Fragment 36 Insight

Hans was slightly trickier than most. It could have wound up overwhelmingly abrasive and analytical, but I decided against that. Everyone knows that side of Hans, but what about the one even he denies? He knows himself inside and out, and yet he still carries the first letter to his first love. Since I didn’t want this turning into some sort of romance, I simply designed a fragment based around the idea of acceptance.

Through everything he’s been through, he’s already accepted his life has been relatively garbage to him. Not one of his desires were met, so he’s embraced pessimism like a shield to keep his jaded self intact from now on. In addition, he also uses his observation and analytical skills to see who servants really are based on as little appearances, speech, and actions as possible. For someone with all these skills, surely he can identify he’s overlooking things with himself, but chooses not to care because it’s not worth the investment.

It’s the main reason I waited this long to focus a fragment on him. He needed many, many months of exposure in order to have the glimmer of a thought that there might possibly be something else. He’s spent all this time simply being content with his current situation, and not enjoying almost anything. There was the book burning in London which he likely enjoyed based on the scene (Canon occurrence), but it was more like a fleeting memory. He needed something tangible and pleasant, not to make him happy, but to simply accept the idea not everything is as it seems.

His final admittance to read about his first love would be the right ticket.

But to get there, he just needed a little push. With all the happy, pleasant scenery surrounding him, which he could simply ignore, he needed something more along his lines. Gabrielle getting practically devastated in a wrestling match was a unique way to go about it, as well give Hans a different specialty no one expected: Commentary Announcer. He’s got the voice and the observation skills to make it happen, which made it all the more eye opening when he watched the symbolism in Gabrielle’s fight. There was no way she was winning against Delaqua, yet she still wanted to keep up an appearance. It struck different cords with him.

And so he goes down the road of simple acceptance. Nothing happy and joy filled. He’ll still almost definitely be the jaded caster, but at least now he may be a little more open to certain ideas.

The fight scene was fun to write. I wanted to be sure that there was a wide variety of employees, even if most would remain undeveloped compared to the “Big Four” as I call them. They simply help showcase different perspectives and people. Gabrielle seemed like the best physical fighter in Chaldea thanks to Scathach’s training, but I wanted to show that was wrong when magecraft wasn’t involved. There was no one else who could seemingly match up with her, only because she was the only one seen really training.

So, I aimed to fix that way back in the epilogue of Their Guiding Lightby introducing animosity with a supervisor. Simple design to fit the purpose, with a basic personality but a stunning background in Mixed Martial Arts. Nothing too crazy, but just enough to be what Gabrielle needs at the moment.

Delayed Addition:

This Fragment’s title also introduces the idea of perspective. Here’s a link to the relevant post regarding the differing opinions readers have come to

Next Fragment we return to the saber class again. That’s all the hint really, since anything more likely gives it away.

Chapter Music that played if you couldn’t figure it out: