Black Forest Cake/Story

I. Defender

II. Kirschwasser

III. Order

IV. Desire

V. Black Forest Cake

No matter what it is, it must have a law; if there is no law, then nothing can exist.

8AM, every morning. That is when everyone gets up from bed and begins their day’s work. As always, I patrolled the streets, holding my gun; as always, everything was in order.

I took a deep breath. The air held the sweet scent of kirschwasser and high-quality milk chocolate. All was as perfect as black forest cake with kirschwasser.

I couldn’t resist closing my eyes and stretching lazily, my arms reaching towards the sky.

Suddenly, a tremendously loud sound came from outside. Mixed with thick smoke and firelight was the sound of a fallen angel assaulting a person.

Even though the alarm was ringing, the people in the city did not panic. Instead, in an orderly fashion, they followed the instructions of the soldiers to leave and find shelter.

I hefted my gun and went towards the city limits, against the flow of people fleeing. Those evacuating all spoke their concern for me.

“Lord Black Forest Cake! Please be careful!”

“Big Sister Black Forest Cake! Good luck!”

I smiled confidently at them, then hopped onto the rooftops so I could take the quickest route to my destination.

As they had been trained to do, the soldiers used the shields in their hands to entrap the fallen angel.

Under my soul power, the gun in my hand began to spin rapidly. I didn’t have to spare it much thought. After my arrival, the soldiers and officers quickly evacuated, leaving me space to do battle.

After checking that everyone had left the area, I looked at the fallen angel with a nasty smile.

“Now that everyone’s gone, I don’t have to hold back! Come at me!”

Cherry bullets unceasingly penetrated the fallen angel’s massive body. No matter how quickly it could regenerate, it couldn’t save itself. The constant outpour of the bullets broke the heinous fallen angel into many pieces, and it reluctantly dissipated into nothingness.

“Amazing!! Long live Black Forest Cake!!!”

Those hiding all around me emerged from their hiding spots, waving their hands and cheering. What was a destructive disaster for other cities was merely insignificant for us.

After checking our losses, we confirmed that no one was killed by the fallen angel except the one who was originally attacked.

Hearing this, I breathed a sigh of relief.

After all, it is my responsibility to protect this city.

Watching the guards nimbly get to work repairing the destroyed house, I sat on a pile of ruins nearby and observed them all working together with great gusto, and I couldn’t help but smile.

All this is the result of a clearly-defined order.

Everyone does what I say. Isn’t that great?

### II. Kirschwasser

At that time, our city was not too big, not too small. It didn’t have anything special about it. The people, too, had few ways to improve their lot in life.

But despite this, our city had a special product that no one would fail to praise - precious, sweet, delicious desserts.

And of those, the one that was most recognized and yet could only be tasted here was the one and only black forest cake.

We had a secret recipe, unique only to us, and only black forest cakes produced through this secret recipe could be considered real black forest cakes.

The greatest secret in this recipe, and the greatest trick of the trade there was, was the kirschwasser I loved so much.

At my suggestion, the black forest cakes that had kirschwasser added to them became the object of everyone’s desire.

This was something our city could be proud of.

One day, as I went through my daily inspection, I encountered my future “general” - Spaghetti.

The clothes he wore were complex and expensive; the price of their fabric could have paid for a year of clothes for many in the city.

The dazzling necklace the girl wore could’ve paid for enough grain to feed our city for who knows how long…

As I thought of this, that person guessed my thoughts, and turned to face me. “Are you the defender of this city?”

I raised an eyebrow. My nod served as an answer to his question.

“The desserts of your city are delicious, especially the black forest cakes. Would you be interested in using them to enrich your city?”

I looked at the hand he offered me, and I couldn’t help but feel a little caught off-guard.

I always thought that all I could bring this city was a safety others did not have.

But in fact, could I also help everyone become rich?

### III. Order

Spaghetti’s plans were highly effective.

We announced the black forest cake as a limited special offer, and also gifted a few as snacks to traveling merchants.

Soon this dessert, unique in its flavor and aroma, attracted many gourmets who devoted their life to pursuing delicious foods.

With their help, our city soon became famous on this continent.

For the sake of this delicious flavor, an uncountable number of people journeyed up to half a month just to come to our backwoods city.

Merchants saw the profit black forest cakes could bring, and they wanted to trade them to the entire continent.

Under Spaghetti’s guidance, I declined their offers.

And so, more and more people came to our city for black forest cakes, and the wealth these people brought allowed everyone in the city to change into more luxurious clothes.

Spaghetti also told me, once everyone had a certain amount of wealth, then we should increase the requirements for the black forest cakes.

This way, our black forest cakes would always be welcome. We also had to strictly control the population in the city, so people would not leak the secret of the black forest cakes to outsiders.

Following his directions, I enacted strict laws, but I believed everyone would understand my actions. After all, this was for the sake of our city.

Everyone had to work in the production of the black forest cakes, for this way we could ensure the supply of black forest cakes would not stop.

Everyone had to keep their interaction with outsiders at a minimum, for this way we could ensure the secret would not be revealed.

Everyone had to make sure that only the best ingredients were used for the production of the black forest cakes, for this way we could ensure the black forest cakes we made would be enjoyed by everyone.

Everyone had to ensure each black forest cake contained kirschweisser, for a black forest cake without kirschweisser was against regulations.

Everyone…

I looked at this law that had been drafted and nodded, and I handed it to the captain of our self-defense forces.

I thought everyone would be happy to obey these laws, just like before.

After all, my laws had never been wrong.

But, just like Spaghetti said…

In this world, not everything will go as planned.

### IV. Desire

After the laws went into effect, at first, everything worked as planned.

Just like before, everyone precisely followed my requirements. Our city became better by the day.

We wore the new clothes that previously, we could’ve saved for a year and still not been willing to spare the money for. Every meal could be accompanied with the best wine.

All of this was the result of having the correct orders.

Because of this, I was very grateful to Spaghetti. Without him, our city would not have been as glorious as it was today.

But as we were tasting desserts after the evening feast, Spaghetti’s face seemed unusually serious.

He looked at the report in his hand, brow furrowed. Through his worried expression, I could tell that something we had never expected had happened.

“Black Forest Cake…”

“Spaghetti? Has something happened?”

He hesitated, not telling me anything, but he kept furrowing his brow. After a long time, he didn’t give me an answer, but rather put away the document in his hands and hid it behind him.

“Nothing, it’s nothing important. Let’s keep eating.”

Spaghetti was not the type to hesitate. He must’ve found something, but since he was always so soft-hearted, he didn’t want to tell me.

It was just like the kind of good person he was that he’d keep bringing back useless people like Stargazey Pie, and go through all efforts to heal them.

Recently, he brought back another person who looked so very weak, and had been helping her treat her disease…

Thinking of this, I looked at the time.

At this time every day, he would go to tend to that girl who looked like a mermaid.

Seeing that he had left the building, I went to extract that document he’d hidden in a drawer.

The message on that document left me enraged.

No wonder. No wonder Spaghetti, that guy, wanted to hide it from me.

They dared!!

They dared!!!!!!

I went to the place where the self-defense force stayed, and surprisingly, found no one there.

Suddenly, familiar sounds from outside attracted my attention.

When I arrived at the city gate, I found those that I had previously trusted the most were currently directing a big group of people to furtively put their belongs on the car and deliver it out of the city.

“You. What are you doing?”

I stood at the city gates, looking at the self-defense force captain holding out his arms to protect the other people behind him. He didn’t seem as respectful as usual. Even though he seemed somewhat timid, yet he still looked at me with that same brave gaze he looked at fallen angels with.

Like facing a fallen angel…

“L-lord B-black Forest Cake, we - we want to leave this city.”

I looked at the cowardly girl hiding behind him. I didn’t recognize her; she wasn’t one of the girls who had been in the city before.

The girl saw my gaze and shrank entirely behind the captain.

“Why?”

“Because… because I love her! She came by our city, and we fell in love at first sight! Lord Black Forest Cake, please forgive us!”

“Then, the others?”

I heard the unexpected coldness in my voice, a coldness that didn’t seem like me at all.

Perhaps they thought by telling the truth, I would forgive them, so they each explained their own reasons.

I looked at these people, and slowly, I asked them, “Then, what about me? Are you betraying me?”

“No, no, no! We’ll come back to see you! We won’t tell the secret of making black forest cakes to anyone! But… but we really can’t live like this, like robots, having even our sleeping moments controlled by you… Please. Let us leave.”

“You traitors…”

“Lord Black Forest Cake!”

“Traitors…”

I didn’t know when he’d arrived, but Spaghetti had come to stand behind me.

“Black Forest Cake… I’m sorry… It was my fault… I shouldn’t have told you those methods. If these humans hadn’t had their first taste of success, if that hadn’t made them greedy for more, then none of this would’ve happened.”

I saw his apologetic gaze, and I raised my head a little and let out a self-mocking laugh.

“This isn’t your fault. It’s their fault. They tasted a little sweetness and that only made them hunger for more, and that’s their fault!”

“Black Forest Cake…”

“Spaghetti, you don’t have to say anything. If they want to leave, then I will let them leave.”

In their surprised and happy eyes, my laugh felt strangely calm.

### V. Black Forest Cake

Black Forest Cake was summoned by an extraordinarily self-disciplined military officer. When he left, she took upon her shoulders the responsibility of protecting this rural little city.

To her, orders meant everything.

In this city, no one could defy her orders.

In the beginning, her orders were just to establish a self-defense force that would react quickly to fallen angel attacks.

Her orders slowly changed the city for the better. This was something everyone could see for themselves. So everyone happily accepted her orders and followed them to the letter.

But from one day - they didn’t know exactly when - they realized that Black Forest Cake’s orders had become harsher and harsher.

It was not just the previous nighttime curfew.

Black Forest Cake’s idea of production meant she wanted to control everyone’s everything.

No matter if they were sick and could not work, they would not have a moment of rest.

And so, this last set of laws that were proclaimed were the straw that broke the camel’s back.

People had no way to control who they loved, just as they had no way to control the weather.

Faced with the Black Forest Cake who had once so kindly protected them, they did not want to hurt her. So they chose to leave quietly.

But they did not realize that this would be seen by Black Forest Cake.

“If they want to leave, then I will let them leave.”

When they heard this, people felt relief and joy, as if a great weight had been lifted from their backs.

But they never thought that Black Forest Cake use her own soul power to attract the enemy that they had long forgotten - the fallen angels.

They faced the terrifying threat of the fallen angels head-on for the first time, and those creatures, emanating evil from their greedy eyes, stared at this group of helpless people.

The only existence who could save them had walked back into the city walls, and said with a kind of coldness they had never seen from her before, “I only protect the people of my city. You lived under my protection before, but now, I no longer have the duty to protect you.”

From within the walls, Black Forest Cake listened to the cries and pleas for mercy of those outside. She raised her head and closed her eyes, leaning against that flimsy city door. Her glove-clad hands tightened into fists many times. Only when the terrible screams outside the city stopped did she finally open her eyes.

Spaghetti, who had been standing by her the entire time, did not speak. With what little comfort he could offer, he patted her back.

“You cannot force humans to understand us. We and humans… from the very beginning, we were different. You have done your best…”