Prologue

When did I first meet her? I think it was soon after I assisted in the slaughter of Lapchuricka and was deemed unfit as a special operations soldier. The Hunter Unit division had been hastily organized and there weren’t enough people capable of handling the complicated new weapons, so they drummed up people like me.

Now that I think about it, Captain... or Sophia, may also have had an influence. It was hard for me to deal with people. I’m still not good at it, but I was even worse back then. Talking to people, looking at them or being looked at by them made me afraid in some way. I felt like a monster infiltrating a group of human beings and pretending to be human myself. I was scared of any contact with other people. Maybe that’s why encountering something that wasn’t human was a kind of salvation for me.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Warrant Officer Lud Langart.”

Assignments had been in numerical order, and I met her in the cockpit of the mass-produced weapon. She wasn’t human but she spoke human language. To her, I was no different than any other human being. When I realized that, it must have made me feel better, because I was suddenly a halfway decent partner in conversation.

“Nice to meet you. Starting today, you’re my partner, huh?” I was able to casually reply. I adjusted my seat, checked the location of levers and pedals, and started up the system. Lastly, I was told to choose a name for her.

I thought a moment. It wasn’t like naming a cat or a dog. I was naming a partner to whom I would be entrusting my life. I thought hard about the right name. And what came out was...

“Avei... How’s that?”

What does it mean? Oh, right. It’s from an old language and it means something like “hello” or “congratulations.” It’s a blessing.

Later, I thought it was a pretty ironic name. “Hello” as the name for a weapon rushing across the battlefield? “Congratulations” for a dangerous machine firing flame and overrunning the enemy position? A god of death would definitely identify itself with a better name. But that was the name I chose.

Perhaps it was a wish on my part. A wish that someday—in response to something or perhaps through a mistake—the blessing of a happy encounter would happen to this mechanical doll, despite carrying a monster like me.

That was how I met her. How I met Avei... and Sven.