Unfortunately, I’m Not A Hero: Roseanne Alternative: Part 3

Unfortunately, I’m Not A Hero: Roseanne Alternative: Part 3

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Commissioned by Lastmanstanding

Wordcount: 2500

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I stared at Hachiman after he finished his proposal.

The rest of the room was in a similar state of shock at his proposal as I was.

“You… wish to study and develop Automata into giant, bipedal machines of war?” I stared at the chalkboard that stood before us. His most important points were circled, the organization of it was fluid, and a single glance at it made his entire speech resound within my head. “Did you not say yourself that there is no definitive answer to warfare? That victory was to be built slowly and carefully?”

“Yeah, I did… but that was before I realized that you can all literally make robots out magic and clockwork.” Hachiman crossed his arms and pointed his chalk at towards one of the key points in his argument. It was labelled “lateral thinking.” “By working with what you have, you can achieve what my people can only dream of: a highly mobile, armored suit with incredible weaponry that will change warfare forever.”

The proposal vaguely reminded me of Hachiman’s few stories about entertainment and “science fiction” from his world. What had he called them? Gundam?

Hachiman interrupted my thoughts by holding up his hand.

“With magic, you can produce an efficient, compact power sources. Not only that, but you can all make every piece work as intended and have access to materials my people don’t have.” Hachiman’s explanation made more than a few of the researchers and crafters of my magical research society lean forward. With his statements he lowered each of the fingers he held up in his hand.  “You have all the tools at your disposal to create a definitive weapon that would be terrifying in my world… in yours.”

I was about to speak when Kaede spoke in my stead.

Surprisingly, the words out of the Nurarihyon’s mouth were reasonable instead of another attempt at flirting.

“That is… if it is possible to construct such a thing in the first place. I can see that you’ve taken into account the various abilities of all our scholars, sorceresses, and tinkerers… but what you’re proposing is beyond anything in this world, Hachiman-sama.”

Her words swayed many of the gathered people and I couldn’t help but agree with her. The sight of so many losing faith in Hachiman made me worry for him, but I found that I didn’t need to… as he agreed.

“This is a possibility. Something to work towards. Every part of it is something that can be implemented on a smaller scale.” Hachiman walked over to the necessities he listed for his design. Many of it stemmed from the study of Automata, their clockwork bodies, their artificial souls, and their weapons. From each of them, he listed benefits to the Kindred in the blank spaces he left behind. He expected this argument ahead of time. “It’ll take decades for us to understand what my world could do, but we can use this world’s magic and oddities to take advantage of what my people used and dreamed up. The gap between your world and mine can be bridged… especially with this.”

He circled the priority of his presentation, which was the Automata’s clockwork mind, which made all of us understand what he truly wanted.

“You want to create an Automata specialized in computing and thinking.” I spoke over the stunned silence. All Automata known has been created for war and defense by wandering Tinkerers. They were meant to strengthen the retinue of the nobility that paid for them, or protect their creators on dangerous expeditions. The lateral thinking that Hachiman proposed was to create an incredibly intelligent Automata which could help create, design, and manufacture all we currently couldn’t. “…but how do you propose we control it? Ensure that it doesn’t turn upon us?”

Many of those who created such beings had to intentionally limit the intellect of their creations, so that they wouldn’t rebel against them. Automata pursued singular, simple functions until they perished. In truth, the fact that Automata were never developed as Hachiman proposed was because those that were made intelligent often rebelled and killed their masters.

I expected Hachiman to relay some method of controlling the Automata he proposed… when ideas simply flowed from him.

“Offer them the job and pay them. Maybe make them able to taste, feel, and all the other silly things we regular beings need, so that they have use for money. Hmmm… or maybe it’d be best to make the computational part separate? Something that they need to connect to?” I understood the logic behind his proposal. He was proposing creating Automata with needs that we could satisfy and create what we truly needed separately from them. “If one of them refuses, they could just go on their way and do something else with their life, and we’ll just keep making Automata until one of them agrees. We’ll create citizens that pay taxes, so we’ll make money even if they refuse.”

Silence dominated the meeting room, until a sudden flood of questions surged forth from the gathered group of specialists. Without a doubt, Hachiman’s intellect could not match anyone else’s in the room, however, his different mindset and well-rounded education provided insights that couldn’t be found anywhere else. He could provide insight with incredible value to anyone, but especially to specialists dedicated to progressing their magic and technique after many, many years.

And, he did so in my name.

My heart raced rapidly at that singular thought, but I pushed it down.

Hachiman was being overcome by a flurry of question and it was my duty to save him.

…

Kaede pouted and twirled her hair in her hand as I glared at her.

“But I want to join, Lady Roseanne.” The Nurarihyon pressed her breasts against my arm. Her body was soft and her breath tantalizing as she pleaded with me. The strength of her wiles and seductive techniques was not to be underestimated. It was difficult to summon anger against her. “Please… allow me to play with you and Hachiman…”

Thankfully, as always, Kaede could destroy her chances of success by merely opening her mouth.

Had the word “play” had any other connotation besides that of sex, I would’ve found myself hard pressed to refuse her. The Kikimora weren’t very good at fighting games, though I suspected they were losing on purpose to make me feel better, and none of my Royal Guard were interested in the game. Had Kaede wished to join myself and Hachiman in playing the fighting game he created, I’d have led her straight into his room.

But that wasn’t the case.

Her intentions were completely, utterly lewd.

So, I refused her bluntly.

“No.” Besides myself, Hachiman was the only other person who could permit others to entire his sanctum. If Kaede was after me, that meant that he refused her after seeing through her intentions. The thought of it thrilled me, but I focused on the matter at hand. How to diplomatically tell off one of my more prized and capable subordinates. “If you wish to enter Hachiman’s home, he must either permit you or you must have reason to be there. Neither is the case.”

I laid the blame entirely upon him without hesitation. Though I certainly didn’t want her sauntering her way into his home, I didn’t have to reveal my true feelings on the matter. It was, after all, true that he had refused her entry into his domicile. There was no need for me to explain any further. All I had to do was simply be a capable administrator who respecter her subordinate’s wishes.

Luckily, that meant telling the seductive, debauched Nurarihyon before to leave Hachiman alone.

“But… I want to see him more. Every day, he’s only around and about for work and he’s gone the moment after.” I never believed that I would praise Hachiman for his strict adherence to only ever spending eight hours of the day working, but as I listened the Kaede I couldn’t help but praise him. “And he’s gone two days every week… I can barely last, even though I enjoy his disregard of me so much!”

A disturbing, aroused, and soft moan left the black-haired Nurarihyon’s lips as she cradled her breasts and brought her hand to her blushing face. Her gaze was filled with wanton want and need, while the movement of her legs led to the sound of wet flesh reaching my ears.

A part of me told me to excuse myself, to not test my relationship with a promising servant any more, but I spoke before that thought finished.

“If he accepts your advances, then you can be with him in his home. However, if you do anything untoward to him, or force yourself upon him… I will kill you.” All the lessons I learned over my life told me to not test such a talented, irreplaceable individual. While I was the Demon Lord, I competed with many other nobles in search for talented individuals within my court. I couldn’t afford to alienate any talented individuals. But I felt no regret after uttering the words. “Know your place, Kaede.”

I expected anger… only to be struck by shivering, ecstatic moan.

“Ah. How wonderful. How absolutely amazing! A firm master and an even firmer mistress!” Kaede’s words were followed by both her hands gripping her face in an attempt to contain the wide smile spreading across it. A deep, dark blush overcame her pale features as her eyes widened even further than before. I had to step back and almost covered myself as her gaze lecherously poured over me. “Yes. I will. Fret not! I will do nothing to lose this amazing opportunity! I would rather perish, mistress!”

The outpouring of lewdness caught me off guard to the point where only one reasonable course of action came to mind upon witnessing it.

Retreat.

…

After an hour of snacks and games, I told Hachiman about what occurred.

“Woah. That slut’s messed up.” Hachiman spoke with a fried wedge of potato on his mouth while he looked upon the new game board. The new one was based off a “Turn-Based RPG.” A party of adventurers fought against monsters between periods of rest and socialization. I found it too realistic for my taste, so I played against the programming for artificial enemies for the fighting game. It was a good foe to train against but no more. “Is it too late to evict or fire her?”

“She has the greatest amount of experience amongst all our talents and the most versatile skillset. She is practically the head of the research department.” Kaede’s extensive skills and experience made her the perfect coordinator of all the eclectic individuals I’d gathered from my magical research. Officially, they were all working alone, but groups and structure formed where the Nurarihyon easily flitted and plied her trade. “We would most likely find ourselves with a massive mess, if we removed her.”

“Nothing worse than someone who’s weird, but useful. I would know, since, I’m definitely someone like that.” Hachiman gave a grunt and a light chuckle at his own words, before furrowing his brow and writing on his notepad. After finishing the final boss of the short game, he turned off the box and shook his head. I spied upon his notes and found many improvements… with many of them scribbled out due to indecision. “Well, whatever. When she’s not being weird, she’s actually decent to talk to. She’s one of the few people I work with that looks at my face instead of my crotch.”

That news raised my eyebrow, especially since I caught her looking at his crotch many times.

“Well, she looks, but not all the time.” Hachiman corrected himself with a shake of his head and extended his hand toward me. I handed him the free controller and I swiftly dispatched the artificial opponent. I sat up in preparation for an onslaught. My brow furrowed as the difficulty of the battle suddenly increased immensely. “Honestly, if she were more normal, I’d ask her out on a date… but she’s not.”

“A date? What is that?” The context of the word was missing key details. It sounded like a simple meeting, not sex. Most of my mind was taken with finding a route to defeat Hachiman, so I asked him for clarification instead of trying to discern he true meaning of the word.

“We spend time with one another and get to know one another as two people. We see if there’s anything between us. Basic romantic relationship establishment in my world.” Hachiman’s words made me uncomfortable, but I persisted in my battle. My heart calmed with his next words. “It’s basically just eating, playing around, and talking to one another. That’s all.”

I calmed significantly at that… before freezing up to the point where my controller fell out of my hands as an intense heat suddenly overcame my face.

“…Roseanne?”

A trembling came over my body as my heart raced rapidly within my chest. Try as a might to look elsewhere, I found myself slowly turning my gaze towards Hachiman as he sat across from me, while his words resounded in my head.

“…Is this a date? Have we been going on dates?” I asked the question even though I feared the answer. I didn’t know what I would do with myself if he said that it wasn’t or if it was. I’d kept my distance from Hachiman, seeing him as an asset, because doing anything more would threaten my position. The Kindred Supremacists within my lands would use his high position against me, if I was in a relationship with him. I should be glad if he said no… but the thought of him saying it wasn’t so made my chest ache with immense pain.  “Hachiman?”

I feared what I would see on his face at my question.

Disgust. Affront. Hate.

I felt immense fear within me at the thought of seeing those emotions on his face.

But, instead, my breath was taken away at the look on his face.

His eyes were wide, his cheeks bright red, and he was desperately trying to hide behind his hands.

“No! No! We weren’t on dates!” He lied as he always did. I saw through them as I always did. This time, though, my body moved forward and I grasped his wrists to look upon his face. All my concerns and fears faded as I looked upon his face… filled with shame at his affection for me because he thought himself undeserving. He feared my rejection. “R-Roseanne?”

Knowing that, my body moved through instinct long suppressed with every concern I had rendered needless.

He was mine and I was his.