“Combat is best decided as swiftly as possible.”
- Excerpt from Lieutenant Hans Hoffman’s Journal Entries.
+++
+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++
Rousselot City
JUN 23, 1538 CE
“Gentlemen, ladies,” Hans said, as he entered the meeting room.
He placed his map on the table. The map was already filled with red markers for infected towns and settlements, alongside that, he drew a massive red circle that he marked as an “exclusion zone”, and of course—the site of Plan A.
“Here is the plan that I have crafted after last night’s reconnaissance mission,” Hans confidently reported. “I have tried my best not to engage, but utilizing my vehicle’s advanced tools, I have spotted and observed most hostile instances of the diseased…and, of course, the beast itself.”
Hans then pointed at the crosses on the map, all of them marked with time.
“There…right there, is where the beast is active. I have reason to conclude that it will thus soon strike the settlement of Belancon, within days.”
Everyone in the room looked at each other. Yesterday, Hans’ insistence on going on a lone-wolf recon mission took the attention of Captain Strobel and Father Olbrich. Even the Countess, who Hans learned was named Julie Fresnel, took interest in his “aggressive” strike-first plan.
Well…she was, after all, the one funding this whole racket anyway.
Adelyn crossed her arms. “I see then. So you plan to engage it there?”
“Yes, Captain,” Hans turned to Captain Strobel. “We need to prepare.”
“...Lieutenant,” the Countess suddenly interjected. “I must ask. Have you ever even seen that beast up close?”
“No, Ma’am. Only from a distance.” Hans paused. “I have stayed away, and I have no idea of its combat capabilities, but I reasonably believe that we should be able to overwhelm it with cannon fire.”
For some reason, however, talking to the Vanus noblewoman made Hans really feel small. Her eyes carefully judged him, and Hans instinctively kept himself straight, with his mouth shut. Captain Victoria…Captain Victoria…
It reminded him of her. Her mannerisms. The way she only asked short, authoritative questions, yet was obviously in control of all those in a room.
“Do you have confidence in your plan?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“And if the troops under my service are taken into slaughter. Will you take responsibility?”
Suddenly, Adelyn turned, a slight hint of anger in her voice. “Respectfully, madam, I cannot accept anyone presuming that my subordinate lacks hon—”
“I am not asking you, young lady,” the Countess sternly replied. “I am asking him.”
You’re asking me if I’ve seen it. Asking me if I’ll be leading everyone into slaughter. Asking me. Me? I…who’ve seen this damned thing two times, charged straight into its jaws, died two times…all to craft a perfect plan so no one dies?
You’re asking me?
Hans merely gave a brief nod. “Yes, Ma’am. I shall be taking responsibility if this plan fails. In fact, I shall say that I won’t run from the fields of battle if need be until the job you contracted us into is done. We’ll slay it. Once and for all.”
“Then we shall do it as you planned,” the Countess declared. “Father Olbrich, Captain Strobel, mobilize your men to confirm this man’s findings. If it can be reasonably confirmed, then please execute the plan posthaste. I expect this crisis to end before this month is over.”
“Absolutely, milady,” Father Olbrich and Captain Strobel said, almost lowering their heads in a bow. The Countess merely walked back from the meeting table, and turned, walking straight into the exit. But she stopped right beside Hans, and she almost whispered at him, even if she was looking at the door.
“I know you’re a Vanus, young man,” she said, completely neutrally. “Don’t be so foolish to believe you can do it all yourself.”
And with that, she turned to leave, with groups of her musketeer guards following her. Hans absolutely understood nothing from her cryptic words, but he was mostly scared about how she outed him as a Vanus just like that.
I guess hiding my race by being an undercover human is game over.
When he looked back to both Father Olbrich and Captain Strobel, Father Olbrich only gave a sigh, while Captain Strobel laughed bitterly.
“Take responsibility my arse,” Captain Strobel scoffed. “Damned woman. Just because she lost her husband, she acts like that. As expected of a Vanus. She didn’t even apologize during that botched evacuation.”
“Captain, would you please not speak ill of a high noble in the presence of our foreign guests?”
“So what? She’s a Vanus. She wouldn’t count as a high noble sooner or later once the Imperium enacts their entire plan.”
“And you’re not in the employ of the Imperium anymore, Captain,” Father Olbrich was now visibly angered. “They abandoned us already, you included. Not that the Empire can even enact anything anymore. It might as well be a rotting corpse at this point.”
“Doesn’t mean I’ll be her lapdog. The 4th remains independent,” Captain Strobel turned to Hans. “Anyhow, Lieutenant. I’ll see what I can do. We’d need to do more recon missions though. Prepare for the attack.”
“Twenty-seventh,” Hans suddenly said. “We’ll strike at the twenty-seventh. Enough for further preparations, but not too late that it could attack any further settlements.”
Hans then took his red ballpen and encircled an area, approximately a radius of sixteen kilometers from the epicenter of attacks. “Every settlement here must evacuate immediately though. Belancon included.”
“We are evacuating them,” Captain Strobel said. “The locals simply don't believe us nor trust our troops on the ground. Plus, evacuating the farmlands they live off from? It simply doesn’t work. Where are we going to send them with Rousselot County under self-imposed quarantine? Here? People here already demand that we close the damned walls.”
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“Well, the 4th will have to make it work then,” Hans shook his head. “No, we cannot fail at making it work. People will die. Force them if you must. It’s in the interests of the military anyway. The fewer people infected, the fewer people we’d have to shoot for the takedown mission.”
“...Alright,” Father Olbrich nodded. “We’ll see what we can do.”
“I’m sending in the cavalry,” Captain Strobel added. “For victory.”
“Aye,” Father Strobel grimly nodded. “For victory.”
+++
“I apologize, Lieutenant,” Adelyn said. “I didn’t defend you well enough in front of her. It’s just, I thought we were already talking about the deal well enough, then that happened.”
“Don’t worry about it. That’s not our problem right now. Killing that thing is,” Hans walked down the stairs of the church. “I’m going to be going on another recce mission. Keep tracking it.”
“Are you sure?” Adelyn said. “Lieutenant, since we spotted it, can we not just shoot it, and take it down for once in a standard long-distance engagement?”
“No,” Hans shook his head. “I’m observing it closely. Thermals don’t work on the damned beast. It’s way too fast when it travels in a straight line. Second, it hides on the terrain well. Third…if any complication occurs, we’d have to use too much munitions. You said it yourself, long term is our target. We need to let the locals do their part and only intervene at the most critical point.”
“So is that’s your plan? That we won’t take it directly down, and we’ll just act as glorified planners, scouts, or an emergency button?”
“Yes,” Hans turned to her. “That’s what they hired us for anyway. You said it yourself in the deal. And we agreed on it already. Our survival first. I consider limiting munitions usage as a part of that. Plus…once it’s weakened, we can fire an MPAT or two on it. It’d be dead.”
“Is it really not the same as the last one? We took it down with a few shots.”
“No,” Hans shook his head. “No, Captain. No, it isn't. Anyhow, I’ll be going on the sortie. You hold the fortress, as normal. Remember, if it attacks here, your priority is holding out until I can support you.”
She looked down. “I know.”
“What?”
“I just…I think I’m being useless at this point, Lieutenant.”
“Absolutely not. You’re defending forty-thousand people. I on the other hand am just running around the countryside playing hide-and-seek with a demon. You’re doing well, Captain. Plus, in the takedown operation, it’s only you who’ll have that anti-demon round…”
“I’ll still use incendiary, no?”
“Yep.”
“Alright,” she took a deep breath. “Don’t get too cocky then, Lieutenant. Keep up the job.”
“Rog,” Hans soon stepped out of the St. Heka church. While there were some complications in this timeline…as it seemed that he was truly pushing everyone into a rushed attack with his actions this time around, the pieces were still falling in line.
A smirk adorned his face.
That thing will go down perfectly well.
With zero casualties for them.
Just as his design’s stated goal.
+++
Rousselot County’s Countryside
JUN 24, 1538 CE
0552 hours.
It was raining.
And Hans had just slaughtered another hundred undead shambling around the potential routes that they would be taking to Plan A’s site.
[53 INFECTED UNDEAD (AVERAGE LVL: 8) LIQUIDATED]
[PROGRESS TO LVL.12: 50%]
[AVAILABLE AP: 128 PTS]
Hans released his hands from his control sticks, as he took a deep breath. His job was…quite the drudgery. For hours, he had only been conducting “shaping” operations around the routes that they would take. Clearing out stragglers. Clearing out the roads and the countryside.
He was quite sleepy too, quite frankly. Really, even yesterday, he had not managed an ounce of sleep. Neither did he sleep on the yesterday properly. It was almost a painful grind just to ensure that his plans would have perfect results.
And it tired him.
His eyes showed not even an ounce of energy as he looked at his displays. Captain Adelyn ordered him not to engage, but again, Hans was going to just disobey that. He was on a recon mission anyway. He had to engage anything that noticed him. But more than that, he really just wanted to raise his levels.
He needed to reach level twenty-five eventually. Adding more progress now was thus the only way he could triumph.
Hopefully, that demon gives us a lot of progress points. Hans sighed. We would certainly need everything that we can have.
He rested his back, looking at the displays as they showed the rain around him. Briefly, he wondered how she…Adelyn, or maybe Alizée was doing over there in Rousselot. What about Captain Strobel or Father Olbrich? Or of the Countess? The church’s staff? Those soldiers?
Were they sleeping fine today?
He hoped they were. He remembered in his first loop since they reached Rousselot that last night was supposed to be a peaceful one. He remembered that he spent hours just reading books and talking with Adelyn about this new world, and how they would plan to tackle the demonic threat. They talked for hours about how they would try to find a way back home.
And he listened to her ramble on and on about what she learned about magic. She was like a child that night. And Hans, tiredly, remembered that he slept well as the rain crept in. It was a peaceful night.
This time, he was on constant scouting duty. Battling endless undead while he tried to remain undetected. Poking that beast close at times just to observe its movements. Constantly on the move, constantly fighting, even as the rain poured through the pitch-black night.
It was certainly different to warfare in Terra, Hans thought. It was…really dark at night. Daylight cameras were thus useless. He could only see the green of his night-vision displays, or the Thermals. But…even the thermals turned quite useless, considering the rain turned everything colder, including the already cold bodies of the undead and the beast.
Back in Terra, he never was this alone in the fight. The frontline, day and night, had always been active. And he was never always on the move. On the contrary, Hans remembered that warfare had been nothing but hours of him and E Company taking concealed positions and just…waiting, and waiting, and waiting, for anything to cross their sight lines.
He remembered that driving around was very much not advisable unless you wanted to get shot by some unspotted tank a few kilometers away. It was terror.
This…was also a kind of dull terror. No allies. No sounds of war. Just him, shooting targets, grinding, and…
Well, for some reason, the real terror for him was the idea of failing his comrades now. He always feared that back then in Lotharingia, but the war there was different. Ultimately, he could fight as hard as he wanted, failures and defeat would come. He could always find solace in the fact that defeat wasn’t his sole responsibility, for he was just another pilot. A small element in the bigger picture.
This time, he had control of time. Control. He had so much control over shaping the fates of people with his new ability, but…it was fragile control. And control he had to pay with his death and agony.
Was this what being a demon meant? He wondered why he was even turned into one of them…the Calamities. He wondered if he would ever succumb and turn like them. It was…almost terrifying, after all. How he was now starting to play god. How he’d disregard those around him and plan his death just like that. His death wasn’t just going to affect him, after all. It would affect them. Even if everything would be reset.
The harm…he was doing harm with his ability.
Hans wondered how much further he would go with this. Would he ever go worse, and truly become a “Calamity”?
He sighed.
The rain was unending.
So was his mission.
And what was his justification for all these anyway?
To save her?
Regardless…
Hans placed his hands back on the controls.
I can mock my own motivations all I want. But this is the only way to prevent that.
He wouldn’t fail this time.