Story Reader / Interlude / The Chess Player / Story
Fledging Eagle
Congratulations, John.
Specialized frame and a specialized Inver-Device... We finally have some measurable results. Chrome never disappoints.
You look delighted.
If we can create more Constructs that don't rely on a commandant with this technology... I suppose the odds will start going in our favor.
...
I've got a meeting coming, so I have to go now. I'm guessing you've been waiting here to see your son return safely from that battlefield?
That won't be necessary now that I know the frame has been adapted successfully.
If you say so.
Heroes are plenty.
Of course they are plenty. There cannot be just one.
Anyone can grab a sword and face the monster. Anyone who does so is a hero.
They either perish on their way to the monster or die under its blade.
Before the monster is vanquished, no one will remember the names of the dead heroes. No one needs to.
But then one of the heroes takes a stand, and he declares—
I will carry their names and fight.
Surpass a Smith, is it...
None of us has said something like that before him.
He disobeyed my order, but when he called me Dad, I felt... glad.
I might not be your father, but you are my son.
It has never been a kite that needs an anchor in his hands, but an eagle with its wings spread, ready to fly.
The little boy standing in the shadows of the dark room back then has long left his nest.
He knows how the story of a Smith ends.
But he has no idea where this eagle will go.
Maybe he will find the answer all Smiths have been searching for.
Maybe he will finally grasp what no Smith has dared to dream.
