“Sometimes, the idea of retreating from what’s in front of me consumes my mind. Would it be a viable option though? I seriously doubt that. Not in this situation. There’s only one way forward, and that’s making contact with these people and dealing with them as it goes on.”

- Excerpt from Lieutenant Hans Hoffman’s Journal Entries.

+++

+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

En Route to “Rousselot”

It seemed that those farmers couldn’t care less about the fact that they were driving literal weapons of war from modern Lorathia. Hans and Adelyn advanced through the road, through two men, still arguing on the side of the road, without much hiccup.

They barely even batted a further eye on their vehicles.

“Isn’t that strange?” Adelyn suddenly asked.

“What?”

“It’s like…they don’t care.”

“Eh, they have bigger fish to fry in their lives,” Hans answered. “They probably just think we’re another fancy-nothing burger. I mean, if I’m a farmer trying to get by in a magical world, where shtick like what we’ve seen with Alizée is something to go by, getting surprised by everything some fancy rich schmuck would do with party tricks is going to get stale pretty fast. And it looks like those two already found their lives stale.”

“I suppose farming does that…”

“It’s a peaceful occupation, at least…or not…can’t say with how things are going on around here.”

“So…would we be working on our cover story?”

“Cover story?”

“Lieutenant, we’re driving around with walking armored vehicles that are a product of a nation probably a few centuries more advanced than the people around here. We need something.”

“I thought you’d just tell them we’re Lorathians, and that we got lost.”

“Exactly, but we need to make it better. More believable. We can’t just say, ‘Oh, we suddenly found ourselves here’. That’d look bad. I have a suggestion.”

“What?”

“We’re from the high seas! We’re explorers from a very distant land, an ocean away, who found ourselves stranded here. These people respect prestigious titles. That way, they’ll treat us better.”

“I didn’t know my Captain is a professional liar.”

“Survival, Lieutenant. Plus, it’s not really that far off. We’re lost travelers in a foreign land. Think about it. Would you attack a traveler from a distant land carrying such advanced technologies? A traveler just exploring your lands and helping your people?”

“Oh, sure, why not? Our mechs will probably be worth quite a fortune out here. Assuming they can run it. So why wouldn’t they send a company or two to put us down and take our toys away? Certainly not out of the realm of possibility.”

“Well, that’s a pessimistic possibility that I won’t discount…”

“Assuming that they can take me out,” Hans laughed. “They can try. I’ll rain bullets on them.”

“That cockiness again.” She chuckled over the line a bit. “You know, I remember something. For some reason, you were really afraid of that black monster even when it was limping forward. Did the ‘Peacemaker’ finally find the enemy that’ll make him shiver? I could swear, you would coldly charge to Flandrian armor, but you almost shouted like a scared boy for me to open fire on that hill.”

“Don’t make fun of me. To be fair, that thing was damned scary.”

“He’s defensive.”

“It is scary,” Hans almost wanted to bash his head in shame. Yeah, that battle wasn’t his finest display in front of her. The fact that he was acting all paranoid for that entire day, constantly shaking like some child with monsters in his bed, completely abandoning his tactic of “charge forward and screw them up!” made him look very un-ace-ly to Adelyn. His ego certainly took a massive hit from that.

Then again, he knew the truth! She didn’t. That thing damned bloodied them multiple times. Multiple times where he simply stood no chance against it. Hans didn’t even want to remember it. It was…genuinely…a damned terror. He’d bet that sleeping at night would be hard if he remembered that same demonic entity slicing through him.

Still, he tried to remain lighthearted in his response.

“Also, shut up. You were just as panicky.”

“Oh, but that’s long been in line with me. You always all made fun of me for being a ‘Princess’ scared of an actual fight. And hey, I admit to that. You won’t though.”

“Ugh, shut up. Can we keep working on that cover story instead?”

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

“Sure,” she took a pause. “But, I’m just saying, Lieutenant. If something is genuinely wrong, it’s alright. Please do report to me. I was very concerned watching you act that way. Not that I’ll poke too deeply. I just want you to know, I’m open to hearing the problems you’re facing. Especially when it’s connected to the threats around us.”

“I know,” Hans looked down on his controls, his hands and feet settling into autopilot mode. Remembering all those things, and having to keep to himself…

It bore down on him. But he would bite through it. Telling someone that “I saw you die”, and “I died but I came back in time” was just something too absurd to do. Not that he wanted her to know that. Quite frankly…all she needed to know whenever this situation would arise would be what Hans learned to fight back.

The other details…that was his problem. Thus, his responsibility. And why would he be so weak to need to flee those memories and vent to her instead?

He wasn’t that kind of a man.

“Thank you, Captain. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Good.”

+++

“They’re really just ignoring us…” Hans muttered on the comms as they advanced through the road. They were already meeting carriages on the road, pulled by horses. All of them must be merchants, carrying goods or whatever on the road. Hell, outside of their horses being momentarily frightened, and their riders shouting at them some profanities for that, these people barely batted an eye to them.

“I guess we’re not so special to these people then?”

“That just makes it even stranger,” Hans said. “These people must be living in strange levels of apathy. Then again, it’s not like us Terrans aren’t the same.”

“True…”

They continued on, eventually stopping when a group of horses stopped right in front of them minutes later. There were three of them, two of which had men with what appeared to be pistols riding on top, their headgear (with what appeared to be feathers on top), and plate armor almost reminiscent of the old Reiter cavalry centuries ago. Though they didn’t seem to be in full-plate armor, outside of their cuirass.

In the middle, was what appeared to be a human clergyman in his late twenties. He shouted at the top of his lungs as he held his horse to a halt, the two men forming a blocking position in front of them.

“Halt! You strange carriages! By the authority granted to me by the Countess of Rousselot, you shall stop in your tracks at once!”

Now these people have some balls.

“Lieutenant, whatever you do, do not move threateningly.”

“Copy that, Captain,” he replied. Then, he moved his mech to the side of the road, as Adelyn pushed forward.

Just then, Adelyn’s speakers boomed.

“I am Captain Adelyn von Wittenstein, hailing from a land called Lotharingia. The two of us have found ourselves lost in this land when our ship suffered a catastrophic accident. We are but lost travelers, please…do not shoot.”

“Is that so?” the clergyman asked. “Your strange carriages have been a cause for concern. Are you two not of demonic origins?”

“Captain?! What the hell are you—”

Suddenly, Adelyn popped his hatch open and dismounted, presenting herself to them. Naturally, Hans groaned inside, as he took his SMG for a dismount. By the time he left his Wanderfalke, Adelyn was already marching forward to them, arms raised.

“Please, as I’ve said, we are just lost travelers from a distant land,” she reiterated to them. “We come here in peace.”

“Captain! What the hell are you doing?”

“Lieutenant, calm down. They’re lowering their guns.”

Hans looked back at the trio. It seemed that they were lowering their pistols already. The clergyman also dismounted his horse, approaching the two as he stared at them with suspicion.

“A young Virtus woman meandering about in the countryside,” he said. “Quite strange, but I see that it was just a false alarm. What was the name again, Milady?”

“Captain Adelyn von Wittenstein, sir.” The man nodded, before looking at Hans and his weapon.

“Is that your guard?”

“No, he’s my subordinate. An officer too.”

“So you two got lost from the high seas?” he said. “Strange, but certainly not too crazy. You two do wear some strange apparel and you’re rocking some…dangerous equipment. I believe that we’d have to inspect that for safety, but, then again, we’re already dealing with too much. You two can go ahead to Rousselot, just make sure not to create trouble.”

He seemed to be treating them with great respect, Hans noticed. For some reason, Adelyn’s halo would probably be their greatest safety valve around here. These men…it was almost as if just seeing a Virtus was a sign to lower their arms and talk politely. He laughed at it. Or maybe, it was just the fact that Adelyn always had that disarming air to her.

“Sir, would it be possible to ask your name?” Adelyn said. “In fact, if it would be possible, I’d like to ask, are you perhaps…of the clergy?”

“Why, of course, I am, young lady,” he said. “While I am very much not a Virtus like you, I serve the gods and the church much the same. I am a priest, yes. I am leading a group of men around this area for anti-demon operations. One of those things has been terrorizing the towns near Rousselot. But that’s not your problem. My only advice is don’t interfere with us and don’t add to our headaches. These men behind you are powerful mage musketeers. And if you think that fancy contraptions of yours would be an excuse to make trouble, we won’t hesitate to put you down.”

Adelyn didn’t flinch at his threats, as expected. “Of course, we have no plans to cause trouble.”

“Good. The last thing we need in this time of crisis after all is for us, the children of the gods, to continue bickering in the face of the Great Infestation,” he sighed. “Name is Galen Olbrich. It’s a good day to meet you, Milady.”

“I share the sentiments,” Adelyn smiled. “You’re surprisingly calm at dealing with…unknown aliens.”

“It’s my virtue, thank you very much. And in any case, I have bigger headaches to worry about outside of two unknown travelers riding a fancy contraption. Word of advice, don’t bring those things inside Rousselot, unless with a written permit. Those things would cause quite the stir.”

“We understand, Father Olbrich.” Adelyn almost bowed piously at him in respect. Hans wanted to laugh at it. He almost half expected her to look down on him for even speaking of “Gods”, which was something only pagans would do. “Thank you…but, we actually need help.”

“I apologize, but we are dealing with important matters,” the priest replied. “Please, just drive forward.”

“No, Father Olbrich, I’m afraid we cannot,” Adelyn said. “We have something to tell. And we need help with it.”

Oh…she’s going to use Alizée for this. Hans already expected that. Of course, she’d use her as a chip to make him help them. I guess that’s her slyness at work now.