Editing City Series:Volume5b Chapter18 (section)

===Rosetta’s Journal: Today’s Second Entry===

I am currently in the plaza in front of Autun Station.

<nowiki><I</nowiki> can hear the black dragon’s roar and the tremor of the earth in the distance.

Earthquakes are occurring intermittently. The only normal thing around us is the moon in the sky.>

It is all very noisy. I am writing this to help order my thoughts.

Earlier Lady Beretta returned to Herlde with the mayor. When a German soldier tried to stop them she argued with him and threw a kick until she was allowed to go. There are still a lot of people in Herlde – based on who has gathered in this plaza there are still around 30 people in the village – and the evacuation is not complete even after sending out the village’s five trucks.

The biggest problem for us is that Mother Rose was not on any of the trucks.

The German soldier said that the black dragon would be in Herlde within 20 minutes and that it would likely destroy the village. He tried to stop the mayor and Lady Beretta because he knew that. He said anyone who went to the village was unlikely to survive.

Everyone here seems to know that. Those with the trucks have been arguing for a while. They want to know if they should follow after the mayor or not but no one will give them an answer.

They do not want to die.

I understand that.

But Lady Beretta and the mayor went. And I am here. Lady Beretta explained why I should stay.

“We need to pick up as many people as possible so we need to head back with as few people as possible.”

That makes sense. She seems tired but she spoke very clearly when she said that. That is why I told her about Mother Rose’s secret room I discovered in the examination room before. I thought it might be a shelter for times like this. She looked surprised but nodded and left.

<The villagers’ argument is growing more heated again. The people of Autun are joining in now.>

They do not seem able to reach an answer.

If they go they might die. But if they do not go we are sure to survive. When pressured to choose one or the other they end up arguing. And the German soldier who tried to stop Lady Beretta is standing in a corner of the plaza lost in thought. Earlier after he saw those two leave he said something to me.

“That black dragon is enraged because our unit badly injured it. It uses its rage to overcome its grudge and its duty is to eat people.”

He sounded like he had given up all hope but even he is thinking about something now.

Everyone else continues their argument.

They cannot find an answer.

But I feel like I have found the answer. And to be sure of that I need Lady Beretta’s help and the others’ help.

But I am not sure if I should say it out loud.

Maybe I should ask that German soldier how long until he thinks the dragon will arrive in Herlde.

If we can arrive in time, there is something I need to tell Lady Beretta.

There is one thing she is wrong about.