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Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 49

2015-03-29T19:24:14Z

86.52.43.170: Small fixes. Katsuie's comment on tangerines in the lunchbox sound awkward, but I don't know how to rephrase it.

==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.

[[Image:Horizon3B_0571.jpg|thumb]]

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.”

“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 given him something else instead.

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>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume13 Chapter 24

2015-03-29T15:59:12Z

86.52.43.170: Typos = fixed! (hopefully)

==Chapter 24: Greeting to the World==
[[Image:OnC_v13_0119.png|thumb]]
''Good morning

''Let us stuff the world in a trash bag

''And prepare to carry it to the curb

Morning filled the air.

The winter morning was so early that the sun had yet to rise and the eastern sky had only just started to grow bright.

Frost covered everything and the temperature was low enough to form ice.

The only sound was the distant engine of a newspaper delivery motorcycle.

However, someone was walking through that early morning.

The streetlights illuminated a girl in a kimono and jacket as she walked along a residential sidewalk.

It was Shino.

She awkwardly shook as she used her crutch and her black hair swayed back and forth.

She was traveling southeast which would take her to the main road.

Her white breath was directed downwards and she released a larger breath every few steps.

“…”

After breathing out, she raised her drooping shoulders and began walking again.

She held the cracked blue stone and the red cloisonné stone that hung from her neck.

“I have to go.”

Words escaped her downturned lips and entered the cold air.

“I have to go…or it’ll mess everything up.”

But she immediately shook her hair side to side.

''No,'' she told herself while stepping forward.

…''I’m the one that’s messed up.

“They’re all so nice, they don’t care about my past, and I can stay in this world, but…but…”

She let out a white breath.

“Why does it hurt so much?”

She breathed out yet another white breath.

“I have to go. I don’t know where to, but I have to get away from here.”

Because…

“Not long ago, I thought I had to fight. Why…Why can I throw away those feelings so easily?”

She fell silent there and only opened her mouth to breathe as she walked.

But she suddenly looked back.

She stared into the darkness beyond the countless streetlights.

The rows of dark houses hid the one she had come from.

“I’m sorry.”

She thought about the sister and brother with the same surname as her.

“I was happy there.”

She looked away and faced forward again with her head hanging low.

With her back turned, she used her crutch to move forward again.

She was still not sure exactly where she was going, but she made sure she left that place.

Each day of Taka-Akita Academy’s year-end festival began at daybreak and ended at daybreak.

It was not exactly an official event. The students had started it on their own, so the students spent late nights both preparing and celebrating. They ended up forming rotations and transforming the school into a sleepless place.

The sky was still dark on this clear winter morning.

Each day of the festival would begin at that time, but more as a lazy market than a celebration.

The stands would show each other what they had set up and continue the preparations that had begun before dawn. Meanwhile some few people and motorcycles would pass by.

Someone walked along while listening to those sounds and voices.

It was Kazami in her school uniform walking from the large bicycle parking area behind the band of school buildings.

She carried a backpack and rushed along the gravel path to one of the buildings.

On the way, a few club or committee representatives sleepily called out to her.

“You’re not with your husband?”

“Kaku had somewhere to go, so I came by bike and he’ll be here later.”

“What are you two doing for the costume dance party tonight? Are you doing the French Revolution like last year?”

“That was just once and we only did it because I wanted to throw cake around. This year, I’ll probably be walking around with a spear or something.”

She continued on while accepting the reports from the more well-prepared representatives.

Her destination was the second year school building.

She entered through the north entrance, passed by the stairs, and entered the hall on the right.

She found someone standing there.

“Siegfried-san. Taking inventory this early in the morning? You put in a lot of work.”

He smiled bitterly and looked at the books piled up to the hallway ceiling.

“Yes, but I never thought you would be using my workplace as a meeting room.”

“You can blame that idiot Sayama for that one. …And thanks.”

“I hear you have been working hard, too. Or at least you were before Sayama and Shinjou got back.”

“Yes. Sayama called and asked me to take care of a lot until he could get here. But it seems he has a lot to think about and started going over a lot of information with Shinjou as soon as he did get back.”

Kazami scratched her head and looked at the piles of books in the hallway.

“That’s a lot of books. Do you need some help?”

''I hope he doesn’t actually ask me to help,'' she thought as Siegfried turned toward her.

He looked at her, brought the fingers of his right hand to his forehead, and thought for a bit.

Eventually, he looked like he had found the right words.

“Listen. It is crucial that books are handled with extreme care.”

“That’s a roundabout way of saying no, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” he said while crossing his arms.

She lowered her shoulders and walked past him, but she turned back after placing a hand on the library door.

“Is everyone here? More or less anyway?”

“I do not think you can have ‘more or less’ of everyone.”

“It’s a Japanese way of speaking. …But from that, I take it they’re more or less all here.”

She smiled a little and opened the door.

The instant she stepped inside that open space, she heard several overlapped voices.

'''——————

The concept texts harmonized and formed a mere sound more than words. It had a clear, metallic ring to it.

And a moment later, something appeared before her eyes.

“Wow, now this is an absurd class meeting!”

The school’s unneeded desks and chairs filled the library to create a meeting room and those seats were mostly filled.

“Two representatives from each Gear plus an audience composed of representatives from each UCAT and assistant representatives from each Gear.”

Some were human, some were half-dragons, some wore lab coats, some were automatons, some wore military uniforms, some wore armored uniforms, some wore kimonos, some were made of plants, and some were made of stone. There was even mist, air, light, and darkness.

“Meeting!”

A voice came from the backpack Kazami wore and a plant creature poked its head out.

The creature had been sent by Mukiti as one of 4th-Gear’s representatives.

Kazami had transported it because the other representative would be brought by Heo as it had been renegotiating with her.

Kazami lowered the bag and the plant creature hopped out.

It more skipped than ran across the stepped floor.

Its destination was lined with the same desks and chairs seen in a normal classroom.

Even the scribbles and carved writing and drawings were still there.

The Kinugasa Library was a large room that took up as much space as four classrooms. By cramming in as many desks and chairs as they could, they had secured over two hundred seats.

Almost all of them were filled by humans, the almost human, and the nowhere near human.

The humans were in the minority here and…

…''There’s almost no one from Japanese UCAT.

Sayama, Shinjou, Heo, and the others would be in the nearby classroom they were using as a waiting room. A concept space had been set up so each Gear and UCAT had their own waiting room in the one classroom.

…''How is this going to turn out?

Kazami waved at the plant creature as it turned back toward her.

“Thanks,” it said.

She smiled and then looked around again.

This was the site of the giant “class meeting” to which every Gear was invited.

A lot of “people” were here and she noticed something behind the desks and chairs.

A blackboard had been placed on the wall next to the preparation room entrance and the meeting program was written on it.

'''1: Opening Greeting

'''2: Moderator Enters

'''3: Question-and-Answer Sessions with Each Gear and Top-Gear vs. Low-Gear Debate

'''4: Trial and Vote for Low-Gear

'''5: Announcement of Vote Results

'''6: Closing Greeting

During the meeting, Top-Gear would return 3rd-Gear’s Concept Core to Japanese UCAT and everyone would know it had been returned to 3rd via UCAT.

Officially, 3rd-Gear’s Concept Core was the main purpose of the meeting.

“Officially, anyway.”

As the program suggested, it was actually a question-and-answer session and a debate between Low and Top.

And Sayama had claimed Parts 4 and 5 were the biggest problem.

For Part 3, he would argue with the other Gear representatives as Low-Gear’s representative, but once the question-and-answer sessions with each Gear, including Top-Gear, were over, the trial and vote of Part 4 would begin.

They would vote on a single issue: would they forgive Low-Gear or give themselves over to Top-Gear?

There were twelve Gears and two representatives from each, but apparently…

…''Jord alone will represent 10th-Gear.

It seemed the 10th-Gear residents had a deeply-rooted policy of distancing themselves from the world and opinions among their own people were split into two groups. So instead of working with UCAT, they had announced Jord would represent them and that they were abandoning their other spot among the representatives.

They had even stated that they would accept any negative consequences of that decision.

…''Do they feel somewhat responsible because they had at least known Top-Gear existed?

But in doing so, they had lowered the total number of Gear representatives to twenty-three.

Once they voted, a majority outcome was unavoidable.

…''How is this going to turn out?

Thanks to the rematches and renegotiations, she felt several of the Gears had been drawn back to Low-Gear’s side, but what was going to happen now?

And…

“How will it all turn out?”

She breathed in, gathered some strength, and asked the empty air.

“Can we win this?”

Shino walked with her shadow by her side.

The sky was dimly-lit and the clock above her said it was 5:30 AM.

She was in a large park and the park’s lights illuminated the rows and thickets of trees from below.

The sign at the entrance said Akigawa Central Park, it truly was located at the center of the city, and it was due east of the Tamiya house.

If she cut southeast through the park and followed the main road on the other side, she would reach Higashi-Akiru station on the JR Itsukaichi Line.

If she made it there…

…''I can go somewhere.

Shino rested on her crutch and let out a white breath.

She wiped the sweat from her brow and faced forward.

She currently stood partway up a manmade hill and she was taking the stairs up the grassy slope.

Once she crossed the hill, the main road was directly ahead.

From her position, she could only see a bench at the top of the hill. Beyond that was the dimly-lit sky.

…''I need to hurry on to the station.

She had decided to go to the Hachioji area.

She could no longer return to her home there, but she felt somewhere she knew would be best.

If it went well, she could pick up the luggage hidden in a number of locations. And once she found somewhere to live, she wanted to return these clothes to the Tamiya family.

To get there, she either had to travel to JR Haijima Station and switch to the Hachiko Line or travel to JR Tachikawa Station and take the Chuo Line to Hachioji.

…''I need to hurry.

Five-thirty in the morning was when the Tamiya house’s night shift was replaced by the morning shift.

Kouji and the others would be preparing breakfast.

…''They’ve already noticed, haven’t they?

She wanted to put more distance between them before they had a chance to act.

Then she heard a sound.

It was a train’s whistle and the rhythmical shaking of the track below the train.

Shino gasped and began climbing the slope.

She would be able to see the train’s lights, so the station’s location would be obvious.

Her legs trembled as they relied on the crutch, but she recalled what the Tamiya family’s doctor had said.

…''It’s only psychological now.

The doctor had said she feared something and was afraid to stand on her own two legs.

Kouji had said she could wait until she was no longer afraid and Ryouko had cheerfully said it was only a matter of time.

''They’re such good people,'' she told herself as she reached the top of the hill.

“—————”

There, she saw the dark city and the rest of the scenery below the park’s hill.

The train’s lights were travelling east through the field on the other side of the road.

“Ah,” she said without thinking.

The road running alongside the tracks was straight and supported a residential area near the station.

If she crossed the field, she only had to follow the road to reach Higashi-Akiru Station.

If she chose a road without any traffic lights and the narrowest of the residential area’s roads, she would reach the station without any trouble.

“Thank goodness.”

She breathed a sigh of relief, but suddenly turned around.

She let out a white breath as she looked back. She looked west, the way she had come, and she saw something familiar there.

To the west of the central park was another field and the municipal office was two hundred meters away.

But another hundred meters beyond that was…

“The Tamiya house.”

The neighboring houses had yet to wake, but one house was filled with light.

It was three hundred meters away, so it was not far at all for anyone who could run.

“You’re kidding…”

She had walked so much, hesitated so much, and tried to get as far as away as possible, but the lights of the house were so close that she felt they were watching her.

“————”

She let out another white breath and her legs gave out.

She sat in the bench at the top of the hill and dropped the crutch to the side.

“What…?”

She took a breath.

“What am I doing?”

The morning air filled a classroom.

The plate hanging on the classroom door said Waiting Room for the Leviathan Road Meeting.

A blonde girl sat by the window on the far end of the room.

It was Heo.

She faced a laptop as the heater started to warm the morning classroom.

This was not her first time at this school, but it was her first time sitting in one of the seats like this.

She looked at Harakawa, Hiba, and Shinjou who wore her armored uniform as they sat at the desks and worked.

…''They can sit in these tall chairs just fine.

She sighed and looked to the scenery outside the second-story window on her left. The window frame had apparently been destroyed at some point and she assumed that damage was just part of everyday life here. Meanwhile, she got back to working on the laptop.

She was testing the theory of the twelve Gears’ creation.

According to Hajji, the mother element, which had formed the ten Gears and been destroyed, had used the power of evolution and regeneration to create a single giant positive Gear aka Top-Gear. Top-Gear’s creation had formed Low-Gear as a negative counterpart.

He claimed that made Low-Gear a fake created as the negative side of Top-Gear.

…''But…

Heo manipulated the Gear creation pattern diagram that Kashima had created. She could specify the time axis and a few conditions and she could alter the relative locations before running a simulation of how the Gears had been created.

She had been doing this since the night before and she had a single reason for doing so.

…''I need to see if all of the Gears could have been created in a way other than what Hajji said.

But it was not going well.

Whenever she shifted or removed any of the conditions, the world was no longer created and it all just fell apart.

Since the night before, she had destroyed the world again and again while also infinitely multiplying it.

Just as she would think it was going well, the world would continue to exist instead of breaking.

And…

…''That isn’t all.

She had another job: translating reports.

The Gear representatives, UCAT representatives, and audience members of the meeting all needed a report on what Team Leviathan had learned.

They were providing the report in English because it was an internationally understood language.

However, Shinjou was in charge of writing the report and she did not know English.

The only members of Team Leviathan who could speak English were Sayama, Harakawa, Kazami, and Heo.

That had automatically made it Heo, Harakawa, and Kazami’s job to create the translated report.

Harakawa was currently sitting at another desk translating Shinjou’s report into English.

Heo thought she should help, but Harakawa refused to give her anything to do. He said she needed to focus on finding an answer to the Gears’ creation.

And then the door opened and Kazami stepped in.

“Harakawa, I’m here to take over for you.”

“The meeting’s beginning soon, so I’ll finish it off.”

Kazami shrugged and looked to Shinjou. Shinjou was typing and instructing Hiba where to copy some photographs into the report. Each time she did, Hiba would run off to comply.

But now Shinjou responded to Kazami’s gaze.

“I think I’ll have the whole thing done by the midpoint of the meeting. I plan to send the different parts out in the order they’ll be read.”

“Is that so?”

Kazami put her hands on her hips and turned to Heo.

“How are you doing, Heo?”

Heo let her shoulders droop.

“Well…”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Harakawa while still facing his own laptop. “There isn’t an answer for you to find if he was right, so don’t despair even if you don’t find one. That just means he was right after all.”

“But what if I overlooked something?”

“We’re the ones that let you handle this, so it would be wrong of us to complain. All we can do is decide you came to the best answer possible or help you until you find the answer.”

He pulled a book toward him. It was Kinugasa Tenkyou’s mythology encyclopedia.

That was when Shinjou looked up.

“Did I get something wrong?”

“I’m going to make the quote more persuasive by pulling out the original book. It makes a better bluff than just writing a citation and the people watching can be more easily convinced that a lie is correct.”

“That sounds like something Sayama-kun would say.”

“That is ''not'' someone I want to be compared to.”

Harakawa clicked his tongue and typed in the romanized version of the author’s name given with the publication data.

It was true the name of Kinugasa Tenkyou would be highly persuasive to the Gear and UCAT representatives.

…''Everyone’s working so hard.

So she nodded and decided to do her very best to find an answer.

Instead of wasting time worrying, she needed to move toward that answer.

But the problem was…

“I have to attend the meeting as 5th-Gear’s representative, don’t I?”

Hearing that, Kazami brought a hand to her chin.

“Can’t you head out for 5th-Gear’s question-and-answer session and then come back in here? You can have Harakawa sit out there in your place for the rest of the time.”

“Why me?”

“You’ll help Heo, won’t you? And you can bring Shinjou’s report with you and translate it out there. Once you’re done, send the data back to us.”

Kazami then pointed to the seat Heo was sitting in.

“And way to go, Heo. That’s Harakawa’s seat, isn’t it?”

“Eh!? B-but I just used the seat Shinjou led me to.”

She turned around and saw Shinjou’s shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter.

“I made sure you would sit there.”

Harakawa sighed when he heard her.

“I was wondering who had arranged that. So the criminal was one of our own.”

“U-um, Harakawa? Sh-should I move?”

“You can if you don’t like sitting there. Personally, I’m about to leave on a journey to heal my heartbreak over this betrayal.”

“Ehh!?”

Just as Heo cried out in protest, two things happened.

One was the door opening and a large boy in a school uniform entering. It was Izumo.

“Hey, things are about to begin.”

The other was someone suddenly standing up from behind the teacher’s desk.

“It would seem everyone but Mikage-kun has arrived.”

It was Sayama in a suit.

Heo then saw Sayama turn toward Shinjou.

“Sayama-kun, a-are you okay?” asked Shinjou hesitantly.

Heo knew why. The meeting preparations, checking over the report, and everything else they were doing were on his instructions.

…''Earlier, he said he was getting some rest and went to sleep.

He had been working his mind and body since the night before and could not have gotten even a half hour of sleep, but he stood tall before them.

He had his usual expressionless look, his mouth hung slightly opened, and he raised his left hand.

He then pointed at a location a bit below the ceiling.

“At this moment…”

He spoke while staring into the empty air.

“I see three Shinjou-kuns flying around. One in her pajamas, one in her underwear, and one in the nude.”

“G-go back to sleep!!” shouted Shinjou.

“Ha ha ha,” laughed Sayama as he turned her way. “Shinjou-kun. Is that Shinjou-kun in the armored uniform the real one?”

“Y-yes? And what would a ‘fake’ one be?”

“Heh heh heh. A fake one does not have a winnable route. …Anyway, are you worried about my condition right now?”

“Yes. …I am.”

“Is that so?”

He nodded, gently spread his arms, and spoke casually.

“If you give me a voluntary kiss, I should wake up. Yes, and I will surely achieve victory in this meeting.”

Hearing that, Heo realized something.

…''If he’s still acting like this, he must be okay.

The meeting room was filled with as many movements as there were people and the noise gradually grew.

The seats were split into four sections using the four sides of the stepped floor.

The seats by the counter were for the representatives of the twelve Gears. The long rows of seats on the north and south were for the audience.

The seats by the preparation room in the back were for the audience members with higher priority and a teacher’s desk was set up on the highest point of the floor for the moderator.

A single desk was prepared in the center of the lowest portion of the floor. That was Sayama’s seat.

Most of the seats except for the moderator’s and Sayama’s were filled.

Various voices came from those seats and automatons moved between them carrying drinks and the like.

The drinks were melon soda and teas that Kazami and the others had secretly acquired from the year-end festival. For snacks, they had okonomiyaki and chocolate bananas. The representatives from other countries or Gears were busy learning about the cuisine of a foreign nation or world.

But as they provided that service, the automatons used their shared memory to search for hidden weapons and to estimate the guests’ physical abilities based on their heat-resistance distribution.

“This is #56. The guest in Seat 3B6 has three knives in their pocket.”

“Testament. This is #81. Based on their physical condition, I believe the guest in Seat 2D13 has a hangover.”

Also, the voices they heard from the various seats contained important information.

“…depends on the Suez tariff and if we can get the trademark.” “Oh, Lady Miyako, they were selling a tenderloin cutlet flavor of chocolate cigarette.” “In other words, our intentions on the continent are to…” “Roger, Roger. What is this ‘Blue Hawaii’ flavor!?” “No, I don’t bet on soccer.” “Delicious.” “Field.” “Oh, if only I could make a video of this scene and show it to them.” “…depends on whether we can get the rights for…” “Can’t they hurry it up? I have work back at the department.”

''They are all different,'' concluded the automatons while processing the many voices they could hear.

However, they soon realized something: one spot within the great crowd of seats remained silent.

It was the spot that had gathered the most attention earlier.

It was the lowest and southernmost end of the counter-side seats for Gear representatives.

That was where the Top-Gear and 9th-Gear representatives sat.

First was the seat for Hajji as 9th-Gear’s representative. He and Jord had been escorted in as soon as the library had been opened up.

After a while, an old man in a work uniform who could only be a Low-Gear human had sat next to Hajji as 9th-Gear’s substitute representative. Not long later, Toda Mikoku had arrived with her hands filled with grilled squid and takoyaki. She was accompanied by a white dog and Nagata Tatsumi and their appearance had sent a quiet stir running through the others.

Tatsumi was still in the process of consuming some cooked chicken liver.

Next to her, Mikoku pet the white dog’s head as it sat by her. Jord had scooted her seat over to allow Mikoku to sit next to and speak with Hajji.

Mikoku and Hajji’s exchange was clearly just an everyday conversation. And…

“I have determined there is information missing,” commented one automaton. “They are omitting something of which they have a tacit understanding.”

Based on what information was missing, they seemed to be talking about someone they knew or…

“Is she not with you? Hm?”

“No.” Mikoku adjusted her position in the seat and nodded. “She is apparently somewhere where she can live a happy life if she wants.”

And…

“I think she is fine. Both she and I…are not alone.”

The automaton felt Mikoku was assuming too much, but Hajji only crossed his arms.

“I see,” he muttered.

The automaton did not know why Hajji had displayed an understanding of Mikoku’s assumptions.

Regardless, Mikoku smiled bitterly and Hajji seemed to have a question about it.

“What is so funny? Hm?”

“Oh… Just that your response was the same as mine when I heard.”

Hajji eventually smiled bitterly as well.

The two of them finally laughed quietly and gathered more attention.

However, Hajji looked around and returned the people’s gazes.

“This is wonderful,” he said.

He reached an arm around Mikoku’s shoulders as she crouched over in laughter.

“This is wonderful, Mikoku. Yes, truly wonderful. If this all ends today, how about going out for yakiniku with your adoptive father? Hm?”

“Is that any way to ask out a teenage girl?”

“Hm. Then how about steak?”

Mikoku did not reply. She only leaned forward again while her back and shoulders shook.

But Hajji gently tapped her back.

“Let’s eat a lot. Yes.”

''His words do not fit,'' thought the automaton.

“Why is he talking about food when she is crying?”

''I do not know,'' she thought, but she understood it was not a harmful act and that she had her own job to take care of.

Suddenly, the speaker installed in the library produced a noise.

Everyone turned toward the red-haired automaton standing at the seat next to the moderator’s seat.

“Now then, everyone.”

They all briefly spoke and moved, but all the movement and noise soon vanished and she continued.

“We will now begin the Leviathan Road meeting.”

Roger heard #8’s dignified announcement from his seat among the southern audience seats.

Everyone around him, including Odor, focused silently on #8 and waited for her next move.

The other automatons had stopped moving and seemed to be making some kind of decision about the situation.

…''They must be wondering whether this meeting is wanted or not.

''Not that they will find an answer until it is over,'' he silently added.

Suddenly, he heard two new sounds.

Someone had clapped twice in quick succession.

It had come from the opposite direction.

It was Hajji who sat on the lower level of the seats by the counter.

He calmly sat in his small chair and loudly clapped.

“What’s wrong, everyone? We should celebrate this moment. The time has come to understand the true state of the world!”

Meanwhile, a gray-haired man in black spoke from the top level of audience seats by the preparation room.

“Yes, this may be the time to celebrate. Because we’ll be putting an end to something not at all worth celebrating.”

The two men stared at each other either with one eye or through sunglasses.

“————”

And they audibly looked away.

Tension ran through the room, a palpable silence fell over everyone, and #8 spoke.

“Now, it is time for the moderator to enter.”

Next, Roger saw the meeting’s moderator stand up.

It was a gray-haired automaton waiting in one of the upper level northern audience seats.

“The moderator will be the Japanese UCAT automaton, Sf-sama.”

“Tes.”

Sf gave a shallow bow to everyone and turned her slightly narrowed gaze toward each location.

“I have determined the ‘-sama’ is not necessary.”

Almost immediately, several people raised their voice. Their shouts were filled with panic, anger, and restraint.

“Objection!!”

<nowiki>#8</nowiki> heard several cries of objection.

It did not only come from the Gear representatives and the assistant representatives in the audience seats. It also came from the UCAT representatives.

The chain-reaction of voices grew louder.

…''Is the meeting going to be delayed?

She knew why. Japanese UCAT was the one being accused in this meeting, so the other representatives were concerned that the moderator had been chosen from them.

Not only did the moderator move the agenda along, but she would accept or reject objections and everyone present was required to obey her decisions. So why did one of the accused hold that position?

…''They can ask why if they want.

But their worries created a torrent of voices as they all tried to have their own voice heard.

<nowiki>#8</nowiki> decided this was going nowhere and prepared to give the automatons an instruction.

She would tell them to stop everyone from speaking.

But just before she did, two sounds reached her.

They were very loud and they came from opposite directions: the air and below the floor.

The one in the air was metallic and the one below the floor was a rumbling. The two of them collided at floor level.

“!!”

The entire library shook up and down as if it had been struck.

All of the chairs and desks slid around a bit and the people sitting in them had to support themselves on each other.

It only lasted an instant, but that was exactly why it managed to stop them all from speaking and moving.

Once the shaking subsided, #8 saw the two men who had caused the loud noises.

The first was an elderly man raising his right hand in the center of the top row of northern audience seats.

He tilted his head in annoyance.

“Roger, Roger. Are meetings always this noisy?”

Roger answered the man while brushing a hand through his hair.

“No, Colonel Odor. They are holding a festival today, or a Matsuri as they call it. And during a Japanese Matsuri, a form of folk entertainment known as Ikki is customary. I believe this commotion is a usage of the Ikki mantra.”

“Ikki? What is Ikki?”

“Testament. Ikki is when they all chug a bottle of sake and attack a public facility while demanding that the annual Nengu tax be lowered. I believe there has recently been a push to ban it during commercials.”

“So…So it is a large-scale military civil lawsuit!? Is this country still stuck in the middle ages!? And…”

<nowiki>#8</nowiki> watched as Odor turned to the south.

She followed his gaze and saw a black-haired man in black sitting with his arms lightly crossed.

She recognized him as Chinese UCAT’s representative.

His left leg was sticking out into the aisle next to his desk and it was firmly planted on the stepped floor.

…''Did he make that underground tremor?

“Interesting. A very interesting trick,” said Odor. “Does your technique only work in the lowest of places?”

“In my country, we refer to the power in the earth as a ‘crouching dragon’, resident of the soaring eagle’s land.”

The man with a Chinese UCAT nametag turned to #8.

“Now, please tell us why you have chosen her.”

It was not #8 that said “tes”.

It was Sf herself and she already stood by the moderator’s seat.

“It is a simple matter. I am a doll, so I have no emotions. If ordered to do so, I can make perfectly impartial judgments. …And Itaru-sama, what do you wish me to do?”

“Well,” said the gray-haired man while crossing his arms behind his head. “I couldn’t care less about Japanese UCAT, so judge everyone equally.”

“Tes.”

Sf nodded, fixed her hair, glanced at #8, and then looked across everyone else.

“If you are still worried, feel free to use any of the techniques you have. I am sure every Gear and UCAT has techniques of confirming that I truly have no emotions. I have determined you can keep me under constant observation if you like. But…”

She took a breath.

“If you make a false report saying I have displayed emotions, betrayed my master’s request, and lost my impartiality…”

She raised both arms.

Everyone saw a heavy machinegun with anti-concept modifications in each arm.

The dully shining black metal already had ammunition belts loaded and the triggers were halfway pulled.

Sf’s emotionless gaze raced back and forth and tension filled everyone it landed on.

Regardless, she spoke.

“It seems a moderator normally possesses a hammer for moving the meeting along, so I have prepared my own. I am powerless on my own, so I brought two of the loudest hammers I could find. If the hammer falls two thousand times a minute, it should quiet down even the most unruly participant.”

No one said anything more.

Faced with that still silence, Sf nodded toward #8, so #8 adjusted the position of her microphone and opened her mouth.

“Now, will the Gear representatives please rise?”

Below the lights, all of the Gear representatives stood.

Many of them were substitutes and many of them were not human, but they were all the representatives of a world and a history.

For 1st-Gear, it was long-lived Brunhild and her black cat.

For 2nd-Gear, it was Imperial Tsukuyomi Shizuru and Military God Kashima Akio.

For 3rd-Gear, it was Tsukuyomi Miyako, queen of 3rd, and Gyes, the automaton representative.

For 4th-Gear, it was a normal plant creature and a plant creature taking Mukiti’s place.

For 5th-Gear, it was Heo and Harakawa, who was standing in for Thunder Fellow.

For 6th-Gear, it was Boldman and Izumo, who Boldman had selected as a substitute representative.

For 7th-Gear, it was the four balls of the Concept Core and Hiba, who acted as their assistant.

For 8th-Gear, it was Wanambi’s PDA and a Messenger of Wanambi.

For 9th-Gear, it was Hajji and the old manager.

For 10th-Gear, it was Jord alone.

For Top-Gear, it was Toda Mikoku and Nagata Tatsumi.

And for Low-Gear, it was Kazami and…

“Ha ha ha. Sorry I am late, everyone!!”

A sudden voice stabbed into everyone from the door by the counter.

The all turned around to find a boy in a suit with Baku sitting on his shoulder.

He stopped as everyone focused on him. He calmly pulled a comb from his pocket and fixed his hair.

“I am Sayama Mikoto, Low-Gear representative as well as the negotiator to act as defendant and Low-Gear’s defense lawyer.”

He spun around once and struck a pose such that his clothes made a snapping sound.

“Are. You. Listening!?”

He struck a new pose with each word, placed Baku on his head, and spoke to the entire world.

“Now, let us begin! I am in an excellent mood! After all…”

He took a breath.

“Shinjou-kun just gave me a voluntary kiss on the lips!!”

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume13_Chapter_23|Chapter 23]]
| Return to [[Owari_no_Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume13_Chapter_25|Chapter 25]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 43

2015-03-25T22:04:06Z

86.52.43.170: Two typos fix'd.

==Chapter 43: Ruler of the Dark Forest==
[[Image:Horizon3B_0375.jpg|thumb]]
''What is going on here?

''Yes, what is going on here?

'''Point Allocation (Don’t let it surprise you)

Naito was the first to detect the attack by Mouri-03 and her four teams.

Up in the air, she spotted them coming from the west.

…''Not good!

Her immediate response was to use a reduction spell to erase the heat radiating from her. She could not escape the automatons’ auditory detection, but this was better than letting them see her and her location clearly. And at the same time…

“Master Tenzou!”

While combating the enemy forces on the left, Mary used a spirit spell to erase the heat radiating from her and Tenzou.

That left only one thing to do.

Tenzou would charge in on Mouri-01 or Mouri-02 and take them hostage.

Retreat was not an option for them.

…''We can’t let the enemy get close to Mito-tsan!

They did not know what the Reine des Garous would do with Toori, but they had to get Mitotsudaira to her to either buy time, fight, or negotiate.

Currently, Mitotsudaira was asleep in the pit on the slope.

Her body’s desire to heal itself had brought on this sleep.

Naito had seen how quickly a Loup-Garou could recover in England, so this sleep would likely fully heal the injuries from the beating she had taken.

…''So…!

So they could not let these pursuers approach her.

Naito also knew they had reached the final stage of the plan she had put together with Tenzou and Mary.

It all hinged on whether Tenzou could capture Mouri-01 or 02.

Tenzou’s charge was a risk to his life, but they could manage if he succeeded.

So to support him, Naito put some distance between them and then removed the reduction of her radiating heat. She held an Orei Metallo and a ten yen coin in her hand and prepared to fire. It probably would not hit, but it would draw their attention.

“Eh?”

However, the coin in her hand would not move.

She saw the rear half of the enemy’s central unit slowly turn toward her and speak in unison.

“Is something the matter?”

…''What is this?

It was the gravitational control that had affected Tenzou’s kunai.

…''But why is it all the way over here!?

Her answer came in the form of a figure on a branch next to her. It was Mouri-03.

Naito realized what the automatons turning toward her and Mouri-03’s approach meant.

“They can see me without issue?”

“Could you not run away?” Mouri-03 smiled. “I locked my gravitational control’s position on you using my master setting, so even if you completely vanish, I can still track the traces of gravity to see that ninja’s approach and everything else. Also…”

Naito understood. Her weapon would not move. It was like pressing down on a child from above.

And just now, the front firing line had turned around.

Tenzou’s Excalibur was trapped in the pointed spires and she could not use her own weapon, so…

…''Sorry!

She gave an adlibbed instruction.

“Ma-yan!”

But her instruction proved meaningless because Mary was already on the move.

“Master Tenzou!”

She did one thing to handle this situation.

“The divine protection of my Excalibur can resist the automatons’ gravitational control!”

While Tenzou revealed his form and ran, he reached a hand out toward Mary.

She did the same toward him and threw Excalibur to him.

Once it reached him, he would rush to the enemy and attack. That was his decision.

…''Because we can’t let the enemy reach Mitotsudaira-dono!

Naito and Mary were here because they understood that, so he no longer worried about the danger this put them in.

He also had a further thought in reference to Mary.

…''Mary-dono is more or less family, so worrying about her comes last!

That was an outrageous and somewhat conceited statement he could not say directly to her.

…''But before fighting, she said she was prepared to be with me forever once this was over!

On the battlefield, the time to save someone came at the very end. And that was exactly why the battle’s end would bring them together forever.

And currently, she had given him her weapon which left her with only her spirit spells.

He looked her in the eye.

She smiled and mouthed the words “do your best”.

He prepared to take the sword and immediately attack.

But in that instant, his hand was knocked upwards.

…''!?

It was a wall. A wall of earth had quickly and forcibly risen up between the two of them.

This was Mouri-02. Her sudden gravitational control had raised the wall.

“…!”

Unable to withstand the burden of the gravitational control, Mouri-02’s right arm audibly burst.

The wall stopped, but it was already as tall as Tenzou and cut him off from Mary’s smile and Excalibur.

He heard the sword collide with the earth wall on the other side.

The sword had not reached him, and…

“They’re going to fire!?”

He ran with the wall to his right and a volley of gunfire came from the left.

Mitotsudaira heard a voice that sounded like a scream.

She wondered what it said, but her mind was too light and unclear.

…''I need to sleep.

Yes, she needed to keep sleeping.

After all, she was currently half asleep. She was in a state of exhaustion that made it easy to tell herself to go back to sleep.

…''That voice…

It was actually the person’s will that reached her. The tone of rejection in the voice reached her more than the voice itself.

And she somehow knew why that was.

She had once cried out in that same tone of rejection before.

…''Stop.

That word summed it up best.

Stop.

Please stop. I am telling you to stop.

“…Stop…”

But that word did not get through, so it eventually changed to something else.

…''Please.

And…

…''I won’t do it anymore.

That was it. Yes, that was definitely it.

If they would not stop, she would stop on her end. She would stop doing what she had been doing.

Yes.

Stopping yourself as a sign of rejection only happened when you made someone angry by doing something. And the person scolding you would not stop even when you told them to.

They would only stop once you swore to never again do what had brought on the scolding.

She had once sworn that.

She had been horribly reluctant and had resisted, but the overwhelming difference in strength had prevented her from doing anything more, making any other choice, or even thinking. The difference in strength had ultimately made her make that promise.

That was what had twisted her.

When someone was left in a shameful, worn-down state, others showed no mercy.

Those close to her had been worried, but even that had felt like pity and grown distorted in her mind.

After all, while there were some who would take her side…

…''The other people were far more numerous.

So she had ignored those close to her and opposed those more distant. Eventually, that had gone beyond just playing around.

But…

“…”

''It doesn’t matter,'' she thought.

Back then, she had promised to redo everything, but here she had not even noticed that she had lost the sign of that promise.

And she had been unable to stand up to the person who had caused it all back then.

She had seen speed as her own weakness, but that had not held true for her opponent. The memory of that opponent demonstrating the speed needed to dodge Futayo’s cutting attack was still fresh in her mind.

She could not stand up to her, so there was no way she could rescue the chancellor.

…''So it doesn’t matter.

She tried to go to sleep because there was no point in fighting anymore.

But…

“…”

That distant voice of rejection would not stop ringing in her ears.

“Kh.”

''What am I doing?'' thought Mitotsudaira.

She was trying to gather strength in her body and recall the shape of that body.

…''You idiot.

''What am I doing?'' she thought again. ''Why am I trying to move?

“Nn.”

The painkilling spell was in effect, so her body was heavy and it creaked as if forcing it to move would strip the flesh from the bone. However, she tried to move regardless.

…''Wait.

What was she doing? Why was she getting up?

She had a somehow distant sense that her classmates were fighting and she understood why they had left her here to sleep.

The scent reaching her nose told her she was surrounded by plants. Mary had likely used spirit spells to wrap ivy and other plants around her to hide her from the outside.

She might not be found even if Tenzou and the others lost. They were telling her to sleep, recover, and continue on to the chancellor after the enemy passed by.

…''So wait.

Why was she trying to get up?

Stubbornness? Regret? Or was it pride or a show of courage?

She had lost the proof of her promise, so she felt she had no right to get up.

And she knew who that voice of rejection had belonged to.

…''It was Mary.

Then what did it matter? She had kept her distance from that English royal. Mary would not expect her to come save her, so what reason did she have to go?

She had no reason to help and they did not want her to help. And yet…

“Nn.”

…''Wait.

''Why?'' she asked herself. ''Why are you trying to move and get up?

And because she did not know…

…''Wait.

No, that was wrong. That was the wrong word.

…''Stop.

Stop.

Please stop. She was saying to stop and yet…

“I won’t…stop.”

She understood. She really did. The part of her heart telling her to stop was saying something.

…''Please.

Please what?

…''I won’t do it again.

Do what? What won’t you do?

“I…”

It came back to that cry of rejection.

She felt that her former choice had been wrong. That was why she had corrected her rejection.

But what about this voice that still rang in her ears?

Was there a rejection that could be allowed and that did not need to be stopped?

“I won’t lose anyone again.”

That was what her king and princess had wished for.

…''And I made a promise.

She had once made a promise. She had made up her mind and used that as a basis for her decisions.

So…

“————!”

Mitotsudaira awoke. She tried to gather strength in her body.

…''Kh.

But she could not get up. Her mind had cleared, but her body could not keep up.

The cry of rejection still rang in her ears.

…''Kh!!

She clearly told herself to get up. She willed it and trembled with effort, but her body was sluggish and refused to move.

…''Why?

She wondered if the hang-up was Mary. Did this last bit of hesitation hinge on whether she would rescue the girl or not?

…''As for Tenzou…um, what am I supposed to say? But maybe I’m being too harsh. Although this is a completely different issue.

At any rate, she had definitely concluded she had no reason to rescue them.

She truly did have no reason. That was a fact.

…''But that cry of rejection is still ringing in my ears!

“…!”

Mary had given the same cry she once had.

…''So move!

But despite that, she could not even clench her teeth.

Just as she wondered what to do, a new scent reached her nose.

“Eh?”

It was something that should not have been here.

“…!?”

Her entire body sprang up in surprise.

Tenzou had not given up.

The earth wall to his right had blocked Excalibur’s path, but he made a short dash up onto the side of the wall.

He then twisted his body downwards and kicked off the wall.

…''Jump!

He would perform a midair side-flip over Mouri-02’s head.

He would be upside down once he reached Mouri-02 and he would remove and throw her head with his hands.

He would go for a midair decapitation throw.

He quickly enacted that plan.

He twisted around in midair and threw his body into empty air while stretching his head downwards.

He saw Mary for a brief moment. She was deflecting bullets with a spirit spell air shield, but knowing she was safe was enough. Right now, he had only one thing to focus on.

…''My target!

He jumped over Mouri-02’s head.

She had no way of attacking after losing her right arm and the gunners to the left would be unable to keep up with his sudden movement.

He used his full mobility as a ninja. He was confident that only someone at the level of an academy’s vice-chancellor could keep up with his speed.

But below him, he saw Mouri-02 bring her left hand to her own head.

However, that hand did not stay there.

She pulled back her hand to remove the head.

As her head tilted back and fell behind her, it looked up into the sky and at him.

She was not smiling, angry, or even sad. She was completely expressionless as she had her headless body jump up at him.

It could not reach him and it was too slow, but…

“…”

It exploded directly below him.

“Master Tenzou!!”

Mary saw the blast envelop him.

Excalibur was returning to her after hitting the earth wall, but an attack was already coming from ahead.

Several headless dolls were rushing in to self-destruct.

She grabbed Excalibur, but it was too late to use it as a shield.

As soon as she realized she could not avoid this attack, the three directly in front of her spread their arms as if welcoming her.

“Thank you very much.”

They produced three explosions in quick succession.

“Please confirm the situation.”

Mouri-01 used her high-speed thoughts to communicate through the scattering heat of the blast.

An automaton’s high-speed thoughts could divide a second into nearly a million parts, so the surrounding motion almost seemed to stop as she made her decisions about the battlefield.

So far, a total of twenty-two automatons had self-destructed and eight were otherwise damaged.

Mouri-02 was one of those who had self-destructed, but all of their cores and memory devices had been recovered.

On the other hand, the enemy’s 1st special duty officer…

…''Um, what was his name again?

''Whatever. We can worry about that later.

Regardless, the enemy’s 1st special duty officer had been caught in a blast, Mary “Double Bloody Mary” Stuart who was on the level of a special duty officer had also been caught in a blast, and 3rd Special Duty Officer Margot Naito was being attacked.

Comparing the losses of special duty officer level warriors, the automatons were winning. They were of course losing if the total numbers were compared, but a special duty officer level warrior was not comparable to a normal warrior in any academy.

…''This is a difficult judgment to make.

She decided to leave that judgment to the academy and to simply do her best here.

She slowed her thought speed to match the outside world and her surroundings sped up. After checking the thermal reading of the explosion that had caught the enemy’s 1st special duty officer, she realized something.

“Musashi’s 1st special duty officer is gone!?”

Mary was the one who realized where Tenzou was.

…''Eh?

She had supposedly been caught in an explosion, but she was now seeing the night sky.

From the depths of the forest, she had only been able to see that sky between the branches, but now someone held her in their arms and she looked to the right to see who.

“Master Tenzou!?”

Mouri-01 was baffled.

Why were the 1st special duty officer and Mary unharmed after those explosions? And how had the 1st special duty officer managed to reach Mary?

A few different phenomena did not fit together. They went beyond her statistical, causal, and predictive reasoning, so she had difficulty understanding what she was seeing.

The battle was still ongoing.

She double-checked the facts. The enemy was unharmed, Mary had been taken away by the 1st special duty officer, and they had both moved to the left end of the battlefield.

That was all. Mouri-03 was attacking the 3rd special duty officer, but…

“Big sister!”

A sound suddenly reached her from directly ahead. It was the sound of an object slicing through the air in a straight line.

“A stone!”

Mouri-01 shifted her thoughts into high speed. She switched back and forth between auditory and thermal detection, added that on top of her visual information, and even amplified the light in that information.

The processing of the visual data was heavy enough for her to drop some frames, but the data she did get informed her of a definite truth.

“We have a new enemy!”

Mouri-01 ignored the earthen spikes surrounding her and raised her right hand. She swung the hand as if rolling her shoulder and a row of new spikes formed in front of her. A total of thirty-two earthen spikes stood in a line stretching out in front of her. The hardened soil rose like a wave, but they were immediately destroyed from the other side.

The flying stone loudly smashed the spikes.

Twenty of them broke in an instant, six more followed, four bent, one broke, and the final one stopped it.

However, the stone simply stopped in midair. It did not fall to the ground.

This was not gravitational control, so Mouri-01 checked visually.

…''It’s wrapped in ivy!?

Ivy was crudely tied around the stone and it extended back into the darkness.

With a tug on the ivy, it returned. It moved so quickly that it seemed to shoot back.

The stone returned to the newcomer who had likely been the one to retrieve the ninja and Mary with the ivy stone.

“You are Lady Mitotsudaira Nate, 5th special duty officer of Musashi!”

Mary saw the silver wolf from Tenzou’s arms.

Mitotsudaira stood halfway up the slope, she was not wearing her coat or skirt, and she still looked very exhausted.

But when she caught the stone in her right hand, her stance showed her intent to move forward.

…''She is not going to run.

The ivy on her shoulder was the ivy Mary had gathered to hide her, but…

'''Gold Mar:''' “Mito-tsan, how did you get up!?”

'''Silver Wolf:''' “Eh? Oh, um, how should I put it? My pride as a knight, I guess.”

'''Gold Mar:''' “Wow, knights are awesome! I mean, I went a little crazy on the pain reduction cause I figured you could handle it, but you still managed to get up!”

'''Silver Wolf:''' “Y-you had better remember this later! That really wasn’t easy! But…”

Mitotsudaira glanced over at Mary and held something up in her left hand.

…''Ah.

It was a rice ball.

“I’m surprised you had this with you. Horizon made this, didn’t she?”

“Judge. Lady Naito brought it, but it seems they got messed up during the descent. They had lost their shape and, while we rested, Master Tenzou expressed his concern about their state.”

[[Image:Horizon3B_0395.jpg|thumb]]

“Mary.” The silver wolf took a bite of the rice ball and swallowed it. “Mary, you use a lot of herbs, don’t you? They have a bit of a strong scent.”

“Eh? Oh, sorry-…”

“It is not a bad scent. …I am familiar with it from mixing perfumes.”

As she spoke, she raised the stone and lifted her left leg for a right overhand throw.

“Take this!”

She threw the stone projectile into the enemy group.

Mouri-01 made a split-second decision. She used her gravitational control to break the surrounding spikes at their base and free everyone. At the same time…

“Spread out!!”

She gave her command to the others and swung her own arms forward.

Those two arms directed her gravitational control and pointed the broken spikes forward.

“Please have these!”

The broken spikes were fired toward the silver wolf as if they had been kicked forward.

The spikes were made of earth and packed as hard as stone. Those several dozen spears sliced through the air as their paths crossed.

But Mitotsudaira did not panic in the face of what looked like countless deadly attacks. Her mind was still unsteady and her breathing rough, but…

“Like this, right?”

She twisted the thumb and forefinger holding the forcefully extending ivy.

This swung the stone and changed its path to a quick arc from left to right.

The movement was unthinkable as simple physical motion, but…

...''This will work!

This ivy was what Mary had used to weave together and hide her. Mary had applied a spell to them, so now that Mitotsudaira had taken it apart, it was a long piece of ivy that carried ether. It was weak, but…

“It’s no different from the silver chains!”

That was how the ivy allowed the stone to change its path in midair.

It shifted to a gouging arc toward the group of spikes.

And it struck.

It pierced straight through the center of the flying spikes from the side.

The sound of destruction reached Mitotsudaira.

She tugged on the ivy to return the stone and smash the spikes again from behind.

But she was too slow. She had torn several holes in them, but the density of flying spikes was still too high.

“Mary!”

Mitotsudaira forced the stone back to her with pure strength, but she did not catch it. It passed by her and she let it fly behind her.

“Reinforce the ivy!”

“Judge!!”

Bluish-white light filled the ivy along with a flexibility that seemed to push out from within.

…''Such great strength!!

Mitotsudaira wrapped the ivy stone around something behind her.

“That big tree!”

She tossed the last of the rice ball into her mouth and moved just as she started chewing.

She tugged on the ivy with both hands.

With the sound of snapping fibers and a great roar, the silver wolf uprooted the large tree behind her.

She went on to carry it forward.

“…!!”

And she chucked the thirty meter or taller tree into the group of spikes.

All of the spikes were smashed, the branches scattered, and the leaves flew about. After confirming the result, Mitotsudaira howled.

As if swinging her hair around, she lowered her arms to her sides and raised her throat to the sky.

“Uu…”

The howl continued with an extended “oh” and a reverberating “nn”.

She then bent her entire body forward and lowered down almost to the ground.

“Here I go!”

She began to dash. In an instant, she shot below the falling tree and grabbed a thick branch.

“Right!!”

She threw the large tree to the left. She had made a verbal feint, but she saw nothing wrong with that small level of cruelty.

The tree stirred up the wind, broke through some automatons, and cleared a path down the center.

She stood the tree in the dirt as thanks, and prepared to face those on the left. She could leave the right to Tenzou and Mary. She could already see Tenzou’s Excalibur returning after being freed from the spikes, so…

“Third throw!”

She threw the stone toward Mouri-01 who stood forty meters ahead.

However, someone got in the way: the automatons making up Mouri-01’s unit. They moved forward and raised earthen walls.

But…

“Go!”

The ivy moved. She was not simply controlling it with the movement of her fingers. It arced up like a snake raising its head and twisted around to tear into the enemies behind the wall.

It moved just like her silver chains.

Mouri-01 realized what the silver wolf’s weapon was. It was not ivy or a stone.

…''Is it a thought transmission spell!?

The spell sent her intention to an object and had the object move accordingly.

It was the same type of spell as the one used by Musashi’s chancellor. While his spell distributed ether to a great number of people, this was a lighter spell that conveyed her thoughts to any ether-protected object she touched with her hands.

Mouri-01 guessed the spell was meant to allow communication with her silver chain divine weapon, but the spirit-reinforced ivy created with Mary’s spell was enough to receive her thoughts.

“…!!”

The wall raised by Mouri-01’s subordinate automatons was completely ignored. The stone flew past it and swept them away.

But it did not end there.

There was more. The silver wolf prepared her left hand for an underhand throw.

She held a stone tied to the opposite end of the ivy draped over her shoulders.

“Fourth throw!”

It broke straight through the wall.

''What a powerful strike,'' thought Mouri-01. ''I must stop this stone.

She searched for any way of intercepting it in the current situation, but the answer to her question quickly arrived from outside.

“Big sister!” shouted Mouri-03. “I’ll stop it!”

Mitotsudaira saw a small form jumping above the tree branches.

She swung down her hand which was connected to her fourth throw.

At the same time, Tenzou raised his voice after lowering Mary to the ground and catching his Excalibur.

“Mitotsudaira-dono!”

She already knew from the Magie Figur that Naito had sent her.

…''So that’s how Mouri-03’s gravitational control works.

“She can freely set an enemy as her master to stop their weapons!”

By repeatedly switching between people with the high-speed thoughts of an automaton, she could artificially hold multiple “masters” at the same time.

And so Mitotsudaira gave a shout with the same volume as her howl.

“Stand back!!”

Automatons obeyed orders from their masters.

However, that fact held little meaning for Mouri-03. She could freely switch between masters, so she could switch to another master and switch back after ignoring the order.

She did the same here. To stop the enemy 5th special duty officer’s weapon, she had set the wolf as her master. The wolf had told her to stand back, but that only meant she had to set someone else as her master.

…''Eh?

But the enemies she had intended to make her master had vanished. Both Mary and the 1st special duty officer were gone.

She had removed the tracking lock using her gravitational control back when she had thought they were defeated in the explosions, so…

…''I’m in trouble if they’ve hidden themselves with a spirit spell and ninja technique!

If she could not see them, she could not set them as her master.

But an automaton needed a master.

If she removed her master setting, she would lose her reason for existence as an automaton, her abilities would be restricted, and she might even cease to function altogether. Also, it was impossible to set another automaton as her master.

…''So I need to set another enemy as my master!

“Where’s the enemy’s 3rd special duty officer!?”

She started to turn around, but…

“Right here.”

Someone tapped on her right shoulder from behind and she turned around to find someone whose feathers had scattered from gunfire.

“The 3rd special duty officer…”

“You really shouldn’t hesitate. If you hadn’t, I probably wouldn’t have caught up.”

A speedometer-style Magie Figur now hovered above her right shoulder. There was no escape. The girl grabbed her shoulder to press a ten yen coin against it. Not even gravitational control could stop this.

But…

“Doing it like this will damage your hand too!”

“Oh, don’t worry about that.”

The enemy 3rd special duty officer smiled.

“Your master has guts.”

Mouri-01 heard something fired overhead.

Mouri-03’s right arm flew through the air while the rest of her used her left arm to grab at a tree trunk to the upper right.

“Sorry!”

And she fell.

Mouri-01 determined there was nothing to apologize for. In fact, she was the one that needed to apologize. She had been the one to set up the battlefield on the assumption that the enemy’s 5th special duty officer and daughter of their vice chancellor would not take part.

That was why Mouri-01 decided that she should take responsibility.

…''So I will win this!

She raised both her arms.

The ground below her hands was rapidly torn up and quickly transformed into a projectile.

She had to hurry. Her gravitational control excelled at bursts of strength, but creating and firing this high-density projectile was still a difficult task. She compensated by raising her power output above normal.

“I will hurry!”

This put a great burden on her body, so the ulna of her left forearm and the back of her right hand burst. But she did not care. These were necessary losses to achieve victory.

After all, the enemy’s stone was breaking through their walls as it flew toward them.

She had to hurry but remain calm.

“Complete.”

She had created a two meter spear. It was made denser than rock and she raised it in her right hand and flung her left hand forward.

She broke her own wall and cleared her vision.

“—————”

Mouri-01 resolved herself.

She looked to her enemy, looked to the stone that enemy had thrown, and moved to place her projectile on the same path.

She succeeded.

The two attacks collided in the center of the forest.

The sound of destruction resembled splitting stone and bright sparks lit up the forest.

The scattershot of fragments sounded like a spray of rain as they gouged into the trees and ground.

As for the two who had launched these attacks…

“———!”

They had already begun their next moves.

Mouri-01 raised her arms again to create a second spear while Mitotsudaira began to catch the stone in her hand as it returned to her.

However, Mouri-01 did something else to speed up the creation of her projectile.

“How about an addition?”

She severed her own left arm to use it as extra material.

The spear took form much faster with the extra part.

Meanwhile, the stone returned to Mitosudaira’s hand and she raised it overhead.

“…!”

But Mouri-01 was ever-so-slightly faster.

“Now, this one is ready.”

She lifted her right hand toward Mitotsudaira with the spear projectile floating beneath it.

“Here.”

It shot directly toward the silver wolf.

…''She’s using her own body to win!?

Mitotsudaira’s heart filled with admiration of her enemy.

She knew this was dangerous, but she had to admire the action.

This was not self-sacrifice. It was true cooperation to achieve victory.

She knew only an automaton could do that.

However, the level of praise she gave her enemy was also the level of danger she was now in.

She had to intercept this.

She did not have time to avoid it. Not only was it a speedy attack, but she had already raised her arm to throw.

Her only option was to stop the projectile with her stone.

There was a single problem with that, though.

…''Hers will be faster!

A projectile thrown by an automaton’s gravitational control had a certain unique trait: the gravitational control could continue working on it shortly after it was fired.

Their gravitational control had an effective range, so acceleration of the launched object could continue while it remained in that range.

Mitotsudaira had thrown her previous attack before the enemy had thrown her projectile. They had collided nearby the enemy, but that meant the enemy’s projectile had yet to reach its full speed.

They had been of equal power at that point, so…

…''I’ll lose if hers is at full speed!!

Mitotsudaira was raising her stone, but the enemy had already fired.

She could not avoid having inferior speed.

At this rate, her stone would shatter on impact and the projectile would reach her.

“In that case…!”

She reached a certain answer.

…''I will throw it with all my strength!

She could not dodge in time, so she simply made her overhand throw.

But even as she did so, she knew it would be slower than her enemy’s attack.

“Kh.”

''I need speed,'' she begged.

An instant later, speed came to her.

“————!?”

However, it was a crumbling drop in speed.

…''What is this!?

It was the pain reduction.

…''No!

Her doubt about her counterattack had disturbed her focus.

Her knees gave way and strength left the arm throwing the stone.

“Mitotsudaira-dono!”

She heard Tenzou’s voice and saw him and Mary appear, but they were immediately stopped.

Mouri-03 had fallen to the ground, but she stood with her back leaning against a tree and stopped Tenzou and Mary by viewing them as her masters.

Strength drained from Mitotsudaira’s body and her arm swung forward.

“Kh.”

She felt the stone slip from her fingers.

But in that instant, she saw something unexpected.

After the stone vanished from her hand, it immediately shot toward her enemy.

…''Eh!?

She expressed her confusion in her heart.

It had been a weak throw that only slipped from her fingers, so what had happened?

The stone arrived right in front of the enemy’s projectile.

“…!”

The instant of collision settled everything.

Her stone attacked the hardened spear projectile just as it was about to break from its initial velocity.

The stone scraped along the side of the spear as it passed by and its great speed caused the spear to burst from that scraped area.

It was utterly destroyed.

The solid sound told Mitotsudaira the truth. The stone she thought she had failed to throw had flown faster than the one she had thrown with her full strength. Not only that, it had reached her enemy.

…''What was that!?

A certain memory came back to her.

When she had fought her mother in IZUMO, her mother had instantly avoided Futayo’s cutting attack.

She had thought her mother’s superhuman speed was something she did not have, but…

…''What did I just do!?

She did not understand because she was clearly not at 100% right now. So why had she been able to give the stone such speed?

She remained confused while the stone destroyed the projectile and flew toward her enemy.

It continued on to gouge into that enemy, but…

“Now, then.”

She heard a sudden voice and a loud noise from behind.

Mitotsudaira saw the source of the noise.

It was a tree. A felled tree dropped from the sky like a stake and stabbed into the ground right in front of Mouri-01.

Mitotsudaira’s stone crashed into the tree. The trunk split open, but the stone shattered.

…''Who threw that tree!?

She was a little annoyed at this intervention, but she soon heard another reaction. Mary spoke while looking behind her.

“Oh, good evening.”

Mitotsudaira knew what that confused and smiling voice meant: someone stood behind her who it would be best to greet.

She sensed her mother’s presence.

Mitotsudaira felt the source of her mother’s presence.

There was a scent, faint body heat, and some movement of the air. All those things told her that her mother had appeared about five meters behind her.

No one could move and they all focused on the person behind Mitotsudaira.

Mitotsudaira herself breathed with her gut to prevent her mother from seeing her shoulders rising and falling.

…''Calm down.

Her mother had likely heard about the commotion from the forest’s animals.

She could do nothing now.

…''Nothing except buy time for the others to escape.

So she turned toward Tenzou.

But the ninja in the darkness did not nod. He did not want the enemy to see him react. Taking his motionlessness as an answer, Mitotsudaira prepared herself.

But…

“…”

She realized she could not turn around. She would be defeated in the time it took her to do so. If she did move, anything but a sudden action with all her strength would be too dangerous.

…''So I need to move the instant I hear her approach!

It came immediately afterwards.

It came as pressure. The movement of the air, the scent, and the light sound all created a pressure that pressed against her back.

“Kh!!”

''I need to escape,'' she thought just as the presence arrived right behind her ear.

She tried to leap, but…

…''Too slow!

Before her legs could sink down, she heard a breath of laughter in her ear. Or she thought she did.

''Dammit,'' she swore.

…''But I just threw that stone so quickly!

She was slow and heavy now, so what had that previous speed been? As if to take her past that question, the time for an attack to reach her passed and it was already too late to avoid it.

She realized she had messed up and wondered if she would not even be able to buy any time.

…''If only I had speed!

A moment later, an attack arrived behind her.

“…!!”

She was not hit by claws, swung around, or jabbed.

Instead, a giant red sword fell from the sky.

“That’s one of the swords spatially ejected by Henri of the Three Musketeers!?”

The god of war sized blade stabbed into the ground behind her and an attack hit it on the other side.

The heavy, carrying sound was much like a bell and it shook the forest.

“————”

But Mitotsudaira felt some wind.

Her mother left. She gave a breath of laughter and ran off into the darkness.

Next, some pressure arrived overhead. The heavy noise of wind came from a light aerial ship.

“I am Henri of Hexagone Française’s Three Musketeers! I forbid this battle from continuing!”

Because…

“Hexagone Française and Musashi have unofficially agreed to a ceasefire! Any further conflict would be meaningless for both sides!! Reine des Garous, are you listening!? This is…”

''What?'' wondered Mitotsudaira as she looked up at the aerial ship.

“This is the will of Former Provisional Chancellor and Student Council President Anne of Austria!”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 42|Chapter 42]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 44|Chapter 44]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 40

2015-03-24T21:44:48Z

86.52.43.170: Fixed three typos.

==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 an 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 an 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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