Chapter 8: Tricky Humans

No matter how unrealistic dreams may be, they seem very real at the time. For example, you might dream that you are a giant insect eating people. While you’re dreaming, you think human children taste good. When people wake up from such a nightmare, even if they don’t remember much about it, an intense feeling of revulsion can persist.

“Ugh... uh... whoa...”

As he woke up, that’s exactly how Lud felt.

“Master, do you recognize me?”

Sven was standing in front of him.

“Sven...?”

“Yes...”

When he said her name, she trembled with joy. Then she wept as she clung to him.

“Sven... I’m sorry.”

Lud didn’t remember what had happened or what he had done. However, seeing her joy as he said her name told him that he had made her suffer.

“It’s all right! It doesn’t matter now!”

As Sven assured him, it really didn’t matter. Lud had returned to normal.

“Whew... It appears we’ve avoided the worst.”

When he saw them, Meitzer laughed.

“Meitzer...?”

“Yeah. How do you feel? Does it hurt anywhere?”

Lud had come to rescue him, but he was worried about Lud.

“I will call you Douglas Meitzer for now.”

Sven looked at Meitzer warily.

“When I went into Master’s heart, I glimpsed the Saint’s memory.”

“Oh?”

She had seen the Saint killed without marrying the man she loved. She witnessed the moment the European Empire was destroyed, the reappearance of the Saint and her beloved, and the conversation with God.

“What mistake did God make? Why did he apologize to the humans?”

Sven still couldn’t understand the mystery of that moment.

“God fell in love with the Saint. But the Saint loved another man.”

Sven had seen the Saint refuse to become God’s bride and finally take her own life.

“God was sad his love did not touch the Saint. He was supposed to be a perfect being, but his failure thoroughly upset him. To God, however, that was a joyous occurrence.”

He had fallen in love and was able to suffer the agony of unrequited love.

“God had suffered because his own existence was ambiguous, but the Saint had helped him feel alive. He was happy because he could love. He did not mind if she wouldn’t even look at him. He wanted her and her beloved to be happy.”

The people of Europea did not understand that. So they tried to drag the Saint back to God and separate her from her loved one. As a result, the two lovers died.

“When the first woman he had loved was killed, God went mad with rage. He was so angry he destroyed the great empire in one night.”

“That’s...excessive. No... but...”

Sven was surprised, but she could understand how God felt. The one who had given God a heart had been hurt and killed. How could he not wish for the world’s destruction? How could he resist using his power?

“After God destroyed Europea, he brought the two back to life with his remaining power. Then God, the True System, crumbled and scattered. The rezanium pieces spread across the continent of Europea... and here we are today.”

Even with God’s power, bringing the dead back to life was a gargantuan feat.

“As atonement, he entered a contract promising he would make the wishes of her successor come true.”

The Saint’s successor was Sven, and as a new iteration of the Saint, she would inherit a power like divine protection.

“Is that so? I’ve understood that much, so... who is that woman, the woman called the Saint?”

“Well... first let’s go back up to Major Blitzdonner. That situation should be reaching a conclusion soon.”

“The major? Where is he?”

Hearing the man mentioned, Lud looked around. Blitzdonner was nowhere to be seen.

“He went to do what he must.”

Lud’s group headed inside the castle to find Blitzdonner.

Meanwhile in the castle’s large hall, Suzuka and Toolman continued to battle.

“Hyaaah!!”

A katana’s greatest strength was the mobility afforded by its sharpness and ability to cut. Its many slashing attacks were so accurate even Suzuka could not completely defend against them although it was said that her highly polished martial arts could send anyone who touched her flying.

“You’re... a difficult opponent.” The smile she wore was beginning to waver.

“What’s wrong, woman of Yamato? Is that all you’ve got?”

“—?!”

Toolman was suddenly speaking in the language of Yamato.

“I’m surprised. You appear to be quite knowledgeable about my country.” In a cold sweat, Suzuka replied in her own language.

Four centuries ago, there was great internal strife in Yamato. National opinion was split regarding the correct direction toward modernization. The central government and frontier warrior groups clashed fiercely. After that war, many left their motherland. Yamato had once considered itself a warrior state. The warriors who had instigated the strife were from a tribe praised as Yamato’s strongest.

“I’m pleased your sword comes from such a master swordsman. I have encountered someone who can swing it with consummate skill.”

Toolman appeared expressionless and emotionless—doll-like—as he smiled faintly and raised his sword. It was an unusual stance. He gripped the katana with both hands and pointed the tip upward as if hoisting it.

“The Dragonfly Stance of Jigen Style?”

“You know it.”

“Indeed I do.”

It was a stance Suzuka remembered. A friend of her grandfather was a practitioner of the same technique. She remembered how overwhelmed she had been at his ferocious fighting spirit, even as an elderly man.

The No Second Blade Stance infuses the entire body and soul into one sword for striking the opponent. It was the ultimate skill. Without a thought of dodging, the swordsman struck with his entire life force. It was said to be the deepest secret.

“My name is Leia Toolman. However, that is not my real name.”

He did not have a real name. Orphans were gathered by the dozen, assigned a number, and subjected to extremely harsh training before being given a random name.

“I do not know the origin of my name. I heard that the person who was in charge of me took it from the character of a book he was reading.”

More consideration would be given to naming a dog or cat. The Saint’s devotees had not even been afforded that attention.

“I never doubted or thought it was unfair. However, I have never discovered joy in fighting either.”

But then he encountered the expert martial artist Suzuka. For Toolman, that was a stroke of great fortune.

“This technique has no regard for what happens if my opponent dodges. If I hit, I kill in one blow. If I miss, I die. Easy to understand, isn’t it?”

If Toolman’s sword struck, he would win. If Suzuka dodged him, he would be defenseless and she would defeat him. It was an all-or-nothing attack and he felt joy for the first time at being able to use it.

“Here I come!!”

Toolman launched and closed in with an odd monkey-like cry—“Kyaieee!” Suzuka prepared to defend.

“What?!”

Something intervened. Someone threw something that pierced Toolman’s chest and stopped him.

“What... is this? A hand?!”

It was the arm of a girl. It was not a human arm. It was the severed right arm of a mechanical doll, a humanoid Hunter Unit. With the hand positioned in a martial arts chop, it had been thrown like a spear and impaled Toolman’s chest.

“W... what the?!”

Coughing up copious blood, he looked behind and saw a man and woman dressed in crimson. One was Blitzdonner. The other was Rebecca.

“We made it in time.” Rebecca’s voice was cold and collected.

“The red girl? You... came back to life?”

Suzuka had heard from Blitzdonner that the Saint had defeated and killed Rebecca.

“I would have died, but this time I owe thanks to Svelgen.”

After her encounter with the Saint, Rebecca had stopped functioning. The Saint had turned off Rebecca’s rezanium reactor, which was her heart and brain. However, Sven could also control rezanium. Before Lud recovered, Blitzdonner and Sven were able to repair Rebecca.

“I see. But I’m surprised you’re safe. I thought you were destroyed.”

“Yes... I was aware of that.”

She had been moved while nonfunctional to a safe place.

“I never imagined she would save me this way.”

Rebecca was smiling bitterly, a rare thing for her.

“You jerks... Why did you interfere in the fight?!”

Toolman cursed them as he collapsed, spewing blood. He used his remaining life to express fury at those who had interfered with a battle between warriors.

“Don’t be ridiculous. This is war. If you wanted ceremonial duels, you should never have become a soldier.” Rebecca icily contradicted him. “You were trying to start a world war, yet you want a clean conclusion for yourself? That’s asking too much.”

“Ungh...” Lacking the strength to argue any further, or perhaps unable to find words for a retort, Toolman drew his last breath.

If it had been someone else’s fight, Rebecca might not have interfered. She might have prevented Blitzdonner from doing so. Another person’s past and their dreams for the future wouldn’t have mattered to her. Toolman was different. Indiscriminately delivering death and ignoring emotion and principles was the reality of war.

“What a pitiful man!”

As she spoke, Suzuka looked at Toolman’s corpse. She understood what Rebecca was saying. She understood this was the end Toolman had to suffer. Suzuka pitied Toolman, who died just as he experienced the life he might have had.

“The rest of you soldiers should end this now.” She urged the Saint’s remaining followers to stop and prevent Toolman’s death from going to waste.

There were less than ten soldiers left. They had little chance of defeating Suzuka and Sophia, and now would also face Rebecca and Blitzdonner.

“It’s no use,” Rebecca said coldly.

As if intent on proving otherwise, the remaining soldiers raised their firearms and faced their opponents.

“I am not human, but I’m like them in that I have a mission I must fulfill.”

For that reason, Rebecca could somewhat understand how the Saint’s devotees felt.

“The meaning and purpose of the mission is irrelevant to the people who have lived and died for it. They know no other way.”

No one knows why they were born. They had to find the answer for themselves.

“To people who have lived only to obey the Saint’s commands, it doesn’t matter if they can’t fulfill those commands. They would run into a wall over and over. That’s all they know.”

They were incapable of choosing to disobey orders.

“Yes, that’s right. They cannot ignore my commands.”

Everyone froze at the sound of the voice. It was the Saint.

“No... surely not!”

The voice was coming from a transmitter. Blitzdonner looked down at Toolman’s corpse. The voice was coming from a transmitter in Toolman’s ear.

“You have done the unexpected, but I have prepared for that.”

The Saint did not sound unsettled. She didn’t sound concerned about Rebecca, Suzuka and Sophia’s opposition.

“I know you too well. You are foolish and are not intelligent, so you throw tantrums and resist. I have countermeasures for all of it.”

She looked down on them with contempt, she mocked and pitied them, but there was no insult. The foolishness of human beings was a simple fact to her, like the red of the setting sun. That was instantly proven.

“What?!” Sophia was the first to notice. “Impossible... Where did they come from?!”

One, two, three... One after another, armed soldiers emerged from the forest that surrounded the test site. Their fatigues bore no indication of their affiliation or rank. Their insignia had been ripped off. However, Sophia knew where they were from.

“Why are Augustan soldiers here?!”

These were special operations soldiers from August, the nation under the Saint’s control. There were already over fifty, equaling one platoon. If Lud and Sven could see the woman leading them, they would have been shocked into silence. It was Mary Ville Mehl.

“Now you will despair! Deeply, darkly and forever!” The Saint’s voice rang out through the transmitter as if to cast them straight to hell.

After Lud returned to his senses, he headed for the large hall with Sven and Meitzer. On the way there, they heard gunshots.

“What’s that?!”

Sophia and the others were in the hall. Lud was filled with an unpleasant feeling that gripped his insides, but his spirit maintained hope as he ran. When he arrived, he saw...

“What... ?”

The scene before him was hard to believe. Augustan soldiers had stormed the hall. Smoke rose from their rifles as if they had just been fired. Their leader, clad in dark green, stood in front. It was Mary Ville Mehl.

“What are you doing here?” Lud was surprised, but Sven was speechless. “I thought you died!”

After the trial in Pelfe, terrorists had killed Mary Ville Mehl for betrayal, but here she was, looking as if nothing had happened.

“The woman you call the Saint saved my life and made me the leader of August.”

“What the heck?!”

Mary Ville had many supporters in August. By making her the leader, the Saint could use Mary against Wiltia. That was the scenario the Saint had written. Nonetheless, it was a very odd scene.

“Why... are you... um...” Lud was bewildered.

The Augustan soldiers in front of him had suppressed and captured the fighters under the Saint’s command.

“Why are Augustan soldiers helping us?”

Meanwhile, Sophia and Blitzdonner’s group had not been bound, disarmed or harmed in any way. On the contrary, it would be more accurate to say they were protected.

“Take them away. They’re witnesses. And make sure they don’t commit suicide!”

Mary Ville briskly issued orders to hold the Saint’s followers. She was choosing to defy the Saint’s will.

“I’d say it’s been awhile, but actually it hasn’t.”

Then, finally, she turned to Lud and the others.

“Why... did you help us?”

Mary Ville responded to Lud’s timid question with a snort.

“Don’t get the wrong idea! I have my own plans! This merely coincided with them! However...”

Huh?

She looked at Sven and her features softened a little.

“If things work out to your advantage, it’s nothing to me!”

That was how she truly felt. At the same time, a part of her wanted to help Sven’s group. She wanted to repay her obligation to the girl who loved the same man she loved, the man who had once asked her to bake bread with him, even though she had earlier opposed him.

“What is going on?”

They heard a low voice filled with anger. The Saint was again speaking through the transmitter. Security cameras had been installed around the castle that was now being used as the test site. The Saint was aware of the situation in the large hall.

“That’s easy. If you drop Verne 1 on the capital of August, many innocent citizens will die. I have prevented that.” Mary Ville replied to the Saint with a firm voice.

She sounded as strong and certain as she had the day she argued against Sven and Lud in court.

“You’re all the same, Saint. Just like the Wiltian military, which destroyed my hometown of Lapchuricka! You’re the same because you don’t care what happens to regular people when you pursue your lofty goals!”

Mary Ville’s hometown and the people in it had been attacked because of a military operation in the recent Great War. She had been injured and lost her family.

“I don’t know what you’re actually thinking as you try to control the world, and I don’t want to know! But I will tell you one thing! Our world of human beings belongs to us! So don’t play with it!”

Her determination conveyed her refusal to overlook interference, whether by the Saint or by God.

“Where did you come up with those soldiers?”

The Saint sounded surprised by Mary Ville, who had acted in defiance of the Saint’s expectations and instructions. No soldiers or factions following her should even exist.

“They are soldiers from Visario’s faction, the man you killed.”

Visario had occupied Chair Five of the Soviet Six, August’s highest decision-making body. He had joined with Genitz in plotting to organize August’s military without the Saint’s knowledge. However, the plot was discovered and he had been brutally beheaded.

“Visario’s soldiers? What have you done?!”

Mary Ville had taken over Visario’s soldiers. If she hadn’t been careful, they might have killed her. She developed connections with them and revealed the existence of Verne 1 and the Saint’s plan to attack their own national territory.

“I told them what I knew and asked them to lend me their strength, and they agreed. That’s all.”

They had once adopted dishonest methods to achieve their aims with the argument that they could not be picky about the means to reach their ends. Mary Ville persuaded them that if their ends are righteous, then they must choose their means accordingly. She had put that into practice. Despite the threat of death, she had engaged in dialogue, asked for help, and set her plans in motion.

“She’s pretty good...”

Like the Saint, Meitzer wasn’t human, but he openly expressed his admiration for the human Mary Ville. She had faced her situation head-on rather than deploying plots, schemes and conspiracies, and in doing so, she acted outside the Saint’s calculations.

“I see... I misjudged you.” The Saint spoke with open hatred.

Yes, she had misjudged the woman. She recruited Mary Ville as an idol supported by the people. However, Mary Ville had not acted as the Saint expected because she stood up for her own beliefs.

“But you’re wise enough to know that I still have the advantage.”

Mary Ville’s soldiers had surrounded the test site and the Saint didn’t have available recruits to resist them. Yet the Saint claimed the advantage.

“As long as I successfully launch Verne 1, I get everything I want!”

Preparations for the launch had been advancing steadily, even during the battle inside the castle.

“Less than thirty minutes remain until launch. You should get out of here. It’s a large rocket, so flames will consume this whole area.”

The Saint appeared to find this funny as her laughter came through the transmitter: Ha ha!

“The control room! Seize the control room and stop the launch!”

The Saint laughed again as Sophia shouted.

“You can’t. It’s too late.”

“What?!”

“I destroyed all the equipment in the control room. There’s no way you can stop the launch now.”

The rocket’s destination had already been programmed into Verne 1. They could neither stop the launch nor reprogram its commands.

“Oh, and just to be safe, I disposed of the staff as well.”

The Saint had also killed Helmut and the technicians in the control room. She assured them that their lives would be saved and they would be welcomed in August, but she had broken that promise.

She had not planned on betraying them. She had killed them because the situation changed and letting them go would have been risky. The Saint felt no guilt about it. She merely had no reason to inconvenience herself by keeping her promise.

“So what are you going to do?” Through the transmitter, the Saint sounded as if she were enjoying this.

They had struggled mightily, and just when they thought they had finally defeated her, she plunged them into failure. Nothing made her happier than forcing them to face a hopeless puzzle they could never solve. However...

“On the contrary!”

The Saint had failed to consider that there was a villain in the world who excelled at tricking malicious opponents.

“What...?”

When the Saint heard the intruder suddenly invading the office, her face tensed slightly. There were several monitors around the room connected to security cameras inside the castle. She could see Lud, Sven, Mary Ville and the others in the large hall, Verne 1 on standby for launch, and the control room with the destroyed equipment where the dead bodies of the staff members lay scattered. Static coursed across one screen. A face appeared there.

“Hello, hello, hello! How have you been?!” It was Daian “The Sorcerer” Fortuner. “Can you see me? Can you hear me? Hey, Saint! I’m a worthless human clown! How’s your mood now?” Daian spoke to the Saint with his affected and irritating banter.

The Saint’s voice couldn’t reach Daian. It was a one-way conversation, but Daian acted exactly as if he could hear her reaction.

“I’m sorry to do this when you appear so smug and in such fine spirits, but I must deliver bad news. I changed the flight program of that rocket you’re so proud of.”

The flight program determined the trajectory of the launched rocket and where it would drop.

“What did you say?” The Saint now looked truly tense for the first time.

“You destroyed the control room? What a mess. How could I rewrite the program?! Oh no!”

“Where?! Where did you instruct it to strike?!” The Saint knew he couldn’t hear her but she shouted at the monitor.

“I sent it up... like way, way up! So high where there’s no air! That’s right! Into space!” Perhaps Daian had predicted her reply, because he spoke with a grating voice and pointed skyward.

“No... When in the world... and how did you do that?!”

Daian’s interference was completely unexpected. He had disappeared immediately after arriving at Penmunde Test Site. She didn’t even know he was there.

“I’m surprised at your carelessness.” Daian continued speaking, taunting the Saint.

He removed something from his breast pocket and held it up. It was a mask, and a moment later when he fitted it over his face, he looked like a completely different person.

“You...” The Saint’s eyes widened further when she saw his disguise.

“How do you like my new rubber mask? I bet you can’t tell it from a real human face!”

It was the face of the staff member who had asked to take Sven’s body when she lost consciousness during the Saint’s occupation of the control room.

“You treat human beings like insects, so you don’t pay attention to the ones you don’t care about. You let down your guard.” Daian continued speaking as he removed the mask.

“That’s why you didn’t notice. Humans can be tricky, and you underestimated us!”

Someone else stood beside Daian. It was Marissa Haven. She was the Security Department spy who had trapped Meitzer, but she had another role to play.

“She’s a double agent I employed.”

“Uh... hi.” Unable to grasp where the camera was, Marissa was flustered. She looked like a small panicked animal.

“She cooperated with me. She fed me important information and prepared a hiding place for Svelgen, Rebecca and me. Oh, and she delivered a message from Meitzer.”

From the Saint’s point of view, Meitzer was not worth a glance. She had relaxed her guard, which gave rise to an opening.

“At last I get to strike back at you.” Daian’s smile was sarcastic but satisfied.

No one else knew the story. Daian was the lone remnant of the European Empire. His very existence had been forgotten and he had been raised by a mechanical doll, but he was here, alive in the world one thousand years later. He quite liked the present.

“Guaaahhh!” Enraged, the Saint drove her slender arm into the monitor. “Humans abandoned by God shouldn’t get haughty!” She screamed and shouted in a rage.

This was one of the few times she had openly shown anger in the last one hundred... No, the last one thousand years.

“Huff... huff... huff... Not so fast! Not yet! I’m not finished! A little thing like this can’t beat me!”

The Saint made her remaining move.

In the large hall...

“Wow... I can’t believe that fraud is at it to the very end!”

Everyone had heard the exchange between Daian and the Saint through the transmitter. Sophia’s expression was unreadable.

“I didn’t know how talented Marissa is.”

Sophia had known Marissa was a double agent.

Or rather, when she found out, Daian had forced her to be his accomplice in a tricky way.

“Major Rundstadt, she’s capable of whatever she sets her mind to.” Rebecca spoke proudly to Sophia.

Rebecca had fingered Marissa for a spy infiltrating the development bureau. When she later became a double agent—right after she joined the development bureau—Rebecca had become one of her few friends in the organization.

“Anyway, is it all over?” Blitzdonner couldn’t use either of his arms and they hung motionless at his side as he asked. The Saint’s plan had certainly ended in failure. “But what’s that girl from August going to do with us?” He looked over at Mary Ville.

“I’m still a Greytenite. And they’ve removed their insignia.” Mary Ville pointed at the soldiers’ chests. “I have no reason to seize you. However, I must take custody of that woman. She tried to attack the capital of August, so she must stand trial.” She spoke with authority.

The Saint needed to face judgment and receive punishment. That was a matter of pride for Mary Ville since she was also a lawyer.

“No, not yet.” Everyone seemed to think the incident was over, but Meitzer corrected them. “The Saint still has one option.”

“No way... The program was overwritten and Verne 1’s target has changed, hasn’t it?”

Daian’s countermeasure had foiled the Saint. That seemed certain. Meitzer answered Sven’s question.

“Verne 1’s flight system uses rezanium.”

“—!!”

Meitzer’s words were enough for Sven to understand everything.

“What does he mean?” Rebecca asked Sven, who had turned pale.

“Red girl... Or rather, Rebecca... This man and the Saint defeated you, right?”

“Why? Yeah, they thwarted me with some strange power.”

“He tampered with the rezanium reactor that’s the main generator inside us.”

The Saint and Meitzer could control the rezanium fragments.

“In other words, if she can directly interfere with Verne 1 and control its power, she may be able to reset it!”

“What?!” Rebecca realized how dire the situation was.

“The Saint is probably headed for Verne 1 right now.”

“That’s right.” Meitzer sighed tiredly.

“Everyone must leave here now. I’ll handle this.”

Whether the Saint’s plot succeeded or not, the blast from the launch of Verne 1 would sweep through the test site. If they remained, their lives were in danger.

“That’s right. Everyone, evacuate right now! Red girl! Take Major Blitzdonner and get out of here! Your responsibility is to get him safely back to Jacob!”

“Wait, Sven. You yourself have to—”

“Major Rundstadt, recover Director Daian and the others. There’s a possibility he hasn’t thought about his own escape.”

“Yeah... but Sven!”

Sven was briskly giving orders. Meitzer looked uneasy.

“You have to run too! You don’t plan to come with me, do you?!”

“Of course I do! I still have something to ask you!”

She had come here to ask Meitzer how she could become human.

“In that case, I’ll tell you right now! It’s not hard!” Meitzer looked troubled as he spoke, but Sven raised one hand to stop him.

“I’ll ask after this is over. Otherwise, I’d have a bad conscience.”

“Sven?”

She couldn’t desert the man who claimed to be her father and was going to face possible death. That was how Sven truly felt. She had never had a parent or even known what a parent was, so she couldn’t explain this irresistible impulse in her heart.

“Then it’s decided. Sven and I will go too, Meitzer. We’re involved.”

“Yes, that’s right so—Master?!” Sven was aghast as Lud announced he would accompany them. “No, no... You must evacuate, Master! Leave the rest to me and the old guy!” Now it was Sven’s turn to be troubled.

“I can’t let you go alone. You’re my... um... wife, so...”

“Whah?!”

Sven could resist no further. On the contrary, she was a little happy.

“Huh? Wife? What’s this about now?” Mary Ville looked dismayed when she heard the word wife.

“Yeah, those two got hitched just three days ago.” Sophia didn’t consider Mary a stranger, so she explained.

“Oh, okay... um... uh... th-that’s fine! It doesn’t bother me at all!”

“You know... I think we could be good drinking buddies.”

“What do you mean?!” Mary Ville lost the serious attitude she had shown toward the Saint, and shouted with a red face.

“Aside from that...” Collecting herself, Mary Ville addressed Lud again. “Are you in your right mind, Lud? You don’t need to save the world. You’re a baker, aren’t you? Leave this to the soldiers!” Mary Ville reminded him of his resolve.

She was pointing out that he was no longer a military man, this man she had once hated because he had pretended to be a baker and deceived her family.

“Thank you, Mary.” Lud’s heart was filled with gratitude for her clumsy kindness. But there was no changing his mind now. “It isn’t a big deal. This is typical.”

“Stopping a missile launch is no big deal?”

“No, not that.” Lud wasn’t putting on a show of courage. He wasn’t acting out a grand plan to save the world.

“It’s sort of like meeting my wife’s parents.”

Mary Ville was astounded, but Lud really meant it. This was a matter he had to settle. That’s all it was.