Chapter 7: Marguerite

The night after Miroslav’s trial ended... In an office for rent a short distance from Pelfe’s central government...

Mary Ville was gathering her things and preparing to leave the office, which was used by business people during short stays in the city.

“Whew...”

She stuffed unnecessary documents in the waste bin and inserted confidential papers in the fireplace to burn. She placed the documents she needed to keep inside a locked case, which she stowed in her trunk. She thought it a waste of money to hire an assistant, so she handled everything herself. It took the whole day, but finally she was ready to leave and literally stopped to catch her breath.

“What did I come here for?”

Her goal had been to use the false article and Lud’s past to bring attention to the massacre in her hometown, and she had crossed the sea all the way to Pelfe to do so. But her plans had fallen through. While searching for Miroslav, she found herself in the court’s waiting room with Lud and the others. There, she heard the conversation between Lud and Miroslav.

“Why does he still remember my grandfather’s words?!”

Her grandfather had often told her that he wanted people who said his bread was tasty to be happy. When Mary Ville heard those words, she remembered other words her grandfather had said.

“Why does Lud think the same way?”

After mumbling this question to herself, she heard loud footsteps—clomp, clomp!

“I knew it. They’ve come! They won’t let me leave that easily, will they?”

Someone kicked in the door to the rented office.

“What’s up, Mary? You’re leaving?”

Dolly Anastasia came in. And she wasn’t alone. A few large men with harsh glares stood behind her. Among them was the man who had stomped on Lud’s bread in Organbaelz.

“I’m going back to Greyten. The trial is over, so my work here is finished.”

“Oh, don’t give me that! Do you really think we’d just let you go?!”

Mary Ville had answered calmly, but Dolly was shouting loudly.

“Thanks to you, I got fired! They’ve branded me a third-rate journalist who falsified an article!”

“Oh? That’s too bad.”

Simply put, Weekly Global News had let Dolly go after the trial. Her employer stated that Dolly wrote the article on her own initiative, and it didn’t represent the views of the company.

And that’s not all. Although she had been a permanent employee of the company, they claimed she was a correspondent with a temporary contract. And the day after the matter became public, her contract period just happened to expire and wasn’t renewed. So she was dismissed.

No matter how she argued, no one listened. They were afraid of getting involved. This woman who ensnared others through false information had herself been forced out by false information, and she lost everything.

“So what do you want? Have you come to see me off? Did those gents behind you come to help me move? I don’t have much stuff, so you can let them go now.”

Mary Ville knew none of this was true. Dolly and the men had come to administer her punishment. She was a traitor, so they would kill her to make her an example. The Peace Faith did not forgive traitors. So Mary Ville had known this would happen.

“What are you going to do to me?”

“Well, there’s a river nearby. It’s really just a filthy drainage canal, but it’s adequate for us to drown you in.”

“Oh.”

“But first we’re going to make you very sorry while you’re still breathing. As for how... I’ll leave that up to them.”

Dolly smiled coldly and indicated the men behind her.

“Heh heh heh...”

The men licked their lips and chuckled. Their faces looked joyful... truly delighted.

“I see...”

Mary Ville realized her fate was going to be more depraved than she expected. If she had known, she would have fled sooner. But she couldn’t leave until she had seen Miroslav’s trial to the end.

Is this... retribution?

In her fight against the authorities, she had used many methods. But on her own, she was ineffective at resisting the organization that is the nation. So she had borrowed the Peace Faith’s strength.

“Dolly, can I say something?”

Mary Ville couldn’t escape this fate, but she at least wanted to say what was on her mind. She readied herself into something like defiance.

“Using unscrupulous methods to achieve your goals won’t work for very long.”

“Hunh? Why’re you saying this all of a sudden?”

“Anyone can be unscrupulous. Actually, few people choose scrupulous methods. Most take any steps they consider necessary as if it’s only sensible.”

The world was full of people who use justice and peace to justify savagery. Dictators and revolutionaries use the same words, throw their fists, and steal lives.

“We should have chosen better methods. No matter how difficult that path may be, if you don’t want to live your life dishonestly, you must achieve your goals the right way.”

Mary Ville made a tight fist.

“Otherwise, we would be just like Wiltia, which we hate so much.”

To truly win against opponents who will stop at nothing to reach their goals, it was necessary to fight them with upright methods. The pride that results provides a strength that is stronger than the enemy. Otherwise the foundation of victory is weak and will soon crumble at the hands of the people who will stop at nothing to reach their goals.

Mary Ville came to realize this over the last few days. And that was the point of her grandfather’s words.

“I get what you’re saying.”

Despite her words, Dolly’s face didn’t show the slightest understanding.

“I get it, but it’s time for you to die.”

Dolly couldn’t listen to arguments or objections. She believed she was on the side of justice. And anyone who opposed justice was evil. Whatever horrible fate befell them, it was their just deserts. So she permitted herself to do anything.

“Do as you please.”

At Dolly’s command, the men stepped forward.

“I get to kill her, but otherwise you can do what you want. Oh... but the burns on her back are disgusting, so watch out.”

Dolly would even mock the scars of another’s tragedy.

“That don’t matter. We won’t be lookin’ at that!”

The men laughed. Their smiles were vulgar.

I should have prepared a poison to kill myself.

Mary Ville was strangely calm. She had witnessed Hell many times. This would just be the last time. The suffering that Dolly and these men would put her through was a tiny fraction of what she had tasted in Lapchuricka. But she hated the degradation that would give these slugs pleasure.

“Pardon me!”

“—?!”

A woman’s voice came from outside the broken doorway.

“Who’re you?! We’re busy!”

Dolly’s shouts sounded more like squeals.

Even if they were on the side of justice, it wouldn’t do for someone to see them pulling a hit job. It was a clear contradiction, but Dolly didn’t notice. Instead, she pulled a knife from her inside pocket and faced the door, ready to threaten the woman.

“Um... I’ve got a delivery for Mary Ville Mehl!”

As if unaware of the tense atmosphere in the room, the woman spoke casually.

“A delivery?! What the hell?!”

The moment Dolly reached the door, with her voice raised in anger, there was a dull sound.

“Oof!!”

Dolly made an unladylike sound and was launched into the air. Shedding blood and broken teeth, she slammed into the wall behind Mary Ville, and fell unconscious.

“Guten Abend! I’m with Tockerbrot Bakery’s delivery service with fresh-baked bread!”

A beautiful young woman with red eyes and silver hair appeared with a basket in one hand. It was Sven, the waitress from Tockerbrot.

“What the—?!”

Mary Ville was shocked at the sight of Sven smiling and wiping her victim’s blood off her fist.

But she wasn’t shocked by the tremendous might of Sven’s fists. Sven had displayed unimaginable strength in court by lifting a long table with one hand. Mary Ville was surprised that the young woman had such strength, but it wasn’t strange that a girl who could do that could also do this. So although she wasn’t shocked by her physical power, she couldn’t get her head around why Sven had come; the girl who professed to be Lud Langart’s devoted servant.

“Who’re you?! Grah!!”

As if on fire, the men yelled in anger, but they were a little too slow to act. After all, since they had intended to play with Mary Ville, one had his belt off, one was in the process of removing his pants, and the other was wearing nothing more than his underwear.

“Umf!”

Sven didn’t fail to notice their ridiculous appearance. In an instant, she was on them and unleashed a flurry of kicks.

“Gyah!”

“Gyow!”

The men yelped in pain, collapsed on the spot, and frothed at the mouth. She hadn’t just kicked them. Since they had left themselves wide open, she kicked them between the legs... in their most vulnerable parts. And her legs packed enough power to crush oil drums.

“Oogoogoo... gah-gah... Pfooah!”

The men’s pain was excruciating. Even after losing consciousness, the whites of their eyes showed and they writhed in agony. They would be unable to perform as men for the rest of their lives.

“Now, then...”

Having dealt with the men in no time, Sven turned to Mary Ville.

“Let’s get outta here!”

“Huh? What? To where?”

Mary Ville was stunned.

“To the station. If we leave now, we can make the last train.”

The train would take Mary Ville to the port town of Alohz by dawn. And once in Alohz, she could board a ship for Greyten.

“You’re originally from Haugen, but you still have Greytenese citizenship, don’t you? If you flee there, it’ll be hard for these punks to hurt you.”

Dolly had tried to get rid of Mary Ville before she could return to her home country.

“So let’s go!”

Sven took Mary Ville’s hand and they left the rented office.

About thirty minutes later, Sven and Mary Ville arrived at Central Station in Ponapalas.

“Y... you walk too fast!”

Mary Ville was breathing heavily as she asked Sven to slow down, but the waitress dragged her along with her superhuman speed.

“Why... did you help me? Why are you even still in Ponapalas?”

Lud and Sven’s role in Miroslav’s trial had ended. Mary Ville thought they had returned to Organbaelz. There was still time until the steam engine arrived so Mary Ville asked Sven to explain.

“It was Master’s order.”

“Lud’s?”

“Yes. He expected something like this might happen.”

The Peace Faith didn’t forgive traitors. And Lud knew that well. Mary Ville had incurred their wrath in court by revealing the truth, so it was perfectly clear they would soon come to retaliate.

“Oh. But he sent you, huh? Hmf! What a coward!”

“No, you don’t understand.”

With a cool expression, Sven answered Mary Ville, who was spluttering,

“I suggested it. Because I’m stronger.”

“Well, that’s putting it bluntly!”

But it was the truth. With her combat ability as a humanoid Hunter Unit, Sven was more than an equal match even for a fully armored soldier.

“Besides, I can’t take any chances with Master right now. He’d even show mercy to the enemy!”

“Oh... uh-huh.”

When Miroslav had holed up in Tockerbrot, Lud had tried to save his life and ended up in the hospital. Lud might show mercy even toward the worst villain, allow an opening, and end up injured. Sven feared that above all else. But she had another reason: She wanted to ask Mary Ville her own questions.

“Why did you do that?”

Mary Ville started to answer Sven’s question once, then twice, but each time she faltered. It wasn’t that she couldn’t answer. Rather, she didn’t want to. But she also didn’t know the right response. But there was one certain answer. And that was...

“Because of my grandfather’s will.”

“Your grandfather... You mean Tocker Mehl?”

Tocker Mehl had been Mary Ville’s grandfather, Lud’s baking teacher, and the owner of the small bakery called Tockerbrot in Lapchuricka. And during the tragedy in Lapchuricka, he had died in an explosion so immense nothing remained of him.

“It was written in my grandfather’s notes.”

Mr. Tocker, unbeknownst to Mary Ville, always wrote at night in the underground wheat storehouse. When Mary Ville realized that, she had frantically dug among the remains of Tockerbrot, and found his notes.

“It was a diary. Or rather, a collection of confessions. My grandfather was a former soldier.”

Haugen had declared neutrality in the Great European War, but the country had been engaged in war. Twenty years earlier, it participated in the Haugen Conflict, immediately before the outbreak of the Great War. It was a civil war between factions supporting Wiltia and factions supporting Wiltia’s enemy, Filbarneu. Fellow citizens had killed each other.

“My grandfather wrote how he had killed many people—not just enemy soldiers, but civilians too.”

The conflict had erupted over a disagreement about the best way to achieve the future peace of Haugen. War was waged for peace, with each side believing it was right, and they had killed each other.

“My grandfather was pro-Filbarneu. He believed the pro-Wiltians were traitors, so he didn’t hesitate to kill even noncombatants. He thought the more he killed, the better it would be for his mother country. But the violent internal strife continued, and after the war ended, what awaited was tragedy.”

“Did... something happen?”

“The pro-Wiltians attacked and destroyed his hometown much as he had attacked them. His wife and child and everyone else were all killed.”

“—?!”

“Then he realized that war is neither just nor unjust. It’s just a struggle between differing views of justice. And that kind of fighting doesn’t change anything.”

Oddly, what Mr. Tocker had intuited was an indication of Haugen’s future. The Haugen government declared neutrality and joined neither side. When the Great European War started, however, Haugen actually leaned toward Filbarneu, which had an advantage at the time.

However, the international community viewed Haugen’s imperfect neutrality as two-faced perfidy. By forming a tentative alliance, without receiving any significant aid, Haugen had made an enemy of Wiltia and was overrun. As the result of internal strife, and making enemies instead of allies, the land grew desolate and fell to ruin.

“I was a war orphan. Or rather, I was abandoned. I was abandoned soon after birth, so I don’t remember my parents’ faces.”

“And Mr. Tocker took you in and raised you like his grandchild?”

“Yes. I learned that from his notes.”

This was a hard truth for a girl whose town had been destroyed, causing her to lose her family and suffer physical and emotional scars that would never disappear.

“Perhaps your grandfather felt he was atoning.”

Mary Ville bore no responsibility. But the world around her had been falling apart. As an adult who had participated in the war, perhaps Mr. Tocker had wanted to save at least one soul.

“And on the first page of his notes, he had written, ‘I don’t think I’ll die a good death. So if there is someone who loves me, please do not hold a grudge.”

“And that’s... you?”

“Yes.”

That was the same thing Lud had said in court when answering Mary Ville’s questions.

“The same thing was written at the end. ‘That person is probably suffering and will continue to do so. So please do not hold a grudge.’”

“...............”

“My grandfather might have known who Lud really was.”

Lud had been a Wiltian special ops soldier who snuck into the city to work undercover in the guise of a baker’s apprentice. One day, Tocker Mehl must have realized that he would eventually come to harm through Lud’s actions, directly or indirectly. Nonetheless, he treated Lud like a regular boy. Perhaps Mr. Tocker saw that Lud considered him and Mary Ville like family, which Lud himself realized after losing them.

“That may be why he suggested not to hold a grudge. He believed Lud would regret what he had done and suffer for it someday.”

Until the very end, Tocker Mehl believed that Lud wasn’t beyond salvation and wouldn’t lose himself in a great cause, feeling no pain after harming, even killing others.

“So that’s why you helped Master.”

“I guess. I couldn’t continue my grudge against him for killing my grandfather when my grandfather himself had said not to hold a grudge. That’s all. And when I decided that, I realized something.”

She had realized what she told Dolly about achieving her goals through upright means.

“I didn’t know what I was doing. I knew if I did one thing, then something else would happen as a result, but... if I pressed Lud without any regard for appearances, I couldn’t hold my head high as my grandfather’s granddaughter. And that scared me more than anything.”

Mary Ville sat on a bench in a corner of the station and exhaled deeply. It wasn’t her breathing technique to regain composure. She just felt like she needed to expel something.

“Here... take this.”

Sven handed her the basket that was dangling from her hand the whole time.

“What’s this? Hm? Bread?”

Inside the basket was a bag containing fresh-baked bread.

“Master baked it. He didn’t have proper facilities, but he managed it with a frying pan.”

“Is this a marguerite?”

The bag held a rather large loaf of bread. Lud had divided the kneaded dough into many pieces, allowing primary and secondary fermentation, then baked it in the pan.

The individual pieces of dough rise, spreading in the frying pan and joining to form one flower-shaped constellation. The bread is called a marguerite because it resembles the flower of the same name.

“You know this type of bread?”

“Well, I am a baker’s granddaughter! So I know that much! Sometimes, even now, I bake bread myself.”

“You do?”

“It helps change my mood.”

Mary Ville wore three hats—lawyer, journalist and novelist—which exhausted her physically and mentally. One of her few ways to relax was kneading bread dough.

“When I knead the dough, it clears my mind.”

“Oh... uh-huh.”

“Is there anything wrong with that?”

“No. Master says the same thing sometimes.”

“Urgh...”

At Sven’s answer, Mary Ville looked unsettled.

“Why did that lunkhead give me this?!”

From her seat in court, Mary Ville had shouted, “Why would I eat that jerk’s bread?!”

She thought it was an insult to eat bread made by the man who had learned how to bake from her beloved grandfather and then killed him. But that was wrong. She had noticed Lud possessed a heart very like her deceased grandfather, so now she hadn’t refused to accept it.

“This bread is a marguerite made with rye. Our shop was known for it.”

As she noticed this, Mary Ville smiled slightly.

“............!”

Seeing her face, Sven made up her mind.

“Mary Ville! Come to Organbaelz! You can run the bakery with us!”

“Huh?!”

Mary Ville was dumbfounded by the sudden suggestion.

“At the moment, we’re dreadfully short on help, especially when it comes to bakers! Aside from Master, we only have one apprentice!”

“Hold on a second!! Sven?!”

“Not long ago, Master nearly collapsed from exhaustion! But when there’s a special request, like to help with a town festival, he accepts even if it means not sleeping! Worrying about him is driving me bonkers!”

“Wait! Just a moment... Wait!!”

Mary Ville had indeed grown up in a bakery, so she was able to bake bread under busy conditions. She might not be a professional baker, but she would be valuable because she knew the taste of Mr. Tocker’s bread, which was the basis for Lud’s baking. For that reason, she might be the exact resource Tockerbrot needed. However, she was confused by this offer from an opponent who had fiercely battled her until the other day.

“Why would I work at Lud’s shop?! You know what’s between us!”

“Yes, I know! And that’s why you should do it!”

“Hey... I...”

“You had feelings for Master, right?”

“—?!”

Mary Ville froze at Sven’s question. Which meant she was spot-on. Mary Ville was only a girl during those days in Lapchuricka, and she had developed a crush on Lud, who was still a boy. She had imagined a joyful future in which she and Lud ran the shop together.

“That was... a long time ago.”

Mumbling, Mary Ville tried to deny it, but Sven stayed on the attack.

“And you still love him, right?”

“...............!”

Turning beet red, sweating and trembling, Mary Ville was at a loss for words. She had argued and engaged in a fierce clash with Sven, but now she was speechless.

“I understand. After all, I’ve got it bad for him, too. That’s how I can sense the same thing in you.”

During the trial... No, even before, Sven had noticed. She had sensed a different light deep in Mary Ville’s eyes, which burned with intense anger and hatred. And it was the same as what she felt herself.

“At first, I didn’t understand. But finally I did. The human heart is complicated and easily breaks in two. It can love at the same time that it hates.”

That was a quality of the heart that she never thought of when she was a Hunter Unit. But that’s the way Sven’s heart was now. She wanted to bring home yet another rival—in addition to Sophia and Marlene—for the affections of her dearly beloved master Lud.

But that was what she felt compelled to do. She couldn’t just abandon Mary Ville. This woman loved the same man Sven loved and was confused by her own heart.

“.....................”

Mary Ville didn’t answer, but her silence said more than words.

“So come with us!”

Sven held out her hand. But Mary Ville didn’t take it.

“Thank you.”

Instead, she expressed her gratitude. When she raised her face, she was smiling with tears in her eyes that she had never shown before.

“But it’s out of the question.”

“Why?!”

“I told you. You’re right. I still love Lud.”

When she had learned he was still alive, Mary Ville had been angry, thinking, “He was a Wiltian soldier?!” Simultaneously, however, she had been happy.

“But I also hated him so much I couldn’t forgive him. If it hadn’t been for my grandfather’s words, I would have tried to destroy him!”

In court, she had meant it when she said she would plunge him into regret and humiliation. The human heart is complicated. Human beings are capable of hating and loving at the same time.

“I envy you for loving him properly.”

Mary Ville spoke with a sad smile, then rose to her feet. On the platform, a station attendant announced the imminent departure of the train to Alohz.

“Mary Ville... are you sure?”

“Of course not. That’s why I hate him.”

Mary Ville answered Sven’s question with her back turned. Perhaps what Mary Ville hated most about Lud was that he made her hate what she loved most. But she clasped the paper bag she had received from Sven to her chest—with the marguerite inside—as if it were important. That was all she could do.

“Then at least work at loving that dummy!”

Leaving those words behind her, Mary Ville boarded the train without looking back.

“..................”

Silently, Sven saw her off. She watched for a long time after the train moved forward, left the platform, and disappeared from sight.

Mary Ville stayed in her seat, without speaking, gazing out the window. For hours, without thinking anything, she just stared at the passing landscape.

A lot had happened. Over a few days, she had faced her past and confronted her own heart. And she remembered that she had smiled during her conversation with the silver-haired girl.

Before long, Lud will probably start smiling, too.

But it wouldn’t be the smile he had used to make the people of Lapchuricka let down their guard. It would be a joyous smile that celebrated being human.

It’s too bad...

She felt a slight regret. If she had gone to Organbaelz at Sven’s invitation... If she could have lived in that small town as a baker...... She would have been happy. She would have smiled more.

“Sheez... Why did I ever fall for a guy like that?”

Laughing wryly, she picked up the bread by her side.

The bread was a marguerite. It was given that name because it looked like the flower. In the language of flowers, it meant “secret love,” so no bread was more fitting for her at this moment.

“Hmf! Wouldn’t flowers have been more appropriate for a farewell?”

As she said this, she tore off a piece of bread corresponding to a petal and popped it in her mouth. The soft texture and the gentle sweetness of the wheat and rye spread through her mouth.

“Hey, this is pretty good!”

As Mary Ville murmured these words, the train crossed over a bridge. The sky was tinged with blue. It would soon be dawn.