War. War never changes. Wait, no, we're not doing that.

Warfare. Throughout history, warfare has continued unabated. Ah, much better.

Mankind, all through its history, has fought battle after battle. Conventional warfare was the most obvious, but there were also the political wars, the diplomatic wars, all of which were by and large hidden from the public eye. This goes the same for any world you'd find humanity, or at least, Lugunica and the world it was in.

It's interesting, if you think about it. The very mortal vice of greed was ever present, a constant among worlds. You would think that, for a place that has people like Astrea, a person capable of wiping out a good chunk of the population by himself, they would have learned that peace was much more conducive to not going extinct.

Sadly, that was never the case.

I suppose grass would always be green, the sky would always be blue, and mankind would always be greedy.

Greedy for more land, more power, more of everything and anything.

After all, that's what starts wars. The conflicts that I had read and seen within this place were all products of the same, intrinsic values that started the wars of my world.

Here, heroes and villains aren't just figures of speech or characters in a story; they're very real, with the power to change the course of history with their actions. They're the type of people where the very foundation of war begins.

Heroes versus villains. The knights of the kingdom pitted against the Witch Cult. The Sword Saint fighting the Witch of Envy.

At what point, however, does the narrative change? At what point does the saying 'you either die a hero, or live long enough to be a villain' apply?

I can't rightly say.

Greed, after all, can come in many different flavors. It's greedy to say that you want to save your people from slavery, fighting a war to do so. Fundamentally, in order to save your people, you would have to kill the ones that try to stop you. Men and women, on both sides, would die, never knowing if the very ideals they fought for were right in the end.

If we were to think in terms of lives lost, it would be more efficient, and less life threatening for everyone involved, if you just didn't try. Sure, some lives would still be lost, but the war that could've been would have taken more.

At the same time, nobody should have the right to dictate the lives of others. Was it human to try and live their own lives? Of course. It is just as human, and just as greedy to want for one's own agency, and that is by no means a bad thing.

It's just human nature.

It's also a stark reminder of the scale at which greed can operate. Whether it's for a throne, a piece of magical artifact, control over territories, or even for the right to live, the essence remains unchanged.

I would like to say that I was different. That I had grown out of that mold that humanity found itself bound to.

I would be lying.

Building tools of war, introducing a type of weapon that these people had never had use for, all to satisfy my own greed for knowledge, for the chance of a path back home, I don't think I'm any better than the bastards at the top.

It was a small chance, a small bit of hope, that I'd get any answers. At this point, I'd spent years trying to get back, with barely anything to show for it. That is, until I seized the opportunity for an audience with Mathers.

In the relatively short time I'd spent within the Mathers library, I'd already learned more of yin magic than in the years I did so by myself. If there was even a chance to get closer to my goal, then I would do so in a heartbeat.

I just wish I wasn't risking my life for this. Nor did I want to be introducing new avenues of war to anyone to do so.

Then again, I always was a selfish bastard. Maybe, deep down, I was willing to sacrifice anything and everything just for the slightest bit of hope.

It wouldn't be the first time.

Ha.

Who knows, maybe this entire fiasco was just another 18 karat run of bad luck.

I grunted as I hammered away at the metal in my hands. The chisel was thrown just slightly away, leaving a smooth groove. While I could have shaped it without any trouble with nothing but my magic, I would have brought too much attention to how I did so.

Attention that I did not need.

In reality, the hammering I did was just to hide what I was doing. While the chisel was very much real, I had softened the chisel head, and was just shaping the metal with my magic with every swing.

It might not seem like much, but it made for a convincing show for anyone who was watching.

And there was someone watching.

"I can see that Felix's praise for your blacksmithing skills were not unfounded." The green haired woman spoke from behind me.

I bit my tongue before I could respond.

Honestly, Karsten pissed me off. Genuinely and completely. She calls herself a leader, a duchess no less, and expects the respect that that position requires.

She was of a higher position than Mathers, sure, but she also didn't deserve an ounce of the respect I gave the margrave.

Though I don't believe that I had the makings of a real leader, I sure as hell knew that Karsten lacked one, fundamental thing.

She lacked the ability to truly understand the people she aimed to lead.

Her vision, while noble in its own right, often seemed disconnected from the realities faced by those she governed. It was a classic case of ideals clashing with practicality, a theme all too common in the annals of history and a pitfall for many in positions of power.

Case in point, she didn't bother asking anyone else for help against the White Whale.

I knew for a fact that she did so out of a desire for both glory and recognition - why wouldn't she, when the Royal Selection was just a glorified popularity contest?

And yet, she also failed to account for the very real fact that they were severely underprepared.

Sure, fighting the White Whale could've been doable. At the end of the day, while the mabeast was considered a calamity akin to a natural disaster, and had the ability to wipe out individuals from history itself, it was still something that could be killed.

Karsten did not have that ability.

Nobody here was Astrea, capable of killing just about anything in one hit. And with us already being fairly out of the way, he would've likely been glad if they'd asked him to join along.

But Karsten didn't. She was confident that they would win, without any outside interference.

They had calculated that they would win with what they had, but holy shit were they bad at math.

I resisted the urge to tell all of that to her, right there and then. And even then, it was less of me wanting to berate and embarrass her, and more so that I needed to focus on timing my magic just right so as to not arouse suspicion.

That said, I was almost finished with my modifications, and I would be free to do whatever I want soon enough.

As I finished the last barrel I was making, a very rudimentary one due to a lack of time, I took a look back at Karsten. She was inspecting the already finished barrels, the ones that were already being attached onto the artillery pieces by her men.

And yes, I do mean just the barrels.

I didn't have time to design and create an entire artillery piece, not helped that I only had the memory of what they looked like. I would've had to iterate on what the base should be, what material I should use, the barrel length, and a whole host of other things.

For this scenario, I was throwing it all out due to time constraints.

The barrels were arbitrarily measured, only made to hold the actual payload - a bunch of conical bits of metal with some fire lagmite layered in them I had also hastily made - and strengthened to not break on the first firing.

The artillery pieces would still use magic to fire, and could still be used with their original purpose in mind, but the addition of the barrel would funnel all of that energy to launch the ammo.

The idea was that the metal shells would pierce through the Whale's hide, breaking the metal in the process, before the resulting heat detonates the lagmite, bypassing the Whale's hide entirely.

A mix of magic and mundanity that Karsten should have thought about. It was certainly better than having me portal a bunch of people up there to…what exactly? Hack away at a giant flying whale with swords?

That would have ended in such a disaster that a child could've told them that.

Still, training would have been the main issue here, as Karsten's men would have had to get used to the difference with firing night banishers compared to the modified artillery as they were now, had I not already decided that I would be using my portals to help them in that regard.

Instead of portalling people up there, I would be making portals right in front of the Whale from the barrels of the artillery.

Say what you will about my helter skelter of a setup, taking an explosive shell at point blank would hurt like hell.

"Man, Hikigaya, you sure know your stuff!" Natsuki's voice heralded the arrival of Emilia's camp. The four of them, namely Emilia, the maids, and Natsuki himself, had been talking amongst themselves for a good while now.

Emilia had a determined look on her face, though it was tinged with worry. Since it was well into the night, Puck would be unable to provide support. A shame (not).

Ram looked composed as she always did. I gave a nod towards her. I had to give it to her, for all her personality was completely shit, she was usually well adjusted to just about anything. So long as it wasn't chores, in which case, I would rather trust a dog.

Rem on the other hand, still had this slightly frosty look on her face as she trailed somewhat behind. She obviously still didn't trust Natsuki, but had apparently given the kid a chance, seeing as she wasn't outright hostile. I still don't understand why it was that she specifically didn't trust him, though I shelved that for now.

Finally, Natsuki acted all confident, but I could tell from how his eyes darted around that he felt nervous. Which was, all things considered, pretty normal. He had ditched the butler outfit and had donned his tracksuit once more. It gave the impression that, for all that had happened with him, he was still just a kid that likely hadn't been in a fight before he got isekai'd.

It would've been more suspicious if he was just raring to go, honestly. Especially since I did catch a glimpse of his magic 'training' with Emilia, and needless to say, he would be completely useless in a straight up fight.

That being said, I think I could trust him with this.

"Natsuki, I'm putting it on you to be in charge of the firing rotation." I gave a small look towards Karsten. Technically, I was overruling her by giving orders for someone else to give orders to her men. Instead of a frown like I was expecting, I was greeted by a quizzical look instead.

Still, she didn't say anything, so I suppose that's a good thing. Pride doesn't matter if we're dead, after all.

And, as much as he didn't seem like the type, I knew that Natsuki was the best option.

"Dude, what are you saying?! I don't know the first thing about this!" Natsuki immediately panicked, waving his hands in front of him.

"I must concur, Barusu has no talents other than…I can't think of anything, so we'll leave it at that." Ram was quick to level me with a glare, though even then, I can tell that she wasn't as serious with her insults. Moreso, she was curious why I wanted Natsuki to have arguably one of the more important roles in this thing.

And that was the point. Natsuki was undeniably a NEET. I had exchanged quite a bit of conversation with the kid over the time I spent in the mansion.

And, from what I can tell with his jokes and inferences from context clues, he was the stereotypical NEET.

He played games, read manga, watched anime, and all that. He also seemed like the type of guy who'd been a chuuni, with all of his actions and how he portrayed himself. Which meant one thing.

"I'll be lining the artillery up in a three step formation. We'll need to cycle them, to keep up the pressure."

At that moment, a gleam came up to Natsuki's eyes, a moment of clarity cutting through his protests, "Oh, like Nobunaga's three line formation!"

Everybody else looked at him in confusion, not knowing who he was talking about, whereas I shrugged, "Sure." That was the exact thing I wanted. I didn't have time to drill firing formations and shit to Karsten's men. They were used to firing volley after volley of magical artillery, as they didn't have to reload.

Natsuki already knew what I was talking about. He was a NEET. A teenage, Japanese NEET. Being a chuuni was more than likely. Which meant, he also likely had that stereotypical fascination with old Japanese history, of the samurai and whatever else.

He knew of Nobunaga's three line formation, because he had likely been interested in it. I didn't need to drill the concept into his head, because he likely knew as much as me on the topic.

"Since you already know what I want, I'll leave it to you." I nodded to him, causing another round of protests. I ignored him, making my way to Karsten.

"You have a problem with this?" As much as I had reasons to get annoyed at her, she was still a duchess that could likely bury me with shit if she wanted to. And that was before taking into account that Karsten likely had the highest chance of being the next ruler of Lugunica.

She shrugged, a small smile coming up to her features, "While I do question the choice of commander, you would know best in regards with the modifications you've made. As such, I will defer to your expertise in the matter." She gave me a small nod.

I narrowed my eyes.

I was missing something here, wasn't I?

"Hey, come on Hikigaya, you can't be serious about this!" Natsuki all but teleported in front of me as he continued to protest, "I don't even know what I should do!"

"You already do, you just told me you knew of Nobunaga's three lines."

"Yeah, but that's different!"

After another three minutes of convincing, Natsuki finally relented, after Emilia told him that she had full confidence in his abilities. Should have expected that, the kid seemed like the type of guy that'd bend over backwards for a pretty girl.

On another note, seriously, was Natsuki purposely ignorant? I've given him enough hints to understand I was also from Japan, and he hadn't even noticed. Especially when I implied I already knew about Nobunaga, that should have been the clincher.

But no, he hadn't even mentioned it. And Natsuki was the type of person that would ask if he had thought that it might be a possibility. That he hadn't told me that he didn't even catch it.

I could continue, but I already knew what I was doing and I took a breath to stop it.

I took one last look around. Men and women gathered around, talking quietly and eating meals. Natsuki said that the Whale would likely come around after midnight, and it was still fairly far from then.

I was rambling to distract myself from it.

It wasn't the time nor the place. I needed to focus. To make sure that everyone made it out.

Was it selfish? To want everyone here to live? Yes. Battles can't be fought without casualties. An inevitable cost, and one that many here were prepared to pay.

I wasn't one of them.

In the past, self-sacrifice was a price I was all too willing to pay. It was an old habit of mine, one that Komachi, Hiratsuka-sensei, Yukinoshita, Yuigahama, and even Isshiki pointed out was wrong. Nobody else had to suffer, if I suffered for them.

Not anymore.

Suffering here would mean that I wouldn't be able to go back home.

It was selfish and greedy of me to wish that nobody died, because in doing so, I would be one step closer to dying myself.

Greed. A human vice that I took upon myself to harbor.

But I won't regret it. Not now, not ever. Not if it leads me back home.

I was sure of that, at least.

A/N: If you like what I do and want to support me, check out my P-atreon at P-atreon•com(slash)Almistyor.

Thanks to my newest patrons: meems YORO, Alexandre, and Jimmy Kok.

And a special thanks to: FireRogueWolf25, brutalcrab and Tassimo.