Editing City Series:Volume5a Chapter12 (section)

===Beretta’s Journal===

Today, I am writing this in the Balleroy house’s study. The second floor has a good view, but it’s kind of dusty and there was apparently a torture room next to this one, so what’s with that?

Europe is going to be thrown into chaos tonight thanks to the Normandy landing operation, but everything is peaceful within France. The Germans are in control, but the Resistance uprising isn’t for a while. So while things are tense, they’re the same as usual. All the problems are with me.

First, it’s great that the landlord’s letter told me where Rose Francisca lives, but it’s in Herlde. It’s true that mountain village is in Bourgogne where the Attesor Project was held, but what is my great-grandmother doing living in a village that’s going to be destroyed by a black dragon on August 1?

I checked on a map and it’s really deep in the mountains.

The exam results will be announced on June 20. I’ve decided to reserve tickets before then and leave on the 21st. It’s too far to take the roads and mountain passes, but it’s doable by train even if it will take a whole day. If not for the Germans, I could buy a ticket that moves between regions without having to submit paperwork for some weird inspection. Still, I want to take Rosetta with me and take a look at a lot of things. I invited Mallette too, but she’s taking a vacation at her parent’s house on the city outskirts.

I thought of inviting Phillip, but he wasn’t at his home. According to this grandfather, he’s working hard at his German job. I’m probably the only one that knows that’s directly related to his work as a spy.

I plan to return from Herlde on July 28. If I can drag my great-grandmother away, I’ll bring her with me on the pretext of visiting Paris so she won’t be around for the dragon attack. Phillip fights his final battle on the 1st. I doubt I can be by his side, but I want to see it.

After all, I still haven’t thanked him for the ring he gave me. I want to see him before June 21st, but I want to give his circumstances priority. (Wow, I’m being timid.)

Anyway, I’m going to be really busy. But that might be for the best. That way I won’t worry about myself. For now, I need to think about the Attesor Project and Rose Francisca.

My great-grandfather was involved in that top secret project throughout World War One.

The project increased the mobilization of Heavy Barrels to outdo tanks and fighters and to make them the strongest ground weapon. At the time, the Allies had few mass-produced forces compared to the Germans’ armored divisions, so Heavy Barrels were their trump card. But compared to the enemy’s numbers and mobility, Barrels were slow and made for large targets.

They needed the mobility to react to airplanes and avoid tank guns.

If they could reach the values given in the project paperwork, a single Heavy Barrel could destroy an entire army division on its own.

But after all that theoretical planning, the war ended and all of the paperwork was destroyed and the participants erased their own memories.

Yet my grandmother’s research suggests the project was nearly completed and the researchers abandoned it because their consciences demanded it. It was my great-grandfather, Jack McWild, who led the destruction of the paperwork, but he could not entirely put it behind him after the war.

The reason he did not tell my grandmother or Rose Francisca about the Attesor Project is directly linked to the reason he was killed.

That’s just how dangerous it is. So what is it?

I suppose I’ll find out if I go to the Bourgogne Region. If I can discover what definition of “strongest” Jack McWild was pursuing and I can meet Rose Francisca and fulfill my grandmother’s request, maybe I can solve some of my own problems too.

I’m sure Rosetta will grow a lot by accompanying me.

Now, it’s about time I got back to work. We need to work late into the night repairing Protected Empress, dismantling her, and hiding her in the storeroom. She’ll probably be Formatted without anyone using her again.

In a few hours, bombers will fly through the air.

Europe is about to move. Is there no way France can be truly liberated in response? If Rosetta grew, Phillip didn’t die, and Rose Francisca didn’t die either, that’s probably what I would want.

Setting aside that the outside world would be destroyed, I would want to liberate France.