Chapter 4: Temporary Closure

Sven was alone inside Tockerbrot. “Hm?” She tilted her head.

Over the last few days, ever since her true form was revealed, Lud had been acting strangely. He wasn’t avoiding her, but his interactions with her were unusually superficial. If she said hello, he said hello back, which was normal. But, he was trying too hard to respond normally.

Sven thought he might try to pretend he hadn’t learned her true identity, but something else was strange, too. He had left the shop in Sven’s hands and dedicated himself to baking bread in the oven room before leaving again. Tonight, he returned from traveling sales and then went out again after preparing to close the shop.

“What’s going on?”

And that wasn’t the only odd thing going on tonight. All of a sudden, Blitzdonner and Rebecca were nowhere to be found. And Jacob had never even shown his face today. After finishing work, Milly went straight home. And while Marlene usually visited even if she didn’t have a reason to, she hadn’t appeared. Furthermore, Sven couldn’t find Hilde or the unusual girl who was always with her.

“Why do I feel so... alienated?” Sven felt lonely, as if everyone had left her out. No... “This is probably the way things are supposed to be,” she muttered.

After all, she was different. No matter how similar to a human being she appeared, she could never be the same as Lud—not in any real way. In the end, she was no more than a fake.

“Fake and real don’t apply to love.” She remembered Blitzdonner’s words. Ever since he said them, those words had been lodged in her heart.

“But...” As long as she couldn’t prove that her feelings were real, she could only feel proud inside. It was such a disheartening path. “Why do I want to be with Master?” She suddenly asked herself this question.

Why had she come here, seeking something that would never have occurred to her when she was a weapon, even going so far as to abandon her former incarnation?

“Master...”

Sven couldn’t find an answer, so she continued moping.

Meanwhile, at the church atop the hill...

“Thank you for coming, everyone.” Lud spoke in front of the chapel altar, where a priest would usually deliver a sermon. Faces he knew were assembled in front of him.

“Why do you look so serious, Lud?”

Jacob had been Lud’s first friend when he came to Organbaelz.

“He’s going to explain that now.”

Marlene, the church nun with a tumultuous past, had also become Lud’s friend.

“You look dead serious.”

Until about a year ago, Milly had insulted him every time they met, but now she worked as an apprentice at his bakery.

“If it requires physical strength, leave it to me. I’ll gather the young fellas.”

Laurel was the leader of the miners. He had once refused to eat Lud’s bread, saying he had no idea what might be in it.

“If there’s anything I can do, just tell me.”

The young girl Hilde was a former member of the Schutzstaffel who first attacked with the intention of killing Lud.

“..................”

Looking at them, Lud had a strange feeling. None of these friends had thought well of him at first. Some had tried to trick and kill him. But now they sat here listening to him. These were people he had met as Lud the baker in Organbaelz, not as Lud Langart the Silver Wolf and ace pilot of the Principality of Wiltia’s military.

“What’s wrong, Lud?”

“Oh, um, nothing.”

Jacob spoke with concern for Lud, who was so deeply moved that he could barely speak.

“To be honest... I have a favor to ask all of you.”

“—?!”

The faces of nearly everyone showed surprise.

“A favor? Lud, are you going to ask us to do something?”

“Y-Yes.”

Marlene’s face showed disbelief. “This is a surprise. You always seem to stew over problems alone.”

Laughing loudly, Laurel smacked a hand to his forehead.

“Oh... I do?” Lud looked like he was going to object that it wasn’t that surprising, but then Jacob interrupted.

“Well, sometimes you’ll ask things like, ‘Hey, would you hand me that?’ But until now, you’ve never looked so grave and said, ‘To be honest,’ and made a real request.” After speaking, Jacob smiled impishly.

As his best friend suggested, Lud was a very serious person. He thought he had to solve his problems by himself and had a tendency to avoid involving even people he was close to. In fact, he didn’t involve them precisely because he was close to them. That’s why he tried to keep everyone at a distance when a troublesome organization had disrupted his business during a previous incident.

“If you ask, then we have no choice. Right, everyone?”

“Yeah, since he asks...”

Marlene asked, and Laurel answered.

“I guess there’s no choice, so you can rely on us,” Jacob chimed in.

“Oh, um... sorry.”

Something welled up inside Lud when he heard their responses.

“That’s wrong, Lud.” Marlene wasn’t actually a clergywoman, but she spoke to him as if she were the real thing. “In situations like this, you should say thank you.”

“.........!”

At those words, Lud once again looked back on his earlier behavior. Due to his guilt about his past, part of him thought he didn’t deserve to be happy. That’s why he had thought relying on people around him would bother them. So, apologizing became a habit. Today, however, he decided to rely on everyone for his own sake.

“Thank you, everyone.” He responded with a fresh expression of thanks. And then he delivered his request. “I want to throw a birthday party for Sven.”

Yesterday, Daian had told him that he was less Sven’s birth father than he was a midwife who delivered her.

“When was that?” Lud had asked. When had Sven changed from Avei to Sven? And Daian had answered that question.

Learning that the date happened to be the next day, Lud made up his mind. At his words, everyone momentarily showed surprise, and then understanding.

“Yeah. That would be good.”

“Not a bad idea. I’ll help!”

Marlene and Jacob raised their voices in agreement.

“I’ll lend a hand, too!”

“Uh-huh. Let me chip in.”

Laughing, Milly and Hilde also agreed. And then...

“I do not quite follow the situation.”

“In times like this, just agree with everyone, Missy.”

Lillie and Blitzdonner stood by the chapel wall.

“But I did not meet this girl until three days ago.”

“And yet that black-haired girl you fawn over has agreed.”

“Yes, if Hilde is going to help, then I will do anything.”

Neither Lillie nor Blitzdonner had known Lud for very long. But people important to them cared about him.

“Are you the third one?” Due to her comportment, movements and—above all—her distinctive personality, Blitzdonner realized that Lillie was a humanoid Hunter Unit like Sven and Rebecca. “The professor said he gave one to Yamato.”

“Do not misunderstand. I am not the third one, I am the first.”

“Oh, I see.”

Lillie was produced before Sven and Rebecca. To be exact, she had been a test unit made before the officially adopted units such as Sven. While some of her functions surpassed Sven and Rebecca’s, she also had many defects.

“Major.” Lud spoke to Blitzdonner. “I have a favor to ask. Do you mind?”

“Hm?”

Blitzdonner and Lud never met while they were both in the Wiltian military. They had been in the same army, but Blitzdonner was not Lud’s commanding officer. And Lud was now a civilian.

“Ask away. Maybe I can do something to pay for my lodging.”

He didn’t always sound like it, but this man was compassionate, with a strong sense of duty.

“All right. Um... I’d like you to attend the party with Charlotte.”

Blitzdonner had intended to remain unsurprised no matter what Lud asked, but he raised his voice letting out a cry. “What?!”

“Hey! Lud?!” Jacob also gasped in surprise. “Why is that necessary?”

Lud shook his head as if he didn’t know how to explain. “It just... It just is.” Lud couldn’t answer any other way.

“But...” It was a request from Lud, but Jacob couldn’t agree immediately.

“..................” And as if that was also true for Blitzdonner, his face clouded.

“Understood.” There was someone else who granted acceptance. “Former Captain Langart, I accept your proposal.” And that was Rebecca, who stood still and ready at Blitzdonner’s side.

“What’s gotten into you all of a sudden?!” Blitzdonner was astounded by Rebecca’s willful behavior.

He didn’t resent it. But he was surprised. Ever since Rebecca had been assistive A.I. in Blitzdonner’s Hunter Unit, she had obeyed his orders, never ignoring his instructions or making her own decisions.

“Um, Rebecca? Who put you in charge?!” Jacob was friendly with Rebecca, but he was startled too.

“.....................”

Rebecca bit her lip hard, with an expression that suggested she was fighting her natural inclinations. Usually, she would never do anything that neither Blitzdonner nor Jacob wanted. But now she had acted in opposition to both. “Jacob... you’re former Captain Langart’s friend, right? Are you going to refuse his request?”

“No-no, but...”

“Major Blitzdonner, the former captain has saved your son, wife and father from danger countless times. Are you going to reject this chance to repay your debt to him?”

“Well, um, if you put it like that...”

Both father and son were unable to argue with Rebecca.

“Right. There won’t be another chance, will there?” She was usually calm, and people sometimes thought she lacked emotion, but now she spoke quietly and sadly.

“............”

“............”

Faced with that, neither Jacob nor Blitzdonner could oppose her. And in this circumstance, silence was the same as agreement.

“Former Captain Langart, I will take responsibility for carrying out your request. Please, do not worry.”

“Okay... th-thank you, um, Rebecca.” Lud expressed gratitude, and Rebecca stared at him in silence for a moment.

“...?”

Then, in a quiet voice inaudible to Jacob and the others behind her, she spoke to Lud, who had tilted his head toward her. “Thank you.”

Something had tortured her these last few days, but now she had finally found a clue to resolving it. Blitzdonner needed to repair his relationship with his son Jacob and wife Charlotte, from whom he had parted before Jacob was born. From Jacob’s point of view, it was unforgivable that the man left Charlotte alone for such a long time, and that bothered him more than the fact that he too was abandoned by his father. Perhaps now, the two might get back together. Whether Rebecca was aware of this or not, she expressed thanks to the man who had given her this chance.

“Well, then... I’m counting on all of you!” Once again, Lud addressed the group.

“Yeah!”

“Understood!”

“Roger!”

“Leave it to us!”

“Oh dear...”

“Hmm...”

They all responded in their own way. Then, the area around Tockerbrot got quite lively indeed.

“What’s going on?” The next day, unexpected words shocked Sven. “Temporary closure?!”

It wasn’t one of Tockerbrot’s regular holidays. They were basically open every day, all year long. On special occasions such as the Holy Festival and Thanksgiving, and around the New Year, they took time off, but otherwise they worked. One exception was the time they got embroiled in the rebellion, Sven had been abducted and whisked away to the royal capital, and there was an adventure surrounding her recapture.

In the absence of such a major event, Lud would never take time off. In fact, he had almost collapsed once from overwork. Nonetheless, he said they would close the shop for the day. And he hadn’t offered any explanation. When Sven asked, he merely said, “I’ve got a small matter to attend to.”

If her master Lud said so, all she could do was obey. He left no room for argument. And if he didn’t explain, she didn’t need an explanation. That’s all there was to it. But...

“What the heck is this about?!”

Instead, he asked her to visit Sophia, who was staying in a hotel in a neighboring town. It was as if he was telling her to get out of the shop and out of Organbaelz altogether!

“Why would he do that?!”

But even as she nursed her injured feelings, Sven headed for Saupunkt as instructed. And then...

“Hm?”

Sven was going to call Sophia from hotel reception, but the desk attendant told her it was all right to just go up to the room. Sven got on the elevator and went to a first-class room on the top floor.

“She sure is living it up on the government’s money,” Sven muttered sarcastically to herself as she rang the room’s bell. But the person who opened the door was Daian instead of Sophia.

“It’s been a while, Svelgen! Or should I call you Avei?”

“Either way. What’s the meaning of this?”

“Stop shooting daggers at me and come inside.” Daian invited Sven in and recommended a seat on the sofa, but Sven remained standing.

“I’m here for Major Rundstadt.”

“Hee hee hee!” Instead of answering the question, Daian merely laughed. “You don’t have to be so cautious. I have no intention of dragging you back to the royal capital.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

All of Sven’s parts were made with the precision of works of art. The production cost of one Hunter Unit was comparable to the cost of funding an entire division in the military. But compared to the budget poured into developing humanoid Hunter Units, even that was a trivial amount. That’s how valuable Sven was.

“Can you just let me go free forever?”

Daian had discovered her location. But Sven assumed he let her go so he could obtain plentiful data by allowing her to blend in with human society. And she was half right. Which meant she was also half wrong.

“Hee hee... If I were the army’s dog, that would indeed be the correct course of action.”

In that case, Daian would remove the rezanium reactor that was Sven’s heart and brain, analyze the data, and preserve her as a sample to improve the next generation of humanoid Hunter Units. That was actually what he should do.

“But don’t worry. I don’t feel like it.”

“Why not?”

Daian answered Sven, who was still suspicious. “The honest answer is I don’t have time to do that sort of thing now.”

“That sort of thing...?” Sven couldn’t imagine why Daian would leave her when she was a walking conglomeration of military secrets. As she overcame her suspicion, her expression became perplexed.

“Besides, I’m not the army’s pawn. I’ll just come out and say it: I’m a love hunter!”

“Huh?”

The man in front of her spewed incomprehensible nonsense along a completely different trajectory. “If I did something like that to you, Sophia would despise me. She’s a big softie at heart.”

“Oh... right. Where is the major?”

Sven had assumed that Daian had taken advantage of her business with Sophia and somehow got her to come to his room, but that wasn’t the case.

“Um, Sophia is occupied at the moment.”

“Occupied?”

“She’s in the shower.”

“Huh?!”

That meant Sophia and Daian were staying in this room together. It was spacious, but it was still one room. A man and woman under the same roof, and the woman was now freshening up...

“Oh... you two have that kind of relationship?” Sven guessed.

“Yes, we do.” Daian affirmed it.

“Nooooo!!” But Sophia appeared and denied it forcefully.

“Sophia... What is this? The full service?!”

Apparently, it was true that Sophia had been taking a shower. She was wet and wearing nothing but a bath towel. At that moment, the smile Daian showed Sven disappeared, replaced by a broad grin.

“Shut up!! You really... You shouldn’t joke about that!!” Tears welled in Sophia’s eyes.

“Major, show some shame,” said Sven.

“What do you mean?!” Sophia lashed out at the thunderstruck Sven.

“I had no idea you and the Monster of the Royal Capital were an item!”

“As I said, we’re not!”

“Okay, whatever. But will you put on some clothes?”

“Oops! Hold on a sec!” Sophia went to get dressed.

“Oh dear, oh dear...” Sven sighed in exasperation.

Sophia was the daughter of nobility, a military family stretching back generations. And she was an unusual woman who refused to rely on the advantages of her birth. She had applied herself and become a military hero known as the Black Spear—and she was feared accordingly.

Military life doesn’t conform to pretty words. Many situations arise that require casting shame aside. Nonetheless...

“She’s too wild.”

“Yeah, and I like that about her.” Daian laughed with amusement at Sven’s chilly attitude.

“So... what did you come for?”

“This.” Sven handed the letter Lud had given her to Sophia, who had returned quickly, now fully dressed.

“It’s from Captain Lud Langart?” Sophia looked mystified, but understanding soon dawned as she read the letter. “That guy... He’s as discreet as ever.”

Lud didn’t know the details, but he guessed Sophia was staying in Saupunkt on military business and hadn’t immediately returned to Berun. In fear of surveillance, he gave Sven a letter instead of phoning Sophia.

If he were to call me at military headquarters, he could use a military line, but if he called from the bakery...

Lud had quit the military, but Sophia was pleased he was still attuned to military considerations. She knew Lud regretted his past as a soldier. However, if he denied his past entirely, it also denied everything about their shared history in life and death situations. For that reason, she felt lonely, not as a senior officer deprived of a subordinate, but as a comrade-in-arms.

“Hmf!” Before she was aware of it, Sophia smiled.

“Ur...”

“Urgh...”

Sven and Daian looked a bit put out.

“What is it, you guys?”

“It’s nothing at all,” said Daian.

“Yeah, nothing,” agreed Sven.

The two simultaneously answered alike.

“Anyway, what does the letter say?” Sven asked.

“Hm? You haven’t read it?” Sophia replied. Sophia was still perusing the letter.

“Of course not! I can’t read a letter from Master without permission!”

However, Lud didn’t say she couldn’t ask what was written in the letter. So she asked Sophia.

“Well, the first line says...” Sophia flashed a mischievous grin. “... that I’m under orders not to tell you what’s in the letter!”

The letter was an invitation to Sven’s birthday party. Lud wanted it to be a surprise, so it had to be kept secret from Sven. Even though the party was for Sven, it was Sven who had unknowingly delivered the invitation, so Sophia struggled to contain her mirth.

“Whaaat?!” Sven was surprised Lud got the drop on her, but... “Th-That’s just like Master! He knows me better than anyone!” Actually, it made Sven a little happy.

“Ur...” Seeing Sven’s joy, Sophia looked miffed.

“Urgh...” Seeing Sophia’s irritation, Daian looked miffed.

“Why do you look unhappy?!”

“Never mind that!” Sophia immediately shushed him. Daian looked away, but then swiftly peeked at the letter in her hands.

“Um... hey!”

“Oh, I see...”

Sophia objected, but Daian had already taken most of it in.

“That guy does the darnedest things...” Daian chuckled as if he found it fascinating.

“Uarrrgh...” Sven groaned in frustration. Lud had told Sophia not to tell her, so she didn’t bother asking again. She understood this was a matter she mustn’t inquire about, but it frustrated her.

“Aw, don’t sulk!” Sophia spoke as if she were talking to a younger sister. “I can’t reveal any details, but I’m supposed to go with you to Organbaelz.”

“With me?” When she heard that, Sven looked surprised. She had gone to the trouble of delivering the letter, only to find out it said she was supposed to return with Sophia, so the whole mission felt pointless.

“But... Hmm... There’s a problem.” In contrast to Sven, however, Sophia looked troubled.

“What’s wrong? Do you have to go back to Berun right away so you can’t come to Organbaelz?”

“No, that’s not the problem. I want to return, but I can’t yet.”

“Huh?”

Sophia wanted to return with Daian to the royal capital as soon as possible. However, now that she had heard about the Saint, either August’s or the Saint’s minions might attack at any moment. Until the regular military from the royal capital came, even the Black Spear couldn’t act.

“I don’t mind going, but...” Sophia glanced at Daian. Daian was under her guard, so she couldn’t leave him.

“I don’t mind, Sophia. Don’t worry about me.” Daian spoke as if he had read her thoughts.

“Well, I should mind. Let me be clear, though. I’m not worried about you. I feel a sense of responsibility.”

“Well, that’s putting it clearly!” Daian responded to Sophia’s bluntness with a droll expression.

“No, I don’t mean that, Sophia. Why don’t I just go with you?”

“What?”

“I mean... if we go to Organbaelz together, isn’t that more strategically sound?”

“Hmm?”

Lud Langart the Silver Wolf, Blitzdonner the Crimson Hawk, and the three humanoid Hunter Units—Sven, Rebecca and Lillie—were all currently in Organbaelz.

“Altogether, we could take on a whole company!”

What’s more, Sophia von Rundstadt, aka the Black Spear, would be joining them.

“Oh, I see. In that case... Aw, man!”

Sophia thought Lud might have foreseen all this when he sent the invitation. With Sven and her together, they would be safe on the journey to Organbaelz.

“Well, do you suppose it’s all right?”

Sophia felt a slight pain in her neck. It was something that happened on occasion. It was the feeling when an enemy army caught you off guard, or you fell into an ambush, or were attacked by guerilla soldiers disguised as civilians while patrolling an occupied territory.

I’ve got an uneasy feeling about this...

Sophia was worried, not from reason, but from instinct—a soldier’s instincts.