Liberi Reader

Singing...?

How...

Wow, it's echoing through the whole town...

What is this... what am I seeing? Are these Originium Arts?

A folk song...? Or a poem? At sunset?

Is this a Wolumonde tradition?

Um... Miss Folinic, do you understand the lyrics?

No... is that the Leithanian tongue? It doesn't sound like modern Leithanian pronunciation...

But... it sounds nice.

It reminds me of looking out over the plains from the bridge of Rhodes Island for the very first time. It's melodious... ancient...

This is... also Arts... but the same kind as the ancient Arts of Higashi!

Find them.

Sure, but then what? Arrest them?

Yes.

That'll just stir up even more resentment.

We're doing this to keep them from fomenting animosity between Infected and non-infected. The Winterwisps may well have been behind all this.

Mr. Severin?! Wh-what is this?

It's a Winterwisp ballad, for rituals and funerals.

The Winterwisps are responsible for agitating Infected conflicts and leading the partisans to destroy our power plant.

Now is not the time for leniency. They're trying to tell us something.

They wouldn't tip their hand for no reason. There must be others out there in the shadows. Probably casters. Keep an eye out.

What exactly is a Winterwisp?

Local Caprinae. They were the people of these mountains, centuries ago.

What happened to them?

Wolumonde clashed with the Winterwisp. Nothing more.

No. There's more to it than that.

Columbia and Rim Billiton, pretty much every country has some kind of history of settler colonialism. There's another force at work here.

You're just looking for a simple answer to dodge the question, aren't you? You'll just leave it as 'conflicts' and 'clashes?'

I'm not sure I should be talking about this with you. It goes beyond what Rhodes Island has a need to know...

A Gendarmerie telling these things to a foreign enterprise will make certain aristocrats very unhappy.

You're... worried about unhappy aristocrats...?!

Atro sacrificed herself for you! And you're talking about saving face?!

M-Miss Folinic! Her sacrifice... shouldn't be ammunition for an argument.

Mr. Severin...! Can you please stop this manhunt? It's only agitating people. It's only going to make things worse!

...

No... We're following our only lead. We can't afford to lose it.

Huh...?

Severin, with as many nomadic cities as there are in Leithanien, do you really think any of those nobles give a shit about you from atop their ivory towers?

Even considering the Great Rift, if a nearby city were to offer support, would there really be a famine?

Severin, look at the situation. See for yourself who is really here to help you!

I know... Miss Folinic. I know better than anyone.

But I also know Rhodes Island can't help us forever. Once we're safe again and Wolumonde is back on course, I don't want to be getting letters from those ivory towers.

You have to understand that.

But Miss Folinic, we—

—An explosion?! Another attack?

Schultz! Help! We need help!

Slow down. What happened?

They, they activated those town defense things! They exploded, and everything's burning, they—!

Calm down!

Schultz! The Infected... they've captured all of the Gendarmerie patrolling Zwölftontechnik Strasse! We lost contact with them!

They're using the Gramophones to push us back. The whole district is out of control!

They shouldn't be so well-organized. Who's leading them?

We don't know. But a lot of the non-infected have joined the protest. Wolumonde is completely divided!

Ugh. Damn you, Winterwisps...

Surround the district. Control the crowd. We have to take the town back.

*Cough* *cough*, *hack* *cough*!

Schultz!

Damn it... You get back to the Rathaus and sound the alarm. This has devolved into something far worse than just a dispute between the Infected.

I'm putting Wolumonde under martial law. Raise the entire militia.

But if we start killing each other now, Wolumonde won't survive the winter!

I gave you an order!

Y-yes sir!

......

As for you Rhodes Islanders... Do what you feel is right.

To be frank, I don't have time to keep an eye on you.

I still need more information.

B-but we should do what we can to help people first... A lot of innocent civilians are getting caught up in this mess...

We'll find the killer. That takes priority.

...I promise, Wolumonde will provide Rhodes Island with a satisfactory answer.

I hope you'll keep that promise.

If I'm still alive by then.

...Miss Folinic, we should have stopped Mr. Severin.

No use. You saw them. The pressure's gotten to them.

Oh... is that so?

But if a famine really is as imminent as the officer says, we'll still have to...

...The only way to calm everyone down is to find the murderer as soon as possible. And letting our one lead go cold isn't an option.

That's not what I meant...

......

Miss Folinic, do you really think finding the killer will solve all our problems?

I...

Try to stay calm, Miss Folinic.

...Suzuran?

You know... everyone is burning with rage right now. Nobody has a clear head.

I think... it's just my gut feeling, but my intuition is usually pretty accurate!

I think maybe... something even worse is starting to happen. The kind of thing that you can't be sure if it's right or wrong...

What we have to do is try to help as many innocent people as we can.

Miss Folinic... If we don't stop Mr. Severin, things are going to get really, really bad.

...Maybe you're right.

I...

...Mm.