Akatsuki Translations

A new chapter has been released!

I tried doing the dialogue a bit differently for this chapter. Hopefully, y’all like it.

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On that morning, the sky was a dazzling blue, so bright that it hurt to look up. The wind was gentle, making it a perfect day for a journey through the skies.

Although it was still early in the morning, Erica, Yuno, Ventos, Lilium, and the few other selected knights were already prepared for departure.

All that was left was to board the merchant ship.

“Thank you for waiting. Please follow me and board the ship in order,” said one of the crew members of the Santiya Company’s merchant ship, who had just finished the final checks for departure. The crew members opened the entrance to the pier, and the knights began to board first.

Erica and the others were about to say their temporary farewells to the party members staying in Travis, but Liner was nowhere to be seen.

According to Hugo and Francis, it seemed that Liner’s bed was empty when they woke up at dawn.

“Liner isn’t here yet?” Erica asked.

“Yes… I wonder where Liner has gone…” Colette replied with a worried expression on her face, seeming more concerned than angry that their companion had not shown up to see them off. She probably wanted to go looking for him right away if it weren’t for the timing of their departure.

Liner’s recent behavior had been so different from his usual self that it was impossible not to worry.

“That guy went out last night after dinner, and he didn’t come back until late at night,” Hugo said with a frown, crossing his arms.

As the eldest of the group, Hugo had naturally noticed Liner’s unusual behavior. In fact, Liner was the only one who thought he was acting normally.

“The boarding is complete, but… is there a problem?” Vincent asked, noticing that Erica and the others had not yet boarded despite being ready.

“It’s not exactly a problem, but Liner… one of our companions hasn’t been seen since this morning,” Erica replied.

“Ah, the one with the red hair. I met him last night and talked to him briefly. He seemed to be troubled by something,” Vincent said.

“You talked to him? About what?”

“It’s a personal matter, so I can’t go into details, but he seemed to be having trouble with a friend, so I just gave him some advice based on my experience.”

Vincent was probably trying to be considerate of Liner’s privacy, but it was clear that he was most likely talking about Harold, even if he didn’t mention his name directly.

“Based on that conversation, do you have any idea why he might have disappeared?” Erica asked.

“I don’t think so, but… I can’t deny the possibility that I may have had some influence on him,” Vincent replied.

It was understandable that he couldn’t say anything more since he didn’t know Liner’s true feelings.

To summarize the situation, Liner had gone out to town after dinner last night and met Vincent, where he likely confided in him about his relationship with Harold.

He then returned to the inn late at night after receiving some advice but disappeared before everyone else woke up.

What had Liner been told, and what was he thinking? There wasn’t enough time or information to consider it in the current situation.

Vincent is part of Justus’ faction. Did he perhaps whisper something to Liner?

However, even if that were the case, would there be a need to take such a roundabout way to manipulate Liner alone? What reasons could there be for doing so?

Assuming the worst, Vincent could be an enemy, and the moment they board the airship, he could turn his sword against them or Yuno.

But if that were the case, would he purposely say something that would cast suspicion on himself, such as talking to Liner last night?

(Well, there’s no use in trying to find an answer at this point and time.)

With limited information at the moment, Erica decided that she shouldn’t change her plans based on speculation. Many lives were at stake, and with so many people involved, it was all the more important to avoid making rash moves.

“…It’s time for us to depart,” Erica said.

“Don’t worry. Leave things here to us,” Hugo replied.

“Yes. Thank you.”

After looking straight into the faces of the four, Erica bowed her head.

Then she turned on her heel and began to walk up the pier.

“Wait a minute!”

Suddenly, a shout was heard from behind, and Erica’s feet stopped.

The voice undoubtedly belonged to Liner. When she turned around, she saw Liner running toward them, his red hair shining brightly in the morning sun.

She thought he had come to see them off, but Liner ran past Colette and the others and continued up the pier.

“L-Liner? What’s the matter?” Erica asked.

Liner, who had sprinted a considerable distance at full speed, placed both hands on his knees and repeated his rough breathing.

After taking a moment to catch his breath and inhaling deeply, Liner looked up and directed his unwavering eyes at Erica.

“I’m coming with you! To save Harold!”

Those words were unexpected.

Hadn’t he been agonizing over something related to Harold, and to put it bluntly, didn’t he want to avoid him? At least that’s how it seemed to Erica.

“Why are you suddenly saying such a thing…?”

“…I thought that staying the way I am now isn’t good enough. I have no idea what Harold is thinking, but…”

“That’s… right.”

It wasn’t just Liner; no one knew what Harold was thinking, including Erica.

Erica had wanted to become someone who could understand and empathize with his feelings, but the fact that she hadn’t been able to do so at all was both frustrating and sad for her.

“But if that’s the case, then I should try to understand. And to do that, I need to have a proper talk with him.”

That answer was similar to the one Erica had come up with.

Face Harold head-on without fear of their relationship falling apart. It was the answer that Erica had agonized over, taken a detour, and finally reached with Leafa’s encouragement, but Liner too must have arrived at it after his own internal struggle.

“That’s why I’m going to see him. Because I still want to be rivals with Harold—and friends!”

“Liner…”

Liner declared those words with strength. This straightforwardness and strength of heart was his true personality, but his current appearance, having overcome his doubts and conflicts, seemed to reflect his growth.

“Why not? If you go together with them,” Leafa said.

“Yeah, that’s right. That’s more like you, Liner,” Francis added.

“And while you’re at it, give him an earful for making us worry so much!” Hugo chimed in.

“G-Good luck, Liner!” Colette said.

Leafa and the others all encouraged Liner.

There were still things that needed to be done in Travis, and as they had discussed before, there was a possibility of being exposed to life-threatening dangers during the journey and in Baston.

Everyone said those words with an understanding of those risks. Therefore, Erica had no reason to refuse Liner’s choice.

“Alright. Let’s go together, Liner,” Erica said.

“Yeah!” Liner replied.

With a completely different demeanor from yesterday, Liner boarded the airship without hesitation.

Ahead of them, Vincent was watching the scene of their departure. Liner approached him and bowed deeply.

“Um, thank you so much!” Liner said.

“I didn’t do much. But if I was able to help you clear your doubts even a little, I’m glad,” Vincent replied.

This must be about the brief conversation they had last night.

Seeing their exchange, it wasn’t hard to imagine that Vincent had a significant influence on Liner’s decision to face Harold.

“That’s not true at all. If I had been thinking about it on my own, I… probably wouldn’t have been able to take action like this,” Liner said.

“Haha, well, I had a similar experience when I was young,” Vincent said.

“A similar experience?” Liner asked.

“Yes,” Vincent replied, narrowing his eyes as if recalling his youth.

“I had one old friend. He was a man who was considered frivolous, insincere, and a drunkard among his peers. But if he… if Cody hadn’t been there, I probably wouldn’t be in the knights’ order.”

Cody. That was a name Erica had heard before.

Five years ago, after the battle in the Bertis Forest, Erica was turned away at the door of the knights’ headquarters in the royal capital, but Cody had invited her in and introduced her to Harold.

Even after that, when Harold was sentenced to execution, Cody had objected and cooperated to overturn it. She hadn’t had many opportunities to meet him since then.

“So he was your childhood friend, Captain Vincent?”

“Come to think of it, you’ve met him before, haven’t you, Erica?”

“Yes. He helped me out a great deal in the past.”

Looking back, at that time, Cody had also mentioned that Vincent, who was the vice-captain at the time, could be trusted. There must have been a strong bond of trust between them.

“I see… He should be in Baston now. He’s the kind of guy who you couldn’t kill even if you tried, so I’m sure he’s alive.”

Although his words seemed nonchalant, it was clear that there was a hint of unease and worry hidden behind them. By saying it in a lighthearted manner, he was trying to convince himself more than anyone else that everything would be alright.

It’s a matter of course, but no matter how strong one becomes to climb the ranks to captain of the knights’ order, they are still human. Therefore, they must have their weaknesses, just like Harold.

“Yes. I think so too,” Erica said, her words filled with encouragement.

In response, Vincent showed a slightly relieved smile.

◇

The first thing Harold felt when he woke up was a sense of exhaustion that clung to his entire body. Then there was the pain of being restrained in a kneeling position with his hands chained.

(I was restrained in a similar way before…)

He didn’t want to remember, but the memory was firmly etched in his mind.

Compared to the previous dungeon, it was brighter and cleaner, which was a slightly better point. Well, due to the man in front of him, no matter how fulfilling the environment was, his mood had plummeted to rock bottom, so it was merely a trivial difference.

“Finally awake, Harold?” the man said.

“So you’ve awakened to a troublesome habit, Justus,” Harold retorted.

“Straight to the point, I see. I’m glad to see your mind is working properly.”

His way of speaking and subtle mannerisms. They were indeed those of Justus Freud, whom Harold knew well.

However, his appearance was that of a girl around ten years old; he looked exactly like Sarah.

Harold didn’t understand what was going on. This was never depicted in the game.

But based on his knowledge of the original work and the current situation, he could make some predictions.

(Justus’ plan is to revive Estelle, and the method is to extract her astral body sleeping within the star’s core and synchronize it with the body of a star child.)

Yes, synchronization. The method for extracting Estelle’s astral body also requires the synchronization of Justus’ own astral body with the star’s core.

In other words, it’s the act of transferring one’s consciousness and ego to a vessel other than one’s own body.

To put it bluntly, it’s an absurd thing to do, but even a genius scientist like Justus wouldn’t attempt to transfer his own ego on the first try. If he failed, everything he had built up and prepared for could be wasted.

(Then he must have tried synchronizing his ego…)

Using his own ego. Before that, he must have used others.

The result of that is probably Justus in Sarah’s form.

“Hmph, how does it feel to have the body of a little girl?” Harold asked.

“At first, it felt quite strange. But now I’m used to it,” Justus replied.

(Now, he’s used to it…?)

His words made it sound as if he had been synchronized with Sarah for a while. However, Justus himself must have existed until recently.

So what does this discrepancy mean? Forcing his thoughts, which were about to stop, to reorganize the information, Harold came to a realization.

Just before he lost consciousness, there was one other person Justus was synchronizing with.

A man who was not here now. Cody Ruggier.

He couldn’t believe such a thing was possible. And even if it was technically possible, he felt terror at the thought of someone using their own body to do such a thing.

“Dividing… consciousness and… ego…?” Harold muttered, unable to believe it was the work of a sane mind.

But the one standing in front of Harold now was a mad scientist who had long since thrown away his sanity.

As if embodying that madness, a deep, dark smile appeared on the face of the young girl, Justus.

“Correct. You get a perfect score, Harold.”

btw, here is the author’s Twitter!: https://twitter.com/orefura