Three Octopus Monks from the Far West

"This is Senba Sama-no-jō. Lord Director of Books, three octopus monks have arrived at Biwabashi. I expect they will reach you by the evening of the day after tomorrow."

The report came in from the Biwabashi checkpoint to the dungeon proper.

"I see. So, octopus monks, is it?"

"Octopus-beastfolk who have taken the tonsure."

"Octopus? You mean the kind with eight legs?"

"Yes, that octopus."

Of course, since octopuses are carnivorous, the sects they can enter are rather limited.

[Tier-Group 4 Reception Room]

The three octopus monks arrived.

"This humble monk is Asagiri Nyūdō; these are Ōkura Nyūdō and Hitomaru Nyūdō. We have come here from the western lands."

Octopuses in kesa robes. Being cephalopods, they appeared to have no torso to speak of. Naturally they hadn't been boiled, so they weren't red, but a whitish color suited to the desert; once indoors, though, they shifted to a darkish hue.

"And how did you come to learn of this place?"

"You have a man here by the name of Kishi Harima-no-suke, do you not?"

"Yes, the Knight Commander."

"It was when that Kishi clan sent for its kinfolk that word reached us as well. We heard they meant to build upward of ten villages within a few ri all around, though it seems that news is now rather out of date."

"That was quite some time ago. Even so, considering the distance, it has spread with remarkable speed. As the saying goes, 'ill news travels a thousand ri.'"

"Ha. In times like these, there is no villain to rival the Lord Director of Books. The 'Million-Chōbu Reclamation Plan,' was it? Once that tale spreads, no doubt many from the west will set out for this land as well."

Villain, of course, in the old sense. In the sense, too, of one liable to throw the existing order into utter disarray.

"There are many poor folk in the west as well, so it should be a help to them."

So said Hitomaru Nyūdō.

"How many people might there be in the western countries?"

"This humble monk does not know the details, but likely several million."

Ōkura Nyūdō answered.

"To the east, they say, the land is uninhabited desert for a thousand ri, but people will surely come from the south and north as well. If so, even a million chōbu may soon prove insufficient."

"A dungeon cannot fold villages where people live into its sphere of influence. That was it, yes? So you cannot extend your fields without limit."

"Yes. That is the constraint we are under."

"Then would it not be simplest to wipe them out once?"

This Asagiri Nyūdō pronounced flatly.

"Eh?"

"Do not take it ill. This one has had a bad habit of leaping to extremes since long ago."

Ōkura Nyūdō put in.

"I do not say to take life, nor could one of the tonsure say such a thing. Move the people of Iruma here, and once the place stands empty, take it in. Something of that sort."

"It seems a dungeon cannot swallow a place the moment its people are gone, either."

"Hm. Is that so. No doubt some clever solution will come to you in time."

"That reminds me. This dungeon produces books, does it not?"

Hitomaru Nyūdō asked Marie.

"Books of another world, that is."

"That is no matter. For the sake of deepening our knowledge, I should very much like to read them."

"That we welcome wholeheartedly. We have a good relationship with Musashi, however, so wiping it out is rather out of the question."