Chapter 4
[Surprise attack]
Concurrent to Tatsuya and Miyuki meeting with Minoru in Miyakishima, an unprecedented event was taking place at the Yotsuba main house.
Near Kobuchizawa Station, there is a little-known private heliport that, strictly speaking, would be better classified as an airport. It mostly comes across as a plain empty lot in front of a small, three-story building. Only a few people, other than those involved with its operation, know that it exists as a heliport. Among those, nearly all the locals that do know always wonder, "Why build a heliport there of all places?" The only ones who never wondered were those who had no interest in it from the very beginning.
As a matter of fact, at the basement of the referred small building lay the entrance to an underground passageway that led to the village where the Yotsuba family's Main House is situated. The passageway was big enough to allow self-propelled vehicles to drive through at high speed. This heliport and small building was one of the few entryways into and out of the main house for the people closely associated with the Yotsuba family.
This evening a large transport helicopter made a sudden, unannounced arrival at this heliport, which is also not normally used.
Although air traffic regulations have been relaxed with the popularization of private small VTOLs, heliports still limit the landing and takeoff of certain types of helicopters and VTOLs at off-airport airstrips.
And this helicopter model was clearly much larger than what was allowed in this one.
The two combat mages under the employ of the Yotsuba who were staffing the small building naturally protested against the helicopter landing attempt. They firmly demanded that the helicopter stop the approach for landing with a threat of reporting in case of noncompliance.
The only response they got in return was a derisive sneer.
The two administrators immediately notified the Main House of the situation and asked for reinforcements.
A vengeance campaign against the Dahan, a nation that then controlled the southern half of the East Asia continent, triggered by an incident 38 years ago has left the Yotsuba with considerably few combat magicians of the family bloodline, even combined with the branch families. Even if in terms of quality, their magicians, Tatsuya at the forefront, were among the best not only in the Ten Master Clans, worldwide, their quantity was less than desirable.
To make up for this, the Yotsuba family has enlisted the services of a large number of indigenous combat magicians. Including, but not limited to, engineered magicians bought from research facilities, mercenaries, magicians and as well as criminals, would-be terrorists, the list goes on.
Entrusted with the task of supervising and coordinating this range of forces, of different nationalities and origins, into a cohesive multi-task contingent in operations outside of intelligence warfare was the second-ranked butler of the Main House, Hanabishi Tajima. Upon receiving the request for backup from the personnel stationed at the heliport, Hanabishi immediately dispatched troops on standby at the Main House to Kobuchizawa.
The fighters under Butler Hanabishi's command clashed with an unidentified combat unit in the underpass connecting to Kobuchizawa.
In order to access the underground passage, it's necessary to use an elevator in the building adjacent to the heliport.
Meaning the unknown intruders must have already taken control of that small building and either subdued or killed the forces in post.
Despite his concern for the two men in that building, the mercenary combat magician's primary objective at the moment was to repel the invading forces. This passageway gives direct access to the village where the Yotsuba Main House is based; they expressly cannot allow uninvited strangers to reach the village.
The mercenary ordered the unit of foreigners left in his command to intercept the attack. There was no warning. The enemy made it clear of their hostile intentions.
In response to their magical attack, the enemy groups returned with live fire.
And it was obvious they were serious about this job.
"Don't go easy on them. Fire to kill if you have to. Don't hold back," barked the mercenary to his comrades.
◇ ◇ ◇
Today being Wednesday, Miyuki has classes to attend and Tatsuya still has his magic development to complete at the Magic University. So, both left Miyakishima and returned to their home in the family's Tokyo headquarters in Chofu.
Notwithstanding the fact that it was already midnight by the time of their arrival, there was a figure waiting for them at the helipad on the roof of the building. And not just one, but three.
"We're back. Lina, Ayako, Fumiya," Tatsuya addressed each one of them.
Which was immediately followed by Miyuki inquiring in a serious tone, "What happened?"
Lina had a similar tone, no smile on her face, when she answered, "Something big is going on, Miyuki."
Ayako and Fumiya nodded with tense expressions to Tatsuya's suggestion.
They were now in the living room of Tatsuya and Miyuki apartment on the top floor of the building. The resident couple sat side by side with the Kuroba twins across from them.
Normally, Miyuki would be the one preparing drinks, but this time Lina was the one standing in the kitchen.
Lina commanded the machine by imputing the number of servings of coffee, and only after she brought the filled cups, milk pots, and sugar pot to the low table, that the last person sat down on the single-seat sofa at the end of the table.
Ayako, Fumiya, and Lina exchanged glances. The eye communication ended with a sign from Fumiya, who then announced in a rather awkward voice, "We received news that the Main House was attacked a short while ago."
Even Tatsuya was unable to react immediately to that information. While the blood drained from Miyuki's face.
"…What's the extent of the damage?"
"Ah, I'm sorry! I should've explained better. There was an invasion attempt coming from an underground passage leading to the Main House. No one reached the village or the Main House."
Miyuki's chest heaved a small sigh of relief thanks to Fumiya's clarification.
No tension escaped Tatsuya, however.
"Was it Hanabishi's men who repelled the attack? How many casualties were there?"
Fumiya's expression darkened, "Six killed out of twenty sent out."
With widened eyes, Miyuki gasped, covering her mouth with her hands.
"We are dealing with some serious opponents…" Tatsuya appeared to lament with furrowed bros. A conflation of both grief for the death of his allies with how this also demonstrates the capabilities of this enemy. "Do we have a report on the identity of the attackers?"
"No, not yet"
"I see… Please, let me know once you have any results from your investigation."
For some reason, Tatsuya's request elicited a grim look from both Fumiya and Ayako.
"About that…"
Tatsuya was confused with Fumiya's stammering. "Don't tell me the Main House stopped you from doing anything?"
Within the Yotsuba, the Kuroba branch family is charged with gathering information.
However, given the current incident caught everyone by surprise, the Main House may be distrustful of the branch family, as detecting an attack of that scale, with an assault group numbering in dozens, fell well within their purview. Their perceived inability to detect and report the attack in advance may well have contributed to the loss of life and property.
Apart from the unlikely scenario that the Kuroba family was aware and deliberately withheld a warning, there was a good chance that the Main House tasked Hanabishi and other butlers with an investigation which they stubbornly insisted to keep independent of the Kuroba.
"No, it's not that…"
"…To be honest, Tatsuya-san, we haven't been able to get ahold of our father for the past few days," with a somber voice, Ayako finally said the words stuck in Fumiya's throat on his behalf.
"What? Even now?" Miyuki was flabbergasted. In a sense, regardless if they knew or not, this incident and the losses caused by it were an Intelligence blunder. How, at a time like this, the head of the family, and the one in charge of Intelligence, was out of contact. It was beyond unusual.
"I understand how you feel. The last time he was accounted for, he seemed to go to the base in Shingu City, but for some reason he has since then refrained from any contact with anyone at home." Ayako's definition of "anyone at home" was not just limited to the Kuroba household members, but also all of their family's subordinates.
"Father seems to have gone full radio silent and turned off his terminal's communications," Fumiya followed his sister in an aggravated voice.
"We've contacted our house and sent whoever is available to the Shingu City base. They have the order to notify us as soon as they get a hold of him…"
"It's late; we can deal with the Kuroba-san issue tomorrow." Tatsuya's seemingly dismissive attitude was mainly intended to appease Fumiya, telling him not to worry too much about the matter.
Fumiya appeared to understand that hidden message.
"The fact that the Main House has not yet sent any instructions to me suggests that the enemy has not made any new moves. You two should take this opportunity to calm down."
"…I suppose you're right," Ayako managed to put on a smile despite feeling a bit overwhelmed with the situation.
"Well, as you just mentioned, it's getting late, so I believe it's best if we excuse ourselves for now. Fumiya."
At his sister's prompting, Fumiya also bowed, "Excuse us," and stood up.
Lina also retreated to her apartment about the same time as the Kuroba twins were leaving.
"Tatsuya-sama, what could possibly be going on. Or rather, I should be asking, ‘what it's going to happen?'" Now alone with him in their living room, Miyuki asks her fiance for his unfiltered opinion.
Anxiety clearly had a grasp on her, her eyes wavered uneasily, hands firmly clasped together atop her closed legs.
"I doubt it's a foreign agent. Setting aside the question of the Kuroba family's involvement, just that should be a good clue to who is behind the attack."
"Tatsuya-sama, you don't mean…" Miyuki's wavering eyes froze, along with her expression.
He just raised the possibility that the Kuroba family may have obtained information about the attack from Kuroba Mitsugu.
"We can't be sure if Kuroba-san may or may have not turned on the family at this point." Tatsuya didn't say anything definite, but also didn't say he wouldn't rule out the possibility. "All I can gather at this stage is that the attackers are likely not foreign forces. And from there, we can narrow down to domestic agents that are not afraid of the Yotsuba family's reputation."
"Someone that isn't afraid of the family's reputation… The government, or perhaps…"
"The Senate. One of the Four Great Elders even, or someone with that kind of power."
Tatsuya freely spoke names Miyuki could not dare to verbalize, in a sort of superstitious dread of the worse becoming true if the names were put into words.
◇ ◇ ◇
Early in the morning, a day after the Yotsuba family was attacked by an unknown enemy. Tatsuya was already frowning just after waking up. When he checked for messages in his mobile terminal, he found one from Yakumo, asking him to "Pay a visit to the temple, whenever it's most convenient."
Tatsuya couldn't help but have a bad feeling about this.
Back in June, Tatsuya sent Mayumi to the USNA in what was formerly an effort to arrange a partnership between Magian Society and FEHR. That business trip, which would mark a symbolic end to the effective ban on international travel by magicians, was seen as a problem by a faction of the National Defence Forces under the influence of Kashiwa Kazutaka, one of the Four Great Elders, who sought to sabotage the project by means of a curse.
At that occasion, Tatsuya was summoned by Yakumo and given a warning. If there was just sabotage, Yakumo wouldn't have taken any part in it. Since that was a case involving the Four Great Elders, his warning was already more than enough of a demonstration of his support.
At that time the summon was via a phone call, this time it was an e-mail.
Aside from asking him to come to the temple, they had nothing else in common.
But Tatsuya intuitively felt this email had the same smell as the phone call.
Visiting Yakumo's temple to practice bodywork was part of Tatsuya's morning routine. Until three years ago after he and Yakumo had a serious fight, he still occasionally paid a visit to his temple. So, he has no issue with accepting the invitation. And they sure have an important matter to discuss, regardless of whether it is related to what his gut instinct suggested earlier.
But he can't make an immediate decision, there is still the pressing matter of developing the counter-magic for [Gjallarhorn].
Tatsuya replied to Yakumo that "I'll contact you as soon as I can find the time."
As it turned out, Tatsuya didn't need to worry about finding a free slot in his schedule.
Just as he was getting ready to leave for campus after breakfast, Tatsuya received an email from Yuuka.
She lives in the Main House village for the most part, but for the duration of their joint project with the counter-magic, she's been staying in the apartment she owns in the building since Monday for the ease of travel.
Tatsuya opened the email wondering about the contents, since she would have showed up in his apartment or called through the extension phone.
The message was short. She received an urgent call from her parents' home and asked to cancel today's project meeting. She contacted Professor Higashiyama in advance and he agreed to postpone the meeting.
(Did her family call because of what happened last night?)
Understandable if so. More surprising than anything is the fact that Tatsuya still hasn't been directly contacted by the Main House after something of that nature happened. (Maybe they don't want to complicate things further by getting me involved? …Yeah, of course they wouldn't.)
Works for him, then. It's not like he has much to contribute. And he's not feeling inclined to look for every way to help the Yotsuba family.
Tatsuya changed his mind and called Yakumo.
The call was picked up immediately.
With his plans for the day having been cancelled, Tatsuya offered his open agenda, to which Yakumo replied by asking him to come right away.
His new schedule was set.
After the call, Tatsuya went to Miyuki's room to explain the change of plans before getting ready to visit Yakumo's Kyuuchiyouji temple.
Miyuki never brought up the issue of Tatsuya not receiving a summons. Perhaps,she thought that the Yotsuba family would not feel entitled to ask for his help after so many years of mistreating him.
She also never asked what he "would do" or "wanted to do". He drove her to University, and after seeing her off with Lina, who came to pick her up, Tatsuya returned to the underground parking lot and headed for the Kyuuchiyouji temple.
◇ ◇ ◇
"It was the Hozumi family's private forces that attacked Kobuchizawa last night." Yakumo laid it straight out after a brief moment of pleasantries. "You don't seem surprised," he asked in a slightly surprised tone, with his usual smile masking his honest thoughts. "Did you figure it out yourself?"
"Not necessarily. Just assumed it was one of the possibilities."
An amused "hmm…" escapes Yakumo.
"How did you come to that conclusion?"
That's unusual, Tatsuya thought. Yakumo is usually the one pushing people to think with his hints and suggestions. As far as Tatsuya knew him, he never seemed to be interested in other people's reasoning.
"No matter how much of an eyesore the Yotsuba is, they are still a part of the Ten Master Clan, and thus an important part of our national defense. So it'd be hard to imagine the government or military would stand by and watch as a foreign agent attacked them.
Which points at the attacker being a domestic party, and one that is not afraid of the Yotsuba family. The only one that comes to mind at the moment is the Senate. Furthermore, anyone involved with the Senate must be well aware of the Yotsuba family's connection to His Excellency Toudou."
"So, if anyone is going to mess with the Yotsuba family, it would be someone with equivalent status as His Excellency, another one of the Four Great Elders, right? Well, I should've expected you to be able to read that much." Yakumo's tone was flat, expressing neither disapproval nor praise, neither finding it interesting nor boring.
"Since you get that much, then that speeds things up."
So that question was him checking how far back he needed to explain before they talk about what happened. "The story of ancient civilization's ruins buried at the foot of Mt. Fuji has long been carried on through generations as a fact among those in the higher circles. They've always been careful to whisper about it so that the 'common people' wouldn't get wind of it."
"Even ‘common people' like me have seen mentions of prehistoric ruins at the foot of Mt. Fuji in books, though?"
"As a fantastic myth or an absurd tale, I suppose? It's much easier to poison the well with lies than to completely conceal the truth."
Indeed, Tatsuya thought. People are susceptible to knowledge authority. If someone were to give a double check to something that has been repeatedly printed as "not true" by experts, it would be likely met with indifference and dismissal from the general public.
This tendency is much more pronounced in the general public with academic authority than with political authority. And academic authority, lamentably, tends to be subject to political power. With the power of something like the Senate, it would not be difficult to make scholars agree that 1+1 is not 2.
"The ones who would go as far as to spread those poisoned truths are exactly the people in the upper echelons who believe the Fuji ruins are real. Prime among them are the Hozumi family."
"Do the Hozumi have a special relationship with the keepers of the ruins?"
"So they do, for over a thousand years, apparently. In fact, that is probably why the Hozumi family has long asserted their claim over those ruins."
"Does the Senate recognize that claim?" "Not at all. The Hozumi are alone in that assertion. Neither His Excellency Toudou nor the others recognize that place as belonging exclusively to the Hozumi family."
Yakumo shook his head a couple of times, as if to say, "Oh boy."
"Regardless, it is a well-established fact that they hold a vested interest there. And you ─in other words, the Yotsuba family─ are the ones who stepped on their toes, as far as they're concerned."
For a moment, the thought of "you should've told me about this before" flashed through Tatsuya's mind. But it was instantly gone afterwards, because, even if he got the warning, he knew he would still have done the same thing. He couldn't leave a magic like that unattended.
"Hozumi Gozen, that is, Hozumi Asuha-dono, has decreed that the Yotsuba family will be punished for their transgression. His Excellencies Kashiwa and Anzai, of the Four Great Elders, voiced their approval to this."
"I see. Nothing that His Excellency Toudou could have done would have stopped him, then." There was no hint of blame on Toudou from Tatsuya.
"It's three to one, after all." Yakumo concurred.
"So, Master. What was that brought you to summon me?" The background information on the attack was not useless. Tatsuya felt that alone made this visit worthwhile. "Can you tell me what Hozumi Asuha's intentions are?"
Tatsuya asked in general, hoping to get a hint in that direction. He did not expect to answer it directly or in detail.
"What I'll say is not what I've gathered, but what His Excellency Toudou has told me." So when Yakumo started off like that, Tatsuya could not help but be surprised.
Yakumo noticed the subtle change in expression but chose not to mention, instead, continued passing on the "verbal message from Toudou."
"Hozumi Asuha's objective is tearing down the wards protecting the Yotsuba Main House's village."
"So she's trying to expose the Main House by taking away the concealment wards? And they can have politicians, media and all kinds of people do the dirty work attacking the Main House?"
"Something along those lines, yeah. I don't think even the Hozumi family would want to get into an all-out war with the Yotsuba. Even with their figure that has the superpower of nullifying magic, I can't see them surviving a direct confrontation."
Those words made Tatsuya's eyebrows shoot up, "Nullifying Magic power, you say?"
Yakumo specifically mentioned a superpower user, and not a "caster" or a "magician".
"Did you mean a superpower that prevents magic itself from being activated? Not, preventing execution of a magic sequence?"
Given how it was said, Tatsuya interpreted it as meaning someone able to interfere with the very operation of magic itself, as opposed to preventing activation like the known counter-magic techniques.
"Hozumi Asuha's granddaughter, and her successor as the head of the Hozumi family, Hozumi Tokika, has the superpower of impeding magic itself. Or, to put it in another way, the divine power that prevents the world from being repainted by magic." "A 'divine power'?"
"If Magic is the power to defy the natural order of this world, then the power that prevents it from being repainted is protecting natural order. Which is not so far from one of Buddha's divine powers, don't you think?"
"…'Gotsu', right? The divine power to transcend the laws of the physical world."
The Buddha is known to possess generally six supernatural powers (Abhijna): The supernatural abilities that the Buddha is said to have are generally considered being of six types: Jinsoku-tsuu (or iddhi-vidha-ñāna; unimpeded bodily function), Tengen-tsuu (or dibba-cakkhu-ñāna; divine eye or clairvoyance), Tenni-tsuu (or dibba-sota-ñāna; clairaudience or divine ear), Tashin-tsuu (or ceto-pariya-ñāna; telepathy), Shukumiyou-tsuu (or pubbe-nivāsānussati-ñān; remembering past lives) and Rojin-tsuu (or āsavakkhaya-ñāna; extinction of contamination, or a divine clarity of mind). Meanings are naturally more complicated because of the religious significance attached to them. The five, excluding Rojintsuu, are referred to as the Gotsu.
"Let's not get into that. Unless you're interested in listening to a sermon of this poor monk?"
Yakumo is right, better leave the religious discussion out of it for now.
"I agree. My apologies." Tatsuya bowed his head, accepting the blame for the unnecessary digression.
"Back to what you're talking about, this superpower of Hozumi Tokika, does it completely nullify or block the event interference power?"
"To put it in your way, you could say that it reinforces the original information of a given event in an absolutist way." "To what extent does this power extend?"
Yakumo broke a broad smile in response to this question.
"Normally people would be a bit more thoughtful and reserved, and carefully dart around the question. But you never change, Tatsuya-kun, direct as an arrow." However, his expression soon changed. ─Well, for Yakumo, that is. "I suppose you're asking what is the range of the magic nullification? That I cannot say for certain, as I haven't personally checked it myself. But it has been said to be within a two to five meter radius centered around the young lady in question."
"Large enough to cover oneself and the head of the family, I see."
"Indeed, against magic it's mostly useful for personal protection. But Hozumi Tokika's divine power shines brightly when it faces wards and hexes."
"What exactly do you-…" Tatsuya paused mid-sentence.
"Seems like you got it." As Yakumo pointed out, Tatsuya had just realized the actual value of the magic nullification. "I don't think I need to point it out to you that magic is an art that only exists in its entirety. Doesn't matter if it fits modern or ancient-style, if one part cracks, the whole collapses."
"And Hozumi Tokika can destroy the concealment wards by just coming into contact with them."
Even with the lesser estimate of a two-meter radius for her magic nullification, the concealment wards, on the other hand, are thousands of times larger. If she approaches one side of it, it'll be like an inflated rubber balloon being poked by a needle and bursting.
"That's how it is." "This woman, the caster. You mentioned she's the next head of the Hozumi family. …What would be acceptable?"
"What can we do with her?" was the essence of Tatsuya's question. Surely erasing the successor of one of the Four Great Elders out of existence would be not advisable in the long-term. Even if it could be said to be in self-defense. He wanted to know how far they could go. If, maybe, they could restrain her, or something.
"Do as you please."
However, the answer he received from Yakumo was completely unexpected.
"…Is that the opinion of His Excellency Toudou?"
"Yes," Yakumo confirmed with a nonchalant look on his face.
But that was as far as the easygoing attitude went.
Tatsuya felt a sudden change in Yakumo's demeanor and straightened his posture to match the tone.
"His Excellency Toudou has stated that he is open to an all-out confrontation with the Hozumi family, if it comes to pass. The Senate is not a friendship club, and the "Four Grand Elders" framework is just a frame of reference created by those around it. It would not matter if there are Four or Three Great Elders. And that's all I have" At the same manner it went out, soon the aloofness was back once again.
"…Understood."
With so many sudden ups and downs, even Tatsuya needed a few moments to respond.
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