Owari no Chronicle:Volume2 Chapter 16

Status: Incomplete

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Chapter 16: The Conditions of Good Will

I shall chirp

If I sing well

Will it reach someone?

After landing on the roof, Brunhild entered the school building with her three-cornered hat and broom in hand. She “unlocked” the rooftop door with her philosopher’s stone and quickly made her way to the art room on the third floor. Her footsteps sounded loudly as she made her way down the stairs with the cat.

She unlocked the art room, entered, and found the same dimness as when she had left.

The clock on the wall read 2:00 AM.

A cardboard box sat atop the work desk next to the window that’s curtains had been drawn.

The box was in the same place as when she had left. There was no sign of anyone having touched it.

Brunhild breathed a sigh of relief.

She placed her hat and broom on a nearby desk and peered into the box.

The small bird was inside.

However, it was not sleeping in the center. Its small form was collapsed with its head on the edge of the food dish.

It was not moving.

Brunhild’s knees gave out and she fell to the floor.

Brunhild suddenly realized she was sitting on the floor.

She could not remember why she had sat down.

And before she could find an answer, she felt a cold sensation on her butt and thighs. It was the temperature of the wooden floor.

This brought the same question to mind once more: why was she sitting on the floor?

And then…

“Brunhild!”

The familiar voice of the black cat stabbed into her ears and her shoulder’s jumped.

She came back to her senses. She understood the situation. And then she felt strength fill her body. That feeling in her back, shoulders, arms, waist, and legs brought back her determination.

What can I do? she thought as she shot to her feet.

And then she saw the black cat leaning into the cardboard box.

“What are-…?”

Before she could say “you doing”, the cat stopped her by looking up at her. Its gaze was straightforward and its eyes contained no calm.

“Brunhild.”

Brunhild wanted to stop it from speaking any more, but it opened its mouth regardless.

“It’s still alive.”

“Eh…?”

Brunhild’s vision suddenly started to grow distorted, but she steadied her breathing and asked a question.

“What do you mean?”

“It looks like some of the food got caught in its throat. And I think it’s hungry as well. Get the tweezers.”

Brunhild began to search for the tweezers. She was panicked, so it took her several seconds to remember she had left them next to the cardboard box. When she faced forward with them in hand, the cat was lightly holding the bird in place with its front paws.

The bird’s beak opened and something yellow was visible within.

“You couldn’t swallow it, could you?”

Brunhild used the tweezers to grab the piece of corn stuck in the bird’s throat. She pulled, but failed twice due to using too little force. If she pulled too strongly, she could injure the bird’s throat.

Brunhild dipped the tip of the tweezers in the bird’s water. She then slowly grabbed the food and pulled it out. The piece was smaller than the pieces she had given it that evening.

The cat sighed and said, “It probably is not used to taking food from a dish yet. If the food isn’t fed to it from above, the food can’t get through its throat. …Look, it’s breathing, but weakly. What should we do?”

Brunhild thought on that question.

What should she do? She thought and began speaking what sounded right to her in the order the ideas came to her.

“We need to lightly wrap it in cloth, warm it up, and give it some food…”

“You can’t exactly feed it in this state.”

That comment troubled Brunhild. The cat was exactly right. What could she feed it?

She did not know.

“But at this rate…”

It was no good. That was why Brunhild made up her mind. She placed her hands on the cardboard box.

“I will find someone who knows what they are doing.”

“Is there anyone like that here? You’re almost all alone in the dorm, remember? You’ve also been all alone with your club activities because of spring break.”

“But this is my only option.”

“Well, first you need to change.”

Brunhild looked down and realized she was still wearing the black clothes of a witch.

“It’s all over for us if we draw too much suspicion,” added the cat.

“But,” began Brunhild before gritting her teeth.

She ground her teeth together, but nodded.

“I am from 1st-Gear…”

She walked over to and opened the locker. Requiem Sense greeted her with a dull light, but she said nothing. She grabbed the uniform lying below it and placed it atop the work desk.

She removed the black clothes. She realized clothes perfectly fitted to her body were inconvenient when it came to quickly removing them.

Fifteen seconds. It took that long for Brunhild to strip off the black clothes. She opened the curtain as she grabbed the shirt of her uniform. No light was coming from the school buildings or girls’ dorm visible out the window.

Was no one there or were they sleeping? Would they help her? As she stared into the darkness with those thoughts filling her mind, she thought her knees would give out. She shook her head, looked up, and realized the hand holding her shirt was trembling.

She heard silence. Nothing but silence

Brunhild held the sleeve between her teeth as she passed her hand through it and a muffled voice leaked out.

“What am I supposed to do…?”

Late at night, Sayama passed through the entrance of the second year general school building on his way to the Kinugasa Library.

He had been on his way back from a convenience store just outside the main entrance of the academy. The bag hanging from his hand contained packing tape, two drinks in plastic bottles, and a bit of light food like rice balls.

Shinjou Setsu was currently unpacking his luggage in their room. During the short period in which the floor was unusable, Sayama had gone out with Baku to buy a late-night meal, but he had noticed the Kinugasa Library’s lights were on when he had returned.

“I thought we locked up for the night when Shinjou-kun arrived earlier…”

…Could it be that someone from 1st-Gear has arrived?

A glance at his watch told him it was 2:01 AM. The atmosphere of the night put Sayama on guard as he walked through the dark central lobby.

Baku glanced around to the left and right as he rode on Sayama’s shoulder. The small creature may have been acting as a lookout. Sayama smiled at the small bit of reassurance that gave him. He then felt tension within his own body and a slight phantom pain from the scars on his left hand.

When he pictured himself objectively, his smile transformed into a bitter one.

“I am walking through the school at night with a convenience store bag in hand while preparing myself for an enemy attack.”

…What am I doing?

But the world had become a very dangerous place for him.

The source of that danger came from the Leviathan Road and the decision of whether to take part in it or not was drawing near.

What should I do? he wondered as he leaned against the wall. If he turned left at the next corner, he would be in the hallway passing in front of the Kinugasa Library.

He would then know why the lights were on. Sayama nodded and looked forward.

He saw only darkness.

The dark emptiness before his eyes suddenly brought the previous day’s battle to mind.

He recalled the forest, the heavy breathing, the werewolf, and that werewolf’s expression just before the conclusion.

“…”

At that time, he had chosen to defeat his enemy and Shinjou behind him had not.

But that werewolf’s expression made him question whether it had truly been necessary to defeat it.

And it had been the same today. He had chosen to fight and Shinjou had chosen to save.

But had it truly been necessary to defeat that knight and the others?

Sayama remained silent. He thought of Shinjou, partially closed his eyes, and thought to himself.

…I was wrong.

Why had he been unable to make any choice but the one he had?

…If I could make the decision Shinjou-kun made, I would likely be more confident.

But that was something that could never happen. And so he must not think it.

“How can I hold pride in my own decisions?”

That was something his grandfather had not taught him.

And it was necessary. Not just to join the Leviathan Road, but to get serious about anything.

He took a breath. He opened his eyes and immediately began to move.

He made his way down the hallway in front of the Kinugasa Library while keeping his footsteps silent. He checked on the situation. The door was open and he could see inside. The library looked bright and empty.

“…”

He entered, closed the door behind him, and crouched down. The convenience store bag would make noise, so he tightly grabbed it lower than the handles to hold the contents in place.

He faced forward and spotted Siegfried next to the counter at the entrance.

The tall old man was asleep. He was sitting shallowly in his chair, his arms were folded above his stomach, and he looked perfectly peaceful.

A convenience store bag identical to the one Sayama held and an empty bento were placed on the counter.

“…So that is what happened.”

Sayama stood up and sighed. Red flames were visible in the small potbelly stove placed next to the old man. Sayama felt warmth coming from those flames and he waved his arms to relieve the tension from before.

Baku stretched atop his shoulder. He must have been tense as well because he let out a sigh.

“We certainly get along,” muttered Sayama as he stroked Baku’s head.

Immediately afterwards, Sayama’s vision slid away from the scene before his eyes.

Sayama saw a dimly-lit area.

It was not the Kinugasa Library. It was a single wooden room measuring five meters square. A table sat in the center.

The room was filled with a slight crimson light. The light illuminated a high ceiling that left the slope of the roof bare. The walls did not reach the ceiling and the length of the joists suggested there were six rooms total. Sayama was within the largest of the rooms.

And then Sayama looked down at himself.

…I exist only as my vision once more.

This was the past being shown by Baku. Sayama did not know this place

Just as he began to wonder whose past it was, he noticed two figures across the table from him. The first was a young woman and the other was a man sleeping in a chair next to the table. The man had his back to Sayama.

The woman fixed the position of the blanket covering the man. The woman had long and soft red hair and a slender face. She wore a shirt and stole over a simple pale green dress.

Sayama thought it looked like an outfit from the Middle Ages as he looked over at the woman. From the lack of outward awareness in her actions and the way she walked on her tiptoes, Sayama could guess what sort of social status she belonged to. Suddenly, Sayama smiled. He had noticed a stain on the sleeve of her shirt.

…Is that paint?

He lowered his head in his mind and walked forward. He moved to the other side of the table where he could see the two.

A fireplace was located on the wall opposite the table. The fireplace had no firewood or fire.

…What?

A single slab of stone was placed in the fireplace.

The blue, slightly cracked slab was thirty centimeters square and it had a single word written on it. It was a foreign word that Sayama did not recognize. However, Sayama could sense the meaning of the word.

Fire.

The pale crimson light was being produced around the stone slab. It even produced heat and the flickering shimmer of a flame.

This told Sayama a certain truth: he was in 1st-Gear.

Sayama looked toward the two people in front of the fireplace. The woman was adjusting the hem of the sleeping man’s blanket. From Sayama’s new position, he could see the front of the man.

He was a young man. He had broad shoulders and a nicely-shaped nose. His hair was blond and short, and his eyes were closed in sleep. He wore long black clothes over his tall form which looked cramped in the chair.

Sayama recognized the man. And the woman adjusting the hem of the blanket spoke his name.

“Siegfried…”

With her back to Sayama, the woman suddenly tilted her head. She reached a hand past the blanket and underneath the chair. She seemed to have found something.

After a while, she slowly, slowly pushed her hand to the side underneath the chair. Something was hidden by the blanket there and she was pushing it out from under the chair.

What came into view was a birdcage. It was a new birdcage made from wooden branches tied together. A blue bird with a bandage around its right wing stood inside.

The woman sighed. She stood up with the birdcage in her arms and turned in Sayama’s direction.

She looked down while frowning slightly. She sighed again before speaking.

“Nein begged him to do it, I’m sure. And he even made a cage…”

The language was the same one the knight and the others had spoken during the day. He was hearing the meaning rather than the actual words spoken.

The bird in the cage then looked up. It looked up at the woman from its branch and spread its un-bandaged left wing. The wing bent into two at the middle. It gave a quick high-pitched chirp as it showed the woman its wing.

That chirp caused the woman to frantically turn toward Siegfried behind her.

He was asleep, but he turned his head a bit to the side and frowned.

The woman hurriedly placed the birdcage above the fireplace She ignored the bird that tilted its head as it looked at her. She covered the cage with a half-knit brown wool cloth.

She looked back and forth between the sleeping Siegfried and the chirping bird. She whispered toward the birdcage. Sayama smiled when he sensed her words meant “be quiet” and “go to sleep”.

The woman’s words must have gotten through to the bird because it quieted down after chirping a bit longer.

The woman let out a breath and spoke while bringing her arms around the birdcage.

“I suppose we have to keep it…”

“Yes,” replied a quiet voice.

Sayama looked over just as the woman did. Next to the fireplace, an old man was poking his face in below the lintel leading to the passageway.

The old man’s clothes were such a dark green they looked black. He was short and lean, the top of his head lacked any hair, and his face was covered in wrinkles, but his eyes held a powerful light.

The man entered the room and stood before the fireplace. He placed his hands on his lower back.

“Lady Gutrune, he is a soldier from another Gear. We must not let our guard down.”

“But, Doctor Regin, he saved our village. And…” The woman, Gutrune, pointed toward the birdcage covered by the half-knit wool. “Why did he do that? He came to destroy this world, but he stopped the rampage by the mechanical dragon my father, the king, had you make and he also worked to heal that injured bird.”

“…Where is Nein?”

“Sleeping…I think. After finishing dinner, she did nothing but listen to him play music on that instrument.”

Gutrune looked toward the hallway and Sayama followed her gaze.

He could not see anything, but the old man named Regin followed her gaze as well.

“It has been a long time since that six-rowed keyboard has been played. What song did he play?”

“I did not recognize it. He said he had been taught it long ago in his hometown.”

“So the other Gears have cultures much like ours.”

“Yes,” said Gutrune with a nod. She looked over at Siegfried and spoke more quietly. “That instrument had not been played for years, but that was because we had forgotten about it. We have been so busy ever since my father began tightening this Gear’s defenses. …We have had to create the mechanical dragons, extract the concepts to create the Concept Core, and seal off or defend every entrance into 1st-Gear.”

“What do you think of him, princess? Does a softhearted princess like you think he might have saved the village and rescued that bird so we would let our guard down?”

“Why would he need to do that for such a small world? With his power, I think he could have easily destroyed everything without doing that. Yet he has not done so and is now working to learn our language.”

“He said he came from a country with a similar language structure, similar terms, and similar written characters.”

“Yes. And today, he taught us the meaning of the lyrics of that song he sang while playing the keyboard.” Sayama saw Gutrune narrow her eyes as she watched Siegfried. “It was a holy song. It was not a song of demons as those suspicious of him say it is.”

“Are you referring to me?”

“No, Doctor Regin. I would not say you are suspicious of him. You are merely skeptical of everything.”

Gutrune then stroked Regin’s bald head.

Regin stopped her with both hands and, unsure what to do with her arms, she crossed them.

“It seems men do not like it when you stroke their head.”

“…Did you do the same to him?”

“Yes. When I taught him some words and he managed to get his meaning across. For some reason, he did not like it. Yet he always seems so happy when Nein does it.” Gutrune sighed but quickly composed herself and looked back toward Siegfried. “But is everyone in his Gear like him? Do they all end up saving people despite intending to fight?”

“You could perhaps say that he fights despite intending to save people.”

“I suppose so. …But I see possibility in that. It may be dangerous with how vague an idea it is, but if there are a lot of people like him, perhaps they could actually save people in their attempts to destroy.”

“Princess, your excellent upbringing leads you to think about things in such wonderful ways.”

“But how about this? Could someone like him use the holy sword Gram you created? Would that holy sword with a will of its own choose a simple human to be its master?”

Suddenly, Gutrune turned in the direction of Sayama’s vision.

“Hello,” she said with her eyes curved like a bow. Her gaze directly met his own.

Soon thereafter, Sayama realized what had happened. She was speaking to the corner of the room behind him.

Sayama turned around and found a short figure in the darkness of the corner where the light from the fireplace did not reach.

It was a girl. She was short and slender. She had gray hair and purple eyes. She stood behind Sayama while looking up at Gutrune. She was trying to reach up to the birdcage on top of the fireplace.

Behind her, Gutrune spoke with a smile in her voice.

“Were you hiding it all this time? Do not worry. I will not take it away any more. If it is important enough to you that you need to hide it and watch over it this late at night, you can take it with you to your room.”

Those words put a smile on the girl’s face. Gutrune let out a sigh that held no hint of disagreeableness.

“You need to thank him. Okay, Nein?”

That was the girl’s name.

As soon as Sayama heard that short name, he awoke from the past as if waking from a dream.