How a Realist Hero Rebuilt The Kingdom

20th day, 10th month, 1,546th year, Continental Calendar — Van Castle

“Now then... Here I come, sire!” Aisha cried.

“Bring it on, Aisha!” I called back.

We were in the training grounds inside Van Castle. In this space, which was open to the sky like an archery range in Japan, I stood facing a fully armed Aisha. In her usual light armor, Aisha took up a stance with her greatsword pointed towards me. I had medium-sized Little Musashibo dolls (the ones that were toy-sized were small, while the ones large enough to fit a person were large), five of those medium-sized dolls (hereafter referred to as A-E) protecting me.

In the corner of my vision, I saw the referee, Liscia, raise her right hand.

The next moment, Aisha made a big downwards swing with her greatsword. A visible shockwave flew towards me and the Little Musashibos.

I put Little Musashibo A (equipped with shields in both hands) up front, having it ready its shields. The moment the shockwave hit, there was an incredible clang, but somehow Little Musashibo A managed to hold its ground.

“It’s not done yet!” Aisha called.

There was no time for relief. Aisha turned to the side, keeping the blade of her greatsword pointed in my direction, and then thrust with all her might. Little Musashibo A tried to overlap its shield to defend, but Aisha’s blow hit with the force of a battering ram, punching through both of the shields and Little Musashibo A.

Uwah... She can punch through two thick shields...? I was nearly struck dumb by the absurd amount of power she had, but then Aisha stopped moving momentarily.

Thinking this was my chance, I sent Little Musashibo B (equipped with two swords) and Little Musashibo C (equipped with a spear) around to attack her from both sides.

Aisha stabbed her greatsword, which was still impaling Little Musashibo A, into the ground, using it to fling herself into the air, like she was doing a cartwheel.

Aisha was standing on her hands atop the hilt of her greatsword.

“There!” I cried.

With the remaining two Little Musashibos, D and E (both equipped with crossbows), I took a shot at Aisha, who presumably couldn’t maneuver with her feet off the ground. The two bolts fired straight towards Aisha.

“Not good enough!” Aisha called.

On top of the greatsword thrust into the ground, Aisha did something similar to one of those capoeira kicks where you stand on your hands (I don’t know the proper name for them), spinning her feet and kicking the incoming bolts out of the air.

“Ow!” I called.

With a splat sound, a light impact on my forehead that knocked my head backwards.

In the middle of my forehead there was a smushed ball of clay about the size of a 10 yen coin. If it had instead been a throwing knife, or a stone, I’d have died instantly.

Well, this being a practice match, the bolts didn’t have arrowheads, and we were using clay instead of stones, so neither of us could possibly have died, but still, losing this badly was depressing...

I sat down dejectedly.

“Aw, geez... I’m not even a match for you, huh,” I said.

“Th-That’s not true...” Aisha stuttered, hastily trying to reassure me.

“Aisha, an accurate analysis of his fighting strength is important, so you should be honest with him,” said Liscia.

She was right. I was searching for a fighting style that suited me. As king, I was in a position to be protected, but it wouldn’t hurt to be able to protect myself, if it ever came to it. I’d had a narrow miss with Gaius in the battle a little while ago, after all.

“Liscia’s right,” I said. “Give it to me straight.”

“W-Well, then... it may seem harsh to say this, but even though you set up your dolls like an adventuring party, they didn’t feel all that strong,” Aisha said. “I feel as though giving them each two swords and having them rush me would have been more difficult to deal with.”

I considered that. “Pi*min tactics, huh... but you still blew them all away when I did that, didn’t you?”

“Which means what you did was even worse than that, I suppose?” said Liscia.

“Urgh...”

When Liscia pointed that out, I slumped my shoulders. Since Pik*in tactics wouldn’t work, I’d tried using a composition based on an adventuring party, like Juno’s, the one I’d gone adventuring with using Little Musashibo, but... the result had been a miserable defeat.

“In an adventuring party, they’d have a mage, after all,” Aisha said without seeming to care too much. “If those shields had been reinforced with magic, I would’ve had difficulty punching through them, and if I’d had spells flung at me instead of arrows, it would have been more difficult to respond to.”

That she said it would have been “difficult” for her, rather than that she “couldn’t” do either of those things, only served to show how ridiculously powerful Aisha was.

“We can talk about mages all you want, but I can’t use elemental magic or reinforcement magic...” I said. I couldn’t use any magic whatsoever, so there was no way I could use it to give the weapons carried by the dolls I controlled with Living Poltergeists an elemental alignment and make them shoot fire or ice.

“If I went to a magic school, or some place like that, to train, could I learn how, maybe?” I said.

“No, not possible.” Liscia quickly shot down the idea. “I mean, I’ve never heard of someone with dark-type magic being able to use another element.”

She proceeded to explain.

“The four major elements, fire, water, earth, and wind, manipulate magicium found in the atmosphere to produce various phenomena, and the light element interferes with magicium inside the body to do things like speed up the natural healing process, or strengthen the body. The dark element doesn’t have any sort of ability like that. So... just give up.”

It looked like I could train all I wanted, but I’d never become a mage.

This, after I had the good luck to be summoned to a world with magic, too... somehow, I’m disappointed. I slumped my shoulders dejectedly.

“What’re you moping about?” Liscia asked, with an exasperated look. “The dark alignment isn’t that common, you know? I’ve only ever seen three people with it.”

“Three?” I asked. “Assuming two of the three are Tomoe and me... who’s the third?”

“Mother, or so I hear. She’s been never willing to tell me what her power is, though.”

Hmm... Lady Elisha can use dark magic, huh, I thought. Lady Elisha is Liscia’s mother. If I recall, Lady Elisha was the one who actually inherited the throne, but she left managing the country to her husband, Sir Albert, right? We haven’t had much occasion to talk, but she’s always smiling and seems like an amiable sort.

“But with the abilities I have, I can’t see any way to defend myself...” I said.

“Rest at ease, sire! I will always be there to defend you!” declared Aisha, thumping her chest with pride. While she seemed reliable, I was starting to feel pathetic myself.

“It’s pretty lame for a hero to need girls defending him...” I said.

“What are you saying after all this time?” Liscia said bluntly. “You were never much of a hero to begin with.”

I mean, she was right... but couldn’t she have sugar-coated it just a wee bit more? I was thinking she could have, but then she said, “Besides, isn’t delegating the tasks that you can’t handle yourself one of your strengths, Souma? You’re protecting all of us in ways that only you can.” She smiled tenderly.

Aisha nodded in agreement. “The princess is right! You protect the country we all live in, sire, so let us protect you in turn!”

When they said it like that, I still felt pathetic, but I was a little happy. I might be an unreliable king, and a hero in name only, but I just need to protect them in my own way... no, I want to protect them. I felt that way from the bottom of my heart.

“Your Majesty!” a voice called out, and I turned to see Juna in her marine uniform bowing to me with one hand at her chest.

“Sire Hakuya has been looking for you,” said Juna. “He wishes to discuss the districting of the city, he says.”

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll be right there.”

I stood up and brushed the dirt off of myself. Leaving the clean-up to the soldiers, I brought Liscia and Aisha with me to the governmental affairs office. It was time for me to do what I was able to do now.

When I reached the governmental affairs office, Hakuya and the Captain of the Royal Guard, Ludwin, were waiting for me.

I sat at my desk, while Liscia, who had been acting as my secretary for a while, and Juna, who had been doing the same because we had a shortage of people lately, stood behind me, on either side. Aisha stood by the door, acting as a guard. Lately, it had become the norm for us to work in this formation.

Once I confirmed everyone was ready, a somewhat sleepy-eyed Hakuya laid out a map of the divisions of Van that he had prepared. “I have completed my proposal for the redistricting of Van, so I will have you take a look.”

At Hakuya’s behest, I looked at the map. The square walls of city were vertical, while lines representing the main roads were running towards the princely palace in the center. Each of these main roads had side roads running off of them at a right angle in regular intervals, giving it a grid of squares, like a Go board. It was like a map of one of the ancient capitals of Japan, Heijo-kyo or Heian-kyo, that you might see in a history textbook.

The nobles’ residences were clustered in the northeast, while the workshops were clustered in the southwest. Garrisons for the guards were distributed evenly throughout, and it looked super efficient.

I was silent. I leaned back in my chair, looking up to the ceiling, and sighed. “...Hakuya.”

“Yes, sire,” he said.

“This goes too far,” I said.

What’s with this efficiency-focused layout? I thought.

Ane san rokkaku tako nishiki... I felt like I needed to chant the Kyoto road song, or I was going to get lost.

Actually, if we’re going to change so much, it’d be faster burning the entire castle town to the ground and starting from scratch, I thought. Are you trying to turn me into Emperor Nero?

“I’m sorry,” Hakuya said. “When I saw what a chaotic mess the town layout was, I was impelled to make it more efficient...”

Hakuya seemed to understand that what I’d meant. He smiled wryly and pointed to the main streets. “However, as a measure against fires, the city must be split into districts. Laying down these main roads is a necessity, I would think.”

“I agree, but... for everything else, I’d like the changes to reflect the will of the people who live here,” I said. “What sort of city they want to make this, how they want to make it more livable for them. I want the people who live here to think about that. I mean, if we just decide everything ourselves, they’ll probably resist it.”

“I have already reached out to some of the architects who live here, but... you want to make the locals think?” Hakuya asked skeptically. “With the atmosphere in the city now, they’re likely to turn it into a piece of avant-garde art...”

“An artful city, huh... that could be interesting in its own way,” I said. It might be good to try building art galleries and museums, too.

...Wait, huh? The marketplace already looks like it’s going to turn into something like Ameyoko. If I build a bunch of galleries and museums on top of that, I feel like Van is going to end up more and more like Ueno. Maybe I ought to build a zoo and call it a day.

If I borrowed Tomoe’s power, it would be easy to accomplish. I could already recreate Monkey Mountain.

However, Hakuya shook his head. “Van will be the city on our front line with Amidonia. At this juncture, we cannot allow them to have too much fun with its design.”

“...I suppose not,” I said. We can’t count on an artistically-designed city to be particularly defensible, after all. In that case, I guess we’ll have to maintain Van’s function as a military city, while making it easier to live in.

“I guess that’s how it has to be,” I said. “Take things in that direction, please.”

“Understood.” Hakuya bowed and left the room. Next, I turned to Ludwin.

“How is progress on rolling out the transportation network?”

“Sir,” he said. “The Army and your directly-controlled forces in the Forbidden Army are making every effort to realize that goal. A highway from Van into the kingdom’s territory has been completed, and we are beginning work laying road to the smaller nearby villages that are presently under our control. Also... we’ve built eight bridges over the rivers, but...”

“But what?” I pressed. The man was sounding evasive.

Ludwin gave me a look like he didn’t understand what I meant. “Sir. Right now, is there any reason for rolling out a transportation network for Van? I understand the importance of setting up military supply routes, yes. However, if we build roads and bridges to the smaller cities around Van during a time when the Empire doesn’t acknowledge our sovereignty here, won’t it have been pointless when we’re pushed to hand it back?”

“That’s right... of course, I’m sure the Empire will request the return of Van,” said Liscia. “It’s a bit galling to think that Julius and his lot will use the roads and bridges that we build.” She furrowed her brow.

“That will not be the case.” Hakuya immediately rejected Liscia’s opinion. “Even if we return Van and Crown Prince Julius returns here, he will never use infrastructure built by the kingdom. If anything, he will work to eliminate all traces of the kingdom’s influence from Van. He can’t afford to keep them out of convenience, as they might ingrain a fondness for the kingdom into the people of Van.”

“Me, I’d use whatever I could, Amidonian or not,” I said.

“Hee hee, I’m sure you would, sire,” Juna piped in with a smile. “You used that female commander with the husky voice as a singer, didn’t you?”

“Oh, you mean Margarita Wonder,” I said. “She was a good find.”

I had hired Margarita as only a singer initially, but lately she’d been hosting the amateur singing competition, too. Making full use of the grit that had let her rise to become a commander in this patriarchal country despite being a woman, the way she spoke frankly, even to men, was making her popular with women all over.

Oh, I got off track there. Let’s forget Margarita and focus on Julius and his followers for now.

“I know...” I said. “If that’s what’s going to happen, let’s try messing with them a bit.”

“Messing with them?” Liscia asked.

“We’ll put our names on the bridges,” I said. “There were eight of them, yeah? Well, we’ll carve the names Souma Bridge, Liscia Bridge, Albert Bridge, Hakuya Bridge, Ludwin Bridge, Poncho Ishizuka Bridge, and Aisha Bridge into their railings. If the bridges themselves say ‘This bridge was built thanks to the Elfrieden Kingdom,’ the anti-kingdom faction is sure to bust them up, don’t you think?”

“...You can be a real piece of work, you know that, Souma?” Liscia said with a sigh, half impressed, half aghast.

However, because there were no objections, this idea was carried out as proposed. Also, so that it wouldn’t matter if they were destroyed, we confirmed that they should be built only to be sturdy, not fancy.

That was everything that needed to be sorted out for the time being. Once we had seen Ludwin and Hakuya leave the room with the plans and policies we had just decided on, Liscia asked me, “If the Empire demands we return Van, do you still think it would be difficult to refuse?”

I could only nod in response to that question. “Well, yeah... I have no intention of changing my overall plan, but I can’t see us being able to strong-arm Madam Jeanne. It would be a huge loss of face for the Empire. We don’t have the power to fight it out with them right now, So if the Empire sees us as hostile to them, that would be a diplomatic failure.”

“You were saying you met Jeanne Euphoria, right?” Liscia asked. “Is it true? That the hero summoning was their way of showing some consideration to our country?”

I said, “Yeah, kinda.”

“When did you realize that?” she asked.

“When I heard Empress Maria was called a saint,” I said. “I figured anyone being called a saint wouldn’t do anything too improper. That said, from what Madam Jeanne told me, Madam Maria isn’t overly fond having that title.”

“You trusted in the title?” Liscia asked.

“People adopt titles because they’re convenient,” I said. “And because they’re convenient, they’ll try to maintain them, too.”

In a nation like the Empire which covered a vast swathe of territory and incorporated many people of diverse racial and cultural backgrounds, a title like “saint” must have been useful for accumulating power. Because it let her hoist the flag of a united human resistance in response to the threat from the Demon Lord’s Domain. That was why Maria had chosen to act like a saint, continuing to carry a title she didn’t care for.

“Interpreting the Empire’s request in a positive light, and taking all of that into account, it would probably be something like that... I figured,” I said.

Not that I could have been sure until I’d talked to Jeanne. But after talking to Jeanne, I was certain.

The Gran Chaos Empire wasn’t an evil empire, like the ones that show up in stories, or even a prideful superpower. They were just another powerful country, desperately trying to maintain themselves.

“That’s why we can’t let our guards down,” I said. “When facing an earnest opponent, there’s no room for carelessness or pride.”

“True,” said Liscia. “We need to face this with resolution.”

Liscia and I both nodded, grave looks on our faces.

It would be tomorrow that Jeanne Euphoria would come, accompanying Julius, Crown Prince of Amidonia, as an envoy to negotiate the return of their territory.

21st day, 10th month, 1,546th year, Continental Calendar — The Walls of Van

“Oh, what a view! What a view!” I cried.

Looking down from the castle walls, there were a little over 50,000 troops from the Elfrieden Army in formation around Van. Opposite them were, at a rough estimate, over 50,000 troops of the Imperial Army in formation, with roughly 5,000 more from the Amidonian army next to them, for a combined total of somewhere around 60,000. There were an even greater number of troops here than during the last engagement.

“Is this the time to be impressed? What if that army attacks us?” Liscia asked exasperatedly. She was standing beside me.

“There’s pretty much no question that we would lose,” I said, then looked over at Hakuya, who was also standing beside me. “Yeah?”

“Indeed, that is correct,” he said with a nod. “In number of troops, number of commanders, equipment, training, morale... no matter which of those you choose to look at, our country is behind the Empire in all of them. If it comes to war, our forces stand no chance of winning.”

The flow of war is said to be decided by the heavens, earth, and people. That is to say, the temporal advantage of heaven, the territorial advantage of the earth, and the harmonious unity between people.

The temporal advantage lay with the Empire, lead proponent of the Mankind Declaration, while the territorial advantage lay with the forces of the principality. If I were asked whether the kingdom had a harmonious unity that could stand against those two, I would have had to say no. It had not been long since the Army and Air Force had pledged allegiance to me, so while they might be motivated to fight the Amidonian invaders, it would be difficult to maintain their morale against the far superior Imperial forces.

In short, we were not superior to the combined forces of the Empire and Amidonia in any of those three categories.

“I wish we could have at least had the equipment advantage...” I said.

One type of troop the Imperial force had that I could see from here was rhinosauruses carrying cannons. I had heard of rhinosauruses being used as siege weapons, but it seemed the Empire was using them as mobile artillery platforms.

In fact, I’d had the same idea, but before we could load cannons onto the rhinosauruses, they needed to be trained not to startle when they heard the sound of them firing. Our rhinosauruses had been gathered with Tomoe’s negotiation skills, so with no timetable for when the training could be done, that plan had been shelved.

It was frustrating to see that a type of troop I’d come up with was already being used by the Empire, but, well, it was something a military amateur would be able to come up with a little thinking. If there was a demand for them, most ideas like that would have been put to practical use already.

Well, anyway, with things as they were, we couldn’t fight.

I’d never intended to fight to begin with, but if we’d been in a position where we could, it would have been one more card on the negotiating table. Put the other way around, the force spread out before my eyes which could easily defeat us was a card in the other side’s hand.

While I’d known this would happen, it was still a tough situation to be in.

“Sire, there is a type of troop I am unfamiliar with,” Aisha, who was surveying the enemy forces from a distance, said.

“A troop type you’re unfamiliar with?” I asked.

“There is a group clad all in black full-plate armor!” she declared.

“All in black?” I asked. “...Wait, wow, I’m amazed you can see that.” The people looked as small as grains of rice from this distance.

“Dark elves have good eyes!” Aisha puffed up her chest with pride. “That black armored group are carrying rather long weapons of some sort.”

“That is most likely the ‘Magic Armor Corps,’ I believe,” Hakuya explained.

Now there was an unfamiliar word.

“Magic Armor Corps?” I asked.

“You could call them the anti-magic version of the heavy pikeman, I suppose,” said Hakuya. “That black armor endlessly produces a barrier that blocks any and every type of magic. When they form ranks and advance, it’s said that every step they take is another step that the Empire’s territory expands. They are the treasure of the Empire, which is fiercely proud of them.”

Hrm... if I recall, pikemen are a unit with long spears meant to be used against cavalry, right? I thought. My knowledge comes from playing war simulation games, but they’re a troop type that forms up a phalanx against charging cavalry, sticks out their spears, and counters the charge. If I recall, they can stop cavalry, whose mobility is their life. Depending on the situation, I think they can be a powerful type of troop, but because theirs is primarily a waiting tactic, they can be hard to use well.

“Even if they can negate magic, are they really a treasure?” I asked.

Hakuya looked at me with dismay, then in turn asked me, “Do you remember the reason why gunpowder weapons never developed on this continent?”

“Since magic is more powerful and has better range, they weren’t necessary, right?” I said. “That’s why the only cannons developed were for use at sea, where magic is weaker, or for during a siege, where they can still do good work.”

“Yes,” said Hakuya. “There is also the fact that the skins of creatures living on this continent are hard and tough, so an ordinary gunpowder weapon couldn’t even hurt them.”

In other words, the fact that they couldn’t use them for hunting was another reason gunpowder weapons had never developed.

If people here had developed the rifle, which increased the penetrating power of the bullet by spinning it, things might have been different. However, that was an invention that had come about because the musket (Japan’s hinawaju matchlock was equivalent to the early musket), which simply fired a bullet, had already spread. They didn’t have the basis for that research to happen.

Just as I was thinking that maybe I should develop the rifle for them, Hakuya said, “On top of that, we have attachable spells in this world. Some defensive items are better than others, but they have a spell that reduces damage attached to them. The reverse is also true, and a weapon will normally have a spell attached that increases its damage to break through that defense.”

“What the heck?” I said. “It sounds like a game of whack-a-mole...”

“With all due respect, I believe that is the way technology advances,” said Hakuya. “And for the spells attached to weapons and armor, the greater the item’s mass, the more powerful they can be. In other words, in this world, the bullet is weaker than the arrow and the arrow is weaker than the spear.”

Does that mean that even if I develop the rifle, the tiny bullets won’t have much power behind them? I thought. A unit of riflemen is sounding less and less practical. Well, I don’t want to turn this country into a gun society, so I don’t really mind.

Hakuya continued, “In a world like this, there is a group on which magic and bombing by wyverns does not work, cavalry charges cannot get past, and because they are human-sized, they cannot be targeted with cannons. This group in black armor slowly advances forward. From their enemies’ perspective...”

“...that’d be mildly horrifying, yeah,” I said. “They’d look like the armies of Hell.”

In an open field battle, they’re probably invincible, I thought. If I could fight in somewhere like a hill or swamp with bad footing, or if I could lure them somewhere with loads of traps and break their formation then surround them...

But these ideas all relied on me fighting a defensive battle. It was difficult for the attacker to choose where to fight. In that sense, I could see why they talked about their every step expanding the territory of the Empire.

“Besides, the Empire has other powerful units in addition to the Magic Armor Corps,” Liscia said, glaring out towards the enemy. “They have the griffon knights, which rival not just wyvern cavalry, but dragon knights in power. They have a unit of mages that overwhelmingly outnumbers and outclasses ours. They have a combat-trained unit of rhinosauruses. If we’re fighting the Imperial Army, it means taking all of those on at once.”

Why, yes... yes, it would, I realized. The enemy had more than just the Magic Armor Corps.

It was the shallow thinking of an amateur that had let me believe that if I could pick the location of the battle, I could win.

“...We really are no match for the Empire, huh?” I said.

“Souma...” Liscia looked concerned, so I gave her a smile.

“It’s not going to happen yet,” I told her. “Eventually, I’ll build this into a country that can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them.”

I clapped my hands, giving the signal.

“Now then, how about we go and welcome Madam Jeanne?”

They were in the audience hall in Van.

In this space, with colors and decorations much more ostentatious than those in Parnam, the younger sister of Empress Maria of the Gran Chaos Empire, Jeanne Euphoria, and the eldest son of Sovereign Prince of Amidonia Gaius VIII, Julius, stood on a carpet several steps below where I sat on the throne.

So this young man was Julius. He looked to be in his mid-twenties—a beautiful man with calculating genius, like Hakuya, but Julius came off as even colder. He seemed to be suppressing his emotions, but in his eyes I could see his enmity towards me flickering like a pale blue flame.

In contrast, Jeanne was truly magnificent. This was enemy territory for her, so the courage she had shown in coming here with no bodyguards, only Julius in tow, deeply impressed me.

As we greeted these two, we were arrayed with Liscia and Hakuya on either side of me, Aisha behind me diagonally, standing by as a bodyguard.

Seeing that, Jeanne cocked her head to the side. “This is a surprise. I had expected our meeting to have a large number of soldiers watching.”

“If I brought too many soldiers to the meeting, it would only make you two uneasy, wouldn’t it?” I asked.

“I see,” she said. “You’re a courageous one.”

Jeanne said it as if she was impressed, but inside, I was smiling wryly.

It was just that I had read a historical chronicle (whether it was Records of the Grand Historian, or Romance of the Three Kingdoms, I don’t remember) in which a certain ruler had welcomed an enemy envoy with an attitude similar to Jeanne’s. That envoy had said things like, “Is it a show of respect in your country to place so many troops with you just to meet with one person?” and “Or are you a coward who doesn’t feel safe without his soldiers protecting him?” It had humiliated that ruler, and I’d just happened to remember it, but... I decided not to let Jeanne in on that fact.

“Of course, with that one behind you, you must feel quite safe.” Jeanne perceptively looked at Aisha. Perhaps it was because they shared something in common as warriors, but she had accurately judged Aisha’s ability. “She’s a fine warrior, I can tell. I would ask for a match with her, but it might prove difficult for me to win. You have a fine vassal, Sir Souma.”

“...Thanks,” I said.

There was no way for me to tell how serious she was with her praise, but judging from how tense Aisha looked, Jeanne was not to be underestimated as a warrior, either.

“You, as well,” I went on. “It’s very courageous of you to face the king of another nation without bringing an entourage of guards. Did you not worry that I might have you assassinated here?”

“I have come as an envoy of peace,” Jeanne smiled. “Why should I need fear I would come to harm?”

I could tell she was quite the actor. She might not have guards with her openly, but perhaps covert operatives had slipped in to keep watch over her. Even now, somewhere we couldn’t see, they might be competing fiercely against Juna and her marines.

Next, I looked at Julius. “This is our first time meeting. I am Souma Kazuya.”

“...I am the Sovereign Prince of Amidonia, Julius.”

Not hiding the hostility in his eyes, Julius gave himself that title. He must have inherited it on the death of Gaius VIII. With us occupying Van, he likely hadn’t been formally crowned yet, but I (as a provisional king) was in the same boat, so I didn’t point it out.

“Now then, let’s hear why the two of you are here,” I said.

Julius immediately opened his mouth. “Let me get straight to the point. I want you to return Van at once.”

“Sir Julius...” Jeanne looked troubled by his outburst, but Julius continued, not caring.

“Our nation is signatory to the Mankind Declaration. In the text of the agreement, it says, ‘The moving of national borders by force will be deemed inadmissible.’ The Elfrieden Kingdom has occupied Van by means of force. As such, in accordance with the declaration, I have come here with Madam Jeanne, an envoy dispatched by the Gran Chaos Empire, to seek the return of Van and the surrounding area.”

“That sounds awfully selfish.” I rested my elbows on the arms of the throne and my cheeks on my palms, glaring down at Julius. “You started this by invading Elfrieden first. First you attempt to expand by force, and then, when you lose, you turn to the Mankind Declaration for protection, clinging to the power of the Empire to seek the return of your territory. Don’t you think that’s pathetic?”

“The decision to invade Elfrieden was one my father, Gaius, made on his own,” Julius said stiffly.

“You accompanied him on the campaign, so you share in his crime,” I said. “Besides, before we start negotiating the return of your territory, isn’t an apology for invading my country in order?”

“Urkh...”

“Sir Julius,” said Jeanne. “Sir Souma is right. We are in the position of requesting that he return your land. We have to start with you showing your sincerity.”

Julius seemed deeply mortified by the thought, but with his one lifeline, Jeanne, pressing him to do it, he grudgingly, ever so grudgingly, bowed his head. “...While the invasion of your country was solely the decision of our former ruler, Gaius, it was my own lack of virtue that kept me from stopping him. Allow me to apologize for that.”

It didn’t sound like much of an apology, but it seemed it was all that could be expected.

Julius continued to speak. “However, it is your country that is now infringing on our borders. As signatories to the Mankind Declaration, it is our right to request that the Empire work to return our territory to us.”

“...So says Julius, but what’s the Empire’s take on it?” I asked, turning the conversation over to Jeanne.

She shrugged. “The Empire would prefer not to help Amidonia, who are really only getting what they deserve... but, as signatories to the Mankind Declaration, we have no choice but to respond to their request.”

“Basically, you are saying that the Empire will request that we return all occupied territories, including Van?” I asked.

“That would be what it means, yes.”

Yeah, I thought. I figured the Empire would take that position. It’s a little irritating seeing Julius act as if it was a matter of course that they would, but this is all within the range of what I expected. So, let me give them the answer I expected to give, too.

“I refuse.”

“Wha...?!” Jeanne gasped.

Julius was at a loss for words momentarily. Maybe he hadn’t expected such a clear rejection. However, he immediately rallied and took on a furious expression, saying, “Are you sane?! Thinking to defy the Mankind Declaration!”

“My intention isn’t to defy the Mankind Declaration,” I said. “However, I can’t abide the way Amidonia does things. First you invade Elfrieden territory, and then when we launch a counter-invasion, you whine about us changing the border by force. That doesn’t stand up to reason.”

“That’s... It was all decided by the former ruler Gaius, on his own...” Julius sputtered.

“That’s pure sophism, and you know it, don’t you?” I asked.

Julius seemed at a loss for what to say, at first, but then he responded, “Say what you will, it will not change the fact that the people of my country are living under your occupation. I, as the ruler of this country, must liberate my people.”

That was his argument. Liberation from occupation, huh...

“I question whether the people of Van want to be liberated,” I said.

“What?” Julius sputtered.

“Sir Julius,” I said. “Did you not see the streets of Van on your way here?”

In response to my question, Julius’s eyes went wide, and he immediately glared at me. “Van is the city that birthed and raised me. I know it better than you.”

“Do you now...? Well, what do you think of the color of Van now?” I asked.

“The color?” he asked hostilely. “I did see a number of houses with their roofs and walls painted in garish, tasteless colors, but what of it?”

Yeah... Well, maybe it wasn’t unfair to describe them as tasteless.

“We each have our sense of aesthetics, so I won’t comment on that,” I said. “However, Sir Julius. If the people were choking under the yoke of our oppression, do you think they would want to make their roofs and walls more colorful?”

I chose my next words carefully, so as not to drive Julius into a rage.

“If a ruler is oppressive, the people will try to act in a way that doesn’t stand out. That’s because, if they were to catch his eye by doing something showy, there’s no telling what kind of disaster might befall them. So the more oppressed the people, the less you will hear them complain. They don’t show their feelings or attitudes, keeping their true feelings bottled up deep inside their hearts. They would never dream of doing something like painting their roofs and walls in showy colors.”

There, I paused for a moment to look Julius in the eye.

“Now, tell me, what color were the colors of Van like when you and your father were here?”

In response to my question, Julius clenched his jaw. Of course he did.

When I’d entered Van, the color I’d sensed here was gray.

The labyrinthine streets, not even properly divided into districts, had had only houses with gray walls and earthen roofs, without the slightest hint of personality. Even though they hadn’t been part of a unified color scheme, they had all appeared standardized because the residents of this city had not been free in spirit.

“Between Van under my rule, and Van as it was under your rule, which really looks more like it’s ‘under occupation’?” I asked.

“You... Are you trying to say we were oppressive?” Julius shouted.

“Yes, because it’s a fact that you were,” I said. “It looks like most of your national budget was going to military expenses. The taxes your people pay are supposed to be returned to the people in the form of welfare. Instead of maintaining your city, or your roads, or supporting industry, you bled your people with heavy taxes that only went into the military. What is that if not oppressive?!”

“You cur!” Julius screamed, lunging for me.

“Sir Julius!” Jeanne snapped, reaching out a hand to stop him.

While Julius did stop after only taking half a step, he still gnashed his teeth in frustration. I hadn’t permitted them to carry weapons during the audience, but it would have been a risky situation if Jeanne hadn’t intervened.

“Aisha, you take your hand off your hilt, too,” I said.

“...Yes, sire.”

I had been able to feel the bloodlust behind me, so I’d put a stop to it. Her voice sounded dejected, like a child who had been scolded.

She didn’t have to let it get her down so badly, though. The reason I could brazenly tear into Julius like this was that I felt safe in the knowledge that, if it came down to it, Aisha was there to protect me.

“Sir Souma... I would ask that you refrain from agitating Sir Julius,” Jeanne objected, with a sigh.

“I only spoke the truth,” I responded. “Governing the nation and providing relief to the people... those are the two duties of a ruler. They, however, taxed the people heavily to pay for their wasteful military spending. That is the very definition of oppression.”

“And whose fault was that?!” Julius shouted. “If the royal family of Elfrieden hadn’t stole land from my grandfather...!”

“Not this again...” Hearing Julius trot out the same tired arguments, I let out a sigh. “The royal family of Amidonia calls out for revenge against Elfrieden at every turn, but neither you, nor even Gaius, were party to those events. What’s more, I haven’t been in this world that long. What grudge could you possibly have had against me?”

“Ah! That’s...”

“If anything, your country is the one that’s continuously tried to bring harm to mine,” I said. “...Hakuya.”

“Yes, sire.” Hakuya pulled out a piece of paper that was rolled up inside a cylindrical tube and handed it to the two of them.

On the paper was written a number of names. When they saw those names, Jeanne seemed confused, but Julius had a look on his face like he had just bitten into something unpleasant.

“What... is this?” Jeanne asked.

With a bow, Hakuya explained, “The names you see written here are nobles of the Elfrieden Kingdom who were incited to sedition by the Principality of Amidonia. Some of them rose up during the reign of the former king and were put down. Amidonia incited them, fomenting rebellion, tempting them into corruption, and encouraging them to adopt an uncooperative stance towards the royal family.”

“Oh, my...”

When Jeanne turned a cold look towards him, Julius clenched his jaw.

It had seemed like they’d been trying to stir up the three dukes, so I’d had Hakuya look into it, and, boy, had we ever found some shady stuff. I could see the names of corrupt nobles who had taken part in the uprising on the list, but some of the names I saw belonged to nobles who had refused to take a side in the recent conflict. When I returned to the royal capital, I was going to have to do something about that.

“Madam Jeanne,” said Hakuya. “While they pay lip service to the Mankind Declaration, the Principality of Amidonia has been engaging in all of this skullduggery behind the scenes. It’s hard to see how they can talk about revenge against our kingdom after all this.”

“Even when it comes to that revenge, they only bring it up when it benefits them.” I glared at Julius as I spoke, following Hakuya’s example. “‘Our country is poor because of the kingdom, everyone goes hungry because of the kingdom, our people suffer under their heavy toil because of the kingdom, the heavy taxes we levy go to the military and not the people because of the kingdom.’”

“What are you getting at?” Julius demanded.

“It’s awfully convenient,” I said. “If you just use that excuse to pay lip service to the theme of revenge, you can hide your policy blunders and redirect the anger of your people towards Elfrieden.”

“You cur! How dare you say that!” Julius exclaimed, dashing towards me.

“Sir Julius!” Jeanne snapped, stopping him again. Then she turned an equally harsh glance in my direction. “Sir Souma, I believe I asked you not to agitate him.”

“...Sorry,” I said. “It’s just that we want you to see that we’re furious with Amidonia’s behavior, too.”

“That... I can understand,” said Jeanne.

“Thank you,” I said. “Now, I have a proposal.”

I turned to them, as if saying, Now, it’s time to get down to business.

“Could we have Sir Julius leave the room?”

Julius’s face contorted with rage. “Don’t be absurd! Why should I be removed from negotiations that will determine the fate of my nation’s capital?!”

An intelligent and beautiful face showing all that anger was at least fifty percent more intimidating than an ordinary person’s would have been. Before coming to this world, I’d probably have been overwhelmed by his threatening attitude, but... now I had spent around half a year as king, dealing with far scarier people such as Gaius himself, in matters of life and death. After all of that, this level of intimidation wasn’t enough pressure to faze me.

“It’s simple, really,” I said. “I don’t even need to negotiate with Amidonia to begin with.”

“What did you say?!” he shouted.

“I am at the negotiating table because I want the Empire to recognize my sovereignty over Van,” I said. “The Empire takes the position that they can’t recognize the changing of borders due to the exercise of force, so they’re here to negotiate because they want me to return Van, right? In that case, the matter can be settled entirely through negotiations between the kingdom and the Empire.”

This had always been a negotiation between the kingdom and the Empire. The principality had never been more than a sideshow. If his resentment was going to stop the smooth proceeding of the negotiations, I would be happier to see him removed from them. Jeanne seemed to understand this, too.

“...Sir Julius,” she said. “Could I ask you to let me handle this?”

“Madam Jeanne?!” he exclaimed. “But...”

“These negotiations will go nowhere with you both at each other’s throats,” said Jeanne. “The Empire does not wish to spend its time mediating other nations’ disputes. I will definitely reclaim Van, so I would like you to leave this to me.”

“That’s... very one-sided of you, isn’t it?” Julius asked angrily. He seemed ready to keep arguing, but Jeanne cut him right off.

“Then the Empire will have nothing more to do with this matter, and you will be welcome to negotiate for yourself. In my personal opinion, the fault lies with Amidonia on this occasion. We are doing what we can to help you because you’re a signatory to the Mankind Declaration, but if you find yourself unable to trust us, the Empire will withdraw from these negotiations.”

Julius knew the principality could not reclaim Van on its own. If the Empire hinted they might withdraw from the negotiations, there was nothing he could say.

Julius looked anguished, choking out the words, “You will... get Van back for us, yes?”

“I swear it on my sister, Empress Maria Euphoria’s, name.”

“I’m counting on you.” Julius bowed his head to Jeanne, then left the audience chamber.

After we had seen him off, Jeanne and I looked to one another and sighed.

“...I’m sorry,” said Jeanne. “Our signatories can be such a handful.”

“...I feel your pain.”

We both smiled. In order to hide our true feelings, both of us had naturally put on a smile. The dangerous air had vanished from the room, but the air was still as tense as ever. No, if anything, it was more tense now than before.

These talks would decide what was to come from here on for both the kingdom and the Empire, so that was probably inevitable.

“Did you deliberately agitate Julius to set the stage for this, perhaps?” Jeanne asked.

I shook my head with a wry smile. “I meant most of what I said. Thanks to his father and him, the kingdom’s recovery was delayed, and I had to do a lot of unnecessary work. I wanted to vent a little.”

“Is that so?” Jeanne said, not seeming to care all that much. Then Jeanne brought one hand to her chest, giving a polite bow. “Let me introduce myself once more, Sir Souma. I am Jeanne Euphoria, emissary of the Gran Chaos Empire. I come representing my sister Maria Euphoria.”

“Welcome, Madam Jeanne,” I said. “I am the (provisional) King of Elfrieden, Souma Kazuya.”

To start things afresh, Jeanne and I had reintroduced ourselves.

Jeanne had been a little taciturn before, but she now took on a cheerful tone, completely at odds with that. She smiled to Liscia who stood beside me. “I’m relieved to see you are well, Princess Liscia.”

“You seem to be in good health yourself, Madam Jeanne,” Liscia said, returning the smile.

“Hm? You two were acquainted with each other?” I asked.

“Yes,” said Liscia. “We met just once, when we were little. Before the Demon Lord’s Domain appeared, I believe?”

“Yes, it was,” said Jeanne. “If I recall, it was the time I forced the minister in charge of talks with your former king, Sir Albert, to bring me along. Because of our close age, we played together.”

I see, I thought. When they’re both royals, they have those sorts of connections, huh.

Then, Jeanne eyed Liscia’s body up and down and said, “You must be even stronger now than you were back then. I can tell just looking at you.”

“I could say the same of you,” said Liscia. “Back then, I never did manage to land a single hit on you.”

Whoa, hold up! How did we get from the two of them playing to them landing hits on each other?!

“You two were way too tomboyish...” I muttered.

“Even the mild-mannered Marx was mad at us that time,” said Liscia nostalgically.

“Our foreign minister was in tears, too,” Jeanne chuckled. “Ha ha ha!”

No, no, that’s nothing to laugh about... I felt bad for Marx and this minister for the Empire whose face I’d never even seen.

“Well, anyway, that’s enough reminiscing about old times,” Jeanne began. “I think it’s about time we talked heart-to-heart.”

“I know,” I said. “Let’s move somewhere else, for a start.”

I wanted to take this chance to speak frankly with the Empire. In order to make that possible, the meeting site needed to be a spot where both sides would feel comfortable. I was going to want a pen and paper, too.

“But, first... Liscia, could you summon Serina for me?” I asked.

Liscia nodded, leaving the room. Shortly thereafter, a woman in a maid uniform entered.

It was Liscia’s personal maid, the head maid Serina. The head maid, an intellectual beauty who was slightly older than me, lifted the hem of her apron-skirt slightly, and curtsied. “I have come at your behest, Your Majesty.”

“Serina,” I said. “Amidonia’s crown... no, Amidonia’s sovereign prince, Julius, is in the visitor’s room. I may be speaking with Madam Jeanne for some time, so begin the banquet without us and see to it that he is made welcome.”

When I gave her that order, Serina bowed respectfully. “Very well. In that case, sire, I would like permission to open a well-aged bottle of tequeur from the castle’s wine cellar.”

In the moment she said that, I thought I saw a suspicious glint in Serina’s eye.

Does she want to drink that alcoholic beverage, whatever it was called? I wondered. She seems like the tight-laced sort to me, but maybe she’s actually a drinker. Is she saying it’s for our guest, when really she wants to drink it herself?

“I’ll leave the matter to your discretion,” I said at last. “So long as our guest is properly entertained.”

“Understood. I will pour Sir Julius’s share and entertain him personally.”

With those words and an icy smile, Serina bowed and exited the room.

Her smile did worry me, but she’d said she would entertain him, so I figured it was probably fine. As I was thinking that, I looked next to me to see Liscia and Hakuya grimacing.

“Wh-What is it, you two?” I asked.

“Souma... tequeur is famous for being a strong alcohol,” said Liscia.

“It has a pleasant taste, which encourages heavy drinking. However, if one who is not used to drinking it does that, it will quickly send them off to the land of dreams. Normally, it’s the sort of thing you’d drink a few drops of mixed into a glass of tea or juice,” Hakuya explained, looking like his head hurt.

“Huh? Wait, if she goes pouring him glasses of the stuff...”

“The banquet will be over not ten minutes after it begins.”

“She has no intention of entertaining him whatsoever?!” I exclaimed.

The head maid Serina. She had an elegant beauty, she carried out her duties perfectly, she was polite, and she could also show great consideration, all of which made her flawless as a maid. However, she was also a little too much of a sadist.

When it came to cute girls, she always wanted to “buwwy” them. Not “bully,” “buwwy.” Not that she’d do anything that would hurt them; she just enjoyed stirring up their senses of shame a little.

Left alone with Serina, Julius didn’t stand a chance.

Well, the goal of the banquet was always to keep Julius from finding out what’s going on with our negotiations with the Empire, I thought. If she gets him to drink himself into a stupor, that’s one way of doing it...

“Just this once, I feel bad for Julius,” Liscia said, with eyes as emotionless as those of a dead fish. “Serina, she just loves to toy with swaggering types like him.”

“I-It sounds like you have personal experience with this...” I said.

“Whenever I misbehaved, Marx was the one who would scold me, but Serina was always the one in charge of disciplining me,” said Liscia. “Of course, Serina’s a maid, so she couldn’t punish me physically. No, she went for psychological attacks instead. If only... If only she didn’t know about that one thing... No, there’s that, too, isn’t there...? Augh, why does she always, always have to see me at the worst possible moments?”

As I tried to console Liscia, who was holding her head in her hands, I let out a sigh. “Just how much blackmail material does she have on you...?”

“Heh heh. This really is an... interesting country.” In the corner of my vision, I saw Jeanne doing her best to hold back a smile.

After that, we changed locations, and I showed Jeanne to the governmental affairs office. That was because, if we were going to be sitting down and negotiating at length, I felt this was the best place to do it.

It was large enough to hold a reasonable number of people, and there were plenty of pens and pieces of paper there. Being able to easily get our hands on any documents we might need was another point in its favor.

...Though, when Jeanne had entered the room, the first thing that had caught her attention was the bed off in the corner.

“Sir Souma, what is that bed for?” she asked.

“It’s mine,” I said. “I’m too busy to have a room of my own.”

“You sleep in the governmental affairs office?!”

“I am ashamed to admit it, but yes,” Hakuya, not I, said, sounding deeply embarrassed.

However, it apparently wasn’t the fact that I slept in the office itself that surprised Jeanne. “I never thought there would be a king doing the same things as my sister...”

“Come again?” I asked, startled.

Her sister... That’d be Madam Maria, right? Huh? The empress sleeps in the governmental affairs office, too?!

When I asked her about it, Jeanne awkwardly responded, “She does have her own room, too, of course, but when she finds herself busy with administrative work, she sleeps in a bed that’s been set up in the office, yes. What’s more, in my sister’s case, she doesn’t settle for a simple bed. She’s brought in a proper, comfy one. That makes it all the worse.”

I was silent.

I wonder why, I thought. Right now, I feel an incredible kinship with the Saint of the Empire.

“My sister needs to realize that she’s the ruler of a vast empire,” said Jeanne. “I keep telling her not to do it, and to consider how it looks to her vassals, but all I get in return is, ‘I don’t see the problem. I sleep so well in this bed.’ She doesn’t listen to me at all.”

When Jeanne said that with a sigh, for some reason, Hakuya was nodding along. “I understand. I don’t know how many times I’ve advised His Majesty to get his own room and sleep there. Yet, every time I do, he brushes me off with a simple, ‘But this is more efficient.’”

“Oh, I understand,” said Jeanne. “I know she’s tired from her work, but I wish she’d consider how her subordinates see her a little more. Especially since my sister has this image of being a saint, I’d rather she not do anything too unseemly.”

“I can understand that,” said Hakuya. “I’ve given up on that front. His Majesty could have carried the title of ‘hero,’ but everything he does is so...”

The two of them just keep saying, “I understand, I understand,” I thought. Why are they hitting it off so well?

“I think it’s good that when Sir Souma does it, at least he’s doing it calculatingly,” said Jeanne. “When my sister does it, it’s just laziness. She can be a bit of an airhead at times, too.”

“Well, at least that’s cute,” said Hakuya. “In His Majesty’s case, I think it’s all the worse because he’s planned it out. Why does the king who is so good at listening to his subjects in matters of state pretend not to hear a word I say when it comes to advising him on his personal life?”

“I can see you’ve been put through a lot, too, Sir Hakuya,” said Jeanne.

“No, no, Madam Jeanne, you must have had it worse,” said Hakuya.

Jeanne and Hakuya were really hitting it off. They looked like they might exchange a firm handshake at any moment.

And so, right here, right now, the “Association of the Victims of Slothful Masters” was formed. That was a joke I couldn’t laugh at. It was getting awkward for me, and I wanted to move the conversation along to another topic quickly, but if I interrupted now, I was going to get a scolding and get slapped with a paper fan, so I decided to keep quiet for a little while.

I watched carefully for their conversation settle down a bit, then, clearing my throat loudly, I gestured for Jeanne to take a seat at the long table in the middle of the room. “Well, anyway, take a seat. Let’s get right to the negotiations.”

“Ah... Right. Very well.” Jeanne’s expression changed, and she sat at the table.

Once we were both seated across from each other at the long table, Jeanne looked me in the eye and began. “I suppose the first order of business is your current occupation of Van.”

I said nothing.

“As much as I truly regret that I must say this, I did give my word to Sir Julius, so the Empire has a role it must fulfill here,” she said. “Could you please return Van?”

“There’s no need to rush to the conclusion like that,” I said. “I mean, this is a rare chance for the head of the kingdom and the Empire’s number two to negotiate directly. There are a lot of things I want to take this opportunity to discuss, and a lot of information I want to share. Let’s leave any topic that might put us both in a foul mood for after all of that.”

Jeanne took on a pensive look, but eventually she nodded. “...Well, then. In that case, I would like to call in the bureaucrats from my country who are standing by outside the castle here. Would that be acceptable?”

“I’ll allow it,” I said. “They’ll have to go through a body check first, though. ...Is someone there?”

When I called out towards the entrance, Serina responded, “Pardon me,” and entered the room.

Wait, why’s Serina here?! I thought.

“...Didn’t I ask you to keep Sir Julius entertained?” I demanded.

“I have already finished with the entertainment,” Serina said with a nonchalant look on her face.

It’s only evening, but Julius is already passed out drunk? I thought incredulously. Serina... you really are a terrifying woman.

“Is something the matter, sire?” she asked.

“Oh, no... Gather our bureaucrats and the ones who came with Jeanne, please. Be sure to at least give them a cursory search for weapons and the like.”

“Very well.” Serina departed with an elegant bow.

If there was one person I never wanted to make an enemy of, it was her...