Editing City Series:Volume6c Chapter5 (section)

===Part 9===

The village’s entrance was veiled in darkness.

The wind blew through the tree branches. The rustling of leaves sounded like small ocean waves and the branches rubbed together.

The cries of a distant night bird were like the low, intermittent tones of a wind instrument.

Small coins rubbed together and a ring of keys jangled.

Those two sounds came from a woman with long blonde hair gently rippling in the wind.

She was Lehrer. The eyes below her hair remained closed, but she was facing forward.

Toward the village’s gate.

The large wooden fence sat open. The chain’s latch was unlocked and the fence blew in the wind.

“Not long now until the bombers arrive.”

She put the ring of keys in her skirt pocket.

“How were they doing? Were they getting along?”

“Y-you, uh, could say that, yes.”

With a gruff voice, someone else appeared behind her. The large elderly man had silver hair.

He was Pale Horse and he scratched his head.

“Women are a mystery to me. Why would you ask that yourself?”

“Men are too simple, if you ask me.”

Lehrer turned toward Pale and smiled with her eyes closed.

He nodded once after seeing her expression.

“Are you sure about this? You didn’t tell them who you are?”

“I thought about telling Berger. We’ve known each other for so long, after all.” She brushed her hair back. “But I couldn’t do it. I only gave him some information on the AIF’s current situation and kissed him.”

“Like I said, women are a mystery.”

“He was pretty surprised by it. …Which is another way men are simple, but adorable too.”

Her laughter had no ill will in it. She continued the happy laughter while looking to the sky.

Pale pulled a B5-size envelope from his pocket and showed it to her. It was full and waterproofed.

“All the information you gave me over the past two weeks is in here.”

“The Panzerpolis Project lives up to its name, doesn’t it? It is the city that leads the world to ruin. At around this time, a captain in the Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division – a guest in this very village today – should have suggested that the second Gard-class ship being constructed across Germany should be used as an aerial fortress for Germania.”

“Without a captain, that second Gard-class cannot Eingeweide, so instead its Babel Canon will be installed in Germania as a massive ley line compression Babel Gun that will pressurize and increase the output of all the Vaterlands around the world, correct?”

“Work will begin next year and the Erklärung abilities provided by the boosted Vaterlands will invigorate the German military. Germania will no longer just be an underground fortress city; it will be a weapon of mass destruction powered by all the ley lines in the world. All the pieces needed for the Panzerpolis Project have been gathered.”

“That’s some real bad news,” sighed Pale. He slapped his head with the envelope. “Once the Vaterlands begin to affect ley lines around the world, the Allies will work quickly to put together a countermeasure…all without realizing they’re only hastening the Nibelung.”

Lehrer smiled bitterly.

“I too will be a part of that eventually. America has already put together its 8th Aerial Fleet, haven’t they? They will begin joint bombings with the UK starting next year. Once that happens…” Lehrer lowered her head and nodded. “Yes, I will leave this place. I am sure I will have little choice by then. But before then, I do have a minor errand to run tomorrow morning.”

She raised her head again.

A light flashed in the forest within the village. A headlight.

The light was narrow thanks to the light-restriction cover attached, but it made it through the trees as it followed the winding road toward the village entrance.

Hearing the vehicle’s approach, Pale tilted his head.

“Oh, damn. It’s got a sidecar, but the girl’s using that. Where am I supposed to sit?”

“That’s why I offered to lend you a car.”

“The village only has the one and I know I won’t be able to return it.”

“That’s unusually dutiful of you. Did your time in Ethiopia teach you how hard the common folk work?”

Pale didn’t answer and Lehrer smiled bitterly.

“But don’t worry,” she said. “The girl can ride on the back of the motorcycle. Girls are as light as a bouquet of flowers and their butts are well padded.”

“You like to put yourself in charge, don’t you?”

“Thanks for noticing. But I do care a lot for that girl. I had already decided to become a Buster when I was 17, but she is still having trouble deciding what she should be.”

“Why not give her a useful lesson on the subject? You are a Lehrer, aren’t you?”

“When I say goodbye, I will hug her and give her just one piece of advice: get along with him.”

“That’s all?”

Just as he asked that, the light weaving through the forest pointed directly at them.

Lehrer stood in its path.

“That’s all.”

With a smile on her lips, she reached into her breast pocket and pulled out a card.

“The Hermit, #9 of the Harmonic Cards. A safe and boring option.”

“Is that your role now? But hermits can also be all-knowing sages, can’t they?”

“Yes, which is why I will leave behind the old things I know without that girl even noticing. And I will give her a fresh start without knowing a thing of what came before. The other option…”

A gust of wind blew through.

The forest rustled.

The roar of a motorcycle joined it.

Lehrer’s final words were drowned out by the voices of nature and of a machine.

“The other option would break my heart.”

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