86 - Volume 13 - Chapter Pr

PROLOGUE

WHEN I LOOK UP

It was like the palace made of moonlight from her favorite fairy tale. A pristine, pure-white, dazzling town. Unlike the big city she used to live in before, it was a newly built suburban commuter town. It had the wide, straight roads and clearly demarcated blocks unique to the Republic, lined with stylish buildings and elegant streetlights.

It’d been designed by young, talented artisans to serve as a home for new civilians who would raise the next generation of the country. Flowers bloomed around the plazas, parks, and uniform houses. It was a beautiful town, like something out of a dream—out of a fairy tale.

The Alba, who’d lived in this country the longest, and immigrants from other lands who’d been living in this country for many generations already saw the Republic as their homeland, and their cities had established relationships with one another. And so this new town was home to immigrants from the United Kingdom of Roa Gracia, as well as families like Citri’s, immigrants who’d been there a much shorter time in comparison. The families who lived there belonged to many different races.

There was only one pure Alba family, in the home next door to hers—a family of immigrants from the Giadian Empire. Yes, her next-door neighbors.

Where her childhood friend, who was the same age as her—Dustin Jaeger—lived.

The Jaegers were nobility in the Empire, so Dustin was raised with the mannerisms of a noble child. Despite being a boy, he conducted himself maturely and properly. He was confident but calm, soft-mannered, and kind. He would never treat younger children or girls cruelly, a far cry from the rowdy boys around the block who would tug on her hair or throw bugs at her.

Compared with them, he was a fairy-tale prince.

She liked him. Admired him, perhaps.

She would go to the garden and make him a crown or ring of flowers as thanks for helping her, and he would always agree to put it on. Knowing Dustin treated her like a princess, too, made her happy.

They’d go to school every day and play together when they went home. He would walk her home and wave good-bye, promising to see her the next day.

Until that night came.

When she woke up with a start, she found that she was in the prefab hut they’d decided to stay the night in the previous day. It was the management office of some bridge she didn’t know the name for, built over a large river she didn’t know the name to, either. Located on the city outskirts where people rarely passed by, the place was abandoned, with its staff having gone home hours ago. Last night, they’d picked the lock and sneaked in.

It was early morning, and despite some light snowfall, the sturdy architecture of Federacy buildings and the warmth of her friends kept the cold at bay. They had been her close friends and confidantes ever since their time at the Eighty-Sixth Sector’s lab, and she’d gathered to go on this journey now, before their time was up.

Still, the majority of them weren’t here. They either hadn’t found their way here, or they had no intention of joining Citri’s group. The Republic citizens’ evacuation point wasn’t particularly hidden, but it hadn’t been extensively publicized, either, so they were probably fine…

As she got up, pulling off the coat she used as a blanket, she found the other girls had just woken up, too. Kiki and Karine. Ashiha and Imeno, Totori and Ran and Shiohi.

…Wait. One of them was missing.

“Where’s Totori?”

Karine, who had long, straight red hair, shook her head slightly. She was an older-sister figure to everyone, both in the laboratory and for this group in general.

“She left in the middle of the night.”

Like a cat that realized its death was near, she’d wandered off to find a place to die in solitude.

No, not like. That’s exactly what happened.

“…I see.”

Still, if nothing else…

…she’d departed this deserted riverside on the outskirts of the town, leaving the emptied management hut behind her. She’d walked into the unpopulated darkness on her own, vanishing silently into the night. The fact that no one had to get caught up in her fate was, if nothing else, a small comfort.

This was why they’d gathered here. Seeking that same fate.

Realizing someone else was missing, Citri glanced around, seeking the other person who should have been here, who accompanied them while aware of their fates.

“Where’s Yuuto?”

Her friends held back a chuckle at how she looked like a baby chick searching for her parent.

“He’s out to gather food. He said the morning market is probably open this time of day.”

“He told us he’d be back before the people in charge of the hut return, but he added that if he’s late, we should wait under the tall tree over there,” Kiki said with a smile, sitting curled up and hugging her knees.

She had a petite figure and short, soft golden hair.

“I was surprised when you brought him along, Citri. What if he got caught up? But I’m glad he’s here. Thanks to him, we can eat hot, fresh food.”

Since Citri and her group needed to avoid being seen, Yuuto both guided them and went out to buy them food along the way. Whenever possible, he’d stop by a stall and get them hot food. When they were away from town, he started campfires and made them tea or heated up canned food. There was even one time he killed and cut up a pheasant without using his gun.

Since Citri had no experience with skinning a fish, to say nothing of hunting of any sort, everything he did looked like magic. And the hot food he served them helped warm both their bodies and hearts in the wintry climate of the Federacy, which was situated near the continent’s north.

It was so good, it made Citri tear up the first night they had it. The warmth of the soup he made, so hot that she almost burned her tongue on it—coupled with the red glow of the campfire lighting up the darkness—struck her as both wistful and precious.

…These were the skills he had to learn when he fought on a battlefield that was far colder than the Federacy’s winter and snow.

It was because he kept on fighting—not just against the Legion, but against the snow and darkness and the woods, against the cold malice of humanity—that even now, he could live on as a proud lone wolf in this freezing, snow-leaden world.

He was nothing like them, fawns who couldn’t so much as start a campfire because they’d spent their days snugly in the darkness of a laboratory. He was a man who fought and survived.

For some reason, that realization left her feeling terribly…lonely.

“—Oh, you haven’t moved yet?”

Even a building used only during the day on the Federacy’s outskirts was well-built, and so the door opened without a creak. Yuuto peered inside.

Despite it being days since they left Sankt Jeder, his fair features showed no signs of fatigue. His face looked completely collected and sober, which Citri found unbelievable given how groggy she felt.

He gestured in the direction he came from.

“It should be a while before the managers come here, but we should probably move out early just to be on the safe side. The town’s bigger than I assumed last night, and there are people going around here during the day— Wait, what?” He dubiously turned his eyes to Citri, who looked up at him in surprise.

“Nothing.” Citri shook her head.

Bright silvery hair. Slightly orangish, dusk-colored red eyes. He was like a pure, crisp moon, like the sole source of light burning in the dark of night. That’s what she thought of him.