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Volume 5 -A Chapter 3 (1/2)

City Series KAWAKAMI Minoru 156150K 2022-07-22

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03/11/1944 - 03/16/1944

The master used that red to write on the parchment.

I have a lot to write today so I decided to go ahead and write about what just happened while Lady Beretta has gone to her university

When I made an Ajouter to check on the number of plates while cleaning up after breakfast I heard the bell ring at the front door

I made another Ajouter a.s.suming it was the food delivery but I found Lady Beretta standing there

She had a two wheeled machine known as a bicyclette next to her and she greeted me cheerfully so I have determined she is not a bad person

I asked her why she was there

She said she had wondered how we had been doing and so stopped by on the way to university

She held a large bag in her hand and I immediately let her inside and called for the master

He responded after I pulled on the string for the bell at the bottom of the stairs three times

He had probably been asleep because he had been up late the previous night writing those letters he never sends

Until I could write my journal entries in the first floor study he had written letters there which he only put in the cabinet

But once I became fully conscious I think he moved to the second floor to write them

Lately he has also been writing letters he does send out because he will sometimes leave the house with a sealed envelope

I do not know which he was writing last night because I am not allowed on the second floor

I got sidetracked

The master looked like he wanted to say something when he met Lady Beretta but then he cleared his throat

He was acting weird but the weirdness ended there

After the two of them exchanged a few words they went to the bas.e.m.e.nt storeroom to see the large machine with limbs much like mine

I finished was.h.i.+ng all the plates and was making the occasional Ajouter when Lady Beretta called for me

I expect this will be hard to describe so I will simply write out what was said

Rosetta this mansion is too large and I am lost so if you can hear me can you tell me where I am

Our extended vowel sounds as we yelled to each other would probably be better represented by misspelling the words with repeated vowels so I will do that from now on

Please Signe your surroundiiiings

There is a weird deer head growing from the wall and it looks like a hallwaaaay

It sounds like you are in front of the first floor study so I will be there right awaaaay

No waaaait If you are coming bring a sharp knife with yoooou

I selected the easiest to use knife in the kitchen and went to rescue Lady Beretta

My Signe had her standing in front of the first floor study but my Ajouter showed her sitting as she waited for me

As soon as I arrived she grabbed my hand and took me to the bas.e.m.e.nt storeroom while saying they were going to make a contract in blood

The master was waiting for us in the bas.e.m.e.nt storeroom below the courtyard and he had a piece of parchment spread out on a work bench

He took the knife from me and quickly cut his own index finger

The red substance I had seen on that February night flowed from his finger and the master used that red to write on the parchment

After writing some sloppy circles and letters he pa.s.sed the knife to Lady Beretta who also cut her finger and wrote on the parchment

They exchanged some words in a language I do not know and then the master ordered me to place the parchment on my right hand

I did so

After about five seconds Lady Beretta mentioned that nothing was happening

The master told me to change to another false arm

I was wearing the waterproof bra.s.s one but he told me to use the more human one made of ceramic

I did not know what purpose that held because the bra.s.s one seemed to work best with my body and the ceramic one seemed to work the worst

Nevertheless I did not question his order so I pulled it out of the first floor storeroom

Lady Beretta seemed to have followed me and she walked into the storeroom

I had just removed my top and was undoing the bolting for my shoulder so we had the following exchange

I am changing but do you need something

Sorry That old man did not explain properly but we need a third party for that contract ceremony and it will only work if your false arm is modeled after a human one Sorry again

Why are you apologizing

I disliked not telling you what this was about and treating you like a machine

But I am a machine

Yes yes All Belle de Marionnettes say that at first How old are you

It has been 35 years since I was made and 15 years since I become conscious

That means you have lived that long and yet have only become this human Rosetta

After she said that Lady Beretta touched my body

My head and most of my torso had become identical to a human through the Coppelia Effect and I felt her fingers stroking my belly as she said the following

You are just like the Belle de Marionnettes I knew in America When you are made to serve as maids your sight hearing and speech are the first things you gain through the Coppelia Effect The sense of taste comes next and that means you have the same internal organ system as a human which give you a metabolism

What does that mean

No matter what you might think you are alive Rosetta You are not a machine

Lady Beretta smiled after that but I had no idea what she was talking about and wondered why someone I barely knew would be determining my characteristics as a Belle de Marionnette

I also wondered why she was giving me that smile that was far from unpleasant

I am a machine

Even if I can become closer to human through the Coppelia Effect I cannot become fully human

Some part of my body will probably wear out before then and I will break

I can become closer to human through the Coppelia Effect but I do not understand why I must become human

All I need to do to live with the master is to cook food and to clean and write my journal entries and to sleep

I do not need any functions beyond those four

Lady Beretta waited for me to finish attaching my arm and then we returned to the storeroom together

In the storeroom I placed the parchment on my hand and said what the master told me to say

I swore not to let anyone else know this secret

When I said that the dried dark red substance burned a mark into the parchment

I had never seen anything like it before

Then Lady Beretta took the parchment and had the following exchange with the master

Now we can both deal with this Lourd de Marionnette without any reservations If you break your promise I will take all of your luck Got that

So that means I can research this Lourd de Marionnette until you have sucked all my luck away

You accepted this pretty easily old man Who are you

I must keep that a secret due to a promise I made with a woman who once rejected me

Well there is no helping that then

Do not act so understanding Oh and you can put your other arm back on now Rosetta

No do not Old man you cannot have her do that You need to work harder to have her evolve into a human Or are you a metalphile

Do not be silly And I am free to do what I want with my own Belle de Marionnette

Is that so Then take a look at Rosetta

Lady Beretta and the master looked at me but I had no idea why she had said that

As I stood there she continued the conversation

Rosetta is no longer your doll old man You told her to put her other arm back on but she has not

The master grumbled and I realized I had obeyed Lady Beretta when she told me to stop instead of obeying the master

I still do not know why that is

But Lady Beretta slapped my shoulder and spoke with a smile

That is how it should be Rosetta Your father would have wanted it this way but you have just forgotten that

How can you be so sure

Maybe it is the blood flowing in my veins The blood of a Lourd de Écrivain and a Belle de Marionnette technician

Her smile changed when she said that

It was an odd smile that had all the elements of a smile but did not feel like one

She then completely ignored the master to speak to me some more

Quit sitting around here and head out with me Rosetta This metalphile old man is obsessed with the Lourd de Marionnette so you can leave him be for a while

Why did you even come to my mansion

What does it matter I have made sure the Lourd de Marionnette is safe and fulfilled my responsibility to the others so now I just have to socialize with the person I met here Personally I cannot believe you will not let such a cute girl out into the city of Paris

Some of what had happened caught in my heart

Namely the father that Lady Beretta had mentioned and the fact that I had obeyed her instruction to stop over the command from the master

I have heard my father died before I gained consciousness

A warm sensation remains in my memories but I do not know if my father wanted me to become human

No one has ever told me to become human and I have never wished to become human

I am a machine

So why am I sitting here waiting for Lady Beretta to return from her university

This is not the feeling of waiting for a guest I must serve as part of my ménage duties

It feels more like waiting to see what kind of ingredients the food delivery person brings by

I do not understand

The only things I do understand are that Lady Beretta knows a lot that I do not and that I understand her even less than I understand myself

That is likely because she exists outside of what I understand but I have not been told to reject things just because I do not understand them so I will not reject her even if I do not understand her

So I am now waiting for her to return from her university

Continually making Ajouter while I wait is one of my jobs

Professor Hermes Becarre who has been teaching Cla.s.s 3-D1, Modern History, will be resigning on March 10 for personal reasons.

A replacement instructor is planned to arrive on March 25.

Cla.s.s 3-D1 will be canceled until then, so the students are to use that time for self study.

Hi there, Mallette.

You seem to still be asleep, so I'll shove this into your room's boîte aux lettres.

I just rode on over to school on my bike and found cla.s.s was canceled. Modern History won't be back until March 25.

The reason why is pretty cool: the professor is retiring due to personal reasons. But we all knew how readily Old Man Becarre would complain about the German army during his lectures.

I'm gonna change the subject.

Oh, yeah. Since I didn't have to answer roll for you, I'll make sure to Signe that I returned the payment of lunch money along with this letter.

But, Mallette, you really shouldn't bring so many guys back with you. I'm your direct neighbor and that's fine, but the landlord is on the other side of me. You need to keep your voice down. And the girl across from you is single, so she probably doesn't like it much either. You need to get along with your neighbors.

Oh, and I don't need lunch or dinner today, so say hi to everyone for me. (If that idiot Phillip shows up and tries to say something, stomp on his foot for me.)

I have some business to take care of. Tell everyone that and tell them I'm helping people and not with a guy like you would be. I'll be at the library like normal.

Okay, we can chat tonight (a.s.suming you don't have a guy in your room).

Now, then. I've come to the library like always, but things are a little different this time.

Professor Hermes was purged a week earlier than he was the other years. This world really is solidly made, so it all flows. Knowing too much about how things go can be a problem in its own way.

I Pointed two men who were fighting on the road on the way here, but what they were fighting over scared me.

One of them was an old baker and the other was an elderly man even older than the baker. But that elderly man was telling the baker to stay away from his bakery tomorrow. Here's what he said as to why:

”I know you'll be killed by a robber tomorrow!!”

According to someone who lives in the area, that baker's only son was taken in by an relative's family who lives out of the country in June of last year.

That son must have spent 53 years outside of France looking into what happened to his parents. And now he was here as an exchange student and trying to stop his parents from being killed.

At the time, entering Paris had been impossible, so as a child, he must not have been able to do anything even when he had heard about his parents' deaths.

To him, this was truly a once-in-a-lifetime chance.

There are people like this. But I doubt he'll get through to his father. That baker would never believe him if this man older than him claims to be his son who should be in another country. Plus, that baker will be brought back to life and killed every year. It's all meaningless.

But there is something weighing on my mind.

The Resistance members who died because I piloted that Heavy Barrel and Phillip who will die before long are both weighing on my mind. Just as my grandma said, this is real to me even if it will be redone.

So I want to treat this all with care.

I was reminded of that fact when I saw Rosetta today. The people around me will be lost, but I can give some things to Rosetta. Because I was born into a Sein Frau technician family.

Is that only an excuse for what will be lost? Am I a hypocrite? I don't really care. I know I'm worried about Rosetta and that's what matters.

Does she want to become human?

Even in this age, the discrimination against Sein Fraus is really bad in America. It isn't much different from the age I lived in. My grandma must have known that. The American Sein Fraus simply shed tears, cannot become human, and commit suicide. The European Sein Fraus aren't that bad. But Rosetta's treatment is awful in a different way. If possible, I want her to think more about a great many things and to become someone I can discuss my ideas with. But if she doesn't want to become human, then it's meaningless.

Especially because becoming human means a lot of worry and pain.

I think that is what a Sein Frau should be, but I can't force it onto her. Because Rosetta doesn't belong to me. I need to keep that in mind so I don't get carried away.

Now for a Point.

It is the ideal environment for reading a book.>

I see. Then I'll stop by the old man's mansion at 2. It's the Balleroy Mansion, right? I promised Rosetta I would discuss some things with her this afternoon, so I have to stop by. But when I start reading, I can get lost in my own world and forget to Point the time, so I need to be careful. I'll jot down a note.

Make sure to check the time frequently.

Now, time to greet the usual librarian.

My guess is it's a Resistance route. I have some questions for M. Schrier who wrote the Death Techno Compilation, so it might be worth sending them to the publisher. M. Schrier was in America at this time, but my grandma's letter had said this:

If I sent him a letter about the Attesor Project, France would send me back as accurate a letter as it could. If that works, I might get quite a bit of information that way. France doesn't know how important the information is. It only wants to prove that there are no holes in the world it created so that it can truly close itself up. Could I take advantage of that and trick France into giving me the information?

But I guess I'll do everything I can on my own before doing that.

When I compared the previous data with the results of my previous investigations, a lot clicked into place.

The Attesor Project was something that really did exist during the previous World War and it was meant to develop the strongest Barrel. The project was said to have been carried out in the Morvan Mountains. The German army went missing when they invaded there and there are records of the local people hearing sounds of sword fighting in the mountains late at night.

But after the war, the military denied all of the rumors and no evidence remained. And most of the German army's damage reports were discarded in the Treaty of Versailles, so they can't be used to prove anything.

And on August 1, 1944, a black dragon attack destroys the nearby village of Herlde and a portion of that mountainous region, so entering the Morvan area was deemed dangerous and a detailed investigation became impossible. Now is the only time to investigate the Attesor Project.

Ironically enough, the Attesor Project is considered no more than a silly rumor due to the influence of M. Schrier's book. People view it just like Atlantis and the Lost World, so it's only used in some fun children's books. That's the usual pattern, isn't it? People go missing, civilians find traces of something going on but never see the actual thing, and then the military denies it all.

The Attesor Project follows that pattern, but it isn't a lie.

Today I learned that the French army has a few hidden units. The most famous is the 0th Heavy Barrel Brigade that moves from battlefield to battlefield as a commando unit, but that isn't all.

I learned there was also a private unit led by an officer who was former n.o.bility. I have the details in my notes, but the odds are good that something weird like the Attesor Project would be led by an eccentric officer.

If so, I need to visit the city hall and ask if I can view the tax ledgers from that time. I doubt I'll get permission with the German army in control, though.

Then again, I'm probably the only one investigating this old military project right now.

Even if it existed and had had successful experiments, that project was from 25 years ago even counting from Paris's current time period. Plus, it was a project that was discarded and abandoned by the military.

In this age, the Germans are working on what they called the Panzer Ritter Project. Lieutenant Colonel Heinz Berge, a hero from the First World War, had his entire body swapped out for prosthetics adapted for a Heavy Barrel to give him reactions speeds 117 times greater than the average Knight Striker.

To be honest, not even an optimistic like me thinks some old tech is going to outdo that German tech. They probably had some decent tech with some decent results, but their research has probably been blown way out of proportion by the rumors and the project was probably never all that credible to begin with.

But if that's all true, why was Jack McWild so intent on keeping anyone else from getting involved that he said nothing when his wife left him, said nothing to my grandma, and went to France where he was killed?

The story is that he got drunk and fell into the Seine, but everyone in our family is a pretty heavy drinker.

My grandma's research found there was apparently a knife wound in the tibia of his remains. 1939 was when the war began and France was terrified, so it wouldn't surprise me if what actually happened was covered up.

I think I'll look into some things and visit Bourgogne eventually. Before August 1.

At the moment, I have to wonder: Why was Jack McWild trying to build the strongest Heavy Barrel?

It has long been said that Knight Strikers exist to protect people, but I lost my companions as a Knight Striker.

Was that what I got for being a Knight Striker just for fun, or was it because I'm not strong enough as a Knight Striker? That's a bit of a question for me.

I have a lot of questions. I don't know where Rose Francisca is right now. She isn't in Paris. I know she and Jack McWild had their wedding in Paris, but where did they meet?

I bet she's returned to her hometown, but where is that? I want to check through the city hall's records.

And there is another mystery: Why does my knowledge from the 90s include nothing about the Balleroy family? I looked it up here and found they were the former Royal Guard Chevalier family that led the regional Chevaliers and their mansion is in a noticeable spot, but that information was entirely missing from what I was taught before arriving.

Was someone trying to hide the mansion's existence? Or was there nothing there in this age? I just don't know.

But that's fine. That at least means I wasn't taught that Rosetta or the old man die, so I don't have to worry about them. Oh, Point.

I guess I'll get going. None of this has been very journal-like and I need to talk with Rosetta this afternoon. Maybe I've been worrying about too much recently. I'll put my notes in my bag and leave.

My friend,

There has been little to report recently, so I had thought I would not have a chance to speak with you.

But, well, now two or three things connected to you have happened in a row, so I felt the need to make a report.

That girl showed up today. At the moment, she has taken Rosetta out into the yard where they are eating snacks.

I put so many restrictions on her concerning Rose Francisca: do not ask about our ident.i.ties, do not speak about us, and do not write any letters using our real names. And yet she readily asked about my Royal Guard Chevalier family and about Rosetta. I managed to avoid answering, but I'm really not sure what to do. I especially panicked when she asked about the Attesor Project. I hesitated a moment before laughing it off. I just hope she didn't suspect anything.

But this makes it even harder to invite her to the Resistance. If what Rose Francisca has said is accurate, it does not seem there is anything I can do about this girl for the time being.

And when I look at it like that, well, she seems like nothing more than a troublemaker girl with too much energy, which is kind of funny. I'm probably just projecting our past onto her, but I really don't think we were ever that much of a nuisance.

She bluntly told me it was my fault that Rosetta isn't evolving. That kid really needs to learn some manners. Still, I do understand why she is so fixated on Rosetta's evolution. Belle de Marionnettes are discriminated against in America, so they're treated as the lowest cla.s.s.

The ma.s.s-produced Belle de Marionnettes in America are mostly treated like toys or slaves, so it is a miracle when they manage to evolve into a human even a little bit. That might have something to do with it, but this is what she said to me:

”If Rosetta wants to remain a machine, that's fine, but you can't just let her stay like this without telling her she can become human. You have to let her know that is a possibility.”

It shows how young she is.

But when I look out there, I see Rosetta following that girl around without knowing what any of it means.

What that girl is trying to do to Rosetta is certainly different from me. Taking her outside will expand her possibilities in many more directions than staying inside the mansion.

If I didn't have this prosthetic right leg…if my leg wound's Formule had not settled in place while I was in the POW camp, I might have made Rosetta my secretary while I commanded the Resistance.

But the past is the past. I'm really not sure what to do. I'm being tossed around by that girl a fair bit too. Does she really intend to have Rosetta evolve? If so, what do I do? Personally, I kind of feel like leaving this up to destiny. I have lived for so long with a policy of not letting Rosetta evolve, but she started smiling just from meeting that girl.

Rosetta might like that girl more than us.

If so, that girl might be able to correct the many mistakes behind Rosetta's birth. I'm really, really not sure what to do. Maybe I'm too old for all this.

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