Uli: Erm... are you sure about this, Fred?
- Yes, get out of the way and leave him alone. He's come to save us. On the contrary! (Rushing to snatch the colonel out of the hands of our three youngsters).
Ten minutes later.
-Please accept our apologies, we were caught up in fear of the unknown and psychosis. We'll accept whatever punishment you give us, but please think of us as your children, Colonel. (The three young people apologised to Klaus, begging him to forgive them. They knelt down, their foreheads to the ground).
Klaus: Shut up, I'll be barely 30 in two months.
-Hiruko, Klaus, Selene: Sorry Colonel, think of us as your little brothers.
As he stood up, he punched each of them on the head, then fixed his jacket and said: 'You bunch of idiots, it's not to see kids like you that I paid so much for this 03-piece GIANLUIGI suit to protect you.'
Fred: Please forgive them, Colonel.
-Klaus: Ah, you're with them, Gimaldi?
- Of course, and it hasn't been easy. We've had many difficulties before, and I'm glad you met us.
-Klaus: It's mainly thanks to his little gadgets. If I hadn't been informed that you were here, I'd have smashed your gadgets in no time, thinking they were little beasts.
-Frederico: It's so that they blend in during an infiltration, Colonel.
-Klaus: Congratulations. I've always admired your inventions, but we'll talk about that later. Why did you decide to join the army and take unnecessary risks with this dungeon?
-Frederico: ha ha ha all right, as you wish, Colonel.
-Klaus: Otherwise, Hiruko, your enemies didn't spare you, apart from the stone weapon users in the dungeons. It's a good thing you faked your deaths and that they were too arrogant, otherwise I doubt you'd be a match for them.
Hiruko: No, but... (reacts Hiruko, surprised by Colonel Klaus's theories and thoughts).
-Uli: How do you know about this?
-Selene: Were you spying on us?
-Klaus: Me spying on my soldiers? I'm sorry, but I was a bit too busy for that, even though I sometimes like to spy on my soldiers to test their loyalty.
-Konrad: So what people are saying is true?
-Uli: What?
-Konrad: That he's the most intelligent man on the planet!
-Klaus: I'm flattered, but we're not here for praise. We're here to save as many lives as possible, Konrad.
Do you know me? How do you know me?
- Klaus: Well, I know the names of all the recruits in the kingdom, didn't you think?
- On hearing this, Hiruko and her friends were shocked once again to see how the colonel knew so much about the recruits.
-But of course I know you and you have no idea how lucky I am to have found you. I and the colonel are following your case and your progress closely so that we can take you on and not like the others, who will just see you as a choice of convenience Because of your abilities, we're going to develop you and make you a good soldier, even a future daimio.' These were Colonel Klaus's thoughts.
-Hiruko: Hey oh, Colonel, if you knew Konrad, then you must also know me, his colleague who's better than him, even if I don't master my Anima perfectly. But I'm still talented.
Klaus: Hmmm, I don't know you (he was direct and merciless towards Hiruko).
- Oh yeah, shame, he doesn't really know Konrad, it's just luck (replied Hiruko with a feeling of being left out).
-Uli: Um, luck? I think it's because Konrad is top of our class, thanks to some of his physical and intellectual abilities.
-Klaus: Hey Uli, I didn't think you were capable of coming up with these kinds of crazy ideas.
-Selene: Yeah, you're right, Uli, and if it's true, he came here for him and he doesn't want to see him die, that's selfish. Hiruko, I'm on your side and I even support you.
-Klaus: Are you getting into this too, Selene? I don't believe it.
-You're a bitter bastard and you're discriminating (all three of them booed the colonel in response).
-Ah, I'm going to strangle you or leave you, you dirty kids, if you keep talking such nonsense (this was the colonel's reply to the youngsters, after giving them all a good thrashing).
-Sorry Colonel, we don't mean to offend you and please don't leave us alone in this dungeon,' the three youngsters begged.
Klaus: 'Ah, stop it, I'm not going to leave you here.
-Thank you, thank you, Colonel! (kneeling before him).
-Hiruko: I knew you couldn't leave me and my friends here, especially after you demonstrated your thinking skills and knowledge. If you hadn't, you'd have looked like one of those crooks who walk the streets in a three-piece suit (he's supposed to be showing her his gratitude, though).
-And with your hair all slicked back too!
-Ah lord, help me to be wise, otherwise I risk committing a grave sin. I'll choose to ignore you, it's better for my health. (He says this tired of his children, touching his forehead and closing his eyes to calm his anger).
-Frederico: Come on, come on, put aside that, I can see that you're well informed about our candidates.
-Klaus: Yeah, a bit.
-Hiruko: A bit, like how many in total? 10? 30?
-No, I'd say the last name that escapes me is the kid who wanted to lick the ball that Sir Kléon presented to him, and he didn't last long, so much so that I laughed as soon as his manager told me, complaining about his ability to use his brain.
-Hiruko: I don't know him, who is he?
-Uli: Wait a minute, I do know this boy. I've met him, and the worst thing is, it was during the preliminary selection tests in the capital.
-Selene: Are you going to tell me that he's dealt with over a thousand recruits and their cases and skills?
- Stop saying that. After all, he's only human, he can't know everything. I don't believe it, he's just trying to impress us (says Hiruko, waving her hand while closing her eyes).
Klaus, after hearing this, let out a very big sigh and said: 'I can't imagine what a chore it must be to be your big brother. You're trying my murderous side, kid!
-Hiruko: Oh, our smartest man in the world is actually a mad scientist (he says it with a provocative smile).
-Konrad: You're missing the point, Hiruko.
-Hang on, big brother? Isn't he the little one with Zaruba and Arima? Yet he didn't master his Anima. You should be expelled as soon as the preselection starts. He didn't cheat, because it was he who stopped and broke the jaw of that big draugr hippo on the other side. How was he able to master the Anima in one day? I don't know, but he's weird, too. His anima hasn't been activated for three days yet, and that draugr's remains have been there for over 24 hours now. I've got to get interested in this kid (that's the worry Klaus had as he talked to himself in his thoughts).
- Er, Colonel, are you there? Frederico shook Klaus back to his senses as he remained frozen in thought.
-Sorry, I got a bit carried away, you could say it's my bad habit. Even General Jones doesn't like it when I make scenes.
- We're waiting for your instructions, Colonel.
- (Even if I have to study his case at the same time, this Hiruko kid intrigues me).
Konrad: Colonel, do you have any idea who the people who attacked us might be?
- Yes, and as I told you, it was too sensible and wise of you not to engage in combat at the time, otherwise they would have killed you. And over the last three years, shortly after rising through the ranks with our task force, the general and I had led expeditions to the dungeons to the north, to the kingdom of IMAMAH D'ALA and to the kingdom of Grérere. As we inspected the dungeons from top to bottom, we noticed that many of the bodies found there had died not from laser marks or draugr claws, but from cuts made by high-frequency blades.
- Uli: So they didn't start today, but a long time ago.
- Frederico: And where did they get the weapons?
Klaus: That's not all, because we also had the wounds with the weapon types inspected and even had the master tinkers from the surrounding kingdoms questioned, but as you know, every master tinker has his own Rune, which he places in a weapon or an Anima. And when we had their wounds inspected, they didn't match the runes of the master tinkers we still know in our world, because runes are affiliated to a Slaker's full range of abilities, including damage, and even the memories they may contain.
-Frederico: You don't think I'm behind this, Klaus!
-No, I once suspected you of being behind it, but that's not like you and I don't want to go into details.
- So they've got their own handyman in their midst?
- Yes, and they don't usually leave their weapons or the bodies of their members in the dungeons they take.
- Hiruko, remembering when they had entered the dungeon, had seen bodies and not only abandoned weapons, but also. He told Klaus: 'Hey, Colonel, I remember now; I think I saw a Slaker just a few feet from the entrance to the dungeon.'
-Klaus: What? (While grabbing Hiruko by the sleeves) Are you sure? We don't have time to go back and get this weapon, but tell me, can you give me any information about this weapon you saw?
-Hiruko, surprised by the way Colonel Klaus had put the question, replied: 'Yes, Colonel. I noticed that the slaker I saw was different from the others, the hole where the stone is supposed to enter was bigger than usual and it was empty, without stones.
- Klaus: OK, I'll make a note of it straight away.
At that moment, they heard footsteps coming towards them, thinking it was Dave's men who had come back for them. Klaus told his team to be ready for danger. But as the footsteps came towards them, they saw Grimaldi's little gadget coming.
'I think I'm going to get attached to this gadget, and why? Are you all huddled together like that with a funeral look on your faces?' said the man approaching them. With draki cores.
-Konrad: Draugr cores? Colonel, should I kill him?
-Apparently you're getting too worked up to hope you can kill me. You don't know much about the great AGEEL KRATER.