Chapter 2: A Workplace Where Smiles Never Fade

0733 25.04.921—

The small bakery Tockerbrot was located in a corner of the mining town of Organbaelz. A short distance away, there was a repair shop, or a former repair shop. About a year ago, the owner retired due to health problems and took the shop’s sign down. Inside the shop, Rebecca woke up in a room used as both a workshop and residence.

“Huh...?” The sun was up. Judging from the light coming through the window, Rebecca guessed she had been asleep for five hours. She tried to remember the last thing that had happened to her.

She remembered trying to attack and overtake the man claiming to be Svelgen Avei’s father, but she had crashed to the ground before she could even launch a strike. The man hadn’t touched her arm, leg or any part of her body. Instead, it had been as if her body had simply rejected her commands.

Who was that man? He was like... No, more importantly...

A more immediate issue took precedence.

“Is this place...? It cannot be!!” Rebecca looked around the room. The room wasn’t large, and it looked as if it had been renovated from a storeroom. There was a bed, a desk and a chair. However, the furnishings were all somewhat undersized, as if for a small woman... No, for a child.

“Huh? Why...?” Rebecca usually spoke in tones so polite and formal they were almost robotic. Someone listening would think she had no emotions. It was rare for her to sound so openly confused.

“What?!” She was upset because she recognized the room and she knew who lived here. Why was she sleeping in a bed in his room?

“Oh, you woke up.”

Before she could determine the answer, the door of the room opened and a boy appeared. It was Jacob, the room’s occupant and the grandson of the former repair shop’s owner.

“Jacob?!” As soon as Rebecca saw his face, she exploded like a firecracker. “W-Why are you here?!”

“Because this is my room.”

“Y-Yes, that is correct, but...”

Rebecca recognized the room and the house. She had come all the way from Berun to observe Sven and the others for the past week. It was a tiring mission requiring the utmost secrecy, so she snuck into military transport airplanes to travel back and forth with the freight.

There was a reason she was taking the task so seriously. It was because of Jacob, who was standing before her.

“What’s the matter? Um... Your name is Rebecca, isn’t it?”

“Y-Yes...”

Jacob was the son of Blitzdonner, her master when she was an assistive AI in a Hunter Unit. Jacob was as important to her as her beloved master. To protect him, she had been secretly traveling back and forth between Organbaelz and Berun.

“H-How did I get here? Can you tell me?”

“Hm? Sven brought you. Want coffee?” As Jacob answered Rebecca’s question, he handed her a mug of coffee.

Four hours earlier, Meitzer had thoroughly defeated Rebecca. Sven didn’t know what she should do with Rebecca, who lay unconscious with a broken leg.

“I can’t just leave her like this.”

Even if Sven abandoned her, nothing would have happened to the humanoid Hunter Unit. Rebecca wouldn’t have died.

“Let’s see...”

Sven’s past self would have abandoned her, saying, “You’re useless!” The popular waitress was surprisingly cold to anyone other than Lud and the people he cared about. However...

“I kind of owe her.”

When Genitz stole Sven’s physical and mental power, Rebecca had helped her. Rebecca had her own reason for doing so, but Sven felt an obligation to her nonetheless.

“Umff!” Reluctantly, Sven lifted Rebecca and carried her somewhere safe.

She couldn’t take Rebecca to Tockerbrot. Meitzer was there and Rebecca’s presence would cause trouble for Lud. Sven needed someone who would shelter and take care of Rebecca without asking questions.

“There’s only one place.”

So Sven had headed to Jacob’s house.

Back in the present...

“Sven surprised me. She showed up before dawn and asked me to take you in for a while—no questions asked.”

“So that is how I got here...” After hearing Jacob’s account, Rebecca finally understood.

Indeed, this was the only place in Organbaelz capable of sheltering Rebecca.

“How embarrassing!”

Rebecca had vowed to protect Jacob before anyone else in the world. She couldn’t forgive herself for appearing so shamefully before him.

“It’s been awhile. The last time we met was during that mess in the royal capital, but you disappeared. I was a little sad I didn’t have a chance to say good-bye.” Jacob tried to cheer her up.

During the disturbance in the royal capital, Rebecca was seriously injured while fighting an enemy. Or rather, she suffered serious damage. Her arm was broken, and her face was wounded so anyone could tell at a glance that she was a machine. Since she couldn’t reveal what she was, she had left quickly, dragging her damaged body, without saying good-bye to Jacob and the others.

“About that, um... I am sorry for being rude.” Her tone was completely different from usual, and her face wore a truly heartfelt apologetic look that even Daian, who had given her rebirth in human form, had never seen.

“Oh, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just glad to see you again.”

“Guah?!” Rebecca let out an odd cry at Jacob’s bashful words. “Agh...” And she blushed all the way to her ears, turning redder than her dress, hair or eyes. “Aagh...”

Sven and Rebecca had both developed hearts from their powerful feelings for their masters, and both were humanoid Hunter Units in the form of human girls. However, their hearts had turned in slightly different directions.

“Uwaaah...”

To Rebecca, Blitzdonner was more like a father who had given her life, rather than a possible romantic interest. She hoped that someday he would lead a peaceful life with Jacob’s mother Charlotte. He had referred to her as his beloved since Rebecca was his assistive AI.

“Waaaaah...”

Rebecca believed it was her duty to protect Jacob, because he was necessary for her master’s happiness. However, as a result of watching over him, a change had occurred within her.

“Gwaaah...”

She felt strong, very strong, affection for Jacob, who closely resembled his father in appearance, but was sweeter.

“Um, Miss? Are you all right? Uh...”

The boy’s words disintegrated Rebecca’s composure. “Sorry, but you have... sort of... well, actually more than sort of... stolen my heart.”

And that confused him. “What do you mean?!”

The girl in red was happy to hear him express his joy at seeing her, but she was so happy that it took her mind away from her present circumstances.

“Why don’t you relax here for a while? After all, you’ve taken care of me a few times. All right?”

“Yes... all right.” Rebecca obediently agreed to Jacob’s suggestion.

She believed Jacob was now seducing her by asking her to stay.

Is this heaven?!

Rebecca was wrapped in a euphoria that she had never known before.

Usually, contact with the mission’s target of observation was forbidden, but that caution no longer existed for her. Luckily, Daian—who had sent her on this surveillance mission—had announced that he would be away from the royal capital for a while and disappeared. So Rebecca told herself that she could stay and enjoy some happiness here.

“I never expected to owe Svelgen in this way...”

“Did you say something?”

“Oh... nothing.” Rebecca deflected Jacob’s question as calmly as possible. Inside, however, she was rejoicing like spring in full bloom.

1024 25.04.921—

There are many kinds of bread. The different types vary by country, and in Wiltia, because of the serious national character, the bread was distinguished by the ratio of wheat to barley.

Greyten, the nation of gentlemen and tea, favored scones and crumpets, which went well with both. The people of Filbarneu, with its capital known as the City of Art, loved hard bread, such as batards and baguettes that made one’s jaw tired to chew.

Painting, music and literature are important in describing a nation’s culture. However, a country’s food, in which all human beings participate and which is closely connected to universal behavior, can represent a nation’s inner nature. Thus...

“Mmmmmph?!” The girl’s muffled cries were audible even in Tockerbrot’s oven room.

“Hang in there, Milly!!”

Milly, the apprentice at Tockerbrot Bakery, had collapsed, her eyes rolling. Lud, the owner of the shop, shook her.

“It’s no good! She couldn’t eat another bite!” Lud shook his head and gently laid Milly on the floor.

“Oh no... Did I do something wrong?”

“No, she always does this. It looks like she went over capacity.” Lud replied consolingly to Meitzer, who spoke apologetically.

Milly’s mouth was stuffed with appetizing, freshly-baked bread. The bread had an unusual shape. It was twisted into a conical spiral like the horn of a goat.

“We fed her too much. This... Let’s see... Is it a coronet?”

“No, a chocolate cornet.”

Meitzer, who claimed to be Sven’s father and was staying at Tockerbrot, was helping with the baking because he didn’t want to take advantage of their hospitality, and this resulted in Milly’s collapse.

“Well, I’m glad she likes the bread so much.”

It seemed unlikely that an amateur baker would be any help, but Meitzer claimed he had learned how to bake a long time ago. Then he began kneading dough with impressive skill, shaping it, baking it, and turning out bread impressive even to a professional baker like Lud.

It tasted wonderful. And Milly, with her large appetite, had tasted one after another until she fainted.

“Anyway, um... Meitzer? Where did you develop such skill at baking bread?”

Lud was also in the oven room tasting the bread and was surprised at the man’s workmanship. Meitzer had used the same ingredients that Lud used. So Lud knew Meitzer had considerable expertise as a baker.

“This isn’t an easily attainable skill.” Lud was impressed, because Meitzer’s bread might be better than even he was capable of producing.

“Well, I’ve got some years on you, and that counts for something!” Meitzer wasn’t boastful. Instead, he replied with a bright smile.

“And all the different bread you’ve made... I’ve never seen any of them. Which country are they from?”

Lud had learned to bake in Haugen, a nation between Wiltia and Filbarneu. Later, he studied in various countries around the continent of Europea. He was confident in his skills and knowledge, but he had never seen the bread Meitzer baked.

“This bread with jam inside is good. It’s more like a sweet than a bread.” Lud was holding jam bread. It contained homemade apricot jam sold at Tockerbrot. “And this one has custard cream. I’ve never eaten anything like it!”

Meitzer had baked with the same dough, but introduced different flavors by changing the filling. It wasn’t the first time Lud tasted bread baked with that method.

“They’re similar to the bean-jam buns!”

“Oh! Milly... you’re awake.”

Milly, who had fainted after eating Meitzer’s delicacies, had finally recovered.

“The same idea was likely behind those, too.”

One of Tockerbrot’s specialties was bean-jam buns. They consisted of dough around boiled sweet bean paste.

“Meitzer, have you ever been to Yamato?”

In his military days, Lud learned how to make bean-jam buns at a cultural exchange event with the allied nation of Yamato.

“A cook from Yamato who taught me how to bake bean-jam buns said the people of Yamato originally ate rice.”

Aesia was a different cultural region than Europea, and the people ate more rice than wheat. Along with the other nations of Aesia, in Yamato, rice was an indicator of economic prosperity and national strength. That’s how strongly the people were attached to rice.

“There’s rice in Europea too, but when it cools down, it doesn’t taste good. However, the people of Yamato adore rice and have improved the quality over time to create rice that’s tasty even when cold.”

For that reason, the people of Yamato preferred food called rice balls, which were made out of rice packed with salt. And they had created numerous variations by inserting different ingredients.

“Yes, I have. I picked up most of my skill in Yamato. Isn’t this bread interesting? The filling isn’t sandwiched between bread or spread on top. Instead, it’s wrapped inside. There are some foods like this in Europea, but the people of Yamato prefer this kind of bread.”

They were all bread, but the way they were baked and eaten demonstrated the cultural characteristics of the different nations.

“Yamato is a fascinating country. It develops rapidly by integrating foreign cultures with its own—which is clearly visible in this bread. The inclusion of jam and chocolate inside the bread creates new flavors.” Meitzer talked delightedly about the culture and thinking of the people of Yamato in the unique idea of wrapping bread around a filling.

“The bread I baked is a sweetbread. It was developed by the same baker who created the bean-jam buns you’re familiar with. Isn’t that interesting?”

Even though the continent of Europea was vast, few bakers made bean-jam buns, let alone related sweetbreads.

“Would you mind teaching me how to make them?” Without reservation, Lud asked Meitzer for instruction.

This was his artisan’s spirit. Usually, this referred to the closed-minded attitude of one who has specialized in and mastered a particular skill. However, Lud’s pride as a baker lay in ignoring his own pride so he could make better bread, even if just a little better, and thereby please the people who ate it. Thus, his pride was to abandon his pride.

“Of course! I’d be happy to! Nothing would please me more than for my experience to be useful to you!”

“Thank you!”

Meitzer laughed cheerfully at Lud’s gratitude. “You look after my daughter, so this barely begins to show my thankfulness.” He wasn’t just being polite. His face revealed that he was pleased from the bottom of his heart.

“By the way, Milly. Do you know where my daughter went?”

It was right before lunch, the shop’s busiest time. They could handle the shop without Sven for now, but Meitzer wondered why he hadn’t seen her.

“Huh? She delivers bread to the school and mine around this time.”

“I see...” Meitzer appeared to wonder at this and the smile disappeared from his mouth. “Oh well...” Then he grinned once more.

Lud hadn’t seen the change in Meitzer’s expression, and Milly didn’t notice.

Clang! Then, as if timed to that moment, the door of the shop opened. It was Sven, the very subject of their conversation.

“You! What are you doing?!” Usually, Sven maintained her smile as the popular waitress of Tockerbrot, but now her temples were twitching.

“What do you mean? I’m baking bread with Lud. This is a bakery, isn’t it?”

“You’ve got some nerve!”

When Meitzer answered with a smile, Sven grew angrier. The oven room at Tockerbrot was Lud’s sanctuary. Even Sven rarely went inside, so seeing Meitzer there agitated her.

“Sven, you should speak more respectfully to your father.”

“Don’t press your luck!” Sven glared with hostility at Meitzer and his lighthearted attitude.

What would happen if this mysterious person stayed at Tockerbrot? It would be best if Sven could keep an eye on him all the time, but she had many duties outside the bakery. She was in charge of delivering bread to the schools, city hall and mine cafeterias since Lud’s face scared the customers. She had no idea what Meitzer might do while she was gone.

He knows my identity, but if he uses that as an excuse to harm Master, I’ll lose everything!

He wasn’t just a mysterious man. He was a dangerous opponent who had easily incapacitated two humanoid Hunter Units.

“You don’t want him to know who you are, so you’d better keep quiet, right?” Meitzer spoke quietly so only Sven could hear.

“You...” Impatience, anger and frustration ignited inside Sven. She didn’t know what his plan was. However, she didn’t want to repeat what happened once before. Genitz had taken control of her body and mind and endangered Lud. She wanted at all costs to avoid that.

“I’m gonna kill you!” Sven spoke softly to Meitzer, but her voice filled with hate as she glared at him.

“What’s the matter, Sven?” Lud hadn’t heard their conversation, but he noticed the strange air between them.

“Huh? Um...”

“There seems to be some friction between you two.” Milly had also noticed the distance between them.

“Um...” Sven was flustered as Milly continued.

“You guys are quite similar.”

“What?!” Openly offended, Sven raised her voice.

It bothered Sven that the people around her thought she and Meitzer were alike. It wasn’t only Milly and Jacob. Over the last few days, everyone visiting the shop made the same comment after hearing Meitzer was Sven’s father.

“It’s such an unpleasant comment!” Sven couldn’t help but complain.

“I heard Sven’s dad is here? Oh, you two really look alike!” Just then, Marlene—the nun from the church atop the hill—opened the door and this was the first thing out of her mouth.

“You, too?!”

“Huh? What?!” Sven’s shout cowed Marlene.

“All of you just—arrrgh!” Sven was furious.

Usually, she acted reserved and a little distant, except toward Lud and his friends. She pretended to be the perfect girl, in part to keep up appearances. So by revealing her hostility toward Meitzer, Sven looked more like a young daughter being mean to her father. However, it wasn’t only that.

“What part of me resembles him? I can’t agree!”

“It isn’t your resemblance to each other so much as your spirit...”

“Enough with that vague answer!”

Sven could no longer hide her irritation at Marlene’s comment, but they were indeed similar. Their hair colors were different, but they had the same skin hue and they both had red eyes.

“How should I put it? You’re both kind of unfathomable.”

“Urgh!”

Marlene didn’t know what Sven really was. However, she knew Sven had once repelled terrorists invading Organbaelz while unarmed. It was unlikely a person of God living in a rural town would suspect the girl in front of her was a mechanical humanoid weapon.

“Think about it calmly. At the very least, you’re not an ordinary girl, right?”

“Well... I guess I’m not.”

Marlene didn’t ask Sven for details about her past because Marlene herself had been through a lot. She understood that everyone has things in their past they don’t want to discuss.

“That man is more than just handsome. And if someone told me he’s your father, I could see it.”

“Did you just say I’m handsome? Having such a pretty nun praise me is very pleasing!”

Sven openly showed irritation at Meitzer when he joined the conversation. “Hey, you! Stay out of this!”

“That’s not how you should address me, is it? Call me Dad!!”

“Never!”

“Or Papa.”

“Never, ever!!!” Sven yelled, with her eyes shooting daggers at the grinning Meitzer.

“...............”

“...............”

“...............”

Lud, Milly and Marlene watched their exchange in silence.

“Oh...” Sven noticed and hurried to correct her behavior. “S-See? We’re not like father and daughter at all, are we? A daughter wouldn’t behave like this toward her father!”

Sven didn’t want people to think she and Meitzer were alike, so she was desperate to insist that, while they may be father and daughter, they weren’t similar. However, the reply she received back wasn’t what she expected.

“You two are very much like a father and daughter.” Marlene answered seriously, neither joking nor teasing.

“How so?!”

“I mean, that’s exactly the way a parent and child behave!”

“Huh?!” Sven was at a complete loss. She didn’t have parents, so she didn’t understand relationships between parents and their children.

“When children grow up, their parents irritate them. I see it all the time. A child is usually calm, but when his parents show up in front of his friends, he treats them thoughtlessly.”

“No. This is...” Sven wanted to say this was different, but she couldn’t get the words out.

She was usually better at handling things like this. Typically, she wouldn’t have been so obvious. She would have behaved more like a daughter so Lud and the others wouldn’t become suspicious. But this time she couldn’t. She didn’t even feel like trying, and she couldn’t stop herself from venting her feelings. Lud was the only person with whom she would normally behave like this.

“That can’t be!!”

“Wow! You surprised me!!” Marlene flinched when Sven suddenly shouted.

Lud was more important to Sven than her own life. There was no one else to whom she would show her honest feelings—although in Meitzer’s case, she was showing hate not affection. Sven didn’t think there would ever be another such person for her.

“There, there... Calm down.”

“Don’t you tell me that!”

Meitzer tried to calm Sven down, but she yelled at him.

“You shouldn’t be so emotional.”

“I said don’t talk to me!”

“I mean, there are many different kinds of people in the world.”

“What?!”

Meitzer indicated Lud and the others with his gaze. Lud and Milly were smiling wistfully.

“What a touching parental scene...”

“Yeah...”

“Oh...” Sven finally understood. Lud and Milly didn’t have parents. They had lost both their fathers and mothers during the recent Great War.

“Uh, let’s see... Um...” Even quarreling and fighting with a parent was something they missed and longed for. Realizing that, Sven didn’t know how to reply and felt uncomfortable.

“You should show a little more consideration for those around you, no?”

“Argh!”

Meitzer had apparently guessed Lud’s and Milly’s history from snippets of conversation and from their reactions. Sven could only make a frustrated sound after he chided her.

“Sven, I understand how you feel, but you should treasure your father.”

“That’s right. Try to get along with your father.” Both Lud and Milly spoke gently, and Sven had nothing to say in reply.

“Urgh...” In agony, Sven held her head. She was in such a predicament that everything else—even the issue of Meitzer’s identity and purpose here, and how long this confusing situation would last—felt unimportant.

1147 26.04.921—

Meanwhile, a welcoming ceremony for General Douglas was taking place in Berun, the royal capital.

“Skwawk?”

The mayor of Berun had given a speech extolling good will between Wiltia and Noa.

“Skwawk?”

The Wiltian military band played their respective national anthems, and Hilde sang a song in praise of their friendly relations before a crowd of important politicians from parliament and top military brass.

“Skwaw-wawk?”

Then the flags of the two allies were hoisted to great applause.

“Skwawk...”

And General Douglas, the penguin, grew bored and wandered around the stage waving his flippers the whole time.

“My stomach hurts!!” During a break, Sophia crouched in the guard unit office.

“Major Rundstadt?!” Hilde ran over when she saw that Sophia was seriously in pain.

“The way those big shots from the military and the government are looking at me actually hurts!!”

On the whole, Wiltians were serious and hardworking. Once they decided on a program and the necessary decorum, they would see that through to the end. Even though their guest was a penguin, it should be treated as an honored visitor, so they would behave accordingly. Therefore, they were all very serious in front of the penguin. They were busy and important people. But, their accusatory looks, directed squarely at Sophia, said, “Why must we go along with this charade?”

“But it isn’t my fault!” This woman with an iron will now had tears in her eyes.

Sophia was only in charge of the guards for the ceremony. However, the person present is the one who takes the blame.

“What is Noa thinking? Are they making fun of Wiltia?” Hilde spoke angrily.

Her comment was understandable. She had been told a high-ranking military official would visit, only to have a penguin appear. However...

“It’s not quite what you think.” Sophia held her painful stomach and stopped Hilde.

“What?”

“This often happens.” Munching on a pretzel, Lillie spoke in a relaxed manner to Hilde, who wore a puzzled look.

“What do you mean, Lillie?”

“The military often uses animals as mascots.”

They were called military animals. Animals played important roles in the military. Carrier pigeons were a means of communication, and military dogs, with their excellent sense of smell, searched for buried land mines. And there were certain roles only animals could play. One example of that was providing comfort.

“I’ve heard the Greyten Empire keeps a goat and August keeps a bear.”

“Seriously?” Hilde looked incredulous at Lillie’s story. It was hard to imagine animals healing frightened soldiers.

“Wiltia has the same custom.” Sophia joined the conversation.

“Many soldiers on our navy’s battleships bring cats, because there’s an old legend that a ship won’t sink with a cat on board.”

Of course, they didn’t really believe that legend. However, military service was a job that could mean death tomorrow. Any small charm could help encourage and bring peace of mind.

“Perhaps General Douglas serves such a purpose.”

“But would they still call the penguin a general? That’s misleading!”

Hilde understood about keeping animals in the military. However, she thought such a confusing nickname was unnecessary.

Lillie interrupted again. “That doesn’t seem to be the case. General isn’t a nickname. It’s an official title.”

“No way!!” Hilde was still a student, but she was also a former member of the Schutzstaffel.

She had been a first lieutenant. Considering her age, it was an impressive rank. However, a general—even a brigadier general, the lowest type of general—was eight ranks higher than a first lieutenant.

“Am I supposed to salute that thing?!” Hilde was confused by this surprising fact.

“I’ve heard the Noa military keeps penguins as their mascots, and their rank is hereditary.”

“What the heck?”

Normally, of course, military rank didn’t extend beyond one generation. But they were dealing with penguins.

“The mascot is promoted with every celebratory occasion, and replaced by successors, so the mascot advances quickly. It’s officially listed among the generals of Noa’s military.”

“Gimme a break...”

So the officials of Noa weren’t lying. However, they should have mentioned it from the beginning. No one would think to ask, “Is the visiting general a human being?” Such a question would cause problems.

“Then maybe Noa isn’t very well-disposed toward Wiltia?” Hilde sighed as she asked.

“Um...” Sophia looked troubled and folded her arms. She was unable to answer Hilde’s question.

“Considering the current international situation, in which the three nations of Wiltia, August and Noa control the world, if Noa sees Wiltia as an enemy, it’s not good.”

If Wiltia flew into a rage and claimed Noa was ridiculing it by sending a penguin, it would look as if Wiltia had misunderstood and overreacted.

“It was once said that an essential element of foreign diplomacy is to alienate one’s opponent. I’m afraid that’s a possibility.” Sophia sighed. She was a soldier, not a diplomat. This kind of maneuvering was outside her field.

“Um, I don’t think that was their intention.” Lillie interrupted for a third time. “It seems they have their own difficulties. He was happy that the Wiltian people organized a welcoming ceremony.”

“What?”

General Douglas had not come alone. Attendants had accompanied him. They all looked pale, were palpably tense, and barely spoke.

“Who said that?”

“He did.”

“Who’s ‘he’?!”

“C’mon! C’mere, boy!” Lillie called it out from its hiding place to stand in front of the dubious Hilde.

“What?!” Hilde’s face froze when she saw who it was.

“What?!” Sophia looked astonished.

“Skwawk!” It was General Douglas—the penguin.

“Did you not think Hilde’s singing was simply wonderful?”

“Skwawk!” General Douglas answered Lillie’s question happily.

“See? He is saying— Ouuuch!’”

“What’re you doing?!” Trying hard not to faint at the bizarre situation, Hilde gripped Lillie’s collar. “Where did you get him? How? Why?!”

It was a penguin, but it was also an important national guest. If anything should happen to it, it would become a serious international problem.

“Uaaagh?!” This sudden development had Sophia ready to pass out herself.

“Major Rundstadt, pull yourself together! Lillie, what have you done?” Hilde spoke tearfully while clasping Sophia, who was practically frothing at the mouth.

“I often have no idea what you’re thinking, but this is crazy, even for you!” Hilde usually thought of Lillie as a valuable friend. “The authorities won’t consider this to be a mere prank! What should we do?!”

She wanted to rescue Lillie, who had really messed up. Hilde wondered how and to whom she should apologize to settle this quietly, but she couldn’t think of a good solution.

“Um... What is the matter, Hilde?”

“You...”

Showing no concern at all for Hilde’s struggle, Lillie asked as if suggesting Hilde was the crazy one for being so upset.

“So...”

“He wants you to save him.”

“What?!” Hilde was about to yell at Lillie, but the girl’s words stopped her. “Save? What’re you talking about?”

Hilde noticed that Lillie’s tone was unusual, awakening a certain suspicion, and she couldn’t believe Lillie would say such a thing. “It sounds like... I mean... like you understand him!”

Lillie was an unusual girl, but Hilde didn’t think she was that strange. But, in a sense, Hilde almost wished she were.

“Yes. I understand what General Douglas is saying.”

“Rgraaaaaaaaargh!!!”

There are many kinds of people in the world. And personalities and ways of thinking differ by age.

“Hey, is your friend... a little... that way?” Sophia asked. She had recovered.

“No, I don’t think so, but...” Hilde answered vaguely.

“It’s common. Hearing flowers talk or having the ability to communicate with animals... I had an acquaintance like that when I was in the military academy.”

“Some people try to make themselves unique that way.”

“Yeah. After a while, they claim they can hear spirits.”

“And then they say they can hear God.”

“Well, that’s another story.”

Their backs turned to Lillie, they were whispering to each other loudly enough that Lillie could still hear.

“Are you treating me like some kind of weirdo?” Lillie spoke with frustration. “You have me all wrong. Right now, he is saying I can understand him.”

“What do you mean you can understand? What’s it saying?” Hilde asked. She was stunned.

“Is it saying it loves you and wants to be friends?”

“No!” Lillie answered Hilde, who seemed to be getting tired of defending herself.

“He said, ‘Help, they’re going to kill me.’”

“What?” Hilde froze at the menacing words.

“Skwawk...” And General Douglas, who had been quiet, now made a pained cry.

“Let’s see... He said his flock... No, his attendants were all killed, so he wants help.”

“Hey, are you serious?”

Lillie’s voice held no tension. It sounded as if she spoke the truth. Lillie was indeed unusual, but she would never joke about someone’s death, and especially not to Hilde. Hilde would hate that. And Lillie never did anything that would anger Hilde.

“Wait, Hildegard.” Sophia stopped Hilde, who was confused.

Sophia no longer looked troubled and she wasn’t holding her stomach in pain. Her eyes were those of a soldier who had been through Hell in the last war.

“Look at General Douglas’s feet.”

There was something red on the penguin’s webbed feet.

“That’s...” Hilde fearfully reached for General Douglas. Examining the back of his flippers, she found blood.

“On the way back from buying a pretzel, I found him alone, walking slowly along the hallway. Then I looked through the door and everyone inside was dead.” Lillie related this tragedy matter-of-factly.

“Then...”

“You...”

Hilde and Sophia yelled at Lillie at the same time. “Then you should have said so sooner!!”

Someone had snuck into the welcome reception and, in an effort to destroy relations between Wiltia and Noa, tried to assassinate General Douglas. That was the situation they now faced.

1117 26.04.921—

The small nation of Haradin was at the far eastern edge of the continent of Europea. This was where Daian and his companions were going.

“Fianna, did you know animals can communicate with each other?”

“What are you talking about?”

After finishing their journey by Said Express, they transferred to several local railroads. Now, in the car heading to their destination, Daian suddenly brought up something completely unrelated.

“Of course, they’re incapable of anything as complicated as human speech, but they can express a certain amount of information, like the appearance of a predator, an attack on the herd, a cry for help, and so on.”

“Oh, uh-huh.” Fianna replied vaguely as if she couldn’t care less, but Daian continued.

Daian wasn’t concerned about the reaction of his audience. He talked because he wanted to. “And it’s not just large animals. It can be observed in cats and rats and other small animals. Even birds have a brain of corresponding size, so possibly birds too.”

“Mm-hmm...” Fianna was checking her manicure, but Daian still wouldn’t stop.

“With a certain amount of audio data, you can compare the sounds to roughly determine what the animals are saying.”

“So did you make a device for speaking with animals?” Fianna responded as if dealing with a child’s chattering.

“Yes. Some time ago. It was surprisingly compact, and I installed it in the unit that was helping me at the time.”

About 10 percent of what Daian did was truly important, while the remaining 90 percent was of no significance. Therefore, even this event he described had no meaning. What it caused or revealed wasn’t important.

“So why are you telling me?”

“Oh... no particular reason.”

The reason, if he gave it, would have been just because it crossed his mind.

“Tch! You brainy types are so full of lofty conversations!” Blitzdonner spoke sarcastically from the passenger seat. “It won’t be long before we arrive you-know-where.”

“You-know-where” was the secret base Genitz had established deep in the countryside of Haradin. Calling it a secret base sounded hackneyed and childish, but it was the only label that fit.

Haradin appeared to be an independent nation, but it was actually a satellite state of the August Federation. To be precise, it was a puppet state. Because it shared a border with a nation Wiltia had colonized, August established it as a buffer zone. For appearances’ sake, it engaged in limited international relations with Wiltia. By going through the appropriate channels, Daian and the other two might have entered the nation legally.

“Genitz was being extremely careful to create a base here.”

It was a remote area, two hours by car from the nearest town with a train stop. It was separated from surrounding villages, each with a very small population. It was the type of place where you were more likely to see foxes than people.

“How did you find information about it, Mr. Crimson Hawk?”

“Stop calling me that.” Blitzdonner responded to Fianna’s question with an irritated face.

“Not long ago, I caught a small-time political agitator at a certain officer’s school.”

He was referring to an attempted armed uprising by extremists known as the Peace Faith at Dangoltinoza Military Academy, which Hilde had attended.

“I retrieved one name after another from the guy I nabbed there, and one had connections to August and he coughed it all up.”

After his capture, he spilled everything through a plea bargain in the hopes of avoiding charges. And he revealed that the recently departed Genitz had been secretly dealing with August.

“Oh. What a dunce.” Fianna sounded as if she found it utterly ridiculous.

“Well, I suppose he does sound that way to you.”

Fianna and Daian had strong egos and saw the nation as nothing but a means to their own goals, so it was unfathomable to them a person would feel the need to prove one’s worth by relying on ideology.

“I’m telling you, what we’re doing is basically illegal entry. As far as any documentation is concerned, you aren’t even here.”

Wiltia’s genius scientist and Noa’s greatest mind. If they tried to enter through legitimate methods, August would immediately hear of it. So they forged passports to enter.

“Apuvea doesn’t have many operatives here, but it does have a few.”

Blitzdonner was implying they should be more alert, since he may not be able to protect them if worse came to worse.

“Aren’t there any Augustan soldiers at the secret base?” Daian asked.

That place must be important so it was hard to imagine August would simply let it go unprotected.

“Well, about that...” Blitzdonner’s face clouded faintly. “According to intelligence agents, the soldiers on site disappeared after the rebellion.”

The three were going to see a “Door,” which contained the heritage of the ancient Europea Empire that fell to ruin a millennium ago. That empire had possessed incredible technology unthinkable today. That heritage was sealed beyond Doors positioned in various places around the continent of Europea.

The treasures to be gained from opening just one Door were inestimable. In fact, behind one Door, Wiltia had found the means to create a new weapon—the Hunter Units—that outstripped all existing knowledge and allowed Wiltia to be victorious in the Great War.

“It seems Augustan soldiers and researchers were analyzing the Door before they disappeared about six months ago.”

As if they had departed in a hurry, equipment and materials were still lying around.

“Six months ago... That would be exactly when the rebellion was being subdued.” As Daian spoke, he looked out the car window.

“Aw... I suppose they learned of Genitz’s failure and cleared out in a panic before the fire could reach them.”

And that indicated something. If August had been carrying out secret deals at the national level, it wouldn’t simply abandon the Door. On the contrary, it would have dispatched reinforcements and desperately defended it.

“In other words, this matter was carried out without the full approval of the higher-ups. Or, to be more precise, the Soviet Six.”

The Soviet Six was August’s highest decision-making body.

“So one of them did it unilaterally? In that case...” Daian didn’t say any more, but the other two understood what he wanted to say.

Top officials in August were largely unaware of the matter. They may even be in a state of confusion. If that was true, then...

“Now is our chance.”

The heritage asleep beyond the Door was powerful enough to change the current state of world affairs. And even if nothing was inside, it would still appear that they had obtained a new power—which itself could serve as a new deterrent. If they could open the Door and investigate what was inside before August returned, Wiltia would be able to walk away with the rewards this time.

“I wonder how this’ll turn out?” Just as Daian was muttering, the car, which had been bouncing along the rough road, finally reached its destination.