Horizon:Volume 8C Chapter 87

Chapter 87: Satisfied Girl in the Land of Questions

Machines are happiest

When they have satisfied

Their own function

Point Allocation (Obviously)

Asama took the lead as they all ran into the imperial palace.

She was not particularly quick on her feet, so she had boosted her speed with a spell and was trying her best not to get in the others’ way.

“Submit!”

She clapped, spread her hands apart, clapped again, and bowed.

Then she opened a sign frame and greeted the local god. She of course used Sakuya’s name first, mentioned her IZUMO connection next, and only gave their own names last.

…Because gods can be so prideful!

The local god sent a reply granting them passage, but it came with a sun logo. Which meant…

“Wow, the emperor is the local god here! I had heard the rumors, but I didn’t expect to receive the imperial emblem!”

“Oh, Asama-kun! Let me see! Let me see!”

If anyone who didn’t work directly for Shinto saw it directly, it could harm the emblem, so she sent Neshinbara a photo of it instead. But…

“Huh!? This isn’t what I wanted, Asama-kun! This is a map of Kyou’s best restaurants!”

Horizey: “The emperor is such a sophisticated person. I assumed it would be replaced with a porn video.”

Wise Sister: “Heh heh. Right? I’m surprised it didn’t turn out as an ad for all the latest emperor merch. It’s surprises like this that really leave a good first impression! That said, I like Horizon’s idea too. Give us our porn, you cowards!!”

Asama: “Kimi, this the holiest place in the Far East!”

Me: “But aren’t we here to ransack the place?”

…No, we’re supposed to be stopping that.

She had said as much in her divine transmission to the local god. But it did scare her she hadn’t received any kind of response beyond the initial authorization. So she placed a divine protection on everyone’s feet to silence their footsteps and keep any dirt from falling off their shoes.

Urquiaga offered her his shoulder, so she sat on his right shoulder.

“It sure is quiet,” commented Narumi from his left shoulder.

“Yes. I think we haven’t received a response because the infrastructure needed for the local god to contact us has mostly been hijacked. Lord Akechi must have used his main shrine privileges to replace the system component.”

“Is that possible?”

Asama had some concerns, but she figured conjecture was acceptable at the moment. So she went ahead and said it.

“What if…the emperor is too busy controlling the ley lines to do any other work? What if the kinds of tasks a normal local god could handle are being done by the palace’s OS and automatons borrowing the emperor’s power output?”

“If so…” Narumi looked out ahead and placed a finger on her mouth. “What is the emperor exactly?”

That comment was joined by a sound. It came from past the torii up ahead. It reverberated from the passageway leading into a structure there.

“That was a gunshot!” exclaimed Tenzou.

Reizei nodded when she heard the gunshot.

She opened a sign frame and checked her own number. She was Automaton 0018, but even when she held up the frame…

“It still won’t open, huh? Then this is a job for me.”

“Everything here has been a job for you, Akechi-sama. This has been humiliating for one of the initial four-digit models.”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Akechi.

They were in a white hall. The stone room had a radius of about 20m and a surprisingly roughly constructed ceiling. The floor was polished enough to see their reflections in.

Rails for bringing in and sending out cargo began in the center of the room and led to the door in the back.

That door was a giant gate made of stone. Seamless stone.

“A stone door. That usually means the final boss is waiting on the other side.”

“Although to us, that is our actual boss.”

“Anyway,” said Akechi, spreading his arms but not opening sign frames.

He instead produced wings made of ether on either side of him. They were small symbols, only about 30cm. But…

“The leader of the Six Heavenly Demon Armies – my boss – gave me a minor servant. It can provide divine protections and it can act as either a Mouse or a weapon, but I have been using it like this since we arrived here.”

“And yet this is my first time hearing about it, Akechi-sama. You would hold your hand out and the gates would open. Without any kind of explanation, I assumed it was some form of illusion.”

“I thought you knew. Reizei-kun, didn’t you click your tongue when I opened that earlier gate?”

“I did not.”

“Yes, you did. I heard it.”

“Unit #70 was still battling the defense mechanisms at the time, so you must have heard a gunshot.”

Akechi reluctantly smiled at Reizei’s response. And…

“Oh, but I do have a question for you as #18.”

“What is it? I would like to have this gate open and start on my work as soon as possible, but I can spare 10 seconds to hear you out.”

“Okay,” said Akechi. “#18, why did you go along with my plan here?”

“I cannot say.”

Her immediate response made Akechi’s shoulders slump. And she tapped her fist against the stone gate.

“You have asked me that several times already. Humans have a bad habit of seeking other people’s opinions. Now, Akechi-sama, use that illusion of yours again.”

“That wasn’t what I meant, actually.”

Akechi swung his arms and something flowed out from the sleeves all at once.

It was written text. And it wasn’t in just one language. A variety of different languages formed waves as the flapping wings sent them flowing out.

The waves did not remain mere waves. The words rotated through the air, split apart based on their origins, and sometimes joined together to create new words.

“Jibril – authority over words. This power can fluidly permeate and fuse with any form of information. It was originally a wide-range acclimation defense against spells, but…”

There was a sound.

It came from the stone gate in front of them. The locks at the top and bottom unlocked and sign frames appeared. They said…

“Oh, looks like it doesn’t work if you aren’t from here.”

“You couldn’t have done it without me, Akechi-sama.”

Reizei nodded and placed her own sign frame over the one bearing the emperor’s logo.

After a few confirmation popups, they heard another door opening within and something heavy sliding into place.

The next thing they knew, white mist was leaking from a gap in the stone gate.

“Um, what is this? What is going on in there? Is everything frozen?”

“Your audience with the emperor is being prepared. I do not know if this is a bluff or not, but the process may be surprisingly similar to how your lunch was stored,” explained Reizei. “This door has not been opened in 18 years. And that was the only time since the Nanbokucho period. They decided it was the logical decision then and the same decision was made here, but given what happened afterwards, I have to wonder if there had been some other option. However…”

“However?”

“Well, if everything that happened ultimately led to what we are about to do, I am willing to accept it all. As automatons, we must accept that all the bad things that happened were the best possible choice.”

So…

“Please do not blame yourself, Akechi-sama.”

“That’s reassuring.”

Akechi reached a hand toward the stone gate.

“Once it’s open, bring in what I told you. The layout inside hasn’t been changed, has it? I’ll be alright?”

“You will.”

A light sound came from the passageway they had arrived down. Other automatons were carrying something this way.

Reizei listened to that as she continued.

“The emperor is a quiet person.”

Futayo ran through the battlefield.

At the bottom of the pit, she found a small hall and a passageway leading further underground.

…This is just like at Novgorod!

The only difference was finding automatons waiting for her instead of Fukushima.

She had seen their wreckage before, but these ones were unharmed. Since they were wielding rifles worn over the shoulder with sling belts, they must have been the guards.

The gunfire had already begun when Futayo jumped down from the last railing.

There were four of them. She shifted Tonbo Spare’s extension device and changed the weapon’s position when she landed and then raced toward the closest automaton.

The small hall was 30m wide and about 70m long.

It currently contained god of war wreckage and three layers of barricade had been created by stacking up stones that were probably construction materials.

The first barricade was on the right, the next on the left, and the third on the right. The passageway leading further underground gaped open beyond the barricades.

The pit’s walls had been dark rock, but this place was white. Nowhere to hide, noted Futayo as she ran.

The closest automaton stood in the center ahead of all three barricades.

Futayo knew that was a decoy. A decoy who knew she would be shot by her fellow automatons. Because…

…In that position, I have no choice but to go after her first!

The automaton held a gun. Ignoring her would get Futayo shot in the back. And since they had to leave after this was all over, she couldn’t be left here regardless.

But there was no cover where she was.

Futayo thought for a brief moment before giving up on thinking. She just had to check on one thing first.

“Masazumi!”

“Take care of it!”

Then take care of it she would.

The automaton standing out front saw the Musashi Vice Chancellor charging toward her.

The girl was fast, but there was no cover here. She was hopping side to side as a feint, but the amplitude of that was enough to immediately calculate when she would move toward the automaton.

So the automaton only had to aim her gun and fire. She held the front-loading repeater at her hip with its sling belt over her shoulder. She used the visual information to adjust its aim and synced her vision with it using a pseudo-smart system. With that done, she only had to predict the enemy’s movement based on her vision and fire there.

She fired. Her finger pulled the trigger thrice for a three-shot burst. The fuse rotated thrice and a bullet shot out each time. They flew toward the Musashi Vice Chancellor…who was no longer there.

“Eh?”

No, she was there. She had just moved faster than the automaton had predicted.

What did that mean?

The reason was obvious. The Musashi Vice Chancellor had removed the Vice President from her shoulder and thrown her into the air.

Her reduced weight had increased her speed. It could hardly be simpler.

The automatons made an immediate decision. They numerically measured the threat and compared their answers.

The airborne Vice President had no weapon. She effectively had no combat ability, so she was low on the threat scale. Conversely, the Vice Chancellor was faster, lighter, and had use of both her arms.

The Vice Chancellor was the threat. So the automaton made a decision and gave a command.

She fired out ahead of the Musashi Vice Chancellor and spoke to the others.

“Fire.”

Bullets flew from three points behind her.

They were all aimed at the path ahead of the Musashi Vice Chancellor. The Musashi Vice Chancellor was coming straight toward the lead automaton. So the others fired on that automaton. Even if her own bullet missed, the others’ bullets would pass through her and reach the Musashi Vice Chancellor.

Just as she felt confident of their victory, the Musashi Vice Chancellor disappeared.

…Eh?

It happened so suddenly the automaton failed to reach any kind of decision. But the others’ bullets were arriving from behind.

The enemy was no longer there, so she realized her sacrifice would be for naught. But just then…

“That was a poor decision.”

A voice came from right in front of her.

Before she could figure out what this meant, the automaton found her vision spinning.

Her feet had been rapidly swept out from under her.

Futayo had not hesitated.

When the lead automaton had fired, she had charged straight in but adjusted her path in one specific way: down.

She had slid. The floor was polished, so she slid quite well using her hip skirt armor. And she chose a path that went…

…Right below the enemy’s gun!

It was obvious at a glance that the enemy’s vision was fixed to the gun barrel. Her face and eyes had not turned in Futayo’s direction, but the gun barrel was pursuing her. Futayo made a few feints just to be sure, but the automaton’s face hadn’t moved while the gun barrel did. That was enough for a general idea of how it worked.

But even with her vision set to the gun barrel, she wasn’t actually looking straight out from the muzzle. If so, the bullet would obscure her view.

So it was likely set above the barrel. Setting it below would place the barrel itself in between her original viewpoint and the new one when switching. Even if it gave a nice view, setting it above seemed more advantageous.

So Futayo had chosen to slide in below the barrel. Because there…

…She shouldn’t see my approach past the bullet and the muzzle flash!

The automaton would have seen her if she was still using the view from her face. Her two eyes were spaced apart enough to provide greater three-dimensional vision and depth perception. But she had set her vision on the barrel for ease of aiming and that had created an opening.

She likely hadn’t have known how Futayo managed to sweep her feet out from under her.

Futayo had used the bottom of Tonbo Spare. It was no more than a light jab using the extension device. The automaton pitched forward and fell over. Once Futayo was past her, she hopped up onto her knees.

While she did, she reached out, grabbed the rifle’s sling belt, and yanked on the automaton’s body, further tripping her in midair. Through that, she stole the rifle while the enemy’s bullets pierced through the empty space the automaton had just vacated.

Futayo had seen the path of the bullets. She knew the enemy was at the origins of those paths.

She hopped up from her knees and placed her feet under her. She let her sliding momentum pull her forward to attack the barricade on the right.

The automaton at the front right barricade could not see the Musashi Vice Chancellor.

The girl had charged in while ducking lower than the barricade of stacked stone.

But the automaton could see something: her spear. It had just hopped upwards.

…There!

She fired.

There was no on there.

She had only seen the thrown spear spinning without its owner.

The Musashi Vice Chancellor wasn’t there.

“#82!” shouted #64 from the rear right barricade.

She must have seen the enemy.

“To your right!”

The automaton obeyed her fellow automaton’s instruction.

She aimed her gun right and fired her second shot the instant she saw someone leaping over the barricade.

A moment later, she was hit by the illusion that she had exploded.

…Eh?

Her vision was to blame. Her vision was set to her gun barrel and it had exploded into sparks while intense noise ran through the signal.

“–––––”

She quickly canceled the sight adjustment. Then she saw the barrel of her rifle had ruptured and split. The damage must have been accompanied by great heat because a shimmering and some smoke rose from the metal tube.

…What happened?

She saw something scattering in the air. It was a palm-sized black metal box.

The box was the front-loading magazine for a rifle. The powder and bullets came as a set and one of those sets had just ruptured, producing hot smoke as it fell.

Only then did the automaton realize that was what she had just shot.

The Musashi Vice Chancellor had tossed the magazine toward her muzzle while making a double feint. First distracting the automaton with her spear and then with herself.

The automaton’s mistake was searching for the enemy and asking her fellow automatons for the answer. Otherwise, she would have seen what was right in front of her.

The magazine had ruptured.

Her carelessness had cost her her weapon. She could no longer fight. And her opponent…

“#64!”

The enemy moved toward the second barricade. She grabbed the spear that had cleared the automaton’s head and ran straight there.

Masazumi saw it happen while the ascent of her flight came to an end and she began the fall.

The second barricade was on the left. The automaton there immediately fired at Futayo.

But sparks and a metallic noise scattered in the space between those two.

The obstacle to blame was in the air.

…The first automaton’s rifle!

If the enemy could see from their barrel, Futayo only had to throw something between them. That was a lot easier said than done and it took guts too.

Futayo closed in on the automaton. She also raised her right arm in the air. She spiked the midair rifle as it hopped up from being shot, slamming it toward her opponent.

That opponent did not try to oppose the flying rifle. She dodged it by sliding rapidly to the outside edge.

Because…

“#67!”

That voice had to be the automaton at the rearmost barricade.

Even further back than where Masazumi was going to fall, the automaton protected by the last barricade fired on Futayo. The automaton at the left barricade cleared her ally’s line of fire and sent her own bullet toward Futayo.

A duet of gunshots rang out and flew toward Futayo. The thrown rifle bounced in midair.

Masazumi felt she was at risk here, but she felt something else as well.

…I can count on her.

The thought came unbidden, but she knew it was true and reliable. The thought was based on all of Futayo’s battles she had seen and been caught up in.

If she was being honest, she was so out her league here she didn’t have much choice but to count on Futayo.

Meanwhile, Futayo was moving below. Just as it looked like she would be shot, she moved forward.

She should have been hit by the enemy bullets without cover, but sparks blossomed in midair.

There was some cover in the air there.

The spiked but evaded rifle had suddenly changed direction in midair.

The hunk of metal moved between Futayo and the 3rd automaton even as it fell apart. How had she managed that?

…Was it the belt!?

#64, who was guarding the 2nd barricade, realized how the enemy had directed her makeshift cover through the air.

…She cut the belt and grabbed it!

The rifle’s sling belt was meant to be worn over the shoulder, but this opponent had cut one side from its clasp.

That explained why she had struck it when throwing it at #64 earlier. She had been holding one end of the belt, so her hand had formed a fist.

The rifle had bounced back through the air like a counterweight and blocked #64’s bullet.

And now she was approaching.

The enemy’s advance dodged #67’s bullet fired from behind #64 on the left.

The enemy was coming.

#64 groaned and started to leave her barricade.

But she couldn’t.

Aiming her gun at the enemy had extended its sling belt and the rifle the enemy had used as cover had fallen inside the sling belt. A split second later, the rifle acted as a hook and the enemy tugged at her.

She and her belt were pulled toward the enemy.

The enemy greeted her with a jab of her spearhead.

…Oh, no!

She could not dodge. The instant she realized her erroneous decision, she felt something cold run across her neck.

It was the blade. But it had not cut through her neck. Instead, it had cut the taut belt. With a snapping sound, her neck was freed from the belt. And her gun was stolen away. Meanwhile, the enemy cleared the barricade and landed without killing her momentum.

“–––––––”

#64 stretched out her hand, but she couldn’t reach.

The enemy ran straight toward the final automaton.

The final automaton, #67, made a decision.

She switched off the pseudo-smart system placing her vision on the barrel and returned to her usual sight devices.

She had a reason for that decision. Her fellow automatons had been defeated when the enemy took advantage of that method’s downside. And when her wider field of vision returned, she saw…

…The Musashi Vice President!

The girl was beginning to fall. The Musashi Vice Chancellor would have to catch her.

That meant the Vice Chancellor was guaranteed to arrive at the Vice President’s landing point. So if #67 fired a bullet there…

“You are mine!”

She fired. The Musashi Vice Chancellor made a leap a moment later.

And just as #67 calculated her shot would hit…

“Masazumi!”

The Musashi Vice Chancellor sent out her spear one-handed.

She used the extension device to hit the airborne Vice President.

#67 saw it happen.

The Vice Chancellor let go of her spear in a diagonal orientation such that the tip pierced the floor and the bottom struck the Vice President.

But this wasn’t actually an attack against the Vice President. The girl’s legs were ready and waiting. Her left leg was pulled up such that the bottom of the spear struck the hard heel of her shoe.

“––––––”

The Vice President made another jump in midair.

Meanwhile, the Vice Chancellor dodged #67’s bullet. She dropped to one knee where she had sent the spear toward the Vice President and she skidded forward. That created a slight lag, but the bullet only tore into the floor in front of her.

In her kneeling position, the Vice Chancellor slid on her knee armor and heel while taking a certain stance.

She readied the rifle she had stolen from #64.

And she fired it.

#67 assumed it was aimed at her, but it wasn’t. It was aimed at her rifle.

The bullets weren’t perfectly aimed, but they still managed to hit the barrel and forend. A shock ran through the front-loading magazine attached below the barrel.

“Ah!”

The magazine exploded, taking the rifle with it.

Futayo threw aside the now-empty rifle and stood up.

She reached out her right hand and grabbed the fully-extended Tonbo Spare which was falling over after hitting Masazumi. The automaton behind her turned around, holding her wrist which must have been hurt in the rifle’s explosion.

“Why!?”

Futayo didn’t understand. Why? Why what?

But that made it a free question. She figured she could say whatever she wanted.

She did so while catching falling Masazumi, spinning around once to reduce the impact of the fall, and taking off running again.

“I only did what I could!”

Yes. Breaking through here was expected of her as Musashi’s top warrior.

So as she made her way to the passageway leading down…

“Masazumi, the rest is likely up to you!”

Masazumi nodded at Futayo’s statement and thought, She’s changed too.

She sometimes got into a weird slump or got obsessed with weird sweets, but she was joining the others in their sleepovers recently.

…She’s learned to do more than just defeat the enemy.

Their policy of never losing anyone was seen as insincere because it was a nigh impossible task. If you said you could do the impossible just to increase your apparent value, then that was indeed insincere.

But what if you could actually do it?

Masazumi thought Futayo’s previous statement was fine. If only the idiot and Horizon didn’t have such high hopes and such an optimistic outlook.

…Regardless, we need to start by doing the things we can do.

Futayo rarely said much, so Masazumi appreciated that she had done that here.

Presently, Futayo jumped down a set of stairs all at once and landed in a wide stone passageway.

Futayo stopped once there to speak.

“This must be the bottom level. The floor isn’t hollow.”

You can tell? wondered Masazumi.

…Oh?

The ground suddenly shook. And this wasn’t just any tremor. It was a deep shaking.

“Just like at Mikawa.”

“You mean the one everyone said they could feel even on the Musashi?”

Futayo had been far away at the time, but that wasn’t worth worrying about.

“Yes, it felt just like this. Asama later explained it was caused by the ley lines.”

“Then Lord Akechi must be having a party through here.”

With that, Futayo looked to the floor. The stone paved floor had a set of embedded transport rails running down the center.

The rails were dully glowing, meaning they had recently been used.

“Did he bring his dragon reactor in here?” asked Futayo.

“Yes, I think we should hurry.”

The two of them followed the rails back to their source and saw something at a nearby wall. A torii marked the entrance of…

“An elevator. Maybe taking this down would have been easier,” said Futayo.

“I’m sure they would have forced us to get off at a higher floor. They were waiting for us, remember?”

“Which means I eliminated that obstacle for everyone else.”

…Oh, she can find an explanation to satisfy herself.

She really has changed, thought Masazumi, but she started to worry when she saw the “Earthly World” label, which apparently indicated the elevator’s top floor, glowing an ominous red.

“L-let’s stop talking and get going!”

Just as she urged Futayo on, a voice reached them from down the passageway.

“We were expecting you. Please, this way.”

It was a quiet, but unmistakable voice. It belonged to…

“Reizei!?”

Reizei was waiting at the closed stone door.

She spread her arms in front of the door, awaiting the two people arriving in the hall.

“Sorry, we got delayed completing our assignment. Is the meeting to be held here?”

“Through this door. Do you know what this place is?”

“Where are we, Masazumi?” asked the Vice Chancellor.

“Well, um, that would take a while to explain, but simply put, I think we’re in front of the emperor’s room.”

Was that really a sufficient answer? But the Vice Chancellor’s response was to gasp and point at Reizei’s feet.

“And you’re wearing your outdoor shoes! Show some respect!”

“S-so are you two! And my feet have a ‘treadless’ divine protection.”

The Vice Chancellor looked to the Vice President and the latter responded.

“Um, right. Asama should clean up after us later. I guess?”

“Judge! Then we have nothing to worry about. Now, maid, what did you want?”

…These people are so hard to deal with.

But she did have something to ask.

“When I made Akechi-sama my master, I asked him a certain question. He gave the correct answer, so I accepted him as my master.

“Now, I ask you,” said Reizei. “What is the emperor?”

Masazumi sensed her eyebrows rising.

…The emperor?

Hadn’t they already covered this?

Besides, it wasn’t entirely clear what that question was asking.

…What answer are you looking for here?

The person who managed the ley lines.

The unaging being who had lived since the Age of Dawn.

Most likely, one of the Party of Seven Hundred who had met the Environmental Gods during the Age of Dawn.

And Azuma’s mother.

That about covered the answers Masazumi could come up with. It felt like a question Neshinbara would love to field, but Asama or the representative of another religion were more likely to know the answer.

But what was Masazumi supposed to say?

“Can I have a moment to think it over?”

“You only have 3 minutes left.”

As long as Reizei would wait. Masazumi held her palm out without answering. She needed to figure out what direction to take her thoughts on this. Then Futayo spoke up.

“We pass! Now, either give us another question or let us through without answering.”

We must be so hard to deal with.

Reizei saw the Vice President pat the Vice Chancellor on the shoulder and tell her to calm down.

That had honestly been a close one. She had asked her question but they had tried to pass on it. That had never happened before, so she didn’t have a response prepared. Automatons always sought the best answer, so she might have admitted to being at fault and gone along with it. She didn’t know if this would ever happen again, but her long life was always full of surprises. I need to remember this one. But…

“Sorry about that. Can I ask one thing?”

“As long as you do not ask for the answer.”

“Okay.” The Vice President spoke to her. “You said Lord Akechi has managed Kyou for a while, right? Then…”

Here came the question.

“He contacted Azuma while Azuma lived here, didn’t he?”

Reizei nodded at the Vice President’s question.

“The prince is said to be the emperor’s child, so as the manager of Kyou, Akechi-sama arranged the prince’s education and his later secularization.”

“I see,” said the Vice President, nodding.

…Well done.

That was an excellent question, thought Reizei.

The Vice President was viewing the facts and she had hesitated.

A very human response.

But she asked another question.

“You say Azuma is said to be the emperor’s child, right?”

And…

“And you asked us what the emperor is, right?”

She had to know the answer now. Reizei understood why she would hesitate, but she wasn’t going to play along.

“Give me your answer.”

“Sure.”

The Vice President took a step forward and opened her mouth. And just as the words left her…

“–––––”

The earth shook and the imperial palace rumbled.

But Reizei had heard the Vice President’s answer. Her voice had been drowned out by the rumbling, but Reizei had read her lips.

…Well done.

That was the exact answer Akechi had given without hesitation. To arrive at it so quickly told Reizei that the next generation had arrived.

Reizei felt satisfaction.

This was different from receiving a perfect evaluation on the quality of their work or giving one on the quality of someone else’s work.

She had just realized that everything they had done had linked to someone else’s work and that other person was perfectly capable of taking over.

This wasn’t just about the present. She felt confident about the past, the present, and the future. And…

…Akechi-sama.

Someone who can surpass us has arrived, thought Reizei.

Yes. The automatons had sensed something similar in Akechi too.

They had sensed possibility for the future.

That was something they lacked since they only guarded and updated the past without ever changing its essential form. Because searching out something new was to expose yourself to taboos and possibly tear down the present.

In the past, something had exposed them by violating that rule. But even if it had been necessary, it had reshaped the world.

So at the time, they had felt the past needed to be sealed away.

But now that the Apocalypse was in motion, they weren’t so sure

Then two men had paid them a visit. One a teacher and the other a student. They had searched around the world, so they could make good guesses regarding the meaning of the inner palace and greater palace and regarding what the emperor was.

They had also understood the solution to the Apocalypse.

…To end it but not to let it end.

Accomplishing that was sure to free the automatons in every way.

But, they had thought. Is that really the best answer? Is there no other possibility?

Was there no way to keep things going?

Time had passed and a man had arrived.

The boy who had once visited them as a student had become a teacher and taught this man as the next generation of student.

He had looked unusually old for his age and he had called himself a terrible student. Sure enough, he had not arrived at the information the previous two had and his proposed solution had been imposed upon him.

But 10 years ago, he had suddenly taken action.

And after a few more springs passed, he had spoken to Reizei.

“I don’t actually plan to do it, but I do have a somewhat rebellious idea.”

“What might that be?”

“Reveal my teacher’s path to some others.”

“What others? Akechi-sama, I wasn’t aware you had any friends.”

“I used to, long ago. Or I think I did anyway,” he had said. “It’s too late once it’s all set in motion, but if I reveal everything, it might throw the world into chaos. This world is all about personal benefit and the Far East is still in a tough spot after what happened way back when. But I get the feeling the Prince of Orange is thinking something similar. He still hasn’t returned the book I lent him.”

So…

“I will reveal everything to someone with different ideas, who I feel can come up with a different method.”

“So you don’t have another method in mind yourself?”

“I enjoyed my time working for my teacher. Trying to forcibly surpass him would be an insult to everyone who was lost…and I would regret it myself. So…”

So…

“I will release the information. I don’t know if it will be in time or if it will be any use, but I will make the world a fairer place. This is my irresponsible way of saying I wouldn’t mind it if everything my teacher and the others decided doesn’t come to pass. If everyone is tilling the fields and someone is staring to the end of the path between the fields, I’m fine with only being the person who gives them a push forward. I’ve seen my own dream, so I want to give some support to someone with a dream I’ve never even considered.”

“I see,” was Reizei’s response at the time. “Then I will be the one to support you, Akechi-sama.”

Time had flown after that. She hadn’t expected it to ever actually happen, but Akechi’s words had given them all a more hopeful goal to work toward.

And now here they were. The next generation had arrived. Was the end of the path between the fields located behind her back?

Now, thought Reizei. I have completed my final task.

Because their work had been inherited by someone else, just in a form she didn’t even recognize. So…

“––––––”

Reizei let them through.

Masazumi saw Reizei fall silent.

Reizei was guarding the stone door with her eyes shut and her arms slightly spread. But she wasn’t responding to anything Masazumi said.

“Could it be?”

Masazumi exchanged a glance with Futayo, hurried up next to Reizei, and stood in front of the stone door. And she looked.

“Reizei…no, #18.”

She touched the stone door and lightly pushed.

It opened. And…

“We are in your debt,” said Futayo. “This means you chose to trust us, doesn’t it?”

Reizei did not move. She had completed her purpose as an automaton, so all of her functions had ceased.

Running footsteps approached from behind.

“Hey, Seijun! What’s going on here!?”

Masazumi nodded back at the others. She and Futayo had gone ahead, cleared out the enemy, and opened the gate. We’re like the outriders, she thought with a bitter smile, but this was something she had decided long ago. She could tell that when she looked to Reizei. She was the same. So…

“We cleared you a path, idiot.”

Mitotsudaira heard Masazumi speak with a hand on the stone door.

“Listen. I gave Reizei there an answer. Most likely, we’ll have that answer confirmed through here, so don’t let it shock you.”

“How do you expect us to respond when you put it like that?” asked Mitotsudaira.

“Don’t worry about it,” said Masazumi.

There had to be a story behind that unmoving automaton. Her king sighed and spoke to her.

“Let her talk a little more. She’s just excited after getting her job done.”

Mitotsudaira smiled bitterly and gave a quick bow. So the rest of them followed after Masazumi as she pushed on the stone door.

Asama took a deep breath and checked over everyone’s divine protections. But she had already done that countless times on the way here.

“Try not to be so nervous,” said Mitotsudaira.

“I’d love to, but this is like my big boss’s home.”

Just as Asama responded, a divine transmission sign frame opened and a voice spoke from it.

“Hi. You made it, if just barely.”

So.

“Let’s make this a worldwide broadcast. Class will begin as soon as you arrive.”

Oh, I’m enjoying this, thought Mitsuhide.

If he could complete all of this, he would surpass all those fun times of old and finally reach the same level as the others. Then he could hold his head high and they would know he was just as great as they were.

…What the Musashi Chancellor said on the Ariake really caught me by surprise.

The boy had told him to come to them if he needed someone to rely on. Which was why he had come to them now.

He would ask them to surpass all those who had come before and reach some place he had never even seen before.

“That is what I want from you.”

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