Chapter 94

"When do you think Uncle's planning to head down to the Reichnek domain?"

Edgar gave a vague nod at Edwin's question.

"He talked like we were going right away, and then he just went quiet again. If we're going anyway, I want to go soon."

The halfhearted response didn't faze Edwin in the slightest.

"I already packed up all my toys — now I have to unpack them again."

"Uncle never said when we were going. You're the one who packed on your own."

"You can't get someone all excited and then do this!"

As always, Edwin didn't listen to a word Edgar said. Edgar didn't care either. Edwin rattling on like this whenever he felt like it was nothing new.

Strange, though. He was sure Edwin had been a much quieter kid before...

"Honestly, everything else is fine, but I want to go before summer. It'll be miserable when it gets hot. Edgar, are you listening?"

"..."

"Edgar?"

Edgar blinked. Reflexively he looked to the window. Looking outside wasn't going to change anything, but the sunny sky was clearly in view.

Had it already gotten to the point of worrying about the heat? Had that much time really passed since he'd come back?

Edgar was stunned. He couldn't even remember what he'd done in the meantime, and now it was summer. What had I been doing? What did I do?

"Ugh. There he goes again."

All he could remember was the bear from Dad that Edwin kept doggedly bringing over, and books... books and a dog. Meaning Nabi, sprawled out yawning hugely right now.

Of course he'd been trying. He'd eaten well, slept well. Edwin, oblivious to Edgar's inner turmoil, had breezily declared that a small child's proper job was eating well, sleeping well, and growing well.

Edgar wasn't going to deny that. But — well. He'd gone to all the trouble of coming back to the past, and he had absolutely no idea what he'd done with the time.

The first thing that had come to mind when he'd realized he'd gone back fifteen years?

Saving his uncle, obviously. That was practically half done already. He'd stopped his uncle from going down to the domain — well, his uncle hadn't gone down to the domain, and, uh, still hadn't gone down to the domain...

"You don't want to go?"

"No, it's not that..."

"Hmmmm."

Edgar pulled himself together.

The way you steer clear of a cliff — if you know there's a trap, the best move is just to stay away from it! Once he found out who had killed his uncle, he could wipe them all out and then head down to the domain.

Edgar raised his fingers and counted again how long it had been since Dad had died. He didn't even notice Edwin was watching him with a bored look.

More than four months, already. What had Edgar actually managed in that time?

It wasn't that he'd done nothing. He'd done plenty. But looking back on it, aside from keeping his uncle from going down to the domain, there was nothing to show for it.

He hadn't even caught Adrien Renard yet.

"Want to talk about something other than the Reichnek domain?"

Bored of a lost-in-thought Edgar, Edwin poked him in the arm.

"Edgar, do you remember what our domain was like? It's been a while since you've been down, so maybe you don't."

"It hasn't been that long. I was down at the domain the whole time."

"Really?"

"I'm a bit hazy on what the domain was like this time of year too. But it probably hasn't changed much..."

Edgar answered without thinking too hard.

"I found the domain development plan Dad left behind. I tried to follow it, but... there was the great fire, and a drought, and..."

"A drought?"

Edgar caught himself and waved a hand. He'd been distracted.

He hadn't told Edwin what had happened at the domain. It wasn't the kind of thing worth going out of his way to bring up. Realizing he'd slipped up, Edgar kept his tone light, hoping Edwin would let it drop there.

"Just something that happens every so often. The year after graduation, when we went down to the domain, I think."

Edwin gave Edgar a suspicious look. Sensing that his owner's mood had shifted, Nabi twitched his ears and opened his eyes.

Edgar grabbed Edwin's hand and put it on Nabi's head. Edwin reflexively started stroking Nabi's head and gave a snort.

"I already know what I need to know. What's the point in hiding a drought?"

Even so, Edwin was pawing away at Nabi. By now the dog seemed to have adjusted to his young owner's rough handling, and he wore an expression as exasperated as any adult's. Edwin pretended not to see it.

"A drought's a drought. If anything, isn't it a good thing?"

"How is it a good thing?"

"Because unlike Uncle's business, it's fixed."

"Fixed?"

"Yeah."

Edwin nodded firmly, his small face set.

"What people do changes easily, right?"

"..."

"Look at Uncle Grisha. Edgar, you said you couldn't trust the Marquis Roys, right? But how's Uncle Grisha?"

Two days earlier, when Grisha Lambert had come to see Uncle, he'd said hello to Edgar and Edwin too. He'd even given them the fancy sweets Edgar recognized.

Unlike Edgar, who still couldn't get comfortable with the man and clung to his uncle, Edwin had beamed and asked if he could call him Uncle.

Grisha had burst out laughing. It was the first time Edgar had heard that man laugh out loud.

"...I get what you mean."

The Marquis Roys Edgar had known and "Uncle Grisha" were different people. Same person, different somehow.

Edgar had realized it watching Claudia nag Grisha about the glasses he'd put on.

"People change easily with just a few words. Look — you sniffled a bit in front of Uncle, and he decided not to go down to the domain."

Edwin said it in a voice bright as a song.

"But something like a drought is different. That's something humans can't change... it's the grand cycle of nature. You could run yourself ragged over here, Edgar, and nature wouldn't budge."

Whether it was because he'd been reading so many books lately, or because he'd been spending time around Claudia and Benito, Edwin's word choices were startling for a child his age.

Edwin, unbothered by any of that, went on.

"But there's an upside."

"Uh... yeah?"

"If you know a drought is coming, you can prepare for it. Just like you decided to save Uncle."

"..."

That... was true.

Because what people did shifted so easily, Edgar still couldn't be sure he'd truly saved his uncle.

But if the drought was coming either way — he couldn't make the rain fall to stop it, but he could prepare. There was still plenty of time, so it was possible.

"Graduation's a long way off. Anything else before then?"

"Not really... nothing else I can think of."

"Really?"

"If anything else comes to mind, I'll tell you."

"What was the great fire?"

He'd thought he could slide past that one.

Edwin smiled with an innocent face. Edgar bit down on his lower lip, then leaned in next to Edwin and stroked Nabi.

"It was a fire in the capital. Really big. I... we were down at the domain when it happened, so I don't really know."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Edgar didn't look away from Edwin. Instead of running from those eyes fixed on him, Edgar met them.

It wasn't a complete lie.

The fire that had started in the Third District hadn't gone out for a week. It happened right before graduation.

Naturally, there was no proper graduation ceremony, and Edgar had dragged Edwin, who'd wanted to stay in the capital, down to the domain by force.

He didn't want to talk about that time. There was nothing they could have done by staying in the capital. But leaving with the burning city at their backs wasn't a good memory either.

"Hmm."

Sensing Edgar didn't really want to talk about it, Edwin gave a small hum through his nose and didn't press.

But Edwin didn't drop the subject either.

"What about other things?"

"Hm?"

"Isn't there something else we could change?"

The first thing that came to mind was Adelheid. If she could be saved, of course he wanted to save her. It was one of the reasons he wanted to get to the Reichnek domain quickly, and one of the reasons he never wanted to go at all.

Edwin held out a sheet of white paper and a pen — where he'd gotten them, Edgar had no idea.

"...What am I supposed to do with these?"

"Write."

"Write what?"

"What else?"

Edwin let out an exaggerated sigh, his expression saying wasn't it obvious by now.

"Write down what you want to do."

"On this?"

"Anything. Things you want to do, things you want to change. People you want to save — that too."

Edwin pulled the paper and pen back out of Edgar's hand. Before Edgar could react, he wrote something on the paper.

Neat, pretty handwriting that didn't match his age.

Save Harold Bertholdt (Uncle).

Edwin drew a smiling flower next to it and pressed the pen back into Edgar's hand.

"..."

"Then we'll make a plan together."

There was too much empty space on the paper. Edgar stared at it.

Edwin whispered, giggling.

"I said I'd help, didn't I?"

---

There wasn't any special reason why Edgar had suddenly started looking back on the past few months and turning over everything he'd done.

Hearing Edwin brought home how much time had passed — but there was also this: Uncle had stopped his recent frequent trips out and instead taken over one of the hotel rooms, shutting himself inside. Some people had even come by, set down boxes packed with papers in front of Uncle, and left.

Edgar couldn't see what those papers were, but the people carrying the boxes had been wearing central bank staff uniforms. He couldn't guess what would have bank employees moving like that.

Or more accurately, he couldn't guess what any of it was about — what Uncle was doing at all.

Whatever the conversation with Grisha had been, that had probably been the trigger. Grisha had said that day he'd come to see his mother, but who would believe that? He'd spent more time alone with Harold than talking with Claudia.

Edgar had tried to sneak in and eavesdrop under the pretext of going to the bathroom, but unfortunately he'd failed this time. A tired-looking man in a suit had caught him.

"..."

Uncle... what was he trying to do?

For the first time, Edgar found himself wondering.

Until now, watching Uncle head out, he'd never really thought about it seriously. He'd known his uncle was posted to the northern base for years, and figured that, having come down in a hurry, he naturally had loose ends to tie up.

But doubts had started creeping in — about Grisha Lambert's... origins. Before he'd gone back to the past, the Uncle he remembered didn't go out this often. He'd spent nearly all his time by Edgar and Edwin's side.

Of course, back then they'd been down at the domain.

Even accounting for that, Uncle...

Edgar looked down at the blank paper and chewed on his fingernails. At the top of the paper, the line Edwin had written was still there, plain as day. Save Uncle.

The paper was thoroughly crumpled. He didn't want to throw away Uncle's name written out so neatly, but he didn't want anyone else seeing it either. Edgar folded up the paper and tucked it inside his doll along with Dad's note. It got creased anyway.

"...Tch."

Edgar clicked his tongue softly and wrote drought beneath his uncle's name.

It wasn't something that had happened only on the Bertholdt domain. Whether he could really prepare for it, he didn't know... but at least the odds had to be better than with Adelheid.

Edgar couldn't put the pen down, and glared at the crumpled paper.