[EXCLUSIVE] - Gaia Gear Ch.03 (Full)

CHAPTER.03 THE STORYTELLER

1

　"Ya know, it's a sin to be ignorant, yet it's also a sin to know too much..." the man said, letting out a chuckle, "Oh, the irony of proverbs! Much like a coin has heads and tails, truth can have two sides too!"

　The middle-aged man's imposing presence radiated an air of nonchalance, suggesting a past he had long left behind. His disheveled appearance seemed out of place amidst the serene beauty of the southern islands.

　But does that imply that all northerners are bound to a life of sorrow?

　"I go by the name Truth Stronger," the man introduced himself, casually brandishing a bottle of spirits as he followed Affranchi out of the bar.

　Affranchi tried to brush him off, but the man persisted. He staggered across the asphalt road in his drunken stupor towards Affranchi, leaving him nowhere to escape.

　Driven by curiosity, Affranchi trailed the man, keeping a watchful eye on his back. The man, who identified himself as "Truth," appeared to anticipate Affranchi's actions.

　"You're Affranchi Char, aren't you?" he said with an air of certainty. "A liberated Char... Did you know that?" 

　His drunken eyes danced around, and returned to gaze on Affranchi.

　The glow from the streetlights outside the bar cast a subtle light on his face, emphasizing the lingering scent of alcohol.

　"A liberated Char?"

　"It's a name that carries a haunting significance," the man declared before releasing a resounding hiccup and turning away from Affranchi once more.

　"I only know my foster parents..."

　"Is that so?" Truth mumbled as he tucked the bottle into his jacket pocket and disappeared into the shadows.

　Beyond the road facing the harbor, the path grew darker, save for the sparse lights illuminating the mountainside to their left. Despite the darkness, the glow from nearby houses made the area feel more "civilized" than the island where Affranchi had grown up.

　Yet, that term seemed somehow misplaced. In this day and age, it was the more undeveloped places that were often regarded as genuinely civilized. 

　"Affranchi Char abandoned on the last remaining southern island on Earth without knowing his true parents... Hehehe..."

　Truth chuckled softly, his silhouette seeming to eclipse the starlight.

　"What did you say?" Affranchi demanded.

　"You were brought to this southern island to hone your skills, shouldering the burden of the white man," Truth explained cryptically.

　"The white man's burden...?"

　Continuing to weave unsteadily between the palm trees, Truth elaborated, "It's the dilemma of the white man... The whites..." His final words lingered in the humid air, trailing after him as he vanished into the darkness.

2

　The room brimmed with not only columns of floppy disks but also cascades of literature. However, the majority of objects lay strewn about rather than neatly organized. Three archaic reading displays also stood, their presence muted in the undulating amber glow.

　"Quite the oddity, don't you think?" Truth flicked the light on by manipulating the switch on the bulb, then gestured at the luminous orb with a nod of his head. 

　"It's not a fluorescent panel?"

　"Nope, do you know what this is called?" 

　"It's spherical... was it a light bulb?" 

　"That's right. Within the glass orb lies a filament, and when ignited, it casts this enchanting golden radiance."

　"It's mesmerizing... I cannot pinpoint the reason, but it exudes a sense of antiquity, like a long-forgotten hue..."

　"Absolutely. It's a light that whispers tales of bygone epochs. A dull, aged hue... And yet, within that waning chroma, lies an everlasting verity... Do you know why?"

　"No..."

　Truth eased into the sofa permeated with the salty essence of the sea, nestled his jacket between his legs, and extracted the liquor bottle with a deft twist.

　"Really? I believe you do... Time-honored relics have undergone the trials and refinements of time, leaving only their essence to fade in hue, revealing authenticity. After all, falsehoods and fiction don't stand the test of time, right?"

　Truth placed the bottle on a side table, pushing aside the volumes that had rested there.

　"Oh...!"

　"However, let the faded be consigned to oblivion! Just like the adage suggests, right? Truth and the like are precisely that! Heh heh heh!"

　The philosopher took a swig from the liquor bottle and looked intently at Affranchi, who was standing in the center of the room. 

　"I see, you're... a certified white man, aren't you?" 

　"Do you mean I'm a purebred white man? What do you even mean by 'white man'? Which ethnic group are you referring to?"

　Affranchi was mildly perturbed. He couldn't pinpoint the precise reason, but it was evident that the man's words had evoked an emotion akin to ire.

　"You're asking which ethnicity the what man is... What a stupid question. Has growing up on a southern tropic island made your blood go stupid from the heat?"

　"That's a disrespectful way to talk, don't you think?" Affranchi replied firmly.

　"Hmm... Admirable disposition. Very well, I shall enlighten you. The white man is the patriarch of humanity. They aren't merely an ethnicity." Affranchi considered this to be the incoherent musings of an inebriated thinker.

　"Patriarch of humanity? What does that mean?" 

　"You're one of them, and you're not even aware of it... Hehehe... I don't actually believe that white men are the patriarch. But the person who named you Affranchi, man or maybe a woman, believed that the white man is such." 

　The man hoisted the liquor bottle toward the light bulb before casting it on the floor. It produced a dry, empty thunk.

　"Who are you? Listening to your story makes me angry."

　"Why?" 

　"What you're uttering reeks of racial bias... Such expressions are antiquated... relics of history."

　"Ah... It's remarkable that a young individual like you is familiar with such terminology."

　Truth retrieved the bottle from the ground and began to drizzle droplets of booze into his open palm. His eyes locked onto Affranchi.

　"You chuckled, didn't you?"

　"Yes..."

　"Why?"

　"I merely proposed a theory, yet it provoked your anger. Why the fury? It's because you feel unease. What triggers such disquiet? It contradicts your ideals, your beliefs."

　"I suppose so..." 

　"But, you've got it all wrong, young man." 

　"...?"

　"The real reason for anger, the real reason for discomfort, is that you have desires you're suppressing with something called common sense. In other words, when someone points out a latent desire, a person feels genuine discomfort."

　"..."

　Affranchi sat down on the bed. 

　*Kachink! Tick, tick, tick, tick*

　Again, that sound in Affranchi resonated powerfully, shaking the depths of his semicircular canals. 

　"Elucidating the subconscious... the latent consciousness, the unconscious self... Ordinary individuals dismiss its existence, but..." Truth licked his palm and yawned.

　"You harbor such prejudiced perspectives..."

　Affranchi tried to make some space to lie on the half-cluttered bed, the room functioning partly as a storage unit.

　"Fools who grasp concepts like the subconscious mind, who can effortlessly comprehend its essence and assert that I possess such and such a subconscious mind... It's no laughing matter. The subconscious isn't that elementary... Tsk!"

　Truth flung the liquor bottle out the window. In the process, his torso slid down the sofa.

　"...?" 

　Was he going to sleep like that? Affranchi wondered. 

　"However, you see..." The man yawned, his chin starting to droop.

　"There are instances when individuals precisely articulate their own unconsciousness..."

　Affranchi contemplated closing the screen door behind the man.

　"…!"

　He rose and circled the sofa.

　"It's emotions. Emotions... By examining one's comprehensive emotional expression, or during a moment when emotions erupt spontaneously, you can discern their latent desires... After all, self-aware consciousness is merely the tip of the iceberg..."

　As those words trailed off, the man fell asleep.

3

　The next day, when Affranchi woke up, the occupant of the house was no longer on the sofa.

　"…?"

　He went outside to check.

　The location, quite a distance from the coast, felt like an inland area with a vast sugarcane field on one side.

　"…"

　Where had that eccentric man gone?

　Affranchi rinsed his mouth and washed his face at the outdoor faucet.

　"…"

　Unlike the stimulating conversation he had had the previous night, his body's senses finally seemed to have returned to a state of calm.

　"…!"

　Suddenly, he remembered Everly Key.

　So, Affranchi hurried back to the cabin and scanned the walls of the man's room.

　"…!"

　Affranchi looked at the faded timetable for a Hong Kong-bound ship posted on the wall.

　"…?"

　He checked the date on his wristwatch.

　"There's no departure for Hong Kong today?"

　It was a shock, as he hadn't expected this.

　"So, there was no point in getting through the storm..."

　During his battle with the storm, Affranchi's emotions had been linear. During such times, thoughts tend to simplify as well.

　So, he had naturally believed that he could board a ship today.

　He was taken aback by his simplistic assumption.

　Tick, tick-tick!

　People have such tendencies.

　"Was the ship I saw at the pier last night not a regular service?"

　Vroom vroom

　The soft purr of a motorcycle engine caught Affranchi's attention as he looked out the window.

　Beyond the torn screen door and through the sugarcane fields, the man from last night approached, smoothly riding his motorbike.

　He sported a sun-bleached jacket and shorts, his face calm and reddened – whether from alcohol or sunburn, it was hard to tell.

　"…?"

　Affranchi greeted the man at the doorway.

　"Good morning."

　"Ah… did you sleep well?"

　"Yes, there's something reassuring about sleeping under a solid roof." "Glad to hear that."

　He had a fish dangling in his hand.

　"Managed to nab one."

　"By yourself?"

　"I've got a boat... Took me twenty minutes, but it seems the world still has something to offer."

　Truth grinned mischievously and asked,

　"Are you tired of fish for breakfast?"

　"No, not at all..."

　"You're an islander, after all, right?"

　As the man headed to the kitchen, Affranchi asked,

　"Could I stay here again tonight? I'll pay."

　"Really? It's quite expensive, you know?"

　"...?"

　Realizing he had unintentionally offended the man, Affranchi apologized.

　"I'm sorry. I didn't know how else to ask... I apologize for bringing up money."

　Even though it was called the kitchen, it was just a room separated by a single door.

　"Hehehe..."

　The man's back seemed to laugh as he continued into the kitchen.

　"How about you clean my room for me? That'll be your rent."

　"Sure..." Affranchi agreed.

　That day, Affranchi spent the whole day cleaning Truth Stronger's room.

　The small shack consisted of a living room, kitchen, toilet, and shower room, but Affranchi ended up taking a whole day to organize the books and floppy disks.

　"First Love? A Russian novel?"

　"Mechanics and Histology of Plastic Fatigue?"

　"Whale Breeding?"

　"History of the Buddhist System?"

　With a large number of books and floppy disks, you can learn a lot about these sorts of different things. They ranged from historical accounts, travelogues, space colony construction manuals, geology, oceanography, orchid cultivation techniques, and even deciphering books for Tagalog, ancient Basque, and Esperanto languages.

　"Tank Technology Development Competition During World War II. The History of Space Migration up to Neo Zeon. Hormones, Myosin, and Actin Metabolism. The Krater Series..."

　Affranchi stopped trying to figure out the person named Truth Stronger.

　"He must be quite the hobbyist.."

　As Affranchi spent the entire day toiling away cleaning, Truth spent the entire day outside with a portable display. Could he make a living without doing any work? Affranchi couldn't help but feel puzzled by Truth's appearance, which didn't seem to reek of daily life.

　Dinner was the same as breakfast. The sun was still high in the sky. As the calm hour ended, the wind became gentle and pleasant before nightfall.

　"Thank you for the meal."

　"You earned it, you've worked hard. Thanks to you, I don't know how to find what I want to read."

　"Sorry, I didn't know how to categorize the books, so I just tidied them up as best I could."

　"Being too clean feels strange."

　"Really...?"

　"Don't you think we live quite comfortably amidst the chaos?"

　"Chaos?"

　"Is there anyone who lives only for one discipline? We eat, we sleep – even these actions involve a combination of multiple knowledge areas. That's why living with things neatly organized feels off..."

　"That's an interesting argument."

　Affranchi laughed.

　"Is it strange?"

　"Maybe. People can't do everything. So, even though our lives may be chaotic, we process information like high-performance computers, choosing what to focus on and moving forward."

　"I didn't expect to hear about organization theory."

　Truth chuckled bitterly.

　Tonight, he hadn't started drinking yet.

　"People say we can only do one thing at a time, but are we really that limited?"

　"I'd like to think that human abilities are infinite."

　"Interesting contradiction. Isn't the will to choose what to focus on a challenge towards the infinite?"

　"...?"

　"Out in space, there's a new world for humanity – space colonies."

　"I've heard of them... People living in space..."

　"It's because of these colonies that humanity, now numbering over ten billion, can still live on Earth. In the last century, people believed that once Earth's population exceeded twelve billion, humanity would self-destruct."

　"But thanks to human wisdom, we've managed to survive until now..."

　"The creator of these space colonies was a white person."

　"Are we back to that story? So, you're saying other ethnic groups are subordinate to white people?"

　"There's a theory like that. Both Earth and the universe exist for white people to share. Affranchi Char appeared to put that idea into practice."

　"Again..."

　"I told you, didn't I? Affranchi is a term for the Franks who were liberated. Frank is a general term for white people. The prefix 'a' denotes free or liberated. Put together, and it's Affranchi. The person who named you must have had the rebirth of white people in mind, right?"

　"...So, Affranchi Char is... like a king for white people...?"

　Affranchi muttered, still not quite understanding.

　"So, your name isn't like the name Campbell, which is just meant to intimidate enemies."

　"Campbell?"

　"That comes from an old Celtic word for boar. To use such a name as your family name implies that it's meant to intimidate enemies. But Affranchi is different."

　"Is that so?"

　"However, I don't like the 'Char' part... it's Oriental, isn't it?"

　"..."

　"But there's a strange persuasiveness in the combination of a name that evokes other ethnicities and Affranchi. It means don't forget your enemies, right?"

　"Is it that combative?"

　"Listen. To make both Earth and space belong to white people, we have to defeat other ethnicities. If we don't, the world will never truly belong to white people. A world ruled by the powerless will only cause chaos."

　"I understand that logic, but..."

　"Hate it all you want, Affranchi. But remember this: God placed other ethnicities in the world to challenge white people and spread the seeds of conflict. If they exist for that purpose, they are both adversaries and potential allies for white people. Only by mastering and defeating them can white people become the true masters of the world."

　"I understand the argument, but I'm Char, a freed white person. I won't get on board with that line of thinking."

　"Hmm... Do you answer that way because I'm only giving you the logic, not speaking sincerely?"

　Truth Stronger sighed.

　"Yes, Truth, there's something I don't understand. Please tell me."

　"What is it?"

　"Why, during the space colony era, were none of the people living on these islands forcibly relocated?"

　"Ah... everyone living here, including us, has been allowed to live here. Or rather, we've been made to live here."

　"Made to live here? For what purpose?"

　"To forge white people."

Truth had a smug grin on his face.

　"Are we going back to that topic again?"

　"The mistake of the space colony project was that there were fools who thought that in space, a new global race that transcends ethnicity could be created."

　"You mean like Earthlings?"

　"That's right. Those who think ethnicities can mix."

　"Is that a bad way of thinking?"

　"Who can say? I don't know."

　Truth, who was sober, simply said that.

4

　The next day, Affranchi went to the pier to catch the regular ferry to Hong Kong.

　The sunshine from the south was intense and hot.

　"You are an intriguing person. I've come to believe that the world throws challenges at us sometimes."

　Truth was in a good mood.

　"So are you saying the people around here were left on Earth as a test?"

　Sneering at Affranchi's misguided response, Truth said, "What's troubling is that the will of the people and the will of the world are, on a latent level, doing things like this. I find it unbearable."

　"Why is that?"

　"It's impossible to sense a person's desire to consciously oppress and experiment on people, right? The people only knew to resist when there was someone like Hitler, for example. But since the subconscious mind is a mystery, we have no idea where to attack to eliminate the wicked logic that induces madmen to use people for experiments."

　"True..."

　"And if you're being oppressed, there's no way to just leave, which is frustrating, right?"

　"You don't like the feeling of not being free, do you, Truth Stronger?"

　Truth frowned.

　That's when it happened.

　"Af-franchi Char!"

　Affranchi looked in the direction of the voice.

　Everly Key was running towards Affranchi, her back to the pier.

　"Eva...?"

　Affranchi muttered under his breath.

　But Truth heard Affranchi.

　"...?!"

　As Everly was running toward him, Affranchi saw Truth's stout body sliding in between them.

　In front of Truth was Everly, whose face was full of joy.

　Everly was wearing a modest dress!

　Yet her whole body was overflowing with joy as she ran towards them in the bright morning sunlight.

　Then...

　Smack!

　Truth slapped Everly's left cheek, and Affranchi saw her flinch to his left.

　"Don't you dare come near Affranchi, vile woman!"

　Affranchi heard his voice overlapping with Everly's figure flowing through the air.