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This article is about a story arc in
Umineko When They Cry.
Uwtc eng
Overview

Bern's Letter (ベルンの手紙 Bern no Tegami) is a short story in Umineko When They Cry that was originally included in EP3 Novelty Shorts released at Comiket 74 on August 16, 2008.

The translation here was made by theacefrehley on AnimeSuki, found here.

Plot Summary[]

Main article: Bernkastel's Letter/Summary

Bernkastel writes to a friend about the rules of Beatrice's game.

Release History[]

Original Release[]

Bernkastel's Letter was originally a text story compiled alongside Anti-Mystery vs. Anti-Fantasy in a companion booklet for Banquet of the Golden Witch. It released at Comiket 74 on August 16, 2008.

Tsubasa[]

Bernkastel's Letter was adapted into visual novel format with Umineko no Naku Koro ni Tsubasa, released physically at Comiket 79 on December 31, 2010. It is the first arc in the collection and must be completed to unlock the other arcs.

The First and the Last Gift[]

This arc was rereleased in Umineko no Naku Koro ni: The First and the Last Gift on December 16, 2015.

Saku[]

Umineko no Naku Koro ni Saku is a rerelease containing previously-released Umineko content, which includes Tsubasa and thus this arc. Saku released on October 4, 2019.

Ports[]

This arc was ported into Symphony of Catbox and Dreams for the PS4 and Nintendo Switch, releasing on January 28, 2021.

Transcript[]

■この小冊子は、『うみねこのなく頃に』エピソード3をクリアされた方を前提にしています。
■This booklet is intended for those who have completed Episode 3 of Umineko no Naku Koro ni.

先に読んでもよくわからないだけです。
どうかぜひ、エピソード3を終えてからお読み下さい。
It's a little confusing to read otherwise.
Please read this after Episode 3.

読んでもいいけど、どうせ意味、わかんないわよ…?
まぁ、エピソードを終えてから読んでも、どうせわからないと思うけど。
くすくすくす。
You want to read it, but you won't know what it means anyway...?
Well, if you read it after the episode, you may not understand it anyway.
Hehehehe.


親愛なる友へ。
To my beloved friend

 お元気ですか、というお約束的な挨拶は、今の貴方にはきっと皮肉。
 だからこう聞く方がきっと親切。
 まだ生きてる?親愛なる友よ。
'Are you feeling well?'; such a conventional greeting would most certainly sound like sarcasm to you now.
That's why it'd be kinder of me to ask like this.
Are you still alive, my beloved friend?
 先日はお返事をありがとう。
Thanks for the reply the other day.

 まさか貴方に、未だ筆を取るだけの気力が残っていたとは驚きです。
 まぁ、返事を書くように促したのは私なのだけれど。
 それでも貴方が、私の為に筆を取るだけの気力を奮い起こしてくれたこと自体がとても驚き。
あるいは奇跡。
I got very surprised that you still had energy to at least write to me.
Well, the one who urged you to write an answer was me, though.
Even so, the fact that you mustered energy to at least write for me, for my sake, was a great surprise.
Or a miracle.

 そして貴重なる助言をありがとう。
 私も貴方の意見に同感。
多分、黒幕はラムダデルタ。
 あの子は私に復讐するためだけに、私ともっとも相性の悪い魔女を見つけ出し、私が誘き出されてくるのを待 っていたのでしょう。
 まんまとあいつの罠にはまったわけです。
 …なるほど。
それが可笑しくて貴方は筆を取ったのかしら。
貴方の意地悪な笑い顔が、手に取るようにわかるわ。
And also, thanks for the valuable suggestion.
I agree with your opinion too.
Perhaps, the wire puller is indeed Lambda-Delta
That girl probably found a witch who has the worst affinity with me just to take revenge on me and awaited for me to be lured.
And I fell to her trap like a duck.
... I see.
I guess this is so ridiculous it made you write to me.
I feel you're wearing your malicious smile.

 ただ、貴方の病気を考えると、私にとって彼女は貴重な存在かもしれない。
 彼女が私よりもはるかに高位の魔女であるならば、つまりそれは、それだけあなたの病気に近い ということ。
 つまりそれこそが、貴方を、いえ、私たちを蝕む病気から逃れる唯一の方法であり、彼女はそれを実践してい るということ。
…そして皮肉にも、彼女はそれを私に教えてくれているということ。
 まぁ、どうでもいいことかもね。
でも、あの子の茶番に付き合うことで、貴方の病気が少しでも快方に向かうのならば。
どうかぜひ、私に力を貸してほしいの。
But, when I think about your disease, maybe she is a precious being to me.
If she is a much higher-ranked witch than I, it means that that is very close to your disease.
In other words, it means that that is the only way to escape from the disease that eats into you, no, into us, and she is putting it into practice.
... And ironically, it also means she is teaching it to me.
But, if by getting on with that girl's farce, your disease will get better.
I'd like you to please lend me your strength.

 ラムダデルタは、このゲーム盤に私は“絶対”に勝てないと豪語している。
 その時点で逆説的にルールXは判明しているの。
本当に馬鹿な子ね。
 つまり、物語が常に6月20日から始まるようなもの。
恐らくこれが、ベアトリーチェなる魔女の心臓部でしょう。
Lambda-Delta boasted that I will 'absolutely' not be able to win in this game board.
At that time, I paradoxically identified the rule X.
She's really a stupid girl.
In other words, it's like the story that always starts from June, 20th.
Probably, this is the core of the Witch Beatrice.

 なるほど、だとするとこのベアトリーチェという魔女は確かに面白い。
 私もあの子も、そして貴方も知らなかった世界を、彼女は切り拓いている。
 それを魔法の根源とするルールY。
 ラムダデルタも少し触れたようだけど、彼女の域には到底及んでいない。
 もしこれこそを魔法と呼ぶならば、ベアトリーチェを除き、私たちは誰一人魔女などと名乗れないに違いない わ。
 その意味において、自らの魔法体系を組み上げた彼女は、魔女としては初心の部類に入りながらも、その域は 魔女をすでに凌駕して、…貴方の域にまで踏み込み掛けていると言えるかもしれない。
 もし彼女がそれを強く意識し、理解したならば。
 私は愚か、ラムダデルタさえも足元には及ばない。
……そして多分きっと、貴方と同じ病に冒されることでしょう。
 しかしそれにしても、実に面白い。
このルールYこそが、魔女ベアトリーチェの存在そのものではないかと見ているの。
Indeed, if we consider it that way, this Witch named Beatrice certainly is interesting.
She opened up a world that I, that girl and you didn't know.
The rule Y that makes it into the source of the magic.
It seems Lambda-Delta touched it a bit but too, but she can't possibly reach her level.
If we call this very thing as magic, except for Beatrice, certainly not one of us can be called a witch.
In that sense, we may say that since she put together her own magic system, even if she enters the beginners' class, as a witch, her level already surpasses the witches, ... and she is starting to step even into your level.
If she were strongly aware of that and comprehended it.
Not even Lambda-Delta would be a match for her, and I even less.
And most probably, I'll be afflicted with the same disease as you.
However, even so, this is really interesting.
I see this rule Y as the very existence of the witch Beatrice.

 そう。
ここまでは私も解析できた。
 そしてもう一つ、ルールZがあるのは間違いないの。
 だってルールXとYだけでは説明できない現象が余りに多数、観測されているから。
That's right.
I managed to analyze this far.
And certainly there's one more rule, the rule Z.
Because the number of phenomenona being observed that can't be explained with rules X and Y alone is way too big.

 ルールZの正体は不明。
 ラムダデルタの言動から探るに、どうもこの要素が私にとって致命的に相性が悪いものの様子。
 “それ”がヒントなのだとしたら、……いったい何なのかしら。
Rule Z's true colours are unknown.
By Lambda-Delta's speech, it seems that this component has a lethally bad affinity to me.
If we take 'that' as a hint, ...... what on earth could it be?

 私は取り合えずこのルールZを、真相から煙に巻く、迷路的な存在だと仮定してみた。
 つまり、ルールXとYに私を近付けまいとする迷路ね。
For now, I assumed that this rule Z is a maze-like existence putting haze over the truth.
In other words, a maze to not let me come close to rules X and Y.

 私の力は、百年を掛けて迷路の全ての分岐を確かめて地図を書き上げるのに似ている。
 つまり、どんなに複雑な迷路であろうとも、いつかは必ず攻略できるということ。
(ちなみにラムダデルタの場合だと、出口に辿り着くまで、千年を掛けようとも右壁に沿って歩き続けるような ものなのかしら。
いいえ、出口まで一直線に一切回り道をせず、全ての壁に穴を開けて通り抜けていくような感じね )
My power is just like writing up a map, making sure of all the forks of the maze, spending a hundred years.
In other words, no matter how complex is the maze, one day, I'll certainly be able to walk through it.
(By the way, if it was Lambda-Delta, I guess she'd just keep on walking along the walls until she arrived at the exit, even if it took a thousand years.
No, it feels more like she would cut through all the walls by making holes, in straight line, until the exit, without taking detours at all.)

 そんな私と“相性の悪い迷路”とは一体何…?
 考え付くのはひとつしかない。
 つまり、……地図を書いていくことが意味のない迷路。
 例えば、ぐにゃぐにゃと常に形を変える不定形の迷路とでも言えばいいのか。
 なるほど、この概念なら、ラムダデルタの言うジャンケンでも説明できるかもしれない。
…私の力でも攻略できない迷路でも、壁を貫いてゴールに向かえる彼女にはまったく障害ではないわ けだし。
What on earth could such a maze with bad affinity with me be...?
There's only one thing I can think of.
In other words, ...... it is a maze where it's meaningless to write maps.
Would it be alright to say that, for example, it is a maze of indefinite shape that constantly changes the shape, flexibly?
I see, if it is this general idea, I may be able to explain it with the Jan-Ken-Pon game that Lambda-Delta speaks of.
... Even if it is a maze that I can't walk through with my power, it must not be an obstacle for her, who can go towards the goal through the walls.

 ……概念では理解できるの。
でもルールとして捉えようとすると、全く理解ができない。
 だってルールとは本来、不変なものでしょう?
 不定形なるものがルールであるなんて、私の知る常識を超えている。
 固体でなければならないのに、液体である一面を持つなんて。
……まるで水銀ね。
 水銀はラテン語で“生きた銀”。 
そして不老不死に通じると信じられ、錬金術師たちの研究対象として珍重された。
 皮肉ね。
つまりはまさに、彼女の自称する魔女や錬金術につながるということ。
 このルールZが解けない限り、……いいえ、解けないからこそ、ベアトリーチェはまさに魔女であるというこ と。
... I can understand it using this general idea.
But, if I try to grasp it as a rule, I can't understand it at all.
Because, originally, rules are immutable things, right?
Indefinite things being rules are beyond my common sense.
Even though it should be solid, it possesses a fluid face.
...... Like mercury.
In Latin, mercury means 'living silver'.
They believed it that leads to perpetual youth and it was highly valued as research object of the alchemists.
It's ironic.
In other words, it links to the alchemy and the witches, as she calls herself.
Unless I can unravel this rule Z, ...... no, just because I can't unravel it, Beatrice will be exactly a witch.

 ……あぁ、ここまで書いていて腹立たしくなっていったわ。
 あなたはここまでを読んで、絶対に笑っているわ。
えぇ、賭けてもいい。
 そろそろ私の困り顔を見て、さらに嘲笑ってやりたくなってきたころでしょう。
...... Aah, after writing so much, I got irritated.
If you did read until here, you must be laughing.
Eeh, you can bet.
Very soon you'll want to sneer at me even more after seeing my troubled face.

 近いうちに貴方のところへお見舞いに行くわ。
 見舞いの品は私。
好きなだけ嘲り笑うといい。
好きでしょう?そういうのは。
 だから久し振りの友人を迎える為に、どうか生き返ってちょうだい。
Before long, I'll go to pay you a visit.
The get-well gift will be me.
You can sneer at me as much as you want.
You like it, right? To do that.
So, so that I can meet a friend I haven't seen for so long, please, revive.

          まだ親愛であると信じている貴方の友人   ベルンカステルより
From Bernkastel, your friend who still believes to be dear to you.


Poems[]

愛とは幻想、勘違い。
相思相愛とは、互いに愛されているという相互の勘違い。
そして婚約とは、その勘違いから生涯目覚めないことの誓いである。
                             ────Ronove

Love is an illusion, a misunderstanding.
Mutual love is a mutual misunderstanding of being mutually loved.
And engagement is a vow to not wake up for your whole life from that misunderstanding.
Ronove

彼の部屋からいろいろなものが見付かった。
それらの証拠から、私はあなたに愛されていると推論できる。
Many things were found from his room.
From those evidences, it is possible to deduce that I am loved by you.

私の部屋からいろいろなものが見付かった。
それらの証拠から、私もあなたを愛していると推論できる。
Many things were found from my room.
From those evidences, it is possible to deduce that I also love you.

彼女の部屋から何も見つけられなかった。
しかし未発見の浮気の証拠Xの存在を、私は否定できない。
                            ────Frederica Bernkast el
Nothing was found from her room.
However, I can't deny the existence of an undiscovered evidence X of unfaithfulness. Frederica Bernkastel

Sources[]

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