The Senba Clan of the Murayama Party

[Outside the West Gate, the West Bank of the Kamogawa]

The day after Kannon-ji was built, the Daikan of Iruma came bringing an unfamiliar warrior band, along with what appeared to be its whole household and following. Only, there did not seem to be a single horse, nor any horse-beastfolk, among them.

"Director of Books-dono, the Senba clan over in Iruma says it wishes to split off a portion of its house as a branch family and have them migrate over here."

"Senba, is it. I have heard that Kawagoe Castle in Iruma is the birthplace of the Senba in this Japan."

In the Edo period, the gelding of four horses that bit people, done in the castle town of Kawagoe, is said to have produced the first geldings in Japan.

"Indeed. The seat and birthplace of our Senba clan is south of Kawagoe Castle. The Senba clan is a member of the Murayama Party, and within the party we stand as the furthest to the left (meaning we are situated on the eastern side). Forgive me for not introducing myself sooner; I am the son of Senba Kamon-no-suke, Senba Sama-no-jō Jiro."

So answered a still-young man who appeared to be the chief of the new warrior band.

"The Murayama Party, you say. This Library-City Dungeon, too, will eventually have to establish an assembly, so we'll be needing political parties as well. Incidentally, by contrast, who would be the furthest to the right within the Murayama Party?"

"That would be the Kaneko clan, in all likelihood."

He meant, of course, the ones situated furthest to the west.

"I see. In this world, what other parties are there?"

"The Kodama Party and the Yokoyama Party are the famous ones, I should say. The Kodama Party has its base in a region close to Ke, the Yokoyama Party in a region close to Sumō."

"It's nothing at all like the Seiyūkai or the Minseitō or the Shakai Taishūtō of the otherworld, but even so, once two or three parties are in place, that's when an assembly may be established."

To begin with, modern political parties do not so much as exist.

"From the Daikan-dono I have heard that fiefs may be granted at this dungeon."

So said Senba Sama-no-jō.

"The knight order (the Kishi Band) is slated to receive five thousand koku, so in keeping with that we'll prepare, in due order, paddy land worth four thousand koku. However, this year's seedlings won't be ready in time, so the rice harvest will be from next autumn onward. We'll also prepare pastureland for keeping horses and bring down rain as needed."

"Director of Books-dono, did you say… bring down rain?"

The Daikan was startled.

"We hired a dragon yesterday, you see."

"A dragon, you say, but it isn't such an easy thing to make it rain."

"For a dragon to make it rain, sufficient water is required in the first place. Happily, this dungeon can supply water in plenty, so with a dragon on hand, bringing down rain is possible."

"At this rate I'll find myself wanting to sell off the whole of Iruma to this dungeon. Not that a Daikan has any such authority."

"Now then, as to where your fief should lie. First off, we must improve the highway to Iruma, so we'll build a post town somewhat closer to Iruma than the midpoint between here and there, and run the highway and an aqueduct out to it. Making that the Senba clan's fief would be the thing, I think."

"If it's on the Iruma side, then should the worst come, we can also call on the support of my father and elder brother."

"It does mean retracing your steps back toward Iruma, but tomorrow let us head out to the site and get your houses built straightaway. Before that, though, you'll need to be introduced to Kishi Harima-no-suke of the knight order."

"Kishi-dono, is it. I had heard he'd come over this way."

"He's in Kishi Village, to the southeast of this dungeon. He's calling in his kinfolk just now, so we plan to build a fortified manor over toward the Nakayama Highway. If there are others in the Murayama Party who'd like to come over here as well, we're still recruiting warrior bands. The Kaneko clan you mentioned just now would do nicely, even."

"I'll consult my father."

"By the way, Sama-no-jō-san, does your father keep horses? If you would, we'd be grateful if you'd breed up more horses for us."

"He has some, but only the two saddle horses my father and elder brother ride, and both are stallions, so they cannot be bred."

"That's a pity. We have three horse-beastfolk here, but all three are mares, so they can't be bred up either, which has us in a bind."

"An animal horse and a horse-beastfolk, that would be a kunitsu-tsumi, an earthly sin," said the Daikan.

"Humans breed and multiply beyond all need, yet neither horses nor horse-beastfolk can be multiplied. What a troublesome state of affairs."

The character for the "Sen" of Senba cannot be displayed, so it is written in katakana.