"Okay... on to the next document," I said.
Whether I was in the royal capital, Parnam, or the princely capital, Van, my work
as king was always the same. I stayed in the governmental affairs office, poring over
the documents Hakuya had prepared for me and signing off on them. Especially now,
with the occupation of Van having begun so recently, my workload had increased.
Letting several days worth of work accumulate so that I could produce that music
program hadn't helped. Even as I worked day and night, using my Living Poltergeists
to their fullest, the number of stacks of paper in front of me refused to decrease. In
the end, I had ended up installing a bed in the governmental affairs office of Van, too,
so that I could get back to work as soon as I woke up.
So, today, like every day, I had sat myself down at the desk the moment I got out
of bed, and I was staring down a pile of papers as the morning sunlight streamed
into the office.
"Isn't it about time you got your own room?" Liscia asked from her position
beside me, sounding a little exasperated. She had been helping me. "This castle has a
lot of rooms."
"I'm buried in work from dawn to dusk," I said. "There's not much point in having
a room if I only go back there to sleep. Honestly... just when things had finally settled
down in the kingdom, I ended up creating more work for myself by occupying Van.
It's like, to hell with the Labor Standards Act."
"What kind of nonsense are you even talking about?" Liscia asked. "Come on,
here's the next document."
"Yeah... Wait, this again?"
When I looked over the document she passed me, I slumped my shoulders.
It said, "The people of Van want to hold an outdoor music concert in the plaza. Is
it okay for us to permit that?" I had already processed several similar petitions just
today.
They were for concerts, plays, art exhibitions, calligraphy exhibitions, and
circuses, among other things. It seemed that, after seeing that broadcast, the people
of Van had awakened to the idea of expressing themselves through the arts. Yes, it
was truly...
"A renaissaaaance," I said, stretching out the word.
"...What's up? That came out of nowhere," Liscia said.
"...Nothing."
Liscia looked at me kind of funny.
Yeah, if I was going to make her laugh by saying the word funny, I was probably
going to have to introduce it to the local language first, I thought.
While the original Renaissance had come as a revival of Greek and Roman
humanism as the influence of the Christian church had declined, this one would be a
cultural revival that came from people celebrating the arts after being freed from
militarism.
"But, still... I know fall is the season for art, but this awakening is way too
sudden," I commented.
To be honest, I'd have preferred not being swamped with an endless stream of
requests for art and culture events. This city was technically under occupation, after
all. If the events drew large crowds, it was possible that conspirators could gather
there or they could be targeted by terrorists. I wished they'd put themselves in my
shoes, as the guy who had to check thoroughly to make sure that wasn't happening.
When she saw me holding my head in my hands, Liscia gave a wry smile. "You
can't blame them, really. It just means your broadcast had that much impact, right? It
seems like this sort of stuff has been being suppressed pretty heavily up until now."
"...I'll bet," I said. "I doubt a militarist state would let them express themselves."
Burning books for being slightly critical of the ruling regime, jailing people for
singing songs that called for peace, publicly executing the head of a theater troupe for
putting on a play that satirized the government... I thought. They'd probably have done
all of that without a second thought. This excitement I'm seeing is probably the recoil
from that.
"Though, thanks to that, my workload increases," I said glumly.
"No grumbling," said Liscia. "It's better than them opposing us."
"Well, yes, but... Maybe I'll set up a bureau to handle events," I said, inspiration
striking. "If I put Margarita in charge of it, I could have her handle everything to do
with entertainment."
"That's fine with me, but... you do the paperwork for it."
"Oof..."
It looked like, struggle as I might, my workload wasn't going to decrease.
Well, I'm the king, so I guess there's no helping that, huh.
I worked into the afternoon, and just as I was feeling hungry and was saying to
Liscia that we should break for lunch, the Minister for the Food Crisis, Poncho
Ishizuka Panacotta, entered the room.
Poncho walked over to stand before me, his round belly shaking as he did, then
gave a tense salute. "U-Um, Your Majesty, I was hoping I could have a moment of
your time, yes."
He was clearly anxious. He might not have looked impressive at the moment, but
Poncho here had been instrumental in solving the food crisis, and he was a man I
had hand-picked to work at my side, so he was a respected figure in the country.
That's why I wish he'd get used to standing in front of me already... I thought.
"Is something the matter?" I asked.
"Y-Yes! There is something I wanted to show you, sire, yes," Poncho said, pulling
something out of the bag he was carrying and placing it on the office desk.
"You wanted to show us... a flower?" Liscia, who was watching us, said in
confusion.
Poncho had pulled out a single flower. It looked similar to a lily. However, it had a
toxic-looking combination of pink, yellow, and brown petals.
If this were a mushroom, that'd be a clear warning not to eat it, I thought.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Y-Yes! This is a flower called a 'beguiling lily,' yes."
"Oh, okay, I know what a lily is," I said. "But what's so beguiling about it?"
"This flower's pollen has a powerful hallucinogenic effect," he explained. "It
induces anyone who inhales it into a state similar to sleepwalking. It primarily
grows in the mountains. Long ago, there was an incident where an army division
inhaled it while marching. They fell off a cliff fleeing from enemies that didn't even
exist and were wiped out as a result."
"Scary!" I exclaimed. Is it like a non-controlled drug, or something like that? "Wait,
don't bring that stuff in here!"
"I-It's fine," said Poncho. "I've already removed the pollen, yes."
"...Really? Well, as long as you're sure it's safe," I said.
"Yes," he agreed. "Besides, the pollen from one or two won't have any effect. If
you try to approach a field where hundreds of them are growing, though, even
covering your nose and mouth with a cloth won't help... Yes."
Well, yeah, short of wearing an air filtration mask, I doubt you can block out all of
the pollen, I thought. I've never had to deal with it myself, but the people with pollen
allergies look like they have a hard time even with a mask on.
"So, you wanted to show me this flower?" I prompted.
"No, the flower is merely a something of a bonus, sire. What I wanted you to see
was this." With those words, Poncho pulled out a small roundish object. This one
was... a vegetable, perhaps? It was white, round, and lumpy, like scallion bulbs or
cloves of garlic densely clumped together into something like a pine cone.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Th-This is a beguiling lily rootstalk, yes."
"The rootstalk..." I murmured. "Oh, lily root, huh!"
"Eek! ...What was that for, so suddenly?" My sudden outburst had surprised
Liscia.
I'd been excited by the sudden and unexpected appearance of a luxury
ingredient.
Hmm, so this is lily root, I thought. I've seen a single piece as an ingredient in a bowl
of chawanmushi before, but this is my first time seeing a whole bulb. It's supposed to
taste like potato, if I remember correctly.
"...Well then, Poncho Ishizuka Paramedic," I began.
"I-It's Panacotta, yes."
"Can you eat it?" I asked.
"Yes, of course you can. This root has no hallucinogenic effect, yes."
"And, how does it taste?" I asked.
"If you steam them, they're soft, flaky, and delicious. I might add, these beguiling
lilies grow all over the mountains of Amidonia."
That's good to hear, I thought. Lily root is rich in carbohydrates. It can be used as a
staple food, like potatoes. If we could harvest these, it might lead to a breakthrough in
solving the principality's food crisis.
"But with the pollen, you can't go anywhere near where they grow, right?" I
asked.
"Yes," he agreed. "And if they aren't harvested while they're releasing pollen,
toxicity builds up in their rootstalks. That's why they aren't customarily eaten in
Amidonia, yes."
"Well, that's no good, then," I said. "Even if they're edible, if you can't harvest
them, then... Wait, huh? Then how'd you get this one here?"
When I asked that, Poncho pulled out a map and pointed to an area in the
northeast of the Gran Chaos Empire.
"There is a people in the mountains of the Gran Chaos Empire who harvest the
beguiling lily and use it as their staple food. They've developed a peculiar method of
harvesting them, yes."
"What is that method?" I asked.
"They use the shoujou for it, you see, yes."
"The shoujou... They're a type of orangutan, right?" I wondered aloud, to which
Poncho nodded.
"Among the varieties of orangutan that live in the mountains, one species has a
resistance to the effects of beguiling lily pollen. It seems these orangutans regularly
dig up the rootstalks and eat them. The mountain people of the Empire have trained
these orangutans to do the harvesting for them."
I see, so like the cormorants used in cormorant fishing, huh, I thought. Taming them
would normally be the hard part, but... we have an expert in that field in our country.
"Are those orangutans here in Amidonia, too?" I asked.
"Yes," he said. "It seems they live in the mountains near Van, too. I already have
Tomoe negotiating with them for us. The shoujou are famous for their love of
alcohol, so I suspect they'll happily work for us if we give them a barrel once in a
while in lieu of money, yes."
"...It's good to see that you work so quickly," I said.
Not only do we have the Rhinosaurus Preserve, now we're making the Van Ape
Army, too, huh, I thought. At this rate, I could turn Elfrieden into a literal animal
kingdom. Ha ha ha...
"...Hey, Liscia," I said.
"What?" she asked.
"If you think this policy is too crazy, you're welcome to stop it, okay?"
"...Don't look to me to make that decision."
Liscia turned away, refusing to have anything to do with this.
◇ ◇ ◇
One week (eight days) later, the food distributed in Van included a dumpling
made with the root of the beguiling lily (lily root for short).
"We are distributing lily root dumplings here, yes," said Poncho.
Poncho, the Minister for the Food Crisis himself, stood at the distribution site,
personally handing out lily root dumpling soup to the people of Van. The food crisis
had affected Amidonia deeply, so the people of Van lined up with pots in hand to
take their soup ration home with them. In addition to the soup being distributed,
there was also some on hand for tasting, and he was serving it to the people who had
lined up for it.
"It really warms you up," said one woman. "This is better than I expected."
"The soup itself has a nice flavor to it," another agreed. "I think it was called miso,
right?"
"These dumplings, I bet they'd taste good fried, too, huh?" a third commented.
"I'd love to try cooking them myself."
As housewives of Van were talking, Poncho called out to them. "W-We have lily
root dumplings that you can take home here, too. I would very much like for you to
bring them back with you and let your family try them, yes."
When Poncho held up a bag filled with lily root dumplings, a gleam flashed
through housewives' eyes. Then, before he knew it, Poncho was surrounded by the
ladies.
"My, how considerate," said one. "It's a big help, young man."
"You, you're one of that king's personal retainers, right?" another asked. "Do you
already have someone special to you?"
"Ah. No, I haven't even considered marriage..." The moment Poncho said that,
clearly flustered, there was a gleam in the housewives' eyes.
"Why, splendid! My daughter is a sweet girl, you know," said one woman. "Maybe
you'd like to take her off my hands?"
"Hey, no fair!" another protested. "If you take a wife, it should be my daughter!
She has good birthing hips, like me, so I can promise she'll give you a healthy baby!"
"If she went to live with a portly fellow like yourself, I wouldn't have to worry
about her going hungry," another added.
...And, before he knew it, they were already trying to set Poncho up with a wife.
When they heard all the noise, some of the young ladies even volunteered
themselves for the position.
"He's one of the king's favorites, isn't he?" a young woman asked. "Sounds like a
keeper to me."
"It's a chance to marry into money," another agreed. "Yes, yes! Sign me up for
that."
The next thing he knew, Poncho was being swarmed by women young and old
alike. Souma had just recently shown them that it was okay to express themselves,
so the women were very forthright with their emotions. For Poncho, who was not
used to this sort of attention, he had no idea what to do and was standing there
nervously, when...
"What are you doing, Sir Poncho?"
...someone called out to him with a voice that wasn't loud, but which carried well.
When the many women looked towards the voice, they saw a beautiful woman in
a maid outfit with a ladle in her hand. Seeing the maid's stunning beauty, the women
gulped despite themselves.
Then, of all things, that maid walked over to Poncho, wrapping herself around his
thick arm. "I've come here at His Majesty's request to assist you with your work
because you're so shy, you know? Do you mean to slack off while I'm working for
you?"
The moment after she said that, Serina cast a glance at the crowd of women.
Serina wasn't glaring at them, precisely, but they felt intimidated by her beautiful
face.
What's a beauty like her doing next to a tubby guy like him?! they thought.
They were even arm-in-arm. Could it be they were in a scandalous relationship?
Paying no mind to the women's feelings, Serina shot Poncho a meaningful glance.
"Do be sure that you make this up to me later. I won't be satisfied with doing it just
once tonight."
Whaa?! The ladies gasped at Serina's suggestive words.
By the way, the thing that Serina wasn't going to be satisfied only doing once that
night was taste-testing Poncho's experimental dishes. Serina had become
enraptured with the dishes Poncho made based on the B-grade cuisine from the
world Souma came from. In other words, she was saying she wouldn't be satisfied
taste-testing only one dish.
Poncho correctly understood what she meant, and he said, "Y-Yes! I will get right
back to work, yes!" and returned to his job distributing food.
Serina gave an indifferent shrug, then turned and gave the women an elegant
bow before following after Poncho.
The women could only watch as the two of them left, feeling like they had been
tricked somehow.
...Well, while there were some troubles, the lily root dumplings were delicious
both fried and boiled, which did a lot to calm and soothe the hearts of the occupied
people.
The culture of eating lily roots spread to Van, and Poncho Ishizuka Panacotta,
who had distributed the dumplings to them personally, became respected almost in
a godlike way by the housewives of Van, who came to call him "Lord Ishizuka."
Perhaps, someday, he would have shrines built to worship him, like the Billiken.
Chapter 2: Meeting on a Street Corner in Van
Late in the 10th month, 1,546th year, Continental Calendar — Princely Capital
Van.
A little more than three weeks had passed since the army of the Elfrieden
Kingdom had come to occupy Van, the capital of the Principality of Amidonia.
The people of Van had looked harshly on their conquerors when they'd first
arrived. However, with Souma keeping a tight rein on his soldiers, public order had
improved, and with the lily root dumplings being distributed, the people were no
longer at risk of starvation. Their distrust of the soldiers was gradually fading as a
result. The fact that the nobles and knights who would normally have worked to
foment a rebellion had all fled the city likely helped, too.
An air of calm was beginning to take hold in the city.
Though, that said... while it would have been nice if it had been purely calm, it
seemed that the music program Souma was broadcasting had the people of Van
burning with a passion for the arts. On every street corner there were minstrels,
street musicians, and street performers of all kinds plying their trades.
On top of that, there were those who wanted to repaint their homes to be more
colorful, and even those who wanted to produce wall murals displaying the beautiful
countenances of Juna and the loreleis, Chris the newscaster, and Aisha, who was
known for her part in hosting the program. Things were beginning to get out of
hand.
Who would have believed this had been the capital of a militaristic state merely
one month ago?
Souma called this period of Van the Amidonian Renaissance.
Sudden changes were always fraught with confusion, and in Van there were daily
conflicts over the best places to hold street performances. The Forbidden Army
troops who had been left to occupy the city were sent out to mediate, and the
soldiers of the Army and Air Force who were camped outside the city looked on
them with pity. Still, such disagreements never led to a major riot, and Van was more
or less peaceful.
However, this day began with Aisha shouting noisily. "P-Princess!"
"Eek!" Liscia shrieked.
It was morning. Liscia had been getting dressed in the room she was using as her
own when Aisha had barged in without so much as a knock at the door. It was so
sudden that Liscia froze in surprise, but when she remembered she was in the
middle of getting dressed, she continued putting on her uniform and asked, "WhWhat is it, Aisha? Why are you so flustered?"
"Th-That's... His Majesty... His Majesty is..." Aisha sputtered. Perhaps because she
was out of breath, she was having a hard time getting the words out.
"Calm down," Liscia said. "Take a deep breath."
"R-Right." Aisha took a deep breath, as instructed. She swung her arms up and
down in time with each heaving breath.
Once she was sure Aisha had calmed down, Liscia tried asking again. "So, what's
going on with Souma?"
"Right," Aisha said. "I went to the governmental affairs office to greet His Majesty
like usual this morning, but he wasn't there. Instead, I found this note he left." Aisha
passed the piece of paper to Liscia.
Liscia took the piece of paper and read it over. It said, "I am going on a journey.
Please, don't look for me. - Souma Kazuya."
Liscia pressed a hand to her temple and sighed, while Aisha returned to freaking
out.
"Wh-Whatever shall we do? We must search for him at once!"
"I'm telling you, just calm down," Liscia said. "Souma's taking the day off."
"Huh? A day off?" Aisha stared at her blankly.
"Right," Liscia said, with a nod. "He's with Tomoe. It looked like he'd been getting
pretty close to the breaking point with his workload lately, so I suggested he take
some time off. I even cleared it with Hakuya. When I did that, Souma said, 'Well,
maybe I'll just laze around in some room making dolls, then.' It didn't sound healthy,
so I asked Tomoe to drag him outside for me."
"I heard nothing of this!" Aisha exclaimed. "I am His Majesty's bodyguard, you
realize?! Why didn't he take me with him?!"
When she saw Aisha with tears forming in her eyes, Liscia gave a shrug. "You
stand out too much. This was a primarily human country, so dark elves stand out to
begin with, and with your recent fame from the broadcast, you're not exactly going
to be able to keep a low profile."
"This was enemy territory not that long ago, you know?!" Aisha complained. "If
anything were to happen to His Majesty and Tomoe..."
"Have no fears," Liscia assured her. "They're in disguise, and Juna and a number
of elite marines will be watching over them from the shadows this time."
"Madam Juna is accompanying them, too? Well, in that case, he should be safe..."
Aisha got that far before Juna's mature smile flashed through her mind.
To Aisha, Juna was the ideal woman. Gorgeous, graceful, gentle... She would have
given anything to be like her. However... setting that aside, when she imagined Juna's
smile, every instinct Aisha had as a woman began setting off alarm bells.
If we let our guards down, she's going to run off with all the best parts, she thought.
"He will be safe... won't he?" she asked.
"..."
In truth, Liscia had been thinking the same thing, so she had nothing to say in
response.
◇ ◇ ◇
"The weather sure is nice today, huh, big brother?" Tomoe asked.
"It sure is, Tomoe," I agreed.
I was on Van's shopping street walking hand-in-hand with my honorary little
sister, the mystic wolf girl Tomoe. There had been a nigh lethal amount of
administrative work to do lately, so Liscia, unable to watch me torment myself any
longer, had suggested that I take my first day off since that time I'd patrolled the
royal capital.
I figured if I had time off, I'd rather use it to laze around, like a father on vacation,
but Liscia had said that was unhealthy and ordered little Tomoe to drag me into the
castle town.
It was a place that had been enemy territory until just recently, so we were
lightly disguised today. My facial features were supposedly similar to those of
humans from the Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago, so I was dressed like a traveler
from there. I wore a traveling cape and conical straw hat, making me look like
Kitakaze Kozou. Tomoe, meanwhile, wore a white robe with a hood, like a white
mage from some game. Honestly, I'd wondered if it was worth the trouble of
disguising ourselves to go out, but...
"Wowwie, there are so many different shops, big brother!"
...when I saw Tomoe so excited, nothing else mattered anymore.
"If you see one that catches your fancy, why don't we go inside?" I asked.
"Okay! ♪" she sang.
When Tomoe gave that energetic reply, I patted her on the head. The hair
between her two wolf ears was fluffy and soft to the touch. It felt amazing. Ahh... So
soothing.
I tried talking to the person who was on the opposite side of me from Tomoe, too.
"Juna, are you okay with that?"
"Yes," Juna said, giving me a soft smile. "If it pleases you, Master Kazuya."
For this undercover vacation, instead of Aisha, I was supposed to have Juna and
around ten of her marines watching over me from the shadows.
...Yes, from the shadows.
"Um, Juna? Why are you wrapping yourself around my arm?" I asked.
Juna had wrapped herself around the arm I wasn't using to pat Tomoe's head.
She was incredibly close. Right now, Juna was wearing a longsword on her back,
with breastplate armor over top of her clothes. With her dressed up like a typical
female adventurer, I didn't feel those voluptuous things pressed up against me. Still,
I could feel Juna's warmth directly on my arm.
Juna seemed to see how flustered I was, and she flashed me a mischievous smile.
"Oh, is it wrong for me to do this?"
"It's not a matter of right or wrong... Weren't you supposed to be protecting me
from the shadows?" I asked.
"We're protecting you like we're supposed to," Juna said. "Right now, my elite
marines are protecting you in the shadows. They're circling ahead of us to watch for
any potential blind spots, too."
"No, but... isn't your face out there, too?" I protested.
The people of Amidonia should know Juna's face from the music program. Even if
she wasn't as recognizable as the dark elf Aisha, Juna wasn't hiding her face at all
right now. Wasn't someone going to notice her?
When I asked her that, Juna giggled. "It should be fine. I was wearing makeup
then. I should have given off a very different impression."
Now that she mentioned it... Juna was only wearing the bare essentials of makeup
today. Whenever she stood on stage or before the jewel as a lorelei, she must use
charming makeup that would be recognizable from a distance. The Juna I saw now
had a natural beauty, but just taking off her makeup made her look younger than
usual. Right now, she actually looked her age.
"That's right," Juna said, as if reading my mind. "...The reason I look like a mature
adult is because of that makeup, got it?"
"No, I'm pretty sure the way you act is part of it, too..." I said. "So it did bother
you?"
"I am a girl, after all," she said. "Does it bother you linking arms with me, sire?"
Juna wore an expression that seemed somewhat uncertain. That face... She just
wasn't playing fair.
"It's not that it bothers me," I said. "Bring it on."
"Hee hee," she giggled. "Thank you."
"Whew... You sure are amazing, Juna," Tomoe said. "I wish I could be like you."
"...Don't you think you're fine just the way you are, Tomoe?" Juna said pointedly
to the girl who was looking up at her with great respect. Tomoe was cute, and she
might develop into a beauty like Juna as she grew up. Once she grew up and learned
how to play games with men, it could be the birth of an incredible little tease.
While I was thinking about that, I ended up walking with Tomoe's hand in mine,
and Juna wrapped around my other arm. Nobody realized our true identities, but the
jealous looks from passing men and the whispering of housewives trying to guess at
the relationship between the three of us started to make my stomach hurt.
In order to distract myself from it, I tried talking to Juna. "Well... Where to? Unlike
in Parnam, Van doesn't have much in it, so there aren't many places I want to go
patrol."
"When you're out on the town on your day off, I don't know that you should be
thinking of it as patrolling." Juna laughed wryly at my workaholic thought process.
Sorry for being so work-obsessed, I thought.
Then, Juna took a peek over at Tomoe before whispering in my ear, "How about
giving Tomoe some new clothes as a present? Since she's your honorary little sister,
you can call it a gift between family."
"Ohh, there's an idea."
Now that she mentioned it, ever since I'd accepted Tomoe as my little sister
(though, technically, she was Liscia's adopted little sister and my future sister-inlaw), I had been busy with administrative work and hadn't been able to act like a
proper big brother. Tomoe had been working hard on negotiating with the
rhinosauruses and shoujou, so it might be nice to spoil her rotten today.
"Juna, do you know a good place for that?" I asked.
"I've done my research," she said. "Leave it to me." She placed her hand on her
chest, bowing slightly.
Juna recommended a clothing store on a street corner.
The little sign out front had words meaning "The Silver Deer" written on it in a
stylish font. From what was on display in the show window, it looked like it dealt not
just in clothing, but in shoes and apparel, too. It was hard to judge with my untrained
eyes, but the products on display all appeared to be of high quality. It was very much
a high-class shop. The sort of place a guy like me, who had always bought his clothes
on sale from the major retailers, would never come to.
Incidentally, ever since coming to this country, I had worn whatever I could
provide myself or we already had on hand. Lately, the work I'd done creating and
maintaining the Little Musashibo dolls had improved my sewing skills, so I was
making everything but my underwear myself. I technically had what would be
considered a highly-paid position, so I could afford to make custom orders, but I had
no interest in indulging myself with luxuries now. The shirt and pants I had on
under this traveling cape, as well as the hooded robe that Tomoe was wearing—
both of them had been made by me.
"You can even make stuff like this. You're amazing, big brother," Tomoe said.
When Tomoe showered me with that look of respect, I could feel my head
swelling with pride. "I can't buy the clothes I was used to wearing in my own world
here, after all. Though I'm doing it half as a hobby," I said to hide my embarrassment,
then looked to The Silver Deer. "Still, this is a surprise. A stylish store like this in
Amidonia, of all places."
"I hear it originally dealt in men's clothing and apparel," said Juna. "After that
broadcast, when women started dressing up, they began stocking clothing and
accessories for women as well."
It seemed their selection changed in response to customer demand.
"Still, it's quite a selection, don't you think?" I asked. "Where do you suppose they
order it all from?"
"There are trade guilds," said Juna. "While they may not be able to do much about
food, which is in short supply, the guild can arrange for them to buy any other kind
of goods. For the merchants, Elfrieden and Amidonia are both sources of goods and
also valued customers."
"How crafty..."
Of course, it was those crafty merchants who maintained the balance of supply
and demand... but that was neither here nor there, and I figured we shouldn't loiter
out front forever.
"Well, how about we head inside?" I asked.
When I went inside, gesturing for the two of them to follow, a man with ash gray
hair who was dressed like a bartender was arranging products on the shelves. He
seemed like the sort of middle-aged gentleman that the aroma of black tea would
suit well. When he noticed us, he stood with his feet together, brought a hand to his
breast, and then bowed. "Welcome. Are you travelers, perhaps?"
"Ah... Erm..." I stuttered a bit. While revealing my true identity was out of the
question, how was I to explain the combination of a man in a conical straw hat, a
beautiful female adventurer, and a wolf girl in a white hood? While I was wracking
my brains to come up with something, Juna stepped forward.
"Yes. These two personages come from a kingdom in the Nine-Headed Dragon
Archipelago. They are Kazuya, the heir to a crêpe fabric merchant in the Echigo
Kingdom, and his younger sister Tomoe. I am their humble servant, Silvia. Master
Kazuya will one day inherit the family business, and so we are traveling across many
countries to broaden his horizons."
She was very eloquent.
Nice work, Juna, I thought. And, wait, I'm impressed you actually remembered my
nonsense backstory about being the heir to a crêpe fabric merchant in the Echigo
Kingdom. Even I had completely forgotten that backstory. Also, who is Silvia supposed
to be?
The middle-aged man didn't show any particular interest. "I see," he said with a
gentle nod. "I apologize for taking so long to introduce myself. I am Sebastian, the
proprietor of this establishment."
With that name, are you sure you aren't the butler, rather than the proprietor? I
thought for a moment, but I reminded myself that not all Sebastians have to be
butlers.
Smiling, Sebastian asked, "And what may I help you with today?"
"Well... do you have anything that would look good on my little sister here?" I
asked,
"Whuh?!" Tomoe reacted with surprise.
I put my hand on top of her head, patting her from over top of her hood. "Well,
that's how it is, so if you see anything you like, let me know, okay?"
"Um... But..."
"It's fine. Let me act like a proper big brother every once in a while."
With those words, I pushed Tomoe off towards Juna.
Juna nodded to me, taking Tomoe by the hand and going to look at the wares on
display. Tomoe was stiff at first, but she was a girl. As she looked at the different
items with Juna, I could feel her gradually getting into shopping.
Now, this left me as a man with little to do. I enjoyed watching the beautiful
woman and little girl enjoying themselves shopping for a while, but I got tired of just
waiting, and wandered around the store myself.
They had clothing, shoes, accessories, and even makeup. There was a really wide
selection of items here. Truly, it was the 109 of Amidonia... Well, not that I'd ever
been to 109, or even to Shibuya, for that matter. Perhaps because the women of Van
had begun awakening to fashion, more than eighty percent of the sales floor was
devoted to women's products. This shop had supposedly catered only to men before,
but now it had coats for them, and that was about it.
As I was looking around, I found a number of products that interested me.
The first was lipstick. It was a color lighter than light pink.
The second was a hair accessory. It was made with gold and little stones, making
it seem like a quality piece, but it had a ladybug motif, making it seem incongruously
childish.
The third was a choker. It was made of blue leather with silver foil scattered
around like stars. The clasp was made of gold, with a design like a bird spreading its
wings.
They all looked good.
Then, finally... the last thing that caught my eye was a pair of tiny loafers meant
for a young girl. They had clips with a ribbon motif on them, and were absolutely
adorable.
These loafers... I think they might look perfect on Tomoe, I thought.
"Hey, Tomo—"
"Master Kazuya."
Just as I was about to call out to them, Sebastian stopped me. I turned around,
thinking it suspicious, and Sebastian said, "Pardon me for the sudden interruption,"
with a bow. "There was something I've been wanting to ask you, Master Kazuya.
Would that be acceptable?"
"...What is it?" I asked.
"Let us suppose that, on the battlefield, the generals had gathered for a war
council."
...What? Battlefield? War council? Why's he bringing this up all of a sudden? I
thought.
"Let us also suppose that the first idea brought up at that war council was a good
one. If you were the supreme commander of that army, would you immediately
adopt that idea?"
"...I wouldn't," I said. "I'd think there might be better ideas."
"Precisely," he said. "That is why, if you were one of the generals, and you wished
to have your idea adopted, rather than submit it at once, you should wait until the
council comes to an impasse."
"I see... I see..."
"What I mean to say is, the games played between men and women are also a
battle."
"...Ah," I said. "I get you."
I finally understood what Sebastian was trying to say. He was saying I should
wait a little longer before pushing the loafers I thought would look good on Tomoe.
That was fair enough, because Juna and Tomoe were enjoying looking through
the other products. If I brought them something good now, it would be like pouring a
bucket of cold water on them when they were having a good time. If they chose to go
with it, their fun time would end, and if they choose not to, it'd be awkward for me.
Neither of those was what they wanted.
I was deeply grateful for Sebastian's consideration. "You, sir, are a wonderful
tactician."
"I am honored by your praise." Sebastian placed his right hand on his belly,
respectfully bowing to me. It was a theatrical gesture, but it was smoothly delivered,
so it didn't offend me.
Then, something occurred to me.
"By the way, you just used a war council analogy..." Could he be aware of our true
identities? I brought it up because I thought he might be, but Sebastian hurriedly
shook his head.
"Oh, my... Pardon me for that. Until just the other day, I had only dealt with the
nobility, you see. I can't seem to break the habit. If I offended you somehow, I
apologize. I have a regular customer who is fond of such banter."
"...No, it's no big deal," I said. "Is that regular of yours a soldier?"
"No, no, more like an adorable little tanuki," Sebastian said.
A little tanuki, huh. Between the proprietor I couldn't get a read on, and this
person he called a little tanuki... I was intrigued. But, setting that aside for now, I
bought a few things quietly so that the other two wouldn't notice. After that, I waited
for the two of them to finish looking things over, then recommended those cute
loafers to Tomoe. Tomoe was hesitant to accept, as I expected she might be, but she
seemed like she liked them, so I half-forced them on her as a present.
Tomoe held the box with the loafers in it tight to her chest. "Th-Thank you... big
brother... I'll treasure them..."
As she said that, tears formed in her eyes, so I patted her head gently. Maybe now
we'd been able to act a little like brother and sister. If I thought about it, the only
ones I'd been able to call family before were my grandparents. But now there was
Liscia, there was Tomoe, and there were Aisha and Juna.
...Yeah, it's nice being able to feel connected to people. As I patted my little sister's
head, that thought really began to sink in for me.
Juna was standing next to us, watching with a smile.
"Ah, Juna," I said. "Hold on a second."
It was just past noon when we left Sebastian's store. While we were on the move,
looking for some place to maybe get lunch, I had Juna stop for a second.
"Is something the matter?" she asked.
I handed Juna a little bag as she looked at me quizzically. "I wanted to give this to
you."
"To me?"
Juna accepted it, opening it up, and inside was that ladybug shaped accessory. It
was one of the ones I'd secretly bought earlier.
"Huh?!" she cried. "Um, what is..."
"You're always doing so much for me," I said. "It's my way of saying thanks."
"No, I couldn't possibly accept something like this. I don't have the right..."
"Pass it here." I took the ladybug from Juna, fixing it in her hair.
Yep, it looked just like I'd imagined it would. It was far too childish a design for
the usual mature Juna, but when the younger-looking Juna of today wore it, she
looked like a young girl trying a little too hard to be mature. It was cute.
"It really suits you, Juna," I said.
"Ohh..."
When I acted like I was the more mature one, Juna uncharacteristically blushed. I
felt like I'd finally won a small victory over her, the one who always seemed more
mature. Juna whipped her head to the side and looked away.
"Sire. If you are going to give presents to women, make sure you give them to the
princess and anyone else simultaneously. In your position, you'll probably end up
taking multiple wives. If that happens, you can't play favorites. You have to either
love all of them equally, or accept that marriage is just another political tool and love
none of them. Anyway, not causing discord between the women in your life is
another of your duties, okay?"
Juna spoke rapidly, trying to distract me. That she spoke so much was proof of
her embarrassment.
"It's okay," I said. "I have something for Liscia and Aisha, too."
When it came to accessories, Liscia tended to prefer ones she could wear in battle
over ones that were just pretty. I'd chosen the blue leather choker for her because it
was stylish, yet wouldn't get in the way. For Aisha, who, like Juna, was always
helping me out, I planned to give her that lipstick I found which would go well with
that healthy brown skin of hers. While hosting the music program, it seemed like
she'd been worried about how feminine she was.
"So you don't need to worry about that," I explained.
"I-Is that a fact...?" she asked.
"It is. And by the way, Juna?"
"...What is it?" she asked.
"It's not 'sire,' it's 'Master Kazuya,' remember?"
"Ah..."
For a little while now, Juna had been calling me "sire" instead of "Master Kazuya."
It looked like when she started talking fast at me, she really was trying to hide her
embarrassment.
Juna had a sullen look on her red face. "Master Kazuya... is a surprisingly big
bully."
"Is he now?" I asked.
"Yes. And quite the ladies' man," she said, wrapping herself around my arm again.
Even more tightly than last time.
Over my shoulder I could see Juna's embarrassed smile, with that hair piece
shining above it.
"Wow... there are lots of little shops out, big brother!" Tomoe cried gleefully,
seeing all the street stalls lined up in the plaza.
In our search for a place to get lunch, Juna had led us to the plaza with the Jewel
Voice Broadcast receiver. This place had been an open field only a month ago, but
now it was packed with stalls selling food and assorted goods. We had only just set
foot in the plaza, but we could already hear the owners of stalls calling in customers,
and customers haggling for a better deal.
The faces in the crowd were diverse, too. Housewives were here to buy
ingredients for dinner. A group of craftsmen was here for lunch. Even off-duty
soldiers from the kingdom's forces were here to buy snacks.
Must be from the Army, I thought to myself. The Army and Air Force soldiers
camped outside were allowed to enter the city when they were off duty.
I could also see a large number of non-humans who looked like travelers or
adventurers. Race, job, nationality... none of it mattered here. It was one big
hodgepodge of people of all ages and genders.
"...How did it end up like this?" I wondered.
"Thanks to Sir Poncho, Van's food crisis has been alleviated considerably, but
only so many people can produce food good enough to support a restaurant," Juna
explained. "However, the people who think they can manage a food stall gather here.
This is the largest marketplace in all of Van now."
"In an out-of-the-way place like this?" I asked. "Wouldn't they be better off on the
main street?"
"It's because the receiver for the Jewel Voice Broadcast is here."
"Oh, I get it..."
Ever since that music program had aired, as a test, we had been broadcasting
Chris Tachyon's news program during the day and the singing program at night. The
customers hadn't gathered because there were stalls here; the stalls had gathered
because there were people here waiting to watch the Jewel Voice Broadcast.
It's kind of like the black market in post-war Japan, I thought. Maybe it'll end up
like Ameyoko someday.
Juna and the loreleis only appeared on the music program on weekends. On
every other day of the week, we ran a program where contestants hoping to become
loreleis competed. The Jewel Voice Broadcast was always live, so if the loreleis had
been the only ones who ever appeared on the program, it would have put too much
stress on them.
If anyone who appeared on that contest program was deemed to have a gift for
singing, they could be newly instated as a singer like Margarita, or, if they were
attractive, a lorelei. If they were male, they could debut as one of the new class of
male idols: the singing knights, orpheuses.
The program was simulcast in two countries, Elfrieden and Amidonia, and it
could be seen in any city where there was a receiver. The reaction might be different
in Amidonia, or the cities in Elfrieden might be reacting similarly to this.
I'll need to estimate the economic impact of this later, I thought with a grin. That
was when Tomoe pulled on my coat.
"Big brother, I'm hungry," she said.
"Oh, right," Juna said. "Well, how about we get something from one of the stalls?"
"Yeah! ♪" Tomoe sang.
"Then that's what we'll do," said Juna.
The three of us looked around the different stalls. Forty percent of the stalls sold
food, twenty percent sold various accessories, twenty percent sold equipment, while
the remainder dealt in other things.
It looked like a lot of the food stalls were selling skewers. Van was a long way
from the sea, so they could only get their hands on river fish, and with the food
crisis, grains and vegetables were in short supply. For meat, on the other hand, all
they had to do was hunt wild animals.
They were likely selling meat that had been hunted outside the city walls.
Because of that, none of the stalls openly stated what kind of meat they were selling.
This was worse than them mislabeling their meat to sell it at a higher price; it was a
total mystery what creatures any of it came from.
"It feels like a gamble buying any of the skewers..." I muttered.
Horned rabbit meat, I could probably handle, but giant rat and lizard meat, well...
I think my sanity stat would take some serious loss from eating that. Besides, if they
had just hunted whatever they could get their hand on from the nearby fields, there
was no telling what diseases or parasites it might have. There were no food
sanitation laws in this world, and none of the cooks were licensed.
I'll need to institute all of that, too, eventually... I thought.
"It's fine," Juna said with a very lovely smile. "I had the marines come here ahead
of us and serve as poison tasters. Allow me to guide you to a safe stall."
"Poison tasters?! Not taste testers?!"
"If anything were to happen to you, it would be a national crisis," she said. "It's
only natural that we would test anything from the market for poison. Your body is
no longer yours alone, you know?"
What, am I pregnant now? I wanted to quip, but I got what she was trying to say. I
didn't know if I'd be able to use Living Poltergeists if I was sick from food poisoning.
If I couldn't, that would mean the country's administration would be short several
instances of me.
...Yeah, it looked like poison tasters were going to be a necessity, for my people's
sake. I'd just have to accept it.
"And? What was the result of the poison tasting?" I asked.
"One person complained of stomach pain and dropped out."
"Dispatch a messenger to the castle!" I exclaimed. "Whenever a dish including
meat or fish is sold, the ingredients must be listed in the store! Inform them that if
they fail to do so, or if there is an error in the ingredients displayed, their business
will be shut down!"
"Understood." Juna sent one of the marines who were guarding us to run off that
message to the castle.
This was the moment the Elfrieden Kingdom saw the beginnings of its first food
safety law.
I intended to expand the range of things that required their ingredients be posted
in due time, but before that, I wanted to clamp down on meat fraud. If there were
bacteria or parasites, it could be a matter of life and death.
"O, fallen marines," I mourned. "I will not let your deaths be in vain."
"No, they're not dead. It's just food poisoning," Juna said, rolling her eyes.
No, no, even food poisoning can be a matter of life and death, I'll have you know, I
thought. Once, my grandfather had eaten some raw eggs that were past their
expiration date. He got salmonella, and was hospitalized for days. Fortunately, it
wasn't too serious, but his refusal to throw out a few eggs that were ten yen apiece
had cost him tens of thousands of yen in hospital fees. Grandma had teased him
about that for a good long time.
Well, setting that aside for now, we bought our skewers from a place Juna
suggested, along with some mixed juice from a fruit seller, and sat down on a simple
bench to eat.
Tomoe chomped right down on her skewer. "Yeah, this is delicious, big brother."
"Yeah. This meat is pretty good," I agreed.
"The juice is delicious, too, Master Kazuya," said Juna.
The meat was nice and juicy. It wasn't that far off from the beef skewers that
were sold at festivals, so I asked what meat it was. It turned out it was from a
bigbull, a big, buffalo-like animal.
The juice wasn't chilled, but it was getting to be late in autumn now, so it didn't
feel too warm. It was a bit sour, but that was refreshing after eating the greasy meat
skewer. With our stomachs now full, we took a breather and relaxed for a bit.
Tomoe started nodding off next to me, so I decided to let her have a nap. Tomoe
rested her head in my lap, she curled into a ball, and her breathing became shallow.
When I petted her head, it was silky smooth, like a real dog's fur.
"Hee hee, isn't she just the cutest?" Juna said as she peered at Tomoe's sleeping
face. Then, moving in close enough that our shoulders touched, she quietly
whispered with a sad look on her face, "I hope these peaceful days last forever..."
"Please don't go saying things that trip event flags like that," I said. "You know
that can't happen, right?"
Juna nodded. "The Imperial Army is almost here. They number nearly 50,000."
"50,000? That's fewer than I thought," I said.
We had a force of 45,000 troops from the Elfrieden Royal Army gathered in Van
now, so our forces were more or less equal. Of course, once Amidonia's troops were
added into the equation, they'd no doubt had the superior force, but I had expected
them to come with three times our number.
For the Gran Chaos Empire, which had called for mankind to unite against the
threat of the Demon Lord's Domain, I highly doubted that they wanted to open a
new front against us, but if they'd brought enough troops to make it possible for
them to take Van, it would have worked to intimidate us.
And yet, Juna shook her head. "Most likely, the Amidonians were hesitant to
allow that. They must have been worried that if the Empire came with a huge army,
there was a risk they'd take this country for themselves."
"As the country that issued the Mankind Declaration, I somehow doubt the
Empire would do that, though, you know?" I said.
If they said they wouldn't recognize any changes in borders on one hand, and
then launched a war of invasion on the other, the Mankind Declaration wouldn't be
worth the paper it was written on. If that happened, they would lose the trust of the
countries in their alliance, and the Empire's strategy of uniting mankind in the face
of the Demon Lord's Domain would collapse.
"I mean, that's exactly why the Empire offered to mediate," I added.
"Amidonia has already circumvented the Mankind Declaration," said Juna.
"Having betrayed the trust of the Empire themselves, they may be nervous about
being betrayed in turn."
"...Like being caught in their own web of lies, huh."
They had been caught in their own trap. The principality had acted against the
wishes of the Empire, but they had to cling to its authority now that they had found
themselves in a crisis. They must have felt somewhat guilty about that.
On top of that, nobody respects opportunists, so they had lost the trust of other
countries. They had to be trembling with fear that the Empire would abandon them.
"It makes you want to roll your eyes a bit... but it's convenient for us," I said. "If
there's a rift between the principality and the Empire, there may be room for us to
act."
"Hee hee hee, it's time for our king to show off his skills," said Juna.
"...I wish you wouldn't put so much pressure on me, you know?" I asked.
"Oh, my, and here I thought you were Master Kazuya right now?" she responded
playfully.
She probably wanted to get back at me for earlier. That was Juna for you—just
when you thought you had a leg up on her, she'd turn things back around.
"Good day, everyone. It's time for News Elfrieden."
Then, suddenly, we heard Chris Tachyon's voice.
It looked like it was time for the afternoon news broadcast. When I looked up, the
image of Chris reading out the news was displayed on the mist in the air.
Wow... So this is what our broadcasts look like to the people in town, I thought. This
was my first time seeing it on one of the fountain receivers. With the screen being as
big as a movie theater's, it made quite an impact.
"Now, our first story of the day. The new coastal city under construction in
Eastern Elfrieden, Venetinova, is currently nearing completion. With Venetinova in
place, shipping by land and sea will become more efficient, allow for the faster
delivery of commodities to..."
This news would had been gathered from all around the Elfrieden Kingdom
(which included Van), using messenger kuis like the one Aisha used to stay in
contact with the God-Protected Forest. (Messenger kuis were birds, like messenger
pigeons. Using their homing instinct and their ability to detect the waves emitted by
their master at long distances, they allowed a specific individual and location to
contact each other.) Their strength was that even mountain villages that didn't
receive Jewel Voice Broadcasts could still receive information. However, unlike the
Jewel Voice Broadcast, which could communicate information in real time, that
information would come a day or two late.
For instance, if an incident occurred in Lagoon City in the far northeast of
Elfrieden, the information wouldn't be directly delivered to Van. Instead, it would
wait for the kuis that carried news to each city at regular intervals. Then, when the
kui carried the news to another city, other kuis would leave that city to bring the
news to other cities. The kuis had to fly long distances, so this was to protect against
communication being cut off if a kui was attacked by a predator en route. By the
way, urgent news would be delivered not by messenger kui, but by wyvern riders.
Because of that, it wasn't possible to deliver all the news that happened in a day
on that same day.
"Now, onto our next story. In the early hours of yesterday morning, a minor fire
broke out in Van..."
From there, Chris reported the various accidents and incidents that had occurred
in the kingdom, followed by information on how to cook lily root dumplings and
other useful information for people's daily lives.
As for myself, I thought it would be convenient if we could incorporate a weather
forecast into the program, but that seemed like it would be quite difficult. There was
a certain amount of weather lore in this world, and there were people who could
predict the weather by reading the clouds based off many long years of experience.
However, as I just mentioned, without a high-speed means of communication, we
couldn't transmit that information in real time.
News about typhoons can be a matter of life and death, so I'd like to figure out
something... I thought.
As I was thinking about that, I heard a sudden sigh.
"To think they'd use the Jewel Voice Broadcast like this..."
In front of me, a girl dressed like an adventurer stood with her back facing me.
She stood with her back straight, her airy golden ponytail swaying behind her. For a
moment, I thought she looked a lot like Liscia, but this girl had her hair tied back in a
higher position, and Liscia's hair was medium-short now. The girl turned to show
me her pretty face in profile.
"We absolutely must implement this system in our country," she said. "When I
return, I'll draw up a proposal for it. Still, just how would you come up with such an
advanced idea?"
She asked me that with a straight face.
What's this, out of nowhere? I was thinking, when Juna stood up beside me. Then
she placed herself between the girl and me.
"Juna?" I asked.
"Be careful," Juna cautioned as she stood there to protect me. She had a grim look
on her face, and it was apparent from her tone of voice that she was worried. "This
girl is an accomplished warrior. It's regrettable that Aisha isn't here. Even if I were
ready to die taking her down, I don't know that I could stop her..."
"Is she that strong?" I asked.
Seeing the cautious reaction from Juna, the girl with the ponytail grinned. "You
needn't worry, I have no hostile intent, Lorelei Juna Doma."
Juna inhaled sharply. "You know me..."
"Of course," she said. "I approached you because I'm aware of who you are. We
have agents of our own, after all."
That means she knows who I am, too, huh, I thought.
She must have planned to make contact here knowing that I would be coming in
disguise. This had happened because the establishment of an intelligence corps for
the kingdom had been delayed by my doubts in the personnel I had to run it.
But, if she says she has no hostile intent...
"You're with the Empire?" I asked.
"Yes," the girl said, bringing a hand to her chest and bowing her head. "It's a
pleasure to meet you, Sir Souma Kazuya. I am the younger sister of Empress Maria
Euphoria of the Gran Chaos Empire, and the one who handles military affairs in her
stead, Jeanne Euphoria."
I whispered to Juna, "What happened to our guards?"
"It seems she has guards of her own, so they can't move," answered Juna.
"That would be why she came alone, huh," I said. "...Take care of Tomoe for me."
I left Tomoe, who was groggy from being suddenly shaken awake, with Juna and
stood facing Jeanne Euphoria. She had been in the reports I'd received. There was a
princess who handled military affairs under the Saint of the Empire, Empress Maria
Euphoria; and, as Maria was currently unwed, she was also the first in the line of
succession. This must be her sister, I reasoned.
"Does Madam Maria's younger sister have some business in our country?" I
asked.
I made a point of talking down to her. Because our country hadn't signed the
Mankind Declaration, I didn't have to pay respects to Empress Maria as my leader. In
other words, as both of us were leaders of independent nations, my rank was equal
to Maria's. And seeing as Jeanne was the younger sister of the empress, her rank was
that of a vassal, and so I was above her. I had no desire to put on airs with my own
vassals, but when dealing with foreigners, it was important that our positions be
made clear.
Jeanne responded as if that were perfectly natural. "No particular business. I
simply wished to see how the person I'll be negotiating with rules for myself, but my
agents received information that you would be sneaking into the castle town today,
so I thought I might as well come introduce myself."
So she hadn't originally planned to meet me. She'd just happened to learn I was
taking a day off while she was here, so she'd attempted to make contact.
"Still, it was quite bold of you to come into Van while we're occupying it," I said.
"I'm the type that only believes what she's seen with her own two eyes, after all,"
Jeanne replied. "The rumors about you have reached as far as the Empire, many of
them unsubstantiated, so I wanted to find out for myself."
Rumors? There are rumors about me in the Empire? I thought.
"What sort of rumors would those be?" I asked.
"They say things like: you're 'the brilliant ruler who rescued an economy on the
brink of collapse,' or that you 'invented ways of preparing foods that there had been
no custom of eating before and saved the country from a food crisis,' or that you
'demonstrated unparalleled strength in battle, mowing down swarms of enemies
one after another'... and more."
"There's been a lot of embellishment along the way, huh," I commented.
Not one of those things had been accomplished by my strength alone. The
economic restructuring had been the bureaucrats' hard work, and gathering the
ingredients and teaching us how to prepare them had been Poncho's
accomplishment. As for the war, I'd only set the armies in motion, then left the
fighting to stronger people. In the end, if you were to name one thing I'd done, "I
delegated tasks to people who could handle them" would be it.
"Oh, and there were rumors that you were an 'insatiable sex fiend,' too," Jeanne
added.
"Wait, hold on!"
Who're you calling a sex fiend?!
"Where did those rumors come from?!" I exclaimed.
"The rumor says: 'Despite being betrothed to the beautiful daughter of the
former king, he gathered beauties from around the kingdom to select a concubine,'
or something like that. Is Madam Juna here not the one chosen to be your
concubine?"
What a horrible misunderstanding! They must have been talking about the
Elfrieden Pretty Girl Grand Prix I'd run as part of my search for talented personnel.
When I'd said I was searching for people with any gift, there had been a lot of
applications in the fields of martial arts, beauty, and arts. All I'd done was create a
tournament format for them to compete in.
I hadn't even come up with the plan for Project Lorelei at that point. Come to
think of it, at the time there had been rumors that "The beauty tournament might be
for the king to find mistresses," and the nobles had all tried to send their relatives to
participate. Had other countries seen it the same way?
"A-A concubine, am I...? Well, yes, I did know there were rumors to that effect,"
Juna said, her face turning red.
Was she serious?
I hadn't known there were rumors like that... and it was kind of hard to accept it.
Ever since I had taken the throne, I had been struggling under such a murderous
workload that even my relations with Liscia had stayed completely chaste. Actually,
it was a bit late to say this now, but my relationship with Liscia had skipped over a
lot of important steps, hadn't it? We were betrothed to be married, and yet we
hadn't even been on a proper date, let alone kissed.
While I was thinking about all that, Jeanne looked at me pensively. "Hm... If that
rumor was false, I suppose I can't use that method."
"What method?" I asked.
"Well, if you were a lecherous king, I thought if I had my gorgeous sister welcome
you and ask really nicely, you might accept our requests quite easily."
"What were you planning to make the Saint of the Empire do?!" I yelped.
"It seems my sister is not overly fond of that 'saint' title, but... maybe men find her
being a 'saint' quite appealing?" she asked.
"Well... I can sort of see that," I said. "The Saint of the Empire, Maria"... The words
themselves had an incredible impact. For one thing, if a woman is being called a
saint, it makes you want to see her. It raises the expectation that she's beautiful and
noble.
...Wait, I had that title of "hero," too, now that I thought about it. Even though I'd
been summoned as a hero from another world, I hadn't done anything particularly
heroic, so I'd totally forgotten.
"Titles, hm?" Juna asked. "Do you think they find 'lorelei' appealing, too?"
"Why are you getting in on this, Juna?!" I cried.
"Oh, no... I just wondered..."
Jeanne giggled. "Hee hee! You're more fun than I thought you'd be."
Jeanne was watching us banter with a smile.
"We're not doing it because we want to amuse you, though," I said.
"No, no, the closeness between you and your vassals is a mark of the stability in
your country, I'm sure," she said. "We couldn't get away with that back home."
"...It's different in the Empire?" I asked.
"Our territory is needlessly large, and the empress's power is great," said Jeanne.
"They call her a saint and half-worship her, so everyone is very reserved around her.
About the only people she has that she can talk with casually are our family. On top
of that, my sister takes being an empress entirely too seriously, so she tries to treat
everyone equally, which leaves her in a position where she can't open up to anyone."
Jeanne shrugged her shoulders and looked at the crowd in the plaza.
"It was the same with this. Even though there's no benefit to us in helping
Amidonia after they ignored the Mankind Declaration..."
"For the younger sister of Madam Maria, with all the ideals she tries to uphold,
you take an awfully realistic perspective," I said.
"If the elder sister is a dreamer, the younger needs to be firmly grounded," Jeanne
said with a wry smile.
Hm... It felt like Jeanne was closer to my way of thinking than Maria. Instead of
embracing lofty ideals, she was the sort who could come up with pragmatic
solutions.
When you hold up ideals, people gather around you. However, if you hold up
those ideals for too long, sooner or later, you lose your path. Someone has to be
there to keep an eye on the ground in front of you. Having the more realistic Jeanne
by her side must have been what let Maria keep holding up her ideals.
The Empire had the largest population on the continent. I didn't know how many
extremely talented people they had there, but in terms of relative numbers, they
must have had far more than my country.
Jeanne pointed to image of Chris projected in the air above us. "By the way, that's
an incredible way of using the Jewel Voice Broadcast. By releasing information
regularly, you use it to help alleviate the fears of your people. Do you mind if we do
the same back home?"
"...Do as you please," I said.
I mean, it wasn't like it would be hard to imitate. It wasn't something I could
forbid her from doing, either.
"Thank you," said Jeanne. "How do you come up with such advanced ideas?"
"This is advanced?" I asked. "It was pretty normal in the world I came from."
"The world you came from... Of course." Jeanne's smile suddenly vanished.
As I was wondering what was up, Jeanne straightened her posture and bowed
deeply. She bent over until her hips were at a right angle. It was a deep enough bow
that, if the custom existed in this world, she might have done a formal kowtow
instead.
I was befuddled by her suddenly lower profile. "Wh-What's wrong? This is so
sudden."
"You've been horribly inconvenienced because of us," said Jeanne. "In my absent
sister's place, I apologize."
"You're apologizing?" I asked, startled.
When Jeanne raised her face, she bore a pained expression. "This is about the
hero summoning. It was our request that caused the Elfrieden Kingdom to summon
you to this world. My sister Maria deeply regrets that you, who had done us no
wrong, were cut off from your homeland and called to this world. Please, forgive us."
With those words, Jeanne lowered her head once more.
...Oh, is that all? I thought.
"Raise your head. It's all in the past."
"But..." she said.
"Yeah, at first, I was mad, and I worked my hardest not to get turned over to the
Empire," I said. "Now, though... when I think about it more calmly, the Empire has no
reason to want a hero."
At first, I thought they'd wanted a hero to fight back against the threat of the
Demon Lord's Domain, but the more I came to understand this world, the more I
realized that probably hadn't been it.
Right now, the Demon Lord's Domain had stopped expanding. The expansion of
the border meant that the monsters that came south were spread further, and the
various countries could handle them. It was a stalemate; with neither side able to
push forward, the situation was more or less stable.
In other words, the Empire wasn't in a situation where it would want a hero. A
superpower like the Empire had had no need to cling to a summoning ritual that the
kingdom itself wouldn't have been sure they could pull off in the first place.
Besides, when they'd summoned a hero, they'd gotten me.
While a guy who could use incredible magic with power comparable to a weapon
of mass destruction would be one thing, or a guy who could equip invincible sword
and armor, a guy from another world with a power that happened to make
administrative tasks a little easier wasn't going to be of any interest to the Empire
with its massive population and the large number of personnel it had as a result.
However, that being the case, the Empire had asked the kingdom to perform the
hero summoning. After considering the matter with Hakuya for some time, we had
come to a certain conclusion. It was...
"That was an attempt to show consideration, right?" I asked. "Towards a kingdom
that couldn't pay the war subsidies."
Jeanne reacted with startled surprise. "...Yes," she said with resignation.
...I knew it.
In the Mankind Declaration, which the Empire had proposed, it said, "Countries
that are distant from the Demon Lord's Domain will provide support to those
nations which are adjacent to it and are acting as a defensive wall."
The Empire had wanted the Elfrieden Kingdom, as a country that was distant
from the Demon Lord's Domain, to provide support to the countries adjacent to it. If
they hadn't, there would have been complaints from the other signatories to the
Mankind Declaration.
However, at the time, with the food crisis and financial crisis slowly pushing the
kingdom to the point of collapse, it would have been nearly impossible to find the
money for war subsidies.
"That's why the Empire had the kingdom perform the hero summoning, to give
them the appearance of having provided support," I said. "In order to keep down the
complaints from the other signatories."
"...That's exactly it," said Jeanne.
"Hold on," Juna protested. "This country never signed the Mankind Declaration.
Were we ever obligated to provide support to begin with?"
I shook my head. "It's a fact that this country was benefiting from the defensive
wall the Empire built with the Mankind Declaration. Because we have the Union of
Eastern Nations to the north of us, we didn't have to share a border with the Demon
Lord's Domain." It was also a fact that the Union of Eastern Nations was being
propped up by war subsidies under the Mankind Declaration. "If we benefit from it,
but refuse to fulfill the obligations set out under it because we're a non-signatory,
that's going to breed resentment from the signatory countries. With that as a
pretext, Amidonia might have been able to create an alliance of several nations to
invade the kingdom. With the Empire taking the lead."
"No..." Juna said, at a loss for words, but this was the truth.
In the recent war, because the only nation plotting to invade had been the
Principality of Amidonia, we had been able to induce them to do so under conditions
that were favorable to us, and defeat them.
From Amidonia's perspective, I was sure they'd wanted to make all of the land
they occupied their own, but if they had roped in the mercenary state Zem, the
Republic of Turgis, and some portion of the Union of Eastern Nations, along with the
Imperial Army, there would have been nothing the kingdom could have done to
avoid a total collapse.
I looked Jeanne straight in the eye and said, "With your goal of uniting all
mankind to prepare for the menace of the Demon Lord's Domain, the Empire
wanted to avoid that. That's why you demanded war subsidies from non-signatories,
and for those that couldn't pay, you tried to find a workable substitute to appease
the signatories, right? In the kingdom's case, that was a hero."
"...I have no words," said Jeanne.
"To be brutally honest, the Empire didn't even expect the hero summoning to
work, did it?" I asked. "Okay, this being a world with magic, you might have thought
they'd summon something, but you can't have had high expectations for something
the kingdom itself didn't think would work. Even if the summoning had failed, you
would have been satisfied by the fact it was performed."
"That's right. But, as a result of that, you were summoned," Jeanne said, looking
troubled. "What's more, ever since you were summoned here and given the throne
by Sir Albert, you've worked actively to rebuild this country, even finding the money
to provide war subsidies. While my sister was grateful, she also regretted forcing
such a heavy burden on you when you were called here at our convenience. We truly
are sorry."
Jeanne bowed once more.
I sighed, saying, "I already told you, it's in the past. Now that I now the situation, I
don't resent you for it. It's not like I don't have a lingering attachment to my old
world, but... but..."
I glanced from Juna, with a tense look on her face, to Tomoe.
There was nobody left who would wait for me to come home in my old world.
Since coming to this world, I had found people here who would. Whenever I
returned to the castle, Liscia, Aisha, Juna, and Tomoe would be there to say,
"Welcome home." Having felt the loneliness of solitude, that was something I never
wanted to lose again.
"I've found people here I want to protect," I said simply. "That's why I'm not too
hung up over it. Mind you, if you feel bad enough about it that you'll recognize my
sovereignty over Van, I'm not gonna complain."
When I said that jokingly, Jeanne raised her face quietly shook her head. "...Sadly,
I, too, have a family to protect."
Neither of us averted our gaze. We each looked the other straight in the eye.
"I see... well, we'll have to negotiate, then," I said.
"Yes," Jeanne said. "Please, go easy on me when the time comes."
With an "I'll take my leave," Jeanne turned her back and faded into the crowd. She
vanished as quickly as she had appeared.
"The presences I felt surrounding us have vanished, too," Juna commented. "It
looks like Jeanne's bodyguards have withdrawn."
"She really did just come to say hello, huh..." I looked in the direction Jeanne had
left. "Jeanne Euphoria... the pragmatic younger sister who supports the idealistic
saint."
If it had only been Amidonia's crown prince, Julius, I'd have to contend with, I felt
there was no way I could have lost at the negotiations. But with Jeanne mediating, I
wouldn't be able to rely too much on his weaknesses. If I tried to get too crafty and
they saw through it, there was the risk that they might turn things to his advantage
by pointing it out.
I'll have to let Hakuya know he's going to need to give his all at the negotiations,
too...
I slapped my cheeks, trying to psyche myself up for it.
That evening...
"Liscia, Aisha," I said. "I brought souvenirs for you two."
Having returned to the castle, I gave Liscia and Aisha the gifts I'd bought for
them. Liscia got that choker made of blue leather with silver foil scattered around
like stars, while Aisha got the pale lipstick.
Liscia immediately put the choker around her neck, fingering the bird clasp with
a satisfied smile. "Thanks, Souma. I'll treasure it."
The slightly shy smile wasn't like Liscia, and I couldn't help but stare at her,
enthralled.
Whew, I was relieved that she liked it. It suited her well, and I was glad I'd bought
it.
Meanwhile, Aisha...
"Ohhhh, Your Majesty! To think you would bestow a gift even on one such as me,
I am awed and delighted! When you left me behind, I felt down, but this has lifted my
spirits as high as the heavens!"
"W-Well, good for you... Aisha..." Juna said.
"Yes, Madam Juna! With this lipstick, I swear I will polish my femininity! Then,
His Majesty will never let me leave his side... heh heh heh."
"G-Good luck with that..."
Aisha was a little too thrilled. The happy aura beaming from her entire body
seemed to be enough to seriously weird Juna out. Juna, by the way, was also wearing
the hair piece I'd given her.
"Sire! Sire!" cried Aisha. "How is it? Does it look good on me?"
Aisha put on her lipstick and started acting flirty right away. If Aisha hadn't been
a dark elf, and she had been a mystic wolf like Tomoe instead, her tail would have
been wagging like crazy.
When she saw how overexuberant Aisha was, Liscia traced the outline of her
choker with one finger, looking to me. "Don't you think the collar would have been a
better match for Aisha?"
"...Let me go with 'no comment' on that one," I said.