3.29 In Which the Dark Lord Unburdens Himself

3.29 In Which the Dark Lord Unburdens Himself

Well reach our goal before you do, Judge Gazmo stated at the crossroads. Your route goes the long way around; if you make good time you should reach the Flats tomorrow, assuming you stop for a few hours of rest. And do that, he ordered in a more serious tone, pointing a finger up at me for emphasis. Hoys route puts him behind you, and you do not wanna face him tired on top of everything else. You should still get there first in time to set up an ambush.

You think well be back in Fallencourt by tonight? Yoshi asked.

We can be, if we push, but I wanna play it safer, Gazmo replied. Well reach the outskirts toward the end of today; at that point well slow down and look around, try to link up with whatever local resistance exists. Rizz was heading in that direction and most of the Judges will be hanging around there, anyway. Given they wont be able to approach Jadrak too directly I expect to find people ready to help us on the fringes of the city proper.

The Hero nodded. Well be in your care, then.

Um! To everyones surprise, including apparently hers, Amell suddenly piped up compulsively. Her eyes were fixed on me, for once. Lord Seiji, I didnt Im sorry, I didnt have a chance to thank you. For the healing. I will I owe you so much.

Hey, you dont owe me a thing, I said in a gentle tone that hopefully outwardly suppressed the terrible awkwardness I suddenly felt. Man, I can handle almost anything except sincere displays of emotion. Especially in public. We all have to have each others backs in a mess like this. You handed out free potions to me, remember? From each according to their means, and so on.

She opened her mouth, seemingly failed to find a response, then just nodded deeply and folded down her hands at me. I figured the awkwardness was over, at least, but Amell was full of surprises today.

UmZui. The alchemist inhaled deeply, then folded down her hands again, this time directly to the astonished-looking goblin. Imso sorry. For how rude I was backback there, in the city. Youve been nothing but kind to me, and even after that, you helped me out of Amell flinched at her own train of thought, lowering her head. Thank you.

Uhhey, dont sweat it, kid. Zui looked even more brutally uncomfortable at this than I had felt, which caused what mightve been the warmest feelings toward her Id ever experienced. Truly, we are all allies against the scourge of emotional vulnerability. Like he said, people gotta stick together. Look, uh, when all this wraps up you should have a sit-down with me and Youda. He handles the potions in Miss Sneppits company, really knows his stuff. Between the three of us I bet we can figure out something to do about that hair of yours.

Youreally? You think thats possible? Amells face lit up with so much hope it physically hurt to see.

Zui continued to feel about this roughly the same way I did, to judge by her awkward little grin and the way she began actually edging behind me. Yeah, sure, I figureits at least worth a try, right?

Yoshi came to everyones rescue, because thats what Heroes do.

I hate to ditch you like this, Omura. Though I admit Id be sorrier if I could be certain you were getting the worse deal. Im honestly not sure whos the more screwed, here.

Lets not make it a pissing contest, man. We both agreed to this terrible plan.

Sorry for making a terrible plan, then.

Yeah, well, maybe Id blame you if Id come up with anything better. I think you came up with the least shitty of our bad options, though.

He stepped forward, holding out his right hand, and I clasped it in my own.

Give em hell, I urged. But, yknowgently. In a kind of lame, slapsticky way, so they dont respect you.

That won a smile from him, despite the gravity of the situation, but his expression swiftly hardened again and he squeezed down on my fingers.

I wont say the same. Kick that little bastards ass for me, Omura. And then come join us so we can finish this.

You have my solemn word: I will survive this, or die trying.

He sighed, but Nazralind laughed. At least someone appreciated me around here.

I dont think the little part was necessary, Deeyo muttered.

They cant help it, Ritlit said, slugging him on the shoulder. Butts gonna butt. You gotta save up your complaints for where theyll do the most good.

Hey, at least well be fine, Yoshi said, stepping back. Weve got Judge Gazmo to keep us out of trouble, after all.

Dont expect miracles, the Judge grunted. Its a slow day when I can manage to keep Fram out of trouble. You butts are on your own.

He adores me, Fram assured us, smug as ever. Dudes basically my dad.

Then she dodged, because Gazmo took a half-hearted swipe at her. As one does.

We were left standing in that awkward pause in which there was nothing left to be said, but none of us really wanted to move on just yet. And yet, standing around was not an option. We were on a deadline.Visit no(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience

Ganbatte, Yoshi finally said, nodding at me.

You be careful, I replied.

Starting your Dark Crusade with prostitutes, she murmured. Gotta say, thats not an approach that wouldve occurred to me.

Probably because youve never been in a position of having to think about it. Sex workers get no respect, so nobody cares or even notices what I do with them. Anybody else would attract notice if I recruited them all for my bandit alliance. An army of whores? The idea would just make those in power laugh.

Clever, she said, her tone grudgingly impressed. Use their own preconceptions against em. Thats goblin thinking.

I nodded. From thereit hasnt been too hard to encourage acceptance of gay people and, uhyknow, ones like Ydleth who were born the wrong gender, orhowever youd describe that. Those groups are small and inherently harmless, thats exactly why they always end up being targets. Nobody has any actual beef with em, beyond some vague sense of revulsion that they were taught growing up. Maybe a few pretty goofy lies about what they get up to in private. All of that starts to fall apart as soon as you start actually meeting a few of them, and realizing theyre just folks like anybody else. Just trying to live, not hurting anybody and not needing any more shit.

Yep. Zui nodded, staring moodily into space. Thats an awkward realization, all right.

But I think Ive gone as far as I can go that way, I murmured. Its suddenly a whole different game when youre dealing with actual grievances. Its no less true that groups like the lowborn and beastfolk and goblins have been pitted against each other for the benefit of those in power, but theres been actual blood and death as a result of it. How am I gonna preach about the greater good to somebody whose parents were murdered by humans, or who ended up on the street because goblins stole their rent money? Then Im the idiot talking in philosophical abstractions while theyve got their boots in the mud dealing with real problems.

Sounds like a real bastard of a dilemma, she agreed. Zui tilted her head to one side, resting her cheek on her folded arms so she could look at me directly. Id think you of all people would have some insight into this, given the backstory you told us on the tram. Youre a child of two cultures, right? Or was that all a smokescreen to distract the Hero?

No, all of it was the straight truth, I said, mildly nettled by the accusation. That experience doesnt really apply here, though. Those two cultures border on being mutually incomprehensible, but theyve had good relations for most of a century by now. I hesitated, considering. Thoughthey were particularly viciously at war just before that.

Yeah? Well, maybe theres your answer. Howd that resolve itself?

Absolute conquest, I said, wincing. One bombed into rubble, completely occupied by the other. Which then rebuilt the whole country from the ground up. That not only earned a lot of goodwill despite all the recent atrocities on both sides, but enabled them to install a new government that Well, these days Japan is far from being a client state of America, but the current constitution makes it basically impossible to take an aggressive stance onanything.

Hm. Youre not really in a position to do any of that, huh.

Not yet. If I understand how this Dark Lord thing works, as long as I can keep staying alive, eventually Ill be able to wield overwhelming force and not have to deal with problems like this.

Her reddish-violet eyes bored into me, unblinking. That is not gonna work out the way youre imagining, buddy.

Well see.

Zui rolled her eyes, shook her head, and stretched out on her back, folding her hands on her stomach and staring at the ceiling.

Then again, I whispered.

She turned her head to give me an inquisitive look.

I can already cause devastation on a scale I never imagined. I didnt even know it until the heat of the moment. With the powers closing in on me already I wonder how long itll be before I have no choice but to do something like that again.

Zui stared, unblinking, for a few long seconds, then rolled her head back to gaze upward again.

Yeah, I noticed you changing the subject every time that priestess asked about the Inferno. Didnt even know it, huh. So you didnt actually do that on purpose?

I looked away, though she wasnt even looking at me. No comment. Just Who wouldve thought khora were huge enough for one organism to cover most of the island? Much less that a spell would even work on something that size.

Everyone. Everyone knows that. She snorted. I guess, unless they came from a whole other world and dont know their ass from a crawns nest. You know, those roots run all through Kzidnak. Goblins interact with them closely. Theyre a major source of both food and a lot of what makes our alchemy superior to what the Fflyr have. You had better believe we took note of that bullshit. Fortunately nobody sleeps in em or anything so it probably didnt cause any deaths or even serious injuries, but I cant say for absolutely certain, but given the timing? Im pretty sure it was a big part of what tipped Jadrak over the edge.

Well, wasnt that just a motherfucker.

So tell me, Dark Lord Tallboy, Zui said, tilting her head backward a bit so she could stare at the stars. Was that any different up top? Did you get what you wanted by destroying everything in your path? Or did that just cause another huge mess of fucking problems that you still dont know how to deal with?

Yeah, yeah. Wouldnt it be nice if we could all just hold hand and sing songs and agree to live together in peace?

She sighed heavily, but didnt answer.

You probably think Im just being an asshole, Zuiand fair enoughbut Im also serious. That would be better. But in the real world, all the problems bearing down on us are caused by powerful people, on purpose, for their own benefit. And nothing is going to get better until some of them fucking die.

Im very much afraid that youre not wrong, she murmured, finally closing her eyes. Just dont kid yourself that getting the bastards out of the way is the solution to anything. That just clears space for the solutions to start. At that point, youll have to start doing the real work.

I looked down at her, then up at the stars again.

Nothing good could possibly result from telling Zui she was right, and there really wasnt anything else to say in response to that.

I stretched out on my back again, listening to the soft sound of her breathing and concentrating on my own.