10AM January 24th, 1588 - Stuttgart, Holy Roman Empire We have yet to determine the relevance of human corpses inside the Beans, whether the Beans can take advantage of other objects or not, how the individual beans are able to move in unison with such fluidity, or why the Beans are so sensitive to cold and heat. I believe that solving these mysteries will lead to the downfall of the Beans.

Sauer had read the report more times than he could count, and he still could not believe it. It described a routine scouting mission held between January 11th and 17th wherein four soldiers entered Bean territory in search of information for the Holy Roman Army. The soldiers returned claiming to have encountered an immobile Bean in the French countryside; the first sighting of a Bean since the initial Bean attacks three months earlier.

General Krüger was alerted immediately after a messenger with the report arrived in Stuttgart. Krüger arrived from Nuremberg mere hours before the soldiers were scheduled to present their findings, and, due to the lack of time to prepare, he decided to hold the meeting in the nave of Saint Nicholas’ Church, near Stuttgart’s military headquarters.

Three tables were set in the shape of a U facing towards the entrance of the church. One table held Sauer, Reist, Schubert, and the other researchers tasked with studying the Beans. Sauer had not met any of them before, and they kept to themselves, reviewing the report of the scouting mission.

General Krüger and other high ranking military personnel sat at another table, talking quietly among each other. It was the first time Sauer had seen General Krüger; despite Sauer’s own impressive stature, Krüger was a full head taller and built like a warrior. Captain Bösch looked smaller than usual next to Krüger.

The third table seated military tacticians, who had been using the information pieced together by the Bean researchers to develop theories and strategies on how to fight the Beans, though they had yet to make substantial progress due to a lack of information.

Sauer flipped through the report again. If it was factual and the Beans really did have human corpses inside of them, then that would only add to the increasing mountain of unanswered questions they needed to solve if they wanted any chance against them.

Schubert leaned towards Sauer. “Anything new in that report, my boy?”

“I merely want to review it again before the meeting starts.”

Reist added, “Leon, you should be taking this more seriously. The information in this report changes everything—”

“I know silly, but reading it over and over again won’t give you any new information! Just wait until those soldiers get here, then we can ask the juicy questions.”

“And what, exactly, would those questions be?”

Schubert smiled, glancing to the side to make sure no one was listening before leaning even closer towards Sauer and whispering, “What was the corpse like? The report only says it was decomposing—”

“Stop,” Reist said forcefully.

“Well we’re going to have to know, Adaline,” Schubert replied. “This report changes everything, after all. If the corpse was decomposing, that may mean the Beans die when the corpse completely decomposes. Or if it wasn’t… that’d be way more interesting!”

Sauer put his hand on Reist’s shoulder. Her eyes were distant as she stared at the report in front of her. He was considering how to console her when the door to the church opened, a single soldier entering. He spoke with General Krüger for a moment before exiting the church, returning with a small group of soldiers.

“Oh my God,” Sauer muttered as Lieutenant Kaplan, Schmidt, Rob, and two other soldiers entered the church.

Reist narrowed her eyes. “Weren’t those two in Dijon with us? And that’s the officer we met in Besançon… those other two look familiar as well.”

Schubert smiled. “You’re telling me you know all of those guys?”

Kaplan looked around in awe as he approached the officer’s table; he was standing among dozens of the highest ranked officers in the Holy Roman Army.

“Please state your name and rank, and the names of your men,” Krüger said.

“Uh…” Kaplan began, “Kaplan. I mean lieutenant. Lieutenant Kaplan. Lieutenant Raphael Kaplan, General Krüger, sir.” He introduced Schmidt, Rob, and the two soldiers Sauer did not recognize. Schmidt and Rob seemed cautious, while Gregory Herrmann looked confidently around the church and Marvin Braun kept his eyes cast down. He seemed to be shaking.

Marvin’s nervous demeanor reminded Sauer of Wagner. In an instant, the events of Dijon rushed over him; Wagner among the wreckage of the western wall, the man Reist was with dying in front of her, Gladisch falling after helping so many others, the bell tower of Saint Gotthard’s Chapel crumbling as though it was sand, the abnormal Ashen Bean shredding—

“Please explain in detail what you saw during your scouting mission between the days of January 11th and 17th,” Krüger said.

Sauer blinked. For a moment, he had to think about where he was.

“Uh, sir, general, I was not zere, so…” Kaplan turned to Greg. “Mr. Herrmann, zee leader of zee mission, if you would please explain…”

Greg took a step forward. “Myself, Marvin Braun, Robert Fiedler, and Barnabas Schmidt left our post in Besançon around midday on January 11th. We estimated that our trip would necessitate one week overall, our intention being to find any intelligence that would be advantageous in the scuffle against the Beans. We passed the ruins of Dijon on the afternoon of the 12th, and continued—”

“Please describe the ruins of Dijon,” Krüger said.

Schubert leaned towards Sauer. “His tone is so dry. Surprising for someone of his stature, don’t you think?”

“Please, Schubert. I am trying to focus,” Sauer replied.

Greg continued, “We did not investigate thoroughly, as we determined that it would be far too treacherous, potentially putting our mission in jeopardy. However, we did observe that Dijon was… devoid of corpses.” Whispers broke out among the crowd. “Mr. Robert and Mr. Schmidt were present in Dijon on the day of the Bean attacks, so they were able to confirm that corpses were not where they should have been. No skeletons, no remains; no traces of anyone were found. We also did not notice any Beans inside of Dijon, but we can not ascertain for certain since we did not enter the village to investigate. Besides the missing corpses, Mr. Robert and Mr. Schmidt determined that the village was untouched since the morning of November the 8th.”

Sauer glanced at Reist. She was still looking at the report in front of her, her eyes unfocused.

Krüger nodded as he listened. “Please continue.”

“The rest of the 12th and 13th passed uneventfully. We set up temporary camps and saw no signs of Bean or human activity on both nights. On the afternoon of the 14th, a few hours before we were planning to begin our return journey, we noticed a Bean standing motionless in the middle of a field. After determining that it was safe to advance, we approached it. It seemed to be frozen in place, paralyzed or otherwise unable to move. Schmidt decided to investigate the Bean.” He turned to Schmidt. “Would you please report what you saw?”

Schmidt nodded. He glanced at the military table before quickly turning to the tacticians’ table on the right. “The type of Bean we saw was a Crimson Bean, the same type that attacked Dijon. I was curious about how its outer layer of beans worked, so after we determined that it was no threat to us, I inspected it.”

“Please explain how you determined that the Bean was not a threat,” Krüger said.

Rob spoke. “I threw Schmidt’s helmet at it. It didn’t move, so we decided that it wasn’t gonna attack us.”

Schubert stifled a laugh. “I like that guy.”

“Yeah,” Schmidt said after a small pause. “It didn’t respond as we approached it on horseback, didn’t respond when hit with my helmet, and didn’t respond as I approached on foot, so I determined that it would be no threat. The Bean was made of a bunch of small, reddish ovals that looked similar to certain species of beans, each one surrounded by a thick, white liquid that kind of looked like puss. It was slightly thicker than a normal person; its limbs were wider even though it wasn’t taller. It did not have any hair or visible reproductive organs, and its outer layer wasn’t flat like I thought it was, instead being bumpy and uneven. This is probably so it can manipulate its beans to attack. It smelled horrible, like rotting fruit, and was cold to the touch.” Schmidt paused, turning to Greg, who continued speaking.

“After Schmidt investigated the Bean, we decided to attempt to discover what was underneath the outermost layer of beans. We learned that…” Greg paused for a moment. “We learned that the Beans are human corpses, covered by a layer of beans a few centimeters deep.”

Silence. It took a moment for everyone to process what they had heard.

Whispers began between two tacticians. To Sauer’s left, a group of doctors began discussing how it could be possible. One of the doctors asked Greg, “What was the state of the body?” Krüger sat silently as the officers around him devolved into frantic discussion. Bösch tugged at the end of his mustache. Reist covered her mouth as her eyes fell to her lap. Kaplan and his soldiers looked around frantically, unsure if they should respond to the questions.

“Now things are starting to get interesting, don’t you think?” Schubert asked, nudging Sauer in the ribs.

Sauer looked at the report again. He could not believe it, but it was true.

The Beans were human.