The Combat Baker and the Automaton Waitress, Volume 9, page 10
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.
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.
