Chrome Shelled Regios:Volume8 Post Epilogue Part 2

A month passed.

A very boring month.

Alsheyra’s weekly, quick but ineffective cleaning visits made the room seem even more chaotic. Although Lintence had reservations about all this all his resistance was useless. Because Alsheyra firmly believed that all that was involved in cleaning was using a vacuum cleaner.

It really hurt his head.

It was the same thing yesterday. Lintence could only watch as everything was messed up. After, Alsheyra walked out of his home with a pleased look on her face.

Today, Lintence arrived at the palace’s flower garden. It was the spacious central garden. There weren’t any railings or the like to prevent falls installed. Only the gardener and the Heaven’s Blades had access to this garden. The gardener would never appear here outside of his work hours, and the Heaven’s Blades wouldn’t do anything as stupid as falling from the garden and dying. Put another way, this place forbade Heaven’s Blades who did stupid things.

Because this was a private area for the ruling family within the palace.

Except that’s exactly where Lintence was.

There was another person there.

“…Only your memory is far superior to anyone else’s” said Lintence as he watched the child who sat on the ground before him, sweating profusely.

“Th-thanks for your guidance.”

“But you’re too used to having kei flow through your hands. Make the kei flow around your whole body. Before you can do that, I forbid you from holding your sword other than during battles.”

“Understood.”

He originally thought that the child wouldn’t understand what he was doing, but he was unexpectedly obedient, which made Lintence feel a little despair. On that visage which terrified many people, there has to be something that makes it seem unfriendly.

But that child wasn’t actually afraid of him.

After calmly adjusting his breathing, he got up immediately. He wasn’t sweating at all anymore. The breeze which blew through across the garden had aired his body dry.

“That’s it for today.”

“Thank you for your guidance.”

Facing Lintence’s retreating back after he had finished speaking, the child lowered his head. Like other children, those clear eyes seemed to reflect absolutely nothing, but in reality they were unconsciously absorbing everything before him and adding them to his understanding.

To this child, training his body was merely a confirmation process through which he could reproduce what he saw before him.

Leaving behind the child to self-training, Lintence returned to the palace.

There was a youth standing there. He was watching what was going on in the garden.

“So that’s the new guy?”

“Yeah.”

That pair of hypnotic eyes that attracted women’s obsession stared without reserve at the child’s actions.

That child was Layfon.

“Why are you specially training him?”

“To kill time, I guess.”

“It really is a great way to burn time, eh? I actually thought it was some game to protect this stupid kid who showed up out of nowhere.”

The youth’s name was Troyatte. One of the Heaven’s Blades.

“The purpose is clearer than that.”

“I know. But that child is the only person here that I didn’t know before he became a Heaven’s Blade member. Only Ojou-chans who never leave their homes would think that that alone was enough to accomplish his goals. We’re pretty annoyed by this as well, and even Ruimei-ossan is tired of him. What are you guys planning?”

“Nothing.”

“Really? So none of us get to fight?.”

“Uh-huh.”

“That’s brilliant! As long as I can sleep in a woman’s bed its fine, nothing else could possibly better. I’m so happy I’m about to cry.”

From his purposely opened palms he seemed unbiased and genuinely happy.

However in the next moment Troyatte’s expression instantly darkened.

“Can’t even be bad guy; quite pitiful, eh?”

The meaning of his words were very clear.

Minse had failed.

That wasn’t to say that his attempt was exposed. If it was exposed, that pretty much meant failure. If it was a Heaven’s Blade, surely he would understand that point.

Minse could only play the role of the pitiful clown.

Even though he understood…

“They’re plotting something as well, right?”

The Heaven’s Blade Receivers that were assisting Minse. And there were three.

“It was probably Kalvan-ossan’s bad habit of meddling too much which caused this kind of result. If they just ignore that extra troublesome guy it’d probably be fine. But what’s the status of the other two guys? Are they obstacles like Kalvan? Hey, this isn’t good, you’re not even that old and you’re already being shackled down by all these conspiracies. Youths should just act like youths and live life passionately in order to get something out of it, shouldn’t they?”

Having said this, Troyatte was after all, barely twenty years old.

“Compared to you, who’s only passionate about women I think I’m a lot better.”

“What? Boss is the type that prefers revolution?”

“How could I be, such a troublesome thing.”

“I guess not. I guess Boss who left his previous city purely because it was too troublesome would never say something like that. Well, it’s just that I can’t tell how much of all this trouble Boss talks about is real, and how much is just you pretending.”

“If you don’t know then please shut that oily slick voice of yours up, otherwise I might actually leave, ne? And also, don’t come too close, you have too much perfume on.”

“Well, after all Boss is an ojiisan, so please don’t infect me with your outdated tastes.”

After having a go at each other, the two each went their own way. In the garden, Layfon was still doing his self-training. It’s only been a month but he was already familiar with the basic usages of the steel threads. And adding on top of that his own abilities, there was no real problem using it in battle.

(Well, maybe not quite ready yet.)

Layfon was still not aware of the horror of the steel threads. Without tasting the effects of the weapon that he was using, he still couldn’t say that his understanding of it was flawless.

Troyatte had already lost interest in Layfon and left.

Lintence also started moving away.

At this time, an announcement came echoing across the sky.

“The filth monster is currently getting closer. A Mature Phase Stage 2. It will come within the battle area in two days.”

It was as if the sounds some obaa-san was making as she sat under the sun had been transmitted right to their ears.

Near the walkway’s patio floated a Psychokinesis flake.

This was Delbone’s voice.

Even though she was now and obaa-san who was lying in hospital, but her psychokinesis show no sign of weakening.

“Yes, it’ll arrive at around midday.”

Somebody probably asked a question. The voice in the flake answered the question relaxedly. It was as if the flake let you see her pondering the problem.

“You have to eat lunch properly. You can’t skip, ok? If you don’t eat properly you won’t grow.”

The person asking the question was probably Cauntia or Barmelin.

“Uh, uh, there’s no need to measure a woman’s charm with a man’s scale. That’s obvious. But a woman with charm can’t evade the looks of men. Hence, they can’t evade men’s measuring gaze, right?”

“There it is again, getting talked down by Cauntia.”

Behind, Troyatte revealed a bitter smile.

“Stop it guys. The battle area will be roughly ten kilometres (kirimeru) north-west off the outer edge of the city. There’s no need to use the land rollers. You don’t need any travel time either. Is this ok?”

The question was directed towards Alsheyra.

“Yeah. I got it. Then, Lintence go backup, Layfon go attack. Lintence, you better support Layfon properly. And Layfon, even though you’re a child, you are already an outstanding Heaven’s Blade, so go do your best.”

In the midair garden, Layfon nodded to the flake in front of him several times.

“Good, a very good answer. I like kids with spirit. When you grow a bit older, I’ll introduce you to my grandson.

“Delbone-sama, if you happen to know a young and charming woman, please introduce her to me.”

“Troyatte, if you could place all your attentions on one woman only, I would introduce you to an exceptional beauty.”

“That really is a harsh request.”

“Then please give up. Ayaya, Kalvan-sama, can you not show such a gloomy and unhappy face? You should live your life a little more leisurely.”

“Then everyone, I hope it’s a pleasant battlefield.” After saying this, Delbone’s voice could no longer be heard.

The flake left from above Lintence’s head.

Leaving the palace’s corridors, leaving the midair garden, probably returning to their surveillance of the city.

A pleasant battlefield, eh…

Lintence pondered as he walked.

As to the reason for throwing away the city he had grown up in, then it would be because the environment there didn’t have anything that could equal his strength.

A city where nothing really happened, a peaceful city where nothing will happen. There was nothing that he needed to protect with his life there, and he didn’t know how much time would pass by before the city ran into a mature phase filth monster. Just a second stage male would be great already. Just that would be a huge deal for his city, but for Lintence that kind of level couldn’t even be considered any opposition, merely an enemy.

It definitely couldn’t be considered a pleasant battle.

Deciding to leave the city for a while was also because he discovered his great desire for danger.

The thing known as greatness is very difficult to maintain with a relaxed frame of mind. Seeing his steel threads wire technique which had bet his life on training and mastering gradually rusting from not having a place to use them, he deeply felt how hollow his current life was.

It was during his twentieth year that he felt this.

And so he left his city.

The following five years, he lived a wandering life.

He arrived at Grendan because he heard it to be a city that had gone mad. He heard rumours of a city which frequently ran into filth monsters, a city which roamed in the danger zone. It was as if that city was taking the initiative and actually wanted to battle with the filth monsters, continuosly fighting all year round.

So he arrived here.

If the rumours were true, then he could probably fully unleash his strength.

And the result far exceeded his expectations.

Because in his first encounter, he had allowed his arrogant self to taste defeat.

“You’re very strong, onii-san.”

Yes, a girl roughly the same age as Layfon right now wove through all of the steel threads that Lintence had released. And not only that, even when the steel threads bound her up, shredded her skin and flesh, they failed to give her even a single trace of a wound, and like that well known phrase, the bridge of his nose was broken. [In Japanese Culture, breaking the bridge of a person’s nose is associated with the defeat of an arrogant person.]

“Do you want to prove that you are great? Then enter the competition, until you’re recognised here.”

The girl said this in an aloof banter with her foot atop Lintence’s stomach, as he lay there with blood steadily flowing out of his nose.

“If you do that, sooner or later I’ll have you experience a battlefield that makes you sigh ‘ah, I’m so glad I’m not there.’”

He hadn’t been on such a battlefield yet.

There did exist a battlefield which satisfied him a little. At least it was a billion times better than staying in his hometown, rusting.

But could he be satisfied with just that?

Please stop joking.

“I won’t rest until I see it with my own eyes.”

Lintence mumbled, directing it towards Alsheyra, no longer standing before him. After, he returned to the palace.

◇

The emergency alarm rang out across Grendan.

“Then let’s go.”

Layfon said this as he used an emergency use backpack to carry his younger brothers and sisters on his back.

The young children were running, revealing the urgent atmosphere. But that was just the mood of the bright children, excited by just leaving their front door.

It definitely wasn’t the urgency of possible loss of life, that sort of sorrowful atmosphere.

“Ah, Layfon. Why are you wearing those clothes?”

Turning back, he saw his childhood friend standing there, her eyebrows creased. “Isn’t the new training uniform folded up nicely over there? Really.”

“It’s okay. I’m changing out of these pretty soon anyway.”

“No. You’re unpresentable.”

Even though she said this, he obviously didn’t have enough time to change clothes. As Leerin grumbled, she tried to make the wrinkles in his shirt less conspicuous, tugging on the collar and the sleeves. Layfon stood there uncomfortably, silently allowing Leerin fix his attire.

“Make sure you do it properly next time.”

“Ok~~~~”

Hearing Layfon’s half hearted answer, Leerin pinched Layfon’s cheeks.

“Ouch~”

He was obviously acting.

“Um, Layfon.”

“What?”

“Don’t get injured.”

“No problem. Didn’t I safely return all those times before? I’ll return safely this time as well.”

Before Layfon had become a Heaven’s Blade, Layfon had already fought on the battlefield. In Grendan, those who didn’t achieve a certain amount of results in the competitions weren’t allowed to fight on the battlefield, and they also couldn’t receive the Military Artists’ grants. And the young Military Artists grants would only be given until fifteen.

Layfon had been participating in the competitions since two years ago.

After achieving his goal in the first competition, he started participating in every battle he was allowed to fight in.

If one went onto the battlefield, a military artist’s grants would be more than others. Layfon gave all of that money to the orphanage.

“But today you’re alone, right?”

Leerin looked at the dite belt strung around her childhood friend’s waist. On it hung a unique Dite.

Today was Layfon’s first battle as a Heaven’s Blade.

“Lintence-sama will be there as well. That person is very strong. So there’s no problems.”

Him saying this didn’t lessen Leerin’s worry any.

“Then let’s make a promise.”

“A promise?”

Leerin was stunned by Layfon’s proposal.

“A promise I’ll definitely come back safely. So, you have to make me a week’s worth of food without any green vegetables whatsoever.”

“Three days.”

“Eh~~~”

“Uh-uh. If you don’t eat properly you won’t grow. Isn’t that what Lucia-neesan said?”

Lucia was a girl who was helping with the cooking recently, and was responsible working in the kitchen before Leerin. Also, she was the one who had taught Layfon and Leerin how to cook.

“So mean. Fine, I got it.”

Layfon nodded his head very unwillingly, and after raising his hand and shouting goodbye he turned and left the orphanage. The younger brothers and sisters shouted towards his retreating back. Layfon waved back at them before leaping out.

Leerin sent Layfon off as she watched his shadow leaving, using his emergency high speed dash, flying across rooftops as she whispered.

“You clearly have nothing that you don’t like eating.”

But they had already made their promise.

Now she could only believe in him.

◇

A late Layfon saw what the uniform he was going to wear outside of the city looked like.

It was a delicate grass green coloured pollution isolation suit. Next to it was placed a helmet marked with ‘Wolfstein.’ The suit itself was labelled with Wolfstein, indicating the accecories were made especially for him. Although it didn’t affect movement very much, but it would probably create a bit more wind resistance. But for Heaven’s Blades, they have to carefully take into account that sort of minute detail as well.

But also, Heaven’s Blades were a symbolic existence. Sometimes, when battling large numbers of filth monsters, their existence can improve the performance of other military artists, so they can’t neglect the ornaments on their uniforms.

“Isn’t sensei wearing protective uniform?”

Even though he hadn’t been ordered to be addressed as such, but Layfon still called Lintence sensei.

“You’re the only one leaving the city.”

Layfon had some doubts, as Lintence prevented the technical support members from getting close to him as he continued to wear his normal clothes.

“This is your battle. I’m just insurance. I’ll deal with the guys you leave out. The next time there are orders it’ll just be you by yourself. Don’t embarrass yourself.”

“I understand.”

The obediently nodding child didn’t have a look of fear at all. Because he was a child, his only reaction to anything in the world that he didn’t understand was indifference. That pair of eyes no longer had their usual look.

A very good expression.

He had gotten rid of any emotions. It was an expression reflecting Layfon concentrating all his thoughts into the upcoming battle.

The young child made such an expression. Was this a lamentable occurrence…? Having once lived in a peaceful city when he was young, he considered it. [Lintence]

However, he didn’t have too many feelings on that point. And he didn’t really think it was lamentable.

If one really wanted to push on towards the roots in search of the person to blame, then that would be the adults who made this child make such an expression.

Taking this a step further, in the entirety of Grendan, how many children other than Layfon could make such an expression?

That is to say, Layfon was a unique example.

“You still don’t know how to use the steel threads, you understand that, right?”

“Yes.”

Wearing only equipment for travelling outside a city, Lintence made all the technical support members go away. Layfon lifted his head looked at the helmet, playing with the buckle, and walked up to Lintence.

“For a person who originally uses a katana, this fight will be rather constrained. But this is a battle that you have chosen, so just fight as you like.”

Layfon showed a moment of surprise, but it vanished immediately from his face.

“There’s no problem, I’ve made a promise with her to get home safely. If I provoke her anger, she’s terrifying.”

“Really?”

Although he didn’t know who Layfon had made this promise with, but seeing as how he was speaking with such passion it was fine.

“Then go.”

Layfon took the helmet, strapped it on properly. After checking the connectors for gaps, he slapped him on his back.

After the stairs opened up leading below, Layfon jumped out.

“Then, I wonder if the comedy over there will be able to meet the expectations?”

Moving towards the outer edge of the city, Lintence whispered silently, the words never carrying across to that midair garden within the palace.