Unfortunately, I’m Not A Hero: 129: Interlude: Henri

Unfortunately, I’m Not A Hero: 129: Interlude: Henri

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Commissioned by Shaderic

Wordcount: 2500

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Once again, my home was to be surrounded by enemies, but unlike in my first life… I felt more than just fear and terror as our foes encircled us.

“My lady, my Wyverns are clamoring for battle. Send us out, please!”

“The Harpies feel the same! Staying behind the mountains is foolish when we can fight!”

“Our pack leader isn’t here, but we can still fight anything. Please send us out!”

In the final days of my family’s territory, none came forward to launch any sort of offensive. When people were called to launch a breakthrough, so that even a fragment of the people we protected could try and escape, none answered. Not because of lack of courage, but because those who could have accomplished the deed were already dead.

Yet, now, there was no shortage of people who wished to lash out and fight against Ylstu’s foes, despite its lord’s orders to hold firm.

“Your lord has bid you to hold fast and refrain from expending your strength. The time will come for you all to fight. For now the auxiliaries shall be fighting, while you all await for your appointed hour.” In my lord and lady’s absence, I ruled over Ylstu. As regent, atop all my other duties, I was to dutifully convey his commands to his people to the best of my ability. That meant more than just conveying his will, but also ensuring that they were completed as finely as possible. “If you all wish for battle, head to the training areas. The Amazons will be more than happy to ensure that all of your skills are still sharp.”

My words elicited a mixed response from the three leaders.

“M-my flock and I will return to our nests for now, then! Call upon us if needed.”

“You can’t be serious! My sisters will be ground into the dirt, if we do that!”

“We were already there and they told us we couldn’t play anymore!”

My words only solved a third of the problem and the Harpies were scurrying away instead of using their idle time hiding instead of doing anything. So, I called upon the advice that my lord parted to me in one of our many talks: busy people can’t get into trouble. He followed that phrase with claims about wasteful bureaucracy and youth being crippled, but I ignored that portion in favor of the spirit of the advice given.

“Very well, then, I suppose I can find something worthwhile for you all to do with all your energy.” I tabulated the current needs of the city in my mind, as I read reports on the latest attacks on the Empire. The first dozen or so missile strikes were very effective, especially when swiftly followed by transports laden with explosives. However, now, the Empire’s forces were erected defenses against aerial attack spreading themselves out into smaller sections. Between the defenses shooting them down, and both explosive measures doing less damage due to spread out enemies, I knew things couldn’t continue. “Harpies, we need more movers for the auxiliary forces. Work with them and gain the glory you seek, but do not waste lives, and be ready to return quickly when you’re called.”

“U-understood.”

After that, I turned to the Wyverns.

“The latest long-range attacks have made the Empire erect defenses and scatter their forces. Their defenses are primarily mages on hastily-built towers. Assemble your host into small squads for killing mages, rain fire upon the spread out camps, and force them back into their fortresses.” I spoke with Hachiman at length about his world’s military practices. Much of what he told me was beyond our capability, and even beyond his home, as it was reserved for the strongest of his world's nations… but we both agreed crude approximations of those tactics and methods, coupled with this world’s assets and doctrines were more than enough to give us the advantages that we wished. “Focus on armoring yourselves, do not land for any protracted battles, and coordinate with the auxiliaries in order to not be pursued. You are all essential in the battle for Ylstu and I will not have you expended before that time comes.”

“Hah, now that’s a mission! My girls will get it done, lady!”

With that settled, I turned to the Werewolves typically under Ashe’s command.

“The enemy scouting parties are nearing our rear and are set to cut us off from the rest. I need you and your people to patrol in force, kill any Empire soldiers you find, and hound them within the forested trails for as long as you can.” Ambush tactics were not unknown to the Kindred, especially to Kindred who used to live in the wilderness in tribes. However, the Empire could crush such tribes with ease, so we armed and taught these Kindred differently. “Set the mines and explosives, block paths, and bargain properly with all strong, feral Kindred that you find. Just like all the others, don’t engage them directly. I want you all back here safely and with minimal injuries.”

“The pack will do things properly, lady Henri!”

The brown-haired Werewolf nodded at that and followed her fellow commanders out, and once they were gone Sayuri entered the room.

The Onimusha wasted no time, and gave me nothing more than a nod, as she should because she was present to ensure I didn’t take over Ylstu in the absence of her masters. To that end, she commanded most of the remaining Kunoichi, the Amazons, and could even call upon the Dwarves in the mountains. Her force was composed of the true elites of Ylstu, clad in the finest arms and armor they had, and against them my magics and defenses would be of little consequence. They would kill me, if I somehow wasn’t killed by the military commanders under my command the moment I even considered rebellion.

But, as I had no such dreams, I got along well with the vaunted, undead warrior and we coordinated with one another.

“The auxiliaries are doing fine work, just as Hachiman suggested they would.” I nodded at Sayuri’s words. Ylstu held many species of Kindred and many of them were powerful assets in warfare. The Driders were typically tailors, but even a Dragon would pause pursuing a Drider into their lair. Then, there were the Dwarves who have not yet earned a place in the mountain-hold, the Goblins rapidly taking to tinkering all over Ylstu, the Golems my students created, and many more who came here to find a better life. Amongst their ranks were many capable individuals and veterans offered goodly sums in exchange for their services. “Both in the north and the south, the Empire’s morale is being eaten away by the horrors they’ve been told to unleash.”

I nodded at those words with great care as I read the report that Sayuri handed me.

The Goblins were excellent tinkerers after their manic phase of hunger was circumvented. Their minds were sharp, their hands dexterous, and they were conniving creatures that praised Hachiman’s dishonorable tactics. According to the reports, they loved sapping enemy fortifications, before leading the pursuing forces into tunnels filled with spike traps, explosives, and a darkness so deep that any other Kindred save for them would struggle to see. Their tinkerers have also composed new, frightening improvements to the satchel charge that have increased its potency. With a select series of chemicals they’ve decided to keep secret until they can gift it to Hachiman, they’ve made it so that the explosions scatter a substance that burns through metal with ease, while also saturating the air with acrid, chocking, and blinding smoke.

Normally, such lethal methods wouldn’t be employed by Goblins, and they would be hunted down and killed as soon as they nabbed one man into their den. But with full stomachs, and their luxurious home threatened, they were terrifyingly lethal, stealthy, and cunning creatures very in touch with their malicious side. It was a jarring juxtaposition to the deluge of goblin-written literature about the wonders of being disposable sex-toys for use by their beloved leader, but that was simply how the Goblins of Ylstu were.

And, the same could be said for the Driders in Ylstu.

Driders rarely operated in packs. They were solitary creatures who rarely shared space with their own kind. Their opposition to working with one another ran so deep that they fought for territory against one another. However, those in Ylstu were given their space, their needs, and their wants… making it their territory and something that they would protect without qualm.

The Driders moved in packs and operated in the evening. Their skittering legs and strength made them terrifying light cavalry capable of navigating forests and mountain paths with utter ease, although they lacked the stamina of horses, their speed in rough terrain surpassed cavalry. When given the right armor, provided with weapons, given explosives, and told to set traps for their enemies… they matched the Goblins in terrorizing the enemy.

With their webs they dragged their foes into the dark forests, before perforating them with armored legs or spears. They covered roads going through forests with their finest webbing, and with a single pull, they created walls that hemmed in their foes before throwing their explosives in, or they simply tugged at a thread and made entire paths erupt with great force and gouts of flame. Whereas the Goblins ruled tunnels and forced their foes to enter, the Driders plagued every road that they could, waiting with perfect stillness while camouflaged, before attacking a supply convoy in mass after setting explosives off to confuse and panic their foes. Their innate, immense strength allowed them to use the same tactics as Amazons too, in that they could fell trees and make use of them as thrown projectiles or battering rams, and devastate their foes before running away into trap-laden retreats.

Between those two alone, the Empire’s forces were being destroyed piecemeal and greatly reduced, but they weren’t alone. The Kindred who lived in Ylstu were very aware of the Empire being on their doorstep and they desperately wished to keep their land theirs. And, so, they marched off to war against the enemy when they were called to do so. Hachiman’s private, professional army stayed back and provided support, while the volunteer citizenry built up fortifications, laid traps, and slowly carved a spite-filled, terrifying defense within and without Ylstu that Hachiman would be proud of.

Reading about it all made me wonder if he could’ve changed things long ago, if he was with me back then… but I knew that he wouldn’t be able to. The lands we ruled over were prosperous and our people loved us, but we couldn’t hope to compare to Ylstu. This place was a paradise that was unmatched anywhere else on the continent, where no one went without at least a single, filling meal a day, and work was available for all. Here, in Ylstu, people were willing to fight and die to the last because they believed it was theirs and they would do everything they could to protect it against anyone who wished to take it from them.

They would rather die than live without it.

I couldn’t say the same for my people back then… but I was glad that I could say it for Ylstu now.

Still, there was only so much they could do without losing too many.

“The casualties are beginning to climb. Begin withdrawing the auxiliaries after this to create a picket force within Ylstu’s mountain range.” There were deaths amongst the volunteers, but they were few. Many were injured, but medicine was readily available for them, and they would heal barring the lost of a limb. Those lost will accept returning to Ylstu, I was sure, but I did not want to test Hachiman’s patience and Sayuri agreed with a nod. “It’s time to begin unleashing our professional soldiery. Where do you recommend deploying your forces first, Sayuri?”

“Anywhere in the wake of your attacks.” The Onimusha spoke bluntly, and some would consider her words arrogant, but I’ve seen Hachiman’s elites at play before. I did not know if he understood how strong his elite forces were, if he understood that the Royal Guards of the Demon Lord were the sole true opposing force for the assembly that he had under his command, but that mattered not. He didn’t care for her throne, and in fact he was greater without it, so he used them only for his own ends without hesitation. Their deployment, in conjunction with my attacks, spelled disaster for the enemy without a doubt. “The forces they’re deploying to our sides are nothing but chaff. The true battle will be when the main force moves against us.”

Some part of me whispered that I needed to stay put, that I needed to conserve all I could in the face of adversity, but I recalled Hachiman’s words.

Doing nothing is the same as giving your opponent a free shot.

“Then, we will hit harry the enemy and force them to consolidate further. We will gather them up, and then smash them apart with our combined force.” I looked to the right of my desk, where my family’s heirloom lay, and with a thought I brought it to my side. When I touched it, I felt the veil of death peal back with utter ease… and with the help of the grand castle my lord commissioned for me, I felt the souls filled with power and magic at the very periphery of Ylstu’s borders. For now, the Empire’s healers and magic users wondered why their healing and arts of revival were ineffectual, but soon… they will know why my family was eradicated so long ago when we commissioned this treasure. “When we shatter them… I hope that my Necropolis will be enough to hold them.”

Yes, that final thought was why I knew we would be victorious despite our dire circumstances.

Despite all the danger that surrounded us, despite our “allies” holding back to fill their own coffers, and despite our limited capacity… our lord still saw this all as an opportunity to make Ylstu stronger and better for the future.

For anyone else, this would be the final stand against the enemy.

For Hikigaya Hachiman, this was merely a battle so that he could win the war and emerge from it at the head of an unassailable land at the center of a continent.

Truly, I could’ve asked for no better man to rip me from my tower and make me his.