Translated from Japanese to English by Namirrha, November-December 2001.

Last revised: 5 January 2002.

Although this is a new translation, I would still like to thank Eirias for his efforts in translating this and many other chapters.

Though every effort has been made to provide an accurate English translation, mistakes may none the less have been made. All such mistakes are, of course, purely unintentional.

Please feel free to distribute or edit this translation.

If changes are made to the script, which improve it, please make an effort to share such alterations with other Berserk fans, including [email protected] . Please also feel free to send any praise, comments and/or criticisms about this translation to the same address.

Sounds within speech bubbles are generally just converted from kana into romanji. All such sounds are in Italics.

Rhetorical questions are punctuated with full stops rather than question marks.

Material in brackets and/or in other than black text is either for informative purposes or additional/alternative text.

Narration: People saw it as they slept.

Narration: It was villages being decimated by the plague, and the country being overran by an army that spur on great beasts.

Narration: It was cities being smashed by earthquakes, and towns being swallowed by raging torrents.

Narration: It was the sun being hidden by black clouds, and groups of people wandering about starving.

Narration: It was the bodies of parents and children, and the bodies of neighbours.

-Page 89 (03)-

Narration: It was experienced by all in their own way, but there was one message only. [Re 'message', the text literally refers to 'meaning']

Narration: Every night people had found themselves cloaked in an intense darkness, which spread out over the world. [Re 'cloaked in an intense darkness', the text literally refers to being 'in the midst of a pure darkness'.]

Narration: And (from) within the chaos they had watched.

Narration: A shining hawk swoop down to the bloodstained earth, tearing asunder the veil of darkness. [Re 'veil of darkness', the text literally refers to 'the darkness of ignorance/darkness'.]

Narration: They had known it intuitively. It was the one that they wished for. [Re 'the one they wished for', I don't have a reading for 'motomeshimono' (wished for person? Messiah?), so I'd class this as a safe/inoffensive guess.]

Western Midland

Raban: It's quite a grim scene, isn't it.

Man: It's because almost all the timber and stone hereabouts has been cut up and carried off; as a result of fort reconstruction, and what not, during times of war.

Man: All that's left is (nothing but) a bald mountain full of holes.

Man: Even so, this rain.

Man: It'll be damp in this evenings lodgings soon. It's a place that you'd like to get to full of liquor, isn't it, Lord Raban. [Not sure about this, particularly the first sentence.]

Raban: Oi.

Man: Those words…

Man: were rash.

Man: God, please forgive me.

Man/Raban: Even so, this crowd of people, what on earth…

Man: Well…they seem to be coming from the vicinity of this town before us.

Men: It's a landslide!! The earth was loosened by the rain!!

Command: All companies halt!!

Raban: Guard regiment, all members, dismount!!

Raban: Rescue the commoners!! [Re 'commoners', I'm unsure as to whether this is correct, although I doubt it. Maybe 'freemen' would be more appropriate. At any rate, not having a reading for 'ryuumin' (govern/rule - people), this was the best that I could come up with.]

Raban: Follow me!!

Man: You can't be serious! For the sake of no more than commoners, Your Excellency (is) personally…!

Man: Your Excellency!!

Man: E----(h) There's no helping it!!

Man: Don't be tardy!! Follow General Raban!!

Raban: Oi! Take it easy!

Child: Uu(h)…

Raban: All right, you're safe now…

Raban: …This is.

Raban: Adjutant, I entrust this location to you. If operations are at an end, keep the army, on stand-by, and the commoners in this location until I return.

Adjutant: …Will I be informed? Your Excellency! Where you're going!?

Raban: I'll return shortly. The injured, put them into the covered wagons. Behave with warmth towards the commoners as well.

Adjutant: Your Excellency-----!

Raban: I'm counting on you.

Raban: …This…

Raban: It can't be……

Raban: All that remains is only rats.

Raban: The plague.

Raban: As I feared…

Old man: Here!

Old man: Here!

Old man: Nothing but rats.

Old man: They're foods multiplied and they've got fat.

Old man: They're the Devil's messengers.

Old man: They came here carrying this plague.

Old man: Once the rats began to increase like fools, the plague created an epidemic in this town.

Old man: Small gods of death.

Old man: …Call them demons.

Old man: Men cropped the mountains and snatched away they're food and shelter. That's why they marched on this town.

Old man: You reap what you sow.

Raban: Old one, you're not going to part with the town?

Old man: I have no desire to cast the town aside now, at this age. All the members of my family have died also.

Old man: For your own sake, you'd best leave soon. Before you too, sir knight, become possessed by the god of death.

Old man: Even if you were to brandish your sword, you couldn't do anything.

Raban: It's not just this town.

Raban: It will create similar scenes whereever it arrives throughout the country. [I had problems with this sentence, and can't help but feel that I've made something of a mess of it.]

Raban: Plague,

Raban: Famine,

Raban: and groups of bandits, whom were once mercenaries.

Raban: At present, such dark shadows cover the length and breadth of Midland…… No, it's not something that was restricted to this country.

Raban: …Is it the price to be paid for a war that spans 100 years?

Raban: It's such a vexing time. Even though we should be utilising all the country's resources to tackle state reconstruction,

Raban: we've passed over it and 70% or more of the country's military forces for two years, and we're still not certain whether just one person……lives or has died. If a criminal inquiry can establish that. [Not sure about this.]

Raban: His Majesty's appearance… What on earth is it?

Raban: What do you call whatever happened that day 2 years ago?

Raban: Those eyes……

Raban: They are surely a lunatics……

Raban: …No matter.

Raban: The inquiry was too much for him. [lit: It's the investigation that went beyond the part.]

Raban: …But, the fact is, it's desolate like this throughout the country.

Raban: It's by no means an exaggeration to say it's a crisis of state survival.

Raban: The darkness that will cover the world.

Raban: Maybe it was a revelation……

Raban: If that was the case.

Raban: That.

Raban: That hawk of light……

Raban: If the dream was a revelation, how should it be interpreted.

Raban: The things symbolised by the hawk at least, as far as I am concerned…

Raban: No.

Raban: As far as the whole of Midland is concerned.

Raban: There is but one person, and no other!!

Raban: A foolish notion perhaps, but if you take everything into consideration.

Raban: Even this inquiry that you would think conjured up by nonsense.

Adjutant: Your Excellency--!!

Raban: At worst, it's possible to have your doubts.

Raban: You came. Adjutant, look around you. If we don't immediately blockade this town also…

Raban: You look pale, what's wrong? Well, in these conditions, it's not at all surprising, but

Raban: You'll soon get tired of looking at things like people who die from the plague. [There should be more here as Raban also refers to 'a jest' or 'a joke'.]

Adjutant: But that…

Adjutant: That's not it. It has to do with the father of the state.

Raban: …What is it?

Adjutant: A post horse from Wyndham just now.

Adjutant: His Majesty the King.

Adjutant: He has succumbed to illness.

Raban: All right, we'll return with haste to the main body of troops.

Raban: On the way, let me hear a detailed account.

Raban: Ha(h).

Manifestation: U(h)---.

Manifestation: Gepu..

CHAPTER 5 - END