Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon

Water: check

Map: check

Bag: check

That just leaves manners and a pinch of courage

Point Allocation (I’m not sure what you mean)

The Musashi is big, but the Ariake is ridiculously big, thought Azuma.

He, Miriam, and the girl were on the Ariake floor below Asakusa’s starboard side.

The corporate guilds in charge of print distribution had displays set up in this area and the student publications, mostly from M.H.R.R., had shops set up around those.

Several lines had formed and people were constantly coming and going, but some people used the occasional gaps to get some rest or eat a snack bought at one of the temporary food stands.

There were stands and people everywhere you looked. The space had turned into an event city, including some lodging facilities here and there.

…This is incredible.

It was sunny outside the Ariake. Azuma knew they were in a foreign land, but even with the upper armor lifted to improve ventilation, the Ariake itself was large enough to call a city in its own right. In that semi-enclosed space, it didn’t feel like they had traveled anywhere.

There was only one thing that did make this place seem foreign.

“All the visitors.”

“What has you so fidgety, Azuma?”

“I’ve never been anywhere like this before.”

“Really? I have a few times.”

“Really?” parroted the girl, making Miriam smile.

“Admittedly most of the books for sale are of the indecent sort, but there are some that I like. Whenever they hold a smaller-scale market event on the Musashi, I sometimes take a look around and buy anything that interests me.” She picked up the translucent girl with a smile. “But this time, we’re the sponsors.”

“I want a picture book,” said the girl, raising both hands.

“Did you hear that, Azuma? What are you going to do about it?”

“I feel like we could spend all day just going around looking at it all.”

In that sense, they were entirely off duty today.

Azuma walked and Miriam used her balance to move her wheelchair alongside him.

“Do you want me to push you?”

“I can handle it. But I’m not the one deciding where to go.”

“I’m not entirely sure where to go either.”

“Oh?” Miriam smiled a little. “Where are the others? What are they doing?”

“I heard they were selling Neshinbara-kun’s book on Musashino’s bow.”

Azuma opened a sign frame.

“Tenzou-kun says…to stay away because it would hurt our reputation.”

Juana avoided the crowd as she walked.

…Wh-what is with this event!?

Her first mistake had been visiting Kansai to cheer on their baseball team at the nationals. Her second mistake had been letting Segundo hear about the event: “Juana, wouldn’t it be an economic boon if we could cheaply obtain some printing equipment?” 𝗳𝗿𝐞ℯ𝙬𝗲𝗯n𝗼νel.𝒄𝑜𝘮

Her third mistake had not been stopping him before he said more: “The Testament says you follow after your grandmother Juana I by banning books that violate Catholic precepts in order to spread Catholicism in Spain. So if you do that here, couldn’t you get out of banning any books domestically?”

Her fourth and perhaps biggest mistake had been accepting the list Fusae had made of where the Tres Españan clubs had set up shop at the event.

Flores had said her friend’s club was here, so Juana had let her decide where to go. After putting on some light clothing and preparing for a day at the event, it was time. And after taking a look around…

“Wh-what is this filth!? I do not spread my legs when the Chancellor prostrates for me! Banned! Banned!”

She opened a banned book form on her cadena firma and added her signature to make it official. Flores handed that to the club representative.

“This means you’re not allowed to sell this book in Tres España.”

“Eh!? Y-you mean that’s the real Lady Juana!? Yes! ‘Personally banned by Lady Juana’ is the best advertisement I could get!”

“Eh!? Really!? Um, Lady Juana! I’m with the royal warriors, but I drew one of you and the Chancellor playing shogi! Look, it shows you getting upset and eating champon and getting drunk after you lose, so you’re going to ban mine too, right!?”

“Um, my signature goes on a banned book form, not on an autograph sheet.”

“Lady Juana! Don’t be so uptight! Hey, all of you in that row, you’ve got some books for Lady Juana to ban, right? Let’s see those sample copies!”

“Testament,” they all replied.

“We are those who are now restricted to selling in foreign nations!”

“We are those who must now work diligently back home!”

“We are those who must now earn foreign currency with exciting new material!”

“Testament!”

She was sure the Chancellor would laugh when she reported this later on, but for now she just had a headache. She could only sigh and recite a certain phrase.

“If we have money, we’ll use it. We’ll give in to our passions, have a party, and forget everything unpleasant.”

The Chancellor used to say that. It was a long-held attitude in Tres España.

Were the people here living up to that?

“They are.”

They were in the right. The fact that she could see it that way showed just how much she had changed after the Armada battle.

…I really have changed.

Then she began to wonder what it would mean for her to give in to her passions, have a party, and forget everything unpleasant here.

“Flores, are any more of our people selling books here? Banning the filth is my job, so I think it’s time for a banning spree.”

Lady Juana really has changed, thought Flores.

She opened a cadena firma and compared her checklist to a map of the Ariake. She had already memorized what kind of books each block was selling. And…

…Lady Juana is a surprisingly good walker.

She probably had trouble running, but she could walk fast. Her long legs helped of course, but it was mostly how much practice she had walking all around the academy and city to hear the people’s opinions. So…

“I’ll accompany you, Lady Juana, since I don’t want to get left behind myself.”

“Testament. But do be careful, Flores. Just like we are here undercover, some other national representatives might be here in casual clothing. Maybe even Special Duty Officer or higher.”

“Yeah…I thought that was a Mouri automaton we passed by earlier.”

“Well, this is a festival. We aren’t allowed an international meeting, but we can still exchange information with anyone we encounter here. Although I imagine most of the representatives will be meeting with the corporate guilds to hasten their printing-related history recreations, just like the Chancellor wants for us. But,” said Juana. “Keep an eye out. It would be best to know who all is here. There must be some high-level people here…but Gin and Muneshige should be here too.”

Suzu worked to understand what all was happening.

She was at the front of Okutama’s bow. Neshinbara and Naruze’s shops were set up there. They had created a semicircle of long tables and a line had formed for them both.

Both lines were technically there, but Neshinbara’s always seemed shorter.

…Are they wandering over…from Naruze’s side?

As if to bolster that impression, Naruze had to break open a new box of books from the storage area behind the tables.

“Neshinbara.”

She wore a summer Schwarz Hexen costume and tried to tear apart the empty cardboard box until Naito handed her a knife to use instead.

“Hey, have you made any progress on that code? The one we got at the nagashi udon place?”

“What about you? Didn’t you notice something at the Houjou ruins?”

“I more or less know what I saw there. I should be able to show everyone after this event. And you?”

Neshinbara, who was also wearing a Schwarz Hexen costume, shrugged.

“I have an idea, but I still need to prove it. I can do that after hearing everyone’s praise for you.”

“Quit trying to look cool and actually get some work done for once.”

“Judge.” Neshinbara nodded. “I will catch up soon enough. To be honest, most of my line here is coming from yours and you really saved my rear at the Main Blue Thunder.”

“Did you tell Shakespeare?”

“Not having to tell her is what I meant by ‘saving my rear’.”

“I see.” Naruze smiled a little. “You can thank me in pastry form. One of the Main Blue Thunder’s tarts.”

“Yeah, they always sell out in no time when Aoi-kun makes them.”

“Good luck with that,” she said, returning to dismantling the box. Then Asama, who was also wearing a summer Schwarz Hexen costume, checked an inventory management sign frame at the corner.

Asama: “I have to work out the Honnouji Incident’s date, so I will need all of that information.”

Silver Wolf: “You said it would probably be on a lucky day or some other critical point like that, right? Do you have a good guess already?”

Asama: “For some reason, P.A. Oda’s ether usage had one spike during August, but has otherwise remained stable. But I do have a few possibilities in mind, so I wanted to reference what they had discovered.”

Horizey: “I see. …Oh, I already sent my right arm on ahead to you. Think of it as a lunch delivery from the Blue Thunder. I want to keep Toori-sama on his toes.”

Me: “Where is it!? Where the hell is it!?”

Suzu doubted searching for it would help.

But she did reach a conclusion while listening to them all.

…They all know what they’re doing.

Suzu had come to a recent realization: the others had learned to stay true to themselves outside of their usual comfort zones.

Suzu herself had learned to open up more outside of school and the bathhouse, but seeing the others do it still came as a surprise.

This here was a good example. It was really just a place for some of their hobbies, but after getting their actual work complete, they made sure to keep things going here as well.

Suzu’s family worked in the service industry, so she knew how much work it was to keep such a long line moving and how hard it was to offer something that would live up to the customers’ expectations.

Especially when they were not selling food or clothing here. Their product was not a necessity.

Spending money here meant to give up some of the capital you needed to survive.

Suzu started to wonder if her bathhouse was a necessity.

“Hmm.”

She decided it wasn’t worth thinking about. They still had customers, which meant they provided a service worth the walk and the price. That meant the customers cared that much about the service. The rest was a matter of how you decided to label such a service.

“Right.”

She nodded and focused on her work again. She sensed everything around her. And…

“Oh, over there.”

When she pointed, Urquiaga and the others managing the lines raised their signs that indicated where the line was.

Her job was to detect in advance when the line was going to bend and block the flow of foot traffic.

She could track the movement of all these people without assistance from Musashino’s bridge. She could get that assistance if she wanted it, but…

…Th-this is sort of like…training.

She felt like she had grown too reliant on that assistance from Musashino’s bridge of late. She was receiving noise and heat sources at such higher quality than she could herself, so she was worried she had forgotten how to deal with the noise and general atmosphere she had to deal with ordinarily.

And now that she had tried it…

…It’s been…so long since I…felt this!

Before the first term, it had always been like this when she went outside after a break.

Just as she had gotten used to how quiet things were around her, she would feel an overwhelming amount of information pressing in on her.

“Good.”

She would be fine as long as she didn’t forget this feeling. She even noticed some familiar people on occasion. Some were the usual suspects, some were representatives of other nations, and then there was the voice she heard coming from Oume to the left.

“Honey! We’ve been walking around for an hour now, but we already have enough materials to fuel our late-night education for a full year! Our next task is to find some for Nate and send them to her.”

That was concerning and Suzu considered telling Mitotsudaira, but then she wondered if telling her would accomplish anything. Regardless, she also noticed someone closer by. The woman wore black short sleeves, a thin skirt, and a veil over the horns on her forehead.

“Oh. T-Tomoe Gozen…-san?”

Tomoe Gozen met those idiots in person for the first time in a while.

The section occupied by Musashi’s Secretary and 4th Special Duty Officer was obvious even from a distance. Because…

“Why are all your salespeople dressed as Schwarz Hexen? Are you picking a fight with Tsirhc?”

“They’re just costumes. Summer costumes. …Suzu over there made them.”

That was the 4th Special Duty Officer who stood at the divide between two long tables and bowed.

Tomoe Gozen nodded back and looked past the sales tables out front. There she saw Musashi’s 3rd and 5th Special Duty Officers, the Asama Shrine Representative, the charging vassal, and…

“You’re wearing a male costume, Musashi Vice President?”

“This is worn over our normal inner suit, so I’m wearing girl’s stuff below. Anyway, what brings you here, Tomoe Gozen?”

“I’m only browsing. I couldn’t believe Musashi’s Student Council and Chancellor’s Officers were selling doujins here.”

“Yeah, a mistake here could hurt our national reputation. Which is why I’ve been keeping an eye on things since the preparatory stage,” said the Musashi Vice President.

And then…

“Hey! If it isn’t Miss Gozen!”

She turned to find a Schwarz Hexen talking with the Musashi Chancellor’s voice. Who is this girl? she wondered. Until…

“That is an impressive disguise.”

“I’ll take that as high praise coming from you. And here’s a prize for seeing through it.”

“Huh? Is this one of your books?”

“Yeah, it’s looking like we’ll have a lot of dead stock, so I thought we could give some out to important people to help advertise.”

“Hey, who says this is dead stock, Aoi-kun!?” protested their Secretary.

“Calm down,” said the idiot, opening the book so Tomoe Gozen could see.

“Is any of this supposed to make sense? What is this ‘dark force’ and ‘great bloodline’ supposed to mean?”

“Don’t give up yet, Miss Gozen! That’s just the beginning! The best part is here, see!?”

The idiot flipped ahead to a section titled “monsters”.

“Yes! This is where the pop-up encyclopedia begins! Pull on that string there! Yeah, that one! Check it out: Anus Eye just keeps growing and growing!”

“Hey! Someone call the guards! You have my permission!”

“Eh, the ship is pretty busy right now, so can it wait?”

Then the Musashi Vice President raised a hand and asked a question. f𝙧𝒆𝚎𝑤e𝚋𝓷o𝘷𝗲l.c𝐨m

“Are you here to exchange information?”

“I was interested in your plans for after the event.”

“Judge.” The Musashi Vice President nodded. “Once the event ends, we will be traveling to Hexagone Française in secret.”

“Oh?”

Masazumi watched as Tomoe Gozen nodded.

…Doesn’t look like she knew or suspected.

Masazumi had surprised the woman, so she kept talking to avoid any confusion.

“After the event, the Musashi will be on display within the Ariake. The Ariake will return to Kantou on the 26th, but the Musashi itself will remain here for mercenary work with Europe. I’m sure P.A. Oda will throw a fit over that, but by then…”

Masazumi pointed at Mitotsudaira who was organizing inventory in the storage area.

“Do you need something?” asked the wolf before noticing Tomoe Gozen and bowing. “I believe I know what you want to know. We have something we would like to investigate in the latter half of the break, so we plan to visit my mother’s home.”

“Judge. And she’s an Hexagone Française representative, so that means we’ll be meeting their Vice Chancellor as well. If necessary, we can even discuss hiring us as a mercenary force. Those negotiations regarding events after the break give us an excuse to keep the Musashi here even as P.A. Oda protests. Also…”

Masazumi changed the subject to something more immediate.

“We have already started on a plan for intervening in Honnouji.”

“What will you be using?”

“Akechi Mitsuhide,” replied Masazumi. She paused on that name before finally continuing. “The first step is finding a chance to seek an audience with Kyou’s Akechi Mitsuhide.”

Meeting Akechi Mitsuhide was something Masazumi felt they had to pull off no matter what. However…

Art-Ga: “I’m just over here breaking down these boxes, but…can we really do that?”

Horizey: “We will be threatening him, won’t we? I understand completely. Yes.”

Me: “Hold on! We’re using Imperial Boy as a hostage!? A pretty bold move, Seijun!”

Musashi: “I think most anyone would listen to us if we parked the Musashi low above Kyou, but I do not recommend attempting that method with a trade ship. Over.”

…Stop fleshing your jokes out into something halfway plausible!

“You see,” Masazumi said into her sign frame. She hesitated to tell Asama to link her to Tomoe Gozen when that idiot was dressed as a Schwarz Hexen, but she changed her mind since that was just part of the event.

Vice President: “It’s only a last resort and would make us look bad, but we could ask the Swedish Chancellor or Azuma to arrange an audience with Akechi Mitsuhide for us. That means we have more methods at our disposal than usual with him. We should try to live up to our ideals and policies, but it’s still nice to have some insurance letting us intervene in Honnouji no matter what.”

Me: “But didn’t you say using Azuma would lead to war? I remember it because that was when we were touching our dicks to the magic ice in the pool.”

Lady AM: “What in the world were you doing?”

Gold Mar: “Negotiating, technically speaking.”

Vice President: “Don’t make this any more confusing than it already is. …Anyway, war would be a possibility, but we could find a way to stop it and they might make an offer of their own. It’s even possible Kyou would come to us with a deal regarding Azuma.”

Masazumi sighed.

Vice President: “I will take responsibility for whatever happens. And I will make up for it.”

Wise Sister: “Heh heh. Did you think we wouldn’t take your side if you did that, poor girl?”

The Aoi Sister had modified her Scwharz Hexen costume to look like a dancer and she was currently helping manage the line.

Wise Sister: “Anyway, it would be best to act soon. Because then we still have time to negotiate with the other nations if the deal goes bad. But how do you plan to get an audience with him?”

Masazumi had an answer for that one.

Vice President: “We have one major offer we can present to Akechi Mitsuhide. So we can start by approaching him about that.”

“And,” she said, spreading her arms a bit.

Vice President: “The Ariake will eventually leave the Musashi here. P.A. Oda will need to negotiate with us and work out our intentions using a Kyou Representative near the provisional border.”

Horizey: “Masazumi-sama, it seems to me that contains an implicit threat.”

Musashino: “ ‘Musashi’-sama, if we do drop some of the ships to crush the city below, I recommend we begin with Okutama. I already took damage to the surface recently. Over.”

Okutama: “I-I took a fair bit of damage the other day too! Trees and nature can’t be repaired right away, you know!? Over.”

Mitotsudaira averted her gaze while working at inventory management. We couldn’t have completed our makeup exam without that, so don’t worry about it.

“Anyway,” said Masazumi looking back toward Tomoe Gozen.

The woman responded with a snort of laughter.

“Going right toward the intervention you want, huh? You’ve been awfully confident in yourself, Musashi Vice President, including how you brought the Ariake here. Are you saying you can pull this off without using the Swedish Chancellor, the crown prince, or your last resort?”

“Did the Swedish Chancellor tell you about this?”

“She sounded delighted as she passed on the news. That’s why I sped up my visits to the Protestant forces so I could be here today. Do you know what I mean?” she asked, the corners of her lips rising a little. “You must know. The Asama Shrine Representative inspects the Ariake’s visitor records.”

“Judge. We are well aware that Akechi Mitsuhide is already here.”

“That simplifies things. This is far from perfect…but the Protestants will do you a favor here.”

Tomoe Gozen shifted one shoulder’s width to the right.

Someone stood behind her. The slender person with perfect posture was…

“An old-style automaton?”

Tomoe Gozen was satisfied with the Musashi Vice President’s reaction.

There was surprise on the girl’s face.

…I like that look.

That was the surprise of someone who hadn’t expected this but knew what she was seeing.

You could say this simply caught her off guard. The Musashi Vice President’s eyebrows moved in a way that a warrior would think of as leaving her “wide open”.

“So you’ve met an automaton like her before, have you?” asked Tomoe Gozen.

Then she stepped forward.

She wore a black Far Eastern maid uniform and she bowed toward the Musashi Vice President.

“I represent the automaton division left in charge of the Imperial Palace in Kyou. To accommodate the current time period, we have been granted the inherited names of the entire Konoe and Reizei families. Currently, you can think of us as primarily the Reizei.” She remained bowed as she spoke. “We protect the Imperial Palace as Akechi Mitsuhide-sama’s aides, but we are also willing to engage in combat on his orders.”

Masazumi realized she had experienced something like this before.

“Is Mori Ranmaru one of you?”

The Reizei automaton lowered her bowed head further.

“We are the automatons who date back to the Age of Dawn. She is #32. I am #18.”

This was the real purpose behind Ranmaru’s visit.

She had predicted the Reizeis’ movements and made a demand.

“She told us not to attack Kyou.”

The reason for that now stood before Masazumi.

“Mori Ranmaru asked us to avoid doing anything that would harm all of you.”

“My younger sister is a cowardly automaton.” Reizei raised her head and gave Masazumi a look that could even be described as sharp. “State your purpose, representative of the sky nomads. We have our reasons for taking Akechi-sama’s side,” she said. “So we are willing to drag Kyou and the Imperial Palace into battle if need be. What is it you wish to negotiate with Akechi-sama? Please answer me.”

Miriam saw someone she recognized.

Azuma had taken the girl to an area selling picture books, so she had moved out of the way of the lines where she could engage in some people watching while she waited.

She always remained below the Musashi’s surface. She did not know many people and this man was a book-lover who frequented places like this, so she recognized him right away.

“Oh?”

She raised her hand to catch the tall, lanky man’s attention.

“Huh?”

He looked both ways and then approached her.

“Miriam!” He lifted the turban he had wrapped low as if to hide his eyes and head. “Miriam. Miriam? I don’t believe it. What are you doing here?”

“Waiting for someone. They should be back soon. …It’s true. All of it.”

“It is?”

“Judge. I don’t know how it’s going to turn out, but I do think we will be following after you.”

“I see.” He nodded and adjusted the pile of books he was carrying on his back.

“What, still collecting research materials?” asked Miriam when she noticed.

“Well, these are for the Chancellor and the others. They tend to get books like this made out of them.” Only then did he finally take a deep breath. “I’m glad to see you’re doing well. I want to let everyone know.”

“I’m glad I got to see you too.”

“What will you be doing now?”

“I said I’m waiting for someone, didn’t I?”

“I see.” He took another deep breath and adjusted his turban. “I’ll be going.”

“And I will be waiting.”

“Testament. I’ll be going…and praying that you can wait long enough.”

“Don’t make it sound like we’ll never see each other again. You were too much of a coward to contact me in secret, so just go about your business.”

“Fair enough,” he said. “The Chancellor told me the same thing.” He straightened up. “Bye then.”

He did not look back. He simply walked quickly away until his tall form vanished into the crowd.

Miriam watched him go before finally letting out a deep breath and sinking down into her wheelchair. And then…

“Mama!”

The girl and Azuma walked up next to her.

Miriam fixed her drooping expression.

“Oh, what’s this?”

By the time the words left her, she had an honest smile on her lips.

The girl was not one for tact, so she immediately held out a picture book with a ghost cat and a boy fighting on the cover.

“Read it to me!”

“Oh? Are you sure that’s all you want? Shouldn’t we look around for more?”

“I can get more?”

Miriam turned toward Azuma.

“Can she, papa?”

She found Azuma sweating badly. The Ariake had a tall ceiling and the passageways were well ventilated, but the sales areas were still stuffy. Miriam passed him the bamboo bottle stored on the side of her wheelchair.

“Don’t get so overexcited you faint on us,” she told him.

“You know how sometimes you just get really sweaty all of a sudden?”

He smiled bitterly in a way that suggested he had learned his lesson. He also checked the clock on his sign frame.

“It’s still morning, so I guess we can look around some more. …We also have to figure out what to do about lunch. I think it would be best to grab something before the lunch rush.”

“Sometimes your cluelessness can come in handy.” Miriam looked him in the eye again. “Guess what just happened.”

“What?”

“I ran into an old friend.”

“Eh?”

“Why do you look so shocked I have friends?”

“N-no, it isn’t that. Really, it isn’t.” Azuma shook his head. “Are they from Musashi?”

“No. To be honest, it’s a bit of a mystery where they’re from.” She thought back on a time probably only she still remembered. “He was lost, just like old times. So I showed him the way, but maybe I was being too condescending.”

“Miriam, you need to stop intimidating people without meaning to.”

She knew she did that, but she didn’t think it was something she could change. However…

“Have you seen anyone here, Azuma? I bet a lot of people are running into people they haven’t seen in a long time.”

“Actually, yes. Well, maybe. …I saw someone who looked a lot like a person who used to look after me when I was in Kyou. He was headed the other way, though.”

“Who was it?”

“Hmm.” He tilted his head. “He was dressed completely differently, so maybe it was only someone who looks similar or some kind of costume, but he reminded me of, um…”

Azuma spoke a certain name.

“Akechi Mitsuhide-sama. But I can’t imagine him carrying around his own books, so I doubt it was him.”

“Our purpose, huh?”

Masazumi faced Reizei next to the doujinshi sales table, where she could see the crowd walking by.

The sign frame in her hand showed Crossunite’s 1st Special Duty Unit hurrying to track down Akechi Mitsuhide. The Ariake’s visitor records, which required Asama’s shrine visitor authorization, said the person they wanted to see was currently on the Ariake. That meant he was here. Even if they couldn’t meet him today, he had sent his aide Reizei to see them, suggesting he was interested in Musashi.

If it came to it, Masazumi felt they should forcibly meet with him, so…

“Would it be possible for us to meet with Lord Akechi now?”

“Please wait a moment.” Reizei opened a small sign frame, held it to her ear, and nodded a few times. “I am sorry, but Akechi-sama is currently in line for a book that is likely to sell out shortly after he purchases his copy, so he is unable to move for around half an hour.”

Vice President: “Crossunite, do you know which line that is? If so, we could probably go and negotiate with him there.”

10ZO: “Th-that is not enough information to narrow it down much at all!”

Gold Mar: “Yeah, most people are running low on inventory at this point.”

Art-Ga: “And if you start negotiating in the middle of lines this bad, you’d better be ready for the staff to throw you out.”

Vice President: “Are our crucial negotiations going to get thrown out by event staff now/”

Well, this wasn’t really the place for negotiations.

Masazumi took a breath and looked to Reizei again. Reizei raised her right hand.

“Akechi-sama is very busy, but I have been authorized to speak with you with all of his authority.”

“All of his authority? Are you sure about that?”

“Testament. As far as basic negotiations go, you can safely view it that way. …Or are you saying you have some business that exceeds my authority and requires negotiating directly with him?”

“Judge. That’s the kind of business I have in mind.”

“And what is this business?”

Masazumi first glanced over at Tomoe Gozen.

The Protestant Representative had her arms crossed and was still smirking with the corners of her mouth.

The look practically screamed “tell her already”.

“Judge.”

Masazumi nodded.

This had to be a test by Tomoe Gozen. She wanted them to show this automaton what they had already done a few times already.

She wanted them to throw this in the face of someone who saw themselves as a solid, unchanging foundation.

“Very well then.” Masazumi began with some preliminary information. “We believe that Lord Akechi is preparing for a major history recreation event. So…”

The business she was throwing in this automaton’s face was what Masazumi considered their best bet for intervening in the Honnouji Incident.

“Would it be possible for him to grant Musashi the rights to his inherited name of Akechi Mitsuhide?”