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[bun_bun_maru]

The Bunbunmaru News
Editor: Aya Shameimaru

Sports Special: Dragon Boat Races
It's summer in Eigisengoku, and with that comes the annual Dragon Boat races! In addition to the traditional large teams of people rowing with effort and teamwork, this year we also saw a number of boats manned only by two heroes of the clans each. This may not have been very nice as a celebration of teamwork and cooperation, but it made for a very interesting spectacle!

Some of the highlights:

• Infamous pirate punchswain Ronnie Cordova had an intense on-the-water duel with Wodan Ymir of Clan Enma. Both fighters survived the exchange, but the boat didn't. How Ronnie runs that fast along the water without sinking is a mystery even to me.
• The obligatory Oni showing took the form of Berserker, who seemed more concerned with helping Ilya taunt her enemies, Ramza and Delita of Agni Rastra, than with actually winning the race. She at least succeeded at one of these goals; in fact, she and Berserker did cross the finish line, but were ultimately disqualified, as the rules specifically state that the boat, not just the contestants, must cross the finish line.
• Azula, Fire Lord of Agni Rastra, made quite a spectacle with her pet Hell Raven! The two of them blasted off at the start, leaving the competition in the dust and showing great promise towards being the winners of the race. However, they ran into some trouble later, when the overenthusiastic Youkai set fire to their own boat, leaving them unable to finish the race.

According to my investigation, the official winner of the race was a Mr. Tanaka, who isn't any of the legendary heroes of the Clans. He was the only person still on his boat at the end, but being on one of the only boats to actually cross the finish line, he technically won the prize. Not that this matters, in the end, because before the race was even over, the would-be prize for the winner, the Wind Gem, was stolen by the Black Pearl pirates, right under the Emperor's nose. Their captain, Jack Sparrow, has earned himself quite a bounty for the delivery of his head back to the Capital, attached to his body or otherwise. Good luck, bounty hunters!

In Focus: The Kingdom of Hyrule
A new clan has joined the War of Succession! They are known as the Kingdom of Hyrule, under the rule of King Daltus. This may be somewhat misleading, however, since the King, in his old age, seems to have left the brunt of the actual work to his daughter, Princess Zelda. She has taken up the torch with grace, at the least, and is opting for a fairly defensive strategy in the war at large. Considering some of the recent events in the kingdom, the best defense may be a good defense!

• A village in Hyrule burned down mysteriously. All signs point to arson, but there's not enough evidence to point any fingers at any specific Youkai, or even maybe humans.
• In a more open act of war, a couple weeks later, Clan Enma raided the kingdom with an attack force led by the Red Comet, Char Aznable. The invasion was pushed back, but not before doing a good amount of damage to the fragile, defenseless parts of the country.

The battlefield is getting bigger and more dangerous with each passing day. Whoever doesn't die in the next few weeks, look forward to the next issue!

(射命丸文)

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On an only marginally related note, I'm opening space in the Bunbunmaru News for advertisements! If you have any kind of services, mercenary groups, unimportant shrines, or amazing establishments you'd like to get some more attention for, I'll spread word around the entire Empire for a modest fee!