Horizon:Volume 9A Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Careless One in the Distance

Do not demand gratitude

Listen to what people say

Do not wait

Be quiet

Point Allocation (A Mother’s "Ohitashi")

●

Masazumi thought this was too forceful.

…They didn’t just ignore the Kyou rules – they used them against us!?

The Tres España Vice President had used Horizon falling asleep to install the Logismoi Oplo as a chance to violate the Kyou rules, but that couldn’t be it.

Bell: “Masazu…mi…”

Mukai could sense people’s breathing. And her assessment of the Tres Españan Vice President was…

Bell: “She’s…relieved.”

Silver Wolf: “I get the same sense from her!”’

She had announced the possibility of war, but she was relieved about it. What did that mean?

…Naito said Tres España is trying to keep something hidden.

So this revealed something. To put it in words…

Vice President: “Tres España must want to keep us from interfering so they can keep something hidden!”

●

Me: “Man, why does she hate you so much?”

Vice President: “If anyone, I’d say it’s you she doesn’t like.”

Laborer: “You did have her grope your dick!”

Still Got It: “My! That’s a new one! Nate, you need to lay claim to a part of him too! Equality begins with a decentralized rule!”

Silver Wolf: “I don’t want to hear that from a tyrant who squeezes people dry!”

Asama: “Kimi, stop shaking your fist up and down. …Anyway, um, Masazumi? What do you mean Tres España is keeping us from interfering to keep something hidden?”

10ZO: “Can we blame the nudist for this one?”

Vice President: “I only said that because I’d figured that much out. I don’t actually know what they’re trying to hide.”

Almost Everyone: “Then get to work!”

●

Okay, fine, thought Masazumi. But she really didn’t know the answer.

…What would they want so badly they would hold a meeting to keep us from interfering?

Novice: “Tricky problems like this are best solved by simplifying the question! In this case: who should we blame for this!?”

10ZO: “You have guts to ask that question in our class, Neshinbara-dono!”

Me: “If only all of you could behave yourselves for more than 30 seconds.”

Smoking Girl: “Masazumi, how about we hand them all over to Tres España?”

Masazumi really wanted to go with that idea, but it would only hurt their position politically.

But the idiot had a question.

Me: “Seijun, have we done anything wrong? After the Armada battle, mean.”

Vice President: “I feel like I could write up a very long list there, but I don’t actually remember anything in regards to Tres España.”

Tonbokiri: “Judge! Masazumi and I have never done anything wrong to Tres España. I swear it on my honor!”

●

“Master Muneshige! Master Muneshige! She forget to mention everything she’s done – and continues to do – to us!”

“Ha ha ha. Gin, we are Musashi citizens now, so I would say we don’t count. Working on our name inheritance problem as Musashi citizens should be a lot less stressful too.”

“D-do I look stressed out to you!?”

“Not at all. But you have a tendency to take things more seriously than necessary.”

“There are times when I wish I was a simpler person…”

●

Gold Mar: “I was listening in and it was like having sugar dumped into my brain through the mouth and ears.”

Naito looked to Naruze who was drawing a storyboard on a Magie Figur below the table.

Art-Ga: “I’m making great progress on my storyboard. …So did we figure out who to blame?”

Naruze was quite calm given the salty smell of the Tres Españan fleet preparing to take off. Then again, the two of them were equipped with Schwarz Fräulein and Weiss Fräulein, which provided a sense that they could handle whatever might happen.

Of course, that didn’t apply to the others. But if the Technohexen could rescue the Chancellor, Seijun, and Horizon in an emergency, they could at least operate the Musashi.

…And if we have time, the next most important two would be Asama-chi and Bell-rin.

But this was their home turf, so the others could probably survive on their own.

Flat Vassal: “Um, can’t we just blame everyone except for Suzu-san?”

Uqui: “Come to think of it, you were the one who had the Musashi fly a loop-the-loop to crash into them.”

Almost Everyone: “So we’re going with Adele, then?”

Flat Vassal: “I-I did not crash into them! And what is this about anyway? What’s their problem with Musashi?”

Everyone looked to the Chancellor for a second.

The idiot began shouting “Oh, yeah!? Is bullying me that much fun!? Stop getting off on it!”, but they all ignored him.

Silver Wolf: “Assuming it isn’t a personal matter, is there a problem with Musashi as a whole?”

●

Masazumi used Mitotsudaira’s question to guide her thoughts. Was there a problem with the Musashi itself or with their political policies?

Then Mary raised her hand a little.

Scarred: “Could it be because we won the Armada battle?”

Vice President: “No, we did that as mercenaries, so it doesn’t count. If anything, Tres España would want to make us look really powerful.”

Uqui: “Then is it because we are working more closely with the Protestants and Hexagone Française?”

Silver Wolf: “No, that would mean making an enemy of Hexagone Française and England too. Given the current situation, Tres España should want to keep Musashi neutral so they could have us mediate between them and Hexagone Française and England if necessary.”

Vice President: “Agreed…”

Then someone spoke across the table.

“You should have had enough time to think now.” The Tres España Vice President smiled. “We have one demand.”

This was the first time they had mentioned any kind of demand.

“From here on, Musashi is forbidden from trading in Tres España’s sphere of trade.”

●

Juana realized at the last second that, while Tres España seemed to have the advantage with the time limit and the show of force, this demand more or less gave away their hand.

This could end up greatly harming Tres España’s future management. But…

“That is our only demand. If Musashi agrees to never again trade in Tres España’s sphere of trade, we can accompany and guard your base hulls. Will that be a problem?”

●

Masazumi saw some quick words on her sign frame.

10ZO: “I don’t know if she specified ‘Tres España’s sphere of trade’ both times intentionally, but if they are leaving their Far East side out of this, they could force that through. And while it would mean restrictions on certain trade items, that would be the biggest problem. I can’t think of any other real problems with it.”

Silver Wolf: “Going forward, Tres España will be reducing their trade with England and Hexagone Française. They will have lost most of their trade opportunities in Europe, so the only problems for Musashi will be Tres España’s foreign bases in the New World and Asia.”

Masazumi nodded and considered part of Mitotsudaira’s claim.

…Tres España’s bases in Asia.

Tres España was building a trade route along the coast of Africa, India, and all the way to Qing and they were building trading houses and companies. That included a lot of major cities, so a ban on trade there would mean trouble for Musashi.

So she knew what her answer had to be.

“We can’t give up trade in some places you have trade bases in Africa and Asia, so we can’t agree to those terms as-is. We need to support the former Houjou land, for example.”

“Testament. Then how about this?”

The Tres Españan Vice President showed a map of the Far East from Kyushu to the Seto Inland Sea.

Then she drew a line north to south across the west side of the Seto Inland Sea.

“We will allow Musashi to trade with the provisional ruling nations east of this line.”

In other words…

“Musashi can only trade with the Far East when east of this line in the Mediterranean Sea. We could call it a second Treaty of Tordesillas or Treaty of Zaragoza, but it won’t be as strict. How about that?”

●

Scarred: “The Treaty of Tordelillas?”

Tenzou saw Mary’s post created by the system that picked up on what she muttered under her breath.

…Mary-dono is so cute when she misspeaks!

He had discussed the Treaty of Tordesillas and the Treaty of Zaragoza with her once and they had debated them in class. That debate was a famous one because Ohiroshiki had been the primary victim. As for what they were…

10ZO: “The Treaty of Tordesillas and the Treaty of Zaragoza were used to unilaterally grant Tres España and Portugal control of land in the New World because they already controlled trade there. England disapproved and sent out their privateers, which ultimately led to the Armada battle, but are we doing that again here?”

Novice: “If it’s only for Musashi, I bet the other nations will accept it. Lending us the power to break free of it can even be used to negotiate with us. Plus, if Musashi has a shorter trade route, we can complete our circuit of the Far East more quickly. The other nations will see it as a treaty that only hurts Musashi and Tres España.”

Flat Vassal: “Then why would Tres España want to do it?”

Kimi-dono was twirling and shouting “She’s gone crazy!” over and over, but Tenzou wasn’t sure if she was talking about the Tres Españan Vice President or herself.

At any rate, if they were going to do this, it was certainly one-sided.

“Can I ask something?” Masazumi asked the Tres España Vice President. “An intangible deal like that would not last for long. Your own conditions will change eventually. …So how long are you asking us to do this?”

●

Juana breathed a deep sigh.

She did not hide her relief. Because that relief was the truth but also a trap.

She made sure not to think she already had this negotiation won.

“Until 1659.”

That year was a turning point. It hadn’t been revealed in the Testament yet, but an early note had stated that a certain war ended that year.

“A note in the Testament for the year 1635 said our war with the Hexagone Française, that began with the Battle of Nördlingen, would end in the year 1659. Our domestic circumstances will likely change then, so it would make a good ending date. So if we do survive the Apocalypse, this would continue for another 11 years.”

●

…11 years.

That was a long time for Masazumi. Under the current system, her class wouldn’t be involved in politics anymore at that point.

Novice: “We’ll all be around 30 by then.”

Wise Sister: “Heh heh. You mean when I’ve powered up into an even more gorgeous woman?”

Scarred: “I wonder how old our children will be then.”

Gold Mar: “Oh? Children? Did I hear that right?”

Art-Ga: “As tense as this meeting is, I’m making great progress.”

Can none of them focus? wondered Masazumi, but she also felt like 11 years would pass in the blink of an eye.

…Because it’s going to be a very busy 11 years.

Four months had passed since Mikawa, but while so much had happened in that time, it also felt like it had all happened in a flash.

They still didn’t know what would happen with the Apocalypse. If Horizon’s Logismoi Oplo were the key, would they learn something new once they were all installed?

But if they did get through Westphalia and the Apocalypse, it seemed like the world would be even busier than it was now.

“If so…11 years might not amount to much.”

“Do you really think so, Musashi Vice President?”

“Judge,” she replied.

…I think I get it now.

Tres España was probably using the 11 years of war to start some kind of domestic project. She didn’t know if it was based in their war against Hexagone Française, but it had to be something they didn’t want another nation interfering in.

And after the war, they would use the result of that project to begin to rebuild.

They were planning an 11 year national project. That wasn’t very long and, if they were doing it during a war, they would be very busy that entire time.

The Armada battle had taught Masazumi that the people of Tres España preferred to make the most of their time.

So this had to be an important matter for Tres España.

…Which must be why they don’t want us to interfere.

If their war against Hexagone Française began at the same time, then England and Hexagone Française would also be unable to interfere. Masazumi could only think of one similar situation.

Vice President: “Sakoku – the chained nation.”

Me: “So they’ll be doing chain bondage like Nate?”

Silver Wolf: “I-I do not do that! Really, I don’t!”’

After Mitotsudaira’s sniffing at the candy house the other day, Masazumi took that denial with a grain of salt.

But she was curious about one thing.

Vice President: “Technically, they wouldn’t be completely isolationist. They do still have the New World.”

Me: “Then why do they hate us so much?”

Vice President: “Because they have something they want to do internally.”

Asama: “Oh.”

Asama made a sound. She must have realized something from that exchange with the idiot. Furthermore…

Silver Wolf: “Now I know what felt so off to me.”

“You do?” asked Asama, so Masazumi turned toward her and she nodded before continuing.

Asama: “Why would they avoid Musashi just because they want to do something internally? If they just don’t invite us to join them when they’re doing their project, they shouldn’t have to push us away now.”

What did this mean?

Silver Wolf: “Judge! I get now what my king has been hinting at. Tres España’s upcoming project will conflict with Musashi in the preparatory phase. It most likely involves something Musashi is the leading expert on! They’ve realized we would join in and steal their advantage if we found out, so they want to keep it secret!”

●

Mitotsudaira sensed all the mental pieces slotting into place.

…We were looking at this wrong.

They had wondered why Tres España would reject them.

Silver Wolf: “We have always negotiated by pushing Musashi’s advantages onto the other nation. Most notably, that the Musashi is a massive trade ship capable of moving very quickly.”

She and everyone else turned to Masazumi. And after a pause…

Silver Wolf: “Not counting our tendency to bring all international negotiations to a quick end using war.”

Vice President: “Judge. Please don’t count that here. …So why are you bringing up the Musashi’s advantages?”

Silver Wolf: “Judge. In this case, those advantages are disadvantages.”

When she saw Asama nod in support, Mitotsudaira kept going.

Silver Wolf: “Musashi’s ability to trade, cargo capacity, mobility, and combat ability are all a threat to what Tres España is planning to do. After all, the Musashi provides all of those things in a single package. We can do all of that right now. But Tres España can’t. But if they can complete their preparations while enduring a war with Hexagone Française, they will be able to do all of that 11 years from now.”

“Then,” said Masazumi.

Vice President: “What is this project Tres España is planning?”

Mitotsudaira turned to Asama who immediately responded.

Asama: “Masazumi, you gave Tres España the hint they needed back in England. Every nation would have heard it on the international broadcast, but only Tres España converted that hint into an actual project.”

Asama’s statement had already guided everyone’s gazes to Masazumi who was looking to the Tres Españan Vice President.

Then Masazumi spoke in a clear voice.

“Is that what this is about, Tres España?” she said. “Are you going to industrialize the settlement of the outside world!?”

●

Precisely, thought Juana. Well done reaching that answer.

She was speaking with a fellow Vice President. Juana had her position because their Chancellor believed in her, but that same Chancellor had given his opinion of this girl too.

…He called her a wicked girl.

She would lure them in with bait and then guide everything to her own advantage.

Yes. Tres España had taken that wicked girl’s advice.

“Settling the outside world as an industry is an interesting idea, don’t you think?”

The Musashi could do that right away if all its armaments were in order. But Tres España could do it too if they had time to prepare.

They were a large nation on the west coast of the Far East. More than that, they had the acorazado construction techniques used to build the Grande y Felicísima Armada, not to mention the necessary equipment and personnel. If they could develop all of that further during the war with Hexagone Française, then Tres España would have technology rivalling IZUMO’s in 11 years’ time.

The sun would rise again.

They had clients: England and Hexagone Française. Both those nations had heard Musashi’s offer to help settle the outside world and Hexagone Française’s President had shown interest.

But neither of them could do so during the coming war. And once Tres España had demonstrated the power of their ships, they could make the following suggestion during the peace talks after their “loss”.

“Tres España will help you settle the outside world at a large discount.”

Tres España was located on the west coast, so they could reach the outside world’s closest continent. During clear weather, they could see the opposite coast from their aerial ships.

They could support nation-scale settlement by providing warship-class habitat ships and escort ships that would increase defenses and survival rates. Once it was all in motion, they could have trade ships flying back and forth between the two banks to fully industrialize it. They would have resumed trade with England and Hexagone Française by then, so they would be able to earn lucrative profits by receiving goods from those two nations and selling them on the opposite coast.

There would be limits, but if they controlled trade in that region, they would be able to control the prices.

Which was why they wanted to keep Musashi out.

Musashi’s trade would be on a much smaller scale than Tres España’s industrialized version. A single circuit might not even earn them as much as two weeks of Tres España’s version.

But Musashi had solid trade techniques, so they could keep prices down. Tres España could also reduce costs by using several different ports and personnel, but Musashi could transport everything together on the one ship, so they would have the advantage with fuel, time, and personnel costs.

So there was a risk of other nations – especially Musashi – getting involved and driving down prices.

If that happened, Tres España could collapse all at once. Of course, they would be setting their prices and coming up with trade plans with that in mind, but…

…If we can eliminate a source of failure, I want to do so.

Thus, this meeting.

Wasting time and playing word games with the Kyou rules were fine with her. As long as she could keep Musashi out of their business. She was willing to engage in any kind of inept negotiation if it would get her that.

“Now then.”

The wicked girl had a bad habit.

She tended to forget the awful things she had done and the deceptive things she had said.

But Juana remembered and she essentially had the girl by the collar. Now she only had to demand the girl take responsibility for her words.

“What will it be, Musashi? War, or the trade restriction?”

●

…Lady Juana is ruthless when she goes on the offensive.

Flores took notes while thinking, If only she didn’t have this side.

But this was fairly subdued for her. When she was laying into the Chancellor or someone like that, her tone of voice alone would drive them into the corner of the room or hallway. She did watch her tone and behavior when engaged in diplomacy, but she still had a tendency to press people. This felt a lot like when she had someone cornered in the hallway.

At least she wasn’t in her lecture mode where she repeatedly pointed at the other person.

War or trade restrictions.

Those two choices gave Tres España the advantage. Because even if it did come to war, Tres España’s losses would be restricted to this smaller fleet sent to Kyou.

They would have to get Juana out, but that was Flores’s job. As long as the Vice Chancellor’s group did their job, they could do some serious damage to Musashi before the Honnouji Incident. Also…

“We have already begun,” said Juana, opening a cadena firma. “I have requested another fleet sent in from Tres España. They will arrive in 4 hours. It is currently shortly before 8 PM, so even if we focus on withdrawing, they will attack you from behind just as you are starting on the Honnouji Incident.”

Meaning…

“We are not the only Tres Españan fighting force you have to worry about. The additional fleet arriving in 4 hours is the real threat. So what will it be, Musashi? War, or the trade restrictions?” ●

Art-Ga: “War, huh? I feel like I barely had a chance to live my life.”

Gold Mar: “When everything falls apart like this, it’s like everything you’ve been building up has come crashing down.”

Vice President: “Wait! We can still avoid war here!”

Me: “C’mon, Seijun. Be honest with yourself.”

Asama: “Toori-kun, Masazumi has to prioritize her position over what she personally wants.”

10ZO: “That doesn’t deny anything Toori-dono said, does it?”

Vice President: “Just you watch! I’ll show you how to get out of this war!”

●

“Tres España Vice President,” called Masazumi. “May I make two external calls?”

“Two? You aren’t going to leak information on this meeting, are you?”

“No, of course not. One I will be inviting to a small house party.”

Masazumi gave Mitotsudaira an instruction there. Asama responded by activating a spell.

“Um, I gave only Masazumi and Mito free divine transmission access.”

“Very well,” said the Tres Españan Vice President while Mitotsudaira raised her eyebrows in front of a divine transmission sign frame.

“Um…mother? Are you free right now? You are eating dinner with father? No, you do not need to show me. Now, I need some quick advice. …No, it’s nothing major. It’s really just some quick advice. Yes, advice.

“Now,” said Mitotsudaira. “As I am sure you are aware by now, a Tres Españan fleet has departed the Mediterranean coast and is on its way here. …Could you sink that for me? For a house party.”

“What kind of house party is that!?”

The Tres España Vice President was understandably upset.

●

“Why not?” Juana heard the Musashi Vice President say with a shrug. “You have to start your war with Hexagone Française anyway, don’t you? And if Hexagone Française can start that while doing us a favor, all the better for them. Also…”

The girl opened a sign frame to start up a divine transmission, but it was to…

“Tomoe Gozen? Yes, sorry for the short notice, but you know the fleet you had monitoring us over there? Can we hire it as a mercenary force? We have Tres España here, so if we could do a recreation of some random Thirty Years’ War skirmish- oh, judge, judge, I know it’s not much to go on, but it’ll work, won’t it? Then I’ll send you the signal once things get started over here.”

The Musashi Vice President closed the sign frame and looked to Juana, deadly serious.

“I didn’t tell her what this meeting was about.”

“That isn’t the issue!”

“Yes, it is,” she insisted. “You declared war against us, but we don’t want to fight a war. So we’re hiring a nation to fight in our place – one that fits into the history recreation even. See, everything works out.”

She was deadly serious.

●

Vice President: “See!? I avoided war! I proved you all wrong!”

Flat Vassal: “Maybe, but you did it in the worst possible way!!”

Gold Mar: “She’s somehow transformed a local conflict at Kyou into the site of a major European war.”

Vice President: “What? What’s wrong now? Are you still not satisfied? I can drag more people into this if you really want me to. Do you?”

Almost Everyone: “Please stop!”

●

Juana thought back on what their Secretary had said: they can turn anything into their ally.

…I can’t believe they managed to drag the Protestants and Hexagone Française into this!

This is crazy, she thought while raising her voice.

“Wait!”

“You’re lucky the Horizon rules aren’t in effect. I’m willing to wait.”

Juana had no idea what that was supposed to mean, but Musashi were the experts when it came to bizarre behavior. And she knew what she had to say here.

“If you do that, it will transform the Osaka Bay region into a battlefield. And as our fleet travels to Kyou, the battlefield could stretch as far as the south side of Kyou. And if the Protestants arrive after that, Kyou’s skies will become a battlefield when they aren’t even done cleaning up after the collapse. Did you consider any of these risks!? Any at all!?”

“Oh, um, judge.” The Musashi Vice President nodded but didn’t seem happy about it. “But that’s all your responsibility since this will be either your war with Hexagone Française or a skirmish in the Thirty Years’ War, so could you stop blaming us for it? This has nothing to do with us. My point is,” she said. “If you want to stop this battle, you need to speak with Hexagone Française and the Protestants, not us. We’ll be heading to Honnouji and that’s that.”

I see, thought Juana. So that’s her strategy.

●

Juana worked her brain. She had thought Musashi planned to hire a mercenary force to strike back at Tres España, but she had not expected them to include Hexagone Française and the Protestants.

But she had a response to this.

“Then how about this?”

Had that wicked girl forgotten what she said before? Digging that back up would end this.

“We will accept your previous offer.” Juana struck with her words. “Tres España will work as a mercenary force for Musashi.”

●

Gold Mar: “Oh, crap.”

Asama: “Eh? Is that bad? Let’s see…um, Mito!!”

Silver Wolf: “Judge! If Tres España is working for Musashi, it means they’ve sided with us, which means no house party for my parents and the Protestants don’t need to come here either. It also means Musashi can let Tres España guard our base hulls.”

Flat Vassal: “Hm? I’m sure the Reine des Garous and the Protestants won’t be happy about that, but isn’t this a good thing because it ensures the Musashi’s safety?”

Worshiper: “No, this doesn’t solve anything regarding Tres España’s settlement plan.”

Silver Wolf: “Judge! If Tres España is allowed to return home now, they will begin their war against Hexagone Française right away. And even if we try to intervene, they will move to stop us.”

Asama: “Stop us? We can negotiate with Hexagone Française and England, can’t we? And didn’t they make a mistake letting us know about their settlement plan at all?”

Vice President: “They can easily stop us. If they refuse to let the Musashi stop at any of their ports, we can’t access any of the ports closest to the mainland’s coast. Also…”

Silver Wolf: “Now they can plan things out knowing their plan is known. And if everyone knows, Musashi and the other nations can use it in our negotiations.”

●

“Hm?”

Adele didn’t understand part of what Mitotsudaira had said.

Flat Vassal: “What good is using it in negotiations for the other nations once the spoilers are already out? Wouldn’t it only be useful for us?”

The only big names that could pull off a plan like that were Tres España and Musashi. Tres España had the greater scale and durability, while Musashi had greater adaptability.

…If Musashi tries to interfere, Tres España will work against us in their international negotiations.

Or they might even bring up the possibility of interference in those negotiations.

Flat Vassal: “But, like Asama-san said, doesn’t knowing about it still give us an advantage against Tres España?”

Scarred: “Lady Adele. Since we know about it now, we must continue to monitor the issue.”

Mary responded right away.

Scarred: “If we didn’t know, hadn’t noticed, or pretended not to notice, we could set the issue aside forever. If we both ignore the issue, we can both work on it independently. But now that we know, we can’t ignore it. In all negotiations going forward, this issue must be addressed and it will become a bargaining chip in all future meetings. Just like I used to be.”

In that case, thought Adele before the 1st Special Duty Officer spoke.

10ZO: “Tres España altered their plans after we saw through their settlement plan. Instead of setting it aside and hiding it, they are now using it as an immediate issue to address in our negotiations.”

Vice President: “Right. The problem is that we ca no longer pretend we haven’t noticed. Tres España sees our interference as a risk and we need them to officially grant us use of the ports necessary to settle the outside world. Whereas before we could have piggy-backed off of them.”

Flat Vassal: “Th-then…what advantage does this give the other nations?”

“That’s what I was wondering,” said Asama with a tilt of her head and the 5th Special Duty Officer answered.

Silver Wolf: “Our plan for settling the outside world was to either be hired by another nation or bring an offer to them, right? But now the other nations can compare our prices with Tres España’s. And Hexagone Française and England can negotiate to have us lower the price since they supported Musashi. And because they’re our sponsors.”

“Um,” Adele groaned in thought.

…Does that mean Musashi can’t determine the prices for the shipping and trade to the outside world!?

Silver Wolf: “Tres España can run this settlement industry as a nation, but they can also perform independent trade as a history recreation of the Far Eastern trade houses. That will give them a strong position when negotiating prices with the other nations. But with Musashi, while the Far East does hold trade houses along the Asian coast, that isn’t much compared to the world nations and it will be hard to make back enough money that way. That means our basic income will come from our sponsors, so they will definitely negotiate down the price a lot.”

Worshiper: “But if we hadn’t known, then when Tres España suddenly began their business in 11 years, we would have panicked but we could still have set the prices with the other nations in some short-term negotiations. Because while the other nations could negotiate down the prices with Tres España, Tres España would be starting fresh and would have to start at a much higher price. Unless they made a major gamble, there would be no crash in prices.

“But now that the cat’s out of the bag, what do you think will happen after 11 years of price negotiations? They really will have negotiated the prices down to the limit.”

10ZO: “Judge. I get how that benefits the other nations, but the Musashi does more than support settling the outside world. We do plenty of trade within the Far East too, right? Now, I’m no business expert, but is this really that big a deal?”

Worshiper: “I will answer in place of the former udon hag and geezer. If Musashi does try to work in that business, I think we will be in the red. With that cat out of the bag, Tres España will most likely put together some thoroughly aggressive prices and plans and this will be the primary issue they negotiate with other nations.”

Vice President: “That isn’t all.”

The Vice President continued with a sigh in her voice.

Vice President: “This new information will require us to negotiate with Tres España over the settlement business. It’s going to be a matter of contention. The other nations will see it as smaller Musashi attempting to compete with the much larger Tres España. What do you think those other nations will do when they see Tres España sidestepping everything we try to say about them?”

Adele more or less understood.

This was about a smaller being endlessly finding fault in a larger being. So…

Silver Wolf: “The other nations will demand we work this out quickly, won’t they?”

Vice President: “Yes. They will tell us to give up instead of digging in our heels. In other words, they will demand we ‘normalize’ our negotiations.”

Flat Vassal: “So they’ll be lecturing us?”

“You could say that,” said the Vice President.

Vice President: “Tres España is also part of Europe, so the European nations will probably accuse the Far East of trying to steal European interests. And whether or not anyone takes that seriously, it still gives them a justification to criticize the Far East. By demanding Musashi ‘normalize’ our negotiations, they can place Musashi below them. Even if we do try to negotiate with the other nations after that, we will have a hard time if they bring that up. Proving that it isn’t true will require using a bargaining chip of our own, or we could even have to give them a loan or support so they will ‘forget’ about it. That would honestly be a real pain.”

…Wow.

That does sound like a pain, thought Adele. But what did that mean altogether?

Flat Vassal: “Are we supposed to back out of the settlement business? If we do that, it means breaking our promise to help England and Hexagone Française with settling the outside world. And it will greatly reduce Musashi’s value to the other nations after the Apocalypse.”

What if Musashi’s value to them dropped to zero?

…We couldn’t get the provisional rule removed and we would lose all global authority!

This was a threat. Adele was now worried more about the distant future than she was about the present. And…

Unturning: “So whose fault is this?”

●

Juana saw the entire Musashi group – including the arms – look to their Vice President.

After a pause, the Vice President noticed their gazes.

“Wh-why are you all looking at me for a third time!? Don’t look! Stop looking at me!”

The Kyou rules really are gone, Juana noted.

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