Intermission 1

Across the border from Organbaelz, inside the Principality of Wiltia, was the nation’s royal capital of Berun.

“Well, let’s go, Miss Marisha! Let’s explore your country!”

“How did this happen?!”

General Meitzer, of the continental nation of Noa, laughed cheerfully. As she looked at him, Marissa Haven exhaled in confusion and frustration.

She was a corporal in the security force at the Royal Weapons Development Bureau. She served under Sophia. A few hours ago, Marissa received a phone call from her superior officer, who left yesterday for Pelfe, across the border.

Marissa Haven had come to military headquarters to relay Sophia’s message to Marshal Elvin, the highest commander of the Wiltian military. During that visit, she had inexplicably been appointed guide and guard to General Douglas Meitzer.

“How did I get into this mess?” Marissa folded her arms and again thought over the events that led to this moment.

“C-Corporal Marisha Haben reporting!” A few hours earlier, she visited Marshal Elvin’s office at military headquarters. And she stumbled over her own name.

This wasn’t a place a low-ranking officer would usually visit. A meeting with the marshal required permission. Ordinarily, she would submit a request in writing describing the nature of her business, and only after the marshal’s executive department had determined that her visit was necessary could she go to military headquarters.

How did I get through?

But while Sophia was only a major, she was also a member of one of Wiltia’s few renowned noble houses. And Marshal Elvin treated her as one of his confidantes. For that reason, she had been ordered to observe Daian, who was a key individual in national strategy.

If Sophia followed every procedure, she couldn’t efficiently accomplish many of her missions. So Marissa was permitted to directly convey this message to Elvin. Nevertheless, to a commoner like her, Elvin was an exalted person.

“Ah, you serve under Sophia!” Marissa was frozen stiff, but Elvin didn’t hector her. Instead, he wore a cheerful smile and returned her salute.

“Hwah?!” Marissa was facing the person who made the greatest contribution to Wiltia’s victory in the recent European war. He was the most heroic of heroes. Furthermore, he was a living legend, counted first among those who had rendered distinguished service during the recent rebellion in the capital. Marissa’s tongue still couldn’t form her words correctly.

“Hmm... You’ve come at the perfect time.”

“I have?” Marissa had never heard of top brass calling anything perfect, so she asked her question with a stunned voice and expression.

“General Douglas, this is an excellent soldier recognized by an outstanding subordinate of mine. I shall assign her to you.”

“Oh, thank you!”

Besides Marshal Elvin, another man was in the office. He appeared to be in late middle age. However, he had a youthful air and eyes like a boy’s.

“Um... your name is Corporal Marisha Haben? Pleased to meet you!”

“Huuuh?!”

Elvin smiled and said, “I’m counting on you.”

Marissa couldn’t understand what was going on, but the military is a hierarchical society, so a superior officer’s orders were absolute. Elvin was the marshal and she was a corporal. No matter what he ordered, there was only one available answer.

“Yes... Sir?”

And that was how Marissa met General Douglas of Noa, who claimed to be Sven’s father.

“Um, General Douglas?”

“Oh, sorry. My apologies, Marisha. Call me Meitzer.” Meitzer responded breezily with an easy manner that was extremely hard to imagine in a top military executive. “I’m too famous. If my identity gets out, I’ll be thronged by my fans.”

Douglas Meitzer had great influence, not just on the nation of Noa’s military, but also on the government. There were many who would target him if they knew he was wandering alone in a foreign nation.

“Oh, really? I guess the famous have it hard, too.”

However, this lower-ranking officer, who was like a small animal in comparison, hadn’t understood, and she changed her form of address as requested.

“So, um... Mr. Meitzer. Where would you like to go?”

She didn’t know why she was accompanying such a high-ranking officer from another country, but she had received an explanation of what she must do. Her orders were to be Meitzer’s sightseeing guide in Berun.

“Well, what do you recommend?”

“Hmm... I recommend the Berun Grand Theater. And the Royal Cathedral is worth seeing. Oh! And Court Way! There are lots of wonderful shops there!”

“Oh, that sounds nice.” As Marissa suggested various sights, Meitzer nodded with amusement.

If Marissa hadn’t been in military uniform, she would have looked like a dutiful daughter taking her father from the country sightseeing around the royal capital.

“But all the shops on Court Way are expensive. I went into the bakery there and a tiny baguette cost seven sigs! I was appalled, so I left without buying anything!” Marissa had gone out with a few friends, but she was shocked that the prices were so beyond what the common class could afford.

“Ah, a bakery?” The light in Meitzer’s eyes changed when she mentioned the bakery, but Marissa didn’t notice.

“Well, I don’t mind if it’s expensive. Let’s go to the shops you want to visit! And if you see something you want, I’ll buy it for you. And how about hitting the bakery afterward?”

“Oh, can we rea—” Marissa shrieked in joy, but then her voice broke off. A wealthy upper-ranking military officer and a young, low-ranking female soldier...

Huh? Oh no! What’s going on? Is this...

Unpleasant ideas popped into her head. She imagined Meitzer grinning and saying, “Heh heh heh... If you want something, I’ll buy it for ya!” before taking her someplace raunchy and doing all sorts of unspeakable acts with her.

“Eep!! No, no, no thanks! I’ve got a boyfriend!”

“Hm?” Meitzer looked perplexed.

“You have a boyfriend?”

“Uh-huh!”

“Well, that’s nice.”

Anyone might be taken aback by this revelation of private information that was not asked for.

“Apparently my daughter also has eyes for someone.”

“Huh?” This time, Marissa was the one taken aback hearing Meitzer’s private information.

“We’ve been alienated for a long time, so we’ve never even walked together like this.”

“Oh... really?” When Marissa learned that Meitzer merely thought of her in the same way as his daughter, who was probably about her age, she felt embarrassed. “Um, uh, sorry!”

“Why? Did you do something?”

She bowed her head repeatedly at Meitzer, who wore a mystified expression. Apologizing was in Marissa’s nature.

“Hmm...” Meitzer had no way of understanding what she was feeling. He understood, however, that she was a decent human being. He smiled pleasantly. “Elvin assigned me a good girl.”

Marissa didn’t know why and under what circumstances Meitzer was visiting Elvin. There was no way she could have.

“But, Miss Marisha... let’s go to Court Way later. There’s someplace else I want to go first.”

Meitzer had been identified in Organbaelz. He had then been transported to Berun and finally finished making the formal rounds. But that was no more than his official political business as a general. His true purpose was to go elsewhere.

“I want to go to VfR.”

He had asked Elvin to contact the people there for him.

Elvin was in his office at the military headquarters of the Principality of Wiltia. After his guest left, he sighed.

“I wonder why he wants to go there?”

He had learned through the recent incident that Douglas Meitzer was eccentric. Meitzer was the kind of man who would send a penguin to appear in his place. He might do something bizarre like that and there might be no meaning to it.

But there are many people in the world who do pointless things but claim that there is a point.

“That place is full of dreamers! It’s a kind of hobby for them.”

When Meitzer had asked him to schedule a meeting at VfR, Elvin had tilted his head and said, “Where is that again?”

The group was outside, but not entirely unaffiliated with the government. They occasionally submitted an activities report, but that was all.

“Hmm...”

Marshal Elvin was a military genius. He was called a master of strategy, and his nickname in other nations was the Master Schemer. He was always able to see several moves ahead and inside the minds of others before he himself was even aware of it. Such excellent perception accounted for his achievements on numerous operations.

“I think my motto applies here.”

His motto was “Always expect the worst.”

“Pardon me, Sir!” The door opened as if timed to that precise moment. “You summoned me, Lord Marshal?” It was the man Sophia had requested that Elvin dispatch to Organbaelz on the double.

Because of disarmament and territorial expansion, the Wiltian army was suffering from severe personnel shortages. You might even say that human resources were currently the most depleted resource in Wiltia. For that reason, superb soldiers were worth their weight in gold.

“Leia... you came.”

This man was just such a soldier. To hear Elvin tell it, he was worth more than his weight in jewels. He was the man feared as the Blue Shudder, and his name was Captain Leia Toolman.