"Men. They're not so bad."

- Corporal Freya Blum's Journal.

+++

"Who the hell is that guy?!" Linze asked as Freya entered their tank.

"There's no more enemies out there, at least for now," Freya panickedly fumbled as she placed Oakley on her seat. "It's a friend of mine. He's got heavy injuries!"

"...You should have left him with the medics outside, Corporal Blum," Henrietta pointed out, shaking her head. "Can you heal him?"

"That's why I bought him here. Besides, they have no medics outside. They're either busy or dead!" Freya retorted as she grabbed their medical kit. Then, she took a crystal catalyst from her pocket. Her halo briefly glowed, as she tried her best to absorb it until it shattered.

"Hey! You might overload yourself with that," Linze panickedly said, trying to shake the crystal off Freya's hand, but Freya pushed her back.

"Can you please just keep your eyes on the sights for a bit? Don't interrupt me."

Freya shakingly went to Oakley, who still remained unconscious, and she began to use her alcohol and wipes to clean the edges of his wound. Then, with her wand on the ready, she focused herself as she tried to slowly dislodge the steel that was on his shoulder.

"Be careful with that," Henrietta said from the side. "You might make it worse."

"I can do this. Then I'll close his wound afterward," Freya said, frowning as the steel began exiting his wound. He began to shift, clearly in great pain. That was when Linze joined in, her wand glowing a soft blue as well.

She seemed to be casting a painkiller spell on him.

"Keep going," Linze said. "Try to focus on reducing his bleeding now!"

Right when the steel piece dislodged itself, blood began spurting out of his wound. It seemed that an artery was damaged. Freya got to work, expending nearly heavy amounts of her mana as she fixed his arteries, then other tissues, regenerating it bit by bit.

Faster! Faster! I can't have him lose too much blood. Please…please…

Soon, the wound fully closed itself, and Freya nearly collapsed, before she whimpered and cried.

"...Thank goddess, thank goddess," she prayed as she checked his wound one last time. "That was a close call."

"...You seem to care about him," Linze said, as she stopped her spell.

"He saved me. Earlier. I almost died, instead, he…" she shamefully looked down. "If I wasn't so slow and foolish, he might have not suffered that. It must have been so painful."

"...Died?"

"I don't want to remember it. Just, this man took down a bunch of those drones. He also took down that Enforcer earlier for us."

Henrietta took out her eyes from the commander's sight to stare at Oakley as well.

"Wait, he saved us too?" their captain asked.

+++

"Oakley?"

A soft voice woke him up.

Immediately, Oakley stood the hell up. There was still a battle going on! He had to keep—

The sounds of tank tracks passed by him on the road. Above them, two jets streaked past in the sky. Then, he felt his side patted by someone.

"Don't worry," Timmy said, grinning. "This lady over here saved our asses."

"Timmy?" Oakley asked, before turning to his left.

Sitting near a disabled tank, the same tank that Captain Henrietta used, was none other than the pink-haired woman he saved earlier: Freya.

Oakley seemed to have been sitting upright on the side of a broken concrete wall. In front of him as well as Sergeant Higgs, still somewhat injured and being treated by a team of Royal Guard healers, and their driver, Jerry, who seemed to be smoking a cigarette.

"...Goddess," Oakley nearly choked. "Everyone's still alive."

"Why wouldn't we? You saved us. To think I almost doubted you when you took out that big-ass drone out of fear. Man…we got so lucky."

"I remember I felt something stabbing me," Oakley mumbled, touching his shoulder. "It's gone? But my uniform's torn open…"

"Well…I…" Freya took his attention, as she fidgeted with her fingers. "I…well, I hope my healing magic was satisfactory. Is there any pain?"

"You healed me?"

"I did my best, I swear!"

Oakley stared at her anxious expression. It was almost as if she was asking if she healed him properly or not, so deeply unsure. At the sight of it, Oakley couldn't help but chuckle a bit.

"I feel fine now," Oakley said. "Though…I wonder why it took me so long to wake up. It's already evening."

"Isn't it obvious? You bled out quite a lot. Of course, you'll be knocked out even with their intervention."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Yeah. Don't move too much," Freya added. "We've only managed to get you a single blood pack earlier. If you strain yourself too much—hey, wait!"

Oakley stood up, allowing him to look at the battlefield around them. It seemed like the relief force arrived, and they were saved just before they were annihilated. Certainly, this seemed like a lucky break for them.

"Come on, stop standing around there. At least sit and rest!" Freya continued to chide beside him.

"Why are you making such a big fuss about him?" Timmy curiously asked. "Oakley's a tough nut. Course he's gonna stand."

"You have no idea how bad his injury was earlier. No idea!"

"Yeah, right, I don't, but he seems fine to me now."

Oakley smiled, before turning back at the bickering duo behind him. He looked at Freya, grateful.

"Hey," he called out. "Thanks for saving me, Corporal Blum."

Her eyes widened before she awkwardly laughed.

"Ah, please. No need for that. It's just, again, payback for you saving me and my buddies. I swear, I'll repay it more if we keep fighting together," she bowed at him. "I swear on my name."

"Geez, are women really this theatrical for little crap?" Timmy asked, annoyed.

But, Freya kept her head lowered.

"I am simply extending my deepest gratitude," she raised her head again. "Again, thanks."

"...Next time, never lower your head to your fellow man," Oakley said, frowning. "Not on the battlefield at least. But, I guess you're welcome then—Corporal Blum. Let's work together whenever we can, okay?"

Oakley extended her hand, and Freya, her eyes lighting up, took and shook it.

"I swear we will!" she said with a smile.

And Oakley nodded.

This sure would be interesting, he thought.

+++

West Orland

November Palace

March 24, 2026

"It's…not looking too good," Minister Allison Thell declared in front of the gathered officials of the Heiss Cabinet.

Jacqueline, already distraught by all that was occurring, lowered her head, while Amelie kept listening to the chilling reports being presented to them.

"Right…now, we estimate that the disease has spread to at least forty-thousand people in East Orland. We've already recorded three thousand fatalities, and at least fifteen thousand people are in critical condition in our hospitals—"

"There has to be a way to fix this!" Amelie shouted as she stood up. "I can't accept it. Why is it still spreading? I thought we already implemented containment measures?"

"W-we did, Your Majesty…"

"Then why is it now at forty-thousand? Is that even an accurate figure? Please, tell me if it is."

Allison lowered her head, gulping.

"It's…only the confirmed cases. At this point, it's reasonable to expect that containment has been broken."

"There's already a massive outbreak in the Gallian capital, and the Junta there has locked the city down with the military until further notice," William said. "We also believe that currently, an outbreak is also happening in Rivostov, that the Confederation has been forced to lock it as well, so it's not just us."

"How is it even spreading everywhere?" Amelie asked, horrified.

"War brings increased security in the form of mobilized militaries and everything else. But it means people will naturally have to keep moving. Not to mention, every country is focused on the war, and nothing else…"

Amelie was distraught. The casualty rate this disease caused was too large to simply overlook. How could they even fight a war in these conditions?

"If you're asking that question," William grinned as he looked at Amelie's worried face. "Then let me remind you that plagues were a part of warfare in the past. In fact, it's what decimated a lot of armies."

"Your grim trivia doesn't help, William," Amelie crossed her arms and frowned at him. Meanwhile, he merely shrugged.

"I'm just saying. Anyhow, if containment is our goal, it simply isn't…possible. Eventually, this disease will break out. We simply have no manpower or capacity to fight a war and keep our cities locked long-term," William explained. "This is simply going to be a game of finishing and producing a vaccine before it spreads completely."

"...And what if it does spread completely?" Amelie asked.

"Then it will spread, kill a section of our population, burn out once the survivors become immune, and then we'll keep fighting."

Amelie felt herself turning cold, and she sat down, gravely worried. Just thinking about this horrifying disease harming her people, in the millions—it wasn't something she wanted to accept.

"...We've also seen the first few cases in West Orland," Allison muttered. "Yesterday."

"I know that already," Amelie said. "I'll…definitely have to wear all kinds of protective gear when I go out now."

"There's an air filtering spell out there," Pristina nonchalantly pointed out on the side. "I expect most experienced mages to avoid this if they remain diligent at protecting themselves. It's quite easy, to be honest."

"I'm afraid not everyone, except skilled mages, can do that, Archduchess," Allison muttered beside her. "Even just a second of broken concentration can lead to exposure. All it takes is a few viral particles and you'll be infected."

"So?"

"That, and magically filtering the air around you before you breathe is almost like casting a shield on yourself. We can do it easily during combat since…you know, you're fighting. But can you do this when you're merely walking down the street all the time?"

"...Yes," Pristina haughtily smiled. "I do apologize, I guess you are right. Only skilled and diligent mages can do this. Perhaps I overestimated people then."

Shut up. I can't even do that. Are you looking down on me?

Amelie pouted, annoyed. She felt like she was taking strays here. She could still do magic, just not to that extreme. It didn't mean she was not a 'skilled mage' at all! She still had skill!

"Ugh, in any case, I need better solutions," Amelie said. "William, your idea sounds too cynical. Pristina, your idea only works for some people. And Allison, you're not doing well enough with your standard solutions."

"Ouch…" Allison shyly looked down. "I'm doing my best with what I have…"

"Hence, can we form a special task force designed to directly counteract this threat? I wish for the full participation of the military, civilian government, and our intelligence agencies for this," Amelie said. "I give them three goals: containment, treatment, and prevention."

"Alright, what is it?" Jacqueline asked.

Amelie grinned, thinking her plan was quite brilliant.

"We'll call it the Bioweapon Control Agency. Bring me an experienced scientist who knows how to handle these threats, and I'll make them the leader. Their powers are simple: they will act as the main organizer of all agencies, departments, and ministries on the ground."

"...So you want to centralize the specific response to this threat under one, new, ad hoc agency?" Jacqueline asked. "I see. It's not too bad, I suppose…"

"So long as they don't interfere too much in the work of the military and the Royal Guard," Pristina frowned. "Then I can tolerate and work with them. I should also say, I am getting a lot of protests about the production of our factories in affected cities being affected by lockdowns from my men and women."

"It's temporary. We can't produce more tanks if our workers all die sick anyway," Amelie retorted. "So you'll just have to work with this new agency once it's established. In any case, I want it to be done within this week, and I want them working by next week. That's all."

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