...No words. Only Action. And the words leading to them I still own none of the properties I write about here. I don't claim to, nor have I ever. What I do own is the time I use to write however, and any bits thrown towards me help me write for longer, as well as eat while doing so. Available Time for Diplomancy. Chapter 21: First General OR Excelling in All the (Wrong) Ways
The clearing was dead silent, as Izuku steadily stared at Vanir, who casually was straightening his jacket and making a show of looking at the sky above them.
"What...do you mean, 'being a Demon General." Izuku's flat voice cut through the silence, as Vanir made another over the top shrug.
"Exactly as I said! We're always looking for applicants, and no-one ever put a LIMIT on how many of us there could be...so we don't have one! I, myself was a Demon General for many years, before retiring to become a humble merchant in this lovely town called Axel. Now I spend my days counting coins and watching little Adventurers wander out into the great wide outdoors and occasionally into some beasts maw. Though all that's really changed between then and now was the room I saw it all from, now that I think about it~" Vanir explained as he tapped his chin in a deep thinking pose, even as Izuku clenched his hands hard enough to draw blood from his palm.
"Don't you DARE talk about lives like they're only for your amusement. Now, answer my question. EXPLAIN." Izuku hissed out, lips curling just enough to unintentionally flash a now much sharper than normal incisor.
Vanir ceased his chin tapping for a moment, frozen in place, before slowly putting his arm down, crossing them behind his back at the waist.
"...You aren't being drawn into my pace. Huh. Every time I think I have a beat on your personality, you just double down. The longer I see you, the more confident I am in my little joke. Alright kid. Serious time." Vanir spoke, no laughing tilt to his voice.
With a swift motion, he brought his right hand up and, with a snap of his fingers, a full table with two chairs now graced the moonlit clearing.
Izuku took note of the noises of shock his students let out from their hidden spots behind the trees, but he paid them no real mind for the moment, too focused on trying to understand just how he did that with so simple a gesture.
"Sit. Then we talk for real."
So Izuku and Vanir sat, moonlight shining down on cold masks and eyes glowing with eldritch light.
"Tell me. What do YOU think a Demon General is?" Was the first question to come from Vanir, surprising Izuku for a moment, before actually thinking about it.
"With the context to it, I would assume the leader of a group of Demons or monsters under the order of the Demon King, though for what purpose would probably vary." Izuku said.
Vanir tilted his head to the side for a moment, before nodding his head once.
"You're close, but missing some context. Most Demon Generals are exactly that, leading large groups or packs of their brethren or lesser variants of their species. To use a local example, Beldia keeps a staff of Skeletons around his keep to serve and protect his collection of bath salts. But that's not the standard case at all. 'General', in this case, is just a commanding rank that marks a select few as the top of the top, strongest of the strongest Monsterous Species. It means that if we come into contact with other Monsterous groups or Classes, we can command them to follow our orders, assuming they aren't already following anothers." Vanir explained, before stopping as Izuku interjected.
"So you want to paint a target on my back, while simultaneously strengthening the Demon Kings position." Izuku spoke with no small amount of heat, even as he heard Andrew mumble a curse while scratching something into the small book he carried.
Vanir merely made eyebrows with his fingers, miming raising one up in confusion.
"Oh? What gave you that idea?"
"It's a simple strategy. You get to claim a strong Lich as part of your army, which would no doubt bring more attention to wherever I go. With my public alignment to someone like you, it would kill any hope of UA gaining any attention or thought within the first sentences. To say nothing about how those same would-be hero's reacting to a major 'threat' suddenly being in their town. It would be a honey-trap at best and instant destruction at the worst. Try again."
Vanir stared for a full minute, even as Izuku's students hesitantly moved closer, evidently trying to enter the clearing but hitting some kind of invisible wall, if Megumin's rapid swatting of the air was any indication.
Then Vanir chuckled again, lower and deeper than before, a dark amusement echoing in his voice.
"Oh-ho, you are a TREAT. Most don't even realize that's an option, so assured with themselves when they get presented the option for this 'promotion'. They usually don't last the week. Even if you weren't a Lich strong enough to manipulate so much cartilage and marrow as it took to build that wonderfully macabre school, I'd still probably be here asking you this same question. Anyone can be strong, but so few ever bother to be smart enough for it to matter." Vanir spoke with an odd echo to his voice, which simultaneously made Izuku want to squirm and smash the being in front of him like a melting snowman.
Before violence could be unleashed again however, Vanir raised a tea-cup he suddenly was holding in a toast.
"For such an insightful soul, I shall share with you a toast and truth. Be glad and rejoice."
"Sure. I'll be elated when I'm as far from you as possible." Izuku gritted out as he quickly darted his eyes off to the side, seeing a confirmation of a barrier with how his students were all beating against empty air, before he quickly drew his eyes back.
"That's the spirit. Then let's get a few things straight. We don't go out of our way to tell people when we get new Generals because, as I said, most don't last very long before retiring, getting replaces, or 'retiring permanently', quote unquote. The only ones who would actually care are those you tell, us fellow Generals, and our King. This was your truth. Now for your toast."
"Congratulations! You've now put more thought into the standings between Monster and Human Politics than the King has in 18 years! Good work." Vanir laughed before sipping his empty cup, making the sound himself before setting it down to disappear.
Izuku was trying to figure out what the FUCK that meant.
"What...do you mean, more thought than...WHAT does that even mean! HOW! I mean, all this time he's!" Izuku tried to articulate but responses came together in his mind fastet than words left his mouth.
More thought than 18 years...
Holed up in a castle surrounded by a barrier...
'Generals' travelling wherever and doing whatever they wanted or pleased.
"Holy shit, the Demon King's been dead for nearly two-decades." Izuku spoke outloud, astonished.
Then he heard Chris start loudly wheezing off to the side and saw Vanir do a spit-take off to the side with liquid he had definitely not had in his cup.
"What the Hells, NO, He isn't dead! He just doesn't give a shit." Vanir hurried to explain, back to wild energy as he flailed his arms in the air.
Now it was Izuku's turn to go flat.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"Look, your probably thinking our Liege is some brilliant mastermind, planned a revolution for decades and gathered power quietly for the perfect time to strike or something, right? Well he didn't. Our King is the Luckiest, Friendliest Son of a Bitch to ever walk this land." Vanir decreed with a hand pointed to the heavens in triumph, even as the sounds of banging came to a slow stop and heavy stares were leveled at the masked man.
"He's conquered entire villages, nearly destroyed a country, and leads the largest number of world ending threats ever seen in the history of this world. Thousands upon millions have died." Izuku was quick to point out.
Vanir made a slapping motion with his off hand, as if to shoo away the logic.
"Bah, humans have been doing that since life started on this little mudball. You want an example of what I'm talking about? I'm a prime example. See, I'm a Demon, hence the whole title thing even if its former now, and I'm a Duke of Hell. And Hell's a BIG place. Thing is though? I wasn't always. When I was a lowly Imp, toiling in the Fire Pits, I suddenly get summoned to this world, which frankly should have been impossible since no-one there knew my Name and I was NOT famous enough to even be a whisper in some fucks ear." Vanir explained with growing cheer, like he was remembering a fond memory.
"Then I met this dumbass human who summoned me by accidentally making a blood circle with my name and location cause he was doodling while getting a head wound healed. I tried to eat his soul, he kicked the ever-loving shit out of me, and then declared I was his 'Super Bloody Demon Buddy For Life', and well, a few years later and here I stand. The world is more a peace now than it ever was before our Liege came about. Sure, if you were Human or looked close enough you were okay, but us Monsters? Well...the label tells you a lot." Vanir chuckled sadly at that, for the first time in this conversation sounding wistful.
Izuku just wanted this trainride of emotion to be over.
"That...that makes too much sense. I don't like it, but when you actually think about from your point of view...wait. W-were those Toads I killed sentient?" Izuku suddenly asked, horrified and barely able to stop the bile rising from his gullet.
"Oh, Gods no. Think closer to big, slimy jungle cats. Most giant animals are exactly that, with like, two or three exceptions to the rule with deep sea creatures for whatever reason. They try to eat you first and you can feel free to eat them back." Vanir quickly concluded, as if he had explained this before.
Izuku took another deep breath, and another again before he was centered again, glad he wasn't living in a building made from thinking minds.
"O-okay. That's...good? I guess. Still. While the story is interesting, and the information about the Demon King is really useful...I'm still not seeing a reason to join you." Izuku admitted after a moment.
And it was the truth. So far, everything shared, while it changed his plans significantly, didn't really provide any incentive for it.
"Really? A fancy title and the ability to order people around doesn't appeal to you?"
"I opened a school. I don't get paid to do that already. Plus I still don't know how Megumin keeps chiseling different names into my desk plaque."
"Ah. Crimson Demon?"
"Yep. I guess you're familiar?"
"Damn right I am, our King parked his castle beside their village cause he loves the atmosphere and random magical discharges just out of view. Nearly married one too, 'fore he met his wife."
"Wait, there's a Demon Queen too?"
"No. Anyway, yeah, at this point, guess there isn't much reason to be a Demon General for you, is there~? Huh. Sorry, usually this conversation goes completely different. Hmm. Well, it's on the table now, so if you ever feel like joining up, or bumping one of us off, let us know, kay?" Vanir shrugged as he got up, chair disappearing with the movement and forcing Izuku to do the same lest he wind up on his ass.
"Wait, that's it! Just...show up in the middle of the night, ask me to join the Demon King, tell me what amounts to your life story, then shrug and leave?! WHO DOES THAT!" Izuku shouted as he gripped his hair, trying to see some kind of ploy or trap in this.
"Well when you put it like that it's sound crazy. But, then, I never said I was sane either, did I? Huhuhu~, well, that's all for me then tonight ya fighty little bones-boy. If you want to talk again, ask about me at the Merchant's Guild, or talk to Wiz. Bai-bai~" Vanir finished with a cutesy wave, vanishing from the feet up in a breeze of mist that quickly dissipated, along with a sound akin to breaking glass as the barrier keeping his students out suddenly vanished.
Izuku stared at the spot Vanir had been standing in, before staring back to a hyperventilating Chris, starry eyed Megumin, and Wide eyed Ivy and Andrew. Sheer was passed out, apparently from trying to headbutt the barrier open if the growing bump on him was any indication.
"I need...to do some thinking."
END OF CHAPTER
EXPOSITION! EXPOSITION! HELLSPOSITION! No fighto-fighto this chapter, but more soon.
I still have a lot planned for this wild ride. AND, due to a certain IdeasGuy for his WONDERFUL sidestory anthology, KILL THE HERO... The First Story Flag Has Been Raised. This...will be fun.
