Chapter 23: Hikigaya's Advice
"Huh?" Hikigaya, who had originally intended to talk to Ramesses, stopped in his tracks.
Feeling a sudden presence of some unfriendly force in the air around him, his expression darkened.
Some shameless god seemed unwilling to let things drop.
Or perhaps Hikigaya's own restraint had been misinterpreted by the other party?
That was truly arrogant. Should one say this is indeed one of the most notable achievements of Baal worship?
In the entire Near East, no god was more famous than Baal. Worshiped by Sumerians and Canaanites as a sky and ancestral deity, this great god had once humiliated Yahweh repeatedly. The bearded Melkar in the "Godslayer" anime was based on Baal, lord of fertile lands and storms. Unfortunately, after Hikigaya came to this world, Baal was neutralized, and another bearded god, Poseidon, appeared.
Baal's influence in Canaan had been exceptionally stable. The Hebrews, who founded their nation in the name of God in Canaan, soon began weighing a choice between him and Yahweh—a process that lasted for many years. In fact, later Jewish history can be seen almost as the story of Yahweh vs. Baal.
Of course, a god's renown could not intimidate a Godslayer; that simply didn't exist.
Hikigaya sensed the power leaking from another world, flames flickering from his fingertips.
He did not intend to provoke trouble, but anyone daring to cross him would not be treated kindly.
Hikigaya could occasionally be magnanimous toward humans, but gods were generally met with immediate retribution.
It was natural for threatening and non-threatening beings to receive different treatment.
After a while, the opposing force seemed to sense the murderous intent in Hikigaya's heart, causing its power to "stutter" slightly before suddenly dispersing, leaving behind a faint laugh that only Hikigaya could discern.
Of course, it wasn't actually faint—it was thunder—but Hikigaya could tell it was the other's laughter.
He then retracted his power and turned to find Ramesses.
The battle was over. Egyptians were cleaning the battlefield everywhere.
Soldiers were turning over enemy corpses, severing hands from the dead, killing grievously wounded foes for the same purpose, and only aiding lightly wounded ones to sell them later. In this era, where slavery was universal, prisoners of war were the finest slaves.
Hikigaya walked past them and saw Ramesses resting by the river.
The Pharaoh had dismounted from his golden chariot, already covered in blood, sitting on the ground to rest. Killer crawled beside him, and no one dared approach.
The great feline lifted its head upon sensing someone approach, saw Hikigaya, hesitated, and then shrank back.
Hikigaya smiled, walking past in the awed eyes of the onlookers, and said to the Pharaoh, "How does it feel? Is the taste of victory a little different from what you imagined?"
Was this sarcasm? Hikigaya would firmly nod yes—it was indeed sarcasm directed at Ramesses.
Ramesses considered himself another Thutmose, but he lacked Thutmose's level entirely. Thutmose's military skill surpassed all contemporaries, making every battle a net gain; Egypt grew stronger with each war.
But Ramesses II?
Let's not even mention the disastrous first battle.
Historically, this war lasted over a decade, ultimately benefiting the Hittites far more. Egypt's expansion halted, and the Pharaoh's name lost all deterrence among Asian princes. With insufficient gains from abroad, the costs of war were borne by the Egyptian populace, naturally leading to repeated civil revolts over taxes.
Egypt and the Hittites had initially had a chance for cooperation. Assyria was rising, and the Hittites recognized it was a difficult neighbor. Before Kadesh, they had still been open to negotiations with Egypt.
Did the Hittites have iron? That originally came from Assyria.
Were the Hittites fierce and warlike? Actually, Assyrians were the best fit for that label—they just weren't fully developed yet.
Even historical Hittite-Egyptian peace talks were due to increasing Assyrian pressure, not battlefield defeat.
Assyria was the real winner of this war. The two major powers that should have blocked its rise ended up fighting each other, almost to mutual annihilation.
Of course, the Hittites weren't particularly wise either. Fifty years after obtaining continental dominance, they went to war with their Mycenaean relatives again…
Thus, Hikigaya didn't intend to excessively mock Ramesses. After all, this was an era in which no one had particular foresight—power or planning didn't matter; the operators simply "malfunctioned," and everyone suffered.
Ramesses' reaction to Hikigaya's sarcasm, however, was somewhat strange.
"Why didn't you leave?" he asked. "The Hittites should have won."
Many Egyptians lowered their heads in shame.
Bravery was the primary virtue of this era. Clearly, the Egyptians' initial performance had not been virtuous.
This shows that Egyptians still cared about honor—they didn't consider fleeing the battlefield a trivial matter.
Egyptian warriors were famous in this civilized world—practically elite among soldiers.
"But you regained Egypt's honor, didn't you?" This time, Hikigaya was not sarcastic. Ramesses had indeed done well here, so much so that even hardened Hittites admired him.
Hikigaya was busy and didn't waste more words.
"So, make peace. Take what you can, don't hope to defeat the Hittites, unless you plan on mutual annihilation."
This was sound advice. He wasn't strong enough; better to go home and—well, help Moses cause trouble.
"But the great god Set just joined with me! He forgave and protected me! I can win!" Ramesses' expression showed a mix of frustration, grievance, and excitement.
Hikigaya chuckled.
Set my ass! He didn't even pay attention to you! It was your own grandpa's assist that did the work!
"Very good. And besides that?" Hikigaya gave the Pharaoh a side-eye and dropped a bombshell. "I'll remind you—the twelve Hittite gods all came. You'd better summon every god you can call, or I'm afraid you won't make it back to Egypt alive."
He decided that if Ramesses dared to keep blabbing, he would "manifest" and see who could play the god act better.
But the first attempt might be clumsy; if anything went wrong, he wouldn't take the blame.
Perhaps sensing the hidden meaning in Hikigaya's words, Ramesses' expression immediately became rather… spectacular.
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