Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 13 - Chapter SS1

Bonus Short Stories 
* May contain spoilers. Please read these after finishing the volume. 
The Land of Strife 
Reiji Mukudori 
“What kind of country is Tenchi, anyway?” 
On a day much like any other, I posed that question to my Tenchi-dwelling friends from college. 
“Oh dear. Why would you ask that?” 
“I just felt like learning more about the place.” 
Marie had gotten me curious when she’d said that Tenchi’s Nanshumon clan actually used the Death Soldier job, which I’d picked as my third. All I really knew about the country so far was that the median level of tians there was exceptionally high. 
“You’re all from there, right? Can you tell me more about the country’s culture? The general vibe?” 
“Hmm... the vibe, huh? I’d say that it’s...” Akiyama stopped mid-sentence, only for the other three to finish it for him in unison. “The land of strife.” 
I’d heard the exact same description many times now, both in and out of Dendro. 
“Not a month passes there without civil conflict,” Fuyuki — who was affiliated with the Hokugen’in Daimyo clan — said, reminiscing about something. “We had one just recently, in fact. Civilian casualties are rare, if that’s what you’re worried about, but the tians who take to the battlefield have a strong ‘BRING IT ON’ attitude. They’re all really tough, too.” 
“It’s basically the Sengoku Era with leveling thrown in,” Kasugai added as he nodded. “The tians there are also skilled at martial arts, so they’re often way stronger than mid-tier Masters.” 
“It’s pretty advanced, though. There’s a bath in every home, and most of them even have flush toilets,” Natsume said. 
“Well, Altar’s a traditional fantasy land, but it’s no different in that regard,” I said as I remembered all the facilities the kingdom had. 
The people of Dendro enjoyed many of the modern comforts we had here on Earth. Most of them had been introduced by people who had “Cat” as their last name — probably members of the dev team, specifically Tom. 

“What about you, Akiyama? Got anything to say about Tenchi?” 
“Well... I don’t live on Tenchi’s main island, but I can say that the cuisine has a Japanese vibe too. Though, due to the different flavors, they often use unconventional kinds of meat or western veggies, so even though the food is Japanese at its core, it often seems somewhat... thrown together.” 
“Ah. I get what you mean! It’s a bit fancy and colorful!” Natsume voiced her agreement. 
I knew what they meant. Dendro had ingredients we didn’t have on Earth, like monster meat or Remberries. 
“Oh, and though Tenchi is constantly at war with itself, they do have someone at the top.” 
“The ‘Conquest General,’ right?” I asked. “From what I can tell, that’s Dendro’s ‘Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force Against the Barbarians’ AKA ‘Shogun.’ What’s he like?” 
“Hmm... compared to actual historical people... he’s not Ieyasu, at least.” 
“Not Yoshiaki Ashikaga either, that’s for sure.” 
“I guess he’s closest to Yoshiteru Ashikaga.” 
“That’s the one they call ‘Swordmaster Shogun’...” I said in mild amazement. 
I did expect the head of a country in Dendro to be strong, though — just like Azurite in our own Altar. 
“But apparently, he’s weaker than his predecessors from ancient times. Our Daimyo said that the Conquest General’s powers change depending on how much land he owns, and he doesn’t have all that much of it right now.” 
“I mean, Tenchi’s an island country, so there’s a limit to that anyway, right?” 
It might not have always been an island country, though, huh? I wondered. 
Time passed by as we talked, and when it was almost time for the next lecture, we split up and focused on our studies. 
I learned quite a few things about Tenchi. The question now was... would I ever get a chance to go there?

The End