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Owari no Chronicle:Volume2 Chapter 14

2015-10-02T16:44:50Z

70.184.6.115: /* Chapter 14: Proof of Determination */

==Chapter 14: Proof of Determination==
[[Image:OnC_v02_0011.png|thumb]]
''Wondering what you are being shown

''Might very well be

''The same as wanting to see something

Brunhild began to glide after approximately half an hour of flying at full speed.

She watched the scenery shooting by at high speed. The area down below had been dark for a bit, but it had once more grown bright.

She could see the lights of a city below and a bay gouged out a section to the southwest.

“Kobe, Osaka, and Sakai.”

Brunhild muttered the names of the cities visible below and used her right fingertips to lightly tap the blue philosopher’s stone used to pilot the broom. As her speed decreased, she checked to make sure a single vertical stability wing had emerged from the bottom of the broom. She lifted her body up now that she was in the windbreak area.

Her toes were still on the brush, so her position was similar to being seated seiza-style. The light coming from the brush had returned to being bluish-white, so Brunhild lightly tapped the stone to bring the light outside of the visible spectrum.

“Doing this at low speed has terrible fuel efficiency.”

She sighed, wiped frost from the end of her three-cornered hat, and looked back down.

The light below her was dwindling once more. The darkness of a mountainous area was filling the area below.

As she stared down at the earth, she spoke to the cat clinging to the tip of the handle.

“Hey, there’s the forest.”

She waited for five seconds, but received no response. She tilted her head and looked forward.

The cat was clinging to the broom handle with its entire body. And that was all it was doing.

For some reason, the cat’s body was glittering slightly in the moonlight.

“?”

Brunhild looked closer to find the cat’s entire body was covered by frost. That frost was reflecting the moonlight.

“How pretty,” she muttered just before the cat came loose from the handle.

It lost its balance and fell down. After watching for a moment, Brunhild let out an “ah” and stretched out an arm. She grabbed the cat’s tail and pulled it back up.

She held the black cat in front of her face. Its eyes were opened wide and staring straight forward and both ends of its mouth were frozen in place while raised up as far as they would go. Brunhild frowned and shook the cat up and down.

“What are you doing? That’s dangerous.”

Finally, the cat gave a start.

“Wah!” it shouted and shook its legs. “I-I-I-I’m gonna die! You’re killing me!”

“What’s the matter? You make this sound so dangerous. Did you have a bad dream again?”

“Y-y-y-y-yes yes yes! I had a dream I was thrown into the air and frozen! …That was a dream, right?”

“Of course it was. But how very odd. You fell asleep with history’s most amusing expression.” Brunhild held the cat in one arm. “Well, even if you had a scary dream, don’t worry. I am here.”

“Can I really trust you?”

“Did you say something?”

“No, nothing,” came the response within her arm.

At that point, the land down below became fully covered in darkness.

Brunhild tilted the broom slightly down and to the right. She turned toward the depths of the mountain.

Slowly but surely, their altitude lowered. But with the dark mountains below and the night sky above, it was hard to tell they were descending. Brunhild checked the nightscape of Osaka behind her to check the horizon.

She descended.

The darkness below gradually gained visual features. The bare mountain surface and shapes of trees grew visible in the moonlight.

“Almost there,” she muttered while focusing on the forest floating up in the moonlight.

Brunhild could see a line of rectangular manmade objects. They were buildings.

This line of unlit buildings in the mountain forest created a village.

The black cat held at her chest spoke.

“There’s never anyone there. It really is a ghost town.”

“…Having ruined areas in your Gear is the height of luxury.”

“The people who lived in this village and the people who live in that giant city over there know nothing about the destruction of our Gear. If they knew, they might show some regret.”

The abandoned village flowed slowly by below them.

As she watched it, Brunhild said, “But why didn’t UCAT tell anyone about the Concept War?”

“They probably wanted to play the role of heroes. They wanted to secretly finish things without bringing confusion to their world… That was the complete opposite of 1st-Gear’s king. The king did everything he could to protect 1st-Gear. He deployed the mechanical dragons for defense and split the Concept Core in two.”

“And Siegfried took advantage of that. The royal palace was destroyed and the chain of command fell apart. Doctor Regin joined with mechanical dragon Fafnir and tried to protect the half of 1st-Gear’s concepts that were held inside, but Siegfried stole the holy sword Gram Doctor Regin had created and…” She took a breath. “If Doctor Regin’s Fafnir had been Venerable Hagen’s Fafnir Custom, it might have turned out differently.”

“How? What’s different about the modified version?”

“Oh, wait a second. I can see the headquarters.”

Two large buildings were visible a short distance from the abandoned village. It was a school. The two buildings were the school building and a gym. Brunhild descended toward the gym.

“The modified version is a mechanical dragon strengthened for defense. It has two reactors: one for movement and one for its weaponry. The old Fafnir that Venerable Regin joined with had only one reactor, so it had to die when the holy sword Gram was used to destroy the reactor where half of the Concept Core was stored.”

“On the other hand, Venerable Hagen’s Fafnir Custom is…?”

“It has the remaining half of the Concept Core sealed in the weaponry reactor. That power is the grudge of 1st-Gear itself. Even if it is lost, either the remaining movement reactor will be used to crush the enemy or it will be annihilated.”

Brunhild felt the cat tremble.

“Are you afraid? Do not worry. Venerable Hagen will not be defeated.”

“Um, no. That isn’t it. Being cooled down like this makes me need to use the bathroo-…Wait, stop hanging me down like this! Ahh, wetting myself is so humiliating!”

Kazami and Izumo were performing treasury work in the Kinugasa Library at night.

“This may be spring break, but we’ve been doing a lot of work since taking over from last term. …Oh, Kaku. You don’t have to be so focused on pasting those receipts that you end up looking like a robot. You actually have a serious look in your eyes.”

“Oh, how should I put it? I’ve gotten hooked on the smell of glue. …I guess you could say it’s a habit?”

Kazami ignored him. She diligently divided the account book in her hands between debit and credit.

But she suddenly looked up. Izumo noticed from where he sat next to her.

“What is it? Is something odd about-… gah!! Y-you idiot! I didn’t even say anything yet!”

Kazami ignored Izumo’s protests and pulled back the hand she had sent to the left in a slap. Siegfried looked over from the counter, but she waved back to say it was nothing. She then stood up.

“…A sound? How odd,” she muttered before walking over to the western edge of the Kinugasa Library.

A supply room was located there. She passed through the narrow entrance into a small space where piles of books and large rolled up maps were kept.

“What is it?” called Siegfried across the four classrooms’ length distance between the counter and the supply room. Kazami turned back and looked across the entire length of the Kinugasa Library. She spoke loud enough to reach from the entrance of the supply room.

“Have you heard a bird chirping for a while now?”

“The wall over there must resonate because you can hear noises from the upper floors. The art room on the third floor and the music room on the second floor come in separately.”

“But why a bird? Am I hearing it wrong?”

Just as she asked, Kazami looked up in realization. She had heard it once more.

“Hm. I believe Brunhild Schild, the head of the art club, is raising one. She is the only one using the art room during spring break.”

“You know a lot about this,” commented Izumo.

Siegfried nodded once and replied, “She seems to dislike me.”

He spoke so naturally that Kazami could not think of anything to say in response.

She walked back toward the table. As Izumo listened to her footsteps, he asked a question to smooth things over.

“Come to think of it.” He chose his words cautiously. “How powerful is 1st-Gear really? The remaining remnant is the City faction, right? How much power do they have?”

He turned his question toward Siegfried.

The man looked over from behind the counter.

“We had a conflict today, remember?”

“Yeah. How powerful are they compared to that?”

“Today’s battle was mere child’s play. 1st-Gear’s true power is not magic created from words. It is pure violence supported by words.”

Brunhild descended toward a schoolyard that had puddles remaining.

Dry leaves were scattered across the schoolyard and neither the school building nor the gym had any glass left.

It was an abandoned school.

Brunhild lowered in front of the gym while spreading wind around her. At five meters from the ground, she began the landing preparations.

In her right hand, she held a blue stone and the broom handle. She slowly loosened the grip of her right hand while moving the brush portion down. She gradually stood the broom up vertically.

Once the wind blowing from the brush swept across the ground directly below, the black cat jumped down as if peeling itself from the handle. Next, Brunhild placed her feet on the ground and completely stopped the broom’s output.

She let out a breath.

She removed the blue stone wrapped around the broom with a chain, tapped the handle, and muttered, “Excellent work.”

Afterwards, they both stretched their stiff bodies at about the same moment.

“Ahh… Standing on the ground is definitely best.”

“I just heard the most selfish comment in the world…”

“I’m in a good mood, so I will ignore that,” said Brunhild with a smile before walking toward the gym.

The door to the gym was tilted out of place. The inside could be glimpsed through it. The floor had rotted, the boarding had been torn up, and large holes existed here and there. Of the basketball goals prepared for the two courts, one was hanging down at an angle and two had fallen to the floor.

Brunhild walked inside this abandoned gym through the main entrance.

Once she did, faint light gathered around the blue stone at the center of the pendant around her neck.

She heard a voice. This was the Concept Text created from the Concept Core within the mechanical dragon. It supported the worldview of 1st-Gear.

—'''Words have the ability to provide power.

At the same moment, the words carved into the pendant were given light.

The cat at her feet was also surrounded by blue light for an instant.

And then the world changed.

When Brunhild looked forward once more, she saw a fortress.

The floor and stage within the gym had been removed and replaced with a wooden-floored hangar. Several shelves were lined up and filled with combat brooms, rifles, spears, and other weapons. The shelves also contained organized arrangements of backpacks and other equipment for heading out.

The center of the hangar contained a large wooden lift leading underground. Next to it was a single hole containing a slope leading underground as well.

Brunhild walked toward the downward slope and greeted the giant soldiers patrolling around the hangar.

“I have not been by in a while, but are things okay here? You haven’t been found, have you?”

“Everything is fine,” replied an old giant as he gave a light wave and turned around.

Brunhild waved back and continued toward the slope. A glance at the lift next to the slope showed that the surface had the word for steel carved into its surface.

However, that word had large scratches running through it.

Giant claws had left those scratches. Brunhild looked down at the black cat.

“Venerable Hagen loves the moonlight, so he comes out whenever he can,” she said with a sigh.

She then continued down the slope while looking at those scratches.

The inside of the slope was lit by the word for light written on the ceiling. The word for nonslip covered the floor, so she had no problem keeping her footing.

She reached a landing partway and continued down.

The slope came to an end at the door that had originally been used as the school building’s main entrance. The large door had a large piece of glass inside and “sturdy” was written on the surface. This prevented the inside from being seen despite the glass being transparent.

Brunhild pushed on the door.

A large space had been created underground. The area was fifty meters square and it was shielded by square lumber and wooden flooring. The ceiling which emitted pale crimson light was seven or eight meters high. The bulkhead door in the center of the ceiling was opened to raise the lift on the floor.

Currently, a number of figures were gathered in front of the lift platform.

It was a gathering of people and other beings.

The figures were split down the middle with approximately fifty on either side. A few were standing, a few were facing each other, and they were exchanging words. The words held enough force to call them shouts.

The left side contained mostly youths with excellent physiques while the right contained mostly older people with slender bodies.

The voices reverberating through the underground area reached Brunhild as mere noise.

The black cat at her feet asked, “The representatives of the radicals and the conservatives are at it again.”

“How depressing. If I worked here, I would probably be shouting over there with you at my side.”

“I’m just a cat you took in after leaving here. If you were here, I would not be with you.”

“I suppose so,” said Brunhild as she glanced to the side of the entrance.

A shelf was located there with a few personal brooms on it. Brunhild frowned as she looked at the brooms lined up there.

“Kids these days forget all about tradition and go straight for the strange nose art. And what is this six-tone horn?”

“Our broom has a floral pattern cover, you know?”

“Don’t call it a cover. It’s a vector nozzle.”

Brunhild then placed her broom next to the others.

Behind her, an especially loud voice came from the gathered people. The black cat turned its ear toward the voice.

“That’s Fafner.”

“He certainly has energy. He was about to die when he arrived here after leaving the peaceful faction, though.”

“Well, the concept environment of Low-Gear is not suited for his race at all.”

“What a pain,” said Brunhild as she turned around.

A strange figure could be seen on the left side of the gathering. That figure was almost two meters tall and was covered in a black shell. He had a sharply angled face, three horns, and long blond hair. Instead of clothes put on over the head like Brunhild’s, he wore an open-backed jacket and shirt that were affixed to the shoulders. The reason for this was…

“The wings on his back are raised… Is he trying to intimidate them?”

The silhouettes that looked like arms covered in a shell were two wings. They were both black and stretched toward the ceiling in a V-shape.

As Brunhild watched on, Fafner glanced across his opponents and shouted.

“What is it that we need!?”

Fafner spread his shell-covered arms as he spoke. He swung his long lower arms.

“What we need is to take back the world of 1st-Gear that we lost! We must take back Gram from UCAT and make the Concept Core ours. By releasing it and having it oppose the negative concepts of Low-Gear, we can turn this world into 1st-Gear!”

In response, a single youth stood up on the opposite side. He swung up a hand.

“No! What we need are rights here in Low-Gear. After retrieving Gram from UCAT, we must use it to merge with the peaceful faction! Afterwards, we can manage the release of 1st-Gear’s concepts and use that to our advantage in negotiations!” The youth continued. “Fafner, we have not gathered here to fight. Our ultimate objective is the acquisition of Gram and a social position more than equal to Low-Gear’s. We do not wish for anything more than that, and even if we must fight to gain that, we do not wish to head down that path before it is necessary. Your ideas are nothing more than a reverse invasion!”

As the youth’s words reverberated throughout the underground space, the figures sitting next to him all nodded slightly.

As Fafner watched those many movements of agreement, he tilted his head in confusion.

“A reverse invasion? No. Call it recovering lost territory. The land protected by our ancestors was destroyed. Isn’t it only natural to fight for land to take in its place?”

[[Image:OnC_v02_0025.png|thumb]]

“Low-Gear will never allow that! If they allowed us to recover our lost territory, they would be forced to accept the identical demands of the other Gears. Do you really think Low-Gear will allow that to happen?”

“That’s why we fight. Do you really not get it?” asked Fafner.

He lightly bent both arms as if scooping up those seated next to him and clenched the large fingers at the end of those arms.

The crimson light pouring down from the ceiling cast the motions of his fingers on the floor in the form of shadows.

“Listen. Low-Gear is acting as if the Concept War never happened. They have sealed off all information on it and any actions taken in retribution or attempts to release the information are suppressed by UCAT, the militaries of various countries, or those countries’ governments. …Let me ask you one question: where exactly are we in this Gear?” He pointed toward his feet. “We are currently in the shadows of this Gear. It was the same in the UCAT reservation. We are shoved into small pieces of land. The sky is closed in low over our heads and we cannot interact with the outside world.”

“Is that not why we are attempting to win this battle and gain the right to freedom in this Gear?”

“…Freedom? If this world is not filled with the same concepts as 1st-Gear, I and some of the other races cannot even breathe properly. Our cardiopulmonary abilities are not supported by this Gear’s concepts. When you speak of freedom, are you including true freedom for all of us?”

“Well…”

“You don’t understand. Your race is similar to the humans here in Low-Gear. Your body can function under the concepts of this Gear and you can mix into their society. As long as you are able to touch water for half the day. …Tree spirit, you can never understand our pain. Or the pain of always fighting on the front lines.”

Fafner ignored how his opponent clenched his back teeth.

He instead looked over at the entrance to the large hall. A figure was circling around them, heading further in.

It was a girl in black clothing followed by a black cat. Fafner called out to her.

“Are you heading further in? Lord Hagen is asleep.”

“I am sure your voice woke him up.”

“Hah! I hope it did! Anyway, how are things going on your end, Nein?”

The name he gave caused the girl to stop.

This was no natural action. She stopped as if stabbing her foot into the ground.

Fafner folded his arms when he heard that footstep ring out. The girl glanced over at him.

“…Only Venerable Hagen may call me by that name. Are you attempting to infringe on his authority?”

“My apologies, Brunhild. I thought you were fighting to regain that name you lost,” said Fafner with a hint of amusement in his voice. “Weren’t you supposed to monitor Siegfried and assassinate him if you had an opening? It has been three years of nothing but periodic reports. I sincerely hope you are not simply talking your way out of this. After all, when you were young, you and Siegfried-…”

Fafner stopped speaking because of a loud shout from the ground at the girl’s feet.

“Stop!”

The shout had come from the black cat following her. It brought its claws out on the floor and rose up offensively.

“We are doing our job, Fafner! And what about this discussion of yours today? You are having a meeting concerning the Royal Palace faction’s battle we saw, aren’t you? All you do is discuss things! We are actually working!” The cat then smiled slightly while still in its offensive pose. “If you want to cheer her on, how about doing so in a more straightforward fashion?”

“Lately, cheering people on is making me depressed. I apologize for being so roundabout,” replied Fafner while still smiling. He then turned toward the girl. “Get going, long-lived girl. I need to speak with him afterwards, too.”

He then faced forward once more.

He looked across his opponents’ faces one by one.

“Do you get it now? Not everyone here can live under this Gear’s concepts like you can. Gaining our freedom and turning this world into 1st-Gear are one and the same.” Fafner clapped his hands together. “Unless we transform this Gear into 1st-Gear, we cannot exist here! We may be able to gain certain rights without doing that, but are those true rights at all!? What meaning is there in being treated favorably if you are stuck in some cramped space?”

The youth opposite him clenched his back teeth.

Just as he began to back down, someone supported him from behind. It was the old man sitting next to him.

The gray-haired man placed a hand on the youth’s shoulder and had him sit down. The old man then faced Fafner.

And he asked, “Fafner, that was an excellent speech. But you are forgetting one thing.”

“And what is that?”

The old man pointed toward Fafner and nodded.

“You were not yet born when 1st-Gear was destroyed. It was not your world that was destroyed. It was our world. You-…”

“But I am a half-dragon of 1st-Gear,” cut in Fafner before the old man could finish. “Listen. I believe that I am of 1st-Gear. And that is where it all begins.” Fafner sank down slightly so as to stare the old man in the eye. “I know nothing. I do not know my countless ancestors. I do not know the kingdom or its king. I do not know that limited land. I do not know a moonless night. I do not know a sky in which I can fly. I do not know the day of destruction on which we lost. And I do not know what it is I should protect. And that is why I do not know what pride is!” He took a breath. “But you elders know. You know what pride is. That is why you can rely on your pride when forced into these cramped areas. But we have nothing. And yet we are still of 1st-Gear. We wish to be. …Then what are we to do? How are we supposed to gain that pride!?”

The old man frowned as Fafner watched him, but he fell silent.

Viewing that silence as a type of response, Fafner rose up once more.

He let his voice resound throughout the entire area instead of just those gathered in the center.

“What I want is proof that 1st-Gear is still with us! If you have a method that does not require turning this world into 1st-Gear, then let me hear it!”

A single voice rang out within the Kinugasa Library. It was Siegfried’s voice.

“1st-Gear had trouble heading into other Gears. The differences between its own races are so great that many of them cannot live while not under the concepts of 1st-Gear.”

He stood next to the table with a cup in hand while Kazami looked up at him from her seat.

“How did they survive in 1st-Gear?”

“With the power of writing. No in depth investigation has been done, but it is thought their genetic arrays also carry the function of writing. The same goes for their world. The air and sky contained spirits that carried out the meaning of the writing.”

“So the concepts and the residents fit each other perfectly,” said Izumo from next to Kazami. “Those who had grown fond of that Gear would have a difficult time of going to other Gears.”

“Yes. 1st-Gear was never a powerful Gear. But they strengthened their races and repeatedly fought the other Gears until they finally succeeded in constructing the mechanical dragons that were the masters of land battles. At the very end of their research, they constructed two Fafnirs as their flag-dragons. But the 1st-Gear mechanical dragons had a certain defect.”

“A defect?”

“When the pilot joined with them, they produced a powerful rejection reaction that would kill most of the pilots. And even if the pilot survived that, they could never again return to their original form. They would be a mechanical dragon for the rest of their lives.”

“And one of those survivors still exists, right? A major one called Fafnir Custom.”

“Yes. Of the two Fafnirs, I killed the one being serviced within the royal palace. However, the one being modified in the weapons laboratory escaped the destruction of 1st-Gear.”

“Why would they create those? The representatives of 1st-Gear must have really loved war.”

Siegfried shook his head.

“They hated war. 1st-Gear’s king lost his queen in the Concept War. That was why he created the mechanical dragons for defense. He did not want anyone to enter 1st-Gear until the time of destruction. He also split the extracted Concept Core in two, used the concepts that controlled the construction of the world to seal the world, and settled into a defensive role.”

“Isn’t that…the same as abandoning the Concept War?”

“Yes, it is. And that is why…”

Siegfried suddenly trailed off. He brought his cup to his mouth and said something else.

“Depending on Sayama’s actions, you will likely learn the rest before long.”

A large bulkhead existed at the back of the large hall underneath the 1st-Gear base.

Brunhild walked toward the side entrance next to that bulkhead.

She could hear Fafner’s voice behind her, but it disappeared once the door closed behind her.

In exchange, the area grew dark. The black cat at her feet dissolved into the darkness.

“It is cold in here,” she said with a nod before looking up.

The ceiling was high and a single light existed in the middle. That crimson light was coming from a small hanging bell with the word for “torch” engraved into it.

As her eyes adjusted to that light, Brunhild looked down.

She was in a large hall just like the one next to it.

“But this is not public space. It is a private room…”

As she lowered her gaze, a giant mountain-like silhouette existed before Brunhild’s eyes.

But this was no mountain. It was a collection of structures with several surfaces and it all formed seven mountains colored white. The head, the body, the four limbs, and the tail made seven.

A steel dragon lay before her.

This mechanical dragon was over thirty meters long and was currently lying down. Its basic coloration was white and dark green, but the moving parts were covered in black. And most of the weaponry had been removed.

Each of the hard points had black dummy weapons attached. Other than the heat sinks that looked like folded up wings and the standard blades on the back and four limbs, no offensive ability could be seen on the surface. Most of its standard weaponry was kept inside, but all of the closable slits on the armor plates were covered in the yellow labels meaning maintenance was complete.

“…”

As Brunhild silently watched the dragon, a voice suddenly called out to her from above.

“What is it, Brunhild?”

She looked up in surprise and found a figure on the dragon’s back.

It was a tall old man. He had long, wavy gray hair and a beard to match. He was of course wearing a dark green cloak.

He glowed slightly in the dim darkness and he was transparent.

Brunhild bowed as she looked up at him.

“I, Brunhild, have returned, Venerable Hagen. Were you asleep?”

“No, I was awake. …Well done making it back.”

The old man’s eyes narrowed in a smile and his mouth moved, but the voice came from elsewhere. The voice came from a ventilation opening-like black slit on the dragon’s back that lay before her eyes.

When Brunhild moved once more, small noises came from across the mechanical dragon’s body. This sound reminiscent of light being slightly reflected came from the auxiliary vision devices covered in a protective material. It was the sound of the dragon’s gaze following her.

But Brunhild paid none of that any heed as she looked toward the old man. The old man spoke to her as if he really was nothing but an old man.

“How has it gone?”

“My familiar will provide the details. …What will the Royal Palace faction do?”

“It seems they will surrender three days from now. A messenger told us their actions are over after that final attack.”

“I see,” said Brunhild with a nod.

The black cat at her feet sighed and said, “So that’s what has Fafner and the others so worked up. Put a stop to it, Venerable Hagen.”

“Hey, what are you saying?”

Brunhild grabbed and strangled the cat while the old man, Hagen, smiled bitterly.

“I cannot do that, my small comrade.”

“Really? Because they’re comrades?”

“No. If I did it, they would die even if I held back. We can’t have that.”

The cat looked up at Brunhild.

“Am I supposed to laugh at that or ignore it?”

“You are supposed to avoid asking that sort of question,” said Hagen with another bitter smile. He then frowned worriedly. “Brunhild, I can get the detailed report from that cat later. Is there any other information you need to give me?”

“Yes. UCAT has sent a special unit for the Leviathan Road into combat while still putting it together. Also, Fasolt who is working with UCAT as part of the peaceful faction will apparently be meeting tomorrow with the person in charge of the Leviathan Road.”

“They certainly are rushing this. So Fasolt has completely turned toward Low-Gear’s side…”

“I understand why Fafner is feeling so desperate. He is Fasolt’s son after all.”

“A warrior who calls his father a loser… He is arguing right now, isn’t he? How is he? Young?”

“…I would say inexperienced rather than young. He seems to be using childish arguments and claiming they represent justice.”

Hagen’s bitter smile deepened at Brunhild’s words.

“He cannot help but give childish arguments. This is a child attempting to persuade the adults who need a reason for doing anything. But…once adults grow accustomed to acting based on arbitrary reasons, they will finally lose once the children begin seriously insisting on childish justice. They do not lose to the children’s argument, but to something much more dangerous.”

“Something…much more dangerous?”

“Yes, something very dangerous. Something we once had, something we will never have again, and something we once used to push aside the adults.” He rested his chin on his hand and looked up. “Fasolt’s son was given an honest upbringing.”

“It seems Fasolt has gone through a lot of hardship in that UCAT reservation.”

“Yes,” said Hagen while still looking up. “Fasolt has actually done quite well in that UCAT reservation. He has accepted relying on UCAT to control the concepts while seeking safety in that tiny reservation. Everyone complains that he has done nothing more than that, but the peaceful faction has their lives in UCAT’s hands while on that reservation.”

“If the concept space is removed, most of them would not last half a month.”

“Fasolt and the others there are only able to live the way they are because of the negotiations they carried out using the possessions and knowledge they escaped with…and because of UCAT’s kindness, I suppose.”

“You must not say that to the others.”

Brunhild frowned and looked up at Hagen.

As the old man rested his chin on his hand, a slight smile was visible on his lips. That smile slowly widened.

“I know that. After all, I was the one that led everyone here and used the Concept Core we had to create this concept space. …As a former guide and current protector, I am needed as everyone’s leader. As troublesome as that can be.” He turned toward Brunhild. “How about we trade? You can take my Fafnir Custom and I can take your Requiem Sense. I would be a lot happier chatting about old times with the residents of the underworld.”

“That is impossible. After joining with the mechanical dragon, you cannot separate from it, right? And the concept creating the underworld is too weak here in Low-Gear. Even if you opened it with Sense, the residents could only come out for short periods of time.”

“True. …If we could speak with them properly, it might help lessen everyone’s enmity.”

Hagen raised his head and looked at the bulkhead separating this hall from the next.

“If we had not feared the destruction of the world, we might have been able to save many more.”

He lowered his gaze. Small sounds came from across Fafnir as darkening filters were added to the vision devices.

“It is a shame about that bird as well.”

“That was his fault. He abandoned it.”

“He may have been the one to abandon it, but we were the ones that did not save it.”

Hagen opened his eyes as he spoke. And then he suddenly uttered a single name into the darkness.

“Fafner.”

The vision devices moved and Hagen’s face turned toward the area behind Brunhild.

She turned around and saw a black shelled figure in the darkness. Brunhild and the black cat frantically took a step back and took a defensive stance.

“…How long have you been here!?”

“I only just came in. Don’t act so defensive. My element is darkness. I am a darkness-travelling half-dragon. I can move anywhere I wish as long as it is filled with darkness.”

Fafner changed from being a presence in the darkness to having an actual physical body.

Without turning toward Brunhild, he bowed toward Hagen.

“What will we do?” he asked.

Hagen sat up and pointed toward the bulkhead with his chin.

“You were holding a discussion on the other side, weren’t you?”

“Our view won out, so we concluded by deciding to have you make the decision, Lord Hagen.”

“I see you are speaking formally again,” muttered Hagen as he scratched his head. “Hmm. How about I make my decision after seeing what Fasolt does tomorrow? Brunhild, you said he is carrying out preliminary negotiations with UCAT tomorrow, didn’t you?”

“Yes. This information came from the peaceful faction, so there is no doubt about it.”

Brunhild nodded and looked toward Fafner.

Fafner looked at her, let his shoulders droop, and sighed.

“Um, Lord Hagen, this may not be my place to speak, but…”

“Oh, you’re back to your normal self. Speak freely.”

Fafner skillfully crossed his long lower arms and rested his chin on his hand.

“Why do you put off making decisions? We gathered around you and were led this far by you.”

“I would prefer if you did not speak as if I have no independence.”

“This is your duty as the one in charge.”

“I suppose you are right… Sorry.”

When the black cat heard that, it tapped at Brunhild’s leg.

“…Which of these two holds the higher position?”

“I do,” replied Brunhild and both Fafner and Hagen turned toward her. She nodded and said, “Please continue with your constructive discussion.”

Fafner sighed, lowered his chin from his hand and brought that hand to his head.

He tapped at the shell of his head with a claw before speaking once more.

“Lord Hagen, your younger brother, Venerable Regin, and your niece, Lady Gutrune, were killed by Siegfried and you were unable to protect the king. Where is your grudge over that?”

“That is actually a very good question. I know it is inside me somewhere, but I have lost track of where exactly it is. Fafner, I am sure you hope that it is within my weaponry reactor. And…” Hagen gave a small nod. “It was not only my family that was lost. I have decided not to act based on personal feelings. I will act when everyone agrees or when the perfect opportunity arrives. Currently, that opportunity has not come. Do not rush this, Fafner. Rushing this will lead to losing something.”

Hagen did not stop speaking there. He continued with a question.

“And what is it you are fighting for, Fafner?”

Fafner raised his head. He met Hagen’s gaze and slowly began speaking.

“To regain…that which we once had.”

“I see,” replied Hagen. He did not look away from Fafner’s gaze as he continued. “Then make sure you remember those words. …Never forget them.”

Sayama and Shinjou walked through the school grounds at night.

Both the front and back doors to the second year general school building had been locked, so they could not enter.

With Baku on his shoulder, Sayama tried to turn the knob several times.

“No good… If only I had the same skills as Kouji.”

“Is Kouji the person who picked you up yesterday?”

Sayama began to nod in response, but he stopped. He looked to the person standing next to him.

“I only mentioned him offhand just now…but why do you know about Kouji, Shinjou-kun?”

After a moment, Shinjou began shaking his hands back and forth.

“Oh, um, my sister told me someone amazing came to pick you up.” Shinjou stopped moving his hands and stared at Sayama’s face. “What’s that look for? Don’t tell me you suspect I’m my sister.”

“No. I settled those suspicions when I checked over your body earlier. You may look oddly like her, but you are male.”

“Would you have preferred if it was my sister who had come?”

“She did not, so there is no point in discussing it. …At any rate, there is no point in being here if I cannot show you around the inside. I heard an odd noise on the roof earlier, so I thought someone might be inside. We can return to the dorm for tonight.”

Shinjou’s shoulders drooped when he heard that last sentence.

“I wanted to walk around some more.”

“But you have not opened even five of your boxes.”

Shinjou groaned and folded his arms at that.

Sayama then said, “I will be leaving tomorrow for some business I need to take care of, but we can go buy some daily items for you once I return. I can show you some nearby stores…but if you wait until tomorrow to deal with your luggage, you will not know what you need, will you?”

“I suppose not. But I’m surprised, Sayama-kun. You can actually make proper arguments.”

“…I get the feeling I need to sit down and straighten you out about a few things.”

“Heh heh. Anyway, I am not used to this area, so you have a lot to teach me: the roads, the stores, and the people. I heard the bath here can’t be used during spring break.”

“Yes. Only the dorm showers are usable at this time. If you are not in a hurry, there is a 24-hour public bath just outside the school’s main gate.”

“Okay,” nodded Shinjou.

He then cast his gaze down, smiled slightly, and walked alongside Sayama.

The two walked side by side.

The moonlight cast their shadows on the ground. Suddenly, Shinjou pointed toward the schoolyard next to the school building.

“Sayama-kun. What is that tower-like thing on the other side of the schoolyard?”

“Oh, that is the climbing bungee jump the exploration club created for last year’s school festival. Several lifelines hang down from above, so you tied them to your feet, scaled the 20 meter wall with your own strength, and then jumped down from above.”

“That really is showy…”

“Yes. Unsurprisingly, it had problems with the people dropping from above crashing into the people climbing from below. Ha ha ha.”

“That is no laughing matter!”

“Do not worry about it. Humans are surprisingly sturdy.”

“Really?” sighed Shinjou. He then pointed toward a wall-like piece of art next to the cafeteria building. “What’s that?”

“Oh, that was created to commemorate a graduating class a long time ago. They made clay versions of their handprints and baked them into a board. It is one of the famous locations in the school.”

“Oh? So it’s a famous location.”

“Yes. It was meant as a commemorative decoration, but it turned into some kind of horrifying piece of art because there were a thousand students involved. They tried to remove it, but the digger was knocked over and ended up with handprints all over it. Ha ha ha.”

“Stop explaining this kind of thing so happily.”

“There is more. The giant hand visible on the other side is-…Ah, wait. Stop pulling on me.”

Shinjou grabbed Sayama’s sleeve and pulled him toward the dorm.

For an instant, Sayama glanced back toward the second year general school building.

He saw the landing of the emergency staircase on the side of the building. He had seen it that morning as well.

For some reason, he had the feeling his situation changed every time he looked at it. He grinned bitterly.

Shinjou must have noticed where he was looking because he spoke up.

“What is it?”

“With your arrival and plenty of other things, I was thinking that my daily life keeps changing.”

''Just how much will it change?'' Sayama asked himself.

And then a dark feeling resembling unease arrived.

…''Am I even able to change?

Just as he muttered that thought in his heart, Shinjou tilted his head, looked up at him, and spoke.

“Were you wondering how much it will change?”

Sayama turned back toward Shinjou upon hearing that question.

“…”

Under the moonlight, Shinjou’s face was close enough that Sayama could have reached out and touched it.

Shinjou’s black hair swayed in the bluish-white moonlight. His black eyes looked straight up at Sayama.

Sayama recognized the movement of that swaying hair and the color of those eyes.

''That is Shinjou Sadame’s hair and eyes,'' thought Sayama. ''But that is an illusion.

He felt it was rude to Setsu, but his heart was wrapped in other feelings. He felt it weighed that much on his mind because he had accepted her.

…''She is the opposite of me.

He and Shinjou. Ordinary and extraordinary. Normally conflicting ideas were overlapping.

When those thoughts came to mind, his mouth moved involuntarily and he spoke quietly.

He first gave an answer to Shinjou’s question.

“I was…wondering.”

Shinjou’s eyes narrowed slightly. Sayama was unsure if it was due to a smile or not.

But Sayama nodded toward Shinjou and a slight smile appeared on his lips.

“But…I was not wondering how much it will change. I was wondering if I would be able to choose change myself.”

“You are a very serious person, Sayama-kun.”

“No, I am not.”

As soon as he said that about himself, his smile became one of self-derision. And…

A single motion seemed to arrive in response to Sayama’s words.

It was the wind.

It came from the west but not as a noise or a sound. It suddenly came as an overpowering pressure.

“…!”

This tremendous wind seemed to slam into them.

It was powerful enough to strip away all other sound.

As it washed over Shinjou, he held his hair down and ducked down. And as soon as Sayama saw that…

He took action. As Shinjou grimaced at the wind, Sayama pulled Shinjou in and held him in his arms.

“Ah,” was all Shinjou could say as his slender shoulders were contained within Sayama’s arms.

At the same moment, the wind struck Sayama’s shoulders like a physical mass.

Baku was almost shaken off, but he frantically clung to Sayama’s shoulder.

Amid this tremendous wind, Sayama saw a collection of smoke fly up from the second year general school building’s rooftop.

“!?”

He narrowed his eyes and looked up through the wind. The white smoke spread out like fog and quickly disappeared into the sky.

…''What was that?

Sayama’s suspicion was deepened by a further question from Shinjou.

“…Sand? No, it can’t be. There wouldn’t be sand on the rooftop.”

But Sayama could see nothing else that smoke could be.

The wind lessened and ultimately disappeared.

As if in response to acclimating to the wind, Shinjou’s body stiffened slightly in his arms.

His slender finger poked at Sayama’s chest and his black eyes looked up at Sayama.

“U-um, I’m fine now, so…”

Shinjou’s voice sounded slightly flustered and he began struggling a bit in Sayama’s arms. When Sayama loosened his grip, Shinjou removed himself from those bonds and took a step away.

Sayama heard the sound of Shinjou stepping on the gravel as the remnants of that west wind cut between the two of them.

The sensation of those slender shoulders remained in Sayama’s arms as Shinjou spoke.

“That surprised me. I never expected you to suddenly embrace me.”

“It looked like the wind was hurting you.”

“B-but…I’m a boy.”

Sayama tilted his head at that. He was confused why he would bring that up.

“What connection is there between you being a boy and that you were feeling pain?”

“N-none I suppose…”

“We are roommates. There is nothing wrong with doing this much. If you wish for it and I wish for it, then I will grant that wish of yours. That is all there is to it. That is the etiquette of the Sayama family that I believe in.”

He swung his right hand to stretch out his shirt sleeve and held his right hand out toward Shinjou.

“If you are feeling pain and I wish to protect you, I will protect you. If you do not wish to be alone and I wish to speak with you, I will speak with you. If you have decided you wish to carry your worries alone and I care for you, I will leave you to be on your own. If you do not wish to be here and I wish to do what is best for you, I will hate you.”

And…

“If you wish to grow closer to someone and I see you, I will stand by your side. How does that sound?” asked Sayama. “I will demand nothing of you. I will demand everything of myself. To lay this etiquette at the foundation, I must spread trust. The surname Sayama indicates a villain. Therefore, if you do not oppose me, I will simply grant you this. …And if you do, I will not take it back.”

Shinjou looked down toward Sayama’s outstretched hand. Shinjou lightly raised his right hand to take Sayama’s hand.

“…”

But he stopped.

Sayama looked up and saw a face with drooping eyebrows beyond Shinjou’s stopped hand.

With that uneasy-looking expression, Shinjou tilted his head and asked a question.

“Aren’t you being a bit formal, Sayama-kun?”

“I am giving you my etiquette and trust. Do you think I am someone who could do this without really meaning it?”

Shinjou stared at him for a few seconds.

Shinjou opened his mouth as if about to say something, but stopped. And then…

“No.”

He shook his head and his shoulders relaxed. With the ends of his eyebrows still lowered, he smiled a bitter smile.

Shinjou then reached out his right hand and took Sayama’s hand.

Shinjou’s hand was soft. Sayama held those fingers with care, nodded, and breathed a sigh of relief before speaking.

“Then let me say it formally: It is nice to meet you, Shinjou-kun.”

<noinclude>
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|-
| Back to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume2_Illustrations|Illustrations]]
| Return to [[Owari_no_Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume2_Chapter_15|Chapter 15]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 3C Chapter 78

2015-09-03T15:20:27Z

70.184.6.115:

==Chapter 78: Advancer of the Age==
[[Image:Horizon3C_0433.jpg|thumb]]
''Is that a knock on the door?

''Or is it a battering ram hammer?

'''Point Allocation (How to Open the Door)

Metal fell from low in the sky.

A total of four ship’s worth of wreckage descended toward Magdeburg once the support of the defensive barrier was lost.

They intertwined as they fell straight toward three transport ships.

Two gods of war were pushing on the westernmost one from the side and it was possible the falling wreckage would only catch the back end of it, but the other two ships had not escaped in time.

The central ship holding the Far Easterners was the biggest problem. It was positioned at the very center of the four falling ships and its passengers spoke from the deck.

“Heh heh. I thought I could just jump down from the deck, but that’s surprisingly big! It’s over! My wise life is over! We’re going to be crushed so flat you won’t be able to tell me and the huge-breasted shrine maiden apart! Danke schööööön!! Come on, Adele! Quit adjusting your inner suit’s butt and get over here! Your corpse can fuse with some giant breasts! This is just like the sphinx’s riddle! What is flat-chested in the morning, flat-chested in the afternoon, and a corpse at night!? Man! That is what it means to be human!”

“Wh-what are you talking about, Kimi? …Ah, we might really be in trouble! Oh, no. I have three porn games to test in my bag! If I die and they find those in my possession, they’ll definitely think I was weird! They’ll say the daughter of the Asama family was a porn reviewer who brought porn games onto the battlefield!”

“Um, personally, I think both of you should calm down.”

Meanwhile, the four falling ships picked up speed.

They were leaking ether fuel and trailing white light, so everyone gave a shout at that approaching pressure.

“We’re done forrrrrrrrr!!”

When she heard Kimi and the others give their proclamation of doom, Yoshiyasu looked back while pushing the other transport ship with Righteousness.

That group was always saying crazy things, but…

…''Can I make it in time!?

If she flew over now, she could save two or three of those on the deck, so she considered doing so.

But then she noticed something racing through the air.

It was mist.

The thin transformation of rain raced through the night sky in a straight horizontal line.

“————”

She heard a cry.

This was not the howling of a dog. It was the roar indicating the beginning of a battle.

Then the sky split apart. Burning along the line of mist, a transparent shimmering line flew through the sky.

Yoshiyasu realized all sound had vanished and Righteousness picked up a voice that seemed to rebuke that silence. It was a familiar male voice.

“Weep, Murasamemaru.”

The night sky exploded and wept.

A ripping voice pursued the mist and the following scorch mark.

The rain of mist dispersed and a slice covering about a kilometer and a half was established. The clouds and mists of a rain shower followed.

“————”

The falling wreckage of the four warships was torn through and destroyed in the night sky.

It broke down the center and scattered to either side, so one half fell next to the Far Eastern transport ship and the other half fell next to the transport ship carrying the hemispheres. The hemisphere ship had the armor of one side torn away and was thrown off balance, but it gently moved to maintain its position.

They were all safe.

The wind whipped up and the falling objects sounded like splitting pots when they struck the ground.

However, that was the end of it.

All that remained was a white god of war in the distant sky.

Righteousness flew up into the Magdeburg sky and spoke the name of the heavy god of war that had used both hands to swing down the spirit sword and gunblade named Murasamemaru.

“Yatsufusa!?”

Naruze had been stopped in midair.

A counterattack using a flying cannon had hit her in the right shoulder and she had been sent into a pathetic spiral. Her enemy used that chance to send a stone scattershot her way and she was certain at least three pieces of stone were going to hit her.

She decided to at least protect her dominant arm and her hands. Also her face. ''That much should be more than enough for the rest of my life,'' she thought while putting up her guard.

However…

“!?”

The attack that hit her was soft, warm, and wrapped in a familiar scent.

“Margot!?”

“Bingo.”

The voice confirmed it for Naruze and she found herself held in the other girl’s arms high in the sky.

They were about twenty meters above the wall, but the heated wind was rising toward them and they could see everything happening around Magdeburg.

Naruze knew what she had to check on first.

“The transport ships!”

Those ships were behind the cathedral, but all she saw was Kimi swinging Asama around in a celebratory dance on the middle ship’s deck. In other words, everything was normal.

And if Margot was holding her…

“Our stupid chancellor’s group is back?”

“Judge, judge. That’s what I was on my way to tell you all. We still can’t use the divine transmission, so I thought it would be best to tell you directly. Tenzou and Ma-yan are running this way, too. Also…”

Margot looked to the west.

A powerful charge was arriving from the western hill.

“Is that…?”

She had seen this before. Just the day before yesterday, they had clashed in IZUMO.

“Hexagone Française!!”

“Vive le XIV!!”

Hexagone Française’s ''Lourd de Marionnette'' unit led the charge.

They were approximately two kilometers out. They ran from the hilltop in order to rout M.H.R.R.’s rear guard waiting outside Magdeburg. The commander’s ''Lourd de Marionnette'' had been lightened to help him run, he held a siege spear in his right hand, and he spoke from his voice device.

“Hurry! The previous chancellor is waiting inside the flooded city!”

They all knew that Anne of Austria had little life left, so…

“Hurry!”

The second in command raised his spear so the academy flag tied to it could be seen far and wide. It was embroidered with the emblems of Hexagone Française and Ecole de Paris.

“Vive le XIV!!”

They raised their weapons.

“Vive la Anne!!”

“Vive la Mooooouri!!”

“Viveeee laaaaaa….”

They all breathed in and raised their voices so they could be heard at their destination.

“Vive la Hexagone Française!!”

Shouts of “tes” and “testament” were made.

“Hurry! Our ''Lourd de Marionnette'' unit is a glorious unit created by the previous chancellor in negotiations with the other nations!”

“Let them see us charge!”

They were followed by the ''Belle de Marionnette'' royal guards led by the Three Musketeers. Just like the ''Lourd de Marionnette'' unit, they raced quickly down the hill toward Magdeburg.

They ran.

They kicked up the dirt to pick up even more speed. Behind them, a man and woman were protected by the ''Belle de Marionnettes'' of the rear guard.

The pair was Louis Exiv and Mouri Terumoto.

Exiv silently watched the charge with his eyebrows raised a little. Terumoto spoke to him while looking in the same direction he was.

“Can you see her?”

“No.”

He shook his head and started to say something else.

“————”

But he held his tongue. Terumoto responded by grabbing his hand and holding it tight.

“Don’t worry.” She breathed in. “The Roi-Soleil’s sister is the goddess of the moon. The moon may not have shown itself yet on this cloudy night, but the sky will clear up before long. After all…”

A great roar seemed to answer her. High in the center of the sky, the air shook and a tremor reached as far down as the ground. Mouri-01 explained why from behind the two of them.

“Here they come!”

The sky split apart and something broke through the dark clouds and dropped down like a hammer.

“There are eight of them! It’s the Musashi! And…they are standing up vertically and descending!!”

“There…it is!!”

Inside Musashino’s bridge, Suzu stood from her seat and began reconstructing the model of the Musashi and Magdeburg’s surroundings.

The quick movements of her hands expanded the model and created the city’s broken gate and wall. The indicated water level on the ship’s outer hull quickly rose and the shapes of the falling ships were made anew.

However, there was one thing they could not afford to forget.

“Resist…it!”

Each of the Musashi’s ships was lined up and rapidly falling with its stern pointed down. To “fire” themselves along a ballistic course using a vertical launch of their gravitational cruising, they had only controlled their acceleration without performing any course corrections or braking.

That meant the Musashi’s ships were much like giant shells and they had to prevent them from colliding with the surface.

“Suzu-sama, we have finished turning each ship toward the sky as we fall. We will now perform full speed gravitational acceleration toward the heavens in order to brake. Over!!”

Just as “Musashino” had said, the Musashi turned toward the sky and accelerated to keep itself from falling to the earth.

For the turn, they had referenced the vertical loop from the Armada battle. The action itself was possible, but the structure of the ship did not allow for it.

That placed intense stress on the Musashi.

The ship’s own weight pulled down on it and caused the main frame and each block to groan.

“Musashi” was the one who responded to all that stress and weight.

“I am distributing my authority to each individual ship. Please remove your ship’s stress in preparation for the full-power re-acceleration. Over.”

Suzu sensed each ship shaking in response.

“It’s…flowing?”

She felt a distinct current.

First, ether for reinforcement spells was injected into the wide and long blocks to the stern of the ships.

Then, the automatons in charge of the ships gradually corrected the maximum movable range of the frames supporting each block.

On top of that, an automaton measuring the pressure on the stern of the ships spoke to “Musashi”.

“Draining the water from the stern reservoir blocks to remove the weight! Over!!”

Once they had permission for that, clouds wrapped around each of the Musashi’s ships. When the water drained from the stern contacted the cold air and the air currents rising from the Magdeburg battlefield, it instantly created flowing clouds.

The Musashi looked like eight pillars standing atop the clouds, but Suzu smiled.

“We…stopped!!”

She breathed in.

“Thank…you!”

“Judge!! Over.”

Every automaton on the bridge responded and “Musashi” waved her hand.

“Continue exchanging information with individualized control of each ship. As soon as we gather and collect the vice president’s group and the chancellor’s group, we will leave this airspace! Over.”

Two gazes viewed the eight pillars standing in the sky and the expanse of clouds supporting them. They belonged to the Palais-Cardinal which had lowered to the surface and Anne who stood on its shoulder.

“Wow. Do you see that, Luynes? The temple of the gods is descending from the sky.”

“That is an image of Greek mythology commonly painted during the Renaissance, isn’t it? The composition and structure is similar, but I have determined it is a coincidence, milady.”

“You’re always so realistic, Luynes.”

“I apologize, but we are still on the battlefield.”

“That’s true,” agreed Anne.

The three transport ships floated overhead and the European one slowly turned northward in order to face west where Hexagone Française was.

However, the Far Eastern ship had yet to move.

“Musashi’s chancellor hasn’t shown up yet, has he?”

“It seems one of his traveling companions has already arrived at the city’s wall, so I have determined he is currently passing through the battle between Hexagone Française and M.H.R.R.”

“Their 1st special duty officer is a ninja, right? He should be good at that.”

Once she said that, a familiar face appeared over the edge of the central transport ship’s deck as all three of them slowly ascended. It was Musashi’s vice president.

She bowed and waved as two diplomatic ships descended from the Musashi as bodyguards. The Musashi was generally unarmed, but these had thick decorated armor.

They likely intended to return to the Musashi while protected by those ships.

…''They’re a lively group, but this is goodbye.

However, Magdeburg was still a combat zone.

Anne had heard that Narimasa’s lightly-equipped unit was fighting by the western wall and that Katsuie’s group was fighting on the flooded city’s rooftops to the east.

However, the battle was already over and their destinations were in sight.

After retreating, Guericke and the others would likely work to restore Magdeburg since it escaped with only a flood.

“And Musashi will continue on to Qing-Takeda. Everyone will go where they need to go. I wonder if Matsunaga is watching this commotion from inside the Shigisan?”

“Do you think Lord Suleiman is with him?”

“Who knows.” Anne sighed. “At any rate, this completes the history recreation of the Sack of Magdeburg and starts M.H.R.R. toward their defeat in the Thirty Years’ War,” she said. “We managed to advance the age once more.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the Palais-Cardinal fell to one knee.

Anne felt a chill.

It was a lot like the chill she had felt before. It had felt like she was holding it in check, but…

'''Dragon Dog:''' “Milady!!”

'''ANA:''' “Don’t worry. I haven’t vanished yet. If I’m feeling cold, it’s because I’m still warm.”

She was glad her kneeling position allowed her to look down at the city.

'''ANA:''' “It looks like I’m waiting for my brother to show up.”

'''Dragon Dog:''' “I will contact the Musashi’s gunner shrine maiden up above! She can break through the jamming and connect a divine transmission to Hexagone Française!”

'''ANA:''' “No need, Luynes. If we did that, it would set my brother up for failure.”

'''Dragon Dog:''' “For failure?”

“Yes,” she replied.

'''ANA:''' “He wouldn’t make it in time.”

''I can tell.

'''ANA:''' “These are the people continuing on to the age I advanced, so show me what they are doing.”

'''Dragon Dog:''' “Milady, I have one piece of advice.”

'''ANA:''' “What is it?”

'''Dragon Dog:''' “Testament. Just before you pass away, primary control of this body will be returned to me.”

'''ANA:''' “Now that you mention it, that’s right. My superior setting can only be removed when I am in a critical state.”

Luynes continued from there.

'''Dragon Dog:''' “So when that happens, please only blame me for whatever action I take.”

Anne knew Luynes would try to go to her brother.

'''ANA:''' “Thank you.”

'''Dragon Dog:''' “You should not thank a maid for her disobedience.”

“That’s not it,” said Anne.

'''ANA:''' “Historically, Lady Luynes was Anne of Austria’s eternal friend.”

'''Dragon Dog:''' “Eternal is such a perfect way of putting it.”

'''ANA:''' “Yes, and it suits you.”

With her hips still lowered, Anne took a breath. She closed her eyes and the surrounding sound reached her auditory devices. From her surroundings, she heard the battlefield noises and countless shouts, but from the overhead transport ships, she heard the words of those waiting for their classmates as they tried to soften the harsh atmosphere.

''Yes,'' she thought. ''No one is watching me right now except for Luynes.

But…

…''This may be a first.

''I’ve never been anywhere so calm.

She spoke some quiet words.

“God.”

She closed her eyes on the battlefield below the pillars floating in the sky.

“Did I fulfill my role?”

Mitotsudaira was riding something that swayed gently.

It was a wave.

It was a faint rocking motion that gently bent her body and enveloped her breathing and pulse. She just about let herself fully sink into that wave, but…

“Nn…”

An old memory returned to her as she dozed.

It was from a long time ago, before she had even gone to Musashi.

One day, she had left on a “trip”.

She had wanted to visit the candy house her mother told her stories of, but her parents would always exchange a glance and tell her she could not. That was why she had headed into the forest alone.

Now, she knew that forest was nowhere near her mother’s forest. Her mother and father had likely moved far away to hide the fact that her mother was the Reine des Garous.

It had been a smaller, thinner forest than her mother’s, but it had still been deep enough for a child to get lost in. The first hour had been fun, but…

…''All of the animals ran away from me.

In the picture books she had read, the forest animals had all been so kind and had helped people who were lost.

As the sun began to set, she had sat below a big tree and cried.

She had known no one was coming to help her.

After all, all of the people near their mansion – even the ones her own age – kept their distance when she tried to play with them.

She was from a Loup-Garou family. She doubted the people had known her mother was the Reine des Garous, but…

…''Being from a man-eating family was enough to be feared.

When she had entered the forest, she had assumed the animals would help her, even if the people would not.

But they had not.

She had not told anyone about her “trip” because she had been afraid they would stop her.

She had been afraid they would tell her the candy house was not there.

And in the end, nothing had approached her or come to help her.

She had eventually worn herself out crying, given up, curled up on the ground below the tree, and gone to sleep. The next thing she had known, she was riding a wave.

That wave had been her mother’s back.

She remembered the surprise when she had woken, but she also remembered the stars and moonlight between the branches overhead and she remembered the chill and stillness of the night.

She also remembered what she had said.

“Mamma, you’re amazing…”

Had she thought her mother had brought her to see that sight? Or had she been thankful her mother had found her so easily? She still was not sure.

But she did know what her mother had said while adjusting her position on her back.

“You can visit the candy house once you grow up, okay? As a child, you’ll get cavities.”

“I won’t get any if I grow up?”

“Testament. You will not.”

“But,” her young self had asked. “I can’t grow up if I don’t eat people, can I? That’s what everyone says.”

“Do you not want to eat people?”

She had nodded and her mother had laughed.

“Don’t worry. It isn’t when they eat someone that a Loup-Garou grows up.”

“Then when is it?”

“Testament. It is when they decide they don’t want to eat that person.”

She had tilted her head and wondered if that time would come for her and if she would find someone like that.

She remembered the still darkness, the moon, and the stars of that day, and they all remained in the depths of her memory.

“————”

She opened her eyes.

This time, she did not find a still night.

There were clouds in the sky that shook with a mixture of shellfire, clashing metal, cries of anger, and shouting.

“…!?”

But she did find the chilly night air and her mother’s back.

Mitotsudaira was positioned between her mother’s back and her mother’s hair that enveloped her. Her mother looked over her shoulder to see her.

The woman stood on a hill bordering the forest and they overlooked the plain and city that made up the battlefield. Below the hill, several gods of war and countless mobile shells were crossing paths to take up their positions. She looked to the city by the river and found its gate and wall were broken, it was widely flooded, and it had sparks and scarlet flames rising from quite a few places.

However…

“The Musashi is here?”

Her mother stopped moving and she seemed to be asking for confirmation. The woman removed the arms supporting the back of her knees and her butt, so she stood on the ground herself.

The firmness of the ground below her feet and the leaving warmth of her mother in front of her brought back an awareness of her own body.

…''Yes.

The slight warmth of waking filled her body, but she could gather her strength if she needed. Most likely, Mary had healed her as she slept. The scent of medicinal plants coming from different parts of her body was enough to confirm it. And…

“Oh? Why am I wearing my usual clothes?”

She looked to her mother who faced her with a smile and a hand on her cheek.

“D-don’t tell me!”

“Heh heh. We all had a clothes-changing party together.”

She noticed her mother was wearing the combat dress based on the Hexagone Française uniform that she had worn in IZUMO.

“But I had the gentlemen leave, so don’t worry. And Nate, you still get so ticklish when I change you that you curl up. You haven’t changed at all.”

“W-wait, mother! That’s a physical leak of private information!”

“What are you talking about? Now that it’s been shared, it isn’t private information anymore.”

“Y-you are the worst! That convenient logic is the worst!!”

“Calm down.” Her mother took a short breath. “Now, then. The situation has changed quite a bit.”

The Reine des Garous recalled the information in the letter a night bird had brought her a while ago. The letter had included certification of its veracity.

…''Anne has given a few instructions after negotiating with Musashi.

One of those instructions was most important.

“Hexagone Française has agreed to a ceasefire with Musashi and…Louis Exiv and Mouri Terumoto will seek a friendly relationship with Musashi.”

She indicated the battle behind her.

“This situation is the proof of that.”

“You mean it isn’t just an agreement? It’s a pseudo-alliance proven by their actions? And the friendly relationship isn’t with Hexagone Française but with its chancellor and student council president?”

“Testament.”

The Reine des Garous smiled at how sensitive to words her daughter had become. That may have been thanks to her life in Musashi and its complicated situation.

However…

“These were Anne’s instructions, so Musashi is going to be friendly to our chancellor and student council president even if I have to force it.”

The Reine des Garous realized one thing that meant.

…''Anne may have been worried about us.

''Although perhaps I’m being selfish and imagining it,'' she thought while saying more to her daughter.

“Cooperate with the future that Anne has left with Hexagone Française, Nate. Friendship between Musashi and Hexagone Française’s rulers is what she wanted.”

However…

“You have yet to prove yourself.”

“You mean…?”

“Testament.” The Reine des Garous nodded. “Musashi and Hexagone Française are to be equals. For that to be the case, Musashi must have someone as powerful as me. …Of course, what is expected of a vice chancellor like me is different from what is expected of a 5th special duty officer like you.”

But…

“What do you want to be as the one who serves by her king’s side?”

Her daughter gave a clear reaction to that question: she stopped moving.

She did not squirm, flee, or step back.

“————”

She looked her mother straight in the eye.

…''Yes.

''Good,'' thought the Reine des Garous.

''I’m so glad I have a daughter who doesn’t run away from me.

She spread her legs a bit and looked her opponent right back in the eye.

“I will give you one minute. Come at me with everything you have, Nate. And if I cannot see anything there and you are only an inferior copy of me…”

“You will slam me against the ground, rob me of all defiance, and take me back to Hexagone Française?”

“Testament. Someone less useful than me will not be of any use to Hexagone Française and Musashi in the future. After all, having me would be enough. So if that happens…”

She strengthened her gaze. Instead of just looking, she stared down her daughter.

“Yes. I will remove you from that place where no one needs you and I will take you back home.”

After accepting her mother’s words, Mitotsudaira started by breathing in.

…''She is my enemy.

This woman was family, but also an enemy. After all…

…''She is trying to take everything from me.

If she lost to her mother, she would lose more than just her social status and home. She would lose her will and her pride and her entire being would be torn down by the fact that there was something she could not stand up to. The more she resisted, the stronger the power restraining her would grow, so…

“Are you saying it is possible this could lead to my death?”

“If you are stubborn enough, then I may respond accordingly.”

She would not be allowed to keep any hint of resistance.

“You are asking for absolute obedience, aren’t you?”

“Heh heh. That is exactly what a parent wants from a child who has yet to grow up but tries to act like an adult. So Nate, if you want to claim that isn’t what you are, then show me what you have gained.”

[[Image:Horizon3C_0458-0459.jpg|thumb]]

She had a single task.

“Prove that you are my equal.”

Mitotsudaira nodded.

She faced her mother from a distance of five meters.

There was currently a battlefield on the earth and eight ship pillars in the sky.

All of that decorated the stage as she breathed in the night air once more.

It was chilly.

That was now the only part of the past unchanged. Not even her mother’s back remained, but…

“I may not have fully grown up yet, but I will show you what I have gained.”

With those words, both of them produced instantaneous motion.

The battle between wolves began atop the hill where no one was watching.

The hill bordered the forest, but it was mostly the hard earth of a wasteland. The hilltop was entirely flat and there was nothing to hide behind.

In this location, everything would be decided by their speed, strength, and skill at positioning themselves.

The battle tilted hard in one direction as soon as it began.

The first thing they did was launch themselves toward each other.

They made high-speed jumps.

Mitotsudaira had the greater initial speed.

She approached with two instantaneous dashes as if snapping her body forward. She kept her body low, swung herself to the left as a feint, and then jumped toward her opponent’s left side.

Her mother was right-handed, so she would go to her left. She was right-handed as well, but she would have the upper hand as the initiator. She thrust her left elbow forward and sent her right hand’s nails racing along above it.

The two of them were going to collide, so the counter effect would give her attack more power. She had no complaints with this as a first move.

However, her mother vanished at the instant of impact.

No, she was there, but she was two meters ahead.

…''She sent herself backwards!?

The woman had jumped backwards. It was only a distance of two meters, but it threw off the timing of Mitotsudaira’s attack and removed her from Mitotsudaira’s focused gaze. She might as well have jumped outside of Mitotsudaira’s perception.

“Do you remember when I jumped into the spring?”

She did. Her mother had jumped in from above, but she had entered the water without any kind of splash.

Her mother had done so by shifting her weight and swinging her entire body. She understood that now that she could do the same thing, even if only at a more basic level.

However, she could now plainly see the overwhelming difference between herself and her mother.

The woman’s breasts were completely different. Not to mention how they swayed.

“M-mother! Can you at least wear a bra!? That’s criminal!”

“But they make my shoulders all stiff.”

Her mother immediately launched an attack.

She attacked with her right arm while extending her body to fill the two meter gap between them.

“Kh.”

Mitotsudaira snapped her arms downward in order to dodge.

She sank down, but her mother leaned her outstretched body forward to lower herself as well.

…''She really knows how to ad-lib!”

Mitotsudaira exhaled and got down on her hands and knees.

Immediately afterwards, the wind of her mother’s passing nails brushed across the top of her head.

Her mother had just finished swinging her right arm with her body stretched forward, but Mitotsudaira had lowered her hips into a crawling pose and could not attack.

That was why Mitotsudaira snapped her ankle forward.

She kicked forward on the ground with just her toes to make a short leap backwards.

She strongly thrust her hips backwards to keep her balance and pulled back on her entire body for a singular purpose.

…''To evade!

She fell back.

She instantly created a gap of one meter, securing her safety in the process.

…''Now I attack!

As soon as she thought that, the color silver circled around in front of her.

She was seeing the color of her mother’s hair and back.

Her mother had instantly filled the gap and taken action before Mitotsudaira could.

Her mother’s attacks did not stop.

…''She’s fast!

After Mitotsudaira had leaped backwards, her mother had pulled back her right arm and performed a spin while facing backwards. Her open left hand sent out a backhand blow using the sharp nails.

“…!”

Her mother snapped her feet toward Mitotsudaira while rotating. The tall woman leaped toward her as if turning to face her. And all the while, she was spinning very quickly.

Also, her left backhand flew towards Mitotsudaira.

Meanwhile, Mitotsudaira’s legs were outstretched from her short dash backwards. Her hips were pulled back, her lowered body was bent forward, and her arms were lowered.

With all of her limbs outstretched, she could not gain the flexibility she needed to snap her body in one direction or another.

…''Oh, no!

This was what it meant to be inexperienced. She had not prepared herself to make her snapping motions in quick succession.

However…

“————”

She made a split-second decision.

She used her lowered left arm to clutch the back of her left thigh which was stretched forward.

“Nn.”

She used all of her strength to swing up her bent body.

Her backwards-swinging head pulled back on her back muscles and her left hand pulled her left leg backwards.

Lifting her body up from the left side caused her to rotate to the right.

This made her roll to the right in midair.

It was a compact side-flip that placed her face-down to the ground, but she had indeed shifted one spot to the right.

And…

“Oh?”

Her mother’s nails pierced straight through the spot she had vacated.

The blow looked powerful enough to tear through both flesh and bone.

Wind blew, her mother landed from her high-speed spin, and the woman turned left to face Mitotsudaira who had landed in a face-down position.

They were very close together.

Her mother’s left hand was thrust over Mitotsudaira’s head and Mitotsudaira snapped her bent elbows to get up.

…''Here I go!

Given their positions, her mother had the advantage here, but she could jab her left elbow into her mother’s left side as she stood up.

Her mother could not intercept her because the woman’s left arm was still held out over her head.

…''Here goes!

Her mother started to pull back her body, but it was too late.

Mitotsudaira began to snap her body up as if lifting her head so she could swing her left elbow around.

“…Eh?”

But she could not stand.

Something sat on her hair as if it had grabbed her head.

It was her mother’s left hand.

The hand held out over her head had spread its fingers and grabbed the back of her head.

As she tried to move, Mitotsudaira realized what had happened.

When her mother had pulled back for just an instant earlier, she had not been trying to back away.

…''She was positioning her outstretched hand directly over my head!?

She also realized that her mother’s arm contained no strength whatsoever as it held the back of her head.

The trick to a Loup-Garou’s acceleration was not to use any unnecessary strength. Instead…

…''You instantly bend your body and store your strength.

Her mother’s outstretched arm was bending as it held down her rising head.

It was becoming more flexible.

The Reine des Garous held her daughter’s head as if stroking it.

Her fingers were spread at the end of her outstretched left arm. Normally, she could not bend her arm in this position and therefore could not gain the initial speed needed for an attack.

However…

“Nate, you need to watch out before lifting your head.”

The motion of her daughter getting up had pushed her left arm up.

Her arm bent and built up the speed she needed.

She did it all using her daughter’s actions, so she smiled with the ends of her eyebrows lowered.

“It’s too bad, Nate.”

She immediately snapped her left elbow downward with all of her strength. She lowered it straight down.

“When you were little, you had a habit of curling up face-down and crying like a small animal. You were doing that when I found you lost in the forest that one time. In other words, whenever something unpleasant happens…”

She did it all at once.

“You hide the outside world from yourself to feel safe.”

The Reine des Garous slammed her daughter’s face straight down toward the dimly-lit ground.

Mitotsudaira felt a sense of resignation in the instant she was slammed toward the ground.

Her enemy was simply too skilled. The woman had used the hand from her failed attack to hold down her head, and…

…''She used my movement to build up her strength!

The fact that it was all played by ear was the biggest shock of all. Her mother had completely outdone her.

Not only that, but she could not match her mother’s maneuverability any more than her cleverness.

Mitotsudaira used a Loup-Garou’s acceleration for her movement and attacks, but her mother could decide in a split-second to use it for her movement, attacks, or defense. And instead of using pure acceleration, she would create more complex movements or reversals.

That was the difference created by experience and training.

To her mother, it had to look like a child playfully using it for short movements and attacks, but as the parent, she did not hold back.

As Mitotsudaira’s mother had said, she would lie face-down whenever she cried or felt lonely.

She also realized something else about that position curled up on the ground.

…''It’s the same position as when my mother carries me on her back.

''In that case,'' she thought.

In her memory of waking up that one time, she had been on her mother’s back, but what about now that she had left her parents and gone to Musashi?

Was she the same as when she had gotten lost in the forest?

…''Have I never once lifted my head?

As soon as she asked herself that, the answer reached her.

“————!”

''I have,'' she thought as she began to move.

The Reine des Garous noticed movement in her left hand.

She had tried to slam her daughter’s head down with that hand, but the nails of a hand shot up toward it from the right.

This was the left hand her daughter had tried to send into her left side earlier. The hand snapped up and accelerated.

…''My wrist!?

As soon as she realized the girl had grabbed her wrist, the Reine des Garous was pulled by her own left hand.

“!?”
She rotated around in midair.

She swallowed her slight surprise and kicked off the ground to accelerate her body’s rotation.

Her daughter had used the rotation to escape being slammed to the ground.

“…”

She stopped herself just before hitting the ground and used the reactionary force to snap her entire body to the left.

The Reine des Garous landed and her daughter got up. The mother caught her breath and the daughter inhaled deeply.

“—————”

The Reine des Garous once more sent a powerful look toward her daughter.

…''That’s right.

Mitotsudaira filled her body with air to calm herself.

…''I have more than what I gained from my mother.

She had just used one of those things. It was technique to throw an unbalanced opponent that Naomasa had taught her in England.

“That’s…right.”

''I probably have something,'' she told herself.

She was not sure how to put it, but a lot had happened since she had arrived at Musashi.

A lot of it had been worthless and she was aware she had been the victim a lot of the time, but one thing was for certain.

“I…will not give up.”

“I can’t recommend that line of thinking. When you are hopelessly outmatched, sometimes death is the only possible outcome.”

“But, mother. What if the friendship between Hexagone Française and Musashi were to break down and my king and the others became your enemy. What would you do then?”

“Well.” Her mother placed a hand on her cheek. “Couldn’t I just go try to eat him again?”

That settled it. She definitely had something that she had not in the past.

She had something to protect.

So she shook her body up and down just once and relaxed her limbs. She made sure she could move any part of her body in a snapping leap at a moment’s notice.

“It is a knight’s duty to protect her king and queen.”

“That is my duty as well, you know?”

Mitotsudaira nodded and took a step forward.

As she raised her head again, she felt she was different than in the past.

“—————”

She snapped her body and began the fight anew.

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