A Day Off in Parnam

It was a few weeks after the first episode of The King's Brillunch had

been broadcast.

That day, a petition was delivered to Prime Minister Hakuya Kwonmin.

The personnel department had been the ones to organize it, but it

included names from the royal guard, the maid force, and every other group

within the palace. Marx, who was now the chamberlain, and Ludwin, the

head of the royal guard, had put their names on it, as well.

Wondering what it could be, Hakuya quickly perused the contents to

find...

"...Ah, I see."

Hakuya agreed with the petition despite himself.

◇ ◇ ◇

"So, there you have it. I will be insisting you take time off, sire,"

Hakuya said.

"There I have what, exactly?" I asked. "I still can't make heads or tails

of what's going on."

While I had been working in the governmental affairs office, Hakuya

had suddenly come in and said, "Take time off." Then he'd casually

dropped the bundle of papers he was holding onto the desk I'd been

working at.

"This is a petition I received from the personnel department," he

informed me. "According to it, 'When those at the top do not rest, those

below them find it difficult to take time off.' You will find Sir Marx and

Ludwin's names on here, and I, your humble servant, have added my own

name, as well."

Ah... Now that he mentions it, I haven't taken time off since being

summoned here, have I? I thought.

It wasn't that I wasn't resting at all. Recently, now that I had gotten used

to using Living Poltergeists, I'd sometimes left the paperwork to my ability

and gone to do things like make dolls in Liscia's room. If I let part of my

mind work while part of it rested, I could work 24/7 without feeling the

slightest bit exhausted. However, according to Hakuya, it seemed that

wasn't the issue here.

"Even if you are resting, you are always in the palace, correct?" he

asked me.

"Yeah, just in case anything happens."

"I am telling you that it does not look like you are resting when you do

that. And, because it does not look like you are resting, everyone else finds

it difficult to rest themselves. Please, understand that."

"That's easy for you to say..." I said.

"Normally, I would want you to take a large block of days off to rest,"

he said, "but..."

"Do we have that kind of time?" I asked.

"We do not."

"I figured..."

As a matter of fact, there was a mountain of things that needed doing.

Expanding and strengthening the military, meeting with VIPs, creating

documents for external use, pushing forward all sorts of reforms... the list

could go on forever. Even Aisha's request that I go to the God-Protected

Forest as soon as possible was on hold at this point. Though I had at least

told them how periodic thinning worked. In this country beset by internal

and external issues, there was no time we could afford to waste.

"However, if this lowers morale, and as a result work efficiency, I

believe your hard work may be self-defeating," Hakuya explained.

"Well, what do you want me to do, then?" I asked.

"Somehow, I will find time to give you a day off," he said. "Why not use

it for an outing somewhere?"

An outing, huh...

"Since I don't get many days off, what if I said I want to use it to lie

around in my room?" I asked.

"That request is rejected. I must ask you to take your vacation in a way

that your subjects can see you enjoying it."

"...You still call that a vacation?"

In my opinion, it's only a day off if you're able to do what you want with

it. I gave Hakuya a meaningful glance to try to convey that, but it was met

with utter indifference.

"Is this not the perfect opportunity? You can use the time to see the

castle town with Princess Liscia."

"You're sending me out on a date?" I asked.

"You two are betrothed, so please go out and show the people how close

you are."

"Oh, come on, now this is just turning into part of my official duties," I

protested.

Do you want us to do stuff like they do on the Imperial Family Album

TV show?

"...And what'll we do about guarding me?" I added.

"Is that not what you have Aisha for?" he responded.

"First you tell me to go on a date, now you're telling me to bring another

woman along?!"

"Why, it will be like having a flower in each hand," Hakuya commented.

"I am most jealous."

"You don't mean that..."

Sigh... Well, it's definitely some long awaited time to rest. I guess I can

enjoy it with the mindset that I'm going out to have fun with friends. I can

go around to all the places in the capital I've been interested in. Let's see...

checking out that singing cafe that Juna works at might be nice.

"...Okay. Fine, I'll take a day off," I said.

"Your understanding is appreciated."

As Hakuya bowed reverently, I gave him a cold look.

"Now then, where's Liscia at?" I wondered.

I wanted to let her know we had a day off, but she wasn't in her room.

Usually, that meant she was somewhere in the palace's training facility.

When I had ascended the throne, Liscia's position as royalty had gone up in

the air. Now all that she was left with was her military rank, so acting as my

advisor (which, mind you, was pretty hard work) was the only job she had

now. She'd been complaining lately about how she had nothing to do other

than join the royal guards for training, hadn't she?

First I visited the shooting range, then the indoor training grounds.

Finally, when I visited the inner garden, I found Liscia in the middle of

crossing blades with Aisha.

"Hahhhhhhhhh!"

With a loud cry, Aisha swung a sword that was as tall as she was.

In contrast, Liscia silently read her opponent's attacks, striking with her

rapier.

It was hard for an amateur to tell which of them had the advantage. Was

it Aisha, who was unleashing an attack that would be crippling if it landed?

Or was it Liscia, who dodged that attack, unleashing three sequential thrusts

with her rapier?

Was it Aisha, who knocked those thrusts aside using nothing more than

the gauntlet she wore? Or was it Liscia, who used the opening that left her

with to step on Aisha's great sword, preventing Aisha from lifting it up?

...Is this really a practice match? Their swordplay was so intense, I

couldn't be sure how serious they were.

"Sonic Wind!"

"Ice Sword Mountain!"

Now they've started using magic and skills!

Aisha's Sonic Wind was apparently a skill that released a "cutting wind"

from her great sword. When Liscia dodged, it cut the tree that had been

behind her in half with a diagonal slash.

Meanwhile, Liscia's Ice Sword Mountain seemed to be a skill that

instantly froze the ground like a skating rink and shot icy spikes out of it,

but Aisha cut down all of the spikes that looked like they might hit her

using her great sword.

...What's with this battle to the death?

I had already seen magic in this world. Recently, in order to practice my

ability to manipulate dolls, I had been using a mannequin to go out and hunt

monsters, so I had often seen the adventurers it encountered use magic

(though it was usually when my mannequin got mistaken for a monster and

attacked).

However, with the magic that ordinary adventurers used, the most they

could do was things like shoot flames, shoot ice, or heal minor wounds. I'd

never thought magic used by someone experienced would be this

incredible.

Aisha was strong, but Liscia seemed pretty capable herself. As the two

fought, their eyes were filled with life, sparkling even, as if they had

discovered a worthy rival.

So these are warriors, huh... Wait, if I let them keep going, they're going

to wreck the castle!

"Both of you... cut that out!"

""Yes, sir! Wait, wha?!"" The two of them returned to their senses,

landed on the ground, then both slipped on the ice and fell on their rumps in

unison.

"A-A date?!" Liscia exclaimed.

"Yeah."

When I explained to her that I had a day off, and that Hakuya had

recommended I spend it going on a date with her, Liscia looked

dumbstruck.

"Wait... Is that something we should be doing because someone else told

us to?"

"I feel the same way, but... in Hakuya's mind, royal dates are probably a

part of our duties."

"What an inhumane way of thinking," she muttered.

"'Before I am a human being, I am the prime minister.' That's probably

something he'd say."

"Ha ha ha!" she giggled. "He would."

"So, before we're human beings, he wants us to be king and queen,

basically."

"...Sorry. That one I can't laugh at."

The two of us sighed in unison.

Hakuya was sharp, reliable, and he took his work seriously, but he could

take loyalty to his post too far sometimes. Well, that wasn't to say he didn't

have a soft side. Recently, he had started tutoring Tomoe at her request.

"Well, I'm happy for the day off, and I figure heading out somewhere is

okay, right?" I asked.

"I suppose so," she agreed.

"Oh, oh! In that case, please, come to my forest!" Aisha raised her hand,

trying to get our attention, but I shook my head.

"I still have a pile of official work to get through. It has to be somewhere

we can make a day trip to."

"Ohh... Even by horse, it takes three days each way to get to the GodProtected Forest..."

Yeah, that's out of the question.

"You'll have to give up on it this time. But I did teach you how to do

periodic thinning, didn't I?"

"Yes. However, there are some among the dark elves who are blindly

stubborn... 'What is this nonsense? How can you suggest that we dark

elves, protectors of the forest, cut down trees?' they say."

Ah. Yeah, you get types like that in every world.

I respected their desire to protect nature, but when that desire goes too

far, it reaches a level of arrogance, and it can actually be a problem. Nature

isn't so weak that that it needs humans to look down on and "protect" it. If

anything...

"That's why I want you to come, sire," she explained. "To give them a

good shouting at."

"...I get it. The moment I'm free, I'll go."

It feels like the number of things that I need to do is only going up, but...

saying that won't help matters, will it? I thought.

"Please do. If it will help, please, use my body, my life, in any way you

see fit," Aisha said, bowing her head.

"Well, then I've got a favor to ask right now..."

"Yes, sire! You want me to see to your needs?" she asked immediately.

"Why is that the first thing that comes to mind?!"

"Well, I did just finish pledging my body to you."

"Souma..." Liscia said dangerously.

"Of course I'm not going to ask for that! Liscia, stop giving me that

look!"

When Aisha got worked up, it seemed she had a way of letting herself

run wild.

"I just wanted to ask you to be my bodyguard while we go into the castle

town," I explained.

"Y-You want me to join you two on your date?" she asked.

"Well, if it were just me and Liscia, we'd be in trouble if anything

happened," I said. "We may be calling it a date, but really we're just

walking around town together, so you don't need to let that bother you."

"...It bothers me, though." For some reason, Liscia was pursing her lips.

Maybe she'd wanted to go on a date alone together? ...Nah, couldn't be.

I mean, even though we were betrothed, that was just a formality.

"Well, that's how it is," I said. "I'll be counting on you two when the

day comes."

"Yes, sire! Understood!" Aisha said enthusiastically.

"...Fine, I get it." In contrast to Aisha's enthusiasm, Liscia seemed

dissatisfied somehow.

And so, our day off came.

Liscia, Aisha, and I were walking along a shopping street in the castle

town of Parnam. Hakuya had said, "Please go out and show the people how

close you are," but apparently that had been a joke, because when the day

came, he asked us to be discreet. Well, for the king going down into the

castle town, Aisha alone probably wasn't enough security, after all.

So, I wore a uniform from the Royal Officers' Academy in Parnam and

passed myself off as a student. ...Which I actually was, given that I had

been in university back home.

By the way, Aisha and I were just wearing school uniforms, but we'd

realized people would recognize Liscia, so she had her hair in braids and

was wearing vanity glasses, giving her an honors student look as a disguise.

With this, if anyone looked, all they would see was three students out on the

town for their day off.

"Heya, buddy, you've got some real beauties there with you! If you're a

real man, how 'bout buyin' them some of my wares as a present and

showin' off how generous you are?" a middle-aged guy at a stall with

accessories on display called out to me in a Kansai accent. Apparently, the

merchant slang from this world got translated as a fake Kansai accent to my

ears.

While turning the man down with a tactful smile, I talked to Liscia.

"Liscia, you sure do look good in glasses."

"I-I do? ...Thanks."

"Sire! What do you think of me in a school uniform?" Aisha quickly

raised her hand. Lately, she'd been downright aggressive about doing that.

"...Uh, yeah, it doesn't really suit you," I said.

"Why not?!"

Yeah... the Officers' Academy's uniform was something like a blazer,

and that didn't go with her brown skin and silver hair at all. I don't know

how to say it, but it felt like I was looking at someone cosplaying as a

character from a school anime. Like how there aren't pink haired girls in

real life, and even when girls dye their hair that way it just looks completely

unnatural? There was a clash between the realistic and the fantasy here, you

could say...

"Personally, I don't think it looks that bad on her, you know?" Liscia

said.

"Princess!" Aisha exclaimed.

"Yeah. Well, I'm sure it's probably just because I was judging her by the

standards of my own world," I said.

Really, this is a diverse world with many races. I should try to get used

to it as quickly as I can.

Rattle, rattle, rattle...

"And, anyway, Souma, it's not Aisha that's bothering me, it's that thing

you're dragging behind you," Liscia said.

"Hm? This rolling bag, you mean?"

"That's a bag? It has wheels on it!"

"Yeah," I said. "There are caster wheels underneath, which makes it

easy to carry heavy things."

"My word, what a convenient thing to have." Aisha's eyes were wide.

Not surprising, since these weren't common in this country yet.

I had special-ordered this one from a craftsman in the castle town. The

person who'd made it for me had said he wanted to sell them himself, and

I'd allowed it so long as he didn't try to keep a monopoly on the concept. If

there turned out to be demand for them, they might not be so unusual a few

years from now.

"But sire, if you want your luggage carried, you need only ask..." Aisha

protested.

"We're supposed to be disguised as school friends. It'd be out of place

for the guy to be making a girl carry his stuff," I said. Besides, a bunch of

my self-defense equipment was in there. I couldn't let go of it. "Also,

Aisha, stop calling me sire. Technically, we're supposed to be incognito

here."

"Yes, sire! But what am I to call you, then...?"

"Just address me normally, no formal title. If you'd like, you can even

use my given name, 'Kazuya.'"

""Huh?"" both girls exclaimed.

Huh? Why is Liscia confused, too?

"But... Souma, isn't your given name 'Souma'?" Liscia asked.

"Huh? Souma's obviously my family name. Kazuya's my given name."

"But you said you were Souma Kazuya, didn't you?"

"...Ah."

Shoot. In this country, they follow the European style, where given name

comes first. I should have given my name as Kazuya Souma. Oh, I see!

That's why everyone's been calling me King Souma. Now that I think of it,

it's weird to have "king" attached to a family name. In a hereditary system,

you'd have a large number of kings with the same name if you did it that

way.

"I-Is it too late to correct it?" I asked.

"Probably? Everyone thinks you're Souma, and I think all your external

correspondence has been under the name Souma Kazuya."

"Augh! To think I was making such an awful mistake..." I moaned.

"Well, maybe it's not so bad?" Aisha asked. "Why not use one name in

public and the other in private? So, on private occasions like today, I'll call

you 'Sir Kazuya.'"

With Aisha finding ways to cover for my mistake, I just got more

depressed about it. "Now I have Aisha, of all people, having to cover for

me..."

"Just what do you think of me as, Sir Kazuya?!"

"What are you, you ask...? A disappointing dark elf?"

"That's just mean!" she exclaimed.

"Honestly, cut the stupid banter, you two, and let's get going," Liscia

urged while I was still dealing with the teary-eyed Aisha.

Yeah... It's fine to say let's get going, but we haven't chosen a particular

destination, I thought. "Is there somewhere you girls want to go?"

"No," Liscia said.

"Wherever you go, I will follow, Sir Kazuya," Aisha added.

"Yeah. At least pretend to think about it, you two."

If they pushed the decision off on me, I wouldn't know what to do. Now

that I thought about it, this was my first time walking around the castle

town. The last time I had come here, we had just galloped straight through

on horseback, after all.

Hmm... In that case, maybe that's all the more reason why I should take

a good look around. Even if we just meander around, it'll still be new to me.

"Well, let's just take it easy," I said.

Parnam Central Park.

A large park in the center of the royal capital, Parnam.

Though it was called a park, there wasn't a playground or anything like

that. There were just trees, shrubs and flowers that had been planted there,

but the grounds were three times the size of Tokyo Dome. In the center of

the park was an impressively large fountain with a Jewel Voice Broadcast

receiver. When there was a broadcast happening, it could project a massive

image that was large enough to be seen from 100 meters away. There was

amphitheater-style seating around the fountain, and during the last Jewel

Voice Broadcast, a crowd numbering in the tens of thousands had

apparently gathered there.

You know, it might be interesting to hold a live concert there, I thought.

As soon as Juna's broadcast program using the Jewel Voice Broadcast gets

up and going, I'd really like to plan something like that. Someday, this

fountain plaza might become a stage singers from across Elfrieden aspire to

stand on, like the Budokan or Hibiya Outdoor Theater.

...Well, that's enough of my idle fantasizing. Anyway, we had come to

Central Park.

"This is a lovely place full of natural beauty," Aisha said.

"Even though it's in the middle of the city, the air is so clear," Liscia

commented. "Mmm."

Aisha looked around full of curiosity while Liscia stretched widely.

"Huh? But I don't remember the air being this clear before..." she

murmured.

"Well, yeah, I worked hard to arrange that," I said.

"You arranged it? Did you do something to this park?"

Liscia seemed puzzled, so I puffed out my chest and explained. "Not just

to the park. I prepared infrastructure all over the underground of Parnam,

and I could go further and say I made preparations in regards to the laws, as

well. If you compare things to a few months ago, I think you'll find

environmental hygiene has improved considerably."

To be blunt, before my preparations, the environmental hygiene in this

country had been on the same level as Middle Ages Europe. Which is to

say: it'd been disgusting.

Horse dung had been left lying out in the streets as if that were perfectly

normal, and people had just poured their domestic sewage into ditches

along the roadside. I'd heard it had smelled absolutely foul in summertime.

Because the concept of hygiene hadn't existed, these problems had just

been left alone. But when horse dung dries out, it turns into dust which is

lifted into the air. When that gets into people's lungs, it causes a variety of

respiratory diseases.

That was why the first thing I had done was set up an aqueduct and

sewer system.

"An aqueduct and sewer system," Liscia gasped. "When did you have

the time to make those?!"

"Actually, there wasn't that much effort involved," I shrugged. "There

were underground passages running all over Parnam to begin with, you see.

All I had to do was run water from the river through them."

"Wait, those were escape tunnels for the royal family!" she cried in

outrage.

As Liscia had said, in the event that the capital came under attack, and

the fall of the royal family became unavoidable, those tunnels had been

meant for the royal family to escape through. Even if the enemy discovered

them, they had been built like a maze in order to hinder pursuit, and they

covered the entirety of Parnam. What was more, they had been built in three

layers. All of that had been very convenient for repurposing them as an

aqueduct and sewer system.

First, water from the river that ran near Parnam had been drawn into the

first layer, which served as an underground aqueduct. That water was now

being used in wells and public bath houses that once relied on underground

water. The third layer was used as a sewer, ultimately emptying out into

sedimentation ponds outside the capital where the sewage would be filtered

before being returned to the river once more. The system had been designed

so that the water that made the full trip around the city in the first layer

would ultimately drain into the third layer. We had filled in the second layer

and set things up in a way that bad smells from the third layer wouldn't rise

up into the first.

"If you've turned them into an aqueduct and sewer system, what do you

plan to do if there's an emergency?!" Liscia demanded.

"If we get to the point where the royal family needs to flee the capital,

the country's already finished, isn't it?" I asked. "If it were up to me, I'd

probably surrender at the point when the enemy was closing in on the

capital."

"That easily?" she exclaimed.

"Liscia, so long as a king has the people on his side, he's safe."

This was another lesson from Machiavelli. According to him, The best

possible fortress is not to be hated by the people.

A prince has two types of enemies. Traitors within, and foreign enemies

without.

If you have the support of the people, traitors can't gather supporters or

incite the people into rebellion, so they'll just have to give up. On the other

hand, if you're hated by the people, there will be no shortage of foreigners

willing to assist them in your eventual downfall. So Machiavelli says.

"Even if I lose my title, so long as the people are still there, there's a

chance for revival," I said. "On the other hand, if the king is the only one to

survive, without any people left to support him, he'll just be eaten up by

another foe himself."

"...It's a hard world, huh," Liscia murmured.

"That's reality. Well, anyway, the aqueduct and sewer systems were easy

enough to make, but when it came to the sedimentation ponds... Ah, let's go

sit over in the shade."

There wasn't much point standing around while we talked, so we went

over to sit in the shade provided by some trees in the park.

Not long after we sat down, Aisha was leaning against a tree and

beginning to nod off. She probably couldn't keep up with the complicated

subject matter. I had to question whether it was okay for someone who was

supposed to be my bodyguard to be doing that, but, well, knowing Aisha,

she could probably protect me in her sleep. I kept talking.

"I couldn't let raw sewage drain into the river. Domestic sewage often

has pathogenic bacteria and parasites in it, you see. In order to protect

against those, we need to let the water sit in a place where it can filter

through sand and pebbles... in other words, a sedimentation pond."

"P-Pathogenic bacteria?" Liscia cocked her head to the side. It seemed

those were unfamiliar words for people in this world.

Well, there was probably no need to get too sensitive about it just yet.

The people of this country had no concept of pollution. That was because,

with this country's standards of living and level of technology, even if they

dumped untreated sewage into the river, it wouldn't make much of a

difference.

However, as the country grew and its technology advanced, there were

sure to be problems with pollution. The sooner I tackled that problem, the

better. The Japanese people had learned about pollution by experiencing

Minamata Disease, Itai-itai Disease, and Yokkaichi Asthma. There was no

need for the people of this country to experience anything like that.

"So, did something happen with these sedimentation ponds?" she asked.

"Right, so I used the Forbidden Army to dig holes for the sedimentation

ponds..."

"What are you making Sir Ludwin and his men do?" she exclaimed.

Well, if I'd hired workers, that would have been expensive, and I'd

wanted to teach the soldiers of the Forbidden Army "combat engineering"

skills. Digging holes, filling them up, reinforcing them. It was the perfect

practice for digging trenches. It seemed battles in this world were still

fought on the open field, so a group that could use trench warfare tactics

like in World War I would stand head and shoulders above the rest.

Anyway, I digress.

"While I was having them dig, we came across a large pile of monster

bones."

"Bones?" she asked.

"Yeah, bones. Dragon bones, giant bones, all kinds of bones."

It's like a monster graveyard, one of the soldiers doing the digging had

said.

Dragons, giants, gargoyles, and more. There had been a large quantity of

clearly non-human bones just scattered around haphazardly.

By the way, of the creatures I just listed, dragons were the only ones that

weren't monsters.

Dragons had a degree of magical power that was incomparably higher

than what wyverns had, they were intelligent, and apparently they could

even take on human form. They had a pact of mutual non-aggression with

the human race, and had built their own country in the Star Dragon

Mountain Range. The chief of the Star Dragon Mountain Range, Mother

Dragon, was strong even by dragon standards. She was said to be an

incredibly beautiful specimen, and was even worshiped by some people.

Basically, dragons were terrifying god-beasts, but they were also another

race, just like humans and dragonewts were.

Anyway, let's get back to the story.

According to the scholars who investigated those bones, they were in a

geological stratum from thousands of years ago.

"So, there was a dungeon there?" Liscia tilted her head quizzically, but I

shook my head.

"I said they were in a certain geological stratum, didn't I? Thousands of

years ago, that place would have been the surface."

"The surface...? No, you can't mean... Sometimes monsters do come out

from a dungeon, but never on so large a scale. Outside of the Demon Lord's

Domain, monsters never swarm over the surface like... Ah!" Liscia gasped,

shaking her head as if trying to clear it of the thought that just occurred to

her. "Hold on! The Demon World only appeared for the first time ten years

ago!"

"In other words, this means, even before that, there was an era when

monsters roamed the surface," I said. "If you think about it, there are

dungeons all over this continent with monsters living inside them. For some

reason, the monsters that lived on this continent thousands of years ago

vanished, and some small portion of them survived by secluding themselves

in dungeons. That's the idea that the scholars came up with."

This was like discovering that there were dinosaurs still living in some

unexplored region of the world. Or like seeing a pandemic of a virus

thought to be eradicated. Though, whether that hypothesis was right or not

remained to be seen.

"Well, what then?! The monsters and demons that destroyed the

Northern Countries didn't 'come here,' they 'returned,' is that it?!"

"That, I don't know," I said. "It's dangerous to jump to that conclusion

at this stage."

What were we trying to fight against? What were our enemies? It was a

question where choosing an easy answer wasn't going to cut it.

"Also, there's one more thing bothering me..." I went on.

"There's more?!"

"Even setting aside the issue of the bones, I needed to get that

sedimentation pool made. So, I had the scholars keep archaeological

records of the bones that were dug up. The thing is, a full skeleton's worth

of the largest and best preserved dragon bones has gone missing. Even

though I know it was disassembled for display and sent to be stored at the

Royal Parnam Museum..."

"So, it was stolen, then?" Liscia asked.

"That would be good news... Well, no, not good news, but still. With a

full, 20-meter-tall dragon skeleton, even if you disassemble it, it's not going

to be easy to transport. Despite that, there's no sign that it was taken out of

Parnam. And yet, the bones are still missing now. It's as if the full set

suddenly started to move, took wing, and flew away."

"Ah! No, it couldn't be! A skull dragon?!" she cried.

"That's what the scholars suspect."

A skull dragon. Apparently, there were monsters like that.

They say a raging dragon can level a kingdom. Dragons have vast stores

of magical powers within their bodies, and those reserves remain in their

bodies after death. Normally, the magic power gradually drains out, but

when a dragon dies with regrets (or, rather, when its body is left in a bad

environment for too long), on rare occasions, it may turn into a skull

dragon.

These skull dragons are designated by the country as Special A-Class

harmful creatures. Winged ones can fly, even though they have no

membranes between their wings, and they spread a miasma that brings

death to all living things. They can also use the dragon's Dragon Breath

technique from when it was alive, so when one appears, it is a living

(unliving?) disaster that requires the full mobilization of a country's

military to defeat. That alone was reason for smaller countries to go to the

Star Dragon Mountain Range, where the dragons live, to seek assistance.

However, this time, things were different.

"If that were it, Parnam would already be enveloped in miasma," I said.

"The scholars performed a magical test to make sure there was no risk of

that happening, after all. There shouldn't have been any magic left in that

fossil."

"I see... That's good."

"Still, that's why I don't get it. Where did those dragon bones vanish

to?"

It had already been close to a month since the dragon bones vanished.

Despite that, there was still no sign of them, so did that mean they had been

carried outside the walls somehow, after all? If so, what was the purpose?

There was apparently little use for the bones once the magic left them. They

had lost their value as a magic catalyst. The best that could be done with

them was to put them in a museum (of course, I would need permission

from the Star Dragon Mountain Range for that) and use them as a tourist

attraction.

I didn't get it. That was why it bothered me.

I lay down on my side. Liscia frowned at me, but I didn't care.

"You're getting your clothes dirty, you realize?" she commented.

"They can be washed. Besides, considering my position, I can get

someone else to wash them for me."

"A king can't let himself get dirty all over," she said.

"Yeah, I'm sure dignity is important and all, but... it's a pain in the butt."

"As one of the people who forced this on you, it's not my place to say it,

but give up and accept it."

"Right, right. Whew, having time where I'm off completely sure is

nice." I stretched my arms and legs wide. How relaxing it was to not have a

single part of my spirit working.

Now that I thought about it, I had been working constantly since coming

to this world. There were things to do, things I ought to do, things I had no

choice but to do, piles and piles of them, and so I had been using my head

all the time. Having this sort of time where I didn't need to think about

anything... it was the best.

"Ahh... I wish I could just melt away and return to the soil," I

murmured.

Liscia was silent. After seeing me like that, she seemed to think for a

moment, then hesitantly said, "Do you want... to rest your head in my lap?"

◇ ◇ ◇

I sat with my knees bent, resting Souma's head on my thighs.

When someone rests their head in your lap, they can either do it with

their body lying horizontally or vertically from your perspective. This was

the vertical variety.

When I peeked down at him, my face was reflected upside-down in his

eyes. Souma's head was lying between my two thighs, and it tickled a little.

"Th-This is... kind of embarrassing, you know." Souma's face was a

deep shade of red.

...I was sure mine was, too.

"Who do you think this is most embarrassing for?" I asked him. "The

person giving the lap pillow, or the person using it?"

"I don't know... Maybe it's 'for the people watching,' don't you think?"

he said.

"Ha ha ha! You could be right."

If Aisha hadn't been asleep, what expression would she have made?

When she saw us looking like a couple who were engaged, would her

face have turned red? Or would she have said, "Princess, I'll not allow you

to do that! If anyone is to be his pillow, it will be me!" or something oblique

like that?

When I saw the fondness that girl showed Souma, sometimes I felt there

was something more than just loyalty there...

Somehow, I suspected that out of those two options, it would have been

the latter of the two.

"...Do you think we look like we're engaged?" I asked.

"Well, in name only," he said.

"In name only..."

Any time it came up, Souma always told those close to him that our

engagement was just temporary, and he was only holding onto the crown

for a little while. Once the kingdom was reasonably stable, he probably

planned to abdicate the throne to me. I felt like that was the reason he

always carefully explained the reforms he was carrying out to me. I think I

understood enough of who Souma was as a person to figure out his

intentions there.

Souma didn't desire excessive wealth or fame. He just wanted to live in

peace and quiet. For Souma, being a "king" bound by "noblesse oblige"

was the exact opposite of his calling in life. Even though my father had

made the decision, I felt awful that we had pushed this burden off onto him.

...But, right now, this kingdom was changing to center around Souma.

This country, which had been thought of by the surrounding nations as a

moldy old kingdom that never changed, was now changing. It was thanks to

Souma that we had been able to cope with the deepening food crisis. As for

Hakuya, Poncho and the others, they had only volunteered to serve because

Souma was there. Even if the throne were abdicated to me, could I keep

them all tied down here?

But besides that, more than anything, I myself wanted Souma to stay in

the kingdom. And so...

"Souma... Does it bother you to have me as your fiancée?" Those words

naturally came to my lips.

Souma's eyes went wide, and he turned his bright red face to the side.

"...It's not fair for you to put it like that."

"O-Oh, yeah?" I stammered.

"Then are you fine with it, Liscia? Having me as your fiancé?"

"I don't mind." I was a little surprised myself that I was able to say it so

clearly. Though, after I did, I felt just a little embarrassed. "You know, I

think you're better suited to rule this country than I am, Souma."

"Even if I'm suited for it... are you going to get engaged to someone you

don't love?"

"Isn't that what it means to be royalty?" I asked.

"I'm not royalty. Besides... I'd rather marry for love."

"Then... do you hate me, Souma? Can you say for sure that you'll never

fall in love with me?" I asked.

"Urgh... I told you, it's not fair when you say stuff like that. The thing

about men is, if a girl shows even the slightest hint of liking them, they'll

fall for her. That's the sort of creatures we are. If a beauty like you says that

to me, Liscia... there's no way I wouldn't start to feel conscious of you."

Souma had said something that sounded like an excuse. He was

surprisingly calm and realistic in his duties, so it was funny to see him

flustered in a situation like this.

I giggled. "You can make the country move, but you're hopeless when it

comes to this."

"...I lack the experience. In so many ways."

"I spend all my time in my studies and military duties, so I haven't had

much experience either, you know?" I said.

"Don't act like it's the same for guys and girls. Our base specs when it

comes to love are completely different."

While we were talking about that, a hesitant voice spoke up. "Um..."

When I turned around, Aisha had woken up at some point, and she was

looking at us with a wry smile that looked like it had been concentrated to

three times the usual intensity.

"How much longer do I need to pretend I'm asleep for?" she asked.

""...""

We both leapt into the air.

◇ ◇ ◇

After leaving the park, we walked around the castle town some more. It

was noon and we were getting hungry, so the three of us decided to head to

the singing cafe where Juna worked.

As we walked down a cobblestone path, Liscia said, "So, about what we

were talking about earlier..." and asked me a question. "You mentioned

changing the laws, as well. What was that about?"

"Oh. What I did was convert the smaller roads into pedestrian paradises

and nationalize garbage disposal."

"...I'm sorry. I have no idea what that means."

Well, no, I suppose she wouldn't have. They both tied back into the

hygiene and sanitation problem, though.

"Well, first, let me explain the pedestrian paradise thing. This one's

simple. I prohibited carriages from using anything but the largest of

thoroughfares. Carriages that carry merchandise receive a special

exemption, but only for a few hours in the morning. We've been walking in

the middle of the street all this time, and nobody's run us over yet, right?"

"Now that you mention it..." Liscia looked all around, not spotting a

single horse.

"This provides an easy reduction in the number of horse accidents,

creating a safe environment for people to shop, which helps to stimulate the

economy, but... the main goal was to clean up all the horse dung."

"Horse dung?" Liscia repeated.

"When a horse is on the move, you generally just leave its droppings

behind, right? Well, that dung dries out, gets picked up by the wind, and it

harms the lungs of those who inhale it. The more unsanitary a place was to

begin with, the more likely horse dung is to be left alone. If we limit the

horses to the main roads, it makes collecting their droppings easy. This

ought to bring down the number of people contracting pneumonia

considerably."

"Huh?! That's all it takes?!" Liscia exclaimed.

"...Yeah," I said. "'That's all' it would have taken to save lives."

"Urkh..."

It may have been a harsh way to say it, but I couldn't have her writing

off something that would mean the difference between life and death for

people with a "that's all it takes."

"Well, in some ways, I can't blame you," I said. "The concept of

hygiene doesn't exist yet in this country. In fact, only two of the medical

professionals I've met with understood it."

I think I've mentioned before that because this country had magic, its

technology was sort of all over the place. Well, that was true in the field of

medicine, as well.

As you might expect from a fantasy world, this place had what was

called recovery magic. By converting magic into certain wavelengths

within the body, it heightened the body's natural healing ability. It was

effective in treating external injuries, such as scratches, cuts, and bruises.

Really impressive practitioners could even reattach an arm that had just

been severed.

If this was all someone saw of it, it would seem like a miracle.

On the other hand, recovery magic couldn't treat viruses and infections

that the body's natural ability to recover couldn't. All people had to lessen

the symptoms of those were medicine men and women who could brew

herbal remedies. Furthermore, for the elderly, whose natural healing ability

had declined, it wasn't effective in treating external injuries, either.

Once you know how something works, it might be easy to think, "Oh,

that's simple," but most people in this country didn't even know about

microbes, let alone viruses. When people try to find answers to questions

they don't have the necessary knowledge to answer, they're prone to

finding answers that fall within what's common sense to them.

"Healing magic doesn't work" would equate to "Even miracles can't

cure it," and then turn into "It's a devil's curse."

People put together these sorts of formulas in their heads, then end up

using bizarre occult goods in their attempts to treat the illness.

"If you buy this pot, you'll never get sick" actually worked as a sales

pitch in this world, so it was nothing to laugh at. If you're going to buy

something like that, you might as well wrap a leek around your neck before

you go to sleep instead.

However, there were buds of hope. The two doctors I just mentioned. If

I could have those two lead a reformation of medical practice in this

country...

"Hey, Souma, what are you mumbling to yourself for?" Liscia's voice

snapped me back to reality.

"Sorry," I said. "I got to thinking for a moment there."

"Geez... Okay, so what did you mean when you said you nationalized

garbage disposal?"

"Exactly what it sounds like," I said. "Liscia, do you know how trash is

generally disposed of in this country?"

"Garbage is sorted into 'burnable' and 'non-burnable,' then burned or

buried accordingly, right?"

"Wow, you were able to answer that pretty easily," I said.

"Did you think I was ignorant of the peoples' lives just because I'm

royalty? Don't insult me. I lived in the dorms when I went to military

academy, I'll have you know," she said indignantly.

I see. So she's not as ignorant of the world as I thought...

"But you're still wrong."

"Huh?" she asked.

"I said 'generally,' didn't I? Your answer is still only representative of

upper class thinking. It's a world away from the common way of thinking."

"W-Well, what is the common way of thinking about it, then?" she

asked.

"Aisha, how do your people dispose of garbage in the God-Protected

Forest?" I queried.

"Hm? Garbage?" Aisha's eyes went a little wide when I suddenly turned

the conversation to her, but she was able to come up with an answer right

away. "Let me think... We burn it."

"Is that all?" I asked.

"That is all."

"That can't be right! What do you do about the things that won't burn?!"

Liscia objected, but Aisha just stared blankly back at her.

"Would you even throw out things that aren't burnable to begin with?"

Aisha asked.

"Of course you would! What else would you do with broken tools?"

Liscia demanded.

"We fix them and keep using them."

"...Huh?"

"We use kitchen waste as fertilizer. With pottery that is too broken to

repair, we break it into fine pieces and scatter it over the ground. If metal

tools break, we fix them so they can be used again. If they can't be fixed,

we sell them to a used metal dealer." (A type of merchant who collects

scrap metal.) "The only things we throw out are splintered wood and

damaged leather armor, but... we burn those in our campfires."

This time, it was Liscia's turn for wide-eyed surprise. I couldn't help but

laugh a little at their exchange.

"Ha ha! Aisha's got it right this time."

"Soumaaaa..." Liscia moaned.

"Don't let it get you down so much," I said. "For the upper classes who

have to keep up appearances, and for the military whose equipment can

mean the difference between life and death, it's probably best for them if

the things they have are practically brand new. However, for ordinary

households, that isn't the case. Now, Aisha's example takes it to an extreme,

but people in the capital handle things in a similar fashion. The main

difference would be that they burn their kitchen waste, too, I guess? Also,

for oversized trash, like wooden furniture, they customarily gather it all in

the main plaza once a year for burning, don't they? So they're the same in

that they only have burnable trash."

In this world, there was nothing like plastic or styrofoam that needed

special treatment before it could be reused. Most tools were made of iron,

stone, soil (which includes glass and ceramic) or wood. They could reuse

iron by melting it down, and if they just left stone lying around, it would

blend in with the natural scenery around it. The one exception was artificial

substances that were created by mages using magic (magic substances), but

these were valuable in and of themselves, so they were almost never thrown

away.

As for things made of metal, they could be expensive, too, so the

common people did everything within their power to repair them. Beating

iron back into shape was easy, after all. When there was really nothing they

could do, and it seemed cheaper to just buy a new one, they would sell it to

a used metal dealer for small change. Used metal dealers collected this

metal and melted it down, recasting it into other metal products.

However, this was being done by individuals, so they didn't have good

facilities for it, or the ability to devote a large amount of time, so they could

only produce low-quality metal as a result. All they did was melt it down

and then let it harden, so impurities got mixed in in the process. As a result,

low-quality metal ended up circulating in the country.

This country was resource-poor. If low-quality metal was all that could

be obtained locally, people would be forced to import high-quality metal

from other countries. I wanted to limit that spending as much as possible.

However, if I tried to tell the used metal dealers, who were acting as

individuals, to reuse the metal in high-quality impurity-free metal, it wasn't

going to happen.

"So, that's why I've nationalized garbage disposal... Basically, I had the

country take over handling it. Even if it's difficult for an individual to do,

when the state does it, we can afford to spend money on it, arrange for

specialized facilities, and we can take the time to do it right, too. We can

pull every last nail out of the wooden boards people throw out, then reuse

the iron."

"That's amazing and all... but what about the used metal dealers? Aren't

you stealing their jobs?"

"Oh, that's fine," I said. "For that work, I'm retaining the used metal

dealers as civil servants."

They were low-wage workers anyway. They paid a small amount to buy

up scrap metal, then melted it all down to sell to the trade guilds wholesale.

However, since they could only produce low-quality metal, their prices got

haggled down to almost nothing, and they saw very little profit for

themselves. As a matter of fact, used metal dealers were at the very bottom

of this world's hierarchy. Because they dealt in garbage, people looked

down on them.

"However, now that it's a public sector undertaking, the cost of buying

the metal will be footed by the country," I said. "The items to be melted

down can be recast as high-quality metal in good facilities provided by the

country, and the country will negotiate with the trade guilds, so there's no

need to worry about their prices being haggled down to nothing. What's

more, they will be paid a monthly salary that's equal to the average monthly

income in this country. If you compare that to what they were making

before, it's probably a ten-fold increase, don't you think?"

"Well... I can't see them complaining about that," Liscia admitted.

As a matter of fact, we hadn't received a single complaint. Quite the

contrary: when the minister of state who had been given the garbage

disposal portfolio had gone to survey the reprocessing facility, he had been

greeted with tearful thanks by all of the workers.

"But, if you aren't careful, couldn't that be more expensive than

importing it from another country?" Liscia asked.

In response to Liscia's point, I nodded and said, "Yeah, kinda."

Elaborating, I added: "At this stage, we're probably a little worse off

doing it this way. However, money spent inside the country has a

completely different meaning from money spent outside the country. If we

spend money outside the country, that's an outflow of capital, but if we

spend it inside the country, it stimulates our own economy."

"Th-The economy again, huh..." For Liscia with her military

background, it seemed she wasn't as strong with this sort of topic. The

military had its own bureaucracy, so officers probably only needed to think

about maintaining supply lines.

"Okay then, I'll give you the military angle," I said. "Let's talk

diplomacy. If we can conserve the resources in our country, other countries

can't use the resources we import from them as a card in their diplomacy.

For instance, what would we do if the Principality of Amidonia, which has

been eagerly eyeing our country, were to halt their export of iron to us?"

"...We'd be in trouble," Liscia said. "There's no telling what demands

they might present us with to reopen trade."

"That's right. I did it with an eye to preventing that sort of situation,

too."

I'm not going to name names, but in my world, there had been a country

that used the rare resources they produced as a diplomatic tool to pressure

other nations. Though, once a certain island country got serious, they found

new import routes from other resource-rich countries, and they developed

alternative technologies, which caused the other country's rare resources to

plummet in value.

"If we can be frugal with our resources, that will limit the damage if

another country halts its exports to us, and if we store the excess we have in

peacetime, we can be prepared for that if it comes to it," I explained.

"I see," Liscia said. "So even if it puts us in the red, there's still meaning

in nationalizing it."

Liscia was a quick learner when it came to military and diplomatic

matters. She was probably the type whose ability or inability to learn a

subject was a faithful reflection of her personal preferences.

Incidentally, while we were talking about this stuff, Aisha announced,

"Forget about that, I want to eat!"

She looked ready to cry, like a dog that had been forced to wait for a

long time.

The singing cafe, Lorelei, stood on a sunny street corner. This was the

place where Juna worked.

When I had heard the words "singing cafe," I'd imagined a place with a

karaoke machine, where the customers could sing freely, but the singing

cafes in this country were a place to enjoy your afternoon tea while

listening to the loreleis sing. In the evenings, it stayed open and turned into

a jazz bar. Were there places like this back in Japan, too?

"You're going to show your face in there, right?" Liscia asked. "Let's

hurry up and go in."

"I'm hungry..." Aisha moaned.

With both of them urging me onward, we went through the door and into

Lorelei.

From the moment we entered the cafe, I could hear Juna singing. When I

heard that voice, I went weak in the knees.

Oh, right. I did teach her this song, didn't I? I realized.

That was Juna for you: she had mastered singing the English lyrics that

even I wasn't so good at.

"Oh, what a wonderful singing voice. I really must hand it to Madam

Juna," Liscia said.

"I don't know what the words mean, but it's a nice tune," Aisha added.

Aisha and Liscia both seemed deeply impressed. Well, of course they

were. It was a good song.

I had promised to teach Juna the songs of my world, but once I thought

about it, I only knew old songs I'd learned because of Grandpa's influence,

and songs that had shown up in anime and tokusatsu, because I was into

those. I was hesitant to go teaching her anime songs right off the bat, so I'd

chosen this song, which was like an anime song, but not: Neil Sedaka's

"Better Days are Coming."

You might know it better as the song that Mami Ayukawa covered as Z

— Toki wo Koete, the opening to the mecha anime Mobile Suit Zeta

Gundam. Now, this is only my personal opinion, but I thought for ordinary

music, Hiroko Yakushimaru, and for anime songs, Hiroko Moriguchi's

songs would suit Juna's voice well. I wanted to hear "Tantei Monogatari"

and "Mizu no Hoshi ni Ai wo Komete" with her voice.

The cafe had a relaxing, retro-modern style to it. Sitting ourselves down

at one of the tables, we listened to Juna sing for a while. A few minutes

later, Juna finished her song and came over to us.

"Why, Your..." she began.

"Hello, Juna," I said quickly. "You may not remember me, but I am

Kazuya, the successor to a crêpe fabric merchant from Echigo!"

In order to cut off Juna, I started talking a mile a minute. Being the

smart, talented woman that she was, Juna recognized what was going on

just from that. "Oh, yes, Kazuya. Right. It's been so long. How is your

father these days?"

"Why, he's too energetic for his own good. Just recently, Mother found

out he was having affair. Now wasn't that trouble."

"I see. Kazuya, do be careful about how you handle women yourself,"

she said, going along with my story.

I couldn't very well have her bowing and calling me "Your Majesty" in

a place like this with so many people watching, after all. I was supposed to

be in disguise. Still, I had to be impressed with her ability to instantly ad-lib

a response to my random nonsense. I definitely wanted her at the castle.

"I'll pay you five times what they pay you here, so will you come be my

personal secretary?" I asked her.

"I appreciate the offer, but I think this job where I can let the customers

enjoy my songs is my calling, so I'll have to decline." She let me down

lightly.

Yep. Even the way she rejects me has class.

"That's a shame. But, they do say that rather than put wild flowers on

display in your room, the flowers are more beautiful left blossoming in the

fields."

"Oh, but if you love and adore them, not just put them on display,

flowers will shine even in a vase," she retorted.

"I see. I must endeavor to be worthy of loving and adoring them, then."

"Yes, worthy enough to convince the flowers they want you to take

them."

"Ha ha ha ha ha."

"Hee hee hee hee hee."

Juna and I laughed together.

As she watched us, Liscia seemed slightly taken aback. "Somehow,

when you two talk, it's like you're each probing the other's intentions."

...Or so she thought. You're wrong, Liscia, I said silently. Most likely,

this was Fig. 1: A younger brother who wants to act more mature than he is

being gently chided by his big sister for it.

...I'll bet that's how it was. Even though we were practically the same

age.

"Slurrrrrp... Gelin udon truly is delicious, isn't it?" Aisha said happily.

We had decided to stay at Lorelei and have lunch there.

Polishing off her gelin udon as fast as you would a bowl of wanko soba,

Aisha shouted "Seconds, please!" thrusting the bowl out towards our waiter.

A cafe isn't the place to be eating like that, you know... I thought.

"Still, gelin udon at a cafe...?" I wondered.

"Did you not like it?"

Juna looked worried, so I shook my head, saying, "Oh, no. I just thought

it was odd to be slurping udon in a classy place like this."

"Ever since that broadcast, there have been a lot of people wanting to try

it," she explained. "Besides, we aren't through the food crisis yet, so we're

grateful to have these sorts of inexpensive ingredients we can use."

"I'm working on it, but... sorry I'm not doing well enough," I said.

"No, Your... Kazuya, I think you're doing well."

When Juna gave me that gentle smile, it made me feel all warm and

fuzzy inside.

Kick! Kick!

Okay, Liscia, stop kicking my shins under the table, please.

"Don't you think Souma treats Juna differently from how he treats

everyone else?" Liscia asked.

"Ahh, slurp... I had... slurp... noticed that, too," Aisha agreed.

"...Hey, I can't help it," I protested. "I get nervous when I'm talking to a

beautiful, older girl. Also, Aisha, eat or talk. Pick one."

"Slurp."

What, you're choosing to eat? I could have poked fun at her, but that

comedy routine's too overdone, so I just let it go.

"...This after he told me I was beautiful, too," Liscia said.

"Actually, Liscia, I think you're beautiful in a different way than Juna is,

you know?" I said.

"Wh-Why were you able to hear me?!" she exclaimed.

Uh, if you don't want to be heard, lower your volume a little, would you?

...Part of it was that I was strangely conscious of her because she'd let

me use her lap as a pillow.

"Y-You could have pretended not to hear," she stammered.

"Like I could let it go by," I retorted. "I'm a healthy young man, so don't

say things that are going to make me so conscious of you so often."

"Oh, my, your faces are all red. You're both so innocent." Juna watched

us bickering with a smile.

Next to us, Aisha slurped her udon like she was pouting. "Slurp... Why

does he notice the princess's affections... Slurp... but mine get ignored...?

Slurp. Ah, I'll have another bowl, please."

"It may not be my place to say it... But perhaps he doesn't take you

seriously because you act like this?" Juna suggested.

"Madam Juna?! What have I done wrong?!" Aisha exclaimed.

"That appetite of yours. When I first saw you in the castle, you looked

like a brave and dignified woman who was willing to address the king

directly, but recently you're just a disappointment who's eating all the

time."

"Wh-Whaaaaat?!" Aisha started to look at us with eyes that seemed to

plead, "Tell me she's lying, Your Majesty, Princess."

Liscia and I smiled, then both raised our arms in front of us in an X.

After all, I agreed with Juna 100%.

"Poncho's clearly been stealing everyone's attention from her," Liscia

said.

"Where did that dignified Aisha go, I wonder?" Juna asked.

"Wahhh! It's the forest's fault for not having so many different types of

food!" Aisha wailed.

"Besides, what do you think you're doing trying to seduce a guy who's

already betrothed...?" I added.

"""Huh?""" All three stared at me blankly.

Did I say something strange?

"Um... Souma? In this country, polygamy is tolerated, so long as you

have the wealth to support multiple wives, you realize?" Liscia said.

Juna nodded. "It works the other way around, too. Polyandrous

arrangements are possible for powerful women, as well. It's uncommon,

though."

"If men were limited to one wife, the house could die out if something

went wrong, after all," Aisha agreed.

Liscia, Juna, and Aisha told me this with straight faces.

Are they serious...? Ah, no, I guess they probably are serious.

This world's society still hadn't gotten out of the Dark Ages. They

didn't have a stable birth rate, and their hygiene and medical knowledge

were underdeveloped. On top of that, they were living in these troubled

times, so there were probably few people living to the average life

expectancy. Furthermore, in a Middle Ages-type society, where the "house"

is an important concept, provided you have the wealth to support them, the

more potential heirs the better. That was probably the reason why they

allowed polygamy. Even I could understand that.

"But Liscia's mother is the only queen I've met..." I objected.

If it was a polygamous system, wouldn't Liscia's father, the king, have

had more wives? I mean, I was getting hassled by Hakuya to hurry up and

produce an heir, too.

"Oh, actually, my mother was the one who held the royal authority,"

Liscia explained. "She's the daughter of the man who was king before my

father, you see."

"Hold on, that king married into the family?!" I burst out.

"Yes. After they married, she left ruling the country to him, though.

That's why my father could never have slighted my mother by taking

another woman as his queen. ...I can't say for sure that he doesn't have any

bastards, though."

"Huh? Was it okay for me to take the throne when he abdicated it to

me?" I wondered.

"There's no issue. Father was the one who stood out, but he couldn't

have abdicated without Mother's consent."

In other words, that abdication hadn't been an arbitrary decision by the

king, but something he had had the queen's understanding for as well, huh?

"Besides, I was the only one with the right of succession, and I would

have had to take a husband anyway, so it's not that big a difference, really,"

Liscia added. "It's just a matter of whether I hold the royal authority or my

partner does."

"...Well, couldn't you have been the ruler then, instead, Liscia?" I asked.

"You'd have needed to seek my approval for each and every one of your

reforms, you know? Wouldn't that be a pain?"

"Well... Yes."

Now, Liscia wasn't pigheaded in any way, but if I had needed her

approval for every little thing, my reforms would have been going much

slower. Besides, if the person with ultimate deciding power and the person

driving the reformation were separate people, there would be no guarantee

that the members of a counter-reformation faction wouldn't try to get

between the two and stir up unneeded trouble.

"Your father made a brave decision by transferring everything to me at

once, huh..." I said.

"You're right... I'm sincerely able to see how impressive that was now."

Though, it did mean the burden had been shifted to us.

We both sighed in unison.

"So, if you wanted it, Souma, a polygamous relationship is... possible,"

Liscia said.

"You'd be okay with that, Liscia?" I asked.

"I wouldn't be happy about it, but if it keeps you on the throne..."

"That's being way too understanding..." I murmured.

"I'll tolerate up to eight, myself included."

"That's a lot! I couldn't take responsibility for that many!"

Now, when she told me I could have a harem, it's not like the idea

wasn't appealing, but... I dunno, I could only imagine it being a lot of work.

I wasn't the type that could bear to disagree strongly with women, and I

could tell that the more of them there were, the more constrained I'd feel.

"By the way, why did you choose that number?" I asked.

"I can have you all to myself for one day a week," she said.

The weeks in this world were eight days. Incidentally, there were four

weeks in a month, making each of them 32 days. There were twelve months

in a year, so this world had a 384-day year.

Wait, that's why?! I realized, registering what she had said.

When she said that, Juna and Aisha started whispering about something.

"If there were eight of us, do you think we would only get it once a

week?"

"It doesn't have to be that way, I'd think? If you and another wife each

invited the other on your days..."

"I see. It's not necessarily just once a week! You're brilliant, Madam

Juna."

"...But wouldn't you want to have him to yourself?"

"Ooh, there's a conundrum."

No, no, Aisha, Juna, why are you getting so into talking about this?!

Having them at the same time... I can't say I wouldn't be into that, but

I'd have to become king for that. I was torn between my realistic

personality, which wanted to avoid the hard work involved if I took the

throne, and my desire to pursue that masculine ideal.

Just then, as I was starting to feel incredibly awkward...

"No, you can't do that! Absolutely not, Hal!"

"Why won't you understand?!"

At a table far away from ours, a young couple in military outfits were

having an argument.

The man was a tall human with distinctive red hair. He looked like he

was over 190 centimeters tall. He was broad-shouldered, and even through

his uniform, I could tell he had a solid build.

The girl, on the other hand, had blonde hair in a short bob, with two

triangular ears up top, and was a little on the petite side.

Is that girl a mystic wolf, I wonder?

"That girl's a mystic fox," Liscia told me, but I couldn't tell the

difference. "You can tell by their tails. She has a fox tail, see?"

"They're both canines, so can't we just lump them both together as

mystic dogs?" I asked.

"If you say that, you'll get both the mystic wolves and the mystic foxes

angry. Kobolds are mystic dogs, so it would be like lumping humans

together with apes."

"...Tell me about all these things I shouldn't say to certain races later,

please."

That's another world for you. You never know when you'll step on a

landmine like that, I thought.

As I was thinking that, the mystic fox girl was pleading. "I'm begging

you, Hal. You can't go to the Carmine Duchy right now! Army General

Duke Georg Carmine is hostile to the new king. There could be a civil

war!"

"That's exactly why I'm going. If there's going to be fighting, that's a

chance for me to get promoted, isn't it?" The one called Hal, who seemed to

be a young man of about 18, gave her a dauntless smile.

The mystic fox girl, on the other hand, wore an expression clouded with

anxiety. "Hal, the way you think about war is too simple. Your father called

you back home because he was worried about you being like that!"

"It's none of my old man's business! He's served under Duke Carmine

for years, but now that things don't look so good, he's hiding in the capital,

the coward! I don't need to listen to him!"

"Your father understands what's happening. Duke Carmine is rebelling

without just cause."

The two kept quarreling.

As she was watching them, Liscia clapped her hands together in

recognition. "I thought I recognized him! The man is Officer Halbert

Magna."

"Is he someone you know?" I asked.

"He's the eldest son of a distinguished family in the army clique. Since

his academy days, his combat abilities have put him well above the rest of

his peers. He entered the land forces after graduating, but... I guess he's

returned home since then."

"He sounds surprisingly well known," I mused. "Well, how about the

girl, then?"

"I don't know... I've never seen her in the army..."

"That girl is Kaede Foxia," Juna answered on Liscia's behalf.

Huh? Why does she know? I wondered.

"Because she's a regular here," Juna said without my asking. "If I recall,

she mentioned she's a mage serving in the Forbidden Army."

"If she's in the Forbidden Army, is she an earth-type mage, then?" I

asked.

This world's magic could be divided into six elements: fire, water, earth,

wind, light, and dark.

Fire, water, wind, and earth manipulated their respective elements for

attack spells, while light was generally healing-type magic. Dark was

unique in that it didn't, strictly speaking, manipulate darkness. All the

unique spells that didn't fall under the previous five elements were lumped

together under the "dark-type" categorization.

In terms of magic type, my Living Poltergeists would have been dark.

Every person in this world was aligned with one of these elements, and

they could use magic to some degree. As you would know from Liscia and

Aisha's training, people could imbue their weapons or attacks with magic of

their element, as well.

Those who could cause greater magical effects than ordinary people

were called mages. Mages could manipulate flames, cause whirlwinds,

form craters in the ground, and sink battleships with their incredible

powers.

When mages joined the military, their type determined where they were

sent. Fire users went to the army, wind users to the air force, water users to

the navy, and earth and dark users (not that there were many of the latter)

went to the Forbidden Army, while light users were distributed equally and

played a similar role to combat medics.

Honestly, I was opposed to this inflexible way of distributing them, but

the army, navy and air force were under the control of the Three Dukedoms,

so I couldn't mess around with them.

Someday, I want to reform that system.

While I was thinking about all that, Kaede and Halbert kept arguing.

"Duke Carmine would never lose to that inexperienced king!"

"Duke Carmine's been acting strange lately! If we start fighting amongst

ourselves, only our neighbors stand to benefit! Amidonia wants to reclaim

the lands they lost to Elfrieden two kings ago. And as for the Turgis

Republic, with more than half their territory frozen, they want fertile land

and a warm water port. If there's a civil war, they're sure to intervene. Duke

Carmine must know that..."

Huh, it sounds like Kaede has a good understanding of the situation in

the neighboring countries.

The country to the west of this one on the world map, the Principality of

Amidonia, had seen roughly half of their territory stolen from them under

the expansionist policies of Liscia's grandfather. That was close to 50 years

ago, but they were still eyeing this country for any opportunity to regain

their lost land. For this country, it was clearly an enemy state.

To the south of Amidonia, on the southern edge of this continent, was

the Turgis Republic, which, like Kaede said, was a frigid land that was

mostly frozen.

When you looked at this world's map, the further south you went, the

lower the temperature dropped. I didn't know whether that was because

(speaking from a Japanese person's perspective) this continent was in the

southern hemisphere, or if their concept of north and south was reversed, or

even if it was because of some mysterious magical effect, but the further

south you went in Elfrieden, the colder it got, and the further north, the

warmer it got.

Because of the kind of country they were, "Go north" was a national

policy for the Turgis Republic.

However, of the countries they bordered, the Gran Chaos Empire was

massive, so they could ill afford a conflict with them, while the mercenary

state of Zem was their ally, meaning they couldn't invade there, either. That

narrowed their potential targets for northward expansion to Amidonia or

Elfrieden.

In other words, both Amidonia and Turgis were like ravenous wolves,

ready to pounce on this country at the soonest opportunity.

"What is Duke Carmine thinking when the neighboring countries have

designs on our territory?"

"...This is Duke Carmine you're talking about. I'm sure he has a plan."

"Aren't you going to think for yourself, Hal?!"

"The fact of the matter is, many nobles have given up on the king and

they've gone to serve under Duke Carmine, haven't they? His failure to

keep them here is proof of the king's ineptitude."

"I don't know if the new king is competent or not, but up to this point,

I've seen no misrule under him! Besides, most of those nobles gathering

under Duke Carmine are those who've lost rights under the new king's

finance reforms, or who were investigated for corruption and are

discontented over having their assets seized, you realize?! Even if you

restored their rights, do you really think that would make this country a

better place?!"

When Kaede pressed him on it like that, Halbert's gaze wandered. "I'm

sure Duke Carmine is thinking this all through."

"There you go, talking about Duke Carmine, again. Don't you have an

opinion of your own, Hal?"

"J-Just shut up, okay! What, Kaede, do you think you can see the

future?! Well, I can!"

"I can!" Halbert lashed out defiantly, but Kaede answered him firmly. "I

can see what's coming! That man scares me. I'm sure that the new king

will..."

"Okay, and stop," I cut Kaede off, inserting myself between the two of

them.

Both of their eyes went wide at the sudden intrusion.

I ignored Halbert's surprised "Wh-Who do you think you are, buddy?!"

with a smile to the Kaede who was sitting there with her mouth agape.

"If you keep running your mouth, I'll use my authority to have you

arrested, you know?" I said.

"You're...!" Kaede seemed to have immediately realized who I was.

"Yes I am, so keep quiet, okay?" I said. "Honestly, I don't know how

much you understand, but if you talk so confidently about it in a place like

this, it could harm the country."

"I-I'm sorry," she stammered. "But... what are you doing here...? You're

not here to seize Hal for his rebelliousness, I hope?! It's not like that! Hal's

just a little weak in the head, he would never rebel..."

Kaede completely misunderstood what I was doing and started to make

excuses. Who knows where the analytic ability she'd displayed earlier

went, but she was desperately trying to defend Halbert.

"No, I don't care what one single soldier thinks," I said.

"Th-Then why are you here?" she stammered.

"Because I was suddenly given time off," I explained. "I was just

checking out Juna's place."

"I-I see..." Kaede was clearly relieved.

Halbert, on the other hand, had been glaring at me this whole time. "You

punk, who do you think you are, butting into our conversation and then

threatening Kaede?"

"U-Um, Hal? He wasn't threatening me, you see..."

"Shut up! You be quiet, Kaede!"

"Yipe!"

When Halbert slammed his hands on the table and stood up, it frightened

Kaede.

"...What good is frightening her yourself going to do?" I asked.

"I said, shut up!" He reached out, trying to grab me by the collar, when...

"Urkh!"

...he stopped halfway. In an instant, Halbert was surrounded by the three

women who were with me.

Normally, being surrounded by three beauties would be a fantastic

situation to be in, but... I wasn't jealous of his position in the least. After all,

Liscia had drawn the rapier from her side and was pointing the tip of it at

Halbert's neck, Aisha (who had left her great sword behind because it was

too bulky) was holding his face in a claw hold, and Juna, still smiling, had a

fruit knife pressed against his back.

Whoa... Their power levels are way too high...

"Wait, even you, Juna?" I asked, surprised.

"Violence is strictly prohibited in this establishment," she said with a

grin.

"Uh, sure..."

Having found himself in that situation, even the assertive Halbert was

sweating. He couldn't move an inch, so he glared at me in frustration

through the gap between Aisha's fingers. "You punk... That was dirty! If

you're a man, how can you hide behind a bunch of women?!"

"Complain all you like, but it's kind of their job to protect me," I said.

"Actually, if I were to stand on the front line without bodyguards, I think

that would be a bigger problem."

When I said that, the girls nodded in agreement.

"If you understand that, I wish you wouldn't stick your neck into trouble

like this," Liscia scolded me.

Uh, sure, sorry, I'll be more careful.

Halbert's irritated gaze stabbed into me. "...You punk, just who are

you?"

"Hm... Allow me to respond with that great line from a samurai period

drama. 'Halbert, have you forgotten my face?'"

"Huh?"

"Why do you suddenly sound so full of yourself?" Liscia slapped me

upside the head.

Aw, come on, I've always wanted to say it.

Then Aisha raised her voice and spoke on my behalf. "On your knees!

Who do you take this man for?!"

Yeah, that's another line I wanted to use. Wait, Aisha's saying it?!

"You stand in the presence of the (provisional) 14th King of Elfrieden,

His Majesty Souma!" Aisha declared.

It felt like I could hear that show's theme music playing, but I'm sure I

was imagining it.

Regardless, I gave the disappointing dark elf a light bonk on the head.

"You're too loud. We're supposed to be incognito, remember?"

"Ah...! I-I'm sorry, sire!"

"'Sire'...? Don't tell me you're the king?!" Halbert acted surprised long

after he should have figured it out. He was the only one present who didn't

know by this point, so he seemed pretty slow-witted. Regardless, with him

being menaced with a rapier, a claw hold, and a knife, we couldn't have a

calm discussion, so I had everyone stand down.

Fixing my gaze on the relieved Halbert, I asked him a question. "Now

then, Halbert Magna, you were saying something about attacking me?"

"Th-That's..." Halbert averted his eyes.

Oh, come on, was your determination that weak?

"Should I take that to be the will of the House of Magna as a whole?" I

asked.

"Wha?! My old man's got nothing to do with this!"

"Of course he does," I said. "While I might be able to overlook a soldier

who was just following orders, traitorous nobles must be tried under the

law. They show a clear intent to rebel, after all. In those cases, the charge

will be 'treason against the state,' you know... That's a serious crime. At the

very least, those within three degrees of consanguinity will be considered

complicit in it."

"Wha...?!" Halbert was at a loss for words. All I was doing was forcing

him to face the facts, though.

"No... That's too harsh..." Kaede tried to intervene, but I raised a hand to

stop her.

"Now, let me just say, I'm not doing this because I hold a personal

grudge against you," I said. "That's what the laws of this country dictate.

Honestly, I know with long-lived races, it's not unusual for them to have

great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren around, but, even so, the

range of people implicated in the crime is way too large. Personally, for a

law like this which even punishes innocent young children, I'd like to

reform it right away, but I have so many things to do that I just haven't

gotten around to it yet."

He was speechless.

"Halbert Magna," I said formally. "You were born into the House of

Magna, a proper noble house. So, if you side with the Three Dukedoms,

they rebel, and I win, all of your kin within three degrees of consanguinity

will be executed. That's what the law says, so there's nothing I can do about

it, right?"

It would be the law that judged him, not me. There would be no room

for me to use my own discretion.

"Now, let's consider what happens if the Three Dukedoms win," I

continued.

"Hey! Y-Yeah, that's right! As long as we win, it's all good!"

"In the event that happens, what will happen to her?" I placed a hand on

Kaede's shoulder.

Halbert was clearly shaken. "No, you wouldn't dare take Kaede

hostage!"

"Oh, I wouldn't do something like that. However, she's a member of the

Forbidden Army. If the Three Dukedoms rebel, she'll be sent to the front on

'our side.' In other words, she would be your enemy." Here, I looked

closely at Kaede. "By the way, what is your relationship with Halbert?"

"W-We're childhood friends."

"Childhood friends... I see."

From the way they'd been talking and acting, I had seen signs of their

affection for each other, but... Well, there was no reason to point it out here.

"If you're childhood friends, you must care more for one another than

you would just any other person," I said. "And? If you join the Three

Dukedoms, what do you plan to do about her?"

"What do you mean, what will I do...? About what?"

"We're imagining that the Three Dukedoms win. In that case, I may

have been struck down, and you may even have been the one to take my

severed head."

"Hah! I'd be guaranteed a promotion, then!"

"...I suppose you would," I said. "So, what of Kaede? A cute girl like

her, in the losing army. When they find out, what will the soldiers of the

winning side do...? As a soldier yourself, I think you can imagine, can't

you?"

When I pointed that out, Halbert visibly turned pale. Most likely, he was

imagining "that sort" of scene. After the conclusion of a war, it wasn't

uncommon to see the defeated ravaged by the victors. Looting, arson, rape,

slaughter... The madness of war was in that it allowed these acts of

barbarity to happen.

Even so, Halbert raised his voice, as if trying to shake off his doubts.

"Duke Carmine's forces are well-organized! They would never do

something so indecent!"

"I don't know what the situation is within the army, but Duke Carmine

has more than just the regular forces in his duchy," I said. "There are also

those I stripped of their rights or investigated for corruption. Those nobles

who've raised the flag of rebellion against me. They have nothing to lose. If

they lose, death for both them and their family line awaits. So they'll throw

away their personal assets, hiring a large number of Zemish mercenaries."

The mercenary state, Zem.

West of Amidonia and north of Turgis, it was a medium-sized country,

founded by the mercenary commander Zem, who had used his wits to

destroy the country which had hired him and then build his own nation of

mercenaries in its place. They had declared themselves to be "eternally

neutral," but their primary industry was dispatching mercenaries to other

countries, so what that really meant was, "If requested, we will dispatch

mercenaries to any country." Their mercenaries were ridiculously strong, so

most countries recognized that it was better to have them as an ally than an

enemy, and so they had formed mercenary contracts with them.

"That's absurd! There are Zemish mercenaries under contract with the

Forbidden Army, too! If they send mercenaries to the Three Dukedoms, as

well, they'll be fighting against their own!"

"Oh, that won't happen," I assured him. "I terminated their employment

contract with the Forbidden Army a while ago."

Now seems like a good time, so let me talk about the military system of

this country.

This kingdom had a total manpower of around 100,000 troops. They

were divided like so:

40,000 in the army, led by Duke Georg Carmine.

10,000 in the navy, led by Duchess Excel Walter.

1,000 in the air force, led by Duke Castor Vargas.

(However, one wyvern knight was said to be equivalent to 100 soldiers

from the army.)

Of these, only the air force had a knightly title bestowed on every one of

its members (it was composed entirely of units of wyvern knights, i.e. "1

wyvern + 1 or 2 knights," so that was obvious), but more than half of the

army and navy were made up of career soldiers. They trained day and night

in the three duchies, and they received a salary from the three duchies.

You could say that the right to self-rule and the tax exemption on the

profits from their lands, along with the many other special rights given to

the three duchies, were there to support these troops.

Now, the remaining troops, numbering a little over 40,000, belonged to

the Forbidden Army, but they were further divided beyond that.

There were the Royal Guard, who reported directly to the king, and the

career soldiers who were attached to the Forbidden Army. Then there were

the noble estates (which had less rights than the three duchies) and their

personal forces on top of that. Also, due to our contract with the mercenary

state, Zem, there had been a unit of mercenaries under the command of the

Forbidden Army, as well, but I had already terminated their employment.

The reason that the Forbidden Army was smaller than the forces of the

three duchies had to do with the concept behind this country.

This country had originally been born through many races working

together. As a result, a member of the race with the largest population, a

human, became the king, but in order to protect the rights of the other races,

the commanders of the army, navy, and air forces would be chosen from the

other races.

So, if a tyrant took the throne and began oppressing the other races, the

system had been set up so that the armies of the Three Dukedoms, being

larger than the Forbidden Army, could remove him. Turning that around, if

one of the Three Dukedoms was plotting to usurp the throne, the system

was set up in a way that if even one of the armies were to side with the

king, the rebellion could be put down.

In a peaceful era, this might have been a good setup. However, now the

Demon Lord's Domain had appeared, and these were troubled times with

every country looking for openings to take advantage of. With this sort of

divided command structure, it was possible that we might not be able to

respond quickly enough to a sudden crisis. As a matter of fact, I was trying

to move forward with reforms, but the Three Dukedoms were giving me the

silent treatment.

Now, let's get back to how I released the mercenaries from their

employment contracts.

"Hold on, what do you mean you released the Zemish mercenaries from

their contracts?!" Liscia shouted.

"Oh, yeah, I hadn't told you about that yet, had I?" I smiled wryly at the

fact that, rather than Halbert, it was Liscia who voiced her surprise this

time. "It means exactly what it sounds like. Mercenaries are useless and just

eat up money, you know."

Machiavelli had said, "Mercenaries and mixed armies are not to be

trusted." According to him, "Mercenaries are tied to you only by their own

profit; if presented with greater profit, they will easily betray you. Yet even

when they fight, they protect their employer only for their own benefit, and

so their loyalty is not to be expected. There is no reason to hire incapable

mercenaries, and yet capable ones will always use their wits to seize their

employer's position."

In fantasy novels and RPGs, protagonists with the mercenary job often

appear, but the way the mercenary business actually worked was wildly

different from the image you'll have seen there.

Basically, they were people who made their money on the battlefield.

They held no loyalty to country or prince, quickly changing sides when the

balance of benefits shifted.

In a losing battle, they fled immediately. Even when victorious, they

would run wild. Compared to standing armies of the same size, their upkeep

might cost less, but they were a negative in the long term.

"We don't have the money to pay useless people like that," I explained.

"Even so, the mercenary contract was also proof of our friendly relations

with Zem, you realize?!" Liscia shouted.

"True, things have become tense with them since then, but you yourself

said, 'Spend always on defense, never on tribute,' didn't you, Liscia?

Unlike the empire, they can't afford to invade us themselves. Paying them

tribute to bide our time is pointless with them."

The country was getting back at me by dispatching mercenaries to the

Three Dukedoms, though.

I looked straight at Halbert. "Those blood-thirsty mercenaries are on the

side of the Three Dukedoms. Do you think they'll leave a girl in the

defeated army like Kaede alone? While Kaede is being tormented by the

mercenaries, and they're about to kill her because they're done with her,

where will you be, and what will you be doing?"

"That's..." Halbert hesitated.

That indecisive attitude of his got me steaming mad. "Will you be lifting

my head aloft in joy?! Singing songs to celebrate your victory?!

Meanwhile, your childhood friend may have been made their plaything,

then left dead at the side of the road!"

"Urkh..."

When I shouted at him, Halbert's legs seemed to give out and he had to

put his hands on the table for support. He had no comeback to that, and his

mouth was closed tightly. Kaede watched him worriedly.

When I saw them like that... I calmed down a little. "Halbert Magna.

The path you were about to choose is a dead end. If I win, you will be

executed. If the Three Dukedoms win, Kaede will... Well, she may not

come out of it all right. If you're going to make the gamble of a lifetime, at

least make sure the future you want is on the betting table."

He said nothing.

"Before you do anything rash, always think back," I told him. "Think

about what is it that you wanted, what for, and for whom? Look around

you, and think about it."

"What for... And for whom..." Halbert looked around.

His eyes met with Kaede's, who was looking at him with concern. There

were no words between them, but Halbert looked like a man released from

whatever had been possessing him.

...What happens from here on is for them to decide, I thought.

"Sorry, Juna. We were getting in the way of your business, weren't we?"

I asked. "We'll be leaving now."

Just before we left, I went to apologize for making a scene, but Juna

shook her head. "No... Sire, your words carved themselves into my heart."

After saying that, Juna seemed to hesitate for a moment. She clearly had

something to say, but was unsure whether it was okay to say it.

I waited a little while, and finally Juna looked up, her face resolute.

"Sire... I have something to talk to you about."

"Hey, Souma, there was something I wanted to ask," Liscia said.

"Hm?"

We were inside the carriage we had called to take us back to the castle

when Liscia, who was sitting beside me, asked a question.

Aisha was acting as the driver, so we were alone together in the carriage.

"About what happened earlier," she said. "You were trying to persuade

Halbert, right? When you said traitors would be judged by the law, you

seemed kind of serious."

"...Because he still hadn't acted against me, yet. If he still does after this,

I'm not going to show any mercy."

"In the end, you're still a nice guy, huh?" she said.

"Be kind to your allies, severe with your enemies," I said. "That's the

kind of king people want to support. It's not like I'm being severe because I

enjoy it. The fewer enemies we have, the better."

"Just like I thought... You're a nice guy." Liscia rested her head on my

shoulder.

◇ ◇ ◇

—The next day.

When I was in the governmental affairs office getting some paperwork

done, Hakuya came in. Then, "The head of the House of Magna, Sir Glaive

Magna, has brought his son, Sir Halbert Magna, and Forbidden Army Mage

Kaede Foxia, and is requesting an audience with you," he reported to me.

...Sounds like there's still another dispute to solve, I thought.

When I arrived in the audience chamber accompanied by Liscia and my

bodyguard Aisha, there were already three people there kneeling. In front of

the other two with his head lowered was a middle-aged man with salt and

pepper hair. In his armor, he truly looked like a warrior who had seen many

battles. Behind him were Kaede Foxia and Halbert Magna, who I had met

the day before. That being the case, I deduced that this man in front of them

with his head lowered must be Halbert's father, Glaive.

"Raise your heads, all three of you," I said.

""Yes, sir.""

When Halbert and Kaede raised their heads, I found myself transfixed

by the sight of Halbert's face. I mean, he had the marks to show he'd been

punched several times. His cheeks were swollen, and he had two black

eyes. Those hadn't been there when I'd seen him yesterday, so it must have

happened after we'd parted.

"Halbert... You're looking even more handsome than last time I saw

you," I commented.

"Urgh... Yes, sir!" A look of frustration crossed his face for a moment,

but he didn't fight back the way he had yesterday.

I wonder what happened to him after we parted yesterday.

I spoke to Glaive, whose head was still bowed. "Glaive Magna, raise

your head."

"I humbly, humbly, beg you, show mercy for my son's recent

misconduct!" That was the lamentful response that came back. He was

pressing his forehead against the floor. It was hard to tell since he had one

knee up, but he was doing what we'd probably call a dogeza in Japan.

"By misconduct, do you mean what happened yesterday?" I asked.

"Yes, sir! I heard the details from Madam Kaede. While he may have

been off-duty, he insulted you, sire, and what's more, boasted that he would

join the rebellious Three Dukedoms, which is utterly outrageous!

...However, my son is yet immature. He said those things because of his

underdeveloped brain. Your anger is entirely justified, sire, but, please, let

the blame fall on me for failing to educate him properly!"

Um... That was a little long winded, but what he's saying is "I'll take the

punishment, so please spare my son's life," I guess? I'm not even angry,

though.

"Yesterday's events happened when I was there in secret," I said. "I

don't intend to make a big deal out of it. From what I see here, he's already

been punished appropriately."

"Sire, you are too kind." Glaive apologized profusely, prostrating

himself before me.

Halbert and Kaede hurriedly bowed their heads once more.

Finally, Glaive lifted his face. "Now then, sire. I realize this is incredibly

rude, but I have come to tell you something."

"What?"

"Well... It is something best not heard by many people..."

A secret, huh? I had Liscia, Aisha, Hakuya, Glaive, Halbert, and Kaede

remain, then dismissed everyone else, including the guards. Aisha seemed

out of place, but so long as she was here, if it turned out he was using the

promise of secret information as a guise to assassinate me, I had someone to

deal with that.

"I've cleared the room," I said. "So, what is it you needed to tell me?"

"Yes, about that..." Glaive began to talk at a relaxed pace.

When we heard what it was he had to say, Halbert's eyes went wide,

Kaede looked down, gripping her fists tightly, Hakuya closed his eyes in

silence, while Aisha looked around bewildered by everyone else's

reactions...

Liscia, meanwhile, had gone stiff and expressionless, not saying a word.

There were tears streaming down her face.

As for me, it was a complicated feeling. Anger, exasperation,

resignation, sadness... All those feelings got jumbled together in my chest,

and I worked my hardest to keep them there.

I spoke in as calm and even a voice as I could manage, so as not to

betray my feelings. "Now that you've told me that... what do you want me

to do about it?"

"Nothing. I just wanted you to be aware, sire."

"...It's heavy." I stood up, giving orders to Kaede and Halbert.

"Forbidden Army Mage Kaede Foxia. This insight is too valuable, and

dangerous, for me to leave you as a mere mage. I order you to serve under

Ludwin of the Royal Guard as a staff officer.

"Huh? Y-Yes, sir!" she exclaimed.

"Army Officer Halbert Magna. I order you to transfer to the Forbidden

Army."

"Huh?! Me, join the Forbidden Army?!"

"That's right. You will be Kaede's second-in-command and report to her.

Her rank effectively makes her Number 2 in the Forbidden Army. Because

she is still a young woman, there is the risk that her subordinates won't take

her seriously. In the event that that happens, you are to make sure they do as

she says. Understood?"

"...Yes, sir!"

Thus, a new, young officer joined the Forbidden Army.

However, I wasn't feeling emotionally at ease enough to be happy a new

ally had joined us. As I forced down my violent emotions, my true feeling

seep out through my gritted teeth just once.

"Honestly, these people..."