Bernkastel's letter

WARNING : Higurashi spoilers ahead.

Transcription

"Are you feeling well?" Such a typical greeting would most certainly sound like sarcasm to you in your current situation.
That's why it'd be kinder of me to ask like this:
Are you still alive, my beloved friend?

Thank you for your response the other day.
I was very surprised that you still had enough energy left in you to write a letter to me.
Well, I was the one that urged you to write a response in the first place.
Even so, the mere fact that you could muster up the energy to write a letter, just for my sake, was a great surprise. Or perhaps a miracle.

I agree with your opinion. The one pulling the wires is possibly indeed Lambdadelta.
For the sole purpose of taking revenge on me, that girl must have found a witch with an extremely bad affinity with me and then waited for me to be lured out.
And I fell into her trap like a duck.
...Oh, I see. I guess that was so ridiculous that it made you write your letter to me. I can practically see you with that malicious smile on your face.

But, considering your disease, she may actually be someone very precious to me.
If she is a much higher-ranking witch than I am, it means she is also that much closer to being afflicted with your disease.
That is to say, there is only way to escape from the disease that is eating into you — no, into us — and she is putting that way into practice... And ironically, that means she is teaching it to me as well.
Well, not that it matters. But if going along with that girl's farce means even a slight relief for your disease, I'd like you to please help me achieve that.

Lambdadelta boasted that I will 'absolutely' not be able to win in this game board.
At that exact moment, I could paradoxically identify the rule X. She really is a stupid girl.
What I mean is that it's like that story that always starts from June 20th. This is likely the core of the witch Beatrice.

Indeed, if that's how it is, this witch named Beatrice certainly is interesting.
She has opened up a world that I, that girl and you didn't even know about.
We could presume that as the source of her magic, the rule Y.
Lambdadelta may have lightly touched upon it as well but Beatrice's level is entirely out of her reach.
If we say that this is what magic is, then, Beatrice aside, none of us could call herself anything like a witch.

Should she take this to heart and fully comprehend it...
Then never mind me, not even Lambdadelta would be any match for her... and, most probably, she would be afflicted with the same disease as you.
But nevertheless, it's all very interesting. I see this rule Y as the very existance of the witch Beatrice.

Indeed. I could analyze the situation this far, as well.
And, certainly, there has to be one more rule: the rule Z.
After all, we have observed way too many phenomena that cannot be explained with the rules X and Y alone.

The true nature of rule Z is unknown.
Based on what Lambdadelta has said, it seems that this factor has a lethally bad affinity to me.
If we take 'that' as a hint... I wonder what it could mean.

For the time being, I assume that this rule Z is something that confuses and leads away from the truth, like a maze.
That is, a maze that won't allow me to come closer to the rules X and Y.

My powers could be likened to drawing a map by spending a hundred years checking every fork of the maze.
In other words, no matter how complex the maze may be, I will eventually be able to capture it in its entirety, with certainty.
(By the way, in Lambdadelta's case, I guess she would just keep on walking along the walls until she arrived at the exit, even if it took a thousand years. No, more like she would make holes in the walls and walk right through in a straight line, without any detours, to the exit.)

What could it be, this 'maze that has a bad affinity with me'...?

Yes, if it's something like that, it would explain that rock-paper-scissors example that Lambdadelta mentioned... Even if it's a maze that my powers can't capture, for someone like her who can just walk towards the goal through the walls it's not an obstacle at all.

...I can understand the general idea. But if I try to grasp it as a rule, I don't understand it at all.
Rules are supposed to be immutable by nature, right?
Something indeterminate being a rule is beyond my common sense.
It's something that has to be solid despite looking like a liquid on the surface... Just like mercury.
In Latin, mercury means 'living silver'.
It was thought to be the key to eternal youth and as such it was a highly valued subject of research for alchemists.
How ironic. So, it's clearly related to the fact that she's calling herself a witch and an alchemist.
Unless I can unravel this rule Z... no, basically it's exactly because I can't unravel it that Beatrice is a witch.

If you have read all this way, I'm sure you have started laughing by now. Yes, I could wager on it.
Soon you'll see my troubled face and feel like sneering at me even more.

Before long, I'll come pay you a visit.
The get-well gift will be me. You may laugh at me and ridicule me all you want. That is what you like, isn't it?
For the sake of meeting a friend I haven't seen in a long time, please, come back to life.

From your friend who still believes to be dear to you,
Bernkastel

After the letter, the story includes two poems. They were included in the original pamphet that contained both Bernkastel's Letter and Anti-Mystery vs. Anti-Fantasy

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Corollaries

We believe the recipient of the letter is the character who shows up in the sea of fragments in the Higurashi sequel and talks to Hanyuu.

Whoever it is, it's the highest ranking witch ever mentioned.
The disease that affects high ranking voyager witches is boredom, after all it's the only way to really kill them. Bern is grateful to Lambda for setting up this whole Umineko business because it lets her stave off boredom a bit longer.

The three rules

Rule X

Rule Y

Rule Z