by SOW
Avei’s lecture echoed around Hildegard. Reduced armor meant the armored machinery didn’t have extra weight. And lightness was its own kind of weapon. The armored machinery didn’t retreat to avoid the looming Teepneuen. It ran as if to engage the enemy, but then sprang up at the last moment. It used the Teepneuen’s head as a platform for launching itself even higher.
“Ugh!”
Hildegard’s Teepneuen lost its balance and fell again.
“When your opponent is stronger, use that strength. If you then add your strength, you can release an even more powerful attack. Just like this...”
The armored machinery jumped again, and as it came down, it plunged its shovel in once more, adding its velocity and weight to the attack. This time, Avei aimed at the front of the Teepneuen’s head, where the face would be on a human being. The shovel struck deep and destroyed the Teepneuen’s sensory camera, used for vision.
“Not yet... Not yet!... Destroying the camera isn’t enough to... Not yet! Not yet!”
Inside the cockpit, Hildegard tried to calm herself in front of the now dark monitors.
I’ll stand up the body and switch to the spare camera... No, I should just open the hatch and use my own eyes!
Words swirled inside her head.
“What...? No way... Why am I shaking?”
She had finally noticed. Her teeth were rattling loudly. And her hands were visibly shaking. She was smothering in fear that the enemy could defeat her with power several ranks higher, no matter what she did.
“That can’t happen! Never!”
She gripped the levers tightly and tried again to stand. However, the Teepneuen’s leg joints just made an unpleasant sound and wouldn’t move.
“What the... Why? W-What’s wrong?!”
The display panel indicated a malfunction in the unit’s legs.
“Something is entangling the joints... So the legs can’t move?!”
Hildegard felt utter confusion, but the thought “No way!” crossed her mind. And then, with perfect timing, Avei spoke.
“I told you, impatience makes you tread carelessly.”
The wire that Avei had used to ensnare the Teepneuen’s leg joints now immobilized the machine.
“No... Up to this moment... They had it all planned!”
Hildegard was desperate. Avei had used the wire to surprise her opponent early on. After making Hildegard believe the attack was over, Avei went after the upper body to divert attention from the machine’s legs.
The Teepneuen was stronger than the armored machinery when it came to durability and power. Hildegard had thought she could win with just one hit or by overpowering her opponent. And because that was what she believed, it had defeated her.
It was a tactic used in card games. No matter how good the cards in your hand may be, or what kind of combination you have, your opponent can still win by knowing your hand.
The fight ended in victory for Lud and Avei—the Silver Wolf.
“Was I a little too mean?”
Inside the cockpit of the armored machinery, Lud was consumed by self-loathing.
“Not a problem! The opponent possessed greater power, so we had no choice but to bluff.”
But Avei cheered him up.
“Since our machine’s combat abilities were so much weaker, taking advantage of our opponent’s inexperience was the best way.”
“But still... your sharp tongue really hasn’t changed.”
By clearly and rationally pointing out their opponent’s inexperience, she had rendered her fearful and powerless.
“I don’t get your point.”
“I didn’t think so. You really haven’t changed!”
Lud attempted a slight smile. It was the same old conversation with a very good friend.
“Well, Colonel... I should go. Good-bye.”
“Understood. Thanks, Avei. See you later.”
“All right.”
After a while, the light inside the cockpit dimmed.
“She’s gone...”
The rezanium reactor had stopped and Avei didn’t reply. Lud opened the hatch of the cockpit and began to climb down.
A gunshot rang out.
“Come down, Silver Wolf!! One-on-one! Let’s fight one-on-one!!”
There stood Hildegard, who had escaped from her cockpit and now wore the face of a devil as she pointed a gun at Lud.
“I won’t lose to you! I’m from a family of warriors! Why don’t you get that?! Are you an idiot?!”
Reason wouldn’t work on her. She was now a girl possessed by the demon of war.
Hildegard pointed the barrel at Lud. In that tense moment, someone came from behind her and seized her arm.
“Stop this instant, First Lieutenant!”
It was the Schutzstaffel corporal who wore a mask over his head. He was also a warrior who honestly acknowledged their defeat.
“Let me go, Corporal! Why are you touching me?! This is contempt for a superior officer! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill all of you!!”
Even the corporal’s admonishment didn’t work on Hildegard, who cried and screamed like a child having a tantrum.
“Excuse me!!”
“Oof!”
The corporal’s fist drove into Hildegard’s stomach, and she started to lose consciousness.
“No way... Damn it... Damn it!”
Hildegard continued cursing until she frothed at the mouth and fainted, her eyes rolling back in her head.
“I know this is an unreasonable request, but will you let us retreat now?”
The corporal asked Lud as he picked Hildegard up in both arms, knowing that the time for a ceasefire agreement had long passed. Lud could have said, “Don’t be ridiculous,” but instead he agreed.
“Understood. But never come close to Organbaelz again. Never harm my friends. If anything like this ever happens again...”
“Would you kill us despite your convictions?”
There was no way of knowing what kind of emotion the corporal’s eyes held under his mask. However, one thing was certain.
Who is this guy?!
The corporal’s drive and force, even standing still, as now, suggested a powerful savagery. He had a fierce power and determination that surpassed Lud’s, and surpassed even that of his superior officer, Sophia. His ferocity could only have been obtained by fighting through Hell.
This man is just a corporal? He must have hidden his abilities!
Lud hadn’t just agreed to the corporal’s request because he didn’t want to continue a fruitless battle. He was also frightened by the man’s disquieting inscrutability.
“Pardon me. I spoke too bluntly. I will do as you ask. We will never come here again. Farewell.”
Still carrying Hildegard, the corporal turned his back, leaving himself defenseless as he left.
Lud found a gun lying on the ground. Perhaps Hildegard had dropped it. What if he picked it up and shot the corporal in the back right now?
What am I thinking?!
Lud’s instincts as a soldier were warning him, “If you don’t kill him, something much worse will happen later.”
And yet, Lud stopped himself. He wasn’t a soldier anymore, so there was no need for that.
Meanwhile, Sven was running along the path to the second Baelz mine. After the battle with Hildegard, she had removed the connector from her body and was no longer Avei. She was Sven once again. She went to rescue Jacob and Shylock.
“This is awful... Now I have a hole in my chest!”
Forcing a connection between the rezanium reactor in her chest and the armored machinery had ripped her artificial skin, and her pseudo skeleton was exposed. The hole was big enough to reveal that she wasn’t human. There was no way she could let Lud see her like this.
“Well, it’s under my clothes so he won’t notice...”
Unless she was taking off her clothes, and even her underwear, the hole wouldn’t be revealed.
She would only take her clothes off with someone
else if she...
“No, no, no, no! What am I thinking?! Seriously! I’m so embarrassed!♪”
When she thought about the person with whom she might have intimate relations, the person who appeared in her mind was Lud.
“What an embarrassing state you’re in, Svelgen Avei.”
“—!”
Sven stopped running when she heard the voice.
Night was over and the sun was rising in the eastern sky. Ahead in the murky dawn, Sven saw something like a human figure approaching.
Svelgen Avei was Sven’s name as a humanoid Hunter Unit. The person who knew that name was...
“Is that you, Rebecca?!”
Sven stiffened as she faced the girl with red hair and red eyes, wearing a red dress.
“If you’ve come here, then... Have you come to get me?!”
Sven knew about Rebecca. She was a sister machine created shortly after Sven. However, they didn’t share family bonds. It was impossible that she had come to restore their old friendship.
“Do not get the wrong idea. The director... Daian Fortuner doesn’t want that. My mission is not to capture you and take you back.”
Rebecca answered with no expression or emotion on her face or in her voice.
“You’re not here to take me back? Then, what...”
“I cannot discern the will of that man.”
Rebecca had no other response to Sven’s question.
“I see. That makes sense.” Sven understood.
The thinking of this man, who used weapons disguised as girls, was outside the realm of common sense. No one knew what he would do and nothing he did—no matter how strange— was impossible.
“I am here to protect Jacob Rosso and Joseph Shylock. That is all. And I have secured their safety, so by now they are back in town.”
“That’s...”
Sven noticed multiple gunshot holes in Rebecca’s dress.
“Why did you do this? No... surely you’re not...”
Rebecca had no obligation to Jacob or Shylock. Rebecca would never act without specific orders. However, there was one exception.
“Were you Blitzdonner’s private machine?”
“Affirmative.”
Rebecca agreed with a quiet voice.
The letter in Ellis’s collar had been from Rebecca. Sven had noticed something odd about the message. It had mentioned a “father and son,” but Shylock was Jacob’s grandfather. However, Blitzdonner was Shylock’s son and Jacob’s father. So, Shylock and Jacob were his “father and son.”
“Those numbers were Major Blitzdonner’s identification number. You thought that if I saw those, I would know it wasn’t a trap. Is that right?”
“Affirmative.”
Rebecca nodded in response to Sven’s question.
“The major... Where is Major Blitzdonner now?”
That was what Shylock, Charlotte and Jacob wanted to know.
“Unknown. Even I do not know. After the last battle, the major disappeared. But... he cannot be dead. That man cannot be dead.”
Rebecca voice was still quiet, but she was pressing her lips together.
“I am sure he will come back someday. So I protected them for him. That is all.”
“Rebecca, you...”
Sven was slightly surprised. The Rebecca she knew showed no emotion. She behaved like a mechanical doll. Sven had assumed that Rebecca didn’t have a “heart.”
“I’m glad for you.”
But Rebecca did indeed have a heart. It was the heart of a bold girl who waited patiently for the man she loved, no matter when he returned.
“You have no right to say that.”
Rebecca scowled and she looked a little embarrassed. Then she handed a small box to Sven.
“What’s this?”
“This is a first-aid kit. To repair our body parts. Use it to patch the hole in your chest.”
This was Rebecca’s way of apologizing for involving Sven in this incident.
“I appreciate this.”
Sven took the kit with a slightly bitter smile. Then, as if she had no other reason to stay, Rebecca turned to leave, but then paused.
“Oh... right. Svelgen Avei, I have one thing to tell you.”
“What is it?”
Rebecca squinted her eyes in a faintly sarcastic expression.
“I don’t know how much you admire the former colonel, but my master is a much better man.”
“What?!”
Sven was stunned that Rebecca would suddenly say such a thing.
“What are you saying?! What do you mean by that?! Don’t look down on my master! Stop right here!”
Sven was so furious that sparks could have shot from her head, but Rebecca left without saying anything further.
“Oh, man! When someone who rarely speaks finally opens her mouth, it’s nothing but trouble!”
Despite her anger, Sven chuckled.
“Urgh... We both have complicated natures.”
They were similar machines, but they didn’t view themselves as sisters. Nonetheless, Sven felt a little closer to that unfriendly redhead.
Epilogue
Three weeks later, at the military central headquarters in Berun, the royal capital...
A man appeared in Marshal Elvin’s room.
“I’m surprised you came. Please, have a seat.”
The room, which usually overflowed with stacks of documents and other materials, had been organized, and the old sofa had been exchanged for a new one. This visitor was very important: Joseph Shylock, chairman of Billions Trading.
“I will get straight to the point. At present, we are—”
Elvin’s principal objective in this meeting was to ask Shylock to become a sponsor of the regular army, and prevent the Schutzstaffel from taking control of the Weapons Development Bureau.
“A billion sigs.”
Shylock spoke just as Elvin opened his mouth.
“Whah?!”
Shylock’s words surprised even the great hero, and he let out an unexpected yelp.
“This is about money, isn’t it? That’s all I can produce right away. If it isn’t enough, I’ll add 500 million next month.”
The amount was enough to establish several new battalions of Hunter Units.
“But I haven’t even explained yet!”
“I know very well the situation you guys are in. Those Schutzstaffel jokers are after my money, but they won’t let me earn any. So I’m better off with you.”
The Schutzstaffel was trying to use Shylock as a pawn. But the regular army, while using him as a pawn, would also let him use them.
“From among the new patents that the Weapons Development Bureau is after, I want you to grant me those for technology that can be converted for civilian use. If you agree, then I will give you a billion more. Any objections?”
“You’re already familiar with the conditions?”
Faced with this man who held a very different sort of power than himself, Elvin laughed wryly.
“You might say that. And I’ll only sell the Eldorai, which is now under production, wholesale to the regular army. It’s a toy too great for those punks in the Schutzstaffel.”
Billions Trading was also manufacturing new weapons. However, the production line was limited, so clients ordinarily had to wait their turn. Shylock was promising to give the regular army exclusive use of the production line. In other words, it was as if Shylock had bought everything Elvin and the regular army offered for the asking price. It was ideal.
“But there’s one condition. If those Schutzstaffel goons harm my company or anyone involved with it, including me, you’ll handle it. Can you do that?”
“Of course. You are a valuable sponsor.”
Even if it didn’t actually deploy soldiers, with the army’s commitment to backing up the company, the Schutzstaffel wouldn’t be able to act.
“I don’t want to bother that bakery again...”
“Huh?”
Elvin looked puz
zled by Shylock’s mysterious mumbling.
“Oh, nothing. I was talking to myself.”
As Shylock sipped his tea, he asked Elvin a question.
“Hey, do you want to get into another war?”
He asked as if engaging in idle chitchat.
“No, a war now would—at the very least—destroy Wiltia.”
Wiltia had been the victor of the recent Great War. But Elvin, who was in the nerve center of the military, knew it was a victory on thin ice. The nation’s strength had been so exhausted that if the war had continued even one more year, the social structure might have collapsed.
“War is just one means of managing the nation. As long as it is just a means, I will give it my best, but managing the nation for war makes no sense.”
This was Elvin’s philosophy.
“For at least the next five years, we should focus on rebuilding the national strength and administering the new territories. Otherwise, the country will split in two from inside.”
“That isn’t enough.”
Shylock disagreed.
“It will take at least another seven years!”
With a grin, the greedy businessman spoke as if bartering over a purchase.
“Seven years? Is there something special about that number?”
“Yes, there is. I need at least that long to prepare an inheritance.”
As he said this, Shylock smiled as if enjoying himself.
Jacob had repeated what he had told Shylock before.
“I don’t want to kill you.”
The boy had thought and worried over it.
“I don’t think my father would have liked it.”
Shylock wanted Jacob to execute him, and for Jacob to inherit a clean future. That wasn’t what Jacob wanted.
“It doesn’t matter how evil you are. If you hadn’t existed, then I wouldn’t exist. I mean... I’m not sure how to explain this.”
Leaving all the sins in the past and living with a clean slate so that he wouldn’t face any unnecessary troubles... that might be easiest. But Jacob couldn’t think that such a life was the right choice.
“My father truly loved my mother. That’s why I was born. And you too... um... Grandpa... you loved Grandma. That’s why my father was born.”