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...”