ARC VI: YOUR IDEAL
+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++
Chateau Lignon
November 2, 1538 CE
“Nice drink, isn’t it?” Captain Jonas Weibel smirked as he looked down at his glass of wine. “It’s fine Alencon Wine. Been to that Duchy’s vineyards once. Oh…boy, you wouldn’t have imagined how nice all those grapes are.”
Hans chuckled as he drank a bit of the red wine. It was strong, sweet…and certainly refined. Though he wasn’t much of an alcoholic, he fancied this one.
It’s nice, I guess.
“Well, I hope it’s been untouched by the disaster,” Hans said. “I’ve seen that place once on the map. It’s…somewhere in the Southeast region of Ygeia?”
“Yep, close to the…” the man slurred his words a bit before he snapped his finger. “Yeah, close to the Principality of Nomos down south. Near the border regions.”
Captain Weibel drank his shot completely.
Hans on the other hand looked at the rest of the ball. Noblemen and noblewomen, both Virtus and Vanus, all danced with each other to the tune of waltz music. Many dined fancy dinners on the side. Smiles and gossip filled the hall of Chateau Lignon. There were also many human attendants. From soldiers of the Imperial Army to mercenaries of the IYC, and even the various executives of the IYC.
All of them mingled together as they celebrated the completion of Ygeia’s early recovery.
“It was good work,” Hans said, as he placed his glass on the window stand. Hans and Captain Weibel weren't interested in the social gathering, and so the two stayed out of the way. Tucked into a silent corner no one would know. “Fighting that bastard. And all the other bastards. Makes you think long and hard…about…you know…”
“Come on, man,” the IYC mercenary shook his head, pouring more wine on Hans’ glass. Then, he handed it to Hans. “Drink, drink. You’re going down there again. We won. It’s over. You always fantasize about the worst.”
Hans shook his head for a second as the glass was forced on him, but he was eventually pushed to concede. Taking it to his mouth, he drank it all in one go. Immediately, all the bad thoughts that started to resurface disappeared. Captain Weibel on the other hand just laughed and cheered him on.
“There! There, my good friend,” the man clapped. “Good, isn’t it? Now, onto the real matters at hand. Money—”
“Oh come on,” Hans replied, raising his voice a bit. “Seriously?”
“Well, as much as I’m enjoying being a good friend to all of you, and just guiding you here and there…hey, can you stop chuckling, asshole? Look, I’m just saying, we gotta make a contract, my good man.”
Hans shook his head as he laughed.
“You know how much we only got from the damned bounty money.”
“Hey, twenty thousand Imperial Marks is twenty thousand Imperial Marks!” the mercenary said, pushing him further. “Besides, you alone can claim five thousand Imperial Marks as a yearly stipend from the IYC. For the next eighteen years. Damned good money, good sir. You can employ a small team with that cash. The two of you.”
“Bet the next time I crash into one of their banks they’d be like, ‘Oh, woe is us, we have to process the eligibility of your stipend thing, please come back in six months’,” Hans wheezed, and so did Captain Weibel.
“Okay, fine, you have a point,” the older man shook his head. “But we can make good money if you two are planning on this demon-hunting thing. I’m in. So long as we…uhh, try our best to dodge the Calamities—”
“We’re eventually going to meet them, dumbass,” Hans said. “Remember Adelyn’s words? As the Angel of Justice—she has to do what she must do. Else, this place is screwed.”
“Come on…can we at least be a little opportunistic?”
“Well, that woman’s opportunistic…at finding opportunities to be altruistic.”
Captain Weibel groaned.
“I’m still going regardless,” he said. “And so is Malte. We’re going, damn it. Make damn good money. And besides…I like the two of you.”
“You do?”
“Pscht, it’s like you two are a godsend to these lands,” Captain Weibel said, looking more serious this time. “Defeating the demons. Then spending a month volunteering to help civilians. Do you even have an idea how many people we helped just hauling grain to places?”
“Gas is cheap, so it’s not like a big deal,” Hans said, frowning to himself. “Captain wouldn’t have allowed many towns to starve. And our Wanderfalkes can tow a few wagons. She naturally makes the immediate decision.”
“And that’s what I’m talking about!” Captain Weibel said. “You two foreigners are doing way more than you’re supposed to do in a land that isn’t yours. The gods know we need more good people like you. So maybe I’d have rewards in the afterlife if I help you two.”
“I’m just following orders, dumbass. Not that you’re any better. You seem to be always in it just for the rewards.”
“I’m a man drawn to the gold,” he nodded to himself. “...Oh, bugger. She spotted us. You know, she’s really pretty, right?”
“That’s the twentieth time you said that in the past month,” Hans tried to plaster a smile as Adelyn approached them. Following behind her was Laura and Alizée, all in their various fancy ladies’ dresses. “You better keep your mouth shut around her.”
“Aye, aye, Herr Hoffman,” Captain Weibel smirked, as he fixed his clothes.
“You two,” Adelyn placed her hands on her hips as she looked down at the two of them. “Lieutenant, I have been searching for you for a while. We’re supposed to give a speech in front of a crowd. And instead, I see that the two of you decided to be two unruly men, disappear out of nowhere, and have a drinking session while ogling at dancing ladies instead.”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Worth it,” Captain Weibel said with a straight face. “I hope I’m still employable, Madame.”
“Business talks, Captain,” Hans said. Though he knew that his excuse was nonsense. He just went along with Captain Weibel because he wanted to disappear from the crowd. “Captain Weibel here is very persuasive, I must say.”
Captain Weibel snorted.
“Oh, come on, I thought we were on a first-name basis already?”
“She’s gonna chastise us, dumbass.”
“I am not,” Adelyn smiled “sweetly”. “Though, Mr. Weibel, you are reducing your potential at this rate.” That shut him up rather quickly. Adelyn turned back to Hans. “And Lieutenant, you’re not being very amusing. We already talked about this, and I heard you agreed.”
Hans nodded stiffly.
“I can be a bit childish sometimes, Ma’am,” Hans replied. “It’s just…a bit weird, you know, speaking to all these…aristocrats.”
“That’s why I trained you a bit.”
“I’m…” Hans felt his tongue get stuck. He looked at the crowd. He hated the crowd. Especially the fancy type. The type who would look down at him and all that. Sure, he was a prideful soldier. And an officer at that. But really, social gatherings? He’d rather be slugging it out with the Flandrians than drink and converse with a bunch of stuck-up nobles. “I’m not good at this.”
She gently took Hans’ hand. Hans tried to resist, but before he knew it, Adelyn’s smile had convinced him fully, and he was being dragged by the woman to places he didn’t want to go to. Beside him, Alizée just giggled as she followed the two.
+++
“I vow to do my job as the Angel of Justice?” Hans shook his head as he and Adelyn went to a secluded balcony. He was still teasing her about her little speech. “Come on…”
“It’s not like we can hide it any further. The church already pressed us. They saw what Alizée could do. They confirmed I’m the same. They think we’re this…virtuous duo who’ll save the world. I say, let them have that hope at least. If we can’t hide it, then we’ll just use it to our advantage.”
She smiled as she looked up at the night sky. Her halo glowed a little brighter, and Hans, for a second, was captivated by it.
“So you’re stalwartly going to follow that plan,” Hans asked. “Even if it’s dangerous.”
“Do you think I’ll manifest my ideal one day?” Adelyn asked.
“We don’t even have an idea how to trigger it. The previous angels manifested it by ‘trials and tribulations’, and looked at Alizée,” Hans looked back at the girl. She was happily talking to a few noble children who had taken an interest in her. “Without her ‘ideal’, she’s just an average girl. She has powerful magic now, and she’s Tier II…but…otherwise…it has no effect.”
“Ugh…you know…I still refuse to believe that my attributes are so awful,” Adelyn whined. “I thought it’d give me something cool, but instead, all of my attributes are F negative. I’m not that soft and weak!”
“I think you are that soft and weak,” Hans said, remembering that day when they checked the ‘attributes’ thing. It just turned out that the ‘system’ graded the strength, bodily capabilities, and magical capacity of people like it was some school-type shtick. At Tier II level twenty, Hans and Adelyn unlocked one modification slot for their attributes.
Adelyn chose [EXPANDED AP CAP I] to increase her AP cap from six hundred to nine hundred points. Hans, on the other hand, chose [LATENT AP REGEN I] so that he’d regenerate a meager twenty AP points every hour. He would only regenerate AP when he was below a hundred AP points though, and only up to a hundred AP points, so most of his AP would still only come from kills and achievements.
Same as with all Vanus like Alizée, Hans’ strength lay in his ability to stack AP as much as he would like. The downside…was in emergencies. He’d only barely have any magical power if he was ever depleted. To make it worse, Hans practically wiped his AP reserves by spending them all on ammunition resupply, repairs, and gas over the course of the previous month.
The only good news is that I made some progress since we killed that monster.
He willed his [STATUS] to appear.
Current Status: Healthy (No Special Health Effects)
Name: Hans Hoffman
Age: 25
Race: Vanus
Type: Fallen Angel of Truth/Calamity of Lies
General Tier: II
LVL: 23
Class: Mech Pilot (Vanguard)
Passive Skills: [PAS: CYCLE OF TRUTH I], [PAS: PROGRESS OF LIES I]
Active Skills: [ACT: LIARS DETECT LIARS I], [ACT: ONE SHOT, ONE KILL I]
Mech Upgrades: [UPG: EYE OF PARANOIA I], [UPG: ARCANE AUTOFABRICATOR II], [UPG: ARCANE MAINTENANCE SYSTEM I]
ATTRIBUTES
DEF: F +
RES: F -
STR: F +
SPD: F -
AP REGEN RATE: 20 AP/HOUR
Available Arcane Points: 380/100 PTS [UNLIMITED CAP]
ATTRIBUTE MODIFIERS: [LATENT AP REGEN I]
I’m so spread out on my personal skills. Hans wanted to facepalm. Unlike smart Adelyn who invested it all in ‘Act: Wrath of the Law’. Now her fire magic is extremely potent.
Then again, divine providence screwed him over. The only slot he was able to take that was of any offensive use after killing the Calamity of Desire and reaching level twenty…was [ACT: ONE SHOT, ONE KILL]. His other option was to do [ACT: LIARS DETECT LIARS II], so all he could do was curse the heavens.
I hope for better options next time. At least the autofabricator upgrade is now at Tier II. That’s the only real good news so far.
“Still depressed about your stats?” Adelyn asked.
“I’m like…the unlucky bastard of the two of us,” Hans said, looking at Adelyn. “You’re way too blessed.”
“Are you saying I’m a nepo baby?”
“Makes sense since you’re born to a noble family,” Hans shrugged as he smiled. “And so, you get all the fun stuff.”
Adelyn pouted a bit.
“You irritate me, Lieutenant.”
“Joke, joke,” Hans said, sighing. “But yeah…it’s why, I’d like a bit of caution going forward at least. You know, unlike you…I can’t do actual magic except with my guns with ‘Act: One Shot, One Kill’. And my mech…outside of its new sensor upgrades and all the magical supply and repair stuff, it’s still the same old rustbucket.”
He looked down at the green fields below.
She on the other hand shook her head.
“Don’t lower yourself that way, Lieutenant,” Adelyn said. “I’ve seen you fight. With all these handicaps, you somehow manage to fight the Calamity of Desire longer than me. You somehow fought her toe-to-toe. You somehow survived things I would have died to. Really…all these powers I have…”
She smiled bitterly.
“It pales to the skills of a seasoned ace pilot,” she shook her head. “So don’t say those things. You’re good, and you’ve always delivered well. Sure, your best abilities are for spotting enemies, but damn…it’s the most important thing in the world. More important than…”
She raised her hand and conjured a simple fire. She had been practicing a bit of her spells while helping out in the countryside.
“These spells, or my…fancy new anti-demon rounds,” she closed her palm. “No…without you, I’d be blind. And a blind little ole me…would have been long dead. That’s why I trust you. I trust that you’ll have my back with this big mission.”
Hans stared at her blissful smile.
He briefly remembered all those failures that Adelyn would never remember.
Before Hans could respond, fireworks exploded in the night sky.
As Hans glanced a bit at Adelyn's innocent smile as she looked up at the sky, he only had one question.
How long would this brief taste of victory last?