On the 32nd day of the 4th month in the 1546th year of the Continental Calendar,
the throne was ceded to Souma Kazuya.
It happened in the capital of the Elfrieden Kingdom, Parnam.
This city was the capital, where the residence of the Elfrieden Kingdom's king,
Parnam Castle, was. A town had risen up around Parnam Castle, and the circular
walls surrounding it were reminiscent of a city-state in Middle Ages Europe. The
roofs in the nobles' quarter and the peasants' quarter were uniformly orange, and
this suited the classic image of the town well.
Parnam Castle was in the center, connected with north, south, east and west
gates by large roads that were always busy with carriages and large mounted beasts.
Aside from the main roads, there were also countless smaller cobblestone roads
radiating out from the castle, and these small roads were connected by yet more
small roads. Seen from the air, it would have resembled a spider's web, or perhaps a
snowflake. These roads were lined on both sides with merchants and tradespeople,
and they were always bustling.
Since today was a holiday, and also the first day off since the new king, Souma
(though, with the crowning ceremony not yet having taken place, he was technically
only acting king), had been given the throne, the marketplace was even more busy
than usual. This sudden change of monarchs had caused tension in the castle town
for a little while, but once they had heard that the throne had been ceded to the
summoned hero, and that the former king, Albert, had announced his abdication of
his own will, and that Souma was betrothed to Princess Liscia, the former king's
daughter, the confusion naturally died down.
Because the former king had ruled through "being loved," the rumors settled
down to:
"Well, if the king is fine, I guess it's okay."
"Yeah, the pressure really seemed to be getting to him. I'm glad he has that
weight off his shoulders now."
"He'll be able to take it easy now. It's best for everyone this way."
The people's interpretations of what had happened were largely favorable. It
seemed the king's lackadaisical manner was in tune with the national character.
Having had the throne foisted on him, Souma had worried that a resistance
movement might rise against the sudden change, but he was a little let down when it
never happened. Regardless, it was another peaceful day in Parnam as people of
many races went about their business.
As if cutting through that peaceful afternoon, a white horse galloped down the
cobblestones.
The horse was spurred on by a beautiful young girl in a red military uniform that
looked like it could have come out of The Rose of Versailles. She was sixteen or
seventeen years old with fair skin, and platinum blonde hair that streamed behind
her in the wind. Her tight-fitting uniform accentuated the well-balanced lines of her
body.
A beautiful girl riding a white horse made for a picturesque scene in its own
right. The people she passed on her way let out gasps of admiration, which turned to
cheers when they realized she was their country's princess.
"Congratulations on your betrothal, Princess!"
"We wish you happiness!"
The people sent her their warmest regards, with no idea how she herself felt
about the matter. Of course, it was unlikely she could hear them now, anyway.
"Father, Mother... Please, be safe!" she, Liscia Elfrieden, whispered to herself with
a pained look on her face.
"Father! What is the meaning of this?" Liscia demanded, raising her voice at the
sight before her.
The king's bedroom. It was a room large enough that the king-sized bed did not
dominate it, and each and every piece of furniture was exquisitely designed.
Originally, this bedroom had been meant to be the private quarters of the royal
couple, so it should have been turned over to Souma when he ascended the throne,
but Souma hadn't wanted to go through the trouble of moving in, so he had given
permission for the former royal couple to stay, and they were still using it. Souma,
incidentally, had brought a simple bed into the governmental affairs office and slept
there.
When Liscia ran into that room, out of breath, she was greeted by the sight of her
parents not only elegantly enjoying tea on the attached balcony, but dipping scones
in cream, raising them up to each other's mouths, and saying:
"Say ah, darling."
"Ah."
and feeding each other.
Liscia fell to the ground, but quickly stood back up, and marched up to the former
king, Albert, with anger in her eyes.
"Father, when I heard your throne had been usurped, I hastened back from my
patrol outside the capital! So, why is it that I now find you two feeding each other
without a care in the world?!"
Liscia, in addition to her title as a princess (though, following the abdication, she
was now the new king's betrothed), had also graduated from officers' school and
held an officer's rank in the army. She was not especially high in the ranks, but due
to her high birth, she was often tasked with attending royal army funerals, or with
other missions of a special nature. This time, she had been on a regional patrol, so
upon hearing of her father's abdication, she had rushed to the capital.
"There was no usurpation, really. I abdicated of my own will," her father said
calmly.
"Why would you suddenly do that?!"
"I had become certain that that man would make a better king for this nation
than I. This is a decision that I came to as the one entrusted with this country, and I
take full responsibility for it. I will tolerate no objections."
In that one moment, Liscia saw the dignified authority of the man who had, until
just recently, carried a nation on his shoulders, and found herself unable to object
any further. "Urkh... But how could you decide my engagement without even
consulting me?"
"You may discuss that between yourselves. The betrothal was something I forced
on him to begin with. If you do not want it, I doubt Sir Souma will force the matter."
"Motheeeer!" Liscia shouted. She turned to her mother for help, but Elisha just
smiled.
"Meet Sir Souma for yourself first. This is your life, so you must decide what you
will do with it yourself. Whatever your decision is, we will respect it."
With not even a straw to grasp at, Liscia's shoulders slumped.
She departed the room of the former royal couple and walked quickly across the
palace.
It had been some weeks since she had left this palace for her regional patrols.
Something about the palace she had been away from for a few weeks caught her
attention. Many of the servants were running around... The guards, the maids, the
bureaucrats, even the ministers... anyone and everyone was running. The sight of
pudgy ministers running about and gasping with sweat beading on their foreheads
was so surreal that she could only stare, dumbfounded.
It hadn't been like this before. The castle she remembered had been a place so
relaxed that it felt as if time just flowed slower there. The maids, the ministers...
everyone would walk slowly, and it was so quiet you could hear the palace guards
training in the courtyard from anywhere in the palace. Hadn't Liscia joined the
officers' academy because she had been sick and tired of that atmosphere?
But what now? No matter where she went in the castle, the sound of footsteps
echoed.
Liscia called out to one of the maids who was rushing past. "Can I have a
moment?"
"Why, Princess! How may I be of service?" the maid asked, slowing.
"Um... Everyone in the castle seems to be in an awful hurry. Is there something
happening?"
"No? Nothing in particular."
"Are you sure? It felt like everyone was rushing to do something..."
"I am. Ah, but, perhaps it is our new king's influence. When we see how that man
works, it makes us feel bad if we don't work, too. I couldn't stand to be slow myself,
either... Ah, I'm in the middle of something right now, so I will take my leave!"
"I-I see... Do your best."
As she watched the maid speed off, Liscia was dumbfounded.
For him to make even the maids feel this way, just how hard does the new king
work?! Just what kind of guy have I gotten myself betrothed to?!
Liscia found herself wanting to bury her head in her hands all the more.
At last, she came to the king's governmental affairs office. When she opened the
door, the first thing that she saw was a mountain of paperwork. On a desk large
enough that two fully-grown adults could have slept atop it, the papers were piled
high and looked ready to spill over. That was not all. When she looked around, she
saw a number of bureaucrats sitting at another long table, fighting a losing battle
with yet more bundles of paperwork.
As Liscia stood there, dumbfounded, a young man spoke to her from the other
side of the mountain of paper.
"You, whoever just came in."
"...Huh?! What?!" Snapped back to her senses, Liscia had let out a strange cry, but
the speaker didn't seem to care at all.
"Can you read? Can you do math?"
"D-Don't mock me! I've certainly been taught that much!"
"Well, perfect. Get over here and help me with the work."
"Just who do you think you are, asking me to help...?"
"Just do it. That's a royal order."
Saying this, the person behind the paper mountain stood up.
Now, finally, for the first time, the two came face to face. This was the first
meeting between the new king, Souma, and his betrothed, Liscia.
Liscia would later describe her first impression of him as "a young man with tired
eyes."
In stories where a hero is summoned to another world, the hero sometimes gains
powers as a result of being summoned. It seemed the people in this world all had
some ability to use magic, and so where was the harm in hoping I might have gained
the ability to use magic, too? Technically, I had been summoned here as a hero.
So, right after I had had the throne ceded to me, some priestly-looking guys
carried out an inspection of my abilities.
Apparently there were various types of magic that people could use, and they had
devices that could test it. This one looked kind of like a stone slate. When a person
touched the slate, that person's magic type and abilities were displayed in that
person's head. Not even the people of this world understood the principles behind
how it worked, but it seemed there were a fair number of these sorts of out-of-place
artifacts in this world.
So, I got my diagnosis, and here was the power I'd gained:
[The Power to Transfer Consciousness Into an Object and Manipulate It]
It was an ability that let me transfer my consciousness into objects I touched, and
I could manipulate up to three of them simultaneously.
It sounded more like a psychic power than magic, but the lighter the object, the
more freely I could control it. I could get an overhead view of whatever I was
controlling, as well. What was more, in addition to my own consciousness, I could
have that object move under an independent consciousness, as well. Using an object
as a medium like this, I could think about multiple things at the same time.
While there was the limitation that I could only move around things close to me,
being able to make things move around at will was neat. Like I was triggering a
poltergeist effect.
So, that was why I named my ability "[Living Poltergeists]." Sounds like I have a
case of middle school syndrome, maybe?
Having gained my [Living Poltergeists], one thing immediately came to mind:
"This is going to be so useful for doing paperwork!"
...Yeah. Copying my consciousness into three pens, I could review multiple
documents simultaneously with parallel thinking, and by manipulating those three
pens, I could sign off on them. Man, ever since I learned I had this ability, I've gotten so
much more work done. Actually, without that ability, the giant mountain of
paperwork that had piled up in the confusion since I had been given the throne
would probably have buried me in an avalanche by now.
...Yeah. I know what you want to say. I get an ability, and it turns out to be mostly
good for handling deskwork more smoothly?
While I was getting good use out of it, whenever I thought about it as a hero's
power, I could only think, "How did things turn out like this?" I mean, even if I hadn't
gotten super powerful magic that would let me take on hordes of enemies at the
same time, I'd have liked some defensive magic that would at least let me protect
myself.
...Well, wishing for things I couldn't have wasn't going to get me anywhere. And it
was, as a matter of fact, a useful power to me.
Today, as usual, I was fighting the mountain of paperwork with my [Living
Poltergeists]. While I was doing so, someone entered the room with a thunderous
noise that sounded like they'd tried to kick down a perfectly good door. When I
peeked through a gap in the paper mountain, I saw it was a young woman in a
military uniform.
With her regular features, skin so pale as to be translucent, and silky platinum
blonde hair, she was so gorgeous that at any other time I would have been
captivated by her beauty. However, having pulled three consecutive all-nighters, I
saw not a beautiful girl but just a new source of labor.
After calling her over and practically forcing her to sit next to me, I pushed two
stacks of paper in her direction. "Please compare these two sets of documents and
look for places where the values, or the number of items, don't agree and mark
them."
"Huh? What? What kind of work is this?"
"What, you ask? Digging for buried treasure. That's what." I explained to the
perplexed girl in uniform. "For 'unaccounted-for expenditures,' to be precise. One
pile is requests for budgetary appropriations, the other is income and expenditures
reports. Even if the amount requested and the amount spent match, if the number of
items differs, that can be indicative of either wasteful investment undertaken to fully
use up their budget, or embezzlement disguised as investment. We'll check those,
and if any laws have been broken, we'll make each of the responsible parties pay to
make up the loss. If we uncover personal embezzlement, we will mandate
repayment, and in the event they cannot pay, we will arrest the offender and seize
their assets."
"U-Understood."
Perhaps she had been intimidated by the threatening air of a man who had gone
without sleep, because the girl nodded along as I talked.
Good.
Perhaps around two hours passed with her working quietly next to me.
At last, the girl in military uniform spoke to me, her hands never ceasing their
work of checking documents as she did. "...Hey."
"What? If you're tired, you can take a break whenever."
"No, that's not it... I haven't introduced myself yet. I am Liscia Elfrieden. The
daughter of the former king, Albert Elfrieden."
I stopped moving my pen. "...You're the princess, huh?"
"I don't look like one?"
"You were in uniform, so I didn't notice. But... Yeah, maybe you do look princessy."
At this point, she finally made me take note of how attractive she was.
"I'm... Souma Kazuya. Technically, I'm the new king."
Liscia turned to face me. She was pretty close, and we looked into one another's
eyes. Unlike me, who was just taken aback, her golden eyes seemed like they were
trying to evaluate me. After we looked into one another's eyes for some time, Liscia
slowly opened her mouth.
"I'm not a princess anymore. Because you usurped the throne, my current
position is a little unclear."
"Usurped...? Your father pushed the throne and all his duties off on me, I'll have
you know. Honestly, why do I have to go through all this pain and hassle?"
"...Seriously, what happened? I know you're the summoned hero, but how did
that suddenly turn into you taking the throne?"
"You tell me. I just did what I felt I needed to to protect myself..."
I explained what had happened around the time of the summoning ceremony to
Liscia.
When I had been summoned to this world, I'd been on the verge of being handed
over to the Empire. The king hadn't seemed enthusiastic about the idea, but, seeing
as he had no other plan if the Empire had put pressure on him to do it, he probably
wouldn't have had any other choice. There had been no telling what might happen to
me if I was turned over to the Empire, so I had asked the king to choose the "do not
hand over the hero" option.
My proposal to the king and prime minister was that they pay the war subsidies
to buy time, and with that time, push forward with policies that would build a strong
and prosperous country. If they were saying "hand over the hero in place of war
subsidies," all we had to do was pay the subsidies. If we did that, they would lose any
justification for interfering in our affairs. It was not an actual threat, no matter what
it seemed like. To keep up appearances, the Empire would not insist on it any
further. That was my reasoning. We would use the time bought this way to pursue
country-strengthening policies which would let us stand on equal terms with the
Empire.
The two of them had had objections, of course. They had said this country had no
means to pay the war subsidies. But, after inspecting the materials they brought me,
I was able to show that if we sold off some state-owned facilities, enacted caps on
government spending and the king turned over some of his "personal assets," it
would be possible to pay.
I had gotten into the university's School of Socioeconomic Studies (with the
subject I had selected for the socio-part of the entrance exam being World History,
by the way), and my dream for the future had been to become a local government
employee. This was all within my field of expertise.
Hearing this plan, the king had taken on a ponderous expression, but the prime
minister, Marx, had been enthusiastic. He must have ultimately decided that, rather
than turn over the hero to preserve the status quo, enacting economic reforms was
more likely to leave the country with a future. The king became more enthusiastic as
we went on.
As the guy who suggested it, I knew I'd probably be expected to put in a lot of the
work on those reforms, but only as a single bureaucrat in the finance ministry... that
was what I had thought.
"And then he pushed the throne off on me."
"Um, well... Sorry."
"It's nothing you need to apologize for. If anything, you're a victim in all this,
suddenly finding yourself engaged to me."
"Well, yeah... Wait, huh? Which of us is higher-ranked now? Do I need to be super
polite and formal?" She looked unsure of whether she should speak to me as a
commoner would to a king, or as a princess who was a candidate to be queen.
"...We can keep it casual, I guess?" I said.
"...Sure."
"Also, don't worry about the betrothal thing. I'm just holding onto the throne for
now. I'll probably quit this whole king gig in a few years, anyway."
"Huh? Why?!"
"Because I only ever planned to work hard enough to earn the subsidies for the
Empire so that I wouldn't be turned over. Now that I've been handed the throne, I'll
do enough to get this country on the right track, but after that, I'll leave it to the
people of this country to handle the rest. Of course, we can tear up the engagement
then."
I gave Liscia a reassuring smile.
◇ ◇ ◇
"I'll probably quit this whole king gig in a few years anyway." My eyes went wide
when I heard Souma say that.
He makes it sound so simple. Does he even realize how difficult that would be?
Even someone like myself, who had focused so much on military matters that my
political knowledge was a bit weak, could see the situation our country was in. I
believe the word was "checkmate." Food shortages, economic malaise, the influx of
refugees caused by the invasion of demons, plus pressure from the Gran Chaos
Empire. We had nothing but uncertainty bearing down on us.
For that reason, I could somewhat understand my father's decision to
immediately abdicate the throne to someone he sensed was more capable. But still.
Considering all that, was it even possible to get this country back on track? Even
supposing he somehow could, would the people allow a king who had accomplished
such a great feat to retire so easily?
"...So, do you think you can secure the funds for the war subsidies?"
"Hm? Yeah. I've already secured the funds to send to the Empire."
"...Huh?"
"Right now, I'm trying to squeeze out the funds for my reforms. They'll cost even
more than the war subsidies, after all."
Wait... Wait, wait, wait, wait! Has he already secured the funds? The amount the
Empire requested was so massive that it was equivalent to the national budget, from
what I heard!
"Where did we have that kind of money...?"
"I sold off, like, a third of the treasure vault."
"The treasure vault... Our national treasures?! Don't tell me you sold off our
national treasures! You didn't, did you?!" I closed in on Souma, who looked very
blasé about the whole thing. "The national treasures belong to the whole country!
Just arbitrarily selling them off is a betrayal of our people!"
"Now, now, just calm down. If you say they're the property of the people, I'd say
selling them for the benefit of the people is all good."
"Even so, there must have been objects with historical and cultural value..."
"Ohh, if that's your concern, I had those set-aside. All I sold were jewels and
ornamental objects that had material value."
Souma looked through the paperwork for the treasure vault inventory.
"Treasures were divided into three categories: Category A (items with historical or
cultural value), Category B (items without historical or cultural value but with
monetary value), and Category C (everything else). We only sold items from
Category B. Rather than sell the stuff in Category A, if we put it on rotating display in
a museum, it's likely to serve as a more permanent source of income."
"Well, maybe... What about Category C?"
"Magic tools, grimoires, and the like. Honestly, I'm not sure how best to handle
them. You could say they're like weapons, in a way. We can't sell them off or put
them on display without the proper precautions. That full set of Hero Equipment
looked like it might fetch a nice price, though... Mind if I sell that?"
"Please, don't..."
Technically, you're supposed to be the hero... Ah, wait, you're the king now, aren't
you?
"But, if we have all this money, shouldn't it go to the military? In officers' school I
learned 'Spend always on defense, never on tribute.'"
"Let me answer that pithy saying with another one. 'Time is money.' Which is to
say, by offering the war subsidies as a sacrifice, we can gain the one resource our
country most needs right now: time."
"...Why do you have to talk in such a roundabout way?"
"Don't worry about it. Anyway, even if we were able to strengthen our forces, it
would all be for naught if we can't also get domestic issues under control. Until the
food and refugee issues are resolved, we're only going to continue losing the support
of the people. Once that happens, we'll be left with a fragile state that's easily thrown
into riots with a little agitation by foreign actors."
"No... The people love this country, too. They wouldn't riot..."
"You're being idealistic there. 'Only once one is clothed and fed does one learn
manners.' In the end, you can't have morals or patriotism on an empty stomach. If
you're too busy looking after yourself, you can't afford to look after others."
Souma's eyes were cold as he said this. It was a harsh and realistic view. That
alone made me feel he was on the mark. From the look of him, you would expect him
to be a weak man, yet somehow...
...he looked so reliable.
◇ ◇ ◇
After spending another day, I was finally able to secure a certain amount of funds.
While I wasn't exactly flush with cash, I would have the money I needed for my
reforms for the time being. I managed to extract all of this money from just my direct
holdings, without having to touch the Three Dukedoms, so I'd have liked some
praise for that, at least.
Looking around the room... It was a disaster. Bureaucrats were passed out on
their desks, others were leaning back asleep in their chairs, their faces looking
skywards. On the sofa, Liscia had laid down and was snoring softly.
I moved over to her quietly, sat on the sofa's armrest, and watched Liscia sleep.
In the end, this girl had stayed up until close to dawn helping me with my work.
Even though she must have wanted to say a thing or two to say about being forced
into an engagement with me...
I patted her sleeping head. Her silky hair slid smoothly between my fingers. The
excitement from being set free after such a long job must have been affecting me.
Normally, I'd have been too embarrassed to do this sober, but just sitting here like
this made me happy.
"Mrm..."
Liscia groaned, so I pulled my hand out of her hair. The next moment, Liscia
opened her eyes and sprung up. Maybe she was still a little groggy since she was
looking around all over.
With a wry grin, I bid her good morning. "Good morning, Liscia."
"M-Morning... Huh? Did I fall asleep...?"
"We've hit a good stopping point now. Do you want to go back to sleep?"
"Oh, no. I'm fine. What about you, Souma? You haven't slept, have you?"
It looked like she was fully awake. I was happy to see her showing concern for
me, too.
Lifting myself from the armrest, I stretched my arms wide.
"I plan to have a good long rest after this, but... could you come with me for a bit
first?"
"Hm? Where to?"
"For a before-bed walk," I said.
It the light of near-dawn, Liscia and I bounced along on horseback.
While breathing in the morning mist, Liscia's horse sped along with a clip-clop,
clip-clop, not bothered in the least by the weight of two people. Liscia sat in the front
holding the reins, while I was behind her with my arms around her slim waist,
holding on for dear life.
"Hey, don't squeeze my belly so hard," she objected.
"No way. This is pretty scary."
"Pitiful. Normally shouldn't you, as the man, be the one holding the reins?"
"Well, it's not like I had a choice. Since I've never ridden on a horse before."
In modern Japan, there was rarely any chance to ride horses.
At best, I'd ridden on a pony at the petting zoo as a child while someone else led
it on a leash.
"In this country, pretty much everyone from peasant farmers to the nobility can
ride, you know?" she told me.
"In my world, there were many more convenient vehicles."
"Your world... Tell me about it, Souma."
"Hm?"
"Did you... leave behind any family, a lover maybe, in the other world?" Liscia
asked me hesitantly. Was she trying to be considerate of my feelings?
"No, nobody. My last relative, my grandpa, just passed away the other day...
yeah."
"...I'm sorry."
"It's nothing to apologize about. Grandpa had had a full life. That's why, well...
Nobody's waiting for my return, so I guess I don't feel the need to go back in any
hurry."
"Oh... You don't." Liscia seemed somewhat relieved.
As we talked, the horse kept clip-clopping along. It was around six in the
morning, maybe. The time when people finally start to stir. As we passed through
the shopping street, no shops were open yet and there was almost no one out.
Passing through the castle town, we reached the wall that went around the capital.
We came up to a massive gate, the likes of which I had only seen in foreign fantasy
films, and after speaking to the guards there, we went outside through a small door
beside it.
Liscia did all the talking here. If the newly-ascended king had told them he
wanted to go outside the city without any bodyguards, I doubt they'd have allowed
it. So, Liscia, who held an officer's rank, told them, "I have been dispatched outside
by order of the king," and played it off as part of her duties.
Once we safely passed through the gate, Liscia added, "Since I said it was a royal
order, there's going to be a record of it. Who knows what Marx is going to say to us
later..."
I ignored her complaints.
After a short trip through the city streets, we finally reached our destination.
"...Stop here," I said.
As she stopped the horse, Liscia looked at me questioningly. "This is where you
wanted to come? All I see are farmers' fields."
Indeed, there was nothing but verdant fields of green leaves here. Green fields,
wet with the morning dew, as far as the eye could see. This was the place... No doubt
about that.
"This is the place I wanted to show you, Liscia."
"These fields? I suppose they're pretty when they're wet with the morning dew
like this..."
"Pretty... huh. Even though it's because of this that people are starving to death."
"Wha?" Liscia's eyes widened in surprise.
I sighed. "Take a close look. These 'inedible fields' are the root of this country's
food crisis."
◇ ◇ ◇
Inedible fields... That was what Souma had called the fields spread out before me,
looking at them bitterly. Souma had said he'd wanted to show me these fields, but I
still didn't understand why.
"...What do you mean?"
"Exactly what I said. All of the fields you see here are cotton fields."
"Cotton fields... Ah! That's what you meant by inedible!"
Cotton flowers were grown to produce cotton thread. Sure enough, these fields
didn't grow anything you could eat.
Souma sat down there, resting his elbows on his thighs. "Jumping straight to my
conclusion, it's the excessive increase in the number of these cotton fields that has
caused this country's food shortages."
"...Come again?"
Did he just sort of off-handedly say something incredible now? The cause of our
food shortages?
"While I was sorting through the paperwork, I noticed it. With the expansion of
the Demon Lord's Domain, the demand for clothing and other daily necessities has
skyrocketed. Of course, the demand for raw materials has shot up, too. With the
selling price of cotton flowers rising, and being able to sell as much as you can
produce, the farmers have entirely stopped growing the food crops they had
produced up until that point. Crops grown to sell to others instead of to eat are
called cash crops. Which is to say: our farmers have turned to growing only cash
crops, which has led to a lowering of this country's food self-sufficiency rate."
I was speechless. The cause of this country's food shortages...
I had always just assumed it was bad weather, or that our country had just had
poor soil to begin with. Here was a concrete reason, and yet I, who had lived in this
country for more than ten years, hadn't seen it. Meanwhile, Souma, who had been
summoned here only a few days prior, had managed to.
"If I were to go a bit further, I could say it's the cause of this country's poor
economy, as well. When the food self-sufficiency rate drops, you have to import from
other countries to avoid starving. However, imported food involves transportation
costs as well, so the price of food rises. That puts pressure on household budgets,
but you can only cut food costs so far. If you don't eat, you'll starve, after all. Of
course, if you're going to trim the fat somewhere, it's going to be in nonessential and
luxury goods. This change in spending practices is causing a downward spiral in the
economy."
What had I been looking at? Had I just been a private citizen, it would have been
fine to just laugh scornfully at my lack of insight. However, I was a princess.
The ignorance of those at the top kills those at the bottom.
"I'm... a failure as a royal." I lost all strength, falling to my knees there. In all my
life, I had never so keenly felt a sense of powerlessness as I did now.
Seeing me like that, Souma let out an "Uh," and an "Um," scratching his head,
before resting his hand on my head.
"Don't let it get you so down. We've secured the funding we'll need. It's not too
late for agricultural reforms."
"...What are you planning to do?"
"Place limits on the growth of cash crops, bring back the growing of food crops
and improve our self-sufficiency rate. The country will pay subsidies to help support
that transition. First, we'll replant the fields with beans, which have a wide range of
uses, and potatoes, which are resistant against famine, and over time I'd like to
increase the number of paddy fields. After that..."
Souma spoke eloquently of his plans for agricultural reform. He used a lot of
words like "paddy fields" that were unfamiliar to me, but as I looked at his face in
profile, he seemed so radiant.
I felt I could understand why my father had abdicated the throne to him. He was
what this country needed most right now. We had to do whatever it took to keep
him tied down here. Our betrothal had probably been meant as another chain with
which to bind him.
I guess I can't afford to be upset about the engagement being decided without my
input.
Souma had said that once he got the country on track, he would return the
throne, but we couldn't let him do that. It would be a loss to the country to have a
man of such rare talent leave. It needed to be prevented at all costs.
He says he has no family in his old world. If I were to become his family here, could I
keep him in this country? I wondered. As his fiancée, if I can just make the marriage a
fait accompli... Wait, the best way to make it a fait accompli... would basically be...
doing that with him...
The thoughts that came to my mind left my face flushed red.
"So, in the mountains we'll... Hey, Liscia, you listening?"
"Eek! Wh-Why, yes, I'm listening."
"Hm? Your face is all red, you know."
"It's just the sunrise! Think nothing of it!"
My cheeks were on fire. I was ready to just die of embarrassment.
From there on, I don't think I heard a single word of Souma's explanations.