Recruiting the Kuki Navy

[Core Room]

"Master, a report from Farigole. Kisai Yamate-dono of Kisai Village has, by his account, recruited a band of Kuki (九鬼) pirates."

Kisai Village is a village built some 40 km (10 ri) to the northeast of the Library-City Dungeon.

"Ho. Kuki this time, is it. Now there's a famous name. Next it'll be the Murakami Navy, I'd wager."

"It may not be Nobunaga, but seeing as there's an Oda clan about, it would hardly be strange for there to be a Murakami Navy as well."

It was the Oda (小田) clan, however.

"First we'll have to ask whether they can actually work a ship at all. Even if they turn out to have nothing to do with ships, we need plenty of warrior bands for keeping the peace, so we can just hand them some suitable post-town and be done with it."

"In that case, the Unakami clan will be arriving here before long as well, so I'll interview them both at the same time."

[Tier-Group 4, Conference Room]

The Tier-Group 4 that had once stood at ground level was now positioned some 700 m up in the sky. In its conference room, Marie met with the representatives of the Unakami clan and the Kuki pirates.

"Unakami Tarō. Of no rank and no title, I regret to say. I am grateful that you would take my house into your service without holding any grudge against us."

"I am called Kuki Sama-no-kami. My forebears once dwelt in the land of Kuki (久喜) to the north of here, but the water ran dry, and so we wandered from generation to generation. Thanks to you, Director of Books, we can at last return to the land of our ancestors."

By rights there is only ever one Sama-no-kami at a time, but since the title was merely a thing he styled himself, there were any number of them about.

"The reason I've called the two of you here is this. We are building ships in this dungeon, and I wished to consult you on whether your Unakami clan, and the men of your Kuki Navy, might be able to work them."

"Ships, is it. We have wandered so long that little has been handed down to us, so it is rather a case of practicing our swimming strokes on dry tatami, but it is told that our distant forebears once worked small craft in the marshes."

So answered Kuki Sama-no-kami.

"The Iinuma dungeon devours men from time to time, so we of the Unakami clan do not venture far into its depths, but we know at least the bare handling of a boat."

Unakami Tarō and the rest of the Unakami clan could in fact handle ships.

"Very well. The two of you shall board the first ship the moment it is completed."

"Eh? So suddenly?"

Kuki Sama-no-kami was a touch flustered.

"I'm not asking you to master her on the spot. Minuma is still in the midst of being filled, so it's all very well to merely float a vessel, but it's still a little too shallow to actually sail. Even so, I have no idea when it will be, but by the next time an enemy attacks, I want our navy turned into a fighting force."

Had Marie been looking, as she always does, at her map of Saitama Prefecture, she would have realized at once that it was not Kuki (九鬼) but Kuki (久喜).