The two nations of Pelfe and Wiltia once shared a border. After Wiltia annexed Pelfe, they were unified and a rail line connected their two capitals. It would take surprisingly little time for Lud and the others to travel from their home in Organbaelz to the Wiltian royal capital of Berun. The journey would take less than two hours by air, and if they left by rail in the morning, they would arrive by evening.
An uncomfortable atmosphere enshrouded a corner of their railway car.
Chatter... chatter... chatter...
The other passengers showed a mixture of curiosity and fear. They were staring at a group of individuals who were clearly different.
“I just might be the most normal in this bunch,” muttered Blitzdonner.
“What do you mean by that, Major Blitzdonner?” Sophia looked pale as she spun around to face him.
“After all, you...” Blitzdonner quickly averted his eyes.
The compartment held the four of them: Blitzdonner, the military officer Sophia, the bizarre and clown-like Daian, and the frightening Lud with his scarred cheek. That alone was enough to make a very strange group, but in addition, Sven and Rebecca—white and red beauties—were sitting in the compartment behind them.
“They have no idea who we are...”
Saying they were a group of traveling performers might have put the other passengers at ease.
“Yeah, well...” At a loss for a reply, Sophia just hung her head wearily.
“Rundstadt, are you all right?”
The late night of drinking was taking its toll, and Sophia was in the throes of a hangover.
“Agh! I totally failed!”
“Are you all right, Sophia?!”
“I’m fine!” As if to salvage her pride, Sophia answered with a show of strength, holding her splitting head.
“Sophia, don’t exert yourself. How about lying down?” Daian made his suggestion with a slightly exasperated voice.
One bench in a neighboring compartment was unoccupied. There was plenty of space for her to lie down.
“I said I’m fine!”
But that wasn’t a sufficient reason for a proud Wiltian military officer to give in and show weakness.
“Oh dear... Well, I don’t expect violence to break out here, so suffer as much as you like.”
Finding it pointless to force her, Daian shifted his gaze around the car as he spoke. His departure from the capital should have set various intelligence agencies in motion, but it didn’t appear that anything would happen right now. The situation was abnormal precisely because nothing abnormal was happening.
In that case, it was right to leave him behind...
Blitzdonner thought of his son Jacob. That morning, when Jacob heard they were leaving for Berun, he had asked to come along. In part, he asked out of pride because he was Lud’s first friend in Organbaelz. Blitzdonner had forcefully refused, and the boy had stayed behind at home.
“I wonder if Organbaelz is all right.” Lud looked worried as he spoke.
“It’s probably fine. Actually, it’s probably safer without you and me. It is ironic though...”
Terrorists controlled by an Augustan covert agent had once threatened Organbaelz because there was an unopened Door in the area. It turned out that the Door held nothing of value, at least not now. That fact was public knowledge, so there was no reason to breach the border to reach it.
“Besides, those two are still in Organbaelz.”
“Yes, those two... Um, Director? Who are those girls?” Lud asked Daian to explain.
“I’m sorry, but that’s a national secret, so I can’t tell you anything.”
Daian’s reply didn’t help.
“But they’ve got excellent skills. And we can count on them to discourage an attack.”
“?” Lud didn’t understand what Daian was saying and looked perplexed.
“Pardon, can I get by?” Lud was about to ask for more details when Sophia, looking pale, stood up. “I need to... take care of some business.”
After muttering, she tottered unsteadily toward the car’s lavatory.
“She’s got motion sickness on top of a hangover...”
“Well, getting it out will make her feel better.”
And with that, Blitzdonner and Daian said no more.
Meanwhile, the two girls they were just talking about were in Organbaelz.
“There wasn’t any need for us to stay here, was there?”
The “girl” named Lillie was complaining to the “girl” named Hilde inside the shop area of Tockerbrot.
“Who cares? There’s no reason to hurry back to the royal capital.”
After the attack a few days earlier, Tockerbrot’s walls were damaged, the glass windows were shattered and even the roof had caved in. The shop was lucky to have survived with no further damage after a gunfight inside and a shell exploding from a grenade launcher. Nonetheless, if it wasn’t repaired, one good rain would damage even the unharmed areas.
The carpenters Sven had hired were making a lot of noise as they worked, and Hilde was keeping an eye on their progress.
“We owe Lud Langart and the others a lot, so this is the least we can do.”
“But there isn’t much to do.”
“Take it easy, okay?” Hilde tried to soothe Lillie’s complaints.
A little over six months ago, Hilde had come to the bakery to kill Lud, but now she was very fond of him.
“Then do you want to go back ahead of me? I don’t mind, so—”
“No, I’ll stay as long as necessary! I’ll even become a permanent resident!” Lillie insisted immediately.
She had a powerful feeling of friendship for Hilde—so strong that Hilde shrank from its depth and intensity. For Lillie, leaving Hilde’s side was the greatest pain in the world. In any case, it was important for these two to stay in Organbaelz.
Although Lillie appeared to be the daughter of an average Wiltian household, she was actually on loan from Yamato, a nation allied with Wiltia. If anyone interfered with her, whether from Wiltia or another country, it would spark an international conflict. That was what Daian had meant by telling Lud that Lillie and Hilde’s presence discouraged any attack.
As long as they were there, Tockerbrot and Organbaelz’s safety was ensured. Furthermore, Hilde’s presence was necessary to keep Lillie from leaving. However, the two girls were not aware of the reasons behind those decisions. So, they engaged in this back and forth like a pair of comedians.
“You two should find an audience!” Jacob grumbled at them with a cross voice.
“What? Why are you so cranky?”
“Because they left me behind!” Jacob sighed.
He didn’t know why Lud and Sven had left for Berun. But he was a clever boy. He had guessed from their behavior that it was important. No matter what, he didn’t like being shut out of the problem.
“Ha ha...” Hilde laughed at him.
“What are you laughing at?!”
“Oh, sorry. I was just thinking that you’re acting your age.”
“Don’t treat me like a child,” Jacob said, irritation adding to his crankiness.
“No, I mean you’re usually too mature for your age.”
Hilde understood a little about Jacob’s background. She was born into a family of fallen nobility and was herself a former member of the Schutzstaffel, so she had lived a complicated life. Jacob’s childhood was even more complicated. Perhaps that was why he was so mature for an eleven-year old.
“I’m relieved to see you act like a child sometimes.”
“That’s treating me like a child!” Jacob continued to glower.
“Hilde, did you hear why Lud and the others went to the royal capital?”
“No, I didn’t.”
Hilde didn’t think she needed to hear.
“Lud said he was leaving Organbaelz and you two in my care.”
Lud treasured both the town and the shop. He had entrusted them to Jacob, which showed how much he trusted him.
Sometimes there are things you can’t reveal precisely because you trust that person. Hilde was old enough to understand that.
“You really have changed,” Jacob told her.
“Really?”
Jacob couldn’t help but feel better when he saw the calm smile on the face of the girl who had once come to abduct him.
“Pardon me!” As they were talking, someone else joined them. It was Milly, Tockerbrot’s apprentice baker. “If you’re not doing anything, try a taste!”
Since morning, Milly had been holed up in the oven room baking bread.
“Wow... that looks gorgeous!”
Seeing the bread, which gave off a mouth-watering aroma, Hilde’s compliment wasn’t empty flattery.
“It hasn’t been even a full year since you started baking here!”
“Well, I wasn’t completely new to it.” Milly’s tone was slightly uncomfortable.
Her late father had also been a baker. He hadn’t taught her the trade, but she had naturally picked up some experience from watching him. She had observed her father baking, so when Lud began instructing her, she had quickly understood. By following him, she had learned to bake roughly the same breads and pastries.
“I still can’t sell anything I bake though. The shape isn’t right and my bread didn’t bake the way I intended.”
Milly’s dream was to have her own bakery someday. She had once thought about reviving her father’s old bakery, but now she hoped to get Lud’s permission to open her own branch of Tockerbrot.
“Lud said I can use the bakery’s flour to practice, but only if everything gets eaten.”
He had stipulated that condition so Milly would learn the value of the baking supplies she used.
“Since you men are here, would you try some too? It doesn’t taste bad!”
“Oh! Can we?”
Milly gave some of her bread to the carpenters making repairs. She wasn’t anywhere near competent yet as a baker, but like Lud, Milly knew the value of pleasing others with the work of her own hands.
“...............” Jacob looked troubled as he looked at Milly.
“What’s wrong, Jacob?”
“Oh, nothing. It’s just...” Jacob’s reply to Lillie was vague.
Everyone is changing...
It wasn’t just Sven and Lud. His parents, Marlene, Hilde and Milly... Jacob sensed everyone around him had changed over the past year. One day, all the fun they were having was sure to end. No, that wasn’t right. Something new would begin.
But what about me?
A feeling of both loneliness and impatience welled up inside the boy.
“Well, there’s no hurry,” Hilde said.
“As I said, you’re still a child, so you have time to think. If you hurry too much, you’ll fall like I did,” she continued with a wry laugh.
“Hey, don’t read my thoughts!”
“Ha ha ha!” Hilde laughed in amusement as Jacob frowned at how she had correctly guessed his feelings.