6 This country belongs to her.

"It's time to go." My mother stood next to my father while hero wench and I were in her father's arms.

Today was the day we were scheduled to leave to leave this sanitary prison. I could barely hold my excitement in. In the first place, we had to stay here for two more days than it was necessary because of capitalism.

Speaking of capitalism, it was a new term I came across in my long telepathic chat with hero wench yesterday. And as a ruler, I don't need to think twice to understand why this social philosophy made sense. So even though it stood somewhat against what I practised back during my rule, I just accepted it with a grain of salt.

Or so I say, but deep inside I was thinking about a way to exploit it.

After all, I had a new goal now… To buy an island and turn it into my safe haven in case there actually is a war.

While I was stuck trying to make better of my thoughts, we finally reached the gates to the hospital. Upon our arrival, the gate split open by themselves and the heat from outside reaches the cooled interiors.

[The temperature changed…] I thought-transmitted to hero wench.

[Hehehe. Surprised, are you? This was because of a tool they use called aircon. It turns the indoor's temperature down to whatever you want.]

[Interesting.] So they did make something like that after all.

Back when I was the demon lord, I used an artefact to keep my chamber cool too. It really went to show how the races have evolved enough to pull this off without buying any artefacts that you would have to mess with the national budget to buy and may or may not have to sell your reincarnation spell to repay causing a pesky woman to join you in your new reincarnated life. But I digress.

While I was focused on figuring out the 'Aircon's mechanism, the cityscape presented itself, completely pulling me out from my own thoughts.

A sky filled with tessellation like a shield, columns supporting gargantuan bridges, a thick river flowing right through the middle of the town, structures that dwarf me to the extent of making me feel insignificant, entire buildings made up of a reflective surface, a black road with moving chunks of metal, and pedestrians everywhere…. There was simply too much information to take in.

I was reminded of how long of a time 3000 years was.

[There's no point in telling you to calm down… so just take your time.] Her voice got transmitted right into my head.

So this was the modern world.

[It's not as cool as I imagined.] I stated.

[Huh?!]

[I was expecting there to be flying carriages in the future. And for everyone to own at least one pet dragon. And I don't see any of that here. All I see are lumps of moving metal and clearly unhappy people. The air isn't all that fresh although I guess it is clean, and there are a few too many people. I don't know, it's pretty unsettling.]

[Ughhh... Are you ever satisfied with anything?] Hero wench used her little palm to slap her face. I didn't know why, though. I was just being honest there. [Well, you'll see how amazing this era is sooner than later.]

While she complained, we got in a lump of metal too. There were lights and saddles all around. It looked like the poshest of carriages. I heard a whirring sound and a few beeps. And suddenly we took off at an alarmingly quick speed.

[Is this really a carriage?!] I exclaimed.

[Nope, this is what you'd call a car.]

'Isn't that just a shorter way of saying carriage?'

[What animal does this use to reach speeds like this? This is nearly as fast as a dragon yet I don't see any large beast tugging on it!]

[It uses electrical energy. I haven't learnt much about how it does that, though.]

[I see.] The cityscape rushes past us as the 'car' moves. The massive structures that I found daunting a minute ago, looked glamorous as they grew smaller behind us. The bridge and the channel underneath shone with brilliance under the midday sun. The white things holding the bridge up had a pattern on their own.

Everything was simple and elegant.

I did take a minute to absorb the sight. Hero Wench just looked over with a slightly proud face which screamed 'I told you so.'

But the novelty could only last a while.

[By the way… why's your father using disguise magic?] I asked her after composing myself.

[So you noticed? Well, yet again, you'll have to wait and see.] She said with a smug face.

'What's up with her and all the mysteries?'

After a few minutes, our carria- I mean car came to a halt as the large gates to a residence opened up. Presenting itself to our eyes was a grand structure. Several times bigger than anything else in the city.

A sharp sense of nostalgia enveloped me.

The structure's architecture resembled my castle. But there were two clear differences. It was white and much smaller than the one that belonged to me. This wasn't saying that this is small or anything… it was just that my castle was gargantuan.

Sure the structures megastructures were in fact mega. But the only thing that was impressive about them was the sheer amount of structures of that size. My castle was much larger than any of those structures. Well, I guess some buildings were taller than it, but they couldn't compare in volume.

[Looks like your old place, huh?] Hero wench tapped my shoulder.

[Yes.]

[As I said, this man is a huge fan of your's.] She looked up at her father, who was still carrying us.

The door to the megastructure opened up and we head inside. As we did that, the appearance altering magic that her father had cast on himself fades.

Long black hair, crystal-like eyes, and a majestic stride.

[He's the ruler of the interracial alliance, Sadou Jii.]

There was no mistaking it. One look is all I needed to judge him. This man held the makings of a great ruler.

At the same time, I felt a little guilty. Someone like me didn't deserve his respect. Someone who reincarnated into the future so that he could run away from his responsibilities. And still didn't regret it a bit.

This man has lived longer and probably experienced more hardships than I could imagine. Yet he evidently hasn't run away. I should be the one looking up to him.

Even though I say that deep down I preferred this life of a good for nothing. Not having an entire race place its expectations on you is so freeing that I would gladly give up my dignity to let this last forever.

'Sorry Jii-san, but you chose the wrong man to look up to.'

[I can see why you can't run away from battle, even in this life.]

[Hahaha… A cruel destiny, right?]

[I know this might sound like lip service coming from me, but I really hope you find your happiness this life. We have no reason to hate each other. It's just that we were on the opposing sides in our previous lives. So please be happy, okay?]

[Shut up! You're just trying to dump your responsibilities onto me. I won't stop until I convince you to join the war!]

[Tsk.]

We continued into the hall. The butlers took some of our belongings from my parents.

[You know… I found out something cool. Apparently, our parents are some real badasses.]

[F-Filthy buttocks?] I tried to guess what she meant but wasn't all that confident. Why would one call another a bad ass? I understand hard ass. But bad ass?

[No you uncultured shit. What I meant to say is that they're really cool.]

[Ah… I see.] I didn't really see. Her explanation and the actual term had no visible interrelation. Anyway, [How?]

She pumped her fists up and down in clear excitement.

[Well, you see, all four of them fought against the rest of the world to establish this interracial alliance when they were in their twenties. After that, they got busy trying to achieve stability and managed to do that in eight years!]

[I was wondering why they had us so late. It sort of makes sense now. But back in our days, you would already be a grandparent at 34.]

[That's the part of the story you wanted to pick up on?? And also, stop using 'in our days'… it makes me feel old.]

[You are old. And also, I rebuilt the demon economy by the time I was three, sooo.]

[Oh, yeah. You did do that.] She said uninterested. She clearly fawned over her parents more than she did their achievements. [By the way, I'm not old! I was only seventeen when I died!]

[That makes you five years older than me, you hag.]

[What are you on about? Weren't you like in your forties when we fought?]

[The Forties? What the heck?]

[I mean you were more than two metres tall back then soo…]

[That was obviously just armour! I was 13! You already knew that! My birth was a global event back then!]

[I'm sorrrryyy. I forgot that you were actually a 13-year-old kid when you captured Yiina to torture and shoved a frigging hand down my chest! Just sue me!]

[Eh? What's suing?]

[I swear to god staying with someone as ancient as you is going to drive me insane. Just quietly enjoy the view of my palace. In silence, okay?]

[Whatever you say. You hag.]

[UUU!!!]