Whew, they're all so passionate... I gulped, seeing the flood of hands
that went up that moment I asked them to raise their hands. They all looked
like they wanted to ask their question or state their opinion. To the point
that they were willing to push the others aside, regardless of rank. You
could tell there were a bunch of research fanatics here.
That passion was to be welcomed, for the country's sake.
"Now, please, give your name and affiliation before stating your opinion
or asking a question. Yes, you, in the priest's robe."
"Thank you, Your Majesty. I am Priest Bart of Lunarian Orthodoxy."
The first one I called on was a priest who had been scowling throughout
the entire research presentation. I knew full well from his demeanor that he
would be opposed to researching monsters, so I deliberately let him go first.
In order to move research on monsters forward, it was necessary to hear
opinions from people like this, and take measures to tamp down on
resistance from the public.
"I thank you for your permission to speak." Bart looked straight at me.
"This opinion may be out of place in a gathering such as this, but I will
voice it despite that. As a man of the cloth... No, as a single person, I have a
strong aversion to trying to learn more about monsters."
There was hushed whispering. They were all confused that, at an event
that had been called the Monsterology Symposium, the first opinion was
one against researching monsters to begin with.
The researchers around Bart said things like:
"What is this guy on about?"
"What're you even doing here?"
They cast cold eyes on him. However, I asked him to go on.
"Let's hear it. What is your concern?"
"In the teachings of Lunarian Orthodoxy, the monsters were born as evil
counterparts to the good god of the moon, Lunaria," Bart began. "They are
filthy beings, and unable to interact with people. That is exactly why, no
matter how frail the monster may be, it is forbidden to feed or use them. A
monster is a monster, no matter how small. No matter how harmless they
may seem, they are dangerous creatures. There is no telling what dangers
keeping them near to us may bring about. Even for those who worship
another, I suspect the other religions' understanding of the issue is the same,
is it not?"
"......"
I didn't really understand the religious views of this country, so I looked
to Liscia and the others. "Yeah, that's right..." they seemed to say as they
nodded.
There was no argument, so the priest continued, "I am not opposing this
on purely doctrinal grounds. I am suggesting there are realms which man
should not touch. It is God who decides the forms of living beings. If we set
foot in that domain unduly, might we not do something that we will be
unable to take back?"
The buzzing in the room settled down. If you removed the veil of
religion from what he was saying, he was warning of the danger of working
with things that were too much for mankind to handle.
Let's imagine research was progressing, and we brought living monsters
back to the capital. If a number of them escaped, they might breed
somewhere, and no one knew what damage that might cause. In my old
world, there were more examples than I could count where just a few
members of a foreign species released into the wild had completely
destroyed the existing environment.
In fact, the disused underground passages beneath the castle had been
home to a massive salamander that had grown far beyond any normal size,
among other creatures. They might change in response to a specific
environment, too. When I think of it that way, I can't belittle his point...
I was impressed how surprisingly reasonable it was. Those things he
said about God deciding the forms of all creatures, and it not being our
place to step into that domain reminded me of the opposition between ethics
and practicality when it came to gene editing and other cutting-edge science
in my old world.
If I thought about it, with the exception of those that served to reinforce
the religion's power, religious precepts were generally meant to convince
people to live better lives. Some of them must have been knowledge gained
from experience that was then handed down as stories. Maybe someone
caught a monster in the past, and because they underestimated the threat,
there had been harm caused... or something along those lines.
"Sir Souji, what do you think after hearing his opinion?"
"You're asking me?"
When I turned to Souji, for a moment he gave me a look like, "You
really want my opinion...?" but he quickly recomposed himself and put on a
serious expression.
"That is certainly the teaching of Lunarian Orthodoxy. However, Lady
Lunaria says elsewhere, 'Never should you neglect to put in the effort to try
things and learn.' Surely, we must not neglect to learn about monsters.
However, there is some reason in what Sir Bart says, too. The utmost
caution must be taken in any research."
Souji gave an opinion that justified researching monsters while giving
some consideration to Bart's opinion. He was equivocating, but that was
exactly what I wanted.
"Okay, I get it. We should move forward with the research, but be
careful."
I considered my words carefully, then spoke.
"For now, I believe I will put forward these regulations:
"First, the transport of living monsters from the border region to the
inner regions is forbidden.
"Second, in the case of dungeon monsters, living monsters are not to be
transported away from the area around their dungeons.
"Third, if you want to study living monsters, it is to be done near the
border, or near dungeons. Research to be done in the capital must be
performed exclusively using confirmed dead samples.
"That's what I've got off the top of my head. I'd like to come up with
some more detailed rules later, but... there are monster parts for sale at the
market now, right, Roroa?"
"Sure are. Mostly comin' from the dungeons, though." Roroa nodded.
"They can be the basis of the economy in towns that're near a dungeon, and
some of the materials're valuable. Livin' monsters are dangerous, so I do
agree we should be clampin' down on tradin' them, of course, but we'll
need to put laws in place either way."
"That's our job, yeah... Does anyone else have an opinion on this?
...You, the one who just put your hand up over there."
When I called on him—the man who looked exactly what I expected a
researcher to look like, wearing a white coat and glasses—stood up.
"I am Gordon, a researcher at the Royal Academy. If that is the case, I
would like one of the small dungeons in the Kingdom to use for research.
Until we conquer it, I do not believe we can study monster ecology and the
mechanism behind their creation inside the dungeon."
"Hmm... What do you think, Hakuya?"
Hakuya thought a little before nodding.
"If we can secure the safety of the surrounding area, I believe that would
be fine," he said. "However, we will need to garrison the minimum number
of forces needed to respond to any issue that arises at all times. I believe
that we should prepare an environment where anyone can come and
participate in the research, too. That will also mean they can monitor one
another to ensure no one is using monsters to pursue illegal research."
"...You heard the man. What do you say?" I turned back to Gordon, and
he nodded.
"The Prime Minister's opinion is reasonable."
"Good. I think we'll move forward with that policy then. What do you
say, Sir Bart?"
"...I understand. Please, at least take every caution."
Bart probably wasn't completely convinced, but we had shown him
some consideration, so he stood down.
When I called for the next opinion, a young man raised his hand. "You,
the young man over there."
"R-Right! I'm Toto, a researcher working in Professor Cosno's lab at the
Royal Academy! N-Normally, I study materials that come from living
creatures with the professor."
The young researcher seemed tense as he introduced himself.
Toto... Oh! I thought I recognized that name. He was one of the
researchers who participated in finding a substitute material to replace
rubber for me. The secrets of that development were discussed on the
broadcast program Nameless Heroes, so I remembered him.
"Erm... What I... I wanted to say was..." It looked like Toto was a
nervous wreck. If he got any more tense, he wasn't going to be able to talk
at all.
"Please, relax." I tried to keep my voice as calm as possible as I spoke.
"Whatever your opinion is, it's fine."
"O-Okay. Breathe in... Breathe out..."
Toto took a deep breath, then opened his mouth again.
"In regards to the lizardman remains you brought back from the
Kingdom of Lastania, Your Majesty. There were samples sent to the lab I
work at to probe the potential use of the materials from them. There was an
interesting development in our investigation..."
"What was that?"
"They had no reproductive organs."
When he suddenly brought up reproductive organs, there was a palpable
disappointment from the room, but they started excitedly whispering again
when they realized what that meant.
The lizardmen had created a massive swarm to attack the Kingdom of
Lastania. If they had no reproductive organs, that meant that swarm was not
produced through mating.
"They have no genitals, then?"
"They do have an organ for excretion. However, they had no organ
which produced the eggs or sperm that would be needed for reproduction.
There were few samples available to us, though, so I couldn't tell you if the
entire swarm was like that, or if it was just these individuals..."
"...It's been a while since then, and I'm sure the Kingdom of Lastania
has already finished dismantling them all. I'll send a letter just in case. Does
anyone else know anything about this?"
There was a lot of talking when I asked that, but no actual response. It
seemed no one was able to say anything definitive about the reproductive
organs of monsters.
"This was probably to be expected. There is a strong taboo against
researching monsters, and it is dangerous, too."
Toto explained why that was.
"When adventurers face monsters in the dungeons, they neutralize them
by cutting them with swords, shooting them with arrows, and attacking
them with magic, so it is inevitable that the remains are not in good shape.
Even if they do manage to defeat them in good condition, it is a lot of labor
to bring them back. Ogres are too heavy to bring back whole, for instance.
That's why it's rare for a full, well-preserved corpse to make its way to the
lab."
"I see..."
Souma felt like he could see one reason monster research had not
progressed much up until now. Before even addressing the religious taboo,
it was too dangerous, and they couldn't secure good samples. It would be
one thing for a military force, but adventurers like Juno and her party, who
tended to work in groups of less than ten, wouldn't be able to bring back a
monster intact. On that point, it was fortunate that we were able to gain
lizardman bodies in good condition.
Still, monster reproduction, huh? I'd have to let future research look into
whether they had reproductive abilities or not...
"I suppose that means that, despite the presence of individuals with no
ability to reproduce, they were still able to create that massive swarm," I
said.
"A word, if I may, King?"
Together with those words that were so casual they could be seen as
disrespectful, a hand rose. It belonged to a person I knew well.
"Does something occur to you, Genia?"
"Yeah. Whoops... I'm, uh. I'm Genia M. Arcs. Descendant of the House
of Maxwell, who have always studied dungeon relics, and adorable wife to
Big Brother Luu, who is Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the National
Defense Force."
"Maybe leave out the last part. Who are you trying to impress?"
"I figured it's my job as a wife to do PR for my husband."
"If Ludwin were here, he'd be holding his head in his hands," grasping
my own temples to suppress the headache.
"Now, getting to the point," Genia continued. "I think I know a little
more about dungeon monsters than most people, but their theory that you
can categorize monsters by their parts was a real eye-opener for me. So... I
hear that many of the monsters in dungeons are more warped than the ones
we hear about in legends."
Genia went on with no regard for formalities, but the House of Maxwell
were widely known to be eccentrics, so no one worried too much about it.
They were more focused on what a member of a family with such rare
talent would say.
"From what Sir Ichiha's said, that warped nature must come from them
being a mixture of parts from different creatures. When you add in the
monsters that have no reproductive organs from earlier... I just can't see
these monsters as having emerged naturally."
"If not naturally... Then, you don't mean they were created, do you?"
"Precisely!" Genia said with a snap of her fingers. "That's the natural
conclusion. Children are born carrying the traits of their parents. If Big
Brother Luu and I have children, they'll be small if they take after me, and
tall if they take after him. I want to have about two, by the way."
"Uh, listen, I don't know about your family planning, but..."
"...But even though we just got married, Princess Trill keeps coming
over. Not only that, but she takes forever to leave, and she's always clinging
to me, so Big Brother Luu starts moping, and it's so much trouble."
"Okay, now I want to hear more, but... this is a symposium, so can we
get back to talking about monsters? I am sure the matter with Princess Trill
will be sorted out by her guardian (who was no doubt watching this) later."
Then, there was a banging from the crowd.
That drill hair, tied off to one side... It was Trill. She was watching from
the observer seats, and fell out of her chair in shock. This was a good
opportunity, so I decided to give her a lecture.
Genia shrugged her shoulders in dismay. "Understood... Please, I am
seriously counting on you to handle Princess Trill."
Genia was polite there?! ...Was this Trill person really that bad? The
people in attendance wondered, but Genia returned to the topic at hand like
nothing had happened.
"I don't get that sense of heredity when it comes to monsters. You can
see it with those flying tsuchinoko, right? They look like the lovechild of a
snake and a bird, but snakes and birds don't mate, and it's not even possible
for them to. So, why does a monster like that exist? The parents were flying
tsuchinoko, so the children were, too? Then what about the parents'
parents? And the parents' parents' parents?"
She paused briefly.
"...That's right. It's hard to imagine that a bird and snake mated at any
point. That means that, even if we go back, the flying tsuchinoko was a
flying tsuchinoko all along. One day, all of a sudden, it came into being in
its full form. Almost as if someone created it."
"Created it...? Who?" I asked.
"Search me. I don't know, either. Was the producer the Demon Lord, or
God? As a dungeon relic researcher, I want to say it's the dungeon core. In
dungeons that maintain their own independent ecology, the number of
monsters seems to be kept stable, too. It's thought that they have some
function that gives birth to monsters."
"But that's when we're talking about dungeon monsters, right? The
flying tsuchinoko was with the monsters that came out of the Demon Lord's
Domain, you know?"
"No, no." Genia shook her head at my words. "You can't say for certain
that the monsters from the Demon Lord's Domain weren't born in a
dungeon. It could be that the entrance to the demon world that's said to
have opened up in the north of the continent was the entrance to a massive
dungeon. Well, I can't be sure, so this is all just speculation, though."
"I see... If monsters are created beings, that could be possible, huh?" I
groaned, convinced by her argument. She wasn't an overscientist for
nothing.
The crowd listened intently to our exchange. That was because we
suggested the possibility that monsters were created beings, and not just the
ones born in dungeons, but perhaps the ones coming from the Demon
Lord's Domain, too.
"Doctor. What do you think about her opinion?" one student asked.
"I believe it is worth listening to. But in my view..."
"If monsters are manufactured, the next question has to be..."
The academics had already begun debating with those next to them. The
reason monsters are warped... is because they were created... huh? While
the attendees had a lively discussion about monsters, I was alone in thinking
about something else.
But it's not just monsters that have traits from other creatures. To me,
rhinosauruses appear to have traits from both rhinoceroses and dinosaurs,
or some other large lizard. It's the same with wyverns. And...
I looked at the diverse crowd gathered here.
I could say the same of beastmen, dragonewts, and the sea serpent race,
too. Looking at it using the logic of my former world, it should be
impossible for so many different races to exist.
I had been studying humanities, so I at least knew the rough outline of
human evolution.
Pikaia were born in the sea and became fish. Fish became amphibians
and came up on land. Some of those amphibians became reptiles, and
adapted to live on land as well. The smaller mammals which were born as
reptiles were growing to massive sizes, survived an extinction event,
became primates, and then eventually became human.
What about the beastmen in this world, though? There were lion
beastmen, monkey beastmen, rabbit beastmen, and many other races of
beastmen, but had they all evolved from the creatures they were based on?
...No, that was hard to imagine. I had heard that no matter how
intelligent chimpanzees were, they wouldn't evolve to become human until
modern humanity was wiped out. Unless there is a virus or genetic
manipulation like in a certain movie, it was impossible for two human races
to exist at the same time.
Come to think of it... Madam Tiamat once called me, "You who have a
familiar smell." If I considered the link between my past world and this one
that she hinted at... it could be that the diverse races of this world didn't
evolve separately from humanity, but were an extension of our own
evolution. Yes, almost as if they were "created" by someone. When that
thought occurred to me, I shuddered. I felt a primordial fear, like when I
thought about the beginning or end of the universe.
Breathe in... Breathe out... I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, then
exhaled until my lungs were completely empty. In order to calm my uneasy
heart. Once I sensed calm had returned to it, I opened my eyes. This line of
thought... is something I can't bring up here. If a nation that believes one
race is superior heard, they might use it to suppress the other races.
Claiming that beastmen came from the same root as monsters.
The high elf supremacist Spirit Kingdom of Garlan, and the Lunarian
Orthodox Papal State who claimed they were the descendants of humans
who came down from the moon would gleefully proclaim their own race's
superiority. I wanted to avoid that, no matter what.
I'll keep this secret until I know more. But I'd like to discuss it with a
select few people. To prepare for the day when it comes out... I'll ask
Hakuya, Genia, and the others what to do later.
Having thought that to myself, I turned to the still noisy hall and said,
"There's still time. Does anyone else have an opinion?"
Even more hands than last time went up in a hurry.
◇ ◇ ◇
After the conclusion of the symposium. The chairs had been moved off
to the side after the passionate exchange of opinions ended, and in place of
them a number of large tables laden with trays of food had been brought
out. The post-symposium party had begun.
Food was served as a buffet, and everyone was free to eat and drink
what they wanted as they talked about whatever they wanted to. The entire
spread was provided by a team of chefs led by Poncho, and service was
offered by the maids who reported to Serina. Serina wasn't here herself due
to her pregnancy, but her subordinates helped Poncho in her place.
Once the drinks had gone around to everyone, I stood up on the stage
with a bottle of wine and a large glass in hand, and called Hakuya over.
"...What is it, sire?"
"Here, take this."
I pushed the large glass into Hakuya's hand as he approached me with a
dubious look on his face, then poured the contents of the bottle into it and
spoke loudly so everyone could hear.
"Sir Ichiha, our guest of honor at this symposium, is still just a child. In
his place, I would like to ask Hakuya to offer a toast instead."
"...Isn't that a little much you're pouring? You've emptied out half of the
bottle there, haven't you?"
"It's more exciting this way, isn't it? Go on, once we all say cheers, you
just knock that back."
"Honestly, sire..."
Hakuya sounded exasperated, but he turned to the crowd and raised his
glass.
"To monster research, which took a new step forward today, and to the
young genius who has appeared in this country to lead it into the next
generation, cheers!"
"""Cheers!"""
On Hakuya's call, everyone smiled and raised their own glasses.
Having finished his toast, Hakuya resolved himself and drained the glass
that was full of drink, which was met by a myriad of cheers.
"Okay, from here on, we set rank aside. Drink, and eat, and talk away," I
said.
At my words, everyone swarmed the food. It was as popular as you'd
expect a menu overseen by the God of Food himself. Meanwhile, Hakuya,
who had drunk more than it was easy to in one gulp, wiped his mouth and
stared at me with disdain.
"...The juice was delicious."
"I'm glad you liked it. I've heard you're not much of a drinker."
By not making it wine, I figured that made it okay to have Hakuya, who
got tipsy with a single glass of wine, to drink it all in one gulp. I couldn't
have the guest of honor drinking until he dropped, after all.
I don't engage in alcohol harassment. Not me.
"I wish you had told me so beforehand," he sighed.
"Wasn't everyone excited to watch a lightweight like you steel yourself
and drink?"
"...I do believe we weren't concerned about rank tonight, yes?"
Hakuya pulled a paper fan out of nowhere and smacked me over the
head with it.
"Ow! Wait, where's you get that from?!"
"Pardon me. I appear to be drunk."
"As if you could get drunk on juice!"
Everyone laughed at that master-servant comedy routine. Well, they
seem to like it, so I guess I'll let it slide.
With the party started, a ring of people formed around Ichiha and
Hakuya, as I expected. Everyone gathered here was passionate about
monster research. The two of them were being hit with questions one after
another, so they probably didn't have time to enjoy the food.
The president of the Monster Research Society, who was acting as
something like an intermediary between them, was very busy, too.
Then, as the party was livening up...
"Souma."
"Yeah. I know."
I slipped away with Liscia and snuck off to the changing room behind
the stage. Once there, I spoke to the person reflected in the simple receiver.
"I'm sorry. We kept you waiting."
"No, you've let me hear something fascinating."
The gentle smile on the other side of the screen belonged to Empress
Maria of the Empire. Her younger sister, Jeanne, stood beside her with an
apologetic look on her face.
"Also... I must apologize for what happened with Trill."
Maria was embarrassed when she heard her younger sister Trill was
making married life difficult for Ludwin and Genia. As for Jeanne, her
smile was so intense that, if this were a manga, I had to imagine Jeanne
would have had one of those cross-shaped anger marks on her forehead.
"We will give her a stern talking-to about her behavior."
"Not that she's the kind to listen..." Jeanne murmured.
Even Maria, who always wore a gentle smile, could only sigh and agree.
I had heard from our ambassador to the Empire, Piltory, that the third
princess had a reputation for being a troublemaker, but it seemed she was
worse than I'd imagined.
Jeanne put her hands on her hips indignantly and said, "If she causes any
more trouble, you're welcome to deport her. If she objects, I will come
there and drag her back by the scruff of her neck myself."
"...Please leave that until the joint research project is finished."
Well, knowing how madly in love with Genia Trill was, if we teased the
threat of deportation, she'd probably tone it down a bit. She didn't want to
be torn away from Genia, after all.
Oh, but it might be good to get Maria and Jeanne to sign off on it being
all right to deport her. While I was thinking about that, Liscia tugged on my
sleeve.
"Souma, you're getting off track."
"Oh, right. Now, on the topic of monster research..."
Maria put on her serious face and nodded. "Right. I'd like to carry out
research in our country using the same methods as you are in the Kingdom.
Therefore, I would ask you to send us a number of volumes of the Monster
Encyclopedia."
"Got it. In exchange, please send us any information on monsters you
discover. You border the Demon Lord's Domain, unlike us, so I expect
you'll be able to gather far more samples."
"Very well. However... you still have cards you're keeping hidden, don't
you?"
Maria's eyes were gentle, but also probing. The fact that Tomoe had
spoken to a demon with her ability hadn't been leaked yet, but it seemed
she had sensed there were still things we were keeping from the Empire.
Honestly... She was such a clever woman.
I played dumb and shrugged my shoulders. "I will remain silent on
that."
"Hee hee, is that right?"
After that, we exchanged a few pleasantries, then terminated our call
with Maria on ostensibly harmonious terms. Jeanne said she was
disappointed she couldn't speak to Hakuya, but he was surrounded by
people at the moment, and in no position to be thinking about that.
"Today Hakuya stands on stage, while I work behind the scenes, huh?
That's the opposite of how it usually is."
"That's good once in a while, isn't it? It lets you understand what
Hakuya goes through," Liscia said, linking her arm through mine.
"That's true. It's rough in a different way than being the one up on
stage."
"Hee hee, maybe he's thinking the opposite thing right about now?"
Ahaha, she could be right.
When I walked back to where Roroa and Tomoe were, arm-in-arm with
Liscia, Roroa said, "Whoa, what're you two doin', actin' all lovey-dovey by
yourselves?!"
Roroa angrily hugged the opposite arm. I had two women hanging off of
me, but I couldn't eat or drink like this. When I said as much, Roroa
snickered.
"We'll be the ones feedin' you. Okay, Darlin', say ahh."
"Hee hee, she's right. Say ahh."
When they each offered me food on forks, I broke into a cold sweat.
"Um, you two, aren't you forgetting that we're in the public eye?"
"It's fine. They're all focusin' on Ichiha and Hakuya anyway."
"It's true. Those two are really popular, huh?"
I looked at what they were looking at, and Ichiha and Hakuya were still
surrounded by researchers, the same as before. No, actually, I think there
might have been even more people now.
That just meant there were that many people who wanted to hear them
talk. If anyone saw this scene, they'd never think of Ichiha as "extraneous"
or "the leftovers" again.
"Failure leads to growth, and success to confidence. The results he
achieved this time should greatly bolster Ichiha's confidence. ...I guess it's
time to bring him into the fold in earnest."
"Bring him into the fold?" Tomoe cocked her head to the side.
"Yes. In his current position, Ichiha is 'a guest from the Duchy of
Chima,' or 'being left in our care.' Because everyone thinks I'll be sending
him back to the Duchy of Chima eventually, I've kept him away from our
secrets up until now. Like your secret, for instance, Tomoe."
"M-My secret..." Tomoe clapped her hands when she got it. "Oh! You
mean that thing?"
If mishandled, that information could lead to us being condemned by
other countries, so even within this country, only a select few were allowed
to know it.
"If Ichiha is going to study monsters and demons, it's a fact he'll have to
know. It may open new horizons for him when he learns. But once he
knows, we can't send him back to the Duchy of Chima. Obviously, Hakuya
and I want Ichiha to offer us his services and stay in this country
permanently."
"...I do, too," Tomoe said, gazing in Ichiha's direction.
They were already fast friends. Though that went for Yuriga, too.
"That's why I'm thinking we'll reveal the secret to Ichiha soon. I'll want
you there when we do it, so I'd like you to help convince him to serve this
country."
"Okay. Of course I will, Big Brother."
Tomoe gripped her hands into fists enthusiastically. That gesture was
adorable, and I patted her on the head.
"Well, as long as we talk to him, I'm sure it won't be a problem.
Besides, from the way things look over there, it'll be fine, wouldn't you
say? Word of Ichiha's skill will spread now, and once they know he has
promise, the nobles won't leave him alone. Those are researchers flocking
around him now, but soon enough there will be nobles saying, 'Marry my
daughter,' in—Ow!"
Liscia suddenly elbowed me in the ribs.
"Wh-What was that for?!"
When I looked tearfully at Liscia, she gestured towards Tomoe with her
chin. What's that mean? I wondered, and looked over to Tomoe.
"......"
"Murgh..." Tomoe had a sulky look on her face. She was turned towards
Ichiha, who was in the center of that ring of people.
Because Tomoe was cute, when she sulked like that, she just looked a
little upset, but... that reaction...
"Wh-What do you think?" I whispered to Liscia despite myself, and
then we both shook our heads with wry smiles.
"I can't tell just yet. But girls grow up fast, you know?"
"That's right," Roroa chimed in. "She's Big Sis Cia's little sister, so
when she goes and set her heart on somethin', she's gonna stick to it."
The two of them both sounded like they were enjoying this.
"Hrm... If she did that, I could be pretty sure he'd settle down in the
kingdom, though."
But even if that were to happen, just how many people's expectations
would the other party, Ichiha, have to live up to?
There was her birth mother, Father, Mother, Hakuya, Inugami, and me
and my wives... More people adored Tomoe like a little sister or daughter
than I could fit on one hand. What's more, a lot of them were in high
positions within the Kingdom. They were all hoping for Tomoe's happiness,
so if she wanted him from the bottom of her heart, they wouldn't get in the
way, but... I guess it was too early to worry about it now.
...Well, whatever happens, happens.
I gave up on thinking about it.