Maxim's Day Off

Miscellaneous

When Maxim finished receiving his report about the bounty Elyan and his crew had accomplished, he found himself, most uncommonly, without anything in particular demanding his attention. The majority of The Wolfpack were out in Ago, enjoying the many delicacies and delights the port town had to offer. Haures, too, was off on her own business somewhere. For the moment, the center of Ago Manor seemed to contain no souls save himself and Kashirin.

There were a few items left on Maxim's agenda and so, with little else to occupy him, he decided to get started on the first one. He recalled that Nagasone Kotetsu had demanded a letter of introduction before she'd let Maxim engage her services. Reaching out to Tōdaisen Nobuhara over the mental network, he sought a meeting to accomplish exactly that.   Shigeaki Fujino arrived promptly as usual, but before conveying Maxim to Wakigami Castle, she first hailed him with a question: Had he received any strange messages lately over their telepathic channels? Although it took him a moment to go over all his recent experiences with it, Maxim had to admit that no, he hadn't really experienced anything out of the ordinary. That seemed to relieve Fujino and surely would have been the end of it, but Knight Commander Maxim was determined to unearth what had made her ask in the first place.   In a hurried and somewhat disjointed explanation, the Hashinara Head of Communication and Transport revealed that she'd received a strange mental message from someone she didn't recognize on the network late last night, as she was going to bed. The voice, which Fujino didn't know at all, had simply said: "Good night, Fujino-chan." Such an oddity was not entirely without precedent. Some time before Maxim had joined the clan, the evil fox-witch Tamamo-no-Mae had used her charms both physical and mystical to worm her way into the mental network. It still shouldn't be possible for an intruder to register themselves as a user without Fujino touching them and exerting an effort of will, however.   Unless...it was the other party which had touched her. Naturally, that still left the "effort of will" part absent. It was possible, however unlikely, that another party had deliberately touched Fujino and added her to their network. Indeed, the slender psychic recalled an incident the day before wherein a short, hooded figure, likely a girl or young woman, had barreled into Fujino while she was enjoying the tournament. She hadn't thought much of it at the time; surely there were many strange and covert individuals present at such an international event. Now, however, it would certainly account for the strange message she'd received in the night.   It didn't take long for Maxim to come up with a solution. They'd just shatter the matrix, as Tarō, in his "Tamamo-no-Tarō" incarnation had broken the Sinister Crab's hold on its crustacean militia. Kashirin herself should be able to do so right here, wielding her signature destruction magic. Indeed, Maxim's Binbōgami companion agreed that she could break any matrices currently attached to Fujino, but wouldn't have much way of discerning which one to target. The young Shigeaki shut that idea down immediately. If Maxim or Kashirin accidentally broke the clan's legitimate mental network, it would be catastrophic. No, to handle this, they would need to bring an expert.   That expert, ported over by Fujino a few minutes later, was one Saruyoshi Ennosuke. This older nobleman was possessed of many distinctive qualities, foremost among them was his being a monkey. Indeed, Ennosuke was a Saru Yōkai from the Hiyoshi Onsen group recently affiliated with Aotsuki Tsukamoto. More saliently, he was a scholar and expert on all things psychic. After a brief time monitoring and pondering Fujino, however, Ennosuke could only shake his simian head. Despite the other psychic's efforts to hide it, he could tell that there were three matrices affecting Fujino where there should only be two. Try as he might, however, he could not distinguish them closely enough to determine which should be severed. The powers at work here were simply beyond his ability, and therefore likely to be beyond anyone else. Despite having spent much of his long life in becoming a scholar of the mental realm, Ennosuke had never had the fortune to meet another who could say the same.   With that proclamation, Fujino encouraged Maxim to simply drop the matter for now. They'd keep an eye out for anyone matching her "assailant's" description at the tournament in the coming days. In the meantime, all that the matrix did was allow the other party to talk to her. What's the worst that could happen?   In fact, Maxim had several thoughts about the worst things that could happen, but he swallowed his objections for the moment. With her characteristic flash of light, Fujino finally fulfilled his request of transport to Wakigami Castle, then left to return Ennosuke home just thereafter.   Tōdaisen Nobuhara met Maxim in one of the meeting rooms on the second floor. Despite being an extremely busy man, head administrator of the Hashinara Clan, Nobuhara seemed to be taking an interest in The Wolfpack's career and place in the group. So it was that he'd cleared out a few minutes in his schedule to hear out Maxim's request.   The question was a simple one. With the clan's Daimyō, Hashinara Yoshitakatomo, away on some outlandish expedition to The Dreamlands, would Nobuhara be willing to draft a letter of recommendation for Maxim to present to Nagasone Kotetsu? After hearing the story around it, Nobuhara agreed. He would not have any qualms about writing such a letter, especially when it would bolster the strength of one of the clan's allies. However, he had his doubts about whether his own name would carry any weight to the recipient. Although in practical terms Tōdaisen Nobuhara may be one of the most powerful men in the entire Empire of Japan, he did not seek fame, and his name remained largely unknown outside of strictly political circles.   That didn't seem to dissuade Maxim much, but the Knight Commander still listened when Nobuhara presented another option. Within this very castle, living in the Princess-Daimyō's quarters, was one of the greatest rulers Japan had ever known. Empress Genmei, legendary ancestor of the Hashinara, was a name that would carry immense weight in a letter of recommendation. That was provided, of course, that Maxim could impress her enough to impel such an act, and that Kotetsu believed the signature of a supposedly-long-dead Empress.   Maxim still had his doubts. However, he also possessed great respect for Nobuhara's judgment. With a bit of hesitation, Maxim agreed to at least meet this "Empress Genmei" and to deal with Kotetsu's expected disbelief on his own when the time came.