Editing City Series:Volume6a Chapter2 (section)

===Part 4===

A light was on in Berger’s hideout.

A single candle stood atop a large wooden box in the center of the room.

''Brot'', sauerkraut, wursts, and other food were piled high on a few different plates around the candle. The steam rising from it all showed it had been cooked through.

Two figures sat at that makeshift table.

The unmoving shadow cast long on the wall was Berger’s.

The rapidly-moving shadow belonged to Hazel Mirildorf.

She was wearing a shirt and shorts borrowed from Berger, her long hair was tied back in a ponytail using a bandanna, and she was entirely focused on eating. Her differently-colored eyes moved rapidly between the different foods on the table and her hands soon followed, but the fork and spoon slicing through the steam did not clink against the plates. The food vanished into her mouth with only the bare minimum of noise.

Her gaze wandered hesitantly for a moment, and then…

“Could I have some water?”

Berger silently poured the pitcher’s water into a glass and handed her that, but she snatched the pitcher from his hand and drank down its contents.

She gulped it down silently, but it still vanished from the pitcher almost instantly.

She removed the pitcher from her mouth, wrapped her hands around it, and took a breath.

Then she faced forward.

The man in black was there sipping at the glass of water he was left with.

“So. You done eating yet?”

“I am. …Um, thank you for the food. I was really hungry and they haven’t been giving me anything with real flavor recently.”

The ponytail behind her head swayed as she spoke. It felt a little heavy to her, so she shook it a few more times and then retied the bandanna.

Berger said nothing at all as he stacked up the plates, picked them up, and chucked them back over his shoulder. They shattered on the wall and only the candle remained on the wooden box they were using as a table.

Hazel glanced behind him.

“Um, did you have to break those plates? That seems wasteful.”

“I’m abandoning this place tonight anyway.”

“I see,” she said while looking around again. It was a cold and dreary space with only a bed, a bookcase, and a disorderly collection of wooden boxes. It felt cluttered to her.

…''I really want to tidy things up in here.

She left that part unsaid as she spoke to him.

“You are ‘Wild Hund’ Dog Berger, right? My teacher told me you do intelligence work and help people escape the country despite being a Panzer Kavalier. He also said you’re the best in the world.”

“Your teacher?”

“M. Schrier. He says he was your upperclassman in university and he served under my dad in the military, but he quit along with my dad and now he tutors me. And then…and then there was a gunfight at the hospital early this morning and some of his people told me to go to you. And then…and then…”

“You Flektierened on the way but nevertheless managed to reach my used bookstore?”

She nodded, recomposed her expression, and looked straight at the man.

“Do you work as my teacher’s assistant?”

“I guess you could say that. While he causes trouble outside Germany, I deal with the problems inside the country. We’ve been doing that for more than 2 years now.”

“And the MPs still haven’t caught you? You really are the best in the world.”

“I was nearly caught today, so think again. I’m only the second best in the world.”

Hazel saw some strength vanish from the blue eyes behind his sunglasses.

She wondered why, but the change vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Strength returned to his gaze as he looked back at her. He rested his elbow on the box to lean toward her.

“Anyway, I’d like to leave ASAP. The Geheimnis Agency is on the move and that’s never good news. They’re the ones trying to change Germany’s military might by bringing back and modifying Ober Geheimnis. If you don’t know, Ober Geheimnis is stuff inherited from the previous world that was ultimately erased from history due to the threat it posed. Anyway, that’s who’s after you.”

“The Geheimnis Agency?”

“There are two military forces in Germany: the ordinary one which includes the SS and the Geheimnis Agency.” Berger continued with a sigh. “They’re a highly classified organization made up of only a few hundred and they’re actually the descendants of a group of German dragon knights known as the Germania Dragoons. They have the authority to intervene in civil and military affairs, so they’re essentially Germany’s final army that acts as a hidden trump card.”

“…”

“Two years ago, your dad, Oscar Mirildorf, fought against a certain aerial warship above Berlin and ultimately lost, right? That warship was full of Ober Geheimnis, but the Geheimnis Agency now possesses even greater power. You saw that old guy in the black coat with the prosthetic arm, right?”

“Um…old? Aren’t you two the same age?”

“It’s all about appearances, so I can call him old if I want to.”

“You two were discussing a lot of stuff I didn’t understand, but what’s so special about that arm?”

“It’s a weapon created with Eingeweide Ausbildung. Basically, it converts your willpower into real power much like a Grösse Panzer.”

She was not sure what that meant, so she tilted her head and he smiled a little.

“With a Grösse Panzer, the Schreibener uses a device known as a Studio to break down their Tons and send them into the Grösse Panzer’s Ton conduits to move the mechanical body with their willpower. A person combines with the bipedal machine known as a Panzer and the strength of their willpower allows them to run, swing a sword, and activate the Ober Emblem. But what if the device that combines the person with the machine could be applied to a smaller weapon?”

He wrinkled his brow as he explained and he opened a wooden box next to him to pull out a coat. He stood up and took a step, which was enough to reach her side.

He held out the coat and she expressionlessly accepted it while still seated.

“Wear this,” he said from above. “We need to get going. You can wear those sandals over there.”

She was unsure what to do, but she finally looked up at him with the ends of her eyebrows lowered.

“Um…Dog? What would you do if I said I don’t want to leave Germany?”

“I would ask you why that is, Fräulein.”

He did not hesitate to answer and crouched down to put himself at her eye level.

“So why is that?” he asked.

“That’s what I want to know. Why? Why do I have to run away?”

“Because you will be killed if you remain in this country. No Heidengeist can survive here. You’ll be made into a Phlogiston Platte and used as fuel. Like it or not – and I imagine not – that’s the current national policy.”

Hearing that, she looked away from him and down at her bare feet.

She crossed her toes as she tried to find the words, and…

“When I was arrested at school, they apparently raided my home as well, but I heard my dad took my mom and fled.”

“That would mean you no longer have a home here in Germany.”

“B-but this isn’t how it’s supposed to be.” She raised her head to look him straight in the eye. “My friends, my school, the city, the seasons, and everything else are going to continue on like they always have, aren’t they? They’re just throwing me out. Only me.”

Berger’s expression went blank when she asked that.

He said nothing and she felt a hint of panic as she scratched at her hair and tried to choose her words.

“Something here isn’t right, but is there no way to fix it?”

“Then what do you want to do?”

Those words did not carry any irritation or anything like that.

His tone said he simply wanted to hear her answer.

She gave him a puzzled look and saw his blue eyes staring back at her from beyond his sunglasses with no smile or anger in them.

“Um,” she began hesitantly while seemingly speaking to those eyes. “I had a lot of time to think in the hospital bed.”

“…”

“And I don’t want to run away. That’s the one thing I never want to do.”

Sensing the powerful hope behind her quiet voice, Berger stood up, lowered his shoulders with a sigh, and turned away from her.

“Eryngium said the same thing.”

“Eryngium?”

He did not answer her quiet question.

He turned around with his eyes cast downward, he took a single step, and he crouched down to pick up the sandals.

He walked back over to Hazel, sat down, took her feet in his hands, and put the sandals on her.

They were surrounded by silence, but he finally spoke to break that.

“No. No, Hazel. That is the one answer I refuse to accept.”

He stood up without looking at her and stared up at the ceiling.

“I will get you out of this country.”

“Why? Um, did I say something wrong?”

He suddenly spread out his right hand in response.

“You…” He grasped at the empty air. “You think the same way as someone who vanished from my life. That’s all the reason I need.”

“Vanished?”

Instead of answering, he sank down. The look visible on his face when his coat fluttered around was enough for Hazel to fall silent, sit straight in her chair, and place her hands on her lap.

He held out his left hand to tell her to stay put and then he grabbed an oblong box by the bed with his other hand.

It was about 3 inches tall and wide, but nearly a yard long.

He silently lifted it up and held it below his arm.

At the same time, a single solid sound like stone being struck came from the ceiling.

He smiled and nodded at the sound, stuck his right hand in his pocket, and pulled out a small device.

Hazel recognized it.

“Again?”

She barely had the word out before he pressed the red button on the device.

A moment later, his hideout exploded.