Unfortunately, I’m Not A Hero: 120

Unfortunately, I’m Not A Hero: 120

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Commissioned by Shaderic

Wordcount: 2500

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I expected Roseanne to stop me from purging an entire noble bloodline who killed a few of my soldiers and sold Kindred to the Kingdom. It would’ve been better to have a household under control, their voice and influence entirely hers, than have them destroyed. Knowing that, I was prepared to go against her wishes and take the punishment for destroying them on the chin, and go back to Ylstu after losing my position.

Roseanne told me that doing that would just get me more popular with the rest of Kindred society, so she just gave me permission to conduct a small, brutal purge that’ll send a clear message to the rest of the nobility to not do the same.

Then, she had me kicked out of her office so she could keep training her department of wage-slaves. After months of doing everything herself, she was now a corporate manager with an entire department of corporate bees at her disposal. She relished training each one, overseeing their work, and realizing that each one she trained gave her more and more of her time back. Getting other people to do your work for you was an addicting feeling, and she was going mad with power from not having to stare at reports for hours on end.

Without a doubt, now, she was a True (Corporate) Demon Lord.

But back to the situation at hand.

The Satyr who I had killed was the head of the noble Household Vielle. As I expected, they were a relatively new house from a region that focused primarily on agriculture, but aspired to grow larger. They decided that it’d take too long to cultivate their lands, even with just about everyone benefitting from the ongoing shift towards becoming more industrialized, so they started selling Kindred off to the Kingdom from the slums of the Capital.

As with any budding noble house, they were expected to keep their lands safe and peaceful. They paid their taxes to Roseanne by collecting from their peasantry, while taking their share for their own needs. Their needs back home, according to the recent audit, were sparse in that they just maintained a few outposts from which their professional soldiery maintained their rule over their people and a small castle. Most of their money was sent towards the Capital for the sake of political favors and growth, so their austerity back home was reasoned to be how they managed to have so much in the Capital.

They spent their earnings carefully, probably keeping proceeds from the trafficking portion of their business stocked up for a rainy day, and just appeared to be a beginning, but industrious noble house not even three generations old. According to the audit, they even treated their peasantry decently and agreed to all of Roseanne’s reformations and renovation to their lands, which eased them from suspicion even further. Their lands weren’t perfect, and their people weren’t the happiest, but they weren’t bad and they weren’t stuck up about their lot in life, therefore people she shrugged after looking their way and didn’t pay them any mind.

House Vielle played the political game with as little risk as possible besides their smuggling operation… but now that ended.

They didn’t just hurt my citizens, but outright killed a handful of my soldiers.

Their achievements, livelihoods, aspirations, riches, assets, and power were all now forfeit.

If Roseanne had asked me to just take in the household for judgement, I would’ve grit my teeth and followed along as long as I knew they’d die, but she knew that wasn’t enough. That would’ve only caused resentment and paranoia amongst the nobility underneath her. No, she knew correctly that she needed to send a message to get everyone else on the right page. If they crossed the line, if they sold her people to the Kingdom, then they would face the same punishment that as the Vielle household.

The punishment I’d been ordered to give.

Needless to say, given my losses in what should’ve been a perfectly normal and safe operation, I the fact that I needed to be terrifying to a bunch of people I should’ve been colleagues to didn’t bother me one bit.

…

The rest of my new ships were still under construction, but Mekh was rich as hell and the first set of flying ships he sent with gifts were considered parts of it as well. Roseanne had them stored for study, but after I gave her the exact specifications on the magic, she easily signed off on me using them for my mission to ferry an absolutely staggering amount of troops over.

Some people would think that just arriving with a warship high in the sky, along with a lot of troops, would be enough to scare a population into complying. But I wasn’t dealing with humans, I was dealing with monsters. Monsters that had certain aspects that made them very pretty and have strong hankering for dick, but monsters nonetheless.

They responded to challenges with violence, and only backed down when they knew completely that they were going to lose. That was why Roseanne dealt through a lot of problems with honor duels, and had a Royal Guard of powerful Dragons at her beck and call, because anything less than that would make it impossible for her to be able to use words and diplomacy to get anything done. Absolute overwhelming force was necessary to bring Kindred to the table, the most recent example being my incursion into the desert with the Pharaoh, and practically all my interactions with all Kindred before that was based off that knowledge as well.

Unless you had their neck in a vice grip and a knife at their heart, Kindred didn’t negotiate.

Therefore, in order to intimidate them, you needed to be thorough, unrelenting, and absolute.

I sent one messenger ahead of my force towards House Vielle’s castle and she returned with a panicked, quickly written letter, which were followed up with several messengers coming my way with letter after letter from House Vielle. They were probably bribes, promises to do better, and maybe even outright lies that they didn’t know what was going on… but I didn’t know since I didn’t read any of it.

The only thing that mattered was my statement in the letter I sent forward.

“Die with honor by killing yourselves, or stay put and burn in your castle, otherwise I’ll hunt you down like animals.” A’Bel purred out the words beside me, the deep and dark echo created by her demonic helm barely hiding any of her arousal. Her words to me on the beach rang clearly in my head. My affection for my people, the care I felt for Ylstu and its inhabitants, was making me angrier against these people than I thought possible. It wasn’t the blazing rage that took away my faculties when I faced the Empire. It was an anger that sharpened my mind and readied me to act within mercy and compassion against an enemy I wouldn’t regret seeing excised from existence. “My goodness, my dear master, you have such a wonderful way with words.”

I was about to reply to her and tell her to be quiet, when padded footsteps reached my ears, and irritation filled me completely and utterly.

“Ashe, why the hell are you here? I told you to stay in the infirmary… after you snuck aboard!” I growled at Ashe’s way. My Hellhound was bandaged up on her arms and limbs. She’d protected her heart and internal organs against a lot of spears, swords, and axes, but that made it difficult for her to move. It should’ve taken her out of commission entirely, but she was a Hellhound and they were tougher than they had any right to be. “Get back down there, dammit!”

“My limbs are of hurting, but of helping I am still able!” Ashe proclaimed the fact proudly and looked the way of the ship’s throne, which was where the person powering the ship would stay. With my intention to deploy A’Bel, the post was being taken by shifts of Amazons. They had enough power within themselves to power the ships and its weapons for an hour or so without being fatigued, so I was feeding them and giving them thirty-minute shifts. It was tiring for them, but they were more than capable of enduring it, and they were more than willing after the news of what happened spread. No one hurts their tribe and gets away with it. “I will only be of sitting right here, chieftain!”

Ashe didn’t wait for me to accept her words and plucked out the Amazon from the Throne and took the seat. The Amazon was at a loss as she was simply picked up and put to the side, so she looked to me. I looked at the Hellhound, as she sat on the throne and settled in by picking up her legs and sitting on it curled upright with glittering eyes happy to be of help. The various dials I had put in to monitor the power of the ship, so that I wouldn’t use too much and cause the ship to drop out of the sky, maxed out as she primly and calmly sat there.

So, I looked at A’Bel.

“Is she being stupid or what?”

“Nay, my dear summoner, merely providing power doesn’t hurt her. In fact, being deprived of power may soothe her blood and allow her to rest better.”

“Hm, fine.” I glared at Ashe for a bit, but she just kept wagging her tail on the throne with a content smile. At the very least, she knew to leave fighting to others when she was injured. “You better stay there, or I’ll have Ur punish you.”

At the mention of Ur, Ashe’s ears flattened and she looked a bit scared, but when I nodded at the sight her tail kept swaying at the same pace.

I’m pretty sure that the Hellhound is figuring me out now, and I didn’t know what to do about that.

So, I’ll leave it for future!Hachiman to deal with.

“A’Bel, show me our target.” I was at the helm, beside the person at the wheel of the ship, so I couldn’t see our target. We were flying high, so that we could make the entrance we needed. “What are they doing?”

Scrying from high in the sky was quickly becoming my favored tactic. A few of my Harpies took minor deals with A’Bel, for which I recompensed them for monetarily, so that she could cast magic through a “follower.” Technically, they were cultists that offered things to her via contact, and that allowed her to give them power depending one what they offered in return. I had them ask her for the simplest, least costly thing she had to offer, a minor increase of strength in a moment of need for an honorable duel against a foe in her name. It increased A’Bel’s power, gave my scouts a bit of an oomph once, and trained them up, and let her cast spells through them as long as they hadn’t yet paid the price or used the gift.

Their souls were safe.

They hadn’t asked and were perfectly fine with the possibility when I asked them, because they’d technically go to me… but I ignored the strange mix of emotions that revelation brought on for future!Hachiman to handle.

Yeah, I was putting a lot of problems off for my future self, but at least I was aware of it this time around.

“As you wish, my dear master.” A’Bel held out an armored hand and several shimmering fields formed before us and we saw through the eyes several, high-flying Harpies. With our recent growth in industry and wealth, I was able to outfit them with clothes that let them go higher and last longer at higher altitudes. Light clothes enchanted to resist cold and wind, goggles that protected their entire heads from wind and projectiles, and other such things necessary to keep them alive in threatening aerial engagements. I had a feeling there was going to more of those soon, since I showcased how effective they were. “Behold the first of many to invoke you ire and suffer.”

A’Bel’s grin was obvious in her voice, despite her helmet, but I ignored her.

I grimaced at what I found.

The castle and surrounding town were chock full of people running for their lives. The roads were clogged with carriage trains, the surrounding vineyards and fields were being trampled upon by those who could cross the terrain quickly enough. Looters were opportunistically taking what they could, while some people who wanted to stay fought against them, because they couldn’t afford to lose their livelihood. Those looters were in the castle, taking what they could, while there wasn’t a guard in sight.

It made my blood boil and I felt A’Bel’s joy rise and rise as I couldn’t hold back my anger in the slightest.

“Send a team into the castle. Maybe they killed themselves honorably.” My mood was the worst it’s ever been in a long time, but it didn’t cloud my vision or mind in the slightest. With that clarity, I saw a small transformation amongst the crew on my ship ranging from A’Bel, my Amazon guards, and the other Kindred present. It was the least noticeable on the Amazons. They just frowned, as they saw the dishonor and lack of responsibility as sign of weakness. For A’Bel, it was familiar excitement, desire, and bloodlust, something that I knew she always felt. However, amongst the other Kindred, it was different. Their moods darkened too, snarls of disgust formed on their faced, and their eyes sharpened, while hackles rose. Something about them changed and they looked more monstrous than ever… but I didn’t find myself minding a single bit and I kept speaking. “If they didn’t, then I’m going to make good on my promise and treat them like beasts.”

I wasn’t one for self-congratulations, but it was easy to see why my Kindred didn’t like what they saw.

They were used to Ylstu now. They had leaders that cared for them, took responsibility for their lives, and treated them with respect and dignity. I, Kurama, Ur, Henri, and everyone else involved in ruling over Ylstu would never allow this to happen. We wouldn’t run when Ylstu was in danger, especially when it was our own fault, but here we were looking at the results of such leadership. The Kindred were monsters for sure, but they were still people, and no one liked the thought of their fellows being abandoned in a time of crisis, especially when those leaders created that crisis in the first place.

If the Vielles had any ounce of dignity, then they would’ve fought against me.

If they had any amount of care or respect for their people, they would’ve slit their throats or hung themselves instead of subject their people to any punishment.

But they took neither option and decided to run, leaving their people behind, and not even leaving anyone to coordinate the evacuation or guard their people, because they took everyone, they could with them.

Yeah, naturally, anyone under my command would want them as dead as I did.