Unfortunately, I’m Not A Hero: 134

Unfortunately, I’m Not A Hero: 134

…

Commissioned by Shaderic

Wordcount: 2500

…

I returned to Ylstu after doing my best to stop the southern part of the pincer attack. After a week of hammering the enemy in the south, the next part of the plan was hitting the northern force, after restocking and rotating out my troops. While Kindred were hardier and stronger than regular humans, they had their limits and they broke harder when they went without their necessities and luxuries.

They fought harder for the new comforts and privileges that they had, but they also needed those new comforts and privileges to stay determined and disciplined.  If I didn’t rotate them out properly and make sure that they got what they needed, then it was natural that my troops would get rowdy. I didn’t want them getting out of control, breaking ranks, and getting themselves killed going after mana in the middle of battle, so I planned around avoiding that problem.

They could do whatever they wanted in their private lives with their salaries, but they weren’t going to live out their right-of-conquest fantasies while I was in charge.

Anyway, that was the original plan.

Restock, reorganize, and strike out against the enemy.

Unfortunately, as always, the enemy had their own initiative and weren’t going to lie down and let me kill them without a fight.

The inconsiderate bastards.

…

Henri made a few changes to the command center while I was away. A wall was knocked down, expansions were made to the communication center, and some additional maps were brought in along with a few more tables. It was the processing center of the campaign, so the more eyes and ears that we had the better, and the initial layout had chokepoints that made things difficult.

The new map area used paper maps that they checked against the magical one at the center. They were updated by hand, making it slightly more inefficient, but it allowed the main map to monitor situations instead of jumping around everywhere at everyone’s request. The additional staff for the communications portion allowed more reports to go through and reach the right people after being processed.

I was barely noticed as I entered, but that was per my instructors.

I didn’t want the place to waste any time.

The only person I needed to see at the moment was Henri and she was ready for me.

“My lord, it appears that your success has galvanized the enemy’s main force and they’ve revealed some unsightly new advances.” Henri gestured towards the room’s main map and we both approached it. Some of the others at the artifact were startled when they realized that I was suddenly present, but they were dismissed to the regular map section before they made any fuss. “Do you know what these floating constructs are?”

I took a glance at the map, which changed to show the sight of one of Henri’s familiars, and nodded when I saw what she was looking at.

“My world called them airships. They’re good for sightlines and cover.” I pointed at one of the two types sent up by the Empire and Henri zoomed in. It was basically a giant ball full of gas that obscured vision and made it harder to hit things below them. I gestured at the second kind and they were the oval shape that I expected along with carriages at the bottom. “They should be popped easily… but I’m guessing they’re not.”

“Magical protections are quite easily layered on large amounts of fabric. Layers and layers of silk provide good protection against magic and physical attacks when invested in properly… but it would be difficult to walk about in. That is circumvented in creations such as these, which are primarily fabric.”  Henri explained with a sigh and a shake of her head. She tweaked something about her familiar on the other side and the scene shifted. The airships were suddenly tinged a thick blue flame. I suppose that’s what magical stuff looks like. “As you can see, it would be foolish to try to knock them down without committing to a complete assault. It would be better to bombard them with an army surging forward to take advantage of the indirect assault, too.”

It was a reasonable plan. We didn’t have infinite supplies and munitions. If we attacked the position half-heartedly, we’d just munitions against their defenses and be without them when we needed them… but not doing anything would be problematic too. Giving them sightlines over the mountain range was the same as conceding it to them without a fight, and if they had mages on the balloons they’ll be able to observe the mountains long enough to find the traps I set there… which they’re already wary of because I set off the avalanches on the other side.  Then, there was the fact that they were obscuring their main force and making sure that I didn’t know whether or not I could just charge in there to blow them up.

If I did nothing, then I’d cede them the advantage and the mountains, so they could send people in to clear the traps.

If I did something, then I’d walk into their entrenched position.

Thankfully, I had a strategy perfect for the situation.

Hit your enemy where they aren’t.

By some guy whose name that I forgot.

“Well, it looks like it's time for the Empire to realize that every soldier they have here is a soldier they don’t have anywhere else. Give me outside targets.” The Empire now had presence in the air and it could probably dish out significant damage if I attacked it. However, even with their access to other worlds, they didn’t have an infinite amount of resources or industry to spread out their advancements everywhere. “And, there’s a reason why I skipped airships in the first place: they’re slow as hell.”

A battle avoided is a battle won.

By some guy whose name is still escaping me.

I’m sure that it isn’t my idea, because I’m not that smart and everything I do is stolen from someone better than me. Since I’m just using the knowledge and not spreading it around as mine, I’m pretty sure that I’m in the clear.

But back to the situation at hand.

“Alright, since this is a war, I’m sure that Roseanne’s old order of not striking against the Empire first is undone. We’re going to hit all the cities they have left… and burning their supply lines.” I gestured for Henri to move the map. In moments, I looked over the Empire’s frontier. It stretched widely with large gaps protected against scrying. On a small map, or from several users of magic, it wouldn’t have been obvious… but when zoomed all the way out the Empire’s protections against far-sight magic carved gashes into the map that I should see. Gray, blurry lines that showed me troop movements, supply lines, and cities from high above. “Give out the order to start loading the obsolete transports with explosives. The Empire’s either going to disperse their new defenses or take a few solid hits to the jaw and lose supply lines.”

Henri bowed at my commands and turned to the rest of the command center to relay my words.

However, as I stared at the map, a sinking feeling started forming in my stomach… which I didn’t disregard.

Because, every single time I disregarded my gut instinct, I made a huge error.

“Hm. Send a concentrated force of Familiars to the nearest city. I want eyes on them.” I ordered an investigation, which Henri relayed. Looking at the map, I felt like something obvious was missing, which should be present. I didn’t know what it was, but it was something that the Empire wouldn’t have missed. They were a bunch of dirty, enslaving bastards, but they were unfortunately well-versed in warfare. So, what wasn’t I seeing that my instinct was telling me that I should? “Hm. What am I missing, Ur? I feel like I’m missing something.”

My Amazonian guard came forward at my statement and looked over the situation with arms crossed.

She spoke after a few moments and made my blood run cold.

“Where are the slave legions? We see quite a few, but this isn’t enough for the Empire to use.” Ur spoke with a frown, while I used my own magic to search Ylstu’s borders. There were one or two massive groups of people about to be sent in as cannon fodder, but not nearly enough for the Empire’s tastes. So, where were all the bodies that the Empire normally employed as ablative? “Hachiman, is something wrong?”

I strayed close enough to the Empire’s protections against scrying the map began to fizzle, but I got what I was looking for.

“Freeze.” With a word I had the enchanted table’s replication of place I viewed go still. It was just in the corner of my vision, behind the Empire’s camp, and hidden behind their most massive army, their rows and rows of magical towers, and the new technology that they deployed. All of which took up all the attention of everyone involved. “There it is. I knew that the bastards had something planned.”

The map froze to show an emaciated, nearly-dead slave wheeling a large amount of dirt and rocks.

The Empire was using its near-endless amount of manpower and magic to dig a road beneath the mountain pass.

And, I didn’t know when they started.

“Call for the Dwarves and get scouts on this location as soon as possible. If we have any way to look underground, then now’s the time to show it off.” I ordered Henri the moment that she noticed what I was found and she communicated to the rest of the staff. My eyes were on the evidence of digging in enemy lines, behind all the layers of concealment that they put up, and I wracked my mind for anything that I might’ve said to give the Empire the idea… and didn’t like what I conjured up. “I think… that the Empire’s planning on making a clearing by blowing up the pass and widening it, so that their entire army can charge through.”

Without that natural chokepoint, the likelihood of us being overrun by sheer numbers was high and we’d likely get pushed all the way back to our own mountain-range. It wasn’t a defeat by any means, but it would mean losing most of Ylstu and the progress I’d made. That could easily invite my neighbors and political rivals in the Kindred land to take me down and whittle away at Kurama’s influence… which was a loss as far as I was concerned.

I hoped that I was wrong about what I found, but it was likely that I wasn’t.

…

The reports came in an hour or so later, primarily thanks to a few new Phantoms that I had at my disposal. The former Kunoichi travelled quickly in Ylstu, which they technically “haunted.” They could easily phase through matter that wasn’t alive or enhanced by magic and could go completely transparent. Combine those abilities with their previous ones as Kunoichi, and they made for great reconnaissance troops and counter-espionage.

The fact that all five of the Phantoms reintroduced themselves to me by just walking out of walls, appearing beneath tables, and floating in the rafters completely naked was something I’d address later. Even if they were using their new attributes to be more creative with their flashing. Being perpetually haunted by lecherous ghosts sticking their bits and bobs out of walls enticingly was something I didn’t have the mental willpower to confront with an invasion looming on my doorstep.

But back to my suspicions about the Empire preparing a massive underground sapping charge to blow the natural chokepoint between Ylstu and the Empire apart.

The good news was that the Empire found out the hard way that just ten feet below the mountain pass was solid rock. If they wanted to tunnel through it, then they needed more than just bodies and magic. They needed a lot more time that they could possibly get, because their flanking and surrounding forces would get chopped to bits before they finished.

The bad news was the fact that they were salvaging their plan by digging as far as they can and using more explosives.

In other words, even though things looked bad, they were doubling down because they were backed into a corner.

According to the Dwarves, the amount of firepower that they’d need to massively widen the mountain-pass was immense. It would be to the amount of several hundred magical scrolls. They were confident it would take weeks for them to manage it, which was enough time for us to counter the whole affair. The timeline changed when I reminded them that the Empire didn’t need to use magical scrolls or artifacts for big explosions.

They had Kindred.

One Salamander going off was enough to rock a city, melt stone, and create an inferno.

I’d done it myself to one of their cities and I was sure that they remembered.

If the Empire used that knowledge, channeled its power, and lined up the bodies… the Dwarves admitted that the Empire would just need a dozen or so.

Which they certainly had.

So, despite the good news, the bad news was that they just needed more lobotomized Kindred on the field than they would otherwise. With enough Salamanders, they could widen the pass and create an encroaching inferno on the forest, and just wait for the molten rock to cool. Then, they’ll pass through in force.

After that information was taken in and analyzed, I switched plans once again.

Or, rather, unveiled a plan that I didn’t want to use, despite being a malicious piece of shit that wanted the Empire destroyed and its memory struck from the history books. I had a feeling that Henri considered the idea halfway through the talks we had with our scouts and specialists, but she didn’t bring it up because she knew that it was crossing the line even for me.

But, in the end, I was going to protect Ylstu no matter the cost.

I met my Lich’s gaze as the meeting concluded and broached the topic with a word.

“It’s time. Start the modifying the mana payloads and alter them into the composition we discussed.”

“Yes, my lord.”

I introduced a lot of things to this world that I hoped would persist long after I died.

However, I hoped that they’d forget this one.

Magical poison gas delivered via cruise missile was something that I’d probably be remembered for forever, though.