"Kazuya... why do you think people build families?"

On a quiet autumn day, Grandpa asked me that question. It was just after

the Buddhist memorial service held to mark the seventh day following my

grandmother's passing. I was alone in the garden with Grandpa, staring

absently into the sky at the time.

I didn't understand the question, and, as I struggled to find something to

say in response, Grandpa answered. He looked like he'd had an epiphany.

"So that they don't have to die alone. It occurred to me again and again

as I was caring for your grandmother. Though we lost our son and your

mother so soon, you were still here for us. Because of that, we had a sense

of fulfillment in our lives. The bonds we've formed will last even after we

ourselves are no more. For any living being, there can be no greater source

of pride."

"Grandpa..."

"That is why I want to tell you this. Kazuya, build a family. And, once

you have, protect them, come whatever may. You've always been a sensible

boy. ...No, I suppose I should say you always tended to think about things

rationally."

I was silent.

"But, listen, you mustn't do that when it comes to family. Once you've

taken their hands, never let go. Put your life on the line and protect them to

the bitter end, no matter what. If you do that, I'm sure you'll be able to

think 'I lived a good life' when your time comes. Just like your

grandmother... and just like me."

"...You're making this sound like it's your last will," I said teasingly, but

Grandpa nodded in complete seriousness.

"I'm getting on in years. These may be the last words I'll leave to my

grandson, who will one day be alone."

At the time, I could say nothing in response.

And now, as if he had only been holding on so that he could see me get

accepted into university, Grandpa had left to be with Grandma. In that

house where I was now alone, I whispered to myself.

"I know. I haven't forgotten your last will, Grandpa."

To build a family, and protect them, no matter what.

Holding that promise close to heart, I would begin my new life. That

was how it was supposed to be.

◇ ◇ ◇

"O Hero! It is good that you have heeded my summons," said a middleaged man who had just appeared before me. He was average build, and

seemed to be attempting to sound majestic. I'd have put his age at around

forty to fifty years old. He wore a red cape thick enough to serve as a coat,

and atop his head sat a gleaming golden crown. I could tell at a glance that

this guy was a king.

Was the gentle-looking young woman standing at his side the queen,

then? She was a beautiful woman with platinum blonde hair, wearing a

beautiful dress. She looked like she was only around thirty.

Let's take stock of the situation, I thought. A needlessly high ceiling,

rows of marble pillars, and beneath me a red carpet. Soldiers standing at

attention on either side, and mixed in with them a person who looks like

your stereotypical prime minister.

It was a place that looked like it came out of the opening of an RPG.

There was a king, a palace, and that "O Hero" line I'd just heard.

...Okay, calm down, I told myself. Panicking will not improve your

situation. The first order of business is... Right, I'll start by gathering

information.

"Wh-Why do you look at me like that? Are you upset that I have called

you here?" the King said nervously as I stared at him.

"That's not it... I just don't have a good grasp of the situation. Could I

ask you to explain?"

"Y-You certainly are calm. It is most enviable..."

"Your Majesty..." I began.

"I-It is nothing!"

The prime minister cleared his throat, and the king jumped a little.

Seeing that little interaction, the queen giggled, and the soldiers looked on

with wry smiles. From that exchange, I could see the King truly was the

good-natured man that he seemed. I sensed that he lacked the aura of

command required of a nation's ruler, but that he was the type who was

loved by the people. Still, that was neither here nor there.

I posed my question with deliberate calmness so as not to intimidate

him. "So, if I'm the hero, does that mean there's a demon lord invading or

something?"

"You certainly do catch on quickly. It is precisely as you say."

I was speechless. Seriously...? This isn't a dream, right? No, I just

wanted to try saying that. I can distinguish between dreams and reality. This

doesn't have that hazy dream-like sensation. All four of my senses,

excluding taste, were reporting to me that this was the real world.

This is... reality... Let me say it again. Seriously...?

"I-Is something the matter, Hero? Why do you suddenly clutch your

head?"

"No, don't worry about it. I just felt a little dizzy." My head had started

to hurt, but for the moment, I'd have to put up with it. "I'm fine now.

Please, explain the situation."

"A-Are you certain? Very well, I shall explain."

The king then launched into a lengthy explanation of the world's history,

like you might see in an old RPG. It was long-winded enough that, if this

were a game, I'd have been hunting for the Skip Text button, so I'll

summarize for you readers a bit.

First, he spoke about this world.

The world was made up of the supercontinent Landia and a number of

islands of varying sizes. On the supercontinent Landia, there were many

countries, large and small. In addition to humans, these were populated by

beastmen, elves, dwarves, and dragonewts, among other races. There were

countries where these races coexisted, countries where one race had

preferential treatment, countries which forbade entrance to all but one race,

and more. These countries took many forms and they struggled against one

another for supremacy at times. However, ever since the Demon Lord's

Domain appeared, it seemed that all these countries had, on the surface,

taken a position of mutual cooperation.

Next, the king spoke about the Demon Lord's Domain and the Demon

Lord.

Around ten years ago, in the northernmost reaches of the supercontinent

Landia, a dimension called the "Demon World" had appeared, and monsters

of many sizes and shapes had poured out, throwing the Northern Countries

into chaos. The countries had formed an alliance and organized a punitive

force to send into this Demon World.

However, that punitive force had been annihilated. In the Demon World,

there were "monsters" which had minimal (or, some would theorize, no)

intelligence, as well as "demons" who were intelligent and also powerful

fighters. The demons were the ones who had annihilated the punitive force.

Furthermore, though it had not yet been verified, people whispered about

the existence of a king who ruled over the demons, a "Demon King."

After that battle, the countries had lost their main fighting forces, and

none of them had had the power to defend themselves against the monsters

that appeared from the Demon World. The demonic forces, which had until

then held only the equivalent of a small country, laid waste to the Northern

Countries and came to rule a third of the continent. This territory was now

called the "Demon Lord's Domain." While their advance had stopped for

the moment, it was said that this was because the expansion of the front

lines had spread the demons and monsters thinner, making it possible for

the individual countries to hold the line against them. That didn't mean

mankind had any decisive way to turn things around. In the front line

countries, things had bogged down to a stalemate.

Following that exposition, the king talked about this country.

This was the Kingdom of Elfrieden, a medium-sized nation in the

southeast of the continent. It was ruled under a monarchy. It was a country

originally founded by many races working together, and, though the king

was a human, those of other races were accepted here without

discrimination. Regardless of race, everyone held citizenship, and aside

from "king," they could take any job they desired. Even the prime minister

who had been complaining to the king earlier was a half-elf, with human

and elven parentage.

Because they did not border the Demon Lord's Domain, there were few

monster attacks. However, the country had been weak to begin with, and the

national treasury was not exactly in good shape. Food shortages had been

especially bad in recent years, and that had only exacerbated the problem of

refugees dispossessed by the expansion of the Demon Lord's Domain

drifting here.

There were dark storm clouds on both the domestic and international

fronts.

Apparently, relations were tense with the Gran Chaos Empire, the largest

country on the continent, excluding the Demon Lord's Domain. The Empire

was the country which shared the longest border with the Demon Lord's

Domain. It was also the country that had directed the first invasion of the

Demon Lord's Domain. After their loss against the Demon Lord's Domain,

the Empire was apparently requesting war subsidies from other countries.

To put it simply, they were requesting that countries who were far away

from the Demon Lord's Domain provide financial support to those which

were close to it. Though these were "requests," when they came from the

most powerful country of all mankind, they were closer to an ultimatum.

One of those requests had come to this kingdom, but under current

circumstances, it would be difficult to pay.

Finally, the king talked about the "hero summoning," which had brought

me to this world.

Apparently, in the request for war subsidies that came from the Empire,

there had been verbiage that had said, "If you are unable to pay, carry out

the ritual of hero summoning which is passed down in your country, and

turn that summoned hero over to the Empire." It was abundantly clear that

this country had no means to pay, and perhaps that had been the Empire's

intention all along. Perhaps they wanted to use a hero for his fighting

potential, perhaps they wanted to dissect one and study him, or perhaps they

had no interest in one to begin with, and they merely wanted to use the

Kingdom's failure to respond to their request as a casus belli to invade.

With no way to know what the Empire wanted, speculation had led only to

more speculation, and the kingdom had become suspicious of everything.

In response to their situation, the kingdom had decided to perform the

hero summoning ritual. They had not yet decided upon whether to turn the

hero over or not, but if they succeeded, it would at least give them a card to

negotiate with. For that, they needed to respond to the request, and show

they intended to perform the ritual.

...Now that you've heard this much, I'll bet you've probably already

guessed that the king never thought he might actually manage to summon a

hero.

"Hey!" I shouted at him without intending to, and the king jumped back

in fright.

"Eek! I am most sorry!"

"Oh, sorry," I said. "I lost my composure for a second there."

Even though he acts like this, he's still a king. I'll have to refrain from

any further rudeness.

Still... Had I really been summoned by coincidence, with no one really

expecting anything from me? After taking a moment to calm myself, I

asked the king.

"...So, what do you plan to do?"

"A-About what?"

"The whole 'turning me over to the Empire' thing."

"That is... What should I do? It is a real pickle." The king really did

seem troubled.

That surprised me a little. I had expected a "The Empire is scary! Please,

go and serve them for our kingdom!" as he cried and begged me to do it. He

looked pretty fainthearted, after all.

"What is there for you to agonize over?" I asked. "You're afraid of the

Empire, aren't you?"

"I am afraid! That is exactly why I am agonizing over this!"

"If I may interject, allow me to explain," the half-elf prime minister said,

stepping forward. "At present, there is a clear difference in power between

our country and the Empire. We simply are not in a position to say no when

the Empire asks for something. While we are stuck in that situation, you are

the sole lucky card that has fallen into our hands. Once we play that card,

however, we have nothing left to use when negotiating with the Empire.

Even if we can survive this time by doing as they say, what will we do the

next time something comes up? Next time, we might only have succeeded

in giving up our only card."

I was silent. It wasn't hard to see what he was saying.

What had happened to northern Fujiwara after they had given up their

only card, Minamoto no Yoshitsune, was a good example. Those who cave

in to intimidation, letting go of the only card in their hand, will have only a

dark end awaiting them.

"What is a hero, anyway?" I asked.

"It is said that a hero is 'one who leads the change of an era,'" the prime

minister replied.

Hmm... So it's not just someone who slays that Demon King?

"Isn't that a wee bit vague?" I asked.

"We don't have much in the way of documentation, you see."

"...Please don't hold a ritual if that's the case."

"I cannot apologize enough for this state of affairs," the prime minister

said formally.

Giving me the routine bureaucratic apology isn't going to help... Still,

this is a problem. There's not enough information to act on. Which means

what we need most right now is time.

"Sire, I have a proposal."

"What is it? You may speak freely."

"Can we talk about what's going to happen from here on out? Not

standing here, somewhere where we can sit down and discuss it at length.

Just me, you, and the prime minister."

"Hm. What do you think, Marx?"

"That would be fine." The prime minister, whose name was Marx,

nodded in assent.

Since I had their agreement, I made another request. "Please, also gather

all the materials you can on this country. With a particular focus on the

balance of payment reports, as well as materials on agriculture, forestry and

fisheries, economy, trade and industry, and land, infrastructure and

transport. We might be able to scrounge up the money the Empire is

demanding. Also, I'd like the materials you have on heroes... but, well, that

can wait."

"Very well. I will have them gathered at once," said the king.

We took a break at this point, and I was called to the king's

governmental affairs office later.

Sitting on a comfy sofa across from the king and Prime Minister Marx,

we held meeting after meeting. That is, we talked about basically

everything there was to talk about. This country's industry, economy, tax

system, agricultural policy, military preparations, foreign affairs... we

discussed it all.

The meetings went on for a full two days. This was partly because I

asked questions about every minute detail of the materials I'd had them

gather, and partly because they latched onto the policies I was proposing to

a degree that was bizarre. From partway through the meeting, the king was

paying rapt attention to me, as if he had become an entirely different

person.

It was now two days later. The soldiers guarding the door would later

tell everyone that, when the king left that room, his expression was

uncharacteristically bright and cheerful, and that his was the face of a man

who had come to a decision.

The day after our three-person meetings had come to an end, the king

gathered the VIPs of the castle in the audience chamber, and proclaimed

loudly, "My people, I ask you to heed my words closely."

"I, the thirteenth king of Elfrieden, Albert Elfrieden, hereby abdicate my

throne to the summoned hero, Souma Kazuya! Further, I hereby announce

the engagement of my daughter, Liscia Elfrieden, to Sir Souma."

The room fell silent. Everyone had been struck mute. The only one

present who remained calm was, perhaps, the queen.

This bombshell announcement completely blindsided me.