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winterdrifting · 2 years ago

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Did someone ask for more scans? No? Too bad, have more scans.

Emmy's letter to Professor Layton, post-Curious Village. The fabled letter, which can only be accessed properly if you rip open your copy of the Japan-exclusive Azran Legacy Guidebook (more or less).

Years ago, there were photos and a fan-translation floating around on tumblr. Now, I give you the new and high quality version, as well as a full transcript. You're welcome :>

It's been literally eight years since your post, but since your tags say that you wanted to be warned if a better scan were to be made, well... Here you go @puzzilitis x) I'm also tagging @the-azran-legacies, but I'm pretty sure your blog is completely dead since this translation post seems to be its latest sign of activity, and that was ten years ago.

Seriously though, just in case you get to see this -- thank you both so much for what you did all these years ago. Without your posts, I might never even have heard that this letter existed in the first place! Or, well, I likely would have heard of it by now given the fact that I've been documenting every single Layton media I can find -- but I would have lived through an entire decade of ignorance by that point.

The translation below has been done exclusively with DeepL because my free time is limited, sorry for that ^^' If you want another one in order to compare, you have the one linked above, and I will likely make another one later (much later).

みんなのエピソード２１｜レミからの手紙

Everybody's Episode 21: A Letter from Emmy

親愛なるレイトン教授へ Dear Professor Layton,

あれから数か月になりますが、教授、お元気ですか？ It's been a few months since then. Professor, how are you?

一緒に仕事をしている仲間からレイトン教授が遺産相続騒動を解決したという話を耳にして思わず手紙を書いてしまいました。 When I heard from a colleague I work with that you had solved an inheritance dispute, I couldn't resist writing to you.

タージェントから世界を救ったあのレイトン教授が単なる遺産相続のナゾトキの依頼を引き受けるなんて。まさか…と思いましたが、ナゾには目がない教授ですし、きっと知的好奇心を刺激される不思議な出来事だったんでしょうね。 How could the very same Professor Layton who had saved the world from Targent, now accept a mere inheritance puzzle request? I could not believe it… But you always had a penchant for puzzles, so I am certain that it had to be a mysterious event which truly stimulated your intellectual curiosity.

ルークはしっかりと役目を果たせたでしょうか？ Has Luke fulfilled his role well?

実は…私はいま、ワールドタイムズでカメラマンをしています。教授の活躍を��えてくれた仕事仲間って、ボストニアス号で世界を旅したときに出会ったドリスさんなんですよ。 By the way... I am now a photographer for the World Times. The colleague who told me about your activities is Doris. We met her when we were travelling around the world on the Bostonius.

教授のもとを去ってから私がワールドタイムズで働き始めたきっかけは、教授との旅がとても楽しかったから。 I started working for the World Times after I quit my job as your assistant, since I enjoyed the journey with you so much.

世界各地でのいろんな人との出会い、見る者を虜にする美しい景色…。それを世界中の人々に伝えたい、いっしかそんな気持ちになって、自然とワールドタイムズ編集部に足を運んでいました。 Meeting all kinds of people in different parts of the world, finding beautiful and captivating landscapes… I wanted to tell people all over the world about these experiences, and this is how I naturally came to visit the World Times editorial office.

今の仕事は、本当に楽しいです！ I really enjoy my current job!

ムスロッホでリボの滝と鍾乳洞の取材をしていたら、長老のシメジイさんから気になるうわさ話を聞いたんです。 While I was reporting for the Ribo Waterfalls and the limestone caves of Musloch, I heard interesting rumours from the elder, Mr Simejii.

そんな話を聞いたら、調査をするしかありませんよね！ After hearing such a story, I simply could not resist investigating!

村人たちの情報を頼りに鍾乳洞の奥を突き進んでいったら…幻の｢神秘の密林｣を発見しました！ After going deeper into the limestone caves, by relying on the information the villagers gave me… The fabled "Mystical Jungle" has been discovered!

ワールドタイムズの大スクープとして一面に大きく取り上げられたので教授もご存知かもしれませんが、これは私の初スクープなんですよ。 You may have already known of it since it was featured as huge news on the front page of the World Times, but this was my first scoop.

記事には書きませんでしたが、密林の奥には古代遺跡が隠されていました。 We did not mention it in the article, but there were ancient ruins hidden deep in the jungle.

ここにもたくさんのナゾが隠されているはずなので、いつか教授にナゾを解いてもらいたいなぁ。 There must be a lot of puzzles hidden there. I hope you will solve them one day.

もしかして、アスラント文明とは別の考古学史上に残る大発見がある…かも？ Maybe there is another major discovery in the history of archaeology that is unrelated to the Azran civilisation… maybe?

そんなスクープを追いかけて世界中を飛び回る毎日ですが、いま追いかけているのは、スラム街に現れた｢ナゾのマスク男｣です。この話、知的好奇心をくすぐられませんか？ I spend my days travelling around the world, chasing this kind of scoop. What I am chasing now is a "Puzzling Masked Man" who has appeared in the slum quarters. Doesn't this story tickle your intellectual curiosity?

お金持ちから金品を盗み、スラム街の子供たちにお金を与える現代の義賊｢マスク男｣。 The Masked Man is a modern-day righteous bandit who steals money and goods from the rich and gives it to the children in the slums.

最初は、この｢マスク男の正体｣をスクープするためカメラ片手に追いかけていましたが、スラム街の子供たちを見ているうちに、１人の記者としてそこに暮らす人々の現状もじっくりと取材したい、と思うようになりました。 At first, I followed this "Masked Man," camera in hand, in order to get a scoop on his identity. But as I watched the children in the slums, I began to think that, as a reporter, I should rather take the time to cover the current situation of the people living there.

スラム街にはたくさんの孤児がいます。私たちを無垢な笑顔で迎えてくれる子、まったく目を合わせてくれない子など、いろんな表情を見せてくれます。 There are many orphans in the slums. We see many different faces, from those who greet us with innocent smiles to those who don't make eye contact at all.

そんな彼らの姿を見ているうちに、昔のことを、ふと思い出してしまいました。 As I watched them, I suddenly remembered something from the past.

私も子供のころ父を失い、孤児になってしまうところでした。しかし、それを救ってくれたのは、おじさまだったんです。 I lost my father as a child and almost became an orphan. But Uncle Leon saved me from that.

あの頃、父を失った私をおじさまはまるで娘のように育ててくれました。 Back then, I had lost my father, and Uncle Leon brought me up as if I were his daughter.

だから、あの場��でおじさまを裏切るわけにはいかなかった。優しかったおじさまを裏切れなかった…。教授に嘘をついていたことは、申し訳ないと思っています。 So this is why I couldn't betray him in that place. I couldn't betray my kind Uncle Leon... I truly am sorry that I lied to you, Professor.

でも、こういうことがあったからこそ、教授に出会えた。人の運命って不思議ですね。 Still, it was because of these things that I met you. The destiny of people is a curious thing, isnt' it?

あ…、今の私を伝えたいと思ってこの手紙を書いたのに、過去の話になっちゃいましたね。私の話は、また教授に会ったときにお話ししますね。 Ah... I wrote this letter in order to tell you how I am now, but all this is about the past. I will tell you my story when we meet again.

というわけで…今は楽しく仕事をしています！ So, all that to say... I really am enjoying my work now!

そうそう、長かった髪を思い切ってばっさり切りました！ Yes, I also cut off my long hair in a very drastic way!

これまでタージェントの一員として生きてきましたが、いま、ワールドタイムズでカメラマンとして働く普通の女性として歩み出すことができた、そんな気がしています。 I have lived my entire life as a member of Targent. But now, I feel that I have been able to step forward as an ordinary woman, who is now working as a photographer for the World Times.

きっといつか、あなたにまた会える、その日まで。 I am sure that one day, we will meet again. Until that day.

ＰＳ．取材中の写真をドリスさんに撮ってもらいました！あっ、後ろにマスク男が…！ P.S. Doris took photos during the interview! Ah, the Masked Man is in the background...!

Emmy Altava

Important translation note: Emmy calls Bronev "oji-sama," all in hiragana, which makes it unclear whether she is related to him by blood or not (おじ means "uncle," but can also just mean "man who is older than the speaker" (at least from what I know)).

The Eternal Diva novel introduces Emmy as "a beautiful woman of Asian lineage" (and yes, I know, Asia is huge with a lot of different lineages, and I don't know either which corner of Asia is being talked about here), so make of that info what you like. In order to leave it as ambiguous as I could, I replaced all instances of "oji-sama" with "Uncle Leon."

There might be a few other translation changes I made, but I think this was the most important one to take note of.

By the way, I actually scanned the whole guidebook, and I will share it when I can (though don't hold your breath, as you probably know I am currently juggling between way too many projects). The scans aren't ready to be shared yet because they were basically done with me not really caring whether the pages would be perfectly straight, upside down, etc, and as such they need some editing.

(I checked and the resolution of the scans is high enough to make it so that editing doesn't hurt the quality in the slightest. I swear that when the scans are finished editing, you won't even realise it and they'll look just as good as what you're seeing above with Emmy's letter).

The editing also includes linking the pages together for aesthetics purposes. Some pages have artworks that spread over both pages, so I'm doing my best to make it look seamless! Here, have an example for the first double page in the book that really does it:

As you can guess, editing each of the 128 pages in order to get this result is time-consuming, and translating that is going to be a doozy. But let's just appreciate how awesome it will be once it's done, eh? :D

Anyway, next up on the blog is going to be the Eternal Diva novel translation. I'm still working on getting some buffer done, but hopefully the first "chapter" will get out soon! I'd like to post on Saturdays. Let's cross our fingers for tomorrow. Or next week, if today's translation is enough to satiate you all for now!

#reblog #professor layton

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winterdrifting · 2 years ago

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Cold hands

A little something I wrote something for the 10th day of @descember (don't pay attention to the date time is an illusion): it's a small scene between Melina and Descole, set during the time when Melina was still alive and living on the island of Ambrosia with her father. There are a few of my headcanons as well.

Spoilers for the Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva only.

I don't know if there's a need for content warnings? There are mentions of Melina's illness and future death, but that's it I think (please tell me if there should be more I'm not use to this yet)

On a winter morning, when the night started to fade away and the first colors appeared in the sky, Melina Whistler had gone on the beach on her own. While waiting for the sun to rise, she was rubbing her hands against each other and gently blowing on them, in an attempt to keep her warmth inside of her ill body.

As the first ray appeared above the horizon, the ocean started to shine, and Melina paused to gaze at it. It was truly a wonderful moment. She felt like the whole island was awakening, and was welcoming her like an old friend. The feeling warmed up her whole body and made her forget about the coolness of the morning.

She could hear the sea singing to her. She breathed in deeply, and joined her voice to the one of the waves:

"Ah ah ah aaaah…"

"Ah ah ah a-- *cough*"

Perhaps it wasn't such a good idea, she thought. Perhaps I haven't recovered enough yet.

As an answer to her question, a gust of wind suddenly blew, causing her another coughing fit. It felt like the winter wind was trying to steal her last bits of life.

When she managed to calm herself down, she heard footsteps approaching behind her. She anxiously turned her head to who she thought would be her dear father, but her eyes widened when she saw the masked man standing next to her.

"Sir… Descole, was it?"

She had heard his name only once, when her father presented her the man who owned the castle they were about to move in. They hadn't exchanged a single word since then, and even though she was extremely grateful for the chance he gave her to live on this beautiful island, she couldn't shake the feeling of unease she had every time she saw his dark castle, or her father discussing with him of things she couldn't imagine.

He slightly nodded.

"Are you alright, miss Whistler?"

His tone was calm, and his words were polite, yet a shiver ran down her spine.

"Yes, I apologized if I worried you."

"Are you cold?"

"I just—"

Before she could finish her sentence, he took off his cape and handled it to her. For a moment she starred at him, surprised, then took the piece of clothing and wrapped it around her. It was too big on her, but it shielded her from the freshness of the wind.

And it was a nice gesture, too…

"Thank you sir."

A smile appeared on his face.

"My pleasure, miss Whistler." he responded, with a bow. "Would you mind if I stayed here as well?"

"Oh, no, of course not!" she stuttered.

She didn't understand what he wanted, but she could not simply push him away. She looked at him anxiously but he simply sat on the rocks, a few feet from her.

For a moment, they both gazed at the sea in silence. The sun was still rising, spreading its light, warmth, and life on the island. The darkest tones of the sky were turning into bright hues of vivid colors, from yellow to pink, before fading to blue. An ephemeral spectacle, accompanied by the whispers of the nearby waves.

Finally, Descole broke the silence.

"If I may…"

Interrupted in her contemplation, Melina looked at him.

"Why did you come here alone, miss Whistler?" he said, harshly. "Surely you didn't think a nighttime walk in the woods would improve your health, did you?"

She felt a twitch of anger at this moment. Who did this man think he was?

And yet, what explanation could she give him? She herself could not explain that feeling, that calling, that was driving her to the sea… Nor could she acknowledge the reason why she came without her father. Not with everything he was doing for her…

She turned her head towards the sea and responded:

"I just wanted to watch the sun rise." she said with a tone sharper than she intended. "My health has improved enough for this since we moved here."

She glanced at him, hoping to decipher an emotion despite his mask, in vain. Was he angry? Disappointed? Worried?

"I understand." he simply responded in a softer tone. "My apologies, it was rude of me to ask you this. I am very glad you're feeling better, miss Whistler. I only hope you will heal soon."

It felt sincere. Something she couldn't explain was still bothering the young woman, but she started to think that she may have simply judged this man too quickly.

"It's alright." she calmly said. "And you can call me Melina."

"Very well, Melina."

Somehow, hearing her name gave her a warm feeling.

She studied him again. His costume was very eccentric, to say the least, and made him very hard to read. His mask wasn't just hiding his identity, but his thoughts and feelings as well. A barrier between the person he truly was, and the rest of the world. A shield, and a prison.

But Descole is still a person, she reminded herself, as she tightened her grasp on the cloak he gave her. Behind his facade is a living human, with a beating heart.

Maybe she could get to know him a little better today.

"Can I… Can I ask you something?"

"Hm?"

She took a deep breath.

"Why did you bring us here, on this island? Why me, of all people?"

He paused for a second, thinking.

Then a large smile appeared on his face, as he responded:

"You could say… I fell in love with your music."

Melina was completely taken aback by this answer.

"Wh-Wh-What? What do you mean?" she managed to ask.

He chuckled at her reaction.

"Hahaha, I am talking about 'The first night'. They say it's another of Whistler's work, but it was actually you who wrote it, am I right?"

"I..."

It had been the most logical decision, and she knew it. Her music would reach more people through her father's name, and he did help her composing this piece after all.

Still, it was the first time someone would recognize her work, she couldn't help but feel a sense of pride inside her chest, mixed with the guilt of having hidden the truth.

"… How did you know?"

"You father is very talented, but this song was quite… different, from his usual work. I quickly realized he could not have been the person who wrote it. However, I could hardly believe such a famous composer would simply steal the work of someone else. That's when I figured out that the genius behind this work of art could only be you, Melina."

"Impressive…"

The smile on his face grew larger. He was proud of himself, wasn't he?

Descole paused. His gaze moved back to the sea, then up to the now blue sky. Starring at the faded crescent of the moon, or at a memory he was reliving, he continued:

"I'll always remember the first time I heard it. This melody… it was like all the stars in the night sky were singing together, in perfect harmony. Truly a masterpiece."

Melina felt that warm feeling again, in her chest and now her cheeks. Or was she blushing? She had no idea her music could affect people this way…

"After this, I wanted to listen to more of your work, so I made a few researches. Unfortunately, it was then that I learned about your condition."

Suddenly, something shifted in him. His face darkened. His tone changed. His fist clenched.

"At that moment, I knew I had to do everything in my power to save you. And I would stop at nothing to make you sing again."

She starred at him, unable to move. Something was wrong. Very wrong. That feeling of unease again… It seemed that the air suddenly got a lot colder.

"This is… just for my music? Really?"

He let out a somber chuckle.

"Ha. You can't see it yet, but I assure you Melina, your music is way more powerful than you can imagine."

"I--"

The cape couldn't keep her body warm anymore, and suddenly she was seized by a violent coughing fit.

"Melina, are you—"

"I- *cough cough* I need-- *cough* I need to go back. *cough*"

"Of course. Let me help you."

The next moment he was right next to her, and offered his hand to help her stand up.

After a second of hesitation, she took it.

She froze.

His body was ice cold.

As if he hadn't received any warmth in a long time.

As if he hadn't feel any warmth in a long time.

He didn't seem to notice her reaction. Or perhaps he simply didn't care.

He helped her getting back up, and without exchanging a word, they returned to the castle.

There, she was welcomed by her dearest but extremely worried father. He seemed really distressed by her early disappearance, for which Melina felt guilty. It took her a while to calm him down by reminding him that she was fine, she was not hurt, she was not lost, she was here and everything was alright.

The father then wrapped his arms around his daughter, and held her close, as if he was afraid she would disappear again. It felt warm, comfy, and safe.

Melina returned the embrace, and for a moment, she thought of that icy contact she had with the masked man earlier. And she wondered…

Could he give such warmth? Could he accept such warmth?

…

Descole…

Which one of us… had truly stopped living?

#reblog #professor layton #fic

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