Horizon:Volume 10A Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Decider at Judgment Time

Oh?

What is this?

Point Allocation (Hmm?)

●

“Now what’s going to happen?”

On the Azuchi’s first central ship, Yoshiaki regrouped and exchanged high fives with the others. Sakon started to crouch, but…

“No need.”

Yoshiaki used her wings to hop up and use the momentum for more of a “high slap”. It made a nice sound, which amused her so much she could tell just how overexcited she was. Angie seemed to be in a similar state.

…Because this is headed in an unfortunate direction.

They hadn’t slowed much, but they had stopped fighting.

The Musashi was still out ahead, but neither of them had stopped moving. The Musashi had reformed its ships and was circling around the vast Mikawa bay. Their clockwise circle was just about to reach the northern bank. Ether light occasionally rose from the ocean surface and into the sky, but…

“That light looks brighter than before.”

“You think so too, Yoshiaki-sama?”

If a spirit like Kiyomasa said so, then she wasn’t imagining it. She didn’t know why it was happening, but maybe the two colossal ships circling the bay was having some kind of effect.

Regardless, she didn’t know what was going to happen here. They had done what they could.

Katagiri said he had sent a transport ship to recover the fallen Schau Essen and Altbayern.

All that remained was to see if Takenaka could give meaning to what they had done, but…

“I hope this ends up mattering. ...For the sake of our underclassman who isn’t used to combat.”

●

I can hear every word you’re saying over the divine transmission, thought the underclassman who wasn’t used to combat.

“Teru-ru-ru-ru-ru-teru-teru? Did it work-ork-ork-ork?”

“Testament. The upperclassmen are doing their part now, so we just have to wait until they ask for us.”

That said, he was delighted to receive praise from the Ten Spears.

During Shizugatake, Hirano had complimented him and he had successfully saved that big boobs video.

…Hell, yessssss!

While dancing for joy in the inside, another voice reached him.

Nabe3: “Don’t get a big head, whelp.”

Asano: “We caaan tell you’re ceeelebrating.”

So what if I am? he thought as Osakabe-hime rested her elbow on his shoulder from behind.

“So what if he is-is-is-is. Teru-teru-teru loves-oves-oves compliments-ments-ments-ments.”

Seeing the smile on her face, he could only nod deeply.

“Why is a warship OS the person who best understands me? My life has gone completely off the rails this past half a year.”

“It has-as-as-as,” she said, her smile growing, so he decided he needed to get the actual ship completely fixed soon.

Overhead and off to the right, the Musashi and the Azuchi circled this way.

The base and the transport ships were under blackout orders and he was hidden below a roof naturally created by the seaside rubble. He felt like Osakabe-hime’s glowing would give them away regardless, but he intended to wait until the Musashi had passed by overhead. Meanwhile…

Nabe3: “But what was with that artillery fire earlier? It looked to me like you used Musashi’s defense control spell against them.”

IT: “Osakabe-hime knew about it and told me, so I sent that data to the Azuchi.”

Asano: “Sooo it waaasn’t your idea.”

That sounds extremely insulting, but my communication skills were key there, so it was still thanks to me.

“A compliment-ment-ment-ment-ment?”

“For you.”

“No-no-no-no. Compliment-ment-ment for Teru-ru-ru-ru!”

Tell them that, he thought, but letting her on the divine transmissions would let her interact with more people and teach her more weird words and ways of thinking. He certainly didn’t want that.

IT: “Y’know, that was my first time using my repair spell to fire a gun.”

He had fired the Shirasagi Castle’s guns, but that hadn’t been the real Shirasagi Castle there.

The real one was among the Kantou mountains and he was using his repair spell remotely to fix it.

Transporting it to Mikawa as a weapon hadn’t been possible. But Takenaka’s instructions had gone in a different direction than he expected.

She had sent him a “mold” of the partially-repaired Shirasagi Castle as a 3D diagram and asked him to recreate the center hull’s bow guns with his repair spell.

That had seemed doable even with his repair spell that wasn’t suited for precise work.

But Takenaka’s request had still been asking a lot. His spell used ether to fill in the missing materials and make repairs, but…

…Asking me to do that without creating an ether reading is absurd.

But just as other materials could be turned to gold in exchange for a massive amount of ether, it was possible to temporarily create “metal”.

So by pouring ether into the mold as densely as he could, he temporarily gave a phase to the ether. And the presence of a phase meant it “existed”, which gave meaning to the repair material.

It was like telling the ether used in the repair that, “You aren’t ether, you’re something else. See, the mold says so and you have a phase, don’t you?”

He was pretty sure this used the same principle that created spirits.

This time, he had followed Takenaka’s instructions and it had worked.

The target material was titanium, since it was so popular in Europe. That illegal metal’s name had been used as an excuse to recreate it starting in the Greek era and, by processing it with ether, it could be further transformed into Orei Metallo, but today he had stopped at the base material since the Orei Metallo would give off an ether reading.

He had feared it wouldn’t be sturdy enough, but his subordinates had boarded the partial ship and prepared it to fire and he had sent a request to the Azuchi.

IT: “Sorry! We don’t have much experience with artillery, so please don’t ask for much!”

To his surprise, they really had been lax when it came to the targeting request. A testament to what you could get if you had the courage to ask and an understanding superior.

Anyway, they had done what they could. They could see the Azuchi circling the bay with the Musashi, but this seemed to be a time for observation and waiting. So he opened a lernen figur to his right and…

“Release.”

With that word, light scattered near the dark horizon far, far to his right.

He was currently on the north bank of Mikawa’s bay. The guns formed by his repair spell were on the western slope.

The light he had seen was the guns returning to being ether.

He could just barely see that location from here, but he couldn’t have created them with such precision if he wasn’t that close.

The group that had gone to control the guns would be returning soon. So…

“What’s going to happen now!? Will the Iga Crossing count or not?”

●

Since Takenaka (in her words) couldn’t stay on her feet due to the liberating feeling of her “overtime ero-ing”, Katagiri stood atop the Azuchi’s bridge in her place.

He already interacted with “Azuchi” frequently, so only a quick greeting was needed before he got to work, ignoring Takenaka where she lay on the floor.

He currently only had one thing to do.

The Boy: “Musashi! Your previous violation of the history recreation disqualifies your Iga Crossing! Swiftly begin a history recreation of the Battle of Yamazaki with us as the Akechi forces!”

He would not let Musashi escape. That was his job.

●

…It doesn’t matter how!

As long as it worked, Katagiri was willing to use whatever means he could.

They had all taken that stance to reach this point. But at the very end, Musashi had effectively abandoned their Iga Crossing yet now claimed it qualified as a history recreation.

They claimed Honda Futayo’s interference with Hashiba’s attack had happened after they crossed the line into Mikawa’s bay.

That seemed odd to him. The M.H.R.R. mobile shells had been linked to their command system to help them coordinate. Development there had been underway ever since Magdeburg and Mitsunari had made excellent use of it at Nördlingen, but he also had saved off the records from each mobile shell.

Checking the position data and visual data from the records told him one thing about the previous attack.

“Altbayern’s spear clearly hit before the Musashi entered the Mikawa bay! Why are you fleeing instead of accepting that fact!?”

●

“This is so confusing.”

Naito watched Naruze standing on Oume’s bottom hull surface.

Futayo was still holding the spear from earlier, but…

“Nida-yan, how do you do that?”

“Oh, I simply use gravitational control.”

“And could you tell the Musashi had entered the Mikawa bay when you grabbed that spear?”

“Of course?”

Past that immediate response, Naruze was shaking her head. Naito felt like Naruze was jumping to conclusions too quickly, but she knew what she was trying to say.

…Wrong meaning of “could you tell”.

Futayo was saying she had been capable of determining that if she had wanted to. Not that she had actually done so. These subtleties were lost on their Vice Chancellor. Or rather, her mind was so full of combat stuff during battle time that it was a bad idea to ask her anything that required much language comprehension.

…But if she didn’t know, she would have been acting entirely on instinct.

So maybe Futayo was right in a way, but Naito had to ask regardless.

“Why did you come here? Instinct?”

“Judge,” said Futayo. “Because Masazumi told me to?”

●

Novice: “Judge. An independent committee will soon be questioning relevant witnesses regarding the ‘Vice Chancellor’s Enemy Interception Debacle’.”

Vice President: “Wait! Whose side are you on!?”

Unturning: “So what really happened?”

Vice President: “I told Futayo ‘Hey, Futayo, handle this!’ and it turned out like this.”

Novice: “Eh?”

Horizey: “Okay, meeting adjourrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrned!”

Asama: “Um, Masazumi? Were you thinking it would be alright because the Musashi was entering the bay?”

Vice President: “No, I couldn’t see the surface below us at the time. I honestly just subconsciously sensed danger and decided to let Futayo take care of it.”

Tonbokiri: “Hmm, was catching this spear wrong then?”

●

No, it was correct, thought Gin.

She knew anyone knowledgeable would be thinking the same thing.

After all, Honda Futayo stopped the spear when it otherwise would have hit them.

“Time has stopped at the moment the spear failed to hit.”

If it had hit, the enemy would have used that as an excuse to negotiate that they had landed an attack in time.

“They would have used the fact that it hit as their greatest evidence.”

“That’s right,” agreed Muneshige.

The two of them were currently on Musashino’s stern, but the Musashi had been making some complex maneuvers at the time. Even with the publicly available videos for reference, several points made it hard to judge the timing. So…

Tachibana Wife: “If Honda Futayo had not secured the spear, Hashiba would be making a much stronger argument. But because she did secure it, we can claim we stopped it after entering Mikawa Bay. They cannot claim to have hit us.”

●

Naruze watched Futayo put a hand on her hip and puffed out her chest proudly.

…What a weird friendship.

There may have been a better word for what they had, but Futayo at least saw it that way.

But understanding the purpose behind Futayo’s action did not eliminate the present problem.

The Musashi was rerouting the enemy’s words to all of the officers.

The Boy: “Listen, Musashi! We have the visual data from Altbayern, the knights who attacked you! That data shows plain as day their attack happened before you entered the Mikawa bay!”

The attached image was dark. Couldn’t you apply some light amplification first? thought Naruze as she used her own drawing spell to brighten the image.

The Boy: “This was taken during the final assault, so they were pointed west. Think of up as west and down as east.”

When she did that, a scene came into focus.

“Oh, this isn’t good.”

It showed the night sky with a mountain and valley below.

What it meant for the mountain and valley of Mikawa to fill the bottom depended on the angle of the photo, but…

Art-Ga: “They can insist this shows we weren’t in the Mikawa bay.”

●

…If they were in the Mikawa bay, you wouldn’t be able to see the mountain and valley below!

Katagiri could tell he had taken this too far, but he continued his speech and his plan. The first step had been to use the Azuchi’s divine transmission spell to create an open connection with Musashi that allowed the exchange of images. This wouldn’t normally happen thanks to the strong security of warship divine transmission systems, but it had been allowed because it was necessary here.

Then he had gotten Altbayern to submit their mobile shell vision data after the transport ship collected them. The one he had sent Musashi had been the most persuasive one in his opinion. So…

The Boy: “How about that!? We had yet to enter the Mikawa bay!”

The photo’s metadata included the time at which it had been taken. As well as the name of the photographer and the mobile shell’s registration number.

The photographer had already released his spear by that time. The very next photo depicted the chest armor of a life-size divine figurine, but since the body within was cold cast, it must have hurt quite a bit.

Now he just had to demonstrate the value of these photos.

The Boy: “What do you have to say!? Since the land was still visible below, the Musashi hadn’t yet entered the Mikawa bay! So abandon your pointless excuses and obey the evidence!”

●

Photographic evidence, huh? thought Masazumi, scratching her head.

…If this doesn’t work, I’ll just have to come up with something else.

She couldn’t exactly continue to struggle against solid evidence. But in that case, it was her job to come up with a different plan.

As she tried to come up with one, a request arrived from an unexpected source.

Worshiper: “Um, Flatda-kun, could I see the photo causing all this uproar?”

Asama: “Oh, sure. I’ll route it your way, so wait a second. …There, you should have it.”

Ohiroshiki confirmed he did.

…Did something about this catch his attention?

Their class could come in handy in the weirdest ways. Ohiroshiki was mostly useful when it came to knowledge about food and his skills included making candy and guessing the ages of children, a combination that could easily get him arrested by the guards if he wasn’t careful, but…

Worshiper: “Crossunite-kun. Could you review my opinion?”

10ZO: “Judge. I tested it myself, but I couldn’t be certain without access to the mobile shell.”

Masazumi wondered what this was about as they appeared to be approaching some kind of conclusion.

10ZO: “Masazumi-dono, may I speak with the Azuchi for a moment?”

●

Katagiri decided he should push a little harder here. So…

10ZO: “Excuse me. This is Musashi’s 1st Special Duty Officer. Am I speaking with the Azuchi’s liaison officer?”

The Boy: “Testament. Have you taken over for your Vice President? Anyway, about the previous photograph…”

10ZO: “Judge. Would it be possible for the two of us to discuss that privately?”

…Huh?

What is he talking about? thought Katagiri. They were discussing who was in the right here, so what was this about a private conversation?

The Boy: “No, it is not possible! Did we scare you that badly!?”

10ZO: “No, that isn’t what I meant…”

After a few seconds, the other boy continued.

10ZO: “I was hoping to discuss the fact that your photograph cannot be used as evidence.”

The Boy: “Huh?”

What did he mean by that? It was night, but you could still see the surface clearly.

The Boy: “Lies! You’re just saying that to distort people’s impression of it!”

10ZO: “No, I am not. If I was, I wouldn’t want to keep it private, would I? I simply wanted to point out a mistaken setting at the time the photograph was taken.”

●

Flat Vassal: “Oh, I think I get it!”

Asama: “Yes, I more or less understand.”

Silver Wolf: “You do? What is this about?”

Me: “Yeah, what’s going on?”

Horizey: “Toori-sama, it is a form of quiz: what do you lack that everyone else has?”

Me: “Waiiiiiit! I really don’t want to hear your answer to that!”

Wise Sister: “Heh heh. This is about the lens and spell correction, isn’t it?”

Unturning: “Judge. Most mobile shells, gods of war, and targeting spells secure a wider range of vision than the human eye to track an opponent or check your surroundings. They can also zoom in for sniping and precision attacks. It all depends on the lens or spell. But displaying the unaltered data creates a distorted image people have a hard time comprehending.”

Righteousness: “Right. So it will be compressed or corrected to make it look like the natural scene. You don’t need those corrections once you’re used to viewing it, but even 360-degree vision can be corrected to look natural.”

Smoking Girl: “Jizuri Suzaku has a few different visual modes, like one for flight and one for combat. Looking at the edges of this image, I can see the duplication that appears as an artifact of the distortion and correction process.”

Silver Wolf: “So that’s it… But how did Ohiroshiki know?”

Worshiper: “Judge. I will sometimes take photos of our restaurant’s events so we have some kind of record. I use a special vision spell for that and the photos are corrected after the fact. I recognized the same distinctive distortion I see in those photos.”

Art-Ga: “Ouch. So knowledge gained photographing scenes full of little girls saved the Musashi? What has the world come to?”

Worshiper: “Incorrect! This photo shows signs of being zoomed in! So this was not knowledge from photographing the entire group or an individual enjoying herself! I recognized this from the spells used to secretly photograph individuals without them noticing!”

Gold Mar: “I think that’s actually worse?”

●

“Azuchi” heard Katagiri make an “eh?” sound as he viewed the lernen figur.

10ZO: “So if we take this photograph and correct the distortion…”

That created an image with the night sea at the bottom of the screen.

10ZO: “This is what it would have looked like normally. Only the ocean below.”

It was the same image as before except with everything around the upper center stretched out in each direction.

10ZO: “This was zoomed into the upper center with the four sides packed in because the photographer was targeting Oume’s bottom hull while watching out for counterattacks from his surroundings. Since it was dark, he would have wanted to aim accurately while eliminating the possibility of mistakes. Hence the zoom toward the upper center and the view stretched out to cover each direction.”

Meaning…

10ZO: “This distortion proves that your ascent team was carrying out their mission competently. But at the same time, it shows that the Musashi had already entered the Mikawa bay.”

●

“Azuchi” could see that Katagiri hadn’t accepted this fact.

“Huh!?”

This response was not a simple rejection. It came from him logically overturning it.

Reading the enemy’s words was enough to know what they were trying to say. But because of that…

The Boy: “W-wait just a moment! What proof do you have that this ‘correction’ isn’t arbitrary!? You’re just altering the image to suit your purposes!”

This rejection of their claim elicited a response from Musashi.

10ZO: “Judge. Your M.H.R.R. Catholic mobile shells are a product of of the Holy Knights Ironworks Guild. Based on the information we have on Bavaria’s Altbayern, the group is generally comprised of 48 knights, correct? And the mobile shell they use is the FR-4302 Heiliges Ritter. The FR-4302’s visual correction is handled by the ‘Heaven Hides Naught’ divine protection produced by a Tsirhc spell and…”

●

The Boy: “Eh? Eh? Eh? How do they know all this?”

Kimee: “Public demonstrations are held at everyone’s bases as a show of force and as a deterrent, so information on those bases in their ‘perfect state’ is generally submitted to the Testament Union and the Teachers League. And then if any dangerous forces are moved around, they will be held in check or stopped by suggesting that is in violation of the history recreation.”

Black Wolf: “Also, photography spells are developed to a high level for gods of war, mobile shells, and intelligence use, but they are soon given to ordinary warriors as well. Because it boosts overall strength when the best equipment isn’t limited to just your best people. Some of it is even jointly produced with the Protestants who you could call our enemies. That’s done to make M.H.R.R. as a whole more powerful than other nations.”

Majority Rule: “The photography spell I use to post photos of my food on the divine net is a civilian version of the one used by Kaiser brand gods of war.”

6: “What a waste of technology…”

The Boy: “Um, then their claim…?”

Tsurugi: “You can more or less just nod and act like you already knew all this. The best photography corrections these days are the ones designed for girls, but in M.H.R.R. the ones used for wartime have been modified for civilian use by removing their weapon recognition function and boosting their facial recognition and environment effect functions.”

The Boy: “Thank you for all this frightening information…”

●

“So the correction they applied is based on the system used by M.H.R.R. Catholic mobile shells and their analysis is flawless.”

“Azuchi” saw Katagiri’s shoulders slump.

…I see.

She understood where his mistake had come from.

He was a negotiator, but he honestly didn’t know much about combat.

He was close to the Ten Spears and could put together a decent strategy centered on them, but he knew almost nothing beyond that, particularly when it came to the equipment of those who served them.

“Katagiri-sama, you never gave much thought to the fact that mobile shell and god of war visual systems generally apply some kind of correction to the images, did you? Shaja.”

“I mean, I knew it happened, but it didn’t occur to me this could happen.”

“Shaja. Meanwhile, it is such a basic part of life for the knights that they just assumed you would take it into account when they responded to your request for their visual records. Perhaps they thought correcting the image would make it look ‘modified’. …And that led to your misunderstanding.”

“Yes,” he admitted.

“Not that understanding how it happened helps us at this point. Shaja.”

“W-was that really necessary!?”

It was because humans tend to forget these things if you do not state them out loud. Yes.

“But,” she said. “You still have a chance. Are you open to some advice? Shaja.”

●

“You mean there’s still something I can do?”

Katagiri heard “Azuchi” respond with a “shaja”.

The Azuchi was currently pursuing the Musashi east along the Mikawa bay’s northern bank.

“Azuchi” herself appeared to be working with the bridge to assess the state of the equipment aboard the Musashi, but that would be preparations for a second battle.

…I need to make sure that battle happens!

“Katagiri-sama, you must not rush this.”

“Azuchi” gathered up hundreds of photos they had taken of the Musashi. She looked through them, removing each one as she went.

“I believe you now know about the image correction and how much the enemy knows about us. So now you need to think. Please activate Hundred Crest Land Survey. I have determined that should show you something. Shaja.”

“Hundred Crest Land Survey?”

Why? he wondered.

But he didn’t see any path forward himself.

…In that case…

Feeling like he was grasping at straws, he activated Hundred Crest Land Survey.

He used the light gathered from his surroundings for the material as he created a model.

Of Musashi’s 8 ships.

They had photographic records from their people on the scene and the ships’ locations could be seen from the Azuchi.

He created the model with Hundred Crest Land Survey and placed the terrain data below it.

…Not even the data from the Azuchi would tell you this.

That was because they had been descending as they approached the bay. The Musashi and the hill itself had obstructed their view, so the view from the Azuchi couldn’t tell them if the Musashi had entered the bay or not.

They knew the Musashi’s general location based on its speed and size, but that data came from a horizontal view. It wasn’t reliable when it came to determining whether or not it had entered the bay, which would require data from a vertical view.

And once Hundred Crest Land Survey’s model was complete…

“I see…”

Yes, the Musashi had entered the bay.

But while it may count as within the margin of error…

“The third ships are still over the land.”

But…

“With just the third ships, you could say the majority of the Musashi was over the bay.”

No, he shook his head. If he politely accepted that claim, then he had lost.

…I need to stay on the attack!

He had to rethink this. Hundred Crest Land Survey was the tool available to him. And to acquire more data…

“Give me the Azuchi’s sensor data on the Mikawa bay! Please!”

●

Masazumi sensed a change in the mood around her.

They were currently conversing with the pursuing Azuchi over whether or not their Iga Crossing had counted.

But Naito and Naruze were sticking with Futayo who had caught the spear while Urquiaga, the Date Vice Chancellor, and some others were guarding the stern.

…They’re preparing for a battle.

She couldn’t let her guard down.

She believed every Musashi resident had to remain on guard at all times.

If something happened and the Musashi were lost, they would lose everything.

So they would keep their guard up and maintain positions of battle readiness. Because they could lose everything at any moment, that was how they showed care for the present.

They could be fighting and they could be resting, but they could not let their guard down by doing neither.

And this was one of the former times.

“Which means me too.”

She had to keep thinking more steps ahead and making preparations.

Or even better, she knew someone who was great at that.

Vice President: “Heyyy, Ookubo.”

Nagaya-Stable: “What!? I’m on the move right now!”

Vice President: “You’re probably fleeing toward the idiot’s group, you know? …Anyway, I need some advice. A general outline is fine, but think up a plan for going ahead. I’ll give you some instructions.”

Nagaya-Stable: “What, is the Iga Crossing not going well?”

It’s not that.

Vice President: “Just because it goes well doesn’t mean they’ll accept it. That’s the kind of people we’re up against. This isn’t an ordinary confrontation. I think they intend to crush us.”

Nagaya-Stable: “Sounds like a personal grudge. What did you do to them?”

Vice President: “Judge. One of my underclassmen took back their occupied land before summer break. …Just to be clear, this is where you’re supposed to laugh.”

Nagaya-Stable: “Fat chance of that. …But whatever. I’ll prepare something for you. Just give me what instruction you can.”

Having capable underclassmen made things so much easier.

Masazumi tossed her instructions to Tsukinowa and took a breath. Then a response arrived.

The Boy: “Attention Musashi. We have proof that your Iga Crossing failed. Take a look.”

●

Gold Mar: “He doesn’t know when to quit, does he?”

Flat Vassal: “I’ve been listening in, but what is he thinking? They must know the visual support spells and protections mean they can’t use those images, right?”

10ZO: “This is going to be very annoying if he doubles down on that any further.”

Art-Ga: “I seem to remember someone saying some crazy stuff back in England and then doubling down on it…”

Scarred: “But that was good doubling down! Yes, very good!”

Laborer: “Did a bunch of glowing flowers just explode at Okutama’s stern?”

Me: “Hey, Tenzou. Don’t provoke her family too much, okay? Musashi’s already in enough trouble.”

10ZO: “I don’t want to hear that from the guy who held Excalibur between his legs!”

●

Not even an emergency can stop them, thought Masazumi as she viewed the image Katagiri had sent.

…Another image?

But this did make the discussion a lot easier to follow, so she considered allowing the use of images and text like this within the Musashi.

They already had divine mail and the chat as a format for easily conveying information for reports and documents, but image-based communication was a lot more intuitive. And…

The Boy: “This is a reproduction of the terrain and the Musashi’s position based on photographs at the time and measurements taken by the Azuchi.”

The image depicted a model of the Musashi, much like the one manipulated by Mukai on the bridge, and a reproduced section of terrain cut out from the western end of the Mikawa bay.

Vice President: “What is this?”

Only after asking did she realize there was more than one image. When she caught what Tsukinowa opened for her, she realized what Katagiri’s strategy was.

A red line marked out Mikawa bay’s bank. The terrain made it a jagged red line that acted as a wall splitting the Musashi overhead.

The Boy: “This was the situation at the time, but the Musashi had not fully crossed the goal line of the coast. At the very least, the third ship where the attack occurred was still over land.”

Katagiri continued.

The Boy: “The Musashi had not fully entered the bay, including the site of the attack. That tells us that your Iga Crossing failed.”

●

…So he’s changed his thinking.

Masazumi felt caution regarding Katagiri’s quick switch.

“He’s not like Takenaka.”

Takenaka was the type to build things up, much like Ookubo. Even if she failed here and there, her holistic management style of negotiation would direct those failures toward some kind of result in the end.

But Katagiri was different. If something worked to his advantage, he wouldn’t hesitate to throw out his old way of thinking.

Leaping at whatever was in front of him at the time was a flaw, but the way he leaped from argument to argument with little connection between them was a lot like Neshinbara.

…But unlike Neshinbara, he uses real things instead of fantasies.

The images before her now were the perfect example. Before, he had been negotiating based on a photograph submitted by one of his men, but now he had switched to using a model reproducing the situation at the time.

And he had more to say on top of that.

The Boy: “Have your captain automaton check over this data. Automata can’t lie, so she should be able to tell if it is accurate or not.”

Vice President: “What dos your captain automaton say?”

The Boy: “I created this model based on our data, but I did have the automata check over it. Well? If you can’t check over the data, then my analysis will stand.”

He’s pushing as hard as before, she thought, but this was the time for that.

Vice President: “Judge, we’ll check it over. And we will make our own decision based on the result.”

●

Vice President: “I just realized this guy is like a serious Neshinbara.”

Almost Everyone: “A serious Neshinbara?”

Art-Ga: “I’m not sure if that’s better or worse. Either way, he is annoying.”

Novice: “Which would imply that I am not annoying, wouldn’t it!?”

Gold Mar: “Wouldn’t it make you super annoying?”

Musashi: “Masazumi-sama? Shall we check over that data? All of us automata can confirm the accuracy of the data and make any necessary corrections, but those corrections will be based in fact and cannot be fabricated. Over.”

Vice President: “Do it. …And listen up, everyone. This will likely be our final negotiation with the Azuchi regarding the Iga Crossing. Make sure you’re ready.”

●

Katagiri saw the result of Musashi’s check arrive.

“Azuchi” nodded and sent him…

…What the heck!?

The attached model data was far more precise than what he had sent them.

“Katagiri-sama, this is likely the model data used for navigation assistance on the Musashi’s bridge. Shaja.”

He had been fairly confident in his Hundred Crest Land Survey, but that confidence was shaken by this.

…Does this use pure ether to create the ether light without using water, steam, or light as a catalyst?

The precision of the processing was so high because it wasn’t transformed into another substance as a middle step. Seeing the many components arranged on the model Musashi told him how difficult this would be to make by hand.

The Musashi would provide a lot of assistance. And looking closely, the level of detail on the model Musashi was inconsistent in places, but he could tell that wasn’t due to getting lazy. The difference came from working too hard on certain parts.

He considered the material, the creator, the cooperation, and all the work piled on top of work that had to have gone into this.

“Incredible…”

AnG: “Hey, did Giri just freeze up?”

Kimee: “ ‘Azuchi’, is he alright?”

Oops, he realized and waved away “Azuchi” as she turned around. He sighed, decided to save this model data for reference, and checked over their conclusion.

He noticed that his red coastline had been corrected. But…

…It was corrected toward the bay!

The bay’s coastline was even further toward the Musashi’s bow than he had expected.

Which meant…

The Boy: “More than half of the Musashi’s length hadn’t crossed the line! This fully disqualifies you!”

●

Masazumi sighed.

…The inability to lie really makes this a challenge for us.

She could only compliment Hashiba’s ascent team for their performance. They must have made sure that Oume at least was over land when they made their attack. And they must have used the overall speed to have a basic grasp of the Musashi’s position.

But that was Hashiba’s viewpoint.

Vice President: “That judgment is premature, Hashiba.”

The Boy: “In what way, Musashi?”

Vice President: “You are discussing whether or not the Musashi had crossed the coastline, but I have a question concerning that.”

First, she had to say this.

Vice President: “That is your definition of our goal line, but we are not using the coast as our goal line.”

The Boy: “Huh? You’re the ones who said you would establish the Iga Crossing if you escaped to Mikawa!”

Vice President: “Did you think the natural coastline could act as the goal line with a ship the size of the Musashi?”

With that, she opened the image she had asked the Musashi bridge to create and then modified herself. It was the same as the one sent to Katagiri, but…

Vice President: “Allow me to open a separate explanatory diagram for the 3D diagram I sent you.”

She had been surprised to learn that “model” was not the technical term for it and that it was only a “diagram” despite being so detailed, but…

Me: “Oh, this Musashi has the new version of the Main Blue Thunder! Way to go, Bell-san!”

Bell: “D-d-don’t look…too closely. When I sensed the purged parts today…a lot of the basic structure was different…”

Smoking Girl: “Want us to send you the plans we have here in the engine room? It’s a real chaotic mess, though.”

It sounded like it was only going to get more detailed.

Anyway, the coastline was drawn below the Musashi model, but…

Vice President: “The coastline acts as a natural border, but your red emphasis helps show the complexity of the part the Musashi was flying over.”

Their original destination had been “the area the bay had spread to” thanks to the collapse. So the collapse was even now continuing in places, leading to a fairly complex shape.

Vice President: “In this case, the question is how to interpret the natural borderline. But if we flatten out the bumps and dips of the natural borderline, turning it into a single line, this is what we get.”

The separate explanatory diagram showed that.

The zigzagging line directly below the Musashi was combined into a single line and applied to the Musashi above. This revealed…

Vice President: “The line is pulled back to where it caught Oume at the rear of the Musashi. You were basing the goal on the natural borderline, but this sort of judgment makes more sense for a collection of ships that can change shape like the Musashi.”

She had said it.

And after throwing her words out there, there was a pause before any response arrived.

The Musashi was currently circling around the Mikawa bay from south to west. The Azuchi was pursuing them. Katagiri sent a response within that layout.

The Boy: “Surely even you know that’s sophistry.”

Vice President: “If this is sophistry, then so is your argument. Because our disagreement lies in what to base the decision on. Also…”

Masazumi held up a model of the Musashi at the time as she continued.

Vice President: “Even if we do use your natural borderline basis, we can conclude that the Musashi had already crossed that line.”

●

Even though the academy behind her blocked it from view, Masazumi was aware of the Azuchi’s presence as she continued speaking.

Vice President: “The Musashi had already entered the Mikawa bay. Because…”

You only had to look.

Vice President: “At the time, Murayama had moved forward, in between Asakusa and Musashino. The third starboard ship had also moved forward, extending the Musashi as a whole diagonally right and forward.”

That configuration created a certain fact. Even if the back half of the Musashi’s full length had been over land rather than the coast…

Vice President: “Asakusa, Murayama, Musashino, Shinagawa, and Tama had all crossed the borderline. Oume had been left behind to create space for Murayama, but Takao and Okutama were not fully over land.”

She stated her conclusion as Musashi’s representative.

Vice President: “Looking at the total length, more than half of the Musashi was still on land. But looking at the Musashi’s functionality, more than half of what makes the Musashi an aerial ship was out over the Mikawa bay. …Which means the Musashi had arrived and therefore completed the Iga Crossing.”

Horizey: “Yeahhhhhh! Well done, Masazumi-sama! I dub it the ‘make them think it was just the tip when you had the whole thing in there’ strategy!”

…Even if that’s technically accurate, can you not call it that? It makes me sad…

Wise Sister: “Heh heh. I seem to recall a recent incident of suddenly sticking the whole thing in with no attempt to make them think it was just the tip.”

Me: “No, that wasn’t an issue of in or not. It was more like skipping some frames and still pulling off the trick? And I think Horizon’s embarrassment played a role?”

Asama: “Horizon, attacking him now will only support his claim that you were embarrassed.”

Art-Ga: “So is Hashiba attacking us here because they’re embarrassed?”

Vice President: “No, I think it comes from the opposite emotion…”

The Boy: “Testament.”

The sudden message brought instant silence to the others.

Flat Vassal: “Can he see our horrible comments?”

Vice President: “No, that was a coincidence. But I wonder what that ‘testament’ was in response to.”

Tachibana Wife: “To your claim of establishing the Iga Crossing, Vice President.”

That surprised Masazumi because, until the Tachibana Wife mentioned it, she had failed to link her words to that “testament”.

Vice President: “He isn’t accepting our Iga Crossing, is he?”

If not, then this wasn’t a “testament” of agreement. Katagiri’s response was only an acknowledgment of her claim.

…So what now?

That thought was soon followed by an actual response. But not from Katagiri.

Kuro-Take: “We will now begin a history recreation of the Battle of Yamazaki.”

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