Tenkyou no Alderamin:Volume 7 Prologue

Prologue

This feels like an awful detour. Thought the flaming-haired girl with her hands on the reins of the horse which her small body rode, below the brightly lit sky with its nighttime darkness already swept away.

"--- is it still far?"

"Sorry, just a little bit more! Just a little bit more!"

Receiving the same answer to her same question 30 minutes ago, the girl's brows furrowed doubtfully. --- When they set off from their link-up village, the sky had yet to illuminate. Their destination was supposed to be a little more than 10 kilometers away, straight as the crow flies, so they should have arrived before day broke.

Instead, her guiding soldiers would claim things like, "this path isn't good", or "bandits appear here", and each time they reached a fork in their path, they would always choose a peculiar branch. Because of that, they were way past their appointed arrival time. The girl's nagging feeling got increasingly stronger.

"............"

She closed her eyes, and brought up the map in the back of her mind. --- Before her departure from the Igsem residence, she had hammered the geographical details surrounding her destination into her head. And thanks to that effort, she could have a firm grasp of their current location despite the countless forks taken repeatedly. Her spatial perception capability was extraordinary for an 8-year old child.

And her conclusion was: they had neither gotten further nor closer to their appointed destination for the past hour. They had been meandering around pointlessly and there was no sign of them heading toward any specific place. The girl found that inexplicable. Was there any meaning to such a bootless errand?

"Perhaps, is it because I'm not welcome?"

She asked in point-blank fashion. Just as what she meant literally, the possibility of them making things unpleasant for her with the detour was the first thing the girl suspected. She was in the position of an outsider who was wedging herself in, using the name of a 'study trip', so it was understandable to her. Her father had taught her that, a military unit is a tightly-knit organization which develops an air of exclusiveness towards outsiders.

"Huh --- no!" "Not at all!"

The soldiers who were queried hurriedly turned around, and shook their heads vigorously. Judging by their actions, it did not seem like they were putting up a front. The girl herself also could not recall any instance of being treated coldly by them. On the contrary, since setting out, they had taken considerable care in one way or another to make sure that she was comfortable.

It was not because they were belittling her just because she was a child. In the first place, by virtue of her lineage and appearance, and more importantly her demeanor, she was an existence that divorces itself from such contempt. Even at such a tender age, the girl was already equipped with a certain type of disposition. A term such as 'grown-up', could not even begin to describe the kind of unyielding majesty of one born to the Igsems.

"Ah --- w-we're turning left here! It's really just a little bit further!"

Following behind the soldiers, the girl also made a left turn upon hitting the cross junction. The girl ascertained with the map in her mind that it was a long-awaited choice which would bring them closer to their destination. What remained would be to continue straight along this path and they should arrive at their destination. Though, instead of the planned approach from the west side, they went on a 180 degree roundabout, and as such, it seemed like they would be arriving from the opposite east side......

Advancing along the highway with the morning sun behind them, about 10 minutes later. Immediately upon arrival --- the girl stumbled upon a strange spectacle before her.

"............?"

A bridge spanned above the road. Putting aside the question of correctness in the expression, from her point of view, she could not have worded it in another way. Spanning over the road that was a little less than 10 meters wide, a beautiful arch-shaped construct was put together. Or it could be the framework of a peculiar door --- anyway, if they kept advancing, they would pass under it perhaps?

Even with those bizarre thoughts, the girl approached closer, and in doing so, she could tell that there was a large number of people gathered below the arch. Mingled with a group of military uniforms, were people clad in unfamiliar white garb walking around. At the edges of the arch which extended to both sides of the road, they seemed to be engaging in some sort of labor.

"What's --- who are all those people?"

The girl asked the soldiers who were leading the way. The uniformity of those plain garments reminded her of the pilgrims of Alderah Sect, but the air around them felt different somehow. Neither did the arch itself strike her as any sort of religious objet d'art. Faced with 「something」 she could not explain with her knowledge, she cocked her head.

"They are part of our regiment. I think they should already be done with their preparations though......"

The leading soldier said between intermittent glances at the hanging sun behind her. "Preparations?" As the girl inquired again, they abruptly stopped the horses and raised their voices.

"Heyyy! We're here!" "Is it okay here!?"

They were about 30 meters away from the arch. The soldiers seemed to be verifying something with the people gathered below it. Shortly after, the other side replied in energetic voices, "All good!"

What in the world is going to happen? --- the instant the girl opened her mouth to inquire, 3 of the soldiers raised their right hands simultaneously, and pointed at an area above the arch with their index fingers.

"There, please look over there."

The soldiers urged her with their smiles. Despite her bewilderment, she did as told and looked in the direction they were pointing.

As she gazed intently at the clear blue sky spread out beyond the arch --- everything began at that moment.

From various places of the arch, accompanied by a piquant sound, columns of water rose toward the blue sky. It seemed like some kind of setup had been done on the spray outlets, as the water that was sprayed out turned into mist and scattered into the surroundings. The countless water droplets that reflected the sunlight sparkled before the little girl's eyes ---

"--- ah ---"

The deep crimson eyes which widened at the curious contrivance, in the next moment became glued to the space immediately above.

Before she knew it --- another bridge had appeared. Above the arch that continued to spray out water, a beautiful arc of red, orange, yellow, green, and various other colors piled up was drawn.

A rainbow spanned across the blue sky. She had always been under the impression that it was just a product of capricious nature.

The girl called Yatorishino Igsem, for the first time in her life, had set her eyes on this seven-colored science.

" --- "

With her eyes taken by that radiance, wordlessly, the girl prodded her horse forward. I want to try passing under that --- the curiosity which had arisen mostly from her subconsciousness moved her hands which had been gripping onto the reins.

She had yet to look up at a rainbow from right below it. Neither had she heard of anyone accomplishing that. But, if it were now. If that arch was what had created that rainbow, under that arch, under the rainbow, it should still be ---

Advancing forward with anticipation swelling up inside, before the girl's line of sight --- poof, the rainbow dimmed and disappeared.

" --- ah."

Lowering her gaze from the sky that had lost its colorfulness, she found herself already in the vicinity of the people who were gathered around the arch. With disappointment surfacing on her face, the little girl turned toward the mix of military uniforms and white robes and asked reflexively.

"Did you, turn it off?"

One could perhaps say that, what permitted that simple initial address - neither a ceremonial greeting nor a self-introduction - of the flaming-haired girl, was no doubt the magic of the rainbow. Following that, a black-haired boy of similar age as the girl stepped out from the crowd. Despite having his entire body soaking wet from the sheet of spray sprinkled from the arch, the boy did not pay any heed to it and with a beaming face, he shook his head horizontally.

"Nope, we haven't turned it off. You just can't see it from there. Try backing up."

"......?"

Baffled, the girl did as told. Using her reins, she instructed the horse to retreat backward without turning around. Upon doing that --- before long, the vanished radiance returned to her field of view. Without any sign of being marred, the multi-colored bridge which spanned the blue sky was right there in the same place.

" --- how, is this."

"How is this possible? You were thinking?"

The boy finished for her as his smile suddenly turned mischievous. The girl nodded frankly.

The boy beckoned. Shrugging off a moment of hesitation, the girl jumped off gracefully from the horse she was astride on. Using her own legs, she passed under the arch. Just as the sheet of spray fell onto her --- the instant she felt the chilliness against her cheek, around her, the people in white garb including the boy exclaimed in unison.

"""""""Welcome to the world of science!"""""""

Expressing their welcome openly, the people in white robes crowded around the girl. This triggered a sense of confusion even in her, and appearing to perceive that, a single person in military uniform outside the crowd of people called out.

"Aah, sorry if we startle you. This is just our way of welcoming you."

A man pushed through the cluster of people and closed in. From the eyes of the girl, her first impression was that he was nothing more than a bleary middle-aged man. He was neither tall nor short, and his build was mediocre as well. With regards to his facial features, his jaw is a little stretched thus giving him a somewhat broad chin. Both his eyes were dominated by the white of his sclera, and his hanging eyelids made him look like a half-witted person.

Even though his appearance was far from imposing, the girl was not so caught up in the air around him to miss the rank insignia attached to his military uniform. The girl straightened her back, turned about, and saluted him.

"This is Yatorishino Igsem reporting to Regiment Commander, Sir General Bada Sankrei. I am honored to be granted the privilege of this study trip with the Imperial Army National Garrison commencing from today. I would like to first apologize for my late arrival."

"Er, I got them to make a detour for our own convenience actually. One of the sprayers had a fault this morning, and we needed to buy some time to fix it, you see. Well, I'm glad it turned out well. My boy had been frantic up till the last second."

"I wasn't frantic in any way! ...... I was just, in a bit of a hurry."

"Don't try denying when you even got your underwear soaking wet. --- well, anyway. It has been a long journey from your home, isn't? You must be tired, Yatorishino-chan."

Bada said in a gentle tone as if he were welcoming his own daughter. Following that, he turned his gaze backward.

"I hereby welcome you, to our Gra Mestoeri『Rising Sun Regiment』. My son here, as well as a lot of other guys have been looking forward to your arrival. They may be a bit noisy, but well, I hope you can get along with them without getting vexed."

After saying that, Bada Sankrei grinned, his teeth visible. Just like the boy earlier, a mischievous-looking smile emanated from his entire face.

"Also, I'm just bragging here but. --- As a place where kids can come to play, our unit is probably the most fun place in the world."