The Siege Fort (Day 2, Late Night)

[Tier-Group 3: Control Room]

"The north and east of the Zombie Dungeon are already within our sphere of influence, so we'll raise a siege fort there with dungeon structures, send in a forlorn hope to draw the zombies, and just go on slaying zombies without end."

"Aide-de-camp scribe, do we truly need a forlorn hope?"

So said Mint.

"If there's no one there, the zombies won't come near the siege fort. And unlike the Zombie Dungeon, the Library-City cannot acquire dungeon energy unless the zombies are slain within our own sphere of influence."

"Marie-san, how do we send in the forlorn hope?"

"Extending the elevated road won't get them there in time, so we'll call for volunteers from the four knight orders bringing up the rear, route them around Hiratsuka, and march them by bus through our sphere of influence to the siege fort. As a countermeasure against the zombies we'll attach two Panjandrums as escort, and have another night heron keep watch from above. The distance is roughly twelve or thirteen kilometers, so even over rough ground it should take only an hour or two."

"Two hours' worth of zombies heading for Hatanodai, then. It would be well if they came back to us."

"If they go to Kōnodai, I believe that can be dealt with. And so, Noda Daizen-no-daibu at the Nameless Bridge, I ask you to keep watch from the air."

"Senior Fifth Rank. It is Noda Daizen-no-daibu. I will thank you not to lump me in with those rankless, titleless egrets."

So a night heron answered from the Nameless Bridge. The office title sounds grand, but what matters is that the night heron is of the "Senior Fifth Rank." After all, Marie is of no more than the Junior Fifth Rank, and self-styled at that, so a night heron who has been formally granted his court rank ranks the higher of the two.

"… Perhaps I ought to style myself Minister of Central Affairs, of the Senior Fourth Rank, on my own authority… But the office of Minister of Central Affairs, like that of Governor of Kazusa, is reserved for imperial princes, so it would be difficult."

That said, whether an imperial court even exists in this world is itself unknown.

"Director of Books, what specifications will the siege fort have?"

So asked Commander Kishi, Kishi Harima-no-suke.

"First, Harima-no-suke, your task is to rest. Rather than joining the forlorn hope, please make for the siege fort afterward as a relief for the second wave."

"Understood."

"We'll extend the sphere of influence to the very limit, right up near Hiratsuka, force a wedge of sphere-of-influence between the Zombie Dungeon and the 'shadow of Hiratsuka' as well, and seal off three sides of the Zombie Dungeon, every direction but the south (the southeast, to be exact), with a rampart wall."

"And the south?"

"The south falls within the 'shadow' of the Zombie Dungeon, so we cannot extend our sphere of influence there and therefore cannot place dungeon structures. I did consider a stone wall, but the library's official vehicles include nothing like a crane truck, so I'll give that up. We'll put facilities such as the barracks atop the rampart wall as well, so even if the zombies come around the wall there will be no problem. As for zombies going south from there and on to Kōnodai or the like, that we shall simply have to give up on."

"Lord Kazusa-no-suke will surely manage."

"The strip of land that the Zombie Dungeon prevents us from folding into our sphere of influence is roughly a hundred meters wide; we'll cut the edge of our sphere of influence into a shallow trench and run the Panjandrums along it, and build the rampart wall on the inner side of that. The wall will be a hundred and fifty meters on the north, and three hundred meters on the east and west to allow some margin, and we'll connect an elevated road to it directly for resupply. In time this road will be run straight out to join the highway linking Hiratsuka and Kōnodai."

Marie gave a full account of the plan. Because Hiratsuka cannot be folded into the dungeon's sphere of influence, the elevated road of dungeon structures will have to skirt around Hiratsuka.

"At the Nameless Bridge, please call for volunteers for the forlorn hope from the knight orders bringing up the rear. Here, we will settle the finer specifications of the rampart wall."