Notes

Chapter 1: The Legend Activates

Part 1

12/20/1935

It was night and the moon was hidden by the clouds.

The wind was strong and it was more than just a winter wind. This wind was filled with the chill of high altitude.

This was the deck of the Bladlikburg, an aerial aircraft carrier of the German air force.

The metal deck was large enough for a track meet and several people stood on the front. The men all wore military uniforms and they formed a half circle.

A tall soldier stood in the center of their formation.

He appeared to be the commander and he was wrapped in a tougher and icier atmosphere than the surrounding soldiers.

He stared straight forward to the edge of the deck inside the half-circle formation. Their prey stood there.

That prey was a young man in a lab coat. His pure white clothing seemed to glow in the darkness.

His long black hair was tied back and the bottom of his coat danced in the wind.

The commander spoke to him.

“Are you sure you will not hand over your information on the dp-XXX, Walter?”

The voice rang loudly even in the sky and the young man named Walter brought a hand to his head and showed off a bitter smile.

“I’m really not sure what to do here.” His far too cheerful voice also rang loudly. “You promised us we could hold an experimental space launch if we built a powerful engine, didn’t you? So how did things get like this exactly?”

“That engine is too dangerous. That is all.”

Walter’s bitter smile transformed into a laugh.

“Ha ha ha. Now you’re just being silly, Oscar. Just say the military wants the tech for themselves. It’s not nice to lie.”

“You are the one being silly. You do not honestly think you can reach space with that engine, do you?”

“With just one, probably not. You’d need to put in at least three of them.”

Oscar looked the other man in the eye when he heard that.

“I saw the experiment. When two of those engines are used together, they interfere with each other and refuse to function!”

“That’s because of all the fine-tuning we did to make sure the moonlight wouldn’t mess with them. But even one of them produces as much energy as five of the current engines. That’s why the military wants them, isn’t it?”

In the thirties, the military…no, the entire world used spirit engines that used spirit stones.

Spirit stones were a stone made from crystallized ether.

Ether was the element that made up all things, including space itself. Long ago, people had believed in the four classical elements, but research in the late eighteenth century had revealed that there was only a single basic element.

Spirit engines used spirit stones to draw out energy.

Emblems that determined the arrangement of ether were carved into the engines. When ether flowed from the spirit stones, it would travel through the grooves which would determine its form. Ether that touched a fire emblem would become fire.

But even though spirit engines could create fire, water, thunder, and wind, they also had a massive flaw.

Spirit stones would resonate with the light of the moon and their output would be sent out of control. Enough machines had lost control during nights with strong moonlight that night activities had been banned during the previous great war.

It was not known why they were so affected by moonlight. Around the beginning of the twentieth century, scholars had thrown in the towel and simply declared it a “law of nature”.

Ever since, spirit engines were only used outside of the moonlight because no one had discovered a method of avoiding that mysterious law.

The military had simply thought Walter’s group was creating a new design for that same type of engine.

Oscar wrinkled his brow before speaking.

“And who do you think will allow you to foolishly try to reach space?”

“Don’t be stupid. You don’t need anyone’s permission to transcend the sky.”

“Why are you so intent on defying us?”

Walter uncrossed his arms and exaggeratedly placed a hand on his forehead.

“Why, you ask?”

“…”

“Well, you see…”

“…”

“My burning spirit of justice won’t allow me to hand it over to the military. Ha ha ha.”

The soldier standing next to Oscar looked up at his commander.

“Can I fill him with lead?”

“No, that is just the sort of man he is. Be patient.”

Oscar took a step forward.

“You are young and you are rushing things, Walter. If you leave the dp-XXX with the military, you will receive even more funding and all the technology you need to reach space. Why not wait until then?”

“You really are dumb. If I have to hand it over to the military, I might as well patent it and sell it to America. I’d make enough money to live the rest of my life in luxury.”

“America!?” shouted Oscar. “We need that engine for our nation!”

Walter stared right back at the man.

“Our nation, huh?”

He was no longer smiling.

He stuck his hands in his lab coat’s pockets, raised his shoulders a little, and looked up into Oscar’s eyes.

“You really do say some ridiculous things.”

Part 2

Twenty years before, Oscar had returned alive from the front lines of the previous great war. The nation he had returned to had been just as exhausted as him.

Ever since, he had dedicated his life to rebuilding his nation as a soldier. Even now that he had a wife and daughter, that had not changed.

And that was why he glared at the young man before him.

“I am the one saying ridiculous things?”

His emphasized word pushed back at Walter’s gaze.

“That would be you. You have no idea if your idea will work, so why not put that technology to more efficient use!?”

“We didn’t create the dp-XXX for something so boring.”

Walter took a step back and stood on the cliff-like edge of the deck.

With nowhere left to go, he spoke slowly and clearly.

“We care more about what we want to do than about anything as ridiculous as a nation or the military.”

That was a way of thinking that Oscar could never understand. For better or for worse, he was an excellent soldier and an adult.

Everyone had something that ran counter to their nature.

…I see.

He replied to those words by announcing his decision.

“Negotiations have failed.”

“Wow, you sure can make up your mind nicely, Oscar.”

Oscar formed a bitter smile only on his lips.

“I have made up my mind. I will deal with you here.”

“Hmm. You can act all cool if you want…”

“What?”

“But next time you let someone on your ship, you should probably check what they’re carrying with them.”

With that, Walter pulled something from his lab coat’s right pocket.

He held what looked like a small black communicator.

“I managed to buy enough time.”

The young man’s line was accompanied by an urgent announcement behind Oscar and the other soldiers.

“Emergency! Emergency! Addressing all ships! An unidentified craft is approaching from five o’clock! It is moving extremely quickly!”

Oscar turned toward the deck speaker producing the voice.

…What is approaching?

As if to answer that question, the hatch onto the deck opened and a young officer ran out.

The young man looked well-bred and wore his uniform impeccably.

“Major General Oscar!” he shouted while holding his cap in place. “Please hurry back inside!”

The young officer’s blue eyes faced Walter instead of Oscar.

“The dp-XXX has destroyed the Wagner Laboratory and is headed this way! We will be sending out the Eisen Soldat, so please leave the deck! This will be a dogfight!”

That statement was important. Knowing what it meant, Oscar turned toward Walter.

Walter gave a quiet smile toward the young officer standing next to Oscar.

“Sounds like you have it rough, Mayer. Military work is restricting, isn’t it?”

“Walter!” shouted the young officer named Mayer even as he tried to catch his breath. “A-are you picking a fight with the military!?”

“Wow, you’re asking that too? It was all of you that started the fight here. All I did was virtuously and kindly reject your offer.”

“But you did it in a cruel and over-the-top way, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, but whoever picked the fight, it’s starting after everything’s already settled. And in that case…how should I put it? Well, if you view it like a financial deal…”

He took a breath.

“You’re gonna be in the red.”

Suddenly, the deck shook as if it had sunk down.

Their knees threatened to collapse underneath them as the shaking continued three more times. Light resembling sparks scattered down below the deck.

Eisen Soldat, the fighter craft attached to the aerial aircraft carrier’s port side, had been sent out.

The sparks were the light produced when the craft were launched from their connectors. To provide initial velocity, they were fired out liked bullets using spirit gunpowder.

After a moment’s delay, the ship shook four more times as the craft on the starboard side were launched.

A ship-wide announcement reached the deck.

“Fighter craft launch complete. Unit 1 will reach the unidentified ship in seventy-one seconds! Unit 2 will be in position to protect our airspace in thirty-five seconds! All hands…”

Oscar frowned at that announcement and Mayer shouted out.

“Fall back! And tell those down below that this is not an unidentified ship! It is an enemy ship!”

“Y-yes, sir!”

Mayer turned to Walter without bothering to watch the soldiers run off.

“Do you think you’ve won!?”

“The unidentified ship is not responding to our communications!” continued the announcement. “It is maintaining its direct course! The fighter craft are moving to intercept! …It’s fast! This is twelve seconds sooner than predicted!”

That was the signal.

The deck’s lights all lit and faint light leaked from below the deck as well.

Four lights could be seen ascending into the night sky from below, two on each side. They were the four craft tasked with protecting the Bladlikburg.

An alarm blared.

“Unit 1 has made contact!”

The announcement filling the night sky briefly stopped.

The soldiers slowly backed away and frowned. Oscar realized Walter was the only one smiling in that tense atmosphere.

…Is he convinced he can defeat the military?

He received an answer an instant later.

“Three of the fighter craft were destroyed! The enemy ship…is undamaged! At this rate…It will collide with us!”

The announcement ended there.

The wind could not even shake the Bladlikburg, but it seemed to hop up now.

It was enough of a tremor to send everyone aboard a little airborne. A great rumbling accompanied it. If any one of them had been calm enough to think, they would have realized the impact came from the shockwave of something smashing the sound barrier.

The soldiers on the deck fell to the metal floor as if they had tripped. Only two people remained standing: Oscar and…

“Walter!”

As if pushed by that shout, Walter jumped backwards. He did not hesitate to leap from the deck.

An afterimage of his white lab coat remained in the empty night.

The Bladlikburg’s shaking settled down and Oscar ran forward.

“It is unknown if the approaching enemy ship intends to attack! Everyone evacuate the deck! I repeat…”

As the commander, he ignored that command and reached the point Walter had jumped from.

And that was when something slowly ascended.

Part 3



“What is this!?”

It was a strange ship shaped like a sword.

It was over ten meters wide, about six meters tall, and at least twenty-five meters long. It was nearly four times the size of traditional aircraft.

However, it did not have the armor that aircraft used to reduce air resistance. The engine, power transfer pipes, and moving parts were all left exposed. It almost looked like a giant mass of metal organs.

It had no main wings. Instead, it had a giant tail shaped like an arch bridge.

The top and bottom of the ship both had two spherical field emitters. Of those, the two on the front were emitting swords of light as long as the ship itself. Those were close-quarters divine spell weapons known as Schwert.

A divine spell weapon was a weapon that used an engine to construct solid objects. The power of the spirit stone was fully materialized and even fire or lightning could be made into a solid object. The Schwert was one of those and it could even slice through Kugel, a type of long-range divine spell weapon.

Dogfights primarily came down to close-range battles with those swords.

This ship had likely flown here while slicing through the intercepting Eisen Soldat in a single strike.

“This is the dp-XXX, the unprecedented aerial warship we call the Kaiserburg.”

Oscar heard Walter’s voice and saw the young man standing the cockpit-like box in the center of the ship.

“What do you think? Pretty cool, isn’t it?”

Oscar did not agree, but he was shocked by a certain fact.

The ship before him was not producing any flames from its spirit engine rocket or jets.

…Is it floating?

The ship they called the dp-XXX was floating without sullying the dark night.

Machines could be made to float in the air. A giant ship like the Bladlikburg had enough surface area to carve the floating emblems, but the dp-XXX was not that large. It was also not equipped with the jet an aircraft needed for propulsion.

It was truly an unprecedented ship.

…Impossible.

Oscar saw Walter crouch down and open the hatch. The young man glanced back at him for just a moment.

“Are you going to keep this pointless fight going?”

“What do you mean!?”

“You still haven’t caught on? If you get in our way, you might end up dead.”

“Is going to space that important?”

The young man did not reply. He only smiled.

“Unit 2 is approaching the enemy!”

After that announcement, Walter jumped inside the Kaiserburg and Oscar moved back while clicking his tongue.

At the same time, the Kaiserburg’s Schwert rotated to face outward.

“…!”

Oscar lowered his head slightly as the two curves of light sliced apart the approaching Kugel that the attacking Eisen Soldat had fired.

Four sounds of shattering glass filled the air.

Walter shut the hatch after himself and the Kaiserburg moved backwards.

After putting some distance between itself and the Bladlikburg, it showed its belly and quickly ascended.

Oscar tightly clenched his teeth as he looked up at it and heard great roars from either side.

The noise came from the Eisen Soldat. The rear-wing craft had a fairly round nose, so they were generally cross-shaped. They were the standard air force craft and each one had two spirit engine rockets.

They were fast and their contrails remained in the night sky behind them.

The four ascended in pursuit of the Kaiserburg.

Their target fled into the clouds that hid the moon.

Needless to say, the clouds would not be enough for these soldiers to lose it.

…What is he planning to do?

Oscar’s thoughts tested the Kaiserburg and the ship responded.

Light formed in the clouds floating in the darkness. That light quickly grew and tore through the clouds like a ripple.

Finally, something flew from the center of the ripple with a few explosive flames wrapped around it.

It was a giant comet.

“…!”

A spear of light trailing a long tail blew away the clouds and flew onward even with the moonlight washing over it.

Oscar knew what that was. It was a weapon the military had only recently managed to implement.

“A Panzer Emblem.”

All of the emblems engraved in an aircraft’s external paneling were activated to transform the craft itself into a Kugel. It was a ramming weapon that did not belong on an aircraft.

The Soldat pursuing the Kaiserburg scattered when the Panzer Emblem struck them.

Four explosions reverberated in Oscar’s gut.

“He got us.”

Oscar now knew where Walter’s confidence had come from.

…In other words, modern weapons are no match for you, is that it?

That thought made him shudder.

He knew very well how frightening the advancement of weapons could be. During the previous great war, tanks and aircraft had been used for the first time and they had remarkably increased the number of deaths. And the dp-XXX’s abilities easily surpassed those technologies.

On top of that, there were still several unknowns concerning the dp-XXX.

It almost certainly had further abilities.

With that in mind, he sighed.

“I shouldn’t be surprised. Otherwise, he would never think of going to space in an incomplete ship.”

He lowered his gaze a bit.

The Kaiserburg had already vanished from view, but he could predict its destination from the direction into which it had torn through the sky.

“Berlin!”

Chapter 2: The Legend Takes Off

Part 1

12/21/1935

Berlin was a city of machines and stone. Anyone walking through its streets was bound to see something inorganic.

However, even Berlin had areas of green. In southeast Berlin, a one kilometer forest stood out like a sore thumb in the middle of the modern city.

The forest was primarily made up of conifer trees. It was December, so the forest of tall cedars was cold.

The midday sun washed over that forest which hid a large pond.

The forest was dark and somewhat misty, but sunlight filled a straight line through it. That line was a stone-paved road. It was a walking path, but not a single dried leaf sat on it. It was a private road.

Two people rode horses down that road and four white breaths floated in the air.

The person on the front horse was a tall girl who wore a skirt in the saddle. The person on the horse behind hers was an elderly man in a thick coat.

A delicate and tense atmosphere surrounded the two of them.

The man’s square face was pointed straight forward.

He looked at the girl’s back where her short-cut blonde hair reached the collar of her thin coat.

He spoke hesitantly toward that back.

“Hey, Else. How has university been going lately? Are your studies going well?”

She did not reply, but he continued regardless.

“When I was your age, the war was drawing close, so there was quite a commotion everywhere. Back then, you couldn’t study even if you wanted to. And that is why-…”

“That’s why you started making weapons and got rich, right?”

The back in front of him finally spoke.

The man briefly frowned at being interrupted, but…

“But, Else, I now have plenty of leeway in life, so I can think about my daughter and her future.”

“In other words, you want to shove me into the university and have me study until I cry.”

“Else.”

“What?”

“Face people when you speak to them!”

“Y’know, dad.”

“Hm?”

“I am not in a good mood. I have a terrible look in my eyes, so are you sure you want me looking at you?”

Her tone was devoid of all emotion.

The man subconsciously pulled on the reins to slow his horse a step.

Once he noticed, he frantically spoke up.

“B-but, Else, you are already twenty and you still haven’t found someone to marry.”

“There you go again treating women like baby-making machines.”

Else gave an exaggerated shrug while still holding the reins.

“I just hate restrictions like that.”

“Else, a girl should not say she hates things.”

“I loathe them.”

“That is not any better!”

“Shut up. You always talk about studying and marriage. You didn’t have this house and all its land to begin with. You may have made a lot of money selling weapons, but why do I have to do those things for something like this?”

“It is for your own good!”

“Now that I don’t understand. I mean, I do like this forest and the pond over there, but I could always go to a normal park and-…”

She stopped her horse and he followed suit.

“What is it, Else?”

She did not turn around. Instead, she looked up a little.

“…?”

He did the same and noticed a single trail of smoke rising from the forest.

The white smoke stood out in the clear winter sky.

“That’s a fire,” he muttered to himself.

Suddenly, Else’s horse began to run straight toward the smoke.

“Ah! Wait! Else!”

He looked around, unsure whether to head back to the mansion to get word out about the fire or to pursue Else.

As a father, he chose the latter.

He was delayed, but he had his horse run after her. He could see her in the distance ahead and he noticed her pull a rod-like object from below her coat.

Seeing that left him speechless.

What initially looked like a rod was a black submachine gun. It was the newest model of the MP18, a masterwork used by both police and vigilantes.

“She swiped one from the storeroom again!”

His daughter was too far up ahead to hear his groaning words.

Else sped up her horse while resting the five kilogram submachine gun on her shoulder with slight difficulty.

The man pursued and the eight hooves raced across the stone-pavement.

Part 2

When surrounded by the blue sky, a beautiful pond, and a black cedar forest at midday, preparing a pleasant lunch was the only option.

The pleasant aroma hanging in the air only increased that desire. That aroma was of cooking oil.

A young man wearing a lab coat over work clothes sat on the sunny edge of the pond. He currently wore a green apron over the rest of his outfit.

It was Walter.

He sat in front of a fire made by gathering dry wood and a nice sound and smell came from the frying pan in his hand.

He had gathered some nearby stones as a stove, but it was not all that effective. The heat of the fire could not be reaching the frying pan very well, but the smell suggested he was actually cooking proper food.

“That should do it.”

He looked over his shoulder.

“Professor, food’s ready.”

A giant mass of metal floated behind him. It was the dp-XXX or Kaiserburg. The collection of solid machinery and metal pipes was hovering about a meter off the ground.

The man referred to as “professor” was on top of it.

Only the back of his work outfit could be seen from Walter’s position because the man was clinging to the top of the Kaiserburg as if crawling.

“Professor. Food.”

The man still did not reply.

The professor was lost in his work. He had removed one of the Kaiserburg’s outer panels and was fiddling around within the machine while almost climbing inside.

“Hm.”

Walter nodded, stuck his empty hand in his lab coat’s pocket, pulled out a small black communicator, and switched it on.

“Kaiserburg, shake back and forth a little.”

With a slight noise, the ship in front of him shook its head. And quickly.

This panicked the professor clinging to it.

“Whoooaaa! Walter! D-d-d-don’t move this thing!”

“Want to eat something?”

“I-I-I-I’m working right now!”

“Is that so? Then maybe I should have it shake even harder.”

“F-fine, just stop this thing!”

“Are you sure? I feel like having a little more fun.”

“Just stop it! I’ll finish up, so stop it!”

“That’s a shame. …Kaiserburg, stop.”

The ship’s shaking abruptly stopped and the professor sighed while still clinging to it.

Walter placed the frying pan’s contents on a large plate sitting on the ground.

Those contents were bratwurst and pommes frites. The trick to making the pommes frites was to use the oil produced when cooking the flavored wurst.

After checking to make sure it was all done, Walter stood up.

At that exact moment, he heard a metallic sound and felt like his hand almost flew off. A shock had run through the frying pan as if someone had kicked it.

“…Eh?”

He fixed his grip on it and looked at it. There was a fingertip-sized hole in the bottom of the frying pan and he could see straight through it.

“What is it?” asked the professor.

“This is a little strange from a physics perspective, but a hole suddenly appeared in this thing.”

“That’s because you haggled down the price of an already cheap pan.”

The professor’s explanation did not explain much of anything and he wiped his dirty hands on the stomach of his work outfit. He had the plumpness common among elderly men, but he must have had a decent frame because he still looked plenty solid.

“It might be a new form of metal fatigue.”

“But even it was cheap, I’d grown accustomed to this thing.”

Walter looked up and saw the professor sigh, pull a cigarette from his pocket, and place it in his mouth.

As soon as he did, Walter heard a light bursting sound and the cigarette flew from the professor’s mouth.

“…!”

Before the man could turn around with just the filter in his mouth, Walter asked a question.

“So did you haggle down the price of some already cheap cigarettes?”

That was when a sharp voice reached them.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing at our home!?”

It was a female voice and Walter turned toward the forest it came from.

Part 3

Else was unsure what to do about the object before her eyes or the man standing in front of it.

A young man wore a lab coat and apron over a work outfit and a giant mixture of metal pipes and panels sat behind him. Also, a plump elderly man in a work outfit stood on top of the machine.

…Who are they?

She could not deny that an exasperated look appeared on her lips as she aimed her submachine gun at them.

Even she thought the look in her eyes was harsh, but she felt that look gave her even more strength as she asked a question.

“What are you two doing?”

The young man in an apron tilted his head and asked a question of his own.

“And what are you doing here, lovely little lady?”

“Cut the flattery. What are you doing at our home?”

“This is your home? Do you live in the woods?”

“Do you want me to shoot you?”

“No, no. That sounds painful.”

“Then answer me. I really will shoot you next time.”

He looked down at the frying pan in his hand.

“Um… Didn’t you already shoot at us?”

“The first shot was practice, the second was a warning, and the next one will be for real.”

This much was no more than a greeting.

The young man must have caught on because he smiled and scratched at his head.

“Hmm. I feel like you’re skipping quite a few steps here. Could you explain how we ended up in this situation?”

“Y’know, you’re the ones making this so complicated. What is that machine behind you?”

“Oh, this thing? It’s a secret weapon of the military.”

He casually dropped a bombshell of a statement.

Else lowered the submachine gun without thinking and looked at the young man without using the sight.

“A secret weapon?”

“Yep. The military told us to hand it over after we built it, so we ran off.”

“The military? Then this-…?”

She looked up at the mechanical mass behind the young man and her eyes met with the man standing on top of it.

She lowered her head a bit on reflex.

…I think I’ve seen him somewhere before.

To check on that, she spoke to the young man in front of her.

“Who are you two?”

“I’m Walter, second-in-command of the Wagner Laboratory. The ship behind me is the dp-XXX Kaiserburg that was built there and the guy on top of it is the lab head, Paul Wagner.”

She recognized the laboratory name and the older man’s name.

“I’ve heard of you! You taught emblem technology at my university until two years ago!”

The professor laughed on top of the Kaiserburg.

“Oh? So you’re a student at the University of Berlin?”

Else nodded and looked back and forth between Paul and Walter.

“And I read in the newspaper that there was a commotion at the Wagner Laboratory and the lab head and second-in-command went missing.”

“Missing? Oh, man. What do I do if my relatives put in a search request?”

“That’s what you’re worried about!? What are famous people like you doing here?”

“Well, we used this new experimental weapon, but its power dropped like a rock and it malfunctioned. We decided it needed repairs and we happened to spot the perfect place to hide it down below.”

“The perfect place to hide it, huh?”

“Yeah, sorry about that. We thought it was a park.”

“Fine, whatever. …More importantly, can that machine really fly?”

“Yeah, it can even fly to space.”

She frowned at that.

“Sorry, but I seriously doubt that. You just said it malfunctioned, didn’t you?”

“No, no. It can make it. It was made to reach space.”

She sensed confidence in Walter’s fixation on the word “space”.

“Hey…”

“Yes?”

“When you say space, you mean outer space, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Wait. Are you serious? No one has ever successfully done that before.”

“It’ll be fine. As long as this thing grows properly, it can go anywhere.”

One word from his explanation did not fit, so she asked to make sure she had heard right.

“Grows?”

“Yeah, isn’t that right, professor?”

Paul’s only response was a meaningful smile.

Realizing that smile was filled with confidence, Else decided they were serious. She also remembered something that had happened in the past.

“But why are you keeping your attempt hidden? Before – you know, when that manned rocket failed – the military helped out and everyone was talking about it.”

She saw Paul’s expression stiffen at that and he spoke before Walter could say anything.

“We would rather not rely on the military. We want to reach space on our own while putting ourselves first.”

“That sounds childish.”

“Shut up. I’ve always been like that.”

Else smiled bitterly at the elderly man’s statement. She could somehow understand that way of thinking.

…That must be nice.

That thought softened her expression.

“I see. So you’re just doing it as a hobby.”

“More or less. …Now, who are you?”

“Are you familiar with the Breuer Company that sells weapons?”

Walter tilted his head, but Paul looked up.

“I am. They were building a giant mansion in Berlin about when I quit the military.”

“That’s where you are now. I’m the president’s only daughter.”

“Wait! Else!”

A low voice reached them as a man on a horse burst from the forest to the side.

Else turned back to the two men.

“And that’s my father, Gaston,” she said more quietly.

“Else! Who are those people! And what is that giant machine!?”

“Shut up!” she shouted without turning around. “They’re criminals on the run from the military because they stole a secret ship!”

Gaston had clearly been planning to shout something back, but that explanation drained all color from his face. Else nodded, satisfied in the influence of her words. She could be cruel.

“W-wait! Why would people like that be-…”

“I said shut up. Obviously their ship malfunctioned and they crashed here.”

“I’m not sure that counts as ‘obviously’.”

“Don’t nitpick my wording. And either way, they aren’t bad people! Would bad people sit around leisurely cooking bratwurst?”

“I don’t think that’s the issue here.”

“Who cares if it is? We’re not opposed to the military, but we have nothing against these two either. Besides, no respectable person would sell someone out to the military.”

She knew her father was easily swayed by words like that. He seemed reluctant to let his daughter know he had to make nice to the military as a weapons dealer.

Even if his job required it, that was a weakness of his, so he fell silent when she brought it up. She felt a little bad for having done so.

“Now, then.”

She took a breath and spoke to the two behind her.

“You two, come to our place. You’ll tell us some interesting stories, won’t you?”

Part 4

Mayer answered the phone instead of Oscar who had gone to the remains of the Wagner Laboratory.

As Oscar’s aide, looking after the place in his absence was a legitimate part of Mayer’s job. He had to do his best to preserve his commander’s good name.

He looked out the window as he picked up the receiver, but it had already grown dark. The glass reflected his slightly tense face.

He lowered his gaze and spoke into the receiver.

“Yes, this is Mayer Schrier speaking for Major General Oscar Mirildorf.”

“Oh, Lieutenant Mayer? This is Gaston of the Breuer Company.”

He recognized the voice. This was the president of the weapons dealer that manufactured the air force’s aircraft and sold them firearms. His was the top company in the industry, but he seemed like a fairly sociable person.

Mayer lowered his head toward the phone without thinking.

“Thank you for calling. What do you need at this hour?”

“Have you read today’s newspaper?”

“The newspaper? I skimmed through it. What about it?”

“I heard this from someone I know, but…”

Gaston’s tone dropped and Mayer realized it would be crass to ask just who that “someone” was. Some important incident had to be happening around this man.

Mayer allowed him to keep it a secret.

“Go ahead. We are known for keeping secrets.”

“I am well aware. …Anyway, from what I’ve heard, Major General Oscar’s unit is pursuing some sort of incident.”

“…”

Mayer’s silence acted as an answer and the other man seemed to pick up on what this meant.

“Well, based on the assumption that you are, I believe what you are looking for is on my land.”

“Is that so?”

“And it is accompanied by two people.”

…I see.

Mayer realized what exactly was going on, so he spoke quickly.

“Understood. That has nothing to do with us, but it may be of interest to someone. I will track them down and contact them, so please invite those two people in as a guest for the next few days.”

“Understood. I will.”

“Sorry about the trouble.”

“No, not at all. …And one other thing.”

“Yes?”

“If something happens, I would prefer if you did not tell my family that I was the one to call you. Could you keep that a secret?”

“Eh? Yes, we can…but why? If these guests turn out to be important, you would be richly rewarded.”

“No, I’d much rather not be. …And I don’t need any more riches anyway.”

Mayer detected hesitation in the man’s voice, but there was no need to look into it further.

“I see. Then if it comes to it, we will reward you in another way.”

“Thank you very much. And I hope you will continue to use our products in the future.”

The man’s tone completely changed in an instant.

…That’s a merchant for you.

With that thought, Mayer lowered his head toward the telephone again.

“Thank you very much.”

“No, thank you. …And please come quickly.”

With that, he hung up.

Mayer held his breath as he set down the receiver and he looked out the window again.

He was on the fifth and highest floor of Berlin’s air force base, so he could see the nightscape of Berlin through the glass.

The Breuer home was about eight kilometers southeast of the base.

“Is that you, Walter, teacher?”

His expression grew even tenser as he muttered that question.

He wanted to run out there right away to check, but Oscar had yet to return and he was too young to give orders of his own.

“I can’t believe this.”

His voice sounded troubled and yet somehow happy.

“Why are those two like that?”

His bitterly smiling eyes stared out into the night.

Somewhere in those scattered specks of light were the people he sought.