It was a few weeks after the first episode of The King's Brillunch had been
broadcast.
That day, a petition was delivered to Prime Minister Hakuya Kwonmin.
The personnel department had been the ones to organize it, but it included
names from the royal guard, the maid force, and every other group within the
palace. Marx, who was now the chamberlain, and Ludwin, the head of the royal
guard, had put their names on it, as well.
Wondering what it could be, Hakuya quickly perused the contents to find...
"...Ah, I see."
Hakuya agreed with the petition despite himself.
◇ ◇ ◇
"So, there you have it. I will be insisting you take time off, sire," Hakuya said.
"There I have what, exactly?" I asked. "I still can't make heads or tails of what's
going on."
While I had been working in the governmental affairs office, Hakuya had
suddenly come in and said, "Take time off." Then he'd casually dropped the bundle
of papers he was holding onto the desk I'd been working at.
"This is a petition I received from the personnel department," he informed me.
"According to it, 'When those at the top do not rest, those below them find it difficult
to take time off.' You will find Sir Marx and Ludwin's names on here, and I, your
humble servant, have added my own name, as well."
Ah... Now that he mentions it, I haven't taken time off since being summoned here,
have I? I thought.
It wasn't that I wasn't resting at all. Recently, now that I had gotten used to using
Living Poltergeists, I'd sometimes left the paperwork to my ability and gone to do
things like make dolls in Liscia's room. If I let part of my mind work while part of it
rested, I could work 24/7 without feeling the slightest bit exhausted. However,
according to Hakuya, it seemed that wasn't the issue here.
"Even if you are resting, you are always in the palace, correct?" he asked me.
"Yeah, just in case anything happens."
"I am telling you that it does not look like you are resting when you do that. And,
because it does not look like you are resting, everyone else finds it difficult to rest
themselves. Please, understand that."
"That's easy for you to say..." I said.
"Normally, I would want you to take a large block of days off to rest," he said,
"but..."
"Do we have that kind of time?" I asked.
"We do not."
"I figured..."
As a matter of fact, there was a mountain of things that needed doing. Expanding
and strengthening the military, meeting with VIPs, creating documents for external
use, pushing forward all sorts of reforms... the list could go on forever. Even Aisha's
request that I go to the God-Protected Forest as soon as possible was on hold at this
point. Though I had at least told them how periodic thinning worked. In this country
beset by internal and external issues, there was no time we could afford to waste.
"However, if this lowers morale, and as a result work efficiency, I believe your
hard work may be self-defeating," Hakuya explained.
"Well, what do you want me to do, then?" I asked.
"Somehow, I will find time to give you a day off," he said. "Why not use it for an
outing somewhere?"
An outing, huh...
"Since I don't get many days off, what if I said I want to use it to lie around in my
room?" I asked.
"That request is rejected. I must ask you to take your vacation in a way that your
subjects can see you enjoying it."
"...You still call that a vacation?"
In my opinion, it's only a day off if you're able to do what you want with it. I gave
Hakuya a meaningful glance to try to convey that, but it was met with utter
indifference.
"Is this not the perfect opportunity? You can use the time to see the castle town
with Princess Liscia."
"You're sending me out on a date?" I asked.
"You two are betrothed, so please go out and show the people how close you are."
"Oh, come on, now this is just turning into part of my official duties," I protested.
Do you want us to do stuff like they do on the Imperial Family Album TV show?
"...And what'll we do about guarding me?" I added.
"Is that not what you have Aisha for?" he responded.
"First you tell me to go on a date, now you're telling me to bring another woman
along?!"
"Why, it will be like having a flower in each hand," Hakuya commented. "I am
most jealous."
"You don't mean that..."
Sigh... Well, it's definitely some long awaited time to rest. I guess I can enjoy it with
the mindset that I'm going out to have fun with friends. I can go around to all the
places in the capital I've been interested in. Let's see... checking out that singing cafe
that Juna works at might be nice.
"...Okay. Fine, I'll take a day off," I said.
"Your understanding is appreciated."
As Hakuya bowed reverently, I gave him a cold look.
"Now then, where's Liscia at?" I wondered.
I wanted to let her know we had a day off, but she wasn't in her room. Usually,
that meant she was somewhere in the palace's training facility. When I had ascended
the throne, Liscia's position as royalty had gone up in the air. Now all that she was
left with was her military rank, so acting as my advisor (which, mind you, was pretty
hard work) was the only job she had now. She'd been complaining lately about how
she had nothing to do other than join the royal guards for training, hadn't she?
First I visited the shooting range, then the indoor training grounds. Finally, when
I visited the inner garden, I found Liscia in the middle of crossing blades with Aisha.
"Hahhhhhhhhh!"
With a loud cry, Aisha swung a sword that was as tall as she was.
In contrast, Liscia silently read her opponent's attacks, striking with her rapier.
It was hard for an amateur to tell which of them had the advantage. Was it Aisha,
who was unleashing an attack that would be crippling if it landed? Or was it Liscia,
who dodged that attack, unleashing three sequential thrusts with her rapier?
Was it Aisha, who knocked those thrusts aside using nothing more than the
gauntlet she wore? Or was it Liscia, who used the opening that left her with to step
on Aisha's great sword, preventing Aisha from lifting it up?
...Is this really a practice match? Their swordplay was so intense, I couldn't be
sure how serious they were.
"Sonic Wind!"
"Ice Sword Mountain!"
Now they've started using magic and skills!
Aisha's Sonic Wind was apparently a skill that released a "cutting wind" from her
great sword. When Liscia dodged, it cut the tree that had been behind her in half
with a diagonal slash.
Meanwhile, Liscia's Ice Sword Mountain seemed to be a skill that instantly froze
the ground like a skating rink and shot icy spikes out of it, but Aisha cut down all of
the spikes that looked like they might hit her using her great sword.
...What's with this battle to the death?
I had already seen magic in this world. Recently, in order to practice my ability to
manipulate dolls, I had been using a mannequin to go out and hunt monsters, so I
had often seen the adventurers it encountered use magic (though it was usually
when my mannequin got mistaken for a monster and attacked).
However, with the magic that ordinary adventurers used, the most they could do
was things like shoot flames, shoot ice, or heal minor wounds. I'd never thought
magic used by someone experienced would be this incredible.
Aisha was strong, but Liscia seemed pretty capable herself. As the two fought,
their eyes were filled with life, sparkling even, as if they had discovered a worthy
rival.
So these are warriors, huh... Wait, if I let them keep going, they're going to wreck
the castle!
"Both of you... cut that out!"
""Yes, sir! Wait, wha?!"" The two of them returned to their senses, landed on the
ground, then both slipped on the ice and fell on their rumps in unison.
"A-A date?!" Liscia exclaimed.
"Yeah."
When I explained to her that I had a day off, and that Hakuya had recommended I
spend it going on a date with her, Liscia looked dumbstruck.
"Wait... Is that something we should be doing because someone else told us to?"
"I feel the same way, but... in Hakuya's mind, royal dates are probably a part of
our duties."
"What an inhumane way of thinking," she muttered.
"'Before I am a human being, I am the prime minister.' That's probably something
he'd say."
"Ha ha ha!" she giggled. "He would."
"So, before we're human beings, he wants us to be king and queen, basically."
"...Sorry. That one I can't laugh at."
The two of us sighed in unison.
Hakuya was sharp, reliable, and he took his work seriously, but he could take
loyalty to his post too far sometimes. Well, that wasn't to say he didn't have a soft
side. Recently, he had started tutoring Tomoe at her request.
"Well, I'm happy for the day off, and I figure heading out somewhere is okay,
right?" I asked.
"I suppose so," she agreed.
"Oh, oh! In that case, please, come to my forest!" Aisha raised her hand, trying to
get our attention, but I shook my head.
"I still have a pile of official work to get through. It has to be somewhere we can
make a day trip to."
"Ohh... Even by horse, it takes three days each way to get to the God-Protected
Forest..."
Yeah, that's out of the question.
"You'll have to give up on it this time. But I did teach you how to do periodic
thinning, didn't I?"
"Yes. However, there are some among the dark elves who are blindly stubborn...
'What is this nonsense? How can you suggest that we dark elves, protectors of the
forest, cut down trees?' they say."
Ah. Yeah, you get types like that in every world.
I respected their desire to protect nature, but when that desire goes too far, it
reaches a level of arrogance, and it can actually be a problem. Nature isn't so weak
that that it needs humans to look down on and "protect" it. If anything...
"That's why I want you to come, sire," she explained. "To give them a good
shouting at."
"...I get it. The moment I'm free, I'll go."
It feels like the number of things that I need to do is only going up, but... saying that
won't help matters, will it? I thought.
"Please do. If it will help, please, use my body, my life, in any way you see fit,"
Aisha said, bowing her head.
"Well, then I've got a favor to ask right now..."
"Yes, sire! You want me to see to your needs?" she asked immediately.
"Why is that the first thing that comes to mind?!"
"Well, I did just finish pledging my body to you."
"Souma..." Liscia said dangerously.
"Of course I'm not going to ask for that! Liscia, stop giving me that look!"
When Aisha got worked up, it seemed she had a way of letting herself run wild.
"I just wanted to ask you to be my bodyguard while we go into the castle town," I
explained.
"Y-You want me to join you two on your date?" she asked.
"Well, if it were just me and Liscia, we'd be in trouble if anything happened," I
said. "We may be calling it a date, but really we're just walking around town
together, so you don't need to let that bother you."
"...It bothers me, though." For some reason, Liscia was pursing her lips.
Maybe she'd wanted to go on a date alone together? ...Nah, couldn't be. I mean,
even though we were betrothed, that was just a formality.
"Well, that's how it is," I said. "I'll be counting on you two when the day comes."
"Yes, sire! Understood!" Aisha said enthusiastically.
"...Fine, I get it." In contrast to Aisha's enthusiasm, Liscia seemed dissatisfied
somehow.
And so, our day off came.
Liscia, Aisha, and I were walking along a shopping street in the castle town of
Parnam. Hakuya had said, "Please go out and show the people how close you are,"
but apparently that had been a joke, because when the day came, he asked us to be
discreet. Well, for the king going down into the castle town, Aisha alone probably
wasn't enough security, after all.
So, I wore a uniform from the Royal Officers' Academy in Parnam and passed
myself off as a student. ...Which I actually was, given that I had been in university
back home.