Insistent Assistant 34 (Patreon)

Insistent Assistant

Chapter 34

-VB-

Azula-Servant

What was a royal princess to do in her situation?

She, Crown Princess Azula of the Great Fire Nation, found herself in a situation where the Fire Nation did not exist, the world itself was a … disturbing parody of her real life, her master was a man who let his own powers affect his mind a little too much, and her own power was being limited to what was the “norm” for Azula, not Azula at her height.

Hmm, speaking as herself and as a third party in a single thought made her own thoughts sound odd.

And she knew why this ego had been chosen to be her Master’s newest Servant.

After all, who else but a brilliant tactician like herself could hammer in the semblance of strategic and tactical mindset into a man whose first response in close-quarter fight was to jump onto the enemy ship without help? Worse, his own crew could fire cannons that can hurt him.

No, there needed to be a re-education on what constituted a proper tactical approach to battle because the first responsibility of a superior officer was to not die on the front lines.

If her Master did not understand that fact, she would merely have to hammer it into his head.

However, she wasn’t sure how she would go about doing it. It was obvious that he was aware of who she was, both good and bad, and was wary about her interaction with the non-bending commoners. To be fair, there were no benders in this world but there was something like it. She actually considered the commoners and soldiers here worse because this world was better for the average person.

Haki.

She learned from her Master that Haki was a power that everyone could learn if only they put their mind to it. Sure, it took time, training, and resource to be able to awaken it, but that’s just it. There were plenty of people who could.

In fact, this was why she, more than any of the other egos that became her Master’s Servant, hated the “Celestial Dragons.” They were the exact kind of nobles that the original ego hated: bloated, useless, hateful, weak, and - the worst sin out of them all - corruptive. Everything they touched rotted. Communities broke apart, islands burned, government wasted away, and the military languished as nothing more than glorified bodyguards while they were forced to watch the supposed nobles take on slaves.

Disgusting.

The very least she needed to do in this brief life in this world was to educate a few of the simpletons and eliminate as many as she could. Her master’s current plan on finding and … strategically transferring equipment to an alternate location (i.e. his hands) would suit her purpose.

But what were actions that have no consequences if not actions without worth? All of her actions here would mean nothing if everything changed back to normal. To that end, she must get her Master to continue what she did… but then again, she knew that he had no love for pirates and most nobles. It wouldn’t take too much convincing for him to keep doing the good work.

But fighting alone wouldn’t do anything, as much as the thought irked her.

“... Alan.”

Her master looked up and saw her serious gaze. He squirmed from where he’d been working on plotting the course (or rather, looking to see what the course plotted by Jack’s Compass was).

Her eyes narrowed and she lashed out at him. Her hand snapped out and slapped him over the head, and he yelped at the suddenness of it.

“What was that for?!”

“You are their captain! Their leader! You should be proud and strong! Why are you flinching like a common soldier just because I looked at you?!”

He glared at her. “Well, because this ego of yours is a bit crazy!” he snapped back at her. Her cheeks twitched at his reply. “You realize you were mumbling, right? About wanting to kill people?”

“Things that are less than people,” she corrected him. “And you know you want to kill them, too.” He didn’t deny it. After what they and their crew had seen and experienced, there was only hate for slavers and anyone else profiting from such ventures. “I’m just thinking about how I should encourage you to … be more proactive in the pursuit of your justice. It is certainly not my justice but it is one I can accept.”

“Look, this is just how it is aboard a ship. Don’t you know it, too?” he asked her with a sigh. “It takes days just to cross a decent distance. Weeks for longer.”

“Of course, I am not familiar with this slow travel. All Fire Nation military ships had steam engines of one form or another.”

Alan paused. “Steam engine. Wait, fuck. What didn’t I think to commission and install one?” he muttered to himself.

“You’re welcome, captain,” she drawled haughtily. “Your inferior mind can only think in the moment. It’s obvious why your power brought someone like me to the fore.”

He didn’t look like he agreed with her, but he didn’t need to. Her presence here was evidence enough of his ineptitude.