Chrome Shelled Regios

by Shūsuke Amagi

How's life at the new school? Have you made friends? I'm experiencing new things everyday. As long as there are new people around me, the levels of experiences are different and very surprising.

  I hold a curious and refreshing view of my new life. Everything's so new and different that sometimes I think back to the past. Recently, I remembered what it was like when I first started my training.

  Perhaps it's too early to call that the past, but I can't change the things that have already happened. Maybe it's better to call them the past.

  I've begun a new life here. Things didn't go well at first, but I think they'll become better.

  I've made new friends here. A senior senpai really looks after me.

  How're you over there? I shouldn't have to worry because it's you. You must have made more friends than me, since you're better at interacting with people.

  Oh yes, I'm now working while studying. I am a janitor in the Central Mechanism Chamber. It's tiring, but it's surprisingly interesting. This was my first time seeing the real form of the city. I never thought it was like that. Perhaps Grendan's real form is like that too? Maybe Grendan's......It's quite fun to imagine what it's like.

  Reading up to here, you must be throwing a tantrum. But I'm not telling. Are you angry? If you want to know, wait till we meet again.

  May we meet somewhere other than Grendan.

  To my dear Leerin Marfes.

  Layfon Alseif

  Layfon chose a sword from the assorted weapons hanging on the wall. It was a sword with a long, wide blade.

  "I can't change the setting as it's a practice sword. Is that ok?" the boy in the working suit said.

  Layfon nodded.

  "But I feel that a sword doesn't suit your body build."

  To the dissatisfaction uttered by the other boy, Layfon felt the grip of the sword and didn't pay much attention to what was said.

  "Harley, that guy said it's ok. You're such a nag."

  Sharnid stopped Harley with a flippant tone. Even so, Layfon could still hear Harley mumbling.

  Layfon swung the sword with one hand, his body moving slightly, pulled by the point of the sword. He moved back and forth in the platoon's training room.

  "Have you had enough warm up?" Nina asked as Layfon stopped his movements.

  Layfon nodded wordlessly.

  "Right, then......"

  "Restoration," Nina whispered. The two rods in her hands transformed, becoming bigger and reflecting the light of the ceiling as if their black surface was absorbing the light of the room. The handles changed to fit Nina's hands. A number of ring-like things had expanded along the part of the weapon used for attack. Nina's wrists lowered naturally.

  It looked totally different from what it was before.

  It was a weapon called Iron Whips.

  The changes to the weapon came from the combination of the voice and the memories of the Dite. The alloy used in alchemy could restore even the original weight of the item.

  "I won't hold back."

  Nina flicked the iron whip in her right hand and the sound of air being torn apart rang out in the room. She pointed the whip at Layfon's forehead.

  Feeling the non-existent pain on his forehead, Layfon nodded wordlessly.

  He readied his fighting stance.

  And what happened next was fast as lightning.

  Nina rushed over, giving Layfon no time to calculate the distance between them.

  She attacked with her right iron whip. Layfon turned aside to avoid the attack aimed at his chest, but Nina's left iron whip was already pounding down towards his exposed back. He raised his sword-arm and turned his wrist, placing the blade against his back to counter Nina's whip. His wrist could have dislocated in between receiving the pressure of the attack and recovering, after having spent all the strength on countering the whip. Not with Layfon. He guided the heavy pressure down the wavering blade, relaxing his grip on the handle and letting the flat side of the blade hit his own back. At the same time, he used that momentum to turn around and escape through the opening between the two whips.

  Layfon opened up the distance between him and Nina, and resumed his fighting stance.

  He heard a short whistle.

  "Haha! This is my first time seeing someone stop Nina's first move," Sharnid said.

  To Layfon, Nina didn't care anything for Sharnid's comment. Her sharp gaze, so like that of a beast pinning its prey, never moved away from Layfon's body.

  This time, Nina cautiously weighed their distance. Layfon's stance changed in response to Nina's, who was slowly changing her position.

  The hard build of the iron whip made it clear that it was an offensive weapon. For the sake of convenience, its length wasn't too long. One didn't have to worry about an iron whip being damaged in battle, unlike a sword. An iron whip could be swung at will and would not break. It could also receive a direct attack. Grendan's police force used the iron whip as a standard weapon because of its convenience. However, normal police were only equipped with light iron whips. Layfon's sword-arm was slightly numb. After receiving the attack, he could tell that this pair of iron whips was as heavy as it looked.

  She could use the iron whips however she liked. Her strength and her familiarity with her weapons made Layfon speechless.

  The two of them circled each other.

  Tension built up in the room. The air felt thick, and on Layfon's forehead were more beads of sweat.

  Again, Nina was the one to close the gap. She rushed over as Layfon's foot left the floor, moving in reaction to her. Layfon tried to avoid the sudden and straightforward attack by pulling back and opening more distance between them, but she kept closing in. He had no choice but to use his sword. He dipped the sword point low to bring it up in an attack, but it was knocked aside by Nina's whip. In lightning seconds, he flicked his wrist to adjust the track of his sword.

  Layfon's attack changed from low to high, chopping down towards Nina. She blocked it with her right iron whip and counterattacked from the left with her other iron whip. Layfon quickly stepped to her right and once again, pulled open the distance between them.

  He wanted to keep fighting with more distance, but Nina seemed unsatisfied.

  "Can you use external-type burst Kei?"

  Her unexpected question made Layfon lose the rhythm of the plan he already had in mind.

  "Can you use external-type burst Kei?" she repeated. He nodded.

  Nina smiled. "Good."

  She crossed the iron whips before her chest.

  A huge noise and vibration that could have toppled a giant ran through the floor.

  "Take this!"

  When he had collected himself, Nina's happy and cruel smile was right before him.

  In the next moment, Layfon had fainted.

  Layfon lifted his sword. He slashed out with the blade without any sense of confusion, and his heart was calm and unruffled. He slashed out without any sense of confusion, but what about the thing that had been slashed?

  There was no questioning it.

  Of course it was a problem.

  So long as one lived, one would encounter all sorts of problems. How to solve a problem? In the end, "living" was in itself the cause of all problems.

  When one problem was solved, the next would surface.

  The end was never in sight. One continued to remove one's problems, only to have more closing in.

  The light filtering down from the ceiling bounded off the blade of the white alloy Dite.

  "Do you desire the Heaven's Blade? You can have it."

  Layfon mumbled the words in the arena that was so quiet that even a fallen needle could be heard. The blade fell from his hand. The irritating metallic sound of it hitting the ground echoed in the arena and the lonely blade lay on the floor.

  The problem that's been cut away now lay beside the blade.

  Layfon uttered an "Ah" at the scene. It wasn't a sound of surprise and joy, but just a simple response at reality.

  Numerous hands appeared
to point at Layfon. The people surrounding him were faceless and formless. They were only there to repudiate him.

  This is unprecedented! Traitor! What a shameful guy!

  All kinds of denouncements were turned into those fingers pointing at Layfon.

  Layfon didn't care. He looked at them coldly.

  So what?

  Could they solve the problem like that?

  Did they want to write the wrong answer in the space reserved for the answer to the question?

  He was only striding forward on the path to the right answer. Who'd know that the Heaven's Blade would fall onto the ground because of that.

  His gaze put fear into the people pointing at him. Subconsciously, he looked at the solution which had rolled close to his feet.

  Beside the fallen blade was a body.

  A body that looked like Nina.

  No, it was Nina. The tracks of Layfon's sword were clearly carved into her body. She lay on the floor, shocked and speechless.

  "Is this the answer?" somebody asked.

  "It's a dream."

  One single phrase solved it all.

  The first feeling he had after waking up was extreme self-hatred.

  "Wuaah, that's impossible!"

  His body curled up, Layfon held his head.

  The metal frame of the bed squeaked. A cabinet filled with medicine leaned against the modest, white wall. He smelled faint disinfectant and realised he was in the clinic. He wasn't surprised about it. In the second when he was about to faint, he knew Nina's attack would make him lose consciousness.

  Compared to this, that dream was even more serious.

  "I actually dreamt of revenge. That's not possible. I'm so disgusting...So disgusting!"

  He rolled back and forth on the bed and finally fell off it. He moaned as his side hit the floor.

  He lay on the cold floor and moaned, all the while murmuring "so disgusting" and allowing the temperature of the floor to cool down the heat in his face.

  "What're you doing?"

  "......I'm just shocked for being so useless."

  Layfon stopped moaning at the sound above him, but he didn't get up.

  Wait a bit more......He couldn't stand up before his reddened face had completely cooled down.

  "If it's all right, I want you to stand up."

  The voice was from the girl who came to the coffee shop and took him to the platoon.

  "If it's all right, give me more time."

  "Why?"

  "Please say yes."

  "Must I?"

  "Yes."

  The girl seemed to understand more from his repeated request. Layfon didn't know what she had understood, but she didn't persist questioning, and she didn't force him to stand up. He could feel the tip of her toes beside his head, staying there, immobile.

  The two of them fell silent.

  Silent.

  Silent.

  Silent.

  Losing to the silence in the room, Layfon said, "I still don't know your name. Can you tell me?"

  "Oh, yes. I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Felli Loss, second year in Military Arts."

  (Loss?)

  Nasty memories surfaced in his mind.

  "Hello. Uh, I'm sorry if I got that wrong......"

  "You're not wrong. Karian Loss is my older brother," Felli cut him off to confirm his unease. Layfon felt weak.

  "Is that so......"

  "Yes. Do you hate my brother?"

  She got ahead of him again.

  "Isn't it about time to get up?"

  Layfon picked himself up slowly from the floor. As expected from a clinic. The environment was clean and tidy, even rolling on the floor didn't dirty his uniform.

  Layfon observed the girl's appearance and found her eyes a bit like Karian's. They had a beautiful look about them. They must be related.

  A light sigh from Felli, then her rigid expression relaxed.

  "It really is better to see the face of the person I'm talking to."

  "Uh......Sorry?"

  "Not really. I didn't come at a good time."

  It wasn't easy to forget that she'd seen him rolling and moaning on the floor. His face reddened again.

  "Do you hate my brother forcing you to transfer into Military Arts?"

  Felli returned back to the previous topic, indifferent to Layfon's current expression.

  "...... I think it's a bit too extreme to describe it as 'hate'."

  He couldn't find any other word to say.

  "I hate my brother," Felli said while Layfon was hesitating.

  "What?"

  He couldn't understand what she meant by that.

  (She hates......her own brother?)

  From Felli's pale lips came the words, "I didn't want to study Military Arts, but he forced me into it."

  "Why......"

  "For victory," Felli concluded without hesitating.

  "He'd do all he could to reach his goal, no matter the means. Our will means nothing to him."

  "No, but......"

  Felli watched Layfon while judging her own brother. No sadness and anger could be detected from her neutral expression. Even the smile she had before was gone.

  So Layfon couldn't sense any sort of reflections from her in her previous words.

  He was confounded.

  "He'd perform any foul acts in order to win. It's ridiculous that we have to work for such a person."

  "Then what do you want me to do?" Layfon asked in confusion.

  For a delicate senpai with a short stature, her doll-like perfect face contained no traces of perplexity. Once again, she concluded, "You only need to remain as you are."

  "What?"

  "Remain as you are with that attitude you had when you fought Nina."

  "What do you mean......"

  Felli had already turned her back and opened her schoolbag on the long bench.

  She took out something from it and left it on the chair.

  "Uh, excuse me......"

  "This is your badge and the permit to be armed. Please pin the badge on your uniform. Tomorrow, go with Harley to the Weapon Fitting Department and take the permit with you. Harley'll help with your weapon settings."

  Having quickly told him that, Felli nodded lightly and left the clinic.

  He had lost his conversation partner. Layfon's words lolled in his mouth. His outstretched hand had lost its purpose, and could only wave weakly in the air.

  What came through first was a sense of debilitation, then a long sigh.

  Felli complained heavily about Karian, but she left immediately after leaving Layfon with the instructions she was told to deliver, whereas Karian had dismissed him from the room. Felli's manner was exactly the same as her brother's.

  "Just what now?"

  Layfon bent down on the long bench. He couldn't think of any good strategies. Beside him were the silver badge and a piece of paper.

  It seemed that the reality of his entering the platoon won't be changed.

  "Ah—gee......Why did it turn out like this!?" Layfon sighed.

  The next day after school.

  Just when Layfon was about to escape, not knowing where Harley's classroom lay, Harley himself appeared in the same oil-stained working suit that he wore yesterday.

  "After watching the fight yesterday, I don't feel that the sword fits you. Nina holds heavy weapons that don't suit her either, but she knows how to handle the weight and has been fighting through in her own way," he said to Layfon, who was following behind with a fed-up expression in his eyes.

  Harley never once noticed it.

  He continued with enthusiasm. "But your situation is different. Your body movements with the sword just weren't smooth. Your fighting style is more focused on speed, right? That's how you were trained, isn't it?"

  "No. I only learned little at the Dojo. I don't know the details that well. The weapon I used was about the same as yesterday's practice sword."

  "Really?" Harley said, looking confused.

&nb
sp; "You don't look like an amateur from the fight with Nina yesterday. I thought you've gone through professional training."

  "Not really. In Grendan......I was born in Grendan. Dojos of that level are everywhere. I went to train a bit because there was a dojo near my home."

  "Military Arts is really popular in Grendan. Well, I see. So that means in Grendan, there're lots of highly skilled fighters like you?"

  "Well, how should I put it? I haven't fought much with others, so I'm not sure."

  "Whatever it is, you still have some confidence with your real strength?"

  "Not at all."

  A smile appeared on the kind and friendly senpai. They came to a building with a sign "Weapon Fitting Department" on the wall, and entered it.

  Harley handed the document through the window, took a wooden box from the window and carried it back to the waiting Layfon.

  "Come to my research lab."

  Harley thrust the box to him and led the way out of the department.

  "Uh, to put it correctly, it's my class's lab."

  Students of Alchemy were assigned to groups and each group had its own research lab. In there, they could perform personal experiments.

  "You can get your own research lab if you regularly take the top place or you publish some pretty good thesis. In here, I can't really do what I want to do."

  "What is senpai specializing in?"

  "Weapon adjustment. Sure, I need to invent, but I prefer to adjust weapons so they best fit their owners."

  Layfon now understood why Harley was so stubborn and determined about his weapon being unsuitable.

  "That's a bit different from trainers. How should I put it?"

  "In Grendan, we call them the Dite engineers."

  "Ah, I see. That's a good title."

  The research lab was messy.

  No, the lab itself was the manifestation of messiness.

  After opening the door, Layfon saw something in the colour of charcoal sticking tightly to the floor. Near the wall beside the door was a pile of magazines and papers with difficult names. A thin layer of dust covered it. There was also a mug with a dirtied edge and a piece of half eaten bread thrown aside.

  The life of a single male......and its worst stereotype had become reality here. The provoking smell in the air made Layfon dizzy.