I head to speak with Nami… She wanted to talk and I feel bad I keep putting it off. I also need to ask for her troops to fight against the pirates tomorrow. I would also like her to visit the final meeting before tomorrow. I have my team strengthening the walls that will protect us from mana cannon fire right now. Green has… Been a bit abrasive, when it's come to following my orders… Perhaps after the war is over, going over some rules would be for the best. Making a set of rules for different races, ones with different beliefs is going to be difficult though.
I enter the village. It just seems… Friendlier, people are approaching me. Being far more talkative then before… I guess getting their children back was a huge boost to their feelings towards my army. I knock on Nami's door and she tells me to come in. One of her children is resting on her now. She is petting the child's head… It is hard to tell weather the child is male or female… At least to me anyways. She motions for me to sit down before speaking.
“I just wanted to thank you again for giving me the chance to… Well, to save my villages existence. If… If we lost a generation to the pirates… Our village would have eventually died out… Some of the children still act funny but a few have started to act normal again… She must have done something to them mentally because it is as if they were brainwashed to follow any orders given to them.”
She stands up and the little murine folk child runs off to play with the other children who are now wandering the streets... It seems like a somewhat uneasy peacefulness… The amount of adults watching over the children playing is… Far above the normal amount… I understand why. Nami motions for me to follow her into the back room of her house. Once I enter, she strips naked. I'm about to ask what she is doing but she begins to speak.
“It is a tradition of the village for the parents of a child to arrange their marriage. With both of my parents dead, the duty falls to me. It is a tradition of the ninja's for the proposed wife to strip naked during these arrangements as to expose any hidden weapons she may have on her person… While I do not love you, you have done so much for this village. So much that it would be impossible to pay you back in my lifetime. Let me give myself to you as payment for what you have done for this village.”
She sits down on her knees… It is hard to look at her like this… Like a warrior forced to become a servant… I feel like whatever I say next could possibly result in her misinterpreting what I mean. Choosing my words very carefully I speak.
“Do you even like me at all?”
“Marriage is rarely about love in our culture. Your family would normally have to prove that we were of a similar wealth and standing… Seeing as both our families are dead, we'll forgo that situation.”
I… I'm going to have to be more forceful so she doesn't misunderstand.
“Your people aren't getting off that easily.”
She looks up in shock at what I had just said. I continue.
“Your people will always owe me a huge favor for helping return their children safely. Because of this, I will not allow you to marry me to pay off the debt. So please dress yourself.”
She stands up from her position. I had turned around until I could no longer hear the sound of cloths being rustled. I continue my speech.
“Your people owe me so much that I think the only way to pay me back is if you join us in this fight against the pirates. It will be a fight to the death and I need all the troops I can get for the battle tomorrow… That is the only payment I will accept from the murine folk for freeing their children.”
She bows her head again. I can only say one more thing before leaving.
“I don't want servants or wives from your people… I want comrades. People I can rely on for help... Not people who are forced to do something they don't want to because of me.”
I think she is starting to understand. I think she might have been offended when I said that I didn't want her to be my wife… Perhaps… In another lifetime… She could have been my wife but… I've been unfair in previous lives, I don't wish to fall into old habits again. The heart wants what the heart wants but it puts itself in a precarious situation by doing so…
I will never hurt a person for the sake of trying to make myself more happy with more than one wife… You have to think of everyone’s feelings in those situations and… It almost never works out in the end.
I leave her at that… I still need to go speak with the shogun and plan… Shit! I didn't tell her about the meeting. I rush back in and startle Nami as I yell.
“There's a generals meeting later today! Come by and speak with one of my troops, they will escort you… Well you know the way so just come to the fortress in like a hour…”
I am flustered myself… I… I'm not sure how to feel about her proposal, I am flattered of course but at the same time. Nami was willing to give herself to me for the sake of her people… She is selfless even to the very last end. Even with her own happiness… I want… What is best for her and that isn't being my wife.
I walk to the shoguns castle while thinking all sorts of things about Nami now… Damn it! Why did she have to strip. I can't think clearly. I have a damn war to prepare for and I only have one thing on my mind… Thinking back though… When she stripped, her body language moved her body almost instinctively to hide or naked arm… As if she was ashamed of it… Damn… Did I just make her think I didn't want to marry her because of her arm… I feel like an idiot for not noticing until now. I walk into the shoguns room and take my seat in front of him. Normally I would wait for him to speak but I go first this time.
“What is wrong with Nami?”
He lets out a little chuckle before speaking.
“I assume she asked for you to marry her? Without a father, she came to me for advice and asked me to preform the ceremony if you accepted… By your question, I assumed you didn't agree… Tis a shame, you two would make a good couple… I mean besides the fact that you are a human that is…”
...For a second I had forgotten that I was an outsider… Coming into contact with so many races, I forget they have their own customs sometimes… Marriage of outsiders is most likely looked down upon in most situations…
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That is why imposing strict rules against my army might be an unwise decision… As with many different customs… Something as inane as putting in a rule about something as little as wearing a certain uniform could result in dissension from some of the races like lizard men and kobolds…
We would work better with a loose set of rules over a more strict set… Some people like Green might outright refuse and leave my army if I put anything in more restrict. She purposefully spoke with someone after I had said not to, which is a problem that will need to be addressed eventually.
Speaking of kobolds… I need to speak with them after this war… Having them look at me as if I am a god is only helpful in the short run… I don't wish any of them to sacrifice themselves for me… Shikki had died because he thought I was some sort of divine creature… If he had assumed I was a normal person, he would not have waited so long to retreat.
Shikki's death rests solely on me… If I hadn't lied and made them believe I was a dragon, they still might have joined me. I need to look at this as something I need to improve about myself… The stronger I am, the smarter I am… The less likely my allies will die… The more likely I'll notice something that could be a potential threat in the future… The shogun is just staring at me… Oh shit! Was he talking?
“Ah I see you are back from wherever you went. How was your trip?”
“Heh sorry… I'm just thinking far too much about… What has happened so far… I'm sorry but if you've said anything about Nami's marriage proposal I didn't hear it.”
“I was just saying. You will need some sort of payment for freeing our children.”
“Will the ninjas fight with me against the pirates?”
“Of course, we will fight them and take our revenge against them but you still need a payment afterwords…”
“No… That is enough. I do not wish any more tragedy on your people because of me. Putting your lives in danger one more time is all I can ask.”
“You don't seem to understand our code. A ninja always repays their dept, even if the person is unwilling to accept payment… So what would you like because you've put our entire race in your dept...”
I breath a heavy sigh as they are going to force themselves into my dept because of their culture… Damn it. I try to think of something as Nami enters the room. Well… I have an idea but…
“Well, after making such a big deal out of not marrying Nami. I actually do want her...”
Both look on as shocked… I guess that wasn't the best place to stop my sentence.
“As a general in my army. I guess having a few ninja troops on reserve for stealth missions would also come in handy...”
The shogun combs his beard between his finger and thumb…
“Is that all? You've done so much for us already… We… As a people, we are so indebted to you… How can you sit there and say that the payment for all of your help is just our help. Of course we will help, but we are not even. Not in the slightest.”
I rub my face. It is as if he is trying to force me to take more than I want. And I steadfastly refused him… This is the opposite of how these talks normally go.
“FINE! I'll do trade with you for your wood. I know it will make amazing bows if I use it.”
“You will take the wood for free for your help freeing the children.”
“I refuse! We will do fair business for it!”
“You will buy it for 20% of what it is actually worth.”
“I say 80% then.”
“I'll go as high as 50%.”
“Fine. But only for the first year of our trade agreement. Anything after that and I pay full price.”
“Make it two years. Speaking of which, we'll buy everything at an increased rate of 400% in this time.”
“You are killing me. 125% price increase and that doesn't include the price of food which will be normal priced in case your island has a food shortage.”
He finishes combing his long beard and finishes talking.
“Fine. While I don't agree with how easy we are getting off, I will agree to these terms.”
We talk for a few more minutes. I'm still very busy today… It should be getting close to the final meeting of my generals before the fight tomorrow. Nami follows behind me to the portal we had left on the island… The awkwardness is very intense as we walk… I guess I have to fix my mistake.
“Nami… While I do understand the marriage of your people. It is slightly different for humans… Well, for some humans anyways. We only marry for love… So, that is why I didn't want to marry you… I didn't want to force you to do something you might regret later on.”
“I get that but… With all the flirting you were doing with me, I just assumed it was because you liked me.”
I give a little chuckle at what she said before explaining.
“I… I had a new trait influencing what I was doing. I normally don't act that way but as I level, I can be forced to act differently...”
“Isn't that dangerous for someone who is leading an army to be doing? What if you get a trait like cowardly that will make you do the wrong things with your army… Or one that would make you extremely aggressive with your army.”
“Well… If it comes down to it… One of my other generals would take over for me… At least until the trait had passed through me.”
We walk through the portal and one of my guards alerts me to something that had just happened. Leon has been injured and might die soon…