by SOW
“It turns out she really can smile,” Heidrig mumbled to himself.
He had believed this girl was just like him, yet she was capable of such a radiant expression in just ten days.
“Well, that leaves me no choice...”
Heidrig made up his mind. He would have to do it. There was no other way. He would do it and then he would truly become...
... the Wolf Man.
Chapter 7: A Single Biscuit
In the royal capital of Berun, nearly six hours had passed since the Schutzstaffel launched its attack. If the sun had risen, the invading soldiers might have retreated, but dawn in Berun comes late in the autumn, so the day was still in deep darkness.
“We’re almost there! Keep holding!!”
Sophia called encouragement to her subordinates.
There’s a saying that the dark is deepest before the dawn. If you can persevere through the current hardship, you are sure to see hope.
“At least one hour... No, stand firm for just thirty minutes!”
Among the security guards, less than half could still fight, but considering the difference in the sizes of the opposing forces, Sophia’s guards had kept a better rate of survival.
“Tsk!”
The submachine gun firing at the Schutzstaffel soldiers ran out of ammunition.
“Sariya! Bring a replacement mag!”
Sariya didn’t reply to Sophia’s order.
“Sariya, what’s wrong?”
Sophia ducked her head behind the barricade to look at Sariya.
“Sari—”
But Private First Class Sariya wasn’t there.
“You idiot... I said I’d give you a vacation after this, so why did you check out now?!”
Private Sariya’s lifeless body was on the ground. She had taken a shot to the head without even knowing her number was up.
“Sophia, you’re still alive?”
Crawling across the floor, Daian appeared in front of the grieving Sophia. He wore a helmet that looked impenetrable, another piece of new equipment from the development bureau.
“I don’t have time to look at your stupid face right now, so get lost. Go cower in fear in the back!”
The only territory left for Sophia and the others consisted of the deepest part of the development bureau and Daian’s office.
“Sophia, this is hopeless! We should surrender!”
“What?! You coward!”
Sophia yelled in anger at Daian’s suggestion.
“You’re our commander, so act like it! You’ll lose the support of your subordinates like this!”
“If I was going to fly a white flag, I would’ve done it a long time ago! We’ll find a way out of this soon enough and—”
“No, we won’t. Probably not, anyway.”
Sophia wasn’t foolish. She wouldn’t continue fighting, armed with no more than stubbornness and pride, when there was no chance of winning.
If they were holding a castle with no hope of reinforcements, she would have sacrificed herself to protect the lives of her troops without hesitation. However, they could still win if they held out a little longer.
“You guys did great, but my projections were a bit too optimistic.”
The situation was worse than Daian originally thought.
Daian hadn’t told Sophia that he had sent Rebecca, his attendant humanoid Hunter Unit, to request reinforcements over an hour ago. With her powerful legs, she should have reached military headquarters a long time ago.
But no reinforcements have come. Which means...
It would be impossible for human soldiers, no matter how many, to stop Rebecca. Daian had created her and he knew her powers. Nonetheless, she hadn’t come back. That meant someone who wasn’t human had defeated her.
Genitz, what are you thinking? What are you after?
Genitz had deployed a secret operative to counter Rebecca.
Even if they could hold until noon... No, the longer this lasted, the more certain it was that this battle would end in the worst way.
“Shut up! I’m not asking your opinion! There’s no way we can retreat now!”
Sophia, not knowing the circumstances, would not consent.
“Sophia, please calm down. At least I can still save you!”
If they surrendered, disarmed, and gave Genitz what he wanted, Daian would be sure to survive. And Genitz might give in to Daian’s selfish request to spare Sophia’s life.
“Don’t joke! Even if we surrender, I have to save non-combatant staff members first, then my subordinates, and then myself! You come last!”
“I’m last?!”
Sophia was fiery-tempered to the very end.
“Hm? Wait. Something is wrong.”
Sophia noticed a change. The enemy fire, which had been howling, had stopped.
“What are they going to pull now?”
Scared, Sophia peeked over the barricade to examine the other side.
“I don’t like it. What if they follow the combat vehicles with a Hunter Unit?”
“Don’t invite bad fortune!”
Sophia snapped at Daian, who was also peeking out.
“What...?”
Their gaze fell on Schutzstaffel soldiers. They were all standing with their guns raised but still.
Why are they doing that in the middle of a fight?!
They didn’t crouch or take cover... It was as if they were asking to be shot. It seemed like they were obeying a command, and it was not to protect their own lives.
The soldiers lined up on two sides, making way for someone coming down their center. An ominous silence reigned. It was a silence that was hard to believe given the fierce battle just moments earlier.
The tak... tak... sound of someone striding across the floor was getting closer. The security guards, and Sophia herself, forgot to keep their guns raised and ready to fire, as they watched the approaching figure.
“No way...”
Sophia blurted out in disbelief.
It was unimaginable that he would show up here.
“Even I never expected this!”
Sophia was unable to respond to Daian’s shocked exclamation. But she did notice that this was the first time she had heard this perennially carefree man sound nervous.
“How dare you persist in this useless defense!”
A young man with long blond hair stepped forward.
“Y-You bastard!”
“No, Sophia!”
Daian shouted to stop her.
Without thinking, Sophia had revealed herself. The man’s appearance had such a strong effect that she forgot she was in the middle of a battle.
“‘Bastard’? How disrespectful, Major Rundstadt... I may belong to the Schutzstaffel, but I’m also a general of the military.”
On his shoulder, he wore a badge indicating his rank of a lieutenant general of the Principality of Wiltia.
“What’re you doing here, Genitz?!”
It was Maximillian Genitz, a lieutenant general of the Principality of Wiltia and the supreme commander of the Schutzstaffel.
“Is there anything wrong with me being on my battlefield??”
Genitz extended his arm gracefully.
He looked as if he were about to conduct a symphony, but he wasn’t holding a conductor’s baton. It was the renowned gun and a symbol of the Wiltian military—a Walther P38.
“Uh-oh...”
By the time Sophia noticed, Genitz had pulled the trigger.
The gunshot rang out.
Hilde returned to the waiting room at the side of the stage.
“Phew!”
The violent beating in her chest hadn’t stopped. The reaction from the audience was so enthusiastic, she sang three more songs as an encore.
“I feel really good!”
She saw her face smiling proudly in the mirror. The words that had confined her, such as “child of Polpora” and “black dog,” now felt insignificant.
Nobles, soldiers, and Wiltians... They all
sounded so inconsequential. If someone were to say something mean, today she would be able to shout back, “So what?!”
“What should I do now?”
She couldn’t give up everything, and she couldn’t start all over again. However, whether she decided to live as a soldier or choose a different path, at least she could determine this according to her own will.
“Huh? Marlene?”
Someone opened the dividing curtain and entered.
This place was also used for costume changes. Marlene would have called out before entering, but this man intruded without a word, and looked around to confirm that there was no one else there.
“Do you work at Tockerbrot?”
He was a plain-looking young man, about twenty years old. There was nothing remarkable about his appearance. Or perhaps he had removed anything that might attract notice.
“Who are you?!”
Although she had never been in battle, Hilde wasn’t as careless as an innocent girl strolling about town. She saw that he was ill at ease and was alarmed.
“There’s no mistake about it! It’s you! Your hair color is different, so you must have been wearing a disguise!”
However, when she noticed the man’s discomfort, it made him... No, it made the men violent. They must have been waiting outside, for the group marched in all of a sudden.
“Somebody—”
Hilde tried to shout, but a hemp sack came down over her head. It was a large flour sack, large enough to hold one person. Hilde was short, so it swiftly enveloped her all the way to her feet. And then—
“—!!”
The men punched and kicked her repeatedly through the sack. Their methods were efficient—they didn’t let her shout, they broke her will to resist, and they knocked her unconscious.
“Good. Take her away!”
Now they could carry her without detection.
In a flash, Hilde and the mysterious men were gone.
“What the heck happened here?!”
Sven raised a voice full of surprise, frustration and especially anger.
It didn’t take ten minutes for the Tockerbrot group to discover that Hilde had been abducted. Marlene went backstage right after the show and found a letter. When she read the contents and the names written on it, she felt as though she had fallen to the bottom of a pit.
“No... I can’t believe they’re still around!”
Lud made a face even more pained than usual as he spoke.
Unable to go to the authorities, Marlene had no choice but to ask Lud and the others for help. The letter read, “We have the girl. If you want her back, Lud Langart and Heidrig must come with Marlene to the forest outside town.”
It was signed by the Pelfe Liberation League.
“This is all my fault!”
Marlene knelt on the floor and cried.
The Pelfe Liberation League was the anti-Wiltia terrorist group to which Marlene had once belonged. Sometime earlier, Lud and Sven had protected Marlene from them. Most of the group’s members were arrested and the organization appeared to disband, but those remaining must have learned of Lud’s existence through Marlene.
“But why the first lieutenant?”
Heidrig was perplexed.
The incident between Lud and the Pelfe Liberation League had happened over six months ago. And it had not involved Hilde.
“Perhaps they mistook her for me.”
Sven said this with a deep sigh.
“I dyed my hair black for that interview.”
The photograph in the newspaper had been black and white, and low resolution. So when Hilde visited Marlene’s church and they saw her black hair, the terrorists had mistaken her for Sven.
“And why do they want me?”
Heidrig raised another question.
He had only been in Organbaelz for the past ten days. How did they know his name when he had been in prison for years before that?
The Pelfe Liberation League was a puppet organization of the August Federation, an enemy nation of Wiltia. However, August had already distanced itself from the terrorist group because their collaboration was suspected and August feared an international conflict.
The current Pelfe Liberation League was eager for attention and liked to brag about its power, but it was actually just a gang of ruffians. They couldn’t distinguish between Hilde and Sven, so it didn’t make sense for them to know Heidrig’s name.
“Obviously, there’s more to this picture.”
Lud’s comment wasn’t just suspicion.
“Master, what will you do?”
Sven asked as if she were confirming what she already knew.
This didn’t change the fact that Hilde had tried to kill Lud. Not once but twice. Other than that, they had only known each other for ten days. Their relationship wasn’t close enough for him to risk his life for her.
A typical person would certainly refuse to do so.
“We have to do something about this!”
However, Lud’s answer wasn’t typical.
“Uh-huh... I knew it.”
Sven gripped her forehead, which said clearly that she had known he would say that.
Lud often insisted that he was “just a baker,” but at times like this, he didn’t act like “just a baker.”
It was common sense to report the incident to public authorities and let them handle the rest. However, that would greatly lower the chances of Hilde coming back alive. It would also put Marlene in danger. There was a strong chance that her past crimes would come to light. Lud knew all this.
“Sorry to involve you in this, Heidrig.”
“No, it’s the other way around.”
Lud spoke with such a serious look on his face that Heidrig replied with amazement.
“Ha ha ha... Never underestimate my master’s kindness! You got that?!”
Although Sven expected it, she still couldn’t find a clear explanation for Lud’s behavior. But because it happened all the time, it was her role as a servant to wrack her brains and find a solution for her beloved master.
“Let’s come up with a plan. If we just do as they ask, it won’t solve anything, but maybe we can figure out another way!”
As she said this, Sven smiled.
Organbaelz was a mining town. Therefore, its composition as a town was unusual. The area around the mine, and the roads that carried the ore it produced, were very important, so the town was concentrated there.
There were still untouched mountains and forests outside the urban area. Thick trees blanketed the land around Organbaelz.
The location where the Pelfe Liberation League wanted to meet was a small charcoal-burning lodge in a secluded part of the forest.
“Hey, I think they’re here.”
One of the terrorists noticed Lud and the others approaching.
Their letter instructed them to hold a lantern to avoid a surprise attack. There were three figures: Lud, Heidrig, and Marlene.
“Ugh...”
The terrorists numbered less than ten, but the old lodge was small and stifling, so everyone was gathered around a fire outside as they waited. The hostage Hilde was with them. She had been roughly tied with a rope and was lying inert on the ground.
“Why did you come?”
Lud had no obligation to save her.
And Heidrig had no obligation to put his life in danger. Hilde was more confused than pleased that they had risked their lives to save her.
“I kept my promise, so let the girl go!”
They were ten meters from the charcoal-burning lodge, too great a distance to reach in a single bound.
And the terrorists held guns. The weapons were outdated revolvers that looked like they were scavenged from some junkyard. They were little more than iron scrap, with no maintenance. However, they could still shoot bullets. And a shot at such a short distance was likely to prove fatal.
“First, bring her here.”
The leader of the terrorists pointed a gun as he gave the
order.
“She’s a traitor. Everyone else was caught, but she went free because she sold us out!”
The way the terrorists saw it, this was revenge against both Lud and Marlene—the man who was instrumental in their organization’s destruction, and the woman who betrayed them.
“All right.”
Lud agreed.
Marlene had her head down and, with slow and hesitant steps, she moved toward the terrorists.
“Hurry up!”
One of the group pulled the trigger of his old revolver and a bullet struck the ground several meters from Marlene.
“Eeeeek!”
Marlene shrieked in fear. She trembled but managed to walk over and stand before them.
“Hey.”
“What’s up?”
The biggest of the bunch grabbed Marlene’s shoulder and held her.
“My usual rule is to kill traitors right away, but first I want you to watch something fun.”
The leader threatened Marlene with his gun still pointed at her.
“You two! Kill each other now!”
After saying this, he laughed loudly.
“Oh, I get it...”
“I see...”
Now Lud and Heidrig understood the terrorists’ plan.
They wanted to kill Lud. But, if they attacked him, he would fight back. So they had taken a hostage. Nonetheless, he might still defeat them with a surprise attack. So they brought in a man as strong as Lud and would now force them to kill each other. It was a despicable plan that only people blind to their own weaknesses would choose.
“What now?”
Heidrig quietly asked Lud.
“Let’s see...”
Lud mumbled in a troubled voice.
Even if they obeyed and one of them was killed, the possibility of saving Hilde was low. But, if they refused, it was certain that either Hilde or Marlene would die immediately.
“...............”
“...............”
In silence, the two assumed the stance for hand-to-hand combat.
“Heh heh... This is just as he said! As long as we take care of this black-haired wench, it’ll all go well!”
The leader laughed as he spoke.
“Who is ‘he’?”
Marlene asked without raising her head.
