+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

Fort Sagrada

January 12, 1539 CE

When Hans and the 1st Anti-Demon Unit arrived at Fort Sagrada, the frontlines had already shifted far from these starting positions. Instead of a fortress that was holding on for dear life as a bastion against demons, by this point, Fort Sagrada was now a backline supply hub.

The rest of the 1st Anti-Demon Unit already continued marching back to La Veridad, but Hans, Adelyn, alongside the Viceroy, went inside the fortress. Activity inside was heavy, as wagon after wagon that carried troops and supplies went through the fortress. They were stocking everything: powder, grain, produce, salted meat and other rations, lead bullets, down to cannon balls.

Alongside that, soldiers, mostly musketeers, were practicing heavily on the firing ranges inside the fortress. It seemed that the rest of the Imperial Army was now adapting faster and faster, as they tried to drill and practice their troops to the standards that Hans and Adelyn had been demonstrating.

It made him smile a bit.

"I wonder how many demons they've already taken out," Hans said as the trio walked through the busy streets. Beside Hans, Adelyn laughed.

"Probably a few already since we took that crazy woman down," she said. "The Army of Nomos has a lot of talent after all, and the IYC is now starting to supply them."

"I wish I could ask the Empress for funds," the Viceroy sighed beside Adelyn. "Right now, I'm just financing this with debt from the remaining banks of Nomos. I hate to say it, but once this battle is over, we'll be extremely indebted to the banks and the IYC."

The IYC's power will certainly be expanded because of this. Ygeia is rapidly becoming the new center of the Empire's resistance to these demons, mainly because it's the IYC that supplies the money and weapons.

On the other hand, the other Principalities were still sluggish as usual, and the Empress still seemed to be refusing a centralized organization. All the efforts they were essentially seeing here were organized at the local level. It was certainly admirable, but more could be done.

"In your estimates, how long will it take before Nomos is forced into bankruptcy?" Hans curiously asked. "I'm wondering, because we are burning through a lot of money to fight, after all."

The Viceroy visibly deflated.

"I hope…we're not bankrupt in six months," she said. "I don't want to think about that possibility though. Nomos will struggle to recover if it does happen because the banks that lent money to us won't lend again in the future unless I fix our reputation."

"Obviously," Hans said. "But then again, aren't they doing emergency lending at least? We're at war, obviously, and things get broken more easily. I hope they reduce the interest rates at least."

"The banks I take money from aren't so usurious," she defensively said. "But regardless, it's not just about us going bankrupt too. After all, what about those banks? If they don't get paid, their business collapses. What happens then to the merchants and businesses relying on them?"

"I see," Hans nodded. "Six months, huh? What if we started buying better equipment for your troops?"

"Unrealistic. The six-month figure is when the debt becomes impossible to repay," she huffed. "Even if we win in a month, we'll still be buried in debt. So, I hope we can mop things up quicker. Nomos can contribute a lot to this war after all. I swear, I'll even get new production sites for weapons set up like in Ygeia if we win."

Ahead of them, someone appeared. Surrounded by two officers, they seemed to be in an equally deep discussion as they checked and looked at the work being done by the grunts in the fortress. In the middle was none other than General Caronte Ercole, the Virtus nobleman who led the Army of Nomos.

I hadn't met him since we set out. Hans smiled. Guess I can at least ask him directly now about updates.

"General Ercole!" Hans called out, walking faster straight at the trio. Behind him, Adelyn and Emilia tried to catch up, as General Ercole stopped. "How's the progress of the operation?"

"It's going well," the man's deep voice said. He looked at Emilia briefly, before slightly bowing respectfully. "Your Excellency, I congratulate you all for dispatching the wicked Calamity of Recklessness. It is good news for all mankind."

"Thank you, General," Emilia replied with a smile. "Though, the work done to eliminate the Calamity of Recklessness was mostly done by these two. I believe even Valeria did more than me—"

"Stop being so humble," Adelyn said with a tiny pout. "I swear, you did a lot of heavy lifting too?"

"Did I?"

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"Yep!"

Hans turned back to General Ercole, ignoring the two as they began praising each other on the busy street.

"So what's the current kill count?" Hans asked. The general laughed, amused.

"The latest number I received was four," General Ercole said. "But that was eight hours ago. My regiments have already recorded eight engagements in the past few hours."

"So they're constantly fleeing our forces?"

"Indeed. The bastards are now becoming easier to manage in front-to-front combat," General Ercole said. "Our improved drills and tactics meant that our artillery and musketeers were being utilized better. Unfortunately, to kill a demon when it's retreating is a harder business to do when all you have is light cavalry. Not to mention, some demons are almost impossible to kill without a powerful battlemage."

"As I had expected," Hans nodded. "But at least we're making progress. Just hold on for a few more days, or perhaps a week, then we'll rejoin the battle, and target the demons that are particularly hard to clean up."

"I see then…" General Ercole nodded.

"Also, be more cautious," Hans warned. "A calamity can strike at any moment. Should a humanoid demon that is way too capable appear, you should order your men to immediately retreat and not engage."

"I already have that as a policy since this demon business began. Though, I suppose I loosened it up lately," he sighed. "This will slow down our liberation attempts…"

"It is what it is," Hans said. "But better to make sure that we preserve our forces than to lose many men in a foolish battle."

+++

"There is news across the front sire," a messenger bowed as he entered the meeting room. "One of our lower level units, the 88th Holy Nomos Regiment reported that they made contact with the so-called 'Calamity of Injustice' south of Avencia. They have stopped their advance and are moving around the area instead."

"Is that so?" General Ercole replied, turning to Hans and Adelyn, both of them a bit surprised by the news. "Well, it would appear that we have a complication immediately."

"...Damn it," Hans said. "We haven't even recovered from the previous battle yet."

"The creature hasn't attacked us yet though," the messenger said. "Instead, it would appear that he gave a letter to the platoon that made contact with them. They reported that he wore a black suit…different from the previous reports."

"He makes himself appear more human," General Ercole explained. "I expected that already. That old man is no joke. He seems to be one of the more…'level-headed' ones, but I didn't expect he'd attempt to talk to us."

"The letter is right here, sire," the messenger said, handing it to the general. "We already checked if there's magic or curses on it. There is nothing. It appears to be but a simple letter."

"Right then, carry on, Lieutenant," the general ordered. The messenger saluted and left the room before he turned to Adelyn and Hans. Hans immediately crossed his arms.

"This is…quite a new thing," Hans said, already quite uneasy at this development. "Why would he do this?"

"That's what we're going to find out," Adelyn said, her voice growing low. "We need to fast-track the 1st Anti-Demon Unit. Maybe we won't even recover from the last battle if this problem escalates."

"It's to be expected," Hans said. "Sometimes, you just have to go to battle after being depleted from a previous battle. We've seen that hundreds of times already."

Adelyn's face darkened, remembering the constant battles they fought in Terra, and how units were usually understrength and undermanned due to constant casualties. Sometimes, existing units didn't even get replacements at times, and were simply replaced by newly-raised brigades and battalions.

The general took his seat, shuffling and opening the letter. He gave it a brief read, his eyes remaining neutral as Adelyn and Hans stood silently in front of his office table. When the general was done, he spoke.

"He wants to parley," the general said. "Give up the 'Golden Angel', and he'll vacate Nomos, alongside all demons active in the principality."

The general frowned.

"Seems like a high price to stop the fighting here."

Hans felt dread shooting up his core. He turned to Adelyn slowly, as she took a step back.

"Me?" Adelyn meekly asked.

"Well, who else has that nickname?" General Ercole said. "It's not happening though. Only a fool would give up a powerful angel in exchange for vague promises of withdrawal."

"...Still," Adelyn placed her hand on her chest, a bit shocked. "It's a bit strange that he's eyeing me."

"I wouldn't want some dipshit to have a personal vendetta against me either," Hans said, crossing his arms. "What's the letter like?"

"He seems to give a great sense of contempt to Captain Wittenstein," the general answered, closing the letter and stowing it beneath his desk. "He says it is only a form of justice to eliminate her for her crimes."

"Crimes?!" Adelyn turned red-faced. "I'm not the one killing people left and right. I swear, that asshole's just asking for it now. I swear, why are all these calamities so hypocritical?"

"They're crazies, mad men and women, and besides," Hans sighed. "You kill a lot of demons. You're the face of our team, a group of demon hunters."

"It's still so arrogant that this Sir Injustice or whoever he is thinks we would agree with him," Adelyn said, growing more and more indignant. It seemed that being targeted personally triggered her a bit. "What does he think we are, clowns? This is their first message to us. It's so…ludicrous."

"The bastard is overconfident," Hans said. "We'll see how he'll fare in battle. That's all we can do now."

"I'll try to hold back my forces into a defensive posture until we figure out a course of action against the Calamity of Injustice," the general declared. "That should be our measures for now."

"Right—" Hans said, before being cut.

Suddenly, someone barged in, the door opening with force. From outside, Emilia went in, somewhat panting. She seemed to have run to the general's temporary office in great haste.

"Everyone!" she shouted after recomposing herself. "I've heard that the Calamity of Injustice is seeking to parlay. Is that true?"

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