Editing City Series:Volume5b Chapter20 (section)

===Beretta’s Journal: Today’s First Entry===

It’s still 1 AM and the moon is the only light source, but I have to write about what just happened. I am currently sitting in the Missel mansion’s dance hall with my back against the wall. Jean Missel is sitting next to me with a rucksack in his arms.

As soon as I read the two telegrams coming from the communicator I heard in the Balleroy mansion, I grabbed my bag and ran out. On the way here, I walked through some catacombs, snuck through a forest, and kicked a German soldier in the nards when he spotted me – what I’m saying is, it was an eventful journey. The combat engineers blockading Paris were taking a break in the woods, so I was stuck there until the sun set.

I arrived here at 11 PM. I heard a few gunshots along the way and ducked down in fear, but that was Jean Missel taking out his pursuers and the guards on his way back to the mansion.

I cautiously approached the mansion that was in a similar state to Mallette’s family home and I spotted a trail of blood leading inside. On the way, I found two dead German soldiers and a communicator that looked intentionally broken.

The trail of blood led to the second floor where I found Jean Missel. He had been shot in the gut and had applied first aid, but he seemed well aware that he wasn’t making it.

He had apparently called the Chevaliers across France to gather here tonight and he could not back out of that, so he had returned despite his injury. Also…

[[Image:City_v05b_273.jpg|thumb]]

“Someone left this with me, so I planned to give it to you.”

He pulled a letter from his rucksack and handed it to me.

Phillip had written it before that fateful battle and it was addressed to me.

I accepted it and we discussed a lot of different topics: Phillip, Paris, the previous war, the old man, and even Jack McWild.

“Yes, Beretta McWild, I knew your father well. But I also know things didn’t go well between Rose and Jack. Phillip told me how you act awfully distant when it comes to them.”

He also mentioned that he wasn’t sure if he should bring any of this up the last time we met. That made him sound like a coward but also surprisingly kind. And my distant attitude when it came to Rose Francisca and Jack McWild wasn’t some complex of mine. It was- well, maybe it was kind of that.

But this was the first I’d heard of the old man, Jack, and Francisca being friends. Why had he kept that from me all this time? It’s not like you run across as American a last name as McWild in France every day. Had it just not occurred to him we might be related?

No, that’s not possible. He must have his reasons. Like an important promise he made or something.

<Jean Missel is sitting very still with his eyes closed. He is not dead. He is waiting for the arrival of the people he called here.>

I’m sitting just as still next to him.

I’m holding the Wort Bombe document he had acquired. One of the telegrams I had read before coming here mentioned the bomb. In modern times, that weapon was banned as Death Techno.

That gave me an idea.

I might be able to use the Wort Bombe to save my grandma.

Specifically, its ability to change Lives.

I just had to recall what Jean Missel’s telegram had said:

<It instead responds to the willpower of the people and other forms of life in the area covered by the chain reaction.>

And:

<If the people of France instead hope for happiness, France will be transformed by happi->

That seemed doable to me. The Rondo of France’s Format began because the bomb detonated while the people had given up all hope, so what if it detonated while the people were brimming with hope?

Why had it never occurred to me before? If all the people of France wished for no one to die, it could change the very laws of the world and allow my grandma to not be erased.

This was a gamble.

I have no idea what the people of France will actually hope for. This can save my grandma if it goes well, but it could mess France up really badly if it goes poorly. On the other hand, she will be erased if I don’t do anything.

Nothing is guaranteed in this gamble. It’s all about possibilities.

I need to read that document more carefully later. This is important.

Oh, and I have something else important to mention. When I told Jean Missel about the baby I’m carrying, he rejoiced but then grimaced from the pain in his gut. He then removed his sword emblem earring and gave it to me.

“This means the Missel family can continue. Can you wear this as you fight and eventually give it to your child? And make sure to tell the child all about Phillip and me.”

I’m wearing that sword emblem earring now to show I want to belong to this era and-

<nowiki><I</nowiki> hear a horse neighing.

I also hear a lot of quiet footsteps on gravel outside the broken window. When Jean Missel hears it, he opens his eyes and looks to me.

“If you are indeed a Lourd de Écrivain, then you should read Phillip’s letter immediately. I do not know what it says, but that fool was a true Lourd de Écrivain. If you are the same, then you should get something from it.”

Then he stands up to meet his guests.>

Something important is beginning, so I think I’m going to read Phillip’s letter before then. Unlike Rose Francisca, I won’t hesitate to read it. Knowing his letters, it’s probably short but important, so I’ll read it. That should help me make a number of decisions.