“At the very least, those two found their resting place. Side-by-side.”
- Excerpt from Lieutenant Hans Hoffman’s Journal Entries.
+++
+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++
Unknown
Hans took a deep breath as he observed the two corpses on the ground.
In the end…all it took was a few shots to end the battle. The beast…its body, it had already disintegrated with the fire. All that was left now was the slightly burned of what clearly was a young woman, similar to the first demon he had killed. This time, she was black-haired.
Hans looked at their work. The other Vanus woman, black-haired, unlike the first, was merely fifteen meters away from the resting place of the first demon he had killed. He sighed. She looked…it was as if all she wanted in her last moment was to reach the other woman until the fire from Adelyn’s attack killed her.
Strange.
This thing…she killed Hans, Adelyn, and Alizée…many times. In all those failed loops. Hans always wondered what truly was its motivation. No…her motivation, now that he knew of her true form. It seemed that demonic entities truly shed off their monstrous forms when they died. Which was why he wondered why he was nowhere near them. Was he perhaps a special type then?
No…what he wondered more, was what led them to this. Unfortunately, being dead, he doubted he’d find many answers about that.
He approached the corpse of the second woman and began inspecting it. He noticed something on her half-burned dress. In its pocket…there was a small leather book that protruded from it. He pulled it and began checking it. He leaned down and checked the book for himself.
Fortunately, it was untouched by the inferno. That was the strange thing about all this. He imagined with such an intense fire, all of her body would have burned away. Then again, being demonic in nature, it must have had some resistance. He began flipping through the pages.
…It was normal writing.
Sure, he didn’t understand it. He understood nothing of the language on it even if it was using the same characters of his own country. But it seemed normal. So much so that he could almost imagine that this person would be sitting in her room after a long day, just to write with her ink and quill near a gas lamp before sleeping in her bed.
Hell, he even saw some…drawings on it. Like flowers, and even animals. This woman must have had quite some artistic qualities in her. It was…innocent. Why then? Why did she turn out this way?
Much of the book however turned empty, save for the last page. There…
He saw it.
An almost crazed, frantic drawing of two girls. One black haired. One clearly white-haired. There were black splotches of ink on it. Almost as if she was panicking…or breaking down when she used the last page. Underneath the crazed drawings…were lines of phrases that he didn’t understand. Most even seemed to be repeating themselves.
I will find you.
I will find you.
I will find you.
Just hold on.
Please.
Please.
Please.
He sighed and closed the leather book. Must have been some journal of sorts. Clearly, something happened to these two. Very bad things, it seemed, as he remembered the letter he fetched from the first girl. His eyes looked down again on the black-haired girl, noticing something on her wrist.
It was a bracelet. With what appeared to be a ruby on it. He walked away and went to the corpse of the first girl.
She had the same bracelet.
Goddess…they really are related.
…He had no more words.
“Lieutenant,” Adelyn suddenly approached him from behind. “Are you sure it’s really clear?”
“...Yes.” That was all Hans could say. He tossed the leather book to her. “Check it out. I retrieved it from the creature we killed. Her corpse is over there.”
Adelyn sifted through the book after catching it, before looking at the corpses herself. Soon…her originally frightened expression turned into melancholy.
“Lieutenant…I think these two are siblings,” she said. “That’s—”
“It’s over now,” Hans said. He turned away. “The area is all clear. Good job to us, I guess.”
+++
Hans wiped his sweat using his handkerchief. The morning sun was still rising, which meant they should have a lot of daylight to burn once they departed. He placed the shovel he acquired from the town on the side of the tree he was close to, as he took a seat.
Damn it. Burying bodies sure is a chore.
Adelyn soon approached him. She was holding two cups of coffee, it seemed. Hans took one of it, as Adelyn looked at the burial site of what they assumed to be sisters or twins. They weren’t really sure.
“The second one almost got us yesterday,” Adelyn mumbled. “You know, I wonder what it could have done. It shrugged off multiple shots from a literal cannon. No living thing…does that…”
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Hans sipped the coffee. If there was anything he liked about Lotharingian MREs, it was the fact that the coffee, chocolate, and tea that would come with the packs would always be a decent drink.
“Lucky we didn’t have to know that then, Captain.”
“That we are,” she sat a bit, looking down at them. “You know, predicting that there’s a second one from your first kill sure is something.”
“I suppose,” Hans said. “The first thing you learn in warfare is that enemies don’t come alone. There’s always backup. There’s always retaliation. There’s always someone covering the downed soldier. The downed tank. The downed aircraft. And so on.”
Adelyn nodded. “I guess that comes with your experiences. I have the same, even if I only saw the front for a few months.”
“Enough to learn its horrors regardless,” Hans said. “Being a newbie doesn’t mean you’re ignorant. I certainly knew it would be a crappy experience since I first climbed into my Wanderfalke.”
Adelyn chuckled a bit. “Guess the propaganda didn’t work on you.”
“It did. A bit.”
“I don’t see that.”
“I thought it’d at least be a bit cool,” Hans said. “I mean, Wanderfalkes. Just look at it. It still looks like something that should exist in the future to me. To this day.”
She groaned a bit. “Men and their overenthusiasm for soulless machines. I bet you played with robot toys in your childhood.”
“I apologize, but I struggle to take those words seriously coming from a woman driving to the battlefield with plushies. You would think that the military police would have confiscated it as contraband, but eh, I guess nobles get a pass.”
“They’re collector plushies!”
“Well, that’s a new one to me.”
“And for the record, the girl likes it,” she smirked smugly a bit. “In a way, they’re humanitarian assets.”
“Damn, you really are forward-thinking. Did you think you’ll get to show that off to Flandrian civilians or to folks in occupied Lotharingia?”
She shook her head. “To be fair, there might be a chance, okay? What if the brass found a genius idea to push them back?”
Hans laughed a bit. Now that was truly funny. High Command somehow growing a brain and actually pushing their enemies back into the border? He imagined he’d see magic first before that. Actually, now that he looked into it, he already did. There was no chance in hell and heaven that such a scenario would happen in the next few years.
Not with the brain-dead generals and politicians in charge that is. He took a quicker sip of his coffee. Gee, that really woke him up well. That would just never happen.
“Anyhow, Lieutenant. Have you had your breakfast yet? We’re departing at 0630 Hours. Much as I’d like to waste time in the middle of nowhere, we really need to make contact with civilization. Anything.”
He looked at his watch. 0545 Hours. He still had almost an hour before they would leave. “Well, sorry, I had to finish what I started last night. My half-assed attempt at burial looked embarrassing when I woke up earlier. But, yeah, guess I’ll fix myself up quickly. Shouldn’t take too much time.”
“Good,” she said. “I already fed Alizée, so we’re clear on that part.”
“You woke her up this damned early?”
“Why?” Adelyn frowned. “We wake up for school at 0500 Hours. Even at 0400 Hours back when we were children. Or are you the type of student that wakes up thirty minutes before schooltime?”
Naturally, Hans felt himself slapped by that. “Oi, I’ll have you know, I have never been late back in my time at school.”
“Regardless, of course, I did that,” she took a sip of her coffee again. “A kid should not go on a road trip without having a good breakfast.”
“Road trip is the last thing I’d call this thing,” Hans said.
“Well, if anything, that’s what I want for her,” Adelyn said. “You said it yourself, she already dealt with enough trauma. At the very least, a peaceful drive to this place’s civilization, whatever it may be, is something good to desire.”
“You’re not wrong, I guess,” Hans said. “I’m still keeping my main gun locked and loaded.”
“You’re not shooting anyone again until I say so,” the way she spoke this time was so threatening that for some reason, Hans immediately bent and replied quickly.
“Of course, Captain! I apologize for my earlier insubordination.”
She huffed. “Good. I almost thought you forgot who your commanding officer is. I will say it now, no pointless wildlife hunting until I permit it.”
“I understand,” Hans said. “I was simply desperate to find counters to that thing.”
“I can see that. Still…regardless of the rules of this world, I have to remind you, Lieutenant, that you are under me. And you are under my rules. And under the rules and regulations of the Army. The rules of engagement take effect as long as anyone is under my command.”
“Of course, that is very clear in my mind, Captain,” Hans said. Of course, the true lesson he could take for himself. Even in another world, he would not escape the rules of Army bureaucracy.
+++
Hans watched as Alizée placed a few flowers on the graves of the two sisters. The little girl, for some reason, even when Adelyn kept her away from it, insisted on carrying a bunch of flowers she picked from a nearby field so she could place it on top of them.
Adelyn sighed.
“Look, she wanted it.”
“I guess that just goes with her,” Hans said. “At the very least, the corpses are buried so she would not see it.”
“Still such a smart kid,” Adelyn said. “She definitely knows people died, and is reacting accordingly.”
Alizée stood away from the graves, before seemingly giving them a silent prayer. So it really seemed that the girl was schooled in religion before he found her. He supposed it made sense.
He looked to his side.
Even Adelyn seemed to be praying for them now.
Should…should I?
He watched as they prayed. Silently of course, as he found himself stuck in indecision. These things…they…they killed him and these two so many times. Especially the stronger one. He was brutalized many times. He watched both Adelyn and Alizée be brutalized many times. He…of course he struggled. To pay a prayer to these sisters, especially to the older ones?
He could not stomach it.
In a way, he still felt hate towards the stronger one especially. He even told himself that it was all for his smug satisfaction that he buried them. He truly wanted to tell himself that he merely did it to rub it on them. That they lost to him. But…
Hans sighed. There was no point to these worries. He still hated them. Especially when they probably murdered hundreds of people too in the two wiped-out towns. But…he gave them a solemn bow and a wish that they find peace somewhere else.
He soon turned away, just as the two finished praying.
“Anyhow, we need to go now,” Hans said.
“Yeah,” Adelyn said. “I hope they reunite though. If they really are siblings. May the Goddess forgive them both.”
Hans, normally, would have groaned at Adelyn’s overly religious words. But he didn't. He wished them the same too anyway…even if he wanted to deny it.
Soon, they finally left the two graves for their vehicles.
Hans didn’t look back as the displays on his cockpit went online. He turned the engines back on, and soon, they were back on the road.
Hans looked at the time. It was 0633 Hours. But…it wasn’t yesterday again.
Finally…we’re driving away from this hell.
Finally…it’s over.
ARC I END: THE KNIGHT’S COFFIN