Horizon:Volume 1 Chapter 13

Chapter 13: The Authorities at the Rendezvous Point

Even if you are one with power.

What do you have to do.

To stand in a person's ground.

Point Allocation (Overlooking)

●

The sky started to turn from the colour of afternoon to that of evening.

At this time, the sky's blue lightly loses its hue, becoming a colour not quite described by aquamarine or yellow.

Below that particular sky. There existed a town with a vast, flat surface at its center.

In the town, the wooden surface spread out as it hammered flat. Its four walls and surroundings all showed the following display: "NEW CASTLE of NAGOYA ATELIER on MATSUDAIRA."

New Nagoya Castle. The colossal workshop that occupied the majority of Mikawa's streets.

However, at every entrance to the workshop and every cargo loading door, automatons armed for security stood unmoving. Machines were everywhere.

Conversely, there were no people anywhere.

Between the workshop and town, there lay a moat. And on the other side of the moat, there were also automatons patrolling and cleaning the roads of the town, but the majority of the town was devoid of humans.　The entrances and shutters to the majority of the houses were closed.

And now, two figures were walking the streets, on which the long shadows of the houses lay.

It was Sakai and Sakakibara.

Sakakibara was walking ahead, but the one who did most of the talking was Sakai, who followed Sakakibara from behind.

"--So, in our Academy, it seems like there's people who took names. Like Naomasa, and there's Neshinbara, which you get if you take out one of the things in your name. ...Also, are we going to your new place? I never come this far, since I always finish my business at the checkpoint. This place's changed quite a lot too. Tthe canal that everyone threw you in after you kept on complaining that it was hot that one summer was around here, wasn't it?"

"That canal was buried because of the construction of New Nagoya Castle, I took the initiative to take command of that particular project."

"Then, this was the place? Stop stepping all over my memories. You're a horrible man."

Sakai spoke. Uncaring of the fact that Sakakibara had hunched his shoulders up in anger and was walking quicker, he looked around the area while whistling.

His roaming gaze looked over the automatons that were maintaining the ground and the walls of the road. Every one of them was...

"...I thought they were simply cleaning, but this...the words of blood due to the Phenomena are pretty common, aren't they? Like things from beyond, the holes in the floor, those were caused by claws, weren't they?"

"Many things are coming out here, and not just things that had happened in past records. After this year got started, the frequency and type suddenly increased. One night, black figures lined up and marched around the town. We think that it was one type of night wandering. Carriages drawn by headless horses, things that cannot be seen, but whose footsteps can be heard...words of blood appearing on the wall and floor happens every day this year. That's why I don't go outside at night. It seems that Honda-kun does differently, though."

"Does Dacchan still like that kind of thing like he did before? -Well, how's the town's defenses?"

"The Atsuta Shrine's barrier is still effective when it comes to the houses. They need something on the level of a vital point, though."

'Isn't that for the use of a castle?' Sakai shrugged. In response, Sakakibara mirrored the movement.

"Well, the Atsuta style specialises in battle."

So he said before suddenly looking up to the sky.

The sky's colour had faded, becoming thin, and there was the outline of a ship in the western reaches.

Sakakibara said this concerning the rectangular black ship.

"...Immediately after the ship of the Pope-Chancellor, Tres Espana's ship has come. They most likely plan to switch places with Honda-kun's daughter's advance ship and land in the port. That's..."

"It's Tres Espana's Kraken class Inquisition cruiser. In essence, Tres Espana's special squadron, well versed even against monsters. They transport the Andamio de la Ejecución, able to perform Fluid Decomposition on even earth dragon levels. By showing it off, they display the measure of their power. Though it may be in a territory where P.A. ODA's power extends, if there's any incident, they will act without mercy."

Outlined in black by the light shining behind it, the bottom of its stern carried a massive battle platform.

Seeing that, Sakai heaved a sigh.

"The user of the Logismoi Oplo should be riding inside that. That would be because Tres Espana's user of the Logismoi Oplo, one of the Eight Great Dragon Kings, Tachibana Muneshige was the vice squadron leader of the the Inquisition squad. Maybe to escort the Pope-Chancellor? This is really bad...two of the Dragon Kings coming here? It's almost like this is a war-torn territory."

"Well, no continental ports bar the one in the outskirts are currently in operation, so they won't be coming here. They've probably come here to hinder us while showing their forced loyalty to the Pope-Chancellor. Tres Espana, being the great power that it is, won't have any plans of giving K.P.A. Italia, who want to come back from the ashes, a new Logismoi Oplo, will they?"

'I see.'

So Sakai spoke. He looked at New Nagoya Castle, its flat shadow coming into view.

"Mikawa's this popular with every country, but needless to say, no countries can have any exchanges with Musashi, huh. With the clearing out of the populace and the many phenomena, there isn't anybody here - Is that really alright?"

"If I said that it was?"

"-I'd say: 'You can't be hiding something strange that you're doing, can you?"

A breath.

"Our students said this. It's true that the flow of goods from Mikawa is strange. "It seems like they're distributing mementos,' I think they said - What's going on with Mikawa right now? What are you thinking?"

Starting up his feet again, which had stopped at some point, Sakai asked. Sakakibara had stopped as well. Tapping him on the shoulder, Sakai hurried him to start walking.

"What's wrong with Ii? He was in charge of politics and innovation, wasn't he? I want to hear his response..."

"He was spirited away."

Suddenly yet softly, he said this.

"Do you know of the person who's said to have started this spiriting away...the 'Princess'?"

●

Beneath the sky where the sun was starting to set, Sakai and Sakakibara continued to walk. And as they did, Sakai asked Sakakibara a question in return.

"Ii's spiriting away...and the Princess?"

"Have you heard about it? It's an existence that started to be spoken of around thirty years ago. At that time, it spread around as an urban legend amongst the children, but more recently, it seems that it's been spreading around a little."

"Then or now, if it's among the children's generation, then it's way out of my jurisdiction."

Sakai smiled wryly while saying this.

"'Princess' refers to the daughter of the Chinese royal family...And if I know about the princess disappearances, then it follows that I'd know about it. Even recently, Musashi's Asama and Masazumi have been involved with it. When Masazumi transferred to Musashi, her mother had been a victim of a princess disappearance, and there's a mention of it amongst the phenomena Asama occasionally talks about."

"Jud., I see. Then, this will be quick."

With that, Sakakibara cleared his throat.

"Let me say one thing in advance. Now, Mikawa is extremely different from what it was when you were here."

Also...

"Please try to hunt down the Princess. For the sake of learning everything."

"The Princess...?"

"Jud. I'm talking about the person who's leaving the words of blood and carrying out the spiriting away amongst all the other Phenomena. I don't know who chose this name, but we call them 'Princess' or even 'Princesses'. Well, according to rumour, their true identity is that of a noble's illegitimate child, or that the perpetrator's actual name is Koushu Tachi. There are many other explanations."

"Wait..."

Bathing in the wind that had started to blow through the town, Sakai asked a question to Sakakibara's back as Sakakibara walked ahead of him.

"Why do you know that someone like that exists? Weren't the princess disappearances a type of spiriting away?"

"When Ii-kun's whereabouts became unknown, there was something in the study in which he was supposed to be."

Sakai watched as Sakakibara looked back, even while walking.

However, he couldn't see Sakakibara's expression. His face had fallen into shadow due to the sun's light from the mountains.

Sakai listened to Sakakibara's voice, which could still be heard though his face remained wreathed in shadow.

"'Playtime is over' was written on the sliding screen of the study from which Ii-kun disappeared. The inkstone and pen that he should have been using up till that point were left as they were. The paper he had opened up was untouched."

"...And the perpetrator? If the perpetrator was there, the guard automatons must have seen someone, right?"

"Isn't passing through automatons' defense a simple thing for you and I? Also, Ii-kun's study was slightly apart from his main mansion. Even the automatons patrolling the gardens have blind spots."

A wry smile.

"The Lord said that: 'It's because Ii's naive'. Now, I think that way as well."

Sakakibara suddenly stopped.

However, he was still making noise. It came from his feet. The sound was of Sakakibara drawing a diagram in the sand with the toe of his grass slippers.

What he drew was a circle with a a line crossing horizontally through it.

"-This is called the Emblem of Two Boundaries. A double boundary line formed by the boundary line of the circle as well as the boundary line piercing it. When the Princesses appeared, it was a symbol they always left behind. It was also found in Ii-kun's study."

A breath.

Once again, Sakakibara turned to face forward. Once again, he started to walk. Once again, Sakai could only see his back.

"The Princesses exist. To be honest, I didn't believe it myself, but...the people who follow the incidents of spiriting away as well as the other Phenomena should have noticed its existence. The existence of the symbol that is always left behind at the Phenomena."

'Do you know about this?'

Sakakibara asked.

"Ii-kun told me about it. The Princesses are trying to save the world by kidnapping people, giving the world a warning. And every time...they intentionally finish with a symbol."

Having been told this, Sakai noticed something. The automatons were wiping off letters of blood from everywhere in town, but...

...Were there any among them that were written by the Princess?

The Phenomena don't exhibit any kind of clear will, and it's rare that they have any kind of continuity. However, the princess disappearances have that trait. If the Princesses that Sakakibara further spoke of are a part of this...

...They're an organization?

In this age, organizations are limited to faiths and Academies. Judging from the name 'Princess', they should be related to China, specifically the Far East, but there are kingdoms in Europe as well, so if if you hold the lords there as 'Princesses', the possibilities suddenly widen. So, I shouldn't be asking about the country, but I should be asking...

"Who...are they? Are they people from some Academy or faith? How are they related to the current situation in Mikawa!?"

"I plan on giving those materials to you."

Sakakibara's feet halted.

In front of him.

There stood a single residence. A mansion surrounded by a bamboo fence.

In front of the small gate, Sakakibara raised his right hand slightly.

"There's a teashop over there. It's a shop run by the automatons that control my district. I'll have them bring the documents there until 8:30. Please wait a little bit."

"Hey, c'mon, let me wait inside your house."

"-My house is in the same neighbourhood as Honda-kun's, you know? It seems that Honda-kun doesn't want to talk to you about Ii-kun...I think he doesn't want to make you worry."

"So that means that you want to make me worry?...You're a disgusting man."

Sakakibara did not immediately respond to those words. He stayed silent for a few moments, eventually smiling and lifting his head.

"I don't want the Four Heavenly Kings to lose one comrade."

'Yeah, that's right,' he said. His tone lightened, as if to change the topic.

"This is a little off-topic, but regarding P-01s, who you asked about earlier...it's just like what you think."

"If that's so..."

Sakai inhaled, tensing his body. Sakakibara waved his hand at him lightly.

He started by saying, 'You're getting ahead of yourself.'

"The Lord will tell you the reasoning tonight. Please wait for that."

"Tonight...Mikawa is celebrating with fireworks, right?"

'Jud.'

Sakakibara nodded.

"It will be an interesting festival. I've only till it starts to go home, so please wait at the teashop there. I'll have the automatons bring the documents over."

"Then...we part here?"

Sakai asked.

Sakakibara smiled. It felt like he smiled.

Shoulders trembling from suppressed emotion, Sakakibara lowered his right hand, cast in shadow due to the light behind it.

"This isn't a parting - we are the Matsudaira Four Heavenly Kings. I believe that we, Ii-kun included, are always together."

●

A ship traversed the sky.

As if in answer, another ship came.

This location was southwest of Mikawa, in the skies close to the open-air continental port meant for common-usage. The wooden ship of the security squad, boasting Musashi Ariadust Academy's school emblem on its sides, was headed towards the west. In its place, a black rectangular ship marked with the emblem of Tres Espana's Alacalá de Henares, representing the country's emblem, came.

The two ships took a course that would take them past each others right side, heading towards their respective destinations with great turns.

The wooden ship took a trajectory that rose up and to the west. The black ship took a trajectory that descended down towards Mikawa's continental port.

The black rectangular ship, lowering its altitude, kept the Andamio de la Ejecución, which was like a folded scaffold, below the prow.

Translator's notes and references

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