The Combat Baker and the Automaton Waitress Volume 7 Page 4

  When Hilde awoke that morning, there was a huge hole in the wall. Actually, the whole wall was simply gone.

  They were supposed to have individual rooms, but suddenly Hilde was sharing a double with Lillie.

  “I chipped away and made a hole in the night.”

  “Yeah, that would be the way to do it...”

  Hilde had, of course, complained to the dorm administrator, but the housemother denied her complaint on the spot.

  “She mumbled something about an ‘international problem.’ Do you know anything about that?”

  “No... Not at all!”

  Lillie played innocent.

  Hilde didn’t know it, but Lillie had used her position as an investigator from the Yamato Embassy to make a “request” of the school president. The president feared the situation with Lillie would develop into an international issue, so he ordered the housemother to go along. As a result, any complaints about Lillie’s actions would fall on deaf ears.

  Furthermore, news of any such grievances would reach many people before it got to Suzuka, a military attaché at the Yamato Embassy and, for convenience’s sake, Lillie’s master. Even though Suzuka’s smile was usually calm, such reports would cause her face to twitch with annoyance. But that was another story.

  “Um, about your feelings for me... We’re just friends, right?”

  Lillie was slightly eccentric as a friend, but Hilde cared about her. Since the incident when Hilde first learned about Lillie’s true nature, there were disturbances at Hilde’s past six schools. Whenever something happened, Lillie always protected her from those who sought to kill Hilde and cover it up. So Hilde trusted and cared about her.

  “Of course we’re just friends!”

  Lillie answered with a smile.

  Her face wasn’t even five centimeters away from Hilde’s.

  “I s-see...”

  Lillie had spoken a little too enthusiastically but Hilde was on the verge of believing her when Lillie amended her comment.

  “At least for now.”

  “Uh, what’d you just say?!”

  Hilde tried to interrogate her, but Lillie turned her back, pretending not to have heard.

  “I know you don’t mean any trouble, but...”

  Hilde sighed again at her inability to settle in one school. More than that, however, she felt her chastity was in danger.

  “More importantly... Hilde, look at this.”

  “Huh?”

  Lillie changed the subject and pulled a magazine from her bag.

  “This may have something to do with you.”

  “What is it?”

  Lillie handed Hilde a science magazine. The feature article was “The Possibility of Same-Sex Propagation by Females.”

  “Oops! That’s the wrong magazine. Here’s the right one!”

  “Why are you reading this?!”

  Hilde tensed, but Lillie just replaced the first magazine with another one.

  “Hm? Weekly Global News... A magazine from Greyten? Why are you reading this?”

  After seeing the Greyten language on the cover, Hilde grew suspicious.

  “Well, I’m collecting information. My master... my guardian read this and she thought I might be interested, so she sent it to me.”

  Suzuka, the military attaché at the Yamato Embassy, had introduced Lillie to the magazine. One of the embassy’s functions was collecting information and sending it to the home country. Magazines and newspapers were valuable sources of information.

  “Urm... I’m not very familiar with Greytenese.”

  Greyten was an island nation in the cultural area of the continent of Europea. It was defeated during the recent Great War, resulting in a massive loss of territory. However, it was once known as the Empire of the Never Setting Sun.

  “Let’s see... The true nature of Wiltia, which claims to have established a world state? Military power oppressing freedom? Ha ha! These are pretty wild claims!”

  During the Great European War, the Greyten Empire, the Republic of Filbarneu, and the August Federation formed a coalition and fought against the allied powers led by Wiltia. But Wiltia overturned early predictions and won the war.

  One reason was that Wiltia possessed the new weapon known as the Hunter Units, which revolutionized the battlefield. Also, Noa, a nation on a new continent, had maintained a neutral position to the end of the conflict. In any case, the losing coalition now held a strong grudge against Wiltia and was busily leaping at every opportunity to tarnish Wiltia’s dignity and magnify problems.

  “I’ve heard Greyten takes from the national budget for this kind of troublemaking. Instead of wasting time on it, they should address other issues.”

  Hilde was amazed at how illogical the world was to compensate for a bruised pride by hating something else.

  “So what are these losers grumbling about now?”

  They were at an officer’s school, and Hilde was a former member of the Schutzstaffel. She had once belonged to the nation, but she had no obligation to listen to every bit of nonsense that came along.

  “There, in the special feature in the middle... Didn’t you have something to do with that place?”

  However, Lillie spoke calmly, not with the flirty face she had been wearing.

  “In the middle?”

  Hilde turned pages. Then she saw the name of a familiar shop.

  “What? Tockerbrot?!”

  Just a few months ago, she had worked there.

  “A baker suppressed and attempted to kill a peace fighter calling for freedom? The shop owner is a former soldier involved in an illegal mission? And he’s currently on a covert operation to hide the nation’s war crimes? What the heck?!”

  Hilde had acquired cursory familiarity with Greytenese through classroom lectures. She wasn’t fluent, but she could read, write, and engage in simple conversation. Even with her limited skills, she knew these claims were absurd.

  ‘This is Dolly Anastasia reporting.

  The Principality of Wiltia is a militant nation that deployed metal giants to forcefully subdue the opposing coalition of powers in the recent Great European War.

  I have long doubted whether freedom and equality can even exist in this country. And this incident has only strengthened such doubts.

  It happened in the quiet town of Organbaelz, located in a corner of Pelfe, which Wiltia currently occupies as a colony. And it begins with a man escaping to this peaceful town. That man’s name is Miroslav Milag. He belongs to a freedom movement representing the occupied people of Pelfe. As part of his work, he violated Wiltian law against his will. With the police on his tail, he fled to a bakery.

  It would be natural to assume that people living at the bakery would be a calm and peaceful folk. And since this bakery is in Pelfe, Miroslav thought its owners would be Pelfian and would hide him—or at least give him some bread—since it was for their sakes that he fought. So, suffering from hunger, he knocked on the door.

  However, his hopes were dashed. The owner of the shop was Lud Langart, a Wiltian and one of Pelfe’s overlords. Instead of giving sustenance to Miroslav, he abused him, calling him a dirty, inferior Pelfian and threatening violence against him.

  The police were in hot pursuit, so Miroslav had no choice but to barricade himself in the shop. The authorities had already captured five of his comrades, making Miroslav the last of his group. If he wanted to continue his fight for freedom, he didn’t have the luxury to care about appearances.

  Immediately, armed police surrounded the shop. Miroslav continued decrying the inequality and injustice in society. He was a sublime figure, reminiscent of an ancient saint. However, the curtain fell on his struggle most abominably. Exhausted from his lone fight, Miroslav fell asleep. And what happened while he slumbered?

  One of his hostages, shop owner Lud Langart, was a former soldier. And he has a suspicious background. Langart participated in an unreported civilian massacre perpetrated by the Wiltian military during the Great European War in M
ay of Year 913 of the European Calendar. It was a savage slaughter against unarmed civilians during wartime. Langart played a major role in the Wiltian assault.

  Perhaps Langart’s current occupation as baker was designed by the Wiltian military to hide information it was afraid would expose the incident.

  Miroslav knew nothing about this. He was too virtuous to hurt an apparent civilian like Langart—even though the man is actually a loathsome invader. Langart took Miroslav’s gun and tried to kill him. Miroslav, quick to react, avoided death by successfully dodging his would-be killer’s bullet. However, worried about the lives of the children whom Lud had forced to slave away in his shop, Miroslav turned himself in.

  Currently, Miroslav is attempting to file a suit in court seeking justice and equality. His trial will question the international community’s willingness to allow Wiltia—as a great nation at the center of the world’s attention—to continue its tyrannical behavior.’

  “What the... This is pure nonsense!!”

  Hilde’s hands shook as she held the magazine. She gripped it so hard that the pages were crinkled and bent.

  “Lud Langart would never behave like that!”

  For certain reasons, Hilde had worked at Lud’s bakery during her time in the Schutzstaffel. That’s how she knew that Lud was an exceptionally good person.

  Hilde had tried to kill him. Nonetheless, he had given her a job and let her eat the bread he baked. He was that kind of man.

  Miroslav on the other hand, was unknown to her. But if he asked Lud for bread, the baker would have shared his bread even if Miroslav was a horrible villain. That’s the kind of man Lud was. Hilde knew that very well.

  “What was this reporter thinking?! Is she serious?!”

  “Actually, I doubt she is.”

  “What?!”

  Hilde’s tone was agitated in response to Lillie’s words.

  “They only sell that magazine in Greyten. Do you think anyone there would go all the way to Pelfe to find out the truth? They wouldn’t. That’s the way these things are done.”

  “Well, it stinks!”

  This magazine wasn’t intended to be responsible journalism. Its purpose was disseminating a narrative comfortable to the citizens of the defeated nation, shoring up their self-esteem with the idea that they lost to Wiltia because it was a nation of cowardly and vicious villains. That’s why it sold well. And that’s why publication continued.

  “I wonder if they’re all right...”

  Hilde remembered the faces of the people she had accompanied to the royal capital a few months ago. Lud, Jacob, Milly... and the silver-haired waitress.

  “I hope this doesn’t cause them trouble.”

  If possible, she wanted to lend a hand. From the bottom of her heart, Hilde wanted to help them. However, she was a long way from Organbaelz...

  Back in Organbaelz, at a repair shop—a former repair shop—in the corner of town...

  This was Jacob’s home.

  “So what’s the problem?” he asked.

  The repair shop used to handle a variety of maintenance, from heavy machinery to old trucks around town.

  “That magazine is from Greyten, right? We’re in Pelfe, so it doesn’t have anything to do with us.”

  “That’s not true.”

  Sven, the silver-haired waitress at Tockerbrot, was standing in front of him. The sales smile she was so proud of, which charmed customers day after day, had now lost its shine.

  “Why? It doesn’t matter if people across the ocean talk about us. It’ll only cause trouble if we let it upset us. You know that saying about how the wealthy don’t fight? Well... Lud doesn’t have any money, but still.”

  “That last part was unnecessary.”

  Financially, Tockerbrot was still struggling to free itself of debt.

  “It may be more consequential than you think.”

  If a foreign nation was telling lies about them, it was unpleasant. But Jacob was right: they could just ignore it.

  However, there are people who raise smoke where there’s no fire. They raise a fuss, saying, “If there’s smoke, there must be fire.”

  “It’s not just talk in a foreign country. A Wiltian newspaper with a large circulation in Pelfe printed the article in its international column.”

  “And that’s bad... right?”

  Finally, Jacob understood the seriousness of the situation.

  “The people in Organbaelz will know it’s a lie, but if people in neighboring towns, especially Ponapalas, read it...”

  Ponapalas was the former capital of Pelfe. Many people there still objected to the merger with Wiltia.

  “Jacob, you shouldn’t come to Tockerbrot for a while. That’s what the master thinks.”

  After he heard the news, Lud decided to immediately secure the safety of Marlene, Milly, Jacob, and Charlotte.

  “But I couldn’t be so heartless!!”

  Jacob had been Lud’s friend since before Sven arrived, when Lud was struggling each day with the difficulty of starting his new life as a baker. Sven was basically telling Jacob to abandon his friend.

  “We can’t put you in danger like before. I’m sorry about Charlotte, as well.”

  “Ugh...”

  Jacob’s mother was haggard and stayed in bed after the recent hostage incident had endangered his life.

  “Will the shop be all right?”

  “Yes. Master and I can handle it for a few days somehow, but...”

  “But?”

  Sven’s face clouded further.

  “What’s worse is our sales are suffering...”

  Sven bit her lip hard. She had once been a Hunter Unit. As Avei, she strode the battlefield. She could deal with any problem involving gunfire. And even if she couldn’t, she could at least survive. However, her experience as Avei was useless against the situation currently assailing Tockerbrot.

  “Sven...”

  Jacob didn’t know what was on her mind. However, Sven loved his friend Lud more than anyone in the world, so Jacob knew she was suffering.

  What is the most vicious kind of attack? Is it a cruel demon wielding an iron hammer? Or a heinous devil swinging a blade?

  No. These are surprisingly insignificant. The most terrifying, brutal and vicious attack is an attack in the name of justice. There’s nothing more ruthless than fists thrown by those convinced they are right. They will hit you, kick you, and stomp on you even after you fall. They don’t care that you’re broken. If you are, they’ll just attack you harder to crush you. They’ll mash you to bits, grind down those bits, and spit on them.

  People who believe they are right are capable of overpowering violence. Thus, since times of old, the most common cause of war has been justice.

  “Filthy killer baker!”

  “Come outside, you rotten scoundrel!”

  “You’re the hand of the oppressor and the nation’s dog!”

  Many people gathered in front of Tockerbrot. They raised their voices and hoisted signs reading “GET OUT” and “WAR DOG.”

  “Murderer! Murderer!”

  “Aren’t you ashamed to be alive?!”

  “Go to jail, criminal!”

  The people’s eyes shone as if they were looking at the devil, the enemy of all creation, or a sailor tossing a stowaway into the sea.

  “Hey, you! Are you trying to shop here?!”

  “Don’t you know?! The owner is a murderer!”

  “Are you on his side?!”

  They didn’t just shout. They threatened and picked fights with the uncomfortable customers who tried to enter the shop.

  “Get out of town!”

  “Murderer! Shame on you for even breathing!”

  “You’re a monster who tramples peace and freedom!”

  There was no sign that their voices would ever stop...

  “Give me a break!”

  In the shop’s oven room, Lud was holding his head.

  “They’re still here.”

  Sven had retu
rned from Jacob’s house and was talking to Lud from the back door.

  “Yes. They came yesterday. They showed up early this morning, too. What a mess!”

  At a loss for what to do, Lud heaved a sigh. The protestors weren’t residents of Organbaelz. They were from Ponapalas and other towns and called themselves The Citizens Who Love Peace and Freedom.

  “They’re so annoying! Should I go kick them around?”

  Sven spoke ferociously, and Lud stopped her.

  “No! You mustn’t do that!”

  It would be easy to drive them away with force. But Lud could handle it without Sven’s help.

  “We can’t do anything like that!”

  “I suppose if we fight them, they will make a fuss and say, ‘See! We told you!’”

  The activists didn’t doubt they were right. They would view a show of force as oppressive and undemocratic, and gather more people and clamor even more.

  “That, too. But also...”

  Lud wasn’t only worried about that.

  “They’re not doing this because of ill will toward us. They’re doing it because they think it’s right. They are acting from a good conscience.”

  Wiltia’s annexation of Pelfe was legal according to international law. However, it was done against a background of Wiltia flourishing its military might. Those who had accepted the merger reasoned that there were worse countries than Wiltia, and they had no choice. So it wasn’t completely mistaken to see the annexation as unjust and repressive.

  “In fact, a lot of people experience inequality and injustice from Wiltia. Since it absorbed Pelfe as part of Wiltia instead of making it a colony, Wiltia should take responsibility.”

  At the end of the year before, on the night of the Holy Festival, a thief had snuck into Tockerbrot. A corrupt company had exploited the thief so she couldn’t even make a living to support her sister. Pelfians had run the company, but the funding had come from Wiltia. If the regulatory agencies in Wiltia had taken the correct action, they could have stopped it.

  Many people were suffering just like that thief.

  “But is it necessary for you to put up with this, Master?”

  Sven understood what Lud was trying to say, but she still had strong doubts.