I-02

[ - CHAPTER II - The Song of Promise - ]

It was cold out here. My breath frosting, haze filled my gaze. I stood solemnly beside her, my mother.

I wish time was far much simpler,

My blessed mother.

Now six inches of ground separated me and her. There only a few who attended, no one from the family even bothers to exchange a last farewell.

At the tender age of 7, I, Reinhardt Tristan Eugene Bougainvillea, had no parents remaining. I supposed it was luck that I have mother all this time as she had struggled for 7 years raising me to her best of ability. I admit she gave me hope.

Love still exists, and I have a bear witness of it.

I put the last flower, the old nun at the abbey was so kind as to give me a bouquet for her grave. I recalled when I slept under the Oak tree, I remember how serene it was. If you can be happy somewhere there that's all enough for me.

I have made my peace, as I parted with her.

The step grew heavier, my heart lurched. No, no, don't turn around. She wouldn't want to see me at such an unsightly state. Against all pressure, the dam burst out, I wept quietly, and I had shed the last tears for the rest of my life.

Nothing is holding me back no more as I went to a home where I don't belong. I could hear them talking, no shred of bereaving nor pity, only blatant mockery behind sneering smiles.

I know they quietly despise me. Somehow it is becoming taboo for the child of a union of Albion and the empires noble. I didn't speak against them. Yet. It is not the time.

I packed enough stuff into the luggage, a couple of checks enough to last for a few weeks, and her amulet. The only thing that would remind me of her, I swept the polished metals and put it in my pocket.

As such, under the comfort of the winter night, I leave. They won't chain me, lock me up somewhere in the remote county. Never. In this 2nd chance, I had an old dream to chase.

[ Ich Eine Mutter Hatte ]

"Wake up you twats! We'd arrived."

I rubbed my head, trying to ease the pain. The man huffed at me before leaving. I tried to cross the channel a few days ago. The only ship that would accept an obscure wish of a child was only a coal tanker. Though I had to work my share, at least it saves me some money.

Arriving in Norman, Francois. I had no choice, there's no ship leaving for the empires my destination. I stood up, leaving to the deck of the ship, and to the ladder down below. Thanking the ship captain when I passed by him.

The smell of rotting fish is suffocating the air, what you would expect from the trading port. Seagulls calling on the air, perching on ship mast or ropes. Maybe I could find a ship that will let me travels to the Empire here.

"Sorry kid, it's been a bad day lately. No Francois ship going in and out of the empire this past week. Hell, even I hear them nobles flying zeppelin are now out of order here."

Or so I hope. I leave the port, my shoulders slumped slightly. The only means going there is the traditional way I suppose. Deciding nothing better to do, I walked to the streets. Admiring the scene.

It is 1911, everything was still transitioning. Crier shouted at the street, giving free leaflets or selling the newspaper. I sat on a bench beside. A man in a formal dress just read his share of news, and throw the paper, though I quietly pilfered it when he had gone.

Tension is an all-time high with the empires. The commonwealth just embargoed the empire steel industries. The discussion of continuation in forming the entente. And the most concerning was, the fact that the Francois just closed its borders to the empire.

Sigh. We can't go through the legal means either. I have no link here in Francois, and I was basically stranded. I wrapped the newspaper once I was satisfied.

The day is long ahead, let's go to work now. The first concern is, of course, financial issues.

The bank check is only enough for a few weeks of lodging, excluding food as I read the market analysis section in the newspaper. That and if I live frugally.

I thought it was better to quit the bitter grimace and deal with what we currently face. Our goal is to reach the Empire.

I went to the address according to the advert in the newspaper. It took me an hour walking from the port to the supposed lodging home. It was a nice and quiet neighborhood I suppose, coming from the impression of a man who had been walking an hour here.

It was just beside the street, a window and a small paper 'Lodging here'. I leaned, spotting a dog was sleeping just beside the hearth.

Knocking on the door, I was greeted by a young and beautiful lady. She was in her jacket, obviously hiding her sleepwear beneath.

She seems dumbfounded that I was not there to sell something, telling her what my purpose. It was a bit odd for her maybe, it's not every day you could get a 7-years old child as your guest.

She was really a kind and caring lady indeed. I smiled when she told me why I would need lodging. I explained as briefly and concisely as possible, she was silent at the time.

"That's horrible, tell you what, just live here until you are old enough."

I was a bit mirth-ed, here I stood on a foreign land I never knew, and a woman offered me a part of her hearth. I politely declined her offer, saying I wanted to go to the empires.

I didn't make any excuses, as fearing that might stain her honesty. In the end, I got a normal room, and she cut the lodging fee.

I could just accept her offers, but losing my mother was clearly a blow to me. I need to go to empires. To be honest, going to the Unified states will be a wiser choice to avoid all the war that happens in the next few years instead of heading straight to the losing country.

However, that's the point. This is the only chance I could shape the history, how selfish that might be. I know what happens should we lose, the first or the second time.

My very fiber of being will be ashamed to not exploit this chance and turn to a better time.

Now, for that to happen, since this is the early 20th century, I wonder if some establishment still accepts children as labor forces.