The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress: Volume 4

by SOW

  Here at the mine, the very same place where Sven had learned this lesson, was a girl who made the same mistake, making the present overlap the past.

  “SOB... Waaaaah!!”

  Hilde cried and screamed. Then she stood up and ran off without looking back, as if escaping.

  “Hey!”

  Sven was about to follow. Her legs were strong enough to easily catch Hilde. However, she didn’t feel like doing that.

  The reason Sven was able to endure her misery that day was because she had Lud, who still wanted her to stay with him. Hilde didn’t have anyone, so Sven couldn’t think what to say, even if she had caught her.

  “SOB... SOB... Urgh! Argh!”

  Crying like a child, Hilde left the mine. She ran, fell, ran, and finally just hobbled along, out of breath and not knowing where to go.

  She didn’t know what to do now. But she knew she wasn’t ready to go back to Tockerbrot. She felt utterly wretched and pitiful. She couldn’t face anyone at the bakery right now.

  “A church?”

  She was standing in front of a small church on top of a hill.

  “That’s right... There’s a church here.”

  Hilde was neither an atheist nor a devoted believer. However, churches provide a safe shelter in times like this. Besides, it was autumn, nightfall was at hand, and a chill wind had begun to blow.

  “Excuse me...”

  Fearfully, Hilde opened the door and entered the chapel.

  It was an old church. The floors creaked and the windows were cracked. Nonetheless, it was clean, so it wasn’t a ruin despite its age.

  “Urgh!”

  Seeing the spic-and-span window frames, Hilde remembered cleaning the bakery a few days ago.

  “Who’s there?”

  “—?!”

  A voice behind Hilde sent a jolt down her spine. When she turned around, she saw Marlene—a nun at the church.

  “Oh... You’re...”

  Marlene looked surprised.

  She often visited Tockerbrot, where she had met Hilde a few times. Marlene wasn’t surprised that Hilde had come. She was shocked by the way she looked.

  Hilde was wearing a black dress and white apron just like Sven and Milly. But she was covered in mud, with leaves in her hair, and her knees were scraped and bleeding because she had fallen repeatedly on her way here.

  “Um...”

  Marlene thought for a moment.

  Hilde looked exhausted and her eyes were red from crying.

  “Well, how about some tea?”

  In times like this, it was best to calm a person down before asking what happened.

  Marlene was experienced in helping those in trouble, and this was her evaluation.

  And ten minutes later...

  “Here. This should do.”

  Without asking for details, Marlene sat Hilde on a pew in the chapel and gave her tea while she tended to her knees.

  “Let’s see... Actually, we haven’t really talked before. I’m Marlene. It’s nice to meet you.”

  Her smile wasn’t the merciful smile of a servant of God. She introduced herself with the casual smile of an older woman.

  “Hildegard...”

  Hilde answered with a frown, carefully sipping her tea.

  She didn’t give Marlene her full name. Marlene didn’t question why, but there was a reason. After having her noble pride derided so many times, it was depressing to introduce her family name with its honorific “von.”

  “I see. So may I call you, Hilde?”

  “That, um...”

  Hilde was a little startled by Marlene’s question. The only people who could call her Hilde, short for Hildegard, were people special to her. Special people like her parents and Lieutenant General Genitz, whom she loved and respected.

  “I don’t mind.”

  However, such pride felt small and unimportant, so she said yes.

  “That’s good. Hilde, may I ask you something?”

  “What is it?”

  There were many questions Hilde thought Marlene might ask. Why did she look so disheveled, why was she here, and did she need to go back to the shop? And so on.

  “Does the tea taste bad?”

  “Huh?”

  What Marlene asked was totally unexpected.

  She must have noticed that Hilde hadn’t reached for her cup again after the first sip.

  “No, I just can’t handle hot drinks.”

  “Oh, good! I’m so glad!”

  Marlene was relieved from the bottom of her heart.

  To be honest, although Marlene’s tea didn’t taste awful, the tea Sven made for break time at Tockerbrot—gruffly saying, “Well, while I’m at it”—was better.

  And the problem probably wasn’t the tea leaves but the skill of the brewer.

  “I don’t really mind.”

  “Oh, okay.”

  Hilde had a lot of pride and a short temper that caused her to snap at others, but surprisingly, she didn’t complain about meals.

  Her family, the Hessens, had originally been warriors, so “simplicity and frugality” was the family motto. However, eating plain food wasn’t just a characteristic of her family, but came from being fallen nobles. There had never been fine food at the table, so she was never picky about food.

  “I try my best but can’t seem to make tea for some reason. They tell me it’s better than before, but it was truly dreadful to begin with.”

  Marlene worried about making tea so awful that even her friends tried not to make her feel badly about it.

  “It actually isn’t easy.”

  Marlene picked up her cup, and sat down beside Hilde. She took a sip before speaking again.

  “Did Sven scold you?”

  “!”

  Hilde was caught off guard and flustered at how Marlene’s question suddenly came to the point. She didn’t reply, but the look on her face affirmed the answer.

  “I can imagine. That woman has a wicked personality. To be honest, I sympathize with you.”

  Marlene, who often fiercely fought with Sven over Lud, held her forehead and laughed dryly.

  “I, um...”

  “It’s okay. Don’t answer. I mean, I’ve heard you have unusual circumstances.”

  “Do you know who I am?”

  “Somewhat.”

  Lud and Sven purposely avoided giving details about Hilde’s situation. However, Milly had witnessed the disturbance that Hilde and Heidrig had caused on their first day. Milly wasn’t very talkative, but she confided in Marlene, who was her family.

  “Lud has a complicated past, so certain things are unavoidable.”

  “Unavoidable? Do you...”

  Hilde looked with suspicion at Marlene.

  “It’s Lud. There’s nothing we can do.”

  By “nothing we can do,” she didn’t mean Lud getting killed.

  She meant that there was nothing they could do about Lud choosing the hardest path after earning grudges and getting into trouble.

  “Aren’t you going to criticize me? Isn’t Lud Langart your friend?”

  “I guess, but even if Lud said you were okay, I wouldn’t feel good about you. But... How should I put this? I just don’t have the right.”

  “What?”

  Hilde tilted her head in confusion at the words “I don’t have the right.”

  “Because I tried to kill him, too.”

  “Huh? W-What?!”

  Such words coming from a kind servant of God frightened Hilde so much that she shot to her feet.

  “Right over there. I fired a bullet at him.”

  Marlene spoke as if relaying gossip, but with no sign of a smile, as her gaze indicated an altar fixed to the floor with a few nails.

  “But the gun was useless, so while it did leave a scar, the wound wasn’t fatal.”

  “You... Who are you?”

  “People are complicated.”

  Marlene’s eyes had a sad look in them for a moment. But it quickly disappeared, and her
smile returned.

  “But now I’m just a nun. I decided that very day.”

  Sitting beside the confused Hilde, Marlene shrugged her shoulders and smiled.

  There was no lie in her expression. Even if there had been, Hilde wouldn’t have noticed. Marlene was a nun and her smile could even deceive God.

  Oh...

  After seeing Marlene’s expression, Hilde felt an inexplicable sense of defeat.

  “Urgh...”

  “What’s the matter? Did I say something wrong?”

  Marlene hurriedly asked Hilde, who had started to cry.

  “No, that’s not why I’m crying.”

  Hilde finally realized something.

  She realized what caused this pitiful feeling she had suffered with for such a long time. And she realized the reason her pride grew stronger, but nothing else. And the reason she couldn’t maintain her sense of self without looking down on others.

  Oh... There’s no place for me...

  She finally understood by looking at Marlene, who had lived through a past that Hilde couldn’t imagine, but accepted her present as a nun with all her strength.

  “Hey, um... Marlene? Can you take my confession?”

  Hilde asked as she rubbed her eyes roughly with her sleeves.

  “Huh...? I’m not sure I am a sufficient intermediary with God. Is that okay?”

  The nun answered somewhat jokingly.

  Then Hilde started to talk about her past, which she had tried very hard to forget.

  Chapter 5: Third Unit

  Five hours had passed since the Schutzstaffel started the attack on the development bureau. It had breached the front gate and Schutzstaffel soldiers were attacking, furiously and repeatedly. The security guards were resisting boldly under Sophia’s leadership, but suffered many deaths and injuries. Finally, high-speed combat vehicles had destroyed over half the vaunted bulkheads and pushed Sophia and her guards back near the deepest part of the bureau.

  “Take thaaat!!”

  With a fierce boom, Sophia herself fired the Gerlitz, with shells striking the center of a looming Kentaur combat vehicle.

  “More shells!”

  Sophia thought she could finish the Kentaur off with one more blast. She ordered the weapon reloaded in a hurry, but Sariya responded in a pained voice.

  “We don’t have any more!”

  “Argh!”

  The new weapon, of which Daian was so proud, had indeed performed excellently in combat, but it was still just a prototype. The Gerlitz was unprecedented as a weapon, but it could only hold a limited number of shells, so it couldn’t withstand a long battle.

  “We have to abandon this position! Lower the bulkhead, plant explosives, and plug the corridor with rubble! At least we can buy some time!”

  Sophia ordered retreat and kicked aside the useless Gerlitz.

  “Bury this in the debris! It’s useless!”

  So far, Sophia and her guards had just been able to hold off the two Schutzstaffel companies surrounding them. However, faced with successive waves of reinforcements, the situation had grown dire.

  “Let’s go, Sariya!”

  “Y-Yes, Ma’am!”

  The only consolation was the high morale of the security guards. Most of them had fought under Sophia since the Great War and had long military experience. Sariya, however, was a new soldier, recruited just one month ago.

  The Schutzstaffel had instigated the fight, but Sophia’s stubbornness was partially responsible for this battle. Retreating was an option out of concern for the lives of the soldiers.

  “You’re unlucky... Sorry to involve you in this.”

  “Don’t talk like that, Major!”

  Sariya, answered Sophia’s concern with a smile that didn’t suit the situation.

  “But... you just joined the military.”

  Sariya was about twenty years old. This battle was unfortunate for her since she finished her training after the end of the Great War.

  “Uh... no. I joined twelve years ago.”

  “Oh. That’s surprising... What?!”

  Sophia almost let the answer go, but then she barked at Sariya in surprise.

  “More than ten years?! You’ve been in since the Great War?! Are you kidding?! That’s longer than me!!”

  “Um, I’m type three.”

  “Oh!”

  Sophia cursed her own thoughtlessness as she watched Sariya dip her head in embarrassment.

  Sophia hadn’t merely made Sariya say it out loud. She had grimaced when she heard the words “type three.”

  “Twelve years... So you were about eight years old?!”

  “Yes...”

  In Wiltia’s military system, type-one soldiers were volunteers and type-two were draftees. Type-three soldiers had lost their parents or were abandoned and then culled and trained from a young age.

  Sariya’s youth must have been far from happy. Sophia’s response amounted to treating her with pity.

  “Oh, but don’t worry! I’m thankful to the military! I was about to die and they put me in the hospital. After that, I was physically unfit, so they let me work at a national factory. I’ve never been on the battlefield.”

  Sariya was hurrying to ease Sophia’s discomfort, but she was clearly putting some effort into her smile.

  The military assigned duties to the orphans and they had to work in return for a secure life.

  “They paid me! And after the war, I was given proper military training. Then I was attached to this unit.”

  From the military’s point of view, they rescued and raised children who were near death and then had them pay it back with labor, which seemed reasonable. But, it was a system that preyed on the socially vulnerable while the nation’s social welfare remained inadequate.

  “I see...”

  Sophia’s expression was still tense.

  The person who had devised the military’s tri-level system was none other than Genitz, the top commanding officer of the Schutzstaffel. Sophia had joined the military through that system, created by Genitz, and now she was fighting people under his command. But for Sariya, it was more like being made to perform as a clown.

  Even worse, I supported him!

  Sophia ground her back teeth in anger and regret.

  “Major... I’m sorry, um, for telling you something so unsettling.”

  Sariya tried to reassure Sophia when she saw her pained expression.

  “No... sorry. Um, I used to have a type-three soldier under my command.”

  “Really?! Where is that soldier now?”

  “He quit the military and became a baker.”

  She saw the face of her childhood friend.

  “Oh... so he finished his term of service?”

  The enlistment period for type-three soldiers was in proportion to how much that soldier cost the military. Such a soldier couldn’t leave the military before repaying that debt, other than for extraordinary reasons. That period was called a term of service.

  Sariya had a long hospital stay, so she had cost more and it would take longer for her to finish her term of service.

  “After this mess, I plan to request leave. For all the guards. Would you like to come with me to visit my friend at his bakery? His bread... Well, it’s not bad.”

  “Yes! I’d like to join you!”

  As Sophia grinned, Sariya agreed with a broad smile.

  Meanwhile, in an office located deep inside the development bureau...

  Daian sat and wondered. The office boasted advanced sound-proofing, but he could still hear explosions and loud rumbling. It was just a matter of time before the Schutzstaffel marched in.

  “I thought we would last until dawn, but they won’t allow that.”

  Under Sophia’s command and with the bureau’s weapons, ordinarily they would have been able to hold the Schutzstaffel off. But they were throwing too many soldiers and weapons at them. They were using brute force to open the doors.

  “There is no doubt that he has
endangered his position. He’ll likely face charges of treason, and yet he’s persisting.”

  Marshal Elvin and Sophia from the regular military detested Genitz. But the precision of his strategic planning was impressive.

  If Genitz dared to take this kind of risk, he wanted something badly. And it was enough to compensate for whatever the consequences might be.

  “So does that mean...”

  Daian tapped his forehead and made an overly frustrated face.

  “There’s no other explanation. With that, he would be sure to take over, not just Wiltia, but the whole world.”

  Daian was thinking about the Door, a relic that contained the wisdom of the ancient European Empire. Analyzing and using a mere portion of it had brought victory to Wiltia.

  Doors existed everywhere in the world. One was found at Organbaelz Mine in a rural town in Pelfe. But of all the Doors, the largest was in the deepest subterranean level of the development bureau.

  “What a total waste of time. He won’t open it no matter what he does.”

  If he could, Daian would have opened it a long time ago. However, even with his extraordinary, scientific genius, he was not up to the task.

  In any case, conquering the whole development bureau would not secure the key to the Door. The key wasn’t here. It was across the border.

  “But, I still don’t get it.”

  Genitz’s strategy must be to reach the Door, but there was no point if he couldn’t open it.

  If he was that foolish, Elvin wouldn’t be so bothered by him. Genitz wasn’t foolish, which was why he was such a problem.

  “He’s planning something else. In that case, we can’t be picky about our methods. Am I right, Rebecca?”

  As soon as Daian asked, a girl suddenly materialized in the corner of the office.

  “Did you call?”

  The girl with red hair and red eyes and wearing a red dress... was Rebecca Sharlahart.

  “Sophia and the others are fighting desperately, but it’s only a matter of time until this place falls. So I want you to get help.”

  Rebecca wasn’t human. Like Sven, she was a humanoid Hunter Unit created by Daian. With her superhuman physical strength and combat ability, she could escape the encircling Schutzstaffel net and reach central headquarters.