Owari no Chronicle:Volume2 Chapter 19
Status: Incomplete
50% completed (estimated)
Chapter 19: Prematurity of Thoughts
What is the difference between being hasty and acting quickly?
The answer is incredibly simple
It is decided by whether the outcome is successful or not
The preliminary negotiations with Fasolt began with a check of the initial assumptions.
“At the moment, there is no sign of the City faction joining us. The negotiations will primarily relate to the Royal Palace faction joining. These negotiations are the preliminary preparations for the Leviathan Road.”
From there, Fasolt informed Sayama of a few matters:
UCAT had asked that Fasolt remain 1st-Gear’s representative, UCAT special division security guards would be maintaining a presence in the reservation for a temporary period of time after the Royal Palace faction arrived, and due to cultural similarities, the reservation would prefer if those guards were sent in from German UCAT.
Sayama replied that he understand, Shinjou nodded, and Ooshiro typed it up on his keyboard to keep records.
Once the initial assumptions had been clarified, Fasolt said, “The day after tomorrow, 167 members of the Royal Palace faction will be arriving here. It is impossible for us to secure enough arable land for all of them.”
“Are you asking for an expansion to the concept space creating the reservation?”
Fasolt did not nod. Sayama turned to Ooshiro.
“What would happen if it was expanded?”
“It already covers a radius of one kilometer. If the radius was expanded by 100 meters, the area would increase by 21%. …It is a simple calculation, but you understand what it means to increase their yearly budget by 20%, right? We already put 10 digits worth of budget a year into maintaining this place.”
“I see.” Sayama turned back toward Fasolt and said, “Just because the Royal Palace faction is joining you, I cannot approve merely expanding the reservation.”
“Why not?”
“You mentioned before that there is a process for naturalization. That means you try not to bring in anyone who can survive outside of 1st-Gear’s concepts, correct?”
“Yes.”
“That means we need to go over the list of those arriving and see how many belong to races that can be naturalized. We can build temporary lodging for those who can be naturalized, temporarily prioritize food distribution, and build houses for and expand the fields for those who will be ultimately staying. I think we can hold new negotiations over the land issue once you know how many will be staying.” Sayama gave a bitter smile. “But I think you knew all this. That is why you said what you said: ‘It is impossible for us to secure enough arable land for all of them.’ And that is why you did not answer my question, isn’t it?”
After a short silence, Fasolt laughed from deep in his throat.
“Yes. I did no more than tell the truth, Sayama Mikoto. You are the one that misinterpreted, boy.”
Sayama smiled and Shinjou let out a sigh next to him.
Something is beginning, thought Sayama.
He quickly began to calculate out what he and his opponent had at their disposal.
Via UCAT, Sayama had the authority to do whatever he wanted with the concept space. However, if he used that authority, he would be distancing 1st-Gear’s cooperation in the Leviathan Road.
On the other hand, his opponent had a past Sayama was unaware of and could make demands from the position of a victim. When he used the sudden arrival of the Royal Palace faction as a shield, Sayama had difficulty telling the truth of his demands because too much was unknown.
…At any rate, he will be making demands.
He would give some reason for making a demand no matter how ridiculous. If Sayama misjudged the situation and accepted it, his opponent would profit.
Possessing a kind heart would be a disadvantage here.
Sayama trusted his prediction that the negotiations had already begun.
He took a breath, pulled a handkerchief out of his breast pocket, and wiped his brow.
Fasolt watched Sayama.
In one hand, the boy was folding the handkerchief he had pulled from his breast pocket.
Fasolt looked up and found the sun was at its highest point.
“It really is hot,” said Sayama as if informing Fasolt who was looking up into the sky.
“Yes, it is,” agreed Fasolt before lowering his gaze.
He is very young, thought Fasolt about Sayama who was looking directly at him.
Fasolt thought back to the previous conversation. The boy had responded properly to his slight test and he had seen through Fasolt’s intentions. Even the standard UCAT negotiators could do the same. It was an issue of paying attention.
But this boy had intentionally pretended to be mistaken and had thought up an actual means of handling the situation, even if only a superficial one.
His solution had been incomplete, but it was the specialists’ job to finish it off.
For a leader, what truly mattered was negotiating without making any mistakes and deciding on a general course of action.
Fasolt had yet to fully make up his mind about Sayama.
Sayama looked up toward the sun high in the sky and began to remove his coat.
He roughly gathered the sleeves, folded it so the front was visible, and handed it to Shinjou next to him.
As soon as he did, Shinjou’s eyes opened wide and she whispered to Sayama.
“Wh-what are you saying? I c-can’t do that…”
Shinjou looked over at Fasolt. She then frantically adjusted her position and held Sayama’s coat.
With a slightly disappointed look, Sayama returned to his proper position. He wiped his brow with his handkerchief and placed it in the pocket on his shirt. The handkerchief stuck out from the shirt a bit.
Nevertheless, Sayama turned toward Fasolt.
Next to him, Shinjou continually glanced over at him, but Sayama did not seem to notice.
Fasolt then looked over at the coat Shinjou was holding. Its breast pocket was turned toward him.
Fasolt thought about the boy before his eyes. He really is young, he concluded before making his next move.
Sayama heard Fasolt speak.
“Our demands are quite simple, Sayama Mikoto. We want you to hand over Siegfried, the holy sword Gram, and the Concept Core held within the sword. Until then, we will not give you the right to use 1st-Gear’s Concept Core and we will not help persuade the City faction.”
“What?”
Fasolt did not even acknowledge his question.
“After the Concept War, this reservation agreed to cooperate with UCAT, but we agreed to nothing concerning the Leviathan Road. That is why we demand that we begin anew here. Hand over the war criminal. If you promise that, the Royal Palace faction and the City faction will both fall in line with the peaceful faction. We will make sure they do.”
“And you want us to hand over Gram and the Concept Core inside it?”
“I think it will be necessary to convince the City faction, but what do you think? Even if we persuade them to join with us, I doubt they will do what we say if we have not been granted some power.”
Sayama remained silent. Fasolt watched him as he sat silently.
“Just to be clear, threatening to remove this concept space to aid your negotiations will gain you nothing.”
Sayama did not say he would not do so. If he had to, he would. Fasolt had warned it would gain him nothing, but those were nothing but words. It was impossible to know what would happen if he actually did it.
However, that was a last resort. Using it would end the relationship between them.
Sayama took a breath.
“Could you stop testing me? Unnecessary statements could hinder our negotiations,” he said.
“Saying many things in quick succession is the special characteristic of a storyteller.”
The dragon gave no apology. That gave Sayama an odd sense of relief.
His opponent was a proud person. That may have been a common characteristic of 1st-Gear. No matter how far they lowered themselves and no matter what means they chose to use, they would always give precedence to their self-respect.
…They are obstinate and direct.
They were easy to handle as allies, but impossible to avoid as an enemy.
With that in mind, Sayama once more pulled the handkerchief from his breast pocket.
He wiped his brow and Shinjou’s shoulders jumped slightly next to him.
At the same time, Fasolt looked over at Shinjou.
“There is nothing to be afraid of. As Ooshiro said, you can take it easy.”
“Oh, right,” said Shinjou as she slightly relaxed her legs which had been strictly kept in the seiza position.
As soon as she did, Fasolt’s hand moved.
“Ah,” gasped Shinjou, but Fasolt had already snatched the coat from her lap.
“This is a nice coat. Do you mind if I take a look at it?”
As Fasolt asked his question, an object fell from the suit coat in his hand.
Sayama clearly saw the cell phone drop. It was able to record audio.
“Whoops,” said Fasolt as he grabbed it in midair.
And with a clear noise, he crushed the cell phone in his hand.
“Oh, my mistake. I give you my personal apology. However.” Fasolt returned the suit coat to Shinjou and held up the remains of the cell phone in his other hand. “This was not running by any chance, was it? You were not so concerned about me that you felt the need to give a sign to have me filmed from the side, were you?”
Fasolt saw Sayama’s expression change twice in response to his words. It changed from tense to harsh and then from harsh to joyful. Fasolt’s thoughts raced as he saw those changes.
…Did he notice my trick?
When Fasolt had watched over the autopsy of the werewolf that had committed suicide the day before yesterday, he had inspected Sayama’s possessions. And knowing that Sayama would be his opponent in the negotiations, he had thought up a certain trick.
He had switched on the digital recorder to drain the battery and had left the cell phone untouched. If Sayama brought the two items to the negotiations, he would need to use the cell phone to record any proof of what was said.
However, the cell phone’s microphone was weak, so it and the built-in camera would have to be on the surface.
Locating Sayama’s hiding spot for it had not been difficult. The camera had been sticking a bit out of his coat pocket.
Fasolt was certain the boy had been recording him. He had seen the small exchange between Sayama and Shinjou and he had seen Shinjou’s movements.
Such awkward teamwork, thought Fasolt.
That was why he had grabbed the coat and smashed the cell phone.
Sayama’s use of the cell phone was proof that he had viewed the negotiations as dangerous and had wanted to secretly leave some proof behind. Taking that from him and destroying it while also warning him would inflict inescapable pressure on the boy.
Sayama was currently looking at the smashed cell phone.
“I do not believe I had it running,” he said with his head down as if trying to recall.
Liar, thought Fasolt with a bitter smile in his heart.
As Fasolt watched, Sayama turned to Ooshiro to his left.
“Not that it matters. The old man here will handle recording what is said.”
Fasolt followed Sayama’s gaze and watched Ooshiro typing.
He nodded and aid, “Unfortunately, Ooshiro’s records will not pass as proof.”
“Wh-why not?” asked Shinjou as she held the coat.
Fasolt nodded and replied, “That data can be easily altered. That is why I want to resolve these negotiations right here like this.”
Fasolt pulled a sheet of canvas from the inside pocket of his vest.
It was covered with the writing of 1st-Gear. Sayama would be able to read it because an image of the meaning took priority here.
It was a contract saying UCAT would accept the reservation’s demands. Below the agreement was a five centimeter underline.
Once he saw Sayama’s gaze stop on the underline, Fasolt spoke in a tone that held a slight smile.
“You will stamp your seal there. …You have your seal with you, don’t you? It is with the digital recorder with the dead battery.”
Shinjou embraced Sayama’s coat. She squeezed it between her arms.
And she glanced over at Sayama next to her.
What will he do now? she wondered. Is there anything he can do?
As she watched on, Sayama stared expressionlessly at the contract.
He then suddenly moved. He pulled his handkerchief from his breast pocket with his right hand and lightly shook his wrist.
He looked at Fasolt and said, “So you saw through it. Yes, the battery is indeed dead. In that case, I no longer need it.”
He produced a digital recorder from the handkerchief. The power light was off which indicated it was not running. However, he was not looking at the recorder. He was looking at the broken cell phone that had fallen to the ground.
“I was planning to record any promises you made to perhaps later change our demands.”
Sayama sighed and took his seal case out of his pocket using his free left hand.
He placed the digital recorder and handkerchief next to him and placed the seal before him.
“But I am not yet ready to stamp my seal,” he said.
“Are you saying you will eventually do so?”
Sayama gave no response.
He remained silent and his face held no expression.
Faced with this, Fasolt froze in place.
Shinjou gulped lightly at seeing this silence and expressionlessness from Sayama for the first time. However…
“…”
His pulse was calm.
Why is that? she wondered.
She felt as if she had seen him like this before.
When had it been?
She searched through her memories and arrived at a certain moment in the past.
The night before last, when he had stood before her and beyond the werewolf.
What happened after that moment? she thought.
She thought back. In that moment, Sayama had stepped forward and spoken to their enemy. He had provoked the enemy. And now…
“You should learn that those who trust in writing can be betrayed by writing.” Sayama lightly raised his right hand. “Let me be clear up front: I cannot agree to any one of the demands you have given.”
“Then what will you say when you see this?”
Fasolt pulled a thick book from his vest and held it so Shinjou and the others could see.
It was a hardcover book made of canvas sheets and cloth. Shinjou had seen it before.
“That’s the book the knight had yesterday.”
“Yes. It is an investigation report on the destruction of our Wotan Kingdom. Volunteers from the Royal Palace faction visited both the peaceful faction and the City Faction to gather the records to create it. These records could only have been made by the Royal palace faction that sat in the middle. Neither we nor the City faction could have made it.”
Sayama took the investigation report and opened it.
Shinjou peered at its contents from the side. It listed a calculation of the total amount of destruction while using spelling that avoided any dangerous terminology. Each time Sayama turned the page, Shinjou could sense the image of the destruction detailed within.
Arton Central Street was smashed along with the decorations for the festival in the small park: 38 dead.
Ethos District 3 contained a wooden school, but it was crushed along with the people who had taken refuge inside: 91 dead.
The evacuation warning never reached the 3rd redevelopment sector and the pioneer village was eliminated without knowing what was happening: 46 dead.
In addition, there was damage to houses in several sectors or out in nature, the loss of assets and livestock, and a calculated value of the land lost. It was all calculated out to reach a final sum for the damages.
“Once converted to the currency of philosopher’s stones, UCAT must maintain this reservation for 7022 years. We have lived her for 60 years, so that still leaves 6962 years. Exchanging that debt for one man and a sword sounds like a bargain to me.”
That’s absurd, thought Shinjou with a gulp.
She slowly looked over at Sayama so Fasolt would not notice her internal panic. She found Sayama as expressionless and silent as before.
What will he do now? she thought.
And she had another thought.
She recalled what Fasolt had said when he had destroyed the cell phone:
You felt the need to give a sign to have me filmed from the side.
She did not know what he had meant by that. She had not been given that role.
But even if she did not understand, Shinjou knew that everything was advancing. And she knew that Sayama likely had some plan.
Sayama looked at Fasolt.
Fasolt had been looking at him for a while now. With that in mind, he spoke.
“Giving concrete value to people’s lives is something else I am not willing to do.”
“If doing so is necessary for a negotiation, we will choose that as our weapon.”
“And so you are demanding a human life in the place of money?”
“Demanding? No. My role here is to present you with possibilities. Your role here is to choose, Sayama Mikoto. I have presented you with a means of paying reparations for the damages. You are the one that chooses whether you will pay for your ancestors’ mistakes with seven thousand years of expenses or by handing over that man and Gram.”
“And if I handed them over, I would be putting a price on a human life?”
“Yes, if you did. We would have prepared a different path, but you would have chosen that path because you could not pay. It would not hurt us in any way.”
Sayama thought. According to Ooshiro, it was impossible to even increase the reservation’s yearly maintenance expenses by 20%. That meant it was beyond impossible to pay off the seven thousand years’ worth of debt right away. And that was why he asked the next question.
“Are Siegfried and Gram really that valuable?”
“They are.”
“I see.” Sayama picked up the contract and the seal case in front of them. “Shinjou-kun, hand me a pen from my coat’s breast pocket.”
“Oh, right.”
Shinjou took a silver ballpoint pen from the pocket and handed it over.
Sayama flipped over the contract and wrote something while using the cover of the investigation report as a desk. He stamped what he wrote with the seal he took from the case and then placed the contract in front of Fasolt.
“If you want something of such great value, then how about we resolve everything like this?”
Everyone looked at the back of the contract.
Shinjou gulped, Fasolt clenched his hands, and Ooshiro smiled bitterly.
Sayama read what he had written on the back of the contract.
“Seven thousand years shall be added to the current seven thousand year debt. In exchange, we shall buy the half-dragon Fasolt and all of his rights. …That should be fine with anyone who will give monetary value to people’s lives.”
“You will buy your negotiating opponent!?” cried Fasolt.
A wind blew through and disturbed Sayama’s hair, but he ignored it and spoke.
“If doing so is necessary for a negotiation, we will choose that as our weapon. Those are your words. And I believe we had agreed to that view. …You asked me to sell someone’s life if I could not pay.” He gave a bitter smile. “But that also means I can buy someone’s life if I can pay.”
“…”
“We will pay what is needed. It does not matter how many years it takes, who might suffer, or even if you refuse us. So let me say this: you may think you all have pride, but you only have the spirit of poor slaves.”
“Slaves? Now you’ve said it, you aboriginal.”
“Aboriginal? We certainly have evolved. I miss the days when we were called yellow monkeys.” Sayama’s bitter smile deepened. “Fasolt, let me tell what kind of race we are. We are the Japanese, the ‘economic animals’. We have nothing to fear when it comes to money. A debt? We just need to save up. The government? It runs on money. A grudge? That is just a bias of the poor. Now, Fasolt, for fourteen thousand years of peace for your comrades, you will be ours. And let me say this: you will physically remain with 1st-Gear, but as our possession,” he nodded, “you will withdraw all of your demands. No need to lower your head. You are our comrade now that we bought you. We have the right to do this. You are the one that brought up buying people’s lives, something we had never done before.”
At that point, Sayama threw the investigation report to the ground.
“This is absurd, Fasolt.” He took a breath. “What is this investigation report? It may have some truth to it, but how much of it is truth? If you are going to carry out an investigation, have a third party do so or at least do so while we are present. Otherwise, this is nothing more than reference material. …Is presenting unreliable material at the negotiating table the 1st-Gear way of doing things!?”
Fasolt responded to the last part more than anything else.
The creaking of his fangs could be heard from his clenched mouth.
But that was as much of Fasolt’s power as was seen.
He slowly reached out a hand and picked the book up from the ground. He let out a long sigh.
“It is true this contains a fair bit of personal opinion for an investigation report. But are you really going to use the lack of records from this conversation to say such abusive things?”
Sayama turned a smile in Fasolt’s direction.
“Abusive? That was a rebuke over how useless your investigation report is. …I was trying to say that your actions were showing contempt for the value of 1st-Gear. If you misinterpreted me, I apologize.”
“No need.” Fasolt drew back and held the book to his chest. He spoke once more after suppressing the anger in his voice. “Either way, we will not give you the right to use the Concept Core unless you accept our demands. …How do you intend to gain that right from me?”
Sayama glanced around. The nearby houses had their windows open because it was a sunny day, so he could see inside. Inside the shadowy houses, he could tell the items within were a bit different from those he was used to. Every house had bare walls and they grew flowers.
Sayama was searching for a certain object within those houses.
But from what he could see at a distance, it was not there. It was a completely normal object in his world, but it was absent here.
…It could be easily brought in from outside, but there is none here.
The possible reasons for this were simple. It may never have existed in 1st-Gear and was not needed, or UCAT feared letting 1st-Gear have it and so refused to do so.
It was one of those or possibly both.
Once he realized that, another fact came to Sayama. He realized the true purpose behind the negotiation.
“…”
He silently relaxed. He cooled his head that had begun to grow serious.
If I am right about the true purpose of this negotiation, thought Sayama, trying to crush Fasolt would not be the best strategy.
And that was why Sayama said what he did next. He breathed out, breathed in, and then spoke in a calm voice.
“Instead of Siegfried and the holy sword Gram, we will provide you with technology equivalent to seven thousand years’ worth of budget or allow you to use said technology.”
“Technology equivalent to seven thousand years’ worth of budget?” asked Fasolt before laughing from the throat. “What do you mean by that? We already sustain ourselves. Is there any technology we could possibly want and is there any technology Low-Gear could possibly provide us with?”
“There is.”
“And what is it?’
Sayama thought and said, “It can be used as a weapon. It can be used as culture and civilization. It can be power and it can become anything in existence.”
“Hah! How amusing! We in 1st-Gear live with the power of writing, so what more culture and civilization do we need!? And with our mechanical dragons, why would we need weapons?” Fasolt strongly held the hardcover book against his chest. “Tell me, Sayama Mikoto. What is this technology you think we would exchange our Concept Core for? What is this technology that UCAT has been keeping from us?”
Sayama nodded and spoke a single word.
“Paper.”
