In the middle of the third month, 1,547th Year, Continental Calendar —
Royal Capital Parnam
As the sun set and the curtain of night fell, three shadowy figures raced
through the royal capital. The shadows seemed to avoid the light,
proceeding down back streets not lit with lightmoss streetlamps. They could
be seen turning and looking back again, and again, and again, as if they
were being pursued by something. Then...
"Guh!"
""Urkh!""
One of the shadows tripped and fell. There was a kukri knife (a dagger
with a curved blade) sticking out of his back.
Our pursuers are nearly upon us! Instantaneously realizing that it was
dangerous to stay clumped together, the other two shadows split off left and
right, going in different directions.
The presences following them all went after the one who had fled to the
left. Though the one who went right felt sorry for his comrade, it relieved
him that he would likely be able to get away. However...
"...?!"
The shadow came to a halt. There was a large man who gave off an
imposing aura blocking his way.
The man's appearance was bizarre and unsettling. He wore blackpainted armor over his large, muscular body, and a mask based off of a
sword tiger over his face. He was like some sort of monster.
"The Black Tiger of Parnam..." the shadow whispered despite himself.
Lately, he had been the subject of rumors among the grass.
The grass said that there was a black tiger in the Kingdom of Friedonia,
and no member of the grass who had seen him had returned alive. Now, you
might wonder how anyone knew such a person existed if those who saw
him never returned, but the tiger had handily cut down the grass while not
laying a hand on a certain merchant who happened to see him do it. Based
on the vague statements of that merchant combined with a member of the
grass disappearing at exactly the time he said, rumors spread that there was
such a being in the royal capital.
They also said this:
If a spy encountered the Black Tiger of Parnam, they should drop
everything and flee. He wasn't an enemy who could be bested in combat.
Those rumors also always closed out with, "...well, if you can get away, that
is."
When the shadow met the rumored Black Tiger, he became certain that
those rumors were the truth. He was just standing there, but the shadow
could find no openings to strike. He had a posture almost like that of an old
warrior who had defended the front lines for decades.
"Surrender," the Black Tiger said. "My master is merciful. If you do not
resist, I guarantee you will not be harmed."
Perhaps because of his mask, the Black Tiger spoke with a muffled
voice. He did not say this out of consideration for his enemy. It was pure
formality; he was delivering an ultimatum.
However, the shadow he was pursuing smiled.
"Curse you, you *******," the shadow said. "We do not beg for our
lives."
With that said, the shadow drew the two short swords at his hips and
lunged at the Black Tiger.
The two swords closed in on the Black Tiger. However, the Black Tiger
calmly drew the odachi hanging from his hip, and split the man clean in two
with a diagonal slash. When he did...
"?!"
The moment after, the bisected man's body was enveloped in flames. He
must have intended from the beginning to die to silence himself, and to
incinerate his body to eliminate the evidence.
Disgusted, the Black Tiger shook the blood from his tachi and returned
it to its sheathe. There was a time when the Black Tiger would have thought
it was a splendid display of loyalty. Now, however, he could no longer see it
that way. If there was to be any meaning in dying for loyalty, it had to come
from a master who would mourn your death. To die for a master who used
and then cast aside his followers like this was to die in vain.
When he returned from his thoughts, the Black Tiger... Kagetora was
surrounded by men in black masks. These were the elites who served
directly under Souma, protecting Friedonia from the shadows: the
clandestine operations unit, the Black Cats.
"Master Kagetora," a Black Cat said.
"...What of the rest?" he asked.
"The same as this one."
"I see..."
Kagetora thought for a moment, then gave an order to his Black Cats.
"Handle the cleanup. I will report this to his majesty."
"""Yes, sir!"""
Once Kagetora had watched the Black Cats scatter, he recalled the
words the shadow had spoken.
"Curse you, you infidel."
The shadow had spoken that last word under his breath, and Kagetora
had only barely been able to hear it.
Infidel, huh. This... could be troublesome, Kagetora thought as he
melded into the darkness.
◇ ◇ ◇
Half an hour later — Governmental Affairs Office in Parnam Castle
It was a night in March, when the weather had started to warm
considerably.
Today, like most days, I had Liscia helping as I did my paperwork.
Something happened just as we were saying it was around dinnertime, so
we ought to call it a day.
The glass door to the terrace flew open. When I turned in surprise, there
was Kagetora, his black metallic armor stained with blood. It was a good
thing we were the only ones in the room. If one of the maids who
occasionally came in had seen this, she'd probably have fainted. No doubt
he'd been aiming for a time when no one else would be here.
"Blood?!" Liscia tried to wipe the blood away with a cloth she had
handy, but Kagetora held up a hand for her to stop.
"It's not mine. Nothing for you to be concerned about, my princess."
"Oh... I see."
"Also... the odachi that Your Majesty presented me with has an
incredible cutting edge." Kagetora placed a hand on the odachi that he wore
at his hip, then bowed his head to me.
Oh yeah. I had given the odachi we'd developed while researching
Nine-Headed Dragon katanas to Kagetora, hadn't I? I'd created it for
improved sharpness and range of slashing attacks, but its length had ended
up working against it. Unless a person was tall, they would have trouble
using it well. (It was hard to draw it from its sheath, among other issues.)
For someone as tall as Kagetora, I'd figured that would be no issue, so I'd
given it to him. It was good to hear it was serving him well.
"Well, as long as you're okay, that's good enough for me," I said, half in
exasperation.
I heard a slight chuckle from beneath his mask.
"...What? Did I say something strange?" I asked.
He chuckled again. "I was just thinking I've been blessed with a good
master."
"Hm? Are you being sarcastic with me?"
"No, I meant that sincerely."
Maybe it had touched on something he was thinking about, because
Kagetora sounded pleased when he said that. I wasn't entirely satisfied,
but... Well, it wasn't important right now. There was no way that the head of
the elite clandestine operations unit, the Black Cats, was here to engage me
in idle banter.
"So, do you have something to report?" I asked.
"Yes, sir. The grass has grown more active of late."
The grass... Spies, huh. In other words, there were spies from another
nation operating in the castle town.
"Is it the Gran Chaos Empire?" I asked.
"If it were the Empire, we wouldn't have such trouble with them. We
have some 'connections' with them, and we would come to terms before we
came to killing one another."
"Connections...? You make deals with them?"
"We frequently trade intelligence about other countries."
"I suppose the darkness has its own rules..."
This was an area where I was best to keep my mouth shut and let him do
his thing.
"So, these spies we have running around, what country are they from?" I
asked.
"They've destroyed the evidence, so we have no proof, but... most
likely, the Orthodox Papal State."
"...The Orthodox Papal State of Lunaria, huh," I muttered.
The Orthodox Papal State of Lunaria. It was a theocracy ruled by the
Lunarian Orthodox pope. The most recent thing I'd heard about them was
that they'd incited their believers in Amidonia to revolt, then tried to
intervene.
"But we're not openly hostile to the Orthodox Papal State, are we?" I
asked.
"Spies do not exist solely to be dispatched to hostile countries. Even if
it's a country you want to establish friendly ties with, spies might be
dispatched to gather intelligence and lay the groundwork for negotiations."
"Hm... Well, if they're becoming more active, that means..."
"It is likely that they may make some move in the near future."
"That's troublesome..."
I recalled some things that Roroa had said when I'd first met her.
"Because that country hates the Star Dragon Mountain Range and the
Gran Chaos Empire, that's why."
"In Lunarian Orthodoxy, the pope is the only one who can recognize
someone as a saint. In fact, there's a woman in Lunarian Orthodoxy who's
called a saint. That's why the Orthodox Papal State of Lunaria sees Madam
Maria as an unforgivable villain who's misrepresentin' herself as one."
"That's why, now that Elfrieden's grown bigger by absorbin' Amidonia,
the Orthodox Papal State won't be leavin' you alone. Somewhere, somehow,
they'll try to make contact. Could be they'll offer you some made up title
like 'Holy King' and try to drag you into their conflict with the Empire."
If it was like Roroa said... this was going to be another hassle.
And some days later, a request for an audience came from the Orthodox
Papal State of Lunaria's saint.
◇ ◇ ◇
"...And that's how I ended up agreeing to holding an audience with the
saint of the Orthodox Papal State of Lunaria," I finished.
"I see..."
I was in the Jewel Voice Room in Parnam Castle. For some reason, the
face of Saint Maria Euphoria of the Gran Chaos Empire that was projected
in the simple receiver there bore a look of anxiety. Though the Empire was
the mightiest of all mankind's nations, the maneuverings of the Orthodox
Papal State of Lunaria must have concerned her.
It had been one week earlier that I'd received the request for an
audience, and yesterday, I'd received word that the Orthodox Papal State's
saint had entered the country. Tomorrow, I was set to hold an audience with
her.
When this situation had arisen, I'd immediately used Hakuya and her
younger sister Jeanne as my intermediaries to arrange for urgent talks with
Maria. There was no way the Lunarian Orthodox saint was coming just for
idle chit-chat.
I didn't know what the Papal State's intentions were yet, but whether or
not it was good for my own country, it certainly wouldn't be good for the
Empire, which the Orthodox Papal State was hostile to. That was why I'd
wanted to notify Maria in advance, to strengthen the cooperation between
us in our secret alliance. I wouldn't want her to find out later that I'd met
the saint, and to become unduly suspicious as a result.
I asked Maria, "Does even the great Saint of the Empire have trouble
with the other saint?"
"...Please, don't call me a saint, Great King Friedonia."
"Urkh..."
She'd hit me with the perfect comeback. Yeah, being held up as some
sort of paragon when it wasn't something I'd ever aspired to be was nothing
more than a nuisance. ...I mean, I wasn't a squid, and I wasn't Dedede.
While I was thinking about that, Maria let out an alluring sigh. "I've
never met the Saint of the Orthodox Papal State, so I can't say much about
her, but... When the people of my country just started calling me something
on their own, it seems unfair for her to complain to me about it."
"Didn't the Orthodox Papal State try to find out how you felt about it?" I
asked. "If I were with the Orthodox Papal State, and you had become
famous as a saint, wouldn't it be faster to name you as an official saint
rather than try to push my own candidate?"
"Oh... Now that you mention it, there was talk of maybe doing that. I
refused, though," Maria said indifferently.
"You refused?" I asked, startled.
"Let me answer that with a question of my own. Would you have
accepted?"
"Yeah, I'd definitely refuse."
"I know, right?" Maria smiled softly, but with a slight sadness. "What
would they have me do as a saint? Who would I be giving orders to, and
about what? The Orthodox Papal State always finds some just cause, and
then they send people off to war while saying it's defending the weak. I
don't want to carry a banner for people like that."
In those words, I could see the determination of a woman who carried
the weight of a superpower on her shoulders.
"I may be an empress, but I'm still just a human being," Maria said.
"Instead of being worshiped as a saint, I want to remain a person, and to be
loved as a person."
To remain a person, and to be loved as a person... huh. Telling her that I
agreed with her, I carved those words deep into my heart.
◇ ◇ ◇
Let me go into some more detail about the Orthodox Papal State of
Lunaria.
The headquarters of Lunarian Orthodoxy was a theocracy ruled by the
Lunarian Orthodox Pope, and it had a history that stretched back about as
long as Elfrieden's. It was said that, in the time when the continent was in
chaos, the first King of Elfrieden, who was also a hero, had succeeded in
building a country by uniting various different races. Meanwhile, the
Orthodox Papal State of Lunaria made it through the nation-building
process by uniting people with the power of religion. Their teachings, such
as offering salvation to the weak, were based on their experience from that
time.
It seems that Lunarian Orthodoxy had originally been the religion
regarding a race called lunarians, the people of the moon.
Now, about these moon people: It was said that they weren't native to
this continent, and they actually came here from outside. I don't know if the
"outside" in this case was from an island like the Nine-Headed Dragon
Archipelago, or from another world like mine, but the legends said they had
come from the moon floating up in the sky, and so that was where their
name had come from.
The object of the lunarians' worship was the moon that was said to be
their homeland, which they prayed to as the moon god Lunaria. Because
Lunaria was shining in the sky, it was forbidden to construct idols of her.
Furthermore, in the inner sanctuary of the central church in the capital of
the Orthodox Papal State, there was something called the Lunalith, the lunar
inscriptions, on which the divine revelations of the moon were carved.
At first, only lunarians had belonged to the faith, but it had spread to
other races and peoples who'd leaned on it for support in chaotic times, and
the number of adherents had grown. After that, there had been factional
strife within the religion, as well as conflicts between orthodox and
heretical interpretations. By the time Lunarian Orthodoxy had settled into
its current form, it had stood next to Mother Dragon worship as one of the
two most popular religions on the continent.
Their doctrines included salvation of the weak and mutual aid.
Those doctrines being as simple as Let's all help one another in times of
need likely helped them to gain new believers. The adherents did as their
teachings encouraged and raised money for those less fortunate, providing
food to the poor among other operations.
I'm sure you can understand from seeing this, but Lunarian Orthodoxy
and the believers themselves were harmless. However, when it came in the
form of the Orthodox Papal State, things suddenly started to smell fishy.
From what I had heard, they used their believers in every country to
influence politics, or they incited them into rebellion.
Let me stress again, there were also harmless believers who were pure in
their devotion to helping the weak. I couldn't clamp down on those together
with the troublemakers, and religion is the sort of thing that burns all the
hotter when you try to stamp it out anyway. No matter how much military
power a country had, if their soldiers were followers of Lunarian
Orthodoxy, the moment they became hostile to the Orthodox Papal State,
public order would start to degrade.
As you can see, power tied to religion makes for a dangerous
combination.
End of the 3rd month, 1,547th year, Continental Calendar
On this day, the Orthodox Papal State of Lunaria's saint appeared before
me.
I see, I thought, looking at her. Yeah, she certainly is a saint, all right...
Now, you might be thinking I ought to have more to say, but there was
no word more suited than "saint" to describe that girl. That was just how
much she embodied her title.
She was around eighteen, give or take a year. She had regular features
and moistly sensual eyes. Her hair was silver, tied back in two tails. Her
beauty was such that Aisha, who was standing next to me, let out a sigh of
admiration. Clad in a habit, she truly looked the part of a holy woman.
Right now, there were very few people in the audience chamber in
Parnam Castle. That was because the Orthodox Papal State had requested
the audience be held with as few people present as possible. The saint from
the Orthodox Papal State would be attending the audience with me alone.
I was seated on the throne with Liscia, the candidate to become my first
primary queen, on my left; and on my right was Aisha, my bodyguard and
the candidate to become my second primary queen; while Prime Minister
Hakuya stood in the middle between the saint and me. If this woman turned
out to be an assassin in the guise of a saint, I had Aisha here, so I would
probably be fine.
Well... from what I could see of the beautiful young girl standing on the
carpet a few steps below me, that wasn't going to be a worry. If I hadn't
built up my resistance by being around Liscia and the others all the time,
just looking her in the eye might have been enough to make me fall head
over heels for her.
...Hm? I thought. But... what was it?
I thought her appearance was highly attractive, but for some reason I
wasn't interested in her at all. Not only that, when I looked at her,
something felt off. I thought she was a charming girl, but... something was
bothering me about her.
Even as I grappled with that off feeling, I worked to address her with as
calm of a tone as I could manage.
"Welcome, saint of the Orthodox Papal State of Lunaria. I am the king,
Souma Kazuya."
When I did, the Lunarian Orthodox saint gave me a polite bow. "It is a
pleasure to meet you, Great King Friedonia. I am the humble Mary Valenti.
I am here today as emissary of the Orthodox Papal State of Lunaria. In
place of our pope, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for granting our
request for an audience, even though it was so sudden."
Mary... Even her name was reminiscent of Maria's. The way she spoke
was polite, too.
I had expected her to be more high-handed, ordering me to believe in
their god, so I was a little underwhelmed. Well... I guess when they're
dealing with the king of a nation, they can't afford to be too overbearing on
the first meeting.
When Mary raised her face, she looked me in the eye and said, "Word of
your exploits has reached us in the Orthodox Papal State of Lunaria as well.
Having been summoned as a hero, in a mere year, you got Elfrieden back
on its feet, destroyed the Principality of Amidonia, and incorporated its
territory into your own. Truly, a heroic feat."
"...You give me too much credit," I said. "I haven't done anything
heroic. I was only able to rebuild the country because I was blessed with
good subordinates; and though I drove off Amidonia, the annexation was
just something that happened as part of the flow of events afterwards."
"The flow of things is a fate beyond human knowledge," Mary said.
"Surely you must have been under divine protection, sire."
Divine protection, huh... That was the sort of opinion I would expect
from a religious person. Not that I bought into it.
"Nah, that flow was created by one person in particular," I said. "I'm not
the one you should praise, but the Sovereign Princess of Amidonia, who
made the decision of a lifetime."
"Roroa Amidonia, you mean. Though still young, she took on two
countries and found the path to the greatest benefit for her people. I admire
her as a fellow woman."
I was pretty sure Roroa had hated her country, though.
When Roroa's elder brother Julius had been Sovereign Prince of
Amidonia, the Orthodox Papal State had incited their followers in the
country into a rebellion. That rebellion had been put down by Julius, but
Roroa was angry that her people's blood had been shed as a result.
Honestly, I had wanted Roroa to be here, as the candidate to become my
third primary queen and the one who shouldered this country's finances; but
in consideration of her enmity towards the Orthodox Papal State, I had
decided to have her wait in the governmental affairs office with Juna and
everyone else. Roroa wasn't the type to let it show, but I didn't want to
make her hold her emotions back.
But... just how serious was this girl when she said that?
Her tone of voice was plain, and I couldn't detect any particular emotion
in it. She didn't seem to be plotting anything, either.
If she could speak like this while knowing what her country had done,
she was a great actor, but it was entirely possible that she had lived a
sheltered life and knew nothing of her country's actions.
...No, if it had been either of those two, she would have shown more
emotion. She was entirely too quiet.
If it were the former, she would probably have appealed more to her
sincerity in an attempt to deceive me. If it were the latter, she should have
been more enthusiastic about being here to do the right thing. However,
Mary's attitude seemed to say she was here to do something perfectly
normal.
That might have been how a country's emissary was supposed to act, but
in her case, I felt like she took it to an extreme. I could feel that off feeling
I'd had before growing in my chest.
In order to keep that feeling from showing on my face, I asked her
straight out. "Well then, Madam Mary, what business are you here on
today?"
"Oh, that's right," Mary said, and bowed her head meekly. "I did come
here today with a request for you, Your Majesty."
"A request?" I asked, having a bad feeling about where this was going;
and Mary answered me with a smile that didn't let me sense any ill intent.
"We would like you to adopt Lunarian Orthodoxy as the state religion of
the Kingdom of Friedonia."
A state religion...
State religions. They were a concept that had by and large been
abandoned in the developed countries of Earth. I think countries used to use
state resources for the defense and worship of a particular faith. They turned
religious festivals into state functions, if I recall.
...Whatever the case, as long as we were a multiracial state, it wasn't a
realistic proposal.
"Madam Mary, do you understand what it is you're requesting of me?" I
asked. "If a multiracial country like ours were to give one religion
preferential treatment, it would end up splitting the state. Are you asking
me to make that sort of foolish mistake?"
I took a somewhat stronger tone as I said that. I did it to indicate that I
was irritated with what she had said. I might not always seem like it, but I
had gained enough authority that people called me a great king. If I hadn't
been such a big deal, getting mad over such a little thing would probably
have worked against me. However, her expression didn't change in the
slightest.
"We aren't asking you to give us preferential treatment. We would
appreciate it if you would, but for now, just adopting us as your state
religion is enough. In Lunarian Orthodoxy, we preach tolerance for others.
That applies to other religions, too. We don't drive out followers of other
faiths or demand they convert."
Then Mary raised her palm towards the ceiling.
"The moon in the sky changes with the seasons, and her face changes
depending on the day and place from which you see her. Furthermore, the
patterns of the moon look like an animal to some, and a person to others.
Faith is the same way. Even if our views differ, we all still worship God.
What we see as Lady Lunaria, those of other faiths simply see as something
else."
I was silent.
That was an awfully poetic opinion. If she was speaking her true
feelings, then that certainly was tolerant, but... I just didn't think the way
her country acted was in line with that.
"But you don't recognize Mother Dragon worship, now do you?" I
asked.
"God is in the sky, and in our hearts," said Mary. "If you worship
something that exists, it's purely out of fear for that thing. What is Mother
Dragon going to do for her worshipers? Is it not true that the Star Dragon
Mountain Range has no relations with any country other than the Nothung
Dragon Knight Kingdom?"
"It's natural for fear of something greater than yourself to develop into
religious faith," I said. "Isn't Mother Dragon a symbol of nature itself,
beyond the realm of human knowledge?"
"It's a difference in the way we think," Mary explained indifferently.
"We think of faith as the bond that arises from God thinking of mankind,
and mankind thinking of God. To us, Mother Dragon worship looks like an
illicit love for Mother Dragon. We cannot recognize that as a legitimate
faith. Of course, we understand that there are people who think that way."
She wasn't saying anything especially out of the ordinary, I supposed. If
anything, she came off as logical. If these were her personal views, I almost
wanted to talk with her at length about it some time. But there were some
premises she was wrong about.
"This seems like a good opportunity, so I'd like to hear your opinion on
something," I said.
"What might that be?"
"I hear that spies from some other country have been sending spies to
the royal capital recently..."
"To this country, you mean? It seems awfully stable, so it's a surprise to
hear that." Mary said that without her expression changing in the slightest,
of course. There had been no fluctuation in her emotions this entire time.
When it went this far, I had to start thinking she might not actually know
anything about the Orthodox Papal State's dark side.
"When one of my subordinates dispatched one of those spies, I'm told
that the spy said, 'Curse you, you infidel.' They must have been a follower
of some religion. You also believe in God, so perhaps you understand what
the spy's words meant, Madam Mary?"
"I am not that spy, so I couldn't tell you, but..." Mary seemed to think
for a moment, then replied without getting particularly worked up about it.
"They probably saw their own life as a trial given to them by God. Those
who would oppose them were unbelievers. In short, that was how they
judged your subordinate to be an infidel."
"So, basically, it wouldn't matter if he was a follower of another religion
or not?"
"From what you've told me, that was the sense I got. I apologize for my
self-centered view."
"...No, it was educational," I said.
What was it? I felt I had less and less of a feel for her. I couldn't sense
anything like a motive behind Mary's words. She gave serious answers to
my questions.
...In that case, was this a negotiation?
In negotiations, both sides had goals, and the two sides bounced ideas
off one another until they reconciled their differences. That was why they
concealed information that was to their disadvantage, in order to lead the
discussion in a direction that was advantageous to them. I couldn't sense
any sort of attempt to lead the conversation whatsoever in the way she was
speaking and acting.
"...Let's get back on topic," I said at last. "You wanted to make Lunarian
Orthodoxy our state religion, right?"
"Yes."
"So, what merit is there for our country in doing that? Also, if you say
you're tolerant of other religions, it shouldn't matter who is worshiping
what. Why is Lunarian Orthodoxy seeking to become our state religion?"
"I will answer your first question," Mary told me. "If you make
Lunarian Orthodoxy your state religion, we are prepared to recognize Your
Great Highness as a saint. You are already a king, so you would become a
holy king. In addition, I will most likely be dispatched by the Orthodox
Papal State to serve as your personal bishop. I will serve you as I would
God."
With that said, Mary bowed her head.
It was going more or less how Roroa had said it would. I'd never
expected that the saint herself would come to serve me, though.
"The way you say that, it's almost like you're coming to marry me," I
commented.
"If Your Holy Majesty wishes, you may do with my body whatever you
might please. I will offer my body and heart to you as I do in service to
God."
"I haven't said I'm going to accept this holy king thing yet."
"Forgive my presumption." Mary bowed her head once more. She didn't
look like she felt guilty at all... or rather, the look on her face made me think
she didn't even realize she had done something wrong.
When I mentioned the marriage thing, Aisha jumped a little, but Liscia
didn't seem surprised in the least. All she did was stare at Mary with a
serious look on her face. How did Mary look in Liscia's eyes?
"And?" I asked. "If I become a holy king and have a saint dispatched to
me, what merit are you saying that will give this country?"
"This country has grown to a scale where it is comparable to the Gran
Chaos Empire. That is a product of your virtue, no doubt. If you gain the
influence of Lunarian Orthodoxy as well, this country will have gained a
degree of power that outstrips that of the Empire."
"There's another bold claim," I said. "But the Empire still has more
territory and more power than us, you know?"
Well, there were areas where our technology was ahead of theirs, but I
wasn't going to let that slip.
Mary silently shook her head. "Four in ten of the people living in the
Empire are followers of Lunarian Orthodoxy. Those numbers are the result
of Mother Dragon worship being unable to gain much of a foothold because
the Empire fought the Star Dragon Mountain Range during the period in
which they were expanding. In other words, close to half the population are
followers of Lunarian Orthodoxy. If this country were to get into a conflict
with them, with our influence it would be possible to break up the Empire."
"You say some pretty scary things as if they're nothing," I said. "We
have no intention of getting into any conflicts with the Empire."
"It was merely a hypothetical. In short, I am telling you that you can
gain the power to rival the Empire; the power to be the strongest among
mankind's nations."
...Yeah. Well, looking at the relationship between the princes of Middle
Ages Europe and the Roman Catholic Church, it wasn't unthinkable. With
the power of the ruler and the church combined, they would rule the
country and drive out foreign enemies. It was an easy way of handling
things. But that was only if you turned a blind eye to the power struggle
between the ruler and church that would occur afterwards.
Right now, we were trying to move forward into a new era. I didn't want
to go imitating something people had done in olden times. "If I may say a
word," Hakuya, who had been silently watching things unfold up until now,
spoke up. "I'm sorry to do this to Madam Saint, but I would like to speak
with His Majesty for a short while."
"Please do."
With the saint's permission, Hakuya walked up close to me. Then,
leaning in and bringing his mouth to my ear as I sat on the throne, he
whispered to me, "You seem out of sorts, sire."
"Yeah..." I whispered back. "For some reason, I can't get into the right
mindset. I feel like there's something weirdly off about her."
"In regards to that, I think we need to think of her as separate from
them," he whispered.
"We do?"
Hakuya nodded. "I've been observing all this time, and I believe she's
been exhibiting a lack of emotion."
"Yeah, I noticed that, too."
"I'm sure that the Orthodox Papal State had some reason for sending her
here, but perhaps Madam Mary herself has no idea what that is? Could she
have come here as just a saint, only to communicate the will of the upper
echelons of the Orthodox Papal State, like a sort of messenger kui?"
"Huh?! She's just a messenger, then?"
Mary wasn't a negotiator, then?! That made a lot of sense... It had never
felt like I was negotiating while I was talking with her.
I'd assumed she'd been given model questions and told what to answer
if I asked certain things, and she had been negotiating with me based on
that. That would explain why, when I'd given her questions they wouldn't
expect, like about that spy's mindset, she'd given me frank and honest
answers.
Either that, or it was possible she had been told to answer questions like
that honestly. Even if her negotiation partner tried to extract vital
information from her, if she hadn't been told anything, she would just
honestly answer, "I don't know," after all.
This wasn't even a negotiation anymore. It was like having a text reader
read out my e-mail for me.
I glanced over to Mary. When she noticed my gaze, she cocked her head
to the side a little with no expression.
...I see, I realized. In a way, she is like a Diva.
In my world, there was an anthropomorphized text reading program
called a Divaloid. It had gotten famous because you could use the
synthesized female voice to read passages, or to sing songs, and it had
caused a big boom, especially on video sharing sites. They'd added
illustrations of a cute girl to it, and she'd even held live concerts as a virtual
idol.
When I was talking to Mary, I felt like I was talking to one of those.
"Hakuya... How do you think we should negotiate from here on?" I
whispered.
"I believe it would be good to ask for an answer to your second question
from earlier," he whispered back. "However, what you should weigh is not
her own reaction, but the intentions of the Orthodox Papal State."
"...Got it."
Once Hakuya was back in his earlier position, I spoke to Mary.
"Sorry for the wait. By the way, I never did get an answer to my second
question from earlier. Why is Lunarian Orthodoxy seeking to become our
state religion?"
"For the sake of all mankind," Mary said without hesitation. "The north
of the continent has now become the Demon Lord's Domain. Though its
expansion has stopped for the time being, for as long as the Demon Lord's
Domain exists, mankind will never have peace. In order to attain peace, it
will be necessary to invade the Demon Lord's Domain and exterminate the
root of the problem. However, the demons of the Domain are powerful, and
it is impossible for any one country to face them alone. All of the nations of
mankind must cooperate."
It stood out as a hard-line position, but... that was understandable, I
suppose.
Mary continued, "That is why we want you to become a holy king. With
your power and our authority combined, it will be possible to unite all of
the different nations, I'm sure. If you request their cooperation after you
have unified the other countries, even that empire will follow your
commands. Two out of five of their citizens follow Lunarian Orthodoxy, so
they won't be able to afford to ignore you. In that way, all of mankind will
be united, and we will invade the Demon Lord's Domain. Then, with the
Demon Lord who is the root of all evil slain, we will liberate the north of
the continent."
Mary spoke all that without hesitation. It sounded like she was talking
about the Crusades. In order to reclaim our lost land, we would be uniting
countries through the power of religion. And so, they wanted me to become
a holy king and wave the flag for that cause.
But... I'm sure that's just the public face of it.
Only once I saw the people behind Mary would I be able to get the full
picture of what their intentions were. Mary probably honestly believed this
was to retake the north, but the people behind her probably thought
differently.
The bit about uniting the nations of mankind caught my attention. There
was already a system in this world trying to unite all of mankind: the one
that Maria was leading, the Mankind Declaration. It was a flawed treaty,
but, for the moment, it seemed to be serving its function.
For the Orthodox Papal State, they couldn't be happy about a situation
where Maria, who was (from their perspective) a "false" saint, was the
leader of that pact and winning respect for it. The more Maria did to
distinguish herself, the weaker the influence of their own saint would be,
after all. A theocracy ruled through its religious authority. In other words,
the loss of authority was a matter of life and death for the state.
That was why the Orthodox Papal State probably wanted to set up
another body for international cooperation separate from the Mankind
Declaration. They needed to create a new system where they could assert
their authority. And they had picked me to do it.
I looked over at Hakuya. When Hakuya noticed me looking, he closed
his eyes and nodded once, then shook his head. He'd likely reached the
same conclusion I had.
In light of that, he was hinting to me that, "We shouldn't accept this
offer."
...Well, of course not. That being the case, there was something I should
ask.
"By the way, what will happen if I refuse to adopt you as our state
religion?"
"It would be disappointing, but we would have no choice but to accept,"
said Mary. "We can't force you into accepting."
They were backing down surprisingly easy. I thought they'd say
something like, If you don't accept our demands, we'll have all of our
followers in your country riot, or something like that.
While I was thinking that, Mary continued, "However, I suspect," her
expression still not changing. "I suspect that we would end up waiting."
"Waiting?" I asked.
"Yes. We could only wait until either you have a change of heart, or a
new candidate to become the holy king appears."
I inhaled sharply in surprise.
Urkh... So that was how they're going to play it, huh. Basically, if any
country started to get stronger, or a ruler began to become famous, she was
saying, "We'll take this exact same offer right to them." If they did, her
earlier comment that "Two in five of the Empire's citizens are followers, so
if we feel like it, we can split their country" would be something that might
happen to our country, too.
Mary might not have intended it that way herself, but it was one heck of
a threat.
This is... I shouldn't decide on this right here and now.
I didn't want to accept it, but if I was going to refuse, I needed to tell
them that only after carefully considering the countermeasures available to
me. At the very least, I wanted to have a lengthy discussion with Hakuya
about it.
I rose from my seat and said to Mary, "I understand your request,
Madam Mary. However, I cannot give an immediate answer due to the
gravity of the request. I would like time to think it over. We will continue
this discussion at a later date."
"But of course," she said. "I will be praying that you make a good
decision."
Mary meekly took her leave. The negotiations hadn't been concluded,
but she didn't look disappointed at all to me.
I looked closely at Mary's face. I had been looking at it the entire time
we had been negotiating, but it felt to me like her expression had hardly
ever changed. She was like a doll.
A doll... Artificial...?!
That was when I realized it. What exactly it was that felt "off" about her.
◇ ◇ ◇
By the time my meeting with Mary came to an end, it was already late at
night.
When we returned to the governmental affairs office, Roroa and Juna
greeted us there. I spotted Carla with the maids standing by in the center of
the room, too.
"Welcome back, darlin'... Wait, what's wrong?!" Roroa cried.
"Um, is something the matter, Your Majesty?" Juna ventured.
The two had been smiling at first, but once they saw my face they
instantly took on looks of concern.
Ha ha... Was the look on my face right now that bad? It might well have
been.
Juna touched her fingers, soft and cold like little white fish, to my
forehead. "You don't seem to have a fever, but... are you not feeling well?
Would you like to take a little rest?"
"Hey, Big Sister Cia! What happened to darlin'?!" Roroa burst out,
rounding on Liscia.
"Don't ask me! I don't know!"
I said, "Oh... It's okay, I'm fine," weakly brushing Juna's hand away,
then sat down at the governmental affairs office's desk. Then: "Sorry.
Liscia, Aisha, Juna, Roroa... could you come over here?" Then: The four of
them looked to each other, and slowly came over to me. When they got
close enough, I spread my arms wide and gave all four of them one big hug.
"Eek?!" Liscia yelped.
"My word!" cried Aisha.
"Oof..." said Juna.
"Wait! Darlin'?!" Roroa shouted.
They all let out weird little cries of surprise, but I ignored that and
hugged them tight.
For anyone watching from the side, it might have just looked like we
were forming a scrum; and it wouldn't have been very sexy, but I could feel
the warmth from all four of them. That let me finally calm myself. Once I
had gotten a good full minute of that, I released them.
Liscia fixed her now-slightly-messy clothes and asked me, looking a
little angry as she did, "Geez... You're going to give us some explanation
for what that was all about, right?"
The concern for me that I could hear hidden behind the anger in her
voice made me a little happy.
"Yeah, I'll fill you in."
"Souma, you got like that towards the end of the meeting, right? What
exactly happened?" Liscia asked.
"The whole time, there was something about that girl, Mary, that felt...
off to me," I said.
"Something that felt off? Nothing she did seemed suspicious to me,
though." Aisha cocked her head to the side in confusion.
I shook my head. "It's a little different from what you're thinking. The
first time I saw Mary, I thought she was incredibly beautiful. But... at the
same time, I felt she was strange somehow."
"Strange? Whaddaya mean, strange?" Roroa asked.
"I should have found her attractive, and yet I couldn't see her that way.
That's how it felt."
"Hm... She seemed like a cute girl to me, though," Hakuya said.
Yeah... Probably no other person would have noticed it. I'd noticed
because of who I was, and because of that, I'd been able to discern the truth
behind it.
"I didn't notice it myself at first, either," I said. "But the moment I
thought she was doll-like in her lack of emotion... or artificial, to take it a
bit further... I realized what it was that had felt off to me the whole time.
She... looked like them."
"Looked like them? Who?"
When she asked me that, I put my hand down on Liscia's shoulder.
"Like you, Liscia."
"Huh?! Like me?!"
"Yeah. And like Aisha, and like Roroa, too."
"Huh? Did she?"
"Like me, too?"
Aisha and Roroa looked at each other after hearing what I said. I looked
over to Hakuya.
"Hakuya, if you were to describe Mary's face for those of us who
weren't there, how would you express it?"
"Well, let me see... she had regular features, silver hair, and it was tied
back in two tails...?!" Hakuya seemed to have picked up on it, and his eyes
went wide.
I nodded. "Here's how I'd describe her. Her regular features were like
Liscia's. Her silver hair was like what Aisha has as a dark elf, and her
hairstyle was like Roroa's. In other words, Mary's face was like a
composite of Liscia, Aisha, and Roroa's faces."
"O-Our faces?!" Liscia yelped.
Yeah. The reason I hadn't been attracted to her, despite her being so
young and beautiful, was because of the disconnect with my expectations. If
one day, out of nowhere, Aisha had suddenly gained human facial features,
that would surprise me, and if Liscia or Roroa's hair had turned silver, it
would be only natural for me to think something felt off.
Aisha raised her hand and said, "Wait, hold on. If she has a mix of all of
your fiancées' features, what part of her do you suppose would have come
from Juna? From what I saw, her figure was average, too."
"See, that's it," I said. "From what I saw, Mary has practically nothing in
common with Juna. If I had to give you something, I'd say those sensual
eyes of hers were similar, but that's a little weak as far as traits go. That's
got to have been a coincidence. Also... can one of you tell me what the
difference is between Juna and Liscia, Aisha, and Roroa?"
"I'm the only one who's a secondary queen candidate," said Juna.
"Besides, I'm also... the only one whose engagement to you hasn't been
announced yet!" Juna clapped her hands as she figured it out.
I nodded. "My engagement to the other three has been announced
already, but we haven't been able to announce Juna's yet because of her
work as a lorelei. In other words, it's not known that she's my fiancée. So,
when we think about how Mary, who has the defining characteristics of all
my fiancées except Juna, was sent here, combined with the fact that the
Orthodox Papal State's spies have been growing more active in the castle
town, we can infer that the spies were collecting intel on what my fiancées
looked like. They did this in order to create a woman I would like, or at
least not find unpleasant, and send her to me as a saint."
"Souma, that's..." Liscia began.
"Yeah... When I said, 'The way you say that, it's almost like you're
coming to marry me,' do you remember what Mary said in response?"
"If Your Holy Majesty wishes, you may do with my body whatever you
might please. I will offer my body and heart to you as I do in service to
God." Mary had said that without hesitation.
A girl tailored to my tastes had been sent to me, and that girl had said,
"You may do with my body whatever you might please," and, "I will offer
my body and heart to you." Then, as if asking for compensation, they had
tried to push their own demands through. In other words...
"For the Orthodox Papal State, the saint is a honey trap laid for statelevel actors," I said.
"What they're doing is the same as the nobles trying to sell their
daughters to you..." Liscia said, sounding exasperated.
Honestly, for a country ruled by men of the cloth, they came up with
some vulgar ideas. It looked like, as a country, the Orthodox Papal State
was a very human enterprise.
"Once I figured out what felt off about her... I asked Mary about how
she was selected to be a saint," I said. "When I did, she kindly gave me a
thorough explanation."
I was told that the saint had been chosen from among the nuns of the
central church by the divine revelations contained in the Lunalith. Most of
those nuns had originally been orphans, and there were nearly fifty of them.
Most likely, the goal was to keep a diverse stock of potential saints for any
rulers they wanted to seduce.
The nuns were trained at the central church, and raised learning the
doctrines of the faith in a place cut off from the secular world so that they
would become obedient believers. Then, if they reached a certain age
without being chosen as saints, they were sent out to churches in each
region as bishops.
"That's... terrible," Aisha said with open revulsion. "Then they really are
like dolls. It's as if they have no will of their own."
"Now, now, Big Sister Ai," Roroa interjected, "it doesn't sound like that
bad of a deal to me."
Aisha was critical of the system, but Roroa seemed to be of a different
opinion.
"No matter what country ya go to, there ain't nothin' harder to run than
proper orphanages," said Roroa. "If they don't get educated by the time
they're old enough to work, they'll just end up bein' used for cheap labor.
It's rare to find places like ours that teach readin', writin', and arithmetic.
For girls who come up out of the orphanages... often, sellin' themselves is
the only thing they can do. If they're bein' lifted up from that situation,
given food, clothing, and shelter in the church, don't ya think that's
fortunate for them?"
"But they're being raised so they can be given as offerings to foreign
rulers, you realize?" Aisha shot back.
"I'm not sayin' I like it. But usin' girls to form bonds is somethin' every
house, noble, knightly, or greater, does. I mean... in a way, I used myself
politically like that, too."
"Oh..."
When Roroa pointed that out to her, Aisha was at a loss for words. It
was true, when Roroa had arranged her own marriage in order to protect her
people, you could say she had been making use of her position as a woman.
"Sorry..." Aisha apologized.
Roroa simply said, "Think nothin' of it," and waved her hand. "Besides,
I've never heard of there bein' multiple saints. In other words, for all o' the
nuns other than this Mary girl, it won't be happenin' to them. Even for the
saint, sure, callin' her an offerin' makes it sound bad, but if a lord does lay
his hands on 'er, she's set to marry into money. I married for political
reasons, and I'm plenty happy now, so it's up for her to decide whether or
not she's happy with it in the end."
Roroa said that firmly. She really... was a strong girl.
"I agree with Roroa's opinion," I said. "I don't like their methods, but
it's not a system we need to say anything about. I mean, it's another
country's issue, after all."
"Well... why do you look so torn up, then?" Liscia asked, looking me
straight in the eye.
I put a hand to my head. "What shocked me... was that Mary had
accepted she was a saint, and was willing to go along with it knowing
exactly what that meant."
◇ ◇ ◇
As the meeting was ending, I asked Mary about one thing that was
bothering me.
"Madam Mary, do you have no doubts about being treated as a saint?
Suddenly being saddled with the dignity of your country, having to appear
before a foreign king, and being expected to tell that king, 'I will offer my
body and heart to you.' It's too great a burden for one person to bear. I
would have thought a life like that would be too cruel for an ordinary young
girl to take."
Mary smiled and said, "By the will of Lady Lunaria, I was blessed with
the great honor of becoming a saint. The saint is the face of the Orthodox
Papal State. Having been granted this role, rather than live for my own
feelings, I want to fulfill the duties I've been given. Because that is what is
best for the country, and, in turn, for all people."
"...You'd abandon your self for the sake of others?" I asked.
"It is my natural duty as one who has received a greater honor than
most. I would think, as a king, you would understand that, wouldn't you,
sire?"
I was silent.
"Living the way others want you to," she said. "I believe it is a
wonderful way to live, and one I can be proud of. For the people who revere
me as a saint, I intend to give myself fully to serving them."
For the people who revered her as a saint... huh.
She must have believed with all her heart that living the way others
wanted her to was a thing she could be proud of. When I saw Mary's smile,
the words of another saint flashed through my mind.
"I may be an empress, but I'm still just a human being. Instead of being
worshiped as a saint, I want to remain a person, and to be loved as a
person."
For one, being a saint was something to pride herself on, and she chose
to act like a saint.
For the other, she rejected being a saint, and insisted on being a person.
"I would think, as a king, you would understand that, wouldn't you,
sire?" Mary had asked.
Which path will I choose...?
◇ ◇ ◇
"There was a time... when I thought the same way Mary does," I said to
my assembled companions, as if I were confessing my sins at church. "You
remember, right, Carla? What happened during the battle with the forces of
the principality?"
"That time, you mean...?" Carla, who had been standing by in the corner
of the room, said in a whisper.
I was referring to the time during the war with Gaius VIII and the
corrupt nobles when, in order to protect my heart from the pressure bearing
down on me, I had walled myself off and tried to focus solely on playing
the role of king. If I hadn't done that, I wouldn't have been able to bear the
weight of all the lives being lost on my orders.
"We're people, so we suffer due to the size of our responsibilities," I
said. "We're people, so we agonize over the decisions we've made. That
time, when I was forced into a war I didn't want, but that I had no choice
but to fight, little by little, without realizing it, I began acting as a system
called 'the king'... like I was a machine. Because if I was a machine, I
didn't have to suffer, or to think and agonize over things."
"Souma..." Liscia had a worried look on her face, but I gave her a wry
smile and shook my head.
"When Carla asked me, 'Aren't you afraid to die?', I realized how
warped it was for me to be ready to accept dying as king. Thanks to that, I
was able to stop short of it. When I think how things would have turned out
if Carla hadn't pointed it out to me then... I shudder. I could well have
ended up like Mary. When I think about that, it makes me feel bad."
When I thought of what it would be like if a version of me that had
become the system called a king had been here now standing in front of
Liscia and the others... it scared me.
Could the me who had become able to accept everything because I was
the king make Liscia and the others happy? ...No, he could not.
"I want to remain a person, and to be loved as a person."
Yeah... That's right, Madam Maria, I thought.
If I couldn't notice Liscia and the others' tears, if I couldn't make Liscia
and the others smile, even if it meant suffering under a heavy burden and
agonizing over the decisions I made...
I didn't want to become a mere system.
"Yeah. Me, too. I'd rather be a person."
"Souma?" Liscia asked. "...Eek!"
I got down off of the desk, walked to Liscia's side, and hugged her
slender body tight. My sudden action left Aisha, Juna, and Roroa all
dumbfounded.
"Whuh?!"
"Oh, dear me."
"Whoa, Big Sister Cia, that's no fair."
With the three of them staring at us, Liscia turned a bright shade of red,
her eyes darting about rapidly. "U-Um... Souma? Could I ask you to let go
of me, maybe? This is a little embarrassing... Everyone is watching..."
Liscia said that, but I ignored her and kept hugging her. If she really
didn't like it, I knew Liscia was more than capable of pushing me away.
I held onto Liscia as I said to Hakuya, "I won't become the holy king. I
won't let the Orthodox Papal State get their way, either. I do have a policy
in mind that sidesteps the Orthodox Papal States' scheme, but... it's
probably only good enough to stall for time. If we're going to come up with
a more fundamental solution to the problem, all the followers of Lunarian
Orthodoxy in the country will be a problem. I do hope it can disempower
them, or render them harmless..."
"Hold on, why are you talking about serious stuff while holding me like
this?!" Liscia cried.
"Hm... In that case, let me handle the countermeasures for that," Hakuya
said. "I have some ideas of my own. I'll be borrowing Kagetora and some
members of the Black Cats for my purposes."
"You, too, Hakuya! Why are you holding an ordinary conversation?!"
"Got it," I said. "Let's bounce ideas off each other and work on our
plans tomorrow."
"By your will."
"Ignored?! I'm being ignored?!"
"Thanks, I'll be counting on you. Now then..."
Scratching my cheek, I turned to Aisha, Juna, and Roroa.
"Sorry, but could you leave Liscia and me alone tonight?"
"""?!"""
The moment they understood what those words meant, Aisha, Juna, and
Roroa's eyes all bulged in surprise. And as for Liscia, who had been
protesting for a while now...
"Uh... Uh..."
It seemed she couldn't even form words properly, and she was just
opening and closing her mouth like a goldfish. Liscia was usually so
dignified, but when I thought, Hey, she makes faces like this, too, it was
kind of funny.
"D-Darlin', does that mean you two're gonna..."
Roroa came back to her senses and tried to get some answers out of me,
but Juna laid a hand on her shoulder and stopped her.
"Roroa."
Then she said something to Roroa and Aisha in a whisper before turning
and giving me a deep bow.
"Now then, Princess, Your Majesty, we will be taking our leave of you
now."
With that said, Juna quietly departed.
"Erm... Good night, Your Majesty, Princess," said Aisha.
"Murgh... Big Sister Cia! Tell me how he did later, 'kay?"
Aisha and Roroa followed Juna out of the room.
"Well, until tomorrow, then," said Hakuya. "Rest well."
"I-I will be standing guard outside the room... Please, take it easy,
Master..."
With Hakuya and Carla being the last to leave, Liscia and I were left
alone in the room.
I picked up Liscia, who was frozen stiff.
Hey, she was pretty light. She did have a bit of muscle on her, but on the
whole, she had a slender figure, so the weight difference between us made it
easy for me to lift her up. When I sat her down on the simple bed that was
sitting in the corner of the room like always, Liscia finally came back to her
senses.
In the candlelight, we sat side by side on the bed, staring into one
another's eyes.
"U-Um, Souma? This means... what I think it does, right?" she asked
with her face beet red.
My cheeks started to feel hot, too. "Uh... Yep. That was... kind of the
intention..."
"O-Oh, I see..."
"...Can't we?"
"No! It's not that we can't! I mean, I've been waiting for this..." Liscia
hurriedly shook her head. Her words were trailing off and getting weaker,
though. "B-B-But why now, all of a sudden? You held out on me so long."
"Oh... Yeah, well... I was thinking I should wait until the kingdom's
more stable, until I was able to take responsibility for it, until we had gone
through all the steps, but..."
Aw, geez, this was really embarrassing! I scratched the back of my head.
"But... When I saw Mary, and thought about how I want to be a person...
I just couldn't hold back any longer. I wanted... to act on a human impulse,
and to have you accept me for it."
"I-I see..."
That, and Maria's words, "I want to remain a person, and to be loved as
a person," probably had an effect on me, too.
I wanted to be a person, and I wanted to love Liscia and the others as a
person.
I wanted Liscia and the others to love me as a person.
I felt that way strongly, and I couldn't hold back any more.
...Well, at a time like this, I wasn't about to tell her that another woman's
words had that deep an effect on me, though.
"Um, but... having our first time in the governmental affairs office, it
sure isn't very sexy," Liscia said, tripping over her words, as she folded her
top which she had stripped off and set it aside so that it wouldn't wrinkle.
I took off my shirt, too, and pulled Liscia who was now in nothing but
her white underwear close to me.
Was I the one trembling, or was it her...? It might have been both of us.
Neither of us were used to this, and we embraced each other awkwardly.
We kissed once, and then...
"Well, do you want to take this somewhere else?" I whispered in
Liscia's ear.
When I did, Liscia grinned and silently shook her head. "No. Here is
good. I mean, this is..."
...the place where you and I first met, after all.
◇ ◇ ◇
"Nngh... Hm?" I murmured.
When the light shone in through the window and woke me, Liscia's face
was right in front of mine.
We were sharing a single pillow, so it was pretty close. She was sleeping
peacefully.
With each shallow breath Liscia took, her soft chest rose and fell under
the covers. Just the sight of her like this left me with an indescribable
mixture of glee, embarrassment, and love, and I reached out to touch her
cheek.
When I did, "Murgh..." Liscia twisted as if something was tickling her
and then slowly opened her eyes.
She was probably still half-dreaming. She didn't seem to know where
she was, and she started looking around restlessly. Then she noticed my
face right next to her own.
"Oh... Souma. Morning..." she said with a grin. It was a smile as gentle
as the morning light that was shining in.
Her reaction was unbearably cute, so I hugged her close and placed a
kiss on her half-closed left eyelid. Still groggy from sleep, Liscia let out a
ticklish laugh.
"Geez, Souma, what do you think you're doing?"
"Hmm, I'd love to keeping looking at you like this, but... Sorry, Liscia,
get up, please."
"...Huh?" she asked.
As I gave her a gentle shake, this time Liscia's eyes opened fully. The
moment her eyes snapped open, Liscia's face turned red so quickly, I could
almost hear the comedic exploding sound effect as it did. Most likely, when
she'd gotten a handle on the current situation, all of her embarrassment had
flared up at once. Of course, that included enough for last night, too.
I softly patted Liscia on the head. "Good morning, Liscia."
"M-Morning. Ohh... Don't look at me so much."
"Don't look at you? I saw a whole lot last— Mmph!"
Liscia shoved a pillow in my face.
"That doesn't make it any less embarrassing!" she cried.
Liscia hugged the blanket to herself and glared at me kind of resentfully.
Yep, she sure was cute. I almost wanted to jump her right there. But
instead, I just pushed the pillow aside and stretched.
"Yeah... I don't think I ever want to do it in the governmental affairs
office again."
"...Why not?" she asked.
"Because this is our workplace, so I'll have to ask them to clean up after
us right away. I want to flirt with you more, and it's a pain having to get
up."
"I-I see..."
I got out of bed and slipped on the clothes I had been wearing yesterday.
I hadn't brought a change of clothes, so I would have to go back to my
room to get one.
After quickly getting dressed, I asked Liscia, "So... are you feeling
okay?"
"Y-Yeah... I do feel a little sluggish, though..."
"Okay. Let me be the one who asks the maids to clean up, then."
"Yeah," she said. "Could you do that for me?"
I planted a kiss on Liscia's forehead and then left the governmental
affairs office.
When I left through the door, I was met by a red-faced Carla, who was
averting her eyes, and a gently-smiling Serina. I understood why Carla was
there, since she had been standing guard, but why Serina?
Serina showed a slight, impassive smile and said, "You two had fun last
night."
Wow... That line, when someone actually says it to you in real life, it's
really frustrating.
"...You're up early, Head Maid," I said.
"I am the princess' personal maid, after all." With that answer, which I
wasn't sure qualified as one, Serina gave me an elegant bow.
I thought, Oh, yeah, she's definitely having fun with this... but I knew if I
said anything, there would be three times as many verbal daggers coming
my way, so I stayed silent. It was better to let sleeping sadists lie. If you
could turn a blind eye to her bad habit for bullying cute girls, she was
extremely competent at her work.
"Serina, Carla... Take care of Liscia and the room for me," I said.
"Understood," Serina said. "Let's get to it, Carla."
"Y-Yes, ma'am!"
Serina and Carla bowed to me and then entered the room. A moment
later, from inside...
"S-Serina?! I'm still naked here!" Liscia shouted.
"We need to clean up, so please, get out of bed already. If you don't, I
will have Carla carry you out of this room, bed and all."
"Hold on, Carla! Don't lift the bed!"
"...Sorry," Carla said. "If I defy the head maid, I'll be humiliated myself
later..."
"Eeeek!"
...Well, I heard those voices and a lot of banging.
Okay, Liscia. Live strong, I thought.
"Now, then..." I slapped my own cheeks. It was time for a change of
mindset. With my relationship with Liscia having grown deeper, I felt like I
needed to be ever more determined.
In order to defend my beloved family, I was going to put one over on the
theocracy.
"Well, off to scheme with Hakuya, I guess."
I skipped off down the corridor.
◇ ◇ ◇
—Days later.
I had sent a message to Saint Mary who was staying at the Lunarian
church in Parnam to inform her that I would be holding another meeting
with her. Mary had responded that she would come to the castle at once.
And so, once again, Mary and I faced one another in Parnam Castle's
audience chamber. It was an audience with the same faces, and standing in
the same places, as the last one. I hadn't been able to focus during the
previous one because something had felt off about Mary, but now that I
knew the trick to it, I could look at her with a clear head.
Seeing her again after a few days, Mary was still beautiful, and still dolllike. I exchanged brief pleasantries with her, then decided to get straight
down to business.
"Now then, regarding the matter of making Lunarian Orthodoxy our
state religion..."
She waited silently.
"If you can accept two conditions, I don't mind doing it."
"Conditions...?" Mary tilted her head to the side questioningly.
I answered her in as light a tone as I could manage. "Oh, it's nothing too
difficult. The first is that you not make me the Holy King of Lunarian
Orthodoxy. I don't want you one-sidedly starting to call me that, either. I
want a firm agreement on this point."
"Why is that? If you became our holy king, you would stand above
adherents of Lunarian Orthodoxy in every country, you know?" Mary
looked perplexed.
I shook my head with a wry smile. "That's because I'm not an adherent
of Lunarian Orthodoxy myself. Even if someone like me was suddenly
named holy king, I'm sure there would be resistance from the believers. I'm
sorry, but I'll have to decline the position."
"Oh... I see."
Though Mary acted disappointed, she meekly backed down on the point.
Of course, the reason I'd given her was just a front. I had no desire to be
their holy king, or anything like that, and I couldn't let us regress into a
country where the church controlled education, either. My goal here was to
prevent the Orthodox Papal State from naming me holy king and making
me carry the flag in their conflict with the Empire.
"Now, as for the second condition... I'll have Prime Minister Hakuya
explain this one," I said.
Hakuya brought a hand to his chest and bowed before taking one step
forward. "Allow me to explain. The other condition we are presenting is
that we want to invite a bishop from the Orthodox Papal State to come here
and manage the believers of Lunarian Orthodoxy within the country."
"Of course we can do that," said Mary. "I had intended to come here
myself."
Hakuya replied, "Oh, we could never ask that of you," and waved his
hand. "We have no desire to impose on a saint. We have a specific
individual we would like to invite here as our bishop."
"You have someone you want to invite here? Who might that be?"
"Bishop Souji Lester."
Mary was silent. The moment she heard the name, her brow furrowed
just a little.
I only saw it for that one instant, but it was a look of revulsion. It was
the first human reaction I had seen from doll-like Mary.
Mary asked Hakuya with a slightly stiff expression, "Sir Hakuya, are
you... aware of what kind of man he is?"
"Yes. I have heard that he is very sharp."
"No, he is just cunning," said Mary. "I cannot say... that I would
recommend him. He extorts large amounts of money from the believers,
drinks heavily, toys with women, and engages in many other such indecent
behaviors. Normally, as a man of the cloth, he would have sworn off such
desires, but that man is mired in the secular and does as he pleases. His
Holiness and the cardinals view his behavior as an issue. I, myself... also
find him unlikable."
It was a firm rejection. He was a man that even this doll-like girl would
hate, it seemed. Now I was interested.
"How did a man like that become a bishop?" I asked.
Mary's lips drew taut. There was a short pause before she opened them
again to say, "This is... an embarrassing thing to talk about, but we in the
priesthood are supported by the donations of the followers. There were
cardinals who defended Bishop Souji because, regardless of his methods, he
was able to bring in large donations..."
Ah... I was starting to see how it worked.
Most likely, this Souji was paying bribes to a number of the cardinals.
Even if their saint wasn't, the upper echelons of the church felt very human,
and very rotten. That was why even if they wanted to remove him, they
couldn't.
"However," Mary said to Hakuya, "there are now voices in the church
saying that he should be expelled. I believe it is only a matter of time until
he is excommunicated. Do you want to invite a man like that here?"
Even as she looked at him with clear opposition in her eyes, Hakuya
never broke his quiet smile. "That sounds just perfect to me. If you mean to
expel him, we will take custody of him here in our country. His Majesty is
quite fond of gathering talented personnel, you see, and he has told me that
if there is a bishop like that, he wants to meet him."
I had no recollection of ever saying such a thing. I didn't know a thing
about this Souji, or even what his name was, after all. However, I had been
told in advance that this Souji would be a key player in Hakuya's plot, so I
nodded as if it were true.
Mary looked at Hakuya with apparent displeasure. "If he is to come here
as a bishop, that would place him at the head of all believers of Lunarian
Orthodoxy in this country. I cannot see how he would be up to the task."
"If he is insufficient, we can simply have another person come at a later
date," said Hakuya with a chillingly cold look in his eyes. "If he does not
live up to our standards, I would not object to disposing of him personally."
Wow... Hakuya sure had one villainous look on his face. He had a
clever-looking face to begin with, so the cold smile fit him well. Honestly,
he was pretty scary.
Mary was overwhelmed by his intensity for a moment, and then found
herself unable to say any more. "...Very well. If, under any circumstance, he
is unable to come, I will take his place."
Hakuya inclined his head. "Yes, if that happens, please do."
The two of them looked straight at one another, each trying to suss out
the other's motives. The doll and the villain stared one another down, and
not only did sparks seem to fly, a chilling air descended on the whole room.
This air was off-putting for both Liscia and me, and Aisha, who wasn't
used to this sort of atmosphere, looked a little sick. Regardless, that was
everything settled.
To summarize what had been decided here, it would come down to these
three points:
The Kingdom of Friedonia would accept Lunarian Orthodoxy as its state
religion.
The Orthodox Papal State of Lunaria would not name me holy king.
Souji Lester would be dispatched by the Orthodox Papal State as a
bishop.
With the matter settled, Mary bid us farewell and departed. She hadn't
been able to make me into their holy king, but she had been able to get
Lunarian Orthodoxy adopted as our state religion, so it was a decent result
for her. I figured that with this, she ought to return to the Orthodox Papal
State quietly.
I waited for the report that she had left the castle, and then I was finally
able to feel a little less tense.
"Whew... Do you think that more or less handled it?" I asked.
"Most likely," said Hakuya. "The saint believes that she has
accomplished something, I'm sure."
Then he laughed.
Just as planned... was what Hakuya's laugh seemed to say.
I shrugged and told him, "Hakuya, you've still got your villain face on."
"...Pardon me," he said, and resumed his usual nonchalant expression.
I asked him, "So, have you made preparations for welcoming that
bishop, Souji, or whatever his name was?"
"Yes. The Black Cats led by Sir Kagetora have already infiltrated the
Orthodox Papal State. I am sure they have already accompanied Sir Souji to
a place near the border. I assume that they will have brought him back to
the royal capital within a few days."
Looking at the intelligence-gathering ability he'd demonstrated by
knowing about the bishop named Souji, as well as the preparedness he'd
shown by taking steps to protect him, this was the sort of meticulous
attention to detail that I had come to expect from our Black-robed Prime
Minister.
"But did you really need to send the Black Cats to escort him?" I asked.
"From the saint's reaction, it seems they are hesitant to dispatch
someone who seems likely to embarrass their country as a bishop," Hakuya
said. "In order to secure our promise that we would recognize Lunarian
Orthodoxy as our state religion, she accepted our conditions here, but once
she returned home, there was the risk that she would renege on them for
'some reason.' For instance, we might be told that Souji was injured in an
accident, and so they'd be sending someone else... or some other such story.
That's why I decided to have the Black Cats go and bring him back first."
Injured in an accident... huh. In my mind's eye, I could imagine the
Orthodox Papal State doing it. There was no guarantee he wouldn't "go
missing" into a prison, or "die of a sudden illness" that was actually an
assassination, either. If he had taken that much into account, I had to hand it
to Hakuya.
"Honestly, I'm impressed you can scheme as much as you do," I said
teasingly.
Liscia, who was standing next to me, gave me a cold look. "You're quite
the schemer yourself, aren't you, Souma? I mean, in a way, you're
deceiving that poor, innocent saint."
"Don't make me sound so bad," I said. "I haven't told her any lies."
There had been no lie when I'd told her I would make Lunarian
Orthodoxy our state religion.
"However, we might be working under different definitions of what a
'state religion' is," I added.
"Honestly... It's all in how you word things." From the exasperated look
Liscia gave me, I must have had a pretty villainous look on my face, too.
◇ ◇ ◇
A few more days after that...
The royal castle in the Kingdom of Friedonia announced that all faiths
and religions were to be registered with the state, and that all religions that
received recognition in this way would be considered state religions. In
other words, the meaning of a state religion in the kingdom was changed to
be the same as a religious corporation.
King Souma appeared on the Jewel Voice Broadcast for the first time in
a while to address his people.
"In this country, up until now, every person, every family, and every race
has worshiped whatever gods they pleased," he announced. "In addition to
the faiths with the most believers, those being Mother Dragon worship and
Lunarian Orthodoxy, the dark elves worship the godbeast said to protect the
God-Protected Forest, and there are those who worship sea and mountain
gods, as well. We all come from different races and have grown up in
different environments, so it's very natural that things have turned out this
way."
The people who lived in inland cities, in mountain villages, and in
seaside towns all nodded in agreement with his words. They lived in
different places, so it was a given that the things they feared and the things
they worshiped would be different.
The image of Souma continued speaking to the people of his country.
"This is a multi-racial state. In our country, the customs of many
different groups have melted and mixed together, creating new forms of
culture every day. I believe faith should be the same way. What this
kingdom needs isn't unity under one god. I think it's the harmony that
comes from recognizing the freedom of individuals to choose what they
want to believe in. Just as you have beings in which you believe, so do
others. I would like for all of you to accept that, and to please be tolerant. If
you are, I am sure that others will be tolerant of your beliefs, as well."
The people only half-believed what Souma said.
In this country where the media had not yet developed, they had limited
knowledge of other religions. Basically, they had no idea what was taught
in the churches of other faiths. That was why they were doubtful. Suspicion
gave birth to ogres in dark places and turned dried pampas grass into
ghosts.
Even if a group were simple mountain worshipers, those who were
suspicious of them might think they were a secretive evil organization.
Souma was well aware of that.
"What do we need in order to cultivate that tolerance?" Souma asked.
"Mutual understanding. No matter how I tell you to be tolerant of other
faiths, we can't accept evil religions that do things like sacrifice virgins in
order to summon devils. I won't ask you to be tolerant of such religions.
However, I'm sure it's hard to tell if another person's religion is good or
evil from the outside."
Here Souma paused, and stressed: "And that's why we're nationalizing
religion."
He continued, "I want the representatives of each faith-based
organization to register their religion with the country. If you pass the
examination, your religion will be recognized as a state religion, subject to
further investigations once every few years.
"The examination process is simple. You need only pledge not to engage
in illegal activities such as killing, robbing others of their possessions, or
engaging in sexual violence in the name of your religion.
"Harming people is generally against the rules, too, but some religions
out there might engage in self-harm. For questions about the specific
details, such as whether giving someone a tattoo constitutes harm, please
consult your local authorities. I've provided them with specific guidelines,
such as accepting things when people ask for it on their own, but forbidding
things when they are forced on people who don't want them, so please
follow their directions.
"If any religion can't make this pledge, or refuses to register, they will
be dealt with by the authorities, so please be aware of that. Our people
would have trouble sleeping at night if people who follow such dangerous
beliefs were allowed to live near them, I'm sure. I want you to understand
this."
With all of that said, Souma took a deep breath. Then he continued on,
as if speaking to each of his people personally.
"Finally, I believe that faith is something that exists for the living, not
the dead. In order not to drag our sadness with us, to live through the pains
of our daily lives, and to live our lives as good people, we should have
faith. I pray that no person will be harmed by that faith."
I pray that no person will be harmed by that faith.
This was the thing that Souma most wanted to say.
Ever since the Demon Lord's Domain had appeared, the people had had
no end of things to worry about. In times like this, religion became more
active as the people's hearts relied on it for support, and when religion grew
more active, conflicts between different religions and sects arose. The
people's support would turn into something that hurt them.
There might not have been many people in the kingdom who fully
understood that. However, his words would stick in their ears.
As if trying to change the mood, Souma clapped his hands. "Well, that's
enough serious talk. Now that every religion that registers will be becoming
a state religion, we have a little event planned. Roroa will explain."
"Righty-o! Just you leave it to me!" Roroa exclaimed.
When Souma stepped aside, an adorable girl with her hair tied back in
two tails came to stand beside him.
"Howdy-do, I'm the former Princess of Amidonia and Souma's third
fiancée, Roroa. How's everyone in the Kingdom of Friedonia doin' out
there?"
Witnessing her inexhaustible supply of cheer, the people of Elfrieden
were dumbfounded, while the people of Amidonia smiled wryly and said,
"That's just like our princess." The serious atmosphere that had been
building up until that point vanished as if it had all been a lie, and it had
never been there to begin with. Even King Souma was stunned.
"...That's the tone you're doing this in, Roroa?" Souma asked.
"It's fine, darlin'," Roroa said confidently. "Since I'm on Juna's
Together With Big Sis, the people already know what kind of character I
am."
"I thought that casting choice was pretty forced, though..."
Souma slumped his exhausted shoulders. He seemed less like her fiancé
and more like a big brother being run ragged by his little sister; but the
people of the kingdom felt at ease watching them.
Then Roroa turned toward the screen, put her hands on her hips, and
said, "Now, we're gonna be makin' all of the religions that register with us
into state religions, but I've got a li'l request for ya all when you're
registerin'. If any of you have interestin' festivals for your gods, be sure to
tell us, would ya? In Darlin's world, I hear that some religious events have
been turned into national festivals, and believers and non-believers alike
enjoy 'em together. Why don't we have ourselves a real good time doin'
that in this country, too?"
Roroa threw her arms up and the people cheered. It seemed that even if
they didn't understand what she was saying, they had reacted to the word
"festival." They were excited that something fun was going to happen.
Incidentally, right after that, Roroa whispered, "Besides, if we make a
festival of it, that'll get the money movin', and that'd just tickle me pink,"
but her voice was low enough that it only made Souma who was beside her
smile wryly.
Roroa winked at the screen. "Well, since I'm sure just talkin' about it
isn't givin' ya all a good sense of what I mean, I probably oughta give ya a
concrete example. So, Old Man Souji, come over here and explain for the
people."
"Oh, come on, Little Miss Roroa, calling me an old man is a bit much..."
The one who appeared saying that was a human man, about forty years old,
with a muscular body. He spoke with a wry tone, rubbing his smooth head
which was as tanned as the rest of his body. "I'm still a Lunarian Orthodox
bishop, you know."
Now that he mentioned it, the man was wearing the uniform (?) of a
Lunarian Orthodox priest. That (?) is there because he wore it loosely... Too
loosely in fact, and it had been modified to an almost scandalous degree.
The long sleeves were cut short, and his pants and ceremonial robe only
went down to just below the knees. When this fit and tanned man wore the
outfit, it looked like a samue, an outfit that Japanese Zen Buddhist monks
wore while engaged in simple physical work.
Roroa voiced an objection. "An old man's an old man. Besides, I think
it's a bit much for you to be callin' the soon-to-be third primary queen 'little
miss.'"
Those were fighting words, and the man responded in kind. "Don't add
in the octopus part! Now listen here, little missie, you're going to be a
married woman soon, so you'd better develop at least one kind of
overflowing sexiness."
"Wh-What was that?! Just you watch..." Roroa suddenly struck a pose
and tried to moan erotically, but the man just chuckled.
The fact that he had laughed at the best sexy pose (?) she could manage
sent Roroa into angry mode, and Souma had to hurriedly pin her arms
behind her back.
"Let go of me, darlin'!" she shouted. "I can't boil that octopus like this!"
"Calm down, Roroa. I thought you were cute," Souma said and patted
her on the head.
Roroa's head spun to look at him. "...Ya mean it?"
"Sure, you were real cute."
"Hm... Well, I'll forgive him, then."
That's all it took?! thought the people watching. These people weren't
familiar with husband and wife manzai comedy routines, so they didn't
know exactly what they were being shown, but they were relieved that
everything had been resolved peaceably.
Souma smiled wryly and said to the man in the customized priest's
uniform, "Now then, Sir Souji, if you could handle the rest of the
explanation."
"Understood, King Souma."
With that said, the man took one step forward.
"Greetings to you, people of Friedonia. I am the bishop who has been
sent by the Orthodox Papal State of Lunaria to organize the faithful in this
country: Souji Lester."