Unfortunately, I’m Not A Hero: 116

Unfortunately, I’m Not A Hero: 116

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Commissioned by Shaderic

Wordcount: 2500

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Through trial and error, I managed to get along with my fellow nobility and create a league of compatriots with which to work together for the betterment of the Kindred.

Yeah.

That didn’t happen.

After a dozen failed attempts to talk to Kindred nobility that wanted to jump on my lap before or after our meetings, I decided on doing things through intermediaries.

I honestly considered having a thin, paper wall between me and my guests, talking to them like some emperor behind the screen, but I was sure that would’ve just tantalized the Kindred so I decided against trying.

For people I could have normal relations with, moderates that didn’t have that many issues with my existence, I picked a few enterprising individuals up from Roseanne burgeoning school. Their teachers objected and Roseanne asked me why I took them, but complaints tapered off when they realized that I was doing my best to lower the amounts of incidents that kept popping up around me. They didn’t give me their blessings on the matter, and I had to apologize, but I got some capable individuals making contact with people of influence and opened up a dialogue.

After that, I referred them to Kurama and she handled the flattering, bribing, favor-exchanging, gossip, and things that I couldn’t. They were mostly Kindred who had more agricultural territories or budding noble houses eager to improve their territories. They were opportunists who didn’t like the fact that I was making waves, but were willing to ride along to get their own slice of the pie, since they only had very little to lose. Most of them were Orcs, Lamia, Centaurs, Harpies, and other Kindred that didn’t have much personal power and actually benefitted a lot of the recent improvements.

They feared my power, wanted my support, and could barely touch me even with all their influence and weight behind them. Ergo, they were great allies to have owed me favors, especially since I had no plans of bringing them together into a coalition that could overpower me in the future. There’s nothing better than having people you can kick down if they get uppity and try to fuck you over.

Source: me.

Then, of course, there were the Kindred who were directly threatened by my existence and wanted to see me reduced into a plaything, either for themselves or their daughters. Naturally, they were the ones with investments and capital in the current situation, which I was fucking over by existing. The new industries, bureaucracy, and education that I was introducing was making their lives harder. Their people were getting smarter and wanted more, their businesses were competing against mine with more motivated workers and higher output, and finally I was giving Roseanne all the tools she needed to find out who was hiding wealth and money from her.

Against them, I mainly employed Kunoichi and Phantoms from my in-laws and Henri respectively.

The Kunoichi and Phantoms had a tough time at the onset. The capital’s underground was fiercer and more competitive than they thought and their targets typically had their own agents and protections. The Kunoichi had to tangle with enemies from other villages or specially trained individuals, while the Phantoms hardly found any building that they could pass through and had to learn to use stealth to augment their invisibility with the number of individuals trained to look for invisible spies. Still, they made progress, collaborated, and switched targets that they were better suited for to get their objectives done and I eventually got what Kurama needed to make waves against the established powers.

Blackmail.

A tarnished reputation was hard to fix back in my world, but in Kindred society a moment of weakness in high society was something that could apparently taint the entire family lineage and something that many wanted to avoid. A lot of the information my spies funneled to me didn’t make sense, like how some highborn heiress visited a public stud in the dead of night like a regular Kindred in need of Mana, but Kurama took hold of that information and brought a Warhawk family hounding me since I arrived to heal with a single letter. The gossip circles in Kindred society were utterly vicious and I was honestly glad that I wasn’t a part of it.

Well, beyond the fact that most of my enemies wanted me beneath them in very imaginative and debauched ways forever, but I knew that without my spies confirming it.

I was surprised that the Vampires were the sappiest of the lot, though. At least the unmarried ones. The married ones were true to their partners and just wanted to bring me to heal for their daughters. It was surprising because all the ones I encountered were all haughty bitches with a laser focus on getting on turning me into a pet in public and during our meetings. Behind closed doors, though, the mothers were apparently coaching their daughters stringently on how to properly keep a man, never let them out, and never let any other hussy touch or look at them while keeping them happy, as the daughter took notes. The unwed Vampires, meanwhile, spent their free time pacing, planning, and tapping into their allies for love advice, if they didn’t have family for one reason or another.

Ladies and gentlemen, the top contender for being the most powerful creature of the night, the Vampire, is apparently the easiest way to get a monogamous, loving, and caring relationship amongst the Kindred.  Unless they accidentally make a Dhamphir, after that stuff just gets degenerate quickly, apparently. Unfortunately, even that beacon of hope for men just becomes another harem fantasy.

What was I thinking about again?

Right, political maneuvering against the entrenched aristocracy out to see me fail through espionage.

The established aristocracy had a lot of secret meetings, dealings, and gatherings that Roseanne was privy to that she had agents watching. Since my own agents couldn’t infiltrate, I offered my assets to her to assist her clandestine operations, so I could help her twice over. The first by bolstering her clandestine effort and secondly by becoming a better bulwark for her. I thought that my agents would get menial jobs, to free up her experienced agents for harder work, but to my surprise she gave me a big assignment to get done in her name.

Investigate a possible group of Empire collaborators who could be gaining wealth by selling their own people to the Empire by abducting them from the less prosperous districts of the capital.

Yeah.

The thought of refusing that assignment didn’t even cross my mind.

…

“Stay close to me, Hachiman. I haven’t seen Kindred these hungry since our battles in Ylstu.”

I grunted and did as Ur bid, while we walked through the poorer districts of the Kindred capital.

Given my reputation, there was no point in my hiding my identity, so I entered the slums under the pretense of starting a project to make it better. Ylstu’s success was well known amongst the Kindred, and there were even mumblings about my batch of corporate managers rapidly establishing themselves and their businesses where they were sent, so I had a rock-solid reason for being present.

Roseanne wanted the area improved and so I was here to improve it and that was that.

I totally wasn’t here looking for traitorous kidnappers who collaborated for the Empire.

If I was going to do that, why would I be flanked by heavily-armed and well-equipped Amazons as well as a Hellhound growling at anyone who even looked at me funny? This is totally just me doing something that you should keep an eye on, and pay attention to, so that you’ll know if I’m getting the masses on my side. Pay no attention to the fact that spying on me means not spying on my spies.

“The tribes here are not knowing of their place. They are of not knowing how to be proper!” Ashe was agitated more than I’d ever seen her. My towering retainer and guard faced down a Dragon without flinching, but in the confined spaces of the capital’s poorer districts she was antsy because she couldn’t unleash her full strength and she perceived enemies in every direction. “They must be taught, chieftain.”

“These are Roseanne’s citizens. If we’re going to beat sense into them, we’ll need to ask politely and have evidence. It’ll be too much of a hassle, so just scare them away.” I spoke and Ashe heeded my words without question. The flames around her gaze blazed and when she growled again embers left her mouth. The air around her started to shimmer and tongues of flame flickered around her personage. Her practice and control over her fire allowed her to use it incrementally now, which was useful for situations where she couldn’t just burn people to death with hellfire. My guard’s threat level increasing got through the veil of arousal and need amongst those looking at us and they dispersed from the streets. “Good job.”

Ashe preened a little at my praise, but focused on looking scary, as we walked through the “slums” of the Capital.

“They are called poor, but they are better off than many we’ve seen in Kindred territories.” Ur observed and I agreed with a nod. The poor in the Capital lived in squished together houses made of wood. The paint was chipped in some places, and a window pane was broken here and there, but for the most part the houses were in good condition. No one was begging on the streets, and the streets themselves were tidy, but there was also something in the air that made it feel like a dead end. My Amazon bodyguard noticed this with a frown. “But they’re listless and bereft of worth. They have no purpose of their own.”

“They serve the people with money or they get kicked out to the countryside.” The non-merchants and non-nobility here were lesser servants. Any noble and merchant operating in the capital surrounded themselves with their own people to prevent information about them from leaking. Locals were hired to work as cleaners of massive mansions, ferry magicked food and items from one place or another, and put on performances for the wealthy. They exchanged coin so that they could make rent, buy time with a man, and get food in their stomach. Some worked to send money back home, and they worked hard, but most people who came to the big city had dreams of fame and fortune, but were now beaten down and listless as their dreams died. It kinda felt like being back home. A little. “Yep, the problem here is that everyone’s just surviving instead of living and I have no clue how to fix that.”

That statement got Ur’s attention quickly.

I stared back and shrugged.

“My world hasn’t solved everything, y’know? This sort of thing was a problem there too.” Corporate employees worked their asses off for company executives that would make more in a year in their entire lives. Those corporate men and women would try to have a semblance of a fulfilling life, but with the hours they spent working it’ll never feel like it's enough. They just didn’t have enough time and money given to them in exchanged for the time and effort they spent, so they found themselves listless and going through the motions. It was a bit worse here, because Kindred needed more than humans did, too. “If you have any ideas, I’ll be willing to listen. I’ve got a few, but it’ll probably just be minor improvements and nothing revolutionary.”

I couldn’t institute forty-hour weeks, breaks, lunches, entertainment, and the ability to invest in yourself here like I did in Ylstu. It wasn’t within my ability to bulldoze districts and have them rebuilt by throwing money around. Well, I could because of the powers given to me by Roseanne, but that would open up too many avenues of attack on me and Roseanne. The traditionalists would complain about the historic capital being rebuilt, the Warhawks would screech about money being wasted, and the established nobility won’t like their toys being taken away. Any supporters for the project would have schemes and plans of their own, and I could find myself being sabotaged and set up to fail in the shadows.

Essentially, I could and Roseanne would support improving the capital, but it’d be stupid with all our domestic opponents looking for anything to cry at us about.

Anyway, most of my plans were to take some older buildings and have them be rebuilt, establish baths and services, and generally just provide the people here with places to rest and relax after they work from dawn to dusk. A library, a park to stretch, and all that stuff sounded pretty good, and would see results, but when Ur gave a sudden, decisive nod I turned my attention to completely to her.

Ah, tanned, toned abs and cleavage in a bikini top.

Dammit, Hachiman Jr., get out of my head, get out of my head, get out of my head!

“I believe that we can both help this place and help ourselves. You proposed it for Ylstu, but it can be used here: a neighborhood committee would be a great boon here.” Ur proposed and I understood what she intended. “These people are without purpose and leadership, so let us give those to them, so that they can lead themselves and better their situation by their own hands. We can give them much, but it will do little if they are not given purpose.”

“Hm. Talk to Tanis and make a proposal. I’ll see what I can get done.” I nodded. The idea had a lot of merit. We couldn’t change the infrastructure and environment, but the people here could be given new jobs and roles, so that they could improve their own situation. They could work on their own district, improve their community, and maintain the services I built until they became successful themselves. Yeah, this could work. “But, for now, let’s meet with our contact here.”

Ur nodded and looked straight as we reached our destination.

The local cellphone tower.

Whoops, I mean the district’s constabulary overseen by Roseanne’s Royal Guard.

Tee-hee.

They were easy mix up, y’know?

I think my Cellphone’s here finishing up its update.