CHAPTER 27 - Goals

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Studentin (Second Lieutenant), Reichel Schwertspinne, Russiva Imperial Year 782 Month 4, Day 18, Berilian Imperial Officer Academy, Deutsche Empery

“Are you Reichel Schwertspinne?”

The large man said so while smiling, with his eyes gleaming in anticipation even, which wasn’t something Reichel could understand.

“Depends, who is asking?”

“Ah, forgive my insolence, I am Olaf Olesky, and I work for the Blohm Company, also while being a Studentin as you see.” Olaf extended his hand towards Reichel, leaving Reichel no room to refuse out of obligatory conduct.

*grip*

‘That is … quite a strong grip …’ Reichel thought.

Reichel knew that Olaf wasn’t really adding in strength like she thought, most likely this was just his usual grip.

Just from handshake, Reichel could already see that there is a significantly large gap between their physical strength levels, and that it would be quite hard to mess with him.

Not like Reichel would actually go down without any sort of resistance of course …

‘He must be quite a figure to look up to in the Secruity Branch, where does that old man even find people like these?’

“First of all, I just want to say that I am a big fan, and that I thoroughly look forward to your other future inventions as you part-time as a researcher while soldiering like I am!”

“Research? Inventions? What do you mean?” Reichel asked.

“Oh that, I’m the head of the Research Department!” Olaf said with a dazzling smile, which even made him seem cute despite his size.

…

…

‘… the Research Branch? Say what now?’ Reichel almost doubted what she heard.

But still nonetheless Reichel took another glance at Olaf’s body, thoroughly examining his body with obvious gazes …

“Is there … something the matter?” Olaf asked while still keeping his signature smile up.

“…”

Arms twice as thick and muscular as Reichel’s arms, broad shoulder that made him look intimidating, and even though Olaf was wearing larger clothes she could easily guess that underneath the fabrics were muscles that could be likened to a Greek God’s statue.

'This ripped macho-man is the head of the Research Branch!?'

“Are you really not from the Security Branch?” Reichel made sure to doubly ask, since there was always a chance that something messed with both of her ears despite the ever so small chance, since if she doubted her ears, then she would have no choice but to doubt her eyes, the source of her pride and her most prized possessions.

Even though Olaf looked young, from his body features alone it made it seem like he would be the kind of guy that would collect debts for the company’s finances, and even oversee the company’s cargo escort units and be in charge of anything related to security really …

Sometimes, appearances would deceive, but in cases like these with Reichel’s eyes she would always believe in what she sees first, due to her overwhelming pride and confidence that she could never be deceived visually.

“Ah? Yes, I’m the head of the Research Branch, but I can see where you’re coming from! My build tends to get me mistaken for a powerful warrior of sorts but in reality I’m just a researcher working to serve his country both on the fields of battle and the fields of technological advancements!”

“I-Is that so …” Reichel almost wanted to look away.

‘But if he says that he’s the head of the Research Branch … then it must mean that he’s good at his job at least …’ Reichel pushed the powerful body aside, and then rationalized that the old man Blohm must have surmised that Olaf had more wits than he had muscle at least, meaning he could do his job unrivalled.

But other than the deceptive looks, Reichel found other things about Olaf that she thought were annoying, even though it was only their first meeting.

‘It’s almost like he’s glowing from pure optimism …’ Reichel had the urge to suddenly kill Olaf, but as the head of the Research Branch of the Blohm Company she had to pay respect to him as he was doing the little details on her ‘inventions’ that she herself couldn’t be bothered to do.

Like the brightness of his attitude and his enthusiasm or not, Olaf was more or less something like her protégé of sorts, and he gets the job done, so despite personal bias wasn’t something Reichel could just give into.

“Ahem, so what’s the trouble? I’m in a hurry you see, and I would like to esc—retreat to another place as soon as possible, if possible.” Reichel faked a few coughs, still keeping her hands on the lunch box she stole, signifying that it was a matter of importance.

Well, in a way it was though, you can’t keep a Demon Lord of Gluttony for her food after all.

“Oh right!” Olaf said as he gently slapped his forehead, while bringing forward the duffel bag towards Reichel.

“Delivery, from Herr Blohm.” He simply stated as Reichel took the bag away from his large hand.

*frwoooop!* (zipperopening.mp3)

“Hey.”

“Yes?”

Inside the bag were multiple weapons, ranging from throwing knives, small daggers, bladed knuckles that could be hidden by reverse-wearing them on the palm, and even the longsword that strangely had a new color, which Reichel looted from Michal the former Czuch Union’s Ogre Knight.

Seeing these things made Reichel a bit happier, but there were a few problems …

“Are you trying to get me arrested?” Reichel asked Olaf while giving him a dangerous glimpse of her eye.

Bringing weapons inside the Imperial Officer School wasn’t really illegal of sorts, if they were registered through the School’s office as a tool of defense, or when it was needed for some sort of training exercise.

However only one weapon was allowed per person, and that included anything that could be used as a weapon.

“I dunno, I just did Adrian a favor by delivering you one of your requested items here …”

‘One of my requested items he says … he brought enough throwing and concealed weapons for a whole assignation group!’

Reichel wanted to rage out right now but in her current location doing so would just be plain bad decision-making.

‘Adrian … is that piece of crap insane!?’

Reichel admitted that she wanted ‘a lot’ of concealed and throwing weapons as soon as possible, but right now she was really gritting her teeth at Adrian’s timing and place of choosing.

If the contents were actually seen by anybody else other than her and Olaf, she would have been sent to the dungeons without any kind of explanation whatsoever, and even if she did manage to explain herself then it would no doubt leave a stain on her perfect record.

But considering that Reichel was just about to exit the academy’s premises right now without any sort of excuse, which was basically the same as going AWOL, she couldn’t really use the excuse ‘wanting to maintain a clean and spotless record’ anymore.

‘Well … skipping class would leave a stain too but I would like to avoid dirtying myself whenever possible.’

So, despite all the dangers on her track record Reichel just decided to let it go since she was going to leave the premises right that moment.

But instead, she wanted to give Olaf a follow-up question, considering his rank up the Blohm Company was quite high as well since he was apparently one of the 'Four Heads' then it would only be natural to assume that he was quite informed in the Blohm Company's state of affairs.

“What took the delivery so long?”

Reichel was thankful for the delivery regardless of the numerous number of dangers that it posed at the moment, but she just couldn’t help but be suspicious about the timing.

Normally a request so trivial such as weapons gathering would only take a few hours, maybe even a day at best, but its been almost a week since Reichel actually gave her list of requests as well as actually getting the first couple of items within her list.

“Hahhhh, in truth the company’s forces are spread out, preparing for any attacks against the new Monstertöter, leaving barely any personnel to get your requests done.”

‘It must be pretty serious, since the head of the Research Branch himself came personally just to give me this information instead of just a normal messenger …’ Reichel was thinking, but as she thought of it more she detected an anomaly which she did not know about in Olaf’s previous sentence …

“Monstertöter?” Reichel asked, her eyes indicating surprise. (Monster Slayer)

“A new troublemaker in the Unterwelt, striking every criminal syndicate which base their operations there, indiscriminately and with lightning precision too … with reports even saying that he does it barehanded … sounds familiar?”

“Now where have I heard that before …” Reichel gave out a fake giggle, vaguely saying ‘That’s your problem, not mine, I just do the same thing’.

Olaf naturally got that signal, and continued.

“But do not worry, the head of the Security Department shall make quick work of him, shall this Monstertöter decide to show itself in one of the Blohm Company’s facilities.” Olaf assured Reichel with a thumbs up.

“Oh, and also your private and concealed laboratory is finished, you will find it at this address …” Olaf said as he handed Reichel a piece of paper, which Reichel pocketed.

‘Excellent.’ Though the weapons were behind schedule, at least the private research facility she asked for in her list of requests were right within her expectations, meaning that she would have no trouble storing her special food anymore, and that she would be able to focus her technological advancements there with no interruptions whatsoever.

“It may be rude of me to ask, but why does Frau Schwertspinne need a private lab? Surely it would be more convenient to rely upon the company’s laboratories, where it wouldn’t be a continuous hassle to link together projects for maximum efficiency?” Olaf asked as he pouted, seemingly sad that Reichel would want to work alone despite his obvious fanboying for her work.

“It’s none of your business.” Reichel said coldly, which startled Olaf who thought that Reichel was more of an efficiency-focused person.

“Make no mistake, you seem to be misunderstanding something, I am not bound by the Blohm Company, and whatever I make or store wouldn’t be up for the prying eyes of anyone or anybody until whenever I decide to release it.”

“And besides, I prefer to work alone, full entrusting my own abilities whenever it is possible …” Reichel emphasized the words “alone” and “my own”, meaning that she was saying that it was impossible to convince her otherwise from now on.

“… surely the head of the Research Department would understand, no?” Reichel asked Olaf as she eyed him.

A few moments of silence passed, until …

“Yes … I understand fully … I understand what you mean, Frau Schwertspinne.” While he made a weird face, a weird face that sent chills even down her spine.

... Not that she lingered on thoughts like that for very long though.

“Good, and for now I bid you ado until we meet next time.”

“Then I shall do so as well, may you take care in your endeavors.”

And with that the first meeting between the Schwarzer Engel (Black Angel), and the Blitzriese (Flash Giant) comes to a close.

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Studentin (Recruit), Clara Heisig, Russiva Imperial Year 782 Month 4, Day 18, Berilian Imperial Officer Academy, Deutsche Empery

*tap*

*tap*

*tap*

Clara kept tapping her foot nervously on the marble floor, she just couldn’t help but be nervous after all …

This was the Blohm Company’s head of the Research Branch’s assistant, Clara Heisig, who was personally employed by Blohm himself to look after Olaf wherever he went or whatever he did, whether it was bring him coffee while he was working or defending him while he was pummeling and slaying enemies on the battlefield, with the second part not particularly being looked up upon.

‘By the god’s grace! What was he thinking when he said he wanted to be a soldier when he already has a perfectly good occupation as the head of the Research Branch!?’ Clara thought as she found herself annoyed.

Being by Olaf’s side ever since she was a child, she knew for a fact that Olaf was no warrior, and was something more of a man of science.

That’s why it was really weird to her when he just suddenly decided that he wanted to work under the military, while keeping his employment record under the Blohm Company.

But other than that there were really more important things pressed the matter for her, such as …

‘Where did he go!? What the hell is taking him so long!?’ Clara was asking these questions when a little someone suddenly appeared on the cornermost part of her peripheral vision.

The signature yellow hair and muscular body, she just couldn’t mistake it for anybody else.

‘That idiot!’ Clara angrily stomped towards Olaf while pouting.

“Herr Olaf! Where have you been!? First day of actual Officer School and you wound up running around the premises doing an errand for the head of Internal Relations Branch without any sort of clear direction in mind! What would Herr Blohm say if he found you slacking off even though he permitted for you to enroll here despite your intellectual potentials!?” Clara said as she said all that without even taking a breath, only to find Olaf’s large back still facing her instead of his front, which was quite unnatural.

The normal Olaf would have just bowed his head while saying ‘Sorry sorry, hehe …’ while scratching his head as Clara talked on and on, but strangely this time was different …

So different from how it was usually supposed to play out, that it made Clara shiver …

“H-Herr Olaf?” Clara said as her voice unnaturally stuttered, it was kind of scary for her to see something new when it came to Olaf’s conditions, which was why she was all the more confused …

“I’ve found one~” And then there was that remark, which left her even more confused than she already was …

‘Found one … what is he talking about?’

“What?” Clara asked again, to which Olaf suddenly twitched and then turned around, facing her with a face she had never seen before.

“Another one … who has the same goal as I do~”

‘!?’

It was a smile, but unlike his normal smile this one had an expression of maniacal relief, startling Clara.

“Ahem—"

“It is nothing but only a dwarf’s ramblings, come now, we are late for our lecture on War Theory.” Olaf’s face quickly changed from a scary smile back into his usual gentle and bright smile within mere fractions of a second, which left Clara with a lot more questions that what she usually had.

‘What was that just now? Was that really something that Olaf would do? What did you mean by goal?’ Insitinctively Clara wanted to ask all of these things, but as she saw that Olaf was already walking away from her and into another direction, she just followed closely.

And while she followed Olaf’s back closely she debated internally multiple times whether to ask about the things that he said earlier, when another thought popped up into her head.

‘Ahhhh! There’s no use thinking about it! Just go with the flow as father my father always says!’

Instead, Clara just followed Olaf’s back closely, just as she had always done in the past, choosing to ignore what happened earlier thinking that it was just her imagination.

But little did Clare know, as Olaf’s chosen assistant, that his choice to enroll to the Imperial Officer School would bring on many changes to his destiny, even though he only chose to enroll on nothing more than a momental whim …

This was the dwarf who would eventually become one of the Empery’s Grands, alongside Reichel but that was a story for another time in the far future.