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The "Enchanted Blade" Project
- Hasumi Shinsaku (蓮水晋作)
March 21st - 3:00 A.M
The "Enchanted Blade" Project Advisory Committee Gathering.
?: Following suite with the substantiation mentioned above..
?: Looking thoroughly through Mr. Urita Subaru's suggestion of an "Enchanted Blade"
?: Conceptually, we deem it plausible to execute.
?: The craftsmanship to "construct veins into a katana.."
?: With such an idea in mind.. you could make the sword act as a kind of battery..
?: storing Spiritual Energy and allowing its' wielder to control immense levels of energy![/QUOTE]
?: Yet..
?: I can't but imagine encountering a very big obstacle early on in development..
?: The Datenseki is an iron ore.
?: To make a katana, you first need to heighten its purity values and forge it into "steel"..
?: However, the Datenseki also reacts strongly to heat. If placed in any kind of heating furnace above the 1,000 degree threshold, its energy levels will intensify causing an uncontrollable explosion. The scale of such a thing is simply put, not something we can easily measure.
?: No matter how you look at it, it's beyond our grasp. All it'll lead to is more death.
?: And you mean to tell me that Rokuhira Kunishige.. Some swordsmith we've never heard of, is "capable" of getting around this?
Hasumi: His exploits all seem based on intuition..
Hasumi: But I still think there is value in giving it a shot.
?: Based on what, exactly?
Hasumi: He was able to discern all the details of our fully classified top secret operations with but a mere look at the Datenseki.
Hasumi: If I had to say.. he has a special eye for things.
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But its the right number.
And i told you i dont know you
What have you done sicko
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?: Someone from the Sorcery Bureau brought him to our premises without prior indication. Could it not be that he was briefed on our operations by the third-party?
Hasumi: And why would someone even do tha-
?: That's exactly what I want to know too, now isn't it.
?: This man.. is nothing more than the minimum requirements to be a swordsmith in our day and age.
?: There's practically zero track record to show off.
?: (And yet - the Urita Subaru sees something in him..)
?: (But he's only sold three katana in his life-time..?)
Hasumi: That's why...
Hasumi: All he needs is one chance.
Hasumi: Give him permissions to conduct the experiment, and he'll show you th-
Izaru: You want us to give him "one chance"..?
Izaru: Cool your head, Hasumi.
Izaru: If we let someone handle the Datenseki without a care in the world, it could lead to major disaster.
Izaru: Besides - the amount we obtained from the Irishima mines in accumulation to what we already have.. is barely anything.
Izaru: And you'd trust those resources.. This country's fate..
Izaru: To some swordsmith?
Izaru: I saw Mashiro's remains. I understand why you're acting like this.
Hasumi: ...
Bowlcut: We've received a reply from the Kagari Clan.
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Following suite with the substantiation mentioned above..
?: Looking thoroughly through Mr. Urita Subaru's suggestion of an "Enchanted Blade"
?: Conceptually, we deem it plausible to execute.
?: The craftsmanship to "construct veins into a katana.."
?: With such an idea in mind.. you could make the sword act as a kind of battery..
?: storing Spiritual Energy and allowing its' wielder to control immense levels of energy
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Narration: At this time, the following was to be seen as a countermeasure effective against the Mikaboshi: "Flame Bone of the Starving"
Narration: A Sorcery Weapon belonging to the flames of the Kagari Clan
Narration: Because of its immense levels of power, only a select few can come to wield the "Flame Bone of the Starving"..
Narration: The head of the household's wife, who is to give birth in the next six months..
Narration: Is said to have been suffering from burns in her abdomen as result of the pregnancy..
Narration: But because of their physical constitution: members of the Kagari Family, are - naturally, completely immune to all forms of fire.
Kagari Wife: This child will become the next "Tamer" of the "Flame Bone"..
Kagari Wife: One we haven't seen in four hundred years..!
Kagari Wife: I've already given her a name aswell..
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Kagari Wife: "Hiyuki" ...
?: The trials for succession begin at a mere 3 months old.
?: Taking various factors into account..
?: including adjustment to schedule, it seems that the "Flame Bone" will be available to us in a year's worth of time, approximately.
The Same Day - 7:00 A.M - Sorcery Bureau
?: In other words.. If we can just hold on for a year.. Victory will be in our hands.
?: It is a much more realistic plan than the "Enchanted Blade" project.
Izaru: Realistic? To wait a whole year?
Izaru: They'll just end up ravaging the whole city before we get there.
?: Which is why we'll buy time!
?: This man.. is nothing more than the minimum requirements to be a swordsmith in our day and age.
?: There's practically zero track record to show off.
?: (And yet - the Urita Subaru sees something in him..)
?: (But he's only sold three katana in his life-time..?)
Hasumi: That's why...
Hasumi: All he needs is one chance.
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Chapter 123: Chiaki
?: Chiaki-chan, look what I got you!
?: (There's a bunch to choose from..!)
Chiaki: Y-yeah..
Chiaki (thinking): The previous princess had been one ever since I was born..
?: Chiaki-chaaa~n
?: Here goes!
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Chiaki (thinking): When I was little, she taught me how to make tea once.
Chiaki (thinking): She really was a marvelous person.
Chiaki (thinking): I remember the day I awakened my powers like it was yesterday..
Chiaki (thinking): Mom was going into a frenzy, screaming at the top of her lungs:
Chiaki (thinking): "This is the first time in HISTORY that prophetic powers have been passed down to someone in a lower, branch family..!"
Chiaki (thinking): That was a part of it, sure but..
Chiaki (thinking): It would also be the last time..
Chiaki (thinking): That I would feel Kunishige's touch..
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?: Yet..
?: I can't but imagine encountering a very big obstacle early on in development..
?: The Datenseki is an iron ore.
?: To make a katana, you first need to heighten its purity values and forge it into "steel"..
?: However, the Datenseki also reacts strongly to heat. If placed in any kind of heating furnace above the 1,000 degree threshold, its energy levels will intensify causing an uncontrollable explosion. The scale of such a thing is simply put, not something we can easily measure.
?: No matter how you look at it, it's beyond our grasp. All it'll lead to is more death.
?: And you mean to tell me that Rokuhira Kunishige.. Some swordsmith we've never heard of, is "capable" of getting around this?
Hasumi: His exploits all seem based on intuition..
Hasumi: But I still think there is value in giving it a shot.
?: Based on what, exactly?
Hasumi: He was able to discern all the details of our fully classified top secret operations with but a mere look at the Datenseki.
Hasumi: If I had to say.. he has a special eye for things.
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?: To make a katana, you first need to heighten its purity values and forge it into "steel"..
?: However, the Datenseki also reacts strongly to heat. If placed in any kind of heating furnace above the 1,000 degree threshold, its energy levels will intensify causing an uncontrollable explosion. The scale of such a thing is simply put, not something we can easily measure.
?: No matter how you look at it, it's beyond our grasp. All it'll lead to is more death.
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Chiaki (thinking): Like any other day, only that time.. I fainted, out of nowhere.
Chiaki (thinking): Kunishige carried me all the way back home
Chiaki (thinking) yet still got scolded by Mom.
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Chiaki (thinking): An accusation was made against me, by one of the maids that was taking care of me at the time.
Chiaki (thinking): But I thought I hid it well enough..
Chiaki's Mom: We come from a branch family background..
Chiaki's Mom: Which is why I've told you time and time again.. to act more dignified! Even in the Soga Clan!
Chiaki's Mom: Chiaki, you don't know what you're doing here.
Chiaki's Mom: I'll be able to brush off this incident as something the sender did by his lonesome. But it won't work twice.
Chiaki (thinking): Peace and order is only kept up..
Chiaki (thinking): Through the thin veil of the agreement made between Sorcerer and the Soga Clan
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WHAT A HET GEM!
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Chiaki (thinking): Like any other day, only that time.. I fainted, out of nowhere.
Chiaki (thinking): Kunishige carried me all the way back home
Chiaki (thinking) yet still got scolded by Mom..
Chiaki (thinking): Kunishige.
Chiaki (thinking): When I was little, we used to play a lot together when I didn't have chores to do.
Chiaki (thinking): He was one of my childhood friends in the neighborhood.
Tougo (the way Chiaki calls him)
Kunishige (the way Chiaki calls him)
SOU-CHAN (the way Chiaki calls him)
Chiaki (thinking): We were just a bunch of goofs, always up to stupid stuff, together.
Chiaki's Mom: You can't go there anymore. From today forwards..
Chiaki's Mom: You're the symbol of order: Here to serve as a reminder of hope, protection and peace to the people.
Chiaki's Mom: Fate has chosen you, Chiaki!
Chiaki's Mom: Isn't that the greatest honor of all?!
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Chiaki (thinking): They rarely let me out.
Chiaki (thinking): And keeping up a relationship with someone I know.. is almost impossible..
Chiaki (thinking): (Wasn't hers like this..?)
Chiaki: (His writing's so bad..)
Chiaki: (Hehehhe..)
Shiba: (Mail's here!)
Chiaki: (Y-eey!)
Chiaki (thinking): At the time.. I still..
Chiaki (thinking): Held on to this vague hope..
Chiaki (thinking): That one day..
Chiaki (thinking): I'd see you again..
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Chiaki (thinking): An accusation was made against me, by one of the maids that was taking care of me at the time.
Chiaki (thinking): But I thought I hid it well enough..
Chiaki's Mom: We come from a branch family background..
Chiaki's Mom: Which is why I've told you time and time again.. to act more dignified! Even in the Soga Clan!
Chiaki's Mom: Chiaki, you don't know what you're doing here.
Chiaki's Mom: I'll be able to brush off this incident as something the sender did by his lonesome. But it won't work twice.
Chiaki (thinking): Peace and order is only kept up..
Chiaki (thinking): Through the thin veil of the agreement made between Sorcerer and the Soga Clan.
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Chiaki (thinking): "We will tolerate certain activities.."
Chiaki (thinking): "But only if those actions remain behind the scenes, so as not to harm the local nature of administration.."
Chiaki (thinking): If one of the clans decided to go against the unspoken agreement
Chiaki (thinking): Going 'beyond the scope' of what certain activities the state allows
Chiaki (thinking): I'd get a vision thats to be seen as a "deformity" aggravating the nation.
Chiaki (thinking): Wherever the Soga Princess points
Chiaki (thinking): The Spear of Order follows soon after.
"Her prophecies could be the very determining factor of the Soga's survival..!"
Chiaki (thinking): That's why the former princess once told her people:
Chiaki (thinking): "You mustn't act in individuality: for that lay seeds of distrust. And in those seeds, you see the collapse of order!"
Chiaki's Mom: Why won't you get it already..! You must wake up! You carry..
Chiaki's Mom: The weight of our very history on your shoulders!
Chiaki (thinking): I understood it all, in theory at least.
Chiaki (thinking): But after that incident took place..
Chiaki (thinking): I had another one of my dreams.
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Chiaki (thinking): This is what happens when I neglect my duties.
Chiaki (thinking): More than anything..
Chiaki (thinking): It scared me to death..
Chiaki (thinking): Thinking about how Kunishige could get wrapped up into all of this.
Chiaki (thinking): I will continue my duties until my last dying breath.
Chiaki (thinking): So at the very least..
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Chiaki (thinking): An accusation was made against me, by one of the maids that was taking care of me at the time.
Chiaki (thinking): But I thought I hid it well enough..
Chiaki's Mom: We come from a branch family background..
Chiaki's Mom: Which is why I've told you time and time again.. to act more dignified! Even in the Soga Clan!
Chiaki's Mom: Chiaki, you don't know what you're doing here.
Chiaki's Mom: I'll be able to brush off this incident as something the sender did by his lonesome. But it won't work twice.
Chiaki (thinking): Peace and order is only kept up..
Chiaki (thinking): Through the thin veil of the agreement made between Sorcerer and the Soga Clan
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Chiaki (thinking): If I could at the very least.. protect your peace of mind..
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March 20th
Chiaki: HAH..
Chiaki: HAH..
Chiaki: I...
Chiaki: If only I gave more of a stronger warning..
Chiaki: None of this.. would've.. happened..
Chiaki's Mom: You gave the best heed that you could've..! It was up to them to decide what to do with it.
Chiaki's Mom: You hold no fault in this..!
Chiaki: ...The enemy..
Chiaki: ...The enemy demand me..
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Chiaki: If its to avoid the worst possible future..
Chiaki: I'm.. okay with it..
Chiaki: If I do this.. Nobody has to h-
Chiaki's Mom: WHAT ARE YOU SAYING? YOU'RE SACRED.
Chiaki: ..N-no.. I'm not..
Chiaki's Mom: !!!
Chiaki (thinking): I've forgotten long ago..
Chiaki (thinking): About the feeling of his warmth..
Chiaki: As the Soga Princess..
Chiaki: My life doesn't matter to myself in the slightest.
March 24th
The "Enchanted Blade" Project proposed my Hasumi Shinsaku was wholly rejected.
By the leading division of the Sorcery Bureau, the Mikaboshi's demands were accepted on certain few conditions:
The decision to exchange Soga Chiaki, was sealed.
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Hasumi: They agreed..
Hasumi: To a "one year ceasefire"..
???: "She will bear my child.."
Ichiki: So the Mikaboshi still end up on top, even with this..
Hasumi: B-but..!
Ichiki: She's from a branch family.
Hasumi: !?
Ichiki: And although it hasn't been made public...
Ichiki: A new legitimate lineage daughter was born in the lineage approximately six months ago.
Ichiki: Even if Mrs. Chiaki was to have a child in the near future, it is said that the next "prophetic ability" will be bestowed upon her, as she is the legitemate heir.
Ichiki: To put simply: the power of "prophecy"
Ichiki: the symbol of order, will return to the Soga once more.
Hasumi: So you're saying its okay for Mrs. Chiaki to give birth to a child of the Mikaboshi King..?!
Ichiki: I am STRONGLY against it.
Chiaki: HAH..
Chiaki: HAH..
Chiaki: I...
Chiaki: If only I gave more of a stronger warning..
Chiaki: None of this.. would've.. happened..
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Hasumi: So then WHY!
Hasumi: How can you be so sure that it won't pass down to her off-spring?!
Hasumi: Clearly there's been no records for it being passed it in the branch family either and yet..!
Ichiki: Right.. "recorded"...
Ichiki: In the Soga Clan, it is vital that everyone believes in the supremacy of the legitemate lineage.
Ichiki: That's to say, they view branch families and the current power dispersal as not ideal for the clan's legacy.
Ichiki: They've taken all the necessary steps to keep talks about it in secrecy..
Ichiki: But this was what they were after all this time, wasn't it?
Hasumi: You allude that the situation that transpired today.. is BENEFICIAL for the Soga Lineage?!
Ichiki: And for the people in the Sorcery Bureau who don't think twice about licking the Soga Clan's boots.
Hasumi: Then even more, a decision like this should..
Ichiki: More than anything else.. She's the one who approved of it...
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Hasumi: It's all because of the unstability that came from the massive losses at the Irishima Conflict..!
Hasumi: And they dare take advantage of that..!
Ichiki: ..
Ichiki: Just one more year.. After we're able to get our hands on the Flame Bone, our options will increase dramatically.
Ichiki: But if we're invaded now, at our weakest.. It'll all be for naught.
Ichiki: Given our current desperate situation..
Ichiki: I'm afraid..
Ichiki: We have no other choice than this..
("I want to meet you again") - Chiaki.
Editor's Note: What he must now do is..?