Epilogue: Coco Vent D’or’s Report

There was a war. It started after Wiltia, the victorious nation of the First European Great War, conducted a ballistic missile experiment. Later generations called it the Penmunde Incident. The Wiltian government claimed the demonstration was a rocket launch test, but its effect was to deepen suspicion across the European continent and other continents as well.

For the next seven years, diplomatic efforts attempted to divert a war between the pro- and anti-Wiltian nations, but they could never come to an agreement. Wiltia’s former ally Noa still harbored a grudge over the mysterious disappearance of General Douglas Meitzer, so momentum steadily built among its war hawks. Tensions in both camps eventually reached the boiling point and hostilities broke out, beginning the Second European Great War.

As the result of advances in science and technology, this war was worse than the previous Great War, involving not just the continent of Europea but the entire world. The scale was not restricted to one continent, and the conflict was called a world war.

The previous conflict known as the European Great War was renamed the First Great War and the more recent conflict was named the Second Great War. The Second Great War bathed the world in destruction and carnage on a scale never experienced before. Humanity’s only salvation was that the war didn’t last as long as the previous war.

Some said that if it had continued for even a few more years, human society would never recover. The number of missing, injured and killed surpassed the previous war, and entire towns and countries were obliterated. But the war ended. National boundaries were redrawn. Some nations gained independence and were reborn. And, both the owner and employee of a tiny bakery went missing.

Year 935 of the European Calendar.

My name is Coco Vent d’Or. I was born in the Second Republic of Filbarneu and I am now an investigator for a war history research center affiliated with the Society of Nations. My job is to analyze the records of the Second Great War, the largest war in human history.

I began investigating Lud Langart, but over fifteen years have passed since he disappeared. It was difficult to find anyone who remembers him. In a small town called Organbaelz, a woman now runs his old shop. The bakery owner is named Milly and she apparently was Lud Langart’s apprentice.

“You mention a name that brings back many memories. I’m sorry, but I don’t have anything to tell you.” The shop owner smiled jovially and said she didn’t know anything about him.

No letters had come from him since he went missing. I asked the other villagers, but they all said the same. They didn’t know anything.

It was around Thanksgiving. They treated me to an ahorn herbst, the shop’s original and popular product baked in the shape of a horseshoe. It was delicious.

Apparently, the singer Hildegard von Hessen, known throughout Wiltia and across Europea, visits every year at this time. I wanted to see her performance, but I couldn’t stay.

As a side note, the town had an unusually large population of cats.

Berun, the royal capital of Wiltia, fell under attack by allied forces during the war and was burned to the ground. Billions Trading dedicated itself to the recovery effort. The company, one of the largest in Wiltia, had stained its hands dealing in munitions during the war, but had since abandoned the weapons industry.

The chairman Shylock resigned. Organizational reform followed, and Billions became a leading force in the war recovery effort. The new chairman of the company is Shylock’s grandson, Jacob, still in his twenties. The stir his appointment caused in the business world is still a fresh memory.

It’s said he too lived in Organbaelz during his youth. According to rumor, he was close friends with Lud Langart, but...

“I couldn’t say. I do wonder what happened. Where did he go?”

His face is young, but he’s already a very skilled business man. Those who attempted to use him have seen their own designs come back to bite them, over and over again. They suffered the ignominy of forced mergers.

The talented young entrepreneur smiled as he answered. “It doesn’t matter, does it? I don’t think tax dollars should go toward investigating a baker. Is that all you wanted to ask? I’m sorry, but I have a busy schedule ahead.”

It appears he is so busy because he doesn’t want his mother and father to have to be involved with running the business.

“Maybe he’s gone down south around Buzanpur. He’s not young, but perhaps he still feels like a newlywed.”

He laughed as he left the room in the company of a red-headed secretary.

I next visited a small town in the rural outskirts of Wiltia. It was originally the domain of the noble Rundstadt family. After the war, Wiltia abolished the nobility. However, former subjects still revere House Rundstadt and refer to its leader as “Lady,” a term of endearment. That lady is the former Wiltian military officer Sophia von Rundstadt. She was once Lud Langart’s superior.

“I’m sorry you came all the way out here, but I don’t know where he is now. I haven’t seen him since he left the military.”

Rundstadt is a former colonel in the principality’s military. During the war, she demonstrated ample valor. However, to buy time for friendly troops to retreat, she brought up the rear and fell prisoner to the allied forces.

After the war, she faced a military court. Instead of protecting herself, she tried to guarantee the positions and rights of the soldiers who had fought under her command. Her high-minded determination earned her respect even from the allied soldiers, her former enemies.

I sensed she was a woman of great dignity. She’s in her middle forties, but she remains single. The reason is unclear.

She has returned to her former home, where she put her family’s assets in order and used them to start a foundation taking in war orphans. She looked radiant when the children called her Mama.

I spoke to many people with connections to Lud Langart. No one had news of him. Tockerbrot’s former waitress has also disappeared.

The Penmunde Incident, which started the Great War, occurred at about the same time that Langart disappeared. Even now, the incident remains shrouded in mystery.

Another department is also investigating, but a complete picture has yet to emerge. A friend working in that department told me something. There is suspicion that the August Federation was involved in this incident.

After the war, August joined the Society of Nations and became a member of the security council. However, the other European nations, along with the major countries around the world, remain uneasy because of August’s immense size.

Without expecting success, I submitted written questions to August’s ministry of foreign affairs about Lud Langart. I received an answer surprisingly quickly. However, the response wasn’t very forthcoming. What the reply amounted to was, “We don’t know.”

I stared closely at the final sentence, which was handwritten rather than typed.

“It is difficult to see why the individual in question requires investigation by an international organization, so it’s advisable to stop the investigation.”

It was a casual suggestion, but the person who included that sentence was Mary Ville Mehl, the August Federation’s legislative council chairwoman and general secretary. She is effectively the supreme leader of August. Why would she go to the trouble of adding a handwritten comment? It sounds very much like a warning to stay out of the matter.

Despite that warning, I didn’t halt my investigation. I was afraid. However, I was close to the truth, so I couldn’t turn back. I was on my way home one night when a luxury car pulled alongside and men in black blocked my way.

I thought, “The time has finally come.”

The color of the car’s license plate was one used by embassies, and the number was assigned to the Noa Embassy. Before I could wonder why this superpower was involved, I was shoved forcefully into the back seat. I was unable to cry out. That wasn’t because they prevented me from making noise. I simply froze in fear and couldn’t move.

“Don’t worry, Miss. We do not intend to harm you.” An individual in the back seat spoke in a strangely theatrical way.

“Who are you?”

“Pleased to meet you. I am Daian Fortuner.”

I was shocked to hear his answer. That name had come up once in the course of my investigation. He had been an evil individual during the war.

He disappeared after the war, giving rise to theories that he was dead. But he had used his brain as a bargaining chip to defect to Noa, which had been victorious in the war. To this day, he works in research and development for Noa.

“I hear you’ve been sniffing around about Lud Langart.”

“You know that? How are you involved?”

I had known he was somehow connected to the mysteries surrounding the war, but now encountering this monster, I shivered all over again.

“It’s a problem for you to investigate him. A problem in many ways.”

My back was drenched in sweat. Imagining what he might say next, I couldn’t stop myself from trembling.

“It’s time to put this to an end, but...”

“But?”

He didn’t intend to do anything to me.

“Lud wouldn’t like it if someone came to harm on his account.” Daian laughed as if something was very funny and my face tensed in confusion. “So I’ll tell you what happened. Someone like you won’t give up until you’ve learned it all.”

Daian told me the truth about Lud Langart. It was just a brief rundown of the key points, but they were nothing like what I might have imagined. My desire to ask questions faded and I just sat astounded.

“An ancient empire? Humanoid Hunter Units? Magic doors?” I could only repeat fragments of what he told me.

“Yes. The Saint had controlled world history from behind the scenes, but she was launched into space, and that was the end.”

It was difficult to believe, but I fired off the question I most wanted answered.

“What became of Lud Langart and that... humanoid Hunter Unit named Sven?”

“They barely got away in time but they escaped safely. However, that’s what caused the trouble.”

According to Daian, their power was too great. They had the power to control anything derived from rezanium. It was not an overstatement to say it was a power capable of controlling the world. It was truly the power of God. Various organizations would investigate what happened at Penmunde, and their treacherous hands were sure to reach Lud and Sven in time.

“So I arranged for them to leave Wiltia.”

Daian had them escape by taking the submarine given to Yamato all the way to the island nation on the eastern edge of Aesia.

“Then I falsified the reports, erased their trail, and asked everyone involved to keep their mouths shut.”

“Like the bakery owner Milly in Organbaelz, the chairman of Billions Trading and Lady Rundstadt?”

“Yes. And many others. Many others. Everyone cooperated willingly.”

Many people and even an enemy nation cooperated to help Lud and Sven escape to a peaceful land.

“That’s the truth. The two just wanted to live as bakers, and I made it happen.”

The truth was finally revealed. However, it greatly differed from what I had imagined.

The power of an ancient empire... A blessing from God capable of controlling the world... If I write a report with contents like that—that sound like the plot from a third-rate novel—no one would believe it.

I had a hard time believing it myself. It might actually be better to write it up as a novel. At least my boss wouldn’t yell at me.

“What will you do now?” I had no response to Daian’s question, so I just shook my head.

My investigation had to stop. I thought it was best the world remained ignorant of these events. History could handle the rest by burying the details.

“That’s all. Thank you for your cooperation.”

Daian ordered the men in black to open the car door. He must have believed I would cooperate, so he set me free.

Stepping out of the car, something still bothered me.

“May I ask one more thing?”

“Yes?”

“What are they doing now?”

Had Sven become human? How were they living in that distant country? Daian answered my question as if he found it humorous.

“They’re bakers, of course. They are out there somewhere baking bread for somebody.” He laughed like a young boy.

Then I suddenly remembered. After losing the war, many people condemned Daian Fortuner as a traitor for abandoning his nation and defecting to Noa. However, rumor has it that he cut a deal according to which the victorious nations would not brand his friends and lovers as war criminals and put them to death. It’s an unreliable rumor, but for some reason I’d like to believe it.

This is everything I learned about Lud Langart. I do not intend to make this report public. I don’t intend to show it to anyone. I will keep it secret.

Even if someone happens to read this, years from now... It is likely everyone involved will have departed this world. So, this is the end.

Postscript: The Popular Waitress of Tockerbrot

Time passed. The incident turned into a record and the record became history. Over eighty years flowed by and those involved in the events that day have died.

Then... In a residential area on the edge of the capital city of an eastern island nation...

A bakery stood on the corner of the street. The shelves inside the shop were lined with bread. There were anpan rolls, apple danishes, jam buns, chocolate cornets, potato bread rolls and an entire corner of baked sweets with horseshoe-shaped bread and baumkuchen.

For some reason, the melon bread had a label that read “Pineapple Bread.”

“Anyway, bread was treated like manju sweets long ago, so it came to be called sweetbread. That’s why breads eaten at meals were eventually called dinner bread.” A waitress in the shop was delightedly explaining to a customer.

“Oh, really? I didn’t know that.”

This shop had supposedly been here since before the war. For many years, the local people had loved all its bread, carefully prepared and baked in the shop’s oven. Today, a girl from the local high school had come to visit.

“I recommend using this bread for cutlet sandwiches. We use a moist and sticky dough that bakes up nice and fluffy, so it’s perfect for sandwiches with strong-tasting ingredients.”

This high school girl said she was inviting a boy on a date tomorrow. She wanted to take a handmade cutlet sandwich, which she knew he liked. She had asked the waitress for advice, and the waitress was glad to help.

“It has long been said that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach! I wish you fortune in war!”

“In w-war? Ah ha ha...” The waitress’s cheerful tone confused the student.

She was famous in town. Everyone knew the popular waitress. As always, she wore a bright smile as she handed the student bread in a wrapper.

“Um...” Then the student noticed something and asked the waitress a question. “That photograph over there... Is that you?”

The wall of the shop was decorated with framed photographs. One of them showed a girl who looked exactly like the waitress. However, it was a very old black-and-white photo. It was from over half a century ago, or maybe more.

“Tee hee... No.” The waitress firmly denied it.

“That photo shows my great-grandmother when she was young. People often say we look exactly alike. But the color of our eyes is different. You can’t tell in black and white, though.”

“Oh... right. Then what about the photo beside it?”

“Well, that’s...”

The photo next to the first one showed an elderly Western couple.

“That’s my great-grandfather, who founded this shop, and my great-grandmother.”

Underneath the photo were the words, “Mr. and Mrs. Langart, 50th anniversary of their store opening.”

“They both passed away before I was born. I heard they were very close.”

The two in the photo had wrinkled faces and were happily smiling.

It’s a small bakery in a town somewhere. The shop’s name is Tockerbrot. If you come across it, I highly recommend stopping in. A charming waitress is sure to welcome you with a smile. They are eagerly awaiting your visit.