◇ ◇ ◇
Oh, right. I did teach her this song, didn't I? I realized.
That was Juna for you: she had mastered singing the English lyrics that even I
wasn't so good at.
"Oh, what a wonderful singing voice. I really must hand it to Madam Juna," Liscia
said.
"I don't know what the words mean, but it's a nice tune," Aisha added.
Aisha and Liscia both seemed deeply impressed. Well, of course they were. It was
a good song.
I had promised to teach Juna the songs of my world, but once I thought about it, I
only knew old songs I'd learned because of Grandpa's influence, and songs that had
shown up in anime and tokusatsu, because I was into those. I was hesitant to go
teaching her anime songs right off the bat, so I'd chosen this song, which was like an
anime song, but not: Neil Sedaka's "Better Days are Coming."
You might know it better as the song that Mami Ayukawa covered as Z — Toki wo
Koete, the opening to the mecha anime Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. Now, this is only
my personal opinion, but I thought for ordinary music, Hiroko Yakushimaru, and for
anime songs, Hiroko Moriguchi's songs would suit Juna's voice well. I wanted to hear
"Tantei Monogatari" and "Mizu no Hoshi ni Ai wo Komete" with her voice.
The cafe had a relaxing, retro-modern style to it. Sitting ourselves down at one of
the tables, we listened to Juna sing for a while. A few minutes later, Juna finished her
song and came over to us.
"Why, Your..." she began.
"Hello, Juna," I said quickly. "You may not remember me, but I am Kazuya, the
successor to a crêpe fabric merchant from Echigo!"
In order to cut off Juna, I started talking a mile a minute. Being the smart,
talented woman that she was, Juna recognized what was going on just from that.
"Oh, yes, Kazuya. Right. It's been so long. How is your father these days?"
"Why, he's too energetic for his own good. Just recently, Mother found out he was
having affair. Now wasn't that trouble."
"I see. Kazuya, do be careful about how you handle women yourself," she said,
going along with my story.
I couldn't very well have her bowing and calling me "Your Majesty" in a place like
this with so many people watching, after all. I was supposed to be in disguise. Still, I
had to be impressed with her ability to instantly ad-lib a response to my random
nonsense. I definitely wanted her at the castle.
"I'll pay you five times what they pay you here, so will you come be my personal
secretary?" I asked her.
"I appreciate the offer, but I think this job where I can let the customers enjoy my
songs is my calling, so I'll have to decline." She let me down lightly.
Yep. Even the way she rejects me has class.
"That's a shame. But, they do say that rather than put wild flowers on display in
your room, the flowers are more beautiful left blossoming in the fields."
"Oh, but if you love and adore them, not just put them on display, flowers will
shine even in a vase," she retorted.
"I see. I must endeavor to be worthy of loving and adoring them, then."
"Yes, worthy enough to convince the flowers they want you to take them."
"Ha ha ha ha ha."
"Hee hee hee hee hee."
Juna and I laughed together.
As she watched us, Liscia seemed slightly taken aback. "Somehow, when you two
talk, it's like you're each probing the other's intentions."
...Or so she thought. You're wrong, Liscia, I said silently. Most likely, this was Fig.
A younger brother who wants to act more mature than he is being gently chided by
his big sister for it.
...I'll bet that's how it was. Even though we were practically the same age.
"Slurrrrrp... Gelin udon truly is delicious, isn't it?" Aisha said happily.
We had decided to stay at Lorelei and have lunch there.
Polishing off her gelin udon as fast as you would a bowl of wanko soba, Aisha
shouted "Seconds, please!" thrusting the bowl out towards our waiter.
A cafe isn't the place to be eating like that, you know... I thought.
"Still, gelin udon at a cafe...?" I wondered.
"Did you not like it?"
Juna looked worried, so I shook my head, saying, "Oh, no. I just thought it was
odd to be slurping udon in a classy place like this."
"Ever since that broadcast, there have been a lot of people wanting to try it," she
explained. "Besides, we aren't through the food crisis yet, so we're grateful to have
these sorts of inexpensive ingredients we can use."
"I'm working on it, but... sorry I'm not doing well enough," I said.
"No, Your... Kazuya, I think you're doing well."
When Juna gave me that gentle smile, it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Kick! Kick!
Okay, Liscia, stop kicking my shins under the table, please.
"Don't you think Souma treats Juna differently from how he treats everyone
else?" Liscia asked.
"Ahh, slurp... I had... slurp... noticed that, too," Aisha agreed.
"...Hey, I can't help it," I protested. "I get nervous when I'm talking to a beautiful,
older girl. Also, Aisha, eat or talk. Pick one."
"Slurp."
What, you're choosing to eat? I could have poked fun at her, but that comedy
routine's too overdone, so I just let it go.
"...This after he told me I was beautiful, too," Liscia said.
"Actually, Liscia, I think you're beautiful in a different way than Juna is, you
know?" I said.
"Wh-Why were you able to hear me?!" she exclaimed.
Uh, if you don't want to be heard, lower your volume a little, would you?
...Part of it was that I was strangely conscious of her because she'd let me use her
lap as a pillow.
"Y-You could have pretended not to hear," she stammered.
"Like I could let it go by," I retorted. "I'm a healthy young man, so don't say things
that are going to make me so conscious of you so often."
"Oh, my, your faces are all red. You're both so innocent." Juna watched us
bickering with a smile.
Next to us, Aisha slurped her udon like she was pouting. "Slurp... Why does he
notice the princess's affections... Slurp... but mine get ignored...? Slurp. Ah, I'll have
another bowl, please."
"It may not be my place to say it... But perhaps he doesn't take you seriously
because you act like this?" Juna suggested.
"Madam Juna?! What have I done wrong?!" Aisha exclaimed.
"That appetite of yours. When I first saw you in the castle, you looked like a brave
and dignified woman who was willing to address the king directly, but recently
you're just a disappointment who's eating all the time."
"Wh-Whaaaaat?!" Aisha started to look at us with eyes that seemed to plead, "Tell
me she's lying, Your Majesty, Princess."
Liscia and I smiled, then both raised our arms in front of us in an X.
After all, I agreed with Juna 100%.
"Poncho's clearly been stealing everyone's attention from her," Liscia said.
"Where did that dignified Aisha go, I wonder?" Juna asked.
"Wahhh! It's the forest's fault for not having so many different types of food!"
Aisha wailed.
"Besides, what do you think you're doing trying to seduce a guy who's already
betrothed...?" I added.
"""Huh?""" All three stared at me blankly.
Did I say something strange?
"Um... Souma? In this country, polygamy is tolerated, so long as you have the
wealth to support multiple wives, you realize?" Liscia said.
[MISTERLP]: hehe boys, that's a harem.
Juna nodded. "It works the other way around, too. Polyandrous arrangements are
possible for powerful women, as well. It's uncommon, though."
"If men were limited to one wife, the house could die out if something went
wrong, after all," Aisha agreed.
Liscia, Juna, and Aisha told me this with straight faces.
Are they serious...? Ah, no, I guess they probably are serious.
This world's society still hadn't gotten out of the Dark Ages. They didn't have a
stable birth rate, and their hygiene and medical knowledge were underdeveloped.
On top of that, they were living in these troubled times, so there were probably few
people living to the average life expectancy. Furthermore, in a Middle Ages-type
society, where the "house" is an important concept, provided you have the wealth to
support them, the more potential heirs the better. That was probably the reason
why they allowed polygamy. Even I could understand that.
"But Liscia's mother is the only queen I've met..." I objected.
If it was a polygamous system, wouldn't Liscia's father, the king, have had more
wives? I mean, I was getting hassled by Hakuya to hurry up and produce an heir, too.
"Oh, actually, my mother was the one who held the royal authority," Liscia
explained. "She's the daughter of the man who was king before my father, you see."
"Hold on, that king married into the family?!" I burst out.
"Yes. After they married, she left ruling the country to him, though. That's why
my father could never have slighted my mother by taking another woman as his
queen. ...I can't say for sure that he doesn't have any bastards, though."
"Huh? Was it okay for me to take the throne when he abdicated it to me?" I
wondered.
"There's no issue. Father was the one who stood out, but he couldn't have
abdicated without Mother's consent."
In other words, that abdication hadn't been an arbitrary decision by the king, but
something he had had the queen's understanding for as well, huh?
"Besides, I was the only one with the right of succession, and I would have had to
take a husband anyway, so it's not that big a difference, really," Liscia added. "It's
just a matter of whether I hold the royal authority or my partner does."
"...Well, couldn't you have been the ruler then, instead, Liscia?" I asked.
"You'd have needed to seek my approval for each and every one of your reforms,
you know? Wouldn't that be a pain?"
"Well... Yes."
Now, Liscia wasn't pigheaded in any way, but if I had needed her approval for
every little thing, my reforms would have been going much slower. Besides, if the
person with ultimate deciding power and the person driving the reformation were
separate people, there would be no guarantee that the members of a counterreformation faction wouldn't try to get between the two and stir up unneeded
trouble.
"Your father made a brave decision by transferring everything to me at once,
huh..." I said.
"You're right... I'm sincerely able to see how impressive that was now."
Though, it did mean the burden had been shifted to us.
We both sighed in unison.
"So, if you wanted it, Souma, a polygamous relationship is... possible," Liscia said.
"You'd be okay with that, Liscia?" I asked.
"I wouldn't be happy about it, but if it keeps you on the throne..."
"That's being way too understanding..." I murmured.
"I'll tolerate up to eight, myself included."
"That's a lot! I couldn't take responsibility for that many!"
Now, when she told me I could have a harem, it's not like the idea wasn't
appealing, but... I dunno, I could only imagine it being a lot of work. I wasn't the type
that could bear to disagree strongly with women, and I could tell that the more of
them there were, the more constrained I'd feel.
"By the way, why did you choose that number?" I asked.
"I can have you all to myself for one day a week," she said.
The weeks in this world were eight days. Incidentally, there were four weeks in a
month, making each of them 32 days. There were twelve months in a year, so this
world had a 384-day year.
Wait, that's why?! I realized, registering what she had said.
When she said that, Juna and Aisha started whispering about something.
"If there were eight of us, do you think we would only get it once a week?"
"It doesn't have to be that way, I'd think? If you and another wife each invited the
other on your days..."
"I see. It's not necessarily just once a week! You're brilliant, Madam Juna."
"...But wouldn't you want to have him to yourself?"
"Ooh, there's a conundrum."
No, no, Aisha, Juna, why are you getting so into talking about this?!
Having them at the same time... I can't say I wouldn't be into that, but I'd have to
become king for that. I was torn between my realistic personality, which wanted to
avoid the hard work involved if I took the throne, and my desire to pursue that
masculine ideal.
Just then, as I was starting to feel incredibly awkward...
"No, you can't do that! Absolutely not, Hal!"
"Why won't you understand?!"
At a table far away from ours, a young couple in military outfits were having an
argument.
The man was a tall human with distinctive red hair. He looked like he was over
190 centimeters tall. He was broad-shouldered, and even through his uniform, I
could tell he had a solid build.
The girl, on the other hand, had blonde hair in a short bob, with two triangular
ears up top, and was a little on the petite side.
Is that girl a mystic wolf, I wonder?
"That girl's a mystic fox," Liscia told me, but I couldn't tell the difference. "You can
tell by their tails. She has a fox tail, see?"
"They're both canines, so can't we just lump them both together as mystic dogs?"
I asked.
"If you say that, you'll get both the mystic wolves and the mystic foxes angry.
Kobolds are mystic dogs, so it would be like lumping humans together with apes."
"...Tell me about all these things I shouldn't say to certain races later, please."