Horizon:Volume 4A Prologue

Prologue: Those Who Touch the Meander with Their Feet

Where is

The end of complications

Point Allocation (Liberalism)

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The light streamed down from high in the sky.

It was the afternoon sun of early summer.

More than just being merely warm, the piercingly hot radiance cast stark shadows over the land.

That wave of newborn shadows covered the grassland that encircled the forest for three kilometers in every direction.

Presently, the light breeze washed through the fields of cut grass, sending waves undulating through them.

However, there was a break in the waves; midway across the field, stretching north to south, was a little river.

South of the river with its shadow coloured waters, on the downstream of the north bank, sat two shadows. Cooling off with their legs below their knees plunged beneath the water; those two did not resemble humans however.

On one hand, was a sheet with girl characters from which legs protruded. On the other, was a dakimakura.

The dakimakura lightly kicked his bare legs up from the water. It was a nimble movement. Like long-time acquaintances, the dakimakura turned his air hole towards the sheet.

“Uwaaa, it’s still afternoon but the water’s so cold! It sure takes you back to your childhood days Koni-tan!”

“Ehh, having just us sneaking out from the reserve Provisional Council office is too much of a waste, Nobu-tan!”

They both sat together, swaying their bodies left and right while singing the opening to an anime.

“♪Don‘t look down on yourself, look up and take the top. Be calm and stand fast, your dreams will come true if you just believe. The cuckoo reaches the end of its limits. A HA . RA . KI . RI of purity!”

The singing dakimakura paused. And then, abruptly looked behind him to the north.

There, beyond grass tall enough to conceal a person were several white and black figures. They were a group of large transport ships bearing the coat of arms of Musashi.

Looking at them as they sat in the sunlight, the dakimakura muttered.

“Due to Musashi being refitted at dawn in her special floating dock in Kantou IZUMO, all inhabitants and engineers not related to the repair works are to take their business outside.”

●

The dakimakura read the words aloud

“—We, the office of the Provisional Council, at our general assembly together with the Musashino battle group have decided to take control of the reserve Provisional Council office of No.1 port, however….”

In between his words, the wind blew.

Several of the battle group’s vessels anchored at the north of the harbor ascended by tens of meters.

However, they all stopped after rising by a certain amount of height.

Before the eyes of the dakimakura and the sheet, cargo was carried out from the edges of the deck and the side hatches.

On the Futonawa road linking the ships, the difference in altitude was used to facilitate the stream of cargo being transported.

“….so the afternoon transport commences? Originally, this harbor of Mito which is divided according to nation, would oversee the separation and assigning of Musashi’s eight component vessels to the transport fleet. Thanks to that, right now in every city in Musashi, after every lane has been rearranged by the transport fleet, the inland port which is separated from the forest is now also an arrival port.”

Again the dakimakura looked to the north at the bulk of the Musashi.

North where the distant green mountains lay, to a gap approximately 20km away.

“The entrance to Europe, Shirakawa….come dawn, the Musashi will be refitted there.”

“It’s because the Date who control Northeastern Europe, under the pretext of ‘being too busy at the moment,’ would not allow anyone north of there. The elites who control the West European region of Siberia, the Uesugi of Svet Rus are also withholding announcement of their decision. Meanwhile we can only pass the time.”