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Chapter 8: Meeting the Enemy -monster-
While the Kingdom’s fleet and Archipelago Union’s fleet were staring each other down across a wall of flames, far away in her office in Valois, the capital of the Gran Chaos Empire, Empress Maria was standing by the window, looking outside.
Jeanne, the Little Sister General, called to her, “Sister. Is it around time for the Kingdom’s and the Archipelago Union’s fleets to be facing one another?”
“Hee hee, yes, it is. I’m sure everyone will be quite surprised by the result.”
Hearing her response, Jeanne clutched her temples and let out a sigh. “It surprised me, too, during that meeting. I never thought I’d ever hear you support King Souma sending a fleet to the Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago. The idea of you endorsing an invasion was unfathomable.”
“Oh, I don’t recall Sir Souma or I ever mentioning an ‘invasion’ or anything of the sort, you know?” Maria gave a mischievous chuckle, irking Jeanne a little.
“That’s certainly true, but... he said that if he didn’t strike at the root of the illegal fishing problem, he’d just be playing whack-a-mole, didn’t he? From the way he was talking, isn’t it natural to assume he was referring to the Archipelago Union’s fleet as the ‘root of the problem’?”
“We received information that the Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago was troubled by attacks by a massive sea creature... I believe they call it ‘Ooyamizuchi’ there. Because it prevents the islands’ fishermen from catching fish, or even taking their boats out in the nearby waters—forcing them to go out to regions where they aren’t welcome—I think you may be right.”
“You’re saying that King Souma was after Ooyamizuchi from the beginning, then?”
“Yes, and so was Nine-Headed Dragon King Shana.” Maria placed her silk-gloved hand on the windowsill. “That’s why he came to us to help broker peace, too. In order to bring the fleets of the fiercely independent island chiefs together, there needed to be an external threat. He believed that even if they didn’t unite in the face of Ooyamizuchi, they would have to if they sensed an imminent invasion by the Kingdom’s fleet. Our calls for peace must have helped drum up a sense of urgency, which led to them working together.”
“...And you cooperated because you understood all that, Sister.”
Jeanne let out a sigh that was half admiration, half exasperation, and Maria smiled happily.
“Oh, I hadn’t seen through all of it. This is what we get for believing in the sincerity of our ally.”
“I think a large part of what makes you so incredible is your ability to find the people you ought to trust, and to believe in them so earnestly.”
“My, you’re certainly heaping on the praise today,” Maria said teasingly, and Jeanne blushed.
“N-Not really. I always have a great deal of respect for you. It’s just that you have a tendency to slack off, and then I’m forced to nag...”
“Hee hee, sorry about that.” Suddenly, Maria’s smile vanished. “However, the real trouble is yet to come. Ooyamizuchi is such a threat that Sir Souma and Sir Shana each felt the need to bring the might of two nations to bear against it, after all.”
“Ah...! You have a point. It’s a threat to us as well. It would have been better if we could have helped, too.”
“That wasn’t an option, I’m afraid. If we’d mobilized our forces, the island chiefs caught in the middle between us would grow unduly cautious. If we couldn’t coordinate our actions when the time came to actually fight together, it would defeat the purpose.”
“Then we have no choice but to leave it to Sir Souma and his people, I suppose,” Jeanne said, sounding frustrated, and Maria smiled.
“Let us believe in the victory of our allies.”
Around the time that the Kingdom’s and Archipelago Union’s fleets had joined up and moved into action under the direction of Shana, Shabon and Kishun came to visit us on the bridge.
“Sir Souma...” Shabon said, a pained look on her face.
Seeing her expression, I told Excel, “We’re stepping out for a while. Look after things in the meantime.”
“Understood, sire.”
Having left Excel in charge, I headed to the captain’s quarters with everyone else. Juna and I sat on a sofa in the reception room while Shabon and Kishun sat across from us, with Aisha and Naden standing inside and outside the door to keep anyone from listening in.
The moment we sat down, Shabon was the first to speak, “You were connected to my father, were you not, Sir Souma?”
Given the confidence in the way she said that, it was safe to assume she already knew what was up to some degree. When I nodded, she looked shocked.
“...Since when?”
“Since long before the two of you even arrived in my Kingdom. It was a little after we caught one of the Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago’s armed ships, so that would put it just before my coronation ceremony, I guess.”
“That long ago...”
We had been able to find out about Ooyamizuchi and the predicament the archipelago was in from the crew of the ship that Castor captured. Back then, I still had no idea what the Nine-Headed Dragon King’s intentions were, but a little after that, I received an unofficial emissary from Shana.
“I thought he would be demanding the return of his armed ship, but instead, his messenger delivered an apology for the illegal fishing of his countrymen, and payment for our losses. That’s when he brought this plan to us as well.”
“...My father paid compensation for your losses? Truly?”
“Yeah. That’s likely what the tax hike you mentioned went to. And the Kingdom used that money to compensate our own fishermen who had been harmed. To make this quick, Sir Shana was paying the Kingdom to let your people continue fishing illegally.”
Well, when you consider that he was paying for it, I’m not sure it was fair to call it “illegal” anymore. Once we started receiving the money, the Kingdom’s patrol ships shifted to a policy of allowing them to fish for whatever seemed like a reasonable amount of time before driving the foreign boats off—though, only the brass were in on it.
Shabon stared at me in wide-eyed disbelief.
“Why would father do things in such a roundabout manner?”
“I’m sure it was Sir Shana’s last resort. The fishermen of the archipelago attach special significance to going out to sea to fish, so it would be humiliating for them to ask another country to let them do it, right? That would have made their lowered spirits, from the ongoing Ooyamizuchi problem, sink into an even worse place. Also, if he was going to request our assistance in slaying the kaiju, he needed to make sure it wasn’t opposed by fishermen inside the Kingdom. This was the way he chose to thread that needle.”
Having explained all this, I sighed and shrugged my shoulders.
“I think you already understand the rest, right, Madam Shabon? In order to bring together the fleets of the Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago—which wouldn’t unite without a foreign threat—we set the Kingdom up as a fictitious enemy and agitated the island chiefs. Once all the ships were gathered in that region of the sea, we sent up a smoke signal and used the Law of the Sea, which no seaman can ignore, to bring everyone together.”
“It was all calculated... Then why do you suppose Father would not tell me about it?”
“He probably didn’t want to get you involved. Right now, the soldiers of the Archipelago Union’s fleet are excited by the fact that their enemies have just become allies, but once they calm down, some of them are going to feel that Sir Shana played them. In order to mollify those people, I suspect that Sir Shana likely plans to abdicate the throne once this battle is over.”
“Father...” Shabon lowered her eyes in sadness.
Kishun leaned closer and said, “Then why did you not tell Lady Shabon that?!”
“As if I could. The plan was in motion since before the two of you came to me. I had to take Sir Shana’s intentions into account, even if that meant Madam Shabon would be saddened as a result.”
“But still... this is... It is simply too cruel, is it not?” Kishun protested.
“...I did warn you, you know? I said you were guaranteed to regret it.” I looked him straight in the eyes. “I knew because it was a regret that we had experienced ourselves.”
“You had, Sir Souma?”
“Yeah. I can’t go into details, but I know how Madam Shabon feels now. When I think of a certain man’s incredible sacrifice... even if it was all for our benefit, I can’t help but lament it. I still question if there really wasn’t another way. Though, I’m sure the man himself would tell me to let these conflicted feelings spur me onward... I don’t know whether that’s in kindness or in scorn,” I said, thinking back to Liscia’s tears that day.
Kishun fell silent. He must have sensed that I was speaking nothing but the truth.
Hearing this, Shabon spoke up, “You were aware of Ooyamizuchi before I told you, and already working on countermeasures. Does that mean everything I did was in vain?” There was a pathetic look on her face.
“That’s not true,” I replied, shaking my head. “Your independent actions let me and my retainers get into the Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago ahead of time. That allowed us to gather information on Ooyamizuchi, refine our understanding considerably, and improve our plans. That’s not something Sir Shana could have done with the restrictions he faced. I think your direct appeal to me will be important in helping to justify everything after the battle is over, too. You definitely were able to support Sir Shana.”
“I was... helping my father?” Shabon blinked, and I gave her a firm nod.
“This all happened because of everyone trying to bring about the best result they could. And now...”
“We just have to put down Ooyamizuchi, and make that best result a reality, yes?” Shabon concluded, some strength having returned to her eyes.
The way she could accept things and move on spoke well of her as the princess of a nation. Shana’s determination, Shabon’s sadness, and all the victims of that creature... We had to slay Ooyamizuchi to make sure it wasn’t all in vain.
We steeled ourselves for what was to come.
A little earlier, around the time when the Kingdom’s and Archipelago Union’s fleets came into visual range of one another, a group of men on nearby Ikatsuru Island wearing happi coats and loincloths were busy at work. They were dressed like fishermen, but were actually soldiers from Nine-Headed Dragon Island. From the air, Ikatsuru looked like a crescent moon, and there was an inlet on the inside of the crescent. The men unloaded cargo from a ship in that inlet, and loaded it onto a cart, then carried it inland.
“Aww, damn it, this place reeks,” the human man pushing the cart grumbled.
Like he said, the usually uninhabited Ikatsuru Island currently had a bizarre smell to it.
The wolf-faced beastman beside him grimaced. “You’ve got it easy. It’s really tough on those of us with sensitive noses.”
“Come on, this is pretty bad for us, too. I’m never gonna get it out of my clothes.”
“The wife’s gonna give me hell when I get back...”
“Hey, less chatter, more work,” their merman mononofu overseer cautioned them. But they both complained.
“The stench of fish and blood is driving us crazy here!”
“It’s a depressing sight, you know?”
The two of them were looking at the little mountain that was the source of the unpleasant smell: a mountain of fish. This was more than what could be caught in the Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago’s waters at this time, which meant it had to have been brought in from another country. The fish was surrounded by a pool of blood from freshly slaughtered livestock, all of which permeated into the ungodly stench surrounding them.
“It’s such a waste... These fish could have fed so many people.”
“You must know what this operation is for,” the mononofu chided the man. “If we ate them, nothing would change. However, by using them here, we can solve the problem and change our fortunes. After this, we’ll catch far more fish in the long run.”
“...That’s true. If we can solve the problem, that is.”
As the two conversed, the watchtower up on high ground began to pound on the wooden alarm bell.
“The fog’s come out!”
“The fog’s come out!”
“The fog’s come out!”
Three men shouted one after another, as if playing a game of telephone.
“...It’s finally here, huh?”
The mononofu looked in the direction of the sea.
“Raise the smoke signal at once! Send a message from island to island for Lord Shana! Everyone else, retreat at once! We’ll abandon the ship in the inlet and escape in the boats on the opposite side of the island!” he ordered immediately. As the men ran around hurriedly, the mononofu glared into the fog and said, “Keep on coming. This is where you meet your end.”
This was the hardest problem when it came to slaying Ooyamizuchi: It was an amphibious creature. Dealing with it on land was one thing, but if it dove underwater, the forces of mankind could do nothing to it. Magic was less effective at sea, and with the gunpowder available in this world, even if we built depth charges, they probably wouldn’t be able to hurt it. There were no submarines or heat-seeking torpedoes in this world, either.
Because of this, King Shana had sought to lure Ooyamizuchi ashore, then rapidly eliminate it with the combined might of the Kingdom’s and Archipelago Union’s navies.
To be specific: he piled a ton of bait on Ikatsuru Island, which was along Ooyamizuchi’s route, and then used both fleets to surround the island. Then, with the creature trapped in a shallow inlet, they would attack until it was dead.
“The time has finally come,” Excel said with a pensive look on her face. She, Juna, and I were watching the Kingdom’s and Archipelago Union’s fleets cruise together from the deck of the Albert II.
“Indeed. The timing only just barely worked out. I was sweating for a moment there...”
“Hee hee, I’m sure you were, but the boy you discovered is really something. Sir Ichiha, was it? He predicted Ooyamizuchi’s actions perfectly. I’ll look forward to seeing what he does in the future.”
“You said it. Now if only he had a little more confidence in himself... Then he’d make a reliable big brother figure for Cian and Kazuha.”
If I was going to name an MVP for this operation, it would have to be Ichiha. He managed to come up with an effective plan of attack after reviewing the intel and seeing the creature, then also worked out its route, which allowed us to settle on Ikatsuru Island as the location for the operation. This was all possible because we were able to come to the islands in advance, so you could say that Shabon and Kishun’s efforts had some importance, too.
As I was thinking about that, Excel stopped smiling and said, “But, sire, the real battle starts here. We can’t afford to fail.”
“...I know. If we do, then everything will have been in vain. There’s no hope of negotiating with this enemy. It’s a kaiju. We have to fight until either it’s dead, or we are.”
“Um... you keep calling Ooyamizuchi a ‘kaiju,’ right, sire?” Juna, who was standing next to me, asked with an uneasy look on her face. “Can we beat a kaiju?”
“Well... I feel like back in the world I came from, or at least my country specifically, most of the kaiju that appeared in our stories were immune to human weapons,” I said, thinking back to all the kaiju movies I had watched. “That had to be because in my country the kaiju usually symbolized God, nature, or a natural disaster. Like, humanity is tiny next to the immensity of nature. Oh, and some were symbolic of the sins of the civilization that created them.”
Pollution, weapons of mass destruction, genetic manipulation... just to name a few. I think the kaiju that came out of that country were a projection of people’s sense of guilt for those negative products of civilization. While monster movies from other countries tended to end with the creature yielding to the power of human civilization, that country’s kaiju were so strong they couldn’t be defeated without the power of the giant of light... and they were sad, too. I feel like, to them, kaiju were something that “should not be defeated.”
Because they believed the sins of civilization could not be erased, but... I shook my head.
“The people of this world didn’t create Ooyamizuchi. It’s not their sin. That’s why I believe we can overcome it.”
When I said that, Juna replied, “Yes,” with a smile.
Up out of the sea, a mountainous form crawled onto Ikatsuru Island. Its head had a mixture of the features of both a dragon and sea dragon, while its back was a massive bivalve shell resembling a giant clam. Underneath it, eight thick tentacles covered in a crustacean carapace wriggled like an octopus’s as it slid forward.
Ooyamizuchi.
The kaiju (or at least that’s what Souma called it) that had been tormenting the people of the Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago. Wrapped in the mist that came from the bivalve shell on its back, Ooyamizuchi crawled across the island on long, writhing tentacles. Due to its incredible weight, there were earthquake-like tremors each time one of those tentacles struck the ground. Ooyamizuchi had been drawn to this island by the intense stench of the bait left here.
The creature pressed forward, mowing down any tree that got in the way as it went. Once it reached roughly the center of the island, Ooyamizuchi spotted the bait—a mountain of fish and livestock that had been bled out. There had been no large creatures in this area of late, so this was hardly going to be enough to sate Ooyamizuchi’s appetite, but it was still a feast. It stretched its head out to tear into the mountain of fish. Then, using the crustacean pincers on the end of its tentacles, it lobbed one of the livestock into its mouth.
It had taken some time for it to get ashore due to the nature of its body, but it was less than five minutes before it had consumed all of the bait. With its feeding frenzy finished, Ooyamizuchi noticed a presence approaching the island. Many “blood-like scents” were coming towards it.
Ooyamizuchi couldn’t have known it was the smell of iron, but it could tell instinctively that the things were a threat to it. With a rumbling turn, Ooyamizuchi headed back the way it had come, but by the time the kaiju had reached the shallows, the Kingdom and Archipelago Union’s fleets had encircled Ikatsuru Island. In the middle of that fleet, the captain of the Hiryuu, Castor, couldn’t help but let out a sigh of admiration when he saw how gigantic Ooyamizuchi was.
“What is that thing? It’s beyond massive.”
“It really is. Rhinosauruses look small and cute in comparison,” his XO agreed in an exasperated tone. “I shudder to think there’s a beast like that out at sea. It’s going to take no small amount of naval might to deal with it.”
“I can see why my lord and the Nine-Headed Dragon King wanted to work together. I doubt any country’s navy has records of battling a creature like that before.”
“Slaying a monster of that size is the stuff of legends,” the XO said with complete seriousness and Castor smiled wryly.
“Legends, huh? Well, good. They’ll be telling tales of our battle for a long time to come.”
“...They certainly will. I’d rather it not be with us as the losers.”
“Naturally. Being the commander of a defeated army once was enough for me. So... we’re gonna win this.”
Castor adjusted his captain’s hat, and gave the order.
“This is a message for all ships! The operation to slay Ooyamizuchi starts now!”