Undercurrents

P.S. Thanks to 'Mo Mo Mo,' 'Ling Baiyue,' and 'Blowing Away Stories' for the tips. Many thanks!

The extras from the character-submission thread will all make their appearances soon, except for the few oddballs who wrote Xiao Jiao in as an extra!

The Goa Kingdom was a country enclosed by a massive wall. By perfectly excluding everything deemed unnecessary, it had become a textbook example of a successful "isolated society."

This isolation made the people within the walls view the outside world as if it were full of venomous scorpions, and left the nobles inside the walls corrupt and decadent. The kingdom's class consciousness was even more appalling.

The area beside the wall was dotted with border towns, where the kingdom's lowest-status residents lived. Inside the border towns lay Central Street, a residential district for commoners one level above the people of the border towns.

And that wasn't all. At the heart of Central Street, which surrounded the center of the kingdom, stood High City, where the nobles lived. Finally, enclosed by High City was the royal palace, home to the royal family.

"And precisely because the class divisions are so blatant, we can't launch a surprise attack and take the Goa Kingdom in one fell swoop!"

In the dojo's main hall, Bai Ina sat in a chair and pointed at the map as she explained to Hijikata Yoshitoyo and Loxi, who stood before her. "So our first goal is to occupy the border towns. We don't need to take too many—just the few closest to Terminal Gray. That way, we'll have room both to advance and to retreat."

"Understood!"

Hijikata Yoshitoyo nodded, then asked, "Zongcilang has already started expanding his forces. According to the latest report, he's persuaded eight hundred people to surrender. Over the past half month, the Ghost Squad under his command has grown to nearly a thousand."

"Nearly a thousand already?" Bai Ina nodded in satisfaction and smiled. "At least he hasn't been slacking off. Send him a telegram telling him to continue his campaign, but to keep it secret, so the other bandits don't find out and form an alliance."

"How should we expand our forces, then? We still only have a little over two hundred people under our command." Hijikata Yoshitoyo sounded a little anxious. Zongcilang had already entered a period of rapid growth on the other side. Having overcome the initial difficulties, he now had nearly a thousand people at his command. As long as he didn't provoke the bandits into uniting against him, sooner or later he would bring all of Mt. Colubo under his control.

"Don't worry."

Bai Ina chuckled. "Pick fifty people from the Guard Unit—people who are good with words—and send them through the wall to spread some rumors in the border towns."

"What rumors?" Hijikata Yoshitoyo asked, puzzled.

"That the Revolutionary Army is about to attack the border towns near Terminal Gray!"

"What?" Hijikata Yoshitoyo froze, then asked urgently, "Why spread a rumor like that? Wouldn't it make attacking the border towns even harder? And it would expose us to the Goa Kingdom!"

"Heh, don't be foolish. Do you think the Goa Kingdom's intelligence department is full of idiots? The kingdom's upper ranks may already know all about our strength—even Zongcilang's. The only reason they haven't acted is that they're still investigating whether we have any other trump cards hidden away."

At that, Bai Ina couldn't help giving a wry smile. "You could say that our weakness is precisely what makes the Goa Kingdom wary... They don't believe we'd start a revolutionary war with only twelve hundred people. They're sure we must have forces hidden somewhere..."

"..." Hijikata Yoshitoyo's mouth twitched. He found it hard to believe, and almost absurd. By Bai Ina's reasoning, the Goa Kingdom had learned of their existence but hadn't attacked because their forces were too weak.

"Besides, I imagine there are a lot of unfamiliar faces in the border towns near Terminal Gray now. There should be quite a few Kingdom Army troops stationed there, and they'll probably decide to send out an army to wipe us out soon. Since that's the case, let's play along."

Bai Ina pointed coldly at the border town nearest Terminal Gray on the map and sneered. "Send a telegram to Zongcilang and have him bring five hundred troops back. We're attacking a border town!"

"We're really attacking? Then why spread the rumor?"

Hijikata Yoshitoyo was getting more and more confused. If they meant to attack the border towns, wouldn't spreading the rumor give the Kingdom Army time to react?

Bai Ina smiled faintly, rose slowly from her chair, and walked to the window. Gazing at the distant wall, barely visible through the haze, she said, "Make it look like an attack while pulling away; threaten to attack without doing so, and when you mean to attack, make it look as if you won't!"

"..."

Hijikata Yoshitoyo was at a loss. He suddenly felt that Bai Ina was even harder to understand now than she had been when she rarely spoke.

"It's all right if you don't understand. I'll be leading this campaign. For now, you just need to handle the messages. Tell Zongcilang not to recruit more people for the time being, and to focus on getting his troops working together. This campaign will be an opportunity for our Guard Unit to grow."

"And we'll have to move quickly, too, because winter is almost here. The tents supplied to us by headquarters won't be enough to house everyone. There's no need to worry about Zongcilang's men; the bandit strongholds on the mountain have enough room for them. But the Guard Unit is different, so we need to occupy at least one border town and make it our base."

Meanwhile, many noble heads of household had gathered in the assembly hall in High City. At the head of the room sat a man dressed in splendid robes. He looked to be in his forties, and even sitting there, he exuded an air of authority—the sort possessed only by someone who had spent years in a position of power.

Judging by his bearing and where he sat, his identity was clear. He was the king of the Goa Kingdom, Goa Roschud!

"Everyone, what do you make of the gang of bandits at Terminal Gray?"

Rosshude swept his gaze over the nobles below him and spoke in an unhurried voice.

"They're nothing but a weak force made up of refugees and bandits. They're no threat at all."

"Indeed. The intelligence department is still investigating. Once we uncover the full extent of their hidden forces, we'll send the Kingdom Army to wipe them out."

"Why investigate? Just send the Kingdom Army over and wipe them all out!"

"..."

As he watched the noisy assembly hall, Rosshude's face briefly showed a hint of contempt, which vanished almost at once. He suddenly turned to a burly man sitting across the table and asked, "General Rice Ode, what do you think?"

The burly man was perhaps the only one in the assembly hall who stood out. While everyone else wore luxurious robes, he was dressed in battle gear. His expression was resolute, and a chilling air surrounded him.

"Your Highness, I've secretly deployed ten thousand Kingdom Army soldiers to the border towns near Terminal Gray. They're under the command of my younger brother, Rice Vincent. At a single order, they can attack Terminal Gray at any time."

General Rice Ode was utterly composed. He didn't take the rabble beyond the walls seriously in the least. "They're nothing but insignificant bandits. I say we send out the troops and wipe them out."

"You mean we should attack before the intelligence department finishes investigating their hidden forces?" Rosshude asked with a frown.

General Rice Ode remained calm and replied respectfully, "I don't believe they have any forces in hiding. We've already investigated their origins. They were formed by the disciples of Kubo Yamato, a Revolutionary Army cadre. At the time, we merely filed a routine report with the World Government, but the visit of the Celestial Dragons drew the World Government's attention to the matter, so they sent Cipher Pol 9 to capture him. His disciples only formed their force then, so I don't believe they have any hidden forces."