Chapter 5: Weighing Nostalgia Against the Future (part 7)

Juno put her hands on her hips, making an angry face. "What're you two

whispering about? Seems suspicious."

"No, it's nothing suspicious at all, really..." I said.

When Juno stared at me with her unyielding eyes, it was kind of awkward to be

there. That was when Carla and Owen, who had finished wiping out the brigands,

returned.

"What were you doing, master?!" Carla yelled. "Going to the front yourself like

that?!"

"Gahaha!" Owen laughed. "I saw that. The sword techniques I taught you came in

handy, didn't they?"

Seeing this as my chance to break out of the current atmosphere, I slipped out

from the middle of the Liscia-Juno sandwich and rushed over to the two of them.

"Ah! Hey! I want a proper explanation!" Juno called after me.

Ignoring Juno's complaints, I asked Carla and Owen, "Good work, you two. So,

who were those guys, anyway?"

"From what I was able to gather, it seems it was a slave trader and men in his

employ," said Carla.

"A slave trader?" I repeated.

"You nationalized the slave trade recently, master," she explained. "I hear that

you made the qualification exams more rigorous, too. That drove slave traders from

other nations out of the country, and slavers from our own country who've failed to

qualify have been leaving for other countries, too. These were a group of slavers

who failed the qualification exam."

I had turned slave traders into public servants just the other day. I couldn't

abolish the system of slavery yet, but to make it something that existed in name only,

I was working to make it so slaves went from being treated as objects to being

treated as laborers and people. In order to accomplish that, I'd made it so that

slavers who treated their slaves like objects and abused them would fail the

qualification exam.

"But why would people like that attack the refugees?" I asked.

"In order to fund their flight abroad, they meant to abduct women and children

who looked like they would fetch a good price, no doubt," said Carla. "Because the

refugees aren't people of this country, they must have thought the officials wouldn't

act proactively to protect them."

"As if we wouldn't!" I shouted.

"I-I'm not the one you need to be telling that," Carla said with a troubled look on

her face, snapping me back to my senses. True, that wasn't something for me to say

to Carla.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I'm sorry for losing my composure there."

"No..."

"Carla, I'm sorry, but could you fly back to the castle and report what happened

here to Hakuya?" I asked. "I'm sure he'll send out notice to those who need to know

and think about the necessary measures right away."

"Yes, sir. I understand."

No sooner than she had said that, Carla spread her wings wide and rose into the

air, flying toward the castle at top speed. In that instant, I caught a glimpse of her

garter belt, so I hurriedly looked away.

No, I didn't see anything more important. So, please, Liscia, don't look at me like

that.

Then, at almost exactly the same time as Carla took off, Hilde returned. "We

finished treating the wounded. They weren't minor wounds, but it's probably due to

that priest's quick work. Their lives aren't in danger. The wounds have already been

closed up with magic."

"I see... That's good..."

"But what are you going to do?" Hilde asked. "It looks like a crowd has gathered

here."

When I looked around, there were refugees who had begun to gather when

they'd heard the commotion. We had managed to keep a low profile so far, so I didn't

want to stand out now. I called Owen and Liscia over.

"Let's let the adventurers hand these guys over to the authorities. We'll go and

meet with the chief of the village as planned."

"Understood, sire," said Owen.

"You don't want to do anything about Juno?" Liscia asked.

"I don't see any good way to explain this situation. Besides, it'd probably be bad

to have it come out that the king was the one inside Little Musashibo all along."

"True, if people found out the king was playing with dolls, that's not exactly

dignified." Liscia nodded to herself, seemingly satisfied.

We then got out of there in a hurry.

"Ah, hey! Wait!" Juno yelled after me when she noticed, but I wasn't about to wait.

So long, pops!

No, wait, she was the thief here.

Leaving the cleanup to Juno and her party, we headed into the center of the

refugee camp to accomplish our original goal of meeting with the chief. After

following our guide for some time, eventually we were led into a large tent that

resembled a Mongolian ger or yurt.

When we entered the tent there was one large human male, sitting cross-legged

with both hands on the ground, bowing his head to us. It was a pose I'd often seen

vassals take toward their lords in period dramas.

The large man, who looked to be around thirty, wore, if I were to describe it

simply, garb that looked to me like Native American clothing or something similar.

He had a tanned, muscular physique, and though it was already quite cold, his

leather clothes were sleeveless. He wore magical-looking paint on his face.

Behind him there was a girl wearing similar attire who was sitting in the same

pose. Her age probably wasn't that different from Liscia or Roroa's. She was a cute

girl with dark brown hair and a rustic simplicity to her. There was a resemblance in

their faces, so these two might be siblings.

"I thank you for coming, Great King of Friedonia," said the man.

"Please, could you not call me Great King, or anything like that?" I said. "I don't

really like that sort of stuff."

I sat down in front of the big man. Not on a chair, but directly on the carpet that

had been rolled out. It was a familiar thing for a Japanese person to do.

From the feel of it, I could tell there were probably wooden boards beneath the

carpet. It didn't seem to have been rolled out directly on the dirt.

Liscia sat next to me, while Owen, Hilde, and Carla, who had already returned, sat

behind us waiting.

The big man said, "I see..." a pensive look on his face. "Then what am I to call

you?"

"King Souma... Your Majesty... call me whatever you want."

"Understood, King Souma. I am Jirukoma. I am the chief of this refugee village. I

hear that you just helped some of our people here, and for that I thank you from the

bottom of my heart." Jirukoma bowed his head deeply.

"I am Souma Kazuya, the one acting as the king of this country," I said. "The ones

who helped them were the adventurers we dispatched here. If you want to thank

someone, thank them."

"No, the adventurers are here because of your support," said Jirukoma. "I thank

you for that, and the supplies you have given us."

"I'll accept your thanks. But, you know, I didn't come here today so you could

thank me, right?"

Jirukoma's expression stiffened. He had to know what I was here for. After all, he

had already spoken many times with the emissaries I'd sent to discuss this matter.

"I've come to push you to make a decision," I said. "You've listened to the counsel

of my emissaries, right? Now that I've come in person, today is the day you must

finally make your decision. Which will you choose?"

"That's...!"

"Stop, Komain," the man said.

"But, Brother!"

The girl tried to rise, but Jirukoma motioned for her to stop.

This girl's name was Komain, huh? They were apparently siblings, just like I had

thought.

Jirukoma told her, "Our words will decide the fate of everyone in this village. We

cannot be quick to anger."

"...I understand." Komain sat back down.

For a moment, Owen and Carla behind me had tensed themselves for a fight, but

Komain had laid down her arms, so to speak, and so they'd calmed down, too.

A heavy air fell over us all.

Perhaps out of concern for that, Liscia spoke up. "Souma, I'd like you to explain

the situation..."

"Right... I want this whole refugee problem solved already," I said. "Because no

good will come, either for our country or for the people living here, from leaving

things the way they are. That's why I've forced the refugees to make a decision."

"A decision?" he asked.

I gave a heavy nod, then said it clearly. "They can abandon their longing for home

and become people of this country, or they can leave."

For the refugees who'd lost their homes to the appearance of the Demon Lord's

Domain, their true wish was to return to their homelands and take back the lives

they once had.

However, in the current situation, there was no indication of when or if that

would be possible.

The major incursion that had been launched into the Demon Lord's Domain had

ended in failure, instilling a fear of the Demon Lord's Domain into the forces of

mankind.

Even the largest nation on the side of mankind, the Gran Chaos Empire, was

unenthusiastic about the idea of another invasion. The nations were focused solely

on keeping the Demon Lord's Domain from expanding any further.

Even if, at some point in the future, something was going to change this situation

for the better, it wasn't going to be in the next few days. It wouldn't be in the next

few months, either. Even with years, it still might be difficult.

That being the case, what should the refugees do in response? Continue to pray

for their return, swearing allegiance to no country while they stay in a foreign land?

...That was no good. That sort of warped arrangement was sure to cause trouble

later.

"The former king turned a blind eye to their presence," I said. "I've had a

mountain of other problems to deal with, so I've carried on that way until today. I've

even provided some support, though only a little."

Jirukoma said nothing.

"But now, with solutions to all of the other problems worked out, I have to tackle

this one. We can't simply provide support forever, and you remaining here illegally

is a problem. We've turned a blind eye until now, but hunting and foraging without a

license is against the law. If we tolerate these illegal acts, it is guaranteed to stoke

resentment from the people of this country."

Because they didn't belong to this country.

For now, there was still an air of sympathy for them because they had lost their

countries when the Demon Lord's Domain had appeared. However, air was air. You

could never tell when the winds might shift.

They had no prospect of returning home. If we supported non-citizens

indefinitely, and continued to overlook their illegal behavior, it wouldn't be long

before the people's resentment boiled over. In the worst case, there could be clashes

between the people and the refugees.

"That's why I've pressed the people here to make a decision," I said. "They can

give up on returning to their homelands and become people of this country, or they

can choose not to give up on returning and leave this country as people of a foreign

land. I'm here today to have them make that choice."

"But, Souma, that's..."

Liscia had a pained look on her face, but I shook my head silently.

"You may think it cruel, but it's necessary."

In the world I'd come from, there was a book that likened a commonwealth to a

monster and its people to countless scales covering it. On the cover of that book, the

monster was depicted as a person larger than a mountain.