The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress: Volume 4

by SOW

  This attitude was known as noblesse oblige. It was a noble’s obligation, even at the cost of being disadvantaged, to protect the weak and defy the strong. The phrase is translated as “the noble’s duty,” but it is also referred to as “false stoicism.”

  “Just go. I’ll take care of the rest. My house is fallen anyway, and if I invoke my family name for forgiveness, they won’t kill me.”

  In Hilde’s case, the word contained both meanings. It wasn’t sensible to feign such fortitude, but it showed her pride. But it wasn’t the weak pride caused by a fear of being hurt. Hilde was beginning to develop a strong pride that gives up on selfish, cowardly pride.

  “Maybe you will see your sister again!”

  “I told you. She’s already—”

  “Are you sure she is dead?! Have you seen any proof that she died with your own eyes?! You still don’t know for sure!”

  Ten years ago, in that backstreet, Heidrig believed the military would abandon his sister. But that wasn’t necessarily true. Perhaps she was lucky, and the military put her in the hospital, and she regained her health.

  “The chance that she’s alive isn’t zero! Maybe she’s waiting for you! But if you die, you’ll never see her again.”

  “...............”

  Lud lowered his eyes slightly as he listened to Hilde’s pleas.

  Her mother was dead. As were Lud’s parents. They no longer existed in this world. And you can never meet someone after they die.

  “The chance... isn’t zero...”

  Every time Heidrig tried to kill himself or someone else, his sister’s face appeared in his mind. He always thought she was accusing him of killing in order to run away from his burden. But what if that wasn’t true? What if it was a cry from inside him warning that if his sister was still alive and he died, he would never see her again?

  “Lud Langart...”

  “Yes?”

  “I’m sorry, but... I still want to live!”

  Heidrig spoke the words that, for these last ten years, he thought he hadn’t the right to utter.

  “I think that sounds good.”

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  Just as Lud answered, another voice spoke.

  Huh?!

  Lud whirled around.

  A masked man stood there, looking as if he had been there all the time. What’s more, he was holding a gun. It was the old revolver that Lud had kicked away, the gun that Heidrig had used, and that the terrorists had left behind with one remaining bullet.

  And he fired that last bullet into Heidrig’s head. A dry sound—blam!—echoed in the forest like a bad joke.

  “Agh!”

  Heidrig made a sound and then collapsed, blood spattering from his head.

  “Did you think you had that right? An impersonator like you should consider himself lucky to have lived this long.”

  The masked corporal spoke quietly, in a voice colder than the iron mask he was wearing.

  “Hey! Hang in there!!”

  Lud lifted Heidrig.

  “Ungh... Ungh!”

  Heidrig didn’t die immediately.

  However, his skull was shattered, and his brain and a copious amount of blood spilled out. There was no way to prevent his death.

  “Ungh... Unnngh!”

  He was barely conscious and couldn’t see or hear. He was barely breathing.

  “I’m... sorry...”

  Nonetheless, he gathered all his strength and spoke through hazy consciousness.

  “Sariya...”

  Sariya. Lud didn’t recognize that name. He thought it might be the name of Heidrig’s sister. But there was no way of confirming that.

  “Uarngh!!”

  Heidrig, the man who was called the Wolf Man, breathed his last.

  “What are you doing, Langart? Taking so long with such a man... That’s not like you. You used to finish people off splendidly—and with flair!”

  The corporal spoke to Lud as if addressing an old friend.

  Once again, Lud looked up at the man in the mask. What a collection of evil deeds he was! Not just one or two, but tens, hundreds, thousands. He exuded the overwhelming aura of one who sent tens of thousands of victims to their deaths, whether friend or foe.

  “It can’t be you...”

  Lud hadn’t noticed when they met before.

  He must have concealed his darkness by wearing the mask and pretending to be someone else.

  “Corporal!! You—!!!”

  Hilde screamed and tried to punch him. Furiously, she ran toward the man who had killed Heidrig when he might have lived a new life.

  “Huh?”

  However, before her arm could reach the corporal’s chest, she flew through the air and smashed into the ground without realizing what happened.

  “Uagh!!”

  “Playtime is over, First Lieutenant Hildegard.”

  As he said this, the corporal slowly placed his fingers on the hooks fastening his mask.

  Clink... clink... One by one, he undid the hooks and slowly removed his mask.

  “I knew it... It’s you.”

  Lud realized that his voice was shaking. The shadow of the war itself had followed Lud off the battlefield.

  “Genitz...”

  It was Genitz, the supreme commander of the Schutzstaffel and Lud’s commander when he was a Werewolf.

  “Lord Lieutenant General... Why are you disguised as the corporal?!”

  Hilde couldn’t believe what she was seeing and her voice trembled with fear.

  “Do not misunderstand, First Lieutenant Hildegard. This is not a disguise. I was always the ‘corporal.’”

  He had not just disguised himself as the corporal today. When he was in the royal capital with Hilde, when she had beaten and kicked him in a foul temper, the man inside the mask was always Genitz.

  “Why? Why?!”

  “When a man has authority, every word he speaks has power. He can make a soldier resentful merely by the difference in rank.”

  The military is a hierarchical society. The number of stars indicating rank on a soldier’s shoulders determines whose orders that soldier must obey. Even if that higher rank is held by a dog, or a pig, or even an incompetent young girl whose only skill is brandishing her fallen family’s name, a soldier must obey any order, even to crawl on the ground.

  “Tasting humiliation became my punishment. In that respect, Lieutenant, you were ideal.”

  Having a foolish girl dominate him had engraved in his heart the importance of his authority. To Genitz, Hilde had been no more than a symbol of self-discipline, reminding him never to become like her. And for him to say that directly to Hilde...

  “Thank you for everything, and now... good-bye, Lieutenant!”

  Genitz cast away the old-style revolver and drew his own weapon from the holster at his hip.

  “Stop!!”

  Lud shouted, but Genitz was already pointing his gun at Hilde.

  “That’s enough.”

  But Sven was even faster in swinging around behind Genitz.

  “You ridiculous clown!!”

  Sven’s adamantine fist, which could pulverize iron, was flying toward Genitz.

  “Order E56009490GRTT.”

  Before she could strike, Genitz muttered something softly.

  “—?!”

  At that moment, Sven’s body stopped. Her fist, which was a millimeter away from Genitz’s face, was frozen in midair.

  “What... did you... do to me?!”

  It wasn’t just her movement that was affected. She could barely speak. And an awful static that she had never experienced before was cutting through her thoughts.

  “That’s an emergency control code. Now, you cannot defy me.”

  “Why... But... No!”

  Sven could imagine the worst possible outcome.

  She now realized that Genitz was more of a monster than she had known. If Lud had taught her heart how to love, then Genitz was sure to carve disgust and hatred into
her bones.

  “Unnn... gghh... aaahhh!!!”

  Summoning all her strength, Sven screamed.

  If she couldn’t rip off these invisible chains, she could at least try to create the slightest chance of freedom.

  “M... Master!”

  Then, with a forced smile, she turned to face Lud, who was in shock.

  “I’m sorry... but I... can no longer serve you!”

  Then, politely, she bowed once, investing it with her greatest gratitude, her highest respect, and her deepest love.

  “Sven, what are you talking about?”

  Lud was in a daze, his understanding far behind the events taking place before his eyes.

  “You will be a wonderful baker without me, so forget about me!”

  For Sven, these words were so painful that it felt like they were tearing her apart. But she had to say them.

  “Please, just forget about me. Even if you see me again, it won’t actually be me!”

  This was the final service she could perform for her beloved master. Genitz had stolen what was most important to her.

  “And now farewell.”

  Sven raised her head, then turned her back on Lud and ran away.

  “Sven, wait! Sven!!”

  Lud shouted toward Sven’s receding back.

  No matter what the circumstances were, Sven never disobeyed his orders. But now she ignored his command and disappeared into the dark.

  “Oh, so that’s her response, eh? How admirable!”

  Genitz’s body rocked with amusement as he coolly watched this unfold.

  “Genitz! You... What have you done to her?!!”

  Lud was furious, and he leapt up from his knees, and with incredible speed, threw a punch.

  “Hmm...”

  But it didn’t connect.

  Like a willow in the wind, Genitz smoothly evaded Lud’s powerful attack, seized his arm, and bent his wrist ever so slightly, as if twisting a faucet.

  “Gaaah!!”

  Lud’s massive frame spun around in a half circle and crashed to the ground.

  “That was a pretty good move. It brings back memories, but it isn’t enough.”

  Genitz spoke dismissively, without sparing a glance for Lud, now prostrate on the ground.

  “I thought clashing with that man might awaken your past a bit, but... is that all you’ve got?”

  Genitz meant Heidrig, the man he had just killed.

  “Now then...”

  Genitz glanced at Hilde.

  “Eep?!”

  She was cowering, and the eyes he turned on her were kind, warm, and completely unconcerned.

  “I’m busy, so I can’t keep fooling around here. I don’t need you anymore. You can do as you please. So long, Lieutenant!”

  “Waaah...”

  All Hilde could do was tremble.

  “Wait!! What did you do to Sven?! Answer me!!”

  Lud shouted, but Genitz didn’t stop.

  Slowly, he walked in the direction where Sven had gone.

  “If you want to know, come to Berun. Come back under my command. Only I know how to make the best use of a Werewolf like you.”

  Leaving behind only those words, Genitz disappeared into the darkness.

  “Wait! Genitz!!”

  Lud shouted. But there was no reply.

  “What the hell?! What in the world just happened?!”

  Epilogue: Shop Closed

  At the Weapons Development Bureau in Berun, the royal capital...

  After a single gunshot, it wasn’t Sophia who fell.

  “You bastard!!”

  The one who fell was Daian Fortuner.

  “Aw, man... I’m not this heroic... am I?”

  Sophia had stood up, making a good target. Genitz’s bullet should have struck her chest, but Daian shielded her at the last moment.

  “Why... did you do this? You idiot!!”

  In the past, Sophia had yelled and called him an idiot countless times. But she never expected to call him that in a moment like this.

  “Yeah... I surprise even myself.”

  To Daian, Sophia was a luxury item.

  “Well, I was feeling whimsical!”

  Even suffering in pain, Daian answered in his ridiculously theatrical way.

  “I’m surprised. I thought you were more logical, Daian.”

  Still holding his gun, Genitz approached slowly.

  “Logical? What is the point of this? Soon, some very scary troops will come and rescue us!”

  “No problem. As long as I open the Door, I will have power that prevents anyone in this world from threatening me.”

  “You know about the Door? But how do you intend to open it?”

  Wiltia had forced open a Door, analyzed the technology inside, and created the Hunter Units that altered the balance of world power. For that, however, Wiltia had to pay reparations for destroying an entire city.

  “Do you intend to erase Berun from the map? You don’t have that much power.”

  “You say the strangest things. All I have to do is use the key to open it.”

  “Surely, you don’t...”

  Finally, Daian understood Genitz’s true intention.

  Genitz’s main goal wasn’t the Door. He wanted to open the Door, but the reason he had mobilized his forces was to secure the Door while simultaneously gaining the “key.”

  And the key was Sven.

  “Oh, so your goal was to acquire the emergency control code?”

  As if those words had expended what remained of his strength, Daian slumped and was still.

  “Daian! Hey! Damn it!!”

  Sophia was going to avenge Genitz’s violence, but soldiers silently appeared and immediately restrained her.

  “Urgh! What the... You goons!!”

  Sophia was a master of army battle techniques, but she couldn’t make a move.

  “They are Werewolves. In other words, they are my faithful minions.”

  “Werewolves... You keep these guys like you did Lud?”

  Sophia knew about the Werewolves. She knew that Lud was once a member, and that Genitz had ordered the slaughter of Lapchuricka.

  “Silence. You’re hurting my ears.”

  Genitz would exchange no further words with Sophia. Under orders, the Werewolves struck Sophia with their fists and she lost consciousness.

  “Now then, they caused a great deal of trouble.”

  Having lost Sophia and Daian, the security forces would no longer be able to resist Genitz’s forces. The development bureau had fallen.

  “Mop up any remaining guards and thoroughly search Daian’s lab. Information on the code must be there.”

  “...!”

  In silence, the Werewolves nodded and moved to carry out their orders. The remaining security soldiers died with no chance to resist.

  “L-Lord Lieutenant General... Um...”

  The soldier speaking timidly from behind Genitz was Captain Delz, commander of the siege troops.

  “I didn’t think you would come all the way here, Lord... But, anyway, splendid work!”

  He was so fawning, as he wrung his hands, that he looked more like a merchant than a military officer.

  He was afraid. He had mobilized over one thousand soldiers that night alone. And, in the end, Genitz was forced to come and finish the job.

  “You did well. Good job.”

  But Genitz did not criticize the captain.

  Delz was incompetent. And because he was incompetent, he was useful.

  Even allowing for differences in geographical advantage and weaponry, and in the quality of the respective soldiers, against a security force of fifty guards, Delz had lost the lives of hundreds. The soldiers’ resentment—their hatred—would fall on Delz, their incompetent commander.

  Running an organization required a clear object of hatred. It was necessary to have someone incompetent who could be sacrificed.

  “My apologies, Captain Delz, but would you be so kind as to arrange air transpor
tation?”

  “Hm? You’re not going anywhere, are you?!”

  Troops had mobilized in the capital. Considering what would come next, Supreme Commander Genitz couldn’t leave the royal capital.

  “Ah ha ha! Of course not. Someone else is leaving.”

  Genitz wasn’t the one leaving. The corporal in the iron mask was leaving.

  “If they start searching now, they will find what I seek by tonight. And with that, he will head for Organbaelz.”

  At last, sunlight was visible in the eastern sky. But it was already too late.

  With the defeat of the development bureau, the royal capital would fall under martial law. Now, even if regular army headquarters learned of the situation, there was nothing it could do.

  The curtain dropped on this battle, enacted on the stage of the development bureau, twenty-four hours before Thanksgiving in Organbaelz.

  Back in the present...

  “HUFF... HUFF... HUFF... I m-must hurry!”

  Helpner Canyon was a short distance from Organbaelz. Vertical cliff walls carved by the river spread beneath Sven’s eyes.

  “If I fall from here...”

  Sven was about to cast herself to the canyon floor.

  Genitz had activated the emergency control code. It did more than simply stop a Hunter Unit. It issued compulsory directives to the rezanium reactor that powered and controlled the Hunter Unit, thereby placing it under the direction of the person who input the code.

  Originally, the program was developed to stop rampaging Hunter Units. However, the program had a different function for humanoid Hunter Units.

  “No... Like this... I’ll...”

  She could tell that she was being rewritten with alarming speed. Her deep love for Lud was being redirected toward the man who had punched in the code.

  “I must hurry!”

  Her legs, which had carried her this far at full speed, wouldn’t obey, as if they were no longer her own.

  If she took one more step, she could cast herself over the cliff. If she did, she would undoubtedly break apart and be destroyed.

  She must do that. Otherwise, that man would use her to harm Lud. She had to destroy herself first.

  “You are about to learn what a robot is supposed to do.”

  “—!!”

  She heard the voice of the man who surpassed demons.