Chapter Text
Inside the destroyed great door on the third floor of the keep, a silver-haired female swordsman in haori-hakama is preparing for iai.
On Sunda Kalapa's side outside the great door, three swordsmen had already been wounded and were unable to enter the door.
Tamami, looking exhausted, comes up behind Syuko, who has defended the entrance to the third floor. "Syuko-dono..., the situation is over."
"Ah, yes." Without releasing her posture, Syuko called out to the samurai camped on the other side of the destroyed door. "Is there anyone over there who is the next great person after the deceased homeland chief retainer? If so, bring some of them to us."
Syuko asked, and the samurai on the other side of the entrance looked at each other.
Does she mean that they are going to surrender?
Some of the samurai outside the room put down their katanas and walked down the stairs, twisting their necks.
At that moment, Tamami noticed someone coming down from the fourth floor, which was supposed to be empty.
When she turned around, she saw that it was Ayame, dressed in a shinobi costume.
"Tamami-dono. I have been watching you carefully as you perform your duties."
Ayame, who had been lying on the roof of a turret away from the keep due to exhaustion, awoke to find Nagahure escaping from Tamami by Madou-nin and gently descending through the midair. The next moment, Tamami activates Sever Spirit, killing Nagahure instantly.
Having regained her strength after a brief rest, Ayame jumped from the turret to the second-floor roof of the keep, and then went straight up to the third-floor roof and descended to the third floor via the keep top room.
While Tamami was discussing the future with Ayame, there was movement.
A young samurai of about 40 years old appeared on the third floor with a bodyguard. "I am Inotama, the Accounting Magistrate."
Goleizai explained to Ayame and Tamami, who were puzzled by his youthfulness. "Most local fiefdoms have toshiyori-shoku(elder-positions) under the chief retainer, but Matsutomo Lon did not allow this, and only allowed a maximum of magistrate positions."
Matsutomo was very thorough in eliminating anyone who might threaten his position. Therefore, this man, who was much younger than Matsutomo, who was nearly 60 years old, was Matsutomo's second in command.
"Please come in." Called out by Ayame, Inotama prepared himself to enter the room through the destroyed entrance.
"And your guards too. You can let some of the others in as well."
At Ayame's prompting, several of Sunda Kalapa's remaining senior officials sit side by side in the tatami room on the third floor.
After receiving a letter from Tamami, Ayame shows them the front page of the letter. "This is an Ottesata-Letter."
"Oh...!" Inotama's face hardened when he saw the front page. He knew what Ottesata-Letter meant.
Ayame opened the Ottesata-Letter and read it to them on Tamami's behalf.
"The rebellion of Sunda Nagahure, Lord of Sunda Kalapa, against the Imperial House is clear. Therefore, I order the Telask follower, Wakiyama Tamami, to kill Nagahure and forbid you to use the Resurrect spell on Sunda Nagahure until further notice."
Ottesata(until further notice)-Letter was an official letter ordering the prohibition of the use of the Resurrect spell.
It is issued after consultation with the Vijaya cult, the golden sun goddess who presides over renewal and rebirth in Vormain.
Only Vijaya cults have access to the Resurrect spell in Vormain. The Resurrect spell is never cast on the person designated by this Ottesata-Letter. Even if Resurrect was cast by mistake, it was ineffective as long as it was cast by a Vijaya follower.
Of course, the Vijaya cult does not ban the Resurrect spell without a quid pro quo; the issuance of the Ottesata-Letter required a huge donation from the Imperial House to the Vijaya cult. Therefore, Ottesata-Letters are not issued randomly, but only to a very small number of people who are publicly regarded as enemies of the Imperial House.
As Inotama's face grew paler and paler, Ayame continued reading. "Likewise, I forbid the Resurrect spell on homeland chief retainer Matsutomo Lon. The administration of Sunda Kalapa shall be entrusted to the Commander of the Sunda Kalapa Sorcerer Corps of Zishu for the time being. The vassals are to seek the decision of the Commander of the Sunda Kalapa Sorcerer Corps as soon as possible."
Inotama looked up with a start when he heard that much. "It's not a seizure of territory...?"
Ayame nodded.
Immediately, Inotama showed a look of relief.
When an aristocratic family is abolished at the discretion of the Imperial House, the territory is usually seized by the Imperial House and then placed in the hands of another aristocratic family.
However, Sunda Kalapa can maintain its independence under the Sorcerer Corps.
Ayame unfolds the Ottesata-Letter so that Sunda Kalapa's relics can see its contents.
She then folded the letter and handed it to Tamami behind her.
After receiving the Ottesata-Letter from Ayame, Tamami now handed it to Inotama.
Inotama bows his head and reverently accepts the letter.
Now, Tamami, the executor of Sunda Nagahure's execution, will no longer be targeted by the surviving members of Sunda Kalapa's family. If Tamami, the official executor, were to be killed, Sunda Kalapa would be dealt with even more severely.
The vassals will be placed under the Sorcerer Corps, but the Sorcerer Corps will not know anything about territorial administration, so in the end the vassals will continue to do their business. If they attack Tamami, that premise is gone.
The reason why Tamami is the executor of the death penalty is that she must be a Telask follower who belongs directly to the Imperial House.
It is not permissible for a person like Goleizai, who is a Telask believer but not directly affiliated with the Imperial House, or for a person like Ayame, who is directly affiliated with the Imperial House but not a Telask believer.
Tamami, who had worked as a covert swordsman for the Ren Golan government for a short time, was, oddly enough, qualified for both. If a qualified person from Sunda Kalapa were to contact the Telask temple with the Ottesata-Letter, they would respond that it was indeed Tamami who murdered Nagahure and that Tamami was qualified to do so.
The Ottesata-Letter was a letter guaranteeing the safety of the person who had carried out the imperial execution of the death penalty, as well as the livelihood of the remaining family members and surviving vassals.
Inotama backed away and left the third floor with the other chief vassals.
After a few moments, a surprised voice rose from the second-floor hall where Sunda Kalapa's vassals were lined up.
This was probably because the response was warmer than expected from Sunda Kalapa, whose rebellion against the Imperial House had been obvious.
Goleizai calls out to Ayame. "Sunda Kalapa will now be quiet, but what should we do with Madou-nin?"
Ayame shakes her head. "It is not what I think..., but I don't think Inin will send a large force of men to Chadu to hunt them down. Also, since I have killed the chieftain Ma Taaro, it would be difficult for the Madou-nin who have been dispatched to various places to unite their forces."
Goleizai was so surprised by Ayame's story that he almost fell to the ground. "Oh, my God...! Did you kill Ma Taaro?"
"Yes."
The head of the azur-hawk-group gazed in awe at the fifteen-year-old girl who nodded her head so easily.
After completing their mission, Ayame and Tamami did not return directly to Ren Golan, but headed for Yendori to inform the mystics in Yendori that Yoshino was staying in Samoagey Forest.
However, in Zishu, where they stopped along the way, they were informed by Kalapa Kurato, leader of the Sunda Kalapa Sorcerer Corps, that Yoshino was safe.
Ayame and her friends go to the hidden village of the fox women, where the seal has been broken, and encounter Yoshino who is being nursed by Yendori's mystics.
Yoshino, who was lying on the wooden floor of the chief's mansion, spoke to Ayame and the others. "I have decided to spend this winter in the hidden village with the mystics of Yendoori."
Ayame, who heard Yoshino's story, asked Syuko. "What are you going to do now, Syuko-dono?"
"I'm going back to Ya Mon Wou with Sae-han after seeing my master's face."
"What...?" Tamami and the others are surprised, but Sae is beaming happily beside Syuko.
After reflecting on this incident, Syuko was entrusted with the responsibility of communicating with fox women and Imperial House. She will return to Chadu for the summer and spend the winter in Ya Mon Wou.
When she is in Ya Mon Wou, she will live in Sae's parents' house.
"Shall we go from Yendori to Ren Golan after seeing Master Sagon?"
"Yes..." Syuko nodded at Ayame's suggestion.
Outside the chief's mansion where they were, the snow that had fallen in earnest was quietly piling up in large quantities.
Thus, thanks to the young girls, the liberation of Vormain's greatest taboo, Red-Eboshi, was prevented and civil war was averted.
But then, with the issue behind, Sunda Kalapa, the leader of the opening of the country faction, gone, Hairunin Vando, the father-in-law to His Majesty the Celestial Sovereign, however, issued a great order of reconquista to regain the Old Pure Lands that had once constituted Vormain.
This will lead to the Hero Wars in the Eastern Isles, where Vormain will clash with the demons called Andin and the people of Haragala. We will have to wait for the conclusion of the Hero Wars to know what to make of the battle in which Ayame, Tamami, and the others risked their lives.
Meanwhile, back in time...
In the early hours of the morning following the night of the death of Deathpa Ma Taaro, head of Madou-nin, and Sunda Nagahure, lord of Sunda Kalapa.
Madou-nin, a Fly spellcaster belonging to the same family as Kachin the Flying Ninja, has reached Madou-nin's ship, which is cruising in the waters near Nshenyi.
He reports to the captain standing on deck. "Deathpa Ma Taaro-sama, he has been killed! Lord Nagahure-sama is also dead!"
"I see..." Nurin, Ma Taaro's son and the ship's captain, nodded his head, not seeming shocked.
The ship is called 'Starvingwolf-maru' and, unusually for a Vormain ship, has a carved wooden upper body of a wolf on the bow.
Just as the Inin believe in a frog spirit called 'Hell Toad,' the Ganin once believed in a wolf spirit. However, they lost that belief a long time ago, which led to a brief switch in the clan's magic to sorcery.
Still, some of the Madou-nin knew that Ganin once believed in wolf spirits, and the ship was named after that lore.
Nurin liked the name of the ship and the wolf statue on the bow.
"Nurin, what are you going to do now?" Ittenshiba, who prides himself on being Nurin's advisor, asks Nurin. "The old men of the village will not recognize you as the next chieftain."
Ittenshiba's calm remark was met with a bored nod from nurin, who had long hair and a black cloth covering only the area from the nose down. "I don't need you to tell me that, I know that."
The Madou-nin in Nshenyi were destroyed. The remaining Madou-nin were divided into four groups: Bisilo in Belgeng, Rhojan in Chadu, Madou-nin Village, and Arshu Vilake in Ghenisk. Nurin could not imagine that all of them would be docile enough to follow him.
At this point, Nurin does not know that the Madou-nin forces headed for Samoagey Forest from village have been destroyed.
But even if he had known, his actions from now on would have been the same.
Nurin turned and ordered Hagino, the female ninja accompanying him. "Hagino, gather everyone on deck."
"...yes." Hagino, not knowing what Nurin had in mind, replied after a beat.
She said nothing more and headed for the bottom of the ship where the rest of the Madou-nin were hiding.
Just as the winter sun is about to rise, all the madou-nin on board gather on deck.
"Listen up, boys!" Nurin, standing on the bow side of the ship with his older-brother rank Ittenshiba diagonally to his left, shouted. "My father is dead! And so is Nagahure, his lord."
This information was indeed upsetting even to shinobi, the Madou-nins.
"This ship is now heading for Arshu Vilake."
It was a reasonable decision. Arshu Vilake, though an enclave of Sunda Kalapa, is almost entirely under Madou-nin control.
But Nurin's next statement was unexpected by them.
"After that, this ship will head north!"
Unsure of the intent of Nurin's statement, the Madou-nin under his command were stunned.
"...Hagino." Nurin called out to Hagino, who was standing to his right, and Hagino handed Nurin a large book.
Nurin opens the last page of the sorcery book, pulls out a map and unfolds it. "Look at this!"
The map was not very large, but the Madou-nin had the winter sunrise behind them, and their training allowed them to see the map well enough in the pale light of the morning sun.
"This is the map of Glorantha drawn by the God Learners!"
Most of the Madou-nin aboard this ship are low-status shinobi, servants of Nurin. They had never seen such a map, which causes a murmur.
"This is the Vormain we're at! To most of you guys, this is too small to see."
As Nurin said, few could see Vormain on his map. Only a few people in the front row could make out Vormain.
"The continent of Genertela is to the north of this map, and the one to the south is the continent of Pamaltera."
Upon hearing Nurin's statement, several of Nurin's immediate subordinates had an idea of what he would say next.
"This ship will leave Arshu Vilake and then head to... the continent of Genertela!"
The buzz on deck instantly dies down at the sheer shock of his declaration.
"Those who don't want to go to Genertela, get off at Arshu Vilake! What you do from there is up to you. But... Sunda Kalapa is gone. We ain't Madou-nin. We are Ganin! We're back in Ganin!”
They found themselves no longer under the aegis of Sunda Kalapa...
This fact caused some excitement, especially among Nurin's minions.
"When we approach the continent of Genertela, we will raid Kralorela's ships, stop at Teshnos, and head for Kethaela! Our final destination is... Seshnela, the source of Western Sorcery!"
The Madou-nin on deck are thrilled by Nurin's grand plan.
Most of the people aboard the ship are young Madou-nin, Nurin's subordinates. Depressed by the lack of important assignments, they were enthusiastic about this new Quest.
Ittenshiba, arms crossed, watches the fussing young madou-nin with a wry smile from behind Nurin.
Nurin, elated as his men, once again raises Glorantha's map high in the air.
"Let's go, you guys! It's Genertela...! In Genertela, blow up a storm of Ganin's Art!"
Glorantha Performance 2 : The Land of The Color Gods - End -