The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress: Volume 4
Page 16
“He’s... I’m not gonna tell you, idiot! When one of them dies, then maybe I’ll tell you!”
After saying that, he laughed loudly again, as if something were very funny.
“Hey! Start fightin’!”
He shouted at Lud and Heidrig, who were just staring at each other.
“Hmm...”
As he pondered, Lud’s voice held no tension. Awkwardly, he raised a hand.
“I want to ask something just in case.”
“Yeah?”
Lud had asked so suddenly, the leader answered without thinking.
“Can’t we just pretend this didn’t happen? Can’t you just return the hostage and leave town?”
“Hunh?”
Lud’s casual request stunned the terrorists.
“You must have families and friends, right? I think you should stop doing this sort of thing and go back to a quiet life.”
They liked to call themselves terrorists, but they were actually just a gang of urban thugs. Those arrested during the earlier incident had been chosen to work for an undercover agent from August, so they must have been a little more skilled than these men.
“It’s still not too late.”
Lud continued trying to persuade them.
Studying their faces, one by one, Lud understood. They were little better than a backup team. The league may not have even formally recognized them as members. They were clearly amateurs, from the way they casually monitored their captives, the way they positioned themselves, and even their movements... They left themselves open.
But there was something else Lud noticed. They didn’t give the sense that they had done dirty work, like killing, before. They didn’t have that unique aura of those who had murdered in cold blood. It was obvious to someone who knew what to look for. Lud, who had killed many people, could sense another killer, even in a crowd. Other than Lud, there was only one person among them who bore the burden of such deeds.
“Cut the chitchat and start killin’ each other! Do it, you idiots!”
The leader grew excited and fired his gun in frustration. He shot without aiming. He had no intention of hitting anything, but it was clumsy.
“If you don’t hurry, I’ll kill this traitor first!”
He grabbed Marlene’s head, forced her to raise her face, and then put the gun barrel to her forehead.
“Huh?”
He had grabbed her so roughly that her veil came off.
Her hair fell free.
“Who’re you?!”
“Why would I tell a savage like you!!”
It wasn’t Marlene under the veil. It was Sven, wearing a nun’s habit, her silver hair now visible to everyone.
“I knew you didn’t know what the nun looks like!”
They weren’t able to tell the difference between Sven and Hilde. It was also likely that these thugs had never met Marlene, who was their local contact in Organbaelz. That’s why the Tockerbrot group had used a body double.
“How long are you gonna keep your hands on me?!”
Sven seized the large terrorist who was pushing her down by the arm, and threw him with all her might.
“W-Whaaat?!”
With one arm, she had tossed aside a grown man, who weighed nearly one hundred kilograms, as though he was an ugly doll.
“Gugh!!”
He crashed to the ground and lost consciousness.
“W-What the hell?!”
“W-What’s going on?!”
The other terrorists were panicking.
“Tsk! Utter morons!”
Sven spluttered with disgust, and jumped up to kick the man in front of her.
“Welp!!”
She then used that man as a foothold for launching herself again. She spun to kick the man on her right in the neck.
“Gwah?!”
She twisted her legs to ensnare him and he smashed to the ground. Then, using centrifugal force, she turned in midair to bring her foot down on the crown of the head of the man who was standing next to the fallen thug.
“Oof!!”
Hooking his head with her foot, she crushed him into the ground, and rebounding, she drove an elbow into another man.
“Gugh!!”
She had quickly defeated four men.
“Y-Yaieek?!”
“What is she?!”
“No one said nuthin’ about this!”
The other men were confused and terrified. There was no way these amateurs could keep calm after seeing a pretty girl waste half of them with monster-like force.
“Wait! Don’t run away yet!”
They had relied on their greater numbers and on makeshift methods rather than proper strategy. And the bonds between them were not strong, because some began to flee as soon as they lost the advantage.
“We’ve got a hostage, so there’s no need to be scared!”
“Whoa... Stop right there!”
Hilde was bound by rope and couldn’t move. Pointing a gun at her would halt Sven. At least that’s what the leader thought, but Sven grabbed his arm before he could make a move.
CRACK!
That wasn’t the sound of bone breaking—it was the sound of bone crushing.
Sven’s physical strength was superhuman. However, that was when her power limits were set according to a human standard. Tonight, she had released some of those limits. Now, her speed and strength were superhuman.
“Uaaaghhhh!!”
When Sven squeezed an arm, it was like pressing it in an industrial-strength machine. As his bone compacted, the leader struggled against the pain and dropped his gun.
“You’re noisy!”
Sven stomped on his face, adjusting her strength to merely crack the cartilage of his nose, and knock him out.
“There! All done!”
The Pelfe Liberation League’s scheme ended in total defeat.
“Are they really that dumb? They send a threatening letter to summon us to their hideout, and then they put the hostage where we can see her. That’s worse than amateurish!”
The letter had even specified a time and place. That was extremely foolish because it ensured that the Tockerbrot crew could discover their number, their arms, and any traps.
“They should have prepared a sniper or two! I feel like they were just patronizing us!”
Furious, Sven rattled off complaints, but the main source of her anger was that they had underestimated Lud, who was a battle-hardened veteran.
“Here. Are you okay, you silly girl? What’s the deal with a former kidnapper getting abducted herself? In the east, people describe this as poetic justice.”
As she grumbled, Sven untied the ropes around Hilde.
“Ungh... Ow!”
Hilde was too terrified to form proper sentences. The terrorists had beaten her, and her face bore the bruises.
“It’s all right. We solved the problem. Were they too awfully horrible to you?”
No one likes to believe it, but there are people in the world who gleefully commit acts so barbaric that there are no words to describe them.
“Ngh...”
Trembling, Hilde shook her head.
She had been spared the worst. It was only for a short time, but the young girl had been trapped among savage men. It wasn’t hard to imagine how terrifying it had been.
“You’re safe now.”
Sven reassured Hilde and held her tight.
“SOB... SOB... Waaah!! Waaaaah!!”
Finally relieved, Hilde began to cry as if expelling all the fear she had held inside.
“You are too... but... that girl’s weird.”
Heidrig mumbled this while staring at Sven, who was holding the sobbing Hilde as if she were her mother.
“I thought she hated the first lieutenant!”
Sven had offered to serve as Marlene’s replacement and to defeat the terrorists because that was what Lud wanted. However, she was now holding Hilde, who was trembling in fear and bawling like a child, out of choice.
“I guess not...”
Heidrig agreed with Lud and walked toward Sven and Hilde.
“That’s why the world is such a difficult place.”
Heidrig picked up an old revolver lying next to the fallen leader. There had been six bullets inside. The leader shot two, so there were still four left.
“Heidrig...?”
Hilde didn’t know what her companion was up to.
But Heidrig didn’t reply. He gripped the gun and pulled back the hammer.
“Sorry, Lud Langart.”
Then he pointed the gun at Lud and pulled the trigger without a moment’s hesitation.
A dry, hollow gunshot echoed through the forest.
“Heidrig... What are you doing?!”
Hilde shouted at him.
“What do you mean? Can’t you see? I’m trying to kill Lud Langart. The time has come to proceed with what you ordered. That’s all.”
Heidrig answered matter-of-factly, in a tone that was frighteningly even.
“But even when you’re surprised, you can still dodge.”
The bullet hadn’t struck Lud. Heidrig had aimed at his target, but before Lud could think, his ingrained soldier’s reflexes took over and he ducked.
“But that was close.”
Close but not perfect. The bullet had grazed Lud’s temple and he was bleeding.
“Stop, Heidrig! I don’t want you to kill him anymore!”
“Why? Have you become attached to him? If I don’t kill him, you’ll die!”
“What are you talking about?!”
Hilde didn’t understand that her poor judgment and careless actions had endangered her life.
“First Lieutenant, you’re not cut out to be a soldier. It doesn’t matter if you become a singer or a baker, but live a different life. You’re more likely to be happy.”
As Heidrig spoke, he cocked his weapon to put another bullet in the chamber.
She had revealed her identity and put herself in a tight spot. Hilde could be accused of not having enough imagination. However, what is imagination? Hilde should have imagined the possible consequences for Heidrig and herself before she undertook this mission. It was better for her not to imagine such possibilities.
“Live a righteous life. Don’t keep making the mistakes I made that branded me a Wolf Man.”
There were three bullets left in Heidrig’s revolver. That was enough for Heidrig to defeat Lud, who was barehanded. However, one person present didn’t care about the number of bullets.
“You!! What are you doing to my master?!”
Sven was furious and leapt toward Heidrig at top speed and at full power.
“Don’t move, Sven!!!”
“—?!”
Her master stopped her.
“Don’t move! Stay with Hilde! Please, don’t do anything!”
Lud shouted more desperately than the threat to his life warranted.
“Please... Just please!”
Her goal was always to protect Lud. She would do anything he wished. However, when there was a threat to Lud’s life, she would act to protect him, even against her master’s orders. She had been doing this since she was the Hunter Unit known as Avei. This time, however, she stopped.
Why?! But...
It wasn’t from fear that Lud would hate her. Her heart told her that if she forcefully intervened, it would be the same as killing Lud.
“I told you, Heidrig. I know your true identity.”
“Yes. To be honest, that surprised me. Since everyone thinks that’s who I am, I came to accept it myself.”
Lud and Heidrig stared daggers at each other. The words “true identity” confused Hilde and Sven.
“True identity? Heidrig... who are you?”
His back turned, Heidrig answered without looking at Hilde.
“I am not the Wolf Man.”
“Huh...?”
Still not understanding Heidrig’s words, Hilde stared at him blankly.
He didn’t clearly remember when people started speaking about “the Wolf Man” during the Great European War. At some point, however, the soldiers of the Republic of Filbarneu, Wiltia’s enemy, whispered the name.
The Wolf Man had poisoned a commander on the front. And the Wolf Man had secretly instigated a speedy defeat against the enemy during a siege. Further, the Wolf Man exposed information about logistics units that resulted in a breakdown of the supply chain.
Eventually, the moniker of the Wolf Man appeared in official army reports. An article appeared in a Filbarnian newspaper claiming that a Wiltian special ops soldier with the codename Wolf Man threatened the Minister of the Army, and stole one million flones from the military budget. This turned the Wolf Man, whose existence was now confirmed, into an object of hate, not just for Filbarnian soldiers, but for all of Wiltia.
But the true story was different. There had never been a Wolf Man.
Since long ago, the neighboring nations of Wiltia and Filbarneu were never on good terms. It began with a border dispute, in which one side claimed certain territory and branded the other as an invader. The two countries would then criticize each other’s culture and history, while rehashing the past and cursing at each other as barbarians.
The nations, buffeted by turbulent winds, became enemies when the Great War erupted, and would clash without reason or logic. Each nation tried to keep its dignity by obstinately carrying out a war it refused to lose.
In the recent Great European War, however, Wiltia introduced a weapon—the Hunter Units—that drastically changed the course of the war and the very basics of war strategy. Unable to resist that onslaught, the command centers of the Filbarnian military blamed each other, and ultimately, some were quick to betray their homeland and searched for a pipeline to Wiltia.
Filbarneu would be destroyed from within before the Wiltian military invaded the capital. This scenario became a distinct possibility.
Out of this, the cynical strategy of the “Wolf Man” was born. He was to serve as a scapegoat to distract the citizens and the soldiers on the front from their mounting discontent. The Wolf Man was the lead character in a tall tale that claimed, despite the best efforts of the Filbarnian government and military, the enemy nation of Wiltia had sent a monster to defeat them.
There was some truth behind each story. For example, the commander who supposedly was poisoned by the Wolf Man, had neglected his work in favor of frequenting brothels, and had actually died during sexual intercourse. The failure of the siege was due to a botched strategy by an incompetent general who bought his rank through connections and wealth. The supply chain had broken down because of the flow of goods into illegal channels. The theft of military funds was the result of the Minister of the Army fattening his own purse.
The truth behind each incident would have cast a shadow on the dignity of the military, and the prestige of the nation. That’s why the Wolf Man was created. A scapegoat was required to cover for the authorities. The republic received cooperation from the newspapers and the media, and the Wolf Man was born.
“I was a soldier in the Wiltian army. I was in the cooking unit. My daily job was feeding the troops, so I’d only touched a gun during training.”
But Heidrig didn’t dislike his life in the military. It was more suited to his personality than killing on the battlefield, and there was little danger.
Many soldiers mocked him for not serving in combat, but since he prepared hot meals 24 hours a day, many others expressed gratitude.
He even hoped to open a small restaurant when the war ended and his service was up.
“Then one day, my regiment fell under surprise attack and was destroyed. The Filbarnians took all noncombatants prisoner.”
Filbarneu had a competent commander. Despite inferior numbers, poor equipment, and flagging morale, he had cobbled together a surprise attack and d
efeated Heidrig’s regiment.
“They put me in a concentration camp. Then one day, an officer from Filbarneu showed up. He looked me in the eye, and said I would suffice.”
Filbarneu couldn’t keep a fictitious character alive with only false information, so they needed an actual prisoner from Wiltia in order to announce the capture of the Wolf Man.
“The Wolf Man isn’t even a special ops soldier? You were just a regular?! No way! That’s ridiculous!”
Hilde couldn’t believe what Heidrig told them.
“Then why didn’t Wiltia deny it?! Besides, your combat skills are real!”
It would have seriously damaged Filbarneu if Wiltia had revealed the lie. Wiltia could have humiliated Filbarneu by exposing its inability to continue the war without spreading a lie among its citizens and soldiers.
“There’s a reason. There wasn’t a Wolf Man, but at the same time, there was.”
“Huh? I don’t understand. What are you talking about?! Argh!”
Now Hilde was completely confused.
“In the Wiltian military, there was a top secret special force called the Werewolves.”
The force had worked undercover, locating enemies, and plotting—sometimes carrying out—assassinations. They were a dark unit that Wiltia never made public. These operatives weren’t in the official records because they liquidated important figures in enemy nations, and within Wiltia. If their names were revealed, it would deliver a crippling blow to Wiltia.
“Isn’t it ironic? You thought it was all the work of a fictitious Wolf Man, but there actually were real Werewolves! It’s a lot like the story about the boy who cried wolf.”
Filbarneu told lies and Wiltia hid dark deeds. Heidrig was stuck in between and had become the Wolf Man when the two came together.
“In Wiltia, they knew the Wolf Man was fake, but if they exposed that, people would have learned about the Werewolves. When both major nations won’t reveal a lie, then the fabrication becomes the truth.”
The role of the Wolf Man was thrust upon Heidrig. And, from prison, he desperately pleaded his innocence. But no one listened. While he feared execution at any moment, the Great War ended and he was to return to Wiltia.
“Wiltia spent a lot of time on complicated deals to reclaim me, a military cook, and then threw me in a dungeon.”