Final Chapter: In the Snow (part 3)

Yet, just from hearing my plan to enrich the country and

strengthen the military, you turned over the throne to me. With a betrothal to Liscia

as a nice bonus. That did give me the freedom to move, but... it was also unnatural.

Why were you able to give your crown to some kid from another world whom you

had only just met so easily?"

Sir Albert listened to me in silence. It seemed he meant to answer only once he

had heard everything I had to say. In that case, I might as well ask him everything I

had to ask at once.

"The second concerns Georg's devotion. Our former General of the Army, Georg

Carmine, took all of the blame on himself while committing suicide and taking all of

those who might become my enemies with him. Looking at the result, and even

considering the letters Liscia sent to try to convince him, I have to think that Georg

had prepared this plan in advance. That's bizarre, too. I only met Georg once at the

very end. He put his life on the line for this plan, so he shouldn't have been able to do

it without trust in and loyalty to me."

Albert was silent.

"Georg and I weren't even passingly acquainted. There was no way he could feel

loyalty toward someone he'd never even met. Well, who was his loyalty toward,

then? I can only think... it would be you, the former king."

I had tried to verify that when I'd met Georg. But: "When the proper time comes, I

am sure that person will tell you themselves" was all that the man would say. Today

must have been that proper time he was talking about.

"Lastly, why did you refuse to meet me up until today? If you were waiting for

everything to be settled, you could have done that after the victory of Amidonia or

the annexation. Why did I have to wait until today for an opportunity to meet you? I

want to hear that, too."

"...Is that everything?" Albert asked.

"More or less," I said. "Let me ask about the finer details as I listen to your

explanation."

"I understand." Nodding, Sir Albert began to speak at a relaxed pace. "First, I want

to say, there is one thing that connects all three of those points you raise."

"One thing?"

"Before I explain that, I want to answer your three questions. It was because we

were coming to a decision. On whether we should answer you or not. We thought it

might be best to continue telling you nothing..."

I was silent.

"However, my heart is not so strong that I can keep the sins I've committed

locked away inside it," he added.

The sins he'd committed? What was he talking about?

"Sir Souma... Have you ever wished you could live your life over once more?"

Albert suddenly asked me.

I answered him, somewhat suspicious. "...All the time."

A lot had happened since I'd been handed the throne. I had carried out disaster

relief, and experienced war. I couldn't help but think... hadn't there been another

way? A better way? Couldn't I have saved more lives? Even when it came to those I

fought as enemies and cut down, I sometimes thought that, maybe, we could have

come to an understanding. Even though I knew it wasn't reasonable to think that.

"But why do you ask?" I went on.

"What I am about to tell you is the story of a certain world, a certain country, and

a certain foolish king," Albert said.

With that introduction, Sir Albert began to smoothly relate this tale.

◇ ◇ ◇

In a certain country, there was a king.

The king was not wise, but nor was he a fool. He did not govern well, but he did

not govern poorly, either. That was the mediocre sort of king he was.

In a time when the world was stable and the country was already set up for

success, he would have been called a good king without faults. However, in his time,

the Demon Lord's Domain appeared, and the threat of monsters threw the world

into chaos.

The fires of war might not have spread to his country yet, but there was a food

crisis and the economy was slowly inching toward collapse. The mediocre king could

do nothing effective to deal with these issues.

Then, one day, there was a request from the great land in the west to carry out

the hero summoning told of in this king's kingdom. It was worded as a request, but

he had virtually no option to refuse it. So the mediocre king carried out the hero

summoning as requested.

That ritual succeeded when no one thought it would, bringing a young man from

another world to the kingdom. The king struggled with the question of whether to

turn the young man over to the great country in the west. This was because, if he lost

this boy, he would be letting go of his key to negotiations with the great nation in the

west.

The young man who was summoned told the struggling king this:

"If you mean to fight the demons, you should enrich the country and strengthen

the military."

...This story sounded familiar.

However, the developments from here on differed from the story I knew.

Hearing what the young man had to say, the king sensed the man had gifts he

himself did not, and decided to appoint him to the post of prime minister. The young

man responded to his expectations and worked desperately, carrying out various

reforms. Thanks to that, the kingdom began to show signs of recovering from its

food crisis and financial difficulties.

However, there were those who found the young man a nuisance.

It was the nobles of that country. Those without very good reputations

themselves.

They had been angry when a youth they had never heard of before was chosen as

the prime minister, but they were even more incensed when he began his reforms.

The young man had rooted out corruption to find the funding he needed, carrying

out reforms that cut into the wealth of the upper class.

They visited the king many times, trying to persuade him he was harming the

country and should be removed from power.

However, the young man had an ally. The general of that country's army.

The sober and honest General of the Army was able to accurately judge the young

man's talents and became his backer. However, the nobles of ill-repute were not

amused by this development, only intensifying their slander against him.

Hearing their libelous words day in and day out, the king gradually became

stricken with uncertainty.

It was true that the young man was gifted, but he had far too many enemies. The

country might be split if things were left as they were.

With that in mind, the king made a decision that, in retrospect, he never should

have.

The young man was removed from his post as prime minister.

Having been dismissed, the young man went to stay with the General of the Army

at his castle. The king felt sorry for the young man, but this was to prevent the

splitting of the country. Ultimately, it would be saving the young man's life. That was

how the king convinced himself.

However, that was not the end of it all.

The nobles of ill-repute were more persistent than the king had thought. No, if

anything, considering their secret ties, it was best to read it as them not being able to

leave the young man be. That year, the neighboring state which had a long-running

enmity with the kingdom began deploying its forces along the border.

The General of the Army dispatched the troops under his command in the Army

to intercept them, confronting those forces.

That was when it happened.

As if they had been waiting for this moment, the nobles' forces rose up, attacking

the city where the General of the Army's castle was. When you consider the timing of

it all, the nobles had probably been collaborating with the neighboring country.

Because the General of the Army's land had once been the territory of the

neighboring country, it had been easy for them to concoct the scheme. Then, the

neighboring country moved to snuff out the young man who had the potential to

become a serious threat to them.

The city containing the General of the Army's castle was well-fortified, but the

Army had been mostly dispatched to the border, leaving less than 500 troops in the

garrison. The opposing force led by the nobles numbered 10,000.

The General of the Army remained in the city, and he managed a diligent defense,

but... greatly outnumbered, the General of the Army was eventually struck down.

The city burned, and the young man disappeared like ashes among those flames.

It was only a few days after the nobles had raised their troops, and the king was

unable to do anything.

The Army, having lost their commander, was unable to maintain the battle line

against the forces of the neighboring country and fled in defeat. The forces of the

neighboring country joined up with the nobles, and together they used their

momentum to advance on the royal capital.

The king hurriedly tried to bring together an armed force to meet them in battle,

but... he couldn't. In the end, he had left the young man and the General of the Army

to die.

The soldiers of the Army rebelled against him and returned to their own lands,

the units of the Air Force were few in number, and the Navy was far from the capital

and preoccupied with defending their own domain.

His last resort was to recruit volunteer soldiers from among the common folk,

but even that had failed.

The young man's reforms had angered the nobility, but they had saved the

people. To the people, the young man had been a savior who had come to them in

their time of need, and they felt no kinship with the king who had stripped him of his

post. Ultimately, like the young man before him, the king found himself encircled by

an enemy that hopelessly outnumbered him. In time, he would be killed just like the

young man. If there was one difference between them, it was that he lacked the

General of the Army who had been willing to lay down his life.

At this point... what he faced could only be called karmic retribution.

He had brought it upon himself by believing the slanderous lies of those who

would become his enemies, and stepping on those who truly cared for the country.

◇ ◇ ◇

As I listened to Sir Albert's story, I was at a loss for words.

He spoke of another present. When I had been summoned to this world, not

knowing what the Empire truly wanted, I had talked about enriching the country

and strengthening the army because I hadn't wanted to be turned over to them

before I'd known better. I'd thought I would be made to implement my ideas as one

bureaucrat among many, and that I would be able to find the money to pay the war

subsidies the Empire was requesting. However, because Sir Albert had given me the

throne, I had ended up manning the helm of this country.

What would have happened if he hadn't given me the throne back then?

If I had been operating not as the king, but as the prime minister... the future

might have turned out exactly the way Sir Albert had described. The world Sir Albert

spoke of gave me considerable room for thought, and it was so realistic that I

couldn't imagine it was a fabrication. I thought it was a fairly accurate simulation.

But in that case, there were things I didn't understand. It was rude to say it like

this, but Sir Albert didn't seem like the kind of person who had that degree of

foresight to me. I couldn't see him simulating things so accurately.

"You speak as if you've seen it yourself," I said.

"Because I did see it myself," Albert said. "No... Rather, I was shown it."

"You were shown it?" I asked.

"Indeed. By my wife's ability."

His wife's ability? I looked at Elisha despite myself, and she returned the look

with a broad smile.

"Did you know that my wife is a user of dark-type magic, just like you are?"

Albert asked.

"I had heard that, yes. Though even Liscia didn't seem to know the details."

"This is something known only to a select few, so I ask you not to speak of it to

anyone else," said Albert. "My wife's ability is to transfer memories into the past."

Sir Albert moved on to continue his story.

◇ ◇ ◇

The king who was about to have everything taken from him by the nobles was

gripped with a deep sense of regret.

Why had he dismissed the young man?

Why had he not valued him more?

If he had not been shaken by the nobles slanderous lies, if he had instead taken

the hands of the young man and the General of the Army, if he had continued with

reforming the country, at the very least, he would not be in the difficulty in which he

now found himself.

Were he truly rotten, this is where he might have raged, "This is all the

summoned young man's fault" or "If not for him, it would never have been like this,"

ignoring his own responsibility. However, this king might have been foolish and

weak, but he was generally soft on others, so the idea never occurred to him.

What he did think was that he had needed to value the young man more.