Chapter 124 – Is Germany still peaceful? (1)

“Huh? We’re already in Germany?”

“Yes. We already crossed the border and showed our passports, remember?”

“Yeah. But isn’t that fast? In Japan, going from Tokyo to Kobe takes half a day, you know?”

“Well, this is Germany, but it’s the biggest city in the westernmost part of the country.”

Shizu and Kouryuu-sensei answer my question just as I wake up from a nap in my seat.
By train, it took less than a day to go from Paris in France to Frankfurt in Germany.

Speaking of Frankfurt, in the two-dimensional world it’s famous only as the workplace of Sebastian, the well-known butler name.
In Japan overall, unless someone is familiar with overseas finance and economics, it might be a city known for nothing more than sausages.

But Frankfurt has flourished greatly as Germany’s financial center since the beginning of modern times.

However, unlike in my previous life in the 21st century, Frankfurt right now isn’t very lively.
That’s partly because Germany as a whole isn’t energetic, and also because Europe’s economy hasn’t yet become unified.

On top of that, it seems they are already feeling the aftereffects of the stock market crash in America.
Dollars are probably being pulled out of the markets one after another.

In Frankfurt, the Ootori conglomerate has had a branch office since around 1922, serving as a semi-cover for managing the main family’s hidden assets in Swiss accounts.
The core is in Switzerland, but to avoid drawing attention, they placed a branch relatively nearby in Frankfurt.

However, it’s not a full-scale branch, more like a sub-branch under the London office, functioning only as a front desk.
It’s practically a paper company, since the real base is in Switzerland.

Even so, Frankfurt is the only city in Germany where the Ootori Group has a foothold, which is why it was chosen as our stop this time.

Besides, since our purpose isn’t sightseeing but just meeting my onii-sama, we don’t need any formal reception.
In Germany, we want to avoid unnecessary contact as much as possible, so keeping it plain is fine.

That’s why we supposedly didn’t arrange any kind of welcoming party.

“Well, welcome after such a long journey. Reiko, and you too, Kouryuu.”

My older onii-sama, Captain Ootori Ryuuya, greets us with a smile so bright it could almost sparkle.

“It’s been a long time, Onii-sama!”

“No no, in public you must call him Uncle. Anyway, it’s been a while, Ryuuya. Have you lost a little weight?”

Even though I throw myself into my onii-sama’s arms in a diving hug, expressing my joy with my whole body, Kouryuu-sensei remains as tactless as ever.

“Yeah. During my travels, there was a time when water didn’t agree with me, and I had to rely on a new medicine that Kouryuu developed.”

While gently stroking my head, he casually says something quite frightening.
Startled, I look up at him, and he gives me a smile and strokes my head even more kindly.

“You don’t have to worry so much. As you can see, I’m fine.”

He says that, but now that he mentions it, he does look a little worn out.

“Are you really alright? Did you end up with stomach trouble after all?”

“Yeah. I had bacterial gastroenteritis and even developed a high fever, but thanks to oral rehydration solution and sulfa drugs, I recovered quickly.”

“When? Don’t tell me you’re still recovering?”

“No, it was about a month ago.”

“I see. That explains why we didn’t hear anything about you collapsing, Ryuuya.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t anything serious, so I had them keep it quiet. Well, actually, it was more for within the army. If word spread that an army officer got taken down by stomach problems, it could hurt my career.”

He says this with a broad grin.
In other words, mentioning the army was half an excuse, half a joke. 

Knowing his strong, healthy nature, the truth is he simply didn’t want his family to worry.

Even so, it’s a chilling story.

Even if it’s just gastroenteritis, the fact that he needed an oral rehydration solution suggests it could have been quite severe.
In the world before oral rehydration solutions appeared, severe dehydration alone could send you to the afterlife.

On top of that, he was on antibacterial drugs, so it wasn’t a mild stomach bug.
Maybe, in the game, he actually dies during this overseas study.

For a onii-sama with such a glittering record, I thought that if he were to die it would fittingly be a glorious death in battle, but given the game designer’s twistedness, dying of illness is entirely possible.
And gastroenteritis—while it’s one of the top three causes of death—is still a nasty sort of cause.

Out of irrational anger at the game, the fear of what would have happened if Kouryuu hadn’t made the medicine, and the relief that we’ve just snapped that bad flag in half, I can’t help but throw myself at my onii-sama in a tight hug.

“Reiko, I’m fine. Besides, look, I still have my legs, and you can feel it when you hug me like this, right?”

“…Yes.”

“That’s a problem.”

“Well, let her do as she pleases. Reiko is the one who’s most attached to you, after all.”

“Is she? Isn’t she more attached to Kouryuu?”

“Ha? No way. This girl snaps at me every other word.”

“Among the whole family, the only adult Reiko openly talks back to besides the head of the house is you, Kouryuu. That’s proof she’s most attached to you.”

“…Um, could you please not have this inappropriate exchange right above my head?”

“Sorry, Reiko. And wipe your tears properly.”

Since it was a conversation I couldn’t just ignore, I looked up at my onii-sama while still clinging to him, and he returned with a refreshing smile.

And just as he said, he’s holding his handkerchief in his right hand.
If this were a gag manga, he would hand it to me and I’d blow my nose into it, but instead, my onii-sama gently wipes my eyes himself. 

If it were Kouryuu-sensei, who has no sense of how to treat a lady, he’d probably rub them roughly.

“So, where in Germany are you headed? If it’s nearby, I’ll show you around.”

Once we had settled into the hotel suite where we would be staying tonight, we finally slipped into a normal conversation.
No, with my onii-sama here, it isn’t really normal. I haven’t seen him in nearly three years, so just being face-to-face like this makes me happy. 

All the more so if I think about how I’ve just broken one bad flag.

“Reiko, don’t just grin. Tell us your plan. I don’t have any particular business, you know.”

“Eh? Ah, I don’t have any particular plans either. I only came to Germany because I wanted to see you, onii-sama.”

“That makes me happy to hear. Then, shall I take you sightseeing somewhere? I’ve taken about three days off, so I can show you around most places in Germany.”

“Germany, huh. Even if you say famous landmarks, nothing really comes to mind.”

“Well, let’s see… nearby there’s the Cologne Cathedral. That’s worth seeing. The cathedral here in this city is also quite impressive.”

As he said that, my onii-sama’s gaze briefly shifted outside.
But he wasn’t looking at the scenery. 

He was reacting to the sound.
After all, the noise had grown loud enough that you didn’t even need to strain your ears to hear it.

(The National Socialist German Workers’ Party must be making an appeal to the people in the streets.)

As expected, they were quick with information, loudly proclaiming that the great stock market crash in America would plunge Germany into unprecedented chaos.
Up to that point, I agreed. 

But everything after that was a mess.

They railed that the current government was no good, that the threat of communism was rising, and that only they could lead the nation through the coming turmoil.

Hearing that, I no longer wanted to go anywhere crowded, and instead began running through tourist spots in my mind that seemed less likely to have people.

“What about Neuschwanstein Castle?”

“Neu… where is that?”

“Ah, it’s a magnificent white castle at the foot of the Alps, near the Swiss border. Yeah, it’s girlish in a nice way.”

My onii-sama smiles as he says this, but I’ve already been there in my previous life.
The exterior is the white and beautiful castle that inspired the one belonging to a certain cinder-covered princess, but the interior is a full-blown display of European taste. 

Not just glittering gold, but blinding silver and gold everywhere—a kind of gaudiness that doesn’t really sit well with Japanese sensibilities. 

If you want to be moved by the interior, the Cologne Cathedral is far better, I think.

Still, the two of them seem to like the idea.

“After seeing the Swiss mountains, if I remember right, Reiko wants to go to Venice. That southern… what’s-it-called castle would be good, wouldn’t it?”

“If you’re heading next to Switzerland and Italy, it could be a nice course.”

“Yes. After that, we plan to go as far as Marseille and from there take a ship to Egypt.”

“Then it sounds good to do Neuschwanstein Castle, Venice, the Swiss mountains, and from Geneva head down to Marseille.”

“That’s true. We hadn’t decided what to do in Germany, so I think that course will work.”

“I’m not familiar with geography, so I’ll leave it to Ryuuya. As expected of the army, though. Having maps memorized in your head seems convenient and useful.”

“Having maps memorized really does feel like part of the job. I automatically start thinking about what kind of terrain a place has.”

At Kouryuu-sensei’s casual remark, my onii-sama can’t stop giving a wry smile.

Come to think of it, these two get along surprisingly well.
Among my relatives, my onii-sama is one of the few people who speaks to Kouryuu-sensei as an equal. 

Maybe it’s because they’re both geniuses in different fields, or maybe it’s because their personalities are so different—mismatched in a way that actually works.

I had noticed this for a while, and that’s partly why I felt like meeting my onii-sama in Germany.
And besides, I do have another purpose for seeing him.

It’s about time I moved the conversation forward.