"Kazuya... why do you think people build families?"
On a quiet autumn day, Grandpa asked me that question. It was just after the
Buddhist memorial service held to mark the seventh day following my
grandmother's passing. I was alone in the garden with Grandpa, staring absently
into the sky at the time.
I didn't understand the question, and, as I struggled to find something to say in
response, Grandpa answered. He looked like he'd had an epiphany.
"So that they don't have to die alone. It occurred to me again and again as I was
caring for your grandmother. Though we lost our son and your mother so soon, you
were still here for us. Because of that, we had a sense of fulfillment in our lives. The
bonds we've formed will last even after we ourselves are no more. For any living
being, there can be no greater source of pride."
"Grandpa..."
"That is why I want to tell you this. Kazuya, build a family. And, once you have,
protect them, come whatever may. You've always been a sensible boy. ...No, I
suppose I should say you always tended to think about things rationally."
I was silent.
"But, listen, you mustn't do that when it comes to family. Once you've taken their
hands, never let go. Put your life on the line and protect them to the bitter end, no
matter what. If you do that, I'm sure you'll be able to think 'I lived a good life' when
your time comes. Just like your grandmother... and just like me."
"...You're making this sound like it's your last will," I said teasingly, but Grandpa
nodded in complete seriousness.
"I'm getting on in years. These may be the last words I'll leave to my grandson,
who will one day be alone."
At the time, I could say nothing in response.
And now, as if he had only been holding on so that he could see me get accepted
into university, Grandpa had left to be with Grandma. In that house where I was now
alone, I whispered to myself.
"I know. I haven't forgotten your last will, Grandpa."
To build a family, and protect them, no matter what.
Holding that promise close to heart, I would begin my new life. That was how it
was supposed to be.
◇ ◇ ◇
"O Hero! It is good that you have heeded my summons," said a middle-aged man
who had just appeared before me. He was average build, and seemed to be
attempting to sound majestic. I'd have put his age at around forty to fifty years old.
He wore a red cape thick enough to serve as a coat, and atop his head sat a gleaming
golden crown. I could tell at a glance that this guy was a king.
Was the gentle-looking young woman standing at his side the queen, then? She
was a beautiful woman with platinum blonde hair, wearing a beautiful dress. She
looked like she was only around thirty.
Let's take stock of the situation, I thought. A needlessly high ceiling, rows of marble
pillars, and beneath me a red carpet. Soldiers standing at attention on either side, and
mixed in with them a person who looks like your stereotypical prime minister.
It was a place that looked like it came out of the opening of an RPG. There was a
king, a palace, and that "O Hero" line I'd just heard.
...Okay, calm down, I told myself. Panicking will not improve your situation. The
first order of business is... Right, I'll start by gathering information.
"Wh-Why do you look at me like that? Are you upset that I have called you here?"
the King said nervously as I stared at him.
"That's not it... I just don't have a good grasp of the situation. Could I ask you to
explain?"
"Y-You certainly are calm. It is most enviable..."
"Your Majesty..." I began.
"I-It is nothing!"
The prime minister cleared his throat, and the king jumped a little. Seeing that
little interaction, the queen giggled, and the soldiers looked on with wry smiles.
From that exchange, I could see the King truly was the good-natured man that he
seemed. I sensed that he lacked the aura of command required of a nation's ruler,
but that he was the type who was loved by the people. Still, that was neither here
nor there.
I posed my question with deliberate calmness so as not to intimidate him. "So, if
I'm the hero, does that mean there's a demon lord invading or something?"
"You certainly do catch on quickly. It is precisely as you say."
I was speechless. Seriously...? This isn't a dream, right? No, I just wanted to try
saying that. I can distinguish between dreams and reality. This doesn't have that hazy
dream-like sensation. All four of my senses, excluding taste, were reporting to me
that this was the real world.
This is... reality... Let me say it again. Seriously...?
"I-Is something the matter, Hero? Why do you suddenly clutch your head?"
"No, don't worry about it. I just felt a little dizzy." My head had started to hurt, but
for the moment, I'd have to put up with it. "I'm fine now. Please, explain the
situation."
"A-Are you certain? Very well, I shall explain."
The king then launched into a lengthy explanation of the world's history, like you
might see in an old RPG. It was long-winded enough that, if this were a game, I'd
have been hunting for the Skip Text button, so I'll summarize for you readers a bit.
First, he spoke about this world.
The world was made up of the supercontinent Landia and a number of islands of
varying sizes. On the supercontinent Landia, there were many countries, large and
small. In addition to humans, these were populated by beastmen, elves, dwarves,
and dragonewts, among other races. There were countries where these races
coexisted, countries where one race had preferential treatment, countries which
forbade entrance to all but one race, and more. These countries took many forms
and they struggled against one another for supremacy at times. However, ever since
the Demon Lord's Domain appeared, it seemed that all these countries had, on the
surface, taken a position of mutual cooperation.
Next, the king spoke about the Demon Lord's Domain and the Demon Lord.
Around ten years ago, in the northernmost reaches of the supercontinent Landia,
a dimension called the "Demon World" had appeared, and monsters of many sizes
and shapes had poured out, throwing the Northern Countries into chaos. The
countries had formed an alliance and organized a punitive force to send into this
Demon World.
However, that punitive force had been annihilated. In the Demon World, there
were "monsters" which had minimal (or, some would theorize, no) intelligence, as
well as "demons" who were intelligent and also powerful fighters. The demons were
the ones who had annihilated the punitive force. Furthermore, though it had not yet
been verified, people whispered about the existence of a king who ruled over the
demons, a "Demon King."
After that battle, the countries had lost their main fighting forces, and none of
them had had the power to defend themselves against the monsters that appeared
from the Demon World. The demonic forces, which had until then held only the
equivalent of a small country, laid waste to the Northern Countries and came to rule
a third of the continent. This territory was now called the "Demon Lord's Domain."
While their advance had stopped for the moment, it was said that this was because
the expansion of the front lines had spread the demons and monsters thinner,
making it possible for the individual countries to hold the line against them. That
didn't mean mankind had any decisive way to turn things around. In the front line
countries, things had bogged down to a stalemate.
Following that exposition, the king talked about this country.
This was the Kingdom of Elfrieden, a medium-sized nation in the southeast of the
continent. It was ruled under a monarchy. It was a country originally founded by
many races working together, and, though the king was a human, those of other
races were accepted here without discrimination. Regardless of race, everyone held
citizenship, and aside from "king," they could take any job they desired. Even the
prime minister who had been complaining to the king earlier was a half-elf, with
human and elven parentage.
Because they did not border the Demon Lord's Domain, there were few monster
attacks. However, the country had been weak to begin with, and the national
treasury was not exactly in good shape. Food shortages had been especially bad in
recent years, and that had only exacerbated the problem of refugees dispossessed by
the expansion of the Demon Lord's Domain drifting here.
There were dark storm clouds on both the domestic and international fronts.
Apparently, relations were tense with the Gran Chaos Empire, the largest country
on the continent, excluding the Demon Lord's Domain. The Empire was the country
which shared the longest border with the Demon Lord's Domain. It was also the
country that had directed the first invasion of the Demon Lord's Domain. After their
loss against the Demon Lord's Domain, the Empire was apparently requesting war
subsidies from other countries. To put it simply, they were requesting that countries
who were far away from the Demon Lord's Domain provide financial support to
those which were close to it. Though these were "requests," when they came from
the most powerful country of all mankind, they were closer to an ultimatum. One of
those requests had come to this kingdom, but under current circumstances, it would
be difficult to pay.
Finally, the king talked about the "hero summoning," which had brought me to
this world.
Apparently, in the request for war subsidies that came from the Empire, there
had been verbiage that had said, "If you are unable to pay, carry out the ritual of
hero summoning which is passed down in your country, and turn that summoned
hero over to the Empire." It was abundantly clear that this country had no means to
pay, and perhaps that had been the Empire's intention all along. Perhaps they
wanted to use a hero for his fighting potential, perhaps they wanted to dissect one
and study him, or perhaps they had no interest in one to begin with, and they merely
wanted to use the Kingdom's failure to respond to their request as a casus belli to
invade. With no way to know what the Empire wanted, speculation had led only to
more speculation, and the kingdom had become suspicious of everything.
In response to their situation, the kingdom had decided to perform the hero
summoning ritual. They had not yet decided upon whether to turn the hero over or
not, but if they succeeded, it would at least give them a card to negotiate with. For
that, they needed to respond to the request, and show they intended to perform the
ritual.
...Now that you've heard this much, I'll bet you've probably already guessed that
the king never thought he might actually manage to summon a hero.
"Hey!" I shouted at him without intending to, and the king jumped back in fright.
"Eek! I am most sorry!"
"Oh, sorry," I said. "I lost my composure for a second there."
Even though he acts like this, he's still a king. I'll have to refrain from any further
rudeness.
Still... Had I really been summoned by coincidence, with no one really expecting
anything from me? After taking a moment to calm myself, I asked the king.
"...So, what do you plan to do?"
"A-About what?"
"The whole 'turning me over to the Empire' thing."
"That is... What should I do? It is a real pickle." The king really did seem troubled.
That surprised me a little. I had expected a "The Empire is scary! Please, go and
serve them for our kingdom!" as he cried and begged me to do it. He looked pretty
fainthearted, after all.
"What is there for you to agonize over?" I asked. "You're afraid of the Empire,
aren't you?"
"I am afraid! That is exactly why I am agonizing over this!"
"If I may interject, allow me to explain," the half-elf prime minister said, stepping
forward. "At present, there is a clear difference in power between our country and
the Empire. We simply are not in a position to say no when the Empire asks for
something. While we are stuck in that situation, you are the sole lucky card that has
fallen into our hands. Once we play that card, however, we have nothing left to use
when negotiating with the Empire. Even if we can survive this time by doing as they
say, what will we do the next time something comes up? Next time, we might only
have succeeded in giving up our only card."
I was silent. It wasn't hard to see what he was saying.
What had happened to northern Fujiwara after they had given up their only card,
Minamoto no Yoshitsune, was a good example. Those who cave in to intimidation,
letting go of the only card in their hand, will have only a dark end awaiting them.
"What is a hero, anyway?" I asked.
"It is said that a hero is 'one who leads the change of an era,'" the prime minister
replied.
Hmm... So it's not just someone who slays that Demon King?
"Isn't that a wee bit vague?" I asked.
"We don't have much in the way of documentation, you see."
"...Please don't hold a ritual if that's the case."
"I cannot apologize enough for this state of affairs," the prime minister said
formally.
Giving me the routine bureaucratic apology isn't going to help... Still, this is a
problem. There's not enough information to act on. Which means what we need most
right now is time.
"Sire, I have a proposal."
"What is it? You may speak freely."
"Can we talk about what's going to happen from here on out? Not standing here,
somewhere where we can sit down and discuss it at length. Just me, you, and the
prime minister."
"Hm. What do you think, Marx?"
"That would be fine." The prime minister, whose name was Marx, nodded in
assent.
Since I had their agreement, I made another request. "Please, also gather all the
materials you can on this country. With a particular focus on the balance of payment
reports, as well as materials on agriculture, forestry and fisheries, economy, trade
and industry, and land, infrastructure and transport. We might be able to scrounge
up the money the Empire is demanding. Also, I'd like the materials you have on
heroes... but, well, that can wait."
"Very well. I will have them gathered at once," said the king.
We took a break at this point, and I was called to the king's governmental affairs
office later.
Sitting on a comfy sofa across from the king and Prime Minister Marx, we held
meeting after meeting. That is, we talked about basically everything there was to
talk about. This country's industry, economy, tax system, agricultural policy, military
preparations, foreign affairs... we discussed it all.
The meetings went on for a full two days. This was partly because I asked
questions about every minute detail of the materials I'd had them gather, and partly
because they latched onto the policies I was proposing to a degree that was bizarre.
From partway through the meeting, the king was paying rapt attention to me, as if
he had become an entirely different person.
It was now two days later. The soldiers guarding the door would later tell
everyone that, when the king left that room, his expression was uncharacteristically
bright and cheerful, and that his was the face of a man who had come to a decision.
The day after our three-person meetings had come to an end, the king gathered
the VIPs of the castle in the audience chamber, and proclaimed loudly, "My people, I
ask you to heed my words closely."
"I, the thirteenth king of Elfrieden, Albert Elfrieden, hereby abdicate my throne to
the summoned hero, Souma Kazuya! Further, I hereby announce the engagement of
my daughter, Liscia Elfrieden, to Sir Souma."
The room fell silent. Everyone had been struck mute. The only one present who
remained calm was, perhaps, the queen.
This bombshell announcement completely blindsided me.