Bernhardt took the bottle. “Not so! Just look at me. I trust you are aware of my present circumstances?”
“Yeah, more or less.”
“Once every three days or so, I am sent out on the Night Harvest. The soldiers tell me to return with a full crate. Alas, I find it hard to muster the enthusiasm.” He let his eyes drop to the bottle in his hands. “I like to slack off, much as we’re doing right now. As a result they punish me, and I never see anything of food. I haven’t a flicker of fire left in me.”
“Yeah, right!” Gabriele snorted, cracking up. “I doubt you’d be up to blinding Titans if that was true.”
“Just good luck, my friend. Besides, I’m a kind-natured soul.” Bernhardt put on a broad smile, watching Mathias as he passed the bottle back to Gabriele. “I find myself oddly capable when I need to aid the needy.”
“Is that kind-natured or more like, I don’t know, weird?”
The two of them seemed to get along preternaturally well. Perhaps it was because they were both thorough optimists.
And I’m the opposite, thoroughly sullen, Mathias derided himself. Even so, he couldn’t refrain from posing the question.
“Do you hold it against me?”
“You’re not asking me, are you?” Bernhardt affected astonishment, stretching his eyes wide open.
“Of course I am. Who else?”
“Why should I hold anything against you?”
“Because I left you behind. Fled without you.”
Amidst a downpour, Mathias and Nikki had fled the mansion by themselves. As a result Rita had arrested Bernhardt and put him in confinement. He had been forced to spend the last three months venturing out on the Night Harvest, alone and with his hands in chains.
Bernhardt brought those hands together over his stomach and leaned back in his chair. “Have you been feeling tormented? Utterly ridiculous. How so naive!”
“But─”
“This I can say for sure. I would have done the same, had I been in your position.”
“That’s─”
“Neither here nor there? Not at all. It’s exactly the same. You see, I’m very good at standing in other people’s shoes. I understand your reasons, as I understand Nikki’s.”
Mathias recalled the trip from Fuerth to Quinta. Did a soul capable of standing in other people’s shoes take lives so casually? Bernhardt had done just that to the unfortunate soldiers in charge of them.
“Anyway, what brings you here, Mathias? I doubt you came all this way to have this discussion. Cut to the chase!”
“Right. You’re right.” There was no point in arguing the matter with someone who insisted that he didn’t bear a grudge. Mathias asked him, “How much do you know about Quinta’s current affairs?”
“Let’s say I’m not without a clue.”
“Weren’t you being kept by yourself?” Gabriele questioned, surprised.
“I chat with the guards on watch duty. So, no, I’m not completely isolated from events.”
“Then I can summarize.” Mathias explained how Rita was in charge of the district, how she was trying to maintain independence from the royal government, how an extreme surveillance society had been instituted, how “the plaza Titan” served to eliminate rebellious elements, and so on. He then described the current status of the resistance movement.
“I see. I’m a little concerned to hear Jarratt hasn’t returned.”
“Yes, me too.” Bernhardt’s former henchman, a muscular old man, Jarratt had left three months earlier with the aim of conveying Quinta’s situation to Fuerth, but had yet to return. “He’s not the kind of person to leave his friends to die, I take it?”
“No, he isn’t.” Bernhardt got up and looked in turn at Mathias and Gabriele. “I see your situation. Now, what exactly is it you would like me to do?”
“I have a request.” Mathias took a breath, exhaled, then swallowed. Better to just come out with it. “I want you to slay the plaza Titan.”
“What for?” Bernhardt’s expression was unchanged.
“The Titan is a symbol of control and terror. By removing it we can instill some courage in people. We can create the circumstances necessary for a massive uprising.”
“Why not ask this insider you spoke of? She would be privy to the security layout. It shouldn’t be too difficult to kill a five-meter-class in restraints.”
“The real problem is the soldiers. They guard the plaza in large numbers, all of them with firearms. Amanda… She says she doesn’t want to be shot at. She won’t do it.”
“I can’t say I fail to understand the sentiment,” Bernhardt said, chuckling mischievously. “So you want me to do it, despite it being so dangerous?”
“Yes. There isn’t anyone else.”
“It’s a lot to ask.”
“I know. But for you, it wouldn’t be impossible.”
“Old man, you’re tough, right? Why not give it a shot? This guy’s tramped all this way in person just to see you,” Gabriele goaded, then pointed his chin at the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment. “That can get you back inside, yeah? Sounds like a good deal to me.”
“True enough. But he said it himself, just a moment earlier.” Glancing at Mathias, Bernhardt stretched his legs out and perched them on the edge of the well. “All in all, he’s the one to blame for my current situation.”
Hadn’t he said just now that he’d have done the same in Mathias’ position?
“Man…” Gabriele took yet another swig from the bottle. His eyes already showing signs of inebriation, he hiccupped and shoved it back. “You’re pettier than you seem, assigning blame. This guy’s pretty much begging for your help. Can’t you oblige him? I mean, aren’t you pissed off at those bastards yourself for how they’ve treated you?”
“Oh, excuse me.”
Bernhardt held the bottle up and peered into the base. It was already empty. He tossed it into the well, and a splashing sound echoed from its depths. Apparently, it hadn’t run dry yet.
“Your logic’s a bit haphazard, but I like it. The gusto of it.”
“Bloody cheek,” Gabriele said, glowering.
Bernhardt broke into a grin, watching the younger man side-on. “Interesting. Mathias, you appear to have netted quite a character for this resistance of yours.”
“So it seems.”
Bernhardt was going to agree to do it. Mathias wasn’t sure how he knew, but he did. Maybe it was Gabriele’s passionate outburst. If so, Mathias couldn’t thank him enough.
“I accept.”
Bernhardt swung his feet down from the well and got up. He tapped his fingers over the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment’s rewinding apparatus, its anchors, and its levers.
“The plan is to fell the regime’s symbol, the Titan, in plain sight of the masses. Most compelling.” He winked theatrically in Gabriele’s direction. “And your friend is right. I am angry, quite angry indeed. At all those bastards.”
“That’s more like it!” Gabriele got up too, but he was visibly swaying. He put a hand on the well for support and swiveled his chin towards the hut behind them. “Mind if I grab a few more?”
“We’re going,” Mathias told him.