Baka-Tsuki - User contributions [en]

Dantalian no Shoka:Volume1 Chapter2

2015-05-05T03:37:37Z

47.55.249.145: 一羽 is for birds, 一匹 would be used for cats

The housekeeper who was living at the mansion was the first to notice the abnormality.

A stench could be smelled within the darkness.

The fishy stench of blood mixed with the distinct smell of an animal.

She first suspected the stray cats living around the mansion.

A crafty old black cat once sneaked into the mansion and ate one of the Lady's parrots in a grotesque manner.

The Lady's fury at that time was beyond normal. Thus, it had been a real bother for the servants. An incident that gets one fed up just by remembering.

That's why she reluctantly left her bed and went to the main wing, bathing in the moonlight.

It was still deep in the night.

The town was silent and the mansion was dark, without any lights. One could feel a strong abnormal stench in the stagnant darkness.

"...My Lord?"

The housekeeper called out when she heard something while climbing the stairs.

A clanking sound resounded below her.

Glass splinters were all over the carpet. The corridor window had been wrenched open, breaking the glass.

And the landlord was lying collapsed in the bedroom in front of the shattered window.

"Are you all right, my Lord? What happened here...?"

The housekeeper was surprised and went to help him, but then stopped her movements right after she entered the room.

She took a breath out of fear.

What was lying collapsed there wasn't her master any more, but a lump of meat in a human shape.

His throat was torn up and the blood that had spurt out from it dyed the room in black.

His clothes were raked by sharp claws. His expression was frozen in a state of distress.

The young lady was also in the room. as was her mother; lying upside-down in order to guard her daughter.

"S-Someone..."

The housekeeper slowly stepped backwards and unconsciously averted her gaze from the corpses.

Then she noticed. Something was moving inside the room.

The '''something''', that had hidden itself behind the corpses, raised its upper body.

It looked like a beast and was about two heads taller than an adult man. It was big and seemed to easily weigh multiple times as much as the short-built housekeeper.

Raising its wolf-like head, it stared at her.

A body covered with black hair.

A sharp nose and a wide open mouth. Golden eyes.

Lastly, unusually strong, well developed muscles on its limbs.

"Hya! ....HYAAAAAAAAAAH!!"

The housekeeper screamed out.

Maybe the beast was surprised by her voice, maybe not. But it turned around with unbelievable agility and broke through the window to the outside.

It landed on the wall surrounding the mansion and then, for one moment, looked up to the sky with the blood on its fur sparkling.

Then the beast disappeared, melting into the dark---

==Chapter 2 - Pedigree Episode 02: Crossbreed==
===Part 1===

A pub near the rail station was currently crowded with people wanting lunch.

Dishes, of which only the portions were good, were lined up on the counter and the bearded host was busy moving around.

Almost all the guests were wearing plain clothes and seemed like workers.

Many of them looked rude and there were also ones within the mass that already reeked of alcohol.

In the corner of this pub, there was a party of two with an atmosphere different from the rest.

A young man who was about 20 years old and a little girl with long black hair.

The young man was wearing a leather frock coat and carrying a small bag.

His sincere features implied a good upbringing, but interestingly enough, he didn't seem ignorant of the ways of the world. One could feel the atmosphere of a well trained soldier in every one of his movements.

"Let's go, Dalian... It'll be time for the appointment soon."

Taking out an army-issued pocket watch, he called out to the girl.

The black-haired girl called Dalian looked expressionlessly up to him. And then said with a haughtiness that didn't fit her cute looks,

"Wait, Huey. I am still in the middle of my meal."

"In the middle of it? ...Do you still plan to eat more?"

The young man called Huey asked, a bit amazed. Lots of cleanly licked plates were already piled up in front of the girl. On the plate she was currently eating were things like fish and chips, meat pie and sugared, glossy fried bread.

Only fatty dishes which one could almost get heartburn from just by looking.

"Why do you need to ask such an obvious thing?"

However, Dalian pointed to the counter undisturbed, while biting into those dishes,

"This foolish pub offers an all-you-can-eat for their fried breads! The price is the same, thus it's overwhelmingly more profitable when I eat a lot. Are you so dense that you can't even do such simple math?"

"No, I know that much even without math..."

Huey sighed lightly. The black-haired girl looked up to him and said

"In that case, quickly bring me the next serving, you dunce."

"......"

While shaking his head, Huey stood up as ordered and walked towards the counter.

Noticing Huey's sour face, the host of the pub raised a doubtful eyebrow.

"An unfamiliar face. Are the two of you outsiders?"

"Yes. We just arrived on the previous train."

Huey smiled sociably. Looking around in the crowded pub, he added

"Quite lively in here. I expected this town to be a bit calmer."

A group of about fifteen men were yelling around all the time in the centre of the shop—a noisy bunch who seemed to be something like hunters or ex-soldiers.

The host looked at them bothered, and muttered in a soft tone, as if speaking to himself

"It is actually a calm town, you know. If it wasn't for the incident."

"...incident?"

Huey inclined his head. The host answered while cutting the roast beef in front of him,

"The Beast of Ashwell. Didn't you come because you've also heard of this rumour?"

"No. What is it about?"

Seemingly having aroused his interest, Huey leaned forward lightly.

The host took out a newspaper from a stack of them on the ground and presented it to him. A thin tabloid sized local paper. It was the last week's issue.

"It's big on the first page. A lawyer that opened his business in this town got murdered."

"A lawyer...?"

While looking through the creased newspaper, Huey narrowed his eyes. Ashwell was the name of the murdered lawyer. Leonard Ashwell. Age at death; 40 years.

"Mr. Ashwell was a famous barrister in this town, you see. He accepted cases for low prices, proceeded against corrupted policemen or sued landlords that abused tenant farmers... For us common folk, he was like a hero."

"This hero... was murdered?"

"Yeah," the host answered bluntly.

"Not just the lord. His wife and daughter were all murdered, too. I tell you, it was a cruel thing."

"...what about the culprit?" asked Huey.

"Huh?"

"Is it still unknown, who killed them? According to what you've just told me, he seemed to have many enemies."

"Ah, well yeah... Surely the bunch that shunned him wasn't all that small..."

The host said hazily. It was in a voice tired from lamenting.

"But we know who the culprit is. And there's the big problem."

"Who is it?"

"It's not a human. It's a beast."

"A beast?"

"I've heard it's taller than your common cow and looks like a wolf."

Huey kept quiet for a while and gazed at the bearded face of the host. Then he lost his focus and breathed out,

"Err... Can you tell me more about this?"

The host sighed deeply.

"A servant of the Ashwells witnessed it. How this beast killed the whole family, and in the end, escaped through the window after it ate a bit of them."

"For real...?"

Huey asked back, perplexed. The host nodded deeply,

"Well... The servant collapsed right after the police arrived and the thing about it being bigger than a cow probably is not true. But I also don't think it's all a lie, since there actually were corpses eroded by a beast. And there were also strands of hair and footprints."

"I see..."

Huey dropped his gaze to the newspaper. The contents of it were clearly substantiating the host's words.

"So the people gathered here are planning to hunt the beast?"

Huey asked, gazing at the main street, which one could see from the entrance of the pub.

There were about 4, 5 dogs, which looked like hunting dogs, fastened carelessly to the street light. And the long and narrow luggage several guests of the pub were carrying, were probably their hunting guns.

The host continued in an indifferent voice.

"Vengeance for the Lord... a lot of people got support from him, you see. Especially the townspeople involved with this damn provoking Hurston family..."

"Hurston family?"

Huey inclined his head once again. This name wasn't written in the newspaper.

The host nosed displeasedly.

"Didn't you notice when you arrived? This fucking big fertilizer factory."

"If you're talking about the building I could see from the window in the train..."

"Yeah, that's it. The city council member Roy Hurston is managing this factory, but this damn greenhorn fired about 500 workers half a year ago - unilateral, just because he brought in a new machine!"

"Dismissal? But what happened to the workers...?"

Huey asked in a serious voice. The host shrugged his shoulders bluntly,

"See, there's no other industry company in this town. It was awful. When they were on the edge of hanging themselves or becoming criminals, Mr. Ashwell came and rescued them."

"Rescued them....?"

"It's called 'class-action'. He stirred up the press and caused an uproar with this. It seems like he even got back support of the noble and wealthy people of the capital. Thanks to this, that Hurston greenhorn got severely criticized in court. Everyone was delighted when he won the lawsuit right in the first instance."

"I see," Huey nodded. Ashwell surely could be called a hero.

"And now the former employees want to avenge him...?"

"They seem to be planning to go on a mountain hunt together with the hunters and ex-servicemen that gathered from nearby. Some of them want to strike it rich by capturing this mysterious beast alive... I was sure that you'd also belong to this bunch. I mean, you've also been a soldier, right?"

"No... I was just a pilot."

Huey shook his head with a smile.

The host looked wonderingly at Huey.

"Hmm... If you're not aiming for the beast, then why did you come to this town...?"

Huey lightly stiffened his cheeks and nodded.

"Well... I have an appointment with an acquaintance of an acquaintance. This bread, I'll be taking this with me, all right?"

"U, Uuh...?"

Huey hurriedly wrapped up some fried bread in oil paper and walked away. The host gazed in wonder at him for a while. Huey pretended to not notice this and returned with fast steps to his table.

Dalian was already on watch for him with a bitter expression, embracing the sugar pot.

"You are late! How long does it take you to get some bread, you lame duck?"

Even before Huey could sit down, Dalian started berating him. Huey made a tired face and said,

"...let's go, Dalian."

The girl looked up, befuddled, and held out her hands covered with protectors.

"What are you talking about? I will be eating this fried bread now. Hurry up and hand it over."

"The family of your acquaintance seems to be pretty unpopular in this town... if they find out that our destination is the house of the Hurston's, then they'd probably cause quite an uproar."

Saying so, Huey started to put together their luggage. Seeing this, Dalian panicked. While standing up hurriedly, she reached out her hands and said,

"Hey Huey, why are you stowing the bread away? I've not put sugar on it yet. Huey!"

"It also seems better if we not search for a carriage nearby. It can't be helped... We'll have to walk for a bit."

"Hey! What are you doing? Let go of my hands. Where are you touching me? How lewd!"

Huey took the kicking and struggling little girl, almost like luggage, under his arms and left the shop.

Beholding the sugar pot left on the table woefully, Dalian muttered in a tearful voice,

"Sugar..."

===Part 2===

While the Hurston Family didn't hold a peerage, they were a gentry family with equal fortune and authority. They owned land around the town and employed several tenant farmers. A lot of them also were working in important offices of the town, as judges or as committee members.

Their residence was a big mansion on a high ground with a view of the town.

There was a well maintained garden with flowers blooming in profusion and in the adjoining farm, expensive racehorses were grazing. The building itself was also impressive and let one feel the assets of the family.

There was just one thing ruining this scenery, which was a group of about 40 to 50 people encircling the front door of the mansion. It was a protest movement against the discharge of the factory employees.

Gazing at them through the window of the parlour, Huey sipped at his black tea with an uncomfortable expression. Dalian was sitting on a couch, absorbed in reading as she freely took books from a bookshelf in the mansion. She was expressionless as always, but looked amused in a way. When she could read a rare book, she was almost always in a good temper.

"Thank you for waiting."

Some time had passed, Huey's tea cup was already half-empty, when a tall man wearing an American sack suit was guided in by a butler and entered the room.

His age was likely in the midst of the twenties. He was a young man not so much older than Huey.

Seeing Huey looking back to him, the man tried to manage a vague smile. But then instantly seemed surprised and stopped.

Staring at Dalian who was wordlessly reading a book, he spoke, lightly bewildered,

"Err... are you the Black Biblioprincess?"

"......"

Dalian gradually noticed his existence and raised her face. The man smiled timidly while she scowled at him, on guard.

But his bewilderment was reasonable. This is because Dalian was a beauty that gave off the impression of a doll. Furthermore, her dress added to this with its enigma.

Cloth decorated with jet black laces. A skirt bulged up by several layers of frills. These outlines of her were enfolded by metallic protectors on the back of her hands and a rustic tasset.

Her looks made one think of the ceremonial robes of medieval knights; an odd mixture that couldn't be called dress or armour.

And finally, in place of a ribbon, she was wearing an old, metallic chest.

A big lock, tied to her with silver chains.

Even so, the man bowed politely to the black-dressed girl.

"Please forgive my rudeness. I wasn't expecting such a beautiful lady..."

The corners of Dalian's mouth twitched when she heard his words. If she was a cat, she'd surely be purring now, pleased.

For some reason Dalian gave Huey a triumphant sidelong glance and tugged at his sleeves. Then she muttered in a low voice,

"This greenhorn is quite promising. You ought to follow his example a bit."

Huey sighed amazed.

"Wasn't this a mere phrase of civility... ah..."

He got his shin kicked by Dalian's metallic boots and frowned.

The timidly smiling man beheld their giving and taking in confusion.

"Thank you for taking on this far journey... I'm relieved you arrived without problems."

Finally, he could pull himself together and said so.

He then shifted his glance in the direction of the front door of the mansion.

The workers gathered in front of the door were still hanging out banners across the street and were still raising protesting voices. There, some guts are needed in order to slip through the circle of this menacing crowd.

"Well, somehow."

Huey nodded with a bitter smile.

"But I pity the carriage driver who got hit with rotten eggs."

"Is that so..."

The man sighed.

"I will provide this driver with a servant later, as an apology."

"...this group seems to consist of the workers discharged by the factory, right?"

Huey asked nonchalantly.

The man cast down his eyes sentimentally.

"Yes. The protest movement settled down a bit after the judgment at the first instance, but since a few days ago it's like this again... do you already know about the barrister Ashwell?"

"I've heard about it underway from the host of a pub we went to... a beast has attacked him?"

"W-Well yes... such rumours also seem to be in circulation..."

The man's voice trembled.

"With the death of their barrister, the judgments from now on are in the wind. I think that's also a reason why the former employees of the factory grew wild now. I just hope my brother recognizes that they do have lives and families to protect."

"By 'brother' you mean...?"

"Aah, I forgot to mention this. My name's Chez Hurston. The head of the factory is my older brother, Roy Hurston."

Again with a timid smile, the man held out his right hand.

"My name is Hugh Anthony Disward - you may call me Huey. And she's Dalian."

With these words, Huey grasped back his hand. Then suddenly, he seemed to have come upon something unexpected.

He noticed that the palm of Chez' hand was solid and trained, although he looked very timid.

Rather than the son of a rich gentry family, this seemed to be the palm of a coachman or groom, who fosters horses.

"Er... I've heard you came to meet grandfather... forgive my rudeness, but what kind of business...?"

Chez didn't notice Huey's bewilderment and asked so reluctantly.

Not Huey, but Dalian answered to this question.

"We came to hand over a book. The old Phantom Book we were entrusted with by your ancestors."

"Phantom Book...?"

Chez inclined his head. Dalian gazed at him expressionlessly.

"I've heard it's considered to be the proof of the current head of the family."

"Is that so? ...I see. So grandfather is..."

Chez muttered, comprehending something.

It was right after this, that rude footsteps could be heard from the corridor and the door to the parlor opened violently.

===Part 3===

"Chez...! Is Chez here?!"

A stern-looking man with sharp eyes entered the parlour.

He looked around arrogantly in the room and seemed obviously unpleased when he noticed Huey and Dalian.

"Brother."

Chez moaned weakly.

Huey and Dalian compared the two of them with their eyes wordlessly.

Apparently, the man, who was called 'brother' by Chez, seemed to be the city council member Roy Hurston.

His age was likely in the latter half of his twenties. He could probably be classified as a young public official. He was just about 4 or 5 years older than Chez.

However, the impressions of those brothers were quite different. The appearance of the younger brother was helpless, but polite and gentle, whilst the older brother was brimming with self-confidence and haughtiness. In a sense, their relation was obvious.

"What is this bunch outside the mansion? Didn't I tell you to drive away these riffraff?"

Roy rebuked his younger brother without restraint in front of Huey and Dalian's eyes.

Chez chewed his words,

"But look, brother. They aren't trying to do us any harm. They just seek an employment and hence wish to discuss this matter with you once again. So please..."

"So what?"

Roy asked him back in an arrogant voice.

"Don't make me laugh. There's nothing to discuss with those lower classes. What a waste of time."

"...isn't it this one-sided attitude of yours that makes them revolt like this?"

"Don't be absurd. Are you telling me to bow my head to those lowlifes out there?"

"What nonsense," Roy added, muttering as if to spit.

"To begin with, wasn't their incapability the reason they failed keeping a job? Why should I, Roy Hurston, bear responsibility for this? Listen Chez, the ability of us humans isn't equal. Superior people have a role appropriate to their ability and incapable people aren't allowed to hinder them."

"Even so, suddenly dismissing them is going too far! Didn't they all expend great effort for the factory up to now?"

Chez tried desperately to convince his brother.

But Roy just looked down on him with a cold gaze,

"However much effort incapable people do expend, they cannot win against a person with true ability. Aren't you, more than anyone else, aware of this fact, Chez?"

The younger brother hung his head powerlessly to the mocking words of his brother.

Chez looked down miserably, but Roy didn't care and asked him rudely,

"By the way... who are those guys?"

Roy gazed suspiciously at Huey and Dalian.

"They are our guests! The two of them came to meet grandfather... Sir Disward and Miss Dalian."

Chez said to his brother in a reproving voice.

A light astonishment skimmed over Roy's face.

"...Sir Disward? A relative of Wesley Disward?"

"Pleased to meet you."

Huey smiled uncomfortably. He stood up and greeted him politely.

When he recognized that the out-of-place looking guests were related to a noble family, Roy changed his attitude abruptly. He drew near as if they were intimate and smiled unnaturally.

"Welcome, Sir Disward! I am Roy Hurston."

"I've heard you are a member of the city council? You seem to be a very busy person!"

A bit of cynicism was mixed in Huey's words, but Roy nodded exaggeratedly.

"You see, the Hurston family is a personage in this town. So we have to do reputable work."

Then he turned around to his younger brother,

"Are you planning to lead them to grandfather's room hereafter?"

"Yes, that's what I thought..."

Chez answered in a subdued voice.

"Got it. I shall accompany you."

Roy said so, interrupting his brother.

"Pointless..."

A hoarse voice could be heard from behind Roy.

An old man escorted by servants arrived on a wheelchair with creaking metallic wheels. He looked terribly pale.

"This won't be... necessary... Roy."

"Grandfather?"

Roy turned around to him surprised, while Chez rushed over to the old man hurriedly.

"Grandfather... what about your health? Please don't overdo things..."

"I'm fine, Chez..."

The old man said, in a cracking voice resembling a rusty gear.

"It is against good manners to invite the Biblioprincess to our house and then summon her to my bedroom..."

Dalian stepped up to the old man.

She elegantly spread the sleeves of her jet black dress, stopped and then proclaimed with a face as expressionless as the one of a doll. Her voice seemed lonesome in a way.

"You've gotten old... Haven't you, Boyd Hurston?"

A smile floated over the stale cheeks of the old man. He kissed her hand that was covered with a metallic protector.

"You are without change, Black Biblioprincess... I am truly grateful... that you've come to grant my wish."

Dalian nodded silently.

"Based on an old contract, I've come to hand out a book. The Phantom Book sealed by your ancestor in the distant past... 'The Pedigree of All Creation'."

Upon the words of the black-dressed girl, Roy's look became grim.

"Phantom Book...? Grandfather, what does this...?"

The old man raised his face clumsily and turned his glance towards his two grandchildren.

"It's an ancient book... the new head of the Hurston family is allowed to read it only once in his entire life. The proof of the present head of... our family."

"So that means... you've called them today because..."

"You two should be aware of this... but I won't last... so long any more. It's something... I have to pass on to the new head before I leave this world..."

When the old man spoke so far, he started to cough violently. He coughed up blood during his fit, but it didn't seem to be calming down.

"Grandfather...!"

Chez patted the back of the old man. In the meanwhile, a servant poured out water from a water jar and presented it to him. The old man grabbed the glass with trembling fingers.

"Tonight... come to my room before the date changes... there... I shall conduct the inheritance... is this all right for you... Black Biblioprincess?"

The old man asked, while breathing painfully.

Dalian proclaimed without a single change in her expression.

"I've heard your wish."

===Part 4===

Huey and Dalian decided to spend the rest of the time until sunset in the garden, since the parlour was a bit noisy due to the protest movement. The garden was far more beautiful than it seemed from afar; countless roses were in fullness of bloom inside the lovely manicured flower beds.

However, Dalian didn't rejoice at this view, but instead sat down on the bench at the bower and continued to read a thick book wordlessly. Huey didn't seem to mind and, while yawning, shifted his gaze to the meadow in which a water fountain was positioned.

Chez could be seen on the meadow. He rolled around in the grass and frolicked around with several puppies. Apparently, he had let out the hunting dog puppies they were raising in the dog kennel of the mansion in order to look after them.

"Dogs... I see, so he's looking after the dogs..."

Huey murmured so, looking at Chez cheerfully frolicking around with the dogs. He had remembered the solid and trained palm of Chez's hand when they did a handshake.

It was unlikely, that this could come just from playing around with the dogs. It could be said for sure, that he was always looking after them with a lot of enthusiasm.

"The Hurston family originally earned most of their fortune by breeding hunting dogs. Even the Royal dog kennel is taking in some dogs that were raised here."

Dalian said, disinterestedly without looking up from her book.

"Aah, I see... there are quite a few dog lovers, even in noble and royal families. I guess dogs raised by a famous breeder are purchased for unbelievably high prices."

Chez seemed to have noticed Huey's glance and waved his hand, embarrassed. Then he came towards the bower together with the puppies.

Seeing this, Dalian contorted her face. She closed her book and sneaked to the back of the bench.

The puppies followed behind Chez in order and, when he stopped, they laid down as if to join up with him. It was an impressive relationship of mutual trust. One could see that this didn't just result from good training; the puppies also adored him.

"They seem pretty attached to you."

Huey said in admiration.

Chez shook his head, troubled, while blushing.

"This is because I was looking after them since I was young."

The speckled hunting dog puppies looked like stuffed toys and seemed extremely cuddlesome. He kneeled down to the puppies looking up to him and stroked their back.

"Dalian, don't you want to try touching them, too? ...Dalian?"

Huey turned around still holding a puppy in his arms and was stunned.

The black-dressed girl had hidden herself behind a post of the bower and peeked out with caution. On top of that, she held the thick book she read before in front of her like a shield.

Huey asked in a lightly amazed voice,

"...what are you doing there, Dalian?"

"Do not worry about it. I am now interested in this flower."

Dalian said so with feigned ignorance and observed forcedly the rose bed in front of her. She was clearly acting unnaturally. Huey now seemed to try to refrain from laughing,

"Don't tell me, you're afraid, of dogs?"

"What...?!"

Dalian's smooth white cheeks blushed crimson. Then she added in an unnatural voice with no intonation,

"W-What are you saying? Why should I be afraid of such a wild beast who can't even read letters right? H-How foolish."

"......"

Huey stood up wordlessly, still holding the puppy in his arms and slowly neared Dalian. Then he let the dog down on the ground.

Dalian seemed to draw the young hunting dog's interest by her stare, so the dog wagged his tail joyfully and came running to her in full speed.

"I-iih?!"

Dalian shrieked effeminately. Because she froze on the spot in fear, she couldn't even escape.

"Hey, what are you doing you pooch? Stop it. I am not tasty!"

[[Image:Dantalian_no_Shoka-vol1-p85.jpg|thumb|"Hey, what are you doing you pooch? Stop it. I am not tasty!"]]

The black-dressed girl stumbled when her legs got tangled and ended up with the book and the dog on her while she waved her hands and feet about. Dalian's face was blue and contorted, but from afar it looked like she was joyfully frolicking around.

Huey's shoulders were trembling while he tried desperately to refrain from laughing, but Chez couldn't overlook this scene and so approached Dalian and pulled the puppy apart.

"Forgive me. Are you alright?"

Chez asked caringly, upon which Dalian nodded awkwardly.

"Haa... haa... t-this will have consequences, Huey..."

She said so to him while catching her breath, looking up at him resentfully. Then, at last, Huey couldn't suppress it anymore and started to laugh out loud.

"E-Excuse me... I will now take them for a walk..."

After he bowed down several times, Chez left, taking the dogs with him.

There was, however, a person that approached them in place of him. Roy.

The eldest son of the Hurston family gave his brother, who was laughing innocently, surrounded by the dogs, a dirty look.

"Geez...! I guess he is beyond hope. Playing around with dogs in his age."

He said so with a criticizing tone.

Huey looked up to his face in profile, seemingly surprised.

"You don't assist in raising the dogs, Roy Hurston?"

Roy shrugged his shoulders with a smile.

"Of course I am assisting, too. But only in the shape of work. It doesn't suffice to just pamper them. There's also the need to cast away useless dogs with no mercy. My stupid younger brother doesn't seem to understand this. Do you know the difference between superior and inferior dogs?"

"No... what is it?"

"It's the lineage."

Roy smirked, raising the corners of his mouth.

"A dog that inherited the blood of superior parents will gain even more superior abilities. Furthermore, he will leave even more superior blood when he is mated with an excellent dog of the opposite sex. This is the foundation of breeding. A superior individual is from birth different from others. It's the same for humans."

"Humans as well?"

"Yes. To tell the truth, I'm not blood related with grandfather. The same applies for Chez."

Huey scowled upon Roy's sudden revelation. But Roy added in a proud voice,

"Grandfather looked for men and women with an excellent lineage, paired them and raised their children as his grandchildren in order to bequeath a more superior lineage to the Hurston family."

"...so you don't know your true parents?"

Huey asked reluctantly and expressionless.

"Right. But I'm thankful to grandfather! Thanks to him I was born with superior abilities than others. I'm able to achieve better results than others with the same effort and am successful in business. Grandfather's decision was correct. But then there seem to be exceptions."

"Exceptions?"

Roy pointed with a scoffing and bitter smile as Huey inclined his head.

"Just look at Chez! Even when you cross breed two excellent racehorses - it's possible that a useless horse, that can't even run right, gets born. Even the most superior breeder produces failures. That's what I'm trying to say."

One could not see any hatred or ill will in the face of Roy when he spat out these sharp words. He was just stating what he considered to be facts.

"I've already heard about 'The Pedigree of All Creation' before."

Roy shot a glance at Dalian, who started to read her book again.

"A Phantom Book that covers all the characteristics to figure out which lineages to pair in order to produce excellent descendants... it's probably thanks to this book that the Hurston family succeeded in breeding. It certainly can be considered to be the proof of the present head of our family."

Huey kept silent and nodded.

Crops, gardening plants, hunting dogs, pets, racehorses - countless people are continuously conducting selective breeding or mating in order to obtain better individuals. And the profit the succeeding ones can gain is immense. Producers of superior racehorses can earn unbelievable amounts of money just with the mating fees for their horses.

However, it's about living beings.

There's no warranty that the descendants of superior parents will be superior, too. For one, there are the compatibility and 'hit or miss' issues. And it's also very well possible that the children only inherit the weaknesses of their parents.

But if there was a way to know the results of mating pairs in advance... then this could be seen as a certain wealth. It would be like a dream for people living from breeding.

At the same time, this would mean something dreadful.

Reliably producing superior tribes also means the destruction of tribes which aren't.

This was probably the reason 'The Pedigree of All Creation' has been sealed away.

As a Phantom Book containing forbidden knowledge, that should not exist in this world---

The head of the Hurston family is the only chosen one allowed to read it once in a lifetime.

"So you think you're going to inherit it?"

Huey asked Roy.

"Of course. There isn't anyone else with the qualifications."

Roy said so, without hesitation. It was no bluff. He was full of pure confidence.

He suddenly narrowed his eyes in displeasure.

Two men, looking like guests, were walking on a corridor in the mansion. Roy had noticed that. The two of them were wearing the same type of coat and radiated a kind of authority.

"Excuse me. It seems the Police have come again."

Roy said so, glancing at them with evil eyes. Huey seemed suspicious.

"Police?"

"To obtain information. Recently there was an incident of a lawyer's family getting massacred. There is a bunch that is slandering us with their unfounded rumours."

Huey looked at him sceptically.

"It seems the man that got murdered fought against you at court, right?"

"Right. It's a real bother. Thanks to this we're now suspected even after he was bitten to death. See, there are even absurd rumours of a giant beast at the scene of the crime..."

Roy didn't seem to care much and smirked.

"Well, we let them investigate the mansion until they've got enough. However much they search, I don't think they'll find a monster wolf of the size of a cow."

Roy left with these words and Huey gazed for a while after him silently. Then, at once, he seemed to have recalled something and turned around to the black-dressed girl.

Dalian was taking a break from reading and absent-mindedly stared at a flower bed.

The fence was decorated with lovely ornaments and the tendrils of blue roses in bloom were twined around it.

"Blue roses...? Very pretty."

Huey spoke to Dalian after having watched her admiring the roses as if it was something out of the common.

"Do you know the blue rose's meaning in the language of flowers, Huey?"

Dalian opened her mouth and said so bluntly without moving a muscle. Huey shook his head,

"No, can you tell me?"

"Unattainable goal... or attaining the impossible."

"...attaining the impossible?"

"Blue pigments do not exist in roses to begin with. Whatever cultivar you combine, it is, strictly speaking, impossible to create a blue rose."

"Impossible you say... but what's this then?"

Huey touched the roses, surprised. Admittedly the colour was unusual, but they were definitely roses. Layers of lovely petals and thorns on the tendrils.

Dalian nodded restfully.

"They are roses. However, their genes were recombined and the function of another plant was implanted that produces blue pigments. It's an artificial rose---"

"The genes...? It's possible to do this...?"

"It's impossible with the knowledge and technology of the current age. But if there is something that can grant this knowledge to mankind---"

"The Phantom Books that should not exist in this world... I guess?"

Huey sighed deeply.

"Correct. This is the forbidden knowledge the owner of 'The Pedigree of All Creation' can obtain."

Dalian murmured so, and cast down her eyes.

Huey seemed to have noticed something and raised his face.

"Dalian... if someone with this knowledge is able to produce such roses, can he also create monsters that shouldn't originally exist? For example, an improved hunting dog of the size of a cow and resembling a wolf. This would be..."

"Correct. Probably..."

Dalian answered as quickly as a shot. Apparently, she thought the same thing.

"But who would do such a thing?"

"Eh?"

"The only living person that has read 'The Pedigree of All Creation' is Boyd Hurston. Even if he could create such a giant monster, this old man wouldn't be able to take it to the outside or to train it. If there's one who could do the job..."

"Chez... but he doesn't have a motive to let this beast attack the barrister Ashwell."

Huey held his chin and moaned.

"The one having a motive is the older brother, Roy. But does such a busy person have the time to tame such a monster...? To begin with, how to raise a beast of a cow's size unseen? And where to hide it? Locking it up would be too conspicuous."

"So... do you think the Hurston family has nothing to do with the beast of Ashwell, Dalian?"

Huey muttered in a somehow taken aback voice.

Dalian kept silent for a while, but then answered,

"We will talk about this later, Huey."

She said so suddenly, in an urging voice.

One could see sweat appearing on her smooth doll-like face. Seemingly feeling danger, Dalian turned around, embracing her book,

"Grh... the escape route has been blocked."

She distorted her well-formed lips and moaned weakly.

Dogs were obstructing her path.

They were puppies on a level even smaller than the ones Chez took with him before. Two similar spaniels were drawing near from both sides, wagging their short tails.

The black-dressed girl backed off slowly, but tripped over the edge of the flower bed and fell face up.

The puppies seemed to misunderstand this as a signal to play and jumped joyfully towards her.

"Hey, what are you doing? Stop it... Ah! This place is no good. Don't lick there... the book, no, the book is no good! Incorrect!"

Dalian's cries resounded in the garden at evening.

===Part 5===

Late at night. Huey and Dalian were guided to an annex of the mansion.

The building was made of old limestone and made one feel the history of the Hurston family. This dark gray building seemed to be the current residence of the present head Boyd.

"Ah, you've come..."

Boyd saw Dalian arriving and muttered so contentedly.

Other than he, only the brothers Chez and Roy were in the old man's workroom. There were no butlers, nor were there any servants.

"Thank you for waiting."

The black-dressed girl proclaimed calmly.

She was carrying an old book under her arm.

But it was not one of the books she freely took out from the mansion. A leather cover that had grown stale. The binding was splendidly decorated with gold. And then the crest engraved into the book. 'The Pedigree of All Creation' - this was its title.

"Ooh... this is exactly... like then..."

The old man reached out his bony hands but then desisted from doing so and stopped his movements.

Phantom Books grant their readers access to forbidden knowledge. But if someone is possessing one of them for a too long a time, it will bring various distortions to this world. This tendency is even more severe when someone other than the proper owner is taking it into the hands. He knows about this. The old man is not the owner of the Phantom Book any more.

"Grandfather... the inheritance of the status of the present head is all well and good, but wouldn't it be better to call a public notary? And why on earth in such a room...?"

Roy spoke in a lightly irritated voice. He was probably unpleased about not knowing his grandfather's real intention.

However, the old man ignored Roy's question,

"May you open this door, Sir Disward?"

Huey grabbed for the knob of the door inside the workroom as commanded.

The thick metallic door opened with a creaking sound. Beyond was a stairway leading to the underground.

"What is this...?!"

One could hear Roy's gasp. Also Chez was opening his eyes wide.

The stairs didn't reach so wide. The room wasn't completely underground, but rather was like a secret chamber of which one half was buried in the ground. Compared to the other rooms of the mansion, this one was about half of their size.

On one side of the windowless room, unfamiliar chemicals were tidily lined up.

The room was filled with countless experimenting utensils like test tubes and microscopes. It looked more like the laboratory of a hospital or university, than the workroom of a gentry family.

Roy groaned when he looked around in the room while walking down the stairs with an oil lamp in his hand.

"I never would have guessed that there's such an establishment under the annex... what is all this, Grandfather?"

"A room built using the knowledge granted by the 'The Pedigree of All Creation'... it's a room for forbidden secret ceremonies."

Boyd Hurston answered with a faint smile.

Chez was the one carrying the old man. He lifted his grandfather up together with the wheelchair and walked down the stairs carefully. He was stronger than he looked with his slender body.

"Nostalgic...isn't it...? Roy, Chez..."

The old man said so, cryptically. The two brothers looked at each other sceptically.

"It's the place you two were brought forth!"

"The place we were brought forth...? What do you mean, grandfather?"

Roy glared offended at the old man.

The old man cackled,

"Our family is in contact with the Royal Family through their dog kennel... you know that, right...?"

"Yes, of course. This is because the dogs raised by us are exceptional."

Roy puffed up with pride. "Mhm", the old man nodded.

"We weren't only instructed... to breed dogs..."

"...that is to say...?"

"It's about a secret contract concluded during the... epoch of the former Queen... it was right after the war at the peninsula in the last century. It has been already more than sixty years ago..."

The old man closed his eyes to follow his memory.

In the epoch of the former Queen, the kingdom sent out its army to the European continent to fight against Russia together with other countries like France or Turkey. It was known as one of the most idiotic fights in history. It cost a giant amount in war expenditures and in lives of countless soldiers, but the countries did not attain a single thing. It was indeed a foolish war.

And it's known that the troops of the Kingdom used combat dogs on the battlefield.

It's rather natural that the Royal Family contacted the Hurston family in that epoch, since they were famous as outstanding breeders.

"Her Majesty grieved... over the great loss of... this country's soldiers. The chamberlain couldn't let pass her sorrow unnoticed and... consulted me. He asked if it isn't possible to bring forth...　better and better soldiers like it is with dogs... a new kind of human... with superior abilities... and who survive any battlefield however cruel..."

"Bring forth... a new kind of human...?"

Roy said in an unstrung voice. Chez' shoulders were trembling in fright.

The flame in the lamp produced a dark shadow on the face of the old man.

"When I inherited the status of the present head of the Hurston family... and learned about the existence of 'The Pedigree of All Creation'... I noticed. I noticed that I could grant the wish of the Queen... using the knowledge of this Phantom Book. That's why I... built this establishment."

Roy swallowed his saliva.

"So... in this room..."

"Using the knowledge written in the Phantom Book... I examined the genes of thousands of fellow countrymen... and produced your parents. They, who were born with superior abilities,... were adopted by the people who lost their children in the war and became splendid adults."

A mad smile floated over his face.

"So I considered them to be the first generation of the new human... and went on to produce the second one... by once more revising the genes of your already superior parents... a new kind of human that has the abilities to act as the perfect soldier... the successor of the Hurston family..."

The long monologue of the old man ended. Then,

"Wonderful...!"

Roy extended his arms and looked up to the ceiling. His whole body was shivering in deep emotion.

"So this is I, Roy Hurston! An improved new kind of human, born as a superior species...!"

However, the old man interrupted him with his hoarse voice.

"Oh no... Roy... it's not you."

Roy was still looking up to the ceiling, but a puzzled expression spread over his face.

"...what?"

"You didn't inherit... the new characteristic... I seeked for..."

Upon the cold words of his grandfather, Roy's appearance became nervous.

"What are you saying... Grandfather?! Aren't these superior abilities of mine the proof of a new kind of human?"

Roy drew nervously closer, but the old man didn't even think of answering him any more.

"The one appropriate for being the head of the Hurston family... my successor... is you... Chez."

The old man turned around. The face of the usually timidly smiling young man who pushed the wheelchair stiffened.

Roy was beside himself and pointed at his younger brother,

"How absurd... Grandfather, are you telling me I am inferior to someone like Chez?! There's no way such an absurd thing could be!"

"You're... merely a common human who's a bit clever. You aren't something along the lines of a new kind of human."

The old man spoke mercilessly.

"Roy... you're just a failed product."

Roy was dazed and stood stock still there.

"Failed work... I am... just a failed product...?!"

Roy muttered the harsh words of his grandfather and went on retreating to the wall.

Underway, his leg got caught in a rack, he fell down, got buried in test tubes and bottles of chemicals, and finally sank down to the floor. After he gazed, dumbfounded, at the old man, he started to weep.

The fact that the brother he once looked down upon, snatched away the status as head of the family, knocked him down to such an extent.

Chez averted his gaze from his brother and glared rebukingly at the old man instead.

"Please wait, Grandfather. There's no way I'm suitable for the..."

"Don't play dumb... it's futile, Chez... I know you better... than anyone other. The characteristic of the new mankind I was seeking for by crossbreeding is the ability you're trying to hide so desperately..."

Chez' back quaked heavily. Hugging his own shoulder in fright, he stepped one step back. The old man reached out his hand as if to tempt him,

"Well then, Chez... now accept the Phantom Book... and then spread your kindred over the entire country! This is your role. It's an honour granted to you by us, the Hurston family!"

"No..."

Chez interrupted his excited grandfather in a timid voice.

"Chez?"

The old man opened his mouth, surprised.

"I do not desire such things like a Phantom Book or forbidden knowledge... this is just playing with life and death!"

"What...? What are you saying, Chez? You, the one and only success..."

"Success and failure in existence...? You don't have the right to decide over that. And even more so, you don't have the right to forsake a failed work like trash."

Chez ground his teeth.

"I admit that talent isn't allotted equally to the humans. However, there's no one who's superior in every aspect compared to the others! A breed of dog that was brought forth through an array of unreasonable crossbreeding might have outstanding abilities. But they do also have at least a big weakness in another aspect."

"Wait... Chez... listen to me..."

The old man spoke in dismay. However, Chez just shook his head with a gentle smile.

"Won't we end with all this about the head of the family, Grandfather...? Like up to now, brother can take care of the factory and the mansion, and I will continue to take care of the dogs..."

"Chez...!"

The old man was persisting on his wish, and his grandchild was trying to persuade him.

Huey was wordlessly watching their fierce argument.

Dalian was looking down to the Phantom Book in her arms and seemed bored. However, suddenly, a slight disturbance could be seen in her eyes.

A faint light shone through the closed Phantom Book in the dark underground room. The Phantom Book was emitting magical power.

"Dalian...?"

Noticing this abnormality, Huey turned around. Then his face contorted with surprise.

"Lie down, Dalian---!"

"Huh?!"

Taking the black-dressed girl with him, Huey tumbled down on the floor with great vigour.

Right after this, an intense intent to kill shot past over their heads.

A gunshot resounded in the underground room. Sparks scattered within the darkness and the smell of gunpowder spread out.

"Brother?!"

Chez shouted in a shrill voice.

Roy had stood up, and was swaying. He threw the oil lamp to the ground, took out the handgun he had been hiding, and aimed.

"Chez..."

A distorted voice leaked out from Roy's mouth.

"Did you think I'd rejoice on such a conclusion, Chez...? Living on as a failed work while asking for your sympathy...?"

Chez was short before crying, but even so he desperately raised his voice,

"Please wait, brother... I didn't...!"

"Shut up!!"

Roy pulled the trigger without hesitation. A white light flashed in the dark.

"Ghuh...!"

It was the old man on the wheelchair who collapsed forward with a suppressed moan. A darkish stain was spreading out around the spot where the chest was shot and blood flooded out of his mouth.

"HAHAHA! What a ludicrous appearance. This is the sin for calling me a failed work. Atone with your life, you old crock!"

Roy raised a bright laugh.

Chez grew pale and embraced the convulsing body of his grandfather.

"Brother... what have you done...?"

"Be quiet... this girl comes next. Phantom Book? Biblioprincess? My arse!"

After turning around, Roy pointed his gun at Dalian.

"Ugh!"

Huey protected her by standing in front of her and took out his own handgun. It was a big calibre army-issue revolver. However, Roy had already set his gun and hence was faster. Huey didn't seem to make it in time.

The moment this thought came to mind---

"Stop it!"

Chez jumped in between them. In a posture to protect Huey and Dalian, he took the bullet his brother had shot. One bullet, two bullets---

"Chez!"

Eventually, Huey's handgun spouted fire before Roy could execute his third shot. And his bullet hit the wrist of the hand Roy was using to hold his gun, with an exact flight route.

Roy gave a shriek like an animal. His right arm started to dangle powerlessly, upon which his blood-stained handgun fell down.

"M...My arm... ghu... you mongrel... to shoot my arm...!"

"Don't move, Roy Hurston."

Huey set again his gun and warned him with sharp words. Roy's grim mien distorted on this disgrace.

Huey looked around while retaining the grip on his gun without negligence.

The fire of the lamp Roy had dropped spread its fire on the carpet and illuminated the small underground room with a bright light.

The old man had already passed away, but Chez was still breathing. With first-aid treatment, he might still make it. However, I have to first tie up Roy--- when Huey thought so and was about to walk away;

"Step back, Huey!"

Dalian shouted in a voice resembling a scream.

At the same time, an intense stench struck his nose. The spreading fire had inflamed the chemicals stored in this underground room. The moment Huey took notice of this, a bright flash followed by a terrific blast came rushing towards them, upon which their field of vision was enveloped in darkness.

===Part 6===

It looked like Huey didn't lose consciousness for too long.

His sleep was broken due to someone slapping his cheeks roughly.

"Hey, Huey! How long do you plan to sleep? You three-toed sloth! Is losing consciousness your one and only skill? Just how incapable are you?"

While swinging her long black hair around, she continued to slap his cheeks with the palm of her hand. Although her words were rude, she sounded desperate in a sense and her eyes seemed ready to overflow with tears at any moment.

"This kinda hurts... Dalian..."

Huey caught her arms when she was about to slap him all the more and raised his body restfully. Holding his still hazy head, he went on checking the damage caused by the explosion.

The condition of the underground room was terrible.

A conflagration was somehow averted, but due to the blast wave, the pillars sustaining the ceiling collapsed and thus the room was partially destroyed.

The corpse of the old man was squashed along with his wheelchair below by the ceiling and Roy could not be seen anywhere.

It was almost odd that Huey and Dalian were still living.

"That's..."

Huey set his handgun reflexively.

A beast was standing in the dark.

It had golden eyes like a nocturnal carnivore. A sharp nose and sharp teeth lined his mouth.

Its body was covered by bristles, hard like armour, with strongly developed muscles— altogether, it was more than twice as big as Huey.

A beast of the size of a cow and resembling a wolf---

It was the Beast of Ashwell without a doubt. The beast that was said to be seen at the scene where the barrister was murdered.

However, it was Dalian who stepped in front of Huey's gun.

"Wait, Huey! You mustn't shoot!"

The black-dressed girl spread her arms in order to protect the beast.

Seeing this, Huey finally noticed.

The beast didn't attack Dalian. It was the opposite. The beast was sustaining the collapsed ceiling with its back and tried to save them from being buried alive.

Then, Huey saw the scraps of cloth winded round the lower half of the beast's body and distorted his face.

It was a well-tailored American sack suit. The suit Chez was wearing until right before.

"You are... Chez Hurston...? This appearance..."

Huey easefully took down his gun and Dalian turned around expressionlessly.

The giant creature, once called Chez Hurston, breathed through its split mouth.

"I've always... thought it was strange... my appearance... my body..."

The words of the creature were distorted and thus hard to understand, but it was Chez' voice without doubt. It narrowed its eyes in self derision,

"But I understood through Grandfather's explanation just now... I am an improved breed brought forth by the hands of Grandfather... by recombining human genes and by crossbreeding experiments..."

Tears overflowed the golden eyes of Chez. Huey and Dalian didn't say anything and watched him lamenting. Beasts do not sob. Only humans shed tears in sadness.

"The perfect soldier that survives any battlefield... is THIS the answer brought forth by the knowledge of this PHANTOM BOOK?! Is THIS the shape of the new mankind Grandfather sought---?!"

The creature shouted out. Fresh blood flowed out of his mouth. As Chez staggered, some of the bricks he was sustaining crumbled down.

Chez was shot by Roy. It was a deep wound; a common human would probably have died.

His body might be especially tough because of him being such a creature, but it didn't change the fact that he was sustaining a great number of bricks with this body in order to protect them. It didn't look like he could endure this for too long.

Huey bit on his lips and looked up to the bricks above him.

However, there was no gap big enough for a human to slip through. And if he moved the bricks badly, then everything could lose its balance and eventually even the small space sustained by Chez would disappear.

Chez raised his face with a gasp, seeming to have smelled something.

Huey and Dalian recognized this smell immediately as well. It was gasoline.

A blood-stained wounded man came carrying a gasoline can and poured its contents over the destroyed underground room.

It was Roy who contorted his face with hatred and poured gasoline over them.

And in his hand, he was holding a lighter. Roy was able slip out of the room one step ahead of them and was now about to set a fire above the bricks to bake them alive, buried in this room.

"Ugh... Brother... don't tell me..."

The creature gave off a voice in despair.

Roy ignited the lighter in his clumsy left hand.

The flame illuminated his terribly distorted face. When Roy was about to throw the ignited lighter---

"Huey. I grant you the right to open the gate."

Dalian proclaimed in a calm voice.

She reached her finger out for her collar and opened the dress around her chest wide.

A slender collarbone with smooth white skin was exposed.
Buried in there was a lock. An unrefined old lock. It was tied by silver chains to a black leather collar and buried in the midst of the breast of the girl that was lacking roundings.

"......"

Huey raised his right hand wordlessly.

In his hand, he held a key. A golden key with a red gem embedded.

Ancient letters were engraved into it.

Huey read them aloud calmly.

Like a knight pledging allegiance to his princess. Or like a magician casting a spell---

"I ask of thee... Art thou mankind?"

Dalian answered to his call.

In a cold robotic voice, like an utensil.

『No. We art the Realm -- the Endless Realm within thine Vessel.』

It was in the same moment, that the young man inserted the gold key into the lock before her breast, and that Roy threw his lighter away.

A tremendous flash filled the underground room and flames blazed up the dark.

===Part 7===

Roy Hurston kept guffawing while he looked down on the remains of the burned and crumbled underground room.

This laugh suddenly stopped.

He felt something behind him, turned around and then saw them.

Blue rose petals were dancing in the light of the deep crimson moon that reflected the flames.

Enveloped by these petals was a young man carrying an unfamiliar book, a black haired girl wearing an opened black dress, and finally, a beast resembling a wolf.

"This is absurd... how can you..."

Roy screamed out from the depths of his lungs.

"Why?! How did you escape?! There wasn't any hole big enough to slip through!"

"I'm sorry, but you know... '''Phantom Books that open the gate to another world''' aren't that rare."

The young man - Huey - muttered so, and closed the book he was holding silently.

There was not even any significance in Roy knowing that this was one of the Phantom Books that should not exist in this world. That this was the grimoire left behind by a magician who worshipped a god, called 'The God from the Exterior', who lives in the cracks to other dimensions.

"You are the one who killed the barrister Ashwell, aren't you? Roy Hurston."

Dalian said so in a indifferent voice while gazing at the baffled Roy.

"What are you saying at this hour...?"

Roy laughed dryly. He triumphantly glared at the creature behind the girl.

"Look at this disgusting appearance of Chez! Can't you see that this is the monster that was seen in Ashwell's mansion? This MONSTER!"

"The monster here is this twisted heart of yours."

Dalian declared coldly.

"What...?!"

"When we talked with you in the garden, you said that Ashwell got '''bitten to death'''. But you labelled the giant beast at the scene of crime as 'absurd rumour'."

Roy was dumbfounded and opened his eyes wide. His face spoke volumes. He couldn't even now believe what he had blurted out.

"So you knew it, Roy... that not a giant beast bit the Ashwells to death, but trained combat dogs."

Huey continued Dalian's words.

"There are only few in this town who wished for Ashwell's death. And it shouldn't be hard to run across you, if one investigates about people who train combat dogs here. Chez tried to stop you. I guess he had to transform in order to sneak into the mansion... or... to cover for his brother, you..."

After he listened to Huey's explanation, his face distorted into a weird smile while crying.

The younger brother he looked down on had secretly covered for him. He noticed this fact.

"Yeah, that's right... I was the one who killed Ashwell by taking some dogs with me. Originally, I was planning to pin the murder on the stray dogs, but... I never thought this would make such a fuss."

Roy put his hand into the pocket of his coat and took out a knife he had hidden there. It was a large knife the gentry used for duels.

"And now, I'm also not able to talk my way out of the murder of Grandfather. I see, so I really was just a failed work. A disgusting beast had built its nest inside my heart."

Roy kept glaring at them and concentrated power in the hand he was holding the knife. Seeing this, Chez jumped out,

"Stop it... Brother!"

With agility beyond belief, the creature landed in front of Roy.

But Roy was faster. He put the blade on his throat and sliced it at a stroke.

Chez screamed out. Fresh blood splattered out from Roy's body, upon which he collapsed and the spreading fire went on to cover him.

"Brother..."

The giant creature reached his hand out to the flames and was about to embrace his brother's corpse.

His back shook once.

A shrill gunshot resounded and pierced the shoulder of the creature.

Dalian stood stock still in blank amazement, while Huey bit on his lips and turned around.

Some men, wearing long coats, had taken notice of the fire, climbed over the fence and were now pointing their guns at Chez. Huey recognized them.

"The Police...?! The guys that observed Roy! Why at such a time?!"

Huey tried to stop them by shouting, but it didn't reach them in their excitement.

"Its the beast... the Beast of Ashwell appeared!"

"Mr. Hurston is being attacked! Shoot...!"

Chez got on his knees while gunshots continuously resounded. Even so, he didn't let go of the corpse of his brother. Mustering all the strength he had left, he was about to walk away dragging his feet along. Chez was trying to escape by slipping into the dark.

If Huey and Dalian kept silent, then nobody would ever get to know that the old man, now buried under countless bricks, was shot by Roy. What's left was to carry away Roy's corpse.

If there's no corpse of Roy, then all the blame goes to the "Beast of Ashwell".

The murder of the barrister, the murder of the city council, everything---

Not for the sake of the Hurston family, but to protect Roy's honour.

Chez was planning to take all the bad reputation on his own.

"Wait, Chez!"

[[Image:Dantalian_no_Shoka-vol1-p115.jpg|thumb|Dalian, left spiritless, let loose of the book, which then fell to the ground.]]

And Dalian called the name of this creature. The black-dressed girl presented a book to him.

The forbidden Phantom Book only the present head of the Hurston family is allowed to read.

The Pedigree of All Creation---!

"This Phantom Book has chosen you as its owner! With the knowledge written in it, it shouldn't be impossible to even return your body to that of a common human... so please... take it with you."

The black beast shook its head to her shout.

Then it smiled timidly - or so it seemed.

With an unbelievable instantaneous force, the creature climbed the wall of the mansion and went away from them. But even then, several bullets still pierced him.

"Chez..."

Dalian, left spiritless, let loose of the book, which then fell to the ground.

The blue roses became entangled in flames and burned away.

At last, the injured giant beast melted into the dark and disappeared.

===Part 8===

The next morning. Huey and Dalian were riding on a train to the capital.

There weren't many passengers; probably because it was still early morning. The two of them were the only ones in the their wagon.

Dalian was obviously ill tempered and was alone reading a book.

She seemed rather unenthusiastic, since her reading speed was, considering that it's her, quite slow. Even with her beloved fried bread, she ate just enough for two people.

Huey was sitting on the opposite seat and was reading the newspaper he bought at the train station. The train accelerated easefully and the morning sun shone diagonally through the window.

"It looks like Chez's corpse couldn't be found."

Huey muttered this suddenly while holding the tabloid paper.

Half of the article in the cheap local newspaper was filled with the topic of "Beast of Ashwell Appeared Again". The entire Police pursued the beast and, supported by the hunters, encircled it. Then they shot it with countless bullets, whereupon the beast fell from the cliff. The death of the beast was taken for granted, but it seemed like they didn't find the corpse although the searched for it until morning.

The remaining half of the article was about Roy Hurston who got murdered by the beast. His achievements as city council member and his capabilities were highly praised in it. Chez was only mentioned in a little column as a victim.

"...I don't want to talk about this stupid dog."

Dalian said so without raising her face in a sulky voice.

"I was about to do him a favour by lending him the book and this stupid dog chose to carry along a corpse. Because he couldn't carry the corpse together with the book... I don't know any more about this darn fool... that's why I hate dogs."

The black-dressed girl thrust up her chin, gazing out of the window at the sky. Her sulking did, somehow, seem like she was suppressing tears.

Huey smiled lightly.

"My opinion is a bit different, I guess?"

"...what should be wrong?"

Dalian seemed offended and asked so.

"It's not like Chez didn't want the Phantom Book. He didn't want to drag you into the gunfight. He didn't want to hurt you!"

"Whatever reason there is, a fool is a fool."

Dalian became even more ill tempered. She raised her eyebrows and scowled at Huey,

"And you are 100 years early to state your opinion to me, despite just being Huey."

After these harsh words, Dalian closed her book. Then she reached out for Huey's bread and bit freely into it.

"My, my" Huey shrugged his shoulders. Then he recalled something and took something out from his coat. It was a small cut flower.

Huey stretched his hand out with agility and decorated a vase for one flower with it.

It was a flower bud that was about to start to bloom with blue petals.

"You took those roses with you?"

Dalian asked, with her cheeks stuffed with bread.

"There was just one left."

Huey folded the newspaper and shifted his gaze to the outside.

And said as if speaking to himself,

"You can be at ease. If he's still living, he will come meet us for sure! To accept the book then."

Dalian watched the blue rose expressionless and shook her head.

"After all it's just an 'unattainable goal'."

Huey smiled and said lightly jokingly.

"No... it's 'attaining the impossible', right?"

The flower that was the only one of its kind was silently swaying in the morning sun.

<noinclude>
{{Dantalian no Shoka Nav|prev=Dantalian no Shoka:Volume1 Chapter1|next=Dantalian no Shoka:Volume1 Chapter3}}
</noinclude>

Dantalian no Shoka:Volume1 Chapter1

2015-05-05T03:34:26Z

47.55.249.145: The original text says 十三, not 三十

A deserted graveyard at dusk.

Powder snow was gently slipping through the branches of the trees.

There was a little girl in mourning dress, standing alone in front of a grave that had only recently been built.

"Please... teach me..." she cried out in a hoarse voice.

Her gaze was fixed on a carriage.

It was a deep black brougham parked at the corner of the graveyard.

A doll was placed by the window—a beautiful porcelain doll clad in a jet black dress.

The little girl knelt down on the withered lawn as if to pray to that doll.

"Please, grant me knowledge. Give me the power to fulfill his desire... please... I beg you..."

Her trembling voice was drowned out by a cold breeze.

The moment the girl hung her head in realization that her prayer wouldn't be answered, the door of the carriage quietly opened. A book was presented to her through the door crack.

Apart from the title that was written in relief, there was a plain crest depicted on the cover. The beautiful binding gave off the impression of a newly printed book and a centuries-old tome at the same time.

"The Phantom Book has chosen you."

A man's voice resounded from within the carriage.

The little girl raised her tear-swollen face and accepted the book with trembling fingers.

"I entrust this to you. You shall be the owner of this phantom book until the return date arrives. However, remember one thing no matter what."

"Remember... what...?" she asked back timidly.

His answer was short. He replied in a hoarse voice that felt as if it were resounding from far away:

"There exist things in this world that are not meant to be known to mankind..."

After the door had been closed again, the carriage went off restfully—and disappeared into the dark of the night, leaving back only the sound of heavy hooves.

Only the girl clad in a mourning dress, a book in her hands, remained there.

The crimson moon beheld this scene vacantly from high above in the sky.

==Chapter 1 - Worship of Gourmet Food Episode 01: Meditations de Gastronomie==
===Part 1===

On a rough mountain road far outside the gates of the capital, there was a stopped car.

It was an old car once used by the army, a common type of automobile that was sold cheaply to the citizens during the post-war years.

There was no roof to its dimmed silver body, so the two seats were exposed directly to the elements. A rolled up blanket and some paperbacks were scattered on the leather-coated seats.

The driver of the car was a young man wearing a leather frock coat.

His age could not be determined exactly, but presumably, he was about twenty years old. Still, the face under the hat had yet to lose all its boyish features.

At the moment, he was crouching on the side of the car, tampering with the rear wheel bearing.

Although his gentle features implied a good upbringing, his hands were oddly accustomed to the use of tools and his movements resembled that of a soldier who had received special training.

"...I am bored," a girl that was sitting on the load platform addressed him.

Her age was no more than about 12 or 13 years. Her white skin seemed almost transparent and was covered by a jet black dress.

She had hip-length ebony hair and eyes that were the deep black colour of the night.

The black dress was fringed by countless laces and frills. These outlines of her were enfolded by metallic protectors on the back of her hands and a rustic tasset. Her looks reminded one of the ceremonial robes of medieval knights—an odd mixture that could be called neither dress nor armour. And finally, where normally there might have been a ribbon, she was wearing an old, metallic chest.

A big lock, tied to her with silver chains.

"I am hungry. Just how long do you plan on making me wait? First you get lost, and now you've even killed the car. Are you a good-for-nothing, Huey?"

Putting the book she was reading on her lap, she criticized the driver.

The young man named Huey put on an ironic, lopsided smile in response to the snappy tongue that didn't match her lovely appearance at all.

"Oh, I thought we got lost because you completely failed at reading the map...?"

"Ugh..." she groaned once and grew silent. She chewed on her lips, pouting, and turned away as her cheeks turned red.

The young man merely shrugged his shoulders while changing his gloves that had become dirty with oil.

"But it's certainly a bothersome situation we're in. There aren't enough parts to repair the car. We'll have to go borrow some proper tools and materials somewhere."

"...you noticed this now?" she sighed, dumbfounded.

Their car was currently stopped on a narrow land way that had only recently been hardened.

Wherever one turned around, there was just plain wasteland with patches of weeds here and there. A blacksmith or harness shop? There was not even a single building to be seen for far and wide!

"Where are you looking that you think you would get something of the likes in this region? You are about the only foolish driver in the whole world who would lose his way in a desolate place like this during this cold season."

"Well, I acknowledge your point about the season."

He looked up at the branches of the withered trees and then shook his head exaggeratedly.

"But Dalian... it seems we're not the only ones who took this route."

After he had spoken, he squinted his eyes to look in the distance.

A carriage was drawing closer to them while raising a cloud of white dust behind it.

It was a big two-horse cart—more exactly, a high-class carriage equipped with suspension, usually only seen at the estates of nobles. A middle-aged man wearing an expensive-looking coat was holding the reins, whereas in the cart itself they could see a young woman.

The young driver, Huey, put his tools on the ground and stood up.

Black dressed Dalian jumped down from the loading platform and quickly took position behind Huey.

Her anxiety reminded one of a little animal unaccustomed to humans. She carefully looked up at the arriving carriage, hiding part of her head behind the book she was hugging.

The young woman spoke to the chauffeur, upon which he skillfully drew the reins.

The carriage slowed down and stopped.

The woman opened the door of the cart and poked out her head with a soft smile.

"Please forgive my silly question, but do you need help?" the woman asked earnestly. She was tall and clad in a deep-green cloak.

She didn't look like a mere servant;　more like governess of a noble's child or the maid of a landlady.

Huey smiled gently.

"It would seem so. We had just lost our way when suddenly the car stopped..."

"You have lost... your way?" she asked back, bewildered.

Their car was stopped almost in the middle of wasteland, with a clear view of the surroundings. Moreover, there wasn't any fog nor was the road complicated or branched. One would have to make a big mistake to get lost.

"Uhm, well... it's a bit embarrassing but, you see, a lot happened underway...," the young man sighed with a wry smile, while the black dressed girl behind him puffed up her face. "To tell the truth, we were looking for the mansion of Graham Atkinson... do you happen to know him?"

"The mansion of Mr. Graham...?" the woman asked surprised.

She exchanged glances with the chauffeur and then nervously straightened herself.

"Could it be that you are guests of tonight's dinner party...?"

"Yes. We were invited by Mr. Graham. My name is Hugh Anthony Disward. Just call me Huey. My companion goes by the name Dalian."

"...Sir Disward? Are you...," she wrinkled her brow for some reason, taken aback.

Then she came to her senses again and bowed deeply, "Please forgive my rudeness!"

"I'm called Lesley and I am a servant at Mr. Graham's mansion. You can ride with this carriage to the mansion if you will. Naturally, we will also arrange workers for the repair of your car."

"Ah, that would be a big help. But...," Huey said and looked back.

The shoulders of the girl behind him were quivering faintly.

She was behaving like a shy young child, wary of unknown adults.

Lesley wrinkled her brow, but then seemed to be struck with an idea.

"Miss Dalian... uhm, to tell you the truth, there are some snacks in the carriage..."

Dalian twitched at the word "snacks".

She then peeked out behind Huey and looked up to Lesley.

"Snacks... of what sort?" she eventually asked with a voice one could barely hear.

Lesley smiled, relieved.

"Hm, let's see. Nothing too exceptional, but there is fried bread and..."

She started to count with her fingers, but Dalian answered right away, "We are coming...," not letting Lesley finish, while tugging at Huey's sleeves.

"My, my," Huey let out a faint sigh.

The loading platform of the carriage was piled with ingredients, such as vegetables and fruits, fish and meat, as well as manufactured foods like cheese. It was clear at a glance that all of it was fresh and of high quality.

"Are you on your way back from shopping? These would be the ingredients for tonight's dinner party, I suppose?" Huey said, a little surprised, after glancing into the loading platform from his seat.

"No," Lesley shook her head. "The pre-cooking for the dinner party is already done. What you are seeing there are the ingredients for the lord's dinner."

"All this, for Mr. Graham alone? I certainly heard that he didn't have a family..."

"Yes, all of it will be presented to the lord. The storage of goods is strictly prohibited. The freshness and quality of the ingredients is what makes the quality of the final dish. Apparently, my lord did once dismiss a past chef for using slightly injured ingredients earlier on that day."

"Aah..." Huey smiled, a little taken aback. "Mr. Graham seems to be a gourmet just like I heard in the rumours. Do you work in the kitchen of his mansion?"

"Yes... that's about right. I work as something like a kitchen maid." Lesley answered with an ambiguous smile.

Kitchen maids were employees working under the chef—in other words, trainee cooks. The fact that Lesley had been entrusted with the important task of purchasing ingredients meant that she was a particularly capable kitchen maid.

"I see. Quite impressive, considering that Mr. Graham's cuisine is on everyone's lips, even in the capital. I often see his original cooking style introduced in newspapers and it seems like the representatives of the House of Lords and several wealthy people on the mainland are persistently trying to entice his chef away."

"I've heard such rumours as well," she shook her head with a serious expression. "But as long the lord is alive, it is absolutely unthinkable that the chef would ever accept such an offer. The chef's sole aim in life is letting the lord savour the most delicious cuisine."

"...the treatment at Graham's must be incredibly good, I suspect?" Huey asked amusedly.

Lesley thought about it for a moment and replied, "Mr. Graham treats the kitchen staff very well of course, but much more than that, the thing is that the kitchen at his mansion is the perfect environment for cooks. They may use the best and the rarest ingredients at their own discretion, and even all the ordinary ingredients are of best quality and freshness. Moreover, the crops on his land are superior in terms of quality and there's even a forest abundant in fauna."

"Forest?"

"Yes. The nearby forest is a good hunting ground. There are pheasants, rabbits or even wild boars..."

"Aah... that's what you've meant, I see," Huey muttered while looking at the thick forest that expanded before the carriage. "Is that perhaps also the reason why Mr. Graham lives on the countryside rather than the capital...?"

"Of course. After all, Mr. Graham's motto is 'For the best cooking one must use the best ingredients'."

"...I see," Huey muttered.

In the meanwhile, the black-dressed girl next to him had been absorbed in stuffing her cheeks with fried bread wrapped in oil paper. From time to time, she licked her sugar smeared fingers, putting on a rapt smile every time she did so.

"You seem to be enjoying your bread, aren't you, Dalian?"

"...Correct," she answered plainly and bit again into her bread. The cautious attitude she had shown towards Lesley in the beginning had completely vanished into thin air.

While watching her warmly, Lesley said, "I am very pleased if it suits your taste." She smiled gently. "As soon as we arrive at the mansion, I can serve you some finer confectionery, but unfortunately this is all I have with me at the moment. These are the remains of the goods we presented to an orphanage."

"Orphanage?" Huey asked dubiously.

"Yes... I always send them the remaining breakfast breads when I go purchasing goods. It's a pleasure to watch the children happily eat even such food."

"So, the person that baked this was...?"

"I did. You see, I lost my parents early on and had the experience of being constantly hungry..."

The expression that flashed over Lesley's face was a bit mysterious. One could not tell whether she was happy or sorrowful.

===Part 2===

The gourmet's mansion was on a hill with a view over the lush forest.

Since it had been the residence of the feudal lord long ago, the building was surprisingly large. The dining hall of the feast was lined with tables that were adorned with beautiful candlesticks and sterling cutlery.

Everywhere one looked, one could see wealthy people, landlords and other people conversing with each other— without exception about tonight's dinner.

"Why are there so many people? It's unbearable," Dalian complained quietly while hiding herself in the shadow of a post.

While adjusting his brand-new necktie, Huey gave a laid-back answer, "Mr. Graham has become so wealthy because he built up a fortune in his young years by doing forward trading with corn. Even now when he has retired, he arranges a dinner party with lots of guests every month. And because of the very special cooking that is served at those, you can apparently pride yourself on getting invited."

"...what a wretched bunch," she cursed with quite a grumpy expression, which probably originated from her aversion of being in crowds.

Another reason for her bad mood was the fact that she was the target of countless curious gazes; her exotic black dress stood out even among all the other guests, dressed up as they were.

Despite her dismissive attitude, there were still quite a lot who approached her out of curiosity.

"Good evening, young lady. Is this your first visit?"

Addressed by a young noble-looking man, she tensed and tried ignoring him.

The man, however, did not even mind and continued, "I've attended several times since last year. The cooking here is even better than the rumours say! It stands to reason that Mr. Graham's company is said to have flourished because of his dinner parties. I'm sure you'll love it. The recipes he has worked out are of course splendid, but so too are the skills of the cooks that carry them out."

"...Cooks?" Huey asked subduedly.

The man who was being ignored by Dalian turned relievedly towards Huey.

"Yes, exactly. Did you know? Apparently, the chef is able to cook animals alive without letting them feel any pain. I heard that birds and predators kept sleeping comfortably even when their head rolled, or that fish continued to swim in the tank even when they were reduced to head and bones—"

"...why would he do such obscure things?" Huey asked, raising an eyebrow.

The noble-looking man extended his arms exaggeratedly and shook his head.

"That's again a story beyond belief: he seems to be seeking for the perfect taste by doing so. Adrenalin... was it, I think. Animals emit adrenalin when they die in pain, which causes the meat to get chewy and the flavour to weaken. Of course, that's a difference so subtle we common people cannot perceive it, though."

"You mean... he is doing it just to prevent that effect...?"

"Exactly. It's splendid how much care he puts into his dishes, don't you agree? I heard he polished his knife technique and even learned the oriental 'moxibustion' and the usage of medicines, just to prevent the animals from suffering. Mind you, he has been able to work for several years for Mr. Graham."

"...quite hard to believe," Huey voiced his thoughts dryly.

The man nodded several times.

"Surely! But I think you'll believe it as soon as you've tasted the cooking."

After boasting about the cooking as if he had made it, the man parted with them in high spirits.

When he went out of their view, Dalian relaxed again.

"...what do you think about it, Dalian?"

So far he had preserved a sociable smile, but now Huey's mien turned serious at once.

"It's absurd. No common man could accomplish something like that," Dalian declared coldly.

Huey maintained a serious face.

"But what if it's the truth?"

The black-dressed girl gazed at the flame dancing on a candlestick and muttered in an even voice, "That would mean... the power of a non-human being is involved."

"I see," Huey shrugged casually.

He took a pocket-watch out of his coat and bracing himself up, said briefly:

"It's time. Let's go."

Graham Atkinson's study was to be found at a silent place, somewhat apart from the dinner party.

Outside the window one could see the huge forest and the wheat fields on the back side of the mansion. Both sides of the room were lined with bookshelves that reached to the ceiling and were packed with rare books.

There were some comfortable-looking seats in the centre, one of which was already occupied by a man.

He was probably older than fifty.

While he was a little short, his body was well-built— far from the chubbiness one would expect from a rumoured gourmet. His appearance resembled much more a soldier in employment, rather than a retired aristocrat.

"—I'm impressed."

The first action Huey took after being led to this library was not greeting Mr. Graham, but sighing in admiration at the bookshelves alongside the walls. Even Dalian could not help rounding her eyes.

"'De re coquinaria' by the gourmand Acipius of the old Rome. 'Le Viandier' by Charles VI's highly valued chef Taillevent. 'The Physiology of Taste' by Brillat-Savarin—the greatest gourmet of modern history. And the 'Qí mín yào shù' of the Ancient China. There are not only recipes, but also books about natural history and physics... you could probably count the number of other gourmet libraries of this level on one hand."

"Heh...," the owner of the study gazed at Huey with searching eyes and gave a laugh. "I see. As expected from the grandchild of Viscount Wesley Disward. You seem to have an eye for books."

"...Are you acquainted with my grandfather?" Huey gave the gourmet a surprised glance.

Graham nodded deeply with a hard to judge expression. He signalled Huey and Dalian to take a seat and ordered the butler to prepare some tea for them.

"Anyone who is a little familiar with what happens behind the scenes in this country knows about that bibliomaniac! And also about the library he owns, of course."

"What library?" Huey asked back with a straight face.

"Playing dumb won't help you, Sir Disward. The best proof is the girl you've taken with you, 'the Black Biblioprincess'. You have inherited ''it'' from the Viscount, haven't you? The Bibliotheca Mystica de Dantalian!"

"...I wonder what you mean?" Huey smiled in a ironic manner and inclined his head.

Dalian was still wordlessly tugging at his sleeves with downcast eyes. Her impassive countenance seemed like a beautiful porcelain doll.

"Heh," Graham sneered amusedly. "Books are splendid. You have to use your head to read them, and reading makes you hungry. Did you know that the weight of a human brain makes about 2% of the whole body, but uses up 18% of the daily required calories? Now, the hungrier you are, the more delicious dishes you can eat."

"You read books... for the sake of eating?" Huey asked in a jesting tone.

But his dialogue partner nodded without hesitation and added, "Surely... and the same applies to my muscles. If you increase your basal metabolism by training your muscles, the amount of needed food will grow, too. Gourmet food is the greatest pleasure under the sun. Thus, I spare neither trouble nor expense."

"Hah..."

With an awkward expression, Huey looked around in the study. There weren't just lots of books, but also many tools to exercise.

And instead of a desk, there was a personal dining table.

The wine cup and plates were all made of expensive porcelain and wouldn't have been out of place in an art gallery. In a sense, this study was a splendid, extravagant dining room.

"Won't you take part in the dinner party?" Huey asked after a short pause.

Although the dinner party should have begun by now, Graham didn't seem to intend to go.

"Don't make me laugh," the gourmet ranted. "Do you ask me to dine together with a bunch that won't stop talking about silly rumours, their business and other nonsense during that holy time? ''Me''? Such a dinner party is of no worth! I only organize those because I have no other choice for business. You may call it fawning on incompetent trustees."

"That is... unexpected," Huey muttered to himself.

"Why would you think so?"

"No, it's just that everyone was praising your dinner parties so highly, so I was sure you made every effort..."

"Why, I do make every effort! Doesn't that go without saying? Or did you think I would let my cooks slack off just because my guests are common people?" the gourmet asked deprecatingly. Huey silently shook his head.

Graham laughed deeply. "Well, but to tell the truth... while they are not slacking off, they don't give their best either. It's necessary to reduce the grade of perfection, so even those commoners can comprehend the taste. Do you know why?"

"No... why is that?"

"In short, for savouring the best cooking, the body of the one eating has to be at least of the same quality. Everyone knows that the meat of a well-built and healthy animal tastes good. But what about the person eating it? Do you think someone who is fat, or whose inner organs are corroded by tobacco and wine, could ever appreciate the best cooking?" Graham sighed as if to ridicule the guests gathered at the dinner party. "I have been working on myself for a long time, caring about my health, getting myself into shape, and keeping the balance of never eating too much, but neither getting too hungry. I did all this in order to savour the best cooking. I'm not like those would-be gourmets!"

While saying so, he paraded his muscles proudly.

"I think I can understand what you mean," said Huey calmly, continuing with a strained smile, "We don't seem to have the capabilities to appreciate the cooking you're talking of, either. I am a person that neglects to live healthily and I'm quite dense to tastes... Therefore, may we get down to business?"

"...Business, huh?"

"Yes. Why did you not only invite us to your dinner party, but also to had us come to your study, Mr. Graham Atkinson, even though we have no connection to your business whatsoever?" Huey gave him a cold glance.

Graham nodded pleasedly, "Right... I am not interested in the bunch that's here only to taste my cuisine. But you are different, Sir Disward. And so are you, Black Biblioprincess... please, grant my wish!"

"Your wish?" Huey asked suspiciously.

Graham bowed his head slowly.

"I'm talking about the Phantom Book."

A dull light flashed in his eyes. Dalian tightened her grip on Huey's sleeves, visibly tensed.

"I would merely like you to lend me just one phantom book—one among the thousands you own. The phantom book, which is said to contain forbidden cookery by the chef of Valhalla, the pagan god Andhrímnir," he said slowly, "It is called 'The Book of the Ultimate Contemplation of Cooking'. It was lost long ago and should not exist anymore. But you should know about its whereabouts. You who inherited the phantom library crowned by the name of the '''demon that has might over knowledge and books'''. The Bibliotheca Mystica de Dantalian!"

"...Why?" Huey repeated his question.

Graham frowned discontentedly.

"You are a researcher of gourmet food and recognized by everyone. You have collected such a giant number of cookery books and you even have one of the best cooks in the country as your employee. What more could you long for?"

"I long to savour the best cooking—no more, no less," Graham answered without hesitation. "For gourmet food is the greatest pleasure on earth. It's the ultimate desire and deeply rooted in the human nature itself. Moreover, it and nothing else was the driving force that led to the progress of our civilization. Or as Brillat-Savarin once said: 'The discovery of a new dish confers more happiness on humanity than the discovery of a new star'. And I have yet to find it! That true bliss!"

"And that is why you want to borrow the knowledge of the demons?"

Huey gazed at him with pity in his eyes.

Graham nodded, "I sacrificed my own lifetime in order to seek the best cooking. Did you know that according to some statistics, true gourmet food does not harm the health, but rather lengthens life...? But still, I've not yet reached it. I don't have much time left. Ten, twenty years at most. I want to savour the ultimate gourmet food before my time has come—even if it means to borrow the power of a book whose mere existence is forbidden."

Huey patiently heard Graham out, but in his eyes one could clearly discover bewilderment. He shook his head, unable to understand Graham.

"...how can this be, Dalian?" he whispered to the black-clothed girl, who remained silent.

"What are you hesitating for, Sir Disward?" Irritation was mixed in Graham's voice. "Do you want money? There is no reason to hesitate in that case. Just write down the sum you have in mind on a cheque."

"...you're mistaken, Mr. Atkinson. We don't demand anything in exchange for the books," Huey sighed, slightly annoyed. "But sadly we're not able to hand out a phantom book to you—even if we, for argument's sake, were the owners of that library."

"Why?" Graham asked in a hoarse voice, becoming rattled for the first time.

"Because that book—The Book of the Ultimate Contemplation of Cooking—has already been lent to somebody. Thirteen years ago, that is."

"What did you just say...?" Graham muttered in complete bafflement.

Still raising an eyebrow, Huey continued, "In the diary of grandpa... no, of my grandfather, it was written that the 'The Book of the Ultimate Contemplation of Cooking' was handed out to someone today 13 years ago on a whim. We were sure you were the holder of the book when we travelled here. Since after all, it was shortly after that day that you got widely famous as a gourmet—"

"13 years ago...? Don't tell me that...!" He groaned deeply and sank down in his seat. Then, after a long time of silence, he muttered in a mournful voice:

"It's my head cook..."

"Eh?"

"The chef has got the phantom book. Apparently, everyone thinks that ''I'' have created all the recipes, and that I only have the servants cook them for me, but that's not true. The one thinking them out and cooking them is the chef and no one else. It was right about 13 years ago when I employed the current head cook... and still... what a... ooh...!" he mumbled and held his head.

His imposing body seemed a lot smaller than before.

"What a twist of fate... so I have been eating dishes cooked using that phantom book all along? And yet I've not been able to savour the cooking of my desires? Even by using the knowledge of the demons I'm not able to reach my ideal? I firmly believed that my wish would come true if I obtained it..." Graham sighed in grief.

Huey silently looked down at him, while Dalian stood up without making a sound.

"Where is the chef?" she broke the silence.

"In the kitchen, I suppose... that cook should be preparing my dinner right now..."

"I do want to meet the chef. Immediately."

"Do as you will. There doesn't seem to be any use for either of us in talking any more," he said in an indifferent tone.

They gave each other a nod and stepped towards the entrance of the room. Her black dress softly expanded like a large shadow.

Graham addressed their backs:

"Wait! ...allow me just one more question, Sir Disward. Why did you come here if not for lending me the phantom book? Why now, after thirteen years...?"

"The books that are lent by a library do have return dates, Mr. Atkinson..." Huey explained coldly without giving him another glance. "Phantom books are books that should not even exist in the world originally, and hence are sealed away. Not even we know what impact one of them could have on the world if not brought back within the time limit."

Graham looked at them in bewilderment.

The black-dressed girl turned around quietly and proclaimed in a cold and clear voice.

"'The Book of the Ultimate Contemplation of Cooking' has been lent with a time limit of thirteen years. The return date is—tonight."

===Part 3===

After leaving Graham's workroom, Huey headed together with Dalian to the kitchen.

On the way they passed through the hall of the dinner party.

The main dishes were served out and the party was reaching its peak. Everyone admired the arrangement of the food and exhausted their vocabulary with their high praise.

"I don't like this mood."

Huey muttered while looking at them. They somehow appeared irregular to him.

"There is also negative criticism about Graham's dinner parties. For example, that he uses endangered animals and plants in his cooking. Or there are rumours about human bones found in the garbage of the kitchen... And I guess they know about this, too."

"...what is so fun about eating all these things?"

Dalian asked back in a earnest expression. Huey just shrugged his shoulders.

"Why indeed? There are people living in this world that are thankful for anything rare. Whatever it is."

"...even though there would be countless better ingredients. Such fools. Just eat bread. And if there is no bread, do eat confectionery."

Dalian explained her own opinion with plain words.

Ignoring her, Huey continued,

"Of course there are many not doubting Graham, since he's an influential man in a high position. Even I thought so until now. But if the chef is holding the Phantom Book, then that's different... I hope it's not going to be troublesome."

The black dressed girl didn't answer his muttering.

She glanced wordlessly at the scenery beyond the windows.

A blood-red full moon was silently hanging in the far sky.

Many cooks were at work in the kitchen.

And like one would expect of a mansion owned by a person renowned as a gourmet, the kitchen area was quite large. The ground was well paved with stone tiles, and on it, many servants, kitchen and scullery maids could be found scampering around.

Then there was one person who finished up the giant amount of dishes; the kitchen utensils seemed as if an extension of her body.

This was, without doubt, the chef of this mansion. Her movements were completely unlike that of the others.

The pot danced around in her hands almost as if it had a will of its own and an appetite quickening odour spread out just by her adding spices or sauces. When she took a knife, she cut meat with solid bones or vegetables with vivid movements and dished them up beautifully like a flower bed, despite that she didn't seem to put much power in her grip.

Huey seemed captivated and stood stock still for a while, unable to shift his gaze.

The chef noticed this and looked up.

Surprisingly, the chef was a young woman, seemingly in her mid-twenties.

She finished up the cooking without stocking, put away the knife and then approached Huey and Dalian.

"...so you were the chef of this mansion?"

Huey asked silently. Upon which the chef - Lesley - smiled apologetically.

She was the person who let them ride on a carriage and lead them to the mansion.

"I already expected... you would come."

Lesley answered looking a bit desolate.

"Why?"

Dalian was the one asking back. Lesley looked down on her in nostalgia and said,

"I've changed quite a bit in those thirteen years, but you look the same like when we met, ...Black Biblioprincess. Or was it your mother that time?"

Dalian didn't answer and just gazed at her.

Instead Huey opened his mouth.

"You know 'The Book of the Ultimate Contemplation of Cooking'... don't you, Miss Lesley?"

She answered the question with silence.

"Was it you who accepted the Phantom Book thirteen years ago from my grandfather?" asked Huey.

"Yes, exactly."

Lesley nodded.

"I still remember that day. It was on the day of my father's funeral. He lost his employment all of a sudden and tried to drown his frustration in alcohol. In the end, he died due to a mundane quarrel. If the Lord didn't pick me up, I'm sure I would have died."

Saying so, Lesley suddenly seemed to reconsider and shook her head.

"No, that's not quite true. If I didn't have a talent for cooking... if I hadn't read 'The Book of the Ultimate Contemplation of Cooking', the Lord wouldn't have employed someone like me with an unknown background... what really rescued me was the Phantom Book I borrowed."

Dalian stared in silence at the chef who had a bitter expression.

Huey asked in a kind voice,

"You are aware of the reason we came to meet you, right?"

Lesley smiled.

"The return date has come, hasn't it?"

After saying so readily, she took off her apron, told a kitchen maid something before starting to lead Huey and Dalian.

"Please follow me. The Phantom Book is stored in my room... naturally, I've treated it with great care and didn't do anything that would have brought damage to the book."

"Is Mr. Graham's dinner all right?"

Huey called out to Lesley's back in bewilderment.

She smiled triumphantly and nodded.

"Yes. The dinner of the Lord is almost done. I only need to arrange the last few ingredients."

Lesley kept walking while the duo followed silently behind her.

The room of the chef was underground, not that distant from the kitchen. It was a simple room that one wouldn't expect of a renowned cook. Lesley opened the old solid wood door using an old bronze key.

Dalian muttered suddenly to her back,

"Phantom Books do choose their holders themselves."

Lesley turned around with a wary expression, but Dalian kept looking straight into her face and continued,

"If someone without the qualifications is holding a Phantom Book, then this person gets engulfed in the magical power of the book... I only know very few Phantom Book Readers that held a Phantom Book for thirteen years and didn't drown in this power."

"...Should I be proud about this?"

Lesley smiled, a bit bothered, before shaking her head.

"But I just prepared dishes like it was written in the book. Naturally, it didn't go all that well from the start. I used several years just to learn the basic techniques. But after I've learned those techniques, I just needed to obtain the best ingredients and draw out the delightfulness... I just continued to prepare the dishes written in the Phantom Book like this."

[[Image:Dantalian_no_Shoka-vol1-p39.jpg|thumb|Huey had noticed that Lesley, holding a knife, wasn't looking at him, but at Dalian.]]

The intonation of her voice slowly weakened while she continued to mutter.

Her face lost every expression and looked empty, almost as if in a state of trance.

"...Where is the Phantom Book, Miss Lesley?"

Huey asked while looking around in the dark underground room.

"Not yet..."

Lesley said smiling artificially.

She took a bottle filled with an unfamiliar spice from a spice-shelf beside the entrance and opened the lid.

"The Lord is not yet satisfied with my cooking. I'm aware of this, for I've not yet made the 'true' cooking written in the Phantom Book...!"

"Lesley?"

Huey called out to her in a serious voice.

She turned around and shook the bottle with natural movements one could get charmed by. The weird-coloured fine powder poured down on Huey's entire body.

"What's this...?!"

Huey put himself on guard with a severe expression. However, without stopping to smile, Lesley said,

"Don't worry, Mr. Huey. This is just a spice I mixed myself. The smell will disappear late at night. But until then, please don't leave this room. If you do, you could get into some serious trouble..."

She said so while stepping back and grabbed the doorknob. She planned to lock in Huey and Dalian.

Huey reflexively took position to chase after her but then stopped, when he saw that the chef suddenly was holding a knife in her hands. He had noticed that Lesley wasn't looking at him, but at Dalian.

"What are you trying to do, Lesley?" Huey asked with a sigh.

"I shouldn't even need to say this."

Lesley slowly closed the door to the underground room.

With the dignified sound of metal, the door was locked with no mercy. The last thing that could be heard inside the darkened underground room was the bright voice of the chef.

"By all means I have to serve this cooking to the Lord! The best cooking I used thirteen years to complete!"

===Part 4===

Huey searched in his pockets and took out a lighter. It was a unrefined lighter for military use developed during the war in Austria. Blue sparks scattered, the smell of burned oil started to spread out and then a small flame illuminated the underground room.

"Why do we have to get into such unreasonable troubles, when we just came to get back a loaned book...? It's always the same with work concerning Phantom Books..."

Huey complained while breathing a long sigh.

Dalian scowled at him and said,

"It is no use to weep around with a situation like this."

And then she kicked the wall of the dreary underground room, letting her greaves ring.

"What a pathetic man you are. How dense are you, to be readily locked inside such a place? With this gloomy light I can't even read a book to kill some time."

While expressing a torrent of curses, the black-garbed girl grasped tightly to Huey's back with her fingers, like an timid child who fears the dark does.

"I don't think I've been inattentive, though."

Huey said with a fed up voice while smelling the odour on his coat.

The fine powder Lesley poured over him gave out a characteristic fragrance difficult to describe.

Rather than stimulating the nose, the odour seemed to permeate right into the depths of the head. It wasn't an unpleasant fragrance, but it was unlikely to disappear so easily.

"But how did Lesley...? I didn't sense anyone crossing the boundary..."

Dalian shook her head to Huey's mutter. An extremely frail expression floated over her face.

"She might have crossed the 'boundary' from the beginning. With us just not noticing it. And now slowly, after thirteen years she has..."

"Could be."

Huey didn't try to comfort her. He shook his head while putting his hand into the pocket of his coat,

"But it's not certain either. Please go away a bit, Dalian."

"...what are you planning to do?"

"We can't stay here forever, you see."

Huey took out a weapon; a top-break service revolver. A handgun used by the army.

He pointed the gun to the locked door and pulled a trigger　without hesitation.

A thunderous roar resounded within the small underground room and the bullet opened a hole inside the wooden door. He shot once again, upon which the frail lock shattered and the door opened.

"...a noisy tool, as always."

Dalian cast him an accusatory glance while guarding her ears with both hands. Huey just shrugged wordlessly.

Almost at the same time as both of them left the room, several cooks came running from the kitchen with surprised miens. They probably heard the gunshots.

Huey smiled dimly, seeming to brood about how to deceive them.

However, this facial expression froze at once.

The more the cooks drew near, the more their condition changed.

Almost as if they were hypnotized, their expressions grew empty with only their eyes sparkling in a strong light; the gazes resembled those of hungry wolves.

They weren't looking at Dalian, but at Huey.

But there wasn't any hostility in the eyes of the cooks.

They emitted a more primitive desire. Hunger.

They seemed to feel an intense appetite for Huey's body.

"It appears you look quite tasty in their eyes, Huey."

Dalian stated the facts in a indifferent tone.

Huey curved his lips looking terribly annoyed.

"Lesley's spice earlier... is this odour deluding them?"

"Correct. Not bad, considering it's the cookbook the chef of Valhalla left behind... this is more troublesome than we expected."

Huey nodded to her words.

"They got us, huh? Since I also can't just shoot one of them after the other..."

"...surprisingly you also seem to have some soft parts."

The darkly-robed girl looked up to him lightly amused.

"No... I simply don't have enough bullets. Since I've already used two of them just before."

With these words Huey put away his gun.

During this action, the cooks have drawn nearer. And not just that, one could see how even more people were approaching through the floor as though they were being lured.

The servants of the mansion appeared, as well as Gentlemen and Ladies with smart appearances. In other words, the guests that attended the dinner party in the great hall.

Even they were being attracted by the Lesley's spice.

"I see. This sure is serious trouble."

Huey groaned, remembering Lesley's words.

It was almost like watching an assembling swarm of wasps that were aroused by the alarm pheromone of their fellows.

If they came attacking all at once, then Huey would have no way to prevail. His whole body would probably be mangled and eaten alive and he'd end up dead.

"...Dalian, may I borrow a book?"

He muttered mixed with a sigh and took off the glove on his right hand.

A beautiful gem was embedded in the back of his hand. A deep crimson one resembling the colour of blood.

Dalian wasn't holding a book right now. They left the book she was reading in the car behind.

Nevertheless, she nodded expressionlessly and quietly reached for her collar.

Pearly-white skin was exposed between the gaps of the wide open black dress.

And in front, in the midst of her neck, a steel chest. An old lock made of metal---

"...I ask of thee, Art thou mankind?"

Huey asked her holding aloft his right hand. It was as if he was casting an ancient forbidden spell.

And Dalian answered like a machine in a cold robotic voice.

『No... We are......』

It was right after that, that the people attracted by the spice came rushing like a giant wave to crush the two of them.

===Part 5===

The gourmet Graham Atkinson was currently dining.

Several plates filled with extravagant cuisine were tightly lined up on his personal dining table in his workroom.

The main dish was an unfamiliar meat dish. The freshly cooked and sliced meat had to be dipped in the specially made sauce. The sauce was superbly refined using countless different herbs and spices and its fragrance engulfed the entire room in a fascinating aroma.

Graham's appearance was fulfilled with bliss like never before.

Each time he led the silver fork to his mouth, the word of praise "Wonderful" escaped him.

The chef herself was taking on the role of the waitress, wearing a gorgeous apron.

When she noticed the figures entering the room, she restfully raised her face.

And a light expression of surprise floated over her features.

The visitors of the workroom were a party of two. A young man wearing a frock coat and a black-swathed girl.

The girl was holding a massive book in her arms. The colour of the cover of the book had already faded to a brown tint. It was a manuscript written on parchment. However, except for this no change whatsoever could be seen on their appearance.

The odour of the special mixture of spices was still rising from the body of the young man.

"I'm surprised you managed to arrive here unharmed... a great number of people was supposed to be in the big hall, but didn't you get attacked by them?"

The chef Lesley asked in a calm voice.

Huey shook his head with a wry smile.

"We had those gentlemen sleep for a little while."

"...sleep?"

"'Hazār Afsān', a collection of tales compiled in ancient Persia---"

Huey said taking a peek at the book in Dalian's arms.

"The tyrannic Islamic king Shahryār is said to have slept for thousand and one days after having gotten it read aloud to him. It's the book that was later also used as the manuscript of 'One Thousand and One Nights' and makes the ones that hear the stories of it fall asleep. However, it's not supposed to exist any more since it has been burned when the Mongolian army raided Baghdad."

"The Phantom Books that shouldn't exist in this world... right? But where on earth did you get this...?"

Lesley smiled amazed.

"I suppose this was a foolish question... you are the owners of the Bibliotheca of Dantalian. The Princess of the Phantom Bibliotheca containing 900666 Phantom Books and its gatekeeper---"

The chef reached for the wagon with the dishes and picked up a book.

The era couldn't be determined, but it was quite an old book. The words "The Book of the Ultimate Contemplation of Cooking" were engraved on its cover. Embracing this book tightly, she said in a kind voice,

"My father was a cook, too. He worked at this mansion thirteen years ago... but his cuisine couldn't satisfy the Lord, no, my father just accidentally used injured ingredients once and was fired just because of that. As a consequence, he died shortly after."

"...so you're here for revenge?"

Huey said, keeping a straight face.

"Yes, that was my plan... at the beginning."

Lesley nodded pleasantly.

"I thought about modifying the cooking or mixing poison into it. However, the Lord would never accept the cooking of some subordinate cook, and if there was something mixed in the cooking, he would surely notice it. I realised that I couldn't harm the Lord as long as I didn't master the art of cookery."

Huey listened without disrupting her.

Graham continued to silently eat his dinner. His silverware could be heard resounding in the room.

"From then on I was absorbed in reading the Phantom Book I'd borrowed and spent day and night polishing my skills. Thanks to this, the kitchen has been entrusted to me and before I knew it, I've earned a reputation as a cook. Then I noticed. The Lord was completely right in firing an incompetent cook - in other words, my father."

Lesley smiled brightly with a triumphant look.

"And most of all, I began to seek for the best cooking myself. But the journey was fraught with difficulties. 'The Book of the Ultimate Contemplation of Cooking' contained many hints to achieve this goal, but the recipe for the best cooking itself wasn't written in it."

Lesley put the book away silently.

She looked contently down to her cookery lined up on the dining table.

"However... at last it has been accomplished tonight. I've made the best cooking."

A sense of fulfillment was contained in her low voice, the kind that only people who have finished a masterpiece have.

"Wonderful..."

Graham mumbled with a full mouth.

"Wonderful... This is the cooking I've been seeking for. More... Let me eat more."

The silverware of the gourmet made woeful circles over the empty plate.

Lesley gripped her favourite knife, opened the lid of the container and vividly cut up fresh pieces of meat. She placed them on the plate with fluid movements and ladled a perfect serving of sauce over it.

Lastly, she served it soundlessly to her employer.

"The teachings of 'The Book of the Ultimate Contemplation of Cooking' were simple. Drawing the taste out of the best raw materials without hurting them. For this, I've polished my techniques and learned how to cook living beings without letting them feel pain. But this wasn't enough."

Lesley said, with a melancholic face.

"It doesn't suffice to just make sure they don't suffer. Rather, they have to find it pleasant. The secret for the best cooking was to let the raw materials feel the greatest of pleasures so they would be fulfilled with pleasurable substances while cooking them."

"...The greatest of pleasures?"

Huey asked calmly back.

"It's gourmet food."

Lesley laughed, looking a bit triumphant.

"Gourmet food is an enjoyment limited to humans. And just imagine the insurmountable delight that the person that took gourmet food to the extremes feels, when he comes across the perfect cooking. The '''brain''' at the instant when it's fulfilled with pleasurable substances is the best ingredient in this world."

She put down the knife on the wagon and thoroughly washed her hands in a water bowl. Then she dried them with a brand new towel and again took the Phantom Book in her hands.

"I'll return this book as I don't need it any more-"

Dalian easefully walked to her and accepted the Phantom Book.

Huey gazed wordlessly at her back.

"...I liked your fried bread."

At length, Dalian said so in a slightly sad voice. Lesley inclined her head doubtfully, but Dalian continued,

"Even without the best ingredients, it was a most fulfilled taste."

In this moment Lesley breathed up, almost like she remembered something long forgotten, and her expression froze.

But this was just for a moment.

The young chef nodded immediately as if nothing had happened and applied her attention again to Graham.

Huey and Dalian turned their backs and silently left the workroom.

"Aah... more... let me eat more..."

The gourmet murmured in an enraptured voice. The words changed to the groan of an animal in the middle and couldn't be heard well any more. Even so Lesley smiled brightly.

"Please be at ease, my Lord. There's still plenty."

Putting the freshly cut up meat on the plate, she held it out to the man waiting for her.

Then she gently closed the lid of the container containing the valuable ingredient. This container had once been the skull of the man called Graham Atkinson.

The gourmet, famous in the capital, led a piece of his own freshly cut up brain with relish to his mouth and, with a blissful mien, --- smiled.

===Part 6===

There was a car stopped in midst of a mountain pass..............

It was an old car once used by the army, and the dim silver body of the car was wet by the early morning fog. The right back wheel was dismantled and the young driver was crouching beside it. A fluffy blanket was laid on the leather-coated seats with a little girl snuggled up in it like a cat.

"I am bored."

She said ill-humouredly. Several thick books that she had already read, were piled up behind her.

"I am hungry. How long do you plan on making me wait, just to replace one or two metal pipes? We went through hardships getting the parts from a car at the mansion and walking off with them until we arrived, and even so, we had to stay up all night. Just how incapable are you, Huey?"

"...I couldn't get parts with the same standard, so I need some time! Well, after forcibly applying some glue, it should hold until we arrive at the town, I guess."

Saying so, the young driver started to tamper again with the bottom part of the defective car.

Dalian sighed long and looked into the distance.

The morning sun was illuminating the horizon a brilliant white. The outlines of the forest were no longer sunken in darkness but now slowly brightened. She also noticed wheat sprouts showing themselves on the slopes that seemed like mere wasteland before.

The street was gently bent with no end in sight.

A single carriage was drawing near on this street.

An old peasant was riding it. The loading platform was fully loaded with straw bundles.

"What's up at such a place?"

The peasant took his time and slowly stopped next to them.

"As you can see. It has been like this since the car got broken last night."

The girl in the blanket pouted and answered bluntly.

Upon this, the peasant laughed out loud, amused.

"Hoho, that's indeed a bother. Is the repair progressing?"

"Correct... I won't let him say 'no', now that he has made me wait this long."

"Haha... I see, I see. Then I'll give you something to eat while you wait. I'm sure it's going to fill your stomach a bit, young lady."

With these words the peasant presented two fist-size potatoes. They were wrapped up in newspaper, steam was faintly rising from it and the smell of melted butter spread out gently.

Dalian seemed bewildered and looked up to the wrinkled smiling face of the peasant.

"Is it really okay? Isn't this your breakfast...?"

"You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours, right? Accept it without reservation. Oh, or do you not like potatoes?"

The girl shook her head to the peasant's words.

She stretched out her protector equipped hands and accepted the warm potatoes.

"Thank you..."

She whispered, and bit into the potato. Then she stuffed her cheeks wordlessly for a while.

Before long, she raised her face when her potato shrunk to about half of its size. She smiled with a face appropriate to her age, and with butter and potato skin all over the region around her lips.

"It's tasty... the best..."

"Hahaaha! Is that so? ...I'm pleased to hear that. I think there's no seasoning that can win against an empty stomach."

The peasant narrowed his eyes contently and laughed.

Wishing them a good trip, he left them with his loaded carriage. Dalian saw him off with her cheeks still stuffed with potatoes.

"...all right, this should do for now."

After saying so, Huey stood up. He started the engine by turning the hand crank and returned to the driver seat.

A relieved Dalian looked to the sky and took her seat, still wearing the blanket.

The car moved off, producing an awkward sound of metal smashing together. After they rode for a while on the forlorn road, Huey seemed to have remembered something and asked gently,

"Dalian, can I have some of the potato, too?"

Her answer was simple.

"No. This is my potato."

"But I'm rather hungry, having been repairing all night long."

"No. It was originally your fault that we stood still there."

Huey shook his head, annoyed.

"I got it. Just give me the other one."

"Are you still half asleep? Both of them are mine."

"Please, at least half..."

"No. What a greedy man you are."

Dalian said, amazed.

"Who is!"

Huey muttered with a miserable expression.

With the two of them arguing on it, the car disappeared slowly into the morning fog.

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{{Dantalian no Shoka Nav|prev=Dantalian no Shoka:Volume1 Illustrations|next=Dantalian no Shoka:Volume1 Chapter2}}
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