Chapter 5: The Legendary Old Man

In the audience chamber of Parnam Castle...

A large number of people were lined up in this place where the hero summoning

and talent award ceremony had been held. These were the bureaucrats of the

finance ministry.

Each wore an exhausted expression on his face.

Their cheeks were sunken, they had bags under their eyes, some wore dry smiles,

while others looked to be on the verge of collapsing. Despite that, each and every

one of them had a twinkle in his eye.

Theirs were the eyes of warriors who had survived a bloody battle.

Since I had become king and launched my reforms to save an economy that was

on the brink of collapse, they had served as my hands and feet, working hard, like

horses drawing a carriage. Anyone who had been working to enrich themselves had

been dismissed, leaving only the serious ones behind. These were people who

worked hard, reluctant to take time off even to sleep.

One of them might spend an entire day comparing the numbers between sets of

documents, while another might spend most of the day on horseback, going around

to ensure funds were being used correctly. They had been spending their days

returning home only to sleep. No... many of them didn't even return home, they just

slept in the castle's nap room, returning to work as soon as they woke.

Some had families.

Some had children.

Some were recently married.

However, the time they would have spent with their families... they cast aside,

continuing to work.

The face of a wife dissatisfied that her husband put work before her, the face of a

child lonely because his father wouldn't play with him, the face of a newlywed wife

sincerely concerned for her husband... They averted their eyes from these faces,

telling themselves it was just for now, and worked diligently.

Earnestly trying to save this country from collapse.

Earnestly trying to protect those in this country whom they loved.

I looked down at them while sitting on the throne. I probably didn't look much

better than they did at this point. While I could rest unused parts of my

consciousness in shifts, I was handling five times my regular workload and working

round-the-clock. While my body might have been fine, I could feel my spirit being

ground down.

"That's a fine look you've all got on your faces, now." I rose, speaking to them in a

quiet voice. Then I went down to them, placing my hand on one thin man's shoulder.

"Your eyes are hollow and lifeless. You've got the face of a ghoul."

They all said nothing.

"I know how it's been," I said. "These days of forgoing sleep, fighting with the

numbers day in and day out, ignoring the pleas of your families that you stop coming

to the castle. You people are my greatest treasure! Take pride in that! With every

moment you've spent putting your souls to the grindstone, you've been saving the

people of this country!"

"""Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"""

Pale and emaciated, anyone could see these men were the indoors-y type, yet

now they roared like barbarians. They thrust their fists into the air, chanting,

"Souma! Souma!" I waited a moment for their fervor to settle, then continued.

"Thanks to all of you, we've managed to secure the funds we need at present.

Now, Project Venetinova can begin in earnest. When this project comes to fruition,

this country's food crisis will be completely resolved. It will be because of all of you

fulfilling your duties, setting this struggling economy straight and finding the funds

to make it happen! In place of the people, I thank you!"

"King Souma!"

"King Souma!"

"You have toiled hard in the shadows for this country! Unlike heroes, your names

won't be left in the history books. However, you have saved far more lives than any

hero could save on the battlefield! I, Souma Kazuya, will remember that fact for all

my life! You are the nameless heroes of this country!"

"Glory to our king!"

"Glory to King Souma and Elfrieden!"

"You've really outdone yourselves," I continued. "Thus, I bestow upon you this

gift. I grant you a five-day vacation, starting tomorrow! Return to your families, rest

your bodies, and restore your spirits!"

"""Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"""

That's the largest cheer yet today, I thought. I can understand how you feel. You're

all starved for rest. I'm sorry for running this place like a sweatshop.

"Truthfully, I want to pay you a bonus, but if I were to dip into the funds you've

worked so hard to find in order to do so, it would defeat the purpose. I'm really

sorry."

They were silent.

"In place of that, after conferring with the prime minister, I've decided to give you

each one expensive bottle from the castle's wine cellar! Have a celebratory drink or

sell it as you please!"

"""Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Your Majesty! King Souma!"""

As I looked at the cheering bureaucrats, I nodded, full of emotion myself.

However, Liscia, who was standing beside me watching, was clearly put off by

this scene.

"Souma... you're exhausted," she said.

"...I won't deny it," I answered.

As soon as we returned to the governmental affairs office, Liscia spoke to me,

seemingly concerned.

Yeah, I shouldn't have been that hyper. Looking back at it, I was acting a little

loopy.

"It's because I was up until almost dawn working. The lack of sleep was giving me

a high," I responded while lying down in the bed set up in the corner of the

governmental affairs office, as I usually did.

"I won't insist it be lavish, but please get your own room," Hakuya had once said

sourly to me. "If the ruler of the nation sleeps in the governmental affairs office, he's

not setting the proper example for his subjects."

But I couldn't give up the convenience of being able to work as soon as I woke up,

so things had stayed as they were. I figured I would probably be sleeping in here

until things settled down a little in the country.

Liscia went to sit down at the end of the bed. In that moment her small, shapely

buttocks suddenly appeared in front of my eyes, so I turned and looked the other

way despite myself. Liscia always wore that tight-fitting officer's uniform, so I could

easily make out the lines of her hips.

"But, Souma, you're able to rest your consciousness in shifts, right?" she asked.

"Huh? Uh... Yeah, sorta. But we were almost at the point where we could afford

the budget for a large-scale project, so I ended up working my full consciousness for

that last push."

When I said that, Liscia sighed a little. "I know you're working hard, but... don't

make me worry. Because you're irreplaceable, all right?"

"Ha ha, if it comes to it... you can just summon another hero, can't you?" I asked.

"You dummy! If you say another word about that, I'll slap you!"

I turned my face to look at Liscia. There was real anger in her eyes.

"Even if we summoned another hero, that person wouldn't be you," she snapped.

"You're the one I want, Souma."

"R-Right..." I faltered.

"Never forget. You're the one I want to be king, Souma. I'll accept no substitutes.

If my father were to demand the crown back, I'd fight him at your side."

When she made that incredible declaration with a straight face, all I could do was

nod my head.

Somehow, it felt like I'd seen a portion of her motherly courage there. Liscia was

going to make an amazing bride someday. That I was (planned to be) the groom,

however, was something I still didn't feel right about.

Liscia seemed satisfied with my response for now. "So? You were talking about a

budget, but what do you need all that money for?"

"Oh, for a start, I was thinking I'd build a city."

"A city?" she asked.

I had Liscia fetch a map of the country from my work desk. Looked at as a whole,

the territory of the country looked like a < shape, and I pointed to the center of it.

"We'll build a coastal city here. Also, we'll be moving forward with road

construction at the same time. If we have a transportation network from a coastal

city to all of the other cities, we can control both marine and land transportation.

That should allow us to make distribution much smoother. Honestly, it's a wonder to

me how such prime real estate has remained untouched up until now."

Incidentally, northeast of that spot was Lagoon City, a coastal city ruled by one of

the three dukes, Navy Admiral Excel Walter. Currently, Lagoon City was the largest

trade port in this country, but at the same time it was also a naval base with docks

for battleships. With a trading port where goods from around the world gathered

and a naval base with its need for confidentiality linked to each other, there were

mismatched priorities. In a crisis, that could lead to trade being stopped.

For that reason, too, it was urgent that we build a new city with a trading port.

"This coastal city will be the beating heart of this country, and the roads that

stretch out from it will be its veins," I explained. "If distribution is smooth, when

there is a shortage of some goods in the south, they can be shipped in from where

they're plentiful in the north. Do you know what that means?"

"Um... You buy goods where the prices have been lowered by abundance, then

resell them in places where the price has risen due to demand... or something like

that?" she asked.

"No, no, I'm not a merchant. The king can't be the one doing that."

"You can't?" She seemed surprised.

"What good would it do to take money from my people when I'm trying to make

them prosperous?" I asked.

Well, if we'd been speaking purely about foreign trade, she'd have been right, but

for domestic trade, we needed to think not as individuals, but as a country.

"Certainly, at first, there will be merchants who do that and make money hand

over fist. However, eventually, the supply shortage will be resolved. Once supply and

demand are in balance, the high prices should gradually come back down. We can

plan for price homogenization across the country. Basically..."

"...people will be able to buy the things that were too expensive for them before?"

she finished.

I gave Liscia's answer a satisfied nod. "Currently, the largest rising demand in the

majority of this country is foodstuffs. In order to stabilize prices on those, we

urgently need to secure distribution routes. Besides, more than half of this country's

border is with the sea. We should be able to harvest a lot of maritime products. If

those can be hauled overland, we can solve the food crisis in no time."

"Even now, we're able to bring dried and pickled goods inland, you know?" she

said.

"Well, can you live on dried and pickled fish forever?" I asked. "Me, I'd get tired of

it."

"Well... Yes, I suppose I would, too."

Dried horse mackerel is tasty, but I definitely wouldn't have wanted to eat it

every day. The salt in it is there to fight bacteria and decay, so you can't change the

flavor, even if you do get tired of it. Fish spoils fast to begin with, and even dried, it

will turn in a matter of days. That was why the speed at which we could ship fish and

shellfish inland was so important.

"That's what the transportation network is for, huh?" she mused.

"Exactly. ...Now, then." I gave a big yawn and closed my eyes. "Let me sleep for a

bit. When I wake up, we'll go to the planned site for the new city together. Ludwin

and his men are probably already there getting started... I need to go see them..."

"Okay." She nodded. "Sleep tight, Souma."

"Yeah, good nigh...?!"

There was a soft, warm sensation on my right cheek. I opened my eyes in shock,

but Liscia was already gone.

Oh... A goodnight kiss... Th-That's what it was, right? They're not that uncommon in

other countries, right? Yeah, it's fine, it's totally normal. Nothing special about it. Liscia

did it casually, I'll bet. There shouldn't be any deeper meaning to it. Probably. I'm sure.

...In the end, I never did manage to get to sleep.

Do you remember how before, when I talked about how the technology of this

country was all messed up, I mentioned that there were steel battleships, only they

were drawn by massive sea dragons? When Liscia and I arrived at the planned site

for the new city, we were greeted by one of those steel battleships.

Battleship Albert.

Bearing the name of the former king, it was the sole battleship in the possession

of the Forbidden Army, and the flagship of the Royal Navy.

Its shape was similar to the Mikasa, which was the flagship of the Combined Fleet

at the time of the Battle of Tsushima. There were two main batteries, one each at the

fore and aft, for a total of four guns, with auxiliary guns along the sides, although the

main batteries and auxiliary guns were all loaded onto the vessel, not fixed artillery.

Also, because it wasn't loaded with an internal combustion engine, the lack of a

smokestack was another difference between the two.

It's power source was a sea dragon. (These looked like plesiosaurs, but with

short, thick necks and goat-like horns.) With a giant sea dragon pulling it, this

battleship could run through the water. For an ordinary ship, one dragon was

enough, but this ship was a two-dragon model.

Now seems like a good time, so let me explain about some of the imbalances in

this country's technology.

You might find it strange that a country which hadn't even reached the industrial

revolution had these sorts of near-modern warships. However, thanks to this

world's magic and mysterious creatures, they were able to do things they otherwise

couldn't.

Even if something is made of iron, if it's been built with the proper calculations

for buoyancy, it can be made to float. In other words, the outer frame of a battleship

can be built even with Middle Ages technology. The reason they hadn't been built

until after the industrial revolution was because the engines that would be needed

to move them didn't exist. In an era where your only means of propelling a boat are

catching the wind with sails or rowing with oars, an iron ship wouldn't be able to do

anything but float there.

However, in this world, there were powerful sea dragons that were strong

enough to tow an iron ship. By training them to pull the ships, ocean navigation

became possible. That was why iron ships were built.

It was the same for the large cannons aboard the battleship.

This world already had gunpowder. Now, that in and of itself wasn't strange.

Even on Earth, there are traces of gunpowder having been used that predate the

appearance of black powder, which was one of China's three great inventions. In the

second century, during the time of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the general

defending Chencang used an explosive weapon (something like a firecracker) to

pulverize the invading army led by Zhuge Liang's weapons.

However, in this world, there were no arquebuses.

Because they had magic for their long-range attacks, they had never developed

firearms. Earth mages could fire off stones like a machine gun, fire mages could drop

attacks that were like napalm bombs, wind mages could launch a vacuum slash from

incredible range, while water mages could, at shorter range, penetrate obstacles

with water pressure.

Furthermore, there were what were called "attachable spells." By attaching spells

with various effects to an object, it could be made stronger or able to cut better.

Because of these, weapons with higher mass, which could have more spells

embedded in them, tended to be more powerful.

Thus, an arrow was stronger than a bullet, a spear stronger than an arrow. To

explain further, with a bullet's small mass, even if you embedded an attack spell in it,

it couldn't pierce a suit of plated armor with a defensive spell embedded in it. It

could be said that this was why they'd never developed guns.

However, while they didn't have rifles, they did have cannons.

This was because, over the water, the use of other elements was limited, so

they'd been developed as a means of making long-range attacks.

This world's magic was said to come from mixing special waves emitted by

people with a substance called magicium in the atmosphere to produce a variety of

phenomena. Magicium had an elemental alignment (with the exception of darkness),

and the composition of the magicium in the atmosphere was greatly influenced by

the terrain. Over the water there was mostly water magicium, meaning magic from

the other elements was weakened there... and so on for other areas.

Because of this, if they were to use magic in naval battles, all elements but water

would be weakened, and they would end up in a situation where water elemental

magic didn't have a long enough range. (But it could still be used to control the

currents for steering, so water mages were assigned to the navy).

Which was precisely why cannons had been developed as a way to attack ships.

Ultimately, technology only develops where there's a demand for it.

End of digression. Now let's get back to the Battleship Albert.

When I saw the Albert, here is what I thought:

What am I supposed to do with one ship? It's only when they're defended by

destroyers and cruisers that a battleship or carrier can exhibit their true power. What I

have here is no more than a scarecrow.

"Well, you know, it was assumed it would be operating alongside the navy."

Liscia's words only made it sadder. Clearly, this thing was a white elephant.

"In that case, if we leave the flagship to the navy, don't you think that would save

us some of the upkeep costs?" I asked.

"B-But... we were able to use it to transport materials, weren't we?" she asked.

"Well... Yeah, I guess..."

We had used this needlessly big battleship to transport materials for the coastal

city. Once we had removed the armaments from inside it, that had freed up a good

amount of carrying capacity. With the transportation network not in place yet at this

stage, it had allowed us to ship the materials here many times faster than we could

have sending them by land.

"But, in that case, it would have been even more effective if we'd built it as a

transport ship to begin with," I said.

"Ugh! Don't be so negative about everything!" she protested.

"I'm fighting with the budget, so when I see something gobbling up funds, I can't

help myself..."

Then Aisha came along, bringing Ludwin with her.

"Your Majesty, I've called Sir Ludwin for you," she said.

"Your Majesty, Your Highness, I welcome you to the planned site of the new city."

The handsome captain of the Royal Guard, Ludwin Arcs, saluted with a smile. At the

castle he always wore silver armor, but here he was dressed more casually. With the

white shirt and leather vest he was wearing, he looked like a handsome sailor who

might show up in a pirate movie.

I was using the Forbidden Army to work on constructing the city. Of course, I was

hiring a large number of craftsmen from the civil engineering and construction guild,

too, but with the scale of the project, they couldn't handle everything.

That's why I was using the Forbidden Army, thinking I would wrap this up

quickly with human-wave tactics. After I'd gone to the trouble of teaching the

soldiers combat engineering skills, it would have been a waste not to use them. I had

two-tenths of the Forbidden Army's standing forces here, with the remaining eighttenths building the transport network that would connect all of the cities.

"So, how is progress on the construction?" I asked.

"We've already finished roping off the site. Work is going steady... or was..."

Ludwin said hesitantly, a bitter smile on his face.

"I keep telling you, you need to stop construction!" one person shouted.

"Listen, old man. We're building this city on the king's orders, get it?" another

answered.

I heard voices arguing inside the tent that served as the construction office.

"I'm telling you this for the king's sake! You mustn't build a city here!"

"You just don't get it, do you, old man? It's not like we're trying to evict you or

anything."

"You're the ones who don't get it!"

...No, it wasn't an argument, it was more like this old man was one-sidedly yelling

at them.

I spoke to Ludwin. "So, basically, an old man who lives in the area is vehemently

opposed to us building the new city?"

"Yes. A local fisherman. Mr. Urup."

"...I did tell you not to aggressively buy up land or anything like that, didn't I?" I

asked.

"Of course. We're looking for residents to apply anyway, so the prior residents

can stay right where they are. We won't charge them for the land, either. When we

work on the landscaping, we plan to rebuild their houses at no cost."

"Hmm... Those sound like good conditions to me," I said.

As far as I could see, there were nothing but deserted-looking fishing villages

around here. It had to be hard just to eke out a living in a place as rural as this. If a

city were built, with the influx of people, many of the inconveniences of living here

would go away. Not only were they not being chased out of a place that would offer

them a better future, they were even having their houses rebuilt for free, so what

was there to be opposed to?

"Why is that old man opposed to it?" I asked.

"Well..."

"I'm telling you, you'll incur the wrath of the sea god!" I heard shouting from

inside the tent again.

The sea god?

"You see, he says this is the sea god's domain and building houses will anger him,

or something like that."

"What, you even have sea gods in this world?" I asked.

Liscia and the others all shook their heads vigorously.

"I've never heard of one before," Liscia said.

"I, too, am unaware of one," Aisha agreed.

"It's probably just an old man's nonsense..." Ludwin added.

It seemed nobody had heard of one.

A sea god, huh? I wondered.

"I've never heard of this sea god in my life," a voice said from inside. "Would you

please not interrupt construction with your strange religion?"

"It's no religion! The sea god is real! If you violate the sanctity of his holy land,

eventually you will anger him and be destroyed! In fact, the sea god goes on a

rampage once every hundred years or so!" the man shouted.

Hm?

"When I was a boy, the sea god went on a rampage once. At the time, all of the

people who had built homes in the sea god's holy land were swallowed up by him!"

he added.

Could he be talking about what I think he is...?

I entered the tent. Inside were a young Forbidden Army soldier and a tanned old

man wearing a towel twisted into a headband.

"I'm sorry, sir. Could you tell me in detail about what you're talking about?" I

asked politely.

"Who're you?" he demanded. "I'm busy talking to this fellow..."

"Wh-Why, Your Majesty!" the soldier stuttered.

"His Majesty?!" When he saw the soldier stand and salute me, the old man let out

a bizarre cry.

"Hey there," I said. "I'm the (provisional) King of Elfrieden, Souma Kazuya."

I went to shake his hand.

"...The name's Urup," the old man responded with a tense look on his face.

Once we had finished greeting each other, I immediately dove to the heart of the

matter. "Now then, Urup. Back to what you were talking about before."

"Hm?! R-Right! Your Majesty, please, reconsider building this city!"

"Old man, are you really going to trouble His Majesty himself with your

nonsense...?" the soldier demanded.

"No, I want to hear him out." I gestured for the soldier who was trying to stop him

to stand down. "Can you tell me more about it?"

"B-But of course." And so, Urup explained the local legend to me.

Apparently this land had originally belonged to the sea god, but he had lost it

after being defeated by the land god in battle. However, the sea god still believed this

land was his, and when people built houses on it, he would destroy the people who

lived in them.

This was why there was a rule in the nearby fishing village that no one should

build houses here.

Once they had heard Urup's story, Liscia said, "It's too vague. I don't really get it."

"Listening to him was a waste of time," Aisha added.

Both of them seemed exasperated, but I felt differently.

Partway through his tale, I'd had Ludwin bring a map, asking just how far the sea

god's holy land stretched. Then, once I had narrowed down the range of "the sea

god's holy land" enough, I looked at the map and told Ludwin, "We need to make

major changes to the city plan."

"Hold on, Souma, why are you saying that all of a sudden?!" Liscia demanded.

"Do you believe what this old man is saying, sire?!" Aisha cried.

"If we make changes now, there will be a major delay in construction..." Ludwin

protested.

I could understand how they felt. I didn't want to do something so bothersome,

either. However, when I considered the peace of the new city, it had to be done.

"Souma, you can't mean to tell me you really believe in this sea god?" Aisha asked.

"No, there's probably no sea god," I told her.

"Then..."

"Liscia, legends are people's memories." I pointed to my temple. "Legends are

something we hand down. So, why do we hand them down, you might wonder?

Because our forefathers decided it was important to do so. Worthless stories won't

be handed down. If this one has been handed down, there's a 'lesson' to be found in

the legend, or 'wisdom for everyday life' in it."

"And you're saying this curse of the sea god is like that?" she asked.

"Yeah. In this legend, the 'lesson' is don't build houses in a specific area. If people

ignore that lesson and build houses there, they're sure to be destroyed." I looked

straight at Urup and added, "By a tsunami, right?"

Urup's eyes went wide, and he suddenly began to tremble.

"Y-Yes! By a tsunami! Everyone in the houses there, they were washed away,

houses and all!"

"Was there a big earthquake before the tsunami came, perhaps?" I asked.

"H-How did you know?!" Urup cried, as if he had just remembered that now

himself. Perhaps the sight of people being washed away, houses and all, was so

shocking that he had unconsciously been suppressing the memory.

"In other words, the sea god's true identity is 'a tidal wave triggered by an

undersea earthquake,'" I said.

Even on Earth, it was only recently that the mechanism behind earthquakes had

been discovered.

We had had to wait until the 20th century, when the interior structure of the

Earth had been discovered. Until that point, even if we'd experienced an earthquake

as a phenomenon, we had said it was because of reasons like "volcanic activity" or

"underground water turning into steam and causing a hollow cavity to form."

I used my hands to demonstrate one plate subsiding under another, like you

often see on news programs' earthquake coverage, but all I got was a bunch of blank

stares.

"Ummm... Sorry. I don't really get it," Liscia said.

"Plates? Vibration? Are you talking about magic, sire?" Aisha asked.

"I'm lost, too," Ludwin added. "When it comes to things that advanced, I don't

know if they teach it even at the Royal Academy."

Not one of them understood. It was ahead of their time, so I couldn't blame them.

"Okay, forget the mechanism behind how it works, then," I said. "The important

thing is, when there's an earthquake underwater, sometimes it causes a tsunami. In

other words, Urup's 'wrath of the sea god' doesn't occur because people build

houses there; it's a periodic thing."

"My word... It will happen even if we don't build houses there?" Urup's eyes were

wide.

I traced the contours of the coastlines on the map and showed them. "I could also

mention, this country's coast is in a < shape, and this spot is in the corner of it. Places

like this will be damaged more heavily than other coastal areas in a tsunami. The

reason for that is... something you wouldn't understand even if I tried to explain it to

you, so just accept that that's how it works."

If I'd built a miniature model of the coast and poured water in so they could see

the waves converging, they might have been able to understand. That'd take effort,

though, so it could wait.

"Still, if this place is so dangerous, won't the new city be at risk?" Liscia pointed

out.

I groaned. "Hrm... Some spots might be better than this, but all coastal regions are

about the same, and I can say for sure that this is the closest port to the center of the

country. From what I'm hearing, there's a long period of time between them, and

they only happen once in a hundred years, so if we design the city assuming it will be

hit by a tsunami, it should be okay."

With that, Ludwin and I looked at the map, hammering out the details of our plan.

"First, we should pile up dirt and raise the ground level," I said.

"Right now? If we do it by hand, it will take quite a while," he answered.

"Have earth mages in the Forbidden Army prioritize working on it. It will have an

impact on the building time, but there's no other choice."

"Understood." He nodded. "Now that I think of it, I've heard that Duchess Walter's

coastal city has these things called seawalls. Should we make those here as well?"

"Seawalls, huh... It'll hurt the view..." I gave that some consideration. "If possible, I

want this trade port to be usable as a tourist destination, as well. Besides, they

wouldn't be able to stand up to an unprecedentedly large tsunami, anyway."

"We shouldn't build them, then?" he asked.

"...Let's see. Actually, I'd rather build a city that doesn't rely on seawalls. It seems

like the civil engineering and construction guild has an expert on flood control, so

let's summon him and get his opinion."

"Understood," he said. "Now, as to the specifics of the city plan..."

"Thanks to old man Urup, we know roughly the area that the tsunami can reach,"

I said. "We'll avoid it when we place the residential, commercial, and industrial

districts. Of course, that goes for important facilities like consulates, as well."

"You're not going to develop the area that the tsunami reaches?" he asked.

"The fishing harbor and wharf can't go anywhere else. As for the rest, we'll

develop it as a seaside park."

"I see. You'll develop on the assumption that it's going to get washed away."

"Yeah," I said. "Oh, one other thing, old man Urup."

"Hm? What is it?"

"I'm going to make you a state-registered storyteller, so see to it that the Legend

of the Sea God gets handed down, please. I'm going to make it a public service job

that requires a certification, so work hard to train the next generation to tell the

story before you die."

"M-Me, a public servant?!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah. In addition to the 'Don't build houses where the tsunami can reach' lesson

from earlier, work in 'If you feel an earthquake, assume there will be a tsunami,' and

'Because a tsunami is coming, evacuate to high-ground,' as well. You can blame the

sea god's wrath, just make sure the tale is one that's easy to hand down."

"...Understood! I shall spend the rest of my life on it!" he cried.

"Good. By the way, about the castle wall that will surround the city..."

Three men talked enthusiastically about the plan for the city. Liscia and Aisha

watched them with wry smiles.

"His Majesty... looks like he's enjoying himself," Aisha commented.

"He is enjoying himself," Liscia nodded. "Compared to hunting for funds, at least."

"I wonder why it is, but I think I've finally seen the youthful side of His Majesty."

"Youthful... huh. The reason Souma doesn't seem youthful is almost certainly

because..."

"Hm? What is it, Princess?" Aisha asked.

"No. It's nothing. ...Hey, Aisha."

"What is it?"

"Aisha, do you... like Souma?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yes! I have great respect and affection for him!"

"...I see. Well, then. Let's work to support Souma so he can keep smiling."

"Yes! But of course!" Aisha cried.

At the time, I didn't realize at all that a conversation like this had taken place.

◇ ◇ ◇

Thirty years later, an earthquake and unprecedentedly large tsunami struck this

area.

The land was inundated by turbid waters and many boats were washed out to

sea, but surprisingly few lives were lost. Because everyone in the area had grown up

hearing the Legend of the Sea God from the storytellers, they were able to begin

evacuating as soon as they felt the earthquake.

After the disaster, a statue titled "The King and the Old Man" was built in the

seaside park.

It was a statue to commemorate the old man who, at the time of the new city's

construction, had risked his life to make a direct appeal to the king and tell him how

to prepare for the tsunami, and the wise king who had listened to his plans. If the

two of them could have heard, they'd have laughed wryly, saying, "That's overembellishing it."

Particularly for old man Urup, who had once been the storyteller, but now

appeared in stories of his descendants as the Legendary Old Man, what sort of

expression did he have on his face while he watched over them from the next world?