Tranquil Territory - 4 - The Birdcage
With the general defeated silence had fallen on stardust fortress, the undead had collapsed and then dissolved, the magical energies that had fuelled them gone with the malignant general.
Among the loot that the general had dropped was a phoenix in a cage; but when Hachiman had freed the creature it simply flew away without a second look back, eager to escape the iron confines which had robbed it of its freedom, Athena had complained bitterly at that, but Hachiman could shake the feeling that even if it had not dropped any item, it had left behind something invaluable. Inspiration. He had taken good care of the simple wrought iron cage, though it appeared to have no distinguishing feature now that its spectacular prisoner had been freed.
The Feudal zone of Tranquil Territory under the Feudal Lord Hachiman had been formed once more; the Tranquil Territory had been established in the southern reaches of the Ezzo Empire. In the days that followed reconstruction efforts began in earnest and Yasuo and his fellow players reached out to their friends in the north; seeking to gather those they could for a summit on the northern bank of the Lyport channel. As figures from the various role-play guilds began to arrive in Stardust; he was able to sway many of them to his cause.
Heated words were exchanged when he made it clear that in his efforts to save the people of the land from adventurers, even were it to directly infringe on a player's role-playing experience; for many the idea that the treatment of landers might be sufficiently important to curtail their own behaviour was fundamentally unwelcome. Not all role-players were about 'playing hero' every character had their own tale to tell, some were heroic and uplifting, others complex and dark, some were malicious and cruel, each character had their own history and their own motivations. To ask the role-players to curb their characters impulses were they to negatively effect the people of the land was something that just did not seem to feel right, yet to fail to do so was to ignored the immensity of their predicament in having been transported to the world of Theldesia; the people were so real – it was a fact no role-player could overlook; yet even still, how many could simply decide to suspend their character's behaviours and habits, their hopes and dreams – as if it was all 'simply an act'. A non role-player may have struggled to understand it, but for many role-players stuck in Theldesia, their characters had taken on a level of substance that made them impossible to simply dismiss.
Yet at the same time, he received support from a surprising source, Echo, the level ninety vampire well known for his bloodthirsty ways had simply stopped, indeed he did not even want to be called Echo anymore, instead asking to be called Naoto. He had strongly pressed for his fellow more destructive role-players to take a more out of character approach; it was an appeal that had mixed success. Indeed even as there were those that refused to guarantee that they would not attack the people of the land, Hachiman countered by refusing to guarantee he would not use his out of character knowledge.
The threat of meta-gaming (of accessing knowledge that Yasuo knew as a player but that there was no way that Hachiman as a character should know) was enough to raise the ire of many – even of his allies; the ungainly trespass on etiquette was intentional however and he stuck to his guns arguing that the landers might deserve their protection more than a role-player deserved the right to victimize them in the name of staying in character.
It was a far from amiable debate and lasted many hours, and though few agreed to become Hachiman's vassals many said they might assist were it possible to arrange in character. Others could not assist, but did agree not to interfere, there were still others who would not commit one way or another. Though only roughly one and a half-dozen agreed to become vassals, several score more agreed to provide support to their cause, in truth it had been far more successful than Hachiman had anticipated. It was a predictably rocky encounter and Hachiman knew that this was far from the last he had heard of it; particularly from those who had created and nurtured their characters over years and were not convinced of the potential ability of the Landers to experience suffering.
Several days later they received word that Brigandia had received a major blow; courtesy of a band of adventurers from Akihabara led by the villainous Shiroe. Hachiman was amazed, according to the report perhaps only four characters had challenged the Brigandia leader and had prevailed. The truth was that even with his nodachi, Hachiman had very much doubted that Tranquil Territory could have managed to form a six man team capable of the same feat; the number in Brigandia dwarfed them and he doubted they could manage to puncture the massive array of healers and support that Brigandia's second in command, the main brain of the operation, had managed to construct.
The fall of their most senior members was a major blow to the perception of Brigandia and helped to lessen their hold on Susukino, because they would all resurrect it was mainly a cosmetic blow – or it would have been were it not for rumours of internal conflict that had since arisen. Instead Brigandia's influence had been greatly diminished and Hachiman was left wondering if he had done the right thing by moving so far to the south. He had needed to be hear to provide a buffer, allowing him to strike against their forces were they to attempt to move south, it would also allow him a commanding position with relation to the Lyport channel. But the flip side was the distance it put between him and Susukino made it more difficult to take advantage of the situation; though he did send several of his trusted associates (mainly those whom Loki suggested) back to Susukino to assist those who had remained behind. The more troubling aspect however was that the attacks on the surrounding towns and villages did not decrease.
Since the formation of the Tranquil Territory feudal zone, they had been busy securing influence in the surrounding populated zones, completing quests and defending against monster and adventurer attacks; this increased the loyalty of the local people and Tranquil Territory had been spreading to cover the bottom half of the peninsula, edging closer towards Susukino. Yet the sudden changes slowed their progress in Susukino and less than two weeks later in Akihabara changed all that.
When news arrived of the establishment of the round table in Akihabara it was accompanied by news that those who had been kicked out of the city were routinely harassing villages in the region and that this had been becoming more and more violent. Yet the reaction from the people in the peninsula was that things were changing for the better and perhaps they did not need Tranquil Territory's protection after all.
The words that Hachiman had been forwarded from the Round Table had failed to fill him with any sense of hope that the situation would improve for the people he had sworn to protect – though it was a remarkable benefit to adventurers and those living in the city and though the idea of recognising that Landers had rights appealed to him;their decisions had done nothing to improve the lot of the people of the land outside of their city.
All they had managed to achieve was to push all those adventurers who failed to play ball into the country side – where they would continue their reign of terror on the much weaker Landers virtually unopposed. Fresh reports came in frequently about villages burned, people murdered without reason and women assaulted. How would the round table deal with that? Oh well they had only been formed to look after Akihabara. Hachiman gritted his teeth in anger; even were the Silver Sword (who had apparently relocated many of their members to Susukino) to follow suit, how would that prevent the suffering of the People of the Land?
The paper containing the most recent reports of violence in central and northern Eastal crumpled in Hachiman's hands. The Ezzo Empire was still to launch any effective action to protect their people from the Adventurers in their midst while the round table in Akihabara had barely seemed to even acknowledge the problems – it was created for players and the way that they considered death to be a lesser crime than imprisonment was based on the idea that they were immortal; the same was simply not so for People of the Land and everything that Hachiman had heard reinforced that. He was however more than interested in how the extension of the rights to Landers had occurred in the first place; it was a step he had never expected. Perhaps with some adjustments the round table might provide some real legal protections to people of the land but as it was, they had merely turfed out their trouble-makers on the doorstep of those unable to protect themselves from the vastly more powerful Adventurers.
Among those that had come (and stayed) during the summit was Byakko a rather infamous swashbuckler known for his fearless and relentless style, his conviction to punish all who would break the law – the character of Yasuo's brother Yukio. Hachiman had invited his Byakko for a cup of wine, delivered by the industrious Loki and the two brothers were alone in Hachiman's quarters.
Hachiman sat the empty iron birdcage down on the table before his brother's chair, "What do you think of my solution Byakko?"
"What are you talking about?" Yukio replied with a puzzled tone. What was the solution and what problem did it solve? The cage and the accompanying inquiry his brother made were seemed without any sort of relation to the silence that had hung between them since discussing the horrible attacks that had been occurring around Susukino. Even were the attackers killed, they would only return again after a brief trip to the cathedral – those who had not fled were preyed on relentlessly.
"Why to Brigandia and their ilk of course." Hachiman reached forward and with one knuckle rapped on the cage.
After a sudden moment of realisation Byakko's eyes narrowed and then he shook his head in resignation, "Impossible. Even if you were able to trap them, they could simply use Call of Home or kill themselves." He was right of course, whether as Byakko or Yukio, he could easily see the problems in such a system; the only problem as Hachiman saw it was that he lacked vision.
"If we adventurers are immortal then just like the phoenix, a suitable cage must be prepared." Hachiman said as he turned his back and spoke over his shoulder as he exited to the battlements, "I meant for all of Susukino. I will ring her in magic and steel such as Theldesia has never before seen.." His brother made a choking sound, yet Yasuo did not hear it Hachiman's steps carried him forward out towards the snow, the lander guards that protected him following suit as he store onto the icy battlements; behind him Byakko managed to collect his wits and set off in pursuit.
Chapter Notes:
This brings us to the scene in the prelude; the story has now progressed through the same period as Log Horizon up until shortly after the foundation of the Round Table.