+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

Astelia City

July 22, 1539 CE

"I therefore propose that we capture a sentient, humanoid demon," Hans declared to his audience. "That…that will help us confirm what the Empress is saying."

"Please," Emilia suddenly stood up. The Viceroy seemed angered. "We've been arguing about this for days already. Haven't we talked already with the troops Her Majesty bought here? It's obvious that she is telling the truth."

"But we cannot, respectfully, sacrifice an entire army corps for unsubstantiated reports," Hans said. "I think, with the demons attempting to poke our defenses, it would be prudent to attempt to capture one of them and place them under heavy interrogation."

"And how do you plan to do this?" General Kohler asked from the side of the meeting room, arms crossed. "They're extremely violent, destructive, and they are clearly insane people."

"As of now, amongst us, is the Imperial Mage Corps, the Royal Guard, the Empress, the Lady Viceroy, alongside the Angel of Purity and Justice, and of course, the entire Ygeian Expeditionary Force," Hans smiled, those titles clearly setting well in his audience.

He deliberately refused to use their names for a reason, but instead, their titles. He wanted to give them confidence in the plan they were hatching. Capturing a demon, restraining it, and what else was something so ridiculously impossible…

If they were in this position earlier. Now, however, they had three angels of virtue on their side. Best of all, they had a lot of very powerful people in the room like Lady Emilia and Miss Valeria, and Hans even glanced at the Empress' personal knight, Sir Marco.

With so many Virtus folks with powerful magic and physical strength here, there truly weren't a lot of excuses as to why they wouldn't be able to capture a humanoid lesser demon, much less be endangered by it.

"My point is, we have a lot of anti-demon capable assets and personnel in our midst," Hans said. "Therefore, we have to attempt to learn a little bit more about our enemy. As of now, all we know is they want to kill us, their origin is negative human emotions, and that the pope somehow is responsible for all of this."

Hans then bashed his hand on the blackboard he was using for his presentation.

"Now, with that in mind, we have to do this. We need to learn if Hubris is truly planning to sacrifice millions of people just to 'achieve godhood'. We also need to learn how many calamities are active, how many of them are in proximity to the Imperial Capital, and…"

"You want to learn enough before greenlighting this expedition?" Elisa asked, blankly.

Adelyn sighed on the side. She seemed to have remained silent so far, but she stood up, standing side-by-side with Hans.

"I know my partner is quite audacious to ask this of you, but I agree to this," Adelyn declared. "If we have to capture a lesser demon, then I'll try my best."

"Quite frankly, expecting that a lesser demon will talk much less coherently is wild," Jonas laughed on the side, the IYC mercenary eyeing the blackboard with a lazy smile. "But, I see the merits of this."

"If we can't even do this task, then do we even stand a chance at getting to the Imperial Capital?" Hans asked, turning directly to the Empress.

The woman sat in her seat silently, clearly mulling over her thoughts about Hans' proposal. He hoped she would accept it, as this was the best compromise Hans could come up with for the last few days.

Truthfully, by now, after they spent hours interviewing and talking with the men from the east who came from the Empress' detachment, Hans was getting more and more worried.

Even General Kohler, who remained steely and impassive at the revelations being given by these men, was cracking. The fact that he was listening right now to Hans' proposal indicated that quite clearly.

Hans knew that his buddies in the Wide Front Plan would go along with the Spearhead Plan if the situation truly required it. It wasn't like they were cowards, they were merely cautious. Six hundred miles of travel in unknown territory was no joke, they'd be truly gambling everything they worked for and their lives badly in that case.

Hans wasn't that disturbed by it though. He knew, no matter what, that if they charged forward and things went very badly wrong, he'd sacrifice himself, again and again until they found the right answer to victory.

But still…

Dying sucked, that was something Hans accepted. Even after steeling himself from fear, even after locking his heart so that he wouldn't break should he die painfully again, forced to restart and do everything over and over, he knew it sucked.

Each day he spent working with Adelyn, receiving her care and affection, made Hans realize just how much he wanted to live. But if he had to die to make sure they win…

I'll do it.

But only if they had a reasonable chance.

He professed to himself, this time around, he'd learn how to balance his mind that way.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"Look," the Empress spoke at last. "How are you sure that this little side quest isn't going to take too much time off the main mission that we have?"

"Nothing. We might have to cycle through a lot of demons until we get to the right one, but at the very least, I wish you'll cooperate with us for two weeks to do this," Hans said. "In the meantime, we've been ordering supplies and munitions in bulk from the Imperial Ygeian Company. By week three, we should have enough supplies to do whatever should your warnings be confirmed."

"We can just act now, Your Majesty," Sir Marco spoke to Elisa's ears, clearly urging her. "You're their Empress. You have to assert your authority!"

But, she held a hand up, causing her knight to retreat. Clearing her throat, she stood up.

"Alright. Let's see the details of your plan then. I think this compromise is worth it."

+++

"Working hard, I see?"

"Yep. I realize, I'm not going to be caught in the open with my pants down."

Hans laughed a bit as he lowered his hands, looking down at the fresh batch of ammunition for his Ruger and MS22 SMG produced by the Peacemaker's autofabricators.

He had been using his skill, [ACT: DECEITFUL SABOTAGE II] to enchant multiple magazines worth of his ammunition. He divided his magazines between those that caused [TARGETED DRAINING] and those that caused [TARGETED BLINDNESS], because both had their specific uses.

He once actually tried using this skill on a 90mm MPAT round he gingerly pulled out of his bustle rack, thinking that maybe they would work there, but unfortunately, it didn't budge. It seemed that at the moment, he remained unable to change his main gun's basic munitions regardless of what he did.

Which was why he would be reliant on his small arms, both his powerful double coaxials, and of course, these things.

Adelyn leaned closely to Hans, before grabbing one of the magazines to inspect it.

"H-hey," Hans called out. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing, just checking," she looked at the bullets inside, which had a subtle purplish glow on them. A cheeky grin appeared on her face. "Say, are these the 'Targeted Draining' and 'Targeted Blindness' enchantments you can create with your skill?"

"Yeah…the one you're holding is enchanted with 'Targeted Draining'. Everything on that pile is."

"You're making more of that type than 'Targeted Blindness', huh?"

"Well, fighting demons is a question of attrition. While causing blindness is cool, realistically, draining their AP both by the shadow magic enchantments here acting as a debuff, plus the damage I can place using my skill 'One Shot, One Kill', I can kill them faster."

"I see…"

Adelyn watched as Hans took one of the magazines, and plopped it straight into his submachine gun. Hans then aimed it at a wooden target practice piece four hundred meters away in the firing range. He made sure to handle his gun properly, but…

"To be honest," Hans awkwardly spoke up. "I'm feeling rusty at using small arms lately."

"Same. I think I'd rely on my magic more if I get in trouble without my mech."

"That's fair. You have powerful magic at this point anyway, Angel of Justice."

As Adelyn pouted after Hans used that annoying title on her again, Hans let loose with his gun. Quick three-fire bursts of bullets came out of his gun, most of them hitting the distant wooden target practice piece, but none of them hitting the bullseye in the center.

When his magazine finally turned empty, a disappointed sigh came from Hans.

"I remember the days when I could hit that easily," Hans said.

Adelyn chuckled. "To be fair, most of your marksmanship still survived in mech piloting."

"Do you still have your gun?"

"Of course I do. Same with my pistol. Hey, did you just imply that I'd somehow lose them?"

"Who knows, with all those angelic powers you have now, especially that golden ray light beam thing you did back then, you might not need it anymore."

"Hey. I literally get myself knocked down cold when I try using that without fully manifesting my ideal."

Hans took a magazine with bullets that wasn't enchanted, at least, to save AP this time.

He took aim again.

"Then give me your gun," Hans said. "Considering the nature of our next operation, we might have to interact with a demon on foot."

"Yeah, that's honestly what I'm worried about."

"It's not a big problem!" a cheery, bubbly voice interrupted from behind. It was Alizée, one of her fists proudly planted on her left chest. "I already know how to fight even the most powerful demons one-to-one, without your fancy mechs, so I—!"

"Cart her off, please," Hans ordered Adelyn, who decided to pinch Alizée's cheek instead. "No way you're coming anywhere close to this side operation. You have homework."

"But I'm just taking temporary classes!" Alizée whined. Recently, in Astelia, she had joined one of the magic academies to study. Unfortunately, because she was technically already quite powerful, and the fact that she was quite sorely needed to fight with them and move at times, the arrangement was special.

Essentially, she'd get the finest teachers privately tutoring her so that she could study rapidly, and she had an accelerated curriculum to help her. That meant, should they leave soon, she'd learn a lot while remaining flexible. It was quite helpful.

"But, we're not going to the big operation yet," Hans chastised. "That means, you have to maximize your school time while we're still based in Astelia."

"Mwah, that's not fair," Adelyn pinched Alizée's cheeks again.

"What a naughty girl you are," Adelyn said. "Remember, your education is quite expensive, so you should cherish and prioritize it."

"But, what if you two get hurt without me?"

"Come on, the last time you formally fought was during the battle against your grandma," Hans said.

"But that's why I'm worried. What if you guys get into that situation again? Then you'll need me!"

"Look, again, we're not going on the big expedition yet. It's fine," Hans said, looking at Adelyn. "Besides, that's why I asked Adelyn about giving me her gun. I think in this mission, should things go awry, my ability might be useful for her."

Adelyn's eyes widened, as she let go of Alizée.

"So you want to enchant my small arms' bullets too?"

"Of course," Hans grinned. "I have accumulated so much AP that I don't know what to do with it, so why not?"

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.