4.3

I believe I can touch the sky

Days flew by when there was something to do. Now every morning Hiro would train alongside Willow, or more like doing his own cardio. During the day, the young man would help out in harvesting the plants brought by the Edict, everyday there would be new fruits heavy with nutritious contents.

All the working out and actual working seem to do wonder for his athletic capability. Or at least that was what Hiro liked to believe, a few days were still too short to observe any meaningful changes.

Recently, the young man was also embroiled in another matter, the preparation for the Pryce’s wedding.

At least that didn’t take much effort. For a small town like this, normally everyone would be invited. But due to the foreseeable food shortage the ceremony was downsized to only a few people. Mainly the summoned, Willow and of course Victor.

Caron’s parents were no longer in this world while Owain’s were too far away to attend.

Despite there was not much to do, the preparation still took up quite a bit of Hiro, Willow and Conrad time, the three who volunteered to help. Although the later seemed to just be going along the flow at the moment. Caron was extremely meticulous about everything, all the decorations were handmade and precise to the smallest degree.

In the end, Caron wounded up doing most them anyway since Hiro and Willow’s outputs were not up to standard. Although a distorted lantern from each of them was still accepted as thanks.

Technically there was Conrad whose quality matched Caron’s expectation. But that involved him sitting for hours on just one item, so the output was still negligible. Nevertheless, Hiro found a strange joy in looking at the vagabond working.

Seeing such a man, cladded in armour and chainmail hunching over to fold the neatest paper flower was somewhat satisfying. Especially since Conrad seemed to take joy in doing meticulous tasks like this, all the while humming his short tune again and again. He looked like a child somehow. Although that was Hiro own interpretation, from the man’s weary eyes and unchanging face, the young man could see a very faint difference that could be constitute for a smile.

Even with gauntlets, Conrad could produce such precise and delicate ornament. A meticulous person he was, in everything including and especially the way of the sword.

Despite his uselessness when making these things, Hiro still continued to try. Over time, the young man could see his skill improving. That was until while resting, he decided to ask Suiren to try and make some.

The woman pumped these decorations out like a factory, precise and fast.

Feeling dejected, the young man returned to plucking fruits and reading the Far West line of novel. They were surprisingly entertaining. Although he highly questioned the gunfight where the author squared off against a John Wesley Hardin in a bar along with a dozen gun tooting henchmens.

It took him two volumes to finally realise that he was somehow reading a book from here. And that the translator took effect wherever he put it as long as it was on his body, not just in the ear. And that the thing could effectively translate every word in his mind back to Japanese.

This feature surprised even Willow who had always thought of it as an earpiece. Malcolm found out even before but she never mentioned that.

“I said it was an earpiece because it sounds more believable and less intrusive than a device that directly wires into your mind”

That was Victor’s reply. The doctor then offered to ingrain that into their physical brain which the three declined. They were fine with an earpiece for now.

Then one day, Hiro wook up to find Owain looking over him with a huge grin on his face.

“It’s done!”

“What are you doing here? What is done?”

“The jetpack, I have finished it!”

“Really!”

Hiro immediately jumped out of bed.

“I am wearing it right now!”

Owain pulled up his coat to show a thin metallic plate on his stomach connected to another on the back by leather hoses. From two giant cubes to a rather fashionable looking stomach belt. Talked about an improvement.

“Wait, are you going to fly it now?”

“Oh now, I will need to attach the gem first, then I will take off, in about half an hour!”

And with that, the young man bolted off. Hiro quickly put on his clothing in a hurry. Now this was something he certainly didn’t want to miss. And the young man was also eager to ask for a try afterward, a sentiment which was shared by the voice.

He hurried downstairs to find a rather enthusiastic Willow, still waiting for him.

“Hiro, you are here!”

“Ah, you are here as well?”

“Of course, Caron is also waiting outside. She wants to ask of you something though”

“What is it?”

“Well, she wants to ask if you could invite Victor out as well…”

Despite meeting with Willow first, Caron didn’t ask her. Hiro agreed.

“Alright”

“Thanks, Hiro. Oh and there is still some time left so no need to rush, just pull your zipper up first”

The girl jested and walked away. The moment she was out of sight, Hiro reached down to pull the zipper in embarrassment. Now to find Victor. He might be out near the tree which was a bit far, or perhaps he was at the town’s depot, his temporary residence.

Lucky for Hiro, the latter was the case. It wasn’t too much of a trek there.

The young man entered to find a room, once filled with papers and documents and strange apparatuses, now completely empty. Victor turned around to him.

“Oh, Mr. Hiro, what takes you here this early in the morning”

“Um, where are all the… stuffs?”

“Oh, I have put them all away. My job here is finished”

“Does that mean you have fixed whatever is going wrong with the mana flow here”

“That’s right, for you it’s mean that you could go home now, if you want to”

“… That’s great!”

“Yes, all you need to do is lie down and rest, close your eyes and think of home. Then mumbles this word ‘Rosebud’, that’s all. From home, just think of Eden and you will return”

The doctor said as he paced around the room.

“Wait, that doesn’t sound right” Hiro was sceptical of this strangely simple method.

“Well, it is a long process which involves transferring your consciousness back to your old body. That had been greatly streamlined. The codeword, ‘Rosebud’ is there to make sure you aren’t brought back every time you go to sleep, thinking of home, that’s all”

“That’s… strangely simple”

“Right, that was a lot of work I tell you, but of course it’s nothing I couldn’t handle, hah hah. To tell the truth, I finished all of this yesterday even” The doctor admitted.

“Then how come you didn’t tell us?”

Victor leaned at the empty table and crossed his arms. The doctor looked back at Hiro.

“Because then I will have to leave, you guys still need to be brought back to the capital”

“But you want to attend the wedding…”

“That’s right, it’s a selfish thing of mine but Caron had asked me to give her away, how could I refuse”

Giving ones daughter away, now that was a familiar tradition. Was it brought over by the Divines, after all, they also introduced many measurements from their world. Why not traditions, holidays and ceremonies as well.

Victor seemed to be in a sentimental mood though. Perhaps it was time for Hiro to ask something he had been meaning to. After all, the young man had learned a lot about this place. About how all injuries could be cured in a blink of an eye, the dead could even be brought back to life! Then how did…

“Victor, may I ask you something?”

“What is it, Mr. Hiro?”

“Caron’s parents, how did their die. How could someone here possibly die with the healthcare here, I heard it’s even possible to bring back the dead”

The doctor only seemed mildly surprise at this question, his nostalgia was overwhelming everything at the moment. That same nostalgia, however, also put him in a talkative mode.

“About bringing back the dead. Firstly, that can only be done on a citizen here so don’t you go and jumping off a cliff or something”

“Hay”

That didn’t take much to figure out. After all, the conventional healing method here didn’t work on them either.

“Secondly, that proceeds is heretical in nature, to resurrect the dead is to desecrate them. Only two people in all of Eden can perform that and only one is actually willing to do it. Although to accept to be revived is like a contract you have to sign, a contract where you allow your body to be soiled”

“By you?” The word ‘heretical’ was certainly tell-tale.

“Yes, Mr. Hiro”

“And I figure the other one who could perform that is Vaswani”

“The great Divine herself, double yes. Very good, Mr. Hiro”

Victor clapped slowly, an act which Hiro couldn’t interpret in any other way than condescending. Halfway thought mocking, the doctor suddenly stopped and returns to his usual self, the one he showed to the Young man at least.

“Sorry about that, habit”

“It’s fine” What kind of habit was that, mocking someone else.

“Anyway, I was just finished in telling you about resurrecting the dead. Back to Caron’s parents… well, Mr. Hiro, do you have a dream, a goal?”

“Um, why are you asking that?”

“Just answer the question” Victor looked sombre.

“I… do, I just want to live… happily. I guess? Huh, I haven’t thought much about this”

“Well, that’s still something… You can say that everyone here has a goal, something to keep them going on. Caron’s parents dream is to be together forever but there is a problem. Their ages have a year different”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“Mr. Hiro, we only have 50 years to live, no more no less. We will pass away at old age at exactly 50 years old, at the same time we were born. Of course, I am still here but that is because of highly heretical and evil arcane trickery. But those two, they want to be together forever, but one will have to live a year without the other”

“What happened next…” This didn’t sound nice.

“It’s funny why you asked how could one die here. Because a person here wouldn’t be able to tell you. As long as you pleads your life to the Divine, all injuries could healed in a blink of an eye. That is until you turn 50, then you will cease to exist. And so, those two never thought much about that, until one day… they learn of the concept of death”

“Wait, does that mean…”

“I am sure your guess is correct, Mr. Hiro. And so they left, leaving poor Caron all to herself”

“But… but why would they left her, didn’t they love her!”

“I’m sure they did, but their dream was to be together, not to be together with Caron. And so, when they saw that goal could be achieved. The two jumped at that without hesitation. Caron was only three then”

“That’s… horrible”

Hiro couldn’t imagine it. How could a person be that selfish? But then, he remembered his own parents. But to commit a double suicide over that.

“Yes, it was, especially since age three is very important. It is usually when one finds their purpose in life and strives toward it no matter how mundane it might sound. But because of their death, that girl remained aimless for so long. I taught her many things in the hope that one of them could resonate but no. She spent more than a decades of her life, just existing. That was until that rascal arrived…”

“Owain?” Now this was an easy guess.

“Yes. For years I had helped her in finding a purpose, a dream to live by. But I guess there is no beating love. Living with him became her purpose…”

… Just like her parents. Hiro felt like that was what Victor, going to say, judging by how sombre the doctor was. Despite all his effort, Caron dedicated her life to that guy. And he…

“Oh no!” A frightening thought just crossed Hiro mind.

“What’s wrong, Mr. Hiro”

“Owain… his dream is touching the sky…”

“By his own effort, yes that is his purpose, what is wrong?”

“He… he is building a jetpack”

“Oh, that could never work. Owain could never find a power source good enough for that”

“No, Willow gave him one! He already finishes with it, Owain will take off soon! That was what I was going to tell you!”

Hiro couldn’t fully see the implication of this but there was his intuition screaming out. Judging from Victor’s horrified expression, his worry seemed to be well found.

The doctor held up his hand and it slowly disintegrated. But something is wrong, normally it would form a thick black smoke but this time, the smoke was clear and soon dispersed and got swept away by the faint wind.

Victor ran out of the door like a man possessed. All of his blood vessels seem like bursting, the old body didn’t seem like it could handle this much. And yet, the doctor continued to run desperately and Hiro was right behind him.

They reached the rest, just in time to see Owain reaching the sky and exploded spectacularly.