+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

"General Florian Kohler, at your service," the old man grinned as he looked at Adelyn and Hans. "At last, I finally meet the two of you."

"General…Kohler…?" Adelyn awkwardly asked.

Meanwhile, Hans stopped his work on Adelyn's turret, closing the hatch where he was finagling with her bustle rack and autocannon. Still holding a wench in his hand, he looked down at the officer below them.

"Ah, don't worry, the two of you," the officer held a calm smile as he removed his hat. "Quite frankly, I'm still not used to being in command of such a large unit or being a general. From commanding just the 8th Holy Ygeia Regiment to this…entire corps, it has been quite a journey. Nonetheless, just like the two of you, I still see myself as a junior officer."

"Uhuh…?"

"Now, I presume Captain Strobel told the two of you about me?"

Hans finally spoke up.

"I remember you. You sent us a letter back during…Rousselot?"

"Indeed! I consider Ebert as a good colleague of mine, a junior, you could say, considering we both went to the same academy in the old days," the general laughed a bit. "Anyhow, that letter ended up being useless, because by the time I prepared my forces to march out, you two already took care of the problem."

"...Well, glad to see you then," Hans nodded. "What's your deal? This is the furthest area to our controlled zone. It's not that secure, you know?"

"Yet you two are conducting maintenance on your 'vehicles'?"

"Well…erm," Adelyn coughed. "I had a malfunction earlier with my autoloader. Lieutenant Hoffman over here decided to fix it."

"Yeah, I'm the designated maintenance guy," Hans confirmed with a grunt, jumping down Adelyn's mech.

"I see…" the general smiled. "Now that we are acquainted, I believe we have much to talk about. The 1st Ygeian Expeditionary Corps after all needs to learn how to operate with you two around."

"Quite frankly, based on the reports you gave us, it seems to us that you folks already do just fine," Hans leaned his back on Adelyn's mech. "At this point, it seems that you people are using the same tactics our recommendations gave you. So there's not much insight I can add. Not unless battlefield conditions change."

"Hmm…indeed. But still, to have actual metal cavalry," the officer looked at Adelyn's mech, admiring it with pride. "This is a dream come true. Just being able to gaze at it, I can tell, it's a fearsome tool."

"You look like you'd like one yourself, general," Adelyn chuckled.

"I sure would. While I doubt I would see one produced in these lands in my lifetime, their existence heralds good fortune in the future indeed."

"I'm not too sure about that," Hans laughed. "Anyhow, is there really anything important, sir?"

"You two are quite the blunt soldiers, eh? All business, no chatter? Fine."

The general gestured for a soldier behind him, an aide, to come close, handing him a rolled parchment. He unfurled it and showed it to Adelyn, who looked at it curiously.

"You two, I have here one of the best maps of the lands north of us. Now, since the rest of my corps are stuck here waiting for supplies, possibly for a day or two, I need you two to conduct reconnaissance on these marked towns and villages."

"...That's a lot," Adelyn mumbled, while Hans walked close to take a look himself.

"You two will be accompanied closely by our elite cavalrymen. I believe Captain Strobel is sending one of his squadrons as well, just to keep you safe in case of trouble."

"I…see."

"I don't want to risk you two, but at the same time, we need an idea about the areas we'll march on. I intend to use our land dragons to speed through this region, and get to the nearest city over here—Rotgart."

"...Rotgart," Adelyn narrowed her eyes. "It seems to be marked like a fortress."

"Indeed. It's a fortress city. Held by the Asfaleian Imperial Army just a month ago as a bulwark and operating base for their forces in this area. Unfortunately, as you can see, this place has been overrun, so there's a chance Rotgart is the same."

"..."

"But, if we can blast through this region and reach it, and with luck, reach it intact, we'll finally link up with Asfaleian forces and commence the joint operation we wanted, to hunt Injustice."

"...I see," Adelyn nodded, stepping back a bit. General Kohler folded the map, before handing it to her. "We'll do our best then."

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Good luck. The cavalry should be ready by tomorrow morning. I'll be granting you two full flexibility and freedom of mobility for this mission. As for the cavalry, don't go too fast that they cannot keep up with you. That's all I'll ask for."

"We will do just that then."

The general stepped back with a single, slow nod, before placing his hat back.

"I'll be awaiting your report. Good luck and stay safe out there."

+++

March 27, 1539 CE

"Another abandoned town."

"Seems like it."

"Yeah. No signs of actual fighting. Just signs of panicked chaos. Seems to be common the further north we go."

Hans' mech scanned the buildings in the town ahead of them with silent curiosity, while Adelyn's mech drove ahead of him on the road.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"Taking a closer look."

"Wait, I'm the one who should be at the front!"

"Sure, you do you."

As she giggled, Hans protectively rushed ahead of her, his mech practically galloping to overtake her. Then, when Hans was at the front, he charged forward, entering the abandoned town.

It reminded him again of Ygeia and Nomos during their worst times, when Hans and Adelyn would scout out ahead of mankind's military formations to check regions that once teemed with life, only to be reduced into nothing.

This place was no different.

Thankfully, it didn't seem that the demons who passed through these areas attacked the empty towns. It was quite a strange behavior to Hans' mind. That they would willingly destroy so many settlements even if there was no strategic benefit for it outside of exterminating humans there.

Yet, they didn't extend that same destructiveness when it came to abandoned towns and cities. Perhaps, these cruel creatures really just had a sick mind, that they'd preserve all of their strength and magic only to attack humans and nothing more.

Horrifying.

"It's all clear, I guess."

"Then we shall advance further."

"Copy that."

The two continued onward, leaving the town, and going straight into the countryside. Behind them, the smoke plumes of the cavalry units trailing behind them could be seen.

At this point, the Anti-Demon Brigades had been reorganized so deeply that even their mere cavalry had been improved to maximum capabilities. Apparently, some nuthead in the IYC decided to create combat wands with runic enchantments that only needed a user's magical power to fire a preset spell.

That was now the mainstay used by these Anti-Demon Brigade's cavalrymen. It was practically a rapid-firing pistol fueled by AP instead of gunpowder. Well, the last time they saw it in action, it fired beams of red magic lights, so it was quite literally more of a laser to Hans' imagination, but still.

It gave him…some comfort. These guys were truly improved from previous musket-wielding cavalrymen which the 1st Anti-Demon Unit sported. It was as if all the tactics and equipment of Adelyn's or, well, Captain Strobel's experimental unit had been noted by the IYC and improved for the sole obsession of killing demons.

At this point, that damned company must be running this at such massive losses that Hans already realized their plans. Once this war was over, they'd definitely flex those muscles with the maximum influence they could wield against the Empire.

In any case, this made operations easier in Hans' mind. Cavalry were extremely mobile, and they were the main true killers of demons. While artillery was powerful and good, and dug-in musketeers were capable of holding demons, those two pieces on the battlefield were too stationary for good to chase and kill demons.

Behind him, even as they cruised in the countryside at around twenty to thirty kilometers per hour, while the cavalry obviously lagged, they could keep up better.

Giving them easy-to-use, mass-produced wands with preset attack enchantments was such a game changer that it must be the reason that General Kohler managed to stop multiple lesser demons alone.

Mobility, mobility, and mobility…ah, I get it now.

"Heh…I didn't know they'd read that one and take it seriously," Hans suddenly mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Come on. Spill. You don't just absentmindedly say stuff like that for no reason."

"Fine…I just…well, one of the previous reports we submitted to the Imperial Army and the IYC after we killed Injustice, I kinda left four final words in the document."

"What?"

"Mobility, mobility, and mobility."

"...Uh…what?"

"I'm just surprised that such a shady corporation listens to its grunts."

"Oh. Well, they do seem to listen to me a lot when I demand something too, hehe."

As they went deeper north, Adelyn began to finish checking out all their targets on the map. They took a brief break by noon to both eat and converse with the cavalry squadrons that barely managed to limp near them.

It seemed that, as far as Hans' assessments went, the path forward was clear for the rest of the Army.

Still, they stayed in the middle of one of the abandoned towns, planning to finish scouting the last three villages ahead of them. When Hans was done eating, the two boarded their mechs again, and rode out, while the cavalrymen decided to stay behind.

It was a short, silent journey. Once this was done, they could ride back to their defensive positions, and relax. Hans looked forward to that, at least, until…

"Stop," Hans ordered, his voice turning cold. "...We are headed to a trap."

"What?"

"I got visual."

Hans eyed the two figures ahead of them. It was those two again, the two main henchmen of Injustice. Both the Vanus and Virtus demons stared at the two with their swords out.

I know this. Injustice must be nearby then, and they might be trying to bait us.

"...It's those two again!"

"I know," Hans pulled his mech back a bit. "Alert the cavalry to form defensive formations. We'll try to conduct a fighting retreat!"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.