+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

  Near La Veridad City

  December 4, 1538 CE

  “You’re going to die if you keep being this slow,” the Viceroy chastised as Hans ran and ran through the fields. “You need to keep going. Has sitting on that metal coffin turned your body into a sack of nothing? Run!”

  “I know! I’m trying!”

  Hans tried to keep breathing as best as he could. His body was heavy. So damned heavy. Yet he had to run to force himself forward. That was a part of her training. Unfortunately, with her debuff spells, she was essentially placing artificial weight on him.

  Damn it! I forgot being a part of the infantry sucks ass!

  “Come on! Move those legs, Lieutenant Hoffman. I thought you were a soldier! Act like it!”

  On top of him, the Viceroy flew with her staff. She laughed at him, almost taunting him to keep going. Hans gritted his teeth. He began forcing himself more and more. His legs and muscles all screamed for dear life, as she seemed to be placing more and more weight on him.

  I’m close. Come on, I'm close. I’m so close!

  It was only a few dozen meters away. He could already see it. It was Adelyn. She was holding a cup of water shouting at him to keep going. Even Alizée was out there cheering for him. He pushed on. On and on. Until he promptly collapsed just a few meters off the finish line.

  “Sir Hans!” Alizée squeaked out. “But you were so close!”

  “It’s not yet over!” Hans snapped at them. He tried to stand up. But his body was too heavy.

  “Timer’s up,” Adelyn said, sighing. “Get back here. Rehydrate yourself.”

  “Oh come on!” Hans complained. “I was so close!”

  “Well, crap,” beside him, Captain Weibel, who was watching, leaned down on him. “Seems like you’re finished, Sir Hoffman.”

  He felt the weight on his body disappear.

  “Shut your trap. Your older ass also failed four times already.”

  “W-well, it’s not like I’m trying in any way to compete with Vanus physiology here. I’m human. Of course, I’ll fail!”

  “Yeah, yeah, excuses,” Hans shook his head as he stood up. He went straight to Adelyn and grabbed his water. He drank all of it. Then, he wiped his face with his towel. His clothes too were ruined badly. And he felt like shit at the moment.

  “Well, at least you’ve been trying,” the Viceroy said, laughing a bit. “It’s been hours now. We can try these things again tomorrow.”

  “Where’d you even learn all these methods?” Hans asked.

  “From the Imperial Mage Corps. It’s more strenuous there. Gods, just the activities to enhance your control over magic are so daunting. It should be a crime against mankind to subject someone to that!”

  “Then what is this version?”

  “A lighter, more humane variation.”

  The Viceroy laughed before she was pissed off. All that was left now was Hans, Adelyn, Alizée, and Captain Weibel on the fields. It was already afternoon. Thus, all of them were tired after being subjected to her nonsense. Hans went for the nearest wooden chair on the green fields and sat there.

  Then, he checked his stats.

  It’s been days of doing this, and this is all my progress…

  Well, his attributes did increase a bit. Unfortunately, unlike Adelyn who had already strengthened herself to full E attributes, with her RES attribute at E+, which Hans found out was about a being’s resistance to the negative effects of magic, he didn’t make much progress. Hans was now not only slower, and weaker, and he also had no real magic.

  It’s not even worth it for me anyway. Hans thought. Going in the fields and hunting monsters for more AP and levels seems to be more optimal. I’ve already nearly filled my ammo rack again by doing that.

  Perhaps he should just continue doing that.

  Hans took a deep breath and looked up at the sky.

  “So, how’s your progress going?” Adelyn asked, standing behind him. “Doing well?”

  “Somewhat. Not that much though. It’s fairly slow.”

  “I think that’s just because you don’t have an open skill for using magic yet,” Adelyn sighed. “Maybe once you reach level forty-five, you’ll unlock one for yourself.”

  “My luck in this world has always worked against me. My bet is that when I reach it, I’ll only have a closed skill. Maybe it’ll even just be passive options. It’s whatever.”

  Adelyn chuckled behind him.

  “Well, in any case, all you need is to reach level forty for that mech upgrade, right?”

  “Yep,” Hans nodded. “I’ll take that shield upgrade. That’ll help me greatly when I’m dueling a demon. They always get close calls from me. That and…man, I wish that shield could just block everything…”

  “We can’t have everything, Hans. Magic, even those borne out of the system, have limitations.”

  “Yeah. Sucks…”

  He turned his eyes to his left. While they were talking, Alizée seemed to be enjoying herself by using her newly bought wand to attract fireflies with the glowing crystal on the top. She ran around the fields, laughing and giggling as the insects followed her. Hans crossed his arms.

  “The hell is she doing?”

  “Her main magic is Light Magic, Hans,” Adelyn explained. “So most of what she can do is the manipulation of light. And she prefers to use it to err…entertain herself.”

  “Juvenile.”

  “Well, she’s a child.”

  “Yeah, exactly,” Hans laughed. “And is she doing well with her studies?”

  “Yep! The school here has been very courteous to have her as a temporary student. Hopefully, she can have some certificates to qualify for better schooling before we leave La Veridad.”

  “That’s going to be hard. Especially if she keeps insisting to come with us,” Hans said. “Not that I can leave her anymore…”

  “What?”

  “It’s just…I don’t want to imagine it. You know? Leaving her in a city, or a place. Then coming back later and finding out that it’s gone. Just the thought of her being gone. Awful.”

  “...Aww, so your paternal instincts have now fully kicked in?”

  Hans groaned.

  “Yeah, sure. If that’s your conclusion about that.”

  +++

  Near Aude-Lozerre

  December 6, 1538 CE

  Hans rushed straight into Aude-Lozerre, one of the minor cities east of La Veridad after a report came out that it was under attack. He was conducting routine monster pacification operations earlier in the morning when a group of merchants informed him. Naturally, Hans immediately set out to reconnaissance mode.

  It was already night by the time he had arrived. The walled city, from the far distance, was on fire. Hans rushed in through the dirt road. He had no one right now with him. This was a lone mission. He suspected that reports should only reach La Veridad in a few more hours once the fleeing people broke the news.

  For now, he was the sole ‘Quick Response Force’ available. And while Hans had reservations about valiantly charging in alone to the fray, it wasn’t like he had much fear anymore. He could just go back in time after all if things went to shite. Fortunately, due to defenses and prepositioned units that could magically communicate with La Veridad, he knew whatever this was should be new.

  After all, if it’s a Calamity or some active demon outside of the green zones here, it wouldn’t be able to go through the Viceroy’s army unannounced.

  Thus, he suspected that this demon was very new. A freshly corrupted person, to be more concise. As with most demons that were new, they would usually be very weak. That didn’t mean they wouldn’t be able to destroy a city though. They were still a threat. But Hans…well, he was hoping to test himself out.

  If I can kill this demon on my own, I can have all the AP and levels for it. Hans thought. I can reach level forty-five faster. And fix all of my supply issues.

  He sped up even more. On the road itself, he finally found the first elements of the fleeing authorities. Dozens of cavalrymen on horseback were riding furiously away from the city. Musketeers and other soldiers who no longer had their weapons were also running away. Naturally, they were all momentarily alarmed by his presence.

  But they continued running. The Confederate Army insignia, a white cross Pattee emblem on the side of his grey turret, had already turned from obscure to mythical. It was the main identifier that most Imperial soldiers knew from stories and rumors about them. It also seemed like the information about the two had been greatly distributed.

  Thus everyone already knew what it meant when a six-legged metal monster with a white cross was running near them. It meant that Hans and Adelyn, the two most well-known demon hunters, had arrived.

  “Make way!” Hans shouted with his speakers. “Make way! I’ll deal with this! And stop retreating! All of you should now immediately turn back to evacuate the civilians of Aude-Lozerre!”

  His words stopped the military’s rout. Unfortunately, Hans had no time to wait for them to reform and reorganize. He merely continued charging in. Soon, he reached the outskirts of the city itself. He began circling it. Aude-Lozerre wasn’t exactly a gigantic bustling city. It was more akin to a town by Hans’ standards. From what he last knew, it was populated by fifteen to twenty thousand people.

  And judging by the amount of fleeing civilians, wagons, and horses, he knew that many were managing to escape. That meant that whichever devastation happening inside the city was slow and not instant. That helped reinforce his suspicion that whichever demon was attacking this place must be new.

  He continued for a few more minutes, circling the city’s perimeter completely for a quick sweep. When he confirmed that the demon was indeed inside the city’s walls, he drove his mech near one of the entrances. When he entered it, hundreds of civilians, all still clearly panicking, were still pouring out.

  The interior of the city itself was on fire, smoke obscuring the air as the mostly wooden structures were consumed by an inferno. Hans briefly wished that he had ADW MPAT this time around, but, alas, he’d have to work with what he had.

  He soon pointed his hull in the direction of the road which led to the city’s interior. He took a deep breath. Then his mech galloped forward into the blazing city.

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