“Protecting the weak is the job of soldiers. We’re the ones standing in front of those vulnerable to threats, and the ones trained to deal with said threats. I cannot accept failing that duty.”

- Excerpt from Lieutenant Hans Hoffman’s Journal Entries.

+++

+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

Rousselot City

August 5, 1538 CE

“A demon inside the city?”

Captain Weibel seemed, well, obviously, suspicious of the findings that Hans and Adelyn presented. Quite frankly, even Adelyn herself wasn’t fully convinced by Hans’ ideas that the “Tentacled Eel” that they were preparing against could possibly get inside the city and infiltrate it.

“Absolutely, sir,” Hans said. “I spotted it earlier. Humanoid. Clearly hiding its head, but I did see tentacles coming off its head. Isn’t that the features of the ‘Tentacled Eel’, that its heads are all tentacles?”

“Lieutenant Hoffman,” Captain Weibel dismissively said. “I must say, that yes, that is indeed the confirmed description of the demon apparently heading to this city, but it is serpentine in nature, not humanoid. In fact, I seriously struggle to imagine how those monsters could be humanoid. They usually present themselves as large animal-like monsters or abstract entities like the ‘Eight Floating Eyes’. It’s just out of the question.”

“Yeah, well, unfortunately, I engaged with a humanoid demonic entity when we first got stranded and separated in this place, over in the isolated villages. Even the child I saved can vouch for it. I mean, Captain Wittenstein here absolutely can.”

“Yeah, I witnessed it,” Adelyn said, though she was, of course, not entirely being truthful. She really only saw the first demon Hans called in the aftermath, not when it was fully active. “Though I only saw its remains, I am sure that Lieutenant Hoffman here will not lie about these matters. If this is a serious threat we must tackle, then we must tackle it.”

“Have you informed the city garrison?” Captain Weibel asked.

“Yes, Captain Strobel and Father Olbrich are already using their best musketeer squads to scour the city silently. We should receive word by nightfall. Or we can join in the search.” Hans said. “I assure you, I am not lying. I saw it with my own eyes and it retreated before I could pull off my pistol. I assume it’s trying to lay low and wait for an opportune moment to attack, which is why I am deathly concerned. Captain Weibel, I’m telling you, we’re not facing some stupid monster. This is a cunning one.”

“Where did you spot the demon?” He asked as he began wearing his gloves back. Already, Lieutenant Preisner began handing him his wheellock pistols, as Captain Weibel calmly placed them on his holsters. “We need a quick location. If we end up ambushed, it’d be a disaster.”

“The slums.”

The man sighed.

“Well, that’s bad. How are we going to find it out there? Does the garrison have much presence there?”

Hans shook his head.

“No. Except for the new ones Captain Strobel sent in, no, it’s not really a well-policed area. The city’s defenses are concentrated in the central district, alongside the city walls. Most aren’t even in the city, but in the defense lines we’re constructing up north.”

“Well…that’s not exactly ideal if that thing is in this city,” Captain Weibel stood up. “Though, it doesn’t matter. In these situations, numbers wouldn’t really ensure that we’d win. We need speed, accurate information, and most importantly…”

He tapped his pistols. “Someone who has the ability to go toe-to-toe with a demon.”

“You’re being too overconfident again, Captain,” Lieutenant Preisnel boredly said from behind.

“Oh, shut up, Malte. I’m telling you, you’re too queasy mate. Come on, I’m sure we can pull this off. I mean, we have a Vanus and Virtus with us. Foreign soldiers who also pack quite the punch, plus,” he looked straight at Hans then Adelyn. “They seem serious in their jobs. It’s nice to have professionals for once.”

“I assume you fight a lot with… non-professionals?” Hans asked.

“Comes with being a mercenary,” he said. “Seems like nowadays they’re just draggin’ whoever is willing to die for gold regardless of quality. Then again, it’s only greedy fools that’d be stupid enough to think they can take on a damned demon. Like me.”

“...I didn’t know you’d call yourself a fool considering how confident you act, Captain Weibel.”

The IYC mercenary laughed as he passed by Hans and Adelyn.

“Trust me, you don’t seem to be too different, matey. Anyhow, let’s get moving. This city will not be alive in a few hours if your reports are true, Lieutenant.”

+++

Hans’ woes however weren’t over even with him already giving advance warning to the city’s garrison (especially when they wouldn’t even do their job fully due to how spotty Hans’ intel was). First of all, he had two things to deal with—mustering a capable force to spot, intercept, and possibly eliminate the main demonic threat to the city, the “Tentacled Eal”. But at the same time, Hans needed to deal with Alizée.

The truth was, the girl was a massive danger to the city if the demon succeeded in “corrupting” her by exposing her to that dangerous crystal thing. The problem was, Hans, couldn't just watch the St. Heka church constantly, considering the fact that he had to find ways to counter the demon, possibly spot its location even though he already knew that it should be near the slums today, and talk to his allies to organize a response.

Really, his only current working strategy was to intercept it before it reached Alizée, who was currently stuck in the St. Heka church doing her daily studies. There was to be no way for the demon to attempt an attack on the church, as, why would it? There was no target there. The real threat to it was the Countess, as far as Hans’ analysis went.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Currently, he was assuming that Alizée was just an unfortunate casualty turned into an opposition force in the first loop, mainly because she wouldn’t have been in the danger zone if Adelyn hadn’t mistakenly dragged her to the Countess’ estate right during the attack. Now, however, Hans could reasonably prevent that scenario from happening by keeping Adelyn on high alert against the demonic threat, meaning they were not going to continue their efforts at petitioning Alizée’s case to the Countess.

But that still isn’t enough. Hans thought to himself as he prepared his SMG, finally flicking his safety off as they entered the slums. It was already dark, and the streets were deserted.

“It smells so bad out here,” Adelyn mumbled as they continued forward. “It’s like…is this place even being maintained? Ugh, what the hell are those?”

“Greenies,” Captain Weibel answered, a bit silently. In the distance, in one of the isolated lanes, only lit by faint candles, a bunch of rough laborers were all gambling on benches while laughing at each other. Hans could even see them snorting something on the table, a slightly glowing green powder of sorts. “Ignore them. Bastards must be wasted anyway. They’re a non-issue.”

“That’s such a…” Adelyn covered her nose with her handkerchief as they continued onward. Even Hans started to feel pissed at how bad the smell in this area was. “Damn it, and you guys in the IYC sell them those drugs.”

“They’re agricultural items, Lady,” Captain Weibel replied. “Really, while I can say that I pity them, no one told them to snort the damned thing. It’s literally worse than opium. Well, then again, maybe that’s why.”

“Let’s just focus on the demon,” Hans snapped at them. “I feel like we’re in an ambush alley again.”

“Yeah, we probably are…”

The four continued onwards, fumbling deeper and deeper throughout the slums as the sun went down. First, they mainly scoured the main streets, making sure that there was nothing. They even passed by a few patrolling squads of the city garrison, many of them questioning home after home if they sighted “a strange individual”. Naturally, Hans, Adelyn, Captain Weibel, and Lieutenant Preisner cooperated with their allies on the search.

But as hours bled by, there were no sightings. No leads. Not even a single attack. They even started going deeper into the more isolated lanes of the slums, checking in on the residents of run-down homes. Many times, it was only Hans and Captain Weibel doing the questioning on the locals, meanwhile Adelyn barely kept herself from gagging at the deplorable conditions she was witnessing.

Hans soon approached Adelyn after another failed questioning, as she stared at one of the abandoned homes, handkerchief in hand.

“Hey, Captain—goddess…that smells so bad…” Hans almost choked, and he himself took his handkerchief as he looked at the building. “What the hell’s inside that place? It’s like there’s a rotting corpse or something.”

“How can they even tolerate this?” Adelyn asked. “It’s so awful. Though, this doesn’t seem like a sanitation issue like earlier.”

“Damned…” Hans shook his head. “Yeah, you’re right. It doesn’t seem so. The damned stench…it’s like…oh, boy. See, this is why I’m at least thankful I’m in the LMB formations instead of the grunts in the trenches. This sucks.”

“Lieutenant, do you think we should check?”

Hans turned to her.

“Huh? I mean, come on, we check inside, it’s probably just some guy or family or something that died of malnutrition or disease. Actually, no, I’m not in my CBRN gear, Captain. Please don’t order me to get inside that building.”

“Of course, I won’t, now that you bought that up,” Adelyn muttered, as she stepped back. “Yeah, nope. You’re right. I am not checking that building.”

“What seems to be—oh, balls, that’s definitely dead people inside there,” Captain Weibel said. “Malte, do a quick scan for any curses or diseases. Gods, that’s pungent. Were they rotting in that shack for days or what?”

“Sure, Captain,” Lieutenant Preisner said, as he pulled out a stick from his belt. With a quick chant of something Hans didn’t understand since it was probably Sicilian or something, a faint golden glow appeared around the abandoned home. It immediately glowed red before dissipating. “There seems to be something bad inside there, Captain. Definitely contaminated, or something.”

“Well, we better steer clear then,” Captain Weibel ordered, and the four stepped back until the smell was gone. “We should be fine though. Just, someone please mark this place so we can tell the folks at the church to clean this up.”

“I’ll tell Father Olbrich later,” Adelyn said, with Captain Weibel nodding.

“Is it their job to clean this up?” Hans asked.

“I mean, they’re the ones who can deal with diseases,” Captain Weibel said. “You wanna clean this up?”

“Well, absolutely not.”

“Can’t blame ya.”

“Already too dark,” someone muttered behind them. It was Lieutenant Preisner, who kept watch on their rear. He turned to Captain Weibel. “Sir, I think we should abort the search. The other parties probably did it already anyway.”

“Well, unfortunately, Lieutenant Hoffman’s report might indeed be too spotty,” Captain Weibel said. Of course, Hans knew it wasn’t. He knew that it definitely only managed to hide. Perhaps, due to the fact that he fully alerted the garrison this time to conduct searches inside the slums compared to his last death where only the four of them tried to find it forced the creature into hiding.

He wasn’t really sure. But, it was clear that it was already really dark. He looked at his watch, and it was already 20:00 hours, with practically the whole city asleep. The lighting in the slums didn’t help either. It was truly pitch black down here. And so, he conceded.

They failed. If they pursued further, they might just provoke the creature to attack at a disadvantageous time when they were practically blind. Hans knew that the creature wouldn’t attack for days from this day unless provoked. Or at least, if they provoked it without enough numbers (in which case, as this time showed, it went into hiding).

Guess it’s time to abort. Hopefully, there’s still time.

That, and he hoped that tomorrow’s search would be better. He also briefly wondered if he should bring in his Wanderfalke, but the streets of the slums were so tight that he knew it would be impossible. That’d just turn the entire slums and even the city itself against him if he drove his vehicle around and disrupted everyone’s lives for no reason, at least from their perspective.

After all, it's my eternal damned problem. Only I know. They don’t.

At this point, Hans wondered when his faith in the people he was trying to save would run out.

“I apologize,” Hans said. “Let’s retreat. Continue the search tomorrow. Maybe we’ll find more luck.”

“I hope so…” Captain Weibel said. “Though, I really hope that you’re actually wrong now, Lieutenant Hoffman. The way this one is acting…it’s worrying.”

“Yeah,” Lieutenant Preisner said. “I thought only Calamities have a chance of being sentient. Unless…he saw a Calamity.”

“No, unlikely,” Captain Weibel staunchly denied. “Tomorrow, I’m sure it will be all wrong, and we’ll get a report of another sighting of the ‘Tentacled Eel’ up north. Then we’ll abort this entire charade midday, and resume normal business, right, Lieutenant Hoffman?”

Hans looked into Captain Weibel’s eyes.

So you really do feel fear too, huh?

“I won’t be offering reassurances, sir,” was the only thing Hans could say.

They soon retreated from the slums, unable to continue their search.