Horizon:GT2 Chapter1

Chapter 1: Last Year and Tuning

Only one year

But an entire year

It is too soon to look back

But also too late

Point Allocation (I Was Tricked…)

○

Silver Wolf: “So we were thinking of compiling some records on an older incident while we work.”

Asama: “I’ll handle the recording and proofreading. The rules are simple: any section starting with a ‘○’ is us joking around and examining what was said. It’s us exchanging opinions. Any section starting with a ‘●’ is a record of the past. One of us will be digging up our memories of the time and telling the story.”

Scarred: “Lady Masazumi said earlier that this incident is difficult to discuss for her, so should someone else start?”

Silver Wolf: “Tomo handled Masazumi’s arrival. And I think it would be best if we make this a record of the multiple incidents that happened at the time Masazumi arrived rather than of her incident alone.”

Asama: “Hm. I can get the ball rolling then. Please join in after me, everyone.”

●

It was shortly before the spring of 1647.

○

Unturning: “That’s a surprisingly ordinary start for a story.”

Flat Vassal: “Date Vice Chancellor! Don’t make fun of her yet! We need to get more material out of her first!”

Bell: “D-drive…hunting?”

Asama: “You don’t have to make fun of me, you know? You could just watch.”

Art-Ga: “Asama recorded herself while asking everyone to watch.”

Asama: “Hey, you! Stop drawing up storyboards!”

Silver Wolf: “Can we please get started?”

●

The spring of 1647 was approaching.

That was a busy season within the Musashi, which was docked at Mikawa.

The school year ended in the spring, meaning graduation, the arrival of new students, and advancement to the next year. The new fiscal year also began then, so a lot of new projects would be starting.

As the Asama Shrine’s second representative, Asama couldn’t just finish her 1st year classes in high school. She also had to manage the Aoi siblings’ divine protections and update the general divine protections for the entire ship and its residents.

A lot of that work had been automated over the years, but she still had to check over it all to be sure. Musashi was a large city of nearly 100 thousand. The registration lists changed due to new arrivals from Mikawa and due to deaths and births and the work of updating all that tended to pile up before spring.

This time of year was just as busy as the end of the calendar year. Fortunately, Musashi’s leaders, the Student Council, and the academy’s committees were working too, so she could pass some of the work off to them. And if anything was too much for her, she could return it to her father and he could distribute it to others.

“That provides public works projects, so it can actually be a positive thing.”

She had been managing Musashi’s divine protections and ether conduits since middle school, but her authority had been growing ever since reaching high school. She was aware her father was putting a lot on her plate, but at the same time…

…It’s fun holding the Musashi’s actions in my hands like this.

She could see how the various events, festivals, and commerce played out, as well as the progress of public works projects.

She checked over her tasks while purifying herself for the day’s work.

“Officially, I need to examine and manage the new arrivals from Mikawa who are requesting residency. Privately, I have to prepare for and manage the end-of-school-year festival.”

“Tomo, aren’t you being a little too expository here?”

“Mito, I don’t need a halfway hallucination critiquing me. Especially when the Musashi has just arrived at Mikawa and Tama’s immigration bureau has requested I handle some immigration work as a shrine maiden. I am currently purifying myself in preparation for that.”

“Tomo! Tomo! You’re exposition dumping again!”

Asama thought she saw a black arm give a thumb’s up out of the corner of her eye, but that had to be hallucination. Probably. But…

“Mito, how are things there? Is there any part of today’s work you’re unsure about?”

●

Mitotsudaira was preparing for work while bathing in the purifying water of the Asama Shrine’s spring with Asama. That said, most of the work was done via sign frame.

Since her body naturally repelled the purifying water, she made sure to fully submerge herself a few times.

“I think I have a handle on it. I am working as an aide to the Asama Shrine Representative to inspect the people who wish to move to the Musashi and to guard you. I believe that covers it.”

But she did have one question.

“If one of the people asking for residency breaks the rules, will it be your job to shove something up their butt or strike their crotch with lightning?”

“Um, I’m not sure what you think Shinto does, but we don’t do that.”

“Eh? You don’t?”

“Of course not.” Asama smiled bitterly from the edge of the spring. “If we caught them here, it would only be an ‘attempted’ crime, so they would only receive something on the level of large black peppercorns up the urethra.”

○

Asama: “No, I didn’t say that! I didn’t say anything about the urethra!”

Art-Ga: “Then Asama said, ‘The urethra!? I didn’t say anything about in the urethra!’ ”

Asama: “Hey, stop that! No unauthorized doujinshis based on our inspection of the past!”

Unturning: “So she only has to get it authorized?”

Vice President: “Besides, peppercorn isn’t even a Shinto thing.”

Asama: “Actually, the Far East has received pepper from the continent ever since the time of the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, so it’s a traditional part of Shinto.”

Flat Vassal: “Asama-san! Asama-san! That’s an indirect confession!”

●

“So the peppercorn is real…”

Shinto is terrifying, thought Mitotsudaira with a nod.

But the point was she didn’t have to do anything herself if a situation like that arose.

With that out of mind, she found herself curious about all the sign frames Asama had open. “Several” didn’t seem to cover it. She had 20 or even 30 open.

“Can you handle all this? It looks like you’re doing some tuning in addition to our main task here.”

The shrine maiden opened another screen as if she had just realized something. It was a simple map of Mikawa with some colors added. It also showed several three-color bar graphs that she could see the spring through.

“What is that?”

“The mysterious phenomenon appearance rate in Mikawa and the threat level they present. When inspecting these people, we might have to have them quarantine in an immigration bureau room while we purify them. In the past, they had to wait after checking in at the immigration bureau while we did an investigation, but now…”

Asama hit “back” on the sign frame, which brought up a map of the entire Far East.

“That shows the threat levels from the world nations, doesn’t it?” asked Mitotsudaira.

“Yes. Instead of working off Mikawa’s alone, we can compare the appearance rates and threat levels with other nations and regions. IZUMO set up this automated process we can use. But, to make a long story short, IZUMO took action because they wanted a comparative database after noticing the appearance rates weren’t dropping anywhere with the Apocalypse approaching.”

So instead of a simple immigration bureau program, this was a largescale data management system.

“Come to think of it, you have shown us bar graphs for the mysterious phenomenon appearance rates around the Musashi or in Mikawa before.”

“Yes, that’s part of the core system behind this. IZUMO used to gather each shrine’s data separately, compile it, and then send it out, but the processing power of the individual shrines has increased. Now everyone adds their real-time data to a single database covering the entire Far East. So while the end result doesn’t look much different, it’s a lot more up-to-date nowadays.”

After explaining all that, Asama lowered herself back into the water and cleared her throat.

“Um, to sum up, the control system and defenses have been modernized.”

“Modernized,” repeated Mitotsudaira under her breath before asking something. “Is peppercorn up the urethra considered modern?”

“The old Shinto punishments would use bamboo grass and narrow bamboo shoots, so you could say that it has been modernized a lot.”

“Shinto sure is harsh.”

Asama could only sigh in agreement. And…

“Anyway, these settings are the focus of the work today, so I want you to handle anything I’m too busy for and to deal with any problems that might arise.”

“Judge.” Mitotsudaira could only nod. She had prepared for this in her own way. “Last night, I acquired the immigrant inspection documents as Musashi’s 1st Knight and requested to be placed in charge here as an extra member of the Chancellor’s Officers.”

In other words, she was officially working as Asama’s assistant here, but she was really here for her “eyes” as a knight.

…Because Tres España is currently in Mikawa.

When the Musashi traveled through the sky, a few Tres Españan ships and gods of war would accompany them as an “escort”. The Testament Union had come up with that rule, but Asama had come to Mitotsudaira about it yesterday.

Asama had been tuning and inspecting Asakusa’s cargo loading area as part of the spring festival at the time.

“Some Tres Españan ships have been traveling to and from Mikawa’s shared landport.”

“Is that a problem?” Mitotsudaira had asked.

“An inquisition ship has arrived as an escort ship. This is only a portion of its history recreation of traveling around the world, but…”

The inquisitors who owned inquisition ships were special among Tres España’s Catholics. If anyone defied the Catholics, the inquisitors would label them a heretic and force them to confess. It was said they were even allowed to use torture.

…Musashi can’t afford any weird mistakes with one of them around.

“Okay, Mito, we need to leave. It’s time.”

Mitotsudaira nodded and they both stood up with the water spilling off of them. They had a job to do.

○

Asama: “There, I think that explained the overall situation pretty well. Gin-san, you can go next.”

Tachibana Wife: “Huh? Um, why me?”

Gold Mar: “Oh, Gin-chan’s got her guard up.”

Horizey: “You have nothing to fear, Gin-sama. You can let your guard down. Have some of my dehydrated water. If you relax and snort it deep into your nose, you will feel better and hydrated.”

Silver Wolf: “No, she will not. Anyway, Gin, we want to know about Tres España – or Tres Portugal really – at the time. What were you doing last year at that time?”

●

Gin stood in the morning sun. She was aboard a ship in the sky.

The ship soared above the ocean east of the New World. In Far Eastern terms, it should have been a frigid region, but…

“Gin, the New World is surprisingly warm, isn’t it!? Now I see why everyone wanted to work on the ocean here.”

“Testament. Seeing all the largescale harmonic regions here must mean the collapse was more severe here at the very edge of the Harmonic World.”

She and he were both wearing their summer uniforms out on the deck.

The high-speed ship they were riding was small for a Tres Españan aerial ship, but it was a cutting-edge version designed for use in the Grande y Felicísima Armada. It didn’t have much weaponry, but…

“Master Muneshige, this ship is designed to carry emergency transports and communications between ships and to tow any grounded ships. Since we were given it in the New World and asked to guard the eastern coast, I can only assume…”

“Testament. I doubt the Far East’s forces will arrive here, but we still need to be on our guard.”

“Testament,” agreed Gin. “What a pain. I know it is part of the history recreation, but I wish we didn’t have to blow up a ship in Tres Portugal territory.”

●

Gin and Muneshige had been ordered to work in the New World to build up their careers, so an incident related to Tres España and Tres Portugal sounded somehow nostalgic to her.

…Even though we have only been here for three weeks.

Their work didn’t really begin until April, so they had arrived here during mid-May to make all the necessary adjustments in advance. But that was when it had happened.

The Far Eastern forces from northern Kyushu had sunk a Tres Portugal ship.

That had of course been a history recreation. The problem was that the attack was made by the Far East who were under provisional rule, the target was a Tres Portugal ship, and it had been a surprise attack.

“The Nossa Senhora da Graça Incident.”

The incident was named after the sunk ship and the circumstances surrounding it were fairly complex.

…For the history recreation, it happens in 1610.

In the Far East, that was after the Battle of Sekigahara and during Matsudaira’s rule. While they were trading with the other nations, there was a conflict in Macau, which was used as a relay point for those other nations.

A trade ship sent out by Arima Harunobu, lord of Shimabara, Kyushu, caused some trouble when a local deal went bad and was suppressed by Macau. The governor-general of Macau at the time was André Pessoa. He led the suppression, which resulted in the death of many members of Arima’s ship’s crew.

The recreation for all of that had already been done. After all, the provisional rule was in place. Tres Portugal was in charge of Macau, so they reached a financial resolution with the Far East. For the deaths, the crew had converted to Catholicism, which was interpreted as them “dying and being born again”. However…

“The Testament says the Far East retaliates. Arima Harunobu receives Matsudaira’s permission and attacks Pessoa’s ship near Nagasaki. After a four-day battle, Pessoa realizes he cannot escape and blows up his ship. This becomes known as the Nossa Senhora da Graça Incident.”

“But that too was supposed to be handled via interpretation, wasn’t it?”

“Testament. Until Arima Harunobu attacked without permission.”

○

Flat Vassal: “Um, excuse me, but you’re not really leaving any room for us to make jokes.”

Tachibana Wife: “Maybe, but that is asking too much of a Tachibana.”

Tonbokiri: “I remember hearing about this after it had already happened.”

Silver Wolf: “Judge, I am not surprised. The history recreation was ultimately managed by Tres Portugal and Tres España such that no other nations could interfere.”

Tachibana Wife: “I saw most of it play out and that is correct. Lady Juana quickly arranged everything for the Nossa Senhora da Graça Incident.”

Horizey: “And you’re about to tell us all about it! Isn’t that right, Gin-sama!?”

Tachibana Wife: “I suppose, but do not expect much from me.”

●

Arima Harunobu’s attack was carried out swiftly.

When the Tres Portugal trade ship arrived at Nagasaki’s harbor, it was attacked and sunk under the cover of darkness. To pull it off so quickly, the perpetrators had apparently been hiding in the trade containers.

The morning after, Arima’s Higo reservation, the Hinoe Domain, announced they were responsible. But based on what Gin had heard, Juana had detected this in advance and prevented word from getting out.

…I heard Chancellor Segundo said he wished he could have heard Arima’s explanation for himself and Lady Juana glared at him for it.

Then again, Juana had apparently gone along with the Chancellor’s opinion. But…

“Arima Harunobu was never found at the time,” said Muneshige with a tilt of the head. “Neither were the other Far Easterners involved.”

“Testament. Do you know why that is? Why would Arima’s group do that and where have they gone?”

“That is the question,” said Muneshige, pointing east.

In the far distance, there was a dark blue section of sky. It was surrounded by some lightning, but not due to a change in pressure above the ocean. That was the Gate connecting the New World’s east side with Kyushu’s west side.

That led to Tres España, Tres Portugal, and Dark Continent Kyushu.

He kept his eyes on it.

“The history recreation of Hashiba’s subjugation of Kyushu is effectively complete and they are only cleaning up now. But our nation at Shimonoseki is too busy preparing for the Armada battle to do anything about Kyushu. Since Arima Harunobu is from Kyushu, I would guess they used the chaos there to make their move and escape. I doubt Arima Harunobu is still in Kyushu.”

“Do you have a particular reason for that conclusion, Master Muneshige?”

Muneshige was the 1st Special Duty Officer, so he kept up on all the latest intelligence.

He turned toward Gin but then looked away again and groaned in thought.

“It’s not easy for us to talk about the Far East, Gin.”

She realized he was right.

…That’s true.

The Far East was generally held under provisional rule by the world nations.

But there were exceptions. She was from the Tachibana clan, but since the Tachibana clan had Muneshige, Peerless in the West, they held a fairly privileged position within Tres España thanks to the advantages they provided in combat and politics. Muneshige was saying he didn’t like to speak ill of the oppressed clans when he had the advantages of such a privileged position. And at the same time…

“If Arima Harunobu’s group has fled this way, we must capture them. And we need to be prepared for how they see us when that happens.”

“Testament. The Arima clan was prepared to sink a Tres Portugal ship. It would be disrespectful to discuss the reasons behind their actions here.”

Should she hope they did come here? Or should she hope they didn’t?

They were both from the Far East, but there was a difference in privilege there.

“Gin, if the Arima group does come here and they call us traitors to the Far East, I will have you stand by my side and ask them if they are jealous.”

“No good husband uses his wife as arm candy.”

Gin sighed and chose to assume the heat in her face was from the weather.

But to make sure he did not get the wrong idea, she adjusted her summer uniform’s cap and drank from the porcelain bottle she carried at her hip.

Her prosthetic arms gathered heat. She had a divine protection to prevent that heat from reaching her body, but she would still sweat.

“Gin, I don’t see any ships yet, so you can go rest in the shade.”

“That would harm the Tachibana reputation.”

…He pampers me too much.

Only about a year before, she had thought their situations were the opposite, so how had things become reversed?

She sighed inwardly, looked down at her feet, and saw their shadows in the midday sun. They were standing side by side and…

…With our shadows shortening, we appear to be the same height.

Since the summer uniform’s cap wasn’t very tall, her shorter height was painfully obvious when they stood next to each other, but that didn’t matter with these shadows. She smiled a little at that fact.

“Master Muneshige, do not get overexcited and lose sight of your footing. If you look down, you can see just how similar we are.”

○

Asama: “Gin-san! Gin-san! Don’t go hide in the corner! That was really sweet!”

Art-Ga: “Some would call that comment the coup de grâce.”

Wise Sister: “Heh heh. That tropical weather has a way of making people open up, doesn’t it? But what was that about the Yossa Kenhoda La La La Incident?”

Tachibana Wife: “Nossa Senhora da Graça Incident. Simply put, a Far Eastern clan rebelled against Tres Portugal for some reason.”

Vice President: “Hey, what are all of you doing over there when you’re supposed to be working!? Oh, that’s data from spring last year! Are you checking the records from the time?”

Asama: “Perfect timing, Masazumi. You’re up next.”

Gold Mar: “Asama-chi, you’re really forceful when you drag people into these things, aren’t you?”

Asama: “Well, it would have gone to her eventually. So, Masazumi, can you help us go over what happened at the time and eventually led to the festival of attacks?”

Vice President: “Hmm. What happens if I don’t?”

Art-Ga: “We come up with our own version. The kind of thing I could draw up without needing to change a thing.”

Vice President: “I-I don’t like either option!”

Flat Vassal: “Anyway, Vice President, what happened back then?”

Vice President: “You mean the incident that began with the sinking of a Portuguese ship? I don’t know everything about it, but you know how a lot happened when I was arriving on the Musashi?”

Flat Vassal: “Okay, I can go next and give a big picture view of what was happening on the Musashi. To set things up for the Vice President to take over!”

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