Chapter 4: The Museum in the Royal Capital

It was just after noon on the day I had unexpectedly discovered Ginger Camus.

Having finished recruiting him and having left his shop, Aisha, Roroa, and I

decided to wander around the castle town of Parnam. Roroa was calling it a date. I

was walking through the streets with a pretty girl on each arm.

"Though, even though it's a date, we're not really dressed up for the occasion,"

Roroa said, sounding dissatisfied.

I was dressed in my usual outfit for when I went out in secret, Nine-Headed

Dragon Archipelago Union traveler's fashion (Kitakaze Kozou style), and today the

two of them were wearing hooded robes over the top of their regular outfits. Our

faces were all well known to the public, so we were dressed this way to keep from

making a scene.

"It would seem unavoidable," Aisha said. "If we are discovered, we would not be

able to have our date."

Roroa stuck out her tongue. "True that. Considerin' my position, I really can't

show my face. I'm sure some folks here are none too fond of Amidonia, after all."

Roroa said that jokingly, but I was pretty sure she was right. While our two

countries had been peacefully united in a way that served the interests of both, the

Elfrieden Kingdom and Principality of Amidonia had been enemies for a long time.

That fact wasn't going to go away so easily.

I was overcome by a feeling I couldn't quite describe, but Roroa put on a bold

smile. "Well, I'm a real lovable gal, it's only a matter of time before I grab the people

of the kingdom by the heartstrings. I'm more worried about you, Darlin'. If you don't

learn to be more sociable, the people of the principality'll hate your guts."

"...I suppose you're right," I murmured. I thought Roroa's ability to blast away

negativity like this was wonderful. "I can't act like you do, Roroa, so I'll slowly but

surely protect the people of the principality's lives and property, then get them to

recognize me as their king."

"Hee hee," Roroa giggled, hugging me. "Also, if you're seen actin' all lovey-dovey

with li'l ol' me, don't ya think that'd put the folks from the principality at ease, too?"

Aisha pulled her off of me. "W-We are in the middle of a public street. What you

are doing is enviably scandalous!"

"Hmph, what's the matter with it? We're on a date, ain't we?" Roroa demanded.

"How's about you get all lovey-dovey with him too, Big Sister Ai?"

"I would love nothing more than to do so, but... out of consideration for the First

Primary Queen, Liscia, who allowed us to go on this date, perhaps we should not get

too carried away?" Aisha pointed out.

Aisha was the Second Primary Queen, while Roroa was the Third Primary Queen.

In this country where polygamy was commonly practiced by the nobility, knightly

class, and wealthy merchants (polyandry, while less common, existed as well), it

seemed that respecting this sort of pecking order among the queens or wives was

key to preventing later troubles in the home.

Roroa seemed dissatisfied. "Y'say that, but Darlin' and Big Sister Liscia've been

betrothed for, like, half a year, ain't they? They may not've gotten down to baby

makin' yet, but they've gotta have kissed, at least, right?"

Roroa looked in my direction, forcing me to blatantly avert my gaze. If I were to

list the romantic things I had done with Liscia, there was resting my head in her lap,

a kiss on the cheek, sleeping next to each other, and that was about it.

Having discerned that from my demeanor, Roroa looked at me coldly. "...Darlin'.

You ain't gonna tell me you haven't even done that, are you?"

"No, you see... I've been very busy, and..."

"Don't ya feel bad for Big Sister Cia, doin' that to her?" Roroa snapped.

"So you think that, too, Roroa!" Even Aisha jumped in to agree. "I know you were

hesitant at first, sire, because the betrothal was something decided on without either

your or Lady Liscia's permission. However, now, it's plain for all to see that you love

one another. Given our position, we cannot receive your love and affection before

Lady Liscia has, so, please, flirt with her more."

There was nothing I could say in response. Aisha had watched my relationship

with Liscia develop from a fairly early stage, after all.

Roroa had her arms crossed and was nodding and grunting in agreement. "Yeah,

yeah. Then ya can give us just as much of your love when you're done."

"...I understand," I said. "When the time comes, I'll take care of doing that with

you 'properly.'"

"Yep, that's a promise. Ya better," Roroa said condescendingly.

Here I was, being chided for my behavior by a girl three years my junior... I felt a

little pathetic, but Roroa laughed and waved her hand.

"But, well, here we are, on a date already, so we've gotta have fun."

"Indeed," Aisha said, nodding. "Lady Liscia did say to enjoy ourselves today, after

all."

They had a point.

"Well, it is a rare day off," I said. "Was there anywhere the two of you wanted to

go?"

Aisha said, "In that case, I would..."

"Also, no food until later."

"Shot down before I could even speak?! Wh-Why is that?" Aisha cried with eyes

like a chihuahua that had been forced to wait for a treat.

"When I eat with you, I'm always stuffed full by the time we're done, and that

makes it hard to move around," I said. "I promise we'll stop somewhere for food

later, so let's go somewhere else first."

"Ah, okay. If that's why..."

"That said, it ain't been that long since I first came to the capital," Roroa said,

tilting her head in thought. "I dunno what's here yet. Is there anywhere you'd

recommend as a date spot, Darlin'?"

"A date spot, huh..." I murmured.

In my former world, the theater, the amusement park, the zoo, the aquarium,

karaoke, and the arcade would all have been options, but not in this world. It was

that lack of leisure facilities that had made the entertainment programs over the

Jewel Voice Broadcast such a hit.

Well, if I was looking for a date spot other than a place for entertainment... Ah.

"That place might be good," I said.

"What, what? Did ya come up with somethin' good?" Roroa asked eagerly.

"It's a facility we opened just the other day, actually, and I think there should be

plenty of interesting things to see if we go there," I said. "Though it's more of an

educational institution than a leisure facility."

"Learnin', even though we're on a date? What kinda place is that?" Roroa asked,

tilting her head to the side.

"The Royal Parnam Museum," I said. "Not that the name's terribly inventive."

"So huge?!" Roroa cried out in surprise when we came up to the entrance of the

Royal Parnam Museum and she saw what was on display there. If we'd been talking

about a massive display in front of the National Museum of Nature and Science in

Ueno, it would have been the blue whale, but the Royal Parnam Museum had a

massive skeletal specimen measuring more than 10 meters long out in front of it.

"What're these bones from? Looks like a lizard or somethin'..."

"That's the giant salamander that was lurking in the area beneath the royal

capital," I explained.

"Salamanders get that big? The ones livin' in Amidonia grew to maybe two

meters at most, but... Wait, this thing was under the royal capital?!"

"Yeah. Talk about a surprise, huh?" I said.

This salamander had been discovered when I'd commissioned the adventurers'

guild to exterminate the wild creatures living in the labyrinth of escape tunnels

under the capital so that they could be repurposed as a sewer system. Or rather, the

ones to find it had been Dece, Juno, and their party. I had even been there to witness

it, albeit through my Little Musashibo doll.

Neither the country nor the guild had anticipated anything so big living under the

capital, so there hadn't been sufficient warning given, and I'd ended up putting Juno

and her group in danger. It was good that they'd managed to retreat somehow, but

when I thought about how things might have taken a turn for the worst, there was a

lot I had to reflect on.

Now, about that salamander: as soon as I'd received the report from Juno and her

party, I'd dispatched a unit from the Forbidden Army to kill it. Juno and her party

had struggled against the salamander because they hadn't had a mage who could use

the ice-elemental water-type magic that it was weak against. When we'd deployed a

group focused heavily around those who could use that sort of magic, the thing had

gone down easily. The slain salamander had then been dissected, then turned into a

skeletal specimen.

"Well, this is just a replica based on the original bones," I added as I touched the

skeletal specimen all over. We'd have had to worry about thieves making off with it

if we displayed the real thing outside, after all. There was a sign next to it that read:

"This is a 1/1 scale replica, so please try touching it to experience the size for

yourself."

"This sort of thing... How should I say it? It tickles my sense of adventure," Aisha

said, her eyes sparkling. "I think young boys would enjoy seeing it."

"Hrm..." I said. "I thought it might be a good educational experience that helped

stimulate their creativity, so I tried showing the real bones that we keep at the castle

to Rou" (Tomoe's real little brother) "and the other children at the daycare, but they

bawled their eyes out... I got chewed out by Liscia pretty badly after that one."

"What were you even doing?" Roroa asked, looking appalled.

Yeah, it'd have been important to consider their age first, huh.

"That said, while we have been preoccupied with the skeletal specimen, the

building itself is also quite large and impressive. Almost like a noble's manor," Aisha

said, looking at the building.

That was a sharp observation. "No, not 'almost like,'" I said. "We actually

remodeled a noble's manor."

"Is that right?" Aisha asked.

"Yeah. I executed those influential nobles who were colluding with Amidonia and

manipulating the corrupt nobles in the war, remember? This building used to belong

to one of them."

It really was... one massive house.

The main building was as big as the school building of a university with a lot of

history behind it, and then there were two annexes that were also quite big in and of

themselves. There was a well-maintained garden, too, and I had to be impressed

with the wealth this noble had managed to amass while the kingdom was in financial

trouble. According to Hakuya's investigation, they had been taking a cut of the

money that the corrupt nobles had embezzled.

Regardless, when this mansion had become vacant after the noble who owned it

was executed, it had been remodeled as the Royal Parnam Museum. Since it was this

big and impressive a building, letting any of my retainers live in it would have

provoked needless jealousy, and it would also have cost a lot of money to dismantle

it. This had worked out as a perfect solution.

"Oh, when ya put it like that, it sounds like it's probably filled with the grudge of

the nobles and I don't like it..." Roroa said with the corner of her mouth twitching.

"Ah... ah ha ha..." I laughed. "Yeah, well, it looks like there are already rumors.

Like that the armor on display gets up and walks around on its own at night."

"Of course," said Roroa.

"But, you know, using anyone and anything we can is one of those things our

country does, after all."

"Here's hopin' you don't have to use it as a haunted house someday..."

Uh, yeah, I thought. I'd really rather not.

"Anyway, let's go in. It's pretty amazing on the inside, too," I suggested, and we

went inside.

If I had spoken to the person in charge, they would have just let us in, but in

order to slip in with the regular visitors, we paid admission for three people at the

entrance.

The first thing to greet us inside was a lineup of armor. These were the suits of

armor that had been worn by the past commanders of the Royal Guard. They were

no longer used and were gathering dust, so I'd taken this opportunity to drag them

out of storage and donate them to the museum.

They must have drawn Aisha's interest as a warrior herself, because she was

looking at them in admiration. "They are old, but when you have so many lined up, it

makes for quite the spectacle, doesn't it?"

"Hold on, Darlin', what is a museum anyway?" Roroa asked.

"Huh? Even that part wasn't clear to you?" I asked.

Come to think of it, when I'd first established the Royal Parnam Museum, Hakuya

had said, "I hadn't heard the idea before, but that is an interesting facility. I'd very

much like to go look through it myself," hadn't he?

In other words, this was the first museum to be built in our kingdom, and it was

only natural that Roroa and the others wouldn't know what one was. Were there

museums in the Empire, maybe?

"To put it in the simplest terms, a museum is a facility that gathers various things,

has academics study them, and allows the general public to see them in the form of

exhibits," I said. "The goal of the institution is to deepen the understanding of those

who come to see their collection, but it's just fun to see all the novel things on

display. People went on dates there in the world I came from."

"Hmm... It's like puttin' the royal treasury on display for the public, then?" Roroa

asked.

"Yeah," I said. "That's pretty much exactly it. The collection contains things with

literary or artistic value, as well as skeletons and preserved specimens of animals for

their value in the field of natural science."

Then, while I was explaining, I noticed a familiar set of armor in with the

collection.

"Is this not the armor that the Captain of the Royal Guard was wearing?" Aisha

noticed it, too, and asked.

It was true, though its back was turned to us, that silver armor closely did look

like Ludwin's.

But, that's strange, I thought. The only armor that should be on display here is the

armor the state provided to the former captains of the Royal Guard. If I recall, Ludwin's

armor was bought with his own money...

Suddenly, that armor turned to face us.

"Whoa!" I shouted.

"Oh, I'm sorry..." Ludwin said. "Wait, huh? Is that you, Your Majesty?"

Huh? It's actually him?! While I was still shocked by the unexpected appearance

of the man himself, Genia poked her head out from behind him.

"What're you doing, Big Brother Luu?" she asked.

"And Genia's with you, too," I said. "Are you two here on a date?"

Ludwin replied "No," with an exhausted look on his face. "Because you said that

the Royal Guard and the guards would handle security here, we're here for a

meeting on the shift rotations."

"Oh, I see," I said. "Sorry for the trouble."

Because there were a fair number of valuable objects here, I had been forced to

buff up security in a big way. The people managing security needed to be

trustworthy, too, so I'd decided to leave it to the Royal Guard and the guards whose

jobs already included watching and defending.

"And I'm here to set up the security system Big Brother Luu asked me to install,"

Genia put in. "There're places where I have spells set to go off if you get close to

them, so don't try to go anywhere you shouldn't."

"Now that's scary..." I said.

The overscientist Genia's security system... The scary part was I couldn't predict

what might happen. I was imagining something like one of the complex contraptions

you'd see on P*thagoraSwitch. One that ultimately chucked the offenders out the

front door.

"By the way, are you on a date here, sire?" Ludwin asked.

"We sure are," Roroa jumped in, wrapping herself around my arm. "It's the three

of us — Darlin', Big Sister Ai, and me."

Ludwin looked confused. "Three of you? But... Ah! I-I see. Well, have fun."

With that said, Ludwin took Genia and left immediately.

It seemed like he almost said something... Was it just my imagination? I wondered.

"Anyway, shall we go?" I suggested to the other two and we moved on.

Along the way Aisha stopped and looked back a number of times. Was something

bothering her?

"Aisha?" I asked.

"...No, it's nothing." Aisha rushed over and wrapped herself around my arm.

It couldn't have been that one of the suits of armor had actually started to move,

and Aisha had noticed and been scared... or anything like that, right? I got worried

and was about to ask, when Roroa tugged on my sleeve.

"Hey, hey, Darlin'. Why're there nothin' but bones on display here?"

When Roroa asked me that in a somewhat bothered tone, I looked in front of me

to see a glass case filled with the reassembled skeletons of various creatures. From a

modern person's perspective, this was a common sight at museums of natural

history, but for the people of this world, it might seem wrong.

"It's like some bizarre ritual's gonna start up at any moment," she complained.

"Ha ha ha! That's not it," I said. "This museum collects and exhibits historical

items, books, and the skeletons and preserved specimens of living creatures, along

with other items of interest to the field of natural science. What we have here are the

bones we happened to excavate while trying to build sedimentation pools. The ones

they've finished researching go on display like this. It's not just animal skeletons;

there are monsters, too."

"Monster skeletons... Is that okay? There're monsters that're nothin' but bones,

ya know?" Roroa said.

"Well... from what the researchers tell me, those sort of skeleton monsters need

magic in their bones, and once the magic is all gone, they're just ordinary bones," I

said. "I don't really get it myself, though."

They had been certified as safe by a professional mage, so I figured they were

fine.

...Probably.

"Still, there sure are a lot of bones," Aisha commented. "Is this a giant deer?" She

sighed in admiration at the fossil that looked like an even more massive version of

the Irish elk. "I have never seen such a massive deer before, not even in the Godprotected Forest. It's surprising to hear a creature like this once lived near the

capital."

"Yeah," I said. "The way they stir up the imagination like that is one of the best

parts about museums."

"Yeah, the appeal of that's not totally lost on me," Roroa said, staring at the

fossilized remains of a massive water buffalo-like creature. "I wonder what the goin'

price for a creature like this'd be. You could get a lot of meat out of it, but it wouldn't

have much flavor... Though, at this size, they ain't gonna be much use for farming, I'm

sure. I guess meat really is the best use for them..."

"That's what you're imagining?! How to sell them off?!"

"Meat, is it?" Aisha asked with an audible slurp.

"Oh, shoot," I muttered. "Now Aisha's totally imagining them roasted whole."

W-Well, it wasn't like everyone was going to have the same reaction to seeing the

same things, and making a fuss while we looked at the exhibits like this was fun, too.

Even if we had to do it quietly.

"Huh?" I muttered.

When I stood in front of what seemed to be the bones of ancient people,

something stood out to me. With a human skeleton and a beastman skeleton on

display side by side, I could see quite a few differences. The beastman's skeleton had

bones for the tail, as well as long canine teeth.

"What is it, sire?" Aisha asked, so I tried to explain it while not really

understanding what I meant myself.

"No, when I see them side by side... It's a mystery to me, you know."

"A mystery, you say?"

"Yeah. Like, how did they evolve to be like this?"

I'd been studying the humanities, so I was no expert on biology, but I knew about

the theory of evolution at least. Humans had evolved from ape-like ancestors, and

those ape-like ancestors had evolved from rat-like creatures, or something like that.

So what had the many diverse beastmen, elves, and other races evolved from?

Actually, did the theory of evolution even apply to this world? Though this was

partly because there hadn't been much of a search for them, we hadn't found fossils

from a hundred million years ago like the dinosaurs on Earth, so it was possible

things had a different origin here...

"Darlin'. Darlin'." Roroa's voice brought me back to reality from the sea of

thoughts I had fallen into.

"Huh? Ah! What is it, Roroa?"

"Geez," she said. "We're supposed to be on a date here, so you can't be ignorin'

the girls you're with and starin' off with a difficult expression on your face."

"Ahh... Sorry, sorry."

True, this was no time for me to be getting lost in thought and neglecting Aisha

and Roroa. There was too little evidence for me to come to any conclusions anyway.

"Well, shall we get movin' on to the next thing?" she asked.

With Roroa pulling me along me by the arm, Aisha and I followed after her with

wry smiles on our faces.

When we left the floor with the creature exhibit and went up the stairs, next were

the various implements of civilization. Tools that people from long ago had used

were lined up on display here. Ancient weapons, armor, farming implements, and

even yellowed paper that looked every bit as old as it was.

"What's this floor all about?" Roroa asked.

"A while back, in order to find the money for war subsidies to the Empire and to

fund my reforms, I reorganized the castle's treasury," I said. "At the time, treasures

were sorted into three categories: Category A (items with historical or cultural

value), Category B (items without historical or cultural value but with monetary

value), and Category C (items related to magic, or which otherwise required caution

in how they were used). We only sold off the stuff in Category B, and most of the

stuff on display here was sorted under Category A. Basically, this is the 'History

Floor.'"

Roroa furrowed her brow. "Historical or cultural value... Does this yellowed

paper have it, too?"

"Naturally," I said. "That's a letter sent by a former king to one of his retainers.

Letters are an intimate part of a people's lives. They're a valuable resource for

information on the time in which the writers lived."

"I get that it's valuable, but I wouldn't go out of my way just to come see it," she

said.

"Well, how about this one over here?" I asked. "This one's a syrupy love letter

written by a certain noble from long ago to the object of his affections, along with the

reply gently letting him down that the lady sent back."

"Sure, that's interestin', but... don't you think that noble's cryin' in his grave?" she

objected.

"...You could be right."

While it was academically valuable, we were still putting something that the man

himself probably wanted to forget on display.

Roroa crossed her arms and groaned to herself. "But, letters and tools, it's all a bit

plain. Don't ya have a chief attraction of some sort that could draw a crowd?"

"I have just the thing to show you." I led Roroa and Aisha in front of a certain

display. When they saw it...

""Fwah?!"" they both burst out despite themselves.

It was a cool yet beautiful suit of armor that was made of silver and ornamented

with gold. It had been lit up using lightmoss, like was used in the streetlamps,

making it shine almost blindingly. The bracers, the boots, and even the sword and

shield were all of the same design, and the breastplate and shield bore the crest of

the royal house of Elfrieden in a way that couldn't possibly have emphasized it more.

"This is the chief attraction of this museum," I said, pointing to it like a tour guide

might. "'The Full Equipment of the First Hero King.'"

It was the equipment of the first hero who was said to have been summoned

from another world, just like I had been, and who had built the Elfrieden Kingdom. It

was on display right in front of us. Incidentally, this was the genuine artifact. If we'd

tried to make replicas, they'd look cheap, and it would be expensive, too.

Both Aisha and Roroa's eyes went wide at the majestic sight of it.

"What beautiful equipment..." Aisha murmured.

"You said it... Wait, this is a real national treasure, ain't it?!" Roroa burst out.

"Well, I guess you could call it that, yes."

"Is it really okay for you to be puttin' it on display in a place like this?" Roroa

demanded, holding her temples as she did, but I laughed it off.

"I looked into it, and the only enchantment on this equipment is one that boosts

the wearer's magic resistance ridiculously high. Something like the armor the

Empire's Magic Armor Corps wears. Since it's the armor of the Hero King, it'd be

problematic to let anyone but me use it, and there're probably not going to be many

chances for me to use it, either. If it was just going to be sitting and gathering dust in

the royal treasury, I figured having it on display here was a more effective use for it."

If more people came to the museum to see it, it would help cover the cost of

running the museum. The problem was keeping it guarded, but that was what I had

an elite unit from the Forbidden Army on security detail here for.

After watching me confidently explain all this, Roroa sighed. "Good grief...

Wouldn't Big Sister Cia pitch a fit if she heard about it?"

Oh...! Yeah, that was for sure. These items could have been said to be the face of

the country.

"W-Well, it's not like I'm selling them off or anything," I said. "I'm putting them to

good use here, so I don't think there's any need to go out of my way to tell Liscia

about it..."

"Um... I think it's probably too late for that," Aisha said apologetically, at which

point I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Huh?"

"Sooouuuma?"

When I turned around, Liscia was standing there with a smile on her face. Behind

her was Juna, with her hands held together as if to say she was sorry.

"Wh-What are the two of you doing here?" I stuttered.

"I said I'd let Roroa have this one, but I never said I wouldn't secretly be following

you," Liscia said, taking a tone that made it sound like she had done nothing wrong

and had the right to be upset with me.

"I'm sorry," Juna added apologetically. "We were supposed to just watch over you

from the shadows..."

They'd been following us all this time?!

Aisha nodded knowingly. "So the presence that I felt really was the two of you."

"Aisha?! If you noticed, you could have told me..."

"Souma!" Liscia barked.

"Y-Yes?!"

From the next little while, it was time for Liscia to lecture me. We would be

causing trouble for the other visitors if we did it in front of the exhibit, so we

relocated to a corner of the garden and she made me kneel in front of her on the

lawn while she lectured me.

What did I think I was doing with national treasures? How dare I, as one who was

summoned as a hero, put the hero's equipment on display like some curiosity? I

needed to have more awareness of my role as king! It went on, and on, and on. Liscia

was too serious for her own good, so she couldn't stand it when I didn't do these

things properly.

"Um... Lady Liscia, it's not as if His Majesty meant any harm," Aisha said.

"He did it for the benefit of this country, so cut him some slack," Roroa added.

"This is Lady Roroa's day to go on a date, so I think you've lectured him enough..."

Juna murmured.

Aisha, Roroa, and Juna stepped in, so the lecture was comparatively short. Yes,

her lectures were usually longer.

"Honestly, I'll let it slide this time, in deference to you three, but... Listen, Souma,"

Liscia snapped. "Some of the nobles that care about authority hate things like this.

That's why you need to consult with me properly before just doing this sort of thing.

If I, as someone from the Royal House of Elfrieden, give permission, you won't

needlessly upset the nobles."

"...Yes, ma'am," I said humbly. "I'm very sorry."

She was so right that there was nothing I could say in response. The reason Liscia

would lecture me for so long was that she truly cared for my well-being. I knew that,

so I gladly accepted it.

Once the lecture was over and done with, Roroa clapped her hands twice. "Now

then, let's get back to that date, shall we?"

"Ah! Sorry, Roroa," Liscia said guiltily. "Sorry for coming along after saying I'd let

you have it to yourselves."

"Hmm, well, it's not like I don't understand how you two feel. Ain't much I can do

about it now that you're here, anyway, so let's go around together." Roroa wrapped

herself around Liscia's arm fawningly. "We've got quite a crowd here, so how's about

some shopping?"

"That sounds good," Liscia nodded. "Why don't we have Souma carry everyone's

bags as a punishment?"

"I-I'm starting to get hungry, you know," Aisha complained.

"Hee hee! Then why don't we go to Cafe Lorelei first?" Juna giggled.

"""Sounds good."""

Before I knew it, our plans for the afternoon had been decided without my being

able to get a word in edgewise.

When faced with these powerful girls, even if I was the king or the hero, I was no

match for them.

"Come on, Souma, let's hurry along," Liscia announced, taking my hand.

"There's more fun to be had yet, Darlin'," Roroa added, grabbing the other one.

Somehow, as they pulled me along by the arms, I felt like I was being shown

exactly what the future balance of power between us was going to look like.

By the way, we discussed the matter of the hero's equipment later, and settled on

displaying it just once a year for a limited time only. It meant less security was

needed, and the event would feel like something special, so that was good.