Since he had been discharged from the military two years earlier, and since he had opened the bakery a year ago, this was the first day that Lud had truly been happy.
It was time to close up the shop—
“Thank you very much, please come again.”
With a big smile on her face, Sven sent off the last customer.
“Phew …”
“Thank you for all your hard work, Master!”
Sven showed Lud a different face than the one she showed customers. This was the face of someone gazing at the most precious person in the entire world.
“Please, have a drink.”
Sven carried a silver steel tray with a cup of piping hot coffee.
“Thanks, Sven.”
Lud was happy. A lot of customers had come today, too.
He heard the woman who managed the general store on the corner say, “It was very delicious!”
When Lud had first come to town, she had trembled and averted her eyes.
Now that same person ate his bread and said that it was delicious.
“Seriously, thank you Sven. This is all thanks to you.”
Thinking back, Lud thought that Sven had planned to attract the male customers from the beginning. In that case, it would make sense for her to go out in the evening when the men were on their way home from work, rather than at lunch time.
“T-That’s … I haven’t done anything. All of this is because of the taste of your bread, Master. I am only trying to be as helpful as possible.”
Sven furiously shook her head, as if she did not deserve such praise.
Suddenly, Lud began to have a strange feeling.
Sven said, just as Jacob had said earlier, that it was Lud’s skill at baking that was responsible for bringing in customers.
But, while Jacob knew this because he had visited the bakery so often, why did Sven believe so strongly in his abilities when they had only just met?
And why did Sven treat a fierce-looking person like him with such kindness and goodwill?
Sven didn’t know Lud. She was such a beautiful girl that he was sure if they had met before, even in passing, he would have remembered for decades to come.
But somehow Lud didn’t feel like he was meeting her for the first time.
She would suddenly look at him with a big, broad, smile that would put him at a loss for words, and he would feel a mysterious sense of nostalgia.
Just having her at his side put him at ease, and changed his chronic worry into peace of mind.
He hadn’t experienced this since leaving the military.
“Hey Sven … um … Have I met you somewhere before?”
Sven’s face stiffened in surprise.
“Huh?”
“This doesn’t feel like the first time we’ve met. I feel like I knew you before … somewhere …”
“Master … um …”
Sven’s voice, which had been so bright and clear while chatting with customers, became flustered, and her eyes clouded as if she had suddenly come down with a fever.
Snap!
“Ouch!”
“Huh?”
“Ahh!”
The metal tray snapped in two, like a wafer.
It was a cheap tray, so it might have been cracked, but it was unusual for it to split so cleanly in two.
“I, I-I-I’m so so-so-sorry! I’ve destroyed a precious piece of equipment for this store … I apologize for this …”
“Forget it, are you okay? Are there any cuts on your hands, or your fingers?” Lud put the panicking Sven’s hands in his and studied them for any cuts.
The distance between the two of them narrowed, and their faces were close enough to feel each other’s breath.
“Um, aaaaahhhh …”
Sven became even more flustered.
She untangled her hands from Lud’s and hid them behind her back as she recoiled.
“Um, I-I’m … I’m fine so … u-um, uh … Master, I am finished work for today!”
Sven said this and ran off to the storeroom.
“Well then …”
Left behind, Lud stood confounded for a moment.
“Maybe … she thought that I was trying to make a move on her?”
Realizing that his question about meeting her before could be interpreted as a clumsy pick-up line, he shook his head in embarrassment.
Berun, the capital of Wiltia. Two hundred years old, the city took the shape of a circle, radiating out from the royal palace at its center.
Of course, the security forces closely guarded the royal palace, but there was another building that required even stronger guards around it.
That facility was the Royal Weapons Development Bureau, where the weapon that had completely redefined the battlefield—the Hunter Unit—originated.
Inside the Development Bureau, Sophia Von Rundstadt stormed down the hall with a furious look on her face, her combat boots echoing after her.
The room she was headed for was the office of the Director of the Weapons Development Bureau.
“Major Sophia Von Rundstadt, sir!”
Practically breaking down the door with her knock, Sophia charged into the room without awaiting a reply. Inside was a grinning man who only annoyed her further.
“My, my, Miss Sophia. Why are you in such an uproar? If I had known you had a problem, I would have come to see you myself.”
Sophia met his amused gaze with a glare.
“I heard that the prototype is missing. What is the meaning of this? I demand an explanation.”
Sophia was the commander of the security force stationed at the Development Bureau.
However, her rank did not place her under the command of the director.
She had been deployed to the Bureau’s security by military headquarters, and even though he was a colonel, she had no obligation to follow his orders.
Further, if the director took actions that were deemed inadvisable by headquarters, she had the authority and the responsibility to stop him.
“And why would you know about that? That’s strange … I am positive that I made sure no one would reveal that …”
“What?!”
Sophia felt blood rush to her head.
New weapons were currently being developed to prepare for the next war.
More than a month ago, the most valuable and highly classified of those weapons suddenly disappeared.
The loss of this experimental and expensive prototype was extremely serious, and concealing that fact was close to high treason.
“Do you … do you understand what you are saying? Our valuable prototype has been seized!”
Sophia had the authority to arrest the director right here and now, depending on his answer.
The frightening eyes of the Devil’s Black Spear gleamed sharply.
“Our valuable prototype has been seized by another country! How dare you sit there making such a face!”