“In the case of the Imperial Mage Corps, a Tier III Virtus Mage Corps Knight managed to single-handedly slay a demonic entity on the Principality of Anesi. Through the use of her powerful fire-based skills, the demonic entity named ‘Pillar of Stones’ was liquidated after its twenty-day rampage, which killed approximately eight thousand people, and nine hundred musketeers/pikemen. While conventional warfare certainly trumps the usage of the Imperial Mage Corps due to their low numbers, it is in these kinds of emergencies that even a so-called ‘outdated’ institution would be needed by the Imperial Army to augment its forces.”
- Excerpt from “An Emergency Treatise on the Subject of ‘Demons’” by Daniel Specke.
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+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++
Rousselot City
JUN 21, 1538 CE
Hans opened his eyes in a cold sweat.
Damn it.
That was the first thing that came to his mind after realizing what he had just done.
Damn it you insensitive man!
He couldn’t believe it. She…she came all the way from Rousselot to track him! Of course, she would. Not even the pain of being turned into one of the undeads terrified him, no, it was the fact that his actions made her kill him! Hans felt every fiber of his being turn cold at that fact.
The sheer shame of what he did assaulted him. How could he lie to her on such a scale? She…she looked utterly confused. Betrayed. That was what Hans saw, even if his memories of the time he was undead were nothing but a hazy one. All he could really remember was the glimpses of what happened with his blood field vision.
The gunfire.
And of course, that tearful eyes of her as she hesitated to pull the trigger on him.
Hans sat up and buried his head in his hands. Goddess-damn it…he screwed up badly. That was…that was utterly disgusting. He really thought that the moment he was bitten, it would be game over, and he’d be back here. No…he was wrong. These creatures, the undead…
They weren’t truly dead. They were alive. Only kept in a state of primal rage due to the disease.
And with that…
Hans took a deep breath. He needed to steel himself. Regardless of the absolute ethical blunder that he committed, Hans managed to get most of the intel he needed to kill off that absolute monster. Hell…he now knew the area that it considered as its territory, roughly where it would be (and also confirmed that it should not come outside of its exclusion zone until the twenty-eight) and confirmed the best fields of battle with it.
He also confirmed that at close range, its defenses were nearly useless against the high-velocity threat of his main gun. He also confirmed that it was very weak against APFSDS (technically not, since, with the level of energy it would impart by impact, its damned insides should be liquified, but apparently not with these demons) so…
No…he actually never managed to fully kill it. Yes…he damaged it to a limping point and forced it to flee, but for all he knew, those things weren’t enough. He wasn’t sure.
Still…damn it…
What the hell did I do to her?
That was probably the lowest of the low of the crimes he could commit against his superior. She trusted him…and what did he do? Lie and go on a lone suicide expedition. What the hell was he thinking? Absolute moron. Fool.
…He sighed.
Ultimately, if he hadn’t done that entire stunt, their vulnerabilities would be significant this time around. With what Hans did…should they pull this off well, not even a single man of the 4th would die. And they would stop it before Belancon falls. Still…
You’re a fool, Hans Hoffman…
Hans laughed at himself. This ability. What the hell was it doing to him? He was now…willingly killing himself and harming his trusted comrade in the process. It was…lunacy. That was right! It was utterly lunacy. To plan and execute his death like that. Hans continued laughing at himself.
Oh…how low had the Ace of the Southern Front sunk into?
+++
Rousselot City
JUN 22, 1538 CE
The battle however was far from over.
By morning, Hans merely followed what had happened on this day just like his last loops. He talked to Captain Strobel in the morning. He took a shopping sortie for books come 0800 hours. Then, before lunch, Hans and Adelyn once again discussed the demonic threat they were facing…
And Hans struck the deal with Adelyn to hunt hostile demons with their modern technologies and find more allies in this world.
Shoot…she was even more ecstatic at her proposal. Unlike his first or second loop where Hans pathetically broke down on the night of the twenty-first, Hans strategically controlled himself last night from any shameful displays of weakness to his Commanding Officer. If anything…Hans was trying his best to repair his reputation of being an unchallenged ace pilot.
From morning to afternoon, Hans tried his best to keep up his confident demeanor to those around him. There would be no displays of weakness until the twenty-seventh. Hans needed to ensure that from today onward, he would be acting in full control. Everything to ensure that all of them would trust and fall in line with his decision-making.
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There would be no sloppiness. No miscommunications. Not even any arguments. They would go in, with full intel on their hands, for a simple liquidation mission, and return, with zero casualties. Not even tactical flexibility would be necessary, as Hans would have planned everything down to the minutiae of details.
And that was exactly what he was doing right now…
“Captain,” Hans said. “I have already analyzed the maps of Rousselot County in great depth. I request that I commence reconnaissance missions immediately.”
To say that Adelyn was surprised was an understatement. Hans was holding a map on his side, as he explained to her why they needed to act quickly and, in his own words, “strike first”. Quite frankly, Hans still felt shame at facing Adelyn after what happened, but again…
Appearances.
“Lieutenant…” Adelyn frowned. “You’re being strangely aggressive lately. Are you sure about this?”
“Captain,” Hans started. “I am riding a Wanderpanzer II Falke into the battlefield, against mere monsters. You will be riding a Wanderadler, still stock full of fuel, ammunition, and 120mm high-velocity rounds. Do I look like someone who would be joking about all of this?”
“That’s…” Adelyn shook her head. “In that case, I’d be joining you on recon.”
“No, absolutely not. This city needs protection, Captain,” Hans said, which was, well, a lie. Rousselot would never come under attack. But she wouldn’t know that. Which was Hans’ goal. Adelyn would be guarding a city not under any threat, ensuring that she would be in full preparedness in the twenty-seventh for the takedown. “We cannot leave Rousselot together. Plus, you must remain in contact with the people around here. And Alizée. What, are you going to leave her for an extended period of time with people we can’t fully trust yet?”
Adelyn shook her head. “W-well, of course not. Not especially when they seem to distrust her…”
“Exactly,” Hans smirked. “Look, Captain, I’ll be fine. Just inform Captain Strobel and Father Olbrich that I’d be on scouting duty. I wouldn’t even engage any ‘undead’ or the demon itself. I also have sensors, and my Wanderfalke is fast. I’ll withdraw if danger is ahead.”
“Lieutenant,” Adelyn’s response was stern. “I know we planned to do whatever it takes to stop the demonic threat, but I told you that our survival was first. Needlessly endangering ourselves would be counterproductive to our goals.”
“And I’m taking that into account, Captain,” Hans retorted. “Look, the intel about the enemy is the most important thing in combat. We’ll be entering combat, but our only intelligence is from the locals. That’s unacceptable under Lotharingian Army doctrine. You know that right?”
Reluctantly, Adelyn nodded. “Yeah, you do have a point in that.”
“Besides, these guys are on horseback and are gathering intel in great danger and using eyesight only. I have better equipment. And I’m piloting a goddamned light tank destroyer. Local biological fauna don’t stand a chance.”
“Lieutenant, don’t use euphemisms to downplay a threat to me.”
“Look, I’m just saying, I can defend myself while gathering intel for the interception,” Hans said. “I’ll come back within a few hours with a preliminary plan. Then I’ll be scouting it each day until we have a concrete assault plan. Once we have one, we won’t need to anxiously wait to spot it and react—we will find it, and make it fight on our terms. The Lotharingian way.”
And with that, Adelyn gave a defeated sigh. “Well…fine. I see the merits of your plans. Just…for goodness' sake, radio me if anything happens. I’ll absolutely chase you to hell if you die stupidly because you’re going at it alone.”
Hans felt a bit light-headed as she said that. Chase me, huh? Indeed…she did do that, didn’t she?
Still, he cracked a joke instead. “Gee, that’s quite scary, Captain.”
“You should be scared, you absolute rascal,” Adelyn crossed her arms and huffed. “You always keep charging head-on to every threat you face. Do you know how dangerous that is? I swear, if you continue this, you’ll die at this rate, Lieutenant. And let me tell you, dying sucks, okay? Don’t be fooled by your, ‘But me no fear death!’ nonsense. So don’t die. Plus, it’s a massive hassle to be alone in an alien world, and I’d be very greatly displeased if you desert me in your line of duty by dying.”
Okay, how dare you make fun of my last life’s mentality like that. It was like his soul was shot by a damned Ruger with that. And goddess, I thought Captain Victoria’s possessiveness of her troops was insanity. This woman just forbade me from the right to die under her command.
“Okay, okay,” Hans replied. “It’s just a scouting duty, Captain. Someone has to do it anyway, so it’s no big deal. We faced Flandrians mechs and dominated them.”
“And we’re not facing Flandrians in this land, Lieutenant,” Adelyn turned to him. “We’re in a land where we just confirmed magic exists. A land where demonic entities apparently eat cannons like it's nothing. A land where our last encounter resisted your MPAT shots. Caution. We still have to exercise a lot of caution. We don’t know what we’ll face. Magic has endless possibilities. Possibilities we don’t understand. What if one of them can just rearrange the atoms of our mechs at a distance? Well, game over, eh?”
Crap…I don’t want to face a demon like that. Hans definitely felt that fear that Adelyn was striking on his spine hit him. I don't even know how I’ll fight that. At least the last two demons we faced could be killed by conventional means.
“I see your point…”
“Hence why we should also learn a lot about magic,” Adeyn suddenly smirked. “Which is great, because I absolutely plan to do just that, Lieutenant. I need that damned title under my name, ‘Adelyn von Wittenstein, the first Lotharingian mage!’, ah, it already sounds perfect just hearing it. That should definitely be a part of the history books. I cannot rest until I have an interwiki page on my name like my ancestors.”
Oh…yep, there she is again. She’s already flashing that pose like she’s in a portrait for a historical general or something. Now she’s just basking in the rays of sunlight. You can’t make this level of self-grandeur up. The halo just made it worse.
“...Well, crap, your blinding delusions took control of you again.”
“Regardless, Lieutenant. I told you the terms of your mission. You’re going to be doing a scouting mission, but you will not, as much as possible, fire a single bullet, or be in a position where you’ll find the need to fire even a single bullet. Is that clear?”
“Clear as your halo, Captain,” Hans said with as much artificial innocence to hide his sarcasm. But of course, she took it as an unironic complement.
“Oh, yes, indeed. Glad you noticed. You know, I think this is the best addition for me after I looked in the mirror for an hour this morning. While it feels ironic, looking more angelic feels kinda prettier—”
Did she just say she looked at her face in the mirror for an hour?
Hans merely turned around and ignored her ramblings with a sigh.
She sure as hell can be a weirdo at times.
But…it strangely enough comforted his growing cynical core. That innocence. That normalcy she exuded, and her more optimistic outlook. Strangely…it was light he could cling to even after being tormented by death.
Thus, it was something Hans wanted to preserve, no matter what.