Horizon:Volume 10B Chapter 46

Chapter 46: Animals Outside

How can we remain idle

Until the world changes?

Point Allocation (Stewing)

●

Their busy days continued.

Hirano left her home at Lake Biwa Azuchi and locked the door. She walked down the hallway, pulling a luggage-laden cart behind her.

She was leaving to travel around Aki’s Far East reservation, asking for help with the Genesis Project and answering questions about the project.

Ever since that fateful night, they could tell all even with the moon in the sky.

Fewer shooting stars were falling from the moon now.

So much had changed that night.

They had continued their combat training, but after two weeks the other nations appeared to have come to terms with what the Musashi’s absence meant, so more and more voices were asking for the resumption of wide-area trade via aerial ships. They couldn’t send out the Yamato for that, so Hashiba was using the transport ships left across the land to begin some small-scale trade in those areas.

…So much has changed.

One big decision had been granting the Far East reservations freedom to trade. That prevented the provisional ruling nations from imposing tariffs on the reservations, but the Far East had free use of aerial ships and this freedom allowed for short-range but speedy trade in the new post-Musashi world.

Hirano and the others were tasked with explaining this new freedom with examples, suggesting sample operations and projects, and helping get them off the ground.

The pilgrimage would be made with members of the Representative Committee, the other committees, and other officials in tow. Hirano thought this was what diplomacy was meant to be.

The other nations were understandably concerned about the future and the Ten Spears were each familiar with nations closely related to their families.

Of course, that didn’t mean they would receive eager invitations.

Kasuya, for example, had only now been called to Hexagone Française and departed last night, but Kiyomasa still hadn’t been called to England.

Kiyomasa had to feel some loneliness there, but Hirano thought time might fix that.

It was a tricky problem.

While she was pondering all this, she arrived at the end of the hallway. The stairs were on her right. Descending them took her to the entranceway. Leaving through there brought the Yamato into view where it was docked near Lake Biwa Azuchi.

The sun was shining in the clear autumn sky.

And she spotted her destination, a diplomatic transport ship, and walked toward it.

“Headed to Aki, Hirano-san?”

She was interrupted by Ishikawa Kazumasa.

The tall woman stood there in a short-sleeve shirt and suit pants with a long sword on her back.

●

Hirano came to a stop, wondering what this was about.

As a shrine maiden whose combat was focused on long-distance attacks and spells, she hadn’t learned much from this homeroom teacher.

Yoshiaki and Angie were in a similar position there, so the three of them didn’t feel as close to her.

She was definitely skilled. Her lessons didn’t seem very well planned, but that was probably just the kind of person she was.

But here she jerked her thumb toward the ship Hirano was about to board.

“On your way to Aki?”

“Testament. For the Genesis Project. Then I will go to Hexagone Française and join Kasuya in settling the Ankokuji Ekei matter.”

“Where’s he?”

Probably at Ankokuji Temple. Hirano nodded and…

“He has requested to retire and give up his inherited name once all this is over. I expect Hashiba to accept, but he is former-Mouri, so we will have to discuss how much freedom he is given.”

“It’s a delicate situation. Especially when we want to avoid any trouble right now.”

“Testament,” agreed Hirano, but Ishikawa’s heart didn’t seem in the conversation. So…

“What did you really want to discuss?”

“In Aki and Hexagone Française, you should be able to see the opposite shore from some places, right?”

“If anything, that would be K.P.A. Italia territory.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Ishikawa snorted in laughter. And, “I hear Musashi is building a town at the entrance to the mountains deep in Sanuki.”

“Testament. We are already monitoring them. They used their purged base hulls as a foundation to build a multi-level city using the Musashi’s interior structure as a model.”

“That’s a problem.”

“But they don’t have the Musashi.”

That ship had been a means of transportation, a base of operations, a fortress, and a decisive weapon.

Without it, they still had their individual military forces, but they were restricted to movement by transport ship.

With the Mediterranean Sea and the Pacific Ocean in the way, there was no land route between Sanuki and here, making them effectively a nonentity.

More than that, Excalibur was broken and Hirano had broken her mother’s weapon too. The word was Zwei Fraulein hadn’t returned to them. They might make repairs and gather together, but Hashiba had proven their ability to defeat Musashi.

So Hashiba had decided they would stop Musashi if they tried anything.

If Musashi’s policy was to not allow any loss, then Hashiba’s was to stop them. So…

“If they aren’t trying anything, we will leave them be, Sensei.”

“Then I have one piece of information for you before you leave for Aki and Hexagone Française, Hirano-san.”

Hirano wasn’t given a chance to ask what that was. Because Ishikawa stepped in toward her and spoke first.

“It should be about time for winter uniforms at the makeshift academy built deep in Sanuki. I hope they aren’t too cold.”

●

Masazumi decided it was about time to consider wearing their winter uniforms.

She was in the academy quickly built atop a hill. It was a two-story building with few rooms, but it got the job done. The officers gathered below the cherry trees in front of the school instead of in one of the rooms, but that would make for a lovely view if they were still here next spring.

The Musashi was gone, but the city remained.

That was thanks to the Musashi’s block structure, but their experience at Mito had also helped. When remodeling the Musashi at Mito, they had used the wide blocks and such to build a town on the surface, but that hadn’t held much crew and, even worse, had only been a single level.

They had learned from that experience and, while it meant going without walls, they had linked the blocks together up to a maximum of five levels.

Strangely, even though they were on the surface, the multilevel structure had let them line the blocks up much like they had been on the Musashi and they had linked the blocks together with suspended walkways, which had reduced the people’s dissatisfaction.

The Mito one was better ventilated and received more sunlight, though, thought Masazumi, but apparently not everyone agreed.

The different levels placed up on a hill, next to a hill, in the woods, at the foot of the mountain, or wherever else there was space, had been named “Udon Tama”, “Udon Musashino”, and so on by the people. In a way, she felt that showed the people’s wish to begin a new life without throwing out what came before.

Ookubo had shut herself away inside and…

“Why would you place yourself under house arrest?”

It probably wasn’t too serious since Kanou was attending school, but Ookubo must have felt responsible.

What could they do about that?

Ookubo and the others had taken the blame so Masazumi’s class could maintain their reputation. The problem was that, without the Musashi, the other nations were ignoring Musashi.

That meant their reputation only existed as a thing of the past. They had nothing worthwhile in the present.

“And now I’m getting use to this view from the academy.”

From here at the “stern” of Udon Okutama, she had a view of the Asama Shrine and the cemetery.

They had gathered most of what they had before. But had they really?

“Hey…”

Masazumi looked below the cherry tree they had chosen as a meeting point.

Mary was there, waiting for Crossunite.

But when she saw the ninja leave the school building, Mary joined him and entered the city level located at the bottom of the hill. Masazumi felt like she had trouble thinking of them with Crossunite as the subject, but she decided she was imagining things.

At any rate, no one was waiting.

That was their meetup point, but either someone just happened to be there or they had to call for a meeting.

They wouldn’t spontaneously gather there. The reason why was obvious.

“Aoi.”

She sighed.

“No one stays here without you.”

That idiot was attending classes, but he returned home immediately afterwards.

●

Mary was gradually getting used to life here.

She found it kind of fun that they were on the surface. Because neither England nor the Musashi had been. The longest she had ever stayed on the surface had been the training camp at the Reine des Garous’s house, but she had broken that record here and she felt like she would become a true surface dweller if this kept up.

The proximity to the ocean reminded her of England and she appreciated being so close to the forest. The general mood kept her from saying so out loud, but she quite liked the environment here. There was one thing that bothered her, though.

“Master Tenzou, why must we eat udon at least once a day here in the Udon Kingdom?”

“Well…because this is the Udon Kingdom loved by the god of udon.”

The food seemed a little one-note, but she had heard that was the local culture, or a strict local rule. But to put it the other way, they were free to use this undeveloped land however they liked as long as they followed that rule.

So as long as they weren’t completely out of line, there were no real restrictions on the land and they were currently constructing Udon Oume. With “Oume” leading the planning and construction, there were no major problems and this work that became the center of the people’s lives helped them accept the current situation.

But there was one concern.

“Master Tenzou, where are Ladies Naito and Naruze?”

“Judge. The two of them fell into M.H.R.R. territory and are apparently recovering now.”

That much was known. They had both fallen into different mountain villages where they were healing from their wounds. But Mary was still concerned because the M.H.R.R. Catholics were effectively Musashi’s enemy.

“Are they safe there?”

“We have some good news there. They were in their Technohexen outfits when they fell and, well, those use an M.H.R.R. design, right? So they are apparently pretending to be M.H.R.R. Catholic special forces who were injured and separated from their unit during an operation.”

So…

“Naruze-dono is going by the name Margot and Naito-dono is going by the name Malga.”

That briefly confused Mary. “Um,” she said, while counting on her fingers for no real reason. “So the black and white one is now Lady Margot and the black and gold one is now Lady Malga?”

“That is correct, but only we would be confused by it.

“Anyway,” he said, pointing to the city below.

The five-level Udon Okutama’s surface level was linked almost perfectly horizontally to this hill.

“Now that we have three ration centers, it’s a lot easier to get dinner. That is one improvement over when we were on the Musashi.”

“That’s because they can use spells to grow a lot more early-ripening vegetables than on the Musashi. Some farmers have even begun exporting to Hexagone Française on the opposite bank.”

“Yes, like Noriki-dono and Adele-dono.”

They were definitely well suited for that. Before classes began in the morning, they would head out and tend to the fields. In the evenings after classes ended, they would immediately head back out to tend to the fields again. Adele sometimes left the academy early to attach claws and such to Raging Beast and use it to till the fields. That clearly wasn’t the intended use of the machine, but it did help boost their crop output.

Their remuneration was also plentiful.

The settlement was already supporting itself and the supplies from the Musashi were reserved for emergencies.

…Will we just end up living here?

Mary wasn’t sure.

There was no way she could know, but she also couldn’t deny enjoying life here.

They always had a small goal to work toward and accomplishing those goals day in and day out was fun. But something still bothered her.

“What will happen with the Genesis Project?”

●

A few announcements had been made related to the Genesis Project and those had arrived in Sanuki.

Mary had heard them when a member of the Sanuki Representative Council had visited.

They had to rely on that sort of indirect communication since Surface Musashi wasn’t yet recognized as a state, but Sanuki couldn’t ignore the settlement that rivaled their territory in size. And when that settlement had military might, both sides wanted to remain on good terms with each other.

The word was P.A. Oda had set the final full moon of the year as the execution date.

That would be December 30.

“That’s so soon,” was the general consensus. And why would they be making their move so soon?

“Would it be egotistical to think it’s so we won’t have time to put together a new fighting force?”

No one had any reason to argue against Masazumi’s suggestion. Besides, there was no way to acquire a new Musashi in only three months. And none of the other nations had any spare ships on the Musashi’s scale.

So the world nations had stopped paying attention to them.

A variety of job offers had arrived for Musashi, but those were all based on their current abilities or their past reputation. None of them would help them recover.

At best, they were mercenary jobs or assisting and supervising trade.

In other words, they were being left out.

Mary thought they should all discuss their plan for the future. But…

“The Main Blue Thunder is still closed, the others aren’t around more often than not, and even Master Wet Man has been going off somewhere after school.”

“Toori-dono should be fine because Horizon-dono, Asama-dono, and Mitotsudaira-dono are supporting him. But…”

Tenzou looked out ahead.

Udon Musashino was located past Udon Okutama and the sea was beyond that.

The opposite coast was visible beyond that sea and dark shapes, presumably a diplomatic fleet, were flying through the sky past that.

“That would be an M.H.R.R. Catholic fleet. They are probably on their way to Hexagone Française…but a gathering like that would have been unthinkable just a month ago.”

Now, then.

“I suppose we’re still too weak to worry ourselves over what the M.H.R.R. Catholics and Hexagone Française will do next.”

●

Adele was curious where the Chancellor would get off to after school. And when she kept an eye on things to satisfy that curiosity, she found that Horizon, Asama, the 5th Special Duty Officer, and occasionally Kimi would disappear too.

What were they doing?

She had directly asked Asama once, but…

“We’re, um, studying?”

Asama had dodged the question without giving a real answer.

…As if the Chancellor would spend his time studying.

What point was there in studying here? But they didn’t seem willing to let her go with them, so she couldn’t bring herself to say she wanted to see what they were doing.

But after two weeks of this, the curiosity was starting to get to her.

What were they doing?

She had considered tailing them, but that wasn’t so easily done. The Chancellor himself and Kimi had a way of stealthy movement as part of their entertainer skills and Asama could purify all trace of her passing with a spell or hide in a spell field. The 5th Special Duty Officer had a sensitive enough nose to detect Adele and the Vicereine would make weird noises.

…They make quite a party.

That last one seemed like a bit much, but the scary part was how it didn’t feel complete without her. At any rate, Adele had tried asking along Suzu with her sharper perception, but…

“Hmm, I’ll pass.”

Suzu had refused. Suzu herself had her home bathhouse and Suzu’s Bath as nearby sources of information, which meant she already had her hands full. They were doing such good business that she had gotten Noriki, Persona-kun, and Ohiroshiki to work part-time as cleaners, attracting customers, or selling food.

But Suzu did have one thing to tell her.

“They seem to be going to…a hill by the sea? …Yes, but…count me out.”

“Why?”

“Hmm… Because I’m a coward?

…If Suzu-san is a coward, that makes everyone else no more than insects!

Hearing that from someone who would probably make the top 3 in a nerves of steel ranking got Adele thinking, but as she let the dogs chase after her as part of her evening dog-walking job, she felt led toward the hill by the sea.

She realized she had decided to do a search today. She wanted to make it look natural, so she couldn’t search too far. There was something like a path there, so she pretended to simply be using that for her walk. Or that was her intention.

She arrived on a hill providing a view of the opposite coast from Aki to Tres España.

She walked around along the hill a bit, but it would only take about a minute to reach this point taking a straight shot from Udon Okutama. She came across the border between the sand and rocks of the beach and the dirt ground.

Below an outcropping of rock, she found a small hut.

●

It was a new hut.

A packaged-up cafe from Musashi’s belowdecks area had been brought here, so it looked a lot like a food stand. The entrance was covered by a bamboo blind labeled “Blue Thunder Study Room”.

…What kind of camouflage is that?

“Is it something like a secret base?”

It wasn’t hooked up to the water, but there was a bucket with a lid. She guessed they were borrowing the academy’s restrooms. But…

…Is this out behind the academy!?

The academy was facing northeast and this was across the beach to the northwest.

Looking to the hill along the shortest route here, she did indeed see footprints left atop the hill. After school, they must have gone shopping and then taken a route back toward the academy before continuing on to here.

“That explains why I couldn’t find them.”

Watching from the academy, she would see them leave, but when she returned to the city herself, they would have already left and gone back toward the academy.

That would indeed keep her from finding where they went.

But what were the Chancellor and the rest doing here? She was suddenly curious – or rather, she had come here to find that out.

Even if the 5th Special Duty Officer was here, being indoors would keep any scents from reaching her. Given the wind direction, Adele chose to approach from the side of the hut and she gradually found she could hear voices from inside.

The voices belonged to the Chancellor, Asama, and the 5th Special Duty Officer. She heard the periodic wooden creaking of something like a bed.

What could be going on in there? she wondered, approaching further until the voices were clear enough to understand.

“Oh, Toori-kun, not there. You’re supposed to put it in this one.”

“Eh? Asama, it doesn’t go in the A?”

“My king, it is still too soon for that. Besides, were you planning on doing it all today?”

“Still, I’m glad you’re so focused. So just go ahead and put it in here next.”

This plus the creaking of a bed gave Adele a perfectly straight face.

Studying? Were they broadly interpreting that word? But she had been spending every morning and evening farming while the others all worked at some kind of productive job.

…Is that what this is? Are they busy “producing” the Ten Spears?

Still, based on nothing more than a vague sense that this didn’t feel right, she decided to intervene.

“Chancellor! Asama-san! What do you think you’re doing!?”

She barged in.

●

Asama turned toward Adele thinking, “Oh, we’ve been found out.”

As for what it was they were doing…

“Mito and I are teaching Toori-kun algebra.”

He had a lot of trouble remembering these things. Or really, he had a unique way of thinking, which made it a challenge. But he had still recently reached the point where he could do some of the calculations on his own. According to Kimi…

“You’ve evolved from an ape into a mountain ape, foolish brother!”

That seemed more like a devolution to Asama. And did that mean Kimi herself was still an ape?

But that aside, she gestured Adele toward the back of the hut to help convince her.

There was a small space in the back of the hut where Horizon was doing sit-ups with her arms holding down her legs. When she sat up, she would swing her waist to the sides for a harder twisting version.

Noticing Adele, Horizon stopped moving, which caused the creaking of the hut to stop.

“Oh, Adele-sama. Would you like to join me in working out to prepare for our eventual comeback? It is also a good way of ridding your mind of unwanted thoughts.”

Adele took a deep breath with all eyes on her, and…

“You triiiiiiiicked me!!”

Isn’t trickiness more of a fox thing than an ape thing?

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