There was a war. It started after Wiltia, the victorious nation of the First European Great War, conducted a ballistic missile experiment. Later generations called it the Penmunde Incident. The Wiltian government claimed the demonstration was a rocket launch test, but its effect was to deepen suspicion across the European continent and other continents as well.
For the next seven years, diplomatic efforts attempted to divert a war between the pro- and anti-Wiltian nations, but they could never come to an agreement. Wiltia’s former ally Noa still harbored a grudge over the mysterious disappearance of General Douglas Meitzer, so momentum steadily built among its war hawks. Tensions in both camps eventually reached the boiling point and hostilities broke out, beginning the Second European Great War.
As the result of advances in science and technology, this war was worse than the previous Great War, involving not just the continent of Europea but the entire world. The scale was not restricted to one continent, and the conflict was called a world war.
The previous conflict known as the European Great War was renamed the First Great War and the more recent conflict was named the Second Great War. The Second Great War bathed the world in destruction and carnage on a scale never experienced before. Humanity’s only salvation was that the war didn’t last as long as the previous war.
Some said that if it had continued for even a few more years, human society would never recover. The number of missing, injured and killed surpassed the previous war, and entire towns and countries were obliterated. But the war ended. National boundaries were redrawn. Some nations gained independence and were reborn. And, both the owner and employee of a tiny bakery went missing.
Year 935 of the European Calendar.
My name is Coco Vent d’Or. I was born in the Second Republic of Filbarneu and I am now an investigator for a war history research center affiliated with the Society of Nations. My job is to analyze the records of the Second Great War, the largest war in human history.
I began investigating Lud Langart, but over fifteen years have passed since he disappeared. It was difficult to find anyone who remembers him. In a small town called Organbaelz, a woman now runs his old shop. The bakery owner is named Milly and she apparently was Lud Langart’s apprentice.
“You mention a name that brings back many memories. I’m sorry, but I don’t have anything to tell you.” The shop owner smiled jovially and said she didn’t know anything about him.
No letters had come from him since he went missing. I asked the other villagers, but they all said the same. They didn’t know anything.
It was around Thanksgiving. They treated me to an ahorn herbst, the shop’s original and popular product baked in the shape of a horseshoe. It was delicious.
Apparently, the singer Hildegard von Hessen, known throughout Wiltia and across Europea, visits every year at this time. I wanted to see her performance, but I couldn’t stay.
As a side note, the town had an unusually large population of cats.
Berun, the royal capital of Wiltia, fell under attack by allied forces during the war and was burned to the ground. Billions Trading dedicated itself to the recovery effort. The company, one of the largest in Wiltia, had stained its hands dealing in munitions during the war, but had since abandoned the weapons industry.
The chairman Shylock resigned. Organizational reform followed, and Billions became a leading force in the war recovery effort. The new chairman of the company is Shylock’s grandson, Jacob, still in his twenties. The stir his appointment caused in the business world is still a fresh memory.
It’s said he too lived in Organbaelz during his youth. According to rumor, he was close friends with Lud Langart, but...
“I couldn’t say. I do wonder what happened. Where did he go?”
His face is young, but he’s already a very skilled business man. Those who attempted to use him have seen their own designs come back to bite them, over and over again. They suffered the ignominy of forced mergers.
The talented young entrepreneur smiled as he answered. “It doesn’t matter, does it? I don’t think tax dollars should go toward investigating a baker. Is that all you wanted to ask? I’m sorry, but I have a busy schedule ahead.”
It appears he is so busy because he doesn’t want his mother and father to have to be involved with running the business.
“Maybe he’s gone down south around Buzanpur. He’s not young, but perhaps he still feels like a newlywed.”
He laughed as he left the room in the company of a red-headed secretary.
I next visited a small town in the rural outskirts of Wiltia. It was originally the domain of the noble Rundstadt family. After the war, Wiltia abolished the nobility. However, former subjects still revere House Rundstadt and refer to its leader as “Lady,” a term of endearment. That lady is the former Wiltian military officer Sophia von Rundstadt. She was once Lud Langart’s superior.
“I’m sorry you came all the way out here, but I don’t know where he is now. I haven’t seen him since he left the military.”
Rundstadt is a former colonel in the principality’s military. During the war, she demonstrated ample valor. However, to buy time for friendly troops to retreat, she brought up the rear and fell prisoner to the allied forces.
After the war, she faced a military court. Instead of protecting herself, she tried to guarantee the positions and rights of the soldiers who had fought under her command. Her high-minded determination earned her respect even from the allied soldiers, her former enemies.
I sensed she was a woman of great dignity. She’s in her middle forties, but she remains single. The reason is unclear.
She has returned to her former home, where she put her family’s assets in order and used them to start a foundation taking in war orphans. She looked radiant when the children called her Mama.
I spoke to many people with connections to Lud Langart. No one had news of him. Tockerbrot’s former waitress has also disappeared.
The Penmunde Incident, which started the Great War, occurred at about the same time that Langart disappeared. Even now, the incident remains shrouded in mystery.
Another department is also investigating, but a complete picture has yet to emerge. A friend working in that department told me something. There is suspicion that the August Federation was involved in this incident.
After the war, August joined the Society of Nations and became a member of the security council. However, the other European nations, along with the major countries around the world, remain uneasy because of August’s immense size.