Chapter 1: A First Day of Mismatched Feelings

Tockerbrot had been damaged many times. Since Sven had come to the shop, windows had been shattered, there was a shootout, ruffians had barged in, and—to top it off—the shop had been totaled in a fire. Each time, the shop was rebuilt, remodeled, extended, and returned to life. In a way, the bakery was indestructible.

“Well now...” It was nighttime. Sven was mumbling in the dark as she surveyed the half-demolished shop.

Tockerbrot was in horrible shape, with toppled walls and a collapsed roof after the sudden attack by mechanical soldiers. This was better than the last time, at least. Only the sales space was destroyed. The oven room in the back of the shop remained mostly undamaged.

The repairs themselves won’t be that hard.

A bakery’s oven room is designed with the utmost care. When baking bread, a baker ferments the yeast, allows the dough to rise, and bakes it in the oven. To that end, the baker needs the right structure and environment for fermentation, and an oven suited to baking. And the baker’s careful adjustments are necessary to maintain that environment.

In contrast, the main role of the sales space was to be the shop’s public face. It could be repaired in the same way as fixing a private residence. Even a tent can provide protection from rain and wind.

“I’ll have to summon the carpenters.” It was late, so there was nothing Sven could do about the shop today. “Well...” Besides, she had another problem to solve.

“... sob... sob...” A man was crouched and sobbing in the corner of the half-destroyed shop.

“Excuse me. Would you mind getting out of here?” Sven spoke to Blitzdonner, the crying man, with a look of exasperation.

His son Jacob had rejected him and walked out, and he hadn’t moved from that spot since.

“What are you saying, Svelgen Avei?! How can you talk to the major in his sorrow like that?!” Blitzdonner wasn’t alone. Rebecca had stayed to console him, and now sounded accusatory.

“But he’s in the way. I hate to point it out, but it was actually considerate of me to leave him alone until now.”

Sven had dealt with the people who came to the shop after hearing the fighting and explosion, and she managed them without any difficulty. Blitzdonner had been weeping behind her the whole time, and it was quite... No, it was greatly annoying.

“You’re cruel, Svelgen! Are you cold-blooded?!”

“My blood is just like yours. I don’t have any,” Sven replied calmly to Rebecca’s accusation.

Sven and Rebecca were humanoid Hunter Units. They reproduced movement that closely resembled human musculature by storing enormous electricity generated by a rezanium reactor—the power source in their chests—in a condenser and delivering it through power conduits to fluid pulse mechanisms. If the simulacrum of bodily fluid flowing through those mechanisms was blood, then their blood was white.

“The major just talked to his son for the first time, and the boy’s cold treatment traumatized him!”

“Yeah, but...”

Rebecca was usually calm, but she lost control when it came to Blitzdonner and his son Jacob. Sven was the same way about Lud.

Blitzdonner and Lud had given Rebecca and Sven their “hearts.”

Argh! I sort of understand how she feels, but...

Sven recognized Rebecca’s feelings about Blitzdonner, as well as the man’s sadness. However, Sven wasn’t in any condition to worry about others.

“What should I do?”

During the recent battle, Lud finally found out the truth. He discovered that Sven wasn’t human.

When I think about it with a clear head, it’s actually strange he didn’t figure it out before.

Sven’s external appearance was that of a good-looking girl, slender and elegant. If she had lied and said, “I’ve never carried anything heavier than a rose,” people would believe her. She was a beauty with a fragile appearance. But, despite that appearance, what had she been up to?

I’ve been kicking butt—wiping out terrorists, trashing tanks and trouncing mechanical soldiers.

She had achieved a combat record unthinkable—not just for a normal girl, but for a highly trained veteran. Nonetheless, Lud had never asked if she was human.

Master probably noticed a long time ago but didn’t ask. For my sake, he pretended not to notice.

Instead of forcing her to answer, he waited for her to offer the information herself. He assumed she hadn’t told him for a reason, so he pretended not to notice.

The captain is that kind of person.

Sven knew Lud was such a man. And she realized she was overly dependent upon his kindness. She wondered, however, if that was the only reason.

Perhaps I was...

She recognized that the feeling was irrational.

No, that can’t be... It’s too illogical.

She immediately shook her head and dismissed the idea. It was out of the question.

Anyway, Master will be back soon.

There were unexpected visitors in and out of Tockerbrot. The mysterious Meitzer, who claimed to be Sven’s father, had left. And Jacob had gone home. Sophia said she would stay in town for a while to finish cleaning matters up before reporting to a nearby Wiltian military base. Hilde, Lillie, and the penguin—who was still around for some reason—were to stay at Marlene’s church atop the hill. But Daian’s presence was unsettling.

Sven had almost forgotten she was a prototype that escaped from the Royal Weapons Development Bureau, of which Daian was director. Daian had seen her with his own eyes, but left without saying anything. And he hadn’t returned to Berun, the royal capital. He said he would stay awhile at a nearby hotel.

I have no idea what he’s thinking...

Some people said that only a crazy person could fathom the mind of Daian Fortuner. His thoughts were that mysterious. Even the humanoid Hunter Units Sven and Rebecca had given up trying to guess what filled that man’s head.

Lud was giving Daian and Sophia a ride in the shop truck.

“.....................”

What should Sven say when he came back? She had no idea what expression to make, or what to say. She was unsure and afraid. She was frightened of facing the person she most wanted to see.

“—!”

Just then, almost as if sensing her trepidation, the door of the shop opened. The cowbell over the door clanged. Without turning around, Sven knew who was standing there. And that wasn’t because of her sensors as a humanoid Hunter Unit. She could feel his presence even without sensors.

“I’m back, Sven.” Lud’s voice came from behind her.

“W-Welcome back...” Sven squeezed words out somehow, but she didn’t have the courage to turn around. She had appointed herself Lud’s faithful servant, and had said, from the bottom of her heart, that she wouldn’t hesitate to die for him. But today was the first time she was rude and didn’t face her master.

“Oh, Major! You’re still here?” Lud didn’t seem to mind. Instead, he turned in surprise to Blitzdonner, who remained crouching on the floor. Lud had retired from the military, but its customs had stayed with him. He spoke politely to Blitzdonner, who was a senior officer. “I thought you left, Sir.”

“What?! Former Captain Langart!! Are you treating the major like a nuisance, too?!” Rebecca raged at Lud, her eyes blazing.

Lud had spoken with Rebecca before. During Genitz’s rebellion, they engaged in a joint operation.

“N-No, I didn’t mean it that way...” Nonetheless, he had never seen Rebecca so emotional. He was dismayed and wanted to help. “Um, I don’t know anything about your circumstances, but do you have a place to stay tonight?”

Blitzdonner’s only relatives in Organbaelz were Charlotte and Jacob. It was common knowledge they were his wife and son. However, Jacob had rebuffed him, so how could he go to them now? There was no way he could.

“Please stay with us. You can use my room.” Lud understood the situation and offered his quarters.

“You don’t mind, Captain Langart?” Blitzdonner asked with a voice that now wasn’t weepy.

“I’m a former captain. Anyway, I don’t mind. We’ve never met before, but your son has been good to me. I can sleep in another room tonight.”

Lud hadn’t offered his private room to the senior officer because he had once been a soldier. He did it because Blitzdonner was his friend’s father. Lud conveyed his purpose clearly.

“I appreciate your kindness, Mr. Langart.” Blitzdonner understood and switched from rank-based military etiquette to civilian manners.

“Well, I should retire to my room now. Oh...” Lud looked at Sven again.

“—?!” Sven was silent as her shoulders shook.

“Good work today, Sven. Will you show the major to my room? See you later.” Lud spoke in his usual tone as if nothing had happened. Then he disappeared into the back of the shop.

“.....................”

So in the end he didn’t say anything?!

As expected, Lud didn’t ask Sven anything.

Does this mean he’s going to keep pretending he didn’t notice?

Debris had pierced Sven’s chest, but not a single drop of blood had flowed from where her heart should be. Even after she revealed her mechanical body before his eyes, Lud said nothing about it.

Hmm...

She didn’t know what to say to him. Sven’s feelings—sadness, relief, frustration and regret—were all mixing together and staining her heart an unidentifiable color.

“Svelgen...” Rebecca spoke to Sven.

“Hm?” Sven thought Rebecca sensed her complicated feelings and was about to offer kind words, but...

“Can I sleep in your room tonight?”

“What?!”

Instead, Rebecca made an unexpected request.

“The shop’s living space has another room in addition to the former captain’s bedroom and your bedroom, right?”

Due to repeated extension and reconstruction, Tockerbrot wasn’t as small as it had once been. The oven room and storeroom for flour and other supplies occupied half the area. Most of the remainder was used as sales space, leaving only Lud’s room, Sven’s room in the attic, and a small room barely big enough for someone to lie down. That space served as an office and break room.

Since Lud would sleep in the break room, that only left Lud’s room, where Blitzdonner would sleep that night, and Sven’s room in the attic.

“Spending the night with the major in the same room... I’d go bonkers!! While I hate to ask, can I sleep in your room? I’ll crash on the floor!” Rebecca’s hair, eyes and dress were all red, and now her face and ears turned red, too.

Humanoid Hunter Units didn’t sleep in the usual sense. They entered a standby state for a few hours each day to perform self-maintenance.

“Ugh... Just do what you want!” Sven’s shoulders slumped as she faced Rebecca. The fellow Hunter Unit didn’t know how Sven felt. She was focused on her own concerns.

Meanwhile, in the neighboring town of Saupunkt...

Saupunkt was actually more of a city than a town. It had a station for a long-distance train, a well-developed commercial economy, and a sizable population. Consequently, it had luxurious hotels far outclassing anything in Organbaelz.

“Still, this is nothing like a top-quality hotel in Berun, the royal capital.”

Daian and Sophia were in an elegant guest room.

“Don’t ask for too much. All a hotel needs is a roof, walls, beds and a shower. That’s good enough.” Sophia responded to Daian with irritation.

“This is why we should have made use of the military barracks.”

Before coming here, Sophia and Daian visited Traad military base near Organbaelz.

The military was a hierarchical society. When soldiers from the royal capital in central Wiltia conducted operations in an area under eastern military control, they had to provide advance notice. Sophia had skipped that formality this time because it had been an emergency, but she still needed to visit the base to report after the fact. Fortunately, the commander at Traad military base, Colonel Bardenbelger, was a reasonable person. Instead of accusing Sophia, he praised her work and offered lodging at the base that was ordinarily for generals.

“But you got greedy and said you wanted to stay at a hotel!!”

Sophia wasn’t merely angry at Daian for turning down the base commander’s generosity. Daian belonged to the military, although it was only for the sake of form. The cost of this lodging was coming out of the military budget. And the military budget came out of the nation’s budget—in other words, from taxes.

“Do you think the common folk enjoy paying high taxes?!”

Directness, sincerity and thrift were Wiltian characteristics. For Sophia, who came from a Wiltian warrior family that stretched back generations, the waste was unforgivable.

“It was necessary! The enemy could be hiding anywhere!”

“Urgh!”

Daian spoke frightening words, but with his usual unworried expression.

“What the heck happened to you anyway?!”

It was exceedingly strange how Daian and Blitzdonner had suddenly popped out of thin air. But if anyone could find a way, he could. The question was why he had resorted to such means to come to Organbaelz.

“My arrival wasn’t exactly intentional. I’ll skip the details, but it was like I was pulled to the people I’m connected to.”

Blitzdonner’s son Jacob was there. Daian himself had created the humanoid Hunter Units Sven, Rebecca and Lillie. If all of them were there through happenstance, then it was not a coincidence that Daian was drawn to their location.

“We encountered someone truly frightening and barely escaped.”

Daian and Blitzdonner had gone to study a “Door,” the relic of an ancient empire hidden in an Augustan satellite nation. A mysterious woman calling herself the Saint appeared. She was ruling August from behind the scenes. The Wiltian intelligence agency Apuvea had organized the research of the Door, and it had proceeded in the utmost secrecy. Nonetheless, the Saint had been manipulating it all. August’s... No, the Saint’s operatives were even inside Apuvea.

“We don’t know who is friend or foe, Sophia. I know you’re my friend, but...”

There was a chance of encountering enemies even at Traad military base. A hotel in town, where many people—and many witnesses—would be passing by, was safer than the military base, which was isolated, thereby preventing detection if something happened.

“Hey...”

For a variety of reasons, Sophia often yelled at Daian, but now his face looked unusual. The man who customarily played the clown, even when his life was in danger, had lost his smile.

“Um, are you okay? Is there anything I can do?”

Sophia seemed stern, but she was actually exceptionally warmhearted. Even though she ordinarily was harsh toward Daian, he looked so downcast that she had to change her attitude.

“Sorry, Sophia. There are things I can tell you—as well as things I can’t.”

“Argh!”

She couldn’t press him any further. After all, she was a soldier. When the military was involved, many facts were subject to secrecy.

“But... I guess as long as I only talk about my private experiences, no one can complain!” The Sorcerer once again wore his smile. “And since it’s in response to a request from my dear Sophia, I gotta answer, right?”

Daian was trying to behave as usual. Seeing that, Sophia couldn’t yell at him the way she usually would.

“No, you don’t have to tell me.”

“Huh?” Daian looked deflated at Sophia’s reply.

“For some reason, I don’t want to make you talk.”

Daian was probably going to place his trust in Sophia and reveal a military secret. But he would do it reluctantly because, in his words, it was in response to a request from his “dear Sophia.” Sophia didn’t like that.

“I don’t want to persuade or force you to tell me because you like me.”

Sophia wouldn’t even appear to prey on another’s good will for her own benefit. Straightforwardness and sincerity were Wiltian characteristics. As were earnestness and inflexibility. And Sophia was very Wiltian.

“Phew...” Daian sighed with relief. And his smile didn’t look fake. It was unusually pleasant. “I adore that about you.”

“What?”

Daian had revealed his affection for Sophia before, but this was the first time he expressed it from the bottom of his heart, and she felt him get through her defenses. Subconsciously, she put her hand in her left breast pocket. That was where she kept the ring Daian had given her four months ago. She took it off while on duty.

“Y-You...”

Uncharacteristically, Sophia blushed. Daian smiled affectionately at her and spoke as if he had reached a decision.

“I’m going to talk to myself. This is just a monologue and you just happen to be here, all right?” Daian started talking.

Meanwhile, at Marlene’s church atop the hill...

Hildegard von Hessen, also known as Hilde, was in the cemetery behind the church. In front of a fresh grave, she began to quietly sing...

God fell in love with a girl and sent her many gifts.

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

He gave her everything, but she did not respond.

The girl was already in love with someone else.

She loved a poor shepherd, and not God, in his omnipotence, immortality and beauty surpassing all else in the world.

God wept and sank into despondent depths.

Light disappeared, 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 shepherd whom the girl loved must die.

Accusations were cast upon him, he was pushed from a cliff, and he died.

And yet the girl still did not answer God.

She followed the shepherd and threw herself from the same cliff.

God raged at his servant for this thoughtless action.

He cast countless thunderbolts and caused untold mountains to spew fire.

He divided his life in two and gave half to the girl and half to the shepherd so that they might live once again.

God fell into a deep slumber.

Then the sun rose again over a lost world.

The girl and the shepherd were risen and the world revived...

...little by little.

It was a traditional song—an old song from an ancient nation. Hilde had learned it from her departed mother. The man lying in the grave in front of her had praised the song, calling her rendition “good singing.”

“Sorry I haven’t been able to come more often.” Hilde spoke nostalgically and a little sadly to the interred man.

There was no name on the gravestone. Hilde didn’t know his real name. Before he could tell her his name, the man buried there—Heidrig the “Wolf Man”—had died.

“Your singing is still wonderful. But perhaps it’s more polished now?” Marlene, the nun from the church, spoke from behind her.

“Come to the chapel. I’ll make tea.”

In the church chapel, Marlene and Hilde sat together and drank tea.

“It’s tasty,” Hilde said quietly.

“Well, I’m still learning about tea leaves and how to brew them.” Marlene replied cheerfully.

She was once so bad at making tea that people said it was actually destructive and might be taken as a declaration of war against Greyten, whose people loved tea. However, she had since acquired skills in preparing tea that would put a professional to shame.

“People change whether they like it or not.”

Marlene was not officially a clergywoman. She had pretended to be a nun and used this abandoned church without permission. Now, however, she faithfully served the townsfolk.

“You’ve changed, too. Before, you were a little more... um... you know.”

“Ha ha ha...”

Hearing Marlene refer to her former self, Hilde felt a mix of embarrassment and discomfort. When she first came to this town as a young girl in the Schutzstaffel, she was under Genitz’s command and her head was full of abuse and scorn for others.

“Well, a lot has happened.”

She had experienced many things, encountered many people, and witnessed many deaths, so her former disposition—like a small dog that would bark at anyone who came near—had disappeared.

“Hilde! Do something about these children!” The voice of one of those people who had helped her change rang out in the chapel.

“Agh! General Douglas isn’t a toy!”

“Skwork!”

Rowdy children from the church’s orphanage were surrounding Lillie and the penguin General Douglas.

“Oh dear, oh dear!” Marlene looked dismayed.

The church’s orphanage was no longer financially distraught, but it didn’t give the impression of luxury either. The kids were thrilled to have new guests as well as a rare animal they had never seen before.

“Wow, Lillie! You’re so popular with kids! Children, have her play with you instead of paying for lodging!”

“Hilde! You are mean!!”

Lillie’s passion for her threw Hilde out of sorts. Today, as if to get revenge, Hilde refused to bail Lillie out.

“This girl’s awesome! She’s super strong!”

“What the heck? I’ve never seen this animal before!”

“Throw us into the air!”

“Helllp!”

“Skwawrk!”

As more children appeared and begged them to keep playing, Lillie and General Douglas sounded on the verge of tears. And then...

“Hm?”

There came a knock on the chapel door. It wasn’t late at night, but the sun had set.

“Is Marlene here?” It was Jacob.

“Oh my... What’s wrong? And at this hour...”

“I don’t approve of children going out at night.” Backing up Marlene, Hilde gently chided him.

“Like you can talk! You’re not much older than me!” Jacob looked and sounded disgruntled.

Hilde was sixteen and Jacob was eleven. Between adults, that age gap would be negligible, but to a boy and girl still under twenty, it was a significant difference.

“Has something happened?”

Marlene didn’t know the details of what had happened at Tockerbrot earlier that day. She didn’t know that the visiting man who claimed to be Sven’s father was a general from the large nation of Noa, or that Augustan special ops soldiers had come after him. But since Hilde had come from Berun, Marlene guessed that something unusual was going on.

“Anyway, please have a seat. I’ll brew more tea.”

Marlene wasn’t a genuine clergywoman, but there was something about her that seemed even more clerical than a real clergywoman. She would never turn away anyone who knocked on the door in need of someone who would listen.

A few minutes later...

Jacob talked as he drank the freshly brewed tea. “Um, today... At Lud’s place... My... um... father showed up.” This young boy was usually as well spoken as any adult, but now he was struggling with his words.

“Hilde, you’re in the military, aren’t you?”

“Yes, basically.”

Hilde was a military cadet. She had once been a ranking officer in the Schutzstaffel, but that had been rescinded so she was starting over from the bottom. She was undoubtedly familiar with the military.

“Do you know about him?”

“Major Blitzdonner? Everyone in the military knows about him.”

“Oh.”

Jacob had come to the church because, while he appeared calm on the outside, meeting his father for the first time had shocked him.

“What kind of person is he? I, um, don’t know anything about him.”

Jacob hadn’t known his father’s name or even that he was alive.

“Hmm... Well...”

Hilde knew of him, but she wasn’t confident she could explain precisely and accurately. She was certain that Blitzdonner was an ace pilot whose skills were off the charts.

“Early in the European War, he subjected the Augustan forces to staggering defeats on the eastern front. I am serious that without him, the winners and losers of the Great War might have been diff—Hey, do not pull my hair!”

It was Lillie who spoke but was then interrupted by the children, who treated her as their new favorite toy.

“Lillie, do you know much about him?”

“Yes, I do. I can explain as much as you like. Just please help me!”

Lillie was a humanoid Hunter Unit. In some ways, her strength—especially in hand-to-hand combat—surpassed even that of Sven and Rebecca. Obviously, however, she could not send the playful children flying. She was proud of her abilities and found it troublesome when she was prevented from using them.

“Milly! Milly! A little help, please!”

“Okay.”

Marlene summoned Milly, who lived at the church. She worked at Lud’s shop as an apprentice baker.

“Hey now, kids! You’re bothering the nice lady! Come with me!”

She was the oldest child at the orphanage. In fact, she was old enough to leave and live on her own. However, she refused to separate from Marlene, who was like family to her, so she lived as a helper at the church while also working as a baker’s apprentice.

“Whew! Thank you.”

Milly led the children away, and Lillie was finally free. Her hair was a disaster.

“Um... uh...”

“Oh. We haven’t met. I am Lillie. Pleased to meet you.” She introduced herself to Jacob because they had barely spoken when they first met at Tockerbrot. “Um, you were talking about Major Blitzdonner. Erich Blitzdonner, also known as the Crimson Hawk. He is well-known in Wiltia, but he is notorious in August.”

Blitzdonner had been active early in the Great War. Situated between Filbarneu to the west and August to the east, Wiltia faced a war on two fronts.

“At first in the Great War, Wiltia’s strategy was to dispatch 80 percent of its military forces to the west. Then, after it forced Filbarneu to capitulate, it turned around and hit August with its full might.”

However, it was only necessary to use 20 percent of its forces to stop the Augustan military, which had ten times the troops.

“So they sent the Hunter Units, which were experimental at that time.”

The Wiltian military was still skeptical about using the Hunter Units. After all, humanoid mechanical weapons sounded like something from a cheesy science fiction novel. The fact that Wiltia employed them in battle was a sign of the tight situation in which it found itself.

“At first, if they could just hold on for six months—or even three months—that would be enough. No one expected the soldiers to survive. But they operated outstandingly. In fact, Major Blitzdonner displayed such prowess in battle that it was said he was equal to an entire division.”

It was a heroic scene, rare in modern warfare. A single giant trampling upon an onrushing horde was like something from myth.

“His exploits in war were so exceptional that at first he was a sergeant major treated like a warrant officer. But within one month, he skipped three ranks and was promoted to captain. He was granted a personal color, and he gained the nickname Crimson Hawk because his Hunter Unit was painted red. Friend and foe alike feared him.”

Blitzdonner’s achievements in the Great War caused the Wiltian military to change its strategy from the ground up. It fought a two-front war using a “Host of Giants” centered on the Hunter Units.

Wiltia fought in a way that defied previous common sense, simultaneously confronting large nations to both east and west. Preparations were made for mass production, Hunter Units were sent to the battlefield, victories piled up in both directions, and eventually Wiltia was victorious and became renowned as the country that won the Great War.

Until then, Wiltia, like Greyten, focused on developing land battleships, which had been their primary weapon. If it hadn’t been for Blitzdonner, the Wiltian military would have continued to pursue large vessels with big guns. Other countries with greater production capabilities would have defeated Wiltia and placed its very existence in danger.

“Major Rundstadt and Captain Langart were famous aces, but a single soldier changed the nation’s strategy and altered history. Major Blitzdonner was a hero on a whole other level.”

Even modern history textbooks recorded his name.

“You... really do know a lot, huh?”

Since Lillie offered to explain, Hilde expected her to be fairly knowledgeable, but Lillie knew a great deal.

“Yes, I suppose so!” Lillie proudly thrust out her chest.

Blitzdonner’s story was her own history, so it was only natural that she possessed a lot of information.

“Oh... So my father is a famous man.” Jacob’s voice was slightly sarcastic.

“Jacob...” His demeanor awakened an uneasy feeling in Marlene.

It was understandable. Jacob was now eleven and he had never met Blitzdonner. He hadn’t even known his name.

After the war, children of mixed Wiltian and Pelfian parentage were objects of prejudice in Pelfe, which had become a Wiltian territory. They were treated like the children of dogs who had wagged their tails for their new masters. And they were not just treated this way by other children. Even some adults cast such dirty insults.

Jacob was surprisingly mature for his age because he had struggled to bear the crushing weight of that environment.

“If he’s that famous, I guess he couldn’t come out to the sticks all the time.” Jacob muttered this even more sarcastically.

His father hadn’t appeared even once. Not when Jacob was suffering, or sad, or having trouble. It would have been better for Jacob if his father hadn’t known about him. But even if he couldn’t forgive his father, he might be able to understand him.

“Um, he looked at me and asked if I was Jacob. So he knew my name. And he knew about me. Which means he knew but still didn’t show his face.”

Even worse, Blitzdonner had come to Organbaelz for another purpose. He had shown up unexpectedly, and his son just happened to be there.

“But... it turns out he’s alive.”

“Huh?”

Lillie dropped this comment just as a shadow began to fall across Jacob’s features.

“What do you mean?”

“He was missing. Or rather, it was unclear whether or not he still lived.” Lillie answered Jacob’s question. “One day, the major’s personal unit was found on the battlefield but he had vanished.”

“Yes, I’ve heard that,” Hilde said.

Eight years had passed since Blitzdonner disappeared from official records and was listed as missing in action.

“Usually, after a certain amount of time when it still isn’t known if a soldier is alive, the military treats that soldier as killed in action. It was so unlikely that the major was killed, however, that the mystery has been treated as unresolved to this day. For that reason, he has not been promoted, as is customary after death in the line of duty.”

“Yes... and that is not all.” Lillie’s words hinted at something else.

There are three ways a soldier goes missing from the battlefield. One is when the soldier dies in battle but the body isn’t found. Another is when the soldier becomes a prisoner but, due to a mix-up, the home nation fails to learn of the captive’s status. The third is when the soldier deserts or turns traitor.

Blitzdonner’s feats were among the most distinguished in the Wiltian military, so he was held aloft as a hero and even extolled as a symbol of Wiltian strength. For such a soldier to die or fall captive was a stain upon the country’s dignity. Thus, the military had designated him missing in action.

“His disappearance is counted among the Seven Mysteries of the Wiltian Military.”

Hilde was young, so she was unable to guess the military’s rationale.

“I’ve heard tons of rumors. Something about an old lover shooting him in the back or him wandering off with a beautiful woman from an enemy nation... There’s no shortage of scandalous stories about that guy!” She spoke innocently, as if simply relating amusing stories.

“Stop, Hilde!” Lillie tapped Hilde’s shoulder reprovingly. “I do not think you should say those things in front of his son.”

“Oh... right!”

Usuallys, it was Hilde who chided Lillie for her lack of control. Today their positions were reversed.

“S-Sorry!” Hilde hurried to apologize, but it was too late.

“Why are you apologizing?”

“Well, um...” At Jacob’s quiet response, Hilde was at a loss for words. She hadn’t meant to suggest that his father did things inappropriate for children to hear.

“Don’t worry about it. In any case, my father is that kind of guy, huh? I read you loud and clear.” Jacob stood, making a forced sound of effort.

“Jacob? Didn’t you come here for something?” Marlene asked him as he began to leave.

“Um...never mind. Sorry to intrude.” Jacob had come to the church to consult Marlene.

Perhaps he didn’t know how to face his father, meeting him for the first time. He may have wanted Marlene to tell him that his suspicions about his father were misplaced.

“Um, Jacob? Uh...”

“I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

Hilde, who had only deepened his fears, spoke to him in distress. Jacob just replied tersely, opened the door, and left.

“Aw, man!” Unable to say anything, Hilde’s hand, which had been reaching out to stop Jacob, now had no place to go, and hung unsteadily in front of her. “I sure messed that up!” Hilde raised her voice in regret.

“Yes... you really did.” Finding no way to cheer Hilde up, Lillie laughed wryly. “I thought you would understand how a child with such a complicated background would feel, but...”

Hilde’s own birth and childhood had been troubled, especially her relationship with her father. She came from a house of the fallen nobility. Due to his problems over that, Hilde’s father was very hard on her. And that led to her earlier warped personality, and the severed ties with her family.

“No matter how happy or unhappy the circumstances of your own birth, you can’t truly understand someone else’s feelings about their family.” Marlene said this as if stating a fact, not to criticize or console Hilde. “We make a great deal of that boy’s cleverness, but he’s still just a child. And do you know what adults must never do to a child?”

“No. What?”

“They must never force adult circumstances on them.”

Blitzdonner was famous. And there were many complicating circumstances to his life. To Jacob, however, he was no more or less than the man who had abandoned him and his mother.