The Toshima Magistrate's Office

Without delay, Marie and Kinran, the one in charge of southeastern affairs, boarded a summoned official car and set off for the Toshima Magistracy at Hiratsuka. Since Kinran held only an automatic-transmission license, however, and since there are no satellites at present, leaving the self-driving function crippled, Marie, who held a manual-car license, did the driving. An elevated road had already been laid as far as the Nameless Bridge, where the checkpoint stood; the car ran straight ahead at a fixed speed, so even a paper driver need not worry about running down any travelers. A journey of five days on foot took only two hours by car.

[Toshima Magistracy: Hiratsuka]

Hiratsuka sits atop a cliff running from northwest to southeast, not quite 10 km long and about 20 m high, with a tableland on the southwest side and lowlands to the northeast. A not-very-large dry river flows through the lowlands, and beyond it, less than 10 km from Hiratsuka, runs another dry river that passes just short of Kasumigaseki and Fuchū.

"Well, well. Shiso the Director of Books, and Kinran-dono."

The Toshima magistrate, Nakazato Minbu-no-tairoku, came out to greet them.

"Magistrate of Toshima, first, please accept this bribe of white rice."

"Oho, the white rice that Nishinoichinojō-dono spoke of. While it's true that it isn't wholly unobtainable here the way it is in Iruma, it's a precious thing even so. Laid over sheets of laver and eaten, it is truly delicious."

"Say, my lord magistrate, this nori, would there happen to be a dungeon round these parts that turns out laver?"

"About 20 ri to the south, between here and the Ebara Magistracy at Hatanodai, there is a dungeon some 10 ri across called the 'Asakusa Tidal Flat,' which yields laver and shellfish. Ordinarily the mudflats stretch wide open, but twice each day the saltwater rushes suddenly in, so now and again someone is drowned."

"Asakusa nori, in other words. If this were a dungeon with a Master, no, an administrator, it might be worth attempting to negotiate, but."

"Director, even supposing a dungeon did have an administrator, negotiation is hardly possible, and no one knows the right way to approach one. It's true that, depending on the dungeon, such a being can grant many blessings, but a dungeon demands sacrifices, and at times it unreasonably takes the lives of a great many people."

"I have never seen the administrator of any dungeon but our own. Is that what they are generally like, I wonder?"

"From all I hear of the adventurers, a dungeon does not seem to be a thing reason can reach. And yet without dungeons, food too would run short. If your, what was it, your million-something plan, Director, comes to fruition, then at the very least we might no longer go hungry without relying on the unstable, baffling produce of a dungeon. That is my hope."

It is merely that the supply source becomes the Library-City Dungeon; in this world, food ultimately depends on dungeons all the same.

"It's the Million-Chōbu Reclamation Plan. Not 'a million hearts as one.' Thought control and the like is both difficult and pointless. Though, if I may say something rather blunt, as you know, a dungeon requires human life and emotion, so while exchange through trade is one thing, there is little to be gained from sending food out one-sidedly beyond the dungeon's sphere of influence for everyone outside to eat."

"That would be so, yes. In a famine the county magistrates do share food among themselves, but ordinarily, apart from the portion we render to Fuchū, each runs on its own self-supporting accounts. Even so, no longer having to fear a famine when the worst comes, that is an exceedingly welcome thing for a magistrate."

"Mind you, our side's a dungeon, so we can't go takin' land as collateral on a loan the way you folks would, so there's a limit to it."