Starving Out the Valley Crossing

[Tanigoe]

East of the Library-City Dungeon, the town of Tanigoe had been built by the Tsukuba clan; sitting midway between Oda Castle and Kasumigaseki, a hundred ri apart, it had made its living resupplying the caravans that crossed the desert. But with the turmoil among the Tsukuba, travelers grew scarce, and then, as if to pile on, the wells ran dry.

This was because Marie had folded both the upstream and downstream stretches of the dry river into the dungeon's sphere of influence, severing the underground water vein and drawing off what little water remained. But an oasis going dry is something that happens from time to time in the desert, so the residents had no idea such an attack was being carried out against them.

[Core Room]

"Marie-san, I hear the wells in the town of Tanigoe have gone dry."

"The marshes around the Nigōhanryō area look set to dry up this year or next, too. But we can't fold a town with people living in it into the dungeon's sphere of influence, so we can't lay water pipes to them. Once it becomes an abandoned village, we can fold it into the sphere of influence and build a new town all over again, though."

"It's the same as how a dungeon can absorb 'things with no owner' that lie inside it, I suppose."

"Something like that. Only, under international law a 'terra nullius,' a no-man's land, can be occupied even with people living on it, so long as no sovereign state has formed there; but the sphere of influence can't be extended over a place where people are living, even if there's no state. Conversely, an abandoned village with no one in it can be folded into the sphere of influence even if graveyards and the like remain."

[Tier-Group 4, Conference Room]

"Lord Director of Books. I am Okano Kogenta, headman of Tanigoe."

"I am Shiso, Director of Books. I can guess what brings you, but I'm afraid the dungeon cannot fold a town where people live into its sphere of influence anew. And so, bringing water to Tanigoe is impossible."

"That I know. But, Lord Director of Books, you told the catfish of the Nigōhanryō marshlands that 'a day will come when you return to your homeland.' Which means that even if the catfish do not die out, so long as they move away and are gone, you can swallow that place into the dungeon and send water into it. And then have the catfish dwell there once more. Is that not so?"

"You understand even that much? Then this will be quick. Only, Tanigoe as it stands lies in a low place along the dry river. If the dungeon develops further and the water supply increases, eventually rain will fall regardless of the dungeon, and the lands along the valley will be in danger of sudden flooding. Around here we manage the volume of water by making a reservoir called Minuma; Tanigoe, too, ought to build a new town in somewhat higher ground. Turn Tanigoe (谷越) on its head and you get Koshigaya (越谷). Looking at the historical lineage, the older form, Koshigaya written 越ヶ谷, might be the better choice."

Marie spread out a map of Saitama Prefecture on the desk as she spoke. In the otherworld, the old post-town was the 越ヶ谷 Koshigaya, and the 越谷 Koshigaya is what it became after it merged with the surrounding towns and villages.

"And if I were to refuse?"

"For a while, no water; and once this dungeon develops, ordinarily drought, with the occasional flood. We would route the highway around Tanigoe, so that even if the Oda prosper in place of the Tsukuba, travelers would not pass through Tanigoe."

"What a cruel threat that is. But seeing as the Tsukuba have cast us off, there is no choice."

"I won't do the sort of thing Tsukuba Naiyaku-no-jō would have, you know."