Chapter 5: Third Unit

Five hours had passed since the Schutzstaffel started the attack on the development bureau. It had breached the front gate and Schutzstaffel soldiers were attacking, furiously and repeatedly. The security guards were resisting boldly under Sophia’s leadership, but suffered many deaths and injuries. Finally, high-speed combat vehicles had destroyed over half the vaunted bulkheads and pushed Sophia and her guards back near the deepest part of the bureau.

“Take thaaat!!”

With a fierce boom, Sophia herself fired the Gerlitz, with shells striking the center of a looming Kentaur combat vehicle.

“More shells!”

Sophia thought she could finish the Kentaur off with one more blast. She ordered the weapon reloaded in a hurry, but Sariya responded in a pained voice.

“We don’t have any more!”

“Argh!”

The new weapon, of which Daian was so proud, had indeed performed excellently in combat, but it was still just a prototype. The Gerlitz was unprecedented as a weapon, but it could only hold a limited number of shells, so it couldn’t withstand a long battle.

“We have to abandon this position! Lower the bulkhead, plant explosives, and plug the corridor with rubble! At least we can buy some time!”

Sophia ordered retreat and kicked aside the useless Gerlitz.

“Bury this in the debris! It’s useless!”

So far, Sophia and her guards had just been able to hold off the two Schutzstaffel companies surrounding them. However, faced with successive waves of reinforcements, the situation had grown dire.

“Let’s go, Sariya!”

“Y-Yes, Ma’am!”

The only consolation was the high morale of the security guards. Most of them had fought under Sophia since the Great War and had long military experience. Sariya, however, was a new soldier, recruited just one month ago.

The Schutzstaffel had instigated the fight, but Sophia’s stubbornness was partially responsible for this battle. Retreating was an option out of concern for the lives of the soldiers.

“You’re unlucky... Sorry to involve you in this.”

“Don’t talk like that, Major!”

Sariya, answered Sophia’s concern with a smile that didn’t suit the situation.

“But... you just joined the military.”

Sariya was about twenty years old. This battle was unfortunate for her since she finished her training after the end of the Great War.

“Uh... no. I joined twelve years ago.”

“Oh. That’s surprising... What?!”

Sophia almost let the answer go, but then she barked at Sariya in surprise.

“More than ten years?! You’ve been in since the Great War?! Are you kidding?! That’s longer than me!!”

“Um, I’m type three.”

“Oh!”

Sophia cursed her own thoughtlessness as she watched Sariya dip her head in embarrassment.

Sophia hadn’t merely made Sariya say it out loud. She had grimaced when she heard the words “type three.”

“Twelve years... So you were about eight years old?!”

“Yes...”

In Wiltia’s military system, type-one soldiers were volunteers and type-two were draftees. Type-three soldiers had lost their parents or were abandoned and then culled and trained from a young age.

Sariya’s youth must have been far from happy. Sophia’s response amounted to treating her with pity.

“Oh, but don’t worry! I’m thankful to the military! I was about to die and they put me in the hospital. After that, I was physically unfit, so they let me work at a national factory. I’ve never been on the battlefield.”

Sariya was hurrying to ease Sophia’s discomfort, but she was clearly putting some effort into her smile.

The military assigned duties to the orphans and they had to work in return for a secure life.

“They paid me! And after the war, I was given proper military training. Then I was attached to this unit.”

From the military’s point of view, they rescued and raised children who were near death and then had them pay it back with labor, which seemed reasonable. But, it was a system that preyed on the socially vulnerable while the nation’s social welfare remained inadequate.

“I see...”

Sophia’s expression was still tense.

The person who had devised the military’s tri-level system was none other than Genitz, the top commanding officer of the Schutzstaffel. Sophia had joined the military through that system, created by Genitz, and now she was fighting people under his command. But for Sariya, it was more like being made to perform as a clown.

Even worse, I supported him!

Sophia ground her back teeth in anger and regret.

“Major... I’m sorry, um, for telling you something so unsettling.”

Sariya tried to reassure Sophia when she saw her pained expression.

“No... sorry. Um, I used to have a type-three soldier under my command.”

“Really?! Where is that soldier now?”

“He quit the military and became a baker.”

She saw the face of her childhood friend.

“Oh... so he finished his term of service?”

The enlistment period for type-three soldiers was in proportion to how much that soldier cost the military. Such a soldier couldn’t leave the military before repaying that debt, other than for extraordinary reasons. That period was called a term of service.

Sariya had a long hospital stay, so she had cost more and it would take longer for her to finish her term of service.

“After this mess, I plan to request leave. For all the guards. Would you like to come with me to visit my friend at his bakery? His bread... Well, it’s not bad.”

“Yes! I’d like to join you!”

As Sophia grinned, Sariya agreed with a broad smile.

Meanwhile, in an office located deep inside the development bureau...

Daian sat and wondered. The office boasted advanced sound-proofing, but he could still hear explosions and loud rumbling. It was just a matter of time before the Schutzstaffel marched in.

“I thought we would last until dawn, but they won’t allow that.”

Under Sophia’s command and with the bureau’s weapons, ordinarily they would have been able to hold the Schutzstaffel off. But they were throwing too many soldiers and weapons at them. They were using brute force to open the doors.

“There is no doubt that he has endangered his position. He’ll likely face charges of treason, and yet he’s persisting.”

Marshal Elvin and Sophia from the regular military detested Genitz. But the precision of his strategic planning was impressive.

If Genitz dared to take this kind of risk, he wanted something badly. And it was enough to compensate for whatever the consequences might be.

“So does that mean...”

Daian tapped his forehead and made an overly frustrated face.

“There’s no other explanation. With that, he would be sure to take over, not just Wiltia, but the whole world.”

Daian was thinking about the Door, a relic that contained the wisdom of the ancient European Empire. Analyzing and using a mere portion of it had brought victory to Wiltia.

Doors existed everywhere in the world. One was found at Organbaelz Mine in a rural town in Pelfe. But of all the Doors, the largest was in the deepest subterranean level of the development bureau.

“What a total waste of time. He won’t open it no matter what he does.”

If he could, Daian would have opened it a long time ago. However, even with his extraordinary, scientific genius, he was not up to the task.

In any case, conquering the whole development bureau would not secure the key to the Door. The key wasn’t here. It was across the border.

“But, I still don’t get it.”

Genitz’s strategy must be to reach the Door, but there was no point if he couldn’t open it.

If he was that foolish, Elvin wouldn’t be so bothered by him. Genitz wasn’t foolish, which was why he was such a problem.

“He’s planning something else. In that case, we can’t be picky about our methods. Am I right, Rebecca?”

As soon as Daian asked, a girl suddenly materialized in the corner of the office.

“Did you call?”

The girl with red hair and red eyes and wearing a red dress... was Rebecca Sharlahart.

“Sophia and the others are fighting desperately, but it’s only a matter of time until this place falls. So I want you to get help.”

Rebecca wasn’t human. Like Sven, she was a humanoid Hunter Unit created by Daian. With her superhuman physical strength and combat ability, she could escape the encircling Schutzstaffel net and reach central headquarters.

“Is that okay?”

In a voice with no emotion, Rebecca responded with a question.

Only a few in the military knew about the development of humanoid Hunter Units. Even Sophia, the leader of the security guards, didn’t know the details. Furthermore, because Daian falsified reports and pretended the Hunter Units were still under development, no one in the regular military knew that the project had succeeded long ago, even though it was footing the bill.

“It’s impossible to break through the Schutzstaffel forces without immediately attracting attention. It will reveal who I am, and you will lose your position.”

“Oh well. So they scold me.”

This would certainly result in more than a mere scolding. Daian would face the gravest charge of deceiving the nation. He would face arrest, detainment, and then execution by firing squad.

“But Elvin is a smart guy, so he wouldn’t kill me. At least not for now.”

Daian’s brain was precious to Wiltia. The nation had signed an agreement with the Billions Trading Company and requested financial backing to support Daian’s research.

“Besides, if we act right away, we can weaken the Schutzstaffel. After all, it’s not impossible to destroy them.”

With the proper request from the development bureau, the regular military would be able to enter the royal capital. Moreover, they could attack the Schutzstaffel with a compulsory criminal investigation, much like the Schutzstaffel’s current attack on the development bureau.

In this world, being nice wasn’t enough to run an organization. If they pushed hard, they could expel as many people from positions of power as they wanted, even affecting the big nobles who were Genitz’s patrons.

“Genitz is not a man who underestimates such matters. Elvin is intelligent in that respect, too.”

Daian knew that Elvin would understand the point Daian was making. Furthermore, the development of humanoid Hunter Units was an absolute secret, but by revealing it, Daian could hide his true purpose, which was hidden underneath. Pulling this veil aside would be a heavy blow, but it wouldn’t be fatal.

“Understood. I’m going now.”

“Yes, please see to this immediately.”

Daian then spoke further, as if remembering something, and Rebecca turned around.

“I still have a bad feeling about this. I don’t want Sophia to die.”

Sophia was a precious amusement for Daian. She was like a favorite tea or beloved brand of cigarettes. She provided just the right amount of stimulation to sharpen his thoughts. It would be vexing to lose her.

“Understood.”

Rebecca didn’t appear to take note of his words. She narrowed her eyes slightly, bowed once, and left the room.

“Hurry! Move that thing outta the way right now!”

“Medics! Where are the medics?!”

“It’s no use! He’s beyond help!”

For security reasons, entry to the area around Daian’s office was forbidden to anyone but select staff members. Tonight, guards retreating from the furious fighting were nearby.

“Under the developer’s authority, restrict total capacity to 75 percent and release limiter!”

Unworried, Rebecca spoke quietly, as if casting a magic spell.

“Huh? Hey, you! How did you get in here?!”

One of the security guards noticed her.

“... drei... zwei... eins...”

Rebecca didn’t answer. She continued preparing for her next action.

“It’s dangerous here! Come this way!”

A soldier ran to her, but the moment he raised a hand toward her shoulder...

“... nulllll!”

Rebecca’s red eyes glowed and she disappeared.

“Huh?!”

The soldier stood in shock, incapable of understanding what just happened. There was no way he could understand it. The mechanical girl in human form had moved with a speed that exceeded human comprehension.

The fall of the Hessen family had accelerated as science advanced, resulting in improved weapons and altered battlefields. Finally, thirty years ago, its fall became certain when cavalries disappeared in the face of machine guns, cannons, and tanks.

The warrior family, finding itself without a role on the field of battle, had tried to restore itself. In the end, Klemens von Hessen took a wife, based on her good family name, and married the daughter of an upstanding family that had actually fallen farther than the Hessens. Hessen believed that if he mixed with noble blood, the resulting child was sure to restore the family, and he clung to the hope of preserving the family’s venerable status to the very end.

However, when the baby was born, he was disappointed for two reasons. First, the baby was a girl. In a warrior family, a girl could not carry on the family. Secondly, the baby had black hair and black eyes.

“How awful! This is a black dog!!”

That baby girl was Hildegard von Hessen, whose father rejected her, even before holding her, smiling at her, or giving her a name.

Wiltians often had blond hair and blue eyes, but not everyone had those features. Wiltia was continental, so its people intermingled with other ethnic groups. Even pure Wiltians often had red or black hair. The reality was that less than half the population had blond hair and blue eyes.

Among the noble class, however, about 80 percent had those characteristics, because all the royal families from Luftzand Domain, the earlier Holy Empire, and the European Empire a thousand years ago, had blond hair. This background meant that, almost as an article of faith, nobles were proud of the color of their hair and eyes. It had always been that way.

Still, this didn’t mean that people who were not blond and blue-eyed experienced open discrimination. A family with black hair across generations could, if descended from an old, noble people, maintain pride in its history. However, it was a different story if a long-standing blond-haired family suddenly produced a child with black hair.

Before the Principality of Wiltia was established seven hundred years ago, the continent of Europea had faced what was called the Dark Age, a time of war, poverty, starvation, and epidemic. The nations that now ruled 70 percent of the world were extremely weak back then, and were overrun by barbarians attacking from the east. Anyone who fought the invaders met death, while those who surrendered kept their lives, but the men and children became slaves, and the women were violated.

The barbarians rampaging across the continent retreated after a counterattack by the allied forces of the nations of Europea. All that remained, however, was devastation, with mountains of corpses, and women who had conceived unwanted children, fathered by the barbarians.

The women were frightened. What kind of discrimination would their children face if they were born with black hair and eyes like those of the barbarians? However, the children born ten months later had blond hair.

The women were pleased that the physical characteristics of the barbarians weren’t apparent in their children. At least not yet.

But years later, that generation’s grandchildren were born with black hair and eyes. The time it took for those characteristics to emerge differed from bloodline to bloodline, but once every few generations babies with dark eyes and hair appeared, as if a reminder of the distant past when barbarians had defeated their people.

Children with black hair were mocked as the children of losers and as “black dogs.” They were held in contempt as the descendants of shameless mothers who had begged the barbarians for forgiveness in exchange for their bodies.

“What a shocking story...”

After listening to Hilde’s background, as they sat in the chapel, Marlene’s heart was filled with horror.

Not about Hilde’s background. She was appalled by the people who irrationally discriminated against children as barbarians and losers because of what had happened seven centuries earlier.

“I don’t like to criticize anyone’s parents, but your father was wrong.”

“I don’t blame you for saying that.”

Hilde’s father was a man who could only feel secure in his identity through “venerable blood.” Aside from that venerable blood, he wasn’t particularly talented and thought it was shameful for nobles to work. It had been Hilde’s mother who covered the Hessen family’s living expenses by working.

“My father wanted to kill me when he saw my hair and eyes. Or he wanted to leave me at the poorhouse.”

However, Hilde’s mother had tearfully begged him, kneeling on the ground, to raise Hilde as their child.

“My mother became his slave in exchange for my life. She never disagreed with him and single-mindedly devoted herself to him.”

“Um, if you were born into such a household, then why do you still...”

Marlene couldn’t understand. Hilde had suffered because of the narrow-minded prejudice of her noble father, but she was still obsessed with her family’s blood. She might have left such a father and sought a different way of life.

“Have you ever heard of the Polpora?”

“Huh? Isn’t that a kind of fairy in folk tales?”

Marlene put her finger to her mouth as she recalled a children’s book that she read to the children.

“Yes. They secretly steal beautiful treasures from humans.”

Ugly Polpora fairies were fond of anything pretty. To adorn themselves, they stole lovely objects and left ugly ones in their place.

“If they see a pretty dress, they replace it with a soiled cloth. If they see a shiny jewel, they replace it with a dirty rock. And if they see a beautiful baby, they replace it with their own unsightly infant.”

“Hold on a second. You...”

“My father told me I was a child of the Polpora.”

Hessen didn’t think Hilde was his own child. He was from an honorable, lofty family, so his own child couldn’t possibly be a black dog. He insisted that his real, beautiful baby was stolen and a grotesque Polpora baby had been left in its place.

“Urgh!”

Marlene was at a loss for words.

Many suffer discrimination because of their birth. Milly and Jacob also suffered because of their pasts and their families. Nonetheless, there were actions that were totally unacceptable for parents to do to their children.

“Even as my mother died, she apologized for giving birth to me.”

Why had she apologized? Was it for not giving Hilde the blonde hair and blue eyes that her father wanted? Or for not immediately killing a black dog with black hair and eyes?

“So I swore to myself... for my mother’s sake... that I would become a fine noble and restore the family.”

“Maybe... that was wrong?”

Marlene had once agreed to be a terrorist, but for most of her life, she was a common citizen. She didn’t understand the way nobles thought. But she wondered.

“No, it wasn’t wrong! It was... just what I thought.”

Even if she was a black dog, Hilde believed that she could succeed as a noble and get back at her father and others who despised her. She lived her life with no other goal. However, she had always questioned that way of life.

“I finally understood that my mother was apologizing to me for bringing me into a noble family.”

In the end, even if Hilde achieved the highest honors, she wouldn’t be the person she wanted to be. Hurting someone who had hurt her wouldn’t help. She might grow rich and she might attain power. But, Hilde wouldn’t know what to do with vast riches and influence.

“Marlene, it was you who made me think differently.”

“What? Me?”

Marlene was surprised to find herself in Hilde’s story.

“Yes.”

Marlene had tried to kill Lud. In that sense, she was like Hilde. Furthermore, Hilde wasn’t even able to scratch Lud, whereas Marlene had achieved results.

“You gave up on killing Lud Langart, didn’t you?”

“Yes. I will never again try to kill him.”

Marlene deeply regretted that, while a nun, she had betrayed the children at the orphanage by acting as a terrorist. She thought that she no longer had the right to live with Milly and the other children at the church. However, Lud had convinced her...

“If you regret it, then as long as they live, make them believe that you’re just a nun.”

Living with that would be harder than dying or imprisonment. Nonetheless, Marlene made that choice and was alive today. There was no reason for a nun to kill. She was incapable of such a thing.

“Well, that’s not the only reason.”

“Huh?”

“Oh, nothing.”

The other reason was that she had fallen in love with the person she had tried to kill.

“Anyway, at least you can laugh about it now. I’ve never smiled that way.”

When Hilde looked down on someone, when she trampled someone underfoot, she wore a hateful smile. However, in her fifteen years of life, she had no memory of smiling from the bottom of her heart.

Being able to smile meant that she was over her past.

The people she met in Organbaelz all had overcome their pasts in order to smile in the present. Hilde finally realized that. What she really wanted was to feel pleasure in the present. She wanted to feel that she belonged in the world.

Hilde was always irritated because she couldn’t have that. She was irritated because she was worried, and her worry was actually deep fear. Her own father had cast her out, so she doubted whether she should even exist in this world.

“No, surely you too have something. Something you like... Something you like to do?”

“Something I...”

After Marlene asked the question, Hilde paused.

“Come to think of it, there was one thing.”

When she was young, she had liked something. Since her family was poor and Hilde had received little love from her parents, she never received many toys. But there was one thing she had enjoyed, which she could do without money or possessions.

“I liked to sing.”

Hilde’s mother was also from a fallen noble family. She sometimes sang in bars for daily wages.

When Hilde was young, she learned a few songs, and her mother had lavished her with praise. Even her father, who rarely showed interest in her, had praised her singing. But that led to another tragic experience.

“Singing? You like to sing? Are you any good?”

“W-Well, kind of...”

Suddenly, Marlene’s eyes had taken on a different look. She was excited as she grabbed Hilde’s shoulders and made a request as if she was pleading.

“Could you sing a little?”

“What? That would be embarrassing! Besides, I haven’t sang in a while, so I don’t feel confident.”

“Don’t worry! I’m the only person here! Give it a go!”

Usually, Hilde’s hot temper would have taken over, and she would have knocked Marlene away, shouting, “Shut up!” But she was feeling uncharacteristically vulnerable and the look on Marlene’s face was too intense to refuse.

“Okay, but don’t laugh.”

She had no choice but to try a song from her old repertoire. Hilde coughed a few times and readied her throat.

It’s been so long since I last sang...

She remembered that day when her father made her attend a ball, wearing a rented dress, so she could use her singing voice to catch the eyes of a big noble.

She never sang again after that day. She avoided even humming since the moment she returned from the ball in dejection, and her father had hit her over and over.

However, today, she set aside her resolution.

“Ahh...”

She took a deep breath and sang. The song, which she had learned from her mother years ago, was about an old nation.

God fell in love with a girl and sent her all manner of gifts.

A jewel that shone more splendidly than the light of a star... A rose made of gold... A dress woven of the light of the sky...

He gave her everything, but she did not respond.

She was already in love with someone else.

She loved a poor shepherd.

The girl didn’t love God, with his omnipotence, immortality, and beauty that surpassed everything else in the world. God wept in sorrow, and sank into despondent depths.

Light disappeared from the world, trees wasted away, rivers and oceans ran dry, and life faded from the land.

The world was dying, so a frightened servant of God devised a plan.

The poor shepherd must die.

The shepherd met his death because he was loved by the girl.

He was accused, pushed from a cliff, and he died.

And yet, the girl still did not answer God.

She followed the shepherd, throwing herself off the cliff.

God raged at his servant for this thoughtless action.

He cast thunderbolts and made untold mountains spew fire.

He divided his life in two, giving one part to the girl and the other to the shepherd, so that they might live once again.

God’s life was over and he fell into a deep slumber.

The sun rose again over the world.

The girl and the shepherd rose and the world revived...

... little by little.

“Phew...”

After she finished the song, sweat shone on Hilde’s forehead. She sighed deeply and turned around as if just remembering something.

In her embarrassment, she had turned away from Marlene, and sang facing a holy symbol hanging in the chapel, as if to consecrate it.

“Um, what’s the matter?”

Marlene was looking at her in amazement.

“You’re really good!”

She sighed in admiration as she spoke with heartfelt surprise.

“Wow... Are you really in the military? I can’t believe it!”

Hilde sang like a professional singer. No, she was so good that an average singer would skulk away in shame.

Marlene didn’t know a lot about singing. Nonetheless, she could tell that Hilde’s voice was uncommonly beautiful. Few singers in Berun, the royal capital of Wiltia, or in the grand theaters of Parise, the City of Art, could sing as well.

“So prodigies really do exist!”

“Y-You’re praising me too much!”

Hilde wasn’t used to any praise at all, so her face blushed bright red as she replied. But Marlene shook her head repeatedly, saying, “No, I mean it. It’s true.”

“Well, um... thank you.”

Hilde sang because she loved it. Perhaps the purity of that love manifested in a crystal clear and brilliant singing voice.

“This is it... Yes, this is it!”

“What’s what?”

Marlene balled up her fists and appeared excited.

“Wow! This is just what I needed! Is it the will of God? It must be! I guess it really is worth praying even if it’s just a formality!”

Considering she was a servant of God, Marlene’s comment was surprising.

“W-What are you saying? You... Whoa!”

Hilde had stretched out her hand to timidly ask a question when Marlene spun around and clasped her hand.

“Hilde, would you attend the Thanksgiving festival and sing?!”

“Huh? W-Why?!”

Hilde had heard about the Organbaelz Thanksgiving festival, but she didn’t know that one of the singers was unable to attend. Furthermore, there was no way she would know that Marlene was on the festival committee and looking for a replacement.

“Think of it as a favor to me!! I can’t sing!! And I’m clumsy! I’m pretty but I’m clumsy! Which makes me both happy and sad!”

“Um... I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

Hilde had no idea that Milly, who was like Marlene’s sister, had tried desperately to stop Marlene from serving as a substitute.

“Please! I need you to sing! Besides, I want everyone to hear you!”

This was how Marlene truly felt.

Organbaelz was a small rural town. The people didn’t enjoy extravagant living, but neither were they dying of poverty.

Every day, they led hard lives that lacked amusement. The miners were paid adequately for their hard labor, but they worked in dangerous circumstances and each year some died.

The Thanksgiving festival was a celebration that the townsfolk looked forward to all year.

“I’m sure everyone will enjoy hearing you sing. So please!”

“Uh... um...”

Hilde’s heart seemed to stop beating. Then it began pounding. She hadn’t been this excited since she first met Genitz. She was so pleased that someone wanted her.

“Uh... um... oh... okay.”

She looked away, her face blushing, but she agreed.

“Okay, it’s decided! Come back again tomorrow so we can make arrangements. But the sun has gone down, so you’d better go back.”

As she said this, Marlene pointed to the door of the chapel.

“And someone has come to pick you up.”

Hilde saw a familiar man. It was Heidrig.

“When did he...”

Marlene winked at the surprised Hilde.

That night in the attic at Tockerbrot...

Hilde, sitting on the bed, holding a pillow and staring into space, was unable to sort out her feelings. She was thinking that it had been a very hard and confusing day, with her emotions rising and falling. Sven had called her stupid and she had cried and vented her feelings, but perhaps that was why she now felt a little lighter.

“What... am I doing?” she mumbled.

She had repeated the same thing over the last few days.

Until yesterday, however, it had come from self-pity over her current situation. Today, she was a little pleased, if also confused, over her strange encounters.

“You’re good at singing!”

Heidrig spoke to Hilde bluntly.

“W-Were you listening?!”

“Yes. I meant to say something sooner but missed my chance.”

Sven had told Lud that Hilde had disappeared, which had worried him. Sven planned to search for her, but Heidrig returned from his break and suggested that he go instead. He thought that Hilde might have decided to abandon the mission.

“If you’re that talented, you could become a successful singer!”

Heidrig was an amateur when it came to singing and acting. But even to him, her singing was impressive.

“Long ago, I sang at a ball for nobles...”

“Oh?”

That was eight years ago, before she was ten years old. Her father had recognized her singing skills and used what small connections he had for an opportunity to show off her talent. Hilde didn’t own a proper dress to wear, so they borrowed money to rent a dress that was too big, and Hilde attended the ball.

“The reaction to my singing was enthusiastic. Everyone praised me and applauded.”

However, that was the end of it. No one had offered to be her benefactor. Even people who pretended to be patrons of art and culture praised her, but would go no further.

“Because... I’m a black dog.”

She had black hair and black eyes, so she was a loser. It was hard to find nobles with such poor taste that they would take a girl like her under their wing.

“After we got home, my father hit me many times.”

He had accused her of humiliating him and had blamed her for being a black dog. He had hit and kicked her repeatedly, and as she had cried and begged for forgiveness, and she told herself that she would never sing again.

“So... why did you decide to sing now?”

A slight change of feeling showed on Heidrig’s face as he asked.

No matter how much noise she made, Heidrig had taken no more interest in her than he would a boisterous puppy, but now for the first time, he looked at Hilde as if seeing a human being.

“It’s just... that nun was pushy and...”

Hilde touched her hair as if remembering something. It wasn’t her own natural black hair. She had dyed her hair blonde as a disguise.

“If I had been born with this hair color, what would my life be like?”

Her soft words sounded sad.

Meanwhile, in a charcoal-burning forest lodge on the outskirts of Organbaelz...

The lodge had been deserted long ago, but some men were gathered inside now.

“So you found her?”

“Yeah. The nun somehow avoided capture.”

“What about the other woman?”

“That waitress who is absurdly strong?”

“Aw, she’s just a bit above average.”

“There’s no doubt about it. She was wearing the bakery uniform, so it was her.”

“Yes, it was that blonde girl.”

No one—not Hilde, Heidrig or even Lud or Sven—knew about this conversation. But if they had heard the next words, it would have given them a chill.

“It was just as described by that masked man.”

The development bureau in the royal capital of Berun was shaped like a single spiral. An attacking opponent had to destroy each of the structure’s barriers from the front, one by one. This also meant that the defending side, in order to counterattack, had to confront its opponent head-on.

This wasn’t usually a problem. The strength of the development bureau’s forces lay in defense. Their purpose was to provide security, so there was no need to attack. But tonight was different. It was necessary to mount a desperate attack to escape the encircling net and request reinforcements from military headquarters.

For a regular person, that would be impossible. As soon as an escape was attempted, Schutzstaffel soldiers would close in with machine gun fire, and that person would die, no longer recognizably human. However, what if the person escaping wasn’t human?

Altering that crucial premise changed everything.

“W-What?! What happened?!”

“Calm down! Report!!”

“Grenade! Bring me a grenade!!”

The Schutzstaffel soldiers were worked up. Although they had met severe resistance, they had almost reached their goal. However, something suddenly appeared that was disrupting their front line.

“What?! What is happening?!”

The commanding officer Captain Delz, yelled out.

However, he received only a vague reply.

“Something appeared, and the next thing I knew, soldiers were falling, one after the other!”

“What are you talking about?!”

Delz yelled again, but the soldier could say nothing further.

In any case, something or someone was approaching at a speed faster than sound, and sending soldiers flying with every blow.

KA-BOOM! THA-GOOM would be the only way to describe it in words.

Rebecca Sharlahart was traveling at terrific speed, ricocheting off the floor, walls, and ceiling. But she wasn’t trying to attack the surrounding Schutzstaffel soldiers. She was just trying to pass through them as quickly as possible to carry out her creator’s order, which was to get word to Marshal Elvin at military headquarters, and bring back reinforcements. Therefore, she was rapidly shoving aside anything in her way.

“Gah!”

A soldier made a strange sound as he flew up and his neck bent at a strange angle.

Rebecca didn’t intend to damage or kill anyone. But it was inevitable when something shot past that was human-sized and moving with lightning speed.

At this rate, it won’t be hard to break through...

Rebecca thought as she ran through the enemy ranks.

Her thoughts, or rather the humanoid Hunter Unit’s thoughts, were calm and realistic. She was created as an AI for a piloted military weapon. Thus, she wasn’t programmed with excessive optimism or unnecessary pessimism. Her thoughts arose from a multi-faceted perspective based on factors such as infantry positions, equipment, and proficiency.

The idea behind the military is fighting against groups.

Person-to-person combat was essential. Nonetheless, in the case of massive combat strength concentrated in one individual... Unless they were aware that their opponent was an android with the strength of one hundred humans, there was no way they could defeat Rebecca.

I’ve successfully escaped the bureau, so now I need to slip through the soldiers and race across the city.

The development bureau was surrounded, but not so completely that an ant couldn’t crawl out. A human being would have been captured immediately leaving the building, but there was no one who could match Rebecca’s speed.

By the time they noticed that someone had escaped, she had launched from the top of an armored vehicle, jumped to the roof of a nearby building, and was on her way through the dark city. All that remained was to get to the royal palace and military headquarters. There would be no problem. Or so it seemed.

“—?!”

Rebecca’s sensors detected something approaching. She didn’t know what it was. Something the size of a human was getting closer, running across the rooftops after her.

No way!

Rebecca almost let out a cry. There was only one thing that could move at such speed.

Another humanoid Hunter Unit?!

As far as she knew, the creator—Daian Fortuner—had only produced herself and Sven Avei, now a waitress at a bakery in Pelfe. There were no others. Daian had said so.

Here it comes!

Static tangled her thoughts. It was impatience, but Rebecca didn’t let that interfere.

On the battlefield, nothing was certain. The probability might be only one percent, but what would happen, would happen. Before asking why or how, she would deal immediately with the situation confronting her.

Intercept!!

Something jumped with legs strong enough to sunder roof tiles, and then it attacked Rebecca.

There was no moon. Streetlights dimly lit the roads, but it didn’t brighten the rooftops. Although it was too dark to see, Rebecca could tell that her opponent was a girl with red eyes.

I’ll stop her with one blow!!

She tried a hand chop to pierce her opponent’s neck, which is a vital spot on humans and non-humans alike.

A humanoid Hunter Unit was strong enough to sever a neck with her bare hands. That’s what should have happened.

“Agh—!”

However, before Rebecca could deliver her chop, her opponent rammed a knee into her stomach.

No way... This girl’s faster than I am?!

Even with emotional makeup that was close to a human being’s, the humanoid Hunter Units were driven solely by mechanical processes. Physical speed, strength, and processing speed... Specifications determined all these characteristics.

Compared to me, is she... a more advanced model?

Rebecca lost her balance and wobbled. She rolled down the roof and fell into Sephira River, which flowed through the center of the royal capital.

There was the sound of a splash of water and something sinking...

“Mission complete.”

The attacker stared at the surface of the water to make sure Rebecca wouldn’t float, and then she mumbled softly and disappeared, as if to vanish in the dark night.