“Yes. And I must say, despite campaigning in many different lands, from Italy to the Spanish Netherlands, I have never had to work so hard as to fight you. So I said to myself, Karl, why should I squander so much effort to fight this beast who only wishes to be left alone, when I can simply hire him to work for me instead.”

“Huh?”

“You like to fight, don’t you, Franks?”

He nodded.

“From my observations, it seems you especially like to seek out the beasts of Satan’s horde to destroy them. Yes?”

“That is my mission.”

“Excellent. There is gold, fame, and goodwill to be earned in such endeavors, but you have already depopulated this part of Europe of all its vilest beasts and witches. Now you have nothing to do but hide from people like me. Why limit yourself to the darkest confines of the empire, when you can travel the world as part of my regiment instead? Think of the interesting things you could kill! You kill the monsters you would kill anyway, I get paid for it. You seem to enjoy battle, so in between your dispatching of whatever monsters we find, you can fight for me. As part of my regiment, you would be free from the petty harassment by the local authorities. We would claim you as one of our own. To the world you would be considered a monster no longer, but merely another soldier. You would have food, shelter, clothing, and an endless supply of gunpowder, and all I would ask in return is something that you would do regardless.”

That did sound better than hiding in caves and barns and stealing pigs from villagers.

“Think of it this way, Franks. If you stay outside of mankind, then eventually someone like me will destroy you. If you are part of my regiment, you will be seen by them as a man, nothing more.”

“What is this . . . regiment?”

“They call us many things, but for you we would be your new family, if you are willing to abide by our terms and regulations, of course.”

He had killed just about everything worth killing in this part of the world, and knew absolutely nothing of the lands beyond. He shrugged.

“Excellent, Franks! Welcome to the Hessians!”

* * *

Franks pulled his stolen car over just after crossing the Virginia state line. He got out and limped into the tall grass. MHI’s orc did fantastic work, even better than the MCB’s resident surgeons, but it still took time to get new limbs working correctly. If there had been any other drivers on the road they might have found the sight odd, a giant man in a black suit standing out in the weeds for no apparent reason, but the reason he was on this particular road was precisely because of the lack of other drivers.