How a Realist Hero Rebuilt The Kingdom

Jeanne and Hakuya’s Joint Complaining Session

Based on an idea by the provisional king Souma, a hotline had been installed between the Elfrieden Kingdom and the Gran Chaos Empire using Jewel Voice Broadcast jewels.

This hotline was for the bureaucrats of both countries to keep in regular contact so that meetings could be arranged between Souma and Empress Maria. However, because they were both very busy people, and there was also a time zone difference, it hadn’t been easy to arrange for them to meet.

As a result, when there were things that exceeded the bureaucrats’ authority to discuss, but were not important enough for Souma and Maria to hold talks, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom, Hakuya, and the younger sister of the empress and general of the Empire’s armed forces, Jeanne, would talk in their place, then submit a report. Hakuya and Jeanne spoke over the broadcast at an average of once every five days to trade information.

First they would discuss highly important matters that would require a report to Souma and Maria, then they exchanged opinions on matters of policy in both nations, and with what time they had left over, they would engage in small talk about recent events. Although that small talk was nearly always complaints about their respective masters...

Today was no different, and when their meeting was finished, the two had a lively discussion about everything wrong with the masters they served.

“Sigh... Why must my sister be so slovenly?” Jeanne complained.

“What happened?” Hakuya asked.

Jeanne looked exhausted on the other side of the simple transceiver, wearing a wry smile that seemed to say, What can you really do but laugh?

“Before, I told you how my sister had brought a bed into the governmental affairs office like Sir Souma, right? Well, this happened the other day. As per usual... and it’s a problem that I have to say this is per usual... when she woke up, my sister went straight to work in the office, but, would you believe it? She was still wearing her pajamas. This is a room that male bureaucrats come in and out of, you know?”

“That’s...” Hakuya couldn’t quite find the words for it.

The rumors said that the Saint of the Empire, Empress Maria, was a woman of great beauty. From what he had seen of her younger sister’s beautiful countenance, those rumors were likely true. It wouldn’t be good for the male bureaucrats to see such a beautiful woman working in her nightclothes.

Jeanne sighed loudly once more. “Fortunately, my sister doesn’t sleep in a camisole, or anything that would make her figure apparent, it’s a more bulky type of thing, but when I saw her working while wearing a nightcap instead of the crown... This time, I couldn’t stop myself from shouting at her. ‘You’re the empress! Please, pay a little more thought to how people see you!’ I said.”

“...I feel your pain.”

“I know the burden my sister bears, so I don’t want to hound her to act like an empress too much... but this time, it was just too much...” Jeanne moaned.

“I don’t think there was anything else you could have done,” said Hakuya. “I am sure, were I in your position, I would have scolded her, too.”

Jeanne likely felt guilty that, even though she knew her sister’s heavy burden, she still had to scold her. It was her position. Hakuya tried to assuage those concerns.

“Even if we were to be unduly generous and condone the pajamas, the nightcap is simply one step too far,” he assured her.

“Huh?! That’s the problem?!” Jeanne exclaimed.

“The ruler’s head is where the crown rests,” Hakuya said very seriously. “A ruler must never stand before their vassals with something so casual there in its place. Were I to see that, I might resign on the spot.”

It was strange reasoning, that he could accept the pajamas, but not the nightcap. Jeanne was befuddled for a moment, but soon burst out laughing.

“Bwahah... Y-You’re right, we definitely can’t let the nightcap go...”

This was surely Hakuya’s attempt at a joke. To try to cheer Jeanne up, he had told a ridiculous joke with completely deadpan delivery. Jeanne chuckled.

“Well, does Sir Souma ever do anything like that?” Jeanne asked.

“His Majesty is no slob,” Hakuya said. “If anything, he’s fastidious and reasonable. You could say he’s a proponent of efficiency, I suppose. His sleeping in the governmental affairs office arose from his thinking that it would be more efficient. That’s all the worse in some ways; it makes it hard to criticize him for it.”

This time, it was Hakuya’s turn to wear a sour face.

“But, efficient or not, he doesn’t work in his pajamas, does he?” Jeanne asked.

“His fiancée, Princess Liscia, keeps a tight leash on him when it comes to such things,” said Hakuya. “Working in his pajamas... would be worse than this, yes, but Liscia once found him sleeping in his clothes so that he could go straight to work when he woke. She made him sit on the floor so she could lecture him about it at length.”

Ever since, Souma had made sure to change into his nightclothes before going to sleep. Even the provisional king who would ignore unnecessary traditions couldn’t stand up to a lecture from Princess Liscia.

“Hee hee hee! They make a good couple,” Jeanne said.

“Yes. I happen to think so, too, but...” Hakuya was sounding like he was avoiding saying something.

Jeanne inclined her head to the side questioningly. “Is there some problem?”

“No... It’s just that, recently, Princess Liscia seems to be being influenced by His Majesty.” Hakuya was thinking of Souma and the others’ recent eating habits. “The truth is, recently, His Majesty has been making his own meals, you see. Ever since he acquired this grain called ‘rice’ from the mystic wolves, he’s been preparing fried eggs and miso soup to go with it. The sort of meal he can eat with two bowls and a single plate.”

“That’s... awfully simple, yes,” Jeanne said.

It was normal for a royal meal to be a little more extravagant. It was partly to show the authority of one who stands above others, and partly because if a royal ate anything too strange, their vassals would look down on them for it.

“Didn’t Liscia get angry at him?” Jeanne asked.

Hakuya sighed. “You see, Princess Liscia is very fond of these meals.”

“Why?!”

“Princess Liscia has experience attending a military academy, so she is used to simple meals,” Hakuya explained. “In fact, it seems she would be more upset to have a formal style of eating forced on her. Now, as for the new queen candidates, Madam Aisha and Madam Juna, Madam Aisha lived in the God-Protected Forest, and will eat anything that is edible, while Madam Juna is of common birth, and so she has no resistance to eating these sorts of meals. Earlier, I saw the four of them eating this menu with great gusto.”

Hakuya slumped his shoulders in dismay.

Jeanne could only smile wryly. “I think it’s good that they get along so well, but that is a problem, isn’t it? As the king of a nation, Sir Souma will no doubt need to take wives other than those three. When that time comes, he’ll have trouble if they aren’t the sort who would accept a meal like that.”

“Precisely,” said Hakuya. “I doubt the daughter of another royal or noble family would. In fact, if the number of people able to enjoy these sorts of meals with gusto increases, that would be a problem, too.”

“My sister would join in with glee, I’m sure.” Jeanne imagined her sister at the same table as Souma, cheerfully eating a simple meal. ...Yes, somehow, it suited her sister to a T.

“By the way, are those meals good, by any chance?” Jeanne asked.

“Yes. Earlier, I happened to join them, and they were quite good,” said Hakuya. “The fried egg flavored with soup stock was quite the delicacy. It had a simple, yet profound, flavor.”

“It sounds delicious just hearing you describe it,” said Jeanne. “I wish I could have tried it the last time I visited. ...Ahem. In that case, might it not be fastest to use that delicious food to win over any new queens who come in?”

“I suppose I should consider that angle...” Hakuya murmured.

And, as they were talking about that, the time for their talk came to an end.

“Well, Madam Jeanne, I think we should call it a day.”

“Yes. I’ll be looking forward to our next chance to talk, Sir Hakuya.”

“As will I.” He paused. “I do hope we won’t have any new material to complain about when that time comes.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

The two both wore wry smiles as they closed out the communication.