[ARC VIII: YOU ENFORCE]

+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

Nomosian Countryside

January 10, 1539 CE

Hehe…stew…I'll get a nice stew soon…

Hans mumbled a bit loudly as he shifted in his seat. Yesterday's battle greatly drained him of everything, and he wanted nothing but pure rest last night. Now, however, that rest was coming to an end, as he dreamed once again about Adelyn's stew.

He woke up.

"What?!" He almost jumped out of his seat, until he realized that he was inside his mech. Hans calmed down, a bit embarrassed, thinking that he mumbled that out loud while asleep. Then, he facepalmed, before booting up his displays.

The soft morning light filtered into his mech's interior from his display screens, showing a serene morning on the previous day's battlefield. Hans briefly admired the view in front of him, before he decided that he should crack a few biscuits for him.

He began eating as he analyzed his gains yesterday with his system screens on. He had reached level thirteen, and he had so much AP that he wasn't exactly sure what to do with it. Most importantly, he had a skill slot opened. It was two active skill choices, specifically, [ACT: ONE SHOT, ONE KILL III], and [ACT: DECEITFUL SABOTAGE II].

[ACT: DECEITFUL SABOTAGE II]

Description:

Allows the user to imbue Shadow Magic-based enchantments on his projectile items. Only works with bullets, arrows, etc.

Tier II: Unlocks two types of direct enchantments for projectile items, at the cost of two AP per item.

Targeted Draining: Projectiles enchanted with targeted draining will drain twenty-six AP points from a target struck by it.

Targeted Blindness: Projectiles enchanted with targeted delay will cause mediocre blindness on any target struck by it.

[ACT: ONE SHOT, ONE KILL III]

Description

Allows the user to fire a high-powered shot from his firearms. The singular shot would deal at least sixfold (x6) damage to the target.

Tier II: Shot damage increases by at least eight folds (x12). Costs twenty AP per shot. Specialized shots (Incendiary/Explosive) have twice the AP cost.

Both of them certainly seemed good choices from Hans' perspective. Quite frankly, 'One Shot, One Kill' at Tier III was no joke. It meant that his gun would have x12 the power it had, which was massive for his submachine gun and pistol. Should he get into an unfortunate close-quarters fight with his small arms against a minor demon, a gun that could pack that punch would be great.

On the other hand, the 'Deceitful Sabotage' upgrade to Tier II was equally good. It would essentially be another improvement for his bullets enchanted using shadow magic. Considering he had no idea how to enchant his items better nor did he have an open skill for shadow magic yet, Hans viewed the enchantment skill as logistically useful.

Especially when I have so much AP to burn.

Hans wanted to burn a thousand AP, all of them for his machine gun rounds, which were proving extremely useful during combat, and for his bullets. Of course, he also needed a lot for repairs, main gun resupply, and other essentials, but it wasn't like they'd be fighting an enemy demon immediately.

He leaned back, taking a while to decide between the two. In the end, Hans settled with 'Deceitful Sabotage II', taking the upgrade and thus finally improving his enchantment skill. Satisfied by it, he proceeded on finishing his biscuit, before opening his hatch and exiting his mech.

Outside, the morning moves of the 1st Anti-Demon Unit already commenced. Soldiers were already marching out of their camps, following the paths taken by the already departed wagons that carried the dead and wounded. Hans on the other hand briefly took a detour to do field inspections with Captain Weibel and Captain Strobel.

The battlefield itself was littered with so many dead wolves, many of them already rotting. Hans went for one of the charred corpses, the vultures feasting on the few exposed, soft, and admittedly "cooked" flesh flying away. He leaned down to check on it, smiling a bit.

"My bullets sure did some nice work, huh?" Hans asked himself. He poked the corpse with a wooden stick. "I wonder what it's like to die like that."

"What's the point of asking those silly questions?" Captain Strobel laughed behind Hans. "Of course it's awful. I can't even imagine how painful it must be. Actually, what did you call her? Ms. Recklessness? Ha, yeah, it must be a painful way to go down."

"I imagine it is," Hans stood up. "So, how's the final tallies?"

"We killed at least four to six hundred wolves yesterday. Alongside that is the Calamity of Recklessness, and indeed, two minor demons," Captain Strobel grinned. "Quite the amount of kills. The IYC and the Imperial Army will be delighted by this."

"How many casualties did we sustain?"

"Surprisingly light. We only sustained eighty-four dead, and a hundred injured. We can replace them within a week or two, especially with the growing reputation of our unit. I heard that there are more and more men and women lining up to volunteer in newly-raised 'anti-demon units'."

"That so?" Hans laughed. "Well, best of luck with them then. We need to set up a good report that we can disseminate. Hah…it's going to take a while to root out the rest of the secondary demons from Nomos."

"The rest of the Army of Nomos already commenced their offensive. They're going to drive south and liquidate or disperse any demon they encounter. I do worry about them meeting the Calamity of Injustice though."

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Hans on the other hand calmly picked up his pack of cigarettes and lit up one of them. Puffing a smoke, he shook his head.

"I doubt that 'old man' is going to strike anytime soon," Hans said. "These 'Calamities', they're not stupid, and they seem to figure out quickly whenever their fellows die. I assume that the bastard already knows we killed three demons today, in one battle. It'd be foolish for him to try anything."

"But what if he does? We're low on ammunition and supplies. Practically dry."

"That's why we're retreating and rotating out," Hans laughed. "Don't worry, we'll join back once we're more ready. For now, we'll let the Army of Nomos deal with this."

+++

Altare

They stopped at the small town of Altare in their northward march back to La Veridad. While only a portion of the 1st Anti-Demon Unit entered the town, specifically, a single battalion alongside Hans and Adelyn, the townsfolk welcomed them with cheers, flowers, and celebrations.

The news about the victory against the Calamity of Recklessness, liquidated by none other than the 'Grey Knight' and the 'Golden Angel', alongside the Viceroy and the 1st Anti-Demon, had already reached the safer corners of Nomos and Ygeia. Soon, it should reach the rest of the continent, and cause another wave of mobilization from the surge of hope that it would provide to the people.

That was certainly visible to Hans and Adelyn, as their two mechs were once again adored by confetti and flowers. Behind them, the cavalrymen of the 2nd Fast Recon Battalion, alongside the staff officers that accompanied Captain Weibel and Captain Strobel, kept their heads high as they passed through the townsfolk.

Even the Viceroy herself, who was also on horseback, smiled and waved at her people, promising them with honeyed words how 'victory would soon come' and that she 'wouldn't let the demons come to their lands'.

Hans lowered his head as his feet fell asleep on his pedal, bored at the events in front of him. Sure, he appreciated all the thanks and celebrations being showered at them, but at the same time…

Been here probably a dozen times already. Hans sighed. When will they realize that it's only celebration time when all of the demons are already vanquished?

Soon, they settled into their respective rented quarters in the town. Mostly, only the officers and higher-ranking officials managed to snag inns across the town, while the rest of the 2nd Fast Recon Battalion had to settle for eating and drinking at taverns, before camping outside in the town's outskirts.

Hans, Adelyn, and Alizée of course didn't go through this. Instead, they found themselves a good inn to settle for the night, but they did eat with the rest of the 1st Anti-Demon Unit's leadership.

"Cheers!" shouted Captain Weibel as he downed a glass of wine. "Hah…that's some damn good stuff."

"Enjoy all you guys want," the Viceroy said, smiling. "It's a treat for winning so well."

"Free food sure does taste nice," Captain Strobel said, eating a piece of steak from his plate. "Damn, the cooks here sure placed their best too. Almost makes you feel right at home…"

"Indeed," Alizée chimed in, smiling cheerfully at the table Adelyn, Hans, and Alizée occupied. "I love it!"

All of them laughed at the little girl's comments, while Hans shook his head, a smile on his face as he ate as well. It was certainly shaping up as a decent victory dinner, even though it wasn't the fanciest one out there. He took a slice of steak from his plate and enjoyed it fully.

"It's nice that we're all here at least," Adelyn declared. "At least, we'll live on to fight another day for all those who fell."

"They sure gave their all for this battle," Hans said. "Fine, good men. But, in the end, we had victory. I think with this, we'll be saving hundreds of thousands in this principality alone. That's what matters more."

"He's right," Captain Weibel said. "So we better recover nice and fast, and join the battle again. I don't think the job's over yet."

"Indeed, I'm already making my moves to get to that," Captain Strobel said. "We've already tallied up the amount of guns we'll need to replace the losses, and how much munitions, supplies, and equipment we need."

"Just give the figures to me," Emilia said, smiling as she leaned back on her chair. "I'll be sure to get the money to fund resupply from the IYC."

"Then what's next?" Captain Weibel asked. "La Veridad?"

"Yep, we're going back there for a while," Hans said. "We'll need to do a few more exercises and analyze new tactics from this battle. It would help greatly for the next one."

Everyone nodded before they continued in their tiny feast.

+++

Hans soon entered the room that they had taken for themselves. Unfortunately, for the first time, due to the rooms being taken by other people, they had to share one room. Thus, it was a bit awkward when he entered. Surprisingly, however, he saw that Alizée was already asleep on the bed, while Adelyn took care of her.

"Um…" Hans blurted out. "I just finished the meeting with Ebert and Jonas. Quite productive."

"That's good to hear," Adelyn replied, gently sliding her hand through Alizée's silver hair. Adelyn yawned a bit. "Need to wake up quickly tomorrow, so you should probably sleep too already."

"Yeah…" Hans placed his bags on a table in front of a futon that was set up on the floor. He patted it a bit, before checking the pillow that he'd use. Smiling a bit, he finally decided to lie on it, feeling the relaxing softness beneath. "This sure beats sleeping in my mech."

"It sure does," Adelyn laughed. "Look at her, she's sleeping so soundly now that she can sleep in a proper bed instead of my lap. Aww, and she's so cute when doing it too."

"Can't blame her. Going into a military campaign sucks ass," Hans frowned. "Then again, she kept asking for this anyway, when she could have stayed in La Veridad."

"Oh shush, you say that as if you'll be able to stomach leaving her alone," Adelyn looked at Hans. "You won't, right?"

Hans on the other hand simply stared at the ceiling, looking away.

"Maybe."

"So unsure," Adelyn giggled. "Anyhow…want to sleep already?"

"Yeah…"

She nodded, and with a flick of her fingers, the darkness consumed the room after the fires were snuffed out of the lamps. Hans smiled a bit—it was truly cozy in here. He could already feel his eyes drooping.

"Hans," Adelyn mumbled something in the dark. "I have a question though."

"What is it?"

"I've been wondering…am I performing well?"

"What do you mean?"

"So many deaths…yet we only killed two calamities—"

"Oh shut up," Hans chastised, sitting upright. "We're making progress. Don't you blame yourself for those we can't save just yet? So long as you're leading us to winning, you're doing well. That's my opinion."

He couldn't see the reaction from Adelyn, the darkness obscuring things for him. But, her reply seemed a bit relieved.

"Thanks…for the reassurances," she laughed at herself. "I guess I still am not used to seeing a lot of people die in missions I partly lead."

"There's nothing wrong with that," Hans laid back to his futon. "Just keep that in mind."

"Yeah…"

"Goodnight, Captain—" Hans stopped. "...Adelyn."

"Goodnight, Hans," Adelyn replied, a bit awkward already. "Sleep well."

Hans decided not to reply, closing his eyes instead.

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