The Murakami Navy Shows Up Too

[Core Room]

"Master, amid the power struggles in Sō, one who styles himself Murakami Yachiyo is leading his whole clan and retainers here and seeking to swear fealty."

"Murakami? Is it really the Murakami Navy? Though if it turns out to be the Shinano Murakami clan, that'd be a shame."

"In this world it's not Shinano but the 'Land of Shina,' and that lies in the opposite direction, so I don't think it's them. This is a world with an Oda clan in it, and it has the Kuki clan too, so if anything the odds are good that it's the Murakami Navy."

"Even so. First the Unakami clan, now the Murakami clan. Sō really is in turmoil. A runaway Bōsō, or maybe the Bōsō Express."

"Though no one in this world would have any idea what a 'Bōsō Express' is."

In the otherworld it was a railway that opened in the early Shōwa era, linking Tokyo with Chiba (Cape Futtsu, Sōgo Reidō, Shibayama Niōson; Narita Fudō is a separate line).

[Tier-Group 4, Conference Room]

"I am Marie, this dungeon's aide-de-camp scribe. To put it in human terms, I would be Shiso, Director of Books."

"I am called Murakami Yachiyo, of the Murakami clan."

Of course, as is the custom among the humans of this world, "Yachiyo" was not his true name, just an auspicious-sounding name he had adopted with no grounds whatsoever.

"I heard you fell out with the Land of Sō and fled."

"It is a shameful tale, but an internal feud within the clan was part of the cause as well."

"An internal feud, you say."

"For generations the Murakami house has held Ryūga Castle as its seat and managed a dungeon called the Hiratogawa. This river usually flows from south to north, but at times it runs the other way, what we call 'reverse-flow,' and when that happened we would appease the river with a sacrifice."

"A textbook case of a dungeon acting on instinct. It has no Dungeon Master, I expect."

"A dungeon masu? Masuda?"

"To put it plainly, the administrator of a dungeon. For some reason it requires the academic degree, well, the qualification, of a 'Master,' so we call them a 'Dungeon Master.'"

Of course, most dungeons have no Dungeon Master at all.

"About a hundred years ago, a village headman who lived north of the Hiratogawa opposed the sacrifices. He argued that if the dungeon's water were channeled south to Chiba it could be put to good use, and that even if it flowed backward, the water could be drained off. So the Land of Sō set out to dig a waterway to drain the Hiratogawa."

"Water is certainly precious, after all."

"But after sinking more than ten thousand ryō of Sō's treasury and the headman's private fortune, and even hiring powerful oni and kappa who live by the water, it ended in failure, and the headman went bankrupt as well."

"True enough. When it's a dungeon's river, it would be a rather difficult thing for men to control."

"They tried the works again afterward and failed once more, but now, taking after your 'Million-Chōbu Reclamation Plan,' Sō has revived the scheme to drain the Hiratogawa. Sō declared it would spend a hundred thousand, two hundred thousand ryō if that was what it took, and over who should bear the cost our Murakami house fell out with the realm, splitting into a faction that said we should refuse the burden and a faction that said we should accept the demand."

"In other words, you, Murakami Yachiyo-dono, are of the faction opposed to the works."

"Yes. Partway along there is a hill of hard clay that is difficult to dig through, and because there is little difference in elevation with the southern side, the gradient needed to make the water flow cannot be secured. It might be another matter for a dungeon that has set out to run an estate of its own, the way this one has, but by human hands the works will never go well."

"It's no particular secret that this place is governed directly by a dungeon. Now then. If you manage a river, then naturally your Murakami Navy can handle ships, I take it?"

"Yes. The river-craft of the Hiratogawa, at least."

Of course, it is not as though a Dungeon "Master" actually requires a "Master's" degree.

Incidentally, most dungeons are indistinguishable from natural caves, abandoned mines, or derelict houses; they have no Core, no unique laws, and no Dungeon Master. There are no dungeon monsters either, though bats and the like sometimes take up residence.