Political Standing

[Tier-Group 3, First-Floor Hall, the Six-Party Meeting]

"Next, there is the question of how this dungeon will operate, our policy of administration. The first thing that must be decided is this dungeon's political standing."

"To let Musashi hold this dungeon would be far too dangerous. True, Musashi is not an enemy state of our Ke, but if too great a disparity in power arises, that is perilous."

"It is no concern of mine if the Eastern Land is destroyed, but it would trouble us greatly if it became a threat to Sō."

"As for Sumō: Musashi or not, we cannot countenance any country, Sō or Ke either, increasing its national strength."

Takahashi Tsushima-no-kami, Okamoto Shuyu-no-kami, and Nyūdō Daizen-no-suke each, in turn, voiced wariness at a strengthening of Musashi. Of course, for Marie and Yoshida Nishinoichinojō, this reaction was exactly as anticipated.

"This region, Adachi, is nominally counted as part of Musashi, but it has stood uninhabited for many long years. That is the case, yes?"

Marie confirmed.

"Just so. Of Musashi's twenty-two counties, the ones with no Daikan posted are uninhabited Adachi and the culturally distinct Niiza and Koma. And Fuchū has no plan to dispatch a Daikan to Adachi. Though, mind you, there is always some county where, even with a Daikan in place, the whole territory is not under control."

"So Musashi will not dispatch a Daikan and assert a monopoly over the rights and interests here. Is that it?"

"Excess power is the ruin of a man. Naturally, we do not mean to abandon Adachi, and we will seek what rights and interests we reasonably can, but to suffer terrible burns trying to bring this dungeon to heel, or to touch off a war that drags in our neighbors, is what we wish to avoid. Such is Fuchū's intention."

"What comes of recklessly laying a hand on it, Tsukuba Naiyaku-no-jō has proven with his own body,"

said the greasy Okamoto Shuyu-no-kami.

"Along the way, I came across a number of fugitives from Ke fleeing this direction. As regards the separate detachment, at least, the chain of command was utterly disunited, they were ill-prepared for a siege and crude in their stratagems, and it looked for all the world as though they had attacked in order to lose on purpose. Which means that, where Tsukuba is concerned, there is a possibility he lost deliberately, for some reason or other."

The tanuki-beastfolk pointed out the possibility that Tsukuba had lost on purpose.

"To give the dungeon a great mass of sacrifices and force its rapid growth, perhaps. I had been quite certain he was struck down, but it seems Naiyaku-no-jō is a schemer. In that case, the one struck down was a body double, then. As I recall, there was no head, was there?"

Nyūdō Daizen-no-suke raised the possibility that Tsukuba Naiyaku-no-jō was still alive.

"That stands to reason, then, why he advanced his main camp and gathered his encampment all into a single spot. So as to be certain to enter the dungeon's sphere of influence, and be deliberately annihilated."

Marie was satisfied as to the meaning of Tsukuba Naiyaku-no-jō's peculiar dispositions.

"That toad is the man who killed my father, but regrettably, then, he was not struck down after all."

"Seeing as he has sent no envoy of peace or the like to this gathering, it would seem he means not to reveal the body double straightaway, but is, in all likelihood, lying low somewhere in the Tsukuba mountains. A mountain sweep would be difficult as well. To this humble monk's mind, he intends to watch for his moment, raise his troops, and seize this dungeon by storm with a small force. Were that to come about, there is a danger the balance of power in this region would collapse."

"I see, a surprise attack with a small force. We have been amply on guard against sabotage from the outset, but if Tsukuba Naiyaku-no-jō is working in the shadows, then further countermeasures will be needed."

"So you have measures against a surprise attack. Then what of defense if you were challenged to a proper, methodical siege with a large host?"

Nyūdō Daizen-no-suke asked.

"With a large host, we can detect them at a range of tens of ri. Even should the highways be improved hereafter and supply cease to be a concern, an army marches at eight ri a day, ten at the fastest. By extending the dungeon's sphere of influence out beyond the fields, we can respond to it amply."

"Hm. So self-defense is possible, you say. Then, conversely, is there a danger that this dungeon, having increased its productive power, would raise a large host and mount an expedition against its neighbors?"

Nyūdō Daizen-no-suke raised the opposite possibility.

"As to whether it is possible or impossible, it is possible. But for a dungeon, an expedition beyond its sphere of influence has no value whatsoever. A dungeon turns human emotion and human life into power, and no matter how many enemies you strike down outside the sphere of influence, it means nothing. Incidentally, as you are no doubt aware, the monsters of an ordinary dungeon cannot leave the dungeon's sphere of influence, so for a dungeon that cannot retain a knight order and the like, it is, in effect, 'impossible.' However mighty a monster may be, without the aid of the unique laws, it cannot prevail against numbers."

"Truly, if only we could take them outside, our Sō would by now have a powerful cavalry corps."

He meant the Nakayama Racecourse, but those being racehorses, they were of no use at all for a cavalry corps in the first place.

"Hm. That there is no point in mounting an expedition, that, I understand. Indeed, a dungeon attacking a distant town is confined to special cases, like 'Asuka, the Temple of Stone.'"

"Beyond that, the conceivable cases would be: when a dungeon holds some strange unique law, or when there is a mastermind behind the scenes using the dungeon to work evil, so that the dungeon does not move according to its own interests."