Hyakuren no Haou to Seiyaku no Valkyria - Volume 7 - Chapter Pr

PROLOGUE 

“I think it was supposed to start today. I wonder if he’s fighting right now?” Mitsuki tapped the screen of her smartphone, displaying a full-screen image of her childhood friend Yuuto. 

It was a picture he’d taken of himself in winter, a few months ago. 

Compared to the Yuuto of three years ago in Mitsuki’s memories, the young man in the picture had slightly darker skin and a more intense, masculine face. He looked so much more mature to her, though perhaps that was because of the hardships he’d endured. 

Yuuto sent Mitsuki pictures like this periodically. It gave her a glimpse of the Yuuto of right now, and she felt grateful for that. 

But still, pictures were nothing more than pictures. 

She couldn’t tell, for instance, how much taller Yuuto had gotten just from looking at them. He always wore the same facial expression in each picture; she longed to see more of him than that. 

More than anything, there was the wry smile Yuuto would make when Mitsuki acted a little selfish and spoiled with him, as if to say, “I guess I’ve got no choice.” She loved that smile most of all. 

And now her beloved childhood friend was heading off to war. It had been about ten days now since he’d departed for the battlefield. 

Each one of those days felt interminably long. 

She had acted cheerful over the phone with him, so that she could send him off without burdening him any further, but in truth, she really didn’t want him to go off to fight at all. 

She knew, of course, that Yuuto’s Wolf Clan army was undefeated, winning battle after battle thanks to Yuuto’s use of knowledge from the modern era. But some research on the internet also showed her that even the greatest generals in history never won 100% of their battles. 

Even Takeda Shingen, the famous warlord of Sengoku Period Japan, had won less than 70% percent of the time. In fact, in a lifetime total of seventy-two battles, three had ended in catastrophic defeat. 

And what happened to Takeda’s ally Imagawa Yoshimoto at the Battle of Okehazama served as a reminder that any single defeat could spell the end. There was no guarantee of survival. 

If, by chance, Mitsuki never heard back from Yuuto again, then... Such terrible thoughts sprang to her imagination, and left her so scared she could hardly stand it. 

“Hurry back, Yuu-kun,” Mitsuki whispered, and tapped the surface of the divine mirror on her desk with a finger. 

The mirror was bathed in the light of the full moon coming in through the window, and giving off a phosphorescent glow of its own. It was truly a strange object. 

According to Yuuto, it was probably made of a material known in the world of Yggdrasil as álfkipfer, or “elven copper.” The mystery was why such a thing would be in Japan, not to mention passed down through Mitsuki’s family. The mysteries surrounding its origin were as deep as ever. 

“...Huh?” 

Mitsuki suddenly noticed something different about the cloudy surface of the mirror — there was something black in the middle of it, like a tiny stain. 

“Was this here before?” 

This mirror was the terrible object that had sent Yuuto across worlds to Yggdrasil and away from her, but it was also the means by which the two of them could still communicate, making it precious to her. 

She tried to use a wet tissue to wipe at the mirror’s surface. 

“It’s... getting larger?” Mitsuki found herself questioning what she was seeing. 

As she stood there blinking in surprise, the dark stain grew larger and larger, and finally started to take on the shape of a human form. 

“Wait, this... this couldn’t be...!” 

It all happened in an instant, before she could say any more. 

There was a loud thump! from behind her, as if something heavy had fallen. 

The only thing that should be behind Mitsuki right now was her bed. There was nothing hanging on the wall, so there was nothing that could possibly fall down, other than the roof itself. But she had definitely heard that noise right behind her. 

Mitsuki panicked and turned around, wondering just what was going on. 

“Huh?! Y-Yuu-kun?!” she cried. 

The childhood friend that had filled her thoughts just a moment ago was now standing right there.