空の軌跡 // Trails in the Sky ⚔ Story Club・Week 34

Week 34 24th February 2025
Last Week Week 33
Next Week Week 35
Home Thread 空の軌跡

Get out of the box.

Side Quests

No new side quests.

During plot, there will be confirmation thing in case you need to go prepare/save and such. This is a point of no return for the chapter, and once you board the orange airship almost all side quests will expire. The one exception is the shoes side quest. Complete all/any pending side quests before going ahead. This is your final warning.

Screenshot

Vocabulary

Vocab Sheet , thank you to everyone who has been helping with this.

We also have an arts sheet if you’re struggling with the in-game version.

Please read the guidelines on the first page before adding any words.

Discussion Guidelines

Everybody should feel free to post and ask questions–it’s what makes book clubs fun! But please do not post until you are familiar with Spoiler Courtesy!

Spoiler Courtesy

Please follow these rules to avoid inadvertent ネタバレ. If you’re unsure whether something should have a spoiler tag, err on the side of using one.

  1. Any potential spoiler for the current week’s reading need only be covered by a spoiler tag. Predictions and conjecture made by somebody who has not read ahead still falls into this category.
  2. Any potential spoilers for external sources need to be covered by a spoiler tag and include a label (outside of the spoiler tag) of what might be spoiled. These include but are not limited to: other book club picks, other books, games, movies, anime, etc. I recommend also tagging the severity of the spoiler (for example, I may still look at minor spoilers for something that I don’t intend to read soon).
  3. Any information from later in the book than the current week’s reading (including trigger warnings that haven’t yet manifested) needs to be hidden by spoiler tags and labeled as coming from later sections.
Instructions for Spoiler Tags

Click the cog above the text box and use either the “Hide Details” or “Blur Spoiler” options. The text which says “This text will be hidden” should be replaced with what you are wishing to write. In the case of “Hide Details”, the section in the brackets that is labelled “Summary” can be replaced with whatever you like also (i.e, [details=”Chapter 1, Pg. 1”]).

Hide Details results in the dropdown box like below:

Example

This is an example of the “Hide Details” option.

The “Blur Spoiler” option will simply blur the text it surrounds.

This is an example of the “Blur Spoiler” option.

Posting Advice
  • When asking for help, please mention the page number, and check before posting that your question hasn’t already been asked. As the threads get longer, it becomes more convenient to use the Search function, which is located in the upper right corner of the forum. It is the magnifying glass which is near your profile picture! The best way to search is usually to type part of the sentence you are confused about, and select “in this topic”. This will show you all posts within the current thread which has that string of text.

  • Be sure to join the conversation! It’s fun, and it’s what keeps these book clubs lively! There’s no such thing as a stupid question! We are all learning here, and if the question has crossed your mind, there’s a very good chance it has crossed somebody else’s also! Asking and answering questions is a great learning opportunity for everyone involved, so never hesitate to do so!

If necessary, include an explanation of any discrepancies in the Ebook page numbers from physical page numbers. If there is an easy shortcut for some ebook versions to relate back to physical page numbers, it would be worth it to include it as a third bullet here, or if you want to use chapter page numbers instead of volume page numbers, as is the case with some manga. For example:
Example

For the Kindle version of this manga, the page numbers and the location number are always 3 apart. If you subtract 3 from the location, this will give you the accurate page number!

OR

Please use the chapter page numbers, instead of the volume page numbers. These are located in between the panels!

Discussion Questions

  1. What sentence/passage gave you the most difficulty? Feel free to request some help, or if you figured it out on your own break it down for the rest of us!

  2. What was your favorite new vocab word from this week’s reading?

  3. Was there any passage that you found particularly intriguing? Did it resonate with you (either positively or negatively)? Was it surprising? Offer any insight or new perspective? Was it just beautifully written?

  4. So, how are we taking Dorothy’s news?

  5. Thoughts on the scenes on the airship?

  6. How do you think the mission is going to go?

Participation

Will you be playing along with us this week?

  • I’m playing along
  • I have finished this part
  • I’m still playing the game but I haven’t reached this part yet
  • I’m playing this game after the club has finished
  • I’m no longer playing the game
0 voters

If you’ve already played this game but are still going to join the discussion, please select “I have finished this part.”

Don’t forget to set this thread to Watching in order to stay abreast of discussion!

5 Likes

Uh. I didn’t think we would only get to that point this week. I guess there’s going to be a lot of stuff in the way…

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I found the second book easily but I’m stuck on the third…

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Want a hint? read vertically

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Oh I tried doing that (due to the weird rectangular formatting) but I couldn’t really understand anything. I’m not good enough to read cryptic Japanese… It’s all cryptic to me already! But now that I know it’s the solution I’ll try again, thanks.

Once I’m done I’ll have to see how they translated it.

4 Likes

Really awkwardly, see below copy pasted from the wiki.

* Here’s our hint this time: ‘Ah, you (3)1 cypress trees Nestled atop this Grassy Hill! afflictions of far-of(F L)ands draw Nigh Unto me like wine BARRELs tumbling lightly down a soft incline as I drift into Reverie, Enveloped within the resonance of the tolling Bell!’

4 Likes
the third

Read the line on the rightmost. Not sure if the remaining lines make sense vertically.

Of course reading LTR normally has no problem.

ああ、(おか)()つ31(ぽん)糸杉(いとすぎ)よ。
(かね)(おと)(なが)余韻(よいん)
微睡(まどろ)(わたし)の、
(べつ)世界(せかい)(なか)にある(くる)しみが、
(かる)(さか)(ころ)げる酒樽(さかだる)のように(ちか)づく。

I didn’t know the reading of 酒樽(さかだる) until just now.

4 Likes

This reads like Dr. Bronner’s packaging.

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Quick week

Makes sense though, I’m sure we’re in for a significant chunk that’s best to keep together with this infiltration mission.

I was a little surprised the entire ship crew knew about it, so we could spend our time lounging around like that. I mean you definitely can’t do it with no cooperators because we needed a space to hide prepared, but I figured this is the sort of mission you’d want as few people as people to know about. Doubly so since it’s based on a premise that is very damaging to the army’s reputation and, while very plausible, we haven’t proven it. Of course, on arrival it seems even more likely, based on what they say about having to take orders from some mystery individuals.

The news from Dorothy strikes me as more evidence that they wore these outfits as a cover? I have to imagine the people arrested weren’t really guilty of what they’re being charged with; I doubt big things are getting solved off-camera like that. Which means framing them takes suspicion off the queen and onto someone who wants to harm her, I think?

Still feels like I got such a good read on Agate; he even slips in a line about how things would be different if he had been better – it’s exactly what I said about being strict on Tita as a reflection of how he treats himself!

Random thought but I believe the airship layout was identical to the previous one? No big deal, just an amusing observation.

My guess is we might actually succeed at finding the professor, but it’s hard to get a read on how the game is going to play out from that point. It’s much different when it’s military, not just a group of pirates. I assume this town arc is still going to lead to us getting our official approval so things will find a way to nicely wrap up? Maybe some individuals (like the guy we’ve seen a lot of recently, who was leading the freight inspection) get pinned as responsible for doing this surreptitiously? I believe this runs high in the chain but I could see them setting up a scapegoat and the very people responsible going “wow thank you for exposing this secret misconduct!”

4 Likes
book 3

It’s always wild how much confidence plays a role in language comprehension. I tried reading vertically initially but didn’t manage to find anything, but now that @RebBlue confirmed that it was indeed the solution I tried again and immediately noticed the 3かいにある樽, plain as day.

Of course I still had to find the 樽, my initial guess was the main factory building of course but while there are a few steel barrels on the 3rd floor, there doesn’t appear to be anything of note. Then I guessed that it could be the ancient tower but no crate there. My third guess was the right one.

I wonder if there’s more to the secret message that I didn’t spot and would more clearly delineate the area? The rest of the text still looks like gibberish to me and the English version doesn’t seem to have anything more either (besides the weird capitalization?).

4 Likes
Week 34

The characters marveling at the airship being moved via underground platform: “oooooo, ahhhhh, big ship mover.”
Me, being old: “Why does this thing exist for a giant flying ship? How much do these people pay in taxes??”

Very happy for Agate, opening up to little-sis-proxy Tita. It’s obvious that the real sister is dead, but he was surprisingly tactful about it. Normally he’s… the opposite of that.

The 少佐 calling the 大尉 names was interesting. I’m betting she’s one of the 連中 that they were complaining about. He seemed to sympathize with the way the soldiers were feeling but was less inclined to push back. Maybe we’ll get him to switch sides!

I couldn’t say how the mission will go overall but do think we’re going to rescue Russell by the end of it. Saving one of the most respected citizens in town would definitely qualify for a recommendation letter, and I can’t see the chapter wrapping up neatly without Tita getting her grandfather back.

+1 to thinking that the royal guard people are being framed. No doubt at all about that tbh. Now that arrests have been made I’m less inclined to think the queen could be in on it, though. Since these are people who are supposed to be guarding the monarchy, maybe this is part of some plan to open up security holes near her. If her closest allies are gone, the bad guys would have an easier time getting to her for sure.

Finally, a shout out to Antoine for being a bro and playing decoy for us. Good kitty :cat2:

3 Likes

I’m a little unsure the way you phrased this if you think I meant the opposite but just in case, I 100% agree on that and thus the entirety of your reasoning. I phrased it a little weird but I meant to refer to where MY OWN suspicion is now.

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Ohh I see how I misinterpreted. I first read it as taking suspicion off the queen in story context like it was an intentional act by a character, but you meant our own player suspicion from last week. Sorry :sweat_smile:

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Oh no worries at all! Could’ve been clearer.

Other topic, spoiler

Oh, by the way, forgot I wanted to share in case it’s unique to me – do you all get the occasional full CG images like this? Definitely seems like something that could’ve been added to my version. I thought this one of them piling into their hiding place was cute.

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Ooh that’s new!

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Aw that’s cool. No pictures in my version. That scene was so awkward that it would have been helpful to have, probably :joy:

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Week 34

Before I thought :cat2: is a random thing on the airship, but it’s working!

A empty container :package: with only a :cat2: is very suspicious. You wouldn’t deliver an empty container to a customer, waiting for check-up to be missed.

Also, not fair for

There are multiple parties – army, Royal Guard, Bracer, so the last might help tidy up Dorothy’s news.

3 Likes

I still haven’t finished this week but Agathe’s protests at Titia being included in the military base infiltration are absolutely warranted and Joshua’s argument is very weak IMO “we’re here to help the people who hope” or something like that.

On one hand I commend the authors for acknowledging the situation and coming up with a plausible reason for why Titia would be there, but also I feel like it just draws attention to the insanity of the situation (a bunch of kids breaking into a top-secret military base with a half-assed plan). It’s a JRPG, I’m used to kids going toe-to-toe with literal gods, I wouldn’t really have questioned it if they hadn’t pointed it out.

4 Likes

Time to finish up chapter 3