Fullmetal Alchemist: The Valley of White Petals Shiroi Hana no Mau Tani (白い花の舞う谷) is the third light novel in the Fullmetal Alchemist series.
Chapters[]
- The Colonel's Conspiracy
- Paradise Below
- Unequivalent Exchange
- The Truth
- The Valley of White Petals
Synopsis[]
Edward and Alphonse Elric run out of money at a restaurant, but Ed finds out at the bank that his account has been closed. Trying to contact the accounting department at Eastern Command, he's instead connected to Roy Mustang, who twists his arm into investigating a southeastern town called Wisteria. Two days later, searching fruitlessly for the town amid a barren wasteland, they run into a traveling merchant who tells them of its newfound prosperity, though it’s under constant threat of being encroached on by bandits, who have set up camp near the entrance.
Upon entering the bandit camp, the Elrics stumble across a fight between some of the would-be interlopers and a teenage girl. She thrashes the entire group, but the brothers lend her a hand anyway, and eventually the three make their escape. The girl introduces herself as Ruby. Her and Ed’s strong personalities instantly clash, but Al is impressed by her. She reveals that Wisteria is at the bottom of a deep ravine, accessible only by a single narrow path.[1]
Ruby gives the brothers a tour of the town, pointing out the mayor's enormous mansion and the waterways where the town's wealth comes in the form of gems washing downstream. Then she takes the brothers to the town square to meet the man himself. The mayor, an elderly alchemist named Raygen, reveals that the town operates on the principle of equivalent exchange; hard work is rewarded in kind, and only those with nowhere else to go are admitted as citizens. Ruby offers them a house to stay in and the Elrics visit a restaurant for dinner, where they meet Neil, the top-earning man in Wisteria who lost his legs and family in the Ishvalan war. On their way home, they see Ruby chastising a younger boy for trying to sell flowers.
The next day, Al helps out with the gem production and reconsiders his own view of the world and himself. He’s been focused on getting his old body back for so long that he hasn’t considered what it would be like to just accept the way he is now and move forward. He asks Ruby if he could talk to Raygen, and she comes up with an idea to get him an audience.[2]
Meanwhile Ed finds the boy from the previous night, who introduces himself as Leaf. He explains that people who can't do hard labor that immediately benefits the town are treated as second-class citizens. He also reveals that the idea of nobody ever leaving the town is a lie, but the conversation is interrupted by shouting, and Ed and Leaf rush to discover some citizens of the town accusing three weaker townspeople of stealing. Leaf stands up to them and they leave, but the poorer men are still left disheartened. Leaf reveals that he's a childhood friend of Ruby and they both survived their town being destroyed by war. He grows white flowers on a hard-to-reach part of the cliff to remind Ruby of their past.
Ed tries to make a visit to Raygen’s mansion and discovers that Ruby has gotten Alphonse to pose as her fiance to get inside. The three bicker, but a sudden scream from the refinery changes their priorities. Once there they find a man with his leg injured by a toppled cart. The man, Kett, one of the poorer townsfolk Ed witnessed being accused of stealing, is distraught that he won't be able to earn a living wage with his injury. Ivans, another of the poor men, speaks out against the equivalent exchange principle, pointing out the increasing class disparity and insisting that they need to speak to Raygen and come up with a fairer system. Ruby jumps vehemently to Raygen's defense. Then, when Leaf reminds her why he's growing the white flowers, she runs off, upset. Leaf and Kett agree to leave town.
Ed and Al talk, and Al affirms that his past and present both have meaning, and he still wants to get his body back. Before leaving town, though, they decide to investigate a little further, as they suspect Raygen’s reclusiveness and hoarding of resources could mean he intends to start his own nation using the townspeople for soldiers.[3]
The two of them break into the mansion and search for anywhere Raygen might be hiding stockpiled weapons. Eventually they find them in a cellar under a trap door, attached to a system of tunnels along the underground waterway. They conclude that it's up to the townspeople to decide whether to use them, but have to split up and hide when Ruby and the other guards come in. Ed sneezes and has to flee to avoid being caught, but in doing so he accidentally discovers another hidden door that leads to a room full of gems, which Raygen shouldn’t have any reason to keep secret from the town. He remembers what Mustang told him about labor shortages in the southern district and deduces that Raygen is trafficking off his own townspeople. He rushes out of town to find a phone and relay the situation to Mustang.
Meanwhile Al talks to Neil, asking him to try to understand the people struggling under the town's system. Then he listens to Ruby explain the hardships of her past, why she respects Raygen so much and why she feels torn now that Leaf is actually leaving. She tells Al she doesn't like the white flowers because Raygen, who favors bold and bright colors, told her not to let anyone decide her colors for her, but falls silent when he asks what her favorite color is. He reveals he knows about the plan to secede, and they begin to argue, but are cut off by the sound of an explosion.
Ed, having reached a phone booth in the town he initially left from, learns from Mustang that a mysterious informant has been selling people in the area. Mustang agrees to work with Southern Command to send in troops; Ed returns to Wisteria only to find the town under attack from bandits. He and Al learn from Kett that Leaf has gone missing. There's no escaping the town with the only entrance under fire from the bandits, so the brothers and Ivans’ group decide to try taking shelter in the mansion. Despite most of the town gathering outside the gates, the guards won't let anyone in. Ruby pleads with Al to join her, but despite his feelings for her, he refuses. Ed sees a flower petal on the ground and realizes that if Leaf was taken inside the mansion, Raygen may have planned to smuggle him out through a hidden exit, and after the guards are scared off by another explosion, Ed forces the gates open and goes looking for Leaf.[4]
Al leads the townspeople through the underground tunnels, and Ed finds Raygen, Leaf and the broker looking to buy him on the third floor of the mansion. Ed jumps to action and fights the broker, learning from him that there's an old mineshaft in the tunnels that leads to an exit; Raygen runs off, and after Ed directs Leaf to find Al and the others, he chases Raygen into the cellar and confronts him. The mayor drops the act, but quickly puts it back on again when Ruby appears. She stops Ed from following Raygen and forces him into a fight. At first she doesn't believe Ed’s accusations of human trafficking, but when he presents her with all the evidence she grows shaken and collapses. Ed opens a hole to the sluice gate with alchemy to reveal Raygen about to flood the town in a final suicidal bid for victory. The two alchemists clash, as Ruby watches in horror. As she grapples with her fear of weakness, the white petals drifting on the wind remind her that she doesn't want to be alone, and finally she joins the fight to knock Raygen unconscious in a single kick.
Ruby and Ed stem the flow of water, but down in the tunnels, Al and the townspeople are unable to find the exit due to a cave-in. The townspeople argue. Then Leaf finds a petal floating in the water and discovers that the collapse left a hole in the ceiling, making it possible to climb to safety. Everyone works together to keep each other from falling as they reach the clifftop. On the other side of the ravine, military troops arrest Raygen and the bandits. The people of Wisteria face a new dawn in Leaf’s field of white flowers, newly understanding the importance of looking out for one another.
Everyone spends the day working to repair the town, and Ed and Al prepare to leave. Alphonse promises to visit, and Ruby and Ed bicker one last time. As Al turns to go, Ruby plants a kiss on his cheek and tells him to let her know if he needs a fiancee again. Meanwhile, Mustang gets a phone call from General Hakuro and finds himself in hot water: Ed didn’t write the report he tried to foist off on him.[5]
Gallery[]
[]
- ↑ Fullmetal Alchemist: The Valley of White Petals, Chapter 1
- ↑ Fullmetal Alchemist: The Valley of White Petals, Chapter 2
- ↑ Fullmetal Alchemist: The Valley of White Petals, Chapter 3
- ↑ Fullmetal Alchemist: The Valley of White Petals, Chapter 4
- ↑ Fullmetal Alchemist: The Valley of White Petals, Chapter 5