Unfortunately, I’m Not A Hero: 138

Unfortunately, I’m Not A Hero: 138

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Commissioned by Shaderic

Wordcount: 2500

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Relying on superweapons to turn the tide of battle was a bad idea.

But not having superweapons was even worse.

Every ruler would sleep better at night knowing that they had a way to inflict devastation upon their opponents.

Yes, before you ask, I am a tyrannical dictator.

That’s part of the feudal lord job description.

“Any luck, Henri?”

“Beyond using all the corpses, we have at our disposal to create more soldiery? No.” Henri glided across the floor as I walked just behind her. Clad in a large cloak and hat, along with a gown beneath those pieces of clothing, I was glad that my advisor in both arcane and martial matters was still dressing properly. “Even though we have kept the road clear, the merchants who deal with magical reagents and resources loathe to risk traveling zones of conflict.”

“Even we pay them ahead?”

“We cannot afford the price, despite how rich we are, unless we start taking male prisoners and selling them off as slaves. Which I know you shall not approve of.”

I grunted and nodded at Henri’s words.

“Yeah, that’s right.” I followed her into the Necropolis. Most of the citizenry was properly situated in the Dwarven fortress. I’d invested a lot towards making that place productive and profitable, then I used most of the profits to make it expand and expand. The living accommodations didn’t suit everyone perfectly, but it was safe from most forms of attack, which made it bearable. “So, what have you been doing with the extra funds I gave you?”

Roseanne, surprisingly, quickly gathered up support for me and sent supplies, weapons, and funds my way. There was a steady stream arriving and Cellphone-Chan was allowed to work with our logistics center. We weren’t going to be starving or going out there with only claws and fangs anytime soon, but the sooner the current invasion was over the better off we were.

Henri was receiving most of those funds to make powerful weapons and mass produce Undead.

Upon entering the Necropolis, I found that the latter was going well.

The largely empty location beneath Ylstu before was now teaming with Undead. The elites that were made up with those who evolved from Henri’s court led the masses. The bodies we gathered from the fighting were naturally incarnated as lesser Undead. Ghouls, Skeletons, and Zombies were the most common, and the former Empire soldiers followed the commands of their superiors. They were receiving the proper care to actually get minds, and their time in the army was going to be compensated, and I wasn’t going to throw them in as cannon fodder at the enemy.

The Undead were arguably more useful as incessant laborers than they were as soldiers, but that’s something for my future-self to gloat over and make money off.

As of now, I was going to use the new Undead to hold the line as massed, trained troops.

“Hm, I do not know why you want an obscenely powerful weapon, my Lord. What you’ve gathered seems mighty enough.” Henri looked over the marching formations and gave her opinion on the matter. I was touched. Not inappropriately, either. It was a surprising move for a Kindred, let alone one as lewd as Henri. “This force could easily overwhelm anything in its path.”

“Is that so? Well, it can’t hurt to be overprepared.” I looked over the force as well. I decided that if I was going to have land forces, then they were going to be exceedingly tough and capable. Undead were already naturally tireless, required no supplies, and could summon monstrous strength given their bodies didn’t understand pain signals. They could literally rip themselves apart lifting something over their heads and eventually get crushed by whatever they picked up. As front-line troops went, they were great choices. “They’re decent, I think.”

Given the composition of the Empire, I decided that Undead Legion was served using long spears like most peasant levies did back in the feudal era.

However, after some research, most of the pike-users were the Zombies, because they held formations and heeded orders from superiors the most quickly. The Skeletons, for some reason, were good with projectile weapons as a racial trait, so I gave them bows and quivers full of arrows. The Ghouls were mostly rapid and had to be leashed up, but they were stronger and tougher than their counterparts, so I armed them up, gave them axes, and intended for them to be vanguards or flanking units.

The officers in charge of them were mostly trained to feel out for any opponents using magic and retreat their forces, so that they wouldn’t get bombarded out of existence. If needed and there was no need to protect their forces from magical artillery, they were their own artillery pieces, and so the Undead battalions were well rounded.

And, because they didn’t suffer from poison or disease, they could wade into combat after I saturated the area with weaponized Manticore poison.

Still, though, I wanted something to supplement my forces.

“Decent. My lord, you have an undead tide covered in steel, supported by powerful officers, and capable of wading into clouds of disease with ease.” Henri sent a glare my way, but I just shrugged. I wasn’t about to pretend that I was asking for something reasonable. However, the truth was that I’d given her funds and asked her to make something that could change the course of the war, after talking to her about my previous world. “I suppose that it’s to be expected. Boys like their toys, after all.”

“That complaint would hurt me more, if you didn’t want to be a toy too.”

Henri didn’t give a reply to those words and turned up her nose, but her body betrayed her. Her walking started to have more swaying involved.

Kindred really have negative defense against teasing.

But back to more important matters.

We reached the sealed off area where Henri conducted her most dangerous experiments. It was protected to the point that even the Kunoichi following me had to follow me through the guarded entrance, instead of finding another path through.

The room was simple, but vast.

At the center was a project of Henri’s that I had disrupted when we first met.

A gateway for powerful creatures to enter the world and wreak havoc.

“My first plan was disrupted and nameless spawn entered the world. It wrought significant havoc, but nowhere near what I had wished.” I nodded as Henri gestured at the floor. The plain stone suddenly came alight with innumerable, interconnected lines. If I had an aerial view of the room, I’d recognize it as some sort of ritual array. On foot, however, it just looked like a bunch of flowing lines on the floor. “I’d intended to use the death and destruction that followed to grant my followers sentience and new life. The destruction of the entire Frontier would’ve ensued, if I hadn’t been stopped.”

“That would’ve nice. Sorry about that.” I apologized sincerely for my actions. “I should’ve let you fail, then saved your ass. It would’ve been easier.”

“Quite.”

Henri pouted a bit, but shook her head and stretched out her hand.

The tens of thousands of lines lifted themselves off the ground and rushed towards her open palm. Her face grew strained with a frown and narrowed eyes, but her grip on her ancestral staff was firm, and before long all the lines on the floor formed a swirling orb in her grasp, which she looked over before turning my way.

“This should summon a minor cosmic horror from beyond the stars. Deliver it to the center of the Frontier and it will wreak great havoc upon the Empire.” The word ‘minor’ would’ve put some people off, but I wasn’t an idiot. Henri’s failure, when we met, was a force that took an entire Empire fortress and Amazons to defeat. This thing was a few orders of magnitude stronger. “Do you have a delivery method in mind?”

A smile played on Henri’s blue lips and I rolled my eyes.

“As if you already don’t know. I grumbled and gestured for her to follow me. We left the vast, empty space together followed by all my guards.” We started making our way back out of the Necropolis. “Yeah, I’ve got something. The prototypes all worked properly and reached halfway across the ocean from Lua’Kona.”

“A magnificent achievement… but still a pale shadow to the capabilities of your homeland.”

I grunted, since I was unsure whether I wanted to bring that into the world.

Then, it occurred to me I already did, since Chemical weapons were already considered weapons of mass destruction.

This was just a different payload.

So, I answered Henri’s comment with a shrug.

“A pale shadow’s all I need to finish this fight, so it’s enough.”

If my continental missile system gets other people interested, and the payloads mass-produced, then that’s a problem for my future self to handle.

At this moment, I needed a way to hit the Empire back while they put me to siege.

Long-range cruise missiles with very dangerous payloads were what I needed to do that.

Maybe, I’ll regret it later.

But, right now, I won’t.

Ylstu was in danger, so I couldn’t hold back, just because I might regret it in the future.

People were giving up their lives to protect Ylstu, and having a regret or two about changing the entire world was a small price to pay to help them out.

…

A’Bel’s hands pulled me up and away from my chair, and I blearily realized that my last hour-glass for the day was finished. Therefore, my Demon was picking me up to march me off to sleep.

I grunted and addressed her directly when she ignored my silent request.

“Put me down, I can walk, A’Bel.”

“I refuse, my dear Master. You might run away, after all.”

The titanic Demon carried me like a cat with both hands. The doors between my office and my bedroom were opened by my guards. The maids at the hallway doing the last of their chores primly curtsied as I was marched to my room. A’Bel’s thoughts on the matter couldn’t be anymore plain. Even without our mental link, I would’ve known that she was pleased with her actions.

For a second, I wondered why I would runaway from going to bed, since I usually went to bed right after getting informed by one my guards to go to sleep.

Then, I realized A’Bel was taking me to my bathroom instead and I began to struggle just as she crossed the threshold into my tiled, private space.

Kurama was inside wearing nothing but a smile… but I found myself calming down at the sight of her, even as A’Bel took off my clothes and put me on the seat in front of my wife.

I knew Kurama well enough to know that she wouldn’t take advantage of me.

So, this was just one of her ways of taking care of me.

“A bath, huh?” I looked around. The large bathtub I had built was filled with water and suds. It steamed enticingly and I felt a weariness in my bones. When was the last time I took a bath and didn’t just clean myself? I couldn’t recall. “Thanks, I guess.”

“You’re welcome, my dear husband.” Kurama was quick and began to clean me I stayed seated. Any attempt I made to help her was shot down and she tended to me, while I simply sat… and let myself relax. Was I aware of the fact that a red-haired, very attractive Kitsune was behind me? Yes. But because I was so tried, my body didn’t even react. All I felt was relief. “Allow me to ease your burdens.”

“I’m sitting still and not telling you to stop… but I guess I should be clear. This is fine. I like it. Thanks.” The words felt flat on my lips and Kurama gave a hum of acknowledgement. Lathered in soap and then rinsed off by gentle hands. It was more calming than I thought possible. When the splash of water went over me, Kurama got up and I took that as my cue to enter the tub.

Kurama moved to leave and giggled when I raised an eyebrow.

“I might be a loving wife, my dear, but even my will has limits.” Kurama shook her head and took a towel from a rack. She gave a prim bow, before a less pure smile played on her face. “Although, if you need relief…”

I shook my head.

“Too stressed, but thanks.” I moved towards the tub and lowered myself into it. Kurama nodded and left, allowing me to soak. The heated waters were close to hotsprings, but it didn’t smell like sulfur.

Instead, it smelled of flowers and that only added to the relaxing effects. In the back of my mind, some angry part of me told me that people were dying out there on my orders, while I was enjoying a bubble bath. To that muted scream, my answer was the ache in the forefront of my skull surrounding my eyes, as well as the soreness all over my body.

I’d do them more of a disservice by wrecking myself and not commanding them properly.

Besides that, it wasn’t like I was ordering luxury goods, feasting, and sleeping the days away, while everyone else fought. I was maintaining what I could offer to my soldiers by keeping a keen mind, developing projects that could help them, and ensuring that I didn't break down.

Not only that, but being alone in my private bath for the first time in weeks… gave me a bit of time to just not think.

I couldn’t control everything that happened. My troops were fighting on three fronts against multiple threats. There were capable people leading them and A’Bel was looking over them. They were receiving a constant stream of supplies and reinforcements. I was pulling people out before they got tired and made a mistake. Hell, I was getting trouble from my troops because they wanted to stay, and didn’t want to “waste time” going back.

We were holding well against the siege.

Casualties were happening, people were getting hurt, and a few died… and chose to rest easy after we recovered them and gave them the proper rites.

It was nothing like the past.

The days where my soldiers died in droves, because they had to, or we’d all die.

The days when no one had anything to eat, let alone potions and reinforcements.

The days when I watched my people either killed, raped, or taken away.

The days when we had to bury people in mass graves.

Today and all the days since then was better, and I planned on making each and every one of them better.

I’m only human, but I could do that much.