HSS: The Sage of the Crimson Dragon

Human Side Stories: The Sage of the Crimson Dragon.

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Commissioned by cjdavis

Word count: 2000

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I’m more different from other people than I thought.

Not in the weird way though.

Different from other people is weird, Issei.

Quiet, Ddraig, having an existential crisis. It’s boring. Go play.

K.

It didn’t occur to me just how different people with Sacred Gears are to others. Sure, Rias told me that those with Sacred Gears are supposed to special and different, but when you’re with Li Song that sort of thing doesn’t really make sense. No matter how strong I got, I never imagine being as awesome as Li and everyone else, even though I’m somehow supposed to get as strong as them in the future.

So, going down to Earth after the Ascent to help out the people staying behind was an eye-opener.

It was how the soldiers looked at me that really did it.

They were great, brave people. They went out to fight with cool guns and armor, leading hordes of drones, and acting as the hardest hitting, fastest elements of the human military. When I was a kid, I was told that a squad of soldiers can be the difference between thousands of Chimera dying or thousands of Chimera breaking through the defenses. Meeting them and fighting with them, I found all the propaganda to actually be true.

The soldiers were really the best of the best. Each one was handpicked elites who moved like through battlefields with ease, left behind destruction in their wake, and tore apart Chimera with ease. That’s before they put their minds and weapons to effect, before they worked together, and turned the tide of battle in the favor of humanity’s walls of moving mental and guns.

But, Eli and I held down whole battlefields without even being winded.

Chimera can’t hurt me, while I can blow apart one with a single kick and move onto the next before it could even flinch. Eli went around with her mist in the sky, turning the sky above the base into a fog that tears apart monsters. Then, I had my actual training to work with and my Sacred Gear, while she can use old, surplus munitions by teleporting them where they shouldn’t exist.

I was a kid that knew enough martial arts that I could kick a three-story, basic Chimera that used to take on MBTs decades ago with a single kick. The smaller ones crumpled like paper around my fists, their hypersonic darts and parasites crashed against me and did nothing, while I was clad in basic combat fatigues. Eli didn’t need to cover me from the magic users or help me out in any way when I was using my Sacred Gear and my Sage Arts.

And, while Yefimova, the base’s AI  Commander recalled most of the squads that fought back to rest and recuperate every few hours… Eli and I were fine just spending hours and hours fighting nonstop. 

All the veterans smiled at us and were respectful, but there was apprehension and worry in their eyes.

Even if it was only a little bit, they were afraid of the two of us.  The men and women who were all out fighting monsters every day of their lives and staying on Earth while everyone else was safe… they were watching what they said around two kids.

It’s kinda pathetic if you think about it.

Take that back or I take away your gaming privileges, Ddraig!

They’re wonderful, magnificent people who risk their lives for others!

Better.

…

The cafeteria was a mess. There were streamers everywhere. More than a few people were sleeping atop cafeteria tables. The place stank of alcohol. There was more than a few bits of food on the ceiling. It definitely wasn’t a place that I’d bring Eli into, but without a doubt, as a manly, hot-blooded young man the scene interested me quite a bit.

“Here he is! The man of the hour finally attending the party held in his honor!”

A hand clapped over my shoulder. It was a massive hand, big enough to cover my scalp, and it was scarred with white, fine hairs all over it. The owner of the hand was the oldest of all the soldiers in the whole of the base and the biggest, most muscled of the lot too!

“Hey, Hardt-san. Sorry, I’m late.”

My apology was laughed off with a few hearty chuckles that rattled by bones a little. Hardt was an enhanced soldier. One of the first in Europe according to him. He’s been updated, renewed, and strengthened to beyond human, with more than a few augments to him, to the point where he was more weapon to than man. Some people in Arcologies said people like him shouldn’t be allowed in unless they had their augments removed. It was a good thing that the Preservers were so popular and so strong that those jerks get ignored.

Not only that, but Hardt was one of the handful of guys in the base that wasn’t afraid of me or Eli.

“Ha! We should be apologizing for being too week to last celebrating in your honor, child!” The mug he held in one hand was bigger than my head, but looked natural in his grip. Wearing only fatigues, the bearded, white-haired German took a gulp of after a laugh and gave a sigh of relaxation. He kept his hand on my shoulder and guided me through the mess hall. Huh, is this what having an uncle feels like? “So, what’s your preferred drink? And, none of that nonsense about not being a drinker! You’re in college and a warrior amongst warriors! Live a little!”

Hardt was also smart.

The way he acted drew most of the attention to him, so that I could refuse if I wanted to. However, the offer wasn’t that simple.

He was offering to help me out by guiding me to do something everyone else did.

Drinking and getting drunk absolved people a little of their concerns. That’s why Japanese office-workers drank with their boss. They could complain all they want while they’re drunk… and have as much fun as they want, too. Most of the people in the base were European, but it was probably the same around here as it was back home.

You should drink because you want to though, not because you want to impress a few soldiers, kid.

Ddraig made a good point… but I knew a few tricks of my own thanks to Miyakuro.

“Yeah, sure!” Moments after agreed a Drone came by and gave me a bottle. It was a light beer, but I got a cheer from the room for drinking it anyway. Well. “Drinking.” I wasn’t very good with storage spaces, but it was easy enough to make a small one at the end of the bottle while tipping it over. I felt bad about no really drinking, but like Ddraig said, I should drink if I want too. Not because of anyone else. “Thanks, Hardt!”

“Good, good! We’ll make a man out of you yet, child!” Hardt laughed and we settled together in a table. It was filled with just his squad. They were older than the rest of the soldiers on the base. Gray hair, scarred, and wrinkled. The two women in their group looked like grandmothers. Miyakuro would say something about them being old dogs in front of them, but he’d be miserable having to leave them behind. Anyway, they were more cautious than afraid than most of the camp, which made them a lot easier to talk to. “Now, now we can be sure to get the most embarrassing stories out of you! Old soldiers like us need to know that the youths we’re protecting are living childhoods worth regretting with friends!”

Bleh. So saccharine.

Gaming privileges, Ddraig.

What magnificent, selfless people these are. I weep. In private. While I’m playing and focused on playing.

Yeah, you do that.

I was more than happy to do what I was asked. Hardt was having me connect with the rest of soldiers. Even those not in the table were going to listen. And, though I had problems with  drinking, I didn’t have a problem sharing how I grew up and what trouble I got back into before I got into college.

If there’s any good in being a pervert who didn’t know any better back in highschool, it’s that it can be a laugh and a half amongst strangers.

A few laughs and embarrassment is a small price to pay to not terrify the men and women protected most of humanity.

…

I found myself alone in the mess hall after the party. It’d gone well, especially after I’d started telling stories, but when it was just about to get better a call came in to rescue another squad on another shift.

I was off-duty and off-call, while the rest of the soldiers weren’t.

Having fun and relaxing one moment, but ready to fight, kill, and maybe die the next.

Soldiers didn’t die often, since they had access to so much nowadays, but it happened. Fighting interdimensional monsters isn’t exactly safe.

Well, unless you happened to be someone with a Sacred Gear or anywhere close to eligible for the Preservers.

It made sense why they’d be afraid of us.

We were two kids who did what they did while risking their lives… for endurance training.

Eli and I were treating killing hundreds and thousands of Chimera like a chore that we had to do to make ourselves stronger, while helping other people out.

Without a doubt, there was reason for people to be afraid of us.

But, that didn’t mean I should allow it to continue if I could do something about it.

Everyone else was probably used to the stares and the concern. They just take in the apprehension in stride. That’s how humans react to people with power. I mean, it’s not that much fear. It’s just an ember of fear in the eyes of other people. Most of the Preservers probably don’t even notice. However, I do. Maybe it’s because I was a normal human who lived a normal life until everything changed one day, so I was more aware…but that didn’t matter.

I can use those normal days of mine to help out the Preservers as much as I can.

It might only be a little bit of help in the long run, me sharing my life before I found out I had a Sacred Gear and how silly I used to be, but if I can make it so that some of that fear the others might not even notice goes away it’ll be worth it.

If Li and anyone else in the Preservers can enter a one room and meet one person who waves at them without thinking or worrying, then I would count that as a victory.

I mean,  they’ve done so much for me already, so why shouldn’t I do my best to help them too?

Anyway, since I was carefully, heroically pondering my newfound goal, I am absolved of the noise I made when Eli decided to drop an ice cube down my shirt.

“Who wins? A German girl or a dragon with kung-fu powers?” Eli laughed. It was a very cute laugh, especially because she was trying to be confident and haughty. No matter how hard she tried, she still had the lightest of blushes on her cheek. Really, I couldn’t be mad at her no matter how tried I tried. “Hah! Trick question! A Dragon has no chance against superior German tactics!”

I didn’t understand how anyone could be afraid of Eli, Li, and everyone else.

Among the Preservers were the kindest, nicest people I ever met. They might not have been the heroes people read about or saw in movies, but that was the truth. They did their best, risked their lives against foes that threatened all of humanity, and really deserved to look back at people and see happy, content faces looking back at them.

I’ll do my best to make that come true.