Violet Evergarden Gaiden: Chapter 5 (Sample)

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Claudia Hodgins and Gilbert Bougainvillea









“The Military School of Leidenschaftlich’s Army does not inquire people’s social ranks. The gates are open to all youths, and anyone over fourteen years of age can entrust themselves to it regardless of their gender. National defense means protecting everything you love.”

Where had I seen a bulletin with these contents again? If I was certain, it had been in front of our business partner wholesale store, when I entered and exited it during an errand for my family. One particular sheet had been standing out in a board where the townsfolk stuck anything they felt like, from job hunts to searches for people. While biting into an apple that I had received from the store’s owner as recompense for the errand, my thirteen-year-old self had gazed at it intently. It was a good-quality paper rendered perfectly straight, firmly nailed by thumbtacks in all four corners. Pushed into the paper at the end of the text was a gold screw, as well as red sealing wax, bearing the emblem of Leidenschaftlich’s army.

As a child, had thought that was a pretty cool life choice. How stupid. Even I wanted to laugh at myself for being immature. Back then, I had not yet come to know the meaning of giving and taking away lives. Truth be told, once I had tried becoming a soldier, reality wound up crushing various delusions of mine, but that was a tale for later.

Let us go back to my current story.

There were many reasons why I had decided that “yeah, I’ll become a soldier”. One was that I was the second son of a merchant household, and, since my older brother would take over the inheritances, I was unnecessary. Another one was that, as I had been raised in a big family, I had wanted to hurry and become independent so that I could have my own space. Yet another was that the name my parents had given me was “Claudia”, which had made me think of wishing to become manly. Lastly, well… my older brother’s fiancée was a beautiful woman just my type, so I had wanted to be far away from her. The most important was that I desired to protect the family I loved but wanted to depart from, I guessed.

The war had been steadily intensifying back then. A resources war between North and South. It was that one messy Continental War of a few years before, in which a religious war between the West and the East had mingled.

Leidenschaftlich was the continent’s southernmost extremity. Had we been attacked at that point, our defeat would have been certain and my family would likely have lost their lives. Because I was fond of my town and my people, and because I was fond of Leidenschaftlich, enlisting had been an inclination from my spontaneous feelings. The various things that had happened to me at the time boosted them… and so, I had decided to become a soldier. I applied without telling my parents, and, as for the entrance exam, I took it after lying that I was going to play around with friends.

When a letter of acceptance was suddenly delivered by the postman to my home, my old man beat me up severely. I hit him back, though. Old Man had been surprised. So had I. Like, “Old Man is unexpectedly weak”. During childhood, people would think that their guardians are damn huge existences…

Yup. My parents had probably been worried. Choosing soldier as profession would earn one a higher mortality rate than leading a normal life.

In the military school, all officers living in the dorms was something enforced, so no one had a choice but let go of their parents. Still, I was stubborn, so I had taken a photo of my family as I left. Two years after that, I guessed, was when it had happened.

I met Gilbert.