Liberi Reader

What do you think?

You decorated it yourself?

Leonie helped.

It's so spacious, and bright. Vivian... Your room is lovely.

Danke!

This room gets more sunlight than any other in the entire spire. As shy and lazy as Sturmland's sun is, it never feels too dark in here, even on the cloudiest days.

And then there's the veranda! It runs along the entire wall of the room. Look at that view... how far you can see... Look there.

At what?

The green roof over there.

It's the Glenlossie Botanical Garden. Mutti took me there a few times. It has so many plants we don't see in Sturmland, or even greater Leithanien. But I love its roof the most.

Some Bolívarian claw-vines worked their way up there. It's probably too tall to easily get up onto the roof to trim them, so the staff just let them grow, and now they've covered the entire thing!

In springtime, clusters of pink flowers bloom from the vines, and the roof looks like a pink cloud. And now, in summertime, it's a deep green...

The leaves of those vines never drop. By autumn, the roof will turn gold, and in winter, only a perfect sheet of white will remain.

Ja, I can picture it now. Beautiful.

No matter how busy Vati was with his government work, he would always take time out of his day to come visit. Mutti would paint the scenery while he quietly told me their stories.

Vivian...

Yes?

Can you share those stories with me? Of Mutti and Vati?

That day in Marigold Alley, when he waited for her?

(Nod)

Vati said he was determined to say goodbye to her. But once he saw her, he couldn't bring himself to turn and go...

'Vivian, if two hands are destined to join, why let the lands come between them?!' Ugh, so cheesy! Anyway, Vati brought Mutti back to Sturmland.

He stood... right there, beneath the spire, telling the worthies and bigwigs that if they didn't show Mutti the proper respect, he'd never return to Hochberg Spire again!

Nor would he succeed the Kurfürst.

And did the nobles accede?

They did.

All because Vati stood below the spire for three whole days... Many men came to either change his mind or just shout at him, but none succeeded. They had no choice but to give in.

Werner von Hochberg protected his love, like a hero from a storybook.

They were married with the blessings of everyone around them.

Viviana von Hochberg, your birth, too, won the blessings of all.

Wunderbar.

Oh? What was that?

Is that Leonie? The door's open.

Leonie, are you here for the carpet?

*sigh*, Fräulein Droste, please step aside.

It's a masterpiece by a Minoan craftsman. Very comfortable under my feet, and the image of the lake and white walls on it is so vivid, I can almost feel the wind blowing when I look at it.

Mutti loved this carpet. She worked long and hard, scribing so many poems for others, just to be able to buy it.

When she left Zwillingstürme, she didn't bring much luggage with her, but she did bring this carpet.

So... it would sell for a bit of money.

You have to understand the Dame. This spire is otherwise empty; your room is the last decent thing in the place. If she could help it, the Dame wouldn't touch a thing in here.

But since Kurfürst Werner's death, she has been troubled by all sorts of people. She's sold everything that could be sold...

You're due to go study in Columbia, which takes no small amount of coin. She hopes you won't have to live in poverty abroad.

—!

Oh, but, I could always not go.

That won't do, Fräulein. You ought to leave Sturmland, to leave Leithanien.

The Dame said as much to the Kurfürst two years ago, but it was only recently he gave the nod. You ought to set out soon, lest he change his mind.

What about Mutti? Can't she come with me?

The Dame is at the Kurfürst's beck and call. She must remain in the spire.

I... I should speak to Onkel Schild.

Fräulein, he may be your paternal uncle, but he is now Kurfürst of Sturmland.

Just two years after the late Kurfürst Werner took the seat, he was assassinated while touring the domain. His marriage to the Dame offended a lot of people, and some have speculated it was Schild himself...

Ugh, what am I thinking, why would I even tell you this?

Leonie... I have a question, and I'm not sure who to ask.

Go ahead.

If... if Mutti and Vati had lived an ordinary life, a commoner's life, would we have been happy?

......

Fräulein... You've always been the sort of girl who... sees things as they are. You know what's going on.

Pack your things. Put your beloved books and art collections into that rattan box there. I'll take care of the carpet and come back to put the rest in order.

Frau Giallo?

Hm...

It seems I really can't hear the voices anymore.

No obvious wounds on you. Could your hearing be impaired?

No. It's just much quieter than I'm used to...

Even as you're standing right in front of me, I still feel... so distant from you.

Oh? Is this a little better?

Maybe I should speak louder?

No, that's not it.

Let me take you somewhere nearby to rest. The ones chasing you should be far away by now.

Come, I'll help carry the cello.

......

Why are you gripping it so tightly? Your fingers are turning white!

It must be very important to you.

...

It is my eyes, my ears, my voice, and my heart.

I'm ashamed to admit it, but there was a time when I was even afraid of it.

Oh?

It took me some time to learn how to get along with it.

Soror? Why are you sitting in a dark corner with the lights out? Amita Luciana doesn't know you've come back.

Why did you skip cello practice after rowing in the park?

Oh, I'm sorry, I seem to have kicked your cello. The instrument is expensive. If I've damaged it... I have the money to compensate you.

Fede, take it away for me, will you?

Hide it anywhere you like. The study, the attic, in storage... You can even throw it away...

Are you crying?

You played another piece you hadn't mastered yet.

I don't know... As soon as I draw my bow across its strings, I hear voices. So many voices.

They're real voices, trapped in the bodies of men and women. They want to come out, and I should help them.

But they're too loud, too chaotic.

So many crying voices, laughing voices, whispering voices, voices furiously complaining... They all surge together...

They're so loud, Fede! I can hardly breathe...

Are you unwell? Should I get Amita Luciana?

I just... I just need some quiet...

......

Are you singing?

It's a folk song popular with buskers on this street. Heh, it's got a nice sound to it, but I'm a little tone-deaf, so...

When Jan would come home after being bullied, I'd comfort him with this song.

Thank you.

You mentioned 'this street' just now?

Oh, ja, Karl Schmidt Street. The people of Zwillingstürme also call it Marigold Alley.

......

Seniora Schüler, you haven't answered my question.

According to the records of the Zwillingstürme Gendarmerie, Freiherr Fynn engaged in combat with a suspect to stop a kidnapping on Karl Schmidt Street in the autumn of 1085.

The Baron was injured and unconscious for a period. When he awoke, both the suspect and the abducted Caprinae woman, twenty-seven-year-old Yulia Schüler, were missing.

Loris Bordin took over the case and conducted a series of investigations, finding no promising leads.

He found the Baron's testimony suspicious, with the only certainty being that the Baron was the last person to see you.

He strongly believed that a secret laid hidden within. Something like the Witch King's later experiments on Infected civilians, and that you had become the target of the Baron.

But under pressure from above, the Gendarmerie halted any subsequent investigation and closed the case as an 'accidental disappearance.'

Loris Bordin took the case file back to his residence, and over the course of fifteen years, it has grown increasingly thick.

He never gave up on investigating the truth, and never gave up on looking for you. Despite several clues indicating that Yulia Schüler was already deceased.

Hm...

You have just informed me that this here is Karl Schmidt Street.

In other words, you came to the Genesis Horn posthumously, and currently exist as a form of 'consciousness.'

In your cognition, you have never left the scene of the incident.

So please tell me, what exactly happened in the course of that incident?

This is indeed Marigold Alley. We're standing in front of the piano studio at the intersection.

......

Oh, Herr Executor, we've wasted so much time. I really have to place these Arts devices in their proper places, quickly!

Those masked men will be coming soon.

—!

Do you mean to say that the Witch King's remains appear at various locations in Kargereich, according to some knowable set of rules?

Ah, are they the Witch King's remains?

No, they're not the ones in reality, sowing chaos in the name of the Witch King. What you see are but manifestations of the Witch King's craft, the 'Echoes of Herkunftshorn' in a truer sense.

...Klängenfolgen, to follow the sounds. That's the way to see the Witch King.

Why would the Witch King be in Zwillingstürme?

Although I suppose it makes sense. I'm already dead, and the Witch King is too. So we're in the same place, that's logical enough.

It would also explain all these strange happenings...

Perhaps, having lost the sound of music, I can no longer perceive what you see in your eyes. Why do you call this place 'Zwillingstürme'?

...Are you blind too?

Frau Giallo, do you see the Musikinstrumententürme?

The what?

Reichsmusikhochschule has towers, die Musikinstrumententürme. But only eleven.

Reichsmusikhochschule is the most famous landmark in Bachshof. Each spire of the royal academy is inspired by a musical instrument, and was named for it upon completion.

There are eleven instruments, and when Herr Bach presided over his 'Glorreiches Kapitalprojekt,' a grand urban plan, he added eleven more.

Twenty-two instrument spires corresponding to the twenty-two districts of Zwillingstürme, like a perfect symphony orchestra.

Hah, you know your stuff.

Ja, but there are only eleven Musikinstrumententürme here. This is not the Reichsmusikhochschule of Zwillingstürme, but that of the Witch King's time.

And behind us... is a tilted spire, circular, the color of jade.

'Der Schiefer Turm der Ewigkeit.' The Leaning Tower of Eternity?

It was originally the spire of some Kurfürst or other. It began to lean due to changes in the strata, and with the support of the magnificent Arts of the spire casters, it maintained its baffling tilt without collapsing.

This miracle of Leithanian architecture was destroyed in a Catastrophe, four centuries ago...

Not only that. I see Der Wiener Uhrturm, Das auf den Kopf gestellte Strafgebäude, Die Tür des Wissens, Der Schönbrunnturm...

Countless spires of different eras, forms, and functions. I've only read about them in books, or heard of them in stories from my elders...

But here, they all stand.

This isn't Zwillingstürme, but it's not Vedunien either. I think the most proper name for it would be... 'Leithanien.'

The only part that feels familiar is the Marigold Alley beneath my feet. At the intersection sits a piano studio, at the end of the street is an art gallery, and right in the middle is my cafe.

I'm glad they're still here. I've rediscovered them.

Here, I can still live just the way I used to. So, unfamiliar as this place is, I would still rather call it Zwillingstürme.

...

Maybe you haven't rediscovered your old life.

Rather, it's because of your life that you came to be here.

Oh!

There are only nine Musikinstrumententürme left... When did the Klavierturm and the Waldhornturm vanish?

(Herr Fremont was right, the Genesis Horn is accelerating its collapse...)

Frau Giallo, do you... see it now?

......