The Hero Menace Page 3

  “I don’t suppose there’s any way to collect information on this Hero, is there?”

  Airia looked down and thought to herself for a few seconds. She then looked back up at me and said, “Even Heroes are human. I doubt he’s just wandering around in the wilderness. He must be using one of the cities as his base of operations, even if only temporarily.”

  So just like in RPGs, where you use different towns as rest stops while going on your journey to beat the Demon Lord.

  “Why don’t we try sending spies to the northern cities? I’m certain the viceroy of whatever city he’s staying in would be eager to advertise that fact. After all, neither bandits nor demons would want to go up against the Hero.”

  That made sense. Heroes were meant to be allies of justice and all.

  “I’d like to send some of my werewolves over, but the right magic could easily blow their cover. I’m worried they’d be in too much danger on a scouting mission. Besides, I want to preserve as much of my fighting strength as possible.”

  “In that case, leave everything to me,” Airia grinned. “Ryunheit is a trading city. And there’s plenty of traders who do business in the north. I’ll ask some of the merchants if they’re willing to help.”

  “Are you sure?”

  I didn’t doubt the skills of Ryunheit’s citizens, but I felt a little guilty about using them as my spies. However, Airia’s smile only grew wider.

  “I’m sure. In return, though, they’ll probably want permission to have exclusive rights to buy and sell goods from the north.”

  “I see, so this is a business opportunity for them.”

  Since we would be the ones funding their trip, it would be a perfect chance to make a killing. Honestly, I was impressed by their devotion to commerce.

  “Alright, let’s go with your plan then. I’ll pay for their expenses and grant them license to trade with the north. In fact, why don’t you tell them to buy some canine silverwork to sell over there? I’ll give it to them for a discount.”

  “I’m sure they’ll be happy to hear that.”

  Our conversation had gotten a little off-track, which Kurtz quietly noted.

  “Sir Veight, I see you’ve been influenced by the commercial spirit of this city.”

  “...I guess I have.”

  What can I say? The economics of this world are just so interesting. Though distribution was still a problem with the current level of technology, a guy could still dream. Once the fighting ended, maybe I could start up a business together with the Demon Lord. Though I suppose we were stuck dealing in the business of bloodshed for a while longer.

  After that, I returned my focus to improving and fortifying Ryunheit. I had the canines spend a few days creating a large quantity of sandbags, which I used to protect the construction site of the wall. It wasn’t much, but it’d at least provide some protection against surprise attacks. If the sandbags could buy even a few seconds, it would be enough time for us werewolves to go the canines’ aid. Plus, I had a secret trump card. If enemies occupied the fortified construction site, I would blow the whole thing up with gunpowder. I imagine it’d be effective in an enclosed space like that. The problem was, Kurtz wasn’t letting me touch the gunpowder anymore.

  “My apologies, Sir Veight, but I cannot allow you near the Dragon’s Breath.”

  Why’s he so strict? Though I hadn’t told anyone, I was used to handling gunpowder. Back in Japan, I’d spent a good deal of my childhood messing around with fireworks. Burning weeds with firecrackers, making makeshift aerials with bottle rockets and empty cans—the list goes on. I was hoping to eventually train a musket squad too. Also, I’d eventually have the canine crossbow squads use explosive arrows instead of normal ones.

  There was a mountain of work to do, but the most important issue was still finding a way to deal with the Hero. To be honest, I had no idea how I was going to beat someone as strong as the Demon Lord. The difference in strength between us was immense. Even if every single werewolf charged him at once, we’d definitely still lose. Worse, we had no idea what kind of person the Hero was, or what his modus operandi was.

  Predicting an army’s movements was simple enough, but the same didn’t hold true for an individual. It was well within the realm of possibility for the Hero to show up at our doorstep tomorrow. This was technically the demon capital now. That alone was reason enough for him to attack. If he did show up, my plan was to hit him with 1,000 undead soldiers, but even they’d have a hard time defeating him. Were all else to fail, I’d have no choice but to fight him together with all the werewolves. When we’d left our village, we’d all accepted that we might die during the fighting. But if I could help it, I’d really rather not face him.

  “Sir Veight, we have returned!”

  A few days later, the old canines I’d sent out recruiting returned.

  “Good to see you’re alive and well. How did the recruiting go?”

  “We managed to get five...”

  Just 5? Or maybe he’s about to say 50?

  “Five hundred, sir!”

  “That’s way too much!”

  I doubt I could afford to house that many. Ryunheit itself only had a population of 3,000. And I’d just taken in another 500 kentauros the other day.

  “But they’re already here.”

  “You brought them all with you?”

  “They said even if they get rejected from the demon army, they’d be happy living in Ryunheit.”

  They sure were eager. And rather bold. After a hurried meeting with my canine officers, I decided to accept 100 of the 500 canines into the army. I split them evenly between the crossbow and construction units, bringing the total number of canines in the engineering unit to 200, and the number of canines on the crossbow team to 100. I had the canine officers pick out the people best for each job, so I’m sure I recruited the cream of the crop. Canines were exceptionally good at appraising their own kind.

  The remaining 400 canines I hired as temp workers to help with the wall construction. Once that was done, I’d be able to expand the city to accommodate them as permanent residents. At any rate, I was glad we were able to recruit more manpower. Though it also meant Ryunheit’s population suddenly jumped to 4,000, leaving Airia scrambling to take care of the logistics.

  “While I’m more than glad we’re getting new demon residents, could you please not flood the city with them?”

  “I’ll make sure they pay taxes at least, so let it slide just this once, please.”

  I listened to the sounds of construction going on outside for a few minutes before one of the traders, Mao, got to the main topic of today’s meeting. The information I’d been waiting weeks for.

  “The Hero’s party is staying in Schverm,” he reported. Mao seemed to be a jovial, sociable fellow.

  “Party? It’s not just one person?”

  “Err, there’s only one Hero. His name’s Ranhart. But he has three comrades he fights together with. All three of them are quite skilled in their own right, too.”

  Great. Humans got exponentially more powerful when they combined their strength. But that aside, Schverm was supposed to be one of the cities the demon army had demolished during their invasion. Even if Meraldia had retaken the city, was it really in good enough condition to use as a base?

  “When I went there, it looked like the citizens had returned, and everyone was working toward rebuilding the city. Because the Hero and his party took care of the remaining demon squads, it’s safe enough for people to live there again.”

  Damn bastard, he’s acting like the second regiment is on its last legs. Well, I guess it is. Mao noticed my angry glare and smiled.

  “My apologies, that was a rude way of phrasing it. Regardless, the citizens have finished patching up the walls, and in a few days Schverm’s army of five thousand will be returning to the city.”

  Not good. Schverm was right next to Bahen, the city the second regiment was currently barricading themselves in. If they returned safely,
it was only a matter of time before the second regiment was wiped out.

  “What is the rest of the Meraldian army doing currently?”

  “You didn’t ask me to check up on them, so...” Mao trailed off apologetically. “However, I did hear a few things about their movements. Most of their forces are working in tandem with Schverm’s regular army. Combined, there are five thousand regular troops and ten thousand militia.”

  “Thanks for the information.”

  “A good number of the militia will start going back to their home cities now that the immediate threat is past. If Meraldia wants to launch another large-scale offensive, they’ll have to call them back.”

  Looks like I’m going to need to send a permanent informant to Schverm.

  “I asked a few of the other merchants from my caravan to stay behind in Schverm. I can have one of my men meet up with them outside the city whenever, and get an update on the situation.”

  “Just how good at this are you guys?”

  Mao grinned.

  “We simply believe that sincere cooperation will be met with due reward.”

  “Assuming it really is sincere, then I promise you it will.”

  Humans were as varied in personality as demons were. And Mao, in particular, was someone I needed to be wary of. Still, I was grateful he’d brought me all this information. Since I was tired of polite niceties, I decided to be frank.

  “So what kind of reward are you looking for? I doubt it’s money.”

  Mao’s smile grew wider.

  “An astute observation. We would like to hire a few of your kentauros for my caravan.”

  “Why?”

  “Because they’re a valuable asset for us merchants. They’re fit, make for good guards, and their presence will help us negotiate more favorably with demons. I don’t mind even if they aren’t soldiers.”

  It certainly was true that kentauros had both the intelligence of humans and the mobility of horses. Even if they weren’t a trained soldier, a kentauros could easily handle wild wolves or other dangerous creatures. On top of that, having one in a merchant’s party would make passage through demon territory much safer. If Mao only wanted a few, and they didn’t have to be warriors, I could probably scrounge some up. However, this trade seemed a little too good to be true.

  “Is that really all you want?”

  “But of course. Whether it be merchants or an army, both seek to employ people of talent, no?”

  I had my reservations about granting such a cunning man so many privileges. There just had to be a catch somewhere. Oh, I see now.

  “The real reason you want to hire kentauros is so you can spread your name around the demon army and be our primary supplier, isn’t it?”

  Mao stared, and gave me a very stiff smile.

  “Oh my, it seems you’ve seen through me...”

  “You’re quite the scoundrel.”

  “That I am.”

  He’s got balls.

  “Sorry, but no. If that’s your objective, then I’m afraid we can cooperate no longer. Showing favoritism like that would just lead to corruption.”

  Mao’s face fell. I really couldn’t let my guard down around merchants. But after thinking about it a bit longer, I decided to compromise.

  “If you want a reward that large, then come back after you’ve done more for the army.”

  “After I’ve... done more?”

  “Indeed.”

  You better get ready to be worked to the bone, though.

  Mao sighed and bowed his head.

  “Very well, I shall continue working as your private spy for free for some time longer, Lord Veight. Hopefully, that can earn your favor.”

  There was no way a guy like this didn’t have other negotiating cards up his sleeve. I was certain he’d bring something else out. I silently nodded for him to continue, and as expected, he pulled out another one of his cards.

  “Incidentally, I have been making preparations to discreetly import the vast quantities of stone you will need to build your new wall. Were Ryunheit to simply order the stone up-front, our enemies would easily catch on to our plans.”

  “What exactly do you mean by preparations?”

  Mao unfurled a map of Meraldia and pointed to one of the cities.

  “I will pretend to be a merchant from the north, touring the south to buy up quality stone for Schverm’s rebuilding efforts.”

  “Wait up, do merchants from the north come down here often enough for a story like that to be convincing?”

  Mao nodded with a grin.

  “The north does need a lot of stone right now. It wouldn’t be the least bit suspicious if northern merchants had to go further than usual to find some.”

  This guy was willing to use his fellow humans’ plight as a pretext.

  “You really are a scoundrel.”

  “That I am.”

  Mao’s grin grew wider. I’d seen plenty of people like this back in Japan, but few demons had such calculating personalities. If you let them reel you, you were finished. But still, they were definitely useful. So long as he was valuable to the demon army, I’d keep him around.

  “Very well. In that case, we have a deal. But don’t get carried away, or you’ll find yourself out of a job.”

  “I will keep your warning close to my heart.”

  Mao bowed deeply and left the room.

  Once he’d left, I softly called out, “Monza.”

  “I’m here, boss.”

  My best spy, Monza, walked soundlessly into the room.

  “Have your squad keep an eye on him.”

  Monza’s lips curled upward and she asked, “If he betrays us, can I kill him?”

  “You can beat him to an inch of his life, but bring him back here alive.”

  “Mm, fine.”

  Now then, how’s this going to play out?

  The Hero’s appearance had caused a stir not just in Ryunheit, but in the whole demon army. Every time a Demon Lord had appeared in the past, a Hero had risen up to challenge them. Because of how demon society worked, Heroes were a demon army’s greatest nemesis. Since they only obeyed strength, if the Hero defeated the Demon Lord, who was the strongest of that generation, the remaining demons lost their cohesion.

  You would think it’d be fine if the second-strongest demon just took up the role of Demon Lord, but the problem usually was that even that second-strongest demon had become demoralized after the death of their lord. In other words, without a Demon Lord, any large demon army instantly fell apart. Past Heroes had known this, which was why they’d cut through the army’s ranks and went straight for the Demon Lord. It was a reckless attack, but one that was fatal for our side if it succeeded.

  Naturally, preparing a body double or grooming a successor would circumvent this problem, but the issue was that demons would never accept such methods. It was irrational, but that was just how they were. For our side, the Demon Lord was irreplaceable. Even if there was someone just as strong as the Demon Lord, they wouldn’t be able to take over the position until they’d proven their strength to every other race.

  “That’s quite the pained expression you’re making...”

  “Whoa!?”

  Surprised at the sudden whisper in my ear, I whirled around.

  “Heya, Movi’s here.”

  Master waved a hand at me from behind my shoulder.

  “Master, I really think you should give up on trying to make that nickname stick.”

  “Blame my parents. They were the ones who christened me with such a ridiculous name as Gomoviroa.”

  She really doesn’t like her name, huh? I prided myself on having a good grasp of my master’s personality, and when she made jokes like this, it was usually because there was something weighing down on her mind. These bad jokes were her way of trying to raise her spirits.

  “Are you worried about the Hero too, Master?”

  “More or less...”

  From her tone, I could tell Master had been worryi
ng about him quite a bit. The Demon Lord Friedensrichter, the giant Tiverit, and the Great Sage Gomoviroa had been comrades ever since they’d first founded the demon army. Tiverit was still fighting in the north, and the Hero would eventually attempt to assassinate the Demon Lord. Both of them were in danger.

  I observed Master’s childish face, and thought back to the deal I’d made with Mao. We knew the Hero was in Schverm. Mao had men posted in the city, so it might be possible to take Master there too to get a better grasp of the situation. She might even discover some intel that would cheer her up.

  “Master, if you’re alright with it, why don’t we take a trip to the northern front?”

  “Why the north?”

  I relayed all the information Mao had given me. Master mulled my words over for a few minutes, then muttered, “I see... So you’ve posted human spies. Are you certain it’s not a trap?”

  “Not for sure.”

  But if we ran into enemies, I was confident we’d be able to run away. Master weighed nothing in my arms, and a werewolf could outrun a horse and take more hits than a heavy infantryman. I’m sure we could make it work out.

  “But I don’t believe the merchants of this city would have any reason to betray me. There’s no profit in it.”

  “What if Meraldia promised them a monetary reward for turning you in? Or if they have a religious incentive to betray you?”

  “I guess that is possible...”

  Though I doubted the Meraldian army had put a bounty on my head. I was just a measly vice-commander, after all. Besides, Monza’s investigation had already shown that Mao was a Mondstrahl follower, and not a very devout one at that, so he had no religious prejudice against demons. There was always the possibility that he held a personal grudge against demons, but that held true for everyone. It was inefficient to concern myself with that possibility.