Extra
The Golden-Ringed Eclipse/ The Purple Lightning
It all began around when warmth had slowly begun to creep back into the northern town.
I had already gone into retirement, only for a messenger from the guild to show up before me. He said that Blake was calling on me personally.
I’d known the man since back before he became guildmaster. Both of us had aged enough to be called old geezers by this point, though. That damn tea-lover... Just what does he want with me? Oh well, guess all I can do is go and find out, huh?
What’s that? I’m supposed to take my gear with me?
There was no helping it. I grabbed a sword and some light leather armor befitting someone of my years, then headed off for the guild.
...There’s no way you’re planning on thrusting a quest on an old-timer like me, right?
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
That turned out to be just what was happening.
It was a job where I was asked for by name, to be precise.
It was true that these old muscles still had some strength in them yet, but I was a lot smaller now than I was back in my youth.
When I entered into the room, I spotted a very familiar tea-loving old fart seated on the sofa opposite me. Hmm? There was a small girl who looked to be about 10 years old sitting next to him.
And then to the side were two folks dressed in an unusual manner, with the upper halves of their faces hidden by masks. Judging by the outfits, were they magic researchers working directly under the Partridge Church...?
Blake was the same as always, but I felt some tension coming off the two folks standing there. Well, I may just be an old bag of bones now, but I used to be an adventurer. As if I’d be overwhelmed by something like that.
Anyway, my attention turned to the girl seated beside Blake.
This was the guildmaster’s office for the Partridge Guild. What was a small girl like her doing in a place like this?
“Sorry for calling on you like this. Come, have a drink.”
...Clink.
He offered me a cup of tea. It sure did smell good.
Blake was dressed in a suit, and his long hair flowed down his back. He still had an elegance about him, even as an old geezer. It was hard to read his expression when he narrowed his eyes like that, but he looked to me like he was a bit on edge.
The two magic researchers standing there with an overwhelming presence, and the little girl... Good grief, there was clearly something unusual going on here.
“Is she your grandkid...?”
“Heh, of course not. I haven’t seen you for a while, but you’re the same as always, aren’t you?”
“So why did you call for me?”
“...You were the only one who met the qualifications we needed.”
“Hmm...?”
“I want you to escort this girl to the western city.”
“To the west? You mean Donius...?”
“Yeah.”
“Just me and that girl?”
“That’s right. We don’t want you to stand out.”
“...”
I cast a quick glance to the side at the magic researchers.
Hmph, they aren’t budging even a celchi. That gives me a chance to give them a rough look-over.
“I think I get why you chose me...”
“...”
“I’m someone you’ve got a certain degree of trust in. And if it came down to it and you had to get rid of me, my disappearance wouldn’t stand out much.”
“I see you still just lay anything and everything that comes to mind out there...”
“Would it be better if I didn’t? Cut that crap out. It’s important to make sure everything is clear and precise.”
“...Sorry about that.”
Blake chose me out of trust. The ones who did it because I’d be easy to dispose of were those magic researchers. Damn bastards.
Well, whatever. My better half passed on before me, so all I’m doing now is just steadily piling up the years. I’d get to help out an old friend by protecting this girl. And as long as I kept their secrets, it may not even be that dangerous. So why not go ahead and accept the job?
“Hey, you two there...”
“...”
“As an adventurer, I’ll never betray my client’s secrets. But if all you’re willing to give me is vague information, then I won’t accept the job.”
“...”
Hmph. They were staring straight at me through their masks. They really were a damn pain... Felt like they were evaluating goods or something.
Hah. As if I’d just leave things be at this point.
“Blake... Is there something unique about that girl?”
“Oh, so you’ll accept? Then let me tell you.”
Apparently the girl was called the “Purple Lightning.” It seemed she was still just 11 years old. Her hair was white and light purple, like the lightning that came down on the night of the full moon here in the town of Partridge.
“You see, this girl underwent a Skill Bestowal as a baby.”
“Huh...?!”
A Skill Bestowal. That was the ceremony held in the church for those who still couldn’t use magic at the age of 15, in which God granted them an ability. Whether the ability they got was great or small, their natural magic affinity was wiped out in the process. That was why it was normal to wait and see until the age of 15, and only perform it on those who still couldn’t use any magic. And yet he was saying it was done to this girl when she was still just a baby.
“This girl needs to go to Donius in order to carry out an experiment on her power. That’s because the guild in that town has a White Cube.”
“I see... Do they know about this?”
“I told the guildmaster in Donius the simplified version via crystal ball.”
“Hmph...”
I looked again at the girl. She was fiddling with her long hair, which flowed down all the way to her waist. She seemed to be a very quiet child. It was like she was the very incarnation of that cold, unfeeling lightning that flashed across the moon.
“...Alright. I’ll accept.”
“I’m in your debt.”
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
We departed a few days later by carriage. The Purple Lightning and I didn’t speak a word to each other, even in there. Unfortunately, I wasn’t clever enough to come up with any topics such a small girl would enjoy discussing. Haah... If only my wife were still alive, she’d have some good ideas.
She did look ever so slightly excited by the scenery streaming by outside the carriage, though.
After a few days, there was less snow coating everything, and we started to spy some green. Hmph, guess seeing the changing sights of the world around you was more interesting than looking at an old geezer like me.
Currently, we were to the northwest of the capital. Had she never left the north before? I suppose it was possible she hadn’t had many chances to even go outside in general. This very well could be an extremely precious trip for the girl.
I thought about this girl called “the Purple Lightning.” A Skill Bestowal... This moonlit girl, said to have gone through that when she was just a baby. Yeah, that may well have been an inconvenient fact that the folks from the Partridge Church wanted to hide.
And those magic researchers belonging to the church... Was she a regular research subject of theirs? That was a despicable thought...
She was a real quiet child, but now she was staring so happily out the carriage window. I had no idea what her power was, but it must really have been something. When you performed a Skill Bestowal on a baby, was it just a given that they’d end up with some sort of amazing power? If so, I could definitely see those magic researchers wanting to hide that fact from the churches in other towns, and even the capital...
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
A massive man in a suit came to greet us when we reached the western town, Donius. He had messy black hair and a moustache. He really was a big fellow. Must be about three meltortes tall. And that sure was a moustache... He was the guildmaster of Donius, by the name of... something or other.
After giving me a nod, the massive man crouched and patted the Purple Lightning on the head.
“Thanks so much for coming. I’m sure you must be tired out. Your town’s guildmaster said to start right away, but will you really be alright doing it without any rest?”
“Yeah...” she replied with a nod. She really is as shy as I’d thought.
I was relieved to find that, despite his big body, the Donius guildmaster was actually rather gentlemanly on the inside. Still, I was told to keep the matter of her Skill Bestowal a secret from the Donius side. I figured they must have said she was just a girl who happened to naturally have a rare and unique sort of magic.
There was a White Cube below the Donius guild. It was a room where the walls, floor, and ceiling were all pure white. And I hear it was built to be incredibly sturdy.
What I saw next, however, made me doubt my eyes.
...Kwa-BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
The four of us exited the White Cube together. Aside from the girl herself, three of us, myself included, had seen the Purple Lightning’s magic. One of them was a receptionist there, who said it had apparently broken their records.
“I never imagined her magic would be that powerful...”
The guildmaster with the moustache, whatshisname, was left speechless.
The purple lightning she had let off had distorted the surface of the White Cube’s wall, like movement disturbing the surface of a lake. I suppose that definitely would be considered out of the ordinary.
When I glanced over her way again, I found the Purple Lightning happily discussing something with the receptionist. Well, no, it seemed like the receptionist was the only one talking. She was actually a pretty young receptionist, now that I looked. I suppose that young girl may not have had many chances to talk to anyone near her age. Despite being able to let off that powerful of a volley of lightning, she was apparently no match for the receptionist’s uninhibited nature.
Haha, it made for a charming sight.
Suddenly, things grew frantic around the guild’s entrance.
“H-Help us! Forest wolves, they... they snuck into our town, Cardiff!!”
The young receptionist’s expression instantly grew serious as she listened to the details from the man who had come running in. From what I overheard, there was a town called Cardiff to the west of here, and apparently several forest wolves had slipped past their barrier fence. Those things were way stronger than normal wolves. When there were more than three of them in a pack, their teamwork got to be real troublesome.
“This is bad, Guildmaster... It’s been getting warm lately, so all the adventuring parties are out on campaigns. It’ll be tricky trying to find someone to take such an urgent quest. Let’s put a call out for solo adventurers and try to build a party!”
“H-Hey! Please, I’m begging you! There’s lots of the things, and they’re huge! We can’t do a thing about them! You need to hurry! Please!”
“Calm down and listen. There’s a lot of people out on a quest to handle some goblins, and it’s really far from here. Even if we were to call them back, it would take some time...”
“T-That can’t be...”
“Should... I go?” the girl (who at some point had wandered over beside me) suddenly eked out. “If it’s just forest wolves, it’ll be easy. I could blow them to pieces... really quickly.”
“W-What’re you saying, little miss...? The wolves that came into our town are thiiiis big, and there’s a number of them! Seriously, that joke’s in poor taste... Just head on back home, little miss...”
This man from the neighboring town had no idea of her power. But even the teamwork between forest wolves that would normally take several parties to overcome would be nothing in the face of her lightning.
No, wait, there was something that bothered me, though. When he told her to “head on back home,” the Purple Lightning’s expression clearly grew cloudy.
“I... don’t... want to... go back...”
She said it so quietly, only I could hear her. But that was enough for me to tell.
This girl had been enjoying our trip. It was nothing but a round trip north and west in a carriage. When I took this girl back north, I’d likely be returning her to days of being treated coldly as nothing but a rare test subject. She may not even have another chance like this to so much as go outside. Alright...
The old me never would have done something like this. But when you get to be an old geezer like me, you’re supposed to be at least a bit of a softy, right?
I practically threw some money at the driver, got atop a horse, and ran, ran, ran to the west. The little girl in front of me looked surprised by the shaking she could feel from atop the creature’s back. I gripped the reins and yelled, “Your trip isn’t over just yet!”
“...!”
As the scenery flew by around us, she turned back and looked at me with her shining, light purple eyes.
When we made it to Cardiff, I could hardly sense anyone around.
The town was right near Donius. It couldn’t have been more than three or four hors since the forest wolves snuck inside...
It took a few hors to get from Cardiff to Donius, even on horseback. But I could see some simple wooden barricades here and there throughout town. The entrances to the buildings were crudely barred.
I see, so they evacuated up to higher ground... Looks like there was someone in this small town who knew what they were doing when it came to monsters.
I got down off the horse, then helped the girl to the ground. It would’ve been nice if we hadn’t come on an unfamiliar horse, but we did what we had to.
“There’s... nobody around... Were... they eaten?”
“Don’t just go saying stuff like that. They’re hiding up above and being as quiet as they can. That was a good call.”
“...Right. Let’s look... for the wolves.”
We walked along through the town. It was so silent, it felt like time was standing still.
Baaaaaaaaaaaam!!!
“Huh?!”
All of a sudden, the Purple Lightning took off running in the direction of that loud sound, and I followed. We arrived at a building and found the forest wolves gathered around it, trying to climb its walls. A flame-wielding woman looked to be fighting back from atop the roof. And there were a lot of places on that building for the wolves to use as footholds. The woman was using some splendid fire magic, but the wolves were still going to be able to rush her. In other words, this battle was proving one-sided. And there probably wasn’t anyone else skilled with magic in this tiny town.
The woman wore a look of disbelief when she noticed me and the girl approaching. Taking advantage of her momentary shock, one of the wolves leapt up the building. A look of shock mingled with anger crossed the woman’s face as she fired off as much flame as she could. The wolf, however, made a mesh out of the vines coming from its body and warded off the attack. It had lost a good bit of the branches composing its body, but the forest wolf was still alive. It was sent flying and landed with a thud right beside the Purple Lightning.
“Watch out!!!”
A young girl’s voice rang out loudly, and it wasn’t that of the Purple Lightning. There was a little blonde girl leaning out of an upper-floor window of another building. Her hair shined like the rays of the sun. Now that I looked closely, the concerned residents of Cardiff were peeking out of other windows, too.
The forest wolves shifted their attention to the prey that had suddenly appeared: me and the Purple Lightning.
The woman on the roof was chanting a spell, a pained expression on her face. I drew my sword.
All that, however, was for naught.
The Purple Lightning lifted up her fair-skinned little hand, and...
“...Goodbye.”
Booooooooooooooom!!!!!!
The lightning fell down upon the forest wolves with a thunderous roar, and in an instant they were reduced to nothing but a pile of twigs.
Silence fell over the scene, and I felt the warmth of the sun’s rays... That was splendid...
For a while, time seemed to stop for all who had seen that sight, myself included.
And now, the Purple Lightning was surrounded by the people of Cardiff. It sure was a crowd. Guess that was only natural, though. I mean, that little girl had gone and saved their town, after all. It was like the place was positively sparkling, overflowing with their smiles.
But the star of the show, the Purple Lightning herself, looked so panicked that you couldn’t help but pity her.
Hmph, aside from that power of hers, she was just a normal, shy little 11-year-old girl. It may have been just a small town, but she still wasn’t able to handle all the sudden praise from almost the entire population at once.
Just as she dashed around behind my back, trembling, the blonde girl appeared.
“Haah... haah... Um...! U-Um...”
I had already noticed back when she screamed out that warning, but this girl had some seriously beautiful golden-colored eyes. Golden hair, and golden eyes... If you were to call the Purple Lightning the moon, then this girl would be the sun. And they looked like they must have been just about the same age, too.
I went and gave the girl hiding behind me a gentle push on the back, bringing about a meeting between the sun and the moon.
“...! U-Um...”
“T-Thank you so much!! You’re, like, seriously amazing!!”
“Ah...!”
“You’re about my age, but you saved everyone just like that, and it was so incredible!”
“R-Right...”
The Purple Lightning stopped trembling and opened her eyes, fascinated by the blonde girl with a smile that seemed to almost sparkle. A girl like the sun, and one like the moon. Both were blushing.
The blonde girl reached out and grabbed the Purple Lightning’s hands.
“Thank you. I’m so glad you came here...”
“Right...”
It was like the two girls holding hands were etching the colors of each other’s eyes into their hearts.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
The Purple Lightning ended up staring out the window again on the carriage trip back. In my hand, I held the data on her magic that the receptionist from the Donius Guild had measured. Huh...? Unable to detect any mana? That can’t be... What does it mean?
“It was... pretty...”
“...What was?”
“That girl’s hair... and her eyes...”
“Ah, yeah. That’s for sure.”
“I wish... I had asked her name...”
“...!”
This girl... She may have just wanted a friend...
“The people of that town aren’t likely to forget their gratitude to you anytime soon. You can just go ahead and go back there when you’re bigger, and ask her what her name is.”
“...! Do you... really think I can...?”
“I’m sure you will, someday.”
“I’d like... to meet her again...”
You’ve got an old bag of bones like me rooting for you at least, girl. So hopefully one day, the sun and moon will get to meet again.
The scenery outside the carriage steadily shifted from a vibrant green to the pure white of snow...
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Gear Drive: Volume 1
by Kabayakidare
Translated by Matthew Warner
Edited by Kara Dennison
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2018 Kabayakidare
Illustrations by Koutaro Sugi
Cover illustration by Koutaro Sugi
All rights reserved.
Original Japanese edition published in 2018 by OVERLAP, Inc.
This English edition is published by arrangement with OVERLAP, Inc., Tokyo
English translation © 2018 J-Novel Club LLC
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property.
J-Novel Club LLC
The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
Ebook edition 1.0: September 2018