+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

  Near La Veridad City

  December 8, 1538 CE

  “Staggered fire. Let’s hit those bastards,” Hans declared. Captain Strobel gave a gesture to the man holding the signal flags beside them. Meanwhile, Hans took his binoculars to watch the distant targets ahead of them. They were nearly two kilometers away. And he wanted to see how well the mage operators of the artillery batteries would perform.

  One by one, each gun on the field opened fire. First was the so-called “A Battery”, now fully reformed into eight guns. Each of their shots had a slight white glow, the cannonballs flying faster and straighter than normal. It was the work of wind-based stabilization spells placed on the cannonballs.

  In the distance were various human-sized straw targets. Hans watched as the first shot struck the first straw targets. Then another. Then another. One by one, each gun of A Battery finished their shots. Until there were only four straw structures left in the field.

  Hans lowered his binoculars.

  “That’s a bit of a disappointing performance,” he said. “They need to work on that.”

  “To be fair, that’s a fairly large distance. Mundane artillerymen wouldn’t even be able to hit a single one of those targets. It’s practically impossible when unaided by magic,” Captain Strobel explained, frowning. “I doubt there’s much we can do…”

  “No doubt. A fifty-percent hit rate can always be improved, Captain,” Hans shook his head. “We’re going to be drilling the ass out of A Battery until they reach eighty percent at least. Anything less is unacceptable. Remember, the targets we’d be dealing with will be further. And they’ll be mobile.”

  “I understand,” Captain Strobel nodded. “But…we’ll burn through a lot of gunpowder and cannonballs.”

  “Yeah? And it’ll only take one failed battle for this entire unit to be wiped out. We have to be at our best. In fact, I changed my mind. We need ninety percent.”

  Captain Strobel could only chuckle at the increasing demands from Hans. But Hans held himself to these standards. While the mages were capable of great damage, the average battlemage simply dealt puny damage in comparison to a well-placed cannonball or shrapnel rain.

  It was why artillery existed after all. While there were powerful mages capable of dealing monstrous damage like the Viceroy, the average mage was…well, average. In this case, they had hired a lot of average mages to man their artillery. Because that was all they could get.

  Thus, I need them to reach at least a ninety-percent hit rate.

  He nodded at those training standards.

  I’ll even need to test them out with moving targets too. That’s very important as well.

  “Alright. Get B Battery up and running. I want them to open fire…now!” Hans ordered.

  The signal bearer raised a different flag. Immediately, as Hans raised his binoculars back on his eyes, the first cracks of artillery began. Like the first barrage, it was staggered as well. One by one, the targets were struck. Until the last gun fired its shot. Hans gave it a count. Only three managed to hit anything.

  “That’s an even worse hit rate,” Hans said. He shook his head. “Tell them to reload. And fix the straw targets. We’re redoing this.”

  “Aye, aye, Lieutenant Hoffman,” Captain Strobel chuckled. Soon, he gestured to his men to follow Hans’ orders. In the distance, riders began rushing to the destroyed staw targets. Hans watched from his binoculars as they fixed it one by one before they rode away.

  Within a minute, all guns of A and B batteries were ready again. Hans nodded, satisfied by the improvements from their artillerymen. They were certainly getting faster at the reloads at least.

  “Alright. On three,” Hans ordered. The flag bearer nodded as he awaited Hans’ command. “Signal A Battery. Staggered shots again. One. Two. Three.”

  Once again, the flag bearer raised a flag. The guns of A Battery opened fire again. One-by-one. Then, Hans counted the results. This time, it was six shots out of eight. He grinned.

  “That’s a quick improvement. Six to eight,” Hans announced.

  “Damn. They’re fast at adjusting, I suppose. Then again, the targets are stationary,” Captain Strobel said, crossing his arms. “B Battery next?”

  “Yeah. Again. On three. Same as the previous one. For B Battery. One. Two. Three. Fire!”

  The guns of B Battery opened fire again when the signal was given. It took only a dozen seconds before they were done. Then, with his binoculars, Hans checked the results once more. It was five to eight.

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  “Five to eight,” he shook his head as he looked back at Captain Strobel. “Well, they’re getting good. But improvements have to be made. We’ll be shifting the targets’ positioning. Then do this again. Then again. Then again.”

  “Alright. You said so,” Captain Strobel nodded. “You really are turning into a perfectionist.”

  +++

  Nomosian Countryside

  His mech advanced through the grasslands methodically. Each step of his legs was almost silent and predatory. He was now eyeing a group of hostile monsters that had threatened the recent shipments of munitions and weapons to the 1st Anti-Demon Unit.

  It was a horde of goblins. They were currently attacking what appeared to be a civilian convoy ahead of him. There were hundreds of them. Murdering. Fighting. Killing. The guards posted on the wagons at the road were now barely holding on. He could even see flashes of magic going out.

  But they were all dying. He estimated that in a minute or two, they would be wiped out. He had heard that these goblins were utterly barbarians. That they’d go as far as to rape and mutilate people. That wasn’t ever going to be acceptable to Hans. Especially when it was being done by a bunch of monsters that represented level progress for him.

  His speakers blared out.

  “Attention!” He shouted as he exposed his mech on the road. “This is Lieutenant Hans Hoffman of the 1st Anti-Demon Unit. Stand down, or you will be shot!”

  All of the goblins turned their eyes on him. Hans chuckled a bit. They probably didn’t even understand his words. After all, it was said that these primal monsters had no civilized instincts. He had never really heard how they speak amongst one another. He had always only burned and murdered them.

  Well, he had heard their screams many times. But to him, just like orcs, they were merely monsters that attacked mankind.

  Thus…

  He opened fire when they all began charging at him. All of his machine gun rounds were now enchanted. It was a part of his policy not to use mundane weaponry anymore. He even extended that policy to Adelyn, who had the job of enchanting at least two or three of her rounds daily.

  And the effects…it was brutal.

  The goblins charged at him like a distracted horde. But his gunfire began to cut them down like a defenseless horde. Each of his heavy machine gun rounds ripped and tore through their small bodies. Then, it ignited them. The ignition itself wasn’t actually normal.

  Hans once thought that it was weak against demons. But that was because they were demons. In this case, each time he hit a goblin, it almost seemed like half of their body ignited. And worse than that, the ignition was so hot that it almost seemed like their body would disintegrate into ash in mere seconds.

  Hans kept his gunfire tightly controlled to avoid friendly fire. But each burst that struck the goblins sometimes killed more than the amount of bullets that he sent. One goblin would be struck, but three would be ignited on fire in some instances. He pulled back a bit to give himself more time.

  Some of the goblins seemed to have magic. They began firing it at his mech. But it seemed that it was weak. All of the pulses of light that struck him barely even touched his armor. His armor was after all somewhat rated against small-arms and machine gun fire.

  That means they’re weaker than my armor.

  He pulled back a bit more. His two coaxials ran dry. Not to mention, it seemed that they were both overheated. Hans calmly initiated the barrel replacement mechanism and the automatic reload. He needed more ADI MG24. On the other hand, he had an MPAT round readied on his main gun.

  He aimed it directly at the center of the advancing horde. With one tap on his controls, the round was sent careening at them. The explosion almost caused the rest to collapse. Dozens must have died. And their entire charge turned into a confused one.

  They seemed terrified now.

  Hans made it worse when his double coaxials went back online. Immediately, he opened further fire on the bastards. Many groups of goblins had already begun falling back. Others straight-up routed and ran without their weapons. It was chaos.

  At last, Hans advanced. Now in the offensive, his monstrous mech further terrified the goblins. Many of the surviving ones began fleeing further. But Hans was faster. His mech moved rapidly, and cut down dozens after dozens of goblins. Hundreds of burning corpses filled the field.

  Many were even cut down by the razors of his legs. Even the stragglers were unable to escape. No matter which direction they ran, his turret would find them, and bullets would fly at them. Within just six minutes, the entire field was cleared out. His single mech stood triumphant.

  The enemies of mankind, on the other hand, lay burning on the soil.

  Heh…that was an easy way to raise things up.

  He turned his turret in the direction of the surviving people. They all seemed to stare at his lone mech emptily. Hans sighed. This land. There was truly so much suffering in it. These folks must be traders merely trying to live. Perhaps even a bunch of refugees trying to flee to the more stable Ygeia.

  Yet, even without demons, they could suffer at any moment.

  Hans popped his hatch open. Then, he climbed out of it. The civilians and the few surviving guards all looked up to him. He waved his hands a bit.

  “It’s fine now!” Hans shouted at them. “I cleared them all. Is there anything any of you need?”

  Silence.

  “...We have a lot of folks injured,” shouted one of them. “And our horses have been slain. We can’t…we can’t reach help quickly.”

  Hans nodded.

  “Then leave it up to me. Get your wagons in order. I’ll tow you all straight to La Veridad for medical aid. I’ll get you folks back to safety. All of you.”

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