"Sit," the Iron Shogun commanded two rows of uniformed men in white haori with black spikes to sit and they did without question. The captains of the New Shinsengumi would have dropped on their own swords if the Shogun commanded so. Unwavering devotion was the price of a higher status in the Iron Country society.
Amongst the two rows of four of swordsmen in black and white haori, there was one with a sky-blue robe and a plain kimono underneath it. A young man that may not have been halfway through his twenties and had a lively ponytail of snow-white hair. The presence of a mere New Shinsengumi soldier amongst all the squad captains attracted more than a few glances from the military veterans among the New Shinsengumi.
"Serizawa-san, report," the Iron Shogun crossed his armored legs in front of him while staring with glowing red goggles beaming light like lanterns for eyes.
"Shogun-sama, before we begin, I must inquire about the foot soldier amongst our ranks. Usually, the captains' business is not discussed amongst lower-ranking soldiers. Such information is unnecessary for them to do their jobs and only invites unnecessary risks of disloyalty," captain Serizawa bowed to where his scarred and wrinkly face stared at the ground and his beard hung down at a static angle to his face.
"Soji-san has been invited here under Kondo-san's request. There is a matter Kondo-san wishes to bring to our attention and Soji-san is best informed of this matter, according to Kondo-san," the Iron Shogun explained Soji's presence with a graceful wave of his arm that would've required him to lift stacked armor plating on his arms to accomplish. "Was I correct, Kondo-san?" the Iron Shogun turned the blinding crimson torchlight of his goggles at another squad captain.
"As always, Shogun-sama," Kondo bowed while seated. "I acknowledge captain Serizawa's concerns about the subtlety of our reports. Even though I believe young Soji will soon rise to the rank of vice-captain and, in time, captain, with your permission, Shogun-sama, we might discuss this matter that requires Soji-san's input first and let the young man go so that he isn't troubled by our statistics and talk of what is to him mere clouds over his head. It just so happens that the matter I asked Soji-san to be present here for is a grave security concern, befitting to be addressed first."
"In that case, please speak up, captain Kondo," Iron Shogun tilted his arm to signal to his trusted captain.
"I wish to discuss the matter of Okurimi Mibu. He may be a hero of the Roshi Domain revolt, but, as the captain of the Kondo Squad, I cannot overlook the tremendous security threat that he poses," Kondo spoke up. "I have appointed him as my vice-captain based on his esteemed military career, however, as the vice-administrator of my squad, he's long since relinquished submitting reports to young Soji-san here. All that Okurimi Mibu does is soak his sword in blood. Since the establishment of the New Shinsengumi, he may have butchered more people than he did quelling the Roshi Domain insurgency, which is ludicrous, given that him standing his ground against 180 insurgency swordsmen and 139 mercenaries hired by the insurgents is his best-known achievement."
"So you are saying that Okurimi Mibu is killing, in other words, slaying, indiscriminately, in other words, now…? I struggle to believe that vice-captain Mibu is turning his sword against the innocents. During a fifteen-year military service term before the New Shinsengumi, he has slain not a single peasant. I have not seen him as much as kick or stomp a villager for stepping out of line, something even my court regularly does," the Iron Shogun replied.
"Perhaps it is best that young Soji-san speaks up. He is vice-captain Mibu's right-hand man. It was because of his reports that I've brought this matter to everyone's attention," captain Kondo turned to young Soji, who shifted his weight in between his crossed legs uncomfortably.
"Hold on now, captain Kondo, do you wish to tell me that this matter of vice-captain Mibu's security threat is relayed to you entirely by the young man that would take his position if vice-captain Mibu was removed? Don't you see the obvious conflict of interest here?" another captain spoke up with a raised hand.
"Do you question my honor, captain Katamori?" Soji turned to face the captain that brought the matter up.
"The whelp speaks out of line!" captain Katamori stood up, grabbing the hilt of his sword before captain Kondo raised his arm in between captain Katamori and young Soji.
"May I remind you that you have committed a grievous offense at his expense by questioning his honor as a swordsman? Needless to say, you did so without proof. The boy would be well within his rights to challenge you to a duel right now and the satisfaction of your blood spoiling this fine mat would be entirely his," captain Kondo shook his head with the disapproval of his fellow captain's behavior. "Please, young Soji, relay to the rest of the New Shinsengumi captains and to the Iron Shogun and his court what you've told me."
"Certainly, captain Kondo," Soji bowed to his superior before placing his sword on the mat and gently guiding it until he positioned the sword horizontally in front of him. In Iron Country, this gesture represented two things: an unwavering proclamation of peace, also, an oath to take one's own life via seppuku if one's honor was justly put into question while seated in this position. In other words, young Soji proclaimed he had nothing to hide and will put his own life on the line for it.
"Nineteen samurai families tracing back their lineage as the aristocracy of the Iron Country for anywhere between 30 to 69 years with a combined military service term of 1863 years slain in the last month. 106 commoners chopped up by vice-captain Mibu personally. The Choshu family, which had eight members in the second ring of Iron Shogun's court, slaughtered overnight just three weeks ago. The patriarch of the main branch was impaled until he bled out, then quartered, his wife beheaded, and kids disemboweled with the youngest Fukka Choshu soaked in kerosene and lit on fire. All of this performed by vice-captain Mibu himself while we, his squad, stood guard while he worked…" Soji stopped to breathe in. In the beginning, it didn't seem like his report troubled anyone present.
While the captains remained thoroughly unimpressed even just before Soji's short break, Iron Shogun's court gulped and sweated profusely. They knew that any single one of them could have centuries of flawless military record stricken out and their entire family butchered at the hands of a very enthusiastic justiciar if just one criminal affair of any single member of their family came to light. They knew of the Choshu family tragedy and they were the simplest target to terrify.
"While the tragedy of the Choshu family might be familiar to most of you, you may not know the reasons for which vice-captain Mibu targeted the family for elimination. You may not have even looked into them. All the New Shinsengumi officers are men of exalted military careers, with most of them being war heroes long before joining. As the vice-captain's right-hand man, I know those reasons. I'd like to present them here to the esteemed captains, to the court, and to Shogun-sama to judge justly and determine if they warranted the fate to which the Choshu family was doomed," Soji scanned the room after pulling his bowing head off the mat.
"Shoritoku Choshu, a general and a military advisor of the Iron Country forces, was slain for his actions in the Cape Trench conflict. General Choshu, with full knowledge of his squad's inferior numbers to the Kumogakure platoon of ninja illegally crossing our borders, passing from Iwagakure to Land of Lightning, engaged the enemy and refused to retreat even when it became clear that his forces were being crushed. Choshu Seina, general Shoritoku's wife, had an affair with another member of this court, the identity of which I shall not disclose. Aisara Choshu, general Choshu's daughter, treated with Iwagakure rebels for military aid without the approval of Shogun-sama or his court or even his knowledge. Otomori Choshu, general Shoritoku's son, tainted his sword with an anticoagulant before a duel, causing his opponent to bleed out. Based on the boy's final words, it was so that his hardened military man of a father saw him in a better light, as a capable swordsman, able to defeat another swordsman in combat and unwavering in the face of the responsibility of taking another man's life…" Soji recounted with an ironclad expression that was fully matched by the other captains.
Soji spoke in a similar vein, recounting the questionable crimes of some more nobles and veteran swordsmen and how Okurimi Mibu made them pay for their lives. Out of the thirty-two members of the first four circles of the Iron Shogun's court present in the meeting, four remained by the end. All active and trusted members of both the Iron Shogun's most trusted inner circle and his most capable swordsmen and military commanders. Even the conservative Lord Mifune scratched the side of his sweaty neck and closed his eyes in disgust shortly before the end of Soji's report.
"The purpose of this report is not to portray vice-captain Mibu as a monster, by no means," Soji's glare sharpened and stabbed at the remaining court members with all the resolve and cruelty of the tip of a sword. "I'd like it to incite discussion of what type of group the New Shinsengumi is currently and what sort of group it should be. Also, it serves as a warning to any of you here. Most of us are not without sin. Some of the New Shinsengumi captains have wrongly accused and executed commoners for crimes they did not commit, the sins of the Choshu family may be first among the court's secrets, but the second, the third, and the fourth cannot feel safe. The New Shinsengumi represents the power of the Iron Shogun, his ironclad grip on the laws of the land. It is natural that this group becomes the target of the ire of the common folk who have been treated as a lesser, necessary evil plaguing our land. If we decide that vice-captain Mibu's path of blood and cold and vengeful steel is the path which we should all strive toward, we shall embrace our role as the enemy of the people, withstand the tides of highest recorded cases of insurgency amongst the commoners and build walls of bodies as tall as necessary to restore order. Let's just hope that their blood will prove a viable fertilizer for our lands. I, frankly, do not know if it will, I've never worked a furrow or held a hoe in my hands my entire life."
The court members wriggled and shifted about, rustling with whispering conspiracies and suggestions between one another while the Iron Shogun scanned the room. The red searchlight cast by the red-tinted goggles of his mask ran across his whole gathered inner circle. At times such as these, the Iron Shogun may have preferred to let these influential men and women have a say in matters of governance as opposed to being the absolute autocrat of the Iron Country but that would have set a bad precedent for all the times he didn't want to heed their silver-tongued warnings and advice and to follow his own gut as a warrior and a leader.
Even the usually immovable New Shinsengumi captains scanned the room with visible unease. While most of them may not have seen an issue with Mibu's actions, they wondered if their resolve for dealing out justice was mirrored similarly by the members of the Iron Country aristocracy who, while unburdened by the right and voice of voting power, still held significant influence with the Shogun. Many of them oversaw fundamental parts of Iron Country society and, while they had no direct say in how certain things were to be managed, could have made life much more difficult for the unquestionable supreme autocrat in cumbersome iron armor. How the New Shinsengumi was to operate directly depended on what the Iron Shogun would decide based on the advice of his inner circle and the rest of the people he'd hear from before deciding.
"Unlike young Soji, I have grave concerns about vice-captain Mibu," captain Kondo spoke up and slashed through the reigning silence threatened by behind-the-scenes rustling and whispering. "I believe he represents a security threat we cannot afford to ignore. If you believe that his behavior is merely him acting upon his authority as a justiciar of the New Shinsengumi, you are being shortsighted. What, I ask, will happen when one of the New Shinsengumi slays an innocent man? How many more ministers and agents can we afford to feed this all-devouring wolf of self-righteousness? Shall we cut off the limbs of farmers, judges, merchants, foreign emissaries, and vital supply chains and show weakness in failing to protect that which is essential to us to one of our own? What signal will that send to Lightning and Fire Countries who have long since had their differences with our politics and way of handling things? Given the delicate matters of politics, can we truly safely host any of the Feudal Lords in our lands as a neutral ground for international summits with an unchained rabid dog like vice-captain Mibu?"
"Those are some very sharp accusations and insults. It is not very honorable to cast them at a man who isn't here to defend himself…" a tall man of an average body build and a head rich with shoulder-long chestnut-color hair spoke up. For a military officer of relative import, captain Nishiki wore his hair in a vagabond's style and allowed himself the luxury of a rugged stubble. Anyone willing to clash swords with him was free to challenge his honor as an officer, but few took up the challenge after multiple notable defeats.
"How must a captain point out the reasons one of his officers should be dealt with without speaking truthfully? If I had only praise to cast on vice-captain Mibu's honor, I would cast no stones," captain Kondo turned to captain Nishiki with a bitter sneer. "After all, it is one of my own men and a fine swordsman at that with ironclad willpower that I am asking to be freed of. His responsibilities shall fall upon the remaining men in my squad so I would not be raising this case without a good reason. Do you question my motives and my honor as an officer, captain Nishiki?"
"Of course not, captain Kondo, I merely suggest that perhaps it would have been better if instead of this pup Soji, vice-captain Mibu was here to speak for himself?" captain Nishiki shrugged with a full-face smile of faux politeness.
"Vice-captain Mibu is not a man of words. He is a man of war and he finds war wherever he can," Soji spoke up out of line, surprising more than a handful of the New Shinsengumi captains but, before any of them could object or challenge the young man to a duel and teach him what they perceived to be his place, Lord Mifune knocked his sheathed sword at the mat.
"Have we run out of thugs and insurgents that the New Shinsengumi bark at one another? Look at you all, you spoil the legacies and service record fine men such as yourselves leave behind with this behavior!" Lord Mifune scolded the captains for their bickering, showing remarkable skill at navigating the sensitive world of officer's honor by insulting not the men or their service but their behavior and avoiding unnecessary dueling amongst esteemed swordsmen and officers. This was not because Lord Mifune had any swordsman's challenge to fear, however.
"This is certainly a troubling matter, however, I still do not see any laws being bent or broken. Okurimi Mibu's behavior as a military officer is horrid, however, it is not unforeseen. I knew all too well the kind of man I ask to join this group and appoint to a high rank," the Iron Shogun spoke with an artificial, cybernetic hum to his voicebox-augmented voice. "Had it not been for his antisocial personality and absolute lack of leadership potential and skill, I'd have granted him the rank of captain immediately. Given how he is a second-rate swordsman with peerless toughness and willpower, he deserves the rank he has and I personally granted him permission to cut down any evildoer no matter their standing so we cannot blame the man for his enthusiasm in meting out justice left and right and sealing it with the swing of his blade–the only way he knows how and the only language the man speaks."
"Understood, Shogun-sama!" captain Kondo pressed his wrinkly and scarred forehead against the mat.
"Now, that does not mean that Okurimi Mibu is free to rampage as he sees fit. The Iron Country is not a battleground and behavior akin to that of a rabid dog of war shall not be tolerated in our home. It is something reserved for the enemies of our country and cravens that wield the weapon of a warrior but exhibit none of the honor and the responsibility of a member of the higher class they pretend to be. That being said, I will spare vice-captain Mibu of my judgment until I hear his case," the Iron Shogun clarified his position. "For the next meeting, please invite vice-captain Mibu and young Soji too. The lad seems to be quite familiar with the inner workings of his superior's mind, having done his actual job while the vice-captain indulged himself in his death-dealing."
"Yes, Sir!" all the New Shinsengumi captains chanted out in unison like soldiers accepting the burden of death as the vanguard from their superior without question. It was now all of their responsibility to bring vice-captain Mibu before the Shogun, arrested, bound, and broken if need be.
"What is it, Soji-san?" the Iron Shogun acknowledged young Soji's raised hand and a polite and well-meaning smile beaming on the young lad's face. Even a hellraiser like Soji did not dare speak out of line after the Iron Shogun unless addressed by the armored, autocratic authority directly.
"If I may, I would like Shogun-sama to issue a few clarifications. Directives, so to speak, as to how the New Shinsengumi should operate from now on. It may have been assumed that these things were elementary but, as evident by vice-captain Mibu's behavior, they evidently were not. Since I lack the proper rank and am a mere sword of the New Shinsengumi, if the captains were not to second my notion for Shogun-sama's clarification, I shall cease them entirely…" Soji bowed his head to the mat as if requesting forgiveness and for his life to be spared for something dire.
"Speak," the Iron Shogun grumbled.
"Well, the rather abstract motto the New Shinsengumi swears by is "Slay Evil Now", is it not? Well, this, alongside vice-captain Mibu's behavior, just raises a few questions in my mind. Namely, what is considered evil, that is to say, is evil decided by some sort of inner and abstract morality of each of us as human beings, or is evil that which is illegal by the strict letter of the law, as vice-captain Mibu sees it?" Soji asked, straightening his back and facing the armored sovereign directly while weathering the intensity of his focused searchlights.
"For now, just follow your inner judgment about what is best for the country," the Iron Shogun ruled with a wave of his hand, expecting this to now be law to be followed under the penalty of death. "Does that answer your question?"
"Well… It seems rather vague, Shogun-sama. I would like to propose that during future meetings, the chancellor drafts some sort of regulation and guidelines for the New Shinsengumi to follow. I believe that would help us avoid matters such as those that were discussed here," Soji noted.
"That is a fine suggestion for the future, for now, just follow what you think the Iron Shogun's will would be under the relevant circumstances," Lord Mifune added to the conversation from the Iron Shogun's right side.
"I see, and what if the Shogun-sama himself is the alleged perpetrator?" Soji wondered. A thunderous pound cracked the wooden mat tile as captain Kondo lifted his subordinate off the ground and slammed him against the wall hard enough to make Soji cough blood while the edge of captain Kondo's sword pressed against the pulsing artery on the right side of the young Soji's neck.
"You dare… Dishonor me with these vile suggestions after I brought you here as my responsibility?" captain Kondo hissed, asking young Soji for just one reason his captain shouldn't have cut his throat open there and now in a blink and showered the mat with arterial red.
"Captain Kondo…" Soji coughed up, slowly regaining some of his speaking voice. "Of course, any member of the New Shinsengumi would practice subtlety and restraint under these circumstances. Any except for one who does not see rank, nor does he second-guess himself. I… Merely thought we should extinguish this legal vacuum and prevent an attempt at the Iron Shogun's life."
"Very well… It seems that we shall have to deal with this issue here and now…" the Iron Shogun sighed and shut his red goggle lights to shake his head with pronounced metallic clangs as his gauntlet contacted his helmet.
"I'm afraid I have to agree," Lord Mifune stuffed his hands inside the baggy sleeves of his robe and submitted to the disappointment in how this all turned out. "I now second captain Kondo that vice-captain Mibu might become a security threat to the very integrity of our country. The word of Iron Shogun is law, even if it is not, it becomes law after being spoken by Shogun-sama. A sturdy, blood-thirsty war dog might not comprehend that."
"Young Soji might have a point. The thought of Mibu's blind justice-dealing targeting a member of our inner circle, throwing our whole country out of balance, or even targeting the Shogun himself has completely crossed my mind," the Iron Shogun leaned over the tea table and weaved his fingers together to the best of his ability given his hefty gauntlets.