A giant slum had been constructed around Millennium, the imperial capital of Europea, as if clinging to the massive wall that separated the city from the outside world. The slum covered over ten times the area of the imperial capital. In fact, the imperial capital was the center of the slum. It was created by people called Shepherds.
“The residents of the imperial capital can leave, but people outside can’t go into the city.” As the girl spoke, she filled her mouth with fruit purchased at the stall. “The city is under strict population control.”
“Yes. The resident number is ten million, no more and no less.”
This was common knowledge among Shepherds like him.
“However, people don’t always live and die according to plan. Sometimes the population unexpectedly decreases. That’s when they bring in replacements from outside.”
“I know.”
That too was common knowledge.
The reception area was next to the entrance to the imperial capital, the main gate that never opened. If someone registered with reception and their name was chosen, when an opening arose they could join the residents of the imperial city. The fortunate person would enter a paradise free of suffering and distress. However, that rarely happened.
Scarcely one person was chosen every ten years. People relying on this slight hope came to live in front of the gate. This practice continued for over one hundred years, and eventually a slum grew, populated by those awaiting their turn.
“I heard a rumor that God is in the imperial capital. Is it true?” Someone who had left the imperial capital decades ago had made that claim.
“Oh... God?” Hearing his words, the girl spoke bitterly. “The people inside the imperial capital fear mistakes and seek only what is correct—ultimate correctness without error—but they don’t consider what is truly correct.” Again, she stared at the city walls with intense hatred. “For those people, worrying over their choices became the greatest suffering. So they created something perfect that never makes mistakes.”
They created something that would provide the right answers, a being they could believe was always correct, even if it wasn’t.
“The residents gave the True System the name God.” She spat the words as if she felt filthy even saying them.
“Do you hate God?”
“Yes, I do. Although hate may not be quite the right word.” The girl appeared unable to compose her features or her feelings. In addition to hatred and revulsion, she showed an uncontrollable indignation toward the injustice.
“I suppose he isn’t evil. But, I wonder why it has to be me.” As she spoke, she finished eating the fruit and threw the rind into a waste bin.
“Why do I have to become God’s wife? The Saint? Give me a break!”
“Glub-glub-glub...”
When Sven woke up, she was in the water.
“Glub-glurgle-glub?!”
She woke up under water!
It was sea water. Under the ocean, with poor visibility and no way to breathe, a human would drown in a panic and sink to the sea floor, but Sven didn’t need to breathe.
“Blosh-blubble-burble-spwosh?” What am I doing here?
Controlling herself, she tried to discover how she got here.
Did I lose consciousness and they threw me in? How dare they?!
Sven was furious that someone had treated her like an object—like trash—and committed illegal dumping on top of that!
Now what should I do?
There was little light because she was deep beneath the surface. She considered sinking further to the seafloor and walking until she reached land, but she didn’t know how far she was from the bottom. If she went too deep, she might become inoperable.
There’s no choice but to swim to the surface.
It was difficult to rise in the pitch-black sea, but no sooner had she decided to try, she saw light in the water.
“Glosh?”
She was underwater. The only living creature that would emit light down here would be an anglerfish. There were, however, other possibilities that were not alive.
No way...
Something more massive than a whale with lights for navigation appeared in front of Sven. It was a submarine.
A few minutes later, the submarine rescued Sven. Wiltia had an excellent navy. Its navy had submersible technology that in some ways surpassed Hunter Units. Sven had never seen a submarine with functions for performing work while navigating underwater, so she was surprised.
“What is this thing?”
The “belly” in the center of the aft section opened, bringing in Sven along with a large amount of seawater, and then closed.
It ejected the water and replaced it with air. No other nation possessed a submarine with this type of navigational ballast mechanism, which brought in seawater for weight. At least, not that Sven knew of.
Does this vessel belong to some other nation?
A navy submarine had scooped her up, but Sven was bewildered as to why. Then the lights in the room came on, a hatch opened, and someone appeared.
It was...
“Are you all right?”
“Major Rundstadt?!”
It was Sophia von Rundstadt.
“I’m glad you’re alive. I heard what happened. It’s the worst.”
“Wait. Major?! Why are you here?!”
Someone else appeared.
“Hello, Svelgen. I’m glad to see you.”
It was Blitzdonner, who she thought was back fighting the Security Department after telling Sven and Lud to find Meitzer at the test site.
“Major Blitzdonner too?!”
Sven was at a complete loss when yet another person—a woman—appeared.
“Oh my! Is this Little Lud’s special someone?”
The woman was not Wiltian. Actually, she wasn’t even from the continent of Europea. She was from an Aesian continent.
“You know Master? Who are you?”
“My name is Suzuka Amaki. I’m a military attaché from Yamato. We can talk more later. I can’t stand seeing you soaking wet, and there’s a change of clothes ready, so come with me.”
The woman named Suzuka narrowed her almond-shaped eyes as she spoke with a very cheerful voice.
Yamato was an island nation on the far eastern edge of the continent of Aesia. After many years of not involving itself in international affairs, fifty years ago Yamato started interacting with other nations. Wiltia had been its enemy early in the Great War, but they later became allies, and it now had an embassy in Berun. It was Sven’s first time meeting someone from Yamato.
“Sit down. Shall I have tea brought in?”
“Yes please.”
Submarines have limited space, with small rooms. This reception room was more cramped than the sales room at Tockerbrot. Nonetheless, it had a sofa and was decorated with fine furnishings.
“I can understand your confusion. The regular army knew about Toolman’s treachery and the existence of that woman from August.”
Sven changed into dry clothes and sipped tea as Sophia explained the situation. Elvin was the highest commanding officer in the regular army, and he had suspected that the mysterious woman called the Saint was involved in the matter. However, the full picture remained uncertain, so he devised a plan.
“Toolman excluded me from the special combat unit so it would consist of only himself and his men, so I was ordered to take a separate course of action.”
The Saint’s devotees had infiltrated many areas of Europea, in different countries and in multiple organizations. For that reason, Sophia had requested cooperation from Yamato, a country outside Europea.
“Wiltia provided this submarine to Yamato as part of technological exchange. We brought it here under the guise of a trial voyage with no official military records.”
That explained why Suzuka, Yamato’s military attaché, was on board. In fact, Sophia was accompanying Suzuka aboard Yamato’s submarine.
“Marshal Elvin devised a plot to encourage Toolman’s treachery so the army could capture all the Saint’s supporters at once while also cracking down on the Security Department.”
This was the true purpose of the rescue unit for Meitzer.
“Isn’t the marshal a bit too proficient in subterfuge?”
Sven had a mechanical brain, but even to her, this plot sounded excessive.
“I don’t think this has been going as planned so far either.”
Sophia, who had received the order, recognized that the operation was against regulations, no matter how you looked at it. The mission was to suppress traitors infiltrating the regular army, so it could not involve soldiers from that force. There was no one more trustworthy than Sophia. However, using a soldier from another country in a highly risky operation wasn’t something to be done lightly.
“Yamato is always looking for a way to put Wiltia in its debt. And Wiltia even gave us a souvenir.”
With the exchange of this submarine, she had received permission to deploy Suzuka.
“So little Lud has been taken by the enemy?”
Sven had brought Suzuka up to speed. However, she had not disclosed the fact that she was a humanoid Hunter Unit.
“Um, why have you been calling him Little Lud? Do you know my master?”
“Yes, of course. He was my student.”
“What?!”
Then Sven remembered. Lud had told her that a soldier from Yamato taught him martial arts as part of the military exchange between east and west. He told her this back when Sven was Avei.
“That takes me back. Little Lud was so cute. I wonder what he’s like now.”
“Um...”
If Sven remembered correctly, the last time Suzuka saw Lud was eight years ago. In her memory, Lud was the most adorable person in the word, but he was now a large, muscular man. According to usual standards, he wasn’t cute.
Master did say he entered a fierce growth spurt in his late teens...
Suzuka’s memory of Lud compared with the way he looked now were so different that it could be two different people.
“I’ll explain it to her.” Sophia spoke when she guessed what Sven was thinking. “In any case, the counterattack begins now. General Douglas holds the key to returning Lud to normal.”
“Yes...”