Each Their Own Night (Day 2, Evening)

[Core Room]

"The enemy army appears to be making camp along the highway as they travel. They've pitched no proper bivouac and are strung out along the road for several kilometers."

"Even for a long-snake formation, that's an appalling array. It's practically begging to be raided."

"Marie, in reality it's because they know a night raid is impossible. Our only base is this dungeon, we haven't the spare strength to plant an ambush, and even supposing we had horses enough, the distance is too great for a night raid anyway."

As Rāja said, whether at a trot or a gallop, the distance a horse can run in one go is fifteen kilometers at most. Twenty is a bit far. Of course it can cover more by resting along the way, but do that and the night is over.

[Five ri East of the Dungeon] The Tsukuba Encampment

"Bufo bufo, tomorrow we reach the dungeon at last. I'm looking forward to it."

The pig… no, Tsukuba Naiyaku-no-jō.

"My lord, may we keep our night-raid watch to the dungeon side only, and to a minimum?"

A general in his service inquired.

"It's desert, with no village or anything around. From the dungeon directly, a night raid is impossible at this distance. We must guard against the unforeseen, but where attack from outside is concerned, nothing more is needed."

"From outside, my lord. That means…"

"There's no telling that shinobi haven't slipped in among the mercenaries and adventurers. Don't neglect a certain vigilance against sabotage. Food and water especially are matters of life and death. Next, the koban and coin we pay the mercenaries and adventurers."

"We'll arrive late tomorrow afternoon. Shall we move to subdue it straightaway?"

"No. The dungeon can't be broken, so we deploy before it. Use the emptied handcarts as shields and encircle it. If possible we'll destroy the doors, but as long as we secure the water and the fields, in the worst case we can leave the pirates be for the time being."

"And if the enemy has gone and built a wall?"

"True, we did gather mercenaries and adventurers in such grand numbers. Pirates though they are, it would be no wonder if they raised so much as a wall. Still, their garrison should be small. They can't have built any decent wall, so we rest the night and take it in one assault."

"Even at worst, we'll be fine, then."

"No, a wall is nothing, worst or otherwise. Worse than a wall is the case where the pirates are somehow manipulating the Dungeon Core."

"Is such a thing even possible?"

"They say a dungeon has nothing but instinct, but it can still be tamed by feeding. You've heard of 'Umeda, the Mercantile City,' haven't you?"

"The dungeon where the merchants live… ah."

"Just so. But even that isn't the worst."

"My lord, there's something below even that?"

"The very worst of the worst is the case where the dungeon possesses intelligence and is fighting alongside the pirates."

"What is that supposed to be? If a dungeon had intelligence, it could summon monsters to suit the situation and do as it pleased, couldn't it?"

"On top of which, some fool somewhere has been feeding the dungeon. A dungeon grows by devouring human lives. The adventurers delve into the dungeon, and if the monsters the adventurers defeat outnumber the rest, the dungeon is eventually cleared and vanishes; if the adventurers struck down outnumber them, the dungeon grows. And so the Hiki fool-sons became the dungeon's feed."

"We're to fight the dungeon's monsters, then?"

"Bufo. It's water-attribute, so the monsters that come out will be water-phase creatures: turtles, and, since it's a water-bred wood, wood-phase fish. Turtles are sluggish and fish can do nothing in the desert. As monsters go, they're the most harmless kind. The pinnacle of the wood phase is the dragon, but surely there's no dragon. Though, mind you, if this whole force is wiped out, there's no guarantee a dragon won't well up."

"My lord, is there no danger of another attribute?"

"There isn't. Water and paper come out, and on top of that fire can't be used inside, so it's water-attribute. Were it water alone there'd be the possibility of metal-attribute, since metal begets water, but that wouldn't yield paper. If it were metal-attribute, plants wouldn't grow inside the dungeon, but they would outside, so the presence of fields is no grounds for judgment."

Because it was a library, it didn't conform to the Five Phases at all, but Naiyaku-no-jō had no way of knowing that.

"If the monsters of a water-attribute dungeon are no threat, then what is the danger?"

"The dungeon itself."

"Eh?"

"Bufo, can't you see it? A dungeon can't be broken. So if a dungeon is made into a wall, it's impregnable, isn't it?"

"… That's…"

"A wall, still, you can deal with by setting up ladders. The pirates are few and the dungeon monsters are no threat. But if the whole thing were covered over by something like a bowl or an umbrella, you'd be powerless. Of course, breaking the doors would settle it, but naturally the pirates would guard the doors intensively too. And once it comes to that, there's nothing for it but to withdraw."

A dome city would become unconquerable. Dungeon structures are of great strength, so not just a stadium but a whole town could be domed over. That said, this dungeon was a library, so it could summon neither a great greenhouse nor a domed ballpark.

"My lord, after raising troops on this grand a scale, are we to retreat without doing a thing?"

"Only a fool clings on when he cannot win. A commander must, in any circumstance, keep thoughts of retreat at the ready. Though the Hiki sons, who charged in without even knowing they couldn't win, are beneath fools."