Chapter 5: Weighing Nostalgia Against the Future (part 1)

—The middle of the 12th month, 1,546th year, Continental Calendar

The royal capital was thoroughly wrapped in a wintery atmosphere, and there

had been enough cold days in a row that it felt like the snow might start to fall soon.

It was a morning where I didn't really want to get out from under a warm blanket.

"I have some important business to attend to in the castle town today..." I said,

bringing up the topic while eating breakfast with my four fiancées, as usual. "It'd

help to have a woman come along. Would one of you mind?"

"Is that for work? It doesn't sound like you're heading out to play." Liscia asked as

a representative of the group, to which I nodded with a wry smile.

"Sadly, it is. It's an important matter this time, so I have to head out personally."

"I see... I can go. How about everyone else?" Liscia asked, turning the topic to the

other three. It felt like she already had the dignity of the first queen, bringing all of

the others together under her.

Roroa was the first to raise her arms above her head in an X. "I'm afraid you're

gonna have to count me out, sadly. Darlin's already asked me to negotiate with the

merchant's guild."

"About making the slave traders public servants, you mean?" Liscia asked.

"That's right. Darlin's already made the used metal dealers into public servants

and has them workin' in the recyclin' industry, or somethin' like that, but this time

it's not gonna go so easily. The used metal dealers were like trash pickers, so they

weren't part of a guild. Slave traders, on the other hand, while they may be looked

down on, they're proper, registered members of a guild. If we're takin' them away

from the guild and puttin' them under the control of the state, that's effectively

creatin' a monopoly on slaves."

Roroa picked up the salt shaker as she said this, then continued.

"If it were metal or salt, there'd be some precedent, but I ain't never heard of

anyone creatin' a monopoly on slaves before. Slaves aren't somethin' you produce

locally for local consumption. Naturally, they come in from other countries, too. If

we're nationalizin' the slave trade, we'll also need to stop those flows from other

countries. As public servants, their wages'll be stable, but they'll never make money

hand over fist. That's why the slave traders who want to make the big bucks will go

to other countries. There'll be some pushback, too."

"I'm ready to accept some pushback on this," I said.

I was fine with convict slaves being sentenced to hard labor, but I wanted to put

an end to the era where women and children were sold off so there would be fewer

mouths to feed, and where it was taken as a given that the child of a slave was also a

slave. That wasn't only from a humanitarian point of view, it was also to make this

country more prosperous as a whole.

However, Roroa, who had been tasked with the negotiations, had a grim look on

her face. "I'm sure your aim is to downsize the system of slavery, Darlin'... but I'm not

sure there're enough convict slaves and economic slaves in this country alone to

meet demand. It's a real problem."

"Is it going to be too difficult?" I asked.

Roroa shook her head. "I'll do it. I want to see this world after slavery that you've

been tellin' me about, after all. One where everyone earns money, everyone uses

money, and everyone makes the economy turn... That's the world I want to see."

I had told the clever Roroa a bit about the economic history of my world. I had

told her about that era of technological revolution where goods had begun to be

mass-produced. There had been a demand for markets to sell those goods to, and so

there had been a movement toward freeing the slaves who'd held no assets in order

to create that market.

Naturally, I knew there were people who had fought under the ideology that all

people should have equal rights. I couldn't deny the hard work of the slaves who'd

fought to win their own freedom, or the efforts of those who'd wished for them to be

free. However, with any system, it always came down to whether or not that system

was suitable for the time it existed in.

The war between the North and South United States had been called a war of

emancipation, but it was more that the North had held up the ideal of freeing the

slaves in order to gather support against the forces of the South, which had included

many plantation owners. What had once been considered an impractical ideal was

accomplished the moment it aligned with the facts of the situation.

Conversely, no matter how wonderful an ideal is, if it's not in line with the times,

it will be trampled underfoot.

In the end, it's a matter of the times in which we live. I mean, even when slavery

ended, we would have conflict between the capitalist class and the laborers waiting

for us in the next era. However, in the story I told her, Roroa seemed to see a new

frontier.

"It may take bein' a little heavy handed, but if we move together with the Empire,

it can be done," she said. "If half of the territory ruled by mankind on this continent

is movin' to reduce slavery, it'll be hard to push back against us. Then, when there's

a shortage of labor, though this is reversin' the cause and effect from your story,

Darlin', technology'll have to advance to fill the gap."

"Yeah," I said. "I've got a path toward that. You can leave it to me."

"I'm countin' on that. Because I'll be doin' what I can myself."

I nodded. "I'm relying on you."

"Mwahaha. Say it again."

Roroa and I locked arms firmly. I really was counting on Roroa to handle the

economic front.

Now, if Roroa couldn't make it today, what about Aisha or Juna?

"I am sorry to have to say this, but I have a meeting for our next music program,

so I won't be able to accompany you," said Juna.

"I-I was asked to join the new recruits for training..." said Aisha. "Of course, if you

insist on it, sire, I will cast aside my prior engagement to be with you."

"No, I'm not going to insist," I said. "Hm... But, well..."

I don't really want to bring that large of an entourage this time. If I had a lot of

people with me, I would put the other party on guard. Though, that said, I didn't feel

entirely safe going without bodyguards. I mean, Liscia was going to be with me, too,

after all.

Although Liscia does have more combat prowess than the average guard.

The Black Cats were currently dealing with clandestine operations in many other

countries, so they likely couldn't spare the people to serve as guards. If possible, I

had wanted either Aisha, who had the greatest individual combat strength, or Juna,

who could also gather intelligence, to accompany us. As I was thinking about that...

"Your Majesty, might I offer a suggestion?" The head maid Serina, who was

standing ready by the wall, gave an elegant bow.

"Serina? Did you have an opinion on this?" I asked.

"Yes. If you are looking for a guard, there is an individual I might like to

recommend."

"Who might that be?" I asked.

"Your Majesty's personal trainer, Sir Owen."

"Urgh... Old Man Owen, huh..."

She was referring to the old general and head of the House of Jabana, Owen

Jabana. He was a hearty old man whose personality was serious and honest to the

point of being excessively passionate. I had liked his willingness to express an

opinion and had taken him on as my sounding board and educator.

True, he's a capable warrior, and given his post, he wouldn't have much to do while

I'm gone. He's always noisy, and I don't think he's suited for going out discreetly,

though.

While I was considering the idea, Serina continued. "You should also take Carla

from the Maid Corps with you."

"Huh?! Me?!" Carla, who was standing beside Serina, cried out in surprise.

"Carla is enlisted with the Maid Corps, but she is Your Majesty's slave," said

Serina. "At times like this, you really must use her as your meat— work her like a

horse."

"Were you about to say meat shield?!" Carla protested. "Wait, even now that

you've corrected it to horse, that's still pretty bad!"

Serina whipped out her maid training crop.

"Ah! Yes, ma'am! I will serve with sincerity and devotion!" Carla hurriedly

saluted.

She's been completely broken in, huh...

"Anyway, Carla, I'll be counting on you," I said.

"U-Understood, master," she said.

So for now, it was decided that four people of Liscia, Owen, Carla, and I would be

going to the castle town together.

I already felt exhausted just from having come to that decision.

And so, we came to the castle town of Parnam.

Liscia, Owen, Carla, and I were walking down the shopping street in the middle of

the day. Because we were here in secret, we were traveling on foot and not by

carriage.

"Gahaha!" Owen laughed. "I am pleased that you would choose me as your

bodyguard, Your—"

"Shh! Owen... How many times do I have to tell you not to call me Your Majesty in

the middle of town like this?" I hissed.

"Oh, my apologies."

The way Owen laughed it off without looking the least bit guilty made my head

hurt. Owen seemed to be in a good mood over being chosen as my bodyguard, so he

was even more high-strung than usual.

"We're here in secret this time... so, please, I'm begging you," I said.

"But of course, I am aware of that," boomed Owen.

Was he really? For a group that was trying to be discreet, we stood out to a

strange degree.

There was me wearing the Kitakaze Kozou-esque traveler's clothes that had

become my go-to outfit when undercover; Liscia wearing the same student's

uniform she'd worn when we'd first gone into the castle town together; Carla the

dragonewt in a maid uniform; and an old, macho man in light adventurers' armor.

All of us were walking together. What was with this completely mismatched

ensemble? I couldn't blame passersby for turning their heads to take a second look

at us.

"Even a hastily assembled adventuring party would look more like a unified

group than we do..." I murmured.

"If you had just worn a student uniform like last time, wouldn't that have been

fine?" asked Liscia. "It's not like Sir Owen couldn't pass for a teacher in his outfit."

"By the same token, if you had dressed like an adventurer, we might have looked

like an adventuring party," I said.

While we argued back and forth, we both looked back at the dragon maid behind

us.

"Wh-What?! Why are you both looking at me?" Carla cried.

"Either way, Carla was going to stand out, huh," Liscia nodded.

"I mean, yeah, she's wearing that highly revealing maid dress, after all," I said.

"She'd be out of place no matter how we dressed."

"Aren't you being awfully mean when I don't even wear this by choice?!" Carla

protested loudly, but... I mean, it was a maid dress.

Of course, we had proposed that she change into something else, but Serina

hadn't been willing to hear of it. Carla's maid uniform wasn't the classic type with a

long skirt; it was a frilly dress type (or, to take it a bit further, a maid cafe type).

Serina was a total sadist to make her walk around town in it. Carla had been bright

red with shame for a while now...

"By the way, Your... Sir Kazuya, is this really the road you want to take?" Owen

asked somewhat confusedly.

"Hm? Yeah, it is... Why?" I asked.

"No, it is just that, if I recall, this way leads to..."

"Ah! ...That's right." Liscia seemed to have realized something, too, but didn't

seem to want to say it. "If we continue down this road..."

...Oh, so that's what it is, I realized. "If we keep going, we'll hit the old slums, huh?"

"Indeed," said Owen. "It is not a place I would want to take the two of you."

Even in the royal capital Parnam, there was a dark side. Because of the large

population, there were those who succeeded in business, those who earned a

middling profit, and those who failed outright. The slums were a place where those

who had failed, but who hadn't fallen far enough to become slaves, would drift to

and work for their daily wages.

Many of the homes were shanties. It was unsanitary, and prone to outbreaks of

disease. The people who gathered here were of questionable origin, and the crime

rate was high.

That was the sort of place it had been, anyway.

"That's all in the past now," I said.

"It's changed?" Liscia asked.

"It'd be faster to just show you. I mean, when I was considering what to do about

the future of the slum town..." I made a gesture like I had something like a hose in my

hands as I spoke. "...I met someone who was strangely enthusiastic, going around

saying, 'Filth will be sterilized!'"

As we arrived in the former slum town...

"Huh?" Liscia tilted her head to the side in confusion.

"Hm?" Owen did the same.

When she saw their reaction, Carla did, too. "Is there something strange here,

Liscia?"

Even after she had fallen to become a slave, Liscia had forced Carla to keep

talking to her the way she had before. They were still good friends. It would be an

issue if it happened in public, but I wasn't about to tell Liscia how to behave herself

in private.

Still with a blank look on her face, Liscia responded to Carla, "Huh? ...Oh, yeah.

I've never been to the slums before, but I'm surprised at how different it is from

everything I'd heard."

"What had you heard?" asked Carla.

"That it's a dark, dank, moldy place with poor public order. I've heard the same,"

Owen explained.

He was right. The slums had been like that before.

"It's true that they look sparse, but the place looks pretty clean to me, you know?"

said Carla.

What we saw before us now was a scene of houses that just looked like white

blocks of tofu lined up. To put it in terms that a modern audience will understand,

imagine the sort of temporary houses that are set up in the affected area after an

earthquake. While they were spartan, they got a lot of sun and were bright. They

also were well ventilated, so they weren't dank. Admittedly, they could get a bit too

dry in winter. Even so, when we saw children drawing on the ground and playing, it

was hard to imagine that public order was bad here.

"Is this really the slums?" Liscia asked.

"Yeah. It's gotten a lot better, hasn't it?" I responded, puffing up my chest proudly.

"When I was addressing the sanitation problem in the city, I worked hard to get

everything in shape here."

"The sanitation problem?" asked Liscia. "If I recall, you mentioned that when you

were banning carriages from going down all but the largest roads, and when you set

up the water and sewer system, right? Was reworking these slums a part of that,

too?"

"I'm glad to see you remember," I said. "Yeah. It's easy for pathogenic bacteria to

grow in dark, dank, places that are poorly ventilated. On top of that, this being a

slum town, the residents don't get proper nutrition, so it's easier for them to get sick.

If an epidemic had gotten started, this would have been fertile ground for it to

spread rapidly."

"Pathogenic bacteria... I feel like I may have heard that word before," said Liscia.

She and the others were looking at me with faces that seemed to say "What are

those? Are they tasty?"

"Huh? Didn't I explain last time?" I asked.

Ah, come to think of it, I used the word when talking about the sedimentation

ponds, but I didn't explain it in detail, I thought. In that case... I guess I have to start by

explaining how people get sick.

"Well... In this world, there are little creatures too small for the eye to see, and

they exist in numbers far too great to count in the air, the ground, in our bodies—

everywhere you can imagine. These tiny creatures make things rot and cause

illnesses. On the other hand, they also cause foods to ferment, and there are some

with positive effects, too."

Using my meager knowledge of science (I was a humanities student, remember),

I explained to Liscia and the others about bacteria and microorganisms. I didn't feel

like they were getting it all that well, but for Liscia, who knew that my knowledge

could be far ahead of this country's academia in some places, she seemed satisfied

that "If Souma says they exist, they probably do."

The study of medicine and hygiene wasn't particularly well developed in this

world. One large factor in that was probably the existence of light magic. Light magic

heightened the body's ability to heal, even allowing it to recover from serious

wounds. It could even reattach severed limbs if administered quickly.

It seemed that, because of that, the study of medicine and hygiene hadn't

developed. That was why, in this world, there were very few who knew of the

existence of bacteria and microorganisms.

Light magic only activated the natural ability of the body to heal, so it had the

shortcoming of not being able to heal infectious diseases or the wounds of elderly

people whose natural ability to heal had declined. Because of that, until just recently,

the use of shady drugs and dodgy folk remedies had been rampant when it had come

to the treatment of infectious diseases. When I'd addressed the issue of hygiene, I'd

thought something needed to be done about this situation posthaste.

But before I could do that, I had first needed people to become aware of the

existence of bacteria and microorganisms they couldn't see.

"But how can people be aware of something they can't see?" Liscia asked.

"In this world, there are people who know about bacteria and microorganisms...

or rather, a race that does," I said. "When that race focuses with their 'third eye,' they

can see microorganisms that you wouldn't normally be able to see. I enlisted their

help."

"A third eye... Do you mean the three-eyed race?" Liscia asked, and I nodded.

The three-eyed race. They were a race that, as you would expect from their name,

had three eyes.

They lived in the warm lands in the north of the kingdom. Their defining trait

was that, in addition to the standard left and right eyes, they also had a third eye in a

slightly higher position in the middle of their forehead. It would be fine to imagine

them looking like Tien Shin*** or ***suke Sharaku, but it wasn't really an eyeball like

that. That eye was small and red. At a glance, it looked like a jewel was embedded

there.

Liscia let out a sigh. "I'm amazed they agreed to help. I've heard their race hates

having contact with outsiders."

"The reason for their xenophobia actually stems from that third eye, it seems."

The three-eyed could see things other races couldn't. It seemed that had been the

reason they'd grown to reject outsiders. The three-eyed could tell if someone had

good hygiene or not at a glance. That made them natural neat freaks, and they had

started to avoid contact with other races as much as possible.

On top of that, with that third eye, the three-eyed had learned of the existence of

bacteria. They knew them to be the cause of illnesses that couldn't be treated with

light magic. However, no matter how much the three-eyed insisted on this, the other

races who couldn't see the bacteria wouldn't believe them. In a world filled with

superstitions, even if they spoke the truth, it might seem like they were trying to

throw the world into chaos with some dubious new theory.

Because of that, the three-eyed had come to hate contact with other races, and

they'd developed their own independent system of medical knowledge and practice

only for their own race. When it came to the study of infectious diseases in

particular, their medical science was centuries ahead of this world. In this world

where humans and beastmen were thought to have lived long lives if they made it to

sixty, the three-eyed who originally had the same life expectancy now lived to eighty

on average.

"That's how I, as someone who knew what they were saying is the truth, was able

to arrange talks and request their assistance," I said. "With that done, in order to

demonstrate their abilities, I created a system that would let other races see bacteria

and microorganisms."

In other words, an optical microscope. This world already had lenses. (They had

glasses, after all.) For the rest, I'd drawn out a diagram of how I vaguely

remembered a microscope working, and the academics and craftsmen had created

one for me. That optical microscope had proved that the three-eyed were telling the

truth.

"But, man, the three-eyed really are incredible," I said. "I'd never have imagined

they'd already developed antibiotics."

"Auntie-buy-ought-ex?"

"Substances that prevent bacteria from multiplying like I was telling you about."

The famous example would be penicillin, I suppose. I mean, even a humanities

student like me had heard of it. (Though it was knowledge I'd picked up from

manga.) It was extracted from a blue-green colored mold, I think?

In the case of the three-eyed, they were extracting theirs from a special sort of

slime creature that could live in unsanitary conditions. They were a subspecies of

gelin, and they had the same sort of shape as Liquid Metal *limes. They had no name,

but I'd taken this chance to christen them "gelmedics." From what I had heard of its

effects, there was no questioning it was an antibiotic, but while it was similar to

penicillin, it might also be very different.

Incidentally, the three-eyed just called this drug "the drug."

That felt like it was just going to get confusing in the future, so I'd used my

authority as king to give it the name "three-eyedine." It was the three-eyed race's

medicine, so I'd shortened that to three-eyedine. I mean, it would have been fine

calling it "the drug," or "the pill"... but, as a former Japanese person, I'd always have

been thinking of completely different drugs.

"This... three-eyedine, was it?" Liscia asked. "It prevents the bacteria from

multiplying, but what good does that do?"

"It's a cure for infectious diseases," I said. "Basically, you can think of it as a

wonder drug that treats epidemic diseases and will prevent wounds from festering, I

guess."

"Treat epidemic diseases?! It can do that?!"

I couldn't blame Liscia for being surprised. While this country's medical

treatments (in particular, regenerative treatments) could be, in some limited ways,

ahead of modern science, on the whole, they were at the same level as Japan in the

Edo Period. When it came to infectious diseases, they would drink medicinal teas,

trying to ease the symptoms. However, with antibiotics, it was possible to treat the

underlying cause of illnesses to some degree.

Liscia looked taken aback. "That's terrible... We've been overlooking an incredible

drug like that all this time..."

"Well, the other races didn't recognize the existence of bacteria and

microorganisms, so even if the three-eyed had told you that antibiotics could fight

them, you probably weren't going to believe them. If you turn it around, the threeeyed were only able to find this way of fighting bacteria because they could see

them."

"So, can we mass produce this three-eyedine?!" Liscia asked, looking desperate to

hear more.

Yeah, I could understand how she felt. I'd had a similar response myself during

talks with the three-eyed elder. However, Carla and Owen, who were watching us,

were wide-eyed with surprise at the way Liscia was acting.

I nodded to Liscia. "We don't have the capacity for it yet, but we're slowly

increasing production. I had already distributed it to the military when the war with

Amidonia broke out, actually. Didn't you notice?"

"Fortunately, I never needed to take any... Ah! Now that you mention it, I did

think the number of fatalities was low given the number of wounded in that battle.

Was that thanks to three-eyedine?"

"Could be," I said. "Bacteria getting into a wound and making it worse is one of

the things it can help to prevent, after all."

"Incredible..." she whispered.

"Anyway, the three-eyed are giving their full cooperation, and the country has no

intention of being stingy when it comes to medical care. The biggest bottleneck will

be the number of gelmedics that they can extract three-eyedine from, but thanks to

Tomoe, we easily solved that problem."

Slime creatures like gelins were actually categorized as plants, and she couldn't

communicate with them as well as animals; but from their thoughts, she had still

been able to learn their preferred environment and the conditions needed for them

to multiply. Now we had the gelmedics actively multiplying in their breeding

grounds.

"Our little sister is way too convenient, isn't she?" I added.

"She sure is," said Liscia.

The public had started calling Tomoe the Wise Wolf Princess. Given the

rhinosauruses, the orangutan army of Van, and now the gelmedics... there was no

doubt she was living up to that name.

"And, well, on that note, our country is in the middle of a medical and hygienic

revolution, and one part of that was fixing up these slums," I said. "We tore down the

old houses to improve the sunlight and air flow. While we were at it, we stamped out

the criminals and illegal drugs, which was cleaning up the area in a different way.

We had all the residents move to new, prefabricated huts. The huts are small and

cramped, but they're free. On top of that, by having them work at cleaning up the

city, we're able to both support them financially and manage the city's hygiene."

"You're doing all sorts of stuff, huh. ...You're not pushing yourself too hard, are

you?" Liscia asked, looking concerned.

I put a hand on her head. "It's a struggle, yes... but it's rewarding. I get to see the

city, and the country, rebuilt the way I want them to be. If the result is more people

smiling in the end, all the better."

"Well... Okay, then," she said. "But if there's anything I can do for you, just say the

word."

"Of course. I'll be counting on you."

Liscia and I smiled broadly at one another.

But just as we had a good mood going...

Pshhhh.

...suddenly, we heard a sound like air leaking out of something.

When I looked up ahead, wondering what it could be, I saw someone with a large

barrel on their back using a metal cylinder on the end of a hose extending from that

barrel to spray some sort of mist on the ground.

That person was an exotic-looking woman with skin not quite as dark as a dark

elf, but still brown, and blond hair. She looked to be in her mid-twenties. She was

probably beautiful, and she had a shapely figure, but with the triangular mask she

wore over her face and the barrel slung over her back, it all went to waste. That

woman's forehead had the third eye unique to the three-eyed race shining on it.

"Hehehe... Hohoho... Ahahahahahaha! Filth will be sterilized!" After that threestage laugh, the woman enthusiastically sprayed the ground and huts with some sort

of mist.

That all-too-incredible scene left Liscia, Carla, and Owen all speechless. As for me,

I felt my head starting to hurt again.

"What are you doing, Hilde?" I asked wearily.

Her name was Hilde Norg. In a show of appreciation for our support and the

redemption of their honor, the three-eyed had lent her to us to help reform our

system of medicine. She was their one and only "doctor."

In this world, there were very few doctors in the sense that a modern Japanese

person would think of the term. The ones who carried out the vast majority of

medical treatments were light mages, and the ones who administered herbal

remedies to help ease the symptoms of illness were medicine men and women.

Many of those light mages were affiliated with the church, and therefore most of

the hospitals were also attached to church buildings. That was why it was normal for

people in this world to go to the church when they were sick, but for the three-eyed,

it was a little different.

Because their medical technology was far more advanced, they could treat most

illnesses and injuries in the homes. When they came down with an illness so serious

that it couldn't be treated in the home, that was when they would first seek medicine

mixed by the doctor. Naturally, that doctor was the foremost expert of her race, and

so she could only prepare medicine for so many of them.

The one over there spraying a disinfectant (limewater, probably), Hilde, was the

one and only doctor of her race, considered to have a high degree of medical

knowledge, even by the standards of the three-eyed. However, with the way she was

dressed now, she just looked like a farmer spraying agricultural chemicals.

Hilde had been letting out a loud, enthusiastic laugh until a moment ago, but now

she wore a dark smile and had a heavy atmosphere around her. "Honestly... haven't I

told you people to pick up your cats' droppings?! Because you people keep leaving

them lying out in the open, there's bacteria all over this place! Oh, for goodness sake!

Unclean, unclean!"

This time, as he sprayed disinfectant, she stamped her feet indignantly. She might

have seemed emotionally unstable, but this was business as usual for Hilde.

She, with her knowledge of pharmacology and an eye for bacteria that was

considered excellent even by the standards of the three-eyed, also demonstrated an

obsession with cleanliness that was strong even by the standards of her race. To the

point that it was normal for her to walk around with disinfectant like that.

It wasn't always good to be able to see too much.

"I see you're the same as ever, Hilde," I said.

"Hm? You're... Who're you?"

I took off my conical hat and showed my face.

Without much surprise, she said, "Oh, just the king, huh," and returned to the

work of spraying disinfectant.

"Calling me 'just' the king is a little mean," I said. "It's technically an important

position, you know?"

"Then try to dress the part, why don't you?" she asked. "I thought you were some

hobo."

She was as harsh as ever. I'd had an image of doctors being harsh even back in

my old world, and it seemed things were the same here. Hilde in particular wasn't

the sort to care much about the position of the person she was talking to.

Hilde's philosophy was: "Illness strikes us all, good and evil, rich and poor, male

and female, irrespective of race. Then, before a doctor such as myself, all patients are

equal."

That was her argument, apparently.

"Anyway... Hilde, let me introduce you," I began. "The two ladies are—"

"I know who they are," Hilde said with a sigh, as if it was a given that she'd know

who they were. "They're famous, aren't they? The princess and the daughter of the

former General of the Air Force, right?"

"Huh? What about Sir Owen?" I asked.

"I don't want to know anything about that filthy old man."

"What?!" Owen protested. "Who are you calling filthy?! I take care to groom

myself properly!"

"Stay away, you musclebound moron! I hope you've washed yourself properly?!"

she shouted.

Pshhhh.

"Hey now, little girl, don't spray that weird mist on me! I am clean, you know?

Every day, I pour water over my naked body, then rub myself down with a dry

towel!" Owen shouted.

I was suddenly forced to imagine a macho man bathing naked in the dawning

light of morning. Yeah... It felt dirty just imagining it. Perhaps having imagined a

similar scene themselves, Liscia and Carla both looked ready to puke.

I-It felt like dwelling on this any longer was just going to make everyone's mental

state worse, so it was time to change the topic.

"B-By the way, Hilde, what are you doing here today?"

My forced attempt to change the topic got a snort from Hilde.

"If I leave the people here to their own devices, they become unhygienic in no

time. I'm making regular visits to instruct them on hygiene and to disinfect the area."

"Makes sense..." I said. "By the way, is your partner with you today?"

"Don't call him my partner." Hilde spat the words out, seemingly annoyed. "If

you're looking for Brad, he's 'outside.' He said, 'If I have to examine fattened pigs, I'd

much rather treat the untainted wild dogs'... or some such nonsense."

"...I see he never changes, either."

"Maybe you could you tell him off, too, sire," she said. "That guy always pushes

lecturing the junior physicians off on me."

"I-I see..."

The Brad who had come up in our conversation was the other doctor acting as a

pair with Hilde to push forward the reform of this country's medical system. His full

name was Brad Joker. He was a human male, and his skills as a medical practitioner

were good, but... his personality was a bit of a problem.

I can't see Brad ever being able to explain things to others. Showing off practical

skills in the field will offer guidance to his juniors, but Hilde's going to have to be the

one to hold lectures...

"Hey, are you listening to me, s-i-r-e?" Hilde snapped.

"I-I get it," I said. "I'll try talking to him, at least." If she was going to press me on

it with that angry smile, I just had to nod and agree with her.

"So? What is the king and his entourage doing here?" Hilde demanded.

"Oh... I was planning to visit the chief of the mystic wolves," I said. "While I'm at it,

I thought I might poke my head in at the job training facility I have Ginger running,

too."

"Oh, so that's the sort of business you had." Liscia clapped her hands as if she

finally understood something.

Oh, now that I thought about it, I hadn't told her what we were doing, had I?

"Then, once I've had the mystic wolf elder make a connection for me, I plan to go

'outside,'" I added.

"Ohh, you're going 'outside,' are you, sire?" Hilde asked. "In that case, maybe I'll

tag along."

"Huh? Why is that?"

"That should be obvious. To knock some sense into that examination-obsessed

idiot, that's why."

Hilde had a smile on her face, but her eyes weren't smiling.

"W-Well... Just try to not to go overboard, okay?" I asked nervously.

"Um, you keep talking about going 'outside,' but what exactly does that mean?"

Carla hesitantly raised her hand and asked.

"If we're talking outside from the perspective of being inside the city, it can only

mean outside the walls," Hilde said coolly.

"By outside the walls... could you mean...?" Liscia seemed to have figured

something out and had a pensive look on her face.

Yeah... It was probably exactly what she was imagining.

Regardless, thus was our group of a foreign traveler, a female student, a dragon

maid, and a macho man joined by a female doctor.

...Yeah. This group was making less and less sense.

Our first stop was the job training facility Ginger was in charge of.

The mystic wolves' Kikkoro Distillery, which produced miso, soy sauce, and sake,

among other products, was in the former slums. So was Ginger's job training facility.

Both had required considerable room, and this had been the only suitable place.

While it went without saying for the training facility, the Kikkoro Distillery also

had an easy time securing workers here, so it wasn't a bad location. That alone made

it worth having fixed the place up.

The job training facility was surrounded by brick walls, and there were a number

of buildings inside the compound. The place had just opened and so they were only

teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic to the applicants, but the intention was to

experiment with all sorts of different ideas in the future, so the number of buildings

had increased.

When we went to enter through the front gate, a number of children ran out from

it.

"Goodbye, Ms. San!"

"Goodbye!"

They were all around the age of ten, maybe. They weren't that well dressed or

groomed, but they seemed full of energy.

When we looked in through the gate, the former slave who was now Ginger's

secretary, Sandria, was waving to the children. "Goodbye, children. Take care on

your way home."

The slight smile she saw them off with was a gentle one, very different from the

ill-tempered demeanor she'd had when we first met.

So, she can make an expression like that, too, huh...

While I was thinking that, Sandria noticed me and gave a respectful bow. "Why,

Your Majesty, how good of you to come visit us."

"Hey, Sandria," I said. "Is Ginger in?"

"He is in his office. I will show you the way there."

We followed Sandria into one of the buildings.

It was a simple, boxy design with no frills, but you could tell this building had a

lot of rooms even from the outside. It would have looked like a hospital or school to

a modern Japanese person.

We were led in front of a room on the first floor of that building with a sign that

read "Director's Office." When Sandria informed the occupant he had visitors and

opened the door, Ginger, who had apparently been doing desk work, hurriedly rose.

"Wh-Why, Your Majesty, it has been a while," Ginger said, rushing over to us.

Unlike Sandria, he did so timidly, and it seemed he still felt tense when talking to me.

"No need to be so stiff," I said. "I'm the one imposing on you here."

"N-No... It's no imposition whatsoever..."

"Your secretary there has her head held high, doesn't she?" I commented.

"Because my loyalty belongs to Lord Ginger alone," Sandria said nonchalantly as

she moved to Ginger's side.

It should have been quite the disrespectful statement, but there was something

about her demeanor that wouldn't let me take it that way. She was like Liscia's maid,

Serina, or the public representative for Roroa's company, Sebastian. Those people

who had found the master they meant to serve for the rest of their lives had a unique

intensity. It was like they could face down the king himself on their master's behalf.

"Ginger, let me introduce you," I said. "This is my fiancée, Liscia."

"Hello. I am Liscia Elfrieden." Liscia smiled and bowed, causing Ginger to stand

up very straight.

"Th-The princess?! Th-Thank you for coming to visit our humble establishment!

I-I'm... Ah, no, I am the one called Ginger Camus. With more support than I deserve

from His Majesty, I have been able to become the director of this facility..."

"Hee hee! No need to be so tense. It's a pleasure to meet you, Ginger."

"Y-Yes, ma'am!" Ginger stiffly took Liscia's hand and shook it.

"It almost feels like you're more tense than the first time you met me..." I

murmured.

"I'm sure he is," said Carla. "Until your betrothal to her was announced, master,

Liscia was something like what we now call a lorelei to the people of the kingdom.

That unreachable flower, the princess who was so high above him that she might as

well be above the clouds, is now right in front of his eyes. He cannot be blamed for

being tense."

Carla's explanation made sense to me. Members of the Royal House, especially a

princess or a queen... they were like national idols in a way. I had seen the huge fever

that had gripped England when a new princess was born there on the news. Even in

Japan, news about the Imperial House and those connected to the imperial family

got a lot of attention.

After that, I also introduced Carla and Owen. Then, when I went to introduce

Hilde...

"Hilde and I are already acquainted," said Ginger. "She gives free medical

examinations to the children who come here. It's really been a great help."

Ginger bowed his head to her, causing Hilde to take on an awkward expression.

"Hmph. The brats are filthy, that's all. Who knows what diseases they're carrying

around."

"You say that, but you still come to visit us once or twice a week," said Sandria. "If

the children get injured, you heal them. I think that, for all that you say to the

contrary, you really do like children, don't you?"

"Sandria... If you say too much, I'll sew your mouth shut, you know that?" Hilde

snapped.

"Oh, pardon me," Sandria apologized nonchalantly while Hilde glared at her.

Yeah... Looking at Hilde just now, it made me remember the old lady at the

bakery in the neighborhood where I'd used to live a long time ago. Whenever the

children came up to her, she'd say, "Look at the noisy visitors," taking a sour attitude,

but then she'd add, "What hungry little brats you are," and would often give away

leftover sweet buns. Now that I thought back on it, it had been her way of masking

her shyness.

Hilde snorted. "I'll be waiting outside until you're all done talking."

"The children have all gone home, just so you know."

"Shut up, Sandria! Whoever said they wanted to play with the children?" Hilde

snapped.

"I didn't say that much..." Sandra said.

"Hmph!"

When Hilde left, violently slamming the door behind her, we all saw her off with

wry smiles.

...Now then. It was time to get back on track.

Liscia, Ginger, Sandria, and I sat down at a conference table. Liscia and I were

seated on one side, with Ginger and Sandria sitting across from us. Carla and Owen

were standing behind us.

Liscia raised her hand. "Um, I have a lot of questions... What exactly do you two

do here?"

"For the moment, we teach applicants how to read, write, and do arithmetic,"

Ginger answered with a gentle smile.

"Is that something like a school?"

"Yes. It's a school where anyone can come learn, regardless of class."

In this country, there were already proper educational institutions. The uniform

Liscia was wearing belonged to the Royal Officers' Academy, and there was also the

Royal Academy, which pumped out researchers in every field, as well as the Mages'

School, which specialized in the study of magic. However, those educational

institutions were almost entirely for the children of the knights and nobility. There

were no general schools meant to serve the common people. This job training

facility was serving as a test case for that sort of general school.

"Also, it's not only for children," said Ginger. "Adults can learn here, too."

"Adults, too?" Liscia asked.

"There are many adults who say they cannot read, write or do arithmetic. The

poorer their background, the more likely that is to be the case. We provide those

people a place to learn here, too. During the day, children learn, and then at night,

adults who have finished working during the day come here to study."

"Hm, so you've got them properly segregated into separate time periods..."

"It was His Majesty's idea to set up a time at night for adults to learn," said

Ginger.

It hadn't really been my idea. I had just recreated the night schools we'd had back

in the other world.

Ginger brought his hands together in front of his mouth. "This is all we can do

right now. However... from here on out, we'll be able to do more and more. Isn't that

right, sire?"

Ginger had turned the conversation over to me, so I nodded firmly. "Yeah. From

here on, I intend to have you teach more specialized topics. For instance, training

adventurers to explore dungeons and protect people, passing on civil engineering

techniques, working with Hilde and her people to train new doctors, studying ways

to improve our agriculture, forestry, and fisheries... Oh, also, I'd like a place for

training chefs, too."

"That's a pretty wide range of topics..." Liscia said.

I think you've figured it out now that I've said this much, but the job training

facility I wanted to create was a vocational school, or perhaps something like a

university made up of specialized departments.

The main focus of academic study in this world was either magic or monsters.

Magic could be applied with some versatility to any number of fields, and it also had

ties to science and medicine. As for the study of monsters, ever since the Demon

Lord's Domain appeared, it had been become one of the most important research

topics.

Before that point, the monsters that had only appeared in dungeons had been the

subjects for this sort of research. However, after the demon lord's domain had

appeared, the number and variety of monster sightings had increased by a factor of

ten. Research on the topic had been rushed along in order to find some solution to

the problem. Also, research on the materials that could be harvested from monsters

was indispensable for the development of technologies.

This sort of research on magic and demons was principally being done at the

Royal Academy. It was certainly true that the results of this sort of cutting edge

research could lead to new developments in other academic fields.

However, and this might be my sense as a Japanese person speaking, I thought

that there were incredible, revolutionary discoveries waiting to be found in research

that, at a glance, seemed pointless, too. Like how the techniques that were polished

and refined in downtown factories without gathering much attention could then

create indispensable parts for a spaceship.

No matter what the subject, if you mastered it, you were first class. If you could

become number one, you could become the only one.

That was why I wanted to create a place where the subjects that had been

neglected by this world—education, civil engineering, agriculture, forestry and

fisheries, cooking, and art—could be given specialized study and taught to other

people. And then, if we were able to see results in a given field from our experiment

at this training facility, we would build a training facility (at this point, more or less a

vocational school) for that subject in another city.

For that, it would first be necessary to raise the average level of education within

the kingdom, and that was why we were starting by teaching elementary level

reading, writing, and arithmetic.

I asked Ginger, "Well, what do you think? How are things with the training

facility?"

"Well... we are doing a good job of gathering children under the age of twelve,"

said Ginger. "The school meals system that you proposed has worked well, I would

say. There are times when it gets hectic, but we have created a cycle where they

show up, they study, they get a proper meal, and then they go home."

"School meals system?" asked Liscia.

"If children under the age of twelve come here and study, they are given free

meals to eat. If they study here, they can eat. Once this becomes widely known, the

children of families under financial stress will be more likely to come here and

study. Many of their guardians find it's better to send them here to study and save

the money it would take to feed them than it is to force the children to work for what

little money they can get. If they study properly, they may be able to escape from

poverty in the future, after all."

"Hmmm," said Liscia. "That's a well thought out system. Is that something they do

in your world, too, Souma?"

"Yeah," I said. "It's a method often used for providing support in poor countries."

Liscia seemed impressed, but Ginger's expression was more clouded.

"It's true, we're doing a good job of drawing in children. However, conversely, it's

hard to gather the adults, who aren't covered by the school meals system. We are

doing what we can by teaching them in the evening once their work lets out, but...

'I've lived all my life without being able to read, write, or do arithmetic. Why should I

learn to now?' they say, and won't even give us a chance."

"Well, if they've never had an education, I can see how they might think that

way," I said.

Only upon receiving an education is one able to understand the value of one.

While children may ask, "Why are we studying?" when they become adults they

think, "Why didn't I study more?" That they're able to have that regret at all is

because they were made to study as children.

"Well, enlightening them on the value of education is one part of our work," I

said. "I'll come up with something."

"Please do, sire."

Ginger and I naturally shook hands.

Finally, after touching base on a number of things, Ginger and Sandria saw us off,

and we left the training facility.

The next place we visited was the Kikkoro Distillery, not far from the training

grounds.

This distillery, which used a hexagon with the character for wolf in the center as

its brand mark, was run by mystic wolves like Tomoe, and it produced soy sauce,

miso, sake, and mirin.

Here, we met another person I knew.

When we entered the grounds, there was a plump man wearing short sleeved

clothes despite the winter chill.

"Hm? Poncho?" I asked.

"Wh-Why, Your Majesty! Good day to you, yes."

When he noticed us, Poncho bowed his head to me. Maybe he had gotten used to

the idea that he was only supposed to bow once. Before, he had been bobbing his

head up and down constantly.

"What are you doing here, Poncho?" I asked.

"Oh, that's right! Listen to this, sire!" Poncho trudged over with his abdominous

body.

"Whoa, you're getting too close!" I exclaimed. "...What's this, so suddenly?"

"At last, at long last, it's complete! That 'sauce' you have been requesting!" The

usually shy and reserved Poncho was incredibly excited, thrusting a bottle filled

with a black liquid out toward me.

The sauce I'd requested?

...Ah!

"You don't mean that's finally ready, do you?!"

"Please taste it for yourself, yes."

"Sure!" I dripped a few drops of the black liquid onto the back of my hand, then

licked them up.

It had a vegetable or fruit flavor and a spice-like fragrance. There was no doubt,

this was what we'd called sauce in Japanese. However, unlike ordinary

Worcestershire sauce, it had a strong sweetness and sourness, along with a depth of

flavor.

This was definitely the sort of sauce that went with yakisoba, a sauce for flourbased dishes.

"The taste of sauce... is a boy's flavor," I remarked, quoting a certain gourmet

manga.

"What kind of nonsense are you talking now?" Liscia said with a roll of her eyes,

snapping me back to my sense.

"It's just, the sauce we have been experimenting with is finally complete, so I was

filled with emotion."

"I-Is it that big of a deal?" Liscia asked.

"Of course! Because, with this, I can make yakisoba, okonomiyaki, monjayaki,

takoyaki, and sobameshi. It's good on fried dishes on its own, too."

"I barely know what any of the dishes you just named are..." Liscia murmured.

"I'll make them for you sometime soon. I mean, even if there are leftovers, I'm

sure Aisha will make them disappear for us."

But, still... at last, we had perfected this sauce for flour-based dishes.

It had been a long process. There had already been a sauce similar to

Worcestershire sauce in this world, but it hadn't been the sort of thick sauce that

would work well with yakisoba. I had thought I could create one somehow, and I'd

been working on it through a process of trial and error, but with no real knowledge

of sauces, it had proven to be beyond me. That was why I had ended up creating

those spaghetti buns before yakisoba buns. I had half given up on the development,

but it looked like Poncho had continued it for me.

"I'm impressed you were able to recreate it," I told him. "You'd never tasted it

yourself before, right?"

"I had Your Majesty's words, 'It's thicker than ordinary Worcestershire sauce,

sweet, and I think it felt a little sour,' the knowledge that there was a noodle dish,

'yakisoba,' which you would pour the sauce over and mix, and the memory of the

pasta dish you call Spaghetti Neapolitan, which gave me the hint I needed."

"The spaghetti did?" I asked.

"Yes, it did, yes. That spaghetti uses the tomato sauce called ketchup that I

developed with you, right, sire? I knew that ketchup went well with noodle dishes,

so I thought something similar to ketchup might have been used with this noodle

dish called yakisoba, yes."

"Ahh!" I cried.

I saw now! This sweet and tangy flavor came from fruits and vegetables! In other

words, this sauce for flour-based dished was made by adding tomato sauce and

other ingredients to a thick Worcestershire sauce, then? Poncho had an incredible

sense of taste to be able to figure that out on his own.

"Then, in order to give the Worcestershire and tomato sauce mixture a greater

depth of flavor, I tried adding the soy sauce and mirin produced here at the Kikkoro

Distillery. Um... How do you think I did?" he asked hesitantly.

I put my hands on Poncho's shoulders. "Poncho... you did well."

"Sire! You are too kind, yes!"

"Now, can this sauce be mass produced?" I asked.

"It seems the Kikkoro Distillery will take on the job for us."

That was wonderful. Now I could write another page in the culinary history of

the kingdom. When Poncho and I started excitedly talking about the topic of sauces,

the other members of the group... particularly the women, Liscia, Hilde, and Carla...

looked on, rolling their eyes.

"Souma's not a big eater, but sometime, he can be pretty picky about the

strangest details," Liscia said. "I wonder why that is?"

"That's just what men are like, Princess," said Hilde. "They pour needless passion

into things women don't understand, and they think nothing of the trouble they go

to doing it. They're such bizarre creatures."

"You speak like you have personal experience with this," said Carla. "Do you

know someone like that, Madam Hilde?"

"Don't ask about things you shouldn't, dragonewt girl," Hilde snapped. "I'll stitch

your mouth shut, you know?"

"Y-Yes, ma'am! I won't ask you anything, yes!" Carla hurriedly saluted, seemingly

having been infected with some of Poncho's speaking style as she did.

And, well, I was excited by the unexpected result, but it was about time to

accomplish my real objective here. I parted with Poncho and then, in the director's

office of the Kikkoro Distillery, I met with the elder of the mystic wolves who was

also the director of this place.

We sat across from him in the same arrangement as when we'd visited Ginger.

The elder's white hair, white eyebrows, and white beard were all long and thick,

reminding me of a Maltese. Except that inside all that hair, there was an old man.

The elder bowed his head deeply while still remaining seated. "We, the mystic

wolves, are endlessly grateful to Your Majesty for your protection, the construction

of this Kikkoro Distillery, and all of your other support. I thank you on behalf of my

people."

"It's fine," I said. "Little Tomoe's done a lot for us, too. Besides, it was fortunate

that people like you who knew how to grow rice and produce soy sauce, miso, mirin,

sake, and more came along. I get to eat tasty food, and I can feed it to other people,

too."

"You are very kind to say that," said the elder. "Now, sire, what manner of

business have you come here on today?"

"Yeah... I was thinking it was about time we resolved the issue outside."

"By 'outside,' you mean... the refugee camp?"

I silently nodded.