Chrome Shelled Regios:Volume1 Prologue

Prologue

Everyone held their breath, sealing that flood of terror in their throats.

“………….”

Nina was the same.

Sitting in the last row on the roaming bus, she looked out the window, peering past the short fat business man who sat in front of her and was hugging his head with trembling arms.

On the side of the dirt-smeared window was a vast wilderness.

Cracks crept across the dry earth. The sharp edges of soil rose to point upward.

A huge dark shape loomed at the front end of her vision.

A mountain as tall as a tower.

But everyone on the bus knew it wasn’t a mountain.

“This is…… Peligi,” the man sitting in the middle row of the bus murmured. He observed the dark shape through a pair of binoculars. From Nina’s side, she saw big droplets of sweat on his face, his large Adam’s apple bobbing with the movement of swallowing saliva.

Nina squinted at the dark shape.

That wasn’t a mountain. That was a city.

What had looked like the mountain peak was in fact the peak of a tower. On the top of that tower was a tattered flag, fluttering in the wind. Nina couldn’t make out the crest on that flag, which should be the name of the city. She couldn’t be sure whether the city’s name was what the man had uttered.

A strong wind gusted against the side of the bus, rocking it. “Hey!”

Startled and surprised, passengers bent down on their seats and hugged their heads.

Every passenger curled up breathlessly, as if not wanting to be found at this place.

Nina didn’t hug her head, but she held her breath and again stared at the city, trying to sense any response coming from above.

This city was already dead.

The multi-legs of the bus bent on their knees, immobile.

The buildings in the city were the same. Traces of terrible wounds were carved into most of the buildings near the boundary of the city.

She could see that a part of the city’s edge had been carved away, creating a mountain of debris.

Smoke columns were rising from everywhere.

Perhaps, it wasn’t long that this city had been attacked.

Looking from this side of the bus, it wasn’t possible to confirm for any survivors.

But whether anyone was alive or not…… she couldn’t get over there to confirm it.

Outside the city, the existence of the bus was weak and insignificant.

Besides which, Nina understood it wasn’t possible anyone in the safe was safe.

Having lost the air shield surrounding the city, humans couldn’t even breathe in air.

Next to her, Harley said in an anxious voice. “Nina……”

“Don’t worry. We haven’t been found out.”

Nina realized her voice came out shaky. She couldn’t help but want to lick her lips, but she swallowed the sound of that movement, gazing resolutely at the attackers hovering in the sky above the city.

Cold sweat broke out on her skin even though her mouth was dry.

“This is the world we live in, Harley.”

She said so to the Harley who was full of resentment, but she didn’t get a respond from her childhood friend.

The casual flying pose of the cruel attacks gave off a royal aura.

The attackers……. were called the King of nature, the filth monsters. They flew lower, flying slowly between buildings.

“Now!” someone roared shrilly.

The driver started the engine.

The multi-legs rose, and up raised the body of the bus.

Nina’s line of sight became higher, and then the bus moved as if it was skipping.

It was better to leave this city. The bus continued to run.

Nina gazed at the retreating city.

After the bus had put some distance between it and the city, Harley sighed, “It’s ok now.”

In the easing atmosphere, Nina held tight her fists and said, “…… we’re so weak.”

◇

At the edge of the city, the sound of huge feet stomping the ground shook the ears.

The footsteps of the city drowned out all other sounds, even the furious roar of the wind.

“Are you still not giving up?”

So the voice must be loud too.

The girl spoke loudly to the boy at the station of the roaming bus in the city. Strong wind hooked up her golden hair. From clear and blue pupils, her gaze rested directly on the boy. Her face, appearing younger than her real age, was full of disapproval and unease. She gazed at the boy standing at the bus stop.

Looking troubled, the boy kept looking back and forth between the girl and the bus waiting to depart. A chain chained up the long multi-legs of the bus that were folded and bent. The body of the bus swayed along with the movement of the city, bumping against a cushion pad. Since it was no joke when the city moved, the driver and all the passengers could only wait in the small waiting area. This kind of bus was made to bear the up and down shaking, but it couldn’t stop from swaying left and right.

“Layfon!”

The only passenger not yet in the waiting area – Layfon, took his gaze from the bus.

He had tea coloured hair and blue eyes. A certain expression associated with growth of adolescence was on his face, coupled now with a powerless smile.

“Even so, I can’t stay here anymore, Leerin.”

Layfon didn’t raise his voice, so Leerin stepped closer. Even with her expressive eyes right in front of him, Layfon couldn’t feel the attractive air of the opposite sex from his childhood friend.

“But! You didn’t have to pick a school so far away!”

“Even here……” Again, the sound of the city’s movement drowned him out. A strong gust of wind blew past them. Layfon reached out a hand to steady Leerin on her shoulder.

“That can’t be helped. The only place that I obtained the scholarship for is Zuellni. And the money at the orphanage can’t be spent on me, right?”

“You must have forced yourself to choose so far away a place? There’re closer places you could have gone to. If you try the exam for scholarship next year, you might find a better school that is also closer, right? Then you can stay here with me……”

No matter what words came next, nothing could change Layfon’s determination. To emphasise that point, he shook his head slowly.

“I can’t give up leaving.”

Leerin held her breath. He couldn’t bear looking at the hurt in her clear eyes, so he moved his gaze to his hand on her shoulder. It was a hand like that of an old man’s, hard and rough.

“I’ve decided, and I won’t change it. Nobody would have wanted it, and not even myself. Her Majesty wants me to experience the outside world. Besides, she doesn’t wish for my presence here.”

“I wish for it!”

This time, Leerin's powerful and persuasive words caused Layfon to hold his breath.

“The light is my wish. Is that not enough?”

To Layfon, Leerin's crying gaze and words were too cunning. He tried to find some words to pass this over, but couldn’t find any. He felt pain, pressuring him to convey his feelings.

Layfon’s lips trembled, and so did Leerin’s.

They were each trying to find words to say.

In the end, they realized that the words to pay lip service didn’t exist. No matter who wanted Layfon to stay, nothing could change the reality of his leaving. Layfon himself didn’t intend to stay, so no one could change the ending.

It was impossible to not hurt Leerin and make her agree with him.

A whistle sounded shrilling behind him.

As if to tear them apart, the simple sound of the whistle squeezed between the sound of the city’s footsteps and that of the furious howl of the wind to echo in the bus station.

It was the sound warning that the bus was about to depart.

The driver, having blown on the whistle, entered the bus. He stared the engine. A vibration different from the city’s radiated out in the vicinity of the battered body of the bus. The passengers waiting in the waiting area took their luggage and headed for the vehicle.

Layfon’s lips stopped trembling. He took away his hand from Leerin to take up the luggage beside his feet.

That was all he had with him now. His other belongings would be given away to the kids at the orphanage or tossed away.

“I’ve to go,” Layfon said to the red-eyed Leerin. As if feeling this was a truth she couldn’t change, Leerin’s trembling also stopped.

She gazed at him with reddened eyes.

“Since the decision’s been made, I want to start anew. I can’t return to the orphanage and to the side of Her Majesty. This is the consequence of my action. I’ll make up for it no matter how much I have to pay. But nobody wants that, they just want me to disappear. But even so, things can’ be resolved with me going away……”

He couldn’t continue his words. He didn’t want to just say some nonsense, yet, even if he were to tell the truth, it’d only sound like an excuse. He hated himself acting like that.

“Even I haven’t really made my resolution.”

He added weakly, “Though I really want to start over in many areas……”

“Enough!” Leerin cut him off coldly. Layfon held tight to his luggage, not daring to look at her.

The driver blew his whistle again. The time for department was close.

“I’m going now.”

Dejected, he turned his back to Leerin.

“Wait!”

The small voice stopped him.

What happened next was one single, brief moment.

Leerin grabbed hold of Layfon’s shoulder and forced him to turn around, her face so very close to his.

It was only a moment as they overlapped.

The rough but soft pressure dominated Layfon.

In that swift moment while he was numb and spaced out, Leerin jumped away. Her smile was stiff, but that meaningful expression of having played a prank was familiar to him.

“You must send letters though. I don’t think that everyone wants you gone,” she said, and ran away. Looking at her figure flying past in a flurry of skirts, Layfon realized why he felt so strange.

(Ah, I see…… coz she’s wearing a skirt……)

Lively Leerin didn’t like to wear skirt, but she wore one today.

And there was also the sweet and soft feeling of that swift moment left on his lips. As if to feel the warmth left on them, he touched his lips with his finger.

(so naïve)

While mocking himself, he quickly moved to the bus.

I’ll write when I get there.

Yes. He’s decided.

The bus started. Wishing to take one last look of the scene, Layfon sat in the last row, gazing at the city he had always lived in till now.

◇

Regio could be seen from every corner of the world. The existence of these cities was natural as breathing air. Numerous buildings were built on the tabletop-like surface, spreading out and lowering in height from the centre that was the tallest structure of all. Located beneath the table were legs. Huge metallic legs lined up close beneath the table. Walking with precision, those legs moved together as if to take the city far away from the bus.

Layfon gazed at the tallest tower-like building in the centre of the city.

The huge flag sitting at on the peak of that building bore the pressure of the wind. On the flap was a dragon with the body of a lion. It seemed to be breaking a sword with its teeth, but the sword was unyielding.

The flag with that crest weaved on its surface danced a wild dance with the wind.

Layfon stared at that huge flag.

Wondering what he’d write to Lilin about in the first line of the letter.

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