Allison Vol 2 Chapter 3

“Since we’ve got a car, what do you say to going for some tea at one of the villages across the lake? Let’s enjoy the view.”

The car was driving over the frozen lake. Allison, still wearing her sungla.s.ses, addressed Wil, who was wearing his goggles. She was still speaking in Bezelese, perhaps because of their conversation with Benedict just earlier.

“I’d love to, but there’s a bit of a problem. I didn’t get the chance to tell you earlier.” Wil replied, also in Bezelese. The conversation naturally continued in that language.

“What is it?” Allison asked.

“Well… I don’t have a lot of money on me right now.” Wil said apologetically. “I wasn’t planning to go shopping today, so I left the money in the safe. All I have is some loose change to use for telephone calls.”

Allison chuckled.

“I love how thoughtful you are, Wil. Don’t worry about the money—I have enough. The payout from this training session was pretty good.” Allison said, gently tapping her bag.

“You… made money from the training session?” Wil asked curiously.

Allison boldly took her eyes off the road, meeting Wil’s gaze.

“That’s right. Our whole unit teamed up and stuffed our luggage full of canned caviar.”

“…Caviar?”

“Right before this training session, we were on standby at the base by Lure River. The exact location’s a military secret, but what’s the first specialty that comes to mind when you think of Lure River?”

“Caviar.”

“Exactly. Caviar’s relatively cheap because the base is in the mountains. We bought a load of caviar straight from the producers, and s.h.i.+pped them on our aeroplanes as personal belongings. Then we sold them in Iks. It was a pretty big haul.”

“…”

“For your information, our unit went out yesterday and bought a load of gold accessories. We’ll be sneaking them to the capital to sell for a profit. We already looked into a place that’ll give us a really good deal.”

“So… uh… this would be… smuggling.” Wil said hesitantly. Allison shrugged without a care.

“Our unit calls it ‘independent and invaluable experimentation for the research of cargo transport via aeroplane’.”

“Huh… right.”

The mountain winds on the frozen lake slowly grew stronger.

But it was difficult to sense that change from inside a moving car. Soon, the wind had grown strong enough to blow away the snow piled on the ice.

“Whoa!”

“What?”

Allison and Wil’s field of vision blanked out instantly. Allison took her foot off the gas pedal and stopped the car, but the roof continued to rattle. At times, the frame of the car itself shook. Furious gusts scattered the snow on the lake, making it impossible to see.

“Urgh…” Allison groaned. “So much for the meteorology team!”

“The area’s p.r.o.ne to quick s.h.i.+fts in the weather. But in any case… this is really something else.”

Wil lowered his goggled slightly and looked out at the blowing snow with wonder.

“What do you want to do, Allison? The wind might let up soon. Should we wait?”

Allison thought for several seconds in the stranded car.

“Let’s do this: instead of waiting for the wind to stop, let’s get to the nearest village we can find, even if we don’t make it across the lake. Unfortunately for us, we can’t trust the heating in this car.”

“But will we be all right, just barging into any old village? I heard that some people in the countryside don’t trust outlanders.”

Allison reacted, surprisingly animated.

“Oh? But Iks is part of Roxche, and I’m part of the military that defends it. And you’re an innocent civilian, Wil. Why wouldn’t it be all right? Let’s head north. Once we reach the sh.o.r.e, we’ll either turn left or right and go into the first village we see.”

“All right.”

“Let’s go.”

Keeping an eye on the compa.s.s in the car, Allison slowly drove northward. The lone winds.h.i.+eld wiper squeaked from one end of their vision to the other.

At points along their drive, the wind weakened momentarily and cleared their view—seconds later, it began to howl again, blinding them. Snowflakes rushed inside through the gap between the roof and the frame.

“Listen to that wind. If the engine gives out, we’ll be stranded and helpless.” Allison said, sounding rather amused.

“I’d prefer if that didn’t happen.” Wil replied.

Eventually, Allison stepped on the brake pedal and brought the car to a stop. Wil looked ahead. To his shock, he spotted a steep slope covered in coniferous trees through the slightly weakened snowstorm. They were right next to the lakesh.o.r.e.

“Your eyesight really is amazing.”

The road that ran along the sh.o.r.e was left covered in snow, as it had no use during the winter anyway.

“We’re here. So which way? Left or right? Although it probably won’t make much of a difference either way.”

“It’s up to you. But make sure you go along the sh.o.r.e, so we won’t lose our way.”

Allison agreed, and thought for two seconds.

“It’s decided! We’ll go the opposite direction from the one we went last time.”

She turned the steering wheel.

“Okay.” Wil said.

He then added,

“Wait. ‘Last time’?”

* * *

After seeing off Allison and Wil, Benedict returned to his tent, hung up his hat and coat, and took a seat.

Their empty mugs had already been taken away, and the table had been wiped clean. Benedict filled out his flight log and put it into his bag.

Pieces of furniture set up all over the large tent, and the man sitting aimlessly amidst it all.

“…”

Benedict looked down at the watch on his left wrist. Also known as a chronograph, it was a pilot’s wrist.w.a.tch with a large face, also equipped with a stopwatch function.

He looked up at the ceiling.

“Ahem… today I now have no schedules. I have no work to do. I would have brought my Roxchean textbook.”

He looked at the gaps outside and mumbled to himself.

“Er… should have.”

He looked down and corrected himself.

“I now have no schedules. I lost already, so I think it would have been better to stop trying to show off and be honest, to go to have tea in town with them.”

Benedict stood. He put on his coat, grabbed his hat, and stepped outside. Once he did, he followed regulations and put on his hat.

A female officer happened to be pa.s.sing by the tent. She was carrying a thermos, probably on her way back from delivering warm drinks to her fellow soldiers.

The instant she spotted Benedict, she saluted him and began to follow at his side. And without even being prompted, she introduced herself in great detail. She did not fail to mention the fact that she was two years his junior. She went on to praise him for the discovery of the mural, thank him for partic.i.p.ating in the joint training session, comment boldly yet honestly that he was much more handsome in person, report for no apparent reason that she was still single, explain the personal details of her ideal future in finding a husband in the military, insist that it was not a bad thing to think seriously of meetings brought on by coincidence, and—

“Excuse me.” Benedict said, disappearing into a tent labeled ‘Officers - Men’s room’.

Having lost her prey, the female officer exhaled loudly through her nostrils as though thinking, ‘This isn’t over yet—you’re not getting away from me’. She stalked past the tent two or three times before finally departing.

Lining the interior of the tent were pipes and sprinklers half-buried in the snow.

“It is very easy to shoot down targets that are coming to be shot down. But that is not very fun. That is not my way.”

Major Carr Benedict mumbled to himself in Roxchean in the deserted lavatory.

Wearing a pair of reading gla.s.ses, Benedict sat in his tent with a book in hand. On the cover was the t.i.tle ‘Ideas for Great Baby Names’. He flipped through the pages rapidly, yawning on occasion.

Suddenly, a gust of wind shook the tent. Snow scattered down from the roof. Benedict put down the book and his gla.s.ses, and stepped onto his chair. Then, he unknotted and pulled on a string tied to the pole in the middle. A cover came over the gap in the roof. Benedict tied the string again to secure it.

He put on his coat and stepped outside. Powerful winds buffeted the snow, creating complete whiteout conditions. Benedict looked on at the blankness for some time.

“This might be a good opportunity to play hooky…”

Pressing his hat over his head to keep it from flying away, and ignoring the snow piling onto his coat, Benedict inched his way to the next tent over in nearly zero visibility. He then headed to the next tent, carefully making sure of his heading.

When he finally entered another dome-shaped tent, shaking off the snow from his coat, the bespectacled captain who had guided Allison and Wil quickly stood and saluted him.

“Come in, Major!”

A second lieutenant and several first lieutenants, who were drinking tea around the stove, got to their feet as well. On their chests were bird-shaped badges that identified them as pilots.

“At ease, Captain. There was something I wanted to ask you.” Benedict said, saluting back. Everyone but the captain returned to their seats, slightly nervous. They looked at Benedict with a mix of pure admiration and detached wonder—as though he were from another world altogether.

The captain, who was older than Benedict but subordinate in rank, spoke to him with deference.

“I suppose it wasn’t a very fun read after all, sir. Apologies, but that’s the only book I brought this time.”

“It’s not about the book, actually. And it was an interesting read in its own right. Although it’ll probably be a long time before I need all that information.” Benedict said. “Let me get to the point. The wind’s picked up quite a bit.”

“It has, sir. Meteorology’s no help in these parts. We might be in for a snowstorm tonight.”

“There’s nothing we can do about that. It’s not possible to get perfectly accurate forecasts. But back to the point.”

“Yes, Major?”

“If I were to leave the camp, would you take care of the rest?”

“Sir?”

The captain was confused. Benedict continued.

“I’m afraid my two friends from earlier might have gotten lost in the snowsquall. I’d like to go look for them.”

“They’ll be all right, sir. Since they headed north, they’ll have reached the lakesh.o.r.e—”

The captain stopped mid-sentence. He remembered how Benedict had come all this way earlier to borrow a book he wasn’t even interested in.

“If you’d keep this quiet from the others, sir. The higher-ranking officers won’t be coming back from the party until tomorrow evening. No one here will make a fuss if you happened to be away, Major.” He whispered.

The Sou Be-Il Air Force Base’s inspection point was being buffeted by the snow.

It was there that a rather unusual vehicle was being prepared.

The frame was one meter in height and three meters in length, and was made of wood. On the left side was a door, and tiny windows were built into the front and either side. On the round hole in the roof was a swivel window for blocking the wind. The vehicle was painted completely white to blend in with the snow, but the roof was a bright orange.

Ski dampers with their springs exposed were fixed to the thick shafts jutting from the front and back of the vehicle. The skis were 2.5 meters in length and 40 centimeters wide. Four of them were supporting the frame, which was suspended above the ground.

There was a s.h.i.+ning black engine at the back of the frame. It was an air-cooled engine used in aeroplanes, surrounded by five cylinders. And at the very back were two large propellers, just like an aeroplane’s.

“This is my first time driving an aerosan.” Benedict said, standing next to the vehicle in his coat. He was not wearing his uniform cap, but a fur-lined winter hat. He was also wearing his goggles and gloves.

An aerosan was a propeller-driven sled. It was a vehicle developed for high-speed travel on snow and ice, and boasted a longer history than the snowmobile, which combined the use of skis and caterpillar tracks.

The aerosan in front of Benedict was a small two-seater. Normally, the driver would take the front seat and a soldier would stand in the back seat, where a machine gun was equipped. At this point, of course, the machine gun had been removed for the joint search-and-rescue training. The joint training was also the reason the roof had been painted orange.

On the side of the frame were the perfunctory words ‘Confederation Air Force’. This aerosan was originally made in Roxche, and it was one of three that the Sou Be-Il Air Force had borrowed for the training session.

“It’s much easier than it looks. Think of it as similar to taxiing an aeroplane. I’m sure you’ll get used to it in no time, Major.” Said a middle-aged sergeant first cla.s.s as he taught Benedict how to operate the aerosan.

Similarly to a car, the aerosan had three pedals and a round steering wheel. The center pedal was the gas pedal—pressing down on it increased the rotation speed of the propellers. The pedals on the right and left were brakes for the front skis and the rear skis respectively. When the steering wheel was turned, the front skis turned in the same direction and the rear skis in the opposite direction.

“Simple, isn’t it? You’ll get used to the rest as you drive, sir. We also have translated manuals in the toolkit in the back, just in case. That is all, Major.”

Benedict thanked the sergeant first cla.s.s.

“Major Carr. Take this.” Said the captain. The sergeant first cla.s.s handed Benedict a white case.

It looked like a cus.h.i.+oned case for an instrument, seventy centimeters long and forty centimeters wide. Attached to it was a leather shoulder strap and a handle. Inside was the submachine gun that the soldier was holding until just now.

“Just in case, sir. Roxche has also permitted officers to carry firearms.”

Benedict tried to refuse.

“Sir, we’ve received warnings that bears and wolves that have failed to hibernate roam the region in this season.” The sergeant first cla.s.s said. In the end, Benedict had no choice. He took up the case and put it in the shelf of the aerosan so it would not fall out.

The captain offered him a map, but Benedict replied that he had the gist of it memorized, and that he did not want to risk losing such valuable doc.u.ments they borrowed from Roxche.

“And there’s no guarantee that those maps are accurate. We leave intentional errors in the maps for the border areas as well. Marks for villages and marshes that don’t exist, or the other way around.”

“That’s true. We’ve also got some hand-copied maps, if you’d like.”

“Actually, do you have a piece of paper I can take notes on?” Benedict asked.

“Plenty sir. We found some advertis.e.m.e.nts for a film in town earlier—souvenirs to take back home.”

With an embarra.s.sed look, the sergeant first cla.s.s took out a twice-folded piece of paper from his pocket. Benedict unfolded it and found a picture of a suit-clad man.

“…”

Ignoring the fact that this was not an advertis.e.m.e.nt for a film, Benedict checked that the back of the poster was blank, thanked the sergeant first cla.s.s, and tucked it into his pocket.

“I’ll probably be back before sundown.” Benedict said.

“Please be back by tomorrow evening at the latest, sir. Take your time.” The captain replied.

“…You don’t have to be so blunt about it…”

“Take care, Major.”

Shaking the snow off his head and shoulders, Benedict climbed into the aerosan. Sitting in the pa.s.senger seat, he called in a loud voice.

“I’m starting the engine! Watch out for the propellers!”

He looked out through the hole on the side. The sergeant first cla.s.s signaled him with a thumbs-up and a wave. Benedict pressed down on the brake pedals with his feet and pressed the ignition switch.

The aerosan began to rumble. With a roar, the engine came to life. At the same time, the propellers began to spin and scatter snow behind them.

When Benedict took his feet off the brakes, the aerosan slowly began to move.

As the aerosan departed, its engines still warming up, the captain muttered.

“Phew… That’ll take the pressure off the soldiers and pilots. Though I suppose the women won’t be as happy.”

“It’s certainly uncomfortable being around a celebrity, sir. Although I can’t tell how the major thinks of his situation.” The sergeant first cla.s.s agreed. He then added, “I’d never want to end up that way, personally. It’s a shame for him.”

The captain nodded and wiped the snow from his gla.s.ses with a gloved hand.

“There’s no one in the world who doesn’t know his face. He’ll never be able to live a normal life now. It’s a lonesome thing, I’d wager.”

* * *

“This must be the entrance to one of the valleys.” Allison repeated.

“Probably…” Wil answered.

Their car was currently on a concrete ramp, which was used in the summer to lower boats into the lake. About thirty meters ahead of them was the snow-covered road. Although the weather made it difficult to see far ahead, the forests on the mountain ridges on either side were visible—but there was nothing of the sort directly ahead.

“If we keep going in this direction, we’ll find a village. It doesn’t look like the snow is piled up quite as high over there, so we might find some cleared roads up ahead. …Man, that was a lot of effort.”

Wil looked out through the winds.h.i.+eld. A narrow valley seemed to lead into an endless world of white, veiled by the snowsquall.

“There’s something eerie about that valley.”

“C’mon, Wil. Don’t worry. You have me!”

Allison energetically started the car, driving up the ramp and into the valley. The wheels occasionally drove into the snow, but the chains were enough to propel the car forward smoothly.

“The wind’s gotten weaker.” Wil commented. Visibility was improving.

“It’s because we’re in the valley now. But it’s dangerous in the air overhead—I can guarantee that there’s some crazy turbulence up there right now.”

Wil nodded. Little by little, their field of vision grew wider.

The valley was tucked in between the snow and the woods. The car slowly drove into the narrow s.p.a.ce, a world away from the wide-open lake from before. The road snaked left and right in a gentle upward slope. The only sign that the ground, covered in nothing but fresh snow, was a path, were the tree trunks standing at regular intervals. Round boulders wearing hats of snow lay by the little creek to their right.

The car slowly proceeded forward. Soon, four rectangular ponds appeared between the road and the creek. The artificial ponds, surrounded by wooden fences, were dug deep so they would not freeze. Water from the creek circulated through them. The ponds were a small fish farm, filled with countless squirming fish. Next to them was a small shed, nearly crushed under the weight of fallen snow.

Soon, the howling winds came to a sudden stop.

“What?”

“Wow…”

Allison and Wil exclaimed at once. Blue skies unfolded overhead as the scenery around them came into clear view. They could see a village just ahead of a curve.

At its widest, the valley spanned a distance of about three hundred meters. Inside was a plain wider and flatter than the valley entrance. The land was sloped slightly, ascending towards the far end of the valley, and in the middle flowed a small creek.

The road ran through the center of the valley, parallel to the creek. And before the side roads branching from it stood several houses. Most were similar in construction—rectangular, single-story buildings with chimneys sticking out the middle. Unlike the city, however, the roofs here were painted brown. The edges of the roofs jutted out at length, supported by slanted columns to prevent the weight of snow from damaging the roofs and windows. Next to the houses were enclosures for livestock, sheds for storing firewood, and granaries.

There was a large distance between one house and the next. The homes were scattered, some even dozens of meters from the nearest neighbor. In the midst of it all was one point where several houses were cl.u.s.tered together around the main street. There stood a large stone steeple that overlooked the entire village.

The slopes to either side of the village were covered in trees. They were deep and dense groves, about thirty meters wide. With the village nestled inside, the woods reached all the way into the valley. The woods were there to prevent avalanches, having been left to grow for many years.

The patches of land between the houses were farming fields, all completely covered in snow. Trees grew in straight lines along the boundaries. There were yet more houses further into the valley, and deeper still was a snow-covered pasture. The pasture eventually gave way to a coniferous forest. Beyond rose the magnificent peaks of the Central Mountain Range, against the backdrop of the clear blue sky.

Stopping the car, Allison and Wil opened the roof and stepped outside. They stood on either side of the car. Finally free from the cramped seats, they stretched out as their breaths rose in puffs of white.

“Not bad at all. It’s your quintessential mountain village. I bet it’s really nice during the summer.” Allison said, leaning on the car with a hand on her waist.

Wil took off his goggles and put them around his neck. He then pulled down his hat to cover his ears.

“It’s already quite nice. I’m really glad we came here—I would never have been able to see places like this if I stuck with the cla.s.s. It’s all thanks to you, Allison. I’m really grateful.” Wil said, looking Allison in the eye. His face was reflected in her sungla.s.ses. A smile spread underneath.

“You don’t need to thank me, Wil. I’ll be dragging you around everywhere from now on.”

“What time is it now?”

Allison looked up at the sky, then down at her wrist.w.a.tch.

“It’s precisely afternoon teatime. Let’s go!”

They climbed back into the car. Allison enthusiastically started the engine.

They did not even make it twenty meters ahead.

Their right wheel suddenly sank into the snow. The car stopped on the road at a slant.

The nearest house to the valley entrance was just by the roadside. The flimsy wooden door of the firewood shed by the house opened, and a middle-aged woman stepped outside.

She was probably just over forty—plump to put it nicely, and fat to be blunt. She was dressed just like the other women of Iks, with a shawl over her head as well. And because she was busy at work, she was also wearing a slightly dirty ap.r.o.n. She was carrying a wooden pail with a rag draped over the side.

“What the heck was that?!”

“There must have been a hole or a ditch on the roadside. We probably couldn’t see it because of the snow.”

“Ugh! They should keep their roads in better shape.”

“We’re not going to pull the car out of there on our own.”

“I’ve had it! Is someone out to get in our way or something?!”

“Who knows?”

Allison and Wil trudged through the snow, raising their voices. Wil’s goggles were atop his hat. Allison was wearing her sungla.s.ses, with her bag around her waist. She had tied back her long blond hair and pulled it out of her coat.

The middle-aged woman, who had been watching at them in bemus.e.m.e.nt, soon put down her pail and waved at the two. They looked at her.

The woman cheerfully trotted over across the snow.

“My, my.”

She smiled at Allison and Wil, looking unusually happy, and repeated herself.

“My, my.”

“Nice to meet you, ma’am.” Wil said in Roxchean, finally switching over from Bezelese. Allison held back her frustration and greeted the woman as well.

“It’s very nice to meet you. It’s not every day we get visitors in a mountain village like this. Where do you come from? And my goodness! It’s my first time seeing someone with blond hair. That is natural, isn’t it? It’s really very beautiful. And your sungla.s.ses are quite lovely, too. Are you an heiress, by any chance? I’m—”

“Um…”

Wil cut off the woman, who looked energetic enough for a three-day conversation.

“Um… we’re tourists from the lowland. We came from across the lake—from Mushke. Would it be all right, by any chance, to get some rest here and look around the village?”

“Oh my! Of course. You’re welcome to look around. Thank you for coming all this way.”

“Oh… Er, our car is stuck, too.” Wil said, pointing out the car about two hundred meters away.

“My, I’m glad you weren’t hurt. I’ll call the young men later and ask them to help you dig it out.”

Her frustration largely resolved, Allison turned to the woman.

“Is there anywhere here we could sit down for a quiet cup of tea?”

The woman thought for a moment.

“There aren’t any shops here, like in the city. But you should try the village hall—that’s where we go to rest. There should be an old lady there watching the building.”

She pointed them towards the steeple, under which stood the village hall. She also promised that once the village men returned, she would send them to the hall to meet Allison and Wil.

Allison’s anger abated. She and Wil thanked the woman and began to trudge through the snow once more.

The woman saw them off with a smile and a wave. She then picked up her pail and returned to her house without a care in the world.

Once she was inside, the woman put down the pail and sprinted all the way across the room. Snow fell from her shoes and scattered all over the floor. She then rushed down a flight of stairs that led to the stone-walled bas.e.m.e.nt.

The light from a window high up in the bas.e.m.e.nt dimly lit the room.

The woman went to a wooden box on the wall in a corner of the room. Inside was a large bra.s.s trumpet, which was connected to the wall and a pipe. The woman took up a small whistle hanging next to the box, and blew it into the trumpet. The sound carried into the pipe. It was a voicepipe, much like the mechanism often used on s.h.i.+ps.

The moment she hung up the whistle again, another whistle came screeching through the pipe. Alongside it came—

It was the tense voice of a middle-aged woman. The first woman looked into the trumpet, clearly rattled.

“Outlanders. Two young people—a girl with blond hair and a boy. The girl is dressed like a soldier, but doesn’t seem to be one. They claim to be tourists from the lowlands. Their car has been caught in the trap at the village entrance. They claimed they wanted to have some tea, so I sent them to the village hall. Over.”

She uttered mechanically into the trumpet as though giving a report. There was a moment of silence.

“Why was she crying? Does she know that man? …Wait! She took the map I was drawing. Ah well. If Allison and Wil aren’t in the next village, I’ll just have to get some tea