ARC III: ONE MAN

“A demon alive is worth ten thousand men. Thus, it must be found how to stop these creatures from appearing in our lands. Otherwise, none of our measures will be sustainable. Mankind cannot be allowed to be overwhelmed.”

- Excerpt from “An Emergency Treatise on the Subject of ‘Demons’” by Daniel Specke.

+++

+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

Rousselot City

JUL 11, 1538 CE

“And may the gods…and goddesses, bless our souls…”

The mass in the St. Heka church this Sunday was now finally closing. Hans tried his best to hold his yawn from compromising his position, only for Adelyn to shove his side.

What the hell’s your problem?

She merely frowned at him sternly. Hans understood his superior’s orders with just that glare. Naturally, Hans stiffened up and returned back to the last words of the head priest, and when the words ‘Amen’ were uttered, Hans promptly followed it.

Goddess damn it, and I thought the Lurist masses in Terra were boring. Quite frankly, Hans had only paid lip service to the Lurity faith of his homeland. On paper, he was a reformed Lurist, a branch of Lurists that denounced the original Sicilian Church of Lurity (and thus, the High Papacy), but he rarely went to churches when he was a child.

Strangely, it seemed that the religion here was similar to old polytheist faiths before Lurity became dominant, but the way they conducted their masses, rituals, and even the imagery they used to show their gods and goddesses was remarkably similar to how the Sicilian Church used idolatry (something which reformed lurity rejected vehemently) of the Goddess.

Soon, he, Adelyn, and of course, Alizée, who unlike the two, seemed to have prayed really hard left with the crowd. Hans could only sigh.

“Well…that was interesting the second time…he sure preached other stuff now.”

“Lieutenant,” Adelyn suddenly turned around. “Look, I saw you getting all sleepy throughout the mass. That’s not good.”

“Err…well…”

“Look at me in the eye,” she seemed to be absolutely not amused. “Lieutenant, you and I know that it’s dangerous to be branded as anything less than devout in this type of situation. Hell, I dislike praying to pagani—”

She held her tongue.

“A different…set of particular beliefs, but I’m still going to try because we have to. Lieutenant, remember, down here…”

“We believe in the same faith as they do.” Hans followed, and Adelyn nodded.

“Good. You understand that clearly. Don’t wanna end up in a pitchfork.”

“Well, me neither.”

“Exactly,” Adelyn nodded to herself. “That’s why you and I have to do this. Just like how you really need to work on your table manners. We’re going to be meeting the Countess and other nobles soon again. So please, don’t act unrefined on the table.”

“Yes, Ma’am…”

She seemed irked by that.

“I’m not yet in my fifties, Lieutenant.”

Hans merely gave her a shit-eating grin.

“Apologies. I appreciate the clarification, Miss.”

“Goddess, you just had to pray in a mass for an hour and you immediately turned into a menace to society,” she laughed. “You’re a massive pain.”

“Thanks.”

“Whatever,” she huffed and turned to Alizée. “Now, who’s the good girl? Unlike the other person over there, someone acted quite well in the presence of the public.”

Adelyn began doting and patting on Alizée once more, and Hans almost backed away in fear.

Is she turning full-on mama mode on that kid? Gee, putting a young girl and a woman with over-affection to anything cute would truly result in a disaster. Quite frankly, ever since Adelyn took the mantle of “temporary caregiver” to Alizée, she had begun taking extra care of the girl.

Which was, well, of course, something Hans wouldn’t complain about. One of the things he feared was the confirmation that the Amboise family (the same noble Vanus family she was a part of) was…well, not in the greatest position before they disappeared meaning she was essentially under her “temporarily permanent” care at the moment. Quite frankly, their main goal now was to find a new caregiver for the girl.

Especially when Adelyn figured out the fact that she was the Angel of Justice and the fact that her entire job from now on would be fighting demons. It was probably why her skill was so effective at killing demons if her shots could do a direct hit. The fires her MPAT produced from those anti-demon shells would literally toast a demon to death beyond what a normal fire would do.

Hans knew that from now on, keeping this kid with them would only place her in great danger. Thus, she and Adelyn had been petitioning the Countess to at least “adopt” her. Both of them wouldn’t accept leaving her in a goddamned orphanage here in the church anyway.

Still…that was just the first plan. If things went awry, well, he still didn’t have any other plan.

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Certainly not me though. Hans told himself. Daycare ain’t my specialty.

“Um…food…?” Alizée awkwardly squeaked out as Adelyn patted her head.

“Food? Oh, you’re hungry?”

Alizée nodded. “Yes, Lady Adelyn. The mass was quite tiring. Sorry.”

“Yeah, I think she’s saying she’s hungry, Captain.”

“That’s quite obvious,” Adelyn stood up. “Unfortunately, I have an appointment to make.”

“What, with who?”

“Bunch of other nobles asking about our vehicle,” she winked. “I’ll take care of explaining things to them.”

“Wait, wait, the hell are you dumping on me now?”

“Her, of course,” Adelyn smiled. “What, you can’t feed a child?”

“Of course, I can,” Hans defensively said. “I fed her first. For days, mind you. With…with rations, and stuff.”

“Well, I’ll absolutely murder you if you feed her MREs,” she tossed a few Imperial Marks at Hans. “There, take that. Get her something good. I’ll be going. Chop chop, Lieutenant.”

“Wait…and, well, she’s gone,” Hans watched as Adelyn’s form became smaller, leaving the two outside of the church’s premises. Hans turned to Alizée, who was looking up at him expectantly.

Oh…come on…

Hans kneeled to her level. “Hey.”

“Sir Hans?”

“So, food eh?” Hans smiled. “What do you want?”

She raised her fist, almost demanding something.

“Chicken!”

“Veggies?”

“Or beef!” Her expression now really showed extreme hunger.

“Okay, so greens? A salad perhaps?”

“Maybe fish. Good fish, Sir Hans. Like fried salmon! Since we’re near the sea!”

“Damn it, now I’m lost,” Hans facepalmed. “Are you demanding sweets or what? Seriously, I don’t think I can give you too much sweets. Well, if there even is some. Plus, no modern toothpaste and stuff for your teeth too. Actually…crap…that means I can’t eat sugary crap too…”

“And also cake!” She grinned. “I want real cake.”

“I seriously doubt they have pasta here, Alizée.”

“Meat!” She almost shouted. “Just…meat, okay. I want that. Maybe you can understand that, Sir Hans.”

“Oooh…” Hans smiled. “Meat, huh?”

Then he dropped his smile.

“But you already eat too much meat. That woman’s feeding you like a barbarian. And she calls me an unrefined glutton. We are having veggies.”

Her smile dropped.

“Yay…we’re eating meat…right?”

Hans smirked.

“Sure we are, kiddo. Whatever you’re saying. Sure we are.”

+++

He was now stuck with a petulant child.

Why are you crossing your arms now on me? Hans was utterly flabbergasted. Wait, wait, you’re looking away from your plate?

“Uhh…Alizée, you should really eat your greens now.”

Her cheeks seemed puffy.

“No!”

“I think I can understand you mean no,” Hans sighed. “I mean, come on, it’s good food. The folks say this restaurant’s good—”

“Ey! Sir Knight, you are indeed right!” One of the customers, seemingly a drunk laborer, shouted. “Damn right, it is the best one. Best beer out there.”

Hans lowered his head a bit.

“Goddess….shut up,” he really hated how his name was so popular now around town. “The Grey Knight”, they called him. The guy who rode with the “Golden Angel” to slay the Rodent of Pestilence. Damned reputation, he’d bet their current PR team, in other words—Adelyn, was crafting this entire crap from the shadows. “I hate being a semi-celebrity…”

“Hmph! Still not eating it.”

“Are we really going to play hardball, kid?” Hans laughed. “You’re one demanding girl. You know, to grow stronger and healthier, you gotta stuff up the veggies. I tell you what, maybe your canines will become whiter and stronger. Trust me on that!”

“Nope!”

“Is that a variation of no?”

“No!”

“Well, surprisingly, the first ‘no’ you said was shorter than what you said before your last no, so I’m inclined to not believe you.”

“Not eating salad today. I want meat, Sir Hans. I mean…”

She finally turned to her plate, and Hans almost felt elated at finally getting through to her. Oh, his mind conjured such a great scene in just a split-second. Alizée, finally deciding not to be a headache, and finally eating her greens. Such a scene, of a good girl eating healthily to Hans’ approval…

Never materialized when she looked like she was about to cry.

“It looks so sad…”

Ah, crap, he pushed her too hard. Hans naturally folded to the desires of a mere child took her plate and threw the salad on his plate.

“Okay, damn it,” Hans turned around. “Wait here.”

He stood up and rushed straight to the counter. He was beaten. Utterly beaten and defeated. Now he was shelling out a bunch of Light Marks for another order like a man without spine. Naturally, Hans bought meat, specifically, a seared tuna steak (damn were they lucky at being in a coastal area) because, well, technically it was meat, but at least a little bit healthier, no?

Defeated, he walked back to Alizée with another plate in hand, and immediately, a hungry grin formed on her face. Hans placed the plate on the table, and in no time, she began digging on it ravenously. It seemed that whatever noble-like attitude she showed whenever they dined in refined settings melted. Well, it was why they only ate at a mid-level restaurant.

Hans knew that this girl was running two personalities after all. In settings where there were notable figures, she’d act like a proper kid. Out here, her true colors would shine. It was kinda funny for Hans.

Until he looked down at his plate.

It was just a sad salad. On her plate was a shiny seared tuna steak she was enjoying. He looked back down at his own plate. Sad salad.

Well…if it isn’t the consequences of my actions.

He really didn’t want to eat salad either, but, as one said, to convince a child, the adult must make himself an example to follow. He ate it. At the very least, it was actually palatable. Still…damn it, he was the one who lost this mind game.

Ask him to handle his Wanderfalke into a firefight and he’d handle it well.

Ask him to handle a poor orphaned child, and well…he looked more like a defeated sack of potatoes.