Birth of A Hero and Power That Could Reach the Gods – Part 01

Hopestadt, located at the heart of the Confederacy of Einbiest, was also the residence of Gerhardt, the confederacy’s leader.

The war against the Theocracy of Bios had ended, and the postwar operations had mostly settled, so nearly the entire army had returned to Hopestadt. The scene was truly a triumphant return. Demi-humans had long suffered under the Church’s oppression, often kidnapped and forced into slavery. Winning their liberation was nothing less than a genuine victory. Residents of Hopestadt filled the highway, applauding and cheering for Gerhardt.

“Ugh, there’s still so much left to do.”

Late into the night, the deputy leader Jillarte’s room stayed lit. Her desk was covered with piles of documents, more stacks sat on the reception table, and several files even lay on the couch. The reparations claim against Bios were already complete, and these were documents related to postwar administration, necessary for internal processing within Einbiest. Although they had won the war, it hadn’t come without sacrifice. Many Beastman soldiers had fallen, and the compensation for their service had to be totaled and distributed to the heads of each race. The calculations were quite complicated.

On top of that, the Theocracy had little cash on hand and requested payment in gems and rare materials, which raised the problem of how to convert those into money. Without converting those assets, they couldn’t manage the payment for the soldiers.

There were mountains of difficult problems. Gerhardt wouldn’t handle such clerical work himself, and since the tribe leaders were stakeholders, he couldn’t delegate it to them either. In the end, Jillarte took on most of the burden.

“I need… I need more juice!”

“What are you doing, Jillarte?” Utekko asked, peeking into the room. The door was always open. Once the leader of the Half Dragons, he now worked as an official in Einbiest.

Half Dragons had once borne a dragon’s curse and had scales on their bodies, but with the curse lifted, those scales had all disappeared. Now, they were considered human. Utekko wasn’t very old but had mostly gray hair slicked back, his face showing the wear of past hardships.

“I-It’s nothing,” Jillarte said, clearing her throat. She, too, had once been a Half Dragon, but now human. Her beautiful, fiery red hair was long and glossy, and her large amber eyes had captivated many men. Impulsive Beastmen were drawn to her looks and strength, constantly proposing, which she routinely brushed off.

“You’ve piled up so much paperwork again. You really need to appoint some aides.”

“They’re hard to find. The men keep pestering me to go on dates with them.”

“How about women?”

“Given my line of work, I often work with strong Beastmen. Whenever they meet someone like that, they fall for them right away and start giving them favors without thinking, which causes trouble.”

“I see. So there’s no one with an iron heart like you, Jillarte.”

“I don’t have an iron heart. I’m just devoted.”

“Sure, sure.”

Utekko shrugged and spread his hands in dismissal. Only he could bring out such childish reactions from Jillarte. They had lived together when she was young, back when they were both Half Dragons. Utekko treated Jillarte carefully since she was the daughter of the previous tribe leader, but to Jillarte, he was more like a goofy uncle.

“I heard a letter came from someone you’re devoted to.”

“Hm?”

“Silver Face sent urgent news to Lord Gerhardt.”

“What?!”

“The message came from Ironforge. An emergency transmission was sent using a Linga Quill.”

“I’ll be right back.”

Jillarte jumped up from her desk, dashed through the room like the wind, brushed past Utekko’s nose, and ran down the corridor at breakneck speed.

Utekko watched her go as she rapidly disappeared from view.

“I don’t think marriage is on the table anytime soon,” he mumbled.

---

Hikaru sat up on the narrow, cramped bed, wincing as his sleep-deprived head throbbed with pain.

He hadn’t slept a wink.

Though he’d been using this small one-person tent for a while now—and waking up sore all over wasn’t unusual—this was the first time he truly couldn’t sleep. The reason was obvious.

Thump, shuffle, rustle, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch.

Every kind of noise outside had gone on all night.

“Ugh.”

Dragging himself out of the tent, Hikaru saw an unfamiliar scene before him.

Tents. As far as the eye could see. People were bundled up in blankets, sleeping wherever there was space, or warming themselves by the fire. There was so much smoke from cooking. The smell of alcohol hung in the air. The whole place was packed with all kinds of odors.

“Still burning, huh.”

He looked toward the mountain, where lava continued to pour from the crater and thick black smoke billowed into the sky. Smoke was also rising from the area where the city once stood. Hikaru felt reassured that evacuating had been the right decision.

But thinking about how the Dwarves’ lives had been so casually destroyed, anger welled up in him all over again.

The camp, which had originally held about a thousand people, now swelled with ten times as many Dwarves. Naturally, trouble broke out everywhere. On the way to the usual well to wash his face, Hikaru passed three different fights. It had been just as noisy during the night, which was why he couldn’t sleep.

Everyone was on edge. He understood how that anxiety turned into arguments. He did, but still, he wished they’d keep quiet at night.

He made his way toward the Gittan Trading Company. Dwarf soldiers were stationed around the building. Most were from the Golden Boar clan, but there were also members of the Blue Dragon, Green Rabbit, and Black Goat clans.

“What business does a human have here, huh?” said a soldier from the Indigo Snake clan.

“Hey, knock it off!” warned an Orange Ox soldier. “This human is Hikaru.”

“What?! M-My apologies.”

Hikaru wasn’t sure what that was about, but they let him through.

“Thanks.”

Still half-asleep, Hikaru didn’t even know where to begin questioning the absurdity of it all. So, he gave up saying anything and entered through the back entrance of the building.

“Good morning, Hikaru.”

“Good morning, Lord Hikaru.”

“H-Hikaru! G-Good morning!”

“Good morning. Serika and Sara are still asleep.”

Lavia was the first to notice him in the dining hall, followed by Paula, Selyse, and Sophie.

“Morning. Did you sleep well?” Hikaru asked Lavia.

“Yeah, like a rock. We walked a lot yesterday.”

“I see.”

As one would expect, a proper building had decent soundproofing. He was envious.

“Oh my, good morning, Hikaru,” Gilma said. “I’ll bring your breakfast right away. Really, it’s such a relief that human men wake up early, unlike Dwarves.” She disappeared into the kitchen.

Hikaru was still getting commended just for waking up early.

It looked like Gilma was in charge of breakfast today. There was no doubt she’d become a hugely important figure to the Dwarves. That’s why soldiers from various clans were stationed around the Gittan Trading building for her protection. Hikaru couldn’t help but wonder how long she’d be free to make breakfast like this, and the thought made him a little gloomy.

Neither Dodorono nor Dodonno was around. They were at the Red Rat clan’s tent, gathering their kin. Today, they were set to attend a meeting as clan representatives, a meeting that would determine the future of the Dwarves.

Once breakfast ended in a rush, Dodorono arrived to fetch Gilma—wearing another one of his personally tailored stylish suits—and left, accompanied by a crowd of clan soldiers. The meeting was to be held in the Golden Boar clan’s tent. Since they were the ones to establish this campsite, they owned the largest tent.

Before leaving, Dodorono said, “We can never thank you enough, Hikaru.”

The Dwarves’ evacuation had gone well and casualties had been kept to a minimum thanks to Hikaru. Dodorono’s own mother had made it out safely too.

“From here on out, it’s our problem to solve,” he said firmly before walking off. He didn’t want to trouble Hikaru any further.

“What will you do now, Hikaru?” Selyse asked as she sipped her tea in the now-empty dining hall. “You could go back to Bios or Ponsonia.”

“There’s no way I could just leave like this. Not that there’s anything I can really do, either.”

“Come to think of it, you can go back to Japan now, can’t you? This camp will probably face a food shortage sooner or later, so how about bringing in a huge shipment of rice or wheat from Japan?”

Like she said, with the Four Elementals Fusion Theory, the spell for crossing worlds was certainly feasible.

“Feeding over ten thousand people? That’s not something I can just carry over. First, we need a safe route to Ironforge. If we had that, then transporting supplies might actually be possible.”

“True. Still, I wonder how much longer this camp’s food supplies will last. From what I hear, they were already importing food from within the country. Something has to be done.”

“That’s something the Dwarves will have to figure out for themselves. I’ve already done everything I could.”

“I see.”

She probably took everything I could to mean guiding the Dwarves to evacuate.

“Thankfully, this area’s way out in the boonies, so we don’t have to worry about invasion from other countries,” Hikaru said.

“I’ve also heard they sent a search party into the city to check if there were any Dwarves left behind.”

“Yeah. I just hope they don’t breathe the gas or get too close to the lava flows.”

A secondary disaster hitting the survey team would be deadly serious.

“Well, either way,” Hikaru said, “all we can do now is watch and see what decisions the Dwarves make.”

“Got it. We’ll stay put too.”

“Thanks.”

Hikaru stood up and carried the dishes to the washing area. One of Gittan’s staff, under instructions from Gilma, had told him he could take any cloak he liked from the shop. The light, flowing cloak Hikaru used to wear—an excellent piece with great insulation and impact resistance—had been destroyed by Brigid.

He gratefully accepted the offer and headed to Gittan’s sales floor. It was still quiet since they weren’t open yet. There were plenty of cloaks to choose from. He’d have fun picking one.

“Hikaru.”

“Oh, hey Lavia. Gilma said I looked cold and told me to help myself to a cloak. Want to help me choose one?”

Lavia’s eyes lit up at the idea of choosing clothes. Her fashion sense was a bit quirky. Back in Japan, she’d gotten into those jirai-kei styles.

I mean, sure, those styles are cute in their own way. But they’re a little too bold for me.

As expected, the first thing Lavia reached for was a striking deep-red cloak that practically screamed for attention. That wasn’t going to work. It’d be far too conspicuous while adventuring. He ended up torn between a moss-green windbreaker and a dark brown coat, but chose the coat for practicality. It fit him well too.

“Paula went to the infirmary,” Lavia said. “Sophie and Sara are with her, so things should be fine over there.”

“She’s amazing.”

“So, what do we do?”

“Hmm. How about a walk?” He didn’t really have anything else in mind.

Lavia smiled brightly. “Sounds good!”