The Presidium of the Supreme Council

[Tier-Group 3, 10th Floor Conference Room]

"We'll dispense with the aide-de-camp scribe's opening remarks. Otherwise the meeting time will run out."

"○"

In place of Marie, propped up in an easy chair, Mint declared the session open.

The body composed of the Dungeon Master and the eight Named Shiso (Asura) was the "Presidium of the Supreme Council." As with the Presidium of Worker-Peasant Russia's Supreme Council, the chair carried a largely ceremonial significance, and traditionally it was the General Secretary who held the real power.

"First, as to our future direction: for the time being we make no moves of our own and simply play it by ear. That should do."

"Control Room Chief Mint, I think you'd do better to use somewhat more presentable language. Granted that, as things stand, we have no choice but to remain on the defensive."

So said Sapien-sensei.

"Our management philosophy is 'to realize a life of health and abundance, in both material and spiritual respects,' and the dungeon's domestic administration is proceeding along the lines of the Million-Chōbu Reclamation Plan. As for foreign affairs, neither the Four-Nation Coalition nor Oda Castle shows any movement worth particular note. Nor have there been any reports of a nearby dungeon becoming active."

(Still, we've drawn quite a lot of attention to ourselves, and I'd think this is a time that calls for caution even toward the more distant parts: Koshi, say, or Mino-Owari, or the provinces of Ōshū, or even Umeda, the Mercantile City. To meet my end in Mino-Owari, like Nagata Tadamune, is a fate I'd sooner avoid.)

Of course, Nagata Tadamune did not meet his end by quarreling with the powers of Mino-Owari.

"Musashi, toward Iruma and Fuchū both, is at peace. The North Musashi powers seem to harbor some dissatisfaction with us, but at the present time there's no concrete movement."

So reported Scarlet.

"The north?"

"Centered on Obusuma: Naka, Kodama, and Kami. Hanzawa appears not to be in step with them. They all lie on the far side of Yokomi, places the dungeon's influence doesn't reach, but by the same token it's a long way for them to do anything to us from over there."

(So Obusuma bears watching. Noted.)

Tachibana and Tsuzuki are South Musashi. Tama and Chichibu are West Musashi, Saitama is East Musashi: a geographic classification. That said, since East Musashi had been an uninhabited tract, it falls within the Library-City Dungeon's sphere of influence.

"Hiratsuka an' the Kōnodai direction in Sō, no trouble there either. If anything, Sō went and thanked us for 'takin' their malcontents off their hands.'"

The southeastern quarter Kinran oversaw was likewise free of trouble.

(They are a fairly headstrong lot, after all. Sō must have found them more than it could handle.)

"Ke, perhaps because it suddenly found itself adjoining this dungeon, appears to harbor a little ill feeling. Best not to provoke them, and to put off the proper road-building for now."

So reported Rāja, in charge of the northwest.

(Pretas would be one thing, but for Beasts to cross a desert is a tall order, so that will do for the present. Still, we'll have to work out countermeasures.)

"Lastly, Oda Castle is the same as ever. We were asked when the trains were coming, so we sent over a book about trains."

So reported Anne.

(I get the feeling he's well on his way to becoming a hopeless layabout. I'm beginning to doubt whether he really does correspond to the otherworld's Oda Nobunaga.)

To begin with, it was never Oda the Famous, but Oda the Lesser.

"And, finally, the northeast: beyond Utsunomiya Castle lies the Nasu-Shiobara Dungeon close at hand, and since travel toward the Ōshū provinces requires boats and so comings and goings are limited, we've put that on the back burner."

So reported Farigole.

"Boats? Is there a lake there, like Minuma?"

"Master, not a lake. 'Boats that sail atop Shiobara,' it's said. Most likely the work of some unique law."

(Boats upon salt, is it. Unlike a simple 'No Unauthorized Entry' lock-out, this seems to be a fairly powerful unique law. We should regard it as at least the equal of Tanzawa Hills, if not its superior.)