by SOW
Lud had trouble smiling. When he tried to smile, he just looked angry. His facial muscles didn’t seem to work for expressing his feelings. And yet Sven understood that this gloomy, shadowy expression was from unspeakable pain.
Sven knew all about Lud’s past as the Hunter Unit pilot known as the Silver Wolf. She had spent time with him then as the support AI known as Avei. However, she knew little about his earlier past.
It was the Lud she didn’t know who must have noticed something about the Wolf Man that she had not.
“I’m sorry, Sven. Can you bear with my selfishness just a little longer?”
Lud wasn’t a blind optimist and he didn’t ignore danger. He understood and yet chose the risky path.
“Master...”
Sven’s grip on her apron tightened.
This had happened before during the Great War, when she was still a Hunter Unit. They had encountered a furious enemy attack, but even after receiving an order to retreat, Lud rushed to rescue a friendly craft that had been immobilized by a bomb.
Sven—who had been Avei then—had tried unsuccessfully to stop him. He had said the same thing to her then.
“Bear with my selfishness...”
If it was mere kindness, Sven would try to stop him even if he later held a grudge against her.
Lud knew his actions weren’t wise. And yet that was his decision.
Urgh... Master...
Sven sighed in exasperation. However, her bitter smile wasn’t entirely unhappy.
It’s my duty to put up with his selfishness. But... no...
She wanted to put up with it. She wanted to be his strength and make his wishes come true.
“Understood! I will bear it to the best of my ability! As for the girl Hildegard, I’ll handle her myself!”
She snorted once, and then she winked and flashed her brightest smile, the one she reserved for her dearest beloved.
“Sorry, Sven. Thanks.”
“I’m used to it.”
She couldn’t resist a little sarcasm.
“Well then... For now, I’ll go make tea.”
“Yes, please do.”
“Yes, Sir! ♪”
She bowed once, then departed for the kitchen.
When people think of tea, they imagine relaxing with an afternoon cup of tea, but that isn’t always the case. Strong and very bitter tea with plenty of milk, sugar, and fresh cream gives people strength to keep going, particularly those who work late at night.
Lud’s evening work would continue for some time. So, Sven’s priority was to ease his exhaustion, even a little.
Beginning the next day, Sven went on the offensive.
“What happened here?! When you wipe the table, do it like this! Wipe in a square, not in a circle!”
“And bow exactly 45 degrees! This is basic customer service!”
“And wipe thoroughly between the ridges of tongs! And thoroughly clean every place that food touches so that a baby could lick it!”
From early morning until closing time, Sven provided instruction shrewdly, carefully, and thoroughly by every means. She sounded just like a ferocious drill sergeant.
“G-Gimme a break! You’re too strict!!”
Hilde raised her voice to protest Sven’s severity.
“Huh? Did I say something confusing? You miscalculate change, don’t remember the names of products, and forget to sterilize the bathroom. You do nothing but make mistakes!!”
Wearing an unfriendly expression on her face, Sven refused to listen to Hilde.
“You may be from the Schutzstaffel, but you’re an actual officer who completed proper education and training, aren’t you?!”
“S-So what?!”
Hilde thought they were talking about work at a bakery, not the military.
“All your flubs are just like reporting imprecise information, misidentifying equipment, and neglecting weapons care in the military. They all seriously damage the broader organization!”
They were all skills drilled into recruits during military training.
“It’s sheer arrogance to talk about being a career officer when you can’t even work at a bakery!”
“No, that’s... seriously?”
“Yes!”
In the face of Sven’s rant, Hilde lost the will to fight back.
Allowing for Hilde’s inability to perform her job properly, it was quite a stretch to say that it had any bearing on her suitability for the military, but sometimes the victor is the person who can simply ram her ideas through.
“If you have even a tiny bit of pride as a soldier, then stop making excuses and do your duty! Now!”
Sven handed Hilde a dust rag.
“Instead of firing back useless nonsense as a counterargument, go clean the windows! Customers won’t wait!”
“D-Didn’t I just finish that?!”
Hilde managed a retort, but Sven simply sneered with a “Humff!” and marched across the room to point at the window frame.
“Do you mean this?!”
Her finger was pointing at a little dust.
“B-But that’s nothing!”
“Silence!”
Hilde tried to make an excuse, but Sven shut her down.
“Listen! Windows are the very face of a shop! It is crucial to make them clearer than crystal so that potential customers walking down the street will think, ‘Oh, I’ll go in and take a look!’ A stain on the shop is a stain on yourself! Start over!”
“Arrrggghhh!!”
Hilde’s frustration was mounting.
“You! Can’t you speak a little nicer? It’s like you’re lecturing me!!”
“What? How can you say that?! Are you blaming me for your own ineptitude?”
Since morning, Sven had laid into Hilde continually, as if poking her with needles, even if she hadn’t resorted to violence such as using her fists or a whip. Hilde’s patience had finally reached its limit.
“Oh? Here you are shrugging off your failures and getting angry at me!”
Sven would never apologize.
“I don’t remember asking you to do anything beyond your ability! I explained everything properly, showed you an example, and had you try it yourself!”
Sven had covered all the basics in training just as she did in her daily work.
“After all that, you still messed up, so isn’t it natural that you suffer some derision?”
“Urrrgh...”
A famous general coined a maxim about training new soldiers.
“Show them, explain it to them, and then have them do it.”
Demonstration, instruction, and practice are steps that serve as the basis of all teaching, not just in the military.
“B-But, at least...”
Hilde bit her lips like a sullen child and found it difficult to speak.
“Hmmm? Are you trying to say I should be nice to you? Aren’t you an elite officer in the Schutzstaffel?”
Sven covered her mouth and laughed disdainfully.
“Mwa ha ha ha ha!” She laughed just like a villain.
There were more words of wisdom about training soldiers.
“People don’t grow without praise.”
Instead of blaming trainees for what they can’t do, the secret to improving their skills is recognizing what they can do, even if it’s something small.
Sven knew that. Nonetheless, she disregarded it. Because...
“Think about your situation. You tried to kill my master but you were stupid enough to lose. We forgave you, without taking your life or torturing you, in exchange for giving up your weapons and working for us. After showing you that mercy, you want more kindness from me? What are you? A child who won’t take her medicine unless I mix it with sweet syrup, even though it will hurt your teeth?”
Hilde’s position was neither a volunteer soldier nor a draftee. She was, in fact, a prisoner.
Sven could consider herself extremely generous for not resorting to violence against her prisoner.
&nbs
p; “Urrrgh!!”
Sven rattled on fluently and forcefully.
Whether a verbal clash or a fistfight, the difference in their combat strengths was massive.
“Th-That’s, um...”
Still, Hilde sought a counterargument.
An experienced soldier would never engage in a futile fight when the difference in combat strength between the two sides was obvious. However, Hilde was immature and a novice.
“Aha! This is abuse! You’re abusing a prisoner! I’m an officer and I demand proper treatment!”
Perhaps thinking she had found a way out, Hilde shifted to counterattack with a face as proud as if she had defeated a demon.
International law strictly regulated the handling of prisoners. This was partly for humanitarian reasons, but also because exterminating all opponents could lead to a war of attrition or mission failure and increase the damage to both friend and foe.
“I see. It’s true that international laws stipulate special treatment for prisoners who are officers.”
Among prisoners, all officers higher than lieutenant, were entitled to slightly better treatment. The law forbade forced labor and violence against prisoners, while also regulating the physical prison environment.
From that point of view, Hilde’s argument was valid.
“That’s right.”
Nodding, Sven touched her chin and Hilde smiled proudly, as if she had finally found her path to victory. However, it didn’t last long.
“Then why don’t you quit?”
“What?”
Hilde was amazed at Sven’s reply and raised her voice hollowly.
“I said you’re free to quit. We welcome anyone with open arms, but we won’t chase after someone who tries to leave. That’s the shop’s motto.”
“But, um... that’s...”
Suddenly, Hilde was confused.
She had made a big mistake. She should have retreated or focused on defense and then waited for the situation to change.
To begin with, treaties regarding the handling of prisoners were promises enacted between nations under international law. But this wasn’t about that.
Hilde and Heidrig’s goal was to assassinate Lud. Their target had forced them to work there, but they had decided it gave them an opportunity to stick with their prey. If they got kicked out now, they would never have another chance.
“Are you done? Then get to work. Another shop motto is ‘If you don’t work, you don’t eat.’”
Hilde’s counterattack had failed, so she started cleaning the windows as instructed.
“Just... darn it all!”
Hildegard von Hessen, the member of a family of fallen nobles, was wiping windows and cleaning floors with tears running down her face.
That night...
“Darn it! Just darn it all!”
When Hilde returned to the attic after work, she was still frustrated.
“How long are you going to complain?”
Heidrig sounded annoyed.
“You don’t understand how I feel! That silver-haired wench! Who does she think I am! That rotten girl will pay for this!”
“A lady from a noble family shouldn’t talk like that.”
Hilde was throwing a fit on the bed, without even a hint of ladylike poise.
“Sorry! But my family is just a bunch of fallen nobles anyway!”
“It is?”
“Eep!”
Hilde made a pinched face as if to say, “Uh-oh!”
She had only told Heidrig that she was a first lieutenant in the Schutzstaffel.
In Wiltia, however, only nobles were allowed to use von in their names. It would be natural to assume that if a fifteen-year-old girl had the title of officer, and that of first lieutenant no less, her family name had played a role.
“My family is famous and has been around since the Holy Empire!”
“Oh, that’s impressive.”
Hilde’s family, the Hessen clan, was one of the most well-known families in Wiltia. Their ancestors were renowned military heroes and the subject of many stories.
“We’re just an old family with an honorable origin. Otherwise, we have nothing!”
Throughout the family’s long history, the Hessens possessed neither political nor economic power, and eventually were left behind. Warhorses and pikes disappeared from the battlefields, leaving the Hessens without a place to shine, and the house had fallen.
“We sold all our territory and mansions, and our descendants’ estates. Now there’s nothing left.”
The last hope of the Hessens was the Great European War.
A pilot of the new Hunter Units could perform heroic achievements alone, just like in battles of yore.
Even Lud, who was of common origin, could be made a knight of the lowest order.
“To revive my family, I entered military school when I turned ten. But before I could go to war, it ended.”
Hilde made a tight fist.
Restoring her family’s name was her highest priority, and ever since childhood she considered it the reason for her existence.
Then one day she lost her hope for that. In that moment, she felt keenly the fate of the Hessens, who were unblessed by history.
“Too bad, so sad.”
Heidrig’s response was sarcastic.
War only meant hardship and trouble for the common folk. Commodity prices rose, supplies disappeared, and taxes went up. If you were drafted and sent to battle, your life was in danger. Hilde’s story would find little understanding or sympathy from people like that.
“But then the lord lieutenant general spoke to me...”
Hilde couldn’t bear to look at Heidrig’s face. Instead she saw the face of Genitz, which was still burnt into her eyes.
“When the lord lieutenant general came to inspect the military academy, he saw my name, summoned me, and invited me to join the Schutzstaffel. He welcomed me with special treatment, promising I would become an elite with a central position in the principality.”
That had been a happy moment for Hilde.
She was about to be buried, but Genitz had found her and let her join the “chosen ones.” He had recognized that she was someone special and not like the other riffraff.
“But that man... Lud Langart... In the end, my glorious life comes to chores in a bakery! Oh, how did this happen?!”
She wanted fame and envy... But no, not only that. Hilde wanted to be accepted and esteemed as a person of repute, so being a waitress-in-training at a bakery was humiliating, menial work.
“It seems Sven had you dancing in the palm of her hand.”
But Hilde’s obsession wasn’t important to Heidrig.
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“That woman scolded you all day today, right?”
“Yes.”
“So if you had planned to make a move on Langart, you couldn’t.”
“Oh!”
As Hilde finally realized, her mouth gaped.
“She was watching you. And she wasn’t just watching. She was actively interfering with your actions and stopping you from even thinking about making a move against them.”
Hilde’s combat ability was nothing compared to Sven’s or Lud’s. She could barely put up a fight against a Hunter Unit. However, she was capable of indirect attacks, such as poisoning or arson.
This shop was Lud’s home base, and they were already inside it. Inflicting harm on customers, not just on Lud and his employees, by poisoning the breads would cause trust in the shop to plummet. Even mere harassment would cause damage to the bakery.
“That woman interfered with anything I might have tried!”
Hilde finally realized the point behind Sven’s behavior today.
“By tiring you out from work, she made sure that you can’t do anything tonight but sleep. You’re completely worn out.”
“Argh!”
As soon as she had returned to the attic after the day’s work, Hilde had flopped onto the bed with an exhausted,
“I’m tired!”
In this condition, she wouldn’t be able to spring a night attack.
“Don’t look so unhappy. You worked hard and that made the meal afterward taste good, didn’t it?”
At Tockerbrot, despite the unpleasant circumstances, they received regular meals. It was mainly leftover bread, but since the shop was doing well, there was also a soup with plenty of meat and vegetables.
“I saw you eat a whole baguette!”
“Oh... that?!”
Hilde blushed when Heidrig said this.
Did she blush because she had received a favor from the enemy or because she was a young lady whose big appetite had been observed? Either way, it was a surprising change for someone who claimed that she wouldn’t eat any food that Lud made.
And that isn’t the only problem...
Heidrig intentionally failed to mention that Sven and Lud knew the two new workers hadn’t given up on the assassination.
Even with this knowledge, their opponents allowed them a certain measure of freedom.
They aren’t cautious of this girl. It’s me they are worried about.
It would horrify Hilde to know that neither Lud nor Sven saw her as a threat.
Sven, the waitress, was actually trying to make sure Hilde didn’t interfere between Lud and Heidrig.
What is she thinking?
What was Sven planning, even at great personal risk? Heidrig didn’t have the faintest idea.
Chapter 4: Likes Repel, or Like Attracts Like
Two hours had passed since the Schutzstaffel started its attack on the development bureau.
“Y-You...! The Rundstadt girl!”
The previously relaxed smile on the face of Captain Delz, commander of the Schutzstaffel companies, had already disappeared.
“We have succeeded in breaking through the front barricade!”
This report from an adjutant did nothing to improve Delz’s bad mood.
“The damage... How bad is the damage?”
“Ahem! The dead and injured total approximately one hundred!”
“This is disgraceful!”
Breaking through just the front gate of the development bureau, which had only fifty soldiers, had taken a quarter of their troops.
“The personnel inside are still resisting?!”
