in the distance. It was the Musashi. The eight ships were moving east as if blowing in the wind.

“What will Musashi do? The chancellor unknowingly has some information that not even we or Hashiba have seen.”

“So it seems,” muttered Matthias with a sigh. “It doesn’t surprise me. He’s quite the airhead. He never hides anything. When Hashiba asked him for it as a representative of P.A. Oda, he bluntly refused, claiming it was his. Poor Hashiba didn’t know what to do.”

“Testament. In the end, our master told her not to worry about it as long as the information wouldn’t leave there.”

That information being…

“That memo was left by Great Chancellor Carlos I of Tres España and M.H.R.R. who was also close to Henry VIII of England. It was a portion of his investigation of the Princess Disappearances.”

“Chancellor Carlos I investigated the Princess Disappearances!?”

Masazumi spoke up without thinking, Horizon frowned, and Mazarin nodded.

“Testament. It seems Lady Anne heard that while speaking with Rudolf II over divine transmission. He does not have a journal or notebook, but he does have a memo on parchment that Carlos I left behind. Because Carlos I is Rudolf II’s great-uncle, all of the documents left by him were given to Rudolf II.”

Mazarin continued from there.

“And Hexagone Française has actually been investigating the Princess Disappearances as well. After all, disappearing without a trace seems very Apocalyptic.”

At that point, Guericke continued for Mazarin.

He looked across everyone first.

“Rudolf II is completely Catholic and conflicts with us Protestants, but he will likely be intentionally lost once the Sack of Magdeburg occurs. After all, the Catholics want to make Matthias their next emperor to prepare for the Thirty Years’ War.”

Masazumi understood what the man meant. By the start of the Thirty Years’ War, Rudolf II was no longer M.H.R.R.’s emperor. It was already his brother Matthias.

That was why they would eliminate Rudolf II to solidify M.H.R.R.’s structure for the war.

“But,” said Masazumi to stop the conversation. “Why are you telling us about Rudolf II and this document concerning the Princess Disappearances?”

“Why do you think?” asked Guericke.

Masazumi’s eyebrows rose slightly and she thought about the meaning behind this meeting.

…''They’re deciding right now whether Musashi will take part in the secret meeting at Magdeburg, aren’t they?

Soon, a representative of the M.H.R.R. Protestants, a representative of the anti-P.A. Oda forces, and Mazarin would gather in Magdeburg for a secret meeting.

But to join them, Musashi had to prove they were on the same level as the others.

In other words, this was a test.

“You don’t mean…”

When she combined the word “test” with the information they had just discussed, she reached a certain idea.

“You want us to go to Rudolf II and obtain that document? And on that condition, we can take part in the meeting?”

“Testament.” Mazarin nodded. “Of course, that is not all. That is a test of your willingness to interfere with the actions of the M.H.R.R. Catholics.”

“Then what other test is there?”

“That is simple. You will retake a test you have already failed once. You will fight a Hexagone Française force and win. …In other words, the team you have sent below will fight the unit we have sent after them.”

“Listen,” said Mazarin. “Our forest defense unit is pursuing the rescue team sent after the Musashi Chancellor. They may only be a defense unit, but they are ''Belle de Marionnette'' special forces that have inherited the names of Mouri leaders. We plan to decide everything on the outcome of their battle with your rescue team.”

Outside the window, Naruze held a message saying “make a joke”, but Masazumi ignored it.

“So today’s battle was more than just a way of introducing your vice chancellor and other warriors. It was also a test of our strength.”

If that all-out battle was now being overwritten by a battle between representatives…

…''Hexagone Française must have no interest in our national or economic strength. But…

“Hexagone Française is interested in Musashi’s political standpoint and individual strength?”

“Musashi’s specialty is a local battle like the armada battle or one-on-one battles like in London. We confirmed that ''fact'' earlier today, so I would like to go over the coming battle now.”

Mazarin looked Masazumi in the eye.

“Listen,” she began. “Musashi’s chancellor and student council president is being pursued by Princess Terumoto’s three maids who have inherited the names of her uncles. They all have unofficial experience in battles against P.A. Oda. Depending on the outcome of this battle, we could suggest that Lady Anne instructs the Reine des Garous to not eat your chancellor.”

That meant Aoi could be returned unharmed if they won the coming battle.

That was why Masazumi crossed her arms, opened her mouth, and said what may have been a bluff.

“That settles it. Our comrades are sure to bring us good news.”

''I need to get ready,'' thought Mitotsudaira in her hazy mind.

They had climbed a slope in the mountain forest and reached the planned rest spot. However, it was nothing more than a pit in the opposite slope that they could sit down in and check their progress.

…''I need to be ready to move again after a short break.

The others were being considerate and she knew why. She was the only one who could, at the very least, buy some time with her mother. That was why they said nothing even though she was slowing them down.

…''I hate this.

She felt like she was separated out from the others.

She knew her thoughts were headed in a negative direction. It was probably because her mother had reminded her of eight years ago. That was when she had felt separate from everyone and had failed in so much.

“Kh…”

She tried to get up and begin walking, but her legs were unsteady.

“Margot? Can you remove the pain reduction?”

“Eh? I already did.”

That response filled Mitotsudaira with confusion and hesitation. Should she try to gloss over the issue? She wondered if she had let the other girl know how bad her condition was and she was also shocked at learning how bad it was herself.

“I…see.”

She lowered her raised hips onto the grassy slope. The damp stems, leaves, and dirt were not a problem thanks to her waterproofed and insulated suit, but she was feeling tired because…

…''My body is not cooling off.

She removed her coat and sleeves.

“Mito-tsan? You’re going to get chilled.”

“No, um, this feels a lot better. …You should – heh heh – try it too, Margot.”

“Well…”

Naito sounded troubled, but Mitotsudaira did not look her way and removed her own skirt.

…''This should help wake me-

At that point, the color gold filled her lowered vision. She initially thought it was Margot, but it was actually Mary’s hair.

The English royal and sister of the Fairy Queen was crouched down and peering worriedly at her.

“Would you like some water?”

That question woke Mitotsudaira a bit.

…''Oh, no!

Mary was not like the others. The rest of the class knew her and what had happened eight years ago, but she had barely spoken with Mary.

One was from England and the other from Hexagone Française. One was a royal and the other was in line to rule the Far East. That created a connection between them, but…

…''That is why we must be equal.

Mitotsudaira had not been doing a good job of keeping distance between them, but she had assumed it would all work out given enough time. However, Mary had approached her here.

“Are you thirsty?”

Mary was being considerate even though Mitotsudaira had thought they should try to remain equals.

She had lost, had something taken from her, and been unable to do anything about it. But what did it mean to be shown this consideration afterwards?

…''Pity?

Realizing the meaning of that word, she mentally shook her head. It was unfair to think that. It harmed herself and looked down on the other person.

She could not keep this up.

…''Yes. Wasn’t I taught that long ago!?

At that moment, Mary kneeled down next to her and held out a leather bag of water.

“Um, here.”

Mitotsudaira intended to smile and decline, but Mary took her hand.

“…”

When she reflexively struck Mary’s hand away, she fully came to her senses.

…''Ah.

''Now I’ve done it,'' thought Mitotsudaira when she saw Mary holding her own hand.

She had hurt the other girl.

She doubted Mary was overreacting by holding her hand like that. She had knocked Mary’s hand back while barely controlling her strength as a Demi Loup-Garou.

…''What have I done?

Unable to understand her own action, Mitotsudaira tried to calm herself by bringing a hand to her throat. That was when she realized the choker was gone.

“…!?”

There was no point in asking when she had lost it. It would have happened when her mother had grabbed her neck and tossed her aside.

She had simply not noticed anything until now and that said everything there was to say about her current state.

…''My king.

She felt like she had ruined everything that she had promised and she felt strength leave the core of her being.

“…”

She toppled onto her side and a drowsy exhaustion filled her entire body.

She then turned her head toward Mary. Her heart told her she needed to apologize, but she closed her eyes.

…''No.

She collapsed onto the grassy slope and passed out.

“A-are you okay, Mary-dono?”

Tenzou caught the leather bag as it flew through the air from Mitotsudaira’s strike and he ran over to Mary who was crouched down on the slope.

“Oh, now that’s a true husband,” said Naito, so he glanced over at her.

“I-I would really rather you didn’t tell everyone about this later.”

“Judge, judge. I won’t tell anyone, so you don’t have a thing to worry about. Not a single thing!”

“I-I can’t trust you at all, can I!?”

At any rate, he ran to Mary who held her right hand and gave him a troubled smile.

“It looks like I got a little too close. …I should have shown more restraint.”

“Mary-dono, how is your hand?”

“Excalibur moves automatically, so I don’t need my hand when using it.”

She smiled, but she had a habit of not wanting to make others worry and she had just said she would not need her hand. ''This must be serious,'' thought Tenzou as he took her hand.

“Ah.”

Her shoulders tensed as he removed her glove.

“The bone and tendons are fine. I’ll make a compress, so wait just a moment.”

“No, that can wait. Treating Lady Mitotsudaira comes first.”

Mary looked at the wolf with a bitter smile.

“She has an incredibly strong heart, doesn’t she? …But I think she has finally gone to sleep.”

“I am grateful.”

“I didn’t do anything,” said Mary with a small smile.

Tenzou shuddered when he noticed Naito exaggeratedly fanning herself with her wings and commenting on the passionate heat, but Mary tilted her head.

“Should I call in some spirits to regulate the temperature?”

“You’re great, Ma-yan!! I think you’re just amazing!!”

“Thank you,” replied Mary with a smile and a small bow.

She then turned back to Tenzou.

“Master Tenzou, I wouldn’t be able to do anything if you were taken by my sister and I think I would end up much like Lady Mitotsudaira is now.”

…''But if Elizabeth-dono abducted me, I would probably be executed immediately afterwards.

“Anyway,” said Mary as she took a breath. “We just have to hide Lady Mitotsudaira, right?”

“Judge. If she is safe, the rest should work out somehow or other.”

After all…

“Our pursuers have reached the bottom of the hill, so we need to intercept them here.”

“Tenzou, how many of them are there?”

“About forty, I think. They are probably the Three Maids of Mouri, maid automatons that Hexagone Française sent to Princess Terumoto.”

He smiled at Mary.

“Whatever the case, we need to get in the first strike.”

Fifteen minutes later at 12:13 AM, the battle began in the mountain forest of Hexagone Française.

The scouting unit led by the Three Maids of Mouri caught up to and spotted the special rescue team led by Musashi’s 1st special duty officer.

When that information reached Mazarin via Divine Transmission, he proposed pausing the meeting and letting the result of that battle decide everything.

On its way to Magdeburg, the Musashi could not interfere in the battle, but Masazumi saw important meaning in that.

“So you’re judging our true value.”

Time passed as she and the others waited for further information in the meeting room.

Tenzou’s team minus Mitotsudaira silently but surely began their battle.

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