The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress: Volume 4

by SOW

  “A robot must protect itself. Only humans commit suicide, Svelgen Avei.”

  Genitz appeared. He had stolen Sven’s heart, the most important thing to her.

  “Get... the hell out of here!!”

  If she couldn’t die, then she would kill this man, so Sven spun around and tried to throw a hand chop.

  “Urgh...!”

  But she couldn’t.

  “Robots must never hurt a human being.”

  Genitz said this cruelly, but also as if he were enjoying himself.

  Sven could not kill herself or defy the man who now possessed her. Then she lost the final remaining part of herself.

  “And robots must obey humans.”

  “Noooooooooo!!!”

  Sven’s cry of desperation echoed throughout the canyon.

  A few moments later, silence fell again. A sudden silence, as if the world had changed.

  “Who are you?!”

  It was Genitz who asked this.

  “Svelgen Avei... SS-6R1...”

  Her voice was the same, but it sounded like an automated mechanical voice.

  “And who am I?”

  “Lord Lieutenant General Maximillian Genitz... my master.”

  “Very good! Most splendid!”

  Genitz laughed with immense satisfaction.

  “Thank you.”

  The rewritten automaton bowed deeply.

  “Now, let us go back to our home in Berun.”

  There is a small bakery in the small mining town of Organbaelz. The bakery’s name is Tockerbrot. The owner looks frightening, but he’s serious and skilled.

  The bread he served at the Thanksgiving festival the day before had won much praise. But, the next day, a sign reading “CLOSED” hung at the shop’s entrance. No one was inside.

  In the afternoon and that night, the closed sign was still hanging. And no one was inside. Neither the owner with the scary face, nor the cute, silver-haired waitress.

  Afterword

  And now... thank you very much for reading volume 4 of The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress! This time, I really drew out the main story, so there’s only one page left for the afterword. So I’ll keep this short.

  Just to be clear... This isn’t the end, okay? I’ve constructed this arc to last through two volumes.

  The archenemy Genitz is still out there, Sven has been abducted, Sophia is a prisoner, and Rebecca is on the verge of death. Lud must face his past and struggle to win his future.

  I hope you will read the next volume!

  I hope you’ll check out The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress, Volume 5.

  See you then!!

  SOW

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  Copyright

  The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress: Volume 4

  by SOW

  Translated by David Musto

  Edited by Hope Matthiessen

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2016 SOW

  Illustrations Copyright © 2016 Zaza

  Cover illustration by Zaza

  All rights reserved.

  Original Japanese edition published in 2016 by Hobby Japan

  This English edition is published by arrangement with Hobby Japan, Tokyo

  All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property.

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  Ebook edition 1.0: March 2020