[ARC VII: YOUR VISION]

  +++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

  La Veridad City

  November 28, 1538 CE

  La, la, la—la, la, la—la, la-la-la, la—la, la, la, la~

  Hans smiled as he heard that almost angelic lullaby. It was so nice to hear her voice. And his dreams were equally nice. It was almost as if he was on cloud nine. Just lying on something soft and—

  The lullaby suddenly changed into that of an eight-bit alarm tune. Hans opened his eyes. It was cold. Very cold in fact. Then he felt his nose turn itchy. Very itchy. So itchy that the first thing he did as he stood up was sneeze in the most embarrassing manner.

  “Ack! Damn it!” He looked around, shivering. The alarm from his military-issued phone continued blasting his eardrums. Thus, he picked it up and angrily turned it off. Then, he facepalmed. Which only further aggravated his runny nose. In seconds, he sneezed again.

  He immediately stood up and rushed straight into his wardrobe. He started to look for something decent that he could use. Going from drawer to drawer, he soon found a nice handkerchief that Adelyn bought him. He took a second to praise and thank his partner before he promptly let off his third sneeze of the morning.

  He sighed. Now the handkerchief was ruined.

  Well, that’s your purpose anyway.

  He tried massaging the bridge of his nose, as he composed himself. It was still itchy, but he tried controlling it. He even started taking controlled breaths to further reduce the itch. Within a minute or two of a few trial and error, he mostly managed to control it. Regardless, his nostrils were still quite wet and clogged.

  He would probably struggle to breathe if he moved too much today. He felt some itch in his throat. That made Hans even angrier.

  Oh, come on! What’s next, a headache and a full-blown cold?

  He fell back on his bed.

  “…”

  Wait, is that why I’m feeling cold today?

  He checked his neck.

  He was warm. Way too warm. He stood back up again, testing things a bit. Indeed, he was slightly dizzy.

  This is such a joke…

  He had so much work to do today. And then this. He wanted to curse his great luck big time. He sighed, going instead for the bag which he stashed on the side of his room. He went straight to his first-aid kit. Then, he opened it. He grabbed a few pills, specifically, for fever control and to perhaps unclog his nose.

  He took the bottle of clean water on his bedside table. Then, he chugged the pills together. At once, he stood up, a determined expression plastered on his face.

  Alright, Hans Hoffman, you’re not going to let a little crappy cold stop you today. He nodded to himself with a grin. You can do this!

  +++

  “You look like shit,” Adelyn commented.

  “Oh, shut up, I’m fine. This is just an annoyance,” Hans said, coughing and sneezing on his handkerchief. Adelyn frowned, clearly concerned. But she made no further protests and instead looked down.

  The two watched from the balcony how the recruits for Captain Strobel’s understrength companies and battalions trained on the flat fields below. It had been quite a busy few days ever since they fought against the so-called ‘Calamity of Recklessness’.

  Casualties, munition losses, equipment losses, all of it took their toll on the 1st Anti-Demon Unit. During their retreat, a few dozen soldiers even deserted the 4th Holy Ygeia Regiment. Naturally, that ticked off alarm bells in Captain Strobel’s regiment. Which meant that they would have a long way to go to restore morale and discipline.

  On the other hand, Adelyn and Alizée were now starting to take lessons from Lady Viviani on how to use their magic. Hans…was thus a bit left aside, with his main job relegated to helping out Captain Strobel and Captain Weibel in training the recruits for now.

  But now I can’t even do that.

  Hans sneezed again.

  This sucks ass.

  “You know, if you need to take extra rest, the world isn’t going to hate you for that,” Adelyn softly reminded with a smile. “I mean, look at them. It’s not like Ebert is going to fumble the bag while training the new guys.”

  “I still have to develop new drills and tactics based on what happened,” Hans frowned. “Like…we can’t have that same scenario again next time.”

  “I’m sure you can do that nicely when you’re in better shape,” Adelyn gently patted his back. “Come on, you stubborn ass. Go back to sleep.”

  “What are you, my mom?”

  She crossed her arms sternly.

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

  “Your commanding officer, Lieutenant Hoffman.”

  “Okay…” Hans shook his head. “Look, I already took pills. I think I’m good at working today. I just need to stretch a little bit more.”

  Suddenly, she began pushing him. Hans didn’t resist it much.

  “Let’s just go. Have you even eaten breakfast yet?” She asked, as she grabbed his left hand and dragged him away. She looked back at him. “Have you?”

  “I did eat bread and milk.”

  “That’s a sad breakfast. You need soup or something. A stew perhaps,” she looked to the side. “And look, it’s already almost starting to snow. I bet you’re cold right now.”

  Hans carefully looked down as they descended the stairs.

  “Somewhat, I suppose?”

  “Somewhat? You’re shivering.”

  “I did take some paracetamol, so I should be fine soon.”

  “Tsk, tsk. Relying on pills then working your ass off. You’re way too silly.”

  “Who the hell uses the word silly on a grown-ass man?”

  “Me. Besides, your stubbornness when you’re hurting yourself is quite silly. I’ll call that out when I need to,” soon, they reached the lower parts of the building. Adelyn continued dragging him out of it, then straight into the streets. They now began walking toward the inn where Hans, Adelyn, and Alizée stayed.

  Finally, Adelyn let go of Hans’ hand when he finally started following her voluntarily. Hans on the other hand just frowned a bit, clearly a bit resentful at being dragged out of his work before even starting.

  “So, what do you want today?” Adelyn asked.

  “What do I want?”

  “I think I can cook some stew or soup for you.”

  “Huh? How? Do you even have space and equipment in your room?”

  “Of course I do,” Adelyn turned back at him and smiled. “I took the biggest one for me and Alizée anyway. So I made sure to also acquire some kitchenware. I’ve been using it for days now.”

  “Damn…” Hans in comparison had only been eating the food provided by the inn itself or by nearby taverns and restaurants. “I didn’t know you turned your place into an apartment.”

  “Well, we’re going to stay in it for a while, so I made sure to get permission,” Adelyn continued walking after turning around.

  “And you can cook?” Hans asked.

  “Why is that the thing you are most surprised about? Of course, I can cook. Can you?”

  “A bit?”

  She laughed at him.

  “Is that so? Back in Terra, you seem like all you knew was how to open and heat up rations.”

  “Hey! I can mix them up and cook them in different ways!”

  “So not actually cooking?”

  “I can follow recipes. Somewhat. I think.”

  “You sound mighty unsure of yourself, Hans.”

  “Yeah, well, I’d like to see what you can do then.”

  She smiled smugly.

  “Hence why I’m asking. Lieutenant, what do you want for today?”

  +++

  Hans closed his journal after Adelyn called him to go to her room. Then, he walked downstairs and entered it. He was soon ushered in by Adelyn herself, and then, he sat on the table placed in her living room.

  He hungrily looked at the small bowl of beef stew served to him. On the other side of the table, Alizée in comparison already dug in and began eating it hungrily. Hans however was astounded.

  “How? You don’t even have a proper stove?!” Hans exclaimed, as he picked up the bowl and smelled it.

  “I have fire magic, dumbass,” Adelyn shook her head. “I’ve learned some techniques to set up something close to a stove from Lady Viviani. It’s actually quite cool.”

  “It smells nice…” Hans said. “Um…thanks for the meal, I guess. Adelyn.”

  “You’re welcome,” Adelyn smiled. “Now eat up. You need to go back to your room and rest soon. A lot.”

  “Is Sir Hans badly sick?” Alizée curiously asked, stopping herself from taking spoonful after spoonful. “Why? What happened?”

  “Nothing, probably just bad luck,” Hans took his first taste. His eyes immediately lit up. It was…smooth, savory, beefy…and it was just nice. He took a chunk of beef, and it almost felt like it was melting in his mouth with how soft it was. Briefly, he felt like he was back in Terra’s more finer dining places.

  He realized that unlike the usual stews here, this one was close to the traditional Lotharingian style. Hans always found the lack of complex flavors from stews here a bit disappointing. As if the cooks mostly just chucked the meat and ingredients into the pot and boiled it for hours and nothing else.

  He took some of the stew off his bowl and poured it on top of the mashed potatoes she prepared. And even it tasted nice. She must have placed a good amount of butter in it.

  “You seem to be enjoying it,” Adelyn beamed as she watched him. “Now I feel bad. It must have been a while since you’ve eaten something nice.”

  “It feels like home,” Hans said, nodding a bit as he took another spoon. “Damn…this reminds me of my mother’s cooking. It’s almost the same!”

  “Duh. I just followed the standard recipe that I remember from our homeland,” Adelyn rolled her eyes. “But what matters is execution. Is it close to what you remember?”

  “Yeah. Maybe even better!”

  “Hehe, that’s nice.”

  “I’m surprised a noble like you knows how to cook this well.”

  “I took some culinary lessons, jerk,” Adelyn pouted a bit. “I can’t believe you’d think of me as a spoiled brat who doesn’t know how to cook.”

  “I didn’t,” Hans turned defensively.

  “You say that but your previous words say otherwise.”

  “Piss off, let me just enjoy this thing,” Hans said, ignoring her and devouring the food she prepared instead. “Ain’t that right, Alizée?”

  The girl didn’t reply, already engrossed in eating and eating.

  On the other hand, Adelyn finally began eating herself when she took her spoon.

  “You know, this reminds me,” Hans said. “How’s your lessons going?”

  “Pretty nice. Been learning a lot. Also, I’ve been trying to keep up with her training regimes. Something about enhancing my AP regeneration abilities. It’s mostly just me firing my magic again and again while trying to force my body to ‘recoup’ it.”

  “Oh…so like, get tired, then regen?”

  “Yeah, something like that,” Adelyn nodded. “And a lot of other things. Mostly, it’s just academic. Reading and testing out new spells and such.”

  “Well, that’s nice,” Hans smiled. “We’ve got a long way to go after all. We still need some better weapons for the troops too. I’m thinking about getting more ammunition with better enchantments.”

  “Yeah, I’m talking to the IYC about that one. Gonna be a while before they send back any message for us. But whatever. We’ll make do. We’ll finish this mission no matter what.”

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