Introduction

“Unexpected things happen in life.” This is a tired sentiment. Everyone knows it’s overused, but they say it anyway. Most likely, human beings said it one thousand years ago, and they probably will one thousand years from now. Perhaps the truth is always that way.

An old musician once left behind a masterpiece, saying, “Thus, fate knocks on the door!” However, in reality, fate is not so courteous. It doesn’t knock on the door even once. It comes suddenly—and in a rush. Indeed, just like two middle-aged men suddenly appearing out of the sky...

“Where... are we?”

“Oh my! What a...”

General Douglas Meitzer from the large nation of Noah, who claimed to be Sven’s father, had visited and then abruptly left... Mechanical soldiers had attacked... And Sophia and others came to the rescue... It all happened so quickly, literally turning Tockerbrot, a bakery in Organbaelz, into a war zone. Then still more visitors unexpectedly arrived.

“You’re... Daian!! B-But how?!” Sophia von Rundstadt, Lud’s former senior officer and a major in the Principality of Wiltia’s military, spoke with a voice that suggested she was having a particularly nasty daydream.

“Major Blitzdonner!! How?!” Rebecca Sharlahart was a humanoid Hunter Unit created at the Royal Weapons Development Bureau, just like Tockerbrot’s popular waitress Sven. She exclaimed with a voice that sounded like a nun witnessing God descending to Earth.

Daian Fortuner was a genius scientist known as the Sorcerer, and Blitzdonner was a Wiltian hero feared as the Crimson Hawk—and the two men had just materialized out of nowhere. They had been in some kind of danger but mysteriously escaped and landed in Organbaelz.

“Hmm... Interesting. I see... Hanussen’s transportation magic has produced a strange effect.” Daian feigned ignorance.

Hanussen, the Royal Magician, had performed magic, which transferred them to this location. The magic she used was real. Lud had experienced it on another occasion. She could bend dimensions and transfer objects to faraway places. If the objects weren’t human, there was no problem. But in the case of transferring people, their thoughts could influence the way the dimensions bent.

“I carelessly thought of Sophia, wherever she was, and that caused this miracle!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I’m gonna thrash you anyway!”

Daian was often told that Clown was a better nickname for him than Sorcerer. His words—offered with no explanation—only angered Sophia.

“What’s going on?” Sven was confused too.

A moment earlier, something happened that had rocked her very existence. Before she recovered from that shock, Daian—whom she hadn’t seen for a long time—suddenly appeared. Events were happening so quickly that even the extraordinary speed of a humanoid Hunter Unit couldn’t keep up.

“Ughhh...” That was also true for another humanoid Hunter Unit. “M-Major?! What are you doing here?! No, that doesn’t really matter! Waaaaah!”

Rebecca, who had red hair and eyes, and wore a red dress, was a cyborg too, with a mechanical body like Sven’s. She had once belonged to Blitzdonner, who now stood before her. While her dedication differed from that expressed by Daian about Sophia, Rebecca—usually cool and collected—was too confused to speak as she faced her master, whom she thought about when awake and asleep, from morning to night.

“Sharlahart... Why are you... Hey, where am I?”

“This... this is Organbaelz!” Despite her confusion, she answered her master’s question. But not without stuttering a little.

“Organbaelz, huh? Which means...” Blitzdonner’s confused eyes darted around. In addition to Rebecca, he saw Sophia throttling Daian, a stunned Sven and Lud, Hilde looking confused, Lillie rubbing her cheek against Hilde’s, and... “Jacob... is that you?”

And there was Jacob, an eleven-year-old boy.

“Huh...?” Jacob was confused. It was understandable. The man who had suddenly appeared, the man whose face he somehow recognized because it looked like the face he saw in the mirror every morning, was staring at him as if Jacob was his son.

“Jacob... That man is...” Rebecca sensed the uncomfortable atmosphere and was confused—in a different way than earlier—about what to do.

Jacob didn’t know much about his father. His mother, grandfather and his friend Lud knew about his father, but they didn’t tell him very much. Although mature for his age, Jacob was still a child, so no one had told him that his father was alive and was the ace pilot praised as the best in the principality’s military. Even Rebecca hadn’t told him.

“Um...”

“Could that man be...” Jacob directed his question at Rebecca. “Is he... my father?”

Jacob was an intelligent boy. Seeing the reactions around him... he had intuited the answer.

“Um... uh... It’s been awhile... Erm... What should I say?” Blitzdonner had once turned twelve Augustan autonomous tanks into scrap in three minutes, but now he couldn’t find any words to say to his son.

He knew about Jacob. Sometimes, he secretly came to watch Jacob and the boy’s mother—his former lover—from a distance. However, he never told them he was alive or spoke with them face-to-face. They were father and son, but Jacob had no recollection of ever meeting Blitzdonner.

“Um, uh...” Meeting his child for the first time, Blitzdonner didn’t know what to say. But his son’s reply was short.

“This can’t be!”

“What?!” His voice was calm. Or rather, it was disappointed. “What do you mean this can’t be?” Blitzdonner was stunned.

“Jacob...?” Rebecca was confused.

“No, this can’t be. No, no, no...” Jacob spoke lightly, but with a firm will, making an X with his arms in denial of reality. As he talked, he drew back.

“Lud?” Ignoring his father, who had frozen during this first meeting with his son, Jacob addressed Lud, his friend and the shop owner. “Sorry, but... I’m going home now. Let me know if anything comes up. I’ll help in any way I can.” As usual, his tone was casual. It was weird precisely because his behavior wasn’t unusual.

“Oh... all right.” Lud could only make a vague reply.

Then Jacob turned to Sven. “Sven, thanks for everything. Good work today.”

“Uh, yeah...” Sven couldn’t say anything either.

“See you later.” Then Jacob left, as if he had nothing more to say. And he walked out, without once looking at Blitzdonner, the father he had just met for the first time.

“.....................”

“M-Major...?” Rebecca spoke hesitantly to Blitzdonner, who stood unmoving. She had never seen him look this way.

“What did he mean this can’t be?!” The Crimson Hawk cried out and collapsed to the floor.

“Major!! Please, pull yourself together!!” The red girl tried desperately to cheer her master.

“Are you mocking me?!”

“Ah ha ha! Sophia, your love is so strong it hurts. In fact... I can’t breathe!” Daian was turning purple within Sophia’s clutches.

“I do not understand what is happening. Only one thing is certain in this world. Love.”

“Stop touching me, Lillie!” Nearby, Lillie was pulling Hilde into her obsession.

“Skwawk!” And, for no particular reason, the penguin was there, too.

“Jacob was the most decent person here, and he left.” Sven sighed as she surveyed the chaos.

This was the beginning of Tockerbrot’s Earthshaking Nine Days.