At Sōja: Twenty-Three Stray Beasts

[The Land of Ke: Sōja]

Sōja, in the Land of Ke. As in the otherworld's Gunma Prefecture, Maebashi lies to the east and Takasaki to the south, but the lay of the land is considerably different.

"Slow. Far too slow. He covered this same distance in half a day."

The ill-tempered lord of the realm, Kōzuke-no-suke, was a fairly aged old doe.

"It cannot be helped. To them a hundred ri is half a day, but for us ten days would scarcely cover it. Even with horse-legged couriers passing the dispatches in relays, it takes three days and three nights. Flying is at the mercy of the winds, so the time cannot be reckoned. To the west lies the Usui-Annaka county seat, to the east Utsunomiya Castle in Kawachi County, to the north the deep country of Tone County, all of them some hundred ri from Sōja. It takes time for the District Governors to gather."

So said the great old tanuki, Takahashi Tsushima-no-kami, District Governor of Gunma. Most beastfolk are built for short distances, and a hundred ri is far too long a way.

"I am well aware. That were we to mount an attack ourselves, even ten days might not suffice."

It being a desert, the great problem of resupply stood in the way.

"Last year, those who answered Tsukuba's call and attacked from Ke and Shina did reach the dungeon's ramparts. But its sphere of influence has expanded enormously since then, and they would be bound straight for hell while making camp along the way."

[The Land of Ke: Sōja]

A full twenty days passed before, at last, the District Governor of Haga, the most distant of all, arrived, and the twenty-two District Governors were assembled. Nasu, by the way, is not part of the Land of Ke. Since many of the District Governors are beastfolk, the scene resembled a zoo.

"My fellow beasts, you are by now well acquainted with the present state of the Land of Ke, I trust."

So called out Kōzuke-no-suke, the doe. "Beast" (kedamono) carries the sense of "people of Ke," ke no mono. ("People of wood," ki no mono, would by the same token be kudamono, "fruit.")

"The Library-City Dungeon, once a distant presence a hundred ri away, has spread its sphere of influence right up before Sōja. They call it an accident, but there is no doubt it was deliberate. Naturally we must take countermeasures, but the foe is no easy mark. You all understand what a 'dungeon's sphere of influence' is, I take it."

Takahashi Tsushima-no-kami laid out the situation.

"The range where the dungeon's monsters come out, or where its traps are. Right? A town or village that already exists won't fall within a dungeon's sphere of influence, but a highway can be swallowed up. Over in Kawachi I hear Nasu-Shiobara is creeping outward."

Someone said it. Kawachi being the eastern part of Ke, near Utsunomiya Castle.

"Just so. It remains only the sphere of influence; it is not an invasion of Ke's territory. But should it come to war, traps can be laid within the dungeon's sphere of influence. That is to say, stretches of the highway become dangerous. In fact, in southeastern Musashi a tidal-flat dungeon once swallowed a highway, and there were deaths by drowning."

"All we can do is fly, but flying is hard work."

So said a copper-pheasant bird-folk. Since lift is proportional to the square of body length while weight is proportional to the cube, a creature large enough to possess even the barest intelligence finds flight difficult.

"Indeed. Flying is effective. But that dungeon has drawn a night heron into its service. In aerial combat, the side that can draw on the dungeon's power would surely have the advantage. In short, on the ground or in the air, even if we strike first, the initiative will be taken from us."

"Then what are we to do?"

"Are we to sit here and wait for death?"

"Better simply to have nothing to do with them in the first place."

The beastfolk spoke up one after another, and the assembly fell into an uproar.

"Quiet. The Tsushima-no-kami has a proposal to make."

Kōzuke-no-suke quelled the room.