Unfortunately, I’m Not A Hero 37

Unfortunately, I’m Not A Hero 37

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Wordcount: 2500

Commissioned by Shaderic

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Compensation is inherently required in all healthy relationships. The currency involved isn’t always money, but there’s always a trade-off involved in any normal relationship. Outside of family, society goes off the simple law that if you do something, you’re expected to get something in return for it. The individual who just takes and takes, without giving anything back, is universally reviled and needs to watch the protect themselves, which in turn leads them to fostering relationships of convenience with individuals who can protect them from everyone else. 

Yes, I’m implying that political corruption is just compensated dating with more steps and greasy old men involved, but that’s beside the point.

What I’m getting at is that with Ylstu growing, my Amazons aren’t enough to handle a full-scale uprising by my populace. Though I’m certainly doing better than expected in lording over all the Kindred who are living in my society, individuals are inherently geared towards making their lot in life even better. When the current state of affairs becomes the norm, it becomes basic and natural, thus the demand for more rises. 

So, without a doubt, the Kindred in my town will grow accustomed to things, and they’ll start getting antsy about getting more in exchange for their work. Yet 

And, unlike back home, I can’t just saunter over to the next developing nation with no minimum wage laws, lots of extra population, and uncaring politicians to outsource what I need to other people. The option of just fucking over my populace, in order to get a better bottom line, is unavailable. 

So, I actually need to care for, carefully train, and appease my townsfolk. 

In simpler terms, I need to compensate them and appease them for their work, before they ask for more than I can give and find out that I don’t have enough Amazons to keep them down. Nor do I have the funds to replace everything that a riot could destroy overnight, when that riot will be filled with Kindred instead of human beings. 

Thankfully, it’s not a waste of money.

People who are happy and ecstatic over their lifestyle will defend it, work harder, and contribute more when asked. Couple that fact with my strong image as powerful, young man who routinely fucks over the Empire, I can be admired and feared by my populace, thus getting the best, optimal result: my people willing happily work hard and pay high taxes, because they both want the outcome of success, and fear the results of failure. 

In short, I have both the carrot and the stick required to guide my population wherever I wanted, as long as I was willing to maintain and contribute to both.

And, while it’ll be a while before I could get a police/military force that I can trust as much as my Amazons through Ashe and her werewolves, I can make the carrot nice and shiny, while taking all the credit for it until then.

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“Libraries, bath houses, taverns with exotic foods, gambling, and a place for circuses to arrive and perform.” A’Bel mused as she looked upon the beginnings of Ylstu’s entertainment district. It was just the size of a small street, with many of the businesses having both signs and criers to denote their business. The latter drew in more attention, since not much of my town could read, but that’ll change in the future. “My, my, this town is going to be the envy of the world, if this district expands as you desire it, my dear summoner.”

“Only because no one else is trying. I win by default.” I didn’t mind, of course. Because everyone else is stuck with feudal policies, there’s very little money flowing amongst their workers. If I could get away with just having a population farm and pop out babies, because Kindred have natural weapons and advantages over the average human, I would. However, due to the fact I need to attract people to Ylstu, I’m paying people wages, and taking some back through income taxes. Everything they had left needed to be squeezed out through commercial taxes, through stores and entertainment that I subsidized. “It’s nothing to be proud about.”

“Until your neighbors do the same, only to find their peasantry taking their money and coming here to enjoy themselves.” A’Bel gave a light hum, whilst keeping the umbrella over me to keep me in the shade. The umbrella’s naturally too small, so she just had to move so close that fantasy-latex sealed side-boob collided with my face every other step, but it was slightly better than her shielding me from the sun via “oppai hat.” Very slightly. “Is that not your plan, my dear summoner? With Lady Roseanne forcing all to adopt your ideals, you’re setting up the means to exploit the rising peasantry in their desire for entertainment?” 

“…It’s not my fault, if they fail even with Tanis telling them everything I’m doing and why.” That’s my argument and I’m sticking to it. If Roseanne is bringing up everyone, before she could wage her war, then I’ll be taking advantage of the extra funds that’ll find its way to the rising middle class. While Kurama’s family is a good source of money, it’s better to have multiple sources of income instead of one. Even if this district will only drain funds as I keep expanding it, the moment Ylstu becomes known as a place to spend money, I’ll be rolling in cash by being ahead of the curb. “Anyone with half a brain will do less complaining about having to pay peasants, and work on how to get their money back.”

“By spending money that they do not have, my dear summoner?”

“Merchants are always willing to buy antiques, jewelry, and other things. If you want to win, you have to swallow your pride, and not give a shit about how you look, until you can laugh at everyone else from the top.” 

Not that I’ll let anyone else share my place at the top—

“Not that you’ll let anyone else share that spot.”

“Dammit, can you let me forget you can tell what I’m thinking for a second!?” The worst part is she’s not invading my privacy and actually reading my mind. If that was the case, I could tell her to fuck off without any regrets. No, her “mind reading” is actually her being able to tell what I feel, then using it to whatever else information she could gather. I don’t care if it took you centuries to get to your current level of understanding of humans, because it’s still a bullshit power! Besides, everyone knows that timeskips exist only to let authors be lazy, so that they can justify all their asspulls! “Can’t you just let me properly enjoy my next way of exploiting Kindred, before they catch on!?”

“If you were truly enjoying it, I would my dear summoner.” A’Bel smiled in that infuriating way that told me she wasn’t going to continue, since she trusted me to figure out the situation by myself. The worst part was that I couldn’t back down from the challenge. The shark-toothed smile she made me want to prove her wrong, thus my mind did its best to twist the situation in my favor, but that involved confronting her words head on. Thus, in this case, I ran headlong into the fact that I was introducing a morally dubious ways of separating people from their money into a new world. “See? Don’t you feel better now?”

“Tch, shut up.” I looked at the singular gambling hall I’d created. My feet took me to it the moment I walked in. It operated in the typical Japanese style, even though I couldn’t get my hands-on Pachinko machines. Everything was just based on cards, dice, and a few “string” games where Kindred spent tokens trying to find the “right” string amongst hundreds for a single grand prize. Everything was dealt with in tokens exchanged from currency, which could be turned into prizes, token vouchers, or slivers of gold that I’ll happily purchase at a set rate. “Aren’t Demons supposed to encourage people into fucking themselves over morally? Aren’t you suppose to entice me into making this world’s first, foremost gambling den?”

I’m sure that the Dwarves, or even some Goblin or Gnome, can help me make slot machines, roulettes, and pachinko machines. Again, with Roseanne going out of her way to make the lives of her people better, and redistributing money… there’s a lot to be made in the future for tourism, entertainment, and gambling. While I’m sure that I can’t control all three markets without getting a house visit from the Demon Lord, I can be the first to make them, and graciously share the plans with everyone else with the singular caveat that I get credited for it all. So, even if other casinos and parlors pop up, everyone will know where the idea, the best, and the most straightforward place to waste their money is.

Yet the Demon hanging her boob on my shoulder, and mashing it against my cheek, was against it.

What the hell. 

“I wish to entice you into doing what’s best for you, my dear summoner.” And, I’m guessing what’s best for me is to lay back, close my eyes, and think of my mental health, while letting everyone at me. Yeah, no. I have things to do, promises to keep, and a lot of grudges to repay. Even if I’m being forced to stay on the defensive for now, the time will come when Roseanne will get off her ass, and I’ll be there when the Kindred finally decide to fuck over the Empire. And, that’ll be great. “And, I think that you hate this building, and wish that it doesn’t exist within Ylstu, where people you care for, and who care for you live and work.”

I looked around the insides of the gambling house. I’d dressed it up just like it’s supposed to be dressed up. Every staff member is polite, courteous, and very helpful to the point that anyone who comes looking in for trouble will be forced to say that they’re perfect employees. All the games have their rules set as plain as day, and every single prize offered has real, tangible value. Everyone in the casino is having fun, from the smallest Goblin and the biggest Wyvern, and I already know that it’s making enough cash to fund the next extension of the district within a single season. 

However, everything about the place is rigged in my favor, and I’m turning modern techniques and understanding of gambling on a society that’s mostly illiterate, as well as unable to gather the data, statistics, and conduct the research necessary to understand that the only one who’ll profit from the casino is the casino’s owner i.e. me. And, in order to make sure that money keeps flowing, I’m planning on expanding it, creating machines to further exploit people, and make gambling addicts who’ll use every last cent they have chasing after the big prize that they’ll statistically never be able to get.

Dammit.

Fucking dammit.

“Fine. I get it. Dammit.” I turned on my heel, after looking over the casino, and left it. “I’m turning it into an hourly arcade.” The amount of potential money I’ll lose is immense. Giving up on gambling, as well as utterly shafting it by telling Roseanne how fucked up it is, will kill an industry that I can exploit in the crib. However, in the end, I did hate the fucking idea of inflicting modern gambling on an illiterate populace of thrill seekers who’ll never know better. “But if I can’t use this, no one else can either. Roseanne’s getting the whole story and this is never going to spread, especially if I’m not using it myself.”

“You needn’t force yourself to be a recalcitrant villain, my dear summoner. I find your heroics just as enticing.” Yeah. I can tell due to a very pointed, physical source of evidence that now exists in the corner of my vision. If I were some ego-only, id-deficient moron, I’ll blush and stammer at the sight. However, given the fact that I’ve just gotten rid of a very good source of income, and now have to beg Kurama for money, I’m not enticed in the slightest. I have a feeling that I’m rapidly approaching the point where my infinite source of money is going to start asking me to do something in return for her support. Woe is me, my red-haired, buxom Kitsune wife who surrounds herself with fetish ninjas is going to start making me offers I can’t refuse. “I’m proud of your actions, and I am sure that all who will know of what you’ve done, will be as well.”

“Hmph, pride isn’t going to save any lives, keep people happy, or get me money.” My words only got a few giggles from my Demon, while we walked down the rest of the entertainment district. The bookstore and library were both getting more attention than I anticipated, since the Kindred were surprisingly enterprising and happy learn how to read. The bookstore’s shelves had only a few copies of every book left, while the library was outright empty, except for the books I dictated needed to remain on premises and be loaned out only for an hour at a time. Naturally, gender bent fairy tales where the Princes became Kindred who rescued Husbands from evil humans were very popular. “If this isn’t going to make as much money as I thought, it means I need to expand everything else.”

“Oh?”

I ignored the obvious invitation to “impress” A’Bel more in favor of actually thinking what I’ll be needing, due to my abrupt change. Every challenge has a solution, and I’m not afraid to declare something a lost cause, and move on to something else. 

The first thought that occurred to me was naturally in regards towards my agriculture and the animal aspects of it. If I’m not going to treat my people like cash cows, then I’ll use actual animals I have no issue raising for profit. Thus, I’m going to take advantage of the fact that Ylstu’s going to become the end of the Kindred’s first train line. That gives me an advantage in goods, if I can produce and process it better than anyone else in Kindred lands, since everyone needs food in order to survive and will always want their food for cheap.

So, I’ll take care of two problems at once.

I’ll show off to Roseanne how to raise animals more efficiently, and when the number of animals need dedicated facilities to handle them, I’ll “remember” how “my” people handled it back home. The immense herds eating fodder crops will eventually go my way, once all the butchers find that they can’t handle them all, as well as the increased demand. Thus, I’ll get a market under my thumb, and get the money that I need.

Hmmm?

What’s that?

I’m still fucking over an entire industry of people who’ve dedicated their lives to learning certain skills that I’ll invalidate?

Eh, I’m sure I get a pass from that guilt for destroying Gacha before it manifests in this world.