Vol 13 Chapter 3 (1/2)

Bottled letter for you

He held a document on that day The document that had arrived in his hand later than its delivery tie shock Not that because it arrived late Under the inconvenience of letter deliverance between cities, it wasn't possible to guarantee ti Hence, one would be more lenient to this mishap

He had deliberately printed out the data from the ter on paper rather than on the screen

” But why?” he muttered after a short moment of confusion

Rather than joy, doubt first surfaced in his h photo on the docurown a lot, but he had lost his sensitivities He looked like an ordinary boy It was hard to believe he had once brought him so much impact But there was no question to the city he came from, and his name was the same as before

The person in the photo still left traces in his o The childish air in the boy was disappearing, but some part of it remained The trace of youth People always viewed the traces of the young as their potential in the future Though he shouldn't be considering this as he was only twenty years of age, but the trace of youth could fade with growth The choices in one's life reduced through time In the end, only one road was possible However, this explanation was for the general populace

He was different

As a Military Artist, he was born to fight He had no other choice, and his talent had farther paved the road for him For him to come to an Academy City filled with immature students, it was unbelievable

But this was the reality

”Have to do my best,” he murmured

Karian Loss This was his name He was the Student President of the Academy City Zuellni This here he was now

◇

That thing was in every post office near any roa bus station of any city In a box beside the counter held letters placed in a mess Karian tried all he could to take out one of the letters The roa a somewhat dirty uniform, had stuffed a few letters into that box and had then taken new packages froh the letter wasn't eye-catching, it had strongly attracted Karian's attention

It was a letter without an address for its addressee, a letter not specifically written for anyone or any organization It was sent to anyone, any city noas it was sent to so in a world different from the sender's own A letter without an address In Karian's memory, these letters weren't happily received by the post office However, for so in nuainst it

At that time, Karian was only ten years old He lived in the Trade City Santoburug Since the beginning of the year, his vision had deteriorated drastically He had to wear glasses now The uncolasses

The letter in his hand was quite new Except for the rough edges of the four corners, he couldn't find any traces of dae on it It had probably taken in all the luck of the roa Though there was no rule that said one couldn't take the letter home, he still wanted it to be safe

What was he expecting? Perhaps expecting a change to his routine life He wanted to breathe in the outside air

The present Karian could not recall what he was thinking back at that time Either way, he remembered he had taken the letter hoe entlesister No ood fa to be dissatisfied about Not that he would complain As the child of a rich farades and people could easily find any shortcos on the surface His parents loved him No one would be more fortunate than him in this world He was content

But, for sure

”Nii-sama”

The door opened after a knock Karian's sister walked in with a servant, carrying a heavy book in her arms Hair the same color as Karian's waved behind her as she delivered the book to hio

”You've finished reading it?”

”Um,” she nodded with a face that carried an ihter?”

This thick book wasn't one that a child could finish reading in so short a period of time He studied her and did not see traces of tiredness in her eyes

”Lendhim and pushed the book to him Karian took it with a sour smile and caressed her head His hand felt the warmth that was unique to a child's, proof of her exhaustion

”I'll prepare it and lend it to you toentle instruction but she i to sleep It was extraordinary that she could concentrate and finish reading such a thick book at her age

The servant took her hand and led her out of the door Her footsteps were not stable She would probably fall asleep before she arrived in her rooer sister, Felli Loss Out of all normal members of the Loss family, she was a special child with the power of Psychokinesis

That was Felli

Kei – was a special power that supported the strength of a Military Artist A Psychokinesist th was the sa brain cells that could release the Kei of Psychokinesis, turn it into atoather information and to communicate

Karian returned the book to the bookshelf, feeling the weight of the book through his wrist Felli could read and write at the age of six, and she could read professional books of this thickness, all thanks to her ability of Psychokinesis Though the words she used were still a child's words, her knowledge far exceeded Karian's

Incredible Though Karian had met Military Artists and Psychokinesists, all of them were adults Were they that incredible too when they were young? Did such a huge distance exist between them and the normal people? Felli had so easily crossed over the four years that separated they

He was jealous of his sister

At his age, he was beginning to use his knowledge to his advantage That hat loomy atmosphere in his room intensified

He returned to the desk and without any mood to study, leaned on the chair A sense of failure and inferioritythat he couldn't describe ords He couldn't think of a way to let it out, yet he didn't want to be troubled about it on his own Not that he couldn't i to even think about it

His hesitation stayed with hi stuck to every part of his body like glue While finding a way to escape it, he found the letter in his bag

◇

The door to the Student President's room had been blocked A tray of sandwiches that replaced dinner, prepared by the Student Counciltea after dinner

The person alked into the roo of wearing the General Studies uniforrowth in these four years since he left her She elve back then He had only recently gotten used to the difference between the present Felli and the Felli in his rowth of an adolescent

The eed, but currently, Felli's cheeks were pale red, her breathing irregular She must have run froular breathing, she had changed her greeting

” What is it?”

She held a new unifor of this?” she looked at hilasses and spread his hands His face showed the icy expression he used during work

”As you can see, I' you to Military Arts”

”Why? I”

”If possible, I want you to live freer, but the city's current circumstances do not allow it You should also know of the Acadeot to do with me? I know Zuellni would lose all its selenium mines if it lost in the next Military Arts Competition But we'll leave this city one day In that case, why”

”Felli”

He understood her and he held the sa, but he still stopped her

”That's rude to all the students who coo to another Academy City”

”Do you think our parents would consent to that?”

Felli lowered her head, biting her lips Everyone back in Santoburug had high expectation of her as a genius in Psychokinesis Originally, she had no choice but to live in her hohter's thinking, the parents had allowed Felli to leave the city for a lio to Zuellni, where her brother Karian was The Loss fa, and it had used its huge influence to persuade the government to allow Felli to leave On the surface, Felli had appeared to leave for Zuellni to further her studies The depart for the city

” I didn't want to be a Psychokinesist”

”I also didn't want to be a normal person If I had a power equal to yours, I wouldn't have done this Since people cannot just obtain what the power they want, unfairness also clings to you all the tih it was an opinion hard to accept, Felli's head was lowered and she did not argue She just kept her head down, notan inch

”From tomorrow, you're a Military Arts student Your classes are the saes would interfere with your lessons I'll let you know later of other procedures”

The rooered out of the room Alone in the room, Karian leaned back on the chair His body felt heavy, as if he was feeling all his exhaustion at once He recalled her figure leaving the roo, proof of the fact that the ed them

Perhaps it was the same for Felli

◇

Karian opened the envelope The letter, having traveled a long journey, had obtained different kinds of smell It also retained a faint aroma of the flowers, a smell of the outside The smell of a place that Karian could not contact with The air of so foot in The letter had allowed him to temporarily overlap with a different place He seemed to understand why this kind of letter was always mailed out

The words on the letter weren't typed up They were hand-written in neat handwriting, as if the writer was i It looked to have come froan to read

”hello, stranger My name is Sharon Marcel I really hope this letter won't be sent back to my home city I wonder ill happen to it?”

What will happen to it? That troubled Karian Sharon Marcel had not mentioned the name of her city, but from the content of the letter, sheThough he knewbus to another, it did not feel that real to hih He wanted to knohy she left her home city, but he'd probably only find out after he read the entire letter He kept reading

”Perhaps it's strange fora city, but it wouldn't be surprising if you think about it closely I only know the sceneries of two cities Though the roa bus has stopped in many cities, I could only look in from the outside No matter which city it is, I can't move freely as I'm not a citizen of that city I understand from the journey that there are so ine Back inThis world is really vast! But as for cities that are related to my life, there are only two”

She publicly announced her wish in this letter, saying that she wanted to understand the world e She wanted to have experienced it and write down the wish of the world where nuios drifted

And she also understood that it was an impossible wish

”What the”

Karian was disappointed He never expected it was such a boring letter Though one could only write about oneself in a letter not addressed to anyone, but how could she hope to gain the goodwill of the reader by writing a negative letter? This person seemed to be older than Karian This side of her orse than hiry that the letter had failed his expectation Of course, one reason was that he held too h it off, but not today

Yes, he should write back This sudden thought fascinated him The other person was fe to meet somebody In that case, the person who received the letter must be a brilliant male A male who could understand her, respect her and coht Karian pondered in his foul interest, pondering how to reply as his pen ran on the white page He knew this was boring andBut he wrote to the end and folded the letter, wrote the address on the envelope and took it to the post office He did all that without hesitation

When he put the letter in theof self-hatred He hated he was only a ten year old kid Perhaps he could rew older?

”That's why I' but your na about But in a world that contains numerous cities like stars, I think it won't be that bad for the letter to be sent back to my home city

I want to listen to your story I also want to hear the story of your city”

Trade city Santoburug A city that specialized in infor Its system was the same as a normal city's Every few years, it participated in an intercity ainst the cities in its vicinity – Ronderia and Kararicultural city Don't knohose joke it was to fight against these two good business partners Since Santoburug's relationshi+p with these two cities had worsened, it could only obtain information from faraway cities And the information hat Ronderia and Karamarina desired In the end, the hostile relationshi+p between the three cities evolved into that of a natural inforet in terathered immature people, but that meant it had also stored up talents from different cities It was a city of mixed values The city chased after flexibility It was able to use its potential on research and invention An Acadehly by others Other cities all used the result of these researches toto Sharon's request, Karian had explained the situation of his own city But when he thought closely, he didn't think there was anything special he wanted to let off

The outside world It s that differed from here Each sealed off city had its own culture, but the specialty of Santoburug had averaged out the difference between culture and civilization The trade of information seemed to have smoothed out all the ripples in the sand

In so prosperous a city like Santoburug that was the average of all cities, didn't thatsellable and unique? As Karian had thought, it hts As he waited for a response, anticipation and uneasiness greeted hi But because the tiined, he had gradually forgotten it

It was after three months that he received the letter

◇

Karian exa the letter of notification

If they had such a strong Military Artist as him, they would win the next Military Arts Competition Everyone would hold the sath But an excellent Psychokinesist was necessary to allow this Military Artist to utilize his full potential If infore scale, his strength could be used more easily As such, Felli was necessary

”But”

Karian looked at the docuain This person had chosen to enroll in General Studies In reality, a Military Artist of his level could learn nothing by entering the Military Arts course Felli was probably the saiven this person per must have happened

Karian must find out the reason to it He had to transfer this person to Military Arts when he entered the Academy City, because the year of his entry was the year in which the Military Arts Coaze landed on the vase in the rooht of how to obtain that information The red flowers blosso overboard?” he asked the flowers

But the aroh the air was different from that in his memory

◇

Karian was skeptical of the letter that the er of the house had taken to him Once he saw the nao Extreme self-hatred and embarrassment made him want to tear apart the unopened letter, but he wanted to find out what she had to say In the end, he chose to open the letter

”Yo, hello Thanks for your reply In truth, I've sent out ten similar letters You're the third to reply And no one had written as badly as you”

As if he had received a head wound, the impact was heavy for his, but you still played with me like I'm an idiot You deliberately messed around withdistance coe beads of sweat ran down his face He had been seen through This wo the letter He felt deeply the wound made by the hidden crawls of this person whoh this at

”But I like you the most of the three You described your city in details, but unfortunately, I can't give you a pass Though I want to understand a city's history and uniqueness, that's not only it There's also the scenery You ather information, but that's not it I want to understand how you feel about the city Perhaps you don't understand with such an abstract explanation Ah yes You said in the letter you're 22 But in truth, how old are you? If you still want to sayful next time”

He had lost co the letter, Karian looked at the ceiling He never thought the prank he played back then would suffer such defeat

”How can this happen?”

He was still doubtful after reading Was that address not the sender's address? Was this wo, someone that Karian knew? Who was she? Karian had no clues His parents But his dad was busy all day, and herher husband They wouldn't have the ti In that case

”Did she really leave her city?”

His sense of defeat did not fade, but he couldn't suppress his curiosity He quickly found a piece of blank paper and beganWhat should he say?

Karian never thought he could be so happy in his confusion

◇

The person who ca Military Artist with a stiff expression on her face Vance, standing beside Karian, looked at the glooirl

”Excuse me I'm in Military Arts second year, Nina Antalk I heard you want to talk tofor you,” Karian nodded and looked at the document beside his hand An application form to create a platoon

”You want to for to the docuh members You can't form a platoon just with a piece of paper”

Karian's words did not scare her Keeping her stiff expression, she nodded

”As you said, there's only me and Sharnid Elipton There's also a Dite technician from the Alchemy course, but Sharnid was once active in the 10th platoon”

”You entered the 14th platoon in your first year Sharnid was the sahof this platoon”

”Karian,” Vance cut in a low voice Hea team Nina and Sharnid were both excellent Military Artists, but Vance had doubt on whether Nina had the quality to act as captain Nina was in her second year The first priority they should consider was her experience

Vance was right

” I want to knohy you want to form a platoon? What are you not satisfied with in the 14th platoon?”

”Nothing I think the 14th platoon is excellent”

”Then?”

”I ad style that can reflect myself”

”You can't do that in the 14th platoon?”

”The 14th platoon is excellent, but tis my way I'm doubtful of whether Zuellni has the time for that now”

”What honest opinion”

Nina's personality dazzled Karian So honest that she was stupid This was shown in her handing in the application forh me young and ih Nina needed Karian's permission to form a platoon, Vance's vote could reject her in this situation