“I don’t know how we managed to pull it off. Certainly, it took quite a ridiculous amount of munitions to do so. But I guess I understand the nature of these creatures better. They’re strong, yes. But they can be defeated by sheer attrition. It’s cold comfort though. Talking to one of them eye to eye…they seem less inhuman than what I previously thought.”

- Excerpt from Lieutenant Hans Hoffman’s Journal Entries.

+++

+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

Rignon City

“You said it yourself,” Hans said, as he cocked his Ruger. The rainfall around them started to finally taper off. He looked down at her. She just stared at him in a strangely content manner. Even with blood spurting out of her mouth. “You chose this fate, no?”

“...Yes.”

Hans sighed, looking up as her face was lit up by warm sunlight. Slowly, the dark clouds started to part. The city was destroyed. So many lives were lost. Yet, at last, the Calamity of Desire was defeated.

It looks triumphant for us. Hans thought, before looking down at her. She wasn’t exactly staring at him anymore. She was just looking at the sun. I guess the same is true for her too. Weird.

“You’re awful, Madame,” Hans said. “But you seem convinced that you did what you wanted even in the end.”

He aimed his pistol at her face.

“I chose this path,” she said. “...It was beautiful in the end.”

“I don’t consider the brutality you demonstrated beautiful, Madame. Goodbye.”

He pressed the trigger.

Silence filled the destroyed streets afterward. The rain fully dropped into that of a weak drizzle. Hans lowered his pistol as he closed his eyes.

I hope you found peace, asshole.

He looked to his side. Alizée was sitting on the side of one of the broken walls. She was staring at her grandmother’s corpse. Hans placed his pistol back in his holster.

“You alright there, kid?” Hans asked. Her ‘ideal’, the weapons and armor she summoned, was now disappearing.

“Yeah…Sir Hans…I’m alright.”

“No need to look at her then,” Hans said. Immediately, Alizée obeyed, looking away from the bloody corpse. “You did good work though. Hopefully, that’ll be the last.”

She remained silent.

Hans looked around. Nearby was what appeared to be a wardrobe from the collapsed building. He reached out for it and opened it. He took one of the clean white rags from it and walked toward the dead demon. Leaning down, he covered her obliterated face with the rag.

He then stood up and sighed to himself. Laura walked close, barely holding onto her staff as she looked at her dead mother. On the other hand, Adelyn also closely expected the dead body from the side, equally dazed.

I somehow lived then. Hans thought as he felt his body turn cold again. I won. I…I won.

He both wanted to laugh in triumph and laugh in sheer despair. It had been a long road. A very long road. From those first demons he killed when he woke up in this world, to this apocalyptic monster—he went through a lot. All to kill one Calamity.

And there’s still more.

He really got himself into an extremely dangerous mission.

He grabbed something from one of his vest’s pockets. It was something that Franz gave him once back in Lotharingia. A packet of Albionese cigars. Straight out of their colonial plantations from the far east. He pulled out one of them, before placing the box in his pocket.

I think I deserve to indulge today on this one, old friend.

He lit up his cigar and looked up at the sky.

Then, straight into Adelyn’s dazed face.

“Mission success, Captain,” Hans said. “I’d say, while that could have gone smoother, at the very least, we won.”

Adelyn smiled bitterly.

“I suppose…” She turned to Laura. “Look, I apologize—”

“No, this is what I wanted,” Laura said, as she wiped her cheek. “Thank you. Thank you, to the two of you. Thank you for saving us, and….and getting her out of this. Thank you.”

Hans and Adelyn just looked at each other, before sighing at the same time.

The battle was over.

[CALAMITY OF DESIRE LIQUIDATED!]

[LVL UP! NOW LVL. 20!]

[AVAILABLE AP: 1350 PTS]

[ATTRIBUTE SLOT OPENED!]

[NEW MECH UPGRADE UNLOCKED!]

[NEW SKILL SLOT UNLOCKED!]

+++

“Glory to the Imperium…I guess,” Captain Strobel said, as they inspected the dead body of the demon. He turned around to address the military men behind them. “She’s dead, everyone. We won.”

There was a bit of silence amongst the ranks of the 4th Holy Ygeia Regiment, but soon, the soldiers threw their hats to the air in celebration. Shouts of ‘Glory to the Imperium’ reverberated across the city. Soldiers and even some civilians banded together to raise their arms in triumph.

Captain Weibel laughed as he turned to Hans.

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“You two folks are some rich buggers now, eh?” he asked. “That’s some big money kill you got there. Should set you up for a comfortable retirement.”

“Oh, shut up, old man,” Hans waved him off. “You know we’re not there yet. Still got a lot of work to do.”

“Oh, come on now, ole bugger. The world ain’t your problem,” Captain Weibel said. “You know, after facing her directly, I realized, she really is a Calamity. Don’t wanna imagine what the next ones would be. Goodness gracious, even I now realize, it ain’t worth the money man. They can offer me the world, but this is a shite deal. Death is assured. Maybe you should think of this thing the same way.”

“Well, I ain’t dead yet, now am I?” Hans said, smiling. “Neither is Adelyn. Nor is that kid. Besides, it’s not like you can comfortably retire just because of big money with these monsters running around. In fact, I doubt the IYC is even going to give us the bounty money.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” Captain Weibel laughed. “They’re too broke for that after all this. Well, perhaps they’d say, ah! A promissory note. Maybe when you’re forty years old, when you’re probably dead, they’ll surely pay it in full.”

“It’s going to be a dreadful negotiation,” Hans groaned, before looking at Adelyn. She was talking with the Duke behind them. He looked back at Captain Weibel. “Pfft, she can deal with it. Maybe she’ll weasel out around a quarter of the reward money. Then we’ll donate some of it. Especially to Captain Strobel’s men. They fought hard.”

“She certainly has the skill for that,” Captain Weibel said, smiling. “You got yourself a fine commanding officer, don’t you think?”

“Well, she’s nice, overly nice maybe. But at least she’s competent enough. But I don’t think she’s ruthless enough to deal with certain things.”

“Ah, well, lucky her, no? She’s got an underling who can take on the ugly stuff head-on. Saves her pure heart from trouble. Quite the nice partner, hehe.”

“Shut up.”

Hans looked at him as he continued laughing. Hans then narrowed his eyes.

“Are you trying to weasel out money from me?”

“Oh, that’s quite an unfounded accusation,” Captain Weibel shook his head as he smiled. “Though, maybe, you can be a bit generous. Come on, my good man, we did great work with those battlemages. Maybe a bit late, but I got them positioned just nicely. You did say you’d donate some of the reward.”

“Not to some shady mercenary.”

“Oh, come on, don’t I look less shady now, good friend? I helped you out. I’ll help you out even better now going forward.”

Hans raised his eyebrows.

“You what?”

“Oh, yes!” Captain Weibel said adamantly. “Demons are quite scary, yes, but if you insist on going on to fight them, well…don’t you think a paid gun that can double as a paid tour guide is perfectly able to help you out in a foreign land? I may not be able to deal with demons, but I can deal with other obstructions.”

“Oh, looking for a new employer already?”

“...Well, that would be the more harsh description I suppose. Hope you’ll think of it nice and well.”

“More like you’d have to go to my Captain instead rather than me.”

“Ah, well…it’s a bit more difficult to get a good deal with a lady, but I can see your point. She’s the captain of your ship after all.”

He nodded to himself, before smiling again at Hans.

“Anyhow, good day to you, Sir Hans!”

The IYC mercenary then trotted away. Behind Hans, Adelyn tapped his shoulder.

“That guy’s treating you like a fancy-pants now,” she pointed out.

“I guess, people treat you differently when you suddenly look like a walking wallet.”

“Yeah, well, don’t worry. I’ll give him some crumbs, but not too much. That Preisner guy especially. He seems like a good fellow.”

“I’m not against that.”

The two looked at each other.

“So…I leveled up to level twenty,” Hans reported. “Unlocked a lot of stuff.”

“We’ll discuss it later,” Adelyn said. “I’m the same. I guess our contributions were roughly the same.”

“...Tch, I was dancing at the skin of death far longer than you did.”

“Hey, my weapons are stronger and designed against demons,” Adelyn haughtily countered as she crossed her arms. “Of course, the good system will recognize my efforts. My shots after all were very good at delivering damage.”

“While mine was shite…” Hans groaned.

“But regardless,” Adelyn patted Hans back as she grinned. “You did well, Lieutenant. Very well, even with the great limitations placed on you. That’s pure piloting skill. You know, I almost had a heart attack many times watching your stunts, but you came out alive.”

“Dang, you did?” Hans said, slack-jawed. “Apologies, Captain. Didn’t mean to harm you.”

“I was exaggerating, dumbass,” Adelyn said with a deadpan tone. “I didn’t mean you harmed me.”

“Shocker.”

Adelyn shook her head and ignored the ribbing from Hans.

“Regardless, as I’ve said, you did very well. And you risked your life a lot. I have reservations about it, and I really want to chew you hard right here and now for those crazy stunts that you pulled off…but…I saw that you needed to do it. Otherwise…we might not have made it this far…”

The two of them looked at one of the collapsed buildings in front of them in silence.

“So…really,” Adelyn continued, as she looked at Hans. “I’m not just congratulating you, Lieutenant. Hans, thanks for saving my life. And everyone who fought here.”

“Oh, shut up, Alizée has a better claim on the credits for saving people’s lives.”

“Not really, Sir Hans,” Alizée said, pulling Hans’ vest to the side. “If you hadn’t run fast to stop her back outside of the city, me and Laura would have died.”

Hans immediately kneeled at Alizée’s level.

“Actually, Alizée…” He touched her head. “Are you okay? I just…I just wanted to ask, because, to be honest, we used you and—”

“Sir Hans, I have this great power in my hand. I chose to fight, even…even if I’m just a silly child,” she smiled proudly to herself. “I’m just happy that I’m not so useless anymore. I can…do things now.”

Hans shook his head.

“I fear what will happen to you if you stay with us.”

“Absolutely not, Sir Hans!” Alizée pouted cutely. “I am not going to be left behind. I want to be with Lady Adelyn. And you! If you leave me behind, I’ll cry and cry and cry and cry—”

“Okay, okay!” Hans said, trying to stop her. “I get it. But, still…I am sorry, okay? I didn’t do well enough.”

Suddenly, Alizée smiled and shook her head.

“Sir Hans, just as no person’s heart is completely pure, no person can do things perfectly. What matters is you do good, and shine a light against the darkness. If you tried…then no one, not even yourself, should say that you’re bad.”

“...When you grow up, I’m afraid I’ll be a moron beside you.”

To be fair, I already probably am.

Her eyes turned into a huge ‘O’ shape.

“Really, Sir Hans?”

“Really, like, very really.”

“That’s so nice! Thank you for the kind praises. I’ll keep studying harder, even if I have to fight!”

Hans groaned again.

“I really need to also knock sense on that childish brain of yours. It’s been corrupted.”

Hans stood up and looked at Adelyn. She seemed proud of both him and Alizée. Naturally, Hans felt a bit self-conscious at that, but instead, he steeled himself.

As the clouds fully parted, and the rays of sunlight hugged his face warmly, Hans gave his declaration.

“Alright,” he smirked confidently. “Don’t worry you two. I swear, by my power, just like today, we’ll get through everything alive. It’s a new place and a new mission for us, but I'll embrace it wholeheartedly.”

Adelyn nodded, and Alizée smiled widely.

Hans finished his little promise.

“...After all, it is my responsibility.”