ASAHI NO NISHISEI - Rising Sun Goes West (2)

Interlude 2 - The Truth about Ina

October 22

Royal Palace Detached Keep, Ashiwara, Ina Kingdom, Southwest of Shungyou Continent

That evening, the crew of the Mutsu, who had been allowed to stay in the Ina Kingdom for the first time, were invited to the royal palace in Ashiwara, the capital of the Ina Kingdom, leaving some members of the engineering, supply, and navigation departments on the ship. They were escorted to the palace and met a certain person.

"I am Asakabe Nagahachirou Yoshifumi, I have been asked to be your guide."

A ninja-like man dressed in black and hand armor with a red bandana wrapped around his head offered his right hand to Captain Miyoshi for a handshake. Miyoshi shook his hand back.

"My name is Yoshihiko Miyoshi, Captain of the Japanese Navy. Nice to meet you..."

After introducing themselves to each other, Nagahachirou and Miyoshi sat down on couches set up so that they were facing each other with a table between them. They were surrounded by Mutsu crewmen.

"The king... has asked me to tell you the truth about us and the saucers that attacked your country. This is the first time in 1.500 years that this has been revealed outside the country, but those of you who have been affected have the right to know."

It was Nagahachirou who spoke first. He had been ordered by the king, Hitakami Itsusehiko, to tell the truth about the country. Miyoshi listened to him with a dubious look, as the information might be related to the saucers that attacked Kujukurihama.

"What do you call... that thing in the night sky?"

"?"

Nagahachirou pointed to the moon, which lit up the room with a dim light. Miyoshi tilted his head, but answered his question honestly.

"That object is commonly referred to as the 'moon,' but astronomers call it 'Alexandria.'"

Alexander the Great of Macedonia (also known as Iskandar), who defeated the Persians and established a great empire, built cities named after him in various conquered areas. The name of the city was Alexandria, and astronomers jokingly gave that name to Terralus' twin planet.

"I see... moon is what the people in this world call it," Nagahachirou spoke with a somewhat melancholy look. Then he continued. "The name of that planet is Elmerand, where a magical civilization once flourished at the peak of its maturity. Fifteen hundred years ago, however, the planet itself was destroyed in a final war, and the few people who survived escaped the planet in four arks."

"...!?"

The story began with a sudden and unorthodox sci-fi tale, and Miyoshi frowned. The other crew members were also looking at each other in confusion.

"...The four arks landed on this double planet of Terralus. Two of them failed to land and crashed into the sea, but the other two landed on the ground. One of them crash-landed on this Ina Archipelago... We, the Ina Kingdom, are the descendants of the people of Elmerand who landed on planet Terralus fifteen hundred years ago."

"!!"

At Nagahachirou's statement, everyone present recoiled in surprise. The true identity of the mysterious closed country of Ina Kingdom was that it was a nation created by aliens who arrived on this planet in prehistoric times.

"Then, what about the saucers?"

"We can't be absolutely sure, since all we have is an old photograph... but we think they may have been the shipboard combat aircraft that was mounted on the ark."

At this time, the identity of the group of saucers that attacked Kujukurihama was finally revealed. They were the remnants of a civilization that had perished 1.500 years earlier.