Horizon:Volume 1 Chapter 08

Chapter 08: Doubters in the Depths of a Ravine

To go and to return is the path there and back.

If so.

To descend and to ascend is a valley's path and what.

Point Allocation (Life)

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On the mountainside, bathing in the light of noon, a wooden structure exists.

It was a security house built on the surface of the mountain where "Kagami Field" was written with trees. It was beside the eastern mountain corridor which connects Musashi's continental port with the streets below, a house built in a position where it looked down upon the mountain checkpoint.

The house carried two figures above its six-tatami structure.

Holding rifles and sitting in chairs were two people in crimson uniforms wearing Tres Espana's emblem.

While one person was watching the mountain and one person watching the base of it, they exchanged words. Even now, the one in the senior uniform looking at the mountain-

"--As expected, today there was a lot of transport squads. Has the confusion of the checkpoint over here somehow ended?"

At that voice, the boy watching Mikawa, the foot of the mountain, nodded. He looked at the checkpoint at the base with his rifle's scope-

"...Right now, the bottom is pretty packed. Recently, it's been said that it'd be quicker to detour over to the other side, the western corridor which connects to the common use continental port where our squad is, but on the other side there's things like wooden bridges, and the roads are pretty narrow. Gods of War and large wagons can't travel it, so they had to send out transport ships all the way to the western hall."

"That was pretty detailed. Were you an immigrant from Mikawa?"

Tes., the boy responded.

"I'm a naturalized citizen of Tres Espana. Ten years ago, thanks to Lord Motonobu's 'clearing out' and the construction of New Nagoya Castle, now I'm not Shinto, but a Catholic, and I'm making an angel's community site on the net."

The watcher who was a boy gestured towards the village of Mikawa with his rifle.

In response, the senior turned back with his neck, and at the end of his sight was the center segment of Nagoya City.

Facing the sea from the base of the mountain, a piece of flat ground that was a street of the village existed. And, as if covering a large portion of the center of the flat ground, a brown surface was there. The true identity of the flat surface which took up nearly the entire territory of Nagoya City was-

"Because of the simple shape, it doesn't make you feel its size, but it's a wooden structure ten kilometers from east to west, and eleven kilometers north to south. It's a large workshop that used one Unified Reactor and four Earth Pulse Reactors, which have been forbidden in Tsirchian Testament Territories since the Harmonic Unification War, "New Nagoya Castle". The Nagoya which had existed since ever before was modified ten years ago under the request of P.A. ODA--It is a workshop which was born under the "clearing out" political policy."

"'Clearing out', huh..."

The senior, he who had the senpai character, glanced at the side of his kouhai's face-

"It's a crazy story...The needed inheritance of names of important people in terms of history for the sake of the Testament's History Recreation. To avoid that chaos, other than a few important officials, they made all the automatons inherit names, huh. Your family too?"

"We were at the lowest position, so there wasn't really any trouble. Afterward, because of things like reduction of staff expenses and the protection of classified information, over a period of three years, they had three thousand automatons take charge of the business and administration of the town, but that became more of a true 'clearing out', and there was a lot of trouble."

'Also', the kouhai shrugged his shoulders. As if avoiding the topic, he peered at New Nagoya Castle through his scope-

"This 'clearing out' was not just about the automatons. Thanks to the fact that four of the Earth Pulse Reactors of New Nagoya Castle that extract Fluid from the Earth Pulse were made operational, it became such that at the core section of the city strange phenomena happened often. Things like the night wanders of monsters, or the warping of roads, and light mysterious disappearances."

'Those kinds of things also happened,' the kouhai smiled bitterly.

"But, with this and that, people started leaving, a 'clearing out'. It's a messed up castle, you know. Since its design, since its construction, the only ones who've been managing everything and know everything is the lord of the Matsudaira family, 'Yes-man' Lord Motonobu and the few important officials who are his subjects. The work of the construction was carried out by the 1200 extra automaton which were ordered from Sagami, and even now they are carrying out the operation of the interior."

A breath.

"The interior was segmented into several floors, and is protected by barriers; just that would be large scale, but the people who know what is carried out inside are just Lord Motonobu and a few others. The automatons are subjected to memory controls, if they try to break the protection of confidentiality, they will automatically erase their memory."

"Even so, before, a special squadron from Hexagone Francaise sneaked inside and searched out information, didn' they?"

At his senpai's words, the junior watcher gave a small laugh.

"After a week, wasn't every one of them foundat Nihonbashi with paper-bags dropped in their hands, having become otaku? Besides that all of them had no memory for some reason, there was the super strange phenomenon where they were stripped naked and young girl characters were tattooed with two-colour tattoos on their ass and back...Ever after, for fear of the shame, no country inserted any squadrons."

A breath.

"The Tsirch Testament, who regarded this as dangerous, spread rumours of "The danger of runaway explosions of the Earth Pulse Reactor' didn't they? In truth, they remade the recorded opera 'Sodom and Gomorrah have disappeared!' about a time where that had happened and everything in a ten kilometer radius was annihilated, into a lamentative tragedy through the whole of Europe. By now, other than the automatons and Lord Motonobu, it seems that nobody lives in the surroundings. The day before, I tried to descend to the outskirts, but--"

'Look', the kouhai tapped the senpai's shoulder. Gesturing at the village with that finger-

"...Even though it's noon, the smoke of cooking is completely nonexistent, right? In the vicinity of the center, it seems that even the city isn't moving. Even in the villages, strange words of blood were on the walls...I returned immediately, you know."

"I see...Sure is a troublesome country, Mikawa that is."

The instant the senpai figure spoke till that point.

'Oh', along with that voice, the kouhai figure pointed towards the mountain road.

"Ah, look, look down below, the street road descending to the checkpoint; what's amazing is that two people came--The Musashi School President, Sakai Tadatsugu and the Vice-President Honda Masazumi. Nimble even in walking, just like the rumours, right? After the School President of Musashi was demoted, and cut away from Mikawa, he became a peevish, strange person."

Just like his words, on the path leading down to the checkpoint, two figures existed. With the scope of his rifle, the senpai figure confirmed the two, passing by or cutting ahead of messengers, dray vehicles, and cargo vehicles for transport, pressing past the people who had stopped their feet, their baggage being heavy.

"...One of the Matsudaira Four Kings of Heaven, spared from the stripping of inherited names by the automatons, Sakai Tadatsugu, huh? The position of Musashi School President is certainly a demotion. And, the other person, Masazumi is...dressed like a man, but the way of walking, a woman?"

"Tes., she may be dressed like a man, but actually...she should be a woman."

"Should?"

At that question, the kouhai looked up at the sky once. 'Um', choosing his words-

"When I was in Mikawa, 'the two Hondas' were there. One was a member of the Matsudaira Four Kings of Heaven, the strongest of the Eastern Countries, user of the Divine Armament Tonbokiri, Honda Tadakatsu. The other was the brain of Matsudaira, the lineage of Honda Motonobu. However, when she was a she, an automaton stole the lineage of Masanobu because of the 'clearing out'."

"If that's so, that girl can no longer inherit a name, can she."

"Tes...However, before that, she had an operation for the sake of the inheritance of the name. To ascertain her right to inherit the name of Masazumi, a sex change operation, into a boy--However, her breasts having been removed, following the stages, when they tried to treat her lower parts, the 'clearing out.' Without a chest, female clothing don't fit with her, so she dresses like a boy.

When I was still in Mikawa, she was avoided or bullied, you know. When she was a year above me, I had heard that being unable to inherit a name, she was abandoned by her dad, but..."

While looking at the two travelling the mountain path, the kouhai figure slowly said this.

"That she's the Vice-President, she's still doing her best, isn't she...I wonder if I should make a fan site..."

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Translator's notes and references

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