Chapter 5: The Clock Starts Moving

Meanwhile...

Even in a small rural town like Organbaelz, there was a tea shop. This tea stall belonged to Laura, an elderly woman who had served the townsfolk for decades. It was an open stall, and therefore very simple, but it was a relaxing place for the people to meet and rest.

“What are you going to do?!”

“What should I do...?”

“Aw, don’t give me that!”

“Eep!”

Jacob and Blitzdonner had been sitting together for hours and their faces suggested they had difficult problems. The boy had just shouted, and the man responded timidly.

“If you’re gonna go, get moving! Don’t just sit here staring into space!”

“No, but... Um... uh...”

Last night, Lud had asked Blitzdonner to attend Sven’s birthday party with Charlotte. Before he could ask why, Rebecca—who saw it as an opportunity to mediate between the estranged couple—agreed. Jacob and Blitzdonner both felt obliged to Lud and Sven, so they couldn’t refuse. However...

“I don’t know how to face her.”

“Argh! You old fart!”

The request had come from his close friend. So Jacob had set his own concerns aside and reluctantly agreed to present the man to his mother. Ever since dawn, however, Blitzdonner made one excuse after another not to go to his own house to see Charlotte. Blitzdonner had already had seven cups of coffee.

“You’re a well-known ace pilot from the military, right? Then why are you so pitiful?!”

“Give me a break! I’m more scared of this one woman than I am of a million enemy soldiers!”

“Don’t try to make yourself sound cool! Because you aren’t!”

Blitzdonner’s reluctance made perfect sense. Charlotte had been carrying his child when he disappeared. Then, without ever informing her he was alive, he stayed hidden for years. Even his son Jacob was unable to sort out his feelings, so he didn’t want to imagine what Charlotte’s shock would be when they met.

“To be honest, I’m uneasy about you meeting Mother, too.”

Charlotte had been only a teenager when she carried Jacob. She had been living in Berun, the royal capital, where a dishonest employer had tricked her into prostitution. And then she had met Blitzdonner. When she returned to Organbaelz, pregnant with a child, townspeople had looked upon her coldly.

“I know you have your own circumstances, but that’s another matter.”

Her son Jacob had also suffered discrimination. Matters worsened because Wiltia had annexed Pelfe. Some people had even insulted Jacob as the son of a female Pelfe dog who had rubbed up against her Wiltian master.

“Yeah, I know.” Blitzdonner answered as he gripped his mug of coffee, which was now lukewarm. “I know I have no right to even show her my face. And I know I have no right to act like your father. But...” As he spoke, the man called a hero looked as if he was on the verge of tears. “There was never a day when I didn’t wish to see you both.”

“—!”

For a moment, the two were silent. And then...

“How long do you intend to stay here, Major?” Suddenly, Rebecca was standing at their table with a frightening expression on her face.

“Sh-Sharlahart?!”

It was the first time this girl, who had sworn absolute loyalty to Blitzdonner, had looked at him this way.

“Charlotte is in her house and you’re taking forever to go there!”

“I know... I know, Sharlahart. I’m just... waiting for the right time.”

“Major, I’m sorry. But it’s time you called me Rebecca.”

“Huh?”

Her full name was Rebecca Sharlahart. She refused to allow anyone but Blitzdonner to call her Sharlahart. Sharlahart was the special name her beloved master had given the assistive A.I. of his Hunter Unit. But today she had to forbid even Blitzdonner from using that name.

“Major, what is the origin of my name?”

“It’s... a variation on Charlotte.”

“Come to think of it, you did mention that once.”

Jacob had also heard the origin of the name. Sharlahart—which Blitzdonner had taken from the woman he loved most—was a Wiltian reading of the name Charlotte.

“Think about it. If her husband reappears after ten years accompanied by a woman bearing her own name, things could get complicated.”

“Oh... right!!”

“You got it? Then let’s go.” With a tug, Rebecca lifted her master from his seat.

“W-Wait, Sharla— I mean Rebecca! Um, let me stay just a little longer, for just one more cup of joe?” Blitzdonner was groveling again.

“Jacob, how many cups has he had?”

“Eight.”

“No, only seven!”

“Which is enough!” Rebecca used force to drag him away.

“But... I don’t know what to say! How can I face her?! I haven’t the slightest idea!”

“And you don’t need to!” Rebecca thundered at her master, who was yammering tearfully. “After all, I would’ve been happy to see you under any circumstances, Major!”

“Rebecca...”

Ever since the day ten years ago when Blitzdonner disappeared, Rebecca had longed to see him again. She hadn’t known whether he was alive or dead, but she always believed he was alive.

“Do you have any idea how worried I was? I thought you might be dead! I forced such thoughts down, but I was worried, so...”

When he reappeared during the rebellion in the capital and she learned he was alive, she had sobbed tears of joy.

“How long do you plan to treat Charlotte the way you treated me?”

“Ulp...” Blitzdonner was speechless in the face of this tirade.

She had come to Organbaelz on orders from Daian with a mission to observe Sven. At the same time, however, she was watching over Jacob and Charlotte. During the rebellion in the capital, after she learned Blitzdonner was alive, she had given serious thought to telling his wife and son, but eventually decided against it.

“I know you had reasons, but now you have a chance for a reunion. So I’m begging you...”

Blitzdonner hadn’t revealed he was alive because he didn’t want to cause them any trouble. It wasn’t that he didn’t care for them, and he certainly hadn’t forgotten them.

Nonetheless, Rebecca couldn’t bear to watch any longer. “Just go already.”

Jacob spoke curtly. “I didn’t know you were alive, and I’d never even met you. So, to be honest, I guess I’d given up hope.”

People are surprisingly able to deal with an absence when it’s something that was never there. Jacob was confused now because his father, who had been absent, was suddenly present. But it was different for Charlotte. She had lived in worry this whole time.

“You just have to beat it over there, get in her face and say, ‘I’m alive!’”

“Yeah, but...”

“But you don’t think she’ll forgive you, do you?”

“Huh?” The harsh words from his son’s mouth upset Blitzdonner.

“There’s no way she’ll forgive you. Do you think you can just say something nice and it’ll all be fine? Well, it won’t! I hope she yells at you, and hates you, and bombards you with insults, and stabs you with a knife!”

“Jacob, isn’t that a bit much?” Rebecca tried to stifle Jacob’s violent ideas, but the boy wouldn’t stop.

“That’s what it means to take responsibility for your actions! So don’t try to be cool! That’s what looks the worst!”

“Jacob...”

“If you’re my father, then act like one! If you don’t...” Jacob’s shoulders were trembling.

Blitzdonner finally summoned his determination. “I’m sorry. You’re right. For some dumb reason, I was trying to be cool. Ha ha... And that is the worst!” As he spoke, he gently patted his son Jacob’s head. “Let’s go! I’ll prostrate myself before her!” In high spirits, Blitzdonner marched toward Jacob’s house.

“Whoa... He’s walking so awkwardly!”

“Major...”

Blitzdonner was on his way, but he was still nervous.

“Was that guy really an ace pilot?”

“He was incredible! He really was!” Jacob was disgusted, but Rebecca desperately reassured him.

Eventually, they arrived at Charlotte and Jacob’s house.

“Good luck, Major. You can do it!”

“Th-Thanks!!” In response to Rebecca’s encouragement, Blitzdonner put on a show of courage.

“Don’t be so tense...” Jacob looked exasperated.

“Y-You don’t... understand.”

“Understand what?”

“Someday, when you truly fall in love, you’ll understand.”

“Urgh...”

Blitzdonner trembled. He was less than one meter from the door. But that one meter felt like a great distance. That one meter represented ten years. That door was farther than the far side of the world.

“W-Well, here goes!” Blitzdonner steeled himself, but as he raised his hand to knock on the door, it opened from the inside.

“Hm?”

And there stood Charlotte, the woman he had come to see. She looked at Blitzdonner’s face in surprise.

“Kyaaah?!” Blitzdonner was speechless.

“M-Mom! Um, this is...” Jacob tried to explain, but his words wouldn’t come out.

“Ma’am, this is...” Rebecca also tried to intervene, but she couldn’t get her mouth to work either.

“Erich? Oh my... You came?” Charlotte was unruffled. On the contrary, she was the very picture of tranquility. She was surprised. But her face showed the kind of surprise that comes from something mildly unexpected.

“Charlotte? Um...” Seeing her composure, Blitzdonner was flummoxed.

“You’re late.” Charlotte spoke with a perky smile.

“Agh!”

Hearing those words, Blitzdonner remembered. It had been long ago, soon after they discovered she was carrying Jacob. Charlotte had been tricked into prostitution, so Blitzdonner sold a medal he had just received in order to shoulder her debt and pay for her to return home. She was boarding the steam locomotive bound for Organbaelz when he said...

“I promise. I’ll come for you.”

The royal family had held a ceremony to award him the medal, but he sold the diamond in it, and was almost found guilty of insulting the royal family. He was absolved of the offense because he had been an excellent soldier, but his promotion was rescinded and he was sent into fierce fighting. Then, three years later, he suffered an accident resulting in the loss of his four limbs.

“Charlotte, you...”

He had not forgotten his words that day. However, he thought he didn’t have the right to fulfill that promise. He was prepared to leave her alone if she thought he was dead or had remarried. But she had waited. That’s why she wasn’t overly surprised. Because the person she always believed would come, had come.

“Seriously? Hey, now...” Blitzdonner muttered, put a hand to his face, and laughed hoarsely.

“What a good woman you are!” Then he hugged his wife with all his strength.

“Erich...”

“Aw, man... Argh...”

On this day, from the bottom of his heart, Blitzdonner was sorry that his four limbs were mechanical. His arms couldn’t feel the warmth of this woman who was so wonderful that he had no right to receive her love. He was frustrated, and happy, and the next thing he knew, he was crying.

“.....................”

As Jacob stared at his two parents hugging, Rebecca hugged him from behind.

“Jacob... you must understand one thing.” Rebecca spoke with emotion, as if she wanted very much to convey this one point. “You were born to two people who love each other. At least understand that much.”

Blitzdonner hadn’t cast him aside. And he hadn’t been a burden to Charlotte. Rebecca wanted him to accept that fact.

“Yeah...” Jacob gently pressed Rebecca’s hand as it held him.

“I guess I understand now, because they’re showing me.”

He was an immensely intelligent boy. He was still an eleven-year-old child. Nonetheless, he possessed a very grown-up mind.

“Hmph! With such a troublesome father, no wonder I’ve had it rough!”

But, now Jacob laughed playfully. He smiled with his usual good humor—and that hadn’t happened for days.

“Jacob...!” On the verge of hugging him with her full strength, Rebecca controlled herself. She could easily crush human bones. He was so endearing she could almost do that.

For the first time, a unique but troubled family became a loving one.