The next morning, in the capital, in the mages' guild…

Straf throws the door open and walks in with a broad, confident step. He approaches the shrunken, old guild girl's desk.

「…I'm done with the books.」

He declares, and a whirling vortex appears next to him. He puts his arm in, and begins pulling tomes as thick as a telephone book out.

Thud!… Thwump!… Thwump!…

「Done with them? You take half our library and you don't even bother reading them? What was the point of that, sonny!? To make me put them back on the shelves!?」

The old woman barely sticking out from beyond the long desk asks, as the books Straf throws onto it slowly begin to obscure her.

「I read them. I don't need them anymore, so you can have them back. If you had a better collection, I wouldn't need to borrow as many.」

Straf bluntly replies, and continues forming massive stacks of the books while the readers at the guild's tables look on, distracted by the noise.

…Thump!… Thump!…

「Well, thank the queen for that!… The Federation cut us off, and in turn, the Academy! We can't just request a copy to be sent to our local library anymore!」

The old guild girl steps aside and leans out from the wall of books. Another stack quickly begins forming in front of her.

…Thud!… Thwump!… Thwump!… Thump!…

「The empress.」

Straf corrects her, and drops the last of the books onto the desk.

…Thwump!… Thwump!… Thwump!

「Huh?」

「The empress. She's an empress now, not just a queen.」

The guild girl once again pops out from beside the books, forced to walk around nearly the entire desk. Straf corrects her, and explains with his fists on his hips.

「Queen, empress… Same thing! She was the queen when she twisted our arm into restoring that Tolwick fellow! He's been outlawed for a reason!」

She scoffs, shaking her white head as Straf turns for the door, and places his hands in his pockets.

「Yeah, 'cause he's weird and plays with corpses… Not like I approve, but they tend to not say no, and I've met assholes who've done worse things…」

He replies, and grabs onto the handle.

「…If that's all it takes, I'm probably next on their list. Thanks, Lily…」

Straf adds under his breath, shaking his head as he leaves…

…

In the evening, in an inn…

「I told you to keep some money, dumbass…」

Will grumbles at Greaves as he and his party enter.

「It's your fault! You didn't want to follow the trail! It was easy money and I could have gotten paid today!」

Greaves replies with his voice raised, walking in with his arms behind his head and a sour expression on his face.

「I'm not going to follow a trail of burrowers when it's getting dark, stupid! They don't pose an immediate threat to anyone, so why should we!?」

「Because now I'm broke!」

「That's your own damn fault! I told you not to-!」

Will and Greaves enter a shouting match, but Alicia forces herself in between them.

「Now, now… I'll just pay for Greaves. It's okay. It's not a big deal…」

「Tsk…」「Tsk…」

She cuts the shouting match short with a pacifying smile on her face, gently spreading them apart with her hands. The two click their tongues, and turn their heads aside.

「…Now you're even exploiting Alicia. Aren't you ashamed?- Ah.」

Will adjusts his glasses, and briefly glances at Greaves, berating him. When he turns his gaze away, he notices a large armored man sitting alone at one of the tables.

「…Roland the Wall.」

Approaching the man's table, Will calls out as he adjusts his glasses.

「Hm?… Iron Will… And his party. How are you doing?」

Roland tankard, and his helm. He nods his armored head up at Greaves and the rest when they trail behind Will.

「We're alright… We took a task, but had to head home early, so we're going to have a drink… At least we're on the beasts' trail. You mind if we join you?」

Will shrugs, and glances over his shoulder at the rest.

「Not at all… But the others sitting here might!」

The large armored man replies, and raises his tankard.

「You're already sitting with someone?-」

Will's head recoils back in confusion, and he looks at the empty chairs surrounding the table.

「…Ah. It's one of those jokes, isn't it?」「Ha ha ha ha ha!…」

Failing to resist the urge to roll his eyes, he pulls a chair out and sits down across from Roland. Greaves and the rest join him, and Alicia waves her hand towards one of the waitresses.

「How are you doing, Roland? Got any jobs lined up yet?」

Will asks while he waits for the waitress to take the orders from the rest.

「Uh-huh… An old pal got me a job coming up soon.」

Roland nods, and lifts the bottom edge of his helm to take another gulp from his tankard.

「Really? What is it?」

Will leans in furrowing his brows in mild surprise.

「Can't tell you. Secret… Ah, but it's all legal! And it's exactly what I'm good at, so I'm drinking the wait away! Ha ha ha ha!…」

Shrugging his massive armored shoulder, Roland replies, and quickly clarifies. He raises his tankard towards Will, and lets out a jolly laughter that reverberates in his helmet.

「Secret? Must be some official work, huh?-」

「And what will you have?」

Will replies, but the waitress hops up to his side to take his order, distracting him.

「Ah, I'll have an ale… And maybe a few fries as a snack!…」

He replies, and quickly adds another order with his finger raised before she can depart…

…

A few days later, in the evening, on the brick airstrip outside the capital…

Standing right beside a nervous-looking man in robes, Straf looks at Ursa and his tight-lipped grimace as Lily and Cycelia arrive from the capital as well.

「Here are the volunteers, minister…」

Ursa says, and points his hand aside at a small group of men standing near.

「…All fourteen of them.」

He clears his throat, and adds. His grimace intensifies as he awkwardly places his hands behind his back.

「Not a whole lot of them, huh…」

Straf remarks, nodding his head with his fists on his hips.

「…Well, whatever. Initially I was going to hand pick the hardest ones of the group, but I guess you're all already either terribly stupid, or really brave.」

He adds, and shrugs his shoulders while looking at the men standing in a line beside the marshal.

「Uh… Can I back out?-」

「No.」

One of the men hesitantly raises his hand and asks. Straf quickly and bluntly replies with a tight-lipped grimace on his face. The man lowers his hand, furrowing his brows.

「…Okay! The marshal probably told you that you will be adequately equipped to deal with the situation!…」

Straf exclaims, and the line of volunteers nod their heads.

「…Unfortunately due to limited budget, and how much of a pain in the ass it is to produce aramid, you will only be given standard-issue weaponry, some potions, and spare IEDs.」

He adds, spreading his hands. The men glance at each other.

「Uh… What are IEDs?」

One of the men asks with his hand raised.

「It's all in the instruction manuals. Familiarize yourselves with the contents on your way…」

Straf replies with a shrug of his shoulders.

「…After consultations with Lily, I came to the conclusion that a fifty percent survival rate increase isn't really going to be a big deal in the end, so you won't be getting slash-resistant armor.」

「Huh?」「Eh?」「Are we going in unarmored!?」

He nonchalantly adds, turning his eyes to Lily's disinterested face. She looks at the volunteers with her arms crossed, tilting her head just a little. The men begin mumbling amongst themselves.

「Now… She's coming with you, and I nicely asked Lily to try and return you home in as many pieces as you had when you left it. On top of that, I recruited some seasoned help. By the way!…」

Leaning forward slightly, Straf quite overtly reminds Lily, who lets out resigned sigh. With a nervous gaze, Cycelia looks at the large, black, plane-like construction on the airstrip.

Pat!

「Ow.」

The robed man standing beside Straf winces as he slaps his hand down onto his shoulder.

「…This will be your pilot! He's a real rare find!…」

「Hello…」

Pointing his free hand at him, Straf introduces the nervous pilot, who nods his head towards the volunteers.

「…Not only is his vision perfectly fine despite being a mage, he also theoretically knows basic emergency procedures by heart, without even prior knowing what an aircraft is!」

Straf spreads his hands, nodding in approval. One of the volunteers raises his hand again.

「…What's an aircraft?-」「That's not your job to know. It's his.」

The man asks, and Straf bluntly replies.

「Okay! Get in and equip yourselves! Put on the circlets so that I can properly order you around! Good luck!… And read the fucking manuals!」

Straf commands the volunteers, pointing his hand at the object on the airstrip. The men reluctantly oblige, and walk past him with the pilot towards the ramp at its back.

「…Be nice to the humans stuck there too, Lily… Alright?」

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

「Fine…」

As Lily walks past Straf to join the volunteers, he looks at her with his fists on his hips, and speaks with a tight-lipped grimace on his face. She lets out a sigh, and shrugs in response.

「…Are they going to be okay, Straf?」

With a concerned expression on her face, Cycelia walks up to Straf's side with Ursa.

「Uhhh… A half of 'em might be, statistically speaking. Not accounting for factual bisections.」

Straf returns a nonchalant shrug as the object on the airstrip begins to make whirring noise that grows louder, and louder. The ramp at its back slowly rises, and shuts.

「…Does the… Pilot really know how to fly that?」

Cycelia asks, pointing her dainty finger at the mystery object, turning her furrowed brows to Straf.

「Hmmmm… Well, he had a few days to learn the theory. If I can learn from flight sims, he can learn from instruction manuals. Let's head back before the engines properly start up.」

Whirrrrrrrrrrrrrr…

Straf turns towards the city gate, and places his hands in his coat's pockets. Cycelia shivers slightly, and does the same as they follow behind him.

….Whirrrrrrrrrrrrr!…

「…Isn't it going to… What was it?… Taxi?」

She asks, glancing over her shoulder at the noisy aircraft getting louder, despite them gaining distance.

「Nope! It's a VTOL!… Probably a bad idea to give a new pilot a bastard child of an Osprey and a Black Hawk with jet engines!… But it's my finest work yet!… And it runs on mana natively!」

Straf explains, shouting over the increasing engine noise.

「…I don't know what any of that means!」

…WhirrrrfffwwwwoooooooooomMMMM!…

Cycelia shouts back, and the aircraft begins to create deafening noise. Its body lifts off the ground, sending powerful gusts of wind everywhere. Cycelia's coat flutters as they continue onward.

「VTOL means that!… As for the rest, don't worry about it!」

Pointing his thumb at the rising dropship, Straf explains.

「…I hope they will be okay!」

She remarks with her brows furrowed, watching it tilt forward a little and accelerate, still flying upward with its exhausts pointed down.

「Same! It's the only prototype in the world! The nerd piloting it technically passed all my tests, but you'll never know!」

…Fffffwoooopfffff… Fffffffwooooooooooooowwwwwwwfffffff!…

Straf replies as the wings tilt, and with it, the engines near its broad, black body.

The low sun illuminates the aircraft's matte body as it loses a little of its altitude, then takes off forward at a high speed, turning into a tiny black dot on the orange sky…

…

Half an hour later, in the strategic planning room…

「…Okay. Now if they weren't stupid they should be near Murusburg, and wearing the circlets.」

Thunk.

Straf says, and places down a large rock slab with a runic circle engraved into it, wearing a circlet on his head with complex blue runes glowing in slow pulses.

「Ah.」「Oh?」

Cycelia and the marshal sitting in chairs at the end of the table perk up in surprise, when the slab projects an image above itself.

「…What is this, minister? Are we seeing through their eyes?」

Ursa asks as Straf sits down with them, and crosses his arms.

「Nope. Through the circlets…」

Straf replies with a light shake of his head, and taps the circlet on his head with his finger. The projection, appearing almost like a holographic screen above the slab, partially translucent, displays a cramped interior lit by a faintly blue light from above. The volunteers are sitting on benches at the sides with circlets same as Straf on their heads, exchanging nervous glances. They are clutching onto what looks like a mix between a scaled down streetlight with the top cover taken off, and a mage's staff.

At the bottom of their lamp-like staves there is a grip, a trigger, and a rectangular box sticking out like a sore thumb from above it all.

「…It'd be too convenient if it was through the eyes. I can also do this.」

Straf adds, and the projection displays the outside view. The dropship is high in the already dark sky. The plains and rolling hills are faintly visible below as it flies past them, ignoring the forests, the dens of monsters hidden within, and flying over smaller cities. The view switches to another angle, though also outside. A white vapor trail traces the aircraft's path behind it. Ursa and Cycelia watch on, fascinated by the invention allowing them to see this. The view switches to the cockpit, and the nervous pilot.

「…Huh? What do you mean, what do you do? Crash through it, obviously.」

The pilot says something, and Straf replies with his arms casually crossed. The marshal and Cycelia glance at Straf, both furrowing their brows. The pilot's jaw drops, and he shouts something.

「…No, I'm not joking. Why would I be?- No, I don't mean dive into it, stupid. I mean switch back to vertical mode then crash through it.」

Scrunching his mouth to the side, Straf says, seemingly speaking to himself.

「Um… Straf? What is he saying?」

Cycelia asks, tilting her chestnut head at him, before turning her gaze back to the projection.

「Huh?- Ah. I forgot, you can't hear the sounds… Tsk…」

His brow raises momentarily, but then he rolls his eyes in frustration. He shrugs, and clicks his tongue.

「…Well, I'll have to fix that later. For now, I'll just narrate and do sound effects for you.」

Straf adds, watching the pilot fiddle with switches and buttons, while the pilot is staring at the likewise holograph-like instruments inside with nervous eyes…

…

A moment later, in Murusburg…

A small, mixed group of armored and unarmored vampires dart around the nearly pitch-black streets. Their crimson eyes peek into the dark alleyways, and they bare their fangs in frustration.

「…Where is that worm? I'll de-flesh his legs for that.」

One of the vampires with a large, bloodied hole in the center shirt grumbles, clutching the sword in his grip tighter.

「It was your own fault for not watching your back.」

An armored vampire remarks, then peeks into another alley.

「…Maybe he hid in one of the homes? We should ransack them… And maybe get a drink along the way.」

Another vampire in a commoner's clothes points his clawed finger at a door to a house.

Clank!

「Ow!」

He grunts out in pain when an armored slap hits the back of his head. He glares over his shoulder, but then backs away in fear.

「If any of you do something against the baron's orders, I'll nail you to the eastern side myself. Dig through the alleys properly! We have plenty of time!」

A grim-faced vampire barks out a warning towards the group. He points his gauntlet towards one of the alleys, and shouts out a command.

Thud!… Crash!… Clunk!…

They scatter, and begin throwing boxes and barrels out into the streets out of the alleyways. With his armored fists on his also armored hips, the grim vampire watches them work.

…Fwwwwwwwwwwsssssshhhhhhhhhhfpffffffffff!…

「Huh? What's that sound? A hurricane?…」

Furrowing his brows, he looks upward. The armored vampire sees the ropes sway and whip about. The pieces of wood nailed and tied to them are barely holding on.

…Ffffwwwwwwwssssshhhhhhhhm!- CRASH!…

A black shape suddenly smashes through the wood, tearing a portion of the ropes out of the walls.

「What the f-!?」

The vampire exclaims as his scarlet eyes widen in surprise. He jumps away, dodging out of the way of plummeting planks, roof tiles, and segments of torn out walls.

CRASH-CRACKCRASH-THUNKCRASH!… FFFFFSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHMMMMMM!… FFWWWWWWFFFOOOOPWWWFFFF!…

A deafening ruckus begins as a large chunk of the roof collapses from a large height, crashing onto the buildings and the streets below. As it descends the large object is spewing out two flames directly downward, like inverted volcanoes. The vampire turns and runs a few paces away, anticipating its crash.

FFFFFFWWWSSSSSSSSSSHMMMMMMMMM!…

The noise from the object becomes louder, and the flames spewing out from its sides grow larger. A look of confusion appears on the vampire's face, and the rest of the scattered group peeks out from the alleyways to investigate. His confusion only grows when instead of crashing and shattering on the ground, the black object slows, extends legs like a bird, and lands. The flames disappear, and the noise begins to die down into a loud whirr.

「…What in the fucking fuck?」

Whirrrrrrrrrr!…

He shakes his head in disbelief, and approaches the object to take a closer look. Its narrow end splits horizontally, and one half drops to the ground.

「Go, go, go!…」「Huh?」

Humans begin pouring out of the object onto the streets, shining weak magic lamps around the dark streets. Befuddled, he spreads his clawed hands.

「Humans?… What is the meaning of this?」

The armored vampire stares on with furrowed brows, blinking his crimson eyes in confusion. One of the humans running down the ramp spots his eyes.

「Contact!」

One of them shouts, and points the tip of the metal staff towards the vampire.

「You! What is the meaning of this!?-」

Click.

With a pull of its trigger, the staff lets out a quiet click, and flashes an orange light. The vampire is simultaneously blinded, and his face is set on fire.

「Agh! Gaaaargh! Fire! Fire! Gaaaaaagrhh!」

He feels his face burn with terrible agony, and smacks himself with his gauntlets in a feeble attempt to pat them out, screaming and blindly running around the street like a headless chicken while the fire spreads to the rest of his body. The vampire hunters fan out from the dropship, pointing their staves all around.

「It's an attack! Kill them!」

One of the vampires shouts from an alleyway, and leaps in.

Click.

The unarmored vampire is very briefly set ablaze by the orange light, before scattering into ashes in mid-air.

Another vampire with a damaged shirt tries his luck, charging in from an alleyway at one of the volunteers. Another one spots him, and points his staff his way.

「Oh shit!-」

Click.

The volunteer screams in panic when he sees the scarlet eyes speeding towards him. For a fraction of a second, an orange light washes over them both, and ashes splash against the human.

「Pfft! Pfoo! Fuck!」

He spits and sputters, spewing out some of the bitter ash that got into his mouth, and wiping it away from his eyes. A pile of clothes is smoldering right next to his feet.

「Everyone alright!? Any losses!?」

Someone shouts from the darkness. The men look around themselves for a quick headcount.

「I think we're good!」

One of them shouts back.

Far in the darkness, a pair of amber eyes emerge from beyond one of the buildings.

「Contact!」

Somebody shouts, and multiple volunteers point their staves towards the orange points.

Click. Click-click-click.

Multiple orange flashes briefly illuminate the street. The amber eyes glow like spotlights in the reflected light. Nothing else happens.

Click.

Someone presses the trigger again. Nothing happens, but the volunteers catch a glimpse of horns in the orange light.

「What the fuck?」

Confused, one of the men adjusts the weak magic lamp attached on a belt across his chest to shine it towards the eyes. At the same time, they visibly begin to close in at a high speed.

「…D- Demon! It's a demon! Draw swords!-」

He shouts, glancing over his shoulder at the rest. When he looks back at the charging fiend, he finds it right in front of him, claws raised.

CLANGGGGG!

The man jumps back as the sound of metal breaking bones fills the air. The fiend is toppled onto the shadow-shrouded cobblestones like a ragdoll from the mace's impact.

THUMP!

A large armored sabaton stomps on the already caved-in face of the demon. Roland pulls his foot away and looks at the fiend.

…THUMP! THUMP! THUMP THUMP!

He gives it a few more stomps, completely pulping what was left of its head, and grinding his armored heel on the splattered mush.

「…Hey, vampire lady! Can a demon get up from this!?」

Roland asks, pointing at the now-headless demon on the floor and its shattered horns. Lily leisurely walks down the ramp.

「…No. It will stay dead.」

She lets out a frustrated sigh, and replies with a mask of politeness.

Clank!

「Right! Demons aren't that tough, boys! Let's clean this place up!…」

Gleeful, Roland punches his armored palm, and nods his head towards the faintly lit street…