A man was drifting in the sea. Normally he would be able to get to land by using a tattered propeller. But he had no strength nor motivation to do so. That man was once a pilot, an ace pilot even. Not that far back he was like a hawk in the wind, an albatross soaring the sky above the clouds, a heaven-sent man who shot down 80 enemy planes. ..... He feels like the last time he felt free was in the distant past. Though ironically, he is now 「enjoying」, in a sense, 「absolute freedom」. He has no dreams or desires. He lives 「free」, a life without meaning as if he was already dead. A reasonable voice inside his head tells him—— ——This feel is a hallucination caused by an imbalance in your body fluids right before death. If I'm rescued, everything will be okay. If I'm rescued, I will be free. However—— ——A 「foreign thought」 keeps telling him: Your comrades are dead. Your motherland is beyond this hallucination. Like that philosopher once said, 「His death, dieth the consummating one triumphantly, surrounded by hoping and promising ones.」 「Thus to die is best; the next best, however, is to die in battle, and sacrifice a great soul.」, it has to be like a warrior.

Note：

引号中的部分来自尼采的《查拉图斯特拉如是说》。

 But he failed spectacularly and now he can only die pathetically, like a lion stripped of its fangs. ...Drifting in the sea, 「life」 and 「death」 have lost all meaning. Well? What kind of person was our new drifter? He's a 「Pilot」. Someone who operates machines that fly in the sky. Wow! Think we can cross over the wall with one of those? About that... It's best if you don't get your hopes up. ...Why? We believe his plane was suddenly deviated from its course by a 「mysterious power」 when he tried to fly over the「Wall of Asgard」. Going by what we know so far, I speculate there is a spatial distortion above the 「wall」. ...I don't get it but—— Basically, 「flying」 won't get us past the 「wall」, correct? Exactly. That said, his plane can still be of use to us for other purposes. Leave the repairs to me. Thank you. Call me if you need to do any complex calculations. Hahahaha, I'll ask you to dumb it down for me later. More importantly—— Our priority is to persuade that pilot and have him join our crew. You're right. Before we can talk about 「cooperation」 we need to get him out of his 「depression」 first. ...Let me say it now, helping children who lost their will to live is not my job. D-Don't count on me either... I'm not g-good at this kind of stuff... ——Would you leave it to me, then? ...Unexpected. You, the one who was doubting me moments ago and didn't want to take the sword 「Durandal」? ...That's a separated matter! Also this doesn't mean I accepted that 「you're telling the truth」. Oh my. This is this, that is that. Y-You let us sail on your ship—— ——There is nothing wrong with wanting to repay the favor, right? Also, I heard he was a soldier. Not a regular one either, but an aristocrat stubborn 「Ace Pilot」 from the end of World War I. Then it's obvious it would be better if an 「Ace Valkyrie」 talks to him rather than a 「Pirate」! Hahahahaha! As expected! You're truly interesting! Hahahahaha! Hmph. Please don't underestimate me. At least we should be able to understand each other—— As soldiers who have defeated many enemies. Anyway... Rita, please make something delicious! A high calorie dish that would make someone drool just by looking at it! Understood, Bianka-sama. A clean and well groomed man is staring silently at the dark red meat in front of him. It's 「whale steak」. Eat it while it's hot or it'll lose its good taste. ..... This steak is not made from any whale we know of like sperm whale, right whale or fin whale. ..... It doesn't have that fishy smell other seafood has and the meat is tender and juicy. This 「whale steak」 is—— More delicious than any beef stake! ..I'll pass. ...Oh? You still don't want to eat it even after learning that—— Get it already! ...I don't have any appetite. Excuse me? You were saved from such extreme conditions—— Yet you don't have any appetite? ...Surely a man like yourself didn't get full just by drinking a little bit of Honey Water. You're mistaken if you think anyone would believe that. ...You don't know anything, little girl. ..... Heh. So this pilot is the sort of person who discriminates based on age before even introducing himself? Looks like we cleaned you up for nothing. ..... Do you intend to remain anonymous in front of the people who saved you? ..... Manfred Albrecht von Richthofen. Pilot. Fighter pilot of the German Air Force. Bianka Ataegina. Valkyrie. Squad Leader of Schicksal's special exploration unit 「LONELY PANTHALASSA」. ...「Schicksal」 and 「Valkyrie」. ...As I thought, those terms mean nothing to me. 「Wenn schon, denn schon」. I don't belong to this world, but first—— Eat before it gets cold. ..... My comrades survived 53 days out in the sea without water and unable to catch fish, only barely hanging on eating seaweed and shrimp. Even in their worst moments... ..... None of them dared to give up... ...But in the end only me, their captain, survived. I'm aware... Getting into an accident, being ill, everything comes down to cruel 「luck」. So I... ..... Really—— What a troublesome man you are. ...? Let me put it this way. The meat in front of your is what's left of a creature we fought not too long ago. Killing that giant monster only gave us ordinary things like meat and bones. You can't eat it all at once, nor you can store it for later. So what's in front of you is just leftover food. It's not different from 「seaweed」 or 「shrimp」. ——Do you understand now? ...You! (Stomach growl...) See. Your head rejects it, but the rest of your body is being honest. ...Or are you going to say that you were better off when you were drifting? That your dead comrades—— Want to see you in pain like this!? ..... Eat. I too... had to say goodbye to people like you did. So how about you listen to my story while we eat? You came from a world where there is a 「World War II」 going on. But in another world there is something far more terrifying than that massacre. That is the Honkai——A natural disaster specialized in killing. You can't bargain with it. You can't talk to it. It's a natural phenomena devoid of emotions, it will never feel satisfaction or pity. The Honkai won't stop until our civilization is completely destroyed. From what I've been told... I'm the survivor of a Honkai attack. ——One of the few survivors among hundreds of millions of dead. But that has no effect on me. After all, I have no memory of any of that. As far as I know, 「Bianka」 has always been alone. I don't know where I came from or who my parents are. I've seen many people like that from sanatoriums in Russia to orphanages in France. Some were depressed like you, some others were hellbent on revenge—— And of course, some were normal too. In those 「not so bad but not so good」 days... I met a certain person. A volunteer came to visit the orphanage—— ——She was the captain of a Valkyrie Assault Squad and a battle training instructor who reported directly to HQ. An 「Assault Squad」 is a special unit even among Valkyrie squads in charge of dealing with missions taking place in harsh environments. So we thought she was going to be a strict person who had nothing but rules and training in her head—— ——But surprisingly, what this Assault Squad captain held was...a peaceful gardening class. Lilies are easy to grow. The bulb and the petiole sprouts around it can be used to breed it... Of course, you can also take your time and use seeds. Lilies are big and smell good—— And it takes almost no effort to take care of them. Plant them in the ground and they will bloom without much trouble. It was an unforgettable evening. If I had to put it in words... The poem she taught us summarized it well. 「Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?」 「Thou art more lovely and more temperate:」 「Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,」 「And summer's lease hath all too short a date:」 「Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,」 「And often is his gold complexion dimmed;」 「And every fair from fair sometime declines,」 「By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed:」 「But thy eternal summer shall not fade,」 「Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;」 「Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade」 「When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st:」 「So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,」 「So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.」

Note：

这首英文诗歌是莎士比亚的《第18号十四行诗》。（由于语言之间的区别以及译者能力所限，括号里的翻译只能粗略表达诗文大意。）

 By Summer of the next year the lilies we planted blossomed. White petals, golden stamens... the air throughout the Summer smelled great. But the person who taught us how to plant them... ...Passed away the previous Winter. I heard it was a fierce battle... Only a single member of her squad came back alive. ...And the 「Assault Squad」 was disbanded shortly after. During that Summer the survivor came to visit the orphanage. She didn't mention any 「Assault Squad」 in her self introduction, only that she was a teacher at a certain 「school」. ...At the time I thought she was taking advantage of her position to 「recruit students」. I couldn't help but feel anger towards such 「heartless person」. But in response to my anger she told me—— Don't get me wrong. As her friend... I haven't accepted her death. But there is no need for any of you to feel sad and be in pain whenever you think of that person. If she lives in your heart too and you want to honor her ideals and values... You must try to fulfill her dream. Because in the end what this world recognizes is—— ——Actions born out of pure effort and not sweet words. Shortly after I signed up for a special Valkyrie training at HQ. I thought about joining the 「school」 that woman talked about—— But the school's system was too relaxed and I would have to waste several years until I could become a real Valkyrie. ...You can think of me as a 「child soldier」 but from my perspective the pilot training you've done is nothing impressive. I'm a Rank A Valkyrie, a soldier who has seen hell same as you. ——Though right now you're closer to be a soldier who retired after the death of his comrades. ..... Be more 「positive」 and look forward, soldier. Think deeply about how you can make come true the dreams of your comrades in this world. Were you successful? Who knows. But I said what I wanted to say.... The rest is up to him. Hahahaha! The so called 「talk between men」 right? ...Between men? Don't mind the small details—— Saying a 「talk between two chivalrous and passionate knights」 was too long so I just said 「men」, give me a pass. If he is the sort of 「honorable man」 you think he is, then Jimmy will be able to start repairing his plane tomorrow. Ah, right... What do you think of our next destination? ...「Alexandria」?

NOTE：

“亚历山德里亚”是“亚历山大港”（Αλεξάνδρεια）的纯音译写法。这座埃及城市是亚历山大大帝在征服所至的范围内以自己的名字建立的数十座“亚历山大”之一——也是其中最繁荣的一座。在大帝去世后，他的部将托勒密将这座港口定为自己割据埃及的首都；地理上的优势、托勒密王朝的悉心建设，使她最终成为了整个古希腊文明史中最璀璨的明星都市。时至今日，亚历山大港依然是东地中海极为重要的港口，有约334万居民生活、工作于此。

 Yes. Well, the name makes me think of that old castle... Also the Alexandria Lighthouse or the Alexandria Library, but those don't exist anymore right? Ah, now that I remember, you said something about accommodating the refugees on the island there—— ——So that 「Alexandria」 must be just a refugee camp? Hahaha! You're right but not quite so! Well, it's fine to think of it as a refugee camp! ...What do you mean? The thriving capital of a dynasty? The remains of a lonely civilization? Both are correct and both are wrong. Alexandria is a living city—— Full of ugliness and full of beauty. ..... Are you sure you are picking the right words? Yes I am. If you think 「ugliness」 and 「beauty」 can't coexist at the same time—— Then you haven't understood the concept of 「city」 yet. Every beautiful city has an 「ugliness」 equal to its beauty. Remember those words well—— ——Your heart will understand them tomorrow.