+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

La Veridad City

February 28, 1539 CE

It had been weeks since they returned to Nomos' provisional capital—La Veridad.

At this point, the situation in Nomos was finally improving. While the destruction of Injustice and his forces wasn't on the table, they still, regardless, forced them out into a retreat from the principality itself.

While it would likely take months before true initial recovery could begin, and decades before Nomos truly escaped the devastation caused by the demonic infestation that plagued it, at the moment, things were looking up.

Not so much in the formerly collapsed areas of course. Those places still suffered heavily, and quite frankly, people mostly simply fled those areas under the protection of the Imperial Army.

It was here, in Northwestern Nomos, the former strongholds of the principality that held out before Adelyn and Hans arrived, where things began to become a bit more decent. As Hans walked through the streets, all while holding Alizée's hand, he could see how much better things were.

People walked around with smiles on their faces. As if the distant war had finally escaped. Merchants and businessmen lined the streets with their stalls, selling food and wares at lowered prices. It was surprising considering winter just ended, and it was only the harvesting season.

But apparently, Ygeia up north did well last year enough that the IYC could truly resume their exports, and they had enough winter storage stockpiles to send down south.

"Sir Hans!" Alizée called out on the side, a bright smile gracing her childish face. "Can I buy those too?"

Hans turned to where she was pointing. It was a bookstore. Not just any bookstore, it seemed to be a bookstore for mages.

"Oh, come on," Hans groaned. "You still have so many 'grimoires' with you."

"Uhuh, not really. I already read through all of them."

"But I never saw you even practicing all those spells."

"I don't need to. I only try to learn the cool ones and the foundations. Otherwise, I want to read more just to know more."

Hans sighed, then smiled a bit. He was carrying a good amount of money today anyway. Quite frankly, at this point, he and Adelyn were already rolling with so much money they weren't exactly sure what to spend it on.

Mostly, they just spent it at this point on procuring extra critical supplies for themselves and the 1st Anti-Demon Unit. But it never seemed to drain them much either.

So….

"Alright. Let's go check in. How many books do you want to buy?"

"Four!"

"Four?"

"Y-yea…" she turned a bit sheepish. "I also want to buy two storybooks on top of the grimoires."

"Is that so?"

"Yep!"

"You're really shaping up to be the ultimate bookworm. Well, whatever. That's very good anyway."

Hans gave her a head pat, and Alizée quickly leaned close to him, mumbling her approval for it. Cute. Taking her hand again, he dragged her gently with him to the store.

"Let's go then."

+++

"That'll be eight Imperial Marks sire," the old man on the counter said as he gave Hans the bundle of books that Alizée chose. Hans nodded, giving the man the bills, while Alizée's eyes shone with delight.

"Hah…thank you, Sir Hans!"

"Come on, it's nothing," Hans laughed, and even the shopkeeper grinned a bit.

"A bright child, eh?"

"Huh?"

He looked up at the old man, who looked at Alizée curiously.

"She seems like the kind of girl who'll grow up as a great mage," the shopkeeper said. "She picked the right books for her age."

"I honestly don't know much about mages or how they do things…"

"She picked books that help her foundations today. The first book was mostly about advanced, yet still basic techniques. The second one is more like a rulebook for what to do and what not to do."

"...I thought she was just grabbing books that have cool spells in them."

"Well, that goes into the two other books she took. Both are novels, but they are both about the adventures of two different mages," the old man gave a hearty laugh. "Yeah, that makes sense. She seems fond of magic after all."

Hans looked down at Alizée. Ever since Ygeia, she rarely served as the 'Angel of Purity', even when she could usually summon her ideal during times of trouble. He liked that even when this girl insisted on staying with them, she accepted to remain a mere backup.

Still, it was clear she was ambitious. She may act today as a mere child spectating two warriors, but with how she studied, Hans was starting to realize that she might be doing this to learn more and more.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

One day…her future would be so bright. Even if he didn't want to imagine her doing heroic crap and dying to it, it wasn't something he'd want to hold back.

The role of adults is to let children dream—until that dream faces reality.

...To let her dream. He wished she could do it instead for more peaceful things.

"I… want to send her one day to a good school once we're settled," Hans said, absentmindedly.

"Then you need to go to the Imperial Capital," the shopkeeper said. "A bright child like her should study there. One day."

"...It's a far place."

"And there's a lot of trouble between you and that place," the shopkeeper looked back. "Anyhow, thanks for buying from this store. I wish to see you again, Grey Knight."

+++

I hate that nickname.

It was the pinnacle of embarrassment after all. Everyone seemed to just like calling him that because of his grey-ish mech. Even to this day, he wished nothing more than to just stay low, but, the Golden Angel and the Grey Knight were something known everywhere already.

It was pointless, but he always kept coming back to that want. To keep himself out of the big picture. But, he supposed, he chose this already. To fight. Strange how he, a nobody from a different world, would do so much for this one.

Was it because of Adelyn?

Was it because of Alizée?

Was it because of the many friends he made here?

Or was it out of duty to this world?

He watched as Alizée peacefully read her book while munching on biscuits on the balcony. Hans on the other hand was drafting another map, filled with drawings of military formations and whatnot, placed on a theoretical battlefield.

He wasn't exactly a mage. Outside of watching their flashy effects, or using his skills, Hans knew nothing about using it. He was a purebred military man—a soldier specialized at using tactics and mundane or at least, magically enhanced weaponry to win the war.

The map he developed was one of those. He and Captain Strobel, alongside Captain Weibel, were already developing and training the 1st Anti-Demon Unit with refined new tactics. Rapid entrenchment, mobile warfare, and the doctrine of creating ad hoc kill zones were the things he was trying to do.

It was like magic, in a way. Like the one that Adelyn and Alizée studied. He continued working silently, his mind drifting back to the reason that he was doing this. Again, he glanced at Alizée as she finally decided to test a spell that created flowers on the table.

He watched as a bubbly smile appeared when one of them succeeded, before being replaced by a pout when the next one grew and blackened.

…Why am I even asking this question?

His nickname, the Grey Knight, told it all. He may not be as popular as the heroes that were the Angel of Purity, or the Golden Angel—not that he wanted that, and he wasn't exactly the strongest of the team they had.

But, he, the Grey Knight, always fought behind them in the most effective way possible. He kept the team going, by feeding them the right moves based on what he learned in his deaths. And if he didn't have that, he had this.

He wrapped his map, done with it. Satisfied, he looked at Alizée.

"Hey, I'm just going outside to meet up with Ebert."

"Hmph…military exercises again?"

He promised her that he was going to help her out today by practicing outside of the city. But…

"Duty calls," Hans laughed a bit. "We'll try tomorrow. I did buy you that already."

"...I can't bother Lady Adelyn…so I'll be stuck here again."

"Yeah…"

"It's fine," Alizée perked up, walking to Hans. She hugged him on the waist. "Please bring me some brownies later, okay?"

He patted her hair.

"Sure. I will."

Exiting the room he used in this fancy inn, Hans nodded to himself. Indeed, that was right. To fight against demons, this reason was enough. So many people and children like her were having their lives and futures robbed, all because of them.

Chief of those right now, was Injustice. He must now be ravaging Asfaleia, and thus, he stood in Hans' way to get some good education for Alizée. Not to mention, his curses and conditions for lifting it placed pressure on Adelyn.

Therefore…

+++

Southeastern Ygeia

March 19, 1539 CE

He'd meet the bastard head-on.

The days in La Veridad sure passed fast. The plan to subjugate Injustice changed a lot since he proposed his ideas to General Ercole back in February, after Venido.

By now, the reports had been clear. Asfaleia was struggling—they needed reinforcements. Worst of all, the situation with those cursed people in Nomos was getting bad.

Healer mages were now so overwhelmed as death rates rose, that even they were penning letters to Adelyn to potentially consider 'taking Injustice's terms'.

After all, it was clear that only when the predator stopped feeding on his prey would the curse end.

But that wouldn't be acceptable. Not to Hans. Not to the 1st Anti-Demon Unit. Not even to the goddess-damned IYC, their executives fuming at the idea of letting their best 'weapon' go.

Now, therefore, they were here. Back at Ygeia.

"These demons appear to be trying to use this area to infiltrate south into Nomos," Captain Strobel explained as he looked at the map on a table. "Four demons were recently spotted. We suspect they'll move through the Pratean Valley over here in a day or two. Our goal is to stop them."

Stabbing a dagger on the Pratean Valley in the map, the leader of the 4th Holy Ygeia Regiment made his point clear. With crossed arms, he looked straight at Hans.

"So? What's your plan?"

"Hmm…I wish I farmed more XP and AP for this," was Hans' dry response.

Adelyn quickly hit him on the side, annoyed.

"Sorry, sorry," he sighed. "But, anyway, I think me and Adelyn will remain in a support role. The rest of you will position yourself in dug-in ambush positions in the valley."

"...We can probably fire on them from the mountains and hills, yes," Adelyn said.

"But not too much. I'm not keen on wasting a lot of my AP yet," Hans said. "Besides, after all those exercises, we ought to use this as a test for the 1st Anti-Demon Unit."

"I already know where to position my battlemages," Captain Weibel boredly said as he snacked on a bunch of peanuts placed on a brown, folded paper. "I'll just adjust it based on this guy's plans."

Everyone shot their looks back at Captain Weibel, who merely groaned.

"Fine. I have an idea of where to place the artillery already," he said, shrugging. "Now, all that's left then is to march there and see how it goes."

"Right." Hans nodded, satisfied. He turned to Emilia and Valeria, the two of them tagging along even when Nomos was mostly cleared. The most surprising one was Emilia, the Viceroy. So far, her conviction of those cursed was so extreme, that she delegated emergency rule to General Ercole in the meantime. "Hey, are we sure about this?"

"Yes. I scouted them myself last night," Emilia breathed out. "It's assured."

"...I see," Hans nodded. "Hunting Injustice sure is tricky, but I think, after nearly a month of preparations, that we can pull this off. Let's put fear in these soulless bastards' hearts."

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