Unfortunately, I’m Not a Hero. 21

Unfortunately, I’m Not a Hero. 21 

Interlude: Roseanne

…

Commisioned by Shaderic

Wordcount: 2500 (+1000 Co-Written)

…

There was a knock at the door.

“Come in.” My voice felt nearly strange to my ears, given the silence and solitude I’d enjoyed for my work. I decided to stand and stretch my legs, to allow the blood to flow properly, as my guest admitted herself. It was a good choice. Once again it was Lisette, returning from Ylstu, thus I was sure that tiredness was not an option. “Good evening. I’ll have a servant bring us a meal. Take a seat, compose yourself, and give me your report.” 

The captain of my royal guard gave a grateful bow, before ridding herself of the clock she used to keep herself warm in the cold winter. It was different from how it was last. The inside was lined with square patches filled with something I could not discern. However, it resembled a quilt enough for me assume that it was a form of innocuous, additional insulation that kept the outer appearance of the equipment unaltered.

A cheap means to mass-produce winter equipment for troops that didn’t require magic or any exceptional skill. 

I needed not ask to know from where the knowledge came. 

Only Hikigaya Hachiman would bring such a thing into the world. 

I allowed my friend rest as my orders to the servants were carried out. My table was precisely cleared of all my correspondences and reports, then laid upon it was a dozen dishes I’d enjoyed from my childhood. They were delicacies that my people enjoyed, fruits from the Far East, breads enjoyed by the Pharaohs, and freshly-caught game. Yet, those dishes were accompanied by two of Hikigaya’s own design, upon which Lisette’s gaze was first drawn and hands reached for.

An energy dense-composition of dates, nuts, and grains enrobed in a fine layer of sugar that readily became favored amongst us that required more nutrition, but didn’t wish to be seen as a glutton. Then, there was the more normal option of the same foodstuff, with far less sugar and dates, but with more hearty grains that survived long journeys. Both were enjoyed by those of the country that needed more food, or required food for long journeys and wished to not hire a skilled magician, but they were blatantly military rations. Small, compact, and filled with energy, they could sustain armies upon forced march through speedy, devastating campaigns.

Hikigaya was already purchasing everything required to mass produce them on Ylstu, storing them in large quantities, and recruiting all the Wyverns and Harpies willing to go to his lands. Soon, that man will wage a war unlike any other seen in history, one that shall overturn all known strategies, and call forth oceans of blood and fire. He is bereft of greater magics, not capable of walking the path of the warrior, yet while the world has endured both legendary mages and warriors, it can only tremble in his coming for he guides the whole world inextricably towards war and destruction through a trail of ideas and innovations that cannot be ignored.

Every day, I wonder if I should’ve simply allowed nature to take its course. Instead of allowing Kunoichi to take him, I’d interceded and captured him instead of having him be spirited away to a faraway, hidden village. And, of course, what would have occurred if I had not interceded during his stay here, as despair and anguish weighed upon him more and more with every passing day spent away from battle against the Empire? If he broke beneath the weight of his guilt, would he still be the fearsome existence he is today? But, if I had allowed that to come to pass and he’d surrendered to death in the process, would his blood not be on my hands?

Yet through my decisions, Hikigaya Hachiman as he is and as coming to be, he and I are inextricably linked. Those who he saves, as well as those who he damns, are indirectly linked to myself. His actions are lauded by both sides of the court, and therefore reflect upon me, but placating both warmongers and peacekeepers does nothing but render the board equal. With neither gaining strength and power, they are deadlocked, thus my hands are tied the more both sides equal one another. The more of us saved from the empire and experiencing better lives due to innovations emboldens those who want peace, while the destroyed town and military base of the Empire raise the spirits of the warhawks. 

A knot of intricate dealings is forming and I wish to cut through it all, in accordance to my station, but I cannot help but feel… that is exactly what Hikigaya Hachiman desires. He is not my foe, but I am a challenge to what he desires. An obstacle that stops a deluge of armies from sweeping across the lands of his hated foe. He acknowledges that I saved his life, but his allegiances are murky, and my orders are only now being acknowledged and read after months of supporting him. He does not rebel, but he fights for every freedom he can get, and because he fights for each and every one of them, I must fight through them all from days and days away through letters and declarations that he cannot deny the existence of.

And, finally, a single thought about him utterly throws my mind into a chaos of consideration in every direction. Like an incessantly bobbing pebble across a placid lake, everything is changed from the moment he is involved, and I can barely attempt to keep track of all his actions… even with all the measures I put into place to study and locate him.

“Thank you for the meal, ma’am.” Lisette finished most of the meal, while I took whatever was left in my thoughts. The taste of the food was lost to my tongue, so engrossed was I in my thoughts, but that was fine. It was a good review of the matters at hand, before I would receive my report, so my time was not wasted. “I’m ready to report regarding the latest happenings in Ylstu.” With casual ease, she took from the pouch she wore upon her stomach a notebook. The notes within were not made by pen nor pencil, but by dictation. A simple voice recorder, he’d called it after explaining it to a passing mage, while disregarding it forevermore, even as it was adopted hastily by all of society. “All our requests are going through, as you expected, given his understanding of all the support that he’s been given and the debts he has incurred.”

The cost of stationing portions of my Royal Guard elsewhere wasn’t severe, especially in exchange for a closer eye on Hikigaya Hachiman. Still, he now had half-a-dozen Dragons protecting his lands, while most of my Barons would be overjoyed to call upon four of their own. Truly, he extracts a price for everything that is asked of him. 

“The Mining Guild’s request has gone through and it has already been approved. He mentioned acquiring old, outdated stockpiles of magic in order to create a monopoly, so we should take care to ensure the nation doesn’t give him what he desires.” Lisette’s report, as always, seemed logical in hindsight. A sort of logic guided the principles of Hikigaya Hachiman. A ruthless, absolute cunning that ensured that he exploited every possibility. Many were smarter than him, plenty far cleverer, and thousands more skilled, but his perspective and decisions were ignored by those who did not need such tricks… therefore he stood unmatched in a rank all his own. “The Hellhound has adapted exceptionally to the form of training he has set up. She is readily turning her tribe into a cohesive, powerful force, despite being composed of only werewolves and a singular Hellhound.”

I couldn’t help it. 

Even though I promised to stay silent and merely listen, I asked a question.

“Could you hold the land he calls his with what he has, Lisette?” Lisette is the vaunted captain of my Royal Guard. From birth, she hatched with the knowledge of her species in regards to warfare and survival, as all Dragons are meant for battle and conquest. She was born a warrior, before she became a person, and even then, she was talented for the finer intricacies of war. “If I asked you to hold Ylstu, with your nearest reinforcements being a month away, how long can you last with his forces and without his intellect?”

Lisette hesitated, before giving an answer.

“It would depend on how far the enemy is. If they are at least a day away, I am confident that I can repel them through earthworks and trenches, and the swift dispatching of their artillery.” The Lisette before Hikigaya Hachiman would simply say no. Her pride in her upbringing and power had made our lesser kin worthless in her eyes. Yet, now, with monsters she considered unfit for combat and a few dozen, human women, she imagined holding a territory worthy of a baron from any encroaching Empire force. She hated him and abhorred him, yet she thought as he did in terms of combat. Everything is pulled into him, while he is at the very eye of the storm, because if he ceases to be that storm he shall lose the will to even live. “Is… is that a good answer, ma’am? If you’re worried that I’m becoming inept in my duties, please say so and I shall endeavor to exceed your expectations—”

“No, Lisette, I was studying tactics earlier in the day, so I wished to gain your insight. I apologize for frightening you.” Lisette was filled with relief by my words, and she’d worried strongly enough that she was ready to discard her frets and woes with ease. If only Hikigaya Hachiman could do the same, then there would be hope for peace in the coming decades. Instead war approaches at a steady pace, and in my lifetime, I was sure that the long war between the Empire and Monsters will come to an end. Centuries of war… brought to its conclusion by one man. How strange. How odd. How utterly terrifying. “Rest for your journey back tomorrow. It does not do the mind well to be so strained. And, I’m sure that you’d agree that Hikigaya Hachiman is a great strain upon the mind, no?”

Lisette laughed and I politely laughed along.

She was the only one truly laughing.

I had many things to tend to, an expansive list of holdings, connections, and individuals to govern and control. My immense power as the Demon Lord allows me to head into the battlefield and wage terrible wars upon my foes, but in the realm of administration and politics, I must always be wary. If war is inextricably coming, especially if no measure of control can be extended over Hikigaya Hachiman, I must do everything in my power to prepare my people for what shall come ahead. 

Thankfully, I did not fight alone. 

The entirety of my lineage supports me. My mother established the councils and the means to coordinate the various tribes, petty kingdoms, and provinces of the disparate Kindred spanning over the continent. Her mother ventured out to the rest of the world, finding lands where humans and monsters lived and harmony, securing not only trade, but the support of foreign powers in the destruction of a force they did not wish to see beset their own lands. And, everyone before them carved out the right to rule, the frontline against the Empire, and the foundation of my throne. 

I have found the trigger for the last war between my people and the Empire. His name is Hikigaya Hachiman. He is an alight fuse, slowly burning towards a pile of death and destruction that he invests his very soul into. I could have him killed, but to do so would merely delay the inevitable, as I set it alight by taking Ylstu and stationing him there. No. He is a force that I must use to save as many of my people as possible from the coming war. 

Thus, I will back him and use him as he wishes to be used.

A poisoned arrow into the Empire’s heart.

So, that I may follow his path with a unstoppable hammer forged of my nation and all my allies. 

As he has mostly likely planned. 

However, still, for every moment I slow his gait towards oblivion… I was willing to pay nearly any price. Thankfully, as fortune would have it, all his debts required a house of goodly standing to be attached to him by marriage, therefore the price for my first means to slowing him wouldn’t be high at all.

At least for myself. 

Not so much the others brought to closer to him by way of marriage.

…

There is something to be said about tea. It’s preparation is an art, it’s serving a performance, and it’s savoring is a ritual. A well-timed cup of tea can, with the proper treatment, make any occasion better. Or at least more tolerable. Failing that, the observance of polite cordiality it introduces gives one a moment to enjoy silence, even it is little more than the quiet before the storm.

Sitting across from me, after all, is one of the people who have the most vested interest in Hikigaya Hachiman.

Lustrous golden tails fan out behind her, while sharp eyes betray nothing but polite warmth as my cup set silently down on its saucer. Kuzunoha Mai, of the Kuzunoha clan, is a regal and beautiful example of a kitsune, verging on becoming an Inari. She is a well-known philanthropist, a kind mother, secret master of a realm spanning spy ring, and a person who sees Hikigaya's appointment to rule over kindred lands as a grave mistake. Not for any personal failing on his own part, or even because of his past history as an imperial conscript, but because he is human.

It is the viewpoint of some that humans, particularly human men, are a resource to be carefully husbanded. Our great weakness is, after all, our inability to bring to bear male children. Thus, males should be protected. They should be kept busy producing and raising children. Those who desire war and those who yearn for peace have many among them in both their ranks, as a sort of unifying force between the two factions… making the matter of refusing them ever-more problematic, as instead of two-halves I would face nearly three-fifths.

Of course, Mai is hardly the kind to let personal bias influence policy. Her reasoning for opposing the appointment of a human lord in kindred lands is quite simple. The consolidation of power. In theory, the Ystlu territory should have been returned to its rightful ruler upon its return to kindred control. However, Hikigaya's means and methods stopped that attempt. His actions are lauded by both sides of the spectrum. In the eyes of those who wished for war, he dealt grievous blows to the enemy. The peacekeepers, meanwhile, looked at him for his tactic of drawing the enemy in and crushing them with little destruction to his own province.

Neither saw the killing fields or the slaughter, but they were both eager to seize the name of a hero and make it their own. Both sides made claims of his abilities furthering their agendas, despite never meeting him, or even knowing the entire truth of his circumstances.

It’s almost refreshing to meet someone who thought differently.

Mai believes that I should have gifted it to another, neighboring member of the nobility, or perhaps entrusted it directly to a military governor until such time as the land was safe again. In secret, she opposes my decision to have a human given authority. Laughably, she thinks that I disagree with her completely, even while I regret allowing him those powers.

But that is beside the point. 

Her view on the matter was simple.

Humans who live among kindred are not enslaved, have no fewer rights than the kindred they share their lives with, and even enjoy legal protections against poaching. However, does the fact that a man requires laws against being “poached” like game, not imply the inherent issue? An imbalance of power exists within our society, one that Kuzuhana Mai was more than happy to tolerate. 

Human women can choose to become kindred through pact and ritual, but human men must remain human. Most influence they gather is due to either the weight of their coin or wielded through their wives. Humans have held seats of power, but only limited ones. Temporary offices. Even those gifted with magic are located by spellcasters of the kindred, their power and virility used to enhance to greater heights the might of those who are not human.

Hikigaya Hachiman is the first human to hold a title, minor though it is.

He sets precedent. His children will inherit. His probably human children, in a territory that already borders the empire. The empire which has assembled itself centuries ago into out of half a dozen smaller nations that bound themselves together under a pact of hatred and greed. Places that were once hospitable to kindred of the genler nature, and were the first to call forth armies from other worlds using the bodies of those they once housed. 

The number who escaped the fledgling Empire are few in number… but both our memories and lives are very long indeed. 

If I grant lands to a human once, who is to say I will not do it again? Who is to say that all of those humans will share Hachiman's deep and abiding hatred for the empire? Who is to say his children, or even grandchildren will? What can be done about a rising province governed and controlled by a human, especially when so close to the Empire, if he chooses to betray the kindred in his lands and use them as materials for a new army to charge into our lands?

Thus, this meeting between a woman who believed she was acting in her interest, when in truth I was using her to my own ends.

Mai smiles, gently fanning herself even as she has an elven maid bring out a portrait. Kuzunoha Kurama smiles at me from it, polite and demure. A marriage candidate from the Kuzunoha, there to secure the bloodline. If Hikigaya's heir is kindred, then the issue is resolved at the simplest level. As his sponsor amongst the kindred, and the closest thing at hand to his mother, it is traditional that such requests go through me first.

Kurama is young, beautiful, and from my own spymasters I know that she possesses a mind like a steel-trap, a great talent in the fields of illusions, a silver tongue capable of walking the eastern courts, and a small coterie of kunoichi that she would dearly like to relocate closer to the front lines of the war to better conduct intelligence operations and raise her own spy rings. She also shared her mother’s bias towards men, seeing them as nothing but resources who cannot be trusted with power. Weighing all her strengths in one hand, then all her flaws in dogma and doctrine in the other, I ought to be able to predict how she and Hikigaya shall react to one another. Instead, my thoughts kept being diverted to the poor girl somehow running back crying to her mother, but that is something I didn’t wish to be bring up.

It would be impolite.

We were having tea, after all. 

It would be poor manners to share such a thing over tea.

For all the pride that Mai had for her daughter, as well as her own talents, she was not ready for young man that was Hikigaya Hachiman. Rumors of him spread across my lands. His works, however, outshine his personality. The songs sung of him are that of a dour, sharp-tongue hero. They don’t capture the hate that burns in his eyes, the low growl in his voice, and the way one knows he is always evaluating and plotting against all those around him. She is a mistress of lies who intends to manipulate him and bring him to heel as per her mother’s obvious wishes, but he is a man of a single, absolute truth: hate for the Empire and all those who stand in his path. 

I shall have to instruct Tanis to listen in on the two as much as possible. I’d like to know if I must intercede to save either from the other’s ire.

More so the wife, than the husband.

Still, I have taken too long to quietly ruminate on this.

Kuzuhana has overcome every challenge to reach me, to curtail every other faction who wished to have their daughter wed to Hikigaya, and has inadvertently naturalized herself as a threat in the process.  Hers and her family shall be caught in Hikigaya’s singular purpose in life, as all are who are not wary of him, and like all the rest they shall be weighed, measured, and used to his own ends.

"I see no reason to forbid your daughter from pursuing a courtship with Hikigaya." I smile, very careful to keep it polite and not allow it to stretch too far. She is convinced that I have been swindled, that I waited for letters and meetings with other mothers and daughters that shall not come. In truth, I was glad that no one else would dare apply. It saves many. "Go with my blessing. I hope that you a fortunate in your endeavors.”

No matter what she’s gathered about him, no matter what she believes about him, and no matter what lies ahead… she'll need all the fortune that could be possibly blessed upon her.

Hikigaya Hachiman, that war-obsessed soul desperately clinging to his hate in order to exist, is a challenge I wouldn’t wish upon anyone.