Around the time that the commotion from Souma's personnel gathering had
settled, a certain ghost story began to spread in the castle town of the capital
Parnam.
According to the tales, there was a mannequin that roamed the streets at night. It
was the type of doll you could see in clothing shops: faceless, with arm and leg joints.
Carrying swords in both hands, it stalked the streets night by night, hunting animals
and monsters.
One adventurer said this:
"A while back, I took a quest from the guild to escort a peddler and was walking
around the streets at night, y'see, when we had the bad luck to get surrounded by
some subspecies of gelin (those gel things). They're weak individually, but this time
there were a lot of them, and the battle was going badly. Then a mannequin carrying
swords in both hands tottered along from the direction of the palace and attacked
the gelins. It was such a creepy sight that we bolted right away, but... I wonder what
was up with that thing."
Another adventurer said this:
"It was a week ago. I took a mission from the guild that said, 'A group of
hobgoblins has crossed the border to the north and is traveling southwards. We
want you to intercept them.' We were waiting in a valley that was along their route
to intercept them, but wait as we might, they never appeared. Something seemed
strange, so we went scouting for them, and what we found was a mannequin
standing in the middle of a pile of brutally killed hobgoblin bodies. Thinking it was
some new type of monster, me and my warrior buddy attacked it, but it parried us
with two swords it carried. When our mage tried hitting it with fire, it ran off at an
incredible speed. That thing... it's probably a new autonomous weapon created by
the demon king, don't you think?"
There were many sightings, and though many said it was a ghost story, it was
almost certain that it existed. However, when the adventurers' guild recognized its
existence and quests to capture or destroy it were issued, all sightings stopped.
After that, some wondered if it hadn't been a prank by someone.
◇ ◇ ◇
"...so, well, there are rumors like that going around in the castle town, you know?"
Liscia told me.
"Oh, yeah, are there now?" I asked.
As I lay back on the sofa, my hand with the needle not stopping as I responded to
her, Liscia, who was sitting on the bed, took on a slightly upset tone.
"...What? Don't stories like this interest you?"
"No, it's not like that, but..."
"Souma, you're the king, so shouldn't stories that are causing unrest in the castle
town be important to you?" she said.
"You don't need to worry about it. That mannequin won't be showing up again."
"...Do you know something about it?"
"Yeah, sorta..."
I packed the "cotton" in while I gave vague answers. Now, I just had to sew the
back closed and it would be done.
"...And, hold on, what are you doing there, Souma?"
"What? Exactly what it looks like. Sewing."
"No, I'm asking why you're coming to my room to sew!"
"Well, where else would I go? My room's still the governmental affairs office,
after all."
Recently, the amount of work to be done had settled down a bit, so while my
Living Poltergeist pens were working, my main body could rest like this. Though,
that said, the governmental affairs office where my bed was always had a lot of
officials coming in and out of it, so it was a bit hard to take it easy there.
"Besides, you know how Aisha's been lately..." I added.
"I can guess..." she said.
Recently, Aisha had become so clingy that she would never leave my side.
When a dark elf pledges their loyalty to someone, they pride themselves on
staying by that person's side and protecting them until the day they themselves die,
apparently. That was why Aisha had appointed herself as my bodyguard, and
whether it was work time, meal time, or sleep time, she tried to follow me
everywhere I went, even into the bath and toilet. I thought it was problematic to
have someone who hadn't even officially been hired yet so close to the king, but she
was beautiful, highly loyal, and her skills were well known, so Ludwin and the royal
guards turned a blind eye to her. As for Hakuya, who had taken over the post of
prime minister from Marx, he said:
"Is it not lovely to be surrounded by such beauties? The princess, Madam Aisha,
Madam Juna... it matters not to me which you choose, but please hurry up and give
us a child. It will bring stability to the royal house."
That's a hell of a thing to say so easily. Good grief.
While I was thinking about that, Liscia came over and poked me in the back.
"I bet you don't actually mind the attention, do you?"
"Give me a break. Just when I was finally able to get some rest... Wait, huh? Come
to think of it, where's Tomoe?"
"Tomoe is over in Mother and Father's room. Mother's taken a liking to her..."
Just a few days ago, Tomoe had come to the castle to live as Liscia's adopted
sister. Of course, as we had promised, her family had come with her, too.
Incidentally, Tomoe's mother worked at the palace daycare facility, which we had
set up as an experiment to help encourage the advancement of women in society.
She stayed with the wet nurses, caring for other people's children at the same time
as her own. This daycare facility was a hit with the young maids, who said, "Now I
can get married without worrying."
With maternity leave being nonexistent at present, women were often dismissed
the moment they got pregnant. That was why, unless they became a king's mistress,
most of the maids spent their entire lives single.
But I digress. Basically, it meant Tomoe had two mothers in the palace. She had
seemed a little bewildered at first, but now both of them adored her.
Liscia stood up and, resting her hands on the back of the sofa, she peeked over
my shoulder. "Still, when you have time off, you sew...? Is that a doll?"
"Oh, this? It's Little Musashibo."
I finished sewing up the doll's back, presenting it to Liscia.
"Little Musashibo?"
"Yeah. He's from my world... Something like a rare and exotic beast, I guess?"
Little Musashibo was a cute super-deformed mascot based on Musashibo Benkei
from the city I lived in. A white silk face. A Buddhist priest's stole and prayer beads.
Big bushy eyebrows that looked imposing, but adorable acorn eyes underneath.
People liked that gap, so he was well received.
By the way, the city where I had lived had absolutely no connection to Musashibo
Benkei. So why Benkei then, you might wonder? Well, "because long ago Saitama
Prefecture was known as Musashi Province." That was the only reason.
Now, you might ask, "Then, wouldn't Musashi Miyamoto or Musashimaru have
worked just as well?" or, "If it's because of Musashi Province, doesn't that cover all of
Saitama?" but to do so would be boorish.
You don't think, you feel. That's just how mascot characters are.
"Urkh... It makes me mad how surprisingly cute it is," Liscia said, looking at the
Little Musashibo doll. "Still, why would you make something like this?"
"Well, actually... turns out my Living Poltergeists works really well with dolls."
With those words, I focused, and Little Musashibo began to move before our eyes.
He used his short little arms and legs to break dance. That he was good at it only
made it more surreal.
Liscia stared, dumbstruck. "What is this...?"
"When I use it on a pen, all I can do is make it float around, but with a doll, I can
move it around almost as if I were inside it. What's more, with dolls, the limits on
distance go away."
Up until now, I had only been able to manipulate objects up to 100 meters away,
but with dolls, I was able to send them not just into the castle town but beyond the
walls.
"That's certainly impressive, but... What are you going to do, become a street
performer?" Liscia looked exasperatedly at Little Musashibo.
"Ha ha, now there's an idea. Maybe I'll quit being king and make a living on the
road."
"Don't be silly. I won't let you abandon the job halfway."
"...I know that. Anyway, here's the important bit."
I gave Little Musashibo two short swords. When I did, despite being made of felt
and stuffed with cotton, Little Musashibo managed to hold two swords that would
have felt heavy in the hands of a grown man. Little Musashibo posed like Musashi
Miyamoto with his two swords.
Liscia's eyes went wide. "No way... It's a doll, right?"
"It seems that when a doll holds something, its counted as an optional item for
the doll. What's more, it can use any items I equip it with freely. As a test, I gave
another doll some weapons and tried sending it to fight monsters. It managed to
fight just fine."
"A doll fighting monsters. Wait... The mannequin from the rumors!"
"Yeah. I used a doll I happened to find around the palace to experiment."
I had never imagined there would be rumors about it, though. I had tried to do
my tests at night when there wouldn't be people around to see, but maybe that had
just made it feel even more like something out of a ghost story.
"Thanks to that, I found out they can hold their own against monsters. On top of
that, the more experience they gain, the better the dolls get at moving."
As I said that, Little Musashibo spread the arms he was still holding the short
swords with wide, spinning in circles fast enough that you almost expected a
"whoosh" sound effect to pop up. He looked like a big spinning top, but he was
actually like a revolving saw turned sideways, so he was more dangerous than he
looked.
"Is the training done by the dolls reflected on your main body?" Liscia asked.
"If it were, that would make it one broken ability. Sadly, no; even if the doll learns
to use a technique, I can't reproduce it myself. Maybe it's because I don't have the
muscle strength for it? My body's still weak."
"Hmm... Why not work out?"
"I think it's a more effective use of my time to improve my ability to control the
dolls than to try to get stronger myself. No matter how much I work out, I'm not
going to get tough enough that it's better than keeping three strong dolls around
me."
"That's not how a hero fights." Liscia said, exasperated.
Sadly, I had to agree with that assessment.
In fantasy works from my old world, my job class would have been Doll Master or
Puppeteer, probably. Those sorts of jobs tended to be mid-range support types.
That's a long way away from the mid to close-range attacker type impression that
most people have of a hero.
"When I watch you, I can feel my image of what a hero is falling to pieces..." Liscia
said.
"Ha ha ha..." I chuckled. "Don't worry. I feel the same."
In roughly a month since I was summoned, all I had done was domestic politics.
Since all I planned to do for the next few months was domestic politics as well, could
I really call myself a hero? No, I could not. (Rhetorical question.)
Suddenly, a knock came at the door.
"Excuse me," someone said, entering with a bow.
It was the palace's head maid and Liscia's personal attendant, Serina. An
intellectual beauty who was five years older than Liscia, she was as talented as she
appeared, a woman who knew how to get her job done.
When Serina saw my face, she lowered her head reverently.
"Your Majesty, Sir Hakuya sends word that 'Sir Poncho and the others have all
gathered.'"
"They're here, huh? I've been waiting!" I rose from my seat eagerly, taking Liscia
by the hand. "Let's go, Liscia."
"Huh? What?!"
When I suddenly grabbed her hand, Liscia blushed.
"Oh, my word, Princess," Serina said. "To think you would blush just from holding
hands... With such innocence, how will you ever attend to your nightly duties with
His Majesty?"
"Serina?! What are you saying?!"
"Please, let me hold your child soon. You do know how babies are made, yes?"
"Augh! You're always teasing me!"
...Serina was a capable maid, but she had a bad habit of being downright sadistic
to cute girls. Her master Liscia was no exception to that. Well, I guess that meant
their bond of trust was strong enough to allow it. So long as she didn't turn that
sadism towards me, she was a very capable worker.
"Well, we're heading off," I said.
"Hey, wait, Souma," Liscia objected.
"Take care!" Serina called. As we left the room, she saw us off with a bow.
We picked up Aisha along the way, and by the time we arrived at the meeting
room, all of those who had been summoned had gathered.
At the round table in the center of the room sat Hakuya the prime minister,
Tomoe my sister-in-law, Juna the lorelei, and Poncho Ishizuka Panacotta. If we
excluded Ludwin, who was occupied with another matter, and Marx, who had
relinquished the title of prime minister to Hakuya and now managed the palace,
everyone who had been present for the gathering of personnel was here.
"Your Majesty," they all said, rising.
"Please, remain seated," I told them, holding out my hand. "I'm the one who called
all of you here."
Liscia and I took our seats, as well. Aisha was the only one who remained
standing, hovering behind me so that she could act at once in case anything should
happen. Honestly, it was bothering me having her stand there, so I asked her to sit,
but she stubbornly refused.
Weren't you supposed to follow your master's orders? I thought with annoyance.
...Well, we'll set that aside for now.
"Everyone, thank you for coming," I said. "I give you my heartfelt thanks."
"N-N-N-Not at all! I-I-I-It was nothing!" Poncho stammered.
"Sire, do not bow your head so easily," Hakuya said. Beside the flustered Poncho,
Hakuya had a disapproving look on his face. "If the one at the top abases himself so,
there may be those who come to look down on him."
"Any dignity I can only maintain by acting self-important is dignity I don't need.
Besides, all of the people in this room I think of not as retainers or citizens, but as
comrades."
"You're too kind, Your Majesty." Juna gave a slight bow. Those little gestures of
hers always made for such a pretty picture.
Tomoe, on the other hand, was so nervous she was stiff. Her clothes last time had
been falling apart, but now she wore what looked like a miko outfit with a miniskirt,
which was apparently a traditional outfit for mystic wolves. "A-Am I your comrade
as well, my king?"
"No, no, Tomoe, you're my sister-in-law, remember?"
"Oh, right."
"Yep. So don't call me your king, call me 'Big Brother Souma.'"
"Ah, no fair! Call me 'Big Sister,' too, then!" Liscia cried.
"Um... Big Brother Souma. Big Sister Liscia," Tomoe said with upturned eyes.
""Nice!"" Liscia and I both gave Tomoe's cute reaction an enthusiastic thumbs up.
Thwack! Thwack!
We got whacked upside the head with a paper fan. It was Hakuya who did it.
"You two, it's taking us forever to get on with things, so please cut that out."
""We're sorry..."" we both earnestly apologized.
By the way, that paper fan was something I had given to Hakuya when he had
taken the position of prime minister, saying, "If I act too far out of line, don't hesitate
to slap me upside the head with this." It had been a joke to try to get the too-serious
Hakuya to lighten up, but as you would expect from a man who was the greatest
genius in the history of Elfrieden (or so Marx claimed), he was putting the paper fan
to brilliant use.